It Is You My Familiar Friend

For quite some time I have felt painful grief at the schism that seems to be widening among Christians in the US. I wrote about this fairly extensively a year and a half ago. http://nstolpepilgrim.blogspot.com/2018/07/under-siege-unity-of-spirit-in-bond-of.html  Divisions in the Church are certainly not new. They were a problem from the earliest days of the Church as evident in the lectionary Epistle reading for Sunday (January 26) from 1 Corinthians 1:10. “Now I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you be in agreement and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same purpose.” The Church divided East and West in 1054. The Western Church divided between Roman Catholics and Protestants in 1517, and Protestants have been splintering ever since. I grew up in an evangelical, Baptist context that was at that time at best suspicious of Roman Catholics and “liberal” mainline denominations. However, as an adult and in my pastoral career, I have enjoyed and spiritually benefited greatly from interaction with both Catholics and “Mainliners.” While I would hope that those with whom I grew up and who contributed immeasurably to my spiritual vigor and biblical literacy would still recognize me as kin and partner disciple of Jesus, I am sure many of them would group me with “Mainline liberals.”

I know these divisions have also been deep and distressing, but I sense something different happening in the last decade or probably more. My point is not historical analysis but exploring in God’s presence my own responses. With the impeachment trial of Donald Trump underway, this schism among those I love and count as my kindred as disciples of Jesus seems not only to be increasingly acute but also increasingly public. Though fed by the political feuds going on in the country, the dramatically discordant perspectives of Donald Trump suggest profoundly contrasting views of the role of the Church – Christ’s people – in the broader society. I have frequently observed that to me this seems parallel to the struggle between the Confessing Church and the German Christians in Germany (1933-1945).

My understanding is that these distinctions are rather different than the issues that fueled the “modernist-fundamentalist” debates of a previous generation. In the evangelical-Baptist context in which I grew up, we were regularly reminded that we were distinct from the dominant culture, encouraged with things such as the children’s song “Dare to be a Daniel, dare to stand alone.” Respect for and recognition of theological and historical connections with Anabaptists prepared me to make a more direct connection with that tradition as an adult (though only in the last few years actually participating in a Mennonite congregation). Part of the criticism of “Mainline” liberals was that they had diluted and maybe distorted the Gospel by participating in the political processes of the time.

I want to be fair about my characterizations and know that a summary line can’t convey all of the nuances or everything that adherents of a position consider important. So with that disclaimer, I hope these two sentences capture enough of the contrast to understand my concern about current conflicts among Christians. On one side are those who defend Donald Trump as protecting and promoting traditional Christian rights and privilege in US society. On the other side are those who find Donald Trump’s policies and personal life antithetical to the teaching and example of Jesus. I have no way of knowing what transpires in Donald Trump’s heart between him and God, and I am not asserting comprehensive accuracy of either characterization, only suggesting why I think the nature of this schism is distinct in our time. I am sure that whichever statement someone most identifies with, they are aware of friends, relatives, fellow church members, partners in ministry who identify with the other one, and the relationship has been stifled if not damaged as a result.

I felt this as I prayed through my usual Psalms this morning. Psalm 55:12-14 prompted an extensive conversation with God about my sense of separation from some who have been dear to me and who made important contributions to my spiritual journey and ministry. “It is not enemies who taunt me— I could bear that; it is not adversaries who deal insolently with me— I could hide from them. But it is you, my equal, my companion, my familiar friend, with whom I kept pleasant company; we walked in the house of God with the throng.”

Some of the language of the Psalm is harsh, and I had to work through that to acknowledge that while I don’t have such strong feelings as that, I do find myself befuddled at best about the attitudes of some who I am sure believe I have headed in the wrong direction. When I came to verse 22, I talked with God at some length about how hard I often find relinquishing my own untoward emotions. “Cast your burden on the Lord, and he will sustain you.” Of course, in that conversation I included the paraphrase of this verse in 1 Peter 5:7. “Cast all your anxiety on him, because he cares for you.” KJV renders this, perhaps more poetically but not as powerfully, as “Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.”

After a rather extended time in Psalm 55, I moved on to Psalm 85 and found this line expressed well my deep longing. “Will you not revive us again, so that your people may rejoice in you?” (v. 6)

Then in verses 10-11 suggested the reconciliation for which I anguish and pray. “Steadfast love and faithfulness will meet; righteousness [justice NEB] and peace will kiss each other. Faithfulness will spring up from the ground, and righteousness [justice NEB] will look down from the sky.”