A tiny Appalachian church in Pike County has voted to ban interracial couples from joining its flock, pitting members against each other in an argument over race.
Members at the Gulnare Free Will Baptist Church voted Sunday on the resolution, which says the church "does not condone interracial marriage."
Member Melvin Thompson crafted the resolution but said Wednesday that he is not racist. The church secretary, Dean Harville, disagrees. The resolution followed a visit to the church by Harville's daughter, who is white, and her African boyfriend.
"I am not racist. I will tell you that. I am not prejudiced against any race of people, have never in my lifetime spoke evil about a race," said Thompson, the church's former pastor who stepped down earlier this year. "That's what this is being portrayed as, but it is not."
He called the matter an "internal affair" of the church.
It isn't, Reverend? Let's see, the resolution is that interracial couples cannot become members . . . specifically because of their interracial relationship. No, ah, that is racist.
But that's not my quibble here. The article states that a vote was taken among the members and the final tally was 9 to 6 to exclude this couple. Here is my question - where was the pastor of this church?
Perhaps the church's "internal affairs" are managed by its members. But isn't the pastor there to act to ensure that God's law and love is established in his church? It seems to me that there are only two things at play here: (1) either the pastor is a weasel and hides behind the church's "policy" of having "internal affairs" managed by a vote of members of the congreation, who likely also vote on his salary - so it is important for him always to be Mr. Nice Guy - or, (2) he is a racist as well.
Maybe the pastor of this church is a racist. In that case, he needs to be removed, for his teaching is a sickness that is infecting the souls of his congregation. The pastor plays the role here on Earth as the Good Shepherd. This does not mean he is expected to be perfect as Christ is, only that he is to be discerning as to whether he is acting in His stead properly, because before the pastor can shepherd His people, he has to be up for the task. Or step down. Or be removed.
So let's look instead at the first possibility. Although I am a Catholic - and nothing will deter me from that, not even when men of God act stupidly within my own faith - I admire a quote ascribed to Martin Luther: "Be a sinner, and let your sins be strong (sin boldly), but let your trust in Christ be stronger, and rejoice in Christ who is the victor over sin, death, and the world." Was Luther really telling us to sin? Of course not; but one interpretation of that can be to take chances, to be human as Christ was, to love one another, even if it means you may stray into sin unintentionally . . . or if it means that sometimes you piss off people or they hurt you. It means do not be afraid - because if your faith in Christ is the stronger, than His love wins. All the time.
Christ was fully human and fully divine. We can only strive to be as close to the latter as possible. Sometimes, when I am at Mass, I get a sense of that - I look around at people in my parish, I look at the priest, and I can almost imagine a scene I once read in a book by Chaim Potok, The Gift of Asher Lev, where the family of the protagonist, Asher Lev, is at the Shabbos table with his family. Potok writes:
We ate and talked and sang, and there was an abundance of food and wine and brandies and liquers, and the light softened and filled with haloes.
"Filled with haloes" - when we are at Mass, and in the Presence of Christ, we might take that step closer to God and in the light of the candles and the worship, perhaps even inchoate haloes form around us, as we take that hopeful step closer to sainthood.
But to be fully human? We fail there. Oh, we are human, all right, but faulty. We face the divine at Mass . . . and then go straight out and sin, or, at the least, display our warts of our humanity.
I think the Christian pastor or priest has a duty to lead his people to God by trying to do the right thing. It is a daunting task - and I hope that men carefully discern that before they decide to accept the responsibility. But I am not saying they need to be these Super Paradigms o' Perfection . . . I only ask that they take the time to reflect upon their vocation and determine what Jesus would do - not themselves, not some other guy - but Christ.
And then? To quote Nike's brand, just do it - even if it means your congregation or those who love you will turn against you, or be angry. Take that chance and "sin boldly" - or question whether you have the balls to act in persona Christi.
Matthew 18: 15-17. Sin boldly.
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