Kopp Disclosure
(John 3:19-21)
@#$%
@#$%
I've got a
presbytery meeting on Tuesday.
For undershepherding guys/gals
like me in the PCUSA, it's a vocational hazard.
If you're
not "connected" to my/our particular franchise aka
denomination, you don't care what PCUSA stands for; so why take up space
which bears some irony because those in it don't seem to care as much about it
as they used to pretend?!?!
True.
But for folks not
in my/our particular ecclesiastical ghetto, a presbytery is a bunch of pastors
and elders in equal numbers in geographical proximity who get together so
much more than necessary to make decisions/pontifications that nobody really
cares about less than more yet they do it anyway to kinda prove to
constituents that they're still really important.
Or something like
that.
Don't get me
wrong.
I like our
presbytery; and it's a lot better than most these days in that it's still kinda
irenic in a redemptive kinda way.
The coffee is
usually good, we get brownies, and I get to see my friends, foes, peers,
posers, and others.
It's just - Psst! This is a secret that
nobody should know back in the churches that underwrite the cost of these
meetings a la gas, vehicular wear and tear, paper, refreshments, person hours,
and the like - that we really don't need to meet as often as
we do for what we don't accomplish.
Again, I kinda
like to go anyway to support a presbytery that's still trying to honor
connections in a John 17, 1 Corinthians 12, and Romans 12 kinda way.
It's worth my...
And guessing your
franchise ain't much different in the short run, it may be worth your time to
read on.
@#$%
@#$%
We get advance
copies of committee reports before meetings to inform our prayers, bantering,
and moaning.
What caught my
attention in the recent batch was a very handsome compensatory package (salary)
being given to a rookie youth director in a fabulously well-to-do church.
I compared what
the rookie just out of seminary and about to be ordained is gonna get to the
packages that others in the presbytery who've been around a lot longer with
some having been ordained even before he was a gleam in his momma's...
Coupling that
with knowledge of others who haven't had increases in theirs for, uh, a long
time...
Simply, the
rookie is gonna get lots more than an unhealthy % of our presbytery.
Parenthetically, before
the cynical, suspicious, and distrusting assume I'm campaigning pour moi, I get
paid, uh, O.K. for the times; and while my latest book wasn't written with cash
in mind/spirit, I may...
Moreover, I know
Jesus has concerns when we're upset about how He can be so generous with
others...
However, if we're
really as connected as we say we are, wouldn't it be nice to chip in connectionally to assist
those who aren't serving in such a fabulously well-to-do church that can, uh,
afford to distort market value?
When I was the
"senior" pastor - Don't
you love the humility of that designation? Where does Jesus fit
into churches that already have a "senior" pastor? -
of three really rich churches, I couldn't rid myself of the guilt of getting paid
less than I wanted but more than I deserved until I started insisting we and
even selfish me share what
we had with those who had not.
It seemed like
the only "connectional" thing to do in a Matthew 25 kinda way.
Again, I'm not
begrudging the generosity to the rookie, uh, free agent - I mean the Yankees do it! - but
we're supposed to care about everybody in the franchise and beyond the borders of our
parochial ghetto in a connectional Christian kinda way.
You know,
"As you do it to/for them, you do it to/for..."
Because I can't
even get folks to pimp my book at presbytery meetings, I'm not gonna bring it
up at tomorrow's meeting.
I hope somebody
is connectionally caring enough to do it.
It's wrong.
@#$%
Of course, these
aren't good days for any kinda connectionalism.
Let's face it.
Franchises are
being torn apart by folks who've never read/digested true discipleship
directives like John 17, 1 Corinthians 12, and Romans 12.
Our country is
being torn apart by increasing ideologically and politically partisan politics.
We can't even get
folks to behave at youth sports events.
Look what
happened after the, uh, Patriots lost the Super Bowl.
Boston.
True.
But that ain't a
license for anyone trying to be true to Him.
Being connected
has responsibilities...like when anyone in our connections needs...
@#$%
One of my
homiletics professors often said, "Never end anything with an
interrogative!"
He's dead.
So I'm gonna take
a risk.
Does anyone
familiar with Jesus think Jesus would smile at churches and clergy who live
that much better than...?
Nah.
I think He'd ask
rhetorically, "How did you miss what I said about...?"
@#$%
@#$%
Blessings and Love!
No comments:
Post a Comment