If we are separated....

Travelling Together
by W.S. Merwin

If we are separated I will
try to wait for you
on your side of things

your side of the wall and the water
and of the light moving at its own speed
even on leaves that we have seen
I will wait on one side

while a side is there

We’ve made it through another annual session of Northwest Yearly Meeting, and we’re still together. We were unable to come to consensus on last year’s decision by the yearly meeting elders (among whom I serve) on releasing West Hills Friends Church from membership in the yearly meeting. I rejoice that this meeting is still with us, although the process—Lord, have mercy—is ongoing. Our deliberations were gracious and peaceful on the surface. (We behaved with civility). Yet the underlying tensions were obvious.

So our unity feels tenuous to me, and all the more precious because of that.

Early this morning, W.S. Merwin’s little poem spoke to my condition and seemed like a love song I could sing to Northwest Yearly Meeting of Friends.

And so I offer this to you, whoever you are. Wherever you are. Friend, friend, or both.

NWYM and human sexuality: to remember or to forget?

Let me begin with a true confession. I am a member of the board of elders of Northwest Yearly Meeting. Just a week ago we “released” West Hills Friends Church to follow the way they’ve discerned that God has been leading them, in acknowledgement that NWYM can’t tolerate this level of diversity, at this point in time, without breaking apart.

I am also a blogger and, as such, enjoy being a member of the wider community of Friends. But this month (I’m writing on the last day of July) is the first in which I have not been able to write a single blog or, more seriously, a single poem. The agony preceding, in the midst of, and following our decision has drained the words. Before yearly meeting, I found that the only way I could pray was, “Lord, have mercy.” And in the first four days following the announcement, all I could pray was, “I’m so sorry.” Over and over and over.

Eventually I sensed the voice of God—and definitely heard the voice of my husband—saying, “Enough, Nancy. You’re forgiven. Stop saying, ‘I’m sorry.’”

I want to acknowledge the other voices, the voices of care and compassion that have reached out to West Hills Friends. And to me. Many people from my own congregation, North Valley Friends, divided on the issues of human sexuality, have approached me with concern and love, even while they are agonizing over the decision.

I especially want to acknowledge the attitude of WHF. Throughout the two-year process we’ve recently gone through, and during and after yearly meeting, believers from this congregation have been so gracious and respectful. That continues, in spite of the grief and pain. I’ve had emails from individuals at WHF this week, asking if I’m alright, expressing concern and encouraging me. One said, “Yes! Of course we’re still friends!”

Soon after the decision was released, I was invited to a meeting of young adults of NWYM, those who were especially concerned (read, “outraged,” or “anguished”) by the decision. They included many members of my congregation, extended family members, and young people who were MKs when I served as a missionary in Bolivia. They also included several members of WHF. Most of these came up to hug me at the close of the meeting.

Back to West Hills, I think that if I were still in my idealistic little girl stage of life, I would look to these sisters and brothers and think to myself, “That’s how I want to be when I grow up.”

I also want to acknowledge my fellow and sister members of the board of elders. We went into yearly meeting week mindful of the differing perspectives we represented, matching the whole gamut of positions in the wider yearly meeting. But throughout the week we managed to proceed with love and respect for each other. And we did indeed come to a new place. We found we could not find fault with WHF for not “being in compliance” with a section of Faith & Practice that the yearly meeting no longer holds in consensus. We realized that we had a deeper level of theological discernment ahead of us. And we also sensed the pain of the whole yearly meeting, coming from both sides of the issue, and our sense of the possible results of any decision. We came to the language of “releasing” WHF out of our growing respect for the way these brothers and sisters were moving forward, our desire for their spiritual prosperity and our hope for a future reconnection. Individual members of the board grieved our decision for different reasons, but we all grieved.

 I realize that what I write here may meet with cynicism. I’ll take it as it comes and probably keep silent. (That’s a prediction, not a promise.) I do find hope in the movement of young adults and others to appeal the elders’ decision. This brings more people into the discernment process and perhaps will lead to a better way forward, although getting there will continue to be hard.

While I’m more inclined to short blogs, and this one has already leaped the bounds of that ideal, I want to reflect on a section of Scripture that is guiding me as I reflect on the deeper issues of human sexuality. Some time ago I ran across several parallel passages in the book of Isaiah that amazed and delighted me. I love biblical contradictions that in time tell me I’ve gotten their name wrong. Not “contradiction” they insist. Our name is “paradox.” So, here it is.

In Isaiah 46:9, the word of the Lord comes through the prophet to tell the people of Israel, “Remember the former things, those of long ago; I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me.” The passage goes on. And in many other places throughout the Scriptures, God encourages us to value the old ways, the holy traditions and understandings that have been faithfully handed down to us, as we also remember God’s loving acts toward God’s people in the past.

Here’s the parallel passage, a few chapters distant, but coming from the same historical context. Hear the word of the Lord, through the prophet Isaiah: “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wilderness” (43:18-19).

So which is it? Are we facing the threat of straying from the ancient path of God, giving in to ungodly pressures from our surrounding context? (This often has happened in the history of the Christian church.) Or is the Spirit of God showing us something new, something that includes new light on the meanings behind the Scriptures? (This often has happened in the history of the Christian church.)

I find myself right-smacky-dab (as my Grandma would have phrased it) in the middle. I hear truth from both sides. I did get a word from the Lord recently that I feel is sound and real. I asked God to show me which way was true (remember or forget?), and I sensed the Spirit saying, “I’m not going to tell you as an individual; I will reveal this mystery to the gathered body.” But I have no sense of how long this revelation with take. I’m sure God can speak faster than the speed of light, but we’re not always so quick at hearing.

I do have the advantage of my personality type. I’m a poet. I love mystery and am highly tolerant of ambiguity. I can wait my way through pain. But not without the hope of an answer. One of my pastors reminded me this week of a quote by Rainer Maria Rilke (already underlined in my own copy of his book), writing to a “young poet”:

“…I would like to beg you, dear Sir, as well as I can, to have patience with everything that is unsolved in your heart and to try to cherish the questions themselves, like closed rooms and like books written in a very strange tongue. Do not search now for the answers which cannot be given you because you could not live them. It is a matter of living everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps you will then gradually, without noticing it, one distant day live right into the answer.”

The only part of that I find issue with is the injunction not to search now. We don’t dare stop searching. Only God can help us live the answers.

In the meantime, I would encourage all of us to drop the language of “villains” and “victims.” We can turn the “meantime” into a kinder time by the way we treat each other and talk about each other.

Here are some prayer requests for the larger body of Quakers, ways to hold NWYM in the light:

--Pray for the LGBTQ people in our midst, as others have pleaded, that they can understand they are not being rejected once again.

--Pray for a way for us to stay together and do the hard word of discernment required of us.

--Pray that we can, even now, reach out with compassion and be Friends of Jesus right where we are—and anywhere else in the world God sends us.

A friend of a friend of the pope

The fact that I am a friend of a friend of Pope Francis does not really enhance my status or sense of self, but it does help me to appreciate the man behind the office. It helps me know how to pray.

My friend, Norberto Saracco, directs a seminary and pastors a congregation in Buenos Aires. I see him twice a year when we come together with other colleagues for meetings of the academic council of PRODOLA (the Latin American Doctoral Program in Theology).

Last week Norberto sent me an article he had just written about the pope. I translated it to English and asked his permission to share it here. Please note that it is primarily addressed to a Latin American evangelical audience.

“PRAY FOR ME”

by Norberto Saracco

A Personal Testimony

I first met Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio, today Pope Francis, in 2001. That year has a special place in the memory of all Argentinians; in the month of December we were forced to face the worse economic and social crisis in our history. Concurrently, the National Council of Evangelicals and the Argentine Catholic Episcopacy were meeting to work on a new law for religious equality. After the opening devotional, Cardinal Bergoglio spoke, saying, “We can’t be in here working on this law while outside our people are convulsed and desperate.” He continued with a new proposal for the meeting, saying, “Let’s talk about what we can do together, about how we can pool our resources for the service of the people.”

Two years later we began regularly bringing together evangelical pastors and laypeople with Catholic priests. This resulted in the formation of CRECES (the Renovated Communion of Evangelicals and Catholics in the Holy Spirit). Our purpose: “To proclaim Jesus Christ.” Cardinal Bergoglio has totally supported this initiative.

An important highlight of the CRECES movement was the Third Encounter in June 2006. After expressing his joy upon seeing the multitude of evangelicals and Catholics in what he called “a reconciled diversity,” and sharing a brief message, Cardinal Bergoglio asked, as was his custom, that we pray for him. Those of us who were on the platform gathered around him. The photograph of the kneeling cardinal surrounded by pastors laying their hands on him had an unexpected impact. A Catholic magazine published the photo on its cover with the large headline, “APOSTATE!”

Nevertheless, and in spite of internal pressures, the support of the cardinal and his personal relationship with the evangelical community continued to grow. He promoted several retreats between priests and pastors in which he personally participated, and he encouraged the joint distribution of Bibles, as well as evangelistic efforts and all that had to do with the promotion of unity between Christians and the exaltation of Jesus Christ.

Two years ago, we evangelical pastors were invited to a Pentecost Sunday mass in the central cathedral. After finishing his homily, Cardinal Bergoglio addressed the crowd, telling how Catholics had persecuted evangelicals. He concluded by publically asking pardon.

We continued meeting for prayer several times a year, whether in his office or in one of ours. We grew to know him as a man of great wisdom and deep spirituality. I called him the day before he left for Rome. At the end of our conversation, he asked, as he always did, “Pray for me.”

Pope Francis: Possibilities and Challenges

The Catholic Church is passing through one of its worse moments: child abuse scandals, corruption in the Vatican with hints of connections to the Mafia, crisis in the vocational ministries, massive losses of the faithful, and other issues. Francis knows that he has accepted the challenge of becoming Pope in order to bring about deep changes. In the few days of his papacy he has given some interesting signals. Now he has the challenge of moving beyond gestures into the reality of actions. It won’t be easy. Both the moving on of an old Pope and the election of a new Pope provoke worldwide unrest for various reasons, not necessarily religious. It falls on us as men and women of faith to try to discern the times, to understand how the Lord of history is moving and what He is saying. Let’s look at a few signs.

a.) The first thing that calls our attention is upsurge of religious fervor. In many cases this is an expression of popular religion that is not necessarily Christian. But it also certainly expresses a hunger and thirst for God. Millions of people on our continent live in a spiritual desert and are seeking God.

b.) The power of personal testimony. The impact of Francis comes, not from his discourses (although his words are both powerful and meaningful), but from his life. People are talking about what he did, not what he said. What appear to be devastating arguments from his accusers melt before the testimony of his life.

c.) The power of love. His gesture of respect and good will toward the President (President Christina Kirchner of Argentina) served to change the attitudes of a government that had held her hostage and shown her disrespect during the course of 10 years. More importantly, it broke the fiery spirit of confrontation that has dominated our society.

d.) The value of poverty. Not poverty in the sense of a lack of goods that leads to misery, but poverty as an attitude of life that gives to one’s neighbor, lives with simplicity, and prioritizes the weakest among us.

While it is certain that many things separate us as evangelicals from the Catholic Church, both in matters of doctrine and of practice, I sense that God is speaking to us in the election of Francis and in what is happening as a result.

a.) God is calling us to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ with more fervor and passion. People are desperately seeking God. This is a time of announcement, proclamation and mission.

b.) God is calling us to live the gospel. We have crafted a false, hedonist, superficial, emotional gospel. Just as our lives have not changed, neither has our society, in spite of the proliferation of churches. We have fastened our sights on religious marketing strategies that have engorged our churches but not extended the Kingdom of God. We need to emphasize the transforming power of the gospel, and this only happens as we teach our people to obey God’s word.

c.) God is calling us to radically live out His love, by loving and accepting our neighbor, selflessly offering our service, and becoming instruments of reconciliation.

d.) God is calling us to a life style that honors His gospel. Some are preaching a false gospel of prosperity and consumerism. This is a “gospel” that exalts the worse aspects of human nature: egotism, ambition and vanity. It’s time to return to the simplicity of the gospel.

The challenge is huge. Because of this, God is calling into unity those of us who believe in Jesus Christ and intend to be faithful, be we Catholics or evangelicals. It is not to an institutional unity, but a unity in the holiness of His word, in the power of His Spirit and in mission. Pope Francis has before him the difficult tasks of cleansing the church, ridding her of idolatry, putting her on a path toward holiness, and preaching Jesus Christ. He can’t do it alone, and because he has asked it of us, let us pray for him.

“Something better than revival”

A few weeks ago I was browsing the June edition of Christianity Today when a photo grabbed my attention. “Hey!” I almost said out loud, “I know those people!” My friends Norberto and Carmen Saracco stood out in a photo of pastors in Buenos Aires, and the article, “Something Better than Revival,” by CT news editor Jeremy Weber, told the story of the Council of Pastors in Argentina’s capital city.

The article also mentions church historian, Pablo Deiros. Norberto and Pablo are teaching colleagues of ours on the academic council of PRODOLA, a Latin American graduate program in theology. Norberto had shared about the unity movement of churches in Buenos Aires, so the information was not new, but I gained a new sense of the scope and the significance of what CT is calling “perhaps the most remarkable experiment in citywide church unity today.” The story is fascinating, and I encourage you to read the article for yourselves.

It’s interesting to note how the movement has evolved from friendships between pastors across denominational lines, to friendships between churches, and now to united missional efforts in the center of Buenos Aires. One of their latest endeavors was the joint sending of a missionary couple to North Africa, a model that gives hope for carrying out the Great Commission in spite of the economic realities of Latin America.

This kind of unity has not been easy to achieve, especially given some of the differences between the more liberal mainline churches and the evangelical churches. Pastors have adopted certain basic theological elements and agreed to differ on the rest. It seems to be working. One of the founders, Juan Pablo Bongarrá, says, “Today the mainline churches are helping the evangelical churches do social work, and the evangelical churches are helping the mainline churches do evangelism work.” The article goes on to state that “Christians now enjoy greater leverage in the public square because they can present a united front when confronting the government.”

Something the article does not mention is the unity movement in Argentina between Protestants and Catholics, especially those that identify with the charismatic/Pentecostal emphasis. Norberto is also a leader in this movement.

I think of my own faith community, that of the Quakers, with all our divisions and differences. I’m encouraged by the convergent Friends movement, but I wish we as Friends could also make more intentional moves toward the greater unity of the whole body of Christ. Perhaps this is something better carried out locally than globally.