'Lord, have mercy'.I was asked this fall to participate in an NPR NPR In currencies, this is the abbreviation for the Nepal Rupee. Notes: The currency market, also known as the Foreign Exchange market, is the largest financial market in the world, with a daily average volume of over US $1 trillion. dialogue about the resignation of former National Association of Evangelicals The National Association of Evangelicals (NAE) is an agency dedicated to coordinating cooperative ministry for evangelical denominations of Protestant Christians in the United States. president Ted Haggard. Two things struck me about the dialogue. First, compassion. The tone of the conversation was not glee at the fall of a hypocrite, but rather sadness and empathy at the suffering of a fellow human being--before and after his resignation. I'm sure there has been some glee, both among secular people who saw Haggard as their political enemy and among religious people of a certain type who find it easy and legitimate to disregard the words of 1 Corinthians 13, the "Golden Rule," and the Sermon on the Mount Sermon on the Mount Biblical collection of religious teachings and ethical sayings attributed to Jesus, as reported in the Gospel of St. Matthew. The sermon was addressed to disciples and a large crowd of listeners to guide them in a life of discipline based on a new law of . I have been especially moved, both on the NPR program and elsewhere, by the compassion expressed by many in the gay community and by many evangelicals, both of whom may have found reasons to respond otherwise. Second, hope. A number of people on the program expressed hope that this trauma in the evangelical community will increase understanding about the issue of homosexuality, that it will bring to light the complexity and depth of pain experienced by people for whom heterosexual drives are not inborn inborn /in·born/ (in´born?) 1. genetically determined, and present at birth. 2. congenital. in·born adj. 1. Possessed by an organism at birth. 2. and exclusive. Perhaps this painful story will help more preachers (like myself) to back away from the easy answers and binary thinking that are so easy to dispense and to reject the simplistic sim·plism n. The tendency to oversimplify an issue or a problem by ignoring complexities or complications. [French simplisme, from simple, simple, from Old French; see simple moralism mor·al·ism n. 1. A conventional moral maxim or attitude. 2. The act or practice of moralizing. 3. Often undue concern for morality. Jesus diagnosed in the Pharisees Pharisees (fâr`ĭsēz), one of the two great Jewish religious and political parties of the second commonwealth. Their opponents were the Sadducees, and it appears that the Sadducees gave them their name, perushim, who, he said, loaded up burdens on the backs of others that they themselves couldn't bear. I've met Haggard on a few occasions and he impressed me as a compassionate and hopeful person himself. I join millions of people--Christian and non-Christian, straight and gay--who pray for God's presence, strength, and guidance for him, his family, and his church, and for colleagues at the National Association of Evangelicals, too, as they grapple with the complex realities of the human condition which we all share. It's Sunday as I write these words, and in an hour or so I'Il be in church, and we'll pray, "Lord, have mercy." The older I get, and the more I experience, the more weight and meaning those simple words carry. Brian McLaren is an author, speaker, and board member of Sojourners/Call to Renewal. |
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