When Love Begins to Sicken
Observation
Charles Ellis
Dr. G. Stanford West was a noted professor of psychology and
philosophy and the author of the book, The Church and the Modern Mind. Rev.
Toby Jones had graduated from seminary two years earlier and was looking
forward to being called to his first pulpit. Rev. Jones had sought Dr.
West's advice on how to have a successful ministry and a fulfilling
career.
"Toby, I see from your resume that your associated with a mainline
Protestant denomination in the congregationalist tradition." Dr. West
said.
"That's right Dr. West, it's a priesthood of all believers thing" Toby
replied.
"Toby, you've got to have a game plan. What's your strategy, what do
you expect to accomplish?"
"Well, let me see." Toby said leaning forward in his chair. "I guess
it's a matter of personal growth by each member of the church, you
know, achieving full personhood: spiritual depth, intellectual
understanding, moral strength, that sort of thing. Transcending the here and now,
seeing possibilities in the actual. Healing where you must, creating
where you can. Strong members making a strong body."
"Toby, it's the obligation of the church to harness and channel that
kind of energy." Dr. West said, leaning back in his chair. "The church
is like any other institution. There have got to be leaders and there
have got to be followers."
"I kinda look at it as a search for the Truth. If it's the same Truth
for everybody then we're all trying to get to the same place.
Everybody has got to find it for themselves and I'm just here to do what I can
to help."
"Let me give you an example. Consider a professor of accounting at
the college. Some of his students graduate and become better accountants
than the professor ever thought of being. But there's no problem. The
students are long gone pursuing their own careers and the professor is
still at the college teaching would-be accountants."
"OK. So"
"In church nobody ever graduates. What if all the members had
religious and theological insights that competed with the preacher's. It
would be chaos. Everybody talking at the same time; everybody with their
own version of the Truth. No Toby, there's got to be one leader of the
church and that's got to be you."
"How do you make that happen?"
"You've got to establish your authority early. Take the worship
service for example. Emotionally it can be like the great cathedrals of the
world, you know the great hymns, scripture reading, that sort of thing.
But, psychologically its got to be like the 3rd grade."
"3rd grade?"
"There's got to be a relationship of authority, like that between a
teacher and a pupil or a parent and child, and its got to be permanent."
"And, how do you make that happen?"
"Well, you already have a head start on it. Back in the 50's the
ministers in you tradition starting wearing academic robes during worship
service."
".....and?"
"Well, besides the symbol of the teacher wearing an academic robe and
the students sitting on their benches, the robe is also the symbol of a
priestly class and a priestly class is the indication of an
authoritarian church. Its only a symbol but when a person comes to worship his
conscience is very receptive and symbols work very deeply in his psyche.
And, the assumption is that a priest posses special knowledge and
power."
"You think anybody really believes that?"
"Well, he does have the power of the pulpit. Remember, the sermon is
a monologue. It's a no questions asked lecture; and during a worship
service the members submit themselves to the authority of the preacher.
Like a gardener you can use your pulpit to make a point that prunes any
new growth to conform to your will. Eventually whatever growth that is
left will be to your liking.
"Huh, a room full of potted plants." Toby said, feeling pleased with
himself.
"Toby, the word needs to get around pretty fast that if you're a
pansy in a petunia patch you'll be trimmed down to size."
"I guess that's what they mean by the bully pulpit."
"My advise is to keep the theme of your sermons to living a moral life
and supporting the church programs. No one can ever do enough and it
keeps everybody on the defensive Just lately they've introduced a new
twist in worship service that drives home the 3rd grade mind set. It's
the moment of friendship. On command from the preacher everybody turns
around and says hello to their pew neighbor. I frankly didn't think it
would float."
"Why not."
"Well, first it chips away at a person's dignity but the more you can
treat them like children the easier it is to establish the psychology
of 3rd grade. Second, it trivializes the purpose for which the people
are gathered and it trivializes the friendly greeting because it's done
under compulsion."
"Like Mr. Shakespeare wrote: "When love begins to sicken and decay it
useth an enforced ceremony."
"Very good Toby, I didn't know you quoted the Bard. Anyway, I always
thought it was a little juvenile but, you just take what they give you.
The same goes for making the congregation hold hands. It creates the
appearance of good will without creating the reality. Besides, how can
you get in a worshipful state of mind when your thinking about whose
beefy hand your going to be holding."
"So the idea is not to come as a child but to become childish."
"To beef up the psychological dependency factor some churches are
having their members come down front to receive communion from the
preacher."
"What if someone doesn't want to do that?"
"You can always marginalize them."
"You mean dip them in a butter product?" Toby said innocently.
"Nooouh! Marginalize, psychologically isolate them. The preacher
just announces that anyone that doesn't want to come down front can remain
in their seat and communion will be brought to them. Pretty soon those
folks will start looking like grumpy ol aginners. I'm telling you
that's pretty strong psychological stuff. In fact some of the ministers
are having their members kneel before them or their pulpit. A lot of
people aren't ready for that yet but its really a strong symbol of
submissiveness."
"But Dr. West congregationalists churches are governed by the members
of the church."
"Toby, there are two parts to a church: the preacher and the
congregation. The promise of the congregational concept is that each lay member
will grow into spiritual leaders. They will be selected by the
congregation and their service to the church will itself be a means of
spiritual growth. In actual practice the preacher is the leader of the
church. The system of church government provides for lay participation but
not lay leadership in any meaningful sense. The church government is a
jumble of boards and committees where none of them know what the other
is doing and the only common element is the preacher. The preacher can
usually convince everyone that the unanimous vote is a religious virtue
so when the congregation meets everybody is pretty much aware that
their church life goes better if they don't disagree with the preacher.
Remember the power of the pulpit."
"But Dr. West, even good parents allow their children to be free to
mature. In fact they insist on it. After maturity the paternalistic
relationship becomes friendship. That's genuine love. A child who
remains emotionally or psychologically dependent on his mother or father all
his life never grows into full personhood."
"Toby, there's a season for all things. There's a season for love and
there's a season for power. So long as the congregation is responsive
to your will you can afford to be paternalistic, like a good and loving
father, but with the understanding that father knows best."
"Dr. West, power can change behavior but only love can change lives."
Toby said, becoming a little restless. "All the mainline Protestant
churches are losing members and the congregational denominations are
leading the charge toward extinction. They suffer from a schizophrenia.
They are free in form but authoritarian in function. The short version
is that they're becoming preacher cults and that leads to spiritual
exhaustion. That shouldn't be. Religion is to life as good health is to
living and life is a serious business and this is an adult world. A
mature love has to be armed with spiritual depth, intellectual
understanding and a moral strength, otherwise it can't bear fruit."
"Toby, personal growth is scary. When you grow you leave things that
are familiar and enter into things that are not. It's a journey in
the wilderness; its lonely. People want the comfort of belonging to
something they can depend on. They want to be happy hostages in a church
they can be proud of. What more can you expect?"
"Graduation to 4th grade?"
Charles Ellis has been a member of the Christian Church (Disciples of
Christ). He is presently a member of the Mayflower Congregational
Church (United Church of Christ) in Oklahoma City.
When Love Begins to Sicken© COPYRIGHT 2005 Charles Ellis .
Reproduction prohibited without permission from the author.
11/28/05
