Creeds and Deeds

"Creedal reductionism does not want to acknowledge this God who leaks out beyond good doctrine." Walter Brueggemann

Recently, I was sitting in a restaurant reading a book when I overheard a man in the booth behind me berating a couple for getting married. The discussion was so loud that I couldn't shut it out. The berater, as the scene developed, was a pastor. The beratees were a couple, both of whom had been divorced, and had now decided to marry. The pastor threatened that if this couple were to marry, they would lose their standing in the church. Never again would they be allowed to hold any church office, and though God would forgive them, He would never bless them. The religionist then pulled from his bag of theological certainty a number of scriptural passages pertaining to marriage and divorce. The pastor anchored the onslaught at the end of his diatribe by saying, "This is not my opinion. It is the word of God." Aha, the trump card.

After the three people left, I reflected upon the emotional displays I had just heard. The couple were broken, hesitant, confused, and pleading for understanding. The pastor conveyed anger, disapproval, condemnation, and self-righteousness. Grace was absent; not even the grace to just be present. At issue for me was not the accuracy or inaccuracy of the pastor's biblical interpretation, but the absence of empathy for a pair of parishioners looking for counsel. I felt compassion for the couple, judgment toward the pastor.

In his wonderful book, The Return of the Prodigal, Henri Nouwen states, "There is so much resentment among the 'just' and the 'righteous.' There is so much judgment, condemnation, and prejudice among the 'saints.' There is so much frozen anger among the people who are so concerned about avoiding 'sin.'" As an expert Sin Avoider myself, I find that I am often like the pastor in the restaurant. Of course, his attitudes were highly offensive to me, a mere observer. "He deserves my righteous judgment," I thought to myself in self-righteous indignation. My own sinful attitudes usually fly under the radar of self-awareness.

So for me, there are two issues. One is creedal arrogance. In whatever form it comes or from whomever it emanates, it is repugnant even if I agree with the creed. That is because, aside from matters of the meaning and interpretation of the sacred text, projections of certainty become projectiles of heartlessness when hurled at people looking for help. We should feel offended when a caretaker acts like an undertaker, burying people under a scriptural mudslide.

The second issue is always my own heart, however. It is instinctive to want to fight fire with fire. Indeed, that is my nature. If someone else acts offensively, doesn't that person deserve to be acted upon offensively? The problem, as Father Nouwen points out, is that we are all kin. We are of the anthropological genus Homo sapiens. Spiritually, we are all sinners. Our only saving grace is really not ours, but is a grace-gift given to us because our Creator is a God not strait-jacketed by good doctrine. He leaks outside creedal pronouncements in order to perpetuate relationship with his creation. The blessing of ongoing relationship is a gift too good to turn down.