Stranger in a Strange Land

Greetings and Blessings in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ!

You have discovered my blog. Welcome! I am glad you are here. I invite you to take a look around and read some of my thoughts. As you do, however, I would like to say the following by way of introduction.

I, like yourself, am a work in progress. I am a student of God and I am not done yet. You may disagree with some, much or all of what you read here, but you must understand that I am a growing, maturing human being. I am “in process”, as it were.

I recently contacted the Sr. pastor of a church regarding a job posting for a children’s pastor. He responded exuberantly and asked if we could have a phone conversation later in the week. I agreed and asked him to let me know when and at what number to call him. The next day I got the following:

Thanks for responding so quickly back. Unfortunately, I am sorry that after reviewing your blog, I don’t think you would be a good fit for a children’s pastor. Your views on gays and abortion are in complete contradiction to the Bible.

Now, this man was well within his rights as the leader of his flock to say this to me. He has every right to choose someone for his staff who agrees with his theology and will support the things he and his church think are important. What troubles me, is that he didn’t even bother to talk to me about them. He read some things that I had written and discounted me altogether.

Another thing which bothers me is he made no reference to my Phil. 1:6 series on the good work that our Lord Jesus is doing in my life. In order to be a pastor, do I need to have arrived? Was this man saying, “I have complete knowledge of ultimate truth and since you don’t agree with me, you have no value in the kingdom”? I hope not.

He mentions specifically my views on “gays and abortion”, two hot-button issues in conservative Christianity and, I imagine I would not feel at home in his church. I am a progressive, after all. However, he assumed many things about me without ever meeting me or talking to me. In truth, I have done the same about him. I assume he is a Republican, that he supports McCain/Palin and that there is at least one American flag in the church and probably up on the stage. Do I know any of these things? No. Are they a safe bet? Yes. Is there anything wrong with being a Republican, supporting McCain/Palin or haveing an American flag in your church? hmmm…. morally, no. These things are differences of opinion and have no implication on my salvation nor on our Christian faith.

Which leads me, ever so round-about-ly to my point. This pastor does a couple of things that I believe are wrong. First, he is terse to the point of rudeness. He levels an accusation at me and bails without offering any advice, counsel or explanation. The second thing is a little harder to sum up. Take a look at his second sentence: “Unfortunately, I am sorry that after reviewing your blog, I don’t think you would be a good fit for a children’s pastor.” Did you see it? He says I wouldn’t be a good children’s pastor. Not that I wouldn’t be a good children’s pastor at his church. Or that I wouldn’t be a good children’s pastor at this time. No, he says I wouldn’t make a good children’s pastor. Period. That is simply judgmental. Finally, he tells me that my views are “in complete contradiction to the Bible”. Well, obviously I don’t believe them to be. A more truthful thing to write would have been, “Your views on gays and abortion are in complete contradiction to my reading of the Bible,” or, “Your views on gays and abortion are in complete contradiction to our church’s beliefs.” There are many Christians in this world who support gay marriage and who are politically pro-choice. We are not any more sinners than those who wish to deny gay people rights or who would seek to legislate what a woman can do with her body. However, and hear me when I say this, Nor are we any less sinners than they are!

So, to any potential employers, pastors, or ministry partners who might read this, please don’t be like this man. If you have issues with me, discuss them with me. I welcome civil, non-argumentative discussion on any topic. I am a work in progress, as I wrote above. So are you.

With sincerity and in the Love of Christ,
Matt McGraw