Picking quarrels and provoking trouble

There is in the church a form of “citizen journalism” that mirrors what we see in society as a whole. Outside the church we see examples such as Daphne Caruana Galizia’s work on corruption in Malta and Zhang Zhan’s reporting on the Chinese government’s handling of the coronavirus outbreak. Daphne was dealt with by assassination and Zhang by imprisonment. Both annoying people to those who would exercise arbitrary power.

The charge against Zhang was “picking quarrels and provoking trouble.” Within the church you have those who have pointed to the need for action in regard to sexual abuse and racism, calls within parishes for greater transparency, and our own work on “St. Paul’s: Growth & Decline.”  When are those of us so engaged “picking quarrels and provoking trouble” and when are we instruments of holy truth? Let me assure you that this article will not answer that question.

All this came to mind as I was completing a section of a book Michelle Heyne and I are writing on how change can be facilitated within parish churches (available sometime in 2021, I hope). The book will bring a combination of behavioral science and Anglican ascetical theology resources. In the section on “Identity and Direction” we make use of a modified version of the Johari Window in exploring ways in which parish leaders can shape a healthier culture of inclusion and transparency, holiness and humility, truth and harmony. In the Johari Window it’s about expanding the window of the “area of free activity” by reducing the windows of blindness, avoidance and hiddenness.

Leaders can do that by establishing structures and processes that make it easier to hear information that people outside the parish may have and enabling reflection and conversation within the parish. For example, when in a search process invite the rectors and lay leaders of the three closest parishes to meet with the final candidates. Another example is maintaining a norm of listening carefully to people and information that sets off discomfort in us.

There are times when a parish doesn’t get to freely enter into learning about itself. Times when the parish is confronted by information that some in the congregation have been aware of but, for a variety of reasons, had not brought forward. There are the scandals of theft and sexual abuse in which complaints are finally made. There’s the Mystery Worshipper with reviews of worship services. And there are news articles, blog postings and reports issued assessing the life and work of parishes. Depending on the extent of challenge in the material, and the humility and courage of the parish leadership, the information may be engaged constructively or resisted. When leaders are faced with information that makes them uncomfortable the danger is that they will dig their hole even deeper, avoid more and become even less transparent.

There’s nothing more for Michelle and me to add to the report on St. Paul’s. The parish is engaging a search process with all the opportunities for contemplation and renewal that such moments offer. Our more recent conversations have been a combination of regret that some in the parish and diocese were so offended, and reacted so badly, and insights about the responsibilities and cost of citizen journalism. 

For us the personal cost of publishing the “growth and decline” report included being shunned, exclusion from saying the Office with other parishes, having to leave our parish community, knowing that there are people now unable to openly pray for us without being challenged, me having to move to a different area of the city, attempts to force us to remove the report from the web, and a Title IV complaint under the “conduct unbecoming” section (also known as “picking quarrels and provoking trouble.”)

Of course, by Grace there has been much good. We’re now in a parish that received us with hugs and “welcome home!” I now live in the most comfortable housing I’ve had since moving to Seattle, in a neighborhood with coffee shops and bakeries.  Michelle and I live near enough to one another that we have been able to take long walks twice each week and meet for a drink and Evening Prayer on Wednesdays (on my balcony) – all of which has been helpful during this year of virus. There are new friends and new energy for writing the unfinished books. I was able to get to know the bishop of my home diocese and experience his honesty and kindness.

On this the Feast of Thomas Becket it may be useful to contemplate the mystery. Not so much that of Thomas’ persistence and courage, or even that it was convenient for the church to make him a hasty saint, but that the attempts of the powerful to suppress his shrine failed.  Blessed Thomas, a flawed saint, remains an icon of resistance to arbitrary power.   

Today is also the Feast of the Holy Innocents. A title most of us involved in disputes about truth and justice would like to claim.  Maybe that’s where we are now as a society and a church. So many wanting to be among the pure, the innocent and the victimized. But to be there means pretending to not see all the truth about ourselves, the church, our nation, and well … humanity. So, I’ll stay with Thomas as a more useful meditation. We only get flawed saints. We only get flawed Christians.

In a perfect world, with a perfect church, inconvenient truths and uncomfortable information would be welcomed. But ours is a more mixed bag of a world. Ours is a church of imperfect saints. Those wanting to avoid and hide from painful reality live alongside those prepared to attend. Those who thoughtlessly press the facts upon gentle souls live alongside those humbly offering new pathways of grace.  And we may disagree on who is who. So, sometimes Benedict’s call to listen with the ear of our heart will hold sway. And sometimes human sin and limitation will govern. 

rag+

Comments

[Scott Benhase]

Bob+
Yes to this. Maybe we can divide the world into people who know themselves to be redeemed sinners and those people who clearly know other people's sins and never their own. Hearing the painful truth about ourselves is rough sledding, but striving to be open to it is a necessary precondition to discipleship. Central to the Christian faith is the “Good News of Jesus,” and not the “good behavior of Christians.” The Good News is while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:8). But so much of Christianity today is less about that Good News and more about how we should live pristine moral lives. Being quick to listen and slow to blame others for whatever is happening in our lives helps us embrace the truth, come what may. It's always messy.