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Had a great conversation with Ann's cousin today about a variety of religious and political topics. One of the comments was (something like) "the Pope speaks for the Catholic Church". My thinking is that he speaks for the church's government but not the church. Got me thinking about a wonderful post by my blogger friend Andy, a United Methodist pastor in Springfield, Missouri, who recently wrote a blog post titled: Who Do I "Speak For"? Following are a few excerpts from Andy's post (read it in full here). I would love to hear what you think about the idea of someone speaking for you.
The city of Springfield is making a rather awkward attempt to engage the question of whether to add sexual orientation to the city’s anti-discrimination language. A part of their process was a survey sent via email to pastors all around town; there was a link in the email that took me to the online survey.
One of the questions on the survey asked if I as the pastor “speak for the congregation.” I thought this was a no brainer - “Of course not. The congregation I serve speaks for themselves.” But apparently out of the 56 churches surveyed, there were only two who answered this way.
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Faith rarely deals in either/or. Followers of Jesus are a diverse group, to say the least. And so how could I possibly speak for my congregation when my congregation reflects such an array of opinions? Surely our society has matured beyond the glorification of homogeneity.
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I hope you understand my reasoning behind answering the way I did on the survey. It’s not that I do not feel I am a “leader” for Campbell UMC; it’s that I would never dream of “speaking for” a group of people who are perfectly capable of speaking for themselves, and doing so with grace, respect, and love.
There is a communal aspect to libraries and book stores in the same way that there is for coffee shops like Starbucks. I think that a little bit of Americana is lost when these institutions are closed. I like e-books for the reasons that Brian mentions but wonder if they further isolate and insulate us from each other. Our Wednesday night group is reads books together and it is interesting that I am the only one (out of 15) that likes the e-book version better. Perhaps this love of paper books will ebb with future generations? Maybe the clinical world of Star Trek is closer than we think? ... I think that it is interesting how many folks who work from home choose to sip on a latte while using the Starbucks wifi to work. Perhaps folks are a lot more social than we all want to admit to? Maybe the future will not be all that anti-social?
I remember dreaming about building a racer and competing in the Soap Box Derby when I was a kid. Did you ever want to be a part of a derby? Well today the carts are out in Kansas City with the All American Race (i.e. KC Finals) beginning at 9am. Next stop for the winners is the national competition in Akron, Ohio. Here is a blurb from the KC chapter site about the sport:
You're a grand old flag, You're a high flying flag and forever in peace may you wave. You're the emblem of the land I love. The home of the free and the brave. -George M. Cohan
