wfn.org | Episcopalians join `sacred assembly

[ENS.parti@ecunet.org (ENS)]

October 16, 1997
Episcopal News Service
Jim Solheim, Director
212-922-5385
ens@ecunet.org

97-1976
Episcopalians join `sacred assembly'
of Promise Keepers in Washington, D.C.

by Michael Barwell

      (ENS) "I have to admit I was impressed," said the Rev. Benjamin
Shambaugh, rector of St. John's Episcopal Church in Olney, Maryland.
"I went to Promise Keepers' with a good deal of skepticism. What I saw
that day on the Mall was not a series of resolutions that were debated and
watered down on a convention floor. What I saw was close to a million
men willing to `walk the walk' and literally turn their lives and their
world around."
      In an apparent quest for spiritual renewal, hundreds of thousands
of men from across the country converged on Washington, D.C., for a
six-hour "sacred assembly" on Oct. 4 to sing, pray, and confess their
sins of racism, infidelity, and abandonment of their families.  They
sought a collective self-absolution and were exhorted by Promise Keepers
founder Bill McCartney to become active in their home church.
       "We propose that every man returns home and submits to the
authority of a local shepherd. . . . You have to say to your pastor `How
high, how far and how much?'" McCartney told the gathering, according
to press reports.
      Characterized as "muscular Christianity" meeting in a "macho-
free zone," the revival meeting brought together men of all ages, races,
denominations, and political persuasions to focus on family values, take
responsibility for their actions, and be better husbands and fathers. They
pledged to help lead their families, communities and the nation to
salvation through Jesus Christ. Unofficial estimates of the crowd ranged
from 400,000 to 750,000.
      The rally theme "Standing in the Gap" was derived from the
passage in Ezekiel where the Lord looked without success for a righteous
man "to stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land so I would not
have to destroy it."
      "I was critical about what I thought they would say about women,
and their lack of concern for issues of race," Shambaugh said. "I thought
it would be light on theology and heavy on political views that were not
my own. I was proven wrong on each point.
      "Instead," Shambaugh said, "Washington echoed with the sound
of a great celebration of diversity and a call for inclusiveness, coming not
from the gothic stones on Mount St. Alban [the Washington National
Cathedral] but from the voices of a myriad of men lying prone on their
faces or down on their knees in the dirt of the Mall."

Powerful emotional experiences
      Men from across the Episcopal Church, including congregations
in Pittsburgh, Montana, Nebraska, Michigan, and all along the eastern
seaboard, flew in chartered jets or drove all night in cars and buses to
join the rally.
      An estimated three busloads and more individuals--including
Bishop Robert Duncan -- made the trip from the Diocese of Pittsburgh,
said the Rev. Neil Brown, rector of St. Martin's in Monroeville,
Pennsylvania. Noting that two previous rallies have been staged in Three
Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh, Brown said that Promise Keepers "has
become a significant part of the Episcopal Church here. And men are
coming for the same reason from all over the U.S., because this has
struck a chord that we are called to care for our families and to pay
attention to our spiritual life.
      "God gave us a job to do, and we're not doing a very good job,"
Brown said. "Promise Keepers is helping us to see that." He said that the
rally was a very powerful emotional experience for many men. "When
we talked about very personal things, like responsibility for our wives
and families, a deep emotion was tapped for everyone." For many men,
the emotion was expressed in tears and, Brown said, "it was like when
we meet Jesus for the first time. The Bible is full of stories about
meeting God and responding in tears."
      He warned, however, against basing the movement on a purely
emotional response or withdrawing into "separatist groups which divide
the church" between men who have or haven't been converted by
Promise Keepers. "What we need are real meat and potatoes" in small
group events which bring men back to the local church. "We're birthing
a significant local men's ministry here," Brown said, adding, "Hopefully
this is a wake-up call to us denominations that God is interested in our
hearts."   

Fresh and spirit-filled
      Jim King, a 48-year-old dentist from St. Alban's Episcopal
Church in Bay City, Michigan, agreed that it was an emotional weekend
that is "still fresh and spirit-filled."
      King was part of a group of 46 men from eight congregations in
the Diocese of Eastern Michigan who rented a bus and drove 12 hours to
Washington in time to see the sun rise over the Capitol building and an
already jammed Mall.
       "I was already crying at 8 a.m. as we sang `Holy, Holy, Holy'
with all those men. I felt God's presence in me and my eyes weren't dry
most of the day. The commitment I made was to God and to myself.
Making that commitment in front of other men helps make it more
concrete . . . it's different than you'd do in a church."
      A life-long Episcopalian, married, a father of two and a
grandfather, King admitted he would consider himself a conservative.
"But this is not a sexist thing. Or a political thing with an agenda," he
said. "We have to commit ourselves to daily prayer. And my wife would
attest that this has made me a better husband."
      King said the event has opened up opportunities for him to talk to
his office staff and to patients who have asked him about his participation
in the rally. Almost all of them have been supportive. 

Critics abound
       The rally was not without its critics. A counter-demonstration by
the National Organization for Women (NOW), the Texas-based American
Atheists, Inc., chanted and shouted slogans accusing Promise Keepers of
"checking their wives and daughters at the door," and promoting a male-
dominated society terrified of equal rights for women and minority
groups in the midst of "a cultural angst" about the role men play in
society.
      Equal Partners in Faith, an ecumenical coalition of clergy, met in
St. Margaret's Episcopal Church in Washington to protest Promise
Keepers' conservative rhetoric and to talk about equality of men and
women in Christian homes, according to press reports. 
       Some critics also accuse the Promise Keepers leadership of a
hidden conservative political agenda, tying the group to right-wing
Republican politicians and lobbyists, many of whom attended but who
were forbidden to address the crowd or distribute conservative literature.
The only book distributed was a commemorative edition of the New
Testament.
      "Discussions about the Promise Keepers carried out in Episcopal
and ecumenical women's gatherings are both optimistic and fearful," said
Ann Smith, director of women in ministry and mission for the Episcopal
Church. "We feel optimistic about the thousands of men who, through
their own personal conversion, are promising to be better husbands,
fathers, brothers and sons.  What we fear is the political agenda of the
hierarchy.  Will they try to influence these well-meaning men to help
carry out political actions that oppose equality for all people?  Or will
they do as they promise and be a revival movement for men?
      "The women are watching and praying for a men's revival that
will work in partnership with the women's movement to bring justice and
freedom for all," Smith said. 

A `terrifying event?'
      "Is it terrifying? Yes, it is!" said the Rev. Bob Lambert an area
missioner serving two congregations in Lexington and Arapahoe in the
Diocese of Nebraska. "To see that many men willing to be Christians,
and be inclusive, and not claim power" is threatening to many observers.
      Lambert went to Washington with parishioner Charlie Cadwell,
who paid for his air fare and expenses as a gift. "I went to see what this
would do for my ministry," Lambert said, acknowledging that he had no
first-hand experience but was wary of a conservative agenda, and
forewarned against abuse of control, especially in relationships between
husbands and wives.
      Characterizing himself as a "moderate conservative" who is a
Nashota House graduate with "evangelical experience," Lambert also
noted that he was admittedly "emotionally detached," primarily because
he also is a trained group therapist. His professional observation is that
he saw "no sense of emotive coercion" to force emotional responses from
the men. Instead, he saw "permission to react or not react. It was a safe
place to do that. Crying is not a loss of the male image," he observed.
"It's not breaking down but opening up to God's spirit."
      "It is easy for me to understand how fearful it may be to some
people to watch almost a million men on their knees asking for
forgiveness, the power to follow God's will in their lives, and to
proclaim God's love and desire to have a relationship with all mankind,"
Lambert said. "It is a witness to God's love empowering men to act in
humility and love in a world that knows this is much more powerful than
position, authority or control."
      "I was impressed. There's no getting around that," Lambert said.
"To get men into the church, to get them to be active in their churches,
and to build up the church of Jesus Christ -- there's nothing wrong with
that."
      
What's in the future?
      "The fruit of what I've seen is that men will come back home and
reshape their priorities," said the Rev. Thad Butcher, rector of St. John's
Episcopal Church in Butte, Montana. Although he said he was "still
processing" his reactions, the 43-year-old Butcher agreed with others that
"the basic message is that your Christian faith doesn't have to be put on
the back shelf." They can admit to themselves and others that "they can
be actively involved and say `I'm part of this, too.'" 
      Butcher, married and the father of three, said that men attending
Promise Keepers' events learn that "men need to know that they are
loved and yet can be tender and find places in their hearts." 
      While it is "fair to say that it is a conservative movement,"
Butcher said, Promise Keepers "are speaking to issues of the heart, not
to the political or cultural. Men have a desire to do it right. It's calling
people back to Jesus Christ and the foundations of the faith.
      Butcher said that Promise Keepers are "seeking to break down the
walls of denominationalism and discrimination," and are "serving as a
catalyst. The revival to come will happen at the local level.
      "The institutional church is sometimes so protective that we miss
the point," said Butcher, who has attended the past five General
Conventions. "We try to look so politically correct rather than seeing
where God is at work. We need to be for it!"

-- Michael Barwell is deputy director of news and information for the
Episcopal Church.