wfn.org | Commentary: "Crisis talk may be the crisis"

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.UMC.ORG>]

April 15, 1998	Contact: Thomas S. McAnally*(615)742-5470*Nashville,
Tenn.    10-21-71B{229}
 
By Bishop Kenneth L. Carder*

"Crisis talk" is a popular pastime in the church these days.  According
to some among us, the United Methodist Church is in crisis.  Membership
decline, conflict over homosexuality, and lack of doctrinal conformity
are among the most discussed "crises" in our denomination.

Calls for withholding contributions and requests to sign "Confessing"
documents are among the responses to the church's crisis offered by
widely publicized pundits.

Crisis talk gets attention. Hence, such talk introduces many articles in
religious journals and frequent sermons at denominational gatherings. I
have occasionally engaged in it myself.  Warnings of existing or
imagined crises tend to awaken the apathetic and inflame the faithful.
After all, crises are real and ever present.

There are, however, dangers in crisis talk. It can be a means of
manipulation and diversion.  Much crisis talk is followed by
descriptions and prescriptions that do not meet the test of accuracy and
faithfulness. It is like Chicken Little shouting, "The sky is falling,
the sky is falling." It gets temporary attention and creates unnecessary
fear. It diverts efforts away from the real problems and needs.

While membership decline, sexual orientation and practice, and doctrinal
correctness are important matters, they are not the crises confronting
the world and the church.

Thirty-five thousand children dying every day from malnutrition and
hunger, when Jesus warned that harming one child is an invitation to
judgment: That is a crisis!  Forty million people perishing each year
from poverty-related causes, when Jesus said he came to bring good news
to the poor: That is a crisis!  Millions of people being pushed to the
margins of society and denied their full dignity as children of God
because of the color of their skin, when God shows no partiality: That
is a crisis!

Perhaps crisis talk may be the real crisis confronting the United
Methodist Church. It seems to be diverting us away from the bold and
hope-filled proclamation of God's reign of justice, compassion,
generosity and joy. While we engage in crisis talk within the church,
the world keeps filling up with hurting, broken, starving, abused,
hated, oppressed and dying people who need to hear and see a church that
really believes the Gospel.

Jesus went along the lakeside announcing, "The kingdom of God is at
hand, repent and believe the good news" (Mark 1:14-15). Now, that is the
crisis talk the church and the world need.

#  #  #

*Carder is the bishop of the Nashville Area, which includes the
Tennessee and Memphis annual conferences. This commentary appeared first
as a column in the weekly newspapers of those two conferences.

United Methodist News Service
(615)742-5470
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