Again, we reduce the role of the pastor to someone who is learned. Whether it is Spanish, Greek, Hebrew, or even know who Anye Rand is, etc. We reduce the existence of the Christian life with the event on Sunday or Saturday, the true Sabbath ;).
The event is not the issue with which I am concerned. However we do need good speakers for that, male or female. They need to know the scriptures. The historical context, the culture in which they were written, able to correctly parse the text, correlation between scriptures, prophesy and fulfillment, how to spell correctly and pronounce the names of kings and cities...
They need to understand the event of the worship service, the liturgy. They need to be able to move seamlessly from each station to the next as a conductor moves between the movements of a concert. But we stop there and we don't need to.
What brings a community together? What is important enough for the community to stop what it is doing and gather? If it is the sermon, the speaker better be educated and gifted in the art of public speaking and time managment. The question is why do we gather? To hear a sermon? My catholic friends would say we gather to participate in the Eucharist. But we protestants think it is just symbols and not the very presence of Christ, so that can't be it? To minister to each other? No we arrive and leave 65 minutes later without getting share our lives with each other, maybe a little coffee but not our souls. To learn to be better Christians? I am not sure that is happening except we are able to live intentionally for 40 days at a time.
The position I was trying to get out is that our community is about community. The Christian community has to be more than a group of people who wear christian t-shirts and quoting scripture. It is about labouring together building houses, stores, farms, schools, services, family, etc. Investments made that payoff later, not just a consumeristic - get it now, pay off.
The pastor has to be the spiritual director for the community, just as the mayor is the political director, the teacher is the education director, the conductor the musical director, etc. But when the pastor becomes the politician, the entertainer, etc. instead of the spiritual director, we have people that are lacking spiritually and become consumers. So the important thing in a congregation's life and concerns are the prices at the Gap. This does not reflect poorly on the congregation but the pastor. He has concerned himself with everything but the spiritual life of the congregation and the arguement of educated in the scriptures is a spiritual endeavor is baloney. We misinterpret knowing things about God with knowing God. Having a Ph.d in baseball doesn't give you a .333 batting average. (Steroids do that!) If that was the case George Wills could take Barry Bonds anyday.
This week we are to discuss why do we have camps. But until we can decide what the church is about it will be interesting to see what camps are about. Eliacin said that the camps are doing the church's job. I don't disagree. But the question is, what is the church's job. Then we will know what the camp's job is.
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