Disgust Will Kill the UMC and GMC

Within the United Methodist Church, the conventional wisdom is that differences divide and similarities unite. Therefore we need to create churches of like-mindedness because a church that has differences cannot walk together. It is the conventional wisdom that differences are obstacles to relationships, and so those obstacles must be removed or we must end the relationship. It is naïve to suggest otherwise. It is seen as ridiculous to suggest the opposite - that differences are what unite and our similarities are what divide.

And yet, I read this parable in Luke 18:9-14 in the Common English Bible:

9 Jesus told this parable to certain people who had convinced themselves that they were righteous and who looked on everyone else with disgust: 10 “Two people went up to the temple to pray. One was a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee stood and prayed about himself with these words, ‘God, I thank you that I’m not like everyone else—crooks, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week. I give a tenth of everything I receive.’ 13 But the tax collector stood at a distance. He wouldn’t even lift his eyes to look toward heaven. Rather, he struck his chest and said, ‘God, show mercy to me, a sinner.’ 14 I tell you, this person went down to his home justified rather than the Pharisee. All who lift themselves up will be brought low, and those who make themselves low will be lifted up.”

The Pharisee and the tax collector are both in the temple praying, but they are separated. Why are they separated? Because the Pharisee is disgusted with the tax-collector who is a heretical, stealing Jew who, from the perspective of the Pharisee, does not have a high view of scripture. Because if the tax collector did have a high view of scripture, they would know that it is a clear violation of scriptural to work for the Romans who worship other gods and enslave people. Disgust is an expulsive response humans have when we encounter disgusting things. It is why we push a plate away when we taste something bad. The Pharisee chose, for the sake of Orthodoxy, to separate himself from the dirty, lying, unclean tax collector.

Then notice, that when the two finish their payers, the parable reads, “I tell you, this person went down to his home justified rather than the Pharisee.” The word in this parable translated as, “rather than” in Greek is the word, “par”. Par means “alongside”, as in “parallel” parking. At the end of the parable, the two men left the temple side by side.

Something happened in their prayer that removed disgust and the two walked alongside one another. They each were converted from their own disgust. The Pharisee no longer is disgusted by the tax collector and the tax collector is no longer disgusted with himself. The Pharisee is brought low, as in brought down to the proper level since he thought to greatly of himself. And the tax collector was lifted up, as in brought up to the proper level since he though too little of himself. And they walked out alongside one another.

We have no proof that either man changed how they prayed or how they lived. We may assume that the each went back to their work and their lives. We may assume they each went back to interpreting the scriptures the way the had before the prayer session. We may assume they have many differences even to this day, but they walk alongside one another.

The Pharisee and the tax collector understand that it is their differences that bring them together. It is their differences - not their sameness - that attracts one to the other. They understand that they could walk along side each other, even with their fundamental disagreements. The only thing keeping them apart was disgust.

The UMC is splintering, breaking, tearing or whatever word you want to use. The argument is that we have fundamental differences about the authority of scripture, the sovereignty of God, the role of the church, the human condition and the nature of sin. For the sake of argument, lets assume that the UMC and the WCA really do have such fundamental differences (we don’t, regardless of leadership suggesting otherwise). Are we to accept that the differences between the UMC and the GMC are so vast and so much greater than that of the Pharisee and a tax collector? If you think so then I would encourage a re-read of the Gospels.

After prayer, the Pharisee and the tax collector can walk alongside the other, not because one convinced the other, but because in prayer we let go of disgust.

Ultimately, from where I sit, the reason for the turmoil in the UMC is not because of any of the stated reasons, but it is because of disgust. We are disgusted with each other. You see this disgust in all the digital ink spilled as the GMC makes a claim about the UMC and then the UMC makes a claim about the GMC. We grow more and more disgusted with one another and, disgust is an expulsive action.

The GMC is pushing the UMC plate away. The UMC is pushing the GMC plate away. Neither of us will be justified when we come down our little mountains of self-righteousness.

If you read this parable and think, “The tax collector is doing it right and shame on the Pharisee for doing it wrong” then we are doing the very same thing that the Pharisee is doing in the parable. Could this parable be, at least in part, a call to see that it is only when we walk alongside those who are different from us that we have the chance to convert from our disgust. If we do not overcome or even befriend our disgust then we will always be enslaved to it. The more we break into the “likeminded” communities the more disgusted we will be with others. And the most disgust we experience the more we will expel.

At which point it is only a matter of time before we expel Christ from our churches.

Christians Following Nietzsche

If there is a saying of the desert tradition that summarizes our time, I nominate the following:

Abba Anthony said, “A time is coming when men will go mad, and when they see someone who is not mad, they will attack him saying, ‘You are mad, you are not like us.‘”

Each week there is some news that comes up through the United Methodist Church news cycle that just baffles me. It is clearly much more complex and complicated than I could possibly understand and I feel like I am going mad (crazy).

Nietzsche is alive and well in the Church. Almost as an “unholy” spirit.

Where is the specter or Nietzsche you ask? Maybe you can piece it together when you read what Nietzsche says about power in his writing called “Antichrist”:

What is good?—Whatever augments the feeling of power, the will to power, power itself, in man.

What is evil?—Whatever springs from weakness.

What is happiness?—The feeling that power increases—that resistance is overcome. Not contentment, but more power; not peace at any price, but war; not virtue, but efficiency.

The acquisition and retention of power shows up in all sorts of obvious ways in the Church. When the pastor is the gatekeeper of all that is “godly” or when the church marries herself with government (such as Christian Nationalism). We see the elevation of power in the church in less subtle ways as well when the church leads by “empowering” others. To be clear it is not that empowering others goes to far, it is that empowering others does not go far enough. The Church of Jesus Christ is not to settle for empowering people but working to liberate people. Christ’s power liberates in service of the weak, Nietzsche’s power binds the weak to be in service.

When power becomes the chief value we seek we have to ask if we are following Christ or Nietzsche? Are we following the one who divested all power and became obedient to death (Philippians 2) or the one who said that happiness can be found through war and efficiency?

In case you wanted to know the last part of the Nietzsche quote here those lines ends:

The weak and the botched shall perish: first principle of our charity. And one should help them to it.

What is more harmful than any vice?—Practical sympathy for the botched and the weak—Christianity....

To that end, anyone in the church that is calling for the dismantling of the church. Anyone who is leading people to harden their stance and shun weakness. Anyone who is arguing for a church that is without any flaws or inconsistencies. Anyone who is lacking charity of spirit or presuming the worst intensions of another. These may be followers of Nietzsche.

Redemption for the Salt-less

Matthew 5:13 reads, “‘You are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything, but is thrown out and trampled under foot.”

Often this is understood as some sort of unique characteristic of the disciple of Jesus and that we are being cautioned to retain this characteristic (saltiness) otherwise we will be good for nothing and trampled under foot. We are cautioned to retain our saltiness so that we are useful to God and that our purpose is to “season” the world. This is a nice sermon.

However, this interpretation assumes that God would be the one tossing us aside if we loose our saltiness. And that seems a bit unlike God. Especially the God of Jesus who always redeems that which is thought to be unredeemable. Do you know who tosses out people to be trampled under foot? Humanity.

However, it is difficult to miss that salt was a common use of currency in the Roman army. The word “salary” comes from the word salt, so I wonder if Jesus is making a connection about the poor and the current economic system of the day. Could it be less that Jesus is not talking about some characteristic but a reflection that the poor were considered as expendable as salt. Could it be that these words of Jesus reflect the ways the rich view the poor? Could it be this is less about God’s actions and more about how humans treat other humans? Could it be that the salt of the earth verse is related to the ways people persecute others?

Consider context of the two previous statement Jesus makes prior to the salt comments:

‘Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. ‘Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Jesus says we are blessed when we are persecuted and that we are to rejoice when we are treated as such. Then Jesus says, “‘You are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything, but is thrown out and trampled under foot.”

If salt is thrown out and trampled under foot then it is no longer good for taste. That means it cannot be used for human consumption or to be a product of the marketplace. Salt that looses its saltiness is no longer subject to the economic grind that values people only for what they can produce. Humans think the value of a person is in relationship to what they produce.

I am confident that God thinks differently.

God does not value humans on what we produce or contribute. God values humans because humans are God’s children. And as God’s children, we are called to be with and for one another. That is to say, we are to support and care for one another.

Salt that looses its saltiness is no longer good for the market because it has lost its economic value. However, I wonder if there is redemption for the salt-less?

Salt that has been baptized (that is salt that becomes saltwater) becomes a body makes it easier for people to float. The salt supports others regardless of how it tastes. Saltwater becomes a body of support for others who struggle. In this way, saltwater is not unlike what Jesus talks about in the next verses:

You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hidden. No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house.

Saltwater and light on a hill are not in service of themselves or gain value to what they add to the system. They are aids for others who are lost and struggling. The lift up those who are drowning. It lifts up the eyes of those who are lost.

For too long, Christians have tried to safeguard saltiness with a fear that loosing saltiness disappoints God. However, I wonder if this approach fails to imagine that God can redeem the salt-less?