Fletcher Presbyterian Church
A Congregation in Mission
| Fletcher Presbyterian Church • 1578 Cow Camp Road • PO Box 493 • Newland, NC 28657 • Rev. George Gunn Design By: Old Paths Web Design • All Rights Reserved |
By George!
Weep for the Children
Fletcher Church
by George Gunn
Two events in recent days have
crowded the headlines and
commanded the attention of the
nation. One was the display of
unfathomable violence in the one room
school house in the Amish community
of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.
Leaving five children dead and five
critically wounded, the crazed gunman
took his own life.
The second event was the revelation
of the salacious messages authored
by a U.S. Congressman from Florida,
Fletcher Church
by George Gunn
Two events in recent days have
crowded the headlines and
commanded the attention of the
nation. One was the display of
unfathomable violence in the one room
school house in the Amish community
of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.
Leaving five children dead and five
critically wounded, the crazed gunman
took his own life.
The second event was the revelation
of the salacious messages authored
by a U.S. Congressman from Florida,
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a trusted legislator who had led in the enactment of laws to protect children from
sexual predators. He has resigned from the House of Representatives, leaving his
party and the leadership of both Republican and Democratic parties in a state of
shock and disarray.
In contrast to the peaceful Pennsylvania countryside, we viewed the chaotic scene in
the nation’s capital: hurried press conferences, harried staffs and spokespersons,
many seeking to distance themselves from the issues raised by the unethical behavior
of persons in high places. Together, we weep for the children of this and future
generations.
At the same time the tragic attack on the Amish girls has provided the nation with a
living witness to the Christian values of a community of faith and the power of humility
and forgiveness. One Amish father, when asked how they could forgive such a crime,
said simply, “because we have been taught that we are forgiven as we forgive others.”
One could not watch the silent procession of horse drawn wagons, taking the bodies
of their beloved daughters and sisters to the cemetery, without weeping for the
children.
Redefining “Evangelical”
The threats to the safety and welfare of our children cause every family to reexamine
the subject of “Family Values.” The values questions are again in the forefront of an
ongoing dialog between people of faith. It comes at a time when the so called
“religious right” has begun to question its own wisdom in identifying so completely with
the agenda and leadership of one political party. The number of those who view the
opponents to the invasion of Iraq as “unpatriotic,” is shrinking. If, as Jerry Falwell
asserted, God chose George W. Bush to be our Commander in Chief, then some of
us who have voiced doubt, are finding a voice to challenge the short list of “family
values,” espoused by those who seek to speak for all Christians.
There is no debate about the need to connect faith and knowledge, and for our words
of mercy and compassion to be matched by acts of sacrificial love and of justice.
Where so called “evangelicals” find different points of departure is in how one lives
out the good news of God’s love for the world. We are called as Christians to be a
servant people in the midst of a broken world.
I understand myself to be an “evangel,” a messenger with good news, and
consequently an “evangelical.” I take seriously my baptismal and ordination vows to
share the good news and “to show the love and justice of Jesus Christ.”
I believe we have witnessed the co-opting of the religious right by those who seek a
partisan advantage in the two party strife of this decade. This has been furthered by
the attempt to blur the distinctions between evangelical Christians, between those who
hold a narrow, literalistic view of biblical interpretation and those who hear the Word of
God in the witness of scripture and in the work of the Holy Spirit in the life of the world.
We who consider ourselves evangelicals of this latter stripe have become convinced
that our distinctive and prophetic voice needs to be heard more clearly within our
churches and in ecumenical and interfaith conversations, as well as within the public
forums and political movements of our day.
A Lesson from History
In November of 1968, Richard Nixon was elected President of the United States, with a
former Governor of Maryland, Spiro Agnew, as his Vice President. Nixon, who had
been Vice President under Eisenhower, had been defeated by John F. Kennedy in his
presidential bid in 1960. The nation entered a decade of turmoil, beginning with
Kennedy’s assassination in 1963,
followed by civil rights legislation, growing protests over U.S. military action in Vietnam,
and the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr., and Robert Kennedy in 1968.
These swiftly moving events made the campuses of America the scene of
unprecedented student activity and involvement in the political and social revolutions
taking place. Campus ministry had unparalleled opportunity to participate with the
student generation, a generation which represented the Baby Boomers of post World
War II.
As a college president and a life long Republican, my wife Sally’s dad, G. Herbert
Smith, watched these unfolding events with some fear and trepidation. Two
Democratic administrations in Washington had done little to quiet the campus turmoil,
and had, under President Lyndon Johnson, stepped up the U.S. presence in
Vietnam. With a promise to reduce the U.S. military in
Southeast Asia, Richard Nixon took back the White House for the Republicans and
sent Johnson back to Texas.
Following this 1968 election, Sally’s dad, grandfather to our three sons and daughter,
wrote a letter to us in which he voiced this hope: “With Richard Nixon’s election, I now
have hope for my grandchildren, that they will grow up in a nation of principle, and in a
culture that values integrity and morality in its elected leaders.”
In the months which followed, we know now that the number of troops and the
casualties was escalated, as the military action spread beyond Vietnam. Nixon and
Agnew’s reelection in 1972 was followed by revelations of the Vice President’s criminal
actions as Governor of Maryland, taking kick backs and bribes, plus tax evasion.
Agnew resigned from office.
The end of the Nixon administration, however, was to come in August of 1974,
following the Watergate scandal. Richard Nixon’s resignation from the Presidency
came as Herb Smith’s grandson and namesake, Herb Gunn, began his Junior year at
Southwestern at Memphis. Mindful of his grandfather’s high hopes six years earlier
and of his obvious distress over the end of the dream,
Herb Gunn wrote a letter to his grandfather, now age 70 and in retirement. His letter
voiced compassion and sympathy: “I know that you held high hopes for Richard Nixon’
s leadership of the nation. I know that you must feel betrayed and dismayed by those
you trusted. As your grandson, I want you to know that I value and will always
treasure your example of personal integrity and care giving, and your commitment to
your grandchildren’s future.”
A Letter to Fellow Evangelicals
Dear Friends:
Think back today to six years ago. A majority of us held respect for and confidence in
the man who took the oath of office in January 2001. His professed Christian faith was
a source of hope for the nation - “one nation under God, with liberty and justice for
all.” His “compassionate conservatism” appealed to many and his administration
appeared to be peopled with women
and men of principal and integrity.
“Family values” became the watch word, with wide support from the religious right and
self-proclaimed evangelicals. Yet, some of us who think of ourselves as “evangelical,”
but not bedfellows with Jerry Falwell or Pat Robertson, have found ourselves
increasingly at odds with George W. Bush’s style and substance. As we observed,
back when George Wallace’s wife ran
for Governor in Alabama, “bedfellows make strange politics.”
The dialog on family values has engaged us on only a few hot topics and has tended
to polarize rather than to reconcile. Evangelicals are not necessarily biblical
literalists. We are beginning to broaden the conversation on moral values to include
stewardship of the environment, the violence of poverty and of racism, economic
justice, war and peace.
We weep for the children, children who are the victims of random violence. We weep
for the children whose families are broken by absentee fathers, children orphaned by
natural disasters, by the AIDS epidemic, and by terrorists.
We have welcomed the promise of bipartisan solutions to the nation’s problems, but
have been faced with attitudes and actions which have divided rather than united
people of good will. Righteousness has never been the possession of any one
political party. As my bumper sticker states: “God is not a Republican or a Democrat.”
There is enough sin and compromise for each of
us to acknowledge our share of it. The moral high ground still awaits those who
aspire to power.
Let the evangelicals take heart. We are back to learning again that our trust must be
in God alone and not in the politics of those whose feet of clay reveal a singular
shortage of integrity and humility. Playing politics has never been the character of
servant leadership.
We are humbled by the Amish community’s example of suffering love and forgiveness,
and by the courage of those young girls in the face of death. We are told that among
those who gathered for the funeral service of the killer were his Amish neighbors, by
their presence making a silent witness to the truth of their words of forgiveness and
the power of the Gospel. Their secret,
and ours, may lie in the two words displayed last week on a sign at a rural crossroads
in Lancaster County:
KEEP PRAYING.
George
sexual predators. He has resigned from the House of Representatives, leaving his
party and the leadership of both Republican and Democratic parties in a state of
shock and disarray.
In contrast to the peaceful Pennsylvania countryside, we viewed the chaotic scene in
the nation’s capital: hurried press conferences, harried staffs and spokespersons,
many seeking to distance themselves from the issues raised by the unethical behavior
of persons in high places. Together, we weep for the children of this and future
generations.
At the same time the tragic attack on the Amish girls has provided the nation with a
living witness to the Christian values of a community of faith and the power of humility
and forgiveness. One Amish father, when asked how they could forgive such a crime,
said simply, “because we have been taught that we are forgiven as we forgive others.”
One could not watch the silent procession of horse drawn wagons, taking the bodies
of their beloved daughters and sisters to the cemetery, without weeping for the
children.
Redefining “Evangelical”
The threats to the safety and welfare of our children cause every family to reexamine
the subject of “Family Values.” The values questions are again in the forefront of an
ongoing dialog between people of faith. It comes at a time when the so called
“religious right” has begun to question its own wisdom in identifying so completely with
the agenda and leadership of one political party. The number of those who view the
opponents to the invasion of Iraq as “unpatriotic,” is shrinking. If, as Jerry Falwell
asserted, God chose George W. Bush to be our Commander in Chief, then some of
us who have voiced doubt, are finding a voice to challenge the short list of “family
values,” espoused by those who seek to speak for all Christians.
There is no debate about the need to connect faith and knowledge, and for our words
of mercy and compassion to be matched by acts of sacrificial love and of justice.
Where so called “evangelicals” find different points of departure is in how one lives
out the good news of God’s love for the world. We are called as Christians to be a
servant people in the midst of a broken world.
I understand myself to be an “evangel,” a messenger with good news, and
consequently an “evangelical.” I take seriously my baptismal and ordination vows to
share the good news and “to show the love and justice of Jesus Christ.”
I believe we have witnessed the co-opting of the religious right by those who seek a
partisan advantage in the two party strife of this decade. This has been furthered by
the attempt to blur the distinctions between evangelical Christians, between those who
hold a narrow, literalistic view of biblical interpretation and those who hear the Word of
God in the witness of scripture and in the work of the Holy Spirit in the life of the world.
We who consider ourselves evangelicals of this latter stripe have become convinced
that our distinctive and prophetic voice needs to be heard more clearly within our
churches and in ecumenical and interfaith conversations, as well as within the public
forums and political movements of our day.
A Lesson from History
In November of 1968, Richard Nixon was elected President of the United States, with a
former Governor of Maryland, Spiro Agnew, as his Vice President. Nixon, who had
been Vice President under Eisenhower, had been defeated by John F. Kennedy in his
presidential bid in 1960. The nation entered a decade of turmoil, beginning with
Kennedy’s assassination in 1963,
followed by civil rights legislation, growing protests over U.S. military action in Vietnam,
and the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr., and Robert Kennedy in 1968.
These swiftly moving events made the campuses of America the scene of
unprecedented student activity and involvement in the political and social revolutions
taking place. Campus ministry had unparalleled opportunity to participate with the
student generation, a generation which represented the Baby Boomers of post World
War II.
As a college president and a life long Republican, my wife Sally’s dad, G. Herbert
Smith, watched these unfolding events with some fear and trepidation. Two
Democratic administrations in Washington had done little to quiet the campus turmoil,
and had, under President Lyndon Johnson, stepped up the U.S. presence in
Vietnam. With a promise to reduce the U.S. military in
Southeast Asia, Richard Nixon took back the White House for the Republicans and
sent Johnson back to Texas.
Following this 1968 election, Sally’s dad, grandfather to our three sons and daughter,
wrote a letter to us in which he voiced this hope: “With Richard Nixon’s election, I now
have hope for my grandchildren, that they will grow up in a nation of principle, and in a
culture that values integrity and morality in its elected leaders.”
In the months which followed, we know now that the number of troops and the
casualties was escalated, as the military action spread beyond Vietnam. Nixon and
Agnew’s reelection in 1972 was followed by revelations of the Vice President’s criminal
actions as Governor of Maryland, taking kick backs and bribes, plus tax evasion.
Agnew resigned from office.
The end of the Nixon administration, however, was to come in August of 1974,
following the Watergate scandal. Richard Nixon’s resignation from the Presidency
came as Herb Smith’s grandson and namesake, Herb Gunn, began his Junior year at
Southwestern at Memphis. Mindful of his grandfather’s high hopes six years earlier
and of his obvious distress over the end of the dream,
Herb Gunn wrote a letter to his grandfather, now age 70 and in retirement. His letter
voiced compassion and sympathy: “I know that you held high hopes for Richard Nixon’
s leadership of the nation. I know that you must feel betrayed and dismayed by those
you trusted. As your grandson, I want you to know that I value and will always
treasure your example of personal integrity and care giving, and your commitment to
your grandchildren’s future.”
A Letter to Fellow Evangelicals
Dear Friends:
Think back today to six years ago. A majority of us held respect for and confidence in
the man who took the oath of office in January 2001. His professed Christian faith was
a source of hope for the nation - “one nation under God, with liberty and justice for
all.” His “compassionate conservatism” appealed to many and his administration
appeared to be peopled with women
and men of principal and integrity.
“Family values” became the watch word, with wide support from the religious right and
self-proclaimed evangelicals. Yet, some of us who think of ourselves as “evangelical,”
but not bedfellows with Jerry Falwell or Pat Robertson, have found ourselves
increasingly at odds with George W. Bush’s style and substance. As we observed,
back when George Wallace’s wife ran
for Governor in Alabama, “bedfellows make strange politics.”
The dialog on family values has engaged us on only a few hot topics and has tended
to polarize rather than to reconcile. Evangelicals are not necessarily biblical
literalists. We are beginning to broaden the conversation on moral values to include
stewardship of the environment, the violence of poverty and of racism, economic
justice, war and peace.
We weep for the children, children who are the victims of random violence. We weep
for the children whose families are broken by absentee fathers, children orphaned by
natural disasters, by the AIDS epidemic, and by terrorists.
We have welcomed the promise of bipartisan solutions to the nation’s problems, but
have been faced with attitudes and actions which have divided rather than united
people of good will. Righteousness has never been the possession of any one
political party. As my bumper sticker states: “God is not a Republican or a Democrat.”
There is enough sin and compromise for each of
us to acknowledge our share of it. The moral high ground still awaits those who
aspire to power.
Let the evangelicals take heart. We are back to learning again that our trust must be
in God alone and not in the politics of those whose feet of clay reveal a singular
shortage of integrity and humility. Playing politics has never been the character of
servant leadership.
We are humbled by the Amish community’s example of suffering love and forgiveness,
and by the courage of those young girls in the face of death. We are told that among
those who gathered for the funeral service of the killer were his Amish neighbors, by
their presence making a silent witness to the truth of their words of forgiveness and
the power of the Gospel. Their secret,
and ours, may lie in the two words displayed last week on a sign at a rural crossroads
in Lancaster County:
KEEP PRAYING.
George
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