My Love-Hate Relationship Being a “Presby”: Part 2 - Getting Inside the Mind of a Bureaucrat

Okay, I will now pick up what I started a few weeks ago. Go to archives for May 16 to read Part 1. When I graduated from high school, I wanted to be an attorney. It had absolutely nothing to do with making a difference or any of that other stuff. It was purely a financial / power issue on my part. I had figured out that I lived in a poor home, and wanted to have money. I saw being a lawyer as a way to achieve that. It did not take me long to realize that career was not for me. That is a longer story, but the basics are that even at that early age I sensed that I was not one for bureaucracy. I am not sure why, or how, but I did.

That is still true today. I do not care for bureaucracy.

That puts me in an odd situation in the PC(USA) which is a bureaucratic heaven and haven. Here is what I have noticed. Many of the folks in the branch of the church I currently call home, are very impressed with their polity (read "church government" for those non theologically trained types). It is at the core of so many discussions that I am not sure whether to laugh or cry.

PC(USA) Bureaucrats admire and love their polity and their system (and it does have its good parts) so much that they remind me of a mechanic bragging about his great tool box as the end of all greatness and totally missing the smooth running engine located beside him. (Although our PC(USA) engine is in need of a few well selected tools, a jackhammer would be a good starting point. But I digress.)

I also compare it in my mind to one of the primary critiques I have regarding some veins of Christianity that are so much about the aspect of faith that it seems to me they have "faith in their faith" . . . not faith in God. Of course they would deny that, but it sure looks real to me.

The same is true of the denominational bureaucracies. They are so proud of their system that they miss the very thing their system was intending to do.

Is good government bad? No, of course not. But when a heavy bureaucrat gets involved, and things focus on the system at all costs to ministry, I liken it to idolatry. Is it worshipping the tool box? Is it faith in my faith? Is it noticing the image and missing God? It sure seems to list in that direction.

If it looks like a dog, barks like a dog, wags its tail like a dog, smells bad when wet like a dog, licks your hand like a dog, uses the bathroom in the yard like a dog . . . guess what? It just might be a dog.

Next Up: The Upcoming General Assembly