Your One
Big Stand
Jesus answered them, “destroy
this temple and I will raise it again in three
days.” (John 2:19)
Every
pastor and church leader eventually arrives at a single moment that defines
his/her entire ministry. This moment,
this vote, this sermon, this position, this outreach effort, this act of
compassion is literally the emblem of all that the entire ministry stands
for. The moment may not be something
that is a popular issue, or that garners accolades or financial benefits. It may be an issue that only you can
articulate your passion for, and that, in matter of fact, nobody else really
fully understands or cares about. It may
be a very small thing that requires acute attention and focus, or a very large
thing that demands courage and conviction.
The one big moment is different for everyone. Nevertheless, every pastor and church leader
has one big happening that we, in my family, have always referred to as the –
“Your One Big Stand.”
It was the
spring of 1968 in Oakland California. The
almond trees were just beginning to sprout pink blossoms around the flanks of
the old, coastal, Bay side city just south of San Francisco. Of course, the spring of1968 was anything but
idyllic or peaceful in the rest of the United States. The summer of
‘68 was the time President Richard Nixon committed extra troops to the
brand new, but burgeoning Vietnam Conflict.
Across the Bay, on the other side of the horizon, Berkeley was in full
throws of student riots and conflict.
Police cars and National Guard troops were the regular attention and
outlet for the pot-puri of beet-nicks, hippies, counter-cultural
revolutionaries, modern day prophets, and folk song revivalists who gathered on
college campuses and in the middle of downtown parks. Around the entire Bay Area, tear-gas
suppressed student movements were a regular head-line grabbing occurrence, and
there was disaffection for all things institutional: corporate America, western
cultural hegemony, organized religion, the federal government, educational elitism,
socio-economic and racially motivated defacto segregation. The only thing missing from this volatile
milieu of discontent was a single personality or a persona who would have the
dynamic ability to ignite the latent psychological fuels of suppression and
rage that hung heavily in the fog-like air.
The stage was set for a massive revolt and rally to be organized. The stage was set for a dynamic, energetic,
anti-establishmentarian sociologist and social scientist from the North Eastern
part of the United States named Saul David Alinsky.
Now, to be
clear, Saul Alinsky was an individual of extreme intellect, profound book
intelligence and a person who would become a very keen social theorist. He was once compared in one magazine to being
a modern day Thomas Paine, and, “one of the great American leaders of the
non-socialist left.” Some have felt that Saul Alinsky was very helpful in the
United States in his suggestions that a lot of the social ills committed during
the history of the world, and particularly in the 20th century,
occurred because of, and in some cases aided by the Christian church. Saul Alinsky made a large number of great
contributions to the social sciences, however, in the spring of 1968, he was
also being used by extremist factions in the California establishment, who were
in favor of insurrection, destruction and out and out revolt.
Grandpa
was, at that time, the pastor of the Park Boulevard Presbyterian Church of
Oakland, California. Park Boulevard was
one of the largest Presbyterian Churches of the Presbytery at that time, though
it was not often known for being at the center of politically charged battles
or theological debate. Park Boulevard
was the church that people who wanted a “normal” and “balanced” church
experience would attend. The so- called
Saul Alinsky debate was about to change all of that. Because the San Francisco Presbytery had
decided to invite Saul Alinsky to speak, and because so many civic leaders in
many of the congregations of the San Francisco Presbytery were worried about
massive riots occurring from Saul Alinsky’s visit, grandpa decided to preach
against the visit. He decided to use the
pulpit of the Park Boulevard Presbyterian Church to make his “One Big Stand.”
The
following Sunday morning, the sermon that was posted on back-lit sign outside
of the church, and which was printed on the mimeographed bulletins insider was
something like; “Why Saul Alinsky Should Not Speak,” (The exact title of the
message has been lost to the ages).
Grandpa had, after much prayer, discernment, and deep Spiritual
reflection, decided that trying to prevent Saul Alinsky from speaking would be
his “One Big Stand.” In all honesty, the
sermon that grandpa preached was not the most inspiring or uplifting oratorical
effort of his ministry. Nor, really, did
many people in the congregation entirely understand why grandpa was engaging
himself and the congregation in such politically charged and nationally
recognized debate. After the sermon,
some accused grandpa of pandering to petty politics and besmirching the lofty
status of the pulpit of God. Under
normal circumstances, grandpa would probably have agreed. However, such comments and editorials had
virtually no effect upon grandpa’s opinion of the effort. In essence, he knew deep down in his soul
that God was convicting him to speak about this particular issue. In the end, Saul Alinsky did not speak for
the San Francisco Presbytery. And, it is
worth noting that riots and revolts were experienced in nearly every other major
Bay area city in the late 1960’s which flanked Oakland: Richmond, San Francisco
and Berkeley. Mysteriously and some
would say providentially, riots and demonstrations were somehow averted in only
one city in the entire area – Oakland.
Years
later, when asked about his reasons for preaching against Saul Alinsky’s visit,
grandpa was still, somehow, unable to articulate exactly why he felt the way he
had, or why he was led to focus his congregation’s attention on that particular
Sunday on that particular issue. Grandpa
never again engaged with a major political, cultural, social, or cause quite
like the Saul Alinsky controversy. For
whatever reason, he felt called by God to take that particular position. That was his – “One Big Stand.”
Jesus’ “One
Big Stand” was, of course, the cross.
One of the things I love so much about Jesus is that he never allowed
smaller issues, other debates, various and sundry distracting causes to become
his “One Big Stand.” In Jesus’ day there
were so many other issues which could have been distracting; Jewish political
nationalism, Levitical purity, Commitment to the Torah, Roman philosophical
thinking. All of these issues could have
pulled Jesus from the main reason that He had come to be with us. However, from the moment that Jesus was born
to the moment of Jesus’death, Jesus knew that his “One Big Stand” would be
death on a cross, for all of humanity, for all of eternity.
Many
pastors make the mistake of allowing lots of different issues to become their
“One Big Stand.” And so, like Don
Quixote, in the Spanish novel by Cervantes, The Ingenious Gentleman Don
Quixote of La Mancha, they find themselves chasing up one valley and down
the next, flinging themselves every cause that comes along. In reality, every pastor only has one major
opportunity to take one major stand.
Nobody can define for you what your Big Stand will be. But you must take it, and you will know what
you must do, and how you must move forward, when that moment arrives.
All For Now,
GB
