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My congratulations to the seminarian who, without having to worry about whether or not their actions would close a congregation, has managed to find all the answers to the Church's steady decline over the past 40 years and parlay said answers into a bookdeal.
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I'm glad so many young seminarians have found their passion for ministries of justice, but as someone who has both a passion for justice and also a century-old congregation to shepherd on a shoe-string budget, I'm less than thrilled about their willingness to burn bridges.
Close down my parish, and some of my members will find their way to other ELCA, TEC, & UMC congregations engaged in the work of justice. But others will end up in LCMS and SBC congregations that reinforce their views of white supremacy. They'd never hear the call to repentance.
I've been "called out" for recognizing the tragedy of caged children, mass shootings, and praying for Joe Biden as the president-elect. "It's too political, and pastors shouldn't be be political," say the same people who repost Jeffress and Graham.
I'm less inclined to be lectured by the seminarian who has been arrested at a protest and been sheltered by professors congratulating them (and I mean this in all sincerity, blessings upon the steadfast ministry of these seminarians & the support offered to them by their faculty)
...than to read the insights of a bishop, presbyter, or deacon who has risked their livelihood to engage the nationalist members in their pews. These are the people doing the sustained and sustaining work of proclaiming repentance.
But our publishing houses seem to be more focused on cultivating celebrities before they're ordained than finding the people who are faithfully doing this work week in and week out in the pulpit or around the fellowship hall at Bible study.
Seminarians, by all means, continue to call out ordained leaders when we inevitably fail. And also remember that you will soon face the same trials and temptations; perhaps wait until you've faced those same trials before inking your contract.
