for some it is too late for a time out...

I prepare myself
for the upcoming 2010
General Assembly Meeting
of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)
which will meet in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Already the voices grow louder,
the arguments more heated.

"You are wrong! You are not Biblical!
You disregard authority!"

My favorite thus far...
the reprise of that old bumper sticker
from the 70's

"Love it or leave it!"

And that is the crux of the matter:
we fight over love:
how we love
and who we love.

It seems one side promotes tough love...
spank if you have to kind of love!

While the other side holds out for
a more compassionate, encouraging,
open kind of love.

Certainly this is not the first time for such a fight.

History tells the story: New Side vs. Old Side Orthodoxy vs. Neo Orthodoxy

And then those moments when we dealt with racism and the ordination of women.

This is what the media waits for. There will surely be a story to print.

This is what other
Presbyterian Denominations,
such as the
PCA and the EPC,
wait for.

After all
they will,
as they already have,
benefit with
a membership boost
from the fallout.

In many ways
it seems
too late
for a referee...
to offer a voice of reason...
a moment of clarity
a decision to remain in union.

Our diversity...
commitment to agree to disagree
is on shaky ground,
sinking sand.

It seems we are destined
for isolation...
as we carve out like minded enclaves.

So perhaps the time has come
for like minded Presbyterians
to mingle and merge with
like minded Episcopalians
and like minded Lutherans.

But I fear even with our like mindedness
we would find plenty to aurgue about.

Which brings me full circle...
If history teaches us that we will
argue even when we are in the safety
of like-mindedness
why can't we find
the courage and the wisdom
to agree to disagree....
to love the way
God has loved us.