Make a New Normal
Elizabeth Kaeton preached the quintessential Advent 4 sermon–about Occupy Wall Street. Amazing!
This has me moved to see a simple idea. Head on over, read it, and then reflect over that picture of Bishop Packard for a moment. When you are done, come back and ask yourself the following question:
What if, in the midst of all of our structures and beliefs and plans, G-d is here, breaking through? What if this is the image of G-d and anything but support for it is a denial of the kingdom?
Drew, George Packard was a classmate of mine at seminary. I knew him to be a gentle kind human being. He liked to laugh, but there was always a sort of sadness in his eyes… as if he had seen more of life than any of us should have to see. I didn’t understand then why there should be the underlying sadness, but I think I might understand now.
I followed a link to an article in one of the New York papers written in 2002, soon after he had taken up his role as bishop to the armed services. Turns out that before he went to seminary he was an Army officer serving in Vietnam. His job was to lead his platoon on night patrols and set up ambushes for the enemy: essentially kill as many people as possible. It seems he was very good at this very dangerous job. For his service he was awarded the Silver Star and two Bronze Stars for valor.
It seems that when he got out he felt he somehow needed to make up for what he had done, so after seminary and three years in a parish he became an Army chaplain. Ultimately he was appointed chaplain for all the chaplains, bishop.
He’s always been a man of courage and most often a “company man”. I suspect he has always known that good institutions can perpetuate injustice, but chose to work within the system to make it just. This time, however, something must have been different. Chances are it has to do with the highest levels of power in our denomination. It was too much for him to take so George decided to step outside of the system. I don’t know his mind (there was so much I didn’t know about his past) but I wonder if he isn’t still trying to make restitution, spending his life to defeat the principalities and powers and bring in the Kingdom of God.
Thanks, Dad! Way more than I knew! I haven’t been following the Trinity WS stuff very closely, but I have been genuinely surprised, both here and in England that our church’s response has been so cold and unyieldingly legalistic. Our schismatic friends might say “duh!” (as they have their lawyers on speed-dial). But I really am surprised. It seems so compellingly right to be generous and to see Christ in them.
It reminds me of the Action assembly I went to in Lansing in which we called upon the county to engage in a jail-to-release program that would help those leaving the jail at 12:01 am have some place to go and some people to see that will reduce recidivism. The county board of commissioners knew this was coming and had been involved in the process, but when it came time, they complained about the aggressive posture we took. They couldn’t bring themselves to do the obviously right thing because of bruised egos and questions about process. What an incredible missed opportunity. TWS and +KJS have screwed up hugely in the exact same way.
Then there is the simple human reaction (didn’t say Christian reaction) from people in charge . I’ve been doing this a long time; I’m quite familiar with feeling my gorge rise when I’m being pushed into doing something… even a something that is the right thing. We’re used to thinking of our selves as kind and benevelent, but we nonetheless feel resentment when we’re asked to prove it. I’ve had to train myself to simply ignor the anger and resentment and do the right thing. The clergy at TWS, however, know they are sitting on top of the pile; they are no doubt quite proud and protective of their position. Under the circumstances it must be hard to be humble and simply surrender to the need. Then there is the hidden costs we don’t know about. They pay a very high price to maintain their position. I haven’t yet found myself in a position where the cost was more than I could pay and still do the right thing. I’m guessing it is very different at TWS.
[…] I wrote the other day, I was moved, not by the thought of Bishop George Packard getting involved in Occupy Wall Street, […]
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