Uniting Your Congregation With Pastoral Care and a Prophetic Word
by Rev. Doug Cushing
This past year, I have done a good deal of work around the idea of becoming a Purple Church. A Purple Church is a big-tent church; a church that desires to unite politically conservative, moderate and progressive Christians around Jesus’ vision for the church embodied in John 17. Being a Purple Church is difficult in any time but is especially challenging given the level of contempt, distrust and (now) politically-motivated violence dotting our American landscape.
How can we, as Pastors and church leaders, invite our congregations to follow in the way of Jesus during such volatile and chaotic times? One way is to identify the common emotions our congregations are feeling in response to the events currently happening in our country and then speak God’s Word into those tattered emotions, mixing authentic pastoral care with genuine prophetic words. The following is an example of how to identify a common emotion that is vexing a congregation and providing pastoral care with a prophetic word.
There have been many poignant, precise words used to describe the chaos and rioting that descended upon our nation’s capital last Wednesday. One word, however, seems to resonate with nearly everyone. The word is ‘SCARY.’ Watching the rage-fueled angry mob break windows, overwhelm law enforcement and vandalize the “The People’s House” filled us with dismay and outrage, for sure. But the entire event was also scary.
The other day a friend of mine sent me a series of quotes from former Presbyterian Pastor and TV icon, Fred Rogers. One quote from Mr. Rogers caught my attention because it was so appropriate for our times. Mr. Rogers said: "When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, 'Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.' To this day, especially in times of 'disaster,' I remember my mother's words, and I am always comforted by realizing that there are still so many helpers--so many caring people in this world."
“Look for the helpers,” was Fred Rogers words of advice for me. The next day I stumbled across an article about US Representative Andy Kim from New Jersey and his late-night attempt to clean the capital after the riot.
“I was just overwhelmed with emotion,” Kim, 38, told said. “It’s a room that I love so much — it’s the heart of the Capitol, literally the heart of this country. It pained me so much to see it in this kind of condition.”
So, for the next hour and a half, he crouched down and filled a half dozen trash bags with debris. When he finished cleaning up the rotunda, he began working on the adjacent rooms, including the National Statuary Hall and the Capitol crypt downstairs. Then he returned to the House floor to debate Pennsylvania's vote count, a session that lasted until 3 a.m. By Thursday evening, he’d been awake for more than 36 hours.
On a day in which video of mayhem and bloodshed inundated social media, a widely shared photograph of Kim, alone on his knees, picking up the final pieces of garbage in a nearly empty rotunda, was a radical break from — and rejection of — the violent impulses that drove the country to the brink of collapse.”
How are we to respond during such scary times? “Look for the helpers,” Mr. Rogers told us. “Find ways to become one of the helpers,” Rep Andy Kim is telling us. As you consider ways to be a helper during these chaotic times, remember that acting toward others with the selfless love of Jesus will not only break the violent impulses of our times, it will also drive out our fears. As we are reminded in I John 4: 18: “There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear.”
Who do you know that is being a helper – an example of the love of God in our community?
Where is our Lord calling you to be a helper right now?