Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!wuarchive!uunet!seismo!dimacs.rutgers.edu!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: tblake@bingvaxu.cc.binghamton.edu (Thomas Blake) Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Re: A pastoral letter to the members of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Message-ID: Date: 26 Jun 91 04:17:24 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Organization: State University of New York at Binghamton Lines: 76 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu In article ssc-bee!ssc-vax!carroll@cs.washington.edu (Jeff Carroll) writes: > I hesitate to generalize about the Episcopal Church at large >(anyone should), but I've been involved in fruitful and productive Bible >study on a number of occasions with fellow Episcopalians whose views on >Scriptural interpretation would have to be described as "liberal". > > On the other hand, my experiences as a United Methodist were >entirely different. Nearly all the Bible study I participated in there >was pretty juvenile, centering on personal feelings and reactions rather >than the Scriptures themselves. Yeah, generalizations are *very* easy to make, and not a good idea at all. We all know that the beliefs and practices of different religions vary widely. Differences can be easily found between the denominations of Christianity, and also between different congregations in a single denomination. One of my pastoral friends is currently researching a paper she is writing on the differences of belief between members of the same congregation. She finds that they can vary widely, even their feelings on the fact that other members of the church believe differently than they do. While one rejoices in diversity of belief, another believes that they must search for a congregation where everyone agrees on what this particular Christian knows to be "the truth". Back in the early 80's I was invloved in a cast of Godspell that went about performing in churches in upstate New York (mostly Roman Catholic churches). While one church insisted that we perform in a social hall, (which had no stage), another church insisted that we perform in the sanctuary. Still another church had us perform in the sanctuary, but took great pains to (pardon my lack of correct terminology) remove "the host" from the box up front, and leave the door open so that all could see that "the host" was absent. Three or four years later, I again toured with Godspell, (put on by the same organization), we revisited a number of the churches. In many cases, the individual congregations reversed their stand on where the show should appropriately be performed. (In most cases they moved us from a social hall to the sanctuary.) These differences didn't surprise me much. I was raised in one church of a two-point charge, (two congregations served by the same pastor). And I had observed how different our two congregations were, (and yet how similar). The two churches had families that changed membership back and forth, (obviously not because of the pastor). My congregation might be considered liberal. Travel less than 3 miles and you'll find another UMC congregation that is more conservative. Travel 5 in a different direction and you'll find one which is still more conservative. Travel 10 miles, and you'll find a number which are more liberal. One man who has been worshipping with us lately told me how much more accepting our congregation was. He had come from a small Lutheran congregation who he said "wouldn't even worship with the other Lutheran congregation down the road." From this I wouldn't draw the conclusion that UMC congregations are more accepting than Lutheran congregations, only that our particular congregation was perceived by him to be more accepting than another congregation which happened to be Lutheran. My present pastor has two masters degrees, and is working on her dissertation. Her Bible studies appear in our conference newsletter, and might be called "challenging" or "scholarly", but certainly not "juvenile". I don't conclude from this that all UMC pastors are highly educated biblical scholars. What much of it comes down to in my view, is not the denomination, but the people involved. This is why I get frustrated when someone makes a sweeping generalization about a denomination based upon their experiences with a very small minority of that denomination. Tom Blake SUNY-Binghamton Christian First United Methodist Second