December 14, 2006
Promise Keepers
Promise Keepers was an important movement for the men in my family…until the year its theme was ‘Reconciliation’. That year the concept of building men of integrity seemed to give way to the social agenda of race relations. For my guys the PK flame of enthusiasm went out when the organization no longer identified who they were. A trend in the church today seems to be the adoption of a purpose, a vision or a mission statement to shape the church’s identity. Rather than defining the character of a church, many mottos are an attempt to fulfill a leadership’s desire to re-defining the church’s personality. Psychologically speaking, it’s no wonder we feel like we’re suffering from an identity crisis of multiple split personalities.
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Gail;
----I have been to one Promise-Keepers rally. And I wonder if that was the year you are referencing. It was at the CU stadium, and of course the place was packed out. I have never been in such a crowd. I remember sitting there, looking around the full stadium, and thinking to myself, "Gee, this is as many people who are in all of Montrose County. Wow!" And to hear all those voices rising for the Lord! Of course, there was also the necessity for...uhh...I think you ladies call it...uhh...the powder room. Well, there's not much powder in the guys place, except maybe the explosive kind. I was amazed at the size of that facility. There were rows and rows and rows of troughs, and they were pretty much all being used. And I too was amazed at how many colored gentlemen were in there. I am from Montrose, and you know, if quotas had to be maintained we would be running far short here! And there were lots of us white guys too. But a warm feeling settled over me as I noticed that everyone was joking and carrying on without regard to race. It was just good time!
----That was about nine in the morning. Shortly before the next break they presented a speaker, that if my chair had not been a bolted down stadium seat I would have thrown it at him. He fed us twenty minutes of tripe about how every white man should be stepping up to a black man and apologizing! Frankly, I thought things were going pretty well between the races, at least around the urinals. When this chump was done, I was ready for those troughs again.
----But this time, when I stepped into the restroom, there were as many men there, and they were as racially mixed as before, but the chatter was hushed. The black guys were talking to the black guys. The white guys were talking to the white guys. I felt darned uncomfortable, too. I have never stopped complaining about that one speach.
----Christians seem to create one great sin more than any other. They get some sort of religious feeling from havening to do something religious. We all seemed adjusted to one another, I think I was sure about that. But this guy evidently had to assuage some guilt feeling of his own, and it toppled what the Lord had beendoing on His own.
----And yes, Gail, this was just one clear example of what wonderful things church leaders can do for the church, too!
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