That they may be one

"He drew a circle..."

He drew a circle that shut me out--
Heretic, rebel, a thing to flout.
But Love and I had the wit to win:
We drew a circle that took him in!

"Outwitted" by Edwin Markham (complete poem).

Source: The Best Loved Poems of the American People. Doubleday, 1936. p.67.

“That they may be one….” Some of our brothers and sisters in the faith are easier to get along with than others. I enjoy our ecumenical Lenten series, and the bonhomie of my colleagues in the Episcopal, Methodist and Lutheran (ELCA) churches. Other relationships are more strained.

Yesterday, I (and all members of the Lakes Area Ministerial Association) received a genial invitation from a brother-in-Christ whom I have not yet met, the pastor of a Community Church in Aitkin. It is an invitation to come and learn more about a new initiative from Focus on the Family, called “The Truth Project.” The one who wrote the invitation believes that “this study is uniquely placed by God to aid churches in beginning to reverse the ground lost to the world, the flesh and the devil….”

Because the invitation was so genuine and personal, I did not relegate it to the “trash” file.

Instead, I did some research, watched portions of the video-based series (available on U-tube), and I saw for myself that “The Truth Project” lies. It is a beautifully produced, expertly edited package of Orwellian double-speak. From the beginning, it draws a circle that shuts out science, philosophy, anthropology, psychology, cosmology and mainstream theology (and anything else that challenges Focus on the Family). It defines truth as whatever the presenter (and Focus on the Family ministries) define as truth through their very dark, myopic lenses. Like Humpty Dumpty in Through the Looking Glass, when the presenter, Dr. Del Tackett uses the word truth, he means what he chooses it to mean.

“When I use a word,”

Humpty Dumpty said

in a rather scornful tone,

“it means what I choose it to mean—

neither more nor less.”

Doctor Tackett earned his Doctor of Management degree from Colorado Technical University. His field of expertise is business management. His work experience includes 20 years in the US Air Force, and unspecified periods of employment with George H.W. Bush’s National Security Council, Kaman Sciences Corporation and ITT Industries (both defense contractors). In 2007, ITT Corporation became the first major defense contractor to be convicted for criminal violation of the Arms Export Control Act (source: Wikipedia). Such associations fail to qualify Del Tackett as an expert on truth.

And Jesus prayed, “that thy may all be one.”

I struggle with that scripture.

When other members of Jesus’ flock draw a circle that shuts me out, and not only me but my whole church family, my tradition, the churches of my ancestors and the colleges they founded so that pastors could be trained up through academic rigor—then how can love and I draw a circle that takes in even the one who shuts us out.

Lord Jesus, you’ve got to help me with this one.