Chautauqua Day 7 - the final day

I know the weeping will begin with all my two readers (myself included....thanks Mom) to know that this will be the final Chautauqua post. It has been a good and fruitful week with an acceptable amount of productivity and relaxation. All ranting aside, this is a good place to go and think and I recommend if, if you can afford it. My kids won't be going to college because of the week I spent here, but I think the sacrifice was worth it.
I heard two good lectures yesterday. The first was from Michael Gerson, sr. fellow for the Council on Foreign Relations and former speechwriter and advisor to "still" President George W. Bush. I have to admit, just as I approached Richard Land, I approached Gerson (as I think many did here at Chautauqua. Yet Gerson is a speechwriter and knew again how to speak to his audience and how to craft the English language well. I enjoy a good speech, and regardless of the content this was a good speech.
Gerson spoke about the "emerging center," specifically the emergence of a social consciousness among evangelicals. He spoke of a new generation of evangelicals who were still morally conservative but who were concerned for the poor, destitute, etc. This is good, I guess, yet were is the space for the "liberals" in this emerging center. Liberals are known for their social consciousness but not for conservative morals (or any morals at that matter). Yet the idea of an emerging center would suggest that it would not just be evangelicals moving to the left, but that liberal Christians would be moving to the right. Think about it for a moment. What would liberals have to do to be a part of this emerging center. Personally, one thing I am trying to do is reclaim my evangelical roots. As a Baptist, such an argument is not difficult to make - we have an evangelical heritage, theologically speaking, and it is worth claiming. Yet that is not enough. I think we on the left should look at our values and morals and make claims. One attack on liberals is that we tend to walk in a swamp of moral relativity. I would tend to agree. Liberalism has been mired with a bad mix of individualism, situational ethics, and a lack of doctrine. This makes for a sour tasting theology. I do think there are some things we should claim - poverty is wrong, war is wrong, economic inequality is wrong, etc. Yet I would also claim that excessive drinking is wrong, sexual misconduct or a dangerous sexual lifestyle is wrong, indifference is wrong, etc.... If you are breaking relationship with God and with others than it is wrong. Love is a relational concept, not just a social concept. Would the said Liberals of Christianity be willing to consider personal moral boundaries as well as the social boundaries we have so well claimed to join this emerging center? I am not suggesting liberal morals be exactly the same as the evangelicals - there are certain doctrinal issues held by evangelicals that I cannot advocate, but we still need to consider our values and morals. Something to think about. I would like to say some things about his clear conservative leanings, and some of the issues I had, but.... I'm lazy and don't want to write that much.
The other lecture I heard was from the writer in residence and a good friend of mine, Ron MacLean. His lecture was called, "Risk Everything," and it was good. While Ron was speaking about writing, the role of literature in the 21st century and the purpose it serves (or lack thereof), most of what he said could be applied to pastors and sermons. Writing should take risks, make people uncomfortable, stir them and wake them up. So should sermons. As writing continues to evolve and develop, it should be done with excellence. So should sermons. Writing should be visionary, so should sermons. Writing should be an act of nonconformity. So should sermons. And on and on. It was refreshing to hear a lecture not about faith and politics and one that was challenging and inspiring when considering the craft that is so much a part of my profession. Basically, pastors, writers, artists, musicians, visionaries, should grow a set of balls and take risks. It is interesting that I can find a number of instances in scripture where prophets in the Hebrew Scriptures and followers of Christ in the gospels are warned about the difficult life ahead of them and the risks they will have to take. Yet it takes a writer to remind this pastor about the risks he is called to take. Some would say that God was speaking through Ron. Others would say that Ron just gave a damn good speech.