Two Very Different Churches - August 25

I spent much of  the morning at the First Presbyterian  Church of Cheyenne, and much of the afternoon with the First Presbyterian Church of Burns. The two churches could  hardly be more different.

The Cheyenne Church is the epitome of establishment. It occupies a large beautiful stone edifice only a block away from  the Wyoming capitol, and adjoins the Wyoming Supreme Court. It has a gorgeous sanctuary, 500 members, and an extensive staff. It is one of the oldest churches in Cheyenne, and, if truth be told, one of the wealthiest. As usual, my welcome there was extremely warm. The  pastor and elder with whom I met provided accounts of the rich history of the church. The theological tone is quite moderate. They have had a few disgruntled members over the years, some leaving because of personal issues, and some theological. A  few have left for more liberal milieus, and a few have left for more conservative ones. The controversial decisions of the PCUSA are rarely discussed. The pastors have not yet had a request to perform a gay marriage. They will cross that bridge when they come to it. This is the church where people have a deeper commitment to civility than to being right. I felt very comfortable there.

The First Presbyterian Church of Burns is 30 miles east of Cheyenne in a very small, rural community.  The streets are not paved.There is a regional high school there that draws students from a wide area. The church is in an attractive, well-maintained facility, with a  new multi-media audio-visual system. It  has a membership of 27 and an average attendance of about 20. I met with the  pastor and with their entire session (governing body). The people were warm-hearted and  welcoming, and we laughed a lot at their good-natured jokes about liberals. This church is, they say, composed of like-minded people who are all "conservative Christians." They are deeply saddened and grieved about the secular direction of our culture and the accommodation of the PCUSA to that culture. They believe that the church should lead the nation/community toward righteousness, rather than accommodating to its worldliness. They are deeply opposed  to any church sanctioning of homosexual relationships, because it goes against what the  Bible says "in black and white." One person fears that the Bibles sold in the  future will omit certain  passages and change certain words to make it more palatable to a degenerate culture. Similarly, they were deeply distressed about the PCUSA General Assembly's decision to divest from several companies that are deemed complicit with the destruction of Palestinian communities. They see the church as becoming anti-Semitic. The Bible says, they say (and they are right - see Genesis 12:3 for instance) that those who bless Israel will be blessed, and those who curse Israel will be cursed. They see America as now being cursed because of our supposed abandonment of Israel. Interestingly, one person said that, to be consistent, if we  insist that Israel should return land to the Palestinians, then the US should give back all the land it took from the Indian nations. But these people, who could probably tell that I was not in agreement with their position, were personally very warm to me, and they insisted that, in any written report, I should make it plain that they love everyone.

These two churches represent the great conflict and divide, not only in Wyoming Presbyterianism, but in American  Protestantism - indeed, one  might even say, in  American Christianity.They spring from very different ways of interpreting the Bible. The opposing positions are held by good and earnest people. But their beliefs and opinions seem irreconcilable.