During a visit this week to my precious mother at the St. Francis nursing home in Buffalo, New York, I had an unexpected reunion with Beryl Kinney, the first person to clearly share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with my twin brother, Paul, and me, when we were teenagers. She had come to visit Mom, too. Beryl was also the one to lead my mother to the stage at a conference center where the famed Dale Evans Rogers had just shared her testimony of faith in Christ. That night, in 1977, Mom gave her heart to the Lord.

Beryl is as vivacious in early 80’s as she was when Paul and I first met her 37 years ago. A devout Catholic, she is also one of the most multi-denominational Christians I’ve ever known. She’s as comfortable with Baptists as she is with Pentecostals, Presbyterians or Methodists. To Beryl, if you confess Jesus as Lord, you’re a member of the same family.

This generosity of spirit–that is, accepting and affirming all of God’s people–is what the word “ecumenical” means. I know it’s a bad word in some circles, but it never has been to me. As Beryl introduced my brother and me to Jesus, she also introduced us to His household–Christians of every label, tradition and style.

After making our public professions of faith in Christ at Emmanuel United Methodist Church, we learned quickly how to enjoy everything “the church” had to offer. We went to Sunday morning service with these original “Holy Rollers” and learned about John Wesley and his circuit riding preachers. We went to midnight mass at the local Jesuit university where we came to appreciate the majesty of God through liturgy, incense and Gregorian chants. On Sunday nights we learned the importance of Bible study at a little independent Baptist church–and we felt the power of the Holy Spirit at midweek service with an Assembly of God congregation.

All of this came together, though, at “Monday Night Prayer Group.” This gathering was an eclectic blend of Christians from nearly enough denominations to represent the whole alphabet. Along with the Catholics that hosted us, there were . . .

Adventists, Baptists, Congregationalists, Disciples, Episcopalians, Free Methodists, Holiness, Independents, Jews (Paul and I were two of them!), Lutherans, Mennonites, Orthodox, Presbyterians, Quakers, Reformed, Salvationists (of the Army brand, that is) and Wesleyans.

This is what the word “ecumenical” means. It comes from the Greek, oikoumenikós, the same word from which we get “economy.” It referred to the “household,” meaning everything that revolved around the functioning of a family within their domicile. Through Beryl’s role modeling, this is how we came to know the Body of Christ, as our brothers and sisters regardless of what label they wore.

Paul and I would later come to appreciate the importance of every member of God’s family through the most intense years of the pro-life movement. We were often in jail with Christians of every variety. When you’re in prison clothes, all you have is your love for the Lord and each other–no denominational membership cards allowed!

It’s this history that led my brother “back to Bethel” this weekend. After 33 years of being a Protestant Evangelical minister, Paul was ordained on Saturday as one of the few married priests in the Catholic church. It was a beautiful service, and the message preached by the visiting bishop, Victor Galeone of St. Augustine, Florida, would have been just as well received in any of the churches I routinely preach in as it was at St. Joseph’s in York, Pennsylvania, where the service took place.

“Fr. Paul” will continue the work he has always done through our sister organization, the National Pro-Life Center, as well as take up part-time pastoral duties at a largely Vietnamese parish in downtown Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Oh, and of course, he remains happily married to his wife of 33 years, Becky, and continues to be “the other kind of father” to his eight children.

God often takes us back to where we started our spiritual journeys. I’m very happy that my brother has found his Bethel in this new–well, make that old–place.

Rob +

Paul Schenck kneels to be ordained a priest.

Here’s an exhortation for the members of Congress that I will stand with today when they defend the National Day of Prayer:

“. . . they shall not profane the holy things . . .” Leviticus 22:15.

This is a reminder to me and to everyone involved that prayer is a holy thing and should not be exploited for political advantage. I’ve been around Capitol Hill long enough to know there are probably some who are already thinking, “Gee, this is a wedge issue we can use in the upcoming elections.” Republicans will be tempted to paint Democrats as ungodly and the GOP as sacred because it supports the National Day of Prayer legislation. Democrats will be tempted to say, “We’re not jumping on board with this because it’s going to be used against us at election time.”

Either position is wrong-headed and wrong-hearted.

Prayer is sacred and transcends every political consideration. Both parties have historically violated this holy trust. God reminds us through the prophet Isaiah:

“As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:9)

When we profane the things of God by dragging them into the rough and tumble of our earthly politics, we only remind ourselves how far we are from the Holy.

Rob +

With Gov. Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota

Unless you live in Minnesota, you may not know the name Tim Pawlenty, but if you watch the news, you’ve probably seen his face.

Pawlenty is the governor of Minnesota and a former state legislator there. The reason you’ve likely seen him is because he’s making the rounds inside the Republican Party and on the talk shows as an “unannounced” presidential “pre-candidate.” That’s my way of saying he’s clearly testing the political waters for a potential presidential run in 2012.

I caught up with Governor Pawlenty when he came to town this week to address the Susan B. Anthony List, an organization that supports principally pro-life women candidates.  (I know what you’re thinking: So why aren’t they supporting Sarah Palin instead of Tim Pawlenty? Answer: They aren’t supporting anyone at this stage—and she’s speaking at their annual breakfast next month.)

The reason I went to the dinner was specifically to ask the Governor one question: What church does he attend? I knew everything else about him—well, everything else that can be known—but I didn’t know exactly about his church affiliation. When I huddled with him away from the crowd, he told me: Woodale Church of Eden, Minnesota. He’s attended there since the early 1980’s.

Born, baptized and raised Catholic, he moved over to the then Baptist church (it’s since become non-denominational Evangelical) after he met his wife, who had been raised in the congregation.

The Pawlentys’ pastor is the Reverend Dr. Leith Anderson, whom I’ve met several times. He’s an author, former Christian college president and now president of the National Association of Evangelicals. He’s also a fellow signer with me (and hundreds of others) of the Manhattan Declaration, a document stating that the signers pledge not to comply with rules and laws forcing us to accept abortion, same-sex marriage and other ideals that go against our religious consciences.

Keep an eye and a prayer on Tim Pawlenty. If nothing else, he’s a refreshing voice of conscience in the political arena.

Or is it intractable flexibility?

I started out leading prayer this morning outside Blair House, the site of today’s bi-partisian summit on health care reform convened by President Obama. Call me a blithe optimist or simply naive, but I monitored nearly every minute of it thinking, “Well, let’s give the two parties a chance. Let’s give the president a chance.” 6 hours and 22 minutes later, it seemed it ended like it began.

I will give the President high points for taking the time to let the two parties speak. He did hear them out–and he gave his opponents ample time to speak–and they spoke effectively. Of course, there’s a difference between “hearing” and “listening.” “Listen” means you accept, appreciate and heed what is said. The President and the leaders of Congress heard a lot today, but they don’t appear to have listened.

Both sides predictably had everything well well scripted and rehearsed–including the ending.That’s not cynical, it’s necessary. I’m glad the public conversation about health care has been re-ignited, but it seems the current proposals are still securely in place. That means should any of the present bills pass, there will be more abortion, this time made possible by tax dollars. There will also be government management of health insurance. I’m definitely not optimistic about that.

God told the prophet Ezekiel, “the house of Israel will not be willing to listen to you, since they are not willing to listen to Me. Surely the whole house of Israel is stubborn and obstinate.” (Ezekiel 3:7) Even though the people would not listen to Ezekiel, he was no less responsible to deliver the message!

There’s still time for you to weigh in. Pray–then make calls to your representative and your two senators. Pastors: Tell your congressional delegation how many are in your congregation and what you hear them saying.

More to follow . . .

Rob +

OK, somebody has to say it. It’s uncomfortable and it makes whoever says it open to being called a “Pharisee,” a “homophobe,” a “bigot,” a sanctimonious hater, a benighted troglodyte, or worse. Somebody has to endure that, though. We need to act like grown up, secure people who can talk about difficult things and resolve them.

So, to quote one of my favorites, Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band, “Call me a relic, call me what you will. Say I’m old-fashioned, say I’m over the hill,” but here it goes.

First, for the President to use the State of the Union to call on Congress to repeal the current policy on gays serving in the military was wrong. It is incendiary, provocative, distressing and contrary to the most deeply held religious and moral convictions of millions of Americans. Second, if he really believes passionately in this, he has other means to accomplish it. He can use the budget process, or, even quicker and cleaner, he can simply issue an executive order.  He used such an order last night for something far less consequential. The President obviously thought the deficit so important he by-passed the Congress and created a Deficit Commission by fiat.

If, in fact, allowing gays to serve openly in the military is, as the President said, “The right thing to do,” then why not simply do it? What the President actually did was lob an explosively contentious grenade into the public square. Gay activists were instantly in knots about it—disgusted the President didn’t do what they really wanted, but only renewed a campaign promise by punting to the Legislative Branch. And a whole lot of ethnic and cultural groups, moral conservatives, religious people, and, yes, military men and women, are now left to painfully wrestle with what is surely another divisive, corrosive and likely dead-end issue.

Why is this? Because no matter how you cut it, gays-in-the-military does not present the same set of questions as blacks-in-the-military, or latinos-in-the-military. There is near universal belief that it is always wrong to use race, color or ethnicity to judge a person’s character, ability or willingness to serve. (For that matter, there’s no debate the data eliminate whether a gay person can serve admirably or is willing to serve admirably. In fact, not only have gay persons done so, they have given the ultimate sacrifice in doing so.)

The question really is whether it is appropriate for the military to be used to validate a dubious sexual practice. Lets face it, that’s what this is really all about. To the gay rights activists, please be at least that transparent. Tell us what you’re really thinking so we can have an honest conversation. This is about validation of a lifestyle that has as its defining feature a sexual attraction and even a set of sexual acts. After all, isn’t that what on the opposite side makes a heterosexual?

The fact is, well-considered, well-informed, carefully researched and fully contemplated moral and religious philosophies hold that sexual acts between persons of the same sex are injurious to the individuals involved and the society around them. These convictions cannot be dismissed as veneers for irrational hatred or the base animus of the uneducated and ignorant masses. There are plenty of Ivy League PhDs in this camp, along with caring, compassionate, even loving pastors of souls; there are also the vast majority of those who embrace one of the earth’s three great monotheistic faiths. Which brings me to the next point.

A former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff told me chaplains are “critical to good order and morale, and therefore to the success of our military.” As a board member of an organization that fields a large number of chaplains to the military, I interact with them regularly and I routinely hear about the things that concern them, and this is definitely one. And this doesn’t only affect Evangelical or Catholic clergy. I’m also talking about Jewish, Muslim and Mormon chaplains. In each case, their religious systems teach homosexual behavior violates God’s intended purpose for human sexuality and is therefore not allowed. You don’t have to have a Harvard degree (though many of these chaplains do) to know there will be conflict between what these chaplains are charged to teach and preach, and the President’s proposed policy change. It’s a huge—read that HUGE—problem for morale and good order.

And there’s another thing. Come ‘on, let’s be grown ups. There’s a reason the military doesn’t have men and women showering together. Please don’t dismiss this one as a childish vestige of a now distant Victorian past. The fact is you don’t generally want people around you in a shower that are erotically stimulated by your naked body. Now, I may be betraying my naïve ignorance here about how gay people get excited, but none of my gay acquaintances have ever said it works terribly different for them then it does for straights. The site of an attractive nude body probably does for gays what it does for straights. (Unless, of course, you are gifted with a disinterest in sex, period. That’s another matter.) For most of us, testosterone, estrogen and libido are forward moving forces that need at least a modicum of external controls, including segregated showering and dressing spaces.

I’ve purposely left until last the most incendiary element of this State of the Union attack on personal, moral, social and religious sensibilities—its affect on our relations with the Muslim world. When I participated in my first face-to-face formal dialogue between Christian and Muslim leaders in an Islamic country, I was asked at the start, “Do you accept homosexuality?” Homosexuality is a deal-breaker for the vast majority of Muslims. I know, we don’t want to kowtow to oppressive religions, no matter how many adherents they have, but, again, if we’re looking to solve problems, this is not the way to do it.

Surely the President knows these things. He told us during his campaign he’s a man of deep and considered Christian faith; he had a Muslim father and a partial Muslim upbringing; he has a Harvard law degree and an IQ off the charts. Surely he’s not ignorant of the considerable and principled convictions held by so many on this subject; and of the dangerous pitfalls it presents given the already tense environment military women and men sacrificially occupy.

Let’s grow up and have the big conversation before President Obama’s proposal brings about unintended, irreversible and even terrible consequences for our valiant American heroes.

I’d really like to hear from you on this.

Rob +

Yesterday’s election of Scott Brown to the US Senate is rocking Washington, DC. It’s as if everyone here is dazed–Democrats and Republicans alike. Brown is an interesting study. Pro-abortion voices decry him as anti-choice and pro-life voices decry him as not pro-life enough, while gay groups denounce him as “homophobic” for not supporting same-sex marriage and pro-family groups thump him for advocating “civil unions.”

I’ve gotten a lot of E-mails on Senator-Elect Brown, including from a top sitting US Senator and top Christian leaders in Massachusetts and elsewhere. He is an interesting study. As far as I can tell, Sen. Brown is what 18th Century founder of the Methodist Church John Wesley called a “Bible Christian.” The best information I have is that the Brown family’s home church is New England Chapel in Franklin, MA. It’s in the network of new Christian Reformed Churches. That is, the congregation is contemporary in its culture and style, “Evangelical” in its ethos, and soft in its delivery of its message. At its core ,though, it’s old-time Calvinistic Reformed Christianity, which can be strict and severe. (See Institutes of the Christian Religion by John Calvin.) Still, Brown seems to define himself religiously. Among other things, he has a serious relationship to a community of Catholic nuns; definitely not typical of Christian Reformed.

Senator Brown’s pastor, Chris Mitchell , a graduate of the evangelically renowned Gordon-Conwell Seminary, where Billy Graham once chaired the board, seems like the kind of minister I generally keep company with and the church is very familiar in the way in conducts its ministries. (We posted a video of one of their recent baptismal services–check it out on our Faith and Action homepage.)

I’ll post more on Scott Brown and his faith. For now, I encourage you to pray for the senator-elect from the Bay State. He’ll need it–badly.

Rob +