OK, I give in, I can’t write anything today without mentioning Michael Jackson, and I say that with all due respect. Actually, the announcement of the pop culture icon’s sudden death yesterday did give me a tinge of sadness, though I was not among his music fans. I knew just enough about his enormously public, yet supremely lonely existence that it left me lamenting he never found the source of true happiness. Robbed of his childhood by a father obsessed with achieving vicarious fame and fortune through the exploitation of his children, Jackson was disfigured by his stardom, literally and figuratively. While his moral behavior was more than suspect, he still consistently professed his belief in God and Jesus. As an Evangelical Christian, I do believe in last-minute personal redemption. Only God knows what was in Michael Jackson’s heart and mind at the moment he breathed his last.

That’s not what I intended to post here, today. Instead, it was about another post—the Washington Post, that is. A reporter called me yesterday to ask about the two recent high-profile moral scandals with political connections: Senator John Ensign and South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford. I’ve met both, but only briefly, that’s why I thought it curious the Post called me. Halfway through the 35-minute interview, it became clear the article wasn’t really about them, their admissions of infidelity or my commentary on either. It was instead about a tangential connection both men had to “C Street House,” a Christian outreach that has been something of model for our own, at least in part. “C Street,” as it’s affectionately known, is, like our ministry center, a 19th century Victorian row house located on “the other side” of Capitol Hill; that is, on the south side of the Capitol, near the chamber of the House of Representatives. We’re more on the “north side,” near the Senate, in many ways a world away. If you think of north as being “above” south, then you understand how senators see themselves in reference to the “south chamber.”

Anyway, I digress. The Post reporter pressed me for information on the somewhat “secretive” C Street House. I knew what he meant. Operated by the little-known Fellowship Foundation, “C Street” and other related Fellowship programs are extremely discreet, sometimes obsessively so. Unless you’re a donor, volunteer or participant, the only thing you may ever hear about them is their sponsorship of the annual National Prayer Breakfast featuring the President, among other national and international luminaries. What I explained to the Post is that all ministries in Washington need to protect the confidence of those we minister to, and I’m sure that’s a primary motive for C Street’s low profile. I know Doug Coe, the 50-year leader of the Fellowship, and he does hold an amazing range of confidences, from Hillary Clinton to Tom Coburn. Still, I think the Fellowship has been just a tad bit too clandestine. Jesus said, “I spoke openly to the world. I always taught in synagogues and in the temple, where the Jews always meet, and in secret I have said nothing” (John 18:20).

We’re probably way too “out there” for the Fellowship Foundation’s taste, but I do believe we’re not to hide what we have under any kind of bushel basket; it’s too valuable to too many. As Jesus seemed to suggest, it also opens us up to questions about our real intentions, something the Post reporter tried to grasp, but in the end, didn’t quite get. He did get close to my final point, and it was more about me and our Faith and Action team, than it was about our comrades in the Fellowship. I warned that the great seduction in doing ministry in Washington is to get caught up in the aura of power, prestige and personality cults that dominate here. One of the parallel temptations is to accommodate the people we seek to reach, rather than challenge them. Sadly, that may mean we look the other way at their compromising behavior instead of saying as Nathan did to King David, “Thou art the man!” (See 2 Samuel 12.) In a day when every potentate was an Ahmadinejad, and far more menacing, Nathan was literally putting his head on the chapping block, a fate far worse than what may be for us in Washington a simple scaring away a few otherwise curious politicians. You can read the Post article here.

Finally, on this, I sent my own “Thou art the man” letter to Governor Sanford yesterday, urging him in a pastoral way to immediately resign his office. You’ll understand why when you read the letter below.

On my way to Florida this weekend to preach for the first time in weeks. I was silenced by oral surgery, but I’m on the mend and will be fully back in the game this Sunday. If you’re anywhere near Orlando Sunday morning, join long-time friend Pastor Charles Nestor and me at Calvary Chapel South Orlando. Their website has all the info you need.

Back to you next week  . . .

Rob +

June 25, 2009

The Honorable Mark Sanford
P. O. Box 12267
Columbia, SC 29211

My dear Governor:

Your recent public disclosure of marital infidelity has induced me to write this letter. I send you this communiqué in my capacity as an ordained minister in the Evangelical tradition, a pastor, a shepherd of souls, and as one who has prayed for you, thanked God for your leadership and always spoken well of you in public and in private. You have not solicited my counsel, but I feel a burden to share it with you, for whatever it may be worth.

Please know that I offer this as a fellow sinner saved only by God’s grace. He knows of my personal failings and sinful impulses, just as he knew always of yours. According to the New Testament definition of sin, my list is as long as yours. Our Lord died for us, “while we were yet sinners” (Romans 5:7-9). This is what makes the Gospel truly “Good News.”

Having said all this, I humbly offer to you this pastoral advice: First, when these sins overtake us and ruin what is best of our lives, it is better to say less to the public and more to God and to those who have been injured by us. I urge you to now observe an extended period of public silence and address your interior spiritual life and the repair of your family. I also admonish you to immediately step down from public office. It has been my experience and that of many others in the ministry, that such turbulent and injurious human failings, such as this one in your life, require our complete and undivided attention.

After 25 years of ordained ministry, 15 of them serving individuals in high public office on Capitol Hill, I am convinced holding on to such an office does nothing to promote personal or family healing, but, in fact, almost always adds to the damage done. For the sake of your family, all those you love, the people of your state, and your own soul, I urge you to immediately resign your office and step down as governor of South Carolina.

While distance may interfere with my ability to serve you further in any way, I make myself available to you at any time. Be assured of my constant prayers for you. I am,

Very truly yours in Christ,

Rev. Rob Schenck
President

This entry was posted on Friday, June 26th, 2009 at 11:29 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.