Dean's Letter

October 2006
From The Very Reverend David Bird, Ph.D., Dean and Rector

Beware the "Herd"

In last week's gospel reading, the disciples have been talking among themselves about who will be in charge when Jesus is dead. Jesus apparently realizes that the disciples are denying to themselves the fact that he must die yet cannot resist speculating which one of them will be in charge when he goes. His response? Not a story but a sentence and a simple action.

He takes a child—a non-person in that society—and tells them that unless they can enter the Kingdom of God like a child, powerless and trusting, they will find themselves outside.

We should add they will not find themselves outside the church, but outside God's kingdom. The two are not one. The church is a human institution, full of good, bad and indifferent motives, emotions and people. The kingdom of God is intimate relationship with God, not least those moments when unselfishly we find ourselves truly doing what God would have us do or being the kind of person God would have us be.

In the period between the two world wars of the twentieth century, a brilliant US theologian, Reinhold Niebuhr, drew attention to the fact that we are far more likely to be a part of the Kingdom of God when we are alone and powerless than when we are in groups. Within a group, our survival instincts and our desires to assert our own wills come into stronger play. Self-interest and control take a much larger hold in the community. We have less instinct for self-transcendence.

A century before Niebuhr, an Italian born, British, French and German educated historian, Lord Acton, observed that: "Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely."

Frequently this statement or one of its variants (e.g., "all power corrupts; absolute power corrupts absolutely") is applied to the power of a particular individual. Lord Acton, however, focused rather on groups. "Every class," he asserted, "is unfit to govern." "Remember," he observed, "where you have a concentration of power in a few hands, all too frequently men [people] with the mentality of gangsters get control. History has proven that."

This is where spiritual discipline and religious commitment become of crucial value to the soul. No matter the decisions which lie before us, we must beware of becoming part of the "herd" mentality which can cause so much harm in society.

Many of the greatest religious figures of history were people who were able to swim against the tide of culture, even religious culture. Jesus and St. Paul are obvious examples; so too are many of the great prophets of Israel, such as Amos and Jeremiah; or great examples of compassionate, selfless living, such as Mother Theresa or Mahatma Gandhi.

One of the truths of religion is that most of its greatest spiritual figures existed within the religious culture of their day, and yet were able to see beyond popular religion to a deeper reality where God touched their hearts.

How do we, then, as church people in America step beyond the popular so-called Christian culture and hear the voice of the living God? We need to listen for the voice of God in the radically different perspectives on God of other denominations and religions. Instead of being sure that other groups worship God in their way and we worship God in God's way, we seek the humility to listen and look to the stranger for enlightenment.

Likewise our spiritual reading and discussion need to take place among people who are not like-minded. Our prayer and study, beyond our Sunday worship in our own church, can often take place with another church, synagogue or mosque. In this way we begin to see that our religious and ethnic divides which sometimes lead even to the horrors of war are not about right versus wrong but about power and the herd instinct.

We also need to listen to the wisdom of those who have gone before us and take seriously to heart their failings. Those who ignore history often do so to their peril and repeat similar mistakes to those who have gone before.

Above all, the Christian needs to focus upon the picture of Christ given to us in the new Testament. He is the model, the window to God for us. It is remarkably simple, but the question, "what would Christ have me do?" can have a devastating effect upon our religious lives and one which is all to the good.

— David

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