Petty Politics

Petty minds and petty politics are the root of most division in the church. Power is the name of this game. Where there is power envy, there will be dissent and division.

She is his wife. He has a problem with women in positions of authority. Including his wife. He rips the posters off the wall of the room where I teach confirmation. He has disparaging words about me whenever my back is turned. I have named his need for power and control. I have reined him in on too many occasions: twice. I allow him a lot of slack; I refuse to argue over things of no consequence to the future or well being of the church. It's simply not worth my energy. As the janitor of the church, a voluntary position, he refuses to clean the offices or even empty the trash there. He does not sit in worship; he remains outside the doors in the gathering area and chats through the worship service with 3 other guys whose wives attend.

He is her husband. Her third husband, to be exact. She buried the other two. She is the Treasurer of the church and, currently, the temporary bookkeeper. She refuses to pay the capital expenditures from borrowed money. She's paid them from general fund. There's no longer any money in the general fund, so she cannot pay the regular bills; specifically, she cannot pay the pastor's salary, pension, reimbursements (including the items purchased by request of the governing board), or mileage. There's $50K in the credit line for the capital expenditures, but since these things are not capital expenditures, she refuses to transfer the funds.

The larger issue is control. The larger issue is power. The larger issue is going to destroy the morale of the congregation and close the church.

So I continue to do what I do best: kill the source with kindness. Suffocate the strangler with recognition and laud for the positive things they do. Emphasize the positive. Quietly work the ropes to counter the negative.

Jesus asked whose face was on the coin. Give to Caesar what is Caesar's. Give to God what is God's. Today, we give to abusers what is theirs: their methods, their negativity, their demise. We praise God for the power of love.