THE TRUTH HURTS

“that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting,
but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ—” (Ephesians 4:14-15 New King James Version)

I received quite an unexpected e-mail yesterday. It did not come to my personal e-mail address. Rather it came to the e-mail address of the now defunct church that I pastored, (First Assembly of God of Framingham). It was from a gentleman from the South that I’ve never heard of. It only listed me as the recipient, but I assume I had to have been “blind copied”...that is a method of sending a mass e-mail where the sender can send it to hundreds or even thousands at one time, but each receives an apparently personalized e-mail. The writer had an axe to grind against the pastor of a large Assemblies of God church in a fairly good-sized southern city. I don’t know anyone on the pastoral staff of that church and I’ve never visited that church, nor that city for that matter. So, the e-mail is just his word and I have no idea if the information contained in the e-mail is accurate or not. The writer stated that a prominent and longtime Board Member of that church had testified in a very important court trial and had blatantly perjured himself on the stand. The writer was shocked and appalled that the church Board Member, a respected businessman and well known person in the community, had blatantly lied again and again with a straight face and seemingly no uneasiness about doing so. The writer went on to say that he’d confronted the church’s Senior Pastor about what had happened, and that he was even more shocked that the clergyman defended and supported the Board Member’s actions. As the writer reported it, the pastor said he was defending the Board Member because of all he’d done for him and for the church. The writer claims the pastor said something like, “Why should I side with YOU? What did YOU ever do to help me or help grow our church?” The e-mail’s author stated that he was writing to other Assemblies of God pastors to ask if they agreed with what this pastor had said and with the clergyman’s line of reasoning.

This thing of “telling the truth” is a lot tougher than many would believe. Frankly, there are very few pastors who have never stretched the truth or flat out lied in the ministry. I remember that at the pastors’ prayer group I attend, a HIGHLY respected pastor told the story of having used the pulpit to verbally take a few shots at one particular guy in the church and his sins and issues. It’s a bad idea, frankly, but it’s something most pastors have done. I’ve done it. After the service, to the pastor’s shock, the guy confronted him, accusing, “You were talking about ME! You were aiming that sermon DIRECTLY AT ME.” The pastor frankly told our group. “I lied. I told him NO I had not aimed it at him. But I had.” And, “truthfully” in awkward church situations like that, I’m ashamed to admit that I’ve lied, too.

There are so many games we play in evangelical Christian circles. Again, I have no idea if the story told to me in today’s e-mail was accurate. But I would not at all be surprised if it IS accurate. Really, it’s all of life. One of my daughters send me a song on youtube this weekend. I had never heard of the song, but I guess it’s popular with the teens and twenties set. The lyrics speak of people with phony smiles who stab you in the back. There is so much of that stuff in life, that it’s very sad, indeed.

With the exception of two or three raunchy episodes, I really love the television show, “The Office”. People either “get” that show or they don’t. I absolutely get it. I hate to admit that I have an affinity for the goofy and unwise boss, Michael Scott (played by Steve Carrell), but I do. I don’t think in real life a guy like Michael Scott could ever REALLY become a “branch manager”. On one of the early episodes of LAST year’s show, Michael Scott is invited to a large corporate meeting of the shareholders of their company (“Dunder Mifflin”) in New York City. A limousine is sent to pick Michael and several of his staff up and whisk them to the New York City meeting. The meeting is being held at an auditorium. Most of the stockholders and employees present are very angry. The company is losing money at an alarming rate, yet the highest level executives seem to be spending money like drunken sailors. Several people make very angry speeches and accusations against the company’s CEO and top executives. With the innocence of a 3rd Grader at a Cub Scout meeting, Michael Scott races to the podium microphone.

“Wait a minute, these are NICE people!” Michael announces. “Why, they’re so nice, do you know what they did? They sent us a limousine to pick us up, and they gave us all kinds of great food to eat!”

Michael cannot understand why the crowd begins booing and yelling in anger.

“What do you intend to DO to TURN THIS COMPANY AROUND?!” one man asks in a very confrontational manner, to the cheers of fellow stockholders and employees. The CEO begins with a typical line of sappy political double-talk and mumbo jumbo. It’s not working. Once again, Michael Scott grabs the microphone, enthusiastically yelling and promising,

“What are we going to DO?! We are going to come up with a PLAN! That’s what we’re going to DO! We’re going to COME UP WITH A PLAN IN THE NEXT 45 MINUTES THAT WILL TURN THIS COUNTRY AROUND!”

Michael comes on with the fervor and charisma of a television prosperity evangelist or a political cheerleader like Sarah Palin addressing a crowd of conservative pro-family women. The crowd LOVES him, and is completely turned around. They begin wildly cheering, and Michael has a big grin, feeling he’s saved the day.

The executives take a “recess”, leave the stage, and go into a conference room. Michael expects to be honored as a hero. He honestly believes these smart, corporate leaders really care about turning around the company, and that they have the brains and wisdom to come up with a winning plan in less than 45 minutes. Instead, Michael is met with ridicule and disdain from the executives. He has been brought in as the manager of the Scranton branch which leads Dunder Mifflin in sales. He is supposed to just say a sentence or two about the great sales his branch has had and that the company is in good hands. That’s it. The executives turn on Michael, calling him “stupid” and an “idiot”. Sadly, nervously, and bravely, Michael says to them, “I’m the manager of the branch with top sales. I am not an idiot.”

It’s not convincing. Michael tries bringing one of his accountants in to give the top executives some advice. Poor Oscar the accountant is SO nervous and intimidated by these “suits” that he falls apart and clams up. Michael and his staff just about run for their lives to the limo and (to use one of my expressions) “rip out of there”!

The Michael Scotts of this world are often under valued, under appreciated and misunderstood. And, granted, Michael DOES pull some stupid practical jokes on the show and act very juvenile at times. But, the character IS a top salesman. That’s how he became branch manager. Michael is SO sanguine, funny, and extroverted, that customers buy paper from him almost in spite of that. Yes, Michael may not know Dunn and Bradstreet from McDonald’s and may not know a spreadsheet from a bedspread, but he can get on the phone and successfully sell paper to a paper mill, or anybody else for that matter. IS his childlike innocence in proclaiming: “Wait a minute, these are NICE people! Why, they’re so nice, do you know what they did? They sent us a limousine to pick us up, and they gave us all kinds of great food to eat!” an asset or a liability? I know what most people would say, but you know what?- I’d buy from him, too! I’d feel like this is a real guy who can relate to me. (Now, the Michael Scott who takes his GPS very literally and drives his new Taurus rental car into a lake when he hears, “Turn right”...well, I’d take a few steps away from that Michael Scott!)

Maybe the Michael Scotts of this world, be they branch managers or clergymen are “idiots”- but at least they’re not likely to face the kind of accusatory e-mail that southern pastor did!