Burkean questions

Leon Wieseltier, writing in The New Republic, brings up Edmund Burke's philosophy in relation to the topic of 'change.' [October 7, 2009, "With Respect to What"] Burke has been the champion of conservatives and traditionalists. But Wieseltier says 'not too fast.' Burke is more complex than that. The author says, "If Burkeanism means a hostility to change, then Burke was himself not a Burkean." He was more dialectical than that. Burke said, "mind must conspire with mind." Wieseltier writes, "The Burkean retort to the call for change is, with respect to what? The idea of changing everything and the idea of changing nothing are both merciless."

So, in regard to change, the answer is yes and no. You can't not change. Change happens. To be against change is to be for death. The questions are: What kind of change? How much change? Change for what reason?

For the church, the question may be: Will we keep changing the way we have been changing, or will we change in a more life-giving way?

The way we are now changing is to become older and more traditional and less open to the new. The way we could be changing is to be more open to younger ideas, more open to different ways of doing things, and more willing to hand over the direction of the church to another generation.

To hang onto power looks like a way of not changing. But it actually means to change in the direction of non-growth. Corpses change. They decay. Expensive caskets and steel vaults do not stop change. Babies change too, but in the opposite direction.

To share power is to be willing to loss something in order to gain something. We give up 'our way' in order to assimilate 'their ways' into the system, so that new life is allowed to ferment.

Burke's notion of 'at once to preserve and to reform,' is a realistic way forward. What kind of change do we need? In Burkean terms 'change' cannot be some theory held only in the mind. We must put wheels on it. For example, the Nominating Committee needs to be made up of people who wish to bring new people into the structures of power and ministry. The Session, Trustees, and Deacons have to have much more representation from the under 50 age group. Groups for people in their 30s and 40s need to be established for the purpose of getting to know one another and giving support in parenting, marriage enrichment, and entertainment. A pastor who is an extrovert and has entrepreneurial tendencies can whip up interest in activities, events, and missions that involve younger families and their friends. Subtle sifts in planning, worship, and decision-making can initiate a steady movement toward more openness, flexibility, and enthusiasm.

The Church has institutional form. In order to survive the Church has to be packaged in some kind of institution. But forms can be transformed. But only if individuals have been transformed first. To follow Jesus is to be led down the Way of self-emptying. He who did not 'grasp hold of divinity' (Phil. 2) leads us toward painful letting go.

Burke was a Christian gentleman of the 18th and 19th centuries. But Jesus is no gentleman. He is a rebel. And that's the problem. His ultimate commitment is not to institutions, but to abundant life.