A couple of years ago, I was talking with a colleague of mine about some difficulties I was having in my church. One of the issues concerned prophetic statements I had made about health care and some other social issues. My friend concluded that the conflict was in large part a spillover from the angry national political climate, but he also placed some of the responsibility on my shoulders - observing that even in my late 30s, I am still quite the idealist.
He was quick to qualify his charge, saying that idealism can be a very good thing - but the implication was clear. Idealism is something that is fine for students in a classroom theorizing about changing the world; but real people out in the real world, and especially pastors, need to get over it if they want to avoid trouble and get anywhere.
In my time in the church and in politics, I have seen many people “get over” their idealism. From seminary classmates with whom I shared pitchers of beer and dreams of a social justice movement in the church; to fellow ministers who have been slowly seduced by the allure of bigger steeples; to partners in political blogging who transformed from bold critics of the system to dependents on the status quo – in all of these, the basic pattern is the same.
Grow up. Go to school. Come to understand the evils of the world and its systemic nature. Develop big dreams and plans for changing the world. Graduate. Go out into the world. Realize that changing the system is a lot more difficult than anticipated. Watch a lot of friends and colleagues do well by abandoning their idealism and conforming to the system. Watch a few struggle painfully by continuing to fight the system.
Ultimately, the process forces young idealists into a difficult choice. In the movie “The Rainmaker,” the rookie lawyer played by Matt Damon asks the grizzled veteran who defends a criminal corporation, “Do you even remember when you first sold out?” What he’s really asking is if the lawyer made a conscious choice to abandon the principles of his youth, or he if he just woke up one day and realized he had drifted away from them.
My sense is that most ministers who lose their idealism drift away. They might not even realize it is gone, thinking they are still fighting for those same lofty principles they developed in seminary. But bit by bit, they might soften their language from the pulpit and edit their words in the newsletter. They might shy away from the challenging programs and study topics, instead making choices that are less controversial and more popular. Slowly but surely, they become cogs in the system they once decried, and they come up with a variety of justifications for why they shouldn’t pursue a bolder, more prophetic style of ministry.
In the next installment of “Cling To Your Idealism,” I’ll unpack some of these justifications, and I’ll examine some ways in my own ministry I have felt the temptation to abandon the lofty ideals of my youth.
