It has just turned to become October, and in a couple of weeks, Pam and I will fly to Charlotte, North Carolina, rent a car and drive up into the mountains of that lovely state. It should be breathtakingly beautiful, and we hope that our timing is good for catching the fall colors. We will visit my mother who resides in an assisted living facility in Morganton, N.C., and I will be attending a conference in Montreat, about 30 miles from there.
I have written in the past about the Celtic notion of “thin places” in the world where the spiritual and the material brush against each other. For me, Montreat is one of those places, and has been since I first went there in the late 50’s. Montreat is a conference center in the Presbyterian Church, USA; it was the Assembly Grounds/Conference Center for the old PCUS, or the southern Presbyterian Church up until 1983. My friend and classmate the Rev. Dr. Pete Peery has recently been called to head up the conference center. There is much that could be written about this special place, and many people have done so, but I want to tell you something about the unique entrance into Montreat which you see pictured here, and offer some theological
reflections on this gate which has stood basically unchanged for decades. For many years, all traffic flowed in and out of these stone arches; later a bypass around the gate was created for trucks and heavy equipment to enter into the township. I am sure that there have been many overtures to tear the gate down and build a more utilitarian entrance into Montreat. Thankfully the gate still stands; it’s dimensions are narrow, and as you drive through, you want to be careful not to leave paint on the stone structure. What I appreciate about this gate, beyond just the nostalgia it evokes, is the narrow-ness – that to enter into this wonderful mountain paradise requires due diligence. In Matthew 7:13-14, Jesus’ instruction to his disciples and the folks there on that Galilean mountainside was to “enter through the narrow gate;” it is the narrow gate that leads to life. The broad and easy way leads to destruction. Right now Congress is trying to rally across party lines to shore up a financial crisis of monumental proportions because lending institutions and politicians and stock traders and even home buyers saw a broad and easy path to increase their net worth, and all this greed created a perfect storm for a financial crisis. But beyond the meltdown of banks and investment firms, our society, our culture, has not practiced due diligence in defining what are the acceptable borders and parameters within which a society can thrive. We teach our children to do what is necessary to get ahead, but we have not instilled the values of accountablility and taking responsibility for what happens along the way. We live by the axiom that it is "easier to ask for forgiveness, than to ask for permission." We turn a deaf ear to lies or fabrication of facts, and we turn a blind eye, to those who cheat in order to raise their GPA and gain admittance to the right law school or the better medical school. I like the idea of “narrow gates” – I like the idea of a gatekeeper who understands the underlying principles of integrity and accountability with one’s own life and with the lives of others. Had there been better gatekeepers on Wall Street and in government, we would not be in the fiscal mess we as a country are in today. My fear is that this is not the last cultural crisis we shall see. So long as we keep widening the ways and easing the paths for what we do and how we do it, crisis will eventually engulf us. Due diligence as we enter into any relationship, any contract, any negotiation is going to tell us where the true boundaries are to this gateway we are entering; due diligence seeks to determine what the true cost of this decision will be. Sometimes getting a scratch on the paintjob is a reminder that we might want to think this matter through one more time.
I have written in the past about the Celtic notion of “thin places” in the world where the spiritual and the material brush against each other. For me, Montreat is one of those places, and has been since I first went there in the late 50’s. Montreat is a conference center in the Presbyterian Church, USA; it was the Assembly Grounds/Conference Center for the old PCUS, or the southern Presbyterian Church up until 1983. My friend and classmate the Rev. Dr. Pete Peery has recently been called to head up the conference center. There is much that could be written about this special place, and many people have done so, but I want to tell you something about the unique entrance into Montreat which you see pictured here, and offer some theological
reflections on this gate which has stood basically unchanged for decades. For many years, all traffic flowed in and out of these stone arches; later a bypass around the gate was created for trucks and heavy equipment to enter into the township. I am sure that there have been many overtures to tear the gate down and build a more utilitarian entrance into Montreat. Thankfully the gate still stands; it’s dimensions are narrow, and as you drive through, you want to be careful not to leave paint on the stone structure. What I appreciate about this gate, beyond just the nostalgia it evokes, is the narrow-ness – that to enter into this wonderful mountain paradise requires due diligence. In Matthew 7:13-14, Jesus’ instruction to his disciples and the folks there on that Galilean mountainside was to “enter through the narrow gate;” it is the narrow gate that leads to life. The broad and easy way leads to destruction. Right now Congress is trying to rally across party lines to shore up a financial crisis of monumental proportions because lending institutions and politicians and stock traders and even home buyers saw a broad and easy path to increase their net worth, and all this greed created a perfect storm for a financial crisis. But beyond the meltdown of banks and investment firms, our society, our culture, has not practiced due diligence in defining what are the acceptable borders and parameters within which a society can thrive. We teach our children to do what is necessary to get ahead, but we have not instilled the values of accountablility and taking responsibility for what happens along the way. We live by the axiom that it is "easier to ask for forgiveness, than to ask for permission." We turn a deaf ear to lies or fabrication of facts, and we turn a blind eye, to those who cheat in order to raise their GPA and gain admittance to the right law school or the better medical school. I like the idea of “narrow gates” – I like the idea of a gatekeeper who understands the underlying principles of integrity and accountability with one’s own life and with the lives of others. Had there been better gatekeepers on Wall Street and in government, we would not be in the fiscal mess we as a country are in today. My fear is that this is not the last cultural crisis we shall see. So long as we keep widening the ways and easing the paths for what we do and how we do it, crisis will eventually engulf us. Due diligence as we enter into any relationship, any contract, any negotiation is going to tell us where the true boundaries are to this gateway we are entering; due diligence seeks to determine what the true cost of this decision will be. Sometimes getting a scratch on the paintjob is a reminder that we might want to think this matter through one more time.posted by Jerry Hurst
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