Trading on trust

At every ordination we hear the familiar words of Paul from 1 Corinthians 4: "This is how we are to be regarded, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. It is required of stewards, moreover, that they be found trustworthy."

With elegant economy, these words bring vividly to mind both the awesome nature of the gift of ministry and the tremendous responsibility that comes with that gift.

We know that the trust extended to leaders is all too often abused. We are profoundly disappointed when we discover that a CEO is making four hundred times as much as the average employee, even as the corporation reels toward insolvency. University officials vote themselves handsome perks while students borrow to pay for double-digit tuition increases. Our elected leaders pervert the truth. Politics and special interests trump the public good. Nobody believes what they read in the newspaper. Broken trust breeds cynicism and shreds the fabric of society.

We hope that it will be different in the church. So it hurts all the more when the "servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God" prove untrustworthy. When pastors abuse their power for self-aggrandizement or sexual gain, we all suffer.

We urge our religious leaders to keep the trust, assuming that the trust is still there to keep. It is becoming increasingly clear to me how far the reservoir of trust has been depleted. As trust is diminished, so is the authority that we need to be effective servants and stewards. That is one reason why ministry is so much more difficult today. It is especially daunting to enter into a parish after the previous pastor has been asked to leave because of broken trust. Our leaders not only have to keep the trust; more and more they have to earn trust, one member at a time.

Those of us in leadership have to prove ourselves--as Paul had to do with the Corinthians--through the demonstration of our own trustworthiness, knowing how flawed and prone to sin we are. God help us! God help us as we do our part to reweave the slender threads of trust. God help those who long for the mysteries we steward and the Christ we serve, but hesitate until they see if we can be trusted.

Phyllis Anderson

President

Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary

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