Play at WSU probes faith

Doubt and drama and why anyone in their right mind would work for a church were the topics of discussion Wednesday in the Diversity Center at Weber State University. Three Ogden pastors addressed an audience of students and parishioners.

The university is currently producing a play, "Racing Demon," about the Anglican Church of England. The play talks about infighting among clergy and features an older priest who questions the importance of Communion, a younger priest who would like to see the older one fired, and a third priest who is gay and in love. ("Racing Demon" was written by David Hare, one of Britain's most celebrated playwrights.)

Like the priests in the play, "I have had a love/hate relationship with organized religion," said the Rev. Adam Linton, rector of the Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd. "I have had a complicated religious journey," he said. Still, he has come to believe that organized religion is "a potential instrument of light and grace."

Joining the Rev. Linton on the panel were the Rev. Carla Gilbert, Ogden United Church of Christ, and the Rev. Matthew Cockrum from the Unitarian Universalist Church of Ogden. All three ministers said they could relate to the problems portrayed in the play. Everyone has been disappointed in humanity and in institutions, said the Rev. Gilbert. "Faith in God is different from having faith in institutions," the Rev. Cockrum said. Institutions will always be flawed because people are flawed.

The Rev. Linton said he, especially, understands the structure of the Anglican Church, because the Episcopal Church is basically the U.S. branch of the Anglican Church. He also said that all three faiths represented on the panel were troublemaking faiths, a place where believers wrestle with individual conscience, scripture and the church's traditions.

But they all see the value in belonging to a congregation. "I think the church has vision," said the Rev. Gilbert. "The church is community, a moral compass," said the Rev. Cockrum.

Going to seminary, getting a graduate degree in divinity, and then being ordained, was not exactly a career choice, the way the three ministers described it. It was more a matter of answering a deeply felt call to serve.

"Did I choose it, or did it choose me?" said the Rev. Linton. The Rev. Gilbert said, "I woke up one Saturday morning and said, 'Carla, you are spending all your time doing ministry and you now you need to earn an income.' "

When they talked about the play, all three pastors said they saw the younger priest as being in a crisis of faith. Even though it was the older priest who expressed his doubts, the certainty of the younger priest made the ministers say he was in crisis. He just wasn't questioning enough.

"Doubt is the attendant of faith," said the Rev. Cockrum.

Her church tells her to "live the questions," said the Rev. Gilbert. "Only through digging deeply do we come to the full embodiment of faith."

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