This image is my contribution to the conversation this morning – Ron Burgundy giving Ted Haggard a telling off. I am assuming you have memorized the various Ron Burgundy lines from Anchorman. If not, Ron’s line was actually “Milk was a bad choice”.
You may have read that Ted confessed to his church yesterday through a letter read out publicly to his old congregation. Denver Post has the skinny:
“There is a part of my life that is so repulsive and dark that I’ve been warring against it all of my adult life,” Haggard wrote and confessed to being a “deceiver and a liar” [link]
So does that mean that church is full of hypocrites? Not necessarily. It means that its full of deceivers and liars which is basically every single one of us and church is the best place to go to confess it and get it sorted out. The crying shame is that many Christian communities are no longer safe places to share our bad choices and our dark corners and get them cleaned up so we can live in purity and up-rightness. If you find a church that is, hook up with it. They need you and you need them.
If the story keeps unraveling this week, I think Ted’s reputation will be damaged more by hiding the truth than by buying meth and requesting massages from gay model. A church that doesn’t have an atmosphere of honest confession is partly to blame for the closet adventures of their leader.
Word up for Gayle Haggard who also “released a letter to the congregation. In it, she professed her commitment to her marriage and her belief in the teachings of the church.
“I would not change one iota of what I have been teaching the women of our church,” “For those of you who have been concerned that my marriage was so perfect I could not possibly relate to the women who are facing great difficulties, know that this will never again be the case.
“My test has begun; watch me. I will try to prove myself faithful.”
Here is the PDF file of the Haggard apology read yesterday. Thanks Roeman for sending it.
Related:
Ted Haggard. The Video
Meth Was a Bad Choice
Haggard and the Hazzard of Hotels
Carrying Your Dad’s Dumbbell
Gayle Haggard: An Excellent Woman Who Can Find?
Alan: Thoughts on Ted Haggard
Technorati Tags: haggard, ted haggard
Hey Andrew,
The correlation between your earlier posting about ‘the bigggest gathering of the Joneses’ and the Haggard affair is interesting. You stated: “You see – persecution for being on the fringe seems to follow us Joneses, no matter where we are.”
So the obvious question that no-one has asked yet – is this fringe figure Mike Jones, the gay prostitute who exposed Haggard, also part of your family branch? Is that the reason why you pop up on place no 1 in Google? People search for ‘gay’ and ‘Jones’ and find Tallskinnykiwi?
Could you please openly address this sensitive issue? It’s ok, you can tell us everything, we are your buddies. This is a safe place to confess, really.
Do you pray for this situation longer than it took to make that little image and post it?
Marc – i tried the ‘gay’ and the ‘jones’ but didnt rate on google. maybe there was a glitch in the matrix?
As for my dad being gay and me being a minister, well . .. thats no secret and not really anything to confess on my part – but while my dad was living it was a matter of discretion. Now he is gone (2 years ago) i have less issues with talking openly about being the “son of a gay parent.” I did not agree or consent to my dad’s lifestyle and was very very happy when he gave his life to Jesus a few years before his death.
now the Jones day that i blogged about on Nov 2 – i really did not know about the mike jones incident until nov 3.
good enough?
and coops, i try to pray while i do things – art, dishes, driving, blogging – its a way of focusing and watching in prayer. Please keep praying, Coops, not just for the Haggard family but for all of us who are discussing church with people that very rarely give it a second thought.
That reference rocks. Oh Ron B, such sage advice! 😉
Ohh, it’s the deep burn. Oh, it’s so deep.
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Ah… I see I forgot the 😉 to indicate it wasn’t meant as a serious remark, but thanks for addressing it anyway, Andrew. I fully agree with your take on this. Wish there was more openness in church to struggle and process, and a context in which ministers are not ‘above’ the congregation, but fully part of the Body, known with their strengths and weaknesses. And yes, we need to pray for the Haggard family. This is an incredibly hard time for them.
marc – i’m sorry
the dutch humor is so hard to pick up [and detect – if indeed it is even there]
and no – its not a sensitive issue so the next time we share a hotel room together, you can still give me a neck massage and you don’t have to question my motives . . d:-)
see you in copenhagen in a few weeks.
Thanks for being so thorough with your coverage on this situation. I do wonder about so much of the focus being on the Haggards and their family and the church though. What about Mike Jones? Are the christian readers here remembering to pray for him? His reputation is on the line too you know. But for most of us christians, as soon as he was labeled a “gay escort”, his reputation was gone.
I feel bad for him, whether the accusations are true or not, as his heart is going to be even more hardened towards the truth of the Gospel.
From what I know of Ted, I believe if the accusations are true then he will ask for forgiveness (and will be forgiven). He will have to deal with the consequences but if this does truly expose an area of his life, then he will find a freedom and forgiveness that he didn’t understand before. His wife seems to be a woman who will be hurt in all of this but the two of them will cling to God for strength. Its Mike Jones who in all of this will still be lost. Lord, be with him.
I too find it all incredibly sad and truly incredible. Especially incredible to me was finding out that Ted Haggard’s last sermon on October 29 was on leaders being replaced and that he prayed for lies and deception to be exposed.
I have personally have found some of the comments incredible too – not yours Andrew which I found to the point – but Mark Driscoll’s comments did seem incredible especially those about pastor’s wives letting themselves go and the advice to male pastors to only have male assistants – not very helpful under the circumstances.
Andrew,
I have rephrased this comment several different ways and haven’t found a good way to pose my question. When my first husband left me for another man I was devasted, mainly because I was pregnant and wanted two parents raising our child. Katie is now 18 and struggling with the fact that her biological father is homosexual. I am looking for some solid resources for her. Any thoughts? Please feel free to email me if you would like.
Shari
We prayed as a staff here (University of the Nations-Kona) yesterday for the Body of Christ, our campus, New Life Church, and the Haggard family, sharing together Galatians 6. As we prayed I felt God speaking two things: (1) we must pray for our churches and fellowships that anything being done in “secret” inconsistent with the character and nature of God will be made public and (2) for reconciliation, repentance, and revival within the Body of Christ.
I agree, Courtney. I’ve pointed out to a couple of people that it’s easy to pray and be concerned for our own, while forgetting about others. In this case, we shouldn’t be giving self-serving prayers for Mike Jones, but real grace.
hey. I was wondering if you knew any prophetic painters (artists). My daughter is doing a paper for school on artists
hey. I was wondering if you knew any prophetic painters (artists). My daughter is doing a paper for school on artists