Faith Works 2-11-06
Jeff Gill

Was Lincoln Unchurched?

Tomorrow we mark the birthday of Abraham Lincoln, whose bicentennial is coming soon (2009, to be precise).
His place in the American epic is unquestioned, his writings still read (his speeches among the last entirely penned on his own), his life an object of reverence.
Among the majestic works of Lincoln’s pen are the addresses, not only from Gettysburg but at the second inauguration, not long before his assassination, which reflect theologically on the times and seasons in which he and the nation found themselves.
There is also tucked away in his papers a page of focused moral reasoning in the light of God’s purposes, never shared in public. Lincoln’s "Meditation on the Divine Will" takes on the vexed question of war and public morality in ways that are reflected through each of his more official statements, but here more personally, as he wrestles with his decisions and influence while seeking a greater good for others. It is concluded, in a sense, by the phrases near the end of his Second Inaugural: "with malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right; let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation’s wounds,; to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widw, and for his orphan – to do all which may achieve and cherish a just, and a lasting peace, among ourselves, and with all nations."
This man, an American exemplar in many ways, never joined a church. His parents were good Baptists, but their congregational records in Kentucky and Indiana survive, and young Abraham never was baptized there. My home tradition out of the Restoration movement tries to claim Lincoln from time to time, but the hard fact is that the Lincolns were put through a church trial for suspicion of being "Campbellites," and . . . they were acquitted.
Presbyterians take a turn at grabbing a piece of the great man, and it is true that he attended there in Springfield and Washington, where his wife was a member, but there too the records show he never came forward. Even Catholics take a flier on his having contributed to building a church for their tradition in Springfield, Illinois, but so did many leading citizens of the day. Unitarians point to parallels in some of his writing to their creed, but he had many opportunities to affiliate and passed them by as well.
It is not in me to say that, on this, Abraham Lincoln was ahead of his time. I am preacher enough to strongly affirm that even Lincoln could have missed out on something that he needed, but never claimed.
What he very carefully did, with enough care to show he knew what he was doing and did it on purpose, was that he stayed out of the organized church. Methodists know they can’t even sidle up to Lincoln as an adherent, since one of the great pioneer circuit riders, Peter Cartwright, not only preached against the infidel from New Salem and was one of the few to debate him to a standstill, he ran against Lincoln for elective office, and beat him. Joining a church would have been a smart political move.
So I can’t help but respect him for not joining: some careful scruple, probed at by many but revealed to few, and none who shared it, kept Honest Abe’s conscience from declaring his Christian affiliation.
Yes, I do believe that a thorough reading of his papers shows a man convinced of Christ as his Lord, but of no church as proper witness. To affirm any one doctrine or creed in full was not in him, for reasons we can only guess at.
Today, church membership is a social necessity almost nowhere. You don’t need it to run for office, sell insurance, get a job, or for anything else really. For the most part, if you join a church, it is because you want to, not because you gotta.
That is actually a help to building healthy church membership, I would think. But it makes all the more challenging the question: what kind of church would Lincoln join? A man who knew his Bible and the history of faith, a person with deep reflections on God’s will and a serious desire to live within Divine approval? Wouldn’t you want your faith community to attract someone like that? Forget music or liturgy or styles (though Lincoln always said that the best preachers in his opinion looked like they were fighting a swarm of bees!), but is your fellowship living out a faith and practice that would bring Abraham in out of the cold?
And what would that church look and feel like . . . a good question to mull over as winter slowly turns to Lent these next few weeks.

Jeff Gill is a writer, storyteller, and supply preacher around central Ohio; tell him a story of faith at disciple@voyager.net.