Toward the end of the last millennium, the American Film Institute produced a list of the Top 100 Films of All-Time. Since I was unfamiliar with most of them, I systematically visited the local video store and checked out as many as I could.
One of those films was High Noon – now listed by the Institute as the 27th greatest film ever.
Last night, through the magic of Roku, my wife and I watched the film again.
Gary Cooper stars as Marshal Will Kane. (My brother John has lived for years in Montana on land once owned by Gary Cooper.) As the film opens, it’s Kane’s wedding day. He’s marrying Amy (played by Grace Kelly).
But as they’re ready to leave on their honeymoon, Kane and his wife learn that the dreaded Frank Miller has been released from prison … and is coming to town on the noontime train … to wreak vengeance on the marshal who put him behind bars.
As evidence of this fact, Miller’s brother and two cohorts ride through the middle of town toward the train depot while all the townspeople scatter.
Marshal Kane is advised to hightail it out of town with his bride and not look back. After all, a new marshal is scheduled to take over the next day. Let him handle the Ferocious Four.
Kane is torn. On the one hand, everybody’s telling him to leave town with Amy … so that’s what he does. But five minutes outside town, he turns around and goes back, telling Amy that they’ll never be safe if he doesn’t confront Frank Miller and his boys now.
As I watched the film with fascination, I saw many parallels between the way people reacted to the conflict inside their town and the way churchgoers respond to open conflict at their church:
First, everyone feels anxious when a group’s leader experiences an attack.
The opening scenes of High Noon show a town that’s been rejuvenated. The people of the town are having fun and laughing.
But when Ben Miller (Frank’s younger brother) and his two buddies ride through town, everybody gets off the street and hides.
The town became a happy place because of the work done by Marshal Kane. He’s the one who cleaned up the streets and made the place safe for women and children.
But as anxiety rises in the town, people begin to engage in self-preservation.
When a group – and it’s always a group – attacks a pastor, the entire church senses something is wrong.
Sometimes people can tell a pastor is under attack because he’s no longer himself. He lowers his head, doesn’t smile, and seems jittery.
Other times, people start to hear rumors about the pastor – or charges by people who don’t like him.
And as anxiety begins to spread around the church, people start heading for the tall grass.
Second, a leader under attack needs reinforcements.
Marshal Kane was a tall, strong man who knew how to handle a gun. But would he prevail in a showdown with four experienced gunmen?
Probably not – so Kane began asking the townspeople for help. He asked men whom he had once deputized. He asked the guys in the local saloon. He even interrupted a church service and asked the congregation if a few men would volunteer to assist him.
After all, if 8 or 10 men stood shoulder-to-shoulder next to Kane, then maybe Frank Miller and his gang would see they were outnumbered and just ride out of town.
No pastor attacked by a group in a church can survive unless he has reinforcements.
Maybe some staff members are willing to stand with him … or the entire governing board … or some former leaders … or a group of longtime friends.
If the associate pastor stands with the pastor … along with the board chairman … and a few other key leaders, the pastor may have enough support to turn back the Gang of Gunmen.
But without that support, the pastor … and possibly the church … are toast.
Third, most people bail on their leader when he needs them the most.
This is the heart of the film.
Amy, the marshal’s new bride, runs away from her husband when they return to town because she’s a Quaker and doesn’t want to see any killing.
The guys in the saloon prove worthless.
The people in the church discuss helping their marshal … then decide against doing anything at all. (The pastor says he doesn’t know what to do.)
And Marshal Kane can’t convince any of his deputies to help him. One who said he’d stand by his leader runs when he discovers nobody else will help the marshal, and the current deputy is angry with Kane because he wasn’t selected to be marshal after Kane’s tenure.
Kane even goes to see a former girlfriend … and she announces she’s leaving town, too.
Over 25 years as a solo or senior pastor, there were attempts to get rid of me on three separate occasions.
The first two times, the board stood with me.
The last time, most of the staff and a group of current and former leaders stood with me.
But when most pastors are threatened, everybody bails on them.
Why is this?
Because people aren’t informed? Because it’s not their fight?
No, it’s usually because those who stand beside their pastor when he’s under attack end up enduring the same vilification that the pastor receives … and few are willing to suffer like that.
Finally, the only way to defeat the attackers is to stand strong.
After Frank Miller came in on the noon train, he and his boys left for town to carry out their plan: kill Marshal Kane.
At the same time, Kane’s former girlfriend climbed onto the train … along with his wife Amy.
When Amy hears shots, she instinctively bolts off the train and heads for town.
When she gets there, her husband has already killed two of the four gunmen.
While the drunks in the saloon nervously wait … and Kane’s friends hide in their homes … and the congregation down the road prays … Amy, of all people, defends her husband.
And in so doing, she saves his life … and their future together.
When a group attacks a pastor, they have one of two goals in mind: defeat him (by forcing him to leave) or destroy him (by ruining his reputation and damaging his career).
Because most pastors are tender souls, he usually has just two chances to emerge victorious after such a showdown: slim and none.
Even if the pastor wilts while attacked … and most do … the attackers can be driven away – and even eradicated – if the pastor has just a few Amys on his side.
While we have several incidents in the New Testament where a spiritual leader is corrected (Paul opposed Peter to his face in Galatians; Aquila and Priscilla instructed Apollos in Acts 18), we don’t have any incidents in the New
Testament where a group of believers tries to destroy their spiritual leader.
So let’s do our best to eliminate this ecclesiastical plague in the 21st century.
With the Gang of Four lying motionless on the town’s streets, the townspeople come outside and cheer Amy and Marshal Kane … who drops his badge onto the street and leaves town for the final time.
Once upon a time, pastors would endure an attack in one church … then go to another church, where they’d be attacked again … then do the same thing several more times.
In our day, most pastors are leaving ministry after the first attack.
If High Noon ever comes to your church, don’t just talk or pray. If your pastor is being unfairly accused, be willing to fight with him.
Because if he leaves town, the Gang of Four will end up in charge.
We are in a rural community Jim and the mantra here is this: “The pastor can leave and go do something else but the rest of us have to stay and get along with these people in this community.” Even though they might be supportive and feel that there is wrong doing, even though they don’t want him to leave, they all know that it is easier to lose the pastor than to risk conflict with the people they were born with and will die with or people who have a power base in the community. They are convinced that no one is going to change anyway so let’s just all get along with as little conflict as possible. It is sad because under this guise of ‘unity’ it is really more of a fear of conflict and not wanting to confront issues that need addressed because of the fallout that may occur.
We have ministered in 4 churches in 30 years. We have many friends in ministry as well as friends who are wise and humble lay leaders. Your articles pretty much nail the issues that all of us have dealt with at one time or another in one situation or another. Keep writing, your ministry is very needed.
LikeLike
Thanks for your encouragement, Shelli. I have two responses to what you wrote:
First, maybe we should ask congregations which version of the Bible they want: one with stories and principles on addressing conflict, and another version without. Just like Thomas Jefferson took scissors and cut all the miracles out of the Bible, maybe we should offer a conflict-free Bible to congregations who have already decided they won’t obey the Scripture. Of course, that Bible would be relatively small.
I’ve been reading the Gospel of John recently, and chapters 5-9 are full of conflict! Should we remove those chapters as well?
There goes 1 Corinthians … and Galatians … and 2 Thessalonians … and Titus … and 2 Peter … and Jude … and entire sections of Scripture.
Yes, I’m being facetious, but if those individuals have already signaled they’re not going to obey Scripture, what else can we do? If congregations just practiced what the Bible already says, few pastors would be forced to leave.
Second, if an intentional interim came to that church, he’d identify the powerbrokers and troublemakers and deal with them effectively. He might lose his job in the process, but he would work hard to make the church healthy.
The epidemic of forcing pastors out of churches is akin to wife beating. When people refused to discuss the issue, the problem kept getting worse. My prayer is that by discussing this issue openly, we can stop pastors from getting beaten up as well.
Thanks so much for reading and commenting, Shelli.
Jim
LikeLike
Jim, that was a very interesting analogy. I watched High Noon for the first time several months ago and was struck in particular by Grace Kelly’s character. She had to deny parts of her that were embedded in her soul by her upbringing in order to do the right thing. Most of the other characters made their decisions as a result of “group think” but Amy stood alone in her convictions, both before she changed her mind and after.
LikeLike
Good observation, Ce Ce. I’m trying to figure out how to incorporate scenes from films in my seminars. High Noon works well, as does War Horse … and even episodes from Little House on the Prairie!
One of the keys in church conflict management is to convince Christians – with God’s help – that they need to obey Scripture rather than side with friends or overreact with their emotions. Grace Kelly’s character Amy is an excellent example of that.
Happy Easter!
Jim
LikeLike