Reflections on Faithfulness

“What if some were unfaithful? Does their faithlessness nullify the faithfulness of God? By no means!” (Romans 3:3-4a)

The General Assembly of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in the United States and Canada concluded this week in Orlando, Florida.  As is typical, great debate is always a part of any church gathering.  Since the Council of Jerusalem in the Book of Acts, Christians have disagreed on how best to be faithful.  In our own Assembly, some of the Resolutions enjoyed near unanimous assent and others did not. According to one observer, some resolutions passed with over a 1/3 of the delegates rising in opposition.  In the aftermath of such disagreements, conversations about faithfulness naturally follow.  The “winners” argue that much work still needs to be done to convince their opponents of the need to faithfulness while the “losers” fear the overwhelming tide of what they perceive to be the unfaithfulness of the majority.

Remember that the General Assembly does not speak FOR the Church, it speaks TO the Church.  At the heart of our denomination’s identity, good or bad, is a strong sense of congregationalism.  That is, each congregation stands in covenant with the other congregations, each seeking to be faithful to their understanding of Christ’s call to be the Church.  The General Assembly does not legislate anything to the local congregation.  It does, however, speak to congregations as a semi-representative body of the whole denomination.  Allow me to offer but a few thoughts on what it means to be a faithful church.

1. The Church of Jesus Christ is bigger than any denomination or congregation.  Sometimes, we can fall into parochialism.  That is, the only group I need to be concerned about is my particular group.  The truth is, however, that when the Southern Baptist Convention or the Council of Bishops of the Roman Catholic Church speaks, it impacts us all.  Division may be our perceived experience of the Church of Jesus Christ, but it is not real. One cannot divide Christ.  When we act like we are divided, we are really saying, “We are Christians and you are not.” Such is a perilous statement. We may not agree, but it is Christ who decides the sheep and the goats and that only on the last day.

2. Our faithfulness is not a prerequisite of God’s faithfulness (see Romans 3 and 6). Philosophers and theologians have reflected on periods of time where the Church has been judged to be unfaithful.  The national Church of Germany has been judged as unfaithful in not resisting Hitler. Yet, an underground group, referred to by historians as the Confessing Church, worked tirelessly to save many who were targeted for deportation to Concentration Camps.  Though these Confessing pastors were virulently critical of their government-friendly colleagues, they did not necessarily demonize those they viewed as unfaithful. Why? Because Scripture witnesses to the Truth: that in the end, the message of the Gospel is that it is God who is faithful, especially in the midst of humanity’s unfaithfulness.

3. I have never met a person who describes themselves as a Christian who is intentionally working against God. Trust me, I have significant differences of opinion with many of my colleagues, but I trust that they are seeking to be faithful as I am seeking to be faithful.

At the end of the day, I recognize that as a sinful human, I am prone to the frailties of our human condition. I join my voice with those whom I disagree in thanking God that His faithfulness is not dependent on the faithfulness of either side of a debate.  Keep the faith, seek to be faithful, and thank God, that in the midst of our conversations, God is always faithful.

The Church, Salvation and the unity of Christ

First, thank you to all my brothers and sisters that gathered at First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Ashland, Kentucky to both bless our daughter, Analiese Clare, and extend congratulations on the successful conclusion of my doctorate.  The service, litanies, reception and gifts overwhelmed my family and me.  More than anything, this past Sunday reminded me again of the beauty of Christ’s Church.

On Tuesday of this past week, the Bishop of Rome, Francis, celebrated a service in celebration of St. George.  In his remarks, Francis said, “Christian identity is belonging to the Church, because all of these belonged to the Church, the Mother Church. Because it is not possible to find Jesus outside the Church. The Great Paul VI said: ‘Wanting to live with Jesus without the Church, following Jesus outside of the Church, loving Jesus without the Church is an absurd dichotomy.’ This belonging to the Church is beautiful.”
The irony of his statement is that I agree with his remarks, but not his intent.

Identifying any one denomination with the fullness of the Church of Jesus Christ is a perilous claim.  What, or more accurately stated, who, is the Church?  Dr. Joe Jones, Disciple minister and retired professor of systematic theology from Christian Theological Seminary, defines the Church as the “liberative and redemptive community called into being by the Gospel of Jesus Christ to witness in word and deed the triune God for the benefit of the world.”  The Church of the New Testament is defined in the mystery of the Bride of Christ, the Body of Christ and the New Jerusalem.  The Roman Catholic Church has postulated that the Church must be visible.  Therefore, a mark of the true Church is closely aligned with a visible unity that is global.  In such a definition, the witness of the Roman Catholic Church is a visible and measurable proof that they are the one true Body of Christ.  Incidentally, the Eastern Orthodox Church argues the same point, but concludes that it is they, not the Romans, who are the true Body of Christ.  Throughout the witness of those called Protestants, a new definition has been suggested that claims the Church’s unity is invisible.  That is, it is present, but not made visible in any one organizational structure.  The problem with much of this conversation is, essentially, how we define words. The grammar of faith, or how we talk about matters of faith, functions as the building blocks for our ongoing conversation about the nature and identity of the Church.

As I have served in this great fellowship known as the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), I have come to understand the limitations of language and symbols in our reasoning together (Isaiah 1:18).  The Church is visible. I saw it myself on Sunday. I see it when an Archbishop and an Evangelical pastor stand together in speaking to the world about an understanding of Christ’s call to the world.  I see it when a progressive pastor and a conservative elder stand together to work toward the ending of human trafficking.  I see it when a Roman Bishop makes an appeal for the release of Orthodox Bishops kidnapped in Syria.   The visible unity of the one true Church of Jesus Christ is not bound by institutional structure.  Our visible unity is rooted in the unity of Christ. Christ is not divided. Our unity is not based on who we are, but whose we are.

Defeating the Enemy

My wife says I grew up in a rough neighborhood.  Fifth grade was my hardest year.  I was in my awkward stage and still considered fair game by the bigger bullies on the playground.  By the time I hit high school that would all change as I shot past 6 feet and 230 lbs.  Fifth grade recess was the worst. Soon after scattering on the playground, I would see the boys gathering over by the window where Mrs. Barnes’ class met.  All at once, they would turn and head my way, and in seconds have me surrounded.  My cousin, Darren, would take his place beside me and the jeering would begin.  We would be looking one way and someone would hit us in the back of the head. We would spin around, everyone laughing, trying to find our attacker.  No sooner had we spun around, then we’d get sucker punched by another unknown attacker.  The worst part was not knowing who hit you.

This past week, our fellow human beings in Boston were sucker punched.  We still don’t know who did it.  Will the answer to that question make it easier to recover? In some ways, knowing the identity of the individual who perpetrates this kind of evil makes it manageable.  We get to look at the person, trying to find differences that account for the evil.  Do things like “crazy eyes” and “wild hair” somehow explain it? For some, it does.  Even when it is a group that claims responsibility for terrorist actions, it at least identifies the “bad guys.”  Knowing our enemy gives us a target for retribution. Like battlefield commanders, we raise our swords, point to the enemy and shout, “Charge!”

The Enemy is a coward, a liar, an accuser, and an expert in hiding.  Like a fifth grade boy on a playground, we are trying to find the enemy, believing that somehow the weight of justice or even retribution will rectify the past and preserve the future.  The Enemy strikes when we are not looking, when we are least expecting it.  The Accuser questions everything, chips away at eternal Truth, right and wrong. We know that life often is colored with varying shades of gray, but the expert in camouflage paints a swath of darkness and calls it light.  The Enemy whispers in our ear that our spouse is the problem and if we get rid of her or him, everything will be right with our world.  The Enemy suggests that our leaders are bereft of integrity and can’t be trusted.  Soon, without leaders, our ranks weaken and we spin around after each sucker punch looking for someone to strike out against.  Soon, we start fighting among ourselves.  

After several weeks, Darren and I learned that the best protection was standing back to back.  Suddenly, the dynamic had changed. Our schoolyard bullies were cowards.  They wouldn’t strike us when we were looking.  When we had each other’s back, the playground enemies, cowards to the core, could only taunt. As months went by, Darren and I realized that laughing at them robbed them of their goal.  They wanted us to fear them.  They wanted us paralyzed by confusion.

Sometimes the Enemy hides in the one place we rarely look: our own hearts.  Joy, unity, and faith are feared by the Enemy.  The Word of God, the One who speaks peace, forgiveness, forbearance, disarms the Enemy. We know the Enemy. We know where the Enemy hides. We know that the Enemy will…no…HAS already lost. This is Easter. The power of the Resurrection declares final victory over sin and death. Laugh, celebrate that the Lord of lords has already vanquished the Enemy. Let the light of Christ shine in your hearts. With your life filled in the Light, the Enemy will flee, trying in vain to find shadows that are already being filled with the victory of heaven.

Knowledge and Wisdom

The Great Commission is a hallmark of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ).  “And Jesus came and said to them, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.  Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age’” (Matthew 28:18-20 ESV).  Too often, we have focused on the “baptizing” part and not on the “make disciples” and “teaching them” parts.  In Ephesians, Paul encourages the church when he wrote, “Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord” (Ephesians 6:4 ESV).  “Instruction” is a key component of the charge to parents in raising children.  One of the founders of the Disciples of Christ, Alexander Campbell, directed the parents in many of his sermons to not rely on the church to train children, but to make instruction a regular part of family time in order to establish the Christian faith in the family first. 

In the second and third century of the church, before Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire, men like Clement of Alexandria (150-215 AD), one of the bishops of Rome, and Origin (185-254), headmaster of the catechetical school in Alexandria, encouraged parents and the church to teach children not only the Scriptures but science, philosophy, music, literature and history.  Origin reminded his students that the gold the Hebrews brought with them after the bondage in Egypt (Exodus 12:35) was used to make the holy vessels for the worship of God (Exodus 36).  Likewise, Origin continued, we should use the treasures of philosophy and literature to build the sacred faith of Christianity.

In our modern society, almost every aspect of human experience has become an industry.  Everything from agriculture to technology is influenced, and in most cases, driven by economics.  To sustain this machine, we have, over time, become cogs in a machine that demands specific knowledge.  I remember as a child in school, my classmates would challenge our teachers to explain to us how what they were teaching us would help us “in the real world.”

At a recent gathering of the World Affairs Council in Dallas, Texas, former diplomat Henry Kissinger was the featured speaker.  He observed that before technology, we had to remember important facts, which required we understand them.  Now we can access facts any time we wish, so that we no longer need to remember them, and thus do not understand them. As a result, we have more information than ever, but less wisdom.

“The fear of the Lord is instruction in wisdom, and humility comes before honor” (Proverbs 15:33 ESV).  Paul, writing to the Church at Corinth, reminds us that the true wisdom of God is found in Christ Jesus (1 Corinthians 1:24).  Our Christian educators at First Christian Church are passionate about teaching our children not only knowledge but wisdom.  We pray that we are helping you, as parents, grandparents and caregivers, fulfill your call to teach the fullness of human experience. Celebrate your child’s mastery of skills they will use in the great economic engine of human existence, but also fill your home with conversations about humanity and divinity.  Our vision for the generation that follows us is to be both knowledgeable and wise.