Who’s Next?

I have just learned that the standard directory of the Churches of Christ (meaning the a cappella branch of the Restoration Movement founded 200 years ago by Barton Stone and Thomas and Alexander Campbell; not the "Christian Churches/Churches of Christ," another branch of the same movement which uses instrumental music in worship; nor the International Churches of Christ, formerly known as the Crossroads/Boston/Discipling Movement, a splinter group that broke off the from Churches of Christ; nor the United Church of Christ, an entirely separate denomination with ties only in the distant past) has removed 21 churches from the 2009 edition of the directory.

Note I said "removed," not "labeled." The directory has long included a wide variety of Churches of Christ in its listings. Past editors have indicated the diversity with labels designating congregations that are one-cup, or non-class, or non-institutional, or predominately African-American, and so on. At one time they had an "ecumenical" label for those congregations that were less sectarian and less traditional than other Churches of Christ (I don't know if that designation is still used). But in this case they chose not to label these congregations. They completely removed them.

Some of those 21 churches have reportedly broken ties with the rest of the a cappella fellowship. In that case, their removal seems justified for a directory that intends to serve that fellowship. But for others, the decision is very disturbing, including the Richland Hills Church of Christ in Fort Worth (the largest Church of Christ in America) and the Farmers Branch Church of Christ in Dallas (where my son has been attending) and the Redwood Church in Redwood City, CA (where a good friend of mine now preaches, who used to serve with me as our youth minister in Houston).

And why have they been removed? Because of their use of instrumental music in one of their worship services on Sunday morning. Those three churches each have an a cappella worship service on Sunday morning, but they have also added an instrumental service (that's right—the largest a cappella Church of Christ in America also has an instrumental service on Sunday morning). And for that they are no longer listed in our directory.

These churches have not broken ties with our fellowship. Their ministers and their members still attend events and go to schools sponsored by Churches of Christ. They still baptize by immersion; keep weekly communion; believe in the authority of Scripture; and proclaim Jesus as Lord (of course, not in that order of importance). And they still value our a cappella heritage and continue to have a cappella services.

But they have decided to be both/and churches rather than either/or churches. They have decided they don't have to choose to be either exclusively a cappella or exclusively instrumental. They can offer both a cappella and instrumental services and give their members and visitors the freedom to choose. For this the editors of the directory, published by 21st Century Christian here in Nashville, have decided they are no longer one of us. (Click here for the story in The
Christian Chronicle.).

So what does this mean? Am I supposed to withdraw fellowship from the preachers at these churches, all of whom are friends of mine? Are the other Churches of Christ in their area supposed to stop inviting them to 5th Sunday Singings and area-wide Bible Bowls? (Do we still do those things?) Do we not tell members moving to those cities that these churches exist?

And who's next? If these churches are out because of Sunday morning services, what about the many Churches of Christ all over the country that have instrumental music in events at other times? That probably includes most of the largest Churches of Christ in the Nashville area. Hey, that includes my church! Are we going to be cut out of the next edition?

And what will get you cut out? Does it have to be a live instrument? What if you show a music video in the worship service? Will that get you kicked out? Or what if you show a clip from a movie during the sermon, and the movie has a sound track that includes a musical instrument? What if your Sunday School uses a CD of songs for children? What if your teens are listening to their ipods during church? (Ok, ok. Now I'm being sarcastic. But I just want to know what the rules are.)

And who gets to decide? Do the editors of this directory (apparently they think they do). Maybe we need to appoint a denominational board to rule on who is in and who is out. But wait, that won't work—we aren't a denomination . . . Right?

Conflicted Feelings over the Inauguration

What an incredible day for our nation! I did not vote for President Obama, but I still found myself stirred by watching the son of an African immigrant take the oath of office to become the first African-American president in our history.

Earlier this morning I watched an interview with Congressman John Lewis, a noted civil rights leader who had worked alongside Dr. King. Congressman Lewis recalled that not 50 years ago he was beaten while struggling for the right to vote, and now he had lived to see an African-American become president. His emotion was not only understandable, it was contagious.

When I was student body president of my high school in Murfreesboro, TN in 1975-76, we had a "White Vice-President" and a "Black Vice-President" (that's what they were actually called). It was the only way a black student could be elected to an executive office. I helped elect a black student to succeed me as the first African-American student body president at a predominately white high school in state history (at least, that's what we were told at the time). That led to the end of the office of a Black Vice-President. But we were still decades away from seeing the same thing happen in national politics.

How could anyone, white or black, Democrat or Republican, who had lived through any of the history of our nation's struggle with racism, not be profoundly moved to witness this event? (And Aretha singing "My Country 'Tis of Thee" was pretty cool, too!)

But I must also confess that I found myself troubled at the same time. I truly wanted to rejoice without reservation. But my deep misgivings over some of President Obama's positions kept me from sharing the elation that so many understandably felt over this event.

Just over the last week I learned of new questions raised by conservative groups over two issues of importance to me. One report said that while Mr. Obama was running for the Illinois senate, he had pledged support for homosexual marriage. (http://www.onenewsnow.com/Politics/Default.aspx?id=387986) Even more troubling to me are the reports that the new congress is preparing to pass the Freedom of Choice Act and that last year Mr. Obama already promised to sign it. (http://www.fightfoca.com/) According to pro-life groups, this legislation will eliminate all restrictions on abortion nationwide, overturning any state laws on parental notification or partial birth abortion, and would even force faith-based hospitals to provide abortions. I don't know if these reports are true; but if they are, they are deeply disturbing.

During the campaign, I remember President Obama expressing support for marriage between a man and a woman and I remember him saying we need to find common ground on abortion and work to reduce the number of abortions. My deep skepticism of all politicians (which is a big part of why I am an independent) makes me wonder whether he was completely honest in those remarks, or whether the other statements may have been politically motivated, or both. I don't know if his positions have honestly changed, or whether these conservative groups are quoting him out of context. All I can say is that I am not optimistic.

And so I find myself in the conflicted position of celebrating the election of an African-American President and glad to have lived to see this day, and on the other hand, wishing the first African-American President had been someone who would not lead us in the radical direction I fear this President will want to go.

So I will pray for him and treat him with respect, as the Scriptures call us to do. And I will pray for my country, because, truthfully, whether President Obama had been elected or not, I believe we were headed down this path any way.

I'm Abandoning Sports Forever!

Football season is over! Well, maybe not for everybody, but I think it is for me. The biggest game of the year is still a couple of weeks away, but I don't think I care.

Since I was a boy I have been a huge fan of the Minnesota Vikings (remember the Purple People Eaters and "Injun Joe Kapp" and the amazing Fran Tarkenton?), and almost as big a fan of the Oklahoma Sooners. Since returning to Tennessee five years ago, I've also joined the frenzy of home town fans cheering for the Titans. Last week promised great excitement as all three of my favorite teams were playing in postseason games. The Vikings were hosting a first round playoff game for the first time in several years. The Sooners were taking the highest scoring offense in college football history to the BCS championship game. And then the Titans, arguably the best team in the NFL, would host a second round playoff game they were sure to win.

On Sunday the Vikes fumbled the game away. On Thursday the Sooners did the same. And on Saturday the Titans joined the parade of disaster. All three! In one week!

And this is the second time this happened this year! I've been fortunate to live in three major league baseball towns. Over the years I've been a fan of the Cubs and White Sox in Chicago, the Brewers in Milwaukee, and the Astros in Houston. At the end of the baseball season, three of those teams made the playoffs. That meant I had a 3 in 8 chance of one of my teams making the World Series. How exciting!

In their opening series, the Cubs, Sox, and Brewers managed to win one game. Not one series . . . one game! Not one game a piece, one game period.

How do I describe the feelings? Heartbreak . . . disbelief . . . anger . . . frustration . . . depression . . . despair . . . A season of excitement and anticipation and hope crashing into the agony of defeat. Not once, but three times at the end of two seasons! Aaaarrrrgggghhhh!!!

Why do I subject myself to this? The odds are that no matter who you cheer for, your team will only occasionally make the playoffs and almost always lose their last big game (you know, in most sports only one team each year wins their last game). Sports brings lots of fun and excitement, but lots of disappointment too (at least I'm not a Detroit Lions fan!).

I wonder what it would be like if I regularly found myself as excited and passionate about worship, about the kingdom, about time with God as I get about sports. (Do even Pentecostals get that excited about worship?) I'm pretty sure God would not leave me as disappointed at the end of each season. I love the sign on a Wisconsin church that says, "Jesus will never leave you for the Jets!" (If you don't get that, you're probably not a sports fan. Try googling "Brett Favre.")

So I've decided to devote more time and energy to more fulfilling, life-enriching, spiritually enhancing pursuits. And to never again get this wrapped up in sports.

At least not till March Madness.

Christians, Americans, and “English-Only”

As an American citizen, I share the concern of many citizens over the issue of illegal immigration. The flood of undocumented people into our country presents a number of disturbing problems. How can our economy absorb all the people looking for work? How will our health care and education institutions meet the needs of these individuals and their children? Will our welfare system be able to manage the demands placed on it? How does the lack of border security affect safety and security in an age of terrorism? These are troubling questions and I claim to have no answers.

On the other hand, I am also increasingly concerned about the tensions, prejudices, and even hostility I see in our community over immigration issues. Sometimes the language used to discuss these problems sounds like racial prejudice in thin disguise. America has always been a nation that claimed to welcome immigrants (“give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free”). But in reality, immigrants quite often have faced much prejudice and hatred—whether the Chinese working on the railroads, the Polish in Chicago, the Vietnamese boat people in Texas, and on and on.

The city of Nashville is about to vote on an “English-Only” amendment. The law would prohibit the city government from publishing official documents in any other language or from hiring translators to communicate with citizens, except to protect public health or safety. The proponents have some good points to make about the importance of immigrants in any country learning the official language so they can function and prosper (http://www.nashvilleenglishfirst.com/). But the opposition raises some very troubling points about the impact this legislation will have on the poor, on recent immigrants who have not yet had time to learn the language, and on the image of our city in a global economy (http://www.nashvilleforallofus.org/).

Sorting out all the social, political, and economic implications of this amendment is beyond my pay grade. For me, though, there is one question that seems pretty clear: What would Jesus do?

Jesus seems to have been little concerned with the politics of his day. For example, he swept aside the debate over Roman taxation with the simple exhortation to “give Caesar what is Caesar’s, and God what is God’s”—which didn’t answer the questions about whether the Romans had any right to be there or whether their tax system was just. Throughout his ministry Jesus made it abundantly clear that he was more concerned about the kingdom of God than worldly kingdoms—and that meant he was very concerned about the poor, the outcast, and the foreigners, even the hated Samaritans. I think Jesus would be less concerned about the cost to the city of providing translations than he would be about the impact on poor immigrants of refusing to do so.

Jesus said one of the two greatest commands is to “love your neighbor as yourself,” quoting Leviticus 19:18. Just a few verses later, God commanded the same thing regarding foreigners:

“‘When foreigners reside among you in your land, do not mistreat them. The foreigners residing among you must be treated as your native-born. Love them as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt. I am the Lord your God.” (Leviticus 19:33-34)

According to Moses, God loves the foreigners residing among his people, and they must do the same (Deuteronomy 10:18-19).

If I were an immigrant in another country, I would want to learn the language as quickly as I could. But I wonder how welcome I would feel if the citizens said their city would offer me no help until I could master their language well enough to navigate my way through the system. (Well, actually I don’t wonder that at all. I think I know exactly how I would feel.)

And I wonder what Jesus would say to us as we head for the polls. I can’t say for sure, but I think it might be something like: “Treat others the way you would want to be treated.”