Reflections from Home

The car trip home provided an opportunity to reflect on the Assembly, its worship and its business.

Patti Case gets all the kudos we can send her way. As the planner and production manager, she put together and ran one of the best General Assemblies in my memory. Following the assemblies held in Charlotte (2003), Portland (2005) and Fort Worth, Indianapolis has a long row to hoe. The bar has been set high for the General Assembly in 2009.

Sharon Watkins could not have asked for a better moderator team to serve during her first two years as General Minister and President. I have already told of the outstanding job Bill Lee did in guiding the Assembly through its business sessions. He could not have done so without the support of vice-moderators Carolyn Ho and Charlie Gaines. As parliamentarian, Bill Bailey was indispensible.

I do find myself wondering if sense of the assembly resolutions make sense for this church in this time. The Design, rightly I think, gives the Assembly the responsibility to affirm or reject some operational business of the church from the General Board. However, sense of the assembly resolutions are another matter. They represent the church's effort to take a stand on a variety of issues.

Like any other resolution, sense of the assembly resolutions are debated, then the Assembly votes. In the past, the effort to take a stand based on a democratic majority has set up a system of winners and losers that have left some in the church feeling alienated, no longer a part of the church they have loved.

It seems contrary to the congregational polity of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) to force a vote on such matters. As Stone's Christians and Campbell's Disciples were coming together in 1832, Raccoon John Smith warned that the church must not let opinions be in control. The sense of the assembly resolution seems contrary in that it takes one set of opinions and assumptions, lifts them up before the church and then calls the question.

Debate on social issues of the day is an important practice in which the church should engage. One learning track offered at the Fort Worth Assembly provided just such a forum. It is even helpful to have such debates while the plenary is in session. By allowing debate, we get to hear a variety of voices in the church. Debate allows us to learn and form new opinions. Debate gives a basis to decide what actions we might take as individuals, but a vote implies that one set of opinions represents the view of the church. If I don't agree with that view, where am I left?

We have gotten better. In days gone by, the winners would often break into applause or start singing the Doxology. But we should still exercise caution, lest our opinions become yet one more test of fellowship in a church that claims to hold no creed but Christ and no book but the Bible.

What I'd Like My Church to Learn

Jim Wallis gave an outstanding sermon on Wednesday night to close the Assembly. Like others who had spoken, he called the church back to being a neighborhood presence. We will only be truly in mission with our neighbors when we know our neighbors.

During the closing communion, though, I saw again a habit or practice or norm--whatever we should call it--that distresses me and stands as a barrier to serving our neighbors. If we are going to serve our neighbors, we have to learn to serve one another. That means learning both to serve and to be served.

Wednesday night we shared communion through a hybrid of common cup and reformed traditions. We used intinction, which is a common cup practice. Traditionally, intinction is a practice of having worshippers come to a common loaf and cup, receiving the loaf and dipping it in the cup. Due to the number of people to be served, loaves and chalices were passed among the worshippers.

Passing the elements is part of the reformed tradition. This practice, as intended, demonstrates the priesthood of the believer by calling on worshippers to serve one another. However, over and over again our practice demonstrates our isolation and individualism rather than our living as Christian community. It is all too common to see a worshipper take the loaf and cup in a "serve yourself" fashion.

To be a church in mission, we must live in community with our neighborhood. But first we have to learn to live in community with one another.

Proud to Be Disciple

Assemblies like this one make me proud of my church.

As a general church, the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) operates on a two-year cycle. The General Assembly marks the end of one biennium and the beginning of the next. For this two-year cycle, ending with this General Assembly, we have been blessed with extremely gifted and solid leadership.

Moderator Bill Lee not only preached a powerful sermon, but he guided the delegates over our only true rough patch of the Assembly with poise, grace and wisdom. Strictly following the rules of procedure, he moderated our debate on the Iraq War resolution, which was the most touchy and had the most potential for division. The resolution had already been referred for revision once. Debate was spirited. Our parliamentary procedure was tested.

Eventually, the amended resolution passed. I did not agree with the Assembly's action, but I am nevertheless very proud to be a Disciple. It was not the decision we made that was important. How we made the decision was important.

Moderator Lee consistently reminded us that we were on the same team. Furthermore, he instructed us to cease actions like applauding this speaker or that speaker during debate because such behavior toward one another took us away from a spirit of discernment and led us instead toward a spirit of competition.

After it was all said and done, Moderator Lee led us in prayer. I took the hand of the delegate next to me, whose votes had consistently been opposite my own, and we prayed together. I am proud to be a part of such a church. We don't have all the answers, but we're learning to trust one another with the questions.

I think I read somewhere that we're not the only Christians, but we are Christians only. That's just my kind of church, and we have a powerful witness to offer a fragmented and contentious nation and world.

The Church's Response to the War in Iraq

This morning the Assembly began debate on a resolution sponsored by Disciples Peace Fellowship and others calling for the church to go on record condemning the war in Iraq as an unjust war. The resolution was referred to Reference and Council for review and revision. It will come back to the assembly floor on Wednesday.

The motion to refer the resolution cited the phrase in the resolution that the church should condemn the war on the basis that it is "contrary to the teachings and example of Jesus Christ." This phrasing could be read as a test of fellowship that only those who support the resolution could be faithful to those teachings.

Regarding the resolution itself, some speaking in favor stated that support of the resolution was consistent with Christian teaching that we are to be peacemakers. Concern was expressed over a phrase in the resolution offering support to those who choose not to take up arms, in that we might be encouraging military personnel who live under orders to pick and choose which missions they will support.

Personally, I find the resolution in conflict with itself in that it claims to bear witness to our inclusiveness, yet as written it cannot express a unified voice of the whole church.

For more information on this and other resolutions and actions taken by the General Assembly, please visit DisciplesWorld or disciples.org.

Tonight We Had Church

Sometimes all you can say is, "You had to be there." That's my summary of tonight's worship. Tonight we had church. Don't tell me anymore that Disciples don't know how to worship. Maybe when we're in our local churches it's different, but tonight in the arena the Spirit was present and moving.

Carolyn Bibbs told the story of Saving Station Christian Church in Memphis, Tennessee, a new congregation that targets at-risk children and youth. Tears flowed as she told of more that 1,000 young people who had come to faith in Christ, who had turned away from drugs and from sex before married, who were saying "no" to drug dealers.

Bill Lee, moderator and pastor of Louden Avenue Christian Church in Roanoke, Virginia, walked us back from Emmaus, telling us that we ought to leave better than when we came, challenging us to worship in such a way that even if we miss it in the sermon, we find it in the sacrament

It can't all be said with words. You had to be there.

Tonight we had church.

La paz del Señor sea contigo.

Changes to Reconciliation Mission

The Monday morning business session included a vote on a resolution that makes significant changes to Reconciliation Mission. The resolution identifies thesekey changes:

• The name will be changed to Reconciliation Ministry;
• Staff and administrative support for Reconciliation Ministry will be moved to the Office of the General Minister and President and will be funded out of Disciples Mission Fund;
• The Reconciliation Offering will continue to be taken and be disbursed 50% to Reconciliation Ministry and 50% to the region of origin;
• All funds received through the Reconciliation Offering will be disbursed in the form of grants to congregations, regions, general and institutional ministries.

Although some concern was expressed for placing an additional burden on an overtaxed funding system, the change to the funding structure makes it easier to promote the Reconciliation Offering. Under the revised structure, all Reconciliation Offering funds will provide direct support for local ministries of reconciliation and not for indirect administrative and ministerial support or operating expenses.

For more information on business items and other news from General Assembly, please visit disciples.org and the DisciplesWorld web site.

Welcome to the Margins

Rev. Dr. Carlos Cardosa, professor of missiology at Columbia Theological Seminary in Atlanta, blessed the Assembly this morning with a lecture entitled "Welcome to the Margins." The lecture centered around three questions:

• Is Christianity a religion of the margins?
• What are some of the missional and church-life gifts that we receive from Christianity at the margins?
• Is it OK to be at the margins?

From its earliest formation as a sect of Judaism, Christianity has always found its vitality and energy from the margins. As the church attempts to make itself more mainstream, it also tends to lose its vitality. Dr. Cardosa answered with a firm "yes" that it was OK to be at the margins. The church is at its best in the margins.

One interesting point from the lecture was data that showed the decline of Christianity in Europe, but not in North America. A new religious fervor is building in North America, not so much among the established population but because religious fervor is immigrating into North America, especially the United States.

The Stone-Campbell movement found its formation on the American frontier. In that sense, the movement grew up in the margins. However, part of understanding the seismic shift in our cultural environment is a shift in how we view and understand the margins. This movement grew along a frontier margin, and a frontier margin is unidirectional. It only goes one way. However, the margin today is a border margin, and a border margin is bidirectional. Those inside and outside pass back and forth through the margin. This is a new environment for Disciples and other churches of the Stone-Campbell movement.

Did you know:

that Spanish is spoken by more Christians than any other language?

State of the Church

The highlight of the evening session was the address by Rev. Dr. Sharon Watkins, our General Minister and President, on the state of the church. Dr. Watkins used the text from the previous evening, Jesus's call to his disciples, "You give them something to eat," and coupled that with Moses's directive to the people of Israel to "choose life, that you may live."

In her message, Dr. Watkins lifted up the many ways in which Disciples have chosen life, even in a context of death, and are responding to the call to give something to eat. At the forefront was the response of Disciples following the devastation of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita on the Gulf Coast. Hear what some folks along the gulf are saying about Disciples.

"Disciples keep showing up."

"You Disciples sure live up to your name."

With our regional, ecumenical and international mission partners, Disciples are finding new ways to choose life.

Dr. Watkins also challenged us, and it's a challenge we need to hear over and over again. Gil Rendle told a group of judicatory leaders that we have become too good at rehearsing the story of our own demise. Meanwhile, to borrow from Mark Twain, rumors of our demise are greatly exaggerated. It is time for us to stop rehearsing the stories of our demise, and instead tell the stories of all the ways Disciples are choosing life.

A lot of good ministry is happening across the life of this church. Let's make our word good. Let's tell stories of life that express our faith as people who serve a God of resurrection!

Across the Movement

I met some friends from Georgia who had attended North Davis Church of Christ in Arlington, where Dr. Fred Craddock preached. I believe that Dr. Craddock is one of the few, if not the only, of Disciples preachers who could preach in that setting with integrity. He preached on the question of which is more important, the message or the messenger, concluding that what is most important is following the will of God.

Perhaps we are starting to make our words good.

Being a Double Feast Church

Sunday morning found me at First Christian Church in Granbury, Texas, where the grand reunion continued. A dear friend from my early days working with the new church movement is the associate pastor there. She did not know I was coming, and as she opened her invitation to the table recalling the times when we say, "Remember when," I remembered.

Dr. Joey Jeter preached at Granbury this morning on the subject "Sharing the Double Feast." We Disciples are a double feast church. Whenever we gather for worship, we feast on the Word of God faithfully proclaimed, then we gather at the table of the Lord to share the feast of grace in the Lord's Supper.

Dr. Jeter carefully interwove scripture and story to challenge us as Disciples to make our words good. We have spoken about unity as our polar star, yet we have many generations of regret among Disciples as we have chosen to divide. We have come to place where many of this generation see us and our words as irrelevant at best and hypocritical at worst. Yet we still have the opportunity to make our word good and to enjoy the double feast of word and table.

First Christian demonstrated great hospitality and spread a feast of barbecued brisket and sausage. Church members gave a warm, friendly and genuine welcome. Even as I returned to the car this evening, I spotted a badge that said, "Granbury, Texas." I one more opportunity to give thanks.

I cannot sign this off without talking about the music. It takes a lot to get me excited about a handbell choir, but let me tell you, these folks were good! The choir's anthem was an arrangement of "Seek Ye First" accompanied by handbells. The offertory featured three ringers on "Simple Gifts."

It was a moving morning in Granbury. God is good.

Reception Photos

Here are some photos from the Indiana reception on Saturday. I messed up and didn't take the camera today, so I don't have any Sunday pictures. I'll do better tomorrow.

You are welcome to leave comments or questions on the blog as well. I'll try to respond quickly. Tomorrow (Monday) if I find a wireless connection, I'll try to post a little more "real time". Meanwhile, enjoy the photos!

Click here for the slide show.

Saturday, Opening Day

General Assembly 2007 is underway. The biennial reunion of Disciples from across the United States and Canada opened today, and it felt very much like a reunion.

About 200 Hoosiers, used-to-be Hoosiers and wanna-be Hoosiers dropped by the Indiana reception at the convention center. Pictures will follow in a later post. Friends reconnected, and that's part of the joy of a General Assembly. Personally, I got to greet old friends from Georgia and from new church work, and I look forward to sharing more time and catching up.

In addition to renewing friendships, great preaching is a feature at General Assembly. During the Church Extension dinner, Rev. Dr. Cynthia Hale, senior pastor of Ray of Hope Christian Church in Decatur, Georgia, celebrated with us the 504 new church starts that have emerged since the new church movement was launched in 2001. Like those present at the first Pentecost recorded in Acts 2, many of us wonder, "What does this mean?"

In part, it means that the face of this church is changing. By the year 2020, the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) will reflect the diversity of culture and ethnicity of the nation. It also means that a passion is growing among Disciples.

During the opening worship, Rev. Dr. Daisy Machado preached from Matthew 14:13-21, highlighting Jesus' response to his disciples, "You give them something to eat." So often we approach Jesus in the same way as the disciples. Dr. Machado pointed out that rather than come to Jesus with the problems of the people, the disciples came with the solution they had already worked out. "Lord, we've decided to do this, so please bless us now."

It was especially poignant when Dr. Machado suggested that "In the Garden" should be the theme song for many of our churches: "I come to the garden alone." We have let our faith become too much "Jesus makes me feel better about me." When the personal relationship with Jesus is over emphasized, we lose the community relationship with Jesus. When that happens, we fail to see the other or hear the other. We do not invite the stranger. Instead, we fear the stranger.

But God calls us to the same radical, off-the-hook hospitality that Jesus demonstrated. Jesus calls us to answer the same challenge he gave to his disciples, "You give them something to eat."

Don't Forget Your T-shirt!!

If you're coming to Assembly, don't forget to bring your Christian Church in Indiana General Assembly T-shirt. Let everybody know you're a Hoosier Disciple!

The shirts are comfortable, 100% pre-shrunk cotton. They have the General Assembly logo on the front left. The back features a design by Nina Eads of Triangle Printing (and Southport Christian Church) that incorporates the regional logo over an Indiana roadmap.

Order T-shirts online at www.indianadisciples.org

T-shirts are $13 on the web site, which includes shipping. If you're coming to the Assembly, drop by the Indiana reception, and you can get one for $10.

The Indiana reception will be held Saturday afternoon from 3:00 until 5:00 in Room 102 of the Convention Center.

Getting ready for the road

Debbie and I will spend much of this week getting ready to hit the road on Friday. We'll be driving, so the plan is to leave early on Friday morning and make it to Oklahoma on Friday night. Then we'll head the rest of the way on Saturday morning in time to make it to the Indiana reception on Saturday afternoon (with the official Christian Church in Indiana General Assembly T-shirts in tow).

Please check back on this blog and the LEAD blog to get the latest on the General Assembly. We'll post pictures along with news and information from the North American gathering of Disciples.

Blessings,
Dean