Baptist Joint Committee

The Baptist Joint Committee frustrates me. Perhaps this is what this organization should do. I value religious liberty. I appreciate having voices that carefully consider the potential implications of legislation for religious life in America. My concern and frustration is that I am not convinced that they carefully consider the implications. I could support the BJC. But every time I see or read the activities of the BJC I get frustrated. I think what frustrates me the most is that in almost any of their current issues on which they advocate, I can predict with just about 100 % accuracy which side they will be taking, not by knowing the merits of the particular case, but just by seeing who is on which side. The BJC 100 % of the time, it seems, with the ACLU. Why not just support the ACLU?

Christ the Lord is Risen Today

When I think of worship on Easter, I think of the song Christ the Lord is Risen Today. This song especially brings to mind my brief time in a puppet troop at church. Christ the Lord is Risen Today was one of our songs. It was an especially miserable song for a puppeteer , because it was so long. The Alleluias were especially hard on a middle school student’s forearms. We performed in flee markets, churches, senior citizens homes, and hotels. Yes hotels…but not the kind of hotels that you might be thinking of. We went to the hotels of the Tenderloin district in San Francisco. I don’t know if these are even still there. I have heard that this neighborhood has gone through a revitalization. At that time it was a really seedy part of town. Most of the people who would come to the puppet shows were old men. They had the red puffy faces of men who lived hard lives. Now on Easter Sunday as we sing this song in church I think of those seedy hotels. And I am glad I suffered through those long Alleluias.

Lessons from the Duke Choir…or more on the importance of cooperation

This evening I attended the service of shadows…the Good Friday service at Duke Chapel. It is a awesome experience to join together for worship in a place like Duke Chapel. The architecture elicits awe. The music is robust. The sermon is erudite. The parking is not so great you cannot after all park in the yard! For me it was special just to be a participant in the congregation. I spend so much time leading worship it is refreshing and I find important for me to find opportunities to attend services. For those who have attended a service of shadows you may be familiar with the order of service. It is somewhat different than the order of service that our church is accustomed to follow. The choir processes to the front. There are a series of readings and a hymn followed by the sermon. After the sermon the choir sung an anthem. The choir was enormous. But one of my favorite things in the service was what followed the anthem. The choir left the loft and came and sat throughout the church. I happened to have several choir members sitting near me. The service continued with readings from the gospel of Matthew recounting the last moments of Jesus’ life. After each reading a candle was extinguished and the lights throughout the nave were dimmed until the entire building was in complete darkness. In between each reading the congregation would sing a response. It was especially helpful to have choir members spread throughout the congregation. Their presence helped everyone sing out. It made me think that this is something of what happens when we cooperate with others. It is like the great singers coming to sit throughout the church making everyone sing just a little louder.

Reckless Words

Proverbs 12:18 Reckless words pierce like a sword….
I recently read the comments of one Southern Baptist who said that his church had more in common with a Presbyterian Church than with the liberal church in his own association. I do not discount the differences in some cases significant differences among Baptists. But these differences are often not as great as people claim. One can see this most evidently in the local church. The succession of pastors often reveals the great superficiality of our denominational conflict. An ardent supporter of the CBF is followed by an ardent supporter of the SBC or vice versa. In the local church the issues that are so often made to be the dividing issues simply are not as important because the people know their pastor for good or bad. The hope for the future of cooperative mission work is in the local association. And this is the case for one reason. At the local level people know each other. Or there is at least the chance to get to know one another. As they know one another they develop trust. Not because they come to know the inns and outs of all the differing opinions one might possibly share; rather, because they come to see the Holy Spirit at work, and know that God is in this place. It is the reckless words of people disconnected from one another that divide. I used to work on the staff of the DC Baptist Convention. In that capacity I was working for the association when Mark Dever’s church severed its relationship. Mark Dever is somewhat of an icon among Southeastern students, and he is a very intelligent and winsome person. But I will never forget a conversation I had with one of Mark’s associates. This associate had come to the associational board meeting to ask that the convention to adopt a doctrinal statement (which I might add was not even their church‘s doctrinal statement). The unspecified implication was that if we did not they would pull out. We did not and they pulled out. After the meeting I asked if this associate would have lunch with me. He graciously accepted and we had a nice visit. As we talked he expressed surprise to learn that I was born in Washington. In fact he commented that he had never met someone born in Washington. He had been in Washington several years. The irony to me was that many if not a majority of the churches that make up the DC Baptist Convention are comprised of people who were born in Washington. Now Mark’s church is on capitol hill where most people are from points elsewhere. However had they spent any real time getting to know people in the Convention they would have met many people born in Washington. They assumed that because the convention did not vote to adopt their doctrinal statement, that the convention was liberal and was too different to be a productive partner. A reckless decision born of reckless words. One can live near someone and not ever get to know them. I hope that in associational life where there are differences people will take the time to get to know one another. I suspect that when they do even thought differences will remain we will find the confidence that God is in this place and we can work together.

The Virtuous Life

Can one live the virtuous life apart from Jesus Christ? It would seem like this answer should be easy. After all we all know people who are “virtuous” who are not Christians, yes perhaps even not believers at all. Epicurus after all thought the life of study brought the greatest pleasure. Others have rigorously sought to be virtuous for the sake of being virtuous. The pagans had many such lovers of truth. Yet the answer of the church has always been that the virtuous life can only be found in Christ. This is not because acts of virtue are not seen in the world. Virtue is found not in the assent to dogma, but in the faithfulness of the Son. It is because the consummation of virtue is realized only in forgiveness.

Congress

I have not posted anything in quite some time. And my first post back is directed at our current political situation. While I do not personally affiliate myself with any party, I do not begrudge other ministers who choose to do so. My reason for hesitancy is simply that I think whenever one enters the “party political machine” one can become blinded by the parochialism inherent in our system. A government responsive to the people is good. A government subject to the fickle whims of mob rule is tyranny. We need to be able to recognize that our own history has often teetered between the two. This is a recurring challenge to a government “by the people and for the people”. Tribalism is a dangerously fickle government. I am especially reminded of this in the present congressional activity with regards to the presidents supplemental spending bill. One does not see the ideas being sifted and examined, alternatives considered rather one just hears a mind numbing screech that “we are doing what the people want us to.” Why not try to win the discussion with ideas? Instead the detractors from the presidents proposal seek to win their arguments by appeals to the polls. Polls which can change in a matter of hours let alone months.