“You Might be a Disciple”
Ephesians 4:1-6
Heart of the Rockies Christian Church
David A. Shirey
During the nine years Jennie and I were serving First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Wilmington, NC, the native North Carolinians in our church got a good laugh thanks to a comedian named Jeff Foxworthy who poked fun at himself and his fellow Southerners with a stand-up routine that included the refrain “You might be a redneck if…” For instance, “You might be a redneck if…
you’ve ever done your Christmas shopping at a truck stop.
you think the last words of the National Anthem are “Gentlemen start your engines.”
Thanksgiving dinner was ruined because you ran out of ketchup.
you wonder how service stations keep their restrooms so clean.
I thought of Jeff Foxworthy this week as I pondered the identifying characteristics of the larger church family into which Heart of the Rockies was born 32 years ago. Just as children grow up with a resemblance to their parents, Heart of the Rockies grew up with the distinguishing characteristics of our parent denomination. So, I thought I’d name the characteristics of Disciples of Christ in Jeff Foxworthy fashion[1] by saying:
You might be a Disciple if your favorite piece of furniture is the kitchen table. Disciples’ favorite piece of furniture in the church is the Lord's Table. We celebrate communion every Sunday because our founders read in the Book of Acts that the first Christians “devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.” So they devoted themselves to “the breaking of bread” – communion – every Sunday. Some denominations have communion once a month, others once a quarter, and others even less frequently, but Disciple congregations gather round the Lord’s Table week in and week out. Most importantly, all are invited. Our founders reasoned, “It’s the Lord's Table, not ours. The Jesus we know broke bread with all sorts of folks, every make and model of human being. So who are we to ‘fence the table,’ saying who is and isn’t invited? If Jesus welcomed everybody in, who are we to turn anybody away?” We find worship somehow lacking when communion is not served. So, if your favorite piece of furniture is the kitchen table set for Sunday dinner and open to all, you might be a Disciple.
You might be a Disciple if you love a good book. Disciples like a good book, namely the Good Book—the Bible. Our forebears coined the phrase "People of the Book" to underscore the centrality of the Bible for Disciples. The word disciple means student. For our forebears, that meant we ought to be life-long students of Scripture. They were. Alexander Campbell, one of our movement’s founders, was commended by President James Madison as “the ablest and most original expounder of the Scriptures” he had ever heard. Walter Scott, another Disciples founder, expected everyone to be as familiar with the Bible as he was – it’s said he had memorized the New Testament!
Historically, Disciples haven’t read the Bible literally. Rather, our forebears urged us to approach Scripture in the light of faith, reason, and scholarship, asking, "Who wrote it? To whom? Why? When was it written? What was the historical context?" One of my predecessors at the church from which I retired, Dr. A.W. Fortune, said, “The church door ought to be tall enough so that it’s not necessary for a person entering to leave their head outside.” Disciples study the Bible carefully and intelligently. Most importantly, we know we’re not done studying until we ask, “How can I apply what I’ve learned for the good?” If you love the Good Book and are invigorated by studying it and living it, you might be a Disciple.
You might be a Disciple if you prefer bridges over walls. Our founders had a passion for Christian unity. Our forebears asked, “How can Christians talk about the fellowship of the Holy Spirit with a straight face when their own fellowship is broken to the point of their not even being able to worship, commune, or serve together?"
Barton Stone, one of our founders, knew the Ephesians passage I read that underscores the unity of the church: “there is one body and one Spirit... one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all.” He also read Jesus’ words in John 17:20 where Jesus prayed for his followers, “That they all may be one.” He read that prayer, saw how the Christian family tree had become so terribly divided in the centuries since Jesus prayed it, and it broke his heart. His watchword was, "Let Christian unity be our polar star." In so many words he said, let’s quit building walls that divide and build bridges that unite!
He practiced what he preached. Barton Stone and Alexander Campbell had significant differences of opinion on issues both theological and practical they never resolved. One was more liberal, one more conservative. One was more intellectual and rational in his approach to faith, one more pious and emotional. They couldn’t even agree on a name. Campbell liked the name Disciples of Christ. Stone preferred Christian Church. But despite their differences, on January 1, 1832, they united in Lexington, KY with a handshake (No attorneys! No contract!). Following in their footsteps, the next generation of Disciples leaders came up with a motto that still has a refreshing humility about it: “Not the only Christians, but Christians only.” To this day, Disciples at our best bend over backwards to accept rather than reject, to include rather than exclude, to cooperate with others rather than go it alone.
One of our Disciple poets, Edwin Markham, wrote a poem entitled “Outwitted” that captures the essence of our inclusive, bridge-building spirit:
He drew a circle that shut me out—
Heretic, rebel, a thing to flout.
But Love and I had the wit to win
And we drew a circle that took him in!
… If you prefer bridges over walls, you might be a Disciple.
You might be a disciple if you prefer milk and and honey to fire and brimstone. In Disciples churches, you’re much more likely to hear an emphasis on God's love and mercy than God's judgment and wrath. Barton Stone in his growing up years heard a sermon in which the preacher depicted God in a way that frightened him so much he sank into a spiritual pit and despaired of life itself. Reflecting on the way that preacher depicted God, Stone wrote, "This is a God who as a human being no one could bear!" Thankfully, he later heard a pastor preach on the theme "God is love" and it changed his life forever. Walter Scott lamented what he described as one preacher's "brow-beating of the [congregation] utterly unalleviated by… any part of the… gospel." Disciples focus on God’s unconditional love rather than scare tactics in seeking to draw people into a life of faith. Rather than scaring people to death, we hope to love people to life. If you prefer milk and honey to fire and brimstone, you might be a Disciple.
You might be a Disciple if you prefer the taste of a flavorful stew to bland, plain yogurt. I say that because we have always cherished diversity. Ours is a melting pot church made up of people from all kinds of backgrounds.
You might be a Disciple if you believe church is a team sport and not a spectator sport, Formally, it’s called The Priesthood of All Believers (Martin Luther). It’s the conviction that every one of us is a “10” somewhere, has gifts and graces we can contribute to the ministry of the whole church. Rather than believing only ordained ministers can pray, preach, and teach and everyone else can only sit, watch and listen, Disciples believe we’re all ordained into ministry at our baptism. Serve where you can as you can.
You might be a Disciple if you see yourself more as a pioneer than a couch potato. Disciples were born on the American frontier in the early 1800s. Our spiritual ancestors left the safe and familiar environs of the Old World and East Coast to “Head west, young man and young woman!” They marched to the beat of a different drummer. They thought outside the box.They were energized by a challenge. They didn’t use the word “can’t.” They walked by faith and not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7). They weren’t couch potatoes – or pew potatoes – but people who were at the ready to move out and move on following Jesus “the pioneer and perfecter of our faith” (Hebrews 12:2).
You might be a Disciple if you know there’s nothing like a soak in the tub to restore body, mind, and soul, For us, baptism by immersion is the threshold to a whole new life…and eternal life to boot.
This is all to say:
if you know there’s nothing like a soak in the tub,
if you’re more a pioneer than a couch potato,
if you believe church is a team sport and not a spectator sport,
if you enjoy a rich stew over plain yogurt,
if you prefer milk and and honey to fire and brimstone,
if you prefer bridges over walls,
if you love a good book,
if your favorite piece of furniture is the kitchen table…
then you might be a Disciple and Heart of the Rockies may be the church for you.
Let all disciples of Jesus Christ say, AMEN
[1] I’m indebted to good friend Robert Welsh, President of the Council on Christian Unity, for an address he made to a gathering of the Christian Church in North Carolina in Greenville, NC on April 18, 1997. He creatively incorporated Foxworthy’s refrain into his remarks that evening. Though the message that follows is my own, I am grateful for Robert’s initial idea.
