“You Might be a Disciple if…”
“You Might be a Disciple if…”
Ephesians 4:1-6
Broadway Christian Church
David A. Shirey
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.
During October, our theme is Come Home. Last week on World Communion Sunday it was “Come Home to the Table.” This week it is “Come Home to our Heritage” as a congregation within what is known as the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ).
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 church family into which Broadway was born 65 years ago. Just as children grow up with a resemblance to their parents, Broadway 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 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?” 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. Chuck began our Call to Worship with words of our forebears, “Where the scriptures speak, we speak (and where they are silent, we’re silent).” People of the Book. 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!
Thomas Campbell, Alexander’s father, in something called The Declaration and Address, wrote, “We believe that it is the right and responsibility of every Christian to read and interpret the holy Scriptures for themselves…” What he meant is that every one of us has the right to interpret Scripture without fearing being looked down upon, shunned, or excluded by others who may have arrived at a different understanding.They were grieved that across the centuries particular interpretations of the Bible were put forth by individual Christians or groups of Christians who claimed to speak for all Christians, stamping those interpretations with an “official” seal of approval, thereby defining who “real” Christians are, to the scorn and villification (even killing!) of others who had arrived at different understandings. We Disciples cherish the right to interpet Scripture for ourselves, guided by the Holy Spirit and in dialogue with others.
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?" I’ve told you about one of my predecessors at my previous church who 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 appreciate the right and responsibility that comes with 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. Frankly, they were sick and tired of squabbling and finger-pointing and arguing among people who called themselves Christians. Our forebears asked, "Why would the world pay any attention to Christians' talking about the grace of God and the love of Christ when so many Christians are so ungracious and unloving? 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 Luci read that underscores the oneness – 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. 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 audience 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. 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.
And 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 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 Broadway may be the church for you.
Let all disciples of Jesus Christ say, AMEN