Category: DOC Thoughts
My Denomination
The Who famously sang about “My Generation.” Those lyrics echo to my GenXer’s ears as I think about my journey in society, my journey in faith, and my journey outside and inside of Christian witness. My denomination’s annual family reunion, what we call the “General Assembly,” this summer has me thinking about a great many things related to religion, culture, and denominational identity (something my denomination has been struggling with for almost two decades now). General Assembly is a gathering of individuals that represent congregations as voting delegates, but GA is more than delegates sent to vote, dialogue, argue, or discern. Everyone is welcome to attend. There is an interesting mix of new believers, first time and long time practitioners, scholars, lay leaders, commissioned ministers, ordained ministers, denominational thinkers and leaders – past and present. The exhibit hall is where people roam between our denominational offices displaying their relevancy and booths where people can get information about the next van or bus their congregation could purchase. Mostly, the exhibit hall is where people meet up to catch up even in the technologically rich world that we inhabit. This past GA had its share of resolutions, few of which are binding on our congregations or Regions, but controversial enough for those that don’t understand our polity to cause a stir. I don’t think it is about polity as much as identity. The cultural creep of consumer competition, gated communities, and our inability to learn from the past fuels the division that some want to label a difference of interpretation of scripture, or history, but I think it is much more about identity. One congregation in my Region recently voted to leave the denomination over the General Assembly’s passage of resolution 1327 which resolves:
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the General Assembly meeting in Orlando, Florida, July 13-17, 2013, calls upon the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) to recognize itself as striving to become a people of grace and welcome to all God’s children though differing in race, gender, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, nationality, ethnicity, marital status, physical or mental ability, political stance or theological perspective; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the General Assembly calls upon the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) to affirm the faith, baptism and spiritual gifts of all Christians regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity, and that neither is grounds for exclusion from fellowship or service within the church, but we celebrate that all are part of God’s good creation;
And this congregation wanted to not be identified with my denomination so much that it duct taped over Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) on their sign. I guess they did so until such a time that they can purchase paint or determine with whom they wish to affiliate or identify with. Sometimes I wonder if the language of “be it resolved” is part of the problem with our resolutions. This “vote” didn’t resolve much and that is the problem with the language. It did “highlight” the growing acceptance of LGBTQ persons in the life of many of the congregations represented at GA. Resolved, well, no not really. A minister I know, who has been serving in ministry a long time, noted to his congregation that the General Assembly was speaking “to” our congregations rather than speaking “for” our congregations on the issue of welcoming LGBTQ persons as images of God who are welcome to journey in faith and serve in faith in our congregations. So, maybe it is better to say that some, many, of our congregations are evolving in their understanding of God, grace, sin, the way of Jesus, and ordained Christian ministry. It was not long ago that women were barred from leadership in our congregations and even today there are a handful of congregations that do not allow women to be elders or will not consider a female minister, but for the most part, the denomination has embraced “women in leadership, ordained and lay,” as a part of our identity. It’s my denomination.
I use the word “evolve” not as a derogatory comment for those that voted “no” this summer, but as a descriptive verb that highlights the historic tension between Christian tradition and Christian practice. It’s the tug of war between orthodoxy and orthopraxy, between Paul’s Christ of faith and the way of Jesus proclaiming the good news of God as told by the gospels. CC(DOC) are pragmatists first more often than theologically consistent before being pragmatic. That is the only thing about this twenty-year “discernment process” that I’ve appreciated namely, that theological conversation and evolution preceded pragmatics though the discernment process was a pragmatic theological process that led a few congregations to bring a resolution to the GA for a vote and further conversation. I’ve been thinking about my denomination’s identity through the lens of some words from Rev. Dr. Peter Gomes and a few recent blog posts from a marketing guy named Seth Godin. My apologies to Seth for borrowing his words in their entirety and reprinting them here. My thanks to Rev. Dr. Gomes for his life and service in ministry. He has gone home to realm and reign of God. It might work best for you, if you want to join the thinking about my denomination, the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), to do so listening to Rev. Dr. Gomes words to our General Assembly in 2003, bracketed by a couple of Seth’s recent posts.
The easiest way to disagree with someone …is to assume that they are uninformed, and that once they know what you know, they will change their mind. (A marketing problem!)
The second easiest way to disagree is to assume that the other person is a dolt, a loon, a misguided zealot who refuses to see the truth. Their selfish desire to win interferes with their understanding of reality. (A political problem!)
The third easiest way to disagree with someone is to not actually hear what they are saying. (A filtering problem!) The hardest way to disagree with someone is to come to understand that they see the world differently than we do, to acknowledge that they have a different worldview, something baked in long before they ever encountered this situation. (Another marketing problem, the biggest one).
There actually are countless uninformed people. There are certainly craven zealots. And yes, in fact, we usually hear what we want to hear, or hear what the TV tells us, or hear what we expect, instead of hearing what was said, and the intent behind it. Odds are, though, that we will make the change we seek by embracing the hard work of telling stories that resonate, as opposed to dismissing the other who appears not to get it.
Is Google jumping the shark?
Ron Howard explained that while they were shooting the notorious episode where Fonzie jumped the shark, he knew the show had turned a corner. In the case of Happy Days, the corner was the chasing of ratings at the cost of integrity. In the case of corporations, the corner is usually the chasing of profit at the expense of the original mission.
These places don’t run out of creativity. You don’t jump the shark because you’re empty, you do it because there’s pressure to be greedy.
Google has been found to have hacked and stolen user data, circumventing privacy settings. They’ve recently announced that without asking first or sharing the upside, they may be selling the names and faces of people who use Google + to advertisers, to be included in endorsement ads. People expressing themselves online might soon find themselves starring in ads as unpaid, unwilling endorsers.
How does this happen? Public companies almost inevitably seek to grow profits faster than expected, which means beyond the organic growth that comes from doing what made them great in the first place. In order to gain that profit, it’s typical to hire people and reward them for measuring and increasing profits, even at the expense of what the company originally set out to do.
Every company at a certain stage ends up with two sorts of employees… some that work hard to improve the experience and value for the original customers, and some that tear down that experience and value in order to please shareholders in the short run.
It’s not surprising, but it’s sad.
The irony here is that in the long run, what the advertisers are telling companies like Google they want isn’t what is going to build it into an even better company (or even help the advertisers) in the long run.
Advertisers often seem to want pitchmen spraying perfume at every person who walks into the store, inserts stuffed into every periodical, pop up ads, complete data on every individual they target and the ability to spam at will. Great media companies fight back on all of these intrusions, because they know that what actually works is genuine connection built around remarkable products and services.
“I think we can’t go around measuring our goodness by what we don’t do, by what we deny ourselves, what we resist, and who we exclude. I think we’ve got to measure goodness by what we embrace, what we create, and who we include.”
Disciples Identity
The ongoing “identity” conversation within our denomination rolls on following the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) General Assembly in July. Click here to see how the General Church unpacks, “”A movement for wholeness in a fragmented world.” which is our current identity statement. I serve in Regional Ministry in our denomination. If you are reading this and are not part of our denomination my role similar to “assistant bishop” or “district superintendent” though we don’t use that terminology and I don’t have the institutional hierarchical power that those positions have in their denominations. I have program ministry responsibilities and I work with ministers and volunteers through times of joy and crisis. I digress.
When I visit congregations to preach, for the first time, I spend a few moments reviewing who I think the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) are and reminding the congregation what that already know about who we are. Here is a revised version of those words. If you’ve heard me preach, my apologies for this review. If I’ve not preached in your congregation, my apologies that you will hear these words again. I currently serve in the Oklahoma Region. I used a similar version of these words when I served on Regional staff in Kentucky. This is how I “unpack” who Disciples are in the 21st century which I think embraces the “spirit” of our founders, Stone and Campbell.
One of the best parts of serving in Regional ministry is the opportunity to worship in many Disciples congregations during a year. For me it is a joy, and for the congregation it is a reminder that you are a part of a community: 162 congregations working in covenant with each other to be a witness of the kindom of God in our midst in places from Buffalo to Hugo, Miami to Altus, Elk City to Tulsa and here through the ministry of this congregation. We call this covenant the Christian Church In Oklahoma. Together, we are the Church grounded in prayer, guided by scripture, and called to serve beyond our four walls, our city limits, county lines, national boundaries, and our comfort zones.
Your Disciples siblings across the Region are gathering for worship this morning: to pray and praise God; to hear scripture and word preached; to share bread and cup around a table that has a place set for you; and to accept God’s call to participate in, and be servant leaders, in our society. Did you know that there has never been a time better than right now for our denomination, for our brand of Christian witness, to invite our neighbors, co-workers, friends, strangers, the “nones” and de-churched to worship. You knew that. Some may ask, “Why?”
Because the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) celebrates the spirituality that study and service embody to strengthen faith, guide the journey of faith, and make life richer. We have an inclusive spirit: inviting everyone to come to the table without a litmus test of baptism nor a creedal affirmation of faith. Now is the time for our way of balancing belief and practice to say, “You are welcomed here. If you are searching for a place to worship and serve God, try us.” Why?
Because, together we will share God’s story, and our own stories, trusting that God is acting in our time and in our lives. Disciples don’t claim to have “the only answers” to life’s hard questions. We do not offer “easy answers” for the hard questions because the sacred space of life is a complex maze of joy and suffering, laughter and learning, community and individuality that can be guided by “do unto others as you would have them do unto you,” but cannot be distilled to a creed, style of worship, mode of baptism, political party, or soundbite theology. Disciples don’t proclaim an understanding of God’s grace that is based on your level of financial giving. Some may ask, “Why?”
Because, we understand that people of faith disagree and that ecumenism, Christian unity, does not mean sharing the lowest common denominator of belief. Christian unity means holding all of Christendom, and all persons, to the highest standards of service to the world, celebrating differences, and speaking out for the breathing voiceless in the world. Ecumenism, for Disciples, means “welcoming as we have been welcomed.” We know that diversity is better than the watered down theological pop culture of our time. The Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) is a community of faith working to be God’s people and do God’s will the best way we know how. Some may ask, “Why?”
As a response to judgement and grace. As an affirmation that the whole human family are children of God. Because we were welcomed and are called to welcome. As a model of community, koinonia, for our divided world. The Christian Church In Oklahoma is blessed and is a blessing because you are a voice of gospel here from this corner of Oklahoma. There is ministry to do and Gospel to speak that only you can do; that only you can speak. Siblings in faith, there is still redemptive things to be and do. That is who we are called to be as followers of Jesus within the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ).