Checklist for Love -- 1 Corinthians 13:4-8

 

A New Commandment

A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. John 13:34 (NIV)

Many argue that the Gospel of John passage is Jesus specifically telling the disciples to love other Christian disciples. Elsewhere in Scripture, Jesus is clear that the extent of this love includes everyone--even enemies, outcasts, sinners and anyone not in our comfort zone.

Unfortunately, sometimes "other Christian disciples" and "enemies" are one and the same thing. In any case, the demands of love span from those closest to us to the most distant.

Checklist for Love

Now that we have the commandment to love one another, it begs the questions: How? What does it mean for Christians to love others? This certainly requires deep thought, meditation and practice. Perhaps it calls for trial & error. It is easy to dismiss "love" as merely sentimental, as a feeling rather than an action.

Paul gives us an idea of what love looks like in the famous passage in 1 Corinthians 13:4-8. It is a popular reading for weddings, but its reach goes far beyond that.

I like to look at Paul's beautiful words as a checklist. It holds us accountable. "Love one another" is a powerful commandment--jaw-dropping, life-changing, paradigm-altering, heaven-and-earth-shaking, in fact. It is also open ended enough that we can find it all too easy to ignore. The word "love" is so big and the scope is so broad that we can end up doing nothing at all--it goes without saying that we will fall short, which often becomes license for inaction or downright contradiction.

1 Corinthians 13:4-8 helps stave that off. Paul keeps the magic of love while stripping it of its needless sentimentality. This where the rubber hits the road, as we shall see.

[The headers below are based on the NIV translation, with the NRSV mentioned from time to time.]

Love is patient

We can all say we feel love. It is easy to say we value love. We can all agree that love is difficult in our complex, sinful world. We can affirm these things, proverbially pat ourselves on the back and then let the discussion die on the vine right then and there. Paul does not allow that. He presses us--So, have you been patient with others?

This is a very different question about love. Do we acknowledge that others are on a path of growth, that they have limitations and blind spots, too? Patience allows space for grace to enter, instead of being drowned out by our impulsive triggers and autonomic reactions.

Love is kind

A mentor of mine would always say that it is better to describe love than to use the word love itself. Love itself is like the sun--the source of all light but almost impossible to look at directly. It is better to understand the sun by looking at the plants that grow from its rays, the rainbows that emit from a prism of raindrops and the colors visible to the eye through shades and shadow.

In other words: I cannot look at the sun, but I like how you look in the sun.

This resonates brilliantly here: Kindness. I absolutely adore this word. It connotes gentleness, compassion, warmth. It is our default stance to others when we approach them in love.

It does not envy

It is interesting that this should be in a list of qualities of love. You might think that envy and love go hand in hand. Can you not love someone so much that you also envy them? Paul suggests no. 

The Christian journey is instead one of gratefulness for the gifts God has given. We can appreciate the gifts that others have without clinging to them. Envy is often more of a sign that we are not loving ourselves than it has to do with the other person. Yes, there are many lovely things about you. Perhaps I can learn from you, but I will not confuse that with wanting to be you to the point where I confuse my own identity with you. To love others, we must first love ourselves. Envy opens the door to objectifying someone else. It begins in self-hate and ends in destroying others.

It does not boast

This is the flip side of envy. People who boast seek to augment themselves, usually at the expense of others. It comes before pride in the list, but it is pride in action, as we shall see below. Whether we envy someone else or boast about ourselves, both express a lack of love for ourselves and a break from the fundamental equality of all people before God.

It is not proud.

It was no accident that Medieval scholars and saints consistently saw pride as the deadliest of the deadly sins. It is a direct affront to God as we claim ourselves as the source of our merit rather than God, from whom all good things flow. Pride therefore makes it hard to express love properly to others, as we have attempted to obstruct the fundamental relationship of God to ourselves.

Pride comes across as an air of superiority. Underneath it all, it probably comes out of a sense of inferiority. Neither is acceptable. Love is a level playing field; it is the great equalizer. We are all children of the God, equal in God's eyes. Pride prevents us from seeing that. Pride creates hierarchy--it says that this person is better or less than this other person.

 

It does not dishonor others

There is a difference between disagreement and dishonoring. We can and should offer each other constructive feedback. The NRSV simply uses the word "rude." Talking abruptly and crudely is not what love looks like.

That being said, a fake politeness that masks a subtle disregard does not work very well either. It does not ultimately matter if someone is polite or not--is the other person being dishonored, slandered, mocked or disregarded by your speech and behaviors?

The Google dictionary definition of "dishonor" says it is a failure to observe an agreement or principle. I love this. The "agreement" is what Scripture tells us--that all humans are brothers and sisters to each other and children of the same God. To "dishonor" someone is to disregard this principle which has been revealed to us through the Christian faith.

It is not self-seeking

I like the NRSV translation: "It does not insist on its own way."

Love is like a dance--it would not be very artistic if one person dragged the other person around the dance floor, caveman style. Instead, they both work together to move in harmony with each other, so that neither is hurt and both can express their gifts.

You probably cannot "insist on your own way" without running the risk of "dishonoring the other person."

It is not easily angered

People often cite Jesus getting angry at the money changers in the Temple as a justification for getting angry. We must remember that Jesus is slow to anger. He does not get angry very often in the Gospel accounts.

We are always looking for little slippery slopes to bypass Jesus' commandment to love. One instance of Jesus getting angry does not give us an unlimited permission to be impulsive or regularly angry. I have heard people reason it through this way: Jesus got angry once, so therefore "anger" is a universally good thing whenever I decide to express it. The actions of Jesus suggest there may be a place for anger--as long as it is measured and very, very rare.

God is slow to anger--are we?

NRSV says love "is not irritable or resentful." Both of those works connote someone who is at the brink of anger, and others around them will feel like they are walking on eggshells.

 

It keeps no record of wrongs.

I admit this is a hard one for me. There has to be a place for healthy accountability. It does no one any good to be a regular punching bag for someone else. But do you define someone by your perceived problems with them or by their noteworthy characteristics? Some people walk around all day dragging that ole ball-and-chain--every pain they have ever experienced. We ought to remember things. We should not sweep problems under the rug. But once they are dealt with, they should be released to the white light of the Holy Spirit.

The NRSV is helpful here. The previous line ends with "resentful" and continues with "it does not rejoice in wrongdoing." That hones in on what I am describing. People can be truly hurt by others, but when they carry that badge of victimhood around so prominently you can sometimes wonder if they are not actually happy that they were injured--it gives them something to complain about. They almost celebrate the injury as a way to make others feel bad by holding onto that resentment and keeping score. Or they overemphasize it as a way to give them license to mistreat the other.

Sr. Helen Prejean--the Catholic sister who works against the death penalty--says it is important how we talk about our sin. She asks: Do you want your worst action to define you as a person? In other words: Is a criminal on death row a murderer who happens to be a person--or are they a person who happens to have murdered someone? It is about how we define ourselves and others. Keeping a record of wrongs can prevent us from truly entering into a relationship with the other person. We have written the sin up and written the person off. It allows us to avoid becoming vulnerable and entering into the mystery of the person before us and be open to what they have to offer.

Jesus was constantly making space and time for people that others had written off. As we shall see, love has the final say, not condemnation.

 

Love does not delight in evil

You can see that this is a dangerous path. What starts with "envy" quickly translates into "resentful," turns into "rejoice in wrongdoing," which ultimately leads into "delight in evil." Paul maps out this descent into the dark side very well in his litany of terms. People become so convinced of their rightness, and so entitled to their anger, that they cross a line into rejoicing in evil often without realizing it. 

It is never good when bad things happen. By definition.

But rejoices with the truth.

This is where things get dicey. Just when someone is about to let go of their preconceived notions, step out of their protected shell and engage with others in openness and vulnerability, this line shoots out like a canon blast and can justify holding on to our petty arguments and divisions.

This is a tricky passage. What do you do if another group holds a belief or has a practice that you do not agree with? Even worse, what if you consider it to be evil? Some people take this line to mean that the only way to hold true to their beliefs is to exclude people who do not fit into that.

Christians have often looked on this verse as a reason to break relationship. However, Jesus rarely did that. He disagreed with many folks but so often in Scripture you see him reaching out. He stays in relationship. He stays in dialogue. He continues to be compassionate, loving and gentle.

Pope Francis recently described a Christian as someone more interested in building bridges than walls. The pontiff nails it. There is a time and a place for walls, yes. But I am not convinced we ever need a wall until someone can demonstrate that they have first worked tirelessly to build bridges.  Until someone can show that building a wall is a last resort--and not the first, impulsive action--then I will stand unconvinced that a wall is either necessary or in line with the demands of love.

Before we snap back reflexively into our comfort zone of divisions and categories of who's right and who's wrong, I'd like to focus on the word "rejoice" here. Sometimes we think of the word "truth" as being the deposit of dogmas and doctrines that our church denomination holds. One of the most popular guiding expressions when it comes to the movement toward Christian unity is called a "sharing of gifts" St. Pope John Paul II used that expression frequently, and it has become a guiding mantra for ecumenism. Simply put, we ought to testify to how God has been working in our lives.  We can share that joy with others. 

To "rejoice in the truth" does not mean we use our beliefs as a justification for divisions and exclusions. Nowhere does it say or imply that. If you disagree, read it again and slowly. This is a celebration.

It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

As if there were any doubt.

As if this passage has not been abundantly clear.

Can you imagine protecting your enemies?  You should, because this is what love looks like.

Trust is also a hard one. Trust in what, exactly? I hear Paul asking us to give the benefit of the doubt. Can we trust that there is something of the goodness of God in everyone, even our enemies?

Can you never give up hope that goodness will always prevail, no matter how deep the wound or how vast the division? 

All of this culminates in this astonishing capstone:

Love never fails.

Just in case you were looking for an out. Just in case all of the above demands and descriptions of love were still not enough. Just in case you still found a way to escape back into your protective bubble and hurdle proverbial grenades at your opponents, Paul comes out and says it outright: Love hangs in there. Love has the final say. In short, love works and love wins. 

After all, everything besides loves is just a bunch of senseless noise (1 Cor 13:1-3).

Will you hang in there, too?

Love is one of the hardest things to do. We look for any way that we can wiggle out of the demands of love and continue in our ways of divisions. One by one, Paul engages all the reasons we give ourselves to opt out of the path of love.

We all think love is a great idea. But do we think patience is a good idea? How about kindness? . . .and so on down the checklist.

Linus sums up what this post is about so well!



Hospitality in the Churches of East Tennessee

The simple act of visiting a church of another denomination can be a wonderful thing to do. The Glenmary Home Missioners, the group I work with, has a long tradition of doing this very thing. As missionaries, they approach church worship services themselves as a mission field--not a place to convert others, but a place to reach out to one another, be open to what the other is saying, and build the kind of unity that Jesus himself prayed for. That all who believe may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you (John 17:21).  

Anyone can be an ambassador of the faith in this way. My colleagues usually recommend going to another church on the invitation of a member or the pastor. It is usually easy to get an invitation in a conversation around town, perhaps at the grocery store or restaurant. An invitation is not always necessary, but it helps to break the ice.

When I go, all I say is, "I'm Frank Lesko, I'm visiting my friends at the local Catholic Church for the weekend, and I would like to worship here this morning." It is that simple. You do not need a theology degree to be kind and open in this way. Folks are often extremely warm and quite pleased that someone from outside their congregation would take the time and effort to spend a Sunday morning in their space and hear what they have to say. Their hospitality is a gift that I do not take for granted--I appreciate it greatly as itself an act of Christian love.

Sometimes the journey toward greater harmony between churches only takes someone proverbially knocking on the door and asking to come in and sit for a spell. Your actions will speak much louder than words, and say, "I want to be in your world for a while. Let's listen to each other."

I visit churches regularly in my work. It only makes sense to share more of these adventures in more detail online!  So here goes . . .

Union and Grainger Counties are circled in red above.

I spent this weekend in and near the Catholic mission parishes in Union and Grainger Counties in east Tennessee. Visiting other churches is easy here, as there are few churches in Union and Grainger counties in which Br. Craig Digmann has not visited at least once. He is a regular face at many places. His current total is well over a hundred churches that he has visited at least once in his few short years in the area, and that number is steadily growing.

On Saturday evening, I attended Catholic Mass at St. John Paul II Catholic Mission parish in Rutledge, TN. I have featured this congregation in posts before, most recently here. What is noteworthy about this little storefront church is that right now it has been almost entirely converted into a distribution area for food commodities for folks in need. All the chairs, altar and podiums have been temporarily moved against the wall to make way for God's hungry people. Did they move Jesus out of the way to do this? No, this is how they make space for Him! Make straight the way of the Lord! (Isaiah 40:3, John 1:23).

I had the privilege of attending Beeler's Chapel United Methodist Church early on Sunday morning. I appreciated greatly Pastor Denver Davidson's deep faith and well considered thoughts. I like that they make Ash Wednesday ashes not just from bunt palms but also from notecards of prayer requests of members of the congregation. I repent in dust and ashes (Job 42:6).

I felt right at home in this congregation, which is located on a picturesque mountain road outside of Washburn, TN. While there, I got to connect to a number of people who live at the nearby Narrow Ridge Earth Literacy Center. They live off the grid and have a profound witness of environmental sustainability. I have been especially impressed with their natural burial cemetery which is part of their environmental witness and commitment. God saw all that He had made, and it was very good (Genesis 1:31).

Not too far down the road and just a few short minutes later, I found myself attending Mt. Eager Missionary Baptist Church. Br. Craig may have been the first Catholic ever to step foot in this and other churches in the area, but now it is somewhat easy for me to come along afterwards. I was impressed by the hospitality and vitality of the congregation, as well as the good natured presence of Pastor Gary Donehew. Be hospitable to one another without complaint (1 Peter 4:9).

My only regret is not getting a picture of the view from the entrance of the church looking out. The mountain panorama is something that can strike awe into the heart of any person and never grows old. I may be back to snap that picture, but I am not going back today. After an inch of snow and ice fell last night on those steep mountain dirt roads, I am sticking to the highways today! If you want a taste, check out the cover picture for this blog, because it was taken from this very same part of the country.

I headed back to Maynardville for Sunday evening service at Hines Creek Missionary Baptist Church. They operate a critical food pantry for Union County, which is itself an ecumenical effort. For I was hungry and you gave me food (Matthew 25:35-40).

This is also one of the most musically talented congregations I have ever visited. Members make up at least two different music groups. I especially enjoyed the country Gospel of the Beason family and look forward to hearing them play again in the future. Good food and good music, this is what makes this church a pillar in the community by all reckoning! Come, let us sing for joy to the LORD; let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation (Psalm 95:1).

The one word that comes to my mind after this weekend in east Tennessee is this: Hospitality. Each of these churches was so welcoming and gracious to this shy outsider who speaks in a very obvious northern accent. I would like to see these kind spirited people again. We do worship the same God. We may have different ideas about how to do that and sometimes even what that means, but we are all doing the best we can to make our way through the fog. For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known. (1 Cor 13:12). 

I am glad to have met these Christian brothers and sisters of mine in east Tennessee! Br. Craig has estimated that there are over 210 churches in these two counties, so these four are just a small sampling, but if each of us took a step to get to know just one other church, we would build quite a relationship.

If you would like this Catholic to attend your church, and you live in the rural US Southeast, drop me a line!  I would love to visit your church and celebrate our mutual relationship with Christ together!

Racial Healing in a Small Town



Reconciliation statue at Coventry Cathedral.

This is going to be one of those stories where the names and locations are kept anonymous to protect privacy.  When it comes to racial and religious reconciliation, all too often the most heartfelt stories are also the most confidential.

It is a story that needs to be told, though. I will do my best to share the light and protect all parties.

My travels take me all across the US rural Southeast--to small towns and hollers, cities and hamlets, mountaintops, farms and empty lots. For some reason, my work has not yet taken me to the beach, but I have been to just about every other geographic feature in this region. I digress.

This story takes place in one of those small towns.

Like so many locations in the rural Southeast, this town has had a long and difficult history along racial and religious lines. Many people are eager to move beyond the past they have inherited, even if they are not altogether sure how to do that. However, there is much work to be done and many levels of consciousness where this work still needs to happen.

This is a town with a ministerial association. For those not familiar with the term, this is a group where local ministers from various churches come together for dialogue and shared projects. It was not that long ago that mutual condemnation and shunning were the typical manner that churches from different denominations treated each other, so these ministerial alliances have been a huge force in moving beyond that. Pastors get together to break bread, organize events and discern ways to serve the community together.

It can take a tremendous bravery for folks to be willing to give this a try, especially when the history has been particularly difficult. After generations of misunderstandings and mistreatment--with much of it still a very living memory--folks cross religious, racial and ethnic lines to take the first steps toward fellowship with one another in faith. It takes real vulnerability, because doing this will often bring all those unhealed wounds and misunderstandings right to the surface. It takes faith to even try and an outpouring of grace to succeed, and that is exactly why the church can sometimes be the best way to bring a fractured community together.

Among their activities, this ministerial alliance in question has organized a community-wide Martin Luther King Jr. worship service. It has been going on for over 10 years with tentative but strong involvement from local churches, black, white and Hispanic. In fact, every church in town would participate. It was a growing and well-regarded annual occasion.

All that came to a halt when a very unfortunate incident happened.

After an MLK Jr. worship service a few years ago, the assembled people shared food and fellowship. One of the African-American churches had led the assembly in music that day. During this fellowship, a white person was overheard complaining: "I wish those people wouldn't sing so loud!" Word of this got back to the respective churches, and the African-American church that had sung that day became very upset. They subsequently withdrew from the ministerial alliance and from all such events in town.

It may be difficult to understand the kind of harm such a statement can carry if you do not share the same history of segregation, injustice and persecution. This is why it is so important for communities to listen to each other and respect each others' feelings. Was this an offhanded comment of a single individual? It is easy to fear that perhaps this individual was speaking aloud the hidden thoughts of the larger community. It is easy to understand why a community that had experienced a long history of negativity toward them would not want to re-engage with this kind of negativity again, especially if the veil of politeness was masking a hidden racism that manifested as jokes told behind their backs.

Reconciliation can be a very fragile thing. People are silently wondering--can we trust you? Are we really going to put the past behind us and take real steps forward, or are we just going to keep reliving the past? This is true whether the reconciliation is religious, racial, ethnic or along other lines.

In another anonymous town in another anonymous location, I have seen a Catholic and Pentecostal church develop a robust and warm friendship. They were a model relationship and had many layers of connection over the course of a few years. Nevertheless, this partnership came to a screeching halt when old theological fears flared up and one community became worried about the influence and legitimacy of the other. In still other places, I have seen Hispanics and Muslims go from regular, friendly faces in the community to barely tolerated outsiders as larger cultural trends in American politics have a very real local impact on very real individuals. Islamophobia and anti-immigrant rhetoric, so often bandied about in the media and on talk radio, often turns into real bruises on real people in towns all across this country.

Unity can be so fragile.

Going back to the first small town, all the hard work of building harmony together was suddenly eroded after one unfortunate incidence. This African-American church would no longer participate in activities with the other churches. The ministerial alliance continued with their services, but it was not quite the same. It was like a member of the family was no longer there. It was impossible to say the whole community was coming together when it was not.

Some of the pastors attempted to bridge the divide in the years since then, but the offended church was not interested in rejoining.

Until now.
 

Just a couple weeks ago, a group of white women from the community decided to go to this African-American church to attend their worship service. As is customary, there was a time for visitors to stand up, introduce themselves and talk about why they decided to attend worship.

They made an announcement. They said they heard there was a terrible insult. They said they were sorry and apologized. They invited this church to come back, saying, "We need you." They invited them to attend the MLK Jr. Day worship scheduled for the following week and join in the service.

The women were not sure what impact this might have had. On the day of the MLK Jr. service, it looked at first like there was no sign of this African-American church returning and participating in the service. However, one woman saw the pastor and some congregations members sitting in the back. After the service, the women approached them and thanked them for coming. The pastor said he appreciated the invitation. He let them know there was not enough time for the whole choir to prepare, but they would do so another time in the future.

It is easy to feel the first steps toward healing have happened.

 

I was not privy to all the discussion in this community. I do not know what made this church take this step. Perhaps it was a combination of the healing effect of time plus the sum total of other attempts at reconciliation. Nevertheless, this encounter seemed to break the ice.

The power of a public apology is so powerful. These women were able to do what their pastors alone were not. They went out of their way to invite this church back, and their words and actions made it clear--the individual who made that comment does not speak for the whole community.

A public apology is one of the most rarely used tools at our disposal in our culture. We do it even more rarely for actions committed by others in the past. But these women recognized that even though they did not commit this insult, by being part of the community they have a responsibility to make it right.  

I am reminded of the actions of Pope Francis. He goes out of his way on regular occasions to apologize for the actions of some Catholics--or the Catholic Church as a whole--in the past. You can just Google search "Pope Francis apologizes" and you will find a quite a bit of material.

Most recently, Pope Francis apologized for the ways Catholics have treated other Christians throughout history. No, Pope Francis did not personally commit those grievous acts of violence against non-Catholics in previous centuries. But as pope, he along with all faithful Catholics carry the mantle of an inherited tradition. That means inheriting the good as well as the bad. It means a Catholic cannot be proud to stand on the shoulders of the robust intellectual and artistic tradition and the works of mercy of the saints without also living in the tragic legacy of unhealed wounds and tainted riches that have come from dubious sources.

Americans have a difficult time with this. We are quick to be proud of the traditions of our families, our nation and our churches.  We are proud to stand on the shoulders of the noble people who have come before us. However, we distance ourselves from anything negative that comes along with that. Apologies and reparations are widely unpopular in modern US culture.

Whether we personally have committed negative acts directly or not, we as a community always bear responsibility for making it right. It may seem unfair to inherit someone else's mess, but if we are quick to accept the good from our ancestors that means we also have to take ownership of the bad, too. It is a package deal.

There is always a danger in a story like this in portraying the white women as the heroes, which can run the risk of perpetuating a subtle racism rather than overcoming it. However, I think that is a risk worth taking, as long as we proceed with care and sensitivity. Not taking that risk and just doing nothing would be far worse. 

Besides, I don't see this story as one-sided. Both sides of this fracture have taken steps in bravery and vulnerability to work towards reconciliation. I admire people who are willing to do this very difficult but necessary work.  Otherwise, the pain just gets passed down from generation to generation and it never goes away until someone engages with it. Just like Jesus healed through touch, we must also be willing to touch our wounds and the wounds of others for healing to happen. We must proceed gently.  If we err, let's make sure we always err on the side of apologizing too much and giving each other too many chances, rather than too few.  Seventy times seven chances, actually.

Setbacks can bring despair, especially after the hard work of years can seem to evaporate in an instant. But setbacks are to be expected, as the path to reconciliation is rarely a straight line.  Each setback affords us the opportunity to renew our commitment to each other.  A setback can be a fracture or an opportunity for grace.

I suggest we keep this anonymous small town in our thoughts and prayers. They have certainly inspired me.

Let us hope that God continues to bless this work of reconciliation done in Christ's name!

II Corinthians 5:17-20

Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

 

The Power of Thanksgiving

I am guilty of underestimating the power of Christian unity.

Perhaps this is a surprising--and rather stark--statement from someone who works to promote Christian unity. Nevertheless, I have to admit to being a doubting Thomas in at least one aspect.

A lot of folks may not realize that even those who work full-time in ministry--perhaps especially those people--often find themselves facing the all-too-common negative impulses of doubt, cynicism and sometimes even despair in the face of the world's problems. I have come to believe that this is not a deviation from the spiritual path--this IS the spiritual path. Being all-positive, all-the-time is not a realistic portrayal of the Christian life, but often those in ministry feel compelled to give that impression.

Being Christian is like being on a ship sailing across the sea. The waves, currents, storms and confusion over the map coordinates are part of the journey. Everyone wants smooth sailing, but it would be unrealistic not to prepare for some distress along the way. Those obstacles do not spontaneously evaporate once you decide to board the ship--sometimes, it is only then when they truly begin. Some people think the spiritual life means going from doubt to certainty and from confusion to clarity. There is truth in that, but the difference is now you are no longer lost at sea or idle on the shore but are instead on a journey going somewhere, even if the way is foggy and the directions are unclear at times. There is clarity in knowing there is a path and you are on it, but the storms will still come. The storms will still come.

So here is my story of confusion over map coordinates:

It is customary for Christians of different denominations to come together to celebrate at certain times of the year. Popular times include Holy Week & Easter, MLK Jr. Day, the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity in January and Thanksgiving week. In the rural Southeast, Thanksgiving week is an incredibly popular time for this. Many church communities step out of their denominational seclusion to hold a community prayer service with other Christians. Some denominations are more likely than others to participate, but these services happen often enough to be a tradition in many towns.

My work takes me across the US Southeast, looking for signs of unity between Christians. I investigate ways Christians have found to come together, resolve differences and stand in their common witness to Christ, despite differences and a long history of divisions.

I am not sure why, but the holiday community services had left me feeling lukewarm. Sure, they are cute, I reasoned, but I was not sure what impact they had or whether they were worth the effort. They just did not interest me much. Still, they are a part of the quest for Christian unity and dutiful to my mission I sought to investigate them.

Perhaps God knew I was going to need more evidence than most people. As if to shake any doubt from my mind, my work gave me an opportunity to see what few people get to see. I spent Thanksgiving week traipsing across the US Southeast going from Thanksgiving service to service. I attended some events firsthand, witnessed the planning of others and heard testimonies of still more. The sheer experience of witnessing these events and seeing their real impact on their respective communities and on participants (including me!) has removed any doubt from my mind: When Christians find their unity amidst their diversity--even for fleeting moments--there is a power like no other. Waves of healing, reconciliation and overall good sentiment can radiate from that. Whole communities can transform.

Our time apart from each other has served to strengthen us so that when we do come together, we are much more dynamic and enlivened.

 

Standing room only at the Early County Thanksgiving Service
at Southside Baptist Church in Blakely, GA!

 

I began Thanksgiving week with a service in south Georgia. The robustly-sized Southside Baptist Church in Blakely, GA, was filled to capacity on November 22 with ushers working hard to bring in additional chairs as the congregation swelled in numbers. Blakely is as deep into the heart of the Deep South as you can go. The religious and racial harmony at this Thanksgiving service made it hard to imagine the South of segregation and hostility. 


Pastor Kenneth Cody of Wesley Chapel
AME Church delivers the message.

This was an enthusiastic service. To my eye, the participating churches were actively engaged and not just passively going along with it. Denominations were present which are not known to mix and mingle: Southern Baptist, Freewill Baptist, Assembly of God, African Methodist Episcopal (AME), Missionary Baptist, Roman Catholic, Methodist and non-denominational. Preachers were both black and white, and the Catholic Hispanic choir even sang in Spanish. In these days of fear, mistrust and division in America, it is good to be reminded of how good it is when America shows its best side. Ain't that America, as the song goes--yes indeed, we can show the world what harmony looks like! No one in this crowd forgot that it is Christ who brings this community together. Christ is able to bridge divisions that would otherwise be difficult to traverse.

The Spanish choir of Holy Family Catholic Church,
with Fr. John Brown in center.

"We enjoy the opportunity to do this together," says Pastor Duane Littlefield of Zion Freewill Baptist Church, speaking at the service. "We are Christians serving one God. God's not Baptist, he's not Methodist, he's not AME, he's not any label. Serving together we can accomplish so much more than we ever could working against each other, as has been the case sometimes."

 

A Catholic, a Methodist and a Lutheran walk into a church in east Tennessee...
L-R: Fr. Steve Pawelk, Pastor John Teffeteller and Pastor Paul Kritsch.

 

The next day, I attended a Christian unity service in east Tennessee. Many churches fill the hollers and towns of Union County, but they have a long history of keeping to themselves--even among churches of the same denomination. Still, the Thanksgiving Service is on its 5th year as the partnerships deepen among participating congregations. Case in point: The Methodist and Catholic congregations have been participating since the initial year, and this year they combined into one joint choir. A newly established Lutheran Church rounded out the leadership, but members from over 11 churches were in attendance. People are hungry to come together and celebrate. Speaking of hunger, when the plans for a potluck did not come to fruition, the assembled crowd spontaneously decided to reconvene at the McDonald's across the street to continue the celebration. It was hard to tell the strangers from the long-time friends in this crowd. God is good!

 

No potluck? No problem! McDonald's is across the street.
This is moveable feast.

 

To round out this series, I was in west Kentucky in the town of Guthrie the following day. Southern Baptist, Roman Catholic, Missionary Baptist and Methodist churches participated. Many of the pastors in this part of the state are working hard as leaders in the community to be a positive light. This community will be featured in an upcoming blog post, because the overwhelming hospitality shown to one congregation after its church building burned down is a story that deserves to be featured in its own right.



A handshake which symbolizes the community Thanksgiving in Guthrie, KY.
Fr. Frank Ruff in center.

People tell me that the rural US Southeast is "mission impossible" when it comes to religious and ethnic reconciliation. Whether that is based on stereotypes, truth or some combination of the two, the image remains. Yet, I have seen some of the finest examples of the miracle of the unity of God's people in these very places. In some of the most segregated towns in America, these services bring black, white and Latino together to embrace, both literally and figuratively. In a religious climate of isolationism and a long history of mistrust between whole denominations as well as individual congregations, disparate churches find ways to stand together.  Offering praise, worship and thanksgiving to an all-loving, merciful God is certainly one thing all Christians can do. I have found that people genuinely want to be a whole, reconciled community. In each service, collections were also taken up to support the local food banks and other works of mercy. In these small towns, many folks already know each other quite well and those personal relationships matter a great deal in their desire for unity.

The three services above--from south Georgia to east Tennessee to west Kentucky--are only a very small snapshot of the kinds of events taking place all over.  People in community after community have testified that the walls come down in their town when the Body of Christ comes together like this. You can feel it.

The challenges of Christian unity can be immense, and often it can be hard to know where to begin. Catholic priest Fr. Frank Ruff urges people to start with what is possible, doing what they are already doing. He refers to the Lund Principle and defines it this way: "Christian churches should do together what they can do together and only do separately what their convictions require them to do separately." Giving Thanks to God is something all Christians can universally agree to do, so that makes Thanksgiving week an ideal time to come together. 

I saw the presence of Christ in these gatherings--not just in the people and their faith, but in the work of Christ reconciling all back to Himself. Christ was not just a person but a verb--an active presence. He was known to me not just in the people but in the "breaking of the bread" between these people. I should have realized that when two or more are gathered in his name, that he would be there, full of grace and surprises, and that he would multiply our efforts and send ripples far beyond the horizons of our limited vision.

It took me a while, but like Thomas, when I finally recognized Christ, I found myself saying, "My Lord and my God!"

God Is Keeping Us Busy With Joy

This is what I have seen to be good: it is fitting to eat and drink and find enjoyment in all the toil with which one toils under the sun the few days of the life God gives us; for this is our lot. Likewise all to whom God gives wealth and possessions and whom he enables to enjoy them, and to accept their lot and find enjoyment in their toil—this is the gift of God.  For they will scarcely brood over the days of their lives, because God keeps them occupied with the joy of their hearts.

-- Ecclesiastes 5:18-20 NRSV
 

It was a blessing that I began the day of the Rutledge Ecumenical Social at Sunday School at Rutledge Baptist Church. We studied the passage from Ecclesiastes above: Qoheleth is struggling on the brink of despair. He seems to fall into utter hopelessness only to spring back just enough to hang on to a little glimmer of hope. He sees people toiling and oppressed with little relief in sight. He is saddened about his short, fleeting life and all his accomplishments which he fears amount to only so much dust.

His story is very modern--like someone experiencing clinical depression and struggling to have any faith in God at all. Yet, Qoheleth finds a way to escape all that despair—as the above passage shows, it is possible find joy in the gifts God has given and to simply trust in God in that joy. He shows us how to navigate the dark, scary times of life when we do not know all the answers and when we flounder to find meaning. He offers a guiding light for some of the most difficult parts of the journey.

Baptist congregation member Sharon made this connection between the Ecclesiastes reading and the three church, three congregation ecumenical social that afternoon: “We can have joy together in our mutual love for the Lord,” she said. “We are celebrating that even though we go to different churches, we come together to laugh and for fellowship because we love the Lord, so we are all brothers and sisters.”

That same joy that Qoheleth ultimately finds is the same joy that three Christian congregations in the eastern Tennessee community of Rutledge have found: God is simply keeping them too busy with joy to be preoccupied with anything negative.
 

L-R: Patty, Fr. Steve, Pastor Chan and Chelsea

 

The Rutledge Ecumenical Social is the latest in a long line of activities between three distinct churches in rural eastern Tennessee: Rutledge United Methodist Church, Rutledge Baptist Church, and St. John Paul II Mission Catholic parish.

 

"We have prayed together, served the needy together, but we have yet to party together," said Catholic pastor Fr. Steve Pawelk on his Facebook wall.

 

Methodist Pastor Ryan Davenport described their process: "Fr. Steve, Pastor "Chan" (Chandler Vinson) and I meet once a month for lunch and for prayer. During those prayer meetings, we think of different ecumenical ministries."

 

Indeed, the three congregations have twice hosted three-day ecumenical revivals. They operate a year-round food pantry for the hungry, which features a turkey giveaway in November. This past summer, they hosted a joint Vacation Bible School. "We have just not sat down and broken bread together," continued Davenport.

 

That is exactly what the three congregations did this past weekend. The initial idea this time came from the Baptist congregation. Having graciously hosted the Vacation Bible School, the adults enjoyed themselves so much they looked for a way to continue the partnership. "The pastors texted each other to pitch the idea," recounted Chan. "The answers came back in less than 5-10 minutes--we were all like, 'we need to do this!'"

 

They picked a neutral location in the center of town. Tasks were divided up and flyers went up around town. On the day of the event, hot dogs were put on the grill and potluck dishes rounded out the meal with a mix of general American picnic fare and a robust selection of Mexican, Filipino and Southern dishes. The fiddler of the Old Time music band Possum Crossing belongs to the JPII congregation and brought his band.

 

Highlights of the event included a corn hole tournament and spontaneous dancing to accompany the music. The latter featured Fr. Steve, Pastor Chan, as well as some parishioners. One man raised the question whether dancing was itself a sin, which prompted a good-natured theological discussion--the only theological concern raised that day.

A serious game of corn hole.



Possum Crossing keeping the crowd toe tappin' to Old Time music.

Fr. Steve dances with Peggy. Photo by Chander Vinson.

 

Perhaps most noteworthy was what was not present. There was no noticeable awkwardness or coldness. A bystander such as myself would have had a hard time distinguishing which members belonged to which congregations, since people mixed so well. The few problems were not theological in nature. Rather, they revolved around the predictable logistical details of hosting an event--the normal hustle and bustle of getting the grill set up and working, directing the buffet line and organizing the clean-up. Baptist church secretary Chelsea and congregation member Patty held the nuts and bolts of this event together seamlessly.

"When we first started working together, I expected at least some backlash from the congregation," confessed Pastor Chan. "There was none. Our churches have ended up loving each other. It has been shockingly easy." 

"It is clear that Fr. Steve, Ryan and Chan really enjoy each other’s company," affirmed Patty. That spirit clearly radiates to their congregations, and perhaps it even ripples outward to the larger community.

"Working together [with he other pastors] is always really easy," affirms Pastor Chan.

Non-Competitive Relationships

A key to the success of this three-congregation, three-denomination partnership is the almost total lack of competition between them.

 

"Competitiveness is a huge hindrance to the mission of God," explained Pastor Ryan. "If we are so worried about how many people are on our rolls, if all we care about is just who we gain or who this building gains, and we are not for the greater good of the community of eradicating drugs, bringing people to Christ and loving 'the least, the last and the lost', then we are not doing our job."

Indeed, even churches that belong to the same denomination rarely get together for common activities in that region. Congregations huddle up and keep to themselves. That makes this three-church partnership a unique witness that participants hope will become more common in time: "I wish that this approach to the faith would be contagious and spread like wildfire everywhere," hoped Pastor Ryan.

"Partnership with the Baptists and Catholics makes the Kingdom of God come more to life. It’s a beautiful thing not to say: 'You’re over there, we’re over here, let’s keep it that way,'" said Pastor Ryan. "That’s not what the Bible ever teaches. What we are trying to do is be faithful to the Bible’s concept of unity.

Impact

I have visited these three congregations before and it is always such a wonderful, joyful witness. It is fascinating to ponder what impact this robust partnership can and will have in the larger community.

"I have seen greater friendliness on the streets--at the grocery store and bank,” said Fr. Steve. "There is a greater sense of community. We are constantly building relationships." He said that the congregations originally met as strangers, but through ecumenical events and joint ministry work there are now many lasting friendships that have formed.

"Denominational distinctions are on the outs," predicted Ryan. He used the lunch table where he was seated to illustrate this point. Along with Baptists, Methodists and Catholics were people with a background in the Quaker and Episcopal traditions, for example. Yet, they now worship together, study the Bible together and serve the community together. "There is a slew of different flavors of Christianity at this one table." 



"May I have this dance?"

Patty shared a compatible point: "I was brought up Catholic, but I am non-denominational now." Her church membership is not based on denomination but rather the draw of a particular pastor and the connection and acceptance of a congregation--"That's what drives my train now," she explained.

 

The overall sentiment is that in the larger community there has been too much focus on differences and not enough on similarities. "When I was growing up as the daughter of a Baptist deacon, there were very definite divisions between denominations," recounted Baptist member Peggy. "We forgot to focus on the fact that we all believe in God and worship God.”

 

Peggy told the story of her neighbor of 35 years who is a Catholic: “We decided St. Peter’s not going to ask us which denomination we belong to--he is going to ask us: 'Have you been a good and faithful servant?'"

 

She finds the technical differences between denominations tedious: "It is all very confusing to me, which is why you just have to take it on faith."

 

The spirituality of that statement is profound in light of the Ecclesiastes reading above, and it is a fitting way to understand the quest for Christian unity. Most groups do not get along as well as these congregations. Sometimes the obstacles between Christian denominations are so strong that it can be all too easy to fall into despair—the theological differences, history of hurt, misconceptions and prejudices can all pile on top of each other to create a multi-layered mess of epic proportions. We can be left not knowing what we could possibly do about it, wondering how these obstacles could ever be overcome.

 

Still, we can move forward in faith, at ease because we do not need to know all the answers but instead can trust in God's gift of joy, like Qoheleth.

 

"Some people around town are in such a shock that we do all these things," cited Sharon. They say, ‘You do something with that church?’ They lower their voice when they say that. But we all love the Lord, that’s our foundation… to me, it is a joyful thing to celebrate."

 

Sharon noticed a signal from the grill master and interrupted what she was saying to announce: "Hot dogs are ready!! Enough about all that," she playfully exclaimed and quickly left behind the talk of differences and negativity to go back to the party.

 

Indeed: God is keeping this group too busy with joy to dwell on differences.




L-R: Fr. Steve, Pastor Ryan and Pastor Chan.

 

A polka lesson.

 

 

Belief or Pratice - What Makes a Christian?

For most of the last 500 years since the Protestant Reformation, denominations in Western Christianity have been obsessed with making sure they have the right doctrine. The assumption in western Christianity has often been this: Being a Christian is about having the right salvation plan and your very salvation plan depends entirely on the right set of beliefs. 

Beliefs are the meat & potatoes in this model while actions are treated as the optional gravy side dish. Having the right beliefs is the foundation in this mindset, and on that foundation, a church community has some flexibility in the way those truths are lived out. Various styles and charisms follow. The beliefs are absolute; the practices vary. We are sympathetic when people do not live into the difficult prescriptions in the Gospel for our lifestyle, but we hold as absolute our beliefs. 

Jesus called on us to be "salt of the earth" (Matthew 5:13), but he seemed to imply something much more essential than just an optional flavoring. 

 

This belief-centered approach is promoted even when the language goes to theological extremes that few can understand. Even the most educated theologians struggle to understand slim nuances of difference between theological arguments. Nevertheless, many churches have not hesitated to claim that your eternal life depends on having the right beliefs and joining the right club.

I have an advanced degree in Theology, and yet I still do not understand the differences between any number of hot button church dividing issues.

Those nuances DO matter. But is it possible that we may sometimes obsess over the finer points of theology as a distraction from actually changing our lifestyle in light of the revelation of Christ?  

The belief-first model makes sense on some levels: For example, we can all agree on the belief that feeding the hungry is important. How we feed the hungry can legitimately change shape depending on the circumstances. Still, not all methods are equal, and therein lies the rub.

 

We also know that humans are imperfect, and we believe in a God of compassion and forgiveness in our mistakes to manifest this truth we have come to know. We may fail to freed the hungry but still affirm that feeding the hungry is important.

 

I am suggesting something more symbiotic: 

The truth impacts the way we live, so having different beliefs will definitely bring about different practices. It goes the other way, too: The way we practice the Christian faith informs our beliefs. By practicing mercy, for example, we come to know God and therefore expand our beliefs, not to mention demonstrate what we actually mean by those beliefs. By getting to know the world better through servanthood, our beliefs broaden, deepen and develop.



Left: Traditional Model - Belief Centered
Right:  Symbiotic Model

I liken it to the way Scripture and Tradition have a symbiotic relationship in Catholic theology--bouncing off each other, informing each other, each providing a lens to see the other.  

I would be hesitant to suggest that practice is more important than belief. For now, I am comfortable saying that the two should be kept in balance.

The relationship between belief and practice would follow in a similar way:

Our knowing helps us to do --

and our doing helps us to know.

 

"The medium is the message," as philosopher Marshall McLuhan said and my Theology advisor always reminded me. Belief and practice are expressed as one phenomenon. How something is conveyed is just a part of the message as the explanation that may accompany it. There is a oneness here. Thought cannot be divorced from action. 

Telling someone you love them while punching them in the face gives at best a mixed message, if it is not an outright contradiction. It certainly calls into question your definition of love and your meaning, intention and conviction behind it. You may believe in love, but do you really know love? I am using "know" here in the Biblical sense--a whole-person experience rather than just a detached intellectual experience.
 
Obviously, we will all have ideals that we fall short of realizing. I am suggesting something more than simply "practice what we preach." I am saying that the way we understand the faith could benefit greatly if we understood the Christian life as being as much a verb as a noun.

The famous love passages in 1 Corinthians 13 backs this up. Grace--as understood as faith, hope and love--is the only thing that is eternal or coherent, according to the passage. Knowledge, prophecy--everything, really--all pass away, but faith, hope and love endure. All else is only so much senseless noise. It is only God's grace which brings order out of chaos, which turns that senseless noise into music and which brings something that dies to life. Our participation in this is a more energetic relationship than an intellectual, contractual agreement.
 

Hiding-in-Plain-Sight Christianity

 

The spiritual path can be hard, and it is easy to hide from it. There is no better way of fooling people--and yourself--than hiding in plain sight. We do this by talking about Christianity. We may practice a few core disciplines that our tradition mandates--we may go to church and abstain from certain behaviors, for example. But do our lives actually give witness to what we claim to believe? Is there even an attempt made to express the radical reality of Christ? Do we know Christ only in our thoughts but not elsewhere?

 

The western mind is the descendent of the Ancient Greeks. Their heavily analytical style broke apart reality into pieces for study and comment. The human person in its wholeness became thought of as mind, body and soul. This kind of fragmentation is great for analytical study so long as we do not lose sight of the integrated whole. The Greeks may have inadvertently paved the way for the way we nowadays often see belief and practice as so distinct as to be virtually unrelated to each other. 

 

The Letter of James attempts to remind us that the human experience is whole: "For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is also dead" (James 2:26).

The great Reformers cautioned us with this. They wanted to quell the idea that humans are in charge of our destiny and that somehow we can "earn" salvation from our own efforts. It is a fair point, but they miss an even bigger point: Grace itself is a holistic experience of faith, hope and love that is not limited to the mental affirmation of belief. When we say that faith is crucial but works are not, we are acting like attendance in the locker room is essential but participation in the game itself is optional. Good works become a kind of optional victory lap in the Christian life rather than the race itself.

James challenges us more than most Christians are willing to consider. Consider this often ignored line: "Even the demons believe--and shudder" (James 2:19). Belief is not enough--the Christian experience must be more than that.

Faith without works is dead not because we earn salvation, as many in the Reformation argued. It is dead because the Christian life is not merely an intellectual head game--it is a whole-person endeavor.

 

A lot of people like to talk about religion. It is like theology is a puzzle to figure out, and they brood over it deeply. Indeed, many people have the spiritual calling--or burden--to be theologians. Their minds are unceasingly pondering the great mysteries and trying to glean what we can know of God from what has been revealed. Still, one of the great hiding places for the westerner is to hide in her/his own mind. We need thinkers, but when thoughts are too separated from a lived expression they fall short.

Defining Ourselves By Orthopraxy

Christians tend to group themselves along lines of belief. What if we were to group Christians along lines of practice?

Take something like the peace movement—very united in practice, but not always united in dogma, as people come from a variety of traditions. Yet at the same time, the practice of peace does bring about a sense of who humans are and our place in the cosmos—an implied theology is there. The peace movement is a kind of "church." Perhaps according to the test of Matthew 25, maybe we need to remove the phrase "kind of" and say "is"--it is a church in the sense that it is doing what Christ says to do.

 

The same is probably true of other movements, such as the charismatic movement or missionary movement(s). Movements have a theology. 

My colleague Dr. Rick Stern noticed that there is a unique and identifiable theology in the lyrics of bluegrass music. The practice of the music, the community which has formed around it and the revelations discovered through its practice have give it a distinct charism, or theology.   

Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."
—John 14:6 NIV

This is a verse most Christians have heard over and over again. It just becomes part of the wallpaper of daily life—it is so central, yet it can be so overlooked.

 

Jesus announces that He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.  In other words:

* No one comes to the Father except through the Truth of Jesus. 

* No one comes to the Father except through the Way of Jesus. 

* No one comes to the Father except through a Life in Jesus. 

 

Practicing Christianity may be just as important as believing in the right Christianity. To this point, many early Christians were referred to as followers of the Way (Acts 9:2).

 

Even the word "truth" itself is not necessarily about intellectual assent but about the Mystery of Jesus as the Incarnation of God. It is how we are in relationship with this Mystery and the impact it has on our lives that matters.

Merely identifying the Truth alone is only part of the equation, and I believe this is what James was warning us about. James was not fostering a "salvation by works" theology as much as he was reminding us that the challenge of Christ is a whole person endeavor, and he was trying to call us out of one of our favorite hiding places: Our mind.

For Further Reading

Saving Souls, Not Dogma, is the Heart of Pastoral Church Life discusses a paradigm shift along the lines of this post and was helpful in constructing it.

The First Canon: Mercy offers the quote by Pope Francis below which I believe also speaks to the relationship of faith/works and orthodoxy/orthopraxy:

"Mercy is not just a pastoral attitude,

but it is the very substance of the Gospel of Jesus."

-- Pope Francis