THREE CHURCHES SIDE BY SIDE  

It is not unusual for three churches to be in close proximity, but it hardly ever happens for three churches to be side by side in the same block and on the same side of the street. Such is the case in the Lake Highlands section of Dallas, which may not be part of the famed "North Dallas Forty," but is an affluent part of the metroplex nonetheless. Counting their parking lots, the churches occupy virtually an entire city block. All three churches have impressive edifices. It is interesting to watch them park their cars, sometimes head on, and repair to their separate churches.  

The churches are the St. James Episcopal Church, which anchors the corner, and then the Lake Highlands Church of Christ and the Highland Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). It was the latter that invited me to address their combined adult classes on the Disciples heritage in celebration of the Alexander Campbell bicentennial. The series ran for three Sundays. The first Sunday I was there I remained for the main assembly and was edified by a fine presentation and was blessed in meeting many sisters and brothers. Following my discourse on the second Sunday I went next door to the Church of Christ and heard my old friend Jim Reynolds and enjoyed fellowship with a congregation I have long known and where I have numerous friends, including readers of this journal.  

Both of those Sundays I drove by the Episcopal Church, which gnawed on my conscience somewhat. "Why don't I visit there too, for I also have brothers and sisters in that church," I kept saying to myself. So on the third Sunday I arrived early enough to attend the coffee hour fellowship at the Episcopal Church and remain for Sunday School. The Episcopalians make it convenient for those of us who like to visit them and yet attend our own church, for they get started earlier than we do. I had the pleasure of sitting in a small class taught by the rector of the church, the Rev. Joel B. Reed, whom everyone calls Joel. I was impressed by the seriousness with which they approached the Scriptures in a verse by verse study. I felt free to join in and I did.

A lady in the class brought some exciting news with her, and we spent some time rejoicing in the Lord over it. A clergy friend of hers had just returned from Russia and told of how he had seen churches in that country overflowing with devout and committed worshippers. At an Easter service more than 1,000 people stood for hours into the early morning in adoration of the risen Christ. Her friend told of how he would appear on the streets of Russian towns in his clerical garb and people would come up to him and kiss his hand and show him the cross they wore about their necks, usually hidden from view of the authorities. "I am a Christian," they would say, "and I will no longer try to hide it." Joel noted at this point that the Russian Orthodox Church had generally capitulated to Communist authorities in the Soviet union, but there was evidence that this was changing and that the authorities have a Christian renewal movement on their hands that they don't know how to handle. We talked about how different it was in Nazi Germany where the confessing church was willing to die as martyrs for its faith. I observed that we are often reminded, and properly so, of the millions of Jews who died at the hands of the Nazis, but it is not generally recognized that millions of Christians also died, and theirs was voluntary in that they could have bowed the knee to Nazism but refused to do so. The "witnessing church" in this context refers to the persecuted or martyred church.

It was an act of worship itself to see how this small Episcopalian class identified with the persecuted Christians in the faraway Soviet union. We all shared in a fellowship with those who would bare a hidden Cross and proclaim their faith to one who himself bore witness to what he believed by the way he was dressed. "Faith of our fathers! living still, in spite of dungeon, fire and sword."

Part of my reaction to this was that if Christians can be concerned for their fellow believers half way around the world, they should at least be on speaking terms with those who are next door to them. So I told each church that I visited what I was doing in the community and that I wanted them all to get better acquainted with each other. Three churches side by side may represent separation among Christians but they do not have to represent the divisive and sectarian spirit. Even in separation we can reach out to each other, and we might even do some things together.

I was of course especially concerned that the Christian Church and the Church of Christ draw closer to each other. It doesn't make sense for two churches next door to each other, who share the same heritage as part of a unity movement, have nothing to do with each other. So, when I was visiting at the Church of Christ I made it clear what I was doing next door, "reviewing our common heritage, which applies to us as much as to them," I would say, my pronouns revealing what they already knew, that I belong to the Church of Christ. And when I learned that their ministry to the Cambodians was crowding their facilities, I ventured "Wouldn't it be great if your Cambodian ministry overflowed into the Christian Church next door?" I got not only a positive reaction to this suggestion, but also an attitude of loving acceptance toward the neighbors next door.

One couple in fact sent me a letter that week, welcoming me to their service and pleased that I could be with "our brothers and sisters next door." Our brothers and sisters next door! That is the kind of spirit I have been working for all these years. We don't have to agree on everything, but for Christ's sake we must accept each other even as he has accepted us.

I took that letter with me the next Sunday to read to the Christian Church folk, for I knew that some of them had had a different kind of experience with Church of Christ folk. "You see that the folk next door think of you as their brothers and sisters in Christ. What we all need to do now is to act that way," I told them.

It went well with what we were studying. We began as a movement to unite the Christians in all the sects. Alexander Campbell believed he had discovered the principle upon which all Christians could be united, the essence of which was that believers can unite upon the essentials of the Christian faith and allow for differences in areas of opinion. Once his own people united upon that simple plea, Campbell asserted that they would never divide, not so long as they were faithful to that principle. Now that we have come to that point in our history that two of our churches can exist side by side and have no fellowship between them, we can only conclude that Campbell's principle is wrong or that we have been unfaithful to it. It may be a matter of our resolving to become what we are.

If no man is an island unto himself, as the poet assures us, then no church is. Every church that professes to be Christian should consider itself apart of all those churches that make the same profession. A good place to start in showing that kind of spirit is with the nearest church. When three churches are lined up side by side, all professing to follow Christ and all praying to the same God, and yet having nothing to do with each other, it serves as a grim reminder of the great scandal of Christianity, division among Christians.

It will help some if when we pass the church next door or the one down the street we can say in our hearts, "We all have a great deal in common so long as we worship the same Christ," and breathe a prayer for the unity of all God's people - as our Lord did. - the Editor