| OUR CHANGING WORLD |
In
an exclusive videotape U.S. Surgeon General C. Everett Koop issued a strong
challenge to Christians, "Don't let the Church see the challenge of
AIDS and not respond. It's a great opportunity." He called AIDS
"the new leprosy" in that those who have the disease are shunned by
every one. He noted that it is often the case that AIDS victims have no one
to turn to but Christians.
The
Richardson East Church of Christ in Dallas was referred to in a cover story
in D Magazine (D for Dallas) in
reference to its outreach to AIDS victims. The magazine told the story of
Ann (her picture was on the front cover) who was dying of AIDS, having
become infected in a pre-marital relationship with a bisexual man. The virus
showed up several years after she was happily married to someone else.
Rejected by one church when it learned that she had AIDS, the Richardson
East church, whose logo is CARE (Christians at Richardson East) reached out
to her with tender loving care. A recent bulletin from that church tells of
her death and how her husband and children are loved and supported by the
church. Larry James, who ministers at Richardson East, reports that the "hands on" acceptance of the sisters and
brothers toward her was incredibly beautiful. It is also beautiful that a
"secular" magazine would take note of one of our churches for its
Christlikeness, referring to it as "one of the few conservative
Protestant churches in the city that has not shied away from an AIDS
ministry. It quoted the minister as saying, "You don't have to he pure
to walk in our front door," which impressed the magazine.
The Worldly Church
In
May I attended a seminar on "The Worldly Church," which is the
title of a book 'written by three Church of Christ professors, at the Preston
Rd. Church of Christ in Dallas. The thesis of the book, which has stirred some controversy, is that the Churches of Christ, like the world around
them, have become secularistic in their attitudes and methods. They have measured
"success" by
worldly standards, and in their desire to satisfy the "felt needs" of
their people they have lost the sense of the transcendence of God. The heart
of the book is a six-point call for renewal, "Re- covering the
Way," they call it, which are (I) a renewed attention to Scripture; (2)
allow the Cross to stand at the center of our preaching and teaching; (3) a new
open- ness to the power of the Holy Spirit; (4) a new clarity about
Christian worship; (5) allow the power of God to make us a holy people; (6)
recover the transcendence of God.
The
authors expanded upon the thesis of the book at the seminar and there were
responses. A large crowd from more than 30 Churches of Christ was on hand.
The significance of both the book and the seminar, as I see it, is that our
people have at last begun to criticize themselves from within the
establishment. We have long been a people to examine and criticize others.
If we are now becoming introspective and self-examining, there is promise of
good things to come.
As
for the book, I see encouraging signs, small things perhaps, such as the
consistent use of "Church of Christ" rather than the fastidious and
insipid "church of Christ," which I presume was concocted to save us
from having a denominational name. And the best sentence in the book is the
last one, "Only as we take these words to heart will we find our true
identity as an authentic people of God." Praise the Lord! We have begun
to speak of ourselves as "an authentic
people of God" rather than "the authentic people of God."
But
herein is the book's weakness, as I see it, for while it proposes to name
our sins and issue a call for renewal it does not explicitly come to terms
with our chief sin, our sectarian exclusiveness. So long as even the world
can judge us as the people who think they are the only Christians and the
only true church there is little need to talk of renewal in other areas. And
so long as we refuse to accept other Christians as equals and to have no
fellowship with other followers of Christ we can hardly hope to be "an
authentic people of God." And I would be hopeful that such a book would
chide us for our view of "the restored church," which makes us one
of the most divisive people in all the Christian world, and even makes
acappella music a test of fellowship. That the book issues no call for us to
once again be a unity people, our heritage being what it is, illustrates
what has happened to Churches of Christ, which is that we are not a unity
people. Even those who call us to renewal do not even mention it. I am
persuaded that our people are ready to move in these directions, if only our
leaders would lead them. And this we could do without compromising any truth
we hold or endorsing any error we oppose.