A New Motto. . .

TO BE IN CHRIST IS TO BE IN LOVE

I suggest a new motto for the heirs of the Stone-Campbell Movement. We are a people with a penchant for slogans, especially in our earlier days when sayings like “We are Christians only” and “In essentials unity, in non-essentials liberty, in all things love” were current. Our pioneers liked such sayings because they served as capsules for great principles. It might have been an exercise in futility to denigrate creeds as sinful and divisive, but to say “Christ our only creed” said it positively and effectively.

Some slogans we never quite understood, however potent they were, such as, “We are free to differ but not to divide.” We turned that one on its head, behaving in exactly the opposite way! There was another motto that backfired on us: “Where the Scriptures speak we speak, where the Scriptures are silent we are silent,” for it was used to divide rather than to heal. And there was at least one that proved too lofty for us: Barton Stone’s “Let Christian unity be our polar star.”

The slogan I suggest for this generation gets at our basic need, for it is only love that “binds everything together in perfect unity” (Col. 3:14). Love is the only balm that will heal our ugly and scandalous divisions. It is only love that covers a multitude of sins, and, according to both Jesus and Paul, it is only love that is the essence of all the commandments. So I submit the motto for your consideration:

To be in Christ is to be in love.

I thought it appropriate to introduce this slogan not at a Church of Christ but at an ecumenical gathering. A Christian women’s circle here in Denton, made up of believers of many denominations, invited the pastors of several local churches to one of their luncheons. I was invited because Ouida was involved. Before the program got underway I moved quietly from one minister to the next, suggesting my motto as a workable principle for the unity of all our people. On each sincere heart I laid out the principle couched in capsule form, an epigram the English teachers would call it, “To be in Christ is to be in love.” “How about it?,” I asked each one.

The responses were all positive, even enthusiastic. They agreed that if we are indeed “in Christ,” if we are truly Christians, we will love each other. And if we love each other we will accept each other, warts and all. We agreed that the converse is not necessarily true, for one might be in love who is not in Christ, but if one is in Christ he will be in love with his sisters and brothers, and with the whole, wide world for that matter, as Christ was, who died for the sins of the whole world. They also agreed that if we are in Christ we will not hate one another or be rude to one another.

But hate may not be the antonym of love. It may rather be indifference. If I do not love it does not follow that I hate, but it does follow that I am indifferent. We would all be repulsed by such an affirmation as “To be in Christ is to be indifferent.” And yet that is where many Christians are in their relation to each other, indifferent.

If the Bible makes anything clear it is that love is a matter of will, not just emotion. Love is doing, reaching out. Love is patient and kind. It feeds, gives drink, clothes, visits. It rejoices, hopes, believes, endures, forgives. What Rufus Jones says about truth could be said of love: “To discover a truth involves the apostolic task of going out and doing it.” Yes, we learn love by doing it! While love is a fruit of the Holy Spirit, which is its source, it is just that, fruit. It is not simply within, for it is outwardly evident.

To be in Christ is to be in love. It is a slogan-principle that we can hold to without surrendering any truth or approving of any error. We can love a sister even when she’s wrong; we can accept a brother in spite of his errors. In loving and accepting others we do so without endorsing all that they believe or all that they do. We love them because we are in Christ who teaches us, “Love one another even as I have loved you.” So the motto could be extended to say, and it is love that unites us.

Let’s ring out the motto! It is an appropriate entree for conversation. Ask others what they think about it. If we practiced it would it heal our indifference toward each other? Is it a principle for unity? Does it capture the great biblical truth that it is love, only love, that is the golden cord that binds us all together?

Love cannot be forced, love cannot be coaxed and teased. It comes out of Heaven, unasked and unsought. (Pearl S. Buck)

If there is anything better than to be loved, it is loving. (Anonymous)

—the Editor