The Call to Transformation
It is not a secret that many, many congregations of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), as well as churches in other mainline denominations, are wrestling with the call to be relevant within the context of the realities of the world in the 21st Century. There often is a longing for a “comfort food” version of the past: “If only we had 300 people in worship, like we used to!” “People don’t make church a priority like they did before!” Congregations and their leaders want to focus on programs and organizational structures, just like in the good old days.

The whole thing brings to mind the driver backing up against the direction of traffic on a one-way street after missing the desired turn-off. It’s an ill-advised attempt to correct a mistake, signs are ignored, and deep down the driver knows backing up is wrong. There is, however, indignant defensiveness against someone waving his or her arms and shouting, “You’re going the wrong way!” After all, the vehicle is pointed in the right direction.

Congregational transformation, as I perceive it, is a “journey,” and as much as it may distress us Disciples to acknowledge it, we are dependent upon the Holy Spirit for transformation and the Holy Spirit is free to do whatever, whenever, however, why ever, to whomever.

As we recognized this at our church, some of us made the commitment to an in-depth study of The Acts of the Apostles. The Holy Spirit is the key player in Acts, interacting with a church not unlike many churches today: unsure of what to do; searching for it’s purpose and ministry; incapable by itself of effective faithfulness to God’s intentions for how God’s people are to be a blessing to others; frightened by Jesus’ expectation of “taking up the cross” and following him.

In our study of Acts, we see how the earliest Christians emphasized prayer and a commitment to community with fellow believers as they faced their challenges, conflicts and fears. Their story is instructive and inspirational. We are taking our time in absorbing it all.

Participants are being shepherded through our study by Called To Be Church: The Book of Acts for a New Day, an intense book written by Anthony B. Robinson and Robert W. Wall. Our Elders are studying Transforming Congregational Culture, also by Anthony Robinson, and less of a Bible study than an analysis of where the church has been and how it can be transformed. The book is very stimulating and challenges congregations to look at their life and ministry in new ways, all with the idea that possibilities abound as the Holy Spirit is engaged.

I believe that’s the crucial element – engaging the Holy Spirit. Spiritual disciplines such as worship, prayer, study, service and generous giving are essential in transforming congregations. Recognizing the abundance of God’s blessings rather than complaining about scarcity reveals a heart reaching for the Holy Spirit. Seeking God’s will, God’s desires, and God’s intentions, as opposed to “figuring out a way to get more members” or “raising money for the budget” creates openings for the Holy Spirit. Mission, derived from spiritual discernment, leads to organization rather than the other way around.

People are energized and liberated by the study of God’s word and by a renewed sense of the presence of the Holy Spirit in our midst. Some new faces are beginning to find their way through our doors on Sunday morning. A “snowbird” recently commented to me regarding a new attitude he observed at the church during his annual sojourn here this year.

The transformation journey continues. There still are bumps along the road. Some of our folks still remain unmoved and disengaged. We struggle with patience. But, a momentum is developing and the Holy Spirit is catching us in more unguarded moments.

Knocking on Heaven's Door
Having been raised in the church, I developed the pattern of regular attendance. When I went away to attend college at East Carolina University in Greenville, North Carolina many years ago, I maintained the habit. There was a Southern Baptist congregation within easy walking distance of my dorm, so that’s where I went. My roommate and some of his music major colleagues attended, as well.

The pastor was a personable fellow and always warmly greeted me at the door when the service was finished. I don’t believe he ever asked my name, and I didn’t volunteer it. Two things stand out in my mind about that church.

One was a pun told by the pastor. Apparently, someone broke into the church one week and discharged fire extinguishers somewhere in the building. As he put it, the trespassers said, “Let us spray.” Very clever, I thought.

The second thing I remember was the congregation voted by a show of hands whenever someone came forward at the invitation to join the church. I couldn’t understand this judgment of whether a person was adequate to be a part of their church. What was the standard? Most of the members likely didn’t know the newcomers, and the voting was simply perfunctory. So, why even vote? Why the charade?

I never felt at home among the folks at that church, and soon I discovered that Sunday mornings were wonderful for sleeping late. It didn't last long, however.

One evening I was in my dorm room with Roger from across the hall watching a basketball game on television. Playing in the game was Elvin Hayes, then a star of the Washington Bullets. As we watched the game, I commented to Roger that, according to an article I read, Hayes had a spiritual encounter of some sort that led to a religious conversion. I said, “I’ve never felt particularly called to religion or the church in my life.”

As soon as I said it, there was a knock on my door. I didn’t know the person standing there, but he called me by name and said, “I understand that you’re a Christian.” “Well, I, uh…” “Are you attending a church?” “Uh, no, I’m not.” “You should come with me. I’ll pick you up on Sunday morning at 8:30.” And he did. Just like that I was back in church.

On that first post-knock Sunday morning Dave showed up. He was enthusiastic about taking me to his church, which turned out to be a very small Church of Christ congregation. That’s the non-instrumental bunch, and Dave himself led the hymn singing at the beginning of the service. Off-key, but sincere, the folks at the church displayed a sense of humility in worship and fellowship that was touching.

They were without a pastor at that particular time, so a chemistry professor from the university provided the sermon each Sunday. If memory serves, there were perhaps 20 people in attendance. They were carrying on their witness despite a lack of professional leadership, and they all seemed pleased to see me. I was back in church.

Now, I am assuming the hand of God played a role in all of this. The timing of the door knock was just too perfect for me to imagine otherwise. So, I went along for the ride, still not entirely clear what was unfolding.

Dave's personality and approach were such that he felt it necessary to kind of “shepherd” me a little bit. Well, more than a little bit. He became a regular presence in my life as we spent a lot of time together apart from Sunday morning. We weren’t friends, exactly, but he clearly saw himself in a spiritual mentor role. It was something I needed, it seems now, as his persistence put me in the position of actually reflecting on matters of faith.

He only recently “converted” to the faith himself. By his account, Dave's life was somewhat directionless, and maybe a bit on the wild side. He was a basketball player with visions of glory wearing the purple and gold of ECU. But, that didn’t happen.

What did happen was being “born again,” as he described it, and by the time he found me, he was passionate about his faith. Rabid, even, might have described him.

Now, my prior church experience was not of the rabid variety, so I was a little uncomfortable with him at times, and frankly, I thought he needed to lighten up. He clearly, though, was trying to be faithful in the best way he knew how.

But, for me, red flags were going up. Around Dave my words were carefully chosen, so as not to seem inappropriately worldly. I assumed my actions would be filtered through a lens of his making. I was walking on a field rife with land mines.

Maybe he really was fighting himself in all of this. But I couldn’t ignore how he came into my life, and tried to see through the surface to what really was going on.

I grew restless with Dave, though, and by the end of the school year, I decided that enough was enough. I could continue my faith journey without him. I decided I would tell him when school resumed in the fall.

The summer ended, and on the first Sunday morning after I returned to Greenville, I waited, certain what would happen

I stayed in bed awake, anticipating the knock on the door. At 8:30, Dave arrived, and when I presented myself, wearing sleeping clothes and disheveled hair, he was incredulous.

“You’re not ready!” “Yes, well, I’m not going with you anymore." He looked like he absolutely could not believe what he was hearing. After staring at me for a moment he said, “I want you to think about this. It could mean the difference between heaven and hell, for you, for your children, for your whole family.” “Well, I’m not going.”

He looked at me some more. I locked eyes with him and waited. Then, after an awkwardly long pause, and with the stunned expression of someone who had just been wounded but couldn’t connect his brain to the location of the injury, he turned and walked away. I closed the door and never saw him again. Just as quickly and at the exact spot where he entered my life, Dave left it, his purpose done.

Something funny had happened that summer while I was home on break. My home pastor's brother-in-law, Ralph Messick, also a Disciples pastor, moved to Greenville to become the pastor of a Disciples congregation there. Within a day or two of Dave leaving me at the door of my dorm room, Ralph showed up, just as we had arranged. Now, I not only was back in the church, I was back among Disciples, and I was on a path leading to seminary and ordination.

I never expected any of it to happen.

Little Pink Houses
Last night I happened upon a television program on HDNet in which singer John Mellencamp was visiting Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, DC. He was shown making his way through some of the wards populated by amputees and other wounded veterans of the war in Iraq.

One of the soldier-patients handed John a guitar and asked him to autograph it, which he graciously did. Then, the soldier began strumming one of the guitar licks from a Mellencamp song, and he and John sang a verse or two together. Naturally, everyone else in the ward stopped what they were doing to listen.

The second portion of the program was a live feed of a concert presented by Mellencamp and his band in an auditorium on the Walter Reed campus. I noticed that almost all of John's songs made some reference to life in America. Clearly, it is an important theme in his song-writing.

John made a statement during the program about supporting the troops even as he opposes the war, and his presence among the folks at Walter Reed appeared to bring them pleasure. Everyone there loved their country.

When I was working for the Friends, planning seminar programs for students of all ages wanting to learn about social and political issues, I sometimes arranged for the groups to have a discussion with Colman McCarthy, then a syndicated columnist with the Washington Post.

Colman was a bike-riding vegetarian, referred to by some critics as a “mad-dog liberal.” In addition to his journalistic work, Colman taught courses on peace and peacemaking at a local high school and offered a curriculum on peace through an institute he founded.

He always would list names of historical figures to see whether students recognized them. One list included names such as Robert E. Lee, George Washington, and George Patton, all of whom the students recognized as military leaders.

The other list was Dorothy Day, Jeanette Rankin and others he termed as peacemakers. Few, if any, students ever recognized their names, which, of course, was the point he wanted to make. “How can we have peace in the world if we never teach young people about peace? Why does history always have to be about wars and violence?” were his plaintive mantras.

Colman always told the students about Jeanette Rankin, the first woman elected to Congress. Actually, she was elected twice, decades apart, taking office in her initial term four days before the vote pertaining to U.S. involvement in World War I. She voted no, which Colman suggested led to her serving only one term that time around.

Years later Ms. Rankin again won a seat in Congress, just as World War II was heating up. Following the attack on Pearl Harbor, she was in position once again to vote on U.S. participation in war. Remaining consistent, she voted no a second time, and as Colman told the story, Jeanette Rankin reported back home, “The boys are at it again!”

Well, we've been at it again for several years. There never was a rationale for this war that made sense to me. Young people who love their country (or who have few, if any, other options for earning a living) have been traumatized, wounded, maimed or killed. They have been told to do these same things to other people.

The benefits of the war seem to me limited to those who richly profit from war making.

I respect John Mellencamp's desire to bring a little joy into the lives of those who have made dramatic sacrifices. I am aware that people sometimes applaud for soldiers when they see them in airports coming and going. I resonate with Colman McCarthy when he asks why we don't teach our youth about peace and peacemakers.

Imagining a world where none of that is necessary seems pointless. Is this the reason why the church is largely silent?

God's Political Affiliation
I have admired three politicians in my life: Elliott Richardson who, as the U.S. Attorney General, resigned rather than carry out President Nixon's order to fire Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox during the dark days of the Watergate investigation; Mario Cuomo who, as Governor of New York, delivered a scintillating keynote address at the 1984 Democratic National Convention calling on the United States to live up to the "city on the hill" imagery found in scripture, and who steadfastly refused to allow capital punishment in New York during his administration; and John Lewis, currently serving as the U.S. Representative from the Atlanta area, who has been a leader in the Civil Rights Movement from the early days, enduring violent personal attacks, threats and jail as he worked for justice in our society.

This is not to characterize all other politicians as unworthy. Rather, it is to say, as people of faith we simply can't place our ultimate hope in political leaders or parties. I have spent most of my life living in the Washington, DC area "inside the Beltway," and politics is the air we breathe there.

For a number of years in my ministry I was involved in social justice activities, and the temptation always was to achieve "victories" over "opponents" who were to be fought on the issues. The tendency was to appeal to those with "power" in order to reach goals.

I have witnessed people of faith so caught up in the political process and power-brokering that they lost sight of what sparked their concern for justice and peace in the first place. There was little, if any, difference in approach or sensibility from secular political action groups or organizations. Pride, ego, and arrogance are stumbling blocks found in faith-based political efforts just as they are elsewhere.

William Sloane Coffin often referred to a quote from Lord Acton: "Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely." If we look to the managing or acquisition of political power as the key to the fulfillment of our version of God's reign, we flirt with corruption. It inevitably becomes a very serious romance.

Someone I used to know had another idea. Simply put, he said if you want to change the world, begin with yourself. This was a man who had it all in terms of worldly success. He was living a life to which many aspire, but he became mindful of the many street people he stepped over on the way to his car at the end of every work day.

His response was to quit his job. He went to live with the poor, ministering to them, and lending his voice to speak out on their behalf. He felt he could not call society to account if he himself were complicit in systems that contributed to the poverty of his neighbors.

People struggle with the practicality and effectiveness of his approach, but this is his way to change the world. He may not change the whole world, but he has his corner covered.

Maybe this is something people of faith should think about -- covering our corner of the world, inviting change through the way we live our lives.

I vote in every national election, and in most local ones. I have written letters to my congressional representatives and senators. I have visited them in their offices in Washington and in their home districts. But, I don't imagine that God's reign will be more fully evident and expressed because of their efforts. Their vision, their priorities, and their political parties are too limited.

The changes I make in my life are small, as well, but I feel better about their effects because I try to make changes in my life based on the call of Christ and his claim on my heart. He tells his followers, "I have overcome the world."

The rest of us have not done so.

Conversion
On Sunday, I mentioned in my sermon an incident that occurred as I was preparing to leave seminary and launch my career as a pastor. I was at the CTS building and happened to run into my faculty advisor, Dr. Ed Towne.

Enthusiastic and upbeat, I said to him, "Well, I was ordained in January, and now have been called to be the pastor of a church. I guess I'm ready to go out and convert the heathen!" Without missing a beat, Dr. Towne replied, "Or be converted."

Yikes!

He made a good point, as I soon discovered. Folks were interested in my confirming their notions, prejudices and perceptions. When I resisted, some tried to convince me of their point of view, and I'm sure some even dismissed me when I failed to see things their way.

This complicates the pastoral relationship, and I admit it is difficult for me to feel kinship with parishioners (and others, of course) who express views denigrating or stereotyping others.

Somehow mediating grace in those circumstances depends upon my remembering that God's grace even is extended to me, with all of my shortcomings, oversights and failures. If I believe God's grace is applicable to my life, I can't sort out others I disagree with, or whose opinions I find offensive.

But, it ain't easy! Resisting conversion to their views is one thing. Embracing them as brothers or sisters is another. I have to depend upon God's help, looking to the example of Jesus.