It’s not every day you see a minister being held upside down while drinking directly from a keg. In fact, I’ve only seen it once myself, but it made a strong impression.
It happened one night during college (of course), and just so there’s no confusion, understand that the keg in question was full of root beer. The college church group I attended threw a “Root Beer Keg Party,” and like other keg parties on campus, spirits and energy levels were high. We danced, told jokes, and at one point in the evening, held our minister, Mark, aloft while counting how many seconds he could drink root beer continuously. Poor Mark. All he wanted was to talk with us about Jesus’ love, and that’s the goofy stuff we put him through. He’ll get to skip up a few places in the line for Heaven, I believe. But strange as it sounds, that night’s events taught me important stuff.
True confession- The Root Beer Keg Party was my idea. I was on the college ministry’s Leadership Team, and had half-jokingly suggested this, as a way to engage our context with a bit of humor. Mark, rather than shoot me down, said, “Let’s explore the idea.” And then he put me in charge of making it happen. This taught me two important rules: 1) Always encourage people to do ministry they feel passionate about (and not just what you’re comfortable with), and 2) The Good News of Jesus Christ can speak in more ways than any of us can imagine. I’m glad Mark taught these lessons. Church would be much duller if every act of ministry was a recycling of earlier ideas. And I doubt it would reach people. Sure, the Kingdom won’t come because a church serves locally brewed root beer. But it didn’t hurt, and maybe even did some good.
That story reminds me of my favorite parts of Sunday morning at Plymouth Creek. Two things pop out. One, the list of worship participants is loooong. Indeed, it’s longer than most churches of a comparable size. Second, number one on that list is always the same, “All Members…Ministers.” Two different things, but a similar point- Plymouth Creek supports shared ministry. Whether it’s how we self-describe, or the many folk who put in time every Sunday, our church hopes that everyone shares the church’s work, and that no one member (or staff person) feel overly responsible for the ministry we do. Everyone is a minister at Plymouth Creek. Everyone can serve, in her or his own way, at the table.
And that means that everyone must be open to activities that seem atypical, or that even feel uncomfortable.
I led a workshop the other week about the many different forms of ministry during Christian History. Some folk, of course, preached and taught. Some were bishops or regional leaders who held oversight responsibility for numerous Christian communities. Most Christians, though, ministered through service. They served meals during worship, or to a sick neighbor. They served the community member who’d recently had a child, or whose spouse passed away. Because time passed, and needs changed as people changed, folk translated Jesus’ Good News into new cultural contexts. And the ministry Christians performed changed one generation to the next. Still, what remained was service- i.e. compassion for one’s neighbor- and so Christian ministry continued.
So I’ve wondered since that workshop, “What are the unique ministries of service our church members perform?” Or maybe the question is better put- What’s your ministry? After all, all Plymouth Creekers are ministers. Some recently organized a game night. Others inspired a CROP Walk. Some painted. Others brought ‘seniors’ together for lunch. A couple folded this newsletter. The list goes on, but it’s never complete. There are more needs in our community than one person or church could meet, and that means we must open our eyes, hearts and hands in service. Maybe root beer doesn’t excite you, but gardening or scrapbooking does. Or something. Whatever it is, let me know, however unique. I’m anxious to serve more and more with you. Plymouth, and the world, needs it. In all things,
Grace and Peace,
Shane
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Thursday, October 1, 2009
Sunday, September 27, 2009
That’s some great communion…
Surveys, books, and personal experience all point to something that seems relatively universal these days: many Christians no longer care about denominations. Why that is is a topic for another letter, but I suspect that’s not terribly shocking to read.
For worshippers in this denomination, the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), this might be taken as good news. Indeed, we began as an anti-denominational movement in the early 1800’s, and grew faster than any other American Christian tradition through the remainder of that century. Our distinctive, and liberating, message was simple: No Creed but Christ, No Book but the Bible. This slogan reflects the basic principle of our movement- Unity. To this day, we understand our church as a “movement for wholeness in a fragmented world,” something that happens most fully and frequently for us at the Lord’s Table every week during communion.
The irony, of course, is that in the two hundred years of the Stone-Campbell Movement’s existence (so named after our most influential founders), we’ve splintered twice. The first came in the aftermath of the Civil War, when the “Christians” broke with the “Churches of Christ.” The second splinter occurred more slowly, though it began when the “Christian Churches- Independent” first emerged as a distinct group in the first decade of the 20th Century. Our two fellowships grew further apart in subsequent decades until, in 1967, the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) intentionally covenanted to become an ‘denomination’ (previously, we were a movement of autonomous, but related churches). Because of that decision, some 700,000 Christians in thousands of churches did not follow.
Sad as these divisions may be, nevertheless all three branches in the Stone-Campbell family still profess an abiding commitment to Christian Unity. We take our cue from Jesus’ great prayer at the end of John’s Gospel, 17:20-21, “I ask...on behalf of those who will believe in me…that they may all be one…so that the world will believe that you have sent me.” In fact, you may know this is why I joined the Disciples. As a teenager, people would ask, “What is your religion?” I always responded, “I’m Christian.” “Yeah, but what kind of Christian?” And I would answer, “Christian is enough for me.” I still believe that, as deeply as I love my particular family of faith. So when it came time for ordination, I learned about these weird folk named “Disciples”, who were a denomination that thought denominations were less important than Unity. I said, “That’s exactly the place for me.”
I share all this because on October 4th,folk from all three branches of the Stone-Campbell Movement from around the country are getting together to declare to one another and the world that Unity is still our Polar Star. We will do this, here in Minnesota, at Valley Christian Church in Lakeville at 4 PM, and I’m helping with the service. The occasion for getting together is the 200th Anniversary of our Movement’s founding moment, when Thomas Campbell signed his groundbreaking Declaration and Address, something I wrote about a couple weeks back. There will be preachers and worship leaders from representatives of all three branches at the service, which will culminate in our celebrating Communion. In fact, the nation-wide commemoration is called The Great Communion.
This excites me. Our three entities still disagree over much, and it’s not likely we’ll merge anytime soon. But that doesn’t mean we’re not one already. All Christian Unity rests on the fact that Jesus invited us first. It is Jesus’ love, sacrifice and grace that makes us One, regardless of the fact we can’t embody that fully in this broken world. So I hope you join me. It shouldn’t be too long of a service. We may even learn something! At the very least, we’ll get to spend time with Christians we don’t often meet with, which is, to my mind, always a blessing. After all, whatever the denomination or title, Christian is still Christian, and that means a lover and friend of Jesus, who we claim is Lord. Call it suppertime with a friend of a Friend. I’ve heard the menu is live-changing. In all things,
Grace and Peace,
Shane Read more!
For worshippers in this denomination, the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), this might be taken as good news. Indeed, we began as an anti-denominational movement in the early 1800’s, and grew faster than any other American Christian tradition through the remainder of that century. Our distinctive, and liberating, message was simple: No Creed but Christ, No Book but the Bible. This slogan reflects the basic principle of our movement- Unity. To this day, we understand our church as a “movement for wholeness in a fragmented world,” something that happens most fully and frequently for us at the Lord’s Table every week during communion.
The irony, of course, is that in the two hundred years of the Stone-Campbell Movement’s existence (so named after our most influential founders), we’ve splintered twice. The first came in the aftermath of the Civil War, when the “Christians” broke with the “Churches of Christ.” The second splinter occurred more slowly, though it began when the “Christian Churches- Independent” first emerged as a distinct group in the first decade of the 20th Century. Our two fellowships grew further apart in subsequent decades until, in 1967, the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) intentionally covenanted to become an ‘denomination’ (previously, we were a movement of autonomous, but related churches). Because of that decision, some 700,000 Christians in thousands of churches did not follow.
Sad as these divisions may be, nevertheless all three branches in the Stone-Campbell family still profess an abiding commitment to Christian Unity. We take our cue from Jesus’ great prayer at the end of John’s Gospel, 17:20-21, “I ask...on behalf of those who will believe in me…that they may all be one…so that the world will believe that you have sent me.” In fact, you may know this is why I joined the Disciples. As a teenager, people would ask, “What is your religion?” I always responded, “I’m Christian.” “Yeah, but what kind of Christian?” And I would answer, “Christian is enough for me.” I still believe that, as deeply as I love my particular family of faith. So when it came time for ordination, I learned about these weird folk named “Disciples”, who were a denomination that thought denominations were less important than Unity. I said, “That’s exactly the place for me.”
I share all this because on October 4th,folk from all three branches of the Stone-Campbell Movement from around the country are getting together to declare to one another and the world that Unity is still our Polar Star. We will do this, here in Minnesota, at Valley Christian Church in Lakeville at 4 PM, and I’m helping with the service. The occasion for getting together is the 200th Anniversary of our Movement’s founding moment, when Thomas Campbell signed his groundbreaking Declaration and Address, something I wrote about a couple weeks back. There will be preachers and worship leaders from representatives of all three branches at the service, which will culminate in our celebrating Communion. In fact, the nation-wide commemoration is called The Great Communion.
This excites me. Our three entities still disagree over much, and it’s not likely we’ll merge anytime soon. But that doesn’t mean we’re not one already. All Christian Unity rests on the fact that Jesus invited us first. It is Jesus’ love, sacrifice and grace that makes us One, regardless of the fact we can’t embody that fully in this broken world. So I hope you join me. It shouldn’t be too long of a service. We may even learn something! At the very least, we’ll get to spend time with Christians we don’t often meet with, which is, to my mind, always a blessing. After all, whatever the denomination or title, Christian is still Christian, and that means a lover and friend of Jesus, who we claim is Lord. Call it suppertime with a friend of a Friend. I’ve heard the menu is live-changing. In all things,
Grace and Peace,
Shane Read more!
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