Mercy and Justice Part 1/3

If we think of a blog a free food – free thought food, if you will, then here is the next tray. As you help yourself to the topic offered, keep talking to your conversation partner(s). Soon that conversation can lead to a relationship.
The Metokos blog is centered on church revitalization. We collaborate with local churches to set a chosen mission for each local church. I have shown you our image of the three legs of the Metokos “stool” – worship, discipleship, and mercy ministries. Today, let’s begin to investigate the local church’s mercy ministry, focusing all the while on mercy and justice. Local churches all need to face this sensitive, divisive, emotional, biblical issue. Facing the issue and coming to terms with God’s direction in the matter will help these churches in the neighborhoods where they are rooted and where they live and witness as they seek revitalization.
We are all aware, no doubt, that the biblical issue of mercy and justice is a part of the political conversation our nation is having in this election year. In my own church, The Presbyterian Church in America, we are having internal conversations and debates about issues related to justice and mercy, and these issues will face votes at our next General Assembly in June.
I am indebted in this study to writings that have touched and taught me throughout my ministry, from school days to now. Two recent books by contemporaries, Tim Keller and Randy Nabors, stand out on this topic. Keller’s book, Generous Justice, gives a helpful beginning to a biblical survey of the topic. Then, we can see the nuts and bolts in Nabors’s personal writing in Merciful.
From farther back in my ministry, I bring you Jonathan Edwards’s Charity and Its Fruits. His sermon from Deuteronomy 15:7-11 “The Duty of Charity to the Poor, Explained, and Enforced,” sums up some of his thoughts and is on the web at http://www.sermonindex.net/modules/articles/index.php?view=article&aid=3417. Yes, Edwards owned slaves, yet he was used by God as a saved sinner. The whole of Jonathan Edwards can be another conversation, but his writings did shape my thinking about the topic at hand.
Finally, I will share with you later from my seminary professor for three courses in ethics. Dr. David Jones gave us Biblical Christian Ethics.
As we get going on mercy and justice, let’s look at two areas relating to mercy and justice and the local church. First, we will consider a brief biblical outline of mercy and justice, and then an explanation of why those topics need to be in the scope of a church seeking revitalization.
The whole of the Bible’s treatment of mercy and justice is obviously, and thankfully, Big. While I will point to a few significant texts, keep in mind that a more thorough treatment is available to you in Keller’s book.
Acts 20 is a good place to begin. Paul’s last words to the Ephesian elders in the 20th chapter address the church’s ministry to the weak, not only as a response to the Lord Jesus, but also as a chosen lifestyle – “I coveted no one’s silver or gold or apparel. You yourselves know that these hands ministered to my necessities and to those who were with me. In all things I have shown you that by working hard in this way we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’” Paul, a former Pharisee and persecutor of the church, found himself shaped by the words of Jesus and the Old Testament. Let’s revisit a few of those passages.
The final book of the Old Testament, Malachi, is one of the labeled Minor Prophets (Minor simply means shorter). These shorter messages from God call the Covenant people back to Him to be revitalized, to have new life. In chapter 3 the LORD of hosts says,

Then I will draw near to you for judgment. I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, against the adulterers, against those who swear falsely, against those who oppress the hired worker in his wages, the widow and the fatherless, against those who thrust aside the sojourner, and do not fear me, says the Lord of hosts.

Earlier Minor Prophet Zechariah 7 reflects the same concerns,

Thus says the Lord of hosts, Render true judgments, show kindness and mercy to one another, do not oppress the widow, the fatherless, the sojourner, or the poor, and let none of you devise evil against another in your heart.                                                      

As we continue to move back through the Minor Prophets, we find the even-more-familiar text in Micah, chapter 6,

He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?

It should become clear now that God ties together justice and mercy in our social/political communities. As we read in Keller’s work on page 3,

The term for “mercy” is the Hebrew word chesedh, God’s unconditional grace and compassion. The word for “justice” is the Hebrew term mishpat. In Micah 6:8, “mishpat puts the emphasis on the action, chesedh puts it on the attitude (or motive) behind the action. To walk with God, then, we must do justice, out of merciful love.

Move now from the Minor Prophets to the Pentateuch and look at a foundational passage in Deuteronomy 15 – the one Jonathan Edwards chose for his sermon on the poor.

If among you, one of your brothers should become poor, in any of your towns within your land that the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not harden your heart or shut your hand against your poor brother, but you shall open your hand to him and lend him sufficient for his need, whatever it may be. Take care lest there be an unworthy thought in your heart and you say, “The seventh year, the year of release is near,” and your eye look grudgingly on your poor brother, and you give him nothing, and he cry to the Lord against you, and you be guilty of sin. You shall give to him freely, and your heart shall not be grudging when you give to him, because for this the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in all that you undertake. For there will never cease to be poor in the land. Therefore I command you, “You shall open wide your hand to your brother, to the needy and to the poor, in your land.”

In this sermon from Deuteronomy, Edwards tells his listeners, “So Christ tells us, it is one of the weightier matters of the law.” He cites Matthew 23:23, Hosea 6:6, and then from Matthew again (9:13 and 12:7) as he builds his argument for those listeners – “Ye have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith. The Scriptures again and again teach us that it is a more weighty and essential thing than the attendance on the outward ordinances of worship.” He reminds them that in the Hosea passage they read that their God “desired mercy, and not sacrifice. I know,” he continues, “of scarce any duty which is so much insisted on, so pressed and urged upon us, both in the Old Testament an New, as this duty of charity to the poor.”
Before God’s people even had a kingdom or the land, God gave them a text in Leviticus 24 concerning capital punishment. “You shall have the same rule for the sojourner and for the native, for I am the Lord your God.” Further, Deuteronomy 16:18-20 speaks to the appointment of judges who are not to pervert justice or show partiality or accept bribes. Isaiah 10 warns against unjust laws that would deprive people of their rights and oppress them. Hear this: Mercy, my friend, is clearly to be with an open hand. Justice, my friend, will be the same for the “sojourner and the native.”
Our Lord Jesus reflects the words of the Minor Prophets when he teaches about judgment in Matthew 24. He notes those who are hungry, thirsty, naked, sick, and in prison. His words, “Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me,” are hard words of judgment from the one who identifies with those who are poor, powerless, orphaned, widowed, oppressed, strangers, sojourners, non-natives, and immigrants. Jesus publicly berates the religious leaders of his day for neglect of justice in Luke 14:42, “But woe to you Pharisees! For you tithe mint and rue and every herb, and neglect justice and the love of God. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others.”
Come back to this space in the coming days as I address other texts, specifically from the New Testament, related to Justice and Mercy. The step after that will be to connect the texts from both testaments to the church as the Ministry of Mercy and Justice connects with revitalization – particularly, how does the revitalized church “live out” its new-found health.
According to Keller, “The three causes of poverty, according to the Bible, are oppression, calamity, and moral failure. Having surveyed the Bible on the texts numerous times, I have concluded that the emphasis is usually on larger structural factors.” (P. 38) I, Fred McFarland, writing to promote the ministry of Metokos, come away from reading and studying God’s appeal in his last prophetic books of the Old Testament with a clear call for mercy and justice – for the orphan, widows, day workers, and the immigrant – that relates to new life for God’s covenant people. A revitalized church will listen to ALL of God’s word, not just the words that give us comfort or support a comfortable and safe style of life. The vision held out for the healthy church is from Acts 2,

And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.

Mercy, The Third Leg of the Healthy Church

Since we are looking at the health of the revitalized church as a three-legged stool, it is time to take a look at the third leg balancing the stool – Mercy Ministry. A revitalized church must address Mercy Ministries as well as Worship and Discipleship in order to be the church Jesus – through the Bible – calls us to be in our locality, our time and our culture, that is, our local neighborhood. Keep in mind that the God of scripture calls us not to a sequential approach but to a collaborative approach among these three legs of the stool. Each of these three God-given and God-commanded ministries beautifully shows His people a different reflection of his grace. Ponder as you read this examination of the scriptural basis for Mercy Ministry, and then the next two entries which will continue to unpack Mercy Ministries. We will be ready then for further reflection and discussion as we examine the art of weaving the ministries into that collaborative reflection of God’s Grace.
Consider this: “the essence of the diaconate: that the physical and financial cannot be divorced from the spiritual.” This part-sentence comes from Professor Don MacNair’s book, The Living Church, A Guide For Revitalization. Specifically, the words appear in Appendix A, “The Living Church and the Deacon,” and they are at the heart of the concerns for what we here at Metokos Ministries refer to as the Mercy Ministry of a local church. Professor MacNair also writes, “Under the direction of the elders, deacons must work to prevent physical and financial problems, deal with them when they occur and encourage healing of spiritual maladies exposed by physical and financial ills.” (p.155) So, what is the Scriptural basis for the practical suggestions offered by Professor MacNair and now, Metokos? Let me begin with a look at the mercy ministry in the book of Acts.
Paul, in his final address to the elders of Ephesus recorded in Acts 20, reminds us why the church matters, “Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood… And now I commend you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified.” As Paul ends his address to leaders he loves, note the tears on the part of all with these words, “In all things I have shown you that by working hard in this way we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’” These are the words that haunt my heart from this passage, “we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus,…” These words give us Paul’s only quote of Jesus, and they are used to provide support for the ministry of mercy, helping the weak.
Paul’s concern expressed in his last words to the Ephesian elders are a local expression of what happened in the church in the Jerusalem church in the early days of the church. The Greeks lodged a complaint against the Hebrews (recorded in Acts 6) “because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution.” The church had begun a first century “meals on wheels” in response to a need, and the needs of some were overlooked because they were Greek, not Hebrews. The first deacons were dealing with ethnic and economic issues as well as the lack of equality in the local church’s care for widows. This diversity issue is something Professor MacNair reminds us will be a part of a revitalized local church. See his Appendix C, “Diversity, Unity, and the Community in The Church” (p.163ff) to think about three areas of diversity for local churches to address – educational, economic, and ethnic.
For Presbyterians, the 1645 Form of Church-Government is the foundation for how we see the church. The brief section on Deacons – after reminding us what they are not – states that deacons are, “…to take special care in distributing to the necessities of the poor.” The footnote supporting this is the carefully-chosen passage from Acts 6:1-4. These words together give us that Biblical focus and mission statement for deacons, “…to take special care in distributing to the necessities of the poor.” They also echo Paul’s words, “we must help the needy.” In 1645, the church, imperfect as it is in every generation, expected an economic diversity so that “distributing to the necessities of the poor” would be part of a local congregation’s life and ministry.
Notice the wording of these 1645 document and Acts, “the poor,” not “the poor in the church.” Yes, we should begin with the poor among us. Paul reminds readers in Galatians 6, “So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.” Consider this passage from 1 John 3, “By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.” The Biblical motive for “helping the needy” and “distributing to the necessities of the poor” is that we have been loved first. Within the church we are to lay down our lives for each other. Here is John’s big question in this passage, “But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him?” It is God’s first love in his son that revitalizes a local church – his abiding love. Mercy then, along with worship and discipleship are the response of the local revitalized church of that abiding love.
Now let us return to Paul’s words from Galatians 6, “let us do good to everyone.” Paul has just warned his readers “not to grow weary of doing good.” This idea takes us to the question in Luke 10, “who is my neighbor?” Here, Jesus relates the parable of the Good Samaritan to flesh out the background to the answer to a question Jesus asked the young lawyer, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” The parable ends with these words of Jesus, “Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?” The lawyer said, “The one who showed him mercy.” And Jesus said to him, “You go, and do likewise.” Yes, Jesus wants us to know that mercy is at the heart of loving your neighbor. Our Lord frames his story of a stranger helping a wounded victim around an outsider, both religiously, and ethnically from his audience.
These Luke 10 words of Jesus expand on his words recorded in a message to a multitude in chapter 6. Consider these parts of verses 27-36 from the middle of that message from Jesus, “But I say to you who hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you,… Give to everyone who begs from you,… And as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them… But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil. Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.” We have much to consider in this passage. Take with you today what Jesus ends with – a call and a command, “Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.” A revitalized church is merciful because its congregation has experienced in a fresh way the mercy of the Father and desires to be like the Father, that is – merciful. These words of Jesus challenge our safe view of the church and the Christian life, “Love your enemies…he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil.”
Mercy ministry in a revitalized church will stretch the comfort zones of educational, economic and ethnic diversities as you begin to see the unseen poor all around you in your community and neighborhoods. Grace will become generous in helping the poor. To help us move beyond the finger food of a blog to consider the meat and potatoes of mercy ministry, I suggest Merciful, The Opportunity and Challenge of Discipling the Poor Out of Poverty by Randy Nabors. This book opens eyes about poverty in the USA and in our neighborhoods. Not only does he give practical suggestions for engaging the poor, but he also helps readers to understand the historical context of urban poverty. For those of us in rural communities, we can learn much and work on translations to our context. Randy’s passion for this ministry grows out of his own story, which he shares in Merciful.
In the next two weeks, we will build on this scriptural base and look at the relationship between justice and mercy, then the challenges of mercy ministry in a revitalized local church and presbytery.

The Christian Voice in the Public Square

Thank you all very much for this opportunity to share some of my thoughts to help answer a crucial question for Christians today.  In this multi-media-dizzy 21^st Century – What are we to think about, and how should we take part in, the Christian Voice in the World Village Town Square?  A Square that seems – at times – about to explode with “Public-ness.”

       Let’s look first at the end of the 20^th century and two prominent Christian voices in a public square that was smaller.  C.S. Lewis, an Irishman by birth, had an active career in Britain as a scholar, author and public speaker. American Pastor and evangelist Francis Schaeffer became a public figure later in his life as he evolved into a writer, speaker, and film maker. Both men appeared on the cover of Time magazine. Both men spoke and defended the historical Christian faith. Lewis was an Anglican; Schaeffer was a fundamentalist and conservative historic Presbyterian. I never met Lewis; he died on the same day that John Kennedy was killed in Dallas, and I was a teenager then.  As for Francis Schaeffer, I did meet him and studied under him – both at Covenant College and at Covenant Seminary. He holds a place now as one of the founding fathers from our denomination’s roots.

       Both men were prolific writers, not only of books, but also personal letters. If someone wrote to one of these men, he would take the time to answer. Both showed a strong commitment to the next generation – Lewis with his books and Schaeffer with conversations and conferences.

       I want to consider first how the public square has changed since the lives of Lewis and Schaeffer; then I want to suggest what we can learn from these men about the use of technology in the communication of the Christian voice in the public square. Technology for them did not match what we have available today, but they both cared about the clarity of the language of faith in their generation.    

       The history of a fallen people always includes the tragedy of war, and  wars and conflict are a major component of the shape of today’s public square.  C.S. Lewis, who was born in 1898, served as a line officer in the trenches in WW1. There are fascinating stories of his exploits on the battlefield. Schaeffer, born in 1912, never served in the military, but his ministry was shaped by WW2 as he and his family moved to Europe after the war as missionaries.

       When it comes to perspective on wars and conflicts, let me say this:  WW1 was a global war of Empires. WW2 was a global war of alliances. Both had start dates with formal declarations of war and end dates of surrender. Today, things are different. We have conflicts. We do not go to war with formal declarations. There have been no surrenders.  For our current circumstances, go back to the Invasion of Kuwait in 1990.  Move forward – event to event – and two months from today, we will have been involved in ceaseless conflicts for the past 26 years.

       In the days of Lewis and Schaeffer, wars started and wars ended. Today they do not. Those overseas conflicts, and their life-taking violence, now come to our American hometowns, as well as hometowns around the entire globe.

       Unlike the generation of Lewis and Schaeffer, the conflicts of our generation have become background noise in the public square. Conflicts, with United States military involvement, seem relentless. In WW2 refugees were part of the consequences of war. Today, with never-ending conflicts there comes a stream of never-ending refugees. After WW2 the refugees were European, some were Jewish. We often, as Americans, forget about our refusal at times to accept Jewish refugees just because they were Jewish – not like us. Today most refugees are not like us – in  religion, language, or cultural context and history.

       Speaking to the specific issue of war, we find an example of CS Lewis and the public square in a lecture he gave after Britain, on the first of January, 1940, called up 2 million 19 to 27-year-olds for military service. Lewis gave his famous “Why I am Not a Pacifist” speech at the Oxford Pacifist Society! He addresses the question, “How do we decide what is good and evil?” You can read the speech as an essay in his collection, “The Weight of Glory,” or you can use our contemporary tools and watch it on YouTube.  People still offer push-back to Lewis’s views, demonstrating the enduring strength of his voice in the public square.

       Christians need to understand that these military conflicts represent competing narratives with heroes, adventures, and goals – the “where-we-are-going” in the future last chapters of our earthly book. There are competing narratives in the Islamic world between those who would have peace and those who wage war by any means. In the west – in the US and Europe – there are competing narratives between what we refer to as secular narratives and religious narratives. As we are thinking tonight about the Christian Voice in the Public Square, in our context here, many of you likely think of this voice with an accent of Biblical conservative protestant.

              Ongoing conflict, with competing narratives – so far, these 26 years’ worth– is part of the changing Public Square in which Christians need to raise their voices. Before we move on, think, please, about two realities.  First, security has become an idol for people, demonstrated by the rise of all kinds of fears in the public square. Prescriptions for anti-anxiety medications are at their highest, even for children.  It is apparent that people will give up freedoms for security – and this fact is something Francis Schaeffer predicted back in the 60s. Remember what the Apostle John said, “There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.” A second reality is our public and private response to the ongoing refugee crisis in the world. My church, the Presbyterian Church in America, works with refugees in overseas nations of transit. The church also helps with settlement here in the United States, loving their new “not like me” neighbors. 

              Technology came to Professor Lewis when the BBC asked him, and he agreed, to give BBC radio talks during WW2.  He was able to shift from the academic world and context to a national radio audience as he told stories and asked questions as background to spur his generation to consider the orthodox Christian faith. Radio stretched his great mind in ways academic writing and publishing did not. Lewis was not alone in the use of radio broadcasting in his generation and coming generations, but he left a multigenerational high water mark for Christians in the public square.

       Francis Schaeffer moved from his books and conversations and conferences to tape recordings and films. The tapes became part of study centers where people could listen to lectures on many topics and then discuss the content of the tapes. Besides the L’Abri study centers that Francis and Edith Schaeffer fostered, I recall seeing a prep school ministry on Martha’s Vineyard running a study center for high school students with Schaeffer tapes.  The vehicle of film served Schaeffer well as he presented his world view and European history – all the while raising his prophetic voice in the public square in the last half of the 20^th century.  

       I often wonder what Lewis and Schaeffer would think of today’s public square and its contrast with theirs. Today’s is crowded, and it is 24/7. Would Lewis be on talk radio or cable TV or have his own podcasts and YouTube channel? Wait! There is a CS Lewis YouTube channel – and more! Schaeffer’s tapes were copied and copied again and shared by mail. His films are now on YouTube. The tapes make their way to the internet as they are remastered and digitized for this century.

       The public square in today’s “search engine culture” has many voices, but who is heard? So often our public squares are just what we refer to as “echo chambers.” We search, view or read what we look for from people we trust and know already, people like us who speak with that Biblical conservative Protestant accent. The PCA’s Tim Keller gets a call from the cable talk shows occasionally, or Russell Moore, a Southern Baptist, gets print inches or is copied in the Huffington Post. Expand your searches to include African Americans who are in the PCA or another Reformed branch. Then move on to other African American Christians, who might be politically different and have different social concerns based on Biblical values. This deliberate exploration helps us ask ourselves whose Christian voice we are looking for in the Public Square. I am confounded by the main stream media’s use of “evangelical,” so much so that I stopped using “evangelical” to describe myself when asked. If I feel the need for an adjective before Christian, I quietly say, “confessional Presbyterian.”

       Let’s look now at the use of language by Lewis and Schaeffer in their desire for clarity in the language of faith. Lewis spent all his adult life in academia studying words. Read or listen to Lewis and hear the clarity of the use of words in a well-reasoned argument.  Schaeffer coined words or phrases that were startling in their clarity.  “True truth,” pointing to the truth of the Word of God, is the best known and maybe the most used because it makes its point so clearly. As for today’s world, we owe thanks to your native son Stephen Colbert, who has given us the perfect new entry for our dictionaries – “Truthiness,” or “what feels true to me.”  Yes, folks, that is the mindset of so many who are in our public square. People determine what is true for them – individually– based upon what feels right, but more importantly what makes them feel good. Again, this change of “thought gears” is something Schaeffer predicted in the 60s as a consequence of the shift away from “True truth.” Feelings and experience set the conversation for the public square.

       Christians who believe in a God who reveals himself and inspired men to write down revelation in a common language that is true are strangers speaking another language in the public square. People will say, “Sure, I believe in God.” But do they believe in a God who is both “There” and communicates in propositions and revelation in a common language that can be understood as Schaeffer said? Is that word of God true? Does it speak to all of life? The corruption of language in the public square makes common conversations almost impossible, but not completely impossible. Schaeffer taught that we should listen to people before we respond to people. Listening before responding is to enable us to understand what they are saying. For many people, God does not define himself; instead, men or women create a god in an image that comforts them and is controlled by the words and prayers of the worshiper. Have you heard of the IKEA god?  – some assembly required?  This human exercise is what the Bible calls idolatry, false gods. Yet in our age, the public square has made the crowd or individual the judge of what is true and false for any individual at any given time. We still have so much to understand about our neighbors and how they view the world. The good news is that the creator still sends his Holy Spirit to use his word and people to change hearts from stone to flesh, from enemies of God to children of God by saving faith.

        In looking at the public square of the past through the works and lives of CS Lewis and Francis Schaeffer and seeing their examples as Christian voices in the public square we should first acknowledge that there will always be voices – plural – not one Christian voice. Second, those voices will be diverse, as were the published – and still available – works of Lewis and Schaeffer. Third, Christian voices in the public square will be global Christian voices because the public square is now a global square. Just as Lewis and Schaeffer’s books and other works are translated into other languages and cultures, so must we listen to Christians who are African-American, Spanish, Asian, African, Middle Eastern, and more.    

       So, to conclude, what should we do? First, get to know our neighbors and neighborhood, even the new ones and the ones not like us. Have a passion for the next generation. Get the biographies of Lewis and Schaeffer and read about that.  Second, learn to listen. Schaeffer said, “Listen for 50 minutes for every 10 minutes of talking or answering a question.” To quote the title of Sherry Turkle’s book, we need to be about “Reclaiming the conversation.” If the issue is the Christian voice in the Public Square, what public do we think will listen to the Christian voice if we have not listened first? Third, we have much to say. But we need to say it in a way that – if they reject what we say – they will have understood what we were saying when they reject it. Learn to talk in a language our neighbors will understand, not some insider’s Christian jargon. Yes, there are important words people need to understand. Just as some of us need a translator to understand the internet, it’s the same for people not raised on the Bible – they need a guide. And, yes, much of Christianity is going to be offensive. The cross and atonement is almost impossible for many to understand or accept, as is the resurrection or the need for faith in Jesus as the only way of salvation. On the crowded and noisy public square today, these non-negotiable “one-ways” seem like a throw-back to another time. Fourth and finally, pray. Prayer is not a fall-back activity or strategy but it is the family language of the Father who has adopted us and taught us, to say “Abba.” The public square is global, but prayer, my friends, is cosmic. We pray before the creator of all and the redeemer of a global people.  Now listen and join in with the global voices in the global public square.

Presbyterians and Race, Reflections on an Epic Failure

          Today’s church – just as did the church of the past – should seek daily to grapple within God’s directives and love with issues of social justice.  Being a committed Christian myself, and having many Facebook friends who are also committed Christians, I see newsfeed material that touches on three issues, in particular. These subjects are race, abortion, and immigration. I was able to engage recently with a good friend who wondered why I post more on issues of race than I do on abortion (or immigration).  I enjoyed the discussion with my friend and am grateful for the opportunity to organize some of my thoughts. 

          My views on abortion, race, and immigration are a present day application of my understanding of the incarnation of Jesus Christ, his finished work on the cross and the biblical doctrine of the image of God in all men and women. Because of my biblical views, I find I cannot stand before God and choose one issue over another, any more than I can choose to obey one commandment over another. The church today should be addressing all three of these issues in some way. Some churches/people will be drawn to all three issues, and others will focus on just one.  As for my church, the PCA, immigration and refugee issues are addressed through our missions  agencies, both in the states and outside of the states. The denomination has a long history of publically being a pro-life church, both in policy and practices.  We have partnered, for example, with Bethany Christian Services and other pro-life groups as they strive to work out these policies and practices before the world.  The 61 million deaths due to elective abortions are often used to rally public support of abortion being the most important social issue. 

          Where Presbyterians have a long history of failure when it comes to these three issues is in the area of race relations and policy.  Many Presbyterians throughout history were slave traders/holders, supporters of Jim Crow and White Citizens Councils, and silent observers during the Civil Rights struggle from the ‘40s through the ‘80s. 

          After Ferguson, Missouri, in the summer of 2014, the conversation about race got louder and angrier, and people wanted answers quickly. I chose to wait for the findings to emerge. I have learned to not engage with angry people because I have seen my own anger produce self-inflicting wounds. I do not trust myself around anger. White folks were told to listen and wait to write online, and I did this. Then, in the summer, my church, the Presbyterian Church of America, postponed voting on a personal resolution “that called our denomination to ‘recognize and confess our church’s covenantal and generational involvement in and complicity with racial injustice inside and outside of our churches during the Civil Rights era’  and to ‘recommit ourselves to the task of truth and reconciliation with our African-American brothers and sisters for the glory of God and the furtherance of the Gospel.’” We were not ready to repent as a church. We went home, in June of 2015, and in a few weeks, the Charleston killings happened.  Nine fellow Christians were murdered at a prayer meeting, by a now- confessed killer with racial motives. Was this summer the tipping point in the conversation about race? Did the PCA miss an historic moment in its history?

          Let’s look at the shift that took place at the founding of our nation, at the same time that our Presbyterian Confession and Catechisms were being written by the Westminster Assembly. At that time, 1643-1647, the Westminster Assembly was the height of Reformed political power and influence. That influence grew even larger under the new King Charles II, restored in 1660. In the previous century, “The same anti-Catholic propaganda that had led Sir Francis Drake to liberate Negro slaves in Central America in the 1580s still prompted many colonists to believe that it was the Protestant mission to convert non-Europeans rather than enslave them.” (Strange New Land: Africans in Colonial America by Peter H. Wood. Published by Oxford University Press.) But costs changed everything and profits shifted the mission from conversions to chattel slavery.

          Wood writes about this shift of thinking from an identity based on religious faith to what we now think of as racial identity. People started thinking of themselves as white, European or British over thinking of themselves and their families as Christian.

Therefore, another fundamental key to the terrible transformation was the shift from changeable spiritual faith to unchangeable physical appearance as a measure of status. Increasingly, the dominant English came to view Africans not as “heathen people” but as “black people.” They began, for the first time, to describe themselves not as Christians but as whites. And they gradually wrote this shift into their colonial laws. Within a generation, the English definition of who could be made a slave had shifted from someone who was not a Christian to someone who was not European in appearance. Indeed, the transition for self-interested Englishmen went further. It was a small but momentous step from saying that black persons could be enslaved to saying that Negroes should be enslaved. One Christian minister was dismayed by this rapid change to slavery based on race: “These two words, Negro and Slave” wrote the Rev. Morgan Godwyn in 1680, are “by custom grown Homogeneous and Convertible”—that is, interchangeable…As if this momentous shift were not enough, it was accompanied by another. Those who wrote the colonial laws not only moved to make slavery racial; they also made it hereditary. Under English common law, a child inherited the legal status of the father. As Virginia officials put it in 1655: “By the Comon Law the Child of a Woman slave begot by a freeman ought to bee free.”

          Because all of this took place after the four years of Westminster, the Reformed community should have known better in so many ways and should have raised loud questions about the shift. Reformed theology is summed up often by creation, fall, and redemption, and some of us add restoration. Our theology also is rooted in God’s covenant of grace. Scripture and the WCF express the unity of all the children of Adam and Eve as image bearers of the creator who then fell together and needed a redeemer. Covenant theology expresses the foundation of the Gospel of Grace. Genesis 12 reminds us of the LORD’s covenantal promise to Father Abram, “…in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” Revelation 5 tells of the new song, “…you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth.” This scriptural foundation was the basis– for the Europeans and British – of the  desire to convert the people they encountered in the new worlds. The every tribe and language and people and nation was part of those for whom Jesus died, “by your blood you ransomed people for God.” Greed, a fruit of covetousness, reshaped theology and created a form of racism so opposed to the Covenant and Gospel of Grace that it is still being undone today. Generations of Presbyterian pastors supported slavery based on race, supported Jim Crow and opposed the Civil Rights movement and would not allow the descendants of slaves to worship in their churches. 

          The next part of this history I want to examine is racial slavery by heredity. Such slavery was against both English Common Law and Covenant Theology. Let’s look at the Covenant Theology issue as it relates to white fathers and their slave children. (I will leave the rejection of English Common Law, as written into Virginia law by the Virginia Assembly in 1662, to some of my attorney friends. I also will leave for another time a discussion of enslavement-with-the-end-desire-of-conversion-leading-to-ultimate-freedom.) What I am addressing here is part of the issue, race-based slavery and the children of white fathers.  As a father, I cannot understand how a father would abandon his child and then grandchildren to slavery, yet this happened for generations in families that owned slaves. Where were the pastors to cry out against the violations of the fifth, sixth, seventh, and tenth commandments? Never mind that the whole system was based on a violation of the eighth. I want to put the spotlight of this conversation about the hereditary nature of our race-based slavery by considering the fifth and seventh commandments, family, and sex.

          In today’s world some wonder about our dated confessions and catechisms, but these are part of our faith link, and I think instructive, when we consider how profit can cause people to overlook faith and the teachings of Scripture and the church. Consider Larger Catechism question number 130, one of the questions dealing with the fifth command to honor our father and mothers. “What are the sins of superiors? The sins of superiors are, besides the neglect of duties required of them, (Q 129), inordinate seeking of themselves, their own glory, ease, profit, or pleasure…provoking them to wrath;…” Then we have Q131, “What are the duties of equals? The duties of equals are, to regard the dignity and worth of each other, in giving honor to go before another; and to rejoice in each others gifts and advancement, as their own.” I am saddened when I read these statements from the Catechism that was meant to shape our hearts as we live with others.

          God’s covenant promises were made to us and to our children. Peter reminded those who listened on Pentecost, “For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.” Again, I ask, how could a father abandon his child and the generations to follow to hereditary slavery? This happened for generations in families who owned slaves.

          Now to move to a consideration of the seventh commandment, “You shall not commit adultery.” Someday a data crunching researcher will look through all the records from slavery and we will know how many children, grandchildren and great grandchildren had white fathers living in the “big house.” Consider the scope of the Shorter Catechism’s question 71, “What is the requirement of the seventh commandment? The seventh commandment requireth the preservation of our own and our neighbor’s chastity, in heart, speech and actions.” The seventh commandment requires the preservation of our neighbor’s chastity. Part of the consequences of race-based slavery was that white fathers abandoned and denied their children, as a matter of law. How many grew up knowing that their own father could not and would not free them? The sins of fornication and adultery were overlooked. The crime of rape was unreported and ignored for generations. The hypocrisy of this culture corrupted family life and gave us generations of angry people. The culture supported by slavery should never be glorified. Race-based slavery was evil and corrupting. The true cost and consequences to all and their following generations has yet to be understood.

          Our 16^th century spiritual fathers did not make the connections from Scripture and the Confession and catechisms to shape their hearts hardened by the worship of profits and the comforts that slavery based on race and hereditary brought. We need to own that part of our history and spiritual roots. We also need to search our own hearts, knowing that if one generation we so honor could fail so badly, we also can be distracted from the historical consequences of our choices in our own generation.

          Covenant theology brings generations together, both in their sins and salvation. Covenant theology, the foundation of the Gospel of Grace reminds all of us “that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God,…” (Ephesians 2).

          Finally, I would share some thoughts and application from SC Q 71, “our neighbor’s chastity.” Christians have Biblical covenantal rooted responsibilities for our neighbors. (See the Good Samaritan story as told by Jesus.) To stand by and say, “not my responsibility, not my fight” or not speak up against injustice is Biblically indefensible.  We cannot undo the past, but we can make sure the whole story is told truthfully. Race-based slavery began just after Westminster, 1643-1647. For reasons we do not understand our country’s founders were silent, and in many cases were part of the economic system that stole people from their villages and families to become slaves for life and their children’s lives. Many Presbyterian pastors actively preached sermons to support race-based slavery in all its evil and owned slaves themselves. We need to own this history and repent as often as the consequences bear fruit in our generation. Because of grace, repentance bears fruit in forgiveness which can become the seeds for reconciliation, part of sanctification on our path to shared holiness. I am not sure if in my lifetime we will even begin to know the language of reconciliation; the layers of the conversation are both deep and hardened.

          I do hope the PCA will repent at the next 2016 General Assembly and not kick the issue down the road again city a need for perfection or an excuse that many are not ready to own our shared roots and heritage, both politically and spiritually. The Assembly must return to local churches to start conversations about race. We have resources to help local churches and Presbyteries move beyond this motion.

          May we repent and humble our hearts and churches. May we be that Great Commission Church we want to be, beginning in our own neighborhoods, cities, and counties, and moving across educational, economic and ethnic differences.

Changes at Metokos Ministries, Church Revitalization

Next week I will attend the PCA General Assembly. I will not be a delegate, but I will be an exhibitor for Metokos Ministries, a church revitalization  ministry begun by my seminary classmate, Don Clements, over a decade ago. In that decade, he has served over 100 churches. Don has mentored me to become the Executive Director as he stays on board and works from his home in Virginia. I will be the one on the road working with churches, raising support and adding staff and regional directors.  We plan to incorporate the ministry here in Georgia. 

When Don came to me last fall to talk about Metokos Ministries, I knew it was going to be a ministry I have had a heart for since I was a civilian pastor in the 70s & 80s,  and then in the military – with new opportunities  every 3 years – for over two decades. While others have a heart for church planting – an  always-needed ministry – I have a passion for church renewal, dating to my student days at Covenant Seminary under Dr. Donald J.  MacNair.  Dr. McNair later came and worked with a church I pastored so I saw the vision for church revitalization from both the academic setting in seminary and the practical setting in my local church. Don MacNair’s 1980 book “The Living Church: A guide For Revitalization,” came out of those seminary classes and a life time of field work in the local church. Don Clements and I were in that same class at Covenant Seminary. We both caught our prof’s vision.

At next week’s gathering, June 8-12, in Chattanooga, Metokos Ministries will have a booth, and Don and I will be there to spread the word about church revitalization. We both want to listen to the folks who will come by for information and to answer their questions about Metokos Ministries and church revitalization.

In “The Living Church: A guide For Revitalization” Don MacNair has an appendix on “The Living Church and the Deacon” which expands on his points made in the chapter, “Share Your Faith and Your Life.” This section reminds me of Paul’s word to the Ephesian elders in Acts 20: “In all things I have shown you that by working hard in this way we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’” Mercy ministries are a necessary dynamic part of church revitalization.

“Diversity, Unity and Community in the Church,” the last section of the book, could have been written in 2015 as well as long-ago 1980, but it is on target about this topic as it concerns church revitalization. Dr. MacNair writes:

                “The natural bent is not restricted by race or by so-called ability. However, the forces inherent in educational standards, economic pressures and social pressures may keep people apart who normally would find it easy to be acquaintances and friends. Furthermore, the natural bent of the individual can indeed be broadened. This usually happens through being challenged by others and through personal evaluation of the experiences of life.

                “Broadening of the interests and approaches in individuals effectively expands their lifestyle by giving them new dimensions and extended horizons for enjoying and contributing to life. This kind of broadening should be happening within the organism of the church.” (pp. 166, 167)

I close with one more quote from Dr. MacNair’s work:   “…a living church does not happen by accident; it demands a lengthy, faithful and purposeful commitment.” Metokos Ministries approaches church revitalization through collaboration with local churches. We can walk you through the process we use to help a local church and its members develop their own revitalization plan.

Visit www.metokos.org to see how we can help revitalize your church.

2015 New Year's Greeting from High Crag

From the Road, Psalm 25 on "Teach Me"

Here is a short sampler of the references from Psalms 25 and 119 that say, “teach me.”

Psalm 25:4 Make me to know your ways, O Lord; teach me your paths.

Psalm 25:5 Lead me in your truth and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation;

for you I wait all the day long.

Psalm 119:64 The earth, O Lord, is full of your steadfast love; teach me your statutes!

Psalm 119:124 Deal with your servant according to your steadfast love, and teach me your statutes.

Pick one of these and use it as a prayer. Ask for a teachable spirit. Notice the topics of the lessons asked for.

Heavy reading on a needed topic. We tend to fight the last war, this is not 2001. This will end up another 100 year war/conflict, but not a European/western war. Home court rules and outcomes.