17Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.
Some years ago, Ann Landers printed a letter from a reader who wondered how many parents would still have children, if they had their lives to live over again. Would they have children the second time around?
Over 70% said no. 70% said if they had it to do all over again, they would choose not to have children. That’s a pretty sobering statistic.
A lot of stories were told in the responses, from parents who had wonderful children to parents who had the most unruly. Oddly, some of the ones with wonderful kids said they would not go through it again, while the parents of the scamps said they would.
One woman said that she would have children again, but not the same children.
Twenty-three years ago, Kate and I made a choice to be Disciples of Christ, and we’d make the same choice all over again.
All of you are here by choice. Some chose to join here, others were born here and have chosen to continue your membership here. And, I suspect, you’d do it all over again.
So what makes Disciples Disciples? And why, after 175 years, do we continue this ministry?
We’ve been known as the “people of the ___” over the years. We’ve called ourselves the People of the Covenant, because our congregations, our regional churches, and our general church are related not by hierarchy, but by covenant.
We’ve been known as the People Obsessed with Bread, based on our placing communion at the center of our life together. Along with that is the label, People of the Chalice--due to our use of this symbol, a chalice with a St. Andrews cross.
We’ve been known as the People of the Parenthesis, because of our name--the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). That came about when our two best known founders came together in 1832, just one year before we began worshiping in the Block House. Barton Stone preferred the name “Christians” and Alexander Campbell the name “Disciples of Christ.” After 1832, both names were used, hence the parenthesis.
We’ve been called People of Faith and Reason because we believe that faith must be reasonable, and rational. This has been a key point in our history--both for laity and clergy. We believe that people need to think for themselves.
And, we’ve been known as the People of the Book, because we held that there was no creed but Christ, and no book but the Bible. Listen carefully--Disciples are not against creeds. They’re good teaching tools, but they are not good when they are used to exclude people. We invite folks to membership based on a simple confession of faith in Christ--without parsing every syllable. Why? Because we believe people can think for themselves and make up their own minds about doctrines.
This will not do justice to our history--and we have some wonderful materials for you to read that will fill in the gaps--but I’m going to very briefly sketch our beginnings of our denomination’s thinking.
Alexander Campbell and Barton W. Stone were Presbyterian Pastors who began--at around the same time but in different states--to question the structures and doctrines of their Church. They had been schooled in the philosophies of John Locke, who argued for individual freedoms both in society and in the church. In the United States of America, both things were truly possible.
These freedoms were possible in the church only if one read and studied the Bible for one’s own self.
And so, the finer points of Stone-Campbell thought were:
The Bible is the only authoritative source for the church, and that each person can interpret it for him or herself.
Prior to this time, the Bible was in the hands of a very few scholars--who were about the only ones who could read it.
One of our early slogans was, “where the Bible speaks, we speak.” The principal difference between us and our sisters and brothers in the Churches of Christ, is that they continue that slogan by adding, “and where the Bible is silent, we are silent.
Disciples believe that where the Bible is silent, we are free to choose (Remember, freedom is very important in our movement).
Division in the church is a sinful scandal.
Thomas Campbell: “…the Church of Christ upon earth is essentially, intentionally, and constitutionally one…”
B.W. Stone: “Christian Unity is our polar star.”
Baptism is a choice one makes by one’s own self, and immersion is the method.
Congregations are empowered by God and the scriptures to make their own decisions.
Congregational worship cannot be held hostage by the clergy. Ordained Elders are able to celebrate sacraments (baptism & communion). Communion is to be celebrated weekly.
It is this last idea that I would like to address for a few minutes.
We were formed by the time and the place in which we were born. This true to a certain degree of all of us as individuals, and is certainly true of us as a church.
The Disciples were born on the American Frontier. It’s difficult to imagine that this place where we stand today was known at one time as “the West.”
In Campbell’s and Stone’s time, communication was by hand carried letter. A note to a friend might take a month or more to deliver. Today, we send emails and text messages at a furious rate. We order things online from Amazon.com and complain when they take more than a day to reach us.
Travel was by foot or horseback or buggy, or on boats bragged through canals by mules. Chances are, most of the earliest Disciples in Richland County lived within walking distance of the various structures in which our church has met.
The number of educated and ordained clergy in the mainline denominations was small in comparison to the churches and membership. And so, the practice of the Circuit Rider was commonplace 200 years ago. One Pastor--be he (and they were all hes) Presbyterian, Methodist, Lutheran, or other, would travel on horseback among several churches, sometimes being able to lead in worship only once a month or less. Luther and Calvin, the Great Reformers of the 16th century, fought to put the bible back the hands of the people, but they didn’t do the same with communion.
Even today, Methodist churches do not celebrate communion without an Elder (Pastor) presiding, and Presbyterians do not do so without a Minister of Word and Sacrament--and appropriate authority by a governing body.
That meant, that in the 19th century, as now, the regular, weekly observance of the Lord’s Supper, Communion, Eucharist, or by whatever name is familiar, didn’t happen. The names of the practice were familiar, but the practice itself was not.
Christians on the frontier began to celebrate sacraments so infrequently--quarterly, annually--that they sometimes grew out of the practice altogether.
Kate and I belonged to a Baptist Church which celebrated communion once a quarter. The Deacons forgot how to pass the trays. Even today, most Presbyterians and Methodists celebrate communion no more than once a month.
Alexander Campbell’s major gift to the modern church was a revolution in congregational worship. A revolution which turned the church on its head--or maybe toward its head. The celebration of the Lord’s Supper did not depend on the presence of a priest or minister or Pastor, but rather, the authority of the Elder, chosen, elected, ordained by each congregation.
In Campbell’s vision of the church, no Christian should be kept away from the table for want of a pastor. In fact, no Christian should be prevented from the table for any reason. This was the view that got him kicked out of the Presbyterians, by the way. In the Presbyterian church at that time, pastors would determine whether each congregant was worthy to receive the Lord’s Supper--and they would receive a token from the pastor to present at the communion rail. Campbell said that each person could make that determination for themselves, and therefore, all were welcome.. And we still welcome all to this table as Campbell began to do 200 years ago.
By the way, Presbyterians and Methodists both are encouraging their congregations to celebrate communion more frequently, and many of the things which caused Barton Stone and Alexander Campbell to separate from Presbyterianism are no longer issues that divide us.
As most of you know, before I came here in 2006, I served a union congregation of Methodists and Presbyterians. I was welcomed into both of those fellowships. I was even invited to transfer my credentials into those denominations. And, I have to tell you, it was a tempting invitation. I love the historic communion prayer forms which are very common in those bodies. But, when I prayed them, I stood alone behind the table. And I missed having Elders with me. Some day, maybe we’ll do those prayers together.
You see, I am a Disciple at heart. And, when I announced to my Presbyterian and Methodist friends that I was going home, they said, “You’re not from Ohio.”
No, but I am a Disciple. And this is my home. And yours. If I had it to do all over again, I’d still be a Disciple, and I suspect the same is true for you In the days and weeks and months and years to come, may God use us as we consider the generations who will be touched by the Gospel through this church in the next 175 years.
Amen..
First Christian Church Sermons 
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