Mitch Lewis

I first read Dietrich Bohnoeffer's writings when I was a high school student 38 years ago. My worn-out copy of Life Together (Gemeinsames Leben)  dates to 1978, my first year in seminary. Its words were foreign and almost incomprehensible to my Baptist ears, but even then I thought "wow." My appreciation of Bonhoeffer's words grows deeper every time I read this beautiful little text. Bonhoeffer's first chapter on "Community" starts with standard Reformation language regarding our righteousness in Christ. He proceeds to draw out from that, however, an understanding of the Christian life that turned my understanding of Christian piety upside down. The later chapters of Life Together describe what we might call spiritual disciplines that belong to Christian discipleship. You'll never understand what Bonhoeffer says about things like prayer, confession, communion, work and service, however, unless you first grasp the foundation that he lays in his chapter on community.

I revisited Bonhoeffer's chapter on "Community" in Life Together after writing this week's post on "Ordinary Christianity." It was obvious to me how much this little book has come to color not only my understanding of Christian community, but of Christian holiness as well.

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How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord, is laid for your faith in his excellent word!
What more can he say than to you he hath said, to you who for refuge to Jesus have fled?

The rabble with them began to crave other food, and again the Israelites started wailing and said, "If only we had meat to eat! We remember the fish we ate in Egypt at no cost—also the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic. But now we have lost our appetite; we never see anything but this manna!" Numbers 11:4-6

But [Jesus] answered them, "An evil and adulterous generation demands a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah." Mark 12:39

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Does Christianity consist merely of gathering as God's people, being united to Christ in baptism, abiding in Christ in the worship and fellowship of Holy Communion and attending to the word of God? Don’t you want something more than ordinary Christianity? Don’t you need something more?

I've spent my entire life in Christian denominations that grew out of 19th century American revivalism, which in turn grew out of the 18th century pietist movement in Europe. I have frequently heard Christian messages that went something like this:

Are you sure that you are a Christian - have faith in Jesus - are saved - have the Holy Spirit? Are you really, really sure? Yes, you've been baptized and go to church, but are you really a Christian?

The revivalist continues:

Here's the reason that you're not really a Christian. You haven't had the right experience. You don't have enough enthusiasm. You don't have the right feelings in your heart. You don't have the true, inner witness of the Spirit. Your faith if - if it exists at all - is in a category too weak to save you. You're still committing secret sins. If you really loved Jesus, you would be doing some really important Christian thing. You don't really love God.

Or, there's the liberal-progressive version of that riff.

You're not really a Christian because you're not sufficiently committed to the cause. You haven't broken free of the idolatry of the capitalist imperial mindset. You're not imitating Jesus closely enough. If you really loved Jesus, you would be doing some really important Christian thing. You don’t' really love your neighbor.

Both versions share the same basic message.

Your version of Christianity is ordinary, cold, unexciting and weak. Baptism? Communion? Preaching and hearing the word of God? Don't depend on them! They don't mean anything unless you really feel it in your heart and act it out in your life (and, by the way, in the manner that I tell you is the right way to feel and act). If you were a real Christian, your heart would be filled with white-hot passion and the world would be turned upside down by your zeal. You need something more to be a true Christian.

So, don't you want something more – something more than ordinary Christianity?

What if, however, the desire for something more is not a sign of holiness, but a sign of worldliness? What if it is a sign that we've rejected what God has actually given us and demanded something else - something that better fits our human desire for emotional fulfillment, entertainment, relevance, practicality, pride and importance - something that puts us, and not God, at the center of the picture?

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In a recent conversation with one of my colleagues, we discussed which chapel furnishing were essential for Christian worship. I suggested that every chapel needs a baptismal font. My friend didn't understand. "What if there weren't any families there," he said, "so there wouldn't be any babies." For military service members in a forward deployed area, that might indeed be true.

"I baptize adults at the font as well," I replied. "And even if I never baptize anyone at the font," I continued, "it serves as a visible reminder of our union with Christ."

The more I've thought about this, the more convinced I've become that the font, the table and the pulpit are the three most important furnishings in the church's worship space. Visually and experientially, those three items put word and sacrament at the center of the church's communal life. Baptism, communion and the preaching of the word are at the heart of what God's people do when they gather to worship. These three object define who we are.

So, for me, the baptismal font is more important than a brass cross for the wall or table. It's more important than a Bible stand for displaying the Holy Scriptures. It's more important than candlesticks or offering plates or flower stands. It's more important than liturgical hangings or clerical vestments or stained-glass windows or religious artwork. It's more important than a piano, an organ or a set of drums. It's more important than chairs or pews.

Yes, we need a chalice and paten (or communion set) to actually use the communion table. And I like the idea of reading the sacred texts from a large, visible pulpit Bible. I think of these things are components of the table and pulpit.

We can function, I suppose, without any of these things. I've baptized from a canteen, offered communion from the tailgate of my truck and preached from a Bible I kept in my pocket. If we are going to have dedicated worship spaces, however, the pulpit, font and table visually represent the essential functions of the Christian church: preach God's word, make disciples and live together in union with Christ.

What do you think? How would your prioritize the physical objects that comprise your worship space?

One of the best things that the United Methodist Church has done in the past quarter century is to revise its liturgy. Many of the elements of the new (ancient) liturgy have worked themselves into my subconscious. I’ll find myself silently singing the “Sanctus” or the “Gloria in Excelsis.” Phrases from the creed or the Great Thanksgiving pop into my mind at the strangest times. The Eucharist – the sacrament of word and table – is the central means of grace for those who are already united to Christ in baptism. The work that God does through word and table for those who abide in him is transformation I can believe in.

We walked down this path of liturgical renewal with post-Vatican II Catholics, Lutherans and a few others who rediscovered the practices of the early church. There are all sorts of good reasons for these changes which are beyond the scope of this brief post. My starting point is simply this: the structure of our liturgy now resembles that of Catholics, Anglicans and Lutherans.

Even though Methodism was born from Anglican roots, early American Methodism never warmed up to an Anglican style liturgy. When we adopted the new liturgical structure, then, it was not something that was very familiar to many Methodist people. We were tentative and awkward. I’m sure that our Episcopal and Lutheran friends will always consider us “liturgical lite.” Even though our structures are similar, there is a different feel to the liturgy in most United Methodist churches.

We bring our evangelical and deeply-personal approach to the faith to the liturgy, and I think that’s a good thing.

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I am the vine, and you are the branches. If you stay joined to me, and I stay joined to you, then you will produce lots of fruit. But you cannot do anything without me. John 15:5 CEV

John 15:1-8 - Lectionary for Easter 5B
See also The True Vine

Life in the Connection

Spring in Korea is absolutely beautiful. The mountains turn to green. Gardens erupt in a sea of pinks and yellows and purples and whites. Week after week brings a new display of color.

We have a volunteer in our chapel that produces the most amazing floral displays every week throughout the year. She incorporates an astonishing variety of seasonal flowers and her creations always seem to fit the liturgical theme. Her arrangements are astounding in both their natural beauty and their human ingenuity. I've never seen anything like them in nearly 30 years of ministry. She produces these works of art as a labor of love and fills our sanctuary with God's beauty throughout the year.

Still, the beauty of a cut flower always fades. My wife cut some irises from our garden last week and put them in a vase. Their beautiful purple flowers turned to brown, their green stems turned to mush and their aroma turned to stench. Within a week of being cut they were good for nothing but the trashcan or compost heap.

My street, on the other hand, is lined with birch trees that were severely pruned in the fall two years ago. When the trimming was complete, they looked like nothing but tall stumps. What was left of the branches ended abruptly where the chainsaws had done their work. The trees were barren, gnarled and ugly. I was sure they were dead. Even when spring rolled around, the trees showed no sign of life for weeks. By midsummer, however, new life had emerged. Even then, a few trees that stood outside the chapel appeared to be completely dead, with areas of obvious decay near the truncated limbs. They went through a complete growing season last year without sprouting a single green leaf. This morning, however, I was surprised to discover some new green shoots sprouting from the truncated limbs of even the most damaged trees.

What is the difference between beautiful flowers that turn ugly and rot and ugly stumps that blossoms in new life? New life emerges where the branch remains connected to its life giving root.

Jesus compared himself to a vitis vinifera - a common wine-grape vine found throughout Europe and the middle east. As the grapevine grows vertically from the ground, it eventually reaches the height of the trellis or frame, to which the gardener ties its outstretched branches. A single grape vine looks something like a cross, with its horizontal members spread to either side. Was this visual image one aspect of Jesus' intent?

Grape vines can live very long lives and they are not much to look at. Over the years they become twisted and knotty. Old branches are pruned away. Even new branches are trimmed to maximize grape production. Old vines bear the scars of generations of growth and pruning, but they still live on. Old vines, it seems, produce fewer grapes, but the fruit they do produce is more flavorful and intense. That sounds hopeful to an old guy like me.

Jesus compares himself to a grapevine. Vine branches only bear fruit, Jesus says, as they remain connected to the vine. That is demonstrably true for grape vines and tomato plants and all sorts of living things. Is it also true for people?

Resiliency after Trauma

I recently returned from a retreat with other chaplains and chaplain assistants at which we talked about resiliency in the experience of trauma. We were talking about the trauma of war, but we could have talked about death, disease, divorce, physical or sexual assault, job loss, or any other of a host of traumas. Trauma has a way of beating you up. We like to think that we will express our faith in profound ways and have a meaningful spiritual experience in the middle of trauma, but the fact is that trauma just pretty much kicks you in the teeth.

We learned a lot this week about how trauma affects the brain. When the brain senses a threat, higher brain functions get left out of the loop. In the midst of trauma, the brain is not capable of either reason or what we would normally identify as meaningful spiritual experience. The brain is overwhelmed by the threat of danger or pain. Very basic survival reactions take control when life is threatened. The ability to think religious thoughts or have religious feelings is severely limited.

How, then, do you mentally and emotionally and spiritually survive trauma? Theologically, for me, that question means, "How do I stay connected to the spiritual source of life even when life is kicking me in the teeth?"

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And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!" Luke 2:13-14

Near the end of the 1965 animated classic, A Charlie Brown Christmas, Charlie Brown cries out in desperation, "Isn't there anyone who knows what Christmas is all about?" Linus answers, "Sure Charlie Brown, I can tell you what Christmas is all about." The houselights dim and a single spotlight illuminates Linus on stage. Linus opens his mouth and begins to recite from the King James version of Luke's Gospel. I was ten years old when I first saw A Charlie Brown Christmas. Forty-three years later, Linus' simple words are still one of the most moving moments that I have experienced in any medium.

And there were in the same country shepherds, abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them! And they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men. (Luke 2:8-14 KJV)

That's what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown.

As the Peanuts gang sang in that film, "Christmas time is here." So what should we do? If Christmas is "all about" the savior born in the city of David, how should we respond? Maybe the first thing we should do is the same thing that the heavenly army of angels did when the news was announced. Maybe the first thing we should do is give glory to God in the highest.

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