- Sermon - Mickey Anders

Text: Acts 5:38-39

Why are you a Disciple? By that I mean, why are you a member of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)? (In the tradition of Alexander Campbell, I prefer to use the term "Disciples of Christ" and to call our members "Disciples.") There may be as many reasons to belong to a Disciples of Christ church as there are people in the room. Some people are Disciples for small reasons; some are Disciples for large reasons. Are you a Disciple for small reasons or for large reasons?

Some people say they were just born into a Disciples of Christ family and therefore became Disciples of Christ. There is no denying the importance of our family relationships. Our heritage often determines our religious affiliation. Only a few people grow up with such strong convictions about religious beliefs that they will go contrary to the traditions of their family and choose to break the bonds of that tradition. Most people are Catholics, Protestants, Jews or Muslims because their parents were. But I heard someone ask, "If you were born in the back seat of a car, would you be a Chevrolet?"

In fact, that's how I started life in another denomination. In Arkansas, I was reared a small church of 100 folks with a mostly fundamentalist theology. I liked my family; I liked my church; I liked the people of my church. I never thought about why I belonged to that denomination. I just did, though their fundamentalist theology did not take with me.

But I hope that we can all belong to this church and to the Disciples of Christ denomination for larger reasons than just the fact that our family was Disciple.

It's like being an American. Most of us are Americans because we were born here. We haven't given a lot of thought about whether we want to be Americans or something else. But the real patriots among us are those who discover the principles on which our nation was founded. They may have been born Americans, but they become Americans by conviction because they understand the principles of freedom and democracy on which this great nation was founded. In the same way, we must become Disciples by conviction and not just by heritage alone.

Being a Disciple for small reasons may not carry you far. In a big freight yard, you can watch a locomotive distributing a freight train over the various side tracks. It will bunt a car along and let it roll along by itself. The car moves, but it moves by the power of inertia. It has no living energy in it. By and by, it will slow up and stop.

Are you like that, a Disciple by inertia? When you become a Disciple by conviction, you will have a head full of steam with convictions that can carry you through life.

Many have been Disciples all their lives. I have read the resumes of those who assume prominent positions within our denomination and quite often they list prominently "is a life-long Disciple." Every time I read that, I feel left out. It reminds me of a controversy among the residents of Colorado. They have so many newcomers that those who have been there a long time proudly display bumper stickers that say "Native."

Well, I am not a native Disciple. As I mentioned, I grew up in another denomination and spent much of my life serving churches in that denomination. This is not an uncommon occurrence. I have found that most Disciples of Christ have come from other denominations.

Today I want to tell you why I am a Disciple. I did not grow up Disciple, but I found myself in the Disciples of Christ church.

In my early forties, I had a classic mid-life crisis. For seven years, I pursued a career in chamber of commerce work. And for the first time in my life, I was free to visit other churches. I checked out many denominations. I visited a Methodist church, a Presbyterian church, an Episcopal church, a Lutheran church, a Disciples church, and even an Assembly of God church.

When I visited the local Disciples of Christ church, the only thing I knew about that church was that its previous pastor had been a woman named Judy Turner. I thought that any church that was brave enough to have a female pastor must be a pretty progressive church. So I checked it out.

I found that I really liked the minister, and I went back the next Sunday. Soon I was going to him for counseling sessions to try to make sense of my mid-life crisis, and he did for me what no one else had even tried to do. In the midst of great pain and confusion, he brought the grace of God to me.

I knew many churches and church leaders that I deemed to be judgmental, narrow, vengeful and exclusive by nature. But I found the Disciples church to be non-judgmental, open, charitable and inclusive. That's a reputation every church should seek.

I thought to myself, "If this is a church of grace, then it may be worth my consideration." So I began to attend regularly.

Finally, I felt called of God to join the church, still not knowing much about it. It is very important to know that I came for grace, not for doctrine.

When I joined the church, I stood before the congregation and said, "I am a sinner in need of grace. I've had some bad things happen in my life, and I am looking for some new friends. Friends who will accept me and help me to start my life over again." And you know, that's exactly what they did! The people opened their arms and hearts to me. I will be forever grateful to the kind people in that little church, who loved me and accepted me. And over a period of seven years, they nurtured me slowly back to health.

So I didn't plan to become a Disciple and that's why I say that I found myself in a Disciples of Christ church. But also, I found out who I really was there.

For the first time in twenty years, I was not a pastor. I was now a chamber of commerce executive, a layman, just a member. I wore no ecclesiastical label; I was just me. And to my surprise, they acted like they liked me. Me! For just who I was! And that was grace too.

Slowly, I began to read about Disciples history, beliefs and practices. And I found myself all over again. I found that I should have been in the Disciples all along. That's what I was.

There are many reasons for which I am proud to call myself a Disciple. I could talk about our emphasis on church unity or on the Lord's Supper. But I was most interested that Disciples stood for all the things that I had cherished in my other denomination. But those principles I valued the most were the very ones which were being challenged and finally overthrown in my old denomination. I lost my home there, but I found that those principles still burn brightly in Disciples life. I did not have to change any of my beliefs to become a Disciple.

Let me tell you about some of my core values. First, I have always valued the priority of personal, spiritual experience. All religions aim at one thing – to bring men and women and boys and girls into relationship with God. But each religion approaches that goal in different ways.

Some religions say that if you take the Lord's Supper, then you are right with God. Some say that if you are baptized, then you are right with God. Others say if you recite the right creed, if you quote the right catechism, then you are right with God. But I proclaim that the outward signs are not enough.

It's a message much like our study group read this week in the book of Amos. God is not so much interested in our solemn assemblies as in our genuine faith and practice.

The essence of real religion is that personal, private, spiritual experience with God and how we live it. Either we know God in our heart, or we don't know God at all.

Through the ages this type of religious experience has been called by different terms. Some have called it "experimental religion." Some have called it "experiential religion," which is probably the most accurate phrase. But I like to call it an "experienced religion. "Our religion is something that we must experience.

The fundamental question for us Disciples is not what we believe but in whom we believe. At the center of faith is not a set of beliefs about something. Rather, the Christian life is centered in personal fellowship with the One to whose table we come on Sunday.

Alexander Campbell emphatically expressed the primacy of this personal relationship when he wrote: "Faith in Christ which is essential to salvation is not the belief of any doctrine, testimony, or truth, abstractly, but belief in Christ; trust or confidence in him as a person, not a thing."

My favorite poem was written by John Oxenham and goes this way:

Not what, but Whom I do believe
That in my darkest hour of need
Hath comfort that no mortal creed
To mortal man may give
Not what but whom

For Christ is more than all the creeds
His full life of gentle deeds
Shall all the creeds outlive
Not what I do believe but whom

Who walks beside me in the gloom
Who shares the burden wearisome
Who all the dim way doth illume

And bids me look beyond the tomb
The larger life to live.
Not what I do believe but whom
Not what but whom.

The second principle I value is freedom of conscience. An experienced religion has to be free and voluntary. Galatians 5 says, "For freedom Christ has set us free." I am strongly against coercion, especially in areas of faith. You can make someone attend Mass. You can compel ascent to a creed. But you cannot compel an inner experience. Every individual stands free before God, and they themselves must make the awesome decision concerning their relationship with God. Such a decision has to be free and spontaneous.

The Disciples of Christ was the first denomination born on American soil. And Disciples leaders were struck with many of the same principles that form the foundation of our country. America is a great country because people have the freedom to disagree. That freedom is cherished by all Americans whether they vote Republican or Democrat, whether they whether they believe in evolution or not, whether they are Buddhists or Christians. Americans are committed to their county and cherish its freedoms even though they believe radically different things. Disciples cherish that same kind of freedom for the church.

I am glad that I found myself in a Disciples of Christ church where they cherish such old watchwords as these:

"No creed but Christ."

"Where the Bible speaks, we speak. Where the Bible is silent, we are silent."

"In essentials, unity; in non-essentials, liberty; in all things, charity."

A third value is that I am not afraid of new ideas. I have found that some people get paranoid about new ideas or ideas with which they disagree. They are so insecure and so afraid of new ideas that they will go to any extreme to stamp out even the utterance of ideas with which they do not agree. Disciples believe that people are discerning enough to decide what they believe for themselves. They believe that the best thing you can do for a wrong idea is to give it the light of day.

Disciples proclaim the wisdom shown by Gamaliel in Acts 5:38-39 where he advised his fellow Pharisees to let the early Christians along, "Because if this plan or this undertaking is of human origin, it will fail, but if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them…"

I love the ad campaign recently promoted by the United Church of Christ. The key line said, "God is still speaking." If we believe in the Holy Spirit, then we simply must believe that God is still addressing life situations in a new way. God is still speaking. Our God is not static, but dynamic.

Like a good Disciple, I am not afraid of ideas. I am not afraid of liberal ideas; neither am I afraid of fundamentalist ideas. I am not afraid that some Sunday School teacher may propose a doctrine that I might not agree with. I often hear of church members who has been influenced by a theologian or theological movement with which I disagree. But I trust my people. I believe you will likely listen to other preachers, but that you will also give me a good hearing. And that you will decide for yourself under the leadership of the Holy Spirit.

I found myself in a Disciples of Christ church because Disciples are not afraid of new ideas.

A fourth value is that I am not afraid of diversity. A Disciples service at the regional and general level will include an equal balance of male and female, and usually includes many ethnic elements from Disciples worship all around the world. We are most notably an inclusive church.

We include women at every level of church leadership. Our number one paid executive in our whole denomination, the position called General Minister and President, is a woman. In our church, we don't make distinctions between men and women as far as positions of leadership in the church. I like to say it in a homey way, "For us, folks are folks."

If there is any denomination committed to racial diversity, it is the Disciples of Christ! Disciples are bending over backward to remove all vestiges of slavery and prejudice from church structures. This is one diverse group of folks.

Disciples consider our diversity one of our best strengths. In fact, we say that we want "unity, not uniformity," or "unity with diversity." Disciples do not think Christians have to be unanimous in thought and action to be in the same church.

I found myself in a Disciples of Christ church because Disciples are not afraid of diversity.

A fifth value is that I am not afraid of the people in the pew. Some churches promote dictatorial pastorates whose motive is control of the membership. They say that the primary role of the pastor is to rule over the congregation. I have heard of churches where, if you disagreed with the pastor, you would never again be allowed in leadership. You would not even be called on to lead in silent prayer. Other pastors impose their partisan political views on the congregation.

I have always liked that passage from 1 Peter 5 which says, "I exhort the elders among you to tend the flock of God that is your charge… Do not lord it over those in your charge, but be examples to the flock."

One of the strongest drives behind the effort of Alexander Campbell was the desire to free the common person from domination by the clergy. He loved to talk about the "priesthood of all believers." The concept of the priesthood of all believers meant that as Christians, all were involved in ministry. Disciples have a great respect for the laity. In a Disciples church, the pastor doesn't have to run the church like a CEO or a dictator. The pastor is free to be a servant leader.

I found myself in the Disciples of Christ because disciples do not fear lay leadership.

Well, there are more reasons than I have time for. But now you know why I can say, "I did not grow up Disciple, but I found myself in the Disciples of Christ church.