Bootleg Preacher

Will Campbell is unknown to many, but ought to be known by all. He is a self-described bootleg preacher. A Baptist, he spent much of his life offending the sensibilities of all Baptists, but especially those of the First Baptist Church type. I had the joy to see him lecture at Mobile College [now the University of Mobile], a conservative institution of higher education in Mobile, Alabama. It was so conservative that the powers that be did not consider me sufficiently orthodox to serve as an adjunct prof.

How did someone like Will Campbell get there? The rebels within the Philosophy and English departments, not the Religion department, conspired together to invite him to campus.

One of his major claims to fame, as far as I am concerned, is the fact that he was the inspiration for Doug Marlette's character, the Reverend Will B. Done, in the KUDZU cartoon strip. Unfortunately, Mr. Marlette was killed in a car accident last year, and KUDZU is no more. Obviously, Will Campbell is known for much more than that, but the KUDZU reference is still a thrill for me.

I mention Will Campbell because I came across an old issue of Christian Century (November 27, 2007) that has an interview with him. One of the Q&A's struck me.

Q: As you look back on your career as a minister, author, and activist, what gives you the greatest sense of satisfaction?
Just trying, you know - just showing up. I was no hero in the civil rights movement, but I was there, and that was something. If anything in our faith were taken literally, it would be so revolutionary that we wouldn't recognize it. And I don't mean just the Christian faith either, but the Jewish faith and the Muslim faith as well. We don't live by our own preachments. If we did, everything would change.

There is a lot to unpack in this, but I want to dwell on just one point. Just trying, just showing up, can be something of great power and influence. None of us is called to be a "superhero," but we are called to try. We are called to show up when folks are denied justice - to give them the support of our presence. We are called to do more than write a check; we are to stand with them as our sisters and brothers (whether we know them or not).

That is what Will Campbell means, I think, about living "by our own preachments." That is the hard part of this life of faith we claim.

Connections

Last Saturday, Vicki and I were in Dallas. I had been invited to officiate at the wedding of Jessica and Jason, two young adults from the Plymouth Congregational Church in Wichita, Kansas where I served as the Senior Minister for 9 years. Despite the day being infernally hot and humid - I could barely read the last part of the ceremony because of the quantity of sweat streaming into my eyes - and despite the fact that I forgot one of the wireless microphones I wore was not really wireless, it was a lovely ceremony, and, even better, it was a wonderful time of seeing good friends who were there for the wedding.

The weekend got me thinking about my relationship with the folks we saw at the wedding. 11 years ago, more or less, I had not even heard of these people, much less met them. But, since 1997, I had shared life with them. I had sat with them in hospital rooms, had celebrated weddings with them, had rejoiced at the births of their children, and had cried with them at the deaths of loved ones. We had worshipped together, eaten together, and laughed together. We talked about everything under the sun -- current events, sports, church life, bad bosses and co-workers, dreams for themselves and their families and their hopes for years to come.

Yet, I had done the same things with others. So, why had we forged such strong bonds with these folks and not with all others? I do not know. Somehow their souls touched mine and my soul touched theirs in some strong, but mysterious, way.

That is the way of human relationships. Who can understand how the bonds of friendship can be formed that are powerful enough to overcome time and distance and remain just as strong as ever? But, aren't we all glad that we humans have this capacity?

Christian Nations?

One of the on-going debates in America is whether this is, or ever has been, a "Christian nation." Regardless of your position on this question, you have to begin with the problem of defining your terms. Namely, you have to ask, "What defines a Christian?" Then, you wrestle with, "What is a 'Christian' nation?" Then, if you can come up with good answers to those, you have to decide how these definitions apply to the country in question.

In the United States, people have approached the topic from many different approaches. There are those who say America is a Christian nation because the majority of the population now claim membership in a Christian church. Then, there are those who say America's Christian identity goes back to the founding group of the country - usually identified as the Pilgrims and Puritans. Others point to the Christian origins of our legal system and its principles. And, then, there are arguments about whether America has lost her "Christian" bearings.

If you have read this blog for a while, you know I have definite ideas about this debate. I shall not recreate all of the previous posts. You will just have to search for yourselves. It is sufficient to say here that I do not think the arguments advanced to conclude that America is a Christian nation have any validity.

With this background, I found a recent article in The Times (of London) [from May 15, 2008] written by Camilla Cavendish considering whether Britain is still a Christian nation quite interesting. Looking only at numbers, the results are not too encouraging. It is predicted that there will be more Muslims than Christians in England in a few years. Others also project that Hindus will outnumber Christians there by mid-century. Currently, only about 6% of the Brits attend Christian worship services regularly. This number reflects a trend that began in the late 19th century when less than a third of the country attended services regularly. [Here again, you have to define what "regularly" is.]

The author of the piece writes: [T]he only point I want to make is that being a Christian country has always been about more than belief in God and Sunday worship. In the 2001 census, seven in ten people described themselves as Christian, to the astonishment of many bishops; 22 per cent claimed to be still going to church at least once a year.

Britain is still a Christian landscape, dotted with spires. It is still a place of Christian ritual, where people go to churches to mark marriages and deaths. It still has some heroic pastors who help people cope through terrible times. These things are part of the fabric, but they are strangely absent from much of the debate about national identity. ...

The hymns that we sang at school, the cadences of Bible stories, are part of my identity. What other identity can I have?

Thus, this British author defines Britain as a Christian nation primarily, if not solely, on the basis of tradition and the familiarity with Biblical stories held in common by most of the people. While that may satisfy her, I doubt very much that the more ardent Christians in America would accept that as being valid.

So, what does it mean for a nation to be "Christian"? Can a country be Christian if most of the people do not claim to be Christian? Or, can it be one if most people are not actively involved in the life of a Christian church? How would a "Christian" nation be different in policies and approaches than a "non-Christian" one?

What do you think?