During the memorial service for Dr. Warren Lewis, my mind wandered backward to days of my youth and days of his strength. He was the single largest figure in the life of most of us in my small town. He was polemic and controversial. Our majority community was fearful of him; he was graduate school educated and capable of thinking ahead of them. He demanded busing for African American students, he argued for African American presence on the school board and city council. He created a Baptist worldview and most African Americans, whether they attended Mount Tabor or not, engendered these values in their homes. He was one of the most refined, polished, classical rhetoricians I have heard or formally studied.
Our minority community was fearful of him too. He challenged each family to encourage their children to study and then send their children to colleges and universities. Theologically, he did not compromise. He did not wink at slothfulness; he did not make excuses about putting other things before Christian service. He pushed common people to do noble things; he believed this was possible and that Scripture mandated these kinds of initiatives from believers. Like the synagogue is for Jewish brethren, it was his goal to make the church the center of consciousness.
At other times, my mind traveled towards the future, I noted that few people in attendance if any were younger than me. That is not necessarily good. I am not so young anymore; President Obama and I are the same age, separated by a few days. I wondered. Where are the new and younger Baptists? Earlier I indicated, Lewis’ death may be a metaphor or a trope for something larger. It may be that a cultural era has ended; a culture where Baptists are the mainstream of African American national ethos, pathos and life.
For instance, Dr. Lewis did not believe that women should preach, he did not believe that women should wear pants in worship services or in churches, he did not believe in drums in worship services. I used to believe that too. That is what I was conditioned to believe within the veil. But can or should this be sustained today? How many young women attend colleges and universities and experience life outside of their former cultural relativism and former life within the veil – believe that outer adornment is necessary for Christian worship or service? I do not mean distasteful clothing and cosmetics. I mean types and kinds of dress that is governed by moderation. Many times, however, I have witnessed older and respected women share with younger women modes of dress for worship and the differences between market places and pews. But you see my point don’t you?
For Baptists to advance, it seems to me, is to reconsider the differences in theology and cultural mandates and determine those that are cardinal principles to faith and practice and those that are cultural motifs that will continue to change. Later let’s look at the my suggestions for Baptist.
“Religion, if banished to the realm of mere feeling, has ceased to be dangerous for any
rational and practical human enterprise. But, we must add, it also has lost its seriousness, its truth, and its ultimate meaning. In the atmosphere of mere subjectivity of feeling without a definite objective of emotion, without an ultimate content, religion dies….”
“Basic Considerations” in Theology of Culture
Paul Tillich
There is a secular – passionate back lash against Warren Lewis’ Baptist Church. This is a tragic consequence, Tillich might say, because to react negatively against religion of any form, is to negatively respond through secularism. For Tillich, a secular feeling is a substitute for religion, and that substitute opens this generation to an unaccountable subjectivism and to those who will follow. What is more, in the future, those who may differ from the current generation will have a different and harsher critique of this generation’s feelings. Thus secularism turns on secularism, always finding the flaws of those who came before them without balancing their assumptions with credible evidence.
However, until God in Christ fully redeems humanity, all sectarian religion is partly secular. It is compromised by cultural traditions old and new. Younger generations are secular, postmodern secular. They have been ripped from historical points of departure and this implies many of them are anti-authorial and anti-epistemological. By this I mean that truth begins with them and what came before them holds minimal significance. In other words, they too are subject to cultural relativism as they charge, as I charge too.
On the other hand:
Judaism, however, is not only religion and it is not only ethics: it is the sum total of all the needs of the nation, placed on religious basis…. Judaism is the national life, a life which the national religion and human ethical principles embrace without engulfing.
“The Enduring Problem” in Christ and Culture
H.R. Niebuhr
For African Americans, replace “Judaism” with “Baptist” and you will have African American culture. For most and historically, Baptist’s cultural worldview has defined community ethics, national life and religion and human ethical principles. During that time, most blacks were and to a large extent – a blues people. Today we are rapidly becoming – a jazz people. Pain and suffering still are common aspects of African American identity but younger African Americans, do not sense racism as their only source of pain. They see high rates of divorce and grandparents to young to raise them. They are struggling with complex sexual, religious ethics and identities. This is a generation that has been told that guilt is not necessary but they do. Still, this generation of blacks does not see a monolithic culture that Baptists have represented well. So we need to redefine culture and theology as we acknowledge Christ as Savior. I want to say more but not now….
Sleep on Old Soldier, Sleep On, How long? Not Long! This is a rhetorical pathos - phrase; it is an emotional appeal that belongs to African American funeral oratory. Aristotle calls this epideictic speech or ceremonial discourse. It is a way to appeal for future hope, it is a way to praise and avoid blame of an individual, group or subject. It is well known as a rhetorical device in African American Baptist’s culture. However, these words are preserved for giants of the faith like pastors, church officers and pillars of the church.
Warren Lewis was one of those giants. For more than forty two years, he served as pastor of Mount Tabor Church in Lewisburg, West Virginia; he began his pastorate there during his middle – twenties. What is more, he served as the secretary of the West Virginia Baptist State Convention for more than five decades; more than likely, he holds the longest tenure in the history of the Baptist state’s convention. Strangely, Lewis’ death is a larger story. His life’s work as a Baptist leader also is a kind of metaphor. What else died with Lewis? An era died as did a cultural understanding of how we do church.
There is a common way that most African American Baptists worship. Many local assemblies of Baptists do not permit drums or dancing in their churches; many do not permit or at least they discourage women and young girls from wearing pants in public services, and many do not permit women to preach. All these values are perceived to be correct biblical interpretation.
I support this as a right. Baptists believe in autonomy of a local congregation; this means they have the privilege and awesome responsibility to interpret scripture and therefore govern themselves by their discoveries, despite traditional and conventional hermeneutics and despite new hermeneutic reform. By this I mean, some biblical interpretation is conventional and well understood by all and other interpretation is less conventional and differently interpreted. For these reasons, culture may play a large role in understanding and implementation for faith into practice in a local body of believers. They have the right to be wrong; they have a right to be right too.
When King Hussein of Jordan died, his wife Queen Norah alongside then first lady Hillary Clinton, where not permitted to accompany Hussein’s body through final stages of the burial rites and ceremony. Only men were given that privilege and responsibility, but not their queen, not the king’s wife. By contrast, women were among the first to visit our risen Lord’s tomb, and they shared the good news with the disciples as the gospels boldly claim.
In early stages of the 21st century, most people in the world are painfully observing treatment of women in Afghanistan, Iraq and other Middle East countries, not to mention the misogynous atrocities that occur in Africa. Most emotionally object to this kind of treatment and moreover, find this behavior irrational to Western sense and sensibilities. Well at least today, once Western and American culture in particular, did not see any contradiction in how we discriminated against citizens. Slavery ended in 1865 and women did not receive the right to vote well into the 1920’s.
We see through a glass dimly and need the light of God’s Spirit to illumine for us the correct paths to take. What African American Baptists must grapple with is whether our theology is cultural or biblical. What are the absolute necessities for worship, faith and practice in an ever changing society? Does one size fit all? Alternatively, can we agree that some of what we do is not biblical theology, but cultural norms that lag behind? I am in the process or re-familiarizing myself with three seminal works: Christianity and Culture by T. S. Eliot, Christ and Culture by H. Richard Niebuhr and Theology of Culture by Paul Tillich. These books help us determine the differences between theology and culture. It may help us to understand the end of an era that died with its giants. Stay tuned….
Dr. Joseph Evans and Min. Marquez Ball discuss evangelism. Evangelism Part 2
Tags: Evangelims
I stood to speak to an aging delegation, they were people that I have known all of my life – it seems. I had worried that I may not rhetorically connect with them, since it had been so long that I stood before them. I am different; I am older and more seasoned and sure of my theological and rhetorical claims, some may not approve. I have come to praise not to blame. What is more, this was no ordinary occasion. It was a memorial service for my pastor who happened to be a leading figure in West Virginia Baptist’s circles for more than five decades.
Warren S. Lewis was a dominate figure with charismatic character and a clarion John the Baptist’s voice. He towered above his peers though he stood barely above five and half feet. It was his passion about his vocation that added to his height. In my view, he would have been the same, whether he were a minister or not. Often I saw him as an educator, perhaps a dean or president of a historically black college or university. At other times, I could see him as a litigator or maybe, a politician. He was gifted to do any and all of these things, but he chose ministry or as he often would say, “ministry chose him.”
In the early years, the crowds at the state’s convention were large and luminous. The convention had many heroes and heroines. I saw them as a boy; I was in awe of many of the ministers of our local churches. I met missionaries on furlough, and I would hear them speak of strange occurrences in strange lands, and often how they would battle unclean spirits with the Word of God! I would hear Warren Lewis give his executive secretary’s address to standing room only; sometimes the people would be in the class rooms listening, the petitions were withdrawn for them; others would stand just outside beneath a roofed in porch to hear the master of perspicuity deliver an address filled with figures, figures of speech, and challenges toward the future and how the people figured into them.
As I stood to speak, still after all of these years, under the spell of romantic memory, I was looking for heroes and heroines as a boy, I did. They were there but few in numbers. The people’s energy was far less; some appeared indifferent and others ambivalent about the future of the convention. The young did not replace the ranks; and in the next few days, I want to address some of the reasons why I think that is true….
Over the past days, uniformly, Mr. Obama has been criticized for meeting with Latin American leaders; namely Daniel Ortega and Hugo Chavez. Some may remember the 1980’s Iran Contra scandal, as it was called. It involved “guns for hostages.” Two worlds apart, Nicaragua and Iran were associated by an elaborate scheme to free Americans and aid Contras against the Sandinistas. In the middle of that with Bud McFarland, was Daniel Ortega. The Nicaraguan freedom fighter and today most do not care what side he was on; fewer remember, unless you are old enough and secondly, you may be a history or political science major. What is for sure, he has aged. Since I last saw him, he is middle – aged man with a receding hairline. Standing by Mr. Obama, he looks tired and out of step with current affair; and reportedly, he is one of the rogue leaders of Latin’s Central America but insignificant beside Obama who looks like an African American John Kennedy.
Hugo Chavez, the Venezuelan dictator called former president Bush “the devil.” American and Western journalists called him worse. Still, Chavez does not miss a photo opportunity, he finds his way beside Mr. Obama and mugs for the camera. Actually he looked in awe of Mr. Obama’s tan, smile height and panache. He too faired as insignificant alongside the American president. Chavez is friend of Cuba and in particular Mr. Fidel Castro and by association Mr. Raul Castro. Oil wells in Venezuela are flowing and American consumption is well documented.
Still American pundits, Scarborough and Buchannan, appear to be the two old men in the theater box seats, like those on the Muppet Show, grasping at straws to criticize Mr. Obama with vaudeville over the top criticism. They say Mr. Obama is naïve and does not stand up for American values, comparing Mr. Obama to many US Presidents who they declare would have torn into Ortega and Chavez and gave them a history lesson on democracy. On the same subject, Senator Ensign of Nevada suggests the president is irresponsible. Interestingly, I did not hear any of these fellows (at least one Catholic – Pre –Vatican II and an uninformed self – described evangelical who claims to be a Southern Baptist, though I sincerely doubt that) ask “What would Jesus do? Well Jesus did say:
Blessed are you when men hate you, and ostracize you, and insult you, and scorn your name as evil. Be glad in that day and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven. For in the same way their fathers used to treat the prophets. (Luke 6:22-23)
Perhaps some of our religious political pundits have read Isaiah, who said,
Come now, and let us reason together, says the Lord, though your sins are as scarlet, They will be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, They will be like wool.” (Isaiah 1: 18)
Okay, Ortega has been accused of sexual abuse of women (his step – daughter released a 48 page document that claims this filthiness; more so, he has been alleged to be a bank robber (Bank of America) and a ruthless leader of the Sandinista Liberation Front, and likely these things are true. Mr. Chavez, is a socialist, not a economic Marxist, maybe an agnostic, and does have a history of trying to overturn his country’s sitting government and other horrific charges, but they are the leaders of an important region of the world. Mr. Obama did not endorse them. Instead, he sit in the same room with them. He may be able to influence them but certainly he does not look week as the pundits say. He does risk looking Christ – like and willing to speak to those who may revile him, he is willing to reason with men that may have blood on their hands. He may do the same for Ensign, Scarborough and Buchannan.
Some may remember that I encouraged you to engage in this notion of a wealth gap; and that the gap is increasing in American but namely among blacks. Meizhu Lui, wrote the gap is is like a “deepening canyon.” Thus, the rich get richer and poor get poorer kind of thing I guess. Can we make more assumptions? I think so. First, it seems that we can make an assumption about education and the role it plays in wage earning and wage earning over a life time. There are stark differences in pay between college and non - college graduates. The number is graphically larger among African American college and non - graduates, not to mention women of all races; that is, there capacity to earn a living in comparison with their male counterparts.
There is a theological wind blowing in the land that frequently talks about prosperity. Almost cavalier, I suppose, they speak of health, wealth and other kinds of prosperity as a legal right. This right is afforded to them because they are children of the King. Through the means and willful pleasure of God; and because of the Christians’ rightful place in the kingdom of God, the believer gets “stuff.” “Give me my stuff back,” often I hear them say. Remember statistics suggests that a wealth gap is deepening and education among certain groups is broader hurdle. Jeffery Sachs has written a book called Common Wealth were he asserts that four trends that threaten us: human pressure on the earth, a dangerous rise in population, extreme poverty and a political climate characterized by “cynicism, defeatism and outdated institutions.” Sachs smartly says, “ In the 21st century our global society will flourish or perish according to our ability to find common ground across the world on a set of shared objectives and on the the practical means to achieve them.” What I hear him saying is “Lord let me give some of my stuff back.”
Okay, what I am suggesting is that we may need to find a better way of serving our Lord than suggesting that we need our heavenly Father to give us material things. Instead, we may need to pursue a new course and one that is better suited for survival of humanity in the 21 st century. I believe that the book of Ruth powerfully illustrates some of my thinking for the 21st century mind; and that is leave a little lagniappe in the fields for others. Some of us cannot keep up with technological and educational advantages. Don’t necessarily give it to them but let them glean as Ruth did. Share some of the wealth but earn it on the other side. I will try to do better next time….
Mr. Obama attended worship service at Saint John’s Episcopal church in Lafeyette Square; it’s near the White House. The Reverend Luis Leon, D.D. is the rector. I hear that he is a very fine man. In fact, over the years, many presidents have attended their services. Near the White House, it is conveniently located and it provides for easy presidential access. In additon to U.S. presidents, they have experience handling dignataries. But as an African American, that does not satisfy me.
In the afternoon, Mr. Obama reportedly attended the Denyce Graves’ concert in honor of Ms. Marian Anderson and Abraham Lincoln; also it should have been in honor of Mrs Eleanor Roosevelt. She organized the concert. Ms. Anderson was not permitted to sing at Constitution Hall, and as a response Mrs. Roosevelt arranged a protest concert on the mall with Father Abraham’s statue as its backdrop. It seemed that from his chair, Father Abraham, looked with disapproval over his reluctant children because, they would not fully intergrate. Like the Northern and Southern soldiers at Gettysburg, Mr. Lincoln earned his right to disapprove. Like the soldiers, he gave his full life’s measure. That concert was in 1939. Today, Ms. Graves who is no less capable than Ms. Anderson, sang on Easter, in cooperation with Abraham Lincoln’s Bicentennial Commission celebration. Mr. Obama was in attendance so I hear. But something is wrong.
Obama attends an Episcopalian Church on Easter morning; he goes to hear an African American mezzo - soprano in the afternoon. Traditonally, whites have too. Often they will go hear us sing but seldom, they do not join our churches. Mr. Obama was a member of Dr. Wright’s powerful church and the controversy with a single African American pastor seems to prevent Mr. Obama from attending an African American fellowship in the Washington area.
White folks out numbered black folks on the mall to hear Marian Anderson, I am sure. 75,000 people were reported to be in attendance that day including, U.S. supreme court justices, legistalators and 200 dignataries. For Ms. Graves, Mr. Obama should have been there for its symbolism; but for the majority of black folks, it is percieved that he cannot recognize thesame symbolism, and find an African American church for Easter worship in Washington, D.C. By the way, African American clergy are educated and sophisticated in Washington, and some hold earned terminal degrees in theology.
For African Americans, it is important that Mr. Obama affirm the very institution of people who made his march to Washington possible. It’s offensive and hurtful that on Easter, he misses an opportunity to worship and affirm us. Instead, he attends a “singing.” He is getting bad advice from his handlers; if white Americans cannot understand the significance of the Obama’s attending and becoming members of an African American fellowshp; still they are insecure. Presidents did not stop attending predominately white churches, because some did not believe in Ms. Anderson’s integration cause.
Mr. Obama may worship where spiritually he is fed and it may be with Rector Luis Leon’s congregation. However, Leon’s congregaton will not necessarily be a continuation of the abolitionist’s movement of Willam G. Allen nor Fredrick Douglass, Alexander Crummell and W. E. B. DuBois. Ms. Marian Anderson’s concert was not for us to be satisfied with African Americans singing on malls; it was for others to recogize if not accept, that African Americans have appropriate preparation alongsid talent. Mr. Obama, I believe that some African American congregations in Washington are sophisticated enough to facilate you; and some of Washington’s most prepared and talented clergy are African American. Unless you have misunderstood….
Easter Sunday Sermon was recieved well and has been loaded on the podcast for listeners. The sermon was expounded from Daniel 7. The goal was to orient auditors with Daniel’s interpretation of regimes or kingdoms of the world that would oppress and condition humanity to loose its divine hunger. Four kingdoms rise and three have fallen and history documents those truths. The fourth kingdom is a mystery and indeed it appears to be a world system and an ideology that spreads. A close reading of Daniel’s work suggests that only God destroys the fourth kingdom, not another rival economic kingdom emerging in history. Moreover, God’s Son arrives in the horizons, alongside ushering in his Kingdom is the correct interpretation of Daniel’s dream. Out of the shadows, Daniel sees Jesus defeating the world from the cross and all rival powers to the throne of God.
Tags: Easter