By now, if you were here yesterday, or the day before, you know the drill. I define spirituality as our understanding and practice of relationship with God. You also know that I address three questions to individuals and groups in the history of Christianity to discover or tease out their understanding and practice of relationship with God. Those questions are: What is sin and what are its consequences? What is salvation and what are its consequences? And, how does one get from sin to salvation and are there side effects?

On Thursday, I addressed these questions to the founders of the Stone-Campbell Movement. I suggested that their spirituality could be identified as theistic, because it focuses on knowing and loving God. As far as I can tell, this spirituality has never disappeared from any of the streams of the Stone-Campbell Movement. But, it’s had some competition. Yesterday I indentified two distortions of Stone-Campbell spirituality that had emerged before the end of the nineteenth century. I identify one of these distortions of Stone-Campbell spirituality as legalistic, because if focuses on knowing and obeying God’s law. I refer to the other as moralistic, because it focuses on knowing and promoting the social good. These two distortions of Stone-Campbell spirituality have been bumping around, merging with the founding spirituality of the Movement, and claiming more or less of the hearts of members of the movement for more than a century. Understanding these two distortions of Stone-Campbell spirituality, and especially how each of them produces the side effect of smugness or pride, helps to explain why our record as a Christian unity movement has not been, to date, as good as one have might expected for a Movement which claims Thomas Campbell’s Declaration and Address as one of its founding documents.

By the way, the legalistic and moralistic distortions of Stone-Campbell spirituality both emerged at particular moments in our history and were associated with particular issues. However, they are remarkably adaptive. The legalistic understanding and practice of relationship with God in our tradition has often focused on the purpose and mode of baptism, while embracing other matters as well. It can as easily focus on what it means to be a man or a woman, and the related issues of sexual orientation, gender roles, marriage, the ordination of women, the ordination of gays and lesbians, and what it means to be a Christian family. Likewise, the moralistic understanding and practice of relationship with God in our tradition has not been bound to one social or political ideology. Although there was a good bit of Americanism and Anglo-Saxon racism in the emergence of this distortion of Stone-Campbell spirituality, Americanism and Anglo-Saxon racism are not essential components of this spirituality. Indeed, this distortion of Stone-Campbell spirituality has sometimes been expressed in ways that seemed, to some observers, to be anti-racist and even anti-American. In the 1960s, members of a generation who had been influenced by a moralistic understanding and practice of relationship with God rose up to oppose what appeared to them to be fundamentally anti-Christian and anti-American practices: the exclusion of Blacks from an equal share in American life and what they believed to be a war of aggression in Southeast Asia. Others of that same generation, also much influenced by a moralistic understanding and practice of relationship with God, responded that Martin Luther King Jr. was a communist who represented a threat to the American way of life and that if Jesus were here today, he would be an American soldier in Vietnam.

If you think from these comments that I am opposed to obeying the law of God or would foreswear the church’s engagement with social and political issues, you are wrong. I will have more to say on this topic a bit later. But first, I need to describe yet another distortion of Stone-Campbell spirituality. This distortion of Stone-Campbell spirituality emerged in the first half of the twentieth century. Its roots can be found in the early decades of the twentieth century that have been called “the Era of the Psyche.” I refer to this distortion of Stone-Campbell spirituality as personalistic, as it focuses, not on knowing and loving God, but on knowing and improving oneself.

What is sin? Sin is the failure to become a whole person; the failure to realize one’s true self. What are the consequences of sin? First, one is unable to find fulfillment or satisfaction in life. Second, one is unable to give oneself to others in supportive and nurturing relationships. Some years ago I was a member of a wonderful Disciples congregation that included the following prayer of confession in its liturgical repertoire:

Gracious and Holy One, Creator of all things, and of emptiness, we come to you full of much that clutters and distracts, stifles and burdens us, and makes us a burden to others. Empty us now of gnawing dissatisfactions, of anxious imaginings, of fretful preoccupations, of nagging problems, of old scores to settle and the arrogance of being right. Empty us of the ways we unthinkingly think of ourselves as powerless, as victims, as determined by sex, age, race, as being less than we are, or other than yours. Empty us of the disguises and lies in which we hide ourselves from each other and responsibility for our neighbors and the world. Hollow out in us the space in which we will find ourselves, find peace and a whole heart, a forgiving spirit and holiness, the springs of laughter and the will to reach boldly for abundant life for ourselves and the whole human family, in the spirit of Jesus. Amen.

Did you notice that the congregation, of which I was a member, did not confess that we had sinned against God? Rather, we confessed that we had sinned against ourselves and our neighbors, and we asked God to help us find ourselves, that we might have abundant life and better serve our neighbors.

What is salvation? Salvation is to become a fully functioning self, a whole person. What are the consequences of salvation? The consequences are that one finds personal happiness and fulfillment and is enabled to contribute to the well-being and happiness of others.

How does one get from sin to salvation? By employing the therapy or spiritual practices best suited to address the particular issues in one’s life. Are there side effects? In one sense, there is no simple answer to this question, such as “humility” or “pride,” as different therapies and spiritual practices may have different side effects. At the same time, it would appear that a general consequence of this method of getting from sin to salvation is an abiding focus on oneself.

Now, at this point, you may be expecting a hymn. For the founding spirituality of the Stone-Campbell Movement it was “Amazing Grace.” For the legalistic distortion of that spirituality it was “Trust and Obey.” For the moralistic distortion of Stone-Campbell spirituality: “Stand Up, Stand Up for Jesus.” For whatever reason, maybe it’s the sheer range of therapies and spiritual practices by which persons can move from sin to salvation according to this perspective, I have not discovered a widely known hymn that expresses a personalistic understanding and practice of relationship with God. If you have one to suggest, you can send it to me at n.williams@tcu.edu.

If you are counting, we are now up to three distortions of Stone-Campbell spirituality bumping around and merging with the founding spirituality of the Movement. And, that completes my list. To begin summing up these “reflections” on Stone-Campbell spirituality, I would like to observe that the Stone-Campbell Movement has liked slogans. From Thomas Campbell: “The church of Jesus Christ on earth is essentially, intentionally, and constitutionally one,” and “Where the Scriptures speak, we speak; where the Scriptures are silent, we are silent.” From Barton Stone: “Let Christian unity be our polar star.” And, then those slogans for which we do not know the author: “No creed but Christ, no book but the Bible, no law but love, no name but the divine” and “We are Christians only, but not the only Christians.”

Two years ago, the General Assembly of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) meeting in Fort Worth, Texas affirmed a new one:

We are Disciples of Christ,
a movement for wholeness
in a fragmented world.
As part of the one body of Christ,
we welcome all to the Lord's Table
as God has welcomed us.

If we are going to live up to this slogan, or any of the earlier ones for that matter, we must have an understanding and practice of relationship with God that supports a movement for wholeness in a fragmented world; that enables us as part of the one body of Christ to welcome all to the Lord’s Table as God has welcomed us. I submit that the founding spirituality of the Stone-Campbell Movement represents such an understanding and practice of relationship with God.

For the founding generation of the Stone-Campbell Movement sin was the failure to be in love with God. The consequences being (1) that human beings, made to love God, cannot find happiness; (2), that not loving God, they reject God’s command to love God and neighbor; and (3) that upon death they are cut off forever from the possibility of relationship with God. Salvation was to be in love with God. The consequences were (1) the sheer joy of being in love with God, which is heaven on earth; (2) a determination to honor God in all areas of one’s life, both personal and public, which, in Alexander Campbell’s view, would—through the influence of a gospel proclaiming and united church—usher in the Millennium, a this-worldly reign of peace and justice; and (3) upon death, eternal joy in God’s presence. One got from sin to salvation by God’s grace. How? God shows us a view of God’s self in the gospel of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ that causes us to fall in love with God. Through baptism, God assures us of the forgiveness of our sins, and gives us the Holy Spirit by which we grow in love for God through every Lord’s Day celebration of the Lord’s Supper, and other practices of the church which bring the gospel before our minds, such as prayer, scripture study, meditation, fasting, confession of sins, and praise. The side effect of this way of salvation—in which God is the giver of every aspect of our salvation—was humility. Christians know that they have not and cannot save themselves. They are saved by grace.

This understanding and practice of relationship with God can support a movement for wholeness in a fragmented world; it can enable us as part of the one body of Christ to welcome all to the Lord’s Table as God has welcomed us. Why? Let me offer just two observations.

First, it focuses on knowing and loving God. The distortions of Stone-Campbell spirituality that I have described have as their end something less than knowing and loving God.

The legalistic distortion focuses on God’s law. And, the purpose of obeying God’s law is not to honor God, but to secure God’s favor now and in the life to come. And so, the focus is really on us.

The moralistic distortion focuses on the social good. The purpose is to advance the social good for our own benefit and the benefit of others. And, so, again the focus is on us, albeit an “us” that is larger than in the former case. And, the social good is always our perception of the social good which often overlooks the perspectives of persons who differ from us in language, race, and experience. We are not even aware that our structures and practices exclude the perspectives of others. Ron Sommerville, who teaches at Christian Theological Seminary, has written of his experience of the “unbearable whiteness of CTS” when he arrived there in 1994. Well, you know, I was there in 1994. I was the Dean and Vice President. I did not experience the whiteness of CTS as unbearable. How rarely does it occur to most of us to seek the perspectives of persons who differ from us. In Room at the Table, Sandhya Jha quotes Maureen Osuga describing her experience in predominantly white Disciples congregations: “None of the churches in my life included me in any overt, positive way. Hence I was included on their terms, and my “Japaneseness” was nonessential and invisible. I was not invited to share that part of myself, nor did it occur to me to offer. As I think back, to have pushed myself into those churches would have violated that inner sense of needing to be invited in as an outsider.”

With the personalistic distortion of Stone-Campbell spirituality the focus again is on us, since the purpose is to improve ourselves for our own sake and the sake of others.

To be sure, the leading concerns of the legalistic, moralistic, and personalistic distortions of Stone-Campbell spirituality are not bad in themselves, and, indeed, have a positive role in the context of theistic spirituality. Commitment to obeying God’s law, seeking to discern and advance the social good, working to heal and develop one’s own self, are all aspects of living a life that serves and honors God. The distortion is when the ultimate purpose of these concerns is to serve ourselves and our perceptions of the good rather than God. In the founding spirituality of the Stone-Campbell Movement there is a place for each of these concerns, but they do not take the place of God in the believer’s heart and mind. There is no forgetting in this understanding and practice of relationship with God that the end of life is not our own good, or even our perception of the social good, but the glory and honor of the God revealed in the Good News of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. A movement for wholeness in a fragmented world must have a purpose higher than our own well-being and our always limited perception of the social good.

The understanding of how we get from sin to salvation in the founding spirituality of the Stone-Campbell Movement is the second reason that it can help us live up to this new slogan. Every aspect of our salvation is a gift in the founders’ understanding and practice of relationship with God. As a consequence, the fundamental ingredient of Christian character is, as Thomas Campbell observed, humility. And, that humility, born of the experience of our salvation as gift, allows for genuine community in which we welcome all to the Lord’s Table as God has welcomed us. The understandings of how we get from sin to salvation in the legalistic, moralistic, and personalistic distortions of Stone-Campbell spirituality tend toward a sense of personal achievement or, to use the theological term, self-righteousness, which inhibits genuine community and increases the fragmentation of the world. A movement for wholeness in a fragmented world, a church that welcomes all to the Lord’s Table as Christ has welcomed us, must be rooted in an understanding that every aspect of our salvation is gift.

Tomorrow afternoon we will conclude this assembly with a communion service led by members of the Churches of Christ, the Christian Churches and Churches of Christ, and the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). There are differences that separate these three streams of the Stone-Campbell Movement. But we share much in common. We share the founding spirituality of the Movement and also in our own distinctive ways and measures the distortions of Stone-Campbell spirituality that have helped to divide us. One hundred years ago, the Christian Churches or Disciples of Christ stream of the Stone-Campbell Movement held a Centennial Celebration in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in recognition of the centennial of the publication of Thomas Campbell’s Declaration and Address. Christians associated with the Churches of Christ did not participate in any significant number. But the crowd gathered at Forbes field for communion numbered in the thousands.

Tomorrow’s service will be of greater significance. For the fact that we will be together from across the streams of the Stone-Campbell Movement is a testament to the abiding power of the Good News of God’s love in Jesus Christ to overcome alienation and mistrust.

As I bring to a close these reflections on Stone-Campbell Spirituality in recognition of the bicentennial of Thomas Campbell’s Declaration and Address, I would like to propose a hymn, written less than a quarter of a century ago, which expresses the founding spirituality of Stone-Campbell Movement. Think of it as a call to the communions that await us on the morrow. This time, I invite you to sing.

We gather here in Jesus name,
His love is burning in our hearts like living flame;
For through the loving Son the father makes us one:
Come, take the bread, come drink the wine, come, share the Lord.

No one is a stranger her, everyone belongs;
Finding our forgiveness here, we in turn forgive all wrongs.

He joins us here, he breaks the bread,
The Lord who pours the cup is risen from the dead;
The one we love the most is now our gracious host:
Come, take the bread, come drink the wine, come, share the Lord.

We are now a family of which the Lord is head;
Though unseen he meets us here in the breaking of the bread.

We’ll gather soon where angels sing;
We’ll see the glory of our Lord and coming King;
Now we anticipate the feast for which we wait:
Come, take the bread, come drink the wine, come, share the Lord.

We are Disciples of Christ, a movement for wholeness in a fragmented world. As part of the one body of Christ, we welcome all to the Lord’s Table as God has welcomed us.