Rev. Smith takes on the Gospel Coalition (The Gospel-Industrial Complex)

In the aftermath of the grand jury decision in Ferguson, Missouri and the more recent grand jury finding in New York City that police did not use excessive force to arrest Eric Garner, much has been said and written about "white privelege", racism, and the shortcomings of our legal system.

Earlier this week this issue became front and center at The Gospel Coalition. Thabiti Anyabwile posted an essay entitled 3 Reasons Why I Stand with the Protestors. I have my own opinions on this topic but will refrain from offering my own comment at this juncture.  Instead I will
point you to another essay challenging his perspective on the matter.  The Rev. William H. Smith also known as the Christian Curmudgeon, has been around long enough to see this sort of thing play out before.  Is this a topic to be addressed from the pulpit or when our churches gather in assemblies (for Presbyterians that means Presbytery and General Assembly)?   I'll allow Rev. Smith answer that question for you:

Thabiti Anyabwile Is Wrong

Race maps of America | Mail Online

Bet you can't identify this major U.S. city as represented by this map (double click to see a larger image).  The color coding is based on U.S. census data from 2000 (the most recent census data has not been released).  Each dot represents 25 people.  Pink = white, Blue = black, Orange = Hispanic, Green = Asian, Grey = other.  Any guesses?  Give up? 




The answer: Detroit.

A digital cartographer has used this data to create similar maps for other major U.S. cities.  Click here to see similar maps of other major U.S. cities.

The Belhar Confession & The RCA

Not long ago I listened to a sermon on the Belhar Confession (click here to read the confession). I learned that the General Synod of the Reformed Church in America (RCA) is meeting in a couple of weeks to consider its adoption. If adopted, it would stand alongside the Three Forms of Unity as the RCA’s official statement of belief.

This confession was created in 1982 in South Africa as a means to confront apartheid. As such, it clearly condemns the sins of racism, discrimination and segregation but it goes further to advocate unity, reconciliation and God’s justice. Those are admirable goals but does the church really need another confession to explain the commandment, “Love your neighbor as yourself”? I think that Leviticus 19 does a fine job illustrating how this is to be lived out.

After reading the confession and listening to this sermon I have one major observation/criticism: that the use of biblical terminology is slippery at best. The unity that is advocated seems broader than the unity Christ prayed for in John 17. In the face of human trafficking along with ‘wars and rumors of wars’ the desire for God’s justice is at least as old as the imprecatory psalms. Yet, I get the distinct impression that this longing for justice is not rooted in the tension of the ‘already…not yet.’ It is a naked belief that God’s justice can largely be achieved by human activity.

Likewise the application of reconciliation (II Corinthians 5) doesn’t ring true to the biblical text. The confession talks about reconciliation as if it is mostly on the horizontal level (i.e. man to man). In the sermon the pastor talked about reconciliation in terms of personal relationships. He said something like, “How many of you have solid friendships with people of another political persuasion? How many of you have close friends of another race? How many of you have close friends who are homosexuals?” While those might be good measurements of whether church members are involved in outreach and evangelism I don’t think that such friendships achieve the reconciliation spoken of by the Apostle Paul in II Corinthians 5.

In that passage Paul notes that God has been active, in the person of Jesus Christ, reconciling us (the elect) to himself. This reconciliation involves ‘not counting men’s sins against them’ (5:19). All believers have been given this ‘ministry of reconciliation’ and have been sent out into the world as God’s ambassadors (5:20). Verse 20 ends with Paul’s admonition that the Corinthians to be reconciled to God. What is this ministry of reconciliation? It appears to have two components. On the one hand Christians have been entrusted with a message of reconciliation to be heralded to a world in rebellion towards God. Reconciliation with God can only be achieved through faith in Jesus Christ. On the other hand Christians are called to live in a state of constant reconciliation to a holy God (vs. 20).

The Belhar Confession appears to overlook this biblical distinction. It argues for a type of reconciliation apart from the biblical Jesus. Moreover, its reconciliation is largely based on the horizontal plane between people.

I am not alone in my concerns. Richard Mouw has weighed in on an unforeseen application of the Belhar Confession – advocacy for gay and lesbian rights. Read, Mouw’s Musings - The President’s Blog » Allan Boesak: Earlier versus Later

Similarly, RCA pastor, Ken DeYoung of Lansing, Michigan has his own concerns: DeYoung, Restless, and Reformed: The Belhar Confession: Yea or Nay

In my opinion the RCA would be better off to not adopt the Belhar Confession choosing instead to put its energy into teaching and applying the Three Forms of Unity.

Motown at 50

Now for something totally unrelated to my most recent posts. This week marks the 50th anniversary of Motown Records in Detroit, Michigan. "So what?", you say. I say its an important thing to remember.

I found the following article by our neighbors to the north to be very insightful:

On Jan. 12, 1959, helped out by an $800 US loan from his family, a moderately successful songwriter named Berry Gordy Jr. founded Tamla Records in Detroit. The next year, the enterprise became better known as Motown, short for "Motor Town." Perhaps inspired by his city's auto industry, Gordy created a hit factory, a musical assembly line that churned out a quality product combining rhythm and blues, pop and soul.

Motown advertised itself as "The Sound of Young America." That was no overstatement. The label dominated the pop charts in the '60s, releasing countless three-minute epics about love: anticipating it, losing it or trying to regain it. Both black and white kids were listening, dancing along to the sleek soundtrack. One could argue that Motown advanced the idea of racial integration as much as any politician.

Did you catch that last sentence? I think that there's more truth to that than most people realize.

As a kid approaching my tenth birthday my family moved from our gritty, blue-collar community in Minnesota to Charlotte, North Carolina. It was a time of great social upheaval -- the Vietnam War was in full swing, college students were burning draft cards, MLK was dead, black power was on the rise, and rebellion was in the air. School desegregation (by force) was being implemented in Charlotte as it was across much of the South. So as a fourth grader I was suddenly thrust into a new setting where half of my classmates were black as were a good number of teachers and other employees at our school. I walked to this school but the black kids ages K - 4th grade were bused to this school. In grades 5 & 6 things were reversed with white kids riding a bus. So in fifth grade I rode a bus across town to an inner-city school (this would've occurred in sixth grade but my dad changed jobs and we moved out of state). Many white families rebelled against this and relocated to more distant communities.

My parents took another tack: they took me and my brothers aside and told us that there was nothing different between us and blacks. Their advice was quite simple and it was the same advice of Martin Luther King. When it comes to race treat everyone equally -- in fact remain colorblind. So even though half of my class was black I got along with them just like I did with the whites. I can still remember a black kid named Tyrone (I had never heard anyone in Minnesota with that name) who could outrun me by half a step. He was the fastest kid in our class and I was second. I still smile when I think of him needing to change shoes and put his "tenny pumps" on so that we could take laps around the field.

I also remember one of the black ladies who washed dishes in the cafeteria who was about the same age as my grandmother. One day as I returned my dishes and tray to be washed she made a comment that stunned me. As I put my silverware into the chute where it would slide into the sink below, she said, "You are one of the most polite children around here." At first I didn't know what she meant and I mumbled a "Thank-you." However, upon further reflection I realized that some of the white kids made a game of trying to stab those workers by looking down the chute and firing their forks down whenever they saw a hand or an arm.

Back to Motown and its music. At this age I had my own transistor radio and listened to Motown music as much as anything else. It reinforced what my parents told me as much as it helped me see the commonality between the races. As I grew older Motown music grew on me. Sure I liked rock music and could rattle off a bunch of bands that I enjoyed. But I always enjoyed Motown music and spent a lot of time listening to it on the radio. Part of its attraction were the incredible vocals. Another attraction was the instrumentation and beat. Many songs were about love -- love that was lost, love that was unrequited, love that was undying. But Motown artists had other themes too including politics and protest.

What's my favorite Motown song? That's hard to say. It depends on my mood. Here are some of my favorites (in no particular order):

"Superstition" - Stevie Wonder
"Ain't Too Proud to Beg" - The Temptations
"I Heard It Through the Grapevine" - Gladys Knight and the Pips
"Let's Stay Together" - Al Green
"Hot Fun In the Summertime" - Sly & the Family Stone
"Dance To The Music" - Sly & the Family Stone
"Ain't No Mountain High Enough" - Marvin Gaye
"Signed, Sealed, Delivered" - Stevie Wonder
"Thank-You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)" - Sly & the Family Stone

Songs of protest or with a political theme are also top contenders.

"Papa Was A Rolling Stone" - The Temptations
"Mercy, Mercy Me (The Ecology)" - Marvin Gaye
"Living For The City" - Stevie Wonder
"Superfly" - Curtis Mayfield

Sometimes Motown songs drew on biblical themes. Curtis Mayfield's "(Don't Worry) If There's A Hell Below We're All Going To Go" is a powerful interpretation of the truths found in Romans 1:18-3:20 (with a call to repentance included).

I could go on and make other comments but let me cut it short. My all-time favorite Motown song is "Everyday People" by Sly & the Family Stone. Much of my enjoyment of this song comes from having lived it out. The lesson my parents taught me as a 4th grader has served me well. Yet it grieves me that the song is still so relevant for today.

For a nice article summarizing Motown's 50th anniversary click on this link: Motown at 50

Feel free to comment on your own favorite Motown hit.

“Ain’t No Stoppin’ Us Now”

Over at WORLD magazine (online) Dr. Anthony Bradley, Assistant Professor of Theology at Covenant Theological Seminary has written a piece chronicling the election night jubilation in St. Louis, Missouri among the African-American community. He is no supporter of President-elect Barack Obama's, policies on abortion and economics, but he writes sympathetically as one who has felt the sting of racism.

I’ve been told my whole life that a black man could never become the nation’s president. I will never forget hearing those words escape the mouth of Peter Jennings a few years ago on the “ABC Nightly News,” as he reported the findings of a study on race.

I stood in front of the television stunned and discouraged.

Last night, however, the idea that someone other than a white man, a mixed-race man, in fact, could become president became a reality. The realization of this idea created a contagion of cheers and weeping. I wish my grandparents, who lived under the tyranny of Jim Crow laws in the South and through the turmoil of the civil-rights movement, could have lived to see what happened last night. They would be very happy.

One part of the article struck me particularly hard when he compared the lack of minorities in the leadership of the Republican party to the lack of minority leaders among evangelicalism:

The Republican Party will soon die if does not find a way to reflect America’s shifting racial demographics. For the past six years, there has not been a single black Republican governor, senator, or representative in Congress. Running a party for a shrinking demographic is unsustainable.

A black pastor friend in North Carolina called and asked, “Anthony, can you believe it?” We were sobered by the fact that evangelicalism essentially has no Asians, Latinos, or blacks that share the influence and respect of men like John Piper, Tim Keller, John MacArthur, Mark Dever, James Dobson, Chuck Colson, and so on (unless the topic is related to race). Oddly, conservative evangelical’s favorite black go-to guy is a Roman Catholic named Alan Keyes. Is that the best evangelicals can come up with?

You can read the rest of his post here. CAUTION - Some of the comments posted in the response to the article are inflammatory and offensive.

On a related note, if you read Modern Reformation magazine I would encourage you to dig out the Jan-Feb. 2008 issue entitled, Grace Over Race. If you don't subscribe you can access it here

African American Churches in the PCA

Here is a side of the PCA that many people don't know about -- African American pastors and congregations. What is very encouraging is that these churches are not all inner-city missions. Many are reaching out to the burgeoning black middle class while others are multi-ethnic.

I've had some personal dealings with people involved in this work. Our home church, Covenant Presbyterian Church, in Fayetteville, Georgia helped Redemption Fellowship get established. Its current pastor, Mike Higgins, was also in seminary with me.

Given the large African-American presence here in Michigan I'd love to see our presbytery work and pray to start similar works in Detroit, Flint, Lansing and anywhere else where interested people might be found.

Race and the Gospel - Thabiti Anyabwile

T4G (Together for the Gospel) was held last week in Louisville. Here is a great clip about the gospel as it relates to race. What might we do about it in our church and in our city?

Anthony Bradley on Headline News Network

Anthony Bradley, Fellow at the Acton Institute in Grand Rapids, Michigan and Professor of Theology at Covenant Theological Seminary in St. Louis, Missouri was a guest on the Glenn Beck program yesterday. He has written three articles for Glenn Beck's most recent newsletter on the topic of Black Liberation Theology. His conclusion is that Rev. Jeremiah Wright's comments and beliefs fall into this category.

While Senator Barak Obama has distanced himself from the most inflammatory of Rev. Wright's comments it makes you wonder if how much of Black Liberation Theology (with its Marxist tendencies) he still holds.

The Obama Bargain - WSJ.com

Shelby Steele, research fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution, wrote an insightful piece last week in the Wall Street Journal. Steele, who is black, does an outstanding job explaining Obama's appeal. Unlike Jesse Jackson and Rev. Al Sharpton who are confrontational, Obama strikes a bargain with whites: if you don't hold race against me I won't make you feel guilty about slavery, Jim Crow laws, etc. Here is an important quote

"How to turn one's blackness to advantage? The answer is that one "bargains." Bargaining is a mask that blacks can wear in the American mainstream, one that enables them to put whites at their ease. This mask diffuses the anxiety that goes along with being white in a multiracial society. Bargainers make the subliminal promise to whites not to shame them with America's history of racism, on the condition that they will not hold the
bargainer's race against him. And whites love this bargain -- and feel affection for the bargainer -- because it gives them racial innocence in a society where whites live under constant threat of being stigmatized as racist. So the bargainer presents himself as an opportunity for whites to experience racial innocence. This is how Mr. Obama has turned his blackness into his great political advantage..."

Read the rest below:

The Obama Bargain - WSJ.com