quote without comment

"It were better to be of no church than to be bitter for any."

--William Penn, as quoted by Harry Emerson Fosdick, in The Living of These Days, An Autobiography, Harper and Brothers, 954, p.116.

Follow-up on the below

It occurred to me after posting the below (hypothetical inquiry about what I would save from our home in case of a fire/evacuation/misc disaster) that we actually came very close to such an event. It was the spring of 2002, in April, in the middle of spring thunderstorm season in our beloved middle Tennessee.

Laura, 8 months along with Darby and at home under doctor-ordered bed-rest, had settled in for another morning of boring morning television when a unreal clap of thunder exploded outside our den. Lightning struck our neighbor's home (the electric meter box/pole apparatus) simultaneously sending high voltage to every outlet, light fixture and switch in the house. By the time Laura realized what was happening the house was already well on its way to being the total loss it turned out to be. She estimates that it took under five minutes for the house to be utterly unapproachable. For a while the firefighter trained their hoses on our home to prevent our roof from catching. We had to replace the siding on that side of the house, as the neighbors on the other side and the folks directly behind us. It was some big fire.

Our neighbors were not at home at the time. The husband, a policeman with firefighting training, was, ironically on patrol and was the first responder at the scene (of his own home burning to the ground). By the time he arrived there was nothing to do but stand (in the street due to the heat) and watch his home and its contents burn. They were able to salvage a few photos, some items belonging to the children, and a family quilt. All else was lost. Had they been asleep, there was a possibility of getting out, but not a certainty. Certainly no time to think about what to gather, what to keep, or the like.

That afternoon I purchased a fire safe for photo negatives and some documents we have here (that are not in the lock-box). That evening we watched Laura on the news (it made the news for two days straight, partly due to the fact that our neighbor was a key officer in the Captain-D's murder investigation, locals will know what I mean by that), made the rounds through the neighborhood with an empty coffee can taking up money for our neighbors, but slept little. Now we have no problem remembering to replace the batteries in our smoke alarms. But we do have difficulty sleeping during thunderstorms.

Your Study is on Fire

and you only have time to grab a box or two of books and papers (or worse, maybe one or two books). Which ones would you choose and why?

With good reason the Malibu fires have been front and center the last few days. On the drive in (made painfully slow this morning by the first rain we've had in months) I thought about what it must be like to have to decide what to pack in a car trunk or backseat as you abandon your home and its contents.

Assuming that Laura and the girls are safe, I wonder what I would, if I could, do about all our blasted stuff.

Truth be told, I have no deep sentimental attachment to our house. I feel the same way about most everything in it, with very few exceptions. Of all the furniture we own, we only purchased one piece (an antique couch for our living room, and that a fabulous deal). There are about 5 pieces of furniture that hold sentimental value to either or both Laura and I. We have a few things that are important to us, but they are important because of who gave it to us or what it means in intangible terms to us and our girls; but the rest is filler I could easily live without.

My books, though, are a different story. Having inherited about 500 items (books, periodicals, and tracts) of Restoration material, I admit to no mean anxiety over being compelled to choose from among them.

At or near the top of the list would be a copy of Alexander Campbell's Lectures on the Pentateuch inscribed by my great-great grandfather in 1867. I have a few volumes with my great-grandfather's and grandfather's notes inscribed within. I have some portraits and photographs I would grieve over if lost. There are some textbooks with my own notes inside (which are not at all valuable aside from the memories they hold and courses and colleagues they represent). I have a few hundred handwritten sermons from KC Ice and MC Ice.

The rest of my library took a long time to acquire, were a joy to acquire, and remains a privilege to own and read and study. But I could manage without them (I would hope so). There are any number of books I'd love to keep, but the ones I'd grieve over are special not because they are rare or valuable or in super condition (though I have some that are all the above), but they are special for other, deeper, reasons.

The images of Malibu puts in perspective our worst materialistic tendencies. At the same time, already we are hearing stories of heroism, sacrifice and service. If we are patient we will see emerge before us and within us reminders of those things which fire cannot destroy. And if we are discerning, those things which distract us will become more and more perspectivized and we will see them as they are: of little true worth. And finally, if we are wise, we will cling all the more tenaciously to the former even as we shed ourselves of the latter.

And so to bed.

Lindsley Avenue Photographs

Add these to the stack

The two newest additions to my library are both by Bart Erhman: Misquoting Jesus and The Lost Gospel of Judas Iscariot. I picked them up at Smyrna Public Library for a buck apiece. Gotta love the book sale table!

I'm reading Harry Emerson Fosdick's autobiography, The Living of These Days, now. When finished I may work up a little review of it. I'm eager to read Erhman (especially Misquoting Jesus). Note this blurb from the jacket: "In Misquoting Jesus, Ehrman tells the story behind the mistakes and changes that ancient scribes made to the New Testament and shows the great impact they had upon the Bible we use today. He frames his account with personal reflections on how his study of the Greek manuscripts made him abandon his once ultraconservative views of the Bible." If that blurb won't sell a book, nothing will. I'm expecting a lively and engaging read.

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In other news, I heard something about the World Series. What's a World Series? I haven't followed baseball since the strike. Humpph... Now, back to my coffee, which I'll be drinking from a blue enameled cup (that one's for you, Mark Manry). :)

We do not lose heart

We Do Not Lose Heart…
Homecoming Sermon for Lindsley Avenue Church
October 14, 2007
McGarvey Ice

Text: 2 Corinthians 4.1 :…since we have this ministry, as we received mercy, we do not lose heart…. [NASB]

Trouble in the Biblical Text
SIGH Look at what we are up against! Division, personal enemies and opponents of our ministry who would discredit our ministry and distort our teaching. Deep-seated racism and class-hatred in the church, false and misleading teaching on a host of issues, envy and sectarianism, blatant immorality, a crisis of leadership. Why, our worship assemblies sometimes look more like chaotic gatherings to the gods of wine and love than moments of divine grace before the Lord of Life. Our city is on the one hand famous for its cosmopolitan character and on the other hand notorious for its lack of moral character. SIGH, look at what we are up against!
I wonder what it must have been like to be one of Paul’s associates during the years he labored and corresponded with the Christians at Corinth. Sosthenes, Timothy and Titus, along with others, shared ministry with Paul and had a part in the writing and delivering of letters (not to mention personal visits) to and from Corinth. Paul’s ministry in Corinth, and the time he spent in contact with the church there spanned a number of years and a number of letters. What we know is that the church was situated in one of the more important trade centers of the Mediterranean theater. It was truly cosmopolitan and offered the best of Greek and Roman culture. At the same time it offered the worst of idolatry, immorality and competing stories by which life could be lived. Into this circumstance Paul and others declare the good news of God: that Jesus Christ was crucified and buried and is now raised from the dead. Into this situation Paul and others declare that the way of Jesus is the story by which we live. And yet, the church at Corinth is a congregation divided. Personalities, false doctrine, class, ethnic and racial identities, sin, would woo the church from the foundation laid for them in Christ. No wonder we could easily imagine Paul letting out a deep and painful sigh as he receives the latest news or correspondence from his beloved Corinth.

Trouble in the Present Day
One-hundred fifty years ago Cherry Street Christian Church in downtown Nashville was hailed by many as the finest church in the city. It certainly had the finest building, and her minister, Jesse Babcock Ferguson, was praised as the best preacher in the South. But the church was troubled. A few years into his ministry, Ferguson has clearly and openly espoused Universalism and Spiritualism and the peace of the congregation was deeply upset. In fact, when Alexander Campbell himself paid a visit to the Nashville church to assist them, Ferguson left the city, claiming that the ghost of William Ellery Channing had warned him not to meet Campbell. At one time the church was strong, with many capable workers teaching and ministering. But in the late 1850’s the church was broken. In the midst of what we now call the “Ferguson Affair” David Lipscomb began preaching in the suburbs of the growing city. He preached in East Nashville, North Nashville, and here, in South Nashville. After the civil war, as the city was reconstructing itself, this area of town was the intellectual center of Nashville. The universities were here, a good deal of wealth was here. But between this hill and downtown was a slum known as Black Bottom. In the years before the Cumberland River was controlled by dams, that low area would flood and the rich black silt from the river gave the area its name. It was, by all accounts, one of the worst places in Nashville, and its was just down the hill from where we sit this morning. This area of town offered the best and the worst of one of the key cities in the South during Reconstruction. And this area of town would be the place where David Lipscomb would devote the remainder of his life as Elder of the South College Street Christian Church. His first audience in the 1850’s was three ladies and little boy. By 1877, 130 years ago, the little band was able to purchase a corner lot a block from here. A decade later in 1887 they were able to build a building and the congregation grew. As they grew they faced grievous obstacles and grand opportunities. Life in the church in Nashville was in some ways similar to that in Corinth. There was division; there were competing stories that vied for a place in the hearts of Christians. Racism, class-hatred and sectarianism were constant issues. I suspect that David Lipscomb, T. B. Larimore, James A. Harding, J. C. Martin, W. H. Timmons and others could echo Paul’s deep sigh for the church.

Grace in the Biblical Text
Deep as that sigh might have been, Paul was convinced that division, personal enemies, doctrinal upheaval, and immorality would not have the final say as to the hope of the church. For Paul had declared to the Corinthians that the one who establishes them both in Christ and who anointed and who sealed them, and who gave to them the Holy Spirit as a pledge is none other than God himself. Furthermore, Paul declares, as many as are the promises of God, they are YES in Christ Jesus. Paul’s ministry in Corinth is not based upon nor is it rooted in his own personality, his own ethnicity, his own social status, or his own teaching. Paul’s ministry is rooted in the gracious act of God in Christ. His ministry from first to last is Christ, indeed, to sum it up, as God’s promise to us in Christ is YES, so our response and our ministry is AMEN (2 Cor. 1.19-22).
Into troubled Corinth, with all of its promise and all of its peril, Paul declares that God’s gracious promise to us in Christ is YES. Paul will go on to say that his adequacy comes not from himself, but from God (2 Cor. 3.5). For Paul there is something that stands beyond the troubles of the moment that roots and grounds ministry: the grace of God and the mercy of God and the ministry of God. How else could he be hopeful for Corinth? How else could he be so confident as to declare the gospel in that city? How else could he deal so boldly yet patiently and lovingly and tenderly with the church in Corinth? How could he except for the prior work of God? How could he but for the mercy of God and the ministry with which God had blessed him?

Grace in the Present Day
2 Cor. 4.1: “Since we have this ministry, as we received mercy, we do not lose heart…” David Lipscomb comments concerning this verse that “as God had committed to him so great a trust, he would not be discouraged or disheartened by the great persecution he endured.” J. W. Shepherd adds that “there was nothing so deep down in his sould, nothing so constantly in his thoughts, as this great experience. No flood of emotion, no pressure of trial, no necessity of conflict, ever drove him from his moorings here. The mercy of God underlay his whole being.”
How else could David Lipscomb, T. B. Larimore, James A. Harding and others declare the gospel in Nashville in the 1850’s, or in 1887, or how can we declare it today given the circumstances we face? How can David Lipscomb dare to plant a congregation when the best and brightest his church had to offer turned out to be a shame to the brotherhood across the South? How can he be so confident as to plant a congregation between his city’s intellectual center and her most squalid slum? How could he but for the mercy of God and the ministry with which God charged him?
How can we venture forth with the good news? When we look around our city we would could very well sigh and shake our heads and say look at what we are up against. Look at how we are afflicted! Look at how we are perplexed! Look at how we are persecuted! Look at how we are struck down! Look at what we are up against!
Henri J. M. Nouwen says this, “Our lives are full of brokenness. Broken dreams, broken relationships, broken promises. How can we live with that brokenness except by returning again and again to God’s faithful presence in our lives?”
Paul says, “We do not preach ourselves but Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your bond-servants for Jesus’ sake. For God, who said, who said, “Light shall shine out of darkness,” is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, so that they surpassing greatness of the power will be of God and not from ourselves; we are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not despairing; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. For we who live are constantly being delivered over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.
How can we lay down our lives in such brokenness? We can, since we have this ministry. We can, because we have received mercy. We can because of what God in Christ has done for us and is doing through us for our city. Because of God’s faithful presence in our lives, we do not lose heart. Amen.

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Postscript: This sermon attempts two things: first I attempt to speak a good word to a congregation on a special anniversary. To that end the sermon recounts some measure of that congregation's history, but places that history in a sermonic context and not a Sunday School class or history lecture context. I am not trying to lecture on the history of the congregation, I am using the history of the congregation as a resource for a sermon to the congregation. Secondly, I attempt to speak a good word to a congregation that deeply desires to minister to a nieghborhood of Nashville that is notorious for drug and gang activity. Though in part revitalized, the area has a way to go. A combination of the southern interstate loop around the central city and the urban development initiative of the 1960's produced a depressed ghetto. Yet the congregation did not leave, or fold, or relocate. Instead, they stayed. And Sunday was a special day when several former members returned. I wanted therefore to speak a word that would contribute to the present work of the congregation, and more than that, to ground ministry in the good news of God in Christ. So the sermon is an attempt to do specific historical theology for the good of a local congregation. As to form, I took a cue from Paul Scott Wilson's "four pages of the sermon" and structured my sermon accordingly: trouble in the biblical text, troble in our world, grace in the biblical text, grace in our world (cf. Thomas Long, The Witness of Preaching 2nd ed., 128-129). One other thing, I did not footnote my quotations.

Lindsley Avenue Homecoming

It was my pleasure to speak yesterday at Lindsley Avenue Church of Christ in Nashville for their Homecoming Sunday. Lindsley Avenue is the oldest Church of Christ in Nashville, having grown from the preaching of David Lipscomb in South Nashville (as early as 1855). By 1877 they purchased a lot at the corner of Third Avenue South (then known as College Street) and Ash Street. A decade later they completed a brick building (which is no longer standing) and under the preaching of T. B. Larimore the congregation was set in order. That was November 1887, so this years' homecoming marks their 120th Anniversary. From what I can gather they can legitimately claim to go back to the 1850's although they existed for years as a "mission" church. It seems that they did not have elders and deacons and may not have met every week to observe the Lord's Supper and carry out a program of ministry until Larimore's meeting gave them a real boost in 1887. Although not set in order, they did have an active Sunday School (which was quite large) even though they conducted in rented quarters until the building was completed.

It was this congregation that David Lipscomb served as elder from 1887 until his death thirty years later, in November 1917. This church piques my interest becuase it is one thing to read what Uncle Dave writes each week in the Advocate; this church's story shows what life is like in a congregation, week in and week out, under Lipscomb's pastoral care. I'm not suggesting there is a disconnect between what he writes and what he practices; I suggesting that this church provides a wider frame of reference for understanding Lipscomb that simply the pages of the Advocate. At any rate, having outgrown their building, they purchased the Presbyterian meetinghouse at Second and Lindsley Avenues in 1920. At that time the Carroll Street Christian Church (which had swarmed from South College Street) returned and the two congregations took the name Lindsley Avenue Church of Christ. The building is an eclectic Romanesque example of 1890's church architecture, originally constructed for the Grace Cumberland Presbyterian Church in 1894. The older photo to your right is from 1896, when the Grace Church and her pastor were featured in the Centennial Album of Nashville (the same Centennial which gave us, among other things, Centennial Park and the Parthenon).

I'll have more to say about this congregation, the building, and the area of town (not to mention the ministry Uncle Dave pastored) in future posts. Needless to say, I have a new research interest. Tomorrow I'll try to post additional photos of the interior of the building I took yesterday. I'll also post my sermon.

the life of the mind for the good of the church

That was my advice to a senior Lipscomb Bible major a few weeks ago. She will make a fine minister, but for now she has to take a difficult senior-level course (and pass it to graduate, of course). I commiserated with her bit, since I took the same course, from the same prof.

Then I offered unsolicited advice: to see the course not as a required course, but as discipline of the mind for the sake of ministry. I urged her to pursue the life of the mind for the good of the church. I reminded her that the church needs competent ministers, leaders and teachers. I urged her to persevere for the sake of the rest of us. For the love of pete and all that's holy, the course is not just a course for a degree, it is one part of a process of preparation for ministry to and on behalf of the church. Instead of short-circuiting that process, immerse yourself in it fully and richly! Do it for yourself and do it for the rest of us.

I was fortunate to have good people in my life who proffered the same advice, and I was blessed with good teachers who understood it themselves and who continue to serve the academy and the church. I was blessed by collegial academic and ministerial stimulation from a circle of friends who have prospered (and still do!) in both the academy and in the church. I was also witness to colleagues in school who took the path of least resistance. Of those few I can think of none that are in ministry at all today. But I'm hopeful for my younger colleague: that she will bless the church by loving God with all her mind. And I'm hopeful for the church, for the rest of us, who will be blessed by the gifts of the rising generation of ministers.

Ahhhh

It’s about time we left the 80’s. Fall and Winter are my favorite seasons. I’m hoping for a winter as cold and snowy as the summer was hot and humid.

10.5

Grandad would have been 98 today. I have blogged about him before. I have cooking several more posts about him that I would like to post in the future: an essay I did for a college English course, a few memories, some biography, photographs.

In a few weeks we’ll head north to Columbus for a Thanksgiving weekend with Laura’s brother and family. On previous trips north Laura has not only indulged me but insisted that we drive by the house where my father and his siblings were born and grew up. The last trip Darby was old enough to understand somewhat of the significance of the visit. The farm of my father’s childhood was then 9 miles outside the city limits, near Reynoldsburg, in a hamlet called Brice. Now the city surrounds it as suburbs replaced farmland. No longer in the family, it now sits empty and awaits either a buyer or a backhoe. I’ve not been to Grandad’s grave; I think this year I will go.

The Ohio air will be crisp in late November. The trees will be bare, save for a few remaining leaves which refuse to fall. The black dirt will be spongy and wet, perhaps even blanketed in snow. The sky will be grey. In short, a perfect day for corduroy pants, a tweed jacket, a hot cup of coffee. On that crisp November day I will miss Grandad, but I will relive many happy memories. I will remember seemingly endless drives north to Columbus when I was a boy (many of them for Thanksgiving). I will remember walking up the bricked path to the house and the squeak of the screen door. I will remember the moment of first entrance into that century-old farmhouse, sans central heating and plumbing, to be greeted by its symphonic atmosphere of smell, sight and sound. I will remember seeing Grandad in his rocking chair. Chances were good he’d be reading one of three things: this week’s Christian Standard, this month’s Word and Work or a Louis L’Amour western. About his head and hovering across the room would have been the hazy and sweetly aromatic cloud of Granger, Prince Albert, or Half and Half.

Such good memories.

Are your church records safe?

http://www.tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071003/COUNTY10/710030449/1006/NEWS

I don't know about the records of the Commerce Church of Christ near Watertown (east of Nashville near Lebanon), but I suspect that if a fire (or flood, or tornado, or...) were to destroy most any church building, the records of membership, baptisms, and ministry would not survive.

If you have, or know of anyone who has, valuable congregational records, please contact me at Disciples of Christ Historical Society. Upon donation, your irreplaceable congregational records will be properly sorted, processed, filed and boxed. They will then be housed in a climate-controlled and access-controlled secure environment in perpetuity. Here they will be available to researchers, genealogists, church historians and students such as contact me for research assistance on a daily basis.

McGarvey Ice
Public Services Archivist
Disciples of Christ Historical Society
1101 19th Avenue, South
Nashville, TN 37212-2196
615.327.1444
http://www.discipleshistory.org/
ice@discipleshistory.org
The Future of History

Commodores, Buckeyes, and Bow-ties

Gordon Gee, bow-tied former Chancellor at Vanderbilt, is the new President at The Ohio State University:

http://www.osu.edu/features/2007/welcomegee/

out of the frying pan, into the fire

Fall has arrived (albeit still on the warm side) in my beloved Middle Tennessee and that means lunch outside. Today I walked over to Vanderbilt Divinity School, polishing off a bag of chips and 7-Up, to inquire about Mark Noll’s upcoming Cole Lecture. He will be speaking Thursday 10.11 and Friday 10.12 on The Bible in American Public Life. On the way back, promotional flyer in hand, I stopped by the Divinity Library. Then it struck me, what am I doing leaving one library to go to another on my lunch hour?

We’ll see if my schedule allows for a jaunt across 21^st on October 12. As for the forays into the Divinity Library, well, what can I say?