{"id":2951,"date":"2010-10-03T12:08:39","date_gmt":"2010-10-03T16:08:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.drslewis.org\/camille\/?p=2951"},"modified":"2010-10-03T12:08:39","modified_gmt":"2010-10-03T16:08:39","slug":"yadah-yadah-yadah-2-0","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.drslewis.org\/camille\/2010\/10\/03\/yadah-yadah-yadah-2-0\/","title":{"rendered":"Yadah, Yadah, Yadah 2.0"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"I’ve been reading Klan literature. The histories, the newspapers, the sermons, the money trail, the facts. It’s very, very, very sobering. As much as it makes my gut roil, I have to admit that the beginnings of fundamentalism were intimately intertwined with the Klan ideology. The historian I’m reading right now clarifies that the Klan exploited the fundy discontent and disempowered status for its money-making potential. Perhaps. Perhaps they were duped with egotistical appeals for the sake of the almighty dollar. Perhaps it was just a violent money-making pyramid scheme with torches and sinister costumes. I’m not so sure.<\/p>\n

But everything’s starting to make sense now. My family’s stories about growing up as immigrants in Detroit and my grandparents’ distrust of all things Baptist. The Polack jokes I heard from the BJU pulpit over the years. The hatred of all things Catholic. The creationism. The conservative politics. The misogyny. The violent ethics. The secrecy. The unorthodox “use” of Jesus for His moral example. It’s all there. In both fundamentalism and the Klan.<\/p>\n

I heard a story this weekend from a friend and fellow graduate of BJU. He was applying for a job here in Greenville and made it all the way through to the third interview — a mere formality at that point. The African-American manager took one look at the man’s undergraduate degree on his resume and politely ended the interview right then and there.<\/p>\n

I remember the city’s Christmas parade last December. It was a silly but joyful event. Dogs dressed as Christmas trees. Little preschoolers dancing like snowmen. Local politicians, chiropractors, the YMCA — they were all there. The BMW employees next to us cheered for their friends’ folk dancing troupe. Grandmas offered their blankets to our shivering wee ones. It was a perfect community event. We were all having a good time together.<\/p>\n

Until. . . . the Bob Jones University float passed. Its presence cast a pall over the whole crowd. You could hear the crickets chirping above their choral singing. The African-American family next to us looked at their feet and cleared their throats. It sucked the joy right out of the celebration.<\/p>\n

Despite BJU’s desperate insistence that it has a terrific reputation in the Greenville community, it doesn’t. And I’m slowly finding the documentation to prove why. For my BJU administrative readers and BJU IT web whackers, you won’t find me posting that data here, so you don’t need to lurk and rip. There’s too much data. It requires more analysis than is suitable for a blog.<\/p>\n

But I want to confess this sin again. This sin of racism. For the sake of my neighbors and former and future students, for the sake of this town, for the sake of my sons, for the sake of Jesus, I want to identify and repent of that sin. For the most part, I’m just going to re-post a previous blog series<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\n

1 Count yourself lucky, how happy you must be\u2014 you get a fresh start,
\nyour slate’s wiped clean.<\/p>\n

2 Count yourself lucky\u2014
\nGod holds nothing against you
\nand you’re holding nothing back from him.<\/p>\n

3 When I kept it all inside,
\nmy bones turned to powder,
\nmy words became daylong groans.<\/p>\n

4 The pressure never let up;
\nall the juices of my life dried up.<\/p>\n

5 Then I let it all out<\/a>;
\nI said, “I’ll make a clean breast of my failures to God.”<\/p>\n

Suddenly the pressure was gone\u2014
\nmy guilt dissolved,
\nmy sin disappeared.<\/p>\n

6 These things add up. Every one of us needs to pray;
\nwhen all hell breaks loose and the dam bursts
\nwe’ll be on high ground, untouched.<\/p>\n

7 God’s my island hideaway,
\nkeeps danger far from the shore,
\nthrows garlands of hosannas around my neck.<\/p>\n

8 Let me give you some good advice;
\nI’m looking you in the eye
\nand giving it to you straight:<\/p>\n

9 “Don’t be ornery like a horse or mule
\nthat needs bit and bridle
\nto stay on track.”<\/p>\n

10 God-defiers are always in trouble;
\nGod-affirmers find themselves loved
\nevery time they turn around.<\/p>\n

11 Celebrate God.
\nSing together\u2014everyone!
\nAll you honest hearts, raise the roof!<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Psalm 32<\/p>\n

I’m more than a little surprised at how different this Presbyterian thing feels. I mean, I’m not uninformed about American religion — especially among conservative Protestants. At least, so I thought. But now that we’ve attended several PCA churches locally and although their worship “styles” have varied, one thing is consistent and that’s the thing I find most startling.<\/p>\n

Each service re-presents, rehearses, and reviews the Gospel. In my previous life, that might mean something heavily evangelistic. And I intimately know many fundamentalist ministries who are overtly trying to be God-centered (code for “Reformed”). All that aside, this Presbyterian thing is more deliberate, more routine, and, it seems to me, more tried-and-true. Dare I call it liturgical?<\/p>\n

You often hear so-called non-denominational conservative Protestants scolding their more market-savvy brothers for being too man-centered in their worship. “Worship,” you’ll hear, “is not about you. It’s about God.”<\/p>\n

Well, no. It’s not. It’s about both. Presbyterians get that. Sean Michael Lucas<\/a> — fellow BJU alum and, I’m pretty sure, a former student of mine way, way back when because he looks so<\/em> familiar — explains it this way<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Our belief [is] that worship is covenantal would mean that in worship there is a two way movement between God and his people. Some people have even suggested that in worship there is a dialogue between God and his church. God is the one who makes the first move toward us be calling us to worship, and we respond by invoking his presence in our midst. And the rest of worship is a movement back and forth between God and his beloved people, a movement in which God meets us in Word and sacrament and we respond to his presence with prayers and praises.<\/p>\n

Perhaps you have noticed a certain ebb and flow to many Presbyterian worship services:<\/p>\n