Staying at the Table: Being the Church We Say We Are
Heads of Communion, people like the
Pope, from time-to-time issue encyclicals or something akin to them. These documents,
which often get published in book form, speak to the churches/denominations
they lead. They often appear during moments of transition or when major changes
are occurring. They may be issued as a call for the church to come together on
a particular topic, such as the environment, current political concerns, matters
of social justice, or doctrinal concerns. In Staying at the Table: Being the Church We Say We Are, the Rev. Terri Hord Owens, General Minister and
President (GMP) of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), speaks to the denomination
she leads on questions of identity and the way the church addresses areas of
concern, even as the denomination enters a season of structural transformation.
So, in one sense, this book speaks first and foremost to members of the
Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). Nevertheless, much of what she shares
with the Disciples community has application beyond the Disciples.
Rev. Owens, who is the first
African American woman to serve as the head of communion of a mainline
Protestant denomination, is in her second term as the Disciples General Minister
and President, a term she began in 2023. Her title may need some unpacking, as
she serves two roles. In one role, she is the denomination’s senior pastor.
However, she is also the denomination's chief executive officer. She speaks to
the church pastorally as its General Minister but deals with the structural
elements as its President. For those outside the Disciples tradition, the
Disciples structure is defined covenantally and not hierarchically. She leads
more through persuasion than through top-down authority. In other words, when
it comes to Disciples polity, it’s complicated.
One reason she wrote this book is
that she is involved in leading the denomination through a series of major
structural changes that affect the way the denomination governs itself. While
this is important, a more important question is a question of identity. Thus,
the subtitle of Staying at the Table is Being the Church We Say We
Are. As to what this refers to, she speaks of the Disciples' identity
statement: "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." This identity statement was
developed during Owens's predecessor's
term as General Minister and President. Based on conversations Owens had with
leadership when she became GMP, she decided the church didn't need to develop new
words to describe its identity. Rather, the church as a whole needed to embrace
the words of the denomination’s identity statement and live more fully into
them. This identity statement essentially serves as a reframing of the
Disciples' historic commitment to Christian unity and its practice of gathering
at the Lord's Table.
Before I go further into my review
of Staying at the Table, I need
to say a few things about my relationship to Rev. Owens, whom I know as Terri,
and the denomination she serves. I am an ordained Disciples pastor, having been
ordained forty years ago. Though I am officially retired, I continue to serve
the larger church in positions of leadership. I currently serve as the co-chair
of the Disciples-Evangelical Lutheran Church of America bilateral dialogue. I
formerly served as a board member and board chair of the Disciples ecumenical
agency—Christian Unity and Interfaith Ministry of the Christian Church
(Disciples of Christ) in the United States and Canada (a board that she served
on as an ex officio member with vote). In also served on the denomination’s
General Board as the CUIM representative. I have held leadership roles at the
regional level and served as a pastor of Disciples congregations over a period
of twenty-three years before my retirement in 2021. So, I know the denomination
from the inside and have a personal connection to the author.
In introducing Staying at the
Table, Owens speaks to the vision she wishes to share with her church in
this "encyclical." This vision involves a call to the church to stay
at the table during uncertain times. The Disciples, like many mainline and even
evangelical denominations, have experienced a decline in membership as well as the
number of churches (some congregations have closed while others have chosen to
leave the denomination). Part of the struggle comes from our inability as
people of faith, largely due to political differences, though sometimes theological
differences, to stay at the table. With this as a backdrop, her message is
rooted in the belief "that God is a God of limitless love," which in
turn calls us to "fully embrace the humanity in each one." With this
limitless love serving as a foundation for conversation, then "the
covenant that Jesus established at the table of the Lord must be reflected in
the community we build together." (p. xi).
Staying at the Table has seven
chapters. Owens titles her first chapter "Everything Begins with
God." It is in this chapter that she roots the message of this document in
her belief in God's limitless love. She rightfully declares that what we
believe about God is rooted in how we understand Jesus’ life and teachings, as
well as how we engage with others. Our calling as church, therefore, involves aligning
ourselves with how God sees us. In her view, since God is a God of limitless
love, our engagement with others should be inclusive, not exclusive. With this
established, we move on in Chapter 2 to a further exploration of what she means
by limitless love. The chapter, which is titled "Let's Start with
Limitless Love," explores how the Bible defines God's love, as well as the
call to love our neighbors. While some traditions begin with doctrine, in the
Disciples tradition, relationships are understood to stand above doctrine.
Therefore, at our best, we believe in the importance of embracing one another,
even when we disagree. Being that I am a participant in the denomination, I will
acknowledge that this is not easy. Therefore, Disciples, like other
denominations, have struggled to stay together as we deal with the hot topics
of the day, such as the inclusion of LGBTQ persons or what it means to be an
anti-racist church. The church has taken stands on social justice issues that
have been caught up in a backlash in the larger culture toward DEI and alleged
wokeness present in institutions, including religious institutions. How do we
stay at the table when the denomination’s governing body (the General Assembly)
has taken stands on such matters, and some in the church disagree?
With the first two chapters
focusing on God's limitless love along with what that means for the church, in
the third chapter, Owens invites us to "Imagine with Me." In this
chapter, the GMP invites us to imagine with her what the church could be,
including imagining the kinds of changes that might be required of us. In this
chapter, Owens draws on Walter Brueggemann's book The Prophetic Imagination for inspiration. Central to her vision for the church she leads
is that the church would embrace her priorities of biblical literacy and
spiritual growth. She rightfully laments the widespread biblical illiteracy in
the church and calls on the church to change that reality, even as it embraces
spiritual practices that bring renewal to the church. I should note here that with
the noncreedal nature of the Disciples tradition, the assumption has been that
the church should be guided by the Bible (especially the New Testament). Having
invited us to engage in prophetic imagination rooted in biblical literacy, Owens
moves on in the fourth chapter to her call for the Disciples to "Be the
Church We Say We Are." In this chapter, she again calls for the churches
to embrace spiritual and contemplative practices, so that spiritual growth can
occur. She also warns against the dangers of religious institutionalism. I'm
sure it occurs to her that she leads a religious institution, which has all the
accouterments of an institution. Being that I have been a participant in the
institutional church from congregation to middle judicatory to the larger
denominational realities (as noted above, I chaired the board of one of the
denomination's general ministries, as well as serving our General Board). So, I
know what this entails. Making changes in institutions is not easy because
everyone, including the General Minister and President, has a vested interest
in the institution’s survival. While recognizing this truth, she nevertheless
calls on the church not to get caught up in preserving the institution at the
cost of following Jesus. This will require a great deal of prophetic
imagination so that we can be a church motivated by Jesus’ call “to love God
and neighbor, and to share the good news, making disciples and bearing witness
to God’s limitless love” (p. 68).
The chapters in Staying at theTable that describe the identity and purpose of the denomination lead to
the fifth chapter, which is titled "Staying at the Table." In this
chapter, which echoes the book’s title, Owens focuses on the role the Lord’s Table
plays in Disciples life. The Disciples are known as a tradition that gathers at
the Lord’s Table at least weekly (though some congregations may not follow this
part of the tradition; this is generally Disciples practice). Therefore, when
it comes to staying at the Table, the Lord’s Table (Eucharist) serves as a
defining image. Central to the message of the Table is one of openness and welcome.
The assumption is that when it comes to the Lord’s Table, everyone is welcome,
no matter who they are. Again, this invitation is shared at a time when
division and polarization are present in the larger society (both in the United
States and Canada, the two nations represented by the denomination’s members and
congregations). She raises the point that while the church has a responsibility
to speak to matters of social justice, it faces the question of how the church
can speak to what are controversial issues while staying at the table despite
disagreements on those issues. Again, she roots her hopes in God’s limitless
love.
The sixth chapter takes us to the
next step in the process of staying at the table, which is "Changing the
Narrative." When Owens speaks here of changing the narrative, she has more
in mind than simply transformation. She also emphasizes the importance of telling
our stories, so that, having told our stories, we as the church can discern
what these stories (this narrative) are saying about who we are as church. The
challenge here is that telling our stories requires that we engage in something
that is very difficult, and that is truth-telling. She writes that
"staying at the table requires honesty, candor, truth telling, but above
all a commitment to engage with one another in the love that God has given to
us" (p. 94).
Owens concludes Staying at the Table with a chapter titled "I Want a Church." It is in this
chapter of her “encyclical” that she offers her vision for the church. Ultimately,
it is a vision that seeks to emulate Jesus. With that in mind, as she envisions
the church living out its calling by bearing witness to God’s love for the
world, a witness that involves speaking on social justice issues. As she points
out, the Hebrew prophets and the New Testament speak clearly to what this
involves, including not neglecting widows and orphans or oppressing strangers. The
vision of the church embraced here reflects the message of Jesus in Matthew 25.
What is interesting about Rev. Owens’ vision for the church is that it is
theologically orthodox, while embracing a strong message of inclusion and
social justice. In other words, her vision of the church is rooted in following
Jesus, who embodies God’s limitless love.
Staying at the Table serves
as something of an encyclical, something that William Barber notes in his
Foreword. Barber points out that “At a moment when so many people have been disappointed
by Christianity and confidence in churches is low, publishing an encyclical
letter is a bold and audacious act” (p. vi). While this is true, Barber is
correct in his recommendation that Staying at the Table serve as “a catalyst
for conversation about how the story at the heart of the Christian story can
resonate with others to bring life and hope to our world” (pp. vi-vii). While
this is a book written by the head of a particular denomination that draws on Disciples'
history, theologies, practices, and sense of purpose, it can also speak to
other communities who are experiencing similar transitions and transformations,
just as long as the readers understand that it has a specific community in
mind. Thus, Staying at the Table will serve for those outside the
Disciples community, similarly to reading a papal encyclical, knowing that a
papal encyclical speaks to Catholics, but might have something valuable to say
to those outside that tradition.
Since this is a review of a book, I
would be remiss if I didn’t point out a few editing issues that should have
been caught before publication. Perhaps the most obvious is the use of “Foreword”
on the book’s cover to describe William Barber's chapter, while on the inside
it is listed as the preface. It could serve in either role, but there needs to
be consistency. In my view, “Foreword” would be the more appropriate choice. While
there are a few editorial issues and a few places I might quibble with
something she writes, I believe that Staying at the Table does serve as
an encyclical, which, as William Barber points out, is “a pastoral letter
written to a particular communion with the intention of being overheard” (p.
v). May it be so, such that we not only stay at the table but be the church we say we are.
Staying at the Table is available for pre-order at Chalice Press - https://chalicepress.com/products/staying-at-the-table, as well as at your favorite retailer, including my Amazon affiliate and Bookshop.org affiliate.
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