Observations Coming Home From Stone-Campbell Dialogue

Every year for the past dozen or so years, members from the three streams of the Stone-Campbell Movement have gathered together so seek ways to express visible unity which is our shared mission.  It's called the Stone-Campbell Dialogue.  It has been my honor for the past three years to be a part of the gathering.  This year we worshiped with Restoration folk in Indianapolis.  We heard three moving presentations on the healing power of the Lord's Supper from the pastors of Speedway Church of Christ, Englewood Christian Church, and Allisonville Christian Church.

On Monday we listened to a presentation on Moral Injury from Dr. Rita Nakashima Brock and engaged in discussion together about the implications of her findings, reflections and advocacy for our ministries.  We spent some time considering the future and I believe we have crafted a strong plan. 

That's my version of the formal proceedings.  There is of course another way to trace the path of the weekend--the more introspective path of my conversation with myself. 

1.  Siblings can love each other very much and still drive each other nuts, ignore and exclude each other, and then turn around and show remarkable affection to one another.  It's all part of being family--I'm not sure if that observation is about the Stone-Campbell Movement or my kids.  Probably both. 

2.  When all else fails, "Let me put some gas in your car" isn't the worst way to tell your daughter you love her, you're proud of her, and you wish you could protect her from all the crap in the world. 

3.  Good things happen even when the parts are disjointed.  The disjointed parts shouldn't prevent you from seeing the goodness.  The goodness shouldn't prevent you from searching for greater coherence. 

4.  If you really want people to focus on one question at a time, present the question and resist the temptation to show how much you've already thought about it. And, by the way, if you don't want the barb on the hook, don't take the bait. 

5.  Moments of vulnerable honesty and clarity happen at odd places.  Context matters but it isn't everything.  Give thank and move on. 

6.  If you can't explain the purpose of your meeting to your eight year old when he asks why you went to another state in terms that he can understand then you've wasted your time.

For the Record:  When I asked the eight year old if he knew who founded our denomination he said, "Jesus Christ."  I should have said, "you're right" and let it go at that.  I did tell him that he was right and said, "Our denominations was started by people who believed that churches hadn't done a very good job loving each other and they wanted us to do a better job at that.  Each year we get together to discuss how we can love each other better and this year we talked about how we can do that for our soldiers and others who have to see and do things that are very painful and sad for them."