Christ in the Charleston Massacre

Rev. Clementa Pinckney of Emanuel AME, Charleston SC

In his sermon on the mount, our Lord Jesus exhorted his weak little flock of disciples, saying, "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven" (Matt. 5:16 KJV). Last week, the relatives of the slain in the Charleston Massacre embodied, with stunning humility and love, the character of Christ as they addressed the killer, 

Dylann Roof, face to face in the courtroom. One after another, tearfully, they forgave him, prayed for God’s mercy on him, and called him to repent. In effect, they called the killer to become their bother. The life of God in the souls of men, the overcoming love of Christ before the powers of hell, was movingly on display before a watching world.

Rev. Clementa Pinckney, descended from the slaves of the signer of Charles Pinckney, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, was clearly a great pastor. The response of his church to his murderer shows that Jesus is a great Savior. Here is the testimony.

Nadine Collier, daughter of 70-year-old Ethel Lance: “I forgive you. You took something very precious from me. I will never talk to her ever again. I will never be able to hold her again. But I forgive you. And have mercy on your soul. You’ve hurt me. You hurt a lot of people. But God forgive you. And I forgive you."

Anthony Thompson spoke for the family of Myra Thompson: "I forgive him. My family forgive you. But we would like you to take this opportunity to repent. Repent. Confess. Give your life to the one who matters the most, Christ, so he can change your ways no matter what happens to you, and you'll be okay. Do that! And you’ll be better off than you are right now.”

Felicia Sanders, mother of young Tywanza Sanders: “We welcomed you Wednesday night in our Bible study with open arms. You have killed some of the most beautifullest people that I know. Every fiber in my body hurts, and I will never be the same. Tywanza Sanders was my son, but Tywanza was my hero. Tywanza was my hero! But as we say in the Bible study, we enjoyed you, but may God have mercy on you.”

Alana Simmons, granddaughter of 74-year old Rev. Daniel Simmons: "Although my grandfather and the other victims died at the hands of hate, this is proof—everyone’s plea for your soul is proof—that they lived in love and their legacies will live in love, so hate won't win."

The sister of DePayne Middleton Doctor, 49, admitted, "For me, I’m a work in progress and I acknowledge that I am very angry.” But she remembered her sister teaching her, “We are the family that love built! We have no room for hate so we have to forgive. And I pray God on your soul. And I thank God that I won’t be around when your judgment day comes with him. May God bless you.”

The late Christopher Hitchens, a notorious atheist, claimed that "religion poisons everything." These people are evidently not poisoned. Indeed, just the opposite. They are being perfected in love. Ask yourself: Is my church and my personal discipleship in Christ helping me (and my children!) grow to become more like these people?

In his diabolical ignorance and confusion, this miserable young man wanted to provoke a race war. Instead, he got deeper sympathy and understanding between black and white Americans than we've seen in a long time, perhaps when we need it the most.

When times are darkest, Christ shines the most brightly. Consider the cross itself. Satan's death blow was the triumph of Christ. What Roof meant for evil, God is using for good. So ask, “How can I be part of this good?”

Ascending the Christian Mountain

When you read the Bible biblico-theologically, i.e., with attention to the unfolding themes and images in their didactic and Christological significance, it begins to make sense like never before and the excitement of reading it intensifies.

For example, there are parallels between certain events in Israel's Sinai moment and the layout of the temple. I found it eye opening.

In Exodus 19, just before we read the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20, we read of a remarkable communion with God before Israel receives the Law. "I...brought you to Myself" (v.4). "[Y]ou shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine" (v.5). "[Y]ou shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation" (v.6). God wants Israel to hear what he says and to trust him (v.9), i.e., to live by faith in him.

In Exodus 24, we see a threefold progression of communion that parallels the pattern of the temple and even of the altar within the temple. God called Israel to gather at the foot of the mountain. He then called Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and the 70 elders up the mountain (though not to the top) where they "saw God" and they ate and drank (v.11). Then Moses proceeded to the top, with Joshua, into the cloud and thunder where he communed with God and received the Law (vv.12-13).

This parallels what we see in the temple: first the outer court, then the holy place where we find the shewbread, then the holiest place with the Shekinah glory-cloud. In the central place, the altar itself has three ascending regions: blood is sprinkled on the the base and in the middle, and on top is the sacrifice with the smoke and fire.

The Bible often represents the fullness of God's presence with smoke and fire.

It occurred to me that the Christian life parallels, in a way, that three-stage progression. First we encounter the call of baptism. Yes, God gives his covenant people infant baptism. When one grows to the point that he or she can understand the gospel and affirm personal trust in it, there is communion, as the elders and Aaron the priest communed on the mountain with God. For the covenant child, this may come very early in life, perhaps 5 years of age, or perhaps 15 or 25. But this stage is further up the mountain from the time of infancy and the call of baptism. This is an argument against paedo-communion.

But professing one's faith and coming to the Lord's Table is not the peak of the Christian life and the fullness of Christian maturity. There is still more mountain to ascend. After justification comes the life-long process of sanctification, of growing communion with and obedience to the Lord. That process culminates in glory. Notice that it is wrong to look for remarkable sanctification as a precondition of communion, i.e., as an evidence of saving faith. This is an argument against putting off our young ones until they have shown the victory of faith over the temptations of teenaged life, i.e., against legalism.

Wendy Goes to Church

Wendy was raised in a Christian home. She attended church with her family every Sunday morning, unless there was a gathering with extended family, a sports event, vacation, or people were just tired. During worship, once she outgrew the nursery, she she spent the hour in junior church, and then graduated into youth church. If on ocassion there were no youth church, she would join the main worship service, but of course she sat with her friends in the balcony.

College disrupted that pattern of life. She was on her own, an adult in a city and community of her own choosing. Many other choices confronted her immediately. Early rising or sleeping in? Fast meals or sit down? And worship? What would that look like? Would it have a place at all? At home, she was carried along by the current of family life. But now she had to steer her own boat, and perhaps even dig her own channels. For the first year, she just followed the new currents. Those were established by (she would later admit) laziness (she would sleep in on Sundays, having been up until 3 a.m. the night before) and the hurriedness of life at an academically demanding college.

As Wendy began her sophomore year, she decided she had to become more serious spiritually and, as she put it, "make time for God." She began reading the Bible each night before bed (something she had never done with any regularity), and she also began attending a Bible study in her dorm. A whole new dimension of life opened up. It was like emerging from the forest and seeing the sky for the first time. God was speaking to her through his word. They Holy Spirit would apply passages, illuminating circumstances and troubling her conscience in ways she had never experienced before. She started praying regularly. She realized that her Christianity had been like a new car sitting in the garage, owned but never operated. Now she found that a driving faith is what faith ought to be, and driving felt good.

By her junior year, Wendy was no longer "making time for God." That is, she saw that it was not good enough to give God a small guest room in the mansion of her life where she could drop in on him from time to time. She had grown beyond that. She had learned in her study of Paul's Letter to the Romans that Christ had redeemed all of her, that he had redeemed her from the life of self-focus and to the life of Christ-focus. People are either "slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness " (6:16). As someone put it, if Christ is not lord of all, he is not lord at all. She knew in her heart that this was true. That little room in her mansion was no good. The whole mansion had to house him.  "From him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever!" (11:36).

That year, all sorts of things changed in Wendy's life. Relationships. Language. Even eating habits. The Lord lifted burdens of bitterness from her heart because she asked him to. And she asked him to because she knew there is nothing that is not his business and his sphere of blessing. Wendy was changed, and people could see it the way they could see the sunrise.

But her senior year was a time of growth in yet another essential element of the Christian life. Her Bible study group had finished Romans and moved on to the Gospel of John. In chapter four, the Holy Spirit startled her with these words: "Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth" (4:23-24). She worshiped in her personal devotions and also at a student praise event most Thursday nights. That must be good as far as it goes, she thought. But she had become very serious about bringing all of her life under the gracious lordship of her Savior, and she could see that she was offering worship strictly on her own terms: the day of her choosing in the form of her choosing and when she chose to give it. Has God commanded something that she is neglecting, however? Is there something he has told his people is pleasing to him and edifying to them?

At the Bible study, she addressed this concern to a friend, Charis, who lived on her hall and whom she knew to be godly. Charis was active in the church she had adopted for her college years, and, from things Wendy had picked up, she knew that Charis had attended church faithfully at home, morning and evening, and had carried that habit with her to college. She would disappear on Sunday mornings to what she called her "church family" and would not show up again until late evening. She seemed to enjoy it, and come back refreshed each Sunday. This girl surely would know something about what God wants in the worship life of his saints.

Charis did not disappoint. She took Wendy straight to Hebrews 10:25, "Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another." She added that, in the Book of Acts, the believers gathered together as a church on Sunday, the first day of the week, the day on which Christ the Savior had risen. And Jesus appeared to them at more than one of those meetings to confirm his approval of that pattern of worshiping together. In this setting, Christians "spur one another on to love and good deeds"--not just college friends, but older saints, and Christians from other walks of life. She also mentioned the blessing that her pastor (who is a wise, older man) sumptuously laid before her each week in his sermons. She was always challenged, always blessed, always grew. She was also grateful for the elders of her church who were wise and took seriously the responsibility Christ had laid on them for the care of his sheep (1 Peter 5:1-5). Charis drew close and looked very intently into Wendy's eyes. She said, "If Christ has given preachers and elders in his church for the blessing of his people, then if I am one of his people I will seek and get that blessing!"

Again the Holy Spirit was pressing these words into her heart, and where the words sank in they seemed to find their natural settings. As usual, where Wendy had previously been quite self-satisfied she now saw a gaping hole that only joyful Christian obedience could fill. Was there anything she was doing on Sunday that was better for her and more delightful than worship with the body of Christ? Was she able to feed and shepherd herself, perhaps with the help of friends, without the contribution of pastor and elders? Apparently, God's answer to both of these questions is, "no."

That Sunday, Wendy went with Charis to church. It required a subway ride and a bit of a walk, but that didn't matter. After a month of this habit, a habit she would never abandon by the way (and she would one day refuse a marriage proposal over it), Wendy marveled at all she had been denying herself by overlooking this dimension of the Christian life. She also reflected on the pattern of church life in which she had been raised. Committed, yet not. Sometimes God, sometimes me, which was essentially always "me." Nonetheless, she thanked God for her parents and for the exposure to Christ and his church they gave her as a girl. But she thanked God all the more for his gracious patience with her meandering, her half-hearted, and distracted pursuit of him. And she thanked him, as she would with her last breath, for Jesus the Good Shepherd who laid down his life for her, and who sought her when she was not seeking him.

Multi-polar Christian Piety

In Streams of Living Water, Richard Foster presents a thought provoking thesis: Among the various Christian traditions, there are several “streams” of piety, features of a healthy well-rounded Christian life, both personal and corporate, that do not converge in any one tradition, but each of which is characteristic of one or another tradition. The streams he identifies are prayer, personal holiness, charismatic gifts, compassion, Word-centeredness, sacraments, and he offers historical, biblical and contemporary examples from various traditions—evangelical, contemplative, social justice, etc. Well, there are problems with his list of streams. Most fundamentally, if you are not word-centered, what exactly is the character of your sacraments (are they man made?), the expression of your compassion (is it just secular ideology?), the form of your personal morality (is it legalism?), and your ecstatic experiences (are they even real?)?

But I found the general concept quite thought provoking. It gave form to something I had been stewing over for some years. I would put it this way. There are indeed, as I said, various features of a healthy, well-rounded Christian life, both personal and corporate. I would identify, perhaps not exhaustively, word-centeredness, theological orthodoxy, reverence, joy, community-love, mercy-love, and mission-love. Devotion to God under the authority of his word has to be fundamental. That is not always accompanied by theological orthodoxy, and vice versa, but the former should develop into the latter, and orthodoxy should found itself on the Word. Love is the mark of a Christian, but this takes various forms. There is the love that a body of believers has for one another as a community, a love they have for the helpless and suffering (who may or may not be among them), and a love they have for the lost, both near and far.

A faithful Christian who eagerly seeks the kingdom of God, who seeks to know Christ and the power of his resurrection, will try to understand all of these features and realize them in practice. But when he does he finds them frustratingly elusive...especially if he tries to realize them all together at once...and even more so if he tries to get there in community with other similarly zealous Christians. It is one of the “tensions” of the Christian life.

A tension is a situation in which you are drawn equally between two incompatible options. They are both good, perhaps even necessary. As such, they both beckon you. But as soon as you attempt to embrace one, you lose the other. What makes it a tension is that you cannot simply opt for one of the poles. By the very nature of things, to do so would bring great unhappiness of some sort. This is a particularly complex tension because it is multi-polar. As a result of the fall, we can never grasp all of these characteristics at once. When you try to grab onto one that you are missing, you lose at least one of those you had. The key to living with this problem is understanding that there are these multiple poles and that they are elusive this side of the Lord’s Second Coming.

This multi-polar model for understanding the complexity and difficulty of the fullness of Christian piety strikes me as useful for understanding the degree of dissatisfaction that many thoughtful and spiritually growing Christians feel toward their churches or church traditions, as well as the frustration we experience when we try to bring ourselves and our churches into greater conformity with biblical holiness.

The awareness of the multi-polar nature of a complete, biblical picture of the church and of the Christian life engenders greater humility in us when we assess other traditions, and honesty in our appreciation their strengths. It also encourages cautious and chastened expectations in one’s own pursuit of this multi-polar centering, and the understanding that the pursuit of that centering is indeed just that: a centering, as opposed to a linear rush forward from one spiritual objective to the next.

For example, Eastern Orthodoxy excels in reverence, but that comes with iconographic idolatry, Marianic mediation, and the subordination of Scripture to a tradition. Contemporary American Evangelicals have a joy that is alien to other traditions, but they are impoverished by theological indifference, individual self-absorption, and historical solipsism. Historically Reformed churches preserve theological orthodoxy with great precision, but they tend to be emotionally reserved, formalistic, and socially inward looking. The parish church offers community, but typically nothing else.

Clearly the poles are not simply equal in importance. Given the nature of the Christian religion as a faith because it is a gracious gift from God rather than a spiritual labor by men, a minimal theological orthodoxy is a sine qua non. There must also be love. “Without love you are nothing.” But love is the fruit and indication of salvation, not the means of appropriating it as a properly informed faith is. The same is true of joy and reverence.

The image of multi-polar centeredness appears to suggest the need for “balance” in the Christian life, but that is misleading. It is not as though one needs to compromise a truth over here or a virtue over there or a relationship in another direction in order to become a well-centered, biblical Christian, i.e., godly. Otherwise, loving people with God’s perfect love or embracing God’s revealed truth accurately in every point of blessed detail would be “going to an extreme” and would preclude living a godly Christian life. But how can perfectly godly love make one ungodly? How can believing the entire Bible make someone unbiblical in any way? There is a sense in which one cannot truly embrace any of the poles except in the center. Joyless orthodoxy is, in a way, a betrayal of orthodoxy.

The trickiness of living life centered between the poles is not a problem inherent in the poles. In themselves, they are perfectly in harmony with one another. In fact, they harmonized perfectly in the sinless life of Christ, who is the very image of God and the Word of truth. He understood, affirmed, and lived out the poles to their fullest. The problem is in us, living as we do in this "Already and Not Yet" condition this side of the parousia. So even a church that intellectually affirms all the poles and understands them biblically will nonetheless find them maddeningly and even divisively elusive in practice.

So with all this unsatisfying and dogged imperfection, what’s a poor pilgrim to do? Knowing the multi-polar ideal, a Christian must settle himself in a church that he conscientiously judges to be the best centered among these elusive poles. The centering Christian must then—grace permitting—hold to what is good, and then humbly, cautiously cultivate what is missing.