Conservative or Liberal

Next Sunday Otter Creek will be entering a new phase in the work in the world with two new ministers: Josh Graves and David Rubio. In getting the congregation ready for that transition today, Lee Camp burst forth with an electrifying sermon on the theme of "Neither a Conserative, nor a Liberal Church.



Lee was passionate, direct and convicting. He invoked men and women from the past who stepped outside comfort zones like Dorothy Day and Dietrich Bonhoeffer and men from our fellowship who did the same--David Lipscomb and F. D. Syrgley. Lee encouraged the church to be neither conservative (leaving things undone that should be done), nor liberal (tolerant of too much). Stopping as he usually does on helping the poor and the weak, he went on to challenge the church to cooperate with others who were doing the work of the Lord in the world. He said that we could do that without losing any of our cherished ideals. Citing David Lipscomb's work with the Catholic nuns in plague in early Nashville, he admonished us to work with Catholics, Presbyterians, and EVEN Jews. (There has been some flack about our sharing service to the homeless with a Jewish congregation).

A download of the sermon can be found on the Otter Creek website, thanks to Phil Wilson. For a longer look at the mind of Lee C. Camp, read MERE DISCIPLESHIP, RADICAL CHRISTIANITY IN A REBELLIOUS WORLD.

I am hoping this sermon is an omen of great things to come in the future of Otter and am excited to be there.

Justice Songs--Tokens

It is not often that one gets to sing "There is a Fountain" with Vince Gill. The audience at the Tokens program Tuesday night did just that, and it was beautiful.

The program centered around justice and featured gospel songs (by Odessa Settles--who shared a fanastic "Were You There?"), songs set in coal country ("You'll Never Leave Harlan Alive" haunting.) sung by Sonya Isaacs and a rousing ending featuring "Blowing in the Wind" by Buddy Green and "If I Had a Hammer" with audience participation. I felt like marching when it was over.

A funny and very pointed feature of the program was the Radio Players in a skit set in a Mexican restaurant about what life would be like if the "English Only" bill had passed. How would one order in a Mexican restaurant if not allowed to speak Spanish? Burrito would be a "tiny donkey wrap", etc.

In addition, Lee Camp interviewed Will Campbell, an author from Mt. Juliet. He wrote Brother to a Dragonfly. The "grass and class" portion featured the Horeb Mt. Boys playing Bach.

Very enjoyable evening. The next one is in June as part of the Christian Scholars Conference at Lipscomb. I hope I can take my friends Jim and Jeannenne Nichols who will be here for the conference.

Thanks Lee and all who supported the program, especially Blue Coast Burrito (tiny donkey).

New radio program

I was privileged to attend the debut of a new radio program on Tuesday night. Tokens: The Appalachian Longing for Home is the brainchild of Lee Camp. In his words, it is part theology lecture, part cultural analysis, part Prairie Home Companion, part good conversation, part good music (Bluegrass).

It is very much like Prairie HC with a religious touch. The band was great and featured Buddy Greene that harmonica virtuoso. Odessa Settles, a long-time Nashville blues and gospel singer was also featured. The Radio Players featured Merri Collins, David Fleer and his son Nate. One of the funniest segments was "Dear Preacherman" and consisted of funny letters a preacher might get for religious advice. Also part of the program was telephone interviews with A. J. Jacobs, the author of The Year of Living Biblically, Brian McClaren, and Marcus Rediker, the author of Slave Ship.

Highly enjoyable, I think Lee will try to market it. I understand there will be other presentations.
For more info, visit http://www.tokensshow.com/ This site will be up and running in a couple of weeks. Keep trying.