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THE AFRICAN-AMERICAN AND THE LGBTIQ SPIRITUAL COMMUNITIES OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH (DISCIPLES OF CHRIST) IN SEARCH OF A PROPHETIC AND WELCOMING VOICE: A CASE STUDY IN MUSIC, LITURGY, AND WORSHIP A Professional Project presented to the Faculty of Claremont School of Theology In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Ministry by William Thomas, Jr. May 2012 Grateful acknowledgment is made to Rev. Dr. William Lee for permission to reprint his sermon "By Any Means Necessary," delivered at the Nashville, Tennessee Convention Center, July 10,2011. Used by permission. ©2012 William Thomas, Jr. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED CLAREMONT SCHOOL OF THEOLOGY This professional project completed by William Thomas, Jr. has been presented to and accepted by the Faculty of Claremont School of Theology in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF MINISTRY Faculty Committee: Lincoln Galloway, Chairperson Helene Slessarev-Jamir Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of the Faculty: Philip Clayton May 2012 ABSTRACT The African-American and the LGBTIQ Spiritual Communities of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Search of a Prophetic and Welcoming Voice: A Case Study in Music, Liturgy, and Worship by William Thomas, Jr. The African-American community and the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgendered, Intersexed, and Questioning community of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) are often mutually wary. However two Christian communities that are both marginalized by mainstream Christianity further divide God's realm if they are distrustful of each other. To move from suspicion to agape love, each community must find common ground on which to begin to speak prophetically and compassionately to each other and to the General Church. This project creates a worship service devoted to healing that was designed by members from both communities. Then by means of a questionnaire the project examines whether working together to create and execute this service had any impact on the theology or praxis of interaction between the two communities both from their respective viewpoints and from the viewpoint of the white heterosexual members who comprise the majority of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). Finally it makes some inferences as a result of the project, offers some materials for further study and interaction along the way, and lists possible starting points from which decisive action may be taken. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to express immense gratitude to all of those who gave me the opportunity to complete this thesis. I am grateful to Bob and Gretchen Ravenscroft for underwriting my studies at Claremont School of Theology. Next, I would like to thank those who exercised oversight over my project: my advisor, Dr. Lincoln E. Galloway for the wisdom, patience, kindness and vision that he has shown in helping me navigate this subject matter, my second reader, Dr. Helene Sclessarev-Jamir for her perspective and critical eye, and thesis secretary Elaine Walker who closely checked documentation considerations. Sincere thanks to all of the members of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) beginning with its General Minister and President, the Reverend Dr. Sharon Watkins, and all of the friends and family who encouraged me to continue to probe and write about our beloved church. Special thanks to my sister, Dr. Gene T. Harris, Superintendent of the Public Schools of Columbus Ohio, for her exhortation to keep working, and to my sainted sister Janice Thomas Parks who sits in the presence of God and advocates for her family, those she loves, and the good of the world. Thank you also to the church that I pastor, the Little White Chapel, Burbank California, for their prayers as I worked on this project. Thanks beyond measure to my wonderful and wise parents William Sr. and Thelma Thomas, for helping me to understand that hard work would never hurt me. And finally, heartfelt thanks to my spouse, the Reverend Michael Kosik, for his love and support even as he worked on his own graduate school assignments; that love and sense of family kept me focused to complete my work. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter Page 1. Introduction 1 The Problem 1 The Importance of the Problem 1 Thesis 7 Definitions of Major Terms 7 Work Previously Done in the Field 8 Scope and Limitations of the Project 12 Procedure for Integration 12 Chapter Outlines 13 2. African-American Liberation Theology 15 Ethical Responses of the African-American Church 19 James Cone 21 3. LBTIQ Theology 26 Ethical Responses of the GLBTIQ Spiritual Community 36 The Foundation of Friendship 36 Hospitality and Community Building 37 A Celebration of Embodiment 38 Liberation as Shared Experience 40 GLBTIQ Love as Generative 40 iv 4. Music in Worship 42 5. Liturgy and Worship 49 Definitions of Liturgy 51 6. Ethical Significance of Research 57 7. The Project 63 The Worship Service 64 The Questionnaire 66 Analysis 66 Caucasian Disciples 71 Caucasians-Making GLBTIQ Community Relevant to Ethnic Churches 73 Caucasians-Making Ethnic Churches Relevant to GLBTIQ Community 74 African-American Disciples 75 African American Disciples-greater relevance toward the GLBTIQ spiritual Community 76 African Americans Disciples-GLBTIQ community becoming more relevant to Ethnic Church 76 GLBTIQ Spiritual Community 77 GLBTIQ Suggestions for Greater Relevancy coming from the Ethnic Church 78 GLBTIQ Suggestions for Greater Relevancy Coming from the GLBTIQ Spiritual Community towards the Ethnic Church 78 8. Conclusion 79 The Foundation of Friendship 79 Hospitality and Community Building 80 v A Celebration of Embodiment 81 Liberation as Shared Experience 82 Love as Generative 83 Appendix A: "By Any Means Necessary" by Rev. Doctor William Lee 85 Appendix B: Additional Themes for Worship and Encounter between African American Disciples and the Disciple GLBTIQ Spiritual Community 94 Bibliography 98 vi Chapter 1 Introduction The Problem Although in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) denomination, both the African American community, and the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgendered communities have well documented histories of abuse and marginalization, to which they both often refer in their individual worship and liturgy, there still remains an unsettling chasm, a disconnect, and a disconcerting lack of commonality in their reading of scripture, sense of tradition, reason or rationale, and perceived shared experience, so that they have developed little appreciation of and shared spiritual community with each other. The Importance of the Problem My family has had a long and rich history of engagement and participation in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) denomination that goes back at least five generations. I recall that in the 1950s, when I was a child, the Disciple movement was racially segregated. When it came time for national gatherings, Caucasians attended the National Missionary Convention, and the African Americans attended the National Convocation. In the late 1950s and the 1960s the broader society in the United States, as well as the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) moved toward greater integration across ethnic and racial lines. In the DOC, structural amalgamation was accomplished in the following way: all members of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) were now welcome to attend the biennial international odd-year meeting which was now to be called the General Assembly. However African Americans, Latinos, Asians, and Pacific I Islanders still kept their own individual general meetings that convened on alternate even- numbered years. In very recent years the message the General Assembly has attempted to emphasize to the whole church that now all Disciples equally belong to one integrated church. It has done it with themes such as "A Movement for Wholeness In A Fragmented World." However the alternate year racially and culturally based gatherings reveal a different story. More specifically, the African-American Christian Church Convocation still rankles with the memory that after the Civil War, the whites of the Christian Church were not ready to integrate and so sent Blacks off to form their own denomination. That dismissed denomination continues to exist today and is known as the Assemblies of God. Other Black Christian Church members who doggedly stayed within the denomination were begrudgingly accorded separate but unequal status under the leadership of Black Christian Church ministers such as Reverend Preston Taylor. Taylor was born a slave, but educated himself to become an ordained minister. As a very young man, Taylor joined the Civil War effort fighting as a soldier in the Union Army against his former slave owners. After the war, Preston appeared before the Christian Church to press for full integration of the denomination. Instead he was given money to build several Christian Churches exclusively for Blacks. One such church was the High Street Christian Church, in Mt. Sterling Kentucky. At that church, one of his deacon's grandsons, Sherman Hunt, met and married Florine White, a young lady who also attended High Street Christian Church. They were to become my maternal 2