Come, you strippers and Sunday School teachers

The headline to this column is actually not my creation. Instead it's the title of a recent essay by Chad Bird, a Texas author and speaker. I've never heard him talk but have read articles by him on Facebook. Bird's musings on faith and life are easy to consume and often quite compelling.

In reading Bird's work, my first thought is admiration. He puts words together well and I'm envious. But just like eating certain foods, that are immediately pleasing to the palate, the aftertaste of Bird leaves something to be desired.

Bird's missive was composed in conjunction with last weekend's celebration of Easter. Here's part of it:

Come, you pole-dancers and Sunday school teachers,

Come, you snotty-nosed brats and dirty old men and abortionists,

Come, you Bible-thumping Baptists and smells-and-bells Anglicans and holier-than-thou Lutherans,

Come, you virgins and porn stars, you pious and predators, you straight-as-an-arrow and LGBTQs, come to the feast!

Have you slept with more people than you can remember? Come to the feast and be welcomed as a pure virgin in Jesus the righteous one.

Have your murdered and stolen and raped and devastated life after life along the way? Come to the feast and be welcomed as a saint by the Holy One of God.

OK, I've got the thrust. Jesus wipes our past clean. Whatever you've been, whatever you've done, the door is open. Got it. Appropriate for Easter. His rising makes all things possible.

But. You knew that conjunction was coming, didn't you?

But, I'd like to have read something in Bird's words about change. The religious word is repentance. Literally repentance means to turn around. The essay is similar to Tony Campolo's oft-told story about the kingdom of heaven being a party. That's OK, Campolo won't mind.

I read this essay the way I read Psalm 150, in which everything is great, great, great! "Praise the Lord! Sing to the Lord a new song! Praise the Lord! Praise him with trumpet sound, praise him with lute and harp and tambourine! Praise the Lord!" Yes, surely. But there is more to the Bible than one psalm. And there is more to coming to Christ than Bird allows.

One line leaped off the page. The part about porn stars. You may know that an adult film actress is currently in the news in regard to President Trump. What you may not know is that another porn actress, Deanne Spangler, who spent more than a few years in the industry and is retired, graduated a few years ago from Asbury Theological Seminary in Wilmore, Kentucky. I saw a picture of her being handed a diploma by President Tim Tennant, who is married to the maid of honor from my 1982 wedding. My wife and I know him. Spangler isn't serving as a pastor even though she has a seminary degree. She's a personal trainer. She says she has changed. I hope it's true but ultimately that's between her and God. Chad Bird's words don't invite a new path; they don't demonstrate a need for change. They should have.

Bird was educated in a Lutheran seminary. It should be noted that the denomination's 16th century founder, Martin Luther, never had much patience for the New Testament letter of James, which calls for a vital connection between faith and deeds. Deeds don't make you right with God, but deeds do prove whether or not faith is alive. Luther called James's letter "straw," fit only to be burned. Not everybody spurns James. I don't. I do think the blood of Christ is efficacious for everyone and that all of our right living is like filthy rags before God. We need the finished work of Christ. The essay's author gave only part of the story. Absent a clear demand for repentance, there is a sour taste to Bird's article. It's just not as simple as he makes it. I look forward to arguing the point with any and all comers.

Editor's note: In a previous version of this column, the writer used the term "subtle plagiarism" about Bird's similarities to another author. In response, Long had this to say: I found Chad Bird's words strikingly similar to an old tale told by Tony Campolo, which I heard in person in the mid-1990s and have seen on YouTube multiple times entitled "The Kingdom of God is a Party." But Mr. Bird says he is unfamiliar with Mr. Campolo's work and therefore, my two-word characterization is intemperate, inaccurate, and over-the-top. I withdraw it with apologies.