Bridge Out
by Rev. W. Allen Thomason
Pastor, Chesterfield Baptist Church Chesterfield, South Carolina

The bridge over the creek is out. It has been ever since I moved here two years ago. Two large signs on either side of the road, just beyond the parking lot of our church, state clearly to the driving public “BRIDGE OUT 0.5 MILES AHEAD.”

I have never known how to get to the other side of Thompson Creek here in Chesterfield. The bridge is out, and it’s been said it will never be rebuilt. They are rumored to be working on it, but you know how much you can count on rumors.

My boys, 6 and 4, have been obsessed with “the bridge that’s out.” After church on Sunday mornings, we go to the end of the road and stand at the edge of the pavement and stare. “Maybe one day they will finish the bridge,” we say.

Bridges have been a real topic of thought for me lately. Our church’s long range planning committee is currently working on a congregational evaluation, and has learned that a good quality in a pastor is the ability to build bridges between people of different viewpoints and opinions.

I have to admit, I don’t expect to get very high scores on that scale. I have always been more skilled at standing firmly on the ground on my side of the bridge than being able to build a bridge to the other viewpoint. In fact, the people I know of that would fit such a description are few and far between.

President Jimmy Carter comes to mind, being such a great peacemaker and all. Gandhi got the Muslims and Hindus to quit killing each other in India, until a Muslim shot him. Captain Jean-Luc Picard of the USS Enterprise-D has a reputation as a great diplomat, but he’s on television and isn’t real. Hmph. My list is out of names.

It seems to me that I have never really seen a lot of bridge building going on in my lifetime; at least not from where I sit. I’m sure that someone has it down pat, but whoever that is, they’re unknown to me.

Perhaps that is because I am a Baptist preacher. I grew up a Baptist. I have never been anything other than a Baptist. I wasn’t always a Christian, but I was always a Baptist.

Ever since I really began paying attention to the world, I knew that I was going into the Baptist ministry. Baptist experience, especially Southern Baptist, has been my teacher. I am one of the generation that literally grew up during the SBC controversy.

My faith formation occurred in between hostile national conventions. No, I haven’t seen much bridge building being modeled between different opinions.

It seems that every time someone makes a Neville Chamberlain type of gesture, giving up the Sudetenland in order to ensure peace and “build a bridge,” the aggressor just cranks up the tanks and keeps barreling along.

In 1987, there was a Peace Committee formed. It was supposed to find a way to build a bridge between “this” group and “that” group. Since “this” group had the upper hand and realized it wasn’t required to build a bridge, no bridge was built. “That” group got stranded on the other side and has since begun to try and build bridges with “other” groups.

It seems that the group that now holds the reigns of power in the SBC isn’t a big fan of bridge building. In fact, they seem rather fond of creating islands and then voting people off.

They say bridges are dangerous. They let people that are different come over here. It seems that the people on that side of the bridge look and sound just like the people on this side of the bridge.

I bet we could do a lot of really awesome things for the kingdom of God if we used our energy constructively. Instead, it seems all the energy is being directed at keeping the bridge out.

It seems that the brain trust at the SBC Department of Defense has developed some seriously explosive ordinance: The BF&M 2000. This creedal TNT does a great job at sending bridges up in smoke.

Bridges between missionaries and their people groups are being blown up. Lots of bridges between Baptists over here and Baptist over there (Russia, Belgium, all over Europe, Asia) have been blown up because we just don’t need them.

The District of Columbia Baptist Convention, the Baptist General Convention of Texas, and the Baptist General Association of Virginia all have had their bridges held hostage and then blown up.

Unfortunately, new signs are now posted all over where there used to be well-traveled bridges: ”DANGER–BRIDGE OUT.”

Saturday, my 6 year old and I were going home, when he called out, “Let’s go see the bridge that’s out!” “OK,” I conceded.

We turned the corner. I noticed something was a bit different, and didn’t realize what it was until I saw a blinking yellow light lying flat on the ground. The signs were all down. The shoulder of the road was trimmed with red clay and fresh paint.

We came around the bend, and there in all its newly paved glory was the brand spanking new Thompson Creek bridge.

“Yiiiippppeeeee!” My son nearly broke through the windshield trying to get a look. “They fixed the bridge!”

For the first time we rode over the bridge onto ground we had only heard about until now. It’s good ground. Just like our ground. In fact, we found a short cut to the golf course. And all the people said, “Amen.”

re would be squeals of delight. Perhaps we would be able to do good, do more of it and do it better. Perhaps, but we will never know if we keep letting them blow up the bridge, will we?

October 2002