Mission
Volume 13 | Issue 8 Article 1
2-1980 Mission: Vol. 13, No. 8
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Recommended Citation (1980) "Mission: Vol. 13, No. 8," Mission: Vol. 13 : Iss. 8 , Article 1. Available at: https://digitalcommons.acu.edu/missionjournal/vol13/iss8/1
This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Stone-Campbell Archival Journals at Digital Commons @ ACU. It has been accepted for inclusion in Mission by an authorized editor of Digital Commons @ ACU. v. l ),tfõ VOLUME 13, NUMBER ..TO EXPLORE THOROUGHLY THE SCRIPTURES AND FEBRUARY 1980 ÏHEIR MEANING . . . TO UNDERSTAND AS FULLY AS POSSIBLE THE WORLD IN WHICH THE CHURCH LIVES AND HAS HER MISSION... TO PROVIDE A VEHICLE FOR COMMUNICATING THE MEANING OF GOD'S WORD TO OUR CONTEMPORARY WORLD.'' -EDITORIAL POLICY STATEMENT. JULY, 1967
CONTENTS Page
TH E TRUTH THAT MAKES US FREE From the Editor 3
WE'VE SOLD THE FARM ! J By Robert Meyers 6
FROM MAGIC TO MYSTERY z By LeVerne Metz I É THE ORDEAL OF COMPASSION f By Leonard Allen 10
o THE TIMES REALLY ARE A CHANGIN' ? By Allen Holden, Jr. 15
SURE-FIRE RELIGION By William J. Cook, Jr. 19
BOOKS:SILENCE By Bobbie Lee Holley 20 Reviewed by Steven Spidell
MALACHI AND THE BORED CONGREGATION By Lana Wisenbaker 21
EDITOR RICHARD HUGHES BOOK REVIEW EDITOR BOBBIE LEE HOLLEY BUSINESS MANAGER LAJUANA BURGESS EDITORIAL SECRETARY JANICE HUGHES
a
Mission Journal (352880) is published monthly by Mission Journal, lnc. Annual $10, three years $20, five years $30. Annual student rate $5. Bundle and bound volume rates on request. Single copies $1 . Second class postage pard at Austin, Texas and at additional mailing off ices. POSTI'/ASTER: Send address changes to Mission Journal, 11223 Henge Drive, Austin, Texas 78759, which is also the address to be used for circulation and bookkeeping correspondence. Editorial Off ices: 2071 Adolphus, Springf ield, Missouri 65807. The Truth That Makes LJs Free
FROM THE EDITOR
It is relatively easy to believe cognitive propositions about Jesuso or the church, or the nature of New Testament worship. lndeed, "the devils believed and trembled." But none oÍ that is taith. Faith is far more difficult, for faith requires, first of all, accepting ourselves for who and what we really are. And tñis is extraordinarily difficult. And then laith involves accepting the fact that God loves us, in spite of ourselves. fhis is more difticult still.
"There's one thing this class has really made Further, some of these religions-lslam for me wonder about," remarked the freshman on example-make the same truth claims for them- the last day of a class dealing with world religions selves that Christians make for themselves, at the university where I teach. "How do we know namely, that their religion is the one, final, we're right?" absolute religious truth. It was a good question. This is the background to the student's Further, given the context, it was a distinctly question. modern question that would never have been I took her question as, in itself, an act of raised before the last one hundred years. Prior faith. In her own way, she seemed to be saying, to the extensive contact of Christians with the "I believe; help my unbelief!" And she set me to non-Christian religions that occured in the late thinking on what faith really is, after all. nineteenth century, the freshman's question, Faith. Such a little word. And yet, how big "How do we know we're right?," might have and profound. For it is in the context of faith been raised by a Baptist up against a Presb¡erian, that we discover the humanness of ourselves and by a Christian/Disciple contesting a Methodist, the infinite majesty of God. or by a Catholic vis-a-vis'a Lutheran. Those In fact, so long as we are mortals, faith is our were the days when these matters, and these destiny. All of us walk by faith all the time. We questions, were all in the family. must. If we were gods, things would be But now in these latter daYs, we have different. But we are not. We are people. And discovered-and sometimes the discovery has that is the difference that makes all the come as a rude awakening-that there are other difference. religious families-Buddhists, Hindus,r ¿¡d The contrast some people pose between Moslems, for example-with their own set of "people of faith" and "people of reason," or beliefs and their own sacred scriptures, and with "people of faith" and "people of science," is precious little common ground with the Judeo- simply a false dichotomy. This was the Christian world in which the rest of us live and dichotomy Freud posed years ago when he wrote move and have our being. his little book on religion: The Future of an Illusion. remains-so long as we remain human-tenta- Religion is illusion, F-reud said in essence, tive, partial, and fragmentary. because religion clemands faith. People wish for It is this aspect of ourselves that makes the a god, then believe in the god for which they New Testament proclamation of the grace of wish. But now that mankind has entered into the God such wonderfully good news. If it were age of reason and science, we should dispense essential to my salvation that my knowlcdge of' with such nonsense, and walk by what we the infinite God, and of his ways and means with cognitively know, not by that for which we wish humankind, be complete and completely and then believe. accurate, then I would never be saved. For while But in his affirmation of reason and science, I err in living, I also err in thinking. This is an Freud was unable to escape the dimension of inescapable, unavoidable, and inevitable faith. His faith was not in God; it was in science, consequence of being human. In fact, for Freud, science was god-the god But being human, while far from perfect, is who would bring sanity and peace and rationality by no means a dead end. Even when we yield to to the world in which we live. But the utter pride and pretend to perfect knowledge, even failure of science to fulfill Freud's hopes reveals then more clearly than anything else that his hopes for science were of the dimension of faith and God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great not knowledge. love with which he loved us, even when we Man has always wanted to know and to be were dead through our trespasses, made us certain, for if we could know and be certain, we alive together with Christ . . . . For by grace would not be insecure. But uncertainty and you have been saved through faith; and this insecurity are of the essence of human life. If I is not your own doing, it is the gift of were certain, and secure through my certainty, I God.... would hardly be human. This, clearly, is the Ephesians 2:4-5,8 message of Genesis 3: Adam and Eve sought to escape their humanity through knowing. But God's response was, When we know the truth about ourseryes - you are dust, that we err - and the truth about God - and to dust you shall return. that He sayes and forgives - then we are Genesis 3: l9 suddenly liberated and cut loose f rom pre" occupation with ourseryes, trom out This also is the message of Job. prctensions, and trom wearing the deceptive Where were you when I laid the and seductive masks that obscure who we foundation of the earth? rcally are. Tell me, if you have understanding. Who determined its measurements
surely you know! . . . Have you entered into the springs ol'the sea, This is no Christian relativism. Far from it. or walkecl in the recesses ol'the deep? When Paul asked if we are "to continue in sin Have the gates of death been revealed to you, that grace may abound" and then answered, or have you seen the gates of deep darkness? "By no means!" (Rom. 6:1), his meaning Have you com¡:rehended the expanse of the doubtless includes the question, "Are we to earth'l continue in misunderstandings and imperfect Declare, if you know all this. knowledge that grace may abound?" And again, Job 3B:4-5, 16-lB his answer is, "By no means. " To admit to misunderstandings is not a license for misunderstandings. To admit to But Job did not know. Nor do we know. The flawed thinking is not justification for flarved human experience is one of believing, hoping, thinking. To own up to misapprehensions and and trusting. We speak of knowing, but our errant interpretations is not to condone these knowledge is never final or absolute. It things, Far from it. Rather, to admit to mis-
4 understandings, flawed thinking, misapprehen- nature of l.lew 'l'esl¿rment worshii-1. Incleed, "lhe sions, and errant interpretations is [o admit to deviis believed and trcmblecl." Ilut none ol'that being human. It is the first stc¡r toward giving up is faith. Faith is far rnore dil'ficult, for faith pretensions and becoming real. requires, first of all, accepting ourselves for who But where can we go for succor when we have and what we really are. And this is extraordinari- thus exposed ourselves to ourselves and seen ly difficult. And then faith involvcs accc¡rring ourselves as we really are? To whom can we turn the fact that God loves us, in spite o1'ourselves. when we no longer find security in our own frail This is more difficult still. and fragile pretensions to wisdom? "Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." He who has proven his various religious Matthew I l:28 propositions beyand any sfiadow Ðf a doubt has deceived flimself and has sef Surely, then, himself , in his pride, above all the rest who If God is for us, who is against us . . . do not know but who struggle to have f aith. It is God who justifies; who is to condemn? . . .
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? . . . Perhaps this is why Christians of all ages have For I am sure that neither death, nor life, tended to transform faith in God into believing nor angels, a set of propositions. The latter is infinitely nor principalities, nor present, things easier, to be sure. Further, believing a set of nor things to come, propositions, in a fundamental sense, is the nor powers, nor height, nor depth, precise opposite of faith. For while faith calls nor anything else in all creation, upon us to accept ourselves as we really are, will be able to separate us from the love believing a set of propositions allows us to of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. obscure who we really are as we congratulate Romans 8:31-39 ourselves on our perfect knowledge and under- standing. Man errs, and God saves. This is the truth of the Gospel. And this is THE TRUTH which we Further, when faith is transf'ormcd into will know and which will make us free (John intellectual belief, we are then in a position to 8:32). When we know the truth about ourselves assault our brothers and sisters for failing to we err-and the truth about God-that understand and believe precisely as do we. -thatHe saves and forgives-then we are suddenly Or again, faith without an element of doubt preoccupation Iiberated and cut loose from with is hardly faith at all. Indeed, lliblical faith- ourselves, from pretensions, our and from trusting that there is life when death seems all wearing the deceptive and seductive masks that pervasive, trusting that life is rneaningful when obscure who we really are. meaninglessness abounds, and trusting that we The truth makes us free that is not a set of are forgiven when guilt is so obviously present- propositions about God, about church, the this kind of faith is of the essence of the hclnest about angels heaven. or Nor is it cognitive response l'rom the father of the sick lad in Mark theories about how God, Christ, and the Holy 9: "l believe; help my unbelief !" Spirit relate to one another in the Godhead; or about how the human and the divine interact in But propositional belief strains to elirninate the person of Jesus. The truth that makes us free doubt and to know with absolute certainly, even is the truth about man and the truth about God though doubt is as much a part of being hr:man that is .summed up in the Good News of the as is eating and sleeping. Thus, he who has Gospel. proven his various religior"rs propositions beyond And this brings us back to the question of any shadow of a cloubt has deceived himself and faith. It is relatively easy to believe cognitive has set himself, in his pride, above all the rest propositions about "Iesus, or fhe church, or the who clo not lcnow but who struggle to have faith. 1'his is not to say that thcre are no hearing in December concerning his tl-reological pro¡-rositions to be bclievecl. But it is to l¿rment views. Disciplinary action, il' it comes, is still the l'act that in so much ol' Christian history, rnonths o1'f. faith in Cod surre ncle rcd almost entirely to What might all this mean to persons whose believing proposil ions. religious home is the Restoration tradition? Thus it is that we grect with grcat dismay tìre First, it certainly is worth rememberitrg the news of the Vatican crackdown on theological "heresy trials" of Thomas Campbell and other exploration outsir-le the limits of Catholic early restoration leaders that, in a back-handecl propositional belief'. The news is nol only sort of way, gave birth to the movement itsell'. dismaying; it is surprising. A1'ter Pope John For over a century and a half, the ideals of our XXIII ancl Vatican II, one might have hopecl for movement have proclaimed the right of every an ongoing climate of openncss, undergirdecl by Christian to search for himself' and to under- l'aith in God rather than l'idelity to dogrna. stand for himsell', without coercion, inquisition, The Vatican has already declare d that or heavy handed pressure . Only the bare "Prol.essor Hans Küng, in his wrilings, has essentials of the Christian faith were to be departed from the integral truth o{' Roman insisted upon unwaveringly. Catholic 1'ailh, ancl therefore he can no longer be "ln essentials, unity; in non-essentials, consiclcrecl a Catholic theolclgian or l'tlnction as liberty; and in all things, charity," became the such in a teaching role." Apparently, Küng's watchword of the movement. greatest ol'Í-ense was his contention in his 1970 Without a doubt, those early ideals have book, Infttllible? An Inquiry, that no church from time to time been obscurecl, and sometimes dogma can eve r be regarde d as infallible, greatly obscured. But the ideals remain, and whether that teaching derives from popes, they remain legitimate and worthwhile. For in creeds, councils, or the Bible itself'. Clearly, their own way, they represent the extension of Küng recognizes that church dogma, even grace, and the recognition of human frailties, wlien predicated on the Bible, is an interpreta- differences, and misunderstandings. tion of the llible, and human interpretations are We do not lament the Vatican actions ncvcr infallible or absolute. necessarily because of an admitted dif'ference in Not orrly have Ki"ing's positions at Tübingen intellectual propositions; we lament them rather been assaulted, but the Dutch Iìoman Catholic because in those actions it is difficult to discern theologian, Edward Schillebeeckx, underwent a evidences of thc truth that sets us free. ì "'We've Sold The Farm!" ,l By R.OBER.T'MEVER.S
I hardly heard her beyond the first four words. lt uvas right tor them to sell,' the farm took mare time and enetgy than they had to give" But for my family it meant fhe loss øf a plaee where we had älwðys felt nnore deeply at t¡orne and af peaee than anywhere on earth"
When the phone rang just after ten that night years ago in the Great Depression still made I guessed it miglit be my parents. A caution trorn them wait for the rates to drop.
6 So, with a smile at how habits linger beyond loft in August, his blue denim shirt dark with their need, I lifted the phone and heard my sweat. Myself, exulting in the boundless energies mother's voice break the news my own family of youth, rising at 4 a.m. on late spring had hoped never to hear: "We've sold the mornings to plow the rich dark furrows farm!" falling over in shining- ribbons behind me in the She tried to comfort all of us, through me, by slant of early light, the sweet cry of birds diving extolling progress. There was something about a for the fat worms. small airport, and how a new road would cut From that farm I went off to college in through our land to connect the section lines, Tennessee, and came back for every holiday. but it was mother-code for a sentence too Sometimes I brought my friends and watched painful to speak: the lovely three hundred acres happily as they ended weeks of cafeteria eating in the rolling hills of northeastern Oklahoma with unbelievable onslaughts against my were to belong to someone eise. mother's cooking. I hardly heard her beyond the first four words. It was right for them to sell; the farm took more time and energy than they had to give. But for my family it meant the loss of a When the war was over I asked the cab place where we had always felt more deeply at driver to let me out a quarter of a mile f rom home and at peace than anywhere on earth. the house so fhat I could walk up the road Dad got on the line with her, and both of as if I had been away only a little while. lt them forgot, as they cushioned the shock with a was dusk on a late April day when I walked chorus of blessings, how they had cherished over the last rise in the toad. They were on solitude for thirty years. She explained how the lront porch swing, as I had hoped they good it would be to have stores within walking might be, talking quietly in the f ragrance of distance; he boasted of being so close to church the day's end. For a long time we could that they would never need to drive. And only only hold each other and let the fears and half-hearing their well-meant half truths, my loneliness of the lost years dissolye. memory began to unroll the past. I saw again the land itself, the gentle swell of pasture and cropland, the pond waters ruffled Not long after December 7, l94l it was from by breezes that never failed in summer. I smelled that quiet place that I went to war for three again the fresh-cut alfalfa of the meadow at years. Mom and Dad stood on the front porch haying time, and the acrid fragrance of bitter- waving until I was out of sight, wearing their weed scythed off to keep the milk cows from smiles bravely. My mother never knew that in eating it. I heard the fluting whistles of meadow- the last split-second before I lost her from sight I larks, and the coarse heavy rustle of oak leaves saw her crumple against my father to be caught in the grove Dad had left standing for shade. and held in his arms. But the farm had embraced my people, too, When it was over I asked the cab driver to let and some of the images were caught in faded me out a quarter of a mile from the house so that pictures. One of my only sister, Eileen, seated I could walk up the road as if I had been away with slim pride on our quarterhorse mare. And only a little while. He humored my uniform with another of her in a white prom dress standing its overseas ribbons and took his fare while we stiffly on the front porch for my own camera could still not be seen or heard from the farm. work. I remembered that my strict parents It was dusk on a late April day when I walked would not let her dance, and how she had been over the last rise in the road, duffle bag slung heartbroken to wear that dress only to the jauntily over my shoulder, to catch my first banquet. glimpse of the house. They were on the front But no album could hold all the pictures. porch swing, as I had hoped they might be, Mom, tireless, cooking meals, ironing clothes, talking quietly in the fragrance of the day's end. pruning her flowers. Dad, helping a cow give For a long time we could only hold each other birth on an iey winter night, forking hay into the and let the fears and loneliness of the lost years dissolve. the wild pride burning fiercely in the yeilow eves It was there, on the farm, that I spent the first as he circled to defy us when we came too close. long summer as a veteran come home, trying to From our hard decision that day, he and I found feel what it was like to be in control of my own a wordless wisdom we would not forget. life again. I cleared groves of persimmon trees in There was a parade of slow, benign terrapins the pasture, glorying in a young nìan's strength we carried back to whatever city we lived in, as and in the heft of the arching axe, working alone each child came into a brief time when the all day in the hot sun among the stolid white- mosaic shells and the wise-looking old heads face cattle who hacl never heard a grenade. became favorite reminders of the tranquil place The sun-drenched solitude was the best of all where they had found them. therapies after the stench and noise of war. And the indelible image of that afternoon Images of death faded and the gallery of my when my first son caught a four-pound bass and mind filled with pictures of ripe watermelons would not let anyone take it from his hands until and rows of dark-green corn and the awkward his father had came back from town to see its scramble of newborn calves. And always, but glory. It had gone stiff and lusterless by then, sweetest in the late evenings, the unforgettable but in his eyes shone a pride for which he had no flutings of meadowlarks, the sound that beyond words. all sounds is Oklahoma in my memory. I grew But our silent conspiracy that this haven of brown and hard and whole. love and quiet would always be ours could not From that place I left again, this time to sustain itself, and since the night of the call time college in Texas, and came back courting a girl has worked its own not-always-welcome magic. who would become my wife. The front porch My sister sleeps beneath a huge flowering tree in swing was for us, then, cool and moonstruck a quiet cemetery in north Chicago. Dad is quiet and touched by soft winds in the Oklahoma beneath another, in a place not far from the nights. farm. Mom is old and full of fears, her love After the wedding the years rushed like beset by anxieties and her energies failing. puppies let out to play, tumbling over one But memory defeats ali this, and I have only another in unplanned joys. As my own family to close my eyes to bring back the farm as it was. grew we took for granted that great assumption: I am a young man agøin. For a momenÍ I have Mom and Dad would always be there, to hear of stopped to rest in the persimmon grove above our small triumphs and tcl give counsel when we the lake, listening while the wind makes music in asked, and no matter what else changed, the branches above my head. Not far off, a farm would be the green oasis to which we came meadowlark whistles from a clump of summer for healing. grass. Soon I will gel up to cut a few last trees, and But the meadowlark sinEs sometimes in a then walk up the lane between the head-high secluded f íeld af the heart, and it is easy fo corn on one side and the ripening orchard on the ignore what reason says" I surrender far a other, to the house. Dad will be there in a faded delícious ¡naì-nent fo the dream thaf fn fhe blue shirt Ío make some joke about how much I eveníng, eoming eloser now, I will walk need a bath, and Mom will have a farm meal on again through the sweef grasses to where the table, with tall glasses oJ iced tea and my they wait in lave. fovorite cookies still worm for dessert. I open my eyes upon all the changes worked and face the reality of what is lost. We went on vacations to other places, but the by time, I With the strength of a man's mind I accept. But vision of sloping meadows above a tranquil sings sometimes in a secluded pond, with the great oaks pooling deep cool the meadowlark field of the heart, and it is easy to ignore what shade for the cattle, never left us. We always reason says. I surrender for a clelicious moment carne track. And each tirne the farm sur¡rrised us to the dream that in the evening, coming closer with some new magic. now, I will walk again through the sweet grasses There was the day my son and I found a where they wait in love" wounded hawk, its shattered wing helpless, but to l?obert l¡4e.t,ar.s i.s pro1e.s.sor ol l:n.t!,lish ot 14/ichita SÍolc Uttivet'.til.t,, Wichita, Kansu.s.
B Thinl In man's long search for God, he has been Further, the model of God generally used by forced to build pictures of God in his mind. What primitive man had several pronounced character- is God like, after all? Children sometimes picture istics: the gods were local, anthropomorphic, and God as a Santa Claus figure, or as arr old man sit- magical. On the other hand, as man's conception ting upon the clouds. And these images are enter- of God developed, God emergecl as infinite and tained by many adults as well. universal rather than antlrropomorphic and local, Unfortunately, the adequacy of our image of and mysterious rather than magical. F-urther, in God is seldom discussed in pulpit or pew, and the this developed understanding, God is mysterious result is tragic. For while thinking matures in precisely because he is infinite. But the finite god many areas of the faith, thinking often is stifled of primitive man was not mysterious at all. As and retarded at this critical point-the starting finite, his only recourse was to capricious magic. point for understanding every other aspect of our It is this fuller conception of God that emerges, faith. for example, in the New Testament. God is not When we think we tend to visualize. If we local but universal. He is not magical and capri- think tree, we visualize the thing called "tree." So cious but rather mysterious. In a word, he is not it is with any subject. And the deeper we try to ftnite, but infinite. think the more complex the visualization becomes. Therefore, if we are willing to face it, our If, because we lack understanding, we cannot challenge is to build a model of God which reflects creale the image of the subject, we then resort to his infinity and magnifies his mystery. But this analogues. If we create a series of analogues, we abstract concept-God, the Infinite--is an idea have built a model. Moreover, the better the that cannot be conceptualized. It defies our model accounts for the evidence we have at reason and breaks down our rationality. And this hand, the better the model helps us to think about leaves us with an enormous problem. If we refuse the subject. to seek an understanding of God because God is Primitive man felt the callof God. But because infinite and beyond comprehension, then we are primitive man could not actually see God, he had left with no god to relate to at all. On the other to construct a model from whatever resources hand, if we attempt to construct an understand- were available to him. Primitive man saw God in able model of God, we run the risk of warping a rock, atree, or in the moon. In these things he and perverting the Infinite Reality into a finite could feel and experience the power and wonder figment of our imaginations. of God. He knew that there had to be something In spite of the risks, the task is worth pursuing, greater than man. But what? So he built his and so we press on. The model we attempt to modelwith what little he had. It was primitive, but construct is, of course, not God. It is merely an it was a stepping stone. attempt we make to put the eviderrces of God's As he felt more and more the power of the un- mystery and wonder into a model we can use. known, man built yet another model He The better the model, the better the wonder and fashioned images of animals, humans, and fanci, mystery of God shines through. ful things, giving them dominion over the unseen. It is doubtful that we can erase all anthropo- As the next step in refining the model, man created morphic traces from our understanding of God. the man-gods-the Zeuses and the Thors-to But, as we have seen, the greater the anthropo- rule the heavens and the earth. As more and morphic tendencies of the model, the more likely more clues to God's nature developed, man built the Mystery willbe taintecl with magic. The test of ever more complex models. True, we think of a model is whether it allows the believer to them as being false ancl pathic. But however develop his full potential for feeling and exper- fumbling his efforts may have been, man was iencing the mystery of God. earnestly trying. L"eVerne Metz i.s etttplo.t,ed l¡.l,the Unitett States Pr.¡,çtul ,St'n,itt: in Springfielrl, Missouri, I The ürdeal tf Compassñon: Professional Ministry and the Mind of Christ Compassion easily becomes more of a liability than an asset. For one thing, it can easily tarnish one's respectability, iust as it d¡d for Jesus" For another, it has an uncanny way of f rustrating ambition and quelling man's relentless nurture of his ego. Further, a truty compassíonate ministry places limits on one's sphere of service, Iimits that fortune seekers usually cannot endure. By LEONARD ALLEN The recent emphasis on ministry as a pro- Far from a cool, calculating professionalism, fession' has yielded both positive and negative Christian people are called to a ministry of results. compassion, a ministry patterned after Jesus who On the one hand, stress on the minister as so entered into the world of Galilee and Judea professional has sparked concern for specialized that even the "untouchables" of respectable training in such areas as biblical exegesis and religion felt the warmth and depth of his love. hermeneutics, interpersonal communication, Somehow the word "professional" does not and pastoral counseling. It has raised the level of seem appropriate for Jesus at all. To be sure, he competency and intellectual integrity in a had something to profess (which is what the vocation that in all too many cases has promoted word really means), but there was no refined anti-intellectualism and selective ignorance. technique, no trace of the professional informa- On the other hand, the stress on profession- tion dispenser. alism has simultaneously promoted detachment His profession was founded on the laying and pride. To most people, the term itself down of his life. And it was done in scorn of the connotes cool efficiency and dispassionate hyper-orthodox elite who were scandalized by competence. With all the hard-earned know- his association with the poor, the sick, the ledge and finely honed skills, it becomes easy to women, and most of all with the irreligious and use the tools of professional ministry much like a immoral. "Friend of tax collectors and sinners" mechanical engineer or a skilled surgeon, thus (Matt. l1:9)-we usually miss the force of that avoiding the essential and much more difficult appellation. But with today's professional task of being compassionate. While "profession- ministers the demands of mass ministry often al" may mean a training and integrity that en- seem to minimize the concern for individuals, hances ministry, it may also mean an elevation especially the unappealing ones, and the reigning of job over mission, of security over service, and orthodoxy still serves to define the limits of of career over vocation. "respectable" service. 10 From the viewpoint of institutionai ministry, sting of despair, oulrage, futility, or the radiance compassion in fact easily becomes more of a of jov and trust. Indeed, human beings cannot liability than an asset. For one thing, it can easily be understood otherwise, l'or uo one ol' us is a tarnish one's respectability, just as it did for perfectly rational creature. As the poet A. E, Jesus. For another, it has an uncanny way of Housman observed: frustrating ambition and quelling man's relentless nurture of his ego. Further, a truly But men at whiles are sober compassionate ministry places limits on one's And think by f its and starts, sphere of service, limits that fortune seekers And if they think, they fasten usually cannot endure. Their hands upon thcir hearts.l This temptation to a distant, mechanical ministry can be resisted only by continually True understanding will mean Iistening refocusing and renewing the quality that longer and in the process setting aside, at least permeated Jesus' own ministry: sensitive, for a while, our ready-made answers to the compassionate involvement with the people riddles of life. It will mean hearing out the around him. This will mean that with growth in questions without immediately defusing them skill and knowledge must come growth in with the answers. It will mean, in short, exposing compassion. oneself to the anxiety of unresolved dilemmas. But here a problem arises. Because We miss, for example, Abraham's terror in compassion is not a subject matter at all but a heeding God's call to sacrifice Isaac because we virtue or attitude, it simply cannot be learned read the story already knowing about the ram in through direct instruction. It cannot be taught, the thicket. We are impatient to apply the end to only discovered. Søren Kierkegaard, a century the beginning; as a result we miss the intensity of ago, put it this way: "There is no lack of infor- the war through knowledge of the victory. mation in a Christian land; something else is It is this very danger that haunts a "profes- lacking, and this is something which the one sional" minister. He lives too easily, too smugly man cannot directly communicate to the with tire Good News. Lulled by the vision of other. ' '' passive faces and apparent contentment, it is For this reason we will probably never hear of easy to grow feeble, content with stiff sermons, a course entitled "Christ-like Compassion in Band-Aid-like remedies, and rapid-fire advice Ten Easy Lessons," or "Advanced Principles of scattered among the people like machine gun Empathetic Love." While I can suggest in bullets. The deep hurts lie undetected, sheltered general that compassion wells up from deep by the sufferer from the carefully buffered but devotional study and the experience of ministry often self-righteous censures of the minister. itself, in the final analysis the move from concept (which can be taught) to capøcity (which cannot) remains enclosed in rnystery. It may True understanding will mean listening help, however, to look more closely at the longer and in the process sefting aside, at concept of compassion and see just what it least for a while, our ready-made ansyyers means. to the riddles of lif e. The Third Ear A prime element in compassion is under- standing. To feel with another, to share his Rendered insensitive by a dispassionate suffering, one must first know something of the ministry, we are too often unable to see or feel burden pressing upon him. But such knowledge the quiet clesperation when it is three o'clock in must not be confused with simple analytical the morning and all the spectors-loneliness, knowledge, with a body of facts, for that is emptiness, regret-come rushing in to torment. incomplete and too easily taken lightly or dis- And a continuing tragedy of Christian ministry missed. I am referring, rather, to a knowing that is that many people who courageously seek occurs only when the mind descends into the someone to understand their predicament and heart where cold facts can be warmed by the who will listen without staring nervously at the 11 clock find only a person who has sermons to ever much we love the world or yearn for the prepare, luncheons to attend, and a reputation salvation of humanity, such love dissipates in a to build. nameless void unless it translates "world" into "neighbor" and "humanity" into "John Smith." We may be like Charlie Brown when he For the one who possesses this 'othird ear" said, "l love all humanity-it's my neighbor I of understanding, the guestion then can't stand." Vy'e may love all the world in the becomes: ooHow can I live with this know- abstract and yet not be able to endure the cry of ledge of human anguish and suff ering, this one person calling-sometimes almost personal knowledge of another's hurts and imperceptably-for someone to share the load. fears that I have allawed to enter my own Compassion means not turning away from thinRing and feeling?n' another's pain or from a monstrous evil because you find it unsettling or even sickening. It means refusing oneself the indulgence of sentimentality. As Frederick Buechner noted, "To sentimentalize God's ministers of reconciliation can never something is to look only at the emotion in it afford to forget that deep understanding and at the emotion it stirs in us rather than at the involving both intellect and emotion is the pre- reality of it. . ."' To be compassionate is to requisite to healing love and compassion. look past the emotion-which we often turn to Helmut Thielecke wrote: "Tell me how much selfish ends anyway-and to focus clearly and you know of the sufferings of your fellowman steadfastly on the situation itself. To be sure, and I will tell you how much you love them."o A emotions will surge, but they will more nearly helper unwilling to risk the inconvenience and approximate those of the other. anxiety of sharing another's most terrible secret Two Greek words in the New Testament and unable to share the pain in his own soul, indicate that compassion involves a sense of knows little of the love Jesus talked about. anger or outrage. Splanchnizomai, weakly trans- Without a sensitive ear, perceptive eyes, and a lated "compassion" and used in classical Greek mind able to register feelings as well as facts, to describe the seat ol'man's deepest emotions, ministry will become only a cheap imitation of denotes anger at the situation that has reduced a the original. person to his present circumstances. Embrimaom¡, used twice by John to describe The Burden of Reality Jesus' reaction at the tomb of Lazarus ("deeply Understanciing, however, is only the moved," John l1:33,38), indicates that Jesus beginning of compassion. It must deepen in a was both deeply stirred and angered by the willingness to bear the burden that such under- inexorable power of death. The burden of a standing brings. For the one who possesses this ministry of compassion is precisely that it "third ear" of understanding, the question then engages one's whole being, even to the point of becomes: "How can I live with this knowledge anxiety and outrage. of human anguish and suffering, this personal knowledge of another's hurts ancl fears that I have allowed to enter my own thinking and The Wounded Healer feeling? I{ow can I resist the temptation to Compassion finally involves identification retreat into a cool professionalism that preserves with the sufferings of another.u For Jesus it led intact my precious peace of minci? Can I, in fact, first to the incarnation, then to a cross. For his bear the burden that compassion brings?" disciple it leads to cross-bearing, to a form of Sueh questions are vital, especially in view of self-denial where one is ready to cry with those T. S. Eliot's observation that "human beings who cry, laugh with those who laugh, and to cannot bear very much reality." They maintain make one's own painful and joyful experiences the rlisturbing but creative tension that keeps available as resources for those seeking Christian rninistry firrnly in the pattern Jesus set. guidance. But here is where we balk, where rve Regardless of the burclens it brings, Jesus taught seek the security of a carpeted pulpit or a book- that personal eoncern must be our focus. How- linecl stuely. Here the way of Jesus divergcs in a 12 wood and becomes the road less traveled by. of compassion. And of course it may even be We must realize once again the basic truth Iargely pointless since, as noted earlier, there is that Christian servants help very few people no certain link between concept and capacity. without entering into the painful situation, Nevertheless I want to focus on one broad without taking the risk of being hurt or even phenomenon that I believe is a significant factor destroyed. One great illusion of ministry is the in blocking truly compassionate ministry. While belief that people can be led out of the desert by one could focus on psycho-social factors, and someone who has never been there. To save a explore such things as how the early family child from a burning house we must risk being matrix inhibits the capacity to love, I propose burned by the flames. To guide a person from rather a theological factor: the widespread the loneliness of a life without God we must risk tendency to reduce the Christian life and experiencing similar pangs. When we attempt to message to an oversimplified system devoid of alleviate the sufferings of others without ambiguity and mystery. entering into it ourselves we forget that our This reductionism takes many forms. In its sufferings, our sins, could be relieved only by a basic form, it springs from a longing for suffering God.' simplicity. The gospel becomes a piece of infor- We try to find an easier way to serve. We mation, an outline, a five point plan. In this serve at a distance-safe, free from pain-and view, every complex problem has a simple are then puzzled to feel coldness in the churches. answer. Find a text, memorize a verse, go to a Carl Jung, the noted psychiatrist, diagnosed the workshop, get the latest religious bestseller. AII problem. "There are too many," he wrote, the answers are there. You can discover how to "who are content to learn words by heart, and be saved on your coffee break. You can find the to put words in the place of experience. No one key to life while waiting for the light to change. can really understand these things unless he has Never mind, as Donald Baillie has observed, experienced them himself . " that "most of the great heresies arose from Here is a very costly view of ministry. The undue desire for simplification, and undue price must be paid in personal struggle. The impatience with mystery and paradox."' "professional" will never be above it all, never Mystery is thus abolished in what William be able to stand in a little antiseptic bubble Barrett has called a "totalitarianism of the calmly dispensing the miracle cure. A more mind." accurate description of God's servant is found in Edna few lines the cry of St. Vincent Millay in a We become totalitarians of the mind: but poem from her "The Anguish": we ourselves are our own victims, for we The anguish of the world is on my tongue. have imprisoned ourselves in a total My bowl is filled to the brim with it; ideology beyond which we cannot see. We there is more than I can eat. are no longer free to let things be what they are, but must twist them to fit into the It is compassion that stirs such an anguish for framework we impose. . . . Why? Because, the plight of the world; but it is also eompassion like children afraid of the dark, we cannot that will lead one to set bounds on his ministry. abide to stand within mystery, and so must It leads one from love in the abstract to love have a truth that is total.e active in a relatively narrow sphere. Because it is impossible to love effectively a large number of Thus, in our theologies, the "heights and people, we must learn just how much one person depths" are reduced to the knee-deep shallows, can carry of other people's loads. We must not unsearchable riches to a bargain basement sale, forget that empathy cannot be mass produced the high mystery to a set of propositions any since it involves carrying in one's own heart the simpleton can easily understand. What often feelings of another. seems in concrete situations to be the storm of God's absence-a storm no theodicy ever The Reductive Fallacy penetrates-is reduced to the "problem of evil," It is relatively easy to talk about the concept an intellectual exercise where a thoughtful 13 person can of course find the answer if only he and in answer to the crying questions, "What reasons correctly from the right premises. can I say? What can I do? Wliat rs enough?," The basic problem with this reductionism- there comes in a flood just the answer we need: besides its departure from a truly biblical Jesus said, "My grace is enough!" (2 Cor. l2:9). theology-is the attitude it generates toward It must be! Nothing else will do. Not our care- others. If indeed everything is so simple, then fully reasoned arguments, not our pious those who differ must be either extremely dense assemblies, not our tidy forrnulas. Only grace or hopelessly obstinate. Furthermore, since (in covers our aloofness, our blindness and foolish- this view) a large portion of the world's troubles ness. result from failure to embrace the amazingly With our security based in God's grace, not simple key to abundant life, one can have little our own abilities, we are freed for more costly, patience with people that are so blatantly recalci- more risky service. Still we long for a "no fuss" trant. The result in general is an ministry. We may have the attitude expressed by authoritarianism and dogmatism leading to the the main character in John Hopkin's play, end of thought rather than the birth of thought, Talking to a Stronger: and a call for submission rather than free investi- gation. The bodily comforts, Sweetie. That's us, Behind such authoritarianism lies an isn't it? The great providers-in time of inability to come to terms with one's own trouble. A roof, a fire-one hot drink, one humanness. We easily fall for the illusion that by soft bed-the knife is six inches deep in his condemning human weakness long enough we soul-and we feed him. Meat and two can lift ourselves above it. We refuse to acknow- vegetables. . . We make it easy for him-I ledge our own tensions and doubts and thus find mean, that's it-the whole bit-easy-and it hard to muster compassionate concern for the no fuss. Specially-no fuss! serious doubter who, after all, probably needs compassion and emotional support as much or The idea of a "no fuss" ministry must be more than an intellectual broadside.'o forever destroyed. Rather, the minister must be Luther spoke freely of the agonies of his faith prepared, as Thomas Merton pointed out, to and the unceasing struggle of holding it fast. We make his way into a desert, desolate and hope- must do the same. To be truly compassionate, less, and there cultivate a garden. "What is my we must acknowledge our full humanity. In so new desert?" Merton asked. "The name of it is doing, the tensions of pretension will be relieved. compassion. There is no wilderness so terrible, "Be not angry," wrote Thomas àKempis, "that so beautiful, so arid and so fruitful as the wilder- you cannot make others as you wish them to be, ness of compassion It is in the desert of since you cannot make yourself as you wish to compassion that the thirsty land turns into be.tt" springs of water, that the poor possess all things. " '2 paradox: From Pride to Compassion Here is the central healing begins in pain; With this awareness that there are few simple solidarity with the it begins in the desert. answers in the task of compassionate ministry, The faithful servant thus takes his stance beside, we find ourselves driven to our knees again and not above, the sufferer. He is acutely aware that possibilities again, searching for wisdom, straining under the he harbors in his own life the same pain burden of reality. We know of course that the for evil and and that only by a remarkable grace gospel can be taught very simply, but we also is he a new creation. Only as this aware- ness pride give know that it touches the deepest recesses of life. deepens does way to compassion. We know that the dynamics producing both Only here does the "professional" minister approach I:itotnores on puse 15 deviance and devotion are complex and fragile. the mind of Christ. And we are overwhelmed. Though not driven to despair, like Faul we are often perplexed (2 Cor. 4:8). Leonan.l AIlen i.s ntini,sÍer.[or Íhe Church o.f Christ, Keokuk, Iowa, and is.o docloral stuclen¡ in <:hLtrt,lt lti.strtry ut Ihe (/niver.ril), of But precisely here, at this point of perplexity I o v,a. 14 'See for example James D. Glasse, Prlbsrion: Minis¡er Sabellian contÌovelsy whcn the Patripassian heresy rvas condelnned. (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1968). On the conccpt of plofcssional- Jurgen Moltrlann's recent obscrvation, horvcvcr', hcl¡ls us spcak ism, sce Edgar H. Schein and Diane W. Kommers (eds.), more precisely: "The suffcring and dying of the Son, forsaken by Professional Educaîion (New York: McGraw-Hill Book the Father, is a diffcrent kind ol sufferirìg from the suffering of Cornpany, l972). the Fathcr in the death of the Son. . thc Son suffcrs dying, the 'For a stimulating, booklength elaboration of this passage see Father suffers the death oi the Son. 1"he grief of thc Father herc is Fred Craddock's 1978 Beecher Lectures, Overheoring the Cospel; just as important as the death of the Son." The Crucified God Preuching and Teaching the Fdith to Persons l{ho Have Already (New York: Harper & Row, 197 4), p. 243. l/eørrl (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1978); sec also Carl Rogers, 'Donald llaillìc, Cod Was In Clrrsl (Ncw York: Charlcs "Personal Thoughts on Teaching and Learning," Merrill-Palmer Scribner's Sons, 1948), p. 65. Quarterly, III (Summer 1957), 241 -3. 'William Barrett, The Illusion of Technique: A Search for '4.8. Housman "Could Man Be Drunk," tn Collected Poents Meoning in a Technologicol Society (Carden City, N.Y.: Double- t¡Í A. E. Housman (New York: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, day, 1978), pp. 149-50. 1965), p. 109. 'oPaul Pruyser, in Between Belie.f and Unbelie.f (New York: oHelmut 'lhielecke, Our Íleavenly Fatlier (New York: Harper Harper & Row, 1974), provides an exccllent study of the & Row, 1960), p.93. ambivalence of belief in the modern world: it serves as a stimulating 'Frederick Buechner, Telling lhe Truth: The Gospel as Ìesource for better self-understanding. For ministering to t.hose in Tragedy, Conredy, and Fairy ?"a/e (New York: Harper & Row, doubt, see Os Cuinncss, In I'wo Mintl,ç: The Dilen¡nto of Douhr 1977), p. 36. and Itow,tr¡ Resolvc /t (Downers Crove, Ill.: InterVarsity, 1976). ol l'Thomas am indebted in this section to Henri Nouwen, The lïtounded âKempis , l'ltc Itnìtation o.l Chri.st, l. 16. Healer: Ministry in Confentporor! Society (Garden City, N.Y.; ''Thomas Merton, The Sign of Jonas (Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1 972). Doubleday, 1956), p. 323. 'The idea of a suffèring Cod has not fared well since the early The Times Really are Ð Changin': Bob Dylan lrlow Sings For the Lord By ALLEN HOLDEN, JR. Slow Train Coming by Bob Dylan (Columbia FC 36120); Written by Bob Dylan; Produced by Jerry Wexler and Barry Beckett; Recorded at Muscle Shoals Sound Studio, 1979; $8.98 list. ln this age of discon heavy metal and new wave (or punk) in popular music, it is refreshing to hear music that has a tnessage, communicates truth and edifies the listener. Rumors have been flying for months that How many ears must one man have Bob Dylan, the archetype of the 60's social before he can hear people cry? protest movement in popular music, has become How many deaths will it take 'til he knows a "born-again Christian." With the release of that too many people have died? Slow Train Coming, his latest album, the doubts should begin to fade.' While this prophetic message is most evident in There has always been the prophetic element his earliest material, it continues all the way in Dylan's music, a clear portrayal of the right through his career, evident in "The Times They and the wrong, and a strong advocacy of social Are a Changin'," "A F{ard Rain's a Gonna justice. No song more clearly shows this than Fall," and "Hurricane," among many others. "Blowin' in the Wind": The overtly spiritual dimension has been a 15 ilart of lìob Dylan as well. In "l Shall Be Abe said, "Man you must be putting me oll." Released," we hear the spiritual quest for final God said "No," Abe said, "Wl-lat?" vindication and peace: God said, "You can do what you want to but the next time you see me you bette r run. " I see my light come shining Abe said, "Where you want this killing done?" From the west out to the east God said, "Out on Highway 61." Any day now, any day now I shall be released So pervasive are references to the Bible in Dylan's musical catalogue that Dylan complain- "When the Ship Comes In" more clearly speaks ed at one point of being constantly beseiged by of the last days, when the rightcous will triumph inquiries from Jewish quarterlies and other and justice will prevail. "Dear Landlord," from writers seeking to do an exegesis of these John Wesley Harding is a prayer for mercy: references. o Paul Stookey, previously of the folk trio, Dear Landlord, please don't dismiss my case; Peter, Paul, and Mary, attributes his turn to the I'm not about to argue, Lord to some advice Bob Dylan gave him in I'm not about to move to no other place. 1967, prior to the Midwest concert. Take a long Now each of us has his own special gift, walk in the country before the concert, advised And you know that this was meant to be; Dylan, and do something else-read the Bible. And if you don't underestimate me Although it took a while for Stookey to heed this I won't underestimate you. latter piece of advice, when he did, he noticed the origin of some of Dylan's more difficult imagery in Revelalion, and also saw the amount In addition, we've heard Dylan sing about of truth he had been overlooking by not going to "Knocking on Heaven's Door." "the guidebook."5 Many writers have discussed Dylan's spiritual side, including Stephen Pickering, who subtitled It should therefore not seem totally born his book about Dylan "A Portrait of the Jewish inconceivable to us that Dylan is now Poet in Search of God. "' He sees Dylan again. After all, he once said that "he not busy last, "searching for and rediscovering the manifesta- being born/ls busy dying." At the searcher tions of God." In 1970, Steven Goldberg wrote for God has found Him-or rather has been an entire article with this theme, "Bob Dylan found by Him. Proof positive can be found in and the Poetry of Salvation." He traces the his current album, Slow Train Coming. quest for God in Dylan's music, calling The album opens with "Cotta Serve Nashville Skyline "the final step in Dylan's Somebody," the first single released and one which received sufficient sales and radio airplay search for God . . . [and] Dylan's acknowledge- ment of the joy of a life suffused with to make the top twenty-five nationally. In it, compassion and God." He goes on to say that we're walned that: Dylan "has heard the universal melody through the galaxies of chaos and has found that the You may bc an ambassador to England or galaxies were a part of the melody. "' France, Another clue that Dylan has been a God- You may like to gamble, you may like to seeker can be found in the extensive biblical dance, imagery evident in Dylan's music. Allusions to You may be the heavyweight champion of Genesis, Revelation and the Gospels are the world, regularly made in his music, though not always You may be a socialite with a long string of pearls, in an entirely complimentary light. "Highway 61 Revisited," for instance, re-tells the story of But you're going to have to serve somebody. Abraham and Isaac in a contemporary (and Yes, indeed, you're gonna have to servc distorted) manner: somebody. It may be the devil, or it may be the Lord, God said to,Abraham, "Kill rne a son." But you're gonna have to serve somebody. 16 ln one ol- the finest cuts on the alburn, Dylan The re's a man on a cross and he was sings to his "Precious Angel" of the crisis of crucified for you; beliel'and o1 the object o1'l'aith: Believc in his power, that's about all you can do. There's spirituai warl'are, flesh and blood When you gonna wake up and strengthen breaking down. thc things that rcmain. You either got faith or unbelie f, There's no neutral ground . . . . The title cut has been termed one of the two You werc tellin' them about Buddha and l'inest songs on the album,u for it is a passionate, You were tellin' them about Mohammed in prophetic piece discussing our national malaise, one breath; hunger, foreign oil and unbelief . lnstead of You never mentioned one time the man singing about "When the Ship Comes In," we who came and died a criminal's death. now hear a "Slow Train Coming": But the enemy I see wears a cloak of decency, "Gonna Change My Way of Thinking" All non-believers and men-stealers speaks of the last days when he sings: speaking in the name of religion, And there's a slow, slow train coming JesLrs said be ready, coming 'round the bend. For you know not the hour which I come... Other songs still show evidence of Dylan's He says who's not for me is against me; religious commitment, though they are less Guess you know where he's coming from. forthright or profound. "Do Unto Others" is an exposition of the golden rule, and "Man Gave This theme of the last days is extended, and Names to All the Animals" discusses (in a light more explicitly discussed, in "When He manner) man's giving names to the animals after Returns," a haunting gospel number featuring the creation. only a piano for backup: For me, the most touching cut, and the most autobiographical, is "l llelieve in You," a It is only he who can reduce me to tears. credr¡ which, though somewhat ambiguous, is t-ike a thief in the night, he'11 replace wrong probably best understood as a statement to the with right Lord, particularly in the context of the When he returns. remainder of the album. How long can I listen to the lies and prejudice? How long can I stay drunk of fear out in I believe in you even through the tears and the wilclerness? the laughter, Can I cast it aside, all this loyalty and this I believe in you even though we be apart, pride? I believe in you even on the morning after, Will I ever learn that there'll be no peace, When the dawn is nearing... That the world won't cease until he returns? When the night is disappearing... This feeling's still in my heart. Surrender your crown on this blood-stained Don't let me drift too far, keep me where you ground. . . are, He's got plans of his own to set up his Where I will always be renewed. throne And what you've given me today is worth When he rcturns. more than I can pay And no matter what they say, I believe in yotl . Just as Dylan used to do in his early songs, he calls us to respond in "When You Gonna Wake As one reviewer observed, "The Cospel up": according to Dylan proclaims tl're victory of the 17 Kingdom, the imminence of Jesus' return, the Contemporary charts, implying a sizeable grace and love of God, the crisis of commitment amount of secular airplay. and faith and salvation by grace through faith. Dylan's new album is simply the most Not bad for the first time out-not bad at all ! "' commercial and noticeable procluct of believing The album is stunning because not only are rock musicians, and it can bè a tremendous all nine songs a testimony of faith, but it is at the effort for good for believers everywhere. We can same time a well-crafted piece of music. Rolling be called again to faith, and can put some Stone's publisher Jann Wenner calls it quality spiritual music on the turntable, in "probably Dylan's finest record," for it is a addition to the usual Barbra Streisand, Donna well-produced and musically tight piece of art. Summer and Linda Ronstadt. The youth can be Musicians include guitarist Mark Knopfler and encouraged to listen to the words of the songs on drummer Pick Withers from Dire Straights the radio, and can buy this album without fear ("Sultans of Swing"), as well as bassist Tim of getting a poor quality record in the name of Drummond, the Muscle Shoals Horns and a religion. And pulpit speakers can tap a mother- soulful female back-up trio. The combination of lode of fine poetry on the crisis of unbelief, our passionate lyrics and quality music may well social ills, and the need for Jesus. result in this being one of his most successful It is the effect that this record can have on albums commercially. In fact, it made the top unbelievers that is the most encouraging. Not three within three weeks of its release. only is this entire album a statement of In this age of disco, heavy metal and new commitment to Christ, but Dylan's current wave (or punk) in popular music, it is refreshing concert tour as well is totally devoted to songs to hear music that demands that you listen to the about faith, either from this album or those not Iyrics. By singing about something other than yet recorded. While few will be converted to "Good Times," girls ("My Sharona") or drugs, Jesus Christ solely on the basis of a record or a Dylan reminds us that popular music can have a concert, their curiosity will be raised and they message, can communicate truth and can edify may begin to ask the right questions. the listener while also expressing beauty. Jann Wenner has this reaction to Dylan's Dylan is by no means alone in the rock world, album: "l don't go to church or to a synagogue; no lone voice crying out for faith. Overtly I don't kneel beside my bed at night. . . . I have Christian rock musicians include Arlo Guthrie, yet to face the terror I read about in all the great Jennifer Warnes, Billy Preston, Richie Furay, Al literature. But since politics, economics and war Green, Peter Gabriel and Van Morrison, not to have failed to make us feel any better-as mention portions or all of such disparate groups individuals or as a nation-and we look back at as Seawind, the Robin Trower Band and the long years of disrepair, then maybe the time for Alpha Band. Ex-Byrd Roger McGuinn religion has come again...."'0 That Dylan could confirmed his belief in a recent interview when have this kind of effect on a person like Jann he said that he is now "working for Jesus."8 Wenner speaks of the power of music as a There is also a sizeable number of what some call vehicle for a message of faith. "pure Christian artists, " including Barry What Steven Goldberg wrote in 1970 is even McGuire, Andrea Crouch and the Disciples, more true today, in light of Slow Train Coming: Reba Rambo, and the Bill Gaither Trio. Speaking of the "incredibly large number of Even the Churches of Christ have spawned a people" who hear him, he says, "Dylan's art is number of such Christian groups and artists, capable of igniting their faith. In any age, that is including the Horizons, Chris Christian, Gary S. a considerable artistic achievement; in the lonely Paxton, the Boones, Dogwood, and Fireworks.n world of the contemporary young, it would seem Some Christian music, such as that issued by almost a miracle."" FooÍnoles on page l9 Word's Sparrow label, is of such caliber musically that it is even played on some secular radio stations. For instance, Dan Peek's "All Things are Possible (With You By My Side)" Allett Holden is (1 trustee o/Mission Joulnal ond o tì'a.ffi.'engineer made the national Top 100 and the Adult .for the city oJ San Diego, Cali_fornia. 18 'liol cliscrrssion ol'l)\,ìarì's cclnvcrsion, cl', .lanrì Wcnncr, "lJob iunit.y, Iotlu.v, XXII(May 19, 1978), 13. 'lhc [)r,l¿,l ,"tJ Our''linrcs: Slorr'-l'r ain is C'onring," Rolling Stotte ' ¡(()n Iì().clrl)inl rtt, r t¡t. < i t. (Sc¡rt crrrbcr 20, 191 9), 94-95 ; Iìort [ì oscnbarrnt, " lìorn-Again llob : '[.-an'-v ['lrorrras, "'lhc Cos¡rcl Accor.cling t The Eckleburg Perspective Sure-Fire Religion By William J. Cook, Jr. Back in the sixties a young minister wrote a case cautioned the jurors to remember that, book called "Are You Going To Church More under the Constitution, if the church's promises And Enjoying It Less?" Many people read the were of a religious nature then it was not for the book, or at least the title page, said "yes," and courts to challenge the truth or falsity of a quit. Others dismissed the entire question as religious belief. But the jury doubted the church, heresy and trudged faithfully to the pew each believed Julie and awarded her over two million week to be filled with hope and happiness. And dollars. True to form, the church is appealing to there is no doubt about it, many worshippers a higher authority. and are genuinely happy and content with were Well, if this decision is allowed to stand, it what their church provides them. Those who are raises the possibility of a whole rash of church- not so happy there may find some ray of hope in goers trying to cash in on their reward here and rather curious development out in Portland, a now before inflation gets all the way to the Oregon. Pearly- Gates. ln that state, by virtue of a recent decision by that state's Supreme Court, a church can be sued I suppose we can expect all kinds of law suits for not making good on its promises - whatever to come from this: suits over boring sermons, they may be. And one youtlg lady has already off-key singing, long services, hard pews, and found her reward - two million American tithes, and a host of lesser offenses involving dollars - as a result of a court suit against a truth and salvation. Of course the ultimate law local church. According to the testimony of suit will be filed by those who thought they were Julie Tichbourne the church defrauded her by promised they were going to Heaven and failing to fulfill its promises including helping didn't. But winning that one will offer- little her with her college classwork, developing her comfort, considering the scene of the creativity, and raising her IQ score. She claimed courtroom. none of these things ever happened; that she had not only been bilked out of $3,000.00 in church Old-timers used to say; "You get out of fees; but also suffered inestimable emotional religion what you put into it." lf you have the distress over the whole affair. The judge in the right judge - you get even more. 19 By hbbie Lee Hollq Silence, by Shusaku Endo. Translated by William Johnston. (New York: Taplinger Publishing Company, 1979), 294 pp., $9.95. Reviewed by Steven Spidell, minister for the Wilmette, Illinois, Church of Christ and a trustee of Mission Journal. The setting is Japan in the 1600's. A vicious could do no wrong, utter no word of insult. persecution of Christians has begun in order to When the vision of this face came before reaffirm Japan's own cultural and political him, fear and trembling seemed to vanish roots. Christians are being ordered to deny like the tiny ripples that are quietly sucked Christ and to trample thefumie, a piece of wood up by the sand of the sea-shore. p. 158. which bears the image of Christ. Imprisonment, torture, and death await those who will not In Father Sebastian's darkest hours of loneliness recant. In Europe, word is received that a and hunger and fear, even in the moment of his prestigious, highly respected, Catholic own betrayal and capture by the Japanese, the missionary, Father Ferreira, has renounced his face of Christ comes to him to sustain him. faith and denied Christ. Stunned by this news, But as the pressures have mounted, as some of his former students venture the Sebastian witnesses the deaths of men and hazardous journey to Japan to care for the \ryomen whose only crime was to believe that Christians there and to learn the truth about Jesus is the Son of God, as he looks to his Lord Ferreira. for strength, he becomes more and more intently For Father Sebastian Rodrigues the very aware that the face of Christ, as beautiful as it is image of Christ has been an ever present source to him, is silent. In the midst of the unspeakable of comfort and inspiration and strength. Now in cruelty in which His people are giving up their Japan, in the worst of circumstances, the face of lives, He remains silent. Sebastian prays, "Yet his Savior keeps him going. you never break the silence...You should not be silent forever" (p. 160). From childhood the face of Christ had been Yet Christ remains silent and Sebastian's the fulfillment of his every dream and torment grows. ideal. The face of Christ as he preached to the crowd the Sermon on the Mount. The What he could not understand was the still- face of Christ as he passed over the Lake of ness of the courtyard, the voice of the Galilee at dusk. Even in its moments of cicada, the whirling wings of the flies. A terrible torture this face had never lost its man had died. Yet the outside world went beauty. Those soft, clear eyes which on as if nothing had happened. Could pierced to the very core of man's being anything be more crazy? Was this were now fixed upon him. The face that martyrdom? Why are you silent? Here this 20 one-eyed man died and for you. You give us the strength to be obedient. How ought to know. Why- does this silence desperately have we longed to hear the voice of continue? This noon-day stillness. The our Savior and know that his love is real. sound of the flies - this crazy thing, this Sebastian's struggle is truly our own. cruel business. And you avert your face as Shusaku Endo has written a parable for our though indifferent. This...this I cannot time. He has woven into one story the power and bear. pp. 182-3. triumphalism of a faith that has created Western civilization, the rejection of the gospel by other Father Sebastian struggles for his faith, for cultures, the struggle of faith and denial. The the value of what he does as a priest, for the reader is invited to scrutinize his own faith to meaningfulness of the dying of Christians for discover what he really believes about himself, their faith, for the beliefs of his Church. Even about his church, and about his Lord. So when he meets, at last, Father Ferreira and engaging is Endo's skill, that scarcely can one learns that he has indeed apostasized, Sebastian break out of his spell and not suffer with the will not let go his vision of Christ. Christians in the story, and especially with The moment of truth arrives when, after Sebastian. listening all night to the agony of a man How does one affirm one's faith in Christ? suspended upside down with cuts made in his How would you do it? Could you? More head to allow the blood to drip out, Sebastian is importantly, what is the faith that you would told that if he will trample the fumie, the blessed affirm? Who is the Christ you would affirm? face of Christ, the man will be saved. Father When, as last, Christ speaks to Father Ferreira himself had apostasized in the same Sebastian, when He finally breaks His silence, situation. Now Sebastian must decide what his Sebastian's faith must be destroyed in order that faith is about. faith may live. Though in less desperate circumstances, When you are ready to probe your own faith many of us have wrestled with the meaning of in an intensely personal and perhaps painful our faith and the silence of God. Often in anger, way, Silence may open new avenues of insight we have pointed to the cruelty and injustice of and understanding for you. It is a work of classic this world and begged God to speak. Often have dimension. we prayed that Christ would show us his will and Malachi and the Bored Congregation By LANA WISENBAKER F ailing to acknowledge, to contemplate, and to respond to God's love, our lives get filled up with other things not particularly bad things, iust other things. Then it is terrifyingly -easy to be bored with God, to keep up appearcnces perhaps, to get our weekly fix of piety, þut stilt to find it all very tiresome. Perhaps it's because of that misunderstood Testament books designated Minor Prophets is adjective, "minor," that the group of Old such an unfamiliar and uninviting part of 21 'ï'he scripture for most Christians. name has the oppression of the poor and the stranger arc reference to the shortness of the messages, not all specifically mentioned. They weren't the significance. enjoying their lives. They did a lot of crying and For years Sunday school teachers have been a lot of blaming. Scripture says that they faithfully teaching children to recite all thirty-nine "wearied the Lord with their words." Old Testament books, even pronouncing Habakkuk Yet in the face of God's indignation and correctly, but it is a rare education program that rebuke, the response of the bored congregation includes real study of what those strange- was, "My, how tiresome it is. " sounding little books contain. What sort of offerings are being presented to How delightful then to discover the Minor the Lord today? No longer does he require Prophets: a collection of passionate and power- blood; now we who have been made alive in ful messages that are marvelously applicable to Christ are commanded to offer ourselves as this time and this place! Iiving sacrifices (Rom. l2:2). All of a person's Consider Malachi. He spoke to a people who mind, hands, tongue, talent-all are to be laid at could be quite at home in the twentieth century. the feet of Jesus for his transformation and use. They were bored with religion; they were cynical How easily we repeat the pattern of those about the meaning of life; instability marked ancients. Failing to acknowledge, to their family relationships, and they were contemplate, and to respond to God's love, our ignorant of their estrangement from the God lives get filled up with other things-not par- whose name they wore. ticularly bad things, just other things. Then it is Not wanting his people to remain blind, the terrifyingly easy to be bored with God, to keep up Lord commissioned Malachi to deliver his words appearances perhaps, to get our weekly fix of of rebuke and remedy to Israel. Notice the very piety, but still to find it all very tiresome. first words, "'I have loved you,'says the Then our sacrifices are polluted. We lay Lord." This is the primary message of God before the Lord a few fragments of ourselves: a through all of his revelation, and yet the one that bit of time, an occasional word, and some senti- is ignored and despised by the majority. The ment. But regarding our reallives, who we are response of the people amounted to a yawn and and what we do with our time, energy, and a skeptical, "Oh, really?" possessions, we are adamant in guarding Because they had turned their backs on his control. Do you suppose we "weary the Lord" love, they had become increasingly alienated with our self defenses and excuses and from God, and the results were evident in their complaints? worship. The sacrifices they brought were pol- The remedy that the Lord prescribed was a luted and half-hearted; whatever was of little use radical one: be purifiecl and refined by the fire of to them they gave to the Lord. his holiness. When gold is refined, the heat is Gone was any heart involvement. Ritual was applied again and again and the impurities are kept for appearances' sake and the process skirnmed off until the face of the refiner can be apparently gave them a kind of religious clearly reflected in the metal. sedative, producing a feeling of self- The process for us is the same. To fulfill the righteousness for the rest of the week. Creator's purpose of transforming us into the God was repulsed and cried out for one who image of his son, radical measures are would shut the temple doors to prevent such demandecl. We might like for those measures to mockery. In another prophetic book he refers to be painless and detached ("Take care of it, such hypocritical worship as "trampling my Lord, and I'll check back with you in a few court" (Isa. 1:12). years."), but scripture tells us repeatedly that it Their lives bore testimony to the callousness will not be that way. The impurities present must with which they treated each other: the treachery be removed and they don't go easily. between man and wife, the immorality, the lies, We live in a world full of difficulties and 22 pain, and thc l.orcl is able to use those Revering Gocl is a pleasing sacrifice, an dif'ficulties as a refining l'ire if we allow him. unpolluted one, one that is in reach of every Thosc who resist the work ol'the Spirit will be believer, one that could stir a bored congrega- consumed by the ordeal, but for those who tion. surrender, "the sun ol'righteousness will rise The Lord invites us to prove his willingness to with healing in its wings" (Mal.4:2). "open the windows of heaven and pour out Although they were in the minority, there blessing" upon us by giving to him what is were those who revered the name o1'the Lord in already his. Simply put, our homage is a daily Malachi's day, and it is interesting to notice saying, "Lord, I am willing to be what you want what is recorded of their behavior. The prophet me to be. Here I am to be instructed, to be says that they spoke to each other about the ref ined, to be of service. " Lord. Here was no grand, importanl work, bul" a Malachi's message is still the same, and sirnple delighting in the involvement of God in countless bumper stickers and glib phrases their lives. And God was attentive; in fact, it was cannot trivialize it: "l have loved you," says the of sufficient importance to him that he recorded Lord. it all in a Book ol'Remembrance. He calls these jewels." people his " I." u n u 14/ i.çe n hu k e r i s u lt r ¡ nt e n t u l¡ e r i n Il i t' h u rd.sr¡ n.'lc.t u,s I will praise the Lord no matter what happens. I will constantly speak of his glories and grace. I will boast of all his kindness to me. Let all who are discouraged take heart. Let us praise the Lord together, and exalt his namc. For I cried to him and he answered me! He lreed me from all my fears. Others too were radiant at what he did for them, Theirs was no downcast look of rejection! This poor man cried to the Lord- and the Lord heard him and saved him out of his troubles. For the Angel of the Lord guards and rescues all who reverence him. Oh, put God to the test and see how kind he is ! See for yourself the way his mercies shower down on all who trust in him. If you belong to the Lord, reverence him; for everyone who does this has everything he needs. Even strong young lions sometimes go hungry, but those of us who reverence the Lord willnever lack any good thing. Sons and daughters, come and listen and let me teach you the importance of trusting and fearing the i.ord. Do you want a long good life? Then watch your tongue! Keep your lips from lying. Turn from all known sin and spend your time in doing good, Try to live in peace with everyone; work hard at it. For tl-re eyes of the Lord are intently watching all who live good lives, and he gives attention when they cry to him. But the Lord has made up his mind to wipe out even the memory of evil men from the earth. Yes, the Lord hears the good man when he calls to him for help, and saves him out of all his troubles. The Lord is close to those whose hearts are breaking; he rescues those who are humbly sorry for their sins. The good man does not escape all troubles-he has them too. But the Lord helps him in each and every one. God even protects him from accidents. Calamity will surely overtake the wicked; heavy penalties are meted out to those who hate the good. But as for those who scrve the Lord, he will redeem them; everyone who takes refuge in him will be freely pardoned. Psalm 34, Living Bible Mission Journal solicits a broad spectrum of responses to articles in the journal. To be published, letters may argue from a variety of perspectives, but must be responsible and well thought out. The journal reserves the right to edit letters where necessary. Address all letters for publication to "Forum." Here's How You Can Help M'SS'O N JOURNAT Not too many people tñese days have extra lunds to give to ministries like that of Mission Journal. But everyone has friends. lî you would tear the post card lrom the center ol tfiis íssue, iot down the names and complete addresses ol three îriends with whom you would like to share Mission Journal, stamp the card and drop it in the mail, you would be helping thís ministry more than you can dream. I MTCHIGA¡ 07/80 0ll l3 CHR C OLL 800 b/ A\ \l t- Íe FI-]CHFSTE RO M I 48O63 JOURNAL 207 1 Adolphus, Springf ield, Missouri 65807