Olivet Nazarene University Digital Commons @ Olivet Preacher's Magazine Church of the Nazarene 3-1-1979 Preacher's Magazine Volume 54 Number 03 Neil B. Wiseman (Editor) Olivet Nazarene University Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.olivet.edu/cotn_pm Part of the Biblical Studies Commons, Christian Denominations and Sects Commons, International and Intercultural Communication Commons, Liturgy and Worship Commons, Missions and World Christianity Commons, and the Practical Theology Commons Recommended Citation Wiseman, Neil B. (Editor), "Preacher's Magazine Volume 54 Number 03" (1979). Preacher's Magazine. 569. https://digitalcommons.olivet.edu/cotn_pm/569 This Journal Issue is brought to you for free and open access by the Church of the Nazarene at Digital Commons @ Olivet. It has been accepted for inclusion in Preacher's Magazine by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ Olivet. For more information, please contact [email protected]. , , f ’ t .. ^ ,i • i < * J f ' | '< i . i i '.; n < ■ ■ t *J ; ’ i );}»Jill ' ' {*.}>? ............. -t'i's j , tt •. 'I'-'i-KM Give Me a Faithful Heart Our Heavenly Father: We need Thee every day and every hour in this delicate business of caring for the souls of men and women. From the deepest longings of our heart we pray for Thy Divine Presence as we follow the mission of redemption today. In all the situations that we encounter, give us the tranquality of faith and the humility of obedience. Show us enough light to afford us direc­ tion and grant us the shine of Thy truth to give us the needed perspec­ tive. Enable us to be patient with those enamored with passing pleasures and material successes. Thy Word has taught us that Thy law is perfect, but give us that rejoicing within until men shall feel that Thy way is satisfying. May the contagion of faith afford us the radiance of Thy love all the day long. Make us an instrument of Thy peace. We may encounter some needy ones who have lost their way. By the help of Thy Spirit enable us to point them back to the straight way, to the true life, with no abiding sorrows. We thank Thee that Thou hast made us limited partners in this holy business. Freely we acknowledge in this quiet time that “ Thy yoke is easy and Thy burden is light. ” But we dare not travel this road alone. Don’t let the baubles of the world’s empty glory beguile us or ensnare us; their cost is too dear. K eep us true to “ the old, old story. ” Let Calvary’s light enrapture us again. Some who need us today are old and sick and a few will soon cross over to the other side. Give us a faithful heart in ministering to them so that the tunnels ahead will light up with Thy presence and reas­ surance. Enable us to show them today that Thou dost care and that the church has not forgotten them. Even now, we praise Thee for Thy unfailing hand through our days of service. We thank Thee most of all for the revelation of thyself in Jesus Christ, our Lord. We feel confident that “ Thy love is broader than the measure of man’s mind.” Help us today to show some wan­ derer that Thou art yet “ most wonderfully kind” —even to those who cannot forgive themselves. By Thy help, make our personal commit­ ment practical by serving those entrusted to our care. Let this be a day when we, too, may here below rejoice with the angels over one sinner that repents. All this we pray in the Master’s name. Read our hearts and edit our petition. Let His name be more than a password to Thy throne, but a cleansing Presence to all our desires, “For Thine is the kingdom, and the power and the glory, both now and for evermore. ” Amen —Samuel Young EDITORIAL EXCELLCINCC—OUR LIFELONG PURSUIT by Neil B. Wiseman “ God loathes mediocrity. He But when I laud excellence in may often make us tense or tired. says, ‘If you are going to keep ministry, what am I praising? Ob­ Unlike the storybook notion of a company with Me, please don’t viously we are all different—some fantasized ministry, the call to ex­ embarrass Me.’ ” —That is the are plodders, others achievers; cellence so captivates us that we motto Ted W. Engstrom discov­ some are ahead of their time, are driven by the difference be­ ered in a Christian athlete’s home others behind; some are detail tween what is and what ought to in Johannesburg. people, others great dreamers. be. Like Captain Cook, the ex­ That pointed message sent me By excellence I mean being as plorer, the minister must be cap­ back to spend five rewarding useful as possible to God, invest­ tured by an “ambition not only to hours with John Gardner’s book ing myself to my fullest capacity go farther than any man has ever Excellence. “ Our purpose,” he in the Kingdom. Where I lack been before, but as far as it is says,“isto achieve some measure training, I develop myself. Where I possible for man to go.”3 Then, of excellence in this society with lack vision, I ask God to expand the church and her ministry is all of its beloved and exasperating my insight. Where my faith is made effective not only by those clutter, with all of its exciting and weak, I open myself to faith-build­ who achieve excellence, but by debilitating confusion of stan­ ing forces made available by God. those who are trying to achieve it. dards, with all the stubborn prob­ Excellence is not just for ge­ Both the accomplishment and the lems that won’t be solved and the niuses. pursuit make preacher and equally stubborn ones that might Excellence in ministry requires church better. be solved.” 1 We muddle through that we be true to the discovery Excellence—what a powerful a maze of teachers who will not of and cultivation of the abilities word. Each individual reads his teach, postmen who will not de­ which God has created in us. own aspirations and expectations liver mail, assembly line workers There is an exhilarating fulfillment into it. There is no ecclesiastical who will not assemble, and edi­ in the pursuit to be all we can be leader or external guideline to tell tors who will not edit. for God. us what to do to achieve it. But the never-ending pursuit of excel­ All this set me to thinking about Squander Yourself for a Purpose lence is strengthened by a habitu­ our ministry in this kind of world. One current perception of min­ al vision of what God by His grace Often clergymen are portrayed in istry is that the church owes me has called us to be. That vision popular literature and television something. Another is: If I wait prods, disturbs, confuses, and programs as insipid do-gooders long enough, a magnificent as­ challenges us. who can’t do anything right except signment will come my way. How As you read your own noble by miraculous accident. could the church owe us any­ meanings into the word, breathe Over against this false carica­ thing? What is gained by waiting? a prayer for your ministry and ture I see many of my clergy col­ Did not Jesus teach us that the mine. There is nothing anti-spir­ leagues who are dedicated to more one gives the more fulfill­ itual in trying to do your Christian excellence. They see excellence ment he receives? Wasn’t Mason task better. Most of the preachers as a fundamental form of wit­ Brown right when he wrote: “The I know want to hear the Most Ex­ ness—a basic Christian duty. only true happiness comes from cellent Servant say, “Well done, They realize the truth in John squandering ourselves for a pur­ thou good and faithful servant,” Gardner’s suggestion that a pose”?2 So let us forsake any so much more than they want to church which scorns excellence temptation to seek ease or posi­ hear the soft squish of plush car­ in plum bing because plum bing is tion, and happily squander our pet under their Florsheims. a humble activity, and tolerates energies for Christ and the peo­ shoddiness in preaching because 1. John W. Gardner, Excellence (New York: ple He died for. Let us refuse to Harper & Row, 1961), p. 13. it is an exalted activity will have be mesmerized by the temporal 2. Clifton Fadiman & Charles Van Doren, edi­ neither good plumbing nor good in order to be instructed and con­ tors, The American Treasury (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1955), p. 903. preaching. Neither its pipes nor sumed by the ultimate. 3. Christopher Lloyd, The Voyages of Captain its pulpits will hold water. Such a pursuit of excellence Cook (London: Cressent Press, 1959), p. 36. 1 by J. Grant Swank, Jr.' Martin Luther wrote: “Our Lord has written the It is a height of a lifetime to be able to walk into the promise of the resurrection, not in books alone, but empty room, to look at the partial shelf where His in every leaf in springtim e.” 1 That is the persistent body was laid, to wonder at what the complete pic­ nature of the Divine, forever wanting to make His ture would have looked like in fact 2,000 years ago. message clear: repetition for emphasis’ sake. Just to cautiously bend the head in order to enter Finally the repetition finds home base when it the place, then to whisper to a friend a comment lodges in the soul.