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MAY *8, 1981
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By Dr. Hugh Thoms*! Kerr,
Retiring Moderator of the general Assembly,
Presbyterian Church i* the U. S. A.,
Pittsburgh, Pa., May 28, 1931.
S
“Prepare ye the way of the
Lord, make straight ip the
desert a highway for our
God. Every valley shall he ex
alted, and every mountain and
hfil shall be made low: and the
crooked shall be made straight,
and the rough places plain : .and
the glory of the Lord shall be
revealed and all flesh shall see
it together: for the mouth of
the Lord hath spoken it.” Isaiah
40:3-5.
God is coming! Make ready
the way! This is the message of
the prophet. Before there can
be a divine visitation there
must he a moral cleansing. Be
fore there is a religious awak
ening there must be an ethical
readjustment. Fulfilled in the
coming of Christ this message
of the evangelical prophet Is al
ways being fulfilled in the life
of the Church. The day of the
Lord is near. The Kingdom of
God is at hand. God is coming!
Prepare ye the way!
The amazing words of grace
l.ad been spoken. “Comfort ye,
Comfort ye my people.” The
voice of God's bewildering for
giveness had been heard far off
in the land of exile. A religion
that does not begin with Wards
of forgiveness is no Gospel.
On the other hand, a religion
that stops with forgiveness is
not the religion of the New,
Testament. Grace must find ex
pression. Absolution must issue
iii righteousness. We listen to
the message, “Comfort ye,” but
we hear also the mandate,
“Prepare ye the way of the
God, to the Church of the living
God, the language is intimate
and arresting. There is a note
of immediacy about it. Some
of us remember how the enemy
planes in France sent soldiers
and civilians hurrying to safe
ty. Still n i.ue vividly do we re
me'iOtr the thrill that canio
when the danger was passed
and the trumpeters sounded
the recall. That is what we
hear. We hear the trumpet of
God sounding the recall to
righteousness. Three times the
trunmet sounds. It .proclaims
the fact of the Living Uod,
“Prepare ye the way of the
Lord/’ It proclaims the task of
the Church, “Make straight in
the desert a highway.” It pro
claims the ultimate triumph,
“The glory of the Lord shall be
revealed and all flesh shall see
it together;” The whole horizon
is glorious with the dawn “for
the mouth of the Loud hath
spoken if.”
We have first of all the ar
resting proclamation of the
fact of the Living <Jod. God is
coming. This is the word that
comes out of the desert. “God
is coming, prepare ye the way.
Like the repeated notes of a
great Oratorio this is toe chal
lenge the trumpet sounds out
6f the long silence, “O Jerusa
lem, that'bring*®! good^tuhigs,
lift up thy voice with strength1
lift it «*p,be not afraid; flgMg
to the cities of Judah, Behold
your God f” ,,
Anyone r who knows the
thought of opr time must con
fess that the fact of the Living
God has become mm? and
hazy to the people of this gen
eration. A severe hut sympa
thetic critic states that.people
forsake the Church ^because
they go expecting to.flndiGoa
and arer ^disappointed. One oi
the .leading communists in
America in answer to the
question of the Congressional
Commission as to whether Athe
ism is a part of the creed., of
Communism said, “No, But M*
who becomes a Communist
must necessarily be in tit****
cess of liquidating his reHgaou*
beliefs.” That is an arrafog
statement. One wonders if that
process has been taking place in
America and if the liquidating
of our belief in.a Living God—
all-personal. all-powerful, lall
present—has anything to 'do
With ojur present bewiderment
jn religion, in morals and 4n
It would be easy to tanriroe
this process of liquidation. The
Control of the hitherto secret
resources of the worid has giv
en to our generation a new
sense of ppwer end we have
leaped to the conviction that if
We can control and exploit the
mystery of the stars above and
bf the sold swithto, we do not
heed God, and m bnve snbeti
tuted for the living God one
of His own creations: ether or
energy or efoetfieity er the elan
K’ital always written Of course
.vith a capital. We have substi
uted relativity for reality;
isjwhutoify for prayer, and in
eriority complex for sin; social
ontrel for family worship; au
suggestion for conversion;
eft** action for revelation; as*
ronomical intimidation for the
ear of ’God; the spirit of the
kvfeeole for the power of the
(Spirit
While rejoicing in the neeent
deli* erances cf great physicists
and astronomers to the effect
that the mechanistic view of
the Universe hah been thrown
:oot and branch oui of their
house one icannot help 'feeling
(that these tie something pathet
ic about the alacrity with which
iwe pick up the crumbs that
friMnean the table of the sci
entibt, hoping thereby to feed
our faith* It is surely a reversal
of fown. Where can God be.
..awl.
. again-,tn. an
Christ, and turn
academic search for deity
which in the past has always
registered a negative? We are
all too ready to bow dowpi be
fore the shrine iof a narrow -in
tellectualism. Something is -to
be said for the contention of
Bishop Gore that Jesus classi
fied intellectualism with covet
ousness as a barrier to the
Kingdom of God. Jesus de
mands no ' Special academic
learning. He does demand mor
al sincerity The strong .words
of Martin Luther, when he had
to face the Emperor, challenge
««. “Christ -comes and sits at
the right hand—'not of the Kai
ser, for’m that case we ,should
have perished long ago-hut at
the right hand of God. This is
a great and incredible thing;
hut I enjoy it, incredible as it
is; some day J mean to die in
it ? Why should Lnot live in it ?”
Indeed and Why not ?
Certain it is that it is not hy
the path of the philosopher or
the physicist that we come to
saving faith in the Living God.
Augustine, himself no mean
philosopher, in one of his . most
searching passages says, “It is
not by our feet hut by our af
fections that we ever come to
God or return to Him.” He does
not renounce intellectual val
ues God forbid. He does, how
ever, exalt personality as the
recipient of truth. If the Living
God is to come to us across the
separating spaces, we need go
no further than where we are.
The far country, the swine, the
busks, the rags, the home
sickness, Hie hanger of the
heart, the deep regret, the high
resolve, the courageous peni
tence. the ring, the robe, the j
Father's house, they ate alii
here. “The Kingdom of God
cometh not with observation.”
Q«t of the memories of my
childhood come the jpejnnjtes
of the old Scotch paraphrase
which has everything in it.■
“Our hearts if God we seek fco
know j;
Shall know him and rejoice.
His coming like the morn shall
be;
Like morning songs His voice.”
Apart from faith there 4s noth
ing for us but Hie deaertr and
more than all else, we need a
m
mmmm
Lhang
Recall to
urn fr fat
n
Sorely as are need the Liv
ing God, we cannot, however,
command H«. We eannet ore
dipt the coming of Hie Spirit.
We cannot issue a spiritual
mandate. “The wind bloweth
Where it listeth.” When God
comes He Will not heed our Why
i>r When hut “come down His
own soereit stair.” Lam not sure
" hat our theology of the Spirit
not -get in the way of our
geliam The Hoty Spirit
as come Pentecost has taken
. lace. The Living God is out hi
the world The Christ of the
Indian Bead « *he Christ 4*f
evejjy road,, He is present in fill
*4 kfe, everywhere and always,
flte hd spiritugfly minded'to tp
be aware of the Presence of the
Living God in all of life.
| -Let us examine the doctrine.
1A.11 .truth to aufepect to law. Law
reigns from eternity to eterjd*
ty pnd aH tow to vGod? s tew. The
jworimr -m, h4p /laboratory
therefore says rto hinwetf, “If f
prepare the way, if 1 remove
fhe auen and hindering sub
;tance/tfl add the proper ele
ment,
Only M
right,
anta
W
will leap to life,
get the condition
me , clear away alt
and the fire wilt
to what the scientist
He knows truth is knock’
it Ms dqpr. This, too, is the
of the $Picit “U any man
open JMf door, I will ,come
n”. If ,m% ihan will prepare
the way, if ft wiU make a clear
lath, if he wiil ill the val
eya, ipvel the ^mountains,
ctririghten out the crowed
daces, then the Living'God will
:ome. But not HU then. Jt wffi
npt avail to .criticise, to hold,
conferences, to cdH ,dqwn %
>nf <4 heaven ft will hot avail
iritus.
l, , t w»jf come, God will ap
ijr when, and .only when, the
y is made ready. It is the
ssage of the New Testa
■nt, “Repent, for the King
h ojf Gpd is at hand.”
Ve hve in a faith world. We
Eytoua, world that says, “Ac
ding.to your faith be it un
you.” We live in a world that
swerabach to US. It says Yes
our Yes and No to our Nq.
e sailor must hoist his sail
he is to catch the wind. The
oer must sink his shaft if he
to discover the gold. The en
?eer must swing his bridge
he is to harness the fiver,
c* ‘aviator must spread his
rigs if he is to search the
y. The financier must make
s investment if he is to find
; fortune. The Christian must
spare the way if the Living
d is to appear.
What daes this preparation
involve ? On every hand we hear
people say, “We need a revival
of old-fashioned religion.” I am
sure they are right but I am
not sure they know what they
mean. An old-fashioned revival
means moral house-cleaning. It
has always meant that and I am
not sure that is what the people
want. There were people long
ago who thought they wanted
a revival of old-fashioned reli
gion and to them the prophet
spoke: “Woe unto you that 46
sire the day of the Lord! to
what mid is it for you? the day
of the Lord is darkness and not
light. As if a man did flee from
a lion, and a bear met him; or
went into the house and loaned
his hand on the wall, and a ser
pent bit him. Shall not the day
of the Lord be darkness, and
not. light? even very dark and
no brightness in it?” Old-fash
ioned religion means just what
this evangelical prophet is talk
dhg about These great meta
phors that speak of mountains
and valleys anderoefeed places
can have no otber thana moral
meaning The prophet is think
ing of volleys of deceit and in
difference where dark doubts
breed, of mountains where prej
udices and ignorance lurk like
bandits, of cnoeioedpiaces wher
inconsistency and hypocrisy
flourish. These are the barriers
that hinder the coraingof the
Living God.
JMWc of preparation*
flilfiauft.lt W not easy to throw
up . a highway for the Living
POtfr wen injustice and inhu
ranity and hypocrisy hold (high
njrpuurjay XHUUnUfU
mam. «veiy Chuyob &**»
m htodenpg larders. Every
jsionary comes to adf^ atop
*ua* of tfwjm. In the life pf
Africa it la *U Pnt
o sme poignant, • psalragr&ph.
had gone back ^^^d
^dn West Africa and-there
leihad eeon humanity e^ploit
Ir his heart had been
^httt he had seen he
> ►tell ;|iow he atoed up
i these same people in
h. “I talked patience,
virtue, simple hones
rift. Then j, reraem
it i had seen on the
day before_Then
>egan to quiver. Sorae
ts choking me. 0
Shall I preach of
>f standing for their
hat were sheer mad
criminal in me, for
present .means death
wift hastening of the
ork of utter exterm i
•my people, which is
receeding here and
fiue unless Jehovah
u unless civilization
[)’ I talked about our
est friends, God—and
►neries. Then I talked
and the streets of
‘hey seemed encour
i the natives and the
ies, and they sang
ning and faith, ‘God
sare of you.’ ”
3 all felt like that and
i on the threshold of
e doors of the church
things that are wrong
iha^re been made right. But Ag
jgr^y was right. He was right,
as‘ Jesus was right in. dealing
twm the slavery, the cqrrup
*d—a terrible, horrifying
Crusaders were wrong.
lof that .crusading Church of
the middle ages with its heart
hot against the iniquity en
trenched in the Holy City, mov
ing out in a military parade to
capture the Holy Sepulchre
with a sword. That was oine of
the darkest hours of, Christi
anity: It Is easy to turn political
reformer but the coming of
the Living God is not made
contingent upon the purification
nnlitica but on the purifica
tion of. the Church. It is-to His
people God promises to come.
The mountains of bigotry and
ignorance, the valleys of inde
cision and .apathy, .the crooked
places of controversy and insin
cerity ..are within the church.
Let -the Church get . rid of its
secular spirit and then .it can
challenge a secular society.
Frances of Assisi did not need
to argue against secularism.
His life condemned it. Let
Christians practice meekness
and lowliness of heart and sec
ularism out in the world will be
put to shame. Let the Church
solve the problem of good will
within its own fellowship and
then it will speak with authori
ty concerning social and racial
rivalries. If Christians fail to
find fellowship at the Holy
Communion—the true social
center of the church—why
should the world wonder at the
failure of nations.to reach 4 re
conciling agreement? Let the
Church find and maintain the
secret of peace within its own
fellowship and then it can
speak with authority on the
cruel waste of war. The social
order of the First Century did
not grow out of Roman politics
but out of the Christian
Church. It was inside the
Church that the. problem of
slavery found its solution. It
was within the fellowship of
the Church that secularism was
confounded. It was at the Com
munion Table that rich and
poor, bond and free, black and
white, male and female found
each other to be friends in
Christ. Into that fellowship
were built the folk of alien and
rival creeds. Into it were built
profane fishermen, revolution
ists, grafters, politicians,
(Continued on page 4)
XECMSMHD
By Roger Didier
{For The
Press)
Associated Negro
If it were not for some such
book as “What I Owe to My
Father/’ just published by
Henry Holt and Company of
New York and edited by Sydney
Strong, one might easily con
clude from .the prose and poet
ry of the language that the
steady Stream of apostrophes
to mother had destroyed the
Concept of fathers as active in
fluences in the lives of "their
children.
JBut here is a book in which
men and women whose strong
characters are positive, power
ful influences in American life
today acknowledge that much
pf what they are is due to their
(fathers. Those Who make such
“open confessions” are: jSfcrjfe
Addams, Roger W. Babson; Al
pce -Stone Blackwell, Samuel 4
Eliot, Edward A. Filene,
Emerson Foedick, John Hay
(Holmes, Nicholas Vachel Li
i3ay, Paul Dwight Moody, Wil
liam Pickens, Theodore Roose
veR, Jr., Oswald Garrison Vil
(lard, Stephen S. Wise and Mary
IE. Woolley.
The fathers of these anen and
women, in addition to being,
many *pf them, men of big af
fairs, seem also rto have been
individuals of sturdy, indepen
dent character: the Quaker
father of Jane Addams, who
was a friend of Abnaham Lin
coln : Henry Blackwell, husband
of the ^militant Lucy Stone,
Abolitionist and friehd of the
unde*dog>; Dwight I* Moody,
great peeftf her and <gi*at dmno
c«at; jHehnyVillariLthe
was. life; Charles W. Bliot. for.'
forty .years !peeapdent[ ^f Har
vu*d, apd Rachel Thomas Lind
say, the doctor who brought
most of Sangamon County into
the wonld< These fathers loved
their hpmes and their children
and led lives that were silent
examples to their children.
They Were providers, protec
tors and comforters. They in
spired strength of body and
character, resoluteness, clarity
pf Idea- and purpose, self-reli
ance.
Jane Addams, as a &ri,
thought (She was too homely to
show off as the daughter of
patch a handsome father, but
her father’s understanding
love of her helped to destroy
hgr complex. There vvere
smarter, better-looking children
in the Wise family than Rabbi
Stephen S. .Wise, but the Wise
father (in name and fact) took
all to his .bosom. The encouarge
ment of their fathers was a per
manent antidote to self-depre
cation. >
Mr. Pickens is the only Ne
gro contributor to this volume
and ope of the most interest
ing. He owes, he believes, to
his r father ' ‘ soundness and
strength of body and mind. His
father, Jacob Pickens, who
llyed to ‘be 75, was one of the
strongest men of the town and
one of- the ;«o«t fearless. Dr.
Pickens attributes his strength
and his health and his absence
of fear to his father. His fath
er caused him to want to be
strong in dH ways. He does nut
Smoke because he was taught
9? a youth that tobacco would
mt&e him weak. He does not
drink because his father sug
gested that he would show more
strength by net drilling, He
has epnftdeiftoe hi himself, be
cause his father had confidence
iM'Jihwi.h •: ■ v v.
YalerUniversity, Mr.
Pickens deddadttoi enter an or
atogical i contest. A reporter to
a -white newspaper in Little
Rock, Arkansas, carried the
story to Jacob Pickens, the
father, that the son had won.
The old jpan was not a bit sur
mised, replying simply:
“tea, J knew Willie would
jda”
pin '“W&at,;i Owe to My Fjith
qr’l ypu ; disodye^ great
fathers making little men and
vontep 9f their boys and girls:
rheodore Roosevelt ~'—’
aa refoot up and down
with Theodore, Jr., ai
i>T reading to them in
room; Charles W. Eliot »t «...
per with his family where the
children are expected* to take
aart in the discussion or travel
og all over Massachusetts with
ii8 boy Samuel.
One rule seems ;to stand out
imopg the great fathers: That
children have both bodies and
rcinds both of which shah be
Cultivated. Their childreiuwere
lot those who are to h|,«ften
tut not heard. They were .ex
pected to have opinions ami to
i>e intelligent enough to under
stand and discuss the questions
which came u#before the fata
lly. All these children seem
pateful that they had such
Fathers. ...
CATAWBA PBESBY^TERIAL
MEETS AT ST, LLOYD
CHURCH
Thq Catawba Preshy terial
met with the St. Lloyd church,
April 30th. The meeting was
opened at 2 o’clock. A must
touching worship period was
conducted by Mrs. Sudie Cow
an. We always look forward to
this part of the service with
much anticipation. Realising
the great responsibilities of .the
work, we need this spiritual
guidance and strength. .Each
one took an active part.
Registration of delegates was
the next order called for by the
presiding officer, Mrs. HaQie Q.
Mayberry, President.
The reading of the minutes
of last year by the Recording
Secretary followed. The minutes
were read and adopted.
' -iftrs. J. H, Gamble, Corre
sponding Secretary, reported oh
gWtatofW^pfTh flue -Ohfawj.
*ives. Mrs, Gamble spoke of
the spiritual side of the work,
which was* very encouraging
She also told of the benefit de
rived from the district meet
ings
Mrs. C. M. Safford read the
apportionment of sewing for
each local society as w.e are to
help furnish the bedding for '
Brainerd Institute at Chester,
iS. C. Mrs. Stafford is Secre
tary of National Missions and
[Overseas Sewing.
[ The Secretary of Literature,
[Mrs. Demetria Dixon, urged us
to read our literature more in
| order to be able to make an in
telligent report.
Mrs. H. C Dugas gaye one of
the best reports on the Board
of National Missions that we
have had She defined the work
of National Missions as being
only the Church in action.
The Young People’s Secre
tary and the Secretary of As
sociate Members were absent at
this particular time, and there
were no reports from them.
The Social Service Secretary,
Mrs. Floretta Johnson’s report,
was very gratifying. She urged
that our .vision might be broad
ened so that we might go out
in search of the lowly in spirit
and help them,
To our regret our Steward
ship Secretary’s name was
omitted from the program and
we failed to get that wonderful
report on stewardship from
Mrs M. C. J. McCrocey which,
as all know, has become one of
the main features of our Pres
byterial.
We were more than pleased
to have Mrs. F. P. Sanders, a
former President, present at
this time.
Mesdames McCrorey and Da
vis discussed the reports, and
asked that the Presbyterial
consider a fixed date for the
annual meeting which was left
in the hands of the Executive
Committee.
The Young People’s Secreta
i ry, Miss Annie Ghresfield, came
| in,at this time and gave the re
port of Young People. She re
ported 31 Young People’s Soci
eties functioning and in fine
working order*'
< {Continued on page 4)
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