Month: October 2024

Thoughts from here and there…Influence

“In a gun factory,” writes an unknown author, “an elongated bar of steel, which weighed 500 pounds, was suspended by a chain. Beside it an average-sized cork was hanging by a silk thread. It was swung gently against the bar which remained motionless.

For 10 minutes the cork, with rhythmic regularity, continued to strike. Then the heavy piece of steel began to move slightly. At the end of an hour both objects were swinging together like the pendulum of a clock!”

You may find this hard to believe, but such is the power even of a small influence. Influence is reflected in the lives and activities of people in many large and small ways.

Terency Elwyn Johnson, of Margate Community Church (New Jersey), tells the story of Bonnee Hoy, a gifted composer, who died in the prime of life. At her memorial service, a friend told of how a mockingbird used to sing regularly outside Bonnee’s window on summer nights.

“Bonnee would stand at her bedroom window, peering into the darkness, listening intently, marveling at the beautiful songs the mockingbird sang. Then, musician that she was, Bonnee decided to sing back. So she whistled the first four notes of Beethoven’s ‘Fifth Symphony.’ With amazing quickness the mockingbird learned these four notes and sang them back to Bonnee. ‘And in perfect pitch,’ Bonnee marveled. Then, for a time the bird disappeared. But one night, toward the very end of her life, when Bonnee was so terribly sick, the bird returned and, in the midst of other songs, several times sang those first four notes of Beethoven’s ‘Fifth.'”

At that memorial service, her beloved friend, with a smile on her lips and tears in her eyes, said, “I like to think of that now. Somewhere out there (in a big, big world) is a mockingbird who sings Beethoven because of Bonnee.”

Are you living a life so full of song and joy that it brings out the music of other people’s lives? It may not be a few notes from Beethoven’s “Fifth Symphony” that is sounded by a mockingbird, it may be the simple influence of a picture hanging in your home.

Doris Forman remembers the time when she and her husband moved into a new house. Shortly after they moved in her husband asked her, “What about having a picture of Christ in our living room?” (Doris D. Forman, “The Picture of Christ in Our Home,” THE GUIDEPOSTS TREASURY OF FAITH (New York: Bantam Books, 1980), pp. 335-337.)

Part of her thought it was a good idea and another part of her was unsure, but she agreed anyway. “Of course,” she said, “we were Christians and, of course we loved God–but a large picture of Christ hanging in the living room and in a spot where everyone who stepped into the room would see it–wasn’t that being a bit fanatical?”

When the decorator came out to check on lamps and pictures one day, he couldn’t help but notice the 16 x 20 inch print of “The Savior” by Coleman hanging over the piano in the most prominent place in the living room. The decorator suggested that another picture, perhaps a landscape, would look better in that spot. “We like it and that’s where it stays,” her husband replied firmly.

What would their friends think when they saw the large picture of Christ hanging in their living room? “Most of our friends were professed Christians, but they lived largely in a world of club affairs, cocktail parties and bridge luncheons,” Doris wondered. During the next two years, many interesting things happened to this family that they believe was a direct result of that picture. Total strangers, like the man who delivered their newspaper, began telling them their troubles. There were others who commented on the picture hanging in their living room. “Consciously, or maybe unconsciously, they felt that we must know Christ,” Doris said.

She concluded, “Our life today has more purpose, more meaning and more beauty” due to this decision to proclaim Christ as the Lord of their lives.

There is incredible power in influence. We may not realize just how much power we possess. It is power to change lives. It is power to change society. A small cork has the capacity to nudge into motion a 500 pound piece of steel. We are more than a cork, a lot more!

Thoughts from here and there…Brokenness

There was a time when Step-son Hans and I were chasing a mouse that had gone behind the kitchen stove. Welding a broom we tried to dislodge the mouse from behind the stove so that we might capture and dispatch it. We did get the mouse but in the process we knocked a decorative plate from the wall. It fell to the floor and fragmented into many pieces. There was no way to save the plate. You could have glued the pieces together but many of them were so small that the plate would have had gaps where the decorations were missing. Helga was disappointed to discover the broken plate. Fortunately it was not a very expensive one.

There are times when life becomes broken. We do not think that it ought to happen, but it does. Henri Nouwen was a Priest and a psychologist. He spent 10 years of his life working with the disabled at a L’Arche community most of them at Daybreak in Toronto, Canada. It was out of this experience that he wrote, “Our life is full of brokenness – broken relationships, broken promises, broken expectations. How can we live with that brokenness without becoming bitter and resentful except by returning again and again to God’s faithful presence in our lives.” Our lives are full of brokenness. We cannot ignore the brokenness. It haunts our waking hours and our dreams. We cannot avoid the brokenness, we can only learn to live within it, using it to grow into a deeper relationship with the Healer of Broken Hearts, Jesus Christ. But there is more.

C. S. Lewis has written about the ways in which God in Christ works, “He works on us in all sorts of ways. But above all, he works on us through each other. Men are mirrors, or ‘carriers’ of Christ to other men. Usually it is those who know him that bring him to others. That is why the Church, the whole body of Christians showing him to one another, is so important. It is so easy to think that the Church has a lot of different objects – education, building, missions, holding services…the Church exists for no other purpose but to draw men into Christ, to make them little Christs. If they are not doing that, all the cathedrals, clergy, missions, sermons, even the Bible itself, are simply a waste of time. God became man for no other purpose. It is even doubtful, you know, whether the whole universe was created for any other reason.”

Showing Christ to one another. Demonstrating the love and compassion of Christ to one another. Living out in faithfulness the teachings of Christ with one another. This is the way to a life full of vitality and excitement. Helping one another to be a child of Christ. This is the way to utter fulfilment and satisfaction.

I have come to believe that there is no better way to live. I find in Christ not only a way to live with the brokenness, but also a way to use it to develop the coping skills that are needed to live within the brokenness. This is the way of ultimate purpose and meaning. This is not only something to think about, it is something to do.

Thoughts from here and there…The Congregational Way: What does it provide us?

Joe Polhemus, the late editor of the Congregationalist, published by the National Association sent an e-mail message inviting me, and anyone else to address his concern which is as follows:

“The current issue of The Congregationalist, now languishing at the printer for several weeks, carries seven short definitions of the Congregational Way by seven Congregationalists, including Arthur Rouner, Jr.

“We talk at length about the merits of the Way, but when asked for specifics we get varied, sometimes vague, answers. If our Way is relevant, which I am sure it is, I believe we have a responsibility to articulate it in concise terms.

“I would welcome your definitions, in 150 words or less, by September 7, to be considered for publication in the Oct./Nov. issue of one of Christendom’s great publication. No prizes are being contemplated.”

The date has come and gone and I did not write anything for the Congregationalist. Mr. Polhemus’ concern is a genuine one, and one that ought to gain the attention of all who claim to be Congregationalists.

Specifically, what are the merits of the Way? What benefits do we acquire from our membership in the Congregational Christian Church?

If I were going to write a definition in 150 words the point that I would emphasize is FREEDOM! I would approach the meaning of freedom in this way.

In Congregationalism we have and must have freedom of choice, for good or ill. My reading of the biblical material defends this position. God created us and gave us choice. The first human used choice badly by eating fruit from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. God does not physically, emotionally or psychology restrain their choice, and neither does he ours. Choice is one of the qualities that defines what it means to be human.

In Congregationalism we are free from creeds and statements of faith. Creeds and Statements of Faith have their place. What often happens is that creeds and Statements of Faith become fixed once and for all time. It is at this point that they become restrictive to spiritual development. God wants us to grow. Growth towards spiritual maturity is the work of a lifetime. It never ends. Dependence on a creed has the tendency to stifle growth by allowing us to believe that we know all that there is to know. This is not true.

Well, I am already at 261 words in this response, but let me add one more thought. In addition to freedom of choice and freedom for growth there is in Congregationalism the freedom to be.

I was startled and comforted when one day when I read, “God is not so much interested in what we do, but why we do it.” We cannot do enough work to satisfy the claim of God on us, we can only love. God helps us to develop the understanding and the capacity to be loving people. Even as you pastor in Congregationalism I am only one amongst equals. We are together in Christ, above all else, people who love and care for one another.

Mr. Polhemus wrote: “We talk at length about the merits of the Way, but when asked for specifics we get varied, sometimes vague, answers. If our Way is relevant, which I am sure it is, I believe we have a responsibility to articulate it in concise terms.” I hope that what I have tried to share with you in this brief article articulates the benefits of our Way in concise terms. I am delighted and proud (in the best meaning of the word) to be a Congregationalist.

Thoughts from here and there…Reform

“I am the church! You are the church! We are the church together! All who follow Jesus, all around the world! We are the church together!” (©Richard K. Avery and Donald S. Marsh, 1972)

I am the church. You are the church. What kind of a church are we? October 31 is Reformation Day. gives us an opportunity to confront this question. This is a day which commemorates a day of extraordinary changes in the religious thought and practice.

It was on this day in 1517 that Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses on the door of the Castle Church in Wittenburg. He challenged the commonly accepted theological understandings and religious practices of his day. He stood firm in the face of severe and brutal opposition. He was so completely convinced of the rightness of his position that he could not be moved from it. He could do nothing else. He wrought great change which led to the birth and development of the Protestant Church.

In recent weeks, how many times have you heard the word, “change?” It’s time for a change in direction. It’s time for a change in leadership. It’s time for a change in policy, and so we have various reform bills that either have been signed by the President or are being passed by Congress so that they may be signed.

Change as a rallying point is as old as history. Change in itself may be meaningless. The value obtained from change depends on the rational for change and how the changes will be made effective in personal life, church or society. One of the most important points that we need to remember about change is that we usually strongly resist change until the crisis overtakes us and we are forced by personal health or economic reasons to, of course, change.

There is an illustration from the life of William Randolph Hearst that well illustrates how desire may drive us to look for that which we already possess. He wanted a painting. He wanted it so badly that he told his staff to go in search for it; to pay any price, take any tack, to acquire it. Hearst’s staff traveled the world over searching for the desired artwork. One day a member of his staff sheepishly approached Mr. Hearst with the news that they had found the painting, and it had not cost him anything. He was excited and happy. He wanted to know where they had found the painting and how they had tricked the person into giving it to them. It was at this point that they candidly had to admit that Mr. Hearst owned the painting, and they had found it in his warehouse.

We desire change and reform. We may search the world over and remain dissatisfied. We want a painting that we already possess. We are the Church. Our Church can be what it is that we, under the Lordship of Jesus Christ, desire it to be. It takes time, thought and work to create our vision of God for us. It is better to do this than to travel the world looking for something that we already have. Reformation Day is a day to examine, explore, evaluate, and then determine what kind of a church we are going to be. We will be the church, regardless! It is better to be constructive and helpful.

Thoughts from here and there…Dry Old Well1

John Sanford recalls his boyhood experience spending a month each summer in an old farmhouse in New Hampshire. The house was more than 150 years old and had never been modernized.

Sanford reflects, “My father was the minister of a modest-sized Episcopal church, we were always short of money, and so for a long time we lived in the house quite simply without the benefit of modern plumbing or electricity.” Their water supply came from an old well which was just outside the front door. He recalls that the water from the well was unusually cold and pure and “a joy to drink.” The well never ran dry even in the severest summer droughts. Other families would be forced to resort to the lake for their drinking water, while this well continued to yield its cool, clear water.

Eventually the Sanfords decided to modernize the house. Modern plumbing and running water were installed. They no longer needed the old well so they sealed it. The old well would be kept in reserve in case their new modern well would ever fail them.

One day a couple of summers later John’s curiosity got the best of him. He decided to uncover the well to inspect its condition. “As I removed the cover,” he writes, “I fully expected to see the same dark, cool, moist depths I had known so well as a boy.” It was quite a shock for him when he discovered that the once faithful well was bone dry.

“It took many inquiries on our part to understand what had happened,” he writes. By not using the well the hundreds of tiny underground rivulets dried up. As water was drawn from the well, more water moved into it, keeping the tiny apertures clear and open. When the well was not used and the water not drawn, the tiny rivulets closed up.

Sanford compares his boyhood experience with his faith, “What happened to the old well can also happen to our souls if the living water of God does not flow into us.”

Does living water flow in our souls? Is our faith alive and do we bear fruit as a result? Those are some questions to keep in mind as you consider John Sanford and the well..

1THE KINGDOM WITHIN. John A. Sanford. San Francisco: Harper & Row, Publishers, 1987, pp. 7-8.