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 A
very young preacher showed me a couple of drawings, done in
color, which I took to be the product of the Junior Bible Class
— but which turned out to be the preacher’s special project
for stirring the congregation to active service. One pictured a
man at rest, with Sunday paper draped across his face. The other
showed this man knocking at a door, presumably to invite a
neighbor to Bible study.
Somehow,
these two drawings, when attached to the bulletin board with
appropriate headings, were supposed to remind brethren that they
should not neglect their opportunities to “go into the world”
and preach tile gospel. It all seemed so childish — very much
like a promotion poster in a Grade School Library — that I
found it difficult to maintain a civil conversation. Then, I
remembered — A young preacher who used a coffee pot as the
trademark of the church bulletin he published. (He called it “Perk
up”!) The drawings, and promotional gimmicks of that paper
were — well, pretty good, now that I recall that I was the
editor. Strange — how sensible they seemed then (25 years ago)
and how immature they seem now.
Please
do not understand me to say that youth justifies claptrap in
religion (“showy but cheap device or expression, as insincere
sentiment, designed to excite applause”),
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nor do I believe we are to defend a practice
because it was a part of our early and immature efforts, no
matter how sincere. But sober reflection may make us a bit more
understanding and patient with today’s young man.
And
I wonder this change in my concepts of propriety. Am I really
that much older? I hasten to deny it. Some say my youth
is reflected in Plain Talk. (Give the man a quarter!) No, it is
something else. Add several years of study, blend with
reflection and meditation, test with experience, and hone the
edge with heart- breaking mistakes, past correction but all too
easily recalled — and a man sees matters in a different light.
I
believe we come to appreciate the gravity of our condition, and
of the remedy Christ offers. If our faith has endured, it has
fiber, is more meaningful. The “good news” of “gospel”
has passed the light bubbling stage, and its deep joy becomes
“the peace that passeth understanding.” And we are just a
little bit offended by a less sober consideration of God’s
truth. Let our hard-gained advantage be a guide to youth, not a
stumbling block. If we have learned something, let us hope we
have learned to use it wisely.
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