After considerable thought, and with trepidation, I am writing my first letter ever to the editor of the Record. I feel somewhat out of place in this company as I am not as learned or eloquent as the other letter writers are.
Does Jesus read the Presbyterian Record?
This question occurred to me after reading the December issue. I could not help but wonder what Jesus’ reaction would be if he read what his followers were doing. Jesus left us with instruction to bring good news to the poor, to feed the hungry, to clothe the naked, to prepare for the kingdom of God. Although many of his followers have done that, it seems that today the need to feed the hungry, to clothe the naked, to bring good news to the poor, is still as great, if not greater, than 2,000 years ago.
In the Letters section I noticed that writer-A had replied to something that writer-B had said, and writer-C found this depressing. Writer-A now apologizes to writer-C for causing him to be depressed. Something about universalism. Another letter writer wants to know if the subtitutionary theory has any bearing on present reality.
I read one of the feature articles; no easy job. Things like “the characteristic of the preaching event,” “participates in an incarnational event,” or “making a sermon an incarnational creature of grace,” tend to slow me down. I agree with the article author that it may sometimes seem difficult to believe that God Himself is present in human preaching. So true! Not just difficult to believe, impossible to believe! I think I may have heard close to 4,000 sermons and some were so full of the preacher’s own importance, wit, cleverness, rhetoric, drama, that there just was no room for God.
Then I came to the Features section, where I read about ignoring the subtlety of Trinitarian doctrine, about Jesus’ being truly divine, but not wholly divine, about unfleshed and enfleshed, incarnate and discarnate.
Would Jesus know what these authors are talking about? Would he care? And if he is not confused yet, he certainly will be after reading two articles about the use of the people’s money. In the first article (Building Churches) he reads that “the relationship the parishioners have with their buildings is the most important.” In the second article (A House Not Made With Hands) he reads that “God has specifically commanded us to assist the poor, but He never told Christians to build even a small chapel, let alone spend money on one instead of them.”
Not much has changed in 2,000 years. There are still people who do and people who say. I believe there are many more people who do than one would think from reading the Record. I believe that those who feed the hungry and clothe the naked deserve a much more prominent place in the Record, than do the scholars and their debates. I also believe that it would make the Record easier and more enjoyable to read, and that it would give a truer picture of the church. Imagine Jesus reading the Presbyterian Record!
