See the Sexton First
If you’re looking for a new church, be sure to meet the sexton. You will learn more about a church from him than from the pastor. You should also visit the church kitchen and look in the refrigerator: if the date on the milk carton is six months old you will know this is not an active church. Locked cupboards will give you a further clue about the other restrictions at that church.
In many churches there are two major power struggles. One is within the ruling body of the church between the conservatives and those less conservative; the other concerns the church building and its contents—a struggle that may literally be over the teacups. The sexton plays a major role in this struggle.
My dictionary calls a sexton the “janitor of a church, also, formerly a grave-digger.” This former occupation may account for the attitude of some sextons. Many of them are God’s servants who do much to enhance the ministry of a church; some are saboteurs. There are churches where the sexton has the power to determine who may have meetings, and where and when. Decisions are made according to his convenience, mood, or liking. The issue of the “keys of the kitchen” can become as monumental as the “keys of the kingdom.”
Most sextons have served in the armed forces. This accounts for the fact that the chairs in rooms they set up for meetings are invariably put into straight rows with military precision. Many seem to have difficulty grasping the concept of the semicircle.
Sextons are not housewives at heart. They have little patience for cleaning up after messy people. In some churches the kitchen is expected to be kept as aseptic as an operating room. If this is not your cup of tea, you’d better try another church. In your search for a church, look for a jolly, plumpish sexton. And try to find one about your own age. If he’s much younger, you might find yourself stacking chairs so he can go out on a date. If he’s quite old there’ll be the temptation to let the women as well as the men do the “heavy work” so he won’t strain himself. Sextons have a theme song: “But We’ve Always Done It This Way.” The best way to handle this is by direct confrontation: “Times have changed and now we’re going to do it differently.”
The secret of finding a good church is finding a good sexton.
EUTYCHUS XI
Much-needed Note
I appreciated “Liberation Theology: European Hopelessness Exposes the Latin Hoax” [Mar. 5]. It sounds a much-needed note.
The time is long past for Christians to make capitalism a kind of whipping boy for the social evils of our time. We must recognize that the problem is not “capitalism,” but rather that the system is operated by sinners with greedy hearts (as is every other “system” in this world), and that capitalism is ingeniously designed to move these sinners to cooperate in ways that result in a significant amount of the earth being subdued to the glory of God. Putting it another way, the problem is not capitalism, but greedy capitalists! If curbs are put on greed, then why isn’t capitalism “… the [Christian] economic system?”
REV. RAYMOND P. JOSEPH
Reformed Presbyterian Church
West Lafayette, Ind.
This article is an interesting report on unfortunate conditions in Eastern Europe, but it in fact tells us nothing about Latin American liberation theology.
In today’s world, playing off capitalism and socialism against each other is suicidal. We need to find new models of economic life that combine the strengths of both, take seriously environmental constraints, and insist on universal justice. North American evangelicals can be aided in this quest by learning to understand the context from which Latin American liberation theologians are writing rather than simply accusing them of having an “anti-American animus.”
HOWARD A. SNYDER
Chicago, Ill.
Relevant and Balanced
Congratulations on two relevant and balanced articles on socioeconomic development and the Christian faith, “Liberation Theology in the Philippines: A Test Case” and “Biblical Economics: Equity or Equality” [Mar. 5.].
Let us not let the real needs of people of the world get lost in the midst of well-meaning ideological dialogue. The dialogue is useful only if we avoid polar opposites and if we are humbly willing to learn from each other.
LOWELL NOBLE
Spring Arbor, Mich.
Shame and Pain
Your article, “The Incredible State of Canada’s Largest Denomination” [News, Feb. 19], is deeply appreciated, even if it causes considerable shame and pain. Although Mr. Bibby’s analysis “reveals an astonishing decline of the Christian faith in Canada,” it is my belief that there is a very urgent desire within conservative, evangelical churches for a nationwide revival. Hopefully your article will disturb us Canadians deeply enough that we will “humble ourselves, and pray, and seek God’s face, and turn from our wicked ways.”
REV. DOUGLAS TATTON
The Wesleyan Church
Inkerman, Ontario
Need We Wallow in the Mud?
In response to “High Voltage, but Whose Energy?” [Mar. 5], I would like to ask, “Since when does the Christian have to wade through a cesspool of foul language, filthy humor, and graphic descriptions of sex and/or violence in order to encounter the basic questions or problems of human existence? Or even more specifically, why look for the problematics of Christian existence in such a context?
Perhaps Christians may be a bit enamored with works of fantasy, but is Burgess’s novel and others like it any less a work of fantasy? When it comes to defining “reality” as an aesthetic phenomenon, a multitude of opinions vie for acceptance. Most of the works that have become classics seem to be marked by restraint—a quality also found in the Bible’s “steamy sex scenes.” I would say that if an author chooses to cast his pearls in a pigpen, I do not believe that I have any obligation to wallow in the mud in order to retrieve them.
DANIEL J. ROEDA
Grand Rapids, Mich.
Refreshing!
It was refreshing to read “Chaste by Choice” [Feb. 19]. Too often the case for purity and celibacy is heralded by Christian nonsingles who have little or no understanding of what it really means to live celibate. Miss de Rosset’s positive word is reinforced by the fact that she is living what she is saying. Certainly it is not a popular notion even in Christian circles. On more than one occasion I have heard evangelical singles justify their behavior by referring to the “opaqueness of the blood of Christ.” Of course that is absolutely true—but definitely not an occasion for sin.
REV. LINDA K. SUTTER
Apple Valley, Minn.
As one of the few single Southern Baptist pastors in Arizona, I have felt discomfited by people who seem to think single pastors or Christian workers are suffering from an emotional disorder. It is difficult for even fellow Christians to realize that chastity is the norm for the committed Christian single. The temptations that our society offer are hard enough to overcome without some sectors of the church offering their passive approval to fornication and adultery.
REV. RICHARD MCEVER
First Southern Baptist Church
Mayer, Ariz.
On Target
Your editorial “Pushing Pornography Out of Print” [Feb. 19] was right on target and reminded me of the late FBI director J. Edgar Hoover’s observation that a nexus exists between pornography and sex crimes such as voyeurism, incest, rape, and child prostitution.
As your editorial rightly pointed out, pornography is clearly a glaring menace to the moral fiber of society, and we can no longer smugly turn away from the problem.
HAVEN B. GOW
Arlington Heights, Ill.
Conference Omitted!
Either Eutychus X or the printer made a mistake and omitted a fifth conference that has been a perpetual part of the Pan-prophetic Conferences [“The Trumpet Shall Sound When?”, Feb. 19]. As a coproponent of the pan-millenialist view, I am compelled to advise your readers that the Pan-millennial Conference will be held for a number of days (indefinite at this writing) on a beach near Saipan. Although Saipan is a little off the conference circuit, we are confident that everything will pan out in the end. Conference participants will dine on pan-fried oysters and will hear preaching on the general theme, “Out of the frying pan and into the fire” and other extrabiblical allusions to the possibility of the millenium. As a memento of the conference, each participant will receive a miniature skillet engraved with the Ichthys symbol on the handle.
TIM BOWMAN
Spokane, Wash.
Very Adult View
I was greatly encouraged to find the article “How to Put Premarital Sex on Hold” [Feb. 19]. It is easy to find some valuable and much appreciated insight into the sociohistorical evidence of past cultures that practiced immorality. However, as an individual who has spent 14 years working with students, I must say that this article promotes a very adult view of a teen-age problem. I found the solutions offered very shallow and doubt they would affect most teen-agers’ view of sex. Several reasons for this conclusion are: (1) sex among teen-agers is not a problem of the intellect; (2) students are trading their bodies for love and acceptance, not pleasure; (3) most students evaluate truth by their life experience, not by absolutes; (4) pressure and fear talk mean very little to today’s teen-agers.
What we tell them will mean little. What we show them in real life terms will make a difference.
J. DENNIS MILLER
Church Youth Development, Inc.
Brentwood, Tenn.
This article confirms the wisdom of divine limitations. This is one area of life where order and sequence are of great importance—that is, mate selection comes before mating. But when mating takes place during the mate selection process, confusion and distortion result.
REV. RICHARD O. ZIEHR
Good Shepherd Lutheran Church
Shalimar, Fla.
Unconscious Elitism
As a Christian layman I felt I must reply to your article, “Tensions Between Job and Family” [Feb. 19].
I was greatly disappointed in Dr. Meier’s recommendations for reducing tensions between the family and the job. I was unable to relate to his experience and his solution to this difficult problem in almost all ways. His entire article exudes an unconscious elitism that I find rife in the ranks of the professional and semiprofessional ministry today—an elitism that, in my experience, is widely believed by many working people. It is that ministers and other counselors who attempt to solve complex personal problems for “ordinary people” are out of touch with the real world. I feel this is one of the reasons why so many otherwise “good citizens” are not members of mainline churches today.
Business requires the utmost dedication, the most painstaking attention, the maximum amount of time and effort. The competition is fierce, and most of it is non-Christian—they have no understanding or consideration for church or family.
Wake up, ministers and counselors! Teach us how to handle our disappointment at our inability to cope with the problems of family and neighbors after a long and difficult day of coping with the unreasoning demands of the boss, the commute, and the ever-present bills. But don’t tell us it is easy. Give us meat, not milk, for our guidance.
DOUGLAS B. KENNEY
Westbury, N.Y.
I agree that it is not good to work 75 hours a week, but where in the Scripture does Meier get the idea that 40 hours a week are the proper number to spend on work?
Too much idleness is more of a problem to our country than are fathers who are working too hard.
MOISHE ROSEN
San Francisco, Calif.
Take Another Look
Evangelical Christianity had better take another look at the Bob Jones controversy [“Bob Jones versus Everybody,” Feb. 19]. Responsible biblical interpretation proves the Bob Jones position on race mixing to be totally in error. But the IRS ruling taking away its tax exempt status “because its practice violates public policy” is exceedingly oppressive.
The next ruling may very well cut a wider swath in removing tax-exempt status from Christian groups.
Far-fetched? Not in light of the gradual suppression of the evangelical church in Germany in the 1930s, not in Russia today where evangelical Christianity is in dire straights.
REV. GEORGE C. KAULBACH
Midway Presbyterian Church
Decatur, Ga.
Your article really misses the whole point of the issue. The issue is not racial discrimination, but religious freedom. It is the right to hold a moral and religious conviction that is unpopular without being penalized and punished for it.
It really matters very little whether one agrees with Bob Jones University or their interpretation of Holy Scripture. What really matters is that by denying the university’s tax-exempt status as a religious, educational, and charitable institution, the IRS has been violating the Constitution of the United States and has been guilty of an establishment of religion based upon “public policy.”
GEORGE T. THOMPSON, JR.
Park Forest, Il.
Crisis Reasons Missed
In “Wycliffe: A Mission in Search of a Future” [Feb. 19], two reasons for Wycliffe’s crisis were missed. First, the SIL/WBT distinction violates a standard of conduct expected of all scientific and philanthropic groups: that they state their purposes plainly.
Second, anthropological criticism centers on opposition, not to cultural change per se, but to how SIL channels cultural change.
Other Christians have started to pay for Wycliffe’s policies. Yancey’s article suggests that the issues they pose cannot be avoided forever.
DAVID STOLL
Manhattan, Kans.
Pretentious Claim
I don’t understand what makes Ron Sider or Gary North think that either a socialist or capitalist synthesis can be considered biblical [Current Religious Thought, “Biblical Economics: Equity and Equality?” Mar. 5]. Both economic systems appear to be alien to the mode of thought in the first century so the claim that either is biblical seems pretentious.
Should not the discussion go beyond the categories of socialist or capitalist systems? My concern is that Christians are attempting to identify the gospel with existing political and economic structures.
PETER BYLEN
Chicago, Ill.
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