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As we know, the New World DID come into the fray and, now,
more than a half century later, we still speak English, not
German. Churchill deserves a great deal of the credit for that.
Near the end of his life, Sir Winston was asked to speak to
the graduating class of England's most prestigious university.
The hall was packed. Young students perched on their chairs,
eager to catch every word from the statesman. Finally, Churchill
approached the podium. What seemed like minutes passed as the
crowd waited in silence for their hero to speak. He stared up at
the eager faces and said these words: "NEVER...GIVE...UP!"
Another minute passed in silence. Finally, Churchill said to the
students, "NEVER...GIVE...UP!" And then to everyone's amazement,
he walked off the stage. The crowd was stunned. Then, as they
recognized the significance of his words, a tremendous ovation
erupted. The crowd went wild!
Never give up! Good advice. Advice that we need to hear
again and again these days. The world seems topsy-turvy and
spinning along out of control. Long-held values are called into
question and even ridiculed. The job we had worked at for years
and counted on to take us to retirement is suddenly "down-sized"
out of existence. The social safety nets are being sacrificed on
the altar of a balanced budget. A boss cannot say to his
secretary, "You look extra nice today," without being in danger
of a sexual harassment accusation.
Charlie Brown and Linus are standing looking over a fence
with their weary faces resting on their hands. They are filled
with sadness. Linus depressingly says to Charlie Brown,
"Sometimes I feel that life has just passed me by. Do you ever
feel that way, Charlie Brown?"
In his normal melancholy mood Charlie replies, "No, I feel
like it has knocked my down and walked all over me."(2)
Last week, Christie handed me this item from the newspaper:
Ann Landers' column headlined, "What happened to old-fashioned
love?(3)" Listen.
Here's how that same story would go if it happened in
1997: "Dear Ann: Last week, I attended church services
and noticed that the soldier sitting behind me knew all
the words to every song. I figured anyone who knew
those lyrics was probably a member of the religious
right. I bumped into him a month later. After cussing
him out and telling him to watch where he was going, I
learned he was a doctor. Three months later, I slipped
on an icy walk and injured my arm. After suing the
property owner for all I could get, this same doctor
treated me and insisted that I stay in the infirmary.
He then made twice-daily visits to see how I was doing,
which made me suspicious. I complained to his
supervisor and filed a sexual harassment suit. I was
discharged in January, and the doctor asked if I would
like to see a movie to celebrate. I told the police he
was a stalker and applied for a restraining order.
When the doctor asked me to marry him in the same
chapel where we first met, I called the FBI. They
searched his apartment to make sure there were no
shrines built to me and no bodies hidden under the
floorboards. I married the guy anyway because, after
all, doctors earn six-figure incomes." -- Tuned in and
Turned on in La Jolla, Calif. Indeed. Nothing is nailed down anymore. Nothing to depend
on. It would be awfully easy to just give up.
It is the same in the church. People work HARD to offer
opportunities for meaningful worship and work, for study and
service, to provide an atmosphere in which spiritual growth can
take place as relationships between earth and heaven are made
more vital and vibrant. But instead of being greeted with
gratitude for their efforts, Sunday School teachers encounter
empty classrooms because parents did not happen to choose to
bring their children today. Youth leaders, who face the
challenges of attracting anyone at all in a generation where the
kids are working, have extra-curricular school responsibilities,
and have their own cars, rather than being thanked for their
efforts, instead hear how much better things USED to be when so-and-so was running the program thirty years ago. Pastors who do
their level best to prepare meaningful sermons and Bible studies
see slowly shrinking congregations, wonder what can be done to
reverse the trend, and then patiently listen as folks reminisce
about the "good old days" when we had to put chairs in the aisles
to accommodate everyone.
Somebody MUST be doing something wrong! According to a
newly released Gallup Poll, Americans say they are just as
religious today as they were in 1947, 50 years ago. Based on
several surveys conducted in recent months, 96 percent of
Americans today say they believe in God, 71 percent profess
belief in an afterlife, 90 percent say they pray, and 41 percent
say they attend religious services frequently ("almost every
week" or "at least once a week"). "A comparison of the religious
climate today with that of 50 years ago...does not support the
contention of social observers who maintain that America is far
less attached to religion than a half-century ago," says the
report in the April edition of Gallup's Emerging Trends
newsletter. Rather, the report continues, the new findings
"support the contention that the last 50 years have been the most
'churched' half-century in U.S. history."(4) OK.
Then where are the people? Well, the sad reality is that
folks have selective memory when it comes to responding to
pollsters' questions concerning their religious attitudes and
habits. To cite just one example, if the approximately 40% who
say they were at worship last weekend actually WERE, churches and
synagogues would have had about TWICE their actual attendance.
The rule of thumb used to be that, on any average Sunday,
attendance in a moderate size congregation would amount to about
half of those on the active roll; the rule now is about one-third. Why the disparity in what people SAY they do and what
they ACTUALLY do? Simple - we like to think well of ourselves,
and we like to think we are doing what we know we should even
when we do not do it.
Some folks were talking together. One of them said, "Our
congregation is sometimes down to 30 or 40 on a Sunday."
One from another church said, "That's nothing, sometimes our
group is down to 10 or 12 in the summer."
Not to be outdone, in a truly competitive spirit, another
dear lady added, "It's so bad in our church on Sunday that when
the minister says, 'Dearly beloved,' it makes me blush!"(5)
For what it is worth, that poll indicates that the church
has a GREAT opportunity for ministry among these good religious
people. In an interview on May 14, George Gallup Jr., executive
director of the Princeton Religion Research Center, which
publishes Emerging Trends, said his organization's past surveys
have identified three "gaps" that point to a lack of religious
depth. Americans, he said, do not generally live up to the
ethical standards of their faith ("the ethics gap"), nor are they
generally aware of their faith's basic teachings ("the knowledge
gap"). The third gap, said Gallup, is "between believers and
belonging," which contrasts the number of Americans who profess a
belief in God with the number who frequently attend religious
services.(6) The message to the church? DO NOT GIVE UP! We have
work to do.
If we need any motivation, we have it in abundance in Paul's
words in our lesson: "We preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus
the Lord;" What we have to offer the world is the genuinely good
news that God loves us, and the proof of that is in the life,
death, and resurrection of this world's Savior, Jesus Christ. We
welcome all who would become Jesus' disciples, who, by profession
of faith, become a part of Christ's body, the church, and who
acknowledge our responsibilities to share that good news by word
and deed.
Sounds simple enough, but Paul lets us know that, in his
life at least, it is not. What does he say his experience has
been? Afflicted. Perplexed. Persecuted. Struck down. All of
those. But he hangs in. "We are AFFLICTED in every way, but not
crushed; PERPLEXED, but not driven to despair; PERSECUTED, but
not forsaken; STRUCK DOWN, but not destroyed;" In other words,
no call to GIVE UP!
Good old Paul. Sounds like the old farmer's ditty to the
tune of "Turkey in the Straw:"
Oh, the mule's gone lame and the hens won't lay, Never give up. Never give up. Never, never, never, never
give up!
The message for the church is surely this: despite all the
things that might discourage us from our work, we cannot be
turned aside. Our task is too important. And "earthen vessels"
that we are, as the scripture says - plain old clay pots...
nothing special - the treasure of the gospel that we contain CAN
make an incredible difference in the world when we persevere.
Just a few weeks ago, members of our General Assembly
Council Executive Committee returned from a visit to Korea,
having had the opportunity to witness the product of 113 years of
Presbyterian mission in that nation. Nowhere has the global
mission enterprise of the Presbyterian Church (USA) borne more
fruit than in Korea. It is evident in the thousands of Korean
Christians who pour into churches six days a week at 5:30 AM for
morning prayer, in the thousands more who fill sanctuaries five,
six, seven times on Sundays, in congregations whose members
number in the tens of thousands, and in universities and
seminaries that proudly display pictures and monuments to their
Presbyterian founders.
The history of our involvement in Korea dates back to 1884,
when Dr. Horace Allen, a medical missionary, arrived in that
country from the United States. The first Presbyterian minister,
the Rev. Horace G. Underwood, came the following year. Today the
Presbyterian Church of Korea is the fifth largest Presbyterian
church in the world with more than two million members.
The Council trip included visits to
The group also heard a number of people share their hopes
for tongil, the Korean word for "unification." Hewon Han, our
own Salem Presbytery Associate Executive, and son of the founder
of the 50,000-member Youngnak Presbyterian Church in Seoul, said
the churches in South Korea have set aside millions of dollars
for building churches in North Korea once reunification occurs.
More than one speaker noted the important role churches can play
toward hastening that day by providing relief to North Koreans,
whose country has suffered in recent years from food shortages
and devastating economic conditions.(8) What a difference we have
made!
Was Presbyterian mission in Korea difficult? Of course it
was. Language. Culture. Hostility. But dedicated Christians
kept at it, and they made a difference that today would be beyond
their wildest imagining. Why did they succeed? They never gave
up. Never gave up. Never, never, never, never gave up.
No question, giving up is often a most attractive option.
But we cannot. We have too important a job to do. And remember
Paul: "afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but
not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down,
but not destroyed;" And then hear Sir Winston one more time:
"Never give up. Never give up. Never, never, never, never give
up."
1. Speech following the retreat from Flanders before the House of Commons, June 4, 1940 2. Doug Behm, via Ecunet, "Illustrations for This Week," #346, 5/28/97 3. Greensboro News & Record, 5/24/97, D3 4. Religion News Service, "Gallup: U.S. Religious Attitudes Similar to Those of 1947," via PresbyNet, PCUSA NEWS #4173, 5/27/97 5. Doug Behm, via Ecunet, "Illustrations for This Week," #347, 5/28/97 6. Gallup, ibid. 7. Quoted by Donel McClellan, via Ecunet, "Sermonshop June 2, 1991," #6, 5/28/91 from a bulletin of the Farmer's Union Educational Service 8. Gary Luhr, "Council Members See Fruits of Missionary Labor in Korea," via PresbyNet, PCUSA NEWS, #4174 5/28/97 9. Psalm 139:1-2
...We shall not flag nor fail. We shall go on to the
end. We shall fight in France and on the seas and
oceans; we shall fight with growing confidence and
growing strength in the air. We shall defend our
island whatever the cost may be; we shall fight on
beaches, landing grounds, in fields, in streets and on
the hills. We shall never surrender and even if, which
I do not for the moment believe, this island or a large
part of it were subjugated and starving, then our
empire beyond the seas, armed and guarded by the
British Fleet, will carry on the struggle until in
God's good time the New World with all its power and
might, sets forth to the liberation and rescue of the
Old."(1)
Dear Ann Landers: You recently printed a sweet "how-we-met" story. The woman said at the end of World War II,
she sat behind a soldier in church. He knew all the
lyrics to the songs so she figured he couldn't be all
bad. Later, she learned he was a doctor. Three months
later, she slipped on an icy walk and injured her arm.
That same doctor insisted she stay in the infirmary,
and he visited her twice a day. When she was
discharged, he asked her to the movies to celebrate.
They subsequently married in the same chapel where they
had met.
Corn's way down, wheat don't pay.
Hogs no better. Steer's too cheep,
Cows quit milking and the meat won't keep.
Oats all heated, spuds all froze,
Wheat crop's busted, wind still blows,
Looks some gloomy, I'll admit,
but Git up, Dobbin, we ain't down yet.(7)
Amen!
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