One Day of Life

W. Carl Ketcherside

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     I don't think one ought to keep count of the things God does, that is to run a tally sheet on heaven's blessings. God cannot be confined to a calendar or regulated by a clock. Both of these are devices for measuring time and God is timeless. But life is very rich and full for me right now, and I would like to share with you some of the things that are occurring. What I am going to describe can happen to anyone, but it would never happen to any two of us in exactly the same fashion.

     When I became aware that all true happiness lies in being God's slave, after I'd been living off of his bounty for years, I was talking with him one day, and I confessed that I was ashamed of the fact that a lot of times in the past I had made excuses to justify my neglect of going into areas which I felt ought to be contacted and penetrated. I acknowledged that I was sometimes motivated by fear of failure and of making an even bigger fool of myself, or of falling flat on my face.

     I mentioned to him my lack of formal education and the deprivation of my early home life, and how these were factors which probably gnawed at my inner being and acted to keep me from going into a lot of "the worlds" from which I had shied away. But I also told him I was tired of running and that I knew now that my real trouble had been

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lack of faith. I went on to promise that from that time forward I'd go wherever a door opened up and I would share what I knew about our relationship with all who would listen.

     I have lived in Saint Louis for a good many years but I might as well have lived in Patagonia or Timbuctoo, so far as some areas were concerned. I couldn't have been much farther from them. But almost from the time that I surrendered to God's purpose in my life opportunities began to come. I explain it by saying I had followed Jesus for years and then finally caught up with him.

     The first thing I noticed was a sense of inner peace and freedom from fear. A consciousness of the abiding Presence actually made me want to enter into new and untried situations. I wanted to see how I could be his tool to mend and repair. The second thing that became apparent was that new meaningful relationships were being created. Bridges were being built where no means of communication had existed.

     Let me take just one twenty-four hour period, for example. At noon one day, by invitation I attended a dialogue session. The Metropolitan Church Federation arranged a discussion on "The Meaning of Infallibility." The chief speaker was Dr. Constantine J. Andrews, pastor of St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church, with the reactors being Msgr. Joseph W. Baker of the Roman Catholic persuasion, and Dr. Gerald Slusser of the theological studies department of Eden Theological Seminary.

     In order to prepare myself for the occasion I talked with God and asked him to help me see everyone as he saw them and also to keep me from building cultural or other walls which might prove to be barriers. I wanted to be open and receptive but I also wanted to be discriminative in the realm of ideas.

     As soon as I arrived I saw two young men standing somewhat apart so I went to them and ascertained that one was an assistant pastor of a Lutheran congregation while the other was a senior seminarian. We immediately became involved in a discussion of our varying concepts. When we came to the subject of baptism they informed me that many of the young men were coming to see it as the immersion of a penitent. I made arrangements for them to visit our home and to bring other young men with them to continue our mutual exchange of thought.

     The three presentations by the principals were excellent. Each speaker was perceptive and kind, but also firm. The reactors stated the areas of difference as clearly as they did the points of agreement. Since I have long been a member of a kindred type of dialogue group, I made a note of the things which originally acted as mental barriers for me, and made it difficult for me to openly witness to my convictions. Fortunately I no longer allow these to interfere. Here are the things that came to mind.

     (1) The vocabulary which makes use of a great many expressions cast in the modern theological mould and which are seldom heard among us. I have learned that if I am to communicate meaningfully with these men that I must understand their terminology. Ordinarily we do not talk about Christological anthropology, naturalistic objectivism, idealistic subjectivism, or eschatological development. But if we are to reach men we must go where they are, linguistically as well as geographically. It has helped me to realize that Paul became all things to all men with the highest motivation and with Spirit approval.

     (2) The clerical dress is abhorrent to me because it symbolizes a caste system among believers. I have learned that a lot of young men are rebelling against a special costume of rank which separates them from man in general, but I also know that if I had been born into the same theological situation as these men, I also would be thus attired. I always whisper to God to help me not to look on the outward appearance but to try and understand the hearts of men as they are unburdened and disclosed in word and declaration.

     (3) The personal habit of smoking

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bothers me. Fully one-third of the clerics in the audience had their pipes going and a haze of blue smoke filled the upper reaches of the room where three hundred men were listening very intently. I think that a number of them smoked even more because of the tension of the occasion just as I tend to eat compulsively at night when working under stress on some research task. I hope they are all as ashamed of their weakness as I am of mine.

     (4) The physical surroundings once acted as a deterrent. For instance, the sacred pictures used as icons in the Greek Orthodox structure disturbed me but when I silently prayed about it, the thought intruded into my mind that Jesus had to come into a world where there were many worse things to be seen and it seemed to me that he wanted me to get the point that I should quit looking at things and start looking at men. I'm not sure that all the wall hangings in the house of Simon the leper were in good taste, but Jesus visited it and ate with the guests.

     When the three speeches were finished we divided into four smaller groups for an hour of discussion. As the King James Version puts it "my hap was to light" in a group led by Peter Kastaris, an amiable Greek Orthodox priest. Present also was the Catholic monsignor. I have never attended another session which was conducted on a fairer basis. Almost at once we were plunged into a study in depth of authority and absolutes. Everything was on an eminently elevated plane and no one felt obligated to "pull any punches." I am convinced that everyone in the room was honestly trying to understand the position of every other person present. I was invited four times to testify to my own convictions and the basis for them.

     The next morning I accompanied Walter and Ruth Short, who are doing a tremendous job in the heart of the Negro ghetto, to a monthly breakfast and Bible study conducted by men and women of various religious affiliations. I was impressed by the lack of sectarian emphasis and the apparent eagerness to probe the real meaning of the Word. Here where human need is so appalling, Negro and Caucasian servants of their fellowmen can sit down together with open Bibles for two hours and share their insights without rancor or restraint.

     While in the area I also visited the site of the Head Start program and saw what volunteers are doing to make it possible for little boys and girls from bleak tenements to know some of the life values of which they are deprived by situations beyond their control. I will be visiting this work again.

     At noon I was with the Messianic Forum which meets weekly in a downtown hotel and brings Jewish business and professional men together for an examination of the claims of Jesus as the Messiah of the prophets. It has been my good fortune to address them six times recently and to answer their penetrating questions. My theme was "The Credibility of the Messianic Witnesses," and the questions were asked of me by attorneys and judges of the courts. I think I have never at any other time felt the nearness to Christ as when speaking to the descendants of those unto whom the Good News was first taken.

     These are but a few of "the happenings" and "share-ins" and each day is different. Since he provides not only the possibilities but also the power to perform them, we pray for many more. Life is not drab when he leads and every day becomes a thriller-diller to those who have tuned their hearts into heaven's frequency. One cannot afford to sit around under juniper trees when there is work to do on Mount Carmel. And yet, no two Carmels are ever alike!