Someone was at the door...

One should seek wisdom…

better yet – understanding

Proverbs 4:7, Bible

The sign on the front door says, “NO SOLICITATION.”

The knocking persisted anyway.  As I headed to the living room to see who was there, I wondered whether person might be Hispanic and unable to read the sign.

There they were…a woman and a young girl – a diminutive eight (8) year old in a plain dress and shoulder length light brown hair.

“I’m sorry, we take no solicitations.”  The woman, yet unnamed, replied, “Well, we are not selling anything. We just wanted to give you this.”  And with that, she held out a nicely printed religious tract suggesting I might find answers to some deeper truths. 

Another day, another time…

As I looked at the Jehovah’s Witness marketing piece, I was immediately taken back to a small trailer outside of Fort Rucker, Alabama where I spent the last year in military service.  It was the fall of 1970 and the ‘Witnesses’ were preparing for the end of the world in 1975.  The young man had been coming to my trailer for a couple of weeks, but on this particular day brought one of the elders to answer the questions he knew would ‘seal the deal’ for his proselyte quota.  The impending ‘world’s end’ had fed the intensity of the work. 

In the early 70s, ‘Witnesses’ numbers were growing and their efforts (always impressive) were at full steam.  It wasn’t, of course, the first time. Their leadership unsuccessfully forecast the coming of Christ in 1874…then later 1914 followed by some of the prophets in 1925. There had been other bold prophetic expressions over the years…too numerous to list here – background noise…all background noise.

Who are these people?

These gentle folk are so often treated rudely, and with discomfort by folk on the receiving end of ‘cold calls’ that friendliness, curiosity and courtesy is often mistakenly interpreted as potential ‘fish for the net’ of the Kingdom – their Kingdom, of course.  I looked at the brochure and chatted a little with, ah…well, I needed to ask.  

“I’m sorry for being impolite, what are your names?  My name is Ted.”  “Karen and my daughter is Harper,” she replied.  “Harper?” I said to the young girl. “Why, that is an interesting name.  Have you heard of Harper Lee, the author of ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’?” If Harper’s smile could have gotten any wider, it would have swallowed up the day!  “I was named for her, and mom has a signed copy of the book she is going to give to me when I am older.”  There are few things in life I enjoy more than connecting with children…yes sir, I hit a home run there! 

We had a pleasant conversation – the three of us.  I posed a question of two that gave Karen pause.  I squatted down so Harper and I could see each other eye to eye. I told her I was impressed she was brave to come with her mother and encouraged her faith.  I gave her, my familiar (at least to me) child version of making sure she studied hard in school.  I said I was confidant God had a plan for her life and only she would know what that was. 

Karen, not able to answer the questions, indicated she would be back with the answers.  Maybe so…maybe not, but next time it would NOT be in the company of Harper.  I had my chance with Ms. Harper and it was good!

As we said good-bye, I was again transported to another place and another time. 

Memory banks part deux…

It had once been a rural roadside tavern called the ‘Ace of Spades,’ on Route JJ, just off State Highway 24, a few miles west of Moberly, Missouri – founded in the late 1860s, nicknamed the ‘Magic City’ for it rapid growth as a railroad center.  That had been then…by the time I arrived, and for the next three decades of my life, it was a rural community with a little industry, and relatively stagnant growth.

Somewhere in the 1960s, an itinerate minister set up a satellite church in this converted tavern with a small number of folk.  In a short period of time, he met a woman, who would change his life and be the most curious human being I ever met.  She had a spiritual conversion and in the end the minister found himself captured by her.  It wasn’t a personal relationship, but she saw things others didn’t; she felt things others could not; she understood things so far beyond her ‘no education…lower class…rough and tumble…’ background, that it defied the rational mind.  Heck, she defied the irrational mind!!

This fellow knew the scripture better than anyone I have ever met before or since. The woman did not know the Bible, but she seemed to know things…things that resonated with his scriptural knowledge.  Between the two of them, a union of purpose developed and for the next few years, aside from eating and sleeping they worked unrelentingly developing Bible teaching curriculum. 

I had always wanted to know the scripture, but for the seeker, there are obstacles.  If one takes the academic route, one does not, with little exception, find real passion of faith.  If one goes the route of evangelical fundamentalism, one becomes entangled in ideology of the denomination/sect, and loaded down with judgment of others and personal guilt from the burden of one’s sinful nature!! My parents had rejected ‘…guilting…’ us into submission…I wasn’t looking for that!

In 1974, in the midst of my doctoral program, I became involved with this Bible teaching ministry…become involved would be an understatement.  Other than professional work, my life was completely consumed by this work.  It appealed to me because it focused on teaching the scripture and working to resolve one’s personal life issues. The scriptures were taught as spiritual weapons to fight a spiritual warfare, not with others, but within our own minds.  Acceptance of the principle that we are all in some degree or another ‘…in trouble…’ was, in many ways freeing. 

If there were only time…

Much could be written about those years, but pertinent to Karen and Harper is the amount of time we spent studying other religious teachings.  It was part and parcel of the ministry.  We studied the Bible, worked on our own personal lives and considered what other people believed.

Sunday afternoons were often set aside for a doctrinal ‘…live fire…’ laboratory. The pastor would show up as though he were a member of a different faith.  It might be any faith, and as it turned out, he was extremely knowledgeable of many doctrinal teachings.  He would make statements of faith from conventional denominations such as Methodists, Baptists (my background) or Presbyterians.  He might show up as a Mormon missionary or Jehovah’s Witness or a host of other teachings, AND importantly, we had no warning what the teaching would be.  On those Sunday afternoons we teased that the ‘Panel’ had shown up.  While the topics and ideas could be challenging, these free thinking, afternoons were edifying and some of my very favorite.

In the first instance we were to listen to the idea and see if it framed well with the scripture…at least the scripture as we had been taught.  There was NOT a list of topical verses we were encouraged to memorize as tools for Biblical debate.  We were encouraged to think…to let what we had been learning find a form that worked in our own minds.  Over time, of course, there would be standard kinds of ideas that emerged when encountering a particular religious faith...but they would be tailored individually to the ideas that worked personally for us.  We were encouraged to use our knowledge not as a fighting tool, but a teaching tool.  We learned to ask questions…to understand the person we were talking to.  The battleground was not with others, but as the scripture says to become “…renewed in the spirit of your mind…” (Ephesians 4:23) Working to bring “…into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ…” (2Corinthians 10:5). Yes sir, plenty to work on in our own gardens!!

We were taught that it was NOT our responsibility to convert someone to our teaching…to our point of view.  That was God’s job.  We were farmers planting seeds – He would be responsible to change the heart.  As the years have passed, I have more fully come to appreciate Paul’s words in 1^st Corinthians, “I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase…” (Vs. 3:6)

Back to Karen…

So here were Karen and Harper standing at my door, exercising their faith…acting on their belief…trying, of course to convince me of a particular teaching, that for them, regardless of what others believed, had brought order and consistency.   Certainly, one could argue doctrine and ideology, but really what is the purpose of the scripture?  Christ only ‘fought’ against hypocrisy and evil in religious leaders.  The common folk?  He loved them…fed them…provided parables for them…taught them through example after example.

There is no context in the New Testament for using the teachings to strike a blow to the seeking heart.  There is no context in the New Testament to feel superior because we belong to a particular faith.  There is no context in the New Testament for a specific…particular…unique…special teaching that, in the Christian context, betters all others.

What is our responsibility?

A lawyer once asked Christ, what he needed to do to inherit eternal life.  The answer was NOT, “Join the <fill in the church here> and accept all of its teachings.”  He rather said this:

“Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul,

and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself.” (Luke 10:27)

He gave the same response with asked what the greatest…the GREATEST …commandment was.  Love God and love your neighbor…he had distilled the 10 commandments into two…two that promote life, in ourselves, and those with whom we come in contact.

On the front steps of my home this week, Karen, Harper and I found that place of respect and humanity…and it was “…very good.”

- ted