Representative Of The Year
One does not have to be a brilliant semanticist to know that a representative is one who represents. And no one is more representative of the American people today than the Honorable Wayne Hays of Ohio.
He “portrays” and “typifies” (to use my dictionary’s words) us well. We Americans admire cantankerous, tough leaders. (Didn’t Blood and Guts Patton become a folk hero during the Nixon years?) We appreciate people who understand power and are not afraid to use it. And Hays fits the bill. According to Washington insiders. Hays ran the House Administration Committee and the Congressional Campaign Committee with an iron and vindictive hand.
Hays also represents us sexually. Many of us participate in and wink at sexual indiscretions. We’re like the old man reported by Time magazine who wanted to know Hays’s secret for sexual potency after age sixty-five. We good-naturedly elbow each other in the ribs when we hear of hanky-panky. And evidently Hays hanked and panked. He bragged of his nightly exploits almost daily.
Most of us don’t call such indiscretions sin. We call them “peccadillos,” ’ which means “a slight offense; a petty fault.” (I previously thought peccadillos were assistants to Spanish bullfighters.)
We Americans also admire those who know how to use money to achieve goals. Hays does. The way he wrapped purse strings around power is legendary on Capitol Hill. And Hays typifies us too well when it comes to the use of others’ money for our own ends. (Think through your own use of expense-account, income-tax, and “tithe” money.) But when Wayne represented us too well in this area, we rebelled. He could have his peccadillos, we said, but not with our money. And so the Honorable Wayne Hays has fallen.
When historians sit down to write of his decline, will they say he fell because he bullied people with his power? No. Will they say he fell because he messed around with members of his staff, hustled his secretary back in Ohio, and divorced his wife of thirty-eight years? No. Historians will say he was brought to his knees because the American people rebelled when he used their money to support his mistress.
Wayne Hays represented us too well, and he fell for it. He probably deserved to fall. But he also deserves to be named the American people’s Representative of the Year.
EUTYCHUS VII
For More Poetry
Thank you for the fine article on poetry by Rod Jellema (“Poems Should Stay Across the Street From the Church,” June 4), and for Harold Lindsell’s candid editorial confession that he is “somewhat dull” on the theme of poetry; quite frankly, the magazine reflects his unfortunate attitude in a rather subtle way. It is Jellema’s expressed opinion that the Church isn’t serious in its search for good poetry; it is apparent that Christian journals such as CHRISTIANITY TODAY are also not very serious in this search. The magazine should not only print more poetry, but it should acknowledge when it does so by itemizing poems in its table of contents rather than treating them as journalistic filler. By the way, when was the last time CHRISTIANITY TODAY reviewed a book of poems? Please give us more poetry.
ALLAN R. ANDREWS
North Shore Community College
Beverly, Mass.
As a Christian who writes poetry for both secular and religious readers, I do not feel that what my poetry “embodies has little to do with [my] opinions or even [my] beliefs.…” To the contrary, … all my perceptions—like everyone else’s—grow out of a personal belief system. Mine, a God-in-Jesus-Christ world, influences my sensory input and how I select symbols to evoke meaning in the receiver. The fact that I am a Christian puts no limit on the subject matter or the technique, but it does impose upon me a prophetic (forthtelling) function to deal with themes of divine purpose, judgment, love, forgiveness, and hope. And that’s the “message” I want to get across, although how it’s said has many variables.
CAROLYN KEEFE
Department of Speech and Theatre
Westchester State College
Westchester, Pa.
I do not believe that “poems should stay across the street from the Church”.… A Christian is “whole,” his awareness is on all levels, “layer upon layer,” permeated with his faith and love, and there is no conflict between his beliefs and his “growing creative vision.” The poetic gift is indeed a gift from God, and is used most magnificently when it glorifies him.… Let us have poetry in the church, and not just across the street.
DOROTHY M. MACLEOD
Willowdale, Ont.
A Break From Brickbats
May I thank you for your very kind editorial about me (“Worthy of Her Hire?,” May 21). In the midst of the pressure and brickbats, your column was like a lovely oasis.
BARBARA WALTERS
ABC News
New York, N. Y.
Better A Hobbitt
Lord of the Rings is no substitute for Holy Writ. Habitual reading of it, and this may be what is disturbing Lionel Basney (Refiner’s Fire, May 21), trains one in trivia, not spiritual maturity. Having said that, however, is not to negate fantasy as a legitimate approach to Christianity. “Hold all things in moderation” applies to fantasy as well as pagan culture. Eliot, Becket, Joyce may very well be authors of greater literary stature than Tolkien. Lewis probably writes better literature than Tolkien. But the question is not literary. It is a question of what may lead a man to Christ. I think that fantasy, when rendered by a redeemed imagination, may very well be a viable avenue.
It has been suggested that without imagination there can be no spiritual maturity. Scripture reiterates that without faith, God cannot be pleased. Imagination, purified, directed, is the vehicle for faith. We “see” what is required of us and move the tangible realities to an adjustment with the imaged qualities of Godlikeness. Generally spoken of in more pietistic terms, it is also an act of the imagination. Instead of creating a subworld, or secondary world, by faith, we see the Primary World and live there, instead of here, at our mailing address and zip code. God created that Primary, spiritual world as well as this one, and he promised us a part in both.
The literature of Joyce and Becket and Vonnegut says our lives are petty, sordid, ridiculous. Yes. We agree. But to say there is no other world is inaccurate. Rejoicing in common humanity may be better than religious isolationism. But in the final analysis, if all are drowning, does it matter if each has his own raft or if we are piled helter-skelter (rejoicing in our common humanity) on one raft? The difficulty with faith and the literature of realism is that despair is the result instead of hope, and the repudiation of the imagination withers the heart of faith.… Yet Satan will lose. Some day. And the relief and pleasure accorded thereby won’t be tainted by skepticism. So Gandalf is a truer guide to Christ than Godot. Redeemed fantasy is a mirror image of the Greater Fantasy that is all life. It is safer reading for an unbeliever, because it awakens the sehnsucht that eventually led Lewis to confront God. It is legitimate enjoyment for a Christian because it is all a parable about the greater Fantasy to which we have committed our own futures. Better to be a Hobbitt in Middle Earth, than to battle Virginia Woolf for a season.
JUDITH L. BROWN
Silver Spring, Md.
The Singles Challenge
I was very pleased with your lead editorial in the June 4 issue: “Serving Singles—Don’t Play Mix and Match.” This editorial brought to mind some important facts and figures about singles and challenged churches to meet the increasing demand for ministry to singles. In addition.… I feel that there is another important area where persons’ attitudes could be changed. This concerns the place of single persons in full-time church or Christian work. Today it seems that many denominations won’t consider a single person for church staff positions.… The single person who feels a call to special service … feels that the local church has no place for him in this respect either. Today many singles are feeling God’s call to special service but must turn to organizations outside the church.
C. DARRELL MOBLEY
Oklahoma City, Okla.
Thanks For Thought
Thanks for “Did We Love Her Out of Hell, Guys?” (Eutychus and His Kin, April 23). It was thought-provoking, which, I assume, was the intent.
STAN DREW
Instructor
Christian Education
Northwest College
Kirkland, Wash.
