Eutychus and His Kin: January 4, 1963

Resolutions

If I may claim your courtesy,

I ask that you would print for me

In January, Sixty-Three

For all my Eutykin to see

These New Year’s resolutions.

(The uses of publicity

May underwrite a guarantee

Correcting the fragility

Of resolutions framed by me.

Resolves should gain longevity

When printed for posterity.)

I should resolve to give up Cokes

And buying books and telling jokes;

I should resolve to answer mail

The day I get it, without fail;

To count my calories and weigh

The consequences every day;

To take a break without a snack

And learn to drink my Sanka black.

Domestic duty calls for action:

Some traces of dissatisfaction

Appear in notes in which the author

Describes her plans for kitchen tile, or

(What strengthens my resolve the most) her

Concern that I should fix the toaster.

The faucets leak, the stove is stuck,

The kitchen drain is clogged with muck;

It is apparent that, in fact,

The only way to keep intact

Monogamous alliance is

Repairing home appliances.

Resolving, it is plain to see,

Will be my job for Sixty-Three,

For other areas arise:

Before I lay in my supplies

To mend my fences near and far,

I must put Esso in my car—

And then resolve to moderate

That itching to accelerate;

To view with Christian charity

The driver just in front of me,

And tolerate the lead she gains

By Dodging action in two lanes.

On second thought, or third, I see

No profit from your courtesy.

The list is long and will not finish

For numbering will not diminish

The unending mending required.

Resolution is no solution

For a Happy New Year!

Racket And Ricochet

I have read with interest the feature article … by the Rev. Glendon E. Harris (Nov. 23 issue) entitled: “The Quietest Racket in America”.…

Everyone knows that transient men and families apply to the churches for help and crooks of all kinds thrive on this kind of “charity,” but the fact is that so many young ministers forget when they enter a community that they are not only the pastor of a church but a member of the community itself and should learn what its total resources are to meet human need. Certainly the minister knows where the doctors and lawyers are and can seek their aid when necessary. Why, then, is he not aware of the service available from the regularly constituted social agencies? Unless it be a very small community, there will be a Community Chest or its equivalent, and the agencies coordinated in it are skilled and able to handle human physical and social problems.

The Family Service, the Salvation Army, and many others are ready and willing to interview the applicant for aid and sift out the true from the false, thus saving the minister not only time but money.…

Dallas, Tex.

Located at the junction of U. S. Highways 66 and 166, our little town (population 4400) has more than its share of professional transients.…

Several experiences convinced us that an infinitesimal percentage were truly in need. However, we too … had “rather be swindled a dozen times than turn away one deserving case”.…

However, a joint project was inaugurated with the Salvation Army and the local Police Department (who welcomed the solution).

It works like this: Each minister in town has instructions to sent all transients to the City Hall (Police Station). There, the Officer on duty has the authority to provide a meal, groceries, gasoline, or lodging (no cash!). He does this by making arrangements on the phone, charging the amount to either the Ministerial Alliance or The Salvation Army. (We furnish about two-thirds of the budget.) A limit is set on the amount the officer can charge without getting permission from the President or Vice-President of the Alliance.

The officer fills out a card on the applicant while he is at the station. This discourages the “pro” from returning.

The plan has several advantages: (1) The ministers are freed from personal “touches.” (2) The transient can only “work” one minister since we all send him to the same place. (3) It screens out people in trouble with the law. (4) It provides a “clearing house” which is open day and night. (5) It gives the minister an opportunity to deal with the individual, but the final decision on material help rests in the judgment of a police officer, a person who isn’t easily “taken.” (6) The churches do the bulk of the financing.

In order to replenish the transient fund, all cooperating churches observe “Ministerial Alliance Day” once a year. A special offering is received in each church on that Sunday.…

First Baptist Church

Baxter Springs, Kansas.

True, there is a racket of this type, and I have been taken in several times. To magnify this thought seems to say that we should shut out mercy to those in need.

Very often social agencies have residence requirements before persons passing through can be helped. Others who could help are suspicious. What is a person in need to do when even church people and church denominations warn against helping?

Even if those in need are to be considered enemies, St. Paul tells us, “If your enemies are hungry, feed them.”

First United Presbyterian Church

Paulding, Ohio

We first tried a committee of laymen to cope with the problem. This worked fine for local needs, but was unsatisfactory for those traveling. We still have the committee for purposes of helping local people.

The best solution I have known of is cooperation with the local police. Out ministerial alliance and the police cooperate in this matter here. The police hold and administer a fund furnished by local churches and civic clubs to help those traveling who have a legitimate need.…

Pittsburg Baptist

Pittsburg, Calif.

The Wisdom Of Joseph

I was shocked when I read in the article, “Israel’s Favorite Game” (Nov. 23 issue), that “Aseneth was the daughter of Potiphar, wife of Joseph.…

According to every copy of the Bible that I have, and after consulting my commentaries, I find every one states that Joseph’s wife was the daughter of Potiphera (Gen. 41:45). Joseph had his troubles with Potiphar’s wife (Gen. 39:1 ff.). He surely did not marry her daughter.

First English Lutheran Church

Pittsburgh, Pa.

• Reader Wentz is correct. In the same sentence the spelling of the name of Joseph’s wife should have been “Asenath.”—ED.

To find such keen interest on the part of the general public in any part of the world in a Bible contest is really a sensation! I have read about these … contests in the secular papers but nowhere did I detect the fact that this contest aroused popular interest comparable to interest in the World Series.…

Rochester, N. Y.

Distinctions

The Review of Current Religious Thought for November 9 by Addison H. Leitch … on “distinctions” … expresses my sentiments exactly. However, I predict a cold reception for this article on the part of many. Some time ago I preached on the subject “Protestant Biblical Distinctives and the Second Vatican Council.” Awaiting me at the door was a lady who said, “May God forgive you for all those horrid things you said. That was the most narrow, bigoted, pharisaical thing I have ever heard.… Both (Rome and the Protestants) of us will have to give up a little (for effective ecumenism), but we should be willing to do it!”

As for Dr. Leitch, should my prediction come true, I know he will take heart. As for me, I do not care to give up Sola Scriptura and Sola Fide for the Papacy and the Mary cult.…

Sugar Hill, N.H.

Baiting the Pope can be almost as “great fun” as burning heretics.

Does it occur to Dr. Leitch that one who “thinks on the Man of Galilee” might consider it unworthy to comment on the separation of Christians in a flippant tone? Dr. Leitch talks about being aroused to “cynicism and a certain sadness.” His comments, however, reveal more cynicism than sadness, and an attitude for which—to the extent that we all share it—we should pray for forgiveness.

Chairman

Humanities Division

Wabash College

Crawfordsville, Ind.

I am in agreement with Dr. Leitch that truth must be broadcast and error exposed; however, I think it can be done in a conciliatory, informative, comparative and gracious way. I had a Catholic friend read this article who is very concerned about prayer, God’s will, etc., and he felt very hurt by the non-serious fun-poking as he considered it to be.

I am at present studying in a Roman Catholic university and would like to present various articles to various faculty members from time to time, with a view to their ultimate enlightenment and conversion.…

Chicago, Ill.

Only On Sunday

Recently I noticed a moving picture title, “Never On Sunday.” I knew nothing about this picture except its title. During October (Oct. 26 issue) an article by this name appeared in CHRISTIANITY TODAY … to stress the importance of the Lord’s Day. Now I believe in the Lord’s Day and keeping it; but as I read this article, I thought of how often Christians do things only on Sunday, that God would have them do every day.…

Our life has been so secularized that the only time the majority of Christians seem to have time for religious education is … Sunday.…

It is rather unusual today to hear Psalms or hymns on week days. Much of our worship is only on Sunday.… Wouldn’t the average deacon’s or elder’s wife be startled if she heard her husband singing “Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty, early in the morning our songs shall rise to Thee,” as he shaved or prepared to leave for work in the morning.…

At church, on Sunday, prayer is offered for ruler, nations, missionaries and many other needs. Sometimes a small percentage of the Sunday group gathers to pray in the middle of the week, but for the most part … only on Sunday.…

To get right down to brass tacks, perhaps our title should be “Only In Church.” The language of the church, the hymns of praise, the open Bible and prayers are beginning to seem out of place except in the church, and even there only on Sunday.…

The Calvary Bible Baptist Church

Monroeville, Pa.

Marx And Marxism

Many students of Communism would take exception to Lester DeKoster’s “The New Face of Marxism” (Oct. 26 issue). Two of [his] ideas need careful scrutiny.

The first is the notion that Soviet-Sino style Communism has lost its appeal to “uncommitted” peoples. This theory is misleading.… Communism has never appealed to a majority in any nation. Rather, Communism has been imposed from the top down.…

Mr. DeKoster’s picture of Marx also needs correcting. Among phrases quoted and coined in discussing Marx are … “basically humanist” and “passion for righteousness.” It is true that Mr. DeKoster has dealt with the false Marxist claims to humanism, but it is unfortunate that he has left uncorrected the above … concept of the man Marx. Leopold Schwarzschild’s Karl Marx: The Red Prussian … draws heavily on Marx’s correspondence with Engels in supporting his description of the bigoted and bitter hater of mankind that was the person Karl Marx.…

Manchester by the Sea, Mass.

Church leaders should: (1) quit grouping together all the anti-Communists from the opportunists and die-hard segregationists to the real patriots; and (2) enter into an all-out effort to show that the love of God is a better reforming agency than the doctrines of class hatred and liquidation of Marx and Lenin.

First Presbyterian

Elsinore, Calif.

Disciples Convention

Thank you very much for the excellent article (“Disciples Battle Integration Problems,” News, Oct. 26 issue) interpreting the whole convention.… It certainly was a fair report of exactly what happened at the meeting.

I read your magazine with great interest … and have enjoyed many of the articles in the recent months of crisis.

President

International Convention of Christian Churches (Disciples of Christ)

Indianapolis, Ind.

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