OUR CHANGING WORLD

 

Keith Sigler of Hutchinson, Kansas reports that his family of five have a total of 90 years of every‑Sunday church attendance. No illness was serious enough to keep them from the assembly, and even the babies arrived at such a time that no one ever had to miss, not even when infants. That must be something of a record. They've always attended Christian Churches ‑ Churches of Christ. Despite the record, they are not legalistic about it, and do not believe that such attendance is an absolute imperative. "Since I perceive that Christians of every age need this weekly togetherness, I believe it is my sacred obligation to perpetuate this custom," he says. But Alexander Campbell, for one, would put it stronger than that. A vital principle of "the reformation," as he called it, is the revival of three institutions ordained of God: immersion, the Lord's Supper, and the Lord's Day. No church can be a true church without these, he insisted. 

Audrey Althaus, a dear sister who visited us from Canada last summer, penned a piece in the Canadian Disciple on "Let's Tiptoe into Christmas." One paragraph especially caught my eye: "Imagine the consternation of prophet, priest and king . . . had they but known! They expected the spectacular, and here lay a Hebrew baby; simple, humble, weak ‑ one of thousands born daily. They expected majesty, and here were rags, a trough, and a barn. They expected celebrations and revelry, and here was a quiet night broken only by the singing of angels and the light of a star. God has chosen the foolish things to confound the wise, the weak things to confound mighty." 

John Leonard in the Highlighter, bulletin of the Highland Park Church of Christ in Dallas: "Many feel liberalism is the great foe facing the church. An enemy it is, but the greatest foe is the Pharasaic‑Corinthianistic trait in the church. Too many are converted to the product of the Restoration Movement and too many are deplete of the spiritual nature of Jesus Christ 'if any person is in Christ he is a new creature.' Changes are demanded, restoration of truth is not complete, tradition must be reproved and revised, and most importantly, Jesus must become our true Lord." 

In his September issue of Ensign Fair, editor R. L. Kilpatrick writes: "A preacher asked me recently, 'Why do you run those articles by Leroy Garrett and Carl Ketcherside and take a chance on ruining your magazine ?'" His answer is that he believes Ketcherside and Garrett have something to say that we need to hear and that they "probably know the brotherhood better than anyone living." He adds: "They are in contact with all divisions and splinters of the Restoration Movement and they are not hung up on the myriads of partisan issues running rampant throughout the brotherhood." And then he lays it on: "Another reason is because I am sick and tired of a System that brands and stigmatizes brethren like Ketcherside and Garrett to prevent them from being heard, and believe me we are in the throes of such a System! . . . Therefore, listen to what these brethren say; reject what you can prove to be false; accept what is true; and in matters of opinion afford them the same liberty that you desire for yourself, and when you can do this, you are spiritually mature." Ouida was sitting at the graphotype cutting plates when I read this article to her. "Wow!" was her response. So if you want to be wowed, write the editor at 27 10 Day Road, Huntsville, Al. 35801. Subs are 3.00 a year. One of the readers wrote to the editor: "If I had been told that such a voice could have come out of Alabama I would have laughed in disbelief. Now I know that in spite of the dark days behind, the revolution among us cannot be denied. The chorus of free voices will swell louder and louder as time goes on." 

Arnold Hardin, preacher in one of our churches in Dallas, writes as follows in a recent issue of Gospel Guardian: "We will never see everything alike nor must we! One has said, 'Legalism produces a spiritual police state.' Amen! It ought to be horrifying to all of us that such a state of things is so rapidly being formed among us in the church. Where did this foolish belief originate that we must see everything alike, or else, those differing from us are automatically unworthy of God's fellowship, therefore, unworthy of ours? If such be so then each of us must worship alone. Such childish conclusions are unworthy of Christians."