Pilgrimage of Joy. . . No. 45

STILL MORE DRAMA AT HARVARD
W. Carl Ketcherside

Our last episode found me at Harvard, and a more unlikely or less qualified individual had probably never graced the premises there in the long history of the Divinity School which was set up in 1816. Nevertheless, Dr. Joseph Fletcher who had written the controversial book “Situation Ethics” heard that I was there and sent me an invitation to join him in his class on “Verbal Tools in Situation Ethics,” at the Episcopal Theological School in Cambridge.

I confess that I went with a warped preconceived notion of the kind of person who would produce such a liberal theological volume as he had turned out, and which was sparking all kinds of attack from the religious community. I fully expected to find a gay young “swinger” of about thirty-five years of age, with long hair and a beard, dressed in hippie garb, smoking a pipe, and wisecracking his way through class at every turn. You can imagine my surprise when I found a grandfatherly type, clean-shaven with a short haircut, and wearing a conventional suit of rather somber gray. The truth is that he was attired much more conventionally than I was.

The class consisted mostly of students for the Episcopal clergy, and it was obvious from looking at them, what a wide degree of variance that hoary fellowship tolerated. I had “cut my eye teeth” on the works of men from the Episcopalian clergy system - Alan Cole, John R. W. Stott, Michael Green, and J. I. Packer, all of whom were part of the “Evangelical Fellowship of the Anglican Communion.” Their knowledge of and emphasis upon the word of God was a far cry from some of the wild ideas of these young men. I was thrilled to be among them and to affirm my faith not only in the need for a revelation but in the revelation given to meet that need.

Dr. Fletcher proved to be both modest and gracious. He introduced me to the class of about forty and invited me to participate during the two-hour session. He asked me for my definition of agape, which he laughingly suggested might need to be defined for modern secular man. He defined it simply as “active concern” for others. We discussed the implications of it, and talked about the seeming difference between Paul’s theology and that of our Lord. He was quite convinced that, in going to the Greek world, Paul placed certain elements in the message that Jesus never intended. I was quite convinced of the opposite. It made for an interesting exchange. I remained behind with the students to talk and answer questions after he had left the room. It was a morning well-spent.

That evening a group of students under the banner of the Students for a Democratic Society, all slanted toward Marxism, occupied the University Hall and ejected the deans and administrators, and locked them out of their offices. They rifled drawers and files, and obtained some secret and classified materials and documents which began to appear in Old Mole, the appropriately named underground newspaper. The Harvard authorities tried to negotiate with them all next day to get them to abandon the building. The students were adamant and flushed with a sense of victory, and they had no success. They filed a list of grievances which they sent to Dr. Nathan Pusey, president of the institution.

Between three and four o’clock the next morning several hundred police moved in and stormed the place. They used only such force as was necessary, but they dragged the students bouncing down the stairs, cursing and screaming obscenities, and herded them into buses commandeered as “paddy wagons” and hauled them off to various and sundry jails. Just as they hoped it would, their forcible arrest created a real furor at the school and almost the entire student body rebelled. It was apparent that they had been looking for an incident which would spark an uproar.

I sat in on a meeting of the faculty and students of the divinity school, called to determine the policy they should pursue and the direction they should take. Richard Niebuhr presided as a representative of the administration. Harvey Cox was present as a kind of strolling ambassador and mediator. The student president was a radical revolutionary. He was dressed in a bizarre costume which made him look as if he had just drifted in from a reservation. He had a necklace of bear claws around his neck and a ring in one ear. One student suggested it should have been in his nose. He was thoroughly committed to overthrow of the existing order. When the shouting subsided he made the proposal that they seize the Divinity School, Andover Hall and the World Religion Center, and hold them “until hell freezes over” or student rights were recognized. Another took the floor and said he was glad to learn that he believed in hell, because he had been denying its existence up until now. Finally enough quiet was obtained to take a vote. The more conservative element won by such an overwhelming majority that the leader and a small group of cohorts stamped out of the hall.

Harvard Yard was filled with milling students. There were a lot of young agitators present who were not students and had no connection with the school. Communist slogans and literature were everywhere. Most of it seemed to favor Castro and Chairman Mao. It must have been already printed and rushed in on heels of the revolt. “The Albatross,” a hard rock band, set up on the steps of Memorial Church and banged and howled, adding to the general din and confusion. Shortly after noon Dr. Pusey appeared. He walked through the milling crowd like the children of Israel did through the Red Sea. He paid no attention to the jeers and catcalls, and to the occasional obscenities. He was as cool as a cucumber. And that coolness won the battle. In a few days the condition had subsided and gradually things returned to normal.

I conducted small group meetings in various homes and estates while in the area. On Monday night I was at the Wellington home in Mattapan; on Tuesday night in the Edmonds home in Billerica; on Wednesday night in the Van Voorhis home in Bedford, and on Thursday in the Hill home in Medfield. In everyone of these people prominent in various circles met for discussion of the word of God and their lives. On Friday morning I met with a gathering of ladies at the Kaplan home in Bedford. At this I spoke about our great hope through the resurrection of Jesus. On Friday night some 200 people gathered for a farewell meeting in the auditorium of Bedford High School. It was a great time of rejoicing in the Lord.

On July 19 the papers heralded the death of Mary Jo Kopechne. She was in an automobile which went off a bridge on Chappaquiddick Island, Massachusetts. The circumstances of her death were very suspicious and it seemed that a blanket was thrown over the investigation. It has dogged the steps of Senator Edward Kennedy ever since, and will undoubtedly play a part in the future of any bid he may make for the presidency. There are too many unexplained aspects of it to sweep under the rug.

On July 20, 21 Neil Armstrong stepped from the lunar module Eagle to become the first man to walk on the surface of the moon. We hurried home to watch it on television. As I sat in our living room and beheld those first “bunny-hops” I was seized with a feeling that things would never be the same. We were entering another stage of man’s existence. It would be like the Stone Age, the Iron Age, the Machine Ages. The Space Age marked another milestone in human progress. It would require a “new man for our time” as Elton Trueblood came to put it.

On July 3-5, 1969, Nell and I went to West Islip, New York, for the Fourth Annual Unity Forum. West Islip was a dream that did not really become an actuality. It began as an Exodus movement. A number of Texas people were transferred at the same time to the northeast where they expected to become the nucleus of a thriving congregation and the seedbed from which to start others all over the New England States. It ended in disillusionment. The people were no different in the new location than they had been in Texas, and in some cases, that was not good. But the unity meeting was great.

It brought together Dwain Evans, Leroy Garrett, Robert Fife, Robert Shaw, J. Harold Thomas, Floyd Rose, Arthur W. Boone and myself. Floyd Rose, an outstanding black brother from Toledo, Ohio literally stole the show. He told about his work as a mere boy with Marshall Keeble, and how they were not allowed to stay in the homes of white brethren in the meetings. He talked about a rope through the middle aisle to separate the two races and told how a black preacher took the confession of the blacks who came down, and a white preacher did the same for the whites. Half the audience was weeping unashamedly when he finished. It was clear to see that Churches of Christ had a miserable record to answer for on their treatment of the race question. Nell and I went to New York City with Don Haymes and his dear wife and saw the frightful conditions under which they labored for the Lord.

It was about this time a new little magazine was launched which was to have an effect far beyond its size. It was called Integrity. The editor was Hoy Ledbetter, a tremendous and capable brother. He was also fearless as one needs to be who undertakes such a work of faith in spite of the opposition of the entrenched forces of the establishment. The first issue contained articles by Dean Thoroman, John Smith, David Elkins, and Frank Rester. The paper drew fire from its very beginning because it dealt with subjects which had always been concealed by the church, but it has survived to this day.

I had gone for “Inspiration Week” to Northwest Christian College at Eugene, Oregon. As soon as my plane landed I was whisked away to a student lounging place called Carriage Trade Coffee House where I was due to be on a call-in program on the radio any time. I went to the college and had lunch with the football team and found that four of them had been meeting every night for prayer. They agreed to set up a meeting for me with the student body of the University of Oregon next evening when I finished speaking for the Christian College. About 325 persons assembled and sat on the floor when I walked into the great Sigma Chi lounge. I began by divesting myself of any sectarian label and appeared before them as simply one of the fellowship of the unashamed. As I talked and answered questions an emotional wave swept over these young people, some of whom had been guilty of gross sins. It continued far into the night on the outside of the building, with weeping and prayers.

It was August 19-21 when I went to the Rocky Mountain Men’s Roundup which was held at Como, Colorado, far up in the mountains. It was at Rocking-R ranch and 300 men were present. Most of them stayed over and slept in the bunks at the camp. Present with me were James DeForest Murch who deplored camping out and did not stay to the close, and Don DeWelt who did like it. The latter had been on a mission to Australia, and was on his way home. The slides he brought with him added much to the meeting. I spoke on fellowship each morning and night and the men ate it up. In spite of incessant rain which made it unseasonably chilly we had a great time and a beautiful meeting.

It seems as if the Spirit of the Lord is more apparent in some gatherings than in others. I can testify to His presence in the meeting with these men, many of whom came from ranches and farms. They truly loved the Lord.