The Overflow
Cause for alarm
"When criticism is stilled, there is cause for alarm. Silence is a sign that smug complacency has entrenched itself, and complacency is the prelude to death and decay, whether in literature or in life, in society or the state, in politics or economics, in the school or the church." (This is from a rebuke given by the famous monk Alcuin to Charlemagne when the latter was coercing the Saxons to abandon their religions and accept Catholicism. It might well be taken to heart by the brethren of our day.)
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Are preacher and God both worshipped?
"So many times we humans notice the deed done and not the doer. Every act of kindness, goodness, and love performed by our minister and his wife shows the careful planning and oversight of the eldership. The many acts of kindness performed by the Prices reach into the homes of nearly all of us daily. So it is with the planning of our Heavenly Father. He conceived the sacrifice of Christ on Calvary of the atonement of all sin; and He, to, planned the church of Christ and its functioning purpose." (Extract from the "Church of Christ Messenger," weekly bulletin of the Richmond, California, congregation where R. R. Price preaches and plans and blesses.)
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"The Preacher's Mad"
"That's right. He was in bed nearly all day Saturday with food poisoning and no one came to see him." (This is how the bulletin of the Dickson, Tennessee, church gently chides the members who get their feelings hurt when the preacher doesn't call. But J. T. Marlin, the preacher, should have called for the elders of the church in his sickness; probably some of them would have been happy to come and anoint him with oil—castor oil, that is.)
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Will they never learn?
Now that the fuming and furor has died down a bit, it might be appropriate to ask some of these hot brethren who wrote such sarcastic letters to Brother Cled over his "Rock Fight" article just what they think they accomplished? It should be generally known by now that Cled is not any "sounding board" for brotherhood opinion. He writes precisely what he thinks ought to be said. Preachers and others wrote in to tell him exactly what they thought of him, with apparently no thought at I all as to what he might think of them.
They evidently felt so superior that it was a matter of total indifference to them what he thought. What a life!
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Two prayers
"Last night my little boy confessed to me Some childish wrong;
And kneeling at my knee, He prayed with tears,
`Dear God, make me a man, Like Daddy, wise and strong;
I know you can."
"Then while he slept, I knelt beside his bed, Confessed my sins, And prayed with low bowed head,
`Oh God, make me a child, Like my child here Pure and guileless, trusting thee With faith sincere.' "
—Andrew Giles
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Yes, Indeed Then there was the brother who thanked the Lord "that all things is as well with us as all things is, considering the surrounding circumstances by which we are surrounded with."
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The "beloved kinsman" are exactly that.
We've had several letters from ill-advised and uninformed brethren bemoaning the fact that anger, malice, and hatred should exist between brethren in Christ. Most of them had reference to the exchange of articles between Brother Cled Wallace and Brother Glenn Wallace which appeared in the Gospel Guardian and the Firm Foundation. Well, it might interest these sensitive brethren to know that the Wallaces are exactly what they called each other, "beloved kinsmen." During the recent Abilene Christian College lectures, Cled was a guest in Glenn's home, the editor of this page also being present, and "a good time was had by all" So just save your tears; the Wallace's don't need them. The "anger", "malice" and "hatred" which some thought they saw must exist, if anywhere, in the minds of the letter-writing brethren. They do not exist in the hearts of the Wallace's.
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Unsolicited gift to Broadway congregation The Hemphill-Wells Company in Lubbock, Texas, sent a check for $1,000.00 the other day to the Broadway Church there. No solicitation of any kind had been made. A letter accompanied the check stating that the company was much impressed by the fact that the funds for the new church building were being provided by the church's own membership. Business men in many towns have been so badgered and pressured by denominational money raising campaigns that they naturally feel a genuine appreciation for a group of Christians who do not resort to such tactics, but who carry their own burden. One may, or may not, approve the idea of such a building as the brethren are erecting in Lubbock, but one certainly can applaud the fact that the brethren are doing it themselves. They have sought no help from the town. How many denominational churches of such magnitude are built by their own members?
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Pity the poor elders A certain Dallas church has had the practice of sending flowers used in pulpit decorations each Sunday to those in the congregation who may be sick. Recently they sent one Sunday's flowers to a certain sister in the hospital. The next day she called the elders up over the telephone and gave them unmitigated you know what. And why? Well, it seems they had sent her cut flowers, and she knew that on an occasion one of the other sisters had received a potted plant; and she was burning over the discrimination. You still want to be an elder?
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Positive—being mistaken at the top of your voice
"When men are the most sure and arrogant, they are commonly the most mistaken. Proper deliberation alone can secure them from the grossest absurdities."
—David Hume