National Radio Pulpit; 4/3/69

ms betty jean we must be willing to acknowledge that the achievements of many of our action programs have added to the tensions of society these tensions express themselves in the form of resentment alienation fear and assorted backlashes the times in which we live them fairly cry out for men and women who have the capacity to absorb hostility the national broadcasting company and its independent affiliated stations present the national radio pulpit in cooperation with the national council of the churches of christ our speaker today is dr ernest t campbell minister of the riverside church new york city today's topic the ministry of absorption dr campbell a less memory fails me it was dorothy sayers who said if i were a minister called upon to preach i would get up and say simply you people

know the gospel you know what to do why don't you go home and do it the celebrated author has a point most of us are serve it with instruction and extort asian arnie does not for further elimination or inspiration for the ability to translate our beliefs and a concrete patterns of action like a man with a twenty dollar bill before up a telephone we need to break our convictions down so they may circulates freely in this world of staggering made many in the church throughout the world reserve simply do not know how today i'd like to propose a ministry i believe to be within the reach of every one of us i choose to call it the ministry of absorption the air these days fairly crackles with hostility the icy winds of enmity penetrate all of man's relationships

nation is set against nation ideology against ideology race against race class against class generation against generation citizen against citizen man against himself strife is king and as the rain appear secure for years to come we are rightly suspicious of any simplistic answer to these tensions and ea point plan and a master in any scheme that will promise deliverance overnight instant coffee we may have are instant credit but not instant deliverance but because we can't do everything on the spot it does not follow that we can't do something john f kennedy was giving us wise counsel when he said in waiting for the perfect let us not fear to do the possible i am proposing that when the atmosphere of life is highly charged with hostility we can offer the world as christians our ministry of absorption

i need not labor for you the fact that jesus life was characterized by an ability to receive animosity without responding in kind of the center of our phases across or the son of man suffered to the very end we wait in vain at the foot of that cross for a word of vengeance or reprisal as the spiritual has that he never said a mumbling word bun off or comments on this in his ethics observing that the world exhausts its fury against the body of christ but tormented he forgives the world it's in that is how the reconciliation is accomplished back at home all this whole life was of this caliber in the hour of his trial he was struck by the soldiers he did not retaliate in any way as the noted rightly that it struck back just once man would not have had

a savior during the earthly days and months and years of his public ministry he was a man of passive resistance peter was positively captured by this fact he had been raised in the old eye for an eye and tooth for a tooth school and was staggered at the kind of strength that could absorb without responding in kind and said his first letter to the infant church he speaks of jesus christ not at his miracles not of his peer was teachings one of this very characteristic oh when he was reviled reviled not again when he suffered he threatened not what committed himself to him the judge of righteously the writer of the episode of the hebrews was infatuated by the same characteristic he sought to encourage the young christians with words like these for consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself less needy wearied and thanked in your mind

oh yes jesus us started himself many times but always for a principle or for someone else never for his own sake as for himself he simply absorb hostility transforming and re deeming it there is much being written these days about the christians style of life this is an improvement over loose talk about christian principles that are applicable at all times and in all places most literate you're on the christian style of life les strong emphasis on the need for action it belongs to the christian style of life to be politically judicious about a march on occasion to protest a sign petitions to have and are savvy to make one's strength out on behalf of those in need the results of this emphasis had been significant and for the most part to my mind commendable however by emphasizing the active side of christian living

there is a danger that we will lose sight of the passive qualities to which we are also call we must be willing to acknowledge that the achievements of many of our action programs have added to the tensions of society these tensions express themselves in the form of resentment alienation fear and assorted backlash is the times in which we live fairly cry out for men and women who have the capacity to absorb hostility this is why william hamilton calls us to discover what he calls the feminine dimensions and our ethical experience and in his mind this feminine dimension is associated with class cemetery receptivity the ability to take your injury and the last the court won't offer again from home hamilton admittedly got his inspiration the german theologian said to be a christian does not mean to be religious in a particularly way to cultivate some particular form of asceticism

but to be oh man it is not some religious act which makes a christian what is what participation in the suffering of god in the life of the world go when he was reviled reviled not again some of us have opportunity to practice the ministry of absorption by virtue of the office that we hold it is to say there are some of us who receive hostility not because of who we are but because of what we represent psychologist speak freely of transference and rejection by virtue of a given job given syriza responsibilities some of us become prime targets for the irritation of other people moses provides us with a classic instance of what i mean up there in the wilderness in the vicinity of russia being a crisis erupted because of the

absence of water the people began to think about what they have left in egypt they developed a mad against god but god was nowhere around where to go then with this mad why joe moses of course and so in the seventeenth chapter of exodus we are you know moses set under them quite sure it with me then recognizing that their irritation had a hidden upward reference he went on to say we're for lieutenant then perhaps in the privacy of his own souls it in a moses cry unto the lord saying what shall i do i do this people baby almost ready to stone me it really wasn't moses fault in any primary scents but moses' for better off or worse was a stand in for god at that point ca chadwick commenting on the role of moses was forced to

play says in the story of our lord it has been observed that before the pharisees directly assailed him they found fault with his disciples who did not or accosted them concerning him locate with centers and so here the people really tempted god but all really strong with moses and was true the complaint department of a retail store draws all of the complaints that belong to the whole operation god bless the clerks who work their parents' prep somewhat innocent themselves become the targets of all the resentments that their children feel for the older generation university presidents and deans are sitting ducks for the resentments felt by the community and the student body or the prevailing system of education mark ingram a few years ago wrote a book published by the university

of wisconsin press that there's a rather engaging title the elder friends faculty benefits although then i knew it is an insurance in this book he clearly notes that it is better that a dean be considered a black beard and a man considered is the park mental colleagues to be such it is better for the head of the housing program to be fought a scoundrel than that the dean should be thought such the distribution of the objects of wrath in an institution is of importance and the optimal distribution is not always just when we are involved in this representative way it is incumbent upon us that we practice the ministry of absorption and not responded personally we need grace to transcend that temptation and keep our cool it belongs to our maturity to absorb hostility for this is part of our job some of us can

practice the ministry of absorption by virtue of the office we're told that all of us can practice this ministry by virtue of our humanity if we are card carrying members of the human race this is our ministry unless we deliberately drawback as some of us do we are regularly in contact with people who harbor resentments and grievances against society against the church against god but you ever noticed that those can appease that extend from fancy restaurants and big cities always have slits along the sides those slips are there so that when the wind blows it may have a way through and not tear the whole business down this is a close to what the ministry of absorption is all about what every community needs is the company of people who know how to listen and creatively it is not really correct to call this a passive virtue it is active with a

capital a i'm thinking of the ability to listen sympathetically to be so open myself but i draw the other person out into greater openness to have such love in my heart that i create a situation in which the other does not feel threatened the soft answers still turns away wrath and soft answers in today's world are in short supply paul said to the young christians and emphasis software not the song to go down on your wrath one way you can keep the sun from going down on your asses to express it and if you're going to express it there must be someone around go home you can express and this is the ministry of which i speak when someone comes to us torn by the exigencies of history aggrieved by some alleged unfairness on the part of providence toward him his emotions are likely to be strong and surging we do not listen

creatively when we respond with deep emotions are our own nor do we respond creatively by saying something back that is totally logical when a person is communicating on a level of feeling and we respond with logic the conversation will miss fire every time we listen creatively and attentively and sympathetically until the decimal count goes down and reason has a chance and peace let me try to illustrate this with a reference to racial strife the black man feels that too long in this country he has been in captivity to the white man to support his case he can point to the fact that his people go to inferior schools live an inferior housing workout inferior jobs and have inferior social connections now on a given day for reasons known only to him a particular black man may feel that the first white person he sees

will be made a target for all of his irritation whitey whoever he may be that morning is going to get i may be that whitey you say this is not logical now but it's understandable it is not logical extent but given the solidarity between the generations what the white man did in the antebellum south in a sense i did it is not logical in that i never intended to work this farm in fact it is a matter of record that i worked the other way it is set such wrongs right but one doesn't respond to one hundred black man simply by appealing to logic it wasn't logical but on the night following martin luther king's death the blacks of wilmington delaware should go on a tear it wasn't logical but it was understandable so in such a confrontation we listen adopting a

stance of penitence toward him and toward god and wait for the chance to see a reason and love and thrown a friend of mine was serving recently in a small town in michigan for a while racial relationships in that town were constructive and positive because of a mild skirmish however communication between blacks and whites broke off nobody was talking to anybody my friend who is both a profit and the priest was concerned he wanted very much to talk to the young black boy who was leading the resistance to renewed communication so the mediation of a third party who volunteered my friend was able to get martin that come to study they climb the stairs to go into science was awkward in order to help himself as well as be sociable the minister made some coffee still no words finally my friend said marvin

did you ever tell a white man what you think of him marvin layered up and said no but i'm going to someday a freighter said marvin why don't you do it now and martin did and there was healing in due time who when he was reviled reviled not again when we respond in kind being passion with passion we simply encourage the whole cycle of hate presentment and fear let's not take ourselves too seriously when we perform this ministry we're not little christ's running around saving the world there is one christ and as we absorb some of this hate and venom we will need him ourselves we too must have released

but in practicing the ministry of absorption as stand ins for christ we will point to him who is not only our example in this what our savior in all things film peter went on to speak of as the one who his own self more are syrians in his own body on the tree will you're on crack the eu bees bees bees on last season

is the end and these bears these days he's the keys

let us pray lord we mourn before the the absence of joy in our common life and the presence of so much anger and resentment help us to address our sos to the evils from which such bitterness comes and a minister with a love that knows how to listen to those who suffer the indignity of never having been heard in jesus' name we pray amen you have been listening to the national radio pulpit with dr ernest t campbell minister of the riverside church new york city if you would like a copy of today's talk and others in this series by dr campbell right to the national radio pulpit post office box three six l new york one or two seven or to this nbc station the crowded talks for april will be mailed in

early may the churches in your community invite you to participate in their services of the worship of god they grow be speaking this pre recorded program has been an nbc public affairs presentation produced by lea seydoux in cooperation with the national council of the churches of christ in a way fb