The Pulpit Speaks: April 28, 1956

An article written by my father, the Rev. C. Thomas Paige, as it appeared in the Tri-State Defender on the date shown.

Do you ever stop to think?

We all should stop and think sometimes. Thinking is healthy for the individual. Many times thoughts bring about a definite alteration in one’s behavior. This was brought very close to me a few days ago. I was passing a residence near my home. An ambitious little boy armed with a sickle and lawnmower was going from door to door in quest of opportunities for cutting lawns that he might be able to earn a few pennies.

He went to a house and gently knocked on the door. A woman came to the door and inquired, “What do you want?” The innocent young man said, “Lady, do you want your lawn cut today?” to which she replied emphatically, “No! and go on.”

The poor little fellow dropped his head, picked up his lawnmower and sickle, and humbly walked out of the yard.

WHAT JUSTIFICATION

Now just what justification did she have for being so rude to this innocent young man? What justification do we have for acting the way we do? Many times, people act in a questionable manner and I wonder just why are they acting like that? What justification do we have because, out of the blessings of God, we have been able to advance a little further than the next man, do we have for abusing the man? Yet, as I go about, I see thousands and thousands of people just like that.

It is my opinion that one of the most tragic instances of this kind happened in Russia sometime ago. Tradition has it that one quiet evening, a young man saw the beckoning lights of a church burning, and they were so inviting that he took his hungry disheveled body in and sat on a back seat. Unnoticed, he was allowed to sit back there and no one even questioned his mission. Soon the services were over and after all of the sincere singing and praying, they walked on by this young man. He went on home and his condition never became a concern of theirs. But the story doesn’t end there. This young man grew and one day, he found himself the leader of the great country of Russia. As he had grown physically, he also had grown more and more bitter toward the church as an outgrowth of the incident of some years ago. He, in turn, became one of the biggest enemies of the church. As soon as he realized his power, he outlawed the church as a fake.

I grant you that his experiences were rather limited. I grant you that in all probability, had he no doubt gone to some other church the same thing MIGHT not have happened. But it did happen. It happened at a very precarious time and many unchurched people are today unchurched because of this very incident. I have said all of this to say just this one thing: AS CHRISTIANS WE ARE DAILY ON TRIAL. Everything we do or say is being weighed. Our very actions speak out to someone. We are either a source of inspiration or a source of disappointment for someone in everything we do.

FOOLING POSITION

Too long we have satisfied ourselves with doing the minimum. Too long we have satisfied ourselves with being a Doctor Jekyll or Mr. Hyde, thinking that we are in a position to fool someone. But let me hasten to say: many times when we feel that we are fooling someone else, we are making a fool of ourselves. In each of the aforementioned incidents, the young men did not have to leave the impression they had.

But the young man who wanted only to cut the grass and the other young man who wanted only to go to church that someone might take an interest in him and at least tell him where he could find some bread offered to the world of their day and time a heartfelt challenge. Today we are being challenged in the same way. People come to our homes looking for kind words that will make them know someone is concerned about them and they are turned away with harsh words. People come to our churches looking for answers to their manifold problems only to hear Sunday School teachers, Young People’s leaders, and ministers expounding on some far-fetched hypothesis that carries with it no correlation at all with the solution of their problem.