Following Jesus - The Will Campbell Way

A Middle Tennessee minister/philosopher/activist, Will Campbell, cut to the chase when it came to following Jesus and would be as good a role model for me as anyone in contemporary times. He died June 3. In today's Tennessean our religion columnists Ray Waddle wrote an excellent column in remembering Will Campbell titled "Jesus movement cut across all political mandates."

Hopefully the full article above will stay online for a long time, but just in case I want to copy a few passages of the column that particularly spoke to me as the way I would like to follow Jesus. The headings are my addition (not their words/opinion) as I try to summarize the writings of both men:

REJECT POWER & MONEY 

Those are hard things. Probably the hardest is rejecting power, since all well-intended solutions (and egos) depend on accumulations of political influence and institutional muscle. But Campbell warned:

“True soul freedom can never be found in any institution. If they will pay you, let them. I did it, too. But never trust them. Never bow the knee to them. They are all after your soul. All of them. Jesus was a radical! And his grace abounds.”

REPLACE DOCTRINE WITH INCARNATION OF CHRIST

For him, the Jesus movement revealed a path that cut across all political mandates. Visit prisoners. Be a friend to the forgotten. Be also a friend to racists. Put no faith in any ideology. Be the incarnation of Jesus in this world. . .

 . . . The God of the Bible is too enigmatic for well-rounded theological statements. Will Campbell relied on his own wits and the subversion of grace, summarizing a biblical command: “We must obey God rather than man. He is our only sovereign. He is our God. Him will we serve.” . . .

 “Given a hearing, Will can describe a Christianity that is scandalous and objectionable, shockingly exhilarating and frighteningly attractive,” writes Richard Goode, a history professor at Lipscomb University . . . 

I HAVE NO MINISTRY - JUST A LIFE LIVED

. . . Speaking to a group of Baptist brethren in 1995 he said: “As the sands of time run out on me, I do not consider that I have had a ministry at all, except in the sense that all believers are priests. I have had a life. As to how well I have conducted it I am willing to leave to the One so mysterious, so elusive and evasive, so hidden as to say to Moses from the burning bush, I AM WHO I AM, to be the sole judge. I can only exult that grace abounds …” 

It is so exciting to find someone's words that express what I have been thinking and trying to say and live. I have just not been able to communicate it like Will Campbell and Ray Waddle! I thank you guys!

When I Survey the Wondrous Cross

Lloyd Elder was our preacher today. He led us to look first at the great hymn "When I Survey the Wondrous Cross" and the story of how Isaac Watts came to write hymns like this. We are all so unworthy of God's great grace toward us! Then he read and discussed Hebrews 12:1-3 which I have copied below with the emphasis being mine. As I continue to focus on "His Spirit" working within us I see that hymns and verses like this keep pointing us to Jesus and His Spirit within. Then to finish his trilogy of focuses on Jesus, Dr. Elder led us in the Lord's Supper. It was a very good worship service.

Hebrews 12:1-3
Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB)
The Call to Endurance

1 Therefore, since we also have such a large cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us lay aside every weight and the sin that so easily ensnares us. Let us run with endurance the race that lies before us, 2 keeping our eyes on Jesus, the source and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that lay before Him endured a cross and despised the shame and has sat down at the right hand of God’s throne.

3 For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, so that you won’t grow weary and lose heart.

My Favorite Psalm

My bedtime Bible readings have been from the Gospels for awhile and I have now changed it to the Psalms. Though there are many favorites, right now it is again the 23rd Psalm. It speaks to how I think God has cared for me and blessed me in so many ways and without me deserving it. I'm following this copy of it from the Holman Christian Standard Bible which is what I'm reading from at night. (In the mornings I'm reading through the Bible in "The Message" translation which is the best every day language Bible available now.)

Below the psalm quote I'm placing the photo that I entered in our church's Art Festival several years ago when the theme was the 23rd Psalm. It is a Masai shepherd boy in Kenya with his sheep and note his "rod (knife) and staff" which the Psalmist says "comforts me." To me it is a good picture of how God shepherds and protects a dumb sheep like myself and thus in some ways a picture of my life, receiving more care than I deserve.

Psalm 23

The Good Shepherd, A Davidic psalm.

1 The Lord is my shepherd;
there is nothing I lack.
2 He lets me lie down in green pastures;
He leads me beside quiet waters.
3 He renews my life;
He leads me along the right paths
for His name’s sake.
4 Even when I go through the darkest valley,
I fear no danger,
for You are with me;
Your rod and Your staff—they comfort me.
5 You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies;
You anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
6 Only goodness and faithful love will pursue me
all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the Lord
as long as I live.