Saturday, November 8, 1997

Jots and tittles from the world of religion

By Tom Schaefer

Knight-Ridder Newspapers

(KRT)

As is often the case, what preachers tell their flocks, they need to heed themselves.

During his four-night crusade in Wichita, Kan., recently, Franklin Graham preached a message heavy on sin but hopeful with forgiveness.

While in the Air Capital, Graham was invited to tour Cessna's Citation plant. As a pilot of small planes, he couldn't pass up the opportunity.

Ah, but the sin of covetousness was lurking, he told the crowd of 12,000.

"I drooled all the way through there, and I drooled all the way out the door and I'm still drooling," he said.

He recalled telling country singer Ricky Skaggs, who accompanied him to the Kansas Coliseum that night, about his tour and his panting after a plane.

Are you still drooling? Skaggs asked him.

Graham "confessed" he was.

"Well, we'll pray for you," was Skaggs' reply.

It's nice to know that even famous evangelists struggle to stay grounded in the gospel.

X X X

If you hear the name Madonna, what's the first image that comes to mind?

Don't be embarrassed if your mind's eye sees a rock star in pointy attire. It's further proof how pervasive pop culture is, say two noted United Methodist communicators. They recently talked about the influence of the media on values and people's understanding of the world to a group in Nashville, Tenn.

The Rev. William Fore, formerly with the National Council of Churches' Communications Commission, said churches have an opportunity and a responsibility to help people makes sense of the culture as it's depicted in the media.

"The church is one of the last places in American culture where people meet together face to face each week," he told members of the newly formed Foundation for United Methodist Communications. The foundation is seeking ways to expand communication efforts of the church.

"Television has distanced us from all other community activity and mediated everything from sports to politics," he said in a report by the United Methodist News Service.

The Rev. James Wall, editor of Christian Century magazine, said churches must help people learn "how to see and receive television, how to understand what's happening to them, how to identify the good and deplore the bad."

Studies show that people watch an average of 30 hours of television a week and spend only three-fourths of an hour reading a book, Fore said. If preachers refer to Madonna, the mother of Jesus, in the sermons, he said, they shouldn't be surprised if their parishioners have a completely different image pop to mind.

Criticizing television for having too much explicit sex, violence or raw language is fair and necessary, I would add. But what about the promotion of greed, the focus on titillating gossip and the lack of a clear moral vision that permeates every flickering image on the screen? Who is speaking out against those destructive forces - besides, of course, Franklin Graham?

X X X

Henri Nouwen, a Catholic writer who died last year, had profound insights into the human condition. The author of more than 30 books, Nouwen was able to draw readers deep into spiritual waters to taste and see that the Lord is good.

He also recognized the struggles of faith for the faithful and gave appropriate warnings when believers failed to practice what they preach.

Consider this insight by Nouwen, as reported in Context.

Nouwen describes two qualities of forgiveness: allowing oneself to be forgiven and forgiving others yourself. The first quality is harder than the second, he says.

"To allow yourself to be forgiven puts you in a dependency situation. If someone says to me, 'I want to forgive you for something,' I may say back, 'but I didn't do anything. I don't need forgiveness. Get out of my life.'

"It's very important that we acknowledge that we are not fulfilling other people's needs and that we need to be forgiven. There is great resistance to that. We come from a culture that is terribly damaged in this area."

As well as terribly unwilling to forgive.

(Tom Schaefer writes about religion and ethics for the Wichita (Kan.) Eagle. Write to him at the Wichita Eagle, P.O. Box 820, Wichita, KS 67201, or send e-mail to tschaefer(at)wichitaeagle.com )

(c) 1997, The Wichita Eagle (Wichita, Kan.).

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