Honest Abe, Churches, and Presidential Faith
If your pastoral predecessors have published their thoughts and sermons, it is good to check out what they had to say. Since the founding pastor of my congregation was a fairly prodigious producer of books, I've been skimming some of what he had to say. Part of my reasoning is that I'm trying to figure out the founding ethos of this congregation. What vision drove it in its earliest days. We are a long ways from the Edgar Dewitt Jones era, but his spirit lives on in many ways. So, you may see a Jones quote here and there as I wrestle with his legacy. Although he wrote and preached decades ago, there is much to ponder.
Jones was a Lincoln enthusiast. He had a large collection of Lincoln papers and memorabilia, which he donated to the Detroit Public Library. He also, as I understand it, wrote quite a bit about Lincoln. So, in a sermon that dates prior to 1932, he shares this insight:
Perhaps it's worth hearing this statement, even as a debate is ongoing concerning whether President-Elect Barack Obama is actually a Christian. The protagonist in this debate is insistent that unless one forthrightly embraces the Nicene Creed -- which I might point out dates to the late 4th century -- one cannot be included in the Christian faith. Obviously, with that said, surely Abraham Lincoln was no Christian. And yet, perhaps he was more than most of us.
Jones was a Lincoln enthusiast. He had a large collection of Lincoln papers and memorabilia, which he donated to the Detroit Public Library. He also, as I understand it, wrote quite a bit about Lincoln. So, in a sermon that dates prior to 1932, he shares this insight:
Abraham Lincoln was not a member of any church, but he was naturally religious, and as he grew older the spirit of Christ took possession of him. He was a man of prayer and intimately acquainted with the Bible. He was an attendant on church services, but his intellectual honesty was such that the could not subscribe to some of the creeds, and when asked his reason for not united with the church he replied, "If any church will write on its altar as the sole condition for membership the words of Jesus, 'Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all they soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind, and thy neighbor as thyself,' that church will I join." To be sure, those words are written on the altars of our churches, but there is so much else written there that is less important and non-essential, that this great affirmation of real religion is often obscured and sometimes hidden. (Edgar Dewitt Jones, Blundering into Paradise, Harper & Brothers, 1932, p. 23).
Perhaps it's worth hearing this statement, even as a debate is ongoing concerning whether President-Elect Barack Obama is actually a Christian. The protagonist in this debate is insistent that unless one forthrightly embraces the Nicene Creed -- which I might point out dates to the late 4th century -- one cannot be included in the Christian faith. Obviously, with that said, surely Abraham Lincoln was no Christian. And yet, perhaps he was more than most of us.
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