One of the gifts of this Sabbatical has been the chance to spend ample hours reading across the spectrum, including this recent Newsweek article on Billy Graham. Just as his life has been an example to so many of us. Billy Graham is approaching aging and the end of life in a most exemplary manner. For me, one of the most touching and challenging sections of the interview was when Graham referred to the 2002 revelation about some embarrasing remarks he had made decades earlier about Jews to then President Nixon. Confronted with the tapes of the remarks, Graham didn't make excuses but immediately took responsibility.
If it wasn't on tape, I would not have believed it," says Graham. "I guess I was trying to please. I felt so badly about myself—I couldn't believe it. I went to a meeting with Jewish leaders and I told them I would crawl to them to ask their forgiveness." In a statement, Graham said: "Much of my life has been a pilgrimage—constantly learning, changing, growing and maturing. I have come to see in deeper ways some of the implications of my faith and message, not the least of which is in the area of human rights and racial and ethnic understanding." The lesson for Graham was that earthly power was alluring but perilous for a man of faith. The bitterness of the Nixon connection was complete, and Graham saw the wisdom of the Psalmist, who wrote: "Put not thy trust in princes."
Personally, as I consider the unmistakeable political and social implications of the Kingdom of heaven, it is a sober reminder that the path to making genuine transformation is not for the church to become the patrons of political parties or movements, but instead to simply, honestly and courageously remain the church. We who can so easily shape our faith by (in the helpful phrase by Rob Asghar) our "tribalism and temperment", need to humbly and genuinely, as Graham's own life demonstrates, continue to seek transformation in Christ for the sake of the world (and not our "tribe" or because of our "temperment").
To that end, I am more impressed by the need for all of us--especially those of us who teach, lead and preach--to be more and more immersed in Scripture and theology, more and more shaped by a biblical worldview.
If he had his life to live over again, Graham says he would spend more time immersed in Scripture and theology. He never went to seminary, and his lack of a graduate education is something that still gives him a twinge. "The greatest regret that I have is that I didn't study more and read more," he says.
Recent Comments