What the Church Means to Me | Page 2

but the churches to him don't
stand for them. He has seen the visible churches, organized to
perpetuate Christ's teaching, striving for centuries only after privilege,
patronage, and political power. Was ever such a topsy-turvyism?
Instead of being a bridge over the great gulf between wealth and
poverty, the Church still savors to him too much of the "be content
where you are" sentiment. To him she is insincere, and consequently
his pew is empty. He doesn't want an insurance agency only for the
next world; he wants a kingdom of righteousness, joy, and peace, first
in this world, where Christ intended it to be, as well as in the next.
Church authority can no longer compel his interest; she cannot compete
as a popular entertainer; only the proof of her unselfish love in matters
of everyday life can save her from becoming a useless hulk, stranded
on the beach of time. Rainsford, Stelzle, and others have shown that the
downtown churches need not close if the message is given in Christ's
own undeniable way which the people can't misunderstand.
Though I do see the various churches just beginning to rouse
themselves--no longer wholly absorbed in making every one say
"shibboleth" with an "h," still just as in politics the party machine
becomes God, crushing truth and righteousness before it, so the church
machine is only too often a Juggernaut's car, destroying all faith in God
and man. The machine has usurped the pedestal of Christ, as in Rome
and Russia, and nearer home, if Judge Lindsey of Denver is to be

believed. For there the very clergy of 145 out of 150 churches refused
to come out boldly against dives and brothels that were defiling the
girls and boys of the city of Denver, because they dared not endanger
the interests of their machine. Vox populi was right. They were
presumably afraid to take up the cross, which real fighting the devil
involves as much today as it did in Judea centuries ago. Many, outside
all churches, support hospitals, orphanages, soup kitchens, relief funds,
and so forth. Big corporations and even heathen armies on the war path
support Y. M. C. A. work, because that is a demonstratively valuable
working factor. The church which is afraid of offending rich members
cannot have a faith in God which is worth anything.
Thank God for all the illustrations of her direct watchful vitality that
she does show. As, for instance, when the Christian Endeavorers fought
the question of prize-fight moving-picture shows and won out or when
a Parkhurst fought bravely for a clean police force. Even if the world
today does not vex itself so much as formerly about predestination,
original sin, the "actual presence," or even the correct mental attitude to
insure heaven hereafter, the churches may surely count it as a product
of their work that the people do trust God more simply for the past and
future, and are more in earnest about securing justice for the
downtrodden and the square deal in the present. In this they need as
much as ever the Church's leading.
WHAT MAKES THE CHURCH ATTRACTIVE
That which attracts to a church today is not higher criticism, elaborate
ritual, hair-splitting creeds, but fearless fighting for public health, for
good government, for righteous labor conditions, for clean courts of
justice. It was the leader of a darky revival who, when asked why he
didn't sometimes read the Old Testament, replied: "No, sah. Dem
commandments just upset de whol' revival." There is no need that
taking up politics and social questions should exclude the preaching of
the Christ. Men will follow today a Kingsley and a Maurice, a Lincoln,
a Beecher, a Brooks, or a Worcester as they will a Heney, a Hughes, or
a Folk or any man in whom they see plainly reflected the unselfish love
of the Christ.

Who cares, as a matter of fact, which way these men said their prayers?
They may have been Catholic or Protestant, or in honest doubt, but we
love them and will follow them. To us they stand for real love to man,
and so real faith in God; for true pluck and willingness to take up their
cross. Oh, if every member of the churches and every wearer of "the
cloth" realized the privilege of standing by every uplifting effort, and
was always so valiant for truth as to make a Rueff or any agent of the
devil occasionally think it worth while to take the risk of trying to kill
them--as in the case of this same Lincoln, of Heney, of Lindsey, and of
the Master--the world would recognize then that the Church was worth
while, and there would be no discussing whether it was going to die out
or not. A little physical shooting