Politics - a dirty business? Also: Towards a responsible laity

Thu, 6 Feb 1997

Clergy/Leaders' Mail-list No. 358 

From: Christian Quotation of the Day

Politics - a dirty business?

Many Christians are reluctant to become involved in public affairs be
cause politics is a "dirty business", but the same people are
generally quite happy to go into business life, which is in its way
just as "dirty".  If the dubious practices and moral compromises of
every walk of life were dissected and made known with the glare of
publicity which shines on the activities of politicians, then those
who like to think that they can keep their hands clean would have very
few professions to choose from. 
                                ... John Lawrence, Hard Facts [1958]

Towards a Responsible Laity.

    The underlying questions are always: What is the Church?  
What is the Church for?  If that is not kept in mind, the lay 
ministry, about which so much is being said at present, remains 
on the level of a many-sided activity in which the self-
assertion of the laity threatens to be more evident than a new 
manifestation of the Church in modern society.  The responsible 
participation of the laity in the discharge of the Church's 
divine calling is not primarily a matter of idealism and 
enthusiasm or organizational efficiency, but a new grasp and 
commitment to the meaning of God's redemptive purpose with 
mankind and with the world in the past, the present, and the 
future: a purpose which has its foundation and inexhaustible 
content in Christ.
           ... Hendrik Kraemer, A Theology of the Laity [1958]

_______________________________________________________________

CQOD Compilation Copyright, 1997
Robert McAnally Adams, Curator:   curator@gospelcom.net
                  CQOD Archive:   http://www.gospelcom.net/cqod


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