In my professional life I have worked with the ideas of great thinkers and creative persons, ancient and modern. I am grateful to have been afforded the life of the mind and faith as means for making a living. My life has been that of the student’s duty of reading, finding facts/concepts, teaching and conversing meaningfully with persons who are somewhat erudite and seekers of truth – and responsibility to live by truth. Many were common folks, many intellectuals, and some true scholars. They comprise a large society cluster of their own making. They lead us in many ways.
One of the sorrows from the community of scholars has been the inability of so many of these persons, as writers, educators, students, seekers of truth, even some clergy, to apply truth to their lives. It is open scandal that so many eminent writers became severely impaired through alcohol abuse. Hemingway was sometimes a drunk. Fitzgerald was dissolute. Eugene O’Neill was not only taken with much wine but ultimately wrote a prize winning play about his affliction, and the common stupor of those with whom he lived. His play, Long Day’s Journey Into Night, is the story of the Tyrones (his family story). The characters slip in and out of lucid thought. When in, they make insightful statements, but soon depart, or fall away, from their own truths. Mary Tyrone in one of the moments of mental light remarks: The past is the present isn’t it? It’s the future, too. We all try to lie out of that, but life won’t let us. What a statement, from which might be extracted much meaning related to eternity, the ever present. But the Tyrones are too dissolute to find their way through to the life changing meaning for what they articulate therefore they will not permit wisdom to light the road to redemption. They will die, their brains cooked, like the whites of eggs, in alcohol. It is from such dysfunctional people, in this or some other excess, that the world finds many of its heroes of human insight. All natural life is vulnerable. It falls into carnal clusters – if permitted. Clusters weave webs capturing followers. Gambling seems to demand that alcohol, sometimes sex, accompany its play. Closely related are shows that accent sensuality, and comedians who make fun of straight life. Persons at every level support their own human losses in the habits of gambling, drinking, and illicit sex. They are bound to distractions.
Human needs are partly understood by their context. Known neighbors of the house of God are the obvious needy. They are the homeless, prisoners, hungry, sick, abused, and denied. They are the neglected, the weak, and the children. But the Church’s message of Christ to salvation and release is for all seekers because all need God for hope to life – whether in or out of the bounty of the earth. As is, each person can qualify, and this may be a large feature that keeps so many away. If all are needy and all are included for concern, the human problems are too extensive for the proud persons of the world, who seem to demand that which is identified with their own elitism. They may hold for qualification only to those who can respond in the same way, dress or talk in the same way they do. Here is one of the reasons Scripture accents the important factor of humility. It is the unique truth of biblical Christianity that the gospel is for the uplifting of all persons who will exercise faith in the offering of Christ, and justify the improved standing by honoring God for it. There is no other cluster for relief, hope, comfort and immortality for persons. The invitation of God is for all. All! All persons are invited into the cluster of spiritual identity. Each person ought to examine the context of his/her life and eliminate the unhealthy factors. Healthy in the mind of God is righteousness (rightness). History has provided too many persons attesting to the effectiveness of Christian faith for anyone to omit some attention to it. *Mark W. Lee, Sr. — 2016, 2020