William Willimon challenges commissioners to be Presbyterian By John H. Adams The Layman Online Sunday, June 20, 1999 FORT WORTH – With humor and biting sarcasm, Dr. William H. Willimon told the story about the fraternity brother whose faith was slack but nonetheless got himself roundly persecuted for Christian scruples. The young fellow, a student at Duke University where Willimon is dean of the chapel and a professor in the Divinity School, had unintentionally opened the door to a bedroom being occupied – passionately – by two other students. Tormented by frat brothers Upon learning of his embarrassment, the young man's fraternity brothers tormented him with teasing, laughter and ridicule for his old-fashioned ways. So after a night of wandering around campus, ostracized and forlorn, the student called upon Willimon for some pastoral help. "You know me, I don't know Bible, I'm not too sure about my faith. I'm a Presbyterian for God's sake," was the student's cry to Willimon. "Amazing!" Willimon said in a story-telling/preaching appearance at an event sponsored by Presbyterians Pro-Life on the opening day of the 211th General Assembly. "Just one person running around loose saying, 'No, I'm sorry, I'm sort of picky about who I have sex with. I'm a Presbyterian.' Just one person like that loose on a campus provokes persecution. Used to be you had to be a really good Christian like Polycarp to be martyred!" Philosophical, theological issues With that and other stories, Willimon, considered one of America's outstanding preachers, grabbed his listeners and tugged them into some deep philosophical and theological issues, including abortion. The philosophy was a South Carolina (Willimon's native state) paraphrase of France's enlightenment darling, Rene Descartes, who concluded – with great popular appeal – that individual thinking and reason were the path of righteousness. Freedom, therefore, was casting off the shackles of convention, including the wisdom of the Church, family and institutions. Cogito, ergo sum. I think, therefore I am. Willimon added a twist: "I choose, therefore I am." Well, freedom's not all it's cracked up to be, said Willimon, whose conclusions came from a word-study of Scripture. Big Bible word is slavery There's not much about freedom in Scripture, he said, but "Slavery is a big Bible word." People just think they're exercising freedom of choice. Example: Freedom of choice is the theme of people who favor abortion. "A woman in Durham has been interviewing women about abortion," he said. Her interviews showed that the number one reason for abortion was "I had no other choice. I had no alternative." So much for freedom of choice. A Methodist, Willimon paraphrased Scripture that goes to the heart of Calvinism. "Jesus: Hey, let's get this straight, all right, I chose you to bear some fruit." Christianity, he said, is a "very different way of perceiving life." In effect, freedom is the fruit of slavery to Jesus Christ. "We believe it's all about slavery. The issue is not about whether we will be subservient to some social order, but whether we will have the great freedom to be able to name who owns us." 'Think clearly' He challenged Presbyterians: "I don't expect Presbyterians to start a revolution, to burn anything down. But I do expect Presbyterians to think clearly." Think clearly, but not like the fraternity brothers who complained that the university was crimping their style by discouraging beer blasts, Willimon said. They believed the college experience should allow them the freedom to get as drunk as they wanted. Willimon told them: "Isn't it strange that while you're strutting around and talking about how free you are, someone (the beer advertisers) on Madison Avenue is jerking your strings." Willimon offered a hopeful assessment that the end of reckless freedom may be near. "We're entering a time when people realize a lot of the false gods are dying." His final words: "You are Presbyterians, for God's sake." Translated: Think clearly. |
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