Soul Survivor: how
thirteen unlikely mentors helped my faith survive the church
I have read several books by journalist/author Philip
Yancey, including Soul Survivor. Not
long ago, I signed up to receive his blog posts, and due to recent racist
concerns, this book was mentioned. So I picked it up again.
Yancey grew up in the violent and “blatantly racist” Deep South
in the 50s and 60s. He talks of beliefs and feelings against blacks which were
natural in his church and school, in himself.
Yancey struggled to keep his faith as he grew more aware of
racism and other problems with his church. He talks of thirteen people who
helped him find his way back to a faith in God.
Martin Luther King Jr. used the Sermon on the Mount to back
his movement. He called for non-violent protest, to bring to light the horror
shown to blacks, to bring this to the notice of white Americans who would
object. He said he had to love everyone because God loved everyone.
Yancey said one thing that helped him was reading in the Old
Testament prophets and the teachings of Jesus that God had always been on the
side of the oppressed and called for justice. I, too, have found these in the scriptures
more and more the older I get.
Luke 4:16-19: He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought
up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. He
stood up to read, and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him.
Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written: “The Spirit of the Lord
is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has
sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the
blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
Isaiah 1: 17: Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend
the oppressed. Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the
widow.
Amos 5:14-15: Do what is good and run from evil so that you
may live! Then the Lord God of Heaven’s Armies will be your helper, just as you
have claimed. Hate evil and love what is good; turn your courts into true halls
of justice. Perhaps even yet the Lord God of Heaven’s Armies will have mercy on
the remnant of his people.
Though I’ve always known racism is still around, I believed
that it had much improved since the 60s. Now, I’m fearing that’s not true.
Yancey said he pulled away from the church because of
self-righteousness, hypocrisy, legalism and racism. G. K. Chesterson, when
asked what is wrong with the world, answered, “I am.” This helped Yancey
understand his own sin as he judged the church.
Dr. Paul Brand taught him about humility and trust.
A Japanese writer taught him that Jesus welcomes doubters,
that he died for traitors. Jesus identified with rejects and outcasts.
Henri Nouwen from the Netherlands, priest, professor,
missionary, writer. Yancey says Nouwen taught him it was okay to take risks
with his writing, to admit his weakness. Nouwen said, “The only true healer is
a wounded healer.”
Mahatma Gandhi. Although Gandhi never became a Christian, he
studied the Bible and tried to follow Jesus’ teachings. Yancey said Gandhi made
him realize that Jesus had caused a new way of thinking for the world, even if
people did not accept him as God.
Other mentors included authors, doctors, a psychiatrist,
writers, poets, professors, preachers, missionaries.
Yancey says that these mentors, who struggled with their own
sin, showed him that Jesus loves them like a mother, who loves her children in
spite of their wrongs.
Much about God is hard to understand, but we see the face of
God in Jesus on earth, how he showed compassion to the hurting. And, Yancey
said, if we can’t trust God, what can we trust?
Yancey said these mentors taught him about humility, and to
realize that he had given into the temptation of self-righteousness, looking
down on the people from his church upbringing without remembering the good he’d
seen there. He said, “I needed to rediscover the leveling truth of Jesus’
gospel…I needed a change in heart as much as a change in thought.” He said he
needed to forgive the people in the churches of his childhood.
This is not an easy book. Yancey discussed the struggles and
failures of his mentors, himself, and of me. But he doesn’t leave us hopeless.
He found that the way to survive was to go back for the mercy and grace of
Jesus.
A long time since I read Phillip Yancey. I thank the Lord for his influence. Thank you, Kathy, for showing me his words again.
ReplyDelete"What's wrong with the world? 'I am.'"
Yes, if I'm to be part of the cure, here's where I have to start.
Thank you Dave. I feel the same way.
DeleteSounds like an interesting book. Thank you for sharing, Kathy.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Patti.:)
DeleteGood post, Kathy!! Thank you!! Ravi Zacharius quoted Chesterson, and I am so impressed with that honest statement: the problem is me!!! Yancy has a lot to share with the world, and I pray he never stops writing!!! You too! :)
ReplyDeleteThank you.:)
Delete