Article October 29, 1966 Issue

Signs of the Times

Dean M. Kelley

The Christian Century

Rev. Dean M. Kelley, Exec. Director Commission on Religious Liberty
National Council of Churches in The Christian Century. Chicago [© 1966 Christian Century Foundation. Reprinted by permission.]

My pastor, Morgan Phillips, has posed the dictum of Peter and John in Acts 3 in contrast to the current mode of operation in the church. Peter and John were walking in the temple at the hour of prayer. Beggars were pleading for alms as usual, and one who daily lay at the gate asked their help. What is the Christian answer? Phillips suggests that the conventional morality tale would propose one or another of several exemplary endings: . . . give the beggar some money; . . . help him find some useful employment suitable for the handicapped: . . . explore the possibilities of obtaining . . . therapy which would eliminate his disability.

Possibly any one or all of these responses might have proved helpful but the two disciples made none of them. Instead, Peter replied, "I have no silver and gold, but I give you what I have: in the name of Jesus Christ of A Nazareth, walk" [Rev. Stand. Ver.]. The church has something to contribute to the human condition more and other than the conventional nostrums of human institution, It has a message. . . .

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