Southside Oracle Archive

Vol. 50, No. 15               SOUTHSIDE ORACLE               June 15, 2007

The Bulletin Board

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HOPE ZETTEL

            Hope Zettel, the oldest Southside member, died last Friday at the age of 93 at Zilber Family Hospice. She had suffered a stroke about ten days earlier. She had been health confined and unable to worship with us for some time prior to her death. Hope was present at the first service at Southside on March 2, 1958. Along with other Southside charter members, she had previously been a member of the 35^th and Cherry congregation. She was preceded in death by her husband, Art, who regularly attended services with her. The funeral is this Friday at 10:30 &.m. at the Walloch Funeral Home, S. 20th and W. Bolivar.

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            Camp Begins! The two-week junior session of the Wisconsin Christian Youth Camp at Fallhall Glen begins Sunday. We plan to have a list of our attendees next week.

            Sunday speakers - Wayne Alexander will preach at the morning services this Sunday. Gregory Johnson, our summer youth intern, will speak in the evening.

            Moved - Dawn Watson and her family have moved to Aberdeen, NC. Dawn is a part of the 440th Air Wing of the Air National Guard that has been transferred to North Carolina.

            The sick - Ann Tevik is now home after completing her hip rehabilitation.

ATTENDANCE RECORD

(*) first service, 151; second service 93

Calendar of Events

June 17 - 30 - Junior Camp, Wisconsin Christian Youth Camp, Fallhall Glen

June 26 - July 1 - Youth/adult service trip, Fallhall Glen

July 1 - 14 - Middle Camp, Wisconsin Christian Youth Camp, Fallhall Glen

July 15 - 28 - Intermediate Camp, Wisconsin Christian Youth Camp, Fallhall Glen

July 29 - August 11- Senior Camp, Wisconsin Christian Youth Camp, Fallhall Glen

August 6 - 10 - Midwest Family Encampment, Green Lake

Public Morality (3)

            In previous articles we have noted the decline in public values and some of the forces that have brought this about. Such a decline inevitably affects Christians who are trying to uphold the values taught by Jesus. Here we will address some possible Christian responses to the problem.

            One potential solution is for Christians to isolate themselves from the world by forming closed societies. In this way children could be protected from the intrusion of the secular world. This is what such groups as the Amish have done. They have built a wall around themselves to keep the world out. In the process they have effectively limited any influence they might have on people in the world. You cannot save others if you won't have anything to do with them!

             A second approach is for Christians to try to change public morality and thus make it easier for them to deal with the forces of evil. When we convert others to Christ we are to some degree affecting the values of society, but this hardly addresses the overall problem. Since we live in a democracy we can as Christians participate in government by voting or holding office. We can lend our support to legislation affecting public values. However, we must recognize that public morality is not determined by the government and that the intertwining of religion and government is a recipe for disaster. In the fourth century the Christian faith conquered the Roman Empire. Almost everybody became a Christian because it was "politically correct." Christian values were soon lost and the distinctive call of Jesus was forgotten in the process. So while it is right to use our influence as citizens to oppose evil and support the values of Jesus, this is not the ultimate solution to the problem.

            A third approach to the problem of public morality is to live in tension with the world, to be in the world, but not of it. This is what the early Christians chose when they found themselves in an evil world, beset by values alien to the teachings of Jesus. He said of his disciples in speaking to the Father, "My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it" (John 17:15,16). Peter enjoins believers, "Dear friends, I urge you as foreigners and -strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your sour' (1 Peter 2:11).

            To live in tension with the mores of society allows us as Christians to bear witness to our faith, and thus to help fulfill Jesus' Great Commission to take the good news into all the world. By relying on Christ rather than society to fight our ethical battles, we develop a greater inner strength that will sustain us when times get tough. This in turn requires strong homes in which Christian parents pit their teaching against the evil forces surrounding us. It isn't easy, but it can and must be done. This demands that the church play a strong role in supporting the family. For this to be true, we must put Christ ahead of everything else or we will lose the battle.

Monroe Hawley

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