The Clinton chronicle. (Clinton, S.C.) 1901-current, November 13, 1969, Image 17
JUNIOR HIGH CHEERLEADERS—Leading the Cindy Femell, Gail Wilkes, Kathy McElhannon, and
cheers for Clinton Junior High School this year Susan Campbell.—(Yarborough Photo)
ax^ Brenda Campbell, Cindy Young, Laura Jacobs,
2Yiew|
THE MINISTER
BY LENNART PEARSON
Head Librarian
Presbyterian College
The Minister. By Charles Mercer. 347 pages.
G. P. Putnam’s Sons. 1969.
Novels about ministers, more often than not,
read like soap opera. It would be pleasant to re
port an exception, but the light shed on the prob
lem of the Protestant pastor by Charles Mercer’s
new book is a bit dim.
Martin Judson’s ministerial career began in
1^40 in the struggling First Baptist Church of Up
ton, Pa., where with youthful zest and some world-
ly-wisdom he takes on stingy deacons, broken fur
naces, wife-snipers, lustful spinsters, and all the
other trials that supposedly go with first pastor
ates., Deliverance comes in the form of a call to
a much larger and more prosperous church in the
Midwest, where new challenges await his ministra
tions: devious pulpit committees, bumbling assist
ants, rich anti-Semites.
Frustrated, Judson takes his family to New
York and a job at the Honeywell Foundation,
where as director of Asian projects he is sent to
Korea just as the war breaks out. Barely escaping
from the advancing enemy, he finds himself along
with a Catholic priest trying to run a program of
refugee relief. Hailed on his return as a public
figure, he yearns again for the pastorate, resisting
a Cathedral appointment in favor of a well-heeled
but dying inner-city church. His daughter, now in
college and caught up in the new activism of the
sixties, meets her future husband, a divinity stu
dent, on a Freedom Ride through the South. They
marry, Judson’s son-in-law sets up a new-style
ministry in the swinging slums, and the cxcl& so
to speak, begins all over again.
Mercer’s novel is too much concerned with
situations and too little concerned with people.
With the exception of Judson’s work in Korea—
easily the best writing in the book—the episodes
are predictable and the characters are stereotyped.
This makes for mediocre fiction.
The relation between pastor and flock is also
more subtle and complex than you would gather
from this acconut. Many laymen would have trou
ble recognising themselves (if not their neighbor)
as Martin Judson’s parishioners.
The same can be said about the minister’s re
lation to himself. For example, in the days when
pastor and people shared a sense of the transcend
ent, everyone knew what was meant by “a divine
vocation” or a "call to the ministry”. But what
happens when this sense is weak or absent? For
the minister it can( and should) produce a crisis in
his self-understanding. This dimension of Martin
Judson’s existence is barely recognized, let alone
explored. There is irony here. In many ways,
Martin Judson is as secularized as his praishion-
ers; yet, until the nostalgia which inhibits insight
into this singular situation is dissolved, there is a
basic question about his professional commitment
which remains open what is Martin Judson really
doing, and why?
The Minister is pretty much in the tradition
of The Bishop’s Mantle and No Trumpet Before
Him. Charles Mercer is the author of eleven other
novels, including Rachel Cade, which was made
into a movie. The Minister is also movie stuff. Look
for a good audience at the matinee.
INTERESTING
FACTS
By Tom Plaxico
Here's an amazing fact about the 10th Presi
dent of the U. S., John Tyler.
He and his daughter spanned almost the en
tire life of this nation. Tyler was bom in 1790
when George Washington was President and his
youngest daughter, Pearl, did not die until 1947
when Harry Truman was President!
During his lifetime, Tyler held an unusual
number of high jobs. Besides being President of
the United States, he was in the U. S. House of
Representatives, a U. S. Senator, chancellor of
William and Mary College and governor of Vir
ginia.
And, here’s another interesting fact . . .
Your Chevrolet is long-lived too. If you doubt
this fact, we suggest you play this little game
on your next trip—Count the number of 1969
Chevrolets you meet on the road. That means
they are stUl running after ten years of use. To
those jokers who come in and lament, ’They don’t
make cars like they used to”, we say, ‘Thank
Goodness.”
Plaxico Chevrolet, Inc.
4M West Main Street
THE CHRONICLE Clinton, S. C., Nov. 13, 1969—1-C
Donald C. Duck
To Speak At
1st Presbyterian
Mr. Donald C. Duck, an attor
ney in the firm of Cadick, Burns,
Duck and Neighbors in Indiana
polis, Indiana, will speak at the
First Presbyterian Church next
Sunday, November 16.
Mr. Duck, who is an Elder in
the Second Presbyterian Church
of Indianapolis, is the father of an
ordained minister and has a son at
the Cornell Medical College in
New York City. He is a grad
uate of the University of Arizona
and the Indiana School of Law.
Except for three years during
World War n, when he was a spe
cial agent for the Federal Bureau
of Investigation, of the United
States Department of justice, Mr.
Duck has practiced law in In
dianapolis since 1938. He is a spe
cialist in labor relations law.
Besides beingvery active inhis
own church, Mr. Duck has tra
veled extensively throughout the
entire nation as an associate in
Faith At Work Inc. and a coor
dinator for the lay witness move
ment. He is a frequent speak
er in various Christian retreats
and conferences, having only re
cently spoken in the North Avenue
Presbyterian Church in Atlanta.
* * ♦
Smith Serves
At Niagara Falls
U. S. Air Force Sergeant Tay
lor H. Smith, son of retired U. S.
Army Lieutenant Colonel and
Mrs. F. V. Smith of 406 Elm
St., Clinton, has arrived for duty
at Niagara Falls International
Airport, N. Y.
Sergeant Smith is a security
policeman with the 4621stAir
Base Group, a unit of the Aero
space Defense Command which
protects the U. S. against hostile
aircraft and missiles. He pre
viously served at Suwon AB, Re
public of Korea.
The sergeant, a graduate of
Clinton High School, attended
Truett McConnell College,
Cleveland, Ga.
His wife, Yvonne, is the daugh
ter of Mr. and Mrs. TroyE. Dot-
son of 209 Bryant Road, Monroe,
Ga
DONALD DUCK
Southerland Heads
Farm-City Week
J. P. Southerland has been ap
pointed by Gov. Robert F. Mc
Nair as chairman of Farm-City
Week in Laurens County, accord
ing to E. A. Anthony, agri-busi
ness coordinator for the State
Department of Agriculture, and
chairman for Farm-City Week in
South Carolina.
Other members of the County
Committee who will serve with
Mr. Southerland include M. L.
Outz and J. H. Powers.
“Tom 'rrow's Food and
Fibre---Everybody’s Business”
is the theme of Farm-City Week
to be observed throughout tlie
Nation during Thanksgiving
Week, November 21-27.
Farm-City Week activities in
South Carolina will feature a
massive rally in Columbia, Nov
ember 24, as an effort todemon-
strate a new look at the import
ance of agriculture to the econo
my of the State.
* * *
SUIl in Existence
The Emancipation Procla
mation as written by Presi
dent Lincoln is still in exist
ence In 1864 the document
was sold at a bazaar to bene
fit wounded soldiers. Later,
the New York legislature ap
propriated funds to buy the
proclamation and added it to
historic papers in Albany
PRESBYTERIANS'!
The minority group of younger liberal ministers
which has dominated the General Assembly of the
Presbyterian Church U. S. in recent years has now
made its g-oal crystal clear. These men are plan
ning.
1. To change our Westminster Confes
sion of faith which they voted to up
hold.
2. To liquidate the Church by merging it
with the more liberal United Presby
terian Church as the first step toward
union with the colossal super-church
being readied by the consultatiion on
Church Union, also known as COCU.
Our Book of Church Order requires the approval
of 3-4 of the presbyteries to change the Confession
or unite with other bodies. Realizing that they
cannot possibly obtain this approval, these men
are working to change the 3-4 rule to 2-3. They
are also planning to change our synod and presby
tery boundaries in a way that would make it easier
for them to obtain the necessary votes.
These crucial issues which affect the very exist
ence of our Church are rapidly coming to a head.
Every Presbyterian needs to be informed regard
ing them.
YOU ARE INVITED TO HEAR
Kenneth S. Keyes, President
CONCERNED PRESBYTERIANS,
INC.
speak on "The Mobile Assembly and
the State of the Church”
, H ARTNESS-THORNWELL
MEMORIAL CHURCH
CLINTON, S. C.
[TUESDAY, NOV. 18, 7:30 P.M.
The vital interests of every Presbyterian are at
stake. Plan to be with us wid bring your friends.
Robert F. Black, Chairman
CONCERNED PRESBYTERIANS
in South Carolina Presbytery
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