After attending the L'Abri lecture on current American Christianity I was reminded of how culturally captive the modern church has become and the huge implicaitons this has for how the church judges itself. It brought to mind this poem by Berry about realization of non-conformity, and a fear I have that the modern church has such a desire for cultural conformity that they are like the line in the poem "They (non-transformed culture) will no longer need to pursue you(the church). You will pursue them, begging forgiveness." - AW
Do Not Be Ashamed - by Wendell Berry
"You will be walking some night in the comfortable dark of your yard and suddenly a great light will shine round about you, and behind you will be a wall you never saw before. It will be clear to you suddenly that you were about to escape, and that you are guilty: you misread the complex instructions, you are not a member, you lost your card or never had one. And you will know that they have been there all along, their eyes on your letters and books, their hands in your pockets, their ears wired to your bed. Though you have done nothing shameful, they will want you to be ashamed. They will want you to kneel and weep and say you should have been like them. And once you say you are ashamed, reading the page they hold out to you, then such light as you have made in your history will leave you. They will no longer need to pursue you. You will pursue them, begging forgiveness. They will not forgive you. There is no power against them. It is only candor that is aloof from them, only an inward clarity, unashamed, that they cannot reach. Be ready. When their light has picked you out and their questions are asked, say to them: "I am not ashamed." A sure horizon will come around you. The heron will begin his evening flight from the hilltop.
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