His cousin-in-law called to ask
why some congregations focused
on social issues and got involved
in changing societal structures
to reflect mercy, compassion,
peace and social justice while
others, the vast majority, in fact,
didn’t. It had been occupying his
eighty-year-old, social justice pre-
occupied mind which was just as
nimble and agile as when his brain
was, oh, say about thirty-five and
he pastored a church in a tough
Westside neighborhood of Chi-
cago. The man, feeling a twinge
of guilt thinking about all the con-
gregations he had served and how
little social action actually had hap-
pened in any of them during his
tenure in spite of all his preaching,
writing and cajoling, told his cousin-
in-law, whom he called the Christian
Saul Alinsky, that he would have to
think about it. His cousin-in-law
said that if anything came to mind
to get back with him. The man sat
thinking that all that preaching
and writing and cajoling must
have counted for something.