Archive Entry #104: April 1923
Today’s entry dates back 92 years – to April 1923 – to an oratory contest that my paternal grandfather won as a college student in Oregon. At the time he wrote this he was a 31 year old who had found his calling to ministry, but was still five years away from serving as the founding pastor of the church he would serve for nearly 29 years, the church in which I first learned about Jesus.
Given the bitterly partisan temperament of modern American politics, grandpa’s early 20th century advocacy for labor unions may strike some as inappropriate content for a church’s website. I choose to post his words, accepting the risk of such a critique, because 1) the quality of the writing; 2) his obvious passion to lift up the value of every person; and 3) well, he’s my grandpa.
As we near the final Independence Day before the chaos of another presidential election season begins in earnest, it’s encouraging to note that the issue of income inequality has found traction from candidates on both sides of the aisle. Should one of the candidates ask you for inspiration as he or she prepares a response to that issue, you could do a lot worse than to point them to this archive entry.
One other note: The poem with which this entry concludes is called "Brotherhood," by Edwin Markham, published in 1899.
