Episode Eight: "PRISON TERM FOR PREACHER", Luke 6 :27-38

The Ordinary Times

Nestled in the fourth of six columns of stories on the fourth page of the March 22, 1918, issue of The New York Times is a headline that reads, “PRISON TERM FOR PREACHER.” The author relays the story of Rev. Clarence H. Waldron, a pacifist, Pentecostal preacher in the green mountain state just north of New York. Earlier that week a Federal court in Burlington, VT convicted the reverend “of disloyal utterances and of attempting to obstruct the operation of the draft.” His disloyalty and obstruction of government were committed as he dutifully preached the Gospel. The words of Luke 6 :27-38 are laid within a matrix. The lectionary reading shows us the original template that Christ set in place for his Disciples to follow, yet somewhere along the road we have broken the mold. Sometimes changing a few letters in the matrix can spell disaster. And Christianity is an example of one of those things.