Biography
Dr. William L. Herzfeld is pastor of the Bethlehem Lutheran Church in Oakland, California, an important inner-city church. Pastor Herzfeld was born in Mobile, Alabama. After his graduation from seminary he was President of the Alabama Southern Christian Leadership Conference and a close associate of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. More recently, he served as the President of the Association of Evangelical Lutheran Churches, until the merger last year in that denomination. [Biographical information is correct as of the broadcast date noted above.]

"Our Call to A New Adventure" 
When the tribes of ancient Israel gathered around their campfires or gathered in their homes to reminisce and to dream, they often told stories about their past and shared certain historical vignettes with each other. Among their favorite stories were those of Abraham and Sarah, mostly because of the prominence of these persons in Israelite history, and also because of some of the marvelous things that Jahweh did with and through the Sarah/Abraham family.

These quotations from the Scriptures are familiar to all of us. They are introductions to the story of Abraham's and Sarah's call. As the story opens they are in the city of Ur of The Chaldes, Abraham is engaged in some kind of business perhaps with his father. Among the familiar surrounds of this ancient city he was consumed by a strange idea — a call from God. He and Sarah and the rest of their family are safe, secure, and settled in their home place — surely they could spend the rest of their lives there for they were wealthy and well established — but yet they experienced this call to a new adventure.

How far is it from where you are to the city of Ur or to the place where this city was? Well, I'm sure that you would agree that it is too far and too difficult for us to try and measure the distance, and it may not be too critical for us to spend time searching for geographical locations at this time. But if we see this as a place where the minds of the persons involved were set on distant and unknown places, indeed distant stars, as a condition where right meets might and demands an audience for justice and peace; if we see Abraham and Sarah as prototypes of the Church and Christians who are now being called to a new adventure, out from a style of worshipping history to a new style of making history; if we see them as actors rather than the acted upon, then the full meaning of this story may be applied to this time and this place, and to the Church of this time.

I recall this story today, not to emphasize one or two persons discontent with where they were, but to emphasize our collective call to a new adventure. The modern day Abrahams and Sarahs, many of whom will never be known nationally or internationally, are those anonymous prophetesses and prophets who are now willing to leave the comfort and the security of the traditional, and embrace the discomfort and ambiguity of change. More importantly, they become agents of change, which always carries with it certain risks, maybe even death, as we Christians know from the life and death of Jesus Christ. He often saw himself in the tradition of Abraham and Sarah as he moved through the dusty streets of his time, and as he went in and out of the temple preaching and teaching change — a new way of thinking, a new way of doing things. He also said, "Before Abraham was, I was."

A point that we make then is that the new Abrahams and Sarahs are involved in a new understanding of the Christian message, new illustrations, new rhetoric settings, some new music, a fresh and new view of our present world and a vision of the world that follows, and liturgy that reflect that. But we are not just concerned about the message, we are more importantly concerned for our mission. Too often we have mounted the barricade in the wrong directions, fighting the wrong enemies. Instead of seeing ourselves and our churches as a force, we have captured them in forms, a fixed place, a fixed liturgy, and mostly the prattling of pious platitudes. We have talked much of God, and little about our neighbors, indeed we have been so busy with "O God who are thou?" until we have neglected to ask "Who am I?" "Who is my neighbor?" "What kind of efforts are needed to save us once we have broken out of these forms that are stifling us and killing us?"

The God of Abraham and Sarah is a nomadic God, a god of the tent more so than the God of the temple. A god of the oppressed and suffering as opposed to a god of the wealthy. A powerful god on the move, therefore the contemporary Sarahs and Abrahams must be a people on the move who understand life as movement, indeed movement into the unknown, but with a firm faith and vision of what should be.

Where must we go theologically and institutionally? As Christians we have a unique opportunity these days, we can set the pace for a new Church to emerge to help develop new persons who will build a new world. If we are to do this we must maximize our concern for the welfare of the entire creation, but that is not to suggest that we minimize our concern with the Creator. Scripture does say "You cannot love God whom you have not seen unless you love your neighbor whom you see daily."

Another challenge which we 20th — almost 21st century — Christians now face has to do with the development of a new vocabulary. In the middle ages when traditional religious thought came into contact with Greek philosophy, primarily that of Aristotle and secondarily Plato, religious thought was greatly stimulated and as a result a new vocabulary developed. Indeed this development was necessary in order to deal with the new themes created by this encounter.

We should be reminded that neither abstract Greek concepts nor Western Anglo-Saxon can be expected to have much meaning to those outside of those cultures, such as youth of
color and language other than English. We need images that relate to the experience and culture of those who would believe our message.

The new Sarahs and Abrahams also want the Church to become a school of ethics, raising questions of how, why and responsibility. Law must be re-emphasized as secondary to love; for love is the fulfilling of the law. We cannot continue the perversion of law over love. This new ethic must lead rather than follow. South Africa for example, is a nation where law and order leads rather than follows, in much the same way as the "Old South" and the "Old North" of the United States. The results are an order sustained by injustice and white supremacy. The Christian church even adds its stamp of approval. The new Abrahams and Sarahs will want to have a stake in society. Where people have and understand the concept of life as it is portrayed in the mind of Christ, law and order is replaced by love and justice.

The final challenge that I want to discuss with you 20th century Abrahams and Sarahs has to do with the Christian Church and its survival. There are many who say that the church is dying and that there is little hope for it. I am not one who shares that opinion.

I am not concerned about the survival of the church. I am however concerned that we move from a survival mode to a growth orientation. While there are many who would condemn the congregational model as irrelevant or obsolete, there are those (and I am among them) who believe that this is a rather superficial style of criticism. There is no doubt that we will have to make some changes for the sake of getting our message out. Our basic strength is those congregations who meet regularly for worship and reflection on our common future.

As it was with Sarah and Abraham so it must be with the Church. Life in a new and strange country calls for a different style of engagement than life along the river in Ur. We must see our function as engagement and reflection. As in the past, the priestly ministry, counseling, providing for worship, doing the works of charity, and teaching all of these and more, must make our theology and our faith relevant to the process of change. I am implying that we as Christians lead, rather than follow the revolutionary parade. Whether our institutions live or die is secondary to whether they are servant structures or not, meeting people at their deepest needs and helping to fashion new visions for the people.

If this sounds like a large agenda, you are hearing correctly. But we must remember our Biblical proto-types, Abraham and Sarah, who "looked for a city which had foundations." Were they ever discouraged? You bet they were! Did they want to sell out? Yes! Did they sometimes in their despair wish again for the comfort, certainty and security of Ur of Chaldes? You can be sure they did! But the beautiful thing about them is that they did not turn back. There was that spirit that moved them forward, for theirs was not just concern about two persons' dreams, but how to add substance to those dreams.

Dreams turn too easily into disillusionment without the power of truth and grace behind them. Discontent becomes despair unless there is faith to deal with doubts and failures. The symbolic cross of the Christian faith reminds us that out of apparent defeat can come victory, out of evil can come good. This is the lesson that we must learn and it must be central to the movement of the Christian church into the future, especially as we try to build a new world by helping people to become new people.

So the message of Abraham and Sarah is clear. The call to a new adventure is ever before us...as truth is still revealed as we learn more about our mission. We remember as they did that God, who in the beginning created, is the God who continues to create, that the God who so loved the world that he gave...is the God who now gives...A new disposition towards the future is a disposition which radiates from the cross to us.

"Lord God, you have called your servants to ventures of which we cannot see the ending, by paths as yet untrodden, through perils unknown. Give us faith to go out with good courage, not knowing where we go, but only that your hand is leading us and your love supporting us; through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen."

Prayer from the Lutheran Book of Worship, page 137.

Interview with Dr. William Herzfeld
Interviewed by Floyd Brown

Floyd Brown: Dr. Herzfeld, you mentioned something in your talk that really aroused a question in my mind. You talk of looking for a city with a good foundation, and it brought me to wonder. Do you feel that the church is really the foundation of the community today as it once was?

Dr. William Herzfeld: Unfortunately, we've got to say no to that question. It pains me. I'm certainly a member of that club that wishes that the church were still the foundation of the community. I think that the church has been losing many of it's foundational principles in community, mostly because of it's preoccupation with things that are just the opposite of what we are suggesting as we pick up the Abraham/Sarah motif. I happen to be a devotee of the Great Commandment as much as I am a devotee of the Great Commission. Sure we ought to convict the nations about Jesus Christ, but the Great Commandment is "to love God, love your neighbor." I think that the more the church does that, the more the church will be getting back to it's first love, and the more people will respond to it as an institution.

Brown: What about the real problems we have today — homelessness, hunger, lack of employment, crime, drugs — is the church taking the leadership position that they once had?

Herzfeld: I think that the church is beginning to assume the position that it once had. If you'll recall, in the old days governments, principalities, and powers, really expected the church to be involved in the life of the suffering and of the poor. Now, we tend to expect the development of welfare states so that the government is expected to do these things, while the church does something else. I think that we are slowly, but surely, getting back to the point where the church is involved. I think that there are marvelous examples of that in this city and in other cities around this country. There are some things that we can be proud of in terms of the church's partici—pation in the relieving of these problems.

Brown: Dr. Martin Luther King was a speaker on this program five times and you were associated with him. Many people in our audience probably don't know as well as you and I some of the experiences of those times. Could you share with us a little bit about what it was like, working with Dr. King?

Herzfeld: Well, I often have said that my theological training, my seminary years, were simple preludes to the real training for the ministry which I received as a result of sharing during the Civil Rights struggle with Dr. King. One could look back and say these were good times, but they were good times in the sense that they were filled with what we call, "Teachable moments." Here you have in your experience, in my experience, a true prophet, a true man of the people who had somehow captured and been captured by a vision of a better nation and a better world.

Brown: What would Dr. King find if he came back today? Are we more advanced today? Is integration more a matter of fact today? Are the accomplishments of the poor and the disenfranchised more today or are they less?

Herzfeld: I think that Dr. King would find that things have not changed significantly. I suspect that he would probably be righteously indignant. One does not describe his response to these kinds of situations as anger, but more righteous indignation. I'm reminded of what some of us refer to as his Last Will and Testament, which is the famous "I Have a Dream" speech. I believe that Martin would agree that large portions of that dream may have been turned into nightmare. He says that the dream is deeply imbedded in the American Dream — most people don't catch that right away — and that's why his vision of America, the America that is not, would be troubled by the reality of what is now. I suspect that he would be asking the same question that he asked before his death and probably engaging in some of the same actions. "Where do we go from here?" he would ask, "Chaos or community?" His choice, of course, is community, but I think that he would be disturbed by the obviously chaotic conditions that are present now in our country.