A Pilgrimage Of Faith, J.B. Toews, 1993

the good life? In short, have evangelicals so tamed the gospel to ac- cord with American habits that it has been shorn of its radical power to convict and convert?10 These questions demand an honest response from Men- nonite Brethren as we review our spiritual pilgrimage, Mennonite Brethren in 1993 hold great spiritual poten- tial. The cote of our profession is solid. Our quest to be in 326 THE RACE THAT IS SET BEFORE US proper relationship to Christ and the gospel is sincere. Yet we continue to struggle with being a people in the world but not of the world. To be true to our calling in the context of a culture that rejects all moral and ethical absolutes may prove to be the most severe test of our history. Carl Sandburg, the biographer of Abraham Lincoln, said: "When a society or a civilization perishes, one condition can always be found. They forget where they came from."11 This is also true of spiritual movements. We cannot afford to for- get where we came from. We must remember our past, our beginnings as a renewal movement seeking to rekindle the embers of faith that inflamed a people known as the Anabap- tists of the sixteenth century. Our passion and resolve must be to follow Jesus in obedient discipleship, be a true church of faith, and spread the good news of salvation and the eter- nal hope of glory. We are the stewards of a great faith. Remembering our past includes openly examining the various crises we face-ethics, evangelism and missions. Our biblical tradition equips us well to seek answers to the ten- sions reflected in the membership profiles of 1972, 1982 and 1989. Renewing our commitment to the basic tenets of our faith provides the only hope for correcting disparities between belief and behavior. The example of Hebrews 11 applies also to the Menno- nite Brethren, a people with whom God is not yet finished. We have painfully acknowledged our weaknesses. However, we look to the future with confidence, accepting the exhorta- tion of Hebrews 12: Wherefore seeing we also are compassed with a great cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which does so easily beset us, and let us run with pa- tience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, 327 A PILGRIMAGE OF FAITH and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider him that endured such contradiction of sin- ners against himself, lest ye be weary and faint in your m