CREEDE HINSHAW: ‘Death can hold no bitterness for the soul that loves’

Add to the saints the name Anthony Campolo, 89. One of the great preachers of the 20th century, Campolo died Nov. 19.

An American Baptist pastor, a professor of sociology at a major American university, an entertaining lecturer and a proponent of the social gospel, Tony Campolo was incredibly popular and influential, preaching and speaking 500 times per year.

I first was exposed to Campolo more than 50 years ago when he was regularly featured at Wayne Rice and Mike Yaconelli’s Youth Specialty gatherings. I can still hear Campolo from those early days bemoaning the fact that Christians don’t sing with enthusiasm any more. He launched into a series of labor anthems sung by union workers and scolded Christians for singing with less ardor than the working class. When he came onto the stage dressed in coat and tie, Mike Yaconelli pulled out a pair of scissors and cut his tie in half, pointing out that this was a gathering for workers with youth.

Over the decades Campolo was both compelling and controversial. Although he was banned by some in the church for being heretical, he was embraced and endorsed by most of the Christian community for preaching the gospel with freshness and conviction. Because of his enthusiasm, ardor and gripping illustrations of the Word of God, Campolo’s death will be mourned by many.

I will be in Arkansas this weekend preaching the funeral of my last remaining cousin on my father’s side of the family. Pastors often become chaplains and pastors to their own family.

My last trip to Betty Hinshaw’s northwest Arkansas farm was a few years ago when she deeded some of her land to the state to become a bird sanctuary in perpetuity. Her service will be a celebration of a 98-year-old matriarch, a generous, faithful United Methodist Christian. My morning devotional reading today included this excerpt from Spanish mystic John of the Cross (1542-1591):

“Death can hold no bitterness for the soul that loves. Death brings with it all the sweetness and delights of love. Nor can it be painful and oppressive when it is the end of all sorrow and the beginning of all good. True love accepts with perfect resignation, yes, even with joy, whatever comes to it from the hand of the Beloved, for ‘perfect love casts out fear.’”

I close with a prayer written by Eric Milner-White (1963) after John Donne (1631). This prayer is on the website of the Church of England’s daily morning prayer, found on their app Pray:

“Bring us, O Lord God, at our last awakening into the house and gate of heaven, to enter that gate and dwell in that house, where there shall be no darkness nor dazzling, but one equal light; no noise nor silence, but one equal music; no fears nor hopes, but one equal possession; no ends or beginnings, but one equal eternity; in the habitation of your glory and dominion, world without end. Amen.”