I never had the privilege of meeting the great American theologian, Reinhold Niebuhr. His grandson, Reinhold Richard Niebuhr, was a professor at one of the institutions where I trained for the Christian ministry.

Many years ago I read Reinhold Niebuhr's book, An Interpretation of Christian Ethics (1935). This was when I was captive to pietism and had not yet grappled adequately with the relation of ethics and justification. What grabbed my attention was the author's claim that "[t]he ethical demands made by Jesus are incapable of fulfillment in the present existence of [humankind]." What concerned me most was my inability to find a compelling argument to refute Niebuhr's claim that "only when God transmutes the present chaos of this world into its final unity" can Jesus' ethical demands find full expression.

It does not take very long for disciples of Christ who wish to practice complete loyalty to their Lord to discover the reality of failure in their own lives and in the lives of others. Hardly can we with justification deny the impossibility of the Christian ethical ideal.

Truth is, many outstanding servants of God whom many contemporary Christians revere are found to have been people with feet of clay. As ordinary mortals, none were perfect; nor did they at any time lay claim to perfection. Consider Baptist pioneers John Smyth and Thomas Helwys, for example.

In his last literary work, which was published posthumously, The Last Book of John Smyth Called the Retraction of His Errors and the Confirmation of the Truth, John Smyth confessed that his "contention for outward matters" broke "the rules of love and charity, which is the superior law." He said his words had been "stout and mingled with gall, and therefore has the Lord repaid [him] full measure." "For my part," he added, "the Lord has taught me thereby."  

Thomas Helwys was an intolerant man. He had no qualms, for example, about consigning to perdition those who served as bishops and died without renouncing their claims to such an office. He explained that those whom he termed "simple-hearted" shared their bishop's doom. Notwithstanding this, God chose to make an appeal for tolerance through an intolerant man! This intolerant man was persuaded that even those whose "errors" he felt were clearly revealed in Scripture, were entitled to respect for their consciences.

It is impossible to fulfill perfectly the demands of Christian love. Yet, thanks to God's amazing love, frail human beings pursuing Christian discipleship discover that God knows how to forgive us when we fall and to lift us up again. God chooses to work through us in spite of our weaknesses. How blest are we! Not surprisingly, we hesitate to be overly harsh in our dealings with people who do not share our faith or moral convictions.

Let us be careful about refusing to have fellowship with people whose views are not identical to ours. If we dialogue only with those who agree with us or who show a strong likelihood of being converted to our viewpoint and lifestyle, we need to wake up to the reality of our own imperfections. When we do, we will be able to affirm that all of us who are on the pilgrimage of faith have feet of clay and, indeed, we know only in part. Thankfully, when the "final fulfillment" comes - to draw upon Niebuhr again - the era of "the impossible ideal" will be past. So we pray, "Maranatha! Come Lord Jesus!"

Lewis May, a former president and general secretary of the Seventh Day Baptist (SDB) General Conference, died on October 4, 2011, in Arcadia, California, in the United States. He was 82 years old.

May, a former member of the General Council of the Baptist World Alliance, was a physician who, among other appointments, was chief of staff of the Methodist Hospital in Arcadia. He previously served as a flight surgeon in the US Air Force from 1954-1956 and worked in his own private practice for more than 50 years. Active in his community, he was a member of the board of the Arcadia School District from 1971-1983.

He was elected president of the SDB General Conference in 1967 and served that body as its part time executive secretary from 1999-2003.

May earned his medical degree from the Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

He leaves wife Nancy and sons Charles, Cass, Matthew, and Pete.

Funeral services were held October 22 at the Riverside SDB Church in California.

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