It Has Made All the Difference

Einar Michaelsen

I met Clarence while I was a student at Mercer University through the efforts of my Christian Ethics Professor, Dr. G McLeod Bryan. We visited the farm on a weekend, studying the gospel parables under a large oak(?) tree with Clarence using his Greek New Testament. The clarity of his "telling" made a deep impression on me at a time, when I was going through a metamorphosis. The net effect of the life and witness of Clarence and my Professor friend, "Mac", turned my life and witness toward the radical demands of the gospel.

As a result of that change, I received courage to bear witness to that Suffering Servant whom Clarence so faithfully and courageously embodied. I can still hear him saying, "The Word must be made flesh!" The gospel is word and deed.

Throughout my ministry I would "bump into" Clarence at various conferences whether in Boston, or Oberlin College, or Yankton, South Dakota and he greeted me with his gracious smile and a word of encouragement. His humor was a delight to witness. However, when he was lecturing or preaching, the humor had the intention of opening the eyes and doors to the radical call of the gospel's demands. It was as if he were giving "a spoonful of sugar (to) make the medicine go down." One was confused to laugh or to make a commitment. The use of humor was tremendously effective.

One of the images that frequently comes to me is that of sitting on a nail keg in the dining room at Koinonia and drinking water from an orange juice can. Another is of Clarence with his Greek New Testament on the lawn deliberately misreading one of the stories of the gospels and then correcting himself with "Oh no!" and rereading it as written, translating into English. Of course the point was made as he put the two versions in juxtaposition to each other.

I am thankful to God to have known Clarence, to have experienced a part of his life and spirit it has made all the difference.

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