I had lunch with Fred Craddock today

That simple sentence thrills me. 

It was a former pastor of ours in Florida, David Elton, who years ago while he and I were chaperoning some of the youth of our church to summer camp at Montreat, N.C., one day in the bookstore asked me if I’d ever heard of Fred Craddock and his books. I hadn’t and he steered me to a shelf with several of them displayed. At his urging, I chose one, Cherry Log Sermons and took it home. By the time I got home, however, I had already finished it (though I knew I would be going back time and again to read and reflect on its wisdom. 

They were simple sermons by a master, a country preacher who was so much more than that. By that time, Dr. Craddock had spent decades preaching and teaching (Candler Theological Seminary, Emory University, Atlanta) and then, partially retiring, had founded a small church up in the north Georgia town of Cherry Log (great name!). The book included texts of many of the sermons he had given in that small church. In all, they clearly proved that you don’t need to go to the great marble edifices in the big cities to get great preaching. One of the national news magazines (was it Time or Newsweek?) declared him to be one of the greatest preachers in the United States. 

When Jo and I built our log house up in north Georgia, we found ourselves just a town away from little Cherry Log but by that time Pastor Craddock had given up regular preaching, turning the pulpit over to another preacher. He still preached occasionally, we were told, but sporadically, almost unpredictably. So we started going to that church when we were in Georgia, hoping.....

There were many disappointments but, alas, one week we arrived and, checking the bulletin, found that, indeed, the sermon would be delivered by Fred Craddock. That was a December 28^th. I remember because it was my birthday and what a perfect gift I was given. We surely were not disappointed by the message he preached that morning and though it was years ago, we still remember it. 

There would come occasions, thereafter, to communicate with him, then meet him when I had the temerity to ask him if he would consider writing an endorsement for my new book, the book whose birth I am now awaiting. He agreed to read the galleys and then we had lunch, just he and I, and he probed and questioned me and said he would be happy to go home that weekend and write something for me. If it worked I was welcome to use it or cut it or whatever.

I did not cut it. Not a word. It was so much more than I could have expected and I was honored to receive his most articulate blessing. 

Today, Mary Jo and I both had the chance to take him and his wife Nettie to lunch that I might, yet again, thank him for the generosity of his language and spirit. He truly is a blithe spirit.  A small man about whom there is nothing small. 

These were his words of endorsement which you will find printed in the front matter of “Finding Moosewood, Finding God” when it is released March 5^th. 

Jack Perkins is a poet and that means enjoyment for the reader. Jack’s mastery of the English language provides pleasure a plenty. You will want to pass this book along to your friends.

But before you do, you may want to read it again yourself. Jack is on to something; you can sense it. He moves past the apparent to the Truth, to God. About this journey he is passionate, but as a poet he must keep his passion on a leash, out of respect for the reader who needs room to make his or her own journey. So, no pre-packaged conclusions here; no coercion here; no grand claims to have walked all the way around God and taken pictures. The poet knows that Truth comes suggestively, not dogmatically. The poet pauses over hints and coincidences, not with doubt’s hesitation but with reverence for the God who came veiled in flesh.

Fred B. Craddock

Bandy Distinguished Professor of

Preaching and New Testament,

Emeritus

Candler School of Theology,

Emory University