Trying to clear out some old books (what do you do with a 655-page Cassell’s French-English/English-French Dictionary?) I ran across an old family Bible Dictionary, Teacher’s Edition by William Smith LL.D. with 440 illustrations. It was inscribed in the most elegant penmanship: “Hannah More Johnson, January 3rd 1901.”

Inside the cover was a curious carbon-copied document of five pages entitled, “Enlist for Living, A Radio Address by Dr. Ralph W. Sockman.” At the top of the page, it noted that this speech, dated October 7, 1945, was broadcast on the “National Radio Pulpit, A presentation of the National Broadcasting Company” (NBC).

On that October Sunday, also known as World Communion Day, this address may have been heard by my parents who were twenty years old at the time. My father had just been released from officer training, only months away from being shipped off to Europe (missing D-Day by about a year).

As a historian, I immediately read this radio address, which was delivered in the wake of World War II. I was stunned by its parallels to today and also its warnings for today. Sockman was one of the most well-known preachers of the age, recognized as such by Time magazine.[1] Eighty years ago,[2] he began this radio address, Enlist for Living, with these words:

The year 1945 has seen more world-shaking events than any year since our Lord walked the earth. So-called decisive battles and significant discoveries have made other years memorable. But within the last six months we have seen the destruction of two great dictatorships, the ending of a global war and the discovering of the use of atomic energy. The children of the future will read of the year 1945 and will wonder what it was like to be alive in such a time.

I do wonder. And yet I also think now about the year 2025 and the destruction of Gaza, ongoing destruction of Ukraine, the decimation of Christian populations across the Middle East, not to mention the disruptions caused through social media, the uncertainty of advancing artificial intelligence, and the general atmosphere of anxiety that we breathe every day. Our “world-shaking events” may seem small in comparison, yet it is worth pondering: Do they have the same potential for destruction, cynicism, and the rise or fall of dictatorships as in 1945?

I don’t know; none of us knows. History surprises us, reassures us, depresses us, and at the same time reminds us of parallels (not repetitions). What I do know is that Dr. Sockman’s message is still relevant and instructive for us in this age. He quotes the portion from Deuteronomy where the wandering Israelites are preparing to enter the promised land and receive this exhortation from the Lord: “I call heaven and earth to witness against you that I have put life and death before you, the blessings and the curse: choose life then, that you and your children may live by loving the Eternal, your God, obeying his voice, and holding fast to him” (30:19-20).

Sockman’s message to a nation that had witnessed a world war where seventy million or so died (though he thought “only” thirty million)[3] focused on life. In the shadow of so much death, he speaks of choosing life. He was aware that there would be a temptation to recover from the war (as people did after the Great War) “grabbing for things we missed during the war . . . for extravagant luxuries and licentious self-indulgence.” He was aware that war could damage our souls by filling their empty places with greed and passions. So he exhorts his listeners, pleading with them to “choose life” by loving God. Self-discipline, self-control, and thanksgiving are called for even as greed and self-indulgence seem “reasonable” after so much suffering and loss.

When our spirituality is conditional (thus shallow), it is hard to resist such temptations. However, living our lives on the deepest level, under obedience to Christ and his purpose, and being aware of the depth of his love for us, enables us to choose life, or, as Dr. Sockman pleaded for his radio audience, to “enlist for living.” I would add that Christ’s love compels us to enlist for living for others. Our “beloved-ness” overflows from our life to others:

For the love of Christ urges us on, because we are convinced that one has died for all; therefore, all have died. And he died for all, so that those who live might live no longer for themselves but for the one who for their sake died and was raised (II Corinthians 5:14-15, NRSV).

The song “Belovedness” by Sarah Kroger embodies this message well.

[1] “Ralph Washington Sockman.” Wikipedia, 2024.
[2] Two months after the bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, Japan.
[3] And two atomic bombs in Japan killed over 200,000.

Dr. Scott W. Sunquist, president of Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, is author of the “Attentiveness” blog. He welcomes comments, responses, and good ideas.