In 1952 I went to Westmont College in Santa Barbara, CA to study for a career in the Christian ministry. One of the first and foremost people I met there was Rathburn Shelton. “Rath”, as he was called by everyone, held three positions at the college: Alumni Director, Public Relations Director, and baseball coach. This gives you an idea of how small the college was (300 students). He was the person most known and loved by the students because of his infectious personality. It seemed as though Rath was everywhere at every event talking with everyone.
More importantly, however, he and his wife Peggy were loved by all the students and they came to every athletic and cultural event on campus. During the War rath had served in an Army Band that travelled around to the various Army bases, both here and abroad, seeking to bolster the morale of the troops. Rath played a mean trumpet. At the college he was mostly known for his sincerity and sense of humor. Also he showed up at nearly every college athletic event and knew each of us athletes personally.
Speaking personally, over the four years it was there Rath and I became good buddies and all through the ensuing years we remained close friends. Over the years I have watched his four outstanding boys grow into fine athletes and artists. The most well-known of them is Ron who became a writer and director of films, notably “Bull Durham”, “Whitmen Can’t Jump”, and “Tin Cup”. Jeff has become an outstanding architect, David a metal designer and artist, and Steve a high school teacher, guitarist, and poet. Obviously, Rath and Peg get the credit for these outstanding young men.
Whenever my wife Mari and I visited the Shelton tribe we were treated to a short trumpet concert by Rath, along with dozens of stories, mostly about the college and baseball. As I think back on my days there and the ensuing years Rath continues to be the focus of my memories. He died a few years back now, but his memory, both at the college and among those of us who knew and loved him, has grown. His enthusiasm and humility continue to live both at the college and in the hearts of those of us who knew him.
My strongest memory of Rath focuses on the time he spoke in Chapel. We had Chapel service everyday at 10 Am and it was taken very seriously. Rath was not known as a regular speaker on such occasions so we were all wondering how he would handle it. Rath began by reading the 13th Chapter of Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians. This chapter is known as the “Love Chapter” and concludes with the line: “The greatest of these gifts is love.” When he was done he paused, shook his head and exclaimed: “I do not understand this at all. Let’s read it again.”
After having read the chapter once more, he continued to be dumbfounded and suggested we read it yet a third time. When he finished the third reading Rath paused and again claimed: “I am sorry, but I cannot understand this.” He then went and sat down on his seat. After an uncomfortable couple of minutes, the person in charge of the Chapel Service offered a brief prayer and dismissed us. Needless to say, we were all baffled by this “Chapel Service” and continued to discuss it throughout lunch and the rest of the day.
As you can tell, this dramatic Chapel Service not only caused us all to read and reread this Biblical passage at that time, but it was an experience we never forgot. Hopefully, we have also managed to incorporate the message of the chapter more vigorously and effectively in our lives. All because of the creative thoughtfulness and efforts of one Rathburn Shelton. Thanks Rath !!

In the New Testament the word pistis has a wide range of meanings all focusing on “faith and “faithfulness”. The tricky thing here is that while it means belief, it is often understood today as belief in spite of the evidence. We say things like: “Just have faith”, meaning only believe and it will come to pass. Also, we say things like: “I believe in you” (or him) meaning I trust you. We speak both of having faith “in” someone or something and having faith “that” someone or something will bring the result we wish for. Faith in this sense is a psychological thing. I am not interested in these uses of the term here. Let’s move on.
On the one hand, then, “faith” can be seen as a psychological, perhaps emotional thing, as a state of mind or being that entails confidence even though the result has yet to be decided. While this is one viable meaning for the word “faith”, I think it is very important to recognize yet another viable meaning of the term, namely that wherein it describes a behavioral dimension of a person’s life, as a person who can be relied on, someone who follows through, who “walks the talk.”
I think it is very important to keep these two senses of the term separate from each other lest the richness of the notion of faith be clouded over. Let me illustrate what I mean by referencing the well-known Chapter Elven of the Book of Hebrews in the New Testament. This chapter is well known as the “Faith Chapter” and that for good reason. The trouble is that far too often believers have read this chapter which lists so many of the faithful people of the Old Testament as a list of those who have held fast to their beliefs in spite of evidence to the contrary. However, when one looks carefully at how the writer backs up the claim that these folks were “faithful”, it becomes clear that the emphasis is on their behavior, not their inner confidence or hope.
The list starts with Abel who “offered a sacrifice greater than Cain’s” and goes on listing Noah “who took good heed and built an ark to save his household,” and moves on to Abraham “who obeyed the call and left home to settle in a land as an alien”, then “by faith Abraham prepared to offer up his son Isaac but did not do so”, and further “By faith Moses led his people out of Egypt”, etc. etc. The list goes on and on praising these heroes of the Hebrew faith, not because they correctly believed this or that, nor because they felt strongly about this or that, but because they behaved in a certain way.
In my understanding of the quality of faith it is primarily a way of behaving, and only secondarily a way of involving ways of thinking or hoping. So when Jesus says: “Oh you of little faith.” He is complaining about the people’s behavior, their deeds, not their ability to hope or accept something in spite of the facts. “Pistos” in Greek carries a behavioral thrust that focuses on our actions, even sometimes as opposed to our statements of hopes.