爱邻如己，变革文化

欢迎收听《转折点》，这是一档通过永恒真理的视角，每日观察不断变化文化的节目。我是约翰·斯通斯特里特，代表科尔森中心。回想九年级时，我是个愣头青。更糟的是，我还是基督教学校的愣头青——那是最糟糕的一种。

Welcome to Breakpoint, a daily look at an ever changing culture through the lens of unchanging truth. For the Coulson Center, I'm John Stonestreet. Back in ninth grade, I was a knucklehead. Even worse, I was a Christian school knucklehead. Those are the worst kind.

每周六天，我都在那所基督教学校和运营它的教堂所在的同一栋建筑里，听着相同的圣经课程，常常是同一批人讲授。事实上，有时很难分清哪里是教堂的结束，哪里是学校的开始。教堂项目常变成学校作业，学生也常成为教堂志愿者——尽管不总是自愿的。1990年12月圣诞节假期前的最后一天，我就是这样遇见了欧米茄·巴克纳女士。

Six days a week between that Christian school and the church that operated it, I was in the same building hearing the same Bible lessons, often from the same people. In fact, it was sometimes difficult to know where church ended and the school began. Church projects would often become school projects and students often became church volunteers, although not always voluntarily. That's how I met Ms. Omega Buckner on the last day of school before Christmas break in December 1990.

我们期待派对，但我们的圣经老师——同时也是牧师和校长——宣布要派我们去探望教会里闭门不出的老人。在圣诞假期前的最后一天，比起学业任务，我们更不愿做的就是拜访素未谋面的老人。于是我和同样厌恶这个任务的朋友布莱恩结伴。"我有主意，"他说，"我们去拜访其中一人，就说找不到另一人的房子。"

We expected a party, but instead our Bible teacher, who was also our pastor and principal, announced that our Bible class was being sent out to visit the elderly shut ins from our church. The only thing we wanted to do less than academic work on the last day of classes before Christmas break was to visit old people we'd never met. And so I was paired with my friend Brian, who also shared my disdain for the assignment. I've got an idea, he said. We'll go visit one of the people, but say that we couldn't find the other person's house.

这样就能早点完事，然后去商场认识女孩。我们确实这么做了。那个没被我们放弃的名字是欧米茄·巴克纳。她住在弗吉尼亚州蜿蜒的乡间小路尽头，一间搭建在孙子农舍边的小公寓里。就这样，一个十一年级生、一个九年级生和一位89岁的寡妇共处一室。

That way we'll be done early and then we can go to the mall and meet some girls. So that's what we did. The name that we did not throw away was Omega Buckner. She lived down a windy rural Virginia road in a small little apartment built on the end of her grandson's farmhouse. There we were, an eleventh grader, a ninth grader, an 89 year old widow.

我们没什么共同语言。就在尴尬达到顶峰时，巴克纳女士提议："不如我们一起唱圣诞颂歌吧。"我们磕磕绊绊唱完《平安夜》后，她判定一首颂歌足够了。"那么，"布莱恩随即说道，"我们该告辞了。""是的，"我撒谎道，"回学校前还得拜访另一个人。"临行前她请求："能一起祷告吗？"那时我已听过数千次祷告，但从没听过这样的——

We didn't have a lot in common. And just when we thought it couldn't possibly get more awkward, Ms. Buckner suggested, well, let's sing some Christmas carols together. So we stumbled our way through Silent Night and she decided that one carol was enough. Well, Ms.

巴克纳女士与上帝对话时，仿佛熟识祂一般，带着唯有确信自己被聆听时才会有的笃定与谦卑。两年后的十一月末某天，我醒来时突然想起巴克纳女士。当时完全不明白为何会有这个念头，只知道必须再去见她。

Buckner Bryan then said, we'd best be on our way. Yes, I lied, we still have another person to visit before heading back to school. Before you go, she asked, could we pray together? Now, at that point in my life, I'd heard thousands of prayers, but I'd never heard anything like this. Ms.

（译文注：此处延续前文语义，保持叙事连贯性）

Buckner spoke to God as if she knew Him, with a confidence and a humility that only comes when you know you're actually being heard. Two years later, sometime in late November, I woke up one day just thinking of Ms. Buckner. To this idea, I had no idea why. All I knew at the time was that I just had to go back and visit her.

于是我敲响了她的门。巴克纳女士，您可能不记得我了，我说，但两年前我曾和我的朋友布莱恩一起来过这里。约翰，她回答，我今天早上为你祈祷了。巴克纳小姐在我余生的每一天都为我祈祷。

So I knocked on her door. Ms. Buckner, you probably don't remember me, I said, but two years ago I came here with my friend Brian. John, she replied, I prayed for you this morning. Miss Buckner prayed for me every day for the rest of her life.

之后我经常去看望她。直到今天，我也不知道她所有的祈祷究竟让我避开了什么或是得到了什么。我最后一次见到她时，我们没有道别。相反，我们说，天堂再见。多年后，我作为毕业演讲嘉宾回到了那所基督教高中。

I visit her quite often after that. To this day, I have no idea what all she has prayed me into or out of. The very last time I saw her, we did not say goodbye. Instead, we said, I'll see you in heaven. Years later, I returned to the same Christian high school as the graduation speaker.

我告诉哈尔，14岁那年，我遇到了一位89岁的老人，上帝通过她改变了我的生活。当我说出她的名字时，我看到礼堂里数十张面孔上同时涌现泪水与笑容。那一刻我才明白，拥有巴克纳小姐故事的人不止我一个。新电影《真理崛起》描述了定义这个文明时代的文化剧变。对我们而言，这个问题也是每个时代、每个地方的信徒都要面对的。

I told Hal, at age 14, I met an 89 year old woman that God used to change my life. When I said her name, I saw tears and smiles fill dozens of faces all across the auditorium. And that's when I realized that I wasn't the only one who had a Miss Buckner story. The new film Truth Rising describes the cultural upheaval that defines this civilizational moment. The question for us is the question for believers in every time and every place.

我们如何才能成为上帝召唤我们成为的、充满希望与复兴的人？每当思考这个问题，我总会想起巴克纳小姐——她在上帝安置的那个小小角落始终忠信。我深深感恩她的存在。请不要错过全新纪录片《真理崛起》的全球流媒体首映，影片特邀奥兹·吉尼斯、菲利帕·斯特劳德女男爵、阿扬·希尔西·阿里、尼尔·弗格森、康斯坦丁·基松、克洛伊·科尔等人参与。首映日为9月5日周五。

How can we be the people of hope and renewal that God has called us to be? And whenever I think of that question, I always think of miss Buckner, who was faithful in the very small place where God had called her. And I'm so grateful that she was. Please don't miss the global streaming premiere of the new documentary film Truth Rising, which features Oz Guinness, Baroness Philippa Stroud, Ayan Hirsi Ali, Neil Ferguson, Constantine Kisson, Chloe Cole, and others. The launch date is Friday, September 5.

这部电影将让你更清晰地理解这个文明时代的真实境况，以及成为上帝召唤我们成为的那种人意味着什么。了解更多请访问truthrising.com/coulson。重复一遍：truthrising.com/coulson。这里是科尔森中心的约翰·斯通斯特里特为您带来的Breakpoint节目。在结束前，我要感谢新泽西州穆尔斯敦的乔治亚·苏。

The film will give you a better idea of what's really happening in this civilizational moment, as well as what it means for us to be the kind of people that God's called us to be. Visit truthrising.com/coulson to learn more. That's truthrising.com/coulson. For the Coulson Center, I'm John Stonestreet with Breakpoint. Before I leave today, I want to say thanks to Georgian Sue of Moorestown, New Jersey.

感谢您成为科尔森中心的基石月度合作伙伴。正因为有您，本期Breakpoint才得以制作完成。如需获取可打印或在线分享的评论版本，请访问breakpoint.org。

Thanks for being a Cornerstone monthly partner of the Colson Center. You made this episode of Breakpoint possible. For a version of this commentary that you can print out or share online with others, visit breakpoint.org.