James Chisholm

James Chisholm

When we consider the word ‘ecumenical’ it can mean two things.  First, it can mean a sort of ungodly compromise – where those of different Christian faith traditions get together to discover their commonalities and try to merge into one.  While a noble thought, experience shows that the compromises tend to be around the lowest common denominator and, ultimately, the Christian teaching is watered down almost to the point of being unrecognizable.

Second, the word ‘ecumenical’ can mean something much better.  When Christians of many faith traditions gather together for the purpose of propagating the Gospel and shining the light of Christ, often great things can happen.  Samaritan’s Purse is a contemporary example of this kind of cooperation.

James Chisholm is a great example of godly ecumenicalism.  Born in Salem, Massachusetts, in 1848 he moved to Virginia to teach and ended up becoming the rector (pastor) of St John’s Episcopal Church in Portsmouth.  A few years later his wife passed away, leaving him the single father of two young sons.  He was described as unassuming and shy, his physical appearance as pale and frail, and he seemed somewhat awkward around people.

In the Spring of 1855, a Yellow Fever epidemic hit Portsmouth and Norfolk.  People of means fled to the country while the poor stayed behind.  Unfortunately, those who fled included the city’s doctors and clergy.  Reverend Chisholm sent his sons to stay with distant relatives and resolved to stay in Portsmouth.  Several weeks into the epidemic, he wrote:

Shall I regard personal safety alone, and flee with all speed from this atmosphere of poison and death, or shall I look the question of my relations to society, to humanity and to God, full in the face, and decide accordingly?  The question of duty, as a minister of Christ, has determined me to stand in the post to which, I believe, all along the providence of God called me.

James remained, along with a single Catholic priest, to minister to the entire city of 12,000.  Survivors of the plague wrote of his tirelessness in providing the medical care he could, in his surprisingly energetic preaching to the lost of the city – pointing them to the Cross, in patiently staying by the bedside of those who were dying, and even in digging graves for those who lost their fight with the disease.  He seemed like a changed man, tirelessly ministering to his own congregants who stayed behind, as well as those of the other Protestant churches and even some of the Irish-Catholic congregants of the overburdened Priest. 

By that Fall, the disease had run its course through the city and it began to abate.  It was only then that Reverend Chisholm began to show signs of the disease himself.  He was taken to a Naval hospital in Portsmouth where his exhausted body finally gave out.  He was 39 years old, one of over 3,200 victims of the disease.  His funeral was attended by 20 people, from all the different faith traditions of Portsmouth.  The funeral was conducted by a recently-returned Baptist minister.

Reverend James Chisholm is remembered in the Episcopal calendar on the date of his death, September 15^th.  He has a memorial in Cedar Grove Cemetery and was long remembered by all the churches in Portsmouth for his incredible energy and commitment to serving those in need in a critical time.  As he wrote late in the plague, “I trust that I more than ever realize the ‘Eternal God is my refuge, and underneath are the Everlasting Arms.’ I am in His hands to do with me what seemeth Him good.”

Sources:

e-mail from Christian History Institute

https://standingcommissiononliturgyandmusic.org/2010/09/15/september-16-james-chisholm-priest-1855/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Chisholm_(priest)

 

 

 

Catherine of Siena

 

Catherine of Siena

Two monumental things happened in Italy in the year 1347.  First, in the port of Messina, a ship docked – likely from somewhere in the Middle East.  A black rat slipped off that ship, unnoticed.  On the back of that rat was a single flea, carrying a disease Epidemiologists today call Yersinia Pestis – in that day they simply called it the Black Plague.  The Plague swept through the Western world in successive waves, ultimately killing more than one-third of the population between Iceland and India.

Second, a child named Catherine was born in Siena – the twenty-third of twenty-five children in a wool-dyers family.  She had committed herself to a life of fasting and prayer by age seven, having claimed to receive a vision of Christ at that early age.  She was intrigued by the great scholars and early church fathers of the Christian faith and studied them devoutly.  At age sixteen, she was pressured by her parents to marry – but hoping to enter the Lord’s service, she cut her hair very short to ward off potential suitors.

As a teen, she joined a Dominican organization which allowed for her to live at home, while serving the Lord and adhering to the disciplines of the Order.  She spent three years wrestling with God, her own flesh, and God’s call on her life.  At the end of those three years, she was awakened to the needs of the world outside – a world mired in worry over the recurring Plague, corruption and uncertainty within the Church, and general malaise and despair.  She and a number of her followers devoted themselves to the ministry amidst the Plague.  While others would flee, they would stay and tend the sick – at great risk to themselves.  She wrote of having to learn to deal with the nausea from the stench of hospitals overcrowded with the dead and dying, and forcing herself to stay in that environment until the Holy Spirit had conquered what she considered the ‘rebellion of her flesh’ in her nausea.  Hers was an exemplary life of selfless and untiring service.  One author wrote that Catherine was unconcerned about making a mark as a “woman in ministry” and was more concerned with Jesus’ call for her to be a “woman who ministers.”

Catherine’s intelligence and grasp of the world situation is remarkable for any person of her day – as was her moral courage.  At the time, due to fears from the Plague and political machinations, the Pope had moved the Papacy from Rome to Avignon, France.   The French political and moral influence had very negative impacts on the church and had even mired the Papacy itself in immorality and corruption.  Catherine began an extensive letter-writing campaign calling sinners to repentance, calling for the reform of the Church, and calling for Pope Gregory XI to return to Rome.  She wrote to the Pope personally:

“Be manly and not fearful.  Answer God who is calling you…Restore to the Holy Church the heart of burning charity which she has lost: she is all pale because iniquitous men have drained her blood.  Come, Father!”

Within a year of her writing the letter, Gregory returned the Papacy to Rome.  Over 400 of Catherine’s letters and other writings exist today.  She asks hard questions others would not ask, and often answers them herself.  Hers was a huge voice, calling the church to reform – while at the same time fostering reconciliation and calling Christians to service.  Using skills of natural diplomacy, she acted as a mediator between the Italian city-states, and even helped raise an army for one of the Crusades.

At the heart of Catherine’s teachings was a vision of Jesus, bleeding on the Cross.  It wasn’t nails or the cross that held him there, it was love.  She taught that from the cross, you could see the heart of God, his unqualified and unspeakable love for all mankind.

Catherine died in Rome at the young age of 33, having exhausted herself in ministry.  Roman Catholicism has given her the title “Doctor of the Church” – an honor given to only 36 people in history.  She shares that honor with people like Augustine and Thomas Aquinas.  More than that, though, she leaves behind the incredible example of a courageous person completely devoted to her Lord in the midst of a chaotic, complicated, and distressed world.

Packer, J.I., 131 Christians Everyone Should Know, Broadman and Holman Publishing, 2000.

https://www.christianitytoday.com/history/issues/issue-94/catherine-siena-epidemics-christians-divided.html

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Saint-Catherine-of-Siena

https://worship.calvin.edu/resources/resource-library/pandemics-and-public-worship-throughout-history

 

William Booth

William Booth

William Booth, founder of the Salvation Army, was born in poverty.  At his death in 1912, over 150,000 English citizens filed by his casket and 40,000 were in attendance at his funeral including Queen Mary herself.  He was converted at age 15 via an invitation to church from a Wesleyan couple.  That night, in his diary, he wrote, “God shall have all there is of William Booth.”

A few years later, with a group of friends, he heard American preacher Charles G. Finney speak about revival.  They made their purpose the evangelization of the poor.  Booth held open-air meetings in the poorest communities and organized follow-up meetings in individuals’ homes.  After a brief foray as a pastor in a Methodist church, William and his bride Catherine, committed themselves to full-time evangelism of the poor.  He was fond of saying, “Go for souls, and go for the worst!”

William upended the ‘traditional church’ of the day.  He believed in short sermons, a fiery exhortation to receive Christ, secular music in the meetings, and visitation of the sick and poor.  These were the initial qualities to go into his “Salvation Army.”

Catherine was herself a bit of a firebrand.  She, also, was influenced by Finney, having read many of his writings during a period of being bed-bound for a few months as a young woman.  She was convinced after this time of her own calling to the ministry – in a day where Victorian values permeated dictating that ‘a woman’s place is in the home.’  Catherine responded that since the Gospel liberated men and women equally, and placed them on equal ground, then there was no Scriptural ground for denying a woman a place in the ministry, including the preaching ministry.  She eventually got the opportunity to preach at a Salvation Army service, and her abilities were noted.  She was often compared to a gentle but firm lawyer pleading with judge and jury for the life of a prisoner.  Catherine eventually gave birth to and raised eight children, in addition to the formal and informal duties as “Co-founder” of the Salvation Army.  The ministry she seemed most passionate about was training evangelists to reach the poor.

In 1865, Catherine received an invitation to preach in London.  William accepted what was meant to be a temporary position to run a mission in East London, a very squalid area of the city.  East London of that day was very densely populated, and one writer noted that “every fifth house was a gin shop.”  Many of these gin shops had steps to where even a young child could reach the counter of the bar.  William’s mission was to reach these people where they were.

William’s converts came from the drunkards and the prostitutes of that area.  They were trained to reach others and, within ten years, the ministry had spread throughout East London and in many European cities, with well over a thousand volunteers.  In 1878, William read a draft copy of the annual report for his ministry, his eyes fell on the words, “…the Christian Mission is a volunteer army.”  Booth crossed out the words, “volunteer army” and replaced them with the words “Salvation Army.”  The idea of an “army” caught on, and Booth organized the mission with a military-like structure with himself as the “General.”  Within another ten years, the Salvation Army had recorded over 250,000 converts.

His zeal was infectious.  He once said, “While women weep, as they do now, I’ll fight; while little children go hungry, I’ll fight; while men go to prison, in and out, in and out, as they do now, I’ll fight; while there is a drunkard left, while there is a poor lost girl upon the streets, where there remains one dark soul without the light of God – I’ll fight!  I’ll fight to the very end!”

Over the years, he created a complex social relief structure to meet the needs of those he was called to serve.  He published a bestseller in 1890 entitled ‘In Darkest England and the Way Out’ to explain his plans in the regard.

When William died in 1912, seven of his eight children held leadership positions in the Salvation Army, including his seventh child, Evangeline “Eva” Booth, who served for 30 years as national commander for the North American Salvation Army mission, organizing the work and laying a structural foundation for the future of American work.  She was noted by the United States for her tremendous effort to soldiers heading to World War I, organizing “Doughnut Girls” to minister to the solders, and oversaw the appointment of Chaplains to serve in the US Army.  Eva left America in 1934 a tremendously popular figure to return to England and become the fourth General of the Salvation Army.  She retained her American citizenship until her death in 1950.

131 Christians Everyone Should Know, J.I. Packer, Broadman and Holman, 2000.

https://www.salvationarmyusa.org/usn/history-of-the-salvation-army/