Brother Lawrence

Brother Lawrence

Nicholas Herman was born around 1611 in Lorraine, France.  His parents being poor, Nicholas joined the army and participated in the Thirty Years’ War.  During his time as a soldier, in the dead of winter, Nicholas received supernatural insight from an ordinary sight, setting him on a spiritual journey that would last the rest of his life.

He looked at a simple tree, stripped clean of leaves and fruit, waiting for the springtime to blossom again.  This sight caused him to grasp for the first time how wonderfully extravagant God’s grace was.  Like the tree, he was dead, but God had life waiting for him and, when the seasons changed, it would bring forth fruitfulness. 

Later, a battle injury sidelined him from military service, and left him in permanent pain from a damaged Sciatic nerve.  He spent some time as a civil servant and some time living a monastic life in the desert.  Eventually, he applied for and was allowed to join the Discalced (“without shoes”) Carmelite monastery in Paris and assumed the name “Brother Lawrence.”  In the monastery, he was assigned to work in the kitchen, a task he did not like.  Through these chores, he learned the lesson of Colossians 3:17, “Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father.”  Lawrence determined that “It is not the greatness of the work which matters to God, but the love with which it is done.”  To him, his personal love for God made every detail of his life to have great value.

Lawrence worked for the monastery for 15 years cooking, then was moved to a position where he repaired the sandals of over 100 other monks.  He resolved to put himself in a position where he made his love for God the end motivation for every one of his actions, most specifically the “common business” tasks of living – whether they be turning eggs in a frying pan, repairing sandals, or being tasked to go to the town and fetch a shipment of wine for the community.  He once said, “It is enough for me to pick up but a straw from the ground for the love of God.”

Most of what we know about Brother Lawrence comes from a series of interviews from Abbe de Beaufort, the personal envoy of Cardinal de Noaille of France.  The Cardinal had heard of the simple monk performing menial tasks with great devotion and profound wisdom and in 1666 sent Beaufort to interview him and see if the rumors were true.  Lawrence had trepidation about being interviewed in this way – both out of his reluctance to be in any spotlight and in wanting to know for certain that Beaufort’s intentions were genuine and not political in nature.  When Lawrence was comfortable, he granted the envoy four interviews, or “conversations,” where he described his way of life and how he came to understand it.  Beaufort described Lawrence, then in his late 50’s, as “rough in appearance but gentle in grace.”  The gently monk had a habit of continually conversing with God, throughout the day.  Lawrence told him he felt as close to God in the business of the kitchen as when he knelt in prayer.

When Brother Lawrence died peacefully and in blissful obscurity at age 80, his friends found copies of 16 letters he had written to others about the spiritual life.  They published these, along with envoy Beaufort’s recollections of his four interviews, form the sum total of Brother Lawrence’s writings, a small book today entitled “The Practice of the Presence of God.”  The entire book can be read in under an hour.

A great deal of wisdom about loving God can be found in these short pages.  In one of his letters, Lawrence writes, “Men invent means and methods of coming at God’s love, they learn rules and set up devices to remind them of that love, and it seems like a world of trouble to bring oneself into the consciousness of God’s presence.  Yet it might be so simple.  It is not quicker and easier to just do our common business wholly for the love of Him?”

“The most holy and necessary practice in our spiritual life is the presence of God.  That means finding constant pleasure in His divine company, speaking humbly and lovingly with Him in all seasons, at every moment, without limiting the conversation in any way.”

“I have abandoned all particular forms of devotion, all prayer techniques.  My only prayer practice is attention.  I carry on a habitual, silent, and secret conversation with God that fills me with overwhelming joy.”

“There is no greater lifestyle and no greater happiness than that of having a continual conversation with God.”

“Prayer is nothing else than a sense of God’s presence.”

“In order to know God, we must often think of Him; and when we come to love Him, we shall then also think of Him often, for our heart will be with our treasure.”

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

http://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/5657/pg5657.html

Eric Liddell

Eric Liddell

Olympian Eric Liddell was born in China in 1902 to Scottish missionaries.  At age 6, he and his older brother returned to England where they were enrolled in a boarding school in London for the sons of missionaries while his parents returned to the mission field.  They saw their parents only two or three more times on furloughs during their childhood. 

In school and later in university, Eric excelled in athletics, especially Cricket and Rugby.  Eric got a reputation in university as a fast runner, and the possibility of his achieving Olympic status was spoken of.  In his position as a noted athlete, he joined a group called the Glasgow Students’ Evangelistic Union and spoke frequently in evangelistic meetings.  In University, he ran the 100-yard and 220-yard races, setting a British record of 9.7 seconds for the 100-yard dash which stood for 23 years.

He was accepted on the Olympic Team for the 1924.  Eric was the favorite for the 100-yard sprint but had withdrawn much earlier as the schedule had been published months earlier showing the run was scheduled for Sunday.  (This was not a last-second decision as portrayed in Chariots of Fire).  Knowing he would not participate in the 100-yard race, he trained hard for the 400-yard race.  On the day of that event, one of the team members handed him a folded square of paper.  Looking at it later he read, “In the old book it says: ‘He that honors me I will honour.’  Wishing you the best of success always.”  Eric said later this note meant a lot to him because it confirmed to him that others appreciated the stand he took for his faith.

Eric drew the outside lane, depriving him of the view of the other runners.  He treated the race as a whole sprint, and it paid off.  He was challenged on the home stretch, but held on for the win.  During that race, he broke the world record with a 47.6 second time – a record which stood for 12 years until broken in the 1936 Berlin Olympics by another Brit.

During that same Olympiad, Eric Liddell also won the bronze medal in the 200-yard run.

Many people know this part of Eric’s story from the movie ‘Chariots of Fire’.  It is perhaps even more compelling to see Eric’s life after the 1924 Olympics.  In 1925, Eric stepped away from athletic glory to focus on missions work.  He joined the London Missionary Society and went to serve in Northern China, like his parents.  Liddell’s life was based on a simple calculation, noted in a sermon of his, “Each one comes to the cross-roads at some period of his life and must make his decision for or against his Master.” 

Eric married in 1934 to the daughter of Canadian missionaries.  Eric and Florence had three daughters.  Eric loved his family, but his first priority seemed to be his missions work.  He initially offered himself as an instructor to wealthy children, thinking that if he could win those young people, they would be in a position to affect many others in China with the Gospel.  Eric spent great lengths of time separated from his family in the 1930s and early 1940s.  He was often robbed, was often hungry and unwashed, and faced regular harassment from local officials.

In 1941, the ever-present threat of Japanese invasion became too great and Eric sent his wife, pregnant with their third child (whom he would never see), and other two daughters to safety in Toronto.  He said goodbye, kissed his children, and walked away never once turning around.  His older daughter remembered that the parting was very hard on him.

In 1943, Liddell was placed in a Japanese prison camp called Weihsien.  This camp had roughly 1,800 internees crammed into a space that was 150 yards by 200 yards.  Survivors of the camp recall him doing simple things to minister to his fellow prisoners.  He boiled water for others to cook.  He taught math and science to children, and even organized soccer games for them.  A woman who identified herself later as the camp prostitute remembered that he built storage shelves for her when all others had shunned her.  He never requested repayment for his efforts, but excelled in his day-to-day faithfulness and putting others before himself.  He was universally loved in that camp.

Eric wrote a letter to his wife on the day he died, February 21^st, 1945, letting her know he suffered a nervous breakdown due to overwork.  He didn’t tell her he had an inoperable brain tumor and was suffering from malnourishment.  According to a missionary in the same prison camp his last words were “It’s complete surrender.”

Eric Liddell seemed to have everything.  He had an Olympic gold medal, an offer to instruct in Cambridge, and seemingly everything the world had to offer.  He gave it all up to live a difficult life of ministry in a difficult place – and when he became a prisoner, he continued that ministry.  He wasn’t a perfect man, but his commitment and devotion to Christ and His work were beyond dispute.

“We are all missionaries.  Wherever we go we either bring people nearer to Christ or we repel them from Christ.”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Liddell

https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2016/august-web-only/second-life-of-man-who-wouldnt-run-on-sunday.html

My Jesus, I Love Thee

My Jesus, I Love Thee

Complaining about the youth of the day has been the pastime of adults for centuries.

An Egyptian tomb has an inscription from over 6,000 years ago that reads, “We live in a decadent age.  Young people no longer respect their parents.  They are rude and impatient.  They inhabit taverns and have no self-control.”

Martin Luther, late in his life, grumbled, “The young people of today are utterly dissolute and disorderly.” 

“The youth are rebellious, pleasure-seeking, and irresponsible.  They have no respect for their elders,” fumed Plato.  Socrates once said, “Children now love luxury.  They have bad manners, [and] contempt for authority.  They show disrespect for elders, and love chatter.”

We seem to have to be reminded often that we are not necessarily “going to Hell in a handbasket” because of our children.  The Bible is full of youth who stood firm for their Faith: Joseph guarding his purity even at the expense of his own freedom, David who slew a giant with unshakeable faith, Daniel and his three friends who faced tyranny, Mary – the teenaged mother of Jesus.

Charles Spurgeon began preaching to large crowds as a teen.  Isaac Watts wrote some of his most famous hymns before he turned 20 years old. 

In 1999, seventeen-year-old Cassie Bernal gave her life for her faith during the Columbine shooting.  In October, 2006, two sisters, Mirian and Barbara Fisher, ages 13 and 11, asked the gunman in their Pennsylvania Amish school if they could be shot first so the younger students would be spared.  Waves of young people have volunteered for service in the military as a result of the attacks of September 11^th, 2001.  If we look, we can see ten examples of our young people stepping up, often in not-so-dramatic fashion, for every bad example which captures our attention.  Don’t let their music styles fool you – there is a great deal of character to be found in the youth of every generation.

In 1862, a sixteen-year-old young man wrote a small song to celebrate his conversion to Christianity.  William Featherston attended a Methodist church in Montreal.  Little is known about how this young man came to faith or even how the song came to be published (it was apparently published without his knowledge).  It’s okay that we don’t know much about him, we just know that his little hymn, the only writing of his that has survived, is an expression of his own undying faith and is a reminder that even our young people can make a lasting difference.  William died at the very young age of 26.

My Jesus, I love Thee; I know Thou art mine.  For Thee all the follies of sin I resign.

My gracious Redeemer, My Savior art Thou.  If ever I loved Thee, My Jesus, ‘tis now.

I love Thee, because Thou hast first loved me.  And purchased my pardon on Calvary’s tree.

I love Thee for wearing the thorns on Thy brow, If ever I loved Thee, My Jesus, ‘tis now.

I’ll love Thee in life, I will love Thee in death.  And praise Thee as long as Thou lendest me breath;

And say when the death dew lies cold on my brow, If ever I loved Thee, My Jesus, ‘tis now.

In mansions of glory and endless delight, I’ll ever adore Thee in heaven so bright.

I’ll sing with the glittering crown on my brow, “If ever I loved Thee, My Jesus, ‘tis now.”

Morgan, Robert J., Then Sings My Soul, Nelson Publishers, 2003.

https://believersportal.com/story-behind-my-jesus-i-love-thee-hymn/

Angels From the Realms of Glory

Angels From the Realms of Glory

Angels from the realms of glory; Wing your flight o’er all the earth;

Ye who sang creation’s story; Now proclaim Messiah’s birth.

Come and worship, come and worship, come and worship;

Worship Christ the newborn King!

Shepherds in the fields abiding; Watching o’er your flocks by night;

God with man is now residing; Yonder shines the infant light.

Sages leave your contemplations; Brighter visions beam afar;

Seek the great desire of nations; Ye have seen His natal star.

Saints before the altar bending; Watching long in hope and fear;

Suddenly the Lord descending; In His temple shall appear.

All creation join in praising; Got the Father, Spirit, Son;

Evermore your voices raising, To th’eternal Three in One.

Come and worship, come and worship, come and worship;

Worship Christ the newborn King!

In 1777, when he was the tender age of six, James Montgomery’s parents, his father at the time the only Moravian pastor in Scotland, left their son in a boarding school while they sailed to Barbados as missionaries.  There, they perished and James found himself an orphan. 

James continued his schooling and later eventually dropped out of a couple of different apprenticeships set up for him by well-meaning friends, preferring instead to the writing of poetry.  In 1792, he was apprenticed in Sheffield to a bookseller and printer of a political newspaper named Joseph Gales.  Two years later, Gales fled the country in a wave of political persecution leaving James as Editor of the newspaper, a position he held for the next 31 years.  James continued the political bent of the paper, even being imprisoned twice for articles in it.

James’ deep faith constantly was at the forefront of what he did.  His paper railed against moral sins of the day: including the institution of slavery and the exploitation of children working jobs of very hard labor – such as chimney sweeps.  James championed the cause of foreign missions and raised a great deal of money for the British Bible Society.  James, later in his life, turned his talent for writing poetry to writing hymns.  In the Baptist Hymnal in our pews, there are six hymns written by Mr Montgomery – Angels from the Realms of Glory being probably the most prominent.  He wrote over 400 published hymns in his life, over 100 now are still being sung, to include the hymn “The Lord is my Shepherd”.  Though he is not remembered as well as them, his hymn-writing is often compared to Charles Wesley or to Isaac Watts.

John Montgomery, a bachelor his entire life, was well-respected in Sheffield, and he was given a public funeral upon his death in 1854.  A statue was erected in his memory which still stands today in front of Sheffield Cathedral.  That same cathedral also has a stained-glass window as a tribute to him.

Morgan, Robert J., Then Sings My Soul, Nelson Publishing, 2003.

https://hymnary.org/person/Montgomery_J

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Montgomery_(poet)

Sarah Josepha Hale

Sarah Josepha Hale

Sarah Jospeha Buell was born in New Hampshire in 1788, the daughter of a Revolutionary War veteran.  Her parents believed that both sexes should be educated, and her mother schooled her at home throughout her childhood.  At age 25, she married a lawyer named David Hale.  David died nine years later, leaving her a young widow with five children.  Sarah wore black the rest of her life in mourning for him.

While she had support from family and friends, Sarah turned to writing as a source of income, mostly poetry with some novels.  Her writing reflected her deep Christian faith, her disdain for the institution of slavery, and her desire for the education of women.  She ended up publishing 50 volumes of poetry and numerous novels over the course of her life, including the famous childrens’ poem Mary Had A Little Lamb. 

Sarah was asked to become the editor for a magazine called Godey’s Lady’s Book.  She agreed, and remained in the position for forty years, preferring the title ‘Editress.’  The magazine under her watch became the most popular magazine in the Unites States, numbering over 150,000 subscribers.  Topics in the magazine covered everything from child-rearing to women’s education to matters of fashion, style and taste.  She was also unique as an editor in her day in insisting on only American writers – many publications in her day relied heavily on British authors.  She has been described in modern days as a combination of Oprah and Martha Stewart.

Sarah believed strongly that it was women who shaped the morals of society, and she advocated for women to embrace this role.  Her advocacy for the advanced, high-quality education of women was essential to preparing women for “the most important vocation on earth…that of the Christian mother in the nursery.”  Her idea of the place of women in society was that her largest influence came through her work in the home.  She advocated for women to enter the workforce in certain professions such as education, medicine, and missionary work, but was opposed to the idea of women’s suffrage – believing that if women got involved in politics it would dilute her influence where it mattered most, with her children.  She is quoted as saying, “What has made this nation great?  Not its heroes, but its households.”

Sarah was also very active in philanthropy.  She was the driver for the current monument that stands at the Bunker Hill battlefield and was active in ensuring the preservation of George Washington’s Mount Vernon home.  She also helped to fund Vassar College, an all-women’s college, in 1861.

Sarah was also an early advocate for Thanksgiving as a national holiday.  President Washington had written during his tenure a non-binding Thanksgiving proclamation which was celebrated individually in some states on different days, or not at all.  Many in that day even considered Washington’s letter to be unconstitutional, violating the separation of church and state.  From her position as Editress, Sarah wrote Presidents Zachary Taylor, Millard Fillmore, Franklin Pierce, James Buchanan, and Abraham Lincoln advocating the establishment of a national Thanksgiving holiday. 

She succeeded in getting President Lincoln to declare a national day of Thanksgiving on the fourth Thursday of 1863, as a brief respite from the horrors of the Civil War, but the holiday did not become a permanent holiday until President Franklin Roosevelt signed it into law about 60 years later.

https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Letter_to_Abraham_Lincoln_from_Sarah_Josepha_Hale

https://time.com/4577082/thanksgiving-holiday-history-origins/

https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/sarah-hale

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarah_Josepha_Hale

https://thisfamilyblog.com/7-sarah-josepha-hale-quotes/

George Mueller - How to Ascertain the Will of God

How to Ascertain the Will of God

George Mueller was born in Germany in 1805 and lived to 1898 – almost the entire 19th Century. As a young man, he was a bit of a rabble-rouser. At age 10, he regularly stole money from his father. At age 14, he was gambling and drinking with his friends while his mother lay dying. At age 16, he spent a short time in jail for theft.

George’s father hoped he would take a lucrative position in the clergy, in the state-sponsored church. He studied Divinity, where a fellow student invited him to a prayer meeting. Seeing people on their knees in prayer had a profound impact on him, and he received Christ shortly after.  George resolved to live a life of prayer and complete dependence upon God.  God led him to begin a ministry to orphans in England – a ministry he entirely relied on God to make provision for, never once voicing a need for the orphanages or for himself to anyone except God.  Over the course of his life, this remarkable man of faith became the foster father for over 10,000 orphans.  By way of comparison, when he began his ministry the total number of spaces for orphans in all of England totaled around 3,600 – much of that substandard.

At age 70, George began traveling the world as a missionary, a task he kept up with for 17 years, continuing to live every step of his life on faith.  He died at age 92, fittingly, after leading a prayer meeting at his church.

Late in his life, George Mueller was asked to write about how a Christian could determine the will of God in his or her life.  After reflection and prayer, the below is what he wrote:

1. I SEEK AT THE BEGINNING to get my heart into such a state that it has no will of its own in regard to a given matter.  Nine-tenths of the trouble with people is just here.  Nine-tenths of the difficulties are overcome when our hearts are ready to do the Lord's will, whatever it may be.  When one is truly in this state, it is usually but a little way to the knowledge of what His will is.

2. HAVING DONE THIS, I do not leave the result to feeling of simple impression.  If I do so, I make myself liable to great delusions.  

3. I SEEK THE WILL of the Spirit of God through, or in connection with, the Word of God.  The Spirit and the Word must be combined.  If I look to the Spirit alone without the Word I lay myself open to great delusions also.  If the Holy Ghost guides us at all, He will do it according to the Scriptures and never contrary to them.

4. NEXT I TAKE into account providential circumstances.  These often plainly indicate God's will in connection with His Word and Spirit.

5. I ASK GOD in prayer to reveal His will to me aright.

6. THUS, THROUGH PRAYER to God, the study of the Word, and reflection, I come to deliberate judgment according to the best of my ability and knowledge, and if my mind is thus at peace, and continues so after two or three more petitions, I proceed accordingly.

In trivial matters, and in transactions involving most important issues, I have found this method always effective.

https://www.georgemuller.org/devotional/how-i-ascertain-the-will-of-god

Reformation Day

Reformation Day

In the Christian world, October 31st has a meaning much more significant than Halloween.  It was on October 31st, 1517, that Martin Luther posted his 95 theses on the church door at Wittenberg, Germany, sparking the Reformation.  Historically, many factors were in motion.  The printing press was just then coming into its own as a way to reach the masses.  The corruption of the Catholic church, including the sale of indulgences, ecclesiastical abuse, and the thought among high members of the clergy that a person could literally buy their way into Heaven was widespread and obvious.  Germany was coming into its own as a nation.  Political circumstances existed which kept Catholic officials from prosecuting Luther before the spark could be fanned into a flame.  In short, the time was right for Reformation.

Martin Luther had been struggling with some of the taught doctrines of the church, especially the sale of indulgences.  An ‘indulgence’ was the teaching that an offering of money given by a penitent person could save an individual from some or all of his time in Purgatory.  An envoy from the Papacy named Johann Tetzel had a display of religious relics scheduled for November 1st, 1517, in Wittenberg, in an effort to raise more money - ultimately destined for the building of St Peter’s Basilica in Rome.  Tetzel was a salesman, penning catchy jingles like: “the cross of the seller of indulgences has as much power as the cross of Christ,” and “when the coin in the coffer rings, the soul from purgatory springs.”  These practices roused the righteous wrath of the upstart Friar who penned the famed ‘95 Theses’ as an effort to drive debate on whether this practice, and others he found objectionable, should truly be practiced in the Church. “If the Pope can grant dispensation from sins,” Luther argued, “why, then, does he not grant that dispensation as an act of charity - even without a forced monetary contribution?”

Martin Luther intended to reform the Church from within - nailing his questions to the door of the church was a common way for a scholar to initiate debate on a topic.  It was only when his theses were translated from Latin into German and published for the masses to see that the drive for separation from Roman Catholicism took place.  Luther’s teaching of salvation by grace, through faith in Christ, was readily accepted by the masses.  They seem to have been looking for a central figure to rally around who could give an educated voice to the objections many observed within their local churches.

Martin Luther was a driven man, who could be very coarse and impolitely blunt in expressing his opinion.  He was known to be vulgar at times, but was the blunt object needed to make a break from the excesses and error into which the Catholic church of the day had fallen.

Gonzalez, Justo L, The Story of Christianity, Vol 2, Harper Collins Publishing, 1985.

https://www.luther.de/en/95thesen.html

https://www.ligonier.org/blog/what-is-reformation-day/