Greetings,
First, some prayer requests. For those of you new to these e-mails or this blog, be aware that those who receive these e-mails are all people who are seeking to grow spiritually and who are aware that we are sisters and brothers in Christ, and share a real love and concern for each other, even if we do not “know” one another. Therefore, we periodically share prayer requests which I or other of our brothers and sisters may have. Whether it was Sarah Elliott and her as yet unborn twins after her automobile accident, or Dickens Warfield during her illness and her family at her death, I have seen the committed, faithful prayers of this community in the Body of Christ.
Now, we have some prayer requests to share. Beth Cantrell sent this message: “Emily Balog was a member of my youth group. After finishing Carolina she worked as a graphic designer. Then she went to Paraguay with the Peace Corps. The mural Emily made for me is in my study at church. Emily was extraordinary. Emily died earlier today in a car accident. Her boyfriend (whose name I can't remember) is still in critical condition. Please remember Steve and Susan Balog as well as Alan Balog (her brother) in your prayers. Stay safe. Much love & thank you for your prayers.” Mark Waddell reported that a faithful worshipper at the Catonsville UMC evening service, Ann Baschanis (I do not think I have the spelling right, but God knows who we mean) had surgery some time ago, and then last week developed an infection which required more surgery. She is in serious condition and very discouraged (I can certainly relate to that). She would like our prayers.
Scott Dyer, a college student who is very active in Young Life – working with high school students to help them know Jesus in their lives – and who has run marathons, is gong to have tests this week because of blood pressure problems. Pray that they will be able to find the problem and that God’s perfect healing will occur. On Monday my daughter, Brenda Ibutu, will have knee surgery. As is typical with modern joint surgery, it will be “outpatient,” however, I always consider such surgeries as very serious. You might pray also for my son-in-law, Timothy, who will have the more difficult task of getting Brenda to obey the doctor’s orders, and restrictions. .
Now, to the reflection for today. Phillips Brooks (1835-1893) was a remarkable preacher, pastor, writer, leader and person. He attended Harvard and the Virginia Theological Seminary (Episcopal), and was a beloved pastor in Philadelphia and Boston until being elected Bishop of Boston in 1891. While best known now for his hymn “O Little Town of Bethlehem,” he wrote a number of other wonderful hymns, and was considered one of the best preachers in the USA. While in England to receive an honorary degree from Oxford University, he preached in Westminster Abbey before Queen Victoria, a very rare honor for an American. Many people have forgotten that he was also a serious theologian, and his “Lectures on Preaching” before Yale Divinity School in 1877 are still highly regarded.
As we enter into the Advent season this year, I would share again these thoughts on waiting. The following is from Brooks’ The Candle of the Lord in 1881.
The world, full of crude self-assertion and of feeble conformity, in this society where men invade each other’s lives, and yet where, if one man stands out and claims his own life, his claim seems arrogant and harsh and makes a discord in the feeble music to which alone it seems as if the psalm of life could be sung—how sometimes we have dreamed of a better state of things in which each man’s independence should make the brotherhood of all men perfect; where the more earnestly each man claimed his own life for himself, the more certainly other men should know that that life was given to them. Must we wait for such a society as that until we get to heaven? Surely not! Even here every man may claim his own life, not for himself but for his Lord. Belonging to that Lord, this life then must belong through Him to all His brethren. And so all that the man plucked our of their grasp, to give to Christ, comes back to them freely, sanctified and ennobled by passing through Him who is the Lord and Master of them all.
For such a social life as that we have a right to pray. But we may do more than pray for it. We may begin it in ourselves. Already we may give ourselves to Christ. We may own that we are His. We may see in all our bodily life—in the strength and glory of our youth if we are young and strong, in the weariness and depression of our age or feebleness if we are old and feeble—the marks of His ownership, the signs that we are His. We may wait for His coming to claim us, as the marked tree back in the woods waits till the ship-builder who has stuck his sign into it with his axe comes by and by to take it and make it part of the great ship he is building. And while we wait we may make the world stronger by being our own, and sweeter by being our brethren’s; and both, because and only because we are really not our own not theirs, but Christ’s.
+ + + + + + + + + + +
What was true in 1881 is certainly even more prevalent today. And unfortunately, today so many of our youth and young adults are beset with the weariness and depression which he sees in the old and feeble. As a true follower of Jesus, I expect that Dr. Brooks would be in sync with the folks at Occupy Baltimore. He certainly would want to bring healing and perspective and honesty and faith to our society. His words are needed to empower us now.
Yours & His,
DED
No comments:
Post a Comment