I will sing for the one I love a song about his vineyard: My loved one had a vineyard on a fertile hillside. He dug it up and cleared it of stones and planted it with the choicest vines.
All about Howard Thurman (1899-1981)
Born in Florida in 1899, Howard Thurman was raised primarily by his grandmother—a former slave. Even as a child, he showed signs of a vibrant spiritual life early, and would read the Bible to her. Thurman tells the story in his most famous work: Jesus and the Disinherited, how his mother would not permit him to read anything by the Apostle Paul (besides 1 Corinthians 13) because of the abusive theology that the white preachers would perpetrate on her and other enslaved people—biblical mandates to be “good slaves.”
Thurman grew as a pastor and academic, and became a man many people call a mystic. He had a significant bond with Quaker leader and pacifist Rufas Jones of Haverford College (the key leader of the organization that became the American Friends Service Committee). That connection moved Thurman to lead a delegation to meet with Mohandas Gandhi.
As a theologian, Thurman was a pioneer in articulating Jesus’ mission of liberation for oppressed people. He taught that “if you ever developed a cultivated will with spiritual discipline the flame of freedom would never perish.” He served as one of the pastors of the first intentionally interracial church in the U.S. — The Church for the Fellowship of All Peoples in San Francisco. Through his friendship with Martin King, Thurman became a spiritual adviser and mentor to his son, Martin Luther King, Jr. Howard Thurman is usually credited with developing the nonviolence theories and tactics that were central to the Civil Rights Movement. He wrote over twenty books besides speeches and articles before he died on this day in 1981.
Listening to Howard Thurman
Whatever may be the tensions and the stresses of a particular day, there is always lurking close at hand the trailing beauty of forgotten joy or unremembered peace. —from Meditations of the Heart
Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.
Community cannot for long feed on itself; it can only flourish with the coming of others from beyond, their unknown and undiscovered brothers.
During times of war, hatred becomes quite respectable even though it has to masquerade often under the guise of patriotism.
Listen. Thurman was a good listener to God and others, and to his own genius. You have all those resources today, as well. Listen to them and see if you are encouraged and directed.
Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.
All about Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945)
Dietrich Bonhoeffer and his twin sister were born in a Prussian city (now in Poland) in 1906. His family moved to Berlin a few years later. Bonhoeffer earned a doctorate in theology at the age of 21 from one if the most prestigious universities in the world at the time – the University of Berlin. He began to work as a pastor and also continued to pursue academic studies which took him to Spain and then to Harlem. Dissatisfied with the lack of rigor at Union Seminary, where he was teaching and doing post graduate work, he became a disciple and Sunday school teacher at Abyssinian Baptist Church, where his love for spirituals developed along with his deep desire for the Church to change the world.
Two years after his return to Germany, the Nazi Party rose to power. Bonhoeffer was overtly critical of the regime and a resister from the beginning. While Hitler and the Nazis infiltrated and found a stronghold in the German Church, Bonhoeffer was building something new in Germany through the Confessing Church (wiki). After only a few months living under Nazi control, Bonhoeffer moved to London to work on international ecumenical work. He was very frustrated with the state of the German church.
Two years later, rather than going to study non-violent civil disobedience under Gandhi, he returned to Germany, responding to the repeated pleas and demands of Swiss theologians and Karl Barth, who’s battle cry, “Revelation, not religion!” would remain a basic element of Bonhoeffer’s theology to the end. Barth was sent back to Switzerland and Bonhoeffer found the Confessing Church to be under fire by the Nazis. He soon lost his credentials to teach because he was a “pacifist and enemy of the state.” He began underground seminaries and further resisted.
Bonhoeffer became more involved in direct resistance and was arrested in 1943. He was part of a group that was responsible both for attempts at liberating Jews and attempting to assassinate Hitler. His pacifism has been widely written about, especially in light of this glaring contradiction. In the last 10 years historians have disputed the assumption that Bonheoffer deserted his pacifism for the practicality of assassination. See Mark Theissen’s book: Bonhoeffer the Assassin?: Challenging The Myth, Recovering His Call To Peacemaking (2013).
Dietrich was executed on this day in 1945, two weeks before US soldiers liberated the camp where he was imprisoned. He is largely considered a martyr for the faith and for peace, and for being a Nazi resister.
Cheap grace is the grace we bestow on ourselves. Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, communion without confession…. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate.
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Want to watch a small documentary about his life? Here is a [link] Another from 2003 [link] One premiered in 2024 [link]
Bonhoeffer applied himself to unmasking the lies of his culture and the ideologies that took God’s place. It was not easy, since the church was generally in line with them. In spite of state threat and lack of support from the church, he took risks to teach the truth, even moving back to Germany when he would have been safer elsewhere.
That kind of courage is demonstrated in the Bible repeatedly by people whose loves are trained on God. What threat do you feel from those you know and from the great “other” of the powers that be when it comes to expressing your faith in word and deed? Pray for courage. Pray that we build a confessing church in a culture of lies.
Shout for joy, you heavens; rejoice, you earth; burst into song, you mountains! For the Lord comforts his people and will have compassion on his afflicted ones.
But Zion said, “The Lord has forsaken me, the Lord has forgotten me.”
“Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you! — Isaiah 49:13-15
Ramabai on an Indian post stamp
All about Pandita Ramabai (1858-1922)
The Pentecostals & Charismatics for Peace & Justicename Pandita Ramabai as one of their favorite saints of all time. She was an Indian activist, evangelist and one of the first modern Pentecostals. Over a hundred years before Malala Yousafzai, she campaigned for women’s right to education, and she was extremely active in helping the poor and those oppressed under the Hindu caste system.
Born in a Brahmin (highest caste) family in south India, in what is now the state of Karnataka, she started to study at an early age and learned Sanskrit along with sacred Hindu texts, astronomy, physiology and more. This was controversial for a woman to do, but her father encouraged her as he saw how much she was learning about society, religion and activism. She came to be called by the honorific title “pandita” which denotes an Indian scholar.
In 1883 she went to England and taught Sanskrit at an Anglican monastery in Wantage. She met Jesus there. “I realized,” she later wrote, “after reading the fourth chapter of St. John’s Gospel, that Christ was truly the Divine Saviour he claimed to be, and no one but He could transform and uplift the downtrodden women of India.”
As she returned to her home country, she bought a piece of land outside Pune and started a Christian social community for young widows called Mukti, Sanskrit for liberation. She also helped people who were orphaned, disabled or homeless. When a famine hit India in 1896, Ramabai rescued over a thousand people and brought many of them to the Mukti mission.
In 1905, Mukti was transformed by an outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Hundreds were saved at the community, and they prayed, worshiped and studied the Word of God in ecstasy. Miracles started to happen as the Holy Spirit gave gifts to the girls at Mukti. This happened at the same time as the mighty Azusa Street revival was going on in Los Angeles. The groups somehow got in touch with each other, no doubt by God’ grace. In the January 1908 edition of Azusa Street’s paper The Apostolic Faith, this report from Ramabai was provided:
“One Sunday, as I was coming out of the church, after the morning service, I saw some girls standing near the door of a worker’s room. They seemed greatly excited and wondering. I soon found out the cause. A girl was praying aloud, and praising God in the English language. She did not know the language.”
Many Pentecostal leaders, went to Mukti and witnessed the amazing outpouring among the poor and marginalized. The Mukti community became the cornerstone of Indian Pentecostal mission, like Los Angeles was in the United States and Oslo in Europe. Thousands were blessed through what God was doing there. Ramabai continued to preach the Gospel, save the poor and campaign for women’s rights in the power of the Holy Spirit until she died on this day in 1922.
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Here is a nice promotional video from Mukti today:
Here is another video with nice pics but probably not in your language. [video]
What do we do with this?
Pray: Lord, help me become as passionate about You and the poor as Pandita Ramabai was, and let her example be an inspiration to many.
Pray for the needy in India and around the world. Thank God for people able to creatively beg the wealthy for money to care for the poor.
Consider again what you think and feel about the movement of the Holy Spirit in the world. It has been counterfeited, monetized and corrupted by power-hungry and greedy people. Does that cause you to disown it? Or does the abuse make its ongoing work even more miraculous?
On April 3, 1968, Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., second from right, stands with other civil rights leaders on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tenn., a day before he was assassinated at approximately the same place. From left: Hosea Williams, Jesse Jackson, King and Ralph Abernathy.
You have heard that it was said, “Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.” But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven.
All about Martin Luther King Jr. (1929-1968)
Dr. King was a prophet and an apostle. Born into a pastor’s family in Atlanta, GA, He grew into a scholar, preacher, and community organizer. In 1954, when King was 25, he became a pastor in Montgomery, Alabama. The next year, the Montgomery Bus Boycott began and King was mixing it up with many people who became prominent leaders in the American Civil Rights Movement.
Martin Luther King is famous for his speeches and published works. His faith drew tens of thousands into passionate civil engagement through marches, rallies, prayer, worship, and non-violent civil disobedience. He earned global respect of people from all walks of life. His application of tactics for non-violence change were acts of transformation rooted in the way of Jesus.
King caused controversy in the movement because he was drawn to what he believed were two key issues that needed addressing: ending the Vietnam War and economic rights for Black people. Many opposed him because his “branching out” weakened chances of getting more effective laws in place to protect other civil liberties and alienated some sympathetic whites—notably elected officials.
On this day in 1968, Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated in Memphis when he was 39 years old. His legacy continues to inspire and urge people to work for justice.
Quotes:
Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, ‘What are you doing for others?’
Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into friend.
I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear.
I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.
Faith is taking the first step even when you don’t see the whole staircase.
I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become a reality… I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word.
Human progress is neither automatic nor inevitable… Every step toward the goal of justice requires sacrifice, suffering, and struggle; the tireless exertions and passionate concern of dedicated individuals.
We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope.
In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.
Change does not roll in on the wheels of inevitability, but comes through continuous struggle. And so we must straighten our backs and work for our freedom. A man can’t ride you unless your back is bent.
Find out about the ongoing struggle. Start with the ACLU. Read Kimberlee Johnson’s article about the church’s experience after the murder of George Floyd [link].
Ask God how to apply the tactic of nonviolent transformation in this era of polarized politics and overt racist rhetoric. Is there a way you can make the effort it takes to get over the color line and love?
On the Logone River. By YACOUB DOUNGOUS – Own work
Bible
There were others who were tortured, refusing to be released so that they might gain an even better resurrection. Some faced jeers and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were put to death by stoning; they were sawed in two; they were killed by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated— the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, living in caves and in holes in the ground.
These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised, since God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect. – Hebrews 11:35-40
All about Moussa Gana (1920-1975)
In 1972 The first and only president of Chad, Francois Tombalbaye, changed his name to N’garta. He was following the example of Mobutu Sese Seko of what was now called Zaire in a program called authentcite. In his quest to Africanize Chad, he renamed Fort-Lamy N’Djamena and began to force the civil service to undergo yondo, initiation rites customary among a minority of his own ethnic group, the Sara people.
Moussa Gana was a vocal Christian opponent of Tombalbaye’s policies. On April 1 of 1975, local law enforcement authorities arrested him. Gana told his guards, “For more than forty years since I have been in this land, I have never offended you. My work was to announce the Good News of God so that you would abandon your sinful ways and receive God’s salvation. But you refused to listen and now you want to kill me. ‘Vengeance is mine, says the Lord.’” He then put himself in the hole the soldiers had dug for his grave and asked one of his cousins to give him a blanket. The soldiers threw Gana a Bible and buried him alive, declaring that his God had been buried with him. Yondo initiates danced on Gana’s grave to celebrate their victory. Witnesses claimed Gana could be heard for three days groaning under the dirt shoveled on him.
When he was young, Moussa Gana went to Nigeria, where there were many more opportunities than in his homeland in the most southern region of Chad, where French colonials forced the locals to cultivate cotton. In Nigeria, Gana became a Protestant Christian. Between 1930 and 1935 he came back to Chad and settled in in birthplace, Madana.
He is considered to be the first missionary to the area. His mission was completely African and not sponsored by any foreigners. The more successful he was, the more local chiefs and spiritual authorities criticized Gana for introducing a foreign religion that threatened to destroy their own beliefs, The people were already threatened by the aggressive imposition of Islam coming form the north. This demarcation line between Islam and Christianity is still an active source of conflict today.
At that time, the village believed the nearby Pende (which they named Lao or “dangerous”) River was inhabited by a spirit and anyone who fished or bathed in it would die. Moussa Gana and his fellow believers decided to organize a fishing ceremony in the Lao. The whole village considered this act to be a provocation. But the organizers believed the Bible taught that humans were given authority over Creation (Genesis 1v.28). When the day came, very early in the morning, the church gathered on the river’s edge and sang a war song like the children of Israel during the conquest of the city of Jericho: Ji ted ro Lao ge ri Jesu Kristi (we conquer Lao in the name of Jesus Christ). As they went back and forth several times along the riverbank, many hippos came out of the water and fled.
Moussa then ordered the Christians to start fishing and they did so for three days. During this time, the village waited in vain for Lao to cast a curse on the Christians. On the fourth day, the whole village also started fishing. This great event led many people to follow Jesus. Many other villages in the Madana region became Christians. It was the beginning of decades of fruitful church building.
The Tombalbaye changed his political party to become the National Movement for Cultural and Social Revolution (MNRCS). Everything was to return to its African roots. Western culture was to be renounced and traditional dances and practices were to be revived, the yondo was central to this. The goal was to transform the mentality of Chadians so they could take responsibility for their destiny and achieve harmonious development. It was a furtherance of Tombalbaye’s brutal reign.
At a conference held in Doyaba (in his homeland, Sarh), President Tombalbaye accused Christians of being the lackeys of white missionaries: “Every Christian is required to go to initiation, because an uninitiated man is imperfect. However, I will see the opponents, if they will be capable of carrying the cross of Jesus Christ.” In December of 1973 an order suspended all activities of the Mid-Mission Church in Chad. All Christians were to be initiated, by force, if necessary. Those who refused to submit were mistreated or buried alive. Moussa Gana was one of the latter.
Ten days later, a coup d’état broke out and President N’garta Tombalbaye was killed.
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Mennonites learning from present-day Christians in Chad [link]
It is surprising that the story of Moussa Gana survives. There is very little history documented of the people just south of the Sahel, in some of the poorest regions of the world. Standing up to authoritarian regimes continues to strain the everyday lives of Christians all over the world. Moussa is an inspiration for us.
This map above, from the Lausanne Committee, demonstrates the demarcation line Moussa Gana was already experiencing in the 1930’s. The desert has been moving south. Power hungry movements have moved into the chaos and seized power from weak , impoverished governments. Southern Chad, home of Moussa, found its precious water sources despoiled by Western mining interests. Pray for the church, there; they are under constant pressure to hide out and are generally disorganized.
Then Paul and Barnabas answered them boldly: “We had to speak the word of God to you first. Since you reject it and do not consider yourselves worthy of eternal life, we now turn to the Gentiles.For this is what the Lord has commanded us:
“‘I have made you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.’”
When the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and honored the word of the Lord; and all who were appointed for eternal life believed.
All about John Leonhard Dober (1706-1766)
Let’s celebrate one of the Moravian Brethren’s first residents in the Americas who then was part of their amazing and extensive missionary efforts in the 1700’s. As you know, the Moravians are still alive and well in the United States. A main center for them is just up the road in Bethlehem, PA.
Leonhard Dober was born on March 7, 1706, in Bavaria, Germany. Like his father, Johann, Leonhard was trained as a potter.
We do not know how his older brother, Martin. heard about a new community in Herrnhut. But when Leonhard was nineteen years old, he walked 315 miles to join him there. The community had been founded by Protestant refugees from Moravia just a few years earlier. By 1727 about half of the population of Herrnhut came from other parts of Germany. Other members of the Dober family soon joined Leonhard and Martin in this vibrant Christian community: their parents, Johann and Anna Barbara in 1730, and their younger brother Andreas in 1733.
In 1731 a life-changing event moved Leonhard in a new direction. A former African slave from St. Thomas named Anton visited Herrnhut. Count Zinzendorf, on whose land the village was built, had become acquainted with Anton in Copenhagen, Denmark, where he was employed as a servant. Anton, who was baptized, impressed Zinzendorf and his traveling companions with his accounts of the situation on St. Thomas where Africans lived under the harshest of conditions. Zinzendorf sent Anton to Herrnhut where he told the congregation about his sister on St. Thomas who was “eager to learn about Christianity if only God would send someone to teach her.”
Leonhard felt he should be the person to go to the Caribbean island and tell the slaves about their Savior. The Church, however was not quick to rush into such an enterprise, and it took another year until Dober and David Nitschmann, his fellow missionary, received permission to leave. The day they left Herrnhut, August 21, 1732, marks the beginning of the remarkable missionary work of the Moravian Church.
After being sent out by Count Zinzendorf, the two traveled from Herrnhut to Copenhagen, Denmark, where their plan initially met with strong opposition. When asked by a court official how they would support themselves, Nitschmann replied,
“We shall work as slaves among the slaves.”
“But,” said the official, “that is impossible. It will not be allowed. No white man ever works as a slave.”
“Very well,” replied Nitschmann, “I am a carpenter, and will ply my trade.”
After some difficulty, the missionaries found support from the Danish Queen (a friend of Zinzendorf) and her court. Even though the Danish West Indian Company refused to grant them passage, a ship was eventually procured. They left Copenhagen on Oct 8, 1732 and arrived in St. Thomas two months later on December 13. While in St. Thomas, they lived frugally and preached to the slaves, and had some success.
Some still say they succeeded in selling themselves into slavery and were never heard form again. But Nitschmann returned to Europe four months after arriving. Dober remained until 1734 when he was called back to Germany to become General Elder, a position he held until September of 1741. Other Moravian missionaries continued the work, establishing churches on St. Thomas, St. Croix, St. John’s, Jamaica, Antigua, Barbados, and St. Kitts. Moravian missionaries baptized 13,000 converts before any other missionaries arrived on the scene.
Dober served the Moravian Church in many places. He worked in Amsterdam where he tried to evangelize the Jewish inhabitants of that city (1738-39). He was appointed head of Moravian activities in the Netherlands (1741-45), then in England (1745-1746) and later in Silesia (1751-58). He was also ordained a bishop of the Church in 1747. After Zinzendorf’s death, Dober became a member of the Directorate of the Unity – a position he held until he died in Herrnhut on April 1, 1766.
Dober’s letter describing his motivation for going to St. Thomas says:
Since it is desired of me to make known my reason, I can say that my disposition was never to travel during this time [that period in his life], but only to ground myself more steadfastly in my Savior; that when the gracious count came back from his trip to Denmark and told me about the slaves, it gripped me so that I could not get free of it. I vowed to myself that if one other brother would go with me, I would become a slave, and would tell him so, and [also] what I had experienced from our Savior: that the word of the cross in its lowliness shows a special strength to souls. As for me, I thought: even if helpful to no one in it [my commitment] I could still give witness through it of obedience to our Savior! I leave it to the good judgment of the congregation and have no other ground than this I thought: that on the island there still are souls who cannot believe because they have not heard.
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A lesson from the Greenbay Sunday School in Antigua:
Herrnhut is a good model, don’t you think? Radical Christians crossing lines of nationality and race, prayer, community and imaginative mission worldwide. That’s good Christianity in any era! How are we doing?
Is God is calling you to some new obedience? What will you do about it? You can start by letting others know — even if it takes a long time to be sent into it, it is good to have someone backing you up (and maybe holding you accountable!).
As a lily among brambles, so is my love among maidens.
As an apple tree among the trees of the wood, so is my beloved among young men. With great delight I sat in his shadow, and his fruit was sweet to my taste. He brought me to the banqueting house, and his intention toward me was love. — Song of Solomon 2:1-4
All about John Donne (1572-1631)
During his 10-year service as dean of St. Paul’s Cathedral, the Black Plague repeatedly swept through London—three waves—killing tens of thousands with each recurrence. For months Donne thought he would surely be a victim of the disease, himself. This period was just one of his many trying times. Throughout his life, he withstood financial ruin, the destruction of his family, religious persecution, and other plagues. Yet, he became one of England’s greatest love poets, and one of the greatest preachers of the 1600s.
John Donne was born to an old Roman Catholic family when anti-Catholicism was running high in England. At age 2, his grand-uncle was hanged for being a priest. His father died of more natural causes when he was 4. His younger brother Henry died in prison, having been arrested for sheltering a priest. Donne himself, a noteworthy student at both Oxford and Cambridge, was refused a degree at both schools because of his faith.
Donne’s youthful response to these calamities was to reject his Catholicism. But neither did he accept the Protestantism of his family’s persecutors. Instead, he walked the line between cynical rebel and honest truthseeker, listing the pitfalls of various denominations and sects in his first book of poetry, Satires [see complete works online]. At the same time, he lived a brazenly sensual life, writing some of the most erotic English poetry ever written.
Sometime during this period, Donne converted to the Church of England, and in 1596 sailed as a gentleman-adventurer on a naval expedition against Spain. When he returned, he was appointed the private secretary to the Lord Keeper of the Great Seal, sat in Queen Elizabeth I’s last Parliament, made connections, and continued his lustful ways. Then England’s greatest love poet fell in love.
Her name was Anne More—the niece (by marriage) of the wife of his boss. As she was only 17 (Donne was then nearly 30), they married in secret. Her father was furious and had Donne immediately thrown into jail and removed from his post. Imprisoned, he wrote a characteristic pun, “John Donne, Anne Donne, Undone.”
Donne was quickly released. The lovers reunited and lived in poverty for the next 13 years. Adding to their poverty, Anne bore 12 children (five of whom died in childhood). Donne, plagued by headaches, intestinal cramps, and gout, fell into a deep depression. His longest literary work during that period was an essay endorsing and contemplating suicide: “Whensoever any affliction assails me, methinks I have the keys of my prison in mine own hand and no remedy presents itself so soon to my heart as mine own sword.”
During this time, he also began studying religion more closely. One of two anti-Catholic works he published, Pseudo-Martyr, earned him the favor of King James I because it argued Catholics could pledge allegiance to the king without renouncing their faith.
The object of his poetry now became God, and he employed the same degree of ardor and amorousness as ever, since, He reasoned, “God is love.” He took a page from Solomon, whom he observed “was amorous, and excessive in the love of women: when he turned to God, he departed not utterly from his old phrase and language, but … conveys all his loving approaches and applications to God.”
Thus, even some of his “Holy Sonnets” had amorous overtones:
Batter my heart, three-person’d God; for you
As yet but knock, breathe, shine, and seek to mend;
That I may rise, and stand, o’erthrow me, and bend
Your force to break, blow, burn, and make me new …
Take me to you, imprison me, for I
Except you enthrall me, never shall be free,
Nor ever chaste, except you ravish me.
Friends encouraged Donne, deemed by some critics to be a pornographer, to become a priest in the Church of England. Donne repeatedly refused, lamenting that “some irregularities of my life have been so visible to some men.” But when King James refused to employ him anywhere but the church, Donne relented. He was granted a doctorate of divinity from Cambridge and took his first parish job in 1616.
The following year, Anne died. Grief-stricken, Donne pledged never to marry again and threw himself at his work. It seems to have done wonders for his vocation. By 1621 he was dean of St. Paul’s Cathedral and the foremost preacher of his day. One hundred sixty of his sermons still survive.
Older John donne — Late 17th century copy of Isaac Oliver portrait.
In 1623 John Donne fell seriously ill and believed he was dying of the plague. Unable to read but able to write, he penned his famous Devotions upon Emergent Occasions. In it, he records hearing church bells tolling a declaration of death, which he mistook to be an announcement of his own demise. When he realized they were for another, he penned one of literature’s most famous lines: “No man is an island, entire of himself; … therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.”
Eight years later, the bell did toll for Donne, who died of stomach cancer about a month after preaching his famous “Death’s Duel” sermon. Though he has occasionally been accused of an obsession with death (a claim backed up by his 54 songs and sonnets, 32 of which center on the topic), his poetry, sermons, and other writings clearly show his affinity for what lay beyond the tolling bells:
Death, be not proud, though some have called thee
Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so …
One short sleep past, we wake eternally,
And death shall be no more; Death, thou shalt die.
An interesting bio from an English magazine editor:
What do we do with this?
Donne is nothing if not passionate. Consider how you FEEL about God and others—and your own plight in this world. There is the sense in Donne’s work of personal, heartfelt relationships—even in the poems there is often a dialogue going on, sometimes internal, often with a person outside the poem. What are your internal dialogues, in particular like? And how do they lead you to relate to God?
Write a poem yourself. What literary art would you use to express your longing for God and the feelings you feel when you live among the tragedies of life?
Then I saw another angel flying in midair, and he had the eternal gospel to proclaim to those who live on the earth—to every nation, tribe, language and people. He said in a loud voice, “Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has come. Worship him who made the heavens, the earth, the sea and the springs of water.”
A second angel followed and said, “‘Fallen! Fallen is Babylon the Great,’ which made all the nations drink the maddening wine of her adulteries.”
A third angel followed them and said in a loud voice: “If anyone worships the beast and its image and receives its mark on their forehead or on their hand, they, too, will drink the wine of God’s fury, which has been poured full strength into the cup of his wrath. They will be tormented with burning sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment will rise for ever and ever. There will be no rest day or night for those who worship the beast and its image, or for anyone who receives the mark of its name.” This calls for patient endurance on the part of the people of God who keep his commands and remain faithful to Jesus.
Then I heard a voice from heaven say, “Write this: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.”
“Yes,” says the Spirit, “they will rest from their labor, for their deeds will follow them.” — Revelation 14:6-13
All about Joachim of Fiore (1135-1202)
For most Christians, the New Testament book of Revelation has served as the go-to text for all things eschatological (the study of the end times). This was especially true of Europe in the Middle Ages. The leading authority on the matter was Joachim of Fiore, the legal secretary (notary), monk, abbot, hermit, theologian and prophet from Calabria, the toe of the boot in Southern Italy.
Joachim was a household name in his day for his alleged prophetic powers. He wrote many books, but his most influential was the Expositio in Apocalipsim (Exposition of the Book of Revelation), finished around 1196–1199. In this work he introduces his famous tripartite division of history into the Ages (each a “status”) of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. He taught the fruition of the Age of the Holy Spirit was at hand — an era in which peace and love would prevail, and God’s secrets would finally be revealed to the world.
While Joachim was being educated to follow in his father’s footsteps as a notary in the Norman Kingdom of Naples, he took a trip to the Holy Land and was never the same. Like so many people who made the pilgrimage, he had a deep, spiritual experience that changed his course.
After returning to Italy, he decided to live in a cave, located near Mount Etna in Sicily. He lived as a hermit there for some time, before transferring to a Cistercian monastery. The Cistercians were born out of a restoration movement within the Benedictine observance. In 1098 a group of reformers founded an abbey at Cîteaux, near Dijon, France. The goal was to revert to what they considered the original spirit of St. Benedict’s Rule in three main ways: return to self-sufficiency, simplicity and separation from the world.
Joachim chose the Cistercians to use monastic contemplation as a way to experience God directly. His choice also highlights his enthusiasm for the spiritual revival taking place in Europe at the time, which centered on a widespread preoccupation with the life of the Apostles. From the year 1000, more and more people began to reject what they saw as the degeneration of Christian life which had occurred in the centuries before them and sought to return to the example set by Christ and his first followers. Primarily, that meant living in poverty (as in Mark 6: 4-13), engaging in the communal sharing of goods (as in Acts 2:44-47), and itinerant preaching (as in Luke 10:1-24). Francis of Assisi may be the best known convert.
After spending time as a Cistercian monk, Fiore took up the life of a wandering preacher. In 1171, he was elected as the abbot of another Cistercian monastery in Corazzo, back home in Calabria. He was now in his late thirties. It was during this time he began to write (17 works are extant!).
Joachim was particularly interested in discovering the hidden meanings behind scripture. For Fiore and his contemporaries, the Bible was not merely a collection of works, to be read in light of their respective historical contexts. Rather, it was one coherent and unified Word of God. Accordingly, many believed it was encoded with theological truths, some of which could be discovered through careful study. Joachim’s discoveries often came via encounters with God’s Spirit.
Joachim illustrates his theory of the three overlapping eras of history.
Central to his findings was the correspondence between the Old and New Testaments. Simply put, Fiore believed the events recorded in the Old Testament prefigured those of the New, which in turn, predicted the future. This was linked to Joachim’s famous tripartite division of history, with each epoch corresponding to a person of the Trinity. Thus, the Age (status) of the Father began with Adam, came to fruition with Abraham and ended with Christ, while the status of the Son began with King Uzziah of Judah, came to fruition with Zechariah—John the Baptist’s father—and was about to end in Joachim’s own time.
The last point accounts for the popularity of Fiore’s prophetic message. According to Joachim, the Age of the Holy Spirit, believed to have begun with Saint Benedict of Nursia, was soon to be fulfilled. In fact, this would occur in the year 1260 — and people needed to prepare. Why 1260? Revelation 12:1-6 reads: “A great portent appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun … and (she) fled into the wilderness … so that there she can be nourished for one thousand two hundred sixty days.” It was that simple.
According to Fiore, in 1260 the Age of the Holy Spirit would fully unfold, ushering in a new world ruled by perfect, divine Love. There would be no more need for laws. Freedom, tolerance and peace would prevail. Life would be “without scandal, without worry or terror, since God shall bless it and He shall sanctify it.” At this time, the Gospel would become subordinate to a greater, “eternal gospel” (Revelation 14:6). Indeed, for Joachim, Jesus’s crucifixion was no longer the most important event in history. It was awesomely meaningful, for sure. But something else was coming. Something greater than even Christ himself. And that was the Holy Spirit, who would bestow on humankind a perfect and direct knowledge of God.
A 1573 fresco depicting Gioacchino da Fiore, in the Cathedral of Santa Severina, Calabria, Italy
Joachim became dissatisfied with his position as abbot, and received permission from the pope to once again become a hermit. In 1189, he built a hermitage (today, known as San Giovanni in Fiore Abbey). Since he had a number of disciples, it turned into an entire community of hermits. The strict regime that he set up for them was approved by Pope Celestine III in 1196, thereby creating the Florensian Order. He died in 1202. His remains were moved to San Giovanni in Fiore in 1226. His tomb is still visited there.
His followers continued and were called “Joachimites.” Many belonged to the new Franciscan Order. Some friars came to believe they had a special role to usher in the Age of the Holy Spirit, which was supposed to bring an end to the Church in its entirety. The ecclesiastical establishment found these ideas quite threatening. As time went on, Joachim’s prophecies came under greater scrutiny by the authorities. In 1263, Joachim’s writings (not the man himself) were officially declared heretical.
The influence of Fiore’s ideas lived on and can be seen to this day. The Third Reich and Marxism have been called versions of his “new age” teachings, and some see him as a foretaste of the “age of Aquarius” and other “new age” ideas.
More
A Catholic vlogger under the title Sensus Fideliumcomplains that Vatican II falls into the category of Joachimite excesses beginning in the 20th Century, quoting Pope John the XXIII calling for a new Pentecost.
Nice 10-minute comparison of Augustine’s and Fiore’s view of history:
If you want to know everything, this dissertation should get you there. [link]
What do we do with this?
Joachim had an international reputation in the late 12th century. He functioned as an “apocalyptic advisor” to a number of the popes of the 1180s and the 1190s. Despite living on a lonely mountaintop in his monastery in Calabria, the prophet’s fame had spread very wide. So it shouldn’t surprise us that King Richard the Lion Hearted, when he’s on his way to the Third Crusade and he has to spend the winter in Sicily (because you can’t sail during the winter on the Mediterranean), stops in Messina to asks for Joachim’s prophetic advice about what will happen. There are accounts of Joachim meeting with the king in the winter of 1190-1191. Richard, like any medieval figure, believed in prophetic visions which could provide guidance as to what was to come. One of the accounts says Joachim predicted a victory for Richard — and we know Richard achieved at best a kind of Pyrrhic victory. Consider your own experience with prophets. Do you despise them?
Scholars have traced how Joachim de Fiore’s influence has continued to impact Eurocentric thinking [see Paul Ziolo]. Our present Speaker of the House in the U.S. has been focused on the dawning of the Age to Come his entire life. [Rod’s post about this]. Ask Jesus how important his teaching about this is.
Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. — Philippians 4:4-7
All about Charles Wesley (1707–1788)
Charles Wesley was said to have averaged 10 poetic lines a day for 50 years. He wrote 8,989 hymns, 10 times the volume composed by the only other candidate in his league (Isaac Watts). He composed some of the most memorable and lasting hymns of the church:
And yet he is often referred to as the “forgotten Wesley.”
His brother John is considered the organizational genius behind the founding of Methodism. But without the hymns of Charles, the Methodist movement may have gone nowhere. It is commonly said, “The early Methodists were taught and led as much through Charles’s hymns as through John Wesley’s sermons and pamphlets.” Charles preached too!
Charles Wesley was the eighteenth of Samuel and Susannah Wesley’s nineteen children (only 10 lived to maturity). He was born prematurely in December 1707 and appeared dead. He lay silent, wrapped in wool, for weeks.
When he was older, Charles joined his siblings each day as his mother, Susannah (who knew Greek, Latin, and French), methodically taught them for six hours. Charles then spent 13 years at Westminster School, where the only language allowed in public was Latin. He added nine years at Oxford, where he received his master’s degree. It was said that he could reel off the Latin poet Virgil by the half hour.
Next, it was off to Oxford University. To counteract the tepid spirituality of the school, Charles formed the Holy Club, and with two or three others celebrated Communion weekly and observed a strict regimen of spiritual study. Because of the group’s religious regimen, which later included early rising, Bible study, and prison ministry, members were called “methodists.” John was included later.
In 1735 Charles joined his brother John (they were now both ordained) as a missionary in the colony of Georgia—John as chaplain of the rough outpost near Savannah and Charles as secretary to Governor Oglethorpe. Shot at, slandered, suffering sickness, shunned even by Oglethorpe, Charles could have echoed brother John’s sentiments as they dejectedly returned to England the following year: “I went to America to convert the Indians, but, oh, who will convert me?”
It turned out to be the Moravians who could do it. After returning to England, Charles taught English to a Moravian Church bishop, Peter Böhler, who prompted Charles to look at the state of his soul more deeply. During May 1738, Charles began reading Martin Luther’s volume on Galatians while he was ill. He wrote in his diary, “I labored, waited, and prayed to feel ‘who loved me, and gave himself for me.’” He shortly found himself convinced, and journaled, “I now found myself at peace with God, and rejoice in hope of loving Christ.” Two days later he began writing a hymn celebrating his conversion.
At evangelist George Whitefield’s instigation, John and Charles Wesley eventually submitted to “be more vile” and do the unthinkable: preach outside of church buildings. In his journal entries from 1739 to 1743, Charles computed the number of those to whom he had preached. Of only those crowds for whom he stated a figure, the total during these five years comes to 149,400. From June 24 through July 8, 1738, Charles reported preaching twice to crowds of ten thousand at Moorfields, once called “that Coney Island of the eighteenth century.” He preached to 20,000 at Kennington Common plus gave a sermon on justification before the University of Oxford.
On a trip to Wales in 1747, the adventurous evangelist, now 40 years old, met 20-year-old Sally Gwynne. They were soon married. By all accounts, their marriage was a happy one.
Charles continued to travel and preach, sometimes creating tension with John, who complained that “I do not even know when and where you intend to go.” His last nationwide trip was in 1756. After that, his health led him gradually to withdraw from itinerant ministry. He spent the remainder of his life in Bristol and London, preaching at Methodist chapels.
Throughout his adult life, Charles wrote verse, predominantly hymns for use in Methodist meetings. He produced 56 volumes of hymns in 53 years, producing in his lyrics what brother John called a “distinct and full account of scriptural Christianity.” Charles Wesley quickly earned admiration for his ability to capture universal Christian experience in memorable verse. In the following century, Henry Ward Beecher declared, “I would rather have written that hymn of Wesley’s, ‘Jesus, Lover of My Soul,’ than to have the fame of all the kings that ever sat on the earth.” The compiler of the massive Dictionary of Hymnology, John Julian, concluded that “perhaps, taking quantity and quality into consideration, [Charles Wesley was] the greatest hymn-writer of all ages.”
Of course: sing! Any one of the linked songs might help you feel the exuberance Charles is trying to stoke. Since we are in Lent, maybe you’d like a foreshadowing of what is to come with this karaoke version of Christ the Lord Is Risen Today.
It is worth noting that the French Revolution followed a year after Charles died — May 5, 1789. The Wesleys went with the opportunities their changing world offered and began their own version of the revolution. Many have argued that their spiritual revolution was every bit as effective as the political ones – maybe more long-lasting. It makes us wonder what we have to offer in our present changing world.
For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me. — Matthew 25:36-36
All about Caroline Chisholm (1808-1877)
Although we could place Caroline Chisholm in England or India, her heart mostly seemed to be with Australia most of her life.
She was born in 1808 in Northampton, England, the youngest of at least twelve children of her father, and the last of seven born to her mother. Her father was a pig dealer who fattened animals for sale. Her family was a product of the evangelical revival and influenced by William Wilberforce.
When she was 7 years old a soldier recuperating from his injuries came to live with them and he captured the little girl’s heart with his stories of the battles and hardships of emigrants to Britain’s colonies. He also told tales of the tremendous potential for those emigrants who worked hard to make a much better life for themselves than they ever could have done at home. After hearing these things, one of Caroline’s favorite games became “Immigrants” with boats she made out of fava beans. Her pocket money went to buy little dolls who emigrated to far off lands. Her mother was not amused when she spilled an “ocean” on her bed one day. After that, she played the game in the coal cellar by candlelight.
As a young woman she had several young men propose to her, but she made it clear she would only marry someone if she were free to carry out what she felt was her God-given calling to help the poor. She met such a man. In December of 1830 when she was 22, Caroline married Archibald Chisholm who was ten years older than she. He was an officer serving with the East India Company’s Madras Army and a Roman Catholic. Around this time, Caroline converted to his faith. They raised their children as Catholics.
In 1838, Captain Chisholm was granted a two-year furlough on the grounds of ill health. Rather than return to England, the family decided the climate in Australia would be better for his health so they set sail for Sydney and settled nearby.
On trips to Sydney, Chisholm and her husband became aware of the difficult conditions facing immigrants arriving in the colony. They were particularly concerned for the young women who were arriving without any money, friends, family, or jobs to go to. Many turned to prostitution to survive. Chisholm found placement for many of these young women in shelters, including her own home, and helped find them permanent places to stay. She started an organization to create and sustain an immigrant women’s shelter.
In 1840, Captain Chisholm returned to his regiment in India, but he encouraged his wife to continue her philanthropic efforts. Her singlemindedness is reflected in how her hometown newspaper quoted her: “I never can imagine that Almighty God sent females into the world to be cooks and housemaids all their days” (Northampton Mercury, 5 March 1853).
She set up a home in Sydney for young women and organized other homes in several rural villages. Where she knew there was an eligible bachelor, she would often place a capable girl with the nearest neighbors. This resulted in numerous marriages.
Monument in Woodend, Victoria reads: Erected to honor the work of Caroline Chisholm who established shelters, one of which was in this vicinity, for women travelling to the goldfields.
In March 1842, Chisholm rented two rowhouses in East Maitland, about 100 miles north of Sydney, outside Newcastle. She converted them into a single cottage to be used as a hostel for homeless immigrants who had travelled to the Hunter Valley in search of work. Now called Caroline Chisholm Cottage, it is the only building in New South Wales directly associated with Chisholm. Built in the 1830s, the cottage offers a rare example of early working-class housing.
During the first seven years Chisholm was in Australia, she placed over 11,000 people in homes and jobs. She became a well-known woman and much admired. She was asked to give evidence before two Legislative Council committees. She carried out her work in New South Wales without accepting money from individuals or individual organizations, as she wanted to act independently. She did not want to be dependent upon any religious or political body. What’s more, the young women and families Chisholm helped came from different backgrounds and held different religious beliefs and she did not need “authorities” questioning their propriety. She raised money for the homes through private subscriptions.
Her husband was forced to leave the Army for health reasons in 1845 and returned to Australia. They returned to England in 1846, where she continued her advocacy for Australian immigrants.
In 1854 Chisholm returned to Australia and toured the goldfields of the new Victoria Colony. She was appalled by the conditions of miners and their families. She proposed the construction of shelter sheds which received support from the government. Chisholm continued to work in Melbourne, travelling to and from the home and store which the Chisholms had purchased in Kyneton. Due to her ill health, the family moved back to warmer Sydney in 1858 where she recovered. Her health improved and she gave political lectures, calling for land to be allocated so emigrant families could establish small farms. She also wrote a novella, Little Joe, that was serialized in the local paper.
Her husband accompanied the younger children back to England in 1865. Archibald Jr. accompanied his mother on her return 1866. There, they lived in relative poverty and obscurity. Caroline Chisholm died in London, England on March 25, 1877, and her husband died in August that year. Five of their eight children survived their parents.
Here’s what the Governor of New South Wales had to say about her:
I expected to have seen an old lady in white cap and spectacles, who would have talked to me about my soul. I was amazed when my aide introduced a handsome stately young woman who proceeded to reason..as if she thought her reason and experience were worth as much as mine.
Caroline Chisholm did her utmost to encourage family life. By protecting immigrant women, she gave them the opportunity to become valuable colonists. She helped everyone, regardless of religious affiliation and she did this in spite of the fact it was improper for a woman in those times to be involved in the public arena. Caroline Chisholm was an inspiration to her contemporaries; even Florence Nightingale declared that she was Mrs. Chisholm’s friend and pupil.
The good done by the ” Female Immigrants’ Home” is but partially known. The following case, related to me by one of the committee, will show it to be a grand means of preventing the ruin of virtuous females. A few days ago, at a very early hour in the morning, there stood outside of the door of the “Female Immigrants’ Office” a tall respectably dressed female. At first Mrs. Chisholm took her to be a person looking for a servant, and accordingly asked her if she wanted one. She stooped her head, and made no reply. Her silence and the early hour at which she called caused Mrs. Chisholm to think that, instead of looking for a servant, perhaps she herself wanted employment. Mrs. Chisholm therefore said, “Do you want a situation?” The immigrant, for she was one recently arrived, expressed her assent by a slight motion of her head, and at the same time applied a handkerchief to her eyes. Mrs. Chishom took her into her own private room, and, to answer a call from another apartment of the barracks, left her by herself for a few minutes. When she returned she saw her taking a letter out of a bag, and the tears still dropping from her eyes. Mrs. Chisholm said, “Let me see that letter;” she hesitated. “Tell me,” says Mrs. Chisholm, “have you lost character?” She now spoke for the first time, and in the most feeling manner slowly said, “Not yet:” Being encouraged to speak unreservedly, she said that for the last three days her only nourishment was coffee; that the letter in her hand was the letter of a seducer, and that it contained a cheque for £20. Hereupon Mrs. Chisholm read the letter. It gave directions for the poor, the destitute, but virtuous female to go and reside in a cottage not seven miles distant from Sydney. Mrs. Chisholm placed her in the service of a respectable family in the country, and wrote to the vile fellow that, if he attempted to give her any further annoyance, his letter would be published. Had the “Female Immigrants’ Home” rescued from ruin but this one female since its foundation, it would have done much good…
Yours truly,
MORUS.
Cowpastures, 16th December, 1841.
World-famous French historian Jules Michelet (1798-1874) who died before Chisholm, said, “The fifth part of the world, Australia, has up to now but one saint, one legend. This saint is an Englishwoman.”
Charles Dickens, an admirer of Caroline’s, amalgamated her and two other women into the matronly but formidable character who is also a “telescopic philanthropist” called Mrs. Jellyby in his novel Bleak House (1852-53).
What do we do with this?
Caroline Chisholm talked a local government leader into giving her an empty barracks for a women’s shelter. We might want to consider how often we take no for an answer.
Chisholm had an idea of who she was as a child and organized her adulthood to obey that heavenly vision, even holding out for a husband who supported work women generally did not take on, individually, at the time. Are you underestimating how valuable your are?
