And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. — Romans 8:38
All about Xi Shengmo / Pastor Xi (1836-1896)
The Confucian scholar Xi Zizhi became a Jesus follower after a failed attempt to pass the provincial level exams in Taiyuan, Shanxi. As he exited the examination hall, he received several gospel tracts as well as an invitation to contribute to a collection of essays on general moral and religious topics. This approach was devised by British missionaries, Timothy Richard and David Hill, as a way to open up dialogue with Chinese elites. Xi submitted several winning entries in the essay competition. When he visited the missionaries to collect his prize, he was asked by Hill to serve as his secretary and Chinese language tutor. Xi accepted and his new foreign friend soon helped him overcome his opium habit.
Xi became a Christian, changed his name to Xi Shengmo (“Xi, the overcomer of demons”), and returned to his hometown to convert his traditional Chinese medical dispensary into a church and opium refuge for others seeking to overcome their addictions. He was the first indigenous pastor in Shanxi province, immortalized in Geraldine Taylor’s biography, Pastor Hsi: Confucian Scholar and Christian.
Cambridge Seven
Xi was fiery. And while he did get into conflict with foreign missionaries, a long string of China Inland Mission (CIM now OMF) missionaries (including many of the famous Cambridge Seven) served effectively under his direction. His opium refuge played an important role in the early development of the indigenous Protestant church in Shanxi.
Xi Shengmo also wrote numerous Chinese Christian hymns, which were considered more to the liking of the local people than the hymns introduced by the missionaries. But perhaps the most notable thing about him was the way in which he led the Christian missionary work in his area. The general pattern was for Western Christians to enter an area, build a church building, and then train local people as pastors and evangelists. Xi Shengmo took hold of the work with such skill and energy that the missionaries stood aside, to a considerable extent, as he established clinics and churches.
One of the towns where he worked was Hwochow (modern Huaxian) in Shanxi. After his tenure, Mildred Cable, Evangeline and Francesca French worked there as missionaries for 21 years until they left in 1923. “The ramifications of the Church under the direction of the Chinese Pastorate, in immediate succession to the foundation as laid by Pastor Hsi … were the joy and gratification of the whole community.” (Through Jade Gate and Central Asia; by M. Cable & F. French, p. 16).
Quote
At this time I still smoked opium. I tried to break it off by means of native medicine, but could not; by use of foreign medicine, but failed. At last I saw, in reading the New Testament, that there was a Holy Spirit who could help men. I prayed to God to give me His Holy Spirit. He did what man and medicine could not do; He enabled me to break off opium smoking. So, my friends, if you would break off opium, don’t rely on medicine, don’t lean on man, but trust to God. —Transcribed oral testimony of Xi Shengmo fromDays of Blessing in Inland China.
From failure and addiction, Xi was called to make a big difference. He even overcame the “foreign devils” and exercised his own authority. He says it is all because he trusted Jesus. Does his example move you to get beyond something in yourself and get into the mission of Christ in the world in some expanded way?
The church has been in China since the Early Middle Ages, if not before. You may know nothing about it. Here is a statistical overview of the present state of the church by Pew. It might help you get better acquainted with that branch of the family.
They came to Jericho. As he and his disciples and a large crowd were leaving Jericho, Bartimaeus son of Timaeus, a blind beggar, was sitting by the roadside. When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout out and say, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” Many sternly ordered him to be quiet, but he cried out even more loudly, “Son of David, have mercy on me!”
Jesus stood still and said, “Call him here.”
And they called the blind man, saying to him, “Take heart; get up, he is calling you.” So throwing off his cloak, he sprang up and came to Jesus.
Then Jesus said to him, “What do you want me to do for you?”
The blind man said to him, “My teacher, let me see again.”
Jesus said to him, “Go; your faith has made you well.” Immediately he regained his sight and followed him on the way. – Mark 10:46-52
All about Fanny J. Crosby (1820-1915)
Francis Jane Crosby wrote more than 9,000 hymns, some of which are among the most popular in every Christian denomination. She wrote so many that she was forced to use pen names lest the hymnals be filled with her name above all others. For most people, the most remarkable thing about her was that she had done all this in spite of her blindness. What many don’t consider is that she also did it in spite of her lifelong struggle with depression and isolation.
“I think it is a great pity that the Master did not give you sight when he showered so many other gifts upon you,” remarked one well-meaning preacher. Fanny Crosby famously responded,
“Do you know that if at birth I had been able to make one petition, it would have been that I was born blind? Because when I get to heaven, the first face that shall ever gladden my sight will be that of my Savior.”
Born in Putnam County, New York, Crosby became ill within two months. Unfortunately, the family doctor was away, and another man—pretending to be a certified doctor—prescribed a treatment that left her blind. A few months later, Crosby’s father died. Her mother was forced to find work as a maid to support the family.
Her love of poetry began early—her first verse, written at age 8, echoed her lifelong refusal to feel sorry for herself:
Oh, what a happy soul I am,
although I cannot see!
I am resolved that in this world
Contented I will be.
How many blessings I enjoy
That other people don’t,
To weep and sigh because I’m blind
I cannot, and I won’t!
She zealously memorized the Bible. Memorizing five chapters a week, even as a child she could recite the Pentateuch, the Gospels, Proverbs, the Song of Solomon, and many psalms chapter and verse.
Her mother’s hard work allowed her to attend the recently founded New York Institute for the Blind, which was her home for 23 years — 12 as a student, 11 as a teacher. She gave herself to poetry and was called upon to offer poems for various occasions. One principal considered her art vanity. But the prophecy of a traveling phrenologist, of all people, changed the school’s mind and re-ignited her passion: “Here is a poetess. Give her every possible encouragement. Read the best books to her and teach her the finest that is in poetry. You will hear from this young lady some day.”
That day came sooner than later. By age 23 Crosby was addressing Congress and making friendships with presidents. In fact, she knew all the chief executives of her lifetime, especially Grover Cleveland, who served as secretary for the Institute for the Blind before his election. After graduation from the NYIB in 1843, Crosby joined a group of lobbyists in Washington, D.C. arguing for support of education for the blind. She was the first woman to speak in the United States Senate when she read a poem there. She appeared before the joint houses of Congress and recited these lines:
O ye, who here from every state convene,
Illustrious band! may we not hope the scene
You now behold will prove to every mind
Instruction hath a ray to cheer the blind.
In 1844, when she was 24, she published a collection of poetry titled The Blind Girl and Other Poems (a bestseller which is still in print). She was inspired to write it when she was speaking about the value of placing blind children in an institution like the one in which she grew up.
The tears, warm gushing on her cheek,
Told what no language e’er could speak;
While their young hearts were light and gay,
Her hours passed heavily away –
A mental night was o’er her thrown;
She sat dejected, and alone….
Alas! How bitter is my lot
Without a friend—without a home—
Alone—unpitied and forgot—
A sightless orphan, now I roam….
But He who marks the sparrow’s fall
Will hear the helpless orphan’s call.
My mother bid me trust his care,
He will not leave me to despair.”…
How changed that sightless orphan now:
No longer clouded is her brow..
If o’er the past her memory stray,
Then music’s sweet and charming lay,
Drives each dark vision from her breast
And lulls each heaving sigh to rest.
In the poem, we can hear the battle she will wage the rest of her life with depression. She seems to be dealing with her automatic thoughts with poetry, music and positivity.
Another member of the institute, former pupil Alexander van Alstine, married Crosby in 1858. Considered one of New York’s best organists, he wrote the music for many of Crosby’s hymns. Crosby herself wrote music for only a few of her poems, though she played harp, piano, guitar, and other instruments. More often, musicians came to her for lyrics. For example, one day musician William Doane dropped by her home for a surprise visit, begging her to put some words to a tune he had recently written and which he was to perform at an upcoming Sunday School convention. The only problem was that his train to the convention was leaving in 35 minutes. He sat at the piano and played the tune. “Your music says, ‘Safe in the Arms of Jesus,’” Crosby said, scribbling out the hymn’s words immediately. “Read it on the train and hurry. You don’t want to be late!” The hymn became one of Crosby’s most famous.
Though she was under contract to submit three hymns a week to her publisher and often wrote six or seven a day (for a dollar or two each), many became incredibly popular. Crosby became known as the “Queen of Gospel Song Writers” and as the “Mother of modern congregational singing in America.” Ira Sankey attributed the success of the Moody and Sankey evangelical campaigns largely to Crosby’s hymns. They are still sung by all sorts of Christians all over the world as this sampling demonstrates (worth your 20 minutes):
At the end of her life, Fanny’s concept of her vocation was not that of a celebrated gospel songwriter, but that of a city mission worker. In 1880, aged 60, Crosby made a new commitment to Christ to devote the rest of her life to serve the poor. She lived in a dismal flat near one of the worst slums in Manhattan until about 1884 [note from Bowery Mission]. In an interview published in 1908 Crosby said her chief occupation was working in missions. She was aware of the great needs of immigrants and the urban poor, and was passionate to help those around her through urban rescue missions and other compassionate ministry organizations. This was a flowering of her conviction, not something new. She said, “From the time I received my first check for my poems, I made up my mind to open my hand wide to those who needed assistance.” Throughout her life, she was described as having “a horror of wealth,” never set prices for her speaking engagements, often refused honoraria, and “what little she did accept she gave away almost as soon as she got it.”
She could write very complex hymns and compose music with a more classical structure (she could even improvise it), but she preferred to write simple, sentimental verses that could be used for evangelism. She continued to write her poetry up to her death, a month shy of her ninety-fifth birthday. “You will reach the river brink, some sweet day, bye and bye,” was her last stanza.
Some people today look back on Fanny J. Crosby from a perspective of “psychotherapeutic holiness.” Their questions have merit, since many Christians deal with their depression with can-do religion, through spiritual bypass and by following examples like Fanny J. Crosby. But casting blanket aspersions might not be fair. Fanny had a genius about her, or a revelation that allowed her to pull health-giving decisions out of the air. Maybe, in her case, depression was just what she needed to perfect trust in God. At least that’s what she thought.
Your genius might present some problems for you, too. What is your best route to giving your gifts without denying the suffering that might diminish them or just might refine them? Maybe you should write a poem about that and find a musician to make it a hymn.
Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. — James 1:27
All about Menno Simons (1496-1561)
At the height of their persecution, one convert survived to give form and future to the Anabaptist movement. Menno Simons was a Catholic priest born in modern day Netherlands. While studying the Scriptures for the first time (even though he had been a priest for over a decade), Simons realized he was in conflict with church leaders about transubstantiation. A few years later, around 1531, Simons heard about “rebaptizing” when Sicke Snijder was beheaded, the first Anabaptist martyr in the Netherlands. He was moved to study and found that infant baptism was not in the Bible. He began having more contact with Anabaptists, and while the date of his own adult baptism is not known, those who harbored Simons were arrested for the offense.
The Mennonites, a religious group descended from the 16th century Anabaptists, take their name from Menno Simons. His moderation, after the militant excesses of the fanatical Anabaptist Kingdom of Munster (1534 – 35), restored balance to the movement.
As Simons’ influence increased over the years, the Dutch Anabaptists became known as Mennonites. They developed a distinctive focus on evangelism. The most celebrated of Simons’ work: Why I Do Not Cease Teaching and Writing (1539) reads,
True evangelical faith is of such a nature it cannot lie dormant, but spreads itself out in all kinds of righteousness and fruits of love; it dies to flesh and blood; it destroys all lusts and forbidden desires; it seeks, serves and fears God in its inmost soul; it clothes the naked; it feeds the hungry; it comforts the sorrowful; it shelters the destitute; it aids and consoles the sad; it does good to those who do it harm; it serves those that harm it; it prays for those who persecute it; it teaches, admonishes and judges us with the Word of the Lord; it seeks those who are lost; it binds up what is wounded; it heals the sick; it saves what is strong (sound); it becomes all things to all people.
The Mennonites rejected infant baptism, the swearing of oaths, military service, and worldliness. They practiced strong church discipline in their congregations and lived simple, honest, loving lives in emulation of the earliest Christians. Because Mennonites refused to assume state offices, to serve as police or soldiers, or to take oaths of loyalty, they were considered subversive and as such severely persecuted. These persecutions led at various times to the emigration of Mennonite groups, such as one group’s escape to the American colonies (1683), where they settled in what came to be known as Germantown, now a neighborhood in Philadelphia. At the end of the 18th Century, merging this Anabaptist stream with influence from the Pietist movement, the River Brethren (later to birth the Brethren In Christ) were formed.
Menno Simons died a free man of natural causes on this day in 1561, 25 years after he had renounced his priestly vows. He was buried in his personal garden.
Read through the excerpt from the writings of Menno Simons again. Maybe we should all take a “dormancy” test. Are there an elements of the true evangelical faith that are less active in you or us than they ought to be? Does our relative lack of persecution quench the Spirit among us?
Now during those days he went out to the mountain to pray; and he spent the night in prayer to God. And when day came, he called his disciples and chose twelve of them, whom he also named apostles: Simon, whom he named Peter, and his brother Andrew, and James, and John, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas, and James son of Alphaeus, and Simon, who was called the Zealot, and Judas son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor. – Luke 6:12-16
Then Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, “If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” They answered him, “We are descendants of Abraham and have never been slaves to anyone. What do you mean by saying, ‘You will be made free’?”
Jesus answered them, “Very truly, I tell you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not have a permanent place in the household; the son has a place there forever. So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed. – John 8:31-36
All about Mother Seton (1774-1821)
On the eleventh day of Christmas, many Catholics and Episcopalians honor Elizabeth Seton, or Mother Seton, who was the first native-born American to be canonized as a saint. [Info from the shrine]
Elizabeth Ann Bayley was born in New York City on August 28, 1774 to a prominent Episcopal family, and lost her mother at the age of three. In 1794, at the age of 19, Elizabeth married William Magee Seton, a wealthy businessman with whom she had five children. William died in 1803 of tuberculosis, exacerbated by his financial misfortunes, leaving Elizabeth as a young widow. After discovering Catholicism in Italy, where her husband had died after an attempt at convalescence, Elizabeth returned to the United States and entered the Catholic Church in 1805 in New York.
After a number of difficult years, Elizabeth moved in 1809 to Emmitsburg, Maryland, where she founded the Sisters of Charity of St. Joseph’s, the first community for religious women established in the United States. She also began St. Joseph’s Academy and Free School, planting the seeds of Catholic education in the United States. Her legacy now includes religious houses in the United States and Canada, whose members work on the unmet needs of people living in poverty in North America and beyond.
Mother Seton, as she is often called, was canonized on Sunday, September 14, 1975 in St. Peter’s Square by Pope Paul VI. Her remains are entombed in Emmitsburg in the Basilica at the National Shrine that bears her name.
Quotes:
The accidents of life separate us from our dearest friends, but let us not despair. God is like a looking glass in which souls see each other. The more we are united to Him by love, the nearer we are to those who belong to Him.
The first end I propose in our daily work is to do the will of God; secondly, to do it in the manner he wills it; and thirdly to do it because it is his will.
More
Everything you need to know from the shrine in Emmitsburg, MD [link].
More from Seton Hall University in NJ [link}. Most people explore their basketball team [link].
She’s recognized by the National Women’s History Museum in DC [link].
Sisters of Charity of Seton Hill in PA [link] The federation that unites them with other Sisters of Charity in their network in the U.S. and Canada [link].
The Fifer — Édouard Manet (1866)
Also, according to the song, on the 11th day of Christmas my true love sent to me… Eleven pipers piping
The “secret” meaning of the song supposedly notes the eleven faithful apostles: Simon Peter, Andrew, James, John, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James son of Alphaeus, Simon the Zealot, Judas son of James (Luke 6:14-16). The list does not include the twelfth disciple, Judas Iscariot, who gave Jesus over to the religious leaders and the Romans.
Being faithful disciples is a lifelong matter and could be costly, as Elizabeth Seton experienced. On this day, however, it is kind of fun to imagine them marching through as pipers.
What do we do with this?
Pray: Thank you for choosing me. Reassure me of my calling. May I be free to live as my true self in your presence.
Want to learn more about the apostles? Here is a video narrated by a nice British accent. It has some disputable assertions, but is interesting.
Mother Seton was undoubtedly a good woman. However, she may have been canonized because the Roman Catholic Church needed an American saint. Regardless, she models a life of service to oppressed women and the poor. And she represents a person who stuck with her convictions when it was not easy to do so. None of us need to be sainted. But we will have a reputation and a legacy of one kind or another. What is yours? Journal a prayer about that.
Now you have observed my teaching, my conduct, my aim in life, my faith, my patience, my love, my steadfastness, my persecutions, and my sufferings, the things that happened to me in Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra. What persecutions I endured! Yet the Lord rescued me from all of them. Indeed, all who want to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. But wicked people and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving others and being deceived. But as for you, continue in what you have learned and firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it and how from childhood you have known sacred writings that are able to instruct you for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.– 2 Timothy 3:10-15
All about John and Betty Stam (d. 1934)
One of the most well-known martyrdoms in the history of Christianity in China occurred in December 1934, when a young American missionary couple, John and Betty Stam, were beheaded in Anhui Province along with a Chinese Christian named Zhang Shuisheng, who had pleaded for the Stams’ release.
John Stam felt burdened for China from an early age. People remember how he often reminded them: “a million a month pass into Christless graves” in China. He became an adult in the early 1930s when the whole world was in turmoil. In the U.S. it was the Great Depression. In China it was the rise of the Communists.
The Red Army grew in size and strength every day. Many missionary bases were evacuated. Stam considered these events as mere distractions to God’s work, and not matters which could force him to alter his commitment to Christ and to China. When he was asked to speak to the Moody Bible Institute Class of 1932, Stam gave this challenge:
Shall we beat a retreat, and turn back from our high calling in Christ Jesus, or dare we advance at God’s command in the face of the impossible? …. Let us remind ourselves that the Great Commission was never qualified by clauses calling for advance only if funds were plentiful and no hardship or self-denial was involved. On the contrary, we are told to expect tribulation and even persecution, but with it victory in Christ.
His future wife, Betty Alden Scott was the daughter of missionary parents in China, brought up with the Chinese language and culture. While she was attending school in the U.S., everyone expected her to return to China to start her own career as a missionary. Before she was appointed for service, Betty wrote,
I want something really worth while to live for. Like most young people, I want to invest this one life of mine as wisely as possible, in the place that yields richest profits to the world and to me…. I want it to be God’s choice for me and not my own. There must be no self-interest at all, or I do not believe God can reveal His will clearly…. I know very well that I can never realize the richest, most satisfying, life Christ meant for me, if I am not giving my own life unselfishly for others. Christ said: ‘He that would find his life shall lose it,’ and proved the truth of this divine paradox at Calvary. I want Him to lead, and His Spirit to fill me. And then, only then, will I feel that my life is justifying its existence and realizing the maturity in Him that Christ meant for all men, in all parts of the world.
John and Betty first met at the China Inland Mission prayer meetings at the Moody Bible Institute in Chicago. Betty was a year ahead of John. After graduating she made her way to Shanghai. John arrived after graduating. A year later they received permission from the CIM to marry.
The Stams were assigned to Jingde in southern Anhui Province, about 225 difficult miles and weeks of difficult boat and overland travel away from Shanghai. Communist activity in Anhui had lessened in the previous years, and both the Stams and their mission leaders felt the risk of an insurgency in Jingde was low. The Jingde city magistrate welcomed the Stams and gave a personal assurance that they would be safe.
In 1934 their daughter, Helen Priscilla Stam, was born. Shortly after her birth, Communists seized the “safe” town in which the Stams were working. The Communists would not listen to the pleas of the Stams’ Chinese associates, threatening them with immediate death. They had John write a ransom note, but it reached mission authorities too late to help.
December 6th, 1934.
China Inland Mission, Shanghai.
Dear Brethren,
My wife, baby and myself are to-day in the hands of the Communists in the city of Jingde. Their demand is $20,000 for our release.
All our possessions and stores are in their hands, but we praise God [we have] peace in our hearts and [we had] a meal to-night. God grant you wisdom in what you do, and us fortitude, courage and peace of heart. He is able—and a wonderful friend in such a time.
Things happened so quickly this A.M. They were in the city just a few hours after the ever-persistent rumours really became alarming, so that we could not prepare to leave in time. We were just too late.
The Lord bless you and guide you—and as for us—may God be glorified whether by life or death.
In Him,
JOHN C. STAM
According to one account, the baby cried, and the Communists discussed aloud whether to kill her. An old farmer pleaded for the child’s life. “It’s your life for hers, then,” said the Communists, and killed him on the spot.
The revolutionaries marched the “foreign devils” through the streets of neighboring Miaosheo. A merchant, Chang Hsiu-sheng, fell to his knees and pleaded for their lives. After they found a Bible and Christian literature in his house, the Communists seized him, too, and marched him to the hill where the missionaries were to be executed. John pleaded for Chang’s life. But a soldier cut his pleas short by slashing his throat. At that, Betty fell to her knees, shuddering once before the blade severed her neck. The Red Army executed Chang the next day.
A Chinese evangelist named Lo arrived in Miaoshou the day following the martyrdom. He lovingly sewed their heads back onto their necks so that those seeing them would not be too upset and prepared them for burial. The people of Miaoshou came out in large numbers to watch the funeral. The bold evangelist addressed the crowd:
You have seen these wounded bodies, and you pity our friends for their suffering and death. But you should know that they are children of God. Their spirits are unharmed, and are at this moment in the presence of their Heavenly Father. They came to China and to Miaoshou, not for themselves but for you, to tell you about the great love of God, that you might believe in the Lord Jesus and be eternally saved. You have heard their message. Remember, it is true. Their death proves it so. Do not forget what they told you—repent, and believe the Gospel.
Evangelist Lo could not discover what had happened to little Helen Stam. Nobody was sure if she had also been killed, or if the Red Army had carried her off to their next destination. Finally, an old woman pointed to an abandoned house and whispered, “The foreign baby is still alive.” Helen had been left alone for more than 24 hours, but appeared none the worse for the experience. Later, Lo found a $10 bill hidden inside the baby’s clothing, no doubt secretly placed there by her loving parents so that milk could be bought for her. Mr. and Mrs. Lo carried Priscilla many miles and delivered her safely into the hands of other missionaries.
Wheaton College includes interesting pictures in their recollection of the Stams [link]
2022 devotional biography with drone shots of China:
The same day news of the Stams’ death reached the U.S., John’s father, Rev. Peter Stam, received a letter from his son posted from China many weeks before. In his letter he told about the Communist threat, but reiterated his faith and commitment to serve God in China regardless of the cost. John Stam repeated the poem “Afraid? Of What?” written by E. H. Hamilton to commemorate the martyrdom of Jack Vinson in 1931.
In 1949 a U.S. Navy crewman, J. Patrick Jordan, visited a missionary family at Qingdao where he met another guest of the family, Helen Priscilla Stam, who had taken the name of the relatives who raised her lest she always be “the miracle baby.” Jordan remembered in 2005:
I was astounded listening to her story. Then I asked this sweet, cute 14-year-old a question: “After all your parents and you went through, and after their being beheaded and you suddenly made an orphan, what are your feelings toward the Chinese now? Do you hate them?” She immediately responded, “Oh, I think they are just wonderful. I love them.” And then she said to me, “Just think, I am alive today because a Chinese man took my place and died for me.”
What do we do with this?
Honor the young, who are always at the forefront of transformation.
Marvel at the conviction some Jesus followers are given to express. Their radicality nudges the “great middle,” where most faith lives, toward deeper experience and greater impact.
“Woe to him who builds his palace by unrighteousness, his upper rooms by injustice, making his own people work for nothing, not paying them for their labor. He says, ‘I will build myself a great palace with spacious upper rooms.’ So he makes large windows in it, panels it with cedar and decorates it in red.
“Does it make you a king to have more and more cedar? Did not your father have food and drink? He did what was right and just, so all went well with him. He defended the cause of the poor and needy, and so all went well. Is that not what it means to know me?” declares the Lord. “But your eyes and your heart are set only on dishonest gain, on shedding innocent blood and on oppression and extortion.”
All about Mother Jones (1837-1930)
As a social reformer, Mary “Mother” Jones exposed disturbing truths about child and adult factory workers and miners and about perpetual poverty in the United States through numerous marches, demonstrations, strikes, and speeches.
The influence of Christianity was evident throughout her life. She received a Catholic education as a girl and became a teacher in a convent as a young adult. Letters and speeches by her, and those about her, were filled with the imagery of Christian beliefs.
Jones worked as a teacher and dressmaker, but after her husband and four children all died of yellow fever in 1867, and her dress shop was destroyed in the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, she began working as an organizer for the Knights of Labor and the United Mine Workers union. In 1903, upset about the lax enforcement of the child labor laws in the Pennsylvania mines and silk mills, she organized a Children’s March from Kensington, in Philadelphia, to the home of then president Theodore Roosevelt in New York.
Mother Jones surrounded by striking child mill workers. Source: Library of Congress
She wailed about the unjust experiences of the poor like an Old Testament prophet, often dressed in old‐fashioned black dresses that seemed similar to the black habits worn by the Catholic sisters that taught and mentored her during her early years. She was described by others as the “incarnation of labor’s struggles” decrying injustice and calling to account its perpetrators.
Hall of Honor Inductee: Mary Harris “Mother” Jones | U.S. Department of Labor
She was even introduced by the author Upton Sinclair one day as “Mother Mary” — an allusion to the New Testament Mary who gave birth to Jesus and intercedes for the poor. Sinclair, author of the exposé of the meat packing industry, The Jungle, used her as a character in one of his books and described her as “wrinkled and old, dressed in black, looking like somebody’s grandmother; she was, in truth, the grandmother of hundreds of thousands of miners. Hearing her speak, you discovered the secret of her influence over these polyglot hordes. She had force, she had wit, above all she had the fire of indignation—she was the walking wrath of God.” Attorney Clarence Darrow said of his old friend, “Her deep convictions and fearless soul always drew her to the spot where the fight was hottest and the danger greatest.”
Her use of the word “hell” is notable. Once she was introduced as a humanitarian and quickly bellowed “I’m not a humanitarian, I’m a hell‐raiser.” Two noteworthy quotes that peppered her speeches on behalf of factory workers and miners were “fight like hell until you go to heaven” and “pray for the dead and fight like hell for the living.” In 1902, a West Virginia district attorney named Reese Blizzard called her “the most dangerous woman in America” at her trial for ignoring an injunction banning meetings by striking miners. The title stuck.
As a passionate public speaker, some people thought she was “unchristian‐like,” mainly because she used name‐calling, profanity, and dramatic stunts for effect, such as parading children who lost body limbs as a result of accidents in factories and mines. She was compared to John Brown, the abolitionist who believed armed rebellion was the only way to defeat the institution of slavery in the United States. Whether she actually believed like Brown is doubtful, but the association made her seem disreputable. When confronted with the issue of violence in the labor movement she encouraged it at times as a necessary evil. She believed that martyrs died to overcome injustices and the causes she fought for were no exception.
Just a few months after her death, the singing cowboy Gene Autry recorded the song “The Death of Mother Jones.” The writer of the lyrics is unknown.
The world today’s in mourning
For death of Mother Jones
Gloom and sorrow hover
Around the miners’ homes
This grand old champion of labor
Was known in every land
She fought for right and justice
She took a noble stand
Through the hills and over the valleys
In every mining town
Mother Jones was ready to help them
She never turned them down
On front with the striking miners
She always could be found
And received a hearty welcome
In every mining town
She was fearless of every danger
She hated that which was wrong
And she never gave up fighting
Until her breath was gone
This noble leader of labor
Has gone to a better land
While the hard working miners
They miss a guiding hand
May the miners all work together
And carry out her plan
And bring back better conditions
For every laboring man.
Jesus was probably considered the most dangerous man in Palestine by the leaders who eventually killed him. Jeremiah was decidedly unpopular with the kings he exposed for their greed and oppression. If we, as Jesus followers, are not at odds with the powers-that-be, or even a threat to the corrupt ones, we might not be too serious about being seeds of redemption planted in the soil of a fallen world. Consider who God wants you to stand with and stand up for.
Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding in his hand the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain. He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years and threw him into the pit and locked and sealed it over him, so that he would deceive the nations no more, until the thousand years were ended. After that he must be let out for a little while.
Then I saw thrones, and those seated on them were given authority to judge. I also saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their testimony to Jesus and for the word of God. They had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its brand on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years. (The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended.) This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy are those who share in the first resurrection. Over these the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and they will reign with him a thousand years. – Revelation 20:1-6 (NRSVUE)
All about Kil Sŏn-chu (1869-1935)
Kil Sŏn-chu [in Korean: 길선주; in Hanja (Korean in Chinese characters): 吉善宙; RR: Gil Seon-ju; MR: Kil Sŏn-ju*] is considered by many to be the father of Korean Christianity. He was a Presbyterian minister who was among the first generation of indigenous Protestant Christian leaders in Korea.
Prior to his conversion in 1897, Kil had been a follower of Zen Buddhism — some would say that is Mahayana Buddhism with a Taoist bent. He trained rigorously for 8 years. In a site devoted to Korean Nationalists it says during his training, “Gil Seon-ju obtained superhuman strength, such as skipping most streams, breaking a wooden stick with his fists, and floating in the air while sitting upright, and was able to communicate with the spirits of the sky.” When he came back from seclusion, he found, to his dismay, his best friend had become a Jesuit. He rejected his friend’s claims. But gradually Christianity moved him. Finally, as he told a European missionary,
I began to let go of the ropes I was holding so firmly on, and one by one the ropes loosened, and my soul hung in the air above the abyss. Then I fell into the swamp of loss, and the anguish was indescribable. On the seventh day, exhausted and desperate, I was in a semi-comatose state. I don’t know how much time has passed. However, in the darkness, I was suddenly awakened by a loud voice calling my name, “Guild Seonju!” and it rang repeatedly. I was sitting up, bewildered, when I saw something mysterious in front of me. What would you call it? The room itself was transformed and a glorious light shone around me. Rest, forgiveness, and affection settled in my soul, and the unending flow of tears proved this. Looking back now, I can say this. “Oh, what a joy! All my prayers are answered, and I have finally found the God I have been searching for for years.” I felt at ease in my father’s house where my sins were forgiven and I became a forgiven person.
Kil’s personal change paralleled the movement for Korean independence. The dire state of his people was personally expressed in his own dire state. The same year Kil became a Christian, King Gojong declared Korea to be an empire independent of China. This lasted until the Japanese annexation in 1910.
Jangdaehyun Church
After becoming a Jesus-follower, Kil Sŏn-chu served as a lay leader while he took a course of study led by missionaries intended for native local preachers. In 1907 Kil was one of the first graduates of the Presbyterian Seminary in Pyongyang. He was ordained as a pastor and installed in the Jangdaehyun Church, the oldest in Pyongyang.
No sooner did he enter this pastorate than revival broke out, the effects of which lasted for decades. Many see Kil as the most effective evangelist to emerge during this period. There was something stirring worldwide in the early 1900’s. In 1903, due to famine in the center of Korea, two local revivals were experienced in a Presbyterian church near Seoul and in a Methodist church in Wonsan. The Azusa Street revival started in 1905. In the fall of 1906, Korean Christians began hearing reports about the Welsh revival (1904–1905) and the Kassia Hills revival in India (1905–1906). They desired a similar experience.
In January 1907, across two weeks, the Presbyterian seminary in Pyongyang held a Bible conference of about 1500 Korean men. On Sunday, January 6, 1907, foreign and Korean Christians gathered at Jangdaehyun for an evening meeting during which the Holy Spirit moved through the congregation and a chain reaction of public repentance followed, beginning with Kil Sŏn-chu. At the conference, through his dynamic preaching and his personal confession, hundreds of others followed his example. This movement continued in meetings in Pyongyang and other nearby cities for months.
The Pyongyang revival resulted in an increase in the number of new Protestant converts and the growing establishment of Korean Christianity led by Korean Protestants. It also introduced key aspects of Korean Protestant Christian spirituality, such as early morning prayer and all-night prayer, which were also a feature of Kil’s Zen disciplines .
One of Kil’s significant contributions to the ongoing outbreak of faith in Korea was his role in establishing the Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) in Korea. The YMCA played a significant role in the Korean independence movement by providing a space for Koreans to gather, organize, and exchange ideas. The organization promoted education, social reform, and Christian values, which resonated with many Koreans who were looking for ways to challenge Japanese colonial rule and assert their national identity. Through his work with the YMCA, Kil helped to create a network of Christian leaders who would play a key role in shaping the future of Korea.
1919 protest march in Seoul
Kil’s strong faith and zeal often took him beyond the immediate confines of the church. He was one of the first to sign Korea’s Declaration of Independence in 1919. March 1st is a national holiday in Korea known as Samiljeol (March First Movement) which commemorates the protests which began in Seoul on March 1, 1919, when millions of Koreans peacefully demonstrated for independence from Japanese colonial rule. Some of their fervor was inspired by the “right to self-determination” enshrined in President Woodrow Wilson’s post-WW1 “Fourteen Points.” The protests were one of the first and most significant nonviolent demonstrations against Japanese rule and encouraged similar movements elsewhere in the world. The Japanese jailed Kil for his participation.
During his 2 ½ years in prison Kil developed his own concept of eschatology and propagated the gospel of Jesus’ coming being followed by the millennial and eternal world. His views reflected the popularity of dispensational theology, especially in the United States, but with a distinctly Korean and Chinese twist. His teaching also resembled that of Joachim de Fiore. Upon his return to Jungdaehyun church, he began to preach fervently about the second coming of Christ.
Nearly blind by that time, Kil Sŏn-chu led Bible studies across the country. His preaching contributed to the trouble brewing in his home church. In 1926 young people imbued with socialist ideas (paralleling the rise of Mao Tse-tung) distributed leaflets criticizing Kil for not accurately announcing the ballot count during an elders election. Afterwards, a dispute arose between the old faction supporting Kil Son-chu and the new faction. In the end, the Pyongyang presbytery forced Kil to resign in October 1931, and he built a new church in downtown Pyongyang.
The following video, The 1907 Pyongyang Revival, begins with a picture in which Kil Sŏn-chu is at the center:
Here is a link to a video about Declaration of Independence in 1919 by Arirang News, an international TV network based in Seoul. It provides English-language information on Korean current events, culture, and history to regions in South Korea and around the world [link].
* There are multiple romanization systems for Korean in common use. The two most prominent systems are McCune–Reischauer(MR) and Revised Romanization (RR). MR is almost universally used in academic Korean studies, and a variant of it has been the official system of North Korea since 1992. RR is the official system of South Korea, and has been in use since 2000.
What do we do with this?
Kil Sŏn-chu has a fascinating personal history which reflects the tumultuous time in which he lived. He is Chinese, Japanese, American, fully Korean and fully Christian. When the Spirit moves, he moves. When he leads, he does so with fervor. Although blind, oppressed by foreign powers and imprisoned, he does not give up. How would someone tell your story of living in troubled times?
Kil has been criticized for being less than revolutionary politically. His emphasis on the end times has been seen as somewhat reactionary and narrow theologically. But his influence on the church in Korea is indisputable. The foundations he laid resulted in several generations of church expansion in what became South Korea. Each of us may not get it all right, but, as Kil learned, the Spirit of God blows in unexpected ways and uses people in spite of their weaknesses.
“In those days, I will also pour out my Spirit on the male and female slaves.”
All about Sojourner Truth (ca. 1797-1883)
Today we celebrate the prophetess Sojourner Truth, who died on November 26th, 1883 at the age of 86. She is remembered for her relentless, Spirit-filled work as an abolitionist, women’s suffragist, and evangelist.
She was sold as a child into slavery in New York. She worked on a farm and often retreated into the woods nearby where she prayed to God by a “temple of brush” that she had made. In her twenties, she obeyed a vision from the Lord to take her baby, Sophia, and walk away from the family that enslaved her. It was a frightening experience for her to live out on her own, and she considered going back to work on the farm, but Jesus appeared to her in a vision and prayed for her, giving her the strength to continue.
After these and other experiences with God, she saw her life and ministry as uniquely situated to be a leader involved in two movements in the United States: the abolition of slavery, and the right of women to vote. As a woman leader and a former slave, she saw her gifts of leadership and freedom from slavery as something that God wanted for all women and all people who were enslaved. She used her life story and experiences with God as the basis for her political and theological views.
She is also remembered fondly for her straight-gazed challenges to live by faith. When some other notable abolitionists were advocating for violent uprisings to end slavery, Truth asked them the question: “Is God gone?”
Quotes
If women want any rights more than they’s got, why don’t they just take them, and not be talking about it.
That man over there says that women need to be helped into carriages, and lifted over ditches, and to have the best place everywhere. Nobody ever helps me into carriages, or over mud-puddles, or gives me any best place! And ain’t I a woman? Look at me! Look at my arm! I have ploughed and planted, and gathered into barns, and no man could head me! And ain’t I a woman? I could work as much and eat as much as a man – when I could get it – and bear the lash as well! And ain’t I a woman? I have borne five children, and seen most all sold off to slavery, and when I cried out with my mother’s grief, none but Jesus heard me! And ain’t I a woman?
Then that little man in black there, he says women can’t have as much rights as men, ’cause Christ wasn’t a woman! Where did your Christ come from? Where did Christ come from? From God and a woman! Man had nothing to do with Him.
You have been having our rights so long, that you think, like a slave-holder, that you own us. I know that it is hard for one who has held the reins for so long to give up; it cuts like a knife. It will feel all the better when it closes up again.
And what is that religion that sanctions, even by its silence, all that is embraced in the “Peculiar Institution?” If there can be any thing more diametrically opposed to the religion of Jesus, than the working of this soul-killing system – which is as truly sanctioned by the religion of America as are her minsters and churches – we wish to be shown where it can be found.
More
Nice resources from her home town memorial association in Battle Creek: [link]
“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. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.” — Matthew 5:43-45
All about Eberhard Arnold (1883-1935)
Eberhard Arnold was born in 1883 to a middle class family in Königsberg, Germany (now Kalinigrad of the Russian Federation). After a rambunctious childhood, he experienced an inner change at the age of 16. He felt accepted and forgiven by God, and felt a calling him to “go and witness to my truth.” He became active in evangelism and acted with compassion for the poor.
When he was 26 Arnold married Emmy von Hollander. They had five children. Both grew increasingly discontent with the new movements of urbanization and industrialization in Germany. They criticized the state church of Germany for various reasons. He became a sought-after speaker in his region. In 1915 he became editor of Die Furche (The Furrow), the periodical of the Student Christian Movement, and editor of the Das Neue Werk (New Venture) Publishing House in Schlüchtern, Germany in 1919.
Arnold supported Germany during the first World War at first, even enlisting for a few weeks before being discharged for medical reasons. He sent copies of The Furrow to young people at the front lines. The returning soldiers had a profound influence on Eberhard, and he had an increasingly difficult time reconciling the gospel with war.
During the war, the Germans sustained incredible losses. Afterwards, hunger protests and strikes were common responses to the political upheaval and national shame. Among groups working for change, the Youth Movement inspired Arnold with their love of nature, rejection of materialism, and aspirations towards joy and love. Eberhard and Emmy began meeting with Youth Movement people once or twice a week in homes.
At age 37, Arnold and Emmy abandoned middle-class life. In 1920, the couple, along with Emmy’s sister Else, moved to the village of Sannerz to found the Bruderhof (place of brothers) community with seven adults and five children. Their community was founded on the Sermon on the Mount and the witness of the early church. The community grew and needed a bigger farm. Eberhard’s writing continued and he became well-known. He began corresponding with the Hutterite Brethren, an Anabaptist group that had fled to and flourished in the United States and found common cause. The Bruderhof’s values now also included a common purse as well as pacifism.
The rise of the Nazi party was a catalyst for the Bruderhof to send their children (school age and draft age) out of the country. The rest of the community eventually also fled. During the travel Arnold sustained a leg injury that led to his death on this day in 1935. The Bruderhof groups re-assembled in England before being forced out of the country. The Mennonite Central Committee helped them relocate to Paraguay, the only country that would accept a pacifist community with mixed nationalities. The Bruderhof Communities are now in four states in the US as well as Germany, Paraguay, and Australia.
Quotes:
Love sees the good Spirit at work within each person and delights in it. Even if we have just been annoyed with someone, we will feel new joy in them as soon as love rules in us again. We will overcome our personal disagreements and joyfully acknowledge the working of the good Spirit in each other. — Writings
Only those who look with the eyes of children can lose themselves in the object of their wonder.
Truth without love kills, but love without truth lies.
Even the sun directs our gaze away from itself and to the life illumined by it. — Salt and Light: Talks and Writings on the Sermon on the Mount
We must have the love that exists among children, for with them love rules without any special purpose. — Salt and Light: Talks and Writings on the Sermon on the Mount
The whole world is shaking at its joints. We have the frightening impression that we stand before a great and catastrophic judgment. If this catastrophe does not take place, it is only because it has been averted by God’s direct intervention. And the church is called to move God—yes, God himself—to act. This does not mean that God will not or cannot act unless we ask him, but rather that he waits for people to believe in him and expect his intervention. For God acts among us only to the extent that we ask for his action and accept it with our hearts and lives. This is the secret of God’s intervention in history. — Salt and Light: Talks and Writings on the Sermon on the Mount
We kill at every step, not only in wars, riots and executions. We kill every time we close our eyes to poverty, suffering and shame. — Salt and Light: Talks and Writings on the Sermon on the Mount
We must live in community because we are stimulated by the same creative Spirit of unity who calls nature to unity and through whom work and culture shall become community in God. — Why We Live in Community: With Two Interpretive Talks by Thomas Merton
The Bruderhof website [link]. Bio from the Bruderhof [link]. History of the Bruderhof [link].
One of five interesting videos on Bruderhof history. Here’s one on Arnold:
What do we do with this?
Arnold was a deep thinker who was open to the movement of God’s Spirit. He did not just think, he acted. His life was an incarnation of his convictions. He formed communities that had an influence much greater than their size might justify. Let his example inspire you to express your own faith and devotion in your troubled day.
Escaping the Nazis proved fatal for Arnold. They were cast out of England and had to go to Paraguay. The trouble seems to have galvanized the Bruderhof’s convictions. What does the coming decade portend for us who love Jesus in troubled times?
“The coming of the kingdom of God is not something that can be observed, nor will people say, ‘Here it is,’ or ‘There it is,’ because the kingdom of God is in your midst.”
All about Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910)
Count Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy was the fourth of five children born to a family of old Russian nobility in 1828. His mother died while he was young, so he and his siblings were in the care of his aunt. His father then died, followed by his aunt and caretaker. He and his siblings moved under the care of another relative.
Tolstoy struggled in school. He eventually became a farmer until his brother convinced him to join the military, where his writing began to develop. He grew into one of the most celebrated novelists of all time. His two greatest works War and Peace and Anna Karenina are considered masterpieces.
After he enjoyed some success, Tolstoy fell into a deep depression that ultimately led to his conversion to following Jesus. He tried joining the Russian Orthodox Church, which he found corrupt. His treatise on this corruption, The Mediator, got him kicked out of the Church in 1883 and put him under surveillance by the secret police.
Tolstoy’s spiritual struggle with his role as a wealthy landlord and his desire to live as an ascetic. He decided to give away all of his money and renounce his aristocratic titles. He rejected organized religion and adopted a revolutionary Christianity that emphasized austerity. He ultimately decided to divide his property among his family, as if he were dead. His wife did not agree with his newfound beliefs, causing problems in their marriage. He took care of her by signing over to her the copyrights and proceeds from his writings pre-1881.
Tolstoy spent the rest of his life in a small cottage, helping the Russian working class and living simply. He inspired the creation of “Tolstoyan” communities, where property is held in common. It was during these last thirty years of his life when his richest spiritual work and international movement-building flowered.
In 1894 his magnum opus The Kingdom of God Is Within Youinspired practitioners of non-violent resistance, as it continues to do. Gandhi cited the book as one of the three texts that most influenced him. The two developed a relationship in which Tolstoy strongly urged nonviolence as a means of social change.
Tolstoy’s beliefs and regular visits from disciples plagued his wife. He finally fled with his daughter and began an incognito pilgrimage that he was never able to complete. He died on this day in 1910.
Quotes:
On revolution: There can be only one permanent revolution—a moral one; the regeneration of the inner man. How is this revolution to take place? Nobody knows how it will take place in humanity, but every man feels it clearly in himself. And yet in our world everybody thinks of changing humanity, and nobody thinks of changing himself.
On progress : People usually think that progress consists in the increase of knowledge, in the improvement of life, but that isn’t so. Progress consists only in the greater clarification of answers to the basic questions of life. The truth is always accessible to a man. It can’t be otherwise, because a man’s soul is a divine spark, the truth itself. It’s only a matter of removing from this divine spark (the truth) everything that obscures it. Progress consists, not in the increase of truth, but in freeing it from its wrappings. The truth is obtained like gold, not by letting it grow bigger, but by washing off from it everything that isn’t gold.
On passions: The whole world knows that virtue consists in the subjugation of one’s passions, or in self-renunciation. It is not just the Christian world, against whom Nietzsche howls, that knows this, but it is an eternal supreme law towards which all humanity has developed, including Brahmanism, Buddhism, Confucianism, and the ancient Persian religion. And suddenly a man appears who declares that he is convinced that self-renunciation, meekness, submissiveness and love are all vices that destroy humanity (he has in mind Christianity, ignoring all the others religions).
On Nietzsche: One can understand why such a declaration baffled people at first. But after giving it a little thought and failing to find any proof of the strange propositions, any rational person ought to throw the books aside and wonder if there is any kind of rubbish that would not find a publisher today. But this has not happened with Nietzsche’s books. The majority of pseudo-enlightened people seriously look into the theory of the Übermensch, and acknowledge its author to be a great philosopher, a descendant of Descartes, Leibniz and Kant. And all this has come about because the majority of pseudo-enlightened men of today object to any reminder of virtue, or to its chief premise: self-renunciation and love — virtues that restrain and condemn the animal side of their life. They gladly welcome a doctrine, however incoherently and disjointedly expressed, of egotism and cruelty, sanctioning the idea of personal happiness and superiority over the lives of others, by which they live.
More
The School of Life on Tolstoy:
A postmodern takedown if you feel like cancelling Tolstoy [2022 book review]
Depression led Tolstoy to faith. Often depression is not an enemy, it is our heart speaking to us about change, about redemption, about unknown possibilities. Consider your own depression. Some of us have chronic conditions that need the help of doctors. Others are self-medicating what needs to be heard.
After Tolstoy wrote his masterpieces, he found his deepest calling. While his literature remains influential, it could be argued that his influence for nonviolent resistance did more to change the world. What are you growing into? Do you dare consider what your legacy will be and who you might influence for good?
