Reflections

The Last Good Bad Hard Times (Part 5)

April 20, 2020

Written by Patricia Benoit

Yes, we’re hunkered down to escape present the spread of COVID-19. We can take comfort from our online connections such as Sunday worship and the Book of Common Prayer. St. Luke’s is alive, working and helping others. Our congregation is alive and open to the community.

So, how did other people in previous hard times handle real restrictions, deprivations and desolations?

Dust Bowl Support

During the 1930s Great Depression, John McCarty, a Dalhart newspaper man, formed the Last Man Club, a mutual support group for farmers who chose to stay in the American Great Plains in spite of the devastation caused by the Dust Bowl natural disaster.

He called their tenacity to survive through the drought, “Grab a Root and Growl.” The emphasis was on helping each other, sharing and sustaining.

McCarty wrote: “In the absence of an act of God, serious family injury, or some other emergency, I pledge to stay here as the last man and to do everything I can to help other last men remain in this country. We promise to stay here ’til hell freezes over and skate out on the ice.”

McCarty followed the practice of first-century Christians who shared what they had and trusted in God to provide, even in desolate times.

Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that openly profess his name. And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.

Have confidence in your leaders and submit to their authority, because they keep watch over you as those who must give an account. Do this so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no benefit to you. Hebrews 13:15-17

If Thou But Trust In God To Guide Thee

If thou but trust in God to Guide thee,
And hope in him through all thy ways,
He’ll give thee strength whate’er betide thee,
And bear thee through the evil days.
Who trusts in God’s unchanging love
Builds on a rock that naught can move.

Sing, pray and keep his ways unswerving;
So do thine own part faithfully,
And trust his word, though undeserving;
Thou yet shalt find it true for thee;
God never yet forsook in need The soul that trusted him indeed.

The Last Good Bad Hard Times (Part 4)

April 16, 2020

Written by Patricia Benoit

So, how did other people in previous hard times handle real restrictions, deprivations and desolations?

God Not Tempted

In 1920, a century ago, the state was gripped with the fear of bubonic plague, which has struck Galveston. The Temple Daily Telegram editorialized, “The presence of the bubonic plague indicates cleanliness necessary for persons and communities.”

Temple, a key railroad hub with a roundhouse and shops, would be an easy target for the next plague outbreak. Rail workers were tasked with fumigating railcars with a highly toxic mixture of cyanide and sulfuric acid – effective against plague-infested rats but extremely hazardous to humans. Cars were treated in Galveston and a second time in Temple.

The bubonic plague is an ancient disease. In a 16^th-century outbreak, churches and businesses closed, people were isolated and cities were decimated.

When Christian reformer Martin Luther faced problems of “The Black Death (bubonic plague)” in 1527, he refused to leave town. He decided to stay engaged with others, even at personal risk.

He wrote: “I shall ask God mercifully to protect us. Then I shall fumigate, help purify the air, administer medicine and take it. I shall avoid places and persons where my presence is not needed in order not to become contaminated and thus perchance inflict and pollute others and so cause their death as a result of my negligence. If God should wish to take me, he will surely find me and I have done what he has expected of me and so I am not responsible for either my own death or the death of others. If my neighbor needs me however I shall not avoid place or person but will go freely as stated above. See this is such a God-fearing faith because it is neither brash nor foolhardy and does not tempt God.”

Luther took the sensible precautions of his day, but ventured forth to help others.

Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms. 1 Peter 4:10

Abide With Me

Written by Scottish Anglican Henry Francis Lyte, the hymn was composed as he lay dying from tuberculosis.

1. Abide with me; fast falls the eventide; the darkness deepens; Lord, with me abide. When other helpers fail and comforts flee, Help of the helpless, O abide with me.

2. Swift to its close ebbs out life’s little day; earth’s joys grow dim; its glories pass away; change and decay in all around I see; O thou who changest not, abide with me.

3. I need thy presence every passing hour. What but thy grace can foil the tempter’s power? Who, like thyself, my guide and stay can be? Through cloud and sunshine, Lord, abide with me.

4. I fear no foe, with thee at hand to bless; ills have no weight, and tears not bitterness. Where is death’s sting? Where, grave, thy victory? I triumph still, if thou abide with me.

5. Hold thou thy cross before my closing eyes; shine through the gloom and point me to the skies. Heaven’s morning breaks, and earth’s vain shadows flee; in life, in death, O Lord, abide with me.

The Last Good Bad Hard Times (Part 2)

April 13, 2020

Written by Patricia Benoit

So, how did other people in previous hard times handle real restrictions, deprivations and desolations?

How Can I keep From Singing?

In the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries, traveling evangelists crisscrossed the county conducting revivals, preaching at camp meetings and baptizing anybody within a hallelujah shout of flowing water. This was especially true in Central Texas where a steady stream of religious preachers and musicians pitched tents.

Local farmers and ranchers, isolated by miles between homesteads, gathered annually for these revivals. These became part reunions, part worship and part good times.

Among those who frequented Bell County hinterlands was Ira David Sankey (1840-1908), American gospel singer and composer, known for his long association with Dwight L. Moody. Among their notable reunions were held in the outskirts of Salado, Belton and Nolanville in the late 1880s.

Sankey pioneered church music popular well into the 21^st century. Sankey witnessed and understood the hard times rural folks experienced, battered by the elements, poor crops, loneliness and harshness 19^th century frontier. One of his most enduring is “How can I keep from singing” with hymn text by Robert Lowry.

Jesus used isolation as a time for prayer and restoration.

Yet the news about him spread all the more, so that crowds of people came to hear him and to be healed of their sicknesses. But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed. Luke 5:15-16

Even in the dark lonely days, let songs help us find our new creation.

How Can I Keep From Singing?

My life goes on in endless song
Above earth’s lamentations
I hear the trumpets sounding strong
That hails a new creation
Through all the tumult and the strife
I hear its music ringing
It ever echoes in my life
How can I keep from singing?

And though the shadows gather ’round
The endless song it giveth
My strength within and joy abound
The world of truth it liveth
Though dark the night and long the road
I hear the music ringing
And with such power and grace bestowed
How can I keep from singing?

No storm can shake my inmost calm
While to this rock I’m clinging
How can I ever come to harm?
How can I keep from singing?

Then sings my soul with love profound
A fountain ever springing
Deep from the earth how sweet the sound
How can I keep from singing?

The Last Good Bad Times (Part 3)

April 12, 2020

Written by Patricia Benoit

So, how did other people in previous hard times handle real restrictions, deprivations and desolations?

Stay Strong

Easter Sunday, March 31, 1918, was a bittersweet observance, full of dark humor and gas masks on the front lines of World War I.

As First Lt. Sylvester Warren of Belton (1886-1945) wrote to his mother from his post in France, he included another letter from a chaplain, the Rev. Dr. Robert Freeman (1878-1940) who conducted Easter services.

As the U.S. entered the war, Freeman took leave from his pulpit to become a roving military chaplain to front-line soldiers.

“Now you might well have expected that these men would have come in gas masks to listen to me,” Freeman wrote, “but no, they are kind, even if they are funny. I have not had a better audience anywhere in France – keen for a joke, ready for a prayer.”

Freeman visited hospitals and bunkers during Holy Week and Easter. He viewed his ministry as “new congregations” composed of all uniformed men, hungry for the sacred word with “a good many lighter touches than the average homiletical lecture.”

“Here’s hoping that the solemnity of war may lift some of the solemnity from the church. You can be serious without being so fearfully solemn,” Freeman said.

By sundown on Easter Sunday, Freeman was weary and wary yet hopeful.

“We stepped out into the darkness with hearts all full of peace. It had been a good day, a good Easter! Then the drum-fire came rattling in from the east, and the sky grew red as if the sun had outrun his hour,” Freeman wrote. “But there, over against my billet, a great bulk stood silhouetted against the sky, hissing as if it were being teased into anger. I said my prayer of thanksgiving and turned to dream of a greater Easter yet to come, when out of the graves of the nations shall rise again the Son of God.”

Sometimes we are caught in difficult times but the love evident on Easter morning gives hope to a weary world.

African American writer Zora Neale Hurston wrote of her times in the segregated South:

Fear was the greatest emotion on the planet Earth
and I said, No my dear sista
Fear will make us move to save our lives
To save our own skins
But love
Will make us save other people’s skins and lives
So love is primary at this particular point in time.
Jesus urges us to love, even when times are tough and unfair.

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. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect. Matthew 5:43-48

Jesus Lover Of My Soul
Text by Charles Wesley, 1740

Jesus, lover of my soul,
let me to thy bosom fly,
while the nearer waters roll,
while the tempest still is high:
hide me, O my Savior, hide,
till the storm of life is past;
safe into the haven guide,
O receive my soul at last.

Other refuge have I none,
hangs my helpless soul on thee;
leave, ah, leave me not alone,
still support and comfort me.
All my trust on thee is stayed,
all my help from thee I bring;
cover my defenseless head
with the shadow of thy wing.

Thou, O Christ, art all I want;
more than all in thee I find;
raise the fallen, cheer the faint,
heal the sick, and lead the blind.
Just and holy is thy name,
I am all unrighteousness;
false and full of sin I am,
thou art full of truth and grace.

Plenteous grace with thee is found,
grace to cover all my sin;
let the healing streams abound,
make and keep me pure within.
Thou of life the fountain art:
freely let me take of thee,
spring thou up within my heart,
rise to all eternity.

The Last Good Bad Hard Times

April 10, 2020

Written by Patricia Benoit

So, how did other people in previous hard times handle real restrictions, deprivations and desolations?

At Night And In The Morning

On April 6 of this year, Maundy Thursday was the 75^th anniversary of the death of Christian martyr Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Imprisoned by the German Nazis for his involvement in a plot to overthrow the Hitler regime, Bonhoeffer devoted himself to prayer and writing, despite the hardships of prison. Between Christmas and New Year’s 1944, he wrote a poem to his fiancé and family as an intimate prayer to reassure them that that “God is with us at night and in the morning and certainly on every future day.”

For him, the story of the Nativity held special meaning every day of his incarceration:

The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel (which means “God with us”). Matthew 1:23

Eight weeks later, the Nazis executed Bonhoeffer, just four months before the Allies invaded Germany.

This musical version of his prayer was written in 1977 by Siegfried Fietz.

By Gentle Powers by Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Surrounded by such true and gentle powers.
So wondrously consoled and without fear,
Thus will I spend with you these final hours
And then together enter a new year

By gentle powers lovingly surrounded,
With patience we’ll endure, let come what may.
God is with us at night and in the morning
And certainly on every future day.

The worries of the old year still torment us,
We’re troubled still by long and wicked days.
Oh Lord give our frightened souls the healing,
For which you’ve chastened us in many ways.

By gentle powers lovingly surrounded,
With patience we’ll endure, let come what may.
God is with us at night and in the morning
And certainly on every future day.

And though you offer us the cup so heavy,
So painful, it’s the most that we can stand.
Not faltering, with thanks we will accept it
And take it as a gift from your good hand.

By gentle powers lovingly surrounded,
With patience we’ll endure, let come what may.
God is with us at night and in the morning
And certainly on every future day.

And should it be your will once more to grand us,
To see the world and to enjoy the sun.
Then we will all the past events remember
And finally our life with you is one.

By gentle powers lovingly surrounded,
With patience we’ll endure, let come what may.
God is with us at night and in the morning
And certainly on every future day.

By gentle powers lovingly surrounded,
With patience we’ll endure, let come what may.
God is with us at night and in the morning.
And certainly on every future day.