"Lord,
the task is impossible for me,
but not for Thee.
Lead the way and
I will follow."
+ Mary Slessor
1848-1915 A.D.
As we step past All Saints' Day and see the season of Advent on the horizon, we among Emmaus City Church are seeking to soak in stories of people throughout the past millenia who have followed Jesus, using Our Church Speaks: An Illustrated Devotional of Saints from Every Era and Place as our resource.
When we handed these books out to our congregation this past weekend, this is part of the note we included inside each one:
This might seem at first to be a peculiar Advent devotional. But saints often are peculiar people who stand out in a particular time and place. In fact, the times when saints shine the most are times of darkness. They give glimpses of Jesus’ Light, which darkness cannot overcome.
Advent begins in the dark. And we, as part of Jesus’ Church, are called to live as Advent people who anticipate Jesus’ coming into our darkness today to overcome it. Ultimately, our hope rests in the God of Advent who drew near to us in Jesus’ first coming and will come again to take away the darkness forever and be our eternal Light.
That hope is what saints have embodied as our sisters and brothers across time, ethnicities, Christian traditions, nationalities, and more.
As we step into this next year, our prayer is that we will shine all the more with the holy light of Christ in us and through us. And we pray that we “being rooted and firmly established in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the length and width, height and depth of God’s love.” After all, “the Father has enabled us to share in the saints’ inheritance in the light. He has rescued us from the domain of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of the Son He loves.”
This post features an excerpt from Our Church Speaks so that you might also walk some of this journey with us with reflection, prayer, and anticipation for how the Light of the world might shine in your life during this season.
Opening Prayer
O Lord, open my lips,
and my mouth will declare your praise.
Glory be to the Father, and the Son,
and the Holy Spirit.
As it was in the beginning, is now,
and ever shall be, forever and ever.
Amen.
 |
| Mary Slessor included in Our Church Speaks |
Mary Slessor
Defender of Children
Many Nigerians revere Mary Slessor as a messenger of mercy who transformed society through the gospel of hope. She grew up in a working-class Presbyterian family in Scotland. Family hardship forced Slessor to work in a factory as a child, but she resolved to become a missionary, no matter the obstacles. While working in a mill in Dundee, she studied African languages in her spare minutes at work, during walks to and from home, and in the late-night hours.
After years of study, Slessor got a teaching position in Calabar, Nigeria, in 1875. The Calabar coast had long been a center of transatlantic slave trade and had a reputation as one of the deadliest regions on earth. Though the trade had been officially outlawed decades before Slessor's arrival, the trauma of slavery left deep scars in the Calabar cultural memory. Slessor soon realized that her work in Nigeria would extend far beyond her teaching position.
Mary Slessor ministered
to those suffering from smallpox
and developed economic opportunities
to give women greater security and autonomy.
Local superstition considered twins
the offspring of evil spirits,
so the babies were abandoned in clay pots
and the mother was often put to death.
Slessor adopted abandoned children
whenever she found them
and preached the good news
that Jesus Christ had forever
defeated the world of evil spirits
and that a good and loving God
had reconciled the world to Himself.
Slessor gained respect among the locals for her humility, proficiency in local languages and customs, and ability to help resolve disputes among conflicting tribes. She settled among the Okoyong people, and her home became known as an outpost of compassion, healing, and the light of Christ.
Scripture
"Behold, children are a heritage
from the LORD,
the fruit of the womb a reward."
+ Psalm 127:3
Meditation: Defender of Children
Pharoah viewed the Hebrews as a growing threat to the Egyptian way of life, so he ordered all Hebrew baby boys killed. King Herod feared that a future king would arise from Bethlehem, so he ordered all boys ages two and under to be killed in that region.
In first-century Rome, it was common practice to leave unwanted children, especially baby girls, to die of exposure to the elements. Child sacrifice was common in the Incan Empire. Three thousand bones of sacrificed young children have been excavated in Sardinia in the Mediterranean. In China, there is a long tradition of valuing male children over female children. As the philosopher Han Fei Tzu wrote, "A father and mother, when they produce a boy, congratulate each other; but when they produce a girl, they put her to death." In Japan, the practice of mabiki, which literally means to pull plants from an overcrowded garden, was used as a form of population control. Parents would often suffocate their second or third sons. Daughters were usually spared because they could be married off or sold as servants or prostitutes.
On every continent,
in nearly every culture,
in every age, there is a tragic history
of the devaluing and killing of children.
In our own age,
abortions and child abandonment
continue this pattern.
This is one of the most important ways
in which the Christian faith offers
cultural critique and
seeks the common good
for every society it encounters.
When the church enters a culture
for the very first time,
one of the first things that
often happens is immediate advocacy
and intervention on behalf of children.
(Ex. see St. Cabrini in NYC)
This is the story of Mary Slessor,
and she stands in a long, diverse,
beautiful tradition of elevating children
to a place of equal value
in the eyes of adults.
Followers of Jesus do this not only because our Lord said, "Let the little children come to Me and do not hinder them" (Matthew 19:14), but also because in the incarnation of the Son of God, the second person of the Holy Trinity became a human baby.
The birth of Christ,
the Word made flesh,
dignifies all children
everywhere.
Prayer
O God, You desire that all people be saved and come to knowledge of the truth. Just as You prospered the ministry of Mary Slessor in Nigeria, so prosper all those who live, preach, and teach the gospel at home and in distant lands; protect them in all perils, support them in their loneliness, sustain them in the hour of trial, give them Your abundant grace to bear faithful witness, and endue them with burning zeal and love, that they may turn many to righteousness through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
pgs. 14-16
Bonus Podcast:
Bonus Video:
Additional Advent Resources:
Next Our Church Speaks Post:
Many blessings of peace and presence,
Rev. Mike “Sully” Sullivan
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