Our Church Speaks | Sadhu Sundar Singh in India, "No Quit"

 

Sadhu Sundar Singh by Ned Gannon, 2022 A.D.

"If we do not bear the cross

of the Master,

we will have to bear the cross

of the world ...

which cross have you taken up?"

+ Sundar Singh,

1889-1929 A.D.

In order to continue to learn what it means to be part of Jesus' Church historically and globally, Emmaus City Church seeks to soak in stories of people throughout the past millenia who have followed Jesus. One book that has been tremendous in helping us do this is Our Church Speaks: An Illustrated Devotional of Saints from Every Era and Place. The dear sisters and brothers included in this book shine with the humility and holiness of Christ, compelling us to:

"Pursue peace with everyone,

and holiness —

without it no one will see the Lord."

+ Hebrews 12:14

Here are some highlights:

+ Paul Miki, "God's Samurai" 

+ Absalom Jones, "Free" 

+ Agnes Tsao Kou Ying, "Stand" 

+ Óscar Romero, "Courageous"

+ Pandita Mary Ramabai, "Just"

+ Julian, "All Shall Be Well"

When we handed these books out to our congregation, this is part of the note we included inside each one:

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.

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.”

This post features an excerpt from Our Church Speaks so that you might encounter the light of Christ through someone who has stood the test of time to shine Christ's love on you.

Sundar Singh in Our Church Speaks

Sundar Singh

Evangelist and Teacher

of the Faith

Sundar Singh was a dedicated missionary who evangelized the East, living in simplicity as he shared the hope of the Gospel. He was born to a Sikh family in northern India. As a child, he studied with a Hindu sadhu (an Indian holy man) and was taught from the Bhagavad Gita, one of Hinduism's religious texts. At the same time, Singh learned English at a local Christian school.

When Singh was fourteen, his mother died. In grief and anger, the young boy took a Bible and burned it page by page. He searched for meaning in religious devotion and theological questioning but was left in complete despair. On the brink of suicide, he offered up one final plea that the true God would reveal Himself. In a dream, Jesus appeared to Singh. This singular event transformed the young man.

When Singh announced that he would become a Christian, he suffered abuse from his family and community. He was poisoned many times and had dangerous snakes thrown through his window. Nevertheless, he survived and was baptized at age sixteen.

Singh studied in Western seminaries but rejected the insistence that Western culture was necessary to spread the Gospel. Much of Western thinking, he concluded, conflicted with the Way of Jesus. He compared the hearts of Westerners to a stone in a river, that had:

" ... been lying a long time in the water,

but the water had not 

penetrated the stone.

It is just like that with the "Christian"

people of the West.

They have for centuries

been surrounded by Christianity,

entirely steeped in its blessings,

but the Master's truth has

not penetrated them.

Christianity is not at fault;

the reason lies rather

in the hardness of their hearts.

Materialism and intellectualism

have made their hearts hard."

Singh undertook missionary journeys across India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan, dressed up in simple robe and turban of an Indian sadhu and wandering without possessions. Barefoot wherever he went, he was called the Apostle with Bloody Feet. His message was the simple Gospel of Jesus.

"There is a deep and natural craving

in the human heart that

can be satisfied nowhere

except in God.

Most of us,

suppressing our deepest longings

and disdaining God,

seek satisfaction from this world.

Such a path can only lead to despair.

... Surely we shall find peace

not be eliminating desire,

but by finding its fulfillment

and satisfaction in 

the One who created it."

Singh was beaten up and punished often for his teaching. His teaching and conduct remained peaceful, no matter how much abuse he received. 

"The true Christian's life 

is like sandalwood, 

which imparts its fragrance 

to the ax which cuts it 

without doing it any harm." 

During a final missionary visit to Tibet, Singh disappeared while ascending a mountain in the Himalayas. His body was never recovered, and his disappearance and death remain a mystery.

Scripture

"Having persuaded the crowds,

they stoned Paul and dragged him

out of the city,

supposing that he was dead.

But when the disciples gathered

about him, he rose up

and entered the city,

and on the next day he went on

with Barnabas to Derbe."

+ Acts 14:19b-20

Meditation: 

All Grit, No Quit

What is your pain point when it comes to faith? How difficult would life have to be for you to walk away from Jesus?

When Sadhu Sundar Singh encountered Jesus, the transcendent beauty of Christ was something he could never quit. 

Both Singh and St. Paul (and others like Sts. Perpetua and Felicity) had the experience of being beaten for their faith and left for dead. Both got up and went right back to work. 

We practice this kind of gritty resilience in small moments of testing, where the path of least resistance leads away from Jesus. What small moments of testing are coming your way this week? How might you practice "no quit"?

Prayer

Almighty and everlasting God, You called Your servant Sundar Singh to preach the Gospel to the people of India and the world: Raise up in this and every land evangelists and heralds of Your Kingdom, that Your Church may proclaim the unsearchable riches of our Savior Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

+ Our Church Speaks,

pgs. 110-112

The Celebrity & The Saint

The celebrity demands,

"Look at me!"

The saint whispers,

"Look at God."

The celebrity says,

"Try to be like me,

but you'll never be like me."

The saint says,

"Why would anyone want to be like me?

Who has God made you?"

The celebrity is ever ascending,

climbing the tower of Babel

to the double-platinum throne.

The saint is ever descending,

saying, "Please have my seat, I insist."

The celebrity offers you everything

you want but can never have.

The saint offers you the thing you fear

but will redeem your soul.

The celebrity is a Ferrari

screaming down the highway

with music blaring.

The saint is the freshwater creek

beside the highway

that almost nobody ever notices

and is nearly impossible to hear

over the roar of traffic.

Yet the water murmurs

as it wanders over stones

and around oak roots.

It is not silent.

+ Ben Lansing & D.J. Marotta,
Our Church Speaks

Bonus Saints:

+ St. Moses the Black 

+ St. Hildegard of Bingen

Many blessings of peace and presence,

Rev. Mike “Sully” Sullivan

Email Pastor Mike | Website | Visit Us | Support Us

Holy Awe & Wonder | St. Hildegard of Bingen, "Life is Majestic"

 

St. Hildegard of Bingen by Nicholas Frizalone

"All of creation

is a song of praise to God."

+ Hildegard,

1098-1179 A.D.

Last time St. Hildegard came to mind, I had the privilege to preach on Hebrews 12:1-2 with Emmaus City Church (ECC) and Avery Street Church. The title of the message was "Let Us Run (Fixing Our Eyes on Jesus)" focused and how the "Us" includes the great cloud of witnesses who are the communion of saints, alive with Jesus and cheering us on in the midst of the mysteries of life.

And now this weekend I get to preach on Psalm 100 with ECC and Fairlawn Christian Reformed Church with a focus on awe. 

This post features an excerpt from Our Church Speaks focused on St. Hildegard who has helped me fix my eyes on the LORD and all that He has made again and again with wonder and awe (and who even had an exceptional spirit named after her in Massachusetts).

St. Hildegard of Bingen in Our Church Speaks

Hildegard 

Abbess of Bingen

Hildegard of Bingen was a prolific figure, active throughout her long life as an influential church leader: theologian, mystic, visionary, poet, composer, and scientist.

Since a very young age, Hildegard had been receiving divine visions from heaven. (Then) at the age of forty-two, she received a vision in which God unveiled understanding and wisdom about creation and the spiritual life. "The heavens were opened and a blinding light of exceptional brilliance flowed through my entire brain. And so it kindled my whole heart and breast like a flame, not burning but warming. The vision instructed Hildegard to begin writing down what God had told her over the course of her life.

Hildegard began writing down all that had been revealed to her over a lifetime of visions. Her writings were exclusive and covered a wide range of subjects, including botany, medicine, theology, and music. Her musical compositions are considered one of the origins of Western classical music. Hildegard believed that making music brought one closer to God. "Words symbolize the humanity of the Son of God," Hildegard wrote, "but music symbolizes His divinity." Hildegard collected her musical compositions into a large compendium, which she called the Symphonic Harmony of Celestial Revelations.

Hildegard is also considered the founder of scientific natural history. Her writings on medicine were widely respected, and many journeyed to seek her healing skills in using plants and herbs. She taught that because all of creation was made by God, all plants and animals had unique purposes and uses for humankind. She believed that scientific study was a critical component of the Church's holistic life.

Hildegard's reputation for wisdom made her a prominent leader in medieval Germany, and she was called on to resolve disputes among clergy. Today, she is among a short list of historical theologians officially bestowed with the title doctor of the Church.

Scripture

"When I look at Your heavens,

the work of Your fingers,

the moon and the stars,

which You have set in place,

what is man that You are mindful of him,

and the son of man that You care for him?

Yet You have made him a little lower

than the heavenly beings

and crowned him with glory and honor.

You have given him dominion over

the works of Your hands;

You have put all things under his feet,

all sheep and oxen,

and also the beasts of the field,

the birds of the heavens,

and the fish of the sea,

whatever passes 

along the paths of the seas.

O LORD, our Lord,

how majestic is Your name

in all the earth."

+ Psalm 8:3-9

Meditation: 

Everyday Majesty

When one of my daughters was barely a year old, she heard rain falling outside. It seemed a strange, unusual sound to her. She crawled to a window, pulled herself up, and peered out at the wondrous mystery: water was falling from the sky. She turned her head toward my wife and gestured toward the window with wide eyes that seemed to say, "Mama, can you believe what is happening out there?" My wife walked over and knelt beside her; cheek to cheek, they stayed for several moments, looking and wondering together ... My wife explained to our child, "We need water to live, and it just falls right out of the sky onto us. It's quite amazing."

We are surrounded by the

glory and majesty of

the natural world,

but many of us

have become so accustomed to it

that we not longer notice it.

Hildegard was blessed with vision. She not only had eyes to see the spiritual visions that God gave her, but also eyes to see the natural world for the glorious, majestic wonder that it is. When people encountered Hildegard, they began to see the world through her eyes. Her vision opened other people's eyes to the majesty of God in the created order.

Prayer

Almighty God, who inspired Your servant Hildegard of Bingen as she looked to You and who blessed her work with abundant fruit: Your loving hand has given us all that we possess. Grant us grace that we may honor You with our substance, and, remembering the account which we must one day give, may be faithful stewards of Your bounty, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

+ Our Church Speaks,

pgs. 156-158

The Celebrity & The Saint

The celebrity demands,

"Look at me!"

The saint whispers,

"Look at God."

The celebrity says,

"Try to be like me,

but you'll never be like me."

The saint says,

"Why would anyone want to be like me?

Who has God made you?"

The celebrity is ever ascending,

climbing the tower of Babel

to the double-platinum throne.

The saint is ever descending,

saying, "Please have my seat, I insist."

The celebrity offers you everything

you want but can never have.

The saint offers you the thing you fear

but will redeem your soul.

The celebrity is a Ferrari

screaming down the highway

with music blaring.

The saint is the freshwater creek

beside the highway

that almost nobody ever notices

and is nearly impossible to hear

over the roar of traffic.

Yet the water murmurs

as it wanders over stones

and around oak roots.

It is not silent.

+ Ben Lansing & D.J. Marotta,
Our Church Speaks

Bonus Witness:

St. Boniface Who Took Down Thor

Bonus Prayer:

Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,

thank You for welcoming us

into the whirlwind of Your holy love.

As Your family, may we become holy saints
who stand out in this time and place. 
The times when saints shine
the most are times of darkness.
Like the great cloud of witnesses

who have gone before us,

may we shine with glimpses of Jesus’ Light,
which darkness cannot overcome.

And as part of Jesus’ Church, 

our hope rests Your Kingdom coming.

The time has come.

The Kingdom of heaven is near.

We turn to You and believe the good news

that You will make us whole and holy.

This is the hope we have been born again to,

and this is what saints have embodied
as our sisters and brothers across time,
ethnicities, Christian traditions,
nationalities, and more.

As we step into this next season,
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.”

Amen.

Many blessings of peace and presence,

Rev. Mike “Sully” Sullivan

Email Pastor Mike | Website | Visit Us | Support Us

Our Church Speaks | Joan of Arc in France, "I Am Not Afraid"

 

Joan of Arc in Our Church Speaks

"Go forward bravely.

Fear nothing.

Trust in God."

+ St. Joan of Arc,

1412-1431 A.D.

In preparation for this renowned saint's feast today, Saturday, May 30th, I am returning again to Our Church Speaks to recognize the courage of a young woman who had no fear in the face of death and darkness. 

Joan of Arc

Mystic & Soldier

When the French cried out to God for deliverance from English oppressors, God raised up a humble peasant girl named Joan as His messenger. Joan lived in a farming region of northeast France during the Hundred Years' War. In this war, English nobility with ancient Norman / French ancestry fought with native French over land and property. The French peasants suffered many evils while the nobility fought over ancient claims. By the time Joan was thirteen, England had gained the upper hand in the war. God began speaking to Joan at this time through the voices of angels and saints. God was grieved by the injustice suffered by the French people and had heard their prayers. He gave Joan a daunting mission: she was to install an embattled Prince Charles as the next king of France and lead France to victory over their oppressors.

At age sixteen, Joan put on armor and journeyed eleven days to Charles's court. She told Charles that he was destined by God to be king and asked for an army that she would lead to liberate the city of Orléans. This bold, unprecedented act was bizarre to all at Charles's court. Charles's advisers said Joan was a delusional teenager. Charles ignored them and gave Joan an army. Riding a white horse, Joan led the French to victory over the English at Orléans, and Charles was crowned king. The tide of the war was turned.

God must be served first.

I have a good Master, that is God; 

it is to Him I look in everything 

and to none other.

Joan continued to receive visions and fight against English oppression. At age nineteen, she was captured by the English and condemned to death for witchcraft and heresy. 

When the English judges asked if she believed she was in God's grace, Joan replied brilliantly (i.e. shining, to sparkle):

If I am not (in God's grace),

may God put me there;

and if I am,

may God so keep me.

As the flames consumed Joan's body, she issued her final words, calling on the name of Jesus. An English soldier said to those nearby, "God forgive us: we have burned a saint." Twenty-five years after her death, a Church investigation exonerated Joan of heresy. In 1920, the Roman Catholic Church officially recognized Joan of Arc as a saint.

Scripture

"Let no one despise you

for your youth,

but set the believers an example

in speech, in conduct, in love,

in faith, in purity."

+ 1 Timothy 4:12

Meditation: 

Too Young to Be Used by God?

Joseph, Samuel, Ruth, David, Esther, Daniel, Mary, John, Timothy — what do they have in common? They were all "too young" for the work God called them to. The Lord calls and uses all types, young and old, men and women, rich and poor; but the too-young seem to have a special place of affection in His heart. The too-young person is obviously inadequate; they don't have enough life experience to be wise, and they rarely have enough resources to be effective. The too-young are, therefore, often the perfect kind of person for God to manifest His strength in weakness.

It is common sense for local churches and denominations to have rules about how old someone must be in order to take certain steps: make a public profession of faith, be ordained for ministry, teach, lead, etc. But Jesus' Church must also remember that she serves a Lord who loves to use the too-young and therefore must always be ready to make an exception to the general rules and regulations. You never know when you might have another Timothy or Joan of Arc on your hands!

What if Charles had listened to his advisers and dismissed Joan as the inexperienced teenager she was? What if Pharaoh had not listened to Joseph? What if Eli had not listened to Samuel? What if Samuel had not anointed David? What if Joseph (and Mary's parents!) had rejected her? What if the other disciples had rejected John (who was likely somewhere around fourteen years old when he became a disciple)? What if Paul had rejected Timothy?

What if you do not listen to the too-young people who are called by God in your life? What opportunity might you or your congregation miss if you are not open to God calling the too-young?

Prayer

O almighty Lord, You were a strong tower to Joan of Arc and to all those who put their trust in You: Be now and evermore our defense. Look in pity upon all impacted by war, including the wounded and the prisoners, cheers the anxious, comfort the bereaved, succor the dying, and hasten the time when war shall cease in all the world, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

+ Our Church Speaks,

pgs. 103-104

The Celebrity & The Saint

The celebrity demands,

"Look at me!"

The saint whispers,

"Look at God."

The celebrity says,

"Try to be like me,

but you'll never be like me."

The saint says,

"Why would anyone want to be like me?

Who has God made you?"

The celebrity is ever ascending,

climbing the tower of Babel

to the double-platinum throne.

The saint is ever descending,

saying, "Please have my seat, I insist."

The celebrity offers you everything

you want but can never have.

The saint offers you the thing you fear

but will redeem your soul.

The celebrity is a Ferrari

screaming down the highway

with music blaring.

The saint is the freshwater creek

beside the highway

that almost nobody ever notices

and is nearly impossible to hear

over the roar of traffic.

Yet the water murmurs

as it wanders over stones

and around oak roots.

It is not silent.

+ Ben Lansing & D.J. Marotta,
Our Church Speaks

Bonus Post:

+ Trinity Wonder & Mystery

Many blessings of peace and presence,

Rev. Mike “Sully” Sullivan

Email Pastor Mike | Website | Visit Us | Support Us

Lent in BHM | Olaudah Equiano, "Abolition of Horrific Slavery"

 

The Interesting Narrative of the life of Olaudah Equiano, Or Gustavas Vassa, the African written by Himself

 "You nominal Christians!

Might not an African ask you — 

"Did you learn (the horrors of slavery)

from your God who says,

'Do unto (others)?"

+ Olaudah Equiano,

1745-1797 A.D.

As this last week of Black History Month comes to a close, Emmaus City Church is seeking to soak in stories of people throughout the past millenia who have followed Jesus. As these dear sisters and brothers throughout time and space sought to reflect the humility and holiness of Christ, so do we during this Lenten season:

Here are some recent highlights:

+ Absalom Jones

+ Sojourner Truth 

+ T.A. Dorsey

Why?

The times when saints shine

the most are times of darkness.

They give glimpses of Jesus’ Light,

which darkness cannot overcome.

That hope is what saints have embodied

as our sisters and brothers across time,

ethnicities, Christian traditions,

nationalities, and more.

As Sojourner Truth said,

"I will not allow my life's light

to be determined

by the darkness around me."

So as we step into this season,

our prayer is 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 a special 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.

Olaudah Equiano and William Wilberforce in Our Church Speaks

Olaudah Equiano

Renewer of Society

William Wilberforce

Renewer of Society

William Wilberforce championed the abolition of the transatlantic slave trade as a member of the British Parliament. But Wilberforce's efforts would have been in vain without the grassroots labor of women and men like Olaudah Equiano, who appealed to the consciences and pocketbooks of their fellow countrymen.

Equiano was born in the kingdom of Benin (now Nigeria). He was captured as a child and sold into slavery in the Caribbean. He was sold twice more and experienced horrific conditions. In 1766, he purchased his freedom, and in the 1780s joined the Sons of Africa, an abolitionist movement in London. His bestselling autobiography, The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano (1789), vividly depicted the horrors of the slave trade and called polite English society to come to terms with the wickedness it perpetuated. Equiano's autobiography also served as a spiritual narrative, detailing how he came to know Jesus and became active in the evangelical movement of the Anglican Church. 

Equiano's voice was a pivotal force 

that helped open the eyes of many

to the truth about 

the horrors of the slave trade.

Equiano, Wilberforce, and

many of their abolitionist colleagues

were driven by the evangelical 

conviction of the Great Awakening 

that called for the 

transformation of society

according to the character

of Jesus Christ.

"So enormous, so dreadful, so irremediable did the (slave) trade's wickedness appear that my own mind was completely made up for abolition." Wilberforce said. "Let the consequences be what they would: I from this time determined that I would never rest until I had effected its abolition." This great goal became a reality with the Slave Trade Act of 1807. Wilberforce also spearheaded efforts for global missions, the mass distribution of Bibles, the ethical treatment of animals, and many other reforms that we continue to strive to advance in modern society.

Scripture

" ... Who knows whether

you have not come to the kingdom

for such a time as this?"

+ Esther 4:14

Meditation: 

The Work That Is Yours to Do

Despite the omnipresent, omniscient, omnitemporal illusions that the internet and smartphones give to us, we cannot be everywhere, doing everything, all the time. You are always only in one place, at one time, doing one thing. Multitasking is a lovely myth, but in reality, it's just splitting our focus rather than working single-mindedly on one task at a time. When we do this, the quality of our work suffers.

If you are to resist the natural tendency to be mediocre at many things and instead do one thing with excellence, then you must face the limiting question, "What work is yours to do?" It's a question that nudges you to examine your sphere of influence. Where are you? When are you? What opportunities are available? What urgent needs might you address?

Frederick Buechner 

describes a vocation this way:

"The place God calls you to

is the place where your deep gladness

and the world's deep hunger meet."

In order to do something well,

you must start homing in,

narrowing the scope,
limiting the field to

arrive at the work 
that is yours to do.

Both Wilberforce and Equiano burned with passion for justice to see the transatlantic slave trade end, and they had the position and the opportunity to enact change. How tragic it would have been if each had pursued different interests? How ineffective if they had pursued medicine, art, theater, music, architecture, and farming ... all at the same time? There were so many other good labors to which they could have given part of themselves. Thank the good Lord they said a thousand nos to nearly everything else so that they could give a full-throated yes to one thing. Of course Wilberforce and Equiano worked on more than one project, but the common thread through all their life's work was justice and the renewal of society. They found their vocation. They knew what work was theirs to do, and they did it well.

Dear friend, what is your work to do? What are all the places you need to say no so that you can give a robust yes to the one thing?

Prayer

Almighty and eternal God, who empowered Your servants Olaudah Equiano and William Wilberforce in their struggle against injustice and oppression, so fill our imaginations, so control our wills, that we may be wholly Yours, utterly dedicated to You; and then use us, we pray, as You will, and always to Your glory and the welfare of Your people; through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

+ Our Church Speaks,

pgs. 137-139

The Celebrity & The Saint

The celebrity demands,

"Look at me!"

The saint whispers,

"Look at God."

The celebrity says,

"Try to be like me,

but you'll never be like me."

The saint says,

"Why would anyone want to be like me?

Who has God made you?"

The celebrity is ever ascending,

climbing the tower of Babel

to the double-platinum throne.

The saint is ever descending,

saying, "Please have my seat, I insist."

The celebrity offers you everything

you want but can never have.

The saint offers you the thing you fear

but will redeem your soul.

The celebrity is a Ferrari

screaming down the highway

with music blaring.

The saint is the freshwater creek

beside the highway

that almost nobody ever notices

and is nearly impossible to hear

over the roar of traffic.

Yet the water murmurs

as it wanders over stones

and around oak roots.

It is not silent.

+ Ben Lansing & D.J. Marotta,
Our Church Speaks

Bonus Video:

British Black History Icon
Olaudah Equiano (1745 - 1797)

Bonus Trailer:

Amazing Grace

Next Post:

Taste Grace w/ Langston Hughes

Additional Lent Resources:

Holy Lent with the Holy One 

Ache for Meaning During Lent

What Your Sin Evokes in Jesus

Many blessings of peace and presence,

Rev. Mike “Sully” Sullivan

Email Pastor Mike | Website | Visit Us | Support Us