When I watched the television
coverage of protests in various states this past week, people demanding their
right as Americans to be free and live as they please, defying social
distancing guidelines, I knew I had to write about a sermon I have been
listening to over recent months. Peter
Marshall, its preacher, delivered Trial By Fire in the last months of
World War 11.
Marshall
came to America from Scotland with five
dollars in his pocket and no real plans; however, he also came with an
assurance that God was leading him to make this journey after he and his mother
had been praying about his future. Initially
digging ditches not far from his Ellis Island entrance, he went to Birmingham,
Alabama, where two friends from Scotland had settled. His gifts were recognized by his
participation in a men’s Bible study group at his church, and they collected
enough money for him to go to the seminary.
He clearly was gifted by God.
After
serving at two smaller churches in the South, he was called to the prestigious
New York Avenue Presbyterian Church in Washington, D.C. Church attendance grew as reports about its
powerful new preacher spread. In 1947,
he was asked to be the Chaplain for the United States Senate. What had been a poorly attended few minutes
before Senate sessions became a compelling and important feature of those
meetings.
I
have listened to this sermon several times over recent months. At the beginning, Marshall quotes William
Penn: “Men must be governed by God or
ruled by tyrants.” He goes on, calling
Americans to be less concerned with their rights and more mindful of their
duties and responsibilities as citizens of this country established on Godly
principles. He quoted a Life Magazine
opinion piece exhorting Americans to move from a “lackadaisical”
Christianity to a stronger and bolder commitment to Christ and the
self-sacrificing life of faith Christ calls us to. This choice could lead to a “long awaited
Christian revival, a revival born in the hearts of its citizens.” I wonder where our country would be today had
these words and this sermon been taken seriously and acted upon.
How could these words be more timely to us
now, so much farther down the road away from Godly leadership and Christian
faithfulness to Christ. Please consider
taking about 27 minutes to listen to Trial By Fire by Peter Marshall. Let your spirit be stirred to meet this
critical moment in our country and the whole world fighting a deadly virus with the basic essentials of
faith: prayer, Bible reading, more prayer and much more of the Holy Spirit’s
presence in us and all we do. Let’s
seek the “simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ (11 Corinthians 11:3
NASB) that Paul encouraged the Corinthians to remain steadfast in.
