HALF-WHAT?

Is your life half-full or half-empty? Our answer to that rhetorical question depends a lot on our spiritual walk. That truth came to mind when I read the newsletter that came recently from a Bible translation ministry we support. A lesser person would have given up. But a persecuted man, who loved Jesus with all his heart, soul, and mind, persevered. Reading his story was a “wow” moment.

This man lived in war-torn Africa, part of a tribal community with a language only 26,000 people spoke. Hostilities became so intense that one day his family hastily fled their village with just the clothing they wore. For seven days, night and day, they walked. There was no food and many in their community died of thirst or starvation. One night, half way to a country which would shelter them, they heard gunfire. The group ran one way, but this man sensed a voice telling him to go another. Later he learned his family escaped an ambush that killed hundreds.

Settling into a refugee camp in another country, he started working with some Bible translators who wanted help with his language. Then, the translators had to flee to a safer area. Compelled to continue, he and another man rode bikes 200 miles to continue their work with the translators.

The rebels didn't give up, kidnapping this man and eight others from the translation office. One by one, they killed his companions. One night they came for him—but released him. More trials came his way, but he persevered in his quest to have the New Testament translated into his native tongue.

Thirty years after the translation effort began, the New Testament in his language was published and distributed in a great celebration. Of that event, he said, “At that time, I forgot all the challenges I went through.”

As I finished reading that, the words of Paul came to mind: “Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:13).

Working with the half-full glass of opportunity and skills he was given, he filled it with determination and faith. And finally, his cup runneth over.

A good message, I think, for the fears and inconveniences that have come upon us in the coronavirus pandemic. Half full, and still filling, with Jesus? Or half-empty, and draining, with complaint?

HERE IS LOVE

Wales, tucked between England and the Irish Sea, birthed this month's featured hymn. As our world groans under civil unrest and pandemic losses—many praying for revival—there's encouragement in the hymn that marked revival a century-plus ago in Wales: “Here is Love, Vast as the Ocean.”

Wales had a long history of Catholic, Anglican, and Calvinistic faith expressions with periodic revivals. In the mid-1700s, William Williams (known as the “Sweet Singer of Wales”), brought not just revival but some thousand hymns to the people, including “Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah.” That movement was followed by translation to Welsh of the Catechism, Psalms and the Book of Common Prayer. Literacy was promoted; an estimated half of the 450,000 Welsh learned to read. Into this increased literacy came the Wesley brothers and their Methodist revival. Between the middle of the 18^th century and the middle of the 19^th, Wales experienced some fifteen major revivals.

In 1878, a coal miner and his wife welcomed their second son, Evan Roberts. A devout child, he attended church regularly and memorized scripture at night. From age 11 to 23, he worked in the coal mines with his father, then became a blacksmith's apprentice. His faith-walk deepened as he spent long hours of prayer. He began studying for the ministry and had a vision of “all Wales being lifted up to God.” In late 1904 he preached at his home chapel, then taking his message to other parts of Wales. Soon thousands attended the meetings. He believed God would give him 100,000 souls.

Wales began to change. Sporting events (particularly the nation's passion, rugby) drew fewer crowds, church more. Hundreds would come to church if it was even rumored that he would preach. Unlike the typical fiery evangelists or structured delivery of Welsh preachers, Roberts' preaching style was prayerful and reflective. At the end, he'd invite the audience to participate in sharing their experience with the Holy Spirit. Services went late into the night.

A HEART-MOVING HYMN

One revival meeting drew 18-year-old Annie Davies, also daughter of a coal miner and a trained singer, who experienced a deepening of her faith. At a subsequent service, invited to come to the platform to sing, she chose a song that had recently been on her heart: “Here is love vast as the ocean.” Overcome with emotion, tear-faced, she couldn't finish it that night. But she would continue to sing it at future meetings, joined by other young women, including her sister. The women also sang at local pubs, inviting men drinking there to come to the revival meetings.

Wales changed in that brief year of Roberts' preaching. Churches reported 80,000 more attending. Drunkenness and beer sales faded. People strove to be more honest, repaying their debts. At the mines, the pit ponies which dragged coal-laden wagons to the surface, were confused when their usually foul-mouthed handlers stopped using obscenities to order them around.

Roberts became front-page news. The revival was intense and exhausting, and after about a year in the public eye, Roberts experienced a physical and emotional collapse and had to quit. He went to England to recuperate, later returning to Cardiff to live quietly, appearing at a few meetings. He never married, dying at 72 in 1951.

Two decades ago, the 100^th anniversary of the Welsh Revival brought his story to light again, and also reintroduced his meetings' theme song about God's love, sung simply by young women who loved Jesus.

The hymn was composed by William Reese (1802-1883) and translated to English by William Edwards (1848-1929). It was sung with two tunes. One was “Ebenezer” with its rolling, wave-like rhythms (now used for the hymn “Oh the Deep, Deep Love of Jesus”). Most hymnals now use a tune by prolific American composer Robert Lowry (1826-1899).

The full English lyrics are here: Here Is Love > Lyrics | William Rees (timelesstruths.org)

A moving performance of the hymn by Welsh tenor Huw Priday is here: 

Here is Love vast as the Ocean - Bing video

CLOGGED

Sometimes life's mundane tasks hold a spiritual life lesson. This time it came via my clothes dryer, which simply wouldn't dry any more! Even with an hour of “tumbling,” clothes were still damp and sour-smelling. The “sour” didn't make sense. I'd limped by, hanging clothes outside when the weather was warmer. But winter changed the rules!

Repair or buy new? It was 20 years old. Was calling a repairman—facing probably a third or half the cost of a new dryer—worth it? Then one gracious repairman offered some free “over-the-counter” advice. He said to use a meat thermometer to check the temperature of air coming out the dryer's back vent. If it was 145 degrees, the problem wasn't the dryer's ability to heat. It may be the exhaust vents to the outside. Our dryer passed the “meat thermometer” test so (groan) it had to be the vent. My husband called a company that cleans vents, but their estimate wasn't friendly to our budget. The “ugh” alternative: doing it ourselves.

After pulling a few lint blobs out of the “exhaust elbow” between the dryer and the floor, we faced Mount Everest, or maybe it was a Carlsbad Cavern. Our dryer vent traveled about twelve feet under the house to the outside. Hero Husband geared up, crawled under the house in all its filth (including a dead rat), pulled off the vent tubes and passed them out to me. He rigged up a long pole with rags on the end for me to help him ream the tubes out. We ended up pushing out more than a gallon of filthy lint. No wonder lint clogs are considered a fire danger! I tried the dryer with a fresh load of wet laundry. Back on the job!

As we progressed through this “ugh” job amidst a pandemic, I make a connection to the apostle Peter's advice on tough times and living among people with negative dispositions. “Rid yourselves,” Peter wrote, “of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy and slander, of every kind” (1 Peter 2:1). In the original Greek, the word translated “rid” means to “cast away,” like garbage. The Message paraphrase of Eugene Peterson sharpens the image with its version of saying, “So clean house! Make a clean sweep” of these negative behaviors. Yes, like reaming out lint-clogged dryer vents.

Most folks can recall encounters with people whose hearts are clogged with malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy and slander. And if we're honest with ourselves, those sins are ones we need to guard against rooting in ourselves. Instead of old rags on a long pole, we need the purging ministry of the Holy Spirit. He specializes in the warning signs that we may be getting “clogged” with pride, prejudice, and other negatives of the “self-life.”

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Your trivia of the day, answering “Who invented the clothes dryer?” In 1799, a Frenchman invented what he called a “ventilator,” a hole-pierced metal drum holding clothes and which was rolled over an open fire. (Yes, smoked clothes!) In 1892, another man invented a dryer that used heat from the stove. Then in 1935 a man came up with an oil-heated drum, then later patented both an electric and gas version. The electric dryer came out in the 1950s but at $230 each (equivalent to $2,000 in today's money) few could afford it.

ON THE PLUS SIDE

What was that old saying, that a smile is just a frown turned around the right way? I agree, we've had plenty to frown about over the past year with the fears and horrors of the Covid-19 pandemic. As a “senior” with asthma, I have a target painted on my back (or is it the lungs?) for this scourge. At times, I get tired of all the confinement and precautions. But it's what we're called to do. Yet in the midst of all these negatives, there's another calling which might be called the “spiritual vaccination” for life's negatives. It's called “gratitude.”

I keep a file folder of “good stuff” I come across in my reading, thinking it might someday work into an article or blog. When cleaning off the desk lately (isn't everybody doing some sort of cleaning while confined?) I came across some wisdom about gratitude and having a positive attitude.

Gratitude begets gratitude, just as love begets love. So wrote the Dutch parish priest Henri J.M. Nouwen (1932-1996) in Life of the Beloved (Crossroads, 1992). He talked about working with institutionalized physically and mentally challenged people who had unfulfilled desires (like a life partner) and constant frustrations of needing assistance. Still, he said, they chose gratitude over bitterness. Little things meant a lot to them, like an invitation to dinner or being in community with people who offered friendship. In choosing gratitude over bitterness, they also inspired their caregivers. Nouwen added, “When we keep claiming the light we will find ourselves becoming more and more radiant. What fascinates me so much is that every time we decide to be grateful it will be easier to see new things to be grateful for. Gratitude begets gratitude, just as love begets love” (p. 62).

Focus on the good things in your life. That “prescription” came from Lisa Petsche, a clinical social worker, in an E-zine article. It's easy to be critical, she noted, when the world around us is pessimistic and the media focuses on disaster, failure, and discord. Proving true the saying that “misery loves company,” people join in, nurturing a negative outlook. The end result is stress that harms our physical and emotional well-being.

Some of her suggestions for nurturing a healing positive attitude:

*Limit media exposure.

*Use positive self-talk: “I can.” “I will.” “I choose.”

*Praise and encourage others.

*Humor yourself—with the newspaper comics, a hilarious sitcom, a fun book.

*Accept that some things you cannot change, but you can choose how to respond.

*Keep connected to caring people. Limit time with uncaring people and be forgiving.

*Have a “dump” place—a caring, trustworthy person or a private journal. (She didn't say so, but God's quite adept at handling our “dump times.”)

*Don't dwell on past mistakes or hurtful events.

*Do kind things for others.

*Put “quiet” into each day to nurture your spiritual life.

*Focus on positives: good relationships, the beauty of nature or art. Count blessings.(1)

If Henri Nouwen had studied her list, I'm sure he'd add this with the spiritual dimension, quoting the apostle Paul who wrote from a putrid prison: “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again, Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near” (Philippians 4:4-5).

1. http://www.simplejoy.org/positive_attitude.htm (accessed Sept. 23, 2005, no longer online)