Dear Crosswalkers,
This Sunday we will be looking at the foundation of Crosswalk’s vision for the next 3 years, which is Empowering Prayer. In researching the Bible’s teaching on how prayer can empower us to impact our world and become all God wants us to be, I came across some remarkable testimonies about the power of prayer from Church History. One such testimony concerns John Donne. Here are glimpses of some of his more famous works:
No man is an Island, entire of itself;
every man is a piece of the Continent,
a part of the main.
No man is an Island, entire of itself;
every man is a piece of the Continent,
a part of the main.
All mankind is of one author, and is one volume;
when one man dies, one chapter is not torn out
of the book, but translated into a better language.
when one man dies, one chapter is not torn out
of the book, but translated into a better language.
Any man's death diminishes me, because
I am involved in Mankind; And therefore
never send to know for whom the bell tolls;
it tolls for thee.
The lines “No man is an Island,” and “for whom the bell tolls,” have become an indelible part of English literature.
I am involved in Mankind; And therefore
never send to know for whom the bell tolls;
it tolls for thee.
The lines “No man is an Island,” and “for whom the bell tolls,” have become an indelible part of English literature.
"Jack" Donne was born in England in 1572, and spent his youth in rebelliousness which found expression in erotic poetry. Secretly married to Anne More, Donne was thrown into prison by his disapproving father in law. Showing he didn’t lose his sense of humor, he wrote: “John Donne, Anne Donne, Un-Done!” Eventually released, Anne bore him 12 children in 16 years of marriage before she died. Turning to Christ in faith, Donne came to see himself as a prodigal son saved only by grace.
In his middle age, Donne’s life was filled with poverty and discouragement, but also by a deepening devotion to Jesus and prayer. During this time he dedicated his poetic skill to the great themes of love, death, and God's mercy. In 1615 he became an ordained Anglican priest, and 160 of his sermons survive to this day.
In 1623, during a near-fatal illness, the bedridden pastor heard from his window the church bells of London announcing that the Black Plague had taken more victims. Donne was convinced he, too, had the plague and would soon die. This is what is meant by his famous phrase, never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.
Much to his surprise, Donne recovered, but as he endured physical suffering and emotional fears, he discovered the gift of Empowering Prayer, and poured out verses reaching out to God. Some of his prayers deal with the toughest of all questions, “In the darkest of days, how can we experience God’s purpose?”
Here is a portion of his Empowering Prayer, with Donne’s 18th Century language updated and clarified by author Philip Yancey:
O eternal and most gracious God, you have reserved your perfect joy and perfect glory for the future when we will possess, forever, all that can in any way conduce to our happiness. Yet here also in this world, you grant us…glimpses of that stored treasure. Just as we see you through a glass darkly, so also do we receive your goodness by reflection…
…I received your blessing, O God, but I bless your name most for this, that I have has my portion not only in the hearing, but in the preaching of your gospel.
O most gracious God, on this sickbed I feel under your correction, and I taste of humiliation, but let me taste of consolation, too. Once this scourge has persuaded us that we are nothing of ourselves, may it also persuade us that you are all things unto us.
In a brief few hours you have shown me I am thrown beyond the help of man… By that same light, let me see that no vehemence of sickness, no temptation of Satan, no guiltiness of sin, no prison of death—not this first, this sickbed, nor the other prison, the close and dark grave—can remove me from the determined and good purpose that you have sealed concerning me.
I can read my affliction as a correction, or as a mercy, and I confess I know not how to read it. How should I understand this illness? I cannot conclude, though death conclude me. If it is a correction indeed, let me translate it and read it as a mercy; for though it may appear to be a correction, I can have no greater proof of your mercy than to die in you and by that death to be united in him who died for me.
...When your Son cried out "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" you reached out your hand not to heal his sad soul, but to receive his holy soul. Neither did he desire to hold it from you, but surrendered it to you.
I see your hand upon me now, O Lord, and…my true healing lies in silent and absolute obedience to your will, even before I know it. Preserve that obedience, O my God, and that will preserve me to you; that, when you have catechized me with affliction here, I may take a greater degree, and serve you in a higher place, in your kingdom of joy and glory. Amen.
This Sunday will be a great day at Crosswalk! Please come with the expectation that God will meet us as we worship together, and that we will experience for ourselves the joy of Empowering Prayer!
Blessings,
Pastor John
