Brief Review: Instrument of Thy Peace

Instrument of Thy Peace – Revised Edition

Author: Alan Paton

Publisher: The Seabury Press, paperback, 124 pages

Reviewed by Rev. Garth Wehrfritz-Hanson

The Author 

Alan Paton was a South African Anglican layperson, author, teacher, and anti-apartheid social justice advocate. 

Brief Observations 

In his Preface, Paton begins with the following sentence: “This book is written for sinners, and by one of them” (p. 7). In addition to sinners—that includes, of course, everyone—he states: “I wrote also for those who are inclined to melancholy, for those who are inclined to withdraw rather than to participate...[rather than] the building of a more just order of society” (p. 7). 

Paton wrote this volume, of his 21 meditations based on Francis of Assisi’s classic prayer, during the time when his wife of 39 years, Dorrie, was dying of emphysema. He believed: “I was given help to write it” (p. 8). 

Each of the 21 meditations begins with a quotation often from Francis’s prayer or one or more biblical passages. However meditation 17 begins with four quotations from newspapers focussing on the 1967 black riots in several USA cities. In most of the meditations there are other quotations from a wide variety of people and sources, including: excerpts from The Little Flowers Of St Francis Of Assisi, John Bunyan, William Temple, Alexander Paterson, Dag Hammarskjold, Paul Tillich, Ralph Hodgson, Lancelot Andrews, Julian of Norwich, the “Desiderata” by Max Ehrmann, The Brothers Karamazov by Dostoyevsky, Reinhold Niebuhr, and several others. The meditations often end with a prayer by Paton, wherein he concludes with these or similar words: “And help me this coming day to do some work of peace for Thee” (p. 53).

In meditation 3, based on Francis’s petition: “Where there is hatred, let me sow love,” Paton provides readers with his commitment to social justice: “To be the instrument of God’s peace is not to confine oneself to the field of personal relationships, but to concern oneself also with the problems of human society, hunger, poverty, injustice, cruelty, exploitation, war” (p. 20). At the end of this meditation Paton prays this prayer, which highlights his faith, and complements his commitment to social justice, and how he was inspired and motivated by Francis’s petition: “Take all hate from my heart, O God, and teach me how to take it from the hearts of others. Open my eyes and show me what things in our society make it easy for hatred to flourish and hard for us to conquer it. Then help me to try to change these things. And so open my eyes and my ears that I may this coming day be able to do some work of peace for Thee” (p. 22). 

Some of the meditations also contain contemporary anecdotes and insights born out of Paton’s own life experiences. For example, a friend of his who was overanxious could have been thankful for the blessings in her life, rather than being preoccupied with what might happen to her. 

In a couple of meditations, Paton is very honest with his readers concerning the “sinner” part of himself. He admitted that he struggled with and fell short of Jesus’s teaching to love one’s enemies. When someone pointed out to him that as a Christian he could be more joyful, he admitted that there was more room in his life to grow more joyful. 

Although some of the illustrations and contexts may be dated, others, even if dated, are as relative and instructive today as they were in Alan Paton’s day. This is a devotional classic that readers may wish to read periodically to discover insights and inspiration. 

Read the Bible in a Year final: The New Testament

By the grace of God, I finished my commitment to read the Bible in one year, ahead of schedule, on December 23, 2021. If you haven’t already, you can read my previous blog posts on this commitment here and here and here. 

The Process

Some days were very challenging; having to read up to seven chapters. Reading seven chapters and making notes and writing brief introductions to each biblical book added to the time required to keep up with the suggested daily schedule. However, with much discipline, and God’s grace, I was able to finish ahead of the schedule that I was following in the Good News Translation of the Bible. My actual reading involved a rotation of seven additional translations though, including: the New Revised Standard Version, the Revised English Bible, the Revised Standard Version, the King James Version, the New American Standard Bible, The Jerusalem Bible, and the New International Version. 

Notes and Introductions

As I mentioned, I wrote brief notes on every chapter and wrote introductions to each biblical book. Some days it was a struggle to concentrate and write, especially when those days were filled with other commitments. The days I wasn’t able to read the required number of chapters, I spent more time reading to catch up on other days. Taking notes and writing introductions helped me to reflect more on the content than if I were only reading. Altogether, I filled nearly four spiral note books with my notes and introductions! I plan on consulting these from time to time in the future, and possibly even expanding on them for my own devotional purposes; as well as for Bible studies and sermon preparation. 

The New Testament

I enjoyed reading the synoptic Gospels and the Gospel of John and noting some of their unique theological and biographical presentations of Jesus. Matthew presents Jesus as the Messiah who has come and fulfilled the Hebrew Bible messianic prophecies; Mark describes Jesus as the God/Man of action with a heavy itinerary of preaching, teaching and healing; and Luke sees Jesus as friend of sinners, seeker of the lost, and companion of the poor; John has a multi-pictured Jesus, including: the Word working with God the Father to create the universe, the bread of life, the way, truth and life, the true light, the Saviour/Messiah of the world who brings eternal life, and several others. 

The Pauline epistles, of course, are most profound theologically, as Paul was likely “the” key early theologian and intellectual of the Christian faith, as well as missionary to the Gentile world. His message—which he was able to preach while considering the specific context of each audience—of salvation by grace alone; and his emphasis on responding to that saving grace through faith active in love; obviously appealed to many Gentiles throughout the Mediterranean world. 

Many of the other New Testament letters focus on specific misunderstandings, divisions and troubles within the early faith communities: including false teachers and teachings, good works, illness and healing, prayer, worship, persecution, the meaning and implications for believers of Jesus’s suffering, death and resurrection. 

The final Book of Revelation is a difficult one. Apocalyptic literature, often written in the context of persecution to give those persecuted encouragement and hope for the future, is hard to interpret. It lends itself to fundamentalists having a field day by coming up with outlandish scenarios of the end-times; and interpreting events that are described in Revelation as referring to present-day events, people and places. Such events described in Revelation are highly symbolic—most likely by design an underground language to avoid being censored by authorities hostile to Christian communities—and referred to events back at the time the author wrote Revelation, not events happening today. Because of the difficult nature of Revelation, Christians were reluctant to include it in the biblical canon. One wonders if, through the centuries, it has done more harm than good to its readers. 

Final Thoughts

One thing I appreciated about this project was the opportunity to read many of the biblical stories in their larger context. I also appreciated reading some of the books that I hadn’t read for a long time. We all have our favourite books, as well as those we tend to avoid. All-in-all, I do believe that my faith has been strengthened by reading the Bible in one year—as has my appreciation for God the Author of the Bible, and for my ancestors, both Jewish and Gentile, who preserved, canonized, translated and passed on the Bible from generation to generation, right up to the present day. May the Bible continue to be a best seller, if not “the” best seller for generations to come! I would encourage readers of this blog post to commit to reading the Bible in one year—you will be blessed! 

Jean Vanier 10 Rules for Life

Earlier this month—May 7th—Canadian humanitarian and founder of the now international organisation L’Arche died at the age of ninety. He touched many peoples’ lives from a variety of denominations, faiths, and nations. Here is a video I came across, which is an interview of Vanier speaking about 10 rules for life. 

 

Clergy Comment column

Here is my article published in the May 4, 2017 Camrose Canadian Clergy Comment column.

   Last Sunday was the third Sunday of Easter. The gospel reading was Luke 24:13-35, the story of two followers of Jesus, Cleopas and an unnamed one. They are journeying from Jerusalem to a village named Emmaus, walking and talking about the passion and death of Jesus, looking sad and trying to process their grief.

   Suddenly the risen Jesus appears and engages them in a conversation. Yet, ironically, they don’t realize it’s Jesus. In their conversation with Jesus there are words of sorrow, disappointment, and uncertainty. Jesus then provides them with a brilliant interpretation of the scriptures, fulfilled prophecies concerning himself and the recent events. They arrive at Emmaus and invite Jesus in to eat with them. As they share a meal together, Luke tells us that “their eyes were opened, and they recognized him.” Afterwards they reflect on their encounter with Jesus, recalling how their hearts were burning within them as Jesus opened up the scriptures to them.

   Each one of us is also on an Emmaus road journey. We, like those two followers of Jesus, travel through all of the different stages of the journey. As life events unfold, we move from adventure, joy and contentment through to sorrow, grief, doubt, despair and disappointment. Our eyes are kept from recognizing Jesus—even though he walks with us on our Emmaus road.

   We, like the two followers of Jesus, miss him as we journey through the daily events of our lives. Yet he is there with us, speaking through the people we encounter and the activities of each day. Sometimes our fears, doubts and disappointments prevent us from understanding the scriptures. Even then, Christ is with us and leads us through every stage of our Emmaus road journey.

   No matter how hopeless, hurt and uncertain we may feel, Jesus refuses to give up on us. His love is always there for us. We, like those two followers of Jesus on the road to Emmaus have much to learn as we journey on. We, like they, need his word and his meal, the Lord’s Supper, to open our hearts, minds and lives so that we see him with us in our life and faith journeys.

   As the events of the world and the church continue to unfold, our calling as followers of Jesus is clear. We, like Christians throughout the centuries are called to proclaim and live the words: “Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Hallelujah!” For we are a resurrection people, even in the most hopeless situations individually, as well as in the church and the world can become hopeful—thanks to the risen Christ!