I want to give a plug for two books, the first written by General John Larsson entitled 1929. The second book was actually written in 1928 by Ford C. Ottman entitled Herbert Booth. Two separate accounts of two brothers who loved the Lord Jesus Christ, and loved The Salvation Army. One remained an officer until the High Counsel removed him from the office of General. The other found himself confronted with the decision to “leave the work” a decision which cost him dearly. As I compared the two brothers I made the following observation. Bramwell loved the system by which the ministry was administered more than he loved the people for whom the ministry was begun. Herbert loved the people, and couldn’t allow the system to keep him from his calling.In one of his more recited statements, when confronted with the overwhelming effects of poverty and hopelessness of modern day London, William Booth turned to his son Bramwell and said, “Do something!”
Millions around the globe are thankful that this admonition was acted upon by the young Bramwell. For many of us our call to love, serve, and honor God was solidified in those moments that followed, as the ever industrious eldest son meticulously and methodically began to “do something”.
Yet I wonder how many more times would Jesus have to ask us if we love Him in an attempt to get to the heart of the matter. It’s not enough to just do something. It’s not enough to just “stay in the work” It’s not ok to leave the work!
In the John 21 account the lesson Jesus wants us to hear is that through our work, as we feed, shepherd, and tend His lambs we have the call to love; first Him! More than anyone or anything else. Then as we love those He calls us to care for with the same intensity He will know that we truly love Him.
My question to officers, former officers, soldiers, and friends of the Army is simply this; have you left the work?
Jeff Bassett
Former USA East (click here to visit the website)
Pastor, Living Water Ministries
5 comments:
Most years I have a 12th night of Christmas party. One year I invited a Christian friend who was relatively new to the area and didn’t have many friends. I was quite excited that she was coming and would meet some of my other friends. But then she didn’t show up and I was so sad about it. When I asked her why she didn’t come she said she it was on Wednesday and she had to go to Bible Study. For some reason that hit me – it was about the system rather than the people. Bible Study was more important than me. OK, so maybe I’m al little self centered. But she knew what had happened as well and though we still see each other from time to time but it has never been the same for either of us.
Jeff,
Thank you for your last two postings. I read them a few days ago but was out of town and too busy to reply until now.
Your points are well taken and I certainly agree with your premise but when you use Bramwell and Herbert as examples of having opposite views, leading one to stay an officer because he put hierarchy before people and the other to leave because he put people and principle before the hierarchy, I have to disagree some. I don't think it was nearly so cut and dried.
I'm reminded of a very simple line at the end of Diane Winston's book "Red Hot and Righteous--The Urban Religion of the Salvation Army" Copyrighted 1999, page 253. She writes, "Lived experience is always messier, and therefore more interesting, than written accounts of it."
One has to remember that when Herbert and Cornelia decided to relinquish their command as Commandants of the then Australasia Territory and hop on the next boat to San Francisco, Herbert was deeply involved in the Limelight project.
Limelight basically heralded the beginning of Australia's movie industry. Could there have been an ulterior, very human motive mixed up in leaving the work along with whatever spiritual reasons Herbert may have had? Possibly. Human nature is after all human nature!
Once again if one reads accounts in the New York Times of that period (1902-1903) one will discover that Herbert went on to New York not just to live but also because he was hoping to raise investment money to start his own production company. He wanted to use the new medium of cinematography to produce religious epics for the public that would be similar to "The Soldiers of the Cross" which was a 2 hour long movie (the first ever of it's kind) about early Xian martyrs that the Army's Limelight Department had produced in Australia. (btw, it was a big hit with moviegoers at the time!)
Of course Herbert in the end, never was able to raise the capital for his project and had to settle on being an itinerant evangelist until his death in 1926.
In Robert Sandall's "official" (and therefore should always be taken with a slight grain of salt!) History of the Salvation Army, it is hinted at (actually out and out said) that the reason Herbert Booth left the Army in the first place was to better himself. The Army's account was that Herbert thought that all of the high officials he met in his Army service were his friends and might help him get into something high profile and more lucrative, only to find out that once he was out of the Army he had lost whatever status he was ever going to have and his newfound "friends" wanted nothing more to do with him!
As stated earlier, I suspect that Diane Winston's belief that lived experience is always more messier then anyone's written account of it probably applies to what happened between Bramwell and his brother Herbert. Motives for anything we do as humans are never pure but always mixed up with all sorts of subconscious and sometimes less than stellar conscious motives---- even in spite of what our holiness heritage in the Army may say is otherwise possible!
Could the real lesson here be that what happened to Herbert was NOT an isolated phenomenon among officers and soldiers but something that's continued throughout the last century? How many people have left the Army only to find that they had no other identity and that the people they thought were their friends either in the Army or whom they met on official Army business, were not their friends but only acquaintences? It may have happened more so back in the days when everyone went to training out of high school but I bet it still happens----and often!
Daryl Lach
USA Central
"You Must Go Home By the Way of the Cross to Stand with Jesus in the Morning!"
I have studied and read as much as is available to me as a non-officer and I believe that the assessment of Bramwell Booth as "loving the organisation more than people in it" expresses a conclusion that I have long ago reached."
In fact I believe that the Army lost its God-given expansionist evangelical thrust when Bramwell defeated and ousted William's first lieutenant Commissioner Railton: who died almost forlorn on a train in Eastern Europe.
Bramwell's politicking in defence of his own belief in the "Divine Right of Kings" and his autocratic nature brooking no views other than his own, did immeasurable damage to the Army that has probably never been put to right.
I gently ask those of you who read this: were you a Bramwell loving the organisation more than the people in it?
Kind regards
Old Hornblower
The questionis "have you left the work." The answer is yes. I was told in not too many words to. "Burnyour bridges." By my former Commanding Officer. I was told and treated in such a way that indicated I was no longer welcome. They will have to answer . The Church that raised me and encouraged me to Give up all and follow the call told me in not too many words to get lost.
The questionis "have you left the work." The answer is yes. I was told in not too many words to. "Burnyour bridges." By my former Commanding Officer. I was told and treated in such a way that indicated I was no longer welcome. They will have to answer . The Church that raised me and encouraged me to Give up all and follow the call told me in not too many words to get lost.
Post a Comment