I met Mr James Kerr the year around the time I first sensed God’s call to ministry. By that time he was an elderly man whose eyesight had faded to the point where he could not read any more. He had heard me give my testimony, and after church one morning he asked if I would come up to see him and Mrs Kerr after the prayer meeting on the Wednesday following. I should say, Mr Kerr was a gentle, thoughtful and deeply spiritual man whose prayers were a lesson in conversation with God. There was no doubt that he and God were on good speaking terms.
I walked with them from the church to their home and Mrs Kerr put the kettle on. Mr Kerr took from the mantelpiece three books, placed them on his knee, and leaned forward to speak to me. His words were a warm affirmation of the reality and life-changing significance of my call to ministry. He was himself a lay preacher, though his failing eyesight had limited opportunities for him to preach any more.
Amongst the words he spoke that night was the verse he gave me. Over the years several fine saints of God have “given” me verses that had the power to make their own words become true. These are exactly the words as he spoke them; I know this because he had memorised large chunks of the Bible in the King James Version:
“Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” (2 Tim 2.15)
He then gave me the three books he had picked up earlier. He couldn’t read them now, but they had been of great value to him in his preaching and when he spoke (for at least half an hour) at our mid-week bible study. One was on the parables of Jesus, another was a volume of beautifully written devotional essays, and the third was a book about the meaning of the death of Jesus on the cross. These books were the first substantial Christian books I read all the way through.
After supper of tea and toast, Mr Kerr prayed for me before I went to get the late bus back home. I’ve never forgotten the love, faith and understanding that took form in the words he spoke to God, on my behalf. It is one of the rare moments of grace that touches and transforms the way we will live from that moment on.
I mention all this for reasons other than telling my own story. James Kerr was around 80 years old. But he prayed for a lad he had never physically seen, but whose future he believed in. His encouragement, his belief in God’s grace and gifts and call, and his experience as a man of deep and faithful prayer, made his intervention in a teenager’s life a defining experience. His prayer bound me even closer to the Christ who had called me, though I wasn’t sure where all of that would lead.
Who can ever know the impact of such Spirit-led interventions, such graced interruptions, such initiatives of kindness, generosity and encouragement? Mr Kerr was in church the first Sunday I took a full morning worship service in Carluke Baptist Church. A year or so later he died, and was enfolded into the everlasting mercy of the Lord he had so faithfully served.
All these years later the verse I was given remains one of the reference points in my own spiritual life. But it is more than that. Paul’s concern was that every Christian should try their hardest to demonstrate all that God has done and is doing in their lives. In the service of Christ, each of us has work to do. To do everything in a way that shows how much we love our Lord means we won’t offer to God less than his grace enables and his love deserves.
These past 18 months have disrupted our shared life as a congregation. We haven’t been free to visit, to have a blether, to meet for coffee after the service, or even expect to meet each other accidentally when we’re out and about. Even out and about has been pretty limited! Those who have felt that particularly hard are those who are older, and have to be especially careful. And for them that can lead to feeling useless, undervalued, with little to contribute. At which point I want to gently disagree, and call Mr James Kerr as a witness.
Encouragement of others, and intentional prayer for others, are Spirit inspired gifts that build up, strengthen and nurture our togetherness in Christ. But they are also ways in which God inspires and guides and puts fresh energy and love into others, especially young Christians and those looking to find the direction for their lives. This summer some of our own young people will go from home to study, or take up the next chapter of their lives.
Pray for them. Encourage them. Remember this, Timothy was a young inexperienced Christian being guided and supported by Paul. That ministry of encouragement of our young people is one of the essential ministries of our church congregation. By our prayers, encouragement and care for them, we who are older fulfil a key role. James Kerr did that naturally and with great grace. We can do the same.
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