Josephine Cunnington Edwards brother Bill-SDA woman pastor 1941 - 10/15/00 11:59 AM
She stood in the pulpit of the Nashville, Tennessee First Seventh Day Adventist Church, that Sabbath in the scorching summer of 1975. She was in her seventies then, and apologizing for having a huge full length fur coat on.
She said she got cold easier than she used to and the air conditioners were chilling down the Sanctuary well , to accommodate the approx. 500+ crowd gathered to hear her; the coat was a gift - she could not afford such a thing her self. Then she laughed that famous arresting unique Josephine Cunnington Edwards laugh. Veteran teacher, speaker, missionary that she was we quickly we enthralled.
I will try to remember from a quarter century ago and write this in the first person as best I can with no apologies for gaps. You try to remember a stirring sermon word for word from a quarter century ago and you’ll see what I mean.
My brother Bill was the kind of person you could not make cry. He was 12 yrs older than me, and I never saw him cry. He was sort of head strong and stubborn and when he got hurt or punished he would say “you’ll never make me cry.”
When I was just months old and in a carriage he would wheel me around very fast and I would whoop and squeal, but one day he decided to let me roll down a hill in the carriage. He got punished and was heard to say “you can’t make me cry no sir.” Our parents were God fearing Seventh Day Adventists, who raised us to know and love God and serve Him. Family worships were some of times I would hear them pray for us outloud . The time came that as a teenager Bill decided to stop going to church. This hurt our parents deeply and their prayers for us and especially him, became more frequent and more earnest.
Bill started drinking and smoking and rebelling more and more till he decided to join the military. Bill invented new curse words for the Church, he drank and smoked and swore, but he married an Adventist girl Mary.
Our parents prayed for all us kids but especially for my brother Bill, morning and evening they would plead with God for his salvation and protection ; but with no seeming answer.
Now the sermon shifts.
I had been teaching at Laurel Brook (named other places also)for years and had been a missionary, an educator, a Bible Instructor, a lecturer, an author. But this was the last thing I would have expected, in the 1940's this was unheard of.
The Conference brethren came to me at Laurel Brook and asked me to pastor a small Seventh Day Adventist Church temporarily. I could speak to thousands without batting an eye, but this scared me so bad I just shook.
I couldn’t do that. They kept saying we need you, the men are overseas as chaplains. We believe God has put a mantle on you and we are impressed by Him to urge you to do this . Well the conference leaders you know how they can keep working at you . I said I would pray about it, they said fine; just consider it & pray. Then the urging would keep getting stronger and more frequent.
Like Moses I kept offering excuses and objections, and they kept meeting and answering them and praying made it worse. Finally I relented ,“but I don’t know what to do!!!” They coached me on what to do in general but reminded me I had corralled a lot of their unruly and headstrong children over the years, I could handle this; ask the Lord for direction.
(She never named the little SDA Church nor location - for good reason as you will see later.)
If I go I’d like to start with prayer meeting, sort of ease into it and not make a complete fool of myself.
It was a Tuesday evening prayer meeting and I was trapped with no way out . I was in the pastors study and though I could pull up dozens of stories at a moments notice anywhere else I was terrified. Lord what do I do? If You really want me here You are going to have to take over I don’t know what to say I don’t know what to do. Then it seemed as if a voice said to me “get in the pulpit I will tell you what to say.”
I got in the pulpit speechless and just looked at the people without saying anything for what seemed like the longest time. I seemed to look at them and see the hatred, revenge, gossip, and hear them whispering about each other and backbiting and so on.
I pinned their ears back and let um have it both barrels and poured hot coals of fire on um. That’s not the introductory sermonette I had planned . I began to preach on a very different topic with righteous indignation.
How dare you come into God’s house pretending to worship Him while hating and gossiping and backbiting your brothers and sisters in church. God won’t stand for it, He hates it. If you want to worship God, leave your gift at the alter and go make things right with your brethren first then come back and worship God . He will not accept your hypocrital worship like this, He sees you, He hears you, how dare you do this.
I told the organist to play till the prayers were finished. This church had an old pump pipe organ and one big aisle down the center, wooden floors that creaked with every move , and swinging doors at the back of the sanctuary that creaked and squeaked coming and going.
“Now lets kneel and pray .... while every knee is bowed and every eye is closed go to the ones you have gossiped about and hurt and have a grudge against or have hurt you . Go make things right forgive them, but if you can’t or wont - go out those back doors and don’t come back till you do. God will only work with the people who obey His instructions, He can do more with the loyal few than a large bunch of hypocrites.!!!”
For twenty minutes we prayed, the organ pumped and wheezed and played, the floor squeaked as people crossed over to each other and whispers and sobs were heard, and the back door swung a lot. Finally when all was quiet I got up off my knees and others had finished praying .
The church was 1/3 - 2/3 emptied of people . I said come up front and press together. Then laughed and said remember what the Lord told Sister White about evil angels and empty pews, don’t leave any empty spaces.”
Now God can do more with the few who are repentant than the many who are stubborn. Remember Jesus said where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst. Remember Gideon’s army of 300.
Now I’ve got a burden, and I shared the story of my brother Bill and asked to have a season of intercessory prayer for him. Remember that was a Tuesday night. Well we all prayed and the Spirit came upon us and everyone prayed like it was their own long lost brother they were pleading for - we were weeping with those who weep like it was our own, and it was.
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Edward F. Sutton