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He is twenty-five, bright of eye, his soul on fire for his God.
His diploma is clutched tightly in his hand, his Christ is deep and warm in the depths of his heart.
His first church stands small and square on a distant hill.
His day of ordination is a short memory - only yesterday really.
He is thirty five.
Ten years of weddings and funerals, tears and tempest, meetings and meditation, all these stand in stately repose.
They temper the man this man of God. They give wisdom to what he says - but more humility too.
He knows more than once he knew, but he feels less capable.
His security is in the added awareness of his Lord.
He is forty five.
Twenty years of the church.
His first church is a day in the past, his present
church a stately spire, a paid quartet, and people as
they have always been.
His hair has the beginnings of gray, gray from the years, but also from sharing fears and death and hates...yes, hates within the sanctuary of the Lord.
He is fifty-five now.
Babes he once baptized in the long ago are men and women of the world.
They forget or they remember what they learned as
nursery tots, teen-age totem poles, or new born adults.
It is a long while since he preached his first sermon, prayed
his first pastoral prayer, first sat with comforting nearness beside
the bereaved as bearer of the promises of immortality.
He is sixty-five now.
Retirement is a reality, or near.
Forty years of service, His conviction is no less, his strong heart no less on fire for God, his dreams more mature but just as real.
Morning seems to come quicker and evening finds
him more weary.
He knows he must soon throw the torch to younger hands.
He does not wish to be put out to pasture, but neither does he wish to impede the progress of the Word.
He is seventy-five now.
He sits, a part of the setting sunset.
There is a gathering smile o his face.
It is the smile of one who has served who daily
weighs his yesterdays and finds some days wanting
and other days in which his words or deeds did bring some comfort.
And he wonders how many years are left...
and how he will served in a diminished fashion
but nevertheless serve.
And he falls to his knees and when he rises
he has finished once again a prayer he prayed a thousand times a thousand times.
Our Father, which art in heaven,
Hallowed be thy Name.
Thy Kingdom come.
Thy will be done in earth,
As it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
As we forgive them that trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation,
But deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom,
Hallowed be thy Name.
Thy Kingdom come.
Thy will be done in earth,
As it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
As we forgive them that trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation,
But deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom,
The power, and the glory,
For ever and ever.
Amen.
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Click on the URL below to WATCH NEIL IN HIS WORLD FAMOUS ONE MAN DRAMATIZATIONS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN, BEN FRANKLIN, CHARLES WESLEY AND MARTIN LUTHER
To Order and Read Neil's 9th book THE SPIRITUAL ABRAHAM LINCOLN
GO TO amazon.com
...and get a brand new book for $2 "from author" which is less than used book prices you will see!!!
QUOTES ABOUT THIS WONDERFUL INSPIRING INFORMATIVE book
STILL RECEIVING RAVE REVIEWS 8 YEARS AFTER IT'S PUBLICATION.
"Positive, powerful utterances...skillfully enhancing our understanding and appreciation of Lincoln while revealing the Divine source of his strength."
Lt. Colonel C.A. Olsen (Ret.) Asbury College (Professor Ret.)
"The Spiritual Abraham Lincoln is an
extremely well written book that investigates what might be termed the
spiritual side of President Lincoln. It's both scholarly and very
readable. I came away impressed at Mr. Wyrick's portrayal of the
President and with an altered and enlarged vision of the man:'
William Hoffman, Award winning fiction writer; author of Blood and Guile, and Wild Thorn
"Wyrick
has authored a wonderful examination of the spirituality of one of
American history's most devoutly religious leaders...a pleasant and
readable book that has a rich depth of information."
Maynard Pittendreigh Presbyterian minister
"When
it comes to invoking religion in support of any of their decisions,
politicians need to sit at the feet of Abraham Lincoln. Reinhold Niebuhr
once called him 'America's greatest theologian.' Why so great? Because he invariably distinguished between human works and the works of the Almighty. As Wyrick
says, 'He wore the mantle of humility easily: because he was more
impressed with what God was doing in the world than with what he,
president of the United States in the midst of an awful crisis, was
doing. That is why in his last major speech he distinguished between
both human causes in the Civil War and the Almighty's 'own purposes.' Lincoln
would have agreed that it is better to leave God-talk out of politics
than to decorate human proposals with divinity. This is a book for our
American time. Through his careful study of Lincoln's career, Wyrick compels us to remember that piety belongs in politics only when piety transcends politics."
Dr. Donald W. Shriver
Emeritus professor at Union Theological Seminary in New York. Author of An Ethic for Enemies: Forgiveness in Politics
"v. Neil
Wyrick's fine work allows the reader to appreciate Abraham Lincoln's
Christian commitment and his prophetic role in American history. Should
have a wide readership."
James H. Smylie Professor of Church History (Ret.) Union Theological Seminary, Richmond, Virginia
"Neil Wyrick's The Spiritual Abraham Lincoln should be read
by anyone attempting to understand the man who was probably the most
complex person to ever hold the office of president of the United States. Dr. Wyrick is intent on demonstrating that the spirituality so often expressed in Lincoln's
writings and speeches was not merely lip service to a Deity, but rather
expressions of a profound faith in a real God. It was this faith that
provided the wisdom, compassion, insight and sometimes steel that Lincoln would need in full measure as he led the United States
through the Civil War. Dr. Wyrick's clear and unpretentious style of
presentation is very much in keeping with the character ofhis subject,
and in so doing, Wyrick makes his point very well that Lincoln, his beliefs, and the faith that formed them, are as relevant to a troubled America in 2004 as they were in 1863."
Daniel Allen Butler, author of "Unsinkable"; The Full Story of the RMS Titanic, The Lusitania and The Age o f Cunard
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