The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1925, Page 89

Transcription machine transcription, uncorrected

⤓ Download .txt · copy text

THE LUTHERAN: PIONEER.

89

the Savior’s resurrection, the resurrection that
brought them justification in the sight of God. The
smoke rising from the flues and chimneys of some
seven or eight hundred cabin homes nestling on the
hillsides and in the swamps of Alabama’s Black
Belt, carried aloft the sweet strains of Easter-
hymns that were sung or hummed by mothers and
daughters as they bent over smoking stoves and
open hearths. From barnyard and blossoming glade
there arose Easter melodies and Faster “speeches” ;
for the children were holding one last “rehearsal”
before rendering their Easter programs.

Before the hour of eleven the roads and paths
leading to our chapels were filled with men, women,

an answer to their prayers, a realization of their
fondest hopes. Easter Sunday was indeed a day of
resurrection for some two hundred souls; for on
that day they publicly confessed their faith in Him
who has raised them from spiritual death to spir-
itual life and called them out of darkness into His
marvelous light by the saving Gospel. Indeed, the
Lord is good, and His mercy extends into the dark
places of the earth!

At one place the pastor was compelled to hold
an open-air service, preaching from the dilapidated
porch of an old shack, while the audience sat out
under the trees. At this same place twenty-eight
souls were added to the Church through the Sacra-

An Open-Air Service in Alabama.

and children going to hear the Easter-message told
by pastor, teacher, and children. From the hill-
sides and swamps, from the rolling savannas of the
uplands, and from out-of-the-way villages these
dusky folk came to crowd the temples of our God.
They came in automobiles, buggies, wagons, on
horseback, and on foot to hear the resurrection
story.

During the day some two hundred souls were
added to the “communion of saints” by baptism and
confirmation. ‘Two hundred souls snatched from
the clutches of sin, death, and the devil —truly, a
harvest unto the risen Savior! For weeks and
months pastors and teachers had Jabored and prayed
that the Lord of the harvest would bless the seed
sown in the hearts of these dying people. Easter

Sunday morning, the Day of Resurrection, brought -

ment of Baptism, a battered basin serving as bap-
tismal font. Towels were spread upon the floor of
that old porch, and Holy Communion was admin--
istered to those who knelt there in humility and
faith.

At the close of this service a thank-offering was
brought to the table by the audience. The pastor’s
purse —and he has a large one —could not hold
what was given to the Lord. A neighbor lent the
pastor a twelve-pound flour-sack, into which he put
the money. That twelve-pound bag held one hun-
dred and fourteen dollars, the offering of that open-
air audience. Where did this miracle happen?
?Twas down in the backwoods of Wilcox County, in
a scattered community called Hamburg.

The total Easter collections from the Alabama
field amounted to $610.80. Marvelous, you say?