The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1929, Page 156

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156

known to the county commissioners, and they
realized that we were handicaped because of the in-
adequate space, which made it impossible for all the
inmates who desired to attend to be present. They
therefore proceeded with remodeling a part of the
old dwelling, making one spacious room out of two
down-stairs rooms. This room is of sufficient size
to take care of all the inmates in the home and cer-
tainly helped to increase our attendance at divine
services, until at the present time every single in-
dividual living in the home who is able to be up and
around attends our services, which are conducted
every other Sunday afternoon.

The service is opened with a short piano prelude
and a hymn, after which follows a prayer and the
Scripture-reading. After a second hymn the ad-
dress is given, which is not so much a sermon as
rather a Bible-lesson talk in very simple language,
which makes it possible for the less intellectual to
grasp its contents. After the address another prayer
is spoken and a hymn sung. This is followed by the
Lord’s Prayer in unison and the benediction. The
service is usually closed with the well-known
doxology “Praise God, from whom All Blessings
Flow.” ©

However, not only are public services conducted
at the home, but also individual mission-work is
done. Once or twice every two weeks the home is
visited, and whenever one or the other inmate de-
sires to have a prayer spoken or a portion of Scrip-
ture read, this is done. In this way several souls
were won for our public service on Sundays. At
such times a point is also made of visiting those
who are unable to attend our divine services be-
cause of illness.

Concrete examples of God’s blessing upon our
labors in this particular home may be noted from
the following two incidents.

On the morning of Decoration Day last spring
I was called out to the home by the matron upon the
request of one of the inmates. Upon arriving there,
- I was informed that the request had come from an
inmate who had absolutely refused to come to our
Services when pleasantly invited to do so. On one
occasion he was asked by the superintendent of the
-home to attend the service, but he refused to do so
because he was at enmity with one of the other in-
_ mates who had gone in to attend the service. How-
ever, he did. venture over to the closed door of the
living-room and there listened in on the service.
_ Being impressed by the service, he made known his
_ intention of attending the next time we would be
out there. But when the next time came, he again

THE LUTHERAN PIONEER.

stubbornly refused to come in. Thus it went on
month after month. During the early part of the
winter he contracted the “flu,” which left him in
a very serious condition, his strength ebbing away
more and more as the days and weeks passed by.
He refused to hear anything about religion and
church and thus not only went downward in body,
but also in soul, until the morning of the day men-
tioned above, when a change took place.

While the matron was serving him his breakfast,
he requested that she do him the favor of calling for
the pastor who conducted those Sunday services, as
he wished to speak to him. Thereupon I was called.
Upon being introduced to the man, he told me that
he had called for me and would make his business
short. He then confessed that, when a child, his
mother had taught him beautiful Bible-stories and
Bible-passages; but while he was still young, he left
home and became a wanderer, until in his old age he
was finally compelled to seek refuge in the county
home. He said that he knew he had done wrong in
the sight of God, but he also said that in his child-
hood he had been taught that Christ had come into
the world to save sinners and had also redeemed
him. He now wanted to confess his sins, trust in
the Lord Jesus as his Savior, and amend his life.
I then told him that he must indeed be a happy
man because after falling away from God so many
years the Savior had continued to call him, until
finally, by the grace of God, he had come to Him,
so that now, when he was about to enter the dark
valley of the shadow of death, he knew that the gate
of heaven was open to him.

After that incident I visited the man twice every
week, and when, after four weeks, he died, he was
given a Christian burial. And this brings me to
the second incident I wish to relate.

In the same county home there is a very old
gentleman who has been blind for some time. When
I would call on individuals during my weekly or
biweekly visits, he would try to begin religious argu--
ments, emphasizing that he did not believe in all
these various church-bodies, ete. He never attended
our public services until the day of the funeral men-
tioned above. When he heard that the funeral ser-
vice was to be conducted out in the Home, he asked
the superintendent to bring him in also. ‘This ser-
vice interested him so much that he asked to be
brought to our next public service at the Home.
Aiter that service I was again visiting individuals
on one occasion, and he then asked me to read a por-
tion of Scripture to him, especially something that
would tell him of the love of God. I chose the third