Saints

John Chrysostom was an example of the Holiness stream. He embodied the disciplined life throughout his spiritual journey. As an ascetic he practiced disciplines to bring the flesh into his control. As a preacher he sought to inspire his auditors to the same kind of rigorous holiness. He would castigate them for their immoralities regardless of their rank or status. He was rigorous to the point of being overzealous, but his inward holiness shone through in his pastoral heart, in homiletically moments of tenderness.

As a rigorist John faced the dangers of legalism that Foster remarks as dangerous for the holiness stream. His terse nature was a stumbling block to his pastoral duties toward his underlings as a Bishop inspiring the hatred that would be his undoing. Kelly does show growth and a softening of his positions from his youthful condemnations of marriage and family life in later works about raising children. He moves from a rigorist ideal that all children be trained by monks in asceticism to the placing a greater value on the institution of family. In exile his heart seems softer yet as he writes to his supporters, though his terse nature remains to the end.

He grew up in the cradle of Christendom, Antioch, which gave him access to the examples of Syrian asceticism and challenged him to a life of holiness. While he was trained in rhetoric, the Spirit used his training making him not a lawyer, but a preacher. Events of the day exposed his preaching to a wider audience, as imperial officials came from Constantinople to investigate treasonous vandalism they took back reports of his preaching on the matter that led to his being ordered to be consecrated Bishop of Constantinople. As with other such appointments in the political realm, there was much maneuvering, but we do well to remember that God is still in control even when the process is tainted. So we may rest assured that God planned the position of John as bishop even in spite of Eutropios’ intentions in the matter. Going from Antioch with its various entertainments John had grown accustom to railing against to the opulence of the imperial city gave John a prophetic voice in the affairs of the rich and powerful. Holiness for them, John would continue to say, is to provide for the poor and the widows, not to enjoy luxuries and thus rob God. His move into the imperial see also placed him in a highly charged political arena and his refusal to bend to those powers and interests would be his undoing.

First and foremost John shows himself an ascetic. His ascetic ways stayed with him all through his life. It was his ascetic leanings that made his preaching fiery and charged like the holiness preachers of the last century. He pulled no punches, but became a polemicist defining the faith by what should not be done by believers and acts of righteousness in giving to the poor. He takes his ascetics to the church at large as a bishop and seeks to see the church living as lean and rigorous a lifestyle as he did. The imposition of his vision of holiness may have teetered on pharisaism, and this brought him many enemies, both among those whom he rubbed the wrong way and those who were social climbers and whose cupidity would not be offended. In exile his asceticism again returns, perhaps as an old friend, bringing him vigor in the midst of his many complaints. How soft he may have become in the Bishop’s palace, enjoying his warm baths to sooth his ruined digestive system we may not know, but in the mist of his discomfort he gives his friend Olimpias glimpses of his joy in the difficulty.

When I think of local saints one woman comes to mind immediately. Hers was the first funeral service I ever conducted (25 Feb 2004). Sister Lohrman exemplified the charismatic and contemplative streams. She was a prayer warrior, an intercessor who trusted the Spirit to fight the battles for her.

Ella Lohrman was a dear German lady. She had grown up a tom boy and loved picking berries and fishing. Communing with God in the natural world started at an early age for her. She was extremely devoted to her church, the one I now pastor, even though she was barred from membership for years because she had been divorced. She grew up in a time when the Assemblies of God was both staunchly concerned with holiness (particularly outward) and still newly ablaze with the power of the Spirit. She played the piano in church until she was no longer able to, and she taught Sunday school for years with that mix of love and sternness that can be said to be particularly German.

I met sister Lohrman only once, in the hospital. We came to pray for her. All I knew about her at the time was that she was a dear woman of God, long faithful to our church and that she had kept a newspaper clipping of our arrival in her Bible, that she cared and prayed for us.

We came to her room, my wife, Elaine, my daughter Ella and I, wanting to be a blessing to her -- to pray for her and let her know that we cared. What I found in her room has profoundly affected me. She was a blessing to us. She prayed for my family, and me -- our ministry, she let us know that she cared. That was important to her.

As she spoke with us, she punctuated her sentences by telling us how beautiful our Ella was and offering another prayer to her dear Lord. I felt that she spoke with him almost continually. A smile came to my face., my cheeks grew warm. It was like basking in the sunlight. I didn’t want to leave that room. It was so full of God’s glory. I felt all Heaven was there with her, God filling the room with his presence. I wanted to stay there, holding her hand, drinking in the glory of God as she continually prayed over me. I felt as though I had met a saint of old.

Both of these saints inspire me to the incarnational stream. Ronald Rolhieser writes about the body of Christ that we are called to eat in John chapter six (the sarx) as being the fleshly earthy body, full of imperfection sometimes beautiful, sometimes disgusting, in short the church. The incarnational stream seeks to find God in the ordinary material things, like bread, wine or sarx. Chrysostom’s story often disturbed me and made me ashamed to be a Christian. His polemics offended me, and his enemies all the more wrenched my stomach. Sister Lohrman showed me the glory of the church and entices me to engage like John, pastoring all in my charge with holiness, prayer and power.