Adoniram Judson (A. J.) Gordon (1836-1895) didn’t pay much attention to dreams until one changed his life. It was late on a Saturday evening, and he was burning the midnight oil to finish a sermon. He fell asleep and dreamed about leading worship at Clarendon Baptist Church in Boston. He was standing in the pulpit before a packed house. A stranger entered and walked up the left aisle, his eyes silently asking if someone would offer him a seat. A man motioned to his pew and the stranger was obliged to join him. He listened attentively to the sermon and left before A. J. could meet him. A. J. asked his parishioner, “Can you tell me who the stranger was in your pew today?” The man answered nonchalantly, “Why, do you not know that man? It was Jesus of Nazareth.” A. J. couldn’t believe why his congregant would let this stranger leave without making introductions. “Oh, do not be troubled,” the man said, “He has been here today and no doubt he will come again.”
A.J. awoke from his dream with the words replaying in his head, “He has been here today, and he will come again.” A. J. was the newly installed pastor at a church with a reputation for being exclusive and affluent. Merchants and bankers rented the choice pews while common folk sat in the back. A deacon took A. J. to task for advertising “Strangers are Welcome.” A. J. couldn’t shake the dream and refused to buckle. He helped the church shed its exclusive moniker and became a mission-focused, Christ-centered congregation. He later founded a college and seminary that bore his name (Gordon College and Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary).
We have A. J. to thank for resurrecting the hymn “My Jesus, I Love Thee.” He discovered a poem written by sixteen-year-old William Featherston who died in his early twenty’s. A. J. added the tune and introduced it to his church. Today’s prayer draws upon this classic hymn: