The city council of Geneva banished John Calvin (1509-1564) from his church. Let’s just say, it’s complicated! John was invited to lead a church of French refugees in Strasbourg. Jean and Idelette Stordeur, who also fled religious persecution, were impressed with John’s preaching and joined the fellowship. They opened their home to him, and they became close friends. When Jean died in a plague, John conducted his funeral.
John was a thirty-one-year-old bachelor, consumed with leading a reformation, preaching, and writing his Institutes of the Christian Religion. His friend Martin Bucer admonished him, “You need to find a wife.” His friends put forward three worthy candidates, but none fit the bill. John said, “The only kind of beauty which can win my soul is a woman who is chaste, considerate, not fastidious, economical, practical, and careful about my health.” Martin suggested, “What about the gentle Idelette?” While John had dined at her table and watched her attend to her two small children, he had never imagined this widow as a marriage partner. They married two months later, in August 1540. They returned from their honeymoon only to enter a full house. John’s home resembled a boarding house with two siblings and several friends living there. It didn’t seem to matter. The young couple flourished, and John wrote letters to distant friends about how pleased he was with his new wife. They experienced deep heartache as all three of their children died at birth. John’s critics took it as a sign of God’s judgment. My! Christians can be nasty! Idelette died after a lengthy illness in 1548, and John felt her death keenly. “I have been bereaved of the best companion in my life,” he wrote. The following is a prayer the Calvins prayed before sleep:
John Calvin
O Lord God, now grant me the grace not only to rest my body this night but to have my spiritual repose, in soul and conscience, in your grace and love, that I may let go of all earthly cares so I might be comforted and eased in all ways. And because no day passes that I don’t sin in so many ways, please bury all my offenses in your mercy, that I might not lose your presence. Forgive me, merciful Father, for Christ’s sake. As I lay down to sleep to safely awaken again only by your grace, keep me in a joyful, lively remembrance that whatever happens, I will someday know my final rising—the resurrection—because Jesus Christ lay down in death for me, and rose for my justification. In His name, I pray, Amen.
John Calvin, Devotions and Prayers of John Calvin.
Rev. Dr. Peter James served 42 years as the senior of Vienna Presbyterian Church in Vienna, VA — 21 years in the 20th century and 21 years in the 21st century. He retired in 2021 and now serves as Pastor-in-Residence at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary.
Even as a pastor, prayer came slowly to Pete. Read Pete’s story.