The famous British abolitionist William Wilberforce arranged to take a vacation with his four sons in the early 1830’s. William asked each of his four sons to bring along their favorite book to read aloud to the rest. All five of them brought the same book, The Christian Year, by John Keble (1792-1866). It was a book of poems for each Sunday and sacred holiday in the church year. When it was first released to the public in 1827, it became a runaway best seller, a total of ninety-five editions were published in John’s lifetime alone. He intended his poetry to encourage believers in practical Christian living. He was shy about the publicity and had to be coaxed by friends and family to publish his poems. He published them anonymously, but his success forced him to identify himself as the author. He became uncomfortable whenever people mentioned the poems in his presence since he feared the people who loved his poems would think too highly of him. Surely, you can’t be serious!
His prowess as a poet was recognized by Oxford University who named him a poetry professor. Despite his academic success, he was a pastor at heart and spent evenings and weekends leading a church for thirty years. His bold sermon at Oxford, “National Apostasy” took the government to task for its unwarranted infringement in matters that rightly belonged to the church.
He included in his collection of poems for The Christian Year an evening prayer, “Sun of My Soul.” The presence of Christ our Savior enables us to sleep in peace: