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Oct 14, 2023

Thomas Chalmers

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Thomas Chalmers (1780-1847) was something of a whiz kid. He enrolled at St. Andrews University in Scotland at age twelve. By fifteen, he began studying theology and at nineteen, he was preaching in a small church outside Edinburgh while also serving as an assistant to the Professor of Mathematics at St. Andrews. He wrote a pamphlet in those early years boasting that he could complete all his pastoral duties in two days, thereby providing more time for “uninterrupted leisure.” His sermons centered on the importance of being good and the value of moral attainments.
Thomas came to a crisis of faith at age thirty after nine years of frustrating ministry and a serious bout with tuberculosis. He realized the saving grace of Jesus Christ was the only true impetus to make lasting moral change. His journal described his spiritual awakening and new commitment, “O God, make me feel the firmness of the ground I tread upon, and enable me to give all my mind to Thy Word. Above all, may I never recede an inch from my Savior.”

Thomas adopted the daily practice of praying the Scriptures. He would meditate on a chapter of the Bible each day and compose prayers that flowed from the readings. He would then identify a “keystone verse” to carry with him through the day to shape his thoughts and prayers. He wrote a series of devotions from 1841-1846 that was published following his death.  His book of Sabbath Scripture Readings offered reflections and prayers on every chapter of the New Testament as well as a considerable portion of the Old Testament. His first entry on Genesis 1 meditated on God as Creator and concluded with the prayer:

My God, let the idea of Thee as my Creator come to me not in word only but in power. Give me to feel how passive, how subordinate, how prostrate, and entire is the submission which I owe to the Mighty Sovereign who made me, and who is all in all. And O may Thy Spirit, who caused this world of beauty and order to emerge from chaos, operate with like effect on my dark, and turbid and ruined soul. I pray for the light that shineth in the heart. Thou canst make it instantly to arise. May Thy Spirit so move and blow as to awaken me, and may Christ give me light. May I not forget the likeness in which I was created…May we be transformed to thine own very image, by the study and imitation of the character of Jesus Christ, who is the same today, yesterday, and forever. Amen.

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.