CHRIST IN WINTER: Reflections on Faith & Life for the Years of Winter—FOR THIS CAUSE CAME I… [F, 9-15-23]
Daughter Katie Kennedy [1] recently asked me for the details on Will McLoughlin and the Iroquois Theater Fire. From the time I first heard it, from Merrill Abbey, Garrett Theological Seminary preaching prof, this has been a favorite sermon illustration, because it is such a total living of the Gospel of Christ.
The 1903 Iroquois Theater fire in Chicago killed 602 people, including Will McLaughlin. This was the fire that changed the fire codes, so that doors opened out and not in, the way the jammed Iroquois doors opened, or more importantly, did not open.
Will was studying in the Northwestern U. Law building, located next to the theater. He looked out the upstairs window and saw desperate people in the theater balcony looking for a way out. Some jumped, but they were dead on arrival on the street below.
He looked around and found an old plank. He stretched it over the alley that separated the library and the theater. It barely reached. People were afraid to try to cross. He was 18, an athlete, in peak condition, so he went across, time after time, to lead people across the plank to safety. Until the plank itself caught fire and burned through and he fell to the pavement below.
It was clear that he would die soon. They asked him if there were anyone nearby that they could get. He said that his uncle, Frank Gunsaulus, was pastor at First Congregational. When his uncle arrived, Will said, “I’ve been thinking about your sermon last Sunday, how Jesus said for this cause came I into the world. Those people up there today needed me. I guess this was the cause for which came I into the world.” His last words.
Each of us has a different world in each moment, each stage. And God gives us a cause for that world at that time.
For this cause, you came into the world.
John Robert McFarland
1] Her next non-fiction
book is The Presidents Decoded, a companion to The Constitution
Decoded, and her next fiction book is Heart on Ice. Both will be out
soon.
A friend recently asked me what my legacy is - here it is: 1) I stood up for the rights of students. I have spoken out against the use of corporal punishment in public schools within the United States. I even wrote my congressman in an attempt to overturn Ingraham vs Wright (1977); 2) In March of 2022 I went to the Russian Embassy to protest the senseless violence unleashed on the people of Ukraine.
ReplyDeleteIn summary, we know that Jesus loved children. He said, "Let the children come to me (Matthew 19:14)." We also know that he said, "Blessed are the peacemakers (Matthew 5:9)." Some may think that I have supported controversial issues. I am here to say that these two issues are not controversial to me whatsoever.
ReplyDeleteGood for you, David. I'm proud of you.