mhall46184@aol.com
2.22.2018
Billy Graham
An apparently common 16th century saying (it is credited both to St. Thomas More and to Bloody Elizabeth) was “I have no window with which to look into another man’s soul.” This is a metaphorical restatement of an obvious and essential Christian truth: we cannot and dare not presume to determine whether someone else is saved or unsaved. Most of us have enough challenges in watching out for ourselves in that regard.
And still, when one considers Billy Graham’s life and work, one concludes that here indeed was a genuinely holy man.
He was not my style and I would walk miles to avoid being crowded into a stadium with thousands of other people for any purpose, and yet how good it is to know that Billy Graham prayed for all of us every day.
Billy Graham was an ordained minister who preferred to be called Billy, not reverend or pastor. He never owned a Rolex, a jet plane, a yacht, or a mansion (he knew about that eternal Mansion), and never wintered in St. Tropez or summered in Cannes.
Some foolish things have been said about Billy Graham – that he was rich, for instance. He could have been. But he always insisted on constant audits and charitable distribution of the offerings received during his crusades.
Some rather vacuous young persons reading the news for the telescreen have said that Billy Graham was “the Protestant pope.” The poor dears obviously don’t know the Reformation tradition from that famous shoe polish.
Others have babbled that Billy Graham was “America’s pastor.” Such a title is alien both to the First Amendment and to the character of the man, who would have laughed away such a pompous title.
Still others have criticized Billy Graham for being anti-Catholic. Perhaps someday we will be permitted to ask him and his friend Saint John Paul II about that.
Billy Graham was said to have been an advisor to the presidents, but there is little evidence (even given that bit about a window into the soul) that they much heeded his pastoral counseling.
Billy Graham was a Southern Baptist minister who went about his ministry with dignity and modesty. He did not start his own religion, give titles to his family members, or found a dynasty. He was the very model of Chaucer’s Parsoun, and so was as pleased to meet with the Queen and with the Bishop of Rome in exactly the same way as he would have been pleased to meet with you or me.
Well, Billy Graham is gone now, but we remain blessed because he was here, and he cared for all of us.
“Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord, and make perpetual Light to shine upon him.”
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