"In His Steps"

On Thursdays, I meet with a group of gentlemen and ladies to discuss history. We really had a wonderful time. Last week we covered the differences in opinions of Booker T Washington and W.E.B. Du Bois over lunch. There were about ten of us that showed up and the discussion was so very lively. Next week we will be discussing Charles M. Sheldon. The main topic would be centered around 1900 and what do we think he meant and do we think he was correct when he wrote in The Jesus Newspaper, “It is growing more clear everyday that all so called economic questions are first of all moral questions.”

Deep subject! I must admit I have no idea who Charles Sheldon is. I went on Google and looked, searched, and read. I learned after briefly reading a few e-books that were available to me.

How many remember the acronym from a few years back “WWJD” (What would Jesus Do?). Its height of popularity was during the 1990s. The phrase was initially coined in Sheldon’s book, In His Steps, in the letter 1800s. I read the first 30 pages of this book the other night and deeply cried. It is a book that needs to be read NOW by so many people. Parts of the book that stood out the most were in the 1st Chapter. (Inserts)

(A male stranger is speaking.) "I'm not an ordinary tramp, though I don't know of any teaching of Jesus that makes one kind of a tramp less worth saving than another. Do you?”…

“ .…. What do Christians mean by following the steps of Jesus?” (He told the story of his wife dying and his daughter staying with acquaintances until he could find work.)

“…It seems to me sometimes as if the people in the city churches had good clothes and nice houses to live in, and money to spend for luxuries, and could go away on summer vacations and all that, while the people outside of the churches, thousands of them, I mean, die in tenements and walk the streets for jobs, and never have a piano or a picture in the house, and grow up in misery and drunkenness and sin.”

(The man fell face down in the church—passed out. He never fully recovered to see his daughter again.) (His last words were) "…You have been good to me. Somehow I feel as if it was what Jesus would do." (He then died.) (But that is not the ending of the book.)

What I learned from the life of Charles M. Sheldon was that he was the Editor of the Topeka Daily Capital for about a week starting in March 1900. As a minister, when he took the position as editor, he decided to spend his time printing a newspaper in the consideration of “What would Jesus do?” The newspaper was a great hit—the circulation of the paper went unbelievably up. Some said that his idea was great but there are dangers in neglecting story telling in the news.

Sheldon also wrote twenty-three books all together. I honestly feel now is the time they need to be re-circulated in society. The reason I am stating this, is we as a collective society are not going through the same economic woes of the 1900s or of the Great Depression but very similar. I feel there are more elite corporate thieves now more than ever. I also feel that our country has become spiritually clogged in the arties. Oh sure, many of us go to church and worship and give our tithes. But what is really being done other than just going through the motions and saying we are Christians. I hear time and time again of Christian women getting together to practice Yoga so they can relax from their stressful lives. Why would Christian women want to use the practices of Buddhism to relax? Whatever happened to a simple retreat where people would gather, spend a half of day in prayer and half a day in Bible Study? I see so many young people stuck in the world of “Grand Thief Auto” or “Call to Duty: Black Ops” to the point they can no longer keep their grades up in school nor do they know how to talk. They learn “KILL or be KILLED.”

Many people state the reason is “Prayer was removed from school” or “The Pledge of Allegiance” is no longer being said. Horse manure! The last time I was in a classroom that wasn’t collegiate was August 2012, and they had a moment of silence (which is used for prayer) and the “The Pledge of Allegiance was said. Are parents talking to their children? Parents control the finances. Why are they allowing such violence in the lives of their children? When my children were little they noticed Arnold getting killed in one movie and wounded in another. That is when mommy explained that this is Hollywood and it is not reality. I also gave them an explanation on death and its finality. I also took the time to be concerned about the souls of my children. I didn’t leave it up to our church or the school. I could continue on this subject about raising children forever! 

Bottom line, I am going to do a social experiment next week. I am pulling a “Sheldon.” I went and purhased 50 "WWJD" (What would Jesus Do?) bracelets and three bags of candy wrapped in Biblical versus wrappers. I am giving them out to as many people as possible. I attend a Baptist University that is spiritually active and is trying not to get the “Spiritual hardening of the arteries” as so many adults get when they become complacent in their lives. Sometimes when we become complacent, then we forget some of the most important issues at hand. All people have issues but loving thy self/family/neighbor, not being afraid of the unknown, realizing we are all interconnected, and there are a lot of people with much less than us is all that really matters.

Brooking, Nancy Jane. Charles M Sheldon and the Social Gospel . April 20, 2001. http://spider.georgetowncollege.edu/htallant/courses/his338/students/nbrooking/CMS.htm (accessed January 31, 2013.

Kansas Historical Society. Charles Monroe Sheldon - Biography. June 2003. http://www.kshs.org/kansapedia/charles-monroe-sheldon/12201 (accessed January 31, 2013). Sheldon,

Charles M. In His Steps. 1899. http://books.google.com/books/about/In_His_Steps.html?id=TEzQAAAAMAAJ