liw & wwjd

An unemployed tramp seeks help at a well-to-do church, but is rebuffed by the minister. He walks away, only to return the following Sunday morning during services. He asks to be heard, challenging the congregants about their beliefs. "So you believe what you sing? Do you mean what you say? How can you enjoy your lives of plenty when so many are without? Is this what Jesus would do?" The tramp collapses, and later dies. The parishioners and their pastor are shaken by the words of the poor man, and many of them pledge for one year to ask themselves at every turn, "What would Jesus do?"

The story was written by Rev. Charles Sheldon and published as In His Steps in 1897. Rev. Sheldon had delivered the book as sermon-stories to his congregation in Topeka, Kansas; it had been published as a serial in The Advance, the same religious weekly read by Caroline Ingalls and family. (See The Long Winter and Little Town on the Prairie.)

A copyright error put In His Steps into the public domain very soon after publication; it is one of the most published books in history. It made Charles Sheldon and his Topeka church famous. Most notably, the core question of the story: "What Would Jesus Do? (WWJD), is one of the most widely recognized acronymns in Christian history.

Rev. Charles Sheldon was the son of the Reverend Stewart Sheldon, first superintendent of Home Missions in Dakota Territory. In Pioneer Girl, Laura Ingalls Wilder writes:

And so the winter was passing quickly and merrily when along in February on another cold, snowy night we heard a shout outside the door and Pa opened the door to let in Rev. Alden, our own Rev. Alden who had started the church in Walnut Grove; whom we had not seen for years, who was still a Home Missionary and had been sent out into the west to plant churches along the line of the new railroad. We were mutually surprised and pleased to meet again.

With him was another missionary, a small, quick, red-headed Scotsman, with a slight burr to his tongue. But how he could sing!

They stayed the night, held church services the next day with a congregation of nine counting Grace and went on west. They returned after a week, stayed over night again and went on east, with the promise to return later and organize a church.

Church records tell us that Reverend Alden delivered that first sermon on February 29, 1880. Records list the names of Rev. Alden, T.H. Ruth, A.W. Ogden, Mr. and Mrs. Boast, Mr. O'Connell and William O'Connell, but no names for the other of the 25 present (many more than the nine Wilder said were there) were recorded. Wouldn't the church record have recorded that the Superintendent of Home Missions was in attendance?

In By the Shores of Silver Lake, Wilder writes: ..."Oh, I wasn't the one who joined in," said Reverend Alden. "That was Scotty here. I was too cold, but his red hair keeps him warm. Reverend Stuart, these are old, good friends of mine, and their friends, so we are all friends together."

Reverend Stuart was so young that he was not much more than a big boy. His hair was flaming red, his face was red with cold, and his eyes were a sparkling cold gray.

It has long been believed that "Scotty" was Rev. Stewart Sheldon. In 1880, Rev. Stewart Sheldon was 56 years old, too old to be considered "so young as to be not much more than a big boy," although he was living in Yankton that winter and did start 100 churches in Dakota Territory. His son, Charles, was just the right age, and he had recently graduated from college.

Just who did accompany Rev. Alden to the Surveyors' House?
- posted by pioneergirl at 11:17 PM