How often have you been impressed by someone’s biblical knowledge? It can be inspiring to hear a verse of God’s Holy Word quoted from memory with passion and confidence. Hearing the stories of Jesus unpacked by a scholar of scripture can draw us closer to understanding the context and meaning of what God’s Good News is revealing. Perhaps few moments empower us more than when we are trained and equipped to be able to read the Holy Bible, understand as much as we can in the moment, and apply it to our daily lives. We begin to understand and grasp God’s plan for our personal salvation. We lean into living a life of faith that means we can help bring forth the Kingdom of Heaven as we engage a life of discipleship in personal and social holiness. God’s Word comes alive in us!
This is also when we are truly and tremendously challenged. When God’s Word is alive in us, we are called to be the person of faith that Christ calls us to be…His hands and feet, His eyes and ears, His response and action as we go beyond simply knowing the Word and into Living the Word.
A little over a week ago my wife April and I went to the Reynolds Hospice House in Collierville, TN to visit a person I have known for 46 years, Bettye Jo Masters. She and her husband, the Reverend L. Doyle Masters came to my home church, St. Luke’s United Methodist in Memphis in the late 1970’s. Doyle had been appointed as Senior Minister, coming from Calvary UMC in Nashville. They brought with them their family of four children who ranged from young adult to elementary age.
Rev. Masters was in his mid-forties and was already an accomplished clergy person in the Tennessee Annual Conference. He had a proven, effective ministry in a variety of pastoral settings, including starting a new congregation, serving as a District Superintendent, and leading one of Nashville’s strongest congregations
He and Bettye Jo made an immediate impact at St. Luke’s. They were able to connect with and inspire people across all generations, life-stages, and faith perspectives. Sadly, Doyle developed cancer and died in January of 1980. He was only 48 years old. Bettye Jo and the family stayed in Memphis and at St. Luke’s. She would later become the Director of Children’s Ministries at St. Luke’s, and serve in that capacity for more than twenty years. Even in retirement, she continued to teach the bible, answer invitations for public speaking engagements, and counsel anyone who needed support from a person who exuded love, grace, and compassion.
I was ten years old when the Masters came to St. Luke’s. My relationship with Mrs. Masters began sitting on the chancel steps of the sanctuary listening to her offer a children’s message during Sunday morning worship. She continued to influence me through middle and high school, and into adulthood. I would later join the staff at St. Luke’s in the 1990’s and work alongside her until she retired.
In 1994, Mrs. Masters would read a passage of scripture at our wedding. Now April and I were at her bedside, as she slept peacefully under the compassionate care of hospice. She did not speak or open her eyes. I leaned over and spoke to her softly, through tears, thanking her for all she did for me and for the powerful, Christ-like witness she had offered to countless people in countless ways. I was just blessed to be one of them. Before we left, we stood at the end of her bed in silence. I was amazed at how Mrs. Masters was having an impact on me right then, as much in silence as if she was speaking, telling me a story of Jesus or giving me sage life advice. I was reminded of the apostle Paul’s words that open 1st Corinthians 8, “Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.” (NRSV)
Bettye Jo Masters knew the Holy Bible as much as any person can, but she never acted like she knew it all. She had knowledge, but it never inflated her spiritual ego. She simply took that knowledge and let it flow from her being in sharing God’s love and letting others know that God loves them, and she loves them. Those are two things that cannot be separated. It is not possible to offer a genuine witness for Christ by telling someone that God loves them, if we then do not also let them know that we love them. Knowledge of scripture is essential to the Christian journey, but it means nothing if one does not humbly and sincerely make the effort to live it.
I hope you have a Mrs. Masters in your life…someone who truly knows God’s Word, but also lives it. May we all strive to offer such a Witness in our hurting, broken world, which desperately needs those who can live and offer God’s love as much or more as we claim to know it.
Serving Christ, Serving you,
Rev. Dr. David O. Weatherly
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