“O God, we don’t know what to do, but our eyes are on you.”
2 Chronicles 20:12
Episode Overview:
During the coronavirus outbreak, there has been panic, fear, and disruption to our lives, both individually and corporately as churches. But praise God, we’re not the only Christians who have had to weather this kind of storm. On Nov. 3, 1918, Francis J. Grimké, pastor of 15th Street Presbyterian Church in Washington D.C., preached a sermon to his church, which reopened after public gatherings were banned amid the epidemic of influenza—an epidemic in which 3,000 D.C. residents lost their lives. Grimké gave 8 remarks to his congregation, and answered questions such as:
- What is the meaning of this epidemic? What were God’s purposes in it?
- What does it teach us about race prejudice?
- What do we learn about the value of church and of faith in Jesus Christ?
- Come and be comforted by brother Grimké’s words as he preaches to us still today.
Links & Show Notes:
- Grimke’s Sermon (for phone)
- Grimke’s Sermon (for print)
- How DC Churches Responded When the Government Banned Public Gatherings During the Spanish Flu of 1918 (9Marks)
- Spurgeon and the Cholera Outbreak of 1854 (The Spurgeon Center)