By James Wilson
Anskar was a 9th Century priest and
bishop with a tremendous burden to bring Viking peoples into the Kingdom of
God. He was a man who saw visions over
his lifetime and a formative one featured an angel telling him God wanted him
to evangelize the Scandinavians and return home in glorious martyrdom. Readers wondering how one returns home after
being martyred should know the term’s meaning is “witness” and does not require
death to activate it. Anskar’s witness
was to the power of perseverance in the Name of his King.
Bishops
in that day knew little of the pomp associated with the office in our day. They were simply seen as overseers (literally)
facilitating the work of planting and growing churches and Christians in a
region by putting their personal backs to the wheel. They got a lot more of the actual work of the
Kingdom done and had to attend far fewer meetings, a still common state in
remote and third world regions today and all too rare in modernized areas. Anskar entered Scandinavia with a few friends
and began introducing this violent and superstitious people to his best Friend
– the God of peace which passes
understanding. Many thought him crazy to
devote his life to going where he and what he represented were clearly not
wanted.
Peacekeepers
are obsessed with maintaining status quo, avoiding loss at all costs, but there
was no peace to lose in 9th Century Denmark and Sweden. Peacemakers are strong yet loving men and
women who bring a gift so precious and lifegiving they are willing to risk
everything to deliver it. Abraham
Lincoln was such a dedicated peacemaker he fought a four-years’ war to set the
slaves and the nation free. Lyndon
Johnson and Richard Nixon were so obsessed with peacekeeping they lost the
Vietnam War and 60,000 American lives – not forgetting the million-plus
Vietnamese who were sacrificed on the altar of “not losing.” Anskar succeeded in planting two churches and
a school in two decades of missionary work.
He spent much of his time training and sending those who came to Christ
in his churches, and as much more negotiating peace between rival warlords and petty
kings in the neighborhood. The peace was
an end in itself, but also a necessary pre-condition for facilitating the
mission work. Anskar was armed with his
indomitable spirit and the Spirit of the Living God Who kept him supplied with
visions to follow and words to obey.
Over the years he ended a civil war and averted a violent pagan reaction
to his own work without bloodshed, but still had only two or so churches and a
school to show for it. At the end of his
service he returned to Germany, deeply discouraged but still persevering in a
God who claims His words never fall to the ground empty.
It
took a century for the fruit to come into the bin. Missionaries raised and inspired under the
ministries of Anskar and his disciples branched out and brought the Gospel to
all of Denmark and Sweden, adding Norway and Finland into the mix. Because of this man’s dedication – by choice,
and whether circumstances were encouraging or not – Northern Europe came to
Christ and the 10th Century Euro visitors to America came as
servants of Christ rather than of Odin. Granted,
some of these converts imagined God’s role in their lives was to endorse rather
than convert their aggressive ventures, but that is God’s problem, not the
messenger’s. Anskar never knew how
effective he was – until he stood before the Throne of Heaven – but he is still
today regarded as the patron saint of Scandinavia.
Like
Anskar, we live in deepening darkness.
War is all around. Men routinely call evil good and good evil, whether
it is a dictatorial president forcing us into a healthcare swamp or families
calling for retribution against good Samaritans who saved lives by taking out
their relatives who were attacking others.
Christians are hated over the world simply for being Christians. Unlike Anskar, we live in a time of abundant
signs of God’s grace – from healing cancers and growing stunted limbs to
producing food where none would grow to softening the heart of a hard-nosed
judge. Anskar’s indomitable spirit is a
gift from God and the Holy Spirit is a gift of that same God. We have only to take that God at His word
(Is. 62:6-7) that when we call on Him we should give ourselves no rest and
Himself no rest until He establishes His Kingdom in our midst. Anskar’s legacy of perseverance is ours if we
want it.
James A. Wilson is the author of Living
As Ambassadors of Relationships and The
Holy Spirit and the End Times – available at local bookstores or by
e-mailing him at
praynorthstate@charter.net
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