William Barclay is one of our favorites. We probably have more than half of his 68 books. We’ve read together from many of them, including his books of Prayers for the Plain Man,, which include prayers for most every situation in life, as well as many callings – teacher, shop worker, policeman, soldier, lawyer.

  He had two rather unique ideas about prayer. First, he never used the Elizabethan thou and thine in addressing deity, but you and yours, which he saw as more appropriate for the "plain" man. And when we pray publicly we are being heard by men as well as God! Nonetheless, at Barclay’s funeral in 1978 his own minister, the epitomy of Presbyterian piety, prayed a deeply moving prayer of thanksgiving for Barclay’s many contributions to church and society, using of course the traditional pronouns. A close friend afterwards wrote of it, "Willie would have loved it!" He was saying that Willie Barclay was resilient and didn’t have to have things his way.

  The second feature about Barclays published prayers is that he didn’t pray for things. Prayer is not to be a recitation of a "want list," he held, but for faith, courage, and wisdom for the living of these days. Neither is prayer to be used as an "escape hatch" from the troubles and tragedies of life. We are rather to face the storms of life with resolve and courage, and prayer helps us do that.

  An example of what I mean is a prayer he wrote for those who have tiredness as a problem.  O God, somehow these days I am always tired. I go to sleep tired and I get up still tired.

  Things take longer than they used to take, and I get behind in my work, and with the things I ought to do.

  I come home tired, and that makes me cross and bad-tempered and irritable and impatient with my own people.

  Everything has become an effort and a labour.

  O God, help me to keep going, and help me to find something of the rest that you alone can give. Refresh me with your presence, and give me back the joy of living and the thrill of working: through Jesus Christ my Lord. AMEN.

   The book we are now reading, Daily Celebration (1971) is the first of two volumes by that title. There is a reading of a few paragraphs for each day for an entire year, adding up to 316 pages in the first volume and 275 in the second. While they might be called "devotional," they are replete with practical wisdom and common sense, along with delightful little stories.

   In one of them he tells about washing his car with a "miracle brush" that lifted the dirt right off the car. A little girl appeared, watching him, and at last said, "My daddy has a brush like that to clean his car too." Barclay replied, "That’s nice," and in an effort to make conversation, added, "And what kind of car does your daddy have?"

  She replied, "Oh, he doesn’t have the car yet, just the brush to clean it." Then Barclay made his point: "If you can’t get all you want, start with what you can get!  If you can’t achieve the big thing of which you dream, ‘get cracking’ on what you are able to do. Today!"

  The preface to this first volume is an introduction to the author, William Barclay the Modern Miracle, by Dennis Duncan, his publisher. Duncan points out that Barclay’s phenomenal output as a biblical scholar exceeds that of any other modern scholar. He produced a translation of the New Testament in two volumes. He taught the Bible on TV to millions all over Great Britain, his voice being the most familiar of any preacher in Britain. As a popular writer his essays on biblical themes appeared in journals and newspapers for over 25 years. He was a professor and dean of the divinity faculty of Glasgow University for decades.

  And yet he was a man of diverse interests. Though totally deaf without a hearing aid, he was an accomplished musician who directed the university choir. He had a voracious appetite for sports of all kinds. In his high school days he was a top runner. In later life he revealed in an interview that he quit running the day someone outran him!

  His output as a writer does appear miraculous – and profitable. His Daily Bible Study (Westminster Press) is a l7-volume commentary on the entire New Testament. By 1984 three million copies had been sold. I do not have the latest count, but they are still in print and still being sold. Upwards of half the sales have been in the U.S.A. But he wrote books on numerous subjects of interest – the Lord’s Prayer, The Lord’s Supper, The Apostles’ Creed, The Beatitudes, The Ten Commandments, God’s Young Church, Ambassador for Christ (Paul), The Making of the Bible, to name only a few.

  Incredibly, he didn’t decide on his own to write any one of his 68 books. He was asked by some publisher to write each of them.

  In his A Spiritual Autobiography, which he wrote shortly before his death, there is his "Testament of Faith," in which he tells what he believes about many basic subjects – God, Jesus, the world, love, marriage, family, home, church. While every topic makes challenging, even disturbing, reading, I was especially impressed with something he said on I believe in man – "In spite of everything that can be said I believe in the essential goodness and nobility of man. And so did Jesus. In the Gospels Jesus flings his staggering commands and demands at men – and obviously expects them to pick themselves up and to try to obey."

  In this autobiography he tells about his parents. While his father was no saint, even if a banker and a lay minister, his mother was a saint. He saw her in terms of ideal womanhood and motherhood, always the peacemaker. But it troubled him that for all her goodness she had to suffer and die of spinal cancer.

  The next tragedy in his life was the accidental death of his daughter and her fiance while boating on the Irish Sea. The family never knew what happened. A friend was with them. They found the sail boat empty, adrift at sea. His daughter’s body eventually washed up on a Scottish beach. Barclay was devastated. He would himself, pitifully, go out on his own and roam the beeches looking for her, day after day.

  The apparent needless suffering of his mother and the senseless death of his daughter, engaged to be married, troubled him the rest his life. He admitted he had no answer as to why good people have to endure such tragedy and affliction. He found some relief in going back to work and staying busy. He quoted a wise man as saying the best way out of the storms of life is to go through them.

  One of my favorite Barclay stories, and one of the most touching, occurred when he was a young professor at Glasgow. He realized that he stood on the shoulders of giants, and he himself was now occupying the chair of some of Scotland’s great biblical scholars – such as A. B. Bruce and W. M. McGregor. The latter, as one of his professors, had influenced him more than anyone outside his home. And now he had succeeded to his chair. When he visited the old professor at bedside for the last time, McGregor took his hand and said, "Willie, when I die they’ll find your name written on my heart."

  That’s a great line. We don’t usually see professors in that light.

                         (Next essay: My Visit with William Barclay)

  Those who have read my The Stone-Campbell Movement: the Story of the American Restoration Movement report that it not only gave them a broader view of what our heritage is about, but a renewed appreciation of its leaders and its principles. This is a 630 page book and a bargain at $42 postpaid. You may order a copy by sending a check to me at 1300 Woodlake Dr., Denton, TX 76210.

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  Our daughter Phoebe is still in I.C.U. with infections difficult to overcome. We are just back from visiting her, and a nurse says that while she is improving, she has a long way yet to go.

  You have been kind and gracious in your condolences over the recent loss of Phoebe’s granddaughter, one reason for her present condition. I am trying to respond personally to all the cards, letters, emails, but I’m not there yet.

  The book we are now reading, Daily Celebration (1971) is the first of two volumes by that title. There is a reading of a few paragraphs for each day of an entire year, adding up to 316 pages in the first volume and 275 in the second. While they might be called "devotional," they are replete with practical wisdom and common-sense, along withdelightful little stories.