Saturday, April 22, 2017

Father, Hear the Prayer We Offer -- Love M. W. Willis




Whatever she felt, she didn’t want the life of ease, if we can take the words she crafted in the mid-19th Century as an accurate portrayal of her emotions. Her name was Love Maria Whitcomb Willis, and she wrote out a prayer in 1856 with words one often does not hear someone vocalize when lifting a request heavenward. How did she come to that place, circumstantially, when she said “Father, Hear the Prayer We Offer”? Knowing her background and what other pursuits she had, and whom she married some two years after she wrote these words, provides some valuable insight into Love’s motivation. It might make you ask yourself about how intently you pray to your Creator. Do you think He’s actually listening and responding in tangible ways? If you had known Love Maria Whitcomb (later Willis) in 1856, you might have said her answer to that question was an unequivocal ‘yes’.  

Love Whitcomb was the 32-year old daughter of a Unitarian minister in 1856, so it was logical for her to have an inclination to pray. The events that would transpire in the next several years also casts some light upon what she might have been thinking when she wrote out her five-verse poem. As a Unitarian, Love would have grown up watching and participating in prayer in the worship services where her father ministered. By the time she was 32, perhaps in the Boston area, it wasn’t clear if she had already known the Dr. Frederick Willis that she would marry two years hence, since he was apparently a divinity student at Harvard at that time. But, two other facts in her own life and his shed more light on “Father, Hear the Prayer…”: She would become the editor of the well-known Spiritualist journal The Banner of Light, and Frederick would also become intrigued by the Spiritualist movement and eventually became a minister in this sect later after they married, in the western New York state region. Spiritualists who read the weekly journal that Love edited believed mediums (through a séance) could contact and converse with the dead. Other newsworthy items, including sermons and book reviews, occupied the journal’s pages, but the reports of contact with the spirit world were the centerpiece of its existence. So, when Love composed her poem in 1856, was this her own form of spirit-world contact? And, noting what she asked God to do in her prayer is somewhat illuminating. She must have believed that hers and others’ lives could be expected to endure hardship – and she does not ask for relief from that. Four of her five verses indicate she wanted only His presence to strengthen her. Divine presence and guidance via contact with another realm was what she sought, not ease (v. 1), green pastures (v.2), nor still waters (v.3). ‘Father, hear…’, may have been only her opening line in communication with Him. She probably expected answers in return, if her work with The Banner of Light is a window onto her beliefs.   

From whom would I most like to hear, if I could contact someone on the other side of terrestrial life? It would be very moving to talk to mom and dad, but would that really affect me significantly – like changing my life’s direction? Remember what Jesus said about contact with the dead in a story He told (Luke 16:19-31)? I already have what I need to make the best choices for myself. And, I can contact someone in that other realm – it’s called prayer. Love Willis tried it, at least once. Isn’t at least one try worth your effort?      



See the following links for scant biographic information on the author: http://www.hymntime.com/tch/bio/w/i/l/l/willis_lmw.htm

See the following link for all five original verses of the song: http://www.hymntime.com/tch/htm/f/a/t/h/fathhear.htm
 
Link to information about a regular publication that the author edited: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banner_of_Light

Link to information on the faith background of the author: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unitarianism 

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