12 – Exhort one another …
The word of exhortation is given to bring us to the breaking of bread in a suitable frame of mind but, forgetful creatures that we are, by lunchtime we may not be able to recall what it was all about! For that reason, among others, many ecclesias record exhortations, so they can be listened to again. In earlier times, before recording equipment was available, exhortations were taken down in shorthand and then transcribed, or the brother was prevailed upon to hand over his script, or to write it up if he was speaking from notes.
Christadelphian Synagogue
The Ambassador of the Coming Age magazine started to include a few pages of exhortation, from December 1867 onwards, under the heading “Sunday Morning at the Christadelphian Synagogue, Birmingham”. More often than not, Brother Robert Roberts was the exhorter. In June 1875 the series, which had by then been running for sixty-six issues, was changed to “Sunday Morning at the Birmingham Christadelphian Ecclesia” and continued thus for a further 225 issues. Exhortation, therefore, became an established feature of the magazine, and that is still the case today.
An exhortation in each issue serves many purposes. It reminds readers that the Truth is all about application and conduct, not just about collecting and reading books! For small ecclesias, isolated brothers and sisters, and speaking brethren who are in need of material to use or develop further, a published exhortation gives them something to work on. And when we need a bit of encouragement, or counsel, reading an exhortation can give us just that.
Changing styles
At a time when ecclesias are tending to encourage shorter exhortations (“Not more than 20 minutes, please” – even if it did take you three hours to get there!), it is salutary to read those early exhortations. Sensing the need, in 1880 Brother Roberts published fifty-two of his in Seasons of Comfort and, five years later, another fifty-two, in Further Seasons of Comfort. If you want to compare the sort of encouragement being given to ecclesias 125 years ago with today, both books are still available, used and new. They heralded a range of similar productions, sometimes by a collection of brethren, sometimes by just one.
In 1921, twenty-six more were published as Christadelphian Exhortations, including the words of Brethren W. H. Boulton, Islip Collyer and C. C. Walker. Another twenty-six appeared in 1942, entitled Sunday Morning, featuring brethren like C. A. Ladson and G. T. Fryer. In 1956 another twenty-six appeared, this time At the Breaking of Bread, including contributions from brethren like L. W. Richardson and T. J. Barling.
Abiding worth
If you have ever had to choose which taped exhortations to keep and which to discard, you will know that some are worth keeping long-term. Brother Dennis Gillett had a real way with words, and he always spoke from a carefully prepared script (though you would not have known that from his style of delivery). His exhortations were therefore readily publishable: May You Know it to Be True (being also one of his frequent catch-phrases), and Solemn Moments of Remembrance have been much sought after, and the same is true of Brother Harry Tennant’s collection, Comfort of the Scriptures.
Those are the most recently published collections of exhortations, but it will not surprise you to know that there is much more of this sort of material available if you start looking for it.