From the minister... 

Dear friends

Have you ever found yourself suddenly faced with a responsibility you never expected and wondering how you would cope? If so, you’re in good company. This was the situation that confronted the US Vice-President Harry Truman on 12 April 1945, when news reached him of the death of Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

During the summer, one of my holiday reads was an excellent new biography, The Trials of Harry S Truman, written by the journalist and author Jeffrey Frank. The book’s subtitle, The Extraordinary Presidency of an Ordinary Man, sums up the genuinely awesome task which faced Truman when he assumed the presidency. He is generally regarded as one of the least experienced leaders to take on this office, working on his family’s farm before serving in World War 1, and then taking part in various business ventures that famously included a partnership in a haberdashery store that closed after two years.

Having served as a Senator for Missouri for 10 years, he unexpectedly became Vice-President as a running mate to Roosevelt, whose fourth term in office began in January 1945. Just 82 days later, FDR died and Truman, who had been kept almost wholly uninformed about major policy decisions, found himself leading a super power at the end of World War 2. Nobody had told him of the Manhattan Project, the programme which led to the development of the world’s first nuclear bomb, but it was Truman who ended up taking the decision to deploy the weapon at Hiroshima and Nagasaki. He also led the United States through a period that included the beginning of the Cold War as the ‘Iron Curtain’ separated Europe and the Korean War, events which were constantly overshadowed by the fear of further nuclear conflict.

History’s verdict on Truman is generally positive. He is regarded as being a good president though not a great one, a decent man who did his best in circumstances when anyone would have felt hopelessly out of their depth. Like anyone else who holds senior political office, his time in the White House was one of relentless personal pressure. How did he keep going? One answer to this question is found in a prayer which was a source of great personal comfort. Franks describes it as a prayer ‘that he’d recite “over and over” from his days as a “window washer, bottle duster, floor scrubber”’ until the time he held the presidency. He wrote it down, perhaps unaware that in the future others would have this insight into his inner life:

Help me to be, to think, to act what is right, because it is right; make me truthful, honest and honourable in all things; make me intellectually honest for the sake of right and honour and without thought of reward to me. Give me the ability to be charitable, forgiving and patient with my fellowmen – help me to understand their motives and their shortcomings – even as Thou understandest mine! Amen, Amen, Amen.

I have no idea what the provenance of this prayer is. An online search gives its title as ‘Harry Truman’s Integrity Prayer’ but offers no clue as to who first taught it to him. Whatever its source, I found myself inspired by the profound humility it conveys. I am reminded of David’s prayer in Psalm 51:6 (NRSV): ‘You desire truth in the inward being; therefore teach me wisdom in my secret heart.’ We live in what is frequently referred to as a ‘post-truth era’, but these words remind us of where the quest for truth needs to begin, with an honesty before ourselves and before God about our own failings and our sometimes-flawed motives along with a willingness to see the best in others. It is also inspiring and humbling to read of Truman’s determination to act ‘without thought of reward’ for himself. In an age when we frequently emphasise outward appearance and image over and above the formation of character, we would do well to cultivate such an attitude.

This approach is also of a piece with the teaching of Jesus himself, who famously told his disciples to, ‘Be careful not to practise your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them’ (Matthew 6:1). We frequently read these words as a call to self-renunciation but in another excellent new book that I read over the summer I was struck forcefully by a different perspective on them. In The Secret Place of Thunder, the American pastor John Starke suggests that ‘Jesus is trying to liberate us from having to impress others and ourselves.’

Whatever the autumn brings, I hope you don’t find yourself faced with the scale of challenges that faced Harry Truman. Nonetheless, you might find it helpful to say his prayer – either at the start of the day, as you look at your calendar and bring to God the people you’ll meet and the decisions you’ll take, or at the end as a means of reflection on what has taken place. If each of us could cultivate a little more of the charity, forgiveness, and patience it speaks of, we would find ourselves blessed and a blessing to others.

Wishing you God’s grace and peace
Trevor