Let's just start with this to begin - this book should be required reading for anyone entering the pastoral profession. The fact of the matter is, the most instructive of God's saints have names that many would not recognize. Brainerd, Payson, Wilberforce, and I would say, Marshall.
This book was originally published in 1951 by Catherine Marshall, widowed wife of Peter Marshall. The book is best accompanied by the 1949 text Mr. Jones Meet the Master, a collection of sermons by Dr. Marshall which was published the year that he died. Even without that accompanying text, however, A Man Called Peter is truly the standalone book that Dr. Marshall deserved. Rather than examining strictly his ministerial service (although that is not neglected at all with a series of his full sermons and prayers collected as an index completing the book), this book tells the story of Dr. Marshall from his humble beginnings just east of Glasgow, Scotland, to the height of his career as a minister serving as the Chaplain to the United States Senate.
Often God has to shut a door in our face, so that He can subsequently open the door through which He wants us to go.
Peter Marshall was born at the turn of the 20th Century. Having lost his father at the age of four, Marshall was raised by his mother who continually engrained in him to "seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you." And they certainly were. After a short-lived attempt to join the British Navy, Marshall worked laborious jobs trying to find a way to live through the depression that Britain experienced in the aftermath of World War I.
After an encounter with a recently returned Chinese missionary, Marshall decided that he would serve the Lord in the ministry. He was, however, without any of the requisite theological education. So, he went to night school for ministerial training and worked his labor jobs in the day. Months later, he was confronted by a cousin from America who said that he should go serve in America. After much praying, he did. Alone he sailed across the Atlantic, going into a mission field he did not know, to find a job he did not know of, to provide money he did not have.
After procuring another labor job in New Jersey and joining the National Guard to prove his patriotism, Marshall received word that a friend of his in Alabama would receive him down. Upon his arrival, Marshall joined a local Presbyterian Church and soon led their choir, youth classes, Sunday School classes, and Boy Scout Troop. This church later raised money to send Marshall to Seminary so that he could become a Pastor.
Not even ministers are blind, you know.
The story goes on like this, with Marshall suffering through difficulties and hardships with unbelievable providence from God all along the way. The story becomes much more detailed, understandably, once Catherine (his wife) enters the story. There is a humorous note about how that he asks her out on their first date. He tactfully approached her about going on a date, while serving as a pastor in a local church, by saying, "May I see you sometime this week? I've wanted to know you for a long time. Not even ministers are blind, you know."
The relationship that Peter and Catherine share throughout the rest of this story is one that every pastor should read. The hardships that come with full-time ministry; the stress of wondering what the future holds and the difficulties of navigating a family around God's seemingly ever-changing plan for you; the instability in balancing your calling to pastor with the calling to husband and father; all of this is exhibited in tearful transparency through the voice of the ever-faithful wife, Catherine.
Obviously Mrs. Marshall loved her husband through-and-through, and she is ever so quick to note her own inadequacies and failures in contrast to her husband, whom she never criticizes. There are times that the reader will find themselves wishing that Dr. Marshall would have been a softer man towards his wife. He seems to have been so very serious about the ministry, that even his relationship with his wife was far and beyond beneath that calling in his mind. Catherine stresses that Peter was an expert at engaging in relaxing activities with his friends and family (even claiming that he was often called the G.G.P. "Great Game Player"), but there are obvious notes that lead the reader to understand something much more real than this face that Dr. Marshall would put on.
As we peek behind the scenes and see life through the eyes of a watchful wife, we do not see scandal - as we so often expect in the clergy - rather, we see pain. The joyful game-player rarely went to sleep for more than a handful of hours per night, he never had enough time to prepare for his sermons and consequently often felt as though he had underperformed in fulfilling his commitment to God. These common difficulties are faced by all clergymen, and while it is tempting to go in believing that we can carry the weight all our own (or that our marriage is strong enough to bear it), the reality is that we all struggle with this and it brings great pain on ourselves and our families.
The usual hampering symptoms were entirely absent. This encouraged him to do too much; it encouraged others to demand too much of him.
There is something that scratches the heart when reading the last quarter of this book, almost like dramatic irony. It is like reading Romeo and Juliet, knowing that the mail-carrier passes Romeo with Juliet's letter telling her plan as he unknowingly heads to his own demise due to his lacking that information. The pain that the reader feels in reading A Man Called Peter is in seeing the great strides that Dr. Marshall makes in his ministry, his family, and his country - only to know that it is a lack of balance in these three aspects of his life that led to his untimely departure from this life.
This spiritual giant passed from this life to the next with his final words being, "I'll see you in the morning." He missed out on raising his son, just as his father had missed out on raising him, because he gave everything that he had to everything that he did - with the exception being his familial life. I love Dr. Marshall's sermons and his fervor for the service of the Lord, but there is something harrowing in this story that I believe every pastor needs to know. The church was there before you - and the church will be there after you. God carries it from generation to generation. He is sovereign over His own body, and He will have His way in the end. We need not worry that the walls will fall in if we fail to hold them up.
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