Jim and John were boyhood friends and shared their growing-up years in the idyllic surrounds of Greenfield, Indiana, before the Civil War.
“James Whitcomb Riley and myself were boys together. We were in the same class at school, and at the same ‘swimming hole,’ since made famous in one of Mr. Riley’s poems. During the Civil War, we marched the streets together with tin pans for drums and broomsticks for guns. Little did passers-by imagine, as they cast indifferent glances at us little dust-begrimed urchins out in the road playing soldier, that, in the coming years, little Johnnie Hatfield would bless his country as John T. Hatfield, ‘The Hoosier Evangelist,’ and little Jim Riley would be known the world over as James Whitcomb Riley, ‘The Hoosier Poet.’” So noted John T. Hatfield in his work, “Thirty-three Years a Live Wire: Life of John T. Hatfield.”
There were similarities and contraries, yet lecterns and circuits defined both life pursuits. Words — they employed them with vim, wit, volume and wonderment! In the first place, in the last place, they were lifelong friends.
Enduring friendships are vital to a life well-lived. Faith and friendship are woven into the fabric of Scripture with a large font and poetically lived out, real and raw.
Many enduring friendships in Scripture were beneficial for the community and helpful to the individuals. Abraham and Lot; Ruth and Naomi; Daniel with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego; Jesus with Mary, Martha, and Lazarus; Paul and Timothy — these are all examples of faith’s positive impact on enduring friendships.
Have you ever paused to think about what makes the difference between a fleeting connection versus a lifelong friendship that endures __________?
If it is sincere, faith influences our lives and positively impacts our friendships. Here are four leading indicators to help:
• friendships bring us closer to one another (fellowship)
• friendships bring God nearer (on our faith journey)
• friendships help us see things through (drive)
• friends help us see through things (discernment)
Without knowing it, we often gloss over a critical two-word phrase in Scripture: one another. One hundred times in the New Testament we see (or miss) these powerful two words.
The “one another”s offer helps and how-tos on making friendships endure for a lifetime: “love one another,” “forgive one another,” “be devoted to one another,” and “build up one another.”
Jim and John were boyhood friends, classmates of the same one-room school, swam in The Old Swimmin’ Hole, and had a lifetime, enduring friendship and it was the “ginoine ar-tickle,” as Riley would say.
According to the biographical edition of Riley’s works, “The Prayer Perfect” was originally titled “Amen” and was published in the Indianapolis Journal in 1880.
Riley was 31 when it was published. Three decades later, at the age of 62, and having suffered a stroke that paralyzed the writing side (right side) of his body, the prayer garnered a revised title though the same. George Ade began working with Riley from 1910 through 1916 on his last five poems and autobiographical sketches, all dictated.
Did “The Hoosier Evangelist” (John T. Hatfield), with his boyhood, lifelong, faith-filled and enduring friendship with “The Hoosier Poet” (James Whitcomb Riley), influence this gem of a prayer?
The Prayer Perfect
Dear Lord! kind Lord!
Gracious Lord! I pray
Thou wilt look on all I love,
Tenderly to-day!
Weed their hearts of weariness;
Scatter every care,
Down a wake of angel wings
Winnowing the air.
Bring unto the sorrowing
All release from pain;
Let the lips of laughter
Overflow again;
And with all the needy
O divide, I pray,
This vast treasure of content
That is mine to-day!
Markus Dennis is pastor of Riley Friends Church. This weekly column is written by local clergy members.
