Singing Our Way Home
by: Rev. Jessica LaGrone, Dean of Chapel, Asbury Theological Seminary
If you knew Ellsworth Kalas, you weren’t surprised at the amount of singing we’re doing here today. You may even have warmed up your voice in the car on the way here, knowing that he loved music, and that you’d be called on to be participate in that love of music today.
Dr. Kalas told me last summer, a little apologetically, that he had chosen six hymns for his memorial service. Six! He wanted this to be a singing service, for us to sing our way through his favorite hymns, to sing the Gospel story even as we gathered to celebrate his story. Everyone who worshiped with him knew that he hadn’t picked up a hymnal in a worship service in decades – people were amazed that he seemed to know them all by heart. When we sing the hymns, he would say, we sing the story of God. It wasn’t just in church David and Taddie remember riding in the car with their dad driving on various trips and singing their way to and from their destination.
In the days before written history, when oral tradition was used to transmit information, songs were often used to preserve histories, or stories, or even maps. Instead of giving directions, you could sing someone the way and they would remember it in verse.
The best of the hymns are like that. They are like maps for us. They walk us through our history, letting us sing our way along Gospel story, and in so many of them, the journey of the hymn is completed with a last verse that is often about a victorious passing to heaven. If you sing hymns enough, you get to go to heaven at the end of almost every one. When we sing them we are giving closure to our story, singing our way home.
I think Dr. Kalas wanted us to sing our way along the Gospel story today, to sing our way home even as we gather to honor the homecoming of one who sang it so often and so well.
For Ellsworth Kalas the song began early. He came under conviction at an evening revival and got saved at age 10, and the world has been better for it ever since. His call to preach came along very quickly after he gave his life to Christ. He once told me about a conversation where he approached the pastor of his family’s congregation and told him that he’d be glad to fill in as a guest preacher if that pastor ever needed a Sunday away from the pulpit.
“How old were you when you offered that? “ I asked him.
“Oh, about 10 or 11,” he said.
Can you imagine a 10 or 11 year old offering to preach for you? If it was Ellsworth Kalas you could.
That calling quickly grew into a ministry of preaching and travelling around to churches who would invite him to do revivals when he was just 15 and 16 years old. He said they asked a boy evangelist because they were getting him cheap, but I think they saw a master in the making.
His gifts and God’s grace opened doors and the places he preached began to span more than just little Iowa churches He went on to pastor in Iowa, in Wisconsin and Ohio, to study at Harvard, to serve with the World Methodist Council, to preach again and again at places like Chautauqua Institute and Kinfolk Tabernacle Camp, and in innumerable pulpits around the country and the world– both grand and humble.
And then to land, by the providence of God, here at Asbury Seminary. This place was special to him, this Chapel, this was ground holy, this pulpit he loved. But then he would say he loved every pulpit he preached from, whether they actually had a pulpit or not. He would accept invitations from the tiniest churches that would call:
“Surely we couldn’t get THE Ellsworth Kalas to come preach way out here,” they would say.
“Surely you could,” he would reply. And then he would go and preach as if to an auditorium of thousands.
He felt it was an honor to preach God’s word wherever he was called.
But as many places as God sent him, no matter what titles he wore, he returned again and again – almost every year – back to Iowa. It was his sentimental journey, he called it. It gave him a sense of rootedness, and that gratefulness that came to characterize him, to remember where he had come from. A sense of place was so important to Ellsworth Kalas. Being rooted in that place mattered to him.
I can hear his voice, can hear him say it in my head: Beginnings matter. So pay attention. Never forget your beginnings.
Beginnings matter. That was just one of the many lessons on what mattered that he taught us. Beginnings matter. Beauty matters. Art and poetry matter. History matters.
Names matter. He could call most anyone by name – present company or in culture, literature and history. Some Sundays as a pastor he would welcome twenty-five new families into membership and stand before the church without a scrap of a note, calling them each by name and telling their story.
He cared for people by calling them by name. The name of the student worker who cleaned his office was just as likely to be on his lips in prayer as the names of global leaders. Names matter because people matter. They matter to God and so they should matter to you.
So much mattered to him, and he was remarkable at making it matter to us too, because we mattered to him. He had a beautiful way of making that clear with a look, an incredibly well placed kind word, a conversation where he took time to sit and listen.
He communicated that as a Father: his attention and joy at discovering what mattered to his children and then his grandchildren, was a thing to behold. For a man who resisted pride in every fashion, he let it in with relish when it came to family.
“I’m proud of you,” he would say. And you knew he meant it. “I’m proud of you, God love you.”
His wife Janet mattered to him in a wonderful way. A special smile crossed his lips when he talked about Janet. His whole countenance changed when he talked about her. They both expressed such gratitude for what felt like a whole lifetime together. Her presence in his life brought joy and life, and for that we are all grateful.
“We are so blessed,” he would say. “And best of all… best of all we know it.”
He communicated often that his students mattered. That one of the world’s greatest preachers would end up teaching beginning preaching students was both a gift and an astonishment. Imagine, if you will, that Michelangelo offered to teach an art class… to kindergartners! How could a great master of preaching bear to hear so many bad sermons! It’s because he knew how to help even the worst of preachers become great.
Let me tell you – when you knew you were preaching a sermon for Ellsworth Kalas you preached better than you ever had in your life. You drew on resources you didn’t even know you had within you, and called for the Holy Spirit’s help as never before.
And once you had preached it you would collapse back into your seat, and he would stand up and walk to the front of the class and say to your classmates:
“And so… And so, what shall we say to Jessica about her sermon?” (And then he would give the title – because titles mattered!) “And so… What shall we say to Jessica about ‘Singing Our Way Home?”
And your classmates would mutter a few words you barely heard, and then you would hold your breath as he began to offer his own words about what felt like your soul laid bare. And if he said that you had done well, you felt better about yourself than you ever had in your life. And if he said you had done poorly… somehow you still felt better about yourself than you ever had in your life!
One of his students once asked:
“How is it that he could put the knife in and turn it, and we were all still smiling when we walked away… Then once we got out the door we would think to ourselves: Oh! He cut me!” Sometimes in our minds his former students still hear those words after we preach a sermon. “And so, what shall we say to Jessica, to Stacy, to Steve?” We’re all still trying to live up to the best that he believed about us.
He gave strong words of correction with the same love and grace that he gave words of affirmation. That gift of words was so powerful. He knew how to use his gift of words for good both in and out of the pulpit. It was his gift of written words that brought him into the homes and churches of thousands of people he never met through his books.
Although he didn’t publish his first book until he was 65, he didn’t let that slow him down. He came into our churches in studies like Disciple Bible Study, Christian Believer and The Grand Sweep. He came into our personal reading with his unique take on Scripture that had him approaching the Bible from a different angle: Parables From the Backside, New `Testament Stories from the Backside, Christmas From the Backside. He joked that he never expected to become so well known for his backside.
He was a man of priceless words because he was a man of the Word. And the way He engaged us with Scripture has forever deepened and matured, not only individual believers but entire churches, and the Church as a whole. We are forever grateful.
He used his gift of words to write thousands of letters of encouragement, gratitude and thanks. His notes were far more prolific than his published works. He was known to send a thank you note to someone just for coming to hear him preach, and even to send a thank you note to someone for sending him a thank you note.
I somehow have a feeling that if it were allowed, each of us participating in this service today would receive a hand written note of thanks this week postmarked “Heaven.”
That’s why I think he would feel it appropriate, as a letter writer himself, that the New Testament lesson today is from a letter. The passage was one Dr. Kalas preached on countless times, one underlined in his Bible.
This text in itself is one Paul is quoting from a familiar passage. It’s a song actually: These are words quoted from an early Christian hymn, (See that, he snuck yet another hymn in on us!)
“Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus,” Paul sings,
“Who, though he was in the form of God,
Did not regard equality with God
As something to be grasped,
But emptied himself,
Taking the form of a servant.”
We expect a triumphant hymn of praise to lift up Jesus as king or Lord, but this surprising song praises Christ for being a servant: A title so unique that Paul put it on his own letterhead from time to time. It says that one of the things that drew people to our Lord was the fact that he laid aside greatness in a way that continually surprised people. Instead of just the displays of power in his miracles, He displayed power by his acts of service and humility.
This song of Christ is counter-intuitive to everything our world knows about power, and that’s one thing that makes the song of the servant so captivating, so catchy, and so true, that we ourselves are compelled to sing.
Quoting from Ellsworth’s book the parables of Paul:
“If we take seriously our slavery to Christ, it means ready servitude to others.
That is, it means giving up our rights in matters large or small in order to help others.”
That the downwardly mobile song of the cross would be confusing to us is obvious. That’s why we need people in our lives who sing the song of the servant in winsome ways. It would take repeated incarnations of the song for us to grasp what it should look like. That’s why the song of Ellsworth Kalas was most powerful: because it echoed Christ’s humility and love.
Ask yourself: what was it about being in his presence that made us feel we were in the presence of God? Was it that resonating baritone voice (the object of professional jealousy from every preacher who heard him)? Was it his command of words? His knowledge of Scripture? Was it his towering stature?
Or was it his posture as a servant? That his power came from his incredible giving of his time and love to all who came to know him. That there was not an ounce of self-importance in him, but instead one, who as Charles Wesley said when he adapted Paul’s words: “emptied himself of all but love.”
In Ellsworth’s copy of EM Bounds’ book Power Through Prayer – the copy he gave David when he became a pastor – he underlined this passage:
“Big hearts make big preachers; good hearts make good preachers. … The pastor binds his people to him and rules his people by his heart. They may admire his gifts, they may be proud of his ability, they may be affected for the time by his sermons; but the stronghold of his power is his heart. His scepter is love. The throne of his power is his heart.”
Ellsworth Kalas did great things with his life. Things that mattered. They were great because they were done with love, humility, and service. The more he resisted the accolades and titles the world crowned him with, the more they gave them.
When I returned to Wilmore last year after over a decade away I found we had named an entire village for him. (Kalas Village is the name of our beautiful family housing at Asbury.) And a scholarship, and a preaching chapel. In my home church in Texas we named a room for him and people ask: “Was he one of our pastors here?” In a way, we would say. He was a pastor to all of us.
There’s at least one alumni who’s given his son the middle name Ellsworth, and here, in Wilmore, an admiring student came into possession of an adorable little white dog who was in need of a name. You guessed it. (At least she asked his permission before bestowing his name on a dog!) Only he was at the post office in town one day when he heard someone calling
“Ellsworth! Ellsworth, you get back here!” (It not a tone he was used to hearing his name called in or a species he was used to sharing his name with!)
On his own lips the great namesakes of things like Kalas Village were simply called things like: “The Village” The grand years he served as our seminary President, bringing incredible leadership and new life to this community, he referred to simply as “my years of service to the seminary.” Those are years we at Asbury are profoundly grateful for.
The more importance the world assigned him, the more time he spent with the common person. The more that people called for him to speak and write, the more he listened. The more we put him on pedestals, the more he stooped to care for the smallest among us.
This was his hymn, his song: The Song of the Servant.
And he sang it all the way home. That we would sing along today was his fondest wish for us.
And so. And so, what shall we say to Ellsworth Kalas about a life well lived,
Well loved,
Words shared,
Songs sung,
Stories told,
People blessed, blessed.
What shall we say?
Well done, good and faithful servant. Well done.
Amen.
Great article! Thank You for sharing your personal thoughts. I loved hearing Dr. Kalas speak. He was amazing.
Well done, Jessica!
Thank you, Steven. It was an honor.
Thank you so much. I could hear his voice as I read your wonderful eulogy. Thanks be to God for Dr Kalas’ life among us.
Dr. Kalas was a great preacher, a lover of God and humanity.
May God rest his Soul in Eternal Peace.
I only just now found the service on YouTube, and had to find out more about you. What a delivery! What a eulogy! What a tribute! What a man of God!
You are blessed, and you have blessed many with your words.
I am deeply grateful.
Thank you for sharing your memorial sermon for J. Ellsworth Kalas in the current Alumni Link. It was a blessing to read it and I was then led to look up the Memorial Service on Youtube and was blessed mightily again – don’t know why I missed it. I was a student at Asbury when Ellsworth came and I quickly learned to never miss chapel when he was preaching. I count it a joy to have his son David as a colleague and friend here in Wisconsin. To God be the Glory!
We had the privilege of having Dr. Kalas as our Pastor in two churches he served in Wisconsin. Again in Hot Springs Village he was a guest speaker at Coronado UMC. I still have several sermons from his time in Madison. I read one each Sunday as I can no longer get to church. ♥️