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Pastor and Educator
| The Rev. Henry Juren was the younger of the two ministers who arrived on the scene about the same time in the 19th Century, and remained the longest in serving and gathering together the remnants of the Ancient Unity of the Brethren in Central Texas. The other was the Rev. Adolf Chlumsky.Rev. Juren was 26 years old when he arrived in Texas from Bohemia. He came in response to a call from the congregation near Fayetteville, Texas. The congregation there had only recently been organized under the guiding influence of Rev. Josef Opocensky. They had just completed the building of a new sanctuary in 1875 when he died leaving them without a pastor.His Call Fortunately, however, there was a young pastor who was serving the neighboring congregation at Wesley. His name was Ludvik Chlumsky. the younger brother of the Rev. Adolf Chlumsky mentioned above. Rev. L. Chlumsky was an acquaintance of Henry Juren-perhaps since their seminary days at Vienna. After Rev. Chlumsky informed the congregation that this friend of his had just completed his seminary training, the parishioners immediately issued a call to him. They were especially excited about the possibility of him becoming their pastor because many had known him since childhood. They had, in fact remembered seeing him play in the yard of the parsonage of their original home congregation in Cermna, Bohemia, where his father had been their pastor. They were so hopeful that he would accept their call and come to be their new pastor that many of the parishioners countersigned the official call. Upon his arrival at Fayetteville in 1876, he was officially ordained by the Rev. Ludvik Chlumsky on April 11, 1876. The congregation quickly built their new pastor a parsonage. To that new parsonage he brought his bride in December of that same year. Her name was Frances Schiller. They lived together in a happy marriage relationship for 30 years until her sudden death, leaving Rev. Juren with the heavy burden of caring for 12 children-most of whom were quite young. Several years later, he was married to Anna Kubin. There were three children born to this marriage. Only one of these, a daughter, is still living. His Life and Experiences Yet he continued to labor faithfully to the best of his ability at a time when there were no automobiles to reduce the travel time from place to place. What made his burden even heavier, however, was the criticism of some of his parishioners, who felt he ought to give his full time to the duties of his pastorate. This he would have much preferred to do, except for the insufficiency of his pastoral salary to meet his family’s needs. In fact, at times he was rewarded merely in terms of alms rather than a definite salary. But being of a very humble, compassionate, dedicated, and independent nature, he preferred to do without rather than ask for special favors and just rewards. But as a consequence, “he frequently spent his nights in tears in response to the lack of sympathy, understanding, and support which he often experienced.”(2) In addition to his local responsibilities as a pastor and teacher, he also helped out in other congregations in times of their special needs. On occasion he preached at Ocker, Smithville, Shiner, New Tabor, Vsetin, Wallis, Nelsonville, Granger, Elgin, Snook, and Crosby He also spent time and effort in promoting the organization and development of the Mutual Aid Society. He did not hesitate to travel even to the distant congregations to enroll new members. Along with the Rev. Adolf Chlumsky, he also continued to work for the ultimate establishment of the Unity here in Texas, and alternated with Rev. Chlumsky as president, and during the time of his service as an assistant editor of the Brethren Journal, he regularly contributed sermons for its publication. Excerpts from one of these sermons is included below for a special reason. It’s interesting that this sermon appeared in the April 8 and April 22 issues of the Journal, the month immediately before his death in May. Its content seems to be a kind of reflection upon his life’s experiences in anticipation of his own death. During Christmas of the preceding year, a bit of meat lodged in his esophagus. The constant irritation which it caused finally became cancerous. In spite of his search for medical help in this regard, including surgery, together with much faith, hope, and prayer on his part, his death came at a Houston hospital, May 2, 1921. His Thoughts His text: “The Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son.”(Heb. 12:6 NIV) “The scripture records many examples of misfortunes and poverty…Jesus Himself must have been eye witness to many of these sufferings and deeply troubled by them…He was always responsive to all in this regard who turned to Him.” “Although Jesus returned to heaven, He never abandoned His own…There are thousands of examples throughout history as illustrations of this truth in the experience of nations, the Church, and individuals-how He continues to deliver those who turn to Him for help.” “Misfortunes lead people to God,…Poverty encourages prayer…He also transforms misfortunes and relieves the poverty stricken…He continues to relieve suffering even as He continues to shield us from distress of various kinds…even though many among us still are burdened with suffering of various kinds.” “Spiritual physicians and other compassionate care givers who frequent places of the unfortunate continue to reach out to these with sympathy, compassion, and understanding…” “And even if there are those of us who have not as yet found ourselves in such unfortunate circumstances, let us always be mindful that we, too, are subject to such afflictions at any time, because we all live in the flesh, which is vulnerable not only to illness, but to suffering and loss of various kinds.”… “Let us remember that we live among people who can accidentally or deliberately destroy our peace and well being”… “We, therefore, need to always anticipate these possibilities from a Christian perspective in keeping with God’s will and purpose…That is, how are we going to accept such misfortunes, maladies, or loss…how are we going to deal with them?” “To that end, we find excellent guidance in the words of our text…Let us see how these words can prepare us to face such possibilities.” Rev. Juren then proceeds to answer these questions under three points: 1. How God continues to reveal Himself to us in sufferings. “The merciful God originally intended for man to walk the path of roses in fulfillment of His will and purpose, but it proved to be necessary for him to walk the path of thorns, instead, in order to find blessedness.” Rev. Juren then proceeds to develop his text under the three points above, which perhaps can be summarized something like this: Let us be cautious so as not to be so zealous in building our earthly security that we completely neglect our temporal source of refuge and strength, and also our eternal security, which only God can provide. In conclusion, it seems that in the life and experiences of Rev. Juren, we see something of a reflection of another faithful servant who lived three centuries before him. His name was John Amos Comenius (Komensky)-one of the great leader, pastors, and educators of the Church. Like his predecessor, Rev. Juren apparently suffered much, but he continued to give much, nevertheless. he did so in humility and in complete faithfulness, devoid of any self-centeredness or self seeking, devoted entirely to a life of sacrificial service, as he believed his Lord called him to do. Bibliography |