Henri Lindegaard

The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: “Arise, and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will let you hear my words.” So I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was working at his wheel. The vessel he was making of clay was spoiled in the potter’s hand, and he reworked it into another vessel, as seemed good to him to do. Then the word of the Lord came to me: “O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter has done? declares the Lord. Behold, like the clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in my hand…” (from Jeremiah 18)

This passage from Jeremiah inspired Henri Lindegaard, a French Prostestant pastor, poet and painter, to meditate deeply on its meaning. In this ink drawing, Lindegaard conveys the patient and purposeful work of God as a potter, muscularly making something useful — and even beautiful — from the simplest of materials. Lindegaard was born in Spain in 1925, the son of a Danish father and a Spanish mother. In 1942, Lindegaard and his family made the unlikely trip north to German-occuplied France to seek refuge in the Huguenot town of Le Chambon-sur-Lignon, a haven for Jews fleeing from the Nazis, located in the mountains of south-central France. Influenced by Cubist painters, Lindegaard developed a distinctive style of woodcut-like black-and-white ink drawings, a compilation of which were published after his death in 1996, with a selection of his Biblical interpretations in poetry, as La Bible des Contrastes (2003). His drawings incorporate elements which, despite their simplicity, suggest a profound theological meaning. Indeed, He is the potter, and we are His clay.

Adolphe Monod

"Oh, cross of preaching the cross!" What a strange declaration from the man who was widely regarded as the foremost preacher in nineteenth-century France and Switzerland. Adolphe Monod was a man with a shepherd's heart who longed to be able to spend more time on the pastoral side of his ministry, yet he regarded preaching as a sacred obligation that required his very best effort and preparation. Perhaps this same shepherd's heart--a deep concern for the souls of his hearers--helped make his preaching so effective. It is certainly an important element in Les Adieux, which has endured for nearly 150 years as a classic of French evangelical literature. (Excerpt from the preface to the retitled English translation: Living in the Hope of Glory, Constance K. Walker, editor and translator.)

Pastor Monod died of liver cancer while only in his mid-fifties on April 6, 1856 in Paris. He ministered from a sickbed during the final six months of his earthly life. Les Adieux ("Farewells"), originally published in 1856, is a collection of his richly theological, yet practical brief messages to his friends and congregation during this period of intense suffering.

Jeanne d'Albret

"When her alcoholic and adulterous husband died in 1555, Jeanne d’Albret (1528–72) became queen of Navarre. Sandwiched between the two powerful nations of France and Spain, Jeanne was in a vulnerable position. This did nothing to slow or discourage her. Having made public profession of the Reformed faith years before, Jeanne, on her accession, labored successfully to bring reform to Navarre, making the country a safe haven in a sea of Roman Catholicism. Her children were kidnapped, her life was threatened, rebellions erupted, war broke out with France—her love for the church was greater than all of these. She called herself “a little princess” and believed that, like Esther, God had put her in her position to defend His people. Her work provided shelter for Huguenots during the French Wars of Religion. But she was also an example of faith under fire: her courage and doctrinal resolve were discussed internationally and brought comfort to other suffering believers."

The above is an excerpt from The Women of the Reformation by Rebecca VanDoodewaard, which appeared in TABLETALK October 2017. Quoted with permission of Ligonier Ministries. (Click here for full article.)