In memoriam Ed Clowney
I learned this morning that our former pastor, Ed Clowney, died yesterday afternoon at the age of 87. I’m saddened by this loss to his family and friends and to all of Christendom; a great multitude across the globe loved this man dearly. But I’m also overjoyed for him personally, as he’s enjoying at this moment what Jonathan Edwards once described this way:
There, in heaven, this infinite fountain of love—this eternal Three in One—is set open without any obstacle to hinder access to it, as it flows forever. There this glorious God is manifested, and shines forth, in full glory, in beams of love. And there this glorious fountain forever flows forth in streams, yea, in rivers of love and delight, and these rivers swell, as it were, to an ocean of love, in which the souls of the ransomed may bathe with the sweetest enjoyment, and their hearts, as it were, be deluged with love!
My gratitude to the Lord for the gift of Ed Clowney and his wife, Jean, is profound. Our paths crossed at the twilight of his remarkable life, during his less than three-year tenure as an associate minister at our church. Despite his titanic legacy as a Christian missionary, preacher, seminary professor and administrator, and author, he was a humble and approachable man. Although I don’t think he was an extrovert by nature, he habitually drew people in and was often a warm, entertaining presence. A Westminster Seminary extension course on preaching that I took from him was a delight, both because of his teaching and because I got to watch him coach students in preparing and delivering Christ-centered sermons from the whole Bible. Occasions I spent with him as he or Mrs Clowney struggled with physical ailments were entirely to my benefit. He was a gifted poet, and he encouraged me in my own modest efforts. He gave and lent freely from his bookshelves.
One of the things I treasure especially about this man is the energy and sincerity with which he applied his artistic gifts in praise of the King. He was inspiring to me in this way as no other living person was. Some of the overhead slides for his lectures were illuminated with colored pencil drawings that added wonder to already wonderful subject matter. (It wasn’t until the fourth or fifth lecture of the Westminster course that I realized these drawings were his own.) The Trinity Hymnal includes six superb hymns that he wrote, and these hold their own against the great hymns of the faith for clarity, orthodoxy, intimacy, and transcendency. The Clowneys’ 2002 Christmas letter included a jewel of an Advent-themed poem he had just composed.
Dr Clowney had an infectious zeal for extending the Kingdom of Christ and for defending the integrity of biblical preaching, as well as for teaching children about the person and work of Jesus. Our third son’s middle name is Edmund, which means “protector of riches,” a role that Dr Clowney played for his entire life as a teacher and preacher of the unsearchable riches of Christ (Eph 3:8). Our son’s other namesake is John Mark, the first-century Christian who is believed to have served as a linguistic interpreter for the Apostle Peter. Just as Dr Clowney himself labored to build up the Church in South Korea and to establish seminaries in western Europe, we pray that our son would grow to be a bridge between languages and cultures for the sake of the gospel of Christ.
At the start of a Christ the King church officers’ meeting in 2001, Dr Clowney gave all 15-or-so of us a copy of Iain Duguid’s new book, Hero of Heroes. This gesture was typical of him. It was generous and unaffected. It promoted the worthy work of someone else. It showed pastoral concern for his brothers in Christ. And above all, it pointed to Jesus and his manifold perfections as the theme of the Bible and the Hero of the Christian life, bringing forth praise to God from God’s people.
I cannot wait to worship with him again some day! 
