The burden of the law, which was weighing him down as he failed to achieve perfection, dropped from Eric’s shoulders as he listened to the speaker’s message. The gospel is not something people do, he realized, but something they receive. Hearing more about the grace of Christ relieving the burden of the law stirred a new kind of peace in his heart and a sense of renewal. Christians serve God indirectly as they serve their neighbors directly. Understanding that Christ was disguised in his service to others, Eric was relieved of the pressure of striving for and failing at perfection; personal holiness was not the only way to serve Christ.
Much to Eric’s delight, the Oxford Group, which Eric had become interested in seven years previous via fellow athlete Loudon Hamilton, had grown. The small gospel group had expanded internationally all the way to South Africa and had resonated with numerous key leaders in the United Kingdom. Two of those leaders were Stuart and Bina Sanderson, who ran a business in Galashiels.
Eric recalled how his “heart had burned within him” years before during his initial talks with Hamilton. Hamilton had been greatly influenced by the Oxford Group, and he had told Eric something that would be instrumental in his own life in the years to come. Living in such a way that God can say hello to us at any time of the day or night, Hamilton told Eric, begins by spending quiet time with God each morning. This early-morning quiet time with God is something that Eric practiced and treasured and passed on to his own students at TACC.
Eager to fan the flame from his earlier meeting with Hamilton, Eric decided to seek out the Sandersons in Galashiels, but with Jenny’s impending wedding and Eric’s rigorous schedule, he had to suspend his inquisitiveness . . . if only for another two months.
Jenny Liddell and Dr. Charles Somerville married on April 20, 1932. Somerville, a widower, came with three children in tow, which was a lot for Jenny to take on. But her new husband was no stranger to the missionary community, and their love for each other was undeniable. Eric could look on only in admiration as he dared think ahead to his own special day to come. Only a few more months and he would see Florence again. Focusing on a strong finish to his academic year, graduation, and ordination remained.
May provided a brief open window for Eric to trek to Galashiels and meet the Sandersons. Stuart and Bina were a unique couple. Married in 1914, they had become acquainted with Rev. Frank Buchman a decade later. Buchman’s message had a major influence on them in how they practiced their faith, made decisions, and lived their life together.
Loudon Hamilton described them as “true pioneers” of the Oxford Group, and Stuart’s own minister said, “If only every minister in Galashiels had an Elder like Stuart Sanderson, it would make a mighty difference to the churches in this town.”[50]
Stuart and Bina were fiercely capitalistic business-minded Christians who ran a tweed mill. They were comfortable swimming upstream against popular culture and conventional wisdom. During difficult financial times, and even though it meant great personal financial loss, they chose to sell their large house and car. They simply valued their talented staff more. They moved into a cottage and humbly kept about their business.
Stuart’s motto had always been “Whatever you undertake, put your very best into it.” Their tweed mill became a continued success in the face of adversity, when many other businesses were closing around them. In the process, their home became a welcoming base for the Christian lay movement.[51]
For Eric, the Sandersons seemed also to possess a deeper, oracular knowledge that interested him. During Eric’s stay at the mill house cottage, life and theology were discussed with a passion. Somewhere midconversation, Stuart addressed something he felt Eric had hidden in his life. Eric quickly denied it, but inside he was bothered.
Bothered because he had lied.
He concluded his pleasant visit with the couple and went on his way.
Eric returned to Edinburgh a different man. He was both relieved and agitated by his conversation with the Sandersons. Sunday arrived, and Eric could not bear it anymore. He knew he had lied. And he knew he had sinned not just once, but twice. Worse, God knew it.
The first lie had been the issue Sanderson had stumbled upon, and the second was his own covering of it. Even though they were simple enough crimes to have hidden away in his heart, and which he had already gotten away with, Eric could not forget.
For he knew God could not forget.
Bothered beyond reason, Eric did something he had seldom done before—he disturbed someone else’s Sabbath. He picked up the phone and called the Sandersons. Stuart did not receive the interruption with the same hospitality he might have offered any other day or hour of the week. Still, he told Eric to drive out to him later that afternoon.
Private confession and absolution was a familiar practice for Eric. However, naming the sin out loud, upon other human ears, was an ominous sensation no one looks forward to. Eric told Stuart, “I lied to you before.” Eric apologized during the awkward chat and was comforted to hear forgiveness spoken to him.
Only God, Eric, and Stuart knew the specifics of Eric’s sin—as should be the case. A guessing man might suspect the issue Stuart kicked up had something to do with the inner workings of Eric’s private life, a fear only the pressures of fame can produce, which if discovered, would potentially tarnish his reputation. Regardless, with his slate clean, Eric felt like a new man. To hear audible grace spoken back after a confession of wrongdoing is a sensation unable to be simulated.
Now Eric had a stronger desire than ever to be associated with the Oxford Group. At a house party gathering in St. Andrews, he shared, “The Group has challenged me to a keener life for Christianity, I know I am
