My mother is one of the most frugal people in the world. You and I may call her "cheap", and she is, but she looks at it as being frugal and taking care of what she has so that she will have it longer and it will carry her through the days ahead. She is constantly aware that there may not be anything in the future so you have to use what you have for the greatest good and spend as little as you can on daily life needs. My mom has always looked for bargains and usually will not buy something unless it is on sale. She loves to shop at garage sales and will try to bargain with an owner of an item that is already nearly marked down to nothing.
When I was growing up, my mother would buy groceries at the supermarket by looking at what was on sale. Every item she prepared had to be on sale and what was on sale determined what we had for dinner usually. She also bought "day old bread" at the bread surplus store and shopped the "bent can buggy" at the supermarket to buy dented cans and those without labels (for mystery dinner...we never knew what may be opened so we never knew what would be on the table on those days.)
My mother clothed all of us kids with clothes she found at garage sales and sales at stores too. I remember one year that I needed a new coat for the winter. She looked at the sale ads in the paper and we found store that had coats on sale and we went to look at them. Only after finding a coat that she thought was marked down enough, was I allowed to get a new coat. Luckily, growing up on the Texas Gulf Coast, a coat was not required on too many days so I could coast along without a coat until the right one could be found.
I had an older brother too and received many of his shirts and coats as "hand me downs" to wear now and then if they weren't in too bad condition. I usually had to have "husky" pants and he did not so I rarely got his pants to wear but did get many shirts and a coat or two. Having an older sibling is usually a good thing for many kids because they have a selection of clothes to choose from once the other sibling decides the item is not good enough for them.
A man named Timothy received hand me downs from his mother and grandmother. No, he was not a cross-dresser, this Timothy is the one whose name is on two books of the New Testament and those books are actually letters that St. Paul wrote to him. In the second letter to Timothy, Paul reminds him of the faith he received from his grandmother Lois and his mother Eunice. That faith, Paul said, lived in Timothy too and Paul urged him to "rekindle" the gift of God he had received or inherited in his faith journey.
Receiving gifts from our family members can be a good thing, especially if what we receive has great value. The faith traditions we have received from our family of origin can be valued or forsaken. Sometimes those traditions have spoken to us through the past years and still enrich and enable us in our way of life. Sometimes we are not even aware of the effect they have on us until suddenly we are reminded by a song, a verse, an aroma, or something else in our world that speaks to us. We have received those things from our past and now they are part of who we are.
My mother is still with me (she and I are all that remain of my family of origin) and she still shops the garage sales and looks for the ads with coupons in them. I inherited the frugal trait from her too, I have to admit. I always look for a sale and hate to pay full price for anything. Maybe that is not so bad. It helps what you have to go farther. Perhaps there are lessons in life that we have inherited from others that help our lives to be ordered in a way that is helpful to us, even if we hate to admit it.
Monday, September 30, 2013
Monday, September 23, 2013
Snapshots of Life
Another PBS mini-series has captured my attention. This time it is called "Last Tango in Halifax." No, it is not Canadian, it is from the UK. I have watched three episodes of the program and find it interesting and funny and a bit weird, all traits that make for good watching and thought provoking entertainment. The program is about an older man and woman who loved each other 50 years before but married other people. They had children by the others and now are widow and widower. They each live with their grown married children and grandchildren, one in a town and the other out in the country in Yorkshire. They meet again thanks to Facebook and trade many messages and finally decide to meet in person. After their initial meeting, they discover that they are still in love and decide to get married. Their grown children balk at the idea at first but soon realize that they are serious so gradually accept the idea. Both grown daughters are involved in dysfunctional relationships of their own, one with a husband who is having a fling and the other with a much younger man than she is. Grandchildren are involved in the mix and gradually the viewer learns there are many family dynamics at work in the social setting.
Last night the older couple decided they would drive into the city (Halifax I assume) in their new Lexus convertible they decided to buy together rather than get an engagement ring to visit the vicar in the local church because they thought they wanted a church wedding. They sat in the choir area talking quietly about their lives and religion and politics. Their views on many issues were very opposite but they decided they could live together and not agree on everything. They discussed church music and she liked the traditional kind and he said he was open to what she called the "happy clappy" music. The church wedding was far more important to her than him. He said he was not sure he believed in God any longer. She said she would come down the aisle to the song, "Entrance of the Queen of Sheba" and he remarked that would be very appropriate. They had a good laugh; they discussed politics and disagreed on most of it. They they went in to see the vicar.
The vicar (a woman, much to their distress) asked when they had last been in church and the older man said, "Christmas.....about 1977". The woman said that was about the last time for her too. Then, the vicar looked at them both and asked, "Why do you want to be married in the church and have the blessings of God on your marriage when you have not been attending church?" The viewers did not hear their reply because the next scene showed them in their Lexus driving away after calling the vicar a name with the word "bloody" attached to it.
My reaction to this portion of the program was mixed. I have asked that question of persons who came to me wanting a wedding in the church but tried to discuss it with the couple until we could find common ground and have the wedding they wanted in the church. I found the vicar to be a bit judgmental and cold, the caretaker of the church, but not as interested in caring for the souls of those who came to her for assistance. Of course, since England does not have separation of church and state as we do in the US, then going to an Anglican Church to have a wedding is just as much a civil matter as it is a religious one. Persons who are citizens of the UK pay taxes to support the church and deserve services from the church for the taxes they pay. Weddings and funerals are part of the package, along with baptisms---all part of what it means to be Anglican or British.
Against this snapshot of an older couple who has renewed their love and want to begin again are the awful vignettes of their grown children's lives falling apart around them. Each is striving for something they cannot have and doing things they have regretted. Their own children suffer because of their wrong direction in life. With each episode, we are drawn in a bit closer and closer into their daily lives and struggles and we wonder if and when they will ever get their acts together. The older couple seems to have found renewal in the new life they are planning together while their grown children's lives are gradually coming loose at the seams.
It has been said that life is like a stream that takes all of us along with it in its course. We move with it and in it and our struggles bring grief and pain into our lives. It is only when we yield to a power higher than ourselves that we begin to give up the struggle and go with the flow.
What does it mean to be truly happy? How do we achieve happiness in our lives? Perhaps it is in finding something beyond ourselves that we locate the meaning of life.
Last night the older couple decided they would drive into the city (Halifax I assume) in their new Lexus convertible they decided to buy together rather than get an engagement ring to visit the vicar in the local church because they thought they wanted a church wedding. They sat in the choir area talking quietly about their lives and religion and politics. Their views on many issues were very opposite but they decided they could live together and not agree on everything. They discussed church music and she liked the traditional kind and he said he was open to what she called the "happy clappy" music. The church wedding was far more important to her than him. He said he was not sure he believed in God any longer. She said she would come down the aisle to the song, "Entrance of the Queen of Sheba" and he remarked that would be very appropriate. They had a good laugh; they discussed politics and disagreed on most of it. They they went in to see the vicar.
The vicar (a woman, much to their distress) asked when they had last been in church and the older man said, "Christmas.....about 1977". The woman said that was about the last time for her too. Then, the vicar looked at them both and asked, "Why do you want to be married in the church and have the blessings of God on your marriage when you have not been attending church?" The viewers did not hear their reply because the next scene showed them in their Lexus driving away after calling the vicar a name with the word "bloody" attached to it.
My reaction to this portion of the program was mixed. I have asked that question of persons who came to me wanting a wedding in the church but tried to discuss it with the couple until we could find common ground and have the wedding they wanted in the church. I found the vicar to be a bit judgmental and cold, the caretaker of the church, but not as interested in caring for the souls of those who came to her for assistance. Of course, since England does not have separation of church and state as we do in the US, then going to an Anglican Church to have a wedding is just as much a civil matter as it is a religious one. Persons who are citizens of the UK pay taxes to support the church and deserve services from the church for the taxes they pay. Weddings and funerals are part of the package, along with baptisms---all part of what it means to be Anglican or British.
Against this snapshot of an older couple who has renewed their love and want to begin again are the awful vignettes of their grown children's lives falling apart around them. Each is striving for something they cannot have and doing things they have regretted. Their own children suffer because of their wrong direction in life. With each episode, we are drawn in a bit closer and closer into their daily lives and struggles and we wonder if and when they will ever get their acts together. The older couple seems to have found renewal in the new life they are planning together while their grown children's lives are gradually coming loose at the seams.
It has been said that life is like a stream that takes all of us along with it in its course. We move with it and in it and our struggles bring grief and pain into our lives. It is only when we yield to a power higher than ourselves that we begin to give up the struggle and go with the flow.
What does it mean to be truly happy? How do we achieve happiness in our lives? Perhaps it is in finding something beyond ourselves that we locate the meaning of life.
Wednesday, September 11, 2013
Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God
Good ole Jonathan Edwards, Puritan preacher from back in the 1700s, one of the most influential persons of the Great Awakening in American religious history---preached his most famous sermon that had the title of today's blog entry. Historians say that as he preached, people would moan and cry out, asking how they could be saved. His sermon, and it was a long one....you can read the entire text in Wikipedia if you desire...depicted God as being angry at sinners, and especially wicked sinners, and having great desire to cast sinners into Hell for all eternity. Edwards preached with great fervor and his listeners could just see themselves being dangled over the flames of Hell as God contemplated dropping them at any moment. He concluded by urging people to "get right with God" (as more modern theologians of a conservative bent have been willing to say.)
I felt the flames of hell surrounding me when I was a mere lad of eight or so. My mother decided that our family needed to attend a very conservative fundamentalist church in the area where we lived, a church of pentecostal-charismatic fervor with plenty of Gospel music and action. The church suited my mom's personality so we were dragged to this church and subjected to their style of religion for all of my formative years, until I could drive and take myself elsewhere, and that happened when I reached college age. Anyway, back to hell fire and damnation---so, one Sunday evening the church we attended decided to put on a play. Now, this was not a Christmas play with angels proclaiming peace on earth and goodwill to men, no this was a scare the living bejabbers play that depicted the doom of humankind. It started out fairly harmless....a mom and her kids are dressed to go to church...she asks her husband to go with her but he does not want to go; he would rather stay home and watch television (a exceedingly terrible sin in the 1960s in ultraconservative circles--our pastor's name for television was "the hell box"---I still call it that today to be funny now and then when nothing good is on it to watch.) So, the mom and kids go off to church and the dad stays home to watch tv and read the paper. So far, so good....but suddenly Jesus returns to take all the righteous people to heaven and the dad does not go because he did not go to church. Instead, the devil (or an actor in a devil suit, but I was an 8 year old, how did I know that?) comes to the house of the dad and picks him up and throws him literally into the hell they prepared behind the altar rail with one of those Christmas spinning lights we had in the 1960s that would shine on aluminum Christmas trees. It was covered with red cellophane paper to make it more red than other colors. The dad being thrown into hell yelled out in pain and cried for mercy but no one would come to his aide, all because he chose to stay home and watch tv rather than go to church. How wicked he was!
So, I remember as the play ended and the pastor pleaded for people to come forward to be saved that I had to go. Everyone thought I was going forward because I loved Jesus and wanted him to save me from my sings. The fact was that I was scared out of my socks and traumatized for years by that experience. I was like the Puritan audience who had to sit through Jonathan Edwards' long sermon, hearing him talk about how God would find great delight in dropping each of them into the fires of hell because of their great sin. I remember being so scared when I went home that I pulled the covers over my head and prayed repeatedly for God to spare me from the fires of hell.
To this day, if I see a church advertising such an event (and there are churches who have them--a popular name is "Heaven's Gates and Hell's Flames" in case you see it on a sign), I cringe and want to charge the church with abusive tactics. Mostly, this form of evangelism is popular in the deep South and in very conservative and literal congregations.
I wrestled with the terms "sinner" and "wicked" for many years. I figured I was pretty wicked because I always wanted to do all the things that our church told us we should not do. We were taught not to drink, smoke, curse, dance, watch television, go to movies, go to plays, go bowling, play board games that included dice, play cards, or associate with sinners. So, as a teenager there was little that I could do that was not forbidden by someone. By the time I was 16 and wanted to do all the things that I could not do, I was convinced that I was about as wicked as they came and gave up trying. I sneaked out with my friends and went to movies, lying to my parents about what I had gone. I danced at school dances until I got caught. I said bad words (at least bad for our day). I played cards and games with dice when I stayed over at the homes of friends and my cousins. I did not drink or smoke though because I figured I would have been thrown out of the house if I got caught doing that and had no where else to go. So, I became a wicked teenager, at least in my mind.
Having been away from that church now for many decades, my view of the terms "sinner" and "wicked" has changed. Being a sinner does not have to do with not doing things that a church or pastor forbids. It has more to do with not desiring a better way of life when one knows one exists. A wicked person is far worse then simply one being a "sinner" if one is one. To be truly wicked implies a total disregard for whatever is good or right or noble in life. There are wicked people in the human family and we may ever hear about them on the news now and then. Most of us would not fit in that category though. We know the way to live a good life and we aim at it but we just miss the mark now and then. When we do, we are sorry and try to start over. That is not being wicked....that is being human.
Our world and society is much different from Puritan society of the 1700s. It is ever much different from society of the 1960s. In today's world, individuals decide what is right and appropriate for their lives and the Church and organized religion have little authority in the lives of most people. Some people grant the church some authority in their lives in certain instances but most people, especially in America, want to decide for themselves how to live and what to believe and they are not nearly as liable to have someone scare the hell out of them...or into them as I was at 8 years old.
"Happy are those who do not follow the advice of the wicked; or take the path that sinners tread, or sit in the seat of scoffers; but their delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law they meditate day and night." (Psalm 1:1-2)
I felt the flames of hell surrounding me when I was a mere lad of eight or so. My mother decided that our family needed to attend a very conservative fundamentalist church in the area where we lived, a church of pentecostal-charismatic fervor with plenty of Gospel music and action. The church suited my mom's personality so we were dragged to this church and subjected to their style of religion for all of my formative years, until I could drive and take myself elsewhere, and that happened when I reached college age. Anyway, back to hell fire and damnation---so, one Sunday evening the church we attended decided to put on a play. Now, this was not a Christmas play with angels proclaiming peace on earth and goodwill to men, no this was a scare the living bejabbers play that depicted the doom of humankind. It started out fairly harmless....a mom and her kids are dressed to go to church...she asks her husband to go with her but he does not want to go; he would rather stay home and watch television (a exceedingly terrible sin in the 1960s in ultraconservative circles--our pastor's name for television was "the hell box"---I still call it that today to be funny now and then when nothing good is on it to watch.) So, the mom and kids go off to church and the dad stays home to watch tv and read the paper. So far, so good....but suddenly Jesus returns to take all the righteous people to heaven and the dad does not go because he did not go to church. Instead, the devil (or an actor in a devil suit, but I was an 8 year old, how did I know that?) comes to the house of the dad and picks him up and throws him literally into the hell they prepared behind the altar rail with one of those Christmas spinning lights we had in the 1960s that would shine on aluminum Christmas trees. It was covered with red cellophane paper to make it more red than other colors. The dad being thrown into hell yelled out in pain and cried for mercy but no one would come to his aide, all because he chose to stay home and watch tv rather than go to church. How wicked he was!
So, I remember as the play ended and the pastor pleaded for people to come forward to be saved that I had to go. Everyone thought I was going forward because I loved Jesus and wanted him to save me from my sings. The fact was that I was scared out of my socks and traumatized for years by that experience. I was like the Puritan audience who had to sit through Jonathan Edwards' long sermon, hearing him talk about how God would find great delight in dropping each of them into the fires of hell because of their great sin. I remember being so scared when I went home that I pulled the covers over my head and prayed repeatedly for God to spare me from the fires of hell.
To this day, if I see a church advertising such an event (and there are churches who have them--a popular name is "Heaven's Gates and Hell's Flames" in case you see it on a sign), I cringe and want to charge the church with abusive tactics. Mostly, this form of evangelism is popular in the deep South and in very conservative and literal congregations.
I wrestled with the terms "sinner" and "wicked" for many years. I figured I was pretty wicked because I always wanted to do all the things that our church told us we should not do. We were taught not to drink, smoke, curse, dance, watch television, go to movies, go to plays, go bowling, play board games that included dice, play cards, or associate with sinners. So, as a teenager there was little that I could do that was not forbidden by someone. By the time I was 16 and wanted to do all the things that I could not do, I was convinced that I was about as wicked as they came and gave up trying. I sneaked out with my friends and went to movies, lying to my parents about what I had gone. I danced at school dances until I got caught. I said bad words (at least bad for our day). I played cards and games with dice when I stayed over at the homes of friends and my cousins. I did not drink or smoke though because I figured I would have been thrown out of the house if I got caught doing that and had no where else to go. So, I became a wicked teenager, at least in my mind.
Having been away from that church now for many decades, my view of the terms "sinner" and "wicked" has changed. Being a sinner does not have to do with not doing things that a church or pastor forbids. It has more to do with not desiring a better way of life when one knows one exists. A wicked person is far worse then simply one being a "sinner" if one is one. To be truly wicked implies a total disregard for whatever is good or right or noble in life. There are wicked people in the human family and we may ever hear about them on the news now and then. Most of us would not fit in that category though. We know the way to live a good life and we aim at it but we just miss the mark now and then. When we do, we are sorry and try to start over. That is not being wicked....that is being human.
Our world and society is much different from Puritan society of the 1700s. It is ever much different from society of the 1960s. In today's world, individuals decide what is right and appropriate for their lives and the Church and organized religion have little authority in the lives of most people. Some people grant the church some authority in their lives in certain instances but most people, especially in America, want to decide for themselves how to live and what to believe and they are not nearly as liable to have someone scare the hell out of them...or into them as I was at 8 years old.
"Happy are those who do not follow the advice of the wicked; or take the path that sinners tread, or sit in the seat of scoffers; but their delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law they meditate day and night." (Psalm 1:1-2)
Monday, August 26, 2013
Standing in the Gap
"And I sought for anyone among them who would repair the wall and stand in the breach before me on behalf of the land..." (Ezekiel 22:30)
When I was young, I remember sitting in the church listening to the preacher and he would be railing against sin and sinners, often becoming very animated and excited. His face would get red and he would be sweating to the point that he would have to wipe his brow and face with a handy towel he kept nearby. This man perspired a lot so after he finished his gospel workout pacing down the aisles and shouting, he would be so wet you dared not give him a hug lest you be inflicted with his sweat. He loved to quote from the Old Testament prophets, especially Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel. There is a lot of ammunition in those books that can be aimed at modern persons even as they were at the ancient folk for whom they were intended.
One obscure verse that he pulled out now and then was the one quoted above, except he always quoted it from the King James Version because that was the only one he used and he believed it was the one that God intended for us to use. He railed regularly against the modern versions that those seminaries (except he called them "cemeteries" and said they were full of dead people) and their sort tried to put out to quench out the word of God that is contained in the KJV. So, when he quoted the Ezekiel verse above, I remember him saying, "Who will stand in the gap and make up the hedge?" as a way of trying to get people more involved in the local church.
I may not agree with his theatrics and his sweaty was of preaching but I do agree with his sentiments from Ezekiel that God needs people to be there to help out in many ways....i.e. "to stand in the gap and make up the hedge." Ezekiel was using the metaphor of the wall of protection around the ancient cities and if there was a breach in the wall, people were often needed to stand in that broken place and watch for approaching enemies while repair crews got ready to fix the wall. Often, all that stood between safety and disaster was a good strong wall and it often made all the difference in the lives of ancient people.
We just said goodbye to one more of our older people yesterday, a wonderful man of 88 years who was one of the foundations of our church. He and several others in their 80s and 90s have gone on to be with God this year and we will miss them terribly. They were among the most devoted and faithful members of our congregation. They were almost always present on Sundays and were ready to serve in any way on committees and work groups to get goals accomplished.
So, I began to wonder, as Ezekiel of old did, who will stand in the gap and make up the hedge for our church now that many of those who were so active and supportive of the local church are gone? Who will step up and take their places so that the mission and ministry of the local church can continue? It is hard in this modern age to get church members to even attend church on a consistently regular basis much less serve on committees or work groups to accomplish the goals of the church. Who will carry on in the place of those who have gone on so that we can continue the work that God has called us to do?
There are people in every generation who answer the call to service so we need not fear that it will not get done but we need to continuously pray for God to call and for humans to answer so that God's Will may be done on earth even as it is done in heaven.
The old man Mordecai looked into the face of his niece Esther and said those challenging words, "Who knows if God is not calling you for just such a purpose as this?" That question goes out to every generation of those in the church. God is calling you to service. There is plenty of work to be done. Willing workers are needed to continue the work until the next generation picks up the mantle and carries it on.
When I was young, I remember sitting in the church listening to the preacher and he would be railing against sin and sinners, often becoming very animated and excited. His face would get red and he would be sweating to the point that he would have to wipe his brow and face with a handy towel he kept nearby. This man perspired a lot so after he finished his gospel workout pacing down the aisles and shouting, he would be so wet you dared not give him a hug lest you be inflicted with his sweat. He loved to quote from the Old Testament prophets, especially Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel. There is a lot of ammunition in those books that can be aimed at modern persons even as they were at the ancient folk for whom they were intended.
One obscure verse that he pulled out now and then was the one quoted above, except he always quoted it from the King James Version because that was the only one he used and he believed it was the one that God intended for us to use. He railed regularly against the modern versions that those seminaries (except he called them "cemeteries" and said they were full of dead people) and their sort tried to put out to quench out the word of God that is contained in the KJV. So, when he quoted the Ezekiel verse above, I remember him saying, "Who will stand in the gap and make up the hedge?" as a way of trying to get people more involved in the local church.
I may not agree with his theatrics and his sweaty was of preaching but I do agree with his sentiments from Ezekiel that God needs people to be there to help out in many ways....i.e. "to stand in the gap and make up the hedge." Ezekiel was using the metaphor of the wall of protection around the ancient cities and if there was a breach in the wall, people were often needed to stand in that broken place and watch for approaching enemies while repair crews got ready to fix the wall. Often, all that stood between safety and disaster was a good strong wall and it often made all the difference in the lives of ancient people.
We just said goodbye to one more of our older people yesterday, a wonderful man of 88 years who was one of the foundations of our church. He and several others in their 80s and 90s have gone on to be with God this year and we will miss them terribly. They were among the most devoted and faithful members of our congregation. They were almost always present on Sundays and were ready to serve in any way on committees and work groups to get goals accomplished.
So, I began to wonder, as Ezekiel of old did, who will stand in the gap and make up the hedge for our church now that many of those who were so active and supportive of the local church are gone? Who will step up and take their places so that the mission and ministry of the local church can continue? It is hard in this modern age to get church members to even attend church on a consistently regular basis much less serve on committees or work groups to accomplish the goals of the church. Who will carry on in the place of those who have gone on so that we can continue the work that God has called us to do?
There are people in every generation who answer the call to service so we need not fear that it will not get done but we need to continuously pray for God to call and for humans to answer so that God's Will may be done on earth even as it is done in heaven.
The old man Mordecai looked into the face of his niece Esther and said those challenging words, "Who knows if God is not calling you for just such a purpose as this?" That question goes out to every generation of those in the church. God is calling you to service. There is plenty of work to be done. Willing workers are needed to continue the work until the next generation picks up the mantle and carries it on.
Monday, August 19, 2013
Chariots of Fire!
Chariots of Fire--The movie, not the Bible story about Elijah...but they each have a lesson to teach. One is about a prophet who is caught up to heaven in a chariot of fire---Elijah, the prophet who worked miracles, who argued and struggled with kings and queens, who fought against false prophets and won, and then when his work on earth was done he rode in that fiery chariot into the great beyond. He was last seen on the Mount of Transfiguration with Jesus and Moses but he is expected at every Passover Seder each year to sit in an empty chair provided just for him. Once he appears...then the Messiah will come!
The other one, the one who is not Elijah....is a movie, made back in 1981, a movie that won the Academy Award for Best Picture and Best Song that year...."Chariots of Fire". It was about the life of Eric Liddell, a real person from Scotland who was an athlete and Christian missionary. He participated in the 1924 Olympics in Paris but refused to participate when a race was held on Sunday because of his Christian faith. He went on to win the gold medal for the 400 meter race and the bronze medal for the 200 meter race. After that, he returned to his native country and prepared to go to China as a missionary. He served in China until he was captured by the Japanese after they invaded China during WWII and was interned in a prison camp until his death in 1945. His inspiring story was the foundation for the movie.
The hymn, "Jesus Shall Reign" by Isaac Watts was considered to be a missionary hymn in Eric Liddell's day. The story is that as Liddell left the UK to go to China, that he received a huge send-off by many who supported him in many ways. As they gathered to hear him speak one more time before he left, he led them in singing this hymn. The hymn talks about how knowledge of Jesus Christ will spread throughout the world so that all would come to know him. Eric Liddell gave his life in Christian service for the rest of his life, until finally he gave up his life as a prisoner in a foreign land.
Such stories serve to inspire us to greater things in our own lives. Join us this Sunday, August 25, 2013 at Weimar United Church of Christ, as we sing the hymn and hear the story of Eric Liddell and perhaps catch a glimpse of a chariot of fire for our own lives that will carry us to do greater things for God and neighbor for the future. This is the last Sunday of August and it is still cool in our sanctuary, despite the summer heat! See you there!
The other one, the one who is not Elijah....is a movie, made back in 1981, a movie that won the Academy Award for Best Picture and Best Song that year...."Chariots of Fire". It was about the life of Eric Liddell, a real person from Scotland who was an athlete and Christian missionary. He participated in the 1924 Olympics in Paris but refused to participate when a race was held on Sunday because of his Christian faith. He went on to win the gold medal for the 400 meter race and the bronze medal for the 200 meter race. After that, he returned to his native country and prepared to go to China as a missionary. He served in China until he was captured by the Japanese after they invaded China during WWII and was interned in a prison camp until his death in 1945. His inspiring story was the foundation for the movie.
The hymn, "Jesus Shall Reign" by Isaac Watts was considered to be a missionary hymn in Eric Liddell's day. The story is that as Liddell left the UK to go to China, that he received a huge send-off by many who supported him in many ways. As they gathered to hear him speak one more time before he left, he led them in singing this hymn. The hymn talks about how knowledge of Jesus Christ will spread throughout the world so that all would come to know him. Eric Liddell gave his life in Christian service for the rest of his life, until finally he gave up his life as a prisoner in a foreign land.
Such stories serve to inspire us to greater things in our own lives. Join us this Sunday, August 25, 2013 at Weimar United Church of Christ, as we sing the hymn and hear the story of Eric Liddell and perhaps catch a glimpse of a chariot of fire for our own lives that will carry us to do greater things for God and neighbor for the future. This is the last Sunday of August and it is still cool in our sanctuary, despite the summer heat! See you there!
Tuesday, August 6, 2013
Automatic Elevation to Sainthood
There is a story told long ago about a man who died in a certain town. The man had been a real rounder (a polite word for someone who did just about everything that one should avoid). He had not taken care of his children, had mistreated his wife, avoided the church at all costs, offended pretty much everyone he could. When he died, the wife called her minister to ask him to officiate at the funeral. The minister obliged and, as it often happens at funerals, began to describe what a loving and caring person this man had been. About halfway through the eulogy, the grieving widow bent over and whispered into the ear of her son sitting beside her, "Johnny, go look up there and be sure that is your daddy he is talking about."
Sometimes it is a puzzle for ministers to know how to approach funeral services for persons they do not know and especially those who have chosen over the years to not be involved in religious activities. Many have lived very good lives, even without having the church or religion as part of their lives. Others, even some who have been members of churches, have not tried to follow the teachings of what it means to be a Christian but have had their names on the rolls of churches. So, what do we think about what happens when a person dies? Does dying automatically elevate someone to sainthood? Are we obliged to use flowerly language to describe a person simply because they are no longer living among us or is it acceptable to admit that flawed persons lived among us and now they have gone on to whatever faces them for the future?
Honesty comes with its cost, at times. Funeral services are not the appropriate place to air out the dirty laundry concerning the deceased, even if they lived a life that all present know was "sketchy" or "hypocritical." The purpose of a funeral service is to bring comfort to those remaining. Sometimes we have to simply talk about the promise of resurrection and how God cares for those who are grieving and desires to bring comfort to their lives. The Church has to be the place of solace and love for all who are in need even when the occasion is a challenging one. Private conversations in solitude are the occasions to discuss the deceased honestly, keeping the sharing quiet and non-intrusive upon others.
Many times we do not fully know others with whom we associate. Their lives may be an open book to us, it would seem, but behind the scenes they may treat others differently than what we experience from them. There has been an example in the news recently of a television personality whose private conversations were made known in which she discussed things that were offensive to others because they smacked of racism. Few, if any, knew that she had these attitudes and, unfortunately, now she will be remembered for this episode in life rather than for others for which she may be long remembered for doing good deeds.
This person was unlucky to be caught by the modern media and to be exposed for her inner thoughts but how many of us have thoughts or deeds in our lives that would shock others if they knew about them? We all live fragmented and broken lives. It is God's forgiveness and that of those whom we may have harmed that bring us into a right relationship in this world.
Each year on the first Sunday in November we celebrate "All Saints Sunday" when we remember those from our church who died during the past year. We call them "Saints" not because they lived perfect lives but because they lived and did battle with the forces of evil all their days and now are no longer with us. All Saints Sunday recognizes the lives of ordinary people who often did extraordinary things but it also recognizes all who lived and died and walked among us through our years. It is the roll we call yearly as we account for who remains and who is gone. It is not calling them perfect people, just forgiven people.
So, every so often, we may know of someone who passed from among us whom we wonder how they will slip into the Pearly Gates or if they will indeed....that one is left in God's grace and we allow God the space to decide what their eternal destiny will be. Truly, that is what each of us do with our own lives because we are kept in God's care and God is the ultimate judge of our lives.
Sometimes it is a puzzle for ministers to know how to approach funeral services for persons they do not know and especially those who have chosen over the years to not be involved in religious activities. Many have lived very good lives, even without having the church or religion as part of their lives. Others, even some who have been members of churches, have not tried to follow the teachings of what it means to be a Christian but have had their names on the rolls of churches. So, what do we think about what happens when a person dies? Does dying automatically elevate someone to sainthood? Are we obliged to use flowerly language to describe a person simply because they are no longer living among us or is it acceptable to admit that flawed persons lived among us and now they have gone on to whatever faces them for the future?
Honesty comes with its cost, at times. Funeral services are not the appropriate place to air out the dirty laundry concerning the deceased, even if they lived a life that all present know was "sketchy" or "hypocritical." The purpose of a funeral service is to bring comfort to those remaining. Sometimes we have to simply talk about the promise of resurrection and how God cares for those who are grieving and desires to bring comfort to their lives. The Church has to be the place of solace and love for all who are in need even when the occasion is a challenging one. Private conversations in solitude are the occasions to discuss the deceased honestly, keeping the sharing quiet and non-intrusive upon others.
Many times we do not fully know others with whom we associate. Their lives may be an open book to us, it would seem, but behind the scenes they may treat others differently than what we experience from them. There has been an example in the news recently of a television personality whose private conversations were made known in which she discussed things that were offensive to others because they smacked of racism. Few, if any, knew that she had these attitudes and, unfortunately, now she will be remembered for this episode in life rather than for others for which she may be long remembered for doing good deeds.
This person was unlucky to be caught by the modern media and to be exposed for her inner thoughts but how many of us have thoughts or deeds in our lives that would shock others if they knew about them? We all live fragmented and broken lives. It is God's forgiveness and that of those whom we may have harmed that bring us into a right relationship in this world.
Each year on the first Sunday in November we celebrate "All Saints Sunday" when we remember those from our church who died during the past year. We call them "Saints" not because they lived perfect lives but because they lived and did battle with the forces of evil all their days and now are no longer with us. All Saints Sunday recognizes the lives of ordinary people who often did extraordinary things but it also recognizes all who lived and died and walked among us through our years. It is the roll we call yearly as we account for who remains and who is gone. It is not calling them perfect people, just forgiven people.
So, every so often, we may know of someone who passed from among us whom we wonder how they will slip into the Pearly Gates or if they will indeed....that one is left in God's grace and we allow God the space to decide what their eternal destiny will be. Truly, that is what each of us do with our own lives because we are kept in God's care and God is the ultimate judge of our lives.
Thursday, August 1, 2013
Fruit Inspectors?
A person I know very well uses a term to cover her tendency to judge others (no, it is not my wife). When it is pointed out to her that she may be a bit judgmental in talking about others, she always says, "I am not judging. I am being a fruit inspector. The Bible says you will know them by their fruits." To which I usually respond, "Regardless of what you call it, you are still judging."
Jesus had a good reason for saying the famous quote, "Judge not, lest ye be judged." The verse does not stop there but continues, "for with the judgment you make, you will be judged." (Matt. 7:1) Or as it is often said, "What goes around, comes around" or "Whatever you sow, you will reap" or if you are of the Buddhist tradition, "That's karma, for you."
When we examine the faults, failings, or sins of others and pronounce them to be bad or sinful, we overlook all of our own failings. All of us miss the mark in our lives. Most of us know what to do--we just don't do it. That is the reason why a very familiar prayer of confession includes the words, "we have left undone those things which we ought to have done, and we have done those things which we ought not to have done." (Book of Common Prayer) The plea that follows the prayer is one for mercy from God, admitting that our lives could be better. How sad, then, that we as human beings cast a disparaging eye toward others whom we consider to be sinful based upon some societal norm or some line of thinking that someone may have taught us.
A source that is very extrabiblical, the score from the musical, South Pacific contains the lyrics from the song, "You Have to Be Carefully Taught" in which a character sings about why it is that people hate one another. The song contains a lot of truth-
You've got to be taught to hate and fear,
You've got to be taught from year to year,
It's got to be drummed in your dear little ear,
You've got to be carefully taught.
You've got to be taught to be afraid
Of people whose eyes are oddly made,
And people whose skin is a diff'rent shade,
You've got to be carefully taught.
You've got to be taught before it's too late,
Before you are six or seven or eight,
To hate all the people your relatives hate,
You've got to be carefully taught!
The story in South Pacific, you may recall, is about a sailor who falls in love with a woman from the island where the sailors are serving. He is warned by some that if he marries her, they will not be accepted by others back home. He sings the song to reflect upon the nature of hatred and why it is that some hate others just because of the way they are. The song was not immediately accepted when the musical played on Broadway in 1949 when it debuted. It hit a bit too close to home in an era when black military persons could serve alongside white ones but when they got home they found segregation as the rule of the day.
Today, we struggle with acceptance of others based on many criteria. Some of the characteristics are those that our parents passed down to us and told us that such persons were unacceptable. When we really take the time to know a person of a certain kind (you can fill in the blank with the characteristic that makes you uncomfortable), we may be surprised to learn that others share much more in common with us than have things to separate us.
Have you ever met someone and really got to know them that you have always dreading being around? Have you ever had a friend who was different from you in skin color or religion or ethnic background or any other characteristic you can name? If you did or do, you can remember how much you had in common. If you have never exposed yourself to others who are much different from yourself, then perhaps it is time to step out of your safety zone and test the waters and see what may happen. You may be surprised at how much it enriches your life.
Many of you know that I love to travel. I would love to go just about anywhere in the world. When I travel, though, I rarely stay in hotels. Instead, we stay in bed and breakfasts or in spare rooms that people have and take in travelers in exchange for a small fee (there is a website that offers these arrangements). We have never had a bad experience but instead have made friends across the US and the world. Why put yourself out there where you are vulnerable? As it said on a poster in my office when I was a school counselor--"Go out on a limb. That is where the fruit is." Delicious, ripe, juicy fruit of friendship and love...ready for any fruit inspector to have a look at. Taste and see that it is good.
Jesus had a good reason for saying the famous quote, "Judge not, lest ye be judged." The verse does not stop there but continues, "for with the judgment you make, you will be judged." (Matt. 7:1) Or as it is often said, "What goes around, comes around" or "Whatever you sow, you will reap" or if you are of the Buddhist tradition, "That's karma, for you."
When we examine the faults, failings, or sins of others and pronounce them to be bad or sinful, we overlook all of our own failings. All of us miss the mark in our lives. Most of us know what to do--we just don't do it. That is the reason why a very familiar prayer of confession includes the words, "we have left undone those things which we ought to have done, and we have done those things which we ought not to have done." (Book of Common Prayer) The plea that follows the prayer is one for mercy from God, admitting that our lives could be better. How sad, then, that we as human beings cast a disparaging eye toward others whom we consider to be sinful based upon some societal norm or some line of thinking that someone may have taught us.
A source that is very extrabiblical, the score from the musical, South Pacific contains the lyrics from the song, "You Have to Be Carefully Taught" in which a character sings about why it is that people hate one another. The song contains a lot of truth-
You've got to be taught to hate and fear,
You've got to be taught from year to year,
It's got to be drummed in your dear little ear,
You've got to be carefully taught.
You've got to be taught to be afraid
Of people whose eyes are oddly made,
And people whose skin is a diff'rent shade,
You've got to be carefully taught.
You've got to be taught before it's too late,
Before you are six or seven or eight,
To hate all the people your relatives hate,
You've got to be carefully taught!
The story in South Pacific, you may recall, is about a sailor who falls in love with a woman from the island where the sailors are serving. He is warned by some that if he marries her, they will not be accepted by others back home. He sings the song to reflect upon the nature of hatred and why it is that some hate others just because of the way they are. The song was not immediately accepted when the musical played on Broadway in 1949 when it debuted. It hit a bit too close to home in an era when black military persons could serve alongside white ones but when they got home they found segregation as the rule of the day.
Today, we struggle with acceptance of others based on many criteria. Some of the characteristics are those that our parents passed down to us and told us that such persons were unacceptable. When we really take the time to know a person of a certain kind (you can fill in the blank with the characteristic that makes you uncomfortable), we may be surprised to learn that others share much more in common with us than have things to separate us.
Have you ever met someone and really got to know them that you have always dreading being around? Have you ever had a friend who was different from you in skin color or religion or ethnic background or any other characteristic you can name? If you did or do, you can remember how much you had in common. If you have never exposed yourself to others who are much different from yourself, then perhaps it is time to step out of your safety zone and test the waters and see what may happen. You may be surprised at how much it enriches your life.
Many of you know that I love to travel. I would love to go just about anywhere in the world. When I travel, though, I rarely stay in hotels. Instead, we stay in bed and breakfasts or in spare rooms that people have and take in travelers in exchange for a small fee (there is a website that offers these arrangements). We have never had a bad experience but instead have made friends across the US and the world. Why put yourself out there where you are vulnerable? As it said on a poster in my office when I was a school counselor--"Go out on a limb. That is where the fruit is." Delicious, ripe, juicy fruit of friendship and love...ready for any fruit inspector to have a look at. Taste and see that it is good.
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