thoughts on the news of the day: graduation

hmmm…..

            This weekend is graduation weekend.  High schools and colleges all over the United States are holding commencement exercises – if they haven’t already.  I remember giving a graduation speech to a high school class in Andrews, TX a long time ago – it was held in the convention center which was little more than a large assembly hall.  They usually had it at the football field but it was raining that day.  Now that doesn’t happen very often in west Texas, but it poured on that evening.

            The hall was packed.  Sadly, each graduate was issued four tickets for family to attend.  This meant that grandmas and grandpas for the most part were not able to see their grandchildren receive a diploma.  Maybe it wasn’t a big deal for some families.  But for the poor oil field families in that area, it was in many cases the first person from their family to ever graduate from a high school.  It was a big deal.

            I said a few words that day, told a story and sat down.  I figured with such a huge crowd packed in such a small venue, things were going to get very restless if graduates didn’t start walking across the stage pretty soon. 

            To the graduates of today, I would say pretty much the same thing I did on that rainy night – which boils down to this:  “Wherever you go, what ever you do, remember that everyone is in need of you.  You have something to offer that no one else can offer to the world.  So don’t be afraid to try.”

            hmmm…..

          

           

thoughts on the news of the day: rapture

hmmm…..

            Mr. Harold Camping, who is a civil engineer and self-taught biblical scholar has predicted that the world will end tomorrow, May 21, 2011.  He has arrived at this date for Judgment Day because of intricate calculations he did that assume the world will end exactly 7,000 years after the great flood in which only Noah’s ark survived.  He asserts that believers will be transported directly to heaven and everyone else will be left behind to experience five months of earthquakes, famine and other torment before the planet’s total destruction.  Mr. Camping predicted the same scenario would happen in 1994, but he says that this time is different and his calculations are more accurate.

            I sat at the hospital last night with a man whose world is coming to an end.  His kidneys are failing and there is no hope for his survival.  I wanted to tell him that it would be OK – that he is facing eternal life, that his wife and two children will be fine and that this is just a transition, a journey.  My faith tells me that all of these things are true, but I don’t know for a fact that everything will be OK.  I haven’t been through it to come back and share what happens, so I really don’t have any certain knowledge of what occurs when we die.

            None of us knows what tomorrow will bring.  Mr. Camping’s guess is as good as mine.  But I know some things that are true.  Love is eternal. Nothing in all of life or death can separate us from God’s Love and I am betting that nothing can separate us from our love for each other.  Does that make death easy to face?  Not really, but it helps.

            hmmm…..

           

thoughts on the news of the day: flexibility

hmmm…..

            You have your day all planned out.  Meetings scheduled, lunches planned and evening activities all set to go.  Then a monkey wrench gets thrown into the plans and all of the sudden you have to be flexible.

            That happened to me today.  A member of our church has been in the hospital in Springfield, about a two hour drive from here and has suddenly taken a turn for the worse.  What does a pastor do?  The sermon still has to be written and there are all those phone calls to make. 

            Pastors for the most part have to be flexible.  We have constant interruptions during our day; in fact, it is hard sometimes to even plan at all. So I will stop what I am doing, drive to Springfield today, praying all the way, to be with a very special member and his family while we wait to see what happens next. 

            One definition of insanity is inflexibility.  I am not sure I completely agree with that, but its worth considering.  A mature person is able to roll with the punches and so is a sane person.  That’s not the same as being scattered and unorganized.  Flexibility is the willow tree bending in the wind.  Being flexible means that we are able to adapt to life’s changes.  And life does have its changes.  Some people don’t like change.  But the only thing we can count on in life is that it will change.

            I am praying that soon it will change for my hospitalized friend and that for his family the storms will not be so great as to break this tender reed of life that my friend is clinging to. 

            hmmm…..

thoughts on the news of the day: test

hmmm…..

            Today we are studying the book of Malachi in our Wednesday Morning Bible Study.  Malachi is the last book of the Old Testament and so it is a fitting choice for the last class before our summer recess.  We have been looking at the Minor Prophets the past few weeks and have found that basically they all say the same thing -- ”you have messed up and God is gonna get ya!”  Not a very positive message in our “think positive” world which is probably why preachers don’t choose the Minor Prophets very often for their sermons. 

            But maybe sometimes it is good to look at our mess-ups.  The other day, I heard a psychologist say that we always have to pay for our mistakes.  The Presbyterian theologian in me would say, “So much for grace.”  But I think the psychologist has a point.  There is pay back.  We do have to live with the consequences of our actions and we can choose to repair most mistakes.

            Malachi told the Israelites that they were messing up by not giving a tenth of their bounty to God.  And the bounty they were giving was diseased and damaged.  But God said, “Put me to the test. Bring a tenth of your best to me and I will shower you with so many blessings that your biggest storehouse will not be able to hold it all.” 

            We put God to the test of repeating the same mistakes over and over again and then expecting forgiveness for them.  But do we put God to the test of giving God a measure of our best and waiting for the blessings to pour out?  Maybe not so much – but maybe we should.

            hmmm…..

thoughts on the news of the day: jerry lewis

hmmm…..

            It’s the end of an era.  Jerry Lewis is concluding his long running career as Master of Ceremonies for the Muscular Dystrophy Telethon after serving as host for 45 years.  Jerry always referred to the children struck by MD as “my kids”.  "As a labor of love, I've hosted the annual Telethon since 1966 and I'll be making my final appearance on the show this year by performing my signature song, `You'll Never Walk Alone,'" Lewis said of the broadcast which is scheduled for Sept. 4.

            I remember the early years of the Labor Day telethon; seems like it lasted the better part of three days.  Since it was a holiday weekend, Mom and Dad would let us stay up late and watch Jerry sing songs, crack jokes and interview celebrities and victims of MD.  As the hours went by, the bow tie would untie and hang loosely around his neck and I think there were handkerchiefs mopping sweaty brows.  

            These days, the telethon has been shortened to six hours of prime time television on channels other than the major networks.  After all, Jerry is 85 – how much can he take might be the logic.  Or it might be that popularity and originality have waned.  Whether or not you like Jerry Lewis and his zany humor, you have to give him credit for sticking with a cause and continuing over the years to give it his all.  He has raised over one billion dollars for MD research and I am sure he will be missed.  I’ll be watching along with millions of others this Labor Day weekend.  After all, it is the end of an era.

            hmmm…..

thoughts on the news of the day: prom

hmmm…..

            A young lady named Toni Alten-Crowe was crowned prom queen at her school in Loveland, Ohio.  And what is so unusual about this event other than the fact that Toni is 20 years old?  Toni has Down Syndrome, which explains the age factor and makes winning the high school popularity contest rare.  Toni and her friend Drew Anderson, who was crowned prom king and is also a special needs kid have been main streamed their whole high school career.

            Acceptance of special needs kids has become common in most high schools because they are now part of the regular classroom population and also, in part, because of the popularity of the television show “Glee” which showcases high school kids with disabilities.

            I remember my elementary and  junior high days in a tiny parochial school and a kid in a wheelchair named Teresa.  We didn’t think much about the fact that she was unusual in her needs.  We all felt awkward and needy at that age anyway.  She did just about everything we did except P.E. and we were jealous that she didn’t have to go get sweaty and hot on the school yard. 

            Kids can be compassionate or they can be bullies.  Our example can determine which action they choose.  Some teachers resent having special needs kids in their classroom.  They can be disruptive and time consuming.  But to see the smile on Toni and Drew’s faces as they were crowned must have been worth all the bother to everyone who witnessed the event.  Way to go, Toni and Drew!

            hmmm…..

thoughts on the news of the day: floodgates

hmmm…..

            The floodgates have opened up at Morganza Spillway in Louisiana to relieve the swollen waters of the Mississippi River.  The water will be diverted away from the populous cities of Baton Rouge and New Orleans and onto mostly farmland and lightly populated areas.  But when you are a resident of those areas, it will mean evacuating family and possessions and the likelihood that everything left behind will be gone.  What’s interesting is that the soon-to-be flood victims seem to be in acceptance of the fact.  There is no storming of city hall in protest of the floods, no internet campaign to stop the opening of the floodgates; just people calmly and deliberately packing up their belongings.

            Sometimes you have to just do something even if it’s wrong.  Opening up the spillway and flooding once safe and dry homes does not seem like a very good thing to do.  But it’s about the only choice that officials have left if they are to save the larger cities on the Mississippi River.

            We get left in that position at times.  We have to make a choice between two not very good options.  Neither is good; but a decision has to be made.  So we do something we don’t want to do; and we figure out how to live our lives in the aftermath of that decision.  Acceptance is the key to peace of mind. We cannot change the roaring of flood waters spilling into our lives; but we can find a way to peace.

            hmmm…..