"SHEMA ... HEAR!" (Day 4. Deuteronomy 6)

Day 4. Deuteronomy 6.  Broad Street UMC / Statesville, NC chapter-a-day reading

In a recent sermon, Dr. Ken Broman-Fulks, Sr. Pastor of First Presbyterian Church in High Point, NC, quoted the words, “Prepare the child for the road, not the road for the child.”

Life has its potholes. How will children cope if the road has always been prepared for them? Shema (“hear”), is the first word of the most important prayer in Judaism and is found in our chapter-a-day reading for today. SHEMA… HEAR, O Israel: The LORD is our God, the LORD alone. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might. SHEMA… HEAR. Keep these words in your heart. Recite them to your children. Talk about them with your children wherever you might be, whenever you can. Bind them to your hand, in your mind, and in your home. SHEMA … HEAR. “Prepare the child for the road, not the road for the child” by telling them of the LORD our God, the LORD alone.

"If Only ..." (Deuteronomy 5)

Day 3. Deuteronomy 5 is the reading from Broad Street UMC/Statesville, NC's Chapter-A-Day Bible reading.

IF ONLY. Yes, that is what the LORD said. The LORD said to Moses, “If only they had such a mind as this, to fear me and to keep all my commandments always, so that it might go well with them and with their children forever!”

Too often, we read the 10 Commandments in a check-off manner. On a scale of 1-10, how good am I (or how bad am I)? IF ONLY … if only we would see that when the LORD our God says, “You shall have no other gods before me,” the other commandments will fall into place as a means to a relationship with the one God. IF ONLY we would see that this one and only God, in placing these commandments before us, is removing the stumbling blocks that turn our eyes and hearts from his Holy Presence. There is joy in knowing that.

As you read Deuteronomy 5, know that these words are not from an oppressive god but from the One who IS love.

"Take Up Your Ministry With Courage" (Day 2 ... Exodus 1)

Day 2 from the Broad Street UMC/Statesville, NC Chapter-A-Day Bible reading is Exodus 1.

A pastor and friend of mine sends out the congregation of the church where he serves with a benediction each Sunday that includes the words “Take up your ministry with courage.” As I read today’s Bible chapter selection, I can’t help but think of these words. Shiphrah and Puah, the Hebrew midwives, took up their tasks with courage.

It wasn’t easy for the task that these women were given to do became the PLAN B of the king of Egypt. Kill all Hebrew male babies. Unbeknownst to the king, Shiphrah and Puah chose not to become a part of the king’s PLAN B. They chose to stand in the ever-lasting Covenant between God and Abraham and in the Presence of God Almighty.

Shiphrah and Puah, and their courage to silently refuse to become active participants in this powerful king’s PLAN B, is a reminder to us all that we too can stand and act with courage in the midst of a Plan A, B, or C that is not of God. When standing in this world where an agenda becomes PLAN A, fear becomes PLAN B, or power becomes PLAN C, may we remember God’s promises and presence … may we too take up our ministry with courage.

"In the Beginning ... God's Lavish Love" (Genesis 1-2:3 Day 1 reading)

Welcome to the fourth month of Broad Street UMC’s Chapter-A-Day Bible reading! During the month of December, I will be offering the introduction reflections to the day's chapter-a-day selections that have been chosen by Dr. Mary John Dye, Sr. Pastor of Broad Street UMC in Statesville, NC

Day 1.     Genesis 1-2:3

If you haven’t noticed in your previous readings of these scriptures, Genesis 1-2:3 is beautiful poetry that tells of Creation, beginning with the very breath of God Almighty sweeping over the face of the waters. Each moment of Creation sustains the next. Slowly read these words aloud. Out of darkness and chaos, we step into the daylight of God’s Presence and Love. The story of Creation and Sabbath is just the beginning of the Bible’s account of God’s lavish love for all of creation, including God’s lavish love for each one of us. Perhaps once we read the chapter today, we should break into song. “For the beauty of the earth, for the glory of the skies, for the love which from our birth over and around us lies; LORD of all to thee we raise this our hymn of grateful praise!”

"MY EARS HAVE HEARD OF YOU, BUT NOW ... "

(An offering based on this week's lectionary scriptures: Job 42:1-6, 10-17 and Mark 10:46-52).

We can be found

along life’s road …

disciples who have seen,

followers who rebuke, 

one of many in a 

muttering crowd,

overlooking (or stepping over)

the one, the beggar,

whose only possessions

are faith and hope

and a name 

that is covered

with the dust 

of his or her days.

A dusty faith whispers,

“My ears have heard of you, O LORD …

my ears have heard of you.”

How many cries 

from the roadside

have been the cries

heard that day …

“JESUS, SON OF DAVID,

HAVE MERCY ON ME …

SON OF GOD, 

HAVE MERCY ON ME!”

A stepped-over hope whispers, 

“My ears have heard of you, O LORD..

my ears have heard of you.”

There is no contentment 

in hearing alone.

The implications are great

and costly for us all

in the one answered question …

“What would I have you do for me?

I WANT TO SEE!”

And the one 

who has answered the question

declares,

“My ears had heard of you, O LORD,

but now my eyes have seen you!”

Let those who have sight

be beggars no more

for there is great wealth 

to be found 

in such witness.

"A Life Reduced to a Piece of Paper?" (I think not)

It would do us all good to celebrate the plain, quietly courageous, doing-the-best-they-can sort of people more often.  Sarah M. Johnston is one such person. 

She was the third wife of my paternal great-great grandfather. Sarah Mathilde Jones (born 1863) and Henry Talley Johnston (born 1840) had corresponded for a while before she arrived on a train and married him just one day after they met face to face for the first time. He was much older, a Civil War veteran, a father of 11 children, and a widower. She was a writer from Alabama (she wrote for the Atlanta Constitution at a time when women columnists were few and far between); she had never married and was very alone …her immediate family had died around her. After Henry’s death and having lived with his daughter (Anna, after whom I was named) and other members of his in the family, she quietly and secretly made arrangements to move into the Confederate Women’s Home in Fayetteville, NC. Even though all in the family seemed to have a soft place in their hearts for Sarah, she felt it was the loving thing to do.

The Confederate Women's Home is no more … torn down … reduced to a cemetery and 6 boxes of papers in the North Carolina Archives. In the boxes are notations of complaints by the residents of sub-standard food, poor nutrition and miserably cold rooms. I have letters in my possession from Sarah voicing these same complaints. In one of the boxes in the Archives is also confirmation of such issues found in a report written by the Home Administrator during Sarah’s years there. How sad for these women.

My Great-Great Grandmother Sarah’s end- of-life was reduced to a few words found on a piece of paper in one of these boxes in Raleigh … “Sarah M. Johnston: Died October 8, 1949 3:00AM”

She was much more than a few words on a piece of paper in a box in the North Carolina Archives . She was a writer … a risk-taker … a wise and gentle woman. Sarah was one who was immediately received into the family and one who found love to offer this man and his children. I would have loved knowing this woman.

So, on this date of her death, October 8th, I think of Sarah M. Johnston, a woman who was much, much more than a piece of paper in this world.

"You Are What You Eat"

Ponderings on John 6:51-58

The brass tray was held briefly in front of the little girl as she knelt at the altar. Her dimpled hand reached out for the most perfect cube of bread that she could see. It was such a tiny bite.  She tried to carefully lift a small glass cup filled with grape juice from the next tray.  Sigh, she did it again.  She tapped the cup against another one, making a noise that turned her father’s head toward her. It reminded her of what she had always been told … that she had never really been a very careful child.   She tried to drink the little bit of grape juice but always, ALWAYS there was some left in the bottom of the small glass cup.  She never felt nourished, never satisfied.  By the time that she went back to the pew, she had forgotten the taste of the bread and juice.

Later, there were times in the girl’s life when it seemed too hard and too much to ‘eat’ and ‘drink’.  Times when she dreaded going through the motions (would she go to hell for doing that?).  Times when the bread was no more than a wafer that had no taste.  It stuck to the roof of her mouth.  Yes, it was too hard for her to eat something that was not palatable and drink that which did not quench her thirst.  Too hard.

The young girl who felt as if all things were too difficult and too much, relaxed as she grew older.  The little child who yearned to be careful (but who never really was) and who wanted to remember the taste of the bread and juice, is now a woman who has heard “Eat my flesh … drink my blood.”  She smiles as she remembers the words of her
mother, “You are what you eat.”  And with that, she is handed a chunk of bread. She soaks it in the juice of the chalice and becomes as messy as a child might be.  If the juice drips on her hand, so be it.  If she must chew the piece of bread on her walk back to the pew and chew even more as she is seated, that is OK.

She has grown into savoring the moment, smelling the juice, tasting the bread, feeling the stickiness on her hand, looking at the crumbs on the floor. It is a not-so-careful thing for sure.  Messy, in fact.  It can be too hard for some and too routine for others, but her silent prayer is that she might become more like the One who has said, “Do this in remembrance of me…”, even if the thoughts of what she is asked to eat are, at times, hard to digest.