An older gospel song reads, “Face to face with Christ, my Savior, Face to face what will it be – when with rapture I beheld him, Jesus Christ who died for me.” In the Hebrew Bible “the face of God” is a way of speaking of God’s presence. It can seem a bit strange to us but we all know the joy of seeing those we love face to face. A video call is far more satisfying than just the voice on the phone. We get to see faces, we can see the smile and read the language of gesture and facial expression. Sunday was our first face to face session for Sunday morning worship. The group was small but it was such a joy to see each other face to face. Not only did the face of the Lord shine upon us but we could also notice the shine on each other because of our face to face meeting together. When forced by sickness or circumstance to be apart we hunger to see each other and feel human touch. Perhaps that is why the incarnation is so important. In Jesus we see the face of God present in the flesh. It was a face that his disciples could greet with a kiss of welcome. He made the invisible God visible to our human eyes. Sometimes I think those around us end up seeing us like school pictures. Sometimes we are neat and tidy and at other times messy and out of sorts. But either way, we are unfinished and next year will show a new face to the world around us. However you are at any given moment, those of us who love you are always glad to see your face.
10/04/2020
We hear people on TV talk about the new normal. This seems to be related to the changes brought on by the virus pandemic. I’m a little puzzled about what the “old normal” might have been. When I was a child, a once week bath with a washing up sponge bath in between was normal. Now if I miss a shower every day I feel unclean even with a sponge bath. Saturday meant a cheap matinee at the movie theater if I was lucky since there was no TV at our house. Even when TV arrived, there was a mountain shadow on the black and white screen which hindered our watching. As a college student it was normal for the only computer on campus to take up a whole room. Normal when our children came along meant riding in the car and didn’t involve a safe car seat. Normal as a pastor meant using a mimeograph machine, not a copier. My first teaching experience still used a spirit duplicator. People from Japan and China were described as Orientals rather than Asians. The Sioux or Apache were Indians not Native Americans. Black was just starting to replace Negro as a term of respect. Normal is constantly changing. Usually those changes are somewhat subtle and slower. This “new normal” came on us so suddenly that it is far more noticeable and the restrictions that it brought are more annoying. The next several months probably will bring a new “new normal.” We will deal with the changes as they occur. Together we will get through them as we have in the past. We know that God will be with us as God was with us in the past. That is our normal whether old or new.
09/27/2020
For over fifty-three years my wife, Sue, has been making breakfast for us. Most often that was a cooked breakfast unlike the cold cereal breakfast that was the norm from growing up years. This simple act of kindness became even more important when both Sue and I developed diabetes. Breakfast is critical for those of us who are diabetics. Along the way I came to appreciate that the breakfasts were acts of love. On occasions I take over making breakfast with pancakes, or scrambled eggs or omelets, but the bulk of that work has been done by Sue. Given that both of us are a bit blurry-eyed until the first cup of coffee, I appreciate this gift of fifty-three years of breakfasts. I do wonder how many acts of kindness and love I have not fully appreciated over my life time. The regular routine of life can desensitize us to the small regular gifts we are given. Children miss many of these hidden gifts that their loved ones provide but on occasion do notice the delight of clean warm pajamas, or icy popsicles on a hot summer afternoon, or a favorite meal. They notice if a bedtime story or a night-time tuck in and kiss are missing. It is a good thing to express our appreciation for the smaller blessings of life. For our comfort and joy they may be more important than the grand celebratory gestures which are easily noticed. What of the smaller blessings of life have you experienced over the years of your life? There might still be time to say “thank you” and even to begin some new small blessings for those you care about.
09/20/2020
I was attending a chapel service at Anderson University. The gathered congregation was singing “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing”. When we reached the second verse “Here I raise my Ebenezer…” a tall young man with disgust in his voice said “who even knows what that means.” I made no comment but thought how sad it was that this young Christian did not know that biblical story. A more modern version of the hymn paraphrases the word, Ebnenzer, with hither to thy love has blest me.” It recalls the moment that Samuel set up to remember the victory God had given Israel. Ebenezer “Thus far the Lord has helped us.” It was an important memory that recognized God’s past and present help and anticipates his help in the future. With the song writer, Robert Robinson, I sing “Here I raise my Ebenezer, hither by thy help I’m come” whenever I think of God’s grace and help. The song embodies my faith and the music touches by deepest emotions. In the hymn I am connected with God’s help for Israel in the past and that help is carried forward to me in the present. How often for me the music of the church has confirmed my belief, enhanced my hope and deepened my love for God and for neighbor. It is this ability to touch my mind and my emotions that gives worship part of its power for me. I can and do worship to God in silence, but I enjoy the presence of God when my voice is raised in the songs of the faith. New songs and old, simple and complex, melody and harmony, they are all linked in my mind with the experience of the faith. So I say “sing on O people of God to the glory of God.”
09/13/2020
People sometime joke that when they get to heaven they are going to ask God why he made the avocado pit so large. Silly question, but what about the mango pit? There is a real problem. The avocado pit pales in comparison. One has to slice along the flat two sides of the pit and then try to pry little pieces off the side. Should the mango be pealed first or left to be sliced off the pieces as they are diced? Who can even tell if the mango is ripe enough? Once the first slice is made the result is already fixed. While the end result is delicious, the small pile of sweet fruit seems barely worth the effort. The issue is in the end is as silly as the avocado controversy. Other questions for God are far more troubling. Questions like “Why do the good suffer?” or “What happens in eternity for those who have never heard the good news?” Why do some otherwise good people harbor prejudice or hatred for persons who are different from them?” we ask. Our personal desire for guidance asks “How do I know God’s will for me?” or “What is the righteous way in this new situation?” Some questions may even be beyond our understanding or likely beyond our preference. Such questions do not grow out of a lack of faith. They are part of the questing minds which God put in each of us. We have reached a new level of wisdom when we realize that not all our questions will have answers for right now or perhaps even for this life. Faith shows itself in living faithfully amid the unanswered questions. So we hold onto the certainties we have learned and stand bravely in front of the questions believing that our heavenly parent has the answers and we can rest in God’s certainty.
09/06/2020
“Where has the time gone?” we mutter at times. While at other moments we empathize with the child’s question “Are we there yet, Daddy?” The clock beats its steady rhythm, but our perception of time varies by the circumstance. Birthdays pile up almost as unacknowledged as the multiplying hangers in the front closet. Seemingly overnight smiling skinny boys become broad shouldered young men with serious expressions. Girls become women in mere moments. Suddenly, a few gray hairs become our gray standard look. What we have lost in vim and vigor we have gained in wisdom and common sense. All of this comes with startling suddenness. Other moments move with excruciation slowness. The last fifteen minutes before the end of work or school takes at least an hour. The COVID months drifting along until every day seems the same as the last. The pot never boils, the doctor never calls, and the beloved visitors seem never to arrive. Time creeps snail like to our great irritation. Because of the limits of our perception it is hard to remember “My times are in your hands.” Slow and steady or fast and immediate, all our times are in the hands of God, so ultimately they are neither too fast nor too slow. Often we would like God to slow things down so that we might better savor the good or speed things up so that our anxiety might be reduced. Perhaps God is saying “All in good time.” “Don’t worry I will be with you for all time. You can just relax and live the life I have given you for this time, because all your times clear into eternity are in my hands.”
08/30/2020
A new song is making the rounds on digital sites like UTube. It is called “Here I Am at the Fridge Again”. It is composed by a noted gospel singer and chronicles the humorous adage of the pandemic which didn’t make the news. The singer finds herself visiting the fridge looking for something to break the boredom of quarantine. Mysterious pounds occur as there are more and more visits to the fridge. Laughter is one of the ways we cope with difficult situations. The pandemic is no laughing matter, but it helps in the midst of fear and uncertainty to keep a sense of humor in whatever small ways we can manage. Even at a funeral, a funny family story can provide momentary relief in the midst of grief. The warmth of memory can do much to balance the very real grief and loss. The childlike ability to experience laughter and delight in new experiences and new discoveries is a wonderful gift. If we can keep some sense of laughter as the years advance, our life will be full of balance and richness. Some have defined humor at its base as the ability to see the incongruities of life. I often think of it as the correction for things that are out of proportion. I do realize that humor can be used as a weapon to injure or belittle someone. It can be cruel either by ignorance or on purpose, but it can also be healing and restorative. We often say at a humorous moment, “I really needed to laugh.” A smile or a laugh can lighten the heart. Even a moment of silliness can help us not to take ourselves too seriously. I even wonder if when God finished creation and pronounced it “very good”, he laughed with the delight of a child and proclaimed, “Good job, God!”
08/23/2020
For many years I have been making lists of what I need to do. I have come to believe that the first item of the “To Do List” should be: check the to do list. It is always easier to forget once the list is made than to stay on top of the task. The old trick of tying a string around one’s finger as a reminder seems increasingly to raise the question “why do I have this string around my finger?” Memory can be a tricky thing. One item can easily push out another. We notice this more as we become older, but it is present with us all along the way. Both the very good and the very bad memories can be very durable. Some memories deserve to be forgotten, but that does not mean that they are readily eliminated. I find the more I can focus on good memories or can make new positive memories the less I am plagued by the bad ones. It doesn’t mean that I am totally free of those difficult memory moments, but it does soften their impact. It helps to remember that sins and failures are included in the manifold mercy of God’s forgiving love. At times I have been able to rethink a difficult memory and give it a new context. As I have matured, some memories were colored by the misunderstandings of youth and immaturity. Memories can be redemptive as well. When we think of Jesus saying “Do this in remembrance of me” we are caught up both in the sorrow of what he suffered and in the joy of his continuing presence as our resurrected companion. How strange that we can experience such a mix of feelings in one event. The mystery of memory in the end is a gift when used under the guidance of the Spirit of God. Then memory becomes blessed.
08/16/2020
When was the last time you saw a phone booth? It has been a long time for me. I saw one quite a while back but the receiver had been ripped off the phone. Cell phones have become so ubiquitous that the phone booth is nearly extinct. We now only have cell phones and I miss our land line. It never needed to be checked to see if it had a charge. Dropped calls were extremely rare and coverage was nearly universal. Worse yet what does Superman do when he needs to change into his cape with no phone booth around to facilitate the change? Evil forces could triumph while he was hunting for a booth. Not even Superman can change in a cell phone. On the other hand I feel that my wife and daughters and grandchildren are all safer because they have cell phones for emergencies. Even us “self-sufficient males” need that extra margin of safety. Shopping lists can be checked again. We can have electronic calendars, note books, address and phone directories, books and even games for when we are standing in a socially distant line. Over all the change is good no matter how annoying it is for Superman. Inspite of our own nostalgia, change can often be good in many areas of life.
08/09/2020
Our water heater sprung a leak recently and we are without hot water. Showers are now a startling experience. Sponge baths are a temporary norm taking me back to childhood when Grandmother drew the water for a bath, once a week, from the water reservoir off the coal cook stove. In between we did sponge baths every day. I really don’t miss those good old days. Now days I hardly feel human without my morning shower. I can endure a cold shower, but what a luxury warm water is. A recent author wrote, “Some people long for an America that never really existed.” It is easy to put a golden halo around the past and forget its reality. While some aspects of the past were worthy and wonderful, other aspects were difficult and dangerous. There were few safety nets for people in crisis. There was great inequality in resources and whole segments of society felt neglected and powerless. While many of these problems still exist, we are largely more privileged than our forefathers and mothers. Lack of hot water for our family is an irritating inconvenience, but a temporary one. It will get fixed and meanwhile we are reminded of how good we have it on most every day.
08/02/2020
One of my favorite brands is changing its name and logo. King Arthur Flour sometime this fall will become King Arthur Baking Company with a new logo. This hardly seems like a radical change, but the company has noted that the virus pandemic has seen resurgence in home baking in America. People who rarely or once a month baked are now often baking multiple times a month. If you are a baker you may have noticed a shortage of yeast for baking during the pandemic. King Arthur Flour thought the mane change, (rebranding) would respond to this change and better reflect the central purposes of the company. This is not a promo from me for King Arthur Flour or King Arthur Baking Company, but the announcement caused me to reflect on a good change coming out of the disastrous virus pandemic. Home baking has a warm homey feel for me and calls up times helping my grandmother bake. The image of families rich and poor sharing fresh baked bread and other goodies like biscuits, rolls, cookies, cakes, pies, and my favorite pecan rolls is wonderful to contemplate. Even in the worst disasters there are some small things that can give us a snapshot of a better world.
07/26/2020
On my trip to Disney World before the pandemic, I rode with my youngest grandchild, Eleanor, on the largest of the roller coasters. It was all that I needed or could tolerate in a roller coaster. My granddaughter’s verdict “It was good, but it wasn’t fast enough.” This is a girl with an appreciation for speed. Her grandfather covets her company even at a high speed, but is less thrilled by force of gravity. Sometimes I think that generally things in our world move too fast. Where is the time to appreciate the slower change of the seasons, the ripening of fruit, the growth of a child? Where we find time to breathe deeply, to walk slowly, to contemplate, to relax, to digest, ease up, to feel deeply, to heal, learn to savor, to cool our fevered minds. Perhaps “Be still and know that I am God” may not be about silence alone but about a pause in the rush and hurry of our lives to ponder the presence of God. To quote an old popular song “Slow down you’re moving too fast. You got to make the moment last.” Speed can be fun on the roller coasters of our lives, but there is something to be said for the lazy days of summer. Let’s slow down and let the quiet voice of God catch up with us.
07/19/2020
On the Internet one can find evaluations of almost any product imaginable. Sometimes there are multiple products ranked as good, better, and best. I have learned to be skeptical of these evaluations. Is the “objective” evaluation influenced by money or gifts to the evaluator? Is the certifying agency truly independent or something set up by the company to add” shine” to the product? Companies like Consumer Reports seem more reliable. The heart of the problem even when the trust issue has been solved is “what does best mean?” Best for whom or for what purpose should be the question? A pressure cooker could be prefect at sea level might be useless at 10,000 feet. I much prefer evaluations which provide full rationale for the products evaluated. Even that information may not match my own experience, but at least I feel a bit more fore warned. At times, what is best in other areas is even harder to determine. Is it better for children to be back in school full time or with some modified safer scheduling? Complex situations are much harder to figure out what is better or best. All we can do is decide together on the best strategy and be willing to adjust when new conditions develop.
07/12/2020
I recall seeing a bumper sticker on a dented, patched, rusted, wreck of a car which proclaimed “my other car was a 100 dollar die cast model smaller than a toaster” Does the bumper sticker indicate the need to impress other people or was it an attempt at humor? Getting over the need to impress others by means of our possessions or our position is a deadly trap. There will always be someone or something more impressive than whatever luxury we might claim. Finding contentment in our present circumstances can be a key to happiness. Contentment, in the end, may be less about circumstance and more about attitude. It is hard to be content if we lack the basic necessities, but our desire to have what we think others have can be a source of discontent. To paraphrase the apostle, Paul wrote, “I have found the way to be content in whatever circumstance I am in” I have not come fully to such a state, but I am more content than I once was. The satisfaction of simple things, the appreciation of loving relationships and the tastes, smells, sights and sounds of everyday life can build contentment if we allow them space in our minds. I am still not at the Apostle Paul’s stage of contentment, but slowly I am learning more and more how to be more content.
07/05/2020
As you read this on Sunday, Independence Day is already over. The fireworks are gone from the skies although some near our neighborhood have set off fireworks early and late. This year there are limited community fireworks (always the safest option). I remember a 4th of July sitting on the grass on the National Mall with family and friends among a crowd of thousands. The fireworks were beautiful and the evening ended with the orchestra playing the 1812 Overture with fireworks and cannons punctuating the music. I do like the color and pageantry. The pyrotechnics are amazing. It does give me pause when I remember that Francis Scott Keyes line in our national anthem, “and the rockets red glare, the bombs bursting in air…” was not in the context of a 4th of July celebration but rather a battle during a war. Our country, perhaps too easily, romanticizes war forgetting its pain. I sometimes wonder if our nation’s psyche would be different if we had chosen America the Beautiful or My Country ‘Tis of Thee Sweet Land of Liberty rather than the Star Spangled Banner. Still I am going to enjoy the fireworks and think of the US whenever the National Anthem is played, but my desire for peace raises the question in my mind.
06/28/2020
My younger daughter is an artist. Her paintings always impress me. I am fascinated by the way her creative mind works. Often I can see what she has in mind, but almost never would I have thought of expressing it in the way that she has. At other times I am at a loss to follow her creative thought even when I appreciate the beauty of the finished work. Early on, I learned that artists are not fond of the question, “What does it mean?” They may even find the question annoying. What the artist is apt to say is “What do you see?” Art is not defined by the artist’s intention alone, but also by the viewer’s response. It is, at best, a joint venture. What the artist intends and what the viewer sees are both important. The same sort of thing applies when we read something. It is not merely a matter of what the author intends, but also how the reader responds. In different times and cultures the “then” reader may have quite a different response than an earlier reader had. Real communication can be found in the space between the author’s intention and the reader’s response. All this may seem a bit complicated but in reality it is quite simple. It is a matter of what do we see in a painting and how close is that to what the painter intended? What do we see as the meaning of what we read and how does that fit with what the author intended? In the end, art, at its best, is a conversation rather than a monologue. How do you thing this might affect our reading of the books of the Bible?
06/21/2020
When we were living in Scotland we discovered that Scots use the term “garden” when we in the US would say “yard”. We tend to use “garden” to refer to areas for growing vegetables, fruits, and flowers. All this reminds us of the Garden of Eden story. In that story the humans were placed in the garden “to work and take care of it” (NIV). Now the whole earth is our garden. Are we taking proper care of it? We certainly work it or even overwork it. Taking care of the earth is a more difficult task. We struggle to find the balance between use and preservation. Short term profit can look very tempting when longer term caution may be costly or inconvenient. Something as simple as recycling takes a degree of dedication to detail to maintain. Bigger solutions to our care for our “big” garden demands not only our individual participation, but also more cooperative action. We do not have agreement on what needs to be done to keep our world at its best. Political pressures also complicate our desire to care for the earth. Can we together find ways to wisely keep a balance between “working” the garden and “taking care” of it? What is increasingly clear is that it is foolish to simply close our eyes and hope for the best. Like Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, we are called to use, but not abuse the garden God has given us.
06/14/2020
In a whimsical response to the Garden of Eden story, someone once wrote, “It wasn’t the apple in the tree, but the pair on the ground.” The text in Genesis doesn’t get more specific than “the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil.” This stands in for all kinds of temptation which is common to human kind. I admit that a beautifully ripe apple can be quite tempting, but it is a far lesser problem for most of us than a chocolate donut. Apples come in an endless list of ever evolving types. New varieties have to be grafted in to maintain the proper characteristics, as I understand it. There are apparently thousands of varieties of apples most of which we never encounter in the average grocery store. Temptations likewise are an ever growing set. There are current temptations which were unknown in their detail to those who came before us. We are in no better position than Adam and Eve in their new world, but we do have the advantage of the presence of Jesus who faced his temptations and overcame them by the grace of God. Jesus can help us with our temptations. With Jesus we each become a better “pair” on the ground than we otherwise could be.
06/07/2020
This week Pastor Spencer wanted to include this statement by President George W. Bush that addresses the current climate in our country.
June 3, 2020
Laura and I are anguished by the brutal suffocation of George Floyd and disturbed by the injustice and fear that suffocate our country. Yet we have resisted the urge to speak out, because this is not the time for us to lecture. It is time for us to listen. It is time for America to examine our tragic failures – and as we do, we will also see some of our redeeming strengths. It remains a shocking failure that many African Americans, especially young African American men, are harassed and threatened in their own country. It is a strength when protesters, protected by responsible law enforcement, march for a better future. This tragedy – in a long series of similar tragedies – raises a long over due question: How do we end systemic racism in our society? The only way to see ourselves in a true light is to listen to the voices of so many who are hurting and grieving. Those who set out to silence those voices do not understand the meaning of America – or how it becomes a better place. America’s greatest challenge has long been to unite people of very different backgrounds into a single nation of justice and opportunity. The doctrine and habits of racial superiority, which once nearly split our country, still threaten our Union. The answers to American problems are found by living up to American ideals – to the fundamental truth that all human beings are created equal and endowed by God with certain rights. We have often underestimated how radical that quest really is, and how our cherished principles challenge systems of intended or assumed injustice. The heroes of America – from Frederick Douglass, to Harriet Tubman, to Abraham Lincoln, to Martin Luther King, Jr. – are heroes of unity. Their calling has never been for the fainthearted. They often revealed the nation’s disturbing bigotry and exploitation – stains on our character sometimes difficult for the American majority to examine. We can only see the reality of America’s need by seeing it through the eyes of the threatened, oppressed, and disenfranchised. That is exactly where we now stand. Many doubt the justice of our country, and with good reason. Black people see the repeated violation of their rights without an urgent and adequate response from American institutions. We know that lasting justice will only come by peaceful means. Looting is not liberation, and destruction is not progress. But we also know that lasting peace in our communities requires truly equal justice. The rule of law ultimately depends on the fairness and legitimacy of the legal system. And achieving justice for all is the duty of all. This will require a consistent, courageous, and creative effort. We serve our neighbors best when we try to understand their experience. We love our neighbors as ourselves when we treat them as equals, in both protection and compassion. There is a better way- the way of empathy, and shared commitment, and bold action, and a peace rooted in justice. I am confident that together. Americans will choose the better way.
05/31/2020
On Memorial Day we did some of the traditional things which we did on Decoration Day. We visited the gravesites of some of our loved ones and brought flowers from our yard. The lilacs still were blooming and sprigs of them looked beautiful in the graveside vases. It felt right to bring flowers from our garden rather than purchasing them. We had a lovely moment remembering those we hold dear who have gone on before us. We did some other Memorial Day things like hamburgers and hot dogs. There was no Indianapolis 500 race this year and little pageantry that we normally would have watched on TV. We brought some flowers to add to our planting. We wore our face masks to set a good example and to protect others. I admit to being a bit shocked at pictures of crowed beaches and mass gatherings of people largely without masks or social distancing. I hope we and they do not live to regret such action. It is my instinct and inclination to protect people. So I am motivated to be cautious when there is danger, especially to people I care about. It certainly has been a unique Memorial Day in my limited experience. With all the changes this year has brought, I am thankful for the memories of those who I have loved. That much never changes.