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One of the things I do sometimes is keep a daily diary of little entries where I put down whatever is on my mind. I call it Give Us This Day Our Daily Grits. So, here are a few of those daily grits:
- I have a few principles of life that are important to me. Much of this came to me when I was listening to a sermon and my mind began to wander. I'm sure your mind never takes a hike while you are at church but mine does. When it last happened to me I began noting some of these ideas. I really should not have done this while I was preaching but here they are:
1. We must have that within us which is above us lest we descend to that which is beneath us and fail to engage for God that which is around us.
2. The basis upon which we will ultimately be evaluated will be in terms of how we respond to the visitation of Christ via the wounded, broken, “least of these.” (Matthew 25:31-46)
3. Humorlessness is a heresy. It means we take ourselves too seriously and God not seriously enough.
4. We must be ourselves, but not overdo it. We do, we know, have an inclination to sin. So, we must learn to live out of our larger and not our lesser selves. This is the difference between a life of beastliness and a life of blessedness.
5. If, when we pray, we only hear words of consolation and never words of confrontation and correction from God, we have not yet fully learned to hear God.
6. When we meet God face-to-face, we will be surprised at who else is there. And God may, in light of our personal histories, be surprised that we have come knocking. So, let us be preparing.
- Did you hear the story about the handyman who owned a dog named Mace. Mace was a dandy dog except for one weird, annoying habit. He loved to eat grass. And he ate vast quantities of grass. He could intimidate a Weed Eater with his voracious appetite for grass.
One day the handyman lost his wrench in some tall grass while doing an outdoor job. He searched and searched but was unable to find his lost wrench. As darkness began to fall he decided to give up the search for the evening and resume it in the morning.
When he awoke next morning and stepped outside he discovered that his dog had eaten all the grass in the yard. Lying there where he had lost it was his wrench in plain view. As the grateful worker walked over to retrieve his wrench, he said to his dog, "Amazing Mace, how sweet the hound, that saved a wrench for me."
I don't think that is a true story but I like it anyhow. I have known a lot of smart dogs.
- A Benediction
May the Lord bless and keep you.
The Lord watch over you with vigilance and strength.
God guide you in the everydayness of your servanthood
and may the Spirit give you peace.
Amen.
- Remembering September 11, 2001
On September 20, 2001 I had the privilege of being the guest chaplain of the day for the U. S. Congress. Congresswoman Sue Myrick had made arrangements for this several months earlier--long before the horrific events of September 11. Who could have imagined that I would be giving the invocation for the session of Congress just 9 days after almost 3,000 persons had perished in the attack on the World Trade Center? Then, that night sat in the House chamber as President Bush addressed the Congress and the world.
Here is what I said to God on that morning at the opening of Congress: “Eternal God, when we lift our eyes to spacious skies we know that you are there. When as if two lightning bolts slice hotly through the high places and plunge us by the thousands into molten, crushing caverns, we know that you are there.
“When heroic spirits, roused to action, steer a chariot meant for evil to the right and make a crater of courage in the rich soil of freedom, we know that you are planted there as a seed--the seed of life. When wild barbarians spur their murderous winged mount into the encampment of those who serve when called to liberating strife--we know that you are there.
“And when representative forces of freedom meet to do their civilizing work, grant, Oh God, not only your blessing on their work, but grant your presence there. So, please God, bless this House and those within it that through its actions and by your presence here, justice, mercy, love and peace may come to reign in every house upon this earth. Amen.”
Eight years later, now, I’m offering up the same prayer.
- Read John 3:16 and remember this: God did not make us for nothing. God made us to last. And God made a way to make it happen.
- I am troubled that so much occurring these days has the appearance of political opportunism traveling under the guise of moral and religious piety. Politics does not produce saints.
- I'm on my way to the Albuquerque airport on a Sunday afternoon and the cabbie is in a grouchy mood. “I'm having a bad day,” he says, “I had four calls this morning to take people to church. Not a one gave me a tip nor even so much as a 'thank you.' The only thing so far to save the day was a guy I took to a casino to do some gambling. He gave me a ten-dollar tip. Give me a gambler anytime and you can keep the church people.” I said, “I happen to be a minister. Do you suppose those folk put anything into the offering plate?” He responded, “My mother's in the hospital on life support. Will you pray for her?” So I did.
- Chief Joseph (1840-1904) of the Nez Perce tribe was one of the wise and eloquent men of the nineteenth century. He said: “We do not want churches because they will teach us to quarrel about God…. We do not want to learn that…. We may quarrel with men sometimes about things on this earth. But we never quarrel about God. We do not want to learn that.” Chief Joseph was a victim of the “civilizing” process. Alas.
- I saw a sign on a building in Phoenix that set my curious mind awondering. The sign said: Chiropractic/Automotive Repair. Diversification is, I guess, a savvy business strategy but I do wonder what prompted this particular combination. Did Mike the Mechanic just get up one morning and say, “Well, now that I've mastered the art of the 60,000 mile tune-up, I think I'll start adjusting spinal columns.”?
- Jesus said the children are Kingdom kids. He said people have to come as children if they want to participate in the Kingdom of Heaven. It's such a radical and necessary thing that, he says, you have to be born again and start all over. I think Jesus talked so much about children and the Kingdom because he never forgot that memorable trip down to Jerusalem when he was twelve years old. He never got over his surprise at discovering how little we older folk know about God. The priest, even his own mother and father still needed instruction. Sadly, many folk move too quickly from the childlikeness that touches the Kingdom, to the childishness that descends into tragic littleness of spirit.
- There are lots of great people in the church. Of course, I figure the church is one of the reasons lots of people are great. However, you'll have to explain to me how it is that sometimes you find somebody who behaves like the devil at church. Red Skelton once asked: “Where do people in Hell tell people to go who anger them?” Do you suppose they tell them to go to church? Just a thought.
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