Pastor Kerry brought a great message regarding family. Family is a dynamic relationship. Inherit in the compact is a lot of grace. Grace for the other members of our clan and a lot of grace for us.

Families disagree. This we all know. So often we become angry…and this is a normal emotion. Then we are set against the family member who has upset us…but the burn rate for casting family to the curb is pretty high, resulting in no more family.

Church is a family of faith. When we are church members for a significant portion of our lives…offenses happen. That is part of the human experience. Forgiveness is essential to the ties that bind us together. Sometimes people leave church to find another group that is more to their liking. Church shopping is a fairly common occurrence in the Christian Faith.

‘I am tired of feeling marginalized by the elite,’ He said.

‘Who is marginalizing you, She asked?

‘Those who perceive themselves better than me, He answered. ‘I put forth idea after idea that everyone on the Board grins and shakes their head in affirmation…and yet none of my ideas are adopted,’ He continued.

‘Well…dear…you are one voice among many. I am certain that your ideas are appreciated,’ She said.

‘You know I was as often unheard as a child as well…at times I thought that. I must be invisible.’ He said. ‘I had good plans for our family’s success…but they fell on deaf ears,’ He said.

‘In church as in family…or call it the church family…we are but one of many voices in our struggle to find the will of God,’ She said.

We see our family through the prism of our expectations for them. Many times their actions are shaded by our bias and feelings of rejection that we have received at times throughout our lives.

‘Take my yoke upon you and learn of me…for I am meek and lowly of heart…and you shall find rest for your souls.’

It is a lovely Saturday in August. The heat is returning. Is it too late for Dog Days? I have been wondering of late as to the difference that our perception of ourselves as compared with how others see us.

Walter Mitty was a literary character created by James Thurber. Walter was a fairly common person who was a daydreamer and he dreamt that he had many adventures…but they were only in his mind. One of the daydreams was of him flying an airplane through a terrible storm. Also, he dreamt of smoking a cigarette before a firing squad. Walter had heroic fantasies. Sometimes we do as well…

Chris Rock said that often we think that we are the leader of the band when we are but the tambourine player. He admonished us to play the hell out of that tambourine!

Indeed we are the hero of our own story…but how does our hero worship affect those who must interact with us?

Our heads are crowded spaces. There is the furniture of a long life…at least long to us. There is the running commentary from our subconscious. There is the flickering image before us that we see with perhaps a little help from our peripheral vision. Yet the Flick that we are watching is limited by our field of vision and our crowded headspace. Our movie screenplay tells what heroic action to take next…while the script of the person we are with is written by their own mental assistants who have labored long and hard to ensure that they are the star of the show…

We are what we hear. Strange but true. If we are exposed to false statements for long enough and repeated often…we tend to believe them.

Fall Semester begins Monday and the excitement is palpable. When I first began at Southern Illinois University @ Carbondale I could not believe my good fortune. There were students from over 70 nations on Campus. I was a country boy who had been dropped into an international city…and I was happy to be there. Soon my supervisors began to compliment my work and encourage me to seek promotions. I had never worked in such a positive environment. I soon began to believe the kind words that were said to me and subsequently strove for excellence. I was on Campus yesterday and it felt like it did 45 years ago. Once you have been nurtured and mentored by people and a caring organization…you never forget it.

‘Sticks and stones will break my bones but words will never hurt me,’ was a famous saying as a child. How untrue it was and is. Words kill…

Of late the tide of history has moved toward just saying any lie that you wish and ‘Wash…Repeat…and Rinse’ and it will soon become the truth for your reality. I fear that we are too long in front of our screens. In the 60s our news was provided by Walter Cronkite and Huntley and Brinkley and they stayed with the template, as Joe Friday of Dragnet often said, ‘Just the facts Mam.’

Church is a constant in my mind and heart. I have been a member of one church or another for 55 years. Ministers have a great power of persuasion. They can build up the members of their congregation or they can disassemble them until they are a pile of parts. The Christian church must allow room for Jesus. When programs and policies fail to allow room for the spontaneous Christ…they have missed the purpose of the faith. Jesus did not ask the doctrinarians of his day if it was alright to spit on the ground and make clay of the dirt and spittle and then apply the mixture to the eyes of the blind man…who then could see. When the founder of the faith wrote on the ground as the religious leaders of his day prepared to stone the woman caught in the act of adultery…and they one by one walked away until Christ asked the woman Where are thy accusers…and she said I have none he did not seek the operations manual for guidance on what to do in the case of stoning…

Life is Real…the kids tell us. Prescribed text and dogma does not lend itself to the personal vagaries that afflict each of us. One size does not fit all. The only all-encompassing words that shield us and make us whole are love and kindness.

Yesterday I saw some old friends. I was transported back almost 20 years ago and the journey took a blink of an eye. When I consider that I have been retired nearly 13 years I am a bit like Rip Van Winkle who slept for years only to find that when he awoke the world had changed around him. The clock ticks by so quickly that the days morph into weeks and the weeks years and…you get the picture…

We are looking back home. The brevity of life causes us to rush through the important things. We want to do it all…whatever that is… I see the beginning of school and I recall how I felt when I was a child.

‘The DuQuoin State Fair begins in just a few short days,’ Neva J. announced to the group. ‘I am especially looking forward to it this year as Bob Hope will be performing,’ she continued.

‘Will he have Bing Crosby with him,’ asked Jane?

‘He will have Bing with him and they will be staying at the St. Nicholas Hotel…we will go there after their show and see if we can obtain an autograph, Neva J. said with a wicked grin.

‘This year they are going to have the actual Time Machine from the movie…I hope to sit in the seat of it and have my photo snapped,’ Chet said.

‘May I sit in the Time Machine’s seat,’ asked Chet? ‘You certainly may if you will wait just a moment as Bob Hope and Bing Crosby are going to have their photo taken for Life Magazine with the original Time Machine and they would like to have a youngster photographed with them, the exhibit person said.

‘My my look at the kid in the seat…all American boy I say, ‘Bob Hope chuckled.

‘Young sir would you be so kind as to allow me and Mr. Hope to have our picture taken with you and the Time Machine,’ Bing intoned?

Just as the camera snapped a black cat ran across Chet’s lap and flipped the lever forward and the TM began to whir. ‘Where are we, asked Chet? ‘This is Vaudeville and we are on,’ Bob Hope answered.

‘Let us go kid…we will knock um dead,’ Bing sang…

Our lives are bountiful joy and abject sorrow. In another life, I preached funerals for the little church that I was a member of. There is no easy answer for grief. There is no simple solution. I would get so nervous before the funeral that I became sick to my stomach. I understood that those there would be looking to me for comfort and I had none to give unless God gave me the words.

We are so intertwined with our family and friends that when one of us leaves they do not know how they are going to live without us…and the person who passes does not know how they will have the emotional strength to leave what has been so joyful of a union.

It has been said that time heals all wounds…but not really. From the time that we make our first lusty cry…we are temporarily here. Now, we have a great gift of eternity in our soul…it seems…but no one has come back to report on the concreteness of our spiritual hope.

Faith is our comforter and hope is our companion. There is such boundless love that we have for those whom we have walked this journey with. Many folks attest to visiting with their loved ones after they have passed…I believe them. Someone asked what is the message of Jesus. I believe that it is encapsulated in one sentence. ‘Love one another as I have loved you…’

Pastor Kerry spoke yesterday regarding miracles and their occurrence in our lives without fanfare or a chapter dedicated to them in the Bible. Often we want to see Jesus walk on water when he is carrying us through the deluge each day of our lives. We seek ‘Red Sea Parting Confirmation of God’s love for us while he protects our well-being at home and work and play. In many instances, I have had confirmation of Christ’s concern for me and I have never seen a burning bush.

‘Then He said, ‘Go out, and stand on the mountain before the Lord.’ And behold the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind tore into the mountains and broke the rocks in pieces before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind, and after the wind an earthquake, and after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a still small voice. So it was, when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood in the entrance of the cave. Suddenly a voice came to him, and said, ‘What are you doing Elijah?’

The spectacle we love. Balloons brightly colored streamers and loud emotion-stirring music is what we expect when J.C. is involved with us. We know that he must want to be seen and recognized and applauded and praised for each and every little thing that he does for us.

Politicians have learned that the perception of what is true is often better for them than what is actually true. They tell us that certain books are bad for us and that only certain people are on their approved list. We felt a bit down regarding our accomplishments until the leaders told us that we were all right as long as we aligned our lives with their concrete Form…

Have you ever prayed that God would allow you to see your loved one before they leave this world? Have you ever been diagnosed with a frightening illness…only to discover that you do not have the malady? Have you ever been cognizant of the presence of your Guardian Angle while you were undergoing trauma?

Berl told me that I would find that no matter how old I became I would never have time to do everything that I wanted to do. His words have stayed with me for many years and they are true. A year ago we began planning a holiday in Maine this September and it is almost here. Now if you ask me what I have been doing during the past eleven months I can recall the big picture of my activities but many of the smaller things that made that time rich and gave it color and pizazz have melted into the activities of those moments.

‘I know a thing or two about a thing or two,’ Aaron said. Often people tell us things that are a bit like reading literature…the devil is in the details and comes with a hidden meaning. I discovered in my Literary Analysis University course that you have to read between the words and look behind the curtain to ascertain the author’s meaning and point. When someone is speaking to you they are telling you much more than the few words on the surface. So often while the person is talking we shake our heads in agreement and formulate our poetic response. When we take time to listen to another person then we learn about them and we discover ourselves.

When you ask a person what their plans are for vacation holiday or retirement…they will tell you all the activities that enhance their experience of the event…when the secret of happiness is enhancing other’s experience.

Time is a bit circular. It seems to come back to where it was for another bite at the apple. Perhaps we are all performers on a Stage of Life and our continued performance illustrates our transition from understudy to marquee performer…

Is not technology great? My iPhone just told me that I was doing a good job of closing my ring this morning. I felt empowered. By the way, I have been walking for health for nearly 50 years…but with little encouragement until the kind words of my pocket computer. A word of encouragement is welcome even from a smartphone.

‘Wakey…Wakey…it is time to get up,’ Dad said.

‘I have got to quit burning the candle at both ends,’ Son answered.

The helicopters buzzed over our house all night…I did not get a wink of sleep,’ Mom remarked. I simply do not know what they are looking for, she continued.

‘Uncle Bill says that they are searching for insurrectionists,’ the Son said. ‘I saw on television that the President believes that there are only a few hundred left in the country,’ he went on to say.

‘I am advised that the helicopters are in search of the last liberals…the holdouts from 2023,’ Friend advised as he sipped a Gin and Tonic. The electronic billboards admonish us every hour of the day to start thinking differently…they call it The New Truth,’ Friend continued.

‘I saw Rosie yesterday and told her that much of what the ruling political party was misquoting the Bible…the words of Jesus…and she told me that, ‘It was not that way now,’ Mom said.

‘I miss churches…they caused me to feel peace,’ Jane said. ‘Churches do not seem to be a part of The New Truth,’ Jane said in a sad voice.

‘Yes, but these electric automobiles are the cat’s pajamas,’ Dad said with a laugh. ‘You know I do like the weight reduction program…I am not fat like I used to be and I seldom get hungry any longer, he said with a quizzical stare.

‘Something is missing…indeed there is little strife or argument or suffering…but there is little of the old ways…the humanity,’ Jane said with a tear in her eye.

‘There she is…over there…bring in the doppelganger,’ Rosie commanded!

‘Jane, do you miss your books,’ Dad asked?

‘No, not really…they were a bit of a burden to my mind…they caused me to accept so many different opinions that my thoughts competed with each other…it is easier now…’

‘Night night…rest mode…plug in your power cords,’ Dad said with a robotic grin…

‘

I am looking out at my pond just now and the reflection of the trees around it is mirror-like and otherworldly. I reflect on this time of year when I was a youngster and how I knew school was imminent and the feeling that summer was slipping away like feathers in the wind. On a cooler August evening at twilight, we would be sitting on the front porch and reminiscing about what had happened and anticipating what was to come. I can hear the crickets chirping and laughing regarding taking a few last trips to Pounds Hollow before Labor Day.

Life is change and you learn that lesson when you are young. The ambulance driver remarked to his assistant the boy would not live through the drive to Evansville, Indiana. The mom told him not to say that because the boy was her son. The boy lived.

Fall is knocking…right now softly…soon with a purpose.

Twilight connects us. Our differences are no longer noticed. We remember who we are and who we want to be. We think of how summer slipped away so many times and fall is coming on as it has before. We grasp at it with both of our hands and our hearts and we determine that we shall not lose what we love…