Artist At Work
Stories
Object:
Contents
What's Up This Week
"Artist at Work" by Craig Kelly
"It Can Happen Anywhere" by John Smiley
"Greta's Glorious Body" by Jo Perry-Sumwalt
What's Up This Week
God is the greatest artist and creator of all -- and sometimes it's foolish for us to presume to know what great outcome he has in store for us. In the feature story of this edition of StoryShare, Craig Kelly provides a touching illustration of that eternal truth, as he details a conversation between two friends, one of whom is an artist and the other an accountant. The accountant tries to understand what his friend is creating -- but while the artist discusses his motivation, he coyly refuses to tell his friend what the end result will be. But just like God's creation, if we are patient we discover the breathtaking fruit of the artist's labor. John Smiley shares the details of a traveler's journey, and finds that in the midst of the traveler's discomfort the voice of God is speaking to him. Finally, Jo Perry-Sumwalt tells the story of an overweight woman struggling to overcome her past and see her body as God's temple -- which should be an inspiration to those of us who are already struggling with our New Year's resolutions to lead healthier lives!
* * * * * * * * *
Artist at Work
by Craig Kelly
Psalm 139:1-6, 13-18
Ever so gently the hammer tapped the handle of the chisel, driving it deeper into the maple wood. The hammer continued to guide the chisel just underneath the wood's surface, and as the wood above the chisel became more and more separated from the whole it curled, a weak, thin slice of what was once a tall, powerful tree. Eventually the chisel cut the slice off completely, letting it lazily spin its way to the workshop floor. The chisel made its way back to its starting point, ready to start the process again.
"I heard that Michelangelo said that every block of stone he worked on had a statue already inside it and it was up to him to find it. He just had to take off the surrounding pieces."
"I'm flattered that you want to draw parallels between me and the great Michelangelo, but I still won't tell you what I'm making."
"I know, I know, just making a comment," the spectator said. "I don't know how you do it, Ben."
The woodcarver smiled as he looked up from his work. "You know, Tim, I bet with a little training and practice, you could probably do this yourself."
Tim chuckled as he continued gazing at the small maple log his friend was chiseling, his head resting in his hands as he leaned on a workbench. "I don't think so, buddy. I couldn't draw a stick figure, let alone carve one! You have the eye for this stuff, not me."
Ben laughed. "A stick figure? Aw, that's easy. Here." He picked up a small piece of scrap wood and handed it to Tim. "You'll be an artist before you know it. Now listen carefully. See that corner of the wood where it's split?"
Tim looked at the corner of the wood and discovered a gouge separating the corner from the rest of the wood. "Yeah," he said.
"Okay, now grip that corner there and give it a good yank."
Tim took the corner in his left hand and tore it away from the rest of the wood, leaving in his hand an eight-inch piece of wood. "Okay, now what? I whittle the rest of this piece down until I have a stick figure?" He held up the larger piece in his right hand.
"Nope. You're done."
"I'm what?"
"Look. What are you holding in your left hand?"
"A stick."
"Yep, I'd figure so, too. Best-looking figure of a stick I've seen in a while." Ben smiled broadly as he turned his attention back to his work.
Tim closed his eyes, groaning. "Okay, Ben, you've told some stupid jokes in your time, but that one...." He shook his head, laughing softly.
"Ah, it seemed funny when I thought it up. Worth trying once."
Ben was always the jokester, always the easygoing one. Even as roommates in college, Ben was always telling Tim stupid jokes, always offering his big smile and soft chuckle. He was working toward an art degree while Tim was studying finance. Tim would be sitting at one desk buried in an accounting textbook while Ben would be across the room, sculpting a face out of clay or drawing a landscape in charcoal. Once Tim even caught Ben painting a watercolor portrait of him studying for a midterm. "Oh, just keep doing what you're doing," Ben told him. "I want to capture the utter futility of this scene, while pointing the viewer toward the impending failure soon to come." That earned Ben a macroeconomics textbook to the head.
After college, they stayed close, Tim going on to become a successful accountant and Ben becoming a noted sculptor. Even after they both married, both couples stayed good friends. Tim and his wife were even the godparents of Ben's daughter. And now Tim and his wife were expecting their first child.
"So how far along is Lisa now?" Ben asked.
"About 20 weeks now," Tim replied. "If everything goes according to plan, you and Kim should be godparents by next March."
"Great, so this should be finished in plenty of time," Ben said, carefully positioning his chisel for its next foray into the wood.
"You know, Ben, I've always wanted to ask you something, even back in college."
"Sure, Tim, shoot." Ben began to hammer the chisel into the wood.
"I've never really understood it, Ben. Why do you do it?"
"Do what?" Ben asked, his hammer still sending the chisel deeper.
"Why do you do all this? All this sculpting and woodcarving? What drives you to do it?"
Ben stopped, leaving his chisel inside the log. "Why do I do it?" He looked away, thinking. "I suppose because we have the drive to create, to make something that didn't exist before. And I'm not talking just artists. Everyone has that same desire."
Tim laughed. "Even accountants?"
"Yes, even accountants," Ben replied. "You create ledgers and tables and reports, and you want each one to be precise and accurate, a good reflection of its creator. You want people to look at that ledger and say, 'Only Tim could have made such a thorough report.' It's no different with artists. We are driven by that same desire to leave our mark, whether it's on canvas or in marble or in clay or in wood. We all want to make something that we can say is ours. Even our little Anna made me a finger painting the other day. She was so proud to show it to me. It was just a swirl of colors, but it was her swirl. She made it, and it has her fingerprints all over it to prove it."
"I saw it hanging on your fridge," Tim said. "Proud papa putting it on display?"
"Definitely," Ben smiled. "She put the effort into it. She put herself into it, and she's so proud of it. She made it, and it was good. I think it's what the Bible talked about when it said that God made us in his image. He is the ultimate artist, and he likes what he made."
"Hmm. Guess I hadn't thought about God that way."
"Oh yeah," Ben continued. "Think about it, Tim. Look at the beauty of a flower or of a bird's wing or of a gently flowing stream. God is making new artwork every day."
"I don't know, Ben," Tim said. "I mean, I know God made all that stuff way back in the beginning, but I guess I've always just seen him as someone who made everything and then just set it in motion. I always pictured him just sitting back and watching it all work."
"Well, of all times, this time in your life should show you otherwise," Ben said, resuming his work.
"What makes you say that?" Tim asked.
Ben laughed, surprised that Tim didn't understand. "Well, what do you think is happening inside your wife right now? God is creating a piece of artwork more beautiful than anything I could make out of this maple. At this very moment, your child is being molded and shaped inside the body of its mother by the hand of God himself. Oh no, God isn't a god who sits back and watches things happen. He's right in the thick of things. Just look around. You'll see his fingerprints everywhere, too."
Tim pondered Ben's words for a few minutes. "Wow" was all he could say. Finally, he looked at Ben. "So in four months or so, I'll see God's new work of art for the first time."
"Yep, and it'll be a good one," Ben said. "Trust me, as one who's been there, you'll be blown away."
"Yeah," Tim said. "Well, I know I have to wait on God's artwork, but are you ever going to tell me what you're making?"
Ben didn't look up, but continued chiseling. "Not a chance," he replied.
That spring, the church was filled as Tim and Lisa gathered with family and friends to witness their son being baptized. After the ceremony, Tim was putting his son to bed in the nursery when he noticed a package left beside the crib. It was wrapped in brown paper and tied with a string. Attached was a small note, with only one line written on it: "An Artist at Work." Ben opened it and pulled out a small maple wood sculpture. It was two hands gently holding a small baby.
Craig Kelly writes copy for CSS Publishing Company in Lima, Ohio. Hesitant to call himself an aspiring freelance writer, he is a self-proclaimed "dabbler" in writing.
It Can Happen Anywhere
by John Smylie
1 Samuel 3:1-10
It was going to be a very long day. Three flights from the East Coast to the West. The first leg would depart Sarasota in the early afternoon, arriving in Atlanta, Georgia, a few hours later. After a several-hour layover, the second leg would leave Atlanta on its way to Minneapolis-St. Paul. The third and final leg of the journey would bring the traveler into Casper, Wyoming, a little past 11 p.m. Mountain Time.
The traveler was tall, and he wasn't looking forward to the cramped seating found in the coach seats in the airlines. His 6'3" frame just simply didn't fit, and the problem was he could not get assigned seats before his flight. He learned over the years to ask for an exit row and most of the time he was successful in getting one, but recently he discovered the airlines were asking for more money for the extra inches. He felt the tickets were already overpriced, perhaps because the flights originated from smaller markets. His current ticket was $778 round-trip, and he felt that was quite enough.
On the way down to Florida he found himself quite fortunate, on all three of his legs he received his request of an exit row at no extra charge. In fact, on December 26 there were not many people flying on the airplane (at least it wasn't overcrowded), and on one of the legs he was actually the only person sitting in the exit row. But today was January 1st and travelers were on the move. Even though it was a holiday it seemed like many people wanted to beat the weekend rush that a few days later would bring.
He walked up to the counter in Sarasota and made his request to the Delta Airlines agent, who looked him up and down and saw how difficult it would be for him to fit in the center seat. Perhaps it was compassion on her part, or the fact that he asked her how she was feeling (for she looked as if she might be a bit hung over) that caused her to have mercy and assign him to an exit row. On the second leg of his journey home, this time on Northwest Airlines, he once again received the mercy of the agent, who assigned him to an aisle seat exit row. In fact, the agent in Atlanta assigned him to an exit row on the little 50-passenger jet that flies between Minneapolis-St. Paul and Casper, Wyoming. He had about an hour and 45 minutes before the plane was to leave. Minneapolis-St. Paul is a very large airport, and he wandered from one side of the airport, where his plane landed, to the other, where his next plane would depart from. He made himself comfortable as he sat down and sought to finish the book he started at the beginning of his journey.
The Shack had been an easy read and because he was a minister himself most of the theological challenges within the book were things he'd already thought about. But he felt it was important to read the book, as many in his congregation had been talking about it. It pointed them toward radical forgiveness and a better understanding of the Trinity; at least that's what he heard from them. He found himself somewhat disturbed by the book, especially the part about the little child. While he was in the airport he kept looking at children, who seemed so vulnerable to him. He was bothered that the book might give some folks ideas that could be used to hurt children.
While he was in Minneapolis at his gate area, waiting for the airplane first to arrive and then to load and depart, he noticed a particularly large man. It was hard to miss this gentleman because he must've weighed around 400 pounds. He also appeared as if he hadn't washed for a week. Under his breath and in the silence of reading his book the traveler said to himself and whoever else might be listening to his thoughts, "Please don't let me sit next to this person." He knew that the two of them would never fit in the seats. The flight was on time for boarding, and because he had an exit row he was invited to go in a bit early to become familiar with the exit procedures in the event of an emergency. The plane was full, and he watched as the passengers came down the narrow aisle. Before long the large man was on his way, and our traveler knew immediately who he was going to be sitting next to. Sure enough, he stood at the end of the two seats, showed his ticket and our traveler stepped out so the large man could slide into his window seat. In fact he fit into 1 1/2 of the seats, so it was obviously going to be an uncomfortable two-plus hours -- made longer because of icing conditions and the fact that the airplane needed to be de-iced before it would be released for takeoff.
Samuel! Samuel! And he said, "Here I am!"
Lord! Lord! "Were you listening to my thoughts, Lord?" our traveler wondered. His immediate response went in two directions after the large man found his seat. The first was being annoyed at having to ride with great discomfort for the next few hours -- a somewhat selfish response. But then a few moments later or perhaps a few seconds later, he found himself wondering why God had brought this man to sit next to him, especially after his plea to be able to ride in a bit more comfort. Traveler! Traveler! Come out of your own way of thinking, discover who it is who is talking to you, and break out of your own expectations and discover what I have for you.
The overweight and unkempt man turned out to be very humble. He sat sideways and forward so as to take as little of our traveler's seat as he could. Our traveler was aware of his judgmental spirit. He was supposed to be a faithful Christian, with the fruit of the Spirit growing within him, patience, kindness, gentleness -- but the fruit was obviously in the overweight passenger who clearly hadn't had a shower for over a week. His posture indicated his humility, for he was very self-aware and was concerned that his great size was causing discomfort to the traveler.
Have you ever wondered, or discovered, how the Lord meets us? We think that moments like our Lord speaking to Samuel in the middle of the night are rare. But really they are all around us. Our Lord was speaking to our tall traveler before he got on the plane. Our Lord was preparing him to be humbled and to become aware of his own judgmental attitude. Once Samuel became aware that it was God who was speaking to him, he was able to know how to respond. I wonder how often the Lord is speaking to us, offering us an opportunity to respond in a way that will bring us blessings and growth and new life.
I know this traveler met God on this journey; I know he was humbled by God and by his own narrow attitude and thinking. I know this because I was the traveler, and my hunch is that if you look into your life, your journey, your attitudes, you will find opportunities when our Lord is seeking to break through the barriers you may have created around your heart and the protective layers that you put around your life, as I put around mine. The good news is that God cares enough to break through our sleep, our negative attitudes, our lack of respect, our limited perspectives, so that we can be awakened to his grace, mercy, and presence.
And Samuel said, "Speak, for your servant is listening."
John Smylie is the rector of St. Mark's Episcopal Church in Casper, Wyoming. Previously he served as the dean of the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist in Spokane, Washington. He is a published author and storyteller as well as a singer-songwriter. Smylie recently completed Grace for Today, a collection of 25 stories that explores how grace, loss, and restoration are part of the same fabric.
Greta's Glorious Body
by Jo Perry-Sumwalt
1 Corinthians 6:12-20
Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you were bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body.
-- 1 Corinthians 6:19-20
Greta Schmidt huffed and puffed her way through the church hallways toward the parish nurse's office. She detested tardiness. It was bad enough in others, but totally unacceptable in herself. As it turned out, she had eased her bulk into the largest, sturdiest chair with two minutes to spare, and it took all of that time for her heart to stop racing and her breathing to settle back into its normal wheeze. Another "fat class," Greta sighed to herself.
Weight loss clinics, diet clubs, exercise groups, and calorie counting were nothing new to Greta. She had fought a losing battle with fat from the time she was a small child.
"My mama was an excellent German cook!" she always laughed, by way of explanation. "Sauerbraten, wiener schnitzel, kuchen and stollen, sauerkraut, bratwurst, knockwurst, and strudel. Always so much food! And I loved it so much! And Mama always demanded that we EAT! EAT! Is it any wonder I look the way I do?"
Greta had paid dearly, her entire life, for her love of food. The other children had teased her and called her names; adults clucked their tongues and whispered as they stared. She was never chosen to play games or to be on prom court. No boy ever asked her out... ever.
Still, Greta's family life was close-knit and comforting -- and there was the food! She completed high school, attended college, and became a librarian. She lived at home, learning to cook all of her mother's best dishes. As the years passed, Greta cared for her parents, and then her older brother, until one by one they went on to be with God. Now, in middle age, Greta's own health had become affected by her food obsession.
"The doctor says I have hypertension, heart problems, gout, and adult-onset diabetes," Greta said in answer to nurse Betty Anderson's request for all the group members to state why they had come to her class on Holistic Lifestyle Management. "I've tried every kind of diet on the market. I figure one more can't hurt."
Others in the class shared Greta's health concerns, and more besides, but she noted that few shared her girth. The next largest person present was a man who probably weighed around 250 pounds. Greta couldn't remember when she had weighed that little.
"Would someone volunteer to begin with some scripture readings?" nurse Betty asked, passing around sheets of paper with several printed texts. A man named Max raised his hand and read:
So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.... God saw everything that he had made, and indeed, it was very good. (Genesis 1:27, 31)
When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars that you have established; what are human beings that you are mindful of them, mortals that you care for them? Yet you have made them a little lower than God, and crowned them with glory and honor. (Psalm 8:3-5)
Yet it was you who took me from the womb; you kept me safe on my mother's breast. On you I was cast from my birth, and since my mother bore me you have been my God. (Psalm 22:9-10)
Know that the Lord is God. It is he that made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. (Psalm 100:3)
Bless the Lord, O my soul, and do not forget all his benefits -- who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the Pit... (Psalm 103:2-4)
"Now, tell me," the nurse said, "what theme do you hear running through these scriptures?"
"That God made us and we are good," said one woman who was wearing an oxygen mask.
"That we belong to God," said another.
"That God heals our diseases," said Max.
"I want to suggest," nurse Betty continued, "that this class on Holistic Lifestyle Management is the beginning of thinking of ourselves in a new way. Jesus said to love God and love your neighbor as yourself. But we can't love our neighbors the way we should if we don't love ourselves! And if we love ourselves, we won't want to put harmful things like cigarette smoke, fatty foods, too much refined sugar, and harmful chemicals into our bodies. We need to take care of our bodies through exercise, good nutrition, daily prayer and meditation.
"I'd like to lift up a portion of Paul's advice to the Corinthians as God's advice to us."
"All things are lawful for me," but not all things are beneficial. "All things are lawful for me," but I will not be dominated by anything.... Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you were bought with a price; therefore, glorify God in your body. (1 Corinthians 6:12, 19-20)
Greta huffed and puffed her way back to her car, lost in thought. Never had anyone told her that her body was special. Never had she considered that the food she so loved to eat was a substitute for love and acceptance.
Was that why all the other diets and exercise programs had failed? Because she had never loved herself -- her own body -- enough to care for it?
"Let me start over again, God," she wheezed as she squeezed herself behind the steering wheel of her large car. "Help me to love myself enough to glorify you in my body."
Jo Perry-Sumwalt is the Director of Christian Education at Our Lord's United Methodist Church in New Berlin, Wisconsin, where her husband John serves as pastor. Jo and John are the former co-editors of StoryShare, and they are also the co-authors of Lectionary Tales for the Pulpit [Cycle B].
**************
StoryShare, January 18, 2009, issue.
Copyright 2009 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
All rights reserved. Subscribers to the StoryShare service may print and use this material as it was intended in sermons, in worship and classroom settings, in brief devotions, in radio spots, and as newsletter fillers. No additional permission is required from the publisher for such use by subscribers only. Inquiries should be addressed to permissions@csspub.com or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., 517 South Main Street, Lima, Ohio 45804.
What's Up This Week
"Artist at Work" by Craig Kelly
"It Can Happen Anywhere" by John Smiley
"Greta's Glorious Body" by Jo Perry-Sumwalt
What's Up This Week
God is the greatest artist and creator of all -- and sometimes it's foolish for us to presume to know what great outcome he has in store for us. In the feature story of this edition of StoryShare, Craig Kelly provides a touching illustration of that eternal truth, as he details a conversation between two friends, one of whom is an artist and the other an accountant. The accountant tries to understand what his friend is creating -- but while the artist discusses his motivation, he coyly refuses to tell his friend what the end result will be. But just like God's creation, if we are patient we discover the breathtaking fruit of the artist's labor. John Smiley shares the details of a traveler's journey, and finds that in the midst of the traveler's discomfort the voice of God is speaking to him. Finally, Jo Perry-Sumwalt tells the story of an overweight woman struggling to overcome her past and see her body as God's temple -- which should be an inspiration to those of us who are already struggling with our New Year's resolutions to lead healthier lives!
* * * * * * * * *
Artist at Work
by Craig Kelly
Psalm 139:1-6, 13-18
Ever so gently the hammer tapped the handle of the chisel, driving it deeper into the maple wood. The hammer continued to guide the chisel just underneath the wood's surface, and as the wood above the chisel became more and more separated from the whole it curled, a weak, thin slice of what was once a tall, powerful tree. Eventually the chisel cut the slice off completely, letting it lazily spin its way to the workshop floor. The chisel made its way back to its starting point, ready to start the process again.
"I heard that Michelangelo said that every block of stone he worked on had a statue already inside it and it was up to him to find it. He just had to take off the surrounding pieces."
"I'm flattered that you want to draw parallels between me and the great Michelangelo, but I still won't tell you what I'm making."
"I know, I know, just making a comment," the spectator said. "I don't know how you do it, Ben."
The woodcarver smiled as he looked up from his work. "You know, Tim, I bet with a little training and practice, you could probably do this yourself."
Tim chuckled as he continued gazing at the small maple log his friend was chiseling, his head resting in his hands as he leaned on a workbench. "I don't think so, buddy. I couldn't draw a stick figure, let alone carve one! You have the eye for this stuff, not me."
Ben laughed. "A stick figure? Aw, that's easy. Here." He picked up a small piece of scrap wood and handed it to Tim. "You'll be an artist before you know it. Now listen carefully. See that corner of the wood where it's split?"
Tim looked at the corner of the wood and discovered a gouge separating the corner from the rest of the wood. "Yeah," he said.
"Okay, now grip that corner there and give it a good yank."
Tim took the corner in his left hand and tore it away from the rest of the wood, leaving in his hand an eight-inch piece of wood. "Okay, now what? I whittle the rest of this piece down until I have a stick figure?" He held up the larger piece in his right hand.
"Nope. You're done."
"I'm what?"
"Look. What are you holding in your left hand?"
"A stick."
"Yep, I'd figure so, too. Best-looking figure of a stick I've seen in a while." Ben smiled broadly as he turned his attention back to his work.
Tim closed his eyes, groaning. "Okay, Ben, you've told some stupid jokes in your time, but that one...." He shook his head, laughing softly.
"Ah, it seemed funny when I thought it up. Worth trying once."
Ben was always the jokester, always the easygoing one. Even as roommates in college, Ben was always telling Tim stupid jokes, always offering his big smile and soft chuckle. He was working toward an art degree while Tim was studying finance. Tim would be sitting at one desk buried in an accounting textbook while Ben would be across the room, sculpting a face out of clay or drawing a landscape in charcoal. Once Tim even caught Ben painting a watercolor portrait of him studying for a midterm. "Oh, just keep doing what you're doing," Ben told him. "I want to capture the utter futility of this scene, while pointing the viewer toward the impending failure soon to come." That earned Ben a macroeconomics textbook to the head.
After college, they stayed close, Tim going on to become a successful accountant and Ben becoming a noted sculptor. Even after they both married, both couples stayed good friends. Tim and his wife were even the godparents of Ben's daughter. And now Tim and his wife were expecting their first child.
"So how far along is Lisa now?" Ben asked.
"About 20 weeks now," Tim replied. "If everything goes according to plan, you and Kim should be godparents by next March."
"Great, so this should be finished in plenty of time," Ben said, carefully positioning his chisel for its next foray into the wood.
"You know, Ben, I've always wanted to ask you something, even back in college."
"Sure, Tim, shoot." Ben began to hammer the chisel into the wood.
"I've never really understood it, Ben. Why do you do it?"
"Do what?" Ben asked, his hammer still sending the chisel deeper.
"Why do you do all this? All this sculpting and woodcarving? What drives you to do it?"
Ben stopped, leaving his chisel inside the log. "Why do I do it?" He looked away, thinking. "I suppose because we have the drive to create, to make something that didn't exist before. And I'm not talking just artists. Everyone has that same desire."
Tim laughed. "Even accountants?"
"Yes, even accountants," Ben replied. "You create ledgers and tables and reports, and you want each one to be precise and accurate, a good reflection of its creator. You want people to look at that ledger and say, 'Only Tim could have made such a thorough report.' It's no different with artists. We are driven by that same desire to leave our mark, whether it's on canvas or in marble or in clay or in wood. We all want to make something that we can say is ours. Even our little Anna made me a finger painting the other day. She was so proud to show it to me. It was just a swirl of colors, but it was her swirl. She made it, and it has her fingerprints all over it to prove it."
"I saw it hanging on your fridge," Tim said. "Proud papa putting it on display?"
"Definitely," Ben smiled. "She put the effort into it. She put herself into it, and she's so proud of it. She made it, and it was good. I think it's what the Bible talked about when it said that God made us in his image. He is the ultimate artist, and he likes what he made."
"Hmm. Guess I hadn't thought about God that way."
"Oh yeah," Ben continued. "Think about it, Tim. Look at the beauty of a flower or of a bird's wing or of a gently flowing stream. God is making new artwork every day."
"I don't know, Ben," Tim said. "I mean, I know God made all that stuff way back in the beginning, but I guess I've always just seen him as someone who made everything and then just set it in motion. I always pictured him just sitting back and watching it all work."
"Well, of all times, this time in your life should show you otherwise," Ben said, resuming his work.
"What makes you say that?" Tim asked.
Ben laughed, surprised that Tim didn't understand. "Well, what do you think is happening inside your wife right now? God is creating a piece of artwork more beautiful than anything I could make out of this maple. At this very moment, your child is being molded and shaped inside the body of its mother by the hand of God himself. Oh no, God isn't a god who sits back and watches things happen. He's right in the thick of things. Just look around. You'll see his fingerprints everywhere, too."
Tim pondered Ben's words for a few minutes. "Wow" was all he could say. Finally, he looked at Ben. "So in four months or so, I'll see God's new work of art for the first time."
"Yep, and it'll be a good one," Ben said. "Trust me, as one who's been there, you'll be blown away."
"Yeah," Tim said. "Well, I know I have to wait on God's artwork, but are you ever going to tell me what you're making?"
Ben didn't look up, but continued chiseling. "Not a chance," he replied.
That spring, the church was filled as Tim and Lisa gathered with family and friends to witness their son being baptized. After the ceremony, Tim was putting his son to bed in the nursery when he noticed a package left beside the crib. It was wrapped in brown paper and tied with a string. Attached was a small note, with only one line written on it: "An Artist at Work." Ben opened it and pulled out a small maple wood sculpture. It was two hands gently holding a small baby.
Craig Kelly writes copy for CSS Publishing Company in Lima, Ohio. Hesitant to call himself an aspiring freelance writer, he is a self-proclaimed "dabbler" in writing.
It Can Happen Anywhere
by John Smylie
1 Samuel 3:1-10
It was going to be a very long day. Three flights from the East Coast to the West. The first leg would depart Sarasota in the early afternoon, arriving in Atlanta, Georgia, a few hours later. After a several-hour layover, the second leg would leave Atlanta on its way to Minneapolis-St. Paul. The third and final leg of the journey would bring the traveler into Casper, Wyoming, a little past 11 p.m. Mountain Time.
The traveler was tall, and he wasn't looking forward to the cramped seating found in the coach seats in the airlines. His 6'3" frame just simply didn't fit, and the problem was he could not get assigned seats before his flight. He learned over the years to ask for an exit row and most of the time he was successful in getting one, but recently he discovered the airlines were asking for more money for the extra inches. He felt the tickets were already overpriced, perhaps because the flights originated from smaller markets. His current ticket was $778 round-trip, and he felt that was quite enough.
On the way down to Florida he found himself quite fortunate, on all three of his legs he received his request of an exit row at no extra charge. In fact, on December 26 there were not many people flying on the airplane (at least it wasn't overcrowded), and on one of the legs he was actually the only person sitting in the exit row. But today was January 1st and travelers were on the move. Even though it was a holiday it seemed like many people wanted to beat the weekend rush that a few days later would bring.
He walked up to the counter in Sarasota and made his request to the Delta Airlines agent, who looked him up and down and saw how difficult it would be for him to fit in the center seat. Perhaps it was compassion on her part, or the fact that he asked her how she was feeling (for she looked as if she might be a bit hung over) that caused her to have mercy and assign him to an exit row. On the second leg of his journey home, this time on Northwest Airlines, he once again received the mercy of the agent, who assigned him to an aisle seat exit row. In fact, the agent in Atlanta assigned him to an exit row on the little 50-passenger jet that flies between Minneapolis-St. Paul and Casper, Wyoming. He had about an hour and 45 minutes before the plane was to leave. Minneapolis-St. Paul is a very large airport, and he wandered from one side of the airport, where his plane landed, to the other, where his next plane would depart from. He made himself comfortable as he sat down and sought to finish the book he started at the beginning of his journey.
The Shack had been an easy read and because he was a minister himself most of the theological challenges within the book were things he'd already thought about. But he felt it was important to read the book, as many in his congregation had been talking about it. It pointed them toward radical forgiveness and a better understanding of the Trinity; at least that's what he heard from them. He found himself somewhat disturbed by the book, especially the part about the little child. While he was in the airport he kept looking at children, who seemed so vulnerable to him. He was bothered that the book might give some folks ideas that could be used to hurt children.
While he was in Minneapolis at his gate area, waiting for the airplane first to arrive and then to load and depart, he noticed a particularly large man. It was hard to miss this gentleman because he must've weighed around 400 pounds. He also appeared as if he hadn't washed for a week. Under his breath and in the silence of reading his book the traveler said to himself and whoever else might be listening to his thoughts, "Please don't let me sit next to this person." He knew that the two of them would never fit in the seats. The flight was on time for boarding, and because he had an exit row he was invited to go in a bit early to become familiar with the exit procedures in the event of an emergency. The plane was full, and he watched as the passengers came down the narrow aisle. Before long the large man was on his way, and our traveler knew immediately who he was going to be sitting next to. Sure enough, he stood at the end of the two seats, showed his ticket and our traveler stepped out so the large man could slide into his window seat. In fact he fit into 1 1/2 of the seats, so it was obviously going to be an uncomfortable two-plus hours -- made longer because of icing conditions and the fact that the airplane needed to be de-iced before it would be released for takeoff.
Samuel! Samuel! And he said, "Here I am!"
Lord! Lord! "Were you listening to my thoughts, Lord?" our traveler wondered. His immediate response went in two directions after the large man found his seat. The first was being annoyed at having to ride with great discomfort for the next few hours -- a somewhat selfish response. But then a few moments later or perhaps a few seconds later, he found himself wondering why God had brought this man to sit next to him, especially after his plea to be able to ride in a bit more comfort. Traveler! Traveler! Come out of your own way of thinking, discover who it is who is talking to you, and break out of your own expectations and discover what I have for you.
The overweight and unkempt man turned out to be very humble. He sat sideways and forward so as to take as little of our traveler's seat as he could. Our traveler was aware of his judgmental spirit. He was supposed to be a faithful Christian, with the fruit of the Spirit growing within him, patience, kindness, gentleness -- but the fruit was obviously in the overweight passenger who clearly hadn't had a shower for over a week. His posture indicated his humility, for he was very self-aware and was concerned that his great size was causing discomfort to the traveler.
Have you ever wondered, or discovered, how the Lord meets us? We think that moments like our Lord speaking to Samuel in the middle of the night are rare. But really they are all around us. Our Lord was speaking to our tall traveler before he got on the plane. Our Lord was preparing him to be humbled and to become aware of his own judgmental attitude. Once Samuel became aware that it was God who was speaking to him, he was able to know how to respond. I wonder how often the Lord is speaking to us, offering us an opportunity to respond in a way that will bring us blessings and growth and new life.
I know this traveler met God on this journey; I know he was humbled by God and by his own narrow attitude and thinking. I know this because I was the traveler, and my hunch is that if you look into your life, your journey, your attitudes, you will find opportunities when our Lord is seeking to break through the barriers you may have created around your heart and the protective layers that you put around your life, as I put around mine. The good news is that God cares enough to break through our sleep, our negative attitudes, our lack of respect, our limited perspectives, so that we can be awakened to his grace, mercy, and presence.
And Samuel said, "Speak, for your servant is listening."
John Smylie is the rector of St. Mark's Episcopal Church in Casper, Wyoming. Previously he served as the dean of the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist in Spokane, Washington. He is a published author and storyteller as well as a singer-songwriter. Smylie recently completed Grace for Today, a collection of 25 stories that explores how grace, loss, and restoration are part of the same fabric.
Greta's Glorious Body
by Jo Perry-Sumwalt
1 Corinthians 6:12-20
Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you were bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body.
-- 1 Corinthians 6:19-20
Greta Schmidt huffed and puffed her way through the church hallways toward the parish nurse's office. She detested tardiness. It was bad enough in others, but totally unacceptable in herself. As it turned out, she had eased her bulk into the largest, sturdiest chair with two minutes to spare, and it took all of that time for her heart to stop racing and her breathing to settle back into its normal wheeze. Another "fat class," Greta sighed to herself.
Weight loss clinics, diet clubs, exercise groups, and calorie counting were nothing new to Greta. She had fought a losing battle with fat from the time she was a small child.
"My mama was an excellent German cook!" she always laughed, by way of explanation. "Sauerbraten, wiener schnitzel, kuchen and stollen, sauerkraut, bratwurst, knockwurst, and strudel. Always so much food! And I loved it so much! And Mama always demanded that we EAT! EAT! Is it any wonder I look the way I do?"
Greta had paid dearly, her entire life, for her love of food. The other children had teased her and called her names; adults clucked their tongues and whispered as they stared. She was never chosen to play games or to be on prom court. No boy ever asked her out... ever.
Still, Greta's family life was close-knit and comforting -- and there was the food! She completed high school, attended college, and became a librarian. She lived at home, learning to cook all of her mother's best dishes. As the years passed, Greta cared for her parents, and then her older brother, until one by one they went on to be with God. Now, in middle age, Greta's own health had become affected by her food obsession.
"The doctor says I have hypertension, heart problems, gout, and adult-onset diabetes," Greta said in answer to nurse Betty Anderson's request for all the group members to state why they had come to her class on Holistic Lifestyle Management. "I've tried every kind of diet on the market. I figure one more can't hurt."
Others in the class shared Greta's health concerns, and more besides, but she noted that few shared her girth. The next largest person present was a man who probably weighed around 250 pounds. Greta couldn't remember when she had weighed that little.
"Would someone volunteer to begin with some scripture readings?" nurse Betty asked, passing around sheets of paper with several printed texts. A man named Max raised his hand and read:
So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.... God saw everything that he had made, and indeed, it was very good. (Genesis 1:27, 31)
When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars that you have established; what are human beings that you are mindful of them, mortals that you care for them? Yet you have made them a little lower than God, and crowned them with glory and honor. (Psalm 8:3-5)
Yet it was you who took me from the womb; you kept me safe on my mother's breast. On you I was cast from my birth, and since my mother bore me you have been my God. (Psalm 22:9-10)
Know that the Lord is God. It is he that made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. (Psalm 100:3)
Bless the Lord, O my soul, and do not forget all his benefits -- who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the Pit... (Psalm 103:2-4)
"Now, tell me," the nurse said, "what theme do you hear running through these scriptures?"
"That God made us and we are good," said one woman who was wearing an oxygen mask.
"That we belong to God," said another.
"That God heals our diseases," said Max.
"I want to suggest," nurse Betty continued, "that this class on Holistic Lifestyle Management is the beginning of thinking of ourselves in a new way. Jesus said to love God and love your neighbor as yourself. But we can't love our neighbors the way we should if we don't love ourselves! And if we love ourselves, we won't want to put harmful things like cigarette smoke, fatty foods, too much refined sugar, and harmful chemicals into our bodies. We need to take care of our bodies through exercise, good nutrition, daily prayer and meditation.
"I'd like to lift up a portion of Paul's advice to the Corinthians as God's advice to us."
"All things are lawful for me," but not all things are beneficial. "All things are lawful for me," but I will not be dominated by anything.... Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you were bought with a price; therefore, glorify God in your body. (1 Corinthians 6:12, 19-20)
Greta huffed and puffed her way back to her car, lost in thought. Never had anyone told her that her body was special. Never had she considered that the food she so loved to eat was a substitute for love and acceptance.
Was that why all the other diets and exercise programs had failed? Because she had never loved herself -- her own body -- enough to care for it?
"Let me start over again, God," she wheezed as she squeezed herself behind the steering wheel of her large car. "Help me to love myself enough to glorify you in my body."
Jo Perry-Sumwalt is the Director of Christian Education at Our Lord's United Methodist Church in New Berlin, Wisconsin, where her husband John serves as pastor. Jo and John are the former co-editors of StoryShare, and they are also the co-authors of Lectionary Tales for the Pulpit [Cycle B].
**************
StoryShare, January 18, 2009, issue.
Copyright 2009 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
All rights reserved. Subscribers to the StoryShare service may print and use this material as it was intended in sermons, in worship and classroom settings, in brief devotions, in radio spots, and as newsletter fillers. No additional permission is required from the publisher for such use by subscribers only. Inquiries should be addressed to permissions@csspub.com or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., 517 South Main Street, Lima, Ohio 45804.
