Filled With The Spirit
Stories
Object:
Contents
A Story to Live By: "Filled with the Spirit" by Eileen Fink
Shining Moments: "Your Dad Likes You" by Kit Slawski / "Remember Your Baptism" by Theonia Amenda
Good Stories: "With You I Am Well Pleased" by John Sumwalt
Scrap Pile: "The Voice of the Lord" by Ben Logan
A Story to Live By
Filled with the Spirit
by Eileen Fink
Then Peter and John laid hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.
Acts 8:17
I had been reading books on the baptism of the Holy Spirit, trying to figure out the controversy between the charismatic movement and mainline denominations. One evening while home alone, I prayed a prayer to be filled with the Spirit and went to sleep. Sometime into the night, I felt myself being held to the chest of Jesus. The love I felt was like no other, and I cannot express it. I awoke completely filled with God's love. I'll never be the same. I know that God loves me.
Eileen Fink attends Spring Lake Community Church in Green Bay, Wisconsin.
Shining Moments
Your Dad Likes You
by Kit Slawski
Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heaven was opened, and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, "You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased."
Luke 3:21-22
My favorite memory will always be the special way the Peanuts characters helped my father celebrate his daughters' thirteenth birthdays. In the strip appearing on October 4, 1970, Peppermint Patty called Charlie Brown over to her house to show him what her father had given her for her birthday. Charlie Brown admired the roses, and Peppermint Patty said, "He said that I'm growing up fast and soon I'll be a beautiful young lady and all the boys will be calling me up so he just wanted to be the first one in my life to give me a dozen roses! He calls me a 'rare gem.' " Charlie Brown replied, "Your dad likes you... happy birthday..."
My father, Matt Wey, saved that comic strip. On my thirteenth birthday I received from my father one dozen beautiful red roses and a statuette of Peppermint Patty that read "To my Rare Gem." When my two younger sisters, Eileen and Molly, reached their thirteenth birthdays, they too were honored with this special Peanuts treat from our father.
Thank you, Charles Schulz, for this and many more special memories!
Kit Slawaski lives in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin.
Remember Your Baptism
by Theonia Amenda
Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heaven was opened, and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, "You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased."
Luke 3:21-22
It was 1984. I was sitting in the front row in a classroom in Nashville, listening to Dr. Bruce Rigdon speak on Orthodox Spirituality. He was sharing about a Greek Orthodox baptism on the isle of Crete in which he participated as the godfather of Demetri, the son of a close colleague.
The sacrament of baptism began at home, where Demetri was scrubbed with a brush in soap and water, dressed, and then brought to the church with his family. The ceremony and liturgy began outside the church doors, where everyone gathered with the family and priest. All were asked, "Why are you here?"
They responded by turning to the west and saying they were called to renounce death, sin, and the demonic. Then, turning to the east, the community pledged themselves in their responsibility to help bring Demetri up as a member of the Kingdom of Christ. Then the priest knocked three times on the door to enter the sanctuary where the baptismal font was situated. In this little church, it was a huge wooden scrub bucket.
The water was poured in by the ladies of that congregation, making certain it was the right temperature for the infant, and then the water was blessed by the priest. Demetri's clothes were removed, and Demetri was dunked three times in the water and lifted up three times as the priest proclaimed above the child's protesting wails:
Demetri÷ Child of God!
Demetri÷ Child of God!
Demetri÷ Child of God!
If the child had not screamed they would have pinched him to make him cry, because the first thing one listens for in the trauma of natural birth is the cry of the child that says, in essence, "Here I am÷ alive!"
Then Demetri was dried, the royal robe was put on him, and he was taken to the front of the sanctuary to be presented to the icons. The Orthodox believe that the icons are the visible presence of the Lord and of all the saints which they portray. The priest took him to the icon of St. John and presented him as he said, "Blessed St. John, Demetri, Child of God"; next to St. Paul, "Blessed St. Paul, Demetri, Child of God"; and on to each of the icons, and then finally back to the gathered community, because the gathered community are also icons who, along with us, also bear the image of God. And once more he said, "Brothers and Sisters in Christ, Demetri, Child of God."
Demetri had now entered a new loyalty. He had been scrubbed, cleaned, and purified. He had entered the death and resurrection of Christ. He belonged to a new family -- the church -- the body of Christ. Now, that was a lot, but it was only the beginning.
In the early church, for centuries, three things were always kept together -- baptism, anointing with oil, and the Lord's Supper. So the congregation, with the priest, offered prayers that the Holy Spirit would now descend upon this child and fill him and confirm his baptism, as it is the Spirit who confirms. And that promise of God was sealed by the making of the sign of the cross in holy oil on Demetri's forehead, hands, the back of his neck, and on his feet. All symbolized that the gift of the Spirit was given to him and compels him to grow into a servant of God.
Then Demetri was taken to the altar, and together with the people of God, he celebrated the Lord's Supper, and was the first served. Demetri's mouth was opened to receive a spoon of wine with pieces of bread in it. From that moment on, Demetri was welcomed at the Lord's table so he could learn what it means to be a servant of Christ, just as we are invited to our earthly family's table where we learn what it means to be part of our families.
Well, the story of Demetri's baptism was one powerful story for this female! Bruce Rigdon had given me the gift of hearing, for the first time, the liturgy and meaning of my own baptism in the Greek Orthodox Church in Milwaukee when I was an infant.
I found tears were running down my face as I listened to the words that were pronounced at my own baptism: the words that claimed me as God's child. I had never heard them before. I hadn't even known that I needed to hear them, until that moment -- to hear about the grace of God that was given to me forever, as well as the claim of God on my life.
When the lecture was over, a member of the community came up behind me to return some suntanning oil he had borrowed, and he held it playfully over my head, saying, "Theonia, I anoint you with oil," or something like that. He had no idea what I had experienced though this lecture. But the words started my sobbing, and my covenant group of seven saw what was happening and gathered around me in a huddle while the tears rolled out of my soul -- tears of healing and of joy!
That night in our covenant group, after the sharing of the day and where we had heard God speaking to us, they said they wanted to do something for me after Night Prayer.
We went to Night Prayers in the Upper Room Chapel, where a life-size carving of Leonardo daVinci's portrayal of the Last Supper hangs across the front. After everyone else had left, my covenant group took me up to the chancel, in front of the communion table, and told me to lie down on my back on the floor. The seven of them then proceeded to lift me up above their heads three times (which is no small feat!), as they said:
Theonia÷ Child of God!
Theonia÷ Child of God!
Theonia÷ Child of God!
What a gift they gave me that night. More than the act itself, even, was their love and understanding of my life, and what hearing those words would mean to me. I didn't need to be rebaptized, but I certainly did need to remember my baptism and to claim again the power of the grace of my baptism -- that no matter what, without any qualifiers, I was and always would be a Child of God -- a daughter of God, accepted completely, always and forever: not needing to do a thing to earn it: just remember it, accept it, claim it, and live out of it÷ the power and grace of my own baptism.
That was, and is, my true identity. That is our true identity, each of us, no matter what has happened in our lives. We all need to remember our baptisms every day of our lives: to remember who and whose we are -- a child of God, loved unconditionally -- to remember that grace of our baptism with thanksgiving. We are called not only to remember that, but to accept it, claim it, and live out of it! Amen.
Theonia Amenda is a retired Diaconal Minister in the United Methodist Church. She continues in ministry in the area of Spiritual Formation as the leader of a Three-Year Covenant Community and as a speaker and spiritual director. Write to her at 3612 Birnamwood Drive, Slinger, WI 53086.
Good Stories
With You I Am Well Pleased
by John Sumwalt
÷and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, "You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased."
Luke 3:22
Steve couldn't believe what he had just done. He had gotten up in the middle of the sermon and walked out of the sanctuary -- and he didn't know why. He felt angry inside, so angry that he couldn't sit still for one minute longer, but he didn't know what his anger was about. Was it something the pastor said? He wasn't sure. Steve tried to remember what the pastor had been talking about but he couldn't remember anything about the sermon. He felt embarrassment for himself and for his family. It wouldn't have been so bad if they had been sitting in the back, but they had been up front in the third pew, their usual spot since the kids had been old enough to sit with them through worship. How would he explain it to them? Should he say that he had felt sick? Steve decided to walk home to spare everyone the awkwardness of explanations after the service. He would tell them exactly what had happened and apologize for his abrupt exit when everyone got home.
Later that afternoon, after a long talk with his wife in which neither of them had been able to come to any understanding about the source of his anger, Steve decided that he needed to talk to someone outside the family. He phoned the pastor, apologized for disturbing him on a Sunday afternoon, and asked if he could see him some time in the next few days. The pastor suggested that they meet on Tuesday evening. "That will be fine," Steve told him. He felt some relief just knowing he had taken some action that might help to sort things out.
"Are you still feeling angry?" the pastor asked Steve after he told him why he had left the service early on Sunday.
"Yes," Steve said, "and I still don't know why. It doesn't make any sense to me."
"Tell me everything you remember about Sunday morning, starting with whom you talked to when you arrived at church and everything you can remember about the worship service," the pastor suggested.
Steve told about whom he had talked to and, as best he could, recalled what had been said. He remembered nothing that seemed significant, certainly nothing that was in any way upsetting. Then he described what he could remember about the worship service. The pastor was surprised at how much he remembered. He ticked off every act of worship precisely in order, naming each hymn and summarizing the content of the prayers and the first two scripture readings as if he had the bulletin before him. But when he came to the reading of the gospel he couldn't remember which lesson had been read or what it was about.
"It is interesting that you remember the Old Testament and epistle readings, but you don't remember the gospel." The pastor reached up and took a Bible down from the shelf. "Perhaps it might help to hear the gospel reading again." He began to read.
Steve listened, and as he heard the familiar words about John the Baptist and the baptism of Jesus he became aware that he did remember hearing them on Sunday morning, but it wasn't until the pastor came to the final words of the text that he knew what his anger was about.
And a voice came from heaven, "You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased."
"That's what I always wanted to hear from my father," Steve said, "and now it's too late." Tears came to his eyes as he allowed himself to feel for the first time the deep hurt that he had been carrying for so long. When he was able to go on, he said, "I thought about this when Dad died last year, but I decided that since there was nothing I could do about it, I just wouldn't think about it anymore."
"Perhaps there is something you can do about it," the pastor said. "Let's pretend that your dad is sitting right here in this chair." He pulled an empty chair over and placed it in front of Steve. "Tell him how you feel. Don't leave anything out."
Steve began hesitantly, but after a few moments he spoke passionately, pouring out everything he had been holding back in the depths of his heart. When he was finished the pastor looked at him and said, "What do you think your father would say to all of that?"
"I can't be absolutely sure," Steve said, "but I think he would tell me that everything is going to be all right. That's what he used to tell me when I was a little boy. And then he would pick me up, give me one of his big bear hugs, and say, 'That's my boy.' "
When Steve left the pastor's office he felt like a heavy weight had been lifted from his whole being. For the first time since his father died, he felt at peace.
Scrap Pile
The Voice of the Lord
The voice of the Lord causes the oaks to whirl, and strips the forest bare; and in his temple all say, "Glory!"
Psalm 29:9
In The Land Remembers, his award-winning book about growing up in the hill country of southwest Wisconsin, Ben Logan tells about the Protestant and Roman Catholic children in the one-room rural school he attended, arguing endlessly about religion. One day a boy named Tom Withers (who was something of an "earth child" before the term had been invented), in tune with the ways of nature and absent from their one-room hall of academia more than he was present, interrupted their little religious war and commanded every one to meet him at a certain spot on the hillside after school. They all came and watched in wonder as Tom:
...climbed up onto a rock, raised his arms above his head and looked straight up.... A sound began in Tom's throat.... His mouth opened and the sound roared out: "They Ain't No God!... Strike Me Down Dead If They's A God!" Tom yelled.... We waited. Then a little whirlwind came along the hillside, rattling the dead oak leaves, seeming to attack one tree at a time. It took hold of the tree where we stood, thrashed with it, filling the woods with sound. Then it moved on. Tom lowered his arms. He looked at us, baring his teeth in a smile, jumped from the rock, and ran along the hillside out of sight.... We didn't talk much about religion in school after that.
(Ben Logan, The Land Remembers: The Story of a Farm and Its People, NorthWord Press, pp. 205-206.) The book was originally published in 1975 by Viking Press. Earl Hammer, the creator of The Waltons television series, wrote in a review: "...a moving tribute to the earth, which nourishes us all. It will appeal to all readers for it is in touch with universal themes..." For more information about Ben Logan, see: http://www.wla.lib.wi.us/lac/notable/1987notable.htm.
A slightly different version of this excerpt appeared in the Cycle B Pentecost edition of StoryShare.
**********************************************
New Book
The second volume in the vision series, Sharing Visions: Divine Revelations, Angels, and Holy Coincidences, is available from CSS Publishing Company. For more information about the book visit the CSS website at http://www.csspub.com. You can order any of our books on the CSS website (see the complete list below); they are also available from www.amazon.com and at many Christian bookstores. Or simply e-mail your order to orders@csspub.com or phone 1-800-241-4056. (If you live outside the U.S., phone 419-227-1818.) Click on any title for more information.
Books by John & Jo Sumwalt
Sharing Visions: Divine Revelations, Angels, and Holy Coincidences
Vision Stories: True Accounts of Visions, Angels, and Healing Miracles
Life Stories: A Study in Christian Decision Making
Lectionary Stories: Forty Tellable Tales for Cycle C
Lectionary Stories: Forty Tellable Tales for Cycle A
Lectionary Stories: Forty Tellable Tales for Cycle B
Lectionary Tales for the Pulpit: 62 Stories for Cycle B
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StoryShare, January 11, 2004, issue.
Copyright 2003 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., P.O. Box 4503, Lima, Ohio 45802-4503.
A Story to Live By: "Filled with the Spirit" by Eileen Fink
Shining Moments: "Your Dad Likes You" by Kit Slawski / "Remember Your Baptism" by Theonia Amenda
Good Stories: "With You I Am Well Pleased" by John Sumwalt
Scrap Pile: "The Voice of the Lord" by Ben Logan
A Story to Live By
Filled with the Spirit
by Eileen Fink
Then Peter and John laid hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.
Acts 8:17
I had been reading books on the baptism of the Holy Spirit, trying to figure out the controversy between the charismatic movement and mainline denominations. One evening while home alone, I prayed a prayer to be filled with the Spirit and went to sleep. Sometime into the night, I felt myself being held to the chest of Jesus. The love I felt was like no other, and I cannot express it. I awoke completely filled with God's love. I'll never be the same. I know that God loves me.
Eileen Fink attends Spring Lake Community Church in Green Bay, Wisconsin.
Shining Moments
Your Dad Likes You
by Kit Slawski
Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heaven was opened, and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, "You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased."
Luke 3:21-22
My favorite memory will always be the special way the Peanuts characters helped my father celebrate his daughters' thirteenth birthdays. In the strip appearing on October 4, 1970, Peppermint Patty called Charlie Brown over to her house to show him what her father had given her for her birthday. Charlie Brown admired the roses, and Peppermint Patty said, "He said that I'm growing up fast and soon I'll be a beautiful young lady and all the boys will be calling me up so he just wanted to be the first one in my life to give me a dozen roses! He calls me a 'rare gem.' " Charlie Brown replied, "Your dad likes you... happy birthday..."
My father, Matt Wey, saved that comic strip. On my thirteenth birthday I received from my father one dozen beautiful red roses and a statuette of Peppermint Patty that read "To my Rare Gem." When my two younger sisters, Eileen and Molly, reached their thirteenth birthdays, they too were honored with this special Peanuts treat from our father.
Thank you, Charles Schulz, for this and many more special memories!
Kit Slawaski lives in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin.
Remember Your Baptism
by Theonia Amenda
Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heaven was opened, and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, "You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased."
Luke 3:21-22
It was 1984. I was sitting in the front row in a classroom in Nashville, listening to Dr. Bruce Rigdon speak on Orthodox Spirituality. He was sharing about a Greek Orthodox baptism on the isle of Crete in which he participated as the godfather of Demetri, the son of a close colleague.
The sacrament of baptism began at home, where Demetri was scrubbed with a brush in soap and water, dressed, and then brought to the church with his family. The ceremony and liturgy began outside the church doors, where everyone gathered with the family and priest. All were asked, "Why are you here?"
They responded by turning to the west and saying they were called to renounce death, sin, and the demonic. Then, turning to the east, the community pledged themselves in their responsibility to help bring Demetri up as a member of the Kingdom of Christ. Then the priest knocked three times on the door to enter the sanctuary where the baptismal font was situated. In this little church, it was a huge wooden scrub bucket.
The water was poured in by the ladies of that congregation, making certain it was the right temperature for the infant, and then the water was blessed by the priest. Demetri's clothes were removed, and Demetri was dunked three times in the water and lifted up three times as the priest proclaimed above the child's protesting wails:
Demetri÷ Child of God!
Demetri÷ Child of God!
Demetri÷ Child of God!
If the child had not screamed they would have pinched him to make him cry, because the first thing one listens for in the trauma of natural birth is the cry of the child that says, in essence, "Here I am÷ alive!"
Then Demetri was dried, the royal robe was put on him, and he was taken to the front of the sanctuary to be presented to the icons. The Orthodox believe that the icons are the visible presence of the Lord and of all the saints which they portray. The priest took him to the icon of St. John and presented him as he said, "Blessed St. John, Demetri, Child of God"; next to St. Paul, "Blessed St. Paul, Demetri, Child of God"; and on to each of the icons, and then finally back to the gathered community, because the gathered community are also icons who, along with us, also bear the image of God. And once more he said, "Brothers and Sisters in Christ, Demetri, Child of God."
Demetri had now entered a new loyalty. He had been scrubbed, cleaned, and purified. He had entered the death and resurrection of Christ. He belonged to a new family -- the church -- the body of Christ. Now, that was a lot, but it was only the beginning.
In the early church, for centuries, three things were always kept together -- baptism, anointing with oil, and the Lord's Supper. So the congregation, with the priest, offered prayers that the Holy Spirit would now descend upon this child and fill him and confirm his baptism, as it is the Spirit who confirms. And that promise of God was sealed by the making of the sign of the cross in holy oil on Demetri's forehead, hands, the back of his neck, and on his feet. All symbolized that the gift of the Spirit was given to him and compels him to grow into a servant of God.
Then Demetri was taken to the altar, and together with the people of God, he celebrated the Lord's Supper, and was the first served. Demetri's mouth was opened to receive a spoon of wine with pieces of bread in it. From that moment on, Demetri was welcomed at the Lord's table so he could learn what it means to be a servant of Christ, just as we are invited to our earthly family's table where we learn what it means to be part of our families.
Well, the story of Demetri's baptism was one powerful story for this female! Bruce Rigdon had given me the gift of hearing, for the first time, the liturgy and meaning of my own baptism in the Greek Orthodox Church in Milwaukee when I was an infant.
I found tears were running down my face as I listened to the words that were pronounced at my own baptism: the words that claimed me as God's child. I had never heard them before. I hadn't even known that I needed to hear them, until that moment -- to hear about the grace of God that was given to me forever, as well as the claim of God on my life.
When the lecture was over, a member of the community came up behind me to return some suntanning oil he had borrowed, and he held it playfully over my head, saying, "Theonia, I anoint you with oil," or something like that. He had no idea what I had experienced though this lecture. But the words started my sobbing, and my covenant group of seven saw what was happening and gathered around me in a huddle while the tears rolled out of my soul -- tears of healing and of joy!
That night in our covenant group, after the sharing of the day and where we had heard God speaking to us, they said they wanted to do something for me after Night Prayer.
We went to Night Prayers in the Upper Room Chapel, where a life-size carving of Leonardo daVinci's portrayal of the Last Supper hangs across the front. After everyone else had left, my covenant group took me up to the chancel, in front of the communion table, and told me to lie down on my back on the floor. The seven of them then proceeded to lift me up above their heads three times (which is no small feat!), as they said:
Theonia÷ Child of God!
Theonia÷ Child of God!
Theonia÷ Child of God!
What a gift they gave me that night. More than the act itself, even, was their love and understanding of my life, and what hearing those words would mean to me. I didn't need to be rebaptized, but I certainly did need to remember my baptism and to claim again the power of the grace of my baptism -- that no matter what, without any qualifiers, I was and always would be a Child of God -- a daughter of God, accepted completely, always and forever: not needing to do a thing to earn it: just remember it, accept it, claim it, and live out of it÷ the power and grace of my own baptism.
That was, and is, my true identity. That is our true identity, each of us, no matter what has happened in our lives. We all need to remember our baptisms every day of our lives: to remember who and whose we are -- a child of God, loved unconditionally -- to remember that grace of our baptism with thanksgiving. We are called not only to remember that, but to accept it, claim it, and live out of it! Amen.
Theonia Amenda is a retired Diaconal Minister in the United Methodist Church. She continues in ministry in the area of Spiritual Formation as the leader of a Three-Year Covenant Community and as a speaker and spiritual director. Write to her at 3612 Birnamwood Drive, Slinger, WI 53086.
Good Stories
With You I Am Well Pleased
by John Sumwalt
÷and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, "You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased."
Luke 3:22
Steve couldn't believe what he had just done. He had gotten up in the middle of the sermon and walked out of the sanctuary -- and he didn't know why. He felt angry inside, so angry that he couldn't sit still for one minute longer, but he didn't know what his anger was about. Was it something the pastor said? He wasn't sure. Steve tried to remember what the pastor had been talking about but he couldn't remember anything about the sermon. He felt embarrassment for himself and for his family. It wouldn't have been so bad if they had been sitting in the back, but they had been up front in the third pew, their usual spot since the kids had been old enough to sit with them through worship. How would he explain it to them? Should he say that he had felt sick? Steve decided to walk home to spare everyone the awkwardness of explanations after the service. He would tell them exactly what had happened and apologize for his abrupt exit when everyone got home.
Later that afternoon, after a long talk with his wife in which neither of them had been able to come to any understanding about the source of his anger, Steve decided that he needed to talk to someone outside the family. He phoned the pastor, apologized for disturbing him on a Sunday afternoon, and asked if he could see him some time in the next few days. The pastor suggested that they meet on Tuesday evening. "That will be fine," Steve told him. He felt some relief just knowing he had taken some action that might help to sort things out.
"Are you still feeling angry?" the pastor asked Steve after he told him why he had left the service early on Sunday.
"Yes," Steve said, "and I still don't know why. It doesn't make any sense to me."
"Tell me everything you remember about Sunday morning, starting with whom you talked to when you arrived at church and everything you can remember about the worship service," the pastor suggested.
Steve told about whom he had talked to and, as best he could, recalled what had been said. He remembered nothing that seemed significant, certainly nothing that was in any way upsetting. Then he described what he could remember about the worship service. The pastor was surprised at how much he remembered. He ticked off every act of worship precisely in order, naming each hymn and summarizing the content of the prayers and the first two scripture readings as if he had the bulletin before him. But when he came to the reading of the gospel he couldn't remember which lesson had been read or what it was about.
"It is interesting that you remember the Old Testament and epistle readings, but you don't remember the gospel." The pastor reached up and took a Bible down from the shelf. "Perhaps it might help to hear the gospel reading again." He began to read.
Steve listened, and as he heard the familiar words about John the Baptist and the baptism of Jesus he became aware that he did remember hearing them on Sunday morning, but it wasn't until the pastor came to the final words of the text that he knew what his anger was about.
And a voice came from heaven, "You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased."
"That's what I always wanted to hear from my father," Steve said, "and now it's too late." Tears came to his eyes as he allowed himself to feel for the first time the deep hurt that he had been carrying for so long. When he was able to go on, he said, "I thought about this when Dad died last year, but I decided that since there was nothing I could do about it, I just wouldn't think about it anymore."
"Perhaps there is something you can do about it," the pastor said. "Let's pretend that your dad is sitting right here in this chair." He pulled an empty chair over and placed it in front of Steve. "Tell him how you feel. Don't leave anything out."
Steve began hesitantly, but after a few moments he spoke passionately, pouring out everything he had been holding back in the depths of his heart. When he was finished the pastor looked at him and said, "What do you think your father would say to all of that?"
"I can't be absolutely sure," Steve said, "but I think he would tell me that everything is going to be all right. That's what he used to tell me when I was a little boy. And then he would pick me up, give me one of his big bear hugs, and say, 'That's my boy.' "
When Steve left the pastor's office he felt like a heavy weight had been lifted from his whole being. For the first time since his father died, he felt at peace.
Scrap Pile
The Voice of the Lord
The voice of the Lord causes the oaks to whirl, and strips the forest bare; and in his temple all say, "Glory!"
Psalm 29:9
In The Land Remembers, his award-winning book about growing up in the hill country of southwest Wisconsin, Ben Logan tells about the Protestant and Roman Catholic children in the one-room rural school he attended, arguing endlessly about religion. One day a boy named Tom Withers (who was something of an "earth child" before the term had been invented), in tune with the ways of nature and absent from their one-room hall of academia more than he was present, interrupted their little religious war and commanded every one to meet him at a certain spot on the hillside after school. They all came and watched in wonder as Tom:
...climbed up onto a rock, raised his arms above his head and looked straight up.... A sound began in Tom's throat.... His mouth opened and the sound roared out: "They Ain't No God!... Strike Me Down Dead If They's A God!" Tom yelled.... We waited. Then a little whirlwind came along the hillside, rattling the dead oak leaves, seeming to attack one tree at a time. It took hold of the tree where we stood, thrashed with it, filling the woods with sound. Then it moved on. Tom lowered his arms. He looked at us, baring his teeth in a smile, jumped from the rock, and ran along the hillside out of sight.... We didn't talk much about religion in school after that.
(Ben Logan, The Land Remembers: The Story of a Farm and Its People, NorthWord Press, pp. 205-206.) The book was originally published in 1975 by Viking Press. Earl Hammer, the creator of The Waltons television series, wrote in a review: "...a moving tribute to the earth, which nourishes us all. It will appeal to all readers for it is in touch with universal themes..." For more information about Ben Logan, see: http://www.wla.lib.wi.us/lac/notable/1987notable.htm.
A slightly different version of this excerpt appeared in the Cycle B Pentecost edition of StoryShare.
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New Book
The second volume in the vision series, Sharing Visions: Divine Revelations, Angels, and Holy Coincidences, is available from CSS Publishing Company. For more information about the book visit the CSS website at http://www.csspub.com. You can order any of our books on the CSS website (see the complete list below); they are also available from www.amazon.com and at many Christian bookstores. Or simply e-mail your order to orders@csspub.com or phone 1-800-241-4056. (If you live outside the U.S., phone 419-227-1818.) Click on any title for more information.
Books by John & Jo Sumwalt
Sharing Visions: Divine Revelations, Angels, and Holy Coincidences
Vision Stories: True Accounts of Visions, Angels, and Healing Miracles
Life Stories: A Study in Christian Decision Making
Lectionary Stories: Forty Tellable Tales for Cycle C
Lectionary Stories: Forty Tellable Tales for Cycle A
Lectionary Stories: Forty Tellable Tales for Cycle B
Lectionary Tales for the Pulpit: 62 Stories for Cycle B
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StoryShare, January 11, 2004, issue.
Copyright 2003 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., P.O. Box 4503, Lima, Ohio 45802-4503.
