It Could Have Been...
Stories
Note: This installment was originally published in 2012.
It Could Have Been...
by Keith Hewitt
1 Samuel 1:4-20
It could have been the shots.
A year of shots had been no fun, he mused, flipping through the stations on the car radio, hearing none of them before he punched the power button and went back to sitting in silence. The doctor had started out hopeful, as he explained in his thick Cuban accent what ought to happen as a result of the shots, sketching out helpful diagrams on the disposable paper sheet that covered the exam table.
When he'd started, the needle looked like it must have been a foot long. After awhile he could see it for its real size -- but that didn't help, the time they struck bone in his shoulder. Unconsciously, he winced, and a twinge flashed through his right shoulder in sympathetic memory.
Course of shots... wait a month, then test...
The year had taken on a familiar pattern, differentiated only by progressively larger doses of something unpronounceable that ended in "pin" and increasingly disapproving looks from the doctor, who seemed convinced that he was not responding on purpose. With each cycle of disappointment he grew less hopeful, and more sure that the day would come when he would take a drink of soda and suddenly begin spraying water out of the holes in his arms, like some Warner Brothers cartoon.
When Spring rolled around the second time, and he found himself in the doctor's office again, he had no illusions. Once again, the doctor illustrated his message -- this time sketching out a handful of tadpole-like cells on the paper; they looked lethargic. The doctor looked at him closely and shook his head. "Eet ees not working," he said, and began x-ing out the tadpoles, one by one. "I cannot help you. You cannot have a baby," the doctor concluded and looked him in the eye. "Eet ees not possible."
He let his head fall back against the headrest and stared at the buff-colored fabric ceiling of the car, just inches from his face. It could have been some of those old wives' tales. He thought back over two years of home remedies and other suggestions they had tried. Two years of this food or that time or this way... some of them plausible, many of them not, and some just ludicrous, though it didn't stop them from trying.
Two years and no result other than the slowly dawning realization that old wives had way too much time on their hands and a wicked sense of humor.
He blinked at the ceiling, sighed and shook his head. It could be a false alarm. In fact, it probably was. For whatever reason -- perhaps her peculiar body chemistry, perhaps an over eagerness that caused them to over interpret very subtle change in color or maybe just the general failure of the modern home medical testing industry -- there had been many false alarms in the last couple of years.
Many.
He had become expert in keeping track of her cycle, with the concomitant understanding of when things should be happening. And when they didn't, he began to hope... silently. When enough time had gone by, one or the other of them would make the casual suggestion that maybe it was time for a pregnancy test. More than once, they had been positive... and more than once, their hopes had been dashed by nature or by the doctor.
It was after the last such episode -- coming on the heels of his visit to the doctor -- that she finally said, "I can't do it anymore."
"You mean -- ever?" he asked, suddenly alarmed.
"No, not that -- I can't stand all the tests and the waiting and the hoping."
She trailed off, and he waited, finally said, "Yes?"
"I'm just turning it over to God. God knows how I feel -- he knows how much I want this. So I'm just going to turn it over to him in prayer and try to get back to a normal life. Whatever he wants to do, whenever he wants to do it, I'm okay. Does that seem reasonable to you?"
He looked at her, looked into her eyes and saw the need there, and nodded. "Sure," he agreed, thinking that he was very unsure that God made house calls these days. No doubt God existed but did he seriously get involved this way in people's lives? Were prayers really answered? He had his doubts and held as evidence those times when God had seemed far from his life.
But still...
She prayed, and he prayed. And as he followed her lead and acknowledged God's sovereignty, accepted his will even as he asked for this special blessing... he began to feel differently. He was still not optimistic -- long experience had taught him better than that -- but he discovered the refreshing freedom of stepping back and letting God take control.
And so, a month later, here they were...
He stared at the ceiling and tried not to think about what was happening up in the doctor's office. She had bent far enough to let him drive her there -- but she wouldn't let him come in. Not again. It could be the shots, he thought. It could be all that stuff we tried... it could be a false alarm...
He was lost in the haze of what it could be when there was a sharp tap on the window. He started, then leaned forward and turned toward the passenger's side. Once she had his attention, she waved -- then held up a booklet and plastered it against the window: What To Expect From Your Pregnancy.
"My God," he whispered softly, and tears rolled down his cheeks. He knew, then, that it could have been a lot of things...
But it wasn't, for God had looked upon their misery...
Keith Hewitt is the author of three volumes of NaTiVity Dramas: Nontraditional Christmas Plays for All Ages (CSS). He is a local pastor, former youth leader and Sunday school teacher, and occasional speaker at Christian events. He is currently serving as the pastor at Parkview UMC in Turtle Lake, Wisconsin. Keith is married to a teacher, and they have two children and assorted dogs and cats.
A Cry for Authenticity
Lamar Massingill
Mark 13:1-8
Peter Berger has correctly said in his book The Heretical Imperative, that "in pre-modern situations there is a world of religious certainty, occasionally ruptured by heretical deviations. By contrast, the modern situation is a world of religious uncertainty... creating a new situation in which picking and choosing becomes imperative."
When the disciples asked Jesus when "these things will come to pass" (v.6) wouldn't it be obvious that they weren't sure what they had gotten themselves into? Was Jesus really the one? They knew others had come along proclaiming themselves to be the messiah. Was Jesus the authentic one?
The more I think about it, I have to concur with Berger. There are literally, as was in the day of Jesus, a proliferation of religions and cults in our world. There seems to be no religious certainty anymore as there was in yesteryear. People are desperately looking for authenticity in our country and world.
Reading the news this morning regarding Hurricane Sandy, one man asked if this was God's "punishment." I live on the Gulf Coast and have lived through many hurricanes and every one of them blows in with them this very question: "What did we do to deserve this?" To which my answer is always, "Nothing. It is what it is and God has nothing to do with it. It is the way the creation is and storms are as predictable as our own deaths.
The proliferation of various off-brand religious groups and cults has only caused the uncertain ones to cast a suspicious eye on all religions, even orthodox Christianity, wondering "Are these people authentic or just another religion that seeks to wash brains to its point of view?" These facts rise up and shake Christianity by the shoulders and say: "There are people in this world who are crying for authenticity. Their uncertain minds are futilely asking 'Who is right? Who is authentic?' "
Could the question of verse 6 have been asked by one of the disciples sent by John the Baptist at the beginning of his ministry to ask Jesus, "Are you the one to come or should we look for another?" You remember. And what did John do? He pointed to Jesus as the messiah, and with suspicious eyes, two disciples followed "at a distance." They were suspicious.
It was almost as if they were tailing Jesus like two private detectives. They too, wanted to be sure. And the record says that Jesus turned and noticed them following. I can imagine the scene that took place and the frustration on Jesus' face as he was trying to figure out why they were following him at a distance. Finally, Jesus decides to put an end to this and says to them, "Who, for goodness sakes are you looking for?"
And they say, "Rabbi, where are you staying?" They still refused to come clean and express their doubt about him being the messiah. They wanted to check it out.
Jesus made no attempt to prove anything to them and simply said, "Come and see." Did you hear? Come and see. Regarding truth, we don't have to prove anything to anybody, but just say, "Don't take my word for it, come and see for yourself." And later, "follow me, and you will see greater things than you ever imagined. Jesus knew better than to try to prove anything to them with a bunch of prophesies -- they were familiar with all that. He just told them to follow me, come and see, pull up a chair, take your shoes off, have a cup of coffee, and stay a while. You know, when you stay with people for a while, authenticity, or the lack of it, will finally happen. We can pretty well size people up and know whether they are for real or not. Some truths, you see, can only be revealed through experience. After being with people, we know whether we share a common spirit or not. We know in our experience who's authentic and who's not. We know whether we share a sense of identification and purpose or not. So Jesus says come and see. And really, that's the only proof we have -- our experience.
After spending the day with Jesus, one of the disciples, Andrew, says to his brother Simon Peter, "We have found the Messiah." Do you see what happened? After that day spent with Jesus, Jesus turned from rabbi to messiah. Andrew found authenticity and truth, but only after he had taken the initial risk to follow and spend time seeing for himself.
Is it possible that in our own post-modern society, we are asking the same of Jesus? Let me invite you to do something: Take a prance through the gospels. Get to know Jesus and the fact that everything he did was loving. If you "come and see" too, you will know his realism and authenticity!
The Rev. Lamar Massingill, a former Southern Baptist pastor, and also long time minister at the historic United Methodist Church in Port Gibson, Mississippi (1988-1999), is now Religion Editor for the Magnolia Gazette (magnoliagazette.com), for which he writes a weekly column. Massingill has traveled nationally and internationally and has lectured widely on the interaction between religion and psychology. He recently retired from the parish church after thirty years of pastoral ministry.
*****************************************
StoryShare, November 18, 2012, issue.
Copyright 2012 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., 5450 N. Dixie Highway, Lima, Ohio 45807.
It Could Have Been...
by Keith Hewitt
1 Samuel 1:4-20
It could have been the shots.
A year of shots had been no fun, he mused, flipping through the stations on the car radio, hearing none of them before he punched the power button and went back to sitting in silence. The doctor had started out hopeful, as he explained in his thick Cuban accent what ought to happen as a result of the shots, sketching out helpful diagrams on the disposable paper sheet that covered the exam table.
When he'd started, the needle looked like it must have been a foot long. After awhile he could see it for its real size -- but that didn't help, the time they struck bone in his shoulder. Unconsciously, he winced, and a twinge flashed through his right shoulder in sympathetic memory.
Course of shots... wait a month, then test...
The year had taken on a familiar pattern, differentiated only by progressively larger doses of something unpronounceable that ended in "pin" and increasingly disapproving looks from the doctor, who seemed convinced that he was not responding on purpose. With each cycle of disappointment he grew less hopeful, and more sure that the day would come when he would take a drink of soda and suddenly begin spraying water out of the holes in his arms, like some Warner Brothers cartoon.
When Spring rolled around the second time, and he found himself in the doctor's office again, he had no illusions. Once again, the doctor illustrated his message -- this time sketching out a handful of tadpole-like cells on the paper; they looked lethargic. The doctor looked at him closely and shook his head. "Eet ees not working," he said, and began x-ing out the tadpoles, one by one. "I cannot help you. You cannot have a baby," the doctor concluded and looked him in the eye. "Eet ees not possible."
He let his head fall back against the headrest and stared at the buff-colored fabric ceiling of the car, just inches from his face. It could have been some of those old wives' tales. He thought back over two years of home remedies and other suggestions they had tried. Two years of this food or that time or this way... some of them plausible, many of them not, and some just ludicrous, though it didn't stop them from trying.
Two years and no result other than the slowly dawning realization that old wives had way too much time on their hands and a wicked sense of humor.
He blinked at the ceiling, sighed and shook his head. It could be a false alarm. In fact, it probably was. For whatever reason -- perhaps her peculiar body chemistry, perhaps an over eagerness that caused them to over interpret very subtle change in color or maybe just the general failure of the modern home medical testing industry -- there had been many false alarms in the last couple of years.
Many.
He had become expert in keeping track of her cycle, with the concomitant understanding of when things should be happening. And when they didn't, he began to hope... silently. When enough time had gone by, one or the other of them would make the casual suggestion that maybe it was time for a pregnancy test. More than once, they had been positive... and more than once, their hopes had been dashed by nature or by the doctor.
It was after the last such episode -- coming on the heels of his visit to the doctor -- that she finally said, "I can't do it anymore."
"You mean -- ever?" he asked, suddenly alarmed.
"No, not that -- I can't stand all the tests and the waiting and the hoping."
She trailed off, and he waited, finally said, "Yes?"
"I'm just turning it over to God. God knows how I feel -- he knows how much I want this. So I'm just going to turn it over to him in prayer and try to get back to a normal life. Whatever he wants to do, whenever he wants to do it, I'm okay. Does that seem reasonable to you?"
He looked at her, looked into her eyes and saw the need there, and nodded. "Sure," he agreed, thinking that he was very unsure that God made house calls these days. No doubt God existed but did he seriously get involved this way in people's lives? Were prayers really answered? He had his doubts and held as evidence those times when God had seemed far from his life.
But still...
She prayed, and he prayed. And as he followed her lead and acknowledged God's sovereignty, accepted his will even as he asked for this special blessing... he began to feel differently. He was still not optimistic -- long experience had taught him better than that -- but he discovered the refreshing freedom of stepping back and letting God take control.
And so, a month later, here they were...
He stared at the ceiling and tried not to think about what was happening up in the doctor's office. She had bent far enough to let him drive her there -- but she wouldn't let him come in. Not again. It could be the shots, he thought. It could be all that stuff we tried... it could be a false alarm...
He was lost in the haze of what it could be when there was a sharp tap on the window. He started, then leaned forward and turned toward the passenger's side. Once she had his attention, she waved -- then held up a booklet and plastered it against the window: What To Expect From Your Pregnancy.
"My God," he whispered softly, and tears rolled down his cheeks. He knew, then, that it could have been a lot of things...
But it wasn't, for God had looked upon their misery...
Keith Hewitt is the author of three volumes of NaTiVity Dramas: Nontraditional Christmas Plays for All Ages (CSS). He is a local pastor, former youth leader and Sunday school teacher, and occasional speaker at Christian events. He is currently serving as the pastor at Parkview UMC in Turtle Lake, Wisconsin. Keith is married to a teacher, and they have two children and assorted dogs and cats.
A Cry for Authenticity
Lamar Massingill
Mark 13:1-8
Peter Berger has correctly said in his book The Heretical Imperative, that "in pre-modern situations there is a world of religious certainty, occasionally ruptured by heretical deviations. By contrast, the modern situation is a world of religious uncertainty... creating a new situation in which picking and choosing becomes imperative."
When the disciples asked Jesus when "these things will come to pass" (v.6) wouldn't it be obvious that they weren't sure what they had gotten themselves into? Was Jesus really the one? They knew others had come along proclaiming themselves to be the messiah. Was Jesus the authentic one?
The more I think about it, I have to concur with Berger. There are literally, as was in the day of Jesus, a proliferation of religions and cults in our world. There seems to be no religious certainty anymore as there was in yesteryear. People are desperately looking for authenticity in our country and world.
Reading the news this morning regarding Hurricane Sandy, one man asked if this was God's "punishment." I live on the Gulf Coast and have lived through many hurricanes and every one of them blows in with them this very question: "What did we do to deserve this?" To which my answer is always, "Nothing. It is what it is and God has nothing to do with it. It is the way the creation is and storms are as predictable as our own deaths.
The proliferation of various off-brand religious groups and cults has only caused the uncertain ones to cast a suspicious eye on all religions, even orthodox Christianity, wondering "Are these people authentic or just another religion that seeks to wash brains to its point of view?" These facts rise up and shake Christianity by the shoulders and say: "There are people in this world who are crying for authenticity. Their uncertain minds are futilely asking 'Who is right? Who is authentic?' "
Could the question of verse 6 have been asked by one of the disciples sent by John the Baptist at the beginning of his ministry to ask Jesus, "Are you the one to come or should we look for another?" You remember. And what did John do? He pointed to Jesus as the messiah, and with suspicious eyes, two disciples followed "at a distance." They were suspicious.
It was almost as if they were tailing Jesus like two private detectives. They too, wanted to be sure. And the record says that Jesus turned and noticed them following. I can imagine the scene that took place and the frustration on Jesus' face as he was trying to figure out why they were following him at a distance. Finally, Jesus decides to put an end to this and says to them, "Who, for goodness sakes are you looking for?"
And they say, "Rabbi, where are you staying?" They still refused to come clean and express their doubt about him being the messiah. They wanted to check it out.
Jesus made no attempt to prove anything to them and simply said, "Come and see." Did you hear? Come and see. Regarding truth, we don't have to prove anything to anybody, but just say, "Don't take my word for it, come and see for yourself." And later, "follow me, and you will see greater things than you ever imagined. Jesus knew better than to try to prove anything to them with a bunch of prophesies -- they were familiar with all that. He just told them to follow me, come and see, pull up a chair, take your shoes off, have a cup of coffee, and stay a while. You know, when you stay with people for a while, authenticity, or the lack of it, will finally happen. We can pretty well size people up and know whether they are for real or not. Some truths, you see, can only be revealed through experience. After being with people, we know whether we share a common spirit or not. We know in our experience who's authentic and who's not. We know whether we share a sense of identification and purpose or not. So Jesus says come and see. And really, that's the only proof we have -- our experience.
After spending the day with Jesus, one of the disciples, Andrew, says to his brother Simon Peter, "We have found the Messiah." Do you see what happened? After that day spent with Jesus, Jesus turned from rabbi to messiah. Andrew found authenticity and truth, but only after he had taken the initial risk to follow and spend time seeing for himself.
Is it possible that in our own post-modern society, we are asking the same of Jesus? Let me invite you to do something: Take a prance through the gospels. Get to know Jesus and the fact that everything he did was loving. If you "come and see" too, you will know his realism and authenticity!
The Rev. Lamar Massingill, a former Southern Baptist pastor, and also long time minister at the historic United Methodist Church in Port Gibson, Mississippi (1988-1999), is now Religion Editor for the Magnolia Gazette (magnoliagazette.com), for which he writes a weekly column. Massingill has traveled nationally and internationally and has lectured widely on the interaction between religion and psychology. He recently retired from the parish church after thirty years of pastoral ministry.
*****************************************
StoryShare, November 18, 2012, issue.
Copyright 2012 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., 5450 N. Dixie Highway, Lima, Ohio 45807.
