My Sisters Were Saints
Stories
Object:
Contents
"My Sisters Were Saints" by C. David McKirachan
"Why Do You Preach?" by C. David McKirachan
"Against the Wind" by Keith Wagner
"Grateful and Gracious" by Keith Wagner
* * * * * * *
My Sisters Were Saints
by C. David McKirachan
Genesis 37:1-4, 12-28
Parents lie when they say they love us all equally. Mom loved me best. At least I assumed so when I was a spoiled brat. There are a lot of reasons some kids get spoiled. In my case I was the baby of the bunch. I was the surprise at the end of the siblings. They got responsibilities and limits and consequences. And one of those responsibilities was yours truly. My parents thought it would be a good idea if they babysat for me. My brother, the shining knight of the clan, obviously had more important things to do. But I would be good practice for my sisters as they became old enough to be mothers themselves. I sense sexism creeping into the mix. But they did a wonderful job, because I was cute and happy and got most things I wanted. Periodically one of them would call this entitlement to my parents' attention. Obviously it couldn't be so. I was just a kid. My sisters were older and more mature. Obviously they were good at loving me. If I'd been in their shoes, I would have murdered me.
My father had arranged a trip to Washington DC for the sisters and him. They were going to drive down and see the monuments and the Smithsonian. It was the talk of the household for a week. It became clearer and clearer to my five-year-old self that I was not being included in the journey. This was unacceptable. As the date approached my whines became louder and more focused. "I wan'na go to Waaashinton," echoed off the walls and all the eardrums in our home. I remember following my siblings around until it became apparent that such a strategy would be ineffective. Then I switched to my parents. Unlike my sisters, Mom and Dad still thought I was adorable, even when I whined. I remember modulating my voice to sound as pathetic as I could. Victimized children are always coddled. Children learn this at an early age.
My poor father came up with a plan to leave in the dim light before dawn. They were going to sneak out on me. I had my Cheerios in my bowl before they came downstairs. I was dressed in what I thought would be appropriate clothes for a journey to the seat of democracy. I was put in the front seat of our car, next to my father. I think they were worried that physical harm would come to me in the back seat with my sisters.
I don't know exactly why Joseph was favored above his brothers. It could have been Jacob's feelings for his second wife. But I do know that Joseph got away with murder and almost got murdered by his siblings who had to put up with it. The kid was not only spoiled, he rubbed it in. My mother taught me this story, in vivid detail. She stressed the hard time that the family had. She used to tell me that all of us have a lot of learning to do, a lot of growing up, and growing up rarely happens because of birthdays celebrated. It has to do with learning empathy, to care enough about our fellow human beings to not take advantage of them. Maybe Joseph had some growing up to do. I assume my older siblings got the same stories with the same emphases. It made an impression on me. I realized the Bible was full of real people in real situations. I slowly but surely realized that I was not the center of the universe.
I learned a lot of that from my family, including my sisters. I remember my sisters taking turns carrying me in Washington when I whined how my feet hurt. I would have left me on the curb. Even they thought I was cute.
Why Do You Preach?
by C. David McKirachan
Romans 10:5-15
Every year we have a Sunday worship that the children, kindergarten through junior high, run, lead, facilitate. I work with the Director of Christian Education and the Christian Education Committee to make sure it's not a dog and pony show; a performance by the cute little kids. It's a real worship service. The kids get to learn about worship, get a chance to have input, get a chance to express themselves in prayer, praise, and interaction with the word. A tradition that has developed is Questions and Answers. They write questions the week before. Any question they want answered during the worship service they fish out and put to me. Sometimes we get "How do you think the Giants are going to do this season?" But most of the time they ask questions like, "If God made everything, who made God?" "How did Jesus learn to do miracles?" "If Jesus died and Jesus was God, does that mean that God died?" "Why did people hate Jesus so much?" "How can I get my little sister to stop giggling during prayers?" "Do dogs (or cats) get into heaven?" "How come God allows war?" My willingness to struggle with their questions seems to help them ask more. They never get tired of it. The adults are awed by the questions, because they've always wanted to ask them too.
One of the questions that always comes up is: "How did you decide to be a preacher?" The technical details that go toward that answer are about as meaningful as the going to heaven to bring Jesus down or going to hell to bring Jesus up part of this passage. Technicalities are useless to a child in the process of wondering how the world works. Such a question reaches toward motivations, dreams, and ultimately God's call.
We who have answered the call to the ministry are a weird bunch to everybody else, and sometimes to ourselves. There are few simple or straight forward reasons why we've gotten into this profession with all its limitations and difficulties and drawbacks. The technicalities are useless to put a justification on wearing a slave collar and spending our lives pushing rocks up a hill that makes no sense to the winners that scoff at us. My former brother-in-law told me that those who can't do, teach; and those who can't teach, preach. In some ways we are seen as cripples, doing something that has little or no upside.
The clear and simple answer to this question is that we are called by God to preach. The kids wised up to this and have started asking, "What's it like to be called by God?" But that means they've learned that without that call, we couldn't do our job. There are no simple, easy answers to their question. There are stories of visions, of the examples of saints, of Sunday school teachers, preachers, patient, kind, and generous people who knew that their redeemer lived and witnessed to it for us. There are stories of pain and glory, of doubt and revelation, of darkness and the blinding light of salvation. But without these moments of clarity and the touch of something more than our intent, our plans, our agendas, and our understanding, the word has no juice, no power to drive us to invite us to step out, to pull our anchors and sail out into the deep blue as Peter and Paul and others that went before us. It is this clarity that gives us passion when we preach on the same passage for the 25th time. It is this touch that takes us into the darkness of death's presence in emergency wards. It is this juice that allows us to turn the other cheek when we are informed by the Lord of lies that our faith is empty, a powerless lie and that we are liars and cheats for preaching.
Needless to say, little of this makes it into the answer to the children. But it is the bedrock of what we are and seek to be. And I bless them for having the audacity to question this loud and imposing figure who stands before them. I can side step the technicalities. But the comment about beautiful feet always stopped me cold.
C. David McKirachan is pastor of the Presbyterian Church at Shrewsbury in central New Jersey. He also teaches at Monmouth University. McKirachan is the author of I Happened Upon a Miracle and A Year of Wonder (Westminster John Knox).
Against the Wind
by Keith Wagner
Matthew 14:22-33
The disciples were rowing against the wind. No doubt they were exhausted and discouraged. The storm was strong and they couldn't reach the shore. Out of nowhere Jesus appeared to them, walking on the water. "They cried out in fear. But immediately Jesus spoke to them and said, 'Take heart, it is I, do not be afraid.' "
The story reminds us that Jesus comes to us in the midst of our storms. God is always aware of the times when we are afraid. God does not leave us alone. God does not abandon us. God is totally aware of the forces of life that are bearing down upon us.
One afternoon my family and I anchored our pontoon boat in the designated swimming area at Grand Lake St. Mary's. The water is shallow and our grandchildren could swim off the boat. That particular day it was windy and the anchor didn't hold. The force was so great that it kept dragging on the sandy lake bottom. My son was in the water and it was all he could do to keep the boat from drifting. I didn't want to turn the engine on since that would create a hazard for our grandchildren swimming near by. I finally had to tell my grandkids to get out of the water since it was too dangerous.
What I needed was a bigger anchor since the wind was too strong. I needed something that would hold the boat against the powerful wind. When Peter attempted to walk on the water he needed a bigger anchor too; an anchor of faith. He was doing fine until "he saw the wind." It was then that Peter became afraid and began to sink.
When the wind is against us it can be a fearful experience. This spring there were numerous storms that created high-wind damage. Many people have lost their jobs and many others were forced to change their lifestyle by cutting back or doing without. Health problems or the demands of raising a family can cause us to lose faith. We don't like to be blown off course. We don't like to face conditions where the seas are uncontrollable. We want our waters to be calm and peaceful. Like Peter, there are times when the wind is so powerful, we are afraid and we sink.
When Peter felt the wind he panicked. When we panic we make unwise decisions, we are stressed out and we do not believe that God cares.
In the winter of 1995, a fishing boat began to sink in rough, cold waters off Vancouver Island, west of British Columbia, Canada. The two men on board quickly moved to a life raft that was tied to the sinking boat by a nylon rope. Unfortunately the rope was tied so tightly, they could not untie it. As the fishing boat listed more and more the men knew they couldn't re-board. Neither man had a knife to cut the raft free from the sinking ship. They knew that the raft would eventually go down with the ship. They were in severe danger of drowning unless they could cut the rope.
The two men began chewing on the rope, having faith that there would be enough time until the ship finally sank. They took turns chewing on the rope. Their jaws were exhausted and one man lost a tooth in the process. They chewed steadily for more than an hour. They finally chewed through the rope a few minutes before the ship sank. They were later rescued by another fishing boat. Had the men panicked they would have drowned. Instead, they faithfully chewed on the rope and were rescued from the sinking ship.
Like the disciples, there are times when the wind is against us. We wonder if God cares.
When I was in the Navy, I experienced stormy conditions while in the Gulf of Tonkin during the Vietnam War. Our ship was along side a supply ship. The nautical term is "underway replenishment." It was late at night and the seas were rough. Both ships were tossing about. At one point one of the span wire rigs, the apparatus that enables supplies to go back and forth from one ship to another, parted. The command came from the bridge, "Break away, break away." At that point the span wire rigs are disconnected and the two ships separate. Cables were flying all over the place. When I heard the command I hit the deck. Fortunately none of my men were injured. During the breakaway I heard a loud noise. A brass fitting had whizzed by my head and lodged itself in the nose of a Phantom Jet just two feet away. I was in shock but thankfully I was not hurt. I like to believe that God was with me. In the midst of the storm, I was not alone.
When we find ourselves in a storm, we wonder where God is. Why me? Why now? Why this terrific storm? When Jesus appeared to the disciples, walking on water they didn't recognize him. "They thought him to be a ghost." In other words, Jesus was just an abstract concept, not a real presence in the midst of their storm. He wasn't real and not really capable of helping them in any way. Their faith in Jesus had been diminished to an animated creature; not the real deal. In other words, they failed to trust that God was with them.
When Peter became anxious and began to sink, he cried out to Jesus and said, "Lord, save me." Jesus reached out with his hand and pulled him to safety. They both got in the boat and the wind ceased. When we find ourselves in difficult situations the hand of God reaches out to us. God is there for us when we are afraid. There is no storm too great for God. This story reminds us that God is always there for us, ready to extend a hand that will help us back in the boat. The grace of God is never ending. The winds may be against us at times, but we can trust that God is with us.
Grateful and Gracious
by Keith Wagner
Psalm 105:1-6, 16-22, 45b
This Psalm helps us to focus on what we have rather than what we don't have. Let's be honest, it's not always easy to be grateful to God for what we do have. We spend most of our time complaining about the problems in our lives. We lament over the good old days, we moan about our current economy, we are filled with self-pity over our health problems, and we grieve over our misfortunes.
When life is overwhelming it is not easy to have a thankful spirit. The psalmist however reminds us to be grateful for all that God has done. Perhaps Psalm 105 provides an opportunity for self-examination. For some it can be a reality check. Is life really that bad or do I have a bad attitude?
Gratefulness requires humility. It means we have to be willing to reach beyond our familiar, safe, and traditional circles to people who have need.
I have a colleague who traveled to Brazil recently. His church is working with a sister church in a community where they have constructed a clinic. All the medical aid is free to the villagers. The project now includes a hostel, so folks who travel a great distance can stay with members of their families.
They don't have churches like ours. Instead they worship in homes, make-shift sanctuaries, and even garages. My friend had the opportunity to worship in a garage that a family had renovated. He also had an opportunity to visit their home. Their home was very plain. Part of the floor was dirt. The walls needed painting and they had little furniture. On the other hand, the garage was beautifully decorated. The garage floor had new tile and the walls were freshly painted. This particular family had made sacrifices in their living quarters so the village would have a beautiful place to worship.
When we are grateful we are humbled. When we are grateful we are also gracious toward others.
In the book Chicken Soup for the Volunteer's Soul there is a story called The Pillow, written by Casey Crandall. Casey Crandall belonged to a church that participated in the Appalachia Service Project. One week each summer, a group traveled in Appalachia to build homes for families there. One particular summer their client family lived in a trailer. It was in very poor condition and badly in need of repairs. The volunteers built a new home for the family and they were overwhelmed with their new home. It contained three bedrooms, a bath, a kitchen, and a family room.
The group asked the three boys in the family what they wanted for their new bedroom. They anticipated the boys to say, posters, toys, or games. Jose, the oldest said, "I just want a bed." Casey was stunned. The boys had never slept in a bed. They had only slept on foam pads. The group went to a nearby city and purchased three beds, complete with linens. Later they returned and set up the beds while the boys were at school. When the boys saw their new beds they were enthusiastic. While they were gleaming over their new beds, one of the workers slipped a pillow case on one of the pillows. "What is that?" Eric asked. "A pillow," Meggan replied. "What do you do with it?" he inquired. "When you lay down to go to sleep you put your head on it." The boys had never seen pillows before.
When we are grateful we are gracious. When we appreciate what God has done for us, we are willing to be gracious to others. Giving financial gifts helps but real hands-on aid brings us up close and personal with folks who have needs.
Rev. Dr. Keith Wagner is the pastor of St. John's UCC in Troy, Ohio. He and his wife, Lin, live in Springfield, Ohio.
*****************************************
StoryShare, August 10, 2014, issue.
Copyright 2014 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.
"My Sisters Were Saints" by C. David McKirachan
"Why Do You Preach?" by C. David McKirachan
"Against the Wind" by Keith Wagner
"Grateful and Gracious" by Keith Wagner
* * * * * * *
My Sisters Were Saints
by C. David McKirachan
Genesis 37:1-4, 12-28
Parents lie when they say they love us all equally. Mom loved me best. At least I assumed so when I was a spoiled brat. There are a lot of reasons some kids get spoiled. In my case I was the baby of the bunch. I was the surprise at the end of the siblings. They got responsibilities and limits and consequences. And one of those responsibilities was yours truly. My parents thought it would be a good idea if they babysat for me. My brother, the shining knight of the clan, obviously had more important things to do. But I would be good practice for my sisters as they became old enough to be mothers themselves. I sense sexism creeping into the mix. But they did a wonderful job, because I was cute and happy and got most things I wanted. Periodically one of them would call this entitlement to my parents' attention. Obviously it couldn't be so. I was just a kid. My sisters were older and more mature. Obviously they were good at loving me. If I'd been in their shoes, I would have murdered me.
My father had arranged a trip to Washington DC for the sisters and him. They were going to drive down and see the monuments and the Smithsonian. It was the talk of the household for a week. It became clearer and clearer to my five-year-old self that I was not being included in the journey. This was unacceptable. As the date approached my whines became louder and more focused. "I wan'na go to Waaashinton," echoed off the walls and all the eardrums in our home. I remember following my siblings around until it became apparent that such a strategy would be ineffective. Then I switched to my parents. Unlike my sisters, Mom and Dad still thought I was adorable, even when I whined. I remember modulating my voice to sound as pathetic as I could. Victimized children are always coddled. Children learn this at an early age.
My poor father came up with a plan to leave in the dim light before dawn. They were going to sneak out on me. I had my Cheerios in my bowl before they came downstairs. I was dressed in what I thought would be appropriate clothes for a journey to the seat of democracy. I was put in the front seat of our car, next to my father. I think they were worried that physical harm would come to me in the back seat with my sisters.
I don't know exactly why Joseph was favored above his brothers. It could have been Jacob's feelings for his second wife. But I do know that Joseph got away with murder and almost got murdered by his siblings who had to put up with it. The kid was not only spoiled, he rubbed it in. My mother taught me this story, in vivid detail. She stressed the hard time that the family had. She used to tell me that all of us have a lot of learning to do, a lot of growing up, and growing up rarely happens because of birthdays celebrated. It has to do with learning empathy, to care enough about our fellow human beings to not take advantage of them. Maybe Joseph had some growing up to do. I assume my older siblings got the same stories with the same emphases. It made an impression on me. I realized the Bible was full of real people in real situations. I slowly but surely realized that I was not the center of the universe.
I learned a lot of that from my family, including my sisters. I remember my sisters taking turns carrying me in Washington when I whined how my feet hurt. I would have left me on the curb. Even they thought I was cute.
Why Do You Preach?
by C. David McKirachan
Romans 10:5-15
Every year we have a Sunday worship that the children, kindergarten through junior high, run, lead, facilitate. I work with the Director of Christian Education and the Christian Education Committee to make sure it's not a dog and pony show; a performance by the cute little kids. It's a real worship service. The kids get to learn about worship, get a chance to have input, get a chance to express themselves in prayer, praise, and interaction with the word. A tradition that has developed is Questions and Answers. They write questions the week before. Any question they want answered during the worship service they fish out and put to me. Sometimes we get "How do you think the Giants are going to do this season?" But most of the time they ask questions like, "If God made everything, who made God?" "How did Jesus learn to do miracles?" "If Jesus died and Jesus was God, does that mean that God died?" "Why did people hate Jesus so much?" "How can I get my little sister to stop giggling during prayers?" "Do dogs (or cats) get into heaven?" "How come God allows war?" My willingness to struggle with their questions seems to help them ask more. They never get tired of it. The adults are awed by the questions, because they've always wanted to ask them too.
One of the questions that always comes up is: "How did you decide to be a preacher?" The technical details that go toward that answer are about as meaningful as the going to heaven to bring Jesus down or going to hell to bring Jesus up part of this passage. Technicalities are useless to a child in the process of wondering how the world works. Such a question reaches toward motivations, dreams, and ultimately God's call.
We who have answered the call to the ministry are a weird bunch to everybody else, and sometimes to ourselves. There are few simple or straight forward reasons why we've gotten into this profession with all its limitations and difficulties and drawbacks. The technicalities are useless to put a justification on wearing a slave collar and spending our lives pushing rocks up a hill that makes no sense to the winners that scoff at us. My former brother-in-law told me that those who can't do, teach; and those who can't teach, preach. In some ways we are seen as cripples, doing something that has little or no upside.
The clear and simple answer to this question is that we are called by God to preach. The kids wised up to this and have started asking, "What's it like to be called by God?" But that means they've learned that without that call, we couldn't do our job. There are no simple, easy answers to their question. There are stories of visions, of the examples of saints, of Sunday school teachers, preachers, patient, kind, and generous people who knew that their redeemer lived and witnessed to it for us. There are stories of pain and glory, of doubt and revelation, of darkness and the blinding light of salvation. But without these moments of clarity and the touch of something more than our intent, our plans, our agendas, and our understanding, the word has no juice, no power to drive us to invite us to step out, to pull our anchors and sail out into the deep blue as Peter and Paul and others that went before us. It is this clarity that gives us passion when we preach on the same passage for the 25th time. It is this touch that takes us into the darkness of death's presence in emergency wards. It is this juice that allows us to turn the other cheek when we are informed by the Lord of lies that our faith is empty, a powerless lie and that we are liars and cheats for preaching.
Needless to say, little of this makes it into the answer to the children. But it is the bedrock of what we are and seek to be. And I bless them for having the audacity to question this loud and imposing figure who stands before them. I can side step the technicalities. But the comment about beautiful feet always stopped me cold.
C. David McKirachan is pastor of the Presbyterian Church at Shrewsbury in central New Jersey. He also teaches at Monmouth University. McKirachan is the author of I Happened Upon a Miracle and A Year of Wonder (Westminster John Knox).
Against the Wind
by Keith Wagner
Matthew 14:22-33
The disciples were rowing against the wind. No doubt they were exhausted and discouraged. The storm was strong and they couldn't reach the shore. Out of nowhere Jesus appeared to them, walking on the water. "They cried out in fear. But immediately Jesus spoke to them and said, 'Take heart, it is I, do not be afraid.' "
The story reminds us that Jesus comes to us in the midst of our storms. God is always aware of the times when we are afraid. God does not leave us alone. God does not abandon us. God is totally aware of the forces of life that are bearing down upon us.
One afternoon my family and I anchored our pontoon boat in the designated swimming area at Grand Lake St. Mary's. The water is shallow and our grandchildren could swim off the boat. That particular day it was windy and the anchor didn't hold. The force was so great that it kept dragging on the sandy lake bottom. My son was in the water and it was all he could do to keep the boat from drifting. I didn't want to turn the engine on since that would create a hazard for our grandchildren swimming near by. I finally had to tell my grandkids to get out of the water since it was too dangerous.
What I needed was a bigger anchor since the wind was too strong. I needed something that would hold the boat against the powerful wind. When Peter attempted to walk on the water he needed a bigger anchor too; an anchor of faith. He was doing fine until "he saw the wind." It was then that Peter became afraid and began to sink.
When the wind is against us it can be a fearful experience. This spring there were numerous storms that created high-wind damage. Many people have lost their jobs and many others were forced to change their lifestyle by cutting back or doing without. Health problems or the demands of raising a family can cause us to lose faith. We don't like to be blown off course. We don't like to face conditions where the seas are uncontrollable. We want our waters to be calm and peaceful. Like Peter, there are times when the wind is so powerful, we are afraid and we sink.
When Peter felt the wind he panicked. When we panic we make unwise decisions, we are stressed out and we do not believe that God cares.
In the winter of 1995, a fishing boat began to sink in rough, cold waters off Vancouver Island, west of British Columbia, Canada. The two men on board quickly moved to a life raft that was tied to the sinking boat by a nylon rope. Unfortunately the rope was tied so tightly, they could not untie it. As the fishing boat listed more and more the men knew they couldn't re-board. Neither man had a knife to cut the raft free from the sinking ship. They knew that the raft would eventually go down with the ship. They were in severe danger of drowning unless they could cut the rope.
The two men began chewing on the rope, having faith that there would be enough time until the ship finally sank. They took turns chewing on the rope. Their jaws were exhausted and one man lost a tooth in the process. They chewed steadily for more than an hour. They finally chewed through the rope a few minutes before the ship sank. They were later rescued by another fishing boat. Had the men panicked they would have drowned. Instead, they faithfully chewed on the rope and were rescued from the sinking ship.
Like the disciples, there are times when the wind is against us. We wonder if God cares.
When I was in the Navy, I experienced stormy conditions while in the Gulf of Tonkin during the Vietnam War. Our ship was along side a supply ship. The nautical term is "underway replenishment." It was late at night and the seas were rough. Both ships were tossing about. At one point one of the span wire rigs, the apparatus that enables supplies to go back and forth from one ship to another, parted. The command came from the bridge, "Break away, break away." At that point the span wire rigs are disconnected and the two ships separate. Cables were flying all over the place. When I heard the command I hit the deck. Fortunately none of my men were injured. During the breakaway I heard a loud noise. A brass fitting had whizzed by my head and lodged itself in the nose of a Phantom Jet just two feet away. I was in shock but thankfully I was not hurt. I like to believe that God was with me. In the midst of the storm, I was not alone.
When we find ourselves in a storm, we wonder where God is. Why me? Why now? Why this terrific storm? When Jesus appeared to the disciples, walking on water they didn't recognize him. "They thought him to be a ghost." In other words, Jesus was just an abstract concept, not a real presence in the midst of their storm. He wasn't real and not really capable of helping them in any way. Their faith in Jesus had been diminished to an animated creature; not the real deal. In other words, they failed to trust that God was with them.
When Peter became anxious and began to sink, he cried out to Jesus and said, "Lord, save me." Jesus reached out with his hand and pulled him to safety. They both got in the boat and the wind ceased. When we find ourselves in difficult situations the hand of God reaches out to us. God is there for us when we are afraid. There is no storm too great for God. This story reminds us that God is always there for us, ready to extend a hand that will help us back in the boat. The grace of God is never ending. The winds may be against us at times, but we can trust that God is with us.
Grateful and Gracious
by Keith Wagner
Psalm 105:1-6, 16-22, 45b
This Psalm helps us to focus on what we have rather than what we don't have. Let's be honest, it's not always easy to be grateful to God for what we do have. We spend most of our time complaining about the problems in our lives. We lament over the good old days, we moan about our current economy, we are filled with self-pity over our health problems, and we grieve over our misfortunes.
When life is overwhelming it is not easy to have a thankful spirit. The psalmist however reminds us to be grateful for all that God has done. Perhaps Psalm 105 provides an opportunity for self-examination. For some it can be a reality check. Is life really that bad or do I have a bad attitude?
Gratefulness requires humility. It means we have to be willing to reach beyond our familiar, safe, and traditional circles to people who have need.
I have a colleague who traveled to Brazil recently. His church is working with a sister church in a community where they have constructed a clinic. All the medical aid is free to the villagers. The project now includes a hostel, so folks who travel a great distance can stay with members of their families.
They don't have churches like ours. Instead they worship in homes, make-shift sanctuaries, and even garages. My friend had the opportunity to worship in a garage that a family had renovated. He also had an opportunity to visit their home. Their home was very plain. Part of the floor was dirt. The walls needed painting and they had little furniture. On the other hand, the garage was beautifully decorated. The garage floor had new tile and the walls were freshly painted. This particular family had made sacrifices in their living quarters so the village would have a beautiful place to worship.
When we are grateful we are humbled. When we are grateful we are also gracious toward others.
In the book Chicken Soup for the Volunteer's Soul there is a story called The Pillow, written by Casey Crandall. Casey Crandall belonged to a church that participated in the Appalachia Service Project. One week each summer, a group traveled in Appalachia to build homes for families there. One particular summer their client family lived in a trailer. It was in very poor condition and badly in need of repairs. The volunteers built a new home for the family and they were overwhelmed with their new home. It contained three bedrooms, a bath, a kitchen, and a family room.
The group asked the three boys in the family what they wanted for their new bedroom. They anticipated the boys to say, posters, toys, or games. Jose, the oldest said, "I just want a bed." Casey was stunned. The boys had never slept in a bed. They had only slept on foam pads. The group went to a nearby city and purchased three beds, complete with linens. Later they returned and set up the beds while the boys were at school. When the boys saw their new beds they were enthusiastic. While they were gleaming over their new beds, one of the workers slipped a pillow case on one of the pillows. "What is that?" Eric asked. "A pillow," Meggan replied. "What do you do with it?" he inquired. "When you lay down to go to sleep you put your head on it." The boys had never seen pillows before.
When we are grateful we are gracious. When we appreciate what God has done for us, we are willing to be gracious to others. Giving financial gifts helps but real hands-on aid brings us up close and personal with folks who have needs.
Rev. Dr. Keith Wagner is the pastor of St. John's UCC in Troy, Ohio. He and his wife, Lin, live in Springfield, Ohio.
*****************************************
StoryShare, August 10, 2014, issue.
Copyright 2014 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.
