Say I Love You
Stories
Object:
Contents
A Story to Live By: "Say I Love You"
A Mother's Day Story: "The Best Mama" by John Sumwalt
Sharing Visions: "God Restores My Soul" by John Sumwalt
John's Scrap Pile: "Telling the Church's Story"
This week's StoryShare offers two tellable Mother's Day stories and an inspiring sermon on the 23rd Psalm which includes another startling vision story. In a scrap pile piece called "Telling the Church's Story," John tells about the variety of ways a church can raise its public profile with strategically placed stories on radio, TV, and in newspapers.
StoryShare is looking for Memorial Day, Father's Day, and Independence Day stories and sermons. Send your best stuff and some of your so-so stuff (it might not be as bad as you think) to jsumwalt@naspa.net (with StoryShare in the subject line).
A Story to Live By
Say I Love You
James Moore, in his book The Cross Walk, tells about a woman in her mid-eighties who was dying in a local hospital. Her son flew across the country to be with her. Moore says, "I happened to be present when he arrived and entered the room. He walked over to the bedside of his aged, dying mother, leaned over, and kissed her on the cheek. Then, touched by the sight of her so weak and vulnerable, he said, 'Mom, you have been such a good mother to me. And I want you to know I love you.'
"Through tears she said to him, 'Son, last Friday was your 63rd birthday, and that's the first time you've ever said that to me.' It had taken him 63 years to say 'I love you' to his mother."
Is there a word of love you need to say to someone today?
- from a one-minute radio spot prepared for Wauwatosa Avenue United Methodist Church in Milwaukee.
A Mother's Day Story
The Best Mama
by John Sumwalt
Little children, let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action.
1 John 3:18
There was once a little girl who loved her mama with all of her heart. At night, when her mama tucked her into bed, she would throw her arms around her, kiss her on both cheeks, and say, "You're the best mama in the whole wide world."
When Mother's Day came, the little girl decided to get her mama a nice present to show how much she loved her. She thought and thought and thought about what she could give her. One day she went with her papa to the corner store, and there in the window she saw the perfect gift. It was a tiny crystal bell which tinkled ever so softly, like the wind chimes that hung outside the kitchen window. How lovely it would look in Mama's china cabinet in the corner of the parlor. Her papa helped her buy the bell, and he told her to hide it away carefully 'til Mother's Day. The little girl wrapped the crystal bell in tissue paper and tucked it away in the back of her sock drawer. Mama would never find it there.
When Mother's Day came, the little girl opened the sock drawer, took out the bell, unwrapped it carefully from the tissue paper, and was about to ring it one last time before giving it to her mama when it slipped out of her fingers, crashed to the floor, and shattered into a hundred pieces. The little girl was heartbroken. Now what would she give her mama to show how much she loved her? She began to cry, and she ran to her mama saying, "I had a nice present to give you for Mother's Day, but it broke and now I don't have anything to give you."
"There, there," Mama said as she wiped her daughter's tears. "You have already given me the best present possible. What I want more than anything else is to know that you love me."
Upon hearing this, the little girl stopped crying and began to smile. Then she gave her mama a big hug, kissed her on both cheeks, and you know what she said - "You're the best mama in the whole wide world."
That little girl is grown up now, and she has a daughter, and a granddaughter, and a little great-granddaughter of her own. She is almost 100 years old, and she lives in a nursing home. Every Mother's Day her daughter and her granddaughter and her little great-granddaughter come to the nursing home - and they put their arms around her and kiss her on both cheeks, and you know what they say ...
Sharing Visions
God Restores My Soul
by John Sumwalt
... He restores my soul, he leads me in right paths for his name's sake.
Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil;
for you are with me; your rod and your staff - they comfort me.
Psalm 23:3-4
A few weeks ago, I started reading a psalm a day as part of my daily devotions. I use my old study Bible from Disciple classes, so when I come to a passage that touches me or grabs me in some way, I underline it, then go back and meditate on it for a while before I write in my journal or begin my prayer time.
When I came to day 23 I thought, what can I possibly learn from the 23rd Psalm? I know it by heart. I recite it at the bedsides of the ill and the dying. I read it or hear it read at almost every funeral, partly because I think it is one of the most comforting texts one can read at a funeral, but mostly because when I ask people what scriptures they would like to have read in the service, almost everyone says, "Oh, the 23rd Psalm. Mother loved the 23rd Psalm."
For most of us, the 23rd Psalm is the most familiar and most loved passage of scripture. So I began to read, doubtful that I would learn anything new from something I knew so well.
The Lord is my shepherd,
I shall not want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures;
He leads me beside still waters;
He restores my soul.
I stopped reading. I reached for my pen and I underlined, "He restores my soul." I thought to myself, there has been many a day when I needed my soul restored: some days when the essence of me seemed so broken, so wounded, that I wondered if I could ever be whole again. But somehow, in ways that are still mysterious and wondrous to me, God had touched me and healed me. I whispered a prayer, "Thank you, God, for restoring my soul."
I began to think about soul, to meditate on that part of ourselves we call our souls, to ponder what exactly we are referring to when we talk about soul, and what it is that occurs when God restores one's soul.
Most of us believe that we are more than a physical body. Some discover this when they have an out-of-body experience. A number of years ago, a friend of mine named Agnes had open heart surgery. Agnes loved to talk, and after the operation, when she was home and feeling better, she regaled anyone who would listen with stories about her operation. She said that sometime after the operation began, she found herself floating outside her body near the ceiling. She could see everything that was going on in the operating room. And afterward, to the amazement of the nurses and doctors, she was able to describe everything that they did. She was even able to tell the doctor what he was wearing, even though she had not seen him before going under the anesthetic. Was that her soul that left her body for a time and returned after the operation?
Nurses and hospice workers who care for the dying often report being aware of when the soul leaves the body. Some tell of an ethereal wispy light that passes from the body into the air above.
Some who have doubts about the existence of an eternal soul have been suddenly convinced when the spirit of a departed one appears to them, as Jesus appeared to his followers after his death.
We celebrated the life of Violet Anderson a few weeks ago. Violet was 91 years old. She has been a member of this congregation since 1952. Shortly after she moved to Milwaukee, her beloved son, Edward, died tragically at the age of sixteen. Violet told later how she cried every day for a year. She got up early to visit her son's grave at 6 a.m. every day before she went to work. She cried so much that her tear ducts dried up and she had to receive special treatment. Then one morning, Violet awoke and saw Edward standing at the foot of her bed. He said, "Mom, you've got to stop this crying. I am where I am. I am happy where I am and nothing is going to change it." From that moment on Violet was better. She was able to go on with her life. Her soul had been restored.
We know about restoration of old human-made things: buildings and cars and furniture. Jo and I took a reupholstering class once. We worked on an old, overstuffed chair. Jo made it look pretty good. I tried to stay out of the way. We have several pieces of furniture in our home that Jo has restored: dressers and tables, and an old upright piano that came from the Odd Fellows Hall in Janesville, Wisconsin. We paid $50 for it, and Jo spent about 300 hours bringing it back to life. You can still see burn marks in the wood by the keyboard where the piano players at Saturday night dances put out their cigarette stubs. There was no way to get them out without further damaging the wood, and we decided it gave character to the piece and thus made it even more dear to us, and perhaps more valuable for resale.
Is that what it's like when a soul is restored? Are there some marks that never come out, that add eternal character and value? The disciples knew something of this when the resurrected Jesus showed them his scarred hands and side.
George Elvey wrote of it in his great Easter hymn "Crown Him With Many Crowns": "... Crown him the Lord of love; behold his hand and side, those wounds yet visible above, in beauty glorified ..."
Whatever the soul is, what affects a soul here on earth, what touches us, wounds us, strengthens us, uplifts us, or defeats us, is carried into eternity.
- excerpted from a sermon preached September 24, 2000, at Wauwatosa Avenue United Methodist Church in Milwaukee.
This story appears in Vision Stories: True Accounts of Visions, Angels, and Healing Miracles [link to 0-7880-1896-5], edited by John E. Sumwalt (Lima, Ohio: CSS Publishing Company, 2002). Vision Stories is available from CSS through their website (www.csspub.com) or by calling 1-800-241-4056. Vision Stories is also available at Cokesbury, Family Christian Stores, and many local Christian bookstores.
John's Scrap Pile
Telling the Church's Story
A few weeks ago we wrote about how our Outreach Taskforce tells the church's story through telemarketing and radio. A couple of people wrote asking for more information.
I enjoy StoryShare. Any thoughts on an outreach strategy for a town of about 2,000? We're doing quite a bit in outreach in terms of education and also in the arts. This church has been dormant, so we're trying to get the word out that we're still going and intend to be around in the future. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Eric Haugan
Faith United Church
Winthrop, Minnesota
Dear Eric,
When we came to Wauwatosa Avenue in 1994, the church had a negative image in the community and in our Annual Conference. Membership and worship attendance were in steep decline, about a 40% loss over 15 years. We went to work immediately to change the image. We started an Outreach Taskforce with media-savvy members. We put up a new church sign that people could actually read as they drove by. We purchased a large yellow page ad which we update each year. We started to send our newsletter to every church in the area. We sent news releases as often as possible to newspapers, radio, and television every time we had a major event. It is amazing how much free coverage we received, including TV. They look for interesting stuff on slow news days. We bought front page space in two local shoppers for story ads with photos. These are cheap. We did stories about our Habitat Ministry, our Walk-In Christmas Pageant, our choirs and our 45-rank organ, anything to raise the profile of the congregation.
The most successful outreach effort was the telemarketing campaign I wrote about a few weeks ago. We used it to launch a new worship service. Two local televisions stations came to cover it, and The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel did a front page story. (See http://www.jsonline.com/lifestyle/people/oct00/church27102600.asp.)
Our Outreach Taskforce is ongoing. We spend about $15,000 per year, mostly on radio spots. The telemarketing was a one-time effort. We used a program called Phones For You. We have a packet of info about the campaign that we send out if you are interested. The new worship service now averages about 110 persons after two and one-half years. Overall worship attendance is up 28%. We have received 251 new members in the past 5 years. Allowing for some attrition, this represents about 30% of our membership.
I am a pastor who loves radio and would love to get our church involved in a radio ministry. Please share about your program and how you got started.
Pat Glover, Pastor
Knob Prairie United Church of Christ
Enon, Ohio
Dear Pat,
We started doing radio spots about three years ago. Most of our spots are one-minute stories with the tag line: "I'm John Sumwalt with a Story to Live By from Wauwatosa Avenue United Methodist Church, www.waumc.org." I sometimes add: "Join us for worship on Sunday at 8:00, 9:00, or 10:30 a.m." I am convinced that radio is the most effective way to reach people who are looking for a church - if the ads are low-key. The people who are responding tend to be young professionals in their late 20s and early 30s. We run ads two weeks before Christmas and two weeks before Easter, about 40 spots each time for about $8,000 total. We also pick one or two major events like concerts to promote on radio. It doesn't take very many new members to pay it all back, though it is difficult to convince most church members of this. Once they see the results they understand. It makes a difference which radio station you pick. We chose one that appealed to an audience that was the same age as most visitors who were already coming in the door. In our case this was a station with the highest ratings among women ages 18-49.
StoryShare, May 11, 2003, 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: "Say I Love You"
A Mother's Day Story: "The Best Mama" by John Sumwalt
Sharing Visions: "God Restores My Soul" by John Sumwalt
John's Scrap Pile: "Telling the Church's Story"
This week's StoryShare offers two tellable Mother's Day stories and an inspiring sermon on the 23rd Psalm which includes another startling vision story. In a scrap pile piece called "Telling the Church's Story," John tells about the variety of ways a church can raise its public profile with strategically placed stories on radio, TV, and in newspapers.
StoryShare is looking for Memorial Day, Father's Day, and Independence Day stories and sermons. Send your best stuff and some of your so-so stuff (it might not be as bad as you think) to jsumwalt@naspa.net (with StoryShare in the subject line).
A Story to Live By
Say I Love You
James Moore, in his book The Cross Walk, tells about a woman in her mid-eighties who was dying in a local hospital. Her son flew across the country to be with her. Moore says, "I happened to be present when he arrived and entered the room. He walked over to the bedside of his aged, dying mother, leaned over, and kissed her on the cheek. Then, touched by the sight of her so weak and vulnerable, he said, 'Mom, you have been such a good mother to me. And I want you to know I love you.'
"Through tears she said to him, 'Son, last Friday was your 63rd birthday, and that's the first time you've ever said that to me.' It had taken him 63 years to say 'I love you' to his mother."
Is there a word of love you need to say to someone today?
- from a one-minute radio spot prepared for Wauwatosa Avenue United Methodist Church in Milwaukee.
A Mother's Day Story
The Best Mama
by John Sumwalt
Little children, let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action.
1 John 3:18
There was once a little girl who loved her mama with all of her heart. At night, when her mama tucked her into bed, she would throw her arms around her, kiss her on both cheeks, and say, "You're the best mama in the whole wide world."
When Mother's Day came, the little girl decided to get her mama a nice present to show how much she loved her. She thought and thought and thought about what she could give her. One day she went with her papa to the corner store, and there in the window she saw the perfect gift. It was a tiny crystal bell which tinkled ever so softly, like the wind chimes that hung outside the kitchen window. How lovely it would look in Mama's china cabinet in the corner of the parlor. Her papa helped her buy the bell, and he told her to hide it away carefully 'til Mother's Day. The little girl wrapped the crystal bell in tissue paper and tucked it away in the back of her sock drawer. Mama would never find it there.
When Mother's Day came, the little girl opened the sock drawer, took out the bell, unwrapped it carefully from the tissue paper, and was about to ring it one last time before giving it to her mama when it slipped out of her fingers, crashed to the floor, and shattered into a hundred pieces. The little girl was heartbroken. Now what would she give her mama to show how much she loved her? She began to cry, and she ran to her mama saying, "I had a nice present to give you for Mother's Day, but it broke and now I don't have anything to give you."
"There, there," Mama said as she wiped her daughter's tears. "You have already given me the best present possible. What I want more than anything else is to know that you love me."
Upon hearing this, the little girl stopped crying and began to smile. Then she gave her mama a big hug, kissed her on both cheeks, and you know what she said - "You're the best mama in the whole wide world."
That little girl is grown up now, and she has a daughter, and a granddaughter, and a little great-granddaughter of her own. She is almost 100 years old, and she lives in a nursing home. Every Mother's Day her daughter and her granddaughter and her little great-granddaughter come to the nursing home - and they put their arms around her and kiss her on both cheeks, and you know what they say ...
Sharing Visions
God Restores My Soul
by John Sumwalt
... He restores my soul, he leads me in right paths for his name's sake.
Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil;
for you are with me; your rod and your staff - they comfort me.
Psalm 23:3-4
A few weeks ago, I started reading a psalm a day as part of my daily devotions. I use my old study Bible from Disciple classes, so when I come to a passage that touches me or grabs me in some way, I underline it, then go back and meditate on it for a while before I write in my journal or begin my prayer time.
When I came to day 23 I thought, what can I possibly learn from the 23rd Psalm? I know it by heart. I recite it at the bedsides of the ill and the dying. I read it or hear it read at almost every funeral, partly because I think it is one of the most comforting texts one can read at a funeral, but mostly because when I ask people what scriptures they would like to have read in the service, almost everyone says, "Oh, the 23rd Psalm. Mother loved the 23rd Psalm."
For most of us, the 23rd Psalm is the most familiar and most loved passage of scripture. So I began to read, doubtful that I would learn anything new from something I knew so well.
The Lord is my shepherd,
I shall not want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures;
He leads me beside still waters;
He restores my soul.
I stopped reading. I reached for my pen and I underlined, "He restores my soul." I thought to myself, there has been many a day when I needed my soul restored: some days when the essence of me seemed so broken, so wounded, that I wondered if I could ever be whole again. But somehow, in ways that are still mysterious and wondrous to me, God had touched me and healed me. I whispered a prayer, "Thank you, God, for restoring my soul."
I began to think about soul, to meditate on that part of ourselves we call our souls, to ponder what exactly we are referring to when we talk about soul, and what it is that occurs when God restores one's soul.
Most of us believe that we are more than a physical body. Some discover this when they have an out-of-body experience. A number of years ago, a friend of mine named Agnes had open heart surgery. Agnes loved to talk, and after the operation, when she was home and feeling better, she regaled anyone who would listen with stories about her operation. She said that sometime after the operation began, she found herself floating outside her body near the ceiling. She could see everything that was going on in the operating room. And afterward, to the amazement of the nurses and doctors, she was able to describe everything that they did. She was even able to tell the doctor what he was wearing, even though she had not seen him before going under the anesthetic. Was that her soul that left her body for a time and returned after the operation?
Nurses and hospice workers who care for the dying often report being aware of when the soul leaves the body. Some tell of an ethereal wispy light that passes from the body into the air above.
Some who have doubts about the existence of an eternal soul have been suddenly convinced when the spirit of a departed one appears to them, as Jesus appeared to his followers after his death.
We celebrated the life of Violet Anderson a few weeks ago. Violet was 91 years old. She has been a member of this congregation since 1952. Shortly after she moved to Milwaukee, her beloved son, Edward, died tragically at the age of sixteen. Violet told later how she cried every day for a year. She got up early to visit her son's grave at 6 a.m. every day before she went to work. She cried so much that her tear ducts dried up and she had to receive special treatment. Then one morning, Violet awoke and saw Edward standing at the foot of her bed. He said, "Mom, you've got to stop this crying. I am where I am. I am happy where I am and nothing is going to change it." From that moment on Violet was better. She was able to go on with her life. Her soul had been restored.
We know about restoration of old human-made things: buildings and cars and furniture. Jo and I took a reupholstering class once. We worked on an old, overstuffed chair. Jo made it look pretty good. I tried to stay out of the way. We have several pieces of furniture in our home that Jo has restored: dressers and tables, and an old upright piano that came from the Odd Fellows Hall in Janesville, Wisconsin. We paid $50 for it, and Jo spent about 300 hours bringing it back to life. You can still see burn marks in the wood by the keyboard where the piano players at Saturday night dances put out their cigarette stubs. There was no way to get them out without further damaging the wood, and we decided it gave character to the piece and thus made it even more dear to us, and perhaps more valuable for resale.
Is that what it's like when a soul is restored? Are there some marks that never come out, that add eternal character and value? The disciples knew something of this when the resurrected Jesus showed them his scarred hands and side.
George Elvey wrote of it in his great Easter hymn "Crown Him With Many Crowns": "... Crown him the Lord of love; behold his hand and side, those wounds yet visible above, in beauty glorified ..."
Whatever the soul is, what affects a soul here on earth, what touches us, wounds us, strengthens us, uplifts us, or defeats us, is carried into eternity.
- excerpted from a sermon preached September 24, 2000, at Wauwatosa Avenue United Methodist Church in Milwaukee.
This story appears in Vision Stories: True Accounts of Visions, Angels, and Healing Miracles [link to 0-7880-1896-5], edited by John E. Sumwalt (Lima, Ohio: CSS Publishing Company, 2002). Vision Stories is available from CSS through their website (www.csspub.com) or by calling 1-800-241-4056. Vision Stories is also available at Cokesbury, Family Christian Stores, and many local Christian bookstores.
John's Scrap Pile
Telling the Church's Story
A few weeks ago we wrote about how our Outreach Taskforce tells the church's story through telemarketing and radio. A couple of people wrote asking for more information.
I enjoy StoryShare. Any thoughts on an outreach strategy for a town of about 2,000? We're doing quite a bit in outreach in terms of education and also in the arts. This church has been dormant, so we're trying to get the word out that we're still going and intend to be around in the future. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Eric Haugan
Faith United Church
Winthrop, Minnesota
Dear Eric,
When we came to Wauwatosa Avenue in 1994, the church had a negative image in the community and in our Annual Conference. Membership and worship attendance were in steep decline, about a 40% loss over 15 years. We went to work immediately to change the image. We started an Outreach Taskforce with media-savvy members. We put up a new church sign that people could actually read as they drove by. We purchased a large yellow page ad which we update each year. We started to send our newsletter to every church in the area. We sent news releases as often as possible to newspapers, radio, and television every time we had a major event. It is amazing how much free coverage we received, including TV. They look for interesting stuff on slow news days. We bought front page space in two local shoppers for story ads with photos. These are cheap. We did stories about our Habitat Ministry, our Walk-In Christmas Pageant, our choirs and our 45-rank organ, anything to raise the profile of the congregation.
The most successful outreach effort was the telemarketing campaign I wrote about a few weeks ago. We used it to launch a new worship service. Two local televisions stations came to cover it, and The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel did a front page story. (See http://www.jsonline.com/lifestyle/people/oct00/church27102600.asp.)
Our Outreach Taskforce is ongoing. We spend about $15,000 per year, mostly on radio spots. The telemarketing was a one-time effort. We used a program called Phones For You. We have a packet of info about the campaign that we send out if you are interested. The new worship service now averages about 110 persons after two and one-half years. Overall worship attendance is up 28%. We have received 251 new members in the past 5 years. Allowing for some attrition, this represents about 30% of our membership.
I am a pastor who loves radio and would love to get our church involved in a radio ministry. Please share about your program and how you got started.
Pat Glover, Pastor
Knob Prairie United Church of Christ
Enon, Ohio
Dear Pat,
We started doing radio spots about three years ago. Most of our spots are one-minute stories with the tag line: "I'm John Sumwalt with a Story to Live By from Wauwatosa Avenue United Methodist Church, www.waumc.org." I sometimes add: "Join us for worship on Sunday at 8:00, 9:00, or 10:30 a.m." I am convinced that radio is the most effective way to reach people who are looking for a church - if the ads are low-key. The people who are responding tend to be young professionals in their late 20s and early 30s. We run ads two weeks before Christmas and two weeks before Easter, about 40 spots each time for about $8,000 total. We also pick one or two major events like concerts to promote on radio. It doesn't take very many new members to pay it all back, though it is difficult to convince most church members of this. Once they see the results they understand. It makes a difference which radio station you pick. We chose one that appealed to an audience that was the same age as most visitors who were already coming in the door. In our case this was a station with the highest ratings among women ages 18-49.
StoryShare, May 11, 2003, 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.
