Emphasis Preaching Journal

In Leaving Home, Garrison Keillor tells of one of those summer weeks when not much happened in Lake Wobegon. This particular summer Bunsen Motors was not making enough money to keep the four regular employees on the payroll. The four were Clarence and Clint Bunsen, Stanley and Earl. There was also Marlys Diener, who worked part-time at the bookkeeping. The reason Clarence was going to borrow seven thousand dollars to get through summer was because people were not buying Fords in Lake Wobegon as they used to. People were traveling 40 to 50 miles in either direction to buy from a big dealer. People do not have loyalty to the hometown anymore. They do not even care whom they offend when they display the foreign dealer's nameplate on the trunk or wherever. It sticks out big as ever: Ogilvie Toyota, Saint Cloud. Garrison wondered whether this Ogilvie fellow was a Lutheran, whether he went to church at all, whether he was on drugs and ran around with showgirls. Meanwhile, a good fellow like Clarence Bunsen, who is willing to help any neighbor, is in deep trouble because of a lack of loyalty in his neighbors. To top it all off, Marlys Diener's husband showed off his Ford Bronco he bought in Minneapolis. Naturally, Clarence was deeply offended that his bookkeeper's husband had gone elsewhere. He tried not to show it and complimented Harold Diener for his good taste in automobiles. None of us could fault Clarence for feeling offended. We have all been there. However, there are offenses much greater than this that too often we overlook. -- Huxhold