Growing Up Adams
Stories
Object:
Contents
"Growing Up Adams" by Frank Ramirez
"More Than That" by Peter Andrew Smith
* * * * * * *
Growing Up Adams
by Frank Ramirez
Romans 12:1-8
Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God -- what is good and acceptable and perfect.
-- Romans 12:2
John Quincy Adams (1767-1848) was the sixth president of the United States, and probably one of the least well known. When he left office having, like his father, served a single term as president (1825-1829), he was reviled not only by the opposition but by people of his own political party.
His faith in God and his adherence to his principles regardless of the cost politically meant that time has proven him correct, especially because he refused to conform to the world's expectations.
Growing up in a famous family meant having a father who was an architect of the Revolution, an ambassador, one who helped craft the Constitution of the United States, and ultimately became the second president of the new country. But John Quincy Adams more than lived up to the lofty expectations of his parents.
During the American Revolution he traveled as a boy with his father John Adams overseas to Europe. The elder Adams had been appointed an ambassador and envoy. During these years in which the younger Adams grew into a teenager his facility in languages earned him a place as his father's diplomatic secretary, and before he turned sixteen and returned to America for college, he served as an envoy in diplomatic missions to France, the Netherlands, Russia, and other countries.
Like his father, he was disturbed to discover the rise of party politics among individuals who had worked together to throw off their political shackles and win their independence. John Quincy Adams studied law, but it was not long before he was drawn back into service to his country.
He served as an ambassador overseas during the Washington and the John Adams administrations. After his father's single term as president, John Quincy Adams assumed his political career was over.
He was then sent to Washington as a senator by the Federalist Party. However, he refused to conform to the expectation that he would always vote along party lines. He would vote with the opposition party when he thought they were right. As a result he ultimately resigned from the Senate, aware he would not be re-elected, and again assumed his political life was over.
Yet he was sent by President Madison to serve in Europe on diplomatic missions to France, Russia, and England, where he helped to hammer out a treaty ending the War of 1812 on far better terms than the United States had any right to expect.
He then became Secretary of State under the Monroe administration that followed, again serving without suiting people of either party. He was the prime architect of what came to be known as the Monroe Doctrine, which walled off the Americas from Europe.
His single term as president that followed was sabotaged by partisan politics in which few supported his policies of building national infrastructure and a stronger military, although ultimately these things came to pass without him gaining credit.
Assuming once more that his political career was over, John Quincy Adams was surprised to find that his home district sent him again and again to serve in the congress of the United States, the only ex-president to do so, ultimately for eighteen years until his death. During those years he achieved his greatest accomplishments, resolutely standing up against slavery and for the slaves, despite active opposition from both Southern slave owners and those in the North who opposed slavery on principle, but disliked Abolitionists as troublemakers, and preferred to placate the South. Along the way he successfully defended the legal rights of the slaves on board the Amistad who had mutinied against the captain of the slave ship and sought their freedom.
He was a non-conformist in something greater than the political arena. During a time when Christian denominations uniformly looked upon each other with suspicion, John Quincy Adams (who considered himself a Congregationalist) would attend and enjoy services at Roman Catholic, Protestant, and Orthodox churches. He regularly attended worship wherever he found himself around the world. He refused to recognize the religious barriers that separated believers from each other.
Though his life was spent in the world, in the hurly burly of politics, Adams refused to conform to worldly expectations but sought to transform society. Perhaps that's why, in a poem that was also a prayer, he wrote:
And when thy summons calls me to thy bar
Be this my plea thy gracious smile to draw
That all my ways to justice were inclined
And all my aims the good of humankind.
(Information for this StoryShare was gleaned from John Quincy Adams: American Visionary, by Fred Kaplan [HarperCollins, 2014].)
Frank Ramirez has served as a pastor for nearly 30 years in Church of the Brethren congregations in Los Angeles, California; Elkhart, Indiana; and Everett, Pennsylvania. A graduate of LaVerne College and Bethany Theological Seminary, Ramirez is the author of numerous books, articles, and short stories. His CSS titles include Partners in Healing, He Took a Towel, The Bee Attitudes, three volumes of Lectionary Worship Aids, and Breakdown on Bethlehem Street.
More Than That
by Peter Andrew Smith
Matthew 16:13-20
There once was a woman who considered herself fortunate. She enjoyed her work, loved her family, and was surrounded by many good friends and neighbours. She knew she had a good life and was generous with her money and went out of her way to be kind to people in need.
One day without warning, the woman became seriously ill. She was rushed to the hospital and her friends and family gathered around her as tests were run and specialists were consulted. They were able to perform a delicate procedure and after a long and at times difficult recovery the woman was able to go home.
She was thankful as her health returned and tried to resume her old life. Yet the woman found she wasn't satisfied with simply working and enjoying herself. Her time of illness made her think there must be something more, someone greater to life. She felt a restless she had never felt before that did not go away.
She realized that beyond her daily life there was a large world she knew little about and wondered if that was what was missing. So she set about improving herself through knowledge. She read books and began taking classes. She studied subjects as varied as science and history, philosophy and literature. Everything she learned simply wetted her appetite for more and before long she sought out the best scholars and teachers to help her.
She pursued knowledge with such a passion that she was revered and respected for her keen understanding and perception. With a passion for learning, the woman discovered that her world was much richer and deeper than it ever had been. Soon others came to hear her wisdom and learn at her feet. Yet no matter how much she knew, despite all the time she spent studying and thinking, the restlessness she felt in her life remained.
So the woman started to volunteer more of her time to help people. She sought out community activists and organizers and worked with them to help make the world a better place. She worked in one area for a while and then went to another. She laboured in inner cities, in desolate remote communities, and in normal everyday towns. She helped build homes, raise awareness, and devoted her action and time to helping others.
Over time she developed a reputation as a miracle worker. She gained the wisdom and experience to be taken seriously and listened to anywhere she went. She knew how to build consensus and bring different groups together in order to have people work as one. Everywhere she went lives were changed and great things took place. Yet despite being able to help so many people, despite all that she was able to achieve, she still could not shake the emptiness she felt in her life. She had no idea where else to look or what else to do.
And this led her into a church. She knew the Bible because she had read many scholars and poets. She had worked with many people of faith and through many Christian organizations. Yet anytime she was in church it was to give a presentation, to network, or for some other reason. She had never gone simply to draw closer to God.
One Sunday she went and listened to the pastor preach, watched as the congregation prayed and discovered something surprising. It was not the words or the actions that impressed her although both were good and caring. No, what touched the woman was the spirit she found in that place. An acceptance and a welcome that was extended not because of what she knew or because of anything she had achieved but simply because she was seeking God.
So she returned to the church week after week. She found herself praying and thinking about Jesus and his death and resurrection and what it meant. The woman discovered within her time at the church someone deeper, more meaningful, and more satisfying than she ever had known in all her studies and in all her good works. She found a love and a grace that helped illuminate all that she knew and helped shape and provided purpose to everything she did.
The feeling of unease left the woman for through Jesus she found everything she needed in life. She came to understand her place within the world as a child of God, a sinner saved by Christ, and as a disciple guided by the Holy Spirit.
Peter Andrew Smith is an ordained minister in the United Church of Canada who currently serves at St. James United Church in Antigonish, Nova Scotia. He is the author of All Things Are Ready (CSS), a book of lectionary-based communion prayers, as well as many stories and articles, which can be found listed at www.peterandrewsmith.com.
*****************************************
StoryShare, August 24, 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.
"Growing Up Adams" by Frank Ramirez
"More Than That" by Peter Andrew Smith
* * * * * * *
Growing Up Adams
by Frank Ramirez
Romans 12:1-8
Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God -- what is good and acceptable and perfect.
-- Romans 12:2
John Quincy Adams (1767-1848) was the sixth president of the United States, and probably one of the least well known. When he left office having, like his father, served a single term as president (1825-1829), he was reviled not only by the opposition but by people of his own political party.
His faith in God and his adherence to his principles regardless of the cost politically meant that time has proven him correct, especially because he refused to conform to the world's expectations.
Growing up in a famous family meant having a father who was an architect of the Revolution, an ambassador, one who helped craft the Constitution of the United States, and ultimately became the second president of the new country. But John Quincy Adams more than lived up to the lofty expectations of his parents.
During the American Revolution he traveled as a boy with his father John Adams overseas to Europe. The elder Adams had been appointed an ambassador and envoy. During these years in which the younger Adams grew into a teenager his facility in languages earned him a place as his father's diplomatic secretary, and before he turned sixteen and returned to America for college, he served as an envoy in diplomatic missions to France, the Netherlands, Russia, and other countries.
Like his father, he was disturbed to discover the rise of party politics among individuals who had worked together to throw off their political shackles and win their independence. John Quincy Adams studied law, but it was not long before he was drawn back into service to his country.
He served as an ambassador overseas during the Washington and the John Adams administrations. After his father's single term as president, John Quincy Adams assumed his political career was over.
He was then sent to Washington as a senator by the Federalist Party. However, he refused to conform to the expectation that he would always vote along party lines. He would vote with the opposition party when he thought they were right. As a result he ultimately resigned from the Senate, aware he would not be re-elected, and again assumed his political life was over.
Yet he was sent by President Madison to serve in Europe on diplomatic missions to France, Russia, and England, where he helped to hammer out a treaty ending the War of 1812 on far better terms than the United States had any right to expect.
He then became Secretary of State under the Monroe administration that followed, again serving without suiting people of either party. He was the prime architect of what came to be known as the Monroe Doctrine, which walled off the Americas from Europe.
His single term as president that followed was sabotaged by partisan politics in which few supported his policies of building national infrastructure and a stronger military, although ultimately these things came to pass without him gaining credit.
Assuming once more that his political career was over, John Quincy Adams was surprised to find that his home district sent him again and again to serve in the congress of the United States, the only ex-president to do so, ultimately for eighteen years until his death. During those years he achieved his greatest accomplishments, resolutely standing up against slavery and for the slaves, despite active opposition from both Southern slave owners and those in the North who opposed slavery on principle, but disliked Abolitionists as troublemakers, and preferred to placate the South. Along the way he successfully defended the legal rights of the slaves on board the Amistad who had mutinied against the captain of the slave ship and sought their freedom.
He was a non-conformist in something greater than the political arena. During a time when Christian denominations uniformly looked upon each other with suspicion, John Quincy Adams (who considered himself a Congregationalist) would attend and enjoy services at Roman Catholic, Protestant, and Orthodox churches. He regularly attended worship wherever he found himself around the world. He refused to recognize the religious barriers that separated believers from each other.
Though his life was spent in the world, in the hurly burly of politics, Adams refused to conform to worldly expectations but sought to transform society. Perhaps that's why, in a poem that was also a prayer, he wrote:
And when thy summons calls me to thy bar
Be this my plea thy gracious smile to draw
That all my ways to justice were inclined
And all my aims the good of humankind.
(Information for this StoryShare was gleaned from John Quincy Adams: American Visionary, by Fred Kaplan [HarperCollins, 2014].)
Frank Ramirez has served as a pastor for nearly 30 years in Church of the Brethren congregations in Los Angeles, California; Elkhart, Indiana; and Everett, Pennsylvania. A graduate of LaVerne College and Bethany Theological Seminary, Ramirez is the author of numerous books, articles, and short stories. His CSS titles include Partners in Healing, He Took a Towel, The Bee Attitudes, three volumes of Lectionary Worship Aids, and Breakdown on Bethlehem Street.
More Than That
by Peter Andrew Smith
Matthew 16:13-20
There once was a woman who considered herself fortunate. She enjoyed her work, loved her family, and was surrounded by many good friends and neighbours. She knew she had a good life and was generous with her money and went out of her way to be kind to people in need.
One day without warning, the woman became seriously ill. She was rushed to the hospital and her friends and family gathered around her as tests were run and specialists were consulted. They were able to perform a delicate procedure and after a long and at times difficult recovery the woman was able to go home.
She was thankful as her health returned and tried to resume her old life. Yet the woman found she wasn't satisfied with simply working and enjoying herself. Her time of illness made her think there must be something more, someone greater to life. She felt a restless she had never felt before that did not go away.
She realized that beyond her daily life there was a large world she knew little about and wondered if that was what was missing. So she set about improving herself through knowledge. She read books and began taking classes. She studied subjects as varied as science and history, philosophy and literature. Everything she learned simply wetted her appetite for more and before long she sought out the best scholars and teachers to help her.
She pursued knowledge with such a passion that she was revered and respected for her keen understanding and perception. With a passion for learning, the woman discovered that her world was much richer and deeper than it ever had been. Soon others came to hear her wisdom and learn at her feet. Yet no matter how much she knew, despite all the time she spent studying and thinking, the restlessness she felt in her life remained.
So the woman started to volunteer more of her time to help people. She sought out community activists and organizers and worked with them to help make the world a better place. She worked in one area for a while and then went to another. She laboured in inner cities, in desolate remote communities, and in normal everyday towns. She helped build homes, raise awareness, and devoted her action and time to helping others.
Over time she developed a reputation as a miracle worker. She gained the wisdom and experience to be taken seriously and listened to anywhere she went. She knew how to build consensus and bring different groups together in order to have people work as one. Everywhere she went lives were changed and great things took place. Yet despite being able to help so many people, despite all that she was able to achieve, she still could not shake the emptiness she felt in her life. She had no idea where else to look or what else to do.
And this led her into a church. She knew the Bible because she had read many scholars and poets. She had worked with many people of faith and through many Christian organizations. Yet anytime she was in church it was to give a presentation, to network, or for some other reason. She had never gone simply to draw closer to God.
One Sunday she went and listened to the pastor preach, watched as the congregation prayed and discovered something surprising. It was not the words or the actions that impressed her although both were good and caring. No, what touched the woman was the spirit she found in that place. An acceptance and a welcome that was extended not because of what she knew or because of anything she had achieved but simply because she was seeking God.
So she returned to the church week after week. She found herself praying and thinking about Jesus and his death and resurrection and what it meant. The woman discovered within her time at the church someone deeper, more meaningful, and more satisfying than she ever had known in all her studies and in all her good works. She found a love and a grace that helped illuminate all that she knew and helped shape and provided purpose to everything she did.
The feeling of unease left the woman for through Jesus she found everything she needed in life. She came to understand her place within the world as a child of God, a sinner saved by Christ, and as a disciple guided by the Holy Spirit.
Peter Andrew Smith is an ordained minister in the United Church of Canada who currently serves at St. James United Church in Antigonish, Nova Scotia. He is the author of All Things Are Ready (CSS), a book of lectionary-based communion prayers, as well as many stories and articles, which can be found listed at www.peterandrewsmith.com.
*****************************************
StoryShare, August 24, 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.
