Lessons Of A Farmer
Stories
Object:
Contents
What's Up This Week
"Lessons of a Farmer" by Rick McCracken-Bennett
Who in the World Are You Trying to Convince Anyway?" by Rick McCracken-Bennett
"Whom Did You Go to See?" by Sandra Herrmann
What's Up This Week
There are many different facets to the season of Advent: preparation, patience, expectation, trust, hope, and many more. All of them come together to create the unique Advent worship experience. This week's StoryShare is an example of how these various concepts connect together this season. In "Lessons of a Farmer," Rick McCracken-Bennett offers us a natural view of the spiritual reality of patience and trust. Just as the farmer waits and trusts in God for the harvest, we wait patiently and trust in God's promise to become Emmanuel--God with us, this Advent. Just as patience breeds trust, trust and hope also go hand in hand, as seen in McCracken-Bennett's "Who in the World Are You Trying to Convince Anyway?" However, during Advent, for what are we hoping? What are we expecting? "Whom Did You Go to See?" by Sandra Herrmann gives us an example of how we can do the right things and yet miss the point of what we're doing. This Advent, as we worship, what is our expectation? In what are we trusting and hoping?
* * * * * * * * *
Lessons of a Farmer
By Rick McCracken-Bennett
James 5:7-10
Anyone who has grown up on a farm knows that there are many lessons that a person can learn if he or she just keeps his/her eyes and ears and heart open. This is a story about a young boy who does just that.
Be patient, therefore, beloved, until the coming of the Lord. The farmer waits for the precious crop from the earth, being patient with it until it receives the early and the late rains. You also must be patient. Strengthen your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is near. Beloved, do not grumble against one another, so that you may not be judged. See, the Judge is standing at the doors! As an example of suffering and patience, beloved, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord.
-- James 5:7-10
If you keep your eyes and ears open you can learn a lot growing up on a farm. David O'Malley did. Just ask his dad. Or his grandpa.
David was one of those boys who just loved to follow his dad and his grandpa around wherever they went and whatever they happened to be doing. If they were feeding the pigs (slopping the hogs, his grandpa called it) or plowing and disking the fields, David wanted to be with them and begged and pleaded until they gave in and took him along.
As he grew older he tried to help. He was always trying to do farm work even though the finer points of hog slopping and egg gathering eluded him much of the time. His dad and grandpa were patient... well, most of the time, as they tried to show him how to slop the pigs without getting more slop on him than he got in the trough.
One day David was tooling around the farm (as his grandpa used to describe him). After a while, his father began to wonder what he might be getting into in the way that a nine-year-old can get into things. All at once, he heard a racket in the hen house. He ran across the barnyard, pulled open the door just in time to find David, surrounded by broken eggs, shaking an egg, holding it up to his ear, and then bending down and breaking it open on the floor, much to the dismay, it seemed, of several of the hens. "What in the world do you think you're doing?"
"I'm trying to let the chicks out, Dad," he said as he went for another egg.
"No you don't," his dad said, biting his lip to keep from laughing. "Come here and let's clean up this mess and I'll tell you why that didn't work."
Yes, you can learn lots of things on a farm, if you keep your eyes and ears open.
One afternoon David's dad turned his back for just one minute and David was gone. Now this was in the days before you would think the worst when something like that happened, and so his dad took his time looking around the farm for him.
"What in the name of all that is holy do you think you're doing?" he shouted when he found his son lying on the ground next to two of the farm dogs who were, shall we say, being quite friendly with each other.
"I'm just trying to see what the dogs are fighting about but I can't tell, Daddy."
It was time for biting lips once again and for the first of many talks about the birds and the bees.
David turned ten in the spring and "helped" his grandpa and his dad plant the corn. Every night or so his dad would take him out to the edge of the field behind their house and show him how the corn was sprouting and then beginning to raise up shoots out of the ground. The rains were good that year and it wasn't long before the field took on the look of a bona fide cornfield.
One night after supper, David's dad walked to the field by himself only to find David already there. He stood a ways back and watched as his son stooped down, pulled out a stalk of corn, looked at the roots, and then threw the stalk away. Then he stooped down and repeated the process.
"What do you think you're doing?"
"I want to see if the corn is growing," David said matter-of-factly.
It was time for another lesson about farming. "Son, sit down here. You know, the most important thing you need to know about being a farmer is that you need patience. We plow the fields and scatter grain, as that old song reminds us, but then God sends the rain and God makes it all grow. There is a point in all that when you and I just have to step back and wait for God to take our good work and turn it into a harvest. You can pull up all the stalks you want, but you won't make it grow any faster and, in fact, you'll actually hurt the crop. Farming is all about trusting God to do what God is supposed to do. The harvest will come in God's good time. Do you understand that?"
"I think so," David said as he gazed with the eyes of a budding farmer at his dad's field.
Yes, if you keep your eyes and ears open you can learn a lot on a farm. You can even learn a lot about God.
Who in the World Are You Trying to Convince Anyway?
By Rick McCracken-Bennett
Isaiah 35:1-10
Sometimes when we get an inkling of a better future we have a difficult time convincing others that there is good reason to hope. Perhaps this is because we don't fully believe the vision ourselves. That wasn't a problem for Isaiah. He saw. He believed. Now he just had to convince the people that a time was coming when their "sorrow and sighing" would "flee away."
"Say to those who are of a fearful heart, 'Be strong, do not fear.'"
-- Isaiah 35:4a
Joe Meeks directed a treatment center. It was an inpatient program for alcoholics and drug addicts, housed in an old wing of a city hospital, and was home on any given day to twenty or so men and women who, if they weren't "sick and tired of being sick and tired" their family and friends and employers (if they still existed) certainly were.
Many, but not all of the counselors and nurses and physicians and other staff had been down that same nasty, rocky road themselves. Exiled from those they loved and those who loved them. Out of luck and out of hope. Tough love abounded. Compassion and wisdom were everywhere. The program had a better-than-average "success rate" and people came from all over the state to begin their road to recovery.
But times change, as time seems to do. Insurance companies began to think that 28-day programs were a bit too long. Then, after a while, that 21-day programs might be overkill as well and that maybe intensive and then not-so-intensive outpatient might be more cost effective and produce satisfactory results.
Then there were the new programs that were springing up all around the area. New facilities, younger staff, quieter, more relaxing settings, and flexible lengths of stay certain to please any employer and insurance company.
It wasn't long before the center began to have more open beds than the administration was happy with. And not long after that, the program, which used to turn a healthy profit, began to drain resources away from other departments. Joe was called in to the Executive Vice President's office and told that he didn't care how it was done, Joe had to turn the program around and fast or they would have to close it. Joe did exactly what you might expect...he panicked.
Then, after he calmed down a little, and stopped imagining himself and his wife and two young children adrift on the streets, he began to make a plan. It began with a trip to the library and a weekend immersed in every self-help book known to mankind.
It was all about attitude, one said. Another spoke about the need for positive self-talk. He read about goal-setting, thinking big, improving his people skills, making a plan and then working the plan... all that good stuff. Though he was tired. Exhausted, really. He felt oddly at peace as Sunday evening approached. He had a plan. He had positive self-talk. Now he couldn't wait to execute the plan. He called the unit and told the night clerk to post a notice saying that there would be an all-staff meeting on Tuesday between the third and first shifts and that second shift staff would be paid to come in for the meeting. He was excited. They were going to turn this place around.
But oh was he nervous! As the staff filed into the large hospital conference room, he could see their fear. He had heard that a rumor had been circulating that he was going to announce lay-offs. A second rumor, that got even more traction, was that the unit would be closing at the end of the month. Actually, he thought to himself, these false rumors will help when I tell them what we're really going to do.
Then he started the meeting with all the enthusiasm of the world's most positive motivational speaker.
He spoke of moving away from the past and their feelings of inadequacy in the face of a tougher clientele, rising costs, and competition on all sides. Instead, he pointed them to his vision of a future where people will actually be begging them to take their clients because they would have the finest staff with the best success rates in the business. Don't be afraid, he told them. There is a way out of where we are and no matter what obstacles get in the way, we have the wisdom and persistence to find solutions. He went on and on, despite the glazed looks and sideways glances and raised eyebrows of his staff.
As the staff filed out, murmuring to themselves, the unit clerk stayed behind. "May I ask you something?" she said.
"Of course. Anything."
"Who, may I ask, are you trying to convince? Us or yourself?" She turned on her heel and went back to work, leaving Joe to ask himself the same question, "Who am I trying to convince, myself or them?"
There was no question though about who needed convincing when Isaiah spoke of the desert rejoicing and blooming, of weak hands and feeble knees being made strong. No question either that Isaiah did not need to convince himself to "be strong and not fear." Nor did he have to jump around like a TV preacher with bad hair to convince himself that God was actually going to give sight to the blind, and music to the ears of the deaf, and leaping and dancing to the lame. Isaiah believed that there would be water in the desert and a four-lane highway for the people to travel home on. If some unit clerk had asked him who he was trying to convince, himself or the people, Isaiah wouldn't have paused for even a second, but would have said, "I am trying to convince the people, because I believe with all my heart that they are going to see the glory of the Lord and the majesty of their God, and that they will return to Zion with singing and dancing and joy and gladness."
Rick McCracken-Bennett is an avid storyteller, an Episcopal priest and church planter, and the founding pastor of All Saints Episcopal Church in New Albany, Ohio. Rick began his ministry as a Roman Catholic priest, and he has also served as an alcohol and drug treatment counselor and as the director of an outpatient treatment center for adults and children.
Whom Did You Go to See?
Sandra Herrmann
Matthew 11:1-11
Many years ago, Billy Graham came to Milwaukee to preach. Local churches were contacted in advance. There was need of a huge number of helpers, and the Crusade Team needed all the people they could get.
Some of the recruits were assigned to the job of ushering. As people rose from their seats to dedicate (or re-dedicate) their lives to Christ, these volunteers would escort them to the area below the stage for the blessing. There, a second group of volunteers would stand ready to pray with those who were coming forward. They were given literature to share with the new believers. They would hand out a list of churches for the people presenting themselves. Still another group stood ready to help people find their friends and relatives who were waiting for their loved ones to be ready to go home.
It was beautifully choreographed. Everyone received training. Local churches were assured that it is the goal of the Graham Crusade organization to refer people to local churches, where they could establish an ongoing relationship with God and make Christian friends. It was emphasized that the churches needed to be prepared to call this person over several months if they didn't stay connected with the congregation on their own.
My mother and father were among those who volunteered. They were very impressed with the organization and training. I had never seen my parents so enthusiastic about anything church-related! There was renewal in their congregation about the possibilities for the church as well as the newly dedicated members they might be gaining.
The evening arrived, and my parents were seated, not down in front, but in the stands of our local baseball stadium. It was explained to them that they would, by coming forward at the call, be breaking the ice for those who wanted to dedicate themselves but were shy. When these folks saw the volunteers coming forward, it would encourage them that they were not alone in coming forward.
There was a buzz of excitement as the volunteers gathered around for prayer. Reverend Graham himself led them, which was a thrill in itself. As he led them in prayer, and then spoke a few words with them about what the evening was all about, a murmur spread among them. They really had a sense of doing God's work, and that was thrill enough, but they were all impressed by the personal touch, and the humble way in which Rev. Graham explained that they were all, together, doing the work of God in bringing people to Christ.
Immediately after that session, the doors were opened to the crowd waiting to worship. Our stadium was filled! People had come from all over southern Wisconsin and northern Illinois, and some from even farther than that! The service began with some words by a member of the Crusade Team, and was followed by singing of familiar hymns. There were, of course, a couple of famous soloists, and a couple of well-known local folks to talk about their relationship with Christ and how much they owed to the Lord. At last, Reverend Graham came to the podium and led the huge congregation in prayer. Then he began to preach.
When the altar call was made, my parents, along with all of those who had volunteered to meet with the converted, went forward, followed quickly by hundreds of others.
My mother was sadly disillusioned. When I asked her why, she said, "Most of them weren't coming to dedicate themselves to Christ! They just wanted to meet Billy Graham. Some of them were downright angry that, having come forward at the call, they didn't get to meet The Man. This wasn't about meeting Billy Graham, it was supposed to be about meeting God! Every other person I talked to was already a part of a congregation. They already had a relationship with God. It was very disappointing."
Of course, just being a member of a congregation doesn't mean we aren't in need of repentance and renewal. Of those who went into the wilderness to see John the Baptist, some were leaders of the Jewish faith. Others held important positions. Even Roman soldiers came to listen and stayed to repent of their sins. Jesus is asking them the same question: Why did you go to hear this man preach? Did it mean anything to you, or did you just go because he was famous?
Sandra Herrmann is pastor of Memorial United Methodist Church in Greenfield, Wisconsin. She is the author of Ambassadors of Hope (CSS); her articles and sermons have also appeared in Emphasis and The Circuit Rider, and her poetry has been published in Alive Now and So's Your Old Lady.
**********************************************
How to Share Stories
You have good stories to share, probably more than you know: personal stories as well as stories from others that you have used over the years. If you have a story you like, whether fictional or "really happened," authored by you or a brief excerpt from a favorite book, send it to StoryShare for review. Simply email the story to us at storyshare@sermonsuite.com.
**************
StoryShare, December 16, 2007, issue.
Copyright 2007 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., 517 South Main Street, Lima, Ohio 45804.
What's Up This Week
"Lessons of a Farmer" by Rick McCracken-Bennett
Who in the World Are You Trying to Convince Anyway?" by Rick McCracken-Bennett
"Whom Did You Go to See?" by Sandra Herrmann
What's Up This Week
There are many different facets to the season of Advent: preparation, patience, expectation, trust, hope, and many more. All of them come together to create the unique Advent worship experience. This week's StoryShare is an example of how these various concepts connect together this season. In "Lessons of a Farmer," Rick McCracken-Bennett offers us a natural view of the spiritual reality of patience and trust. Just as the farmer waits and trusts in God for the harvest, we wait patiently and trust in God's promise to become Emmanuel--God with us, this Advent. Just as patience breeds trust, trust and hope also go hand in hand, as seen in McCracken-Bennett's "Who in the World Are You Trying to Convince Anyway?" However, during Advent, for what are we hoping? What are we expecting? "Whom Did You Go to See?" by Sandra Herrmann gives us an example of how we can do the right things and yet miss the point of what we're doing. This Advent, as we worship, what is our expectation? In what are we trusting and hoping?
* * * * * * * * *
Lessons of a Farmer
By Rick McCracken-Bennett
James 5:7-10
Anyone who has grown up on a farm knows that there are many lessons that a person can learn if he or she just keeps his/her eyes and ears and heart open. This is a story about a young boy who does just that.
Be patient, therefore, beloved, until the coming of the Lord. The farmer waits for the precious crop from the earth, being patient with it until it receives the early and the late rains. You also must be patient. Strengthen your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is near. Beloved, do not grumble against one another, so that you may not be judged. See, the Judge is standing at the doors! As an example of suffering and patience, beloved, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord.
-- James 5:7-10
If you keep your eyes and ears open you can learn a lot growing up on a farm. David O'Malley did. Just ask his dad. Or his grandpa.
David was one of those boys who just loved to follow his dad and his grandpa around wherever they went and whatever they happened to be doing. If they were feeding the pigs (slopping the hogs, his grandpa called it) or plowing and disking the fields, David wanted to be with them and begged and pleaded until they gave in and took him along.
As he grew older he tried to help. He was always trying to do farm work even though the finer points of hog slopping and egg gathering eluded him much of the time. His dad and grandpa were patient... well, most of the time, as they tried to show him how to slop the pigs without getting more slop on him than he got in the trough.
One day David was tooling around the farm (as his grandpa used to describe him). After a while, his father began to wonder what he might be getting into in the way that a nine-year-old can get into things. All at once, he heard a racket in the hen house. He ran across the barnyard, pulled open the door just in time to find David, surrounded by broken eggs, shaking an egg, holding it up to his ear, and then bending down and breaking it open on the floor, much to the dismay, it seemed, of several of the hens. "What in the world do you think you're doing?"
"I'm trying to let the chicks out, Dad," he said as he went for another egg.
"No you don't," his dad said, biting his lip to keep from laughing. "Come here and let's clean up this mess and I'll tell you why that didn't work."
Yes, you can learn lots of things on a farm, if you keep your eyes and ears open.
One afternoon David's dad turned his back for just one minute and David was gone. Now this was in the days before you would think the worst when something like that happened, and so his dad took his time looking around the farm for him.
"What in the name of all that is holy do you think you're doing?" he shouted when he found his son lying on the ground next to two of the farm dogs who were, shall we say, being quite friendly with each other.
"I'm just trying to see what the dogs are fighting about but I can't tell, Daddy."
It was time for biting lips once again and for the first of many talks about the birds and the bees.
David turned ten in the spring and "helped" his grandpa and his dad plant the corn. Every night or so his dad would take him out to the edge of the field behind their house and show him how the corn was sprouting and then beginning to raise up shoots out of the ground. The rains were good that year and it wasn't long before the field took on the look of a bona fide cornfield.
One night after supper, David's dad walked to the field by himself only to find David already there. He stood a ways back and watched as his son stooped down, pulled out a stalk of corn, looked at the roots, and then threw the stalk away. Then he stooped down and repeated the process.
"What do you think you're doing?"
"I want to see if the corn is growing," David said matter-of-factly.
It was time for another lesson about farming. "Son, sit down here. You know, the most important thing you need to know about being a farmer is that you need patience. We plow the fields and scatter grain, as that old song reminds us, but then God sends the rain and God makes it all grow. There is a point in all that when you and I just have to step back and wait for God to take our good work and turn it into a harvest. You can pull up all the stalks you want, but you won't make it grow any faster and, in fact, you'll actually hurt the crop. Farming is all about trusting God to do what God is supposed to do. The harvest will come in God's good time. Do you understand that?"
"I think so," David said as he gazed with the eyes of a budding farmer at his dad's field.
Yes, if you keep your eyes and ears open you can learn a lot on a farm. You can even learn a lot about God.
Who in the World Are You Trying to Convince Anyway?
By Rick McCracken-Bennett
Isaiah 35:1-10
Sometimes when we get an inkling of a better future we have a difficult time convincing others that there is good reason to hope. Perhaps this is because we don't fully believe the vision ourselves. That wasn't a problem for Isaiah. He saw. He believed. Now he just had to convince the people that a time was coming when their "sorrow and sighing" would "flee away."
"Say to those who are of a fearful heart, 'Be strong, do not fear.'"
-- Isaiah 35:4a
Joe Meeks directed a treatment center. It was an inpatient program for alcoholics and drug addicts, housed in an old wing of a city hospital, and was home on any given day to twenty or so men and women who, if they weren't "sick and tired of being sick and tired" their family and friends and employers (if they still existed) certainly were.
Many, but not all of the counselors and nurses and physicians and other staff had been down that same nasty, rocky road themselves. Exiled from those they loved and those who loved them. Out of luck and out of hope. Tough love abounded. Compassion and wisdom were everywhere. The program had a better-than-average "success rate" and people came from all over the state to begin their road to recovery.
But times change, as time seems to do. Insurance companies began to think that 28-day programs were a bit too long. Then, after a while, that 21-day programs might be overkill as well and that maybe intensive and then not-so-intensive outpatient might be more cost effective and produce satisfactory results.
Then there were the new programs that were springing up all around the area. New facilities, younger staff, quieter, more relaxing settings, and flexible lengths of stay certain to please any employer and insurance company.
It wasn't long before the center began to have more open beds than the administration was happy with. And not long after that, the program, which used to turn a healthy profit, began to drain resources away from other departments. Joe was called in to the Executive Vice President's office and told that he didn't care how it was done, Joe had to turn the program around and fast or they would have to close it. Joe did exactly what you might expect...he panicked.
Then, after he calmed down a little, and stopped imagining himself and his wife and two young children adrift on the streets, he began to make a plan. It began with a trip to the library and a weekend immersed in every self-help book known to mankind.
It was all about attitude, one said. Another spoke about the need for positive self-talk. He read about goal-setting, thinking big, improving his people skills, making a plan and then working the plan... all that good stuff. Though he was tired. Exhausted, really. He felt oddly at peace as Sunday evening approached. He had a plan. He had positive self-talk. Now he couldn't wait to execute the plan. He called the unit and told the night clerk to post a notice saying that there would be an all-staff meeting on Tuesday between the third and first shifts and that second shift staff would be paid to come in for the meeting. He was excited. They were going to turn this place around.
But oh was he nervous! As the staff filed into the large hospital conference room, he could see their fear. He had heard that a rumor had been circulating that he was going to announce lay-offs. A second rumor, that got even more traction, was that the unit would be closing at the end of the month. Actually, he thought to himself, these false rumors will help when I tell them what we're really going to do.
Then he started the meeting with all the enthusiasm of the world's most positive motivational speaker.
He spoke of moving away from the past and their feelings of inadequacy in the face of a tougher clientele, rising costs, and competition on all sides. Instead, he pointed them to his vision of a future where people will actually be begging them to take their clients because they would have the finest staff with the best success rates in the business. Don't be afraid, he told them. There is a way out of where we are and no matter what obstacles get in the way, we have the wisdom and persistence to find solutions. He went on and on, despite the glazed looks and sideways glances and raised eyebrows of his staff.
As the staff filed out, murmuring to themselves, the unit clerk stayed behind. "May I ask you something?" she said.
"Of course. Anything."
"Who, may I ask, are you trying to convince? Us or yourself?" She turned on her heel and went back to work, leaving Joe to ask himself the same question, "Who am I trying to convince, myself or them?"
There was no question though about who needed convincing when Isaiah spoke of the desert rejoicing and blooming, of weak hands and feeble knees being made strong. No question either that Isaiah did not need to convince himself to "be strong and not fear." Nor did he have to jump around like a TV preacher with bad hair to convince himself that God was actually going to give sight to the blind, and music to the ears of the deaf, and leaping and dancing to the lame. Isaiah believed that there would be water in the desert and a four-lane highway for the people to travel home on. If some unit clerk had asked him who he was trying to convince, himself or the people, Isaiah wouldn't have paused for even a second, but would have said, "I am trying to convince the people, because I believe with all my heart that they are going to see the glory of the Lord and the majesty of their God, and that they will return to Zion with singing and dancing and joy and gladness."
Rick McCracken-Bennett is an avid storyteller, an Episcopal priest and church planter, and the founding pastor of All Saints Episcopal Church in New Albany, Ohio. Rick began his ministry as a Roman Catholic priest, and he has also served as an alcohol and drug treatment counselor and as the director of an outpatient treatment center for adults and children.
Whom Did You Go to See?
Sandra Herrmann
Matthew 11:1-11
Many years ago, Billy Graham came to Milwaukee to preach. Local churches were contacted in advance. There was need of a huge number of helpers, and the Crusade Team needed all the people they could get.
Some of the recruits were assigned to the job of ushering. As people rose from their seats to dedicate (or re-dedicate) their lives to Christ, these volunteers would escort them to the area below the stage for the blessing. There, a second group of volunteers would stand ready to pray with those who were coming forward. They were given literature to share with the new believers. They would hand out a list of churches for the people presenting themselves. Still another group stood ready to help people find their friends and relatives who were waiting for their loved ones to be ready to go home.
It was beautifully choreographed. Everyone received training. Local churches were assured that it is the goal of the Graham Crusade organization to refer people to local churches, where they could establish an ongoing relationship with God and make Christian friends. It was emphasized that the churches needed to be prepared to call this person over several months if they didn't stay connected with the congregation on their own.
My mother and father were among those who volunteered. They were very impressed with the organization and training. I had never seen my parents so enthusiastic about anything church-related! There was renewal in their congregation about the possibilities for the church as well as the newly dedicated members they might be gaining.
The evening arrived, and my parents were seated, not down in front, but in the stands of our local baseball stadium. It was explained to them that they would, by coming forward at the call, be breaking the ice for those who wanted to dedicate themselves but were shy. When these folks saw the volunteers coming forward, it would encourage them that they were not alone in coming forward.
There was a buzz of excitement as the volunteers gathered around for prayer. Reverend Graham himself led them, which was a thrill in itself. As he led them in prayer, and then spoke a few words with them about what the evening was all about, a murmur spread among them. They really had a sense of doing God's work, and that was thrill enough, but they were all impressed by the personal touch, and the humble way in which Rev. Graham explained that they were all, together, doing the work of God in bringing people to Christ.
Immediately after that session, the doors were opened to the crowd waiting to worship. Our stadium was filled! People had come from all over southern Wisconsin and northern Illinois, and some from even farther than that! The service began with some words by a member of the Crusade Team, and was followed by singing of familiar hymns. There were, of course, a couple of famous soloists, and a couple of well-known local folks to talk about their relationship with Christ and how much they owed to the Lord. At last, Reverend Graham came to the podium and led the huge congregation in prayer. Then he began to preach.
When the altar call was made, my parents, along with all of those who had volunteered to meet with the converted, went forward, followed quickly by hundreds of others.
My mother was sadly disillusioned. When I asked her why, she said, "Most of them weren't coming to dedicate themselves to Christ! They just wanted to meet Billy Graham. Some of them were downright angry that, having come forward at the call, they didn't get to meet The Man. This wasn't about meeting Billy Graham, it was supposed to be about meeting God! Every other person I talked to was already a part of a congregation. They already had a relationship with God. It was very disappointing."
Of course, just being a member of a congregation doesn't mean we aren't in need of repentance and renewal. Of those who went into the wilderness to see John the Baptist, some were leaders of the Jewish faith. Others held important positions. Even Roman soldiers came to listen and stayed to repent of their sins. Jesus is asking them the same question: Why did you go to hear this man preach? Did it mean anything to you, or did you just go because he was famous?
Sandra Herrmann is pastor of Memorial United Methodist Church in Greenfield, Wisconsin. She is the author of Ambassadors of Hope (CSS); her articles and sermons have also appeared in Emphasis and The Circuit Rider, and her poetry has been published in Alive Now and So's Your Old Lady.
**********************************************
How to Share Stories
You have good stories to share, probably more than you know: personal stories as well as stories from others that you have used over the years. If you have a story you like, whether fictional or "really happened," authored by you or a brief excerpt from a favorite book, send it to StoryShare for review. Simply email the story to us at storyshare@sermonsuite.com.
**************
StoryShare, December 16, 2007, issue.
Copyright 2007 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., 517 South Main Street, Lima, Ohio 45804.
