Dear Friends,
Greetings! I do hope this finds you well. After I preached last Sunday, a number of folks in the congregation asked if I would send to Congress the gist of the Word that was delivered: God calls us to work with whomever God sends. So I pulled that section out of the sermon (I like to think of it as a nest that rests in the tree of the message) and re-worked it into a Focus column for our local church newsletter. A copy is also going to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and to the Speakers of the House and Senate. Enjoy
Shalom,
James
My father, the Rev. George E. Calvert (1928-2005), taught junior high school for 15 years. One day a boy raised his hand in class. George Calvert was delighted, because the boy had never once raised his hand to ask a question. George called on him immediately. “Mr. Calvert,” asked the boy, “do you have a white dog? It looks like you have white dog hair all over your pants.”
George said that in every class there would be a couple of adolescents who were challenged to sit still for 45 minutes, much less 6 or 7 hours. The other faculty in the Teachers’ Lounge would moan, saying, “If only I didn’t have so and so in my class, then everything would be perfect.” My dad would respond, “Work with whomever God sends into your space. The child you are complaining about really needs your love. Besides, if so and so left, another would take his or her place!”
Regardless of who is on your committee, in the pew, or in the group, work with whomever God sends. Regardless of who is your next door neighbor, your colleague at work, or the politician in office, work with whomever God sends. Work with whoever is your leader, your teacher, your pastor, your elder, your child, and your soul mate. God has sent these souls into your life, not for you to fight or argue with or define yourself over against, nor to do your spiteful best to overcome, disdain, or undermine. God sent these blessed souls into your life to be partners in God’s service, and for them to be yours.
George taught me to work with whomever the majority elected into office. We don’t need to agree or like everything s/he does, but we do need to work as a team. Citizenship starts with voting; citizenship continues with responsible actions. Our nation can ill afford to waste energy tearing down our leaders; at the same time our leaders need to cease putting down the American people. If ever there was a time for Americans from all walks of life to pull our oars together for a common cause and a shared destination, now is the time. Now is the time to start cooperating, to start reconciling, to stop tearing down and start building up.
Doris Kearns Goodwin wrote a terrific biography about Abraham Lincoln and his Cabinet called Team of Rivals. Abraham Lincoln’s wisdom, patience, self-made education, humble background, and multiple losses in campaigns and life all contributed to make Lincoln our greatest President. One of his leadership gifts was his willingness to gather together the wisest minds in the nation and place them on his cabinet to serve as his advisers and help run the country – even though many of the advisers had been his rivals for the presidency. Initially, most neither liked nor respected him. However, rather than surround himself with “yes men,” with advisers who might agree with everything Lincoln said, he sought out divergent opinions. He then synthesized the collective ideas into a clear plan of action for the greater good. At the root of this remarkable approach was a humility grounded in the love of God and an eye toward healing a hurting nation. Lincoln listened, learned, and led. He worked with whomever God sent, including rivals, rejects, rebels, and reconcilers.
Take the first step toward working together: listen with a heart of love. Learn from the wisdom of our ancestors about being humble enough to listen to those in our midst through whom God is working to heal the world, to heal our communities, to heal our relationships, and to heal our bodies and souls.
As always, First Christian Church of Decatur, I am delighted to be your pastor. Shalom, James Lincoln Brewer-Calvert