Category: Focus Columns

Dear Friends,

Greetings!  I do hope this note finds you well.

Very early in our tenure together as pastor and parish (Feb. 9, 1998 – present), the Rev. Dr. Fred Craddock was invited back to First Christian Church of Decatur to speak here during a Saturday morning breakfast program.  He and his family had been members of this congregation throughout the 16 years that he taught homiletics and New Testament studies at Candler School of Theology at Emory.  After retiring from teaching, he moved to the north Georgia mountains, where he co-founded Cherry Log Christian Church and the Craddock Learning Center, both in Blue Ridge.

Being the storyteller that Fred Craddock is, he shared with us a narrative of a young minister who starts out in a local church with a burst of energy and pizzazz, causing quite a ruckus, drawing in new people and starting fancy programs.  However after a brief period of time the new preacher burns out, fades out, and moves out.  Craddock compared that with clergy who may move at a slower pace yet are steady and remain present over a greater period of time.  He used an analogy that struck me at the moment and has remained a constant memory and challenge, almost like a spiritual talisman.  I’ll paraphrase his comment.  He said, “Some people are like a comet.  They come on the scene with great fanfare and flash, streaking across the sky with a bright light and a sparkling trail.  As quickly as they arrive they are gone.  Some people are like the Moon.  They’re not very fancy.”  He stopped to look up and contemplate an imaginary moon in the sky.  “Yes, there it is, again.  Guess it will be up tomorrow as well.  Steady, dependable, constant source of comfort.  Comes up every night and reflects the light of the sun.”  Then he paused and gently asked his listeners one question before sitting down.  “Are you like a comet, sparkly and bright and quickly done, or are you like a moon, steady, constant, comforting, reflecting the light of the Son of God?”

One day a blessed soul approached me with genuine concern for the well-being of another member of our faith community.  The request for help included a suggestion for immediate intervention.  My response was to encourage patience and grace, saying, “Let’s take a long view.”  We prayed together for God’s wisdom and guidance and lifted up the soul in need.  Afterward I added both troubled souls to my personal prayer list, paid attention to their patterns of behavior, and stayed in touch.  Thanks to the tender mercies of God, all parties are doing well and blessed with new spirits and a new hope.

Are you like a comet or a moon?  Comets get a lot of press.  The Moon is seemingly just there, steady as she goes.  However, you and I can appreciate that there are a multitude of gifts and benefits that come with moonlit dancing in the reflected light of the Son.

1.       When you are together for an extended period of time relationships deepen.  You know one another’s strengths and “growing edges”, sorrows and dreams.  You learn better how to care and listen.  You appreciate and cherish the narratives of your neighbors’ lives.  You let go of the temptation to judge and assume the responsibility of tolerance and acceptance.

2.      Dedicated engagement in a relationship includes the benefit of having a say in its direction and vision.  Those with no commitment for the long term have no right and no power to suggest substantial change.  Only those who are absolutely, positively committed to the people and the common cause may advocate change.  (This may help to explain why both passing comments and parting shots are so easily sloughed off, falling to the ground unheard and unheeded.)

3.      Silences between a couple yoked for years may cease to be a burden and grow to become a loving expression of understanding.  Likewise in a community setting, communication moves to a deeper, more spirit-filled level, which may include (but is not limited to) the divine gifts of human touch, silence, presence, music, storytelling, tears, and laughter.

4.      Trust takes a long time to build.  People who flit and fly from one relationship to another without staying the course miss out on the chance to build trust, which is the foundation of faith.  Trust, like respect, must be earned.  Once granted, relationships may deepen.

As always, First Christian Church of Decatur, I am delighted to be your pastor going on 15 years of together reflecting the Son’s light, and love, and laughter.  Shalom,

James L. Brewer-Calvert

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