Super Bowl and Supper Bowl

There will be many sports fans and especially football fans whose eyes will be focused on Atlanta and a football game being held there in a few days.     Families and friends perhaps already have plans to get together and to feast on their favorite foods.   Some will be quite interested in the football game, while others will be more interested in the social gathering, food, or the television commercials.   We call that game the “Super Bowl” and it has been called the same for several decades.    This year,  my interest in the game is not particularly high due to the fact that the NFL team I follow, the Carolina Panthers, did not even make it to the NFL playoffs.

Whether you are an avid sports and football fan or not,  I invite you to not just think about the Super Bowl, but also the supper bowl.    A few years ago,  I began to hear about church youth groups that were having fund-raisers near the date of the Super Bowl that they called the Soupper Bowl.   Their point was to draw attention to a local, national, and global issue:  hunger.   While most of you reading this will have the ability to eat  more than you really need on Super Bowl Sunday, that same day there will be people in our community and beyond who do not have enough food to eat.  

World hunger is a large issue.   There are many reasons why children, youth, and adults will go to bed hungry tonight.    I will not take time to explore all the reasons partly because I believe it is a complex issue.  While some would like to avoid the issue by saying that all people are hungry because they are not willing to work, I contend that the issue is not that simple.    What I do know is that while many will be stuffing themselves with their favorite foods on Super Bowl Sunday, there will be many in this world who will not have a supper bowl before them.  

Since world hunger is such a large issue, it is tempting to do nothing.   As a follower of the One who fed the hungry long ago and proclaimed himself as the “bread of life”,  I urge you as I urge myself to do something.   While none of us has the capacity to eliminate hunger, all of us have the capacity to do something and get involved.  Help feed the hungry.    Take some canned food to a local food pantry or perhaps volunteer to help there.   Instead of waiting till Christmas to come around again to put money in the Salvation Army kettle, send them a donation now.    Find a way to make a difference.   This week, I invite you to not just focus on the Super Bowl, but also the supper bowl.   I guarantee you that a good feeling will linger in you long after the football season is over.  Have  a joy-filled week.-  Pastor Randy Wall

Prayer:  Lord, we remember those in our community and world who live with the pangs of hunger.  Give us the compassion and the motivation to make a difference in their plight.   We pray these prayers in the name of the One who fed the hungry, Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen. 

I Hate Snow, I Love Snow

When I was a boy, I can recall that my Grandpa Wall would listen at lunchtime every day to the news and weather on the local radio station, WBBB.    While we are in a 24/7 news cycle today, such was not the case in those days.   Grandpa would ask us to be extremely quiet especially when we would listen to the weather forecast shared by someone with the National Weather Service at the Greensboro airport.     This time of year,  our ears perk up with a little more interest in the weather forecast when they mention that four letter word that brings glee to some and disgust to others:  snow.   

I hate snow.   Nancy Hatch Woodward says this about snow:  “Snow brings a special quality with it- the power to stop life as you know it dead in its tracks”.   Such is especially the case in the Carolinas where I live.   As a pastor for over 40 years, the mention of the word snow in the Carolinas always prompts the question of whether to cancel a church meeting, a church event, or Sunday activities.    If it  was my decision alone, I would like to never cancel Sunday worship but I try to err on the side of caution concerned that ice or snow might bring injury or accident to some faithful follower of Christ who desired to exercise their freedom to worship.    I hate the uncertainty about whether the schedule of the church or businesses I frequent will go as usual.  

I hate snow.   I also love snow.    John Burnside says this about snow:    “Snow isn’t just pretty.   It also cleanses our world and our senses, not just of the soot and grime of a mining town, but also of a kind of weary familiarity, a taken-for-granted quality to which our eyes are all too susceptible.”   I love how snow can turn a stark winter landscape into a winter wonderland and how snow can transform the world around us.    Snow makes us see the world around us in all its beauty and splendor.

Back in the 1990’s, I took a trip to Israel and the Holy Land about this time of year.      I know not how often snow comes to that part of the world, but it must every now and then.     The prophet Isaiah has snow on his mind when he writes,  “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow;   though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.”   (Isaiah 1:18).      God transforms the world around us with snow and that same God transforms our lives through his forgiveness and grace that we find in Jesus Christ.       You see, there is another four letter word  that changes everything-  love, the love of God.   Have a joy-filled week.-  Pastor Randy Wall

Prayer:  Lord, you are the God of sun and snow, of wind and rain.   We thank you for providing for all our needs.  We especially give you thanks for the forgiveness and grace that is ours through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.   Amen.  

The Power of the Hyphen

When one year ends and a new year begins, I usually will take some time reflecting on some of the events of the past year.  Recently, I thought about some of the people that died in 2018.  They included the following:

• George H.W. Bush and Barbara Bush- former President of the U.S., former first lady
• Paul Allen- co-founder of Microsoft
• Stan Lee-  comic book writer, super-hero creator
• Aretha Franklin- singer, entertainer
• John McCain-  United States Senator, U.S. Navy veteran
• Burt Reynolds- actor
• Penny Marshall- actress

These are just a few well-known people that died in 2018.  There are many more people that could be named who served our country, entertained us, and impacted the quality of our lives.  Of course, there are people most of us could name who died in 2018 who are not well known or famous, but who touched our lives in significant ways and whose names are written on our hearts.

As you read this, it is near the birthday of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.  Certainly he touched our lives, our country, and our world in remarkable ways.   Former President Jimmy Carter tells the story in one of his books about attending the funeral of Rev. Martin Luther King Sr., father of the slain civil rights leader.   President Carter tells that during the funeral one of the pastor participating in the funeral spoke about the power of the hyphen.   The pastor said that most every gravestone has on it the name of the person and also the date they were born and the date they died.   In between the date of their birth and the date of their death is a hyphen.  Jimmy Carter tells that the pastor went on to speak about the fact that all of us have a date we are born and a date we die.   While none of us can control those dates, all of us are given a choice about what happens between our birth and death. 

Each of the persons listed above who died in 2018 left a legacy that will is lasting well after their death.  What will be our legacy?   One person put it this way:  “Our life is a gift from God.  What we do with that gift is our gift to God.”    Have a joy-filled week.-  Pastor Randy Wall

Prayer:   Living God, I thank you for the gift of my life and for the gift of new life in Christ.  Let your Spirit fall fresh on me to help me to live my life in a way that is pleasing in your sight; through Christ our Lord.  Amen. 

Slow Taking Down Your Christmas Decorations?

People have different ideas about putting up and taking down Christmas decorations.  When I was a child, my parents did not decorate the Christmas tree and hang the stockings until just a few days before Christmas.  Today, there seem a lot of folks put up their Christmas decorations in early November or around Thanksgiving at the latest.   Just as there are different ideas about when to put up Christmas decorations, there are also different ideas about taking down Christmas decorations.  .  A friend once shared with me that he had a relative who took down her Christmas decorations on Christmas afternoon.  Of course, there are some people that leave up Christmas lights on their home exterior all the time. 

I don’t know what Miss Manners or Amy Vanderbilt would say about what is the socially acceptable practice of putting up and taking down Christmas decorations, but I do know this: Christmas in its purest form is about the birth of Christ Jesus.  Followers of Christ Jesus should feel no hurry to take down their Christmas decorations as the “twelve days of Christmas” stretch from December 25 to January 6.  January 6 is known as the day of Epiphany for church tradition has it that it took 12 days for the wise men to reach Bethlehem and the Christ child once they saw the “star of Bethlehem”.  So, if you still have your Christmas decorations up or just put them away till another Christmas season comes along, do not despair.  If your   neighbors have been looking at you with a frown because the Christmas lights are still in your yard,  hold your head up high.  You are not a proscrasinator, but are simply still celebrating the birth of the King of Kings, Lord of Lords. 

When my daughter Ginger was young, it seemed that we celebrated her birthday for weeks.  I used to tell her that she did not have a birth-day, but a birth-month.   Isn’t the birth of the One who saved us from our sins and rose from the dead on the third day worth a celebration that lasts for a while?   Have a joy-filled week.  --  Pastor Randy Wall

Prayer:   O God, Christmas Day is over, but still we celebrate the goodness and glory that the Word made flesh, Jesus Christ, came among us and saved us from our sins.  Thank you for Christmas.  Amen. 

A Poem for the New Year

Recently, I was sifting through some of my old college yearbooks and came across a poem that I wrote and was published in the Methodist College (now known as Methodist University)  1972 college yearbook.    Though it is over 4 decades old,  it is as appropriate today as it was when I first wrote it.   It also is appropriate as each of us start a new year.  I share it with you as follows:

Found

Tomorrow is in the past,

Its sorrows and mishaps.

I’ve closed and locked the door

On past failures and heartaches

And now I’ve left yesterday behind

To seek another home

And furnish it with faith and laughter

And not a bit of gloom.

No not a thought shall enter me

That has a hint of hate

And every malice and prejudice

Shall never there in reside.

I’ve closed out yesterday

And locked the door behind-

Tomorrow holds hope and life

Since I’ve found today.

The apostle Paul puts it this way in Philippians 3:13-15:    ¹³ Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, ¹⁴ I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.  Have a joy-filled week and a blessed new year of 2019.-  Pastor Randy Wall

Prayer:   O God, you are alpha and omega, the beginning and the end.  Thank you for bringing me through the challenges of this past year and for the blessings you gave in 2018.   Thank you for the new beginnings you give in this new year.   Help me to live life in this new year in ways that are pleasing to you;  through Christ our Lord.  Amen.