The Cost of Our Choices – Clanging Cymbal Alert*

In 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt proclaimed four essential human freedoms in a speech to Congress: freedom of speech and expression, freedom of worship, freedom from want, and freedom from fear.  I remember understanding these freedoms through the sentimental – stirring paintings of Norman Rockwell. One of those paintings is all tied up with Thanksgiving – good food, good times shared with the family and good friends.

But, what’s been going on this November 24, and 25, 2014 in Ferguson Missouri, shows we aren’t as free from all those terrors – and some of us hurt and hunger – we aren’t as whistle clean as a Rockwell character. The good we could do, we don’t and the stupid mean stuff we should not do . . . well some of us are doing it! Ferguson isn’t a panorama of our nation’s troubles – but it is a sharper image of what still needs fixing. 

What might the National Guard, who now protect these American properties from angry crowds, be thinking -- what memories are stirred, remembering maybe their own tours in Iraq or Afghanistan?

For a couple of hours – it sure seemed like war in Ferguson! Thanks to ever-ready cable news, we knew something big might come, and they were right there with the blow by blow.  And in just a couple of hours, people lost businesses and property – maybe even their self-confidence and resolve. No reason justifies the rioting – and no reason excuses mistreating the poor.

It’s been forty-six years since Dr. King was assassinated – over fifty since the first marches stirred many people to examine their consciences – and others to appalling violence.  Many people have fought and won hard battles – and others have behaved badly – or not at all. 

I wish media folk would listen to men and women who can shed more light than heat on the deep divisions in our nation – and can inspire us to get off our collective rears and work for reconciliation and healing.  I hope you click through on the links and read the entirety of their wisdom and admonitions:

Martin Luther King, Jr., wrote, “We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly.” We are in this together. (Dr. Tony Evans on Ferguson Mo)

My sons have far more to fear from making bad choices than they have to fear from the police. Voddie Baucham is the pastor of preaching at Grace Family Baptist Church in Spring, Texas. (Thoughts on Ferguson)

 Happy Thanksgiving.

*1 Corinthians 13:1

Preparing for Thanksgiving 2014

As we soon head into November, preparing for a national holiday, Thanksgiving, I slipped into Grinch mode when I picked up the current Real Simple, a favorite magazine. They changed the name from Thanksgiving to Friendsgiving. I closed it, and gave it away.

I know, I know the day is often renamed Turkey –day or shortened to T-day, and I get that the fourth Thursday in November has become more about serving good food and having good times with friends. Thanksgiving kicks off the combo celebration, the Christmas holidays – a time whose origins are becoming as unfamiliar as Thanksgiving -- and is an accurate reflection of our nation’s values. (Secularism on the Rise) But changing the name, from Thanks- to Friends – bugged me.  

Maybe because the pictures of the table spread, dishes and food made me examine my gratitude, and how lavish my thanksgiving is for so much I take for granted.

Some churches believe they are under no obligation to observe what truly is a secular holiday, although couched in religious sounding jargon: a day to offer "Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens" (A. Lincoln)

Others set the Wednesday evening before as a time of praise and fellowship, and thanksgiving to God. Growing up, our family went to church the Wednesday before Thanksgiving –because it was expected. Thirty-five years ago, we went to church the night before – because we wanted to – and we did so for decades, until we stopped, for a variety of reasons – all of which made sense at the time. 

Which is crazy.

I’ve reached the age and stage of life where getting out of bed and breathing is a gift! 

Do not take anything for granted — not one smile or one person or one rainbow or one breath, or one night in your cozy bed. ~Terri Guillmets

When unexpected circumstances bewilder me and often rob me of joy, and I feel boxed in by my age and stage -- being thankful steadies me: If you want to turn your life around, try thankfulness. It will change your life mightily. ~Gerald Good

Thankfulness is an essential of ours that makes an older person a pleasure to be around, or a pain. The mother of a friend knew her short-term memory was gone, and cheerfully acknowledged her deficit. And inevitably followed with an expression of thankfulness for her son, whom she said was better to her than twelve daughters. Her conversation was unfailingly loving, if repetitive.

I would maintain that thanks are the highest form of thought; and that gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder. ~G.K. Chesterton

So, I guess I better stop grinching, and be grateful for the magazine that made me think about my own attitude.

Thou hast given so much to me,
Give one thing more, — a grateful heart;
Not thankful when it pleaseth me,
As if Thy blessings had spare days,
But such a heart whose pulse may be Thy praise.
~George Herbert

Thanksgiving 2011

Refreshing my Purpose

Planning a family meal on Easter was a lot of work – it usually took most of Saturday, and another hour or so Sunday morning. I made the same menu for many years from Southern Living Party Cookbook: Leg of lamb in pastry, a rice casserole, fresh asparagus, and a salad.  Some years were more successful than others. When I cooked, Doug dutifully dyed eggs with the kids – and hid them in the yard early next morning. 

Trusty Kitchen GUIDE

Just like the memories of orchestrating so many Thanksgiving dinners, these recollections of Easter dinners make me want to remember who was there:  For several years, it seemed like we had a minimum of 10 or 12 for a leisurely lunch. My mother was a guest most years, Doug’s father came occasionally, Doug’s aunt and his cousins, and other friends also joined our family and were later drafted into hunting eggs, and then re-hiding them. Every so often, I’d find an especially well-hidden one when putting in plants later in May. (No rats!)

Clean up often carried over until Monday.

Freed now from so many responsibilities, I wonder what being a grateful guest means.    

Heather Holleman in a recent blog gave me a concrete task: Be the Spoon. 

No matter how tasty a dish looks, without a serving piece, who can properly sample it? For many people gathering around this holiday's table, Christ may be as perplexing to them as access to appetizing food is without spoons. 

“Christianity feels this way to so many people; they can't get into the Promised Land because they're missing a way to access it. They hover about it all, but they don't know how to enjoy it. They need spoons.”  Live With Flair

So, here’s one serving spoon:

But from this earth, this grave, this dust,
My God shall raise me up, I trust.  ~Walter Raleigh

What would yours look like?

I Peter 3:15