1 John 3: 1-7 (links validated 3/23/24)

Abraham Kuyper was among the 21st century’s most influential theologians. Yet he struggled with his inclination to “keep on sinning” (6). In his book, Abraham Kuyper: Modern Calvinist, Christian Democrat, James Bratt describes notes that “Kuyper was a great man, but not a nice one. “He was immensely talented, energetic and driven to great exploits … He was an ambitious person who sought power, and often felt uneasy over that quest. He could be congenial and polemical, sometimes to the same person in fairly quick succession … He loved having collaborators and disciples but drove them away when they stepped up as equals. In public he often showed a better understanding of God than of himself [italics added].”

always good insights!

An enduring memory of mine is the prayer card she had wedged into one of the kitchen cupboards, laminated of course so it could be wiped clean occasionally amid the chaos. It may be familiar to you. Many simply know it as the ‘Kitchen Prayer’. The first part of it goes… Lord of all pots and pans and things Since I’ve not time to be A saint by doing lovely things or Watching late with Thee Or dreaming in the dawn light or Storming Heaven’s gates Make me a saint by getting meals and Washing up the plates...

Here’s the real life story of Anne LaMott. She says: There is a coastal town of about 1,500 people [near San Francisco], where one of my first memories took place, of splashing with my parents and older brother in warm water that had pooled and warmed after the tide had receded. We used to go to the town fairly often for seafood dinners. It was artsy, hidden away, with gulls and pelicans overhead. We would have picnics there with friends and lots of wine, and elderberry hunts in the fall….There are sheltered beaches, tiled in shells and beach glass; and boats and fishermen, shaded lanes and towering trees; and a few overpriced places to eat (“Would you like a croissant? . . . That will be one hundred dollars”). Many of the townspeople go back generations; others came in the sixties…The colors there—of the water, the rushes, the impossibly rich vegetation—drive people to ecstasy and madness. In 1995, there was a huge and devastating fire on the long, majestic ridge that runs for miles out to the bay. Four older teenage boys from the town had camped at Mount Vision overnight, illegally, had built a campfire, buried it under dirt when they left in the morning, and caused a fire that destroyed 12,000 acres of wilderness area and nearly fifty homes.” Helicopters saved the town with water from the bay; the water was dropped on the pine forest between the town and the burning ridge. But the loss of wildlife was unimaginable: birds, deer, coyote, bobcats, mountain lions, beavers. It was as if a bomb had fallen. The four teenage boys who had accidentally started the fire turned themselves in early on, with their parents beside them...

In one of his books, Tom Long mentions a friend who serves as a hospital chaplain somewhere. One Ash Wednesday he slipped away from the hospital long enough to attend a mid-day service and so he returned to work a bit alter with a cross-shaped smudge of ash on his forehead. At one point as he entered the room of an older woman who was a patient that day, she immediately grabbed a Kleenex and said, “Come over here, dear, you seem to have gotten into something” and was clearly getting ready to clean up his dirty forehead. “No, no” the chaplain said. “You see, this smudge of ash is from an Ash Wednesday service where I was reminded that I am weak and frail, sinful and vulnerable and that soon enough my own life will return to the dust. But it also reminds me that on his cross, Jesus took all that away and has made me new and alive again.” The old woman thought for a moment and then said “I think I want some of that too.” And so borrowing from his own smudge, the chaplain made the sign of the cross on also her forehead. What we want in preaching is what John wanted in proclaiming the lavish love of the Father for us his children: we want to present the Good News in so lyric and compelling a way that others will want it, too.

In one of his books, Tom Long mentions a friend who serves as a hospital chaplain somewhere. One Ash Wednesday he slipped away from the hospital long enough to attend a mid-day service and so he returned to work a bit later with a cross-shaped smudge of ash on his forehead. At one point as he entered the room of an older woman who was a patient that day, she immediately grabbed a Kleenex and said, “Come over here, dear, you seem to have gotten into something” and was clearly getting ready to clean up his dirty forehead. “No, no” the chaplain said. “You see, this smudge of ash is from an Ash Wednesday service where I was reminded that I am weak and frail, sinful and vulnerable and that soon enough my own life will return to the dust. But it also reminds me that on his cross, Jesus took all that away and has made me new and alive again.” The old woman thought for a moment and then said “I think I want some of that too.” And so borrowing from his own smudge, the chaplain made the sign of the cross on also her forehead...

A Civil War chaplain approached a wounded soldier on the battlefield and asked if he would like to hear a few verses from the Bible. The wounded man said, "No, I'm so thirsty, I'd rather have some water." The chaplain gave him a drink, then repeated his question. "No sir, not now -- but could you put something under my head?" The chaplain did so, and again repeated his question. "No," said the soldier, "I'm cold. Could you cover me up?" The chaplain took off his inside coat and wrapped the soldier. Afraid to ask, he did not repeat his question. He made to go away, but the soldier called him back. "Look, Chaplain, if there's anything in that book of yours that makes a person do for another what you've done for me, then I want to hear it." (5) Walking the talk...

Her childhood years were very difficult. She was raped by her mother's boyfriend who was then killed by her uncles. The event caused the young girl to go mute for six years. She spent her teens and twenties as a dancer but she lived in social isolation from her earlier rape. At 16 she gave birth to a son after which she toured Europe and Africa in the musical Porgy and Bess. In the 60's she joined the Harlem Writer's Guild and became involved in black activism. Her first book, I Know Why the Cage Bird Sings was greeted with critical acclaim. She won the Pulitzer Prize in 1971 for Just Give Me a Cool Drink of Water 'Fore I Die . Maya Angelou, along with Robert Frost, was only the second poet ever invited to read a poem at a presidential inauguration. She read On The Pulse of a Morning that had been requested by the then President-elect Bill Clinton...

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