REMEMBERING LARRY GLICK

“And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:” Hebrews 9:27)

This morning I learned that former Boston radio “talkmaster” Larry Glick died last night following ten hours of open heart surgery. The WBZ website listed him as 87, but I believe he was actually 86 and would have been 87 in May.

Learning of Larry Glick’s passing put me in a sad and reflective mood, for I did have a connection to Larry Glick which was more than just listening to him on the radio. For one thing, Larry Glick was a personal friend of my Uncle J.P. “Jimmy” Keddy. Jimmy Keddy was married to my Dad’s eldest sister, Bea. On the show, Jimmy Keddy was always known as “Mr. McGillicuddy” or “Jim McGillicuddy”. He was a frequent caller and visitor to Larry Glick. Although Larry Glick had a very charismatic, vivacious, and extroverted personality, Keddy described him as a shy man in private.

There are some people you just feel a CONNECTION to, and I definitely felt a connection to Larry Glick. Not only did I speak to him on the air several times, (and had a Glick University tee-shirt) but we spoke by phone off air several times. I was really honored that Larry Glick trusted me enough to give me his home phone number. Evangelicals will understand what I mean when I say I’d shared the Gospel with Larry Glick. Like a lot of people, he heard it willingly, but held to the belief that “whatever you want to believe, IF IT MAKES YOU FEEL GOOD, is O.K.” Well, Biblically speaking, that’s wrong and crazy! He was also very much into hypnosis, and put on a lot of shows as a hypnotist. I know he was very close friends with Paul Tavilla (of the New England Produce center) who was also a born-again Christian and so Larry indeed received the Gospel many times. Did he ever respond to it and “ask Jesus into his heart”? I don’t know. I do know he was born a Jew but embraced what I’d call a very loosy, goosy spirituality.

I said I felt a connection to him. For one thing, I’ve got a VERY similar personality. I’m very shy one-on-one but I have no problem getting up and speaking to large groups. Usually I’m an entertaining, captivating speaker, as he was. There was other stuff as well, such as him being friends with my Uncle, and the fact that his daughter’s wedding was the same day as my wedding: August 28, 1982. When I told that to Larry in one phone conversation, he said, “We’re connected somehow psychically.” Well, I’D never have phrased it quite that way, but I got his point.

Larry Glick was easily the most interesting and entertaining radio talk show host to ever grace the Boston airwaves. He retired in 1992, and there’s no one who has truly taken his place. I understand that over the past couple of years, he was working as a “greeter” in the evenings at Legal Sea Foods in Boca Raton, Florida. I’d love to have gotten down there sometime, had a great meal, and had another chat with Larry Glick, but alas, it’s not to be.

I’m misty eyed today, and my condolences go out to Larry Glick’s family.

ISSUES OF THE DAY

“Or those eighteen, upon whom the tower in Siloam fell, and slew them, think ye that they were sinners above all men that dwelt in Jerusalem?” (Luke 13:4)

Recently, a pastor friend shared with me an issue that has caused him to be at odds with his wife and at times even cause him to exchange tense words with her. The problem is that he likes things TOTALLY quiet in the morning (he’s a senior citizen- no kids or young people are in the home!). This guy savors the stillness and quiet of the morning...just walking around the house, sitting eating breakfast, and maybe exchanging pleasantries with his wife, but not much more. The wife has a habit of flipping on “Good Morning America” as soon as she comes into the kitchen, and she loves to watch the news, weather, and interviews. My friend sees this as a very bad intrusion of the world into their peaceful Christ-centered home. His wife just sees it as a way to stay connected and learn things.

He reports they’ve come to a compromise. When they are actually having breakfast, she turns the T.V. off. It annoys him, however, that when he’s not around, she rushes right to the T.V. and turns it on.

I didn’t say a whole lot to that pastor friend because in my home I’m much more like his wife and my wife is much more like him! I grew up in a home where either the television or the radio or BOTH were on almost all the time. My mother was what people would call a “news junkie”. She completed only one year of college, but when it came to current events,she was as sharp as the panelists on the McLaughlin Group. My Dad enjoyed radio talk shows, especially when they were talking about what was going on with state government. When I was a young kid, we always had a radio going in the kitchen. Then, when I was around 18, my parents got a T.V. for the kitchen. Every night we watched the news on Channel 5 during supper. I know that’s considered a real no-no with a lot of folks, but we did it. On Saturday nights, we’d often be eating hot dogs and beans and watching the Lawrence Welk Show!

As you can guess, I’m one of those types who walks in and immediately flips the T.V. or radio on. During the last year, my wife has had the talk with me that my pastor friend has had with his wife- that she really wants me to turn the media off and focus on her, my kids, and most of all God. I guess part of me feels I DO focus plenty on God and that staying on top of current events is a good thing, but I DO see how things can get unbalanced.

I chose the above verse, because I’ve often used that passage to prove that Jesus DID keep up with and discuss current events. In that passage, he not only talks about the news story of the tower in Siloam falling, but he talks about the Galileans that Governor Pilate had executed, mingling their blood with their sacrifices. So, it’s not wrong to discuss current events, but I guess if it really annoys one’s spouse, then one has to make adjustments in one’s lifestyle.

So, how about you? Are you a news and media person, or do you like things quiet and still? Do you think either lifestyle or preference is any more or less spiritual than the other?

A TOUCH OF GRASS

“...Behold, a sower went forth to sow;” (from Matthew 13:3)

For the past few weeks, my blog has been featured on the “Protestant Blog Directory” at
http://www.blogged.com/directory/society/religion-and
spirituality/christianity/protestant

I hope they don’t remove it when they read this piece because it's not directly and overtly about “spiritual”, “Protestant”, or “Christian” issues. Some of you who’ve read my blog for a long time know that especially in the early days I wrote about a wide variety of issues such as rental car companies, the history of carbonated beverages, the “Lost” television program, the benefits of vinegar as a weed killer, etc. My wife feels that I should strictly write about pastoral/Christian issues, while other people like when I write about secular issues. In the past few weeks, 80% of what I’ve written about has been “spiritual”, but today I decided to talk about grass...not marijuana, I mean GRASS as in a lawn!

Mary Ann is into vegetable gardening and flower gardening. I don’t get too involved in that stuff, but I AM one of those guys like “Hank Hill” on “King of the Hill” who really likes to have a nice looking lawn. I’ve already been out patching some bare areas of my lawn this year- in fact I did that over a week ago. On projects like lawns, timing is EVERYTHING. In Massachusetts, the very best time to plant grass, whether a full lawn or just patching and repairing, is September- preferably between September 1 and September 15 but you can usually get away with planting as late as September 26 or 27. It takes about three weeks for the lawn to “take”. Once it does, it will be fine for the winter. The snow is actually good for it...something about the nitrogen. Then, you’ve got some great grass in the Spring.

In Massachusetts, the second best time to plant grass is April- preferably between April 15 and April 30. Newly planted grass doesn’t need the temperature to be too cold or too hot...moderate to slightly warm temperatures are best, and sunny days alternating with rainy days are best. Lawns that are planted between June 15 and August 15 generally DON’T do well because it’s just TOO hot and there’s not enough rainfall. The rainfall that generally DOES happen at that time of year is the torrential rain of thunderstorms which actually doesn’t do a whole lot of good.

There are a number of things to remember when you’re planting grass, and you should be able to find some great information on-line, but one tip I’ll share is that the PARTICULAR VARIETY of grass is important. I learned this from listening to Paul Parent, a gardening expert on the radio. Everybody loves Kentucky Bluegrass, but it’s NOT necessarily the best variety to plant. Kentucky Bluegrass tends to have broader, thicker blades and a dark green (sometimes almost forest green) color. It LOOKS great. The problem is, it has a very shallow root system. Kentucky Bluegrass is especially hard to grow in very sunny areas. Due to the poor root system, many a hot and dry August has just about killed a lawn full of Kentucky Bluegrass. There’s a variety called Red Fescue which is heartier than Kentucky Bluegrass, and in fact some bags of grass seed are a mixture of Kentucky Bluegrass, Red Fescue, and Perennial Ryegrass.

The BEST variety of grass to produce a healthy lawn is Tall Fescue. It’s roots go about ten times deeper into the earth than the roots of Kentucky Bluegrass. It’s really HARD to kill Tall Fescue. Tall Fescue grass has a thinner blade and a somewhat lighter green color, but it’s very dependable. Something I’ve been known to do is buy a bag of just Kentucky Bluegrass and a bag of Tall Fescue and mix them and plant them together. That gives you kind of a nice color, but will ensure a heartier and healthier lawn. Incidentally, there are some varieties of grass seed that are “annual”. They’ll give you a lawn for one year and THAT’S IT! Stay away from that stuff!

If you’re actually putting in a whole lawn, you’ll need to roto-till the land first, then you’ll need to add in some good quality loam, rake it all in good, and then add your seed and tamp it down. After that you need water, water, water, and more water. Ten years ago, my wife and I completely redid my parents’ lawn in Canton. I will always remember that I was working on that project on the day of the Columbine High School massacre. It was a tough job. 1999 was one of the DRIEST years on record. It killed many lawns. My mother watered every day for three weeks, and NOTHING happened. She was getting discouraged with it, as was I, but suddenly the lawn burst forth and she had a fabulous lawn. A challenge that year was that there was a crabgrass invasion. That’s why experts say it’s better to plant a lawn in September, but my experience in Canton tells me it CAN be done. Incidentally, when you plant a lawn you need to put down some starter fertilizer, but NEVER put down REGULAR fertilizer. It’s too much for the new lawn and it can kill it.

Well, maybe this is more about lawns than you’d care to know, but I’m really NOT an “outdoorsy” person, and yet I’ve gotten pretty good at this lawn stuff.
If I can do it, anybody can!

HONESTY...

“Providing for honest things, not only in the sight of the Lord, but also in the sight of men.” (2 Corinthians 8:21)

Was it Billy Joel who sang those late ‘70s lyrics, “Honesty, is such a lonely work, everyone is so untrue; honesty, is hardly ever heard, and mostly what I need from you.”? Well, if it wasn’t Billy Joel it was one of those pop singers of thirty years ago.

Honesty.

Somebody sent me a FORWARD e-mail message just recently which told the story of a pastor who was new in a community and who received twenty-five cents too much as change at a supermarket register. He started heading home, thinking, “Well, it’s only a quarter, it’s no big deal.” He instantly became so uncomfortable about it that he had to just make his way back to the checker and give it back. The checker told him, “I knew who you were and I wanted to see if you were honest. I’ll be visiting your church next Sunday!”

I don’t know if that story is true or not, but we’re all tested in that area of honesty. I got home late last night from an Assemblies of God ministers’ meeting. It was a good meeting and I was in a good mood. Like so many adults of 2009, I just HAD to check my e-mail at 11:20 p.m. (I don’t know how I’m going to do with my “internet fast” when I’m on Sabbatical leave!) There was an e-mail from my friend Ed in Texas, entitled something like, “You’re Not Going to Believe This!”

Ed can be a very sensational writer- even more so than me! I wasn’t sure what to expect when I opened his e-mail. Ed is a former Assemblies of God minister. He pastored a church in suburban St. Louis for a number of years. His wife, an executive with a communications company, took a company transfer to Dallas about ten years ago. Ed gave up on pastoring and became a rural letter carrier. He had recently been sweating out “mail count”. “Mail count” is an official federal procedure which can determine your pay scale, the number of days you work, and even if you get to keep your job. Ed has been full-time for a number of years. He makes a pretty good salary, works Saturdays, but has Thursdays off for errands and doing things around the house. Ed had recently written that the carriers had been told most of them would lose their day off, have to work 6 days, and get pay cuts. One coworker of Ed’s was angry and said he’d quit.

Saturday morning, I received an ecstatic e-mail from Ed. Yes, he’s even more sensational than I am. He wrote that there’d been a “miracle” and after the word miracle there were about ten exclamation points. Ed was going to be able to keep his day off and keep his rate of pay. Most of his coworkers were not.

I felt his ecstasy! The Bible tells us in Romans 12:15 to rejoice with those who rejoice and I did. What a GREAT story! God has blessed Ed!

Last night, I opened Ed’s “You’re Not Going to Believe This” e-mail. Ed had carefully looked at the postal service’s paperwork and evaluation which had involved him keeping his job intact. He discovered mathematical errors! The postal service was WRONG! He did NOT qualify to keep his job, as is. The true information indicated he needed to also lose his day off and take a pay cut. He told his superiors. As of April 25, along with the others, he is losing his day off and taking a pay cut.

I am ashamed to admit that my first thought was, “Maybe he shouldn’t have told them. Maybe they wouldn’t have known. Maybe they would eventually find out, but in the meantime he’d be O.K.”

Well, of course those thoughts are wrong and sinful. They’re dishonest. NOT telling the superiors would mean having no integrity.

It reminded me of an episode of the 1990s CBS show, “Northern Exposure”. In that particular episode, Ruth Ann Miller, the elderly lady who ran the general store was under an I.R.S. audit. The female I.R.S. agent was going through a divorce and was under enormous personal pressure. For that reason, she did NOT notice that she’d made a major mistake in her calculations in Ruth Ann’s favor. At first, Ruth Ann was not going to report it. She reasoned that she’d been ripped off by the I.R.S. enough times, and that this was pay back. She wrestled with it and wrestled with it. The audit took several days and several sessions with the female agent. Finally, Ruth Ann said, “You made a mistake in your calculations.” and pointed it out. The viewer could tell it was painful for Ruth Ann, but at least she knew she’d done the right thing.

Romans 15:12 also says to weep with those that weep, so now I “weep” with Ed.
Yes, I know, many people are losing their jobs and it’s good that he still has a job. It is. But I know how Ed’s wired. He’s a lot like me. He needs that “mental health” day during the week to putter around the house, do things with his model train hobby, just take a ride to the mall, and so forth. He’s going to have to adjust to life without that stuff.

If you get twenty-five cents too much in your change today, what will YOU do?

THE "S" WORD

“And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.” (Genesis 2:2)

The title is THE “S” WORD.

What’s the S word? “Sabbatical”.

It’s ironic that I just wrote about my high school English teacher, Mrs. Kane, in my last posting entitled, “A Botched Joke?” because the first person I ever heard talk about sabbatical leave was Mrs. Kane. One day in class she was telling us that college professors often are given each seventh year off as a year of rest and enrichment. She was talking about what a great idea sabbaticals are, and that more professions should offer sabbaticals.

I was not aware (until I started mingling with liberal clergy) how common CLERGY sabbaticals are. For years and years in the Assemblies of God and in the more theologically conservative churches I NEVER hears of pastors taking sabbatical leave. Yet, among liberal clergy, and I don’t mean POLITICALLY liberal clergy, I mean the kind of clergy who don’t take the Bible all that literally and who may believe kind of an “I’m O.K./You’re O.K.” kind of thing, I’ve come to see that sabbatical leave is an extremely common practice. When you’re around liberal clergy, it seems someone is always going on or off a sabbatical.

Lest you think I’m criticizing the liberal clergy about this, I’m not. The evangelical churches are now realizing that the liberals got this thing about sabbaticals right. Our current District Superintendent (like a Bishop) Bob Wise is a strong advocate of pastors taking sabbatical leave. He’s introducing this concept to our District. He’s got quite a job ahead of him! Although he took a couple of sabbaticals during his 33-year-pastorate in Brockton, MA, he’s encountering numerous Assemblies of God clergy who have never heard of taking sabbatical leave and who feel it’s unnecessary. Yet, he’s pressing on with this, saying that if clergy are burned out and unhealthy, they will not have healthy churches.

The past eight months have been extraordinarily difficult ones for me. All the whys and wherefores are MUCH too personal even for ME to write about, but I contacted my District Superintendent in December to seek some counsel and direction. After a few meetings, he’s strongly encouraged me to take sabbatical leave. Yesterday morning, I announced to the church I pastor that I’ll be taking sabbatical leave soon. As I can tend to be one who shoots from the hip and then gives too much or too little information, I had a prepared written statement to read which my wife and Church Board helped me to prepare. It’s been decided I will have two months of sabbatical leave in 2009. One will be soon, and will be for total rest. The other will be later in the year and will be a time of personal and spiritual enrichment.

I must admit I had a hard time accepting all this at first. Whereas I was an incredibly lazy person when I was around 20, by my 40s I’d evolved into a control freak and a work-a-holic. Ultimately, that’s not healthy for me or for anyone around me. I have been really scared about the sabbatical because I’ve thought, “What if I don’t change? What if it doesn’t do any good?”

I’ve had to realize that God has seen me “through thick and thin” as they say. My life’s involved a lot of pain, and a lot of sacrifice. There have also been some great victories and some exhilarating moments. My mother was the type who “saw the glass half empty” and sometimes I’m the type who sees the glass as dirty and already in the dishwasher! (I stole that line from my friend Pastor Rob Woods who stole it from a guy in his church!) Yeah, I can look at the dark side of life which is, well, not good.

Boy, I’ve related to George Bailey, the guy in, “It’s a Wonderful Life” who goes to jump off that wrought iron bridge. He forgot that he was rich in friends and truly had a wonderful life. Remember it took “Clarence” to remind him of all that?! Speaking of Pastor Rob Woods, he happened to send me an e-mail a couple of days ago. He reminded me of a time I preached at his church a few years ago and told me of a young man who was very positively impacted for the cause of Christ that night by my sermon. That e-mail was more special than a million dollar check! So, yeah, I’m kind of burned out...and I need a sabbatical, and as Dick Martin of Laugh-In used to say, “I’ll be a better person for it.” I believe I really WILL!

I’ll be going on my first leg of the sabbatical shortly after Easter. Someone has already asked me if I’ll be e-mailing or posting on the blog during that time. I don’t think so, but I really don’t know. So, that’s the “S” word: sabbatical. I get to go on sabbatical. And speaking of “S” words, I guess that’s pretty SPECIAL!

A BOTCHED JOKE?

“Woe unto the world because of offences! for it must needs be that offences come; but woe to that man by whom the offence cometh!” (Matthew 18:7)

In signing on to AOL today, I noticed a news story stating that Alaska Governor Sarah Palin is offended at the remark President Obama made on late night television a few nights ago. It was one of those “shot heard round the world” deals, except that the “shot” was a verbal shot at the Special Olympics. Asked about his skills in using the White House bowling alley, the President said he might qualify for the Special Olympics. That’s one of those lines like Senator Kerry’s “botched joke” about being “stuck in Iraq” which can cause one to go from being a hero to being a zero.

I suppose I should give my opinion about Obama’s “Special Olympics” faux pas, but the truth is, as I’m writing and thinking about it, I’m not sure what it is. I did not vote for President Obama, and I disagree with him at least 50% of the time. That said, I can’t believe he REALLY disdains mentally retarded people or mentally retarded athletes, in particular. On the other hand, Governor Palin’s little boy had Down Syndrome. I can certainly understand her dismay, as that comment hit “close to home” for her.

This business of offending or not offending people can be a veritable mine field! I remember back in high school that Mrs. Kane, my Sophomore English teacher made a crack about the character Maxwell Smart on “Get Smart” who was played by actor Don Adams.

“When I see him, all I can think of is ‘JERK’!” she said.

What she didn’t know is that Mr. Adams’ neice Sharon Mason was one of the kids in the class! (No kidding! I also went to high school with relatives of actor Dustin Hoffman.) In a deadly serious and annoyed tone of voice, Sharon annouced, “He’s my UNCLE”. I think poor Mrs. Kane wanted to fall into the “Cone of Silence” after that one!

If I had a dollar for every person I’ve offended by something I’ve said, I think I’d be wealthy! My wife thinks I’m WAY too careless in my speech and WAY too inclinded to offend people. So, I guess as I think about it, I DO empathize with the President (and poor Mrs. Kane). My old boss D.C.M. used to say he enjoyed hearing me tell stories because I would impersonate each person I was referring to in the story. (That’s true...I DO that.) I remember one time impersonating this lady who was always taking big gaping breaths of air as she talked...like “Stevie” on the Malcolm in the Middle show. What I DIDN’T know was that the lady was a victim of lung cancer and that one of her lungs had been surgically removed! Another time (this WAS when I was in my 20s) I commented to a friend that somebody’s kid was kind of odd looking. I really thought she was just a “normal” but odd looking kid.

My friend looked at me HORRIFIED and said, “That child is BADLY DEFORMED!” hmmmmmmm, I’m glad Governor Palin didn’t hear that comment!

Certainly, I really DON’T advocate malicioulsy making fun of people! If someone had made fun of my father’s Alzheimer’s Disease, I don’t think I would have found that humorous. A friend died of A.L.S. a couple of years ago. Somehow, I don’t think a joke about somebody being paralyzed in a wheelchair would be all that funny, either. YET, I’m the guy who HAS at times made remarks akin to the President’s “mis-speaking” and frankly, SOMETIMES it’s actually led to people being SO offended that they left the church. No kidding. I hate having to THINK about EVERYTHING I say, on the one hand, and yet I REALLY don’t want to say things that hurt people on the other hand.

Another news item this week involved a “remote broadcast” that Boston’s 96.9 WTKK had at the Wilbur Theater for St. Patrick’s Day. It was the 10th Annual “Kiss Me I’m Imus” bash. You may know that when it comes to saying offensive things, Don Imus not only makes ME look like the late Fred Rogers of Mr. Rodgers’ Neighborhood; he even makes Rush Limbaugh look like Fred Rodgers of Mr. Rodgers’ Neighborhood! Off mike, and shortly after the start of the event, Imus called local talk show host Jay Severin over to him, used pretty harsh profanity, and told him to “get off the stage or I’ll shoot you!” Severin has made quite an issue of the incident, treating it as a serious threat. Imus says, he was “only joking”. On the one hand, if you go to a Don Imus event, that’s the kind of comment you CAN expect will be made. On the other hand, IS it ever appropriate to joke about shooting someone? And, what about when Ronald Reagan said, “The bombs start falling in five minutes”? Was that OK?

I guess just by LIVING offenses will come, as Jesus said! AND, “me thinks” that on the one hand we’ve got to all be more forgiving or we’ll ALL end up suing each other; and on the other hand, maybe my wife is right, and maybe the President and I DO need to think a bit more about what we’re saying and how our words might offend someone...

WHAT I WOULD HAVE TOLD MEL ROBBINS

“...and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear:” (from I Peter 3:15)

One of the many hats that I wear is that I am the Secretary of the Framingham Interfaith Clergy Association. We call it “F.I.C.A.” but people think we’re talking about social security! F.I.C.A. has an arrangement with the MetroWest Daily News that we write a monthly column for them. The particular clergy person who writes the column can have it reflect his or her theological views and political views which may or may not reflect the views and opinions of other members of F.I.C.A. Anyway, I was assigned to write the F.I.C.A. column for March. The person writing the column is supposed to submit it by the 10th of the month. I wrote and submitted mine today. This is what I wrote, and I hope it appears in the paper sometime in the next few days:

WHAT I WOULD HAVE TOLD MEL ROBBINS

Last Saturday morning’s Mel Robbins Show on Boston’s 96.9 WTKK proved to be quite interesting to hear as I drove to an Assemblies of God clergy meeting at our Southern New England District headquarters facility in Charlton. I first caught the last part of an hour which explored the topic of, “Why people lie”. In the next hour of the program, Ms. Robbins raised the topic of the recently published results of the American Religious Identification Survey. According to the Survey, twice as many Americans (that is, 15%) claim to be atheists as was the case twenty years ago. The Survey also indicates that the percentage of people who call themselves “Christian” has dropped 11% over the same time period, and also indicates that those who do identify themselves as “Christian” are less likely to attend church. In fact, Roman Catholic attendance and mainstream Protestant attendance is down, although there is an upswing in attendance at evangelical, Pentecostal and charismatic churches. Robbins claimed there is a “4,000% increase” at evangelical churches! I’m not sure where she got that figure! A recent on-line newsletter for clergy from Focus on the Family which I received indicated that the American Religious Identification Survey showed a slight increase in evangelical church attendance (but certainly not 4,000%)!

Mel Robbins asked people to call in and talk about whether they’ve fallen away from church attendance, and/or how people balance church attendance with the pressures of everyday life. She told of being “a very spiritual person” who used to attend a church in the D.C. area largely because “she loved the music” but lamented that her kids’ Sunday soccer games leave no time for church. She also expressed frustration that her mother feels she should be teaching her children Christian traditions such as “The Lord’s Prayer” and should be seeing to it that her children get a religious education. There was an eclectic mix of callers during that hour. In one way or another I’d say the majority fell into the category of, “I think as long as you believe in God and you’re a good person church attendance isn’t that important.”

Had I phoned into Mel Robbins, I might have said something like this: It IS true that church attendance in itself doesn’t equal spirituality. Some people attend church just to please family members, because they were raised that way, or even to make friendships and political connections. There are a sizable number of such people who may not even believe in God. I can understand why someone would find such behavior pointless. But I have a lot of sympathy with Mel Robbins’ mother’s position. While I was having my haircut this past Friday, my barber was lamenting the lack of morals and ethics in our present society. A guy about my age, he longs for a simpler time when most people attended church, believed in God, and held to more traditional values. We had a similar conversation just before Christmas. Television commentator Bill O’Reilley wrings his hands over the negative impact that “secular progressives” have had on our society. I think the barber and O’Reilley are 100% right. As much as this will make me sound like a “fire ‘n brimstone” 1840s revival preacher, we need to get back to God! I’m always shocked at the smart contestants who hold graduate degrees who’ll appear on Jeopardy and can’t answer a question indicating that Jesus gave the Sermon on the Mount or that Psalm 23 begins, “The Lord is My Shepherd”, or even that Genesis is the first book of the Bible. Billy Graham has said that to many people, “Jesus” is nothing more than a swear word.

I think families ought to make time for God and the things of God. Jewish families ought to join a synagogue and make synagogue life a priority. Catholic, Protestants, and those of other faiths ought to find a house of worship and get involved there. Most people want “a nice church to get married in” or “a nice minister to do Aunt Nellie’s funeral”. Frankly, if everybody just “decided to have their own private spirituality” and to go off to soccer games on Sunday morning or whenever, and if nobody stuck with organized religion, there would be NO “nice churches to get married in” or “ministers to do Aunt so-in-sos funeral”. Worse, there would be no faith groups to offer support during times of crisis.

Our church is very small and has limited resources. Yet, as a pastor I was gratified and blessed to receive two phone calls this past Monday morning lauding the wonderful services we had on Sunday. One elderly woman who is facing a number of pressing issues said, “I felt so GOOD. It felt so GOOD to be in the presence of the Lord. It felt so good to KNOW people cared.” Another call from a middle-aged woman expressed similar sentiments. In the Assemblies of God we say that among the reasons we hold church services is for fellowship with God and fellowship with one another. A number of years ago, when I was on staff at a large church a woman began drifting away from church services but let the pastoral staff know she was “watching Robert Schuller on television every Sunday”. Privately, the senior pastor told the staff, “Next time she’s in the hospital I feel like saying to her, ‘call Robert Schuller and see if he will visit you!’”

I think we can all get that senior pastor’s point. Admittedly, it can take a lot of work to rearrange your schedule and find a good church. There’s a very humorous episode of the animated show, “King of the Hill” in which the Hill family shops around for a new church because a new family has been sitting in “their” seats at the Methodist Church. Over several weeks, the Hills visit a Spanish-speaking Catholic Church, a frankly wild and crazy Pentecostal Church, a folksy church which is a throwback to the ‘60s, and a mega-church. After a few weeks at the mega-church, they come home to the Methodist Church where they started. When you’re looking for a church, you can feel like the Hills in that episode. One thing I tell people who are looking for a church is to never judge any church by one visit at one service. You may have happened upon an unusually bad or unusually good service there. Three visits over a few weeks will tell you what that church is really like. Yes, it takes time to find a good church, but they’re out there and with some effort and persistence, you’ll find one.

I hope the Mel Robbins’ of America will seriously think about their priorities and indeed make involvement with a local faith group a priority!