Singing

This is my newest article for the Southern Sentinel, entitled "Singing"

I heard someone say that can’t wait to get to heaven, because when they get there, and they join in the heavenly choir, they know for once, their voice will sound good. I understand that thought. Some folks question if I can preach. No one questions that I can’t sing. I wish I could. But, unfortunately, that gift went to my wife. And to the choir at First United Methodist. And, to a lot of folks here in this town. But, not to me.

But, in this time of year, I feel like singing. There is just something about the Christmas season. It is something about this time of year. Maybe it is the sparkle in a child’s eye when they see Santa Clause around town. Maybe it’s the joy that ripples throughout town while watching a parade around the square. Maybe it’s the hairs on the back of neck being raised when you hear a Christmas song sung in the just the right way.

But, whatever it may be, in this time of year, we just feel like singing. Now, that is not to say that everyone feels that way. For some of us, this is not the happiest time. Perhaps it’s the first Christmas without the one we love. Perhaps this time of year brings back bad memories. Perhaps we’ve been struggling and there is not as much under the tree as we’d like.

It’s then that the truth behind the songs that are sung becomes most real. We sing not in praise of Santa or the tree of the family or anything else. We sing in praise of the fact that unto us a Babe was born. One was born to save us from our sins, to teach us to love each other, and to love us.

This year, sing out. Sing not because life is perfect or easy. Sing not because we have everything we want. Sing not for any of these reasons. Sing because you are loved! You are precious in God’s sight. You are of a sacred worth! You have been given a gift that is great than anything you could ever imagine!

You have been loved by a Mighty God. You are loved by a Might God. That is why we feel like singing.

A Whispered Prayer

Here's my newest article for the Southern Sentinel

A Whispered Prayer

My daughter has recently learned to say the blessing. We’ve always said one before we have eaten together. That’s how I grew up. My dad would always say a prayer over the meal before we would eat. It’s all I know. So, as I now have my own family, I took to saying the blessing when we would sit down to eat. Plus, I’m a preacher, and that’s what preachers do. I always joke that during this time of year when we sit down to different meals with different families, I pray for food. Literally. I pray, I get to eat. As my cousins joke, “Andy, you get paid to do it anyway!”

But recently, that’s recently changed. My three year old, Sarah, she has learned the old blessing that so many of us learned in our childhood, “God is great, God is good, let us thank Him for our food. By His hands we are fed, Give us Lord our daily Bread. Amen.” And, now I’m bragging, but for a three year old, she does pretty well. And, I’ll also brag, it makes me really proud of her when we sit to eat at the house, or with complete strangers, when she bows her head and says the blessing for us.

But, she doesn’t say it very loud. She’s young, she’s a little quiet, and unlike her dad, she doesn’t have a loud voice. Sometimes, it can be hard to hear what she is saying when she prays.

Bill Moyers once was asked to give a blessing when Lyndon Johnson was President. Moyers said the prayer, but not very loudly. After the blessing the President commented, “Moyers, I couldn’t hear what you said.” Bill Moyers replied, “Sir, I wasn’t talking to you.”

I don’t care if my daughter ever says her prayers loud enough for me to hear. She’s not talking to me. She’s talking to God. So is it with all of our prayers. When you pray, you are talking to no one else, but our Father in Heaven.

Today, take time to talk to God. Don’t worry about what you will say. The words don’t matter anyway. What matters is the heart. Take time to talk to God. He wants to hear from us. Today, let us whisper that prayer. It doesn’t matter if anyone hears or not. God hears. And He’s who we are talking to anyway.

On the Road Again

This is my latest article for the Southern Sentinel

One of my earliest memories may tell you a great deal about me. One of the things that I remember first from my childhood was my brother bringing home a new 8 track that we played in our home stereo of Willie Nelson singing “On the Road Again.” I remember that like it was yesterday and to this day I love that song.

That may be because I come from a family of travelers. My dad is a trucker driver. Before they adopted me, he used to travel long haul, all over the country. When they got me, he hauled boxes between Fernwood, MS and Birmingham. And now, he hauls chickens for Sanderson Farms in McComb. My brother was a trucker driver, too, before an injury. He hauled groceries, and then the mail all over the Southeast.

But, Andy, you’re not a trucker, right? You’re a preacher? That’s right. But, since we’ve been in the ministry, I’ve lived in Jackson (Raymond, to be exact), then the Delta (Cleveland) and East Mississippi (Philadelphia). And now, here in Ripley. So, my family has gotten to see a lot of this wonderful state, and we’ve been able to sing “On the Road Again” some ourselves.

I tell you this to remind you about how great it is to have a home. You don’t know the adventure of traveling, if you don’t have a place to lay your head on at night. You don’t know how fun it is to see new things, if you don’t have something familiar to come back to. You don’t enjoy being gone unless you have something to come back to.

As someone still pretty new to Ripley, and Tippah County, I’m sharing all this with you to let you know, as someone not “from around here” what a wonderful place we live in. What a great part of the world to call home. We live a great part of the world with community spirit, with a desire to be the best place we can possibly be.

What a great place to call home! As we travel a lot during this season, with all the places we will go, with all the time “on the road again” don’t forget where home is. Don’t forget what great place this is, and don’t forget to do your part!

For, the only way that our home can continue to be the great place it is, is if we all do our part! In this season, and in the coming New Year, let’s all do our part to continue to make Ripley and Tippah County the shinning stars that we know that they are!

Articles

I just posted a couple of new articles that I have written for the Southern Sentinel. I hope you enjoy them!

The Eye of the Storm

One of the fascinating things about a hurricane is the eye. It is in the middle of the storm, almost ride dab in the center of a hurricane. The winds are raging all round the eye. The waves are crashing. The power and chaos of the storm whirls completely around the eye.

Yet, the eye is calm. Even in the worst storms, the eye is relatively safe. On the Coast, when the eye of a storm pass over, folks can actually walk outside, take a look around, and see the damage that has been done. It can be a chance in a storm to take note of how things are.

But, the eye doesn’t last long. Before you know it, the wind is wiping, the rain is falling, and the storm is back. The winds shift directions after the eye passes, but the result is often the same. The storm is back with its full force.

I hope this past Thanksgiving was an eye for you. I know many of you had a lot of work to do, lots of cooking, cleaning, and other things that were essential to do. But, I hope that even in that, if just for a moment, you were able to find a time to let the winds pass around, to let the work and worry slide away, and, if just for that one moment, rest in the joy of family and thankfulness.

I hope you had your eye. For, the busyness of the season is upon us. There is much work to be done. There is shopping and cleaning and cooking and church and family and this and that. And instead being full of the Holiday Spirit, we are just tired.

So, we need to find our eye in the storm whenever we can. Maybe it’s a cup of coffee with your children. Maybe it’s the look of joy on a child’s face when they see what St. Nick has left for them. Maybe it’s hairs on the back of necks being raised when we hear “O Holy Night.”

In this season, find time for your eye. For, if you don’t the storm of busyness will wash us away. Make time for your eye. Even in the strongest storm, there is an eye. Even in the busiest season, there is a time for rest. For, if we don’t, the storm will blow us over. Take time to enjoy the season. Take time to find your eye.

The Clock

A couple of months ago I preached my best sermon yet at First United Methodist. I say this rather humbly. The reason why it was my best was because it was my shortest. As a mentor of mine once told me, “Andy, there is no so thing as a bad short sermon.”

The reason this sermon was shorter than usual was because my clock was wrong. I have a clock I keep on the front row to help me know what time it is and to keep track of how the worship service is running. Well, that one Sunday, some of young men (and you know who you are!) moved my clock ahead 10 minutes. So, instead of getting out at our normal time, we got out 10 minutes early. When I found out, it made sense why I go so many compliments on my sermon that day!

I got a good laugh out of this, but it also got me thinking about time. Sometimes we want time to move a lot faster than it is. When we are in the doctor’s office, the clock moves so slowly. When we are waiting to hear results from a test, it moves so slowly. When we are waiting to get out of school, it moves so slowly.

Sometimes, it moves too fast. You turn around and your kids are grown. You look up and wonder where the years went. You suddenly realize that life is moving and moving fast.

So, we have to make the best of our time. Today is gift. Today is day that unlike any before it or to come. It is precious in its own right. It is something to be lived in, cherished, and taken advantage of.

We can’t do anything about the past. It is done. We can’t control the future. There is nothing we can do about it. But, today, this moment, it is ours! It is given to us by God for a purpose and for a reason.

But, let’s be careful, for if we don’t, we’ll look up and it will be over. It will be like my missing 10 minutes that morning. We look around saying, what happened? Where did the time go?

While there is no such thing as a bad short sermon, lives are not like that. Let’s not live short lives. Let’s not waste time. Let’s not forget just how important this moment is. Let’s live. Let’s live fully and deeply in the moment God has given us. Let’s live in this day, this time that the Lord has given.