So Much More Than the Final Chapter

Thank you, Royals. The way that they have played baseball these last weeks has unified our city. They have turned our fountains blue. They have given us reasons to go to the office wearing jeans and Royals togs. They have given us something to stay up late to watch, and something to talk about the next day.  They have filled up the stadium and the Power and Light District and countless other venues around town. They have even caused people of all faiths to wear shirts that say, “Believe.”  As a city, we have come together in all sorts of different ways to celebrate this team, and I am deeply appreciative of them for those things. 

Last night, they gave us a thrilling end to this ride, taking the World Series to the bottom of the 9^th inning in the 7^th game.  Yes, they lost that final game, but that does not diminish all of the other things that they have done for this city, nor does it take away the fact that they made it farther this year than every other team in baseball but one.  This year in baseball has been defined by so much more than the ending of that one game. Thank you, Royals.

This weekend is All Saints’ Celebration in worship, where we thank God for the gift of those persons who have entered God’s kingdom this year.  Only a very, very few of us will be remembered most for our final moments. Instead, the stories that are told about us will be about how we lived our lives. We will be remembered for how we lived and loved and gave. No, it is not our final moments that define us, it is the rest of our life that reveals what is essential about us. When all is said and done, what story do you want your life to tell?

The Royals have given us a great story with this amazing season.  Thank you, Royals!

Focus

My apologies for the graininess of the picture above. (Look! Do you see Sasquatch?!!)  Look closely at the middle of the picture, at that thick black tree branch.

After leaving church Monday afternoon, I took the schnoodle for a walk in Fleming Park in the blessed late October warmth. As I walked along the trail, I noticed that big black tree branch and wondered idly why it was so different from the other branches. The walk itself had been beautiful, with so many beautiful sights and smells.  The tree leaves were brilliant, and hawks and gulls wheeled about overhead. The woods smelled ripe and crisp. I found that as I walked and observed, I kept lapsing into prayer, thanking God for the beauty of the day. Other times, when my thoughts moved to people or situations of concern, I would lift them to God in prayer. It was that type of glorious walk that feels surrounded by the presence of God.

Until that moment when I came nose-to-nose with that unusually thick and black tree branch and realized that it was not a tree branch. 

It was a large black snake sunning in a tree.

All gentle and prayerful thoughts fled, and so did I.  (The picture above was taken from a safe distance, once I had stopped running and possibly screaming.)

As I write these words, I’m out of town at a seminar for pastors.  Ken Callahan is our leader, author of many books over the past decades.  His teaching today urged us to focus on and claim our strengths and those things that bring us joy.  He pointed out that to focus on those things that make us tense and anxious will serve simply to give those things power in our lives.

Case in point: my lovely walk in the woods became Death Encounter with Killer Snake in a heartbeat. My personal danger (which was, in reality, nonexistent) did not change a bit from the moment before I noticed the snake to the moment that I did see it. The snake was still sitting there, happily sunning, but his happy snaky sunning changed my experience only because I allowed it to.  My reality didn’t change, but what I gave my attention to did change.

I think Paul had it right in Philippians, when he said, “Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honourable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things” (Philippians 4:8).