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Location: Blogs Brad's BlogMid-Week Missive |
 | | Posted by: Brad Miller | 1/16/2008 3:48 PM | It’s funny how something simple like a certain smell, a song, a not-often-heard phrase, a ray of light through a colored window, can take you back to a certain time or place in our lives. Today, I have experienced that feeling in a couple of ways.
First, when the weather forecaster laid out what might be in store for us over the next 36 hours, I was taken right back to getting up early when I was a boy and waiting to hear on the radio whether our school district was one of those that had called off school because of a snow storm. It is a wonderful sense of anticipation as they slowly go through the names of the different districts and they are on the “b’s” – Bloomfield Hills, Birmingham…then they finally get to the “c’s” – Canton, Clarkston…. “C’mon,” we would say, “get to the “d’s” already!” And then they started…Davison, Dexter…wait, that means they went right by “Detroit”! The sad truth is that Detroit schools almost never shut down. Most of us could walk to school, so why would they? But on the odd day that “Detroit Public” was announced, it was like we had just won the lottery. And if it was the day a test was scheduled…well, hallelujah, there really is a God!
The second time this transportation to another time hit me today was when I walked outside. There is a certain smell and feel when there is the possibility of snow in the air. Today I smelled that smell and felt that feeling. And I was transported back to the neighborhood park when I was 10 or 11 years old. It was a grey day like today. (Well, to be fair, almost every winter day in Detroit is a grey day like today.) There was a chill in the air, but it was not unbearable. We were playing football at the park when someone noticed the first snow of the season. It started slowly, but it began to pick up and pretty soon we were trying to catch it on our tongues, wishing it would snow harder so we could make snow balls, and generally exulting in this wonderful event.
The third time I was taken back was when I heard a disc jockey say, “Better stock up on your milk and bread.” I was taken to a time when my mother in law was staying at my sister in laws house recuperating from hip surgery. In the same house was our niece recuperating from a broken leg. Carol and I were living in Foxboro, Massachusetts about 45 minutes from Carol’s sisters house in Warwick, Rhode Island. To help take some of the burden off Carol’s sister, Carol and I would drive down to Warwick a couple of times a week to help do laundry and do the grocery shopping. On one of those trips, the weather forecasters were hinting at the possibility that we might be in for a bit of snow. When we went to the grocery store that night, the first thing we noticed was that the bread aisle looked like someone had stripped it clean! And the milk refrigerators were just as pitifully empty. I remember thinking, ‘Doesn’t anyone eat anything except bread and drink nothing but milk when it snows in Rhode Island?”
These are good memories. They are memories that remind me of where I come from, of my companions at various stages in my life, of loved ones that I miss terribly. They are of things that have helped shape me. They are of events that had an impact on me. And I had a similar experience in the sanctuary at Brookhaven this very week.
On Monday mornings, I usually go into the sanctuary to pick up anything that I have left in pulpit area on Sunday: my sermon, notes that I have scribbled, wadded up paper, whatever. This past Monday, I gathered up my stuff and sat in the front pew as I organized and decided what needed to be tossed and what needed to be kept. At one point, the light coming through the window behind the communion table got brighter and I was immediately taken back to the church I grew up in, St. James’ Methodist Church in Detroit. They were built about the same time, have similar architecture, very similar colored windows. And in that instant, I was back in the St. James sanctuary again. I flashed on Rev. Richards, my minister for several years who played a great role in my spiritual development. I remember my friends that I was in Sunday School with. I remember sitting in the balcony with my mother and watching my father come into worship with the choir. I remember the Christmas Eve that they announced that Mr. Welch had died unexpectedly. I remembered being confirmed in that sanctuary. I remembered how important that place was to me. I remembered so much. And it was wonderful.
I did not choose to relive these memories. But I celebrate the reason they came rushing in. Just as todays cold temperatures and the grey skies remind me of bygone winter days, on Monday those memories came to life because I was in a place that has become just as meaningful to me as an adult as the sanctuary at St. James was to me as a boy. In the BCC sanctuary I have been privileged to celebrate new life, to welcome people into the life of the church, to celebrate the joy of baptism, to say goodbye and memorialize people who have become dear friends. I have basked in the music provided by the choir, by Turley, by so many talented folks. I have heard prayers of people at the height of joy and the depths of despair. I have celebrated the sacrament of marriage with members and friends. What a blessing.
We are products of all the experiences of our past. It is a wonderful feeling to have warm memories of those experiences serve to show us just how blessed we are to have had them, and how blessed we are to be where we are today. When our past connects us to the present in such a way, I take it as a “God thing” and become even more aware of what an awesome creation God has made! How else can we explain such a phenomenon? I sure can’t think of a way. All I can do is give thanks.
For an updated prayer list and list of upcoming events, please go to www.brookhavenchristian.org
Announcements:
This coming Sunday is the 3rd Sunday of the month which means it is Fellowship Pot Luck Sunday. Bring a dish or two to pass and enjoy good food and good fellowship.
We are planning an In Home Bible Study for Lent and would welcome all adults who wish to participate. We will have a kick-off dinner at 6:00 on February 10th and then meet in small groups in home for 5 Sunday evenings. Please see the insert in the bulletin this week in worship or go to www.brookhavenchristian.org click on “Activities” and then on “News” for more detailed information. If you could respond by this Sunday, that would be great so we could begin to make more concrete plans. Thanks!
I hope to see you all this Sunday as we once again celebrate the Lord’s Day together. The sermon is titled “The Disciples’ Prayer” and the scripture is Matthew 6: 9-13. Keep warm and make sure you stock up on milk and bread!
Be peaceful,
Brad
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