Grace

Have been away for a week on a mission trip to Honduras. More on that later. I want to go back to a meal I had on July 3rd.

I wa invited to lunch by one of our wonderfull older adults, a woman nearing 100. She had been good to me in the past, giving me small gifts along the way during my time at Saint Mark. One of th ethings I have not done real well in my time here has been to tend to the older adults and shut ins of the church. I carry some guilt over that, and keep working on freeing up more time to do a better job in that area. When this good lady invited me to lunch I was more than happy to go, but I wasn't sure what the ocassion was.

It turned out that the reason for the visit was simply to spend some time with her preacher. She comes from the old school in terms of relating to preachers - she holds themm in high regard and wants to know hers as well as she can. And she has seen some good ones at Saint MArk since she came to the church back in the 1930's. She had her family there, and we had an absolutely wonderful lunch. Her people are old Atlanta - going back to the Civil War - and all of us had a good time sharing stories about the Atlanta we remembered from years gone by: things like Rich's and the Atlanta Crackers. It was a great experience. And at teh end, when I was getting ready to leave, she gave me a gift.

I thought when I left that I had just had a right powerful experience of grace. I had done very little to merit any gift from this good lady, hardly enough to get any attention from her. And yet here I was, leaving having had a wonderful meal/time and being given a tangible gift as well. I understand that some of that is rooted in my role as her pastor, but still......... Lots of folks would not have done what she did. Grace. I was grateful.

Jimmy

Potter

Julie and I were in Dahlonega for the fourth, and while we were there we went shopping for some wedding presents. If you're getting married and we're invited, the odds are extremely high that you are going to get as a gift a piece of pottery from Brad Walker. Brad has been making pottery and selling it on the square in Dahlonega for around 20 years. He makes beautiful pieces.

After lunch we went into Brad's store and Julie picked out what she wanted to give. As we were paying we began to talk. Brad showed us an article from th eAJC from several years ago that he had been reading when we came in. It wasby an Episcopal priest in Atlanta. He had once been a Franciscan, and the article was about his understanding himself to be a fundamentalist in the sense of Saint Francis - namely one who is focused on the love of God and neighbor as the core of religious life. The article ended with the famous prayer of Saint Francis. Brad and agreed that Francis and this priest pretty much had it right.

Brad began to talk about other authors that he found meaningful in his mixture of Buddism and Christainity. He likes Thomas Merton, the great Catholic spiritual writer who died tragically in 1968. He likes Thomas a Kempis' the Imitation of Christ ( a very influential book for John Wesley). He really likes Saint John of the Cross and the classic work The Dark Night of the Soul. Most of these authors he has on his shelf there in his store! I recommended Henri Nouwen and Brian McLaren to him. I knew Brad had a pretty deep spiritual side, but I did not know the depth of his reading and thinking. Right there on the square in Dahlonega.

He was in Vietnam in 1969 and 1070, and we talked briefly about that, and he showed us a writing he had done during his stay there when he began to realize, "this is crazy". We named Josh's experience in Afghanistan, and Brad just shook his head and was grateful that Josh was back safely. We talked a few moments more and he said, "It's amazing what we will do for greed." I agreed.

It was a great visit. I came away with more than two pieces of lovely pottery.

Jimmy

The 4th

Julie and I went up to our cabin at Camp Glisson for the 4th of July. We enjoy getting to the cabin anytime, and we know Dahlonega will have plenty of 4th of July activities. Among other activities we saw a pretty good fireworks display at the Lumpkin County High School last night.

It's almost impossible not to think about our fighting men and women when you are in Dahlonega for this holiday. Every road coming into the downtown area is lined with white crosses, each cross with the name of a person from Lumpkin Country who has fought in a war going back to World War I. An American flag is attatched to each cross. If the person remembered was killed in the war, there is a KIA on the cross. One of the stricking things to me about this display is how many of the names are from World War II = I would guess almost 70% of the total number. I have heard it said that almost every household in America was directly impacted by that conflict, and the crosses in Dahlonega would seem to bear that out. I sometimes wish we had equally moving ways to honor people who ohave given their lives to peacemaking, but these crosses and flags are a powerful reminder of so many who have sacrificed so much to preserve our freedom.

My son, Josh, fought for a year in Afghanistan. He recently gave me a book to read that was written by a member of his unit. The title is Blood Makes the Grass Grow Green. This book has got me to thinking about soldiers as well, especially my son. Perhaps because it hits so close to home, this book has been the most troubling read I have done so far on our current combat operations. As written, Army recruiters lie (a theme in everything I have read), the Army beaurocracy often is lost in space, we don't do well relating to the Afghani people, and the whole experience is enough to scar most anyone involved. When we talk about the sacrifices
our soldiers make, we need to understand that all of them are impacted deeply by their service, not only those killed and wounded. Josh and I are having some good conversations around the book and his experiences, as I continue to try to understand as best I can what he went through. The 4th is a good time to reflect on those who have served in this way.

Jimmy