CHRIST IN WINTER:
Reflections on Faith for the Years of Winter
Andre’ and Dorcas Hammonds
were our first really close African-American friends. Andre’ came to Indiana
State U as a sociology prof with a new PhD from the U of TN, the first
African-American to get a PhD at that institution, at the same time that I was
appointed to INSU as Methodist campus minister, with a new seminary degree. We
remained good friends over more than 40 years until his untimely death at the
age of 70.
As we got well acquainted
and became comfortable with one another, when we’d go out to eat, I’d sit
beside Dorcas and hold her hand and Andre’ would have to sit beside Helen,
which was a good arrangement, because Andre’ and Helen loved to talk about fragrances,
while Dorcas and I couldn’t care less how they smelled. Well, a little bit. But
it made people stare, especially in the 1960s. Once Andre’ said, to me, “You
just like to stir the pot.”
Andre’ knew me better than
I knew myself in our early professional years, but I came to embrace his
perception of me. I did like to stir the pot, just because it was fun to see
the reactions.
Like the time we were
talking in church board about a stewardship campaign. I suggested that each
member of the board take a few minutes in worship, on successive Sundays, and
tell the congregation about how much money they, as leaders, give to the
church, and why. There was stunned silence, broken when Joan Gregg blurted out,
“I’d rather get up in church and talk about my sex life than tell how much
money I give.” Everybody began to nod. Yes, that was a possibility, but
certainly not my suggestion.
Most of the time, though,
I had more than fun in mind. When confronted with any situation, humans take
the tried and true way, the easiest way. To get stuff done, you have to make
the easy way hard, or remove it altogether. When trying that, you usually get
better results if it’s done in a fun way.
After my suggestion, our
church board was suddenly open to new ways of doing stewardship. Well, not
totally. Basically they all just tripled their own giving so the matter would
never come up again at all!
Old people sometimes make
outrageous suggestions, or do outrageous things, or wear outrageous outfits, just
because we like to see the reactions when we stir the pot. But old folks need
to take that task seriously. We can get away with stirring the pot when a lot
of younger people can’t. The social and political pot is full of “Pease
porridge hot, pease porridge cold, pease porridge in the pot, nine days old.”
It really needs to be stirred.
JRMcF
I tweet as yooper1721.
I was going to end with “Spoooooon!”
since you need a spoon to stir the pot, but I doubt that there are many Tick
fans among my readers, so few would understand. “Spoon!” is the battle cry of
The Tick, the big blue superhero, who got the idea for “Spoooon!” while eating
Drama Flakes for breakfast. Jen Unger Kroc gave me Tick comic books when she
came to see me after my cancer surgery, and I have loved both Jen and The Tick
ever since. Well, I loved Jen long before, but we got to bond over The Tick.
The Tick was meant as a spoof on super heroes, but even false super heroes
can’t help trying for justice. So The Tick stirs the pot with his “Spoooon!”
Of course I love The Tick
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