It's Ironic

It’s ironic: Pansy always is better at taking care of herself.  But she’s in the hospital as I write this, and I’m running loose around town. 

I’m overweight.  

I don’t eat right.  

I don’t get enough sleep.

After an hour’s workout in the therapy pool at the Y, most days I spend the other twenty-three hours on my back or on my gluteus maximus in front of the computer.

Meantime, 

She keeps her weight pretty much in check.

She eats lots of fresh fruit, green salad, and very little meat.

She turns to a pumpkin about 8:30 each night.

She’s the handyman around the house, and I’m all thumbs.  So she’s up and down the fourteen steps in our three-level house fourteen times a day and all around the house and yard, tending her flowers, her hummingbird and cardinal feeders, and generally looking for things which need attention.

So, how come Pansy’s in the hospital while I’m here in front of the computer?

At times, she would feel an irregular heartbeat, and she would be dizzy.  After her general practitioner physician tried various things to locate the problem, she had Pansy do a stress test.  

That pointed to a slow flow of blood in the lower ventricle. 

That led to a referral to a cardiologist.

That led to an outpatient appointment at our hometown medical center (We don’t seem to have hospitals any more.  They’re all Medical Centers) for a heart catheterization. 

We went to the hosp -- er, Medical Center -- this morning, with the understanding that if the cath agreed with the stress test, Pansy’s stay would change from outpatient to overnight.

The two tests agreed, so the cath led to the insertion of two stents to override the seventy percent blockage in the right coronary artery (In this case RCA is NOT the brand of a television).

So now we’re reversing our roles: She's on her back for about twenty-three hours and I’m out running around taking care of things.  For today.  Tomorrow, she’ll be chomping at the bit to get back to her favored routine ASAP.

Otherwise, I’ve been making calls to our sons and their families in Chicago and New York City, letting them know what Mom has been going through and what we can expect next.  Also notifying my siblings ‘way out in Texas and friends and colleagues closer to us in South Carolina.

Vicky, wife of our son Jonathan in Chicago, is an obstetric nurse.  So when Pansy and I talk with them about things medical, we’re always eager to get her reading.  Vicky and Jonathan freaked out -- fearing something much worse than a couple of stents -- when they learned of Pansy's impending hospitalization.  I was on the phone with them and with our older son Russell in New York several times through the day and evening.

Pansy and I are at the age that we ought to expect body systems to start malfunctioning and needing attention.  Still .  .  .  reality may not set in until it starts happening to your one and only.

Robert Browning painted a rosy picture of later life in “Rabbi Ben Ezra” when he had the spiritual leader say, 

Grow old along with me!

The best is yet to be,

The last of life, for which the first was made.

As we grow older, many of us find it difficult to declare “the last of life” to be “the best.”  But because I believe in the afterlife, I can affirm Browning's lines which follow:

Our times are in His hand

Who saith "A whole I planned,

Youth shows but half; trust God: see all, nor be afraid!''

But without the hope of eternal life, that first assertion rings hollow.  The last of this earthly life may be the worst rather than the best.

By the way, Robert Browning lived to be seventy-seven, but he was only fifty-two when he wrote “Rabbi Ben Ezra.”  Who knows what his perspective would have been if he had written twenty years later.

In our present situation, the doc and the extended medial staff at the -- um -- Medical Center gave optimistic reports.  Everything went well.  So this should prove to be a brief stay.  For this, we give thanks to the medical professionals and to God.

As they were wheeling Pansy away to the operating room, I called out, “Take care of my wife!”  A male medical technician who had told me he is from the Bronx replied, “We are trusting her to His hands.”  I couldn’t see the Person he had in mind, but I said, “Yes, but I want Him to guide your hands as well.”

He did.


P. S.  Three weeks later

Pansy stayed overnight in the -- uh -- Medical Center.  When we got home, she stayed close in for ten days, resting most of the time while I played Mr. Nurse.  We went back to the cardiologist where they made more tests, this time on the abdomen and legs.  They kept us in suspense for another ten days before we made another trip to the office.  This time, we learned there were no serious problems: the abdomen is clear, and the legs have minimal plaque.  So they said, "See you in six months .  .  . for additional tests."  Of course.

Gertie Jones Was a Caring Mother and Our Longtime Friend

After church and lunch were over on Sundays, Gertie Jones usually did a debriefing with her preschool son Walter on his Sunday school experience.  One week, she quizzed him about details of one of the Bible stories young children typically hear (maybe Moses being adopted by Pharaoh’s daughter or brave young Daniel in the lions den).  When she determined the facts he had retained, she moved to his thoughts or feelings about the story.  His assessment: “It was pretty good, Mama, but it was a rerun.”

Walter’s evaluation has haunted me for fifty-plus years.  If a preschooler recognizes he is hearing the same old, same old, what does that say about the need for fresh approaches for all ages in religious training in our churches?

When I learned this week that Gertie had died, my thoughts went back to our early encounters, including her telling that story.  I was the associate minister in her church.  She was the conscientious volunteer coordinator of children’s work, and one of my jobs was to organize and supervise educational activities, including Sunday school.

Gertie’s husband, White Jones, was the first person I ever talked with from Anderson, South Carolina.  As a member of the search committee from Pope Drive Baptist Church,  White called me in Louisville, Kentucky, where I had recently graduated from seminary and was hoping and praying for a job opportunity.   As you probably have guessed, the church offered me the associate minister position, and I accepted.

Across the decades, I knew Gertie as a parishioner, as a wife and mother, as a church lay leader, as a senior citizen, as a resident of a nursing home, and as a dear soul experiencing dementia.

In those early years, while White was on the road each day as a wholesale representative for Sullivan’s Hardware, Gertie had her hands full with their two young sons.  When I came to Anderson in 1959, Walter was an older preschooler, and David was a toddler.  She often talked with me about ways to improve the instructions her sons were getting.  In that context, she told me the rerun story.

After a few yeas, I left Pope Drive Church and joined the faculty of Anderson College, now Anderson University.  Then after a few more years, I left Anderson, so I missed seeing Walter and David grow up.  But I came back to the University and reconnected informally with Gertie and White.  During my absence, White had stopped his daily hardware route and established his own hardware stores in Anderson.

White and Gertie and Pansy and I often wound up eating on the same night in a meat-and-three restaurant.  So we kept in touch that way.  When White died several years ago, Gertie continued coming to Roy’s on Friday nights, accompanied by a woman she hired as her helper.  That was when Pansy came to know Gertie on a personal basis.

Gertie was always an affectionate, demonstrative person.  She would hug and kiss us when we met at the restaurant and recalled the old days at Pope Drive.  Then there was usually another round of hugs and kisses when we went our separate ways.  It wasn’t unusual for her to pick up the tab for our meal.

Both sons were living in other states, so when it became necessary for Gertie to have full-time care, they secured a place for her in the Garden House Retirement Center in Anderson.  This is one of three retirement homes Pansy and I go to each month to lead worship and communion services.  So our association with this dear friend continued for several additional years as she attended services each month.

In time, Gertie couldn’t always call my name, but she knew that she knew me.  So, as an attendant helped her into the worship area, Gertie would make her way to me and hug and kiss me before we got the service underway.

When Gertie had been at Garden House a few years, David returned to Anderson to live.  At first, she continued living at the center.  An accomplished singer and pianist, David regularly led Sunday afternoon hymn-sings for the residents.

When David eventually took his mother to the family home in Anderson,that ended our regular contact with Gertie.  But Pansy and I often discuss our times with this warm-hearted lady, and we will miss her.

On Level Ground

The pastor of a prominent church in Washington, D. C., told of a Sunday morning when a United States senator and his wife came forward at the end of the service to join the church.  It was the kind of church that might readily attract the movers and shakers in the nation’s capital.  In that same service, an Asian man who worked in a laundry -- perhaps the stereotypical “Chinese laundryman -- also came forward along with his wife.  Two families from drastically different social, cultural, economic, and racial backgrounds.  But the pastor and the church made no distinction in receiving the two families.  Many from the congregation came by and gave warm greetings to the laundry worker and his wife alongside the senator and his wife.  As the pastor described that scene to seminary students, he said, “The ground is level at the foot of the cross.”

As we think of what happened in the Washington church and what the pastor said, we know this is the central truth of the Gospel.  We are all on level ground as we respond to God’s invitation through Christ.  We may not all be on level ground in the church.  We may set up human barriers that stratify people, even in the church.  But to whatever degree we seek to have all members on level ground, to that extent, we fulfill Christ’s vision of His church.

Our Bible passage from the sixth chapter of Luke takes place as Jesus calls twelve men to be His disciples.  Shortly after this, He and his men come to a place where there are many people with many needs.  Listen carefully to verse 17:

He came down with them and stood on a level place, with a great crowd of his disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea, Jerusalem, and the coast of Tyre and Sidon.

I especially want to call your attention to the first part of that verse:

He came down with them and stood on a level place.

I’m calling this message “On Level Ground.” 

From a geographic standpoint, the reference to the level place simply refers to the topography of the area, in contrast with the more mountainous terrain where Jesus had spent the night before in prayer.  The Greek term for level place comes from the word for feet.  It suggests ground that is easy on the feet.  But I want us to think in more symbolic, more significant, meaning for level space or level ground, in keeping with that Washington church -- remembering how the congregation gave equal welcome to the laundry worker and the senator.

LEVEL GROUND FOR ALL THE APOSTLES

Jesus and His newly minted apostles come down from the mountains to level ground after being on a high plane spiritually as well as geographically.  He has taken special care in choosing the men for

his intimate group.  He spends the night in prayer before making his final cut.  Verses 12-13:

12 Now during those days he went out to the mountain to pray; and he spent the night in prayer to God. ¹³And when day came, he called his disciples and chose twelve of them, whom he also named apostles: 

These twelve apostles are not all from the same background, and Jesus has to work to keep all of them on level ground with each other.  For example, in the previous chapter last week we learned that Simon Peter and his brother Andrew and the other set of brothers, James and John, all are fishermen.  So the four of them work in and around the water.  They get wet.  They get dirty.  

By contrast, there’s Matthew, the tax collector.  The rest of these men probably have trouble relating to him because of his occupation.  The men who collect taxes for the Roman government are considered turncoats.  It’s bad enough just to represent the emperor. But, additionally, they have the reputation for gouging people, taking more money than the law requires.  But because Rome turns a blind eye to this, there’s even more hostility toward the tax collectors.  So it’s probably difficult for all the other apostles to accept Matthew as being on level ground with them.

Another man, called Simon the Zealot, might have trouble finding level ground with some of the others.  Zealots have been described as “fanatical patriots, who .  .  .  burned with a flagrant hatred of foreign domination.”  They wanted to start a resistance movement against Rome.  Most of the Jews of that First Christian Century felt animosity toward Roman control over their homeland, but 

not everyone was ready to take up their swords and try to go up against the powerful Roman military forces.  So, the fact that this other Simon wore the designation of Zealot would raise suspicion among some of the more peaceable apostles.  Of course, you may remember the night when Jesus was arrested, Simon Peter had a sword under his robe and used the weapon to take a swing at one of the soldiers.  He succeeded in cutting the man’s ear off.  So Simon Peter probably wasn’t too far removed from Simon the Zealot.

We know two other apostles didn’t always gee and haw with the rest of the group.  James and John had the nerve to ask Jesus for the privilege of being His closest advisors when the time came for Him to set up the earthly kingdom they thought He was planning (Mark 10:37).  In Matthew’s account, these brothers even got their mother to negotiate with Jesus about this idea (Matthew 20:21).  They were a couple of hotheads, asking Jesus on one occasion to call down fire from heaven on people who offended them (Luke 9:54).

So Jesus has His hands full, just trying to get His twelve to accept one another on level ground.

LEVEL GROUND FOR ALL PEOPLE

Verses 17-19 tell what Jesus and the apostles find when they come down out of the clouds:

He came down with them and stood on a level place, with a great crowd of his disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea, Jerusalem, and the coast of Tyre and Sidon. ¹⁸They had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases; and those who were troubled with unclean spirits were cured. ¹⁹And all in the crowd were trying to touch him, for power came out from him and healed all of them.

The picture we have here is far more than a pastor making nice as he welcomes a low wage earner alongside a United States Senator into the membership of the church.  Jesus finds Himself surrounded by all sorts of people with all sorts of needs, and He reaches out to put them on level ground, alongside those who need no physician.

Many physically well people of that day and this try to keep a safe distance away from those who are sick, either mentally or physically.

There are two reasons for avoiding sick people:

First, there is the fear of being infected with the illness.  And, if a disease is, as we say, “catching,” we should take precautions.

The ancients had a second reason to stay away from a sick person:  They considered sickness a sign of God’s punishment for sin.    And we carry that same idea over in our day by thinking sickness or misfortune is punishment from God.  

So, if we see people who are sick or facing other difficulties, we probably don’t put them on level ground alongside us.

As I think about sickness nowadays, we as a nation are dismissive of illness, except when illness touches our families directly.  How can we stand idly by when fifty million people in this country have no health insurance?  How can we sit back and do nothing in light of spiraling prescription costs?

We don’t have the internal spiritual power to heal the physically or mentally ill, as Jesus did, but we have resources as a nation to do something to help people who can’t help themselves.  And we should look carefully at presidential candidates who intend to do away with Medicare.

How often do you hear someone say, “America is the greatest nation on the face of the earth”?  I hear it often, and I believe it.  But too often, that is said about our military power.

As we define American might, hear the word of the prophet Zechariah (4:6):

Not by might, not by power, but by my spirit, says the Lord of hosts.

As we define American might, hear the word of the prophet Jeremiah (9:23-24):

23 Thus says the Lord: Do not let the wise boast in their wisdom, do not let the mighty boast in their might, do not let the wealthy boast in their wealth; ²⁴but let those who boast boast in this, that they understand and know me, that I am the Lord; I act with steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth, for in these things I delight, says the Lord.

What if we applied our great power to solving day-to-day problems of chronic illness?

What if we applied our great power to solving day-to-day problems of unemployment instead of sending millions of jobs to other countries to make things to send back here?

What if we applied our great power to solving day-to-day problems of hunger and malnutrition?

What if we applied our great power to solving day-to-day problems of homelessness?

What if we applied our great power to solving day-to-day problems of racism and prejudice?

In all these areas, we as a nation seem unconcerned about providing level ground for the least of the least.

Whatever our military prowess, we fail to be a great nation under God if we fail to see to the needs of the sick and afflicted and the hungry, and do all we can to put them on level ground with the healthy and well-fed.

WHERE WE’VE BEEN, WHERE WE’RE GOING

Let’s see where we’ve been: 

Jesus challenges the apostles to accept each other, to be on level ground with each other.  Then, when they come down on physically level ground, Jesus reaches out to the sick, putting them on level ground with those who are well.

If we look further in this sixth chapter of Luke, Jesus begins to teach the crowds who have gathered.  He turns His attention to the rich, the well-fed, the happy, and those with splendid reputations.  He calls on these finer folks to put the poor, the hungry, the sorrowing, the disreputable on level ground with themselves.

Jesus is speaking to people whose mindset may not be all that different from ours.  They equate prosperity, full bellies, happiness, and sterling reputations with the blessing of God.  Jesus tells them to think again.  Verses 20-26 contain four blessings, followed by four woes.  As we read these, we need to read the first blessing and then the first woe, then the second blessing followed by the second woe, and so on through the four blessings and four woes.

Here is the first blessing in verse 20:

Then he looked up at his disciples and said:
‘Blessed are you who are poor,
    for yours is the kingdom of God. 

Now look down to verse 24 where we have the first woe which is in sharp contrast:

²⁴ ‘But woe to you who are rich,
    for you have received your consolation.

The second blessing is in verse 21:
²¹ ‘Blessed are you who are hungry now,
    for you will be filled.

Then the second woe in verse 25:

²⁵ ‘Woe to you who are full now,
   for you will be hungry.

The third blessing comes in the latter part of verse 21:

‘Blessed are you who weep now,
    for you will laugh.

By contrast, the third woe is in the latter part of verse 25:

‘Woe to you who are laughing now,
    for you will mourn and weep.

The fourth blessing comes in verses 22-23:

22 ‘Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude you, revile you, and defame you on account of the Son of Man. ²³Rejoice on that day and leap for joy, for surely your reward is great in heaven; for that is what their ancestors did to the prophets. 

And the fourth woe is in verse 26:

26 ‘Woe to you when all speak well of you, for that is what their ancestors did to the false prophets.

DANDELIONS

As we look at people we think are not worthy of our attention or concern, think with me about a story I found in a church bulletin:

A man who took pride in his lawn asked a plant expert what he could do about dandelions.  The expert’s answer did not please the inquirer.  He said, “Learn to love them.”  Here is his explanation:

While dandelions fall more into the class of weeds than flowers, their yellow rosettes are not

without beauty and use.  Wine can be made from the flowers, while the roots have medicinal

value for liver disease."

Then the writer says:

People who seem useless, even obnoxious, often have redeeming qualities .  .  .  It is easy to

love roses .  .  .  It is harder to aid human dandelions .  .  .  But that is the test of Christian love.

CONCLUSION

I recently discovered something about a friend I see regularly at the Y.  She used to work for Fred Rogers.  This was many years ago when the Mister Rogers show on TV was in its early stages. When I asked Mary whether Fred Rogers was the same off camera as what we saw on the screen, she said, “Absolutely.  He was a gentle man in every sense.”

We watched Mr. Rogers with our sons, and we still watch reruns long after our boys became men.  Pansy has given me a couple of books by Fred Rogers, and I want to mention a passage from one of those books.  It’s called The World According to Mr. Rogers,  with the subtitle, Important Things to Remember

I think Mr. Rogers makes the point about our need to feel we are on level ground with others, and he tells of people who put others on level ground with themselves:

        He said one of his earliest heroes was Charles Atlas who advertised an exercise and body-building course.  It was 1944, and Fred said he was "a chubby and weak sixteen-year-old" when he took nineteen dollars he had saved up and sent off for the lessons.  To be like Charles Atlas, he did his exercises every morning.  But after many months and many lessons, "I still didn't look like Charles Atlas."   Fred didn't feel he was on level ground with this hero.

         Looking back, the grown-up Mr. Rogers says it's probably natural for young people to look for heroes or superheroes to "keep us safe in a scary world."

         Fred's next hero was an all-round fellow student in high school: Jim Stumbaugh lettered in basketball, football, and track, and he made all A's.    Jim's dad died when he and Fred were freshmen.  Fred said Jim's loss of his father may have "made Jim sensitive to the needs of a shy kid like me."  For whatever reason,  At any rate, they became lifelong friends. 

        When Fred and Jim were raising their families,  Jim's teenage son was killed in an automobile accident.  Fred stood by him in that ordeal.  That friendship held when Jim was stricken with cancer.  Fred said, "Jim started out looking like Charles Atlas [but] ended up looking like Mahatma Gandhi," the small, courageous wrinkled man who led India for many years.    Fred said Jim also "acted like that peace-filled Gandhi."

        Gandhi also was one of Fred Rogers's heroes, along with Albert Schweitzer, the physician, organist, and theologian who invested many years of his life as a missionary in Africa.  Others included Jane Addams, "the tireless advocate of internationalism and world peace"; Bo Lozoff, "who helps inmates use their time well in prison"; and Yo-Yo Ma, the world-renowned cello player.   Mr. Rogers rounded off his list of heroes this way: "everyone else in the public eye who cares about beauty and refuses to bow to fast and loud sensationalism and greed."

        When he was listing Charles Atlas and other heroes,  Fred added someone he didn't even know: "the person who drives the car I saw the other day, the parked car with flashing lights and the sign that reads, 'Vintage Volunteer... Home Delivered Meals.'"  All these and others, he called "the Charles Atlases of my elder years!"  These people realize 

"the most important things of life are inside things like feelings and wonder and love--and that the ultimate happiness is being able  sometimes, somehow to help our neighbor become a hero too."

Mr. Rogers was an ordained minister.  The Presbyterians ordained him to the ministry to children which he conducted on television.  And that program did much to make his young viewers feel they were on level ground.  

Just as Fred Rogers was ordained to that ministry with children, in the same way, Jesus has ordained you and me, just as He called the apostles and ordained them to minister to everyone around them, to make the ground level for all God’s children.

BENEDICTION

If you feel the need to be on level ground with Christ so you can do your part to put other people on level ground with you, then claim these promises:

God’s love that will never let you go.

God’s grace that is greater than all your sin.

God’s peace that passes all understanding.

These are yours through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

Dealing with Doubt

The old Negro spiritual said this: 
Nobody knows the trouble that I've seen

Nobody knows my sorrow

Nobody knows the trouble that I've seen

Glory hallelujiah

Sometimes I'm up and sometimes I'm down

Oh, yes lord

You know sometimes almost to the ground

Oh, oh yes lord (lyricsmania.com).

Most of us at one time or another have felt this way:  Sometimes up, sometimes down, sometimes almost to the ground.  Or, the same idea expressed another way: “Sometimes I have to reach up to touch bottom.”

There are times when we feel that way about our spiritual life.  God may seem far away.

TRANSITION

We may not often think about it, but the Bible tells of faithful followers of God who sink into doubt.  Even some of the prophets of God sink into depression and doubt.  We look at one of those men of God today: John the Baptist.

This may surprise us because, as Luke tells the story in chapter 3, John the Baptist is a fearless preacher who calls sin and wrongdoing what it is:  sin and wrongdoing.  As he is baptizing, he speaks harshly to those who come down in the Jordan River.  I remember a man mountain of a deacon in a church I served.  He was about six foot six, with the muscular strength as an auto mechanic who could practically lift a car off the blocks single-handed.  His shoes were size thirteen or fourteen, and he used to say, “If a preacher don’t step on my feet in a sermon, he ain’t doin’ much preachin’.”  Well, Rod would have said, “Sic ‘im” to John the Baptist.  John calls some of his listeners “snakes”:

"You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?[8] Bear fruits that befit repentance .  .  .

John speaks plainly to people who take pride in their ancestry and seem to rely on that heritage to keep them in good standing with God:  do not begin to say to yourselves, `We have Abraham as our father'; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham  (v. 8). 

He uses the analogy of a fruit tree:  The tree which doesn’t bear fruit will get cut down.  And this is aimed at these “heritage people” who rely on somebody else’s virtue to get them by.  Fruitless trees will get cut down, and Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees.

This fearless preaching stirs the hearts of the crowd there on the banks of the Jordan.   They begin to ask among themselves and of John, "What then shall we do?"

John studies the crowd and addresses specific groups in his audience:

First, he looks at ordinary, run-of-the-mill people.  People who probably don’t have rich stores of resources.  He challenges them to give generously, even sacrificially to those who have less.  

He’s saying, “Whatever you have of material goods, look around you.  There are folks with less.  Share with them:

[11] And he answered them, "He who has two coats, let him share with him who has none; and he who has food, let him do likewise."

Tax collectors are there, asking what they should do to show signs of true repentance.  These men with a reputation for skinning the people, taking more in taxes than were required.  [13] And he said to them, "Collect no more than is appointed you."

Roman soldiers are there, exercising crowd control, lest some troublemaker start saying things to rouse the anger of these subject people.  But these onlookers, there because they are assigned, feel John’s call to repentance and ask, "And we, what shall we do?"

When soldiers are assigned to a foreign territory, they often rob or rape or otherwise abuse the local citizens.  And he said to them, "Rob no one by violence or by false accusation, and be content with your wages."

John’s preaching is so pointed, so courageous, the crowd is in awe of him.  They wonder whether this man is their long-awaited Messiah who will lead them to go up against the Roman army of occupation: [15]  As the people were in expectation, and all men questioned in their hearts concerning John, whether perhaps he were the Christ .  .  .

But, No!  John says, Get that idea out of your heads. A mightier one is coming.  I’m not even worthy to kneel down before him and untie his shoes when he’s ready to rest his feet.  John says I’m baptizing you with water, but this is just a hint of what the Mighty One will do: he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.

JOHN IN JOHN’S GOSPEL

In the Fourth Gospel, which was written some time later than Luke, we have further description of how John the Baptist saw Jesus.   John is eager to make the same point, that he is not the Messiah.  Rather, his work assignment is to prepare the way for this One.  Here is the Baptizer’s description in the first chapter of John, beginning with verse 29:

The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, "Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!  [30] This is he of whom I said, `After me comes a man who ranks before me, for he was before me.'   [31] I myself did not know him; but for this I came baptizing with water, that he might be revealed to Israel." [32] And John bore witness, "I saw the Spirit descend as a dove from heaven, and it remained on him.  [33] I myself did not know him; but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, `He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.'   [34] And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God."

WHEAT FROM CHAFF

Now, back in Luke, chapter 3.  After John the Baptist has challenged various groups to show signs of repentance, he says again that the one coming after him will come in power and judgment.  

He uses a figure of harvest time which people in an agricultural society can understand: The Mighty One will separate the wheat from the chaff on the threshing floor.  The good will be gathered into the granary, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.

John mentions fire twice in these verses.  The baptism the Messiah brings will be with the Holy Spirit and with fire, which probably is the same fire he mentions on the threshing floor.

[17] His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor, and to gather the wheat into his granary, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire. 

Today, we have sophisticated threshing machinery which goes through the field gathering grain and separating the wheat from the chaff.  But John is preaching in a time when this separation is done by hand:  The harvest workers on the threshing floor scoop up the grain and chaff together, tossing it into the air and letting the wind separate the chaff.  The grain will be stored, but the chaff will be burned.

So John the Baptist sees Jesus as a fiery Messiah who will come in harsh judgment.  This is his bold, daring message calling his hearers to repentance.

But in a moment, we will see this fearless preacher degenerate into a fretful, doubtful questioner.

JOHN IS SO HUMAN .  .  .

John continues his forthright preaching.  Even to the point of calling out King Herod for his adultery.  After all, sin a sin, even in the life of the King.  But kings and others in authority have means of striking back when they are offended.  So John is put into prison.

Our John is a courageous preacher. But our John is so human, and when he sits in prison, wondering what will happen to him, he sinks into doubt.  We see a very discouraged, dispirited John the Baptist in Luke, chapter 7.  He has been preaching his heart out, giving the message God has given him.  But now look at him.

He can’t get it sorted out.  From what he hears, Jesus simply is not the firebrand John had envisioned and preached about.  Rather than breathing fire and brimstone and warning of destruction to come, Jesus goes around healing people of their diseases and raising the dead.  John’s disciples hear and perhaps see the work Jesus is doing, and some of them bring word to John, their teacher.  What’s wrong here anyway?  As he sits in the stinking jail, when his own disciples come by, we see in verses 19-20 that he tells them to go ask Jesus whether He really is the One John has pointed out:

And John, calling to him two of his disciples, sent them to the Lord, saying, "Are you he who is to come, or shall we look for another?"  [20] And when the men had come to him, they said, "John the Baptist has sent us to you, saying, `Are you he who is to come, or shall we look for another?'"

Many poems and songs describe this discouragement and doubt.  One very moving song from the stage musical called Lost in the Stars. 

The title song is sung by a father whose son has left home for the big city.  There, the son gets into serious trouble with the law.  The father goes in search of his wayward son and sings as he searches.  At times, God seems to have left the scene, forgetting His promise to be ever-present.  The upshot is, ".  .  .  we're lost out here in the stars" (www.allthelyrics.com/lyrics/kurt_weill/)

John the Baptist probably feels about that lost as he stews in prison while trying to figure out what Jesus is up to.  This is why he wants to hear from Jesus: "Are you he who is to come, or shall we look for another?" 

JESUS IS SO THOUGHTFUL

Here is John the Baptist, all torn up and doubled over with doubt, sending word to Jesus to explain Himself.  Now, we need to see how Jesus deals with John’s doubt.

Jesus has been busy healing people, and the first thing we notice is that Jesus doesn’t stop what He has been doing.  We can deduce from this, Jesus will not be held accountable to John or to you and me when we can’t figure things out.  Jesus doesn’t change the way He does things because we get upset.  In this case, we see in verse 21 that He goes on doing what He’s been doing.

[21] In that hour he cured many of diseases and plagues and evil spirits, and on many that were blind he bestowed sight. 

Jesus continues His work for two reasons:  First, people are hurting and need His help.  Second, He wants to give a visible, visual answer to John’s question. 

[22] And he answered them, "Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the poor have good news preached to them. 

Then Jesus adds,  [23] And blessed is he who takes no offense at me."  Through it all, we hear no words of censure for John, not even with this.

Lots of people in that period are offended as Jesus uses the power of God to heal the blind and lame and lepers and deaf and to raise people from the dead.  So He is sending word to John not to be offended because He is not the Messiah John had expected and preached (Malcolm O. Tolbert, “Luke,” The Broadman Bible Commentary, Volume 9. Nashville: Broadman Press, 1970, p. 67).

Jesus not only refuses to condemn John’s doubts.  He praises John, beginning in verse 24.  He raises a rhetorical question: What did you look for in John? What did you find in him?
When John’s messengers leave, Jesus asks the crowds three questions:

"What did you go out into the wilderness to behold? A reed shaken by the wind?

That is, did you think you’d see something as frail as a reed which blew in the wind by the riverside?  The implied answer: No indeed!  You found a man as sturdy as a tree planted by the water, a tree which would not be moved.

[25] What then did you go out to see? A man clothed in soft clothing? Behold, those who are gorgeously appareled and live in luxury are in kings' courts. 

Again, the obvious answer is “No!”  He is not like the crowd of yes-men who flatter the king in turn for being fed fine food and drink and who dress in the finery of the king’s court (William Barclay, The Gospel of Luke, The Daily Study Bible Series.  Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1955, p. 89).

The third question from Jesus, as you might suspect, calls for a “Yes.”

[26] What then did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. 

Yes!  John the Baptist is a prophet and then some.  He is in the classic mold or mode of Elijah.  

Many people believed Elijah the prophet would come back to earth as a forerunner of the Messiah.  We find that belief expressed in the closing verses of the Hebrew prophet Malachi.  Jesus quotes the passage in verse 27:

This is he of whom it is written, `Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, who shall prepare thy way before thee.' (4:5).

So Jesus has heaps of good words for John in verses 25-27.  Then He makes a strange, paradoxical statement in verse 28:

[28] I tell you, among those born of women none is greater than John; yet he who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he."

The Bible has some statements which are difficult to understand.  This is one of them.  But Jesus seems to be saying John was the last of the prophets who, so to speak, stood at the gate pointing to the kingdom which Jesus would inaugurate.  So, those who share in Christ’s kingdom are even greater than John the Baptist.   Anyway, Jesus is high in praise of His forerunner.  

APPLICATION

Many things can bring doubts to our minds regarding what we believe or what we have believed.  Remember, John is in prison facing an almost certain death sentence.  He is there because of his bold preaching which has centered in Jesus as the Messiah.  Now, to cap it all off, Jesus isn’t acting like the Messiah John has preached about.  So he has double cause to doubt and ask serious questions about Jesus.

When you and I face difficulties, that may be the time we are most likely to doubt.  We wonder why God is doing this to us or why God is allowing this to happen.  Sometimes, it seems about the same, whether God sends problems or simply permits problems.  

Or we may be prone to doubt the truths of God if we are not living close to Him.  If our thoughts turn every way but toward God during the course of a day, perhaps we should expect to fall into doubt.

Some Christian ministers condemn all doubt about God.  A religious encyclopedia from a major denomination has this to say about religious doubt:

“It follows that doubt in regard to the Christian religion is equivalent to its total rejection, 

the ground of its acceptance being necessarily in every case the authority on which 

it is proposed .  .  .  whereas a philosophical or scientific opinion may be held provisionally 

and subject to an unresolved doubt, no such position can be held towards the doctrines 

of Christianity; their authority must be either accepted or rejected. The unconditional, interior

assent which the Church demands to the Divine authority of revelation is incompatible with any

doubt as to its validity (“Doubt,” The Catholic Encyclopedia,  http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05141a.htm.

If this is the official tea).ching of your church group, you probably feel pretty helpless when doubt comes rolling in. 

There’s a more sensible, more sensitive regarding religious doubt.  Many ministers and lay members will tell you to expect doubt as you try to live close to Jesus.  One writer likened the walk of faith to walking the Adirondack Trail:  “It’s a sometimes rigorous, daily climb, often with breath taking, panoramic views. But muddy trudges are part of it too.”

This writer, Cameron Dezen Hammon, tells of facing serious doubt when four of her friends died in just four years
(Cameron Dezen Hammon, “Dealing with doubt about religion: It's part of any faith and nothing to be ashamed of, nothing to hide,”hipsterchristianhousewife.blogspot.com/, April 15, 2012).

Two of these deaths were unexpected, two were not — though no less painful. During those times, I doubted everything — that God heard my prayers, that I would ever not be sad, that my heart and the broken hearts in my community would heal). 

Ms Hammon thought of a man in Mark 9 (17-24) whose son was demon-possessed.  The boy would throw himself to the ground, foaming at the mouth and gritting his teeth.  The disciples had attempted to heal the boy but were unable.  The father was distraught when his son was not healed.  He pled with Jesus, “Help him if you can.”  Jesus said, “Why do you say, ‘If you can’?   All things are possible to those who believe.  In that moment, the man turned from desperation to faith as he said, “Lord, I believe.  Help my unbelief.”

Ms Hammon said she imagined the man “holding out his hands to Jesus, offering each palm stretched open. In one calloused hand he holds belief. After all he has seen the miracle with his own eyes. In the other hand, he holds doubt.” If we are honest with ourselves, that may be how we come to Jesus: faith in one hand, doubt in the other.

Ms Hammon concluded, I imagine Jesus is saying in this exchange, it’s OK that you have doubts, just don’t hide them from me.

CONCLUSION AND BENEDICTION

There is no simple one-two-three formula to relieve you or me when doubt comes marching in on our times of peace and assurance.  But if you struggle with doubt, I hope you will keep in mind how Jesus sought to help John:

He told John to look for positive signs of God’s work in the world.  In that instance, the sick were being ministered to and the poor were being fed.

As John’s friends and followers were leaving Jesus and going back to John in his prison cell, Jesus also told the onlookers what John had done, reminding others of the kind of man John has been, a man of courage, a man of integrity.  Perhaps those words of commendation made their way back to John as he was locked in prison.

Perhaps most significant, Jesus did not condemn John.  He understood John’s circumstance and knew doubt would be par for the course.

So Jesus offers you the same encouragement.  In closing, when you are facing doubt about yourself, about the church, about the world at large, about God Himself, claim these promises:

God’s love that will never let you go.

God’s grace that is greater than all your sin.

God’s peace that passes all understanding.

Leave no doubt: These are yours through Christ our Lord.  Amen.

R. W. Porter was buried today

They buried R. W. in Slater's Chapel Cemetery near the village of Nolan about 19 or 20 miles from the county seat town of Sweetwater, Texas.
He and I grew up together, baptized into the little Nolan Baptist Church and going through school together.  We were fellow members of the Class of '51 at Divide High School, which closed its doors in the 1980s.
R. W.'s full name was Ralph Waldo Porter, Jr.  But he was among a bunch of boys in the Divide-Nolan community who went by initials.  There was W. A., A. J., J. R., R. J., L. D., J. B., J. H., and perhaps others.
We were two of the seven boys in that graduating class.  There also were seven girls.  Two or three of the class members died early.  Until R. W. died last Sunday, there had been five men and five women remaining from the original 14.
The last memorable event we shared as a class was a senior trip.  Most of our newly minted graduates went on a school bus, passing briefly through Oklahoma, then to several points in Colorado, including Colorado Springs with its scenic Garden of the Gods and the Seven Falls.  We missed Pike's Peak because our chaperones didn't think the school bus would make it to the top.  Our final attraction on the trip was Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico.
Some nights, all seven of us fellows stayed in one big room in tourist courts.  I remember we talked late into the night, realizing we were beginning to say good-bye, without saying it.
I skipped out on West Texas after graduating from Hardin-Simmons University, I went to seminary in Kentucky and left Texas, virtually for the rest of my life.  So I lost touch with R. W. and the others in our little graduating class.
I probably hadn't seen any of our classmates for 50 years. The next time time R. W. and I got together was last December, shortly before Christmas 2011.
Pansy and I were in Texas, visiting my brothers and sisters in the Waco-Cleburne-Waxahachie areas of Central Texas.
I had a hankering to go back to my old stomping grounds in West Texas and see some of our class.  Ina V. (Lewis) Cleavinger, the contact person for our reunions, had sent everyone a roster with addresses and phone numbers.  So I took that list with me from South Carolina .  .  . just in case.
Just a day or so before Pansy and I started westward, I checked the addresses and determined only three of our number still lived in the Sweetwater area. So I called Earl Deward Lewis and Glenn Bennett, along with R. W.
All three of these "old boys" liked the idea of getting together, so we met at noon.  I grew up calling the midday meal "dinner" and the evening meal "supper."  But we've about outgrown those designations.  When I told Glenn that Pansy was coming, he brought his wife Lylia with him.  She and Pansy got acquainted as the infamous members of the Class of '51 reminisced.
We ate at Allen's Family Restaurant which is out on the east end of Sweetwater on U. S. Highway 80.  It's family style, and the server staff kept fresh platters of chicken-fried steak, fried chicken, and meat loaf coming our way along with six or eight bowls of veggies -- maybe even ten.  Then there was peach cobbler and iced tea.
After we gorged ourselves at Allen's, Lylia and Glenn invited us to their house for more conversation and coffee.  So our lunchtime get-together extended to most of the afternoon.
As we talked, R. W. told us he was in almost constant pain.  He said he had thought of going to Scott and White Medical Center in Temple, Texas, famous as a research and academic medical center.  I didn't learn whether he ever followed through with that visit.
We took pictures all around, and those with e-mail and Facebook found ways to keep in touch through the social media.  And we have kept in regular contact with Glenn and Lylia.
It was Glenn who called Monday to tell me of R. W.'s death.  He said he was also going to call the only other surviving male in our class, Morris Hartgraves in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex.
Vic Meyer, pastor of the Nolan church, conducted the graveside service.  R. W. is survived by his wife Wanda, whom I had not met; a daughter, Dee Brookshire of Abilene, Texas; as well as grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and a niece.
John Donne said, "Every man's death diminishes me for I am involved with mankind."  And, even though we had not been in regular contact for many years, R. W.'s death diminishes me and diminishes our Class of '51.

A Long-Distance Friendship

Mark and Becky got married in an old blacksmith shop, which has drawn couples to the Scottish border town of Gretna Green for more than two hundred fifty years.

England has relaxed its marriage laws over the years, and the fire no longer burns in the old smithy, but thousands of couples with the fire of love in their hearts still exchange vows over the original anvil where the blacksmith once performed ceremonies for run-away Englanders.

On a cool Wednesday noon in early October 2003, Mark Jones, 33, and Rebecca Barnett [whose British pronunciation sounds like “Bonnet], age 30, made their wedding vows in response to questions from Kevin Sands, a part-time "civil marriage celebrant."

Elopement is no longer the order of the day at marriage sites around Gretna Green.  Nowadays, the  Old Blacksmith Shop and other companies advertise online for full wedding packages, which can include banquets and hotel rooms, as well as wedding officiants and Scottish bagpipes.  Mark and Becky were one of three couples married that day at The Old Blacksmith Shop.  One of those other weddings was a full-dress Scottish affair, with the women in traditional wedding gowns and the men in kilts.  Weekends at the blacksmith shop are much busier, averaging 15-16 weddings per day, Jim Henderson said.

Mr. Henderson's title is "blacksmith guide," at what has become a tourist site, as well as a place for weddings.  In reality, he is facilitator-in-chief, enlisting witnesses and taking wedding pictures, in addition to making sure the legal papers are properly filled in.  Papers weren't an issue when Gretna Green first attracted elopers in 1754.  That was the year England's Hardwicke Act went into effect, requiring that wedding plans be announced at least two weeks in advance and that they be performed by Anglican clergymen.

Scotland had no such restrictions.  In Scotland, until 1940, a man and woman could marry simply by declaring their intentions in the presence of two witnesses.  Mr. Henderson told us that many weddings across the centuries were done without bothering with witnesses other than the officiant.

In the old days, many Scottish clergymen, in the manner of the blacksmith, performed short-notice weddings.  A Reverend Rennison is said to have performed five thousand weddings at Gretna Green.  Minimum marriage age in Scotland in those years was 16.   While England did not allow Sunday weddings or any wedding before dawn or after dark, couples could get married in Scotland any time of day or night.  And there were many nighttime weddings as couples tied the knot in a hurry, hoping to complete the ceremony before the arrival of angry parents who were seeking to prevent the wedding.

At their age, Mark and Becky weren't exactly running away to get married.  They had known each other ten years and had lived together for seven years.  But they didn't tell their families of their plan to go to Gretna Green, so perhaps the occasion had some resemblance to an elopement.

While traveling in Britain, Pansy and I went to Gretna Green for a day at the suggestion of our Bed and Breakfast hosts at the Corner House Hotel in Carlisle, a border city in northwest England.  While spending a few weeks in England, we thought it would be fun to cross the border, just so we could say we had "been to Scotland."  Our hosts at Corner House told us the Gretna Green wedding story and said this might be a convenient and enjoyable jaunt into Scotland.  

Our main goal in going to Gretna Green was to have a tour of the wedding facility.  After a short ride from Carlisle, we stepped off the bus at The Old Blacksmith Shop and surveyed the scene.  The marriage site is surrounded by two or three restaurants, hotels, and souvenir shops.

Eager to see the historic wedding building, we bought tickets and began our tour.  But we never really saw the entire shop.  Mr. Henderson had just begun showing us around when Mr. Sands, the man on hand that day to do ceremonies, approached us breathlessly and asked, "Are you in a hurry to get away?"

Strange question, in light of the fact that we had hardly walked in the door and hadn't begun to think about leaving.  But I said, "I don't guess so, as long as we can catch the bus back down to Carlisle before dark.  But why do you ask?"

"If you have a half hour," Mr. Sands said, "we would like to know whether you would be willing to be witnesses for a wedding."

Pansy and I looked at each other.  We both were wearing slacks and windbreakers, to ward off  the autumn coolness. Hardly what we pictured as attire as members of a wedding party.  I shrugged and  asked Pansy, "What do you think?"  She said, 'I guess it would be all right."

Mr. Sands led us to the anvil room and introduced us to Becky and Mark.  We had only time to introduce ourselves all around before Mr. Sands asked cheerfully, "Are we all set then?"  The four of us said, "Yes," and the brief ceremony was underway.  It included the admonition that the intent of marriage is faithfulness of one man and one woman to each other as long as they live.  Mr. Sands also had Mark and Becky repeat the familiar vows of "for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health, for better or worse."  At the end, he declared Mark and Becky to be husband and wife as he struck the anvil with a hammer.  Then he had the four of us to sign official papers, documenting what had just happened.

With all that completed, the newlyweds invited us to join them for tea at one of the restaurants in the complex.  Over tea and "biscuits"  -- cookies in our American vocabulary -- we discovered a mutuality which led to the exchange of e-mail addresses and promises to keep in touch.

We learned that Mark and Becky are both involved in creative arts in Liverpool:  she a visual designer, he a musician.  Artists of all stripes usually find it precarious to count on their creative work for a livelihood, but Becky has built up a clientele which she considers fairly reliable.  For example, she has worked closely with a museum in Liverpool, creating supportive art work to go with various exhibits. 

By contrast, Mark is closer to the artist's norm, working in computer technology to ensure an income while playing in two small bands and writing music for both groups. He taught himself to play the guitar when he was 15 and learned the clarinet and sax in his twenties.  "I'm a human jukebox," he says.  "I remember hundreds of songs."

We kept in touch with Mark and Becky when we came home, and, through e-mails, we learned that Becky's parents had been angry when she and Mark started living together.   She had been at odds with her parents since she was 12 when the elder Barnetts made her go door-to-door on behalf of the Jehovah's Witnesses to convince people that the world was coming to an end:

"I was coerced into going to their meetings three times a week, forced to go out knocking on people's doors, and I was deeply unhappy," she said.   “I was also bullied badly at school because of my parents' belief, and this was all the worse because I knew in my heart I was not a believer.  I had a very unhappy time until they asked me to leave home when I was 17."

Her relationship with her parents remained “virtually non-existent” for several years.  She was “very angry with them for pushing their views on me and making me so unhappy.”

This standoff continued until a year or so after she and Mark were living together.  Becky said,  that “with Mark’s encouragement,  I started trying to rebuild my relationship with them.”  Though things have improved, “I still struggle with the way their religion seems to be very judgmental on the way others choose to live, and I still feel they are always looking for a way to start preaching to me.”

Becky said her parents “both really love Mark but have never approved of our  ‘living in sin.’  As a consequence, they would not come and stay with us and also did not let us sleep in the same room when we stayed in their house, even though we had been living together over five years.”

During those years, Mark and Becky discussed marriage several times.  “We both realized that actually we lived like we were married anyway and that it wouldn’t make much difference to us in terms of our relationship but that it would ease a lot of tension for me with my parents,” she said.

After these discussions, one aspect of her parents’ religion became a critical factor in Becky’s deciding to marry  Mark: “My mum and dad’s religion doesn’t believe in blood transfusions, and ultimately [if she had gotten sick], they may have refused me the care I needed without giving Mark a chance to help me.”  A general health consideration also emerged: “If I ever became very ill in a hospital, I realized my parents would have legal control over what would happen to me.  I would not want that, as I see Mark as my next of kin.”

Describing himself as a former “pot-smoking, long-haired layabout, Mark said, “A few short years ago, I couldn’t imagine that I would ever have a proper job, a mortgage, or a wife.”  He and Becky “both believed that we would never get married, as we shared the same view on marriage--that it was just a meaningless, pompous and needless ceremony, fair enough for our parents to have believed in, but not necessary for us.”

Mark said he had “always disliked partaking in traditional ceremonies, particularly those concerning ‘Western’ traditions -- for example, I had no desire to attend my graduation ceremony when I achieved my B. A.  degree. .  .  .  In the same way, I felt no need to ever get married --- the very thought of publicly speaking vows according to U. K. law while trussed up in a suit and tie was anathema to me.  My sister had a big white wedding in 1987, and although I was happy for the choice she made for herself, I knew it wasn’t right for me.”

A year or so before Mark and Becky went to Gretna Green, her dad, John Barnett, expressed the desire to have Mark an “official” part of the family.  At first, Mark considered this “emotional blackmail,” and he didn’t want to marry “purely because someone else wanted me to.”

The occasional visits Becky’s parents made to Liverpool were always stressful times because they stayed in hotels, refusing to sleep under the same roof as their daughter and her unmarried partner.  These visits were nerve-racking for Becky, and this stress on their own relationship made Mark and Becky think more about getting married.

Despite this softening of their own opposition to marriage, Mark said, “We soon encountered the psychological barrier that we didn’t want to marry just to please Becky’s mum and dad.   So we decided we would have to reclaim it for ourselves and marry in the manner of our own choosing, involving the least possible pomp and ceremony, and with no influence from anyone else.  So that’s what we did!”  That took them to Gretna Green where they were married, Becky in a colorful skirt and sweater and Mark in slacks and a sports shirt.

Still an unreconstructed rebel, Mark said, “I began to relish the idea of facing down my old opinions about marriage --- although I still have no respect for the British legal system, I decided I would accept and embrace the hypocrisy of taking part in a ceremony that had previously meant nothing to me.  Becky and I would give it our own meaning and take from it what we wanted to.”

Mark’s parents hadn’t made an issue over the absence of a marriage license and had readily stayed in Mark and Becky’s home.  Still, his parents were pleased upon learning the news: “My dad finds it hard to be demonstrative and is not very articulate, but I gathered that he was pleased we had ‘made it official.’  And my mum continued to be very happy and excited, saying it was all ‘wonderful.’”

In “keeping up with the Joneses” by e-mail, I asked them a month or so after the wedding whether being married had made any difference in their own relationship.  They responded:

Becky said, “I didn’t think that being married would make me feel any different, as it doesn’t really mean anything in terms of being married ‘legally.’  But on reflection, I think I do feel a little different.  I always felt secure and that I wanted to stay with Mark forever, but since being married, I have felt more settled, more committed, and, in a kind of way, happier.  I think I feel a sense of grounding and maybe a little more secure.  I was worried that becoming married would take the buzz out of our relationship, but I think it has actually added to it, so that’s an unexpected bonus.”

Mark: “After the initial novelty of being newly wed, we seem to have fallen back into our regular lifestyle.  Nothing has changed in practical terms, but we agree that we feel closer to each other spiritually somehow, more secure, warm, content, and confident in our relationship.  We seem to be having more fun with each other.  For me, considering that I have spent most of my life not wanting to get married, and seeing no need for it, it has been an enjoyable addition to my life, albeit a subtle one.”

In response to the question of how their changed legal status has changed them, Mark waxed philosophic in his written parting shot: 

“I have always been a positive, optimistic, and resilient kind of person, and I have always felt that change is a very necessary part of life and should be embraced and, as much as possible, celebrated.  Though I am still relatively young, I can look back and say I am very happy that life has blessed me with all my experiences, in order that I could become the person I am today.  Marriage was an unknown quantity to me, until I decided to embrace it on my own terms, and now Becky and I will continue to embrace it, hand in hand, ‘wandering off into the sunset.’”

A few months after Gretna Green, Mark wrote to tell of yet another change in the offing which promised a sunrise, rather than a sunset, for the Jones-Barnett family:

“A few weeks ago, we found out that Becky is pregnant, so we’ve been quietly enjoying our new situation and working out how things should go now.  We are both very happy and excited and looking toward the massive changes to come.  We are both convinced that, amongst other factors, getting married made it easier to conceive, somehow, perhaps made us feel safe enough subconsciously to go to the next stage.”  Their daughter Rosa was born in late August 2004.

On a return visit to England, three or four years later, we spent a rainy afternoon and evening, having dinner and an enjoyable visit with Mark, Becky, and bright-eyed, brown-haired little Rosa in their home in Liverpool.  With Mark’s wide interest in music, I taught him a few American folk songs which he recorded for future use in his gigs.

Both Becky and Mark are continuing their artistic endeavors.  In an e-mail in the summer of 2010, Mark wrote:

“Becky has enjoyed some artistic success recently, making murals and sculptures from mud plaster.   [Her mud penguins and the work of other artists have been on http://www.gopenguins.co.uk/site/artists.php].  She recently painted a huge fibreglass rhino sculpture for a project in Chester [a neighboring town about ten miles from Liverpool], to be displayed in the streets of the town.  She has also been working in schools, delivering art workshops about India and Africa to primary age children.”

For his part, Mark has been “performing music in many clubs and pubs, by myself and with bands. My website for the work I do is www.markjonesmusic.co.uk.”   I went to this website and heard several of Mark’s songs which he has recorded.  These can be purchased online.  His recordings include folk, country, and blues; pop, rock n roll, rock, reggae, rhythm and blues, and funk from the 1950s to the 1990s; American standards and jazz from the 1920s to the 1960s; and children’s songs from the U. K. and the U. S. 

“Superlambanana” is a fun song for children, inspired in part by Rosa.  I heard that number on YouTube.  The title is based on sculptures scattered around Liverpool which depict a cross between a lamb and a banana.

As Rosa has entered school, Mark and Becky -- not surprisingly, given their artistic involvement -- have kept her busy  with art and making music, along with reading, writing, and playing. With the constant struggle to earn a living through the creative arts, the couple has also “been forced to try to make our own business so we have set up a music and singing business called 'singsong' for children 0-7,” Becky said.

The website for this musical project, www.singsongmusic.co.uk, lists age-level sessions which include a mix of “old songs, new songs, multicultural songs, folk songs, action songs, lullabies, interaction with different musical instruments, rhyme and rhythm, improvisation, call and response, musical games, musical stories, percussion, music and movement,” plus “a variety of props and puppets to make sessions even more fun and engaging.”

All of this has turned Mark’s attention to other aspects of early childhood education: “I've been very busy, also mostly working in schools, delivering creative maths, music and IT [Information Technology = computer] sessions to various ages, including in some Special Needs schools.”

He has also been actively exploring what is required to be certified as an elementary school teacher.

We are enchanted by ongoing chapters in the lives of these transoceanic friends, and we look forward to seeing all three Joneses on our next trip to the UK, which we hope will not be long in coming.