Psalm 137:1-6 (Psalm for this morning) 1  By the waters of Babylon, there we sat down and wept, when we remembered Zion. 2  On the willows   there we hung up our lyres. 3  For there our captors required of us songs, and our tormentors, mirth, saying, “Sing us one of the songs of Zion!” 4  How shall we sing the Lord's song in a foreign land? 5  If I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget its skill! 6  Let my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth, if I do not remember you, if I do not set Jerusalem above my highest joy! In 586 B.C. forces of the Babylonian empire overran Jerusalem, destroyed the city, slaughtered inhabitants, and led the leading citizens away into exile. The psalm tells the exiles’ misery as they languish in Babylon, tormented by their captors, longing to be home in Jerusalem.  Not only misery is reflected in Psalm 137, but also rage, the desire for vengeance. We normally read only the first six verses, be...

If you’re a car nut, you’re a car nut, your family and friends might as well get over it. In my growing up years in Panama City, the exciting time of year was early autumn. Evenings might be cool. Searchlights would start playing in the sky. It meant somebody’s showroom had their new model car on display. The new models were always introduced in the fall, and the new model was always noticeably different from the previous year’s model. At least to me. Car trivia? No way. The 1946 Ford had  rectangular parking lights up high between the headlamps and the grille, and two chrome stripes down low on the trunk; the ’47 and ’48 Fords had one stripe up high on the trunk and a round parking light under each headlamp. 1947 Buicks had a white steering wheel, the 1948 Buick had a black steering wheel. You distinguished the 1949 and 1950 Fords by the parking lights. Same with the 1950 v.s.1951 Cadillacs. The 1947 Kaiser had a delicate front grille, the 1949 Kaiser had a heavy, bold grille....

Homily at the Memorial Service for Weldon Faull Wednesday, August 17, 2011 St. Thomas by the Sea Episcopal Church Laguna Beach, Florida  Jesus said, “A new commandment I give you, that you love one another. As I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this everyone will know you are my disciples, that you show love toward one another.” +++   +++   +++ The Bible word for “love” is Agape. AGAPE. Agape is not warm fuzzy feelings. In fact, agape is not feelings at all. Agape is kindness. Kindness, welcoming, thoughtfulness, consideration, generosity, courtesy, gracious hospitality. Lovingkindness. Weldon was the most reserved man I have ever known. He loved his children and grandchildren dearly. I know because he told me so; but he grew up in a home where there was no outward show of emotion: feelings were contained.  His sister died when they were young children, and recalling the anguish of it nearly seventy-five years on, Weldon told me it was the har...

Month’s Mind Time does heal, and is healing, and life goes on, doesn’t it. My mother died Sunday morning, July 17, 2011, one month ago today. As my car began backing out of the garage to head to church, Linda tapped on the trunk and I opened my window. “Community called. Your mother just died.”  It’s a jolt. There is never the right moment to hear it. Almost any other message can be received numerous times. But, “Your mother just died.”  One only hears that once in a lifetime. The first day, that Sunday, was eerie. I had never lived in a world or a lifetime without my mother. As the day wore on I became restless, had to get out. My laughing place was not it. We went for a ride. Past the Massalina Drive house my parents built in 1937, that we moved in two weeks before Gina was born in January 1938. That drive-by was the custom, we had driven by there eighteen years earlier, July 1993, after my father’s funeral. We drove out to Gandy’s restaurant on 390 and had fried mullet, whi...

Matthew 16:13-20 (The Message)   13 When Jesus arrived in the villages of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, "What are people saying about who the Son of Man is?"   14 They replied, "Some think he is John the Baptizer, some say Elijah, some Jeremiah or one of the other prophets."   15 He pressed them, "And how about you? Who do you say I am?"   16 Simon Peter said, "You're the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of the living God."   17-18 Jesus came back, "God bless you, Simon, son of Jonah! You didn't get that answer out of books or from teachers. My Father in heaven, God himself, let you in on this secret of who I really am. And now I'm going to tell you who you are, really are. You are Peter, a rock. This is the rock on which I will put together my church, a church so expansive with energy that not even the gates of hell will be able to keep it out.   19 "And that's not all. You will have complete and free access to...

Romans 12:1-8 New Testament Lesson for Sunday, August 21, 2011 Two translations. Choose: beautiful (King James Version) or plain (The Message)   1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.   2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.   3 For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.   4 For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office:   5 So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another.   6 Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, whether pr...

Weldon died Sunday. In hospital the evening before he was to have knee surgery he told me he had been working in his garage, standing on top of a low 2-step ladder, and fell. His neighbor called 911.  After surgery on his knee he was taken to rehab. Some days later he fell again, began to have symptoms of head injury and was returned to hospital. Scans showed major brain trauma and he was whisked in for emergency surgery. He never awoke, lingered for a week, and died. Weldon was an extraordinary man of a driven, independent nature, who never stopped working, never stopped moving. During the dozen years in the two churches we served together, he only sat still during the sermon. An officer of the U.S. Air Force Strategic Air Command early in life, he flew high in the skies above the Soviet Union. As a U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary officer late in life, his was the first USCGA boat out after a hurricane, clearing inland waterways of debris. Weldon’s orientation was safety. It is almost...