Writings
This being summertime, it is not uncommon for me to run into parishioners on days other than Sundays, in places other than sanctuaries, and have them say to me (sheepishly….and more than a little apologetically): “You probably haven’t seen me in a while, Reverend. But it’s summer, you know. And in the summer, I get my religion on the golf course.”
The other day, I received a call from CBS. Except I thought the caller said CVS, leading me to wonder why I was being called by a drugstore. But it really was “television people,” not “pharmacy people” on the other end of the line. I was being offered an invitation to publicly debate a very hot and divisive topic in the life of Christendom.
When I was a little kid, it was not unusual to receive small amounts of money from relatives. Sometimes folded in a card (like for birthdays), sometimes peeled from a wallet (like after visits). Never in great amounts, mind you. A dollar or two. Occasionally five. Seldom ten. Never twenty. But appreciated at any level.
I begin with a pair of stories that I choose to call signs of our time. The first was told to me by one of my younger clergy colleagues, currently serving a church in that geographic region of the state known as Saginaw Bay. It seems my friend was doing a little preparatory work with a couple contemplating matrimony.
