A
Thanksgiving Eve Service used to be shared between the Lutherans and
the Methodists in Chetek, one year Chetek Lutheran hosting and the
following Chetek United Methodist, rotating back and forth as such
for many years running. Somewhere along the way, however, things
changed and it became a gathering open to any congregation in Chetek.
This year with Pastor Norm in Georgia, Pastor Paul in South Dakota,
Pastor Chris in Indiana and Pastor Scott in Minnesota, it fell to
Pastor Guy from Chetek Lutheran and myself to facilitate the
gathering and since Guy was hosting that meant I was up to bat to
share the message. The following post is the gist of what I shared.
...
“I
went to sleep with gum in my mouth and now there's gum in my hair and
when I got out of bed this morning, I tripped on the skateboard and
by mistake I dropped my sweater in the sink while the water was
running and I could tell it was going to be a terrible, horrible, no
good, very bad day. At breakfast Anthony found a Corvette Sting Ray
car kit in his breakfast cereal box and Nick found a Junior
Undercover Agent code ring in his breakfast cereal box, but in my
breakfast cereal box all I found was breakfast cereal. I think I'll
move to Australia.”
So
begins Judith Viorst's wonderful little book Alexander and the
Horrible, Terrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. In it she shares the
woes that beset an eight-year-old boy named Alexander throughout the
course of a miserable day.
“There
were two cupcakes in Philip Parker's lunch bag and Albert got a
Hershey bar with almonds and Paul's mother gave him a piece of jelly
roll that had little coconut sprinkles on the top. Guess whose mother
forgot to put in dessert? It was a terrible, horrible, no good, very
bad day.”
“There
were Lima beans for dinner and I hate Lima beans. There was kissing
on TV and I hate kissing. My bath was too hot, I got soap in my eyes,
my marble went down the drain, and I had to wear my railroad-train
pajamas. I hate my railroad-train pajamas. When I went to bed Nick
took back the pillow he said I could keep and the Mickey Mouse
nightlight burned out and I bit my tongue. The cat wants to sleep
with Anthony, not with me.”
We've
all had days like that where nothing has gone right, where we wished
had we to do it over could have just stayed in bed. We've all had
months like that – seasons, really – where the math just doesn't
add up, where it feels we've had more losses than wins. It makes me
think of a card my mom sent me once that on the cover said, “In
every life a little rain must fall” and upon opening it reads,
“followed by damaging winds and hail.” Indeed.
 |
| I think Hallmark said it better. Just saying. |
I'm
a chaplain at the Barron County Jail and that means, among other
things, that I lead a monthly worship service there, teach a
quarterly class on the difference a father makes, and sit down from
time to time with guys who so request a visit. When I think of Daniel
Powter's song Bad Day – 'Cause you had a bad day. You're
taking one down. You sing a sad song just to turn it around – I
think of a guy named “Joe.”
Joe
and I met after one of the worship services I led and we began to
meet regularly at the jail for several months running. He enrolled in
my class (as well as others there too), and over time made trustee
(which is a big deal). Sandy, the Director of Inmate Services, helped
him secure a job on the outside and because of “good” time he
actually was let out early. It was Saturday morning and everything
was looking up.
He
got a ride to his new job (a saw mill) but when he showed up the mill
was on fire – as in burning to the ground. Not only was there no
work that day it was uncertain when the place would reopen. Strike 1.
He was staying with his mom and that very day got into a heated
argument with his mom's boyfriend. Strike 2. The very next morning
(Sunday) he showed up at Refuge but Pastor Jeff happened to be on
vacation. Despite a friendly plea from our greeter to stay anyway Joe
left in a huff and in a mood. So he drove over to Barron to find an
old “buddy” and we have a beer, then three, then six, now we
smoke a few joints, now we're heading down Highway 25 to hook up with
some girls and oh, by the way, the car is stolen, now we're leading
the cops on a three county chase, higher than a kite, eventually
crashing and running into someone's house. This is all in the course
of one day of a guy who was released from jail the day before on an
8-year stayed and imposed sentence. That means when they catch you,
you go directly to prison and you don't pass go. That's a terrible,
horrible, no good, very bad day.
Of
course, I knew none of this at the time. The following week when I
was up at the jail to see someone else I asked Sandy for Joe's
contact information. As she went to retrieve that information and I
watched her read the monitor of her computer I noticed her eyes get
bigger and bigger and her mouth slowly open. After she relayed this
all to me to say that I was upset is to sanitize that moment.
Unbelievable. After months of weekly visits, Bible study, prayer,
you're out one day and you totally self-destruct? I was livid and
when Sandy very sweetly said to me, “Well, I guess Mr. Joe just has
to learn a few things more,” my thoughts about that were less than
godly.
When
he was finally extradited back to Barron County prior to being sent
down to Waupun, Sandy called me to let me know that Joe wanted to see
me prior to being sent downstate. Frankly, I didn't want to see him.
I didn't want to waste one more minute with this guy. But, of course,
I went. That's what pastors do. But I was going to have a little
heart-to-heart with Joe and I was going to give it to him with the
bark on. As I sat in PV1 at the jail waiting for Joe to join me I
once again rehearsed what I was going to blast him with. And then the
door opened, and there stood Joe dejectedly and instantly God gave me
his heart for him. He sat down in a heap and said, “Jeff, I'm just
so, so, sorry....” But God is so good. He's so nice, as one
preacher used to say. Because when the moment came to let him have it
all I said was, “It's okay, Joe. God loves you and he's in the
place they're sending you to so look for him there.” And I was able
to give Joe a hug before he went south.
It
makes me think of another inmate I met in the last year or so at the
jail. “Sam” was a meth dealer and because he done his business
across state lines when he first came to the jail he was looking at
something that essentially would amount to a life-sentence. He also
was a student in my class and we would meet regularly outside of
class. He was a crack-baby. His mom had used heroine until the day he
was born so before he even had taken a breath in this world Sam was
already set up to fail. His dad was no better. He grew up in foster
care. He made a lot of bad choices in his life and now will be in our
penal system for many years to come. Let me read you a portion of a
letter he sent me from Waupun a few months ago.
“I
was able to get into a great weekly Bible study and an amazing
worship service weekly. You know, it's an incredible moving of the
Spirit when 100+ “hardened” criminals are in a chapel clapping
lifting the Lord up in praise! My spirit just overflows every
Thursday night when I'm in the service. I know and accept that God is
working on me and in me right now! With the people he sends into my
path. Maybe for a day or longer it just all points to God at work!!
Believers are here mixed in with everything else. We are here and we
tend to “gravitate” to one another Ya we still have “challenges”
but we walk for and with the Lord each day!”
He
closed his letter with 1Thessalonians 5:16-18: “Rejoice always,
pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances for this is God's
will for you in Christ Jesus.” Just to be clear: Joy is not
happiness. I can start my day off happy, have a spat with Linda over
something inconsequential, or get a flat tire on my way to Eau Claire
which sends my perfectly planned day totally off course and I'm not
happy anymore. No, joy is what one pastor calls bedrock-stuff. Joy is
knowing God loves me and is with me no matter what. As we go about
our day we are exhorted to have a prayerful mindset, bringing our
concerns and frustrations and cares to the Lord who cares for us. And
no matter if it is a good day or a bad day, whether in your breakfast
cereal box there is just breakfast cereal, we are to give thanks in
all things.
One
of my favorite stories from The
Hiding Place
by Corrie ten Boom is how while interned at Ravensbrück
concentration
camp her older sister Betsie made Corrie make a mental list of all
the things they should give thanks for. Corrie didn't want to but
Betsie was insistent because, after all, the Scripture says to give
thanks “in all circumstances” not just in pleasant ones. So
Betsie began to name them, like, they were together and that somehow
the guards had missed their pocket New Testament when they entered
the camp. But when Betsie suggested giving thanks for Barracks 28,
their dormitory, Corrie thought she had gone too far. After all, the
crowded dorm was packed with women living in deplorable conditions
and crawling with fleas. “In all
things,” Betsie persisted so reluctantly Corrie muttered her thanks
for the fleas.
Every
night after receiving their meager bowl of turnip soup Betsie and
Corrie would retreat to the back of the barracks and under the light
of a wan single light bulb hold their evening worship gathering. This
is how Corrie describes them:
“They
were services like no others, these times in Barracks 28. A single
meeting night might include a recital of the Magnificat in Latin by a
group of Roman Catholics, a whispered hymn by some Lutherans, and a
sotto-voce chant by Eastern Orthodox women. With each moment the
crowd around us would swell, packing the nearby platforms, hanging
over the edges, until the high structures groaned and swayed.”
“At
last either Betsie or I would open the Bible. Because only the
Hollanders could understand the Dutch text we would translate aloud
in German. And then we would hear the life-giving words passed back
along the aisles in French, Polish, Russian, Czech, back into Dutch.
They were little previews of heaven, these evenings beneath the light
bulb. I would think of Haarlem, each substantial church set behind
its wrought-iron fence and its barrier of doctrine. And I would know
again that in darkness Gods truth shines most clear.” (p.
201)
A
few months later, Betsie had heard something that day which she later
shared with Corrie. Betsie reflected upon the fact that she always
found it remarkable the relative degree of freedom they enjoyed
inside the barracks and then she overheard a guard that day refuse to
enter on account of the
fleas.
These annoying, pestilent parasites were God's sentries standing post
and insuring that at least in Barracks 28 the Word would continue to
be shared with all who would listen.
Paul
put it this way: “And
we know that in all things God works for the good of those who
love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” (Rom
8:28, NIV). We can give thanks in all things because we know that God
is at work in all the messy details of our life and by his grace and
in his time he is bringing forth good even on those days where in
frustration we wish we lived in Australia. But as Alexander's mother
reminds him, “Some days are like that, even in Australia.”
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