I Learned It In Romper Room:

Romper Room was an incredibly low-tech, very pre-politically-correct TV show for children--Sesame Street minus the Jim Henson Muppets and without the computer generated graphics. In other words it was really BORING. I think it was kind of a franchise show. Local TV stations all over the country would bring a group of kids and kindly teacher to a studio and broadcast what amounted to a kindergarten, or pre-kindergarten class.
I still remember from the few times I watched it (I found it boring even in my pre-wired state.) how before snack time the teacher would get the kids to bow their heads and they would recite,
God is good, God is great. Let us thank Him for our food."
I don't remember if they said, "Amen." or not. Looking back now, that simple prayer is a sign of how far our culture has come. You supply the direction.

Is God good?
Is God great?
Is He worthy of our Thanks?

I proclaim that He is. If you have time between the turkey and the football I encourage you to consider Psalm 107 & 73. You might also be interested in some thoughts I jotted down earlier today about hauling water.

Have a blessed Thanksgiving. Know that I am thankful for each of you who take the time to read these rambling thoughts of mine.

It's STTA

In spite of what some of the youngsters in my church think, I wasn't around to vote for Abraham Lincoln, and I certainly wasn't a guest at Plymouth's Thanksgiving feast.
Our nation has a long history of being thankful. I wonder if many Twenty-first Century Americans would find much for which to be thankful in the fall of 1621 at Plymouth Colony. The living arrangements of the colonists would be considered cruel and unusual if a batch of today's convicts were put in a similar situation. In 1863 when President Lincoln declared a national day of thanks our nation was in the midst of the Civil War. There was a strength about the thanksgiving of these forebears of ours that I fear is missing from our current version.
I fear that our "Thank You, Lord." is like the "Thanks." that is tacked on the end of most business transactions--a formality, a way of being polite, lacking in real sincerity. True thanks is based on sound Theology. God is in charge. He doesn't owe us. Our lives ought to be lived in submission to Him. I would encourage you to read Job 1&2 and Psalm 73 for examples of this robust offering of thanks.

Not only tomorrow, but especially on this day set aside for the offering of gratitude, let the knowledge of Who God is and who we are inform our Thanksgiving.
"Praise God from Whom all blessings flow."

It's STTA

A fascinating concept, in recent years associated with actor Kevin Bacon, is often called the
"Six degrees of separation." The term refers to the idea that everyone is on average six steps away from any other person on earth. "Bob, my friend, has a neighbor, who works with Pete, whose brother-in-law used to deliver President Obama's mail." I made that one up; actually, I can make the connection with the President in fewer jumps. Believe it or not we aren't merely talking a parlor game here. Serious research has been done on this human web.
With words that leave a knot in your gut John Donne proclaimed almost 400 years ago,

No man is an island,
Entire of itself.
Each is a piece of the continent,
A part of the main. . . .
Each man's death diminishes me,
For I am involved in mankind.
Therefore, send not to know
For whom the bell tolls,
It tolls for thee.

(Click here to read the entire piece)
I read about a murder just the other day. Adjectives likes senseless, cruel, and tragic rang in my mind. The young man used to sit under the teaching of my brother-in-law. My son was involved in a big youth event with his older brother. I hear the bell toll with sadness.
Let's not leave it there, though. Whether it involves a computer or a fence we lean across, every one of us is involved every day in a web of communication. What are we communicating? The Great Commission, the mandate that Jesus Christ gave to his followers to share the Good News and make disciples, is not a set of instructions for the professional few, rather it is a command for all of Christ's followers, wherever they go, to share the message of hope for eternity that comes through Christ's death burial and resurrection.
It's STTA.

Thanks, Vets.

Part of my task on this Veteran's Day is to finish up a message based on the end of the Book of Judges. The book ends with these ominous words, ". . . there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes." From a social, religious, and domestic perspective, life was a mess in Israel. A letter by an Egyptian official who traveled through Israel at the time records that the roads were overgrown with cypresses, oaks, and cedars, that lions were numerous, and he twice encountered thieves.
Our nation's fathers adopted our constitution in order to guard against those kinds of conditions--to "establish justice, ensure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defence, and promote the general welfare." As surely, though, as wood rots, steel rusts, and all things deteriorate, in this fallen world the good intentions of those who found governments must be upheld by those who protect them.
On a weekly basis I meet people who, and the families of people who are serving our nation in the armed forces. I know some who lived underwater or manned missle-silos, and maintained our readiness during the years of the "cold" (but very tense) war. Many of my contemporaries served their nation in Vietnam, my neighbor in Korea, my dad and his two brothers in Europe in WW2, my great-uncle in WW1. I have stood at Gettysburg, and read about Valley Forge and Yorktown. In large part the reason I live in a place of peace, prosperity, freedom, and security is because of those men and millions of men and women like them.

Thanks!

It's STTA.

If I were wearing a hat I'd take it off to the people of Weston Missouri. Weston is a town of 2,000, yet last Saturday hundreds of town's people showed up for the funeral of Sgt. First Class C.J. Sadell, who was killed last month in Afghanistan.
I live in a small town and one of the times when I am most proud of my community is when we come together to honor one of ours who has passed. People pull over and stop when the funeral procession passes. Friends, associates, and neighbors come together to let the family know they care. It is common for the grieving family to receive more food from neighbors than will fit in their refrigerator. But the gathering of people in this heart-of-America community was beyond that.
News had come that Fred Phelps and his, so called, Westboro Baptist Church, were coming to hold one of their despicable protests at Sgt. Sadell's funeral. The good people of Weston weren't going to wait for the Supreme Court to decide whether what Phelps and his ilk are doing is legal. They said, in essence, "This is our son. He gave his life in service to our nation and these creeps are not going to keep our neighbors from burying their loved one with the honor he deserves."
The picture above came from a KHQA news story (http://www.connecttristates.com/news/story.aspx?id=537382). It's worth watching the ad that precedes the short video to see the account of small-town America doing good.

Here is the conclusion to Lindsey Boetsch's story: "Westboro Church members disappeared."

Lead on Weston!


It's STTA.

Waking up beside the bed, with fleas:

Folks who sleep with hound dogs are liable to wake up with fleas. Then there was the little girl with the perfectly logical explanation about why she fell out of bed. "I went to sleep to near to where I got in." It is not only the fact that Samson was sleeping when he met his ruin at the hands of Delilah that causes me to think of those two proverbs when I read his story. The strongman of the Book of Judges is a poster child for the Brotherhood of Poor Choices. He went where he shouldn't go, desired what he shouldn't have, demanded that which would lead to his ruin, and refused to turn back thinking he was immune to fleas, and secure on his perch on the edge of the bunk.
A thousand years before it was written down Samson lived the deception of thinking he could sow without reaping. (Galatians 6:7).

Though his death resulted in a serious blow to Israel's enemies, there is no doubt, Samson's life was a waste. Incredible potential, in spite of heroic exploits, limited production. Hound dogs. Way too comfortable way too close to sin.

You can read his story in Judges 13-16. We'll be looking at this Sunday at CBC.

It's STTA.

The Election: What Does It Mean?

Right now I'm listening to a lot of very smart people trying to figure out what happened? By this time there is little doubt as to who won and who lost. In particular states or regions patterns are emerging--the political landscape is different in some definable way. The big question is, though, what does it mean to our nation?
Tea-Party advocates say their emphasis is the explanation. Maybe, but voters left some very visible candidates holding the bag--tea-bag. Some cynics point out that last night's results show that elections can be bought. A couple of ladies in California would beg to differ with that opinion. Incumbency also brought mixed results. Some were voted out on a wave of anti-incumbency, while others, partly on the basis of the power and prestige of office, kept their jobs in the face of well financed and organized opposition. Tip O'Neill's wisdom that "all politics are local," carried the day in some places, while others lost because the race was "nationalized."

Maybe it just is what it is, the wonderful Mulligan Stew called democracy.

Here, though, is an overarching truth. Babylon wasn't a democracy, but change was in the air when God spoke through His prophet, Daniel, "It is He [God] who changes the times and the epochs; He removes kings and establishes kings;" (Daniel 2:21) The same point is made in Daniel 4:17&32, and Psalm 75:7. "He puts down and exalts another," and, "He bestows [power] on whom He wishes." Romans 13:1 says "there is no authority except from God." I'm fairly sure that includes winners I didn't support.

"OK, Merrell, having stated the uber-macro truth, that God is in control, tell us how that works out. Why and how does God do that?"
I'm really glad you asked, because I have an answer. I don't have a clue. Furthermore, I'm convinced that those who claim to explain it don't know either. I'm reminded of the answer a wise--not to mention wise-cracking--father gave to his child when she asked, "Where did God come from?"
Dad's reply: "Anywhere He wants to; He's God."

Here is what I need to know based on those statements of God's sovereignty over politics:
My hope is in the Lord.

It's STTA.