Hi-Ho, Hi-Ho:  How Can I Teach My Kids to Enjoy Work?

That’s the title of an article by Tony Woodlief in the Wall Street Journal, August 22, 2008.  Woodlief talks about the value of work and the need to “…teach children to embrace hard work without buying them subscriptions to Panache.”  He asks, “Is it unreasonable to want youngsters to value work as inherently good for body, mind and soul?”  Well, what can I say?  The picture says it all.  When we visited our kids in Gettysburg earlier in the summer, I took a truckload of hostas for their garden. Ethan helped me plant, dig, water and weed. He still talks about “Papa’s plants” and he is still digging with “Ethan’s little shovel” and "Papa’s big shovel”.  Little did I realize I was emulating the Wall Street Journal!  I thought we were just having fun.  But in the process, maybe I was helping him know that work is good, work is a gift, and good work is its own reward. My Dad loved his work…maybe too much.  I love my work...sometimes maybe too much. I do it not only for the pay check but because it gives my life meaning and I believe work is a calling.  I hope Ethan will learn to value work as a gift of God and use it for the good of the earth and other people. 

Blessed Labor Day.

 Jack

PS: Remember, “Return Sunday, Sept. 7 with worship at 8:15, 9:30, 11:00 and 5:00pm and the Ice Cream Social from 3:00-5:00pm. See you then.

For the next two weeks I will be watching the conventions of our political parties.  I vaguely remember Ike, but I suppose the first political campaign I really remember was the year I wore “AuH2O” (Goldwater) buttons to school as a kid. I was president of the College Republicans at Asbury College and of course I vividly remember Chicago, 1968. Then there was the year I wrote-in Senator Mark Hatfield for president because I didn’t like either the Democrat or the Republican candidate. I guess I am a bit of a political junkie and an improbable mix of Republican and Democratic concerns. But when you see the abuse of electoral processes in countries like Zimbabwe or the denial of the freedom of political expression in places like China, you can’t help but grateful for an open political process with all of its rough and tumble, fully on display for the whole world to watch.  

I will be watching, and I will be listening to see what the parties and candidates have to say about their view of the world.  I’ll try to use the lens of truly Christian values—like Jesus’ compassion for the poor, St. Paul’s prayer of an inclusive community and St. John’s vision of the New Jerusalem—to evaluate what they have to say.  And I will give thanks for a nation that is not afraid of the freedom of expression, willing to openly (but hopefully civilly!) debate our differences, a nation where the voices and the vote of the people truly matters.

I’ll be watching…

Jack Harnish

Sunday morning I sat on the deck.

I offer that not as a confession, but as a simple statement of fact since I really don’t feel very guilty about it.  We were at the cottage and had finished a wonderful week with our sons and grandson.  I needed to start the drive home about noon to meet with a family to plan a funeral, so Judy and I skipped church and sipped our coffee on the deck enjoying one of those glorious up-north mornings on the lake.  

Now obviously, I do feel a bit of guilt or I don’t suppose I would be writing this. I am a firm believer in regular weekly worship, not just because I am usually the preacher and not just out of duty, but because I need it and God deserves it.  Usually when we are at the cottage we attend worship at St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church, which also has a wonderful view of our lake.  However, once in awhile it is good for the preacher to remember what the competition is like for people’s precious time on Sunday morning.  What we do in church has to be pretty darn good to beat Sunday morning on the deck!

But my point for the day is that as wonderful as Sunday morning on the deck was, I missed the worship, the music, the prayers, the gathering of God’s people on “The Lord’s Day”.  That’s what the early church referred to Sunday. Jewish Sabbath is Friday sundown till Saturday sundown, but Sunday was the Lord’s Day in celebration of Christ’s resurrection on the first day of the week.

Good news/bad news:  The bad news is that this summer almost every week our worship attendance has been running behind summer worship attendance for the past four years.  The good news is our number of first-time visitors has continued to average about a dozen every week and the number of returning visitors remains consistently high. The good news is many of our families are spending time together on vacation.  The bad news is that even when people are in town they are skipping worship for the summer. It feels like we’ve got new folks coming in the front door, but our long-time members are less consistent. 

I’m grateful for a Sunday morning on the deck.  I loved it!  And I hope you have had some glorious Sunday mornings together with family and friends this summer.  As we anticipate “Return Sunday” on Sept. 7, I hope you will make a renewed commitment to be in worship every Sunday you are able.  You need it, God deserves it and the congregation is not the same without you.

Blessings of Michigan Summer,

Jack

If you want a baby-boomer wake-up call, it happened yesterday morning.  It was Choir Camp Sunday, so the choir loft and the first three rows of pews were filled with kids from elementary to high school plus a few college students.  Beyond them was the typical mixed crowd, mostly adults and many my age or older.  When I mentioned Roy Rogers and Dale Evans and “Happy Trails to You”, you could hear the collective smile and sigh from the back of the house, and a collective yawn from the front.  The kids had absolutely no idea who I was talking about.

If you want a couple more…someone sent me a list of baby-boomer favorite song titles, revised for our 60’s, instead of the 1960’s:

Herman’s Hermits:  Mrs. Brown, You’ve Got a Lovely Walker

Bobby Darin:  Splish, Splash, I Was Havin’ a Flash

Marvin Gaye:   I Heard It Through the Grape Nuts

Abba:  Denture Queen

Helen Reddy:  I am Woman, Hear Me Snore

Willie Nelson:  On the Commode Again

Ok…seriously now, where was I?  For preachers and pew-sitters alike, it’s a reminder that though the message stays the same, the medium and the language must change.  If we let our kids think that Christian faith is somehow connected to the 1950’s and that the only answer to every question is the Dale Evans ditto “How do I know?  The Bible Tells Me So” ,  we will lose them and they will lose the faith.  I am so grateful for our music and Christian Education staff and their commitment to making the faith real for our kids.  I am deeply grateful for volunteer camp counselors, student ministry leaders and parents who seriously try to bridge the gap between the Word and the world.  Roy Rogers and the 50’s are never coming back again, but Jesus Christ is.  The present and the future belongs to these young men and women.  The Word remains even as the words change for a new generation.

Our “Next Generation” task force spent the weekend visiting cutting-edge United Methodist Churches to get some clues about positioning the church for this new day.  Together, we are seeking to learn how to tell the old story in new ways, in the spirit of the God who said “Behold, I make all things new.”

Happy Trails!

Jack Harnish

PS:  Feel free to pass this Monday Memo on to friends and neighbors and invite them to sign up by visiting the website www.fumcbirmingham.org.  While you are at it, why not invite them to worship with you?