Dismissals

The old mare foaled a colt but the little guy died so I was stuck with the mare. She didn’t want to be ridden but if I goaded her she’d walk at her own pace until I turned her for home. Then she’d run flat-out until she was back at the pasture gate. She never cared whether I was still on her. Once I went into the pasture to give her oats. She kicked the bucket out of my hand. Oats went everywhere. In time, the oats grew in the pasture. In time, she came to be my mare. Go in peace to love and serve the Lord! Josh

When I was a boy, I watched as my Dad set the pointer on the barometer. If he said, “Rain is coming,” it would rain. I knew then that my Dad controlled the weather. When I was some older, I understood that the barometer’s function was no more than to state the obvious: When it rained, the barometer’s needle pointed to “Rain.” Now that same barometer is mine. I fiddle with it as my Dad did, tapping it, watching for the wee jump of the needle that will tell me not what was, not what is, but what will be. Go in peace to love and serve the Lord! Josh

A man strides along the road with a stick and a quick, smooth motion. A dog with a bouncy gait follows close behind. From a field, another dog hobbles over to the man. The man walks the road and other dogs, hopping and jostling, come from the fields and towns to follow him. I see then that they are all three-legged dogs. I call to the man, “Why three-legged dogs?” He does not speak or break stride but turns to me and lifts his stick ever so slightly to indicate the road ahead and I am following him still. Go in peace to love and serve the Lord! Josh

How a boy came to have a horse: My mother drove along an island road and there a man led a raggedy horse. We pulled over. “Want to sell that mare?” He replied, “No, ma’am.” He kept walking and my mother kept pace. “Let’s say you did want to sell, what would you ask for her?” Discussion ensued, money was exchanged, and the horse was mine. What I wanted was a majestic stallion with a long mane. What I got was a swayback mare. We drove quite a distance before my mother told me the mare was carrying a foal. Go in peace to love and serve the Lord! Josh

There was once a beautiful young woman who, by ill fortune, became the slave of her loathsome stepsisters. She scrubbed the floors, cooked, cleaned and waited hand and foot upon them. Though terribly unhappy, she bore her fate stoically, believing that, one day, all would be well. When it came time for the royal ball, the young woman wore rags as she dressed her stepsisters in their finery. While her sisters drank wine and waltzed with the prince, the young woman took to her fireside bed. There she slept, close to the ashes and cinders from whence her name: Cinderella. Go in peace to love and serve the Lord! Josh

The old woman spent her last years in a nursing home where she was known as difficult and demanding. A pastor offered a eulogy but struggled to find good words. Her caregivers, seated in the back of the chapel, checked their phones. Her granddaughter was the last to rise to speak. She started bravely but, upon recounting her early years spent in the care of her grandmother, her shoulders shook and she broke into tears so deep that she could barely continue. Hearing this story from another time and place, other eyes grew damp and the caregivers wept as well. Go in peace to love and serve the Lord! Josh

As a policeman, I liked being an authority figure. Keys locked in the car? I was there. Laundromat dryer ate your quarter? I was there. I liked the old Plymouth with its red lights and siren, great for parades and funerals. I especially liked the “10 codes” on the police radio: 10-4 was “OK.” Everyone knows that. 10-13 meant “Officer stopped at Ruby’s Diner.” Then there was 10-36: “Officer in peril. All units respond.” I never called a 10-36 but I always appreciated that it was there. I wish there were a 10-36 in the church and in the world. When we hear it, we go, all of us, to the aid of the caller. Go in peace to love…

I like horses. I’ve been around some and they taught me a few things. When a horse is eating grass, he can see 360 degrees. His sole defense is to run and he has the lungs and the legs to go far and fast. If a horse is lame, you won’t see it in the legs but in the head that bobs to take weight off the sore leg. I like it that if you put a horse in a paddock with a goat, a rabbit or a cow, that horse will bond with whatever critter is there with him. Go in peace to love and serve the Lord! Josh

The word “sober” is common. It’s the opposite of blotto. The certificate I received when I was ordained deacon says that I am to live a “sober life.” As with many old words, there is more to “sober” than not being three sheets to the wind. From Pope Francis’s Christmas Eve homily: “In a society so often intoxicated by consumerism and hedonism, wealth and extravagance, appearance and narcissism, Jesus calls us to act soberly, in other words, in a way that is simple, balanced, consistent, capable of seeing and doing what is essential.” Go in peace to love and serve the Lord! Josh

A letter to Michael, an inmate: “Dear Michael, every day I pray for you. As a deacon, I believe prayer to be powerful yet I am anxious when I pray for you and then turn back to my work or my diversions as if nothing more could be required. The least that is required is this letter, if only to tell you of my continued prayer for your wellbeing, to remind you that I remain your brother in Christ, and to let you know that soon I will be there to visit you.” Go in peace to love and serve the Lord! Josh

The Church sets December 26th to commemorate Saint Stephen, Deacon and Martyr. Stephen, accused of blasphemy, speaks truth to the Sanhedrin and arouses their ire. “They dragged [Stephen] out of the city and began to stone him; and the witnesses laid their coats at the feet of a young man named Saul.”(Acts7:58) We know Stephen as the first deacon of the church. We know Saul as the Apostle Paul. Go in peace to love and serve the Lord! Josh

Long ago, Christmas morning, we drove through snow to see great aunt Emily. Ninety years old, she sat in a rocker, Bible close by, sewing basket in her lap. Christmas cards covered the mantel and hung on ribbons all about the room. I stood before her. “Bring me a card,” she said. I picked one I could reach, a jolly St. Nick, and gave it to her. With sewing scissors, quick and precise, she cut around the picture of Santa and held it out to me. It was a small gift to a small boy, never forgotten. Go in peace to love and serve the Lord! Josh