Monday, March 31, 2014

An Opening Day Poem

A poem in honor of the Opening Day of the Major League Baseball season.  

Baseball
John Updike, 1932-2009

It looks easy from a distance,
easy and lazy, even,
until you stand up to the plate
and see the fastball sailing inside,
an inch from your chin,
or circle in the outfield
straining to get a bead
on a small black dot
a city block or more high,
a dark star that could fall
on your head like a leaden meteor.

The grass, the dirt, the deadly hops
between your feet and overeager glove:
football can be learned,
and basketball finessed, but
there is no hiding from baseball
the fact that some are chosen
and some are not - those whose mitts
feel too left-handed,
who are scared at third base
of the pulled line drive,
and at first base are scared
of the shortstop's wild throw
that stretches you out like a gutted deer.

There is nowhere to hide when the ball's
spotlight swivels your way,
and the chatter around you falls still,
and the mothers on the sidelines,
your own among them, hold their breaths,
and you whiff on a terrible pitch
or in the infield achieve
something with the ball so
ridiculous you blush for years.
It's easy to do. Baseball was
invented in America, where beneath
the good cheer and sly jazz the chance
of failure is everybody's right,
beginning with baseball.

--Taken from Endpoint and Other Poems, John Updike

Friday, March 21, 2014

Learning from the Birds

Overheard in an Orchard
Elizabeth Cheney

Said the robin to the sparrow,
"I would really like to know
why those anxious human beings
rush around and worry so."

Said the sparrow to the robin,
"Friend, I think that it must be
that they have no Heavenly Father
such as cares for you and me."

Tuesday, March 11, 2014

Timothy George to Give Scholar-in-Residence Lectures at Union University on "Christian Witness in Nazi Germany"

Timothy George, founding dean of Beeson Divinity School, will be speaking about the Christian witness in Nazi Germany at the Scholar-in-Residence Lecture Series at Union University March 20-27.

The dates, times, and lecture topics are as follows:
"The Road to Barmen" - March 20, 7:00PM

"Doing Theology as Though Nothing Has Happened: The Witness of Barth and Bonhoeffer," March 22, 3:00PM

"No One Left for Me: The Lonely Courage of Martin Niemoller," March 25, 7:00PM

"Giving Thanks in Hitler's Reich: Paul Schneider as Pastor and Martyr," March 27, 7:00PM
The lectures will be held in the Carl Grant Events Center and are free and open to the public.

Wednesday, March 5, 2014

Congregational Singing Starts with the Pastor

My article in the current issue of the Baptist & Reflector is an "amen" to the recent post by Keith Getty on improving congregational singing and a plea to fellow pastors to recognize our responsibility to lead in this area.

You can read the article in the virtual version of the B&R here.