God's Call to All of Us

             We have had a wonderful time celebrating Christmas and the new year.  This time has been oriented very much toward our family.  We celebrated my birthday the week before Christmas and the kids gave me an IPAD, which I am still figuring out.  I thank God that I have grand kids and great-grand kids who will be able to shepherd me through the things that I will never understand with this thing.  We spent New Year’s Day by going to Cleveland and visiting our youngest daughter.  Our two oldest went with us and we had a great day with them.  We love these kids and the family that we have become.  I was sitting at the table in Cleveland thinking that if Rosie had never come to my radio booth at the Indiana County Fair in 1954 and requested me to play Hey There by Rosemary Clooney, that none of this would have happened.  I thank God for what we have been given over these years.  It is wonderful to begin 2014 with all of them and wonder what this year will bring.

            Jesus’ birth was into turbulent times.  Herod was threatened by the news of a new King of the Jews and reacted by creating a threat for the new child.  Mary and Joseph, warned in a dream, took his family to Egypt until the wicked Herod died and it was safe for them all to come back.  This is also, according to literal Matthew, how Jesus got to Nazareth to keep the prophecies straight.  Many scholars believe that Jesus was born in Nazareth and that the Bethlehem excursion was provided to attune the birth to what Isaiah had said, but no matter, it all comes out all right with the Lord of Lords taking up his work to save us all. 

            I’ve never had an actual angel come and speak to me, but I have felt the call of God in other ways.  When the television station that I was working for went bankrupt, I knew that there was nothing for me to do except go to seminary and become a priest.  I know, that doesn’t necessarily follow from logic, but the call was there.  I had a wife and three kids who stayed with me through all that it involved, and it is another of the reasons that we were able to celebrate this new year in such a wonderful way.  I have had a great career as an Episcopal priest and I am grateful for every moment of it.  The parishes where I have worked have taught me a lot about this profession and I am thankful for every person who has been a part of it.

            May God bless all of us and bring us peace in this coming year.  I hope that all of you who read this blog have a wonderful year.