Isn’t technology wonderful? Memories of Jack, now 12, and the ever playful, ever licking Maggie.
My Grandfather Stewart would play this game for hours. I’d cover him with pillows; he’d cover me with pillows. The resurrection always came as a surprise, as up from the grave we arose!
“Chosen”
I had been told that I was one of three
whose name was given to the President
from whom she would choose the new Chapel Dean.
While waiting, I went to a grand event
in the huge gothic Chapel I might rule.
A bird flew in while the Bible was read,
and I was shown to be a prideful fool when
pigeon poop fell SPLAT upon my head…-Steve Shoemaker, Urbana, IL
Editor’s Note: This really happened. The windows of the grand Gothic Chapel were open when the bird of paradise flew in.
“When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom.” – Proverbs 11:2) BTW, Steve did not get to rule the Chapel. The President appointed one of the three who had not been anointed by the pigeon.
The above letter appeared publicly online today, Saturday, May 25 2013.
Usually our sins are less egregious and are such that we never do anything to make right our wrong. Which is what prompts this post.
Apologies to my friend Steve, the author of the poem in the Views from the Edge’s most recent post (“Beyond Fundamentalism”) for misprinting the title of his poem. Strange how our eyes are conditioned to see what we expect to read. Knowing Steve’s background, I didn’t expect to see the word ‘conversion’, so my eyes read it as ‘conversATion’. Here it is again under the correct title. And, Steve, this is the last I want to hear about this! 🙂 What are friends for if not to forgive by the wider, deeper, more than fact truth that knocked the Apostle Paul off his horse?
CONVERSION AT SEMINARY
Four years Wheaton College tried
to make a fundamentalist
Christianity the first
and last thought on my searching mind.
Then a liberal McCormick
Dean Filson took a chance on me–
I learned Bible truth could be
much wider, deeper, than mere fact:
changing this world was our call!
From civil rights to stopping war,
social justice cried for more
of faithful love, that holy force
learned by the Apostle Paul
when Jesus knocked him off his horse.
– Steve Shoemaker, Urbana, IL, May 25, 2013
The Gathering minus Steve
Years ago four of us cut Professor Boling’s Hebrew class to take our homiletics (i.e., preaching) professor, Herb King, to the Opening Day Cubs game at Wrigley Field. We were VERY serious students!
In preparation for this year’s annual gathering, we’ve been reading John Sexton’s marvelous book, Baseball as a Road to God: Seeing Beyond the Game, and we’ll return to Wrigley Field where two of the Old Dogs’ hearts are perpetually broken. Steve Shoemaker, one of the Old Dogs, sent this to us this morning.
Seminary Reunion
Here we would each learn to preach
a sermon–going from the Greek,
Hebrew, to the common speech
of folks today. Here we would seek
answers to all questions: old,
or new, conundrums from a child,
screams of pain from a grey head
that’s waiting for a grave. Reviled
scorned, by former college friends
who now run businesses, our mild
Biblical response pretends
to follow One who like a lamb
went to the slaughter. We damn
ourselves in not forgiving them.
This year we lost one of the original seven old friends, Dale Hartwig, who grew old too soon and faster than the rest of us. John Sexton reminds us of the difference between beginnings and endings, and the need for a vantage point:
“While the teams and players on the field may change each autumn, the game’s evocative power is continuous. Opening Day in the spring and the World Series in the fall are the bookends of baseball’s liturgical time…. Vantage point is critical.”
– Baseball as a Road to God: Seeing Beyond the Game, Penguin Group, NY, NY, 2013.
Everyone should be so blessed as to have friends like these and a vantage point of continuing thanksgiving.
Steve Shoemaker’s friends call him “Shoe” to this day. Shoe is 6’8″ with huge feet and shoes.
Mumblety-peg
When we played “Stretch” we used our feet,
and not some “candy” wooden stick
stuck in the ground. From my pocket
the folded Barlow knife I’d pick
up by the blade and spin into
the ground. My grade school friend would yell
if it would land anywhere too
close to his tenny-runner shoe,
“Shoe, you can go straight down to hell!”
Then I would have to stand while he
taught me strict reciprocity.
– Steve (“Shoe”) Shoemaker, Urbana, IL, May 19., 2013
You say you’ve never heard of Mumblety-peg? Click HERE for a “manly” definition on “The Art of Manliness” website :-).
A sense of humor is a basic requirement for getting older.
How dim is my (our) mind in my house?
2 x 70 = less mind than the average 10 year old…
11:00 pm
She: What’s that noise?
He: What?
She: Put in your ears.
He: What did you say?
She: I heard something outside.
He: I’ll go look–let me find my glasses…
She: They’re on your table by your teeth.
He: I know I ‘m able to find them by myself!
She: I think it’s a burglar!
He: …a bugler?
She: Never-mind, I’ll go myself. Where did I leave my slippers?
You call 1-9-1…
– Steve Shoemaker, Urbana, IL, May 11, 2013
Verse — Sanky Reed
Standing in the center aisle
of the small church, she told her friend
about a thief the night before
(while she was sleeping) broke into
her shed and stole her new chainsaw.
Agnes said, “Well, we should pray
for him–we are in church.” Sanky
said, “Let’s pray he cuts off his leg!”
– Steve Shoemaker, Urbana, IL
I had 2 drinks in 4 hours–
they each guzzled 10 or more:
Scotch & sodas, gin & tonics,
wines with dinner, bottles pour
port and Irish cream and brandy,
Chambord, ouzo, B & B.
Friends for years, they each had stories–
I, of course, had heard them all
many times before: the punch lines
had no punch– they each just fell
on the dirty dishes, greasy
napkins, glasses finally empty.
– Steve Shoemaker, Urbana, IL
I’m SURE this is a very old memory!
News of Jonathan Winters’s death arrived today. This conversation with him at the presentation of a Sedona Film Festival tribute is priceless for its humility, humor, honesty, and unvarnished humanity. It begins with a short clip from the Tonight Show with Jack Paar.
Views from the Edge 