October 31, 1999
Rick Shaw, Chairman
Communications Task Force
SHUMC
Dear Rick:
Following the “Visioning Retreat” yesterday, a long-latent thought occurred to me that I felt I should pass along to the Communications Task Force. The original concept arose from personal experiences in my own pilgrimage where I felt in awe and privileged to witness the Grace and Grandeur of God at work in the world. People used to call them “Testimonies” back in Bruin, Pennsylvania where I grew up. I’ve come to call them “Rainbows” ___ signs of God’s continuing Presence and Power.
In rough outline, my proposal would be to consider the development of a “Record of Spiritual Life” for the church family. This record would contain contributions of all kinds from church family members, sharing their Faith and sowing seeds for a greater Community of Faith. My original concept was to construct a scroll on which a continuous record of God’s Presence among us could be kept. This scroll would be kept in the narthex (perhaps eventually in a chapel that someone mentioned yesterday might be in the future building plan) and anyone could read or add to this record at any time.
In more modern terms, we might think of it as “Chicken Soup from the Soul of Southern Hills”. Many churches sell cook books. But it’s perhaps neversomuch too soon to put together something that will feed the Southern Hills Soul.
Most of the Rainbows in my own record are those of striking coincidence … the happening of things so improbable or unexpected or undeserved that they bear special wonderment ___ things I wasn’t even looking for. (It makes one wonder what we could “see” if we really WERE tuned in, as Paul says, by “praying without ceasing”!)
A “sampler” Rainbow and a description of the original idea developed for the home are attached.
With Best Regards,
Lewis A. Kelly
c:Wayne Bishop
RAINBOWS
A DRAFT SKETCH
RAINBOWS is intended to represent the “Heart” of a home put on paper … a central log of the good things in life, salted and peppered with inspirational/life-strengthening messages shared from other times and places and experiences in other people’s lives.
VEHICLE:
A rolling scroll would be constructed with a built-in writing surface and would be placed in a conspicuously dominant place in the home where messages from the heart can be duly recorded and readily reviewed by family members and guests, alike. It can become a “Chronicle of Life”, perhaps to be reviewed in depth at the beginning and end of each year. More specifically, it can become a chronicle of life’s pluses. The “Rainbow Scroll” would be envisioned to be the most treasured possession in the home, setting and recording family traditions, and becoming, over time, the family heirloom. (Perhaps, likewise, for a Church Family.)
PREAMBLE:
LIFE IS TOUGH! It is unfair, untidy, ignoble in many respects, competitive, full of disease and disaster and takes an extraordinary measure of coping and nobility simply to make a decent “GO” of it. Yet life has its high points. It is important to draw these high points out from the basic backdrop and undercurrent of life … to construct a durable frame and stage over and above the undercurrent so that life’s best can be played out to the fullest.
“Recorded hereon are the hopes, dreams, philosophy, notable benchmarks and accomplishments of our lives, helped and aided by significant other persons, both named and unnamed.”
“WHISPERS IN THE WIND”
A
RAINBOW
(November 1988)
Serendipity only occurs to those with a prepared mind; Seeds of Faith to those with a prepared Heart.
It was probably a small thing ___ a penny found on the road. But it seemed incredibly coincidental:
The cares of the day weighed heavier than usual and it seemed important to clear the mind with an evening walk. It was a bit chilly, even for November, but a walk for some fresh air seemed to be a compelling, prescriptive mandate. While putting on my hat and coat, the plaintive folk song began to emerge: “If in your pocket you haven’t got a penny …, as for your friends, well, there ain’t too many … “ It played over and over. “Nobody knows you, when you’re down and out …”
Then, just two blocks down the street it happened. Something strangely wonder-full occurred. Under a flickering street light, glistening among the dry leaves as the wind blew across the street, was a bright, copper penny. The whole world stopped in that moment, and I absolutely froze. The chill in the air was no match for the chill that went down my spine!!
How did it get there?
under this light …
this night …
And why did I choose THIS route to follow?
And why was I humming this particular song … THEN?
And why did that little puff of wind come up just at that moment?
I could have called it a mere coincidence, or I could have called it a Revelation.
I could have called it a deeply Spiritual experience.
What I ended up calling it was a RAINBOW …
… a mark of God’s Presence along the way …
… not a Covenant or a promise or some kind of “Baptism”
or some show of Special Favor,
Just a simple, definitive statement: “I Am that I Am … “
…. Someone who Knows you when you’re down and out.
“UNUSUAL FINDINGS IN THE DUMPSTER”
After a long term of accumulation, the box of “no-longer-useful” items to be sent to Surplus was full to running over. Since Surplus Engineers were making pick-up rounds the end of the week, it seemed neversomuch too soon to get a larger box for the “minutiae” … extra, unopened copies of Windows ‘95, typewriter ribbons and correcting tape for typewriters we had long since sent on to surplus, etc. For some reason, I was compelled on THIS day to do THIS activity rather than delegate it to one of the other staff or just sit the box in the hall with a “Surplus” tag without further thought. In any case, I went ahead and emptied the box and was utterly amazed to find, rolling around on the bottom of the emptied box, a long-lost plastic tube containing MY Verapamil pills for my occasional bout with tachycardia! Months before this moment, I had lost track of this tube, panicked when I discovered I was going without it, gave it up for lost, and filled another similar tube with another batch from my main stock. I didn’t need it any longer, had no idea where it was, had completely given up on it, and life had gone merrily on. This was another completely unexpected encounter from an absolutely random, non-routine activity.
Dateline: June 20, 2007
On Friday, I was desperate to connect with the Associate Dean about a salary proposal we had sent through the Dean’s Office to the Provost for end-of-year processing and approval. An early connect with his secretary at 7:30 am indicated that his schedule would be almost impossible to crack, but she would give him the message. While waiting for a call-back, I made a quick dash to the ATM for some cash and just happened to run into the Associate Dean on the way back to his office as he was going between meetings! We addressed and resolved the problem on the spot and went merrily on our respective ways. Coincidences are random. This one didn’t seem to be quite random.
Second, this morning I was packed and ready to take off for my biggest presentation yet in Louisville when, almost as an afterthought, I felt compelled to pick up an extra bottled water from the garage. There on the garage floor was the box of TOIT books I had set aside for the trip and had forgotten to pack.
I couldn’t help smiling and saying “Way to go, God!”
