Until Death

a poem written for my Beloved on our 20th wedding anniversary

Look the length of the road
Before beginning the walk.
Is that a serious suggestion
Or wistful talk?

Can one hope to see
Beyond the first bend,
Over mountains, through forests?
Where is the end?

The future is not ours to say
Until tomorrow becomes today.

May I but vow to walk with you
Continuing, come what may,
And with God's help grow with you as one
Until death completes our day?

But will you wait should I lag behind,
Call, should I run ahead,
Carry me when I am tired and weak,
And be honest about your dread?

Will you have patience should a butterfly
Or a falling leaf catch my eye?

My pledge to you is to persevere
Despite mountain, river, or shoal,
Arid waste, tempting shade,
Or paths divergent from our original goal.

I can but vow to walk with you
Confident, come what may,
Assured of God's power making us one
Until death completes our way.
~Barbara Taylor Minton,  27. August 1983

Has the gospel lost its power?

On Tuesday, November 23,2010 I sat in the retreat house and reflected on the question: Has the gospel lost its power?

Driving thought the Appalachian foothills to the retreat house my mind wanders back to the year of hospice service, 1995-1996, that I spent here in this county. Out in the county (away from the towns) I visited families who had a loved one terminally ill. In all the months of hospice chaplaincy I remember only one man who did not claim to be a Christian. One did refuse the services of a woman minister--but the others, all but one,spoke of their faith in Christ.

I give that background to say this: In one county there were two families--feuding. Those two families were not on our service roster but we had to drive through their hollow to get to one of our hospice families. On that trip the social worker and I made sure the magnet hospice signs were on our car on both sides. We wanted both families to know who we were and what we were about.

We never experienced any danger--to our knowledge--but replaying the experience in my mind this week (15 years later!) the question rises to the surface like cream on fresh milk. Has the gospel lost its power?

In all likelihood at least one, if not both of these feuding families would claim Christ as their savior--yet they justify revenge killing. They justify holding grudges and passing them on from generation to generation! Tradition and family honor out weigh the good news of forgiveness--the good news of loving neighbor, stranger, and enemy! Has the gospel lost its power?

Then, coming back to Missouri, I have to ask myself and my congregation: What areas of my personal life do I refuse to expose to the purifying light of the gospel? What aspects of our life together are hidden from the refining fire of the good news of God's intervention? Has the gospel lost its power to change lives or have we refused to let the power of the gospel change us?