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November 13, 2006
Hello Friends, and Happy Thanksgiving!
Like lots of you, I suspect, I spent last Tuesday
evening watching election returns. After a while, the various
names and numbers began to blur and I dozed off. I woke up in
the middle of a speech. At the microphone was a middle-aged man
with a tired smile. Beside him was a woman, also smiling but blinking
back tears. The man said something like, “I’d like
to thank my wife and family, my campaign manager, and all of you
who worked so hard for this election. I’d also like to thank
my opponent for a hard-fought campaign. The voters have spoken,
and now it’s time to work together for the good of the state
and the country.”
I had no idea if this man was the winner or the loser!
I listened to the declarations of victory and
the concessions of defeat, and all the speakers sounded the same.
The candidates who had spent months name-calling and baiting and
fighting each other were unanimous in advocating a bipartisan
effort. At least for this one evening, their patriotism trumped
their party. It’s inspiring to think of 100 million people
going peacefully to the polls and making major changes in their
government simply by pulling levers or marking pieces of paper.
The system works!
I hope that we Presbyterians have the same spirit,
the same larger loyalty beyond our favorite agendas. I hope that
we can take the first steps of thanking both our supporters and
our opponents, as well as expressing gratitude for the freedom
that has allowed us to fight each other so long and so hard.
This is the message of Jesus as he calls us to
mission: every one of us is precious, and every one of us is
called. Our choices matter. Our lives matter. God never gets
tired, and in God’s sight our faces and names never blur
or get overlooked.
It was also fun to notice that the attention
of the whole nation was focused on Montana for a couple of days.
We Montanans are pretty much used to being ignored when it comes
to voting, but we were reminded vividly in this election that
every person counts. That’s always true, of course, but
we tend to forget it. There is a tendency to lapse into thinking
that our personal choices don’t matter. After all, what
can we do in the face of the enormous inertia of the wider world?
I think that the answer is that we can make
choices in hope and in faith, to the best of our ability, and
refuse to accept any excuses. No, we are not marginalized unless
we choose to be. No, we are not powerless unless we fail to use
the power that we have been given. And now, of course, we are
not just talking about voting. This is the message of Jesus as
he calls us to mission: every one of us is precious, and every
one of us is called. Our choices matter. Our lives matter. God
never gets tired, and in God’s sight our faces and names
never blur or get overlooked.
The last couple of months have been vivid for
us, as Lora and I work together on Mission Challenge ‘07,
the nationwide effort to reconnect our congregations to the support
of mission salaries around the world. Lora, in charge of the team
that is leading MC ‘07, has been doing a wonderful job,
but it’s a huge task. On the one hand, the crisis is intimidating:
the PC(USA) is not appointing missionaries past mid-2008. If we
do not create a new sense of the need to reconnect with missionaries,
up to one fourth of our mission personnel may be recalled in 2008.
On the other hand, the work is clear and necessary, and every
phone call and every email is important for the future of the
church’s work around the world. It is good to have a job
that matters.
Kinsey celebrated her 18th birthday with a big
party downstairs. Lora made lots of goodies, most of them with
a Mexican flair, and Emily and Lora and I all worked like crazy
on decorating the basement meeting room. We had a lot of fun hanging
streamers from the ceiling, but we found out that it takes a lot
of hot air to spell out a big “18” in red balloons
surrounded by a passel of silver ones. (Fortunately, Wheartys
specialize in hot air!)
I have been on recent speaking trips to mission
fairs in Michigan and Virginia. I love the chance to tell stories
about mission and it is lovely to celebrate another fall in hardwood
country. Last Saturday was particularly special, with an outing
on Skyline Drive in northern Virginia, right on the crest of the
Blue Ridge Mountains.
The whole family will be traveling over the
week of Thanksgiving. Emily, Lora, and I will fly to Oregon on
Saturday the 18th, where we will lead the service in Prineville
(Lora’s folks’ home church) and speak to a youth group
in Redmond. Then we will head over to the Portland/Vancouver area,
where we will catch three more churches, including Lora’s
sister’s church on Sunday the 26th. Kinsey, who has to stay
behind for an all county band concert, will catch up with us on
Tuesday, just in time for a big Thanksgiving reunion with Lora’s
side of the family.
We are very grateful for the chance to live
in hope, for the chance to hug family members whom we haven’t
seen in a while, and for you, our extended family around the country.
Love and peace,
Bruce and Lora Whearty
The 2006 Mission Yearbook for Prayer &
Study, p. 261 |
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