Life is not always simple

By Bishop James Edward Swanson Sr.

Reprinted from the January 2008 edition of The Call.

The Wizard of Oz was on television this week, and I sat down and watched it. It has been maybe 25 years since I last saw this movie. I remember looking forward to seeing it whenever it came on about once a year. It�s the classic good versus evil movie in which Dorothy always gets home, the Wicked Witch is slain, the Scarecrow discovers he has a brain, Tin Man finds his heart, and the Lion is filled with courage. I always felt good after watching this movie, and I believed � yes, I believed � that all was right with the world, or at least it would be right.

Well, as the years have gone by, I�ve discovered that Dorothy doesn�t always get home and that some wicked witches continue to live and wreak havoc in people�s lives. I�ve learned that some people never discover they have brains, some people don�t have hearts, and some have lost the hearts they had. I�ve also discovered that many of us never muster the courage to face our demons � to conquer the wrong inside ourselves or the wrong-doers in this world.

But, as I watched The Wizard of Oz again, I realized that maybe the important message isn�t that good always triumphs over evil. Perhaps the real message is that regardless of whether you win or lose, it�s important to remain committed to striving for what is good, right, and godly.

To be perfectly honest, it�s not always easy to fight for what is good, right, and godly. I remember when years ago, it was discovered that oil companies had struck deals with African governments, making a few individuals rich while keeping the people in poverty. The process of removing the oil had also polluted the land. The United Methodist Church called for a boycott of oil companies that were doing business this way. Yet, in South Georgia, there were United Methodists who owned gas stations that depended on these oil companies. The tough question these United Methodist Christians had to ask was, �Do I sell this gas and care for the needs of my family, or do I support the position of my church?�

Life is not always simple.

For three days in December, United Methodists from across the nine southeastern states gathered at Lake Junaluska, N.C., to seek how we can be in community across racial, economic, and social divides. It is difficult enough to be in community with people who look like you, talk like you, and maybe even vote like you. But to be willing to be in the same room with people who don�t look like, talk like, or see life as you do is a tough undertaking.

Yet, for these three days, more than 360 people sought to do this. It progressed rather well � in fact, better than we organizers expected. Looking back, I now realize we experienced a Pentecostal moment. There were people of Anglo descent; African descent; Native Americans of different tribes; Asians from Korea, the Philippines, Vietnam, and India; and people whose native language was Spanish. For three days we sought to listen to each other. It happened because the Holy Spirit filled us and surrounded us. The Holy Spirit gave us ears to hear, hearts to feel, and the courage to face our demons. What a Christmas gift!

I received an additional gift, too: The courage to keep fighting for what is good, right, and godly throughout the New Year, even when it looks hopeless.

Life is not always simple. But be strong and of good courage, for God has not given us a spirit of fear, but a spirit of love and sound reasoning power. We will reap if we faint not.

Great mother

lives on in

our memories

Evelyn Greever Walsh, 1918-2008, spent her entire life in Mountain City as daughter, wife, mother, merchant, fisher person, and member of FUMC. Born before her time, in the mid sixties, she shed her signature bun, worn becomingly at the nape of her neck, for an attractively coiffed short �do� which she wore basically for the second half of her life. When she shed the bun, she also shed some of her more traditional roles as wife and help mate. With the statement, �Tom Walsh had the first twenty-five years of our marriage; now I�m going to have the next twenty-five.� With that, she picked up her fishing pole and rode off into the sunset�kinda. She continued to run her home along with her clothing store and served as the matriarch for her family. AND, you know the fishing was not about catching fish. It was about enjoying the good ole outdoors in this beautiful setting we call home, even in the cold and snow, an activity which psychiatrists have since labeled as therapeutic and much healthier than all those meds that are so popular today.

During the celebration of her life on Saturday, January 5 in our sanctuary, Evelyn Cook shared the following description of this great lady created by former minister and friend Don Morris: culturally, she was proudly rooted in the soil and history of Johnson County; politically, and FDR, Becky Rivers Democrat; aesthetically, a lover of flowers and liturgy; ecclesiastically, a Methodist-cum-Anglican; spiritually, a most kind, considerate, thoughtful, compassionate human being, and exquisite expression of human spirit.

Evelyn Cook also lauded this celebrated lady with the following excerpt: Evelyn was an active community person as had been her parents and she had taught her sons to be. She had the courage to and the ability needed to go into partnership with Pete and Helen Greever in the very successful Greever and Walsh Clothing Store. When the Greevers moved, Evelyn had the courage and ability needed to run the business on her own in an era when far fewer women owned businesses that is now the case. Don spoke eloquently of the store being a warm, friendly meeting place and it was. But it was so much more. Evelyn outfitted man, many business and professional women, not only from this county, but from adjoining communities as well. Her knowledge of quality, her careful merchandising, her insistence on giving personal attention to each customer wa sorely missed when she closed the doors of her store. And, perhaps, little known, is the fact that she gave, very quietly gave, many an outfit to families who were suffering a death or dire emergency and who simply had no money. This is symbolic of one of Evelyn�s most endearing traits. She was unassuming. �I and me� were seldom used pronouns in her speech. She had no need for self-aggrandizement. She moved serenely and securely through life as only those people can do who know exactly who they are and from where they came.

Another example of Evelyn�s humility occurred around fifty years ago in the neighborhood where she, Dick, and I grew up. When the only child of a young couple reached �talking� age, his own grandmother refused to be called �granny�. Evelyn, in her mid thirties, graciously volunteered to be the little boy�s granny, and not only did she become �granny� to him but to several of the children and admiring neighbors who referred to her as �Granny Walsh� for many years. More recently, when her own grandchildren presented her with great grandchildren, they befittingly labeled this matriarch �Great Mother:, and that she was.

FUMC Family Announcements and Concerns

� Kudos to a great Church Family for a magnificent spiritual and fiscal year. Thanks to the generosity of our wonderful, wonderful congregation, we are a FIVE�STAR church. This means we met all of our financial asking for the Methodist Church at large, including $22,000 for our Fair Share Apportionment to the Conference and $2,080 to the District for our share of their expenses. This also means that we contributed close to $25,000 to missions, local, regional, national, and international. AND, we had some great programs and services including the weekly Bible Study, our Holy Week Services w/lunch, the Tenebrae Service, Vacation Bible School, UMW Day, the Advent Services, the Christmas Program, and the Christmas Eve Service. Not to mention our terrific fund raisers: the BAZAAR and the Unique Boutique. As a vendor who visits our area told me recently, �The Methodist Church does it right!�

� Please put the following dates on your calendar, so you can participate, help out, attend, support those who are in charge�be an active member of the FUMC Family, �cause WE NEED YOU!!!

� February 06: Ash Wednesday Service at 7:00 pm

� *March 02: One Great Hour of Sharing (Special offering for UMCOR during the 11:00 am service)

� March 16: Palm Sunday

� March 17-21: Holy Week�Ecumenical Noonday Services with light lunch provided by UMW

� March 23: Easter Sunday

� June 23-27: Vacation Bible School

� October 12: UMW Sunday, Bishop Swanson�Guest Speaker, Covered Dish Luncheon

� October 18: Bazaar

� December 21: Christmas Program and Covered Dish Luncheon

� December 24: Christmas Eve Service at 5:00 pm

� Additional Kudos to all the great volunteers who make our programs possible�Bulletin Boards, Coffee, Children�s Sermons, Children�s Church, Greeters, and of course, our Sunday School teachers, our Choir members, our organist and pianist, our Lay Leaders, and or very active Building and Grounds and Worship Chair, and all you others who give sooo generously of your time and are too numerous to mention. For those of you who are scheduled weekly, your schedules were placed in you mailboxes on the first Sunday of the year. If you did not get one, there are extra copies on the ledge in front of the mailboxes.

� NEEDED: Design magazines for Karen Cunningham�s Interior Design class. Especially needed are Architectural Digest, Home, Southern Accents, etc., or any magazine published within the last year. The magazines may be left on the piano in the fellowship hall.

*One Great Hour of Sharing is a yearly Methodist event designed to help UMCOR, United Methodist Committee on Relief. One of the largest relief agencies in the world, UMCOR works to relieve human suffering, no matter where it is located with an open heart. Thanks to the generosity of Methodists everywhere, they spent over $51 million helping those in need in 2006. Since Easter is early this year, our One Great Hour offering will also be early on March 2. Please note this date on the calendar and plan to give a little extra in a second offering. ALSO, the children in Sunday School will have offering boxes to bring back and place on the altar on March 2, UMCOR Sunday.