For my friends who kept their hats in the ring at Eastern Airlines
I am a member of Germantown United Methodist Church in Germantown, TN. www.germantownumc.org . We are blessed to have a really wonderful senior pastor. His name is Rick Kirchoff and the following was edited from his sermon on April 10, 2005. To read or hear the audio of the complete sermon, click on the Web Site above and then click on Library / Resources.
When I heard the sermon that day I was reminded of all the friends I have had through the years who worked for Eastern Airlines. Those of us who started our airline careers at Southern Airways have had an almost daily reminder of Eastern Airlines, as our airline, now know as Northwest Airlines, is still flying some DC9 airplanes that were acquired from Eastern. You could always tell an aircraft that began service at Eastern, especially with the DC9-10 series. Those airplanes had the original blue side walls below the windows for years.
Grace and Peace
Larry L. Walters
________________________________________________________________
"The Aftershock of Easter!"
Reverend Rick Kirchoff
April 10, 2005
Let us pray. Come, Holy Spirit, Heavenly Dove. Descend on us, reveal your love. Word of God and inward light, wake our spirits; clear our sight. Surround us now with all your glory. Speak through me that sacred story. Take my lips and make them bold. Take hearts and minds and make them whole. Stir in us that sacred flame. Then send us forth to spread your name. Amen.
Worship always reminds us that all that we have and all that we are is a gift from God. Worship is that holy reminder that all of life is to be wrapped up in gratitude.
I want to describe a scene for you, and for those of you who have been here more than three years, youve heard me describe this scene before.
It happened at sunset, every Friday evening, on a lonely stretch of the Florida seacoast. There would be an old man, white-haired, slightly bent, bushy eye- browed, walking toward a pier. In his hand, he held a bucket filled with shrimp.
There on that pier, a weekly ritual would be enacted. Almost as if on command, the sky would suddenly become a mass of dancing dots as seagulls would come from all directions there on that weekly pilgrimage to meet this old man. For half-an-hour or so, he would stand on the pier, tossing shrimp into the air. The seagulls would fight over the shrimp until finally all of the shrimp had been eaten. When the shrimp were gone, the gulls would continue to flutter about, hoping for something more. Occasionally, one of those seagulls would fly up and perch on the old mans cap, and he would remember a day many years before.
That day came in October of 1942, when Captain Eddie Rickenbacker and his crew were reported lost at sea. His mission was to deliver an important message to General MacArthur. But the plane became dangerously low on fuel somewhere over the South Pacific and the plane had to ditch in the ocean, and stayed afloat only long enough for Captain Eddie and his eight crew members to get out into the three tiny life rafts. For nearly a month, Captain Eddie and his crew fought hunger and the heat and the rain and spent many sleepless nights recoiling as giant sharks rammed against their three tiny rafts. But the most formidable enemy that they faced was hunger, for eight days out, and all of their rations were gone.
They knew that it would take a miracle to sustain them and it was one afternoon that the miracle happened. They had just had a brief time of worship and Captain Eddie pulled his cap down over his eyes to doze off and take a nap and just as soon as he pulled his cap down over his eyes he felt something land on his head. He knew at once that it was a seagull. Everybody knew if Eddie could capture that gull, that it meant food. So, ever so slowly his hands went up and the gull didnt try to fly away. Its flesh was eaten and the remains were used as bait to catch fish. The men were sustained and their hopes were renewed all because of a lone seagull, uncharacteristically hundreds of miles from land that gave itself without a struggle.
As long as he lived, Captain Eddie never forgot. Every Friday evening he was there on that beach with that bucket of shrimp to remember with gratitude a day long past when one gave itself without a struggle that he and his men might live. (Paul Harvey -- The Rest of the Story)
Well, we have a lot in common with Captain Eddie. For we, too, have been saved by a Sacrificial Visitor. We, too, were rescued by One who came a long distance and journeyed far to touch our lives with hope. Like Captain Eddie, we have every reason to look to the sky and to give thanks. (Lucado)
Worship is what we do when we are aware that what we have been given is so much greater than what we could possibly give. Worship is that thank you in our lives that refuses to be silenced. Worship is that act of gratitude offered by the saved to the Savior, by the healed to the Healer, by the delivered to the Deliverer. Worship is always wrapped in gratitude.
When I heard the sermon that day I was reminded of all the friends I have had through the years who worked for Eastern Airlines. Those of us who started our airline careers at Southern Airways have had an almost daily reminder of Eastern Airlines, as our airline, now know as Northwest Airlines, is still flying some DC9 airplanes that were acquired from Eastern. You could always tell an aircraft that began service at Eastern, especially with the DC9-10 series. Those airplanes had the original blue side walls below the windows for years.
Grace and Peace
Larry L. Walters
________________________________________________________________
"The Aftershock of Easter!"
Reverend Rick Kirchoff
April 10, 2005
Let us pray. Come, Holy Spirit, Heavenly Dove. Descend on us, reveal your love. Word of God and inward light, wake our spirits; clear our sight. Surround us now with all your glory. Speak through me that sacred story. Take my lips and make them bold. Take hearts and minds and make them whole. Stir in us that sacred flame. Then send us forth to spread your name. Amen.
Worship always reminds us that all that we have and all that we are is a gift from God. Worship is that holy reminder that all of life is to be wrapped up in gratitude.
I want to describe a scene for you, and for those of you who have been here more than three years, youve heard me describe this scene before.
It happened at sunset, every Friday evening, on a lonely stretch of the Florida seacoast. There would be an old man, white-haired, slightly bent, bushy eye- browed, walking toward a pier. In his hand, he held a bucket filled with shrimp.
There on that pier, a weekly ritual would be enacted. Almost as if on command, the sky would suddenly become a mass of dancing dots as seagulls would come from all directions there on that weekly pilgrimage to meet this old man. For half-an-hour or so, he would stand on the pier, tossing shrimp into the air. The seagulls would fight over the shrimp until finally all of the shrimp had been eaten. When the shrimp were gone, the gulls would continue to flutter about, hoping for something more. Occasionally, one of those seagulls would fly up and perch on the old mans cap, and he would remember a day many years before.
That day came in October of 1942, when Captain Eddie Rickenbacker and his crew were reported lost at sea. His mission was to deliver an important message to General MacArthur. But the plane became dangerously low on fuel somewhere over the South Pacific and the plane had to ditch in the ocean, and stayed afloat only long enough for Captain Eddie and his eight crew members to get out into the three tiny life rafts. For nearly a month, Captain Eddie and his crew fought hunger and the heat and the rain and spent many sleepless nights recoiling as giant sharks rammed against their three tiny rafts. But the most formidable enemy that they faced was hunger, for eight days out, and all of their rations were gone.
They knew that it would take a miracle to sustain them and it was one afternoon that the miracle happened. They had just had a brief time of worship and Captain Eddie pulled his cap down over his eyes to doze off and take a nap and just as soon as he pulled his cap down over his eyes he felt something land on his head. He knew at once that it was a seagull. Everybody knew if Eddie could capture that gull, that it meant food. So, ever so slowly his hands went up and the gull didnt try to fly away. Its flesh was eaten and the remains were used as bait to catch fish. The men were sustained and their hopes were renewed all because of a lone seagull, uncharacteristically hundreds of miles from land that gave itself without a struggle.
As long as he lived, Captain Eddie never forgot. Every Friday evening he was there on that beach with that bucket of shrimp to remember with gratitude a day long past when one gave itself without a struggle that he and his men might live. (Paul Harvey -- The Rest of the Story)
Well, we have a lot in common with Captain Eddie. For we, too, have been saved by a Sacrificial Visitor. We, too, were rescued by One who came a long distance and journeyed far to touch our lives with hope. Like Captain Eddie, we have every reason to look to the sky and to give thanks. (Lucado)
Worship is what we do when we are aware that what we have been given is so much greater than what we could possibly give. Worship is that thank you in our lives that refuses to be silenced. Worship is that act of gratitude offered by the saved to the Savior, by the healed to the Healer, by the delivered to the Deliverer. Worship is always wrapped in gratitude.
posted by LLW the MidSouth Mirthster at 9:24 PM
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