Look at the past with gratitude, look at the present with compassion, and look at the future with faith
By several accounts, Josephine Dickson was a clumsy woman. It seemed like every day she was stubbing her toe on the furniture, cutting her finger in the kitchen, or walking into a wall.
This was a problem not just for Josephine, but for her husband Earle, who loved her deeply, however it was the 1930’s and medical care was expensive.
One day poor Josephine suffered a paper cut while addressing an envelope. She went to Earle for help. Taking a band of adhesive tape, Earle placed a small piece of gauze in the middle of it and wrapped it over the wound. Josephine went to bed that night apologizing to Earle for being so accident-prone and vowed to do better the next day.
When the next day came, Earle was happy to see that his homemade bandage had faired pretty well overnight. So, he made a few more of them and took him to work, where he was employed as a lowly cotton buyer for the Johnson & Johnson company.
Showing it to his bosses, Earle’s invention was well-received. Johnson & Johnson sterilized it, packaged it, and called it the ‘Band Aid’ - which came out in 1939, just in time for World War II.
Later, Josephine remembered with great gratitude that fateful night when she fell asleep wearing the first prototype for the Band-Aid - as she said, “I had felt like such a fool because of my clumsiness - but I guess if it hadn’t been for that - we would never have had this.”
This story comes to mind as you and I celebrate the great feast of All Saints Day - this iconic day of mystery and wonder - as we ponder where these folk are — how we may join them one day — and what God’s plan for this old world might be.
And as we look at the wonderful men and women of God - the saints — famous and infamous - you and I wonder what they may have to teach us.
So, in my sermon today I would like to suggest that from their viewpoint at this moment - these saints are looking upon us saints - and they have something to say - For they know how hectic, fast-moving, and unpredictable our lives are - And from their particular point of view - from their unique angle - I like to think that they are now able to tell us how to live:
To look at the past with gratitude, the present with compassion, and the future with faith.
The past with gratitude - thanking God, not cursing God, if not for the past, but that we made it through our pasts — and that it has made us who we are today - let’s think about that the next time we put on a band-aid.
Looking at the present with compassion - both for ourselves and for others -
And to look at the future with faith - believing that God will care for us as God has promised.
And I think Josephine Dickson exemplifies to you and me that first bit - on how we are to look at the past with gratitude.
Certainly no one initially looks at harm, even if it’s just a paper cut, with any sort of fondness - but many of us have stories like this - about bad first dates - with the person we later, married - or with horrible interviews - for jobs we later got and loved.
Over and over again, it seems that important things that shaped us - that were hard to understand or accept at the time - are the very things that made a positive impact on us.
Dag Hammarskjold, the famous Swedish economist and diplomat, famously suggested that our prayer to God for the past should be ’Thanks.'
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Richard Briggs is a California Highway Patrolman who has single-handedly talked hundreds of people out of committing suicide on San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge.
Briggs was unaware of that aspect of the job when he signed up for the beat, which he walked for 20 years.
“At first, I didn’t know how to talk with people who were in such a state,” Briggs says, “But with time and training, I guess I got good at it.”
In 2018, Briggs helped successfully deter 187 people from taking their lives on the 220-foot high bridge, while 31 people were confirmed dead.
Briggs describes his technique for handling jumpers as based on compassion - which literally means coming alongside someone. So when Briggs approaches a person who’s perched on the edge of the bridge and in a very fragile state, he does things like:
By doing this, by embodying compassion, Officer Richard Briggs says he is able to talk most people off of the ledge.
When we embody compassion, we are able to talk most people - including ourselves, off of the ledge.
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Showing compassion for ourselves - talking more kindly to ourselves - And being more mindful of the needs and concerns of others - is integral to saintly life -
It’s what so many of these saints - and the saints of greater reputation - show us.
Looking at the past with gratitude -
Looking at the present with compassion -
And looking at the future with faith - believing that God will care for us as God has promised to do.
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Ever pass one of those huge semis on the freeway that resemble a shipping container?
Actually, many times they are!
Hundreds of thousands of these containers regularly cross the ocean and end up in our ports, then on our trucks, then in our stores, so we can buy the things we need, and sometimes don't need.
We all know this. But what we may not know, is that every year from 2,500 to 10,000 of these containers actually fall off ships and end up in the ocean.
It seems like a staggering number doesn't it?
But it is apparently a drop in the bucket compared with all the other shipping containers that successfully make the voyage - which is why these lost containers are never retrieved.
This means the customers awaiting these goods just wait another month for the next container and life goes on.
However, there is one exception: one container famously fell off a ship in the 1990s, and soon after had a lot of people working very hard to track down its contents.
What's curious about this, is that this huge container was not filled with Rolex watches, Steuben Crystal, Gold Bullion, or Julie Wagner’s Scrip cards.
It was filled with 28,000 bathtub toys - That's right, rubber duckies, squeaking frogs, and squirting zebras.
Apparently when this container fell off the ship, it ruptured, and all of these floaties popped to the surface. At first they all huddled together and began floating in the middle of the ocean. They were sighted, and somebody wrote an article about them in the paper, which caught the eye of a famous marine scientist.
This scientist had made his living theorizing the speed and strength of ocean currents. He had to use weather and oceanic measuring devices at various intervals to come up with his theories, but, although widely used, the had never been tested. - How could they have been?
But after the scientist read the article about this accidental spill of bath toys, a light bulb went off - that finally he had the perfect petri dish in which to test his theories.
The scientist immediately made his way to the scene and got busy calculating. He then predicted how many toys and how long it would take for them to go to Alaska, Hawaii, Europe, South America, Asia, and Africa. He then alerted authorities in coastal towns, giving them times and dates in which to look out for rubber duckies rolling up on their shores.
And the amazing thing about this story, is that this scientist, who had theorized for so long, and now had concrete data available to him upon which to measure his theories, had now been proven correct. Almost to the day and hour, rubber duckies, squeaking frogs, and squirting zebras, washed up right on schedule, just as the scientist had predicted.
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And, like this scientist who correctly theorized about the currents of ocean life, we wonder if Jesus is going to be proven correct in his predictions regarding the currents of our lives.
Is Jesus' take on the world correct?
Should we be trusting that God will provide for us?
Should we be turning the other cheek, helping the homeless, donating to our church, making peace with our adversaries, forgiving, encouraging, and speaking well of others?
Will all the rubber duckies show up where they're supposed to and when they're supposed to?
Friends, to look at future with faith means ‘Yes, we will trust God to keep God’s promises.
God will care for us, God will provide for us, and Jesus will accept us whenever and however we come to him.'
That’s what our friend Cassius is doing this morning.
He has gone through - and continues to go through - an education in what he’s about to do - be baptized.
By the book, baptism is defined as full and complete initiation into Christ’s church.
Practically, Cassius, who was created in love, experiences love every day from his mother Danielle, and is destined to return to that love as a baptized child of God - is partaking in nothing other than a pinnacle moment of love in his earthly journey.
Cassius, in baptism, you are formally accepting Christ’s love for you.
You are saying you're sorry for the things you have done wrong - And you are agreeing to follow Jesus’ Way of Love by promising to look to the Golden Rule, of loving God and your neighbor.
Danielle, this is an extraordinary young man you have raised - and thanks for being such a loving mom, who, playing off his cue, faithfully bring him to church as he responds to the urging of his soul.
Our souls crave love.
It comes in different forms.
And God is not limited as to how that comes about.
But in a perfect world, it’s to be found in every church on every shore - for they will know we are Christians by our love.
God wants all of us to experience perfect love, which is why Jesus came to earth - for he came to teach us that love is the way - and our gift to the world is to embody it.
Yes, thanks to Cassius, Danielle, and to this community for helping mold and form this young man - you have been accepting and encouraging.
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So, this morning, as we honor the saints who have gone before - we mint a saint of our own - our beloved Cassius - and may you too model for us Gratitude for the past, Compassion for the present, and Faith for the future.
Amen.