“Thus says the Lord, the King of Israel, and his Redeemer, the Lord of hosts: I am the first and I am the last; besides me there is no god. Who is like me? Let them proclaim it, let them declare and set it forth before me. Who has announced from of old the things to come? Let them tell us what is yet to be. Do not fear, or be afraid; have I not told you from of old and declared it? You are my witnesses! Is there any god besides me? There is no other rock; I know not one.”

Isaiah 44:6-8

I visited with an old friend this morning, one that some of you might know, Red Lehr. David (Red) and his wife, Carolyn, and their son, Jeff, run Lehr’s Market in New Athens, Illinois, a place that our family has utilized for meat processing needs for years. [Actually, the Lehr’s are cousins to our family, but we like them anyway J] I went there with Matt, our oldest son, to pick up some deer meat that we were having made into sausage and, as we walked into the store, Red looked up and said, “Donnie! How are you doing?” to which I replied, “Fine! And how are you, David?” His reply just made me laugh . . . with the biggest grin he could muster and a twinkle in his eye, he said, “If I were doing any better I’d have to be twins, and I’m just not sure Carolyn has the strength left to put up with two of me!” Then he just roared in laughter at the thought of it.

After listening to a couple of jokes on all sorts of topics (most of which aren’t repeatable in politically correct company), a hallmark of both Red and Jeff’s personalities, and after picking up the meat we had processed, I drove back towards Lebanon in a really good Christmas mood. For a few short minutes, in a place where when you walk in you are known by your first name and welcomed with a warm handshake and laughter, where hard work is made immeasurably easier by a quick wit and an ready smile, where the coffee is always on and a cup is always ready for you, where your presence is more than that of a customer and time spent with you never seems to be a burden . . . for a few short minutes I was in a place where God is genuinely welcomed and the Rock resides.

You won’t find any Bibles laying around in the store or ‘back in the shop’, nor will Red or Carolyn or Jeff be putting on any ‘holier-than-thou attitudes’ any time soon, but in that place there is holiness, a sacred understanding of how life is to be savored, shared, and even celebrated. In that place you hear the stories of human existence and struggle being turned a quarter turn and the lesson revealed in an amazing, amusing way. In that place, “There is no other rock; I know not one” is the statement made by the ‘witness’ as he takes the stand in the courtroom of this world’s injustice and inequities and points with his life to the One who is justice and mercy for all. More than the music he makes with his tuba or the work he does by the sweat of his brow, Red and his family embody God’s melody of love and caring, that sensuous composition of organic existence and spiritual commitment that shine forth as deliverance is announced and salvation is made known in the Christ of God . . . and all of that happens quite simply and humbly as those big bear paws of hands that Red has are placed on your shoulder and he asks, “Have you heard the one about . . . ?”

I know that not all of life is a joke and that there are places on earth where not everyone is welcome; I am aware that, for some people, pain is a constant companion and tears are a constant reminder of grief unresolved; I am fairly certain that some would stand in judgment of places and people that would even consider listening to politically incorrect stories and would shudder at the notion of sharing them with anyone else; but . . .

I can’t help but wonder if the Church in 2007 wouldn’t be well served to take a cue from a butcher/musician in a quiet Southern Illinois, backwater town. I can’t help but wonder if that isn’t part of the unwritten message as the birth story of Jesus is told. In the face of a new year and, prayerfully, many more years to come, wouldn’t the Church be better served to spend less time bickering about the law and more time building relationships; to spend less time worrying about filling the pews and more time striving to fill hungry bellies; to spend less time defining the Church and more time being the Church and extending God’s grace; to spend less time defending the institution and more time tending to God’s people; to spend less time making sure that the gift a person brings to the our world is one that we, personally, can accept and more time learning people’s names and stories because they are God’s gift to us; and, to spend less time trying to build our human shrines of mortar, gold, and silver, and more time allowing our lives to be set upon the foundation of the Rock from Whom we are given breath.

Were you to ask David if his life was a preaching of the life of Christ and the way the Church in 2007 were to be going, more than likely he would tell you something to the effect that his wife, Carolyn, is the only one in his family who is skilled in preaching anything at all and that, were the truth to be told about the first man, Adam, it would be said that man, by his very nature in being created first, was only being given an adequate amount of time to consider the correctness of his answer to Eve’s first question. J  Yet, were you to learn his name and listen to his story, were you to observe the ways in which he has grown in faith and service to God, were you to ponder the witness he gives in each day of his walk on this earth, you would see the Rock to which his life points, you would know the Rock’s solidness in his faith, and you would be moved by the witness he proclaims in the laughter and love he shares from the Rock who knows his name.

‘I visited with an old friend this morning . . . and I saw the Rock upon which he stands.’ Oh, that it might be said of all of us someday, but I am ever grateful that it can be said of someone by whom I am known.

Have a blessed New Year . . . and let your witness be of the Rock upon Whom you are built.