We would like to thank Harold Messer and his hearty crew of men who helped to move an old--and very cumbersome!--stove out of the downstairs kitchen.
A Note from Meghan Beddingfield
Dear First Baptist Church,
I want to thank you all for your support, care, guidance, and love throughout the years. I feel so lucky to have grown up in First Baptist Church. It still feels like home to me and you all made a wonderful impact in my life. Through your thoughts, prayers, cards, and visits, First Baptist remains close to my heart always.
Love,
Rev. Meghan Beddingfield
David, Cinderella & The Shawshank Redemption
Quiz Question: What do the following movies have in common?
-Rocky
-Hoosiers
-Rudy
-The Karate Kid
-Seabiscuit
-The Hunger Games
-Braveheart
-The Harry Potter series
-The Shawshank Redemption
-La La Land
-Star Wars
Answer: They all feature the story of an underdog.
If you ever want to see a grown man cry, then show him a movie where a longshot protagonist or a woe begotten football team rises from the ashes and triumphs in the face of daunting challenges and long odds. If you want inspiration, dial up Braveheart as he takes on the British Crown, or Erin Brockovich who fights a corrupt system that is hurting innocent families. If you want to encourage a kid who feels down on their luck, show him the transforming story of the Karate Kid or even the Lion King.
We love these stories. And if you start looking around, you’ll see that Cinderella stories are everywhere. In fact, it’s hard to find a story that doesn’t have a disadvantaged individual seeking to rise-up and succeed. Go ahead. Prove me wrong.
The granddaddy of them all is one of the best-known stories in the Bible. It’s the tale of a small, shepherd boy who agrees to take on the fiercest of all warriors. God’s anointed, David, slays Goliath with what amounts to a child’s weapon. David may be but a lad, but his craftiness helps him to overcome insurmountable odds and his army wins the battle.
What is it about this story that we love so much? Why do underdogs win our hearts so easily?
We are drawn to this theme because it gives us hope to see others overcome adversity. It can be difficult to identify with characters who are superhuman because most of us are keenly aware of our shortcomings and faults. But when we catch a glimpse of someone who is like us succeed amid such disadvantages, we are thrilled by the prospect that we, too, can triumph.
Jesus routinely championed the underdogs of his day. Why do you think the poor, the sick, and the maligned loved him so? Jesus gave these individuals hope. He offered forgiveness, empowered those without pedigree to change the world, and brought redemption to those who couldn’t sink lower in life. Further cementing his legacy for lifting up the cause of the underdog, he cautioned the mighty and privileged to be humble and deferential to others. Heck, Jesus himself becomes an underdog—washing his disciples’ feet and dying at the hands of the powerbrokers of the day--out of love for us. Easter, that is Resurrection Day, is the ultimate rags to riches story. When it comes to good Cinderella stories, it’s hard to beat being dead one minute and raised to life the next.
Our love and affection for the David and Goliath story can give us fuel to be an advocate for the underdogs in our day and age. Beyond my feeble attempt to turn you all into NC State fans, let me invite you to consider who it is in our world who is down on their luck, beat-up and maligned. In each of these Cinderella stories, you’ll find someone who believes in and champions the promise that each of the underdogs has.
Let’s be that person to others, just as Jesus is for us.
Waterrock Knob Picnic
The picnic at Waterrock Knob was a success! Thanks to everyone who came up on Sunday for some good food and fellowship on the Blue Ridge Parkway!
As You Go Leadership Training
MFC Carpet Cleaned
A huge thank you to Harold Messer, Arlin Middleton, John Dills and Guy Hall for their work cleaning the carpet in the Mission and Fellowship Center!
Back to School Supplies
Dorothy Edwards Circle is again collecting school supplies for children whose parents can't supply them. We need:
paper
pens
crayons
pencils
pencil sharpeners
small packs of tissues
composition books
regular sized backpacks
colored pencils
glue sticks
small staplers and staples
We will be concentrating on 1st Explorers students this year so it will be a younger group of students. Please place items in the box in the Loving Kindness room across from the choir room by August 11th. Thank you!
The Underside of the Ark
I loved haircut day when I was a child. Haircut day was always a Saturday and was forever a father-son event. The trimming of hair, however, was but one element in the hour-long experience. Let me explain.
The barbershop was always full when my father and I would arrive. Most haircut days, my father would give me a quarter while we listened to the men’s banter and while we watched as hair was swept up between customers. You see, there was an old Coca-Cola machine in the corner full of glass bottles of the sweet, bubbly elixir. The machine was an engineering marvel. Below the coin slot was a narrow, vertical glass window. Inside were serval chilled pop-tops in descending order, held captive by a complex system of bars and levers. You could open the glass door to caress the tops of the refrigerated bottles, but you could not pull one out without depositing .25 in the slot. Of course, as a child I would yank on each bottle hoping that the machine was faulty and that it would yield to my tug, granting me a free drink. My father’s quarter, though, would provide me with the delicious sensation of pulling out a liberated bottle of Coke. And oh, the taste of those frosty, glass-bottled Cokes. Shasta. For me, haircuts and Coca-Cola just went together.
But that was not all.
Lost in a rack of newspapers and magazines was an oversized illustrated Bible for children. I loved that Bible and its pictures of memorable stories from scripture. The details in each picture gave rich insight into the stories I heard at home and at church. Adam and Eve were beautiful, shapely and discreetly covered by foliage. David’s diminutive stature was showcased by the gargantuan bully named Goliath. And the still waters and green pastures of the 23rd Psalm gave my imagination fuel to grasp David’s prayer.
But the story that I always studied more closely than others was The Story of the Flood. Time seemed to slow down when I got to the tale of Noah and his ark, and I secretly hoped that I wouldn’t be called for my cut until the illustrations had exhausted my scrutiny.
The ark in the pictures was magnificent. The animals were regal. Noah was wild-eyed, but stoic. The next page revealed the storm clouds and the nearby raging river. Then, in an inset picture was the ark surrounded by flood waters.
I could imagine the sensation of the boat being lifted off the ground. I could hear the wicked banging on the boat’s timbers. The animals would be nervous, of course, but well-cared-for. Noah and his family would feel vindicated and rewarded as they huddled together in warmth and safety as the world disappeared beneath the waves.
Then, on the following page there was a picture of Noah with a raven leaning out a window of the ark. Later, a dove was seen returning with a leaf from a tree. Finally, there was a solitary picture of Noah, looking wistfully off into the distance with no dove to be seen.
The final picture always seemed rushed. In the illustration I remember, the ark is set upon a rocky mountain top. The door is open and animals are spilling out onto the ramp. An altar has been constructed to the right of the picture and a rainbow arches across the scene.
This well-known story is a favorite because it seems to have everything you want in a good story. There are animals, wicked naysayers, and righteous protagonists. The story has an extraordinary natural disaster and an apocalyptic aftermath that provides suspense. There’s resolution, too, right? A new beginning, a rainbow, and a thankful people.
Years later, I would see how the appeal of this story had spread. Noah and the Ark would become the theme for nurseries in homes, churches and at day care centers. Snappy songs were sung to tell of the animals’ salvation as they marched into the Ark, “two by two.” An entire line of toys would become available—a zoo with a boat, cool! The rainbow would become a symbol of God’s enduring love.
Yes, the story of Noah and the Ark from Genesis 6-8 is one of the best-known stories from the Bible. But like many of the stories we love to tell from the Bible, we tell only a portion of the story or turn down the volume on the unsavory, difficult elements. A keen eye and a close read of the text, however, will reveal a dark and tragic story. The story that helps to build the foundation for God’s relationship with His creation is about salvation, yes. But it’s also about holocaust. While it’s tempting to fawn over the animals and their lifeboat, we must also acknowledge the mass of floating dead that fill the waters around the ark. Where are they in our retellings? The story of the ark is not cute. It’s sorrowful and full of sadness, replete with remorse.
God regretted creating us. “And the Lord was sorry that he had made humankind on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. (Genesis 6:6)” So, God decides to start over, never mind that starting over meant “blotting out” mankind.
This is a hard, hard story complete with a foretaste of sobering themes that we later find in the Bible. Issues of God’s justice, divine violence, and selective love and preservation litter the Biblical landscape, here. But many of us don’t see—or don’t wish to see---the underside of the ark. And at some level, that’s understandable. My children played with a toy ark. I did not tell them that when they played with the animals and the boat that they were playing holocaust.
It is imperative that we read scripture as adults and that we revisit the stories that we thought we knew well. The Bible, and its collection of stories about God’s relationship with us, is full of truth. And that truth may be hard to hear, but it teaches us about the depth, complexity and richness of God.
Although it’s hard to illustrate and even harder to make into a play-thing, this well-known story introduces us to a God who gets angry, a God who is sad, a God who regrets, a God who loves, a God who apologizes, and a God who is full of promises that He keeps.
This is why we read the Bible. This is why we tell the stories of the Bible to our children.
But this is also why we should continue to read and reflect upon them well into adulthood. They may not go down as easily as a frosty coke from a bottle, but they will—with prayer and quiet reflection—be just as satisfying and fulfilling.
Family Picnic at Waterrock Knob
Join us for a church-wide family picnic on Sunday, July 16 at 4:00 PM. Don’t forget to bring your best potluck dishes! Drinks will be provided by the church.
We will let everyone know by Friday afternoon if the weather forecast does not look promising.
Church Picnic this Sunday Afternoon
Join us up on the Blue Ridge Parkway at milepost 451 on Sunday, July 16th at 4:00 PM with your lawn chairs or blanket, and your tasty food offering.