The America I Love

The story below is "The Mail" from John Mooy, of Interlochen, Michigan, about his father mailman Nat Mooy (1905-1985).


World Net Daily ^ | 10/13/2006 | John MooY


Posted on 12/25/2007 6:34:12 PM PST by clilly54


The original server has been overwhelmed, so I'm using the Fark mirror to post. Watch out, the comments can get a little on the wild side, as most of the members are younger. Still worth posting.

'It was your dad that answered all those letters that the kids wrote to Santa every year'

Background: Tim Russert's Wisdom of Our Fathers has hundreds of stories men and women tell about their fathers, including the one below. It's a remarkable book--to learn more, see my co-authored column America's Father Hunger (World Net Daily, 10/13/06).

The story below is "The Mail" from John Mooy, of Interlochen, Michigan, about his father mailman Nat Mooy (1905-1985).

"As a young boy, I sometimes traveled the country roads with my dad. He was a rural mail carrier in southwestern Michigan, and on Saturdays he would often ask me to go on the route with him. I loved it. Driving through the countryside was always an adventure. There were animals to see, people to visit, and freshly-baked chocolate-chip cookies if you knew where to stop, and Dad did. We made more stops than usual when I was on the route because I always got carsick, but stopping for me never seemed to bother Dad.

"In the spring, Dad delivered boxes full of baby chicks. Their continuous peeping could drive you crazy, but Dad loved it. When the peeping became too loud to bear, you could quiet them down by trilling your tongue and making the sounds of a hawk. When I was a boy it was fun to stick your fingers through one of the holes in the side of the cardboard boxes and let the baby birds peck on your finger. Such bravery!

"On Dad's final day of work on a beautiful summer day, it took him well into the evening to complete his rounds because at least one member of each family was waiting at their mailbox to thank him for his friendship and his years of service. 'Two hundred and nineteen mailboxes on my route,' he used to say, 'and a story at every one.' One lady had no mailbox, so Dad took the mail in to her every day because she was nearly blind. Once inside, he read her mail and helped her pay her bills. And every Thursday he read her the local newspaper.

"Mailboxes were sometimes used for things other than mail. One note left in a mailbox read, 'Nat, take these eggs to Marian; She's baking a cake and doesn't have any eggs, and don't stop to talk to Archie!' Mailboxes might be buried in the snow, or broken, or lying on the ground, but the mail was always delivered. On cold days Dad might find one of his customers waiting for him by the mailbox with a cup of hot chocolate. A young girl wrote letters but had no stamps, so she left a few buttons on the envelope in the mailbox; Dad paid for the stamps. One busy merchant used to leave large amounts of cash in his mailbox in a paper bag for Dad to take to the bank. On one occasion, the amount came to $32,000. It's hard to believe, but it's true.

"A dozen years ago, when I traveled back to my hometown on the sad occasion of Dad's death, the mailboxes along the way reminded me of some of his stories. I thought I knew them all, but that wasn't quite the case.

"As I drove through Marcellus, I noticed to aluminum lamp poles, one on each side of the street, reflecting the light of the late-afternoon summer sun. When my dad was around, those poles supported wooden boxes that were roughly four feet off the ground. One box was painted green, and the other was red, and each had a slot at the top with white lettering: SANTA CLAUS, NORTH POLE. For years children had dropped letters to Santa through those slots.

"I made a left turn at the corner and drove past the post office and across the railroad tracks to our house. Mom and I were sitting at the kitchen table when I heard footsteps on our porch. There, at the door, stood Frank Townsend, who had been Dad's postmaster and great friend for many years. So of course we all sat down at the table and began to tell stories.

"At one point Frank looked at me across the table with tears in his eyes. 'What are we going to do about the letters this Christmas?' he asked.

"The letters?"

"I guess you never knew."

"Knew what?"

"'Remember, when you were a kid and you used to put your letters to Santa in green and red boxes on Main Street? It was your dad that answered all those letters that the kids wrote every year.'

"I just sat there with tears in my eyes. It wasn't hard for me to imagine Dad sitting at the old oak table in our basement reading those letters and answering each one. I have since spoken with several of the people who received Christmas letters during their childhood, and they told me how amazed they were that Santa had know so much about their homes and families.

"For me, just knowing that story about my father was the gift of a lifetime."

STS Union Service Getting More Interesting

Dean Wenthe, President of Concordia Seminary, Ft. Wayne


LCMS News Blog

President Dean Wenthe addressed about three dozen students on Thursday, December 13th, at one of the seminary's "Fireside Chats." The topic for discussion was relationships with other Lutheran and Christian church bodies.

Wenthe began the evening by indicating his relief to be back at the seminary after spending several days with the presidents of other Christian seminaries from across the United States. While the conference as a whole was good, sola Scriptura was not the chant of all who attended.

He also shared good news of two recent donations totaling $1 million toward the seminary's library expansion project.

Eventually, the topic that was on the minds of most was brought up - the Society of the Holy Trinity's (STS) retreat held on the CTS campus in August. Wenthe described the two stipulations set down by the seminary in order for STS to host its retreat there.

1) No women would be allowed to preach in Kramer Chapel

2) The STS would have to abide by the confessional principles of the LCMS.

Wenthe indicated that confusion happened in the latter stipulation. Frank Senn of the STS was aware of the backlash that could result from celebrating a Eucharist sponsored by the ELCA at an LCMS seminary, so an LCMS pastor from Arizona welcomed all to the table in the name of his "hosting" LCMS congregation. Wenthe made clear that the LCMS pastor accused of unionism was called to repentance by his district president.

Here are some of the more memorable quotes made by President Wenthe:

This is a "mistake we've learned from."

We will be "very reluctant in the future to have a non-LCMS group on campus."

"The Bible is inerrant. Our prudence isn't."

The money is beneficial, but it is not worth having a police force. (paraphrase)

The STS members are "sincere, suffering people."

The STS should not have unionistic services. (paraphrase)

The STS should be at our symposia...as evangelism prospects more than as colleagues. (paraphrase)

The key issue in this situation is the type of confessional subscription - quia or quatanus. (paraphrase)

We "weren't as clear as we could have been."

We are concerned about pastors who spend more time online than with their people. (paraphrase)

***

GJ - STS stands for Society for the Holy Trinity. The name is Latin, to impress the members, who probably know as much Latin as my two Shelties.

One item omitted from this update is the participation of a WELS pastor in this union (LCMS-ELCA-WELS) feminist service. A female pastor also led this Holy Communion service.

Neither point is a precedent in WELS. Wisconsin Lutheran College had a series of Roman Catholic priests giving special public lectures. The keynote speaker was the pedophile Archbishop Weakland, who also got himself embroiled in being blackmailed before he was given the boot. That is the kind of talent treasured by WELS leaders. Before that, Mequon Professor James P. Tiefel (GA Pope) had a Roman Catholic lecturing at his union worship conference.

WELS and the Little Sect on the Prairie have had women leading worship at the Mequon chapel (I am told) and at Bethany's Chapel. The Roman Catholic-feminist efforts in the ELS and WELS have provoked hardly a whisper.

This remains a major issue in the LCMS.

Note the name Frenk Senn. He was the ELCA seminary professor at LST Chicago who promoted high church services. He was booted out, surprisingly enough and took a parish.

KoKoMo Justification

Pastor plays the clown to teach about Christ
Associated Press
Dec. 25, 2007 09:16 AM

TAMPA, Fla. - The clown walked into church like he owned the place.

KoKoMo stood proudly in the sanctuary of Carrollwood Baptist, his huge white shoes planted firmly, his head-to-toe sequins glimmering, his nose and wig as red as a Christmas bow.

It was no joke. KoKoMo was decked out for God.

The Rev. Tom Rives adopted his alter ego about 35 years ago and has used it ever since. The message delivered in his high-pitched voice is weighty for a clown: It is of love and salvation.

Rives believes clowning is a means to teach about Christ. "People who wouldn't talk to a preacher will talk to a clown," he says.

KoKoMo and a troupe of clown friends have also shown up at prisons, hospitals, fairs and shopping malls here. The King's Clowns, as they call themselves, aim to proselytize while entertaining, disarming their audiences with their silly characters.

Carrollwood's sanctuary is dotted this night with red and white poinsettias and rows of chairs filled with people. Out of sight, Rives and 10 other clowns gather in a circle while the pastor prays.

"Father, may the message get across," he says in a deep voice with a slight Southern drawl.

Within moments, Rives appears before the congregants, his face caked in white, a tiny blue hat perched crookedly on his head.

"Hi!" he squeals. "I'm KoKoMo the Clown!"

What follows is an hour-long series of skits performed by the clowns, each with a Christmas theme and a Christian message: Be thankful. Honor Christ daily. Remember it is more blessed to give than receive.

In between acts, KoKoMo enlists the help of children to pull off magic tricks. He transforms a giant playing card into one displaying an image of Christ. A stuffed dove is brought to life. A little girl's jaw drops when KoKoMo turns numerous colored scarves into one multicolored piece of fabric.

Vicki Musser, 50, who came to watch the clowns' show, said children and adults alike can take away something positive.

"It's not so formal in this kind of service. You can relax a little more," she said. "And I think they can understand a little better."

The act was born in Tennessee around 1970, when Rives was new to ministry and attended a workshop sponsored by Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey clowns. He never expected to pair his work with his love of the circus, but before long, it just made sense.

Rives sometimes incorporates clown skits in his regular services. A couple of times a year, there's a full clown service, and the troupe regularly visits other places.

Clowning, the 61-year-old pastor says, has allowed him to reach people who otherwise would not be reached. Some have accepted Christ. Others leave with questions about their faith. And many simply experience an innocent joyfulness the clowns see as an expression of Christ's love.

"You can be at a red light dressed as a clown and the people next to you will just be smiling and waving," said Robin Singleton, 45, who has been performing as Skittles for two years while wearing a rainbow-colored jumpsuit and wig.

Rick Racki, aka Riff-Raff, the troupe's only hobo clown, said the outfits make people more receptive to a spiritual message.

"There's something inside them that just opens up," the 43-year-old said. "They're more open. They're less afraid."

When the skits have ended, the clowns have stopped making balloon animals and no one else asks to compare the size of their shoes, Rives walks silently to his office and drapes his costume over a mannequin. The show is over, but his work is never done.


***

GJ - Clowning around is typical of the Reformed perspective. The Word alone does not have power. The Gospel must be made attractive, appealing, or entertaining.

A recent example is St. John's, Ellisvile, Missouri. Years of Church Growth doctrine have led up to a disgraceful and blasphemous video, still being shown on this link.

Wherever Lutherans are trying to entertain, amuse, or market themselves, be assured that the pastor has been trained at Fuller or Willow Creek. More importantly, the pastor can easily be identified as anti-Lutheran, anti-Means of Grace, anti-efficacy of the Word.