I was taken aback in reading Will Willimon’s response in Christianity Today to the invitation to provide a response to their column, “How I Have Changed since 9/11.” Willimon is no stranger to the pages of Christianity Today. After twenty years as dean of Duke University Chapel and professor at Duke Divinity School, he is now bishop of the North Alabama Conference of the United Methodist Church.

Here’s what he said as the climax of his response: “September 11 has changed me. I’m going to preach as never before about Christ crucified as the answer to the question of what’s wrong with the world.”

He had my full attention. Preach it, Brother! Continue reading “Was Good Friday a Bad Day?” →

No surprise that this week leading up to the 10^th anniversary of 9/11/2001 is dominated by stories of that fateful day. While driving back to the office, I just listened on NPR to the riveting story of a NYPD firefighter who was trapped with his team on the 4^th floor of the north tower when the whole thing came down around them. Explaining how he and others with him survived, including the woman they were there to rescue, he described the building as a banana being peeled as it came down around them, as they, in the “banana” itself, were spared; while 343 of their colleagues were killed. Continue reading “Reflections on 9/11 – How have we been changed?” →

Another guest contribution from my brother, Wesley Andrew Macy, Estes Brook Evangelical Free Church, Minnesota; September, 2011 Newsletter

While we appreciate the telephone, Facebook, text messaging, etc., nothing takes the place of “face to face.” I keep in touch with family by phone and email throughout the year, but being in Kansas this past August for the bi-annual Macy family reunion, it was so much better to see them “face to face”.

In the fall of 1973, I was a college sophomore, living in Kansas. My brother was in seminary in Illinois. I missed him and wanted to see him. I took Amtrak from Wichita to Chicago to visit Tom and his wife, Linda. Arriving at Union Station in Chicago, I took the commuter train to the northern suburbs. Somehow I managed to get off at the right stop, Lake Forest –just a wide spot in the road with a simple shelter and a long sidewalk. Tom wasn’t there. Everybody else walked purposefully from the train to their cars. But I had no car. I was alone, didn’t know where I was, feeling unsettled and insecure. Continue reading “Face to Face” →

Just a month ago, I referenced the work of John Stott, author of Basic Christianity and other excellent works.  Yesterday, July 27, at 3:15 p.m. London time, John Stott finished his 90 year sojourn on earth and entered the presence of his Lord.

I invite you to read the excellent eulogy by Tim Stafford describing the world wide cross generational influence of this humble servant of Jesus.  It is long as obituaries go, but more than worth your time to read it to the end. Few have had such a positive impact as John Stott.  You will benefit much from his life and teaching.

And don’t forget!  In the face of death, we do not “grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope.  We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in Him.” 1 Thessalonians 4:13, 14

My brother’s choice of the title for his guest post, “Beautiful Words,” stirred long ago memories of our mother, Margaret Ruth McCormick Macy. There were times when you walked into our farm home, or even heard through the walls from the outside, sounds that would make you think an accomplished pianist was inside. If so, I can tell you what was being played, an old hymn from the Phillip Bliss collection, “Wonderful Words of Life.”  How can I be so sure?  Because that is the only hymn Mom could really play well.  I don’t know what piano training she had, but while she would struggle to sight read some other songs, this one was played with confidence and clarity. So, while I wouldn’t have asked her to be the church accompanist, I thank her for the memory of this one old hymn. Continue reading ““Beautiful Words, Wonderful Words of Life”” →

“I now pronounce you husband and wife”**  Thomas A. Macy 11-27-82

“It’s a girl.” *** Dr. Good 5-22-84

“It’s a boy.”**** Dr. Wedel   1-15-88

“You are cancer free.”***** Dr. Chris Rupe 7-15-11

 Notes of explanation provided by the blog host:

*John is my youngest brother, five years my junior, the fifth and last child born to Alton and Ruth Macy. As evidenced here, he can say more in four lines than I can in multiple paragraphs or even a few footnotes. But then, he has more time to reflect as he spends the major part of his day in the quiet of a Motor Grader, maintaining the roads of Ottawa County, Kansas.
**my pronouncment of the marriage of John to his wife, Robin. I was privileged to officiate the weddings of my two younger brothers andparticipate in the wedding of my older sister.  John and Robin’s wedding coincided with my 32nd birthday.
***announcing the birth of my niece, Nicole
****announcing the birth of my nephew, Nathaniel
***** Response to the question, “What do I say when people ask me if my wife is cancer free?”  John’s wife, Robin, was treated for breast cancer with a double mastectomy, just three weeks after my wife, Linda, was treated for breast cancer with a single mastectomy. Both women are recovering from surgery and considered to be cancer free.

Thank You Heavenly Father!

Next to the Bible itself, one of the finest books you will ever read is Basic Christianity by John Stott. Ninety years old as of this past April, Stott has had major influence on the evangelical movement; and has been the main force for a faithful evangelical witness within the world wide Anglican community. Rector Emeritus of All Souls Church, Langham Place, his boyhood church with which he has been associated ever since, Stott also served as a chaplain to Queen Elizabeth II. One could wish he might have had more influence on her children. Continue reading “Basic Christianity” →

I’ve not been happy with the picture on my blog header for some time, so how about this one?  It’s not quite as bad now as when this was taken in the ER at Riverview Hospital last evening, though currently the eye is swollen shut.  I had ridden 18 miles, planning for 30 when everything went blank.  I came through Forest Park across the White River into Noblesville, approaching just north of the old Hamilton County Courthouse.

I knew I had to hit the old railroad tracks at an angle to keep from slipping into the cracks and wrecking.  What happened?  I don’t know.  I don’t remember falling and wrecking my bike.  The next thing I recall is being loaded into the ambulance, then I was at the hospital to check for broken body parts. All tests came back with good news – no spinal injury, no bleeding in the brain, no broken bones; just a few bruises and abrasions, so I was released to go home.  My only handicaps are temporarily reading with one eye and discomfort in my right hand when typing.  Apparently, I kept my grip on the handle bars and my fingers were pressed between the bar and the pavement. Continue reading “In Praise of the Helmet! Ephesians 6:17” →

As I approach 35 years of pastoral experience this month, it has been virtually an unbroken chain of walked alongside people (and their families) who dealt with cancer and various other frightening diseases. I haven’t donned pink shoes, shirt and a cap yet (don’t hold your breath), but pink’s irrevocable link to breast cancer has now become personal.  Continue reading “When Cancer Becomes Personal” →

This Friday marks 39 years since I stood with Linda Kankey in front of family and friends at Faith Baptist Church in Andover, Kansas as we took vows of marriage. We decided it would be meaningful to memorize the vows and declare them directly to each other without repeating the words after Pastor Bill Atkinson.

When it was time, I went first with the traditional King James Version language: “I Tom, take thee, Linda, to be my wedded wife, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, to love and to cherish ‘till death do us part [or was it “for as long as we both shall live?” we’ll have to listen to the tape again] and thereto I pledge thee my faith.”  Linda said her vows to me and we were married. We took off in our 1967 Oldsmobile Cutlass for Garden City, Kansas on the way to Colorado Springs. Continue reading “In Sickness and in Health – June 3, 1972” →