Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

I’m Jemima L. Yeggs, a.k.a. Stinker.  Pink Lady Apple Yeggs, my landlady and my auntie, wants to read about how younger people, especially couples respond to what the Bible says.  And she wants to know how God is at work at Lily the Pink.

B.B. and I were in the kitchen of the Big House.  We were going to have more partying than Sunday school.  Mommie Pinkie was so happy with our Sunday school class that she had Uncle Scrambled and Mabel bake a lot of Christmas goodies for the class.

B.B. said, “We cannot eat all this food!  This is a full breakfast.  And there are so many donuts!  And what is that smell?  It smells divine.”

Mabel walked in with more breakfast goodies, as if we needed more.  “Child, have you never smelled mulled cider before?  Because we have a few people in yo’ class that can’t drink alcohol, we used the non-alcoholic cider.  It smells and tastes just as good.”

I asked, “Mabel, who is going to eat the rest of the food?”

Mabel smiled, “First, Mommie Pinkie and Aunt Gwen are bringing their families to mix and mingle with your class, not that they don’t know everybody already.  And then, when the buses return with the people who went to the early services in town, they might just be hungry.  And don’t think you are making the servants work on the Sabbath day.  We are doing this as a labor of love.  Aunt Jemima, you do not know how your little Sunday school class affects everybody here at Lily the Pink.  Those in that class talk about the silly things Arabella says, but then they talk about what the subject of the class was.  I don’t have to go to the class. Thomas and Otto tell me everything.  Those two spend all morning Monday talking about God and how wonderful He is.  Yes, child, you make a difference.”

I bowed and smiled.  And then I gave Mabel a big hug.  I just started teaching my Sunday school because I was pregnant and not chasing storms, and I was bored, and Aunt Pink made the suggestion.  This making a difference thing is kind of awkward.  I am just me.

Mabel took here apron and began to shoo us from the room.  “Now, you go start your class.  We will have everything on trays and we will interrupt class at the most awkward moment.  Now, git!”

I had heard Otto say that when Mabel says ‘git’, you better already be moving, but Otto thinks she only says that to folks that she loves.

B.B. said as we went through the hallway, “With everything on those trays, I am definitely sleeping through the worship service.  Make sure I’m not drooling.”

“No way, bestie,” I replied, “I am making sure you put your head on your husband’s shoulder.  He can deal with the drool.”

Joseph led us in prayer.  I did not warn him about what might happen during the worship service.  I’d let that be a surprise.

Emmett was back with all the band members and singers.  We sang several Carols.  Emmett and the band played the Mannheim Steamroller version, highly modified, for Hark! The Herald Angels Sing.

I asked, “Where is Darrell?”

Emmett smiled, “Rev C.S.L., your Dad, thought it a fun change to have Darrell lead the early service with his guitar.  The organist was going to play a few notes to get everyone on the right key.  Then a few long-standing choir members would sing with Darrell.  Who knows; we might get Darrell and Sally Mae to switch churches.”

I snickered, “I think Darrell likes the small church that he and Sally Mae go to.”

Samuel asked, “Aunt Jemima, I am confused by your verses.  What do they have to do with the attributes of God?”

I laughed, “You could say that they have nothing to do with them or everything to do with them.  This is the faithfulness of God.  Just in the birth of Jesus, regardless of all the prophecies that came through later on during the ministry of Jesus, we see God being faithful to prophecies just in the birth of Jesus.”

Joseph (Isaiah 7:14) “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.”

Joseph smiled, “In a few verses, you are showing how all the details of the birth of Jesus are important.  If for no other reason, God fulfills His prophecies.  And Jesus is the fulfillment of those prophecies.  You have done well, Jemima.”

I smiled, “Thank you, Joseph.  I guess it is not Reverend until next week?”

Joseph shrugged, “In this class, I will still be Joseph as far as I am concerned, and the ceremony is next Sunday afternoon.  I would love for all of you to be there.”

Grannie Fannie said, “We have planned for every vehicle at Lily the Pink to be ready.  Remember, if they are not here in this class, you counsel them.  You lead the group therapy sessions.  Everybody here wants to be there, and we do not have enough buses for that.  I think the mayor over there might pull some strings.”

Boaz smiled and blushed, but he did not say “no.”

Mary Sheltie Jones (Micah 5:2) “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times.”

Mary smiled, “So, we have the virgin birth in Bethlehem.  What’s next?”

Emmett (Isaiah 11:1) “A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit.”

Emmett said, “So, Mary and Joseph both were descendants of Jesse, eventually King David.  And that adds to the virgin birth in Bethlehem.”

Sophia (Malachi 3:1) “’I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come,’ says the Lord Almighty.”

Sophia said, “This is talking about Anna and Simeon who waited at the temple.  They knew they would see the Messiah.”

I snickered, “I hoped you would get that point.”

Sophia said, “With Emmett and me babysitting Android Amy for two weeks, we have had a lot of time to study these verses.  And before you ask, Amy is a wonderful child, but when she gets hungry or has a messy diaper, she lets you know.”

Wilma (Numbers 24:17) “I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near. A star will come out of Jacob; a scepter will rise out of Israel. He will crush the foreheads of Moab, the skulls of all the people of Sheth.”

Wilma said, “This was confusing.  This is part of Balaam’s fourth attempt to curse Israel.  His talking donkey was a couple of chapters before this.  So, here this false prophet who was hired to curse Israel proclaims that the king will come from the line of Judah.  There will be a star that leads the way.  And Moab, who paid Balaam will be crushed.  But who is Sheth?  Is that Seth?  Then that includes Israel.”

Joseph smiled, “Moab, through Lot were also men of Seth, but in a less literal translation of a formal name of Sheth, we can look at the meaning and it refers to the sons of tumult.  The tumult is against Israel, and if you expand that to modern times, you get those creating tumult against the nation of Israel.  God is not going to let His people be destroyed by human hands.  Those people will be crushed.”

Wilma smiled, “Thanks.  So, we have Jesus out of Judah and King David, born in Bethlehem to a virgin named Mary.  Hmmm.  B.B., are you a virgin?  And are you planning on visiting Bethlehem, PA in a few months.”

B.B. turned beet red. “My bestie here and Easy used to call us Joseph and the virgin Mary, but Dr. Ellie said that was bad taste.  Now, it is not factual.  And no, I will be here in Tracy fixing your mistakes while my husband gets used to a new job without leaving his old one.”

Wilma shrugged, “I apologize if I hit a nerve, but Joseph, Mary, no such thing as coincidences?”

I laughed, “Moving on.”

Fred (Hosea 11:1) “When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son.”

Fred said, “And this is what Matthew quoted in his gospel when he mentioned that Joseph and Mary and the baby Jesus went to Egypt to escape what King Herod was going to do in Bethlehem, so after they found out Herod was dead, they went to Nazareth.”

At that moment, Aunt Pink and Scrambled came into the room.  Kanok, Joon, and Sparkle (or is it Spa-Cool) were already in the play area, along with Valin, Thanh, Asha, Catalina, and the three grandchildren of Lancelot.  Gwen, loaded down with a big tray, had some of the employees help them bring in the trays and trays of food.  GrandPa even had a tray propped onto his wheelchair.

I said, “I only had one more Scripture and the benediction.  Mamma Mabel said she was going to interrupt at a more awkward moment.”

Mabel came in with even more goodies and said, “Well, we interrupted before you were finished.”

Everybody got a plate of food, not just the sweet stuff.  Chloe came in with a huge barrel of mulled cider and gave everyone a cup.

Aunt Pink said, “Over a year ago, Jemima was pregnant and grounded from storm chases, just as Mary will be soon.  I knew how Jemima had been an influence on the other Turtle-eers…”

Dr. Ellie interrupted, “We might not be talking about Turtle-eers or a Turtle if it were not for her infectious smile.”

B.B. huffed, “That’s it!  She got us infected … with Love or something.”

Aunt Pink laughed, “Can I continue?  Jemima, do they interrupt you?”

I snickered, “The more interruptions, the less I have to say!”

Aunt Pink shook her head, “I just want to thank her and thank all of you who attend.  I hear I need to make a special batch of goodies for the Drivers, since Sally Mae went with her husband to the first service.  But besides thanking Jemima and thanking all who attend this class, I have to thank God.  Wonderful things are happening in this Sunday school class.  You can feel the love.  That’s it.  I’m done.  Do not feel shy about getting seconds.”

In the silence while the loudest sound was a low moaning about how good the food was, Joon spoke up, “Daddy, what the jelly in the donut?”  Of course, Joon would have to go for the jelly donuts.  Aunt Pink hung her head and shook it.

Scrambled said, “I worked really hard on that and I finally got it right, Joon.  That is a cranberry sauce filled donut.  You have to adjust the sweetness of the homemade sauce with the sweetness of the donut.  I was not satisfied with what I had at Thanksgiving, so I held off until Christmas to unveil the new flavor.”

Joon turned to Kanok, “Kanok, you said ‘canbelly.’  I don’t care, it’s good!” Kanok just laughed. Now she was suggesting mispronunciations from her brother.

With everyone still eating, I explained that I would take the last one (Isaiah 9:6-7) “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the greatness of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this.”

I said, “We had verse seven last week when we talked about how zealous God is.  And here we hear all those words that talk about how this child would be all those things.  And all of this written long before Jesus was born.  We do have a mighty God.”

I sighed, “Grannie Fannie, I want to announce that after about a year and a half of the attributes of God, I have decided to move onto something else.  I found a study guide by Marilyn Hickey called Seeing Jesus. It kind of goes through every book in the Bible and finds something about Jesus in that book.  If you are eager, you can read the entire book, but I will be sending out emails to focus on some specific Scriptures.  It is in part like what we did today.  We looked at Old Testament scriptures that point to Jesus being born of a virgin, in Bethlehem, people would be waiting at the temple, they would go to Egypt after people were guided to Jesus by a star.  And there is more than one verse that ties Jesus to His family tree.  Now it’s time for our benediction, a new one.”

Grannie Fannie (Galatians 6:18) “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brothers and sisters. Amen.”

Lauren ran up to Grannie Fannie and hugged her.  “Are you ready to drive us?”

And I overheard B.B. ask Aunt Pink if she had anymore of those canbelly donuts. Kanokized English strikes again!

Brooke picked up Stormie as usual.  She talked to Stormie all the way.  Stormie cooed.

Credits

I used various searches and cross references for the verses this week.  I used just a few sources.

Here is Mannheim Steamroller performing their version of Hark!  The Herald Angels Sing.

Besides really liking the Mannheim Steamroller arrangements, and our son buying the book and playing the saxophone in church for some of the carols, the one time I got something right was taking my wife to Mannheim Steamroller in downtown Pittsburgh.  I paid a little extra and got front row center behind the orchestra pit.  Since the orchestra was on stage, the orchestra pit was reserved for major contributors to the public broadcasting network.  After the intermission, they turned on a fog machine and the fog filled the orchestra pit before they were able to turn it off.  We suddenly had front row seats for a while.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.