Don't Step in the Stuff!

I remember the time I was asked to be the chaplain for a session of the Indiana Legislature.  I was living in Greencastle at the time, and this would have been May of 1991. It had been a cantankerous session in the days leading up to this, the final day of the session for the year.  I offered the opening prayer (didn't close using the words "in Jesus name," and was both thanked and questioned by about equal numbers of people for doing so), and was preparing to leave when the House Speaker asked if I could stay to open the next session...it was obvious that the current session was going to be brought to a close sometime in the morning hours and an extended "Special Session" was going to be convened not long after.  There would be a free lunch in it for me. I said, "Sure."
In the hours between my opening prayer and the close of that Session, I listened as legislators repeatedly said to each other (in not so quiet conversations), "Let's just get the hell out of here!"

Following lunch, I stood to offer an opening prayer for the Special Session.  I remember saying something like," Dear God, before all of us get the...(long pause)...heck out of here, might some heavenly work be done.  Amen."  The floor broke out first in laughter and then in applause.  Almost everyone there knew that my word "heck" really meant their word "hell," as in "get the hell out of here."

A friend of mine who lived in Galena, Indiana called me the next day to say that my prayer, and the response, had made the front page of the Louisville Courier Journal newspaper.  My goodness...must have been a very slow news day.

Now on to the topic of this posting.
I have found that, if you say the word "stuff" slowly, with the accent on the "s," most people will know that you really mean another word that begins with that same letter but is one letter shorter and ends in "t."

I know this from having used the word "stuff" in just such a way in quite a number of sermons.

People have a pretty good handle on what "stuff" can refer to when used this way.

My advice to us all is that as we journey thru life, we shouldn't Step in the Stuff.

That's what I mean by "S....tuff."

I suggest we can avoid stepping in the stuff if we are Wise...if we are Careful...if we are Prudent.
 
Wise enough to:

-Know how to include, instead of exclude.
-Trust that peace, not war, is the only ultimate was forward.
-Believe that grace and redemption are given to all.

Careful enough to:
-Forgive and to seek forgiveness…even in…maybe most especially in
our most near and common relationships.
-Let go of resentments…release grievances, self-pities and jealousies that only weigh down our souls.
-Release our need to control every outcome…realize that we cannot control other people…realize that we can only influence.

Prudent enough to:
-Choose grace over judgment…mercy over a sense of self-justification and entitlement.
-Perceive our complicity and responsibility in the basic survival of millions far away and neighbors nearby.
-Value gratitude over complaint, peace over disharmony, hope over despair, and life-giving over death-dealing.

Hey...Don't Step in the Stuff!