by Michael and Ann Usey July 8, 2023 There are two versions of Penny Chambers, the Penny before her car accident, and the woman who emerged after it, like a butterfly from a cocoon, which is the one most of us knew and loved.  The hinge moment of her life when she was 26 years old, on the night of February 12, 1971.  She was driving her boyfriend’s convertible, not her trademark 1968 yellow Mustang.  Darcie showed me photos of a long-haired glamorous redhead who was quite the looker and who was dating Doug Carpenter, a hockey player with the Greensboro Generals.  (He went on to play in the NHL…

by Michael Usey June 17, 2023 When pastors retire, it’s not always a pretty thing.  Some have had such a hard fought go of it at difficult churches that their faith may be in tatters.  Some retire from church-going all together; some retire from any and all discussions of theology and the life of faith.  A few even retire from God, although I think that number is gratefully few.  And I don’t judge anyone how they piece together their spiritual life after a life of service to the Christian church as a whole.  Ministry is not for the faint of heart. It’s also an inherent hazard of being a Christian…

by Grace Ruffin March 20, 2022 I have always had a fear of Bebe dying. At eight years old, I came down the stairs one morning, inconsolably sobbing. My mom asked me what was wrong, and I told her I had had a dream that Bebe died. She started to comfort me, and I quickly interrupted her to tell her that I wasn’t sad that Bebe was gone, I was sad that she didn’t leave us her cake recipe. If you have had Bebe’s caramel icing pound cake, you will understand. Many of you know my grandmother as the Fisher Park celebrity or the woman who lived in Deep Roots…

by Michael Usey March 20, 2022 This week my grief at Betty’s death brought to mind Paul’s words in 2 Cor 4.15-18, verses I memorized as a young man:  Everything is for your sake, so that grace, as it extends to more and more people, may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God.  So we do not lose heart. Even though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed day by day. For this slight momentary affliction is preparing us for an eternal weight of glory beyond all measure, because we look not at what can be seen but at what cannot be seen; for what…

A Life Like a Norman Rockwell Painting Memoir by Michael Usey May 2, 2015 Ever heard of the mighty men of David? They were the OT version of the Avengers. They were known as the Gibborim and are described in 2 Sam 23. These mighty men of David were a group of David’s toughest military warriors who were credited with heroic feats. This group included Josheb-basshebeth, who killed 800 men in one battle with a spear. Another was named Eleazar, who stayed on the battlefield when other warriors fled and killed Philistines until his hand was stuck clenched around his sword, and Abishai, the leader of the mighty men, who…

A Force of Nature: Inez Stone Ryals Memoir By Michael Usey April 18, 2015 One of the ways that we here at College Park seek to follow Jesus is in the empowerment of women as full partners with men as disciples, leaders, ministers.  This is not by any means a radical notion, as many North American Christian Churches and denominations do so as well, but it remains controversial in conservative and fundamentalist churches as well as those of the Roman church, for example.  But we here at College Park follow the NT precedents. In the NT there are a number of women leaders. Mary Magdalene was the first witness to…

Memoir by Michael S. Usey March 29, 2015 What I like about Christianity is that it is primarily a faith about right practice rather right belief.  The two are intertwined, naturally.  What one believes leads to how one acts.  But over and over again Jesus emphasized that it’s not primarily what we say we believe, but rather how our actions show what we believe. In the so-called sermon on the mount in Matthew’s story of Jesus, he ends his teaching to his friends by saying, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father…

Peggy Has Left the Building Memoir By Michael Usey January 21, 2015 This past Sunday I listened to Peggy’s four adult children and spouses (along with many of her nine grandchildren) talk about her influence on their lives. As they spoke, it reminded me of the story of Ruth in the Hebrew Bible. In Ruth chapter 1, Naomi’s husband and two sons die and she is left with just her daughters-in-law. She encourages them to return to their home countries. One gladly obliges, but the other–Ruth–refuses to leave her side and says one of the most poetic things in the Bible, “Do not urge me to leave you or turn…

She Hath Done What She Could 29 July 2014 Memoir by Michael Usey One time when Ruth, Susan’s mother, was in Atlanta, she worshiped at Inman Park United Methodist Church.  During the service she spied the detail from Martha Beall Candler window there, specifically the ribboned words, “She Hath Done What She Could,” a quotation of course from the KJV of Mark 14.8 that we just heard read.  Those words struck Ruth, and she thought then that they were a pretty good statement of her life’s goal and purpose.  She passed this on to her daughter, Susan, whom we’re gathered to remember.  By the end of this service, I trust…

Sewing Circle: A Memoir for Marie Chambers Memoir by Michael Usey 19 June 2014 Darcie, Marie’s daughter, picked the psalms that we heard read this evening, and they are well chosen.  Psalm 23 is well known to those of us raised in a church or synagogue.  I love hearing texts like this that we’ve read or recited in hundreds of different ways over the course of our lives. Many readers think Psalm 23 was a psalm for a person on the lamb from the authorities.  Perhaps the original writer had committed a murder or unintentionally killed someone, and that person was fleeing from the relatives of the one who was…

Her Own Woman: A Memoir for Rozette Huckabee Memoir By Michael Usey February 1, 2014 One of the most excellent but subtle themes of our Bible is the significant role of ordinary people in salvation history. Read the Bible even casually and it’s clear that God uses ordinary people to do extraordinary things. You can see this truth, for example, if you look at a few of the women in our Bible. Time and time again, first in the history of the Jews, then in the stories of the early Christians, women led the way forward. It is strong women, full of grace and chutzpah, who move God’s love affair with…

Memoir by Michael Usey 28 December 2013 It’s a hard and painful thing to bury a friend who dies unexpectedly at 41. Most of us saw Chris just 10 days ago at our Christmas banquet, with Christopher in tow, the two were looking sharp. Chris had Christopher live by ZZ Top’s credo, “The whole world’s crazy about a sharp dressed man.” What to say when someone as young as Chris dies the day before Christmas with his beloved son asleep next to him? We’re careful not to say things offer false comfort, or things about which we cannot know. I don’t believe God took him, or that his death was…

With the Old Breed: Earl Edison Ryals  Memoir by Michael Usey August 24, 2012 Clarence Barton, one of my ministry supervisors in seminary, told me once that in every city there are people who are the quiet servant leaders of that place, and that a good pastor will seek those type of people.  They may or may not be prominent or be well known, but they are nevertheless the spiritual backbone of that town.  They are the ones who have touched so many people’s lives that it’s hard to meet someone who hasn’t been changed in some way by them.  I believe that we have come to remember such a…

John A. Taylor II: Jesus’ Urbane Disciple Memoir by Michael Usey May 16, 2012 John was a one-of-a-kind.  Or at least I’m tempted to think so, but then I wonder, did Jesus himself have an urbane disciple like our John Taylor?  One of the twelve who could cut to the heart of an issue with a rapier wit and wry smile?  A disciple who had strong opinions about the other eleven’s choice of tunics and footwear?  Did one of the Twelve have   the polish and suavity of a sophisticated social life in major cities of first century Israel? Perhaps Matthew, the tax-collect, was as cosmopolitan.  One who loved his…

Joseph Albert Haymes Jr.: A Faithful Attention to Life’s Sweet Details (Peggy Haymes’ father) Memoir by Michael S. Usey April 9, 2012 How best are we to live this one brief life that we’ve been given?  This is the unstated question of every funeral we attend, for in every case some one we know and likely love has given their life for his answer.  All of us know that this life is extremely short.  I’ve met more than one senior adult who said just yesterday they were teenagers and suddenly they woke up one day to find themselves getting AARP membership offers in the mail. Like many of you who…

More Than: A Memoir for Carolyn Wheless Memoir by Lewis Wheless & Michael Usey Feb 3, 2012 Carolyn’s favorite bible verse was Roman’s 8:37, “Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Christ who loved us.” It’s a great verse, one the apostle Paul writes to his friends in Rome. The whole passage is about how nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ, something that Carolyn knew, believed and lived out. I love that phrase, more than: more than conquerors. It’s a great phrase to describe this remarkable woman. She was more than a mother, a wife, a daughter. She was more than…

And the Tree was Happy: A Memoir for Mary Schwartz Memoir by Michael Usey 13 May 2011 I don’t know what being a real person means to you, being authentically human—there are so many different ideas about how to live a good life—but for me one large part of it comes down to is fear. The essence of my Christian faith is to live without fear. Not to be afraid—of anything, really. Not to be afraid to live out loud this beautiful and dangerous life we’ve been given. Not to be afraid of the living God that loves us like sons and daughters. Not to be afraid of death, which…

Being Fully Human Memoir by Michael Usey September 9, 2010 Why are we humans here? Well, one good answer is from the Westminster catechism: What is the chief purpose of humans? The purpose for humans is to glorify God and enjoy God forever. As much as I like that answer, it’s too general for me. Most people think of glorifying God merely as worshiping and praising God, which has its place. A crucial one, really. Most Americans try to worship at least once a week, and we pray more than that. But glorifying God is much more than worship and praise. As the writer of Ecclesiastes put it, for everything…

Every Good Gift: Joan Stevens Ferris Michael Usey August 4, 2010 When Joan Stevens Ferris passed away this past Sunday night, she had a couple of bible passages marked in her devotional book by her bedside. The one I found striking was from the NT book of James 1.17, which says Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. I love that verse, because of its theology and imagery. I do have a strong sense that all the good things in my life are from God. Pat Summit, the accomplished coach of the Tennessee…