I
am no longer the pastor of Hall Memorial CME Church in Montgomery, Alabama.
Hall
Memorial is the first church Sheila and I joined as a family. Pastor Freddie Carger baptized both of our
children and me. Hall Memorial is where
Sheila and I went from new Christians to mature/ maturing Christians. It’s where I first publicly accepted my call
to preach. But I’m not the pastor there
anymore.
My
bishop unexpectedly transferred me to pastor Miles Chapel CME Church in
Fairfield, Alabama. The transfer took
place according to church law and the Methodist-Wesleyan tradition with all of
the appropriates forms, certificates, and protocols. It was nothing unusual for the church. For the church.
But
for me and my family it was like….. it was like…. it was like that movie, “The
Day the Earth Stood Still.”
“The
Day the Earth Stood Still” was a 2008 remake of a 1951 sci-fi movie about an
alien spacecraft landing on Earth. There
were a lot of special effects and dramatic moments in the movie, but the thing
is---- the Earth never actually stood still.
In
the movie, everyone’s attention was drawn to the spacecraft and all the
immediate activity that swirled around it, so for them it SEEMED LIKE nothing
else was happening.
They
were wrong.
Children
still played. People still went to
work. Babies were born. Funerals were held. Life went on.
In
Joshua chapter 10, the Bible records a day when the Earth stood still.
Joshua
was leading the people of Israel in battle against the Amorites, and the
Israelites were winning. But around
noon, Joshua--- tactical genius that he was---- realized that a conclusive victory
would take more hours than they had left in the day. Joshua also realized that if he won the
battle without totally finishing off the Amorites before sunset, they would
regroup and pose a continuing threat to Israelite national interests.
What
Joshua needed was more time, so he gave the most audacious order in the history
of audacious military orders.
He said in the sight of
Israel: “Sun, stand still over Gibeon; and Moon, in the Valley of Aijalon.” (Joshua 10: 12)
And
the sun stopped. The sun and the moon
stopped tracking across the sky until Israel had totally eliminated the Amorite
threat.
Some
read that and say, “Wow!” Others read that and say, “Yeaaah, right.”
See,
Joshua and Jasher, the scribe who originally recorded the event ( Joshua 10:13),
didn’t know that the sun and moon don’t actually move across the sky. The Earth rotates in space and the moon
orbits around our planet. It’s the earth
and our sky that move.* So for Joshua’s
order to be carried out, the Earth would have had to stand still.
There
are swarms of websites that will quite scientifically and sarcastically explain
how that couldn’t have happened. If the
Earth stopped rotating, our atmosphere would dissolve into space, the oceans
would pour over the land, super volcanoes would erupt all over the planet, the electromagnetic
shield would wink out and cosmic radiation would burn away whatever life hadn’t
already smashed into the nearest mountain at 1,000 miles per hour.
The
Bible says that a miracle happened all those centuries ago on the battlefield
of Gibeon and the Valley of Aijalon. So
a miracle did happen----- but the Earth didn’t actually stand still.
God
created what scientists and sci-fientists call a “time dilation field.” God wrapped the battle field in a bubble of
exotic particles or special relativity or something and made time pass at one
rate for Joshua and the other combatants while it passed normally for everyone
else. Scientist say this would require a massive
amount of mass and or energy, but since God created mass and energy, I’m
thinking He could pull it off.
To
the warriors, looking up beyond that time dilation field, the sun and moon
weren’t moving at all. But for everybody
else, life was going on as usual, at the same pace. Fields were being plowed. Weddings were being arranged. Somebody in Canaan was giving birth. Somebody else was performing a burial
ceremony. Life was going on.
When
God spectacularly or surprisingly makes a major move in our lives it occupies
so much of our attention that we feel like….. like…. like the whole Earth
stands still.
It doesn’t. All
around our crisis, or miracle, or transfer to a new pastoral post, life
continues as usual. While we are
mourning, rejoicing, contemplating, second-guessing, and otherwise obsessing
over this one thing; EVERYTHING else is
happening.
Someone new will take my place as pastor of Hall Memorial CME Church. He/she will love
that congregation as much as I have and serve them (hopefully even better than
I did).
I
will be the “new pastor” at Miles Chapel, who
love outgoing pastor, Rev. Dr. Larry Batie. I will love them and serve them and they will
emerge from their time dilation field and realize that their world has not
stopped spinning either.
I
am comforted by the truth: That while we have
been momentarily frozen in our respective bubbles, God has been moving the
universe along and positioning new opportunities, responsibilities, and
blessings that we have yet to see.
I’m
excited about that. About the future,
which--- as the name “future” implies—is waiting on us to unfreeze from the
present and keep it moving.
I hope I’ll see you in church on Sunday at Miles Chapel CME Church, 5220 Myron Massey
Boulevard, Fairfield AL 35064. We’ll be the ones praising God and moving
forward.
*I
do realize that the moon, the sun, the solar system, and the galaxy are all in
motion as well, rotating and revolving in their respective orbits. So, yeah, we all technically move around each
other.
---Anderson T. Graves
II is a writer, community organizer and consultant for education, ministry,
and rural leadership development.
Rev.
Anderson T. Graves II is pastor of Miles Chapel CME Church in
Fairfield, Alabama; executive director
of the Substance Abuse Youth Networking Organization (SAYNO); and director of rural leadership development
for the National Institute for Human Development (NIHD).
Email atgravestwo2@aol.com
Support
by check or money order may be mailed to
Miles
Chapel CME Church
5220
Myron Massey Boulevard
Fairfield,
AL 35064
