This Year's Advent IV Sermon

Sermon on the Birth of Jesus “Welcome to the Future”
All Saints’ Episcopal Church
Morristown, TN
19 December 2010
Henry G. Selby

“May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be always acceptable in thy sight, O Lord my strength and my redeemer.” AMEN

Good morning, brothers and sisters! Welcome to the future! Is this the way you pictured it? In English classes we sometimes use a device called a “story starter”. It’s the opening line that is designed to propel the students toward creative thoughts. In research papers this same idea is usually referred to as a thesis statement; in creative writing for younger writers it’s a “story starter”. Opening lines are critical for engaging the attention of readers and listeners. “It was the best of times; it was the worst of times.” “Call me Ishmael” “Two houses, both alike in dignity, in fair Verona where we lay our scene.” Here’s one of my all time favorite first lines. It’s from Peter Pan: “All of this has happened before”. That great opener causes the listeners to lean forward in expectation.

And what did we just hear?

“Now the birth of Jesus the Messiah took place in this way.”

And everyone leans forward to hear the story again. Do we ever tire of this? This year we have St. Matthew’s account of the Christmas story. Matthew is brief and to the point: “Now the birth of Jesus the Messiah took place in this way.” And seven sentences later he’s done with the entire birth narrative. If you’ll come back for one of our Christmas services you’ll hear Luke’s or John’s account . . . and no doubt you’ll lean forward to hear that version again. What a great story it is!

So how are you getting along here right before Christmas? Are you serene? Are you full of hope? Do you look forward with a mild combination of subdued excitement and an overriding sense of peace? Or are you more like I am?

I’m excited, but I’m also nearing what my mother used to call “chronic nervous exhaustion.” Just here at All Saints, the church, I counted 121 calendarized events for December. How many more are not specifically mentioned on our calendar? And if you’re one of those people who have children or pets or a job or friends or relatives or clubs or health issues, then the opportunities for you to join me in chronic exhaustion are numbered like Abraham’s descendants!

It’s a busy time of year. And much like we all lean forward to hear “the greatest story ever told”, we also want to lean forward and share how busy we all are . . . and how terribly WRONG it is for us to be so busy. Advent MUST be a reflective time if we are fully to grasp the story that Matthew tells us. The story is one of hope . . . of anticipation . . . of a birth. Of the future unfolding.

This morning we are gathered for an hour or so in a time and place where the madness can stop. We have chosen to hear God’s word, to celebrate the Holy Sacrifice, and to pray together. [deep breath]

Immanuel: God is with us.

When I was a little boy I was full of hope for the future. My saintly first grade teacher, Mrs. Kiser of room 106, told me that I could be president if I wanted to be. We didn’t have a television until I was six years old, and in the first grade, and the used, black-and-white TV received three channels if one turned a controller to point our
rooftop antenna in the direction of the broadcasting station. That was 1961. And that television, along with Mrs. Kiser and my parents and my church, fed my hopefulness.
I was interested in how things were just getting better every day. On Sunday nights we would gather in the living room and watch ABC’s Wonderful World of Disney. My favorite shows included such people as rocket scientist Werner von Braun telling us about how trips to Mars would be commonplace by the 21st century, along with flying cars and “sleep learning!” Hadn’t my father just told my brother and me about the 103rd element, Lawrencium, being synthesized at Berkeley? It was just one exciting triumph after another. Man, those were the good old days!

Not like now. The economy’s a wreck. There are gangs of hoodlums, not just in L.A., but here! There’s massive nuclear instability emerging everywhere it seems. Somebody out there in the congregation has serious health problems, or an aging parent that you just don’t know what’s the next right thing to do is. Or bills to pay. Or an addiction that’s ruining lives. I turn on the television now and the word is hopelessness. What happened to the flying cars and sleep learning?

There were, in fact, lots of bad things happening in the world then: an atomic reactor blew up in Idaho (yes, back in 1961), the Bay of Pigs invasion failed, Freedom Riders were being arrested, the Berlin Wall was built, and the first American helicopters arrived in Saigon that year. But I didn’t pay any attention to Walter Cronkite or the Huntley-Brinkley report. I was more interested in exciting news. I actually thought it was exciting that my family built a fallout shelter in our basement! Sandbags covered the sunken casement windows, shelves were lined with row after row of canned goods, drinking water, and paper products. What a world!

So when I think back on the “good old days” of 1961 I have to remember that, along with Disney, Judy Garland’s “comeback” concert, and Gus Grissom rocketing into space during the Mercury program, there were a lot of bad things happening as well. It was years later that I learned Werner von Braun was a member of the Nazi party.

That sort of truth really messes up my recollections of the “good old days”. And I think you can easily see where I’m going with this: if we choose to live in the negative world of hopelessness, God will let us. If we choose to live in the hope of our calling as God’s children, our outlook will be quite different. In psychology 101 everyone learned this truth: people see what they want to see. People see what they want to see. And in Flip Wilson’s television character, Geraldine, we have an equally powerful truth: “Honey. What you see is what you get.”

So welcome to the future. Advent IV, A.D. 2010. We’re here now. What’s next? I’ll tell you. It’s what has always been, always is, and always will be. Immanuel. God is with us. We never really knew this until God became flesh, as a little baby in a manger, and dwelt among us. Now that we know it, to what should we be looking forward?

Sisters and brothers, we stand at the door of Christmas. Particularly in the Anglican communion worldwide, we insist that Advent be a reflective time for just one thing: looking forward to the only thing that matters. Truth is, the future is not what it used to be . . . at least from the world’s point of view. But from the viewpoint of all eternity, it has never changed. Immanuel. God is with us.

I wonder if this hour or so that we have together this morning is enough to help us put aside the hustle and bustle of the holidays for reflection. I don’t know. But what I DO know is that we have this time right now to consider the implications of a Creator God so majestic, so awesome, so mighty and powerful, so eternal that words defy a description of God’s greatness . . . who came into our world as a little baby . . . and then in time, gave himself for you and for me.

Please understand that I’m not suggesting that we live in some Pollyanna world, denying the awful things around us. But by the same token I would ask you to consider that it is one’s perspective that makes all the difference. Do I want to focus on the negative or on the positive. Advent is the perfect reflective season to answer that question. What’s next? In our annual pageant, the pageant of the church year, the next scene is the birth of Jesus, the messiah. A savior. A God become man who says “look to the only thing that matters: Union with your creator. Immanuel. God is with us.

When I am finished reflecting with you in just a few minutes we will have the opportunity to affirm our faith in the Nicene Creed. We will have an opportunity to get out of ourselves as we pray for others. We will offer each other a sign of peace and offer our gifts to God. And then? Then we will do what Jesus himself commanded us to do for Union: we will make Eucharist. For you see, brothers and sisters, Jesus had to be born in order to give himself for us. And that is why, as important as we make his birth, we declare his resurrection as the queen of feasts. Yes, right here at the end of Advent, we declare ourselves an Easter People.

Welcome to the future. We have been given NOW as our time to make a decision. To see the baby who saves us, or to squander our NOW in hopelessness and despair.

Let us walk together to the manger in Bethlehem, full of hope about what we will see there. Let’s think together as we walk . . . about the meaning of it all. Let us choose to approach the world around us with a sure and certain hope of our salvation. And as we walk, let Matthew tell us a story. It starts like this: “Now the birth of Jesus the messiah happened in this way.”

And now unto God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost, be ascribed as is most justly due, all might majesty, power, dominion, and glory, both now and evermore. AMEN

Of COURSE we can still have "VERSUS"

By all means, kinfolk! Make some versus posts!

Your kind comments have resulted in this new post

Sermon on the Magnificat

Advent IV A.D. 2009

All Saints’ Episcopal Church

Morristown, Tennessee

Henry G. Selby

“May the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be always acceptable unto thee, O Lord my strength, and my redeemer.” (Ps. 19)

The Venerable Bede was a monk in Northumbria, and a scholar. He wrote the definitive Historia Ecclesiastica gentis Angolorum: A Church History of the English People, way back in the year 731 when he was 60 years old. 1,168 years later, in 1899, Pope Leo the XIII made the Venerable Bede a doctor of the church. He is the only Englishman ever to have had this distinctive honor. We Episcopalians claim him, of course, since he was, after all English! Anyway, this scholarly monk who devoted himself to searching the scriptures, said this:

When a man devotes all his thoughts to the praise and service of the Lord, he proclaims God’s greatness. His observance of God’s commands, moreover, shows that he has God’s power and greatness always at heart. His spirit rejoices in God his savior and delights in the mere recollection of his creator who gives him hope for eternal salvation.

We celebrate his feast on May 26^th.

Homiletics is the branch of theological training that deals with preaching. When I was in Seminary at St. Mary’s, Baltimore, a priest gave me a homiletics recipe that has never failed. Here it is: “read God’s Word; be still; and listen for what God would have you say.” He told me that what God would have me say might come from scholarly Biblical research, from a friendly conversation, a chance encounter on the street, or even from somewhere deep within.

He urged us seminarians to do research, of course. To “search the scriptures” as we used to say. He told us that God’s will for a homily would be revealed as surely as the morning sunrise.

And he was right.

And so in preparing today’s message I set about reading God’s word, asking God what God would have me say, being still, and listening. I was awaiting a sign. And I waited. And then I became a bit nervous since nothing “came to me”. But then this happened:

An angel appeared to me at the Sav-A-lot. He dressed like a cashier, checked out my groceries, bagged them, and then asked, “So, are you ready for Christmas?”

For three Sundays, and now a fourth, we have celebrated our new year. November 29 marked New Year’s Day for us Christians . . . and we entered the new year with reflection, readings, and teachings, all concerned with preparing ourselves, our homes, and our hearts for the coming of the Christ. For the Selby family November 29^th came PDQ after Thanksgiving! We had 17 relatives for three meals a day for four days! I’m not complaining. It was great! But now we’ve got to decorate for Christmas! That means a dinner party for 40 staff members, another for 25 Scoutmasters and their families, another for our board of trustees (this explains my quick trip to the Sav-A-Lot). . . not to mention the requisite gift-buying, travel-agent-ing for our daughters, and, oh, did I mention that Cindy and I are moving to a rather shaky (and that’s putting it mildly) farmhouse built in the 1800’s? . . . and well . . .

I’ve just been a little bit busy. And then I volunteered to help our youth out with their fair-trade coffee project! Let’s not even talk about health issues or money or the absolute boatload of activities at the school! Parade, accreditation, contests, sports, clubs, meetings (lots of these), the late arrival of the cookbook . . .And here’s this pimply-faced cashier at the Sav-A-Lot asking me if I’m ready for Christmas.

Let’s hear what the Venerable Bede said again:

When a man devotes all his thoughts to the praise and service of the Lord, he proclaims God’s greatness. His observance of God’s commands, moreover, shows that he has God’s power and greatness always at heart. His spirit rejoices in God his savior and delights in the mere recollection of his creator who gives him hope for eternal salvation.

Today we heard a poetic line from Mary’s cousin Elizabeth, and Mary’s most famous poem twice: the magnificat. Will you take a moment to think with me about this poetry?

Here’s a young woman, 14 years of age? 15? Who is pregnant and has no husband. When the angel Gabriel first interrupts her life and tells her that she’s going to give birth to the Lord, she replies “let it be with me according to His Word.” How busy was she at that time? We don’t know; the scripture doesn’t say. It does report that she was busy when she went to visit her pregnant cousin Elizabeth. St. Luke reports that she went “in haste”.

But anyway, when Elizabeth hears her greeting, Elizabeth’s child “jumps in the womb,” and Elizabeth poetically says “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb.” Some of you may recognize this, combined with Gabriel’s earlier greeting, as the first part of the ancient Ave Maria prayer. And Mary immediately responds with more poety: “My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Savior. For He hath regarded the lowliness of his handmaiden . . .”

Do you see where this is going? Mary was prepared. Mary was always prepared.

You know, poetry doesn’t translate very well at all. But here’s a little Jewish girl’s spontaneous poem, probably spoken in a Hebrew variant, and passed down through the ages, finally winding up in modern English, and it’s still great poetry. Let’s hear it again:

"My soul magnifies the Lord,

and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,

for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant.

Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed;

for the Mighty One has done great things for me,

and holy is his name.

His mercy is for those who fear him

from generation to generation.

He has shown strength with his arm;

he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts.

He has brought down the powerful from their thrones,

and lifted up the lowly;

he has filled the hungry with good things,

and sent the rich away empty.

He has helped his servant Israel,

in remembrance of his mercy,

according to the promise he made to our ancestors,

to Abraham and to his descendants forever."

Mary was prepared. And there I was, face to face with the angel at the Sav-A-Lot, and I didn’t respond with poetry. I muttered something back like, “Yeah, almost ready . . .

And on the drive back to my house I felt ashamed. Now I don’t know about you, but I really don’t like the feeling of shame . . . even though it is a powerful motivator.

So I prayed to be prepared. This morning I can tell you that I am prepared. I can also guess that at another given time I will not be . . .

But if I have eyes to see and ears to hear, my God will send me another sign: perhaps another Sav-A-Lot angel.

So, are YOU ready for Christmas? To come to the manger and see a helpless child lying in a feed trough who is your eternal salvation? Are you ready to bring him your gifts? It’s a new year.

Brothers and sisters, here and now we have gathered to hear God’s word, to dwell with God is us and we in God at this holy table. This is a great time to say, “I’m ready”. Now is the time to say, YES. That’s the poem that our heavenly father wants to hear from us right now. A little short poem. Let our spirits rejoice in the mere recollection of our creator, in us and among us. Are you ready for Christmas? Yes, Lord, Yes.

And now unto God the father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost, be ascribed as is most justly due, all might, majesty, power, dominion, and glory, both now and evermore. AMEN.

An Advent Sermon

Sermon on the Angelic Salutation

All Saints’ Episcopal Church

Morristown, TN

21 December 2008

Henry G. Selby

“May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be always acceptable in thy sight, O Lord my strength and my redeemer.” AMEN

Hineni: Here am I Lord.

Hineni: It’s what Abraham says to God when he is called upon in Genesis to sacrifice his son.

Hineni: It’s what the prophet Isaiah says to Yahweh when God calls him in the sixth chapter of that prophetic book.

“Here I am Lord.” It’s not what Adam says after eating the forbidden fruit. Adam hides.

And then this miracle:

Ave Maria, gratia plena, dominus tecum. Benedicta tu in mulieribus, et benedictus fructus ventris tuis Jesu.

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou amongst women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.

Gabriel, an archangel of importance to Muslims, (Djabreel), Jews (Gavri’el) and east Tennessee Christians Gay-breel). Often seen in our tradition as the archangel of mercy (contrasted with St. Michael, the archangel of Justice).

Gabriel, whom Isalm believes revealed the Qu’ran to Muhammed.

Gabriel, who first appears in the Hebrew Bible in the book of Daniel.

Gabriel appears to the very young girl, Mary, and greets her. She is perplexed. What kind of greeting is this? It’s not shalom aleichim: peace be with you. That would have been the usual greeting.

No, it’s “Hail.” It’s “O favored one.” It’s “you are blessed and so is the baby you will conceive.”

This to a mere child. Probably between 14 and 17 years old.

Yikes. No wonder the Gospel writer says that she was perplexed. What would you feel? What would you say? That’s my first question for you this morning.

Here’s an unmarried girl, still a virgin according to the writer of this Gospel whom we traditionally view as a physician, who is told that she is to bear a holy child, the son of the Most High. What does Mary say? She says, How is this possible?”

And Gabriel answers, citing Mary’s aged cousin Elizabeth’s pregnancy as proof: “With God, nothing is impossible.”

Now my second question to you this morning is just this: Do you believe that with God nothing is impossible?

Today is the 4^th Sunday of Advent. We near the end of this lovely reflective season and we stand at the door of Christmas. In four more days it will be here. And I’m excited! I’m a little worn out from the secular side of things: shopping and whatnot, but not too much. I just hope I’m not too worn out to see the Christmas miracle: to look into the manger and see the baby Jesus, my God made flesh; incarnate.

My little girls are home, but they’re all grown up now. Lillian and Caroline are with us this morning. Hank is now 10 and in 5^th grade.

I will not see quite the same kind of miraculous countenance in them as they come downstairs on Christmas morning as in years past. But all the same there will be holy moments. The miracle still occurs. It is maturing within them.

Let me show you a present. A “Little Drummer Boy” sort of a thing. This rocking cradle is poorly made. There’s a few nails not hammered true; they’re bent over. The yellow paint on the angel has run down in visible drips, as has the pink paint on much of the rest of this thing. The cuts were made with a hand held coping saw, and the cradle most assuredly does not rock gently. It is, as I’ve said, poorly made.

But it’s the best that I could do at age 9 when I made it for my six year old sister’s Christmas present. She celebrated her 51^st birthday yesterday.

Beka never crawled normally as a baby. Her speech was, as we say, “delayed”. She was about 14 months old, I was pushing her in her stroller, when she had her first grand mal seizure. The first of many. The greatest medical minds at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, the same great doctors who had trained my father, told our parents that she would never walk or talk; that she would be little more than a vegetable. That it would be best to put her in an institution and, I quote “to forget you had ever had her.” My mother and father did not follow the doctors’ orders.

And in June of 1975 my sister walked across the stage of Wando High School in Charleston, South Carolina, with her certificate of completion. License in hand, she also drove us home from that ceremony. My parents believe in miracles. So do I.

Beka’s speech is difficult to understand. She is ataxic, meaning that she walks funny. Her handwriting requires use of the Rosetta Stone.

In addition to a smorgasbord of neurological problems, she is severely obsessive compulsive. Functioning as a family was, how can I put this? Challenging.

She is also the most highly decorated volunteer at the VA hospital in Charleston. She also holds a part time job for which she is paid.

My sister is a miracle. My parents taught me to believe in word, but mostly in deed, in miracles. And like my children’s, my faith is maturing within me.

My sister is a miracle. But so are you. And so am I. And the miraculous is all around us if only we have eyes to see. Can I argue this? Yes. Because like young Mary, you have found favor in God’s eyes. Because God loves you so much that he became flesh and blood and then offered himself for you . . . and for me.

Is my heart ready to receive Him? Is yours? That’s why we’re here today. What were the words of our collect? “Purify our conscience, Almighty God, by your daily visitation, that your Son Jesus Christ, at his coming, may find in us a mansion prepared for himself.” What was the lesson from second Samuel? That the Lord will make YOU a house? Or the psalm proclaiming the miraculous greatness of the Lord?” Or the Epistle saying that, yes, we gentiles are inheritors of the Kingdom. The mystery is revealed! It’s a miracle!

Has Advent made you ready for the Christmas miracle? That’s my third and final question for you today. It’s not too late. We can get ready today. We must get ready today. The time is at hand. We stand at the door to Christmas.

Mary believes the archangel Gabriel when the angel says, “with God nothing is impossible.” And it is at that moment, unlike Adam who runs to hide, that Mary says, “hineni”. Here am I, Lord. Let it be according to your Word.

Our little people, the 2 year olds, 3’s and 4’s at our school were asked what they would give the baby Jesus as a birthday present. Among the variety of gifts they had in mind were “a John Deere tractor, one of my dolls, a pacifier, a talking Lightning McQueen, a birthday cake, a rose and a little heart, a backhoe, a hug, and . . . are you ready for this? A sky full of stars. These gifts are so beautiful that I’ve posted them on the bulletin board in the parish hall.

Our children are ready for the Christmas miracle. They’ve got the right idea. Nothing sums it up better than what little Zoe Kraus would give Jesus though. Zoe said, “I would give him myself”.

And today we have the young mother Mary, saying Here Am I. That’s the lesson for us today. That’s the model. That’s what we need to see the miracles all around us.

The Adam in us wants to hide, but Advent says “come out.” My sister was a hopeless case, but Advent says “hope!” My little cradle is poorly made, but Advent says “prepare!” The scientist in me says “how is this possible?” but Advent says “With God, nothing is impossible.” The prophet says that the Lord needs a home. Advent says, “in our hearts, Lord. In our hearts.”

Come to Bethlehem. I’ll meet you at the manger.

Hineni. Here am I lord. Let it be according to thy word.

And now unto God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost, be ascribed as is most justly due, all might majesty, power, dominion, and glory, both now and evermore. AMEN

Remember to Visit the other site!

http://campselbies.blogspot.com/

Selbyjr's Haiku

Quit using big words
No English major was I
I am without thought

Here's CaroBearo's Poem

I come from the village of Weems
where nothing is quite as it seems!
The name promised by boat
(which 'scaped like a goat!)
left nothing but half empty dreams...

Here's IsaBug's Poem

My Fake Poem

Once I thought I’d be a nurse

and made that college mine.

But then I changed and went to hist

Ory of art and pieces fine.

So David (my beloved) said

The place to go, once we had wed,

Was to New York to fill our purse

And so we went: This is my verse!

You may think the rhyme scheme’s odd

It starts AB, AB

But then it shifts AA, BB

And suddenly it’s prod

Ding those with any sense sublime

To realize this (and just in time)

That this peculiar doggerel

Is Uncle Him’s, not mine!

Besides it doesn’t make much sense

Since the theme’s on “homes”

So I’ll quit now and read the rest

Of all the other poems.

But first please note the rhyme scheme’s back

AB AB Hooray!

The rest is too complex, alack!

We’ll save that for another day.

Here's Mamacita's Poem....

Home Is Where They Wait

Home is where the laundry’s always hanging out to dry,

Where someone's working in the yard, beneath the summer sky

And sundry dogs and cats cavort, the back door opened wide;

And still they wait…

Home is where our buddies come, to have a little fun,

To play some games and have a plate of supper when they’re done,

Where silly jokes and stories entertain them, every one;

And still they wait…

Home is where the people live who know your history

Who watch your present struggles, and give advice for free

Who pray that God will guide you on, and grant serenity;

And still they wait…

What are they waiting for? Is it just the “good ol’ days”?

A sentimental re-run of a childhood time and space?

No, it’s a time when all of us are home, all in one place;

'Cause home is where whom you've become is cherished and embraced.

Cindy Selby

9-27-10

Your Poetry will be here. But first . . .

The Canine Adventure

By Kinzman

She was beautiful; a fine young lady indeed. She was in the eleventh grade and was seventeen, but she had the maturity of a good, wise woman. She had glorious, blonde hair that shone like the sun, and she had the best attitude possible. She had a few conflicts though. She came from an insecure and “broken” family, so she had a troubled life. Her parents were firebrands, who were well known to cause trouble. They were strong drinkers and got in harsh, frightening fights every night, but the girl was surprisingly bright, and very secure. They had a golden retriever named Tillman. Oh, and Tillman was an angel, and the girl loved him.

One day, the girl’s dad got drunker than usual, and threatened to kill her and Tillman. The girl was scared and had no choice but to run away. So she hopped in her car with Tillman and drove as far away from home as they could. She and her dog made their home at 2754 Degataga Road. located in Blackwater, South Carolina.

The girl and Tillman had the time of their lives! Easter! Fourth of July! Halloween! Thanksgiving! Christmas! The two of them celebrated all of these holidays together! Every year they would have a great time. They always took a walk in the park together twice a day, one in the morning and one at night.

The girl was now nineteen, and finishing up her senior year in high school. She got a job at Sea Turtle Cinemas, and loved it. She knew if it hadn’t been for Tillman, she would not be living in Blackwater, working at the movie theater, or going to college at Natal University.

The beautiful girl graduated from Natal, majored in anthropology, and double minored in English and theology. Her life had been very successful in the past four years and she was promoted at Sea Turtle Cinemas and became the manager. She was paid much more, treated much better, and felt even better about herself. She was twenty-three years old and Tillman had made her life a huge success.

After a hard day at work, the girl drove home and began to make supper. A black van pulled up in her driveway. She heard a knock on the door. Tillman lifted one ear and headed toward the door. She opened the door, and two men stood at her door. They wore black suits, white shirts, and black ties. They also wore sunglasses. They asked, “Ma’am, may we see Tillman for a second?”

The girl was baffled and very confused. She didn’t know who these two strange men were. They were both rather handsome and had a “you can trust me” look on their faces.

The girl replied, “Why, yes, of course, but could you tell me what the reason is you need him? Will you return with him?”

One of the men said, “We need to inform him about his next objective. We promise we will return him safely.”

The girl was curious and was worried about what she should do. She asked, “Could I perhaps come with you?”

The men replied, “It would be better if you would not. This adventure will come to you later in your future, but for now it’s the canine’s adventure.”

The girl was confused about what they were talking about, but she trusted them, and she let them take Tillman. Tillman looked happy, and it seemed like he knew who these men were and where he was going. That made the girl feel better and she watched them leave. The van stood there for about five seconds and then suddenly disappeared. The girl supported whatever they were doing and knew Tillman would return.

Tillman and the two men reached their destination. The surroundings were too beautiful to describe and it would have to be imagined in one’s own mind. Tillman did know where he was. He had been here many times. He was in Heaven. Tillman was an angel, and the two men were angels too.

God requested to speak with Tillman. God said, “Tillman… I have chosen your next mission.” Tillman listened carefully to the Lord, excited to find out what God wanted him to do. God said, “You always were an intrepid explorer. In the year 1997, you will be sent to the Selby family, and you will be the best friend of a boy named Hank.”

this is where your poem will appear

Here's the place! But first, I'll publish Hank's wonderful story about . . . well, you'll see!

So This is The New Campselbies Blog for Poetry and Creative Writing?

I am the first one to post.
KOTW, are you going to put the poems on here all at once, or as they come in?
BTW, I like haiku.

Project for Next Time We're All Together

We should make a photo of Camp Selby members playing tug-of-war with the Selbies as a caption for this blogsite. Or something like that.