An Encouraging Word - Brad Anderson
There is a point in Wendell Berry’s book The Memory of Old Jack where one of the characters, Andy Catlett, is leaving for college one afternoon in 1952. In a matter of moments, Andy finishes harvesting a row of tobacco, says goodbye to the men who raised him in those fields with seemingly as few words as possible, and walks towards his home. The narrator tells us:
He left the field and from some distance looked back, and there they were, going on, intent upon their work as before, and the ripe tobacco and the evening light surrounded them with a glow that would stay in his mind, he thought, forever.
Who he is he owes to them. It is time for him to move on even as they continue to do what they have always done. Life goes on.
Andy next finds himself in the farmhouse kitchen, the house of his upbringing, with his grandmother Margaret having packed all his essentials for the road, readying her final instructions for him before he heads out of town. She says to him, “Listen, there are some of us here who love you mighty well and respect you and think you’re fine. There may be times when you’ll need to think of that.” Who doesn’t need to be reminded of who their people are and how they love them?
It would be good to pause on these two images: the men who trained and equipped him keeping their hands to the plow, and the grandmother who nurtured him giving him the parting encouragement he needs. They are great pictures of parts of theChristian life—those who pass along the faith they once received, and the offer of an encouraging word at the right time.
As Andy steps away, there is truth that this community can remind him of: he has a cheering section, and they are proud of him.
Contrast this story with the lyrics of the song “In the Blood” by John Mayer—a song that asks if one can shake the dysfunction of their own family, a classic questioning of nature vs. nurture:
How much of my mother has my mother left in me?
How much of my love will be insane to some degree?
And what about this feeling that I'm never good enough?
Will it wash out in the water, or is it always in the blood?
I can feel love the I want, I can feel the love I need
But it's never gonna come the way I am
Could I change it if I wanted, can I rise above the flood?
Will it wash out in the water, or is it always in the blood?
How much like my brothers, do my brothers wanna be?
Does a broken home become another broken family?
Or will we be there for each other, like nobody ever could?
Will it wash out in the water, or is it always in the blood?
There’s a difficult reality that many lives reflect the questions in Mayer’s lyrics and few reflect the experience of Andy Catlett.
How precious is it that we know the church is to be the living reality of the fictitious community Andy was raised in and abalm for one whose life is ostensibly set by a dysfunctional family. We are given a “great cloud of witnesses” encouraging us to “lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely” so that we can “run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus…” (Hebrews 12:1-2). And being united to Jesus we can share in the praise of the Father to the Son when he says “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased” (Matthew 3:17, 17:5, 2 Peter 1:17). For truly “from his fullness we have received grace upon grace” (John 1:16). The people in our fellowship need to know what they have in God’s covenant community, and they need to hear it.
So, this Sunday, go to church and help someone understand they have a cheering section because of a great Savior by saying“Listen, I love you mighty well and respect you and think you’re fine. There may be times when you’ll need to think of that. Also, as his precious child, God loves you more than I ever could. Always think of that. We are all here for you.”