Ayden United Methodist Church

Last Christmas my Brother-in-law, Richard, related a story from his childhood. His family had a summer home on Fire Island, New York, which is on the South Shore of Long Island. He and his brother used to search for clams down by the dock by wading out and feeling for them with their feet. Upon finding a clam (hopefully) they would reach down under water, pull it out of the muck, and place it in a bucket which floated in an inner tube.

They had a neighbor who was known to imbibe a little too much on a regular basis. It was always interesting to see him bring his boat into the dock. One day, he was returning from the store, and though his boat was not overloaded….he was. His groceries were in paper sacks, one of which was full of potatoes. He was having some difficulty getting from his boat to the dock with his sack of potatoes. In the process, the bag got wet and the contents went into the water.

Richard’s mother saw this, and rather than have him bumble about more, she told him to go on home and her sons would retrieve the potatoes. So Richard and his brother went down by the dock with their clam bucket and started to feel around for potatoes.

As they were loading it up, some tourists came by (from the Big City, no doubt) and seeing the boys in the water, asked their mother what delicacies they might be collecting from the sea. “Potatoes,” she said in her matter of fact way. “Impossible!” they said in their “Big City” authoritative way. So she called her sons to bring the bucket up and show them. Sure enough….potatoes!

God has this incredible tendency to humble people who think they know everything about him and the way he works. God does this because people who know everything don’t need faith, they just need answers. If they can’t get answers, they make them up. Once they’re sure of their answers, they don’t have to change, although everyone else is expected to. Such people are in desperate need of a humbling experience before they do damage to themselves and to others.

Other than for the sake of a great sense of humor, why does God want to debunk our cherished assumptions? Because God wants us to see possibilities where no one else does. The Kingdom of God is all about redeeming what most folks are willing to write off. God keeps us from closing the door behind ourselves. God prevents us from limiting divine prerogatives. It is more important for us to have faith than answers. A miracle is, after all, an answer gone awry.

So when you are tempted to say that God won’t or can’t…clam up! Remember where Long Island potatoes come from.

Rev. Dennis P. Levin

Back in the 1970’s, I went to Turkey for a military exercise. The 82^nd Airborne Division was practicing to defend the Turks from a Bulgarian invasion. We were told not to offend Turkish sensitivities, and to always be courteous. The only problem was that we didn’t know what Turks were sensitive about?

For instance, we were very careful to bag and bury all our trash. Unfortunately, we did not realize that American trash has great value to a country that recycles everything. They preferred that we deliver our trash to the center of the local town so that everyone could go through it. They were offended that they would have to go dig it up.

I had some time to play with, so I linked up with a couple of Intelligence sergeants that owed me a favor. One of their jobs was to assess how welcome we actually were by the populace. So we got a jeep and drove out to some of the local villages. The village elders were always to be found at the tea shop, sipping tea and debating about the strange goings on with the Americans.

We introduced ourselves and prepared to drink a lot of tea. We said we were there to defend them against the Bulgarians (a concept that was politely acknowledged with some amusement) Several of our hosts had fought by our side in the Korean War. They liked Americans, but thought us a bit too solicitous of our adversaries. By the time we got to know them better, it was plain that should the Bulgarians invade they would never get back to Bulgaria.

We explained that if we caused damage to their fields as a result of our maneuvers, they could put in a claim to have the damage repaired. That offended them! How dare we suggest that they would seek compensation from a guest that had come to help them! They encouraged us to do whatever we wanted to their fields, their village, or whatever property they had. To demonstrate their appreciation, they took us to their bakery and filled our jeep with the local bread, called Ekmek. I barely had room to sit for the ride back. That was the best smelling jeep in the whole division.

How different was this attitude from the rest of Europe. Farmers in Germany, for instance, would put in a claim for the slightest nick on a fencepost. Our vehicles had to stay on the roads to practice maneuvers because it was just too expensive to go across country.

Ekmek reminds me of the different ways people respond to the love of God. For some, God’s attempt to use them is seen as maneuver damage; something for which we can put in a claim. The assumption is that since God has done so much for us, we must be very important. He wouldn’t have gone out of his way unless he owed us something. They might sing that great hymn: “Take my life and let it be, always only for a fee..”

For others, God is the one to whom we owe our very breath. There is nothing he could ask of us which he has not already done for us. Our resources, indeed, our very selves, are at his disposal and are presented with joy. Not only do they respond to the call of God, they seek even more resourceful ways to fulfill it. Rather than asking more of God’s blessings for themselves, they want to know how God can bless others through them. Their prayers are always, “Lord, what can I do for you today?” Those who give of themselves in this way find that somehow their resources never fail.

Rev. Dennis P. Levin

Long Island Potatoes

EKMEK

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