LAKE OCONEE — Alvin Verette — in New Roads, Louisiana, he owned and operated the nation’s first drive-in mortuary. For the convenience of time-pressed mourners, the deceased was displayed before a five-by-seven picture window. Friends and relatives could drive up to the window and pay last respects without getting out. Says Mr. Verette, “We wanted something for people who didn't have time to dress.”
Now that is convenience. We live in a world striving for convenience. Some people try to bring that into the church. They want everything the church does to be convenient. But that runs counter to the biblical message. Lent is a try to move beyond convenience to commitment.
It is hard to believe that Easter is coming. It is not too early to make your Easter Sunday plans. Please join me for the 9th Annual Easter Sunrise Service at 7 a.m. at the Reynolds Plantation Pointe Pavilion. The Reynolds Chorus will be singing and everyone in the community is welcomed. If that is not an option, feel free to join me at 9 a.m. at the Reynolds Plantation Lake Club or at 11 a.m. at the Lake Welcome Center. There will be special activities for children at the 9 a.m. service. Please bring your family and guests with you. Make this the year to move from convenience to commitment. Wishing you much love and much light.
—The Rev. David W. Key, director of the Baptist Studies Program, is involved in recruitment, admissions, student life, counseling, placement, and development functions for Emory University’s Candler School of Theology. He teaches in the Contextual Education program. He is the founding pastor of the Lake Oconee Community Church at Reynolds Plantation. Contact him at (404) 727-6350 or dkey@emory.edu. His
column appears weekly in this space.
Life Lessons
Lent season designed to move beyond convenience
- Life Lessons
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Give God the credit for the things in your life
Laugh and the world laughs with you; Weep, and you weep alone.
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Fact is, we are partners with God each doing a part
Ronald Reagan told the story about a farmer who took a piece of bad earth and made things flourish thereon.
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Give God the appropriate credit in your life
John III Sobieski, king of Poland in the late 17th century, is best remembered as the man who saved central Europe from invading armies of Turks in 1683.
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Inspiration comes not from waiting but through work
Ernest Newman reminds us that great composers do not set down to work because they are inspired, but become inspired because they are working.
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Avoid passing along blocks to mental creativity
Roger van Oech, in his book A Whack on the Side of the Head, proposed that there were ten mental blocks to creativity.
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Set inclination aside and do something different
As a student, fashion designer Sandra Garratt was given a project to design clothing that would go against her natural inclinations — clothes that she didn’t like.
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To foster creativity, create a culture of exploration
Joyce Brothers, in her book “Homemade,” tells us something important:
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Problem-solving often benefits from creativity
Earle Dickson, an employee of Johnson & Johnson, married a young woman who was accident-prone.
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Be creative when solving problems in life
When St. Petersburg, in Russia, was being laid out early in the eighteenth century, many large boulders brought by a glacier from Finland had to be removed.
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Support creative vision now more than ever
In addition to Mt. Rushmore, one of Gutzin Borglum’s great works as a sculptor is the head of Lincoln in the capitol at Washington.
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Give God the credit for the things in your life
