Thomas J Parlette
“Don’t Forget the Best”
Isaiah 60: 1-6
1/3/21
There is an ancient Scottish legend that tells the story of a shepherd boy tending a few straggling sheep on the side of a mountain. One day, as he cared for the sheep, he saw at his feet a beautiful flower – one that was more beautiful than any he had ever seen in his life. He knelt down and scooped up the flower very carefully and held it up close to gat a good look.
As he held the flower close to his face, suddenly he heard a noise and he looked up to see the great stone mountain opening up right before his eyes. As the sun began to shine on the inside of the mountain, he saw beautiful gems and precious metals sparkling in the sunlight.
With the flower in his hands, he walked inside. Laying the flower down, he began to gather all the gold and silver and diamonds he could carry. Finally, with his arms full, he turned and began to walk out of the great cavern, and suddenly a voice said, “Don’t forget the best.”
Thinking perhaps he had overlooked some great treasure, he turned around and picked up even more. His pockets were overflowing and his arms were straining to hold all the valuables as he walked slowly and carefully out of the mountainous vault. And again, he heard that voice, “Don’t forget the best.”
But this time he knew he could not carry another thing, so he walked outside. And as soon as his feet crossed the threshold, the treasure turned to dust. He looked around just in time to see the great stone mountain closing its doors again. And then he heard the voice for a third time – “You forgot the best. For the beautiful flower is the key to the vault of the mountain.”(1)
As we celebrate this first Sunday of the New Year, we don’t want to forget the best.
We don’t want to forget the joys we have shared – admittedly in a different way than we’re used to in this age of Covid. For some of you, there are great things to remember about this year. Maybe there was a wedding, a graduation, a new child or grandchild… There are many such events that even in a year as challenging as this last one, we will want to remember and cherish for a lifetime.
And of course, there are some events that we would just as soon forget – the closing of businesses, financial hardships, sickness, death, a divorce, the loss of a job… the list could go on. The late Charles Kuralt once observed, “There are three kinds of memories – good, bad and convenient.”(2)
He was right, of course. We don’t want to remember everything. There is an old Japanese proverb that goes like this: “My skirt with tears is always wet – I have forgotten to forget.” There are some things that ought to be forgotten. Certainly the hardships brought on by this pandemic is something we’d all like to forget.
Fortunately, our faith helps us deal with the good and the bad in life. And, as we make our way out of the Christmas season and into the year 2021, we may want to remember that story about the shepherd boy and mountain vault – we don’t want to forget the best.
John Wesley, the spiritual father of the Methodists, said on his deathbed: “The best is God with us.” The biblical word for that, of course, is Emmanuel.
God with us – what great news to take into the New Year. God is with us. Our problems and inadequacies seem to fade in the light of that staggering truth. God is with us – is there any obstacle in this world that we cannot surmount if that be true? God has come down. God is with us in the Christ Child of Bethlehem, and that is reason to rejoice. What Isaiah prophesied long ago has come about – “Arise and shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you… the wealth of the nations shall come to you. A multitude of camels shall cover you, the young camels of Midian and Ephah; all those from Sheba shall come. They shall bring gold and frankincense, and shall proclaim the praise of the Lord.” The Lord has come, the prophecy has come true – and there is reason to rejoice.
Isaiah’s vision of the glorious restoration of Jerusalem was probably originally intended to inspire returnees from exile, but for our modern ears, it is no less glorious. The Lord has come. God has come down. The prophecy has come true – and there is reason to be radiant, to rejoice and offer praise to God!
On May 9th, 1961, the Dave Brubeck Quartet recorded a short piece at the Thirtieth Street Studio in New York. It is called “Charles Matthew Hallelujah,” a tune that burst into being the day Dave and Iola Brubeck’s sixth child was born.
That day Brubeck had stopped by the hospital in Norwalk, Connecticut, on his way to a recording session in the city. When he arrived at the hospital, he learned that Iola had just given birth to their grand-finale son. When Brubeck finally arrived at the studio, he told the band the good news, went directly to the piano, and started playing.
Light notes announced the birth. The saxophone, bass and drums responded with joy. The song was inspired and recorded on the spot, but listening to it today we might think every note was meticulously placed and well rehearsed.
When she first heard the piece, Iola Brubeck said it sounded as if each band member was presenting her newborn with a gift. Three Kings of Jazz at the time – Paul Desmond on saxophone, Eugene Wright on bass, and Joe Morello on the drums – captured the joy of Epiphany that Isaiah foretold – “arise, Shine, your light has come… rejoice and praise the Lord.”(3)
A story told by the great Scottish preacher, Dr. Murdo Ewen MacDonald, captures the excitement in another way.
MacDonald was a prisoner of war in World War II, captured by the Germans. MacDonald learned about the invasion of Normandy and the events of D-Day in a most unforgettable way. Early in the morning as American shook him awake, shouting into his ears, “The Scotsman wants to see you – it’s terribly important.”
MacDonald ran over to the barbed wire fence that separated the British and the American camps, where a man named MacNeil, who was in touch with the BBC by underground radio, was waiting for him. He spoke just two words in Gaelic that translated to “They have come!”
MacDonald then ran back to the American camp and began waking up the soldiers. He said again and again, “They have come! They have come!” The reaction was incredible. Men jumped up and started to shout. They hugged each other. They rolled around on the ground. The Germans thought they were crazy. They were still prisoners – nothing had changed. But the soldiers knew that something was different. Their light had come. Allied troops had landed. Their deliverers were on the way. They have come!(4)
Soon after his birth, when the time was right, Jesus’ parents took him to the Temple in Jerusalem where they were met by an elderly priest named Simeon. Simeon sang out just as those soldiers had – “He has come! Now I can die in peace. He has come.” The best is, God is with us – our deliverer has come. A voice says to us today, “Don’t forget the best.”
Sir Walter Scott wrote an interesting novel which he titled “Old Mortality.” It was the last novel he ever wrote. In this book, he describes a character who lived in the middle of the 18th century, and he was nicknamed Old Mortality.
Old Mortality had a unique, but noble hobby which he had taken up late in his life. He rode about the countryside on his old horse, with a bag of tools and searched out the graves of the Old Scottish Covenanters, who had died a martyr’s death for their faith. The Covenanters were a Scottish Presbyterian movement that played an important role in the history of Scotland, and to a lesser extent that of England and Ireland during the 17th century.
When Old Mortality, whose given name was Robert Paterson, came upon one of these graves, he would scrape the moss from the tombstone. Where the carving had grown dim with wind and weather, he would sharpen the lines with his chisel and hammer. Where the stones had fallen over or disappeared, he would reset them.
It was only a hobby, but one which made him quite a character in the lowlands of Scotland, where it was said that not a single cemetery could be found in which his work had not been done. He wanted to make sure that no one forgot what these men and women had done.(5)
We should not forget either – we should not forget what God has done in Jesus Christ. Do not forget the best.
One final word as we enter this new year: As we remember the best perhaps we should make a new commitment in our own lives to seek our best and give our all – because after all, Jesus gave his all for all of us.
In 1907, in his parting address to the National Council of Congregational Churches, Washington Gladden urged his peers to see the church as a manifestation of Christ. For Gladden, one of the chief reasons for Christ’s life and for the life of the church was “to make men and women feel that the great joy of life… is the joy of service; to populate this world with a race of people whose central purpose shall be, not to GET as they can, but to GIVE as much as they can – this is what Jesus came into the world to do.”(6)
To give all we can… in praise of what God has given us. That’s what Isaiah says. That’s what the Kings did. That is our example – to give all we can in praise of what God has given us.
Dr. Leonard Sweet, in his book, Giving Blood, tells a wonderful story about one of the finest performers who ever graced America’s stages – the incomparable Judy Garland. He tells about a night in 1961 when 3,100 people packed Carnegie Hall to be a part of what is now known as “the greatest concert ever given.” Among those present for “Judy Garland at Carnegie Hall” were some names etched into our memories – Carol Channing, Rock Hudson, Spencer Tracy, Henry Fonda and Julie Andrews.
Everyone present that night knew that Judy Garland was the consummate performer – that she would sing until exhausted and depleted. Garland felt she owed everything she had to her audience.
In this concert she sang a remarkable 26 songs – giving her all in every one. A live album was made of her performance that went on to win 5 Grammys.
But Leonard Sweet was struck by something Garland did just before walking out on stage. She repeated to herself, and to anyone else who happened to be in earshot, an unusual mantra. “It was not the time honored ‘Break a leg’,” says Sweet. “But rather, it was this – ‘Time to give blood’.”(7)
Time to give blood. Certainly, if anyone ever “gave blood,” it was Jesus himself. And he did it for us. As we leave this Christmas season and begin a new year, may God help us not to forget the best – that God is with us. God who came to us in Jesus Christ and gave all for us, so we can give all we can to the world.
As we gather at the table today, let that be our prayer.
May God be praised. Amen.
1. Dynamic Preaching, Vol. XXXVI, No.4, p75.
2. Ibid… p75.
3. Andrew Nagy-Benson, Feasting on the Word, Westminster John Knox Press, 2008, p194.
4. Dynamic Preaching, Vol. XXXVI, No.4, p77.
5. Ibid… p77.
6. Andrew Nagy-Benson, Feasting on the Word, Westminster John Knox Press, 2008, p198.
7. Dynamic Preaching, Vol. XXXVI, No.4, p78.
