The Blog of
John Michael Helms
Pastor, First Baptist Church, Jefferson
All Saints Day: To Remember and Give Thanks
All Saints Day: To Remember and Give Thanks November 1, 2020 Today is All Saints Day. This is a day that we set aside to give God thanks for the people that have gone before us and have lived lives of faith. This is not an easy day because we long to be with those who are no longer physically here. We still miss their presence and all that made them special people in our lives. Our church office manager is Debbie Bing. She, her husband, and four children lived in Baskerville, Virginia. Debbie’s husband was a farmer and he also worked a 2nd shift public job for a company that even carried him out of the country for a while. They were happy, enjoyed life, served the Lord, and they were a hard-working loving family. Then tragedy struck when William was killed in a one-vehicle accident, leaving Debbie with children from ages 6 – 14. Debbie permitted me to tell you about one aspect of her grief. She said that for years after the funeral, there would be times when she would catch a glimpse of a man walking into a store or in a crowd and from a distance, something about him would remind her of her husband. It might be the way he walked, the way he carried himself, his profile, or his beard. She said, “I know this sounds strange, but sometimes the likeness would be so powerful that I would follow to get a closer look, just to make sure it wasn’t him.” Grief affects us all in many different ways. What Debbie described is not so strange. What she experienced has been experienced by... read more
Note to Self
The Christian church celebrated the breath of God on Pentecost Sunday (May 31), while our nationbegan to grieve and pour out its anger over George Floyd’s death, a man who was refused his breath until he died. We must not lose sight, because of the violence and looting that has taken place in some protests, of the injustice done to this man and countless other African Americans in similar situations. If we allow the minority of violent protesters to write the narrative of the protests that are sweeping the country, we have failed to acknowledge the underlying problems of injustice we can trace to the Jim Crow Laws and the Slave Trade. We must also speak out against the violence of police against peaceful protestors who are exercising their constitutional rights to speak out against injustice. I grew up in a Southern Alabama town with less than 700 people. Our education system was divided by a public and a private school, which happened during the early years of integration. That was the way it was throughout most of the South. Sadly, many Southern towns still look like that. In my community, many people knew Governor George Wallace on a first name basis. He was born nearby, had practiced law in the area, and was a local hero. Growing up, I heard the “N” word in reference to African Americans from many people, as if that was what they were supposed to be called. I was in college before I learned who Martin Luther King, Jr. really was, and what changes he brought to this country. However, I am thankful... read moreGenerosity is Often a Team Effort
A 10-year-old boy from Liberia entered Mass General Hospital in Boston just before the COVID-19 pandemic. He was diagnosed with fibrous dysplasia, an uncommon bone disorder in which scar-like (fibrous) tissue develops in place of normal bone. This massive tissue had overtaken the boy’s face. It was cutting off his ability to breath and making it nearly impossible to eat. Time was running out for little Samakai. Then he met Henry Peabody. Henry is a social worker in New Jersey. A Liberian native, Henry makes frequent humanitarian trips to Liberia. I met Henry during the Liberian Civil War when I traveled to that country in December 1995 during a cease-fire. When fighting broke out again in April 1996, Henry returned to the Budabarram Refugee Camp in Ghana. I was later able to help him get back to Liberia, secure a visa and come to the United States. I was able to arrange for Henry to attend college. He later graduated from Mercer University. Henry has been giving back ever since. When he found this child, he called me and asked if I could purchase plane tickets for the child and his mother to come to the United States. He said he had found a doctor that would do the operation that would save his life. Samakai arrived in the U.S. just a few weeks before the outbreak of COVID-19. Had he come any later, his surgery may have been canceled. However, the surgery was done on schedule and he remained hospitalized about six weeks before his recent release. Doctors say that the surgery was 100% successful. He will need to be on medication for the rest of his... read more
Do Hummingbirds Worry?
I had a conversation with a bird last week. I’m not Dr. Dolittle, although my wife calls me that sometimes when it comes to doing housework. I asked, “Mr. Bird, why are you singing so much?” He said, “It’s springtime, don’t you know?” I said, “Yes, but people are sick. Some are dying. The economy is bad. There is no March Madness. Children want to go to school, but they can’t. I can’t play with my granddaughter.” The bird chirped back that all of that sounded terrible, but why should he stop singing? I said, “Well, my feathered friend. I think people are going to put you way down on their priority list. No one is rushing out to buy birdseed these days. Only toilet paper and canned goods.” “Tweetle Dee,” said the bird. “Birdseed makes us lazy anyway. Haven’t you heard that long ago Jesus made us the focus of one of his parables?” “Look at us,” he said. “We do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet the Heavenly Father feeds us.” “I appreciate your birdseed,” said the bird. “God uses you to feed us. But if not you, then our food will come from somewhere else. It always has. It always will.” Then the bird flew away. And I thought about what the bird said. I wondered how I could have a song in my heart like the bird, but I’m worried about so much right now. A little later, the bird came back. He had something in his beak. I took it from him and noticed that it was two blades... read more
Lent Reminds Us to Seize the Moment
Signs of spring are slowly arriving. The buttercups are opening up. The rose bushes are covering their thorny stems with new leaves. Trees will soon begin to bud and pollen will begin to fall. Robins will arrive. It will not be long before hummingbirds make their long migration back to North Georgia. Farmers will be turning the soil and preparing the ground for seed. Butterflies will emerge from their chrysalises. Bream will spawn in ponds and riverbeds. All around us nature is waking up. Preparation is being made for another growth cycle. Within this growth cycle of spring, Easter is coming. It finds its way into the spring calendar every year, its date moving like a Mexican jumping bean. Have you ever wondered why? Why don’t we have a fixed date for Easter as we do for Christmas? In the early church, bishops in the East and those in Rome were celebrating the Easter feast on different Sundays. Apparently, there was no unanimity on the date of Jesus’ resurrection. So, when the bishops came together to address some deep theological matters in Nicaea in 325 A.D., they addressed this practical issue of ensuring the same day was chosen to celebrate the Easter feast every year. Because there was no strong consensus on the original date, they felt Sunday was the most appropriate date to celebrate. Changing to a uniform date did away with any future arguments about the true Easter date. The new system, determined by the moon’s phases, ensured that the Easter feasts would jump around within a small window of dates. Tying the dates to the moon... read more
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