Downtown Mitchell First UMC
310 North Rowley, Mitchell, SD 57301
Rev. Keith Nelson, Pastor
keith@downtownfirstumc.com
This week I did something that I hadn’t expected to be doing at the beginning of 2024…I went back to school. For those of you interested, I am now an official Tiger. I am a student, or scholar as they put it, in the Practical Church Leadership Certificate program offered through Dakota Wesleyan University. I’ll admit I’m a bit nervous about it, after all, it has been 38 years since I graduated from seminary and was last in the halls of “academia” as they say. A LOT has changed in those 38 years, mainly the use of computers, technology, and the virtual classroom. But I’m also excited and believe this year of applied learning will be good for me.
So, as I was preparing to head off to the classroom at DWU, my staff and I were laughing and joking about my “first day of school!” Someone asked me if I had gotten a new outfit for the first day? Did I have my new pencils and notebooks? I’ll have to check and see what is available from Carol H and the Love Feast giveaway. With my briefcase in hand, as I headed out the door, another staff person hollered out, “Play Nice!!” “Yes Mom!” I answered…and again, there was more laughter.
I did survive my first day of school, and the second, and the third. But you know that parting word of advice came back to me throughout the day and my “school” experience. Play nice! That seems like such an obvious principle to live by, and yet in our world today…it doesn’t.
I believe we were all shocked this past week by the attempted assassination of Former President Trump; now Presidential Candidate Donald Trump. This action only highlights the anger, vitriol, and the willingness for people not to play nice and the growing attitude that violence seems to be an acceptable means of expressing one’s opinion or stating one’s belief. IT ISN’T!!!
I did a little research and discovered there have been 14 assassination attempts on sitting US Presidents or Presidential Candidates since the beginning of our nation. Seven of those assassination attempts (half) have taken place in my lifetime…since 1960. As we’ve listened to the political discussion and debate over the past number of years, the use of words has become more and more contentious, degrading, and even downright mean. Social media has certainly not helped matters any, where people can say whatever they want and hide behind screen names without having to realize the consequences of their words or actions.
It strikes me that maybe we all need someone in our lives reminding us, before we head out for the day, before we pick up our phone, before we hit send on that email, before we click on our social media account, before we start interacting with other people, before we say the sharp or critical word that so easily comes to mind, to play nice.
I think of the Apostle Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonians that we have in our Bible. In chapter 5 verse 11 Paul writes, “Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.” Paul was writing words of instruction to this very young church to help them mature and not be so divisive or mistaken on certain issues of faith. This is a theme that is repeated a number of times throughout the New Testament, that we are to build up one another…and not tear down. These words and this theme would serve us well in our current day and age. Today, and every day, hear these words ringing in your ears and in your heart, “Play Nice!!” or Paul’s message in 1 Thessalonians 5:11, “encourage and build one another up…” This is a message that our world…that all humanity, desperately needs to hear and reclaim!
Pastor Keith