Short & Sweet Wins the Race - Parson Jim N. Shows Me How It's Done!!

King Nebuchanezzar in the Bilderburg Hotel, I've been grousing for the last 30 years that the faith community didn't overtly support the public service community.  I've prompted various faith folks and myself tried unsuccessfully to get to a bottom line.

And then that dog-gone Parson Jim N., my beloved brother and teacher, just up and stated a little six line prayer that says it all.  This was in a comment to the immediate past post, and since not many people read comments, I'm reproducing it here:

Thanks for this, Roger. I attended a dinner at Johnson Memorial UMC in Huntington some months back that was arranged to express appreciation to emergency personnel (EMTs, Police, Firefighters, etc.). The attendees included the mayor and other city/county officials, as well as many church and community representtives. The seating was arranged so that the various emergency service workers were at the same round tables with community and church leaders. My table included a Fire Department Captain, a policeman, a couple of EMTs, a member of the Mayoral Staff, and a few of us commoners. It turned out to be a very informative conversation about the realities of life in the frontlines of critical situations
Dr. Heather Murray Elkins, Professor of Preaching and Liturgics at Drew University, was the featured moderator of this event (which was appropriate since the idea was hers), and she shared with us a prayer she always prays whenever hearing a siren. I now say the same prayer, following her lead:

There goes the siren,
Trouble is coming,
Lord, have mercy.

There goes the siren,
Help is on the way,
Thanks be to God.


Jim was one of the no-good rascals who showed me what this whole Christian love thing was all about.

Thanks, my brother.

R