The people of the little Italian city of Gubbio are understandably very proud of their beautiful home. Then one night a "Shadow" comes out of the nearby woods and prowls the streets. In the morning the people of Gubbio find a mangled and gnawed dead body. This happens again and again. Finally an old woman says that she has seen a wolf on the streets at night. The terrified people decide to ask a holy man who has a reputation for being able to talk to animals for his help. They send a delegation to get St. Francis.

They have very specific ideas on what St. Francis should tell the Wolf. First, he should preach to him and remind him to obey the commandment against killing and to follow Christ's commandment about loving God and neighbors. And then, just in case, since a Wolf is, after all, a wolf, he should tell the Wolf to move someplace else ...

IT IS THE PROVINCE OF KNOWELDGE TO SPEAK,

AND IT IS THE PRIVILEGE OF WISDOM TO LISTEN.

                                                                  -Oliver Wendell Holmes

I write, and then I say, "who am I to write such and such ? After all, I am but  fallen and

much bruised. What right, what gall I ask...why bother ?

The title is from an old song sung by Mitch Miller on his TV Show, "Sing Along With Mitch " ! 

Once, in my first Pastorate I had the pleasure of knowing and working with and yes, learning from a Methodist Minister named Bill Morris. I learned much from him, he touched my soul. He and his Wife were classically trained singers as well.  

Bill could get peoples dander up but he knew more about Pastoring / Ministering / Shepherding than all the others combined, and yet he was close to my age. As I have often said, when I left Seminary I had the answers, and for the most part everything was Black -n- White. Well after my first year in the Pastorate I found a lot of "GRAY". (or is it Grey ?) I also found it was more profitable to dwell with the questions...   Bill irked the other Pastors because he would go into the Bars and Taverns and visit with the people. It even blew my mind; until I realized that that was where the work was, the needs, the residing emptiness. I think Churches should be more like Taverns...accepting, belonging, friendly etc. (except for those ugly Vinyl windbreakers !)  

 UNFOLDING THE ROSE...

  A young, new Priest was walking with an older,  more seasoned Priest in the garden one day. Feeling a bit insecure about what God / The Creative and Sustaining Power of the Universe had for him to do, he was asking the Older Priest for some advice.
  
  The older Priest walked up to a rose bush and handed the young Priest a rosebud and told him to open it without tearing any of the petals...