335 - Season's Greetings From Flaugh

Season's Greetings From Flaugh
By Lewis Chamberlain

The First Sunday in Advent

Albert Flaugh was
Up
Very early in the morning
At the kitchen table
Thinking and drinking coffee.

Flaugh was in his
Glory
Emotionally swimming
Against the tide
(This time the anti-Christmas tide).

This was a joyous
Effort for Flaugh
Because Flaugh truly
Loved Christmas
(The Christ part and the mess part and every part).

Flaugh really worked
At Christmas
He had been at it
For several months
Paying on gifts in
Lay-away
Making giant blocks
For his granddaughter
Designing wreaths and
Decorations for
The house
Plus
This year a special
Christmas card with
Some original lines
(Flaugh's writing was camp but there is a surprising number of camp-followers).

Lewis Chamberlain is the minister of the Meneely Memorial Presbyterian Church, Dallas, Texas. Herewith another episode in the saga of "The Rev. Albert Flaugh," a human and dogged, if flawed pastor. Readers of Lewis Chamberlain's previous Flaugh pieces (THEOLOGY TODAY, July 197 1, April 1974, April 1976, and April 1977) will be intrigued, we think, to see how the persistent pastor and his family celebrate the "holiday" season-for us, happily, still some weeks in the future.

336 - Season's Greetings From Flaugh

And now Advent
Was at hand and
He was going to preach
A warm Advent sermon
And that very afternoon
He was going to put
Up the Christmas tree.

December 24th

Oh boy!

Today all his children
Would be home
Plus granddaughter
And there was good food
In the house
And candles that smelled
Like pine and a house
Deodorant that smelled
Like spearmint
And the fireplace was
Set and it was all
Downright-Dickensian
(If only it would get cold maybe even snow).

Only one cloud
On the horizon
The granddaughter
Had the bug
And was running fever.

December 25th

Christmas A.M.
Was unbridled joy
With the baby brightening
Up a bit and everybody
Exchanging beautiful
Presents
(Flaugh went into his annual Christmas rapture and his children followed-they were Little Flaughs and could meld into his moods with no difficulty).

That afternoon
The baby was worse
And couldn't play
With her toys
(Flaugh's wife had quietly gotten the giant blocks out of the child's way lest the infant suffer injuries about the head and body).

337 - Season's Greetings From Flaugh

The weather was warmer
And the house smelled like pine
Spearmint
And baby sickness.

December 26th

The baby's condition
Was unchanged
And the weather
Was even warmer.

December 27th

Flaugh called some
Of the women in the
Church and asked them
To pray for the baby
(There were some old women in the Church who could pray and change things).

December 28th

The baby is some
Better and there is
A cautious prediction
Of a cold front.

December 29th

The baby is about
Well
Bless God
The Doctor
And hard-praying
Old women.

Flaugh begins to
Pin hopes on a
Perfect New Year's Eve
With roaring fire
Games and
General merriment.

December 30th

Flaugh's wife
Catches the bug
And the cold-front
Fails to materialize.

338 - Season's Greetings From Flaugh

The First Sunday In the New Year

It is very early
In the morning and
Flaugh is at the
Kitchen table
Thinking
Drinking coffee
And reveling in his
Christmas victory.

It had all turned
Out the way
Flaugh knew it would
Or hoped it
Would or
Hoped he knew it
Would or knew he
Hoped it would
Or something.

On New Year's Day
A cold front had surprised
The city and there
Was ice and sleet and
A hint of snow
In fact the weather was
So bad that everyone's
Departure was delayed
For a day.

And there was a roaring
Fire
And Flaugh's wife was
A great deal better
(Flaugh suspected that her recovery was an act of will).

There were games
And lots of laughs
And the baby fooled with
The blocks a little
And everyone assured Flaugh
That these were blocks
A child could enjoy for
A long
Long time.

And there was mutual
Merry agreement
That it had been a
Perfectly splendid

339 - Season's Greetings From Flaugh

Christmas
Perhaps the best
Ever
And everyone enthusiastically
Assented to Flaugh's
Statement that the
New Year was full of
Promise for the entire
Family.

Flaugh's spirit
Rejoiced in all
These thoughts
Very early in the
Morning on the
First Sunday
In the New Year.

Flaugh mused
That Christmas
Was a Happy Mystery
Comprehended
Only by God
Little children
And a few kooky old
Wise men like
Charles Dickens.

And Flaugh knew
He was right
To keep on keeping
Christmas
By golly it took guts
To keep Christmas
The same kind of guts
It took to keep on
Believing.

And next year
Was going to be
Even better
With a new series
Of wreaths
Maybe even
Lights on the
Mimosa tree in the
Back.

340 - Season's Greetings From Flaugh

And it just happened
That Flaugh had seen
Something extra pretty
In a store and he was
Jolly well going to put
It in lay-away
For Christmas.

Sunday Morning
The Reverend Mr. Albert
Flaugh's sermon trumpeted
The fact that we plus
God could do anything
Flat damn anything
(Flaugh really laid it on).

P.S.

After all, Flaugh reflected
Advent
Christmas
New Year's
Make up a heavy package.

There's enough here
To preach on for
A whole year
(If only in all the glitter and joy and family fun we could find the gospel).

Or Flaugh wondered
If the gospel could find us.