389 - Flaugh's Summer

Flaugh's Summer
By Lewis Chamberlain

The Rev. Albert Flaugh
Sat in his den
On the last day of August
And concluded that it had been
A Super-Swell Summer.

Flaugh glanced out
At the backyard and saw
The bullfrog who had made a
Home under the leaking faucet.
(Flaugh could identify with
the bullfrog
although there weren't showers
of blessing
there was a good steady drip.)

Flaugh's yard had
Never been in better
Shape
The sprinkler was chuta-chuta-ing
And the Cicada's were chochochooing
And his new trees were thriving
And all was serene.

Flaugh glanced over
At his wife
She was still pretty
And Flaugh still loved
Her to pieces.
(Although he had never
openly espoused it
Flaugh felt that lust
was a gift of the Holy Ghost
in this respect Flaugh was
a closet charismatic.)

Lewis Chamberlain is the minister of the Meneely Memorial Presbyterian Church, Dallas, Texas. Herewith the next chapter in the continuing reflections of the Rev. Albert Flaugh, that faulty but doughty cleric who knows how to hang in there and find inspiration for living in unlikely places. Previous episodes in the Flaugh saga have appeared in THEOLOGY TODAY, July 1971, April 1974, April 1976, April 1977.

390 - Flaugh's Summer

The summer season
Had begun auspiciously
With the birth of Flaugh's
First grandson
He was a mild
Good baby
And reminded Flaugh
Of his own son.

They named him
Timothy
And Flaugh thought the
Boy just might preach,
And Flaugh would surely give
The ordination sermon
(He already had the text:
   ". . . as for you,
   O man of God. . ."

Flaugh's granddaughter
Was in the terrible two's
Pushing everyone to the
Brink of child-abuse just
Before she pulled you back
With a surprise hug
Or some exceedingly clever
Saying.

It was in explaining God
To his granddaughter that
Flaugh experienced some kind
Of a conversion during
That particular summer
Flaugh taught the child
That Jesus/God is a Friend
God-for-you
God-with-you
God-who wills-your-highest-and-best
God-who wants-to-put-you-on-the-lucky-side-of-life.

In the explaining
Flaugh got to believing it himself
(Flaugh had previously pictured
Jesus as John Calvin with a
chicken streak).

391 - Flaugh's Summer

And Flaugh's summer
Was enhanced by reading
Hans Küng
Flaugh found Küng
Hopeful and helpful
And very
Very bright.

And Flaugh had a hobby
He was becoming a bit of a
Rock-hound
Flaugh knew about Malachite
And Tanzanite
And Aventurine
And Rose Quartz
And even possessed
Some specimens of same
(Contrary to what someone
has said it was nice to have
a few things a thief might
want to break in and steal).

Eight years of service
Had reaped lots of affection
For Flaugh and he found
It quietly satisfying to
Call one of his parishioners
And hear a hostile or
Indifferent voice
Turn to warm and friendly
On learning it was the Parson.

And every Sunday evening
Flaugh's kitchen was chock-full
Of black-eyed peas and cornbread
And kids and noisy babies.

Flaugh was finding such pleasure
In living that much of his old
Negativism was slipping away
(The crosses and the
losses and the used-up
dental-flosses).

Flaugh was not disheartened
About the world

392 - Flaugh's Summer

Or the ministry
Or humanity
(Flaugh had somewhere read
that something very like
humans had been on the planet
sure five-hundred-thousand years
and Flaugh figured if God
could stand it for
half a million years
Flaugh could hold up
for another decade).

And Flaugh was involved in his
Annual-Summer-Move
Flaugh moved every summer
He would hear of some
Fine vacant church
Fantasize himself
Into it
Say tearful farewells
To the many
And a few well-chosen words
To the inevitable few
And depart.
(Flaugh even did a little
preliminary packing
odds and ends.)

The Annual-Summer-Move
Added zest to the season.

Flaugh realized
That he had
Probably idealized
And romanticized
That particular summer
But Flaugh was given to
That sort of stuff
(The Flaughs of this world
have to go into the ministry
or take to strong drink
they have no taste for reality).

And besides
Who wants to live in
The real world
When there's

393 - Flaugh's Summer

Sprinklers sprinkling
And Cicadas cicadaing
And new trees thriving
And lust
And babies
And pleasure-mad two year olds
And friend Jesus
And friend Küng
And Malachite
And Tanzanite
And Adventurine
And Rose Quartz
And Faith
And Hope
And Love
And black-eyed peas
And cornbread
And vacant churches
And a bullfrog
Right under a leaking faucet?

Flaugh was right
The first time.
It had been
A fine summer
A Super-Swell Summer.