"The Gift That Keeps Giving"

Was there ever a better TV show for children than “Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood”?  You can say “Yes”, if you want to – everybody has the right to be wrong – but the correct answer is “NO!”  My little boy likes many children’s shows, and I have seen many of them right along with him.  And, to be sure, from “Barney” to “Lamb-chop”, to “Thomas the Tank Engine”, to “Sesame Street”, and more, all of the children’s TV shows have good things to offer.  But I’m pretty sure that “Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood” would be at the very top of my boy’s list of favorites.  And what I have learned is that none of the other shows can match it for consistently delivering messages that not only relate to children, but which also resonate beyond a child’s world and are relevant to adults even today.

Perhaps this is because Fred Rogers was not really an actor playing a character.  He was truly just being himself in front of the TV cameras.  You probably know that Fred Rogers was an ordained Presbyterian minister.  But, he did not use his show as a “pulpit” from which to preach religion.  Instead, what was evident through-out the entire run of the show [895 episodes from 1968-2001], and even now in syndication and re-runs and video] was his passion for what Jesus referred to as “the weightier matters of The Law – justice, mercy and faith” [Matthew 23:23].  And even though he probably never actually said these specific words on the show, they were there for those with eyes to see and ears to hear, especially in how he treated people who were different.  Everyone was given respect and honor; everyone mattered immensely to Mr. Rogers.  Wouldn’t our world be a better place if that was how we all lived?

Here’s something Mr. Rogers did say on his show many years ago: “When I was a boy and would see scary things on the news, my mother would say to me ‘Look for the helpers.  You will always find people who are helping.’”

We are living in hard and dark times.  Just today, I was talking to someone about the difficult place in which we find ourselves due to the pandemic.  He suggested that perhaps next week’s sermon should be entitled, “The Light at The End Of The Tunnel”.  Unfortunately, I’m not sure I see that light yet.

But, what I do see is perhaps just as important.  I see people who are helping.  Here is just one example.  Our church received a donation of masks and gloves which we were able to deliver to The Resthaven Living Center, a nursing home in Bogalusa in which many residents are suffering from Covid-19.  The masks and gloves were desperately needed there, and the workers there were so grateful to receive them.

Given the circumstances surrounding the apparent origins of this pandemic, this donation of protective equipment came from perhaps the last place you might expect - the Chinese Ministry at The South Baton Rouge Church of Christ.  These people, our brothers and sisters in Christ, saw a need and, despite facing possible abuse from those who have not yet learned the lessons from Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood about respecting and honoring all people, they decided to do what they could to help.  They sacrificially gave over $3500 to obtain and distribute 9500 masks and 25,000 gloves to several health care providers and first responders in the Baton Rouge area.  Then, they reached out to us, as a sister congregation in The Lord, and asked if we might be able to find a place in our area that also needed some of this kind of protective equipment.  Sara Villemuer helped us find the right place.

Many years after Mr. Rogers talked about looking for the helpers in times of trouble and need, he said this in an interview for The Red Cross:
[Fred Rogers Look For The Helpers | LYBIO.NET Discover New Reading ...]

In these scary times, I am seeing helpers.  And so, even though I can’t yet see the light at the end of the tunnel, I know that there is hope.  And hope, which actually comes from God, is a powerful influence both on how we see the world and on how we respond to the circumstances of life.  

“I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in Him.  Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of The Holy Spirit.” Romans 15:16.

Thank you to the Chinese Ministry helpers; thank you to all the Corona helpers who are doing amazing things; and thank you, Mr. Rogers, for reminding us that there is hope, even in these dark times.  And, can we all praise God for His wonderful gift of hope?

Ambrose Ramsey
Shepherd