Lent— Keillor and Craddock!
Ash Wednesday Dr. Gary Straub. Lent 2025
Friends recently gifted me with a Garrison Keillor meme, knowing he’s my #1 All-Star Preacher. I know this distresses Fred Craddock fans. Between Craddock & Keillor, I’ve probably preached more of their sermons than they have! Any desperate Rev on late Saturday night could do far worse than follow Fred and/or Garrison! Among them, a spark of inspiration always arises. I’m told ChatGP abrogates all the guilt-fits that once plagued plagiarisms. So…is that so?
Back to my original ontological crisis. How to compare an Unordained Unlicensed Lutheran lay person like a Keillor to a Fred with his Vanderbilt PhD, German postgrad work; innumerable brilliant books, sly humor and pungent presentations—plus practicable, preach-able sermons? How does Keillor’s wordly cleverness stack up against Time’s Preacher of the Year? I hesitate to categorize Keillor. Some down—grade him as a hokey, hallucinating high denier. Others insist he’s just a jolly decent man, but perhaps a plant or two short of a full flat. Some even say maybe his cornbread ain’t done in the middle! I will say: Keillor’s relentlessly cheerful soul can irritate; especially when life turns a bit too dark. He parries the thrust of depression with a stinging sarcasm that decimates despair. His cure just doesn’t last nearly long enough
OK, refocus: there’s a download of darkness encroaching as we approach this First Lenten Sunday. We fully expect Spring’s Celestial Clock to advance one full hour. Unless, of course, Musk must mess, muddle and meddle with our EDST. I mean: Musk you, Sir?
I’m not ne to echo Chicken Little’s dire prophecy about the sky falling in. That said, the disturbing theological thrashings administered publicly by parties left and right provide every adult with the maximum daily dosage of bullgeshita. Sorting the official distortions from the unofficial ones seems to be creating one Almighty Malox Moment after another.
Meanwhile, I know folks who own up to UNeasy living. Maintaining one’s equanimity amidst upheaval requires a certain soul—centering accompanied by a rock-ribbed resistance to remain vigilant while calling out any lies that look like lillies. There’s such a paucity of parking spaces available within the American psyche. I have taken note that my coffee cadre have pledged to peaceably surf the chaos and calamity… but not necessarily quietly. When I inquire among Christian’s friends how they manage the completing cacophony, they remind: “this is not our first rodeo.” God is Refuge & Strength- a Very Present help. While we all pray not to be “like those who slip down into the pit,” we also need to make sure our Life Guards are on duty
This week Lent has dumped us on the doorstep of Ash Wednesday. I always cringe about the ashes. From my Lancaster County, PA roots I hear a stern old Amish man echoing Jesus’ warning about outward displays of religiosity. “Be not like the Pharisees who play up & parade their piety.” This passage is enough to break me out in a full-fledged spiritual sweat. Admittedly my own faults, flaws, frailties, frivolities, foolishness, and finitude rise up every Lent! Since none of us mere mortals dare hide our sins & stupidities, I always ask: how will these ashes assist me in owning up to my own humanness? I see nothing sexy about ashes; but they do testify to the God’s honest truth: we come and go to dust.
Apart from observing the public awkwardity of ashes, here’s where Lent lands for me: ashed or UNashed, Lent is crunch time for the soul— a humbling intervention in the dreams, schemes, and machinations of the mad ego. So sobering.
I was almost on my way to Walmart when it struck me: Jesus is journeying to Jerusalem, to the Garden, the Upper Room, the Cross, and the Glorious Resurrection. Now: WHERE did I think I was going?
Don’t worry about sounding professional. Sound like you. There are over 1.5 billion websites out there, but your story is what’s going to separate this one from the rest. If you read the words back and don’t hear your own voice in your head, that’s a good sign you still have more work to do.
Be clear, be confident and don’t overthink it. The beauty of your story is that it’s going to continue to evolve and your site can evolve with it. Your goal should be to make it feel right for right now. Later will take care of itself. It always does.