A Bit of History

To the fabulous fam:

While I was in Nashville, Howard shared some of his heart with me. He wants to share some with the rest of you, too. So here's a piece he asked me to help him post. He's quite an impressive guy. Enjoy...Debi

It may be just to rub my own ego, but at times I feel led by God to share a few things with our family concerning spiritual topics. If you wish, just go on by and I will enjoy the “ego moments” on my own. If you do read my next few contributions, I pray that God might speak to you through them.

Back In February 1968 I accepted an invitation to join the curriculum staff in preparing United Methodist Sunday school curriculum for what was then called IV-VI for teachers, along with another publication for the children. This new job meant leaving our pastoral assignment and packing up to move from Trinity EUB, Sacramento, California, the local church I loved more than any of the others I'd served. We had to move to Nashville.

This meant accepting an editorial position for the national church. In an effort to improve the curriculum, I had been writing materials for several years in the EUB church, which led directly to the new position. That was during the transition days of the church union between EUB and Methodist. The editorial position came with additional titles of “Staff member, General Board of Discipleship” concurrently with, “Staff member, the United Methodist Publishing House.” The new job was located at the publishing house in Nashville where all the UM curriculum was produced.

What a truly humbling experience.....to think anyone could edit curriculum for the entire church?! Yet I was only one of about seventy editors doing the same thing for the various age levels of teachers and students in the Sunday school. Each of us had editorial assistants and secretaries, so the total staff went well beyond one hundred.

This is where Moses comes in. My first assignment was an Old Testament study unit on Moses. I’ve forgotten now who wrote the unit, but I edited it—that is, I prepared it for use in the church. As part of the editing, (including the layout and design for both publications), I had the privilege of choosing the pictures. If we had no appropriate picture in the morgue (the files of hundreds and hundreds of Publishing House owned pictures,) I had the honor of describing a new picture and contracting with an artist to draw it from scratch.

Guess what!? Of all the pictures of Moses we had (there must have been hundreds) I thought we needed something new and fresh to portray what God wanted us to know about this great man of strength. If we could turn our teachers and children on to Moses while using the elementary curriculum, perhaps God would continue to use Old Testament passages to instruct and inspire our children and teachers as long as they lived.

This was the challenge!

So, Moses turned out to be the very first picture I'd ever commissioned. I worked with a wonderful artist, Ralph MacDonald. He allowed me to describe in detail what I saw in my mind's eye, and work with him until his artwork touched my heart. This painting was used in curriculum all across the church. As it turns out, this may not be the first time you have seen this picture because ever since those days, whenever our editors turn to the “morgue” (files of hundreds and hundreds of pictures, drawings, and sketches), again and again they have selected this picture. I think it is the finest rendition of Moses we ever did, perhaps that anyone ever did. It has blessed my life ever since. It has hung in my office, my study, or whatever the location of the most productive part of my life.... there Moses has been. God has spoken to me through Moses hundreds of times.

Can’t you just see the strength? The determination? The “mission accomplished” in getting the Ten Commandments down the hill to the people? How do YOU fight with the pharaohs in YOUR life?

And how many “Promised Lands” are available to us? If we set out to conquer them after our right to own them has been established, how much greater the reward!

My greatest pleasure is found in the possibility of blessing your life, you whom I love. My first humble effort as an editor, joining with Ralph, a professional artist, to produce something really great for your Sunday school and Nationwide church, is hopefully one of those blessings to you.

If you don’t want the Bible to get hold of you, then stay away from Moses. God can speak through Moses if you but lay eyes on how Moses might have looked! There's a powerful message in him and the news he brings. I am thankful and SO blessed to have been a part of this.

Thanks for reading,
Howard