"Walking Sticks"  
 
     Papaw made walking sticks. 
     Actually, as a blacksmith and a carpenter, he made a lot of things.  His tools were draw-blades and spoke-shaves; he had ball-peen hammers and small, medium, and large chisels.  He would wear down a stick of hickory until it relented, giving up its natural shape as it turned into an ax handle or cutting board or walking stick.
     While a sapling branch was still green, he would place it between two creosote posts and bend it backward 180 degree.  While still bent, the stick's crook was tied in place with bailing wire.
     Next, he would wait...about three months.  The sticks would hang like manila candy canes in his lean-to shop.
     When the wood dried, the shape stayed.  Then on an arid day (a rarity in Louisiana) he un-wired the wood.  The only thing left to do was the whittling.
     Even as I write these words, one of Papaw's un-whittled walking sticks (or canes) watches me from the corner.
     I, too, am Papaw.  My grandson calls me that.  I, too, on occasion, make walking sticks; but I let them keep their shape---their unique personality with original bark and bends.  Sometimes I add a leather strap---a recycled bootlace from the "take-to-Goodwill" pile.
     In days of old, a pilgrim worth his or her salt wouldn't be caught dead without a walking stick.  When setting off on northern Spain's well-traveled Santiago de Compostela, the check-list included: the local priest's blessing, a "testimonial letter" legitimizing their pilgrimage, a broad-brimmed hat, a scallop-shell badge, a satchel called an escarcela, and...a pilgrim's staff known as a bordon.
     I suggest finding a walking stick. Keep it near this Lenten season.  It will remind you that we all need to be spiritually steadied.  Anybody can lose their moral balance.  We all suffer from vertigo that afflicts our virtue.
     So get a stick.  If you don't have one, come over to my house and we'll cut one in the backyard.
     Because, whether on Moses' Ten Commandment mountain or John Bunyan's Slough of Despond or the 23rd Psalm's "rod and staff" that comfort us in the Valley of the Shadow ...we all need a walking stick's help from time to time.
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As a rule of thumb, we will not cancel worship services on Sunday morning except under the most extreme weather conditions.  Members are urged to use their own good judgment as to whether they should attempt to make the trip.  Should inclement winter weather cause the cancellation of a service, here is the plan:
 
1) The pastor and the moderator will make the decision.
2) The moderator will notify the Chair of the Diaconate.
3) The deacons will use the "phone tree" to notify the congregation.
4) One of the ministers will send an email to all those on the church's email list (electricity permitting) and place a notification on the church's voice mail.
5) One of the ministers will notify the media.