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    Jan 10, 2016

    Keep Calm and Trust God 1: The Other Wes Moore

    Keep Calm and Trust God 1: The Other Wes Moore

    Passage: Proverbs 3:5-6

    Speaker: Rev. Vivian McCarthy, Pastor

    Series: Keep Calm and Trust God

    Category: Discipleship, Faith

    Keywords: coping, drugs, family, overcoming obstacles, parenting, prison, redemption

    Two men, each named Wes Moore, grew up in the same neighborhood in Baltimore City. One became a Rhodes Scholar and decorated veteran. The other is in prison for life for his part in the murder of Baltimore County Police Sgt. and RUMC church member, Bruce Prothero. The way we as individuals cope with everyday choices and challenges in life as well as the influence of our particular support systems can lead to significantly different life journeys. In this introduction to our worship series, Keep Calm and Trust God, the powerful story of 2 men with the same name but radically different life stories will provide a basis for an exploration into 1) how we cope with the changes of early young adulthood; 2) reacting rather than coping (or Emotional Maturity); and 3) how to cope with life in schools.

    There have been a number of things that have brought about our newest worship series:  several deaths, issues that some of us are facing in our lives, even the reaction to a prayer at the start of school and last summer’s required reading for Franklin High School students.  And when I began talking about the series with church leaders, the Health Ministry Team told me that the #1 issue affecting the lives of new members in the years since they started doing a new member survey is stress management. 

    It was the conversation about our back-to-school prayer that pulled things together.  That was when Linda Morrison shared with me the book our young people were reading.  The Other Wes Moore is the story of 2 men from Baltimore City.  One of them is the highly successful businessman who wrote the book – a Hopkins University graduate, Rhodes scholar and motivational speaker.  The other Wes Moore is in prison for life for his role in the February 2000 armed robbery of J. Brown Jewelers in Pikesville when the robbers shot and killed Sgt. Bruce Prothero, father of 5 children under the age of 6 (including a set of triplets), husband to Ann, and member of this congregation.

    The book offers a gripping, compelling comparison of the lives of these 2 men with the same name, illustrating on page after page what I chose as today’s thought for the day: 

    The chilling truth is that his story could have been mine; the tragedy is that my story could have been his.

    Watch the Stephen Colbert interview video (scroll down past six clips) found at http://theotherwesmoore.com/press-appearances/media-clips/ 

    Did you notice what Wes said to Stephen Colbert?  Small decisions become big decisions. 

    That statement is true all through the story of these 2 men.  Decisions made by parents. Decisions made by both Wes Moores.  Decisions that affected their lives from that day forward.  I’d like to share with you a passage from the book, and as I read, please suspend judgment.  Some of us have already judged the Other Wes whom Colbert comically named the “Don’t Column Wes.”  As you listen, try to put yourself into these men’s shoes and remember that they both struggled with many of the same things from the time they were very young.  Writer Wes sets up this story with the admission that the two men did not arrive at gut-level honesty quickly, but they eventually did:

         “When did you feel like you’d become a man?” Wes asked me, a troubled look on his face.

          “I think it was when I first felt accountable to people other than myself.  When I first cared that my actions mattered to people other than just me.”  I answered quickly and confidently, but I wasn’t too sure of what I was talking about.  When did I actually become a man?  There was no official ceremony that brought my childhood to an end.  Instead, crises or other circumstances presented me with adult-sized responsibilities and obligations that I had to meet one way or another.  For some boys, this happens later – in their late teens or even twenties – allowing them to grow organically into adulthood.  But for some of us, the promotion to adulthood, or at least its challenges, is so jarring, so sudden, that we enter into it unprepared and might be undone by it.

          Wes, feeding off my answer, attempted to finish my thought, “Providing for others isn’t easy.  And the mistakes you make trying are pretty unforgiving.”  He paused.  I waited.  He rubbed his chin, softly pulling at the long strands of his goatee with his fingers.  “And second chances are pretty fleeting.”

          “What do you mean?”

          “From everything you told me, both of us did some pretty wrong stuff when we were younger.  And both of us had second chances.  But if the situation or the context where you make the decisions don’t change, then second chances don’t mean too much, huh?”

          Wes and I stared at each other for a moment, surrounded by the evidence that some kids were forced to become adults prematurely.  These incarcerated men, before they’d even reached a point of basic maturity, had flagrantly – and tragically – squandered the few opportunities they’d had to contribute productively to something greater than themselves.

          I sat back, allowing Wes’s words to sink in.  Then I responded, “I guess it’s hard sometimes to distinguish between second chances and last chances.”[1]

    I hope you will read the book.  There are multiple copies in our church library.  I’m not going to share more of the story today, although I was tempted.  There are some great quotes from both sides of the story.  There is hope and there are glimpses of redemption for each man.

    Over the next few weeks, we will be looking at coping.  The Wes Moore stories grapple with coping against serious odds in a culture that was dangerous and frequently hopeless.  Each family learned to cope – whether the coping was effective or damaging.  Each family likely thought they were doing their best.

    What about us?  What about our community?

    Some days life is easy.  Some days it’s hard.  And when it’s hard, perfectly reasonable men, women and young people are at risk to say and do things that will have negative effects on their daily life.  The tale of the other Wes Moore is perhaps an extreme example, but it’s a memorable one. 

    When I was a new pastor, I couldn’t figure out why the more experienced pastors kept harping on taking care of ourselves.  Over and over.  I honestly thought they were whining.  Yes, there is a lot of work to do.  Yes, there is an occasional night when we don’t get much sleep. 

    What I didn’t know – really know – then was that when a pastor or anyone doesn’t take care of himself or herself, they are vulnerable to reacting in unhealthy ways instead of responding to the situation with maturity and wisdom.  When you’re too tired or too worn down or too distracted because you are trying to handle too much – notice that I didn’t say balance – you can make huge mistakes in judgment.  When we ignore signals of stress and emotional distress, we risk striking out rather than working together to come to a better place.

    There is one thing that grounds me, that assures me, that carries me through.  Faith is an anchor.  God is faithful, and I can do all things through God who strengthens me.  Taking care of myself means attending to my faith – it means trusting God so I can keep calm – so I can go on, one foot in front of the other.

    I hope that you will keep the stories of both Wes Moores in mind.  You may be surprised to learn that the Other Wes recognized the horrible effects of drugs on the city and on the families of his friends, so he tried to get out of the life that led to Sgt. Prothero’s death.  He excelled in a Job Corps program and proudly built a beautiful playhouse for his daughter. 

    But when he graduated from the program, even as a highly skilled craftsman, he could not get a job that paid more than minimum wage.  Within a year of his graduation, Wes was lured back into the drug business where he knew he could make enough money to support his family.

    Is that an excuse?  Of course not.  Is it tragic?  Absolutely.  His story makes it clear that he had no faith foundation.  He admitted that he was not able to connect when he visited his mother’s church.  He recounts a moment of despair and anger when he said, “If [God] does exist, He sure doesn’t spend any time in West Baltimore.”

    If only The Other Wes had known.

    [1] Wes Moore, the Other Wes Moore.  Published by Random House, 2010.  Pp. 66-67.