Sermons

• Tommy’s Moonbow – The Rev. Michelle Meech

  April 07, 2024

  Today was All Ages Worship so we had a story instead of a traditional sermon. This story is based on a book by J. Patrick Lewis called The Moonbow of Mr. B. Bones. I took liberties with the story to help explain the deeper lesson of the Gospel story about Thomas, the disciples who doubted his friends.

   

  In the Appalachian mountains, the space between the peaks is called a gap and it’s often where towns end up being settled. This story takes place in a town called St. John’s Gap.

  And it takes place in spring time, when the wind blusters through the budding trees down into the gap and the air begins to warm in the daytime, enough to free the waterfalls from their winter ice cover. On the warmer days, sometimes a fog kicks up from the creeks and lakes and hovers close to the ground.

  The kids of St. John’s Gap were used to this time of year, knowing they had to get creative about being outside: finding puddles, searching for small animals in their winter hiding places, and making mudpies.

  A new kid named Tommy moved to the Gap early in April. And as he met the kids in his class, Tommy made sure they knew that he had seen it all and knew it all already. He told them how they made mudpies where he used to live. And how the biggest waterfall he had ever seen was in his own town.

  Some of the kids wondered if maybe Tommy thought he was better than they were. But one of the gang, Mary, spoke up and said, “I think maybe Tommy is just nervous because he’s new. I think we just need to keep asking him to play with us.” And so they did.

  One particularly warm spring morning, when the thick clouds were racing across the sky so that you could see the shadow cross over the other side of the gap, the kids were so excited to get out in the warmth, they barely finished their breakfasts before running outside to find their friends. As they were all talking about how they were going to spend their day, they heard a strange car horn in the distance.

  One of them yelled, “It’s Mr. Bartholomew!” And they all made cheering sounds and ran toward Main St. Tommy, of course, ran with them. But he thought to himself, “Something else I’ve never heard of before. Who is Mr. Bartholomew?”

  And as the gang turned the corner by the post office, they all stopped suddenly. There it was: A brightly colored station wagon that said, “Mr. Bartholomew Bones” along the side. And getting out of the driver side door was a tall, lanky man who wore a red flannel shirt buttoned all the way to the top, black pants held up by purple suspenders, and a blue baseball cap covering his short grey hair.

  “Mr. Bartholomew!” they started shouting.
  “Hey kids!” he shouted and waved back.

  It seemed like everyone was out on this first warm Saturday morning. There were people wandering up and down the street doing their shopping and other vendors setting up their stands along the main street. The kids watched Mr. Bartholomew set up his stand and unload several boxes. And then as he took out one small colored jar after another and set them carefully on his display stand.

  Mr. Bartholomew could tell they were excited, so he invited the whole gang of kids to come and take a look. Tommy was curious but soon started to feel left out because he couldn’t see what was so special. “They’re just empty jars,” he said to himself. “I don’t get it.” As the other kids just kept talking to each other and to Mr. Bartholomew.

  Now, Tommy started feeling left out and a little bit angry. What was he missing? No one was telling him what was so special about Mr. Bartholomew and these colored jars. And he certainly didn’t want to ask any questions and look like he didn’t know. So he said, “I’ve seen this kind of thing before. There is nothing in those jars. My grandma calls this kind of person a huckster. I’m going home.”

  The kids were all a little confused. But then Mary replied, “Ok, Tommy! Catch you later!” And they all started chattering about the jars again.

  Tommy ran home, slammed into the house, stomped up the steps, and threw himself on his bed. His mom asked him what was wrong but he just said, “Nothing.” His dog Henry came over and nudged at his face, trying to get him to play, but he wouldn’t. Tommy just laid there for a while, feeling foolish and ashamed, and left out and lonely.

  After lunch, Tommy’s mom told him to take Henry outside to play fetch. Soon, Tommy turned and saw Mary and a few of the others coming up his driveway. “Hey, Tommy,” one of them shouted, “We’re all going down to the creek to see if we can catch some crawdads. Wanna come?”
  But Tommy, still feeling a bit put out said, “Naw. I’ve seen the crawdads you have here and they are just too small. I’m used to the big ones where I used to live.”
  “OK then,” he shrugged. “See you later.” And they all walked on down the street.

  Now, Tommy wasn’t sure why he turned down the invitation. He liked catching crawdads. He was confused. So he sat down next to Henry so he could think. What had put him in such a bad mood today? “It’s gotta be those jars. And that Mr. Bartholomew.”

  So, he decided to go find Mr. Bartholomew. He told his mom where he was going and walked down the street. He turned the corner by the post office and there was Mr. Bartholomew. His red shirt and purple suspenders and blue cap. His wooden stand full of colorful empty jars, each one with a little cork stopper. While he was busy talking to people and selling them things, Tommy snuck over to have a look.

  He stood next to the stand and read the labels to himself. “Sunbeams” “Rainflakes” “Moonbows”
  Mr, Bartholomew was chatting away with another man.
  Tommy continued, “Snowdrops” “Whistling Wind” “Phantom rain”

  “Hi there, young man.”
  “Hi” quipped Tommy, hoping that Mr. Bartholomew hadn’t heard him talking out loud to himself.
  “Nice day today, don’t ya think?”
  “I s’pose so.” Tommy said, still feeling embarrassed.

  “I like days like these because the sunlight makes these jars look so pretty.”
  “Yeah,” Tommy said, “Like a rainbow.”
  “That’s right!” Mr. Bartholomew encouraged, “Like a rainbow.”

  Tommy felt a little more emboldened. He picked up a purple jar.
  “This one says ‘Rainflakes’. Is that like a rainbow?”
  “You’re on the right track there, young man. Rainflakes are just as rare as rainbows. As a matter of fact, all the things in these jars are just as rare as rainbows. And just as special. Kinda like each one of us is rare and special.”

  Tommy thought for a moment. Then he said, “I suppose the most special thing about me is that I just moved here.”
  Then, Mr. Bartholomew thought for a moment and said, “Yes. That is a special thing. I bet that kind of special can be hard – getting to know a whole new gang of friends. Makes ya feel a bit left out sometimes, like you’re missing something that everyone else seems to know.”
  “Yeah.” Tommy replied, relieved that someone saw and could help him to understand his feelings.

  “You know,” Mr. Bartholomew said picking up a blue jar, “Moonbows are one of the most special things. You know why that is?”
  Tommy shook his head.
  “Because sometimes, the night is so dark that it’s hard to see anything at all. And we feel lost. Even when the moon is out, it’s hard to see things for what they are. And we tell ourselves stories that make us confused and hurt. And that’s when a moonbow appears – to show us the truth.”

  “I’ll take it!” Tommy almost shouted, surprising himself. “How much?”
  “How much ya got?”
  Tommy searched his pockets. “A dollar.”
  “Then how about 30 cents?”
  “Deal!” Tommy took his change and his new blue bottle of Moonbow and walked home.

  Later that night, after the sun had gone down. The full moon began to rise. Tommy was sitting on his bed, wondering, “Am I an idiot because I bought this thing?” He yanked the cork out and looked inside the empty little blue jar.
  “Maybe he was just telling me a story and now he’s laughing at me with all the other people in this town.”
  But, inside of him, there was a little voice, but a very clear one that said, “But what if it’s real? What if it’s true?”

  And just as he started to drift off to sleep with the blue bottle of Moonbow in his hand, he heard his mom calling him, “Tommy! Tommy! Come and see!”

  With the bottle still in his hand, Tommy ran out to the porch where his mom was, and there they saw it – The moon, round and bright white in the sky just over the mountains. And below it, a faint rainbow that stretched all the way across the gap from one mountain top to the other.

  Suddenly he heard a few kids running down the street in the dark. They were whisper-yelling.
  “Wow! Look at that Moonbow!”
  “That’s the best one I’ve ever seen!”
  “We gotta show Tommy! This is his house, right?”
  And then he heard, “Hey Tommy! Is that you?”

  Tommy suddenly felt excited and happy,
  “Yeah? It’s me!” he whisper-yelled back.
  “Have you seen the Moonbow?”
  “Yeah, we can see it real good from up here on the porch.” And before he knew it, he said: “C’mon up!”

  And so the kids climbed the steps to the front porch of Tommy’s house where he stood with his mom. And they chattered on about how cool it was. And Tommy’s mom brought them each a cookie and some milk. And gave them blankets to share as they sat huddled together on the edge of the porch with Tommy smack in the middle of them all. And Tommy felt like he belonged to them and they belonged to him.

  Mary said, “I wonder what makes tonight so special that we get to see a moonbow.” And Tommy’s mom, who was the new science teacher, started telling them about water and light and how the moon is sometimes bright enough and at the right angle. And how the air sometimes has the right amount of moisture in it.

  And after they were done learning, they sat in silence for a while, watching as the moonbow started to fade just a bit.

  And Tommy thought about what Mr. Bartholomew had said,
  “Sometimes, the night is so dark that it’s hard to see anything at all. And we feel lost. Even when the moon is out, it’s hard to see things for what they are. And we tell ourselves stories that make us confused and hurt. And that’s when a moonbow appears – to show us the truth.”

  Tommy said to his new friends, “Do you all want to come over and play games after I get back from church tomorrow?”

  And so they did.