Webmaster:
Joseph V. Shelley
Please email with any comments; music@tumcfl.org

Check Out Pastor Charley's
Newest Book!

April Newsletter Column

"Goodness Gracious"

We know it when we see it – a smile from a stranger, the laugh of a child, an elderly couple walking hand in hand. We can’t put our finger on it, but there is something deep within us that experiences such events as good.  We don’t have to think about it or analyze it. It does not occur to us to suspend judgment on such happenings. We immediately resonate with goodness.

But what is goodness? What does it mean to call something good? We hear the narrator of the commercial tell us that the food is filled with wholesome “goodness.” Someone comments that a certain individual is a “good” musician. Upon receiving positive news, we respond, “Oh good!”  The parents tell their child to be “good.” It is fair to say that the word “good” suffers from overexposure, which may desensitize us to its influence. This is unfortunate, for goodness is something that should always have an impact on us.  The dictionary defines goodness as “the quality of being good in any of its various senses; excellence; virtue; kindness; benevolence; as, the goodness of timber, of a soil, of food; goodness of character, of disposition, of conduct, etc.” I believe we can wrap up the definition of goodness as that which reflects the highest and best.

Part of enjoying life is being a witness to those things that, in essence, reflect goodness. For example, it is fun to watch people who are “good” at what they do. It fascinates us to see an actor, artist, preacher or musician perform his or her craft with excellence. This fascination with goodness has something of the pull of the divine in it, for goodness points beyond us to the source of all. I believe this is what the Psalmist had in mind when he wrote: The heavens declare the glory of God. The skies proclaim the work of his hands (Psalm 19:1).

As we prepare ourselves for Easter, let us open our eyes to the goodness of God all around us.

With Great Expectation,
Charles D. Reeb, Pastor