James Derkits

In his autobiography, Nelson Mandela wrote, “I am fundamentally an optimist. Whether that comes from nature or nurture, I cannot say. Part of being optimistic is keeping one's head pointed toward the sun, one's feet moving forward. There were many dark moments when my faith in humanity was sorely tested, but I would not and could not give myself up to despair. That way lays defeat and death.” I would imagine that some of the "dark moments" for Mandela came during his twenty seven years as a political prisoner during the dark years of apartheid in South Africa.  I had the privilege to spend a little over a month in South Africa during my seminary years; most of my time there I lived at a seminary in Grahamstown in the Eastern Cape . Before I headed there, I got to spend a short time in Cape Town, and took a tour of the prison on Robben Island. There many political prisoners were held in the apartheid years, including Nelson Mandela. It was a profoundly moving experi

The last line of the Christmas Hymn, "O Little Town of Bethlehem reads, "O come to us, abide with us, our Lord Emmanuel!" I tend to forget that last line when I start humming that hymn. Instead, I think of a snow-covered Bethlehem somewhere around midnight, all quiet and still. Then I read the hymn looking for any mention of snow and find nothing. That image came from somewhere else. I have that experience with many things around Christmas: I carry a memories pieced together from the market place, artistic representations, hymns from the church, and the story from Scripture. Then at some point before Christmas, I try to sort through the jumble to find that place in my heart that anticipates a connection with God. That part of me that longs for reconnection with God, who jumped right into creation be with us in the midst of the messiness. I first started paying attention to that hymn, "O Little Town of Bethlehem," during some of my own messiness, when I w

In a recent sermon, I told a story about having difficulty lighting a candle. Later someone asked me how I found those metaphors for my sermons. I was reminded of a conversation with musician some time when she explained that she wrote songs from what she saw all around her; she could look around a room and write a song about something she saw. I try to find inspiration from what I see around me. A big part of my work is seeing the world differently. I'm not always good at practicing it, but my intention is to pay attention to my life in such a way that I ask, "What spiritual meaning may be drawn from this?" Another way to go about life is to constantly ask "Is that good or bad?" or "Do I like that or not?" Those questions put us in a place of judgement and constant judgement. I know from experience. Questions like, "What spiritual meaning may be drawn from this?" puts me in a posture of learner, and makes me curious about the world aroun