Tomorrow (September 26) will mark the 18th anniversary of the death of Paul Newman, a treasured part of Cleveland’s history, being born and raised in the Cleveland/Shaker Heights end of things. But his impact continues to be felt all over the world.
Over the 20th century, many people came to know and adore the East Side’s treasured phenom through the then-Hollywood blockbusters of The Sting (1973), Cool Hand Luke (1967), and Butch Cassady and the Sundance Kid (1969). I was slightly late to his filmography dominance, and so my go-to is Road to Perdition (2002), but minor detail. Nevertheless, the even more important influence still emerges in your local grocery store of all places.
If you venture over to the salad dressings (although you could go further to the olive oils and organic foods and snacks, among other things), and sift through the Kraft and store brands, you’ll find Newman’s Own, with an easily overlooked tagline: “Let’s Give it All Away.” Since 1982, it was Paul Newman’s mission to ensure all the profits were used to improve the lives of children facing adversity.
One way this has been done is the development of the SeriousFun Children’s Network, supporting the work of camps around the world that will provide the time and space for youth dealing with life-threatening diseases and illnesses. This includes Flying Horse Farms in Ohio, North Star Reach in Michigan, Victory Junction in North Carolina, just to name a few, but it carries over to Europe, Africa, and Asia. At all these most wonderful places of hope, it allows the precious children of God to experience joy and new life, as if their medical diagnosis will not be the final determining factor in them engaging in enriching activities that may have been limited to more physically-abled children otherwise.
It’s an interesting parallel to make with the church: the place and the people where the ultimate identity is meant to be child of God, no matter the medical diagnosis, past mistakes, marital status, worship attendance, education achievement, salary earnings, etc. And yet, part of the church’s ministry is providing the time and space for any child of God to recognize certain parts of their life identity, of sorts, with cancer support groups, Alcoholics Anonymous, or whatever else: taking ownership, and using it as an important means to help others struggling with similar aspects of the earthly journey.
All of that can be true, but none of it will alter the ultimate eternal blockbuster unleashed from the cross and out of the empty tomb: the Gospel that every child of God is exactly that; a most precious child of God latched onto by a boundless-loving, disease-shattering, sin-overpowering Jesus Christ. Sometimes it takes a camp like those supported by the Newman’s Own Foundation to help a child who has been through non-stop hospital and doctors’ offices visits. Sometimes it takes an AA group. Sometimes it takes the church to continue proclaiming the Greatest News as if joy and new life can most definitively be experienced on this very earth that God still adores. Amen (so let it be)!
In Christ,
Pastor Brad
For a brief view into the SeriousFun Children’s Network, please visit:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X1lap7aUroE