Remembrances and Reflections at Ninety
63 years ago, my good friend and colleague Neale Pryor recited to some of us at Harding Graduate School this nursery rhyme. “Pussy cat, pussy cat, where have you been? I’ve been to London to see the queen. Pussy cat, pussy cat, what did you there? I frightened a little mouse under her chair.” Aside from the political implications of this ditty at the installation of the Queen of England, there is the obvious incongruity of one’s actions at a very important event.
78 years ago, on March 5, 1946 I acted similarly. “Tom, Tom, where have you been? I’ve been to Fulton, MO with my dad to hear a speech by an Englishman at Westminster College. Tom. Tom, what did you there? I ate my first store bought ice cream cone.” Yes, I was present when President Harry Truman introduced Winston Churchill when he gave his famous Cold War speech in which he said, “From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended across the continent.” While Churchill announced the threat that the Soviet Union and communism posed to peace and stability, I pestered Dad until he gave me a nickel to buy that cone from a nearby vendor.
As I remember, Neale’s citation of that “Pussy Cat” ditty was to introduce a sermon which addressed the lack of serious commitment we attach to being members of the Lord’s church today. And his point was not lost on us his colleagues in the first class of Harding Graduate School at Memphis. We are not here to frighten little mice nor to eat ice crème cones. Today at 90 years I propose another ditty after our heading of Matthew 28:16-20. “Little church, little church, where have you been? We’ve been to a mountain in Galilee. Little church, little church, what did you there? We’ve heard a word of authority from crucified Jesus whom God has raised and has given to him all authority in heaven and earth. Little church, little church, what do you here?” May we respond with faith and commitment to him who will be with us to the close of the age.
—Tom Yoakum