Chapter Eight
In Which We Go Back To School

"Hail to the green and hail to the white
Fight on there boys with all of your might!
We cheer our Broncos up to the sky,
and bring home victory for Walther High!
Fight! Fight! Fight! Victory for Walther High!

Walther Lutheran High School was named for The Rev. Dr. C. F. W. Walther. All I can tell you for sure is that he lived in the 1800's and knew what it meant to be Lutheran and told everyone so. He also took about as good a picture as the Wicked Witch of the West and had stuff, like High Schools and youth leagues, named after him.
The only other thing I know about Walther is that people made fun of his name. Not unlike the mascot bashing endured by the TCU Horned Frogs. We were a small school in a big city with a weird name. The other Lutheran schools had names like Central Lutheran or Luther North or Luther South. We could have been Luther West, but no. Instead of blissful anonymity we had to endure endless comments and the eternal question, "What's a Walther?"

The only reason I went there was because my family was Lutheran (not an uncommon phenomenon outside of Texas) and both my parents were trained Lutheran educators who naturally felt obliged to support Lutheran education. I wanted to go to Oak Park High and be a Husky, but instead I became a Walther Bronco.

In the end I suppose I would have had the same experience no matter where I went. When I applied myself I did well, when I didn't I struggled. Most of the time I acted like I knew everything even when I knew I didn't. I played football and tennis but not very well. I starred in the spring musical and dated a cheerleader. I suppose the only real difference was that I shared those years with 400 or so Walther Broncos instead of 10,000 (or so it seemed) Oak Park Huskies.

"When you wake up in the morning , Pooh," said Piglet at last, "what's the first thing you say to yourself?"
"What's for breakfast?" said Pooh. "What do you say, Piglet?"
"I say I wonder what's going to happen exciting today?" said Piglet.
Pooh nodded thoughtfully. "It's the same thing," he said.

(Winnie-the-Pooh by A.A. Milne; E.P. Dutton & Co.., New York: 1950, p. 158)

Sometimes things which seem really important at the time turn out to not be nearly as important as they pretend to be. In fact most things can be pretty exciting if you enter them with a spirit of adventure. In the end I left Walther Lutheran with a good education, good friends, and a lot of good memories. It wasn't the place or how they did things that was as important. It was the people with whom I shared the experience.

In many ways the current debate in the church over style of worship is no different. In fact, the church has been asking the question from at least the time of Paul. (To speak in tongues or not to speak in tongues, that is the question. I Cor 14)

In the end what really counts are the people whom God has called together and the attitude of their hearts. As far as I know God likes Amy Grant as much as He likes J.S.Bach. It's not what you sing, it's how you sing it.

"For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings." Hosea 6:6

If you come seeking the Lord the Lord will find you, no matter what color hymnal you use or don't use.

Calvary Home • Gospel According to Pooh Table of Content • Next Chapter