October 26, 2009

Life is a Mix of the Bitter and the Sweet

Hilly Hicks started preaching when he was ten years old.

You read it right. A ten-year old boy traveled across the country with his father sharing the Good News.

As an adult Hilly has not been known as a preacher. He has been an actor most of his adult life. He is probably best remembered for his role as Lewis Moore, the younger son of Chicken George, in the ground breaking TV mini-series Roots. He was finalist for the lead role of Kunte Kinte. He also appeared in television programs such as Adam-12, Lassie, One Day at A Time, The Mod Squad, The Bill Cosby Show, Good Times, and Hill Street Blues. He had a recurring role on M*A*S*H and has several feature films to his credit as well as doing voice work in Hanna Barbera’s 1970s Godzilla TV cartoon.

At the height of his acting career Hilly attended seminary and became an ordained minister. Immediately after seminary he began as a senior producer for United Methodist Communications (UMCom). In that role in the mid-1980s he led the United Methodist Church into a new era of film and video production.

Hilly left UMCom in 2008 to become senior pastor of the Crenshaw United Methodist Church in south central Los Angeles, near the heart of the racial unrest in the early 1990s.

The United Methodist Association of Communicators honored Rev. Hicks last week by inducting him into their Hall of Fame. In his acceptance speech he expressed gratitude for his success as an actor and his appreciation for the award he was receiving. He told stories of difficulty in his life and said, “There is a lot of bad things that get mixed in with the good things of life.”

Hilly did not claim martyrdom for the hardship he had experienced. In fact he suggested that one should be prepared to accept the bitter with the sweet. The pleasant with the painful. That’s the way life is.

Hilly Hicks is an excellent example of the kind of people we remember with admiration and respect. They encounter the ups and downs of life with faith and humility and keep on going. The Apostle Paul demonstrated that disposition when he said, “We've been surrounded and battered by troubles, but we're not demoralized; we're not sure what to do, but we know that God knows what to do; we've been spiritually terrorized, but God hasn't left our side; we've been thrown down, but we haven't broken” (2 Corinthians 4:8-10 -- The Message).

There are many people to remember that exhibited the faith and spirit Paul expressed. Offer thanksgiving for their lives as you worship on All Saints Sunday this next weekend. Call their names and ask God to bless their memories and cause their example to continue to inspire you and be reproduced in you. Thanks be to God for all the saints who from their labors rest.

Jamie Jenkins
jjenkins@ngumc.org

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Committee on Ordained Ministry 10/26/2009
NWST District Clergy Meetings 10/22/2009

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Lectionary Scriptures
Sunday, November 1

Isaiah 25:6-9
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Revelation 21:1-6a
John 11:32-44

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