“Dad, I Hope You’re Pleased” – The Conclusion

I imagine Solomon, at some point in these dedication ceremonies, steps aside, looks toward heaven and say, “Dad, I hope you’re pleased.”  Possibly, he also whispers, “See Daddy, I took in everything you taught me.  I did it!  I built the Temple to the specifications you gave me.  Please know all of the time and energy you put into me as a young lad was worth it.  Yes, we dedicate this Temple to the Lord God Almighty but I think of you today.  I truly hope you are pleased as much I hope God is pleased.”

I recall bursting into tears in the academic procession when I received my Masters of Divinity degree from Union Theological Seminary.  The commencement exercises were held outside.  They began at 4:00 pm on a beautiful spring afternoon.  As the procession turned toward the reserved seating, I looked to the skies and thought of my grandfather, the late Sammie Singletary, Sr.  Instantly, I recalled a conversation we had a couple of years previous to this ceremony.  He had asked, “What degree are you working on?  Where?  What will you do with it?”  I answered all his questions.  Then, he said, “Well, son I won’t be here when you get that one but please know I pray the Lord’s blessings on you.”  As I proceeded to my seat, I thought of my grandfather and that conversation.  In my own way, I said, “Granddaddy, I hope you are pleased.”  Again, on 18 February 2001, when I officially assumed the eighteenth pastorate of First Baptist Church Capitol Hill, I thought of my grandfather and a conversation that we had about life’s vocation.  Needless to say, he eventually won that argument because he knew me.  Once more, I thought, “Granddaddy, I hope that you are pleased.”

We could recite the names of many faithful dads who took time to instill their heartfelt dreams and goals within the minds and hearts of their sons.  These men bore their burdens in the heat of the day to provide for their families.  But, an eternal dream burned brilliantly and ferociously in their hearts.  The challenging yet affirming words of the historian, H. G. Wells, can be said of all of them.  “The historian’s test of an individual’s greatness is ‘What did he leave to grow?  Did he start men to thinking along fresh lines with a vigor that persisted after him?” 

At a weekly Bible study and prayer meeting, we went around the room and listed the persons whom we resolved definitely knew the Lord.  In that powerful sharing, I learned and even felt that I met several past deacons and fathers of the church of whom we can say, “They left a lot that has grown.”  Allow me to share a little with you of what was shared in that session.

I learned of a deacon who was principal of the Black high school during segregation and fought and became the principal of the integrated one as well.  This deacon has left the legacy of an educator.  His son followed his footsteps in serving the church.  His grandchildren have expanded upon the family’s educational achievements.

Another deacon, though of very limited formal education, possessed the character and wisdom to coerce the local and state governments to provide amenities of utilities and other basic standards of living for his area.

A third father’s love of the Word of God and insistence his children learn and internalize it produced a biblically literate and spiritually committed president of a graduate school.

Another deacon’s passion for learning has been memorialized in a scholarship at the local church of his children.

Yet another deacon’s Christian example melts the heart of his daughter as she recalls the name of her father.

I learned of a late pastor whose untimely death at age 49 hardly captures the qualitative vision he imparted to his children among whom are two deacons, a trustee, a minister and a nurse.

I met another late pastor whose example has produced several deacons amongst his children.  Two of them serve faithfully within their churches.

To all of these fathers whom we commemorate today, we could say, “Dad, I hope you’re pleased.”

Conclusion

Finally, there is one other Son who said to His Father, “Dad, I hope You are pleased.”  In 1 Corinthians 15:20-28, the apostle Paul records the episode of our risen Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, “putting everything under His feet” as the Sovereign of the universe.  However, the apostle explicitly states “everything” does not include the Father. 

Rather, I surmise the Lord Jesus Christ says to the Father, “Dad, I hope that You are pleased.  I, through my obedience to death and crucifixion, eliminated the chasm between You and humankind whom we made in our image.  I have defeated the final enemy, death itself.  All powers and principalities are subject to You.  Dad, I hope You are pleased.”

Like the Lord Jesus Christ and many who have gone before us, each of us will eventually stand before our Heavenly Father.  Like Paul says in Galatians, we should know Him well enough to call Him, Abba – literally “Daddy.”  We should be able to say, “Daddy, I hope You are pleased with what I have done with the vision and resources that You gave me.”