Going My Way. Today

Senior Warden’s Corner, April 2026 Newsletter
Emmanuel Episcopal Church

When I was a business high school teacher, I hung up a poster in my computer room.  The poster had nothing to do with computers, nor business.  It contained a graphic of Martin Luther King Junior with his quote, “I look to a day when people will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.”

The Dictionary has many definitions of character, but my favorite is “qualities of honesty, courage, or the like; integrity.”

In a reading from a few weeks ago, Romans 5:1-11, we learn more about character, “suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.”  Those who have suffered, whether it be afflictions or financial worries, endurance through those times produces the utmost character and then, hope.  It has been my experience that those who have had times of struggle are the most giving, the most charitable.

Not to take any admiration away from those who are well-off and helped others in need.  My father always talked sincerely about Franklin Delano Roosevelt who was wealthy but had compassion for the less fortunate providing many social programs.  I know this as a fact because my grandparents had three prominent pictures in their house: one of Jesus, one of the Italian boxer Rocky Marciano, and FDR. They live on in the hearts of men and women because of their works.

As we enter the time now of the resurrected Jesus, let us remember His good character, His preaching of love, forgiveness and constant charity. Following His teachings gives us eternal life as we are forever remembered by the lives we have touched.