On my PC(USA) calendar, Friday of this week is noted as Mr. Rogers Day. I’m not sure how widespread such an observance is, but it got me thinking about him even so. Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood began airing when I was in fourth grade, and it stopped before our children were old enough to watch, so I don’t have firsthand memories of the program that many of you do. I’m of the generation that might think first of Eddie Murphy’s parody on Saturday Night Live, known as “Mr. Robinson’s Neighborhood.” Yet the more I have learned about Mr. Rogers, the more I come to appreciate the person behind the TV show.
Some of you might recall that Fred Rogers was an ordained Presbyterian minister. I once read that a regret he had was not keeping up with the original Biblical languages. While the same fading of skills is true for me, I don’t share his sense of remorse! Others will remember his oft-repeated counsel that whenever there is tragedy, to look for the helpers; those individuals who step in to assist. Both quotes tell us important things about the man.
A few years ago, a journalist named Tim Madigan was assigned the task of writing about Fred Rogers. Madigan recalls thinking it would simply be a fluff piece about a TV personality. What emerged, though, was a wonderful friendship that endured until Rogers’ death in 2003. Madigan wrote a book about the experience, describing, among other things, how Rogers helped the journalist repair his marriage and reclaim a life of faith. Each of the letters Fred wrote to him ended with the letters IPOY, which stood for “I’m proud of you.”
In one chapter, he shares a handwritten note from Rogers after Madigan received the Knight Rider Batten medal for excellence and humanity in journalism.
“That speech of yours,” Fred said, “is so eloquent, so human. I’m exceedingly impressed and moved. What I wrote down as I listened was ‘We’re journalists, not stenographers. We have a duty to let our outrage show through when we come across injustice. We need to let our compassion show through for other people’s suffering, and we need to let our awe show through at the glory of life. We have as much responsibility to celebrate life and the goodness of it as we do to root out evil.’ All I could think of as I heard you speak those truly magnificent sentences was, ‘That sounds like a 20thCentury Jesus talking.’” (Madigan, Tim. I’m Proud of You: My Friendship with Fred Rogers).
As we wind down our observance of Lent, I pass on that comment from Reverend Rogers, or Mr. Rogers, or Fred, to you. Adding that it sounds like a good description to me of our calling as 21st-century disciples of Jesus Christ, too.