Epiphany

The holiday known as Epiphany is almost here. It is celebrated on January 6th, one day after The Twelfth Night.

*

This banner is hanging in our church sanctuary right now and depicts the "epiphany" of the Magi, as they finally found the infant Jesus. His Light revealed Him to them.

*

In searching for information about Epiphany, I ran into many mentions of "The Twelfth Night", which is the twelfth day of Christmas. In times past, The Twelfth Night was an important holiday in England, with its own special traditions.

*

Here's some info from a Twelfth Night website:

To Englishmen perhaps the best known feature of the secular festival is the Twelfth Cake. Some words of Leigh Hunt's will show what an important place this held in the mid-nineteenth century:—
“Christmas goes out in fine style,—with Twelfth Night. It is a finish worthy of the time. Christmas Day was the morning of the season; New Year's Day the middle of it, or noon; Twelfth Night is the night, brilliant with innumerable planets of Twelfth-cakes. The whole island keeps court; nay, all Christendom. All the world are kings and queens. Everybody is somebody else, and learns at once to laugh at, and to tolerate, characters different from his own, by enacting them. Cakes, characters, forfeits, lights, theatres, merry rooms, little holiday-faces, and, last not least, the painted sugar on the cakes, so bad to eat but so fine to look at, useful because it is perfectly useless except for a sight and a moral—all conspire to throw a giddy splendour over the last night of the season, and to send it to bed in pomp and colours, like a Prince.”

*

Epiphany link.

*

Another link.

*

The Twelfth Night: The Holiday That Time Forgot

*

And, last and least......my blogpost from a year ago,

Quantum Epiphany, which describes a Sunday School activity we did for Epiphany last year, and then somehow moves on to other strange ramblings......which you may not wish to read, as they are mostly random, weird thoughts........my pitiful attempt at connecting religion and science.

*

Wishing you a day of enlightening epiphanies!

*

Christ the King Sunday

Today is Christ the King Sunday, the last Sunday in the traditional Church year.

Advent begins next Sunday.

*

Here is the oldest known icon image of Christ Pantocrator. It dates from the sixth or seventh century and has been preserved in St. Catherine's Monastery in the Sinai desert. Pantocrator means "almight" or "all-powerful". It was used to translate the Hebrew title, "El Shaddai".

Click to the Wikipedia page to read more.

Though I'm certainly not into icons, I do for some reason find comfort in this particular face of Christ. The eyes are eyecatching.......and despite the icon's age, the face looks oddly modern to me.

*

I have a habit of hanging things on trees. Yesterday morning's light etching of snow made the details of this iron cross stand out a bit. Otherwise, the cross is hardly noticeable against the bark on the tree trunk.

*

Many blessings to you this day!!

*

Googling the Future

*

So tonight I decided to Google prophecy stuff, due to the fact that I had been inane enough to blog on that subject yesterday. Scary websites like this came up. I won't link you to any of the MANY biblical prophecy sites, each one offering a different correct version of what the Bible predicts for the future of humanity and our planet. I will tell you, though, that Russia invading Georgia on 08/08/08 sparked much interest amongst prophecy buffs.

*
*

And then there appeared a link to a National Geographic article which I do remember reading in the orthodontist's waiting room last spring. Here is the link to the photos that accompany the article, and they are quite amazing! From there, if you wish, you can click to the "Feature Article" about the Hadron Collider........one of the hottest, fastest things going in science right now. The Hadron Collider in Switzerland gets the most publicity, but there are two others in existence......one in Illinois, the other in California.

*

If you do read the article.......I especially appreciated the explanatory analogy given in the last paragraph on page 4........about mud, boots, and shoes. It was helpful in trying to picture what these physicists are talking about.

*

Unsubstantiated theories are being tossed around that the Hadron Collider will cause a black hole to form which will swallow up the Earth in the year 2012.......the date which marks the end of the world on the Mayan calendar. Why am I posting any of this? I think to help dispell my own fears and insecurities........the more I know, the less afraid I am. And, God's in charge, anyhow.

*

*

End-Times & Wild Vines

*

If you think it will bother you to know what's buried within my religious psyche, then you'd better not read this post. It comes from long ago and very deep within, and I'm going to be completely honest with you.........after I show you this wild grapevine.........

*

*

A couple miles from where I live is a bridge over Crane Creek, surrounded by a low-lying wooded area. Yesterday, I detoured through there after picking up an empty pan at church, from an egg casserole I took to a congregational brunch on Sunday.

*

This dead tree trunk looked interesting, accessorized as it was with vines and reddened leaves:

*

I had only my Canon PowerShot with me, so am hoping to go back today with the Nikon D40 to perhaps get a better picture. Perhaps.......perhaps not.

*

Squinting closer at the top of the trunk, my eyes finally focused and these wild grapevines came into view!

**

**

My hours of solitary driving over the weekend gave me plenty of time to think, and often the thoughts turned in the direction of the upcoming presidential election. Callie of Chezbichet blog has a post concerning prayer and the upcoming election. Though its not my desire to endorse any certain candidate in my blog writing, I do agree that prayer for the election is needful!

*

Not that its here nor there, or that anyone should care, but I'm going to explain where life has put me in the spectrum of Christianity. Through no fault of my own I was born to parents who attended an American Baptist Church, of the Northern Baptist Convention. In case you aren't familiar with them, they are more on the liberal side than the Southern Baptists, Regular Baptists, and certainly, than the various very strict Baptist sects that exist. I think Bill Moyers is an American Baptist.......GASP........that awful, liberal journalist, Bill Moyers.

*

There was a rather heavy dose of religious fanaticism buried within our household, though. I'm mostly at a loss to know where exactly it originated. My mom grew up Evangelical United Brethren (E.U.B., which later merged with the Methodists, to become the United Methodists). Her mother, in particular, was not vocal about her beliefs........Grandma went to a Methodist church, but was quiet about her faith, otherwise. My dad had grown up in the Baptist church we attended; his mother seemed fairly quiet about religious matters, too, although she for years taught the older peoples' Sunday School class.

*

The dynamics of the household I grew up in were complicated; there was hidden alcoholism going on, thus plenty of pretense and hypocrisy permeating the family atmosphere. I, as a child, had no comprehension that this might be abnormal.......it was simply normal for our household. Kids soak up whatever is dished out to them; they aren't able to discriminate.

*

For whatever reason, from time to time, my parents would go to services at other churches, mostly on Sunday evenings. Thus, I've experienced the Assembly of God/Pentecostal/Charismatic-type service. I've observed an overly dramatic pastor claiming to be doing healings before a crowd of people whose arms are raised, with unintelligible gibberish pouring from their mouths. I simply observed......I was a kid stuck with being required to accompany my parents.

*

Another church experience we had was attending summer tent meetings of the local Gospel Hall. These people were and are very upstanding, kind people, and definitely not charismatic, but were and are very conservative; back then they didn't have TV's and the women kept their hair long and up in buns, and wore hats to church services. We, of course, didn't wear hats, and sat there feeling idiotic and conspicuous with our uncovered heads. This group also didn't believe in organs or pianos in church, so congregational singing was a cappella. They didn't have pastors, either.......men of the congregation would preach, though at the tent gatherings the speaker was an evangelist guy from somewhere else, usually Canada. The one I particularly recall was from Toronto and had a German name and quite an interesting brogue when he preached.

*

In the summer, the Gospel Hall special speakers would travel around the community in pairs, calling on people to discuss the Christian faith. My sisters and I called them "the tent guys". One summer afternoon when I was maybe thirteen or so, I was home alone mowing lawn and the tent guys drove in. I was embarrassed that they were seeing me in shorts, but I shut off the mower and talked to them for a few minutes. They came right out and asked me if I thought my parents were saved! I answered that I was quite sure one was but wasn't sure about the other one! I didn't go into any other details. Can you even imagine people going around asking kids that? Is that a good idea? A few years later, shortly after I had gotten married, I was mowing lawn at the acreage where Husband and I lived........dressed in normal hot-weather lawn-mowing attire, short shorts and a skimpy tank top. It was way out in the country and I was not expecting company, so who cared, anyhow..... right? Well, wouldn't you know it, all of a sudden two of the tent guys drove in. They had seen me out in the yard pushing the mower; otherwise I would have just hid until they left. I tried to position myself behind a weedy fenceline as I spoke with them so they wouldn't see my short-shorts-clad legs. They knew me as this supposedly good Christian girl and here they were witness to the fact that I was dressed very immodestly! They gave me some tracts and invited me to the upcoming tent meetings. I was uncomfortably embarrassed........and, very happy when they left!

*

In my junior high and early high school years, I attended a Gospel Hall Bible study with my parents.........mostly because I had a minor crush on one of the boys from that group. (Oh, thank the good Lord he never took an interest in me!) The Bible study was about the book of Revelation and all sorts of End-Times speculations. Yes, my parents were really into that stuff. Well.....let's see......at that time it was thought that perhaps Henry Kissinger might be the Antichrist, because he was a politically influential Jew. Hmm.......bar codes and Master Card might be part of the End Time scenario.......precursors to "the mark of the Beast", when people would be required to have "666" tatooed on our foreheads in order to buy and sell. The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse might symbolize races of people......white, black, yellow, red. Babylon, the Great Whore.......well, that might be the Catholic Church or the United States. The ten-headed beast might be the Common Market, a revived Roman Empire with ten member countries. The Antichrist would amazingly recover from some sort of seemingly mortal wound, the healing coming via his sidekick, the False Prophet, AND everyone around the world would see this happen (live TV or internet?). Preceding it all would be the renewal of some abominable sacrifice in Jerusalem......something to do with a red heifer.

*

And, then there was the Millenium.......the 1000-year reign of Christ and His people.........those Christians who persevere and prevail, I guess. (For sure, it would be the Christians who don't fall prey to becoming opinionated bloggers.) After that, the devil will be released from his shackles below and wreak havoc amongst the nations again. Armageddon will occur after that, perhaps, or maybe it is before......I can't recall for sure. Gog and Magog will rise up against Israel. The image from the dream in the biblical book of Daniel comes into play somewhere along the way, too. Quite a collection of scenarios can be fit together from biblical prophecy.

*

Here are some penciled notes in my old Bible next to Revelation Chapter 6: "We are all gone (Raptured). Tribulation = 7 years. Great Tribulation = 3 1/2 years. " I have an arrow pointing to "white horse" in verse 2 from the penciled words: "The Beast/False Prophet." "Horse = power and speed. White = clean. Antichrist = religious power. Beast = political power. No arrow = conquers with peace. " (We are to be suspicious of anyone promoting peace!)

*

Anyhow, the great and wonderful thing was, of course, that all of us Christians would have been "Raptured" by the time the terrible Tribulation stuff started to happen. And, the Rapture was expected to happen any day. Remember, I'm like 14 to 16-years-old during this time. I figured I'd never live to experience sex......yes, that's right.......sex.......let me say it again.......SEX.......marriage and children, too. Forget about considering college, how pointless that would be when the world is about to end! Plus, my parents told us that college was where people went to become atheists.......or, worse yet......HIPPIES!

*

If you didn't grow up with this mindset permeating your household, I'm ecstatically happy for you. I've read that the Palin family possibly espouses these beliefs. If so, I might have some understanding of the deeper reason why Bristol decided to have premarital sex despite her Christian upbringing. It was a temptation for me, too, back then, just so I could experience it before the Rapture......though I was too fearful to do such a thing. I don't know what my dad would have done if any of his daughters had ended up pregnant out-of-wedlock. I shudder to contemplate such a scenario. To my dad, a girl who had premarital sex was "ruined". (That "ruined" description didn't apply to the boy, of course.)

*

I also had fears that the Rapture would occur and I would, for some reason (probably because I wanted to have sex), be left behind to experience the Tribulation. If that happened, if I clung to Christian beliefs, I would end up being martyred, of course, perhaps being one of the 144,ooo from the Tribulation period. I used to panic when I suddenly couldn't find any of my family out on our farm.......I thought they had been Raptured! I would quickly look across the road to the neighbor's place to see if I could spot any of their family out in the yard.......they were Gospel Hall people and they for sure would be Raptured. If I could see any of them then I breathed easier, knowing the Rapture had not taken place, and I had not been Left Behind! We did see a movie at our Baptist church about such a thing once; it ended up with the Christians all lined up in white robes waiting to be executed! I went home terrified. I mentioned this to my mom just the other day........she said, "Oh, honey, I don't remember that." Well......she was probably at home with my younger siblings that Sunday evening. I do recall that my dad was in attendance when the film was shown.

*

After I married Husband-----one month after my 20th birthday-----I joined his Missouri Synod Lutheran church. One of the first things I noticed was that this church NEVER, ever spoke of the End-Times, the Rapture, the Tribulation, etc. At first I wondered what on earth was the matter with them.......why were they ignoring these crucial issues? As time went on, I realized that faith is about living in the now, living out your faith day by day.......NOT obsessing over obscure scriptures and futuristic speculations. I could see what a huge effect those End-Times beliefs had had on my life. When I started having kids, I vowed to myself to NEVER speak to them of the End-Times or of biblical prophecy. They grew up going to Lutheran parochial grade school, giving them a firm Christian foundation without fanatical leanings.

*

By the way, it has taken serious depression, and a nervous breakdown with time spent in a psychiatric unit to get this questionable religious baggage completely out of my system. I don't wish that on anyone, so be careful how you teach your kids, folks!!! I think in order to expell an entrenched glob of beliefs and associated parental bonds, your ego has to dissolve for a time........I'm fortunate that during my ego-meltdown I didn't do anything more bizarre than what I did. It did land me in the psych unit, but at least I didn't hurt anyone else or commit suicide. The Gospel Hall guy I had a crush on.......remember him.......well, he had a nervous breakdown, too, several years ago, and spent time in a psychiatric unit. Hmm.......I wonder why. Reality finally comes crashing in, people! Jesus hasn't returned in the eastern sky during these past 30 to 40 years.......perhaps He won't return during your lifetime! Perhaps, we were misled just a little bit. You can't be preoccupied with the Second Coming of Christ and live a normal, sane life, in my opinion. Any of you are free to agree or disagree with me or go away and never return to this blog if you wish........whatever works for you.

*

There is a somewhat related issue which I'd also like to mention........homeschooling. I don't begrudge anyone the freedom to choose to homeschool, and I know that in some cases it is done because people live too far from towns. My brother and his wife homeschool because they believe the public schools would corrupt their children. In the past, I have suggested to him that he and his family could be a wonderful Christian influence in the local school (which, by the way, is a fine, small-town school), but he is deaf to talk like that.

*

Husband has a relative who is similarly raising his children, only in an even stricter environment. The wife and daughters wear long skirts ALL the time. They homeschool, of course. They watch no TV except for old Western movies. Gunfights don't seem to bother the dad, but whenever a part comes in the movie where there might be a dance scene, the dad stops the tape and fast- forwards it so the kids won't see any dancing. Like I said......the gunfights are permissible to view, however. In the past, this relative would write letters to his grandpa, Husband's dad, a life-long LCMS Lutheran, telling him that he needed to accept Christ and be saved. My father-in-law would shake his head in perplexity and voice concern for his grandson. My father-in-law was baptized as a baby, confirmed as a teenager, and attended his Lutheran church faithfully ALL of his life........but, according to his fanatical Baptist daughter-in-law and grandson, was not saved. Before I married Husband, her mother worriedly warned me that Lutherans are not saved and I should think twice about joining that church!

*

Let me repeat it........I don't believe its possible to be preoccupied with thoughts of the Second Coming and live a normal, contented, peaceful.......SANE......life. That conviction of mine is never going to change. BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU TEACH TO YOUR KIDS! They soak it right up. Teach them to inquire and test the validity of anything. Do YOUR homework, too, concerning the upcoming election. I DON'T CARE WHO YOU VOTE FOR, but be sure you make up your own mind. Get views from all angles! Don't confine yourself in a narrow, one-sided mindset! And, do keep the election in your prayers! I'm going to keep trying to do my homework on the candidates. IF I learn that a candidate is caught up in End-Times beliefs, I will not be voting for them.

*

Thus ends my rant for today! I need to cool my mind now by going out and taking some photos! Truly, I welcome your views, even if they are in disagreement with mine.

*

Tomorrow.......back to Pella!

*

*

Pearl Anniversary

Today is the wedding anniversary of.........

No........no........NOT Mary Magdalene.....that I know of, anyway. It is the anniversary of Husband and I-----our PEARL wedding anniversary, to be exact! We'll see if someone will identify that one in the comments. (The painting posted here is from the Wikipedia article about Mary Magdalene.)

***************

And, you must be muttering under your breath, "What's that troublemaker Mary Magdalene doing on this post?" Well..........today, July 22, is her feast day on the traditional church calendar; certainly not something I was aware of back then on my wedding day, due to my Baptist upbringing which included complete ignorance of saints' feast days.

*****************

In the summer of 2003, I happened to read The DaVinci Code........BEFORE the media picked up on the controversial aspect of its story. Because one of my favorite types of fiction is the historical mystery based in a foreign locale, this book looked intriguing to me; Mona Lisa's eyes on the cover drew me in. I did think it rather nervy of Dan Brown to write on the subject of a possible marriage between Jesus and Mary Magdalene, but an author is certainly free to write about whatever he chooses. Brown's speculating did somewhat upset the Life of Christ dioramas in my mind, however. The DaVinci Code dipped into obscure aspects of Roman and European history, too, and offered avenues for further exploration into subjects I'd barely heard of before.......the Cathars, the Inquisition, witch hunts, Constantine the Great, Rosslyn Church, etc. I subsequently read Dan Brown's other books, Angels & Demons, Deception Point, and Digital Fortress, finding each one very entertaining!

**************

After reading the DaVinci Code, I thought long and hard about Jesus and Mary Magdalene, leading me to ask, "Why is it such a problem to swallow the idea of a possible marriage between them?" Jesus was God incarnated as a human........a human, with a physical body. Like any human, he would have eaten food, burped, eliminated, sweated, coughed, sighed, sneezed, etc., etc., etc. What is our hang-up with the idea of Him possibly being married? Is it the thought of sinless Jesus engaging in the physical intimacies of marriage? Most likely, that's it. Is physical intimacy within marriage a sin? Last I knew......NO. Did the Church, for centuries, promote a less than positive view of sex, even within marriage? Yes, I would say so. That being the case, it wouldn't be too surprising to me if the Church had centuries ago quietly swept away any references to Jesus being married. People who study Jewish traditions claim there are hints in the Gospels of a possible marriage existing between Jesus and Mary Magdalene. How would any of us know, in this day and age; we're so far removed from ancient ways, and certainly, Jewish ways. At the very least, I think its highly probable Mary Magdalene loved Jesus-----as a human woman who falls in love with a human man------even if their relationship never progressed to consummation in marriage. Why on earth could this not be possible? And, beautiful to ponder?

************
Last Sunday, during our church service, as we spoke the Apostles' Creed, I noticed we jumped from saying Christ was "born of the virgin Mary".........immediately to...... he "suffered under Pontius Pilate". We covered that 33-year span in less than one breath, and I think that's how we view Jesus' life on earth.......in a short series of dioramas of well-known events from His life. Let's get real.......He lived 33 years on earth........much, much more went on in His earthly life than what is relayed to us in the Gospel books of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. I certainly don't know if there was a marriage between Jesus and Mary Magdalene, but likewise, I certainly don't know for sure that there wasn't one.

************

Read this witty article to learn the origins of the celibate priest tradition in the Catholic Church. It didn't come from Jesus.

**********

Back to Mary Magdalene........her ancient connections to Provence, in southern France are fascinating. Here is a blog post with several links to Provencal Magdalene sites.

**********

Here....... a travel website from St. Maximin, Provence, France.

**********


And, here....... another blogpost showing photos of Mary Magdalene sights in Provence, France.

************

************

Well, enough of Mary Magdalene. If it weren't for the chance fact that I was married on her feast day, she wouldn't interest me so much, probably. Sorry if any of this disrupts any deeply-ingrained beliefs. It shouldn't. We think we know so much and have everything all figured out, but there's much we're unaware of about SO many topics, especially concerning ancient history.

**************

**************

You're probably just dying to know if I have any pearls of "wisdom" to share on my Pearl Anniversary! Hm-m......after that many years of residing within the Institution of Marriage.......here are a few thoughts that come to mind:

****

1. Keep your spouse in your prayers.

2. Know that happiness does not come from another person (ie: your spouse).

3. Know that you can never change another person (your spouse)........what you CAN change is your reaction to that other person (your spouse).

4. Put ears to use more than mouth; listen more than you speak.

5. A wife will do well to realize the importance of the husband's vocation to him. Many years ago-----when I was still a good person and listened to Christian radio----- I heard a Focus on the Family broadcast in which the speaker was encouraging wives to realize that a man's self-image is wrapped up in his vocation, and the wife needs to step back and allow him latitude in that area.

6. Be undemanding.

7. Monitor the pulse of your husband's mood.......but, don't expect him to reciprocate. Tend your own mood yourself.

8. If all else fails........take a long walk or write a blog post!!!

*******************

*******************

Have a great Mary Magdalene Day!!

YYYYYYYYYY

YYYYYYYYYY

Love (or Chase) Thy Neighbor

Izzy.......STOP!........its, "Love thy neighbor"............not, "Chase thy neighbor"!

Seriously, I've been rather bothered by something lately. I don't wish to elaborate much about it, but it is related to the concept of "Love Thy Neighbor". I feel we missed the boat big time recently; we had an opportunity to offer significant assistance to a family impacted by the tornados and flooding.......and, we didn't do it. I, actually, had not the authority to give the help; I could only offer my opinion, which was ignored.

At any rate........its been bothering me some, and yesterday, by coincidence, a random e-mail arrived from Paraclete Press, containing the following excerpt from the book 4o Days Living the Jesus Creed by Scot McKnight. It definitely was something I needed to read right at that moment. I pray for "eyes that see" and "ears that hear", and the prompting to actually make a move to help my neighbor, instead of just talking about it.

**************

**************

Day 3 Loving Others
"You shall love your neighbor as yourself."-Mark 12:31Loving others is a great idea until "Mr. or Ms. Other" happens to be a person you don't like. If we are honest with ourselves, the exhortation to "love your neighbor as yourself" slides quickly into a decision to love someone we like or someone just like us. So, for example, in the world of Jesus, loving God naturally meant doing the Torah. Doing the Torah involved maintaining some firm boundary lines between the holy and the profane, the Israelite and the Gentile, the clean and the unclean. So, the commandment to love your neighbor as yourself became for (too) many persons little more than loving one's holy, Israelite, clean neighbors. The profane, Gentile, and unclean person was erased from the dictionary definition of "neighbor." Jesus redefined the word neighbor.We might say that Jesus' primary sparring partners, the Pharisees, practiced a "love of Torah" that created boundary lines between neighbors and non-neighbors. Jesus turned that Pharisee expression around and believed in a "Torah of love" that crossed boundaries by redefining the word "neighbor." And to make loving one's neighbor central to life, Jesus picked up the central moral creed of his Jewish world, the Shema, and amended it. He added "love your neighbor as yourself" to the Shema, which urged Israelites to recite daily these words: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength." Jesus' amendment created a moral creed that summoned Israel to love God and to love their neighbors as themselves.A scribe asked Jesus how to gain eternal life. Jesus, ever the good teacher, asked him what the Torah teaches. After proving to Jesus that he understood the Jesus Creed, that the two central commands of God's Torah were to love God and love others, that scribe asked Jesus another question. This time, though, the scribe revealed that he was not yet ready for the revolutionary nature of the Jesus Creed he had so glibly coughed up. He asked Jesus, probably with a little sniff of snobbery, "Who is my neighbor?" (Luke 10:29). Jesus answered with the parable of the good Samaritan (Luke 10:30-37). That clever parable revealed that the real question was not "Who is my neighbor?"-a question that permits one to create boundary lines-but "To whom should I be neighborly?" The Jesus Creed calls us to neighbor-love-regardless of who the neighbor might be.Be Prepared for the UnpredictableYou cannot determine in advance to whom you will need to act in neighbor-love. Neither can you determine what kind of love you will show. I have joked for years that my education prepared me best to exit my front door on Saturday mornings, to summon my neighbors into my front yard as I stand on the porch, and then to give them a short exposition of a passage from the Greek New Testament. The only problem is that no one would come! We all like to do what we are good at, but my neighbors need something other than what I have to offer in explaining the New Testament.To discern what prompts neighbor-love, we need to develop eyes that see and ears that hear needs. Sometimes our neighbors need us to mow grass or shovel snow or bring in the mail or look after a dog. They might need us to take them to pick up their car, or they might request a lift to the doctor's office. What neighbor-love does is never predictable. Often neighbor-love interrupts our schedule, annoying us more than we care to admit, and calls us to abandon our plans. But our eyes will reveal and our ears will hear the needs of our neighbors if we learn to live the Jesus Creed.Respond to Needs, Not LabelsIn Jesus' parable of the good Samaritan, the priest and the Levite, who both knew and observed their Torah, saw the man sprawled out on the path and thought he was dead. A corpse was impure, and the Torah taught priests not to defile themselves with corpse impurity unless the dead person was their nearest kin (Leviticus 21:1-4). So they passed him by. In effect, then, the priest and the Levite were doing what the Torah said. But that wasn't enough for Jesus. Someone as desperate as a man abandoned on the road had a need, and needs come before labels and purity laws. This corpse was labeled "unclean," and the priest and the Levite, in Jesus' comic parable, respond to the label instead of the need. The Samaritan, who in stereotyped categories shouldn't have been the one to respond, responded to the need and ignored the label.We are like the priest and the Levite far more often than we care to admit. We may choose not to stop our journey to respond to persons because of their ethnicity, their economic status, their clothing, their age, or their body piercings or tattoos. Sometimes we respond negatively to an immigrant's accent or country of origin, or we may fall prey to stereotypes about such persons. Sometimes we walk away from persons because of their disease or their rumored sins. Neighbor-love, as Jesus teaches it and practices it, crosses those boundaries because it responds to needs, not labels.Two of the biggest challenges of living the Jesus Creed are these: learning to see and hear the needs of the one who happens to be my neighbor and learning to discern when and how to respond. These are the challenges of the Jesus Creed to neighbor-love.Jesus' word is to us: "Go and do likewise."

Commandments Window

A minor word to the wise: Think twice before praising your own internet service provider. Friday evening, the last thing I did at the computer was post a comment on someone else's blog, to her post about recent bad luck with her internet provider. I glibly mentioned that my provider is very dependable! Well.......I paid for that boast the next day!! For all of Saturday, we were unable to connect to the internet!! For what reason, I have no idea; there had been no storms during the night. I called my neighbor across the road and he said his connection was working fine. I tried to call the phone company, but they don't have office hours on Saturday. Now today, the connection is working normally again!!

***************************

***************************

Here's the stained-glass window from my church for today.......The Ten Commandmants........major Words to the wise:

As you can see, the left tablet contains the first three Commandments, while the remaining seven are on the other tablet. Do you wonder why? I did, and the answer may lie in the way Martin Luther divided the Commandments up in his Catechism.

***************************

The first three Commandments deal with man's relationship to God:

1. You shall have no other gods.

2. You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God.

3. Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.

***************************

The other seven Commandments are concerned with peoples' relationships with each other:

4. Honor you father and your mother.

5. You shall not murder.

6. You shall not commit adultery.

7. You shall not steal.

8. You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.

9. You shall not covet your neighbor's house.

10. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his man-servant or maid-servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.

**********************************

When I joined the Lutheran church, I was a bit taken aback by the changes Martin Luther made in the Ten Commandments. Who gave him the authority to do such a thing? He gave it to himself, evidently.

He seems to leave out the Commandment against making graven images, although Lutherans would say it is part of the first Commandment. Luther was a Catholic, and they use lots of images.

As for "Thou shall not covet", Luther gave the concept of 'coveting thy neighbor's house' its own single Commandment........I'm a bit stumped by that. Why split up the coveting Commandment? Maybe it was so he could regain the command he lost when he dropped the graven image one.

Grass, Ladybugs, Dalai Lama

I know, this photo looks like an autumn scene, with the stand of brown grass waving in the breeze, but it was taken just yesterday morning, along "63" north of Denver, Iowa. The fields in the background lie patiently waiting for spring fieldwork to begin. Coming off several days of rain, a week's worth of moisture-free weather is now needed to allow fields to dry out. Farmers are getting impatient!

**************************

Up in the balcony during church yesterday morning, I was joined by numerous ladybugs. The Luther's Seal window was crawling with them! As we sang "The Church's One Foundation", a ladybug traveled back and forth across my hymnal page. I didn't mind.......it was quite entertaining to see which hymn phrases he or she seemed interested in!

******************

During the sermon, the busy little beetle bustled around on my shoe, and onto the black tights on my ankle. I couldn't feel his presence there at all.......isn't that funny. He's an intricate entity all to himself, with his relatively tiny body......yet he certainly has organs and internal systems sustaining his life, just as we humans do. Still, I could feel him not at all!

******************

When I headed downstairs for Communion, the ladybug was still on my shoe; that's the last I saw of him. Maybe he had to jump off due to theological differences.

*****************

Speaking of religion........I know the Pope is visiting the U.S. right now.........and the Dalai Lama did so, also, a few weeks ago. This will probably prove I'm not a very good Christian........but if given the chance to meet one of those two men, I probably would choose the Dalai Lama. It shouldn't matter; I'm not Catholic in the first place. What I am is rather intrigued by the fact that the Dalai Lama was chosen at age 2 to fill the religious position he's in. I'd like to ask him how he felt about that when he was a kid.

*******************

Do you ever think about this?........What if Europe and The Eastern Orient had been flipped in location, meaning the Roman Empire and the Roman Church moved north and conquered and converted the Oriental peoples? The Church would have mixed with Buddhism instead of with the native European religions. And the religion of the Eastern peoples.....the Celts, etc., would be known as "Eastern Religion". Just some thoughts to mix things up a bit.........give the kaleidescope a twist.

*******************

My second child was born on this day 24 years ago! We celebrated yesterday afternoon with cake and ice cream and loved ones. My mom and step-dad are home from their Elbe River cruise and brought photos along. Fun!! Twenty-four years ago, today was the day before Easter, and on Easter it snowed. I remember looking out of the window of my hospital room as I held my newborn son, watching the snowflakes gently falling from the sky, my heart bursting with joy!

******************

Have a happy Monday!

Werner Sallman Signature

This photo shows the familiar "Head of Christ" painting by Werner Sallman (1892-1968). I snapped this in the chapel room at Mission Central on Thursday.

On our way home from Mission Central, our bus tour group was treated to supper at a Lutheran Church along our homeward route. In the parish hall where we ate hung "Head of Christ" in a large frame, and we filed by it on our way to pick up our plates of food. It had the usual printing of the artist's name in the lower right corner, showing, too, that it had been copyrighted in 1941.

In addition, on the left side was the artist's own signature, "Werner Sallman", and the year "1964". There were also three Bible passages listed in the artist's handwriting. Here they are (RSV):

John 14:1-6

***************

"Let not your hearts be troubled; believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And when I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. And you know the way where I am going." Thomas said to him, "Lord, we do not know where you are going; how can we know the way? Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but by me....."

****************

Philippians 2: 8-11

****************

And being found in human form he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

***************

II Corinthians 4:6

***************

For it is the God who said, "Let light shine out of darkness", who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.

*******************************************************

I found it rather significant, to see these verses referred to by the artist himself. The II Corinthians reference, especially, seems to point to what inspired Werner Sallman to paint this glowing face of Christ........"the light of the knowledge of the glory of God........".

************************

I'm not trying to preach........I just thought this might be an appropriate subject for a Sunday blog post.

P.S. ------ Here is an interesting little article about how the artistic depictions of Christ have evolved over the centuries.

************************

Have a peaceful, relaxing day!!

Thoughts & Prayers

This comforting little arrangement was in the house at Mission Central:

*****************************************

********************************
*********************
***********
*****
**

Just slipping into the blog-stream this afternoon quickly to ask for thoughts and prayers for the family of the boy who took his own life the other day. His name is Kyle. His funeral is today. In addition-------more tragedy for that family-------my daughter phoned last evening to say that the boy's uncle and the uncle's girlfriend were killed on Wednesday evening. They had left the funeral home visitation on a motorcycle, and were struck by a drunk driver, and both killed. The father who just lost his only son to suicide has now also lost his only brother to a tragic accident. I know bad things happen every second of every day in every part of the world, but please give a quick thought and prayer for this situation. Thank you.

Remove Blinders

Today was Good Shepherd Sunday........that's what the pastor said in church this morning. We sang two really beautiful Shepherd hymns: "The Lord's My Shepherd, I'll Not Want" and "The King of Love My Shepherd Is"......both are fun to sing because they have nice alto part harmonies.

In our church basement hangs this old Good Shepherd print by Werner Sallman, an artist famous for his various depictions of Jesus.

Our Sunday services are at 8:30 a.m. now, which is super inconvenient for us on the farm, thus Husband didn't make it to church this morning. Son and Daughter went with me, but we drove two vehicles because I planned to stay for Bible Class after church. The subject of the class was "Who are our brothers and sisters in Christ?".........something important to consider when sometimes we tend to be very near-sighted and introverted in our religious lives, seeing and interacting only with those who are similar to us, or who are standing next to us in church.

Funny thing.......after services I was in the church kitchen getting a drink of water and the flower lady was carrying one of two cumbersome flower bouquets down the steps from the altar area. I asked her if I could go up and get the remaining one for her, and she said yes. I went up two flights of old cement stairs, passing by the pastor's office, and into the sacristy where there was NO bouquet left on the altar. Perplexed, I turned around to retrace my steps, and saw that I had walked right by the huge pink bouquet sitting on a ledge at the top of the stairs.

I'd had my blinders on as I'd come up the stairs to the sacristy toting the preconceived notion in my head that the flower bouquet was on the altar. Evidently, one of the deacons had moved it to the ledge by the stairs. But, how unobservant of me to pass by just inches from the huge bunch of pink flowers and not see them!

Are we like that in other aspects of our lives, too? We have a goal in mind and in our effort to reach that goal, we are blind to important things right next to us along our path to that goal.

Note to self: "Remove blinders and notice things!!"

******************************************

After church.......whoops!........I took a wrong turn and ended up seeing this flooded field near a creek. The steering wheel just pulled me there!

When I got out of my vehicle to take this photo, there was a muskrat or beaver staring out from in the water, with all but his head submerged. I turned the camera on him and zoomed in, but it was too late. He had disappeared! In the foreground in the water is a collection of cornstalks which have washed out of the field.

*********************************

Angels & Magazines

This pair of angels somehow clamored for attention in the murky light this morning as I groped towards the coffeemaker:

Speaking of murky......its basically been that way all day today. Gloomy, rainy, and very windy. Husband and I watched an old Hitchcock movie this afternoon, "The Lady Vanishes". It has a unique plot, unlike anything I've seen before, so for that reason it easily kept my attention from falling victim to an attack of snoozing.

*****************************

Over the years, I've tried to cut down on the number of magazine subscriptions coming to this farm's address. Usually, glossy stacks of them languish, unread, their main purpose being to fill a recycling tote. Over time, there have been subscriptions to Good Housekeeping, Oprah, Country Woman, Country, Farm & Ranch, Midwest Living, The Iowan, Readers' Digest, and others. Loads of farm magazines and publications come seemingly of their own free will......we certainly never pay for them, but they keep showing up in the mailbox........Farm Journal, Dairyman's Digest, Wallace's Farmer, Midwest Dairy Business, Dairy Today, DairyStar, and believe it or not, many others. The only farm magazine we actually pay for is Hoard's Dairyman.

Needless to say, the stacks of magazines really pile up around here, along with bull catalogs, and catalogs for every little thing under the sun. Its practically a full-time job trying to keep up with shifting them from mailbox to kitchen table to kitchen counter to Husband's "office" to end tables, and finally, to the recycling tote.

There is one little magazine I've subscribed to for years and years, because my mom always did, and that is "Guideposts". I remember even as a kid reading the amazing and inspirational stories in it. There was one Guideposts story I remember reading over and over back then......it was about a woman whose car had gone over a cliff, throwing her out onto a narrow ledge high above a gorge. There, for several days, I think, she clung to a small tree and kept shouting for help, and praying. Finally, miraculously, she was rescued. Anyway, the story seemed simply amazing to me.......and Guideposts is famous for featuring true stories such as that. I also subscribe to "Angels", which is another small magazine published by the Guideposts group. There's wonderfully fascinating stories in there, too.

Everyone around here enjoys Discover magazine, so that's one subscription that repeatedly gets renewed. Last year, in a fit of strange madness, I somehow managed to subscribe to two rather high-minded Christian magazines, "First Things" and "Touchstone". "First Things" is way above my head most of the time. "Touchstone" is a tad bit easier to comprehend, most of the time.

Last week, the newest copy of "First Things" arrived. Last evening, I waded into one of the articles, entitled "Uncomfortable Unbelief" by Wilfred M. McClay. He was reviewing the book, A Secular Age, by Charles Taylor, which the article's author describes as a "sprawling, ambitious, exasperating, confusing, and profoundly important new book".

Most of the article, as per most "First Things" offerings, is way beyond what I know or care about. One paragraph, though, I found interesting. McClay is stating that the book states:

"At the outset of the human story, religion was 'naive' and the world was permeated with spirits. Individual self-consciousness was nonexistent, for the 'porous' self remained open to the currents of external influence, unable to discern clear boundaries between self and nonself, or make clear distinctions between personal agency and impersonal force. Unbelief under such circumstances was literally unthinkable."

This caught my attention because I've read this type of thing before.......that at one time humans did not have a concept of an individual self. They identified totally with their tribe or community. Try to imagine that.......not being aware that you are a separate individual. Like part of a flock of birds flying around.....you move as one in a group.

I've also read that in some cases of "mental illness", the affected person seems to come to a similar "porous" condition, thinking the world is speaking to them, and they are too open and aware of the world around them. The ego sinks away and too much information comes pouring in. Sorry to blog about something so bizarre, but I find it fascinating.

Near the end of the article, McClay says, "......consciously shared and historically grounded belief and practice is the absolutely necessary basis of healthy community----in a church or anyplace else." He says we suffer today from "rootless radical individualism". He also states that the book's author "observes that 'we are just at the beginning of a new age of religious searching, whose outcome no one can foresee.' "

I'm in favor of Christians being united......I firmly believe all believers in Christ should be able to share Communion together.......but, that doesn't happen.....how to correctly view the bread and wine seems to be the stickler. They can rant and rant all they want about Christians needing to be like-minded, blah, blah, blah......but they never make efforts to remove the fences surrounding Communion beliefs. And far as all of us being too individualistic, especially us Americans.......how in the heck else are we supposed to live?? We don't exist all clumped together in little villages like back in Bible times.......everything is, for better or for worse, entirely different now.

There now, I've ranted on this rainy day about something I'm not qualified to rant about. I doubt I'll renew the "First Things" subscription, though......its just too much work to read the articles.

Ivy Twining for Judica

Ok, here's the deal, if spring will not go to Iowa, then Iowa will go to spring! On this blog anyway......in the form of the fake green ivy vine in this photo.

Today is "Judica", the Fifth Sunday of Lent. The word judica having to do with judges and courts. The Antiphon of the day is listed as Psalm 43, verse 1: "Vindicate me, O God, and plead my cause against an ungodly nation......". In the Bible I looked this up in, the footnote to this verse said, "A plea in the language of the court."

Ok, so maybe we should plead for spring to come!

********************

Here's a little melody my mom used to sing to us as a lullaby:

Tell me why the ivy twine

Tell me why the sky's so blue

Tell me why the stars do shine

And I will tell you just why I love you

*****

Because God made the ivy twine

Because God made the sky so blue

Because God made the stars to shine

Because God made you

That's why I love you!!!

***********************

These words are not quite the same without the soothing little tune to carry them, but their message is clear, and certainly states a good reason to love the people God has put in our lives.

May you be able to nap an hour this afternoon to regain the sleep lost to Daylight Savings Time.......now there's a sure sign of spring!!

A peaceful Judica to you and yours!

Pine Cross for Laetare

Today is "Laetare".......did you know that? That's the name for the Fourth Sunday of Lent. Unlike last Sunday's name, "Oculi", which immediately brought to mind eyes and seeing, this word "Laetare" conjured up absolutely nothing in my mind. So resorting to the dictionary, I found this definition: "......the fourth and middle Sunday of Lent, named after the beginning of the introit for the day (taken from Isaiah 66:10), the word "Rejoice". The Latin word "Laetare" means "be joyful".

Late one afternoon, a couple weeks ago, as I was walking back up the lane from the mailbox, the sun was illuminating this pine tree trunk in such a way that it resembled a cross.......at least to me it did. Actually, this tree is rather mishapen, with a crooked lower trunk and this bare area where branches have died and broken off. But, those features caught the glow of the sun and provided an interesting photo subject.......so you just never know.......with the right perspective, flaws can be special!!

This morning the sun shone and coaxed a bit of snow to melt, but clouds have moved in this afternoon. A fairly large crowd was in church this morning.....due to Communion and the school kids singing a song in the service. We were late, so we slipped into a back pew next to a couple and their three-year-old daughter. The mom took her little girl along up to the Communion rail, where she stood between her mom and me as we kneeled. She watched the white-robed pastor with wide eyed interest. It was a precious moment, leaving me wishing we had allowed our kids to accompany us to the Communion rail when they were little. None of the parents did that back then.......the mother and father would take turns going up or staying in the pew with the kids. Anyway, this morning, it was a privilege to have this sweet little person standing next to me at the rail!

******************************

Its been a peaceful afternoon.......following clean-up of noon dinner dishes, exhaustion swept in, so I vegged in the recliner for a couple hours, reading the paper and snoozing. Husband had cozied up with a calculator and was crunching numbers at the kitchen table. Son was wrapped up in quilts on the floor watching a college basketball game. Yes, all was quite peaceful, even the background noise of the TV game seemed comforting.

A blessed, peaceful, and joyful "Laetare" to whomever may read this!!

Sunny "Oculi" Sunday

Well, here we are on "Oculi", the Third Sunday of Lent, today being very sunny and bright. The word "Oculi" sounds like it has to do with SEEING, and indeed the Psalm for today (25:15) begins with, "My EYES are ever on the Lord.....".

So that you can SEE that I attended church this morning, here is a photo of our church steeple. SEE the bright gold paint on the cross? That paint was applied by my husband......on June 13, 1998, to be exact! He rode up there with paint can and brush in hand, in the basket of a boom truck.......I was watching anxiously from down on the ground (and taking photos). The steeple is around 60 feet tall and the cross alone is 12 feet tall.

I was supposed to be a substitute Sunday School teacher today, for the youngest class. Well.....our Lutheran school kids were all away for the weekend at a basketball tournament and NO ONE at all showed up for Sunday School! We teachers chatted for awhile and then proceeded to the church basement to sit in on the adult Bible class.

There was a man speaking up in the front of the group......he was unfamiliar to me. He was talking about interpreting everything in the Bible in light of "covenants" and "inheritances", and he was discussing God's initial covenants with Abraham. The guy was definitely talking "at" us.......I think he enjoyed hearing himself talk, and his style was rather annoying for he talked at us as if we were grade school kids. I was trying to follow along in the Bible passages as he rattled on.......it seemed to me that he was adding and changing things here and there from what was in the Bible verses. Later I found out he has a "Dr." in front of his name, so he had the prerogative to talk the way he did, I guess. Certainly, I admire anyone who works hard and makes the effort to get a doctorate. "This is most certainly true".......(Sorry, only a Lutheran will understand this.......that something is true because a learned person says it is true.).

After this class, we marched upstairs for Divine Service (that's the formal Lutheran name of a church service). There weren't many people there and the cavernous sanctuary was chilly, as usual. Our old pipe organ is being refurbished, so the organist played the hymns and liturgy on a clavinova which is a weak, pale imitation of a pipe organ. And with so few of us there, the singing was rather pathetic. The hymns felt lonely and naked as their melodies swirled about us without the usual rich, full robing of the pipe organ's rumbling chords.

What I gleaned from the sermon is that my life is a mess, and even if I think its not a mess, it actually is, and the solution to that mess is found in the Sacraments. If I'm depressed, its because I don't trust in God enough, and trusting in God means partaking of Sacraments. Sorry for my griping......I'm a disgruntled Lutheran (raised in a church that didn't worship sacraments), but like so many of us in my congregation, I'm part of the local tribe here, and this church is where I'll stay, even if I grump about what the pastor preaches. He will oversee his share of the congregation's dwindling, then he'll move on to another church, leaving the local tribe behind. If things don't change for the better soon, our congregation will consist of just a skeleton crew of hangers-on.
.

A blessed "Oculi" to you!!!

Its an Icy Reminiscere

Today is "Reminiscere", the Second Sunday of Lent. Last Sunday was called "Invocavit".......I'm just kind of fascinated by these words, because they are new to me. Evidently these titles apply to the first phrase of the appointed Psalm for the Day. Last week the phrase was, "He shall call upon me....",(invoke means "to call"), and this week the first phrase of the Psalm is, "Remember, O Lord, Thy tender mercies....", (reminisce having a meaning similar to "remember").

Anyway, the morning started out with icy rain, then snow took over, and now around noon we have strong winds, making for blizzard conditions. Church services were cancelled throughout our area.

This photo was from earlier this morning:

These evergreen branches below are laden down with ice.....

Some of the branches get frozen to the snow on the ground below them.......

Maybe I'll forego hanging laundry out today.........

Fortunately, the temperatures today are in the 20's ABOVE zero. I would guess the wind chill is around 0 degrees, which is relatively tolerable if you have to be out doing something for a little while.

To whomever may read this......here's hoping the weather is pleasant in your part of the world on this "Reminiscere"!

A Mighty Cold "Invocavit"

This calf is here to tell you that the deep freeze has returned to northeast Iowa. The wind chill is minus 30 this morning! Don't worry, though her face is frost-covered, she's comfortable in her cozy little hut. She just drank her half-gallon bottle of warm milk; she has a pail of feed to munch, and dry straw to lounge on. Actually, calves stay drier and healthier in the very cold weather than in cool, wet conditions.

Below, you can see Husband clearing a path so the milk truck can get through later this morning. Husband plugs in the engine block heater on the tractor right away when he goes out in the morning so the tractor will start after milking.

Because I had two kids out in the terrible cold and windy conditions last night, I didn't get to sleep very early. My high school sophomore son was with a group of friends......I was glad it was group. He got home around 11:30 p.m. My older son was with his girlfriend (soon to be fiancee, we think), at her parents' home in a nearby town. I tried to call his cell phone around midnight to tell him to just stay put there in town to avoid getting his two-wheel drive vehicle stuck in a drift in our long farm driveway. Of course, he didn't answer the phone, so I left a voice message, but didn't know if he would listen to it.

*****************

I went to bed; Husband was already there, snoring up a storm. After reading a few pages from a book, my eyes wouldn't stay open, but fighting sleep I got up and dialed my son's cell phone again. This time he answered.......I said sleepily, "Please, just stay there in town." He said, "Mom, I'm just about to our driveway.......and there's a huge drift by the mailbox!" I went to the window......yup, sure enough, there were his headlights, bouncing up and down over the snowdrifts in the long lane. Thank goodness......he was home safe and I could go to sleep in good conscience.

***************

We're staying home from church. Its not listed on the cancellations being shown on the TV screen, but the wind is so strong and the snow continues to pile up, so we will stay put. I'm looking up the Bible readings for this first Sunday in Lent.......did you know this day has a name? It is "Invocavit". It is listed that way in the older Lutheran hymnals I have here at home, but not in the newer ones. The Gospel reading appears to be Matthew 4:1-11, in which Jesus is tempted by Satan in the wilderness.

***************************************

A blessed "Invocavit" to everyone!!

Soul Maintenance

Today being Sunday, I attended the local soul maintenance session.......in other words, "church". Back in my misguided Baptist days, worship was what church was all about. For Lutherans, however, church is not something you do, like worship.......it is what God does. Through the pastor, that is.

So this morning, I dutifully sang and spoke the proper words at the proper times, and listened to the sermon. The pastor's first words were, "In all my years of being a pastor, I've not noticed people being very concerned about the righteousness of God." Huh? He lost me right there. Then he went on to point out that faith is not about "Jesus in your heart". That only opens the door to heaven, he said. Evidently, it doesn't get you through that door. Like anyone has ever reported back on that subject.......besides Jesus Himself.

This afternoon was our church's Annual Meeting, which Husband attended. When he got home, he said, "Our church is falling apart. Nobody cares." (And he was not talking about the church building.) I told him that I've come to the conclusion that our church is not an isolated case. I think we're seeing the spiritual evolution of people raised with television. We are now into the second generation of people raised with TV......and you can also include many other electronic gadgets......which are magnets for people's attention and focus.

Our youth group, which was very active AND led by the pastor, back when I first joined this Lutheran church 30 years ago, is basicly defunct. Everyone is so busy with sports and other fluff, and the last pastor that was here showed little interest in doing youth activities. Not that I blame him, with kids so focused on everything else except church, and parents going right along with it. Husband said the guys at the meeting today were all itching to get home to watch the NFL play-off game.

Times have changed, and there's nothing that can be done about that. Back when Father-in-law was a teenager, the church youth group, called the Walther League, was the main social outlet for young people. They could hardly wait to join following Confirmation at age 14. Their group met with other church youth groups in the area for rollerskating, softball, etc. Many a young Lutheran met their future spouse during Walther League activities, and, indeed, that is how Husband's parents met.

Husband also expressed concern that our church is spending thousands of dollars to refurbish the old organ. With so few people coming to church anymore......he wonders what the point is. I said, "Well, maybe this can be our church's main goal and reason for being.......to keep the antique organ in operation." It is quite special, really, as far as organs go. Maybe our church building can become a museum someday. It's over 130 years old, and beautiful in a creaky, cavernous sort of way. But mostly it is full of memories of those who have passed through on their life's way. After 30 years of being there, I've become immersed in the group, like it or not, and often on Sunday I sit there and think about the ones who have died. I remember where they used to sit, and the timbre of their voices when they sang hymns and spoke the Lord's Prayer. I miss so many of those voices, but it seems we're supposed to just forget about them because they're in the heavenly congregation now.

I've read that Orthodox Church tradition includes staying close in spirit to departed loved ones.......the communion of saints, cloud of witnesses.......I truly wouldn't have a problem with that at all. If only there was a church like that handy.