Thoughts

A Christmas Letter from a Dear Friend

2011-12-21T18:36:00.000-08:00

I receive this letter from a dear friend ... you'll enjoy reading it, to ...

Christmas 2011

Dear friends and family,

Rather than expose you to my customary annual rant, I decided that giving thanks for the many blessings that have come our way might be more appropriate. But then, the more I thought about it, the more I realized that I am giving thanks for blessings that millions of people do not enjoy.

This afternoon I visited ... Hospital where I saw many people bent over walkers, others limping along or otherwise in obvious distress and I thought to myself, “Thank God I am not like them,” which of course reminded me of the gospel text where two men went up to the temple area to pray and the one said, “O God, I thank you that I am not like the rest of humanity---greedy, dishonest, adulterous…” So I decided that giving thanks may just be an exercise in self-congratulations and selfishness. So what can I write that might bring some realistic joy to all of our hearts?

I guess the easiest is to speak in abstract terms and say ‘Christmas is all about Jesus being born among us to bring hope into the world.’ Jesus came to make the world a better place and yet, after 2000 years, it is still a pretty rough place for billions of people (yes, we reached the 7 billionth population threshold just recently).

People talk about putting the Christ back into Christmas. I’m not sure what they mean by that, but it sounds good. Yes, Christmas is all about Jesus together with all its implications. So, my prayer for you this Christmas and coming New Year is that we all try to understand the relevance that Jesus holds for the world.

‘Joy to the World’ can be nothing more than hollow sounding words for those who are not touched by the love that Jesus calls us to spread around us. So together with our family... I invite you to be heralds of Good News that Jesus came to proclaim.

We wish you health, happiness and joy in the coming year and peace on earth to all men of good will. And we pray for all those who are suffering because of the terrible straits of the world economy. Let us have hope that 2012 will bring greater prosperity to the peoples of our world.

In the love of Christ,

A Religious Experience at AAA

2011-12-09T05:56:00.001-08:00

Getting my International Driver's Licence at the local AAA Office - I noticed a banner hanging overhead:

Through all of life's travels, we're always with you.

I thought of Jesus and his promise to the disciples, "I am with you always to the end of the age."

Several brochures caught my eye.

All roads lead to great rewards.

Every road we travel, God at the end of it.

Rewards abundant: the love of fellow-travelers, lessoned learned, dreams achieved, goals reached, grace received and grace given.

The Psalmist asks, "Where could I go to escape your Spirit?" ... there is no escape from God ... every road we travel, be the road glorious or gritty, it leads to God ... God's blessing or God's judgment, and mostly a little of both ... but always God! God at the end of the road. God as the road. And God at the beginning, too.

The other brochure that caught my attention:

A Holiday Gift to last a lifetime.

The gift of Jesus to a sin-sick work - last's a lifetime, and then some.

Nothing temporary about the love of God - Paul writes, "love endures."

Through thick and thin, sick and sin, a lifetime's worth of mercy and blessings, counsel and guidance, hope and peace.

I said to the lady helping me, "I had no idea AAA was such a religious place - the banner overhead and the brochures."

She said, "You're right. I wonder who wrote all of that stuff."

And we both had a good chuckle.

A God-Moment

2011-11-17T07:15:00.001-08:00

Out walking one morning, I greeted fellow-walkers as I usually do, with hands held together and a “Good Morning” and a nod of my head. Nearing home, I was thinking about this, and why I do it, and the story, many years earlier, that triggered my decision to greet people in this manner.

As I was thinking about the story, a mother and her small daughter, dressed in crisp white blouse and school-uniform blue plaid skirt, were stepping down their driveway toward the sidewalk, so I turned to them, with hands held together and greeted them. I continued on my way, and then heard the little girl say, “Mommy, why did he hold his hands that way when he saw us?”

Who could resist the moment?

I turned around and asked if I may tell my little story about why I greet folks that way, and Mom said “Sure!” with her little girl hiding behind her.

I began by saying, “I’m a Christian,” and she replied, “So am I,” and with that, I shared the story.

And, here it is for you, the reader.

Some years ago, I read an article about a Buddhist retreat center. One of the students, while out on a stroll in the gardens, met the Buddhist leader who bowed with hands held together in greeting. The student asked why such a greeting. The leader replied, “Because I see God in you.”

Then and there, I vowed to greet people in a similar fashion, with hands held together prayerfully, in recognition of God in everyone.

I said to the mother, “I see God in you and in your daughter.”

So, should it be for all of us - to see God in everyone. Even in the wrecks of humanity, shreds of the divine yet exist.

So, greetings to you, dear reader, my hands held together, because I see God in you!

"The Fresh Air Faded" by Bob Dahl

2011-09-19T08:29:00.000-07:00

The Fresh Air Faded, 09/18/2011

The fresh air faded quickly as we entered the nursing home. I inhaled and reached for assurance -- my ever present inhaler in my left front pant’s pocket.

A warm, dry Indian summer day and bright sunshine turned into sticky, stale air and fluorescent gray.

We walked the gauntlet of dozing, drooling, slumping people in wheelchairs. They lined both sides of the hall. Nurses and aids dodged and scurried, bottles, needles and pans in rubbered hands.

We ducked into the room. She sat eagerly looking in our direction. “Would you like to visit here or should we go somewhere else?” I asked.

“Oh, let’s go down the hall.” On the way out she pointed back to her roommate and whispered, “We’ll have more privacy.”

“It is nice to see you two, but where is that beautiful Chocolate Lab?”

“He’s in the car. Shall I get him?”

“Get him? I’ve been waiting all day to see Boomer.”

My wife ushered Ruth the rest of the way and I went for the dog.

He jumped eagerly out of the car; I held his leash tightly. He tugged this way and that. I let him take a pee. We rode up on the elevator. He sat so quietly. He knew the routine. The door opened and he pulled me into the hall.

“Boomer,” she called.

He headed in her direction and I let the leash go. He wrapped it around the wheelchair. Kisses, kisses, kisses.

Then he settled down and lay beside the wheels.

Old men hobbled by and asked about the dog. “Just keep on going,” Ruth instructed them. They frowned; she looked at us and shook her head. “If they stop, they’ll talk forever.”

We sat in the quiet and then talked about her cancer.

On the way back to her room with the dog along, the dozing, drooling people who lined the hall on both sides looked up and some of them smiled…at the dog.

“This is my pastor and his wife and Boomer. They have come to visit me.”

"I Sit on the Porch" - by Bob Dahl

2011-09-19T08:26:00.000-07:00

I Sit on the Porch, 0919/2011 - by Bob Dahl

I sit on the small, open air, cedar porch with glass slats for a roof, leaving the door into the great room open to hear the outcome of the golf tournament.

My wife sits inside under a lamp sewing one of her fabric sculptures on a quiet Sunday

afternoon.

I set down my wine glass on the wood floor away from where the dog will be and look up to see rain drops on the slats.

My Chocolate Lab wakes, slides off the couch, follows me out of the house and faces me, tail wagging fiercely.

He barks his whiskey bark, a bone collapsing in his old throat.

He gags and coughs, courteously turning his head down and away.

He turns back, looks directly into my eyes as if challenging me, “Come on, buddy. Let’s rumble.”

I wipe a sleeper from his eye left again by a busy sandman and pat him on his head. His tail swings rhythmically.

He squints approval and lifts his bony, football player’s knees into the house looking

for his mistress.

Keep on Dancing

2011-08-26T11:48:00.000-07:00

A good friend sent this to me ... one of those good pieces floating around the internet. I enjoyed it, and I think you will, too.

----------------------

This was written by an 83-year-old woman to her friend.

*The last line says it all. *

Dear Bertha,

I'm reading more and dusting less. I'm sitting in the yard and admiring the view without fussing about the weeds in the garden. I'm spending more time with my family and friends and less time working.

Whenever possible, life should be a pattern of experiences to savor, not to endure. I'm trying to recognize these moments now and cherish them.

I'm not "saving" anything; we use our good china and crystal for every special event such as losing a pound, getting the sink unstopped, or the first Amaryllis blossom.

I wear my good blazer to the market. My theory is if I look prosperous, I can shell out $28.49 for one small bag of groceries. I'm not saving my good perfume for special parties, but wearing it for clerks in the hardware store and tellers at the bank.

"Someday" and "one of these days" are losing their grip on my vocabulary. If it's worth seeing or hearing or doing, I want to see and hear and do it now

I'm not sure what others would've done had they known they wouldn't be here for the tomorrow that we all take for granted. I think they would have called family members and a few close friends. They might have called a few former friends to apologize and mend fences for past squabbles. I like to think they would have gone out for a Chinese dinner or for whatever their favorite food was.

I'm guessing; I'll never know.

It's those little things left undone that would make me angry if I knew my hours were limited. Angry because I hadn't written certain letters that I intended to write one of these days. Angry and sorry that I didn't tell my husband and parents often enough how much I truly love them. I'm trying very hard not to put off, hold back, or save anything that would add laughter and luster to our lives. And every morning when I open my eyes, tell myself that it is special.

Every day, every minute, every breath truly is a gift from God.

Life may not be the party we hoped for, but while we are here we might as well dance

"The Green Thing"

2011-08-08T09:12:00.000-07:00

From a good blogging friend ... http://ninure.wordpress.com/2011/08/08/the-green-thing/

The Green Thing

In the line at the store, the cashier told an older woman that she should bring her own grocery bags because plastic bags weren't good for the environment. The woman apologized and explained, "We didn't have the green thing back in my day."

The clerk responded, "That's our problem today. Your generation did not care enough to save our environment." He was right -- our generation didn't have the green thing in its day.

Back then, we returned milk bottles, soda bottles and beer bottles to the store. The store sent them back to the plant to be washed and sterilized and refilled, so it could use the same bottles over and over. So they really were recycled. ………. But we didn't have the green thing back in our day.

We walked up stairs, because we didn't have an escalator in every store and office building. We walked to the grocery store and didn't climb into a 300-horsepower machine every time we had to go two blocks. ………. We didn't have the green thing in our day.

Back then, we washed the baby's diapers because we didn't have the throw-away kind. We dried clothes on a line, not in an energy gobbling machine burning up 220 volts -- wind and solar power really did dry the clothes. Kids got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always brand-new clothing. ………. We didn't have the green thing back in our day.

We had one TV, or radio, in the house -- not a TV in every room. And the TV had a small screen the size of a handkerchief (remember them?), not a screen the size of the state of Montana. In the kitchen, we blended and stirred by hand because we didn't have electric machines to do everything for us. When we packaged a fragile item to send in the mail, we used a wadded up old newspaper to cushion it, not Styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap. ………. We didn't have the green thing back in our day.

Back then, we didn't fire up an engine and burn gasoline just to cut the lawn. We used a push mower that ran on human power. We exercised by working so we didn't need to go to a health club to run on treadmills that operate on electricity. ………. We didn't have the green thing back in our day.

We drank from a fountain when we were thirsty instead of using a cup or a plastic bottle every time we had a drink of water. We refilled writing pens with ink instead of buying a new pen, and we replaced the razor blades in a razor instead of throwing away the whole razor just because the blade got dull. ………. We didn't have the green thing back in our day.

Back then, people took the streetcar or a bus and kids rode their bikes to school or walked instead of turning their moms into a 24-hour taxi service. We had one electrical outlet in a room, not an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances. And we didn't need a computerized gadget to receive a signal beamed from satellites 2,000 miles out in space in order to find the nearest pizza joint.

But isn't it sad that the current generation laments how wasteful we old folks were just because we didn't have the green thing back then?

huithiang!: THE CANTOR AND THE CLANSMAN

2011-08-05T05:58:00.000-07:00

THE CANTOR AND THE CLANSMAN: "One sunny Sunday morning in June 1991, Cantor Michael Weisser and his wife, Julie, surrounded by half-unpacked boxes in the kitchen of thei..."

Love changes the heart of a hateful man ... because hate grows where love is denied, and he was a man reared in home with too little love, and so hatred entered in, until love came a-calling.

Faithfulness - Over the Long Haul

2011-07-29T09:39:00.000-07:00

Just finished reading a newsletter from a church I served many years ago.

Along with new names I've never known, lots of old names still working, serving, loving and sustaining, and their children, too.

Commitment, faithfulness - can these words mean anything less than the Long Haul?

I don't think so ... anything less than the Long Haul is likely to be at our pleasure or discretion. The Long Haul requires something bigger than momentary interests or personal desires.

As I read the note, I felt a great sense of gratitude well up within me. After all, I know some of these stories, and I know that servering over the Long Haul isn't always easy, and not always rewarding. But these servants of the Lord have discovered one of the great secrets of life - giving is always in season, even when it isn't.

And in such serving, the soul is shaped into something grand.

The image of Christ.

Basic Advice for the day!

2011-07-07T06:12:00.000-07:00

Be of good cheer; watch your tongue; be alert to one another; pay attention to your soul; don't worry about how you pray, just pray as you can; read your Bible a little bit every day, or most every day (just five minutes: no more or no less - and it'll add up); count your blessings; give at least three compliments a day; stop now and then and say, "I'm really glad to be here!" ... savor your food; stop, look and listen; don't be nosey; trust the people around you - they're doing their best, and let them know you appreciate their labor; don't be in a hurry all the time; look at yourself in the mirror and pull a few faces and have a good laugh at yourself; eat a good breakfast; and remind yourself to trust God a little bit more every day!

"The Tao of Touch" by Marge Piercy

2011-06-21T08:35:00.000-07:00


	The tao of touch by Marge Piercy What magic does touch create that we crave it so. That babies do not thrive without it. That the nurse who cuts tough nails and sands calluses on the elderly tells me sometimes men weep as she rubs lotion on their feet. Yet the touch of a stranger the bumping or predatory thrust in the subway is like a slap. We long for the familiar, the open palm of love, its tender fingers. It is our hands that tamed cats into pets, not our food. The widow looks in the mirror thinking, no one will ever touch me again, never. Not hold me. Not caress the softness of my breasts, my inner thighs, the swell of my belly. Do I still live if no one knows my body? We touch each other so many ways, in curiosity, in anger, to command attention, to soothe, to quiet, to rouse, to cure. Touch is our first language and often, our last as the breath ebbs and a hand closes our eyes. "The tao of touch" by Marge Piercy, from The Hunger Moon: New & Selected Poems, 1980-2010. © Alfred A. Knopf, 2011. Reprinted with permission. From Garrison Keillor's The Writer's Almanac, May 5, 2011.

Voting for Amendment 10-A Today

2011-05-10T06:02:00.000-07:00

I've prepared the following floor statement - don't know if I'll have the opportunity to speak, but if I do, this is what I'll read:

Sisters and Brothers, I voted for The Way Forward, not because I was happy with it, but because I trusted the Task Force that crafted it, and because I believed that it could give us some much-needed breathing room.

I will vote for Amendment 10-A for the same reason – it will give to all of us breathing room, though we have our preferences for the kind of air we breath.

We have a unique opportunity to show the world that we’re slightly different than the usual squabbling that characterizes so much of our contemporary discourse.

The world is not much interested in what any of us believe, but very interested in how we live.

Our witness to the world is very much a matter of how we love one another. And to love only those who are in agreement with us hardly qualifies as love at all. Love suffers, because it suffers one another.

I don’t have all the answers, and none of us do. Though we’d all like to think otherwise. Like the disciples on the road to Emmaus, Jesus often keeps our eyes closed, and then, when the time is right, opens them up, and we see Jesus, but only for a moment. Then it’s up to us to leave the Table and run back to Jerusalem, as fast as our feet can carry us, to join hands with all the other disciples.

Today, we have a chance to break the logjam … clear the air … and return to the ordaining bodies the rights and responsibilities of ordination.

Will this solve all of our problems? Nothing ever does. But it will help us start moving again, however the Spirit should move us, and however moved we are, may it only be toward one another, with a greater respect for one another’s integrity, sense of mission, and how we do church.

With a final recognition, that we’re all in this together. While we may not see eye-to-eye, it’s Christ who links us together arm-in-arm.

I invite you to join with me in an affirmative vote for Amendment 10-A.

A Friend's Faith

2011-04-25T09:04:00.000-07:00

A journey of faith through the valleys and mountains of a husband's stroke. Every day, signs of hope, and then signs of setback, too.

What has touched me so deeply is her easy integration of faith and church into the ordeal. Faith soars and plummets, like a swift in flight. Church and prayers and friends and concerts hold her soul together, and often bring tears. There's a level of comfort here that speaks of a mature faith nurtured over the years, with good theology and Bible and steady patterns of worship.

She's what some would call a "mainline" Christian.

As I write and think about her faith, I reflect upon something that has bothered me for years - the need of so many "evangelicals" to prove the "power" of their god and the "miracle-working wonders" of their faith. Frankly, it's all talk, and mutual hype - a lot of fury to keep the illusions going.

No wonder evangelicals are up tight. It's tough to maintain a false front of hope and victory and courage and smiles and Jesus talk. Anyone who raises a question is shouted down. Those who express doubt are labeled "backsliders." Writers and preachers who question the standard lines of thought are treated as "heretics."

How much better when nothing needs proving, because of Christ Jesus.

The cross and the tomb, his wisdom and his love, and the mystery of the resurrection - what else is there to prove?

Why must Christians always be proving their faith? Is this some kind of competitive one-upsmanship? What's the point?

For my friend, the journey through these demanding days is as natural as breathing - in and out, up and down, good and bad, fear and faith, hope and sorrow, friends and family and church and sacred concerts and hymns and sermons.

I'm grateful to share a bit in my friend's journey, through her postings, and the musings of her children. They hope for the best; fear for the worst. They're flesh and blood, as we all are. And mortal, too. Dadgum it all!

Faith, if it's faith at all, is not some cosmetic heavily layered on to hide wrinkles and blemishes. Faith is something deep within, something that understands and welcomes the foibles and failings of mortal flesh, even as we rejoice in the wonder and glory of God's love for us.

We have nothing to prove to the world, because God has already done that, and continues to prove to the world through sunrise and sunset and pot luck dinners and preachers struggling to proclaim the word and little old ladies with blue hair and children and grandchildren singing hymns and organs and pianos and love divine and folks who strive for justice and folks who dream big dreams for a better world.

Nothing to prove, so that we can be at peace with who we are and the way life is.

Nothing to prove, so that we can live amidst the hopes and tears of real life.

Nothing to prove, so that we can love fiercely and deeply and powerfully, and cry, as well, when the darker moments come to us.

Nothing to prove.

And everything to live.

And to God be the glory.

Resurrection Ahead ...

2011-04-22T17:36:00.000-07:00

Dear Friends and Members of Calvary Presbyterian Church,

Because Christ is Risen from the dead, we are, too.

There are many dimensions to resurrection:

A personal dimension. In Christ, we have courage to face the many trials that come our way; we have patience in dealing with difficult situations; we extend grace to others who are troubled and sad; we are quick to forgive, even when others can’t apologize; we are quick to offer apologies when we’re wrong; we’re humble about our achievements, because everything is a gift of God, and whatever we have is only for God’s glory and the blessing of others. Our life, here and now, is held in the arms of the everlasting God, and it’s God who tells us to keep our eyes upon Christ and keeps our feet moving in the right direction. Because of Christ, we do not give up!
A missional dimension. We reach out with the gospel, and we invite others to look to Christ and join with us in God’s effort to redeem all of creation and lift people out of despair. We join with others of good will and peace all around the world. In God’s wisdom, a world of many languages is the best of all possible world. We send out missionaries to tell others of Christ, and in the telling, we dig water wells, we build hospitals, we help nations fight AIDS, we promote peace and we build bridges of understanding. We cannot and will not look upon others in a way other than seeing everyone as a child of God, whatever their persuasion or faith or color or creed might be. When we look for good will we find it; when we seek peace, we see it; when we offer forgiveness, we are forgiven, when we build up, we are built up, too.
A citizenship dimension. In Christ, we are people of peace and reconciliation. We are not impressed with military might or corporate power. We are sensitive to God’s creation, and all God’s creatures, great and small, and we work for a healthier planet. In the Risen Christ, we see God’s love for all the world and for all the nations, and we are careful about over-exuberant flag-waving and sword rattling. In Christ, we are wise about the sins of our own nation, even as we’re humbled by our personal sins. Furthermore, we are citizens of this land and this place, and as Jeremiah counseled the people to seek the welfare of the land in which they were living, so we seek our nation’s welfare, too. Not at the expense of others, but in concert with all of God’s creation. We pay our taxes, serve on juries, pray for our elected and appointed officials, spread good cheer and practice hope.
A fellowship dimension. In the triumphant love of Christ, the Holy Spirit builds bridges of love all over the place. We look upon one another through the eyes of Christ, and through our eyes, Christ looks out upon the world. As Paul says, We no longer regard one another from a human point of view … as just so much flesh and blood and bone, but we see one another as God’s precious people, each created in God’s image and endowed with fine gifts. We are pained by the ways religion and society can exclude people. In Christ, our arms are open to all, and all are welcomed at the Table of the LORD. On the local level, right here at Calvary on the Boulevard, we live out the fullness of God’s love by loving one another: we open our homes and hearts to one another, we give and receive our talents, we hold hands in prayer, we hold one another up in sorrow, we walk arm-in-arm in the great work of Jesus Christ.
A worship dimension. Our worship is joyful and hopeful. Because God is at work in all things for good. We gather for worship to celebrate the love of God and the world that’s coming our way. It’s a good world, and every prayer we utter, every good deed we offer, every kind word and every positive thought makes a lasting difference. And we’re serious, as well, because sin and oppression are real, and we take these seriously. We do not ignore the dark materials that flow around us and inside of us. We weep with those who weep, and we rejoice with those who rejoice. We confess our sin and the sins of the world and embrace the power of forgiveness.
An eternal dimension. Death doesn’t have the last word! Yes, we all must die, because we’re mortal, and “dust to dust” is still the truth about life. But God loves the dust; indeed, God loves all of creation, and God promises a new heaven and a new earth. The end of all things is Christ. A Cosmic Christ, the Creator Christ, the Word of God, in whom all things are being reconciled – when there are no more tears, no more sorrow, no more separation and no more hurt. Only light and peace and goodness and joy. This is where it’s all headed, and by the grace of God, no one is left behind!

To God be the glory! Christ is risen.

Tina Fey's Prayer.

2011-04-18T07:45:00.000-07:00

First, Lord: No tattoos. May neither Chinese symbol for truth nor Winnie-the-Pooh holding the FSU logo stain her tender haunches.

May she be Beautiful but not Damaged, for it’s the Damage that draws the creepy soccer coach’s eye, not the Bea...uty.

When the Crystal Meth is offered, May she remember the parents who cut her grapes in half And stick with Beer.

Guide her, protect her
When crossing the street, stepping onto boats, swimming in the ocean, swimming in pools, walking near pools, standing on the subway platform, crossing 86th Street, stepping off of boats, using mall restrooms, getting on and off escalators, driving on country roads while arguing, leaning on large windows, walking in parking lots, riding Ferris wheels, roller-coasters, log flumes, or anything called “Hell Drop,” “Tower of Torture,” or “The Death Spiral Rock ‘N Zero G Roll featuring Aerosmith,” and standing on any kind of balcony ever, anywhere, at any age.

Lead her away from Acting but not all the way to Finance. Something where she can make her own hours but still feel intellectually fulfilled and get outside sometimes And not have to wear high heels.

What would that be, Lord? Architecture? Midwifery? Golf course design? I’m asking You, because if I knew, I’d be doing it, Youdammit.

May she play the Drums to the fiery rhythm of her Own Heart with the sinewy strength of her Own Arms, so she need Not Lie With Drummers.

Grant her a Rough Patch from twelve to seventeen. Let her draw horses and be interested in Barbies for much too long, For childhood is short - a Tiger Flower blooming Magenta for one day - And adulthood is long and dry-humping in cars will wait.

O Lord, break the Internet forever, That she may be spared the misspelled invective of her peers And the online marketing campaign for Rape Hostel V: Girls Just Wanna Get Stabbed.

And when she one day turns on me and calls me a Bitch in front of Hollister, Give me the strength, Lord, to yank her directly into a cab in front of her friends, For I will not have that Shit. I will not have it.

And should she choose to be a Mother one day, be my eyes, Lord, that I may see her, lying on a blanket on the floor at 4:50 A.M., all-at-once exhausted, bored, and in love with the little creature whose poop is leaking up its back.

“My mother did this for me once,” she will realize as she cleans feces off her baby’s neck. “My mother did this for me.” And the delayed gratitude will wash over her as it does each generation and she will make a Mental Note to call me. And she will forget. But I’ll know, because I peeped it with Your God eyes.

Amen.

-An excerpt from Tina Fey's new book -Bossypants, 2011

A Holy Week Blessing

2011-04-15T07:56:00.000-07:00

May you have,

Eyes to see the sun that shines upon your pathway,

Ears to hear the voices of your friends and neighbors,

A voice to say with hope and fortitude, "Jesus my Lord",

Hands ready to help, and

Feet eager to follow Jesus.

The Deadly Power of Tradition

2011-03-11T17:51:00.000-08:00

A poem by Sam Walter Foss (1858 - 1911)

The Calf Path

One day thru the primeval wood
A calf walked home, as good calves should;
But made a trail, all bent askew,
A crooked trail, as all calves do.
Since then 300 years have fled,
And I infer the calf is dead.
But still, he left behind his trail
And thereby hangs my mortal tale.

The trail was taken up next day
By a lone dog that passed that way.
And then, a wise bell weathered sheep
Pursued the trail, o'er~vale and steep,
And drew the flocks behind him too
As good bell weathers always do.
And from that day, o'er hill and glade
Thru those old woods, a path was made.

And many men wound in and out,
And dodged, and turned, and bent about,
And uttered words of righteous wrath
Because 'twas such a crooked path,
But still they followed, do not laugh,
The first migrations of that calf.
And thru the winding woods they stalked
Because he wobbled when he walked.

This forest path became a lane
That bent, and turned, and turned again.
This crooked lane became a road
Where many a poor horse with his load
Toiled on beneath the burning sun
And traveled some three miles in one.
And thus a century and a half
They trod the footsteps of that calf.

The years passed on in swiftness fleet,
The road became a village street.
And this, before men were aware,
A city's crowed thoroughfare.
And soon the central street was this
Of a renowned metropolis.
And men, two centuries and a half
Trod the footsteps of that calf.

Each day a 100 thousand route
Followed the zig-zag calf about,
And o'er his crooked journey went
The traffic of a continent.
A 100 thousand men were led
By one calf, near three centuries dead.
They followed still his crooked way
And lost 100 years per day.
For this such reverence is lent
To well establish precedent.

A moral lesson this might teach
Were I ordained , and called to preach.
For men are prone to go it blind
Along the calf paths of the mind,
And work away from sun to sun
To do what other men have done.
They follow in the beaten track,
And out, and in, and forth, and back,
And still their devious course pursue
To keep the paths that others do.

They keep the paths a sacred groove
Along which all their lives they move.
But how the wise old wood gods laugh
Who saw that first primeval calf.
Ah, many things this tale might teach,
But I am not ordained to preach.

Predestination: Some Thoughts

2011-03-11T09:40:00.000-08:00

from an email sent to a friend inquiring on behalf of a friend:

Dear xxx,

All we can do is dance around the fire of God's love ... we cannot jump into it, or it'll burn us up.

Calvin jumped into it, and so did Augustine ... theologians jump in where angels fear to tread.

I think your friend has a good handle on it ... leaving plenty of room for all the dark stuff that happens, yet, years later, finding evidence of God's hand.

Calvin left us a legacy of "certainty" that doesn't stand up, either in Scripture or in experience ... but at the core of his work, we find an abiding faith in a very good God who is at work in ALL things for good.

I think pre-destination has to be taken in the largest sense possible - as Paul works with it and uses the terminology. But to examine it under the microscope of human suffering brings us to an impasse - which Calvin defended by saying, "Who of us can attack the character of God? Who of us knows anything?" But I think such a defense is unnecessary is we can see how much God suffers in the story, culminating in the cross. To live in this age, even for God, is to suffer.

The all-powerful "God of the Middle Ages," who looked and behaved more like an emperor than the God and Father of Jesus, the God of Genesis and the God of the Prophets, has left us a bad legacy, filtered through Calvinism. The God who is above everything, impassive and all-controlling, is NOT the God of the Bible.

Yet Calvin's point remains important - history, with all its dark materials, is undergirded by the hand of God.

Leslie Weatherhead (1893-1976), British theologian, wrote a fine little book entitled, "The Will of God" (1944) - wherein he details three dimensions to God's will: intentional, circumstantial and ultimate.

I think your friend has been dancing around the fire quite well.

Your comments seem equally appropriate and accurate.

We can only whisper the things of God that elude us; but of the things of God that we know for sure, we can shout to the highest mountains.

Blessings ...

Tom

Some Thoughts about Eternity & Good Friends

2011-03-03T09:49:00.001-08:00

With friends like you, and the world in which we live, it'll never stop for sure. As for eternity, I've often taught that we all shall find and enjoy what has been our deepest and richest pleasures, and, for me, the life of the mind, ideas, books, and friends and coffee, will my eternity ... and God will even stop in now and then to have coffee with us all.

Today, All Kinds of Decisions

2011-02-23T07:45:00.000-08:00

Today, all kinds of decisions, mostly small.

But everyone of them will involve someone else's wellbeing.

We live in a vast network, mostly unnoticed.

But maybe today, we can pay closer attention.

Who knows who or what we'll see?

Who knows how that will affect our decisions?

Tom

God at Work in All Things ...

2011-02-10T10:02:00.000-08:00

God is at work in ALL things for good.

All is a big word, isn't it?

Big enough to cover all of it.

It wouldn't do us much good if we said, "some" - God is at work in "some" things.

We'd be forever trying to figure "some" out, and never sure if "this moment" was one of those things in which God was at work.

All is a big word, because God is big, and so is God's love!

So, whatever life throws at us, whatever comes along, God is there ... we don't always know how, but we know for sure, that God is at work, in ALL things, for good!

So be of good cheer, and trust the outcome! God's hand is in it, and God's hand is good.

An Erev Purim Story

2011-01-09T18:48:00.000-08:00

A wonderful Erev Purim story.

Beautiful story..... Makes you understand that things happen for a reason.
The brand new Rabbi and his wife, newly assigned
to their first Congregation, to reopen a shul in suburban Brooklyn , arrived in early February
excited about their opportunities. When they saw
their Shul, it was very run down and needed
much work. They set a goal to have everything

done in time to have their first service on Erev Puirm.

They worked hard, repairing aged pews, plastering walls,
painting, etc, and on 8th of the Adar (February 17th) they were ahead of schedule and just about finished.

On February 19 a terrible tempest - a snowstorm hit the area and lasted for two days.

On the 21st, the Rabbi went over to the Shul.
His heart sank when he saw that the roof had leaked, causing a large area of plaster about
20 feet by 8 feet to fall off the front wall of the sanctuary just behind the pulpit,
beginning about head high.

The Rabbi cleaned up the mess on the floor,
and not knowing what else to do but postpone the Erev Purim service, headed home.
On the way he noticed that a local business was
having a flea market type sale for charity, so he stopped in. One of the items was a beautiful,
handmade, ivory colored, crocheted tablecloth
with exquisite work, fine colors and a Mogen David embroidered right in the center. It was just
the right size to cover the hole in the front wall. He bought it and headed back to the Shul.

By this time it had started to snow. An older
woman running from the opposite direction was
trying to catch the bus. She missed it. The Rabbi
invited her to wait in the warm Shul for the next bus 45 minutes later.

She sat in a pew and paid no attention to the Rabbi
while he got a ladder, hangers, etc., to put up the tablecloth as a wall tapestry. The Rabbi
could hardly believe how beautiful it looked and it covered up the entire problem area.
Then he noticed the woman walking down the center
aisle. Her face was like a sheet. "Rabbi, "she asked, "where did you get that tablecloth?"
The Rabbi explained. The woman asked him to check
the lower right corner to see if the initials, EBG were crocheted into
it there. They were. These were the initials of the woman, and she had made this tablecloth 35 years before, in Poland.
The woman could hardly believe it as the Rabbi

told how he had just gotten "The Tablecloth".

The woman explained that before the war she and her husband were well-to-do people in Poland.

When the Nazis came, she was forced to leave.
Her husband was going to follow her the next week.
He was captured, sent to a camp and never saw her
husband or her home again.

The Rabbi wanted to give her the tablecloth;
but she made the Rabbi keep it for the Shul.
The Rabbi insisted on driving her home. That was the least he could do. She lived on the other
side of Staten Island and was only in Brooklyn for the day for a housecleaning job.

What a wonderful service they had on Erev Purim .

The Shul was almost full.

The Service was great.

At the end of the service,

the Rabbi and his wife greeted everyone at the door and many said that they would return.

One older man,

whom the Rabbi recognized from the neighborhood continued to sit in one of the pews and stare,

and the Rabbi wondered why he wasn't leaving.
The man asked him where he got the tablecloth on the front wall

because it was identical to one that his wife had made years ago when they lived in Poland before the war and how
could there be two tablecloths so much alike?
He told the Rabbi how the Nazis came, how he
forced his wife to flee for her safety and he was
supposed to follow her, but he was arrested and
put in a camp. He never saw his wife or his home
again all the 35 years between.
The Rabbi asked him if he would allow him to
take him for a little ride. They drove to Staten Island and to the same house where the Rabbi
had taken the woman three days earlier.

He helped the man climb the three flights of stairs to the woman's apartment, knocked on
the door and he saw the greatest Erev Purim reunion he could ever imagine.

Based on a true Story

God does work in mysterious ways.
I asked the Lord to bless you as I prayed for you today, to guide you and protect you as you go
along your way. His love is always with you. His
promises are true, and when we give Him all our cares we know He will see us through.

So when the road you're traveling seems difficult at best, just remember I'm here
praying and God will do the rest. Pass this on to those you want God to bless and remember
to send it back to the one who asked God to bless
you first.

When there is nothing left but God, that is when you find out that God is all you need.
Take 60 seconds and give this a shot!

All you do is simply
say the following small prayer for the person who sent this to you.

God, bless all my friends and family in what
ever it is that You know they may be needing this
day! May their lives be full of Your peace,
prosperity and power as they seek to have a closer relationship with You.

Amen.

It is the Night - from a dear FB friend ...

2010-12-24T14:28:00.000-08:00

It is the Night

by Amy Shinn Sayers on Friday, December 24, 2010 at 1:08pm

I wrote this last year in the wee hours of the morning on Christmas-thought I'd share it again with you this year.

Much Love~

Amy

It is the night

It is this night

For many years I have tried to picture the setting

in my mind's eye

And while I have many times been moved by its awesomeness

It is this Eve of Christmas

that God would have me feel the tremendous weight of it all

I see the reality of a manger for a crib

I hear the night sounds of an ancient Bethlehem

I smell the stable sweetness-despite its common use

In these wee hours of morning

I have found that if I allow the intimate details

of this birth story to unfold within me

Then I can also taste the body that was broken~

the blood that was poured out-

for me.

And I am humbled

Who am I to want for so much~

when the One who created me

saw it fitting to allow His Son

to find comfort in a manger?

I begin to feel lowly and unworthy

when I compare my earthly desires

to this moment

And yet God's Spirit touches me

And this is what He would have me know~

It is the night

It is this night

that I offer to you, Amy

The Child I sent~ was for you

And suddenly I am aware

That on this night~

I received the greatest gift of all.

Final Advent Thoughts

2010-12-24T10:51:00.000-08:00

As we bring the Season of Advent to a close with the lighting of the Christ Candle tonight, we end a chapter in the story of our Faith, and open anew, the ageless story of God with us, in every respect. Small towns and big cities, rich and poor, foreigner and citizen - for God so loved the world.

May the brightness of the star illumine our darkness ...

May the tenacity of the wise men, who dared to follow a star, encourage us in our journey ...

May the joy of the shepherds impel us to make our own trek to Bethlehem to see what the angels have told us ...

May Herod's anger be a sobering reminder that powerful interests have their own agenda ...

May the flight of the Holy Family to Egypt give us hope in tough times ... and ...

May the promise of Scripture - that all of these many and varied pieces were part of a Master Plan, the fulfilling of Scripture - give us peace and determination to keep up the good work of loving and serving Christ - because God's hand is yet upon the flow of history, to keep God's purpose and God's love alive, and to maintain our life together on this planet, a planet that God so dearly loves

A Christmas Story - A Baby's Hug

2010-12-10T14:22:00.001-08:00

From a friend ...

~ A Baby's Hug ~

We were the only family with children in the restaurant.
I sat Erik in a high chair and noticed everyone was quietly sitting and talking.

Suddenly, Erik squealed with glee and said, 'Hi.' He pounded his fat baby hands on the high chair tray. His eyes were crinkled in laughter and his mouth was bared in a toothless grin, as he wriggled and giggled with merriment.

I looked around and saw the source of his merriment. It was a man whose pants were baggy with a zipper at half-mast and his toes poked out of would-be shoes. His shirt was dirty and his hair was uncombed and unwashed. His whiskers were too short to be called a beard and his nose was so varicose it looked like a road map.

We were too far from him to smell, but I was sure he smelled. His hands waved and flapped on loose wrists. 'Hi there, baby; hi there, big boy. I see ya, buster,' the man said to Erik.

My husband and I exchanged looks, 'What do we do?'

Erik continued to laugh and answer, 'Hi.' Everyone in the restaurant noticed and looked at us and then at the man.

The old geezer was creating a nuisance with my beautiful baby. Our meal came and the man began shouting from across the room, 'Do ya patty cake? Do you know peek-a-boo? Hey, look, he knows peek- a-boo.' Nobody thought the old man was cute. He was obviously drunk. My husband and I were embarrassed. We ate in silence; all except for Erik, who was running through his repertoire for the admiring skid-row bum, who in turn, reciprocated with his cute comments.

We finally got through the meal and headed for the door. My husband went to pay the check and told me to meet him in the parking lot. The old man sat poised between me and the door. 'Lord, just let me out of here before he speaks to me or Erik,' I prayed. As I drew closer to the man, I turned my back trying to sidestep him and avoid any air he might be breathing. As I did, Erik leaned over my arm, reaching with both arms in a baby's 'pick-me-up' position. Before I could stop him, Erik had propelled himself from my arms to the man. Suddenly a very old smelly man and a very young baby consummated their love and kinship.

Erik in an act of total trust, love, and submission laid his tiny head upon the man's ragged shoulder. The man's eyes closed, and I saw tears hover beneath his lashes. His aged hands full of grime, pain, and hard labor, cradled my baby's bottom and stroked his back. No two beings have ever loved so deeply for so short a time.

I stood awestruck. The old man rocked and cradled Erik in his arms and his eyes opened and set squarely on mine. He said in a firm commanding voice, 'You take care of this baby.' Somehow I managed, 'I will,' from a throat that contained a stone. He pried Erik from his chest, lovingly and longingly, as though he were in pain.

I received my baby, and the man said, 'God bless you, ma'am, you've given me my Christmas gift.' I said nothing more than a muttered thanks.

With Erik in my arms, I ran for the car. My husband was wondering why I was crying and holding Erik so tightly, and why I was saying, 'My God, my God, forgive me.'

I had just witnessed Christ's love shown through the innocence of a tiny child who saw no sin, who made no judgment; a child who saw a soul, and a mother who saw a suit of clothes. I was a Christian who was blind, holding a child who was not. I felt it was God asking, 'Are you willing to share your son for a moment? when He shared His for all eternity. The ragged old man, unwittingly, had reminded me, 'To enter the Kingdom of God , we must become as little children.'

Today Will Be a Good Day

2010-12-08T07:00:00.000-08:00

Today will be a good day ... maybe hard, maybe sad, but every day occurs under heaven's watchful eye ...
Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

The Presbyterian Layman ...

2010-11-01T12:07:00.000-07:00

From my Presbyterian Outlook blog, posted 11.1.10 ...

I'm in a good mood this morning, so I decided to pick up, with trembling hand, of course, the latest screed on the decline of all things PCUSA (The Layman) ... and, of course, the rising stars of the PCA and EPC, and all such related groups.

Well, I'm still in good mood, doubly glad that I'm not in their camp. It has to be mighty difficult for them, living in a world threatened with PCUSA evils ... sort of like living in the Poltergeist 1 home.

What I don't understand is the lack of joy in The Layman ... just so much anger, bitterness ... and the constant drumbeat of PCUSA's sins ... and a bizarre gleefulness over every perceived "failure" or "fault" in the PCUSA.

As I read the letters to the editors, I was impressed with the depths of hatred therein. I get the feeling that The Layman and the FOX Network are strolling along, hand-in-hand.

Amazing.

Whatever else this is, it's not healthy.

Of course, it's all defended in the name of Jesus, whom they're defending, or so they think, as if Jesus even needed our help. The Layman clearly illustrates the adage, "With friends like this, who needs enemies?"

There are times I wonder if it's worthwhile to say anything. But as long as The Layman continues to shout is blasphemies, I'll shout out the grace of God in Christ. As long as The Layman continues to claim to have the upper hand on God's truth, I'll protest. As long as the Layman claims to have the moral high ground on life, I'll point out how immoral their mindset it.

Anyway, I'm delighted to be where I am, and who I am, and I thank God for the grace to be here.

What's a Good Day Like?

2010-10-20T07:24:00.000-07:00

What constitutes a good day?

May your coffee taste good.

May a friend surprise you with a gift.

May your health be sound, and if it isn’t, may your spirit be confident.

And if your spirit suffers today, the clouds will pass.

And God is there, in all of it, with grace, mercy and peace.

I am with you always, says Christ.

And he means it.

Have a good day!

Help my Peace Corps son fly to his sister's wedding

2010-10-15T20:45:00.001-07:00

The Power of ...

2010-10-15T12:11:00.000-07:00

Today, when faced with possibilities, or challenges, think of the power of the word Yes!

Yes, I can do it.

Yes, I have what it takes.

Yes, I am a person of worth.

Yes, I will think my way through the problem.

Yes, I can overcome the difficulties and find solutions.

And for others:

Yes, I believe YOU can do it.

Yes, go ahead.

Yes, why not?

Yes, of course.

Yes, yes, yes.

Who knows what opportunities are waiting for you to say Yes.

And think of all the people on the edge of something good, and all they need to hear is YOU say Yes to them.

Patience and Dreams

2010-09-14T07:39:00.000-07:00

Ever feel like giving up?

Sure, we've all been there, and sometimes it right to give up and change course, but I suspect a lot of good things have been lost by quitting too early.

If there's ever a lesson about hanging in their and following the dream, it's this fine little story from the September 14, 2010, LA Times - "There Reward Is a Long-Time Coming" ... about long-term minor league ball plays who are finally called up to the majors. Click HERE to read.

Reminds me of something Jesus said: “Whoever is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much; and whoever is dishonest ina very little is dishonest also in much" [Luke 16:10].

So hang in there friend ... keep the dream alive ... you may have to slug it out for years in the minors. But who knows when the time will come for you're call to the majors.

Tom

Merciful God, I pray thee to grant me, if it please thee, ardor to desire thee, diligence to seek thee, wisdom to know thee and skill to speak to the glory of thy name. Amen (Thomas Aquinas)

Remembering the Fallen Firefighters

2010-09-13T13:09:00.000-07:00

From my very good friend and fine writer, Bob Orr - a tradition that began for him on 9/11:

Yesterday I got my bunch of sunflowers and prepared. This morning (pre-dawn at 5 am) I drove to our Canton Fire Station No. 1 and placed the bouquet outside their front door with a simple card "Remembering the Fallen Firefighters of 9-11 - Thank You". I've done this for nine years now. The memories are vivid of that day for many. One of the things I remember is other fire departments (some many states away) sending firefighters to New York city to assist. I remember my Dad and his career of forty plus years of service as a firefighter in my hometown in northern Indiana. It's hard to imagine someone trained to race into a burning fire when our natural human instinct is to flee. We can't thank them enough.
Peace and prayers,
Bob

Remembering 9/11

2010-09-11T08:56:00.000-07:00

Nine years ago today, the Twin Trade Towers in Lower Manhattan fell to the ground, and with them, 3000 lives.

Today, we remember.

And we learn … as Lewis Carroll noted in Through the Looking Glass, “It’s a poor memory that only works backwards.

From Terry Jones, we learn the sad lessons of remembering backwards.

From Susan Retik, we learn the lessons of remembering forward.

“In the shattering aftermath of Sept. 11, 2001, Ms. Retik bonded with another woman, Patti Quigley, whose husband had also died in the attack. They lived near each other, and both were pregnant with babies who would never see their fathers.

Devastated themselves, they realized that there were more than half a million widows in Afghanistan — and then, with war, there would be even more. Ms. Retik and Ms. Quigley also saw that Afghan widows could be a stabilizing force in that country.

So at a time when the American government reacted to the horror of 9/11 mostly with missiles and bombs, detentions and waterboardings, Ms. Retik and Ms. Quigley turned to education and poverty-alleviation projects — in the very country that had incubated a plot that had pulverized their lives” [“The Healers of 9/11” - By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF, Published: September 8, 2010, New York Times op-ed].

On ABC this weekend, a remarkable story of some 9/11 children, who were only infants when they lost their fathers, now left with only their father’s DNA and mementoes of a man they will never know.

Yes, they grieve, as only a child can, with a remarkable degree of depth and innocence.

Their grief is holy, and we must not sully it with the debris of only a backward memory.

With you today, I remember – but more than what was, we best remember what will be, with decisions made like that of Ms. Retik, and millions of others ,who choose their better angels and build a better world.

California Statehood - by Garrison Keillor

2010-09-09T09:28:00.000-07:00

From Garrison Keillor's "The Writer's Almanac" ... for Sept. 9, 2010

On this day 160 years ago, California became a state. It was the 31st state admitted to the Union, just after Wisconsin and right before Minnesota.

It was a state born of the Compromise of 1850, an elaborate bargain between the North and the South over slavery. Under the compromise the territories of New Mexico and Utah would decide for themselves whether slavery were allowed, and California would be admitted to the Union as a free state.

In the late 1700s, California was settled by Spanish priests, who built missions up along the coastline. Mexico went to war against Spain to fight for independence, won, and so in 1821 got their independence. California was a part of the Mexican empire.

A couple of decades later, the United States was on its roll toward the West. In 1845, the U.S. annexed Texas, and California the year after.

The U.S. Congress declared war on Mexico, and sent in the U.S. Army and Navy to northern Mexican territory to crush resistance. The Mexican-American war lasted about two years.

When the badly defeated Mexican military gave up, and it was time for them to sign a peace treaty, the American troops occupied Mexico City. The U.S. more or less dictated the terms of the treaty to Mexico — the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo — and Mexico ended up losing a full 55 percent of the territory it had before the war.
The Gold Rush began in 1848, the population skyrocketed, and California became a state on this day in 1850, as part of that Compromise of 1850. It's now the most populated state America. And California's Central Valley is one of the most productive farming areas in the world, growing fruits, vegetables, and grains, and keeping a lot of dairy and meat cows. It's where about one-third of America's food comes from.

Non-California writer Truman Capote said, "It's a scientific fact that if you stay in California you lose one point of your IQ ever year." Comedian Fred Allen said, "California is a fine place to live — if you happen to be an orange."
Novelist Alison Lurie said, "As one went to Europe to see the living past, so one must visit Southern California to observe the future." San Francisco poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti called Southern California the place "where the American Dream came too true."

Garrison Keillor

Be of Good Cheer

2010-08-31T07:32:00.001-07:00

Dear Friends,

Be of good cheer, because you belong to Jesus Christ … we all do … the whole of humanity, and all creatures great and small.

Today, you will face challenges – it’s the nature of life to challenge us, even frighten us, because life is so large and we all know how tiny we are. The best way of meeting such a challenge is to be honest about it – life is huge and we’re tiny. And all the bravado in the world, all of our huffing and puffing and chest-thumping doesn’t change it one lick.

Huffing and puffing, we get red in the face.

Chest-thumping, we hurt ourselves.

In reality, we can only be truthful, and that means God!

And what God has given to us in Jesus Christ …

A cross in which the worst is met … and the empty tomb, in which the worst is overcome.

In Christ, we have our daily hope, our daily bread … in Christ, however the worst may come our way, whatever its dimensions, it has already been met in the cross of Christ, and overcome in the empty tomb … the risen Christ takes us by the hand through all of it.

So, be of good cheer.

Face your life with the faith of Christ – that Christ is faithful to us, no matter what … in all of life, and in all of death … in the best of times and in the worst of times … in body and soul, here and now, then and there – all of it, the whole of it – nothing overlooked and nothing beyond the work of grace.

Face your life with honesty … for we are small.

Face your life with faith … for Christ is good.

Live your life with good works … for this is the way of Christ.

Live your life for others … for this is the love of Christ.

Tom

August 18, 2010 - Cream for Your Coffee

2010-08-13T07:14:00.000-07:00

The courage to think outside the box!

Dr. Thomas C Peebles isolated the measles virus, and it was his discovery, early in his career that led to the vaccine now used so successfully.

Later in his career, Dr. Peebles wrote:

I am sure, as is often the case in scientific endeavor, that much of the successful recognition and isolation of this virus lay in perseverance, newness to the field, and failure to be bound by the preconceived ideas that caused others in the laboratory to miss this new effect. ~ from the LA Times, August 13, 2010.

Thinking outside the box is a hallmark of the heroes of our faith and the God whom they serve.

Folks like Sarah and Abraham think and live outside the box ... and Moses and a Deborah ... the prophets who dreamed the dreams of a just and faithful world for everyone ... the Apostle Paul who thought and lived outside the box and built bridges where others dug chasms ... and down through the centuries, the women and men who dreamed big and thought far and wide.

Sometimes they were called heretics and trouble-makers. Sometimes they were imprisoned or burned at the stake, as they followed the biggest out-of-the-box thinker of them all - Jesus of Nazareth. I always envision the moment in heaven when God announced that God's Son would be born in our midst, like one of us, and born humbly, in a stable in a small town in Palestine. I can only imagine angels, with their jaws dropped, hands held tightly to the sides of their head (Do angels say, O my God?) - because it was such a daring move on God's part.

When Jesus walked this good earth to announce that the Kingdom of God was close at hand, close enough for us to grasp it and begin to live it, some folks though he was nuts, or even dangerous, and when he suggested that it was possible to love God without the temple in Jerusalem, the temple-folks got hot and bothered and collaborated with their enemies, the Roman overlords, to do Jesus in. Because he dared to think outside the box - just like God. But those who thought they knew so much God couldn't stand the real God at all.

Because love is infinite.

The temple-people said, "No, it's not that big!" And Jesus said, "Yes it is, and bigger still."

It takes courage to live and think outside the box, but thank God for those who do.

Chances to think outside the box come our way infrequently (thankfully), but when they do, and today may be day for you, at work, with a friend, a new idea, a challenging opportunity - who knows - to think and live outside the box.

Others may advise caution, but sometimes we have to throw caution to the wind. Others may shout "tradition," but we may have to say, "Shed the shackles of tradition!"

Jesus did ... and so did Dr. Peeples.

We worship a God who always surprises us with daring ideas, and to everyone reading this today, live your courage!

August 4, 2010 - Cream for Your Coffee

2010-08-04T07:19:00.001-07:00

I may not be totally perfect, but parts of me are excellent!

~ Ashleigh Brilliant

Our lack of "perfection," whatever that may be, keeps us humble with others, and keeps us learning and growing. The excellent parts bring us joy and help us make a lasting contribution to our world.

Enjoy the day, it's the day the Lord has made for you.
You will meet people who test your spirit.
You will meet people who surprise you with their love.

You will meet yourself, coming and going.
You will read something good.
You will eat something delicious.

You will hear a bird sing and be delighted.
You will see a face and see the face of God.
You will say something profound and wonderful.

Someone will thank you.
Someone will bless you.
Someone will give you a helping hand.

Such is life ...
To God be the glory ...
And to all, a good day!

Pastor Tom

A Little Statement of Faith

2010-07-07T12:04:00.000-07:00

I believe in the goodness of life.
Because life is good.
I find good when I look for it.
I experience good when I want it.
My eyes are changed to see the good more clearly when I believe in God.
When I believe in God, it’s easier to believe in people.
Easier to believe in myself.
Easier to believe in the goodness of life and to live according to its goodness.
When I believe in God …
When I believe …
AMEN.

Keeping an Open Mind ... by Thomas R. Dickens

2010-05-13T13:38:00.000-07:00

Written by a friend and a member of Covenant Presbyterian Church.

"Keeping an Open Mind to things we don't really know - Concerning Creationism, Evolution and other theories..."

Dear All,

I have belonged to the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology for many years.

I can tell you a few facts as well as my own personal thoughts:

1. The Biblical book of Genesis does not negate Evolution - they go, for the most part, hand in hand, thus, there is no reason NOT to believe in Evolution - for Biblical reasons.

2. EVERY "Creationist" "fossil evidence" I have personally seen, or seen in photographs, is a complete, and shoddily done, fake. Dinosaur foot prints next to human, etc. The footprints are sculpted, and poorly at that, looking nothing like real fossil dinosaur footprints, but more like the feet of Barney the dinosaur. This is not only wrong, to dilute the true scientific discoveries with forgeries, but to do it in the name of trying to prove creationism to be true, in my opinion, is downright evil. No deception should be used to convince the validity of the Scriptures. There is not ONE reliable proof of creationism. The closest is a find of what are very loosely "human" shaped footprints next to therapod dinosaur footprints, but they are so deteriorated (and originally made in thick mud, they can not be defined with any authority what they are, though an explanation that they were made by a therapod with bitten off toes, hobbling on its ankles (rather than being made by humans), is plausible - after all this happens all the time with crocodiles).

3. A BIBLICAL word AGAINST creationism, and humans coexisting with prehistoric animals is that Noah didn't save ONE SPECIES of the millions of species of prehistoric life, now extinct? Why? Creationists have said they were too big to save.
a. that is no excuse.
b. not all dinosaurs, plesiosaurs, plyosaurs, pterosaurs, thecodonts, prehistoric amphibians, prehistoric crocodiles, prehistoric snakes, terror birds, ammonites, trilobites, club moss trees, horsetail trees, etc. were big. There were small species as well. Chicken sized dinosaurs, etc. Why didn't Noah save ONE SPECIES of ANY of these groups of life, now extinct? Because they never lived at the time of NOAH. They died out at least 65 Million years earlier.

4. Another proof that Creationism is bunk is to look at the sky. Unless the stars and galaxies in space are not real (but are instead: a deceptive HOLOGRAM spherical shell, surrounding the earth, merely MIMICKING the appearance of stars and galaxies) these space items are billions of years old and the light from them takes billions of years to get here. If God created the Earth 4-8 thousand years ago as Creationists say, HOW WOULD THE LIGHT FROM DISTANT GALAXIES BE ARRIVING TO US NOW FROM 15 BILLION LIGHT YEARS AWAY? I choose to believe that God would not "deceive" us with a hologram "shell" of pretend space objects, just to throw us off. I believe these space items to be real.

5. Evolution is not a perfect theory, and has some of its own "fakes", or wild speculations. One most notably:
The "Archaeoraptor" fake

In 1999, a supposed 'missing link' fossil of an apparently feathered dinosaur named "Archaeoraptor liaoningensis", found in Liaoning Province, northeastern China, turned out to be a forgery. Comparing the photograph of the specimen with another find, Chinese paleontologist Xu Xingcame to the conclusion that it was composed of two portions of different fossil animals. His claim made National Geographic review their research and they too came to the same conclusion.[7] The bottom portion of the "Archaeoraptor" composite came from a legitimate feathered dromaeosaurid now known as Microraptor, and the upper portion from a previously-known primitive bird called Yanornis.

But when this forgery was found the involved paleontologists careers were (rightly) destroyed, and it was published everywhere, the forgery. However, when the creationist fake fossils are discovered to be forgeries, there is no press on that, so the delusion is perpetuated in the knowledge "etho-sphere". Human, being susceptible to temptation for personal gain, can fraud their findings, however, in general most scientists know this will end in shame. They take an oath to find honest discoveries. Paleontology is the least funded science of all sciences, so there is certainly no financial gain for paleontologists to fake evidence. For the most part, the discoveries of scientists are gone over many many times by many many smart people. They are proven to be truthful by many eyes double checking them.

However, to be honest, carbon dating has some suppositions in its very method, as well as the geological table being used to empirically enforce "layers in time" is a bit fishy.

Additionally, quite a few "missing links" have, in fact been found, between species, which supports the theory of evolution. Yet there are also some huge gaps in "missing links", which are quite curious - or perhaps yet to be discovered? Such as, where did pterosaurs evolve from? So far the hard "missing link" is elusive to this immense group of animals.

Why do some species STOP evolving, such as Scorpions, and Sharks (are they "perfect"?).

Why was Archeopteryx found in strata millions of years BEFORE dromaeosaurids, when they are supposed to have evolved FROM dromaeosaurids (is a millions of years earlier dromaeosaurid yet to be found? - but then who did this "advanced" therapod evolve from so early?).

Why are the earliest life forms discovered, bacteria, etc. EXTREMELY complex? Why do the simplest of life forms, including single celled animals have THE SAME DNA structure as ALL other living things, yet with some genes "turned off" or "turned on". How and why did this intricacy "evolve" on such simple creatures who have none of the complexity of a human, or a caterpillar? According to evolution, we only evolve what we NEED to survive and NOTHING else. We would not evolve spikes on our backs because we don't need them to survive. But why would simple single celled animals evolve super-complex DNA structures capable of ONE DAY evolving into humans?

Yet, evidence of evolution, or something like it, for the most part, is evident everywhere. In the fossil record, in general, simpler creatures evolve into more advanced and specialized forms herrerosaurus to allosaurus, to tyrannosaurus. Also, we see evolution "in action" every day, with germs evolving new ways to attack and survive and persevere against our anti-bioitics.

Deep sea volcanoes also seem to be evidence of evolution as brand new species, existing no where else in the world seem to emanate FROM the volcanoes, which exist in extreme pressure, no sunlight, and extremely hazardous chemicals including sulfur. Additionally, life has been found in deep sea soil in the Greek Mediterranean Sea, where there is NO OXYGEN. NONE. These animals do not need oxygen to survive and thrive. Also life exists in extremely acidic water pools that are more acid than water, such as in death valley and Yosemite acid lakes.

6. There is another theory which is also possible, but is quite mind-bending. That early earth was visited over 4.5 billion years ago by "space - life - seeds" that ALL READY CONTAINED fully functional DNA structures inside, and the ability to survive IN SPACE, with NO OXYGEN, AND EXTREME TEMPERATURE AND RADIATION. These "seeds" (bacteria) were dropped here by extremely advanced beings, or by God, or other spiritual creatures (such as those mentioned in Revelations) and the planet was seeded, knowing ahead of time that those primitive life forms would one day evolve into humans, and perhaps beyond (there is obviously room for us to "grow"). This may seem like science fiction, but who knows.

7. Finally, there is the theory that the universe never began or ended. It is eternal. It is infinite. All if the known universe that we can see with Hubble is only a spec of what the real universe is: an infinite fractal cloud of material, rather than the outcome of a single explosive "big bang" singularity.

In conclusion: No human was alive when the Earth was created. Perhaps the Bible's "7 days" of creation were "GOD days", or perhaps, since humans were not around to "record time", that it truly WAS 7 days. A day is as a thousand years. Again, since no humans were here to keep time, anything before life originated on earth is very hard to gauge the exact length of time or who was to judge it, but based on scientific evidence and outer space distant objects, the "big bang theory" universe is certainly over 15 billion years old. Also, since no one was alive in the days of the dinosaurs knowing exactly what happened then is unknown.

I personally suspect that something LIKE evolution theory is correct, but there may be some huge surprises for us yet to discover. Much evidence points towards theistic evolution, rather than Creationism, for which there is no proof, and is not necessary in order to be a believer in the word of the Bible (at its worse the "theory of Creationism" is complete deception, using fraud to support it, rather than science and rationality).

I think it is best to simply keep an opened mind, not a hard decided closed mind, like that of many Creationists, bent on training our children to turn against Science when we need it most to get jobs these days in technical fields.

These discussions are fruitful, and very expanding. They are wonderful, because a brain which has taken billions of years to "evolve" is able to think them. And that we can think of and be aware of God and His importance.

Thomas R. Dickens

Evolution and Intelligent Design

2010-05-12T08:56:00.000-07:00

After more than century of vigorous debate, the theory of evolution has gained the upper hand in the scientific community and for millions of believers all around the world, for whom there is no conflict between faith in God and scientific findings about the evolution of the world and the evolution of species.

The reason I share this with you is simple: there are people of faith who have pushed forward some very bad science: Intelligent Design - in an effort to "prove" their creation ideas - mistakenly thinking that they're defending the truth and standing loyal to God.

Sorry.

Lots of folks have thought they were defending the truth and standing loyal to God - just ask the folks who brought us the Inquisition.

I stand, and have always stood, with the scientific community on this one, without one moment of conflict between my faith in God and the findings of science.

I happen to believe in something called "theistic evolution" - sort of a fancy term to simply say: "Evolution is the observable processes of life in all forms and on all levels, and God is the energy, the love, the grace, behind it and through it all."

Theistic evolution reflects a beautiful verse from the Bible, Hebrews 11:3, "By faith, we understand that the universe was formed by God's command." By faith, it says, not by observable means.

To read more, please click HERE ... a fine article by Michael Zimmerman, Butler University.

Blessings ...

Tom

God is found upon many, many, paths, God be praised, but not every path leads to God. Greed and cruelty lead only to dust.

Basic Decisions

2010-04-16T07:09:00.001-07:00

Life is possible only because of basic decisions.

Like setting the alarm clock and getting up and going to work … or checking our email to stay in touch … washing our hands often … looking both ways before we cross the street … paying our bills … getting our car oiled and lubed … saying “please” and “thank you.”

Basic decisions keep life headed in the right direction and on track.

Basic decisions are hardly remarkable or exciting, but essential to our well-being.

The Christian Life consists of basic decisions – none of which are exciting or dramatic, but all of them are essential.

Basic decisions productively move the Christian Life along the track of time.

What are some of the basic decisions of the Christian Life?

The first is so simple and basic it hardly needs mention: like drinking water when you’re thirsty, or taking a shower after a day of gardening in the hot sun.

The First Basic Decision: worship in your community of faith. Worship is like the first step on a Saturday morning walk, or the first leg of a trip. Here is where the Christian Life begins – in community, singing God’s praises and hearing the Word of God read and proclaimed. Sitting next to friends and strangers, and drinking coffee afterward, handling a bulletin and saying corporate prayer. Pretty basic stuff!

The Second Basic Decision: read God’s Word regularly and pray often. Scripture and Prayer are the means by which God feeds the soul. And we all know how crummy we feel if we’re really hungry. There are lots of folks who feel spiritually crummy because their soul is hungry. Sadly, if the soul isn’t fed on God’s good stuff, we’re likely to eat junk food, and there’s plenty of that around. But junk food doesn’t satisfy; it only bloats. We need good food, and the best food for the soul: Bible reading and prayer, done regularly. If you need guidance, check with a pastor. And if your church offers Bible study or courses on prayer, sign up for them. Just do it!

The Third Basic Decision: read solid books written by solid Christian writers. If you have questions about this, check with your pastor.

The Fourth Basic Decision: have fellowship with other Christians. Hang around with people who are moving along the same way you are. Talk with them and pray with them., break bread with them and have some fun. Engage in projects with them. Go to a soup kitchen. Clean up the beach. Go on a hike. Visit a nursing home. Grow vegetables for a community food pantry.

The Fifth Basic Decision: know what’s going on in your world. Pay attention to your politicians and read the news (print edition in a good paper or on-line). But pay attention and ask yourself, “What does God’s Word have to say about this? What are other Christians saying about these things? Are my thoughts shaped by Christ?” This requires some real thinking and learning, but it’s vital to our Christian Life. We don’t live in a vacuum, and it’s God’s world after all.

Sixth Basic Decision: invite others to worship with you. Pick them up; have lunch afterward. Stay with it. Do it again. Help them grow. Who knows, you may be the one God uses to bring them into the love of Jesus Christ. This usually takes a lot of time. Months, even years. But persevere in your purpose. It’s your mission. And it’s vital!

Seventh Basic Decision: give faithfully and given proportionately of your income to God! This means sitting down with pencil and paper and figuring our what your income is (Uncle Sam helps us do this part of it) and then determine what percentage you can give. The standard is 10 percent. It’s not a law, but it’s a guideline. I recommend the half-tithe, or five percent. It’s a good place to begin and it’s real. And then say to God, “I promise to give this much to you and to my community of faith.” Giving to other charities is another matter. Don’t substitute charity for faithful giving to your community of faith. And, please, don’t try to substitute time for money. Time-giving is good, but it’s no substitute for money – try going to your favorite restaurant and tell them, “I won’t pay for this meal, but if you’ll let me wash dishes, I’ll eat here.”

There’s more to the Christian Life then the above, but these basic decisions keep us on track with Christ and enable us to live a productive and satisfying Christian life.

Just like looking both ways before we cross the street.

Back in the Saddle Again

2010-04-14T06:48:00.001-07:00

Good morning and much peace to you.

After a delightful weeks of travels, I’m back in the saddle again.

Felt good to lay it all down for awhile, and it feels good to pick it up again. I’m eager to preach on Psalm 30 this coming Sunday, with an eye on Revelation 5:11-14 – the message is titled, “The Other Side of Sorrow.”

Now that Lent and Easter is behind us, we enter a period of time wherein we ponder what it means for us to live because we know that Christ is risen from the dead. We know this in a deeply spiritual sense, as the Holy Spirit of God testifies to us in the deeps of our being – “He is risen, he is risen, he is risen, indeed!”

We can never prove any of it, of course, and there’s no need to prove any of it, thank God!

It is ours only to live – to live a grateful life, because the stone was rolled away and Christ is risen from the dead. In so living, there is no greater witness to our world than our gratitude, deeply felt and thoroughly lived, even when the chips are down and the sun has set.

As the Psalmist so wisely notes, sorrow lasts but for the night, and joy comes in the morning!

See ya’ Sunday in God’s House, Covenant on the Corner – on the other side of sorrow, the sunny side of the street!

Glad to be back in the saddle again!

Using a Sermon for Spiritual Growth

2010-03-25T09:12:00.001-07:00

Growing Into Christ, and Christ Growing Into You.

Did you know that the weekly message from Covenant is almost always available in print the following week and usually posted to the internet by Sunday afternoon, and sometimes the prayers, too?

Take advantage of these offerings and grow into Christ, so that Christ can grow into you.

That reading should be one of the principle avenues for spiritual growth comes as no surprise. Words are at the center of the Christian faith.

By words, God created the heavens and the earth.

By words, God gave the Ten Commandments to Moses and via the many words of theTorah, God shaped his people into a nation.

When Jesus came to us, he was and is the Word of God.

With words, Jesus healed and helped and challenged and chastised; with words he offered comfort and guidance, counsel and wisdom.

With words, he invites fishermen to become disciples.

With words, he infuriates the temple officials.

With words, he gives us God!

Words, words and more words.

We are a creature of words. By words, we understand our world, and with words, we shape our world.

With words, we tell someone, “I love you.”

And though we might show our love a thousand different ways, the beloved longs to hear those three magic words.

We are creatures of the Word.

So, by the Word, we grow into Christ and Christ grows into us.

One of the simplest avenues of growth is the preaching of the church.

Hearing the Word of God read and proclaimed.

And in many a church, the message of the day is available.

As in our case, in print or via blogsite.

Encouragement

2010-03-15T07:10:00.001-07:00

Encouragement is oxygen to the soul.

~ George M. Adams

All of us remember those magical moments when someone believed in us! Oxygen, indeed. Our chests swelled with hope as we breathed deeply, and we walked down the sidewalk with a kick in our steps. Someone believes in us, and we can climb Mt. Everest, barefoot!

Question of the day: Is there someone in your life who needs an oxygen boost?

Who or What Are We?

2010-03-11T08:00:00.000-08:00

Who are we?

Notice, I didn’t ask, “What” are we?

As for the what, there’s a lot of pressure on us to be a what. A consumer! And sadly, so many Americans wear that label proudly. That we refer to ourselves as an “American Consumer” is, or so it seems to me, a contradiction in terms.

Would Washington or Jefferson have nodded in agreement with this?

Or Lincoln or Martin Luther King, Jr.?

Would Jesus?

1957 Cadillacs were consumers, and so are garbage disposals and slot machines.

But people?

The boys and girls in charge of consumerism don’t want us to think about this. They want happy spenders digging themselves deeper and deeper into a financial hole, living for the day and ignoring tomorrow. When 9/11 happened, we were told to go shopping, when we might better have been told to take a few days for family prayer and reflection, or study-up on the Middle East or seek out a Muslim neighbor and find out how they’re feeling.

We used to be a nation that saved.

We paid for things in cash.

We bought stocks for their long-term dividends.

We were slower and more relaxed.

Our homes were smaller and so were our cars.

We ate out less and spent more time with our children.

The gap between top and bottom was smaller.

People sat on their front porches and knew their neighbors.

Kids played in the neighborhood and every adult was their parent.

We were not consumers. We were people.

Our Founding Mothers and Fathers worked hard and sacrificed for us to be people.

And to be people is how God created us, and the reason why Jesus paid us a visit.

He died, of course, because the powerful and the wealthy in Jerusalem were afraid of the people figuring out how badly they’d been duped.

Yet when Easter came, we knew the truth.

We are people!

What Is Lent?

2010-03-04T06:12:00.000-08:00

Lent isn’t supposed to be easy, but who said life is easy anyway?

Nor should Lent be silly, like giving up chocolate for a few weeks, or broccoli – talk about triviality.

What is Lent?

It’s a time to think deeply about Jesus, and why he said what he said and did what he did, and why some folks thought they’d be better off if he were dead. Lent isn’t for sissies, but then neither is life.

Lent is for deep thinking and quiet pondering and soul-searching and a time to say, “I’m sorry”- to God, to the world, to family and friends – to creatures great and small, and to the farthest star, for whatever pain or sorrow or hurt or shame or sadness or distress or stupidity we’ve brought to our world.

It’s the sheer honesty of Lent that makes Lent so important, and behind all of Lent, woven into it like a golden thread, the safety of God for those who are honest. “Come to me, all you that are weary and carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.” Honesty and safety – powerful elements in our journey through Lent!

Every Hour

2010-01-29T06:08:00.000-08:00

"Some people can stay longer in an hour than others can in a week."

~ Wm. Dean Howells

When I read this, I realized once again to stop, look and listen. To let my eyes really see the world around me, its sights, sounds and smells ... to look at people whom I love, to really see them, the little lines around the eyes and the mouth, the depth of their eyes, the timbre of their voice. And to pay attention even to myself - m values and my hopes, yes, and even my fears and my tears, too - where do they come from and how do they work, and how deep and swift, in every life I meet, run the rivers of God's love.

God is found upon many, many, paths, God be praised, but not every path leads to God. Greed and cruelty lead only to dust.

To the Person Who Brought Three Neighbors

2010-01-26T07:19:00.001-08:00

To the person who brought three neighbors to church this past Sunday, hats off!!!

Because that’s what it’s all about!

Ask yourself: “If I’ve been a member of Covenant for more than 20 years, who invited me the first time? And if I sought out the church on my own, who made the effort to connect with me?”

Many of you will be able to answer either or both of these questions with real names of real people who connected with you and gave you “the invitation.”

It’s as simple as inviting our neighbors, friends and family-members to come with us to church. We just have to do it, and not expect “someone else” to do it. It’s not the pastor or the elders, it’s not the deacons or some committee – it’s all of us who need to be “sending out those invitations.”

And then really follow up - sit with them, go out for lunch with them afterward, talk about God and faith, if it seems right, and keep on inviting them, sitting with them, and praying for them. Stay with it!

To the person who brought three neighbors to worship, three cheers for you and then some! Keep up the good work. You are an inspiration!

Covenant on the Corner, get busy sending out those invitations!

Human Instinct

2010-01-05T08:52:00.000-08:00

It is our instinct to want comfort without a commitment to Christ ... to have peace of mind without compassion for others ... in other words, we want Christ for ourselves, and that, of course, never works. Christ denies these petitions of ours. To change, it takes a miracle, awareness and desire.

The awareness begins in a place like this, where we consider the whole counsel of God, not just the benefits we desire, but the blessings of God, which are always transformative.

Desire begins, like someone in AA, who's sick and tired of feeling sick and tired. We begin to desire something more than the self, and so begins a search.

Miracle is simply the love of God at work - the desire for the blessings of God, to see God's face, to have all of Christ, is a petition God honors, and God enters into the deep places of mind and heart, to begin a transformation.

Nothing quick, of course. For that would be mostly unprofitable for us. It took a long time for us to build our world without Christ; it'll take time to disassemble it and rebuild it with Christ. Every day, like a refurbishing of an old home, every nail pulled, every wall torn down, is one more step toward a new home. The dismantling is as important as the rebuilding.

The Power of Faith

2010-01-02T07:04:00.001-08:00

Dear Genesis,

The first word from the angels to the shepherds in the dark hills: "Fear not."

I can't think of anything more important for us in these recent days when "terrorist hysteria" is growing as a result of the young man who attempted to blow up his plane.

David Brooks, New York Times, has written a fine piece on "The God that Fails" ... (click HERE to read).

Roosevelt, as the outset of WW2 said to Congress and to the nation, "The Only thing we have to fear is fear itself."

Fear IS mighty important to God, because God knows what fear does to us. From an overly-anxious parent telling a child they'll be kidnapped and killed if they talk to a stranger to a politician garnering votes, fear is a powerful tool, but one that always ends badly! Children grow up anxious and unsure of themselves to a nation easily manipulated by the worst kinds of self-interest.

Faith is crucial to the way we live our lives. The Bible says it well: "Perfect love (completely centered in Christ) casts out all fear" - 1 John 4:18. I fear that many of our leaders are not above using fear to further their own unsavory ends.

Faith speaks to these days ... tomorrow's message, "Firm Foundation" ... to stand on Christ, in a world where everything else easily turns to jello.

May we all stand firmly with Christ our Lord!

Blessings ...

Mary Pondered These Things.

2009-12-16T07:10:00.001-08:00

Faith in Christ is always a miracle.

Faith is a gift, pure and simple, from the heart of God to us. We didn’t choose Christ; Christ chose us!

John says so eloquently, Not that we have loved God, but that God has loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.

Only because God has acted favorably on our behalf, only because God has looked upon us with mercy, has the light of Christ dawned upon our souls, to push away the dark night of sin and fear.

This is a miracle.

Within ourselves, a sea of darkness.

In God, the light, the true light that gives light to everyone.

As the Psalmist says so beautifully, In your light we see light.

It is said of Mary, she treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.

Oh Holy Spirit, Light Divine,

Open my heart and pour in the treasures of Christ.

Help me, I pray,

To slow down today.

To ponder the glory of Christ.

In the deep places of my heart!

Dealing with Fear

2009-12-02T06:57:00.000-08:00

Ask yourself: "What am I afraid of today?"

I have to do this from time-to-time, when my stomach is churning and my soul is burdened.

Facing our fears head-on reveals them to be a lot smaller, and a whole lot sillier, then they appear to us when we're looking at our fears out of the corner of our eyes, or over our shoulders - then our fears appear gigantic and powerful.

Sometimes the first answer doesn't quite get at it. Keep pushing closer, and keep asking, "What am I afraid of today?"

Remember this: your experience of fear is never accurate, because anxiety magnifies the fear. Like looking at an ant in huge magnifying glass; the ant looks like a monster. But remove the magnifying glass, and the ant is just an ant.

Remove the anxiety and our fears grow smaller. And when fear grows smaller, love begins to flow. Fearful souls are not very good at love. Souls freed from fear become conduits of God's love.

And then next step: faith.

Putting our lives and our future into the hands of God!

Not everyone has had a good experience "with god" - I understand that, and as a pastor, I regret what the church has sometimes done with God.

But God revealed in the face of Jesus is always good, and when God says, "I am at work in all things for good," it's a great comfort to me, and helps me put my life into God's hands. "I'll be all right" I have to say to myself; God will see me through."

Two steps today:

1) Ask the question as courageously as you can, "What am I afraid of today?" Push hard at this point!

2) And then say to God, "I put my life into your hands, and I trust your love in all of this!"

A spiritual exercise to clear the air and free the flow of love.

To see faith and commitment

in someone's face is
always a remarkable moment.

Three Words

2009-11-10T06:29:00.000-08:00

Three words for the day, three words for life:

Devotion

Courage

Trust

And three questions:

To whom or to what are you devoted?

Does your devotion give your courage?

Does your courage make sense? Can you trust it?

As you ponder these questions, try this answer: Christ!

Devoted to Christ, we find a solid, godly, courage to live – to face what comes, to endure against the odds, to bear up under crushing defeat and to wait patiently for the LORD. In Christ, we trust God’s love in all things for good, leading us to the best outcome!

Three words for life!

Sweat-Lodge Deaths

2009-10-20T09:14:00.000-07:00

By now, you’ve read the sad news about three sweat-lodge deaths in Arizona.

As sad as this story is, for me, there’s a greater sadness: that weekends with James Arthur Ray could cost as much as $9000.

Now, that’s a lot of money to spend for a sweat-lodge weekend in quest of spiritual and financial enlightenment.

Anyone who could spend 9 grand for a weekend doesn’t need any more dough.

One Ray client noted, her sweat-lodge weekend helped her conquer claustrophobia, and that’s good, but for 9 grand?

The sweat-lodge traditions of Native Americans provide a profound experience, and I’m confident that our Native American brothers and sisters would provide just such an experience for a whole lot less with a whole lot more insight and power.

But here’s my thought: people are desperate to find what’s seemingly missing from their life.

Whether it be pilgrims to a shrine or folks shelling out 9 grand for a sweat-lodge weekend, folks are desperate.

Two things I try to keep in mind:

God creates empty spaces in our lives.
And the moment we fill a space, God creates another.

Empty spaces are positive, good and energizing.

Empty spaces keep us on our toes and push us onward, as with Paul, striving for the upward calling of Christ.

Empty spaces keep us inventive and humble.

As I read the gospel, we can fill some of these spaces with prayer and study, kindly deeds, just causes and a simple appreciation of good food and drink and friends and family and blue skies and crashing waves and frost-on-the-pumpkin and winter’s first snow-fall and the cry of a hawk riding the winds and a beaver building a lodge and artists and builders and engineers and doctors and nurses and police officers and fire fighters and bumble bees and ants on the sidewalk heading off to work and little children playing on the beach and opera and symphony and jazz and drama and tap water and tall buildings and forests and fields and poetry and love and laughter and grandparents and dogs and cats and gerbils and old friends and a new pair of shoes … and the list goes on.

Most of this costs nothing but a little time to pay attention.

The rest can be had for far less than 9 grand.

Pray for folks who are so desperate.

And pray that we who are the church of Jesus Christ will get our act together so that we really have something for the empty spaces in life, and a message about the value and importance of empty spaces, filled and unfilled.

And to have a gospel that reminds folks that charlatans and cheats and frauds and spellbinders and fast-talkers have always played loose and free with our empty spaces.

Only love can fill those spaces, and love isn’t expensive, though it’s utterly costly.

And when we’ve filled one space, God sees to it that another takes it’s place, because it’s those empty spaces that hold great promise for truly finding ourselves, the God who made us, the Christ who gave up his life for us, and the Holy Spirit blowing fresh wind to awaken our deepest longings for fellowship with God and love for one another.

A Sort of Poem - Happy to Be a Presbyterian

2009-09-25T07:27:00.000-07:00

In our humility, we find greatness.

Greatness of spirit and impertinent hope.

Though our battles have been fierce and even final.

There is no rest for those who weary themselves in the Lord's work.

In the spirit of Calvin, we excel in vilifying one another:

Oh, the names we hurl, like silly children playing war, as if our words were killing grenades, and if we throw 'em hard enough, and often enough, we'll win ... and stand one day on top of some imagined hill, victorious ... such is our vanity.

Doubting intelligence and sneering at the other's faith.

Today, I'm happy to be a Presbyterian.

We have guts ... we tackle big ideas and dangerous concerns.

Like Calvin's sewer system in Geneva, we see needs and strive for remedies, to heal the broken bones left in the wake of human pride and the ceaseless tides of power, ebbing and flowing, as if we could control anything - making idols of our theology to provide some mask of comfort to a soul too afraid to see itself ... making enemies to despise and defeat, in our stilted imaginations ... to small in spirit to love the "enemy" - which is the test supreme of our true metal.

Yes, we're a tough and sturdy bunch. And we believe in God with a curious ferocity that demands a legacy of love from us. We believe that we can make a difference, and that's good to believe. For what else should we believe about this Christ of ours who dies for this bunch called humanity, because even God has to believe that God can make a difference.

We've taken our licks lately ... thousands have left our fold; ten-thousands have disappeared into the flood of time - some have gone elsewhere to seek a more perfect union ... huge, flourishing churches, once landmarks in great cities, mostly are uncertain now, about roofs unrepaired, and great organs that need tuning.

Like Gideon's army - 300 is enough. God's way surely isn't our way.

With God, all things are possible.

I am happy to be a part of this rowdy, striving, bunch of hard-heads and great hearts, name-callers and lovers, coffee-drinkers and booze-swillers, preachers and powerpoint, seminaries and missionaries, traditions and dreams, tears and turmoil, pushing and shoving, sinners all, forgiven all ... lovers of God, each in our own strange way ...

I am happy to be a Presbyterian.

The Greater and the Lesser

2009-09-17T08:36:00.000-07:00

One can be born into the church, and that’s a good thing, in and of itself.

But becoming a Christian is another matter, all together.

Being born in the church doesn’t make you or me a Christian any more than sitting in garage makes us a car!

I’m not sure we’ve always made this clear for one another.

We wonder, sometimes, why churches have more than their fair share of troubles, but part of the issue is simply this: lots of church members are a little foggy on the spiritual realities of following Jesus Christ, and, thus, we’re tempted by lesser concerns, like the color of the carpet and the kind of music we sing. Sure, carpet and choruses are important, but NOT that important. But if that’s all we have, then we make the penultimate ultimate, and that’s when church-folk are likely to squabble.

We’ve tended to accept, as good enough, involvement and service in the church, and plenty of good and decent folks have served the church well, but in so doing, we’ve substituted the bowl for the cereal and milk, and no wonder so many good, church-going, folk seem to be spiritually uncertain, and sometimes, even hostile to spiritual things.

To follow Jesus Christ brings us into the fellowship of faith, of course – the closer God draws us to Jesus, the closer we move toward one another, and that means the church.

But simply being a church member, and even serving the church in big ways does not make one a Christian, and, in fact, may even be counter-productive to our walk with Christ, as we substitute the lesser for the greater.

In so doing, we do our LORD a disservice, and we hurt one another, too, as we fail to help each other grow into Jesus Christ.

I know, I know – some of this sounds almost like a fundamentalist, because they’re always harping about following Jesus. But, ya’ know what, even a clock that has stopped is right twice a day.

I don’t know about the fundamentalist, but I do know about me, and the thousands of folks I’ve known over the years and the congregations I’ve served.

There is more to this thing called church, and it’s the more that only God can provide, and it’s God whom we have ignored some of the time – even as we do godly things.

But to use another metaphor – it’s one thing to hang an artist’s work, and it’s another thing to personally know the artist and the what and the why of the created image hanging in our living room. A great painting in our home might bring us prestige, but to know the artist brings us joy.

In these strange times of vast cultural change, it’s ever-more important for us to have the greater and not the lesser, to have the significant more of faith rather than the trappings of the church, even as the carpet fads and the music dies … because it’s the LORD who lives and reigns forever!

I think it’s tough to get a handle on this, and just because it’s tough, we might well nod our heads and then get back to doing our church thing.

But let’s see if we can push a little deeper into our faith even as we loosen our grip on the artifacts – buildings and pews and liturgies and styles and sounds and all the old and the comfortable things.

Let’s see if we can reach a little higher into the heart of God rather than settling for mere church work, as good as that is, and remembering that if we settle only for church work, we’re cheating ourselves and cheating others as well.

Sure, none of us are perfect in any of this. Yet as Paul writes so humbly and clearly, “I haven’t attained this as of yet, but I press on, forgetting what lies behind and stretching forward to the high calling of Jesus Christ.” The greater for the lesser; the future for the past; the living Christ for the artifacts of faith.

You see, Paul is going somewhere, and that’s the point.

A lot of good folks are sort glued into their pews; they’ve been in the same pew literally, and figuratively, too, for a long time, going nowhere fast. But that only means the world is changing around them, and that’s a mighty uncomfortable feeling.

They haven’t gone anywhere, but the world has, and that’s why they feel as strangers in their own land.

So, let’s push on, let’s reach higher and deeper. Even as we rejoice in the work of the church, let us strive, with all our might, to see the face of God!

To be faithful is one thing … to be full of faith is another.

Let’s strive for the latter, and the former will take on a fresh beauty and a delightful vigor.

Nothing better than church work done with the glory and the love of Jesus Christ in our hearts!

Life Is Too Short

2009-09-14T08:03:00.000-07:00

Friend sent this to me ... a good read with a valuable lesson.

Life is too short

One day I had a date with friends for lunch. Mae, a little old "blue hair" about 80 years old, came along with them---all in all, a pleasant bunch.

When the menus were presented, we ordered salads, sandwiches, and soups, except for Mae who said, "Ice Cream, please. Two scoops, chocolate."

I wasn't sure my ears heard right, and the others were aghast. "Along with heated apple pie," Mae added, completely unabashed.

We tried to act quite nonchalant, as if people did this all the time. But when our orders were brought out, I didn't enjoy mine.

I couldn't take my eyes off Mae as her pie a-la-mode went down. The other ladies showed dismay. They ate their lunches silently and frowned.

The next time I went out to eat, I called and invited Mae. I lunched on white meat tuna. She ordered a parfait.
I smiled. She asked if she amused me.
I answered, "Yes, you do, but also you confuse me.

How come you order rich desserts, while I feel I must be sensible? She laughed and said, with wanton mirth, "I'm tasting all that is Possible.

I try to eat the food I need, and do the things I should.... But life's so short, my friend, I hate
missing out on something good.

This year I realized how old I was. (She grinned) I haven't been this old before."

"So, before I die, I've got to try those things that for years I had ignored.

I haven't smelled all the flowers yet.. There are too many books I haven't read. There's more fudge sundaes to wolf down and kites to be flown overhead.

There are many malls I haven't shopped. I've not laughed at all the jokes. I've missed a lot of Broadway hits and potato chips and cokes.

I want to wade again in water and feel ocean spray on my face. I want to sit in a country church once more and thank God for His grace.

I want peanut butter every day spread on my morning toast. I want un-timed long distance calls to the folks I love the most.

I haven't cried at all the movies yet, or walked in the morning rain. I need to feel wind in my hair. I want to fall in love again.

So, if I choose to have dessert, instead of having dinner, then should I die before night fall, I'd say I died a winner, because I missed out on nothing. I filled my heart's desire. I had that final chocolate mousse before my life expired."

With that, I called the waitress over.. "I've changed my mind, " I said. "I want what she is having, only add some more whipped cream!"

This is my gift to you - We need an annual Friends Day! If you get this twice, then you have more than one friend. Live well, love much & laugh often - Be happy.

SHARE THIS WITH YOUR FRIENDS including me if I'm lucky enough to be counted among them.

Be mindful that happiness isn't based on possessions, power, or prestige, but on relationships with people we love and respect. Remember that while money talks,
CHOCOLATE SINGS!

A Little Tea Cup????

2009-09-06T08:27:00.000-07:00

Friend of mine sent this fable to me:

I'm a Little Tea Cup

Love this story or not, you will not be able to have tea in a tea cup again without thinking of this.

There was a couple who took a trip to England to shop in a beautiful antique store to celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary. They both liked antiques and pottery, and especially teacups.

Spotting an exceptional cup, they asked "May we see that? We've never seen a cup quite so beauthiful."

As the lady handed it to them, suddenly the teacup spoke, "You don't understand. I have not always been a teacup. There was a time when I was just a lump of red clay. My master took me and rolled me, pounded and patted me over and over and I yelled out, "Don't do that. I don't like it! Let me alone," but he only smiled, and gently said, "Not yet."

Then WHAM! I was placed on a spinning wheel and suddenly I was made to suit himself and then he put me in the oven. I never felt such heat. I yelled and knocked and pounded at the door. "Help! Get me out of here!" I could see him through the opening and I could read his lips as he shook his head from side to side, "Not yet."

When I thought I couldn't bear it another minute, the door opened. He carefully took me out and put me on he shelf, and I began to cool. Oh, that felt so good! "Ah, this is much better," I thought.

But, after I cooled he picked me up and he brushed and painted me all over. The fumes were horrible. I thought I would gag. "Oh, please, stop it, stop, I cried." He only shook his head and said, "Not yet."

Then suddenly he puts me back in to the oven. Only it was not like the first one. This was twice as hot and I just knew I would suffocate. I begged. I pleaded. I screamed. I cried. I was convinced I would never make it. I was ready to give up. Just then the door opened and he took me out and again placed me on the shelf, where I cooled and waited and waited, wondering, "What's he going to do to me next?"

An hour later he handed me a mirror and said, "Look at yourself." And I did. I said, "That's not me. That couldn't be me. It's beautiful. I'm beautiful!"

Quietly he spoke: "I want you to remember. I know it hurt to be rolled and pounded and patted, but had I just left you alone, you'd have dried up. I know it made you dizzy to spin around on the wheel, but if I had stopped, you would have crumbled. I know it hurt and it was hot and disagreeable in the oven, but if I hadn't put you there, you would have cracked. I know the fumes were bad when I brushed and painted you all over, but if I hadn't done that, you never would have hardened. You would not have had any color in your life. If I hadn't put you back in that second oven, you wouldn't have survived for long because the hardness would not have held. Now you are a finished product. Now you are what I had in mind when I first began with you."

The moral of this story is this: God knows what He's doing for each of us. He is the potter, and we are His clay. He will mold us and make us and expose us to just enough pressures of just the right kinds that we may be made into a flawless piece of work to fulfill His good, pleasing and perfect.

So when life seems hard, and you are being pounded and patted and pushed almost beyond endurance; when your world seems to be spinning out of control; when you feel like you are in a fiery furnace of trials; when life seems to "stink", try this.

Brew a cup of your favorite tea in your prettiest tea cup, sit down and think on this story and then, have a little talk with the Potter.

Rainbow Run

2009-09-03T06:07:00.003-07:00

I started the copy machine, walked away and promptly forgot. Two days later, I asked Michelle, “Did you see some copies I made? Forty-Days of Prayer forms?”

“Yes, she said, “I put them on the folding machine,” so I looked, and there they were, in bright orange, brighter yellow and a few stray purples. “Color,” I thought. Why not? Why always black and white?

I’ve been thinking about it – not that it’s so all-fired important, few things are, but maybe life, on the grand scale, consists of a million little moments, many of which are serendipity, which could well be the hand of God, for what do we know about such things? And when stuck in the rut of black and white, lo and behold an errant copy machine does a rainbow run.

From now on, I’ll do it in color!

Filled with Scripture, Filled with Christ

2009-08-28T06:32:00.003-07:00

Had tea in Venice this week with a good friend from Harbor Springs, Michigan, who was here for some work – he and his partner are doing a documentary on President Reagan.

During the 16 months of my interim there, I joined a group of men every Tuesday morning at 7:30 for a hour of Bible reading, sharing and prayer led by my friend. For me, it was the best, and I came to love that fellowship of faith – an amalgam of liberals and conservatives, working guys and retired, men of wealth and men with so-so incomes, but in that special place, we were all joined together in Christ, humbled by his grace and hungry for his instruction.

I think again and again of a life filled with Scripture. Filled with its message, the big picture; a life filled with Christ.

I ask myself questions:

Is my life filled with Scripture?

Is my life filled with Christ?

Am I surrendered to him?

Much of my life IS filled with Scripture, but not a week goes by without a fresh discovery, and as for being filled? There’s an ocean of room in my life for even more. And if it’s not filled with Scripture, it’s just plain empty, or worse, it’s filled with junk.

Much of my life IS filled with Christ, but much of me remains stubbornly and foolishly unrepentant. But Christ is greater and Christ is gracious.

I AM surrendered to Christ, as well. That happened a long time ago. But every day, I pray the Acts 16:5 prayer, for an elder-prayer partner and myself, a part of which reads: “LORD, grant _________ and me the grace today to commit our lives to the Lordship of Jesus Christ without reservation….”

Dear friends in Christ, work on this with me.

To fill our lives with Scripture.

To fill our lives with Christ.

To surrender to him every day, and every day, make the good effort!

Blessings in Christ, and in Christ, peace and goodness!

Blessed Assurance?

2009-08-25T07:30:00.000-07:00

Blessed assurance, we sing, Jesus is mine.

All that he has is ours, freely given, for this life and for the life to come.

Such is the heart and soul of God’s mighty plan of salvation, set in motion from before the beginning of time, to create a world and a creature endowed, unlike any other, with a special responsibility and a vast capacity to build and to love.

And when that creature (you and me) turned away from the Creator and chose the forbidden fruit instead, a new chapter had to be written in the mighty plan of salvation.

Over the ages and through the hills, the plan unfolded until the cry of a child was heard in Bethlehem’s cradle, a cry to be echoed again upon the cross of Calvary.

The joy of being a Christian is know Christ, and to know something about this mighty plan of God, and to know and trust that nothing in this life, or in the life to come, can separate us from the love of God, for Jesus is mine, and Jesus is yours – because of God’s mighty plan and God’s ceaseless love.

John Calvin writes of Christ: He alone is the fountain of life, the anchor of salvation, and the heir of the Kingdom of heaven [3.24.5).

He is, as Paul the Apostle writes, our all-in-all.

Set your mind and heart on Christ today … and sing with gratitude, Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine … oh what a foretaste of glory divine.

A Large Warehouse in Canton

2009-08-22T18:16:00.000-07:00

From my colleague and good friend, the Rev. Robert Orr, Canton, MI ... in response to my poem, "LA Soup Kitchen" - Robert writes eloquently of his own recent experience with his son, Caleb ... with his permission, of course.

Tom,

I was very moved by your poem and could feel my way with you into the soup kitchen experience. Thank you for writing it. I hope you go again. Hunger in America has an ugly face but it's a face we need to stare into, pray about, and work to alleviate. I have always admired the ministry of the Catholic Worker movement and the legacy of Dorothy Day as she and her people lift up the least, the lost and the last.

Caleb and I went yesterday afternoon to a large warehouse here in Canton and helped out as we have before with a food distribution program. Every Wednesday the trucks come to the location. They're from Gleaners and Last Harvest (?) and others . .who are "saving" food from being thrown away because of expired dates or too ripe fruit and vegetable conditions. Then every Thursday folks bag it up in smaller sizes and around 5 o'clock the cars start coming. They have registered before this so the size of their family is known and an appropriate amount is given. The carts start rolling with the groceries on them. Hundreds of families in car after car come through the parking lot for their food pick up. Hunger in America. It shouldn't be. Is this the kind of country we're proud of? Is this the "united" states under the waving red, white and blue? What country am I seeing? Who are these people? Who am I? What's going on here? What sad commentary am I seeing? What documentary am I part of? I don't stare, but I want to look into the passing cars, pausing ever to collect their bags of groceries. I want to meet these brothers, and sisters and children. Aren't these my family? But we seldom see one another. We seldom speak. I do look from time to time. I have to see their faces.

(when Dorothy Day was a college student) "She has also undergone a kind of preconversion; and though she is nowhere within shouting distance of the church, she has taken its measure, she knows where to find it. She knows what he church looks like; or, infinitely more to the point, she knows what is should look like."

"Our best and truest memories are invariably suffused with gratitude. I am grateful beyond words for the grace of this woman's life; for her sensible, unflinching rightness of mind, her long and lonely truth, her journey to the heart of things. I think of her as one who simply helped us, in a time of self-inflicted blindness, to see."

--both quotes are from Portraits Of Those I Love, Daniel Berrigan, 1982

"The group of followers all felt the same way about everything. None of them claimed that their possessions were their own, and they shared everything they had with each other." Acts 4:32

Peace,
Bob

LA Soup Kitchen

2009-08-19T16:01:00.000-07:00

An experience of heart and body.

Hard work, for sure.

Gallons of milk poured.

Bread buttered by the ton.

Bags of bagels sliced.

Tomatoes and diced onions served up.

On top of

Salad and

Hearty lentil stew and

Scrambled eggs.

Homemade by folks

Who know their way around hot stoves

And boiling pots.

Met a lot of people.

Teared up a few times.

Heart moved with the pageantry of

The long slow line:

Folks receiving what is given,

Folks giving what they have.

Donated food, for sure, and thank God.

Dated, but good.

Food

Fill

Empty

Bellies.

And maybe, even the corner of a

Depleted soul.

Twice we prayed … start of the day … and before we served … “not food,” said Jeff; “we serve people.”

O God, when I have food,

Help me to remember the hungry.

Catholic Workers ...

Volunteers ...

Two lovely ladies from Westchester ...

Know some folks I know.

Sweet … they know how to

Stack the buttered bread in the blue

Laundry baskets, just so, and just right.

I could imagine them fussing in

Their own kitchens, for Christmas Dinner or

Someone’s birthday.

That’s how careful they were.

Two young girls – one from Ohio; her friend from Virginia.

The father of the Ohio girl, a marine weapons' instructor ...

Jeff the manager ... he runs a tight ship.

Cooks and bottle-washers ...

Maybe 15 volunteers in all …

A virtuoso piano player …

Playing from memory …

Gosh, he was good – concert-hall level, or so it seemed to me.

I think he used to live on the streets.

He lives in the Worker House now.

Catholic Workers …

Sons and daughter of Dorothy Day.

A tough woman

Who smoked and

Cussed

And

Tackled

Tough problems, with a

Deep love for Jesus … the Jesus of

The Bible …

The One who loved folks so profoundly,

To remind us of the Father’s love so unconditionally.

For the street people:

Folks down on their luck ...

Part-time workers …

Struggling to make it ...

Words float through my mind:

Homeless …

Unwanted …

Used up and

Abused …

Young and strong.

Old and senile.

Women of the street … you know what I mean.

Men of the street, too …

What one does to make a few bucks.

Anything to survive.

A mélange of the streets:

The mentally challenged ...

Dazed and weary ...

Singing and mumbling …

Staring off into some world unseen by me.

The old woman shuffling through the day …

Cheerful and cordial … polite and soft-spoken.

“Thank you, thank you – could I have one more tomato slice, please?”

“No thanks, uh uh … to much acid.”

The young man with the sparkling eyes …

Who believes he’s going to make it.

Like a box of crayons,

Every

Imaginable

Color and size and shape ...

Some hardly used at all,

Some just bits and pieces ...

“Our task,” said Jeff, “is to see

The Face of

Jesus in every face

We see.”

Yes, now I remember, Matthew 25 …

LORD, everyone of them, tattered and tired

As they may be … are

Precious

Your

Sight.

We Believe

2009-08-19T15:52:00.000-07:00

A Confession of Faith written for August 23, 2009

We believe:

That heaven and earth are created and

Sustained by God’s unfailing love.

That life is sacred and all creatures, great and small, are

Precious in the sight of their creator.

We believe that sin emerged and took hold in the human heart.

Something dark and deadly.

A relentless self-interest.

Blinding us to God and dividing humanity against itself.

We believe that God is at work to undo the power of sin.

To set things right and make all things new.

We believe that God’s love is universal and unconditional.

That God is determined:

To save all of creation;

To stand against death in all its many forms;

Until death is no more.

We believe there is a wideness in God’s mercy, greater than our greatest dreams,

And brighter than our highest hopes!

We believe that Jesus Christ is Emmanuel, God with us.

That Jesus is the eternally begotten Son of God.

That his cradle and cross set the pace of our faith.

It is Jesus who invites to:

Follow him and learn his ways.

To help women and men know their true identity and live in peace with one another.

We are grateful:

For our calling in Christ.

Our baptism and the LORD's Table.

The Holy Spirit.

The love of God.

The saints who’ve gone before and live in the pure light of Christ.

And for the Bible that tells us so.

These are some of the things we believe and live.

For the glory of God, now and forever more.

Amen and Amen!

My Dance with the Bible

2009-08-17T19:21:00.000-07:00

I remember buying my first Bible, sometime in late high school – a huge thing it was, a Thompson’s Chain Reference, King James Version, of course and leather bound, all nice and black – took a front-end loader to carry the thing.

I remember pouring over the indices, with all of their numbers and cross-references – it was my first dive into the cool and murky waters of Scripture, and Acts 4:16 was the first ever Bible verse I memorized. Well, not exactly the first. You see, in Vacation Bible School, we all had to memorize a daily Bible verse, and all the boys, of course, “memorized” the shortest verse in the Bible, “Jesus wept” – we relied on that one to get us through the day.

Over the years, we’ve danced – sometimes cheek-to-cheek, at arms’ length sometimes, and even in separate rooms sometimes.

We’ve been lovers, some might say … and in the worst times, I’ve turned to its pages for solace and healing, and it’s always been given. I’ve not always understood everything, and sometimes I’ve misunderstood. But that’s like any relationship in life, isn’t it? And there’s always more to discover.

As of late, I’ve been doing a series of Sunday messages on King David; I’ve been diving deep into the remarkable stories that lay out for us the life and times of David, and like most any biography anywhere, this is no fairy tale. It’s filled with everything the human drama can serve up – love and lust and loyalty; betrayal and bitterness; forgiveness and healing; tears and treachery and torment and terror; darkness of soul and despair of spirit; loneliness and longing; hatred and murder; war and wantonness, and then some.

And a still quiet voice woven into the stained and tattered fabric of life: God is present; God is at work; at work within the world we manage to give to God; at work for good; our good, and the good of all the world.

Over the years, it has weighed heavily upon my spirit – the life it calls me to, a life of trust and radical reliance on God; a life devoted to love and the reformation of soul and the healing of the nations; a life lived in Christ, for Christ and with Christ; a life of compassion and mercy and kindness and gentleness for the down-and-out; and a life willing to stand up and be counted when the powers and principalities of darkness assert their will and way – the ways of death and war and poverty and disease; the ways of Babylon, Revelation 18.

To be covered in the dust of the rabbi – to walk so closely with Jesus, that the dust of the pathway upon which he trods covers me – that his words soak into my soul like beet pickling juice, coloring my soul with his passion for the crowds wandering aimlessly in the wilderness of plenty and prosperity.

So, here I am tonight. I spent a good deal of time of today reading a Jewish New Testament scholar, Amy Jill Levine – about a good Jewish boy named Jesus and a faithful Jewish Pharisee named Saul, later to become Paul the Apostle.

Dancing with the Bible.

Sometimes I lead, but most of the time, she leads … as it should be. For who am I to set the pace for a life I barely understand, a world that seems mostly beyond my grasp, issues that defy analysis, intractable sin and the deepest, darkest mysteries of love and death and hatred and beauty.

It took me a long time to learn that much of the Bible is simply a mirror of life – this is the way we are, and this is the way it is – sometimes glorious and sometimes so ugly we’re surprised it’s in the Bible.

But that’s the point, I suppose – I’m in the Bible, and so are you, and sometimes I’m beautiful, and sometimes I’m ugly, and much of the time, I’m somewhere in between, and not a day passes without the grace of God holding me close and getting me through and guiding me over, as the days of my life race onward to whatever the end will be, an end I can only dimly sense, as it makes my stomach churn from time-to-time when I really think about, an end that will really be the end of me, at least here and now …

But a promise in its strange and obscure pages – a promise of life beyond life, life beyond death, and even life beyond life beyond death, as the love and wonder of God unfolds the yet untold glories of who we are in Christ, and what we shall become.

Well, that’s about enough for now.

That’s the news from Lake Wobegon, and the news from your town and mine … because every town belongs to God, and to God, we all belong … like Willie Nelson singing now as I write, “Livin’ in the Promised Land.”

To God be the glory … and to this remarkable book we call the Bible, a blessing – thank you God for every bit of it, and thank you for your amazing grace.

Chipped Plates

2009-07-30T09:20:00.000-07:00

This morning, putting the dishes away, I clunked one dish into the other, and pop, there went a chip a-flying.

Shucks and dadgummit all … but the plate is still good, and we’ll continue to eat off of it … though if we have guests, Donna or I will get the one with the chip missing.

That’s life, I guess.

You and me included.

A couple of hard nocks, chips a-flying … but we’re still intact. You are you and I am me … and who cares if some bits and pieces are missing!

A friend said to me a few years back, “if you make it to heaven without scars on your back, you haven’t lived a faithful life.”

I guess we could buy plates and put ‘em away, neatly wrapped. “Here, look at all these wonderful plates – see how neat and clean they are? The secret to beautiful plates? Never use ‘em.”

But plates are for using, washing and using again, and sooner or later, the fateful first chip, and then another, and then another …

Let’s it hear it for chipped plates!

Lets it hear for one another, chipped and cracked as we are, for we are loved by God just as we are, and we’re lovingly used by God to feed a hungry world. Chipped and cracked, we can still serve up a good portion of food – after all, no one eats the plate, just the food on it.

Heap up your plate with good food – God’s love and a boundless hope. You will feed a hungry world, and no one will notice the chips and the cracks.

Keep It Simple

2009-07-13T11:13:00.000-07:00

Keep it simple.
Keep it light.
Keep it true.
Keep it kind.

Be forgiving.
Listen carefully.
Hold your tongue.
Look up now and then.
Listen to the birds.
Feel the wind on your cheek.

Don't underestimate your silliness.
Or, your sin.
Relentless self-interest is all too real.

Say, "Jesus my Lord" a lot.
Keep the compass of your soul pointed to God.
If you swing away, that's okay.
You can always come back.
God will help you.

Serve God in small ways.
But if something really big comes your way, think about it.
Don't say yes too quickly.
But if you need to say yes, say it clearly.

If you're in jam, you will find a way out.
Be patient.
Wait.
Google your first name in quotes.

Today is but one day among them all.
It really counts, but not that much.
Don't be too serious.
Just try to be consistent.
Know when to let up.
When to bear down.
When to forget it.
When to try again.

Think of something really funny that happened to you.
Where and when?
Who and what?

And if you feel like crying, that's okay.
Go ahead.
Tears cleanse more than the eyes.

Take a deep breath.
You're doing fine.
You've made your share of mistakes; who hasn't?
But you've won the game a good many times, too.
You've got trophies in your heart.
Maybe even in a room.
You're a good and decent human being.
Every day, you give it a good try.

If you're just surviving, that's something.
Be proud.
Grateful.

If you're on top of the game, well, there ya' are.
Feel good.
Buy something beautiful.
Don't get uppity.
Remember when you weren't.
Help someone else along the way.
Say, "Jesus my Lord."

And go to bed tonight in peace.
You did your best.
Yup, you really did.
Maybe tomorrow, it'll be different.
Maybe not.
But you did it.
You made another day.
And just because you showed up, it counts.
It really does.

Sleep tight!
Don't let the bedbugs bite.

© Tom Eggebeen, July 13, 2009

Calvin's 500th Birthday - July 10

2009-07-06T09:11:00.000-07:00

It's helpful to know where we come from (okay, you grammar mavins, "It's helpful to know from where we come" ... or for those who love the cadences of the King James Version, "from whence we cometh").

Anyway, like our biological family of origin, we have a spiritual family of origin located in Geneva, Switzerland. Though we can trace our faith-roots all the way back to Abraham (we are the children of the promise made by God to Abraham - see Romans 4:16-16 - Jew and Gentile alike), our immediate "church" history begins with the Reformation and specifically with John Calvin, a Frenchman who was converted to the Protestant way of things under a Paris Law School professor who had been reading Luther's tracts (Calvin was trained as a lawyer).

Both Calvin and his professor fled Paris in the night when Roman Catholic authorities mounted a fierce campaign against the Protestant movement, and by fierce, I mean, the possibility of being executed.

Ultimately, Calvin goes to Geneva, a city of refuge and freedom; there, he begins to write and teach, ultimately framing his "Institutes of the Christian Religion" or commonly called, "The Institutes" (1536-1554, in its various editions).

A Scottish gentleman by the name of John Knox fell under Calvin's teaching and upon Knox's return to Scotland, formed what would come to be termed "the Presbyterian Church."

In turn, Scottish immigrants brought the Presbyterian Church to America, and the rest is history.

In the way we think about God and the way we govern ourselves (with Elders), we are descendants of John Calvin - and can rightly be called Calvinists, though what this means exactly varies widely among his descendants.

In sum, Calvin's greatest contribution is "peace of mind and heart" with regard to God - that is, in Jesus the Messiah, we have a clear and perfect representation of Yahweh, the Lord Almighty, and we see God favorably and lovingly dealing with us - to forgive our sin, to overcome the snares of death, to help us fulfill the original mandate to Abraham (to be a blessing to the the nations, to creation itself - see Romans 8:20) with eternal assurance, as well. God's perfect love casts out all fear (1 John 4:18).

In his extended discussion on "Justification" - that is, "God putting us right with God," Calvin writes:

Here, indeed, we are especially to note two things: namely, that the Lord's glory should stand undiminished and so speak, in good repair, and that our consciences in the presence of his judgment should have peaceful rest and serene tranquility (Book 3, Chapter 13, Sections 1).

In a world where fears run high, it is a good thing to be anchored in Calvin's grasp of God's goodness and faithfulness to us! For body and for soul, in life and in death, for this life for the life to come. In Jesus the Messiah (our spiritual location - "we are in Christ"), we are safe! Though this life has its share of perils, "we fear no evil" (Psalm 23), and though death awaits all of us, Christ has conquered death in his resurrection from the dead. In Christ, we make our journey through time with confidence, liberated from the spiritual craziness of a desperate world and freed from the material consumption of a frightened world.

In Jesus the Messiah, the Christ, we are right on track!

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, I give myself to you in faith and obedience.

Amen and Amen.

Happy 500th Birthday to John Calvin

Pastor Tom

Live for Christ Today

2009-06-25T07:14:00.000-07:00

Live for Christ for today.

Live in his grace, that we might be gracious.
Live in his love, that we might be loving.
Live in his forgiveness, that we might be forgiving.
Live in his peace, that we might seek peace in our time.
Live in his awareness, that we might truly notice others around us.
Live in his compassion, that we might seek the welfare of our neighbor.
Live in his sorrow, that we might feel the pain of the world.
Live in his cross, that we might not be afraid of spiritual burdens.
Live in his death and resurrection, that we might face the end of our life with hope.

Live for Christ today!

A Prayer

2009-06-13T09:36:00.000-07:00

I'm chuckling as I read a poem by early 16th Century poet, Sir Edward Dyer:

My mind to me a kingdom is,
Such perfect joy therein I finde
As farre exceeds all earthly blisse
That God or nature hath assignde.

Yes, all the spellings are correct, for the 16th century.

Might have been written by most anyone of recent times - Ha!

How different the Kingdom of God - thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Let our prayer be:

O Christ my Lord,
Help me to live within your world,
That I might be a light to my world.

While others try so hard to love themselves,
Help me to love you all the more.

Remind me daily that I am yours,
And none other can suffice for the needs of my soul.

Help me to see that my hunger is nothing less than a hunger for you.
That my thirst is assuaged by the Living Water you gave to the woman at the well.
That my life makes sense only in your grace and love.
That life consists of all the duties of equity - to love the neighbor as I love myself.
And that such love is You ...

For love is God, and God is love ... and to abide in you is to live the grace of daily love.

Help me be this, O Christ.
Help me do this, O Christ.

Help me, I pray, O Christ.

Amen

Ten Thousand Graves

2009-06-06T18:38:00.000-07:00

Ten thousand graves ...
Tended with care ... lush grass precisely trimmed.
Crosses mostly ... and Stars of David ...
Young men and women cut down in the prime of life.
They were brave and they were afraid ...
Their pictures reveal that haunted look ...
Of soldiers too tired to be afraid,
And too frightened to find sleep.

Seasick and wet,
They hit the beach …
Under the cover of …
Steel and smoke.
Death and tears abound …
Ahead, my friends, ahead.
There’s no going back now.
No stopping for any of us.

A continent enslaved awaits the charge.
Nations, yes, and then some, to be unshackled …

And the years pass us by quickly …
Memories roll beyond the reach of words …
Silent tears still shed …
By those who made it home.

Slowly, now, they join their comrades,
As we all do … with the passage of time.
Hand-in-hand; arm-in-arm … a band of brothers …
A chorus of sisters …

Smoke and steel …
And a victory in hand.
And may those
Ten thousand graves remain ever well-tended!

Copywrite: Thomas P. Eggebeen, 2009

Sense, Sight and Spirit

2009-06-02T08:38:00.000-07:00

I took a shower this morning and thought, “Wow, this is amazing.”

Drove around the city yesterday with some errands and thought, “What an incredible city – life, culture, buildings, song and dance – the whole nine yards.”

Moderated Session last night and thought, “So many good and decent folk, servants of the most high God, working hard to be faithful.”

And, then I thought about my thoughts – and what it is to have eyes that see, senses that feel, and a heart for the things of God.

Pray that my eyes remain good, my senses appreciative and my heart devoted to the things of God.

I’ll pray that for you, too.

Count Your Blessings ...

2009-05-19T06:59:00.000-07:00

As the hymn puts it:

Count your blessings, name them one by one,
Count your blessings, see what God hath done!
Count your blessings, name them one by one,
And it will surprise you what the Lord hath done.

Ordinarily, we “count our blessings” by noting what God has done for us … and they are many, of course: from the breath of life to the hope of eternity, from the smell of freshly brewed coffee to the delight of a pepperoni pizza – and the gift of the church of Jesus Christ, the Bible, pastors and missionaries; sun rise over the mountains, the crash of ocean waves; the arc of gull’s wing, the buzz of a bee, and a couple of billion other things, great and small.

But I’d like to take this notion of counting on a slightly different tact.

Count the good and decent things YOU’VE DONE over the years, and will likely do today: kindly words spoken to a friend in need; a more than generous check given to the LORD's work; every prayer you’ve said for family and friends; a smile given to the young lady behind the counter; a dollar bill given to a homeless man on the street; the mission trip you went on; a time when your shared your faith with a friend; all those times when you walk humbly with God, when you do just things for the folks on the other end of the stick, when you stand tall for Christ and let his light shine through your life; when mercy and love and tenderness pour out of your heart – these and a couple of million other things, great and small.

So, count your blessings today, name them one by one, and it will surprise what the LORD hath done THROUGH YOU!

Praying for One Another

2009-05-14T06:48:00.000-07:00

The Acts 16:5 Initiative offers a prayer that we can use for one another.

For some months now, Session members have been doing this. At the end of every Session Meeting, we pair-up and promise to pray for our prayer-partner until the next Session Meeting, when the pairs are rearranged.

This morning, I prayed for my prayer partner and he prayed for me.

But whether said in partnership with someone, or simply prayed for another, the Acts 16:5 Initiative Prayer reflects the heart of our faith.

So, if you’d like to say a prayer for a friend or family member, here it is:

LORD, grant (name) and me
The grace today to commit
Our lives to the Lordship of Jesus Christ
Without our reservation, and grant
(name) and me further the grace
To know your strength and your
Guidance this day. Amen!

You can cut this out and put a copy in your purse or billfold. You can tape it on to your computer or put it in your Prayer Journal as I have done.

If your friend is Buddhist or Moslem, or of some other faith, you might want to offer this version of the prayer:

LORD, grant (name) and me
The grace today to commit
Our lives to the faith we hold and
The love we seek
Without reservation, and grant
(name) and me further the grace
To know your strength and your
Guidance this day. Amen!

If in your spirit is seems right and good to pray for a friend to come to faith in Jesus Christ, you might want to use the following:

LORD, grant (name) the grace today
To commit his/her life to the Lordship
Of Jesus Christ without reservation,
And use me as a channel of your grace,
And grant (name) and me further
The grace to know your strength and your
Guidance this day. Amen!

It is a good thing to pray spiritually for one another.

Her Nose Is Working

2009-05-08T07:32:00.000-07:00

I am amazed at Connie Culp, the lady with the face transplant … there’s something incredibly beautiful in her spirit, and how she can laugh – there’s delight in her soul.

In an interview this morning, she said, “I could smell my face soup” – for the first time in five years, she could smell – her nose was working!

I don’t know her at all, but what shows through in these interviews is something profound … what would you call it?

She forgives her husband who shot her.

I wonder … am I capable of such grace?

Maybe we all are!

I think there is something incredible in us … call it the image of God … call it what you will, but it’s there, in all of us.

I think I’ll be very careful today to try to find that grace in my life.

How about you?

Easter Thoughts

2009-04-21T16:44:00.000-07:00

A body missing is one thing; a living Presence, beguiling our spirit, is another. Had the body of Jesus been missing, and nothing more, that fact could not have been sufficient to convict the heart and command a life. Folks would have wondered what happened, and then, in time, as happens in the passing of days, forgotten all about it. But more than a missing body, it was a living Presence that startled Mary in the garden, invited Thomas to touch the wound, ate fish on the beach with the disciples and gave Peter another chance. That’s why we say, “He is risen, indeed!

Living Between the Pages.

2009-04-03T07:03:00.000-07:00

The Bible begins simply: “In the beginning, God…” and ends, “The grace of our LORD Jesus be with all the saints. Amen!”*

Our lives are anchored by within these two giant seawalls: God in the beginning and Christ at the end, and by anchored, I mean safe. As Paul writes in Romans, there is nothing anywhere that can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our LORD. Period!

With this in mind, where do we live? We live in the middle! We live between the pages, the first page of creation and the last page of grace. As one writer once put it, every good book has a beginning, an end, and a muddle! Yes, things get a bit muddled in the middle, but we’re anchored in the beginning and in the end.

Today, who knows what challenges will come your way, what trials of spirit and body will assail you, but this we know and this we believe: we live between the pages – it begins well, and it ends well, and so shall it be for us!

With faith, hope and love, we endure, and more than endure, we live in God’s love and grace.

We live between the pages!

*In the New Testament, saints are all those who a part of Christ. During the Middle Ages, the term was redefined to specify a class of persons who, by good works above and beyond, acquired “excess merit” upon which the “regular” folk might call – hence, “praying to the saints.” Nothing is further from the mind of the New Testament writers. We are ALL saints in the sight of God!

Chasing the Wind

2009-04-02T08:00:00.000-07:00

I think life is pretty much a tough and demanding journey.

From Adam and Eve being “escorted” out of the garden, Abraham and Sarah hitting the road to Canaan, and Jesus heading toward Jerusalem, life, with plenty of delights and joys along the way, is tough and demanding.

I think that’s the power of Lent – helps us get through the nonsense of America’s infatuation with the “pursuit of happiness” … which is just fine, but who’s ever found it? And what is it in the first place? And if it’s so elusive, so impossible to grasp, then what is it we’re pursuing? I think the framers of our founding documents had something of personal freedom in mind, without church or government telling anyone what to do, and I think that’s a good idea. But I have in mind this image – a dog chasing it’s tail, or a rabbit dashing about, or someone just busting their butt to find something, make something, experience something, buy something, drink and eat something, and when the day is done, going to bed with a haunting sense of emptiness.

Tough and demanding, that’s life. But, then what?

Joshua said to the people, “As for me and my house, we’ll pursue the LORD.”

Or maybe like Mother Teresa: “I’ll pursue comfort for the dying.” Or Martin Luther King, Jr., “I’ll pursue justice and civil rights.” Or J.K. Rowling, “I’ll pursue a story of loyalty and bravery and sacrifice.”

Jesus said, “I am with you always.” I like that. The writer to the Hebrews says, “we’re surrounded by a cloud of witnesses” – I like that, too. Folks cheering us on, and Jesus at our side.

When I’m too busy chasing the wind, I outrun Jesus and I leave the cloud of witnesses behind. I’m all alone, and that’s the toughest part of living these days. How alone we can be, and how alone so many folks are at the end of the day.

The Apostle Paul wrote: And this is my prayer, that your love may overflow more and more with knowledge and full insight to help you to determine what is best, so that in the day of Christ you may be pure and blameless, having produced the harvest of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ for the glory and praise of God.

I think we all end up chasing something. That’s why Lent is a good time to ask, “What is it we’re chasing after?” If life is pretty much a tough and demanding journey, Lent helps us make it count, really count for something.

Getting Rid of the Cherry Coke - by the Rev. Bob Orr

2009-03-30T15:52:00.000-07:00

I was on my back from Indiana when I stopped at a large box store and bought a case of Cherry Coke. There were more than twenty four cans . . maybe thirty six. I have a weak place for Coke and have almost weaned myself. But this was a bargain and I was weak so I bought it.

Back home in Michigan I put the whole case in the downstairs "second" frig and only one or two cans upstairs in the convenient frig. I told myself that way I'd have to work at getting them. Well as it turned out I was drinking one or two a day and had consumed about a dozen when Kathie said, "You know that's empty calories." She was right, of course. And I knew it. At the time of purchase I had gone back and forth several times in my mind whether to buy the Coke, before I fell off the wagon.

Now was the time to remedy the situation. What to do? How to get rid of it? We had made food donations a couple of times to a soup kitchen located in a Baptist Church nearby. That was the place. So I stopped a day or so ago, feeling good about getting rid of the rest of the Coke but also realizing that I was "passing on" the empty calories to others. I went ahead anyway. I found the church, knocked on the door during lunch time and a woman answered who was directing the program. She graciously accepted my donation.

I took a quick look around and saw twenty or thirty men sitting at four long tables eating their lunch. As I walked to the exit, one of them, bearded and missing part of one finger on his hand, stood up from his meal, extended his hand to me and said "thank you". I had delivered "empty calories". That was no cause for thanks in my mind. But I was moved by his gratitude, shook his hand and vowed to myself to return with a "real food" donation next week.

"And when you do it to the least of these, you do it to me", Jesus said. I know I can "do" better by the man eating his lunch in the Baptist Church and to me and to my Lord. Abba, forgive me.

A Mile Wide and a Mile Deep

2009-03-28T06:05:00.000-07:00

“He’s so narrow in thought that when he turns toward the sun, he doesn’t cast a shadow. But his friend is so open-minded, his brains fell out.”

I heard this years ago and continue to chuckle about it.

Having recently visited a church’s website, I wrote: “religion, a mile wide and an inch deep” … and, then, while reading Calvin, noted, “a mile deep, for sure.”

And then wondered, “Is it possible to be a mile wide and a mile deep, too.”

To be a mile wide in love, as God so loves the world, and to be a mile deep in knowing the Bible and Christian doctrine.

Presbyterians have a decent track record on this point, though we’re often tempted to knock off one for the other – love a mile wide and knowledge an inch deep, or knowledge and doctrine a mile deep and love an inch wide.

When I survey the world, I’m glad to be a Presbyterian. We’re not the only voice, obviously, nor do we have an impeccable reputation, but on the whole, we’ve held up our end of the bargain rather well ever since Calvin proclaimed the grace of God in Geneva and John Knox brought Calvin’s vision to Scotland, from whence came our Presbyterian spiritual mothers and fathers.

If our tradition has any merit, and I believe it does, it’s the holding together of both vectors – love a mile wide and knowledge a mile deep.

Dear Presbyterians, and those who may be wondering what a Presbyterian is, we are those who love God and neighbor with the passion and compassion of Christ, and who burn the midnight oil in our studies!

I’m glad to be a Presbyterian! A faith-tradition of heart and mind, service and study, a vigorous and a rigorous life, a mile wide and a mile deep.

Simple Words of Faith

2009-03-24T16:37:00.000-07:00

Simple words of faith …

I believe …

Life is good at its core, though bad things happen, and happen to good people.

God loves the world, and that’s why God won’t change things with the snap of a finger – it would violate our freedom, and more precious than anything else that God created is our freedom, though we often use it for the worst purposes.

God has done and continues to do, a mighty work in Jesus the Christ for all the world – his teaching is the way we need to proceed, his love is the truth that makes all of our lesser truths less important, and when wisdom and love are united, that’s life – Jesus is the way, the truth and the life.

God has provided through Christ a multiplicity of paths – not everyone knows the name of Jesus, but Jesus knows everyone’s name, and however history and culture play themselves out, Christ is there, for everyone – with all the goodness of his Father’s love.

The church is at its best when it’s welcoming and receiving of all.

You are important to God’s work.

You are capable of great love!

Updike, my Dad and Me - by Robert Dahl

2009-03-14T10:34:00.000-07:00

Bob Dahl and I have been friends for 40 years. In this remarkable essay, Bob muses on a Father who took him to church, and the coffee shop for a donut ... how those memories shape a life, and prepare someone to "shoulder" something of the faith.

Recently I read this: "It is difficult to imagine anyone shouldering the implausible complications of Christian doctrine...without some inheritance of positive prior involvement." That was from an essay by John Updike quoted in an article in the March 24th issue of The Christian Century. Earlier in the essay, Updike described one such positive prior involvement. It was attending a Wednesday evening Lenten worship service as a fourteen year old with his father. It was a good experience for him. Years later he would look back upon it as formative.

I almost cried. It is much the same for me. I have shouldered implausible complications of Christian doctrine for forty-three years, thirty-nine in ordained ministry and four in seminary. But the memories that penetrate the ponderings and reach deep into the marrow of my spiritual being are of going to church with my dad, especially the evening services because it was always and only me and my dad. My mother stayed home and by this time my sister was married and out of the house.

He professed the Christian faith as I approached adolescence. I made profession of faith when I was twelve. I had asked to join the church. I guess it was my low church, protestant version of a bar mitzvah. Our congregation didn't have confirmation classes with required attendance. The pastor and the elders believed it should be a personal decision. They thought I was a bit young to be making profession of faith, but I guess it took.

My dad became one of those elders. In time, I became the president of the youth group. He started a scholarship fund for members of the congregation who felt called to ordained ministry. By the time I had chosen to give seminary a try, I had forgotten about the scholarship. In fact, I don't think I even knew about it. The pastor told me I would be receiving monthly checks to help support me through school. I received those checks every month for the four years I was in seminary. The fund was named after my dad.

When I was in high school, he made weekly journeys to downtown Chicago to the missions on skid row to preach love to “the bums,” who sat through the service only because it was required to get the soup that followed worship. My dad had been "on the bum" hopping freight trains around the country during the Great Depression. A little of himself was always sitting on the folding chairs opposite the pulpit behind which he stood. Sometimes I went along. I sat in one of those chairs thinking about the donut I would get when we stopped at the same coffee shop we always stopped at on the way home.

When I was seventeen, my dad died. I'm 64 and I still miss him. Sometimes he sits in one of the pews while I am standing behind the pulpit getting ready to preach. I hope I preach as much grace as he did.

A God-Centered Life

2009-03-10T07:13:00.000-07:00

To see our life under the loving hand of God, and to give God the glory, all the glory, every bit of it, for the love we have for Christ and the impulse we have for worship, prayer and virtue.

With untold mercy and infinite grace, God has saved us, from our selves and the wiles of the Devil, and brought us into the kingdom of light and into the realm of Christ.

Did we do any of this on our own? Even a little bit?

I think not.

Nor does Paul the Apostle who rightly suggests that if we could claim any responsibility, even a smidgeon, for our status with God, we’d quickly be inclined to boast, which always leads to unhealthy distinctions among believers (as if one believer could be superior to another) and worse: to look with disdain at those outside the realms of faith.

As you know, 2009 is the 500th birthday of John Calvin, the spiritual granddaddy of the Presbyterian Church. As Luther is for Lutherans and Wesley is for Methodists, so Calvin is for Presbyterians.

Calvin wrote clearly and passionately about the glory of God – that we would see our lives under the loving and guiding hand of God. To painfully (only at first) admit that we bring to the table nothing but our relentless self-interest, our confusion and an improper pride. That even our instincts for good are driven by self-interest in much the same way that an animal seeks its own comfort and desires the wellbeing of its offspring. Painful at first for the “old humanity within us,” such confession becomes joyful release as we grow in the grace of God.

Calvin seeks to create an attitude that is finally and firmly focused on the goodness, grace and glory of God. This is the “peace with God” of which Paul the Apostle writes and the foundation for love – to love God with all that we are, and with that selfsame love, to love our neighbor as we, now rightly, for the first time, love ourselves.

This is a God-centered life. To God, and to God alone, be the glory!

Welcome to Lent

2009-02-25T09:58:00.000-08:00

The word Lent comes from the Old English word lenctin – which means to lengthen, referring to the lengthening of days in springtime for the Northern Hemisphere. That in the cold and darkened season of winter, the time of spring and new life approaches.

A time of hopeful and somber reflection on Jesus and his passion (suffering). A time of self-denial and restraint to sort of toughen and train the soul (hence Mardi Gras – Fat Tuesday, a final blowout before the Lenten discipline begins).

For some, Lent has been trivialized by giving up chocolate or, if you’re a child, spinach.

But Lent is neither about giving up things, nor setting Lenten Resolutions to live better and kindlier lives (although that’s always a good idea). Lent is NOT about doing or not doing; it’s really two things that occur in the deeps of the human spirit:
1. Thoughtful introspection about the awful reality of sin – the relentless self-interest that drives so much of life for all of us.
2. And contemplation about Jesus, the Way he chose via the cross and his invitation to take up our cross and follow him.

There’s nothing easy about any of this, but this is the stuff of spiritual health:
- Humility in the face of our sin and complicity in the suffering of the world.
- Sorrow for the state of affairs we humans have crafted.
- Confession: LORD have mercy!
- A heart broken by God.
- So that God can reassemble our hearts in the image of Christ.

Lent is never easy, but it’s vital to the health of the soul!

May God grant to us all a firm and faithful encounter with the Season of Lent!

An Open Door

2009-02-24T06:31:00.000-08:00

“It turned out to be the opening of a door.”

I read that a few days ago in a Frederick Buechner piece, and it’s been rolling around in my mind ever since.

I’m sure I’ve walked by or around a good many open doors – I either didn’t recognize them for what they were, or I was just too preoccupied to pay attention … or maybe the open door felt too strange for me.

Yet I know of open doors that I’ve walked through. We’ve all those good moments when we’ve said, “Let’s do it!”

I’m not sure we ever fully know what the next door will look like … when Buechner wrote that phrase, it was in hindsight, and most of the open doors of our life are identified in retrospect.

I think God has a hand in all of this.

God guides us, even as we make our decisions and do our best, or maybe even do our worst, or mostly, somewhere in between.

A part of knowing God is knowing God’s kindness and love at work in all things.

It’s not ALL up to you and me! God is a key player in the game.

So, pay attention today, but don’t be too anxious about finding your next door. You are likely to walk through it and not even know it, and God is beside you, though you may not recognize God – who knows, God may appear to you in the guise of a friend, an internet article, or a thought out of the blue.

“It turned out to be the opening of a door.”

A Simple Celebration of Life

2009-02-18T05:45:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, I had lunch with a UCLA professor at the Faculty Center, and we had a delight time. He’s a fascinating man, with a 40-year teaching career and no end in sight. He teaches French literature and over the years has developed some theories about the origin of language called “generative anthropology” … which I will NOT try to explain, since it’s all very new to me.

But the purpose of this little note is the simple celebration of life – as we said yesterday, so many good and decent folk trying their levelheaded best to transcend the dark side and make something of themselves, and help a few others along the way.

As you read these words today, you’ve already made any number of decisions about the day, the quality of your life, and those you love.

Think of the LORD's Prayer today as a simple paradigm of basic living: Our Father, who art in heaven (say the entire prayer before reading on) …
ü     A thought about God – that God is good, and I’m better for opening that part of my life.

ü     A thought about a better world – governed not by greed and the lust for power, but governed by grace and compassion. And I'm a part of that project!

ü     A thought about provisioning – that God will provide what I need, and sometimes, even what I want.

ü     A thought about forgiveness – primarily to set me free from the bitter hold of old memories; clear the decks, so to speak, so I can get on with my life.

ü     A thought about making it through the worst of times – how many hard times I've come through in my days, and I'll make it the rest of the way.

ü     A thought that in the end, it all belongs to God, including me and those I love.

A simple celebration of life! And who knows what fascinating people you’ll meet today. Pay attention to God, and pay attention to everyone around you.

The Gettysburg Address

2009-02-12T16:02:00.001-08:00

THE GETTYSBURG ADDRESS:

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation or any nation so conceived and so dedicated can long endure.

We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field as a final resting-place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. But in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground.

The brave men, living and dead who struggled here have consecrated it far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living rather to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us--that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion--that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain, that this nation under God shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth.

The Gettysburg Address

2009-02-12T16:02:00.000-08:00

THE GETTYSBURG ADDRESS:

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this
continent a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the
proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in
a great civil war, testing whether that nation or any nation so
conceived and so dedicated can long endure. We are met on a great
battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of
that field as a final resting-place for those who here gave their
lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and
proper that we should do this. But in a larger sense, we cannot
dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground.
The brave men, living and dead who struggled here have consecrated
it far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will
little note nor long remember what we say here, but it can never
forget what they did here. It is for us the living rather to be
dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here
have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here
dedicated to the great task remaining before us--that from these
honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which
they gave the last full measure of devotion--that we here highly
resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain, that this
nation under God shall have a new birth of freedom, and that
government of the people, by the people, for the people shall
not perish from the earth.

When the Light Goes On ...

2009-01-23T09:13:00.000-08:00

It’s happening again.

I’ve seen it happen ten thousand times … well, not that many times, but maybe a hundred times in my 39 years of ministry.

When a light goes on.

It happens in Bible study … not at first, and not all at once.

It’s like starting a cold car (I know; folks in SoCal don’t know about that!) – the engine cranks slowly, groaning and coughing, and then, it catches – the engine begins to turn and generate some heat.

So it is with the soul and the Bible.

A lot of groaning at first – who are these strange people about whom we read? All their odd names and weird goings on? Grace on one page and blood splattered on the next. Lambs slaughtered and the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.

And then a cough or two; a spark of understanding flares for just a moment, and then it’s gone again.

But then, another spark … and another, and the soul’s engine turns over and begins to generate some heat.

The frown of consternation eases over into a smile of recognition – this is the God who created us and loves us dearly.

The light goes on. They student moves closer to God, or shall I say, the God who is always close to us, the presence of grace, is recognized - “Ah, so you’re the one who’s been stirring my soul.”

That’s a lot of fun for me as a teacher – I love to see it happen.

Forget Our Debtors

2009-01-05T05:44:00.000-08:00

While saying the LORD's Prayer a few days ago in my morning prayer-time, my mind wandered for a moment (which happens now and then), and I heard myself saying, “forgive us our debts as we forget our debtors.”

A fortuitous slip of the tongue!

Like a New Yorker, “forget about it” – not a bad idea.

And to forget about “our debtors,” those who owe us something – and maybe they do – but it’s unlikely they’re ever going to pay up, and then the realization sets in, some debts can’t be paid – they’re too big, and even if someone tried, maybe it wouldn’t satisfy us! Maybe our need is too big.

“Forget about it” - good spiritual advice.

In other words, get on with life and count our blessings.

Maybe that’s what forgiveness is all about … letting something go and getting on with our life … thoughts and feelings no longer revolving around the recollections of being wronged by someone, or driven by an emotional need that can never be meet.

Forget about it!

Because life is so much bigger and better than all of that, and everyone of us deserves to be free from those nagging thoughts and irritating memories of what others said or did, or failed to say or do. Forget about it.

Forget about our debtors … and think a whole lot more about God!

Happy New Year

2009-01-01T06:50:00.000-08:00

What follows is the January 1 reading from Frederick Buechner’s Listening to Your Life … may it set the pace for the year ahead …

I discovered that if you really keep your eye peeled to it and your ears open, if you really pay attention to it, even such a limited and limiting life as the one I was living on Rupert Mountain opened up onto extraordinary vistas. Taking your children to school and kissing your wife goodbye. Eating lunch with a friend. Trying to do a decent day’s work. Hearing the rain patter against the window. There is no event so commonplace but that God is present within it, always hiddenly, always leaving you room to recognize him or not to recognize him, but all the more fascinatingly because of that, all the more compellingly and hauntingly…. If I were called upon to state in a few words the essence of everything I was trying to say both as a novelist and as a preacher, it would be something like this: Listen to your life. See it for the fathomless mystery that it is. In the boredom and pain of it no less than in the excitement and gladness: touch, taste, smell your way to the holy and hidden heart of it because in the last analysis all moments are key moments, and life itself is grace.

Happy New Year to all of you … life itself is grace!

Eyewitnesses of His Majesty

2008-12-16T06:29:00.000-08:00

Good Morning Covenant on the Corner.

We’re in the flow of Advent … we’ve pondered things with Mary, we’ve wondered how it’s going to work out with Joseph; we heard from the Innkeeper last week, and this coming Sunday, we’ll be surprised with the Shepherds – surprised that the highest of angels would come to them, the lowest on the rung of human status, to announce good news to them, neither to prince nor in palace, but in the hill country, to no-accounts …

This morning, in the daily lection, this remarkable piece from 2 Peter, chapter 1:

Therefore I intend to keep on reminding you of these things, though you know them already and are established in the truth that has come to you. I think it right, as long as I am in this body, to refresh your memory, since I know that my death will come soon, as indeed our Lord Jesus Christ has made clear to me. And I will make every effort so that after my departure you may be able at any time to recall these things.

For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we had been eyewitnesses of his majesty. For he received honor and glory from God the Father when that voice was conveyed to him by the Majestic Glory, saying, “This is my Son, my Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.” We ourselves heard this voice come from heaven, while we were with him on the holy mountain.

This is my 64th Christmas, and professionally, my 38th … I’ve never grown weary of the story, and every Advent and Christmas, there always something new, something clear and crisp in the air, some fresh idea, some energizing image that grips the mind and compels my spirit to praise and wonder.

I wish to all of you the joy and wonder of the season … as we all cut back a bit on our spending, let’s go full hog with our praise, for this is a remarkable story, and the Jesus to whom it points remains the power and the glory of human history.

His love and his work are for all the world, and wherever women and men of faith turn heavenward, he’s there. Wherever a tear is shed in sorrow for the untoward ways of humankind, he’s there. Wherever justice fails, he’s there beside the injured and the lost. Wherever justice is done, he’s in the doing of the deed.

I celebrate with you the joy of Christmas – a gift for all the world! Through the telling of the story all over again, we are, like Peter, “eyewitnesses of his majesty.”

Advent week 3, 2008

Advent 1

2008-12-01T06:28:00.000-08:00

By the Rev. Robert C. Orr ...

Cast of characters Luke 1 and 2 -- Advent I

Luke, Theophilus, Herod, Zachariah, Elizabeth, Angel, Gabriel, Joseph, Mary, Caesar Augustus, sheep herders, baby Jesus, angelic choir, Simeon, Anna, teachers (in the Temple) and Jesus (age 12).

Is this a list of the usual suspects
or is this the most improbable
mix of humanity and divinity
ever to be mixed up?
a bit of this, a bit of that--
a touch of sheep, a taste of hay
an angel startling with a greeting
a prince with throne encountering--
a power greater than all thrones
a helpless baby
a helpless humanity
all searching
all looking
do we look East?
do we look West?
ahead?
behind?
or
in our heart of hearts?
is there room?
are we able to open the door
to let Him in?
wait and see
wait and try
wait

© The Rev. Robert C. Orr

Thanksgiving

2008-11-25T07:24:00.000-08:00

A simple exercise for Thanksgiving …

A slip of paper, a pen … maybe a computer … write the word Blessings on top of the page, and then begin your list …

Take your time … let it flow … if there’s a pause, wait a moment or two … more things will come …

The list doesn’t need to exceed 20 items … a dozen will do for the time being …

And for the next few days, read the list daily, and say at the end, “Jesus my LORD.”

Read slowly … like eating good food … slowly … to savor each bite, discerning the complex layers of flavor and texture.

It takes but a few moments of our time, but time taken for gratitude slows our pace and creates a small space of peace. There is soul-healing power in gratitude.

As the hymn puts it, Count your blessings, name them one by one; you’ll be surprised by what the LORD has done.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Interim Pastor Tom Eggebeen

Changing Our Minds

2008-11-20T06:32:00.000-08:00

Stay the course, but be prepared for the unexpected discovery.

Years ago, the Christian Century magazine published a series of articles entitled, “How I Changed My Mind” – written by a variety of top-notch scholars, preachers and church leaders.

For all of them, those critical moments when new data entered the stream of thought, when the unexpected discovery could not be ignored – so, they changed their minds.

Emerson noted: “A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of small minds.”

What’s “foolish consistency”? A refusal to let new data enter the stream of thought. A consistent disregard for the unexpected discovery – as if Columbus might have sailed into the new world and said, “Nope. Doesn’t exist! The world as I knew it last week is still the world as it is.”

Life is a quest … a constant journey … and God is constantly introducing new data into the stream of thought, and as we walk with Jesus, we will see things never seen before, or we’ll see what we saw thousand times before in a brand new light.

It takes courage, I think to change the mind, and some humility as well – to admit that our former take on things can go in a new direction. “I used to think thus and so, but now I see it differently.”

It’s good to change … do it slowly, do it carefully - keep the windows of your mind open to new data and the unexpected discovery.

Veterans Day

2008-11-11T07:23:00.001-08:00

On the eleventh day of the eleventh year at the eleventh hour – the cessation of hostilities on the Western Front – World War 1, and today is the 90th anniversary.

The date was declared a national holiday in many nations to remember the 20 million who perished.

After Word War 2, it was changed to Veterans’ Day in the United States and to Day of Remembrance in the British Commonwealth. In many parts of the world, people pause for a two-minute period of silence at 11:00 AM.

At 11:00 AM this morning, I invite you to take a moment for prayer:

Eternal God, whose love is our peace, whose mercy is our hope, I remember the 20 million who perished in the fateful days of World War 1, and I gratefully remember when peace was declared and war was no more, though only for a season.

O LORD our God, my heart is distressed, because we are a warring race, easily taking up arms against one another, convinced that peace can be won through might. But war and rumors of war plague our world, and in this moment as I pray, soldiers and civilians are dying in gunfire and explosion, others maimed for life all around this lovely blue planet – and the sorrows grow deeper.

Help me, O LORD to be a person of faith and peace. To refrain from all expressions of violence and ill-will. To embody peace in my own life; to apologize and to forgive quickly, rising above dark thoughts. To be of good cheer and to lift up struggling souls. To stand with the oppressed and the excluded. To pray constantly for peace and to work hard for justice.

I pray for the leaders of the world, and I pray that women and men of faith will boldly bear witness to the tasks of peace.

Help me to stand with Jesus first of all, to lift up before my world the larger vision of the peaceable kingdom, when the lion shall lay down with the lamb. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen!

Strength for Today, Bright Hope for Tomorrow

2008-11-06T07:11:00.000-08:00

“Great Is Thy Faithfulness” is one of my all-time favorite hymns; the last stanza reads like this:

Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth. Thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide; Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow, Blessings all mine, with ten thousand beside!

And then the chorus:

Great is Thy faithfulness! Great is Thy faithfulness! Morning by morning new mercies I see. All I have needed Thy hand hath provided; Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me!
I thought of this great hymn when reading Psalm 62 this morning.

The Psalm begins like this:

For God alone my soul waits in silence;
from him comes my salvation.
He alone is my rock and my salvation,
my fortress; I shall never be shaken.

Dear Reader:

When the winds blow and the storms come, we are safe.
When our own failures overtake us, we are safe.
When the hurt and harm of others injures us, we are safe.
When our hopes and dreams come to naught, we are safe.
When life is more than we can bear, we are safe.

God see us through the storm …
God forgives our sins …
God uses our suffering to mature our soul …
God always has something new in store for us …
God carries our burdens, too …

Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow.

Thoughts

A Christmas Letter from a Dear Friend

A Religious Experience at AAA

A God-Moment

"The Fresh Air Faded" by Bob Dahl

"I Sit on the Porch" - by Bob Dahl

Keep on Dancing

"The Green Thing"

huithiang!: THE CANTOR AND THE CLANSMAN

Faithfulness - Over the Long Haul

Basic Advice for the day!

"The Tao of Touch" by Marge Piercy

Voting for Amendment 10-A Today

A Friend's Faith

Resurrection Ahead ...

Tina Fey's Prayer.

A Holy Week Blessing

The Deadly Power of Tradition

Predestination: Some Thoughts

Some Thoughts about Eternity & Good Friends

Today, All Kinds of Decisions

God at Work in All Things ...

An Erev Purim Story

It is the Night - from a dear FB friend ...

It is the Night

Final Advent Thoughts

A Christmas Story - A Baby's Hug

Today Will Be a Good Day

p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 36.0px Optima; color: #ff00ff}p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 18.0px Optima} Today will be a good day ... maybe hard, maybe sad, but every day occurs under heaven's watchful eye ... Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

The Presbyterian Layman ...

What's a Good Day Like?

Help my Peace Corps son fly to his sister's wedding

The Power of ...

Patience and Dreams

Remembering the Fallen Firefighters

Remembering 9/11

California Statehood - by Garrison Keillor

Be of Good Cheer

August 18, 2010 - Cream for Your Coffee

August 4, 2010 - Cream for Your Coffee

A Little Statement of Faith

Keeping an Open Mind ... by Thomas R. Dickens

Evolution and Intelligent Design

Basic Decisions

Back in the Saddle Again

Using a Sermon for Spiritual Growth

Encouragement

Who or What Are We?

What Is Lent?

Every Hour

To the Person Who Brought Three Neighbors

Human Instinct

The Power of Faith

Mary Pondered These Things.

Dealing with Fear

Three Words

Sweat-Lodge Deaths

A Sort of Poem - Happy to Be a Presbyterian

The Greater and the Lesser

Life Is Too Short

A Little Tea Cup????

Rainbow Run

Filled with Scripture, Filled with Christ

Blessed Assurance?

A Large Warehouse in Canton

LA Soup Kitchen

We Believe

My Dance with the Bible

Chipped Plates

Keep It Simple

Calvin's 500th Birthday - July 10

Live for Christ Today

A Prayer

Ten Thousand Graves

Sense, Sight and Spirit

Count Your Blessings ...

Praying for One Another

Her Nose Is Working

Easter Thoughts

Living Between the Pages.

Today will be a good day ... maybe hard, maybe sad, but every day occurs under heaven's watchful eye ...
Ecclesiastes 3:1-8