Wednesday, January 31, 2007

Prison By Moonlight

It is bitterly cold here with temperatures hovering near zero.

Last night I drove from our church to the institution where Ken is chaplain. I was going to assist in teaching a class at the prison chapel. The moon was large and bright in the night sky, and the snow reflected an almost florescent light. The new snow was full of sparkles, as happens when the temperature is very cold. Fields stretched wide and white, and trees lifted their stark, bare branches. Our church is holding a week of prayer, so I decided to pray as I drove through the silent and beautiful countryside.

This year's week of prayer has something different about it that is difficult to describe. It is almost as if we can sense God's presence as warmth. Several have commented on this, even though they are coming to pray in a slightly chilly sanctuary.

The warm presence of the Holy Spirit was in our midst last Sunday morning in a marked way. Our singing was wonderful, not so much skilled as deeply worshipful. I spoke of the personality of God's Holy Spirit--a Spirit who is not an far-off, impersonal divinity or cosmic force but instead One who wills, teaches, guides, and feels. Thank you, Psalmist, for allowing me to use your story of a very personal and remarkable God encounter. Listening, some shed silent tears. A kind of quiet peace showed in some of the uplifted faces.

The candlelight on the altar table this week seems almost to be a reflection of the warm presence of the Spirit. I thought of this as I prayed aloud, driving through the dark of a Wisconsin winter night.

Arriving at prison, the usually crotchety night shift guard almost smiled. I negotiated the gatehouse with a minimum of difficulty, and I climbed into a freezing van for transport to the chapel. We passed a few hardy inmates playing basketball on a small court outside their unit, dribbling and shooting the ball in unusual silence as the moon reflected enough light for their frigid game. I shivered and watched the cloud my breath made in the van, as the guard-driver passed various dark buildings. Prison is a dark place in more ways than one.

Then ahead I saw the chapel. The light inside shone through the chapel's large purple and blue glass wall, illuminating the surrounding darkness with an almost holy light. I glimpsed the platform lights and a few men moving inside. How I wish I could take a camera inside the prison. The sight of the chapel full of light in the snowy night was startling and lovely.

Later, we prayed together for "the brothers," as the Christians refer to themselves, to stay strong and to shine for Jesus in a spiritually dark place.

Today in our candlelit sanctuary I prayed the same for my little church, and for all the churches who seek to be the light of Christ in a dark world. Holy Spirit, be present wherever you find hearts open to you.

Saturday, January 27, 2007

There is Always a New Baby Picture to Post

The Blessed Princess Trinity Ann the Smaller of Minneapolis Nigh the Big River is 20 days old. I don't get to see her for three more weeks. :-( By that time she will be reading and learning to ride a bike! ;-)




Friday, January 26, 2007

It's a Long Time Till Spring




Inside at the table
and
sitting at the table looking out the window.


Friday Five: Renewal

RevGal Matriarch Songbird says,
"In my office the other day, two church members asked about the boat on my table. I told them it was a gift from a seminary classmate, a reminder of the work and teaching of our professor, Kirk Jones, author of Rest in the Storm: Self-Care Strategies for Clergy and other Caregivers. He always reminded us that Jesus went to the back of the boat and took a nap.Not surprisingly, I could not find an image of Jesus resting. Preaching from the boat, yes. Calming the storm, yes. Walking on water? Oh, my, yes! But no one seems to want to picture Jesus taking his rest.In this week that looks unlikely to hold a complete day off, I am pondering renewal. List four ways you like to relax or give yourself a break. Then name a fifth, something you've never been able to do, a self-care dream.

Okay, since the writing muse is absent these days, I'll just tell you how I like to relax.

1. Read

2. Read while listening to calm music, maybe with candles around somewhere too.

3. Read in the bathtub, refilling with hot water as it cools, till my toes turn into prunes.

4. Plan to relax and read by taking a book somewhere out of my town. Sometimes it seems essential that I physically remove myself from the area I minister in order to more easily lay the thoughts, cares, concerns, etc. of my dear church family and my area aside.

5. Oooh, I have many scenarios in my head for relaxing. All of them require sunshine, and most require travel. I'd love to travel, and other than these 48 states, I have not. And of course the carry-on bag would contain a book.

Tuesday, January 23, 2007

How Quaint!

Cheesehead and Songbird have done this, and now my buddy, Psalmist too (hers is so righ on it is funny). So....I'm jumping in too. First I put my real name, but then when I changed it and put up SO as my name---tada...THIS came up

My Peculiar Aristocratic Title is:
Milady the Right Reverend Singingowl the Blossoming of Fiddlers Green
Get your Peculiar Aristocratic Title

Sunday, January 21, 2007

No Women Need Apply

Paige Patteerson
Don't let that dimpled smile fool you. Paige Patterson is giving his fellow Southern Baptists a black eye once again. The Dallas Morning News tells the story. I should not have been surprised, but I was. And appalled.

Hebrew professor Dr. Sheri Klouda has left the building--um--the seminary. It seems that Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary powers-that-be must think God would be displeased by Professor Sheri Klouda continuing to teach Hebrew to men, even though she is evidently well qualified. Perhaps when she was studying at that same seminary someone should have told her to study music.

"Women have long taught at Southwestern outside the school of theology – in music and certain other areas. That continues. But under Dr. Patterson, the only woman still teaching in the school of theology is his wife, Dorothy. And she teaches women's studies courses that aren't attended by men," Dr. McClain said.

Let the ladies teach piano. Under Dr. Patterson the ONLY woman left in the theology department is his wife. I think she is most likely female.

And this is not seen as a problem?

It just gets worse and worse with some of those guys.

A Little Photo Collage of the Birthday

These people are Bud, Caroline and Tom, "The Voices of Peace." They are country gospel singers (especially Caroline) and musicians and they blessed us with their music, their dry humor,their humility and their gentle ministry. It was a good service. If you live in or near Wisconsin, you might want to check out their website.




Then it was downstairs to don the birthday tiara and check out the cake.


And a few more of the people at the party.
Indians were invited to join the cowboys and girls.
Are they Texans or Wisconsin lumberjacks?


Ed looks like he really might be a Texan who just hopped out of his pickup.
We think Kelly looks like a country singer with her pink hat (which you can see) and her pink tights (which you cannot see).
A few more desperados.


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Mmmmm...I Love Chocolate

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The Birthday Girl and Me

I should tell you the menu. We had coffee and sweet tea, corn on the cob, fried chicken, barbequed ribs, potato salad, green beans with bacon crumbles, corn bread, green salad, peach pie, blueberry cobbler, apple cobler, bread pudding and three kinds of pinto bean dishes. I almost thought I was in Texas, but then I looked outside where it was snowing hard. Oh, wait, that has been happening in Texas, hasn't it? ;-)
Thank you, commenters for your good wishes.

Friday, January 19, 2007

Badda Bing Badda Boom Friday Five


Short and sweet, I guess. It's been a while since I played a Rev Gal Friday Five, and this one is simple, so here goes.


Who: Leta, my Texan mother

What: A birthday pot luck and party

When: Sunday after church

Where: Decorated fellowship area of the church

Why: She is turning 90!

Bonus-- How: With a Texas theme! There are cacti on the walls, little cowboy hats on the tables, serape place mats and various other "Texas" gee gaws. The church folk/guests are encouraged to wear boots and cowboy hats if they have them, or at least a western shirt. We have a southern gospel quartet visiting for Sunday service. Hopefully it willall be fun. One does not turn 90 just all the time, ya know. Yee-HAW!

Monday, January 15, 2007

Dr. King was Scary at My House


Hearing about his activities, seeing his face on the news, made me afraid. Isn't that sad?

Today I read Dr. King's famous "Letter from a Birmingham Jail"-- a letter written in response to the criticism of several well-meaning churchmen. I'll print just a short couple of excepts a little further down in this post. The reading jogged memories of a 13-year-old me, a girl caught between two worlds, seeking like all teenagers to find my own beliefs, my world view, my personal conception of "how things ought to be."

If you have read this blog before you might recall that I sprang from Texas roots. But we lived in California. In 1963 California and Texas were very different places. I am not saying California had no racism. That would be far from the truth. But there were, nonetheless, some stark contrasts.

In my California childhood I attended a racially mixed school and I lived in a neighborhood that was beginning to include Asians, Hispanics and blacks as neighbors. I was friends with girls of several ethnic backgrounds. We had a bumper sticker on our car that read, "Good Neighbors Come in All Colors" because we knew, in our heads, that it was true. In Texas the line that divided "ni--er town" from the white section was invisible but known to all. The non-whites attended their own churches, ate in their own restaurants and kept mostly to themselves. They were not allowed to swim in the municipal pool--something that distressed me deeply for some reason. I saw the "whites only" signs and I did not understand them. I was never one to keep questions to myself. I asked about the pool, understanding that it was unjust and foolish to keep someone out of a public pool on a steaming hot Texas day because they were browner than I was. I asked why the negro families lived in only one part of town. I asked why my cousins used words I was not allowed to use.

My dad was a good man, and a committed follower of Jesus Christ. Still, he was deeply afraid of the racial changes of the sixties. He was somewhat sympathetic with the goals of the civil rights movement, but he remained deeply mistrustful of its organizers, especially Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. He saw him as a well-intentioned man who was a tool of Communists. He criticised the demonstrations, and he deplored the civil disobedience that occurred. As for me, I listened. Part of me thought my dad knew everything, and so must be correct. Another part of me knew he was wrong, knew that he did not understand some things, knew that his deeply racist mother had affected him more than he could comprehend, knew that the South (even Texas) was a very different place than the west coast.

I remember the famous "Letter." I remember being afraid, and then I remember the black and white scenes on the television, horrifying scenes of Birmingham, Selma, other centers of unrest. And my heart changed for good and forever.

As I read King's words to his follow clergy, they rang so true to me. Here are just a few snippets (it's a long post, but the original letter is much longer) that I think are essential for us to ponder. The bold font is added by me.

April 16, 1963
MY DEAR FELLOW CLERGYMEN:

While confined here in the Birmingham city jail, I came across your recent statement calling my present activities "unwise and untimely."... I want to try to answer your statements in what I hope will be patient and reasonable terms...basically, I am in Birmingham because injustice is here. Just as the prophets of the eighth century B.C. left their villages and carried their "thus saith the Lord" far beyond the boundaries of their home towns, and just as the Apostle Paul left his village of Tarsus and carried the gospel of Jesus Christ to the far corners of the Greco-Roman world, so am I. compelled to carry the gospel of freedom beyond my own home town. Like Paul, I must constantly respond to the Macedonian call for aid...Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.

We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly...You deplore the demonstrations taking place In Birmingham. But your statement, I am sorry to say, fails to express a similar concern for the conditions that brought about the demonstrations... It is unfortunate that demonstrations are taking place in Birmingham, but it is even more unfortunate that the city's white power structure left the Negro community with no alternative...Its ugly record of brutality is widely known...On the basis of these conditions, Negro leaders repeatedly asked ourselves : "Are you able to accept blows without retaliating?" "Are you able to endure the ordeal of jail?" I am not afraid of the word "tension." I have earnestly opposed violent tension, but there is a type of constructive, nonviolent tension which is necessary for growth... Too long has our beloved Southland been bogged down in a tragic effort to live in monologue rather than dialogue.

My friends, I must say to you that we have not made a single gain...without determined legal and nonviolent pressure...We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed. Frankly, I have yet to engage in a direct-action campaign that was "well timed" in the view of those who have not suffered unduly from the disease of segregation. For years now I have heard the word "Wait!" ... This "Wait" has almost always meant 'Never." We must come to see, with one of our distinguished jurists, that "justice too long delayed is justice denied." We have waited for more than 340 years for our constitutional and God-given rights...we stiff creep at horse-and-buggy pace toward gaining a cup of coffee at a lunch counter....[when] you suddenly find your tongue twisted and your speech stammering as you seek to explain to your six-year-old daughter why she can't go to the public amusement park that has just been advertised on television, and see tears welling up in her eyes when she is told that Funtown is closed to colored children, and see ominous clouds of inferiority beginning to form in her little mental sky, and see her beginning to distort her personality by developing an unconscious bitterness toward white people; when you have to concoct an answer for a five-year-old son who is asking: "Daddy, why do white people treat colored people so mean?"... there comes a time when the cup of endurance runs over, and men are no longer willing to be plunged into the abyss of despair. I hope, sirs, you can understand our legitimate and unavoidable impatience.

You express a great deal of anxiety over our willingness to break laws.... "How can you advocate breaking some laws and obeying others?" The answer lies in the fact that there are two types of laws: just and unjust...One has not only a legal but a moral responsibility to obey just laws. Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws. I would agree with St. Augustine that "an unjust law is no law at all"

Now, what is the difference between the two? How does one determine whether a law is just or unjust? A just law is a man-made code that squares with the moral law or the law of God. An unjust law is a code that is out of harmony with the moral law. To put it in the terms of St. Thomas Aquinas: An unjust law is a human law that is not rooted in eternal law and natural law. Any law that uplifts human personality is just. Any law that degrades human personality is unjust...and ends up relegating persons to the status of things. Hence segregation is not only politically, economically and sociologically unsound, it is morally wrong and awful. Paul Tillich said that sin is separation. Is not segregation an existential expression 'of man's tragic separation, his awful estrangement, his terrible sinfulness? Thus it is that I can urge men to obey the 1954 decision of the Supreme Court, for it is morally right; and I can urge them to disobey segregation ordinances, for they are morally wrong...I submit that an individual who breaks a law that conscience tells him is unjust and who willingly accepts the penalty of imprisonment in order to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice, is in reality expressing the highest respect for law.

Of course, there is nothing new about this kind of civil disobedience. It was evidenced sublimely in the refusal of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego to obey the laws of Nebuchadnezzar, on the ground that a higher moral law was at stake. It was practiced superbly by the early Christians, who were willing to face hungry lions and the excruciating pain of chopping blocks rather than submit to certain unjust laws of the Roman Empire. To a degree, academic freedom is a reality today because Socrates practiced civil disobedience. In our own nation, the Boston Tea Party represented a massive act of civil disobedience.

We should never forget that everything Adolf Hitler did in Germany was "legal" and everything the Hungarian freedom fighters did in Hungary was "illegal." It was "illegal" to aid and comfort a Jew in Hitler's Germany. Even so, I am sure that, had I lived in Germany at the time, I would have aided and comforted my Jewish brothers. If today I lived in a Communist country where certain principles dear to the Christian faith are suppressed, I would openly advocate disobeying that country's antireligious laws.

Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection...

I have just received a letter from a white brother in Texas. He writes: "Christians know that the colored people will receive equal rights eventually, but it is possible that you are in too great a religious hurry. It has taken Christianity almost two thousand years to accomplish what it has. The teachings of Christ take time to come to earth." Such an attitude stems from a tragic misconception of time, from the strangely rational notion that there is something in the very flow of time that will inevitably cure all ills. Actually, time itself is neutral; it can be used either destructively or constructively. More and more I feel that the people of ill will have used time much more effectively than have the people of good will. We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the hateful words and actions of the bad people but for the appalling silence of the good people. Human progress never rolls in on wheels of inevitability; it comes through the tireless efforts of men willing to be co-workers with God, and without this 'hard work, time itself becomes an ally of the forces of social stagnation. We must use time creatively, in the knowledge that the time is always ripe to do right...

For there is the more excellent way of love and nonviolent protest. I am grateful to God that, through the influence of the Negro church, the way of nonviolence became an integral part of our struggle...

I have not said to my people: "Get rid of your discontent." Rather, I have tried to say that this normal and healthy discontent can be channeled into the creative outlet of nonviolent direct action. And now this approach is being termed extremist.

But though I was initially disappointed at being categorized as an extremist, as I continued to think about the matter I gradually gained a measure of satisfaction from the label. Was not Jesus an extremist for love: "Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you." Was not Amos an extremist for justice: "Let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream." Was not Paul an extremist for the Christian gospel: "I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus." Was not Martin Luther an extremist: "Here I stand; I cannot do otherwise, so help me God." And John Bunyan: "I will stay in jail to the end of my days before I make a butchery of my conscience." And Abraham Lincoln: "This nation cannot survive half slave and half free." And Thomas Jefferson: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that an men are created equal ..." So the question is not whether we will be extremists, but what kind of extremists we viii be. We we be extremists for hate or for love? Will we be extremist for the preservation of injustice or for the extension of justice? In that dramatic scene on Calvary's hill three men were crucified. We must never forget that all three were crucified for the same crime---the crime of extremism. Two were extremists for immorality, and thus fell below their environment. The other, Jeans Christ, was an extremist for love, truth and goodness, and thereby rose above his environment. Perhaps the South, the nation and the world are in dire need of creative extremists.

I had hoped that the white moderate would see this need. Perhaps I was too optimistic; perhaps I expected too much. I suppose I should have realized that few members of the oppressor race can understand the deep groans and passionate yearnings of the oppressed race, and still fewer have the vision to see that injustice must be rooted out by strong, persistent and determined action. I am thankful, however, that some of our white brothers in the South have grasped the meaning of this social revolution and committed themselves to it. They are still too few in quantity, but they are big in quality. Some-such as Ralph McGill, Lillian Smith, Harry Golden, James McBride Dabbs, Ann Braden and Sarah Patton Boyle---have written about our struggle in eloquent and prophetic terms. Others have marched with us down nameless streets of the South. They have languished in filthy, roach-infested jails, suffering the abuse and brutality of policemen who view them as "dirty nigger lovers." Unlike so many of their moderate brothers and sisters, they have recognized the urgency of the moment and sensed the need for powerful "action" antidotes to combat the disease of segregation.

Let me take note of my other major disappointment. I have been so greatly disappointed with the white church and its leadership...I do not say this as one of those negative critics who can always find something wrong with the church. I say this as a minister of the gospel, who loves the church; who was nurtured in its bosom; who 'has been sustained by its spiritual blessings and who will remain true to it as long as the cord of Rio shall lengthen.

When I was suddenly catapulted into the leadership of the bus protest in Montgomery, Alabama, a few years ago, I felt we would be supported by the white church felt that the white ministers, priests and rabbis of the South would be among our strongest allies. Instead, some have been outright opponents, refusing to understand the freedom movement and misrepresenting its leader era; an too many others have been more cautious than courageous and have remained silent behind the anesthetizing security of stained-glass windows.
In spite of my shattered dreams, I came to Birmingham with the hope that the white religious leadership of this community would see the justice of our cause and, with deep moral concern, would serve as the channel through which our just grievances could reach the power structure. I had hoped that each of you would understand. But again I have been disappointed.

I have heard numerous southern religious leaders admonish their worshipers to comply with a desegregation decision because it is the law, but I have longed to hear white ministers declare: "Follow this decree because integration is morally right and because the Negro is your brother." In the midst of blatant injustices inflicted upon the Negro, I have watched white churchmen stand on the sideline and mouth pious irrelevancies and sanctimonious trivialities. In the midst of a mighty struggle to rid our nation of racial and economic injustice, I have heard many ministers say: "Those are social issues, with which the gospel has no real concern." And I have watched many churches commit themselves to a completely other worldly religion which makes a strange, on Biblical distinction between body and soul, between the sacred and the secular.
I have traveled the length and breadth of Alabama, Mississippi and all the other southern states. On sweltering summer days and crisp autumn mornings I have looked at the South's beautiful churches with their lofty spires pointing heavenward. I have beheld the impressive outlines of her massive religious-education buildings. Over and over I have found myself asking: "What kind of people worship here? Who is their God?
Yes, these questions are still in my mind. In deep disappointment I have wept over the laxity of the church. But be assured that my tears have been tears of love. There can be no deep disappointment where there is not deep love. Yes, I love the church. How could I do otherwise? l am in the rather unique position of being the son, the grandson and the great-grandson of preachers. Yes, I see the church as the body of Christ. But, oh! How we have blemished and scarred that body through social neglect and through fear of being nonconformists.

There was a time when the church was very powerful in the time when the early Christians rejoiced at being deemed worthy to suffer for what they believed.
In those days the church was not merely a thermometer that recorded the ideas and principles of popular opinion; it was a thermostat that transformed the mores of society. Whenever the early Christians entered a town, the people in power became disturbed and immediately sought to convict the Christians for being "disturbers of the peace" and "outside agitators"' But the Christians pressed on, in the conviction that they were "a colony of heaven," called to obey God rather than man. Small in number, they were big in commitment. They were too God intoxicated to be "astronomically intimidated." By their effort and example they brought an end to such ancient evils as infanticide. and gladiatorial contests. Things are different now. So often the contemporary church is a weak, ineffectual voice with an uncertain sound. So often it is an archdefender of the status quo. Par from being disturbed by the presence of the church, the power structure of the average community is consoled by the church's silent and often even vocal sanction of things as they are.

But the judgment of God is upon the church as never before. If today's church does not recapture the sacrificial spirit of the early church, it vi lose its authenticity, forfeit the loyalty of millions, and be dismissed as an irrelevant social club with no meaning for the twentieth century. Every day I meet young people whose disappointment with the church has turned into outright disgust...

Perhaps I must turn my faith to the inner spiritual church, the church within the church, as the true ekklesia and the hope of the world. But again I am thankful to God that some noble souls from the ranks of organized religion have broken loose from the paralyzing chains of conformity and joined us as active partners in the struggle for freedom, They have left their secure congregations and walked the streets of Albany, Georgia, with us. They have gone down the highways of the South on tortuous rides for freedom. Yes, they have gone to jai with us. Some have been dismissed from their churches, have lost the support of their bishops and fellow ministers. But they have acted in the faith that right defeated is stronger than evil triumphant. Their witness has been the spiritual salt that has preserved the true meaning of the gospel in these troubled times. They have carved a tunnel of hope through the dark mountain of disappointment.

I hope the church as a whole will meet the challenge of this decisive hour. But even if the church does not come to the aid of justice, I have no despair about the future... I have tried to make clear that it is wrong to use immoral means to attain moral ends. But now I must affirm that it is just as wrong, or perhaps even more so, to use moral means to preserve immoral ends...

I wish you had commended the Negro sit-inners and demonstrators of Birmingham for their sublime courage, their willingness to suffer and their amazing discipline in the midst of great provocation. One day the South will recognize its real heroes. They will be the James Merediths, with the noble sense of purpose that enables them to face Jeering, and hostile mobs, and with the agonizing loneliness that characterizes the life of the pioneer. They will be old, oppressed, battered Negro women, symbolized in a seventy-two-year-old woman in Montgomery, Alabama, who rose up with a sense of dignity and with her people decided not to ride segregated buses, and who responded with ungrammatical profundity to one who inquired about her weariness: "My fleets is tired, but my soul is at rest." They will be the young high school and college students, the young ministers of the gospel and a host of their elders, courageously and nonviolently sitting in at lunch counters and willingly going to jail for conscience' sake. One day the South will know that when these disinherited children of God sat down at lunch counters, they were in reality standing up for what is best in the American dream and for the most sacred values in our Judaeo-Christian heritage, thereby bringing our nation back to those great wells of democracy which were dug deep by the founding fathers in their formulation of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence.

Never before have I written so long a letter. I'm afraid it is much too long to take your precious time. I can assure you that it would have been much shorter if I had been writing from a comfortable desk, but what else can one do when he k alone in a narrow jail cell, other than write long letters, think long thoughts and pray long prayers?

I hope this letter finds you strong in the faith. I also hope that circumstances will soon make it possible for me to meet each of you, not as an integrationist or a civil rights leader but as a fellow clergyman and a Christian brother. Let us all hope that the dark clouds of racial prejudice will soon pass away and the deep fog of misunderstanding will be lifted from our fear-drenched communities, and in some not too distant tomorrow the radiant stars of love and brotherhood will shine over our great nation with all their scintillating beauty.

Yours for the cause of Peace and Brotherhood,

MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.

Is that not an amazing letter? While the issues of segregation have changed, thanks be to God, the deeper truths of this gracious letter still shine with beauty. I want to "use the time creativly for the time is always ripe to do right."

I'm so sorry that our family understood the critical clergy more than Dr. King and his fellow protestors. God of Justice, thank you for grace and for wisdom and growth, and forgive us our blindness and fear of change!

I Can't Help Myself

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Wednesday, January 10, 2007

A few Pictures from Mommy's Camera


Ken and my mom are on their way from Wisconsin.

Here are a few pictures. The first one is only moments after she arrived.


Tired daddy and Trinity.

Mommy and the red little papoose. Mommy looked the same way when she arrived, and we are thinking Trinity is going to be kind of dark.

Uncle Josh is infatuated with his new neice.

Tuesday, January 09, 2007

Trinity Ann Has Arrived

All is well. I will spare you details except to say that after playing hide and seek for a week, when it was time she came in a HURRY and doctor only arrived about 10 minutes after the big event.

I (can you believe it?) left my camera at home. But pictures will follow. No groans allowed. I promise to only post the very best ones.

Hee hee.

She was born on the 7th at a little after 10 p.m.

Ruthie, I am trying to get a hold of you! Kris is in room 354!

Saturday, January 06, 2007

Heading into 2007

I'm not able, for some reason, to settle down and write much of anything. That is hard for me because writing is what helps me focus and think things through much of the time. Maybe soon. Here is Kris, looking very pregnant. Trinity Ann was due four days ago, so now we are just waiting. I think that I will be heading for Minnesota after church tomorrow.

Once this little one arrives, much will change for all of us. Just what, all remains to be seen. The anticipation is getting to me.

I have also been pondering resolutions, which I do not always do. I think this year I need to, and I need to be very specific about how I am going to fulfill them. It is one thing to set a goal, and it is quite another to write down some action steps. It's time for me to do that.

I must find new ways to be more consistent about prayer, because I know how important it is. Other things get in the way, and it is time to face facts and get moving.

Sunday we will be taking time as we approach the Lord's Table to leave some things behind. For me, that may include some plans and expectations. And I may be picking up some new, or slightly altered ones, in the process.

I need to clean my office. Aaaarrrrggggh!

I want my life to count for eternity. How about you?

Wednesday, January 03, 2007

Sunrise Today



I was studying "fear of the Lord" early this morning, and noticed that the sky was a wonderful purple and pink. I ran for the camera, but by the time I got out to the deck to snap a picture it had changed to gold. Still wonderful.






I just added this one from today (Thursday). No sleeping in for a while if these kinds of displays are going to continue!

Monday, January 01, 2007

The Fear of the Lord

Something has been on my mind for a couple of months. There is a sentence that is repeated in several places in scripture. "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom." Psalm 111:10a is just one place you can find this statement.

Doesn't it seem that wisdom is sorely lacking? And I am not speaking of "the world" -- I am speaking of the Church of Jesus Christ. I am deeply grieved to say that it seems far too many who call themselves "Christians" are weak, apathetic, complacent, and (frankly) behaving in foolish ways.

Is this because we have lost our fear of God?

I find very differing views on this. Here is one, from Duke University Chapel's" Weekly E-Reflection" (Friday, January 27, 2006) :

“Fear of the Lord” is knowing God in a personal and real way; “fear of the Lord” is having faith. Knowing God and knowing who we are with God is also to understand that the fears which assail us everyday are not truly in control of us."

I like this. But is it enough?

Here is another, from a Rev. Copeland (no relation to Kenneth), "We are exhorted to work out our own salvation with 'fear and trembling' but trembling in relationship to God is certainly out of fashion."

Is 'fear" simply "respect" (as I heard preached all my life)? Just about every church person I know would say they respect God. Does this go far enough?

I'm working on a sermon on this, but I'd greatly appreciate comments. I'll share some more of my own thoughts as they become a bit more clarified.

Happy New Year!


I don't know who sent me this, but it was a good way to start my day, thinking about these scriptures this morning. I am going to be turning the "Forgetting the Past" scripture into a prayer the next week or so.

N ew Birth - A Living Hope

1 Peter 1:3
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. (NIV)

Hope for the Future

Jeremiah 29:11
"For I know the plans I have for you," says the LORD. "They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. (NLT)

A New Creation

2 Corinthians 5:17
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. (NKJV)

A New Heart

Ezekiel 36:25-27
"Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean. Your filth will be washed away, and you will no longer worship idols. And I will give you a new heart with new and right desires, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony heart of sin and give you a new, obedient heart. And I will put my Spirit in you so you will obey my laws and do whatever I command. (NLT)

Forgetting the Past

Philippians 3:13-14
No, dear brothers and sisters, I am still not all I should be, but I am focusing all my energies on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I strain to reach the end of the race and receive the prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us up to heaven. (NLT)

Learning from Past Mistakes

Hebrews 12:10-11
Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it. (NIV)

Wait on the Lord

Psalm 37:7
Be still in the presence of the LORD, and wait patiently for him to act. Don't worry about evil people who prosper or fret about their wicked schemes. (NLT)

Isaiah 40:31
Yet those who wait for the LORD will gain new strength; they will mount up with wings like eagles, they will run and not get tired, they will walk and not become weary. (NASB)

God's Timing is Perfect

Ecclesiastes 3:11
He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end. (NIV)

Each New Day is Special

Lamentations 3:22-24
The unfailing love of the LORD never ends! By his mercies we have been kept from complete destruction. Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each day. I say to myself, "The LORD is my inheritance; therefore, I will hope in him!" (NASB)