Roadside Religion: Book Review

"This is not the book I thought I was writing" Timothy Beal said in his afterword to
Roadside Religion: In Search of the Sacred, the Strange and the Substance of Faith. It wasn't the book I thought I was reading when I first picked it up, either--it was a lot more.

Roadside Religion is about religious oddities scattered across the American countryside. Everything from the Disney wanna-be- Holy Land Experience in the Florida theme-park Mecca (mixing my religious metaphors here, but, hey, I'm inclusive) to the Giant Ten Commandments and the replica of Noah's Ark to uncategorizable displays like the Cross Garden and the Ave Maria Grotto are included. And just to keep things lively, there is a stop at two Biblically themed minature golf courses.

Timothy Beal is Professor of Religion at Case Western Reserve University and his wife is a Presbyterian minister. Making a family vacation out of this project, they rented a motor home and drove around the country on a tour of eccentric religious sites. Beal interviewed most of the creators of these oddities. Why would anyone want to build a life-size Noah's Ark or the world's largest Ten Commandments model, he asked. Or how about the Cross Garden which is a large hodge-podge of hand-made crosses with dire warnings: Hell is Hot! printed on them?

The answers that he found along the way are what changed the book from what he thought he was writing to the book he wrote. Like Beal, I approached the subject with a skeptical eye and the assumption that these displays were mere expressions of eccentric, out-of-bounds religious expression that I could not relate to. But thanks to Beal's sensitive handling of the subject I had to confront my own prejudice and see that many of these exhibits were sincere and unique expressions of religious fervor that had the power to touch others for good.

To take just one example ( and for me, the most compelling in the book), the chapter about the Precious Moments Inspiration Park challenges those of us who see those big-eyed figurines in the Hallmark store as another tacky example of American kitsch. The description of the Precious Moments Chapel and the Books of Remembrance illustrates how Sam Butcher, the creator of Precious Moments figurines, responded in faith to the tragic death of his son and turned that response into a ministry that touches many people. I'm not much of a crier, but this chapter brought tears to my eyes and erased the distance between me and the creators of the exhibits decribed in the book.

Beal had the same response as he wrote the book--he was changed by the experience. Most of these exhibits get sympathetic treatment. The exception is the Holy Land Experience (Orlando FL), which he compares unfavorably with the Holy Land USA (Bedford, VA). Beal finds that the Holy Land Experience operates on a hidden agenda--the desire of the developer who is a converted Jew, to convert the Jews--and objects to the devious ways in which that agenda is pursued throughout the theme park.

You may not have plans to take a long car ride visiting out-of-the-way tourist destinations this summer, so pick up this book and let Timothy Beal do it for you. You will find those for whom "Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things unseen"(Hebrews 11:1) trying to express their spiritual fervor by creating unusual sacred spaces. And you just might find yourself wistful for some of that fervor yourself--even if you cannot go with them on their journey.

Christian Carvnival of Blogs

My post "A Church with no steeple, but lots of people" is linked on today's Christian Carnival of Blogs, hosted by Byron Harvey at A Ticking Time Blog.

For those of you not familiar with the Christian Carnival, it is a selection of posts from Godbloggers (or faith-based bloggers) that is put together and hosted by a different blogger each week. This week's collection has a number of interesting posts, including a couple of others on the same theme as mine: check out Rev. Ed's Why Do We Count, and A View From the Pew's
An Unregenerate Denomination.

Byron Harvey used a Baseball All-Star Theme to tie all the links together. Very clever!

VBS Tuesday: MISSION Bible School

Today's scripture at VBS from the Lord's Prayer was "give us this day our daily bread." So we planned to take the Mission Zone group (4th, 5th and 6th graders) to the area Food Pantry supported by our church to help sort donations.

Mission Zone is the program we have developed for the older elementary kids who are by now vacation-Bible-schooled-out. The idea is to engage them in hands on mission projects each day that are appropriate for their age group so they can be introduced to the idea of expressing their faith by helping others in the community.

Unfortunately the Pantry volunteers called this morning to say that they had not received expected deliveries, so please don't bring the kids --we don't have anything for them to do.

Time to punt! Our Youth Director, who is leading Mission Zone, called a neighboring mission to the Hispanic community and found that they could put the kids to work. So off we went to see what needed to be done. ( I'm one of the drivers for the group.)

First, the kids loaded bedding and boxes of clothes onto a trailer for the group's upcoming mission trip to Piedras Negras in Mexico. That was easy and quick.

Then we were asked to load unneeded bricks onto two pallets so they could be hauled away. Not so easy and not so quick! Here's a picture of the group hard at work in the hot sun. They vacillated back and forth between whether or not organizing themselves assembly-line style was the most efficient way to attack the project.

I overheard the following exchange between two of the girls as they were nearing the end of their work:

"I thought it was supposed to be VACATION Bible School!"
"No, it's supposed to be MISSION Bible School!"

VBS Monday Report

It's Vacation Bible School week at our church, so I am planning to post several VBS updates.

The stage was set in the sanctuary for Day One of Vacation Bible School 2005. "The Kingdom of the Son" backdrop is complete and waiting for 80 children to arrive for registration and opening of the program.

Registration went very well and the kids settled in rapidly. We had plenty of adult and youth volunteers on hand to be with the kids throughout the morning. Our one minor glitch was a buggy computer that refused to play the program DVD on the screen--but we worked around that using one of the church's TV's on a cart. Technology is great until it doesn't work when you need it to!

We chose the Kingdom of the Son curriculum because it teaches the children the Lord's Prayer and its meaning throughout the course of the week. Today the focus was on the following verses: "Our Father, Who art in Heaven, Hallowed be Thy Name. Thy Kingdom come, Thy Will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven."

Since most of the children attend our church or school, we wanted to do something that would be different from the curriculums offered there. Other children attending who may not have much exposure to religious education will benefit by learning about this familiar Christian prayer.

The other minor glitch we had was the weather. By noon it was already about 99 degrees, much too hot for the children to be able to play games out doors as planned. So tomorrow we're setting up the Fellowship Hall for that purpose--heat exhaustion is a definite no-no at VBS!

There's no problem with heat in the Craft Room as the kids work on their projects--drums made out of plastic coffee containers. The drums will accompany them in worship on Sunday when they sing "The Lord's Prayer" for the congregation.

Parents may not appreciate this craft as much as some of the quieter ones that will go home with the kids at the end of the week!

Church with No Steeple, But Lots of People

Here's a picture of the Compaq Center in Houston before it was leased to Lakewood Church.


Here's the architectural rendering of the remodeled facility as it will be occupied by Lakewood Church. The church added a five story building to the existing sports arena.

Some would say "only in Texas." But I bet that there are other megachurches on this scale in California or elsewhere. We drove by the old Compaq Center in Houston this weekend (former arena for the Houston Rockets NBA team) and wondered how the old center was now looking inside as the remodeling and addition for the Lakewood Church are nearing completion. For those of you interested here is the front page article in the local newspaper describing it.

The idea that a church is big enough and wealthy enough to buy and remodel a professional sports arena is hard to comprehend. There will be 16,000 seats in the church. The remodeling costs about $95 million. Average weekend attendance at this non-denominational church today averages 30,000 and is one of the most integrated congregations in the country.

Joel Osteen, now a best-selling author (Your Best Life Now) is the pastor of this church, succeeding his late father who died in 1999. Most of us in mainline denominations cannot imagine someone inheriting church leadership in this way--but it seems to have worked for this church.

Maybe my vision is just too small. I can't imagine running a church on this scale. How do you provide Christian community for individual members when you are dealing with crowds like this? Megachurches like this are criticized for not asking much of their members and for preaching a "prosperity gospel". Yet they are clearly doing something compelling when you consider that this church can raise money on the order of almost a hundred million dollars for its facility.

Non-denominational, "seeker-friendly" churches like Lakewood don't keep membership statistics, but focus on attendance so you don't know how many previously unchurched people they are bringing to Christ and what kind of turnover there is in the congregation.

Lakewood Church will dedicate this newly remodeled facility this coming weekend and begin using it for weekend worship, while retaining their old church buildings for other uses in another part of town. There is no cross on the outside of the newly remodeled building--just the logo of the church which symbolizes its motto: The Oasis of Love." (Really!) This is a church with no steeple, but lots of people.

A Small Victory

I've been working on a project for our church's 20th anniversary year called "Bible in 90 Days"and blogged about some frustration I had trying to find the Bible used in the course here.

So being the type A that I am, I decided that I should place an initial order for the Bibles used in the course now in case I had trouble getting enough at the time the course begins. You have to use the NIV Thinline Large Print (yeah to large print) Bible so you read 12 pages a day and finish in the 90 days.

Earlier this week I got an email from amazon.com telling me there was a problem with the order. Uh, oh, I thought: if amazon is having a problem, maybe there's a larger problem. I scoured the online sites and local bookstores. There was a problem. No one had this particular version.

I called Zondervan, the publisher of both this Bible and the curriculum to order them. A-hah! I'm told that Bible is discontinued but they have now published another version with the same number of pages. And surprise, surprise, it's going to cost about $10 more than the previous publication! What perfidy.

A couple of hours online searching discount and overstock bookstores yielded results this morning. I got all the copies I need for less than the original price, plus free shipping. It's hard to resist the urge to make a nanny-nanny-boo-boo call to Zondervan--but I will.

Friday Dog Blogging

Gretel, The Noble Dog.

Psalm for London

For our friends in London and the United Kingdom, because there is truly nothing new under the sun:

Psalm 64

Hear my voice, O God, in my complaint;
preserve my life from the dread enemy.
Hide me from the secret plots of the wicked
from the scheming of evildoers,
who whet their tongues like swords,
who aim bitter words like arrows,
shooting from ambush at the blameless;
they shoot suddenly and without fear.
They hold fast to their evil purpose;
they talk of laying snares secretly,
thinking, "Who can see us?
Who can search out our crimes?
We have thought out a cunningly conceived plot."
For the human heart and mind are deep.

But God will shoot his arrow at them;
they will be wounded suddenly.
Because of their tongue he will bring them to ruin;
all who see them will shake with horror.
Then everyone will fear;
they will tell what God has brought about,
and ponder what he has done.

Let the righteous rejoice in the Lord
and take refuge in him.
Let all the upright in heart glory.

Web Madness

My inner geek seems to be coming out since I started blogging. My new project is constructing a family website. El Jefe has actually encouraged this, suggesting that it would be great to share news and photos among our extended family with a website. Being the historian and amateur geneologist that he is, he wants a section devoted to family history that I am counting on him writing.

I actually got the urge to learn how to be a "web mistress" when the church got a new volunteer to overhaul and keep our website updated. As a former high school newspaper editor, I have always enjoyed designing pages for publication so this was a natural extension of interest for me.

First I checked out online sites that provide a template you can just insert photo and some text into. But I found the templates too constraining. So then I got the really bad idea to try my hand at html. Bah! After two days of wresting with HFML for dummies, I had produced a pale blue blank page. Phooey. So much for that.

Persistence does pay off. I think I have found the answer in a software program that combines templates with the ability to tweek them some and add more text. So I downloaded a trial version and spent a couple of days learning how to use it. Success, I think! Now the next challenge will be (after purchasing and installing the permanent version) to upload it somewhere.

There's still a nagging question--is this worth the time and effort spent on it? Is it really any better than emailing photos to interested family members? Will anyone else in the family really find it useful? In other words, have I become more interested in the medium than the message? I had this experience when I was more first got a new sewing machine that did lots of fancy stitches and embroidery. It was great fun to try them all out at once--but it made for a pretty ugly piece of work.

So I'm going to put the website file aside for a few days and then try to look at it with a more objective eye. And while I'm at it, try to restrain the impulse to overdo other things as well. A lot of the time simpler is a better and more effective stewardship of time and resources. But not as much fun!

A Memorable Baptism

There was a very special baptism Sunday. Fittingly, it was the day before Fourth of July. The child being baptised was recently adopted from an orphanage in Russia. The elder assisting at the baptism is the adoptive father of yet another child also adopted from Russia, but from an orphanage in a different part of that country. His son will be baptised next week. ( I previously wrote about these pending adoptions here.)

The little boy baptised Sunday is not an infant, but a toddler. He has a bright shock of almost platinum blonde hair and is walking. He is still reacting to this big change in his life: from being institutionalized to being part of a family with an older brother and sister and two parents. Since he is still wary of strangers and afraid of being left by his adoptive mother, she walked him around the congregation after the ceremony--a tradition in our church usually performed by the pastor.

Our church has always marked the Sunday close to the Fourth of July with the singing of patriotic hymns by the choir at our late service. "America the Beautiful" and " The Battle Hymn of the Republic" took on a deeper meaning in the light of the promises that the congregation made to this newest American.

Welcome to the USA, little one. And more importantly, welcome to the church of Jesus Christ.

Texas Chocolate Sheet Cake, A July 4th Tradition

St. Cassarole and Reverend Mommy shared chicken cassarole recipes on their blogs today. We must all be in "Martha" mode because of the the Fourth of July holiday. Yesterday we had our extended family celebration at my house--a cookout, swimming for the kids and lots of watermelon, both red and yellow.

I also made Texas Chocolate Sheet Cake, which is a must for all gatherings. My brother describes it as "a religious experience", so here it is for all of you. Bon appetit, y'all!

Texas Chocolate Sheet Cake

Bring to a boil in a pan:
1 stick margarine
1/2 cup solid shortening (I use butter flavor Crisco)
4 tablespoons Hershey's cocoa (NOT European style--only use the good old USA style)
Set aside to cool.

Sift together in a large bowl
2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
Pour chocolate mixture over the flour/sugar mixture

Add:
2 well-beaten eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup buttermilk that has 1 teaspoon baking soda dissolved in it.

Mix well and pour into greased 9x 13 pan.
Bake in preheated oven at 350 degrees for 25 minutes. Do not overbake!
Ice the cake as soon as it comes out of the oven.

Icing:
Bring to a boil in a saucepan --
1 stick margarine
6 tablespoons milk
4 tablespoons Hershey's cocoa

Stir continuously until mixture thickens. Then remove from heat and add 1 teaspoon vanilla, the box of powdered sugar and 1 1/2 cups chopped pecans. You can omit the pecans, if you don't like nuts.

Pour hot icing over the cake and let it cool. This cake can be made ahead because it is actually better the next day!

Report on the GodBlog class

Many thanks to those of you who responded to my post and to the post from John at Locusts and Honey relaying my request for ideas for my class on blogging and your comments on your own experiences blogging. Thank you John, Jim at Wabisabi, Songbird, St. Cassarole and Grandma Jean. I had a good response from the class, more than half of whom did not know what a blog was when I began the presentation. They know now!

Portia was amused when one of the older men in the class asked her before church whether she was Portia or Babs in the blog. In a discussion later with her and a friend I was asked why have a class on blogging at all? Doesn't everyone understand what it is? Well, no--not really. My experience is that those who are about 35 or older are more likely than not to be totally unfamiliar with blogs of any type. Of course, since this was a Sunday School class I concentrated on Godblogs (faith-based blogs) but did touch on the many other subjects that bloggers cover.

This was a good trial run for the workshop on blogging I agreed to give in October at our presbytery's annual educational/leadership event. Since I'll have more time then, I plan to include a "how-to" section as well.

Again, thanks to each of you for your help. Your comments and responses illustrated the fact that a community of faith can extend through the internet across the country and the world. Hopefully some of them will check out your blogs and become regular visitors, as I am.

Godspeed, Justice O'Connor

One of my few claims to fame is that I met Sandra J. O'Connor several years before she was appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court. Here's the story: she is the neice of close family friends and I met her at a wedding when I was still in law school.

I'd heard about her before from these friends. When I announced my intention to go to law school they told me about her. How she was second in her class at the Stanford Law School but no law firm would hire her because she was a woman. How she married and moved to Arizona, where she put her legal career aside for a few years while raising her family and was a very active community volunteer. When her boys were older she became a state court judge. "You see," I was told," you, too, can go to law school, take time off for family and community and then return to the law and be a judge."

It was from that position she was nominated to the Supreme Court after intense lobbying by her old law school pal, Justice Rhenquist. Was he trying to right the wrongs of past years when he did that? It is very rare for a state court judge to become a Supreme Court Justice --usually some experience on a federal bench is required.

For many years her example inspired and encouraged me as I took time off to be with Portia and Babs. This was before the days when law firms or corporations created "mommy tracks" for women as many do now. But when the time came for me to consider returning to the law, I found my call was to the church instead.

Thank you, Justice O'Connor. Your example encouraged me to follow my own path. Godspeed in your retirement.

Tribute to Lynn J.

That "thinking of you" card looks up reproachfully at me from my desk. I got it out last night intending to mail it to my friend in the hospital with cancer. Before I got around to addressing and mailing it this morning I got the word that he passed away early this morning. He is already missed.

Lynn Johnson was a Presbyterian minister for more than 38 years. He pastored churches, was a counselor and served as Stated Clerk of our presbytery for the last 4 years. It was in that capacity that I got to know him as he assisted the Administrative Commission that I served on recently. The situation at that church was not only divisive but potentially violent. Lynn found himself spending more time than he ever dreamed of consulting with lawyers and the General Counsel's office of the General Assembly as we worked our way through lawsuits and threatened lawsuits. He never backed down in the face of threats and public assaults on his character and reputation. He fearlessly attended that church and preached to the congregation, showing by his example Christian strength, love and the offer of repentance and reconciliation.

A true gentleman, he was not ashamed to admit his own mistakes and ask for forgiveness. He had a ready wit and a steady presence. Just a few short months ago we learned he had cancer of unknown origin. Now he has joined the Church Triumphant and we will miss him.

Well done, good and faithful servant.

An offer the PCUSA can't refuse

Solomon makes an offer the PCUSA can't refuse.

Decalogue Wars Are On

As I predicted in my comments in this recent post, the Wars of the 10 commandments are on, following the Supreme Court's recent decisions.

Stripping History

El Jefe's cousin sent this picture. On a recent visit to their Panhandle hometown (yes, the very same location of last weekend's reunion), he was stripping wallpaper from the walls of his boyhood bedroom for his aging mother. Under the fourth layer was the one he remembered growing up.

Struck by the memory it evoked, he took several pictures of the partially removed papers and emailed them to several relatives.

"I was bound and determined to be a cowboy when I grew up," he wrote in his email. Not a surprising ambition for a boy growing up on the High Plains whose grandfather had been a real cowboy.



Peeling those layers of wallpaper off must have brought back many memories as well. The blue floral pattern that is on top of the cowboy scene suggests the room was redecorated with a more feminine theme after he left.

Removing wallpaper can be like an archeological dig, revealing layers of family history. I asked El Jefe if his aunt wanted the room painted or a new wallpaper hung on the walls of this room, but he didn't know. There may be a metaphor there, but I'll leave it to you, dear reader, to construct it.

Ten Commandments and The Culture of Disbelief

Christianity Today's weblog has a good summary of yesterday's Supreme Court decisions in two cases involving display of the Ten Commandments on the grounds of the state capitols of Texas and Kentucky. It includes links to the original opinions, including the dissents.

About 10 years ago I taught a Sunday School class using The Culture of Disbelief: How American Law and Politics Trivialize Relidious Devotion, by Stephen Carter, published in 1994. Carter's thesis was that American law and politics tolerate public displays of religious faith only when it is case as a "secular faith" devoid of any true religious meaning. In other words, it's okay to say "God, God" in the public square as long as everyone understand that we don't really mean it.

Carter, a devout Episcopalian and a professor of law at Yale University, was quite a prophet wasn't he? Yesterday the Supreme Court seemed to say that the Texas display of the 10 commandments is permissible because it is only a small part of a much larger secular display and has been in place 40 years without objection, so hey--no one could seriously believe it had any religious meaning. On the other hand, Kentucky must remove the display because they got caught adding additional secular displays to distract from what must have been intended as a REALLY religious display.

What precedent can be derived from these two rulings? It must be that you can display the 10 commandments in the public square only if you do so in a way that makes it clear that they are not to be regarded as anything more than an historic artifact.

Is anyone else wondering whether the medieval theologians who argued about how many angels could dance on the head of a pin are being channeled through the Supreme Court?

Responsible Criticism of Divestment

For those of you interested in a constructive criticism of the PCUSA's controversial divestment Israel divestment policy, I am providing a link to the letter written to the Moderator, Clerk, GA and its commissioners by a group from my presbytery, New Covenant, which was also linked today on Presbyweb (which is by available by subscription).

I know most of these folks. They are representative of the whole church: liberal and conservative, small and tall-steeple church types. They did their homework and have made some thoughtful recommendations which I hope will gain serious attention and support.

Things We Don't See At Home

Things we saw in the Texas Panhandle this weekend that we don't see at home:

A Psalm 8 sunset

Skies that are not cloudy all day

A state highway with no one else on it but us for 30 minutes;

Big Texas hair;

Vietnam Era Veterans recognized and honored with the singing of " God Bless America" (Kate Smith-style);

Low to no humidity;

Old friends who don't seem that old;

A showing of Cat Ballou at the only local movie theatre;

Sitting outside visiting over our morning cups of coffee;

" My daughter turned out very well, but I'm thinking of having my son put to sleep"-- inscription in the class memory book by one classmate (????)

"God bless y'all, Jean"-- written on our bill at a restaurant by our waitress.

God bless you, too, every one.

North Towards Home

This weekend El Jefe and I are attending his high school class reunion in Baja Oklahoma. That's the area of the Texas Panhandle north of Amarillo. It's big sky country, a part of the world described so well by Kathleen Norris in Dakota: A Spiritual Geography: " the High Plains, the beginning of the desert west, often acts as a crucible for those who inhabit them..." Although Norris' High Plains are several states north of El Jefe's, in South Dakota instead of Texas, it is the same kind of area. They say there's nothing between you and the North Pole but a barbed wire fence.

I don't attend my high school reunions. I don't even remember the last time one was held. My high school was a large suburban high school in a big city. El Jefe's high school was the only one in the town. Everyone who attended had known each other and their families from birth--they lived, played, attended school and church together all their lives. The town existed to serve an oil refinery and carbon black plant. Today it is much diminished from the days of my husband's youth. Almost none of his classmates remained in the area after graduation but moved to areas of more opportunity in Texas and Oklahoma. So for them a class reunion is more like a family reunion--a real homecoming.

The first visit I ever made to this area was to meet my prospective in-laws. I remember driving from the airport in Amarillo as my mother-in-law apologized for the flat uninteresting landscape and assured me that soon we would be seeing "pretty hills". To my surprise, her idea of pretty hills were little mounds of only a few feet in height sporadically covered with tumbleweeds and some kind of vegetation. That was a hill to someone who lived in an area so flat that the land was overwhelmed by the sky.

I'll never forget the time we first brought Portia to see her Panhandle relatives. I was about 6 months pregnant with Babs. The plane encountered one of the fierce Panhandle electrical storms and was diverted to Kansas where we circled for a while, lurching up and down in the air while my nausea rose. El Jefe was calm and Portia, only about a year old, was oblivious. When we finally landed I wanted to kiss the solid ground. However as my in-laws drove us away from the airport, the storm continued hurling big bolts of lightning on either side of our car which turned into lightning balls (yes -- great balls of fire!) that rolled across the highway and the fields like neon tumbleweeds. I have never seen anything like that before or since. On the High Plains you quickly learn to respect the power of the weather and are awed by its majesty and force.

The big sky of the Texas Panhandle simultaneously makes you feel insignificant : "what are human beings that you are mindful of them?", and full of possibilities: "for you have made them a little lower than God and ...given them dominion over the works of your hands". I'm looking forward to it: "O Lord...how majestic is your name in all the earth!" (Psalm 8).

What book are you?

Thanks to reverendmommy for this quiz. I'm thrilled with my answer because I love this book.
The quiz is really short, so give it a try.

You're To Kill a Mockingbird!

by Harper Lee

Perceived as a revolutionary and groundbreaking person, you have changed the minds of many people. While questioning the authority around you, you've also taken a significant amount of flack. But you've had the admirable guts to persevere. There's a weird guy in the neighborhood using dubious means to protect you, but you're pretty sure it's worth it in the end. In the end, it remains unclear to you whether finches and mockingbirds get along in real life.


Take the Book Quiz
at the Blue Pyramid.

Advice Wanted

A week from Sunday I am teaching a Sunday School class on the topic: Surfing the God Blogs--Blogging as Ministry. This is in the way of a trial run for a workshop on the same topic that I've been asked to give in a workshop this fall at our presbytery's annual leadership and educational training event. I'm working on a powerpoint presentation because I am sure that many in the class are not familiar with blogs and will need the visual aid.

Since I've only been blogging for about three months, I'd love some comments from those of you with more experience writing a faith-based blog.

What would you include in a class like this?

How does your blog integrate with your total ministry?

What were your expectations when you began the blog and have they been met or changed by your experience?

Has anyone set up a blog to use in conjunction with a study group? For example, using a group blog as a way for people in a Bible study to reflect on the current readings before or after their face-to-face meeting.

Any advice will be greatly appreciated!

Monday Book Reviews: The Practicing Congregation and Exodus

The Practicing Congregation by Diana Butler Bass and Exodus: Why Americans Are Fleeing Liberal Churches for Conservative Christianity by Dave Shiflett present contrasting views of mainline Protestant congregations, which is why I thought it would be interesting to read and review them together.

Diana Butler Bass holds a Phd in American religious history from Duke and a masters in theology from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. A former evangelical of fundamentalist bent, she is now an Episcopalian with liberal/progressive views. Her book is part of a three year study of the role of Christian practices in fostering congregational vitality in historic mainline churches called The Project on Congregations of Intentional Practice, located at Virginia Theological Seminary.

Dave Shiflett, on the other hand, characterizes himself as an "itinerant Presbyterian with the emphasis on itinerant" and journalist. He is the author of Christianity on Trial and has writeen about religious issues for many publications ranging from The Washington Post to The Wall Street Journal. His publisher suggested the topic of this current book.

The Practicing Congregation presents an optimistic alternative view of the condition of the Protestant mainline. Bass' thesis is that liberal or progressive Protestant congregations can become growing vital congregations when they foster and emphasize historic Christian spiritual practices such as healing prayer, hospitality, silence, discernment, stewardship and peacemaking. She focuses on the Church of the Ephiphay (ECUSA) in Washington, DC, as the primary example of this type of congregation.

In contrast, Shiflett predicts a continuing "exodus" of membership from the Protestant mainline to conservative denominations or non-denominational churches, fueled by the perceived rejection of traditional tenets of Christianity and liberal political positions of clergy and denominational spokesmen that alienate many in the pews.

Bass' book is academic in tone and more than a little tedious, despite its upbeat message. I have read many articles and books on related subjects and find that this one takes some discipline to finish. Interestingly, she and Shiflett agree that congregations that expect more commitment from their members tend to grow in numbers and vitality. Most other authors have tied this to conservative congregations, but she makes the case that this can occur in churches of liberal or progressive theology as well. The Practicing Congregation includes a brief study guide with suggestions for group discussion.

Exodus is a more readable book, written in a journalistic rather than an academic style. The title gives away the author's bias. Still, Shiflett intersperses his own research and observations with a number of interviews with clergy and laypeople from mainline and conservative churches. I found the questions he put to each thought-provoking. To the liberals: "Is everything negotiable these days? Is it even slightly possible that there could be significant eternal risks in tampering with what Christians through the ages have considered 'God's blueprint for salvation'?" And to the conservatives: If you can remain in a church whose bishops repeatedly reject the divinity and resurrection of Christ why can't you live with the ordination of gays?

I do pick a nit with Schiflett on one point. He seems to characterize the Presbyterian Lay Committee as a splinter denomination. Although there are those in the PCUSA who view that group as schismatic, to date it has not formed a breakaway church. It's a nit because he spends almost no time on the PCUSA and a lot of time on the ECUSA.

As a DCE, I would recommend The Practicing Congregation as a study for a small group of church officers, staff or clergy, providing they have had some previous experience with this type of academic analysis and an interest in it. Exodus would have broader appeal and could spark some lively discussions in an adult group or Sunday School class over such topics as "celebrity heretics", the "wee Deity" and the "train wreck that is the Episcopal Church USA" regardless of the theological preferences of the group.

Alternative Presbyterian Polity Proposal

The New Wineskins conference currently going on in Florida has drawn evangelical representatives from across the PCUSA. Coming out of this conference will be several documents that in effect offer an alternative Presbyterian polity. This is clearly a response to the forthcoming Peace Unity and Purity report that is to be released in September.

The Presbyterian News Service report has links to the documents being discussed that you can check out if you are interested. Today is the last day of the conference.

Loose Screws

Sometimes you just have to acknowledge that the Calvinist view of the innate sinfulness of man is that only way you can explain some things.

Our church has a large new playground on one side of its parking lot. The playground is for our church members and school children, but neighborhood kids come to play on it as well. This morning we found that the tunnel, which is part of the equipment, had been dis-assembled.

Now this was not something that is easily done. The screws that held the tunnel parts together are a special type of screw that require a special type of bit. You can't just use your garden-variety phillips or plain screwdriver on them. And the screws have vanished but the parts of the tunnel were left on the ground.

Do we have a screw thief on the loose? Can you even report that to the police? Should our custodian be told to be on the lookout for suspicious looking folks carrying toolboxes lurking around the playground?

Curiouser and curiouser, said Little Alice...

Birthday Tradition

birthday cake
Originally uploaded by Quotidian Grace.

Here is our favorite birthday tradition: a cake from Moeller's Bakery. It has to have one layer of vanilla cake, one layer of chocolate cake and be frosted with vanilla icing on top and in between the layers and chocolate icing around the sides. The flowers can be any color you want. Since it's summer, I chose red and yellow.

When the girls were first born we lived near this bakery and got into the habit of buying cakes and other goodies from them. Then the bakery moved away from our area, and then we moved further away from where the bakery is now. Nonetheless we faithfully make a pilgrimage for each
birthday celebration to pick up our birthday tradition.

These cakes have seen birthdays of infants, toddlers, children, teenagers and now young adults.I have pictures of many of those cakes. El Jefe and I have celebrated our young married years and now our middle aged empty nester birthdays with these cakes. It just wouldn't be a real birthday without them.

Portia is celebrating a birthday and so Babs and I just returned with the precious cake in tow for our family celebration tonight. I think the cake is more important to Portia than any other part of her birthday. Aren't family traditions wonderful?

Jackson verdict makes me sick

In my previous life as a lawyer, I spent three years as an assistant district attorney in charge of prosecuting child abuse and neglect cases on behalf of the county child welfare agency. My experience was that pedophiles were intractable, incurable and would continue their behavior despite counseling, drugs and prison. We don't know how to cure them.

Interviews with the jurors in the Michael Jackson case revealed that they believed he was a pedophile--they just didn't believe the mother of the accused and seemed to have been convinced by the defense attorney that because she deliberately placed her son in Michael Jackson's way there was reasonable doubt that he molested him. But then the jurors say that they also believe Jackson is a pedophile. Huh?

The trial itself had aspects of Dante's Inferno with its seven layers of Hell covered by swarms of demonesque press representatives and featuring ghoulish fans on the side. And Michael Jackson has a spooky resemblance to one of the grotesques of Heironymus Bosch. If I were a premillenial dispensationalist I would start quoting some dire prophecies from Revelation. But I'm not, so I won't.

All Sugared Up

At last night's Christian Education committee meeting the group got off onto a rant about sugar-filled Sunday School kids.

It seems that Sunday School teachers are finding their kids stop by the coffee and lemonade bar that is set up between worship services before going to their class. Now a little lemonade is fine--but the kids think it is SO much better if they add several packets of sugar to the drink, stirring it up into a gooey sludge that they try to eat with their fingers or drink when they are scolded about that.

Lemonade isn't the only problem. Other reports are that some of the older elementary and middle schoolers are getting coffee and doctoring it up with so much sugar and artificial creamer that it is also semi-solid.

What to do? Will the sugar consumed just before Sunday School cause behavior problems during class or wait until the parents retrieve the kids an hour later. Or is sugar really the culprit?

Should the teachers permit youngsters to bring the doctored coffee into the classroom without knowing whether or not their parents approve of the kids drinking coffee? How much in loco parentis in Sunday School is too much? Or is it just loco parents that are the problem? (Don't even go there.)

Is it appropriate to ask the volunteers who run the coffee bar to police this, or should the DCE (me!) become THE SUGAR POLICE ?

Surely Jesus said something about sugar....I'll go check my concordance. Nope, nothing. Guess we're on our own here. Sigh.

Book Meme Tag

I've been tagged by John at Locusts and Honey on a book meme that's going around. I love books and it's short, so I'll play.

1. Number of books I own.

Well over a thousand. Nearly every room in the house has several bookcases.

2. The last book I bought.

Just a few minutes ago on amazon after reading a review in yesterday's Wall Street Journal that identified the author as a Presbyterian-- Exodus: Why Americans Are Fleeing Liberal Churches for Conservative Christianity by Dave Shiflett.

3. The last book that I read.

Being Dead is No Excuse by Gayden Metcalfe and Charlotte Hays. A hysterical look at southern funeral traditions, it includes a lot of good down home recipes. Loved the Methodist Ladies vs. Episcopal Ladies chapter. It reminded me of all my East Texas relatives, now departed.

4. Books that mean a lot to me.

The Bible. I'm exploring Eugene Peterson's The Message for a fresh look at scripture.

The Four Witnesses by Robin-Griffith Jones. Anglican priest discusses the distinctive portraits of Jesus in each of the four Gospels.

Biographies of Queen Elizabeth the first. I have an abiding interest in the Tudor English period and have read lots of them. Two are in my current book collection:
The First Elizabeth by Carrolly Erickson and Gloriana The Years of Elizabeth by Mary M. Luke.

I wouldn't be here answering this meme if it weren't for Blog by Hugh Hewitt and Leonard Sweet's The Aqua Church.

5. Tag 5 other bloggers.

Spooky Rach , Will Spotts, Songbird, St. Cassarole, and rev-ed. Hope you haven't already been tagged, and remember you don't have to play!

Small Group Dilemma

For the past two years I have been involved with a small group study and fellowship that developed out of one of our Alpha programs. All of the participants in the group (except me and El Jefe) are young couples ranging in age from their late twenties to early forties. We never planned for this to happen, but the Spirit moved and we responded.

From time to time we debate whether or not to ask another couple or couples to join the group. On the one hand, we want others to have the same experience we are having. On the other hand, how can you add new people to the group without damaging the dynamic that makes the experience work? There is also the concern that asking one couple without asking another risks hurting feelings and setting up an undesirable atmosphere of exclusivity.

We are in the midst of that discussion again as we are making plans for resuming regular weekly meetings in the fall. It occured to me that maybe the answer is to foster a new group instead of adding to our group. We know of several couples in the church who would probably be interested and would probably also be very compatible.

Fostering a new group could be a great thing for us. It would make us think about what has made our group meaningful to us and then make us share that with others while continuing with our own group. It seems like the next logical step to take as disciples.

It's Summertime and VBS is Not Easy

It is June and my thoughts are turning to the plans being made for our annual VBS program next month.

Just yesterday I had to tell someone that our VBS is full and they cannot enroll their children--that's something I really hate to do. On the other hand, the reason our VBS is full is because we cannot accept more children than our adult volunteers can safely supervise. And getting volunteers for VBS is always like pulling teeth.

INMHO, VBS is a relic of the 1950's church. I remember attending as a child--the heat, the flannel storyboard, the crafts, the Bible School Songs and the red Kool-aid and Ritz crackers served as a snack. We looked forward to going and getting out of the house. Back then there was very little summer programming for children. Maybe you had some swimming lessons. Perhaps a week at Scout camp or church camp was scheduled. Few women worked outside the home in middle-class neighborhoods that were the stronghold of the mainline Protestant denominations, so there was a larger pool of VBS volunteers.

Today life is very different in the summer. There is a plethora of lessons, sports teams, day and overnight camps competing for the time and attention of the average family. And of course, many mothers today work part or full time, reducing the pool of available VBS volunteers and increasing the demand for enrollment in what many regard as cheap daycare. Even the summer day camp that our church school offers has found decreased interest in the past couple of years as more summer programming is being offered by other churches, schools and individuals.

Our church secretary begins fielding calls in February of each year asking when we will open our VBS enrollment. Those calls come from people in the community, not church members, who are trying to keep their children busy all summer and want to assure themselves a place. Each year we have children who arrive and announce that they just "did" the same VBS program we are offering last week at another church. One child had already attended 4 other programs by the time he showed up in ours. Because they almost always are members of another church, we get no new members from these folks.

Some churches in our area have been successful in holding evening VBS sessions. This allows broader participation by working parents and also usually is a program for the entire family. We tried that one year and increased our volunteers, but sharply decreased the children enrolled because families were looking for daycare not evening activities.

I don't know how much longer VBS will continue to be an annual event at our church or other churches. For now, we have a dedicated volunteer director and core group who bravely soldier on because they want to have the program for their own children. Will another group take their place when their kids grow out of VBS? Is the fact that we've "always done VBS" good enough reason to continue it in its traditional mode? I think it is time for re-evaluation of the whole concept.

Hoisted by Own Petard Department

El Jefe is chortling mightily over yesterday's report that Pres. Bush's grades at Yale were actually HIGHER than his erstwhile rival for office and fellow Eli John Kerry. (Disclaimer: link may require free registration.)

El Jefe was at Yale at the same time as both men (although he was not in either man's class), he knew both of them. Kerry was speaker of the Yale Political Union when he was a freshman, and as he tells it, Kerry's personality and demeanor were the same then as when he ran for president last year. It was widely known among the student body that Kerry had presidential ambitions and that he was carefully planning his future career toward that goal. El Jefe reports that the Yale alum newsgroup for his class is going wild over this one.


Of course W beat Kerry by only 1 point in overall grade point average--it wouldn't be much of a news story if Kerry hadn't successfully portrayed himself as a solid intellectual in contrast to the more pedestrian Bush. Apparently this is why he never released his transcripts during the campaign when someone managed to get Bush's transcript and publicize it. His grades were revealed when he recently released all his naval records because his college transcripts were part of those records.

Portia, a recent graduate of the place herself, opined that back in the day the grades Kerry and Bush had were respectable: a "gentleman's C." Since the late '60's grade inflation at Yale and virtually every other college and university in the country, the average grade is more like a B or B+.

See how the Fates their gifts allot! Two "C" students fought the recent election for the highest office in the land, while El Jefe, an "A" student from the same school, happily eschewed politics for the law, the church, his Civil War research, his porch and The Noble Dog--and his family. And like Mary in the story of Martha and Mary, El Jefe thinks he chose the better portion.

Faithful Priorities

I was still musing about our budget dilemmas (see previous post) today when I was prompted by a post on Locusts and Honey to remember the approach of one of our local churches to setting its budget priorities.

This church is now celebrating its 50th anniversary and is one of the 15 largest churches in our denomination. From inception, it followed a policy of "tithing" their revenue, including all pledges received for building campaigns, to mission. The tithe has gone to mission programs developed and run by the church, the presbytery, local charitable organizations, etc.

In observance of their 50th anniversary they began a project dedicated to planting one new church in the Houston are every year for at least the next five years. Although they are working with the presbytery to do this, this church is funding the project and providing extensive training for its members who are willing to assist in organizing these new churches.

This church has had a lot of building campaigns over the last 50 years. This year they retired the $24 million debt on their only 5 year old campaign. If you examine their budget, you will find that this church has made its priority out mission and outreach. I'm sure that over the years some of the members tried to change this policy, arguing that "this time we can't afford it." But the church remained faithful to its understanding of what Christ's priorities would be.

Here is an effective witness and example that we should take to heart--and budget.

Seeking a Soul-filled Budget

Budgets reveal the soul of a congregation. Allocation of the church's expenses shows the priorities that it sets. If most of the revenue covers maintenance of the church's physical plant then programs such as mission, education, pastoral care, music and youth fellowship are not emphasized or well supported.

We're in the process of making the budget for the new fiscal year. Anticipated shortfalls in pledged revenue may force the committees, the staff and the session to make some hard choices. As in any organization competing interest groups will advocate to prevent cuts in their budgets and the session will try to reconcile them.

Yet we are not just another non-profit organization in budget-crunching mode. We are the church of Jesus Christ and our budget needs to reveal a passion for bringing people to Him. Not the lukewarm attitude of the church in Laodicea.

I confess that as a former lawyer, I'm much more comfortable operating in non-profit organization mode than I am trying to evaluate my budget with the eyes of faith. But I believe that is what is needed if we are to adopt a budget that reveals our congregation has a faithful soul.

Standing on the Promises?

Does your spiritual life need a lift? Check out "In Souls--stand on the word of God".

Thanks for the tip to Rev. Ed.

Day Tripping with Babs

Babs and I have been on the road a lot lately: traveling back from Tennessee after her college graduation, going to San Antonio for my brother-in-law's memorial service, and today a trip to a town just outside Austin to retrieve her Grandpa's car which broke down there last week when Portia (whose car was in the shop) was driving it back to Austin for the weekend.

Babs played disk jockey with her vast collection of CD's--some of which she put together with the help of ITunes. I found out that I like Nickle Creek and someone named Jason Mraz. Two new artists to add to my own collection! She also played a lot of the Birds singing Bob Dylan and the Rolling Stones. I can relate to them, being of a certain age!

Once you are out on Hwy 290 away from the big city it is a pleasant trip. There are lots of pretty farms and ranches set on rolling hills with white or Hill Country stone fences and plump cattle, scampering herds of goats, and horse barns. This area is "gentrified" now. Antique stores line the highway along with truck farmers hawking their fresh vegatables, watermelons and peaches. You can feel your stress level go down and your mind relaxes and can drift around aimlessly like the puffy clouds in the big Texas sky.

Reality sets in too abruptly as the big city nears and you are suddenly surrounded by 18 wheelers, concrete barriers, construction cones and pressing traffic. Time to snap up and pay attention again--no more daydreaming behind the wheel.

Grandpa's car is delivered safely and we are back home. I had been whining about having to make this day trip, but now I'm almost sorry it's over.

Remember Blake

I can't stop thinking about the story of Blake posted by Glory Be and update. It would be an injustice to attempt to summarize, but it is about a young man with terminal illness and the contrast between the compassion of his friends and the neglect of his family.

My nightstand runneth over

The stack of books on my nightstand is reaching epic proportions. Here's what's on it right now:

Christina Queen of Sweden: The Restless Life of a European Eccentric by Veronica Buckley. This is one of Babs' college books. Christina lived during the seventeenth century is one of the most annoying people I ever read about. Really! This woman converted to Catholicism in order to abdicate her throne and avoid getting married. Then she moves from Sweden to Italy and proceeds to drive the Vatican, the French monarchy and the Italians crazy. Thank heaven I've almost finished this one.

The Letters of Paul by Calvin J. Roetzel and Apostle of the Crucified Lord by Michael J. Gorman. Two books I began reading to prepare for leading a class on St. Paul. But plans changed, so I set them aside and intend to finish them "in the fullness of time".

P.S. I Love You by Ceclia Ahern. A novel given to me by Portia. Its about a woman who lost her husband, and I'm not in the mood for it right now since the recent death of my brother-in-law.

The rest of the books I haven't opened yet, and I'd better stay off of amazon.com for a while or I'll be entering the 12 step program for addictive book-buyers.

The Practicing Congregation by Diana Butler Bass. I liked her previous books and this one looks promising.

Marrying Mozart by Stephanie Cowell. A novel given to me by Babs.

The Road to Nab End by William Woodruff. A memoir of Depression-era Britian, recommended and read by both Babs and El Jefe.

Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places by Eugene Peterson. The author of The Message. Enough said. Can't wait to get to this one.

The Queen's Fool by Philipa Gregory. Historical novel set in Tudor England, loaned by Babs.

Stet, Dammit by Florence King. Given to me by El Jefe, who knows that sometimes I'm in the mood for a certain type of humor. Florence King is the author of With Charity Toward None and WASP Where Is Thy Sting?

Bread of Angels and Home By Another Way by Barbara Brown Taylor. Collections of sermons by this renowned preacher. I was inspired to buy them after hearing her sermon at Babs' baccalaureate service. I prescribed myself a chapter or two before bed.

Too much is not enough department: I want to borrow a book my sister-in-law got for her birthday--Being Dead Is No Excuse: The Official Southern Ladies Guide to Hosting the Perfect Funeral by Gayden Metcalfe and Charlotte Hayes. It answers the burning question "who brings the best covered dishes? The Episcopalians or the Methodists?"

What are you reading this summer?

Clown Eucharist

Today's item from the What Were They Thinking? Department: Clown Eucharist

Hat tip: Locusts and Honey

The meaning of esperanza

My brother-in-law died this week after a brief painful battle with cancer. We just got back from traveling to attend his memorial service and visit with the family. At the service, the presiding minister related a story from my sister about a conversation with her husband just before he died.

He asked the hospice worker to leave his room so he and my sister could have a private talk. After the aide left he said, "I know there is something I am supposed to tell you but I don't know what it is."

"Is it something you see?" she asked.

"Yes, that's it. I see your mother, my grandmother and your little niece ( who died of cancer aged 9) and others," he said.

Then he drifted off to sleep. A bit later he woke again. Thinking to divert him, she began describing the blooming flowers in their back yard: the Mexican heather, the daylilies, and the esperanza.

"What is esperanza?" he asked.

"You remember, the small yellow flowers," she replied.

"No," he repeated, somewhat agitated. "What does esperanza mean?"

She asked the hospice aide who spoke Spanish. "Esperanza means hope," she said.

Again, he drifted off to sleep. Then he awoke. "I want to go home," he said.

"You are home," she tried to assure him.

"You know what I mean," he replied. He died a short time later.

But we do not want you to be uninformed, brother and sisters, about those who have died, so that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have died.
1 Thessalonians 4:13-14.

Rockin' the Frozen Chosen

Yesterday we found out that our church's bid for the local Jars of Clay concert at the end of the year was accepted. We're excited about this as an opportunity for evangelism in our suburban area. It gives us the chance to show that we Presbies are not just the "frozen chosen" but also people who can embrace contemporary Christian music and culture (sshhh, don't spread that around in the wrong places).

Being Presbyterians, there had to be a discussion of which committee of the session would be in charge of promoting the concert and doing the work associated with it. Although the idea and the bid were put together primarily by the Youth Committee, the Evangelism Committee will become the "lead dog" for the project. Wherever two or three Presbyterians are gathered in His Name, they will form a committee!

I don't understand how bids for these kinds of concerts work, but I do know this group and their popularity, so I'm excited about the opportunity it will present to us and to the community.

Frustrated by that "vision thing"

Today I'm feeling a lot like Bush 41 who lamented that he didn't really get the "vision thing." I attended a meeting whose purpose was to develop a "vision" for the group we represent. This is called " a visioning process". Whenever a noun is turned into an adjective or a verb--look out.

Members of the group have gone back and forth for several months trying to develop statements of "vision". Every now and then we seem to have a consensus on one and then by the next meeting, through the magic of email, the consensus has dissolved and several new versions of the "vision" have been placed on the table for discussion.

Over the years I have been part of discussions like this in many different venues: school groups, the workplace, non-profit groups and the church. I've yet to see the adoption of a "vision statement" or even a "mission statement" make any difference a few months later.

The Bible says that without vision the people will perish--but I don't think that applies to vision statements. I'm the type of person who relates to well-defined goals and objectives. Tell me what you would like to accomplish and I can deal with trying to find a way to achieve that goal. "Visioning" seems to be a process of trying to get consensus on you want to accomplish. I find it frustrating and elusive.

Why is this type of process so popular? Most "vision" and "mission" statements are platitudinous and soon forgotten except by those who had to spend the time and energy crafting them. In today's meeting I felt like I had been dropped unceremoniously into an ongoing graduate seminar that was engaged in petty linguistic disputes.

Not that I have an opinion!

Making Adjustments

We are now mid-way through the Sunday School series that was inspired by the Terri Schiavo case. Attendance for the class has been wonderful : between 50 and 60 people every week. The speakers have brought sound information and insight into the process of end-of-life decision making with their extensive experience in the medical and ethical fields and on ethics committees of prominent hospitals in the area.

It is a sensitive subject. We are constantly reminded by the questions and comments of those present that many of them either have or are dealing with these decisions in their own families. Some are second-guessing their decisions and others are trying to project "what-if" scenarios and get assistance resolving them.

After several weeks of talking about the practical and ethical aspects of these issues, we realized it was time to renew discussion of how our faith should help inform decisionmaking and allowing time for the large class to break into small groups to help process some of that.

It's a good thing to check on your plans for a class midway and make adjustments rather than sticking to your agenda. It feels like the Holy Spirit at work.

How Do We Serve An Unchanging God?

"How do we serve an unchanging God in a changing world?" asked Dr. O when he gave the devotion at the session meeting yesterday. Using scripture from Malachai and Hebrews as his basic texts, he referred to the controversies in the PCUSA over ordination standards and the divestment resolution of the last GA.

Dr. O is one of the most respected leaders of the congregation. A native of Nigeria, he studied in London and New York City. Formerly on the staff of one of the local medical schools, he is now in private practice as an internist. He raised four children of his own as a single parent and three children of deceased friends who named him guardian. No stranger to personal tragedy and the difficulties of life, he radiates a solid and joyful faith in Christ. He is one of the most Biblically literate people in the church, thanks to the Canadian Presbyterian missionary school he attended as a boy in his native village of Ututu.

It was clear from his presentation that he is anxious about the scheduled September report of the Peace, Unity and Purity Task Force of the PCUSA. What recommendations will it contain? Will he see them as Biblically-based or based on the demands of the changing culture around us? How will it affect our local church and presbytery if the recommendations are adopted by the GA in 2006? How will he and each member of the congregation choose to respond? Through his devotional, Dr. O encouraged us all to turn to personal study and prayer to seek answers to these questions.

Surely there are similar discussions, devotionals and prayers being offered at sessions across the country, regardless of their point of view on these issues, as the PUP Task Force report is anticipated. Meanwhile each church does its best to continue "serving an unchanging God" through its ministry and mission in the place where it has been planted.

Three times Quiz

Time for a little Friday afternoon fun!
Here's a quiz making the rounds that I saw first on Reverend Mother's blog.

Three names you go by:
Mom
Moomie
Pet

Three screen names you've had:
moomie4H
moomie94
j***4H

Three physical things you like about yourself:
My height--very tall
brown eyes
hair

Three physical things you dislike about yourself:
Eyes too dry to wear contacts anymore--I would love to ditch the glasses!
Bad left knee
Well....I wouldn't mind being a bit thinner.

Three parts of your heritage:
Scots
English
Texan

Three things you are wearing right now:
scarf Portia and Babs gave me for Mother's Day
new pink sweater from Tar-Jey! (Target)
Earrings Portia gave me for Christmas

Three favorite bands/musical artists
Lyle Lovett
The Beatles
Janis Joplin

The last three songs that you listened to:
"It's About Time" by Terri Henrix --love the lyrics "It's carpe diem on a caffeine buzz"
The other two were whatever Babs played in the car when we went to lunch and I wouldn't have any idea what they were.

Three things you want in a relationship:
Intelligent conversation
Amiable disposition
Respect

Three physical things about the preferred sex that appeal to you:
Height, lots of it
blue eyes
nice smile

Three of your favorite hobbies :
Reading
Blogging
Quilting

Three things you want to do really badly right now:
Eat chocolate
Eat chocolate
Drink chocolate

Three things that scare you:
Bumpy airplane rides
Going through airport security lines
Driving in hurricanes

Three of your everyday essentials :
Kiehls face wash
COFFEE
email

Three careers you have considered or are considering:
Bookshop owner
Writer
Professional singer

Three places you want to go on vacation:
Iona/Scottish highlands
Florence and the Tuscan countryside
Barbados because I loved The Witch of Blackbird Pond

Three kids names you like:
I'll give boys names to protect Babs and Portia--
William
Michael
Luke

Three ways you are stereotypically a boy:
(just play along here...)
I'm logical and detail oriented
I'm assertive
I'm academic

Three ways you are stereotypically a girl:
(ditto above)
I love purses and accessories
Shoe crazy
When I'm in "Martha-mode" I love to cook and entertain

Three celebrity crushes :
Got over that a long time ago...

Three people I would like to see take this quiz :
Any readers of this blog!

Happy weekend to all!

St Cassarole link fixed

A kind reader let me know the St. Cassarole link on the previous post was faulty. It should work now and is well worth the time to read.

St. Cassarole on Schism in PCUSA

St. Cassarole wrote a courageous and heart-felt post this week about the threat of schism in the PCUSA. Check it out as well as the thread of comments the post generated which reveal weariness and concern from liberals and conservatives alike.

Contrasting Views of Sacred Text

I heard someone on the radio this morning summarizing an article about the difference between the Islamic view of the Koran and the Christian view of the Bible. I have googled and googled but can't come up with the article--of course I didn't catch the name of the author or the publication it was in, unfortunately, so I can't provide a link to it.

The thesis was that Muslims believe that the Koran contains the direct revelation of Allah to them and when they read it or recite it they are in touch with the actual words of God. Christians, on the other hand, believe that although the Bible was inspired by God it was written by man. Apparently the article concluded that Muslims therefore venerated the Koran in the same way that Christians venerate and worship Christ--as the revelation of God to man.

This was presented as the explanation for the violent reaction in the Muslim world to the Newsweek article (now discredited and recanted) reporting the "flushing" of the Koran down the toilet by American troops. While I think that the alleged incident was probably used by Islamic extremists for their own purposes, it did make me think about our attitudes toward the Bible.

A couple of years ago at a memorial service, the pastor leading the service mentioned that when he visits a family to plan a funeral service he will ask to see the Bible of the deceased to help the family find favorite passages of their loved one that could be used in the service. Often he is given a Bible in pristine condition, looking untouched by human hands. He will then ask for the "dog-eared" copy if he knows that the deceased was involved in Bible study. Then the underlined, highlighted, raggedy looking Bible is produced and the family and pastor can find the scripture that was meaningful for the service.

When I teach a new Bible study class, I encourage people to underline and highlight and write notes in their Bibles. The article that was referred to in the radio broadcast included the information that "infidels" were not allowed to touch the Koran, lest they desecrate it by their touch. In contrast, Christians want to place Bibles in the hands of unbelievers and encourage them to read it and make it their own--through translation into their own language, reading, study and yes, underlining and making notes and questions in the sacred text.

Certainly Christians would object to a Bible being burned, flushed down the toilet, or desecrated. And it has been--in the name of "art" and "free speech". But we wouldn't riot over it. Is that because we don't take the Bible seriously enough, or because we don't view it in the same way as the Muslims view the Koran?

What Graduation Should Be

"It was what I thought graduation should be like," said Portia about our weekend celebrating Babs' graduation from college. How right she was! The weather was cool and mostly sunny with a brief couple of hours of rain when it didn't interfere with activities.

The ceremonies were traditional, moving and appropriate. Babs' college is owned by the the southern dioceses of the Episcopal Church and the chapel is modeled after the chapel at Oxford College in England. The baccaluareate service included the University Choir and lots of high Anglican chant and hymnody.

Rev. Dr. Barbara Brown Taylor, an Episcopal priest, delivered the sermon. I had never heard her before, but she was a great preacher. Now I'm going to look up some of her books and publications.

Her texts were Genesis 12: 1-4 ( Abram leaves Haran after God tells him to leave and he will "make of you a great nation") and John 5: 1-9 (Jesus heals the man waiting by the pool at Bethzatha). Interesting choices. I was wondering how Dr. Brown would use them. She made an analogy between the next stage in the lives of the graduates--which is fraught with uncertainty as they begin their life's journey as young adults--with the beginnings of Abram's travels and the new life set before the paralytic as he "took up his bed" and walked after the healing. Her point was that God is as much with you in times of uncertainty and change as he is in times of celebration, achievement or grief.

Commencement itself began with the academic procession and the singing of one of my favorite hymns: For All The Saints. We sang all verses using the Ralph Vaughan Williams arrangement, accompanied by the chapel's magnificent (and newly refurbished) organ. Wow!
After the awards and diplomas had been given out, the recessional was just as magnificent, accompanied by organ and the carillion in the bell tower.

Lunch was available on the quadrangle, which was decorated with balloons in the university colors. Having El Jefe's sister and her family join us for the weekend made the weekend a real family celebration.

We all became very attached to Sewanee over the past few years. (Babs' cousin graduated in 1999.) What will be the future for this school which is supported by the most conservative dioceses in the country? The student body and most of the faculty are very conservative (politically and theologically) while the Graduate School of Theology has a very liberal reputation. The dissention over ordination standards in the ECUSA could have a major effect on the school. That would be a real tragedy.

Now it's back to unpacking Babs and preparing to help unpack Portia at the end of the week as she is moving back to the area for her summer clerk job.

Graduation for all

Tomorrow El Jefe and I depart for Babs' graduation from college. We'll be gone all weekend, so blogging won't resume until Tuesday or Wednesday of next week. Much of the family is gathering to celebrate with us, so we anticipate a great time together.

This summer Babs will be at home and has a job lined up for the summer. Then she will join Portia at UT/Austin where she will pursue a master's degree in counseling while Portia finishes law school.

Graduation ceremonies help us acknowledge and assimilate changes in our lives. As El Jefe has often remarked " He who denies ceremony denies memory." Neither El Jefe nor I attended our own college graduations, because our colleges closed for a couple of weeks before graduation and we had to go home to Texas and couldn't afford to return. We're thrilled that we could attend Portia's graduation and now Babs'.

A few days ago it occured to me that Babs isn't the only one graduating. El Jefe and I are graduating from our roles as parents of college students. This follows all those other graduations from our roles of as parents of preschoolers, elementary, middle and high schoolers. As Dolly Parton says "Time marches on, and it's marching all over your face."

And thus we all move to another stage in the life of our family. Congratulations, Babs! You and Portia are the best daughters anyone could have.

Patches Quilt and Thoughts on Tradition

The Ministers of the Cloth have completed piecing the first "Patches" Quilt, which has military patches and insignia sent to the group anysoldier by soldiers on duty in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Each square has a patch and is embroidered with the name, regiment and location of the soldier who contributed it.

The next step will be the actual quilting. We have been told that the quilt will be displayed in the rotunda of the Capitol building in Washington DC when it is complete. Now we are thinking about organizing a group field trip to view it there!

We have received more patches than we can include in one quilt, so we plan to continue making these quilts as long as the soldiers send us patches.

Today I read to the group a note from a local doctor who presented one of our quilts to the family of a soldier who died in Iraq, thanking us for the quilt and telling us how much it meant to the family who are devastated by their loss. We continue to sew and pray for those who are serving all of us at home in dangerous places around the world.

I remember my grandmother participating for many years in a quilting group at the church where I grew up. When she died at the age of 98, an elderly woman introduced herself to me as the "baby" of the quilt group and recalled anecdotes of my grandmother with me. In a world of rapidly changing technology and lack of connection, it is comforting to see the Ministers of the Cloth as a part of a very old tradition in the church of women gathering together to sew for the community as a ministry. I can see this group as part of the long chain of faithful witnesses to Christ that links back to Dorcas in Acts.

Worship in the great outdoors

Saturday evening we held our worship service in the outdoor chapel at the top of the hill at MO Ranch. It has a spectacular view: placed at the highest point for miles around you see a dramatic panorama of hills, river and trees behind the rustic cross and communion table made from stone.

There is no nursery or "Children's Church" on occasions like this, so all the infants and toddlers who came with their families were included in the group. Their parents had a difficult time trying to quiet them. The setting didn't look anything like a church to them, and so they had a hard time understanding what was going on. A couple of mothers had to take their children to the parking lot and walk them in their strollers away from the rest of the congregation. The service was at 7 pm which is the prime "witching hour" feared by parents of toddlers as they threaten to decompensate from the activities of the day before bedtime.

One little three year old kept chattering away to his parents through the pastor's opening prayer, despite constant "shushing" from both of them. Finally Dad had enough and picked him up. As he was carried away from his seat he hollered " What are you going to do to me?" Everyone giggled and poor Dad was mortified!

This made me think that we ought to conduct worship services more often in unconventional venues. We need to be reminded that we can worship God anywhere -- not just in the sanctuary of a church building.

Texas Wildflowers at MO Ranch

I love the wildflowers you see in Texas in the spring. Here are pictures of some that were still in bloom this weekend at MO Ranch near Hunt, Texas, where I was attending our annual church family retreat. MO Ranch is owned by the Synod of the Sun (PCUSA) and is in the Texas Hill Country. It's well worth the 5 hour ride from our part of the state.

Retreat to the Hill Country

Our annual Mother's Day Weekend Church Family retreat is at hand. We travel to MO Ranch in Kerrville in the beautiful Texas Hill Country for the weekend. There is no internet and almost no cellphone reception at the ranch. By Sunday all of us type A's have started to settle down just in time to drive home! Still it's always a great weekend.

I'm celebrating the completion of our kitchen remodeling project and have almost finished moving all the stuff back in. The rest will have to wait until Sunday when I get back.

So no blogging until then. It's funny how quickly you get used to posting every day and reading your favorite blogs. I will miss it!

Youth Group Unwelcome at Wal-Mart

This is a true story. Last Saturday evening our youth groups had a lock in at the church. One of the activities for the night was a shopping trip to the all-night Wal-Mart where the kids were going to spend money they raised to buy items for "care packages" for soldiers in Iraq.

A few days before the event, our Youth Director stopped at the store and asked to speak to the manager to inform them about the plans. The manager wouldn't talk to him, so he spoke to the Customer Service desk and asked the clerk to inform the manager that early Sunday he planned to bring about 50 teenagers, along with several adult sponsors, for the shopping trip and explained their purpose.

The group arrived at the store about 2 am. No sooner had they begun walking to the store from the parking lot when the police arrived and stopped the group. Apparently the manager on duty was alarmed by the size and age of the group--even though a number of adults were with them. The adults explained their purpose and the police left.

Once inside the store, the kids divided into groups for the shopping trip. Each group was accompanied by an adult. As they shopped the manager kept making announcements over the PA system accusing them of not behaving. When the Youth Director and one of the fathers asked to speak to him to find out what he was objecting to, he refused to meet with them.

The kids filled their shopping carts and lined up to check out. The manager refused to open an additional check-out lane, so it took nearly an hour to complete the process. At this point the adults considered leaving but decided that would only hurt the clerks who would have to re-stock all the items in the baskets.

Total spent at Wal-Mart for soldiers' care packages = $1000. Total Goodwill earned by Wal-Mart = 0. Letters of complaint are on the way to Bentonville.

Where did all this happen? An upscale suburb. Ethnicity of the kids and adults involved? They're Presbyterians, so most of them are Anglo. Conclusion? Teenagers in a group are scary, even when they are part of a church group. What a message to our youth!

His Essence Official Website

His Essence Official Website -- Creations to Comfort the Soul

Do these candles smell to High Heaven? What Would Jesus Smell Like?
(I PROMISE I am not making this up...)

Texans will be astounded to note that this product apparently originated in Vidor, TX, notorious as the most Klanish town in the state.

What's next? His Essence after-shave? Cologne? Deoderant? Air Freshener?

Stay tuned....
(Hat tip to KBTV4)

A Word About Presbyweb

I'm a subscriber to Presbyweb and yesterday got an email asking me to email my friends to encourage them to subscribe. I'm a big fan of Presbyweb, so I decided to respond through my blog as well.

Presbyweb's motto is " The national PC(USA)news--official and unofficial, from left to right--" and they live up to it. They report news from all sides of the theological spectrum. You get PCUSA news at all levels as well as news from other denominations and Christian news from around the world. For example they have closely followed the Beth Stroud ecclesiastical trial in the UMC and provided numerous links and articles. I check it every day.

Did you know that last Saturday Heartland Presbytery endorsed an overture to overturn our present ban on the ordination of gays and is sending it to the 2006 GA? Did you know that the Presbytery of the Pacific is meeting tomorrow to vote on removing the senior pastor and associate pastor of the large and nationally known and influential Hollywood Presbyterian church in California and assigning an administrative commission to run the church? You would if you followed Presbyweb.

During the 2004 GA, Presbyweb updated the site several times a day so you could follow all the news being made faster than anywhere else.

Presbyweb is a subscription service, with a twist. The twist is that you set your own annual rate (they request at least $15). You can sign up for a free trial first before subscribing. Payment can be made online by credit card or with a check by snail mail. Try it in time for the 2006 GA!

Check Review of new Anne Lamott book

As one who enjoyed Anne Lamott's writing in Traveling Mercies, I was interested to read Rev. Ed's review of her latest, Plan B, today. A well-written evaluation and some interesting links to similar discussions on other blogs. Thanks, Rev. Ed, I won't be reading Plan B.

No Simple Bibles

I'm warning you now: I'm off on a rant.

Today I went to several bookstores and "Christian" stores looking for what should have been a very simple item to find--a hardback thinline large print NIV Bible. I needed a couple of these to display when I talk to groups in the church about a new program we are planning to use in conjunction with our church's 20th anniversary this year. The program is called Bible in 90 Days and (as you might have guessed) the idea is to read the entire Bible in 90 days, using this particular version of the Bible because that way you pace yourself by reading 12 pages a day.

Friends, there seems to be nothing for sale anymore that isn't either paperback and flimsy or bound in leather for the ages. You could have your choice of black or almost any color of the rainbow leather or blue jean and leather binding-- but no plain hardback copies.Now you can find the exact Bible I was looking for online for about $13--but you sure can't find it in a bookstore or Christian store.

"Presentation"style Bibles were all over the place. They look like the kind of book that will be displayed or left forgotten on the shelf. They are too elegant and elaborate to really read or handle much. The paperback Bibles are too large and seem to be falling apart--their bindings are not sturdy enough to keep them intact. So either you don't read them either or you treat them as "throw-aways."

Why are there so few well-bound simple Bibles available in the stores? Bah, back to amazon.

Super Sabbath

What a spectacular weekend in southeast Texas! Clear blue skies, low humidity and temperatures in the low 70's made it a perfect day today. That allowed El Jefe and I to enjoy the afternoon at the baseball game watching the Astros beat the Cubs. We played hookey from worship (but did attend and teach Sunday School!). After that we joined our extended family for one of the regular Sunday dinners that are the highlight of our week these days.

Kitchen remodeling is nearing an end, but painfully so as little logistical problems cause some delays. I am SO ready to clean up the mess and get back to normal--that will probably happen by the end of the week.

Looking back at the past week, it struck me that there were several families in our congregation that got really good news about potential medical problems. Fears of the return of cancer, diagnosis of possible tumors or very serious neurological disorders were all set aside when the diagnostic tests were completed and interpreted by their doctors. How many blessings were received and how grateful each family is for that!

Today was a super Sabbath, one worth savoring and remembering. I hope yours was, too.