Some thoughts on The Golden Compass

A couple of months ago, one of the pastors in town brought attention to a movie, The Golden Compass, coming out in December. It is based on a book of the same title, first the His Dark Materials trilogy.

At that time, I decided to find out for myself what Philip Pullman, the author, really wrote. When something can be of such controversial nature as this book trilogy and movie are, I believe it is important to not place too much faith on information from other sources (which are far too often biased in one extreme or another). I checked out all three volumes and read through them, in the span of around 15 hours.

I bring this up again because today, I received an e-mail (a forward of a forward) from the Alaska Conference regarding the upcoming movie release. In the forwarded section of the e-mail, a reference was made to The Golden Compass being anti-Narnia and also it about being "killing God."

Mr. Pullman, in interviews and in his own essays, has voiced his disdain for C. S. Lewis and the Narnia Chronicles. However, to leap from that to saying that his trilogy is anti-Narnia seems a difficult logical leap... I suppose one can say it is anti-Narnia because Narnia is based on the presupposition that divinity exists and the supernatural is at work, whereas Pullman's work presupposes only naturalism (as any good atheist would).

In regards to "killing God," if God was really like the god described by the trilogy, and if religion was really like what it depicted in the books, I would be an atheist and anti-religion also. In my opinion, the trilogy isn't about killing God or gods... Based on the presupposition that God and gods don't exist anyway, it's about putting away the notion that divinity exists.

If Christians believe that this world was created and is sustained by God, Pullman believes that science (naturalism) can and will eventually explain everything. If Christians have faith in God's workings, Pullman places his faith in the workings of science and nature.It's just the object of faith that is different. Just as Christians seek to understand more the object of their faith, the characters in Pullman's work also tries to understand better their objects of faith. In this respect, my opinion is that the trilogy is very much about the need for humans to have faith in something. For Pullman, again, it is naturalism.

Another major criticism laid against Pullman, the trilogy, and the movie is that it is anti-Christian, and particularly anti-Catholic. I'll agree that it can easily be interpreted that way. But primarily, Pullman is writing a polemic against religion's abuses and about how (religious) systems seek to serve and protect itself. Throughout the trilogy I found myself nodding in agreement with Pullman's criticisms of religion, religious systems, and one of their specific examples: Christianity. Catholicism, being the largest, most visible, and having the longest history in Christianity, naturally bears the brunt of criticisms. It's not that the Catholic church is necessary worse than any other religious system -- it's one that is most easily identified and criticized.

One final point to consider before moving on to how I think Christians ought to respond...

Some of the online criticisms I've read note that Pullman is trying to "evangelize" children into atheism. That may be true. And if so I believe he has as much right as anyone else to try to "evangelize." If the Christian belief system is so fragile that it cannot withstand the assaults of atheism, then Christianity has no business claiming to be a worldview, let alone claiming to be the best.

I don't ever recall Jesus asking his disciples to go into all the world and "defend me and the Father." What I see recorded in the Bible is Jesus saying, "Go into all the world and speak the truth about me -- speak about how I've changed your life." I'm reminded also of Daniel 3 -- the story of the three Jews in Nebuchadnezzar's furnace on the plains of Dura. Their response was basically the same: Nebuchadnezzar, your challenge is against our God. We don't need to defend him. He is powerful enough to defend himself. But even if he chooses not to, we will remain loyal to him.

I think what I mentioned in the previous paragraph should inform and shape our response as Christians. If we react impulsively (and in fear)against the movie and the trilogy, we only prove the author (and other atheists) correct in their arguments that Christians (and other people of faith) are narrow-minded, judgmental, opposed to freedom of information and choice, controlling, seek to quash anything that threatens their beliefs, etc.

My opinion is that Christians should use incidents and works of this nature to inform us, to instruct us where we might deserve criticism, and to open dialogue with those who might think differently. We should use these opportunities to humbly admit that we as individual Christians have failed to live up to Christ's standard, that we as a group (the Church) have also failed to live up to Christ's standard. And then we should try to direct the conversation to the ideal of love.

Underneath all that Pullman writes in the trilogy, the main theme is the importance of love and compassion. (This comes through in the third book, at least in my mind.) I don't know if what he writes is his personal belief, but I read somewhere regarding authors of novels that they are revealing their inner self in their works. If that is true, then Pullman wants to believe that the universe runs on love and compassion. When these are violated, the universe falls apart. This is common ground that true Christ-followers share with Pullman, and perhaps many other atheists. Rather than attacking and criticizing them, this can be a starting point for further conversations.

An interesting additional point, particularly for Seventh-day Adventists is in regards to the Christian beliefs of the body, soul, and spirit. Many Christians believe in these three being distinct and, as the teachings about the spirit going to heaven right after death show, the implication is that each can survive separately. The first book in the trilogy takes this doctrine to its logical conclusion. If the body is evil and the soul is good, why not actively bring about their separation? (Where the spirit goes is addressed in the second book.)

Adventist Christians (most -- I leave room for those that don't) believe in the wholism of the person -- that the soul described in the Bible consists of both the body and breath of life (spirit) -- that one cannot be separated from another, and together form the living entity that we call soul. As soon as one element disappears, all cease their existence, except in the mind of God. In a backwards way, Pullman's work shows the absurdity of believing in the idea of separate body, soul, and spirit; and affirms the Adventist belief on this matter.

I end this series of thoughts on The Golden Compass with the warning I began: If you are going to discuss this topic with someone, I encourage you to personally and carefully examine the primary materials (i.e., all three books of the His Dark Materials trilogy) and reach your own conclusions. Depending on hearsay (or hearsay of a hearsay) will undermine your own credibility and the credibility of Christians in general. (And that goes for using my thoughts here. These are meant to encourage you to examine the work for yourself.)

Halloween visitors

Since today is November 1, yesterday must have been Halloween. When we moved into this house, we were warned to have plenty of candy available on Halloween. The street on which we live is one of the traditional trick-or-treating avenues. This being Petersburg (which means it's usually wet), most of the kids get driven from one section of the street to another, where they pile out, knock on the four or five doors about, get their treats, then pile back in and drive a few more yards down.

We lit a few candles in the windows, and turned down the lights to give a bit of ambience. I didn't keep count, but my guess is that we probably had around 50-60 youngsters, from tots to teens, visit us last night. The city sets an official trick-or-treating period of 2 hours, from 6 to 8 p.m. During that time, homes that are giving treats out are to turn on the porch light. That is really convenient for everyone because it means that those who don't want to participate don't have to, and those that do know when to start and when to cut off.

Elise's mom called during that time and we were reminded of how different things were back in the Portland area. I recall that there wasn't much in the way of trick-or-treating by small children anymore. Most of them were taken to shopping malls to go around the different stores to collect their goodies. Those that came around to houses were typically those within the neighborhood. Older kids might come around, but they weren't really dressed up.

Here, Halloween is still similar to what I recall from my kid days. It still has an innocent fun and a community feeling to it. (The bars have parties for adults.) Our kids were down with nasty colds, so they stayed home last night.

Gift of Colds

Grandpa Tom and Danny came last Thursday and left yesterday. It was wet the entire time. But they and Amy spent quite a bit of time wandering about outdoors, getting wet and muddy (and cold...)

While here, Grandpa Tom developed a cold. (I think it came from the Lower 48... Someone forgot to quarantine it...) Anyway, Amy is down and out with it today; and Shelley is also starting to feel it.

Since I know I've been exposed to this bug, the question now is a matter of if I come down with symptoms, and if I do, how long and severe it will be. I've been using Zicam Oral Spray in hopes that it will reduce both the length and severity.

Bible Reading 2007, Week 44

This week we are reading through Romans and Psalms 96-101.

Sermon: Righteousness and Mercy

(Click HERE for MP3 sermon audio.)

Today's sermon comes from Daniel 4. This is the story of (actually a proclamation by) Nebuchadnezzar about his dream of a great tree and his humbling experience.

The scripture reading was Matthew 5:7, and the key text within the sermon was Daniel 4:27.

In this sermon I explore a possible response to the question, "What kind of worship does God want from us?"

In attempting to find a response, I explore several related areas:

• What does it mean to "not sin" or "stop sinning?"
• What is righteousness?
• What is true conversion?

Responses to these questions help provide a response to the main question. (Hint: I end the sermon with Micah 6:8 which I find to be an apt summary of Daniel 4.)

Morning Snow Pics

As dawn breaks across the landscape, here's what I saw. (Our front windows face the northwest.)

"No Accumulation?"

Here's the current short-term forecast (emphasis mine):

Nowcast as of 9:00 PM ADT on October 23, 2007 Now Rain mixed with snow tonight. No accumulation expected. Patchy fog forming by midnight. Visibility decreasing to less than 2 miles at time. Wind variable with gusts to 20 mph becoming northwest 10 to 20 mph around midnight.

 

The forecast gets it wrong again! I don't know what you see, but I see accumulation... Maybe it won't stay long, but it's there.

I had been reading and had just turned out all the lights. The thought crossed my mind: I wonder what happened to the snowfall? Even though the blinds are all down, there is some light (from the streetlight) that comes through around the edges. And they sure seemed brighter than usual. I peeked around the blind at the head of the bed (to the backyard -- no lights) and I could see the lawn... or what used to be lawn (okay, there's a lot of moss, too). It was of a much lighter color.

I got up to take a look at the front of the house... Yup, snow. I walked into Amy's bedroom (has the best view out) and could definitely see snow blanketing the landscape. And of course I couldn't just let it go and try to go to sleep without first recording it. So here you have it.

Checking my blog records, the first snow like this in 2006 was November 5. If the city was hoping for a less severe winter, tonight is not a good omen of the winter to come...

Winter approaches Is Here

Just now, while driving about I noticed that some of the raindrops falling onto the windshield wasn't quite smooth. They looked downright slushy... Not very many, but a few. Autumn is quickly making way for winter. Everyone here is hoping that this winter won't be nearly as snowy as last.

Well, the occasional slush has turned into actual snow tonight. It's very wet and mixed with rain so it isn't sticking. (Except for a bit of slush coating the roof surface.) But we are seeing the first snowfall of the season in October. I just checked my blogs from last year and this year the first snow is a week earlier. Last year, I noted that the first snowflakes were seen on October 30.

Stormy Day (video)

The wind has picked up even more. I don't know if there's been a more windy day than today since we've been here.

Click HERE to download a 26 sec. Windows Media video clip of the trees violently swaying in our backyard.

Stormy day

Yesterday was dry, very clear and cold. It all changed by this morning. Today it is still chilly (thought not quite as cold), but very windy and quite wet. There is a wind advisory posted for the remainder of the day, and for good reason. The Narrows are very choppy with whitecaps where it joins the Sound.

Yesterday, when we were out walking, Shelley decided it was warm enough to be out in a sleeveless shirt. The thermometer read 40F. And then later, back inside, she is wearing a jacket. She says it's all about expectations -- since she expects it to be cold outside, it doesn't actually feel that cold. It's supposed to be warm inside, but it isn't, so it feels cold. I'm not quite sure what to make of this...

Elise is on her way to Anchorage today to attend an Alaska nurses' convention. I'm sure the weather will make the flight quite interesting (and not in a good way).

A doe and her fawn (no spots anymore) have been lazily strolling and resting in our yard, feeding on various plant bits. The salmonberry canes are dying off for the winter. The skunk cabbage leaves have all died off and are quickly rotting away. The huge fern leaves are also dead and brown, though being of harder material, they don't decompose quite so quickly. Nearly all the deciduous trees have shed all their leaves.

Bible Reading 2007, Week 43

This week's readings are in the book of Acts. (Chapter 7 was read during week 10.)

Sermon: Truth Is Life

(Click HERE for MP3 sermon audio.)

Today's sermon concludes John 8 by going through verses 31-59. This is the section where Jesus and some of the Jewish people argue about what it means to be Abraham's son, and at the end they try to stone Jesus.

Elise told me afterwards that she couldn't quite figure out the point I was trying to get at; that the sermon was a bit too technical. I was afraid that might be the case. I thought I emphasized the key points I was trying to communicate, but apparently it did not come through as well as I had hoped.

The key points of the four sections that I broke up today's passage is as follows:

1. Abiding (verses 31-37)
2. Imitating (verses 38-41a)
3. Belonging and Identity (verses 41b-47)
4. The previous three illustrated (verses 48-59)

And the primary point of the whole sermon was to emphasize that #1, abiding, is the key to everything else that follows.

Children's Story: Zacchaeus

This week, I told the story of Zacchaeus as found in Luke 19:1-10 with a few embellishments. Click HERE to hear it as I told it.

First Frost

Last night we saw the moon clearly in the sky, so I had a feeling it would get cold overnight. I was not mistaken because when I awoke this morning, the ground was frosty and the official temperature at the airport was 32F. My outside thermometer didn't quite hit that low.

The morning was quite foggy. But by afternoon all the fog had burned off and blown away and today turned out to be a very clear day.

Here are two photos from today before the camera battery died.

 

Amy bicycled to the hospital this morning to do her coffee run. Shelley returned this evening, on the bike, in short sleeves, with an outside temperature of 35F or so.

I'm discovering which parts of the house remain a bit colder than the rest. The living and dining rooms, which are far away from the heater and don't get the benefit of being upstairs (warm air rises...) are colder. I bought a couple of electric space heaters to help keep these two rooms closer to the rest of the house (about 62-63F). I haven't actually calculated the actual costs, but what I hear is that with the oil prices where they are now, electrical heating is on par with oil. If oil prices keeps rising any more, it might make sense to go all electrical.

I think we are all getting acclimated to the cooler temps because when we go somewhere where the temp is 70F (like during our church service), it feels hot after a while.

Dry and windy

After quite a few days of rain, the last couple have been relatively dry. Today, in particular, began partly sunny and has remained that way so far, into the afternoon. It's been windy though, blowing off most of the remaining leaves from the deciduous trees that are in our yard. With the branches vigorously shaking about and the leaves swirling into the air, it looks very much the fall that it is.

I still have some reading to catch up on today, but if I have time later this afternoon, and it is still partly sunny, I'm thinking of heading out for a little bit to take in some of the scenic sights that only appear during weather transitions like we are having today.

Yesterday, I mailed off my malfunctioning camera body to the repair shop. I'll find out what the actual repair estimate is going to be once they look at it. Until that's repaired or I get a replacement, I'm down to my point-and-shoot or the much older Canon D30.

I'm reading several books right now:

• Parenting: From Surviving to Thriving, by Charles R. Swindoll
• Poet & Peasant and Through Peasant Eyes, by Kanneth E. Bailey
• The God Who Hears, by W. Bingham Hunger

Bible Reading 2007, Week 42

This week we are reading the book of Luke and Psalms 90-93.

Sermon: Light of Life

(Click HERE to listen to MP3 sermon audio.)

Looking through the past few weeks, one might conclude that I had planned these series of sermons from John on the theme of "Life." But I assure you, that is not the case. Each week as I pondered the key message that I wanted to bring out, it seems that these past few weeks, that has been "Life." It shouldn't be too surprising though, because I get the idea that getting the message that leads to "Life" was one of John's goals in writing his gospel account.

Today, I forgot to bring along my voice recorder. Fortunately, I realized that my laptop has a built-in microphone above the LCD screen (something I didn't realize until just recently -- my laptop is about 8 years old). So just before Sabbath School I tested my recording software to make sure that everything worked and used the laptop as the recording device.

Today's sermon is based on John 8:12-30. It is where Jesus declares himself as the "Light of the world" and then the argument between the Pharisees and Jesus regarding Jesus' right to make such a statement. This passage shows how Jesus tried to bring light to the Pharisees, but they would have none of it: They chose to remain in darkness. This incident is an illustration of John 3:19-21 (the scripture reading today).

Children's Story: Light Box

Props: Several cameras of different shapes, sizes, vintage, technologies, etc. (I used a digital SLR, digital point-and-shoot, and a film rangefinder.)

Outline

• Pull out the cameras and show each one in turn. Briefly describe each one. Emphasize that although they may look different and may operate differently, they are all cameras.
• Ask, "What is the name used for the process of creating images with a camera?" (Answer: Photography)
• Ask, "What is the definition of photography? What are the meanings of the roots that make up photograph?" (Answer: photo from the Greek phos, meaning "light," and graphis or graphe, meaning "paintbrush" or "drawing." Photography is "painting with light" or "drawing with light.")
• Ask, "What is the critical thing needed to make a photograph?" (Answer: Light.)
• Emphasize the necessity of having light in order to expose the film or collecting light on a digital sensor's photocells.
• Point to the cameras and note that even though they are all different, the one thing common across all of them are that they are light boxes -- boxes to collect and focus the light and create a image that represents something in the real world.
• Now note that even in abundant light, a camera just sitting there won't make an image by itself. Ask what needs to be done. (Answer: The shutter must be released.)
• Describe how the shutter opens to let light shine on the film or on a digital SLR, the digital sensor. (On digital point and shoots, tripping the shutter engages the electronics and software that reads the information off the sensor and records it on the memory card.) In either case, the act of releasing the shutter causes the camera to make a record of the light.
• "Jesus said that he is the light of the world. The Bible tells us that God wants us to reflect Jesus' image. The Holy Spirit gives us the power to do that. But there is one thing that we must do. What is it?" (Answer: Open the eyes, or shutter, or our hearts to let the light in.)
• "When we let Jesus shine in our hearts, our hearts begin to record Jesus' image."
• Describe how the very first cameras had to use very long exposures because the film wasn't very sensitive. Make connection to how our hearts are more like that, where they need to be exposed to Jesus for a lifetime -- a one-time sermon or reading a few minutes from the Bible isn't enough to create much of an image.
• Also note what happens if the camera moves during a long exposure. (The image blurs.) Make connection to how we might get distracted and impatient while we wait for Jesus' image to form in our hearts. When we do, the image gets fuzzy. But we can correct that by refocusing our hearts back to Jesus.
• Once again, point to the cameras and note the different sizes, shapes, features, technologies, age, etc. Connect this to how we are all different (ages, shapes, sizes, families, backgrounds, talents, abilities, interests, etc.)
• Despite our differences, our purpose is the same -- to form an image of Jesus inside our hearts.
• "If I took a picture of a flower with each of these cameras, each one will probably look a little different. But you should be able to clearly see that they are pictures of the same flower. Likewise, the way the image of Jesus that is forming in each of our hearts will probably look different from one another. But people who see us should be able to tell that is it still the image of Jesus, God's love, that is forming in our hearts."
• "If we want to reproduce God's love, Jesus' image, in our hearts, there is just one way: Keep the eyes of our hearts open, let Jesus' light shine in, keep our eyes focused and pointed on Jesus, the light of the world."
• Open the Eyes of My Heart would be an appropriate song to sing at the close.

Post #400

This post is #400 on this blog. That means that I've been averaging somewhere close to one post per day.

Anyway, I have a headache today and I feel like I might have a cold...

Some months ago I noted that our vacuum cleaner fill hose had a hole in it. At the time I wrapped some duct tape around it to see if it would hold...

It didn't.

Thought it appeared to help some, because most of the dirt and dust was in the disposable bag instead of outside it. But duct tape isn't going to work as a good long-term solution. I ordered a few parts and when it arrives I hope that I can figure out how to get it apart and then back together.

It's been quite wet this week. Everything is pretty soggy. It was dry this morning. The grass started looking a bit long, so I took the opportunity to run over the lawn/moss/swamp combination that our backyard is, with the lawnmower and even things out a bit.

I got a repair guesstimate quote on my camera -- in the neighborhood of $300. That's around what a used, identical model is going for, so I won't be spending more to fix it than it's worth. So I think I'll go that route and then in another six to twelve months acquire the 40D.

For the last few weeks I've been wondering why we still try to have a children's choir. Last night, two of the kids that have been coming weren't present. There are another two that regularly come, but their attention spans can be measured in seconds, they don't seem to have that much interest in what is going on, and they are distracing to everyone present. So why do we bother? Should we continue, or is it time to throw in the towel? I'm finding my motivation and desire continue to ebb away each week. Any thoughts or suggestions?

Spyware, solos, and such

Yesterday, someone clicked on something "not good" and infected one of our PCs (the one everyone but me uses) with spyware and trojans. Even though the clean-up still took a long time, most of it was just the system scanning that could be done without me having to be there in person, watching it. I was fortunate that the problem was caught quickly, the PC had a fairly recent version of an anti-virus/malware program already installed, and it had the beta version of Microsoft's web filtering software running on it. So although infected, the infection had a difficult time multiplying too much.

I updated the Antivirus (this particular PC was using the free version of AntiVir) to the latest release and definitions, performed several rounds of scans until it came up clean. I manually checked a few areas in the Registry and such that are usually messed with by spyware and didn't find anything there. I updated Windows Defender to the latest version and performed a scan, which also came up clean. So I'm hopeful and fairly confident that this little problem is now cleared up.

The homeschool district (IDEA) sends down a couple of their educators each year for a few days to Petersburg. Last night we had a group potluck. It's a time to match names with faces and get reacquainted with many of the homeschooling families. We had a wonderful dinner. It was at the Holy Cross hall at the Lutheran church.

Immediately afterwards, I went down to the next building to audition a solo for the upcoming Messiah performance. So that went well and I will be singing Recitital #2 (Comfort Ye) and Aria #3 (Every Valley) on the 24th and 25th of November. The grapevine is on broadband in this town, because Elise already knew that I'd be singing the solos just minutes afterwards.

Alaska Air annual airfare sale

If you have any plans to travel to Petersburg by air over the next 12 months, now through November 20 is the time to purchase tickets. This is the Alaska Air's annual PFD (Permanent Fund Dividend) sale. Travel from Portland to Petersburg (one-way) is about $175 (all most fees) compared to the normal fare of around $260.

Added 9-Oct: After pricing and purchasing some tickets for next spring, I discovered that the fuel surcharges, security fees, etc. add another $30 or so each way to Portland.

First Snow on Petersburg Mountain

I awoke this morning, looking out across the Narrows to Petersburg Mountain and thought it looked different than what I saw yesterday. Since it was still dark, I wasn't sure if it was just the darkness or if there was actually a dusting of snow.

Another hour or so later, it became quite clear that it did look different and that it was almost certainly snow up on the tip of the mountain. I took my little point-and-shoot (because my other camera is now dead...) and took a photo of the mountain at first light. A couple hours later I took another photo with a bit more light.

Norwegian Dancing

Here are a couple of photos of Shelley in costume. This occurred last month. I wasn't there, but Elise says that the room was quite dark. I tried to massage the image as much as I could to get it to reasonably viewable.

Camera shutter has died

It looks like the camear shutter (probably) has died. Until today, it was working more times than not, but now it seems to be failing most of the time. This is apparently a common point of failure on the Canon EOS-10D. I've put somewhere around 15,000 shutter clicks through it, and looking at other owners' comments, this seems to be about the point where the shutter mechanism fails.

I've requested a repair quote from a shop in Beaverton, Ore. to see if the camera is worth repairing. If not, I'll have to replace it. Although the current equivalent to the 10D is the 40D, the XTi is half the price and still much better than the 10D. If I do go the replacement route, it will likely be with the XTi.

I am not a happy camper today.

Bible Reading 2007, Week 41

This week we are reading in the book of Mark; and Psalms 23-25, and 84-89. These readings continue our glimpse into the life and times of Jesus Christ.

Two dinners, one preparation

Earlier this week, I invited all of the pastors and their families to dinner Friday (yesterday) evening. Three of them were able to make it.

I wasn't quite sure how much food would be needed, so I doubled the recipes for four dishes and spent much of the day putting them together: Spiced basmati rice, naan, coconut milk yellow curry, and a pasta sauce. In addition I put together a salad and baked a out-of-a-box frozen pie. Two of the guests had earlier asked if they could bring something and I suggested desserts -- so we had two more desserts.

I need not have worried whether or not we'd have enough. There was more than enough to adequately serve twice the number that was present.

This afternoon, we invited a few people over for Sabbath lunch, to help us finish the remaining half of last night's dinner. We still have a large casserole pan of the rice. Apparently I don't need to double that recipe to serve nearly twenty, if there are other dishes about the table.

The Catholic priest was one of the guests last night and he brought over a very nice tea brewing pot as a house warming gift. It's called the Swiss Gold Pot and really just a beautiful work of art. He's of Irish descent and is very much a tea aficionado, so he knows what good teas and tea equipment are. I tried out this new tea pot this afternoon, and it blows away the Bodum tea press that I'd been using.

October Sunshine

Even during the rainy, stormy times of the year (of which we have been receiving plenty the last few weeks), there are occasional sun breaks and sometimes even a whole day or two. This week, Wednesday and Thursday were like that. The mornings started kind of foggy and damp, but by late morning and afternoon, the clouds had broken up enough to let some sunshine through.

These two days also just happened to coincide with those rare times when I could take some time to just wander about with a camera (whose shutter is starting to fail more and more...). Here are a few autumn images.

The dragonfly buzzed up, landed on my jeans. Since it didn't immediately fly off, I took my camera and stuck the lens just inches away from it. It still wouldn't move. It's kind of hard to see through the viewfinder with the camera at that position, so I fired off about a dozen frames hoping one or two would get the entire dragonfly at a very close range. Which obviously I was able to get. I started walking, thinking it would have to fly off. But it just stayed on my leg. I felt a little creepy with this large dragonfly stuck on my leg. After some 50 yards or so of trying to shake it off, waving my hand in front of its eyes, it finally got the energy to fly off.

Sermon: Judgment for Life

(Click HERE for MP3 sermon audio.)

Today's sermon was based on John 7:53 - 8:11, the incident at the temple where some of the religious leaders bring to Jesus a woman caught in adultery. The scripture reading was in Matthew 7:1-2.

Today's sermon explores the literary, cultural, and historical background of this passage, and how all that contribute to highlight the dramatically different idea of judgment that Jesus taught. It is a message that we too, are often slow to learn and practice, and so bears repeating every now and then.

Children's Story: Sweet Grace

Wally and Marty were two boys who lived in the same, small town. Marty came from a poorer family. His clothes didn't look as nice, his shoes always seemed to be worn out, he always looked a little dirty, and he was much too thin.

Wally was the opposite. He came from a wealthy family. He always had the newest clothes, he was proud of the way he took care of himself, and he showed no signs of not having enough to eat.

Wally did not like Marty. Wally seemed to go out of his way to make things more difficult for Marty. Wally would sometimes gather several other boys to call Marty names: Dumb, filthy pig. Can't your mama dress and feed you? Sometimes they might circle around Marty and kick more mud on him. Or at other times, especially when it was cold outside, as Marty was walking down the street, some of them hid behind a bush or around a corner and then they would throw buckets of water on him, and they would run away shouting, "Just trying to help you get clean!"

One day, Wally came up with an idea to make Marty's life even more miserable. Later that day, as he saw Marty coming down the road, he went up to Marty. When Marty saw Wally coming towards him, he started to cross over to the other side of the road. But Wally called out, "Hey, Marty! I need to ask you something. Don't worry, no mud or water today."

Marty stopped, and still wary began to turn around to try to walk away. Wally called out again, "Don't worry. I won't do anything to you today. I swear on my mom's apple pie that nothing will happen."

Well, who can argue against a vow like that? So Marty stopped to find out what Wally wanted. Wally came up to Marty and said, "Marty, I'm sure you're tired of what some of us have been doing to you. So here's the deal. We'll stop and we'll even let you into our group. Just bring me one of the large candy bars with the chewy caramel inside. Old man Johnson has some in his store. I'll be waiting here tomorrow."

Marty looked at Wally in shock. Wally, seeing Marty hesitate, continued, "Honest, really. You can be a part of us. I just need something that shows me you really want to."

Marty thought about this offer. He really was tired of all the harassing, and he did want to be accepted. But how could he get the candy bar? He had no money… He said to Wally without looking at him, "Okay…"

Marty turned and slowly walked away. His feet led him to Johnson's Grocery, inside the doors, and then to the candy aisle. His eyes looked at the selection. In his life he's only tasted candy bars like these a handful of times, on special occasions. He could see the one Wally wanted him to get. It was large. If Marty had one of those, it would last him a year. He would just nibble a small bit at a time, carefully keeping the rest wrapped and savoring every nibble.

How could he afford to buy it? And then a thought entered his mind: Mr. Johnson didn't seem to be minding the store. Marty could just slip the candy bar into his pocket and walk out. His heart started to pound, his hands began to sweat and tremble. He had never done or even thought about stealing before. His mother had always told him that even though they were poor, they always lived honestly.

But Marty was so tired of being bullied and excluded. His thoughts turned back to all the times when he had dirt literally thrown at him. He thought of all the times he had been called names and other boys had laughed at him. He didn't want to be afraid of walking down the street. He wanted friends. And his resolve crumbled. He reached out and took the candy bar and quickly slipped it into his pocket.

Marty paused to look around and listen. He could see no sign of Mr. Johnson nor hear him in the store. Marty began to quietly walk towards the exit. As Marty began to exit the store, Wally and several other boys came running around the corner.

One of them grabbed Marty as Wally went in the store and shouted, "Mr. Johnson! Mr. Johnson! We caught someone stealing from your store!"

Mr. Johnson came running out to see what was going on. He saw Wally pointing to Marty. He saw Marty, face full of fear and his body trembling, being held by two other boys.

"Mr. Johnson," Wally began, "We saw this filthy dirtbag taking a candy bar out of your store without paying for it."

Mr. Johnson made no reply but looked at each of the boys in turn, starting with Wally and then looking at Marty. Marty turned to face the ground.

One of the other boys reached into Marty's pocket and pulled out the candy bar. "See? Here it is," he said.

Mr. Johnson could guess what had happened. He knew about Marty and his family. He knew how Marty was regularly bullied by Wally and his gang. He wondered how he should respond. Wally and the others were getting impatient. "Mr. Johnson, call the police," they insisted.

After a few minutes, Mr. Johnson turned to Wally and the boys. "Boys, this candy bar is paid for."

Wally and the boys looked at one another in shock and disbelief. "But," Wally began to protest.

Mr. Johnson cut Wally off, saying, "Wally. Am I going to have to have a talk with your father about what you've been doing? And the rest of your fathers, too?" Wally and the others quickly turned and ran out of the store and down the street.

Marty was left alone with Mr. Johnson. Marty turned to Mr. Johnson and in a trembling and sobbing voice said, "Mr. Johnson, I did steal this. How can you say it was paid for?"

Mr. Johnson gently took Marty by the shoulder, walked to the till and from his own pocket took out some money and placed it in the till. "See," he said, "It's paid for. Now go on home. Listen to your mother. Nothing is worth selling your honesty."

As Marty began to walk out the store, Mr. Johnson called out to Marty. "Oh, Marty. One more thing. Your mother doesn't like to ask for help. Ask her if she'll let you work here, at my store. I could use a couple hours of help each afternoon."

Marty turned around, surprise and disbelief painted across his face. His mouth was wide open. He could see Mr. Johnson smiling and nodding. "Go on," he added encouragingly. "I'm offering you a job so you can help your mother out. But don't let her know that, or she might not let you work."

Marty ran back to Mr. Johnson. "I'm sorry, Mr. Johnson, for stealing the candy bar. And thank you!" And then he raced back home.

---

I thought about adding lessons/morals to be drawn from this story at the end but decided against it. It is left as an exercise for the reader/hearer to draw their own lessons.

Preparing the soil

I've been doing some reflecting on the meetings that we held last weekend and whether or not they were "successful." If I use the attendance figure, it was absolutely the most dismal failure. We had one other church member for two of the nights; and on the first night another couple, one a member and the other not. Due to travel and business reasons, that's all we had.

One part of my thinking goes along and thinks that if I'd been more aggressive and done a better job at marketing, we might have had better attendance.

I still believe that God led me to host the meetings. And upon reflection, I don't see the meetings as failures. Am I deluded? Am I just trying to rationalize my delusions?

Here are some reasons I think it wasn't a failure.

• I learned quite a bit from watching and listening to the presentations. Because I watched during the recording as well as during the meeting time, I got to see and listen to each one twice.
• I brought the tapes home so that Elise and the kids could watch the ones that they had missed. Even Amy has admitted that these presentations were not boring. So these messages will help our whole family gain strength in our confidence that God really does exist and is a loving God.
• Even though the ones who attended didn't get to see all of the messages, the tapes can be shown later.
• Even though these meetings were billed as "seed sowing" events, maybe the soil here isn't ready to be planted. Maybe the flyers and ads were merely cultivating tools this time around. It may be that the soil still needs a lot more preparation before God will even allow seeds to be planted. I don't know.

I have to admit that I was disappointed after the first night at the lack of turnout. But as I worked through this in my conversations with God, I came to believe that there is no effort wasted when I am simply following where God is leading. I believe that my prayers that God would work through these meetings was answered. God is directing the answers, but I am not privileged to see it at this time.

Am I deluding myself, rationalizing, to try to make myself feel better? Perhaps. But if that is so, why am I so much at peace with the results? Why is my confidence in my God and how he chooses to work through us just as strong as ever?

Why Jesus didn't say, "Be my marketers"

There are some points to ponder from an article posted today on Christianity Today. It challenges the concepts that churches need to increase name-recognition, that more is better, that churches exist to primarily to provide benefits to those who attend.

Here is the opening paragraph:

When we "market," we try to make a larger audience aware of the value of exchanging a good or service. We assume both parties will benefit from the transaction. Marketing is a wonderful thing. I like to hear pitches about products I might use. I like the fact that my publishers pitch my books to a larger public. Thank God for marketing! But there's a reason Jesus said "You shall be my witnesses," and not "You shall be my marketers."

(Click HERE to read rest of article.)

Warmest Spot in the House

With the outside temps not going above 50 (and often in the mid-40's all day) the last couple of weeks, our heater has been kicking in more frequently -- once every 3 to 4 hours for about 30-40 minutes each time.

I think our cats know the sound of warmth. This is at the base of our narrow stairs and the convergence of narrow pathways, so when the cats are sitting about the heater, it makes it a wee-bit difficult to navigate for us large, lumbering humans...

Bible Reading 2007, Week 40

The year is 3/4th of the way through! We are entering the final quarter.

This week's Bible readings are in Ezekiel 33-39; Matthew; and Psalms 21 and 22. We enter a new theme in our readings: The Messiah Comes.

Sermon: River of Life

(Click HERE for MP3 audio of today's sermon.)

Today's sermon concludes our look into John chapter 7. I focus on verses 37-39 where Jesus announces to the crowd at the temple during the Festival of Shelters that he can give living water to everyone who believes.

There is no children's story today because the whole sermon, or at least 95% of it, is a story. It's a story of an imaginary Jonathan who is attending this feast at the time of John 7. We explore some of the Old Testament passages that the festival-goers would have associated with the festival, and their longings triggered by the prophecies.

The sermon explores some of the ceremonies and events that would have occurred, and how that brings into even greater focus and importance what Jesus said in John 7:37-39.

I conclude with why the theme of the River of Life is so important and applicable to 21st century followers of Christ, today and here.

(Ir)Religious comic blog

If you're looking for a regular dose of humor (or is it humour...?) with religion thrown in, you might check out The Ongoing Adventures of ASBO Jesus. (If you don't know what "ASBO" stands for -- I didn't, it's a British acronym -- you'll need to look at the About + Comments link.)

Harvest Moon 2007

We are in the middle of our autumn season. For the last couple of weeks, it's been mostly rain, quite heavy at times, like today. It's also been breezy and windy on some days, such as today.

But once in a while, the clouds break and the sky shows through... like today. Early evening, I noticed that the rain had stopped and there was even blue sky to be seen.

Tonight, as I was preparing to go upstairs to go to bed, I looked out the window and saw that the sky was quite bright. I took a longer and more careful look and realized that the moon was full (or nearly so) and visible.

(Full moon is supposed to be tomorrow, but does it count if what I saw was just 2 hours from tomorrow? Even the site that I checked to see if it was full or not says that the phase is 100%, even though actual full is considered to occur tomorrow. Perhaps because our time zone is so far west...?)

I quickly gathered up my camera and a tripod and proceeded to make a few images. The contrast of the bright moon against the dark trees made it difficult to see exactly how the framing was going. Most of the images weren't much to behold, but the following two were interesting enough to keep.

 

Experimental dinner

Last night I served two experiments for dinner.

The first was a potato dish. I wanted something other than baked potatoes, fried potatoes, a cheese and cream (or milk) potato gratin, roasted potatoes, mashed potatoes, potato soup -- you know, the usual dishes that come to mind when thinking about potatoes.

I did a search for potato recipes. Guess what? They were all variations of the above. I browsed a few of them, but none were quite what called out to me. I gathered a few tidbits of inspiration from some of them and set out to put together an improvisation -- an experiment.

What I came up with is what I might title, Herbed Mushroom and Potato Gratin. The recipe follows.

The other experiment, I put together the night before. Pears are on sale this week, so there are quite a few lying around with plans to purchase more before they go off sale. About a week ago, a bottle of pear vinegar was on clearance so I bought it. The back had a recipe, but I wasn't about to purchase two more bottles at $7 each.

Taking inspiration from the recipe, I fashioned something different using apple cider vinegar. This recipe also follows.

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Herbed Mushroom and Potato Gratin

Serves: 6-8
Active prep and cook time: 25-30 minutes
Total cook time: 75-90 minutes

• 1 tbsp. + 3 tbsp. olive oil
• 2 large garlic cloves, minced or crushed
• 1 small onion, thinly sliced
• 1/2 tsp. dried rosemary
• 1/2 tsp. dried thyme
• 1/2 lb. mushrooms, sliced
• 1/4 cup wine (optional)
• 1 cup chicken or vegetable stock
• 2 tsp. salt (more if using unsalted stock)
• 2 lb. potatoes, peeled and sliced 1/8-inch thick
• 1 or 2 large tomatoes, sliced 1/8-inch thick
• Dried basil leaves
• Grated parmesan cheese
• Asiago or Parmesan cheese
• 1/2 cup fresh parsley, finely chopped
• 1 tbsp. cracked or coarsely ground black pepper

1. Preheat oven to 425F. Thoroughly oil a 13x9 baking dish with 1 tbsp. oil. Using mortar and pestle, thoroughly grind rosemary and thyme.
2. Heat 3 tbsp. oil in a medium saucepan or frying pan over medium heat. When hot, add and fry garlic for 30 seconds until fragrant. Add onions and continue to fry until the onions begin to soften, 2 to 3 minutes. Add crushed rosemary and thyme and fry for a few seconds.
3. Add mushrooms and continue to stir and fry for a couple of minutes. Add wine, if using, and fry until liquid is reduced. Add stock and salt, bring to boil, and simmer for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Take off heat when done.
4. While the mushrooms are simmering, assemble the potatoes. Lay a layer of potatoes in the baking dish, then sprinkle with cheese. Repeat layers until all the potatoes slices are used.
5. Pour mushroom mixture over assembled potatoes, spreading the mixture out evenly with a spoon. Arrange tomato slices on top. Sprinkle basil leaves over the tomatoes. Grate (medium size) Asiago cheese over the top.
6. Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes. Uncover and bake another 20-25 minutes, or until potatoes are tender all the way through.
7. Top the gratin with parsley and black pepper.

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Pears in Spiced Vinegar Syrup

Serves: 4
Active prep and cook time: 10-15 minutes
Total cook time: 40-50 minutes

• 2 or 3 bartlett pears
• 1/2 cup cider vinegar
• 6 or so fresh mint leaves
• 1 tsp. ground cloves
• 1 tsp. ground nutmeg
• 1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1 to 1-1/2 cups water
• 1 tbsp. corn starch
• 3 tbsp. cold water
• Fresh mint leaves (optional)

1. Core and slice each pear into 6 or 8 slices.
2. In a medium saucepan, combine and heat cider vinegar, mint leaves, cloves, nutmeg, cayenne, sugar, and honey over medium heat. When well combined and all the sugar is dissolved, add the pears. Add enough water to mostly cover all pear slices. Increase heat and bring to boil, then lower heat to a simmer and simmer for 30 minutes.
3. With a slotted spoon, carefully take out pear slices, taking care to keep slices intact. Remove and discard mint leaves in the syrup.
4. Increase heat to bring liquid to boil. Boil until liquid is reduced to about 1/2 cup. In 3 tbsp. cold water, dissolve corn starch. Add mixture to syrup, stir constantly, and continue to boil for another 30 seconds or until syrup thickens. Take off heat.
5. Arrange pear slices on a plate and pour syrup over them. Garnish with fresh mint leaves, if desired.

Sermon: For Life

(Click HERE for MP3 sermon audio.)

The sermon yesterday was based on John 7:14-24 and Matthew 25:31-40. The passage in John 7 is where Jesus is once again confronted by the religious leaders about his credentials and once again and the issue of what Sabbath is really about comes up. The passage in Matthew 25 is where Jesus tells his disciples what it really means to obey him.

This sermon explores what the above passages reveal about the theme of life and death as it relates to obeying God's laws.

Bible Reading 2007, Week 39

This week's readings are in Ezekiel 25-32; and Psalms 56, 57, 63, and 64.

Children's Story: Rules vs. Principles

This was one of the less successful stories/sermons that I've done. It didn't help that the only kids present were ours. And Amy drew a blank when I asked her the questions in the outline below. I suppose it's a positive thing that they don't consider as rules the guidelines and requirements we've asked them to follow. If they feel generally free and without restrictions in their daily lives, then I suppose we, as parents, are dong something right. On the other hand, it failed miserably in meeting my children participation expectations today.

Anyway, here's the outline that I used. Maybe someone else seeing this will be able to change and adapt the ideas and have better results in their use.

---

• How many of you live with rules?
  • What are some of them?
    • Are rules good or bad?
• What about a rule for most preschoolers, "Don't touch the stove?"
  • Is this a good rule?
    • Discuss… (when, why)
  • Is it a good rule for adults?
    • What is the principle behind the rule?
• What about, "Don't run into the street?"
  • Is this a good rule?
    • Discuss… (when, why)
    • Is there any time when you might need to run into the street?
  • What is the principle?
• What about a sign that reads, "Don't go beyond the barriers?"
  • Is this a good rule?
    • Discuss… (when, why)
    • What if a small child starts to run past the barriers?
  • What is the principle?
• What about a speed limit sign? (E.g., 50 mph)
  • Is this a good rule?
    • Discuss… (when, why)
    • What if it's the middle of winter and the road is covered with ice?
  • What is the principle? (Basic speed rule)
• What are some purposes of rules?
  • (To help explain the meaning of principles.)
  • (To apply principles in a specific setting.)
  • (To give us knowledge to help keep ourselves safe.)
• Do rules themselves protect us?
  • (Actually, no. They often point us to where there is danger.)
  • (Only obeying the rules can protect us.)
• As we've learned, rules can be good, but they have limits.
  • When rules are applied outside of the settings where they were made, they often don't make sense.
    • E.g., speed limit sign when conditions are bad.
    • Some people use rules to excuse actions that they know is bad.
  • Sometimes, you might be told to obey two or more rules that go against one another.
    • E.g., saving a child's life vs. staying within the boundaries.
    • Some people use rules to excuse themselves from obeying a more important principle.
  • Some rules go away once you've learned the bigger principles behind the rules.
• Back in Jesus' time, there were people who believed that the most important thing was to obey God's rules.
  • They thought that God's rules would make the world a great place for them.
  • Because they wanted to make sure that they obeyed God's rules perfectly, for every one of God's rules, they might create ten new rules to help explain the one.
  • And then for each of the ten, they might create ten more rules to help explain all the situations that hadn't been properly covered by the earlier rule.
  • The rules, instead of making the world a better place, made it miserable for most people.
  • The teachers of the rules knew they were right and everyone else was wrong.
  • They were out to catch anyone caught breaking a rule.
  • Most people thought that if God was all about a bunch of rules, and if God was like the teachers waiting to catch them break rules, they didn't want to have anything to do with that kind of God.
• It's not that much different today.
  • There are people who think that if everyone were made to obey all of God's rules, the world would be a much better place.
  • The Bible tells us what happened when people made rules the most important thing. (We call that an idol.)
  • Even when the rules are God's, when made the most important thing, the world turns into a miserable place.
  • The world ends up being a place where one group of people says they're right and everyone else is wrong.
  • The world ends up being a place where everyone is looking at each other to see if someone might slip up and break a rule.
• Jesus taught the people, and us, something different.
  • Jesus taught that what God wants isn't blind obedience to rules.
  • What God wants is for people to love one another, to help people who need help, and to be of service to others.
  • In Matthew 25, Jesus told a story of what is going to happen when he comes back to earth.
  • Read vv. 31-40.
  • The principle behind all of God's rules comes down to just one word: love.
  • By doing the loving thing for other people, we are really loving God and really obeying all of his rules.

A benefit auction and an appointment

I had heard about the auction, but hadn't really planned to attend since I don't know the person. All I know is that he had been deteriorating in health and will be needing surgery soon, and the funds go towards the operation and travel.

The people we were with this afternoon were going, and persuaded the girls and me to go. Elise could not because she was working for someone who wanted to attend the auction. So we went. I figured I might find an item or two that might be interesting and useful. And I figured that it would be a good idea to be there to mingle and to show my face and show my support for the community, even if I don't know the man.

We browsed around the silent auction tables before the live auction. There were quite a few interesting things, but not much at the prices I was willing to fork out, even for a benefit. I bid for a couple of small tabletop clocks and a table runner, and ended with the winning bid on a clock with rosemaling on the face. I would have liked the table runner, and it was a wonderful work of art, but just couldn't justify what it would have taken to win that item.

During the live auction, there were some items that seemed to go for far below their value, but these were things that we really don't need. Perhaps in a previous life I might have just bid for them because they were such great values (in fact, I have on many school auctions, done just that). After going through throwing out so much stuff in our move a year ago, acquiring stuff just because it's such a value has much less appeal.

The auction was great and it met my expectations, walking out with one item. But the real reason I was persuaded to go may be of far greater significance. Over a month ago now, one of the workers from Ukraine brought another person from the cannery to one of our Sabbath morning worship. I hadn't seen him since then. He saw me at the auction tonight and let me know that he would like to learn more about our church and what we believe. I have an appointment next week to spend some time with him.

One Year

Today marks our one-year anniversary leaving the Lower 48. Friday will be the one-year mark for our arrival here in Petersburg.

An anniversary seems like a good time to take a look back and do some evaluations. But is it really? How do I evaluate a journey where the destination and goals are unknown? Is it possible to measure any sort of progress in such an environment?

Looking at only the numbers, the obvious conclusion is that there has been no progress. Our church attendance remains pretty much the same from a year ago, although a few faces have changed. None of the member families that had stopped attending have yet to return on a regular basis. Although from the start, numerical growth was never an objective (and that's easy to say), the fact is that it is something that is always there in the back of my mind, wondering if there is anything that can be done to cause growth.

What were some of our objectives?

The primary one was simply to live a life of grace and trust in God. What is my own evaluation here? I think I can summarize by saying that this year was one full of extraordinary challenges to my trust in God's grace and faithfulness. There were times when I thought I wouldn't make it without completely breaking down. But I do believe that I have experienced growth and have come out stronger for it. I've spoken about it in some of my sermons and in conversations with individuals.

Another objective was to build relationships with the community, both as individuals and as a church. Elise is much better at the individual relationship building. Through her work and just being herself, we are beginning to know people here. As a representative of our church, I've participated in a number of events this past year. We've also offered a few events of our own. We want to let the community see that we are here to offer positive things and we're not just taking up real estate.

It's hard to know for sure how we've met these objectives. Not only are they ongoing, with no defined endpoints, but there is very little feedback available to measure effectiveness. We make efforts towards an elusive, distant goal and hope that we are on the right track. There are rare occasions when someone says something to us where we get a glimpse behind the scenes to help us realize that, yes, we must still be on the right path.

I think that this coming second year will continue to be much of the same. We'll be holding the previously mentioned meetings at the end of this month, just to see if there is any sort of interest. That's the one change from the past year. Otherwise, it's more of simply being visible in the life of the community, getting to know more people, and living a life of grace and trust.

Book: Victory of the Warrior King

Victory of the Warrior King: The Story of the Life of Jesus (War of the Ages)

This book is published by Review & Herald. It is marketed as a kid-friendly adaptation of Desire of Ages. It is part of The War of the Ages series. The target age is 10-14. It can be purchased at an Adventist Book Center or at Amazon.

Let's just get the one "bad" out of the way first. Since I don't live near an Adventist book store, I really have no way to find out what a book is like until I purchase it and have it delivered. The sample chapter available at the Adventist Book Center online site does help a bit, but not much. So what is the bad? The implication that this book is somehow a kid's version of Desire of Ages. Let me just say, it isn't in the way that the marketing implies. About the only resemblance to Desire of Ages is that this book is also about the life of Christ (and perhaps also that there are other books in the series that come before and after), and the main theme of both books is to help the reader see that God is love.

With that out of the way, my opinion of the book itself is all positive. The genre would be biblical, historical fiction. The story is told from the point of view of Mark, a fictional recording angel. Mark records the lives of (mostly) fictional children that come into contact with Yeshua (Jesus). The children grow older, and they continue to appear throughout the story. The reader sees the real-life struggles that face each of these human characters, how each of them make decisions, and how God works with each to try to bring them into a relationship with Yeshua.

I appreciated very much how the author brings in and describes cultural and historical details that expand the readers' understanding of the biblical stories. I think many adults would also benefit from seeing these details.

There is a reason this book's target age is middle and early high schoolers. The author does not paint a nice, pretty, sanitized picture of life. The characters in the story are made to face life as it is. The stories deal with issues that face kids today: existence of evil, premarital sex, false accusations, sexual abuse, abandonment, lack of self-worth, murder of family members, unfairness of life, bitterness towards God. Although some parents may be uncomfortable with these issues and with some (not all) of the direct manners in which the story describes them, I don't think any of these would be a surprise to the kids. I really think that most of them are already exposed to much more, whether we as parents want to believe that or not. And I would ask anyone uncomfortable with this: would you rather have your kids be exposed to them in another setting, or in a setting that is true and good, albeit fictional?

I think this is what I was most impressed with. These characters and these stories are ones with which kids today can identify. It brings the Bible stories into the 21st century. It shows that the first century had the same problems that the 21st century does. It shows that Yeshua (Jesus) who walked the earth in the first century can still relate to kids of the 21st.

Some of the events and situations in the book do seem contrived. Yet they could have happened. Stranger things God has orchestrated.

I spent about eight hours over this last Friday and Saturday reading the book aloud to our children. It was really hard to take breaks and pause to do other things. The stories are that engaging. We had to find out how the characters would grow and develop.

I highly recommend this book. I look forward to obtaining the other four volumes in the series to read more of the old stories in a fresh, new setting.

Sermon: Who Is Jesus?

(Click HERE for MP3 sermon audio.)

I return to our journey through the Gospel of John. This week I take a broad look at John chapter 7.

I explore the themes of knowledge -- knowing and not knowing, and confusion -- that are present in this chapter. I think that the different actors in this chapter represent points in the spectrum of spiritual knowledge. The question for each of us is: Where are on the spectrum are we today, and which way are we headed?

Bible Reading 2007, Week 38

This week's readings are in Ezekiel 4-24; Psalms 36-41, 48, 49, 54, and 55.

Children's Story: Muddy Confusion

Props

• 3 or 4 clear jars (empty spaghetti sauce jars work well)
  • 1 prefilled all the way with mud
  • 2 empty
  • 1 with both mud and water, allowed to settle (optional, in case your mud doesn't settle very quickly)
• Tarp (to protect the floor)
• Mud or dirt in a container
• Water in a pitcher
• Spoon to spoon mud into jars and to stir water/mud mixture
• Bucket to catch water and mud spilling out of jars

Story/Demonstration

• Show an empty jar
  • This jar is like our heart and mind

• Pour water partway into a jar
  • God wants to fill our minds with everything that is good, true, and trustworthy.

• Spoon some mud into same jar
  • But the world often doesn't like what is good and true, and the devil definitely doesn't.
  • So they bring in lies and other bad and nasty things into our minds.

• Stir the water/mud mixture
  • What's true and what's not get all stirred up inside us and soon we don't know one from the other.

• Pour water into jar until it starts to overflow
  • God wants to pour more of the good, true things into us.
  • By doing so, the lies start to get washed out.

• Spoon more mud into jar
  • But the world and the devil offer muddy lies.
  • They want to keep our minds muddy.
  • If we keep accepting the lies instead of what is true, eventually all we know are lies.

• How can we know what's true and what's not?
  • How can we know that what we're filling our minds with is true and not lies?
  • How can we clear up our confusion?

• Leave the jar alone and let the mud settle
  • We need to take time to let the mud settle.
  • If we really want to know what is true, the Bible tells us that God will allow us to know.
  • We will be able to recognize what is true and what is not.
  • Once we do, we can begin to test everything we see and hear so that we can choose to let the good things in and keep out the bad.

• Spoon out some mud and replace with water
  • We can even begin to remove some of the lies and replace it with what is true.

• What happens if we don't?

• Spoon more mud into jar
  • What happens if I keep spooning more mud into this jar?
  • Soon we end up with more mud than water, more lies than what is true.
  • And we can become more comfortable with the lies and what is bad than with what is good and true.
  • We might even begin to believe that the lies are actually true.
  • And when that happens, we might even end up hating what is really true.
  • When it keeps happening, eventually all we know are lies -- which isn't really knowing at all -- if you think about it.

• Show jar filled with mud
  • Some people during Jesus' time on earth ended up like this.
  • They chose for so long to believe lies that they thought the lies were really true.
  • So when Jesus tried to tell them otherwise, they wouldn't believe it.
  • Jesus wanted so badly to help them see what was good and true.
  • Jesus wanted so badly to use the clean water to begin cleaning their hearts and minds.
  • But they didn't want it.
  • They wouldn't allow Jesus.
  • So Jesus had to let them go, to eventually die without him.

• Show mud-filled jar, fill remaining empty jar with water
  • What kind of jar do you want to be?
  • What do you want to fill it with?

Upcoming church events

I've been feeling a tad overwhelmed the last few weeks. I'm working to put together a few things that will be coming to fruition over the next few months. It would be one thing if our church had sufficient numbers to let other people lead these things, but I have to live with reality which is that I'm the one that has to lead, plan, and execute all of them. It doesn't help that our most supportive church couple will be away for about six weeks when a lot of these things will be taking place.

First up is the children's choir. I've been procrastinating a bit on that because it is one of the more difficult tasks. With Elise working, with Shelley also working many evenings now, and with the couple out, I wondered how the choir was going to work out. It looks like Elise will be able to arrange her schedule to be present at the choir. So this will be starting up this coming Thursday. My plan is to work on a short Christmas musical, A Shepherd's Story. We did this at the Tualatin Church a few years back. I need to locate the accompaniment CD that I hope is somewhere in one of the boxes labeled, "CDs."

Next up is the four-night seminar at the end of this month on the topics of creation, evolution, God, and people (Out of Thin Air by It Is Written). I put up some flyers a little over a week ago, and about half of them had disappeared. I suspected there are some people that object to the topics. I put up a couple more this morning, and had my suspicions confirmed because one of them was gone just an hour later. As long as church events don't try to influence or challenge peoples' beliefs, and/or applicable only to church members, then those flyers seem to last for a long time. I am annoyed by it, but remaining upset over that isn't going to do any good. I'll avoid replacing the ones at locations where they disappear quickly and be persistent about keeping flyers posted in the other locations. I've also asked the Christian radio station, KRSA, to announce this event. I'm also purchasing a 2-inch ad in the local paper to run for in the next two, weekly issues.

Finally, starting mid-October for about two weeks, I plan to host in our home, another series of meetings (HeartQuest by Faith for Today). If I find that there are some who attend Out of Thin Air are ready to learn more, I want to invite them to HeartQuest. There are also a number of people in town that I would like to invite as a way to encourage them to re-engage in Christian fellowship. And finally, I think this series could be a good way for our kids to learn more about our beliefs in preparation for baptism.

Hanging out without any real plans yet is the Stop Smoking seminar that we would like to hold. The schedule hasn't quite worked out yet. We just might have to wait until January for this one. November could have worked, but with the Messiah performance at the end of the month, I won't have the time and energy to put into another event. December is, of course, out of the question with holidays and other related programs happening then.

So that's the rundown of most of the big things that are coming up in our lives for the remainder of this year. Now to take care of the little things, like tomorrow's sermon...

Clear, fall day

I understand some of the readers of this blog are still experiencing hot, summer days. Around here, we are already into the autumn season.

The way our bed is situated, when I open my eyes in the morning, I can see straight out to Petersburg Mountain -- that is, if it isn't obscured by fog. That was the case this morning. It might have been the densest that I've seen it this year. From about 5 or 6 a.m. until about 9 a.m., boats were going by sounding their fog horns because visibility was pretty atrocious.

This being Wednesday, I went down to Helse's for the weekly pastors' get-together. We discussed and solved all the world's problems. Too bad no one from Washington D.C. was around... By the time we broke away, the skies had pretty much cleared to show a nice, clear, blue sky. During the meeting, one of the pastors, Phil, asked if I was going out on the bike today. I wasn't sure if I was going to or not...

After I got back home, I did a few short tasks, and then decided that I should at least wash and lube my road bike. The last time I rode it was probably sometime back in February or so. There is something about a filthy bike that I just couldn't get myself to ride it until it was cleaned up. Washing was out of the question at the apartment as there was no place to hook up a hose. Now that we are in our own house and have a hose, I've been meaning to wash my bikes. I finally got around to it today.

After I got the bike all cleaned up, I went back inside and thought about all the things I should do. I did a few more things. And then I decided to stop my worship of the god and idol of utilitarianism and go out on my bike. I need to thank Phil for planting the bike ride idea into my head today.

Utilitarianism, Mark Buchanan suggests in The Rest of God: Restoring Your Soul by Restoring Sabbath, is one of those common and popular idols prevalent in the North American culture, but one which no one really talks about or recognizes. Basically, it's the idol of making sure one's time is always spent in the most productive (as in you should be working and producing something useful) manner -- and if you aren't, you should feel guilty about it. He suggests that one of the reasons for the Sabbath is a reminder to take a rest from being a slave to production (and which I might add is probably the true definition of "work" in the fourth commandment).

So I went out on my bike and had a short, mid-week Sabbath rest. I just went out about 8-miles and then back. It was an absolutely perfect day for pedaling along. The skies were clear and blue, it was high tide, so the Narrows took on the hue of the sky. There was no haze or fog obscuring any of the hills and mountains. On the way out, from the PFI cannery to almost the Petro Marine filling station (almost a mile), I drafted behind an SUV, easily going close to 30 mph. After that exhilarating ride I was on my own for the rest of the trip.

I took a slightly longer way back, around the airport. Coming back around to Hungry Point, just a few blocks away from home, my left leg cramped up and I had to stop for a few moments to loosen up the muscles before getting back on and finishing the ride. The total distance was about 19.5 miles at an average speed of 16.3 mph. My leg strength and cardiovascular endurance still seems fine, but it appears that the leg muscles no longer have the endurance and stamina necessary for a really long ride. I guess I won't be jumping into a century ride any time soon.

Shelley and I will be singing The Messiah this fall - Nov. 24 and 25. We have rehearsals every Monday evening. We had the second one a couple of days ago. The soprano and alto sections are quite robust, but the tenor and bass sections still could use quite a few more voices. There are a number of ladies who are also singing the tenor part.

I'm considering singing one of the tenor solos also, but the main one that is required is the opening recitative and aria. I've been practicing it, but still, the opening piece isn't one that I prefer. I'd rather something later in the work, after my voice has had a chance to warm up... We'll see.

Bible Reading 2007, Week 37

This week's readings are in Jeremiah 1-25; Zechariah; and Psalm 60.

Prayer is like my cat

Since I'm not giving the sermon, I thought I'd post a short reflection in its place.

In my sermon a few weeks ago, I spoke about the importance of prayer. I've been heeding my own title's advice ever since.

Most mornings I sit on the couch for my prayer time. Usually what happens almost immediately is that our little cat, Vivvy, jumps up and come to my lap. Almost always, she begins kneading my lap with her two, cute, front paws. (It can be a little painful if her claws are sharp.) While kneading, she will meow in a very distinct, loud voice, reserved for just this particular ritual. How long she keeps at it seems quite random. Some days it can go on for ten or fifteen minutes. Other days it may only last a couple of minutes.

Eventually, if she isn't disturbed in some way, she settles down into my lap. And then she'll basically cat nap for as long as I'll let her. She lies there quite and contended, just happy to be there. Occasionally though, something distrubs her and she gets up and restarts the ritual kneading, though it doesn't usually go on for much more than a minute or two.

Each time we go through this morning ritual, I am reminded that maybe this explains an aspect of prayer. In my sermon, I wondered how a person could pray for one hour, let alone three. Maybe that's because I don't quite understand this prayer thing, and there's something God is trying to show me through my cat.

Until just these past few weeks, prayer, I thought, was where I talk to God. And only that. For those that know me, you know that I'm not a very talkative person. Even if I had pages filled with things to pray for and about, I doubt I could go on for that long. I want to get out what I need to say and be done with it.

But what if prayer is more about communion than communication...? Hmm... What if the whole purpose of communication was to achieve communion? Hmm... I mean, if God already knows everything that I'm going to say, it seems like communication isn't the main thing. If God is already answering my requests before I even make them, then the words of my prayers don't seem to be the main thing. If my words (groanings) have to be translated by the Holy Spirit, then there must be something more beyond mere words and speech.

And that's where Vivvy comes in. I think she's a lot like me. If I try to pick her up, she might allow me for a few moments, but then she gets restless and whines and struggles to be put down. But when she chooses to come to my lap, she will stay there a very long time. Is prayer like that? I'm running around busy, and even when God tries to speak to me, or to pick me up, I resist, and I whine that I have so much I need to do. When I choose to make time for prayer, am I choosing to climb into God's lap? Am I becoming willing to sit, to be held, to be stroked, to listen, and to just enjoy being with God?

What is more amazing is that when Vivvy sits on my lap, I've wondered who is enjoying it more: the cat, or me? Is it like that with God? When I choose to set aside everything and rest in God's presence, who enjoys it more? Me, or God?

I've also noticed that when I begin my prayer time, I'm a lot like Vivvy coming onto my lap. At first I'm restless. There are lots of thoughts going through my head. I jump from one thought to another. It's like Vivvy kneading, moving around, trying to find a nice position in which to rest. And I kind of feel like that. And like Vivvy sometimes getting restless again later, I do that during prayer, too. I hear something or see something -- maybe one of the kids, or our other cat, Stripey; a car passing by -- something that disturbs my resting in God. And I guess that's okay, because like Vivvy, it's only a brief interruption before I'm back again in God's lap.

I also mentioned in the blog about a week ago I'm reading a book on the meaning of the Sabbath. I've been working through the idea that perhaps the time we spend in prayer is also a bit like Sabbath. Mark Buchanan writes that for the Jews, the three days following Sabbath is for remembering the previous Sabbath (Exodus 20:8) and the next three days preceding the following Sabbath is for preparing to observe (Deuteronomy 5:12) it. It is their way of integrating the Sabbath into every day of the week. I wonder if my time in prayer is a way of bringing the true meaning and purpose of Sabbath into each day?

If prayer is primarily about enjoying sitting in God's lap, then it would be easy to spend much time there. And as I sit there, my thoughts wander, but not really, because they are following the promptings of the Holy Spirit. It can be as seemingly mundane as the fog outside, but in that I see God's enveloping presence. Or it could be reminders of some tasks that I need to get done, and through that I get a sense of the priority God places on my daily work. It might be names of people, those that live nearby as well as those from the past. The thought may simply be the wonder and greatness of God.

Or the thought could be as seemingly bizarre as how prayer is a lot like my cat.

A busy first week of September

Yeah, I haven't posted anything since this past Monday. I've been that busy. Doing what, you ask? I didn't even have much sermon preparation to do this week because Pastor Brown is here this Sabbath.

With running Shelley around town for her various appointments, grocery shopping, cleaning, cooking, a couple of hours in devotionals and study, bookkeeping, catching up on news and world events, working a bit over at the church, etc. -- time just seems to fly by.

We had our first Ministerial Association meeting for the 2007-8 year this Tuesday. I'll be the association's Secretary-Treasurer for this year. This work is mainly taking minutes at our meetings, scheduling the Manor devotionals, and doing other clerical work that comes up.

And then on Tuesday I got a call asking if I could switch the Manor devotional for Wednesday with my scheduled day in a couple of weeks. Since I was open, I switched and went up to the Manor this week.

For a couple of weeks now, Shelley has been dancing with Heidi Lee's Leikarring dancers. School starts up towards the end of August, but cruise ships keep coming through September. The performances have to go on, so home schoolers with their more flexible schedules are in much more demand. Shelley had a few practice sessions, and now she's performing with the group. This morning, she performed aboard the Empress of the North (the ship that ran aground a few months back). I haven't actually seen her perform yet, though I finally saw her in a borrowed dress this morning.

During the Ministerial Association meeting, one of the pastors mentioned a movie releasing towards the end of this year by the title, The Golden Compass. It is based on a book of the same title. This is the first of a trilogy.

Anyway, concern was expressed about how this book/movie portrays Christianity negatively, it is supposedly an attack at The Chronicles of Narnia, the author hates C. S. Lewis, and it was implied that the whole book is dark, devilish, occultic, and evil. The consensus during the meeting was that the theater manager should be asked to decline this film if there is a choice, and if not, to not show the film when it comes through. (As you might recall, we have one movie each week that comes through.)

Sounding like the furor over Dan Brown and his The Da Vinci Code, I opted to take what I heard with a large grain of salt and see for myself what the books contained as well as reviews and also primary source materials such as the author talking about his worldview. (Wikipedia entries for Philip Pullman and related entries contain quite a bit of additional links under References and External Links at the bottom of each entry. That's what I looked into.)

Our public library had the entire trilogy available so I checked out the first volume and read it straight through (about 7 hours) on Tuesday night. I sensed that the author hadn't fully revealed his worldview yet, so I went the next day to check out the remaining volumes. I am partway through the third volume right now.

I'll probably have more to write about on this topic later, but suffice to say that like with The Da Vinci Code, in my view, the harsh criticism is not warranted. Yes, the author states he is an atheist and he is very critical of organized and institutional religion of all colors. But underneath I also read a criticism of government and politics, business and greed, and a lot of other things that I'd agree with. I think the biggest irony is that when critics, in the name of religion, demonize works like this and try to prevent their distribution, it only goes to show that the author's thesis just might have some merit... It makes me wonder how many of these critics have actually read all three volumes...

I could go on, but I think I should wait until I finish the third volume so that I have the full picture of how all the different elements fit together. Otherwise I might misrepresent the author by writing something that isn't quite accurate. And I certainly don't want to do that. I had a very different impression at the end of the first volume than I do now. Don't judge too quickly...

Check out Spiritual Discipline of Receiving

Samir Selmanovic over at Faith House Manhattan posted some thoughts in regards to sharing our faith and witnessing.

He begins:

"On a steamy hot summer day, after our Christian worship gathering, a group of us went to one of the New York city parks with gallons of homemade ice-cold lemonade, offering it to anyone who wanted it—for free. But people did not want it. That is, until we asked them to pay for it. Only then they would take it and happily guzzle it down."

Click HERE for rest of entry.

Gorgeous sunset

After I had finished preparing tonight's dinner, I paused to take a look out the front window and I saw just wonderful reds and pinks reflected from the clouds scattered across the sky.

I took a couple of grab-shot images from our master bedroom window. I don't think there was time to go outside to the Narrows for a better shot. Just a couple of minutes later, the colors were already starting to fade. 

Elise did get back, but it was around 9 p.m. It was a long day and a very busy day at the hospital. She was out of the house at 6:30 a.m. and didn't have a break the entire day. The on-call nurse was there also the entire day.

In case you're wondering (or even if you're not), I gave Elise an Ulu and bowl set (item #7BBA).