by Greg | Dec 22, 2010 | Blog Posts
This Sunday, December 26, instead of our live broadcast of the worship service, we will broadcast the music special “A Festival of Carols” performed by our Church Choir and Orchestra. This was a special evening of music and worship on December 12th, now available to those who will otherwise be unable to attend worship this Sunday. The broadcast will be at 11 AM on WRDW, this...
by Greg | Dec 21, 2010 | Blog Posts
For years I have attempted to convince my sons that “they” wanted a telescope for Christmas. Year after year, however, no telescope would be on their list for Santa. Finally they took the hint and about four years ago they gave me a telescope for Christmas. I admit that I do not use it that often – it is a bit cumbersome to carry and delicate to set up – but when I do I am not disappointed at what I see, even when it is at two o’clock in the morning. Two o’clock in the morning is a time on my clock that I almost never see. It is too “late” for me to stay up and too “early” for me to start the day. Yet on Tuesday, at 2 AM Amy and I were awake and shivering in the front yard peering through my telescope. Yes, we were one of those eccentrics who actually got up to watch the lunar eclipse. This, as you have no doubt read by now, was not just any lunar eclipse. According to NASA this was the first time a total lunar eclipse occurred on the winter solstice since 1638. As a result, the moon appeared “very high in the night sky, as the solstice marks the time when Earth’s axial tilt is farthest away from the sun.” This will not happen again until 2094, and by then I will be 128 and my eyes will in all likelihood be too weak to view the eclipse! The eclipsed moon reflected the earth’s own reflection of the sun rising and setting all over...
by Greg | Dec 14, 2010 | Blog Posts
Recently on NPR I listened to a report of a billboard advertisement near the Lincoln Tunnel in New York. It depicted a nativity scene, a star and three wise men with the message: “You know it’s a myth,” courtesy of a group called American Atheists. Not to be outdone there is now another billboard sponsored by a religious organization with the same scene but with the message: “You know it’s real.” I am not sure what these competing billboards cost, but I am certain the money could have been put to better use. What is it about this season that leads many believers and unbelievers into an unofficial war on Christmas? There is more than a little debate concerning what we should call Christmas in the public. Do you own a Christmas tree or a Holiday tree? Do you wish your friends, even those that are not even Christian, merry Christmas or Seasons Greetings? When you think about it, this is really not new. In the days of the Second World War Americans were scribbling on cards, and scrawling on storefronts the words “Merry X-Mas.” It has sort of fallen out of vogue to use that abbreviation because it sounds as though we are dropping the Christ out of Christmas. But maybe what we are seeing today is different. After all, it seems far more intentional, more contrived to rename our trees, our customs so that Christmas is dropped in favor of more sanitized names. So children in the public school are out on Winter holidays instead of Christmas holidays; soldiers are depicted in the media wishing “Seasons Greetings”...
by Greg | Dec 8, 2010 | Blog Posts
…there were radios. Sitting on a shelf of our bookcase at home is an old Philco Transitone radio. I remember it sitting on top of the kitchen counter alongside the coffee pot and beside the wooden rocking chair where Papa would sit after the evening chores at the barn. Eventually, I am not sure when, it stopped working and was tucked away in a closet, forgotten but thankfully not discarded. I salvaged it years later and now keep it as a nostalgic and sentimental reminder of a simple farmhouse and two hardworking grandparents. My grandmother told me that they purchased the radio right after electricity, thanks in large part to Franklin D. Roosevelt, was made available in rural Putnam County. The year was 1941 and the radio was their first major purchase of an electrical appliance. According to my research the purchase price was $12.95 – about $198.34 today, which for dairy farmers was an extravagant price. This luxury allowed my family to listen at nights to the Atlanta Crackers baseball team. (If you have never heard of the Atlanta Crackers baseball team then you are probably not from Georgia or you are under 40 years old). I am sure they also listened to morning farm reports, daily news, and social events happening around the state. Maybe they even listened to a little music, although I do not have a memory of hearing music come out of its Bakelite shell. I am writing this particular article on December 7, so I am wondering if they learned of the attack on Pearl Harbor by way of that radio. I have...
by Greg | Nov 30, 2010 | Blog Posts
Once again I am proud to tout in this esteemed article that we have a beautiful Christmas tree in our Living/Family/Herding room. It is a Frazier Fir, ten feet tall and full all around. In keeping with tradition we purchased the tree a few days after Thanksgiving and soon filled it with endless strands of lights and Christmas ornaments that are kooky but special. We have enjoyed the tree ever since. Once again we have the same small problem that nags us every year: the tree is leaning. I have tried everything to remedy the problem. I have readjusted the stand; trimmed limbs; prayed over it and now I am just trying to ignore the tilt altogether. Our evening dialogue goes something like this: “Honey, the tree is leaning,” says Amy. “No it is not,” I reply, “your eyes are just tilted. The tree looks fine.” And then to add a final statement assuring authority on the subject I say, “Besides, it looks more natural leaning like it is.” Eventually I start brooding. I cannot blame it on the tree and the stand seems to be working fine. Our house is not leaning. This is just one more thing that goes along with Christmas: even the best Christmas plans fall short of perfection. Is your Christmas perfect? I am sure it is not. Not only do trees lean and strands of light fizzle out, but people disappoint, illness sets in, and the unexpected and unplanned lands at the doorstep. When we try to pretend that we can pull off the “perfect” Christmas, watch out – not only will the...
by Greg | Nov 17, 2010 | Blog Posts
A week ago Amy and I visited the High Museum of Art in Atlanta. For months I have wanted to see the special exhibit of Salvador Dali’s paintings, so I was excited when the opportunity finally arrived. Amy has devotedly indulged me over the years. She attended her first (and last) opera with me; backpacked (again, her first and last time) with me in the mountains; and traipsed with me through many, many museums. On this particular sojourn she went primarily to give me company. “Dali,” she confidently exclaims, “is just too weird for me.” Dali is many things: eccentric, ostentatious, showy, and, I will give Amy this one, weird. Yet his paintings are technically good and a marvel to view. Some of them are layered with meanings and others, I am convinced, are just…odd. Dali’s work is often classified as surrealism. In Dali’s case, his paintings were an expression of philosophical, religious, and scientific beliefs juxtaposing striking images. I suppose one of the reasons I like Dali is that he helps me look at the world differently and things are not always what they seem to be. There is more than meets they eye. When we finished walking through the many galleries, carefully reading along the way the explanations of certain paintings as well as background material on Dali, I asked Amy with a grin, “What did you think?” She gave a one word reply, “Weird.” The things we do for love. Love underlines all our gratitudes: Love for family, neighbors and friends Love for church, members, and mission Love for this country’s freedoms and those who serve...
by Greg | Nov 10, 2010 | Blog Posts
A month or so ago we had a “small” construction project at our house. We replaced our front wooden steps with brick ones. The wooden ones had a distinct slant southward, with narrow steps. Structurally and aesthetically they needed to go. Now that all the bricks have been placed we have in our possession about a ton or so of leftover sand. My boys are too old for a sandbox and Amy finds it unbecoming when I play in the large pile with my Tonka trucks so I am in the midst of relocating the sand pile from the front yard to the back. I do not own a backhoe, a trailer, or a tractor. I do, however, own a wheelbarrow. A couple of weekends ago I decided to take on the pile, one wheelbarrow load at a time. Twenty-six loads later, the pile looks pretty much the same as when I started. I am not sure when I will reach the bottom of the sandbox, but all I can do is focus on this one wheelbarrow load at a time. Do you ever face anything in your life that is, at least at first glance, overwhelming? There will always be the sink full of dirty dishes or the basket overflowing with laundry, but there are also bigger “chores” before us that are far more ominous. It is the drip of an IV delivering a cocktail of chemotherapy; it is the mounting anxiety of a diminished paycheck and escalating expenses; it is caring for an aging parent or raising a rebellious child. There are many days I just do...
by Greg | Oct 6, 2010 | Blog Posts
Since the end of summer I have waited and watched for the telling signs of fall. For me it comes not on a calendar or from the turning of leaves, but the steady drop in temperatures. The morning air is now far less humid and definitely chillier. Now is the time to lug down the backpack from the attic and clean out last spring’s debris. I have restocked it with appropriate food, gear, and the like. Tomorrow I am heading up to the north Georgia Mountains and meet a friend to hike and camp for a few days along a short section of the Appalachian Trail. Sometimes when I backpack I blaze along clicking off miles and making good “progress” but failing to really see what is around me. There are other times, however, when I am more obedient to the pleasures of faithful watching. Faithful watching comes by staring hard at something until your neck aches. We see sacredness when we faithfully watch and abide. Many of the beautiful displays in this universe are only rewarded by our vigilant watching. Some years ago I was out backpacking with a few other friends and we ended up one evening on the top of Mt. Laconte in North Carolina. The temperatures had dropped once the sun set but the skies were crystal clear. Someone mentioned among the four of us that there was suppose to be a meteor shower that night, so all four of us sprawled on our backs on the top of an open rock face and stared deep into the night sky. Only through faithful gazing did...
by Greg | Sep 28, 2010 | Blog Posts
I know that it is now officially Fall, but it has been a while since I updated my reading list so I thought I would share a list of the books I read this summer. As with all other such post lists, some of these books I intensely enjoyed and others, well, I probably will not read again. Non-Fiction 52 Loaves: One Man’s Relentless Pursuit of Truth, Meaning, and a Perfect Crust by William Alexander. As a bread baker I was intrigued with the title of this book and was entertained from beginning to end with the author’s near obsessive interest in baking the perfect loaf of peasant bread. This was certainly no “how to” book, yet I learned much more about the art of bread baking including yeasts, flour, and a good oven. A Place of My Own: The Architecture of Daydreams, Michael Pollan. I read this during my sabbatical leave it coincidently complimented by visual journey it Rome. Part memoir and part journalistic, Pollan reflects on the purpose and aesthetics of a shelter. The Snow Leopard, by Peter Matthiessen. This is a classic piece of modern nature writing first written in the 1970s. It is the interior reflection of one man’s journey – sojourn? – in the foot of the Himalayas for the snow leopard as well as the search for the self. Iron John, by Robert Bly. Minnesotan poet Robert Bly wrote this insightful text which literally fueled a “men’s movement” in the 1990s. I first read this book twenty years ago and picked it up again this summer. What a difference it is to read...
by Greg | Sep 21, 2010 | Blog Posts
Last week I shared with the congregation in worship about my most recent whitewater rafting trip. I went rafting with the guys’ 9th and 10th grade Sunday School class. They have terrific teachers who do fun things like this to bring the class together and they were thoughtful enough to invite me to tag along. The day was beautiful and the Ocoee River was churning. In these trips we are in a boat of six, heading for a common destination, guided around hazards as well as right through rapids. We work together and sometimes we capsize together. At our very first rapid – a powerful class IV I might add – one of the rafts belonging to another group hit the rapid at an awkward angle ejecting three in the boat, one of which was the guide. The end result was the guide broke an ankle and the two other paddlers were too shook up to complete the trip. Still, we all paddled on eventually making it wearily to our destination safe and sound. Every time I raft I am reminded that this is a beautiful picture of the church, particularly the shared unity. The bigger the church the greater the complexity and therefore the greater the dispersion. On any given day there are numerous ministries taking place, mission endeavors being developed, and services being provided. On Sunday, the day when most churches around the world gather to worship the One Lord, we joyfully gather to 3500 Walton Way ext. to one of three morning worship services as well as one of 62 Sunday School classes. I believe our...
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