Elliott's Muses

Goodbye Norb

2007-01-21T20:01:00.000-06:00

My friend Norb Aalsma went home to be with the Lord last night. I knew this day was coming, ever since I said "goodbye" to him at the end of December. I hurt for his wife, Faye, and the kids, as well as his brother Norris (& Lois) who have endured the long ordeal, but I'm happy for Norb...his suffering his over.
I met Norb 30 years ago when I was selling insurance, and when I became pastor at 1st Congregational Church in 1977, Norb & Faye came with their family to the church shortly after. We made an immediate connection.
I remember running a daytime discipleship course once a week. Norb, who was a dairy farmer, came in and we grew closer.
Norb was infected by the grace of Jesus. Raised in a fairly strict Reformed church tradition, he fell in love with the freedom that comes by the grace of God. He often spoke to me about the realization of God's grace...that he was acceptable to God because of nothing more than God's love for him and not because he obeyed the law. This was his greatest delight that he never recovered from...Praise God!
I don't think I ever had a conversation with Norb that did not at some point result in his referring to the wonder of God's grace, and the love of Jesus.
My, how I miss him.
Norb and Faye asked me a while back if I would lead his funeral service. My message will be short: He Lived to the fullest, He loved Christ, His family, and Friends, and He leaves a legacy of Faith that I pray his children and children's children will embrace.

Recently, another friend, Jim Watters (who was a part of that same church once) wrote a blog where he reference this old canticle...I'm using it here because it says so much of what Norb is and did, thanks Jim:

Teach us, dear Lord, to number our days;
that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.
Oh, satisfy us early with Thy mercy,
that we may rejoice and be glad all of our days.
And let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us;
and establish Thou the work of our hands.
And let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us;
and establish Thou the work of our hands, dear Lord.

Goodbye Norb...I will see you soon!

2007 -- Here We Go Again

2007-01-08T19:33:00.000-06:00

I've watched this amazing video on You Tube called "Here We Go Again". I really like it, because of it's creativity and amazing choreography. You can watch it at.... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pv5zWaTEVkI. I love the idea of "Here We Go Again".

It's 2007 -- for a week now -- and I thought about the movement from one year to another...here we go again!
The writer of Ecclesiastes (probably Solomon) described the futility (better word than 'vanity' that the old King James had translated) of life lived repetitiously without a sense of either the sacred or the significance of living intentionally.
By "intentionally", I think I mean "choreographed".
The guys who put together "Here We Go Again" took creativity to an artistic level and instead of something repetitious and boring, it had beauty and creativity.
I'd like to imagine that my life in 2007 will have some creative choreography to it. I don't mind repetition...in fact, I usually love it...but I do mind boredom. So, with God's help..."here I go again."

Advent Meditations for Week 4

2006-12-17T18:44:00.000-06:00

The final week of Advent includes meditations that go through Christmas...so it's actually 9 days long. I've always enjoyed Advent, and feel saddened by the lack of the celebration in the evangelical and charismatic churches that I've mainly identified with. It's that one time of the year when I almost wished I was in the main line churches.
What Advent means to me is the ability to focus my attention on the reason why Jesus came into the world as the God-man. I know that he came to die for my sins...but there's more to his coming than the cross. He also came to make the Kingdom of God a reality. Most of the time the church has celebrated the death of Christ, without recognizing the significance of the Kingdom. Yet, here is the major theme of the scripture. So, I hope those who read these enjoy the season of celebration the church calls Advent.

*************************************************************************************

Advent Meditations – Week 4, December 17 – 25

The final week of Advent has as its theme: LOVE.

The previous three weeks had as their themes: PROMISE, FAITH, AND HOPE. God had promised to Israel a coming Messiah – the law and the prophets had testified of this. Those who longed for his coming cried out to God for the Advent of the Messiah.

Those who trusted in God had faith to believe the unbelievable; and their hope was that God would do what he had promised.

What they longed for, and looked for, was one who would come to deliver them from their Roman oppression. What they didn’t understand, perceive, or believe, was that God was going to send his Son through a virgin as a baby – hidden from everyone save a few shepherds and a young poor Jewish couple.

All of this was an act of God’s love. He came to bring His Kingdom upon the earth, and to make a way through the obedience of His Son to sow the seed of His Kingdom – a seed, like yeast in the dough that would grow and grow until the whole world confesses Jesus Christ is Lord.

This is the final week in our Advent journey. There are two extra days added to this week and it will take us to Christmas Day.

Sunday – December 17^th

Readings: Galatians 4:4; John 13:31 – 14: 6, 15-21

Reflect on this: The heart of Jesus’ coming is that it comes “at just the right time” and demonstrates the simplest and most profoundest thing: God has sent his son as a display of his glorious Love. The old Negro spiritual exclaims: “Love Came Down…let’s dance!” Not a bad idea, even if you’re like me and dancing is not one of your most enjoyable thoughts.

When you go to Worship today you might not dance, but open wide your heart and allow this thought to invade your heart and mind – “God came down…for me…” and go ahead, tap your feet!

Lord, you have said “I am the Way” —
not that we shall never be confused.

You have said, “I am the Truth” —
not that we shall have all the answers.

And, “I am the Life” —
not that we shall never die.

Teach me to know you here on earth,
in its tangled maze of pathways.

To know you as the Way in its unanswerable mysteries.
To know you as the Truth in the face of suffering and death,
To know you as the Life.

Thank you, Lord, for not offering us a method,
saying “This is the Way.”

Thank you for not granting us a set of propositions,
saying, “This is the Truth.”

Thank you for not delivering us from being human,
saying, “This is the Life.”

Thank you, Lord, for saying instead, “I AM,”
and for giving us yourself.

— Elisabeth Elliott

Monday – December 18^th

Readings: Matthew 1:1 – 25

Joseph is at the end of a long line of people! Think about it, we live in a day that many people get excited by the discovery of their genealogical history. Who is it that is in your line? Mine were all Germans from Northern Germany who came over in the mid-1800’s. Some people can trace their genealogy back through several generations. It’s an interesting thing to discover your Great-great-great-great-great… Grandparent was _________ (fill in the blanks) in __________ (fill in the country).

Matthew spends a great amount of energy telling us the human line of Jesus’ birth…all the way back to Abraham. That reminds me, us, that God knows us. He knows where we come from, and He knows who we are – through and through.

Look at the list – not everyone in this list is known for doing great things: Jacob, who deceives; Judah, who sleeps with Tamar; David, who bore Solomon, but very clearly took Uriah’s wife to do that (notice Matthew doesn’t say Bathsheba). There’s Uzziah, who makes a huge mistake and suffers the consequences of his sin, and Manasseh (no one was called more wicked as a ruler in Judah). Altogether Matthew lists 42 names that precede the final name – Joseph.

It’s Joseph that the final chapter of God’s knowing the geneaology that will become Jesus’ earthly dad.

It’s Joseph that doesn’t understand what in the world is going on until the Angel of God visits him in the night.

It’s Joseph who hears God in another dream and takes him to Egypt to avoid the insane King Herod’s violence.

It’s Joseph who fades into oblivion from the life of Jesus in the story of the Gospel.

What happened to Joseph? How long did he live? Did he get to see Jesus the Man, or did he fulfill his purpose in Jesus the Boy?

We don’t know…but this we do know, God Knows. He knew the right time, He knew the right people to entrust his gift to the world, and He knows you and me too!

An Advent Meditation,

This was to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet,

“Out of Egypt I have called my son.” - Matthew 2:15

by Joan Vinall-Cox

It was a dark time -

Mary had wanted to be glad
Joseph had chosen her
but that strange dream ...

and old Elizabeth, swollen with child,
calling her blessed, saying a
Child was growing in her
too, yet she’d never...
except in that strange dream;

and she had swollen
and Joseph,
angry and sad and puzzled,
had planned to hide
her disgrace, but he dreamed too,
and married her but slept apart and would not look at her.

It was a dark time.

It was a dark time -
the rulers had decided
to count them all where
their ancestors had lived
so Joseph and Mary must walk

for days, weeks, and her so
large and tired, and both so
puzzled and hopeful and fearful.
Could the Holy One really have chosen them?

Still they must walk,
as the rulers
demanded, in the cold,
in the darkening time, they must
walk into Bethlehem, this ancient
town, filled with others obeying
the rulers who wanted to count them and did not care
about walking, or a room for a
young woman with her time
pressing on her,
with the Holy One’s Gift demanding
His time on earth,
and no room for this family

It was a dark time.

There was light at His birth -
light in Mary’s eyes and
light in Joseph’s smile and
light flowing out, pulsing out
around the wondrous Child

light that brought the amazed shepherds,
and star light that
brought the Wise Ones from
afar to worship Him

and light that the eyes in
the dark could see, whispering to
a man with too much power
that he was nothing
beside such Light,

and the Holy One sent another
dream to guard the Light, to
hide it in a foreign land

and Mary and Joseph fled
into Egypt, carrying the Light
away from the darkness of
Herod’s massacre of babies.

It was a dark time.

It was a dark time -
waiting in a foreign land,
watching Him grow, and learning
patience and trust, waiting
for a new dream, yearning for
home
and then

out of the dark time,

the dream came.

Tuesday – December 19^th

Readings: Galatians 4:4; Matthew 1: 1 – 25

I think most people are inclined to skip over genealogical records – unless of course it’s there own family. The story of Jesus is the story of God’s promise coming “at just the right time”.

As you meditate on this passage today, think about God’s work “at just the right time” in your own life.

Here’s the words of a Michael Card song:

The Lord God said when time was full
He would shine His light in the darkness.
He said a virgin would conceive
And give birth to the Promise.
For a thousand years the dreamers dreamt
And hoped to see His love.
But the Promise showed their wildest dreams
Had simply not been wild enough.

The Promise was love
And the Promise was life.
The Promise meant light to the world.
Living proof “Jehovah saves,”
For the name of the Promise was Jesus.

Michael Card
“The Promise”

I love the words, “For a thousand years the dreamers dreamt and hoped to see His love, but the Promise showed their wildest dreams had simply not been wild enough.”

What is it in your life that you’ve dreamt of concerning God’s promises?

Have you ever thought that your dreams have not been wild enough?

Let’s go back to Mary’s response to the Angel’s message – “Nothing you say is impossible”

Wednesday – December 20^th

Readings: 2 Cor 4:6, John 1: 1-18

Did you see the verse in John’s Gospel that says Jesus “tabernacled” amongst us… He “took up residence” is what the NIV translates the Greek words as.

The Word became flesh and took up residence among us. We observed His glory, the glory as the unique Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. JOHN 1:14

It is a great thing to meditate on the glory of God coming to live among his creation. Calvin Miller wrote a meditation on this – God’s glory coming into our midst.

THE GLORY WE BEHELD

The glory we behold in Christ is the light of grace and truth. Consider this great trinity of words: glory; grace, and truth.

Glory! It is the state of being that transcends our poor, dull, ordinary lives. It implies a dazzling illumination, a splendor in seeing, a heightened euphoria, a state of elevated reality. Glory is that moment of elation when truth and reward come together to kneel before the grand approval of God. Have you never felt His exhilarating glory? Then you have never confessed your sin and turned your face toward the wonderful face of your Redeemer. Glory is the glistening garment of God—a garment that He is all too eager to throw around us, to welcome us into His everlasting light. Glory is the food of the believer. Eat it once, and a kind of joyous addiction is born in your life. One taste and you must eat it forever.

Grace! It is the unmerited smile of God. If glory is our dance with God, grace is the ballroom—wide and free. But grace is not a tiny little dance with thin music and stingy steps. This dance never constricts. It is set to the open steps of elation. Grace saves with celestial music and redeems us, with Christ as our life partner.

Truth!.This is the mortar that binds grace and glory together. Truth is Jesus; He never told a lie. He never sinned. He is never out of love with those for whom He died. Truth says that when you take any action, needing God to be there, He will be there. Truth says that if Jesus has said it, it is settled; you may count on it.

Jesus was revealed to us in glory. That glory is full of grace and truth. The moment you received Christ, all three—glory, grace, and truth—were united as a trinity of lovers to rule from the throne of all your dreams.

AN ADDITIONAL READING – 1^st Thessalonians 4:13-18

We have grown so accustomed to this particular coming of Christ—this baby-in-a-manger coming, this wise-men-and-shepherds coming—that we sometimes forget to be watching for His next coming. What keeps His next coming from being a more real part of your life? ‘What is here now that won’t be so much better then?

PRAYER:

Lord, I have beheld Your glory; full of grace and truth. What a life is now mine—glory, grace, and truth bulging in the same small space I once gave to dullness, stinginess, and deceit. And what a life now awaits me—glory, grace, and truth in greater measure than I have ever imagined. I love You for filling my heart with Your presence, for being just what my dull heart needed.

Excerpted from: The Christ of Christmas By Calvin Miller

Thursday – December 21^st

Readings: Luke 1: 67 – 69; John 14: 1 -6 & 28 – 29

Two Advent articles that I ran across have wonderful reflections on the idea of waiting for the Son. Advent is a season of prayerful waiting for Christmas to arrive; but it is anchored in the hope of Jesus’ second coming also. I’m going to use these over the next two days.

This first reflection is called “Waiting for His Son”.

Waiting for His Son from heaven. This is what the Christian life is about—waiting for His coming, remembering the longing of the Old Testament faithful for the promised Messiah, and learning to share that longing, stirring up the dying embers of a cold heart with the little glimpses of glory that wake you from complacency and contentment with too little.

What does waiting look like? First, we are to live out of a faithful discontentment. Things are not the way they should be. That needs to settle in your gut and be formative for the way that you function. So you begin to live that way. But then you hear the Satanic whisper: The world is OK, don’t overreact—relax and enjoy yourself. This is a world that has a lot to offer. The battle is to reply to that whisper: No, I am not at ease in this world. The corruption of this world is not normal. God’s world is certainly filled with good things, and even now we enjoy them. But they are not what life is about.

Waiting is also working. In light of what we know, now, in this era, we work hard. Paul says, “If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me” (Philippians 1:22). What does fruitful labor look like? It depends. It may mean doing another load of laundry, or playing Candy Land again with your 4-year-old daughter. It’s a relationship pursued strategically for the sake of the kingdom. It’s your job in the marketplace done well to please the Lord, or a conversation carried out deliberately, alertly, bringing words of encouragement or challenge to those who need them. In this era you do the work the Lord gives you to do.

Last, waiting is praying. Our prayers have an essential, God-appointed role in His bringing about the completion of all that He will do. Does this surprise you? Life is about praying. That unproductive addendum to life, that activity of the margins, turns out to be the heart. We pray for the realization of the purposes of God. In the end it boils down to a one-word prayer, Maranatha. We wait for the Son.

Friday – December 22^nd

Readings: Revelation 21: 1 – 6; 22: 1 – 7, 12 – 21

The second of these Advent meditations about “Waiting for His Coming” was one I found on an internet page on “Praying Advent”. The article was anonymous but it captured my focus when it came to the title: “The Three Comings of Jesus”

While Considering One, We Prepare for Another

Advent Meditations – Week 4, December 17 – 25

The final week of Advent has as its theme: LOVE.

Those who trusted in God had faith to believe the unbelievable; and their hope was that God would do what he had promised.

This is the final week in our Advent journey. There are two extra days added to this week and it will take us to Christmas Day.

Sunday – December 17^th

Readings: Galatians 4:4; John 13:31 – 14: 6, 15-21

When you go to Worship today you might not dance, but open wide your heart and allow this thought to invade your heart and mind – “God came down…for me…” and go ahead, tap your feet!

Lord, you have said “I am the Way” —
not that we shall never be confused.

You have said, “I am the Truth” —
not that we shall have all the answers.

And, “I am the Life” —
not that we shall never die.

Teach me to know you here on earth,
in its tangled maze of pathways.

To know you as the Way in its unanswerable mysteries.
To know you as the Truth in the face of suffering and death,
To know you as the Life.

Thank you, Lord, for not offering us a method,
saying “This is the Way.”

Thank you for not granting us a set of propositions,
saying, “This is the Truth.”

Thank you for not delivering us from being human,
saying, “This is the Life.”

Thank you, Lord, for saying instead, “I AM,”
and for giving us yourself.

— Elisabeth Elliott

Monday – December 18^th

Readings: Matthew 1:1 – 25

It’s Joseph that the final chapter of God’s knowing the geneaology that will become Jesus’ earthly dad.

It’s Joseph that doesn’t understand what in the world is going on until the Angel of God visits him in the night.

It’s Joseph who hears God in another dream and takes him to Egypt to avoid the insane King Herod’s violence.

It’s Joseph who fades into oblivion from the life of Jesus in the story of the Gospel.

What happened to Joseph? How long did he live? Did he get to see Jesus the Man, or did he fulfill his purpose in Jesus the Boy?

We don’t know…but this we do know, God Knows. He knew the right time, He knew the right people to entrust his gift to the world, and He knows you and me too!

An Advent Meditation,

This was to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet,

“Out of Egypt I have called my son.” - Matthew 2:15

by Joan Vinall-Cox

It was a dark time -

Mary had wanted to be glad
Joseph had chosen her
but that strange dream ...

and old Elizabeth, swollen with child,
calling her blessed, saying a
Child was growing in her
too, yet she’d never...
except in that strange dream;

and she had swollen
and Joseph,
angry and sad and puzzled,
had planned to hide
her disgrace, but he dreamed too,
and married her but slept apart and would not look at her.

It was a dark time.

It was a dark time -
the rulers had decided
to count them all where
their ancestors had lived
so Joseph and Mary must walk

for days, weeks, and her so
large and tired, and both so
puzzled and hopeful and fearful.
Could the Holy One really have chosen them?

It was a dark time.

There was light at His birth -
light in Mary’s eyes and
light in Joseph’s smile and
light flowing out, pulsing out
around the wondrous Child

light that brought the amazed shepherds,
and star light that
brought the Wise Ones from
afar to worship Him

and light that the eyes in
the dark could see, whispering to
a man with too much power
that he was nothing
beside such Light,

and the Holy One sent another
dream to guard the Light, to
hide it in a foreign land

and Mary and Joseph fled
into Egypt, carrying the Light
away from the darkness of
Herod’s massacre of babies.

It was a dark time.

It was a dark time -
waiting in a foreign land,
watching Him grow, and learning
patience and trust, waiting
for a new dream, yearning for
home
and then

out of the dark time,

the dream came.

Tuesday – December 19^th

Readings: Galatians 4:4; Matthew 1: 1 – 25

As you meditate on this passage today, think about God’s work “at just the right time” in your own life.

Here’s the words of a Michael Card song:

The Promise was love
And the Promise was life.
The Promise meant light to the world.
Living proof “Jehovah saves,”
For the name of the Promise was Jesus.

Michael Card
“The Promise”

I love the words, “For a thousand years the dreamers dreamt and hoped to see His love, but the Promise showed their wildest dreams had simply not been wild enough.”

What is it in your life that you’ve dreamt of concerning God’s promises?

Have you ever thought that your dreams have not been wild enough?

Let’s go back to Mary’s response to the Angel’s message – “Nothing you say is impossible”

Wednesday – December 20^th

Readings: 2 Cor 4:6, John 1: 1-18

Did you see the verse in John’s Gospel that says Jesus “tabernacled” amongst us… He “took up residence” is what the NIV translates the Greek words as.

The Word became flesh and took up residence among us. We observed His glory, the glory as the unique Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. JOHN 1:14

It is a great thing to meditate on the glory of God coming to live among his creation. Calvin Miller wrote a meditation on this – God’s glory coming into our midst.

THE GLORY WE BEHELD

The glory we behold in Christ is the light of grace and truth. Consider this great trinity of words: glory; grace, and truth.

AN ADDITIONAL READING – 1^st Thessalonians 4:13-18

PRAYER:

Excerpted from: The Christ of Christmas By Calvin Miller

Thursday – December 21^st

Readings: Luke 1: 67 – 69; John 14: 1 -6 & 28 – 29

This first reflection is called “Waiting for His Son”.

Friday – December 22^nd

Readings: Revelation 21: 1 – 6; 22: 1 – 7, 12 – 21

While Considering One, We Prepare for Another

One way of really enriching our Advent journey is to keep in mind the three comings of Jesus, and how they relate to one another.

Jesus was born into our history - at a fixed point in time in the past. Jesus comes to us now, in a whole variety of ways. Jesus promised that he will come again in glory, at the end of time.

The Incarnation: Jesus has come.

This is not the coming we await. The first coming of Jesus has already happened. Our preparation to celebrate his birth is the occasion for our deeper reflection. On the first level, it is so important that we really let ourselves experience the power of the Incarnation: God is with us. That God became one of us means that "human" is one of the ways God can be. The deeper we contemplate this mystery the more we enter into the grace of "God with us." The more we let ourselves be touched by this mystery, the more we see the connection between Christmas and Easter: all of this is "for me" - for my salvation - to free me from the power of sin and death.

My Life Now: Jesus comes to me.

When we open our hearts and our mouths and plead, "Come, O Lord," we are most directly experiencing our desire for the Lord to come to us and touch us with the grace of salvation - that we might live it with greater freedom and peace. Jesus is present whenever we need him to be present: actually, whenever we turn to him - even with empty hands. Jesus is alive and active in us when we read God's Word and let it into our hearts. Jesus promised to be present with us whenever two or three are gathered together in his name. And, we know Jesus comes to us whenever our sacrifices and our sufferings unite us with his own mission. Advent is a special time to experience our longing for the presence of Jesus with us now - in all the places we need him most.

Our Future: Jesus comes again, in glory.

One of the most transforming graces of Advent is given us as our longing deepens. The more grateful we become for how God saved us in Jesus, the more deeply we enter into the mystery of how Jesus is with us now. The closer we come to experiencing joy at how our Lord, Jesus Christ came into our world, faithful to God and faithful to our life journey in the flesh, the closer we come to experiencing the mystery of salvation in our everyday lives. And, as our longing is filled with the utter fullness of God's gift to us, we begin to long with the ultimate freedom: we long to be with him in God. We live more at home in this world because our God made a home in this world. But the whole story draws us to a complete picture of who we are and where we belong. Then our prayer begins to change, in our hearts and on our lips. We still are singing, "Come, Lord, Jesus!" but our song is transformed into the free and complete song of the lover: "Come, and take me with you."

Now we watch for the day,
hoping that the salvation promised us will be ours
when Christ will come again
in his glory.

Saturday – December 23^rd

Today is the last day of this week, but there are two more Advent meditations to follow – Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Thus I’m going to make this a light day – one reading, and a time to express this in prayer.

Reading: Matthew 1: 18 – 23

Consider this: Joseph is the man God chooses to be his Son’s earthly father. Why? Perhaps a clue up front is that Joseph was obedient enough to God’s word that he was going to give Mary a release from their marriage commitment, and humble enough to be teachable when God showed him what was going on.

A Prayer time might be to ask God to help us be both obedient and humble in our response to Him.

Sunday – December 24^th, Christmas Eve

Readings: Isaiah 11: 1 – 11; Luke 2: 1 – 5

If you and I could have picked up the Jerusalem Post Newspaper on this day, what might have we read in the headlines of the day?

“Ceasar’s tax decree create scarce accommodations for travelers”
“Herod decrees new taxes”
“Roman Army moves on Gaul”
“Cairo School to open”

And more of the same…But was anyone noticing the movement of a young couple riding a donkey from their home town in Nazareth to Bethlehem, because that was where Joseph was originally from? Did anyone notice?

Today, all around the world, people will gather in churches, cathedrals, basilicas, and even houses, and the purpose of this – to celebrate the coming of Christ Jesus, our Savior. John Piper wrote this meditation for Christmas Eve and it’s worth contemplating on all over again.

A BIG GOD FOR LITTLE PEOPLE - Luke 2:1-5

Have you ever thought what an amazing thing it is that God ordained beforehand that the Messiah be born in Bethlehem (as the prophecy in Micah 5 shows), and that He so ordained things that when the time came, the Messiah's mother and legal father were living in Nazareth, and that in order to fulfill His word and bring two little people to Bethlehem that first Christmas, God put it in the heart of Caesar Augustus that all the Roman world should be enrolled each in his own town?

Have you ever felt, like me, little and insignificant in a world of 4 billion people, where all the news is of big political and economic and social movements and of outstanding people with lots of power and prestige? If you have, don't let that make you disheartened or unhappy. For it is implicit in Scripture that all the mammoth political forces and all the giant industrial complexes, without their even knowing it, are being guided by God, not for their own sake but for the sake of God's little people. The little Mary and the little Joseph who have to be got from Nazareth to Bethlehem. God wields an empire to bless His children. Do not think, because you experience adversity, that the hand of the Lord is shortened. It is not our prosperity but our holiness that He seeks with all His heart. And to that end He rules the whole world. As Proverbs 21:1 says: "The king's heart is a stream of water in the hand of the Lord; He turns it wherever He will." He is a big God for little people and we have great cause to rejoice, that unbeknownst to them, all the kings and presidents and premiers and chancellors of the world follow the sovereign decrees of our Father in Heaven that we, the children, might be conformed to the image of His Son, Jesus Christ.

Silent Night, Holy Night.

All is calm, All is bright,

Round yon virgin,

Mother and child,

Holy Infant

so tender and mild,

Sleep in Heavenly Peace

Silent night, holy night.
Shepherds quake at the sight
Glories stream from heaven afar
Heavenly hosts sing Alleluia!

Christ, the Saviour is born
Christ, the Saviour is born

Silent night, holy night.

Son of God, loves pure light,

Radiant beams from thy holy place

With the dawn of redeeming grace

Jesus, Lord at thy birth

Monday, December 25^th, Christmas Day

Reading: Luke 2: 6 – 20

Merry Christmas to you!

Advent is a time of waiting, and now our waiting is over…almost. We have waited through these days to meditate on the coming of Christ, our Lord. We have rehearsed God’s Promise to us, and understood the Faith, the Hope, and the Love of this journey – both ones – the one from God through his son to this world, and the one from our heart back to God in salvation.

As you open presents and exchange the joy of what God has done in your life, remember the gift of God that has given us in the birth of His Son.

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever would believe in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16)

The angels message that first Christmas day is worth repeating: Luke 2:14 (NIV)
¹⁴"Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests."

So, who are these people on whom his favor rests?

The shepherds…common, everyday workers…coffee shop, waiters, janitors, secretaries, bus drivers, and more of the plain and the nameless. His favor rests on all of those who receive the gift of his life.

You.

Me.

Merry Christmas beloved…Merry Christmas friend!

Joy to the world, the Lord is come!
Let earth receive her King;
Let every heart prepare Him room,
And Heaven and nature sing,
And Heaven and nature sing,
And Heaven, and Heaven, and nature sing.

Joy to the world, the Savior reigns!
Let men their songs employ;
While fields and floods, rocks, hills and plains
Repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat, repeat, the sounding joy.

No more let sins and sorrows grow,
Nor thorns infest the ground;
He comes to make His blessings flow
Far as the curse is found,
Far as the curse is found,
Far as, far as, the curse is found.

He rules the world with truth and grace,
And makes the nations prove
The glories of His righteousness,
And wonders of His love,
And wonders of His love,
And wonders, wonders, of His love.

One way of really enriching our Advent journey is to keep in mind the three comings of Jesus, and how they relate to one another.

Jesus was born into our history - at a fixed point in time in the past. Jesus comes to us now, in a whole variety of ways. Jesus promised that he will come again in glory, at the end of time.

The Incarnation: Jesus has come.

My Life Now: Jesus comes to me.

Our Future: Jesus comes again, in glory.

Now we watch for the day,
hoping that the salvation promised us will be ours
when Christ will come again
in his glory.

Saturday – December 23^rd

Reading: Matthew 1: 18 – 23

A Prayer time might be to ask God to help us be both obedient and humble in our response to Him.

Sunday – December 24^th, Christmas Eve

Readings: Isaiah 11: 1 – 11; Luke 2: 1 – 5

If you and I could have picked up the Jerusalem Post Newspaper on this day, what might have we read in the headlines of the day?

“Ceasar’s tax decree create scarce accommodations for travelers”
“Herod decrees new taxes”
“Roman Army moves on Gaul”
“Cairo School to open”

A BIG GOD FOR LITTLE PEOPLE - Luke 2:1-5

Silent Night, Holy Night.

All is calm, All is bright,

Round yon virgin,

Mother and child,

Holy Infant

so tender and mild,

Sleep in Heavenly Peace

Silent night, holy night.
Shepherds quake at the sight
Glories stream from heaven afar
Heavenly hosts sing Alleluia!

Christ, the Saviour is born
Christ, the Saviour is born

Silent night, holy night.

Son of God, loves pure light,

Radiant beams from thy holy place

With the dawn of redeeming grace

Jesus, Lord at thy birth

Monday, December 25^th, Christmas Day

Reading: Luke 2: 6 – 20

Merry Christmas to you!

As you open presents and exchange the joy of what God has done in your life, remember the gift of God that has given us in the birth of His Son.

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever would believe in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16)

The angels message that first Christmas day is worth repeating: Luke 2:14 (NIV)
¹⁴"Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests."

So, who are these people on whom his favor rests?

You.

Me.

Merry Christmas beloved…Merry Christmas friend!

2nd week of Advent

2006-12-11T09:59:00.000-06:00

For all who have ever wanted to skip the Christmas season, because they hated the commercialism and innane Christmas music that pipes over ever station, Advent is redemptive. This season that originates from the sixth century takes the "season" of Christmas and over a four week period takes the believer on a journey through the scripture in order to reflectively embrace Christmas in all of its mystery and wonder.
I've celebrated Advent, and to a certain extent so has our family, for over 15 years now. I can't tell you how much I look forward to the coming of the Advent season. I remember a few years ago wondering if I might have an Advent book inside of me...just because I love this season so much and long for believers to "enter into" the joy of what it is all about.
This year, I began to write a series of Advent meditations. I meant to post them last week at the beginning of Advent, but frankly got lost in the busyness of other things. Personally, my times in the morning are sacred, and so I was able to do these reflections myself, and I prepared them for the students in our Training Community.
It's with that in mind that I post these today for this week. If you were on the mailing list, you'll notice that this was what I sent out last week. Yet, this is now the second week of Advent, so these meditations are for the following week -- beginning yesterday on Sunday, the 10th.

Advent Meditations – Week 2, Dec. 10 - 16

Advent is anticipation, the waiting of believers for the one who is coming. The word Advent means "coming" or "arrival." The focus of the entire season is the celebration of the birth of Jesus the Christ in his First Advent, and the anticipation of the return of Christ the King in his Second Advent. Thus, Advent is far more than simply marking a 2,000 year old event in history. It is celebrating a truth about God, the revelation of God in Christ that speaks of his desire that all of creation might be reconciled to himself. That is a process in which we now participate, and the consummation of which we anticipate.

“O Come, O Come, Emmanuel,

And Ransom Captive Israel.

Who mourn in lonely exile here

Until the son of God appears.

Rejoice, Rejoice, Emmanuel

Shall Come to thee, O Israel.

In the first week of Advent we celebrated the PROMISE of His Coming. His promise is based on our need. We were made in his image, but there is emptiness in our soul that is the result of the Fallen nature of sin. We lit the first candle to remind us that the promise of God is that the one who would come as Messiah would come to a people “in darkness” and that he would be a “great light” (Isa. 9:1-6). Jesus came as the “light of the world”, the one who would take away the curse and the darkness around us.

In this second week of Advent we celebrate FAITH in his Coming. Our faith is “the substance of things hoped for, the evidence which is not seen” (Heb. 11:1), and “without faith it is impossible to please God” (Heb. 11:6). Yet, when we look at the first Advent story, we see ordinary humans who are surprised by God and have to deal with their own questions and unbelief…just like we do.

Sunday –

Read: Psalm 100

Here’s a thought: Fans at a game shout because they are excited at “what might happen”. Ask yourself, “In what ways do I demonstrate that I’m excited about Jesus’ coming?” Today is our opportunity to “enter into his courts with praise”. I want to do that intentionally, purposefully, and excitedly…because He has made me for Himself and I want to declare that He is mine.

A Prayer of Praise and a Song:

“O come, all ye faithful, joyful and triumphant,
O come ye, O come ye, to Bethlehem.
Come and behold Him, born the King of angels;

O come, let us adore Him,
O come, let us adore Him,
O come, let us adore Him,
Christ the Lord.

Monday -

Read: Micah 5:2-4, Isaiah 55:1-13

An Advent Reflection

Did you notice in the readings how God’s promise is to change that which causes sadness and loneliness into something that is joyful and secure. How?

“He will stand and shepherd his flock
in the strength of the LORD,
in the majesty of the name of the LORD his God.
And they will live securely, for then his greatness
will reach to the ends of the earth.”

“You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands.”

Is Advent a season of rejoicing? Is it – for you – a time of security and a time of peace?” For many, it is not. Christmas can mean nothing but stress, busyness, a time of running until we’re exhausted trying to meet the expectations of everyone else…except God.

Here’s an Advent Reflection from Jack Hayford:

“Christmas month begins. And again I find myself watnting to reach out to help people who can’t, by themselves, “unwrap” Christmas. It is, you know, “wrapped” for many:

Wrapped in the bandages of bygone hurts and disappointments
Wrapped in the plastic of sophistication which shuns childlike wonder
Wrapped in the tinsel of materialistic binge
Wrapped in the confetti and streamers of empty partying
Wrapped in the busy-get-ready preparations

The ghost of Christmas Past returns to haunt numberless now-redeemed members of the Father’s forever family, but without the beneficial results produced by Scrooge’s specter.

The wrappings represent the cluttered residue of a man and woman’s childhood pain. Christmas ruined in other times, at other places. Sadly, the impact carries on, souring year after year. I’m speaking of people who –

Had a heartbreak in their family one year and now associate Advent more with the pain than with Christ.
Have been burned out over family stresses surrounding the holidays, so that now these days are dreaded instead of anticipated with joy.
Have become wearied with the carnality of superficial gift giving and the have-to-get-something-for…. That becomes dread instead of joy.

How many people? How many varieties of death wrap a God-appointed celebration of faith and hope and love?

I come to you today, my disappointed friend, in Jesus’ name. And I come with this word: “BE FREE!”

Confront and reject these false thieves of the past. Through Jesus – the baby become King, the Son become Lord, the child become Christ – in his mighty name, lay hold of this season by faith. Refuse to let the prince of darkness smother this season of light. The one who sought to murder the Baby in Bethlehem now seeks to ruin your celebration of HIM.

Resist him with JOY, with resting in the security of His mercy, His love, His grace.

Be untied. Be unfettered. Be Unwrapped!

Take my hand and together let us “go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands.”

Tuesday –

Reading: Psalm 24, Psalm 17:6-8

WONDER… Children “wonder”. “Mom, where do the stars go during the day?” “What does God look like?” “Is Santa Claus real?”, and on and on they go. Children have a curiosity that cannot be quenched. They make us realize that we were born for wonder – to ask questions, to ponder, to learn.

May I remind you…Jesus said, “Unless we become like little children, we cannot see the Kingdom of God.”

Go ahead….WONDER!

I wonder as I wander, out under the sky
How Jesus the savior, did come for die
For poor ornery people like you and like i
I wonder as I wander, out under the sky

When mary birthed Jesus, twas in a cow stall
With wise men and farmers and shepherds and all
And high from gods heaven a starlight did fall
And the promise of ages, it then did recall

If Jesus had wanted for any wee thing
A star in the sky or a bird on the wing
Or all of gods angels in heaven to sing
He surely could’ve had it, cause he was the king

That You Came is a Wonder:

That you came is a wonder to me –

That you came in a manner so lowly,

Came to the earth to live; came your life to give.

That you came changed all of history.

That you came brought the glorious word –

Son of man, named Jesus, the Savior.

What a gift the Father gave,

His only Son He sent to save me.

That you came changed my destiny.

That you came is a wonder to me!

A Prayer:

“Father, I have grown up…forgive me. I have become sophisticated and dulled by what is normal, the routine. I ask you in the name of Jesus, to open my eyes to Your world – full of wonder. I ask you to show me the child within me. Lord, if growing up means I’m no longer surprised; that I am routine and my faith is hollowed by the world that I’m fixed on, then please birth me again…in wonder and joy, that leads to more wonder and more joy! Make me a child again…give me a tender heart, a childlike trust; let my spirit be reborn. I want a faith for you Father – and your heart – that believes in me. In this Advent season, make me a child again.”

Wednesday –

Read: Galatians 4:4, Luke 1: 5 – 22

The cast of characters in the Advent drama are few: An aged priest and his can’t-bear-children wife, a virgin teenager and her confused, but obedient husband, some shepherds on a hillside who were unlucky enough to do “night” duty, and one didn’t-have-a-clue-what-was-about-to-happen innkeeper. THESE were the people God chose to introduce his Son into the world.

Isn’t it true, God has a sense of humor?

It is truly a humbling experience to read back through the Old Testament and see how frail and imperfect all the "heroes" actually are. Abraham, the coward who cannot believe the promise. Jacob, the cheat who struggles with everybody. Joseph, the immature and arrogant teen. Moses, the impatient murderer who cannot wait for God. Gideon, the cowardly Baal-worshipper. Samson, the womanizing drunk. David, the power abusing adulterer. Solomon, the unwise wise man. Hezekiah, the reforming king who could not quite go far enough. And finally, a cast of not-very-amazing- people living in Israel “at just the right time”.

Look at Zechariah…meditate on this passage.

· There were 18,000 priests and all had a chance to get selected, but the odds of one out of 18,000 is still pretty large…and yet, on the night he pulled duty to burn the incense.

· There are 30 Zechariah’s in scripture, but this one…this one is specific…the Zechariah that God knows – a child of Aaron’s line, and a man who tried to order his life around God, a man whose name means Yahweh Remembers.

· God remembers was something he had to exercise as faith…because his country was occupied by a foreign power – a mark of shame…and he was childless – a mark of personal shame.

· Angels aren’t on every page, so when they appear something usually quite amazing is being announced – and in this case, it’s Gabriel, the one angel closest to God the Father who appears.

· The announcement seems improbable to Zechariah… “You kidding me?” Personal disappointments can weigh anyone to lose sight of God and faith.

· Gabriel says, “Be Silent” then…

So…what do we do with Zechariah? An author I read said:

“It never ceases to amaze me why God could not have chosen "better" people to do His work in the world. Yet if God can use them, and reveal Himself through them in such marvelous ways, it means that He might be able to use me, inadequate, and unwise, and too often lacking in faith that I am. And it means that I need to be careful that I do not in my own self-righteousness put limits on what God can do with the most unlikely of people in the most unlikely of circumstances. I think that is part of the wonder of the Advent Season.”

AND so here we are…in a season where we are challenged to ask:

LORD, WHAT ABOUT ME? I FEEL INSIGNIFICANT…UNNOTICED…TOO HIDDEN IN A MASS OF PEOPLE FOR YOU TO KNOW ME, MUCH LESS WANT TO USE ME…

Did you think you were little in the universe? Ah, look…for here God shows that he is more than capable of bringing the universe to each of us…to you! Believe this: YOU WERE NURTURED IN LOVE THROUGH ALL OF THE AGES FOR THIS TIME…BREATHE THIS IN AND RECEIVE HIS HEART, HIS THOUGHTS TOWARDS YOU, HIS PASSION FOR YOU RIGHT NOW!

Thursday –

Read: Luke 1: 5 – 22 (again)

An Advent Reflection

Angels from the realms of glory

Wing your flight over all the earth

Ye, who sang creations story

Now proclaim Messiah's birth

Come and worship, come and worship

Worship Christ the newborn King

When Zechariah met the angel Gabriel in the temple, he must have been startled, surprise, caught off guard. And, being told that his response was not what the Angel called a response of faith so he would be mute must have made him both awed and terrified at the same time.

Moses had written before: “You cannot see my face, no one can see me and live.” Did he think he was going to die?

NO…you’ll not die, but you will be silent…mute…not able to talk…because you did not believe.

I’ve been a Zechariah a number of times. Have you?

More importantly… Is there in anything in my life right now that I’m being a Zechariah? God has spoken to me…I hear the promise… I know his heart is for me…

My Prayer: “Lord I believe, help my unbelief.”

“O Lord…Father of our Lord Jesus Christ…and my Father…

Hallowed (Holy) are you…

When you see the world, you are not overwhelmed, like I often am…

Stir up my heart.

Let heaven intrude upon my earthly affairs to rip my attention from the world to you again.

Advent means you invaded the earth…came to set the captives free…launched an all out assault on complacency and unbelief…

So even now….I pray, stir up my heart…Immanuel, be with me and free me.”

Friday –

Read: Luke 1: 5 - 22 (again), Malachi 3:1; 4:5-6

An Advent Reflection

How long had Zechariah and Elizabeth prayed for a child? For years? Had they given up praying? Had they said, “It’s just never going to happen, we will have to learn to be content without children.”

"Zechariah”, the angel said, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to give him the name John. He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth, for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He is never to take wine or other fermented drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even from birth. Many of the people of Israel will he bring back to the Lord their God. And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous--to make ready a people prepared for the Lord."

Did your parents pray for you?

Did your Grandmother, or someone else hold you in their heart as a promise for God?

“John” = “Yahweh has given grace”.

Why?

Because God has a heart for parents and children.

What you got was from people whose faith may not have been all that great… BUT, you’re here now aren’t you? So, something happened…God made something happen. And what is that? That in every generation, the hearts of the fathers are turned towards the children, and the hearts of the children are turned towards their parents.

A Prayer: “Lord, my prayer in this Advent season is for my parents/my children for this…” (Finish this)

Saturday –

Read – Luke 1: 5 – 22 (one last time! J), Psalm 46 (all of it, but mostly vs. 10)

At the end of week 2, one last thought from Zechariah:

Zechariah can’t believe it…or doesn’t. Ok, here’s a sign that accompanies that; “You shall be mute until the day these things come to pass.”

God keeps his word…he keeps his promises.

It wasn’t all that bad that Zechariah was mute. Embarrassing at first, and strange to those who wanted to know what happened to him “in there”.

Unto us, Jesus said, “Surely I am coming soon.” (Rev. 22:20)

And what do we say to the promise of that second Advent? Are we more consumed by the world around us that we cannot believe we’ve been courted for a wedding? Does the bride disbelieve the date of her wedding? No…she anticipates, prays, and dreams of what the wedding and marriage will be.

Let us be a people who are like a bride awaiting the day of her wedding. Let us anticipate, dream and pray for our bridegroom to come… “Even so, now, Come Lord Jesus”

A Saturday Prayer:

Father, Grant me a heart that is pure, wide-open in faith towards you, even as I anticipate coming tomorrow together with others to worship you.

Jesus, I long for you to come…I want my life to serve your Kingdom and to await your second Advent…even as now, I celebrate your first Advent.

Spirit, Grant to me a heart full of faith and wonder. Help me, guide me into truth, and show me anything in my heart and mind that prevents me from saying yes to you Lord God, three in one.

Black Friday Laughter

2006-11-25T10:32:00.000-06:00

Yesterday (the Friday after Thanksgiving) is called Black Friday -- Why? -- because it is the day stores turn a profit due to the massive crowds that come out to do Christmas shopping seeking glorious bargains. I did my part to contribute to western material profitability...I went shopping at 5:00 a.m. when the stores opened. Now, to be honest I've done this for several years in a row - it's not a new thing. Why would a sane (usually), sensible (not always) older guy like me join the maddening crowds of frenzied shoppers who brave the mornings after Thanksgiving in search of the "super specials"? I would like to be able to say that it's because I'm spiritual and I am getting my shopping out of the way before the beginning of Advent, which is tomorrow, Nov. 26th. I would like to say that I'm an early morning guy anyway, so why not go out and get it over with? I'd love to come up with some nice spiritual, or at least sensible, answers; but one trip out on a Black Friday would lead most people to realize that it's not a fun place to be if you're interested in sane and sensible!
Linda was going to go with me this year...her first time ever. We set the alarm for 4:15 and when it went off, I went "Uugh!" I was tempted to ignore it, catch another hour or so of sleep and just forget the whole thing...but then Linda got up and I thought, "OK, she's getting ready", and so I got up and started to get ready also. No, she was not getting ready, she was instead saying, "I don't think I feel good enough to go out...", which left me with the choice of either congratulating her for stopping me from also going, OR....do what I did, go on without her.
I slipped into the car at 4:45, a cup of coffee, and four store circulars from which I had noted things I was after...five great bargains, one purchase for myself, and four presents to finish off most of the shopping I would need to do. As I took off, it hit me that traffic was about the same density as I've seen traveling into Madison on weekdays at 9:00 a.m...that should have warned me. I foolishly kept thinking, "I wonder how many people will be there at 5:00 a.m.?" I thought a couple of hundred would be at Best Buy, my first stopping place...FOOL! When I pulled up to Best Buy, I noticed the parking lot completely full! In fact, the restaurant parking lot across the street was also full, and there was a long line awaiting the doors to open in a minute to two. I notice that there was a line out of Kohl's next door, but I wasn't going there, so I bravely walked across the lot to get in line. THE LINE...snaked around the building, along the wall and across their back loading and unloading area...and then made a uturn where it snaked back towards Kohls! Yes, that line outside of Kohls was actually the end of the line for Best Buy! Uugh!
I stood and thought..."this isn't going to work, switch plans and get to the Mall first". As I passed through the lot, I saw a Best Buy traffic/sales/I-got-stuck-maintaining-the-line person and asked him, "When did people get in line?" He replied the first arrived at 3:30p.m ON THANKSGIVING DAY! Later on I met one of those who had been in the line since 3:00 a.m., they were about 50 people back from the door...got what they wanted in less than 10 minutes and stood in line to check out for 1&1/2 hours! No thanks...sane, sensible man is thinking I should have stayed in bed.
Nevertheless, there are still four presents to find, and so off to the Mall I head. It's not wall to wall people, but there are a lot of people in the first store. That is when it began...the smile, and the inner laughter. People watching...kids watching...amazing moments that made me smile. I headed for the section for gift #1...easy, it was there! Yeah! Standing next to me is a woman talking on her cell phone...one of those walky-talky ones... "No, don't go there, they don't have any left, I found ones at Sears"...squawk..."how much?"...squawk..."$17.95, she replies". I thought, "it's a military maneuver!" I had all I could do to stop from laughing out loud. I walked away, heading for department #2, gift 2, along the way I started noticing people's faces...serious, stern, focused! These were people on a mission. I started smiling and those that noticed probably wondered if I wasn't either a store owner or security...only a couple smiled back. As I got to #2, a woman walked alongside...three close-to-teenage kids in tow..."OK, now (names a name) what would you like to do, what do you need?" Before the kid can answer..."And (next named kid)...what about you..?" Again, before either one can answer, "We need to get organized and be as effecient as possible with this time." The kids had that hollowed glazed look on their faces that kids give to parents when they have checked out on the parental concern topic! I smiled, and turned away. A woman walks past in a hurry..."C'mon (she names his name)", and clearly he is following along grudgingly. I find #2 and head for the counter to check out. I'm standing behind this woman, but a couple of feet away, when this woman walks up, totally oblivious to my presence and steps in behind her and in front of me...I decide to say nothing...and smile! Then, the husband steps in next to her..."Honey, you cut in front of this guy". "Oh, I'm sorry..." We start a light-hearted conversation. He wanted to be up north deer hunting, but dad had to go to the hospital, and they decided to do some shopping since they were home anyway. "Do you do this every year?" I ask..."No, I've never done this before, and I don't know that I ever will again!", he says..."Oh, Larry", she gives him a good nature slap on the shoulder! We laugh.
On to quest #3...no one is in this line, wow! Amazing, but the clerk and I exchange pleasantrys and I ask how she handles a day like this..."It goes fast", she says. Are people generally nice? "It depends...not if they don't get what they want at the price they want it for." I check out, "Thanks, hope you can find some peace in the middle of this hectic crowd, Happy Thanksgiving and Merry Christmas to you". Off to stop #4 - back to Best Buy.
It's not an hour and half later...6:30 and the line outside the store is gone, but there are a lot of people inside. I head for my goal...shoot, not there! A woman in a Best Buy shirt sees me looking..."Can I help you find something?" "Well, I was looking for this thing," pointing to the item in the circular. "Ok, let's see", and walks to a table not at all connected to this item. There's one left!!!! Success, victory, God is good! I had to ask, "So what was it like in here at 5:00?" She smiled, "People made a mad dash for different bargains...most were snapped up in less than 30 minutes...we ran out of" --and she named off three big bargain things. I smiled, thanked her for her help and went to the back of the check out line which by then had been reduced to only about 100 people!
Home at 8:00, my presents purchased, and coffee in hand...I pronounced a fun-filled zany adventure in people. Black Friday laughter...as I laughed my way through explaining it all to Linda...she was not convinced she missed a great Adventure. Still, the sane and sensible man I usually am gave way to my German, never miss the chance to get a bargain!

Happy Birthday Kelly

2006-11-14T13:37:00.000-06:00

I have a wonderful daughter -- Kelly -- my firstborn, and today she is 32! Wow, I can't believe how those years have flown by so quickly. What I can say is that I'm incredibly proud of who Kelly is, and what Kelly has become. SO....HAPPY BIRTHDAY KEL!

Early Snow - Smile!

2006-11-12T11:29:00.000-06:00

It snowed this last weekend!
While I've gotten less enthused about snow as I've gotten older, there's still something very sweet about the first major snow.

All Hallowed Eve

2006-10-29T16:44:00.000-06:00

It's Sunday the 29th as I write this, but Tuesday is "All Hallowed Eve"...something that perversely became "Halloween", but is really the evening before "All Saints Day". This day is a "holy" day in the Catholic Church...The Festival of All Saints and All Souls. Halloween was a day inherited from the Celts. Originally, before it was a Christian holy day, October 31st was a Celtic celebration wherein the Celts believed their departed family and friends returned to their homes to eat and drink. Being the harvest time, food was more plentiful, and some was left out on this evening for this purpose. Later, in England this tradition began on "Mischief Day" where kids would dress like goblins, ghosts, witches, etc. to be scary, then knocking at the doors of their neighbors, they would demand treats, or they'd do some sort or michievious "trick" on them. I have many fond memories of growing up in a small town going on an expedition for candy and treats on this day. In many ways it was a harmless day for kids to have fun.
The idea behind The Festival of All Saints comes from the medieval period. Pope Sixtus IV in 1484 established November 1, the Feast of All Saints. It was declared a holyday of obligation and given both a vigil (known today as "All Hallows' Eve" or "Hallowe'en") and an eight-day period or octave to celebrate the feast. By 1955, the octave of All Saints was removed.

For Protestants, All Saints Eve took on great meaning when Martin Luther, in 1517, posted his "95 Theses" to raise awareness of the abuse of indulgences being sold.
Luther had been ordained a priest ten years before and then became a professor of theology at a recently founded University of Wittenberg. He also served as priest of the Wittenberg parish. In the course of the next 8 years he studied and taught from Romans, Galatians and the Psalms and came to believe that humans are saved through the grace of God alone, (per solam fidem), and that a person could not be justified by "merits" of the church nor through works or religious observances. The sale of indulgences was simply the "straw that broke the camels back" in a growing list of disturbing acts of the church to Luther.
It should be noted, Luther had great reverence for the church and the leadership. He - naively - believed that once these abuses were brought out into the open the authorities would disavow the practices as incorrect and return the church to more sound practices. Well, we all know what happened. Instead the church leadership reacted with strong arm attempts to silence him. He went to Augsburg where he was told he would meet a Cardinal (Cajetan) and without conversation simply recant. That didn't work. Then he was summoned to a place in SW Germany called "Worms" (best pronounced 'Verms') where he was confronted with his writings and given an ultimatum - recant - or be excommunicated. I guess the Roman officials didn't understand German stubborness. Growing up in a German family, and thus sharing in those in those old European genes, I do. It's not enough to tell a German what to do...and above all else avoid telling them their wrong unless you have a lot of proof!

OK...my long winded recounting of the beginnings of the reformation are simply an attempt to say I continue to celebrate this eventful - but not very well known - holy day. I believe that the church and saint that loves Christ best is continually seeking to be "Re-formed". Our faith, and our fellowship together in the church needs to embrace the great need of "Formation". I don't decry the role of the institution as some want to do. Christ died for the Church - the whole thing. Yet, we, who make up the church, need to keep our Formation in Christ as the best way to bring about the kind of "Re-forming" of the church that will bring about unity, not division, and effectiveness in witnessing to Christ as the ultimate reality to a world in desparate need of reality.

So...Happy "All Hallowed Eve" All You Saints!

Granpa Elliott

2006-10-16T14:41:00.000-05:00

We are celebrating some good news. We were sitting around on a Sunday afternoon a week ago, having a belated birthday dinner for Andy's 21st, and Chris announced that Sarah was probably pregnant (or at least were fairly sure they were expecting at that time). They only needed to take a EPT at home...which they did that night. Needless to say that was great news around the table. Linda blurted out some noise and had a smile that stretched from ear to ear. She's been waiting a little while for this, so I could understand her joy.
SO...the next morning Linda awakes all bright and chippy. She is smiling, unusually happy and talking about how the world is all of sudden brighter. I'm groggy, barely functioning, and head out to the kitchen to turn on the coffee maker. Eventually she comes out all dressed, happy, talking about how neat it is that there's a baby coming...she hopes. She looks at me...it's 6:30 in the morning...and says, "Do you think it's too early to call Chris and Sarah to see what the test showed?" I go, "Huh?, you gotta be kidding..." AND I SWEAR...within 10 seconds the phone rings. She leaps to her feet and sprints to the phone, and after a calm "hello", she shrieks! I just smiled, and said, "tell Chris congratulations..."
I am going to be a Grandpa, and the woman I love is going to be one happy Grandma!

A Sabbath Saturday Afternoon

2006-10-14T17:06:00.000-05:00

It's a Saturday afternoon in October...a quiet one. I have vegetated on my computer and football on TV for the last few hours, but just recently shifted to the baseball playoffs.
I have enjoyed today, if for no other reason that I've had very little "to do". I got up and spent some time reading...bible, then newspapers. Then Tully and I went for a brief run. I didn't really want to run, but he kept standing next to me whining about "c'mon elliott, it's that time of the day, get off your butt and let's go out in the cold!
So...we jogged for a while. I love being out in the morning with him. This morning the geese flew in formation overhead and Tully kept turning his head around trying to figure out what his duty was in relation to the noise from the skies.
I have heard that the geese fly in that "V" formation because they are working with each other - a community at work -providing enough draft to spell each other and make it possible to go longer distances. Not a bad idea...I think we humans should try it sometime.
I got back with Tull, and decided to "suck up" some leaves with my blower/grinder...which is one of those "man" toys that make lots of noise and you can see progress because the leaves disapppear and everything ends up in the bag. Then I put the lawn bag on and mowed the lawn, basically chewing up the leaves that have begun to fall.
FALL... The season we that means "you're going to rake a lot of leaves before this month is up".

In all of this, there is satisfaction. I spent some time quietly this morning...thinking, meditating, praying...followed by exercise...and some enjoyable work...then football (Badgers kicked Gopher butt)...and then more football...with some baseball thrown in for fun.
OH YEAH...and I had the enjoyment of listening to "Click and Clack" on public radio this morning while working...
This is a Sabbath Saturday afternoon.

Four weeks into it

2006-09-18T20:21:00.000-05:00

Well, it's been four weeks into being a pastor again...so far, no desires to drive my car off a cliff. I have enjoyed -- for the most part -- being back in this thing called "Pastor"...or should I say "pastor".
I had an interesting conversation with a guy who came to buy the old oven we had in the garage. We got into a conversation about what he did, where he lived, etc...and then he asked me "so, you're a teacher, huh?" I didn't know how he knew that I taught, but understood that Linda had told him that info. I said "Yes", and then he asked, "So where do you teach?" I told him about the training community and the 35 or so, (largely) twenty-somethings that I get to teach. Then he asks, "What's the name of it?" I replied, "Mad City Training Community".
"Interesting name...what's that?"
OK...he's got me. I have to start talking about the Training Community as a part of the church, and that I'm a pastor. "Oh, that's good...I don't have to worry since you're a man of the cloth." Smile...
There's this web site that I often go into. When it came to filling out some info on who, where, what...I wrote "educator".
It's not that I'm ashamed of being a pastor; but, it sounds so "sterile". Pastors have been around since the beginning of the church. The Apostle Paul said "appoint elders" and "God gave to the church: apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors/teachers." So, I prefer the second part of that gifting...teacher to pastor. Why? I value teaching. I value thinking...learning...the process of growth in learning. I have grown so much through those who invested themselves in me...to guide, encourage, and develop what they saw inside. I simply want to return the gift to others.
This is something I genuinely love to do.
So...four weeks back into getting paid to do what I love to do...it's going ok.

MyBrother & Foggy Walks

2006-09-04T09:37:00.000-05:00

Labor Day this year is one of those every 7 year times when my brother Ed and I celebrate our birthday. Yeah that's right, I'm now officially 57...doesn't feel a whole lot different than 56, but it is the official anniversary of the "labor day" my Mom had with the two of us 57 years ago.
The day started off with Ed coming to church with us and listening as I preached. We haven't had the ability to be together for a long time for that. Then, in the afternoon, we ate together, played cards, and had a "birthday cheesecake" that Kelly made for us. I don't remember the last time we celebrated our birthday together, so it was a special day. So, sincerely, Happy 57 years Brother! Ok...there's no correlation between My brother and the Foggy walks. As of writing this he doesn't seem to be in any kind of foggy walks. What I'm adding on to this is that one of the things that Linda and I have done recently is take the camera with us on our early morning walks. I should edit that to say that Linda takes the camera with her on our walks, which means we do less walking and more camera shooting. Still, it's been interesting to see some of the pictures she's taken with the early morning fog settling over our farm land less than a mile from our house.
The fog often settles in over the horse pasture on the farm near us.
Tully loves the horses, especially when they gallop...thinks they are big dogs!

Oh yeah, here's Tully...with me after one of our most recent walks...he always comes along and lives for the morning time with us outdoors. Yes, he's getting bigger!

Summer Over, Yeah!

2006-09-02T15:45:00.000-05:00

I have to admit, I'm not ever sorry to see Summer come to a close. I know there are people who love the summer...I just don't get it. Hot, Humid, always perspiring...never able to take off enough stuff to get comfortable. Granted, not every feels as I do. There are people who love the summer hot weather and grieve the passing of summer to Fall...I am not one of them!

Fall...now that brings a smile to my face. It's my favorite time of the year. The weather is clearer, the temperatures "fall" to very nice 60's & 70's in the daytime, and perfect sleeping weather. While it's still fairly humid, the lower temps lead to lower humidity. I have the windows open and the air is fresh...not soggy as it is during the summer. The leaves begin to turn...every morning as I jog I look up to see if I can see anything changing. The sumac on the back hill have a touch of red already, but everything else remains fairly green. The early morning jogs in the early Fall are quiet and the country side drips with low hanging fog over the majority of the countryside. As we walked this morning, the sun began to rise and the light began to burn back the low hanging clouds to allow the air to dry out. At the beginning of Sept. the daytime is still almost 13 hours. By the end of the month, it is less than 12 hours. I love the early sunsets, and the nightime quietness, stillness, and slowness to life that comes with this shifting season.

What is there not to love?
The apples come to ripeness...the tomatoes and zucchini are ready to pick. The squash and pumpkins are not far behind, and because it's finally cooler, the oven can be used to bake some delectable dishes.
The school year begins, which for me means the Training Center year is about to begin -- this now the 5th year for me.
I love looking at the little kids as they march down the street in new clothes, new backpacks, shoes, and for the most part, smiles on their faces.
And most of all...the Fall means Football begins. It's Saturday as I write this. The first couple of games have been played. Not very thrilling as of yet, but I love football. The game can be on in the background and I may not pay much attention to every game, but I enjoy the atmosphere.
Our Packers have a very "tough road to hoe". They may not do well, but right now at the beginning of the year, everyone is a champion.
My Badgers hold more promise for an enjoyable year than the Pack...but we'll see how things look after tonight's first game.

Fall, Autumn...I'm smiling.

Changes, Changes, Changes

2006-08-15T09:08:00.000-05:00

OK...first a confession -- I'm sitting at a Starbucks in downtown Madison (sorry to all of you I've just offended). I'm here because my son Chris is here...working for now as a Barista guy. I came here because I wanted to do some work, but also because Chris is only going to working here for a few more days and I always like to see my kids at work.
The title of this little blog ditty is "Changes..."
Many changes have happened in the last month, and most have been of the really good kind.

FIRST OF ALL, CHRIS HAS A TEACHING JOB!!! Even though I know he blogged this himself, I couldn't help but brag on this change for his life. First of all, this is the beginning of what might be 30+ years of work (don't let that freak you out Chris). When your in your twenties (or 30 for that matter) you often settle into a career choice, but it doesn't hit you that you might be doing this for a number of years to come. Chris, and Sarah with him, have spent the better part of six years preparing for this day...needless to say, I am very proud of what is happening for them.
I've seen Chris teach, and he's awesome. The parents of the kids that he gets to teach are going to have a quality guy impacting their kids life. Nice job Chris...and Sarah, we're praying for that job for you.

SECONDLY, KELLY AND GREG ARE MOVED INTO COTTAGE GROVE after living for several years in Chicago. It has seemed like a very long extended weekend for a month now as Kelly, Greg and often their dogs Diesel (isn't that a great name for a Bull terrier?) and Sunny come walking into the house. We've eaten more meals together in the last month than we did in the previous six years! One of the changes ahead for them is in securing their jobs --I'm very hopeful for their job situation. Still, the fact that they are so near and a part of our lives is something we never dreamed of and very grateful for.

THIRDLY, MY JOB SITUTATION IS CHANGED. After three years away from the title "pastor", I've returned to this maddening career choice. I've become a part of Mad City Church's pastoral staff...a combination of working with the other pastoral staff and expanding some of the equipping needs within the church. I've done this "job" for 30+ years (see above). It's a position for the "spiritual masochists", but I keep saying to myself, "Jesus loves the church" :)

LASTLY...MISC NOTES ON CHANGES:
Linda starts her 17th year with Madison Schools...it may be her last????
Andy starts another year at MATC...moving along in his degree work.

LINDSAY AND PETER CELEBRATED ANNIVERSARY #2 YESTERDAY....HAPPY ANNIVERSARY GUYS!

Ok...end this with a phrase from the Psalms: "The boundary lines for me have fallen in pleasant places..." Amen, thanks God for goodness and mercy!

Colorado Fun

2006-07-22T16:55:00.000-05:00

July was a chance to get away on our 35th Anniversary to visit sunny, and hot, Colorado. We had numbers of highlights from this trip. So, here goes:
1) Our visit to our friends Bill & Mary Housley in Granby, Co. was amazing. First of all, Bill & Mary are wonderful hosts and made us not only feel at home, but helped us to relax and gave us a tour of some very beautiful spots in their "neck of the woods". Bill is chief of police in Granby, having left Madison a year ago to form a brand new police department. Mary has formed her own business -- she's the "Chinker Chick" -- which means she "chinks". For most people that probably causes a few eyebrows to furrow...what in the world is "chinking" (I think we all get the "chick" part). Mary took a need -- their own log cabin to be finished with the caulking in between the logs -- chinking -- and started her own business. Now she is steadily building a business she can earn money from and give money away to the Kingdom with...nice. Most of all time with Bill and Mary is refreshing and very relaxing.
Some of the highlights of our time with them:
> Their deck...fantastic relaxing views. It started with the first night and the Sunsets, with the valley lighting up as the sun set, and the temperatures dropping...amazingly quickly after the sun went down. One moment I was sitting there in shorts and a t-shirt, and the next moment I was dashing for a hooded fleece to stay warm! Each morning we arose to crisp air...very clear, and very cold. But, the fleece, coffee, and reading material meant I spent the better part of each early morning on the deck.
Now, don't get me wrong...the rest of the house is pretty amazing also. They have a wonderful log home that Mary, the "Chinker Chick", along with Bill have done a pretty neat job of making a beautiful home. After settling in, the next two days we made day trips to two pretty neat places:
> The first trip was up to and through Rocky Mtn National Park...it's impossible to describe the beauty of going over the mountains with all of the natural beauty, vistas, and animals we saw along the way. I suppose the best part for me was the hike at the top...12,500 ft...and the herd of Bull Elks we came across and photographed.
The trip up took us through the Grand Lake area. That was, in itself, an awesome view. Hopefully you'll catch some of the flicker photos of that place. The trip was most of Friday, which sounds like a lot, but believe me, there was so much awe inspiring moments, that I didn't need the altitude to take my breath away!

> The following day we took a trip to Steamboat Springs, where the highlight was the gondola ride up the mountain to the first major ski hill. It was only the first hill, if it had been winter, there would have been more lifts and more hills to climb to. It was an awesome sight from the top and made me wish to be more than an amateur skier.

While the trips were fantastic, the time with Bill and Mary was the most fun. It's sad to know they are so far away, but it's nice to think that we have friends in a place with such beauty.
Mary and Bill, thanks...and oh yea, we'll be back!!

2) Even though we only had a few hours with each, we made visits to some friends. First, Milo and Karen Bishop, who've we've known since 1972. We spent the first night in Colorado with them and went out to dinner...catching up on life, politics, faith, with lots of good natured kidding and laughter to go along with every serious conversation.
The next day we got the treat of Eric Jensen for the better part of the morning. Eric is the son of our close friends Russ and Sandy and we've known him since he was 12. He's all grown up now and we had a great time as he showed us his "Golden" -- both on the ground walking and from a 1000 or so feet up on Lookout Mtn. It was great catching up with E, and just to spend time where he lives, talking about what is ahead in life, and even catching a home-town brew made it a fun few hours.

3) Colorado Springs and the Cheyenne Canon Inn was our final destination for three days and four nights. The Inn is a former bordello :), now turned into a 13000 sq foot B&B. Unbelievable breakfasts and spacious quarters make it a "wow" place. From there we explored the Colorado Springs surrounding area. Two notable places are worth mentioning:
> The Garden of the Gods is a city park in Colorado Springs that has some outstanding rock formations...with walking trails, hiking trails, and unbelievable spots for Sunset and Sunrise -- and it was all free! It's a don't miss thing.
From this park you can also see Pike's Peak. I wanted to get to the top of that 14,110 ft. Mtn. There's a Cog-Railroad that climbs to the top, and I even tried to get a ticket, but they were all sold out for that day. The time that I wanted to get on ended up having a thunderstorm hit the top of the Mtn while that group was up there...thank you Lord for keeping me from that experience.
> The second trip was to the Royal Gorge, about 40 miles south of Colorado Springs. This was a two hour train trip through the Gorge. It was an awesome ride and the views were amazing. I saw lots of "rafters" on the river...made a mental note that if I get back again, I definitely want to do that. The view from the bottom of the Gorge up to the suspension bridge is 1000 ft. We didn't get on the bridge...I don't think I could convince my bride to walk across this bridge and look down on the gorge below.

We left on thursday, driving the 1100 miles in 16 hours...almost 5 of it with the convertible top down before the heat on the plains got too hot. We crossed the long stretch of Nebraska and Iowa on I80 with the heat between 105 and 112 degrees! Still, we pulled in tired, but having had a great anniversary trip. Thanks Bill & Mary, Eric, Milo & Karen...you guys made our time really enjoyable.

Peninsula Camping Expedition

2006-07-03T16:55:00.000-05:00

This last week our family went to Peninsula State Park to go on a camping expedition. Lindsay and Peter were back from England, Chris and Sarah, Andy, and Linda & I went with them to Door County and enjoyed Peninsula...the place we had camped as a family for so many years.

Camping can be enormously fun, but it's also quite ponderous...nothing is easy. You go get water, start fires, boil water to clean dishes...even making coffee which is an absolutely necessity in life has to be carefully and slowly down if you're going to enjoy something more than campfire mud. But what you get with camping is the outdoor aesthetics... campfires on cool nights, amazing sunsets, and early morning campfires when all is quiet. You can't beat it.

This expedition was really the brain child of our children. Chris, Lindsay, and Kelly (at first) wanted to take their spouses to this place that we had so often gone to as a family while they were growing up. It so happened that Kelly and Greg couldn't join us...they moved to Cottage Grove from Chicago at the end of that week! So, while we missed them joining us at the camping, we got the joy of having them just a few blocks away for at least the next year.
It's been so great to have Lindsay and Peter around for the last week. They still have almost a week left to be with us, so we're cramming in as many things as possible in order to enjoy the time together with them.

World Cup Mania

2006-06-09T12:59:00.000-05:00

OK...I've officially joined the rest of the world. I just watched the first World Cup match of 2006, Germany beat Costa Rica, 4-2. For a team that is highly favored, I have to say Germany didn't impress me, but it's early and they did get a win, so that's all that counts.
I love the World Cup. It truly is a world event, like the olympics. The Olympics is of course multi-event competition, which makes for good specific dramas, but the World Cup is the only championship that is about one sport - Soccer...alright, "Football", or should I say "Futbol"?
The Germans are hosting it...a country of my native origin. The Germans average 3000 glasses of beer per year! Did you know they produce over 2000 sausages? We Germans know how to eat, drink, and be merry!
The whole family has gotten interested. Peter, my son-in-law in England, began the mania with an email suggesting everyone join a World Cup Fantasy league...create your own team, create your own team colors, and team name. It sounded like fun to Chris who created one with the help of an ESPN World Cup magazine. It sounded good to Andy also. Me? Well, I created a team, and joined the mania...the only problem was I only know a few of the stars, so my team was a "by guess and by golly" set of choices. It doesn't make any difference, I've also joined the World's One Month of Mania called the World Cup...My favorite team, naturally USA...
And if not them, England, of course..., and if not them...I don't have any other favorites!
Makes no difference, it's in Germany all month and into early July...so celebrate with the rest of the World in Germany... Prost!!

New Wineskins? It's Still a Container

2006-05-26T11:06:00.000-05:00

I'm doing something in this blog I've never done before. I am placing the body of a letter that I just returned to a friend, answering his inquiry into what I felt about "seeker-sensitive" and "Purpose-driven" churches. I find that these church styles seem a bit passe' now that the Emergent Church movement has begun in earnest. Still, there are many churches out there committed to these "styles" of doing church. There are also a growing number of churches being founded on the new "emergent church" style or philosophy, if you will. As a teacher I am often reluctant to tell my students "what I think". That is a deliberate (or should I say "intentional" :) for the sake of my students) on my part.
What follows though is more or less a personal response to an inquiry into "What do you think?" that this friend as me about in relation to these evangelical movements of doing church. His question had to do with his local church that has embraced a style of doing ministry that is embracing one, or maybe even both, of these styles of ministry. My sense in his letter (which I've not included even as I've not included his name) is that he isn't so much as disturbed by this all, but wondering what the long term goals are in doing ministry with these ministry styles as the primary focus. He asked what I thought (along with a few other pastors he knows) ...and so this is what I think. It should not be construed as a final thought, but one that is current for me on my own radar as I think about the Historic Faith we are stewards of, The Church as the mediator of that stewardship, Jesus Christ as the Personal allegiance to that Faith, and the 21st century that we living all of this out in.
***********************************************************************************

Hi _______,

Well, first of all thank you for the inclusion in the "six pastors whom I respect unreservedly" category...I'm flattered and honored.
It's an interesting subject that you bring up, because it's much more than simply the issue of "style" which is what so many seem to think of this as. I think the issue is more framed by the "theology" behind these ways of doing church. Forgive me for dragging the issue more deeply than perhaps it should be, but I do think we're dealing with the 21st century, Western, Material/Consumer, Rugged Individualism that is a product of 60+ years of Evangelicalism, and to be even more broad stroked in historical theology, the product of the 3 centuries of tweaking the reform movement away from it's Reformed base to one that is decidedly Arminian -- for good or for worse is up to you to decide.
My overall sense -- and I teach a section on "the future of the church" in both the last Church History lecture, as well as in a Ministry Internship class -- (much to long of a paranthesis, so I'll start over). My overall sense is that we are seeing a continual evolution of theology away from the "Monergism" of the Reform period. The first shift came after the Reform period's generation died out and cold sterile orthodoxy (that's an oxymoronic idea) led hungry believers to Pietism (which was a practice more than a theology) and a shift away from the strict Monergism of the Reformers to a softer Arminianism that embraced the changing world of scientific discovery.

Forgive me ______ for this lengthy diatribe...I hope it will lead to something clear.

The attack (??? Not sure if that is the right word to use) on Christianity began in earnest as the initial scientific enlightened world began to question the traditions and religion of the church -- something I believe was of God. As the age of discovery, both in the extension of Europe to new worlds, and the emergence of a scientific shift in worldview, began to emerge the church adapted it's theology. No longer was God in charge of everything...that was obvious. Instead, human kind had a much bigger part to play in the overall work of God in the world.
Theologically the shift is most pronounced in Arminian theologies that emerged in old rejected Calvinism -- Methodism, Frontier Baptist (remember Baptists at first were Calvinists), and the many revivals of the 18th & 19th century. Finney was a great proponent of revival as the natural outcome of Human derived efforts working in concert with God. From Finney we go to the Keswick movement...the beginnings of Pentecostalism. Before that though, evangelical revivalists like Moody. The supposed clash between Pentecostalism and Fundamentalism is not nearly as significant as the 20th century revivalists that continued to proclaim a message of individuality in relation to salvation and faith.
Eventually, Evangelicalism bridges the gap between Pentecostal and Fundamentalist zealous fringes...a softer Evangelicalism emerges...Billy Graham (not soft at first, but eventually)...Bill Bright...and as well, the shift of missions to a world focus that is quite Arminian - DAWN and Center for World Missions as examples.

OK...thanks for hanging in this little History summary. My point is that in our believing lifestyle we've seen all sorts of attempts to grasp the "Holy Grail" of what is going to next change the world and bring the Kingdom of God to the earth. It seems, to me, that it's focus is more or less strongly the product of this theological evolution and worldview that seek to be brought together in harmony.

Seeker-Sensitive, Purpose-Driven, as well as a whole host of other movements from the last 40 years continue to be reflective of a western world always looking to bring about the newest and the better to solve our problems (don't we remember the Jesus People Movement, The Charismatic Movement, John Wimber and the Vineyard Movement, etc...even to today in the newest -- the Emergent Church movement?).

It's not so much that I'm against them, or even wary of them as theologically incorrect, but I think more than anything I am weary of lurching towards the next and the best way to now reach the world.

Church History has ruined me! I see God at work in people and in relationships, in prayer, in the clear and simple proclamations of Jesus, and in the presence of the Kingdom of God. There has been an attempt to dress that up in many different clothes over our lifetime, and the years before us...and I think, somewhat sadly and perhaps cynically...there will always be attempts by people of faith to take the simplicity of Christ and his church and change it into something of their own creation.
Is it of God? I don't know...I doubt it, but then again...Jesus is coming back for a bride not a harem! So, in the end, we're part of it whether we want to be or not.

Forgive my long answer, but thanks for the question, and if you did read this in entirety, thanks for honoring me!

Much Love, with Faith and Hope,
Elliott

DaVinci, DaVinci, DaVinci - What have you Done?

2006-05-25T13:21:00.000-05:00

OK...another Hollywood blockbuster has hit the scene -- The DaVinci Code -- from the Dan Brown novel has made a big splash with mainly "not so great reviews". Translated that means that even Tom Hanks can't save a plot built off of lies.
It's interesting to watch the public reaction to the DaVinci movie. It seems that most newspapers and movie reviewers go to great lengths to avoid getting involved in the overall controversy associated with the novel and movie theme. One local writer editorialized that "it's just fiction". That's interesting given that the author, Dan Brown, states even before the prologue, “All descriptions of artworks, architecture, documents and secret rituals in this novel are accurate.” Book reviews followed suit. The author himself has claimed on television and his web site that his depiction is based on credible facts that he believes.
The Da Vinci Code is a murder mystery coupled with a conspiracy claim. That claim is that the story of Jesus in our gospels is actually a lie that has been covered up by the Church for centuries and there are other gospels revealing that Jesus was just a man who married Mary Magdalene, had children with her, and left her in charge of his church when he died. The overall premise is that the church, around 300 a.d., under the control of Constantine sought to make Jesus divine -- more than human -- and therefore squelched all other gospels that might reflect on Jesus as mere mortal. A 2004 article in Christianity Today makes that point: "The Da Vinci Code, villain Leigh Teabing explains to cryptologist Sophie Neveu that at the Council of Nicea (A.D. 325) "many aspects of Christianity were debated and voted upon," including the divinity of Jesus. "Until that moment," he says, "Jesus was viewed by His followers as a mortal prophet. … a great and powerful man, but a man nonetheless."
Neveu is shocked: "Not the Son of God?"
Teabing explains: "Jesus' establishment as 'the Son of God' was officially proposed and voted on by the Council of Nicea."
"Hold on. You're saying that Jesus' divinity was the result of a vote?"
"A relatively close one at that," Teabing says.
A little later, Teabing adds this speech: "Because Constantine upgraded Jesus' status almost four centuries after Jesus' death, thousands of documents already existed chronicling His life as a mortal man. To rewrite the history books, Constantine knew he would need a bold stroke…Constantine commissioned and financed a new Bible, which omitted those gospels that spoke of Christ's human traits and embellished those gospels that made Him godlike. The earlier gospels were outlawed, gathered up, and burned." The link to the full article is... http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2004/006/7.26.html
Almost 20 years ago a religious scholar, Elaine Pagels, published The Gnostic Gospels in which she lays claim to many other sources of information about Jesus from gospel accounts written in the early church period. Thus has begun a resurgence in a populist, and relatively humanistic attemtp at de-divinizing Jesus.
The problem is that Pagels simply chooses to ignore the theological history of the early church. By the end of the 1st century Gnosticism had reared up as a competitive voice to the Apostolic fathers. Gnosticism isn't easy to define, but it looks a lot like modern day Pseudo-Intellectual Humanism with a bit of Eastern Religion mixed in. Basically, the early Gnostics claimed that Jesus was only a human whom God came upon and endowed with supernatural abilities until his mission was completed. His mission? -- to bring knowledge or enlightenment to people in darkness (hence Gnostic from the Greek word gnosis). So, the modern Gnostics, like the ancient ones made claim to a human Jesus, who God used as a noble prophet teacher, but who was not God. Pagels, Brown, and other modern Gnostics simply pick up where the early church Gnostics left off.
Why?
I have pondered that question for a while as I've seen the popularity of Dan Brown's novel take off and the movie come to pass. I am of the opinion that there are a number of things at work in this.
1. There is the underlying tension that has often existed between people who believe in Christ and non-believers. This just serves to give ammunition to those who aren't inclined to "trust" anyone other themselves.
2. There is the tension of authority around what we believe. If we say that we are believers in the authority of the bible -- that it is timeless truth -- of necessity anything that can undermine that truth becomes important. While many see the DaVinci Code as an assault upon the divinity of Jesus Christ, I think the greater issue is the assault upon the notion of the Bible -- as we know it -- to be the truth of God. There's a good article on the authority of the Bible written by the New Testament scholar N.T. Wright on the Mars Hill web site and can be found at http://www.mhbcmi.org/learn/HOW_CAN_THE_BIBLE_BE_AUTHORITATIVE.pdf
3. Finally -- and as a church historian I can tell you this is clear -- this is just one of many attempts that the enemy has made down thru the centuries to discredit the person and the work of Jesus Christ. It should not surprise us -- ever -- to see someone argue that Jesus is not who the church has confessed him to be for 2000 years, and that Jesus has not done what he did in terms of God and mankind.

If there is one great benefit of all of this it is that people who have read the book, and/or seen the movie are more open to dialogue about Jesus as a result of it. This is a great opportunity to ask someone what they think about Jesus and share with them the truth.
Thanks DaVinci!

Celebration Time! Yea Chris

2006-05-16T08:52:00.000-05:00

Of the many things my children have done to make me proud, and happy -- and there have been lots of them -- one of the things that ranks right up there occurred this weekend as Chris graduated from the UW School of Education with his teaching degree!

I found myself going through all sorts of emotions as I watched Chris get his degree. Linda, Andy, Kelly, Greg, along with Sarah (Chris' wife pictured here) and Sarah's family went to the Kohl Center to watch Chris get his diploma. I wanted to cry a couple of times...just incredibly proud of him and happy for Sarah and he as they venture into life with this big accomplishment behind them. Anyone who knows me will remember how I've often stated publicly -- in many different preaching/teaching venues -- that if God were to ask me what I wanted 100 young adults who are believers to be, it would that they would become public school teachers. Why? Because no one has the ability to so affect the world around us than public school teachers.
As I watched Chris get his degree I thought about that, and it hit me how I lucky some kids are going to be to get a man of such character and integrity, with principles and values that will change their lives. Wow...I almost wished I were an elementary school kid again!

Chris, you've accomplished much in life and there's a lot more to go yet, but I just wanted to publicly, loudly, emotionally, and proudly say "CONGRATULATIONS, YOU MADE ME PROUD TO BE YOUR DAD!"

OH yeah, Celebration continued this weekend. We also had the opportunity to have everyone but our British family contingent home for Mother's Day. It was a grand celebration for Linda also as the kids came back on Sunday afternoon to eat more...Kelly's cheesecake destroyed all of our attempts to eat healthily! But, we die with a smile on our face!
The picture here is Andy's attempt to capture the essence of the day...it was about Mom and it included lots of food!
What more can I say?
Well, I can say that I'm incredibly lucky to have a woman I love so much after 36 years. I can say that my children are fortunate to have a Mom who still revels in playing games with them. I can say that she is the best of the best Moms I've ever known.

Wow...Celebrations! Aren't they awesome...thank you God!

Talkin' at em

2006-04-27T19:43:00.000-05:00

OK...it's time to try and put something down that might be worthwhile reading. The time keeps marching on...relentlessly sometimes.
I've been busy with lots of teaching. I love teaching in general. I love the learning process and I love seeing those I'm teaching grow and learn...the "lightbulbs" so to speak go off. A week ago I also taught in my church -- Mad City Church -- here in Madison. It's not always easy to teach on a Sunday morning. Part of that has to do with my own desire and need to connect with students as disciples. I have never been a huge fan of the sermon as the best way to connect to people's hearts and minds. I know it has worked down through the centuries...but in this modern age of a doubting, visually stimulated, short attentioned span people, it doesn't always work well. Add to that I am teaching on a once a month basis...and add to that, I am teaching alongside of a young preacher -- Shane Holden -- who has a gift of teaching/preaching that does really grab one for the hour or so that he teaches. OK...no comparison...I really don't compare myself with Shane, and my own self-confidence does not lack in being able to get up in front of 1200 people and deliver something. What is somewhat frustrating is that I know that people really don't learn well when all that is being done is that you're talking at them. People learn because they engage wholeheartedly...intentionally, if you will...in the things they are hearing. Otherwise, it probably is like the proverbial "water off the duck's back".

We need a revolution in terms of learning...the greek word for "learning" is "mathetes" which is a learner, but it is translated most often in the New Testament as "disciple". A disciple is a learner...Discipleship. The leading assumption in the average American church is that you can be a Christian but not a disciple. That is incrediby difficult to break through and it has placed a tremendous burden on a mass of Christians who are not disciples. We tell them to come to church on Sunday mornings (Ok, I realize some do church at other times) and we tell them to participate in programs and give money. But isn't it true that what we see of church is that it knows nothing of commitment. We have settled for the marginal, the least common denominator, and so we carry this awful burden of trying to motivate people to do what they don't want to do. We can't think about church the way we have been.
We need to clear in our heads about what discipleship is. A good definition: A disciple is a person who has decided that the most important thing in their life is to learn how to do what Jesus said to do. A disciple is not a person who has things under control, or knows a lot of things. Disciples simply are people who are constantly revising their affairs to carry through on their decision to follow Jesus.
I am thinking about all of this as I participate in the process of "teaching". I want so deeply to avoid just being another voice making "noisy gongs and clanging cymbals".
I have this current notion going on in teaching about the "journey of faith". I love the theme and it's been a wonderful study for me alone. If you're interested you can find the messages at http://www.madcitychurch.org/listen.asp. My most recent message was on "Taking the land of the Giants", a story from Exodus and Numbers concerning Joshua. I am going to follow that message in a week with a second part based on Joshua 4 & 5.

So...I continue to "talk at em"...knowing it's not the best way to learn...drats! "O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me..."?

Daughters of Eve...Sons of Adam

2006-04-11T17:16:00.000-05:00

I've been around the block a few times when it comes to church life. I have this great affection for Christ's bride, and when I see it functioning well I get really excited. Lately, I've been hanging around...as well as reading...women who God is working in, on and through...and I'm better for it.
It started about a month ago in a conversation with a CHURCH LEADER - Wendy Andrews. Wendy came from our community's training center and ended up as a Co-Director for 24/7PrayerUSA. She's young, and she's a she...which has caused some encounters that she has had to be less than great! Leave it say that she's had her share of men ignore her, talk past her, look beyond her, and generally...through body language primarily dismiss her. As a Spiritual Dad and Mentor/Teacher in her life, my encouragement is to understand that all as a part of the development of God's character being shaped "in" her. A.W. Tozer said, "God cannot use a man (I'll include a Woman) greatly until he has hurt them deeply. Part of the process is the assault against our desire to be recognized...that happens to everyone who steps out to serve God...but recognize that its often greater offenses that many women who have tried to step out for God have had to go through. The conversation with Wendy went something like this: "That sucks...That's not how God sees you...Persevere...In your offense, pray...Trust that God is working "in" you even as he works "through" you."

Then I came back home... the conversation continued. One of the bright wonderful and beautiful people around my world is one of Mad City's Youth leaders -- Stephanie! I hang out with Stephanie because we clicked in the mentor/student role -- at first -- but now it's more of an Older Leader/Younger Leader relationship. In other words, Steph can hold her own when it comes to leading, being godly, maturity, etc... She's passionate for God...grounded in reality...and aware that the church God loves sometimes "sucks"! She's been challenged...dismissed... often questioned --simply because she's a she! I should add...women as just as culpable in this as men are. Yet when I converse with her around life, observations on God...awareness of people, prayer, God's word alive...she's a theologian. Not bad for a 21 year old woman leader! All I can tell you is that at age 21 I wasn't anywhere near that level of competence in Christ. Again, rise up Steph...God has a lot more to do "in" you, but he is working mightily "through" you.
She's got a blog site that I love to read...but I won't share it with you without her permission.

OK...not done yet... One of the most talented young artists I've ever met is living in Kansas City - Linnea. About 2 weeks ago, this beautiful (and I don't mean primarily as it relates to looks...even though she is beautiful in looks also) young woman - that I have seen open up in so many wonderful ways wrote to me that she has begun to sense God moving in her to write. Since I have longed had the opinion that Linnea is one of the brightest minds I've been around, I celebrate her stepping out in giving voice with her spirit, mind, prayers. Linnea just sent to me a reflection on Good Friday...she just smashed my stain glassed view of this day we oxymoronically we call "good". Wow...I've read it twice so far and am going to have to read it a few more times if I even hope to "mine the depths" of it all... She's a writer!

Just a few minutes ago, in the MI class that I am now in...another young beautiful leader woman began to share - Lisa. I've been in a car with Lisa for 8 hours...this girl can lead! What she was sharing...ever so briefly here...is her passion for discovering God in these sacred places of prayer, intimacy, passion that she had the audacity to say would even sustain people to go into places of martyrdom. Well, I'm not a fan of being a martyr...haven't ever been asked to be one...and hope I don't...but there have been times in church history that God has brought the church to it's knees -- Tertullian (not my dog, but the 2nd century theologian) said, "the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church". Lisa is a leader...I hope she won't have to be a martyr, but I don't think she will hesitate if asked to...there's a passionate leader for God in there.

Lastly...for now...my Son writes these amazing reflections on his wonderfully beautiful spritiual Leader wife -- my daughter in law, Sarah. I loved reading what my son wrote...and can't even begin to summarize it...it's thoughts that have been forming, not just because he's married to this wonderfully spiritual leader wife, but because he's a man who has seen in Sarah the capacity to lead. Sorry for not asking Chris, but I'm pretty sure you wouldn't mind my letting people see your posts -- after all it's in my links next to this writing anyway... BUT, please, please take some time if you haven't read it yet to go to his site and read what he had to say. It's at: pollasch@blogspot.com... or if that isn't it, just hit the link next to this.

OK...that's a lot of musing...if you read this far, blessings on you.
We have a lot to think about men when it comes to being Sons of Adam along side of gifted leaders who are Daughters of Eve.

Relationships...it's what makes life interesting!

2006-03-29T19:37:00.000-06:00

The last two weeks have been travel weeks. I use to travel a lot but have really curtailed travel over the last couple of years. I made a trip last summer to Russia -- and read Mary's blog on her recent trip which reminded me of how great it was.
This last trip though was to much more modest places. Starting two weeks ago it was a four trip to Kansas City, returned home for four days and headed out again to Cincinnati, and then four days later drove up to Cleveland. Now honestly, how many people do you know who took two weeks to visit those three cities?
The remarkable thing about the trip was that I drove through snow in all three!!!! Amazing!!! I thought, "I'm going south, it will be Spring". Foolish thinking I'm afraid. It was an amazing 60+ degrees one afternoon in KC, but the trip home was through a snowy, sloppy, crappy Iowa and SW Wisconsin. A few days later, heading to Cincinnati, we hit a snow storm in No. Indiana and drove through that snow all the way to Cincy...about 4 hours worth. Then a few days later, another crappy snowy trip north to Cleveland. Cleveland is on Lake Erie, so snow tended to fall steadily during the whole time we were there, and then the ride home was snow through all of Ohio and part of No. Indiana. Yuck!!! I've been longing for Spring and getting Winter.

OK, so why keep traveling in the snow belt? One reason: Relationships.

Kansas City has Wendy Andrews and Linnea Spransy...two wonderfully beautiful girls who moved from Madison last summer to become a part of a new church plant, and to stretch their creative and leadership gifts for the sake of the Kingdom in art and prayer. Unfortunately, Linnea was on a trip to NYC, but we crashed Wendy's birthday party and got an opportunity to see the stuff she is involved in as co-director of 24/7 Prayer USA and on the leadership team of her new church.
Cincinnati was a trip with some of the Training Center students to Norwood, a city within Cincinnati. Norwood is home to our friends in Vineyard Central. Again, the simple reason for the visit is relationships. Our friends Dave & Jody Nixon hosted us for several days. It was a wonderful time for retreat and rest. I marvel at the way they have lived together in an intentional community for quite a few years. Their presence in a very poor area of Cincinnati being "salt and light" for the sake of Christ's Kingdom.
Finally, four of us: Fran, Jamie and Alexis...three girls and myself trekked north through the snow to Cleveland. There we joined up with the rest of the Training Center folk who had traveled to other places and joined up with some new friends from a church community to share the weekend together sharing life, jamming, and eating good food. One of the highlights of the trip was meeting new friends, Todd and Laurel...and Bob. Bob is 60, an advertising exec who lives about 30 minutes out in the country in a beautiful home and he hosted us for the evening...what a wonderful time it was. Staying a strange home is always a bit of a stretch for me. I never quite feel comfortable, but Bob managed to make things comfortable right away. My conversation with him was one of the highlights of the last two weeks away.
Relationships:
Wendy who've I've known well.
Dave & Jody who I've come to know more and more as friends.
Fran, Jamie, Alexis, Jordan who all traveled hours with me in one leg or another -- young adults with the old guy laughing, goofing around, listening together with me as I explain the story behind the music from "Les Miserables" for three hours...talking seriously at some times and hilariously at others.
Todd, Laural, and Bob who've I've just met. Relationships...it's what makes life interesting, don't you think?

Eatin' Crap

2006-03-18T11:51:00.000-06:00

This morning Linda and I joined Dan & Jennie Sandridge on a morning walk...with our two dogs, Tully (our 10 month old Golden Retriever) and Micah (their 11 month old Golden Retriever). The two dogs have met twice now and it was love at first site...ok, maybe not love because they are both males and I don't want to get into that kind of a mess, but they really really like one another. They ran to each other as soon as they saw each other and played and played and played.

The walk consisted of allowing the dogs to run free as we walked along the bicycle trail that runs near our house in Cottage Grove. This trail is a wonderfully flat old railroad bed that actually goes from Cottage Grove to near Milwaukee! Some 80 miles if I am correctly assessing the distance. The dogs ran ahead, either playing with each other, or sticking their noses into the ground to smell who had dropped the latest "animal dew". I was telling Dan that we really had to watch Tully because he has the habit of grabbing "animal logs" (excrement, crap, shit, whatever you want to call it). Dan replied that Micah does a lot of sniffing, but no eating. Wow, I thought, if only I could get Tully to leave it alone, I could probably handle the sniffing. About that time, Micah dove into the side of the trail and even though he was told to come back, he remained fixed on a "clump" of what only looked like a mass of leaves. We managed to get him to drop it and went on ahead. Later on the return, having forgotten all about this mass of something, Micah ran far ahead, and we all too late realized he was headed for the leaf mass. Before Dan could stop him...well let's just say it wasn't a pretty site. He ate it all!!! And, he smelled very, very bad! Inside, I'm going..."Way to go Tull"...he had listened, but I tried to be polite and sympathetic to Dan and Jenn as they had to contend with "what do we do with a dog that has just eaten a pile of crap?"
I got to thinking about that...it doesn't seem logical that anything that can think would want to eat something else's poop.
But, then again, I realize that we can all be prone to listening to the lies within...
"I'm never going to make it..."
"I can't do anything right..."
"Why am I so stupid?"
"What's wrong with me?"
I think that is the same thing as eatin crap myself!

Lindsay's Trip Home

2006-03-04T10:46:00.000-06:00

Lindsay came home for a visit with all of us and it has been a fantastic week...it feels so much like the past that it's hard to believe that it is only for a week.

We had a wonderful gathering at the airport to welcome Lindsay back. It started even before she got off the plane as Kelly, Chris and Sarah joined Andy, Linda and me to await her arrival.
Kelly came up from Chicago for the weekend, and stayed over until Tuesday morning.
Kelly and Greg are moving back here...hopefully in the summer.
Jobs, house, dogs, the move, Satellite TV to get Cubs, Bears, and Illinois sports are all a part of the process. It's going to be great to have Kelly and Greg around.

Finally though Lindsay came down the steps and we began this last week of fun.

After the typical delays caused by missing luggage, we headed home. Lindsay met Tertullian for the first time..."Tully" as everyone calls him loved Lindsay from the first time he met her.

Lindsay also lovedTully . He found in Linds, someone who loved to cuddle...something he usually also wants to do.

She spoiled him as he slept on top of her bed just about every night.

I don't know how Tully is going to handle her leaving tomorrow. Today, Andy and Lindsay took off to do some last minute shopping and he started whining less than five minutes after they had left!

As anyone who knows us could guess...it didn't take long before we were playing games together. Our family is game crazy and it's all because the Mother in this family - my affectionate lovely Linda - conceives of heaven as a long game night!

Besides all that, Lindsay met Steph...Stephanie! It was sweet to see them enjoy one another. Steph seems such a natural part of us. We love her and enjoyed the week of Lindsay's visit with her.

There are so many wonderful things about having Lindsay home for the week. The conversations around life, relationships, family, friendships, God and the crazy zany world of "Church" to name a few. Lindsay is so many things: Smart, Beautiful, Wonderfully funny.... She is reflective of the world while able to laugh at the idiosyncrasies of her own life, as well as our family! In otherwords, she has learned well to take God seriously and remember that all the rest is at times a good laugh.

We had lots of fun, as you can well imagine...It's really hard to say goodbye. Really love you Linds...you'll always be my girl!

I believe in God the Father, Almighty..."

2006-02-21T12:27:00.000-06:00

This evening I will walk into the third year program we call the Ministry Internship. It's for those who have already had two years of discipleship and bible training under their belt -- or in their heads and hearts I hope. This semester I am leading them in a study of Christian Theology. We are using the book "Invitation to Theology" which simplifies the enormous task of Theological study by staying tied to the Apostles Creed. We are at "I believe in God the Father, Almighty..." I have pondering this discussion for a bit over the last 24 hours...and I'm ready to watch a TV show with them. That's right, we're going to watch the final episode of year #2 of "The West Wing"...an episode entitled "Two Cathedrals". I love West Wing for a number of reasons. I am a political junkie -- of the novice kind. I am intrigued with the process of politics and the power that goes along with it. This episode is memorable for the basic humanity that surfaces in the story. President Bartlet is the leader of the United States...the leader of the free world...of democracy. Yet, he is human...limited in his ability to actually be in charge. The writers captured this remarkably well in this episode that sees them wrestling with the nature of suffering and the notion of whether we can believe in God as both Father, and as Almighty. I wrote this following some thoughts on how to present this subject of God in my class tonight. It is a powerful episode that captures in gut-wrenching ways the difficulty of trusting in God in our humanity.

The previous episode ends with the news of Mrs. Laningham's death in an automobile accident. She has been with President Bartlet as his personal secretary, but also has been part of his life for several decades...first as a teacher in a private boarding school that Bartlet's father ran. Flashbacks take us to the tension and pain of his relationship with his father. Father was not a great word for Jeb Bartlet. His father was stern, unfair, unloving, demanding, and just a jerk. Some people relate to God as Father in that way also. But Jeb Bartlet grows up, becomes a Govenor, and then President of the United States. All the time, Mrs. Laningham accompanies his journey up the ladder. She is the voice of reason. The "I'll tell you the truth whether you want to hear it or not" woman in Jeb's life. She is a voice saying "I can't answer all of your questions...but I also will not diminish your desire to ask more". In witty dialog she is one person Jeb Bartlet loves and trusts...and so her death crushes him at the core.

The following is the words President Bartlet speaks in the Cathedral as he vents his anger at God following her death. It’s more than anger at her death, it’s also the pent up emotions of years struggling to comes to grips with his relationship with his own Father. It's the most powerful scene I've ever witnessed in my 50+ years of TV watching.

gratias tibi ago, domine.
Thank you, Lord.
“The first line is just a sarcastic, "Thanks a lot, buddy!"

haec credam a deo pio, a deo justo, a deo scito?
Am I to believe these things from a righteous God, a just God, a wise God?

cruciatus in crucem
To hell with your punishments! (literally "(put/send) punishments onto a cross")

tuus in terra servus, nuntius fui; officium perfeci.
I was your servant, your messenger on the earth; I did my duty.

cruciatus in crucem -- (with a dismissive wave of the hand) eas in crucem
To hell with your punishments! And to hell with you! (literally, "may you go to a cross")”

The words are so hollow...the scene is full of tension and emotion...just watch it sometime. What it highlights is this struggle we all have at times with the problem of God as both Father and Almighty. Someone once point blank labeled the issue: “If God is good, then he is not all-powerful, and if he is all-powerful, then he is not good.” We struggle, like Job did, with the mystery of God’s silence about “Why?”. We, as humans, want an explanation, and there is none. I struggled with my Mom's Alzheimers and with the countless deaths and diseases I encountered, along with the selfish sinfulness in humans over 35+ years of ministering.

“Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence which is not seen.” I’m cornered by one thought…Do I trust? Most of the time, Yes; but then there are times when I shake my head and cannot make the transition to real faith. I am struck by the words of the disciples when Jesus asked them if they were also going to walk away: “Where else do we go, you alone have the words of life.”

In this dialog, and our pondering there is something deeper: our feelings are real and they are ours. They cannot be glossed over with platitudes, even biblical platitudes such as “God has a plan.” President Bartlet confidently takes on a conservative radio talk show psychologist on her haphazard takes on Old Testament laws in one episode. He can wax eloquently about the true context and application of a homily from Ephesians (“be subject to one another”). He can take the church to task for not decrying the acts of those who bomb abortion clinics in the name of life and the Lord. But even he cannot resolve the seeming injustice that comes from Mrs. Laningham’s death.

It is my all-time favorite TV show…not just the whole series…but this one particular episode. It captures so wonderfully – and emotionally – the nature of our dilemma when it comes to knowing God as Father and as Almighty. It is class curriculum tonight

2006-02-18T08:10:00.000-06:00

Linda, Tertullian as a puppy and Me

What I love

2006-02-14T08:32:00.000-06:00

It's Valentine's Day...that immortal quest to remember what we love! Ahhhh...that's what I started thinking about this morning.
It was easy at first...I woke up to the same person I've slept with most of my Adult life -- My wife Linda! It's easy to love her...I can't even explain it more than that.
I went on thinking about this... My Son is sleeping in the next room...Yes, My children -- they are easy to love. Last Saturday, I awoke to a sudden realization -- I needed a mental health day, or at least a day away from this freaking computer! What to do? Shopping? No, I Hate shopping (unless it's for wine and computer stuff). "Linda, I know, let's drive down to Chicago, watch Greg coach his 5th grade basketball team, and take Kelly & Greg out for lunch." Kelly says, "Great..." And off we go...2 and a half hours down, one hour for basketball, one hour for lunch, and 2 and 1/2 hours back...what a neat way to spend a day -- one of my kids. That's another thing I love...My kids...
Lindsay's coming home soon!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I read her blog today....then read Chris' blog....then started reading other's blogs....My Steph's, EJ's, Mary's... I love my kids...I love the children I gained through their marriages -- I've got some really, really, really neat adopted into the family children: Thanks Greg, Sarah lovely, and Peter. I've got some suggestions to my kids: Lindsay, win the lottery and buy a second home in Wisconsin...come live 6 months here and 6 months back in England. Chris, I'm proud of you wherever you land, but I do hope it's not too far away. Andy, you continue to amaze me...thanks for loving me well. Kelly, I was struck all over again with how beautiful you are when I saw you Saturday...my, oh my. OH YEAH....LINDSAY IS COMING HOME!!!

But there's more...I love the people God has given to me as a gift. I've gotten an opportunity to "adopt" relationally a whole bunch of children -- the tribe! I don't care if they're in their 20's (and a couple of made it to 30)...Anything 30 years younger than me is still going to be one of the kids.
It hit's me...My life is very rich! I love lots of things, and highest on the list is people who make me very fulfilled.
I love lots of other things too... Coffee (especially early in the morning), Wine (doesn't really make any difference what time of the day it is :), Good books, Classical Music...and lots of other music also- Jazz, Rock, World music...

Isn't life much more full when you sit down to "remember" how richly God has loved us? Happy Valentine's day -- and in the words of Mama Cass: "This is dedicated to the one I love".

"24", and Days that Never End

2006-01-30T17:44:00.000-06:00

OK...I admit it...Linda and I are "24" junkies. I've watched this FOX network show every year now that it has been on...I think this is the 4th year. I have to ask myself the question: WHY? It is a frustrating show to watch. Jack gets drawn into an Apocalyptic crisis beyond all imagination and in the course of 24 hours...which translates into about 20 nights watching...and therefore, at least 6 hours of advertising...he has to save the United States, and therefore the world!!!! Not an easy task if you think about it...after all it took Jesus at least 3 years and then in the end over 3 days and 3 nights to accomplish "saving" the world.
What I've discovered is that time moves so slowly when it's being measured out minute by minute. If it's all in crisis, who could handle the stress of it?
Yet, sometimes that is what we get. We get one thing after another and time moves so slowly, as if minute by minute time grinds on and the crisis never does seem to get to the end.
I am so looking forward to eternity when time will be no more...I don't know if it's harps and clouds...I really doubt it. But I'll be happy that its way beyond the norm of 24 hour days. I love life, and love living, but if there wasn't any hope for the future of eternity, life would be one long "24" episode...yuck!

Relaxing and Reading

2006-01-26T10:32:00.000-06:00

OK, it's Thursday morning and I'm at "Cool Beans" a coffee shop near East Towne. My friend Dave Day arrived yesterday afternoon from Bristol, England, and he's doing some shopping -- as Lindsay would say, "At the Dave Day Memorial Mall"... Dave's the consummate bargain shopper. He has been coming to Madison to visit us for over 13-14 years now and he always takes the opportunity to do some bargain hunting.
I stopped with him at the first place he wanted to go -- Barnes and Noble. But the book I had recommended wasn't in stock, so he will let it go for now.
We went to the coffee shop because we were a bit early for the ten o'clock openings for most stores. I brought along my books and computer and decided I would relax and read while Dave goes on his next expidition. Which brings me to the "Relax and Read" part of this.

I had a chance to catch up on the blogs I have bookmarked, just to read/see what people have been up to of late. I loved reading from friends and family...and I love the visual imaginary pictures that I get in my head reading what they've said.
SO>>>
Lindsay: It was great to read your blog and the timetable of your birthday. Wow, my little girl is 25! A quarter of a century old...amazing. I wished there was a way to do a "Z-burt" from a few thousand miles away, but I'll wait for next month when you'll be home. I do miss you, and thanks for the visual of "Wotten-on-the-Edge"...(don't you love those English names). I was there once and I could visualize the place Pete took you to -- Hey, as well TGIFriday's. Happy Birthday sweetheart...you're beautiful.

Mary: Sorry for the chipmunk face...I hope your swelling goes down. A year from now the celebration will have to be that those cursed wisdom teeth (what sadomasochist thought of that title for those crooked incisors?) will no longer be a problem. I do hope you can eat something other than applesauce soon, but I do smile with the picture in my head of your pretty face with swollen chipmunk cheeks...sorry! :)

Chris: As always, I can't read your blogs and not smile. You should keep writing and polish that skill. You're a great story teller and I'd love to see you develop your gift over time. Missed you for dinner last night, but as always, you're lovely bride brightens every place she is in.

Eric: Great blog... as always, there's so much more that you could say, but why waste the words. Got a card from your mom and dad. Hawaii, wow...go ahead Sandy, rub it in, I can take it.

Neil: So the Toyota is biting the dust! Amazing, especially because I remember when you got it. That thing has put a lot of miles on the road...it's been pretty good, but seemed like it needed retirement a couple of years ago already...testament to your faith and perseverance to keep it running. What I love the most in the blog is the celebration for Si's birthday. When mine comes around, Zoe, I expect to see Happy Birthday written in the sands of some beach also -- well, not really -- but it was a cool picture.

OK...those were the ones I got to...Perhaps you've got a blog in reading this that I don't have...please let me know at elliottpollasch@yahoo.com where yours is located. I'd love to read it.

Dave is still shopping, so I'll go on to other Reading things:
currently I've started a number of books...all are interesting and I keep juggling the reading to keep them all somewhat fresh, while not getting any of them done!
Still, they are provoking me in good ways. SO...what are they?

1. "Velvet Elvis" by Rob Bell. Grade: Excellent. A good writer who had a neat non-religious way of talking about faith, life with God, love, forgiveness, hope, etc... Defintely a Yes!

2. "A Generous Orthodoxy" by Brian McLaren. Grade: Very Good. Provacative, part of the Emergent church movement. Won't agree with some things...maybe even a number of things...but I love being poked and prodded, and pushed around by someone who will make me think.

3. "God of the Possible: An Introduction to the Open View of God", by Greg Boyd (ok, Gregory). Grade: Very Good. Not a feel good book, but presents a view of God as sovereign that you & I haven't heard preached from the pulpit in most evangelical churches - probably ever! Makes you think, ponder, and re-evaluate some theological presuppositions.

4. "Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places...." (and goes on more), by Eugene Peterson. Grade: Very Good. Peterson is someone who've I've enjoyed reading over and over again. He, Philip Yancey, and Henri Nouwen's books populate my extensive library. This book is the first of five planned books on Christian Spirituality. I'm about a third of the way through it, but he's already "wowed" me with his interpretation of the link of John's first few chapters and Genesis 1-3! Worth the reading, but slow down and savor it like a gourmet dinner...it's not fast food!

5. "Invitation to Theology" by Michael Jinkins. Grade: Good. Ok, so all I can give a theology book is a good rating! What I like about the book is some genuine and fairly fresh looks at God through the window of the Apostle's Creed (which by the way wasn't written by the Apostles -- unless you're Catholic and believe in the Apostolic Succession of the office of the Papacy!). The down side of this book is that it is limited to the Apostle's Creed.

6. Lastly, add to this list the book "Wine"...which is a massive book that covers everything worldwide about wine...the grapes, the regions, the wines, the world! It's a fun book to pick up and read for ten minutes when I want my brain to rest, and I want to dream about being in beautiful places.

OK...Dave's not back yet, but I'm done. To all of you bloggers, I love reading you when I can...please come back often and tell me where you're at.

On bathing with your dog

2006-01-23T18:45:00.000-06:00

The old joke is "Did you hear about the dyslexic atheist who didn't believe in DOG? OK, bad joke. I just spent a weekend with a bunch of Christians...but it was a lot of fun! Most of them were Catholic...a few came from the Evangelical Christian side. Here we were, a bunch of Catholic Christians and Protestant Evangelicals, with a Catholic priest also. We were all at a Retrouvaille Formation weekend...a writing weekend for people who will "present"- i.e., they will give talks at the Retrouvaille marriage weekends to couples who come because their marriages are in trouble...often serious trouble. The success rate for Retrouvaille weekends is high...much higher than any other kind of intervention. The reason why -- in my humble estimation -- is that people who "present" are people whose marriages also were in crisis mode at one time.
OK...the weekend...it was great, and other things. If I were going to describe the weekend, I would use words like Wonderful, Hard, as well as Frustrating -- because we had to leave early -- and Painful, because we worked on the misery some more. Linda and I have come along way in our marriage, but it has been work, hard work, of which I'm grateful we got the opportunity to do, and have felt the guilt of "how did you ever let things get that bad" more than once. It was a hard weekend, that in the end, I feel personally "God met us" on it. Going to the weekend was hard, because I had to teach on Sunday...two services. I still had a wonderful time reconnecting with people, and surprisingly, I felt the joy all over again with listening to Frank and Julie tell their
stories...they are a wonderful gift to our Retrouvaille community!!!

I also felt a lot of joy in seeing Father Walt again. The last time I saw him was at our weekend, almost three years ago. He is a breath of fresh air, and I enjoy the way he models grace to people who are often hurting.

Oh yeah, the dog.
It was hard weekend in that it was tiring. But, "God met me" wonderfully in the end. On Saturday
night after I got home from Saturday's Formation day, I realized that I was "brain fried". When I got home I felt exhausted and yet I knew that I had to prepare to teach the next day. After about a half hour of futile thinking, I decided to take a jog with the dog and clear my head. We ran for about 20 minutes and when I got back it was almost 9. I decided to take a bath and soak in hot water. That's where I was, praying, asking God for insight and help in preparing -- in the bath tub, with
my eyes closed in prayer -- when all of a sudden, "Splash"...my dog jumped in with me! I said, "excuse me!!!" got up and dried off, got him dried off.

It was then that it hit me..."He just wanted to be with me...that's all". It was then I felt God say,
"Elliott you've been with me this weekend, I won't leave you tomorrow, relax."
Even though I was shot, I went to sleep with that assurance, and Sunday I taught...and although I never feel great after teaching, I honestly can say I felt calm inside...relaxed...and refreshed -- bathing with your dog...or is it dyslexic...God?

Remembering to Go Forward

2006-01-09T16:11:00.000-06:00

Yesterday, (Sunday Jan. 8) Linda and I went up to Randolph, Wi. to worship with, and for me to teach, our old congregational community called Randolph Evangelical Free Church. It was such a wonderful experience, even though life has changed for all of us a lot since we were there. We grew up as a young married couple, with young children, while serving pastorally in that church from 1977 to 1988. The eleven years of time cemented some wonderful relationships...people who we loved then, and still continue to love today.
The guy who led the worship: Wayne VanderGalien said it best: "When we said goodbye it was one of the hardest things we all went through and in some ways it would have been easier if it would have been a thousand miles away, but the fact that it was only 60 miles made it much more painful..." (my words)... I agree.
It's now been 18 years since we left, and visiting to teach in that place made it much more palatable, just because of the time lapse.
I spoke on "Remembering to Go Forward", partly reminiscing, partly teaching, out of Deuteronomy 8, where God keeps saying over and over again, "Remember"..."Do Not Forget"...."Remember"...
For me, Randolph has lots of good memories. It's where our family grew up, and although I'm grateful for what they received in their educations through Madison's schools, I know that there was something very simple and very safe about our family in a small town.
Yet, to be honest, I was lost in a wilderness towards the end of my time in leadership there. I think God had placed me there for a season, and for a reason, but in the end, I was very affirming of God's moving.
That's the hard part...I would have loved to move a bunch of the people from that community with me. That can never happen. I went forward, and God proved himself to me, to my family, and to the folks in Randolph over and over again.
Still, it's good to remember...and keep going forward.

New Year and Happy Sad

2006-01-03T17:25:00.000-06:00

Ok, it's now January 3...I've made it through the first of the year and celebrated with 6 hours of football on Sunday, and 6 more on Monday!!! The good news is the Badgers won...kicked Auburn butt!! No one gave them a ice cubes chance in hell; but they did it anyway. I watched the game with Andy and Linda. Then, in the evening, Andy and I watched the Notre Dame/Ohio State game...six hours yesterday. Previous to that, on New Year's Day, I watched the end of the Mike Sherman era and the Packers. They fired him...hey Mike, been there, done that...you'll survive. As a wacky prophetic aquaintance of mine told me two years ago -- "I've never met anyone worth their spit who hasn't been fired at least once in their life."
I said Happy Sad...I wasn't sad that Mike Sherman got fired. I feel badly for him; but then again he has a severance package of 3.2 million dollars for next year...he'll be crying all the way to the bank! I think Mike will be a coach in the NFL again. I could be sad for the 4 and 12 record the Packers had this year...but I'm not. The cup is half full when you realize we get the fifth pick in the next draft, which means we finally will get a quality pick in the next draft. I'm not sad because the season is almost over with...there is always next year to look forward to and the break for the next 8 months gives me time to focus on more important things than the 4 months of football offers me.
The fact is that most of life is Happy...AND, I don't mean that I have good "happenings" all of the time. It's my opinion that a lot of people base their happiness on their happenings. In otherwords, anyone can be happy if they get a lot of money...but then again, I have seen a lot of people who had positions of power, money, big homes, lots of material things...jet set, fly all over the world on vacations, etc...and deep down inside they are miserable people. Happiness isn't based on happenings!
NOW...having said that I am SAD about something that is happening. The SAD is Seasonal Affective Disorder -- a fancy way of saying the Sun hasn't shined through the grey skies for the last two weeks! In short, I'm suffering from the lack of sunlight. My daughter in England has had more sunlight than we have in Wisconsin...and everyone knows that the sun never shines in England during the winters (ok, it does shine at least once for a couple of minutes in January). On a serious side, SAD -- as sunlight deficiency is called -- is for some people a serious problem, so I don't mean to make light of the need. SAD is a part of the winter malaise that seems to hit us all. Part of it is chemical...we need Vitamin A(or is it D) that sunlight provides.
But, I'm not depressed...just hungry for Mr. Sun (or is it Ms Sun) to shine. It hit me today as I walked into the training center offices and a jet flew over on it's way to landing at Truax field. Normally I can look up and see a jet a couple of hundred feet or so off the ground and read the numbers on the side...this time I couldn't even see the Jet!!! I thought, I hope they can see the runway before they land!
SO...please pray for the sun to shine over Madison, Wisconsin. There is much to be Happy about...there is this one SAD thing going on.

Teaching Truth From TV

2005-12-28T17:14:00.000-06:00

I have been thinking...and thinking..."pondering" is the biblical, meditative, and intellectual word that goes with thinking. "Brain Frying" is the less than intellectual, meditative or reflective way of saying where I've arrived.
My head is clouded over with way too many thoughts...thinking at times strains my mind and gets me bound up in a franctic search for just the right way to think.
OK..so what's it all about?
Teaching...specifically teaching at my church once a month in 2006.
I hit upon an idea that I'm going to flesh out here...not necessarily because it will complete the circle and make it all come together, but perhaps some of you will help me think.
I'm thinking about teaching a series of messages from TV themes.
Let's start with "Lost". A story of a group of people whose airplane crashes and they find themselves on an island. That has potential. Are we a bunch of people who don't know where we are, don't know how or if we will ever be discovered, and therefore don't know whether to build with the future in mind, or whether to "hunker down" and just make what we have work?
The "Amazing Race". A group of people all racing around the world trying to survive each round so that they can advance to the million dollar payoff. It makes me wonder what it takes to get people to venture out of the safe confines of the west to really see the world. Mostly though I think of the idea of "running the race so as to win the prize" that Paul talks about.
"CSI" -- big show (#1 in all polls). I've watched it a few times. It's birthed several "CSI" offshoots....Miami, New York, Navy...all of them based on the idea of solving the mysteries of death. It speaks loudly of our need to solve the problems of evil...in their case it's all scientific, but there is enough to let us realize that science can solve the problem of evil.
"America's Home Makeover" -- a really feel good show about how needy people go from rags to riches in terms of their homes. I love watching people get a new home...wished it could happen to every poor family in the world. It's a weekly show on "grace"...we get what we don't deserve, and way beyond our imagination.
I don't watch a lot of TV. I watch "Lost" with Linda, and as well, "The Amazing Race". The only other weekly regular is "West Wing"...which I can't quite figure out yet how to make into a teaching theme.
I suppose ESPN should factor into this somehow, don't you? NCAA football, NFL football, some basketball (March madness), a little baseball (mainly during playoffs), but definitely should be a part of life somehow. At least my sons will agree!

Boxing Day and My English daughter

2005-12-26T15:32:00.000-06:00

It's "Boxing Day" - December 26th, the day after Christmas. For most Americans there is no celebration of Boxing Day. It is likely to get a curious "huh?" if we were to even mention it as a day. Also called "St. Stephen's Day", it is the second Christmas day in most of Europe, as well as our neighbors to the north -- that would be Canada.
It might have originated as a part of the Christmas celebration for the poor...mainly when business owners gave their workers Christmas bonuses in the form of fruits and goodies in boxes. It was, in England, a practice for workers to carry boxes to their employers on the day after Christmas where then employers would put coins in the box as year end gifts -- sort of end of the year bonuses. Another English tradition has it that the poor often worked on Christmas day and so the day after Christmas was their day to open boxes given to them by their Lords and hence was their Christmas celebration.
Interestingly, it was also a part of tradition that the Church often broke open their boxes in which people had given alms to the poor on this day after Christmas so that the coins to be distributed to the poor.
Americans celebrate boxing day with old-fashioned consumerism (don't we celebrate everything that way?).
It is the busiest "return merchandise" day of the year. The stores that sold a booty of pre-holiday merchandise throw open the doors to welcome a ton of it back and to hopefully sell out a whole lot more of discounted stuff in hopes that they can clear out their merchandise.

Well...regardless of what the purpose is, it is MY day to reflect upon my English daughter - Lindsay. I quite like the English. I have been to England quite a few times, dating back to my first trip in 1992. Little did I know that my trips to England would result in my daughter, Lindsay, meeting a Brit - Peter Osborne -- and the two of them getting married -- about 16 months ago. Last Christmas Lindsay and Peter came to the states -- what I call "home" -- even though it is not their home. Their home is in Bristol, England, or to be exact in "Almondsbury", which seems to be a very small village on a busy thoroughfare between Bristol and Thornbury. I loved having them here last year for our Christmas family celebration. I even made it a point to wish them a "Happy Boxing Day" -- which I had no idea of whether that was an appropriate greeting for that day or not.
This Christmas I had to settle for Lindsay and Peter via a webcam and the internet. Don't get me wrong, I loved seeing them on the web cam as they celebrated Christmas with us live through cyber-space. I am happy that I could see her face and watch her and Peter laugh a bit with us. The "us" was the rest of the family -- Kelly and Greg, from Chicago; Chris and Sarah, from Madison; Andrew, from right here at home; and of course Linda and I. We had gathered on Christmas eve day to celebrate: translated that means eat a lot of food, play games, watch some football -- ok, a lot of football, and have fun. We decided we'd open presents at night and so at 7:00 p.m. our time, 1:00 a.m. Christmas Day, Peter and Lindsay's time, we met online. The web cam worked wonderfully...and I loved every minute of it.
I had forgotten how beautiful Lindsay looks. I shouldn't have. I shouldn't have been surprised either at how much I wanted to reach across the web right into their living room, just so I could hold her for a few minutes and tell her that I loved her and missed her. I suppose that is what Dads are suppose to do; but I felt it ever so deeply that evening.
What I want to do is just let her know how much I love her and miss her...more than I can say even in a blog.

SO...Happy Boxing Day honey. I feel poor without you here. I love you and miss you, but I am also happy for you and Peter. The English, as far as I'm concerned, get a beautiful boxing day present.

Joy to the World

2005-12-06T17:32:00.000-06:00

It's a Tuesday evening and I'm at my Ministry Internship class. My compadre', Joe, is waxing eloquently on the Ministry Management Tool. While he teaches, I am thinking, pondering if you will, the Advent season we're in -- this season of Joy.
Yes, it's one of the older Christmas hymns of the Church...
"Joy to the World,
the Lord has come,
Let earth receive her king."
What precipitated my pondering was a result of what I will be teaching in a couple of hours from now in my class -- the early 20th Century of Church History, and more specifically, among other things, the life of C.S. Lewis. It was while re-reading some of Lewis' background and his writings that I once again ran across this theme of "joy"...namely, in "Surprised by Joy". From early moments in Lewis' life he had known moments of what he called joy; meaning, very precisely, a sweet aching of sensing -- and in that moment longing for -- a reality of life, light and beauty beyond ordinary experience. These aching moments of life were things that he believed were common and a person searching for them could discover them with frequency.
Joy...surprised by Joy.
Every Advent I'm surprised by the joy of pondering the incarnation of our Lord. It is a "joyous" season for me...fulll of light, full of life, full of beauty. The decorations, the carols, even the cheesy holiday films like "It's a Wonderful Life" all add up for me as a season of joy.
I think I'm a product of this from my childhood. I don't have lots of fond memories of growing up, but I have lots of joyous memories of Christmas. It wasn't because there were lots of presents...we weren't that well to do to have lots of gifts. But, it was a season of surprise, and a happy time in our household...a time of family, food and fun...the stuff of what Community is made of. So, I carried that into my adulthood and sought to replicate some of that in our own family life. We made it a fun season, and the fact that it was surrounded by a greater family time, music, celebration, and real reflection on the incarnation served over and over again to lead me to moments of JOY.
That is what provoked me as I prepared for this evening...something settled over me in my memories and I smiled...a warm joyous feeling settled in. I have pictures in my head of family time...of early morning times of pondering the incarnation, of music, of my "Christmas village", of cookies, sleds, snow, of Kelly, Chris, Lindsay, Andy and Linda that flood over my soul in ways that leave me feeling full of Joy. I only wished that this season lasted all year long...I don't have any excuse for why it doesn't...just a realization that it doesn't, and I wished it would. Still, right now, for this season...even though my family is somewhat scattered and I only have the memories...I am filled with Joy.

Thanksgiving & Advent

2005-11-26T10:42:00.000-06:00

This is probably my most favorite time of the year. Thanksgiving to Christmas - Advent if you will -- the time of the year that the Church worldwide (except Fundamentalists, Most Evangelicals and Charismatics, the groups I sadly most identify with) celebrates the Advent, or Coming, of our Lord Jesus -- The Word made flesh that dwelt among us.
I began this period this last Thursday with a celebration of Family and Friends. First of all, Thanksgiving morning, Lindsay and Peter called. They were at James and Kristi Jensen's place in a village north of London, England. Although separated by 4,000 miles and 6 hours of time, we had a chance to talk, catch up on life. The occaision of course is Thanksgiving.
Then Chris, Sarah, along with Paula, and Mary Barga came to the house in the late morning. Not too long after came Mom and Dad Barga, Michael and Kathy from Minneapolis. We ate this humongous meal of Turkey, Ham, Rolls, Corn, Green Beans, Sweet Potatoes, Mashed Potatoes, two kinds of Cranberry dishes, and topped it off a couple of hours after the meal with dessert: pumpkin pie, apple cobbler, and/or custard pie! We drank some wine, listened to stories and laughed a lot. Kelly called from Sterling to wish us a Happy Thanksgiving, which was timely since Linda was trying to reconcile her fear with her faith that Kelly was not a part of a train crash in Chicago...never can quite figure out some of the rationale behind our fears, but Kelly's call alleviated any misgivings Linda had and it was a nice "Happy Thanksgiving" from her to add to the festivities. Later in the evening we initiated the Barga clan into the "Great Dalmuti" game, hats and all. It was a great day of celebration, food, and fun.
Michael and Kathy stayed over thru Friday. They went shopping with Paula. Linda and I went out looking for a Christmas tree. We went to our favorite little tree farm, outside of Marshall -- the Hanson tree farm. There, we picked out a 10' tall Balsam. Brought it home, fit it in the tree stand and now it awaits Andy's light decorations and Linda's ornaments. Today, Linda is making cookie dough, we'll decorate the tree, and relax.
Tomorrow the Jensen clan will arrive and we'll do our annual cookie decoration get together. It is usually a noisy but fun get together.

All of this surrounds this season of Thanksgiving, and leads directly into this season of Advent. What is there not to love about a season of family, friends, celebrations and fun?
I sat this week and meditated upon my life in relation to Thanksgiving. Deuteronomy 8 is one of my favorite Old Testament passages and it is that because it's theme is "Remember"..."Don't forget"..."All that God has done for you..." It's true, that we are all prone to forgetfulness. I am prone to take things for granted, to assume, to expect, to demand, and to gripe and complain when things don't go the way I want them to. What is needed is daily doses of "thanksgiving". The simple need to say "Lord, thanks for all that I have received...for my wife and the 35 years we've been together, for my kids who are incredible and continue to humble me and make me grateful...for my friends and the joy they bring into life...for the simple, assumed things...our house, food, heat, health, job, life...life abundant and full of joy!"
All of these things, and more fill me with Thanksgiving, and then along comes Advent!!! "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel"...what a fantastic season this is.

Transitions and Patience

2005-11-16T08:45:00.000-06:00

I'm sitting in a room of young adults...twenty-somethings is the word I believe that is often applied to them...that's rather obscure and impersonal if I do say so myself. We are gathered for a time of reflection, meditation on scripture, and prayer. This half hour time in the mornings vary between nice soul preparation time for the day ahead to can we get this over with as quickly as possible. Today is a good time of reflection. It actually started on my morning jog with Tully. It snowed last night...the first snow of the year, even if it was only a dusting that left a few blotches of white dust on the back hill and in the field across the street to see...it still was the first snow.
Tully was enjoying the run. He scampered back and forth in front of me, behind me, from side to side. His joy was only interrupted by the excitement of chasing up a rabbit that moments before we arrived had probably been enjoying the comfort and warmth of its nest. Not after Tully and I showed up. He lurched rather suddenly from what moments before seemed to be just grass and ran across the lawn to escape the giant and his large hunting animal. Tully was taken quite aback..."what in the world was that" was suddenly, instinctively something he wanted in his mouth and he pulled the leash as far as he could go before realizing that I wasn't going to chase after that "thing", whatever it was. He kept running looking back at me wondering why I didn't want to go after it. I smiled and we kept running on.
For some reason, I began to think about that and how my tendency to run after things in life that aren't really worth it. I wondered if God had me on some sort of leash! Nah...it's freedom that marks us as his creation, not being an animal to control. Tully just doesn't know it is worthless to chase the rabbit, and to use the old expression...."You wouldn't know what to do with it if you caught it anyway." The problem with me is that I think I know what to do with everything I chase after.
While jogging, my mind goes in all sorts of direction. I pray some, but I also think. I began to think about transitions and patience. We use that word transition for all sorts of things. We use it of a woman in labor who goes into transition...which means a lot of pain...intense pain because the baby is coming down the birth canal and is about to be born. We use transition to talk about times in our lives when one season ends and another begins. For me transitions in life are sometimes painful, and need the tethering...the leashing of God. "A man's wisdom gives him patience..." (Proverbs 19:11). I've been in a two year period of transition. The hard part about transiton is that it does involve a certain amount of pain...birth always involves pain. It's mainly good...sometimes I wonder if I'm running after things that are worthless...hoping that I really am on God's leash...and praying for wisdom and patience.

A Quiet Soul

2005-11-12T18:43:00.000-06:00

It's dark now...this Saturday afternoon in mid-Autumn means the Sun has set early and while the evening news is just beginning, the outside is dark. There's something very quieting about Autumn. The days are short, the evenings long, and our world slows down a bit...at least in the Northern Hemisphere!
I love this season of cooling air, warm heat, short days and long nights. I find my soul begins to catch up as my body slows down. I need that. I am much too prone to think that my real self is in my performances, in my public busyness and the accolades of people. My soul is a jumbled mess of Me...my will, my desires, my passions, my heart, and more. I hit the Fall running so fast that I don't even take time to quiet my soul...then comes Daylight Savings time...Maybe we should call it Soul Savings Time! I don't know why it changes me, but I know what happens to me -- I slow down, and my soul is quieter, my frustrations more subdued, my expectations more realistic, and my desire for quiet strong.
I started playing Christmas music the other day. I just wanted to start preparing for Christmas in my soul first. I'm not thinking about shopping, but I am celebrating the coming of my Lord. And I read, reflect, think...just think! It's a wonderful time for a quiet soul.

Praying for Eyes to See

2005-11-07T11:44:00.000-06:00

I remember playing little league baseball. I started playing baseball when I was about 8 and kept playing until I was about 16. I was not a very good hitter, but I was a pretty good catcher so I ended up playing baseball for several years, even though I couldn't get the hang on hitting. I stopped playing in high school largely because I wanted to play golf, which I was much better at. I went on to college, then to Grad school and eventually got back to Wisconsin in my mid 20's, which led me back to playing recreational baseball. Here's the thing...all of a sudden I could hit. All the way through my little league, junior high and high school years I never could get the hang of hitting; but now all of a sudden I was hitting the ball and hitting it well. I played baseball through my 30's, getting the joy of playing softball with my sons until my late 40's. I decided to hang it up after realizing I still could hit, but kept wondering if falling over dead on the base paths from a heart attack in my old age was going to be a good way to go!
Anyway, what I realized -- sometime in my 20's when I started to play again -- was that in all of my early years my problem was that I always batted with my eyes closed! I realized that the difference was in my older years I kept my eyes open, and it made all of the difference in the world. I could see the ball, so I could hit it. Pretty simple, huh? I got to thinking about this. I kept my eyes closed, because as a catcher I knew the way the ball came to the plate, and I was fine as a catcher with all of my padding and the face mask, etc..., but when all of that was removed, I was pretty vulnerable and I was afraid. Fear led me to bat with my eyes closed. Not very smart, but understandable when you think of a child's desire to avoid pain. I began to wonder...in all of those years why didn't one of my coaches ever observe what I was doing and try to instruct me in the simple art of keeping your eyes open. I don't know...they simply didn't. Perhaps they were focused in -- as often leaders can be -- on performance. "C'mon hit the ball, you can do it...that's ok, next time..." It's encouragement without instruction. It has made me realize that fear needs to be addressed...we need to walk into our worlds with our eyes wide open.
Here's something to meditate on: 2 Kings 6:20 is one of those "wow" passages on opening our eyes. As well, so is Isaiah 42:5-7...
Oh God, I want open eyes!

Slugging it out One Day At a Time

2005-11-06T18:29:00.000-06:00

I remember reading Eugene Peterson's book several years ago entitled, A Long Obedience In The Same Direction. Translated this book is about faith living slugging it out one day at a time. I'm old enough to say that I believe in both the thesis of the book, and my translation of it. I wished it was true that our life of faith, the journey of faith, was smooth and always ascending. I wish there were no dark times...no dark nights of the soul. I don't like difficulties, and I don't like having to make choices that bring denial to my flesh. In otherwords, I wish we could always eat steak, mashed potatoes, fried foods with pies and other desserts to end it all with.

Life isn't always easy to navigate. Some of the things I have discovered is that it's a long journey...one for me that is now 56+ years and counting. There have been many times I failed...much more failures than successes! Which is why I'm more grateful for the words "Grace and Mercy" today than I've ever been before.
It was 34 years ago while a new believer struggling with walking it all out in faith, that my professor said the immortal words I've never forgotten: Any dead fish can float downstream. Not too eloquent, but profound. It is this never give in, never give up, never stop picking yourself up off the floor after failing again and again that counts. It's a marathon of faith we're running...the secret seems to be to just keep running!

All Souls Day

2005-11-03T11:49:00.000-06:00

Today is another of those "lesser well known" days in the Church's calendar. While All Saints Day barely is know, I doubt if most people even know about "All Souls Day". It's obvious that it follows All Saints but the emphasis is not so much on the Saints -- or remarkable people faith -- that the Church recognizes, but rather on the Souls, the people of God's creation...i.e., US. (I said US, not U.S.).
The soul is one of those remarkable things, and I dare say many people probably have a vague but very unrefined idea of what the soul is. But, it is important. I'm not going to claim that I know everything about the soul...but just reflecting upon the soul as the very center of our being...who we really are, and where the conjunction of our physical self and spiritual self come together might be the best way to describe the soul. Reflecting upon the soul biblically leads me to some interesting observations:

1. To Love the Lord your God with all of your heart, as well as your mind, includes the need to love him with your soul as well - Deut. 6:5 and 10:12
2. The picture accompaning this is a portrayal of Hannah, who in 1 Samuel 1 wept bitterly in her soul before the Lord for a child - 1 Sam. 1:10
3. The Psalms are full of references to the soul and include nice positive things like, "Praise the Lord O my soul, and all that is within me.", to the not so positive gut wrenching cry of "Why are you so downcast O my soul...?" -- There are 48 references to the soul in the Psalms alone.
4. The Prophet Isaiah speaks what many have felt when he says, "My soul yearns for you in the night..." -- Isaiah 26:9 (I usually yearn for God to help me sleep).
5. Jesus' words about the soul are often penetrating... "What shall it profit a person to gain the whole world and lose their soul?" and, "Do not be afraid of those who can kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather be afraid of the one who can destroy the body and the soul..." HMMM!

I could go on. It stretches my mind to think about my soul. I know that I need to take care of it. I once heard a story of an Indian guide who told his Westward bound American scouts that he needed to stop so that his soul could catch up to his body -- I understand that.
We need to care for our souls.
So, perhaps "All Souls Day" is simply a reminder that we need to take care of our souls...not to get too preoccupied with our desire to prove our worth by all of our "human doings" and instead celebrate God's life in us as "human beings". What do you think?
I leave you with he blessing of the little known book 3 John 2: "Dear friend, I pray that you may enjoy good health, and that all may go well with you, even as your SOUL is getting along well." :)

Pots, Pressure and Sick dogs

2005-10-31T20:48:00.000-06:00

It's that wonderful day..."All Saints Eve"...forget that Halloween stuff. That's for people who want to ignore their roots of faith.
Yesterday I spoke at Mad City on "Pots, Pressure and Perspective"...some musings on God's desire to form his character within us -- from 2 Corinthians 4:7. Paul's profound words, "We have this treasure in our mortal bodies -- jars of clay (pots) -- so that the surpassing power of God might be made visible in us." (my paraphrase) I couldn't help but note that God has this unique sense of humor that causes him to take the glory of himself and dress it up in the tackiest of costumes -- us. Pressure? Well, today that comes from our sick dog -- Tertullian. He's been sick all weekend. Between his vomiting and his diarrhea this very little left within him! So tonight we took him to the Vet clinic...third time in a week. Now he's on an IV, and scheduled for surgery tomorrow morning. The doctor discovered the mass of something in his bowels and I even felt it. A squishy section that felt a little lumpy -- about 2 inches long -- that the doctor assures me is the culprit. "He'll be as good as new by tomorrow evening." I don't Tertullian understands what is about to happen to him. He's about to be violated...all of it in the name of feeling better. That's his pressure. Mine is the $500 bill that is added to normal life bills.
So, back to 2 Corinthians...perspective. "Hard pressed, but not destroyed..." thank you Lord, I need to know that.

All You Saints Pay Attention

2005-10-25T10:57:00.001-05:00

I'm thinking about "saints" today. It is only a few days before "All Saints Day", a little known and not well celebrated event in the church today. Most celebrations like this are owned by the Catholics. They lay claim to the historic church events that fill their religious calendar every year. This celebration is still on the calendar, but it is in reality "All Saints lite" type celebration.
Why? Simply put the embarrassing incident of Luther's using this day as the time to post his propositions - debatable ones at that - 95 Thesis. He simply wanted to put the issue of Indulgences and whether or not they are part of the salvation God promised through the church. Well, little did he know the firestorm he would start.
Now, 488 years later we don't tend to celebrate this day much...perhaps the Lutherans do.
Evangelicals and Charismatics have an abysmal record for celebrating anything on the church calendar. Too bad.
There is much to say about "All Saints Day" and even if Luther had not made the day infamous, it would still be worth our time to reflect on the "great cloud of witnesses" that have gone before us.
As a student and teacher of Church History there are many Saints to be awed by...
The Early ones: Iraeneus, Tertullian, Cyprian, Origen, The Cappadocian Fathers, Augustine to name a few.
The Middle Ones: Patrick, Columba, Anselm, Francis, Benedict, Abelard, Aquinas, Hus, Wyclif, to name a few more.
The Reformers: Luther, Zwingli, Calvin, Count Zinzendorf, Melancthon, Bullinger, Knox, Cramner, Spener, to name a few more.
The Modern Ones: Bunyan, Edwards, Wesley(s), Finney, Wilberforce, Moody, Barth, Bonhoeffer, M L King and my namesake, Jim Eliot.

What they have taught me is that faith is stubborn perseverance -- all along trusting in God regardless of the circumstances and winds of compromise and comfortability that grow.
What they teach me is that "sainthood" is theologically true of every believer in Jesus Christ, but rarely expressed with greatness. NOW IF THE CHURCH I LOVE AND PARTICIPATE IN COULD ONLY LIVE LIKE IT BELIEVED ITS SAINTHOOD.
Well, anyway, Happy "All Saints Day"... Thank You Martin for your courage and love for Christ that moved you to risk it all.

Coming Up With A Message

2005-10-21T15:24:00.000-05:00

OK...no panic...it's at least 9 days until I will preach in front of 1000 people...and I don't have much of clue on what to preach about. It's not like I haven't any thoughts...I've had a bunch. The problem is when you have lots of thoughts and none of them stand out. OH for that "move of the Spirit" that I've talked about, but long for now.
So, perhaps an online blog will help sort it out...perhaps a divine connnection will be made and it will all become clear.
First thought was...can't remember the first one.
Anyway, some of the things I've mused on was...

"Killing a Lion in Winter"...an interesting story from David's life
"The Worship of the Broken"...from the story of the prostitute who annointed Jesus' feet.
"Remember to Go Forward"...from Deuteronomy and Numbers, when the children of Israel failed to remember and went backwards for forty years.
"Authentic Pots of Glory"...from 2 Corinthians 4 on how we are containers for God's life to a world around us.
"Wake up Stupid and Smell the Roses"...OK, that's not really a message title, it just seemed like a Christopher thing to do.

Anyway...inspiration hasn't quite struck yet...but I'm working on it.
OH Yeah, I've got a bunch of neat stories to insert if I can only figure out the message...Ugh!

Heart Exercises

2005-10-17T18:24:00.000-05:00

OK...I've re-started my blog...Inspired by my children. I love reading theres' but I don't necessarily know just what to say when I get to these times...SO...I hope this isn't just an exercise in futility.

It's one of those October days that has a bit of everything...this morning it was cool and rained, by this afternoon it was in the upper 60's and Sunny...a beautiful day. I love walking outside in weather like this.
I've been doing some jogging of late with Tertullian (Tully to everyone else). He likes to get out and I need the exercise. We tend to go out for about two miles, sometimes less. It's a good 20 minutes of heart beating faster than normal...I guess that's the goal. I need heart exercise. I turned 56 last month, not getting any younger. I also need the heart exercise that is spiritual. I'm in a bit of a funk of late. Funny, I'm teaching three to five times each week and talking about God at every session; but I've kind of hit a wall in the Spiritual side of me.
Everytime I think of the heart as the spiritual ME, I slow down...I think it's the Henri Nouwen effect. "The Way of the Heart", "The Return of the Prodigal Son", his many other writings remind me that MY heart is everything.

I love teaching...but I think about retiring.
I love the students...but I enjoy quiet space alone.
I love football....there aren't any "buts"!

Mom and I went up to Daniel and Sara Kuhfuss' wedding on Saturday. I saw old friends...naturally Bill and Sharon, but also Stan & Faye, as well as Arlan and Sandy. Arlan is doing well...or so it seems. He has now been in his wheelchair and unable to walk for almost 6 years. Still his "heart" seems good. He is looking at the positive side of it, and although honest about the desire to walk...he's not going to turn towards bitterness should it not come. I admire him for that. The church in Randolph is without a pastor right now and they wanted me to come back...but when they asked me all I could do was lower my head and rub it...it hurt to even think about going back to Pastoring.

My heart...that's what I'm musing on these days. It has plenty of exercise, but I'm working on not allowing it to get too hard!

That's it for now!

September News

2004-09-01T16:10:00.000-05:00

The weather has begun to shift, ever so slightly. Summer wants to hang on, but the shorter days and lower sun give little hope beyond these last couple of weeks of summer.
What a summer! We moved on July 15 to the new home in Cottage Grove. Then, after just two + weeks we took off in early August to England. There, on August 14, our lovely daughter Lindsay was married to Peter Osborne. I left the next day to return to Madison, whereupon, a quick wash of clothes and one night in my own bed, I returned to the airport to join 10 others from the training center and a trip to Madras (Chennai), India. We left on the morning of the 16th! I should muse on that sometime soon. Two weeks later I returned home -- literally gone 27 of the 31 days of August!
Linda got a new job at East High School. Unfortunately, it didn't start at the beginning of the school year, so she not only had to begin the year for Chavez, but she also had to allow her work at East build up and wait until she could come on Sept. 10.
I started work at the Training center in a new school year: 45 new students in the Discipleship Intensive, 35 returning students to do the Bible Intensive, and 15 more to do the Ministry Internship -- I feel humbled and privileged to be able to stand in front of them and talk about their relationship to God.
The last bit of summer is Andy's soon departure for England and his "gap" year study with Bristol Christian Fellowship's M6-8 course. He leaves in just a few days now.

2004-06-24T07:04:00.000-05:00

Derek, Pauline, Greg, Kelly and Linda with Lindsay...Goodbye!

2004-06-24T06:57:00.000-05:00

Lindsay and Andy As Lindsay Leaves

Saying Goodbye, Even For A Short While, Isn't Easy

2004-06-24T06:36:00.000-05:00

Yesterday we took our Lindsay to the airport and watched her as she walked away to get on the plane that would take her to her new home in Bristol, England. It is one of the hardest things I've ever done in my life.
There are so many things about Lindsay that I could say. She is passionate, lively, someone who sparkles and lights up the room when she walks in. She is loving, sensitive, charming, and tenacious. I've watched her grow up -- physically, emotionally, spiritually -- into a maturity that,as her father, makes me very proud. The last few days together were very sweet. We went to Triple Creek Ranch to be together as a family. At first it was just Linda, Lindsay and Andy along with myself. Watching Lindsay and Andy together is a real treat. Andy has grown up so much over the last couple of years. Soon he will join Lindsay in England -- for just a year -- and we will have two of our four children over there. Chris and Sarah along with Kelly and Greg joined us on Friday afternoon. We played games together and had a wonderful time to walk, eat, and just have fun.
After getting back home the time of preparation for leaving got things busy. Yet, we had time to go to Andy's restaurant on Monday evening where Andy served Linda, Lindsay, Chris and Sarah, along with myself our last meal together. Lindsay, Linda and I journeyed down to Ohare on Tuesday. We had some time to sit outside the airport hotel and play a game or two. Kelly and Greg came and we all went to the International terminal. There, a surprise -- Derek and Pauline Watts showed up to say goodbye to Lindsay. It was a bittersweet time that followed. It's hard to hug your daughter and know that she isn't coming back anytime soon. That she may never come back makes it even harder. Oh, I'll savor every opportunity for emails, phone calls, internet webcams, and even better face to face holidays; but it will never be what it was and that is a difficult pill to swallow.
Still, it is for this reason -- that our children grow up, love, live, and discover new lives -- that we as parents give them over to new adventures.
Lindsay, we love you...I love you...and miss you already. Have fun, Love God, Peter, and Us/Me...even if from a distance.

A Family Weekend at Triple Creek

2004-06-20T16:05:00.000-05:00

Rest, Sabbath, Renewal, Celebration...all of these have the same thing in common. The idea is to find enjoyment in our relationships. First our relationship with God the Father and then our relationship with each other.
On Thursday, Lindsay, Andy, Linda and I journeyed to No. Illinois and the retreat of Triple Creek Ranch. Chris and Sarah came on Friday afternoon and Kelly and Greg showed up on Friday evening. The perfect party!
It's not the first time we've been there since we started making family retreats back in 1991 or 92? This is a beautiful place overlooking a valley of wide open views. The house, Valley View, is tucked neatly into a southern exposure of trees on the side of a hill. It's quiet and beautiful...trademarks of retreat. No TV means a bit of withdrawal from noise, and no computers means a withdrawal from electronics. The Cell phone doesn't work in the Valley... which means we enjoyed the time together without any of the trappings of distractions.
We walked, talked, ate and played games...lots of games. "Killer Bunnies" is the favorite in our household these days and it travelled with us. We celebrated... Celebrated Greg's birthday, Father's Day, and Lindsay!
Lindsay is the reason why we went there. She has but two days left before she is off to live in England. We will see her in August, but it will be at her wedding. So, we're happy to have the time to just celebrate her in our family. I for one will miss her more than I can ever write or say... then again, so will everyone else.
It was a sweet weekend and I'll not forget the fun and sweetness of family sharing a memorable weekend together.

Graduation - Andy and Others

2004-06-14T13:09:00.000-05:00

Our son Andrew graduated yesterday, June 13, 2004. He is the last of our 4 kids to graduate from James Madison Memorial High School. We started this journey of children and school almost 25 years ago when Kelly entered school as a Kindergartener. Then after she began high school 9 years later we went on another 16 year streak of continuous high schoolers.
It's so strange to think no more school events: no parent-teacher conferences, no last minute school projects, no $20 here, $50 there...no football, soccer, or band concerts or major and minor school events...25 years, and the journey has finally ended.
I don't feel old, but I do know that I'm much further down the road than when we first begun.

Congratulations Andy... we're very proud of you. You made the journey at the end a lot sweeter because of your character and values. I enjoyed watching you do your Senior year and I'm very proud of you. I'm also proud of your friendships. Watching Kyle and Andy Pratt, along with your other friends is a real privilege.

I watched with great interest the many kids who graduated yesterday. I couldn't help but muse inside about several things:
1) The kids with names two difficult to pronounce -- Hmong, Vietnamese, Chinese, etc... and wondered how those who had emigrated felt having gone through the school system and getting their high school diploma in America?
2) The minority kids whose families raised quite a ruckus when their names were announced and they strutted across the stage to get their diplomas. I thought about how subdued most white kids and their parents/families were (some exceptions, including ours which cheered loudly for Andy and his friends). I wondered if the minority kids' families were just thrilled that someone in the family showed promise...someone did something of significance in an otherwise difficult life?
I don't know if either of these are true observations or not...they simply represent some musings about the character of others at our Son's high school graduation.

2004-06-14T11:45:00.000-05:00

Our Family, minus Peter (in England) and Me (taking the picture)

2004-06-14T11:27:00.000-05:00

Here He is...Andy, Graduate of JMM Class of 2004

Who Are We?

2004-06-13T11:56:00.000-05:00

Hi,
Elliott and Linda Pollasch. We lived for 16 years in Madison, Wi. Raised four children: Kelly, now 29 is married to Greg Barton and lives in Chicago, Il. Chris, 28, is married to Sarah and lives in Madison. Lindsay, 23, is about to be married to Peter (August 4, 2004) and will live in Bristol, England. Andrew is 18, just graduated from high school, and is about to attend a Discipleship school in Bristol, England for the school year 2004-2005.
We, Elliott and Linda, are moving to Cottage Grove, Wis. on July 15, 2004, leaving our home on Walden Way in Madison after 16 years. While we loved our home in Madison and raised our children here, we felt it was time to transition to a new home that allows us to return to small town roots that we so loved as a young married couple.
I, Elliott, teach in Mad City Training Center, a discipleship community training center for young adult Christians who are seeking a more solid foundation for their faith and their future life, career, mates, in Christ.
Linda is an elementary school secretary with the Madison School District and will remain at her job for this next year.
That's our family, and that's who we are....

Elliott's Muses

Goodbye Norb

2007 -- Here We Go Again

Advent Meditations for Week 4

Advent Meditations – Week 4, December 17 – 25

Sunday – December 17th

Monday – December 18th

Tuesday – December 19th

Wednesday – December 20th

Thursday – December 21st

Friday – December 22nd

Advent Meditations – Week 4, December 17 – 25

Sunday – December 17th

Monday – December 18th

Tuesday – December 19th

Wednesday – December 20th

Thursday – December 21st

Friday – December 22nd

Saturday – December 23rd

Sunday – December 24th, Christmas Eve

Silent night, holy night. Shepherds quake at the sight Glories stream from heaven afar Heavenly hosts sing Alleluia!

Christ, the Saviour is born Christ, the Saviour is born

Monday, December 25th, Christmas Day

Saturday – December 23rd

Sunday – December 24th, Christmas Eve

Silent night, holy night. Shepherds quake at the sight Glories stream from heaven afar Heavenly hosts sing Alleluia!

Christ, the Saviour is born Christ, the Saviour is born

Monday, December 25th, Christmas Day

2nd week of Advent

Advent Meditations – Week 2, Dec. 10 - 16

Monday -

Tuesday –

Wednesday –

Friday –

Saturday –

At the end of week 2, one last thought from Zechariah:

Black Friday Laughter

Happy Birthday Kelly

Early Snow - Smile!

All Hallowed Eve

Granpa Elliott

A Sabbath Saturday Afternoon

Four weeks into it

MyBrother & Foggy Walks

Summer Over, Yeah!

Changes, Changes, Changes

Colorado Fun

Peninsula Camping Expedition

World Cup Mania

New Wineskins? It's Still a Container

DaVinci, DaVinci, DaVinci - What have you Done?

Celebration Time! Yea Chris

Talkin' at em

Daughters of Eve...Sons of Adam

Relationships...it's what makes life interesting!

Eatin' Crap

Lindsay's Trip Home

I believe in God the Father, Almighty..."

What I love

"24", and Days that Never End

Relaxing and Reading

On bathing with your dog

Remembering to Go Forward

New Year and Happy Sad

Teaching Truth From TV

Boxing Day and My English daughter

Joy to the World

Thanksgiving & Advent

Transitions and Patience

A Quiet Soul

Praying for Eyes to See

Slugging it out One Day At a Time

All Souls Day

Pots, Pressure and Sick dogs

All You Saints Pay Attention

Coming Up With A Message

Heart Exercises

September News

Saying Goodbye, Even For A Short While, Isn't Easy

A Family Weekend at Triple Creek

Sunday – December 17^th

Monday – December 18^th

Tuesday – December 19^th

Wednesday – December 20^th

Thursday – December 21^st

Friday – December 22^nd

Sunday – December 17^th

Monday – December 18^th

Tuesday – December 19^th

Wednesday – December 20^th

Thursday – December 21^st

Friday – December 22^nd

Saturday – December 23^rd

Sunday – December 24^th, Christmas Eve

Silent night, holy night.
Shepherds quake at the sight
Glories stream from heaven afar
Heavenly hosts sing Alleluia!

Christ, the Saviour is born
Christ, the Saviour is born

Monday, December 25^th, Christmas Day

Saturday – December 23^rd

Sunday – December 24^th, Christmas Eve

Silent night, holy night.
Shepherds quake at the sight
Glories stream from heaven afar
Heavenly hosts sing Alleluia!

Christ, the Saviour is born
Christ, the Saviour is born

Monday, December 25^th, Christmas Day