I’ve been working on a Christmas post in a new program called Sway. Here’s my first try. (Looks like you need to scroll to see it all. )
I think you’ll enjoy it.
I saw this news article and was surprised to learn that deaths from alcohol misuse, not counting traffic and assault related ones, are still greater than for heroin and cocaine, even with the recent alarming increase in deaths from these later drugs. Here’s the link to the article.
Since the country of Chile banned abortion, the death rate among women has plummeted drastically.
“Peace on earth…”
This morning’s message spoke of the dream of peace that began with the angel announcement to the shepherds on that first Christmas night. Often in our warring world, that ideal seems so far away. But it is up to us to put it into action anyway. Here is a comment by famed Catholic writer Henri Nouwen on the same subject.
Henri Nouwen speaks to our time…
The marvelous vision of the peaceable Kingdom, in which all violence has been overcome and all men, women, and children live in loving unity with nature, calls for its realization in our day-to-day lives. Instead of being an escapist dream, it challenges us to anticipate what it promises. Every time we forgive our neighbor, every time we make a child smile, every time we show compassion to a suffering person, every time we arrange a bouquet of flowers, offer care to tame or wild animals, prevent pollution, create beauty in our homes and gardens, and work for peace and justice among peoples and nations we are making the vision come true.
We must remind one another constantly of the vision. Whenever it comes alive in us we will find new energy to live it out, right where we are. Instead of making us escape real life, this beautiful vision gets us involved.
Choir singing is not as popular as it once was except perhaps in black churches. But my wife and I have always tried to bring people together to sing as a choir for special holidays and events. JoAnne arranges for and directs the choir while I sing tenor or in later years, bass.
I have always enjoyed singing in choir. I have been reflecting upon why.
1. I simply enjoy harmony. Whether created by multiple vocal parts or multiple instruments in an ensemble, harmony is a pleasure to hear and even more pleasurable to be part of making. If you have the ability to sing harmony, it is very fulfilling to do so.
2. Church choir singing gives the added blessing of filling one’s mind with inspirational songs. I often find myself singing the choir song we practiced in my mind on other days of the week. There aren’t very many time investments that help put a song in your heart like choir singing does.
3. There is a great deal of camaraderie in a choir. Like any other task-oriented small group, it provides a place to belong, some wholesome banter, a growing relationship with fellow group members, and a sense of purpose and identity. In fact, in a small choir, one feels quite close to your section singing partners as you strive together season after season to sing your part.
4. For a church choir, there is the joy of presenting the number we have practiced during church service. Sure, we may be a bit nervous about doing well, but we are most interested that those who hear are inspired by the message we are trying to bring in music. When we receive feedback that our work has inspired and encouraged others, we are blessed by that.
5. Singing in choir uses a gift I have. By contrast, right now I am not using the gift of trombone playing that I have and I feel bad about that. My ability will slowly deteriorate. But on the other hand, when I sing in choir, I use my singing ability, I keep up that skill, so that I am ready for new opportunities to use it. As a Christian, I believe I am accountable for using my gifts for the benefit of others.
6. Singing in choir expands my knowledge of Christian music. Many of the songs we learn are fresh and vibrant expressions of our faith that I have not heard before learning them in choir.
7. Being a part of the choir has been a starting point for invitations to sing in numerous other types of groups. Men’s quartets are a riot. I have sung in a massed choir where choirs from several churches joined together, a great experience. I was asked to sing the solo part for “He’s Alive” on Easter Sunday while the choir provided back-up, an experience I will never forget. One year our choir was videoed and put their Christmas cantata on television. I have sung for live nativities and on “living Christmas trees.” All these experiences and more came to me because I sing in choir.
Fox journalists did much better keeping the debate on topic and they did not use the questions to attempt to make the candidates squirm as CNBC journalists did in the previous debate.
I may be in a minority, but I still like John Kasich the best by far. Kasich shows that he knows what he is doing in government and as a leader. He is the only one with experience in government to match Hillary. He might be prone to an occasional gaff from a political point of view like tonight’s one about finding “those who could afford it.” However, it is clear that Kasich, more than any other candidate knows the executive role of weighing competing options in a political and government situation. One of his best lines was, “On the job training for President of the United States has not worked.” I also like his appreciation for good values.
Rubio has some fresh ideas that sound wise. He is very eloquent, but Rubio could be wiser in his words. He attacks Democrats more than I like and disrespects Putin. One should not call a man a “gangster” that you might be in a position to have to negotiate with someday. I like Rubio’s appreciation for traditional values. I like Rubio for VP. He would appeal to the Hispanic vote and perhaps help the party have a strong unifying candidate in the future, something they need.
I don’t see Rand Paul as a viable candidate but I like him in the debate as he is not afraid to be politically incorrect. He is very knowledgeable about money; it appears to be his focus. His debating keeps the others more honest, and he does not back down. But his libertarian views are too far off center to be electable.
Carson is a great guy but is trading on being a great guy and very likeable. Personally, I do not like flat tax ideas. I believe they are a way to put a greater burden on the middle class. His ideas do not seem to be specific enough in many areas and on foreign policy he is naïve. I admire his Christian faith. However, I continue to feel that he does not have the right experience to be President and to me it shows.
Trump says all the things that appeal to the most reactive part of the Republican base. But some of his positions are not doable – sending all illegal immigrants back for one. He plays on all our fears. He also has a huge ego, which is not a good thing in a leader. Some of what he says on economics is correct such as the imbalance of trade being a problem and the need to bring jobs and money back to our country. But he would be a terror to foreign policy. Other world leaders would distrust him and hate him. He would be the worst foreign policy president in history. Trump would also be offensive to Hispanic voters at election time. Trump is just not the most electable candidate. Trump could not get along with Congress either. Government is not like business; you have to work through people with independent agendas whose salaries you do not control. You can’t just fire them and put in a more cooperate puppet.
Cruz is very well-spoken but I think abolishing the IRS is a ridiculous idea. Such a wild tax overhaul as he suggests has no chance of success in Congress. However, he is one of the best debaters every time. He is another one who wastes no opportunity to attack Democrats. I do not like Cruz’s position on immigration. Brandishing the “amnesty” word is meaningless political posturing. He would be offensive to Hispanic voters. Cruz is the one who seems to least understand the concept that the next leader of an organization must seek to build on what has been done before. Planning to step in and make a clean sweep of everything your predecessor has done is usually stupid. In most organizations, there is too much inertia to do such a thing anyway. This is especially true in the US government.
Jeb Bush’s economics, unfortunately, sounded like traditional Republican friendliness to the wealthy. Bush does well on immigration and on foreign policy. He and Carson come across as the gentle ones in a field of aggressive types. Carson seems to be liked for it, Bush does not.
Forina is a good debater but has no government experience. In politics and foreign policy, she is naïve, for sure. She also spends way too much energy attacking Democrats rather than enunciating her positions. However, she could be right that if she were on the ticket, say in the VP spot, she might help the ticket run well against Hillary.
My wife found this excellent article with five very wise observations and parenting tips for families in today’s world. All of the five are excellent. I recommend it.
http://www.crosswalk.com/family/parenting/kids/5-ways-you-are-ruining-your-child-s-life.html
The first one about the effect of the priority of amusements for children today is also a reflection of how families think about getting through the moment rather than thinking about the long-term effect of what is happening. This is also the case with the lack of putting priority on practicing our faith and with not putting priority on time for our marriages. Perhaps it is up to the older generation who have more time perspective to remind in tactful ways of the long-term view. But taking the longer-term perspective also needs to become more of a cultural habit of our society than it currently is whether the issue is family finances, raising of children, considering divorce, or professional growth.
Categories
An interview with a former homosexual
I highly recommend this article and interview. This represents a perspective that is not being allowed to be heard today because of political correctness.
https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/ex-gay-homosexuality-is-just-another-human-brokenness
As one who dabbles in gardening, I like to keep track of first frost dates. Here in northern CT, this has been a wonderfully warm fall and we have not even been close to a cold night until the last two nights. There has been frost in each of them. I went out on Saturday to do the things that gardeners do on the last day before frost. I gathered green tomatoes and cut zinnias, marigolds, daisy mums, Shasta daisies, and a few other flowers for a couple last fresh bouquets. Never mind that I hadn’t really picked many until then. It’s the sense that it’s the last time I’ll have that opportunity until next year. More then once I’ve been known to go out with a flashlight to get those last minute items. In fact, I picked the marigolds in the dark this year after arriving home from a church event. The first frost seldom arrives on a convenient night. Like judgment day, or consequences from bad habits, first frost descends into the schedule just when you wish it wouldn’t. Blessed are those who have been listening to the weatherman ahead and those with a little margin in their schedule so they have time to do the last minute things. It reminds me of Jesus’ words concerning his second coming, “It will be good for those servants whose master finds them watching when he comes” (Luke 12:37 NIV 2011).
Name the heroes not the criminal
Our hearts are grieving for the families affected by the tragic shootings in Oregon. Once again, the ordinary people who were there became extraordinary heroes. On Facebook, one person nominated as the most courageous person in America the second person in that room who was asked by the shooter if they were a Christian and answered yes anyway. I would like to know about that true martyr for our faith. I also applaud the Army vet who charged the shooter. I pray for Chris Mintz’s recovery from his wounds. These are the names I want on my lips, not the name of the shooter.
But learn from situation
As unpleasant as the task may be, it is important for the prevention of further such incidents that we learn about the perpetrator. Once again a person whose mental health was questionable had unwise access to guns and used them against innocent people in a place where he would not encounter armed resistance. He wanted to achieve media notoriety. I learn from the news of his hatred of Christianity. I believe he was also from a single parent home, an additional risk factor. In an eerie parallel to Sandy Hook, his mother was fascinated with guns. His actions also indicate character issues, lack of respect for others, no compassion, and insensitivity to bloodshed and violence.
Mental health is a difficult issue
People will wring their hands and ask, “What can be done?” Politicians will point to gun control. Indeed, there is work to be done in the area of screening access to firearms for those whose mental health records are questionable. But that is a very difficult agenda in a land where we cherish individual freedom. Families cannot even get help for those whom they know are mentally ill because the sufferer hasn’t done anything illegal yet. By the time they have it is too late either for them or for others. Similarly, families and friends of Alzheimer victims are powerless until either the sufferer is hospitalized for other reasons or a caretaker is hospitalized for injuries, even though the ability to choose of their loved one has declined past the point of safety for all concerned. The issue of mental health in America is much broader than just the gun control aspect.
Learning to value the valuable not the familiar
But almost no one will talk about the deeper issues involved here. Why is a mentally ill person like this shooter thinking that it is more desirable to become infamous than to remain one of the crowd? Might it be partly because we as a culture give too much adulation and credit to those who happen to appear regularly on television? Who even knows the names of those who found movements of charity? Who notices those who head up cancer research? Teachers are more likely to be blamed for low scores than given credit for dealing with increasing numbers of special-needs students. Our society does not know its real heroes! It adores people whose faces simply appear in movies and on TV rather than sorting out those whose character and achievements truly deserve recognition. There is something very wrong with how our culture rewards people based only on media exposure.
Media that considers its effect, not just its click numbers
I have been pleased with the effort of some news organizations to follow the lead of the Oregon community where the shooting happened and attempt to front page the names of victims and heroes while barely mentioning the perpetrator. This is a wholesome trend because it considers the effects of the way the news is covered. It counters the usual trend where media is driven by clicks, not by value. To make a lasting difference, there will need to be leaders in media and government that desire to set a course for the moral uplift of America. Negative portrayal of Christians in media today has to be contributing to the culture’s sad turn toward ungodliness and rejection of the Christian heritage of our country.
Needed: A resurgence of the fear of God
I have also noted before and repeat again that one thing that needs to change in our society in order for the culture of violence to change is this. There needs to be a revival of the fear of God including teaching about the accounting that each person must give to God after they die. People who kill others and then commit suicide think it is over. Jesus clearly taught us that it is not over (John 5:28, 29)! Our accountability for our actions has just begun. We may have escaped earthly accountability but we cannot escape God’s judgment. “We know him who said, “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” and again, “The Lord will judge his people.” It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God” (Heb. 10:30-31 NIV 2011).
Violent programming programs brains for violence
Finally, to change the violent climate of our country, we must stop loving violence in our entertainment. The Bible warns that cultures that love violence will be dogged by it. “Since you did not hate bloodshed, bloodshed will pursue you” (Ezek. 35:6 NIV). When children grow up watching hundreds of murders on television and committing virtual murders in video venues every day, why should we be surprised if some people on the margins whose ability to separate fiction and reality is impaired and whose ethical intelligence is very low commit real world mayhem? Is it not probable that if violence had not been pre-programmed in by media habits, then their acting out would manifest entirely differently?