Category: Who Am I

Posts to help folks get to know me

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Americana Journal Who Am I

Christmas Card Traditions

JoAnne and I still very much enjoy Christmas cards.  We send them and we like to receive them too.    Most of the cards we receive are refreshingly beautiful too.  We’re one of those couples who write the annual Christmas letter, now complete with color pictures, and copy it onto Christmas stationery to include in our cards.   We do this because we know how we are disappointed when we open a card from an old friend only to find nothing inside but a signature, perhaps even a pre-printed one. 

Cards feature Christmas pictures

 

   It’s a retro thing, I guess.   Christmas cards just seem a little more personal than the e-touch.  They also fit with the season; email happens all the time.  We’ve experimented with moving our letter to email and saving all that money on stamps.   That works, I suppose, but it just doesn’t have the same feel.   I came from a home where we hung the Christmas cards around the wide hallway entrance to the old parlor.  There were always enough of them to go all the way up one side across the top and down the other side.  As I think back on it, it was like our family Christmas was surrounded by extended family.  It was shared in some small way by a life-time collection of friends and loved ones.   So JoAnne and I have returned to more cards and less email. 

We also have kept track of many friends over the years through our Christmas cards.  Many friends we have only written once each year, but that communication opened the way for a visit, or a longer letter, or a phone call or email conversation at a later time.   Some very good friends we were sad to lose track of because they moved or did not return our cards.   Sometimes, by perseverance we would find a good address again through a mutual friend. 

We always try to pick cards that focus the true meaning of Christmas and include verses of Scripture.  It is one more way to help us remember the first Christmas and our reason to celebrate; and to share that focal point with our friends and family too.

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Americana Journal Who Am I

Alliance Bank Stadium and Community Wesleyan Church

It’s October and the Major League Baseball play-offs are beginning already.   It reminds me that I was happy to attend the last home game for the Chiefs this summer.   By now, I’ve forgotten the score,  but  I remember the atmosphere and the good feeling of being at the ball park.  I think about it as I watch the Yankees beat the Twins on TV.  As good as TV coverage is, it’s just not the same as being there.  When you are in the stadium, you feel part of the action and part of the team’s extended family—its fans.   When you like baseball, there’s just something about being at the park watching.   The field was immaculately groomed.  I love the new real grass field.  The food was great–white hots are the best deal and they were super.  I bought a new cap to advertise that I’m a fan.   And it turned out to be fireworks night too, which I didn’t know when I went.  (I looked the game on the website.  The Chiefs beat the Redwings 7-3 on 9-2-10)   It’s always nice if the team wins.  But you want to be there anyway whether they do nor not.    I took a few snapshots that turned out okay considering the level of camera I use.

I started thinking – dangerous, I know.    I hope people who identify themselves as Christians feel like they want to be at church too—like they want to be in on the action; like they are part of an extended family, because they are.   They are on Christ’s team.  Whether it’s a big Sunday in the church schedule or an ordinary one, whether the pastor hits a home run with his sermon or strikes out, I hope they are just glad to be in God’s house; sensing His presence, offering their own praises, saying their own prayers encouraging others, and generally adding to the excitement of the moment by being there.    It’s what fans do.   And some morning – just anytime –there might turn out to be fireworks of a different kind – a time when God makes his presence known in a special way to you or to the congregation.   You’ll forget most everything else about that service, but not your own encounter with God.    And you will want more of those touches.

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Journal Who Am I

Why I Signed the Manhattan Declaration (Sep 8, 2010)

 

Today I decided to sign the Manhattan Declaration.   The time has come for Christians to speak out strongly in unison about these values that are essential without clouding the picture with denominational exclusives and sub-culture preferences.   I was very drawn also to the way the declaration’s preamble linked the causes we are speaking out about today to some of the high moments in the history of Christianity.  Indeed, when I sign it, I do have a sense that I am standing in the greatest strands of Christian tradition.

I signed, first of all, because the three causes are ones with which I wholeheartedly agree.

  1. Every human life is a creation of God from conception and is to be respected as such.   As the Psalmist writes, “You created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.  I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well” (Ps 139:13-14 NIV).  Every day God gives us until our natural death is a gift of God, and comes to us with “good works prepared in advance for us to do” (Eph. 2:10).   This is the Christian way and has nothing to do with country or politics.  Its truth stands prophetically opposed to any government at any time in history that covers its hands in violence and bloodshed, whether obviously or more silently by implication.
  2. Marriage is defined as a covenant union of one man and one woman for life.   It cannot be defined otherwise and be the same product.   It began in the Garden of Eden.    It was blessed by Jesus with his own presence in Cana.    It is a covenant that God uses to illustrate the relationship of Christ to the church (Eph. 5:25-32).   It has been under assault for years and now is in critical danger of official redefinition.  I believe that Christians need to stand together in the way they live, and pray about and stand up for the Bible’s idea of marriage.
  3. Lastly, religious freedom is a precious gift that came to us in our country because so many from so many different faiths were part of our fledging nation in its beginning.    They recognized that freedom of conscience was a divinely assumed parameter of Scripture.   So they made it a pillar of our system of government.   Today it is under direct attack by the “politically correct” crew.    What is not being made clear in our country today is that our Christian faith is the only safe foundation for our freedom.   Other great world faiths have not resulted in the potential for tolerance of diverse faiths that American Christianity has.   We need to recognize that preserving our Christian heritage is essential to the continuing of our freedom of religion.  

 

These three causes truly need our support today.

I do not need to repeat the work of the declaration.   But let me add that in my work as a minister of the gospel, I have seen the decline of marriage from several angles.  It is frightening.   Divorce is more frequent.   Promiscuity is a way of life especially among many twenty-something’s.  More and more children are born outside of marriage.   The number of marriages I have personally been asked to perform has fallen steadily over my years of ministry.   Today, many want to teach an outright falsehood by suggesting that somehow homosexual unions are the same as heterosexual.    If they were, why do homosexuals often imitate the heterosexual pair?  If they were, why don’t statistics concerning happiness come out equally well?   And today, we are in danger as pastors of not being able to say how we feel about that subject and others as has already happened in Canada.   This is just one reason why we need to speak out in defense of religious liberty. 

The success of these causes will require a unity across all brands of Christian faith.

It is high time that we became more creative in answering Jesus’ prayer for our unity.  “May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me” (Jn 17:23 NIV).   I think all of us recognize that part of the reason for the powerlessness of the church in today’s world is its divisions.    To take one small example, if a media person wanted to call someone to represent the church on a given issue in a given city, who would they call?   The truth is, we couldn’t even advise the media what to do ourselves.   There are probably three ministerial associations at least; and the largest churches are often not even represented in them.  No wonder we have so little voice.   So the Manhattan Declaration gives Christ’s Church a chance to come together across all those artificial lines and speak out with one voice.  I want to be part of that.  

You can speak out too.

If you have been impressed to check up on the Manhattan Declaration with a view to joining in yourself—and I hope you have—I have added the website to my blog roll.  The sign-in process is simple.  You do not have to join the community to sign the declaration.   Let’s work together to stand up for truth!

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Americana Who Am I

A Cooper at the State Fair

Few things say Americana quite like a fair in August.    When I was a boy, I was in 4-H and since I lived on a dairy farm, my project was raising dairy cattle.   Each year we showed the cattle at the fair.    I was assigned to care for them; so I literally lived at the fair, sleeping in the hay by the cattle, for the week of the Bath fair, one of the oldest fairs in the US (http://steubencountyfair.org/).  

JoAnne also reminded me that one of our very first dates, the first summer we met, was to the Bath fair.    Later we started visiting the NY state fair, beginning a tradition for us that continues today   (http://www.nysfair.org/).   One of my favorite stops is the Agricultural Exhibit Building.   And one of our favorite things about it is the way it features old time skills and crafts that are being lost today.  

This year I was fascinated by a young man, David Salvetti, who was showcasing the old-time cooper’s trade.   He was fashioning a wooden bucket.   The conversation moved to whether or not the bucket would leak.  I suggested that the swelling of the wood in water would seal it.   He instructed me that if it was well made, it would not leak without relying on the swelling of the wood; and that if it were shoddily made, it would leak even with the swelling and he quickly and clearly showed me why.   I was very impressed.  David, who hails from Oswego, NY, is only 19, is self-taught, and his cooper work and knowledge of his craft is way more advanced than his age.  I asked if I could take some pictures to show you Americana lovers.

David Salvetti works on a wooden bucket with hand tool
the old style craftsman\'s bench David works from
a large wooden container completed

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Journal Joy Notes Who Am I

Playing in Band

I donned the white shirt and black pants again this evening, grabbed the trombone and accessories and headed out to our biweekly summer concert.   Most are at nursing homes and the residents really enjoy the music.   I love the marches, big band stuff and an occasional more sophisticated band piece.    Right now we have a fun version of “Just a Closer Walk” in our repertoire too. Our director, Cathy Stickler, seems to have a knack for picking music the older folks like.   JoAnne sometimes goes with me as she did tonight and also a few weeks ago to the annual Fourth of July concert at Johnson Park in Liverpool where she snapped this picture.

Band has always been a joy to me; in high school, college and now.   There is the joy of making music.  There is a sense of accomplishment in playing the music well.  There is fun camaraderie in the trombone section and the overall group.   And it is a complete change of scenery and pace.   JoAnne quotes the classical musicians who said, “Music is a gift of God.”    I know playing in Liverpool Community Band continues to be a gift to me.

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Journal Joy Notes Who Am I

Day Lily Season

One of the great joys of summer for me is daylily season.    Hemerocallis is one of my very favorite summer flowers.   It is hardy, easy to grow, makes a good display and has few enemies.  It transplants well, divides well, and is generally hard to kill, although the voles have been trying.  When I arrived here, there was only one kind, the old-fashioned one, growing here.   Now I have collected about three dozen varieties and every year I try to add a few more.   Some I get from friends, some I buy in stores or from specialty catalogs and I have purchased several at Grace Gardens (http://gracegardens.com/), a daylily garden near Geneva that I love to visit.   In recent years, I have tried to be better at recording the names, but with the way CNY winters beat up my name plates, I unfortunately have lost names regularly.  Several of my lilies I inherited from my Grandmother Isaman, including one called Frans Hall that is still sold in catalogs today.

The name, daylily, comes from the fact that each bloom lasts only one day.   (However, I have collected one strange but very fragrant variety that blooms each evening and closes in the morning).   Many people are not aware that some strains are fragrant.   In a way, it is sad each evening as beautiful displays come to an end with the setting sun.  Yet in another sense, I always think about how every morning I have a brand new garden display!   It is one small way God’s mercies are new every morning (Lam. 3: 22,23 ESV).   The old blossoms of the night before were faded in the sun or beaten up by rain, but the new ones of the morning are perfect.  So each morning all summer during day lily season, I go out to see what has opened for today.    I have observed unusual things on those morning walks too.  One morning, I found a green tree frog backed down into a large daylily blossom.   If I extend the spiritual analogy, as a Christian, I can look forward each morning to how God’s grace will make this day a fresh experience walking with my Savior.

I’m including a few pictures from this year’s gardens.    You may notice that I tend toward the jungle look in gardens as opposed to the neatly-separated-plants look.  I like the happy coincidences that happen as plants overlap.  I’d rather they fill in the spaces, and then I don’t have to.   If it’s weeds – well, I will eventually get to them…

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Journal Joy Notes Who Am I

Collecting Serendipities

It was a beautiful morning for a walk as JoAnne and I took our morning exercise at Green Lakes Park today.   We usually walk in the hills for an hour or so to get the blood moving.   I always enjoy the translucent teal water of Round Lake, the soft mulch-padded path, fresh moist air, bird sounds, shaded lanes, and the mammoth old-growth trees.  But one of the great joys of being outside is to watch for a serendipity,  something beautiful and/or unusual that arrests my attention.   I react with unspoken wonder, or maybe with a audible, “Wow!” or a trademark, “Cool.”  

This morning there were at least three.  First, on the curve just below the camper dumping station, I saw a smallish raptor, sitting very upright.  I had left my binoculars in the car since I was supposed to be focusing on exercise.  But I still stopped to get a closer look.  (When I got home I looked him up- a Merlin- one of the few times I have seen one.) Then as I headed up the hill at the far side of Round Lake, I heard the familiar clunk clunk that could only be made by a Pileated woodpecker at work close at hand.   I looked but could not see him.    Soon he flew and as I continued to watch he returned and let me know where the pair were working.   They were under some loose brush pecking away at an old decaying fall.   The food must have been abundant because they were still at work when I returned 20 minutes later.   To top the morning off, I met a very friendly giant schnauzer, glossy haired, taller than Plato was and jet black.   She was a gem and she enjoyed a dog-lover’s attention too.     

I guess being alert for small moments of joy like those is just another moment by moment way of counting my blessings.   It provides joy along the path of life, lifts one’s spirits and sparks gratitude to God for the day.

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Journal Who Am I

Take me out to the ball game

Yea!  The Chiefs won, 8-3.   The sun was shining; the air was crisp; the new grass field was immaculately groomed; the coneys and sausages were great!   I needed my emergency blanket out of the car by the fourth inning.  As you can guess, I was able to take the night off last evening and take in a Chief’s game against the Redwings.  Watching a baseball game always takes me back to my high school days.  I played high school baseball for Arkport and loved it, even though I was not very good.   I had the lowest strikeout rate on the team but also the lowest batting average; with the predictable result that I sat on the bench most of the time and kept score.   But I also cheered a lot.   “Little bingo now…”  or   “a walk’s as good as a  hit here…”  And so when I go to a game now, I’m not silent either; it’s just habit.  When I did play in high school, I usually played first base as I could catch and I could stretch, or sometimes I played right field.   Having played makes me a much more knowledgeable spectator, but I’ve forgotten some of what I knew too.   I recognize and appreciate a really good play even by the opposing team and usually say so out loud.  Last night the Redwings had several outstanding defensive plays — one 6-4-3 double play was spectacular.  I chose this game especially because it was on Friday, a good night for me, and because the owner of the Redwings is also on the Houghton trustee board with me so I’ll be able to talk to him about it next time I see him too.

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Journal Who Am I

Family Ties Are a Blessing

Celebrating Easter with family

Family Ties are a Blessing

For us, Easter has always been a great time to affirm family ties.  I guess there is something about focusing on the center of our faith together that brings us closer to those we love too. 

 A week or so ago we made a pre-Easter visit to Bath, NY, and had lunch with JoAnne’s Dad and his wife Lucille and her brothers Joe and Mark.   This weekend we really enjoyed having our son-in-law Mark and our daughter, Keely, visiting us from Hartford, Connecticut.   It was also son-in-law Mark’s birthday weekend so we took time to celebrate even amid the busyness of a parish at Easter time–such good food – JoAnne’s turkey dinner on Friday; Mark’s favorite Syracuse restaurant, Dominick’s, on Saturday; and ham and scalloped potatoes with lemon pie for Easter dinner.   Then Easter evening I talked with my Mom for over an hour on the phone.   My occasional long phone conversations with Mom have an extended history going back to late night conversations on the hall phone when I was a frosh at U of R decades ago.   Today it is encouraging to chat with her as she is a great fan of my ministry.   Also, as we talk, I can catch up on all the family news.   Her memory for extended family details is better than mine.   Also Easter evening, Kim O. stopped over to watch a movie with JoAnne, while I took a walk in the neighborhood and read the paper, and talked with Mom.  

 Family ties are such a blessing.

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Journal Who Am I

A flower show lifts the spirits

The smell of spring, the inspiration of beautiful landscaping, the lure of finding just the plant you are looking for in your own project; all these combine to make CNY Blooms a nearly irresistable stop for me in March.  I am an amateur flower gardener from way back.  I inherited it from my maternal grandmother who grew so many flowers, that her displays sometimes stopped traffic. 

Anyway, just when we all need a reminder that spring is coming, the landscapers and nurserymen pull out all the stops, forcing plants into peak bloom that you find hard to persuade to bloom at all in your garden. The old brush-painted smoking flower-power VW bus was parked in the biggest bed of multi-hued flowers.  I especially admired the weeping cherry in full bloom, the copper-cup rain cascade, and the well-integrated mixing of vegetable raised beds and flower beds in one professional garden. Of course, I found a few plants to buy too;  an African violet for my collection, two ivies for my indoor gardening and a promising heuchera (Coral Bells) from my friends, Chuck and Cindy Centner.   It’s one of my favorite ways to move the season ahead for a few very pleasant hours.