Month: September 2007

Above is the completed projector box for the sanctuary. Once again, Dave did a great job. It will be mounted front and center on the balcony. The bottom of the box, which will be visible, is finished the same way.

Below is a picture of the title slide I’ve been working on for World Communion Sunday, which will (hopefully) be the first Sunday that the multimedia fund is up and running. The globe is obviously for World Communion Sunday, the color green is because World Communion Sunday falls within the season after Pentecost when the liturgical color is green.

The following meetings have been added to the church calendar:

Monday, September 17, 2007, 7:00 pm: Church Council

Wednesday, September 19, 2007, 5:15 pm: Vision Team

Monday, September 24, 2007, 7:00 pm: Finance Committee

Just in case you were wondering, I remembered to pay the $2.50 I borrowed for the children’s story back into the pop fund.

Listing to the radio on the way home from hospital visitation, I caught the following on the radio:

“I believe there comes a time when everything just falls in line.
We live and learn from our mistakes,
the deepest cuts are healed by faith.”

—Pat Benatar, “All Fired Up”

I don’t know (and I doubt) that this was meant in an explicitly Christian manner, but it can certainly be taken that way.

Our next movie event will be shown Sunday, October 14, 2007 at 4:00 pm.

We’ll be watching The Wonderful Wizard of Ha’s, the latest edition in the VeggieTales series by Big Idea. The show is based on the parable of the prodigal son. Big Idea provides the following description:

“Meet Darby, the son of a Kansas floss farmer who just wants to have fun! When he learns about the Wonderful Land of Ha’s, where you can do whatever you want, Darby is determined to go –– even against his father’s wishes.”

“But when Darby reaches Ha’s, will he find all that he searching for … and at what price? Will it be worth everything Darby has given up –– his home back on the farm? His father’s love? Harvesting floss? Find out in the all-new family adventure that reminds kids everywhere that there’s nothing like forgiveness and there’s no place like home.”

This movie event is open to everyone. As always, admittance, popcorn and juiceboxes will be provided free. You’re encouraged to bring blankets, camp chairs, pillows, etc. Send us an email if you have a question or would like more information.

Installation of our new multi-media system has been set for October 5th through 7th, 2007.

Newsweek has a current article titled “Can God Love Darwin, Too?” I didn’t find any new insights, but I thought it did touch on several important points. Two points that I think need to be kept in mind that the article does make are: “… more and more researchers are fighting the “godless” rap, emphasizing that evolution does not preclude a deity (though neither does it require one).” and “One approach is to interpret evolution as the mechanism by which a creator creates.”

One of the things we must avoid is fear. I see, hear, and read of many Christians responding to a perceived “threat” of evolution not out of love but out of fear. This was the opposite of the approach taken by many early Christian apologists (primarily of Justin Martyr) who empasized the Logos, the “word” of the Gospel of John, and the presense of God in all true wisdom. If we, as Christians, believe Jesus’ words that he is “the way, and the truth, and the life” then we have nothing to fear: either evolution is not true and will be replaced by a better scientific explanation or it is true, and simply the means by which God acted in creation.

But what about the differences between evolution and the Biblical accounts of creation? I think it’s important to note that the book of Genesis contains not one, but two accounts of creation in its first chapters. The order of creation varies from one story to another, but both assert the main point that humanity is the beloved pinnacle of God’s good creation. I think it’s important to remember that at the time these accounts were being written no one on earth would have been able to understand a modern scientific explanation. Furthermore, the truth conveyed by the Genesis accounts, that humanity is the beloved pinnacle of God’s good creation, is ultimately far more important than any detailed scientific explanation.

The Newsweek article is here.

Above is a close-up picture of the new media control booth that Dave Larimore built. It’s located in at the center of the balcony.

The General Board of Discipleship has a Family Devotional Guide for the Anniversary of 9-11 if your looking for guidance in your prayers today.

I came into the office this morning and found a sign on the door for a “Healthy Aging Fair.” Neither Linda, Jenny, nor I know anything about it. If you put the sign up or know anything about it please contact us to let us know that it is legitimate and we’ll put it back up.

Yesterday, I mentioned before the “passing of the peace” in the first service that I had recently read some statistics in The Christian Century that said the majority of people didn’t like passing the peace. I went back looking for what I had read and found that I was wrong. The article was in The Christian Century, it did say that the majority of people don’t like passing the peace, but it was Garrison Keillor and not statistics that provided the data. Here’s the bit I read in the September 4, 2007 edition of The Christian Century:

“PASSING THE PEACE—OR NOT: Thee are two kinds of Americans, according to humorist Garrison Keillor. One is the kind who, when a big and smilely preacher says from the pulpit, “How about everybody turn around and shake hands with the person behind you and give them a big howdy!” will do what the preacher says and feel uplifted by it. The other is the kind who will do anything to avoid this, even miss church entirely. Even though the world thinks the first kind of American is typical, there are actually more of the second type (Chicago Tribune, August 15).”

I know that there are members of our congregation who attend regularly but don’t like “the passing of the peace.” My concern now is: what if Garrison Keillor is right and we have people who don’t attend, or don’t attend regularly, for that reason.