Jeanne's 80th Birthday Party

I mentioned I was planning to attend a 50s theme party, but didn't say for whom because is was an elaborate surprise.  Our niece Joan in Indianapolis notified us a year ago to save the date, February 20, for her Mom's birthday party.  And she really pulled it off.  Her step-sister Susie and her daughter Tammy flew in from Florida and her Mom's half sister came from California, and of course, we and our children drove from Ohio. Joan has 8 grandchildren, and some of Bob and Jeanne's other children have children, so it was a huge crowd, including church friends.  Seeing a photo (after the event) of Jeanne lovingly holding the newest great grandchild who was a few weeks old, made me think that this is the sort of welcome we'll have in heaven.

Joan really worked on the 50s theme; there was a backdrop of a 50's style diner for taking photos, the cupcakes were decorated like little sodas, we had hamburgers and hot dogs and French fries for our buffet, and little soda glasses for party favors. There was a pianist for appropriate music, balloons, and decorations. Joan had a poodle skirt made for her mom, and saddle shoes (she had told her she was taking her to a 50s theme diner for lunch). 

Joan, who planned it all, with her Mom

The siblings, Bob, Jeanne, and Debbie

Phoebe and Mark with Aunt Jeanne

Bob and Jeanne, high school sweethearts and married about 45 years

My sisters-in-law with me (my real 1950s blazer)

  72 degrees, could sit on the patio, all the children could run

Most of the grandchildren, some with spouses

 Bob and Norma in authentic 50s attire

 Cute cupcakes for dessert

Debbie and Bob

Bob and Jeanne jitterbug

BMI calculator from Mayo Clinic

Adult BMI calculator based on 2013 AHA/ACC/TOS Guideline for the Management of Overweight and Obesity in Adults: A Report of the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association Task Force on Practice Guidelines and The Obesity Society. BMI classification. World Health Organization. http://apps.who.int/bmi/index.jsp?introPage=intro_3.html.
 http://www.mayoclinic.org/bmi-calculator/itt-20084938

In addition to healthy eating, the site recommends 

• Exercise. Aim for 30 to 60 minutes of moderately intense activity daily.


• Set action goals focused on specific healthy activities such as improving muscle tone through strength training or starting a daily food and activity diary.

How liberals respond to those not like themselves

I've been somewhat surprised at the classism and snobbery of liberals and even some Republicans at their description of the Trump supporters as uneducated, low class, blue collar, redneck troglodytes who can't find their way to a voting booth for anyone but a blow hard, millionaire capitalist. Is this a voter registration test? Do American voters have to have a certain level of education and always believe the pie in the sky promises of the federal government in order to be an informed? What did Obama do for coal miners, or teens who just want an entry level job to work up to something better? The minimum wage push is just eliminating the positions they could fill, and the Obamacare mandate has closed down some small businesses.  What has the President said about gun owners and fundamentalist Christians?

And Trump likes Obamacare. Without the mandate, there is no Obamacare. There are probably some low income voters who believe both Obama and Trump--that they'll not have good health insurance unless big government takes over. That's what the SCOTUS decision was about. Trump loves big government--he's a crony capitalist and that helps him make money. He's also a liar, and you just can't blame voters for believing his hope and change message--it's happened before--especially in 2008.  http://townhall.com/.../wow-i-like-the-mandate-trump-says...

I need to be reminded of what Shane Vander Hart wrote when considering the primaries and coming election : 

"God is still on His throne regardless what the ultimate outcome of the nomination process and general election is. We will either get the President we need or the one we deserve. Our country needs a spiritual awakening and that will not come from the White House regardless of who resides there." Amen. Now if I can just remember that.

Dressing for the 1950s

Today we are going to a party for which we're supposed to dress in 50s attire.  Because I have a clothing archive, I actually own outfits from the 1950s, even my wedding dress made by my mother in 1955 for my sister. The problem as I see it is that I don't have a 1950s body!  I actually weigh less than I did when I wore one dress--a floral jersey--to a dance around 1959, and it's in the closet, but my waist is about 5" larger and I can't zip it.  It even has a sewn in crinoline. And I just don't have any saddle shoes or white bucks. The photo below is authentic 1955 clothing styles in Mt. Morris, Illinois. Looks like it might have been early spring and I jumped the gun a bit and am wearing a cotton skirt. Perhaps it was new (Mom made it).  I never seemed to be together where fashion is concerned.

So I will be authentically dressed for this party in an unconstructed gray and red plaid jacket my mother made for me for college, and a flared gray wool skirt I found last week at Volunteers of America for 75 cents that is mid-calf. The previous owner had taken the waist in about an inch in two places, but it had the dry cleaner tag still on it, so I just let out the stitching. It's a little snug, but I can breathe. Pencil straight skirts were popular, but also flared skirts as you can see from the photo. It's been awhile since I wore wool, both pieces feel a bit scratchy. We looked through my husband's high school annuals and examined closely the photos.  My goodness!  Young women dressed with pride and flare in those days!  There's not much you can do with torn jeans and saggy t-shirts with political slogans.

The photo below is what I'm wearing and was probably taken 6-8 years ago when I was rearranging storage and had it out of the garment bag. I probably even wore it to work a few times in the 90s because OSU colors are scarlet and gray and that was the custom on Fridays before a football game.

Mesrob the Armenian Monk saved Christian history

I was thinking today about the massacre of Mexican Catholics by their own government, called the Cristero War (this is a bigger problem in the world than religious wars) and wondering if the Pope would get an apology.  I think it should be a bigger deal to him than the American primaries. Then I thought about the Turks' genocide of Armenian Christians. You can call it religious wars, but the Turkish government was killing its own citizens. Armenia was the first country to make Christianity its religion, and today (Feb. 19) we memorialize the monk Mesrob, who saved their language by creating an alphabet and also rescued many documents on Christianity. 

 St. Mesrob (known as Mashdots) (438 A.D.) was born in the village of Hatsegats in the province of Daron. In his early years, he learned both Greek and Persian and served in the Armenian Royal Court. Later, he decided to enter the ranks of the clergy and went to preach in the province of Koghtn around 395 A.D. During this period he felt the great need of the Armenian people for an alphabet of their own so he petitioned the Catholicos Sahag and together they requested the aid of King Vramshabouh. 

After much research and many travels, Mesrob was able to come up with the skeleton of an alphabet. However, it did not meet the needs of the Armenian language. According to tradition, while meditating in a cave near the village of Palu, the saint had a vision in which, "the hand of God wrote the alphabet in letters of fire." Immediately after the discovery of the alphabet, the Holy Translators worked to translate the Bible and the first words in the Armenian language were from the Book of Proverbs, "To know wisdom and instruction; to perceive the word of understanding." They also opened schools to teach the newly discovered alphabet.

St. Mesrob's life's works have been recorded by one of his famous students, Goriun, in his book, The Life of Mashdots  He was buried in Oshagan in the province of Vaspouragan. Beloved by all, St. Mesrob is a special inspiration to Armenian writers and poets.  Link to July 6, 2014 e-bulletin.

 

"Lauren Markoe, discussing the film [about the Cristero War] for the Religion News Service, wrote: For Catholics enraged by the Obama administration’s proposed contraception mandate, the film about the Mexican church’s fight in the 1920s is a heartening and timely cinematic boost in the American church’s battle to preserve "religious freedom" in 2012." 

Conestoga visits local glass art

Yesterday our Conestoga group (friends organization for the Ohio History Connection) met at the Ohio Historical Society, got on a bus and enjoyed a delightful day of seeing beautiful glass art in Columbus, Ohio. First we went to Franklin Art Glass in German Village, a family owned and operated stained glass studio since its inception in 1924, the largest in Ohio. We had a tour of the product/sales section and the studios where the artisans prepare work to order. Our guide explained about the design to glass to finished work procedure, and showed us many wonderful pieces.

Then it was back on the bus (we were using a school bus so it was easier to navigate the narrow streets of German Village) for our luncheon spot, Schmidt's Sausage Haus where we enjoyed a lovely buffet lunch of Bahama Mamas, Bratwurst, potato salad, tossed salad, saurkraut, and mini-cream puffs. For a number of years the German Village Schmidt's was our Friday Night date spot, but we hadn't been there for a number of years. Still has great food.

Then it was on to Trinity Episcopal Church down town on Capitol Square where we had a lecture and tour by the Rector, Richard Burnett. The congregation was founded in 1817 and the current building was designed by Gordon Lloyd in the Gothic Revival style and built after the Civil War. The Church in the World window on the west side was designed by William Kielblock and made by the Franklin Art Glass Co., and was dedicated in 1965.  I'd heard about it for years--unfortunately, in 1970 a new organ completely obscured the window from view on the inside, where we were. I understand that you can see it from the outside with interior illumination.  It has been criticized as too secular, with flags of the U.S., landmarks of the statehouse, O'Shaughnessy Dam, city skyscrapers, Port Columbus airport, John Glenn's spacecraft, etc., as though the church is embracing the world. I guess I'll never have the opportunity to judge!  The windows behind the altar had also been somewhat obscured by a huge skyscraper blocking the light--and light is always a partner in art glass. They were in the art deco style.

Then it was a short bus ride to St. Joseph Cathedral which began as a modest brick church building in 1866, but was rebuilt soon after as a stone cathedral when the Diocese of Columbus was established.  The lot size was rather small, so the cathedral is not large.  Conestoga had a Christmas dinner here several years ago, so we had already had a tour of the organ loft, which is really incredible.  We also had a brief concert while we were there.  The windows were replaced during the WWI era, and because of the war, had been buried for awhile in Germany to protect them. They were made by F. X. Zettler of the Royal Bavarian Art Institute. Names of donors appear on the windows.

Our final stop was Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church, and I just don't have words to describe the loveliness of this church and our spectacular guide, who was able to explain all the mosaic art and also provide a wonderful evangelistic story of faith, symbols, and art. It's just amazing what a faithful, small group of Greek immigrants were able to do. All the mosaics were made by Bruno Salvatori of Florence, Italy, and are spectacular in detail and beauty. They consist of about five million tiles of Venetian glass and 24-carat gold.  There's not another church in Columbus (or maybe Ohio) that tells the gospel better through its art.
Check here for further details.

It was a long day, but we came home tired and fulfilled and spiritually uplifted.

Rules of Faith, 2nd century, Irenaeus

 This is the statement of faith of Irenaeus (c. 190), so the basics of Christian belief were well settled.  It's our modern churches that struggle with this. This is what was received from the apostles who knew Jesus.

The Church, though dispersed throughout the whole world, even to the ends of the earth, has received from the apostles and their disciples this faith:

• [She believes] in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all things that are in them; 
• and in one Christ Jesus, the Son of God, who became incarnate for our salvation; 
• and in the Holy Spirit, who proclaimed through the prophets the dispensations of God, 
• and the advents, 
• and the birth from a virgin, 
• and the passion, 
• and the resurrection from the dead, 
• and the ascension into heaven in the flesh of the beloved Christ Jesus, our Lord, 
• and His [future] manifestation from heaven in the glory of the Father “to gather all things in one,” 
• and to raise up anew all flesh of the whole human race,
•  in order that to Christ Jesus, our Lord, and God, and Saviour, and King, according to the will of the invisible Father, 
• “every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth, and that every tongue should confess” to Him, 
• and that He should execute just judgment towards all; 
• that He may send “spiritual wickednesses,” and the angels who transgressed and became apostates, together with the ungodly, and unrighteous, and wicked, and profane among men, into everlasting fire; 
• but may, in the exercise of His grace, confer immortality on the righteous, and holy, and those who have kept His commandments, and have persevered in His love, some from the beginning [of their Christian course], and others from [the date of] their repentance, and may surround them with everlasting glory.    
•  http://www.catholic.com/tracts/apostolic-succession

Refugee crisis at an all time high

“In 2015, more people fled from persecution, war, human rights violations, discrimination, and other hardship than at any other time since World War II. UNHCR, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, estimates that worldwide more than 60 million people, or one in every 122, have been forced to flee their homes."

When I was a child, I was told that the UN was going to bring in peace and harmony, that we would no longer have these terrible wars and hardships because there would be a wise world court to decide things and peacekeepers. HA! This latest mess has been driven primarily by Muslims--Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq, and Africa--but our President and many of Europe's governing bodies refuse to recognize that. But there have been other beliefs in earlier times, like socialism/communism, which have caused people to flee to capitalistic/democratic countries. Yet that isn't appreciated here.

Source of quote.

Jim Goad's personal history of being "white trash"

This is a bio-history of white slavery/conscription and the white under class (the author calls it "white trash") in the U.S. with its beginnings in Europe. It's personal--the author includes his own family genealogy. I don't know him, so can't vouch for anything except he does include footnotes. I'm not sure why children aren't told more truth about slavery--what they learn in school is very political and race based. Probably we need to follow the money to the poverty and race pimps working on government grants. Peace and harmony work against this kind of wealth so it must be stomped out.

I'm trying to think back on what I learned as a child, but draw a blank except for those old paintings displayed in National Geographic of slave markets in Roman times. It wasn't until I was an adult and studied on my own and also got interested in genealogy that I discovered slavery and indentured servitude built all the great nations of the world. It helped Roman empire and the north African empires to thrive. I also learned from Prof. Gates (Obama's friend and mentor) that free blacks owned slaves at a higher rate than free whites in the south. However, one of the worst aspects of the silence and true history of slavery is that it is a bigger "business" today than in the 18th century.  It involves sex workers and laborers and children taken from or sold by their parents. Many churches are now developing ministries, but children aren't being taught about it in school--they are being taught about "white privilege" and "microaggression."

http://www.jimgoad.net/whiteslavery.html

http://collectingmythoughts.blogspot.com/2014/02/thursday-thirteen-black-history-month.html 
This was written 2 years ago for black history month. It's a good summary and Professor Gates contributed much or was the inspiration for it.

Mother and child

This doctor won't accept Medicare because. . .

This is no way to treat people who have dedicated their lives to helping others.

• Medicare treats physicians as criminals—guilty until proven innocent.
• Medicare warns patients on their billing statements to turn their physicians in for suspected fraud.
• Medicare demonstrates no transparency in the flow of taxpayer money through their program.
• Medicare may reimburse physicians so little that we lose money with each appointment forcing doctors to go bankrupt (or run Medicare mills with ramped up volume and quickie visits to make ends meet).
• Medicare claims are more complex than any other insurer with more billing codes and rules and regulations that require hiring a team of staff to remain compliant or else . . .
• Medicare regulatory codes by which physicians must abide is 130,000 pages long! (US Tax code is only 75,000).
• Medicare requires compliance with more unfunded mandates and administrative trivia than any other insurer.
• Medicare penalizes physicians financially if we don’t use a Medicare-approved computer system and electronic health record.
• Medicare penalizes physicians financially if we don’t electronically submit prescriptions the way Medicare demands.
• Medicare threatens doctors every year with all sorts of financial penalties if we don’t do what they (non-physicians) think we should be doing.
• Medicare audits may suddenly destroy a medical practice and a physician’s life as described by Dr. Karen Smith.
• Medicare abuses and bullies doctors.

Check out the web page for Dr. Pamela Wible, M.D.

Why is Downton Abbey called an Abbey (monastery)?

                            

 Along with millions of other Americans, tonight I'll be staying awake to watch PBS' Downton Abbey, now in its final season.  Why is it called an Abbey when it is obviously the home of very wealthy people with a lot of servants? Maybe PBS explained it with a sentence, and I missed it. I certainly missed it in school, or ignored it, after all, what did it matter to me if King Henry VIII wanted to divorce his wife, split with Rome, started a new church and then stole all the land in England owned by Catholics? The King gave the land to those who supported him. People who didn't get along with the hierarchy in the new church became those who settled in the U.S. They were the descendants of that church whether Church of England or Methodists or Baptists.

 http://www.bl.uk/learning/timeline/item106122.html

 http://www.churchmilitant.com/video/episode/the-vortex-stolen-property

 http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/tudor-england/the-dissolution-of-the-monasteries/

"In that [16th] century, land was the primary source of wealth and political power. At the dawn of that century, the Church, through its cathedrals, parishes, hospitals, colleges, monasteries, and other embodiments, owned perhaps one-third of the acreage in England, more even than the Crown. Much of the Church’s income was used for aid to the needy, care of the sick, help for travelers, provision against poor harvest, and education."

 http://www.culturewars.com/2011/Whig%20Plunderers.html

 http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3439293/Hampton-Court-Palace-chapel-holds-Catholic-service-Henry-VIII-broke-away-Rome-16th-century.html

Antonin Scalia

Love and relationships

The best way to celebrate St. Valentine's Day is to attend church together. "Using a national sample of about 1,600 adults ages 18-59 in romantic relationships, the researchers, Brad Wilcox of the University of Virginia and Nicholas H. Wolfinger of the University of Utah, found that shared religious attendance and a man’s religious attendance are associated with higher relationship quality."

The same study also showed  shared prayer was a stronger predictor of relationship quality than all other factors measured in the study, including the education and age of couples.

 http://dailysignal.com/2016/02/12/want-to-improve-your-relationship-go-to-church-with-your-spouse/

On this day in 269 "Valentine was martyred the day before the pagan festival to the goddess Februata Juno at which boys drew girls' names for acts of sexual promiscuity. Were legends about the martyr's death modified to replace the heathen custom? No one knows for sure. In fact, there may have been two or even three martyrs named Valentine who died in different parts of the empire at about the same time. We know little or nothing about any of them."

 http://www.christianity.com/church/church-history/timeline/1-300/martyrdom-of-st-valentine-11629626.html

Family

I got the newsletter from Pinecrest Community yesterday--a Church of the Brethren facility that began in the 19th c. as a home for the destitute aged and orphans. There are independent apartments and small houses; assisted care, nursing care, and memory care. When I was a little girl, I'd go with other children to sing for them, or take presents we had made. Now I can visit some of my classmates there! Over the years, I've visited parents of my friends, my aunts and uncles, eventually my parents, and now a sibling. At one time both my father and his uncle Orville were living there, and I thought that was rare, however, there was only about 2-3 years difference in their ages. But I saw a story I'd never seen: Wally Brooks and his mother Ruth Linger both live there! He is 85 and she's 107!! In the photo, they look terrific.

St. Valentine's stories in the news

As a former librarian, I know that selection is the key to a collection.  Banning or promoting a point of view starts in the back room where the purchasing decisions are made.  Public library librarians are 123:1 liberal to conservative, so that determines what is purchased, which determines what people read, which determines what they believe. Same with the news.  How news sources differ just by selection of story was evident with these two human interest stories--St. Valentine's day (tomorrow). Innocent.  Fun.  ABC was on the kitchen, Fox News in my office. I'm walking back and forth. Fox has a report on what people are doing on St. Valentine's day--reported on a soldier sending some home a valentine surprise and a child taking something to dad--I think it was Chic filet. ABC reported on President Obama's plans.

Another news story difference which may indicate who is beating the drum for fear and division. Fox reported on the 5th police officer killed recently (he was black, but that wasn't mentioned--there was a photo); ABC reported on a court case where a police officer had killed a black man. Race was prominent in that story. Both the number and rate of those killed in the course of committing a crime is higher for whites than blacks, but would you know that from news reporting? Why the pressure on the corporate news sources to divide the nation along racial lines?

Obama's speech to Illinois General Assembly

Obama returned to Springfield, Illinois--a Democrat controlled state with a Republican governor in deep budget doo-doo--to give a delusional speech about how great he is. He takes credit for what President Bush did in 2008 to save the country financially and end the war, he won't accept the blame for the partisanship and meaness in politics when the media have been carrying his water for 7 years and he's refused to work with Republicans, he didn't mention the mess with ISIS and Syria and didn't even give the Republican governors credit for their states' recovery which is where the jobs are coming from. Our fuel prices have gone down not from alternatives like sun and wind, but from fracking, which he strongly opposed.   He visits all the celebrities and unions with his hand out, but scolds Americans for the money in politics. Sigh.

 http://my.chicagotribune.com/#section/-1/article/p2p-85860201/

 http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/11/us/politics/obama-revisits-springfield-and-his-vow-to-bridge-a-partisan-divide.html?_r=0

 http://www.scribd.com/doc/163852744/Observations-on-the-Financial-Crisis-by-Keith-Hennessey-and-Edward-P-Lazear

Short story snippets with no endings

At Marc's today I was standing next to a very frustrated shopper who had found cracked eggs in her carton, and complained to the clerk about how rushed she was as a "24/7 caretaker."  I didn't know her but put my arm around her shoulder and gave her a hug.  She explained that her husband has Parkinson's and dementia, and she can hardly ever get out of the house and has to rush through her errands and gets very frustrated.

A woman with a heavy accent couldn't find something and the stocker was trying to explain to her.  I later saw her wandering around the dairy section, and I asked if could help.  She couldn't find the "egg beaters," so I told her I would help. (I'd never seen them.)  Finally I found them with the sausage, so I flagged her down, and she selected what she wanted.  I told her we'd been in Spain in September and that I had a hard time finding things in their large super markets.

An elderly man was staring at the shelves of jams and jellies (he was older than me!).  I told him I just love Mrs. Miller's jellies and jams and they really are made by Amish right here in Ohio.  Then I recommended Rhubarb-Strawberry, and I picked up a jar for my grocery cart.  Later I was behind him at check out, and the only grocery item he had (everything else was for home repair) was Mrs. Miller's Rhubarb-Strawberry jam.

I had 13 items, but stood in the 12 item line.  The woman in front of me had one item--a package of English muffins. I commented that she must be having a snack attack because the store was rather crowded to come in for one item.  So she explained she had shopped earlier and forgot this item which she likes to take to work for a snack.  Then we discussed the recent recall on packaged salads, which she also liked to buy (from a Springfield, OH plant); we both agreed you have to wash everything and decided processed food might be safer since nothing can live in it.

At the Volunteers of America store I went right to the book shelves, although I certainly don't need another book. There was a mother and child speaking Russian while looking at toys, shelved near the books.  I was so thrilled I could still understand a conversation between a mom and a 3 years old--that's about the level of my understanding. Kids ask the same things in all languages.

Can Bernie and the Socialists offer free college?

I haven’t visited Manchester University (in Indiana) since the 1990s, and was amazed then at the buildings (not necessarily growth) especially in sports facilities and library, but now when I look at the web site it’s even more so. I was thinking this morning that the “new women’s dorm” where I didn’t live (I was in the old dorm--Oakwood), would now be about 60 years old if it hasn’t be razed, and looking back, that in 1958 when I was a student, a comparable building would have been late 1890s! 

Every college seems to have a bad case of Keeping up with the Jones’s to attract students with first class amenities. It's breathtaking when I walk across the campus at Ohio State--especially the sports and recreation facilities. Plus, there’s been huge growth in non-academic staff and departments to keep up with federal regulations on diversity/gender, health, testing, psychological development, etc. and to spend the ever growing federal aid to education. 

I know students personally who have graduated with no debt, and that’s quite possible in Ohio which has an incredible system of 2 year and technical colleges within driving distance of everyone. Now with online, that may not be such an issue. Living at home, working part time and being selective about important courses, a student can have a debt free education (undergrad) in Ohio thanks to the foresight of Governor Rhodes back in the 1960s-1970s. In European countries we’ve visited their  “free” colleges, but their testing system very early eliminates many children (usual, poorer working class) from the pool, so even if “free” it’s definitely not “fair.”

My college expenses in 1957-58 and 1958-59 were right around $1,000, although I did have occasional part time jobs at the schools. I had saved enough for my freshman year by working while in high school. I doubt anyone could do that today. My father would have considered it an insult if a child of his needed a government loan. Very different today. But he also considered a married daughter the responsibility of someone else, and for my senior year (I was married), I borrowed money from him for tuition. 

A few years ago I checked and Manchester was about $30,000 a year (although with aid and scholarships it’s difficult to know true cost, just like health insurance). University of Illinois from which I got my B.A. and MLS was higher (was the same back in the 50s), but probably in $35,000 range. 

Whether talking education or poverty or environment, progressives/socialists/Democrats push government programs, then years later sound the alarm that they aren't working or are too expensive, blame the situation on the Republicans for not giving them more money to throw at failing programs, when in fact, they created the situation (although Republicans always go along and renew the funding).  So it is with soaring education costs.  They are reaping what they have sown, and found it bitter or poisonous. 

A note of history: "Mount Morris College in Mount Morris, Illinois [where I grew up and both my parents and grandparents met], merged with Manchester College in 1932. Founded as a Methodist seminary in 1839, Mount Morris had been purchased by representatives of the Church of the Brethren in 1879 and operated under the name of the Rock River Seminary and College Institute until 1884, when the name was changed to Mount Morris College. The merger of Mount Morris College and Manchester College came about when the Church of the Brethren decided its educational program would be strengthened by pooling its resources in a smaller number of colleges [and after MMC suffered a terrible fire on Easter Sunday 1931]" from Manchester's website.

A few political thoughts for my angry, atheist troll

I think I know how Bernie wins with young people. About 5 years after the collapse of the Soviet Union, I was looking through a history encyclopedia in the public library. Slick, new, great publisher. History had already been revised, and of course, academe is very liberal. As I recall, there was no entry for "USSR." There was a x-ref to WWII, I suppose because USSR was our ally in the 1940s. Nothing about millions of starving Ukrainians, or 5 year economic plans that always failed, or city people sent to the countryside for political mistakes, or the 1930s trials and executions of loyal Communists, or empty shelves in government run stores.

Ilya Somin who writes for Washington Post, mentioned today that his father (born and raised in Russia during the Communist era) had this to say about Bernie: "In his victory speech Bernie complained (or boasted) of his poor childhood, when he grew ...up in a 3.5 (what is that 0.5?) room apartment with his parents and a brother..... He should thank his "Polish" immigrant parents for that (somehow he does not want to say they were Jewish). Under socialism I grew up in one room with my parents in a communal apartment with several other unrelated families each also having one room (and this was considered luxurious)."

Yesterday I heard that most college students feeling the Bern can't tell you who their U.S. Senators are, but naturalized citizens can--they need to know this for citizenship. OK Ohio. Listen up. Rob Portman and Sherrod Brown are our Senators. They faithfully send me e-mails. I've watched some of Watters' World, and they also are crickets on what socialism is, and can't name the Vice President, either.

Dennis Prager mentioned today the huge gap between single women and married women in voting. Married women are much more conservative and over 50% vote Republican, and about 1/3 of single women are conservative. And then when the married women become parents, it's even more pronounced. He was wondering why, and I assume listeners were going to call in but I was on my way to a funeral and didn't hear the comments. It does make you wonder if the downgrading and demeaning of marriage and children (even to the point of not letting them be born) by progressives is a ploy to get more votes from women. Just keep them single and dependent on the government for love.

There's an article in the Atlantic that points out something I said on this blog 9 years ago about graduating with college debt. If you borrow money for living for four-five years you'll have debt. In Sweden college is free but apartments, food, transportation and utilities aren't, so Swedish students also graduate with high debt. Someone should tell Bernie's fans who seem to be lining up for free stuff.  Since 1985 college costs have soared over 500%, a direct result of the federal government funneling money to the colleges who then raise tuition and fees.  This is much more than any other sector of the economy.  This was the government's doing, so who is screaming the loudest?  The socialists.

I haven't Snoped this

The Great Recession was made great by President Obama

The last recession was over (according to the way the federal government figures these things) in June 2009, before any of Obama's ARRA programs hit the pavement and wallets of unions and government workers. And today he's taking credit for turning around the longest "Great Recession" in our country's history, and proud that unemployment is at 4.9%. Could be, but homelessness in Columbus is at an all time high, as is SNAP participation, and labor force participation is lower than in the 1970s, and people are scrambling to pay for health insurance. He even takes credit for the slowing increase in health care costs, even though that had been going on for 4 years before he took office, and is now on the way back up. The turn around we do have is because Republican governors pulled it out for their states with rebuilding small business and finding new sources of energy. The absurd length of this last recession's fits and starts economic "come back" can be laid right at his socialism feet. The only president who took longer was FDR.

On this day in 356. . .

The Date: February 8, 356.
The Place: The church of Alexandria, Egypt
The Event: Armed troops barged in at the middle of a worship service to capture a single unarmed man -- the pastor, Athanasius.

He fought the good fight against Arianism. . . the belief that Jesus was not fully God but a created being. In the Council of Nicea that earlier rejected this view, Athanasius had been the clearest speaker for the Orthodox position. Even today, there are fundamentalist Christian groups that claim the church lost its way and true believers went underground only to emerge after the Reformation. Athanasius' list of the authoritative books later became the Canon--our Bible. He survived the Feb. 8 attack and died in 373. http://www.christianity.com/…/athanasius-and-the-creed-of-c…

 Most Christians use the three major creeds in worship at some time during the year, some every Sunday; Apostles, Nicene and Athanasian (which I think our Lutheran church uses about once a year). Athanasius didn't write this creed, but it concerns the Trinity which he defended with his life. 

A few Christian churches announce that they are non-creedal, and don't use them. To me, this is like saying I renounce my genealogy because I never met my great-great-great-great grandfather, and besides I've heard stories about him . . . Maybe so, but he still made you what you are today.

 From the book by Carl Trueman, The Creedal Imperative. on the role of confessions and creeds.

1. All churches have creeds and confessions. They may not recite them. Failure to acknowledge this can be disingenuous.
 2. Confessions delimit the power of the church.They mean the church has to answer to something above it!  Too many Bible only churches think they are the first to find something because they don't know history.
3. They offer succinct and thorough summaries of the central elements of the faith. Good creeds do this, but here the Confessions are even more thorough.
4. Creeds and confessions allow for appropriate discrimination between members and office-bearers: that is, not everyone has to be the expert; but leaders ought to be theologically informed.
 5. Creeds and confessions reflect the ministerial authority of the church … and, yes, this cuts against the grain of our anti-authoritarian culture, but it’s hard to have leaders who don’t lead, or pastors who aren’t to some degree theologically sound and capable of leading, and elders who don’t know their stuff.
 6. Creeds and confessions represent the maximal doctrinal competence the local church aspires to for its members.
7. Creeds and confessions relativize our modern importance and remind us we are part of a long history and Story!
8. Creeds and confessions help define one church in relation to another — this is about information not schism.
9. Creeds and confessions are necessary for maintaining corporate unity.

Eat all the colors

            
87% of Americans don't meet recommendations for fruit consumption, and 91% don't meet recommendations for vegetable consumption, according to a new U.S. report published by MMWR. If you're brown bagging, tuck in some carrot sticks and slices of apple. You can even eat vegetables for breakfast. There's just nothing more yummy than a sweet potato, hot with a little butter and salt, in my opinion. Filling, too. When you're my age, you'll be glad you protected the body God gave you with good food and exercise.
 http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm6426a1.htm?s_cid=mm6426a1_w

So for breakfast today I'm having a "shake" made of banana, blueberries, cranberries, carrots, and orange juice. Remember that blue and orange makes grey, which can be unappetizing, so balance it with some red (the cranberries) to get a beautiful, rich purple.  I cooked the carrots and cranberries first, otherwise the shake would be too difficult to eat.  Four fruits and one vegetable in one delicious drink.

In his Whole Foods Newsletter today, George Mateljan writes: "If your New Year's resolution is to lose those extra pounds eating more vegetables is essential to get the nutrients you need combined with the reduction in calorie intake necessary for healthy weight loss. No other food group can do this for you. I recommend including from 5-9 servings of vegetables each day and making sure you include a variety of vegetables with a wide spectrum of colors. [Just like Mother said.] The colors reflect the special health-promoting phytonutrients found in vegetables. And this does not have to be difficult to achieve. One serving of raw leafy greens such as lettuce is 2 cups but a typical salad meal would typically contain about 3-4 cups usually accompanied by other vegetables as well. One salad meal could easily constitute half of your recommended vegetable intake for the day! And a serving of cooked leafy greens is only half of a cup."

87 percent of Americans don't meet recommendations for fruit consumption, and 91 percent don't meet recommendations for vegetable consumption, according to a new U.S. report.

 How to eat all the colors--a guide

This is one of the soldiers sent to look for Bergdahl

Bowe Bergdahl was honored by the President when he was exchanged for some dangerous prisoners.  Where is the honor for the men who originally tried to find and rescue him?

 http://time.com/2809352/bowe-bergdahl-deserter-army-taliban/

 http://conservativepost.com/wife-of-soldier-wounded-and-paralyzed-while-looking-for-bowe-bergdahl-asks-obama-this-question/

And poor Bowe, he's got nerve damage in one arm and can't lift heavy objects.  I wonder how heavy this soldier is?  https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/checkpoint/wp/2015/09/18/bowe-bergdahl-will-require-lifetime-of-care-for-injuries-suffered-in-captivity/

Cursive writing--is it good for children to learn?

 
A new bill proposed in the Tennessee state legislature says that cursive handwriting should be taught in all Tennessee school districts in the third grade. Supporters say it helps motor skills, reinforces learning and it's an art form.

I'm not sure if cursive does all that, but I know since I use it less these days (keyboard mostly) my motor skills are weaker , I'm gaining more weight, the house is messier and I'm not as smart as I used to be. But then, I'm 76 and I didn't used to be that either. Also, the sentence should be "jumps," not "jumped" so you get all the letters to practice.

Super Bowl Trafficking in Persons

"When it came time for the Super Bowl, Clemmie Greenlee was expected to sleep with anywhere from 25 to 50 men a day. It’s a staggering figure, but it doesn’t shock advocates who say that the sporting event attracts more traffickers than any other in the U.S." (Huffington Post, 2013) Then today I saw an article at Huffington Post claiming that an increase in Super Bowl prostitution was a myth. But the articles are still coming.

http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2016/02/05/pre-super-bowl-arrests-made-in-south-bay-prostitution-human

The Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Human Trafficking Task Force says the business of selling sex is up in the weeks and days leading up to the Super Bowl.“The ads have increased, both with the females in the prostitution and the males looking for prostitutes,” said Jensen. Last week, a prostitution sting at four massage parlors in Santa Cruz led to four arrests.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/fbi-trying-new-approach-to-crack-down-on-super-bowl-sex-trafficking/


http://espn.go.com/espn/story/_/id/14720095/the-scope-human-trafficking-continues-grow-awareness

Marching orders from Paul's letter to the church at Rome

Romans 12 has an extensive list of how Christians behave who have received grace. We studied this chapter in class this morning. Some statements are clarifications of those that came before, some are in the negative.

Present your bodies as a living sacrifice that is holy and pleasing to God

Don’t be conformed to the patterns of this world,

Be transformed by the renewing of your minds

Don’t think of yourself more highly than you ought to think

If your gift is . . .[list of gifts] prophesy, service, teaching, encouragement, giving, leadership, mercy. . .do it!

Love should be shown without pretending

Hate evil

Hold on to what is good

Love each other like the members of your family

Be the best at showing honor to each other

Don’t hesitate to be enthusiastic

Be on fire in the Spirit as you serve the Lord

Be happy in your hope

Stand your ground when you’re in trouble

Devote yourselves to prayer

Contribute to the needs of God’s people

Welcome strangers into your home

Bless people who harass you--don't curse them

Be happy with those who are happy

Cry with those who are crying

Consider everyone as equal

Associate with people who have no status

Don’t think that you’re so smart

Don’t pay back anyone for their evil actions with evil actions

Show respect for what everyone else believes is good.

Live at peace with all people

Leave room for God's wrath

Don’t be defeated by evil, but defeat evil with good.

Romans 12:1-12 CEB

Fasting and feasting for Lent

Lent begins next week with Ash Wednesday, and for many Christians it is a time of fasting. Here's a lovely thought from Methodist pastor William Ward (1921-1994).

Fasting and Feasting
By William Arthur Ward

Lent can be more than a time of fasting. It can also be a joyous season of feasting. Lent is a time to fast from certain things and to feast on others. It is a season to:

Fast from judging others; feast on Christ living in them.
Fast from emphasis on differences; feast on the unity of all life.
Fast from apparent darkness; feast on the reality of light.
Fast from thoughts of illness; feast on the healing power of God.
Fast from words that pollute; feast on phrases that purify.
Fast from discontent; feast on gratitude.
Fast from anger; feast on patience.
Fast from pessimism; feast on optimism.
Fast from worry; feast on appreciation.
Fast from complaining; feast on appreciation.
Fast from negatives; feast on affirmatives
Fast from unrelenting pressures; feast on unceasing prayer.
Fast from hostility; feast on non-resistance.
Fast from bitterness; feast on forgiveness.
Fast from self-concern; feast on compassion for others.
Fast from personal anxiety; feast on eternal hope through Jesus.
Fast from discouragement; feast on hope.
Fast from lethargy; feast on enthusiasm.
Fast from suspicions; feast on truth.
Fast from idle gossip; feast on purposeful silence.
Fast from thoughts of weakness; feast on promises that in spire.
Fast from problems that overwhelm; feast on prayer that undergirds.
Fast from everything that separates us from the Lord; feast on everything that draws us to the Lord.

What Gary learned from watching the Democrats debate

WHAT I LEARNED FROM WATCHING THE DEMOCRAT’S DEBATE from Gary's Facebook page (I didn't watch it, but this sounds very accurate based on what I know about the candidates)

* Black Lives Matter, All Lives Don't Matter.

* College should be free and all student loans cancelled.

* All medical treatment should be free.

* To become an American citizen you just need to show up here.

* The economy sucks and after 7 years in office, it's not Obama's fault.

* The Middle Class is shrinking rapidly and after 7 years in office, it's not Obama's fault.

* Average family income is continuing to drop and after 7 years in office, it's not Obama's fault.

* Black youths have over a 50% unemployment rate and after 7 years in office it's not Obama's fault.

* Hispanic youth unemployment is over 35% and after 7 years in office, it's not Obama's fault.

* 50% of the population is paying 100% of all the taxes and they are still not paying their “fair share.” The other 50% are not receiving nearly enough free stuff and deserve more.

* Everyone who votes Democrat will work less, make more money, get more time off, spend more time with family, pay less taxes, and get more government subsidies.

* Government wants even more money to squander on old promises already broken.

* Being a "Progressive" is less cringe-worthy than saying you're a Liberal.

* When America grows up, we want to be Norway, Sweden or the Netherlands .

* There's a quagmire in Iraq and Obama's complete retreat from there has nothing to do with the situation.

* Republicans want dirty air, oil spills, trash in the streets, polluted oceans, no medical treatment, young people without any education being paid the lowest possible wages, starving children, were responsible for Jim Crow Laws and don't believe in equal rights.

* Snowden and General Petraeus broke laws for releasing and not securing secret documents but Hillary Clinton shares no responsibility for doing WORSE.

* If Hilary is elected, everything will be rainbows and Unicorns - just like with Obama.

* Hillary Clinton does walk on water.

* Cheaters do prosper.

* People often cheer stupidity.

* There is only one candidate given a voice in the Democrat Race.

* Hillary and Bill Clinton were born poor Black Children.

* All the qualifications needed to be President is to be a woman.

* Evil looks like anything white, rich, successful and productive.

* You will receive a participation trophy in life.

* Agreements of any kind should be signed and committed to, even if the other agreeing party doesn't live up to its obligations.

* Everyone else does it, so should we, regardless of any results in those other countries.

* Everything is still Bush's fault

Why do Protestants, Catholics, and Orthodox Christians use different Bibles?

It's an important question, especially since there are non-denominational and fundamentalist Christian churches that claim to base their faith only on the Bible (and some only on King James Version) and not on historical church teachings or traditions (although they all have their own traditions which govern polity, sacraments, music, Sunday School, etc.)  Technically, there was no Bible for the first almost 400 years of Christianity, but there was written sacred scripture of the Jews, and that was primarily in three languages, Hebrew, Greek and Aramaic. So Jesus read and preached and taught from a "Bible" we Protestants don't use--the Septuagint, or Greek Old Testament. That scripture includes the following:

• Tobit (or Tobias) emphasizes the importance of the sanctity of marriage, parental respect, angelic intercession, as well as prayer, fasting, and alms giving for the expiation of sins, as noted in the Archangel Raphael's speech in Tobias 12:9.

• Sirach offers both moral instruction and a history of the patriarchs and leaders of Israel.

• First and Second Maccabees are historical works which describe the end of persecution by the Seleucid King Antiochus IV Epiphanes through Mattathias and his sons the Maccabees. And so began the independent Hasmonean Dynasty of Israel from 165 to 63 BC. The Rededication of the Temple by Judas Maccabeus (1 Maccabees 4:36-59, 2 Maccabees 10:1-8) is commemorated yearly during the Feast of Hannukah. First Maccabees was first written in Hebrew, but only the Greek version has been preserved. In addition to its historical value, Second Maccabees affirms the theology of martyrdom and resurrection of the just (7:1-42), intercessory prayer of the living for the dead (12:44-45), as well as intercessory prayer of the saints for those still on earth (15:12-16).

• Judith describes the deliverance of the Jews from the hands of Holofernes, general to Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon.

• The Book of Wisdom is witness to the trend in late post-exilic Jewish thought that looked forward to life after death: immortality is a reward of the just (3:1-4, 19). The book also notes that all living creatures reflect the perfection of the Creator (Wisdom 13:5).

• The Book of Baruch, the scribe to Jeremiah, describes the prayers of the Babylonian Exiles and includes the Letter of Jeremiah.

  Martin Luther in his 1534 translation differed from St. Augustine and considered the Apocryphal books "good for reading" but not part of inspired Scripture. The King James Bible of 1611 included the Apocrypha but in a separate section. While there are no direct quotations in the New Testament from the Apocrypha, there are also no direct quotations from Judges, Ruth, Esther, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs, Ezra, Nehemiah, Obadiah, Nahum, or Zephaniah. http://biblescripture.net/Canon.html
  

PDHC gets ready for St. Valentine's Day

At Pregnancy Decision Health Center (PDHC) we help mothers in crisis pregnancies, and also help them with maternity and baby clothes. We're all ready for little sweethearts this February.

 The women take parenting classes and receive "Earn while you learn" points which are used to purchase these items. However, there are also many free items, like the books under the table, and the play clothes in the bins on the right. Maternity fashions are up to date. All services are free and non-judgmental. Disposable diapers are always in demand. Hundreds of churches in central Ohio support this program, either as part of their annual budget or special fund raising like filling baby bottles with coins and collecting them. Some women's groups knit booties; others make quilts and receiving blankets for newborns.

A pastor, a priest and a rabbi . . .

Some issues just go together

Some values and political ideas just seem to go together like mac and cheese or ham and eggs. For instance, those who believe in ending the life of babies in the womb for any reason and the lives of elderly in end stage disease or the disabled who can't protest also believe in things that don't seem related at all, but they are so predictable, there must be a connection.

1) protesting the death penalty for vicious criminals,
2) open borders and sanctuary cities,
3) increasing regulatory burdens on small businesses,
4) increasing taxes on the successful to spread the wealth to the less successful,
5) creating education systems that cater to the lowest common denominator and give more power to the federal government,
6) taking private property for either government use or promised good for society to be given to crony capitalists,
7) violating religious rights guaranteed in the first amendment,
8) recreating the military through social engineering,
9) letting gender confused boys share bathrooms and showers with girls while screaming "rape culture",
10) destroying centuries-old historical standards for marriage
11) legalizing marijuana
12) putting people in boxes and calling it diversity and multiculturalism with severe punishment for violation
13) destroying a private health insurance system and making it illegal and punishable by jail and fine to not have government insurance
14) requiring an ID for just about everything except voting
15) creating huge "non-profit" foundations by politicians and former government career officers which rake in millions while decrying wealth that is profit from an actual business which creates jobs
16) choosing winners and losers in business by government, especially new technology to support climate myths
17) requiring workers to belong to unions in order to work
18) pushing progressive income tax rather than a fair or flat tax
19) advocating free college for all, even though the education bubble has been created by the government, a bigger bubble than the 2007-08 housing bubble
20) Downsizing to a smaller, weaker military.

Conservative vs. liberal ideas

Pro-choice vs. pro-life

Abortion and climate change

Martin Luther King, Jr. isn't inclusive enough in Oregon

 Some students at the University of Oregon have a problem. They think the "I have a dream" speech isn't inclusive enough. Classic socialist/progressive mush brains. They skipped the history of the Soviet Union in the 1930s and China in the 1950s when they ate their own. They browse Wikipedia and think they know everything.

 http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/02/02/the-college-where-martin-luther-king-is-problematic.html
 

"Let’s review King’s quote, while we’re at it: “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.”

It’s true, the quote makes no reference to other kinds of diversity, like gender or sexual orientation or disability status. But then again, King wasn’t so much celebrating diversity as he was championing tolerance and equal treatment for all people, regardless of categorization. King’s point was that everyone deserves the same rights as everyone else—implicitly, that includes people of varying genders, orientations, etc.

No wonder college students are uncomfortable with the quote: They worship categorization."

Today's young socialists have not studied history

Some of Bernie's followers (all very young adults) were interviewed with one question, "What is socialism." No one knew. Here is Benjamin Tucker's definition. He was a 19th c. anarchist (what he called the liberty form of socialism, and which sounds a lot like libertarian today) and wanted to distinguish between anarchism and state socialism. One of the best and clearest I've read.

"First, then, State Socialism, which may be described as the doctrine that all the affairs of men should be managed by the government, regardless of individual choice. Marx, its founder, concluded that the only way to abolish the class monopolies was to centralize and consolidate all industrial and commercial interests, all productive and distributive agencies, in one vast monopoly in the hands of the State. The government must become banker, manufacturer, farmer, carrier, and merchant, and in these capacities must suffer no competition. Land, tools, and all instruments of production must be wrested from individual hands, and made the property of the collectivity. 

To the individual can belong only the products to be consumed, not the means of producing them. A man may own his clothes and his food, but not the sewing-machine which makes his shirts or the spade which digs his potatoes. Product and capital are essentially different things; the former belongs to individuals, the latter to society. Society must seize the capital which belongs to it, by the ballot if it can, by revolution if it must. Once in possession of it, it must administer it on the majority principle, though its organ, the State, utilize it in production and distribution, fix all prices by the amount of labor involved, and employ the whole people in its workshops, farms, stores, etc. The nation must be transformed into a vast bureaucracy, and every individual into a State official.

Everything must be done on the cost principle, the people having no motive to make a profit out of themselves. Individuals not being allowed to own capital, no one can employ another, or even himself. Every man will be a wage-receiver, and the State the only wage-payer. He who will not work for the State must starve, or, more likely, go to prison. All freedom of trade must disappear. Competition must be utterly wiped out. All industrial and commercial activity must be centered in one vast, enormous, all-inclusive monopoly. The remedy for monopolies is monopoly."

For those who don't like Ted Cruz

I liked all the Republican candidates except Trump (don't consider him a Republican, but an opportunist), and although Ted Cruz wasn't my first choice, I agree with this Marty Evans' Facebook post. Ted seems to be disliked by all the right people, right in the sense of wrong most of the time.

"A lot is being made of the possibility that Cruz is unlikable so I have taken inventory of who it is that clearly dislike Ted and I think I'm okay with that.

1. Mitch McConnell...
2. John McCain
3. Special Interest groups
4. Corporate lobbyists
5. Go along to get along Senators and Congressman
6. Fox News
7. Country Club Republicans
8. Employees of the Federal Bureaucracy
9. Atheists
10. Takers not makers
11. Proponents of a "living" Constitution
12. Democrats
13. Progressives
14. Socialists
15. Communists
16. Poorly educated children just reaching voting age who get news and follow current events by watching Comedy Central
17. The New York Times
18. Hillary Clinton
19. The Bilderbergs
20. His obnoxious liberal college room mate."

Health Benefits of Reading

United States Deaths

Senator Tim Scott endorses Marco Rubio

To steal a comment from another Facebooker, "The nation's first black Senator from a "Deep South" state endorses the Hispanic son of immigrants for the Presidential nomination from the "party of old white men." That's pretty cool."

Some Trump voters are acting like an abused wife

It baffles me when I hear "evangelical vote" and Trump in the same sentence. He's not a Republican, not a conservative; he's a con-man, and we've had almost 8 years of that. He's not pro-life and he's a statist. His off the cuff remarks show he has little respect for our system of government. Obama doesn't like us at all; why chose more of the same? What are we voters? An abused wife?

"I will make America great again," is even more vague than "Hope and change," plus one man can't do that.  Only we, the American people in a capitalist system, can do it.  He's a statist of Hitler proportions. And Htiler was elected by the Germans with much the same message.

Holy Spirit Conferences are big business I've learned

Our Lutheran church had a Holy Spirit Conference, "Power for Mission," this past week-end.  It began Friday evening with worship and prayer with speakers Craig Heselton, Executive Pastor of Vineyard Columbus and Rev. Dr. Gemechis Buba, Mission Director of the North American Lutheran Church.  Then on Saturday we had worship, prayer or sermons 3 times during the day and 2 workshops, choosing from three topics, Tongues, Signs and Wonders, and Revelation. Rev. Dr. Morris Vaagenes active in many Lutheran organizations and former pastor and missionary spoke Saturday morning.

In the 1970s and 1980s there seemed to me to be a lot of excitement about the Holy Spirit. I remember going to one for the Church of the Brethren in the 1970s, although I was no longer a member, having joined Upper Arlington Lutheran Church in 1976.  We were encouraged to be open, pray, wave our hands during worship, talk more, engage more, expect healing, sing praise songs, etc. Our pastoral search committee (UALC was ALC which became ELCA in 1988) got so carried away in the Spirit after Luther Strommen retired that they wanted to issue a call to a charismatic Episcopal priest, and when word of that got out, a group filled with the Spirit figured out how to pack the search committee so instead we got a charismatic Missouri Synod Lutheran! We had been having healing events, and special evening worship times with praise music and time for prayer, and that eventually evolved into regular Sunday worship times, and the traditional, liturgical services began to falter. We were apparently even led by the Spirit to build a large facility across the river with room for a school and nursing home, but later the Spirit changed his mind, and we sold part of the land after the mortgage became a struggle.  But I hadn't heard much lately, although I know you can't say Jesus is Lord without the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit is active in all our service ministries and present in all our services whether traditional or happy-clappy.

So I decided I'd just check Google before going much further, and using the terms, "Holy Spirit events conferences" I turned up about 13 million matches--Roman Catholic, Pentecostal, Independent, non-denominational, Baptist, Methodist, Lutheran, private 501-c-3 non-profits, events for women, events for men, events by husband and wife teams, by priests, by anyone who feels called, events at conference centers, at churches, and at colleges. One day, two day, three day, four day, maybe more. No more should anyone claim the Holy Spirit is the forgotten member of the Trinity.  He's alive and well and attending conferences, sometimes leaving God the Son and God the Father at home.

I heard some of the same non-biblical messages I'd heard 30-40 years ago.  For instance, in one small workshop the speaker had us all hold hands and pray for the person on our right, then on our left.  I knew both the people I was praying for.  But the man next to my husband was someone neither of us knew.  After the meeting he said to my husband, "While I was praying for you God gave me a vision of a strong wind blowing a boat that was well anchored."  So I thought, "How nice, that really describes Bob--an anchor in a storm."  But he didn't stop there.  "And I think God is telling you that you should pull up your anchor and let God move you where he wills."  Keep in mind, this man was violating some basic principles--don't interpret your own vision, and for sure don't go off half cocked if you know nothing about the person.  For all he knew, Bob could have been contemplating divorce, or changing jobs, or suicide.  How much of a push would an unstable person need if after prayer with a stranger, the guy offers that?

At another workshop a woman in our row spoke up and said she'd been feeling the energy--that she often encounters people and can feel their energy by taking their hands. It was her gift.  Another speaker spoke highly of Agnes Sanford's books, which I considered the absolutely worst "christian" theology every printed and foisted off on non-thinking Christians.  For her, the blood of Jesus is something that soaked into the ground when he died and is surging through the planet (no resurrection in her fanciful visions) where we might encounter it. No, you're saved by the blood by visualizing it. When I was the church librarian 30 years ago, I quietly withdrew her books from the library.  Yes, librarians get to do that, especially when led by the Spirit. A book can be deacquisitioned for age, condition, space needs or snake oil.

How to Relieve Plantar Fasciitis, Shin Splints, Achilles Pain and Compartment Syndrome

I haven't tried this since I don't have the rolled foam, but thought I'd save it because it does address some of my leg issues. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OTVP-WRMuLY