Illustrations

2011-10-15T19:31:00.001-07:00

'How To Survive The Titanic,' And Sink Your Name

by NPR STAFF

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Weekend Edition Saturday

[5 min 37 sec]

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White Star Line heir J. Bruce Ismay was one of 325 men to survive the sinking of the Titanic.

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October 15, 2011

J. Bruce Ismay probably shouldn't be mentioned in the same breath as any of the true criminals of the 20th century, but for many years he may have been the most universally despised man in the Western world.

Ismay, heir to the prominent British White Star Line shipping company, owned the Titanic, and he's the one who said it would be fine to put just 20 lifeboats on a ship that could hold 2,800 people. Why clutter the decks, he argued, when the ship itself is a lifeboat?

On the night of April 14, 1912, when the Titanic hit an iceberg in the North Atlantic, Ismay discovered just how wrong he had been. He jumped into one of the last lifeboats to leave the crippled ship — and he survived.

But by the time the Titanic's survivors reached New York, Ismay was one of the most reviled men on Earth. In How to Survive the Titanic: The Sinking of J. Bruce Ismay, Frances Wilson, a fellow at London's Royal Society of Literature, tries to explain the man so many grew to hate.

Ismay's 'Empty Ship'

Wilson tells NPR's Scott Simon that there were many different accounts of just how Ismay survived.

"Some people describe Ismay as getting into the first lifeboat," she says. "Other people describe Ismay as being ordered into a lifeboat by the captain."

How to Survive the Titanic

The Sinking of J. Bruce Ismay

by Frances Wilson

Hardcover, 328 pages | purchase

the two-way

Titanic Sinking Not Act Of God, Act Of Human Error

"On the one hand they're love letters, and on the other hand they're pathetic and infantile kind of self-absorbed letters," she says. "At one point, he says to her, 'Gosh, can you imagine what would have happened to us had the ship not gone and hit the iceberg?' "

Eventually, Thayer stopped replying to his letters and Ismay was, again, silenced. He died 24 years after the Titanic went down, at his house in London.

"He never picked up his life again," Wilson says. "There's a difference between surviving and living — and Ismay was a survivor."

Read an excerpt of How to Survive the Titanic

2011-10-15T19:29:00.000-07:00

About the most reviled man of his times in America by Titanic Nation.

Thursday, August 23, 2007

J. Bruce Ismay

John Bruce, Ismay has received a lot of criticism over the past decades. Why? Because he got into a lifeboat when there were still women and children aboard. But is there any just foundation for this serious criticism? We'll look at the two sides of the story, 1. reasons for staying aboard, 2. reasons for getting on a lifeboat! Now this will be rather hard for me, since I already have an opinion of Ismay, but I will try to not let that come through..... you decide for yourself what he should have done!

1. First we'll look at the reasons that J. B. Ismay should have stayed aboard the sinking Titanic!
After the Titanic collided with an iceberg at about 11:45, it did not take long for John E. Smith to figure out there was not enough places for all the men, women and children in the lifeboats. So he gave the well known order, "women and children first." Now, did the Captain mean that there was no men to be allowed in the lifeboats? NO! The lifeboats needed officers, and sailors to make sure they were operated safely, and correctly. It was the spirit of the order that counted, if you did not have a legitimate reason for getting in a lifeboat, you had no place in one. Some fantastic men of measure did get off in a lifeboat, such as Harold Bride the wireless operator, Lightoller the Titanic's Second Officer, Archibald Gracie, Jack Thayer, and the list could go on.
Whats noticeable about these men, is they did not receive the criticism that Bruce, Ismay did, why is that?
Did Ismay have a responsibility to stay with the Titanic till she sank beneath the waves, like the Captain did? Lets look at some things that took place years earlier..... When the Titanic was still on blueprints the planning of how many lifeboats the Titanic would carry came up. The Titanic's designer at the time Andrew, Carlyle was pushing for 48 lifeboats which would have been enough for everyone one on board in case of a disaster. But there was one man standing in his way, John B. Ismay! When the rubber met the road Ismay said no, for various reasons. But when you get to the night of April 14, 1912 its a different story. Because of his choice, it puts him under some obligation to stay aboard and take whatever comes.
Here's possibly another reason that he should have stayed aboard. J. B. Ismay owned the White Star Line, which means he owned the Titanic. If a person owns something that is used for the public, and if fails in some way, and death follows, or injury, it seems that whoever owns it should take whatever other had to take as well. He was responsible for the passengers as well!
I guess one more thing that should have binded him to the Titanic it time of trouble, is the fact that there were still women and children on board, and he owed them all the safety that was in his power as a man. By giving up a spot in a lifeboat, and doing the courteous thing, and not to mention the polite thing!

2. It wouldn't be fair to explain one side of the story, so we'll make an argument for the opposite side. In this kind of situation we have to be fair, because Ismay is no longer around to speak for himself!
J. B. Ismay claims that there were no women in sight, and there are witness to back up the fact. Since that being true why should he stay on a sinking ship and face certain death? And if there was no women sight was he really breaking a rule? I think that if your standing on the side of a sinking ship, and there's an empty spot on a lifeboat, there are no women and children about, would we have the fortitude to remain on the ship? There are a lot of questions that come into play here, and what it comes down to is, was he doing something really out of the ordinary?
Why should he stay on a sinking ship if he could get off, and go back to his family, we can't really say that he had motives of the baser sort. He was the managing director of the White Star Line, he had a lot of responsibly back on shore.
Was there really a need to end his short life, just to make a name for himself?
And after all, you can't blame the entire construction of the ship on him, Thomas, Andrews obviously didn't have a problem with 20 lifeboats!
Just because countless men stayed aboard, doesn't mean that Ismay did if a opportunity presented himself.
To call this man a coward just because he got off a sinking ship, doesn't seem right! What would you have done in his position?

Closing the Gate

2011-08-03T10:51:00.000-07:00

One morning a zookeeper discovered that a kangaroo was out of his enclosure and roaming freely in the zoo. Knowing the kangaroos can hop very high, he instructed the zoo workers to construct a ten foot high fence around the kangaroo’s enclosure.

The next morning the zookeeper discovered that the kangaroo had once again gotten out of his enclosure, so this time he instructed the zoo workers to construct a twenty foot high fence. The next morning the kangaroo was once again found wandering around the zoo. This time the fence was extended to 40 feet high.

The camel in the next enclosure asked the kangaroo, “How high do you think they will go?”

“Pretty high,” the kangaroo replied, “unless somebody figures out to close the gate at night.”

[from Tommy Burrus, “Passing the Torch,” sermoncentral.com]

The voice of God

2011-08-03T10:50:00.000-07:00

A former park ranger at Yellowstone National Park tells the story of a ranger leading a group of hikers to a fire lookout. The ranger was so intent on telling the hikers about the flowers and animals that he considered the messages on his two-way radio distracting, so he switched it off. Nearing the tower, the ranger was met by a nearly breathless lookout, who asked why he hadn’t responded to the messages on his radio. A grizzly bear had been seen stalking the group, and the authorities were trying to warn them of the danger. -- Harold M. Wiest; Dawson Creek, British Columbia, Canada via Nathan Johnson, sermoncentral.com

2011-06-30T05:57:00.000-07:00

The Wonder of It All

by Ralph Marston

Do you ever wonder
At the wonder of it all?

Do you ever stand in awe
of the tiniest things
and how perfectly they work together?

Do you ever stop to think
about all the possibilities
and how even though they have no limit
they grow in number with every minute?

Do you ever wonder
when the leaves flutter down in autumn
at the incomprehensible power of life
that brings them back in spring?

Do you watch the waves roll in
and then look out far beyond them
where the water seems to touch the sky
and realize
that the vast expanse before your eyes
is only a small little corner
of all there really is?

And do you comprehend that all there really is,
as unimaginably grand as it may seem,
is only a smaller corner still
of all that there can be?

Do you ever wonder
how love can stay alive
past every pleasure and every pain
and even when there can be no hope
there is more than ever?

Do you ever struggle to lift a heavy rock and wonder
how a massive mountain can rise
thousands of feet above the plain
without even trying?

Do you ever realize that
no matter how much you may know,
no matter how many wonders you may have experienced,
there will always, always be more?

Do you ever wonder
why it is you wonder
and why you know what beauty is
even though you can't define it?

Do you ever wonder
who is doing the wondering,
who is looking out through your eyes
and feeling completely at home
with the wonder of it all?

Whatever you believe,
whatever you profess,
whatever you doubt or fear or hope for,
there are some things
your heart cannot deny
when you let go
and let yourself know
the wonder of it all.

from thewonderofitall.com

which offers a stirring sight and sound slide show to accompany this.

Jonny Gomes: The Man Who Wouldn't Die

2011-06-05T19:14:00.000-07:00

Jonny Gomes scrappy and grinding style has made him a key part of the Cincinnati Reds rise in the National League. His style was a byproduct of a rocky road to the majors that withstood tragedy, deprivation and, almost literally, heartbreak.

A great story:

http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=6478335

2011-02-08T04:24:00.001-08:00

NPR: The Best Museum You've Never Heard Of

from DCNY by Tony Seel

January 31, 2011

The Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena, Calif., just might be America's least known great museum. It houses a vast collection of works — from South Asian sculptures to works by Europe's Old Masters, Impressionists, and contemporary Americans — yet even Californians who live nearby say they've "always meant to go but ..." The museum tends to attract more European than American visitors.

Learn more about Norton Simon and his collection at the Norton Simon Museum website

In a comprehensive new book, the museum's senior curator, Sara Campbell, sheds light on this often-overlooked museum and the man who founded it. Collector Without Walls tells the story of Norton Simon — the businessman behind Hunt-Wesson Foods, Canada Dry and Avis — who had an eye for great art and a knack for collecting it.

The successful industrialist approached his art museum with a businesslike efficiency. When he came to visit, he would inspect his collection, but never linger, Campbell recalls: "He would make a circuit of every single work of art and walk as fast as he could."

Simon hired Campbell 41 years ago as a typist. She remembers him as a wonderful boss who solicited opinions about art from everyone.

"He asked everybody what they thought about the collection," Campbell says. "He would ask me, he would ask the most prestigious museum director, and he would ask his cook."

But after gathering the information so democratically, Simon would dowhatever he wanted, Campbell says.

Chief Curator Carol Togneri met Simon when she was working at the Getty Museum. He had come to the Getty in search of her boss, but that curator was unavailable. So Simon asked Togneri to pass along this question: "Of all the Raphaels in the world, where does mine come in among the top five?"

Simon constantly asked such questions. He wanted to be the best and have the best — and often, he succeeded. His accomplishment is measured by some 8,000 works of art, collected over three decades, starting in 1954.

No more than 800 or 900 of those pieces are on display in his Pasadena museum at any one time, so visitors can't see everything in a single visit. You won't fall victim to common museum perils — sore feet or exhaustion. And the museum is rarely crowded, so there's no need to fight for a closer look at Degas' dancers, early Flemish tapestries, 14th-century altarpieces or Rembrandt's Portrait of a Boy — thought to be his son Titus.

The portrait of the young boy with golden locks and rosy cheeks is one of three Rembrandt paintings in the collection; but if Simon had had his way, there would have been four. He had planned to bid against the Metropolitan Museum of Art for the master's Aristotle Contemplating the Bust of Homer, but wouldn't match their bid of $2.3 million. So the painting belongs to the Met; it's the One That Got Away.

Simon kept careful track of all the numbers. "He remembered every price he ever paid," Campbell says, down to the currency and its conversion rate.

Over the years, Simon began loosening his purse strings. Twenty years later, he bought his most expensive piece — for a whopping $4.2 million. The painting is a 15th-century resurrection scene by Flemish painter Dieric Bouts, priced because of its rarity. But the regal depiction of Jesus, wrapped in a red cloth, also has outstanding artistic merits, says Togneri.

"It is a great painting," she says. "Look at the detail. Look at the way that the armor is painted — the reflection of the morning light — that brooding sky."

Before the Bouts and the Rembrandts, Simon's earliest purchases were comparatively modest. He paid $16,000 for a late Renoir and $300 for a painting by 20th century American artist Dan Lutz. He bought the works to decorate his new house, Campbell says. His wife and a decorator had picked out some art for the new home in the Hancock Park neighborhood of Los Angeles. Simon didn't like their selections. There happened to be an art gallery next door to his barber shop in the old Ambassador Hotel. Every Saturday morning, when he went to have his hair cut, he'd see art in the window display.

Over the next years, Simon bought 80 works of art, spending about $1.5 million. He was a quick learner and a big spender. His tutors in art education were important art dealers in New York. It was a rich education. But Simon was above all a businessman — and he collected art like one.

"Mr. Simon was an industrialist, a businessman," Campbell says. "One of the practices in his business was to acquire companies that were not doing well and to turn them around. It was almost as if he collected companies. I think that he became feverish about art in the same way."

Simon appreciated the art that he collected, but kept an emotional distance from it — especially when it came to buying and selling.

"There are times when he has been quoted saying, 'I have to maintain some distance from this or it will consume me,'" says Campbell.

Simon needed to be able to decide when to sell a piece and when to walk away from a difficult dealer.

"Sometimes it worked, [and] the dealers quickly lowered their price and sometimes they didn't," Campbell says. But Simon always had to be prepared to walk away.

Simon died in 1993, but since 1974, the artwork he collected have been on view at the handsome Pasadena museum that bears his name. In many ways, it's a museum of "don't." The museum doesn't buy, or lend, or borrow any of its works — and it doesn't put on blockbuster shows, either. But what it does is display glorious works of art with elegance and style for any visitor who makes time for the voyage.

Finding Illustrations

2011-02-07T13:43:00.000-08:00

I've only heard from one user of this blog, and I would love to hear from others. What do you find helpful? Where do you find illustrations?

It has been my experience that sometimes illustrations find you. For example, the illustration above this post was on NPR one morning as I was driving to the church that I serve. Other times finding the right illustration can be a time-consuming and sometimes frustrating pursuit. Here are some places that I have found to be helpful:

1. Homiletics. Homiletics is a bi-monthly magazine that is superb in the art of illustration. Sometimes (often?) their direction for a particular sermon is not quite what I'm looking for, but combing through what is now an online resource (homileticsonline) can be very rewarding. Homiletics is pricey, but it is worth it. These folks have been called the "metaphor guys" and rightly so.

2. sermoncentral.com I am a contributor and I find that most contributors whose work I look at are not good illustrators. However, if I'm stuck for one it is worth the time to look through the sermons there.

3. books, movies, television, radio, general culture - These can be the ideal source for illustrations, but sometimes they aren't as timely as you would like.

4. Your life - for some this is the best place. I personally try to keep a balance on this and I also make sure that I'm not the hero of all my stories.

That's my list, what's yours?

America's Four Gods

2011-01-09T17:58:00.000-08:00

This is the introduction to a sermon that I have posted to sermoncentral.com by the same title:

Who does the grocery shopping for your household. I admire those who regularly wage the grocery store battles. Last year, I was part of the MOVE weight loss program at the Binghamton V.A. Health Clinic. Now, I know that you’re saying to yourself, “why would Fr. Tony need to be involved in a weight loss program?”

One session of the MOVE program was devoted to a video that explained grocery store marketing. The video took us through a typical grocery store beginning with the produce section. About every grocery store I’ve ever been in gets you started with the produce section, and this is a good thing since produce is good for us. The video explained how endcaps generate increased sales of the items placed in them and how eye level placement in aisles also increases sales. Folks, with all the marketing expertise that is employed at the grocery store we don’t have a chance!

Honestly, for me, a grocery store is sensory overload. They’re almost as bad as a Chucky Cheese, although Chucky Cheese is sound and sight and a grocery store is more reliant on sight alone. There are so many choices between similar products it can be baffling. Similar products come in different sizes and weights with different prices and nuances in ingredients. It’s all too much. How do you regular grocery shoppers do it?

There’s a similar complexity in the American religious landscape. Roughly 90% of Americans believe in God and about 85% of Americans believe that God is loving. However, after that the homogeneity of belief vanishes.

Baylor University professors Paul Froese and Christopher Bader looked at the wide range of beliefs about God in America and determined that this hodgepodge of ideas could fit under four headings. In America’s Four Gods, Froese and Bader offer two questions that they believe lead to the four most prevalent conceptions of God in the United States.

Question #1 is “To what extent does God interact with the world.” [Note: quotes and information on America’s Four Gods is from the Christianity Today book review by Matthew Lee Anderson, “The Divine Divide,” which can be accessed at http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2010/november/21.65.html]

Question #2 is “To what extent does God judge the world?”

From the answers to these two questions Froese and Bader teased out America’s four Gods.

God #1 is “the authoritative God, who both judges and is closely engaged in the world.” This God is like the stereotypes God the Cop and God the Judge.

God #2 is “the benevolent God who is ‘engaged but nonjudgmental.’” This is the Santa Claus God or God the Loving Grandfather.

God #3 is “the critical God, who happens to be judgmental but disengaged. I call this the bad mother in law God. Before you throw things, notice that I said bad mother in law. I’m sure that there aren’t any bad mother in laws here.

God #4 is “the distant God, who is neither engaged nor judgmental and could care less about how humans muck about.” I call this the Slumlord God.

Who is God for you?

The Growing Power Of The Sugar Pill

2010-03-08T10:12:00.000-08:00

From National Public Radio:

by ALIX SPIEGEL

Morning Edition[8 min 26 sec]

In drug-testing, the researchers usually don't know which patients get the drug and which get the placebo.

The other day I came across a fake news story on the Internet. It was a send-up of the pharmaceutical industry which featured a bunch of drug industry executives wringing their hands in despair: placebo pills, the fake news story reported, were getting stronger, what was a drug executive to do?

This is a real news story about how placebos are getting stronger. Or anyway, it's a story about how our assumptions about placebos — the proverbial sugar pills given to patients during medical trials — are changing.

But to understand this story first you need to understand more about how important placebos and the placebo effect have become to the process of medical research. To do that, it's good to get to know Annette and George Doeschner.

You see a long time ago, when they were still young, Annette and George decided to go for a walk in the park near their home.

It was a beautiful day, the sun was shining, and everything was perfect. Everything except for George's arm.

"His left arm wasn't moving," says Doeschner. "And I noticed and I said, 'Why isn't your arm moving?' And he said, 'I don't know, but my pinky is twitching and I don't understand what that is.' "

Annette encouraged George to see a doctor about his pinky, and so he did. But the doctor had bad news. George, a 40-year-old father of four, had Parkinson's.

Annette says the diagnosis felt like a death sentence, but there was one small ray of hope: science. The doctors assured George and Annette that the disease was slow moving, and that scientists were coming up with treatments all the time.

A Possible Treatment

And in fact, ten years later, George and Annette got wind of a promising possibility.

As part of an experimental study a doctor in Colorado was injecting fetal tissue into the brains of people with Parkinson's. The researchers believed that the experiment was relatively safe, but there was one catch: 40 people would be accepted into the study, but only 20 would get the real operation. Twenty would get a placebo operation; they'd go through everything that the real patients went through without getting the fetal tissue.

So why go through this pain and trouble? Because the doctor knew that even fake surgery — placebo surgery — will often give people relief. And, he felt he needed to compare the effect of the real operation with a fake one. That way he would know what effect the fetal tissue really had.

George agreed and flew to Colorado where the doctor screwed a metal crown into George's head and drilled four holes through his skull. George was then sent home.

Several months later, after a series of tests, George finally got more news about the experiment. Turned out he hadn't gotten the real operation; he's gotten the placebo surgery.

EnlargeCourtesy Doeschner family
When George Doeschner was diagnosed with Parkinson's, he and his wife, Annette, decided he'd take part in some experimental treatments to fight the disease.
You might think that, once told, he'd be a little bit put out about the four holes in his head. But Annette says no. She explained that she and George understand just how important placebos are. "How they ever do it I don't know, but that's the way that science works," she says plainly. "This is science."

The Placebo Effect

Over the last four decades placebos have come to play an enormous role in the scientific process. So enormous that even people like George and Annette understand their importance, are willing to tolerate literal holes in the head because they believe that it's only through testing against placebos that scientists are able to understand what is really going on.

But some recent studies are turning up something extremely unexpected about the placebo effect: our response to placebos seems to be changing over time. In fact the placebo effect, some researchers say, appears to be getting stronger.

To understand why it is that the placebo response might be changing, you first have to understand the role that placebos play in our research process. Because doctors know that any kind of medical intervention — even a fake one — can cause people to improve, they use placebos like sugar pills or fake surgery to understand whether or not a treatment is really working.

And why do these placebos — - the sugar pill, the fake operation — sometimes seem to make people better when there's absolutely nothing to them? Arthur Barsky, the director of psychiatric research at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, says one big reason is conditioning.

"You've learned over the course of your life that going to the doctor, being examined, having him write out a prescription, waiting in line at the pharmacy, taking a pill, (these things) are generally followed by some benefit," Barsky says. "So you've kinda learned a pattern of reacting that seems to be pretty powerful."

Therefore the mere fact of participating in these activities, Barsky says, often makes you feel better.

Now this is incredibly important when it comes to drug trials — studies that try to figure out whether or not a drug is working. Researchers testing a new medication feel that because of the placebo effect, they can't just give their drug to patients then ask them how they feel, because patients are liable to report the drug is helping when it's just the act of taking medicine that's making them feel better.

Barsky says this is the real question: "Is your new medication more effective than a sugar pill?"

And so most of the time when there's a drug study in this country, the drug is compared to a placebo. But, says Barsky, this whole system is premised on some big assumptions about how placebos work.

"We have always assumed that it was a pretty constant effect. That the same person would have the same response to a placebo at different points in time. That similar illness would respond in a similar way to placebo. It was a constant, predictable, stable, and very important phenomenon that you saw in any medical interaction."

Our Response To Placebos May Be Changing

But it turns out the placebo effect might not be as stable as we've assumed. Barsky recently published a study that looked at a bunch of antidepressant trials that had taken place between 1980 and 2005, and he found that in 2005 patients in these trials responded to placebos way more than patients did back in the 1980s.

"The placebo response was about twice as powerful than it was in the 1980s," Barsky says. "That's a pretty significant difference."

In other words, placebos seemed to be twice as powerful as they were 30 years ago.

No one, including Barsky, really knows why the placebo effect appears to be changing. But Ted Captchuk, another Harvard professor who studies the placebo effect, says that placebo "drift" as it's now known, appears to be real. He says it's shown up in more than just antidepressant trials. And one possible explanation, according to Captchuk, is that there's been a change in our expectations.

For example, Chaptchuk points out that by 2005 our belief in the power of antidepressant drugs was very strong, and that might account for the shift. "There's a lot of confidence, and that changes both providers impression of what happened, and presumably the patient's experience of what could happen."

But also, says Kaptchuk, it could be that because drug companies mostly pay for drug experiments, doctors who do the research have a subtle incentive to say the drugs are working. And since doctors don't know who's taking a real pill and who's not, the fact that they see benefits in all patients would also inflate the placebo effect.

Then there's another possible explanation.

Researchers, especially in pharmaceutical trials, get paid for every patient they recruit. But often, Kaptchuk says, it's hard to find people, so doctors will sometimes admit patients to trials who simply aren't that depressed. And typically, he says, people who aren't that depressed are much more susceptible to the placebo effect.

"I don't think there's out-and-out fraud," says Kaptchuk. "I think that you're under pressure to recruit. It's really hard to recruit people. And you know, (when) it's borderline, (you) put them in. And those people on the borderline at the end, they are better in the placebo group."

Whatever the cause, placebo drift is something that has the potential to cause real mischief in medical trials.

"If the placebo response — that baseline — is shifting all the time, then it really confuses the issue of whether the drug is effective or not," Barsky points out.

Faith In Science

As for Annette and George Doeschner, their experience with both placebo and "the real thing" has been mixed.

Years ago, after learning that George had had the placebo operation, they decided to go back and get the real thing. And at first, Annette says, it worked great: the tremors went away.

But then George started getting wild movements. His arms and legs would jump out uncontrollably at odd times. So George and Annette decided to go in for a new kind of operation: deep brain stimulation.

DBS, as it's known, quieted much of the wild shaking. George and Annette are pretty happy with it, but still Annette says: "We'd be happier with a cure."

And, were another potential promising cure to come along, Doeschner says, she and her husband might consider signing up for another experiment. Even if it involved a placebo.

The Castaway Quarterback

2010-02-08T09:12:00.000-08:00

In the final game of the 2005 NFL season San Diego Chargers quarterback Drew Brees dislocated his throwing shoulder. Upon further investigation it was revealed that Brees had torn the labrum of his throwing shoulder and the Chargers decided that they no longer needed his services. A year earlier, San Diego had acquired Philip Rivers from the New York Giants in a draft day trade and they felt confident that he was their future quarterback. Drew Brees was left looking for a job.

Brees visited New Orleans with his wife Brittany after Hurricane Katrina waters covered 85% of the city. After Katrina slammed into New Orleans in August 2005, the Saints determined that they would help pull their city out of the destruction of the hurricane. "We're going to rebuild together," they agreed. The Saints were once renamed the Aints by their fans as a way to express their frustration with the losing ways of their team. In 42 seasons the Saints only had a winning record in 8 of them. Brees agreed that he wanted to be a part of both rebuilding projects - the City of New Orleans and the Saints.

He joined the New Orleans Saints in 2006 and now he's a Super Bowl MVP. The castaway quarterback threw a Super Bowl record-tying 32 pass completions out of 39 attempts for 288 yards and two touchdowns. He was 16 out of 17 passes in the second half.

Now the Saints have their first Super Bowl championship after 42 years of franchise futility. The castaway quarterback held the Vince Lombardy Trophy aloft as he choked back tears. Brees said, "We had a whole city and maybe a whole country behind us. There was a feeling it was all meant to be. It's destiny."

It sure is and New Orleans and the Saints have largely a castaway quarterback to thank.

Points of View

2010-01-02T06:42:00.000-08:00

Despair, Inc. is a company with a website that offers "demotivators" for sale. There's some funny stuff there that can serve as a sermon introduction or illustration. The posters are funny as are the t-shirts. Check out the Points of View t-shirt and glass.

Go to www.despair.com

Light, Darkness, and Advent

2009-12-17T05:58:00.000-08:00

For last Sunday's sermon I developed an illustration that ran through the entire sermon based on the CSI television series (there are three of them). I began with the Homiletics treatment for August 9, 2009 and worked it into the entire sermon. The key to the illustration is the fact that each of the CSI programs are shot through colored lens. Las Vegas uses a blue filter, Miami uses a yellow filter, and New York uses a black filter.

The Homiletics material was based on an article by Ron Rosenbaum in the New York Observer, 1/21/07 - observer.com/node/36586

With Christ we don't need light-altering lens. We can look at life unfiltered because of what Christ has done for us and His promises to us for the future.

Forgiveness

2009-06-13T08:54:00.000-07:00

Check out the June issue of Christianity Today for an article on real life forgiveness.
It's the one with the cover story on Tim Keller (also an interesting read).

The Year of Living Biblically

2009-06-13T08:53:00.000-07:00

by A.J. Jacobs is a treasure trove of illustration material. Plus he's funny and the book has an index.

Using Psychology To Save You From Yourself

2009-06-09T03:20:00.000-07:00

This story was broadcast on NPR yesterday. Behaviorial Economics may have something of value to say in support of the Christian doctrine of sin. In any case, I found the story interesting and it does sound like a possible sermon illustration. This comes from NPR via TitusOneNine:

by Alix Spiegel

Cass Sunstein, President Obama's pick to head the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, supports policies that use psychology research to create behavioral incentives. Harvard Law

Psych! We Got Ya

Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein's blog, Nudge, looks at how many — from parents to credit card companies to policymakers — are using human psychology to help you, or sometimes to simply get what they want.

All Things Considered, June 8, 2009 · In the city of Greensboro, N.C., there's a program designed for teenage mothers. To prevent these teens from having another child, the city offers each of them $1 a day for every day they are not pregnant. It turns out that the psychological power of that small daily payment is huge. A single dollar a day is enough to push the rate of teen pregnancy down, saving all the incredible costs — human and financial — that go with teen parenting.

Cass Sunstein, President Obama's pick to head the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, is a vocal supporter of the program, because it's an economic policy that shapes itself around human psychology. Sunstein is just one of a number of high-level appointees now working in the Obama administration who favors this kind of approach.

All are devotees of behavioral economics — a school of economic thought greatly influenced by psychological research — which argues that the human animal is hard-wired to make errors when it comes to decision-making, and therefore people need a little "nudge" to make decisions that are in their own best interests.

And that is exactly what Obama administration officials plan to do: By taking account of human psychology, they hope to save you from yourself.

This is the story of how obscure psychological research into human decision-making first revolutionized economics and now appears poised to remake the relationship between the government and its citizens.

How Behavioral Economics Came To Be

The ideas that underlie the Obama administration's approach to social policies got their start in 1955 with Daniel Kahneman. Then a young psychologist in the Israeli army, Kahneman's primary job was to try to figure out which of his fellow soldiers might make good officers. To do this, Kahneman ran the men through an unusual exercise: He organized them into groups of eight, took away all their insignia so know one knew who had a higher rank, and told them to lift an enormous telephone pole over a 6-foot wall.

Kahneman felt the exercise was incredibly revealing. "We could see who was a leader, who was taking charge," Kahneman says. "We could see who was a quitter, who gave up. And we thought that what we saw before us is how they would behave in combat."

Certain of their wisdom, Kahneman and his fellow psychologists would make recommendations after the exercise. The chosen men would go to officer school, and Kahneman would move on to the next batch of soldiers. There was only one problem: Kahneman and his colleagues were terrible at it.

Every month or so, Kahneman would get feedback from the school about his picks, and "there was absolutely no relationship between what we saw and what people saw who examined them for six months in officer training school," he says.

But here's the remarkable thing: Despite the negative feedback, Kahneman's faith in his own ability was unshaken.

"The next day after getting those statistics, we put them there in front of the wall, gave them a telephone pole, and we were just as convinced as ever that we knew what kind of officer they were going to be."

People Make Irrational Choices

Kahneman was surprised by the pure visceral power of his own certainty. He eventually coined a phrase for it: "illusion of validity."

It's a problem that afflicts us all, says Kahneman, who won the 2002 Nobel Prize in economics for his work on this subject. From stockbrokers to baseball scouts, people have a huge amount of confidence in their own judgment, even in the face of evidence that their judgment is wrong.

But that mistake is just one of many cognitive errors identified by Kahneman and his frequent collaborator, psychologist Amos Tversky. For more than a decade, the two worked together cataloging the ways the human mind systematically misjudges the world around it.

For instance, Kahneman and Tversky identified "anchoring bias." It turns out that whenever you are exposed to a number, you are influenced by that number whether you intend to be influenced or not.

This is why, for example, the minimum payments suggested on your credit card bill tend to be low. That number frames your expectation, so you pay less of the bill than you might otherwise, your interest continues to grow, and your credit card company makes more money than if you had not had your expectations influenced by the low number.

Through their research, Kahneman and Tversky identified dozens of these biases and errors in judgment, which together painted a certain picture of the human animal. Human beings, it turns out, don't always make good decisions, and frequently the choices they do make aren't in their best interest.

In the realm of academic psychology, this isn't much of a revelation — psychologists see people as flawed in all kinds of ways. So, if the ideas of Kahneman and Tversky had simply stayed in the realm of academic psychology, there wouldn't be much of a story to tell.

Economics Mixes With Psychology

The economist Richard Thaler, frequently mentioned as a contender for a Nobel, was the one who integrated Kahneman and Tversky's ideas about human irrationality into economics. Now a well-respected professor at the University of Chicago, Thaler was first introduced to the work of Kahneman and Tversky when he was still a young professor.

Thaler was so smitten with their ideas that he contrived to spend a year at Stanford, where the two psychologists would also be teaching for the year.

"I remember Dick showing up to my office … and our friendship really started immediately — and it has gone on to this day," Kahneman says.

The three of them spent a year walking the hills of Stanford. Kahneman and Tversky taught Thaler about psychology; Thaler, in turn, taught Kahneman and Tversky about economics.

In the early '80s, they began to publish their ideas — an integration of psychological research and economics with this new flawed decision-maker at the center. But initially, mainstream economists largely rejected the work.

The main point of contention, says Thaler, was the suggestion that humans are less than perfectly rational when it comes to decision-making. For the majority of the 20th century, and for the most part even today, the human beings imagined by economists and placed at the center of their economic models have had a Spock-like rationality.

"Economists literally assume that the agents in the economy are as smart as the smartest economist," Thaler says. "And not just smart: We're not overweight; we never overdrink; and we save just enough for retirement. But, of course, the people we know aren't like that."

So why would economists assume that human beings are so hyper-rational?

Because using a rational human in their mathematical models works. For decades, economists have been using idealized humans to predict everything from international trade to market prices, and they've done pretty well. They've been able to figure out all kinds of things. Also, it's hard to include more realistic human behavior in an economic model.

The Challenges Of Modeling An Irrational Human

"Behavioral economics has identified a dizzying array of human foibles. We clearly can't incorporate all of them, and because of that, people feel that incorporating one error into your model may be just as unrealistic as incorporating none," says Ed Glaeser, a professor of economics at Harvard University.

But there's probably another reason for economists' resistance. An imperfectly rational human being challenges a really important idea: the notion that markets work well because individuals can be counted on to make the best choice for themselves.

"Merely accepting the fact that people do not necessarily make the best decisions for themselves is politically very explosive. The moment that you admit that, you have to start protecting people," Kahneman says.

In other words, if the human brain is hard-wired to make serious errors, that implies all kinds of things about the need for regulation and protection.

Thaler and Sunstein wrote a book on exactly this issue called Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth and Happiness.

The book proposed that if you want people to save for retirement, for example, it's important to take account of the fact that people are easily overwhelmed by information and so are likely to simply opt for the status quo. The lesson for policymakers is clear, says Thaler.

"If you want people to enroll in the pension plan, then automatically enroll them — and let them opt out if they want to." You must push them in the right direction.

The Psychological Research Jumps To Policy

But critics like Glaeser are worried. Glaeser, as well as many Republican critics, believes that our current economic predicament is the product of government intervening in the markets in a way that distorted incentives. Glaeser says that, if anything, the current crisis is proof that the Obama administration has drawn just the wrong conclusions from Kahneman and Thaler's work.

"Just understanding that human beings don't make perfect decisions does not make the case for government by any stretch of the imagination," Glaeser says. "After all, governments are made up of people, too. They are subject to the same foibles and weakness as the rest of us."

But Thaler argues that government policymakers don't need to be hyper-rational to help people make better choices.

He offers this example: Any American who goes to London realizes that they are endangering their lives every time they try to cross the street, because the traffic comes from the wrong direction. Our instinct is to look left, but if you look left, you'll get run over by a double-decker bus.

To help us, Thaler says, someone in the British government decided to write on the sidewalks of busy intersections filled with American tourists the words "look right."

"British bureaucrats are no smarter than American bureaucrats," says Thaler, "but they know that tourists tend to look the wrong way and could use a helpful nudge to avoid getting hit by a truck."

The Obama administration believes it needs to shape policy in a way that will keep us all from getting hit by trucks — health care trucks, financial trucks, trucks that come from every direction and affect every aspect of our lives.

Finding Illustrations

2009-03-28T08:51:00.000-07:00

This morning, listening to National Public Radio's On the Media program I heard three possible illustrations.

1. Blogging the Bible - a Slate columnist is blogging his way through the Bible, partially as an incentive to read it. The blogger's name is David Plotz.

2. Blogging the Stimulus Package - this one is a New Yorker project that appears to have some interesting commentary.

3. Google and Books - this story was by a Harvard University Library Director Robert Darnton raises the issue of Google putting together a monopoly on out of print electronic books and "cocaine pricing."

You can find these stories at the WNYC website under On the Media.

Icebergs

2009-03-01T12:03:00.001-08:00

Bishop David Bena of the Convocation of Anglicans in North America used icebergs as an illustration on the Christian life in this morning's sermon at St. Andrew's Anglican Church in Vestal. It went something like this:

Icebergs off Greenland come in many shapes and sizes. Large icebergs can weigh millions of tons and they are moved by deep sea currents. Small bergs are pushed around by the wind and waves. We need to be like the large icebergs, moved by the currents of God's Spirit rather than the winds and waves that push around small icebergs.

From Iceberg information, Dr. Stephen E. Bruneau Ph.D., P.Eng:

A majority of the icebergs in the North Atlantic come from about 100 iceberg producing glaciers along the Greenland coast while a few originate in the Eastern Canadian Arctic Islands. The glaciers of western Greenland, where 90% of Newfoundland's icebergs originate, are amongst the fastest moving in the world, up to 7 km per year. The icebergs we see off Newfoundland are carried south in the cold Labrador current.

Icebergs off the coast of Newfoundland and Labrador range in size from massive tabular and blocky bergs in excess of several million tonnes to small bergs weighing 1% of this. Categories of iceberg sizes which are used for recording iceberg statistics range from very large (greater than 10 million tonnes and hundreds of meters long) to large, medium and small bergs and on to bergy bits then growlers, which are grand piano size pieces. Note that the average iceberg weight for the Grand Banks area is one to two hundred thousand tonnes, and is about the size of a cubic 15 storey building.

The "tip of the iceberg" expression can be explained as follows: Icebergs float because the density of ice (around 900 kg per cubic meter) is lower than that of seawater (around 1025 kg per cubic meter). The ratio of these densities tells us that 7/8 of the iceberg's mass must be below water. Usually icebergs are 20% to 30% longer under the water than above and not quite as deep as they are long at the waterline.

Stradivarius

2009-03-01T11:19:00.000-08:00

Bishop David Bena offered an illustration about Stradivarius violins this morning. The story is incorporated in the following excerpt. Axeman at the bcustom imagination writes about a friend's gift:

She went to the closet and brought back a small case in good outside condition. In it was the remains of a 4/4 violin that looked like it had been run over. Ever the opportunity-seeker, I asked, “would you like to play again? If I could make that happen, what is it worth to you?” She’s like, “Oh that would be great!” So I look it over a bit and thought the f-holes looked familiar, like something I’d seen on TV, or in a museum. A peek at the label inside verified I held in my hands an actual Stradivarius. The top sported a crack along it’s entire length, and something was loose inside. So I did the repairs, and have been fiddlin’ around trying to teach myself how to play the thing.

It’s neat, the story of the Stradivarius, how he made violins out of ocean driftwood, because he was poor and couldn’t afford the “good” wood the other guys used. It was decades before anyone figured out his secret. The cells are rinsed out in driftwood, so each cell of wood is an air chamber. The harmonics of this fiddle are way better than any guitar I’ve played. It just so happens, one of my bcustom guitar models is called Driftwood. Driftwood comes from the part of the southern swamp ash tree that grows under the swamp water. Just like Fender initially did the Strat before he discovered Alder was cheaper and sounds pretty good. So order one made like God and Leo Fender intended, from the real stuff
today.

In Bishop Bena's version, God, like Stradivari, can make a masterpiece out of anything. The driftwood that Stradivari supposedly used has been eaten away inside the wood by microbes. This open space inside the driftwood is what makes it such a good conductor of sound. In a similar way, we each have an open space within us that can only be filled by God. When that open space is filled by God our lives resonate to give the sound and tone that only God can produce.

From Antonio Stradivari site:

Antonio Stradivari was born in 1644, and died in 1737, and in his 93 years, he established himself as the greatest violin maker in the history of mankind. He was born in Italy, and worked in Cremona for the majority of his life. Although he was Italian, he would inscribe his violins with Latin slogans, hence, the violins became known as Antonius Stradivarius violins, or merely Stradivarius violins, rather than Stradivari violins. His mentor was believed to be Nicolo Amati, who also came from a very famous family of violin-makers. The reason why the Stradivarius violins are so expensive and famous, is because of the quality of their sound. Many musicians have not only owned the violins, but have preferred them over any other violin. The sound of these infamous violins resonate beautifully, and produce very powerful tones. They are rich, refined, and deep in sound, and project very clearly over a distance. These violins are thought of as good-quality instruments, and musicians delight in playing them, for they are very easy to play on. They are responsive to the touch of a finger, and one does not feel like he or she needs to press firmly in order to produce a sound. Some of the Stradivarius violins differ in quality and sound, however. Not every single Stradivarius instrument sounds the exact same, or is as good as the other. There are some which are believed to be of better quality than others. No one truly knows exactly why the sound of the Stradivarius violins is so wonderful, but there are many theories as to what makes a violin a good violin. The quality of the wood is a definite factor, as well as the shape of the instrument, the thickness of the wooden plates that are placed in the belly and the back of the instrument, and the varnish of the wood. Even though no one really knows how exactly he formed his violins, or what methods he used, it can definitely be said that he incorporated advanced geometry and mathematics into his craftsmanship. He built over 1,100 instruments, but merely 650 of them survive today.

The LION CHASER’S MANIFESTO

2009-01-05T13:32:00.000-08:00

Quit living as if the purpose of life is to arrive safely at death. Set God-sized goals. Pursue God-ordained passions. Go after a dream that is destined to fail without divine intervention. Keep asking questions. Keep making mistakes. Keep seeking God. Stop pointing out problems and become part of the solution. Stop repeating the past and start creating the future. Stop playing it safe and start taking risks. Expand your horizons. Accumulate experiences. Consider the lilies. Enjoy the journey. Find every excuse you can to celebrate everything you can. Live like today is the first day and last day of your life. Don’t let what’s wrong with you keep you from worshipping what’s right with God. Burn sinful bridges. Blaze a new trail. Criticize by creating. Worry less about what people think and more about what God thinks. Don’t try to be who you’re not. Be yourself. Laugh at yourself. Quit holding out. Quit holding back. Quit running away. Chase the lion!

Taken from The Community Fellowship’s series of Chase the Lion adapted from Mark Batterron’s In A Pit With A Lion on a Snowy Day.

The Real Star Trek

2009-01-05T11:46:00.000-08:00

For Matthew 2:1-12

In 1966, Star Trek was first aired, but it lasted only three seasons. It was in syndication during the 70s that the show’s popularity grew. Then there was Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Deep Space 9, Star Trek: Voyager, and finally Star Trek: Enterprise. Each of these Star Trek television series had a different cast.

In addition to the five different Star Trek television series there are ten feature films with another one scheduled to be released in May. There is also the Star Trek animated series. The Guinness Book of World Records reports that the original Star Trek has spawned more spin-offs than any television show in history.

Star Trek has been called “one of the most culturally influential television shows – and perhaps the most influential science fiction television series – in history” (Wikipedia – Cultural Impact of Star Trek). In 1976, NASA named the first Space Shuttle orbiter Enterprise after the mother ship of the original Star Trek. There are scientists and engineers who say that they were influenced by Star Trek to go into their chosen professions.

As much impact as Star Trek has had, there is another star trek that has had even more. That’s the star trek of our gospel lesson this morning.

Note: the full sermon is posted at Sermoncentral.com.

Pythagoras

2008-05-12T13:00:00.000-07:00

Pythagoras (580-500 BC) was best known for his theorem in
geometry, but was also a great mathematician and philosopher
of his time. He suggested that everyone is seeking one of
three things: they are seeking knowledge (Pythagoras would
have put himself in that category), fame or gain. Think about
that! The world hasn’t changed much, has it?
What this ancient Greek philosopher omitted from his list was any
mention of the spiritual: those seeking after God. Was he wrong,
therefore?

Source: Adrian H Reed, www.ebe.org.uk

America's Most Sinful Cities

2008-02-24T19:06:00.001-08:00

Forbes.com staff, 02.14.08, 6:00 PM ET
They say geography is destiny, but perhaps it is damnation as well.
We have unveiled the American city that has fallen the farthest from grace in each of the seven deadly sins ( lust, gluttony, avarice, sloth, wrath, envy and pride). For each sin we stretched our imagination to find a workable proxy--murder rates for wrath, per capita billionaires for avarice--then culled the available data sources to rank the cities. Some of the results were surprising: Salt Lake City as America's Vainest City. Some were not: Detroit as America's Most Murderous.
To view them on our interactive map, simply click on a cardinal sin, and the 10 worst (or best, depending on your point of view) cities for that particular vice will be displayed.

Fire Power

2007-10-17T13:34:00.000-07:00

[From a sermon on Daniel 3:13-30, for full sermon, see SermonCentral.com]

On a windy day in July 1994 on the appropriately named Storm Mountain in Colorado, smokejumpers parachuted in to fight a forest fire that was racing up the side of a small canyon. Smokejumpers are elite squads of firefighters who are the first responders to remote out-of-control wildfires. They go in at the most dangerous stage of defense against fires in isolated forest and grassland areas.

What had started on Storm Mountain as a typical forest fire was suddenly whipped by a strong wind into an explosion of heat and flame. Unlike almost everything else in nature, fire travels faster uphill than down. The smokejumpers stationed along a ridge were engulfed in a firestorm so unexpected and intense that escape was nearly impossible. Fourteen died on that ridge.

In a last effort at survival, many of them pulled their shiny, foil-like, fire-resistant emergency shelters over themselves and hugged the ground. Those flimsy barriers were no match for the fury of the Storm Mountain fire. [Homiletics, 1/8/1995]

Today, the United States Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management employ over 280 smokejumpers who are strategically placed around the U.S. including Alaska. They are flown in to fire sites and dropped by parachute with fire fighting tools and enough food and water for 48 hours. They are required to be in top physical condition, and to "possess a high degree of emotional stability and mental alertness" (www.fs.fed.us\fire\people\smokejumpers).

Last year (2006), they made nearly 2500 fire jumps (2497) with the most happening from their base in Missoula, Montana. The 63 smokejumpers assigned to Missoula made 310 fire jumps battling fires in the Northern Rockies and 191 other fires in the U.S. outside their region. On one mission, Missoula smokejumpers suppressed a fire that threatened 3500 acres near the Missouri River. It was a day that sported 100 degree temperatures apart from the fire.
[www.fs.fed.us\fire\people\smokejumpers\national-report.pdf]

According to the Canadian Forest Service, "An average surface fire on the forest floor can reach temperatures of 800 degrees Celsius. Under extreme conditions a fire can give off…
flame temperatures exceeding 1200 degrees Celsius" (www.nofc.forestry.ca\fire\faq] That’s 1408 degrees Fahrenheit on average with temperatures exceeding 2128 degrees Fahrenheit.

To further pinpoint this higher temperature, consider this:

850° produces bright red heat

913° melts bronze

1083° melts copper

1200° produces white heat

1530° melt iron.

This gives you an idea of the normal temperatures inside a smelting furnace. Now, imagine it seven times hotter!

Faking It

2007-10-15T10:27:00.001-07:00

A Sunday School teacher was struggling to open a combination lock on a supply cabinet. She had been given the combination, but she couldn't quite remember it. Exasperated, she went to find her pastor to ask for help.

The pastor followed her to the Sunday School room, walked up to the supply cabinet, and started to turn the dial on the lock. After dialing in the first two numbers he paused and stared blankly into space for a moment.

Finally, he looked heavenward and his lips moved slightly. He then looked back at the lock, gave it one more turn and opened it.

The teacher was amazed. "I'm in awe of your faith, pastor," she said.

"It's really nothing," he replied. "The combination is on a piece of tape on the ceiling."

The God Delusion ...

2007-09-05T13:09:00.000-07:00

by Richard Dawkins is one of four bestsellers over the past few years written by atheists for the purpose of discrediting religion. The others are: God is not Great by Christopher Hitchens, which is a more recent bestseller (Dawkins' work was published in 2006), and two books by Sam Harris. Harris' books are: Letters to a Christian Nation and The End of Faith. One of the reasons suggested for the brisk sales of these books is "opposition research" by Christians and other religious believers.

I worked a sermon around Psalm 82 with reference to The God Delusion and a critique by Alistair McGrath called The Dawkins Delusion. Reading book reviews of Dawkins' book gave additional strength to this sermon which can be viewed at sermoncentral.com.

Choices

2007-02-22T08:05:00.001-08:00

Sermon context: Ephesians 4:1-16

Explanation: This week in our area, The Infinite Mind radio show played on our local NPR/PBS affiliate featured an interview with Dr. David Myers of Hope College. Myers is the author of The American Paradox: Spiritual Hunger in an Age of Plenty. The first chapter of his book can be accessed at DavidMyers.org

Illustration: Myers says on The Infinite Mind that the inspiration for his book came from a trip to buy jeans from a Gap store. A trip to www.gap.com will give you a listing of the varieties of jeans that The Gap sells.

Choices and satisfaction are the keys to Myers work on this subject.

Value: Car Sells for Record $5.5 Million

2007-01-26T06:28:00.000-08:00

MSN/MSNBC/AP 1/22/07

Carroll Shelby's personal edition of the 1966 Super Snake Cobra sold was sold at the Barrett-Jackson Collector Car Auction in Arizona. For details, see story.

Good illustration on value. Has the strength of appealing directly to guys.

Epiphany Preaching

2007-01-06T06:11:00.000-08:00

If anyone has come here looking for something that will help for preaching the Feast of the Epiphany or the Sunday after Epiphany, I suggest a story from Missions in the Third Millenium by Stan Guthrie. The story is in the Introduction and it is about a Parsee boy who finds/is found by Jesus. It even mentions the magi, along with two other Persians mentioned in the OT, Cyrus and Darius. It's a great story.

A Parable

2006-08-11T07:39:00.000-07:00

From Stand Firm in Faith blog:

A very wealthy man wanted to build a luxurious mansion that would never fall
or be destroyed. He knew that the foundation of the house was key, and
being wealthy, he decided to build his house on a foundation of the hardest
substance in the world, diamonds. After carving out a trench on a granite
hilltop overlooking the sea, he laid a foundation of bricks made of diamond.

Now, you can imagine how wonderful the house itself was if it were built on
a diamond foundation.

Well, the house stood for generations, and the man had several children who
had several children. Each successive generation, being larger than the
previous, ended up adding on to the house. At first, the children and
grandchildren either added on upper floors in order to be safe on the firm
foundation of diamonds. Some generations even expanded the original diamond
foundation and added on to the house as the original building father
intended.

After some time, the descendants of the building father decided that the
father had been silly to make such an over-the-top decision to use diamonds
in this way. They began to build apartments (attached to the original
house) that were simply laid on the hilltop. These new apartments did not
look nearly as nice as the original house, but the children were happy
because they had saved so much time, money and effort.

Soon, the attached apartments spread past the granite hilltop onto regular
soil, but the children just kept on building and building. These new
apartments started looking pretty trashy, and, in an effort to fix them up
and make their lives more luxurious, some of the children started mining out
the diamonds from the original foundation and selling off the assets to
purchase cheaper materials that looked nice but had no real substance.

Finally, one generation got so bold and defiante that they decided to build
a luxurious apartment that was attached to the main structure but hanging
out over the sea with no foundation whatsever underneath it. It was a
beautiful apartment, not as nice as the original mansion, but very
appealing. The children had great parties with music, dancing, feasting and
laughing -- they laughed heartily at their brethren who were struggling to
follow the father's original plan for solid building.

For a time, the solid structure was able to support the hanging apartment,
but, after a while, at one of the great parties, the dancing was so intense,
and the food so heavy, the apartment fell into the sea. Unfortunately, as
it ripped away from the main structure, it dragged some of the hilltop
apartments with it (those that were not built on a solid foundation). Some
of the apartments that were not carried into the sea, but had had the
diamond foundation mined away were damaged or destroyed.

But, the original mansion . . . the one the father had built, was completely
unharmed. The surviving children finally saw the beauty and value of the
father's original plan and committed themselves to living on the foundation
supplied by the father without trying to add on cheap shells of buildings
that had nothing solid on which to stand.

Passion: Shari Caudron

2006-08-11T06:24:00.000-07:00

Shari Caudron spent three years following people who some might call fanatics.

Weekend Edition Sunday, August 6, 2006 · People and their passions. The National Barbie convention in Los Angeles attracts hordes of pink-clad doll traders. The town of Mount Airy, N.C., morphs yearly into the fictional Mayberry of Andy Griffith Show fame. Thousands of so-called Grobanites follow their singing idol, Josh Groban, from city to city.

Shari Caudron's book Who Are You People? peers into the lives of each of the above communities and many more: ice fishers, pigeon racers, storm chasers... even people who take on animal "fursonas."
Excerpt: Who Are You People?

by Shari Caudron

Cover of 'Who Are You People?'

Before writing this book, Shari Caudron dabbled in some passionate pursuits of her own. Just not for very long. Barricade Books

NPR.org, August 5, 2006 · When I was twenty-one years old I decided to take up black-and-white photography. I bought a Pentax single-lens reflex, rented darkroom space at the San Francisco Art Institute, and began to take long, watchful walks throughout the city. Pentax in hand, a scowl on my face, I scoured the streets for revealing city images. The crumpled newspaper in a grimy alley. The empty bottle under a park bench.

The weight of the camera felt good in my hands. I was a Photographer. I wore an oversized jacket, green fatigues with lots of pockets, and I smoked. I was earnest, artistic, and totally consumed by photography.

For about five months.

Two years later, I hooked up with a group of pagan, Mother Earth, goddess-worshipping feminists. I became a vegetarian. I bought Tarot Cards. I attended week-long festivals in Yosemite National Park with topless "womyn" who chanted, wore crystals, believed in past lives, and ate an alarming amount of tempeh.

As did I.

For about a year.

When my metaphysical musings came to an end, I became -- what else? -- a runner. I gave up smoking and began to carbo-load. I trained and entered a triathlon. I learned about shin splints, drafting, electrolytes, potassium, runner's high, lactic acid, pronation and sand-bagging. I was a diligent convert to the world of the fit, and entered races at least once a month.

The racing phase easily outdistanced the photography and metaphysical phases.

It lasted two whole years.

Months passed, seasons changed and so did my roster of activities. For the next several years, I dabbled in backpacking, Buddhism, Scrabble, snowshoeing, bridge, belly dancing, golf, gardening, fencing, piano and an abundant amount of non-professional, highly unstructured wine tasting. The operative word is dabbled.

Through all these years, through all these hobbies, nothing ever took hold and swelled into a grand, all-consuming, get-a-load-of-this obsession. I once started a collection of antique Roseville pottery and actually managed to acquire six pieces before losing half to a lover when our relationship ended. Of the three pieces that remained, one was chipped and worth maybe twelve dollars. See, I was never good at this sort of thing. I got bored easily. Plus, I always thought zealots were a bit strange. I once attended a slide show given by an avid rock collector who described various pieces of her collection as "droolers" and "show-offs." After advancing to a slide of a rock with dazzling purple crystals, the collector slumped back in her chair. The light from the projector cast a warm glow on her thick glasses and curly hair.

"Oooohhh," she said, hand to her heart. "This baby could win a pageant."

Afterward, I invited friends to stone me to death if I ever got like that.

But truth be known, I admired the rock collector. She had something I didn't -- passion. A passion so deep she was never at a loss for what to do with her weekends. A passion so consuming, she just had to share it with others. A passion so meaningful and enriching she burned to excite in others her love of droolers, quartz and feldspar.

Me, all I had were three pieces of chipped pottery and some memories of running topless in the woods with a crystal around my neck.

Given my history, I hadn't the faintest notion what it was like to love a single hobby or activity so much that I would plan all my spare time around it. And once I hit forty, once I was no longer obsessed with finding a job, snaring a mate or buying a house -- I'd done all that, sometimes more than once -- I began to want more.

I wanted to find something that I wouldn't, couldn't get bored with. I wanted a grand, ferocious, larger-than-life fervor that knew no bounds. I wanted to love diamonds like Elizabeth Taylor or cooking like Julia Child. But I wasn't like these larger-than-life women with their over-the-top interests. I was more like MaryAnn on Gilligan's Island. You know. Nice. Temperate. Vanilla.

Because of this, I began to sense that something may have been holding me back. Sure, maybe I hadn't hit on the right activity. Nude volleyball had yet to be tested. But I started thinking there might be more to it. That something else had been preventing me from committing myself more thoroughly to an interest. But what? What had been standing in my way? I set out to learn the answer...Shari C

Music - Shawshank Redemption

2006-04-04T10:17:00.000-07:00

via TitusOneNine:

There’s a marvellous moment in the film The Shawshank Redemption when the wrongly imprisoned central character Andy Dufresne commandeers the prison’s loudspeaker system and plays a duet from The Marriage of Figaro. And as its notes ring out across the prison yard everyone stops, and in that place of confinement they inhale some blessed breaths of freedom. .

Which is why the great religions have always cherished music and made it part of worship, because as the spirit strives to break out beyond the gravitational pull of our daily concerns, words naturally modulate into song and take wing, lifting us with them.

–Chief Rabbi Dr. Jonathans Sacks

Study Finds Attending Church Adds Years to Life

2006-04-04T10:13:00.000-07:00

From The Christian Post (via TitusOneNine):

Tuesday, Apr. 4, 2006 Posted: 10:43:57AM EST

Exercise and eating well are not the only ways to increase life expectancy. A new study found that people who attend religious services weekly live longer.

Study Finds Attending Church Adds Years to Life
Rev. Paige Blair, a parish priest from York Harbor, Maine, dances to the sound of the Irish rock band U2 during a U2 Eucharist communion, a service punctuated by the Irish band's rock music, at the Grace Episcopal Church in Providence, R.I., Friday, March 17, 2006. A new study found that people who attend religious services weekly live longer.

Detailed in the Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine, the study revealed an added 1.8-3.1 years to life expectancy for churchgoers. Based on a review of existing research, the findings also showed regular physical exercise adds 3.0-5.1 years and proven therapeutic regimens adds 2.1-3.7 years.

"There is something about being knit into the type of community that religious communities embody that has a way of mediating a positive health effect," study leader Daniel Hall, a resident in general surgery at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, told LiveScience – the science and technology website of New York-based Imaginova.

Also an Episcopal priest, Hall listed possible reasons for the longer life span, including a decrease in the level of stress when involved with religion and being able to make meaning out of life.

Hall also examined the costs of the three categories researched on life expectancy. When factoring in typical gym membership fees, therapy costs from health insurance companies and census data on average household contributions to religious institutions, the estimated cost of each year of additional life gained for regular religious attendance was $7,000. Regular physical exercise came out to $4,000 and proven therapeutic regimens totaled $10,000.

"Religious attendance is not a mode of medical therapy," said Hall, who cautioned on drawing any big conclusions.

He clearly stated that "the significance of this finding may prove to be controversial and that "there is no evidence that changing religious attendance causes a change in health outcomes."

"But at the very least,” he said, “it shows that further research into the associations between religion and health might have implications for medical practice."

In any case, Hall suggests religiousness to be considered as a demographic factor.

"Knowing a person's religious practices might prove useful in evaluating their condition and suggesting potential treatments."

Audrey Barrick
audrey@christianpost.com

Growth - Super Size Me

2006-03-25T18:54:00.000-08:00

Does the name Morgan Spurlock ring a bell? Morgan Spurlock wrote, directed and starred in the 2004 documentary, Super Size Me. The tagline for the movie is "a film of epic proportion." It's about a 33 year old New Yorker in excellent health who is inspired by a spate of lawsuits aimed at junk food purveyors to do a thirty-day experiment. Super Size Me chronicles Spurlock's 30-day human experiment.

For thirty days, Spurlock eats breakfast, lunch and dinner at McDonalds. His human experiment had three rules. First, he could only eat at McDonalds. Second, he had to eat every menu item at least once during the month. Third, if he was asked whether he wanted to super size his meal he had to answer yes.
During his human experiment, Morgan Spurlock was monitered by a cardiologist, a gastroenterologist, a family doctor, and a nutritionist.

After the first week, Spurlock gained over 10 pounds. After ten days, Spurlock was up 17 pounds. After the full thirty days, Spurlock had put on 25 pounds. He went from 185 pounds to 210. Eating 5,000 calories a day will do that to you. His McDiet also created some other problems. His cholestrol went sky high. He experienced sexual dysfunction, headaches, nausea and signs of addiction.

We can all see that Morgan Spurlock experienced growth, but we also recognize that his growth was bad growth. Today we are going to consider good growth - spiritual growth.

Narnia 1: No Christmas

2006-03-21T12:52:00.000-08:00

Children’s Homily: “What If There Were No Christmas”

We begin our Narnia adventure in England some 60 years ago. It was a dangerous time in England and four children left their London home to stay in the country home of an old Professor. On the first page of the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, we are introduced to Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy, the Pevensie children who came to stay with Professor Kirke. It was summer in England and on their first night in Professor Kirke’s country home the children spoke about exploring outside the next day. But when they woke up it was raining, and they agreed to explore inside the house instead.

They looked into several rooms, including a room that was completely empty, except for one piece of furniture. Does anyone know what the piece of furniture was? [a wardrobe] While the others went off to look at other rooms in the house, Lucy stayed behind to look inside the wardrobe. She saw some long fur coats inside, and she stepped between them and rubbed her face in them. There was a second row of coats behind the first row and she went deeper into the wardrobe to investigate them. She stepped even further into the wardrobe and reached for the back of it, but she couldn’t yet touch the back panel.

“This must be a simply enormous wardrobe!” thought Lucy, and then as she investigated even further, she felt something soft and powdery under her feet. It also felt very cold. The next thing she knew, she was touching tree branches. Lucy had entered Narnia through the wardrobe, and before she could figure much of this out, she was standing by a lamppost talking to a Faun (that’s spelled F-A-I-N). Does anyone know what a faun is? There is a picture here in my book. From the waist up, a Faun looks like a man, but from the waist down, a Faun looks like a goat.

The Faun was named Mr. Tumnus, and he told Lucy that it had been winter in Narnia for a very long time. He told Lucy about the White Witch who ruled Narnia and had placed an enchantment over Narnia so that it was “always winter and never Christmas.” Because of the White Witch, Narnia had become a bad place to live. She controlled Ghouls, Ogres, Cruels, Hags, Spectres, Wraiths and Horrors. The White Witch and all her minions had made Narnia a terrible place for the good creatures. This is the bad news about Narnia, but there is some good news to come. But not today. This is as far as we will go today.

“What If There Were No Christmas”
Isaiah 64:1-9a

“Before Aslan comes, Narnia is in perpetual winter without hope.”

Readiness

2006-03-21T12:40:00.000-08:00

The power nap of fifteen quick minutes in the late afternoon is reputed to be a powerful antidote to the post-lunch weariness that many of us feel. It’s no siesta, but it’s enough to restore vitality for the final push of the work day.

But if you really want to talk about effective snoozing, look no further than the black bear. They hibernate for up to seven months a year, without ever waking up to eat, drink or relieve themselves or exercise. Recent research shows that the inactivity of hibernating bears may drop their heart rate to as low as an amazing six beats a minute, but they still burn a surprising 4,000 calories per day!

What is truly amazing is the ability that these power-nappers have to emerge from hibernation at almost the same level of physical strength and stamina as when they started it. Through daily actions of muscle stimulation and contraction, bears are able to both maintain their constant body temperature and keep their massive muscles in working shape. Come spring, they bound out of their den at full speed, ready to eat about anything in sight. [Nature, 11/01]

Stewardship - Rick Warren

2006-03-21T12:36:00.000-08:00

What would you do if you won the lottery and the notoriety from your good fortune propelled you into the media spotlight? That’s not exactly what happened to Rick Warren, but it is close enough to get us started. What happened to Warren is that he wrote the bestselling hardcover book of all time, The Purpose Driving Life. This resulted in tremendous fame and wealth. Warren acknowledges, "It brought in a ton of money. The first thing we decided was that we wouldn't let it change our lifestyle one bit."

Warren was featured in a recent issue of U.S. News & World Report focused on our nation’s best leaders. The magazine reports that despite all their new wealth, the Warrens live in their same house and continue to drive their same four-year-old Ford SUV. They bought no vacation homes or fancy clothes. You can personally verify the clothes part by looking at any picture of Warren. As the article says about his appearance before a gathering of pastors, “Pastor Rick Warren, look[ed] his usual relaxed self in an untucked sport shirt, spiked hair, and signature goatee.” That’s the same way he appears on Sunday mornings, by the way. There is nothing fancy about Rick Warren.

Since he began receiving significant royalties from his book sales, he has drawn no salary from his church and has paid back the salary he received for the previous 25 years. The Warrens currently give away 90 percent of their income and they have formed three charitable foundations with part of that 90 percent. This is all in the U.S. News & World Report article, and I tell you all this to give you one good example of religious leadership. Counter to Warren’s example is that of the scribes and Pharisees mentioned by Jesus in today’s gospel lesson.

10 Commandments

2006-03-21T12:32:00.000-08:00

According to Tony Mauro, legal correspondent of the First Amendment Center, “There are only 10 commandments, but it took the Supreme Court 138 pages of opinion to decide whether displays of those commandments belong on public property.”

In two cases last June, the Supreme Court decided that a Ten Commandments monument at the State Capitol in Austin, Texas was legal, but two displays of the Ten Commandments at courthouses in Kentucky are illegal and must be removed. Both were 5-4 decisions. The irony in the Kentucky decision for Mauro is that in the Supreme Court chamber there is a frieze of Moses holding the tablets containing those same Ten Commandments, and it has been there for 70 years.

In his opinion on the Kentucky case, Justice David Souter wrote,
We do not forget, and in this litigation have frequently been reminded,
that our own courtroom frieze was deliberately designed in the exercise
of governmental authority so as to include the figure of Moses holding
tablets exhibiting a portion of the Hebrew text of the later, secularly
phrased Commandments. In the company of 17 other lawgivers, most of
them secular figures, there is no risk that Moses would strike an observer
as evidence that the National Government was violating neutrality in religion.”

The Supreme Court’s split decision on these two cases has had people scratching their heads. Court watchers say that it all comes down to context – that is, how the Commandments are displayed. We certainly see that kind of argument in Souter’s opinion. But, it is curious, in this land that has been so highly influenced by Judeo-Christian values that the Ten Commandments would prove so controversial.

The Ten Commandments have been the basis for public morality in western civilization for thousands of years. They are part of our moral compass, so it is surprising that our courts would say that they cannot be publicly displayed. I’m sure that the courts would have an even bigger problem with our Lord’s distillation of all the commandments that God gave to Israel. In our gospel lesson, Jesus is asked another pointed question by His adversaries.

Matthew 22:34-46

Whose Image?

2006-03-21T12:31:00.000-08:00

One of the good aspects of the terrible disaster in the Gulf is how the church has been at the forefront of offering effective help to those worst affected. Secular journalists recognized on television and in print the tremendous contributions of churches and church organizations like the Salvation Army. At the same time, the efforts of the federal, state and local governments came under heavy criticism. The work of the Federal Emergency Management Administration was particularly bad. But there they were, church members, getting the relief work done. Millions of dollars of donations were turned into food, water and clothing for those who had lost everything.

Consider all the churches and Christian agencies that have and are still offering help: The Seventh Day Adventist Church, the Quakers, America’s Second Harvest, Baptist World Aid, Catholic Charities, Christian Children’s Fund, Christian Reformed World Relief, Church World Service, Episcopal Relief and Development, Feed the Children, Food for the Hungry, Habitat for Humanity, Interchurch Medical Assistance, Lutheran Disaster Response, Mennonite Disaster Service, Operation Blessing, Presbyterian Disaster Assistance, Salvation Army, Samaritan’s Purse, the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, the Southern Baptist Convention, United Methodist Committee on Relief, World Relief and World Vision. This is only a partial list.

The inscription on our coinage is “In God We Trust,” and given the outpouring of financial gifts from God’s people all over America and I would guess the world, I would say that for those adversely affected by Hurricane Katrina, their trust has been shown to be well placed. The inscription on the coinage in the Roman Empire of Christ’s day was significantly different, as we will see.

Matthew 22:15-22

Affluence

2006-03-21T12:30:00.000-08:00

Holly wanted a wedding at the seaside resort of Spruce Point Inn along the coast of Maine. The wedding, she thought, would feature rocky seaside with white chop waves, August nights cooled by a gentle ocean breeze, lobster boats steaming past, blue sky, bluer waters, navy blazers, linen pants, silk-draped bridemaids’ shoulders, beauty and elegance combining to create an understated and highly cultured splendor.

So, her father rented the entire resort for a three-day weekend of magical, memorable, matrimonial moments for a mere $45,000. This cost in only slightly more than twice the price of an average American wedding these days. According to Richard Markel, president of the Association for Wedding Professionals International, the average cost of a wedding in the U.S. is now between $18,000 and $21,000 (Smartmoney.com).

According to Bride’s Magazine, the going rate is about $95 per guest, so Holly’s nuptials, not counting clothes, limos, photographer, invitations, thank-you notes, the ceremony, the honeymoon and the band, cost her dad $225 a guest. But what if, after making all those arrangements, no one had shown up?

Matthew 22:1-14

Love, Mercy and Forgiveness

2006-03-21T12:29:00.000-08:00

As you are aware, it was exactly four years ago today that the worst attack in American history occurred a few hours drive from us. The heart-breaking images of the planes crashing into the Twin Towers and all the terrible aftermath will stay with us forever. Here we are, four years out, living in the constant strain of a post-9/11 world, having to now face more pain, suffering and human need by what may be the largest natural disaster in American history.

We’ve seen the evil that people can do, and the evil that nature can unleash. But we have also seen the good that people can do and how much can be accomplished when people work together for good. Even so, in the throes of so much evil and confusion, it is natural to ask where God is in all this? Some will point to the natural and human evil of this world and dispute the possibility of a Supreme Being who is good.

Christian author Philip Yancey was asked after 9/11, where is God when it hurts? He thought for a moment and then said, “I guess the answer to that question is another question. Where is the church when it hurts? If the church is doing its job – binding wounds, comforting the grieving, offering food to the hungry – I don’t think people will wonder so much where God is when it hurts. They’ll know where God is: in the presence of his people on earth” (CT, 10/23/01).

One powerful way that we answer the atheists and agnostics is the way that we live our lives. When the scoffers see us responding to the evils and ills of the world with the love and compassion of Christ, then God is made real at least for some. The way that we treat each other in the church is another sign of God’s presence in the world and in us. How we treat each other in the church is the subject of today’s gospel reading.

Frustrations/Revenge

2006-03-21T12:27:00.000-08:00

Late one summer evening in Broken Bow, Nebraska, a weary truck driver pulled his rig into an all-night truck stop. The waitress had just served him when three tough looking, leather jacketed motorcyclists- of the Hell’s Angels type- decided to give him a hard time. Not only did they verbally abuse him, one grabbed the hamburger off his plate, another took a handful of his fries, and the third picked up his coffee and began to drink it.

How do you think he responded? He calmly rose, picked up the check, walked to the front of the room, put the check and his money on the cash register, and went out the door. The waitress followed him to put the money in the till and stood watching out the door as the big truck drove away into the night.

When she returned, one of the bikers said to her, “Well, he’s not much of a man, is he?” She replied, “I don’t know about that, but he sure ain’t much of a truck driver. He just ran over three motorcycles on his way out of the parking lot.”

Many of us can understand how this truck driver feels. Sometimes even the slightest relationships can push us to the brink. When I look at the news reports of the damage left by Hurricane Katrina, I am amazed at all the devastation, but something is there as well: the fraying of raw nerve endings. As the period of catastrophe lengthens, tempers are getting shorter.

Spirituality in America

2006-03-21T12:26:00.000-08:00

From a sermon preached 8/28/05:

Did you catch the most recent Newsweek magazine? The cover is titled “Spirituality in America,” and an entire section of the magazine delivers a “Special Report” titled “Spirituality 2005.” According to Newsweek, “Americans are looking for personal, ecstatic experiences of God” (p. 46).

Newsweek also reports that there are 159 million people in the United States who “practice Christian religions” (p. 54). 63% of these practicing Christians belong to a house of worship” (ibid.). 29.5% of Americans “practice no religion,” but interestingly, 19% of them “belong to a house of worship.” What I find most striking about a bar graph and a few of the articles in the magazine is the variety of Christians.

The bar graph shows that Roman Catholics are the dominant Christian body, followed by Baptists. Then there is a group simply labeled “Christians,” and next is a group called “other Christians. Then there are Methodists, then Lutherans, and a seemingly equal number of Presbyterians and Pentecostals. Bringing up the rear are the Episcopalians.

I tell you all this to point out the great variety that we have in the church, and while unbelievers will sometimes point at this variety and say that Christians can’t agree on anything, one could look at that same variety and marvel at all those who come to Jesus Christ is so many different ways. I choose the latter approach.

Even so, there are some bedrock beliefs that all Christians must hold to be truly Christian. This is something of what we find in our gospel lesson this morning.

Little things matter

2006-03-21T12:25:00.000-08:00

The person most responsible for New York’s recent run of good fortune may be a professor from Harvard. It was James Q. Wilson of the Harvard Government Department who coined the “Broken Window” theory of crime prevention. Little things matter, the Wilson theory goes, especially when it comes to infractions of public order. If a broken pane of glass goes unrepaired, other panes will be shattered, and then doors will be jimmied up and down the street. If graffiti on a train goes unremoved, more graffiti will follow, and so will robberies in the cars and stations. No tolerance for petty lawbreaking leads to fewer incidents of major lawbreaking.

Peter Pan Christians

2006-03-21T12:24:00.000-08:00

I don't remember the preacher who originated or passed this on, but it's pretty good:
As cute as Peter Pan is as a children’s story, it is no laughing matter when believers in Christ Jesus live in a “Spiritual Neverland.”

I call them “Peter Pan Christians.”

You know the type ... those who don’t want to grow up. They’re the gossipers and backbiters, those who like to stir up trouble and cause discord. Yep. These “Peter Pan Christians” are the ones who don’t have a single thing to say about how to reach the lost for Christ, but they’ll argue ’til they’re blue in the face over what color the carpet should be in the new sanctuary. They don’t want to “grow up” in Christ.

Know what I mean?

Excellence

2006-03-21T12:23:00.000-08:00

There’s a story making the rounds on the Internet that tells about a company in Canada that began ordering parts from a new supplier in Japan. In its order, the company noted that an acceptable quality allowed for only 1.5 percent in defective parts.

The Japanese sent the order, with a few parts packaged separately in plastic. The accompanying letter said: “We don’t know why you want 1.5 percent defective parts, but for your convenience, we’ve packed them separately.”

Protection or Love?

2006-03-21T12:22:00.000-08:00

A Southern California minister reports a neighboring church has just completed a large addition, including a new sanctuary, to house their growing congregation.

Last week they discovered that 250 housing units were going in right behind them — they will share a property line.

Their pastor said he had two conversations within a three-hour time period.The first individual said: “We need to build a fence so their kids don’t wander onto our property.”

The second person asked: “Do we have the money to build a sidewalk and steps up to our church so their kids can come to our ministries?”

Love and Service in Tennessee

2006-03-21T12:20:00.000-08:00

Mark Potter reported on NBC Nightly News on Wednesday (8/10/05) about a special home in Crossville, Tennessee. Crossville is in a rural county of Tennessee that has seen hundreds of children taken from their homes when their parents were arrested for methamphetamine use or production. You may recall that also on Wednesday, New York Governor George Pataki traveled to Elmira to sign legislation tightening the laws against meth production in our state. Meth production and use in a growing problem in America.

Until recently, in Crossville, Tennessee there was no place other than the county jail to house the children of arrested meth users and producers until foster parents were found. Believing that the county jail was no place for innocent children, the town's people stepped in to remedy the situation. The whole town worked together to raise the necessary funds, buy a house, and refurbish it to be a short term care facility for "meth orphans," as they are called. What is most remarkable is that the House of Hope was entirely funded by private donations. No government or foundation money was used.

Mark Potter reports:

"Each child is given new clothes and a stuffed animal — for many, a first.

"It means the world to them,” says House of Hope volunteer Karen Frantzen. “A lot of times they've never had one thing, ever."

The children are fed and bathed and doctors voluntarily provided medical care.

"We want to provide them with an environment that they can see that they are loved,” says volunteer Dr. Barry Wagner, “and make them feel safe."

The entire community pitches in. Bookshelves in the playroom were built by local Girl Scouts and volunteers from the town theater painted the walls."
[http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8894564/]

What a powerful story about an entire town working together to solve a problem that could easily have been ignored! How many people really want to get involved with children from troubled backgrounds? It would have been so much easier to just look the other way, and let the Cumberland County government and the State of Tennessee deal with it. After all, those "meth orphans" aren't our kids, and besides, if we get involved, our kids may become exposed to those troubled children.

But, instead, Crossville, Tennessee recognized that those kids deserved better than the county jail, and they did something about the problem. It's so easy to adopt an us and them stance toward others. This didn’t happen in Crossville, Tennessee, but it is what appears to be going on in our gospel reading this morning. Jesus encounters a foreign woman with a request, and at first He declines to help her.

Matthew 15:21-28

Jesus - the real superhero

2006-03-21T12:18:00.000-08:00

There has been resurgence in America that might just go unnoticed if it weren’t for Hollywood. This summer’s blockbuster movie Fantastic Four joins Spiderman and The X-Men as recent comics turned cinema. The popularity of these movies mirrors the revival of interest in comic books.

The recent “Comic-Con International trade show in San Diego that drew nearly 100,000 participants is another indication. “Comics are on a comeback,” declares World Magazine (6/6/05, 15). Matt Lechner, a Wisconsin comic-book store owner says that it wasn’t’ that long ago when “you couldn’t give them away” (p. 17). He believes that it all changed with Harry Potter. Not only are kids reading, but they are now more open to the fantasy genre of most comic books.

The best selling comic books are and have been superheroes. There is a love and fascination for heroes with super powers. But, why do we need superheroes when we have a real God? While Jesus doesn’t display x-ray vision or superhuman strength, there is another power that Jesus does display that is available to us lesser human beings.

Distractions/Adversity

2006-03-21T12:15:00.000-08:00

As a minister was addressing a group of men, he took a large piece of paper and made a black spot in the center of it with a marking pen. Then he held the paper up before the group and asked them what they saw. One person quickly replied, "I see a black mark."

"Right," the preacher replied. "What else do you see?" Complete silence prevailed. "Don’t you see anything other than the black spot?" he asked. A chorus of "No" came from the audience. "I’m surprised," the speaker commented. "You have overlooked the most important thing of all - the sheet of paper."

Then he made the application.

a) In life we are often distracted by small disappointments, and we forget the innumerable blessings we receive from the Lord.

b) But, like the sheet of paper, the good things in life are overwhelmed by the adversities that monopolize our attention. [Mark Roper]

Stress in our lives operates like that black spot in the center of the paper. When we are under stress, we can’t see anything else except that which is stressing us. Dr. Richard Ecker, the founder and director of the Life Management Institute in
Wrote a book twenty years ago called The Stress Myth: Why the Pressures of Life Don’t Have to Get You Down. Ecker says, “Unquestionably, stress is the most significant negative health influence at work in American society today, and the problem grows more serious every day.” [The Stress Myth, p. 10]

Unity - an orchestra

2006-03-19T14:57:00.000-08:00

An orchestra consists of many different instruments of different sizes, shapes and materials. These different instruments make different sounds - some low pitched, some high pitched. Some are brass sounds, some woodwind sounds,some string sounds, some percussion sounds. When all play together in time and in tune, it is a beautiful sound. The harmony of the musical composition adds to the beauty of the sound. As each player follows the sheet music something wonderful is performed for the delight of the audience.

[Note: the musical composition, the sheet music can be related to the Bible]

Our unity is based in Jesus Christ. God has made us and has given each of us differnt backgrounds. Even children in the same family have different experiences. Married couples generally don't share every minute of every day. Each of us also have different temperaments. Even if we shared identical experiences doesn't mean that we would necessarily respond to them or interpret them the same way.

Community - Biosphere 2

2006-03-19T14:33:00.000-08:00

30 miles north of Tucson, near Oracle, Arizona, in the foothills of the Santa Catalina mountains sits Biosphere 2 - a steel and glass configuration that occupies 3.15 acres of desert. This enclosed environment includes seven ecological zones: a tropical rain forest, a savannah, a marsh, a desert, and agricultural area, a human habitat and a 900,000 gallon ocean. When the first mission crew went into Biosphere 2 in 1991, there were 3,800 living species sharing the space with them.

The mission one crew consisted of 4 men and 4 women, and they began their Biosphere 2 experience with utopian dreams. They hoped to learn enough during their 2 years in the 7.2 million cubic foot sealed glass complex that a future crew could begin the colonization or the Moon or Mars. The eight biospherians embarked on what one member of the team, Abigail Alling called in her book, Life Under Glass, a "journey in time" with elements of past and future intertwined.

The Biosphere 2 story was chronicled as it went on by tele-video conferences, telephone calls, emails and contact with the outside via face to face meetings at the windows of the glass structure. This outside contact was good commented one observer since "several members of the group were no longer on speaking terms."

Social problems developed in this small community that included:
-power struggles
-lots of bickering
-sexual tension
-behavior that has been described as "catty and perverse"

The goal of this expedition was for the chosen eight person to live peaceably together for two years as they gathered scientific and technological data. On the social level, if not the scientific and technological, the crew failed miserably.
Five of eight of the participants counted the days until they could leave the biosphere. This unhappiness was present despite the fact that the eight members of the Mission I team had worked harmoniously together for the five years prior.

Donella Meadows of Dartmouth University observed that the real challenges of Biosphere 2 were not scientific or technological. The real challenges were: human relations, human communications and human organization. Her conclusion after the two year experiment: "It's not the planet that's out of control, it's us. It's not the biosphere we have to understand and manage, it's ourselves."

Community is difficult. Our parish community has several advantages over the biospherians. Our first and greatest advantage is Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.

Our second great advantage is the Spirit of Jesus Christ that lives in all His faithful followers.

[Note: this was the introduction to a sermon on Phil. 2:1-11]

References: all the material in this illustration was gathered by googling Biosphere 2.

Miracles - The CSI Effect

2006-03-17T13:29:00.000-08:00

Note: this was the introduction to a sermon on Elisha’s healing miracle in 2 Kings 4:18-4:37, and Jesus’ healing miracles in Mark 1:29-39.

Title: The CSI Effect

A crime scene investigator from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department was dusting for fingerprints in a home that had been burglarized. The investigator was challenged by the homeowner with these words: "That’s not the way they do it on television."

Captain Chris Beattie, who heads the L.A. County Science Services Bureau, also called the crime lab, calls this "the CSI effect."

With 60 million viewers a week for the three CSI programs on CBS - CSI, CSI:Miami, and CSI: New York, there is a lot more interest these days on how crime scene investigations are done. Robert Hirshhorn, a jury consultant, cites a study that showed that 70% of a jury pool were viewers of CSI, or A&E’s Forensic Files, or NBC’s Law and Order.

These shows have helped make jurors more receptive to scientific evidence, and another positive outcome is the demand by jurors for better investigations.

There are also downsides. The public now has unreasonable expectations that every crime can be solved quickly and conclusively like it happens on tv. Jurors have unrealistic notions of what science can deliver. Criminal science is not infallible and it cannot absolutely insure that the right criminal will always be caught.

The CSI Effect is an offshoot of our faith in science. From earliest schooling we are conditioned to believe that what is real is that which can be experienced with our five physical senses. What is real is that which can be measured, tested and verified through scientific experiment. The material world - space, time, energy and matter, is what is really real. We firmly believe that we can develop laws, theories, and best practices that are consistent, stable and dependable.

Science teaches us to trust what we can observe, either with our naked eye, or through a microscope or telescope. Science in history has led to secularism, but in this new millenium we understand that secular thought has not produced the needed corrections to the ills of this world.

Science, technology, business, education, government, the media and the arts have all failed us. Huston Smith, an internationally respected authority on world religions states that "today none of these is serving us well" (The Soul of Christianity, p. xviii). We need more than a materialistic outlook can deliver.

This morning we turn to someone who stands outside our contemporary scene. We need to find someone who is not bound by a scientific mindset to believe that there are limits to what God can do. We turn to Elisha, a prophet from the 9th century b.c.