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Our Daily Thread 8-28-14

Good Morning!

On this day in 1619 Ferdinand II was elected Holy Roman Emperor. His policy of “One church, one king” was his way of trying to outlaw Protestantism. 

In 1833 slavery was banned throughout the British Empire by the British Parliament.

In 1916 Italy’s declaration of war against Germany took effect.

In 1963 Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., gave his “I Have a Dream” speech at a civil rights rally in Washington, DC.

And in 1972 Mark Spitz captured the first of his seven gold medals at the Summer Olympics in Munich, Germany.

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Quote of the Day

“Everyday we should hear at least one little song, read one good poem, see one exquisite picture, and if possible, speak a few sensible words.”

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

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Today is LeAnn Rimes’ birthday, so here she is, a cappella.

 It’s also Shania Twain’s, so here’s her and Willie.

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Anyone have a QoD?

39 thoughts on “Our Daily Thread 8-28-14”

  1. We went to see “God is NOT Dead” last night.
    It was a good movie, better than most Christian movies.
    It was almost exactly two hours long.
    If you see it, you have to notice all the separate people at the beginning, the guy riding his bike, the girl going to school, guy on a plane, etc. because they all have parts to play and this establishes who they are.
    It’ is Clancy like, it that there are several stories going on that seem separate from each other, but they converge at the end.
    I recommend the movie. It’s well worth seeing.

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  4. Mornin’, Chas.
    Yes, where is Jo?
    I suggested showing God is Not Dead as a summer event on the new green space at our church. We dug up some of the unused parking lot and put in sod. Maybe it costs too much to get a new movie like that to show at a church. I don’t know. I did not hear back from my suggestion. Our church is at the corner of two busy streets so I thought the film might draw seekers in.

    QoD? Do you feel comfortable making suggestions to church leadership, and are suggestions acted upon?

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  6. Thanks Janice. I even forgot to take advil tonight as it didn’t hurt. Such a relief to be able to walk and get in and out of chairs with no pain. Something we tend to take for granted. I am still being careful, though, as I do not want a relapse. Enjoy your Thursday.

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  7. Todd Ellis predicts that Dylan Thompson will throw 30 touchdown passes this year.
    Todd Ellis announces the Gamecock games, and performs analysis on the radio.
    Todd Ellis held the records Connor Shaw broke.

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  8. Yes, after 40 years, I feel very comfortable making suggestions. In fact, I haven’t seen it, but the church just finished a project that I suggested with a letter to the elders, at least a dozen years ago. 🙂 Just have to be patient.

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  10. Good morning Chas & Janice. Good evening, Jo. Glad to hear your back is so much better!

    L. is feeling better, so it’s back to school for her after being absent the last day and a half.

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  11. Good Morning. Janice, before I served on the Vestry of my church I might have felt uncomfortable making a suggestion to leadership. Oh, I had done a few things in the past at another church, such as steaming ahead on doing a Lady’s Tea and such, but nothing major.
    You are part of the body of the church. If your leadership doesn’t here from you when you feel strongly about something how will they know what is important to the members? Just this past Monday night our Vestry had to take a stand on something. Our priest is a “visionary” and a church planter. Back In April we lost half of our administration building due to the flooding. As we looked at long range plans he pushed forward with taking out a 300K interest only building/construction loan and a capital campaign to pay off the loan before it came due. The Vestry wrestled with it until 9pm. He excused himself from the meeting. Tuesday morning we all received an email from him apologizing to us and thanking us for standing firm to our convictions of not over-extending ourselves. It helps that two of our vestry members have a background in running non-profits. I have asked since May to see a site plan and only a week or so ago saw one.
    All that is to say that if YOU as a member of your church feel strongly about something you are in my opinion obligated to speak up. Leadership as a group can make a decision on it. Like Jo said, it may take years because there may not be money right now, but it doesn’t mean it isn’t a good idea.

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  16. Very interesting article, Janice. I attended a Christian School teacher’s convention years ago. There was a class where this finding was stressed and good learning strategies were taught to pass on to students. There has been far more research since then, of course.

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  17. Although, I do have to add that the learning capacity for people is somewhat set—just as other talents are. That is, some are more gifted in the arts or athletics or in the capacity for learning from birth. The rest is work, work and more work.

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  18. Yes, I agree, it is a combination, and if the best approach is utilized under each theory then the greatest advantage toward learning results. I don’t think it has to be an either/or situation. And it probably makes a difference in what subject is being taught and which parts of the brain is being used. If someone makes an instinctive move in sports, I don’t think there is damage done by saying, “You made a clever move.” Maybe they didn’t have to struggle at the moment, but all their practice was perhaps a struggle that gave the ability to be clever when needed. I think it is good to compliment the effort and recognize the rewards from the effort.

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  20. I love my church where suggestions are encouraged from everyone.

    But I (and several others) had a rather discouraging experience at a former church with regard to leadership that didn’t listen. It was a period after which our longtime, much-loved pastor had retired and the already small elder board seemed to be taken over, if you will, by a slim 2-1 majority (and one man in particular who was somewhat overbearing and very opinionated).

    At the heart of the problem was that we simply went without a pastor for way too long, and this tiny faction basically began running things “their” way.

    It started with the Christmas ban — no (even modest) decorations in the sanctuary, no mention of the holiday in the services (those who balked were handed articles explaining why Christmas was wrong to celebrate, at least by the church as a whole).

    I get the argument. But it was done in such a heavy-handed, we-don’t-care-what-you-think way that it alienated many of us.

    Then (with no explanation) women, who didn’t have much of a role anyway, were stripped of some of the small, token tasks they were allowed to hold, like occasional ushering.

    Anyway, it went downhill from there. Single women especially felt disenfranchised (at least the women who had husbands — and it was a small church so most of the men had an office of some kind — were “in the know” via their spouses; single women were relegated to a position closer to children, essentially).

    Not only did we not have any say via suggestion, but we were given little to no information about issues (such as the ongoing, s-l-o-w search for a new pastor), told in couched terms that it really wasn’t our place to know.

    That said, I also never doubted that those running the church had good intentions and truly believed they were doing what was best; still, many of us were becoming increasingly miserable and it finally was unbearable for me when even the joy of Sunday worship started draining away.

    It eventually led to several of us migrating/transferring to other churches, including (for me and most of the others) a nearby, much larger sister church within the same denomination where I’ve been for (I think) about 10 years now. And loving it.

    That former church continued to shrink in membership. But they did eventually call a good, new pastor (though they were unable to keep paying him so he’s now also at my current church on part-time staff).

    Somehow, the little church managed to hold on and keep the doors open. And happily, it’s now undergoing a relaunch with our former, young intern pastor taking the lead (and a new, larger elder board, including some members of our church who transferred there to help out).

    The church has always been small and is in a poorer, more transient neighborhood, so it’ll be a a climb. But they own their own property and we’re all praying for good things to happen there.

    So that was the first (and so far only, thankfully) negative experience I’ve had with church leadership gone awry.

    It was an eye-opener, though, to see how quickly and easily something like that can happen, especially in a very small church.

    Vacuums will be filled …

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  22. Kim, South Carolinians come back to eat shrimp & grits.
    😆

    Or mustard base pork barbecue.
    Sawgunner says there is no such thing as pork barbecue. It has to be beef/.

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  26. Whilst living in SC, pork was bbq…not beef. And the most eaten dish around there was Chicken Bog….there would be at least four or five dishes of that stuff carried to the church pot blessings…and it was oh so delicious. My kids loved that stuff 🙂

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  28. Nice piece from a Christian perspective on loving and losing animals:

    http://www.christianitytoday.com/women/2014/august/lessons-from-loving-and-losing-pet.html?start=1

    ” … Animals show us what our own fragility looks like before God. When we mourn these lesser creatures, we taste, I think, a bit of God’s sorrow over us in our human frailty. When we love fellow humans, we love as equals. When we love an animal, we bring with that love all the might and grace of one both in and above the world of that creature. It is like the love God has for us, with all the joy and grief we bring him. As human is to divine, so animal is to human. I think perhaps we are no more like God than when we love an animal.”

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  34. A friend from SC brought Chicken Bog to our girlfriends get together. It was good! That is the only time I’ve had it. You’d think with Georgia being so close to SC that we would have Chicken Bog here, too. I had never heard of it before she served it to us.

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  36. In Texas, beef is BBQ. In The South it’s pork. Here in Missouri it’s both. I don’t like Kansas City style, since it’s drowned in sauce. I figure if you need that much sauce then the meat must not be very good.

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  37. Last week, Mumsee asked if Emily & Forrest had a good time camping. I forgot to answer her, but I eventually remembered.

    Yes, they had a very good time. 🙂

    Nearby, there was a camping place for RVs. Emily does not consider that real camping.

    My idea of camping is…lighting candles at home when the power goes out. 🙂

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  38. 😦 Football is a stupid game.
    It’s just a bunch of guys running up and down the field bumping into each other.
    As soon as somebody gets the ball they try to throw him down.

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