Good Morning!
Today’s photos are from Cheryl.
On this day in 1507 Leonardo DaVinci was commissioned by the husband of Lisa Gherardini to paint her. The work is known as the Mona Lisa.
In 1796 John Adams was elected the 2nd U.S. President.
In 1900 the first automobile show in the United States opened at New York’s Madison Square Garden.
And in 1941 U.S. Ambassador to Japan John Grew warned that the Japanese may be planning a sudden attack on the U.S.
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Quote of the Day
“Loveliest of lovely things are they on earth that soonest pass away. The rose that lives its little hour is prized beyond the sculptured flower.”
William C. Bryant
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Today is Vincenzo Bellini’s birthday.
And this song was released today in 1957.
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Wandering Views 
Morning all.
Thanks for posting early, Aj. 10pm is late for me to wait up for the blog.
See you all in the morning. 🙂
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oh, Aj has that plus sign up in the date again, testing our math skills!
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Good evening, Jo. Good morning, all.
I posted a few requests on yesterday’s prayer thread late last night, if anyone is inclined to pray today (or tomorrow or the day after that!).
I had difficulty sleeping last night, which is nothing new. I was still up around midnight when I suddenly heard blood-curdling screams coming from Becca’s room. I ran up the stairs to see what was wrong and she came running out of her room (still screaming). She was shaking and crying hysterically as I wrapped her in my arms. She’d had a vivid nightmare and then, upon awakening, thought she saw a dark figure in her room. She was convinced someone (or something–namely a ghost) was in her room. So, I went and got her pillow and her bear and got her tucked into my bed. When I was finally sleepy around 1:30, I went to my room. Becca was snoring so loudly (she has seasonal allergies), I ended up sleeping on the couch.
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Where is everyone?!!
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Good morning, Ann. I just got caught up on the ends of yesterday’s threads, and read today’s prayer and daily threads (and listened to the music). You have my prayers for all the needs you mentioned. No need to apologize for the long list — those are a lot of heavy needs, and I will continue lifting them up to the Lord.
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😦 I forgot to say good morning to everyone when I returned from the Y.
I’ve been sneaking around though.
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Morning, Chas. And good night to Jo — hopefully she is sound asleep at this time. 😉
Pretty pictures, especially that header photo. I love the reflection of the trees in the water.
I think I will take this time to post a video with some additional beautiful images, courtesy of Claude Monet. They are put to the music of Claude Debussy in a piece entitled Reflections in the Water, or, in the French, as it was titled originally, Reflets dans l’eau, which is a shimmery piece I played for my college senior piano recital.
That’s not me you hear playing, though. 😉
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Header photos all taken at Turkey Run State Park, Indiana, the day after our anniversary. It was foggy in the morning, so we rushed into the park quickly so that we could get that view of the reflections from the swinging bridge while it was still misty. Those of you familiar with the Sugar Creek Gang books, this is the Sugar Creek, and when you hike the trails and see the rock formations, it really is easy to see Paul Hutchens and his brothers (the “gang” in the book was based on him and his brothers) traipsing around in the canyons and into the caves and so forth, and rafting down the creek.
Below, left, two cedar waxwings drinking from the pond at the visitors center. Up to three at a time were coming to drink and then leaving (other birds were feeding at the bird feeders, but waxwings like berries and thus were going elsewhere to eat, just coming in for water).
Below, right, a butterfly known as the comma (because of a comma-shaped mark on its wing). This is either an eastern comma or a gray comma, I can’t tell which, though the gray comma is said to be somewhat rare and thus it’s probably an eastern. I’ve only ever seen this species in the fall (I saw one last year at a different state park, and then a different one earlier this fall elsewhere). They hibernate as adults and then come out in the spring. It’s a fairly small butterfly (less than two inches), but its being out in cooler weather allows it to be photographed easier than some species. This one flew across our path and I told my husband, “Oh, a butterfly!” because it was the first I’d seen for a few weeks. I watched to see where it landed and was happy to get this great photo of it on the back of a leaf. Then it flew into the path and landed on a dead leaf, and I got several more photos. That’s when a zoom lens can really be great, because I can shoot a two-inch butterfly from several yards away and not scare it! (Then after I’ve taken a few photos I move closer and see if I can take more.)
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Hey, this is interesting–not only can you click on the smaller photos to make them larger, but you can click again and get even more details.
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6Arrows: Thanks so much for your continued prayer support. I’ve so enjoyed our communication through emails and believe you have quite a tender heart, which is a beautiful thing. It means a lot to me to know others are praying for me; I take great comfort in it.
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Lovely, 6 Arrows!
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The pictures were beautiful 6 arrows. All but the last one
😆
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Good Monday morning! Lovely photos…I love cedar waxwings. Hope everyone has a most blessed beginning to the week..it is cold here and we may get a mix of snow and rain with a promise of a nice autumnal week ahead of us 🙂
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Cheryl, that looks like a beautiful spot. And the Debussy w/images, very soothing on a Monday morning.
Poor Becca, that must have been quite a vivid dream. I haven’t made it back to the weekend prayer thread yet, but I will …
It was much easier to get up this morning with the eastern sun glaring into my window by 7 a.m. 🙂 But I have a full day today and have to get in early anyway, we have a meeting on that cold case project, I have more to do on that big school controversy (several teachers want to meet with me before a big board meeting Wednesday, which I’ll also have to cover).
I was hoping to cover another meeting tonight, but may not get to it. And so far, neither the Billy Graham folks for people from Zamperini’s old church have gotten back to me on the 2 stories about him I need to turn in by Thursday! Yikes.
At least I don’t have to work the elections tomorrow night, so I should be able to pound away on some of this stuff tomorrow during what is normally a quiet day shift on election days (although there may be election-related things to do, seems like there’s always an errant polling place that doesn’t open up on time or has some other glitches we wind up having to write about).
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This quote was a part of our sermon yesterday. The take away was that when we pray all fellow Christians are included in that prayer. It is the power of the “Amen”. Anyway, it reminded me so much of our Janice and the prayers she posts and the people here who respond, “Amen”. Thank you Janice. I think I can speak for most of us that your prayers mean so much.
[Jesus] stands between us and God, and for that very reason he stands between us and all other men and things. He is the Mediator, not only between God and man, but between man and man, between man and reality. Since the whole world was created through him and unto him (John 1:3; 1st Cor. 8:6; Heb. 1:2), he is the sole Mediator in the world…
The call of Jesus teaches us that our relation to the world has been built on an illusion. All the time we thought we had enjoyed a direct relation with men and things. This is what had hindered us from faith and obedience. Now we learn that in the most intimate relationships of life, in our kinship with father and mother, bothers and sisters, in married love, and in our duty to the community, direct relationships are impossible. Since the coming of Christ, his followers have no more immediate realities of their own, not in their family relationships nor in the ties with their nation nor in the relationships formed in the process of living. Between father and son, husband and wife, the individual and the nation, stands Christ the Mediator, whether they are able to recognize him or not. We cannot establish direct contact outside ourselves except through him, through his word, and through our following of him. To think otherwise is to deceive ourselves.
But since we are bound to abhor any deception which hides the truth from our sight, we must of necessity repudiate any direct relationship with the things of this world–and that for the sake of Christ. Wherever a group, be it large or small, prevents us from standing alone before Christ, wherever such a group raises a claim of immediacy it must be hated for the sake of Christ. For every immediacy, whether we realize it or not, means hatred of Christ, and this is especially true where such relationships claim the sanctions of Christian principles.,,
There is no way from one person to another. However loving and sympathetic we try to be, however sound our psychology, however frank and open our behavior, we cannot penetrate the incognito of the other man, for there are no direct relationships, not even between soul and soul. Christ stands between us, and we can only get into touch with our neighbors through him. That is why intercession is the most promising way to reach our neighbors, and corporate prayer, offered in the name of Christ, the purest form of fellowship.”
― Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship
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We had a packed house last night at church for the first class on the Westminster Confession of Faith, with a good number of new people & unfamiliar faces. We’ve advertised the class quite a bit via social media and regular media. I’m looking forward to it.
I haven’t checked the website, but supposedly they’re posting audio and video there for each of the classes. And someone last night told me she thought we also were making it possible for people to text or email questions in about the material presented.
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Somewhat related to what Kim posted, our sermon on Sunday included the point that it is the kingdoms in conflict (Christ vs. the world, often via popular culture, nations & governments) that invariably bring danger, derision and rejection (sometimes worse) to the followers of Christ.
It’s when Christians challenge the culture around them that Christ’s enemies perceive what to them is the “aroma of death” — and they react accordingly.
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We are at Emory doc office. Will try again to get antibiotic today. The saga continues. Husband’s elbow is holding but not well. We may see infectious disease team again depending on results of second round of this med. The med can have serious side effects I was unaware of. 😦 Continuing prayers appreciated.
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I an appreciating hearing about the church services since I have not attended in several weeks. I was trying to get back to the evening Bible study and was looking forward to asking for prayer. I ended up in our chapel by myself (alone with God). I did not realize the study had ended and we had no activities going on. It made me sad. On Wed. last week prayer and Bible study was cancelled so the church could do a fall festival/ Trunk or Treat. I am really feeling out of sync lately. God is good to guide our steps.
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Interesting concept Kim:
“He is the Mediator, not only between God and man, but between man and man, between man and reality.” I haven’t thought of that before, and it requires some cogitation. i.e. I need to think about that. The implications of that are enormous, if imeans what it sounds like.
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Still at Emory pharmacy. The Kroger pharmacy that never managed to get the med for us has it in their system as if they filled it. Now insurance won’t cover it until tomorrow. So here we wait. This pharmacy will have to wait til Kroger acts so insurance will pay today. Looks like with all the waiting that Kroger will land my husband back in the hospital. If insurance will cover it tomorrow but not today they may have to pay a lot bigger hospital bill than the med would cost today. Now I know some smarty here will say, “It’s all Bush’s fault.”
Finally! He is at the counter getting it! PTL!!!
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Church yesterday – some visitors came, which is unusual, so they were welcomed. It was communion Sunday. After the service, the male visitor took aside our pastor and informed us we were being unbiblical, because we used leavened bread in communion. All my life, I have attended churches who used leavened bread – the few I’ve seen unleavened bread, I haven’t really thought much about it. My mother, who takes care of preparing the bread and grape juice, has been told that henceforth we shall use unleavened bread. Needless to say, she is slightly hurt. To me it doesn’t matter either way (Matthew 13:33 & 16:5-12); but has anyone else met with this new controversy? I have a hard enough time with the nonsense over KJV only and ‘contemporary’ music.
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Roscuro, I’ve nearly always been in churches that used unleavened bread, though my current church uses leavened.
In my own opinion, unleavened bread is indeed more “correct,” since the Lord’s supper was instituted during a Passover meal, which used unleavened bread, and at times leaven represents sin. I also think wine is a more correct beverage for the Lord’s supper; grape juice was invented by teetotalers who thought they had a better idea than God what to serve for communion.
I partake of leavened bread if that is what is available, and the same with grape juice. They aren’t “unacceptable” substitutions the way, say, Coke and corn chips would be. (I know of someone who did the research and decided wine was the only acceptable beverage, so he and his family stopped partaking until their church switched. I don’t believe that is the correct response, though I do think wine is the proper beverage, and it’s what I take if it is available.)
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Cheryl, I appreciate your measured response. There are those who would be strongly opposed to wine in my church. I will point out that leaven represents the kingdom of heaven in the parable of Matthew 13:33, and the other passage I cited is where Jesus warned His disciples about the leaven of the Pharisees and when the disciples took Him literally, He scolded them for not understanding that it was simply an analogy. As for not using Coke and chips, I would say it really depends on the motivations with which a church acts. In rural West Africa, we could not always find the right things – we used Kool-Aid for the drink once, but we certainly did it in a spirit of reverence.
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Ann (9:02), your comments and emails are a great blessing to me. A big thank you for your love and prayer support as well!
So today is 11+3=14. Tomorrow, election day, is 11+4= the winning candidates who will take office in ’15. (Seems like there should be a more concise way to say that. Any writers or editors want to offer some suggestions?) 😉
Regarding the video I posted. It’s interesting that the artist whose pictures were featured, Monet, was labeled an impressionist artist (as were others, like Manet, Renoir, Degas, to name a few), and the composer, Debussy, was labeled an “impressionist” composer. Many of his pieces have tone colors that run together through the use of the damper pedal, which, like watercolors, are quite fluid and blended.
So it’s not surprising that music like that is called impressionistic, but Debussy hated the term as applied to his music! I think it wouldn’t please him to know that my piano score that contains Reflections in the Water, and Gardens in the Rain, among other pieces of his, has as the cover a Monet painting that is labeled “Impression Sunrise.” 🙂
http://www.claudemonetgallery.org/Impression–Sunrise.html
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I use to prepare communion for my husband’s small Methodist church. No one ever informed me unleavened bread and wine was preferred over the others. We did use pita bread with in tincture a few times back then but an older member said the pita bread got stuck in their teeth. Another member had celiac disease and wanted to make the bread according to her needs. I just kept on doing it the traditional way as I had been informed by my predecessor. No one ever complained that we did not serve wine. Jesus could always turn it into wine if necessary. I have had wine for communion and the quantity is so small that no one would get drunk from it. No big deal. But if an alcoholic would be tempted to fall back into alcoholism by a taste in a communion cup, then maybe that is a reasonable motivation for at least making grape juice available as an alternative.
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We have always only used unleavened wafers for communion, and for many years now have used individual cups for the wine, rather than a common cup, but have a few cups in each tray with some light-colored, non-alcoholic alternative to wine. They make that available for anyone who might prefer to not have alcohol. (Some possibilities mentioned were for pregnant moms, or for recovering alcoholics, if either or both, or anyone else, wanted that option.)
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Janice, it isn’t a matter of a recovering alcoholic in the church, but rather a denial by certain members that Jesus ever drank wine – according to them, it was some sort of grape juice.
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Speaking of communion, I stepped out of my comfort zone a little bit yesterday when I walked up to communion. No, I’m not uncomfortable taking communion. 😉
When we were ushered up to the communion rail, the congregation was singing the communion hymn “Take and Eat”, which is a hymn I love so much. I had already begun singing it before we walked up to the front, and I did not want to stop singing!
I’d been in that position before, where we were singing something I knew and loved, and I wanted so much to keep singing once we left our pew, but I always felt self-conscious continuing to sing as I walked up to the front, even though I knew at least a couple of people in our church had done that in the past, and I just loved seeing/hearing them do so!
So yesterday, I just told myself (while I was singing 😉 ) that I was going to keep singing this time! After all, it is still worship, whether we’re standing, sitting, kneeling or walking!
So I did — ok, with not nearly as much volume as I usually do — but I did keep singing until the table before us was dismissed and we took our places at the rail.
I noticed one of the men distributing communion smiled at me at one point while I was standing up front, still singing, same kind of smile that was on my face when I saw those other instances of people singing as they walked up to communion.
A nice encouragement. 🙂
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And to tie together our discussion today of church, water-based images and music, and Debussy, how about this: La cathedrale engloutie, or The Submerged Cathedral. 😉
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Re wine in communion, my present and previous churches have had both wine and grape juice. My sister-in-law who died five years ago was once with me in the service and both of us were unclear whether the slot from which she chose her cup was wine or grape juice. (She was opposed to drinking wine.) She smelled it, decided (correctly) that it was grape juice, and drank it. Fast-forward a few years, when her husband (my brother) came to the church with his second wife because I was having a bridal shower after the service. By that point my church had people go forward to take communion. They announced that there was wine in the outer ring, grape juice in the others. My brother and his wife glanced at each other . . . and didn’t go forward to partake. That was rather astonishing to me, that the mere offer of wine as one of the options was enough to make a Christian couple choose not to participate. (And extra ironic: whenever we ran out of wine, grape juice was the only option, and that day it was actually only grape juice.)
I’m fine with offering grape juice as an alternative, though I’m also fine with not doing so. I can see why a person who has struggled with drinking to excess in the past might prefer an option, although such an issue would have been around for 2,000 years of church history! I would think a pastor could counsel such a person, “This was initiated by Christ Himself, and it is proper for you to participate, as a new creation in Christ.” (Improper use in the past shouldn’t bar one from ever using it properly. Must a person who committed sexual sin before salvation forever afterward stay celibate, or might marriage be the best choice for many? It would seem that marriage–or in this case, accepting the wine in the Lord’s supper as God’s good gift–might be better than gritting one’s teeth and insisting on lifelong abstinence. Lifelong abstinence isn’t necessary, and might well actually be harder.) As for pregnant women, it’s questionable whether they need to avoid an occasional glass of wine (research has actually found that a glass of wine is totally safe–fascinating article here: http://online.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424127887323514404578652091268307904), and no good reason to avoid the little bit in communion. Basically, if I were making the choice of what to do with communion, I’d probably fill the tray with wine but have two or three cups of grape juice–an alternative for those who insist on one, but the norm definitely being the beverage that was instituted with the meal.
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“We may ignore, but we can nowhere evade the presence of God. The world is crowded with Him. He walks everywhere incognito.” ~ #CSLewis
We went through some lengthy discussions on wine vs. grape juice in our church some years ago when we went from a “split” tray (offering both) to wine only (but providing cups of grape juice individually to those who insisted). The older woman I bring to church was raised Methodist — she recalls signing “the pledge” as a teen to never let alcohol pass her lips — so it was a somewhat hard adjustment for her. She even worried a little bit about whether it could make one tipsy before driving home. 🙂 Now she thinks wine tastes pretty good.
I especially love the fact that we observe communion every week. In my former church (also conservative presby) we only observed communion maybe quarterly, not nearly often enough!
Weekly is best, following the what was apparently the practice of the early church.
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And we use unleavened bread/crackers.
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We use leavened bread, but there is also a small dish in the centre of the passed tray that holds gluten/yeast free crackers. We have several celiacs and one with an extreme allergy to yeast. I’ve mentioned this before – we have grape juice and the centre cup in each tray is water – I take the water. Like Roscuro says, it’s the reverence and heart that counts, not exactly what we’re partaking of but what they represent.
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I also think it is rude of those visitors to say your church was being unbiblical. If they were so against it, they should just not partake. Is it sinful to use leavened bread? I don’t think so. It’s what is represented.
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Kare summarized the argument in three sentences.
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Kare, why is water offered as a choice, and why do you take it? (Personally, I think what we are partaking of does matter. I don’t imagine that it matters whether the bread is made from wheat or barley, but Doritos aren’t the same thing. If you truly cannot get grape juice or wine to the country where you minister, then what do you do? I don’t know. If you can’t get it a specific week, I’d be inclined to skip having communion that week.)
If the visitors truly thought it unbiblical, I can’t see how it’s rude to say something. Honoring God’s Word is more important than individuals’ feelings. I would be inclined not to speak up, but I don’t think it is rude to speak up–especially since taking the pastor aside rather than loudly telling him what you think does look like making an attempt to be discreet and polite about it.
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Cheryl, I take the water because I get migraines from grape juice and wine, therefore I treat the water with the same reverence that you all would treat your wine/grape juice. Otherwise I would not be able to participate. It is offered because I requested that they do so. The church was happy to do that as they knew of others who didn’t participate because of allergies. Such a simple thing to help us worship and celebrate the Lord’s Supper.
I agree that honouring God’s Word is more important than people’s feelings. I am to hold back my judgement of what someone else is doing in respect of our different understanding of things that are not central to our salvation. Some people think many things are unbiblical that aren’t, however. I used to think (because of what I was taught) that alcoholic beverages of any kind were unbiblical. I don’t anymore as I can see no place in Scripture that states that, just that we are not to be drunk, but filled with the Spirit.
We may have to agree to disagree, Cheryl, but I will hold no hard feelings. I truly appreciate being able to participate in communion because my church provides a small cup of water for me which I treat the same way I would treat wine.
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Kare- I agree. When we used that Kool-Aid for communion, we solemnly examined ourselves, just the way Paul said to do. It meant so much to us that we could have communion again. I hadn’t been able to have it for months and I remember how glad I felt. The bread and wine are only the outward symbols of inward reality. It is the state of our hearts that God judges, not what we are putting into our mouths (Matthew 15:10-20).
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I agree, medical issues should be accommodated.
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Kare, I forgot what you had said about the migraines. I know we had people in my last church who couldn’t tolerate wheat. I don’t know if they took the wine but not the bread or chose to partake very sparingly. (I would think either option would be preferable than a substitution of a totally different substance, but I haven’t been in that situation nor had to make that choice for someone else.)
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BTW, it really is more than the state of our heart God judges. Proper worship is extremely important to Him. Read the account of the man who, with pure motives, reached out to keep the ark of the covenant from falling to the ground.
It will never be on my shoulders to decide whether we can legitimately offer water or apple juice, or rice crackers, to someone who has physical reasons not to be able to partake of the standard communion fare.
But whatever the answer, whether or not that specific substitution is acceptable, correct actions in worship are also important, not just a correct heart.
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Cheryl, that picture is beautiful by the way. I showed my husband as he was the one who brought his childhood Sugar Creek Gang books to our home when we married. We could have gone to that park when we were in Columbus, Indiana for a NAWEOA convention in 2002. I’m sorry we didn’t – it’s beautiful.
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Now I really want to get some Sugar Creek Gang books to read to the young ‘uns (and likely enjoy, myself). 😉
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