Amen

I discovered this morning that the last word in the Bible is "Amen."

I made a pledge (a "resolution"?) last year to read the Daily Text every day and also to partake in the challenge to read through the Bible in a year. Yes, I say challenge....to get up every morning and read was sometimes a challenge, but as the year went on, it became a habit. Every morning, usually around 5:30, I would wake up, put on my glasses, and read the Daily Text and the Bible reading assigned for the day before getting up. This morning I read the final chapters in the old and new testaments and felt really good when I read the AMEN. I made it through!

Now you may ask "how was the experience?" It just felt like something I had to do every day. I enjoyed reading the history section of the OT a lot, but I really got bogged down in the prophets. They all said the same things and it got kinda boring. And I have a hard time believing that God told them all the things God supposedly told them. Sorry, but I think that reading the whole Bible actually made me a non-believer about a lot of things in the Bible. Should I admit that? But that's what I came away with from this year of reading through the Bible. If we believe that God is love, how can we believe that God was directly responsible for all the violence and evil things that the writers of the Bible wrote about. I did however think the Old Testament was more interesting reading that the New, but that is probably because I am more familiar with the New and most of it was repetition of many Bible readings I have heard in worship services, etc. But I question some of those writers too. I believe God sent Jesus to show us how to live our lives and since Jesus is God and God is love, why would God be the cause of destruction and violence? I think that is just how the people of the day interpreted what was happening and believed God was the cause of everything good or bad that happened.

Anyway, when I read the last word "AMEN" in the Bible this morning, my main thought was "I finished it! I actually went through the whole year and keep my pledge to myself." Now this year I am hoping to try to get more involved in peace and justice issues. This will be hard for me as I am a private person and don't like to speak out about certain issues, but I am going to try anyway. AMEN!

Joy Journal

I read today about keeping a Joy Journal. I think that is a really cool idea so I have been thinking about what has given me joy lately. Some of those things I have thought about are:

1. Sitting by the fireplace drinking my early morning coffee on a cold day.
2. Seeing the white lights glowing on the bushes outside my window.
3. Reading Christmas cards and notes from friends far and near.
4. Singing carols and hearing the Christmas story at our Christmas Eve service.
5. Hugging my grandsons when they came over this afternoon.
6. Getting a Walmart gift card from my son.
7. Getting a snugly fleece blanket and a waffle iron from my daughter and son in law.
8. Playing with a new electronic game called "20 questions" with my family. It's a hoot!
9. Listening to a new radio station that plays only old favorite songs from the past.
10. Seeing the sun shine in my windows lighting up the kitchen and family room.

"Once you begin looking, you may be surprised to discover just how much joy your world has to offer."
Thomas Kinkade

It's Christmas Already

I have been trying to savor the Advent season the way it's done at Holden. I have been doing a fairly good job of it, but in this "outside" life, that is not easy. Well....it is easy, but it's not the norm. I have been avoiding the hustle and bustle of the shopping scene and haven't gotten stressed about it, but I also haven't prepared too well for Christmas on a personal level.

On a professional level my job has been very stressful in an intimidating way. It seems there is so much to do that I am working many extra hours just trying to keep my head above water. Maybe this isn't what I should be doing after all. I do enjoy the various aspects of the job, it's just that there are too many of them to get them all done in a day. Obviously there are deadlines....I have to have bulletins ready for each service....and they take a lot of time as each one is a huge publication in and of itself. I worked most of yesterday and today on the Christmas Eve bulletin and am still not finished. Guess what I will be doing in the morning? At the same time, I am working on Sunday's bulletin, which has really been a production as I download from an internet sight and then have to put into a publisher format. I have been feeling kind of out of sorts about it. I am supposed to get off early tomorrow and have Friday off too, but I don't know if I will be done by the time I leave tomorrow.

I finally finished the last of my Christmas cards at midnight last night and got them in the mail this morning. I sent three groups of cards out three different days so some will be on time and some will be late. I apologize to anyone who gets a late one.....but the Christmas season goes on for twelve days after the 25th, so I guess technically they won't be "late."

All those concerns aside, I am trying to keep remembering the reason for the season. I will be a communion assistant at the late Christmas Eve Service. I will be Assisting Minister on Sunday. I would also like to remember that Christmas is not over on December 26th (which is also not the norm in the "outside" world.)

Merry Christmas!

Fall in Texas

Fall in Texas comes about six weeks later than"up north." We are having a beautiful fall here this year.

I missed the fall color in Wisconsin....I was a little bit early for full color...or maybe it was a little bit late. I missed the fall color in Washington too. I saw a lot of gold color on the trees driving through Montana in late October.

Here now, we have it all, reds, golds, oranges, yellows, and greens. It is so pretty driving through town on my way to work. The weather has been really fall-like. It's been in the 50's in the daytime and down to the 30's or low 40's at night. There's lots of sunlight and I am hanging my clothes out to dry ever since I got back. No dryer for me!

It's the second Sunday in Advent today. I am trying to keep Advent everyday. It's hard here though without worship every day. However I have pledged not to rush Christmas. And not to rush out of Christmas either on December 26th. There are two things I noticed about the Dallas area when I moved here 39 years ago. The first was the fences. Everyone has privacy fences and I thought that was so strange (I still think so). The second thing that I noticed was on December 26th all the Christmas trees are out on the curbs to be picked up....and all Christmas decorations are stowed away. I try to keep Christmas going through Epiphany, but it feels kind of corny to do that here. I have renewed my resolve to keep it going this year.