church | dual personalities

December 16, 2024

Angels, from the realms of glory, wing your flight o’er all the earth

by chuckofish

We’re nearing the home stretch…but it rained all day Saturday which dampened everyone’s holiday spirits. We were grateful, however, that it was rain and not ice or snow. And we got the tree up!

It was a group effort. The boy came over Thursday evening to carry the tree in from the garage and put it in the stand. The OM and I strung the lights on Saturday morning. And daughter #1 came over after her DAR luncheon to help decorate it. Ain’t it lovely?

I missed the DAR luncheon because I had to go to our Historical Society Christmas party and membership meeting. It was actually quite fun. The house looked beautiful and festive. Of course, I didn’t take any pictures. C’est la vie.

The boy and his famille were in Kansas City this weekend, so the OM and I sat alone in church. They missed a good sermon on the Mosaic Covenant, some great hymns and solos, and a fantastic adult ed class, continuing on the angels and demons theme. The teacher even referenced Hermann Bavinck (see Friday’s post). I am learning a lot. My Bible Study leader made a really good and astute comment during the class and I told her so afterwards, and she said, “It was the Holy Spirit, not me”. Once again, I am humbled and grateful to be among these people.

We watched three Christmas movies: Home Alone (1992), The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992)…

and White Christmas (1954), the latter on the big screen! We enjoyed them all.

What an absolute treat to see White Christmas on the big screen! In recliners! Can’t believe it wasn’t sold out! For the 50th time, it was great. And I had to laugh thinking of little Ida watching it for the first time at home on her TV and running to get her tambourine during the “Mandy” number! Perfect!

Have a good Monday, watch an old movie, feel the joy, read some poetry:

Let all mortal flesh keep silence,
And with fear and trembling stand;
Ponder nothing earthly-minded,
For with blessing in His hand,
Christ our God to earth descendeth,
Our full homage to demand.
King of kings, yet born of Mary,
As of old on earth He stood,
Lord of lords, in human vesture,
In the body and the blood;
He will give to all the faithful
His own self for heav’nly food.
Rank on rank the host of heaven
Spreads its vanguard on the way,
As the Light of light descendeth
From the realms of endless day,
That the pow’rs of hell may vanish
As the darkness clears away.
At His feet the six-winged seraph,
Cherubim with sleepless eye,
Veil their faces to the presence,
As with ceaseless voice they cry:
“Alleluia, Alleluia,
Alleluia, Lord Most High!”

Liturgy of St. James, 5th century (adapted by Gerard Moultrie, 1864)

4 Comments

November 25, 2024

“You know I can’t cook.”*

by chuckofish

Boy, I went to the grocery store Sunday afternoon and it was a madhouse. Par for the course I guess. It was also the first time driving my new SUV there and loading up the grocery bags, etc. I had to open the back and I opened the hood instead. I hope no one was watching. Well, tant pis, if they were.

Lottie wore dangly earrings (clip-ons) to church and looked like a gyp-gyp-gypsy, but she only received positive feedback from those around us. (I may have raised my eyebrows.) As you can see the twins were not much taken with the sermon on Melchizedek. But there was a baptism, so that made up for it.

They came over with the boy after church to feed the feral cat and hang out for a bit. I had no food for them because I hadn’t been to the store yet, so they didn’t stay long. But it’s always a treat to see them, earrings and all.

Thanksgiving is upon us and I have hardly taken a breath to stop and ponder the topic of thankfulness, but, wow, I certainly am! I am thankful that DN is cooking the turkey (and assorted other things) and that he sent a Word document outlining the cooking/prep schedule. He is so organized! I’m making the cheesy potatoes, daughter #1 will do the crescent rolls, and daughter #3 is making the pies. Daughter #2 can take the Ocean Spray cranberry sauce out of the can.

Daughter #2 reported that Katie was disappointed that “the snack at the school Thanksgiving party ‘was not really party food.’ In an ironic twist, because it was a party, parents brought in the food and it was cheese and crackers (as opposed to the “treat” snacks like Cheese-Its or teddy grahams that they have every day). Katie did not approve. But she told me…that ‘I bet we’ll have treats at Thanksgiving. At Mamu’s house. Maybe donuts. Or ice cream.'” You can count on that, sweetheart!

On Sunday afternoon I went over to daughter #1’s house to walk Mr. Smith and indulge his desire for unending tummy scratches.

What can I say? I am a sucker for his big black eyes.

This is a very thoughtful piece on contentment and “Wanting what you already have.” “My children once asked me what I wanted most when I was growing up. As I sat at the dinner table looking at my wife and children looking back at me I remembered my childhood dreams for my life and the answer was suddenly obvious: ‘This. Exactly this.'” Indeed, “Godliness with contentment is great gain” (1 Timothy 6:6).

And the meme world is on fire…

So be thankful for all the blessings of your life and try to relax. The world is more than we know.

Lord Jesus, our Savior, let us now come to you: Our hearts are cold; Lord, warm them with your selfless love. Our hearts are sinful; cleanse them with your precious blood. Our hearts are weak; strengthen them with your joyous Spirit. Our hearts are empty; fill them with your divine presence. Lord Jesus, our hearts are yours; possess them always and only for yourself. Amen (Augustine of Hippo, 354-430)

*Edie McClurg in Planes, Trains and Automobiles (1987)

P.S. The video is the edited for TV version, so the kids can see it–no f-bombs!

4 Comments

September 17, 2024

“People do not drift toward Holiness”*

by chuckofish

I can’t say I exactly bounce back ever, but I try. On Mondays I always get back to my Bible reading and I do my Bible Study homework. My house is not the only thing that needs to be ordered and tidy.

We had a really good sermon on Sunday on Hebrews 2:1-9.

“Therefore we must pay closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it.”

Indeed, we all know people who have made a “shipwreck of their faith” by the slow drift of indifference. This is your weekly reminder not to let that happen!

This is a great Ask Pastor John answer from John Piper. “The Spirit and the Bride say, ‘Come.’ And let the one who hears say, ‘Come.’ And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price.”

Also this article about corporate singing really rings true. “Christians can’t seem to stop singing: in catacombs, in cathedrals, everywhere throughout church history. In Saudi Arabia, the underground churches soundproof the walls and windows, sometimes with mattresses, so they can lift their voices in praise without detection. As Jesus said of the rejoicing multitudes, ‘I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out’ (Luke 19:40).”

Funnily enough, our “ministry” minute in church this week was provided by the choir and our young friend Ridge, who invited people to join the choir. He has sung in a church choir ever since his father “volun-told” him he was joining at age 12. All through high school, college, law school, and now young parenthood, it has been his priority to show up on Wednesday night and Sunday morning. He is one reason our congregation really sings! We sing five hymns in the morning service plus the Gloria Patri and the Doxology. Sometimes there is an organ accompaniment, sometimes a piano. And sometimes there is a guitar or a trombone or trumpet or a harmonica. We have a lot of participating musical members.

I know ‘joy’ is an overused and mis-used term these days, but even we very serious Presbyterians really do feel the joy in our hearts. I think that is why I cry so much.

Sinners, whose love can ne’er forget
the wormwood and the gall,
go spread your trophies at his feet,
and crown him, crown him,
and crown him Lord of all.

(Edward Perronet, 1779)

The Peace of Christ be with you.

*D.A. Carson

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September 2, 2024

Ora et labora

by chuckofish

Happy Labor Day! Hope you are having a good day. The twins are coming over again and we will find something fun to do, hopefully with daughter #1 and Mr. Smith.

We picked the twins up for church on Sunday while their parents were still distracted getting ready to move to daughter#3’s parents’ condo over the weekend. They checked their depravity and drew pictures in notebooks I had brought for that purpose. The bud drew many variations on this theme:

And Lottie drew her ‘stories’:

We sang this hymn which always makes me cry…

After church we went to the Sunny Street Cafe for brunch. The twins had dinosaur pancakes and were quite content. The boy picked them up shortly after we came home and they were annoyed that they hadn’t had time to play, but the OM sighed with relief.

To this I hold, my hope is only Jesus
For my life is wholly bound to His
Oh, how strange and divine, I can sing: All is mine!
Yet not I, but through Christ in me

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July 22, 2024

Let us love and sing and wonder

by chuckofish

I have had quite a busy 10 days and this week will be pretty busy too. I am home, but the laundry is piling up and I have a lot of furniture to rearrange following DN loading up a truck with stuff! (We drove back to our flyover city together on Saturday and he rented a truck.)

He did it all himself–a twin bed with mattress, a dresser, a large antique cradle, a wing chair, numerous bins, etc…and a dining room set from Facebook Marketplace, which he had to drive to Eureka to pick up! Then he drove it all back to Mahomet and unloaded it. It’s great to be young and fit. (The boy was in Kansas City so unavailable to help.) All this after spending 2 1/2 hours in the car with his mother-in-law! (We can talk for hours.)

I was pooped after all this, but got up and went to church and Sunday School. We had a guest teacher in Sunday School–Dr. Hans Madueme, professor of theological Studies at Covenant College in Georgia. He is an MD, MDiv and PhD. Quite a guy. It was a great class about science and faith, creation and original sin. We also had a good sermon on Psalm 7:

God is a righteous judge,
    and a God who feels indignation every day.

¹²If a man does not repent, God will whet his sword;
    he has bent and readied his bow;
¹³he has prepared for him his deadly weapons,
    making his arrows fiery shafts.

(Psalm 7:11-12)

I felt intellectually renewed, stimulated and refreshed!

Well, I sure had fun over the past week with darling daughter #2 and the sweet prairie girls…

…who are learning the art of estate sale-ing (and waiting in line)…

…where the Hibiscus are the size of platters…and the water lilies bloom…

…and Happy Hour popsicles are standard…

But I am glad to be home and back to my old routine.

Our prayers are with the the congregation of the historic First Baptist Dallas which burned down over the weekend. But as their Pastor Robert Jeffress said after fire, “I’m grateful that the church is not bricks or mortar or wood, it’s people. And the people of God will endure. First Baptist Dallas will endure and we thank so many of our friends around the country who are praying for us right now.”

And this was great:

Let us love and sing and wonder,
Let us praise the Savior’s Name!
He has hushed the law’s loud thunder,
He has quenched Mount Sinai’s flame.
He has washed us with His blood,
He has brought us nigh to God.

–John Newton, 1774

3 Comments

January 8, 2024

“Take heart. Get up; he is calling you.”*

by chuckofish

How was your weekend? It snowed here on Friday evening so that slowed things down quite a bit. We watched The Court Jester (1955) in honor of Glynis Johns, who died last week at age 100.

Funnily enough, we had decided to watch it before she died, but it worked out just right and we toasted her and the rest of the cast and crew.

I don’t know where this movie has been all my life, but I just love it. It has everything–a great script by the team of Norman Panama and Melvin Frank (who both co-directed) and a sparkling cast of stars and veteran character actors. It also boasts art direction by the incomparable Hal Pereira, who, if you are a discerning movie watcher, you know was the supervising art director at Paramount and as such was responsible for the “look” of a lot of great movies–such as Shane, Double Indemnity, Rear Window, Breakfast at Tiffany’s and on and on. Nominated 23 times for an Oscar, he only won once, for The Rose Tattoo (1955). Typical. [Trivia note: Hal Pereira graduated from the University of Illinois!]

I finished putting away the last of the Christmas decorations and got things in relative order before the twins came over to wreck havoc after church to celebrate their Mom’s birthday.

At church we started on a new Sunday School unit on the 5 points of Calvinism (TULIP) starting with my favorite, Total Depravity.

T – Total depravity
U – Unconditional election
L – Limited atonement
I – Irresistible grace
P – Perseverance of the saints

Everyone is taking the same class, but we are divided up into four age groups with different leaders, i.e. 20s and 30s, 40s and 50s, 60s, and 70s and up. I was directed by my friend and style icon, Linda, to go into her room–the 70s and up. I said, “I’m not quite there yet.” She was embarrassed, but I’m like, who cares. I’m alive and breathing.

We also heard a good sermon about Bartimaeus, the blind beggar (Mark 10:46-52). Bartimaeus hears that Jesus is coming and he shouts out for Jesus, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” Many rebuke him and tell him to be quiet. But he cries out all the more. And Jesus stops and calls him. Bartimaeus tells him he wants to be healed and Jesus heals him. “Your faith has made you well.” He responds to being healed by following Jesus “on the way”.

The simple cry for mercy by Bartimaeus has inspired countless prayers during the last two millennia. “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner,” the so-called “Jesus Prayer,” which has a variety of forms, is spoken millions of times each day by believers throughout the world, myself included.

As sinners, we need to experience God’s forgiveness. And this comes, not through our efforts, but through God’s mercy. Because of his love for us and his faithfulness, God’s mercy is new every morning (Lamentations 3:23).

Grant us grace to see you, Lord,
mirrored in your holy Word.
May our lives and all we do
imitate and honor you
that we all like you may be
at your great epiphany
and may praise you, ever blest,
God in man made manifest.
–Christopher Wordsworth, 1807-85

*Mark 10:49

5 Comments

July 31, 2023

“He wasn’t shot with no fawty-one Colt.”*

by chuckofish

How was your weekend? Hope you managed to keep cool. We had more storms and this time the electricity at our house went out for an hour and a half! I was just packing a bag to go to daughter #1’s house, when it came back on. Such drama–these days we are lost without our precious electricity.

Poor daughter #2 and famille had their air conditioning go out on Saturday and had to wait all day to get it fixed. I am sympathetic, but back in my day, we didn’t have central air conditioning at all and we had to wait all summer for relief. We are very spoiled now, that’s for sure. We would go to the movies to sit for a few hours in the AC. Grocery shopping was also a diversion!

Anyway, c’est la vie. Saturday morning I went to a flower arranging workshop at church led by the floral director at Schnucks Markets. I learned a lot!

I like the fact that the flowers at our church are always done by volunteers. There is no “the flowers are given (i.e. paid for) to the glory of God and in thanksgiving for/in memory of by so-and-so” announcement in the bulletin. It is just an anonymous gift. But we in the flower guild do our best (for the glory of God) and every week the arrangements are very different.

After church on Sunday there was a reception for a lady who is retiring after working there for 24 years–one of those unsung women who make everything run smoothly in the office and, if they are lucky, are appreciated for being “hard-working” and “organized”. Lois was also lauded for her sincere faith. Well, “Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men” (Colossians 3:23).

I watched a really good movie–Intruder in the Dust (1949) based on William Faulkner’s novel, which is basically a mystery story set in the deep South. It is the story of Lucas Beauchamp, an independent, land-owning black man, who is unjustly accused of the murder of a white man, Vinson Gowrie. Through the help of two teenage boys, the town lawyer and an elderly white lady, who figure out who the real murderer is, he is able to prove his innocence.

I had not seen this movie in many years. It held up. Shot entirely on location in Oxford, Mississippi, it has an air of authenticity that the backlot never would have achieved. The actors are all solid. The screenplay by Ben Maddow sticks to Faulkner’s book. The Director Clarence Brown, who grew up in Knoxville, Tennessee and apparently knew something about the South, was not even nominated for an Oscar for this movie, but he won the British Academy Film Award for it. (Brown holds the record for the most Academy Award for direction nominations–6–without a win.)

Not surprisingly, the film failed at the box office, not even earning back its negative costs according to studio records. There is, after all, no romance in this movie; there are no pretty girls. There is no real action to speak of–only the threat of action (a lynching). There are tense moments, to be sure, for our heroes as they ride around at night and dig up a dead body and, when they get the sheriff on board with their plan, dig the body up again. But American audiences were not interested.

It is said, however, that William Faulkner himself was pleased with the film and Ralph Ellison wrote that of the whole cycle of race-based movies released in 1949, Intruder in the Dust was “the only film that could be shown in Harlem without arousing unintended laughter, for it is the only one of the four in which Negroes can make complete identification with their screen image.”

Check it out. It’s worth a viewing. Then read the book!

“Some things you must always be unable to bear. Some things you must never stop refusing to bear. Injustice and outrage and dishonor and shame. No matter how young you are or how old you have got. Not for kudos and not for cash: your picture in the paper nor money in the bank either. Just refuse to bear them.”

*William Faulkner, Intruder in the Dust

4 Comments

February 20, 2023

Publish glad tidings

by chuckofish

How was your weekend? Mine was pretty quiet, the highlight being when the OM and I wrestled the two carseats into his car and picked up the wee twins to go to church on Sunday. (Lacrosse season starts today so the boy was working at his store all weekend.) It is always a treat to drive with the twins in the backseat and listen to their running commentary. Their total depravity surfaced only a few times during the service–i.e. the bud sang lustily along with “Publish Glad Tidings” but using his own lyrics–perhaps he was speaking in tongues. (I turned to Lottie and whispered, “What is your brother singing?” and she said, “I don’t know!”) When they left for Kids Praise worship, I relaxed and enjoyed a good sermon.

The OM and I also attended the Mission Dinner on Friday night where we learned all about Presbyterians in the Ukraine and in the Yucatan. Presbyterians love their missionaries and their missions around the world, which is a big change from the Episcopal Church where the very idea of missions is embarrassing to them.

Presbyterians are serious about missions. (“And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.”–Mark 16:15) Basically they are serious. I am learning this about them and I appreciate it. I am also learning to curb by innate sense of frivolity. But I am a Calvinist at heart and have always had a strong Puritan streak. It is wonderful to find folks who share this attitude.

Of course, daughter #1 poured me a glass of wine when we got home.

And the Amaryllis just keeps on blooming!

O Zion, haste, thy mission high fulfilling,
To tell to all the world that God is light;
That He who made all nations is not willing
One soul should perish, lost in shades of night.

Publish glad tidings, tidings of peace;
Tidings of Jesus, redemption and release.
–Mary A. Thompson, 1868

5 Comments

November 7, 2022

Come, all ye pining, hungry poor, the Savior’s bounty taste*

by chuckofish

How was your weekend? Mine was a quiet one, mostly because I am still fighting this cold. I managed to “do” the flowers for church on Sunday–my maiden solo voyage so to speak and I was pleased with the result. I went to Trader Joe’s early on Saturday morning and bought a bunch of different flowers and then went to church, going in with my key and setting up in the sacristy…

Voila. Yay, me!

We went to church on Sunday (I had to check out my flowers) but I had a coughing fit during the sermon and had to leave and get a drink of water. I sat on a comfortable sofa and drank my water and listened to the sermon which was piped in. I have to say, it was quite nice. I rejoined the congregation after the sermon for the Lord’s Supper. Then the boy and the wee twins came over for bagels and cream cheese and we sat outside for some final driveway time of the season.

Lottie is such a big girl now–she sang along with one of the hymns and said the Lord’s Prayer (from memory)! The wee laddie filled out the Welcome Card, which he does every week.

After they left, I FaceTimed with darling Katie and her darling mother, making the weekend complete.

Well, have a good Monday! Go in peace to love and serve the Lord!

*Anne Steele (1716-1778)

4 Comments

October 10, 2022

Land me safe on Canaan’s side

by chuckofish

How was your weekend? On Saturday I went to a training session for new members of the flower guild where I learned how to make the flower arrangements for church on Sunday.

Linda (the head of the guild and my style icon) taught us all the do’s and don’ts of flower arranging and so I am confident that I should be ready to go when I have to do this by myself. Right? It’s good to learn new things, right? Right?

After finishing up her business in mid-MO, daughter #1 drove into town so we could make one last trip this season to our favorite Jeff Co winery after church on Sunday. It was a beautiful day and we spread out our picnic on the grass…

and enjoyed the live music.

Good times!

Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God.
(Exodus 20:8)

Have a good week!