"Gobble, Gobble"

The other day I Googled, “Little known Facts about Thanksgiving.”   I was overwhelmed with how much I did not know about Thanksgiving.  

Here are just a few items that caught my eye:

• The famous pilgrim celebration at Plymouth Colony in 1621 is traditionally regarded as the first American Thanksgiving.  However, there are actually 12 claims to where the “first” Thanksgiving took place: two in Texas, two in Florida, one in Maine, two in Virginia, and five in Massachusetts.
•   President Jefferson called a federal Thanksgiving proclamation “the most ridiculous idea ever conceived.”
• Now a Thanksgiving dinner staple, cranberries were actually used by Native Americans to treat arrow wounds and to dye clothes.
•  Thanksgiving Day became an annual national holiday upon a proclamation issued by President Abraham Lincoln at the height of the Civil War in November 1863. It was set as the last Thursday in November. 
• Thanksgiving football games began with Yale versus Princeton in 1876. Princeton lost!
• Baby turkeys are called poults. Only male turkeys gobble and therefore are called gobblers. 
• Sarah Josepha Hale, who tirelessly worked to establish Thanksgiving as a national holiday, also was the first person to advocate women as teachers in public schools, the first to advocate day nurseries to assist working mothers, and the first to propose public play grounds. She also wrote the poem, "Mary Had a Little Lamb”.

When Sarah Hale championed the cause of Thanksgiving to President Lincoln, one of her goals was that it would “awaken” in us “a love of home and country, of thankfulness to God, and peace between brethren.” Those still sound like worthy goals to me.
 

There are no perfect families in American, but that is OK; we still love our families, warts and all.  We love this land, not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but still an amazing place to live in this beautiful world. Thank you for home and country.

The pilgrims came to this land to worship God as they pleased and not have any state or king impose on them whom they must worship. The separation of church and state still carries a lot of wisdom.  Thank you for religious freedom.

Learning to live peacefully as brothers and sisters is never an easy task, but always worthy of our highest effort. Appreciating and respecting diversity and difference are as critical today as when the Pilgrims and Natives sat down together years ago. Thank you for differences.

If we ever took the time to think about all the people and things for which we are thankful, they would far outnumber our complaints. As one wise person wrote, the most perfect prayer in all the world is simply, “Thank you, Lord.” Hope you have a great Thanksgiving Day.

"New Inductees"

It has been a year since I blogged about which toys made it into the Toy Hall of Fame, at the Strong Museum of Play in Rochester, NY. A year ago I never knew there was a hall of fame for toys, but now I wait to see who are the newest inductees.
  

Chris Bensch, the vice president for collections at the museum, announced that the Rubik’s cube, bubbles, and little green army men finally made it into the hall.  They beat out paper airplanes, My Little Pony, Slip’N Slide, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. 

 

Bensch said that the new inductees represented three important aspects of play: intellectual challenge (Rubik’s cube), physical skill (bubbles), and make-believe (little green army men).

Can you believe there is a 23 member national selection committee that includes toy collectors, professors, and psychologists? The toys must be iconic, innovative, and best of all, encouraging of learning and creativity. Interestingly, none of the new inductee toys required batteries or a computer.


I am not sure what toys you enjoyed as a child, and I am not familiar with all the toys that fascinate children today. I wonder, do kids still have toy chests or does everything come with wires?

There is something wonderful about taking a moment to capture a pleasant memory from childhood. Toys seem to have that magical power to return us to a simpler and more carefree life.

The early years of Jesus remain hidden from us, but I wonder what toys he enjoyed. I wonder if Joseph carved him a special stick or if Mary made him a pouch to carry smooth stones for skipping on the water. 
  

Jesus reminds us to not lose touch with the child that is inside of us. He uses children to define greatness and says they set the standard as to what it means to have faith.

Of all the important things about us, one of the most spectacular is that regardless of our age, we are called children of God. Yet so many adults seem tired, stressed, and worn thin from all the demands of work and family. I believe we all need to rediscover a sense of play and the simplicity of our childhood. In other words, with everything else we do, we must not forget to have some fun in this life!

   

  

  

"What is in a Name?"

I am a Luddite. Well, maybe not that bad. I am not planning to smash any machines. But, I really know very little about the Internet and much of today’s technology. I do use the Internet to gather information and I do email and know how to text and even Blog. I do not know how to use Twitter or Instagram. I do not have a Facebook page, and I have never visited anyone’s Facebook page. I am just not that interested. I am a peaceful Luddite.

The other day I heard about “Reputation.com”, which was founded by Michel Fertik. In today’s world with the proliferation of blogs, Facebook, and the like, it is easy for someone to post something about you that may or may not be true. In fact, it might not even be you, but someone who has your same name! I think the purpose of Reputation.com is to help protect a person’s name or reputation on line.

Expressions of concern about having a good name or reputation go way back before the Internet was invented. Proverbs 22:1 says, “A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches.”  It was true back then and even more so today. It takes a lifetime to build a reputation, but like all good things, in the end, it is well worth it.

There is an even greater truth in the Bible about names and that truth is the power of God’s name. In Exodus 3:14 (NRSV) God revealed his name to Moses saying: “God said to Moses, “I am who I am.” He said further, “Thus you shall say to the Israelites, ‘I am has sent me to you.’”  The Hebrew letters involved, YHWH, known at the Tetragrammaton, were felt to be too sacred to pronounce. The writer of Proverbs also said: Proverbs 18:10  (NRSV):  “The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous run into it and are safe.”  Jesus understood that.  He encouraged us in John 14: 13-14 saying “I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.  If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it.”  His name is powerful for we who are His followers.

So what’s in a name? If it is our name, it is fragile, to be protected, and to be cultivated over a lifetime.  If it is God’s name, it is our refuge and strength.  No need for Reputation.com there. What do you think? Do you feel you can use your name to God’s glory? How do we as Christians or Sardis as a congregation achieve that end? 

"My How Time Flies"

Every fall, a few folks show up an hour early for worship because they forgot to set their clocks back one hour when daylight savings time ended.  Yesterday was no exception as we officially reached that turning point.

For me, there is always some inner body confusion when we start changing clocks and rearranging time.  I don’t know about you, but it takes me a week to adjust to the time change.  It is only an hour difference, but it still plays havoc with my waking up and going to bed routine.

I sometimes chuckle that we so casually turn the clock back in the fall and say we have gained an hour.  We know we haven’t gained or lost anything, but it is nice to think we have some control over time.

The Bible has a lot to say about time.   Many like the quote from Ecclesiastes 3, “For everything there is a season and a time for every matter under heaven.”   The passage was immortalized for those of us of a certain age in the pop tune written by Pete Seeger and covered in the 1960’s by an American Rock group from Los Angeles knows as The Byrds (click on the video).

One of my favorite Bible passages about time is from Psalm 90:12, “So teach us to number our days, so we might apply our hearts unto wisdom.”   I remember hearing former Davidson College President, Thomas W. Ross, say that for years he disciplined himself to actually number and count each day and record what he learned on that day.  I not so disciplined.  Many of my days are like a blur and some come and go without any reflection.     I’d like to be more like the psalmist and Thomas Ross and take time to reflect on my life at the end of day.   I think they are on to something, and it’s called wisdom.

So we have two lessons about time from the Bible.  One is that everything has its proper time and the other is that our time is limited.  What do those lessons mean for us today?  I think the meaning is that time as a gift from God is only partly ours.  If we see God’s gift as having proper uses, we need to use it in ways that are to His glory.  And, if we see God’s gift as having limits, we need not to let it slip through our fingers.

What about you and that “extra” hour from the daylight savings time change?  Can you use it in a way that demonstrates your faith and God’s love?  Can you keep it from going to waste?  What about our ordinary time every day?  What ideas do you have to use God’s gift of time appropriately? 

      

"How is Your Reformation?"

Most Presbyterians greet Reformation Sunday with a yawn. It wasn’t always that way, but times change. And that, when you come to think about it, is what the day is all about, making changes and reforming the church. While many individuals had a hand in rattling the rafters of the church, Martin Luther is considered the father of the Protestant Reformation. 

The winds of reform were blowing all across Europe when Martin Luther was born at Eisleben, in Saxon of Germany in 1483. His parents were simple folks; his dad was a poor peasant miner. And like all parents, they wanted their son to have a better life.  In spite of being poor, his parents insisted that Martin get a good education and study law.

Luther did his best to accommodate his parents’ wishes, but after almost getting stuck by lightening during a severe thunderstorm, Martin got serious about religion and entered a monastery.

 

 For most of his life, Luther was scared to death of God. Fortunately for him, he met a sensitive mentor at the monastery who helped point Luther “from cringing before a vengeful Deity to a joyous response to the loving forgiveness of God through Jesus Christ.”

 I have to believe that was the most powerful reformation of all, moving from believing in a vengeful God to a loving God. I wonder if most people see God as loving, or do some still fear God? I want to believe everyone knows exactly what the Bibles says, “God is love” (I John 4: 16)

A motto of the reformed church is “Ecclesia reformata, semper reformanda.” We might best understand the meaning as “the church reformed, always being reformed". In the early days, as now, the source of the reforming was “"sola scriptura" (Scripture alone). I like that, always being reformed based on the word of God.  Our church as a whole and we as members of it can seek and enjoy the possibility of God-given progress.

Are there changes you think we might make at Sardis to show even more that “God is love”? More important, are there changes you think we might make in our daily lives to show others that no matter what else you might say about God, you have to say, “God is love”? Who knows, if we are always being reformed, then I am sure each of us has a wonderful part to play in that ongoing reformation.

• Dr Kort wishes to acknowledge William P. Barker, Who’s Who in Church History, for much of the material in this blog