Notes From My Knapsack (April 2003 "The Church Window" Hebron Christian Church)
After the forsythia blooms, is it two or three snows? Either way you know the old saw, we’re one down.
Daffodils look none the worse for wear after their long months deep underground, waiting for the lengthening of days and the growth of warmth, and I’m counting on the trillium out at Dawes to start to blossom very soon.
Perennials follow the signs of the seasons, and can’t be denied their nature, even though the occasional late snow might set them back. Easter, however, is different; the Resurrection is a flower of a different color.
The first robin, no matter how welcome, only proclaims the spring. Christ’s death and resurrection literally began the eternal Springtime for God’s people; Jesus doesn’t announce new life, he IS New Life, being born in us every day.
"God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself," not to reconcile God to us, but to "re-concile" – to "again-unite-hearts" as the word means at its roots – us to God. When we stand and face the cross, and face that God’s love is that deep, and that real, and that willing to overcome every barrier including death itself, then our "hearts again unite" with a God who truly loves us that much, and we are reconciled.
The forsythia blossoms will fade and drop, and we may dig up some old bulbs and plant new ones. Robins may even decide to pass on through and head for Ontario for the summer. But the Spring that Easter proclaims is with us always.
In Grace and Peace,
Pastor Jeff
* * * * * * *
Lakewood Levy Fundraising
Pancake Breakfast
Sat., Apr. 12
Creative Catering
8 am to 11 am
$5 all you can eat;
$3 for 12 and under
* * * * * * *
Interfaith Legal Clinic
Wed., Apr. 16
At Hebron Christian
(last time this year,
held every month around Licking Co.)
Open to Low-income and elderly folks
Needing advice on legal concerns
Doors open at 5:30 pm,
Clinic from 6 to 8 pm
Number of clients seen depends on the
Number of lawyers available, all of whom
Are donating their time as part of their own faith.
* * * * * * *
Other items: Time change this Sat. the 5th; Eagle Court of Honor Sun. 6th David Scheiddegger T-27 chartered to Hebron American Legion; also wedding(s) Sat. Apr. 26, 1:30 pm and 5:30 pm.
Other info:
Last Mark Bible Study meeting 16 April 10 am
Maundy Thurs – 6:30 potluck, 7:30 worship
Prayer Vigil
Good Friday service – 7:30 pm
Easter Egg Hunt Sat. (not sure of time, will ask Connie this Sunday)
Lakewood Area Churches Sunrise Service at Dawes (7 churches partic.)
6:30 am, Jeff Gill preaching, Hebron Chr. Handbells ringing
after, breakfast at Hebron UMC, Nelson Workheimer Memorial Breakfast
Celebration of the Resurrection 10:30 am, beginning with baptisms
* * * * * * *
Pastor's "Frequently Asked Questions" Top Ten List Rev. Jeff Gill, pastor
1. How do I know I’m forgiven/accepted by God?
Jesus died on the cross to reconcile us to God, not God to us. God loves us, and sent Jesus to show that love, which overcomes suffering and even death. When we accept that love as real, when we have our own relationship through Jesus Christ to God’s love, we are reconciled/reunited, overcoming our own fears. God does the forgiving, seen in Jesus’ sacrifice and self-giving love on the cross; we simply do the accepting.
2. Do you have to be baptized to be forgiven?
Not quite! Baptism is Christ’s gift to the church that shows us how our sins are forgiven, and gives us the experience that leads to a knowledge of that forgiveness. If we aren’t baptized, we won’t truly know ourselves as a forgiven people, and won’t experience the empowerment of that grace/gift. So the church is given the responsibility of showing people how to reach "abundant life" on earth as well as eternal life in heaven, and that is through baptism. We take that responsibility very seriously.
3. How do I pray?
Talk to God. Really! With our youth group, I’m always saying a prayer only needs "Dear God: Thank you. Amen." Now, those three parts can use some developing (invocation or "addressing" God, thanks and hopes, and a closing). A regular prayer life should follow a regular pattern and rhythm (again, for our needs, not for God to listen!), and Bible reading can be a tool for this: to point you on the way, to give you models for prayer, to get you in the mood. Devotional books are available for every kind of person nowadays, but don’t let them get in the way of offering your very own hopes, fears, dreams, and intentions. The Psalms are a good starting point for anyone.
4. What translation of the Bible should I use?
For many of us, the best one is the one we’re used to: I grew up with the Good News/TEV and the Revised Standard Version (RSV). At camp and in college I found many friends used the New International Version (NIV) which is a very good translation. Both RSV and NIV have "newer" editions out as well. The Living Bible is a paraphrase, and hard to use for study but is helpful for simply reading long passages of the Bible, but the New Living Bible is the best reading and study Bible I’ve seen since the TEV. You can find the TEV for daily reading at http://www.dailybible.com/tev/, or the NRSV texts we use for Sunday worship at http://divinity.library.vanderbilt.edu/lectionary/ or http://www.disciples.org/internal/resources/lectio2003.htm
5. Does our church give to missionary work?
Ten percent of our church income is used for supporting mission and ministry outside the congregational walls; over half that goes to the Disciples Mission Fund which funds both the general church (global and national) and the Christian Church in Ohio, our region. The rest is for our work and witness with people in need here in the Lakewood area and Licking County. There are also special giving opportunities to support outreach that you care about, such as through the CROP Walk, CCH Walk, or Week of Compassion.
6. Can I take communion?
If you believe that God through Jesus Christ is calling you to join us at the communion table, yes. Obviously, that means different things to different people, but our tradition is very firmly rooted in simply offering the invitation in Christ’s name. It’s between you and God as to whether you are "ready," and we don’t think it is anyone else’s responsibility to approve or disapprove of that decision. Some families allow children to receive, and some don’t, which is a matter of conscience for each parent, but it has never been the tradition of the Restoration Movement to require baptism as a condition for taking communion.
(over)
7. Can I give to the church? (Yes, people frequently ask this!)
Stewardship is what we can our responsibility as Christians to be "accountable" for how we use our time, talents, and money that God has given us. Giving to the church or other ministries is a good way to put thankfulness and service before our own desires, which is what folks mean by "giving off the top." We teach stewardship through proportional giving, or "tithing," where we commit to a) prayerfully plan our own use of resources each year, and b) make giving a part of that plan as a spiritual discipline. But you do not give as "dues" or even really to "support the church," and definitely not to be forgiven! We give as a way to keep our perspective on where what we have comes from, and where everything goes back to. And we have envelopes to help you remember. . .
8. Do we own our own property as a church and/or hire and fire our own clergy?
Yes, this is what is known as a "congregationally governed" fellowship, where we are in covenant with other churches (such as our region, the Christian Church in Ohio) to have staff and own a camp and things we need to work together to do. But the regional staff can only ask, not tell our board or officers what to do. In fact, our tradition honors local leadership under a Biblical principle called "the priesthood of all believers," where our elders preside at the communion table. As pastor, I am a trained evangelist called to serve here as the "preaching and teaching" elder in Paul’s words to Timothy, which he calls an office worthy of paid salary. . .but not a higher office! We can have communion when the pastor’s not present, and even members of the diaconate may baptize, if appropriate.
9. Is our budget and financial information public knowledge?
Our church budget and all expenditures are public knowledge, including staff salaries and benefits. What individuals and families give is known only by the financial secretary and treasurer (and perhaps an assistant); not even the pastor or elders know what anyone gives; unless, of course, you tell them. Some need a letter from the church for tax purposes, which the financial secretary sends.
10. What do the Disciples of Christ believe about. . . . .
Depending on how you end that question, it might actually rank higher than number 10, but in general, the answer is "They don’t." At least, in the sense that a group or body has published an official point of view which all members of our fellowship agree to, that’s not "the Disciple way." Our General Assembly, every other year, or a Regional Assembly in the years between, may pass a resolution on various subjects, or the General Minister and President or Regional Pastor may offer a letter for reflection and spiritual discernment, but nothing binding on all Disciples of Christ congregations exists.
An open communion table celebrated weekly, an emphasis on believer’s baptism by immersion, and a commitment to Christian unity through individual conscience in reading the Bible are the "essentials" of our fellowship, reflected by this guiding principle used by Alexander Campbell in the early 1800’s, itself taken from an earlier era:
In essentials, unity
In non-essentials, liberty
In all things, charity
As we take seriously our responsibility to wrestle with what the words of the Bible and the Living Word of Christ in our midst are telling us, those phrases still guide us!
Sunday, March 30, 2003
Friday, March 28, 2003
Hebron Crossroads 4-13-03
By Jeff Gill
Happy Thomas Jefferson’s birthday today; Virginia used to celebrate it, but probably doesn’t anymore (federal holidays and contracts and such).
You could celebrate by having peas with dinner, those being his favorite food, or just read his best known work. . .it’s quite short, with the title "The Declaration of Independence." Good reading for these times.
Tom never personally walked through the Hebron Crossroads, but just north of them, exactly one year to the day before he and John Adams both died on the 50th anniversary of the Declaration, an event took place which literally made this crossing.
July 4, 1825, a party of dignitaries joined in breaking ground at what was thought to be the "highest" spot surveyed on the Ohio and Erie Canal. A marker stands just into Heath on the east side of Route 79, with half a lock (better than none?) making the stone wall that overlooks the road.
Shortly after the canal was begun, a project dreamed of by George Washington and politically championed by Jefferson’s Secretary of the Treasury, Albert Gallatin, was surveyed through Ohio with much less fanfare: The National Road, now marked as it should be as the "Historic National Road."
Jefferson and many of the founders knew that a connection between the Chesapeake watershed and the Ohio River valley would be vital for the new nation’s economy. In fact, Washington harbored a hope that a canal could be cut to connect the two, which lay the foundations for the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal.
It didn’t go that far, since technology of the time couldn’t set the locks and holding ponds up on steep hillsides. The irony was that this beginning of a canal became the route for the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, the ol’ B&O, which crossed to Wheeling in the 1850’s and then shot across the hills and plains of Ohio, killing the recently completed canal.
Our stretch of the canal, in turn, became the bones of Ohio Route 79. That skeleton has been visible for years snaking from side to side of the road, but much of it is passing from few after a brief exposure under the saws and graders of ODOT.
You can see the canal itself along Canal Road south of Hebron, and you can easily trace the line through Canal Park, among the Ours Garage buildings, between the angled buildings south of Main, and then across the National Road just west of the Hebron Mill.
That’s Basin Street, and a turning basin and lock stood there where the Fire Department and American Legion hall stand. Northerly, you can look back south from the drive-up window at McDonalds and see the double line of trees marking the "prism", which is the architectural term for the space in the earth where the canal was.
Now get on 79 (if you dare, but you’ll have plenty of time to rubberneck). West of the road the canal is still water-filled past THK, and then the channel leaps east of the road, where it also will begin to disappear over the next few weeks.
I’ll be curious to hear if any of the old aqueducts across Beaver Run or creeks north of there are re-found, and a Hopewell period mound, much eroded in a field north of Geiger Pond may reveal some subsurface structure as the new lanes are cut and built up.
Two other turning basins can be seen west of the road, but most of one and part of the other are marked for destruction; by Jimmy’s Truck and Van and on north just opposite Batteries Unlimited. As you come up to the light for Kaiser, the prism is clear and obvious on the east, but may already be gone by the time you read this.
Right past the Ohio Canal monument in Heath, a spur launched off to the west which was the Granville feeder, wandering behind Heath Church of Christ and now invisible until you come upon it between Cherry Valley Road and the former Showman farm. The aqueduct, allowing the canal to cross Raccoon Creek, is incorporated into the old "Showman Bridge" underneath the modern roadbed.
But the main line of the canal runs beneath modern 79 all the way to the Union St. exit, where the prism itself is long gone, but the path is still visible in the oddly angled fronts of the warehouses east of you.
Cutting sharply to the east at Famous Supply, the route can still be traced at intervals through the neighborhoods south of Main in Newark, and most clearly along. . .Canal St., which sounds like where we began in Hebron.
If you don’t or can’t take alternate routes to 79 during the horrendous days of construction ahead, at least you or your passengers can play a little "spot the canal" along the way. . .while you still can.
Next week: Easter services around the area and Easter Egg Hunts are everywhere for Saturday the 19th. Our local Lakewood Area Churches Sunrise Service is at Dawes Arboretum by the Picnic Shelter at 6:30 am on the 20th. Bob Beyer of Jacksontown United Methodist is leading the singing, Wes Baker of Hebron Methodist is offering prayers, and my wife’s husband is representing Hebron Christian with the daybreak message. Hope to see you there as the sun rises on Easter Day!
Jeff Gill is pastor of Hebron Christian Church and a local historian and archaeologist; from excavating old canal locks in the past, he knows that they smell pretty interesting 175 years later after the mule-drawn boats dumped their chamber pots out while waiting for the lock to fill! If you have aromatic insights into history or current local events, call 928-4066 or e-mail disciple@voyager.net.
* * * * * * *
Hebron Crossroads 4-6-03
By Jeff Gill
Yellow!
Green is considered the official color of Spring ™, which is probably the idea of the lawn care companies. For me, the splashes and cascades of yellow mark the start of the season: forsythia in bloom (so is it two or three snows yet?), willow wands bright against the grey of most tree bark soon to be hidden, and the best exemplar of yellow in springtime. . .Peeps.
That’s right, the yellow hue not found in nature, but proclaiming nature’s glory; a solid mouthful of sugar temporarily masquerading as a baby chick. They probably have the "other" seal of approval from the dental associations.
Stale is my preference, so they have a bit more body to them. Perhaps I should say "well aged" as a connoisseur of the seasonal sugar bombs. Do you have serving suggestions for Peeps at Eastertide? Send ‘em in to disciple@voyager.net or call 928-4066, where some of you got your voter registrations.
Speaking of the Lakewood levy campaign (you didn’t think I’d not get around to that, did you?), therre’s the yellow of a square pat of butter atop a stack o’ flapjacks. The levy committee is having a Pancake Breakfast on Saturday, April 12, from 8 to 11 am in the Creative Catering facility on W. Main St.
$5 for all you can eat, with kids under 12 $3, and these funds defray the cost of the election to fund our schools on May 6, as well as giving the community a chance to turn out and get motivated. Nothing motivates quite like maple syrup and good fellowship, so come and eat, since there’s no easier way to help the cause of our Lakewood School District.
Don’t forget this is time change weekend; you know, "spring *forward*, fall back," so prepare to lose an hour of sleep this weekend. I remember that rhyme, but not the difference between Daylight Savings and Standard. Which are we leaving and which are we entering? No one ever had to care until we needed to answer that question while setting up our computer or VCR.
All I know for sure is that Indiana, my home state, disliked FDR so much (who started it, although England had it long before) that they wouldn’t adopt it, and still haven’t. . .which is a long time to hold a grudge, even in politics. They say it was the dairy farmers, but if that were true, Wisconsin would be the state out of step.
While you’re adjusting your clocks, let’s adjust something else. If you didn’t know already (unlikely), Route 79 north to Heath, Newark, and Nellie is, shall we say, "having some work done," which is like Joan Rivers saying. . .well, same point.
The tie-ups have already been monumental, and ODOT has helpfully said in print the moral equivalent of "you’re on your own: good luck!"
So, while this "alternate routes" business is obvious to some, there are many new folks to the area (or even those who just don’t get off main roads much) who need a reminder.
Beginning to the west and going east: you can go north on Rt. 37, on Canyon Road, and on the already crowded Thornwood Drive. All will get you to Cherry Valley Road, W. Main beyond the hospital, or up to Rt. 16 to go back over to Newark.
Lake Drive and Licking Trails get you north between 79 and Rt. 13, which will itself be narrowed or closed for work this summer (at the same time as 79? Does that sound odd to you? Yep.), but you may be able to use them to get around particular tie-ups through the next few months and (sigh) years.
Rt. 13 takes you right into downtown Newark, or you can cut west at Hopewell which is, blessedly, completed. Thee you have the Linnville Road option, which gets you around to the intersection of 13 and Hopewell from the east.
When I have to start going down to Brownsville to head north past Flint Ridge or take Brushy Fork Road to get to 16, we’ll know its getting bad.
Seriously, stepping west to Luray and going up 37 is a smart move for almost anywhere you’re going north of Rockwell, especially after dark or in bad weather. We all need to think and drive alternate routes, because this work is going to be big, long-lasting, and utterly unpredictable.
If you have word about any church’s Easter Sunrise services or special children’s events on Saturday, please let me know THIS WEEK! Thank you.
And aren’t you at least thankful that we got our Kroger before this project began? Take the good news where you can find it.
More on the area we’re all going to be stopped in the middle of in this column next week, unless you take those alternate routes to the Hebron Crossroads.
Jeff Gill is pastor of Hebron Christian Church and an egg roller from way back; if you have an Easter Egg Hunt to publicize or other news of local interest, call 928-4066 or e-mail disciple@voyager.net.
By Jeff Gill
Happy Thomas Jefferson’s birthday today; Virginia used to celebrate it, but probably doesn’t anymore (federal holidays and contracts and such).
You could celebrate by having peas with dinner, those being his favorite food, or just read his best known work. . .it’s quite short, with the title "The Declaration of Independence." Good reading for these times.
Tom never personally walked through the Hebron Crossroads, but just north of them, exactly one year to the day before he and John Adams both died on the 50th anniversary of the Declaration, an event took place which literally made this crossing.
July 4, 1825, a party of dignitaries joined in breaking ground at what was thought to be the "highest" spot surveyed on the Ohio and Erie Canal. A marker stands just into Heath on the east side of Route 79, with half a lock (better than none?) making the stone wall that overlooks the road.
Shortly after the canal was begun, a project dreamed of by George Washington and politically championed by Jefferson’s Secretary of the Treasury, Albert Gallatin, was surveyed through Ohio with much less fanfare: The National Road, now marked as it should be as the "Historic National Road."
Jefferson and many of the founders knew that a connection between the Chesapeake watershed and the Ohio River valley would be vital for the new nation’s economy. In fact, Washington harbored a hope that a canal could be cut to connect the two, which lay the foundations for the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal.
It didn’t go that far, since technology of the time couldn’t set the locks and holding ponds up on steep hillsides. The irony was that this beginning of a canal became the route for the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, the ol’ B&O, which crossed to Wheeling in the 1850’s and then shot across the hills and plains of Ohio, killing the recently completed canal.
Our stretch of the canal, in turn, became the bones of Ohio Route 79. That skeleton has been visible for years snaking from side to side of the road, but much of it is passing from few after a brief exposure under the saws and graders of ODOT.
You can see the canal itself along Canal Road south of Hebron, and you can easily trace the line through Canal Park, among the Ours Garage buildings, between the angled buildings south of Main, and then across the National Road just west of the Hebron Mill.
That’s Basin Street, and a turning basin and lock stood there where the Fire Department and American Legion hall stand. Northerly, you can look back south from the drive-up window at McDonalds and see the double line of trees marking the "prism", which is the architectural term for the space in the earth where the canal was.
Now get on 79 (if you dare, but you’ll have plenty of time to rubberneck). West of the road the canal is still water-filled past THK, and then the channel leaps east of the road, where it also will begin to disappear over the next few weeks.
I’ll be curious to hear if any of the old aqueducts across Beaver Run or creeks north of there are re-found, and a Hopewell period mound, much eroded in a field north of Geiger Pond may reveal some subsurface structure as the new lanes are cut and built up.
Two other turning basins can be seen west of the road, but most of one and part of the other are marked for destruction; by Jimmy’s Truck and Van and on north just opposite Batteries Unlimited. As you come up to the light for Kaiser, the prism is clear and obvious on the east, but may already be gone by the time you read this.
Right past the Ohio Canal monument in Heath, a spur launched off to the west which was the Granville feeder, wandering behind Heath Church of Christ and now invisible until you come upon it between Cherry Valley Road and the former Showman farm. The aqueduct, allowing the canal to cross Raccoon Creek, is incorporated into the old "Showman Bridge" underneath the modern roadbed.
But the main line of the canal runs beneath modern 79 all the way to the Union St. exit, where the prism itself is long gone, but the path is still visible in the oddly angled fronts of the warehouses east of you.
Cutting sharply to the east at Famous Supply, the route can still be traced at intervals through the neighborhoods south of Main in Newark, and most clearly along. . .Canal St., which sounds like where we began in Hebron.
If you don’t or can’t take alternate routes to 79 during the horrendous days of construction ahead, at least you or your passengers can play a little "spot the canal" along the way. . .while you still can.
Next week: Easter services around the area and Easter Egg Hunts are everywhere for Saturday the 19th. Our local Lakewood Area Churches Sunrise Service is at Dawes Arboretum by the Picnic Shelter at 6:30 am on the 20th. Bob Beyer of Jacksontown United Methodist is leading the singing, Wes Baker of Hebron Methodist is offering prayers, and my wife’s husband is representing Hebron Christian with the daybreak message. Hope to see you there as the sun rises on Easter Day!
Jeff Gill is pastor of Hebron Christian Church and a local historian and archaeologist; from excavating old canal locks in the past, he knows that they smell pretty interesting 175 years later after the mule-drawn boats dumped their chamber pots out while waiting for the lock to fill! If you have aromatic insights into history or current local events, call 928-4066 or e-mail disciple@voyager.net.
* * * * * * *
Hebron Crossroads 4-6-03
By Jeff Gill
Yellow!
Green is considered the official color of Spring ™, which is probably the idea of the lawn care companies. For me, the splashes and cascades of yellow mark the start of the season: forsythia in bloom (so is it two or three snows yet?), willow wands bright against the grey of most tree bark soon to be hidden, and the best exemplar of yellow in springtime. . .Peeps.
That’s right, the yellow hue not found in nature, but proclaiming nature’s glory; a solid mouthful of sugar temporarily masquerading as a baby chick. They probably have the "other" seal of approval from the dental associations.
Stale is my preference, so they have a bit more body to them. Perhaps I should say "well aged" as a connoisseur of the seasonal sugar bombs. Do you have serving suggestions for Peeps at Eastertide? Send ‘em in to disciple@voyager.net or call 928-4066, where some of you got your voter registrations.
Speaking of the Lakewood levy campaign (you didn’t think I’d not get around to that, did you?), therre’s the yellow of a square pat of butter atop a stack o’ flapjacks. The levy committee is having a Pancake Breakfast on Saturday, April 12, from 8 to 11 am in the Creative Catering facility on W. Main St.
$5 for all you can eat, with kids under 12 $3, and these funds defray the cost of the election to fund our schools on May 6, as well as giving the community a chance to turn out and get motivated. Nothing motivates quite like maple syrup and good fellowship, so come and eat, since there’s no easier way to help the cause of our Lakewood School District.
Don’t forget this is time change weekend; you know, "spring *forward*, fall back," so prepare to lose an hour of sleep this weekend. I remember that rhyme, but not the difference between Daylight Savings and Standard. Which are we leaving and which are we entering? No one ever had to care until we needed to answer that question while setting up our computer or VCR.
All I know for sure is that Indiana, my home state, disliked FDR so much (who started it, although England had it long before) that they wouldn’t adopt it, and still haven’t. . .which is a long time to hold a grudge, even in politics. They say it was the dairy farmers, but if that were true, Wisconsin would be the state out of step.
While you’re adjusting your clocks, let’s adjust something else. If you didn’t know already (unlikely), Route 79 north to Heath, Newark, and Nellie is, shall we say, "having some work done," which is like Joan Rivers saying. . .well, same point.
The tie-ups have already been monumental, and ODOT has helpfully said in print the moral equivalent of "you’re on your own: good luck!"
So, while this "alternate routes" business is obvious to some, there are many new folks to the area (or even those who just don’t get off main roads much) who need a reminder.
Beginning to the west and going east: you can go north on Rt. 37, on Canyon Road, and on the already crowded Thornwood Drive. All will get you to Cherry Valley Road, W. Main beyond the hospital, or up to Rt. 16 to go back over to Newark.
Lake Drive and Licking Trails get you north between 79 and Rt. 13, which will itself be narrowed or closed for work this summer (at the same time as 79? Does that sound odd to you? Yep.), but you may be able to use them to get around particular tie-ups through the next few months and (sigh) years.
Rt. 13 takes you right into downtown Newark, or you can cut west at Hopewell which is, blessedly, completed. Thee you have the Linnville Road option, which gets you around to the intersection of 13 and Hopewell from the east.
When I have to start going down to Brownsville to head north past Flint Ridge or take Brushy Fork Road to get to 16, we’ll know its getting bad.
Seriously, stepping west to Luray and going up 37 is a smart move for almost anywhere you’re going north of Rockwell, especially after dark or in bad weather. We all need to think and drive alternate routes, because this work is going to be big, long-lasting, and utterly unpredictable.
If you have word about any church’s Easter Sunrise services or special children’s events on Saturday, please let me know THIS WEEK! Thank you.
And aren’t you at least thankful that we got our Kroger before this project began? Take the good news where you can find it.
More on the area we’re all going to be stopped in the middle of in this column next week, unless you take those alternate routes to the Hebron Crossroads.
Jeff Gill is pastor of Hebron Christian Church and an egg roller from way back; if you have an Easter Egg Hunt to publicize or other news of local interest, call 928-4066 or e-mail disciple@voyager.net.
Tuesday, March 25, 2003
Hebron Crossroads 3-30-03
By Jeff Gill
First, a bit of Lakewood levy news you can use. . .and eat!
Saturday, April 12 (that’s six days after the deadline for registering to vote in the May 6 election, by the way), the fundraising committee of the Lakewood levy campaign will hold a pancake breakfast. Details later, but mark the date. You like pancakes, don’t you? Mmmm, pancakes.
Back to news of the war in Iraq; yes, even the Crossroads is taken up in the vortex of round the clock coverage. This writer is embedded with my living room sofa, heading towards Baghdad in a virtual reality of green night vision pictures.
The reports are compelling in ways that are good and bad. Good in the way any reporter would want us to be invested in the development of an unfolding tale. Bad in that we start getting hooked on the story arc, the pattern and rhythm of narrative that "The Three Bears" and "60 Minutes" have gotten us used to.
But military small unit operations in real time follow a logic all their own, and this is a drumbeat that is long, slow, and droningly repetitive, except when it’s frantic and irregular. So the "embeds" and the distant anchors try to impose a pattern on the story that fits what we’re used to hearing, with beginnings, middles, and well-resolved ends.
The daily "crisis" of dust in the mechanism or supply shortages. . .how do you punctuate the deadly reality of a column on the move? Our usual conversational semi-colons and and exclamation points of everyday life have few parallels in everyday life to a military day, and for that we should be truly thankful.
We also can all be thankful for the amazing precision of the air campaign, which has minimized the effects of that necessary but also two-faced term "collateral damage." I do think that, whether you support the administration’s approach to Iraq or not, we can all be glad that civilian impacts, let alone casualties, are being kept to a marginal amount. (Let’s not get into a debate here about what the accounts prove of the Iraqi leadership placing weapon systems by mosques and hospitals, or Republican Guards herding women and children into the streets during air assaults).
Did you know that one of the main "sources" of precision for American weapon systems is right up the road at the Boeing plant? The now privatized former Newark Air Force Base is still a secure facility where guidance systems are calibrated and maintained. I’ve had many conversations over the years with Hebron and area folks, hedged about with "well, that I can’t talk about" pauses, of cruise missiles, Patriot defensive systems, and GPS guidance of missiles over unfamiliar terrain.
And many know that the M1A1 Abrams tank is made and overhauled (in turn) up in Lima, Ohio. When you see Ted Koppel or David Blume jouncing over the desert in their reports, they’re often sitting atop a bit of Ohio in Iraq.
But if all this martial talk gets you down, remember also that most of our local men and women called up to our latest "over there" are going to provide humanitarian relief.
You know, the impulse to list names and such is strong, but many who are already off and away said over their shoulders "let’s not advertise too heavily that I’m not in the house anymore, OK?" That concern seems legitimate, so we’ll discreetly and carefully refer, mainly when they return home, to names and towns and such.
What I did want to say about the circle of folks I know over there is that, for the one guy who is flying A-10 Warthogs, I know four more who are almost entirely set-up in their unit for organizing the logistics of food, water, and medical relief to Iraq.
Nobody, at least that I’ve heard yet on TV, asked to be embedded with a support and logistics unit, but that’s who a large percentage of our local reserve and guard call up are. They train and prepare and are willingly leaving home to feed, shelter, and care for a people whose leaders stopped doing almost any of those things years, even decades ago.
I am truly thankful for anyone ready to leave hearth and home to do that for people they don’t know, and may barely get a chance to meet even as they serve them.
We’ll be looking forward to hearing those stories of precision guided MRE’s and targeted water purification assaults when those folks get back to the Hebron Crossroads.
Jeff Gill is pastor of Hebron Christian Church and a local historian and archaeologist; if you have local news of interest (but note that he’s being careful not to mention names of those called up and sent overseas unless their own family is OK with that), call 928-4066 or e-mail disciple@voyager.net.
By Jeff Gill
First, a bit of Lakewood levy news you can use. . .and eat!
Saturday, April 12 (that’s six days after the deadline for registering to vote in the May 6 election, by the way), the fundraising committee of the Lakewood levy campaign will hold a pancake breakfast. Details later, but mark the date. You like pancakes, don’t you? Mmmm, pancakes.
Back to news of the war in Iraq; yes, even the Crossroads is taken up in the vortex of round the clock coverage. This writer is embedded with my living room sofa, heading towards Baghdad in a virtual reality of green night vision pictures.
The reports are compelling in ways that are good and bad. Good in the way any reporter would want us to be invested in the development of an unfolding tale. Bad in that we start getting hooked on the story arc, the pattern and rhythm of narrative that "The Three Bears" and "60 Minutes" have gotten us used to.
But military small unit operations in real time follow a logic all their own, and this is a drumbeat that is long, slow, and droningly repetitive, except when it’s frantic and irregular. So the "embeds" and the distant anchors try to impose a pattern on the story that fits what we’re used to hearing, with beginnings, middles, and well-resolved ends.
The daily "crisis" of dust in the mechanism or supply shortages. . .how do you punctuate the deadly reality of a column on the move? Our usual conversational semi-colons and and exclamation points of everyday life have few parallels in everyday life to a military day, and for that we should be truly thankful.
We also can all be thankful for the amazing precision of the air campaign, which has minimized the effects of that necessary but also two-faced term "collateral damage." I do think that, whether you support the administration’s approach to Iraq or not, we can all be glad that civilian impacts, let alone casualties, are being kept to a marginal amount. (Let’s not get into a debate here about what the accounts prove of the Iraqi leadership placing weapon systems by mosques and hospitals, or Republican Guards herding women and children into the streets during air assaults).
Did you know that one of the main "sources" of precision for American weapon systems is right up the road at the Boeing plant? The now privatized former Newark Air Force Base is still a secure facility where guidance systems are calibrated and maintained. I’ve had many conversations over the years with Hebron and area folks, hedged about with "well, that I can’t talk about" pauses, of cruise missiles, Patriot defensive systems, and GPS guidance of missiles over unfamiliar terrain.
And many know that the M1A1 Abrams tank is made and overhauled (in turn) up in Lima, Ohio. When you see Ted Koppel or David Blume jouncing over the desert in their reports, they’re often sitting atop a bit of Ohio in Iraq.
But if all this martial talk gets you down, remember also that most of our local men and women called up to our latest "over there" are going to provide humanitarian relief.
You know, the impulse to list names and such is strong, but many who are already off and away said over their shoulders "let’s not advertise too heavily that I’m not in the house anymore, OK?" That concern seems legitimate, so we’ll discreetly and carefully refer, mainly when they return home, to names and towns and such.
What I did want to say about the circle of folks I know over there is that, for the one guy who is flying A-10 Warthogs, I know four more who are almost entirely set-up in their unit for organizing the logistics of food, water, and medical relief to Iraq.
Nobody, at least that I’ve heard yet on TV, asked to be embedded with a support and logistics unit, but that’s who a large percentage of our local reserve and guard call up are. They train and prepare and are willingly leaving home to feed, shelter, and care for a people whose leaders stopped doing almost any of those things years, even decades ago.
I am truly thankful for anyone ready to leave hearth and home to do that for people they don’t know, and may barely get a chance to meet even as they serve them.
We’ll be looking forward to hearing those stories of precision guided MRE’s and targeted water purification assaults when those folks get back to the Hebron Crossroads.
Jeff Gill is pastor of Hebron Christian Church and a local historian and archaeologist; if you have local news of interest (but note that he’s being careful not to mention names of those called up and sent overseas unless their own family is OK with that), call 928-4066 or e-mail disciple@voyager.net.
Tuesday, March 18, 2003
Hebron Crossroads 3-23
By Jeff Gill
Superior! That describes our Lakewood Symphonic Band, and the score they received at the last district band competition in Newark.
In fact, Lakewood’s band has received a Superior rating for 21 years in a row. David Wolford, the outgoing director, tells me that’s actually 27 out of 28 (the Disco era threw everyone off).
Still, 21 consecutive years of excellence. . .sounds like a program worth holding onto, don’t you think?
Did I mention that to vote in the May 6 schools levy election, you have to be registered by April 6, which is just around the corner? If you aren’t registered to vote, you should be (call or e-mail me for a registration form and one will be delivered); if you are registered, check your friends and neighbors. Maybe even your spouse needs reminding. . .
The Spring Fling craft show was a fulfilled prophecy last weekend at Hebron Elementary, with beautiful weather and bright colors on all the craft project indoors as well. Kim Gowdy and Lyn Lockwood not only put on a great program, but they had a voter registration table set up. (You can register in Newark at the County building by Wendy’s, at the same place where you can absentee vote, by the way).
This Saturday, Mar. 22, is the next Books & Coffee, and this is the month for "Under the Tuscan Sun" by Frances Mayes. We’ve been needing an evocation of warmth and light, which this book brings by the jug (of olive oil).
We’ll be at 612 W. Main in Hebron with the coffee pot on! And I’ll have some voter registration forms there, too.
Next month’s third Saturday is "Desire of the Everlasting Hills" by Thomas Cahill (the "Jesus" book in his Hinge of History series starting with "How the Irish Saved Civilisation"). Closing out for the summer in May we go with a nod to a long-read but short reading classic, Anthony Trollope's "The Warden."
Spring Break is already here, and a number of families will be taking vacations that the snow helped prevent. By the way, did I mention you might want to register to vote before you go on vacation? I mean, just so you don’t forget when you return, sinnce they’re due in by Apr. 6 for the May 6 election. Oh, I did mention that, didn’t I.
With Spring, remember to be wary of the helpful fellows with the pickups who drive up and tell you what a great deal they have on sealer for your asphalt. Or the guy at your door who "just happened" to be driving by and saw some loose shingles, or a bad mortar join on your chimney, and "just happens" to have some leftover supplies from another job he just finished.
If a contractor or home improvement specialist shows up at your doorstep unexpectedly and unasked for, be alert. If they have a deal too good to be true, it is. And if they say their name is John Sherlock, you’ve got a real scam-meister on your hands. (Google that name if you don’t believe me!)
And if somebody, man or woman, is on your porch and won’t go away when you ask because "they just want to help you out so much," the Hebron Police Department is happy to take your call and come explain trespassing to your unwanted guest.
Spring is "scam season" according to the state Attorney General’s office, and we all can help look out for each other this time of year. Home repair scams are one of the biggest fraud crimes around, and we help them continue with our greed.
Call a local contractor or builder, and if you don’t like something they do, you can talk to them about it while you stand in line to vote May 6, instead of having to figure out where the nice man with the bucket of black goo went when he left your house in a truck with North Carolina license plates.
Jeff Gill is pastor of Hebron Christian Church and a local historian and archaeologist; if you have local news of interest, or need a voter registration form, call 928-4066 or e-mail disciple@voyager.net.
* * * * * * *
"Historic National Road"
Just under the familiar white and black US Route shield signs along Rt. 40, a new red, white, and blue emblem now marks the Licking County stretch of "the Main Street of America."
With recognition as a "National Scenic & Historic Byway" by the Department of the Interior and the National Park Service, US Route 40 through Ohio now carries an insignia declaring that you are on the "Historic National Road."
Under those words on the new signs is a distinctive new logo. Framed by the shield outline used for US routes, the blue top portion carries six white stars; one for each state the original National Road project passed through in the early 1800’s.
From Cumberland, Maryland where the road began, following the Braddock’s Road path of 1754 (cut through the wilderness by troops under the command of a 22 year old George Washington), the route went through Pennsylvania, western Virginia (now WV), across Ohio, then Indiana, and originally was to end at the capital of Illinois, Vandalia.
By the time the National Road was completed, the Illinois capital had moved to Springfield, and the sights of the new nation had looked up to cross the Mississippi.
For Ohio, an outline of our state is superimposed on the red stripes below the blue, with the path of Route 40 a "blue highway" marked across the state.
Long before the interstate highway system, before the better-known Route 66, or even before "the Lincoln Highway" of Rt. 30 (the first cross-country paved road), the National Road was living up to the "Main Street" designation for the nation, just as it is Main Street where it passes through Hebron, Ohio, and many other midwestern towns.
One of the marks of the history built into the streetscape of the National Road can be seen in Hebron as you walk along the sidewalks. The original structures built along the road are set far back, with only newer buildings hugging the shoulders. The specifications for the National Road called for it to be wide enough "to turn around an ox-cart," and that width still defines the setback along Hebron’s West Main.
Old stagecoach inns, original gas stations, roadhouses and classic motels all line the route, and are visible to the casual observer. More cautious examination of many structures along 40 can reveal even more historic detail to the pedestrian or to drivers out of their cars.
To encourage such roadside exploration, tourism development, and local pride, these signs remind longtime residents and new arrivals that this isn’t just any old road, but it is the "Historic National Road."
By Jeff Gill
Superior! That describes our Lakewood Symphonic Band, and the score they received at the last district band competition in Newark.
In fact, Lakewood’s band has received a Superior rating for 21 years in a row. David Wolford, the outgoing director, tells me that’s actually 27 out of 28 (the Disco era threw everyone off).
Still, 21 consecutive years of excellence. . .sounds like a program worth holding onto, don’t you think?
Did I mention that to vote in the May 6 schools levy election, you have to be registered by April 6, which is just around the corner? If you aren’t registered to vote, you should be (call or e-mail me for a registration form and one will be delivered); if you are registered, check your friends and neighbors. Maybe even your spouse needs reminding. . .
The Spring Fling craft show was a fulfilled prophecy last weekend at Hebron Elementary, with beautiful weather and bright colors on all the craft project indoors as well. Kim Gowdy and Lyn Lockwood not only put on a great program, but they had a voter registration table set up. (You can register in Newark at the County building by Wendy’s, at the same place where you can absentee vote, by the way).
This Saturday, Mar. 22, is the next Books & Coffee, and this is the month for "Under the Tuscan Sun" by Frances Mayes. We’ve been needing an evocation of warmth and light, which this book brings by the jug (of olive oil).
We’ll be at 612 W. Main in Hebron with the coffee pot on! And I’ll have some voter registration forms there, too.
Next month’s third Saturday is "Desire of the Everlasting Hills" by Thomas Cahill (the "Jesus" book in his Hinge of History series starting with "How the Irish Saved Civilisation"). Closing out for the summer in May we go with a nod to a long-read but short reading classic, Anthony Trollope's "The Warden."
Spring Break is already here, and a number of families will be taking vacations that the snow helped prevent. By the way, did I mention you might want to register to vote before you go on vacation? I mean, just so you don’t forget when you return, sinnce they’re due in by Apr. 6 for the May 6 election. Oh, I did mention that, didn’t I.
With Spring, remember to be wary of the helpful fellows with the pickups who drive up and tell you what a great deal they have on sealer for your asphalt. Or the guy at your door who "just happened" to be driving by and saw some loose shingles, or a bad mortar join on your chimney, and "just happens" to have some leftover supplies from another job he just finished.
If a contractor or home improvement specialist shows up at your doorstep unexpectedly and unasked for, be alert. If they have a deal too good to be true, it is. And if they say their name is John Sherlock, you’ve got a real scam-meister on your hands. (Google that name if you don’t believe me!)
And if somebody, man or woman, is on your porch and won’t go away when you ask because "they just want to help you out so much," the Hebron Police Department is happy to take your call and come explain trespassing to your unwanted guest.
Spring is "scam season" according to the state Attorney General’s office, and we all can help look out for each other this time of year. Home repair scams are one of the biggest fraud crimes around, and we help them continue with our greed.
Call a local contractor or builder, and if you don’t like something they do, you can talk to them about it while you stand in line to vote May 6, instead of having to figure out where the nice man with the bucket of black goo went when he left your house in a truck with North Carolina license plates.
Jeff Gill is pastor of Hebron Christian Church and a local historian and archaeologist; if you have local news of interest, or need a voter registration form, call 928-4066 or e-mail disciple@voyager.net.
* * * * * * *
"Historic National Road"
Just under the familiar white and black US Route shield signs along Rt. 40, a new red, white, and blue emblem now marks the Licking County stretch of "the Main Street of America."
With recognition as a "National Scenic & Historic Byway" by the Department of the Interior and the National Park Service, US Route 40 through Ohio now carries an insignia declaring that you are on the "Historic National Road."
Under those words on the new signs is a distinctive new logo. Framed by the shield outline used for US routes, the blue top portion carries six white stars; one for each state the original National Road project passed through in the early 1800’s.
From Cumberland, Maryland where the road began, following the Braddock’s Road path of 1754 (cut through the wilderness by troops under the command of a 22 year old George Washington), the route went through Pennsylvania, western Virginia (now WV), across Ohio, then Indiana, and originally was to end at the capital of Illinois, Vandalia.
By the time the National Road was completed, the Illinois capital had moved to Springfield, and the sights of the new nation had looked up to cross the Mississippi.
For Ohio, an outline of our state is superimposed on the red stripes below the blue, with the path of Route 40 a "blue highway" marked across the state.
Long before the interstate highway system, before the better-known Route 66, or even before "the Lincoln Highway" of Rt. 30 (the first cross-country paved road), the National Road was living up to the "Main Street" designation for the nation, just as it is Main Street where it passes through Hebron, Ohio, and many other midwestern towns.
One of the marks of the history built into the streetscape of the National Road can be seen in Hebron as you walk along the sidewalks. The original structures built along the road are set far back, with only newer buildings hugging the shoulders. The specifications for the National Road called for it to be wide enough "to turn around an ox-cart," and that width still defines the setback along Hebron’s West Main.
Old stagecoach inns, original gas stations, roadhouses and classic motels all line the route, and are visible to the casual observer. More cautious examination of many structures along 40 can reveal even more historic detail to the pedestrian or to drivers out of their cars.
To encourage such roadside exploration, tourism development, and local pride, these signs remind longtime residents and new arrivals that this isn’t just any old road, but it is the "Historic National Road."
Wednesday, March 12, 2003
Hebron Crossroads 3-16-03
By Jeff Gill
Youth leaders are blossoming all over the Lakewood district these days.
Speaking up like Molly Morgan and other high schoolers did at the public forum with the school board, or earning their Eagle Scout award like David Scheidegger of Troop 27 has, they’re all around if you look, along with the daffodil shoots around the houses in Hebron. You just have to be paying attention. . .
A few weeks ago, Cub Scout Pack 33, chartered to The Dawes Arboretum, had their Blue & Gold banquet at the American Legion hall, and Cubmaster Ed Fuentes and his wife Rexanna did a great job of decorating the place and arranging the meal and program with the den leaders.
Three young men earned their "Arrow of Light" award, which is the highest and last advancement honor in Cub Scouting before crossing over from Webelos to Boy Scouts. Congratulations to Seth Bowman, Kyle Cooperider, and Zack Cooperider, who were met on the other side of the Webelos crossover bridge by representatives of Troop 33 and Troop 4 where they’ll join next.
Not long after that, Prime Producers 4-H club had their election of officers for their new program year through the Hartford Fair in August. Over 30 young people and dozens of parents and family members were in attendance as Drew Cable, the outgoing club president, directed the meeting.
New officers are Joey Cormican, president; Aaron Dunkle, vice-president; Lexie Messenger, secretary; David Cable, treasurer; Kelsey Lane, news reporter ( a very important position, in this correspondent’s opinion); Jared Halter, health officer; Taylor Besch, safety officer; and Jacob Cormican, recreation leader.
The club, which meets again March 23 at 6 pm in the basement of Hebron Christian Church, also voted to have a booth at the Fair this year, and to have their club project that everyone does be "Rocketry." Mr. Bindle, a Lakewood shop teacher, will advise them on technique and safety.
In fact, there is a presentation at every 4-H meeting, usually done by a youth member, which explains the lambs baaing away in the ladies room when this writer arrived!
Kudos to Drew for a great year behind them, and best wishes to Joey for the year to come; it’s not too late to join, but project selections are going on now. Martha and Dave Cable are the club advisors.
Hebron Elementary PTO is hosting a "Spring Fling" craft fair this Saturday, March 15, from 10 am to 2 pm with babysitting and refreshments available at the school on Deacon Street at Eighth. Come support the parents who are working in and around the school to help the teachers and staff with extras that no one pays taxes for. All you have to do is buy a brownie and some lawn art to help out! Lyn Lockwood is looking for you, so plan to attend.
See, I didn’t mention the levy-taxes-school stuff ‘til a ways down this week; although I was thinking that I’d better mention that the board has made a tough decision with some public airing of disagreement (good), and a vote that wasn’t 5 to 0 (actually, good), followed by a spoken commitment to support each other and the levy committee now that the vote is done (very good).
While the minority opinion is that the danger of spending down our reserves to zero is very real next year, the consideration for the juniors this year who might lose their senior year with no way to adapt is also real. Their vote was to make every conceivable cut short of extracurriculars, with the proviso that those, plus academic cuts, will inevitably come next year if we don’t increase revenue to the school system significantly in the next six months or so.
And as Dave Dernberger pointed out as regards his child, we are in fact already making academic cuts when reading teachers are shifted away from reading to cover general classroom assignments.
As a fallen away reading tutor myself, I can tell you that volunteer reading help is vitally needed, but you can’t build a consistent program around the dozen or so of us who do it. Pam DeVaul of the board and other public spirited community members give their best, but we aren’t there every day, and many of our kids need that guiding, helping, *teaching* influence daily to grow in learning.
In regards to folks who asked why teachers don’t take a 20 percent pay cut like someone in the aircraft industry did during the recent downturn, I have good news. They’ve already done it. Committing to stay in the Lakewood Schools means you’re willing to make about that much less than you could in many districts an easy drive from Hebron.
Don’t say the teachers aren’t doing their part; and come Saturday to buy a door wreath that gives ‘em a few dollars to buy classroom supplies with. On what they make, buying their own bulletin board materials and pictures of George Washington and Harriet Tubman for the classroom is asking a bit much. . .but they do it anyhow. Stop by the building and see sometime, they’ll be glad to have you.
Of course, they may ask to sign you up as a reading tutor!
Wednesday, Mar. 19, starting around 5 pm, the Interfaith Legal Clinic that is offered every third Wednesday in Licking County is coming to the south for March and April. Hebron Christian is hosting again, and anyone who needs a free hour of advice from a lawyer is invited to come between 5 and 7 pm. Due to demand, only the first 50 applicants will be taken.
This is a volunteer program of lawyers who are moved by their faith commitment to give back to the community in this way. They do not provide legal representation, just that hour of counsel, but as many of you know that can make all the difference as you figure out what to do next.
Check-in will be at the east door off of Church Street, and you may have to wait, but the lawyers present Mar. 19 and April 16 will get to all of the first 50 present.
So look out, we’ve got a herd of lawyers coming through the Hebron Crossroads! And we appreciate their coming down this way to give us all a hand.
By Jeff Gill
Youth leaders are blossoming all over the Lakewood district these days.
Speaking up like Molly Morgan and other high schoolers did at the public forum with the school board, or earning their Eagle Scout award like David Scheidegger of Troop 27 has, they’re all around if you look, along with the daffodil shoots around the houses in Hebron. You just have to be paying attention. . .
A few weeks ago, Cub Scout Pack 33, chartered to The Dawes Arboretum, had their Blue & Gold banquet at the American Legion hall, and Cubmaster Ed Fuentes and his wife Rexanna did a great job of decorating the place and arranging the meal and program with the den leaders.
Three young men earned their "Arrow of Light" award, which is the highest and last advancement honor in Cub Scouting before crossing over from Webelos to Boy Scouts. Congratulations to Seth Bowman, Kyle Cooperider, and Zack Cooperider, who were met on the other side of the Webelos crossover bridge by representatives of Troop 33 and Troop 4 where they’ll join next.
Not long after that, Prime Producers 4-H club had their election of officers for their new program year through the Hartford Fair in August. Over 30 young people and dozens of parents and family members were in attendance as Drew Cable, the outgoing club president, directed the meeting.
New officers are Joey Cormican, president; Aaron Dunkle, vice-president; Lexie Messenger, secretary; David Cable, treasurer; Kelsey Lane, news reporter ( a very important position, in this correspondent’s opinion); Jared Halter, health officer; Taylor Besch, safety officer; and Jacob Cormican, recreation leader.
The club, which meets again March 23 at 6 pm in the basement of Hebron Christian Church, also voted to have a booth at the Fair this year, and to have their club project that everyone does be "Rocketry." Mr. Bindle, a Lakewood shop teacher, will advise them on technique and safety.
In fact, there is a presentation at every 4-H meeting, usually done by a youth member, which explains the lambs baaing away in the ladies room when this writer arrived!
Kudos to Drew for a great year behind them, and best wishes to Joey for the year to come; it’s not too late to join, but project selections are going on now. Martha and Dave Cable are the club advisors.
Hebron Elementary PTO is hosting a "Spring Fling" craft fair this Saturday, March 15, from 10 am to 2 pm with babysitting and refreshments available at the school on Deacon Street at Eighth. Come support the parents who are working in and around the school to help the teachers and staff with extras that no one pays taxes for. All you have to do is buy a brownie and some lawn art to help out! Lyn Lockwood is looking for you, so plan to attend.
See, I didn’t mention the levy-taxes-school stuff ‘til a ways down this week; although I was thinking that I’d better mention that the board has made a tough decision with some public airing of disagreement (good), and a vote that wasn’t 5 to 0 (actually, good), followed by a spoken commitment to support each other and the levy committee now that the vote is done (very good).
While the minority opinion is that the danger of spending down our reserves to zero is very real next year, the consideration for the juniors this year who might lose their senior year with no way to adapt is also real. Their vote was to make every conceivable cut short of extracurriculars, with the proviso that those, plus academic cuts, will inevitably come next year if we don’t increase revenue to the school system significantly in the next six months or so.
And as Dave Dernberger pointed out as regards his child, we are in fact already making academic cuts when reading teachers are shifted away from reading to cover general classroom assignments.
As a fallen away reading tutor myself, I can tell you that volunteer reading help is vitally needed, but you can’t build a consistent program around the dozen or so of us who do it. Pam DeVaul of the board and other public spirited community members give their best, but we aren’t there every day, and many of our kids need that guiding, helping, *teaching* influence daily to grow in learning.
In regards to folks who asked why teachers don’t take a 20 percent pay cut like someone in the aircraft industry did during the recent downturn, I have good news. They’ve already done it. Committing to stay in the Lakewood Schools means you’re willing to make about that much less than you could in many districts an easy drive from Hebron.
Don’t say the teachers aren’t doing their part; and come Saturday to buy a door wreath that gives ‘em a few dollars to buy classroom supplies with. On what they make, buying their own bulletin board materials and pictures of George Washington and Harriet Tubman for the classroom is asking a bit much. . .but they do it anyhow. Stop by the building and see sometime, they’ll be glad to have you.
Of course, they may ask to sign you up as a reading tutor!
Wednesday, Mar. 19, starting around 5 pm, the Interfaith Legal Clinic that is offered every third Wednesday in Licking County is coming to the south for March and April. Hebron Christian is hosting again, and anyone who needs a free hour of advice from a lawyer is invited to come between 5 and 7 pm. Due to demand, only the first 50 applicants will be taken.
This is a volunteer program of lawyers who are moved by their faith commitment to give back to the community in this way. They do not provide legal representation, just that hour of counsel, but as many of you know that can make all the difference as you figure out what to do next.
Check-in will be at the east door off of Church Street, and you may have to wait, but the lawyers present Mar. 19 and April 16 will get to all of the first 50 present.
So look out, we’ve got a herd of lawyers coming through the Hebron Crossroads! And we appreciate their coming down this way to give us all a hand.
Thursday, March 06, 2003
Hebron Crossroads 3-9-03
By Jeff Gill
Our area has much to be proud of, and the tone of last Monday’s public meeting before the Lakewood School Board goes on that list.
With tough choices and painful decisions in front of everyone, the discussions were, as the diplomats say, "a full and frank exchange of views."
Except when a State Department spokesman says that, he means the ambassadors threw plates and chairs at each other. In virtually every case, the statements were heartfelt and fair, passionate and respectful. Mike Call did well to commend early on in the evening all of the "No" voters, who at least showed up to vote, and even more so to the "No’s" who came to the meeting and shared their views in person.
I’d guess about 550 or a bit more were present, and 50 were clearly opposed to any new taxes for any reason. . .and 500 some were willing to do whatever it takes to keep extracurriculars, band, and athletics. As someone said after the evening was over, "without new revenue, we’re not looking at cuts or even amputations; we’re being asked do we remove the heart or the brain of the patient."
And since that’s true, that even with these heart-rending cuts proposed now we’ll be making academic cuts in a year or two with no other change in income (calculus, languages, classroom music), some answers to the reasons to vote "no" seem very much in order.
After the case was clearly made by Superintendent Phil Herman that our taxes are effectively as low as they can be, the lowest in all Licking County and the surrounding Buckeye Lake region, and that passing this levy will move us from dead last to (drum roll) next-to-last, someone stood to claim that he moved here from California five years ago and his taxes are twice what they were.
A little research quickly shows that yes, California drastically lowered property taxes a few decades ago; and after spending a decade with the lowest education spending in the nation and seeing the effect on their economy and quality of life, they started increasing the sales tax, to where you can now pay up to 8.25%. I’d ask that family which is more regressive, more difficult for the poor, the elderly, and the fixed-income: property taxes, or sales taxes on your everyday purchases?
Another case was made by a parent of a student that extracurriculars don’t end at the school door, such as 4-H or FFA, and no one helps pay for those. Quite true, and may I note that Prime Producers 4-H, 30 young leaders-in-the-making from around Hebron, is having their meeting this Sunday night at 6 pm in Hebron Christian Church to elect officers for the coming year! And for what it’s worth, your correspondent is also a district official with the Boy Scouts in Licking County.
Neither 4-H, Scouting for boys or girls, nor a number of other very worthwhile groups get any "money" from the school district. But I can assure you that, without access to buildings that may be necessarily locked up at the end of the school day, without the teachers and school staff who are often the advisors and committee members of our organizations, we would find it very difficult to go on as we do now.
I would personally add that, sadly, we have trouble serving all the youth we would like right now due to a chronic shortage of adult volunteers available nights and weekends when youth activities are scheduled. Shift work, rotating schedules, working in Franklin and Delaware Counties, all limit our adults’ abilities to help us reach all the youth who might participate.
Let me say unequivocally that, with the elimination of school based activities, our other groups will not be able to fill the gap. And what do you think will fill the void in kids’ schedules?
There’s more to be said, but I do want to get back to news and views next week with our Ohio bicentennial activities past and upcoming. Just let me close with two more answers to questions thrown around.
The $15 million dollar budget for Lakewood is $3 million lower than comparable schools. That says something about our administrative efficiency, right? But some ask, "why close to $2 million in cash reserves?" OK, again a fair question, but make sure to hear the answer Phil and board president Larry Harmon are offering. They employ about 300 people, and carrying two month operating expenses is what my church, the Scouting organization that I also serve, and my own household tries to have "accessible" in the bank. That’s not slush, that’s pure prudence. We can spend it down, and then when we have a roof blown off and a boiler blow and the state gets jiggy all in the same month, won’t you ask why we we’re ready to deal with that?
And finally on the ol’ "we didn’t used to spend that much to educate kids" point, our $6683 per pupil number, lower than both the state average and similar districts, is low. Low, low, low. AND they are currently providing a quality education for that, for which everyone involved can be proud. They need a bit more to keep doing that job, which after 10 years at that rate seems perfectly reasonable.
So for the "used to spend" debate, if you use an inflation calculator, our per pupil costs equal $514 in 1930’s dollars. What did we spend per pupil back then at Hebron or Jacksontown High? That, and our usual load o’ history and fascinating trivia, will be back at the Hebron Crossroads next week!
Jeff Gill is pastor of Hebron Christian Church, and gave up coffee for Lent; if you want to carefully approach him with news of the Hebron area, call 928-4066 or e-mail disciple@voyager.net.
By Jeff Gill
Our area has much to be proud of, and the tone of last Monday’s public meeting before the Lakewood School Board goes on that list.
With tough choices and painful decisions in front of everyone, the discussions were, as the diplomats say, "a full and frank exchange of views."
Except when a State Department spokesman says that, he means the ambassadors threw plates and chairs at each other. In virtually every case, the statements were heartfelt and fair, passionate and respectful. Mike Call did well to commend early on in the evening all of the "No" voters, who at least showed up to vote, and even more so to the "No’s" who came to the meeting and shared their views in person.
I’d guess about 550 or a bit more were present, and 50 were clearly opposed to any new taxes for any reason. . .and 500 some were willing to do whatever it takes to keep extracurriculars, band, and athletics. As someone said after the evening was over, "without new revenue, we’re not looking at cuts or even amputations; we’re being asked do we remove the heart or the brain of the patient."
And since that’s true, that even with these heart-rending cuts proposed now we’ll be making academic cuts in a year or two with no other change in income (calculus, languages, classroom music), some answers to the reasons to vote "no" seem very much in order.
After the case was clearly made by Superintendent Phil Herman that our taxes are effectively as low as they can be, the lowest in all Licking County and the surrounding Buckeye Lake region, and that passing this levy will move us from dead last to (drum roll) next-to-last, someone stood to claim that he moved here from California five years ago and his taxes are twice what they were.
A little research quickly shows that yes, California drastically lowered property taxes a few decades ago; and after spending a decade with the lowest education spending in the nation and seeing the effect on their economy and quality of life, they started increasing the sales tax, to where you can now pay up to 8.25%. I’d ask that family which is more regressive, more difficult for the poor, the elderly, and the fixed-income: property taxes, or sales taxes on your everyday purchases?
Another case was made by a parent of a student that extracurriculars don’t end at the school door, such as 4-H or FFA, and no one helps pay for those. Quite true, and may I note that Prime Producers 4-H, 30 young leaders-in-the-making from around Hebron, is having their meeting this Sunday night at 6 pm in Hebron Christian Church to elect officers for the coming year! And for what it’s worth, your correspondent is also a district official with the Boy Scouts in Licking County.
Neither 4-H, Scouting for boys or girls, nor a number of other very worthwhile groups get any "money" from the school district. But I can assure you that, without access to buildings that may be necessarily locked up at the end of the school day, without the teachers and school staff who are often the advisors and committee members of our organizations, we would find it very difficult to go on as we do now.
I would personally add that, sadly, we have trouble serving all the youth we would like right now due to a chronic shortage of adult volunteers available nights and weekends when youth activities are scheduled. Shift work, rotating schedules, working in Franklin and Delaware Counties, all limit our adults’ abilities to help us reach all the youth who might participate.
Let me say unequivocally that, with the elimination of school based activities, our other groups will not be able to fill the gap. And what do you think will fill the void in kids’ schedules?
There’s more to be said, but I do want to get back to news and views next week with our Ohio bicentennial activities past and upcoming. Just let me close with two more answers to questions thrown around.
The $15 million dollar budget for Lakewood is $3 million lower than comparable schools. That says something about our administrative efficiency, right? But some ask, "why close to $2 million in cash reserves?" OK, again a fair question, but make sure to hear the answer Phil and board president Larry Harmon are offering. They employ about 300 people, and carrying two month operating expenses is what my church, the Scouting organization that I also serve, and my own household tries to have "accessible" in the bank. That’s not slush, that’s pure prudence. We can spend it down, and then when we have a roof blown off and a boiler blow and the state gets jiggy all in the same month, won’t you ask why we we’re ready to deal with that?
And finally on the ol’ "we didn’t used to spend that much to educate kids" point, our $6683 per pupil number, lower than both the state average and similar districts, is low. Low, low, low. AND they are currently providing a quality education for that, for which everyone involved can be proud. They need a bit more to keep doing that job, which after 10 years at that rate seems perfectly reasonable.
So for the "used to spend" debate, if you use an inflation calculator, our per pupil costs equal $514 in 1930’s dollars. What did we spend per pupil back then at Hebron or Jacksontown High? That, and our usual load o’ history and fascinating trivia, will be back at the Hebron Crossroads next week!
Jeff Gill is pastor of Hebron Christian Church, and gave up coffee for Lent; if you want to carefully approach him with news of the Hebron area, call 928-4066 or e-mail disciple@voyager.net.
Wednesday, February 26, 2003
for The Advocate 2-28-03
Ringing In Ohio’s Bicentennial
By Jeff Gill
When Thomas Worthington hosted a famous all-night gathering at his mansion named “Adena” some 200 years ago, they saw the sun rise over the hills east of Chillicothe in a view enshrined on the Great Seal of the State of Ohio.
Some say they were writing the first state constitution, others claim it was a poker game, but whatever they were doing, they couldn’t have foreseen what Ohio would look like in 2003.
From back when canal boats were high tech and it took weeks to cross the new state on a horse, to our online 24/7 world where interstates get you from Dayton to Steubenville in hours (weather permitting), much has changed. But some things haven’t, even across two centuries.
Casting a bell still requires pouring liquid metal into a mold that produces a musically functional work of beauty; barns still hold hay for fodder no matter what’s painted across its side in red, white, and blue; and pancakes were a favorite of George Washington’s -- and we don’t make them too differently from how they made them at Mount Vernon or Adena in 1803 for a weary crew greeting the dawn.
Saturday, March 1 is “Statehood Day” for Ohio, and the kickoff for a year and more of bicentennial events around the state. While many dignitaries will wind their way up the hill to the newly refurbished “Adena” mansion in Chillicothe, Licking Countians will greet the dawn, or at least 8 am, with a pancake breakfast and a variety of entertainment opportunities.
The official Licking County bicentennial bell, one of 88 cast in each of Ohio’s counties, will appear at the OSU-Newark campus as the first pancakes are served, with members of the Newark Kiwanis and from the county bicentennial commission cooking and serving. All around the Hopewell Hall cafeteria area are hung over 700 works of art from most Licking County school districts. And while enjoying pancakes at $4 per person, $2 for children ten and under, diners will hear musical offerings including handbells from Hebron Christian Church, singing by Angelic Voices featuring Jim Fullen of the commission, the Campus Chorale, and from the group Young At Heart, as well as music from the Zerger Hall Band.
Door prizes will be announced through the morning, and face painters will decorate the kids in attendance just as the barns of Ohio have gotten a new look for 2003. “Salt & Pepper,” a local clowning duo, will perform balloon art for children of all ages.
“We’ve been working for months to get ready for this day,” says Marcia Phelps, county commissioner and chair of the Licking County Bicentennial Commission. Since the Newark bicentennial celebration last summer, where our bell was cast, she has escorted the bell on its carriage to a variety of community events, and the schedule for the bell is jam-packed through 2003, including a late June/early July wagon train passing through on US 40 that the bicentennial commission is working on. “But this is the central event, and we want to do our part to help the state celebrate. We’ve got plenty of history right here in Licking County.”
The Statehood Day celebration at OSU-N will be history making in its own right, when the centerpiece of the 8 am to noon pancake breakfast will be a pause in the program at 10:30 am as everyone goes outside for an aerial photo, capturing for years to come an overhead view of a human map of Ohio. All present will be shown to a place on an outline of the state, with local veterans invited to physically map Licking County into the middle of the display. Everyone will also have a chance to sign a giant birthday card for Ohio, decorated with some of the student art and designed to be part of the historic record of the day.
Copies of the photo can be ordered through the morning, with J & B Photography taking both the pictures and the orders. The outline of Ohio will be done rain (or snow) or shine, since the 200th Statehood Day comes around only once. Ball Surveying is marking out the area in the campus parking lots where the people will stand, and Don Strickler will do the overflight thanks to the support of Jim Bradley.
The commission would also like to thank Action Pest Control, BIA, Fleming Dairy, Kroger, Park National Bank, and Wendy’s for donations and assistance to make this historic day a success.
If you have questions about events or arrangements for Statehood Day, call 349-6555; Kim Workman and Pam Jones with the County Planning Commission have been key workers on the local Ohio bicentennial effort. “This has been a true community effort from all over Licking County,” said Workman.
“Please remember that there is effectively no budget for this,” notes Commissioner Phelps, who has given hours of her time to keep the effort moving forward, along with countless hours and personal donations from members of the county bicentennial commission. With the state budget situation, what money was available has been eliminated, and local efforts, work by the Ohio Historical Society, and other activities are operating on a pay-as-you go basis.
There’s something that would appeal to George Washington and Thomas Worthington about paying for our historic commemoration with pancakes. Some things don’t change through the years, and the taste of pancakes early in the morning is one of them.
Statehood Day in Licking County is Sat., March 1, with a Pancake Breakfast and State of Ohio outline aerial photo at the OSU-N campus. The breakfast is in Hopewell Hall from 8 am to Noon, with tickets $4 for adults and $2 for children ten and under, available at the Licking Co. Commissioners’ office and Park National Bank branches, or at the door. Aerial photo is scheduled for 10:30 am rain or shine, with veterans invited to form Licking County within the state outline, and copies of the photo may be ordered that day.
Ringing In Ohio’s Bicentennial
By Jeff Gill
When Thomas Worthington hosted a famous all-night gathering at his mansion named “Adena” some 200 years ago, they saw the sun rise over the hills east of Chillicothe in a view enshrined on the Great Seal of the State of Ohio.
Some say they were writing the first state constitution, others claim it was a poker game, but whatever they were doing, they couldn’t have foreseen what Ohio would look like in 2003.
From back when canal boats were high tech and it took weeks to cross the new state on a horse, to our online 24/7 world where interstates get you from Dayton to Steubenville in hours (weather permitting), much has changed. But some things haven’t, even across two centuries.
Casting a bell still requires pouring liquid metal into a mold that produces a musically functional work of beauty; barns still hold hay for fodder no matter what’s painted across its side in red, white, and blue; and pancakes were a favorite of George Washington’s -- and we don’t make them too differently from how they made them at Mount Vernon or Adena in 1803 for a weary crew greeting the dawn.
Saturday, March 1 is “Statehood Day” for Ohio, and the kickoff for a year and more of bicentennial events around the state. While many dignitaries will wind their way up the hill to the newly refurbished “Adena” mansion in Chillicothe, Licking Countians will greet the dawn, or at least 8 am, with a pancake breakfast and a variety of entertainment opportunities.
The official Licking County bicentennial bell, one of 88 cast in each of Ohio’s counties, will appear at the OSU-Newark campus as the first pancakes are served, with members of the Newark Kiwanis and from the county bicentennial commission cooking and serving. All around the Hopewell Hall cafeteria area are hung over 700 works of art from most Licking County school districts. And while enjoying pancakes at $4 per person, $2 for children ten and under, diners will hear musical offerings including handbells from Hebron Christian Church, singing by Angelic Voices featuring Jim Fullen of the commission, the Campus Chorale, and from the group Young At Heart, as well as music from the Zerger Hall Band.
Door prizes will be announced through the morning, and face painters will decorate the kids in attendance just as the barns of Ohio have gotten a new look for 2003. “Salt & Pepper,” a local clowning duo, will perform balloon art for children of all ages.
“We’ve been working for months to get ready for this day,” says Marcia Phelps, county commissioner and chair of the Licking County Bicentennial Commission. Since the Newark bicentennial celebration last summer, where our bell was cast, she has escorted the bell on its carriage to a variety of community events, and the schedule for the bell is jam-packed through 2003, including a late June/early July wagon train passing through on US 40 that the bicentennial commission is working on. “But this is the central event, and we want to do our part to help the state celebrate. We’ve got plenty of history right here in Licking County.”
The Statehood Day celebration at OSU-N will be history making in its own right, when the centerpiece of the 8 am to noon pancake breakfast will be a pause in the program at 10:30 am as everyone goes outside for an aerial photo, capturing for years to come an overhead view of a human map of Ohio. All present will be shown to a place on an outline of the state, with local veterans invited to physically map Licking County into the middle of the display. Everyone will also have a chance to sign a giant birthday card for Ohio, decorated with some of the student art and designed to be part of the historic record of the day.
Copies of the photo can be ordered through the morning, with J & B Photography taking both the pictures and the orders. The outline of Ohio will be done rain (or snow) or shine, since the 200th Statehood Day comes around only once. Ball Surveying is marking out the area in the campus parking lots where the people will stand, and Don Strickler will do the overflight thanks to the support of Jim Bradley.
The commission would also like to thank Action Pest Control, BIA, Fleming Dairy, Kroger, Park National Bank, and Wendy’s for donations and assistance to make this historic day a success.
If you have questions about events or arrangements for Statehood Day, call 349-6555; Kim Workman and Pam Jones with the County Planning Commission have been key workers on the local Ohio bicentennial effort. “This has been a true community effort from all over Licking County,” said Workman.
“Please remember that there is effectively no budget for this,” notes Commissioner Phelps, who has given hours of her time to keep the effort moving forward, along with countless hours and personal donations from members of the county bicentennial commission. With the state budget situation, what money was available has been eliminated, and local efforts, work by the Ohio Historical Society, and other activities are operating on a pay-as-you go basis.
There’s something that would appeal to George Washington and Thomas Worthington about paying for our historic commemoration with pancakes. Some things don’t change through the years, and the taste of pancakes early in the morning is one of them.
Statehood Day in Licking County is Sat., March 1, with a Pancake Breakfast and State of Ohio outline aerial photo at the OSU-N campus. The breakfast is in Hopewell Hall from 8 am to Noon, with tickets $4 for adults and $2 for children ten and under, available at the Licking Co. Commissioners’ office and Park National Bank branches, or at the door. Aerial photo is scheduled for 10:30 am rain or shine, with veterans invited to form Licking County within the state outline, and copies of the photo may be ordered that day.
Tuesday, February 25, 2003
Notes From My Knapsack
Our microwave blinked out, as a few of you know who made it to church in Feb. and saw an overly large children’s message prop beneath the pulpit. Quickly, a new little oven arrived in the Gill household, and it (inevitably) has more buttons and doodads on it than the last one.
The funny thing is, here we are a week later, and I’m still trying to punch the buttons on the old microwave, which on this appliance are in very different places, leading to some interesting adventures with my coffee cup (note: don’t heat coffee for twenty minutes; even I won’t drink it then).
It’s the power of habit, of course. I know the buttons are in different places, I can see that it’s a different microwave, but the fingers start lazily punching, the mind having already drifted off to the next thing, and suddenly you have chewy singed goo in your mug – again!
That’s what the discipline of Lenten fasting is about: breaking the habits of mind to let us look at our actions more directly, more consciously. Yes, fasting is about giving things up, but in order to give something to God; we end up with clearer intentions, more thoughtful reflections, and a life lived more aware of what a gift simple things are.
Like, for instance, coffee. Yes friends, it is an odd numbered year, so your pastor is giving up coffee from Ash Wednesday, Mar. 5, to blessed Easter Sunday morn, Apr. 20. And each time I reflexively reach for the coffee pot (or filters, or canister of grounds), I will have given myself another opportunity to think about why I value God more than any one earthly thing, why I want to appreciate coffee all the more, consciously, when I go back to drinking it – and I will!
Not what are you giving up, but what are you giving to God this Lent?
In Grace & Peace, Pastor Jeff
* * * * * * *
What’s a Disciple? Starting Sunday afternoon, March 16 at 4 pm, a Membership Class is offered in the parsonage meeting room next to the church building. A trip to Bethany and Brush Run where the Restoration Movement began is planned for April 5. Youth in grade 4 and above are especially invited to join this year’s “Pastor’s Class.” We’ll explore what it means to be a Christian and a member of the church. Everyone who wants to learn more about the church (whether or not you have been baptized) is welcome to join us. Please let Pastor Jeff know you’re interested. We’ll then try and schedule our remaining class time when it is convenient for those involved. A number of both adults and youth are planning to make their confession of faith or transfer membership into Hebron Christian at the Palm Sunday service Apr. 13.
* * * * * * *
"SERVE ONE ANOTHER WITH WHATEVER GIFT EACH OF YOU HAS RECEIVED." I PETER 4:10 Our Week of Compassion Offering helps provide disaster relief in this country and around the world. As Lent is beginning we will continue to gather up this special offering, which has been hurt by the two big snow Sundays hitting the two WoC Sundays. Envelopes are available at the church or simply mark your gift “Week of Compassion”.
* * * * * * *
Lenten Bible Study We’ll be closely reading the Gospel of Mark this Lent, with our study time at 10 am on Wednesdays starting Mar. 5. If you can’t make this meeting time, and would like to get e-mail updates of the lessons and group discussions, tell Pastor Jeff or e-mail disciple@voyager.net.
* * * * * * *
Lenten Devotionals The first two Sundays of March we will have a special Lenten devotional booklet at the door before worship, with enough for one to each family. This is a daily devotional from Ash Wednesday to Easter, with each day’s mediation and prayer written by a regional pastor or general church official. This gives us a chance to pray by name both with and for those who are working in that very important and challenging field of ministry.
* * * * * * *
ATTENTION MEN! The District 10/11 Spring Disciple Men’s Rally will be held Sunday, March 2, 2003. This year’s rally will be hosted by the men of Bellaire Christian Church. Registration begins at 2:30 p.m. Cost of the meal is $5.00. If you plan to attend, please let John Slater or Pastor Jeff know we can call in reservations.
Lakewood Public Meeting A very important public forum is set for Monday, Mar. 3 at 7 pm in the high school auditorium. If that is a snow day, the forum will be Thur. the 6th. Elimination of all extracurriculars is the main item of business; alternatives are needed, so bring a friend and a good idea with you.
Our microwave blinked out, as a few of you know who made it to church in Feb. and saw an overly large children’s message prop beneath the pulpit. Quickly, a new little oven arrived in the Gill household, and it (inevitably) has more buttons and doodads on it than the last one.
The funny thing is, here we are a week later, and I’m still trying to punch the buttons on the old microwave, which on this appliance are in very different places, leading to some interesting adventures with my coffee cup (note: don’t heat coffee for twenty minutes; even I won’t drink it then).
It’s the power of habit, of course. I know the buttons are in different places, I can see that it’s a different microwave, but the fingers start lazily punching, the mind having already drifted off to the next thing, and suddenly you have chewy singed goo in your mug – again!
That’s what the discipline of Lenten fasting is about: breaking the habits of mind to let us look at our actions more directly, more consciously. Yes, fasting is about giving things up, but in order to give something to God; we end up with clearer intentions, more thoughtful reflections, and a life lived more aware of what a gift simple things are.
Like, for instance, coffee. Yes friends, it is an odd numbered year, so your pastor is giving up coffee from Ash Wednesday, Mar. 5, to blessed Easter Sunday morn, Apr. 20. And each time I reflexively reach for the coffee pot (or filters, or canister of grounds), I will have given myself another opportunity to think about why I value God more than any one earthly thing, why I want to appreciate coffee all the more, consciously, when I go back to drinking it – and I will!
Not what are you giving up, but what are you giving to God this Lent?
In Grace & Peace, Pastor Jeff
* * * * * * *
What’s a Disciple? Starting Sunday afternoon, March 16 at 4 pm, a Membership Class is offered in the parsonage meeting room next to the church building. A trip to Bethany and Brush Run where the Restoration Movement began is planned for April 5. Youth in grade 4 and above are especially invited to join this year’s “Pastor’s Class.” We’ll explore what it means to be a Christian and a member of the church. Everyone who wants to learn more about the church (whether or not you have been baptized) is welcome to join us. Please let Pastor Jeff know you’re interested. We’ll then try and schedule our remaining class time when it is convenient for those involved. A number of both adults and youth are planning to make their confession of faith or transfer membership into Hebron Christian at the Palm Sunday service Apr. 13.
* * * * * * *
"SERVE ONE ANOTHER WITH WHATEVER GIFT EACH OF YOU HAS RECEIVED." I PETER 4:10 Our Week of Compassion Offering helps provide disaster relief in this country and around the world. As Lent is beginning we will continue to gather up this special offering, which has been hurt by the two big snow Sundays hitting the two WoC Sundays. Envelopes are available at the church or simply mark your gift “Week of Compassion”.
* * * * * * *
Lenten Bible Study We’ll be closely reading the Gospel of Mark this Lent, with our study time at 10 am on Wednesdays starting Mar. 5. If you can’t make this meeting time, and would like to get e-mail updates of the lessons and group discussions, tell Pastor Jeff or e-mail disciple@voyager.net.
* * * * * * *
Lenten Devotionals The first two Sundays of March we will have a special Lenten devotional booklet at the door before worship, with enough for one to each family. This is a daily devotional from Ash Wednesday to Easter, with each day’s mediation and prayer written by a regional pastor or general church official. This gives us a chance to pray by name both with and for those who are working in that very important and challenging field of ministry.
* * * * * * *
ATTENTION MEN! The District 10/11 Spring Disciple Men’s Rally will be held Sunday, March 2, 2003. This year’s rally will be hosted by the men of Bellaire Christian Church. Registration begins at 2:30 p.m. Cost of the meal is $5.00. If you plan to attend, please let John Slater or Pastor Jeff know we can call in reservations.
Lakewood Public Meeting A very important public forum is set for Monday, Mar. 3 at 7 pm in the high school auditorium. If that is a snow day, the forum will be Thur. the 6th. Elimination of all extracurriculars is the main item of business; alternatives are needed, so bring a friend and a good idea with you.
Grinding Out the Years
By Jeff Gill
At the visual center of Hebron since 1885 or thereabouts, the old grain mill on Main Street is becoming an economic focal point again as well.
Saturday, March 1, Brezina Design & Construction Services will hold an open house at the Hebron Mill from Noon to 4 pm, so the entire community can see the transformation and preservation work they’ve done on this long-time local landmark.
“We’d like to get any old photographs people have of the mill through the years to copy,” says Luke Baus, treasurer and senior designer for the firm, “and create a timeline over the years.”
As is apparent the moment you step in the doors, this building no longer grinds out wheat and corn into meal, but is still grinding out work every day. The work stations, drafting tables, and conference areas all show signs of activity and energy. . .but with the dust and grime left out on the job site for the most part.
The modern light fixtures and contemporary curves and angles of the office furniture contrast strikingly with the solid, heavy right angles of the original support timbers. Lettering in classic architectural strokes on blueprints and perspective drawings scattered about the open plan work areas is counterpointed by the old carved “The Hebron Milling Co.” sign hanging above it all.
Don and Gene Gutridge worked at the mill for many years, joking that one was president and the other was general manager, but they were never sure which was which. The same kind of easy equality seems to echo among the mill’s current occupants, where secretaries, laborers, and designers all interact easily and casually, an obvious intention of the design of the space.
And Don has been in a number of times since BD&CS moved in, admiring the preservation of a building so long a part of his life. Gene, who died just after the initial renovation was completed, was pleased to know that his mill would be preserved for future generations to enjoy.
The staff at Brezina’s want you to do just that, and drop by this Saturday. They have learned that over the years it seems as if almost everyone worked at the mill for a time, whether summers in high school, for a slow season on the farm or between jobs after a layoff. They hope that the area around the mill can be used for purposes that return to the community a central point around which Hebron turns, whether in farmers’ markets, a restaurant, or further professional offices.
A framed print in the office space shows Taliesin, the studio, school, and home of Frank Lloyd Wright in Wisconsin where he developed his philosophy of “indigenous architecture.” While the Hebron Mill may not exactly “grow from the landscape,” as Wright would have preferred, the renovation uses wooden siding, natural colors, and very organic feel that grows from the original purpose of the building, which was to work with what literally grew from the landscape around Hebron.
Sitting at the bend in the old National Road, Hebron’s and America’s Main Street, and overlooking behind the site of the former Ohio Canal turning basin, this historic building is a natural part of today’s landscape, and a visit there is a natural close to Ohio’s bicentennial Statehood Day on March 1.
* * * * * * *
Hebron Crossroads 03-02-03
By Jeff Gill
Monday night at Lakewood High School’s auditorium, March 3 at 7 pm, one of the most important community meetings in recent years will take place. All of the district is invited to come and speak before the board after a presentation on the fiscal situation facing Lakewood in the next two years.
At a work session last Monday, the board reviewed the numbers and considered a number of plans. Among the points of interest and concern: even with “pay-to-participate” the district spends $248,000 on all athletic, music, and general student extracurricular activities. P2P is already driving students out of activities (shown in that income from the $250 per kid per program is down more than $10,000), and not only is an increase in that fee out of the question, most coaches and advisors agree that a majority of activities will dwindle down to nothing if things stay as they currently stand.
Along with the existing P2P, high school buses eliminated, and half-day kindergarten, every remaining staff cut, attrition reduction, and consolidation that can be legally made under state mandated standards brings us to less than the minimum $450,000 cuts that we have to implement as a school district in order to have a balanced budget, again as per state requirements.
Oh, and the state legislature, which created all those requirements, is now going to foist a $99,000 cut on us from the third or so of our budget that comes from them. Combine that with the fairly obvious assumption that personal property tax revenue from inventory will decline from the drop already recorded from 2001 in the 2002 payments not yet in, and you’re looking at something more like $650,000 in budget cuts that are required for the coming year to stay in balance.
So add all that to our taxes and our teacher salaries basically now being the lowest in Licking County and the Lake region, and the Lakewood School District is forced to consider not whether or not to cut all athletic, band, and student activities, locking up the buildings 30 minutes after the instructional day ends, but whether to take that step this summer or next. Without an increase in their budget, coming from the resources of the Lakewood taxpayers, that is the only step remaining. There is literally not one thing left to cut, other than our throats, which is what eliminating all extracurriculars would be. Does anyone really doubt that Don Thorp, David Wohlford, or Martha Fickle (to name just a few) have been pinching pennies until Lincoln wept? Is this what the residents of Hebron and Buckeye Lake, Harbor Hills and Union Township, Jacksontown and Licking and Franklin Townships really want?
There were tears of sorrow, tears of anger, and words of immense frustration around the tables as the board considered their options. No one of them doubts the devastating effect on the district of these actions, but the six levy losses leave them in an incomprehensible position. Loud angry voices say “don’t touch our sports, our bands, our programs,” but the voice heard at the polls each election day isn’t a loud “no,” but a deafening silence.
When less than half of the registered voters even register an opinion aye or nay, and we all know that the registered vote total doesn’t cover half of the eligible voters in our precincts, we’re looking at fifteen percent of the grown-ups telling us “cancel it all, we don’t care.” Do we follow that counsel, which at least got up off the sofa and went to the polls? Or is there some level of passion left in Lakewood to address what makes an education a thing of value and a resource for the entire community?
So, if I may, please show up on Monday night at 7 pm in the auditorium, but don’t show up to just say what you don’t want to do. We’d better all show up to figure out together what’s going to be done, and roll up our sleeves to do it.
Time’s a’ wasting.
Sadly, I’m having to close with what I originally was going to open this week’s column with. Our Lakewood Drama Club made their flying trip to New York City last weekend, seeing three plays in three days, meeting with actors and teachers, seeing Ground Zero and the Statue of Liberty (from Battery Park, anyhow), and making their way around Manhattan for the experience of their high school lifetimes. Many worked extra hours to pay the costs of the trip, and some parents who really couldn’t afford it (all that P2P, you know) went along as chaperones for the dozens of kids in their care.
They carried the Hebron flag off the village flagpole (with permission, I should add), waving it before the cameras at Rockefeller Center for the Today Show. That’s how I want to hear about Hebron on the news. That’s the kind of memories and experiences I want our kids to have in the Lakewood School District. That’s not extracurricular, that’s part of the very heart of the curriculum. Let’s not cut it out.
Jeff Gill is pastor of Hebron Christian Church and a local historian and archaeologist. You can pass along news and events to him at 928-4066, or e-mail disciple@voyager.net.
By Jeff Gill
At the visual center of Hebron since 1885 or thereabouts, the old grain mill on Main Street is becoming an economic focal point again as well.
Saturday, March 1, Brezina Design & Construction Services will hold an open house at the Hebron Mill from Noon to 4 pm, so the entire community can see the transformation and preservation work they’ve done on this long-time local landmark.
“We’d like to get any old photographs people have of the mill through the years to copy,” says Luke Baus, treasurer and senior designer for the firm, “and create a timeline over the years.”
As is apparent the moment you step in the doors, this building no longer grinds out wheat and corn into meal, but is still grinding out work every day. The work stations, drafting tables, and conference areas all show signs of activity and energy. . .but with the dust and grime left out on the job site for the most part.
The modern light fixtures and contemporary curves and angles of the office furniture contrast strikingly with the solid, heavy right angles of the original support timbers. Lettering in classic architectural strokes on blueprints and perspective drawings scattered about the open plan work areas is counterpointed by the old carved “The Hebron Milling Co.” sign hanging above it all.
Don and Gene Gutridge worked at the mill for many years, joking that one was president and the other was general manager, but they were never sure which was which. The same kind of easy equality seems to echo among the mill’s current occupants, where secretaries, laborers, and designers all interact easily and casually, an obvious intention of the design of the space.
And Don has been in a number of times since BD&CS moved in, admiring the preservation of a building so long a part of his life. Gene, who died just after the initial renovation was completed, was pleased to know that his mill would be preserved for future generations to enjoy.
The staff at Brezina’s want you to do just that, and drop by this Saturday. They have learned that over the years it seems as if almost everyone worked at the mill for a time, whether summers in high school, for a slow season on the farm or between jobs after a layoff. They hope that the area around the mill can be used for purposes that return to the community a central point around which Hebron turns, whether in farmers’ markets, a restaurant, or further professional offices.
A framed print in the office space shows Taliesin, the studio, school, and home of Frank Lloyd Wright in Wisconsin where he developed his philosophy of “indigenous architecture.” While the Hebron Mill may not exactly “grow from the landscape,” as Wright would have preferred, the renovation uses wooden siding, natural colors, and very organic feel that grows from the original purpose of the building, which was to work with what literally grew from the landscape around Hebron.
Sitting at the bend in the old National Road, Hebron’s and America’s Main Street, and overlooking behind the site of the former Ohio Canal turning basin, this historic building is a natural part of today’s landscape, and a visit there is a natural close to Ohio’s bicentennial Statehood Day on March 1.
* * * * * * *
Hebron Crossroads 03-02-03
By Jeff Gill
Monday night at Lakewood High School’s auditorium, March 3 at 7 pm, one of the most important community meetings in recent years will take place. All of the district is invited to come and speak before the board after a presentation on the fiscal situation facing Lakewood in the next two years.
At a work session last Monday, the board reviewed the numbers and considered a number of plans. Among the points of interest and concern: even with “pay-to-participate” the district spends $248,000 on all athletic, music, and general student extracurricular activities. P2P is already driving students out of activities (shown in that income from the $250 per kid per program is down more than $10,000), and not only is an increase in that fee out of the question, most coaches and advisors agree that a majority of activities will dwindle down to nothing if things stay as they currently stand.
Along with the existing P2P, high school buses eliminated, and half-day kindergarten, every remaining staff cut, attrition reduction, and consolidation that can be legally made under state mandated standards brings us to less than the minimum $450,000 cuts that we have to implement as a school district in order to have a balanced budget, again as per state requirements.
Oh, and the state legislature, which created all those requirements, is now going to foist a $99,000 cut on us from the third or so of our budget that comes from them. Combine that with the fairly obvious assumption that personal property tax revenue from inventory will decline from the drop already recorded from 2001 in the 2002 payments not yet in, and you’re looking at something more like $650,000 in budget cuts that are required for the coming year to stay in balance.
So add all that to our taxes and our teacher salaries basically now being the lowest in Licking County and the Lake region, and the Lakewood School District is forced to consider not whether or not to cut all athletic, band, and student activities, locking up the buildings 30 minutes after the instructional day ends, but whether to take that step this summer or next. Without an increase in their budget, coming from the resources of the Lakewood taxpayers, that is the only step remaining. There is literally not one thing left to cut, other than our throats, which is what eliminating all extracurriculars would be. Does anyone really doubt that Don Thorp, David Wohlford, or Martha Fickle (to name just a few) have been pinching pennies until Lincoln wept? Is this what the residents of Hebron and Buckeye Lake, Harbor Hills and Union Township, Jacksontown and Licking and Franklin Townships really want?
There were tears of sorrow, tears of anger, and words of immense frustration around the tables as the board considered their options. No one of them doubts the devastating effect on the district of these actions, but the six levy losses leave them in an incomprehensible position. Loud angry voices say “don’t touch our sports, our bands, our programs,” but the voice heard at the polls each election day isn’t a loud “no,” but a deafening silence.
When less than half of the registered voters even register an opinion aye or nay, and we all know that the registered vote total doesn’t cover half of the eligible voters in our precincts, we’re looking at fifteen percent of the grown-ups telling us “cancel it all, we don’t care.” Do we follow that counsel, which at least got up off the sofa and went to the polls? Or is there some level of passion left in Lakewood to address what makes an education a thing of value and a resource for the entire community?
So, if I may, please show up on Monday night at 7 pm in the auditorium, but don’t show up to just say what you don’t want to do. We’d better all show up to figure out together what’s going to be done, and roll up our sleeves to do it.
Time’s a’ wasting.
Sadly, I’m having to close with what I originally was going to open this week’s column with. Our Lakewood Drama Club made their flying trip to New York City last weekend, seeing three plays in three days, meeting with actors and teachers, seeing Ground Zero and the Statue of Liberty (from Battery Park, anyhow), and making their way around Manhattan for the experience of their high school lifetimes. Many worked extra hours to pay the costs of the trip, and some parents who really couldn’t afford it (all that P2P, you know) went along as chaperones for the dozens of kids in their care.
They carried the Hebron flag off the village flagpole (with permission, I should add), waving it before the cameras at Rockefeller Center for the Today Show. That’s how I want to hear about Hebron on the news. That’s the kind of memories and experiences I want our kids to have in the Lakewood School District. That’s not extracurricular, that’s part of the very heart of the curriculum. Let’s not cut it out.
Jeff Gill is pastor of Hebron Christian Church and a local historian and archaeologist. You can pass along news and events to him at 928-4066, or e-mail disciple@voyager.net.
Tuesday, February 18, 2003
Hebron Crossroads 02-23-03
By Jeff Gill
Did you see the blue?
Not in the sky, of course; there’s been precious little of that lately. But from the same source, the blue of the sky and the rainbow and the spectrum of visible light.
With inches upon inches of fresh, light snow, if you looked into a crevice or gap or shovel gash in a snow bank, you saw a crystalline blue glowing out of the shadowed depths. Most of our eighteen to twenty-one inches that fell last weekend across the Hebron/Buckeye Lake area was fluffy enough that the light there was could penetrate the icy structure of the piled snowflakes and scatter, just as the air scatters sunlight so that the main visible hue is sky-blue.
Anyhow, it’s an interesting phenomenon to reflect on while you’re gasping for air after shoveling the same driveway for the fifth time! The landscape is transformed and our cabin fever is reaching fever pitch, especially for those indoors with kids on extra days off from school. . .send ‘em out to shovel and burn off the energy is the only idea I’ve heard that works.
Through this siege of snowfall, a big tip o’ the hat to the Hebron Street Dept. crews (and helpers like Bob Gilbert and others driving plows, I see. . .) who have, in this correspondent’s opinion, done a stellar job of keeping both the main drags and the side streets as clear as can be expected. They’ve put in many round-the-clocks lately, along with Union Township and crews all over, certainly, but I’ve not had to go much further than our immediate area, and they’ve kept me shiny-side-up right through it all.
Can I ask a favor of y’all on behalf of the many snow plow drivers and salt truck pilots all over central Ohio? They are coming in from their shifts shaking and stunned: not from the long hours right through the night, which they cheerily accept as part of the deal, but from the myriad close calls with insane drivers as they try to keep the roads clear. The stories I hear aren’t about teenagers in souped-up cars, either. They’re shaking their heads over mature drivers in sensible sedans passing them on snow-slick hills, spinning out in front of their heavy blade, darting out in front of them as if a fully-loaded maintenance vehicle could stop on a dime in good weather, let alone in the middle of a record setting snowfall.
Folks, let’s use a little common sense, and remember the law of inertia, friction co-efficients, and the kinetic energy of two tons of road salt. Why would you want to pass a snow plow, anyhow?
My little guy, out helping the neighborhood shovel, kept asking “is this a snow party?” He has the right attitude, anyhow, and at four he’s safe from Dad handing him a shovel for a while yet. The Hebron/Union Twp. Fire Dept. rescue squad came down our street verifying access and occasionally shoveling out the fire hydrants (tip o’ hat number two!) giving him a real thrill.
Speaking of cabin fever, the Books & Coffee selection for March is guaranteed to break up the ice jams of your brain, and the author of “Under the Tuscan Sun,” Frances Mayes, is going to be at Ohio Dominican University this week, speaking in the Little Theatre on campus with book signing to follow. Thanks to Anita at Waldenbooks for the heads-up (hat tip three, if you’re counting), and the evening of Feb. 27 I hope to sneak over there and hear more about the house in Tuscany this English professor and her husband renovated and restored. Mayes puts in her book recipes and rhapsodies, travelogues, interior monologues, and meditations on lavender and honeybees, contractors and building codes, and thoughts warmed by sunlight of all angles and intensities.
There is no winter in this book at all, a’tall. Need I say more?
Speaking of reading, whether the Books & Coffee approach is your cup of tea or not (huh?), this is a great time to read, and the Hebron library, along with the Storytime for preschoolers on Tuesdays at 11 am, has some great picks for this time of year. George Washington, whose birthday is Feb. 22, has his story told in biographies by James Flexner and Richard Brookhiser either and both of which are worth reading (would you rather be out shoveling?), and thanks to PBS who seemed to be the only folks on TV who knew that last Monday wasn’t Michael Jackson Day with their feature on Abraham and Mary Todd Lincoln.
Did you know it wasn’t President’s Day, though? That’s a fiction of the greeting card and calendar industry; legally, the third Monday in Feb. is “Washington’s Birthday,” and long may George wave!
Hey, a fourth and final tip of the toboggan to Scott (twice!), Nick, and David, who plowed me out four times to match my four shovel-outs. Nothing like having a big red and black Case-IH chugging down your driveway on a snowy day! And we still haven’t gotten to the Ohio Canal, but since most of the Route 79 work came to a halt this week, we won’t be behind by much next week. . .i can hope.
See you Sat. March 1 at OSU-N (see the cover), and call 928-4066 or e-mail disciple@voyager.net if you have a brain storm or blizzard about something we can talk about at the drifted over Hebron Crossroads.
[and if Amy has space to burn this week, here’s a portion of]
Snowbound: A Winter Idyll by John Greenleaf Whittier
We looked upon a world unknown,
On nothing we could call our own.
Around the glistening wonder bent
The blue walls of the firmament,
No cloud above, no earth below, --
A universe of sky and snow!
The old familiar sights of ours
Took marvellous shapes;
strange domes and towers
Rose up where sty or corn-crib stood,
Or garden-wall, or belt of wood;
A smooth white mound the brush-pile showed,
A fenceless drift what once was road;
The bridle-post an old man sat
With loose-flung coat and high cocked hat;
The well-curb had a Chinese roof;
And even the long sweep, high aloof,
In its slant spendor, seemed to tell
Of Pisa's leaning miracle.
For the full (lengthy!) poem:
http://pencible.tripod.com/pande/snowbound.htm
* * * * * * *
Booster 2-23-03
Cover Story
Ring In Ohio’s Bicentennial
By Jeff Gill
When Thomas Worthington hosted a famous all-night gathering at his mansion named “Adena” some 200 years ago, they saw the sun rise over the hills east of Chillicothe in a view enshrined on the Great Seal of the State of Ohio.
Some say they were writing the first state constitution, others claim it was a poker game, but whatever they were doing, they couldn’t have foreseen what Ohio would look like in 2003.
From back when canal boats were high tech and it took weeks to cross the new state on a horse, to our online 24/7 world where interstates get you from Dayton to Steubenville in hours (weather permitting), much has changed. But some things haven’t, even across two centuries.
Casting a bell still requires pouring liquid metal into a mold that produces a musically functional work of beauty; barns still hold hay for fodder no matter what’s painted across its side in red, white, and blue; and pancakes were a favorite of George Washington’s -- and we don’t make them too differently from how they made them at Mount Vernon or Adena in 1803 for a weary crew greeting the dawn.
Saturday, March 1 is “Statehood Day” for Ohio, and the kickoff for a year and more of bicentennial events around the state. While many dignitaries will wind their way up the hill to the newly refurbished “Adena” mansion in Chillicothe, with a parade of county flags leading the way, here in Licking County we will greet the dawn (or at least 8 am) with a pancake breakfast and much, much more.
The official Licking County bicentennial bell, one of 88 cast in each of Ohio’s counties, will make an appearance at OSU-Newark campus as the first pancakes are served, with local Kiwanis Club members cooking and serving. All around the Hopewell Hall cafeteria area will be over 700 works of art from most Licking County school districts. As you enjoy your pancakes at $4 per person, $2 for children ten and under, you’ll hear musical offerings including handbells from Hebron Christian Church, singing by the Angelic Voices, Par Excellence Choir, Campus Chorale, and Young At Heart, as well as music from the Zerger Hall Band.
“We’ve been working for months to get ready for this day,” says Marcia Phelps, county commissioner and chair of the Licking County Bicentennial Commission. Since the Newark bicentennial celebration last summer, where our bell was cast, she has escorted the bell on its carriage to a variety of community events, and the schedule for the bell is jam-packed through 2003, including a late June/early July wagon train passing through on US 40 that the bicentennial commission is working on. “But this is the central event, and we want to do our part to help the state celebrate. We’ve got plenty of history right here in Licking County.”
The statehood day celebration at OSU-N will be history making in its own right, as the centerpiece of the 8 am to noon pancake breakfast will be a pause in the program at 10:30 am as everyone goes outside for an aerial photo, capturing for years to come an overhead view of a human map of Ohio. All present will be shown to a place on an outline of the state, with local veterans invited to physically map Licking County into the middle of the display.
Copies of the photo can be ordered that day, with J & B Photography taking both the pictures and the orders. The outline of Ohio will be done rain (or snow) or shine, since the 200th Statehood Day comes around only once.
If you have questions about events or arrangements for Statehood Day, call 349-6555; Kim Workman with the County Planning Commission has given invaluable assistance to the Ohio bicentennial effort.
“Please remember that there is effectively no budget for this,” says Commissioner Phelps, who has given hours of her time to help keep the effort moving forward, along with countless hours and personal donations from members of the county bicentennial commission. With the state budget situation, what money was available has been eliminated, and local efforts, work by the Ohio Historical Society, and other activities are operating on a pay-as-you go basis.
There’s something that would appeal to George Washington and Thomas Worthington about paying for our historic commemoration with pancakes. Some things don’t change through the years, and the taste of pancakes early in the morning is one of them.
Statehood Day in Licking County is Sat., March 1, with a Pancake Breakfast and State of Ohio outline aerial photo at the OSU-N campus. The breakfast is in Hopewell Hall from 8 am to Noon, with tickets $4 for adults and $2 for children ten and under, available at the Licking Co. Commissioners’ office and Park National Bank branches, or at the door. Aerial photo is scheduled for 10:30 am rain or shine, with veterans invited to form Licking County within the state outline, and copies of the photo may be ordered that day.
By Jeff Gill
Did you see the blue?
Not in the sky, of course; there’s been precious little of that lately. But from the same source, the blue of the sky and the rainbow and the spectrum of visible light.
With inches upon inches of fresh, light snow, if you looked into a crevice or gap or shovel gash in a snow bank, you saw a crystalline blue glowing out of the shadowed depths. Most of our eighteen to twenty-one inches that fell last weekend across the Hebron/Buckeye Lake area was fluffy enough that the light there was could penetrate the icy structure of the piled snowflakes and scatter, just as the air scatters sunlight so that the main visible hue is sky-blue.
Anyhow, it’s an interesting phenomenon to reflect on while you’re gasping for air after shoveling the same driveway for the fifth time! The landscape is transformed and our cabin fever is reaching fever pitch, especially for those indoors with kids on extra days off from school. . .send ‘em out to shovel and burn off the energy is the only idea I’ve heard that works.
Through this siege of snowfall, a big tip o’ the hat to the Hebron Street Dept. crews (and helpers like Bob Gilbert and others driving plows, I see. . .) who have, in this correspondent’s opinion, done a stellar job of keeping both the main drags and the side streets as clear as can be expected. They’ve put in many round-the-clocks lately, along with Union Township and crews all over, certainly, but I’ve not had to go much further than our immediate area, and they’ve kept me shiny-side-up right through it all.
Can I ask a favor of y’all on behalf of the many snow plow drivers and salt truck pilots all over central Ohio? They are coming in from their shifts shaking and stunned: not from the long hours right through the night, which they cheerily accept as part of the deal, but from the myriad close calls with insane drivers as they try to keep the roads clear. The stories I hear aren’t about teenagers in souped-up cars, either. They’re shaking their heads over mature drivers in sensible sedans passing them on snow-slick hills, spinning out in front of their heavy blade, darting out in front of them as if a fully-loaded maintenance vehicle could stop on a dime in good weather, let alone in the middle of a record setting snowfall.
Folks, let’s use a little common sense, and remember the law of inertia, friction co-efficients, and the kinetic energy of two tons of road salt. Why would you want to pass a snow plow, anyhow?
My little guy, out helping the neighborhood shovel, kept asking “is this a snow party?” He has the right attitude, anyhow, and at four he’s safe from Dad handing him a shovel for a while yet. The Hebron/Union Twp. Fire Dept. rescue squad came down our street verifying access and occasionally shoveling out the fire hydrants (tip o’ hat number two!) giving him a real thrill.
Speaking of cabin fever, the Books & Coffee selection for March is guaranteed to break up the ice jams of your brain, and the author of “Under the Tuscan Sun,” Frances Mayes, is going to be at Ohio Dominican University this week, speaking in the Little Theatre on campus with book signing to follow. Thanks to Anita at Waldenbooks for the heads-up (hat tip three, if you’re counting), and the evening of Feb. 27 I hope to sneak over there and hear more about the house in Tuscany this English professor and her husband renovated and restored. Mayes puts in her book recipes and rhapsodies, travelogues, interior monologues, and meditations on lavender and honeybees, contractors and building codes, and thoughts warmed by sunlight of all angles and intensities.
There is no winter in this book at all, a’tall. Need I say more?
Speaking of reading, whether the Books & Coffee approach is your cup of tea or not (huh?), this is a great time to read, and the Hebron library, along with the Storytime for preschoolers on Tuesdays at 11 am, has some great picks for this time of year. George Washington, whose birthday is Feb. 22, has his story told in biographies by James Flexner and Richard Brookhiser either and both of which are worth reading (would you rather be out shoveling?), and thanks to PBS who seemed to be the only folks on TV who knew that last Monday wasn’t Michael Jackson Day with their feature on Abraham and Mary Todd Lincoln.
Did you know it wasn’t President’s Day, though? That’s a fiction of the greeting card and calendar industry; legally, the third Monday in Feb. is “Washington’s Birthday,” and long may George wave!
Hey, a fourth and final tip of the toboggan to Scott (twice!), Nick, and David, who plowed me out four times to match my four shovel-outs. Nothing like having a big red and black Case-IH chugging down your driveway on a snowy day! And we still haven’t gotten to the Ohio Canal, but since most of the Route 79 work came to a halt this week, we won’t be behind by much next week. . .i can hope.
See you Sat. March 1 at OSU-N (see the cover), and call 928-4066 or e-mail disciple@voyager.net if you have a brain storm or blizzard about something we can talk about at the drifted over Hebron Crossroads.
[and if Amy has space to burn this week, here’s a portion of]
Snowbound: A Winter Idyll by John Greenleaf Whittier
We looked upon a world unknown,
On nothing we could call our own.
Around the glistening wonder bent
The blue walls of the firmament,
No cloud above, no earth below, --
A universe of sky and snow!
The old familiar sights of ours
Took marvellous shapes;
strange domes and towers
Rose up where sty or corn-crib stood,
Or garden-wall, or belt of wood;
A smooth white mound the brush-pile showed,
A fenceless drift what once was road;
The bridle-post an old man sat
With loose-flung coat and high cocked hat;
The well-curb had a Chinese roof;
And even the long sweep, high aloof,
In its slant spendor, seemed to tell
Of Pisa's leaning miracle.
For the full (lengthy!) poem:
http://pencible.tripod.com/pande/snowbound.htm
* * * * * * *
Booster 2-23-03
Cover Story
Ring In Ohio’s Bicentennial
By Jeff Gill
When Thomas Worthington hosted a famous all-night gathering at his mansion named “Adena” some 200 years ago, they saw the sun rise over the hills east of Chillicothe in a view enshrined on the Great Seal of the State of Ohio.
Some say they were writing the first state constitution, others claim it was a poker game, but whatever they were doing, they couldn’t have foreseen what Ohio would look like in 2003.
From back when canal boats were high tech and it took weeks to cross the new state on a horse, to our online 24/7 world where interstates get you from Dayton to Steubenville in hours (weather permitting), much has changed. But some things haven’t, even across two centuries.
Casting a bell still requires pouring liquid metal into a mold that produces a musically functional work of beauty; barns still hold hay for fodder no matter what’s painted across its side in red, white, and blue; and pancakes were a favorite of George Washington’s -- and we don’t make them too differently from how they made them at Mount Vernon or Adena in 1803 for a weary crew greeting the dawn.
Saturday, March 1 is “Statehood Day” for Ohio, and the kickoff for a year and more of bicentennial events around the state. While many dignitaries will wind their way up the hill to the newly refurbished “Adena” mansion in Chillicothe, with a parade of county flags leading the way, here in Licking County we will greet the dawn (or at least 8 am) with a pancake breakfast and much, much more.
The official Licking County bicentennial bell, one of 88 cast in each of Ohio’s counties, will make an appearance at OSU-Newark campus as the first pancakes are served, with local Kiwanis Club members cooking and serving. All around the Hopewell Hall cafeteria area will be over 700 works of art from most Licking County school districts. As you enjoy your pancakes at $4 per person, $2 for children ten and under, you’ll hear musical offerings including handbells from Hebron Christian Church, singing by the Angelic Voices, Par Excellence Choir, Campus Chorale, and Young At Heart, as well as music from the Zerger Hall Band.
“We’ve been working for months to get ready for this day,” says Marcia Phelps, county commissioner and chair of the Licking County Bicentennial Commission. Since the Newark bicentennial celebration last summer, where our bell was cast, she has escorted the bell on its carriage to a variety of community events, and the schedule for the bell is jam-packed through 2003, including a late June/early July wagon train passing through on US 40 that the bicentennial commission is working on. “But this is the central event, and we want to do our part to help the state celebrate. We’ve got plenty of history right here in Licking County.”
The statehood day celebration at OSU-N will be history making in its own right, as the centerpiece of the 8 am to noon pancake breakfast will be a pause in the program at 10:30 am as everyone goes outside for an aerial photo, capturing for years to come an overhead view of a human map of Ohio. All present will be shown to a place on an outline of the state, with local veterans invited to physically map Licking County into the middle of the display.
Copies of the photo can be ordered that day, with J & B Photography taking both the pictures and the orders. The outline of Ohio will be done rain (or snow) or shine, since the 200th Statehood Day comes around only once.
If you have questions about events or arrangements for Statehood Day, call 349-6555; Kim Workman with the County Planning Commission has given invaluable assistance to the Ohio bicentennial effort.
“Please remember that there is effectively no budget for this,” says Commissioner Phelps, who has given hours of her time to help keep the effort moving forward, along with countless hours and personal donations from members of the county bicentennial commission. With the state budget situation, what money was available has been eliminated, and local efforts, work by the Ohio Historical Society, and other activities are operating on a pay-as-you go basis.
There’s something that would appeal to George Washington and Thomas Worthington about paying for our historic commemoration with pancakes. Some things don’t change through the years, and the taste of pancakes early in the morning is one of them.
Statehood Day in Licking County is Sat., March 1, with a Pancake Breakfast and State of Ohio outline aerial photo at the OSU-N campus. The breakfast is in Hopewell Hall from 8 am to Noon, with tickets $4 for adults and $2 for children ten and under, available at the Licking Co. Commissioners’ office and Park National Bank branches, or at the door. Aerial photo is scheduled for 10:30 am rain or shine, with veterans invited to form Licking County within the state outline, and copies of the photo may be ordered that day.
Tuesday, February 11, 2003
Hebron Crossroads 2-16-03
by Jeff Gill
Next Saturday, "Books and Coffee" continues here in Hebron at 10 am with "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly." This is a book that really makes you take a second look at what makes life worth living.
It is a true story, and if it were fiction it probably never could have been published. A black turtleneck wearing, cigarette smoking, wine sipping French fashion magazine editor living in Paris has a massive stroke, paralyzing his entire body except for one eyelid. He is moved to a convalescent hospital far out in the countryside, where he finds out who is friends are because they still visit, but can't communicate.
Did i mention he wrote the book himself? That's right, by blinking his one good eyelid he begins to communicate out of the diving bell of his body what is going on with the butterfly of his spirit, which is still flying. There's no miracle cure, but how Jean-Dominique Bauby responds to his situation is truly a miracle. Come talk about this amazing book at 612 W. Main on Feb. 22 at 10 am.
As many of you know, i think history is a big part of what makes life worth living; not just the reading and the research, but the living connections and sense of belonging beyond the here and now that history really communicates when you become part of it.
The Ohio bicentennial celebrations are really some history you can become part of, and i hope you all are planning to come by OSU-N on Sat., March 1 for some pancakes between 8 and noon and the Ohio outline picture at 10:30 am. We'll have more details in the paper next week, but make sure to mark that day now!
The levy defeat was frustrating for all the 300 plus volunteers who worked on it, but I am proud to note that both Hebron precincts and most of our immediate vicinity voted “yes” for our community responsibilities. With twenty to twentyfive percent of our registered voters casting a “no” on a tax increase, just let your correspondent note that I’ve worked on school levies in three states, and let me tell you that you’ll never see anything less than that, even when the economy is great, the baseball team wins a state championship, and every house has the bluebird of happiness sitting on the chimney. Our 1700 to 2200 “no” vote total is exactly what you’ll always see, no matter what: the mystery is the “not voter.” And you know who you are. . .all 5000 of you.
For parents who deal with the occasional frustrations of little things like pay-to-participate ($250 per activity per child, in case any of you had forgotten), no busing for the high school, and no all-day kindergarten, there’s also the complication of snow days.
We are now over our limit of five, so Monday, Presidents’ Day, will be “taken back” so we don’t have to keep doing school into June. More to come? I’m thinkin’ “yep.”
Anyhow, I asked Phil Herman, our hard working and always available superintendent about when snow days are called on account of snow, as most folks understand that the snow and ice decision is one between him, the transportation crew, and the county road reports. Phil says the guideline they follow is zero degrees air temperature, or twenty below wind chill when kids would be out waiting on busses. If those conditions are met or exceeded, we go to delay or cancellation. Thanks for clearing that up, Phil! He also wants to thank all the people who came out in good weather and bad to work on the levy effort.
Thanks to Janet Robberts, one of the volunteers who make all kinds of things work well around the Hebron Crossorads, some other local information of note:
Lakewood Youth Baseball signups are Saturdays, February 22, March 1 & 8. 9:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m. in the Lakewood Intermediate School cafeteria. There will also be a Coach's Clinic February 22, 9:00 a.m. - 11:00 a.m. and a Umpire's Clinic February 22, 12:00 p.m.. - 2:00 p.m..
Also, the Hebron Elementary PTO is sponsoring a Spring Craft Fair, March 15 10 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. For craft spaces please contact Lyn Lockwood at 928-7540.
The Hebron Elementary is also collecting Meijer receipts, Campbell Soup labels & Box Tops for Education. Anyone interested in donating these items may drop these off at the school office.
The elementary school will have their Statehood Day celebration a day early, on Feb. 28, and word is a person may step out of the past to tell a story or two about 200 years ago in the Ohio territory. . .
And if you get this by Sat. Feb. 15, Hebron Christian is having a Valentine’s Spaghetti Dinner from 6 to 8 pm with contributions for our regional capital campaign for church camp. Bring your sweetie and have some spaghetti, and choose your own level of generosity.
So here we are at the end of my allotted space, and I still haven’t got to the Ohio Canal and Rt. 79 like I promised last week! Someday I’ll learn to quit doing that, since when I say I will write on something, 42 other things suddenly show up for the column. On the other hand, I should keep writing previews if that gets more info for you to read and benefit from; anyhow, we’ll always get to it someday. So, canal tales next week at the Hebron Crossorads!
Jeff Gill is pastor of Hebron Christian Church and enjoys wind chill tables and good homemade spaghetti sauce (but his last batch turned into salsa: don’t ask). If you have Hebron news to use, call 928-4066 or e-mail disciple@voyager.net.
by Jeff Gill
Next Saturday, "Books and Coffee" continues here in Hebron at 10 am with "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly." This is a book that really makes you take a second look at what makes life worth living.
It is a true story, and if it were fiction it probably never could have been published. A black turtleneck wearing, cigarette smoking, wine sipping French fashion magazine editor living in Paris has a massive stroke, paralyzing his entire body except for one eyelid. He is moved to a convalescent hospital far out in the countryside, where he finds out who is friends are because they still visit, but can't communicate.
Did i mention he wrote the book himself? That's right, by blinking his one good eyelid he begins to communicate out of the diving bell of his body what is going on with the butterfly of his spirit, which is still flying. There's no miracle cure, but how Jean-Dominique Bauby responds to his situation is truly a miracle. Come talk about this amazing book at 612 W. Main on Feb. 22 at 10 am.
As many of you know, i think history is a big part of what makes life worth living; not just the reading and the research, but the living connections and sense of belonging beyond the here and now that history really communicates when you become part of it.
The Ohio bicentennial celebrations are really some history you can become part of, and i hope you all are planning to come by OSU-N on Sat., March 1 for some pancakes between 8 and noon and the Ohio outline picture at 10:30 am. We'll have more details in the paper next week, but make sure to mark that day now!
The levy defeat was frustrating for all the 300 plus volunteers who worked on it, but I am proud to note that both Hebron precincts and most of our immediate vicinity voted “yes” for our community responsibilities. With twenty to twentyfive percent of our registered voters casting a “no” on a tax increase, just let your correspondent note that I’ve worked on school levies in three states, and let me tell you that you’ll never see anything less than that, even when the economy is great, the baseball team wins a state championship, and every house has the bluebird of happiness sitting on the chimney. Our 1700 to 2200 “no” vote total is exactly what you’ll always see, no matter what: the mystery is the “not voter.” And you know who you are. . .all 5000 of you.
For parents who deal with the occasional frustrations of little things like pay-to-participate ($250 per activity per child, in case any of you had forgotten), no busing for the high school, and no all-day kindergarten, there’s also the complication of snow days.
We are now over our limit of five, so Monday, Presidents’ Day, will be “taken back” so we don’t have to keep doing school into June. More to come? I’m thinkin’ “yep.”
Anyhow, I asked Phil Herman, our hard working and always available superintendent about when snow days are called on account of snow, as most folks understand that the snow and ice decision is one between him, the transportation crew, and the county road reports. Phil says the guideline they follow is zero degrees air temperature, or twenty below wind chill when kids would be out waiting on busses. If those conditions are met or exceeded, we go to delay or cancellation. Thanks for clearing that up, Phil! He also wants to thank all the people who came out in good weather and bad to work on the levy effort.
Thanks to Janet Robberts, one of the volunteers who make all kinds of things work well around the Hebron Crossorads, some other local information of note:
Lakewood Youth Baseball signups are Saturdays, February 22, March 1 & 8. 9:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m. in the Lakewood Intermediate School cafeteria. There will also be a Coach's Clinic February 22, 9:00 a.m. - 11:00 a.m. and a Umpire's Clinic February 22, 12:00 p.m.. - 2:00 p.m..
Also, the Hebron Elementary PTO is sponsoring a Spring Craft Fair, March 15 10 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. For craft spaces please contact Lyn Lockwood at 928-7540.
The Hebron Elementary is also collecting Meijer receipts, Campbell Soup labels & Box Tops for Education. Anyone interested in donating these items may drop these off at the school office.
The elementary school will have their Statehood Day celebration a day early, on Feb. 28, and word is a person may step out of the past to tell a story or two about 200 years ago in the Ohio territory. . .
And if you get this by Sat. Feb. 15, Hebron Christian is having a Valentine’s Spaghetti Dinner from 6 to 8 pm with contributions for our regional capital campaign for church camp. Bring your sweetie and have some spaghetti, and choose your own level of generosity.
So here we are at the end of my allotted space, and I still haven’t got to the Ohio Canal and Rt. 79 like I promised last week! Someday I’ll learn to quit doing that, since when I say I will write on something, 42 other things suddenly show up for the column. On the other hand, I should keep writing previews if that gets more info for you to read and benefit from; anyhow, we’ll always get to it someday. So, canal tales next week at the Hebron Crossorads!
Jeff Gill is pastor of Hebron Christian Church and enjoys wind chill tables and good homemade spaghetti sauce (but his last batch turned into salsa: don’t ask). If you have Hebron news to use, call 928-4066 or e-mail disciple@voyager.net.
Tuesday, February 04, 2003
Hebron Crossroads 2-09-03
By Jeff Gill
We salute those lost in service to their country, while on a mission to benefit humanity, whose high level of training and preparation gave them joy in their work but were brought down by the unexpected and unforeseen. Our prayers are with their families, most of them with young children, who know their loved ones did not die in vain, honored by many who never knew them as they served many they would never know.
That paragraph could be about the seven Columbia astronauts from the US and Israel, but in fact I was thinking of the four US servicemen who were killed when their Blackhawk helicopter crashed near Bagram Air Force Base in Afghanistan, just a day and a half before the shuttle went down.
We don’t have to take anything away from our regard for those skilled and brilliant individuals whom we lost over Texas last Saturday, when we also want to remember our talented young men and women, often fathers and mothers, some from Licking County, who are on risky duty in Iraq overflights these last twelve years, who fly security and humanitarian missions over Central Europe and Afghanistan, who keep watch at our borders and near outposts like the Korean border around the world. They also deserve our remembrance when they fall. . .and especially where they stand on guard for freedom.
In the wake of the Lakewood Schools levy (you know the outcome, but as this is typed, I don’t!), many, many thanks to Phil Herman for all his work around the district in meeting with individuals, making calls, answering letters, and laying the groundwork for his term as superintendent of our great school system.
Lou Staffilino, who worked hard to put solid educational ground under all our feet, is doing much better after his extensive surgery in December, and on Tues., Feb. 11, Ohio Dominican University is inducting the first class into their new Alumni Hall of Fame, and Lou is one of the first inductees. A crew from Lakewood will be attending a program around this induction that night over at ODU (just off I-670 in Columbus), and our heartiest congratualtions to Lou on his recovery and on this honor!
While snow on 40 mile an hour gales whips by the windows, it feels downright good to think about soccer; that’s right, soccer! The Hebron Area Soccer Association is organizing (and still needs coaches, by the way); the first go round of sign-ups is Saturday Feb. 8 at the middle school cafeteria, which may be before some of you read this. Be of good cheer, because registration forms are still available.
The Hebron Library and the Lakewood Schools office has forms, and they are for interested boys and girls age 4 through 8th grade. The cost is $35 which includes a game shirt, and the season runs from April 1 to Memorial Day. If you have more questions, call Jim Dobos at 522-5969.
If anyone has info on youth baseball or other sports sign-ups in our area, please leave me a message at 928-4066 or e-mail the word to disciple@voyager.net, and it’ll show up in the column!
The Books & Coffee gathering was three for "Johnny Tremain", but I heard from a number of you who had kids with ballgames and such that day, and Waldenbooks said they sold a rack o’ copies, so the books are getting read. We had a fun conversation and drank up the whole pot of coffee, and we’ll be together again at 612 W. Main St. in Hebron on Feb. 22 looking at "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly" by Jean-Dominique Bauby. This is a very moving true story, and that book too is selling at Walden’s at the mall in Heath. Remember that March 22, also at 10 am, is a real cabin fever cure, Francis Mayes’ "Under the Tuscan Sun."
Before that date, Sat. March 1 is our Statehood Day celebration for Licking County at OSU-N; come for the pancakes (8 am to noon, $4 and 10 and under kids are $2) and stay for the giant picture of all of us forming an Ohio outline at 10:30.
As one of the many Hebronites who drive up and down Rt. 79 more often than we care to think, the signs are unmistakable that the widening project is taking shape with little survey flags, spray paint marks, and digging already afoot with utilities and such.
Next week, I plan to talk about some of the canal history you can still see along 79, and what will soon disappear, but a reminder I imagine will be heard again and again.
Please be careful, especially as you make left turns onto 79/Hebron Rd., especially in Heath. I’ve seen some pretty scary jumps out into traffic, witnessed not just near misses but ended up holding hands or standing by smashed cars waiting for the police or worse yet the squad to come along, and we all heard about a death accompanying a left turn just before Christmas.
Folks, there are precious few places where you can’t maneuver through a parking lot to get to a side street with a traffic light, or turn right and then go down to another light and four-square around to get back the other direction. Left turns onto 79 through the business district are just a bad idea, and impatient sudden turns against traffic are even worse.
As the old city limits sign somewhere says, "Drive carefully, we don’t have any people to spare." We’ve got the time to wait, especially if we think about how much time a simple wreck takes us, let alone the implications of worse accidents. Avoid the left turn and get back to Hebron a few minutes late. . .we promise to wait for you!
By Jeff Gill
We salute those lost in service to their country, while on a mission to benefit humanity, whose high level of training and preparation gave them joy in their work but were brought down by the unexpected and unforeseen. Our prayers are with their families, most of them with young children, who know their loved ones did not die in vain, honored by many who never knew them as they served many they would never know.
That paragraph could be about the seven Columbia astronauts from the US and Israel, but in fact I was thinking of the four US servicemen who were killed when their Blackhawk helicopter crashed near Bagram Air Force Base in Afghanistan, just a day and a half before the shuttle went down.
We don’t have to take anything away from our regard for those skilled and brilliant individuals whom we lost over Texas last Saturday, when we also want to remember our talented young men and women, often fathers and mothers, some from Licking County, who are on risky duty in Iraq overflights these last twelve years, who fly security and humanitarian missions over Central Europe and Afghanistan, who keep watch at our borders and near outposts like the Korean border around the world. They also deserve our remembrance when they fall. . .and especially where they stand on guard for freedom.
In the wake of the Lakewood Schools levy (you know the outcome, but as this is typed, I don’t!), many, many thanks to Phil Herman for all his work around the district in meeting with individuals, making calls, answering letters, and laying the groundwork for his term as superintendent of our great school system.
Lou Staffilino, who worked hard to put solid educational ground under all our feet, is doing much better after his extensive surgery in December, and on Tues., Feb. 11, Ohio Dominican University is inducting the first class into their new Alumni Hall of Fame, and Lou is one of the first inductees. A crew from Lakewood will be attending a program around this induction that night over at ODU (just off I-670 in Columbus), and our heartiest congratualtions to Lou on his recovery and on this honor!
While snow on 40 mile an hour gales whips by the windows, it feels downright good to think about soccer; that’s right, soccer! The Hebron Area Soccer Association is organizing (and still needs coaches, by the way); the first go round of sign-ups is Saturday Feb. 8 at the middle school cafeteria, which may be before some of you read this. Be of good cheer, because registration forms are still available.
The Hebron Library and the Lakewood Schools office has forms, and they are for interested boys and girls age 4 through 8th grade. The cost is $35 which includes a game shirt, and the season runs from April 1 to Memorial Day. If you have more questions, call Jim Dobos at 522-5969.
If anyone has info on youth baseball or other sports sign-ups in our area, please leave me a message at 928-4066 or e-mail the word to disciple@voyager.net, and it’ll show up in the column!
The Books & Coffee gathering was three for "Johnny Tremain", but I heard from a number of you who had kids with ballgames and such that day, and Waldenbooks said they sold a rack o’ copies, so the books are getting read. We had a fun conversation and drank up the whole pot of coffee, and we’ll be together again at 612 W. Main St. in Hebron on Feb. 22 looking at "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly" by Jean-Dominique Bauby. This is a very moving true story, and that book too is selling at Walden’s at the mall in Heath. Remember that March 22, also at 10 am, is a real cabin fever cure, Francis Mayes’ "Under the Tuscan Sun."
Before that date, Sat. March 1 is our Statehood Day celebration for Licking County at OSU-N; come for the pancakes (8 am to noon, $4 and 10 and under kids are $2) and stay for the giant picture of all of us forming an Ohio outline at 10:30.
As one of the many Hebronites who drive up and down Rt. 79 more often than we care to think, the signs are unmistakable that the widening project is taking shape with little survey flags, spray paint marks, and digging already afoot with utilities and such.
Next week, I plan to talk about some of the canal history you can still see along 79, and what will soon disappear, but a reminder I imagine will be heard again and again.
Please be careful, especially as you make left turns onto 79/Hebron Rd., especially in Heath. I’ve seen some pretty scary jumps out into traffic, witnessed not just near misses but ended up holding hands or standing by smashed cars waiting for the police or worse yet the squad to come along, and we all heard about a death accompanying a left turn just before Christmas.
Folks, there are precious few places where you can’t maneuver through a parking lot to get to a side street with a traffic light, or turn right and then go down to another light and four-square around to get back the other direction. Left turns onto 79 through the business district are just a bad idea, and impatient sudden turns against traffic are even worse.
As the old city limits sign somewhere says, "Drive carefully, we don’t have any people to spare." We’ve got the time to wait, especially if we think about how much time a simple wreck takes us, let alone the implications of worse accidents. Avoid the left turn and get back to Hebron a few minutes late. . .we promise to wait for you!
Wednesday, January 29, 2003
Notes From My Knapsack -- Feb. 2003 "The Church Window"
Hebron Christian Church
Thanks to your very kind and much appreciated gift on Christmas Sunday, the Gill household was able to replace a washer and dryer that dated to the Reagan administration, and chose the end of 2002 to enter retirement. 14 years is a goodly time for such appliances, we guess, although some have told us of their own lasting longer – but that was some years back, too.
We also said goodbye to the last of a pair of cars that started well, but quickly revealed that they weren’t designed to last much past 75,000, and I was raised to expect a good 100,000 miles and more from an automobile; Ken George tells me that Detroit is engineering again for that kind of endurance, and we’re going to put that to the test!
How long should things last? I like shirts and suit jackets to wear long enough to get “comfortable”, which Joyce tells me is the same as “unsightly”, and I still remember the first youth minister job I had when, on our introductions, a kid asked, “How old are those sneakers,” and when I said “about 10 years,” he gave them a look of utter amazement.
But what really lasts? Even modern plastics and resins have “life spans”, atomic elements have “half-lives” no matter how long, and scientists guess and test at the age of the universe. . .and its end. And after what seems like three long nasty colds in a row since Thanksgiving, it looks like even the human body has its limits (or at least that’s what my nose is telling me).
Then there are the things we call “ephemeral”, that “are for a time.” A child’s smile, a touch of a hand while waiting on an ER gurney, laughter echoing out of a house as you walk up the steps to enter. They happen, they pass, and . . .
In this time between Christmas and Easter, our faith can guide us to a greater sense of what truly endures, what lasts, and a better awareness of what’s really ephemeral and passes away. Washers, dryers, head colds; of these is not the kingdom of heaven! Let’s think on the things that are, and act on the decisions which lead to what endures forever.
In Grace & Peace,
Pastor Jeff
* * * * * * *
Pastoral Care Notes
Two reminders, which you’ve probably heard before and likely would help to hear again!
The hospitals, especially LMH, often ask if you would like your church/pastor to be informed. For myriad reasons, to complicated to go into here, you need to know that this system often doesn’t work! Our folks have had visits from very nice strangers who weren’t sure who they were, either; the church office often gets calls for Hebron UMC, Central Christian, etc., which Pastor Jeff reroutes as well as he can.
Anyhow, please let Jeff or someone know, because he’d rather hear it four times than not at all, and LMH will just have to keep working on their system. . .
The other note is tied to something you may note from the annual report; when it comes to worship attendance, only a relatively small number had five absences or less, while almost 250 made multiple appearances in worship through 2002. So missing church a few times doesn’t ring the same bell for pew mates, friends, or the pastor that it once did.
If you’re laid up at home and feeling lonely, give the church a call at 928-4066 or Pastor Jeff at 928-2576, and then we’ll all feel better!
* * * * * * *
Interim Regional Pastor
Visits Hebron
On Thursday, Feb. 13, our building will host the monthly meeting of the clergy in District 10/11 (Licking, Muskingum, Coshocton, Guernsey, Jefferson, Noble, Washington Co.’s). Our guest at this meeting is Rev. Suzanne Webb, the interim regional pastor for the Christian Church in Ohio, and part of the Futuring Task Force for the region that Pastor Jeff is a part of.
* * * * * * *
Statehood Day in Licking County
Saturday, March 1st, is both the kickoff for the State of Ohio bicentennial celebrations and a significant day for Licking County. That morning, at Hopewell Hall on the OSU-N campus, a pancake breakfast will begin at 8 am, continuing through the morning with a break at 10:00 am for all of us to go out and literally form the outline of Ohio. Our picture will be taken from above, and this picture will be part of the historical record of this day and year. Donna Braig and Kim Halter are part of the County Bicentennial Commission, and they’ve got Pastor Jeff roped in on some further events which will pass through Hebron this summer – but the first thing is for all of you to join the Commission, Hebron Village council, Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts, bands and choirs, as we start this bicentennial celebration on March 1. Come join us, and have some pancakes while you wait!
Hebron Christian Church
Thanks to your very kind and much appreciated gift on Christmas Sunday, the Gill household was able to replace a washer and dryer that dated to the Reagan administration, and chose the end of 2002 to enter retirement. 14 years is a goodly time for such appliances, we guess, although some have told us of their own lasting longer – but that was some years back, too.
We also said goodbye to the last of a pair of cars that started well, but quickly revealed that they weren’t designed to last much past 75,000, and I was raised to expect a good 100,000 miles and more from an automobile; Ken George tells me that Detroit is engineering again for that kind of endurance, and we’re going to put that to the test!
How long should things last? I like shirts and suit jackets to wear long enough to get “comfortable”, which Joyce tells me is the same as “unsightly”, and I still remember the first youth minister job I had when, on our introductions, a kid asked, “How old are those sneakers,” and when I said “about 10 years,” he gave them a look of utter amazement.
But what really lasts? Even modern plastics and resins have “life spans”, atomic elements have “half-lives” no matter how long, and scientists guess and test at the age of the universe. . .and its end. And after what seems like three long nasty colds in a row since Thanksgiving, it looks like even the human body has its limits (or at least that’s what my nose is telling me).
Then there are the things we call “ephemeral”, that “are for a time.” A child’s smile, a touch of a hand while waiting on an ER gurney, laughter echoing out of a house as you walk up the steps to enter. They happen, they pass, and . . .
In this time between Christmas and Easter, our faith can guide us to a greater sense of what truly endures, what lasts, and a better awareness of what’s really ephemeral and passes away. Washers, dryers, head colds; of these is not the kingdom of heaven! Let’s think on the things that are, and act on the decisions which lead to what endures forever.
In Grace & Peace,
Pastor Jeff
* * * * * * *
Pastoral Care Notes
Two reminders, which you’ve probably heard before and likely would help to hear again!
The hospitals, especially LMH, often ask if you would like your church/pastor to be informed. For myriad reasons, to complicated to go into here, you need to know that this system often doesn’t work! Our folks have had visits from very nice strangers who weren’t sure who they were, either; the church office often gets calls for Hebron UMC, Central Christian, etc., which Pastor Jeff reroutes as well as he can.
Anyhow, please let Jeff or someone know, because he’d rather hear it four times than not at all, and LMH will just have to keep working on their system. . .
The other note is tied to something you may note from the annual report; when it comes to worship attendance, only a relatively small number had five absences or less, while almost 250 made multiple appearances in worship through 2002. So missing church a few times doesn’t ring the same bell for pew mates, friends, or the pastor that it once did.
If you’re laid up at home and feeling lonely, give the church a call at 928-4066 or Pastor Jeff at 928-2576, and then we’ll all feel better!
* * * * * * *
Interim Regional Pastor
Visits Hebron
On Thursday, Feb. 13, our building will host the monthly meeting of the clergy in District 10/11 (Licking, Muskingum, Coshocton, Guernsey, Jefferson, Noble, Washington Co.’s). Our guest at this meeting is Rev. Suzanne Webb, the interim regional pastor for the Christian Church in Ohio, and part of the Futuring Task Force for the region that Pastor Jeff is a part of.
* * * * * * *
Statehood Day in Licking County
Saturday, March 1st, is both the kickoff for the State of Ohio bicentennial celebrations and a significant day for Licking County. That morning, at Hopewell Hall on the OSU-N campus, a pancake breakfast will begin at 8 am, continuing through the morning with a break at 10:00 am for all of us to go out and literally form the outline of Ohio. Our picture will be taken from above, and this picture will be part of the historical record of this day and year. Donna Braig and Kim Halter are part of the County Bicentennial Commission, and they’ve got Pastor Jeff roped in on some further events which will pass through Hebron this summer – but the first thing is for all of you to join the Commission, Hebron Village council, Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts, bands and choirs, as we start this bicentennial celebration on March 1. Come join us, and have some pancakes while you wait!
Tuesday, January 28, 2003
Hebron Crossroads 2-02-03
By Jeff Gill
Before the sun rises Tuesday morning, your fellow citizens in the Lakewood School District will be heading off to their polling places for the special election on the operating levy.
And before that, God bless ‘em, pollworkers who are also your friends and neighbors will have gotten up at oh-dark-thirty to set up the election equipment and be ready for those of us who vote at 6:30 am on the way into our day. Some of them hang in there right through the 7:30 pm closing on Feb. 4. Could we have a quick round of applause for those folks? Hear, hear. . .
Anyhow, we’re coming up on ten years with the same budget for Lakewood, and there are precious few households or organizations who are working with the same budget they had in 1993. With the recent arrival of the assessment letter and tax tickets (yep, I got mine too, and it went up), we’re reminded of reason number 367 why we need to change the state funding system for education; even though we are each paying more in taxes, the “rollback” provisions that give us each a lighter load on paying for bond issues also impact the contribution of the state to operating expenses, meaning that our schools can’t end up with more money than we voted for in 1993 until we vote otherwise.
That’s right, folks: when our assessments go up and we personally pay more, the law says that our work to make a better community is rewarded by cutting our state portion of the budget (paid for out of the sales tax and fees), leaving us where we started from minus inflation and wear-and-tear. Does this sound crazy to everybody, or is it just me?
So Superintendent Phil Herman, our school board, and hundreds of volunteers who are parents, grandparents, or just motivated citizens have to mobilize to ask for the money to pay the basic bills. . .the bills as they cost in 2003, not 1993. They’ve been working their way through the 9000 some registered voters in the district, calling, explaining, and communicating the need for a new levy. We’re currently paying near the absolute minimum in property taxes, and we’re barely making ends meet even without high school busing and all-day kindergarten and pay-to-participate.
Please get out and vote on Tuesday! I’m convinced that Lakewood is spending our money as carefully as they can, and they’ve convinced me that all-day kindergarten is vitally needed to set kids on the right learning track from the start. As for those who say half the high schoolers wouldn’t ride the bus if it were offered, my response is “but the half that would, would.” And pay-to-participate is just sad; I know my parents with four active kids would never have been able to pay per activity for all that us Gill kids did before and after school, and removing those activities creates a very real gap in our community where all manner of influences can enter in.
One more badgering point, and then I’ll move on (I promise); when people say “my kids are out of school, I’ve already paid my share,” among myriad other facts, the main point here is “no, you didn’t.” Virtually no one “pays their share” for their kids education, in large part because virtually no one could (yes, even way back when). While you were helping pay part of your kids education, whether through your own property tax on indirectly through your rent, others whose kids had already finished school were covering the rest. Schools are a community investment like roads and public safety, and we all pay what we can when we can; even churches and non-profits like the Masonic Lodge pay property taxes (my own congregation pays nearly $3000 a year, for instance) so this institution can continue to support and maintain democracy and literacy.
Meanwhile, we’ve gotta change this funding system: send your ideas to disciple@voyager.net or call 928-4066! Let’s get the public conversation going on this subject, but in the meantime, we need to give a modest bump to the the school budget for the next five years (which is as long as this levy would last, anyhow); maybe by 2008 we’ll have come up with an answer for this funding formula riddle. ‘Til then, see you at the polls on Tuesday!
By Jeff Gill
Before the sun rises Tuesday morning, your fellow citizens in the Lakewood School District will be heading off to their polling places for the special election on the operating levy.
And before that, God bless ‘em, pollworkers who are also your friends and neighbors will have gotten up at oh-dark-thirty to set up the election equipment and be ready for those of us who vote at 6:30 am on the way into our day. Some of them hang in there right through the 7:30 pm closing on Feb. 4. Could we have a quick round of applause for those folks? Hear, hear. . .
Anyhow, we’re coming up on ten years with the same budget for Lakewood, and there are precious few households or organizations who are working with the same budget they had in 1993. With the recent arrival of the assessment letter and tax tickets (yep, I got mine too, and it went up), we’re reminded of reason number 367 why we need to change the state funding system for education; even though we are each paying more in taxes, the “rollback” provisions that give us each a lighter load on paying for bond issues also impact the contribution of the state to operating expenses, meaning that our schools can’t end up with more money than we voted for in 1993 until we vote otherwise.
That’s right, folks: when our assessments go up and we personally pay more, the law says that our work to make a better community is rewarded by cutting our state portion of the budget (paid for out of the sales tax and fees), leaving us where we started from minus inflation and wear-and-tear. Does this sound crazy to everybody, or is it just me?
So Superintendent Phil Herman, our school board, and hundreds of volunteers who are parents, grandparents, or just motivated citizens have to mobilize to ask for the money to pay the basic bills. . .the bills as they cost in 2003, not 1993. They’ve been working their way through the 9000 some registered voters in the district, calling, explaining, and communicating the need for a new levy. We’re currently paying near the absolute minimum in property taxes, and we’re barely making ends meet even without high school busing and all-day kindergarten and pay-to-participate.
Please get out and vote on Tuesday! I’m convinced that Lakewood is spending our money as carefully as they can, and they’ve convinced me that all-day kindergarten is vitally needed to set kids on the right learning track from the start. As for those who say half the high schoolers wouldn’t ride the bus if it were offered, my response is “but the half that would, would.” And pay-to-participate is just sad; I know my parents with four active kids would never have been able to pay per activity for all that us Gill kids did before and after school, and removing those activities creates a very real gap in our community where all manner of influences can enter in.
One more badgering point, and then I’ll move on (I promise); when people say “my kids are out of school, I’ve already paid my share,” among myriad other facts, the main point here is “no, you didn’t.” Virtually no one “pays their share” for their kids education, in large part because virtually no one could (yes, even way back when). While you were helping pay part of your kids education, whether through your own property tax on indirectly through your rent, others whose kids had already finished school were covering the rest. Schools are a community investment like roads and public safety, and we all pay what we can when we can; even churches and non-profits like the Masonic Lodge pay property taxes (my own congregation pays nearly $3000 a year, for instance) so this institution can continue to support and maintain democracy and literacy.
Meanwhile, we’ve gotta change this funding system: send your ideas to disciple@voyager.net or call 928-4066! Let’s get the public conversation going on this subject, but in the meantime, we need to give a modest bump to the the school budget for the next five years (which is as long as this levy would last, anyhow); maybe by 2008 we’ll have come up with an answer for this funding formula riddle. ‘Til then, see you at the polls on Tuesday!
Tuesday, January 21, 2003
Pastor’s Annual Report
2003 Congregational Meeting
Rev. Jeff Gill
As you read through the various reports and accounts of our life as a congregation found here, manifested in classes and choirs, groups and gatherings, you will read many different names (some repeated, certainly!), a variety of numbers, and hear stories told. Any one soul is precious, and the tale of any of our days would necessarily have to be either too brief to do it justice, or tediously overdetailed. That’s just as true for a community of faith, made up as we are not only of many different persons, but of all the complications growing from our interactions, one to one, two by two, and even the differences in each Sunday’s congregation at worship.
But we also are called to good stewardship of the time and talents, the gifts and graces God has given us both separately and together, and that means we have to have some way of measuring the past and planning for the future. In church life, we tend to judge the past by the quality of our fellowship (“everyone had a great time” being a common phrase for that), and we usually assess our future in broad and general terms (“we hope to continue and grow”).
Concrete measures tend to be limited to attendance figures and giving gauged against income versus outgo. By those standards, Hebron Christian Church has had a good year – see elsewhere in this annual meeting report! -- and our hopes for the future can be shown in the not quite 5 percent increase planned for in the budget.
Do these numbers, though, do justice to our sense of calling and vision as a body of believers called into being by Jesus Christ himself? Are there other ways for us to test our faithfulness and follow God’s call?
Every church that considers itself faithful to the New Testament model has certain tasks it must be doing:
bringing the Good News (Lk. 9:6, II Thess. 3:1-5),
making disciples (both nearby, and of all nations! Mt. 28:19),
equipping the saints for the work of ministry (Eph. 4:12), and
to be kind and forgiving one another as God in Christ has forgiven us (Eph. 4:32).
For each of those high callings, worship attendance and general fund giving is a tool in ministry: not ends themselves, but tools to accomplish the ends God has established. But we run no less a hazard by avoiding a full accounting in settling for vague and general feelings of “that’s fine,” “I like that,” and of course the always risky “We’ve never done it that way before.” Can we come up with measurable and observable goals for our Christian community? One way we’ve done that recently is to take the perfectly good hope of “more people should read the Bible” and convert it into signed commitments to read the New Testament through Lent, which gave over half of our worshiping congregation a specific goal of their own from Ash Wednesday to Easter.
Getting to the heart of the title “disciple” is the concept of discipline, which we’re probably more familiar with as a practice than with what it means to “be a disciple.” But that’s just it! Being a disciple of Christ means that we are called to a more disciplined witness than, “yeah, I think that’s true, but that’s just my opinion;” to a more disciplined spirituality than “you can worship God anywhere, y’know;” to a sense of mission more disciplined than $5 in the offering plate when you won’t really miss it! Disciplining our faithfulness means being accountable to one another, being responsible for one another, and loving one another, both within these walls and to all those Christ died for.
How will we do this? Each element of church life will have to consider what is their own measurable and observable result of their ministry. The elders with their spiritual oversight and special responsibility for worship will look closely at Sunday attendance, but perhaps also at the rate and frequency of visitors who were personally invited to worship by a member. The trustees are responsible for the tool in ministry that is our church building, and can set goals about physical changes that increase accessibility and welcoming-ness of the layout (signage outside and in, for instance). The board, with its particular obligations as to fiscal stewardship, may want to look at how and when the congregation responds to special day offerings and other giving opportunities and how we can help connect mission and ministry. The Christian Education department has already met to review the year month by month to see where we are providing opportunities for spiritual growth.
I look forward to this new year, and the new life in Christ that Hebron Christian Church will share with so many through the months ahead. Disciplining our witness will allow so much more to happen in ministry, and in a time when so many are waiting to hear the Good News we’ve been entrusted with;
In Grace and Peace,
Pastor Jeff
* * * * * * *
Outreach and Ohio Disciples’ Outreach update
The beginning of 2003 marks the start of a small change in wording and an acronym that may herald some large changes in how the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) does mission and manages your giving to mission causes.
We’ve had a quarter century to get used to – and get complacent about! – BMF, or “Basic Mission Finance.” That is the “central bank account” for what was called before that “Unified Promotion,” one of the steps that led to the re-structure of our denomination in the 1960’s. This “common pot of money” was convenient for book keeping, but said little to people wanting more “transparency and accountability” in where their dollars went.
The General Board of the Christian Church has adopted a sweeping set of changes to BMF, but some of them are a bit subtle: like the name “Disciples Mission Fund,” or DMF for short. The real difference is how the giving of churches and individuals is managed, and to outline these, here is a Q&A page from www.disciples.org, which you can can find by clicking the DMF logo over the words “Giving changes lives.” You can also see a version of it with links below “What’s New” at our web site, http://go.to/Hebron_Christian.
Questions and Answers about the new funding system
How will the fund be divided?
Receipts will be divided: 2003 through 2008
For Regional Ministries* 45% to 50%
For General Ministries 45% to 40%
For Higher Education Institutions 10% to 10%
*Note: allocations for Regional Ministries will increase one percent each year so that in 2008 the division will be 50 percent Regional Ministries, 40 percent General Ministries, and 10 percent Higher Education Institutions.
Who will determine funding allocations?
Each of the three ministries groups will recommend how funds will be divided. The General Board will give final approval. Regions have appointed a committee of five regional ministers and two lay regional moderators who will make allocation recommendations based on criteria developed by the regions in consultation with each other. The Council on Theological Education and the Council of Colleges and Universities will make allocation recommendations for institutions of higher education. General Ministries will develop allocation recommendations through an accountability process using an external review panel.
How will regional funding allocations be determined?
Proposed allocations for the regions have been submitted to the General Board for approval. For 2003 those allocations are based upon the percentage of Basic Mission Finance dollars that regions received in 2001. This recommendation should result in an increase in 2003 funds compared to 2001 funds for all but six regions. Those regions not receiving an increase may apply for assistance from the emergency fund established for regions. The 2004 allocations will be based upon criteria for regional ministry to be approved by the regions and the General Board in 2003.
How will a region's receipts be based?
A region's receipts will be based on a percentage of Disciples Mission Fund contributions from congregations across the whole church.
Where will the four Special Offerings go?
Special Offerings will be received for particular ministries:
Easter for general ministries implementation of Disciples Imperative to strengthen congregational life,
Pentecost for new church development (divided equally between the region in which it is contributed and general New Church Ministry),
Thanksgiving for higher education institutions, and
Christmas for regional ministries in the region where the funds are contributed for implementation of the church's Imperative.
In addition to these offerings, Week of Compassion and Reconciliation offerings will be received to fund specified Disciples ministries for disaster relief and the Reconciliation Mission.
* * * * * * *
Friendly Class Report
Our one adult class on Sunday mornings has begun meeting downstairs in Fellowship Hall, where we are a bit more visible and accessible, allowing the choir to prepare for the service, and letting us have coffee and bite to eat along with the lesson! We have used both the Int’l Sunday School Lessons resources, as well as some videos and outlines from Pastor Jeff.
We invite all adults to join us for assembly in the sanctuary at 9:30 am, and then downstairs for our class. The discussions and insights have been great, and we look forward to inviting more of you to join us in 2003.
2003 Congregational Meeting
Rev. Jeff Gill
As you read through the various reports and accounts of our life as a congregation found here, manifested in classes and choirs, groups and gatherings, you will read many different names (some repeated, certainly!), a variety of numbers, and hear stories told. Any one soul is precious, and the tale of any of our days would necessarily have to be either too brief to do it justice, or tediously overdetailed. That’s just as true for a community of faith, made up as we are not only of many different persons, but of all the complications growing from our interactions, one to one, two by two, and even the differences in each Sunday’s congregation at worship.
But we also are called to good stewardship of the time and talents, the gifts and graces God has given us both separately and together, and that means we have to have some way of measuring the past and planning for the future. In church life, we tend to judge the past by the quality of our fellowship (“everyone had a great time” being a common phrase for that), and we usually assess our future in broad and general terms (“we hope to continue and grow”).
Concrete measures tend to be limited to attendance figures and giving gauged against income versus outgo. By those standards, Hebron Christian Church has had a good year – see elsewhere in this annual meeting report! -- and our hopes for the future can be shown in the not quite 5 percent increase planned for in the budget.
Do these numbers, though, do justice to our sense of calling and vision as a body of believers called into being by Jesus Christ himself? Are there other ways for us to test our faithfulness and follow God’s call?
Every church that considers itself faithful to the New Testament model has certain tasks it must be doing:
bringing the Good News (Lk. 9:6, II Thess. 3:1-5),
making disciples (both nearby, and of all nations! Mt. 28:19),
equipping the saints for the work of ministry (Eph. 4:12), and
to be kind and forgiving one another as God in Christ has forgiven us (Eph. 4:32).
For each of those high callings, worship attendance and general fund giving is a tool in ministry: not ends themselves, but tools to accomplish the ends God has established. But we run no less a hazard by avoiding a full accounting in settling for vague and general feelings of “that’s fine,” “I like that,” and of course the always risky “We’ve never done it that way before.” Can we come up with measurable and observable goals for our Christian community? One way we’ve done that recently is to take the perfectly good hope of “more people should read the Bible” and convert it into signed commitments to read the New Testament through Lent, which gave over half of our worshiping congregation a specific goal of their own from Ash Wednesday to Easter.
Getting to the heart of the title “disciple” is the concept of discipline, which we’re probably more familiar with as a practice than with what it means to “be a disciple.” But that’s just it! Being a disciple of Christ means that we are called to a more disciplined witness than, “yeah, I think that’s true, but that’s just my opinion;” to a more disciplined spirituality than “you can worship God anywhere, y’know;” to a sense of mission more disciplined than $5 in the offering plate when you won’t really miss it! Disciplining our faithfulness means being accountable to one another, being responsible for one another, and loving one another, both within these walls and to all those Christ died for.
How will we do this? Each element of church life will have to consider what is their own measurable and observable result of their ministry. The elders with their spiritual oversight and special responsibility for worship will look closely at Sunday attendance, but perhaps also at the rate and frequency of visitors who were personally invited to worship by a member. The trustees are responsible for the tool in ministry that is our church building, and can set goals about physical changes that increase accessibility and welcoming-ness of the layout (signage outside and in, for instance). The board, with its particular obligations as to fiscal stewardship, may want to look at how and when the congregation responds to special day offerings and other giving opportunities and how we can help connect mission and ministry. The Christian Education department has already met to review the year month by month to see where we are providing opportunities for spiritual growth.
I look forward to this new year, and the new life in Christ that Hebron Christian Church will share with so many through the months ahead. Disciplining our witness will allow so much more to happen in ministry, and in a time when so many are waiting to hear the Good News we’ve been entrusted with;
In Grace and Peace,
Pastor Jeff
* * * * * * *
Outreach and Ohio Disciples’ Outreach update
The beginning of 2003 marks the start of a small change in wording and an acronym that may herald some large changes in how the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) does mission and manages your giving to mission causes.
We’ve had a quarter century to get used to – and get complacent about! – BMF, or “Basic Mission Finance.” That is the “central bank account” for what was called before that “Unified Promotion,” one of the steps that led to the re-structure of our denomination in the 1960’s. This “common pot of money” was convenient for book keeping, but said little to people wanting more “transparency and accountability” in where their dollars went.
The General Board of the Christian Church has adopted a sweeping set of changes to BMF, but some of them are a bit subtle: like the name “Disciples Mission Fund,” or DMF for short. The real difference is how the giving of churches and individuals is managed, and to outline these, here is a Q&A page from www.disciples.org, which you can can find by clicking the DMF logo over the words “Giving changes lives.” You can also see a version of it with links below “What’s New” at our web site, http://go.to/Hebron_Christian.
Questions and Answers about the new funding system
How will the fund be divided?
Receipts will be divided: 2003 through 2008
For Regional Ministries* 45% to 50%
For General Ministries 45% to 40%
For Higher Education Institutions 10% to 10%
*Note: allocations for Regional Ministries will increase one percent each year so that in 2008 the division will be 50 percent Regional Ministries, 40 percent General Ministries, and 10 percent Higher Education Institutions.
Who will determine funding allocations?
Each of the three ministries groups will recommend how funds will be divided. The General Board will give final approval. Regions have appointed a committee of five regional ministers and two lay regional moderators who will make allocation recommendations based on criteria developed by the regions in consultation with each other. The Council on Theological Education and the Council of Colleges and Universities will make allocation recommendations for institutions of higher education. General Ministries will develop allocation recommendations through an accountability process using an external review panel.
How will regional funding allocations be determined?
Proposed allocations for the regions have been submitted to the General Board for approval. For 2003 those allocations are based upon the percentage of Basic Mission Finance dollars that regions received in 2001. This recommendation should result in an increase in 2003 funds compared to 2001 funds for all but six regions. Those regions not receiving an increase may apply for assistance from the emergency fund established for regions. The 2004 allocations will be based upon criteria for regional ministry to be approved by the regions and the General Board in 2003.
How will a region's receipts be based?
A region's receipts will be based on a percentage of Disciples Mission Fund contributions from congregations across the whole church.
Where will the four Special Offerings go?
Special Offerings will be received for particular ministries:
Easter for general ministries implementation of Disciples Imperative to strengthen congregational life,
Pentecost for new church development (divided equally between the region in which it is contributed and general New Church Ministry),
Thanksgiving for higher education institutions, and
Christmas for regional ministries in the region where the funds are contributed for implementation of the church's Imperative.
In addition to these offerings, Week of Compassion and Reconciliation offerings will be received to fund specified Disciples ministries for disaster relief and the Reconciliation Mission.
* * * * * * *
Friendly Class Report
Our one adult class on Sunday mornings has begun meeting downstairs in Fellowship Hall, where we are a bit more visible and accessible, allowing the choir to prepare for the service, and letting us have coffee and bite to eat along with the lesson! We have used both the Int’l Sunday School Lessons resources, as well as some videos and outlines from Pastor Jeff.
We invite all adults to join us for assembly in the sanctuary at 9:30 am, and then downstairs for our class. The discussions and insights have been great, and we look forward to inviting more of you to join us in 2003.
Hebron Crossroads 1-26-03
By Jeff Gill
“Souper Bowl” Sunday is an ongoing effort on the part of many youth organizations, churches, and similar groups to remind people of the ongoing needs of area food pantries. Christmas is a great time for giving, but that’s also a prime time for pantries to give, too.
With the shelves often quite bare at the end of January, the Super Bowl is an occasion when folks are out shopping anyhow, and the suggestion is that we buy a can of food to donate for every item of snack food we’re indulging in for the big game. And since soup is one canned good that is always useful for families in need, hence the name “Souper Bowl” for this promotion.
Many area churches and their youth groups are asking their members to bring food pantry items on this Sunday, and we’re happy to remind folks at the Hebron Crossroads about it; LEADS at Buckeye Lake does great work on our behalf, but when they see more plywood than can lids, this kind of extra effort to stock the shelves is really appreciated.
Another program supported by many area churches and civic groups is “Heartbeats of Licking County,” which provides crisis pregnancy counseling, support for new mothers, and promotion of adoption as a loving alternative for unplanned pregnancies.
Merridy Hoover, who stepped down not long ago as the executive director, is still working with Heartbeats with a focus on adoption, and has put together a video on the subject, sharing accurate information and pointing out myths about adoption and adoptive children. This locally made video has gotten a great deal of attention around the country, from coast to coast, and has been used in a variety of school programs far beyond Licking County where it was originally intended for use, including Lakewood schools. There is also a version of the video made for churches and faith-based groups.
Rindy Brooks, who was brave enough to step into Merridy’s very large shoes, is getting better known, as is the new location for Heartbeats at 336 East Main St. in Newark (their phone number is 349-7558). Rindy says, “When I run into people at the store, or out on the street, because of our abstinence-based teaching, they say, ‘Oh, that’s right, you’re the ‘No Sex Lady,’ and I’m trying to find the right way to tell them, ‘No, I’m pro-sex; I’m trying to help you have great sex, which is through a marriage with someone you waited for and that you’re so glad you’re with.”
Whether she becomes better known as the ‘No Sex’ lady or the ‘Great Sex’ lady, this lady has plenty of work to do, and she’s trying to figure out how to do more. With the counseling they do out of their office, Rindy points out that only 25 percent of their clients (averaging 19 to 25) turn out to be pregnant. “We want to reach out more effectively to that other 75 percent who say ‘whew’ and walk away, but came in worried. Heartbeats wants to address to source of those worries, and how they can eliminate those problems to start with.”
She also adds that their volunteer needs aren’t just for people who are comfortable doing crisis counseling, but also for women who are able to teach “how to be a mom,” folks willing to talk to teen and parent groups, or even have skills to share on basic home management.
With 40 million abortions in the US since 1973, there are tens of millions of women who have experienced the lasting after-effects of that choice, and Heartbeats’ program “Healing the Effects of Abortion Related Trauma,” or HEART, has been a real support for women who have taken the seven week group experience. New groups start whenever there are another six or seven women who want the course, which is led by women who have been through the course themselves. “No one is in the room who hasn’t been through an abortion themselves, and that can be very freeing for sharing and discussion in a non-judging atmosphere,” says Stephanie, a group leader.
Heartbeats has always had involvements in the Lakewood area, and while their “office” is a ways up the road, they’re just a phone call away, and as more volunteers and interest comes from groups around Hebron and Buckeye Lake, the more chance they’ll have of a visible presence in our end of the county. Dave Mason, pastor of Heath Church of Christ, and I agreed that Heartbeats is one of the most effective volunteer organizations in Licking County.
By Jeff Gill
“Souper Bowl” Sunday is an ongoing effort on the part of many youth organizations, churches, and similar groups to remind people of the ongoing needs of area food pantries. Christmas is a great time for giving, but that’s also a prime time for pantries to give, too.
With the shelves often quite bare at the end of January, the Super Bowl is an occasion when folks are out shopping anyhow, and the suggestion is that we buy a can of food to donate for every item of snack food we’re indulging in for the big game. And since soup is one canned good that is always useful for families in need, hence the name “Souper Bowl” for this promotion.
Many area churches and their youth groups are asking their members to bring food pantry items on this Sunday, and we’re happy to remind folks at the Hebron Crossroads about it; LEADS at Buckeye Lake does great work on our behalf, but when they see more plywood than can lids, this kind of extra effort to stock the shelves is really appreciated.
Another program supported by many area churches and civic groups is “Heartbeats of Licking County,” which provides crisis pregnancy counseling, support for new mothers, and promotion of adoption as a loving alternative for unplanned pregnancies.
Merridy Hoover, who stepped down not long ago as the executive director, is still working with Heartbeats with a focus on adoption, and has put together a video on the subject, sharing accurate information and pointing out myths about adoption and adoptive children. This locally made video has gotten a great deal of attention around the country, from coast to coast, and has been used in a variety of school programs far beyond Licking County where it was originally intended for use, including Lakewood schools. There is also a version of the video made for churches and faith-based groups.
Rindy Brooks, who was brave enough to step into Merridy’s very large shoes, is getting better known, as is the new location for Heartbeats at 336 East Main St. in Newark (their phone number is 349-7558). Rindy says, “When I run into people at the store, or out on the street, because of our abstinence-based teaching, they say, ‘Oh, that’s right, you’re the ‘No Sex Lady,’ and I’m trying to find the right way to tell them, ‘No, I’m pro-sex; I’m trying to help you have great sex, which is through a marriage with someone you waited for and that you’re so glad you’re with.”
Whether she becomes better known as the ‘No Sex’ lady or the ‘Great Sex’ lady, this lady has plenty of work to do, and she’s trying to figure out how to do more. With the counseling they do out of their office, Rindy points out that only 25 percent of their clients (averaging 19 to 25) turn out to be pregnant. “We want to reach out more effectively to that other 75 percent who say ‘whew’ and walk away, but came in worried. Heartbeats wants to address to source of those worries, and how they can eliminate those problems to start with.”
She also adds that their volunteer needs aren’t just for people who are comfortable doing crisis counseling, but also for women who are able to teach “how to be a mom,” folks willing to talk to teen and parent groups, or even have skills to share on basic home management.
With 40 million abortions in the US since 1973, there are tens of millions of women who have experienced the lasting after-effects of that choice, and Heartbeats’ program “Healing the Effects of Abortion Related Trauma,” or HEART, has been a real support for women who have taken the seven week group experience. New groups start whenever there are another six or seven women who want the course, which is led by women who have been through the course themselves. “No one is in the room who hasn’t been through an abortion themselves, and that can be very freeing for sharing and discussion in a non-judging atmosphere,” says Stephanie, a group leader.
Heartbeats has always had involvements in the Lakewood area, and while their “office” is a ways up the road, they’re just a phone call away, and as more volunteers and interest comes from groups around Hebron and Buckeye Lake, the more chance they’ll have of a visible presence in our end of the county. Dave Mason, pastor of Heath Church of Christ, and I agreed that Heartbeats is one of the most effective volunteer organizations in Licking County.
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