Newark Christian - April 3, 2013

The Newark Christian

Serving God's Transformation of Licking County

April 3, 2013

Volume LXXIV

Issue 7

3Church Office Hours:

Monday – Friday

7:00 am – 2:00 pm

Phone:  740-366-4961

Email:

secretary.newarkcentral@gmail.com

We're on the Web!

Visit us at:

newarkcentralchristian.com

Our mission is to lead people to faith in Jesus Christ through the work of the Holy Spirit and Scriptures from the Holy Bible.  We seek to grow in knowledge and grace of Christ to strengthen the unity of all Christians toward building the Kingdom of God.

E-mail update: next Wednesday, April 10, at 6:00 pm in Fellowship Hall, we will welcome Sam John, a missionary from India who works with his father, Dr. K.C. John, to maintain five orphanages for abandoned girls there. He is conducting a tour of congregations in Ohio and elsewhere, and has connections to us through the Thompson family. Please make a special effort to join us in hearing what God is doing in India!  If you'd like to learn a bit more about the John family and their work, you can find a pdf oral history at:

http://www.sebts.edu/cgcs/images/John-Interview.pdf

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Our Mission Field

Notes From My Knapsack

Easter morning, as the sunrise service was ending (in a gentle rain, but life's like that sometimes), as the fireplace was burning down to embers, it was a unique joy to lean out over the wall of the old CCC picnic shelter atop Horn's Hill, and see the zig-zag of headlights and taillights moving slowly down the road below us, back and forth around the hairpin curves. It was the kind of sight you might expect out West, or somewhere even more exotic, but we were looking beyond that "mountainside" vista to the lights of Deo Drive and Mt. Vernon Rd.

Even as the blue glow filled the valley from an obscured sunrise, the lights glittered over to 21^st St., and to the south as far as Heath and Hebron, carpeting the valley floor; you could see west to Cherry Valley Road and Granville even with a mist rising up out of the streambed of Raccoon Creek. If you knew where to look, from the southern crest of the hilltop, you could see both the windows of Newark Central, and then on down Rt. 13 to the Licking County Courthouse.

A few months ago, I bought a picture from a photographer two blocks over on Fairfield Ave. that's hanging just outside my office door. It's a reverse of that Horn's Hill vista, from an open field atop the ridge south of downtown Newark, the perspective pulling together the courthouse cupola, the old firehouse tower where R&M Bakery serves our neighborhood, and our steeple, with the Chestnut Hills north of Dry Creek across the top.

On the wall below, with the help of a little shop in The Arcade downtown, it now says "Our Mission Field." It's a reminder to me each day and anyone else in to see me (or use the church library next door!) that we're a congregation with a mission to proclaim Christ's good news and serve in his name. This county, this community is our mission field.

And in that same spirit, we're going to consider in the wake of Easter, during the Sunday services, "The Rest of Life," a look at the Christian life based on a book by Dr. Ben Witherington III, a professor at Asbury Theological Seminary. How is "the rest of" our lives part of Christ's mission for each of us, and all of us together, to proclaim & serve?

In grace and peace, Pastor Jeff

Youth McDonald's tour and SURPRISE

On Sunday, April 7, from 1:30-4:00 pm, all youth will meet at the church. We will travel to McDonalds located by Texas Roadhouse. Please bring money for a treat and dress for the weather. A surprise will come after our tour to another destination. Until then get ready to learn the ins and outs of McDonalds! Samantha (call church office)

God and Stuff

On Sunday, April 7 all youth in grades 6-12 will meet after the 10:30 service. Please bring your bible and money for lunch. Get ready for an invigorating conversation with Pastor Jeff.

Youth Christian Skate Night

On Monday, April 15 all youth ages 5 and up will meet from 6:15-8:15 pm at the church. We will be roller skating at the Rollaway Rink. The cost is free thanks to Betty Lou and Larry Iden. Please bring money for refreshments and $1.00 for inline or speed skates. There will be devotions at 7:30 pm. Until then get ready to play the number game.

Thank you…

…for having us all over for lunch after my mother's service. This is truly a ministry to those in time of grief. We were able to share many memories together. Please pass on our gratitude to Cynthia Rarick and her team. Mike Keaser (Marie Sunkle's son).

Thanks for Flowers of Tomorrow

All the flowers of all the tomorrows are in the seeds of today. Thank you, you have planted seeds of hope, encouragement and healing by your prayers in my recent health concerns. Expressions of love and concern are wonderful blessings to all who are experiencing health issues. Blessings and thanks to all, Carol Van Winkle.

Granville Youth Event

On Sunday, April 14 all youth ages 5 and up will meet from 2:30 pm to 5:00 pm. We will tour the Robbins Hunter Museum and then have ice cream at Whit's. Please bring money for the ice cream. Until then get ready to wear your cultural hat and learn and explore at the Robbins Hunter Museum.

Spaghetti Dinner

As most of you know, Leukemia and Lymphoma have both deeply touched our family. We lost Mom 5 weeks after her diagnosis. Katie, on the other hand, has shown everyone that it is possible to fight the fight and beat the odds. She is now healthy with a beautiful family.

Our daughter in law, Melissa Schmitt, has taken on the battle head on to help find a cure. Being a research nurse helps her see the possibilities that are on the horizon. Melissa is training with Team in Training to run 2 half marathons (13.3 miles each). She will run the first in Washington DC in April and the second three weeks later in Cleveland. To be a part of the team she had to commit to raise a considerable amount of money for Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. This is where you come in……..

We will be serving a spaghetti dinner after church on April 14. The cost will be donation only and we will provide you with a receipt for the L/L Society at the time if you so choose. It is a tax right off donation. Thank you in advance for your support, you have to eat lunch somewhere, you might as well join us for a good cause!!!!! Thanks, Judy Schmitt

Summer 2013 Camp Information

Please consider sending your child to camp so he or she can grow in their spiritual faith, enjoy fellowship, and experience a life changing week. Application forms are available at the Welcome Center. The cost is $160.00 per child for each week. Please see me if your child will need a monetary sponsor for camp. I need to have all applications turned in no later than April 21 to make the early bird deadline. You can give me the fee money as your family is able. Please see me for any questions and further details. Prayerfully consider having your child embark on this week long journey of faith and fun.

Samantha (call church office)

Grandparents Camp - For Children in grades 1 & 2 and a Grandparent
Held at Camp Christian, May 31 - June 1

Otter Junior Camp - For youth in grades 3, 4, & 5
Held at Camp Christian, June 16 - 22

Chi Rho Camps - For youth in grades 6, 7, & 8
All Chi Rho Camps are held at Camp Christian

Hocking June 9 - 15

Portahoga July 7 - 13

Maumee July 14 - 20

Miami August 4 - 10

CYF Conferences - For youth in grades 9, 10, 11, & 12
All CYF Conferences are held at Camp Christian

Hiram June 23 - 29

Phyo June 30  - July 6

Lakeside July 21 - 27

Wilmington July 28 - August 3

Adult Ministries - For adults of all ages
Held at Northwest Christian Church, Columbus, June 17 – 21

Adventure Camp - For adults of all ages and high school age youth
Location TBA, June 28 – 31

Advance Ministries Summer Conference - For young adults ages 19 - 29
(at least one year out of high school)
Held at Camp Christian, August 11 - 18

http://www.ccinoh.com/media/68505/camp_christian_is_2013.pdf

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Looking Ahead…….

Sunday, April 7 –

"The Rest of Life: Rest"

                    Hebrews 4:1-11

Sunday, April 14 –

"The Rest of Life: Play"

                    Isaiah 61:1-2

Sunday, April 21 –

"The Rest of Life: Food"

                    Matthew 11:16-19

Sunday, April 28 –

"The Rest of Life: Fasting"

                    Matthew 6:16-18

Sunday, May 5 –

"The Rest of Life: Study"

                    II Timothy 2:14-16

         

Sunday, May 12 –

"The Rest of Life: Sex"

                    I Corinthians 7:1-7, 16

Sunday, May 19 –

"The Rest of Life: Aging"

                    Ecclesiastes 3

           

Joys and Concerns

• For Bob recovering at home, waiting for his new knee (again!)
• Welcoming new members, Mark & Pamela Roth and their daughters Brenda & Pam, who joined on Easter Sunday
• Celebrating the baptism of Jenna Marie, congratulations to parents Michael and Kelly and grandparents Bill and Sandy

Daily Scripture Readings

Apr    3       Matthew 28:1-15

         4       2 Timothy 1:3-10

         5       Luke 24:13-31

         6       I John 3:18-22

         7       I Timothy 6:17-19

         8       Matt. 13:1-8, 18-23

         9       Luke 15:11-24

         10      Proverbs 15:1-4

         11      Matthew 25:31-40

         12      I Corin. 10:31-11:1

         13      Psalm 32:1-7

         14      Acts 17:16-34

         15      I Corin. 12:14-26

         16      John 10:11-16, 27-29

         17      Colossians 3:12-17

         18      Isaiah 43:1-4

         19      Ephesians 4:31-5:2

         20      I Corin. 15:1-8, 20

 (Taken from The Upper Room)

Inserted into this week's newsletter:

Stewardship Committee Report

Year End Report 2012

Ed Taylor, a Disciples of Christ pastor who serves as head of the Ecumenical Stewardship Center, points out that "Stewardship is the receiving, caring, and giving that knows God and shapes Christian discipleship".  Stewardship is not just about giving but about where we focus our priorities.

As a congregation, we place priorities in three areas – 1) our General Fund for the ongoing church budget, or "Current Expense" on our offering envelopes; 2) Mission giving through your envelope designations and other allocations of the board from the General Fund budget; and 3) in Building Maintenance, to care for the ministry tools of our property and structures here and at the church lodge. The Stewardship Committee primarily manages the General Fund expenses, with the Missions Committee overseeing Mission outlays, the Property Committee our Building Maintenance costs, and our Memorials have their own committee along with the investment oversight of the Trustees, who are the legal agents of the congregation under Ohio law.

Our General Fund started 2012 with a balance of $19,111.93 and closed with a balance at the end of December of $6,744.81.  Income to the General Fund through the end of December 2012 was $222,478.37.  The income to the General Fund has been holding steady over the last couple of years even during these difficult economic times.  Income to the General Fund also includes undesignated or "loose" collection offerings, and property rental.

Expenses paid from the General Fund through the end of December 2012 were $234,845.49. This compares to projected expenses calculated in the 2012 Stewardship Campaign of $273,736.38. The reduced expense level results from the functional committees holding down expenses and eliminating the cost of health insurance for our pastor.

           

Our best estimates of projected giving versus anticipated expenses show a likely deficit in the coming year. We are reviewing options for a new Stewardship campaign approach in the Fall of this year for our planning and projections into 2014. Meanwhile, each one of us needs to prayerfully examine our personal level of Stewardship to see how much we can increase our giving to help reduce the expected deficit between the estimated income and expenses to the General Fund for 2013.

Harry Cline

Stewardship Committee Chairman

Faith Works 4-6-13

Faith Works 4-6-13

Jeff Gill

 

Pictures worth a thousand words, or Word

___

 

Have you ever heard of Harry Anderson?

 

No, not the magician/comedian who used to be on "Night Court" (loved that show), but the artist.

 

You may not know the name, but if you attend church you probably know his work. Not as well-known as Warner Sallman, the painter of "Head of Christ" (1941) which is so common your church almost certainly has one hanging somewhere, he was inspired by Sallman's example and took it a step further.

 

In 1945, Anderson painted "What happened to your hand?" which shows a group of modern-day children sitting with Jesus in a garden. The boy down on the grass is holding an airplane toy, just to make sure that you get the contemporary setting along with their 1945 kids' clothes.

 

And on the knee of Jesus, who's wearing a robe of timeless vintage, a little girl is holding his open-palmed hand and looking up quizzically at him. The caption is not on the painting, nor does it need to be. It's quite clear, and I think quite affecting.

 

Oddly enough today, the controversy both within Anderson's own Seventh-Day Adventist community, and more generally, was whether it was appropriate to show Christ in a contemporary setting. The controversy didn't hurt Anderson's career, and he continued working for decades, doing religious art for the Latter Day Saints' display at the New York World Fair, and for a variety of Protestant venues.

 

If you've not seen "What happened to your hand?" (but look around in your Sunday school rooms, it's probably somewhere), you may have seen where Anderson made Christ 500 feet tall, so to speak, and shows him knocking on the United Nations' building in New York as if it were a door.

 

I'm partial to another painting of his which ought to show up in a Mad Men episode, where Anderson puts a robed Jesus in a 1960s living room, earnestly speaking to a man with his back to the viewer, looking out the picture window across the lawn. From behind, you could swear it was Don Draper. (I'll post a link on Twitter to a page where you can see all these.)

 

Visual depictions of the Bible and of Jesus himself have a long history, with murals and mosaics and stained glass helping tell the old, old story in an era before literacy and printing. Illuminated manuscripts even in medieval times added images to the verbiage, with stock representations making small pictures understandable to anyone (the beard on Jesus, the wild hair on John the Baptist, a bald and short Paul, etc.).

 

Harry Anderson more than Warner Sallman opened the door to pictures of Jesus and tales of faith in a new context, even as movies in the 50s & 60s were emphasizing a sort of authenticity that was more a stock image than a historical study. Sunday school and VBS material has tended to stick with the safer approach, with a visual palette that isn't much different from those medieval manuscripts or the German Romantic era paintings that inspired most of our 20^th century American stained glass.

 

So it was with delight that I've learned about how the platform of the graphic novel as been used recently to re-tell that old, old story with some current insight. I'll admit to a small flinch when I first heard about the "Manga Bible," using the Japanese form of animation best known in the Pokemon or Speed Racer worlds, but Tyndale's "Manga Messiah" of the Gospels and "Manga Metamorphosis" of Acts are a surprisingly complete telling of the text. There are three Old Testament volumes I've not yet seen.

 

"The Action Bible" from David C. Cook comes as the full Scriptures, or just a New Testament version, but is a good read for middle school and high school students not exactly loving a text-based experience (but there's much of the text right there in the margins and speech balloons). And I am truly in awe of Zondervan's "The Book of Revelation." It's that last book of the Bible, all the text present and fully accounted for and brilliantly realized; I couldn't have imagined this approach until I saw this work, but entirely rooted in the words as they are present. You will be moved, and moved to reflect deeply on Revelation through this graphic novel.

 

I'm a reader myself, but I will be recommending these formats for reading and envisioning the Bible for years to come. They are missionary efforts of their own type, reaching out in new ways with the timeless Story of Stories.

 

Jeff Gill is a writer, storyteller, and pastor in Licking County; tell him your preferred translation or rendition of the Bible at knapsack77@gmail.com, or @Knapsack on Twitter.

[for the editor, if they're curious - http://www.harryandersonart.com/religious-art-i.html - and I will post this to my Twitter account on Saturday morning. Pax, JBG]

Knapsack 4-4-13

Notes From My Knapsack 4-4-13

Jeff Gill

 

Something to celebrate & understand

___

 

 

One of my favorite nature immersion activities with a group of people, children or adults, is to hand out a bunch of two-foot-long pieces of red string, and tell them to go and create a nature trail with it, having at least five stations along it.

 

Then everyone pairs up, and in turn takes the other person for a "hike" on the nature trail they've designed.

 

You can do it yourself, of course. It's an exercise that makes you slow down, and refocus your inner viewfinder onto a smaller scale. Even when you're sitting on grass in a circle outside and away from buildings, your mind might still be going 60 mph and seeing the ground and trees and shrubbery around you through plate glass. You have to learn how to recognize your default mode for what it is – through the car window – and find your way into nature, on nature's terms.

 

So some of these 18 to 24 inch hikes meander along the bark of a tree, from lichens to an insect borehole, out to a final scenic overlook at a bud on a twig's end. Others stay close to the ground, from a discreet point adjoining an ant hill along a crack in the dry earth to where a leaf from last fall is slowly decaying into soil, leaving a fantastic filigree of veins and panels.

 

You might travel from the unwanted weed sprouting in your old mulch to the edge of the lawn grass forest, a safe loop in through the swelling roots and back to the sharp edge between planting beds and the turf.

 

Along a low branch of oak, soon the small infant hands of leaf balls will uncurl into a not-yet green banner; your nature trail could stroll from bud to bud to that first opening hint of the canopy to come.

 

Richard Louv famously wrote some years ago of "nature deficit disorder." Like any good idea, it's been done over and over emphasized to where it gets blamed for all manner of socially complex ills, but I will still affirm the therapeutic value of nature, on natural terms.

 

Slowing down and focusing in to see what is going on this spring – yes, I believe spring will come, despite all evidence to the contrary! – is good for the heart, the joints, the mind & spirit. You find your "notice-a-fier" working differently when you check out the details, up close, of a bud on a tree or bush; not just of nature, you notice things about people and processes and yes, maybe even stuff on TV or your laptop in a sharper way.

 

On the vernal equinox, just a couple of weeks ago, the air was chill, but there's no denying that the days are longer, and the sun higher in the sky. It might yet snow again (helloooo, forsythia!) but even a heavy fall won't stick when the radiant heat trapped in the soil and pavement has soaked so deeply beneath the surface.

 

That penetration of warmth is sending inexorable signals to life lying dormant within the soil, and the responses are everywhere. And on that cool March afternoon, I saw what at first looked like a wisp of smoke, then coming closer recognized as a whirl of small white insects, the first of this new year.

 

Jeff Gill is a writer, storyteller, and pastor in Licking County. Tell him your signs of spring at knapsack77@gmail.com or follow @Knapsack on Twitter.

Faith Works 3-30

Faith Works 3-30-13

Jeff Gill

 

At the Crack of Dawn, Rumblings of a Cloudless Sky

___

 

The "crack of dawn," no doubt, thought the gardener, as he rummaged in the dim pre-dawn light through his rough leather sack for the last of yesterday's loaf of bread.

 

Right enough, with the sky finally peeling back to show stars and the promise of sunlight, after these last few days of darkness at noon, ominous roiling clouds overhead, and the very earth shaking right through yesterday.

 

It began Friday, with a shock in mid-afternoon enough to knock a man off his feet, toppling grave markers and it's said in the streets that even the high, wide veil in the Temple itself tore from top to bottom, as the vast walls of the inner chambers heaved about.

 

Strange days, he thought, but now the first day of a new week, and a new week is just what we need. After the distraught frenzy of the crowds, building and growing through the Passover preparations, rioting in the porticos of the Temple itself, Roman processions in the street flaunting their condemned captives, snatching innocent pilgrims out of the throng for commandeered dirty work on their behalf: the Passover itself yesterday was subdued, quiet, with just the occasional shaking deep beneath everyone's feet to keep the uneasy calm off balance.

 

Now light is splitting the sky overhead, and the nearly visible beams of dawn reach over the Mount of Olives, touch the gold peaks of the Temple as with fire, and soon even this rocky garden patch on the west side of the city, just beyond the walls, would have light enough to move about without fear of a foot set wrong, a wrenched ankle for your troubles.

 

It was not the first time the Roman swine had used his property for an execution ground, and it was not as if he had any choice in the matter. No one bore him any ill will, for who could say "No" to Rome? Only messianic raving preachers on marketplace platforms could shout contradiction to the imperial eagles as they passed, and they were snatched up and stuffed away so quickly you couldn't keep their names straight in memory. All the Johns and Jameses and Joshuas started to blur together.

 

What this dawn and new week meant was a setting to rights. Crowds gathered, not too disorderly with legionaries nearby, but new spring flowers were trampled, gravestones not shaken by earthquake might have been swung about to make a place to stand and see more clearly . . . what kind of thoughtless fool would stand on a tomb slab? Didn't they know that someday they would want the peace of their grave to be uninterrupted into the ages? The Sadducees said that death was oblivion and the disposition of the body was no matter to anyone, least of all to the dead, but in his garden, the body would be given rest and respect, and the . . . soul, or what ever the Almighty might determine, would have a place, here if not in Sheol.

 

Dawn breaking over the western wall of Jerusalem, and the crust worn down by equally eroded teeth, the old gardener stood to survey his plot. The one piece of property he owned outside of the city proper, it was a rough square of rocky knolls, level spaces of bush and planted herbs or flowering shrubs, the vales each with their funerary niches and large stones to seal them from the dogs.

 

The Romans were all too good about cleaning up their own messes, so the post holes chipped into the higher rocks were bare to the sky, only the stain of blood on the bare ground about them showing their purpose. No nails, fragments of wood, or even nastier pieces of anything were left. It would be the litter of the witnesses only to pick up, and a few broken stems to either saw off or bend back.

 

Yet even at this hour, there was some disturbance further below; he could see, down where there was still some shadow, a figure quickly striding away in a clean white robe, and closer still a group of women rushing towards where he stood, holding ointment jars and no doubt looking for a particular tomb, or help with moving a stone.

 

The gardener sighed. This was never the start of a good day, or good news. He hitched up his robe at the shoulders, and walked towards the women to see what they had to say.

 

Jeff Gill is a writer, storyteller, and pastor in Licking County; tell him an early morning tale at knapsack77@gmail.com, or follow @Knapsack on Twitter.

 

Faith Works 3-23

Faith Works 3-23-13

Jeff Gill

 

Pieces scattered across the landscape

___

 

At just after 7:00 am on Wednesday, the Sun crossed the equator, and the vernal equinox marked a balance point for this half of the year, when day and night are equal, hence "equinox." This is the spring variety, so not the autumnal but the vernal equinox.

 

Over a thousand years ago, at the Synod of Whitby, England joined the Roman method for calculating Easter, the great celebration of the Christian calendar. This meant that the Sunday of Easter would fall on the first Sunday after the first full moon following the vernal equinox. Next week we have a full moon, and on March 31^st we have Easter, showing that St. Wilfrid's computation still governs our modern calendar, or at least the one for our candy purchases.

 

Just over two thousand years ago, a mysterious Greek workshop created an amazing bronze mechanism, about the size of a hat box, with gears and a crank. You could set the device to your current date, or any future (or former) date, and see on the analog display where the planets were, when the next Olympic or Pythian games would be held, and even calculate when eclipses would occur, along with the more everyday (or every year) events of solstices and equinoxes, and the phases of the moon.

 

The Antikythera Mechanism is the name of this object, discovered in dives on a Greek shipwreck that was carrying treasure and attractions to Rome for a parade to honor Julius Caesar. The statuary was the main attraction, and the corroded pieces of bronze gears were considered an anomaly until their possible practical uses were considered in just the last few decades. Once looked at closely, these linked gears constitute a device of which a lead scientist said "This device is extraordinary . . . The astronomy is exactly right . . . in terms of historic and scarcity value, I have to regard this mechanism as being more valuable than the Mona Lisa."

 

This morning, I'm going to meet with anyone who shows up at the Great Circle Museum at 9:00 am, and go for a hike looking for pieces of a device built about the same time as the Antikythera Mechanism, and only became truly appreciated about the same time as scholars realized what that Grecian gadget was really good for.

 

Not small and compact and metal, but four square miles and made of earth – yet doing much the same sort of calculation and prediction and observation they were doing then in Greece. It's the Newark Earthworks, and while we know mostly the big pieces (Great Circle & Octagon), there are small bits and chunks which help us understand the whole all the better.

 

We'll start and end at the museum there just off of Rt. 79, walk a little over three miles, and cross lots of busy streets (at crosswalks, looking both ways!). But we will wrestle with mysteries of time and history and the cosmos as we wander.

 

Religious observances take place at very particular moments of time, but almost always are intended to help we finite, mortal persons to find our connection to the infinite, to the eternal. Specific dates and the role of seasons as they pass don't get in the way of a more timeless perspective, but may actually be the only way we can come to understand what, and who is beyond time itself.

 

You have to know where you stand in order to comprehend the horizon, and where your journey is going. Maybe you need to know what time it is right now to figure out where your future is heading, with or without a full moon next week to guide you.

 

 

Jeff Gill is a writer, storyteller, and pastor in Licking County; he's also the tour leader this time. Tell him where you found pieces fitting together at knapsack77@gmail.com or follow @Knapsack on Twitter.

Knapsack 3-21

Notes from my Knapsack 3-21-13

Jeff Gill

 

Pieces scattered across the landscape

___

 

At just after 7:00 am on Wednesday, the Sun crossed the equator, and the vernal equinox marked the balance point for this half of the year, when day and night are equal, hence "equinox." This is the spring one, so not the autumnal but the vernal equinox.

 

Over a thousand years ago, at the Synod of Whitby, England joined the Roman method for calculating Easter, the great celebration of the Christian calendar. This meant that the Sunday of Easter would fall on the first Sunday after the first full moon following the vernal equinox. Next week we have a full moon, and on March 31^st we have Easter, showing that St. Wilfrid's computation still governs our modern calendar, or at least our candy purchases.

 

Just over a two thousand years ago, a mysterious Greek workshop created an amazing bronze mechanism, about the size of a hat box, with gears and a crank. You could set the device to your current date, or any future (or former) date, and see on the analog display where the planets were, when the next Olympic or Pythian games would be held, and even calculate when eclipses would occur, along with the more everyday (or every year) events of solstices and equinoxes, and the phases of the moon.

 

The Antikythera Mechanism is the name of this object, discovered in dives on a Greek shipwreck that was carrying treasure and attractions to Rome for a parade to honor Julius Caesar. The statuary was the main attraction, and the corroded pieces of bronze gears were considered an anomaly until their possible practical uses were considered in just the last few decades. Once looked at closely, these linked gears constitute a device that a lead scientist said "This device is extraordinary . . . The astronomy is exactly right . . . in terms of historic and scarcity value, I have to regard this mechanism as being more valuable than the Mona Lisa.."

 

Saturday, March 23, I'm going to meet with anyone who shows up at the Great Circle Museum at 9:00 am, and go for a hike looking for pieces of a device built about the same time as the Antikythera Mechanism, and only truly appreciated about the same time as scholars realized what that gadget was really good for.

 

Not small and compact and metal, but four square miles and made of earth – yet doing much the same sort of calculation and prediction and observation they were doing then in Greece. It's the Newark Earthworks, and while we know mostly the big pieces (Great Circle & Octagon), there are small bits and chunks which help us understand the whole all the better.

 

We'll start and end at the museum there just off of Rt. 79, walk a little over three miles, and cross lots of busy streets (at crosswalks, looking both ways!). But we will wrestle with mysteries of time and history and the cosmos as we wander. Come join us on this ongoing adventure!

 

Jeff Gill is a writer, storyteller, and pastor in Licking County; he's also the tour leader this time. Tell him where you found pieces fitting together at knapsack77@gmail.com or follow @Knapsack on Twitter.

Faith Works 3-16-13

Faith Works 3-16-13

Jeff Gill

 

Looking deep into the landscape

___

 

Monday I saw my first forsythia blossoms peeking out of their buds.

 

Granted, they were on a south-facing slope with a masonry wall behind them to hold the evening heat, but it's a sign.

 

Spring is coming, and the sap is flowing, and all of nature is warming up some songs and rhythms and soft shoe routines for your post-winter entertainment.

 

We're in the last few weeks of being able to see up along hillsides and down creekbeds for long distances. Soon the buds will break out into full blossom, twigs will beckon with leaflets straining to point skywards, and trees will slip on their more usual green dressing gown, covering their limbs.

 

Right at the end of winter, when the last leaves of the year before are all gone and enough white has dusted the slopes below, you have vistas that don't appear any other season. Homes you didn't know were there, trails you didn't know went up hills you'd never thought about climbing, tree stands and chimney remnants show up far off the road but easily seen even in a speeding glance from the car.

 

The landscape has no secrets in early March, but will soon retreat into the cover of foliage leaving only the memory of where you could look along the ridgelines and down the country lanes.

 

It's a good time of year to be observing Lent, the days lengthening (Old English "lencta") and the sharper angle of sunlight revealing through the barren branches all around. We're trying, we who observe a Lenten discipline or two, to live lives that are amenable to observation, not to flaunt any personal credit for following in the way (which is what "discipuli" do, follow in the way of one's teacher whether Socrates or Jesus), but to know that there's nothing about our personal journey that wouldn't stand up to scrutiny.

 

Which isn't really true, all the time, for any of us, is it? We generally welcome some cover, a little obscurity, the relish of "my way" versus the discipline of the Way shown us by the One we claim to follow as "discipuli."

 

A popular internet "meme" takes a riff off of the long popular "Footprints" story, about how our journey in the way can be clearly seen in a vision as two sets of prints on a beach, occasionally merging into one set, those stretches being when the One we follow carries us. The humorous version goes on to have the One note that there are also stretches where you see one set of footprints, and a pair of deep grooves in the sand.

 

"There, my child, is where I had to drag you kicking and screaming . . ."

 

In truth, we're happy to have the tide come in and wash away those gouged stretches of the journey, and we don't want all our failings and falterings exposed to public view. But Lent can be good practice in trying, and failing, in public view, or at least where friends nearby can see how we deal with not quite coming up to our own standards, where we know we've made promises in public we can't quite keep on our own.

 

Soon enough, all the treetop canopy will cover the hills, and brush and brambles over the valley floor. I'm looking ahead to March 31, and a sunrise service atop Horns Hill at 6:30 am that morning, when we celebrate the coming of One from whom nothing can be hid. When I drive up and down the streets of north Newark, I can see the outlines of the slopes and location of the picnic shelter above so clearly. That won't be the case come April.

 

For now, I enjoy the views across and into the landscape, and I hope that my own public choices this Lent have shown the world the kind of journey I'd commend to others passing by. "Live out loud" as Steven Curtis Chapman says, and look deeply into our landscape while we can, as Henry David Thoreau might have said.

 

They're both talking about aspects of Spring that speak to us all.

 

Jeff Gill is a writer, storyteller, and pastor in Licking County; he's probably out walking around somewhere right now. Tell him where you've found some lovely views at knapsack77@gmail.com or @Knapsack on Twitter.

Faith Works 3-9-13

Faith Works 3-9-13

Jeff Gill

 

There is help, there is hope

___

 

Anton Chekhov once said "Any idiot can face a crisis; it's this day-to-day living that wears you out."

 

He's not a pastor, nor a mental health professional, but both categories are likely to nod with recognition.

 

This is the third of three columns I said I wanted to write on faith and faith communities, and their relationship to mental health & recovery in Licking County. I've long been concerned that while only a very small number of mental health professionals see religion as a form of mental illness, and few churches see psychology as an evil, these kinds of stereotypes have clouded and complicated the relationships between people of good will in both communities . . . which, I might add, have more than a fair bit of overlap, even if quietly so.

 

Nowhere is the clash more evident, I think, than in addiction and recovery. There are no measures, no statistics that I can find to prove or blessedly disprove that more tension and conflict is present between church and counselors when it comes to alcohol and drug treatment, but I strongly suspect it's so.

 

Even when clergy & church leaders are completely understanding of the idea, for instance, that depression isn't something you "pull up your bootstraps, pray a little harder, and get over it," they are still somewhat more likely to be skeptical of rehab and group work and even AA.

 

Likewise, social workers and clinical counselors who are open to faith as a positive factor in clients' lives may have a strong negative reaction to someone saying "I'm not going to try rehab again, I'm going to work with a prayer group at my church that is going to give me an accountability check every day and lay hands on me."

 

Here's the toughest part, from my awkward perch at the intersection of all these streams: we don't have enough help to go 'round, and what we have works . . . somewhat.

 

Don't get me wrong, there are methods of care and treatment and recovery that have more research and data than others. But even some of the most "official" and "credentialed" looking programs are using approaches that were outdated thirty years ago. And it's hard to get into even those.

 

In-patient rehab for drug and alcohol addicted persons is plagued with long waiting lists, high costs depending on your insurance status and income (making some money is worse than making little or none in many cases, and making lots of money may mean you face a truly crippling bill *if* you get in, although it probably is still less than the cost of your addiction, it must be said).

 

And it often doesn't work. Seven times through rehab is often stated as an average, and we all know what average means, right? Some lower, some higher.

 

Let me say this next part very carefully, aware of minefields on both sides of the road – people often overcome addictions without inpatient rehab. But I have never known anyone who beat a drug or booze habit without supports, without a team around them of SOME sort. Pure willpower is NOT the solution, and the times I've been told by someone that's what they did, further conversation reveals they did so after three trips through in-patient programs, leading me to suspect that seeds were planted which blossomed only after much watering and a little more manure.

 

And for those who go into a program, outpatient or inpatient, some do make the decision and fulfill their plan to end the hold a substance has over them while in care, and the follow-up from that staff is largely credited with helping them hold the course. But those same staff would be the first to say: it happened because that person came to a firm resolve themselves that NOW is the time.

 

We have a very proud history in Licking County with incredible places like Shepherd Hill and Courage & Spencer House. We need ten of what we have right now, and it's not likely to happen. So we need to find ways to build those communities of support, of care, of love with clarity, of hope, around people who have gotten used to thinking there's no hope for them.

 

I think churches can be a great place to do that. We can't pretend we do or should operate alone, and faith communities need to educate themselves on the resources available (211 & 522-1234 are good places to start).

 

But treatment does work, and recovery does happen. God bless all who walk that road.

 

Jeff Gill is a writer, storyteller, and pastor in Licking County; he's on the board of Mental Health & Recovery of Licking/Knox Counties. Tell him where you've found hope enough to change your life at knapsack77@gmail.com or @Knapsack on Twitter.

Knapsack 3-7

Notes From My Knapsack 3-7-13

Jeff Gill

 

Education and its discontents

___

 

Recently a high school teacher wrote a compelling essay in the Washington Post about what he sees as the decline of the cultural & verbal skills of the best students heading into college. He wrote it as an apology to college professors.

 

I think he made some good points (it's easy enough to find online), but overall, I'm not sure an apology is really what's called for.

 

In this country, we are embarked on a great experiment, whose uncertainty of delivery right now does not undermine the intent behind it. No similar geographic area and breadth of cultural diversity has ever tried to say, as our country is right now, that "we intend to bring 94+% of all children up to a certain minimum standard of educational accomplishment."

Any large landmass that's tried to deliver education this broadly, in a comparable manner, has generally excluded large groups entirely from the process, or ended up delivering quality in most major population centers while leaving most of the hinterlands high and dry. I can tell you that high school students in Rio Arriba County, NM, Greenbrier County, WV, or Licking County, OH have startlingly *similar* academic experiences, and that was not true just thirty years ago. Our urban core schools are hamstrung by a mix of systemic racism and economic implosion that are reinforced in toxicity by a deeply embedded culture that is itself a result of that same racism and economic injustice, and we are still trying to figure out an adequate answer that works for more than 30-40% of the students in that context, but good people are trying hard (including many in union leadership).

American education is a marvel, and the "hoop jumping" some note in terms of increased graduation requirements is a contrast to the possibility not so long ago in many districts to get a HS diploma with minimal effort and little impact on the mind or memory. You are now expected to know something and be able to show ability to go with that knowledge if you get a HS diploma, but expecting each district to reach that benchmark with 90% or more of their students is a NEW challenge, and I can't say that often enough. 50% grad rates, measured by all children (not just by those who began high school), was seen as a good school as recently as the 1980s in much of the country.

All of which is to say: I'm encouraged and hopeful in many ways about the big picture, but the general quality of the best students, say the top 20%/quintile, as measured by their knowledge of social studies, literature, and effective written/verbal communication, is going to be lower for some time into the future, because we not only aren't focusing on those kids the way we used to — not entirely a bad thing! — but in order to do these other things for most/all, we're not doing the humanities & critical thinking & expression parts of learning for almost any. I don't think it's a malign conspiracy to make cattle of us, but there's a real reason to worry, and (to make some lemonade here) an opportunity for church youth groups and service clubs and art studios and many other extra-curricular venues to jump in and pick up some of what's been dropped.

Jeff Gill is a writer, storyteller, and pastor in Licking County; tell him what you think makes for a good education at knapsack77@gmail.com, or follow @Knapsack on Twitter.

Faith Works 3-2-13

Faith Works 3-2-13

Jeff Gill

 

Believe you can feel better

___

  

Last week I said that "Mental health and religion are often uneasy residents of a ramshackle duplex." I could have said mansion!

 

Both are, I'd argue, are simply part of the same complex set of supports and trusses and gables and dormers, all woven together structurally into the same shelter in which lives our community. Go in whatever architectural direction you think right.

 

What I want to make clear is that I pray for people who are struggling with issues of addiction and depression and anxiety, but I also look for skilled practitioners to bring onto the team. If someone comes in with a large growth on their body, or unexplained bleeding that won't stop, I don't stop praying, but I do it as we rush to the hospital. Mental health, for this pastor, is part of the same response.

 

So for instance, and I think this is most important, if someone reports to me that they are considering suicide, or threatening harm in any way to themselves or others, I'm not going to rest easy until I've made sure there are other trained professionals involved, no matter how effective prayer might ease the immediate self-reported symptoms.

 

How to do this? Well, there is always, and I do mean ALWAYS, 2-1-1. Too many still don't know that you can pick up the phone and dial 2-1-1 for a personal emergency in the same way you'd dial 9-1-1 for a police, fire, or other public crisis or disaster (if you need police, fire, or immediate medical assistance, call 9-1-1).

 

You may recall Pathways of Central Ohio in our county as the Crisis Center, and you may still remember 345-HELP (which you can still dial, 345-4357), but their number is now 2-1-1, and if you are dealing with a personal crisis of any sort, from everyday despair to practical problems ranging from housing to helplessness, call 2-1-1. The trained staff who answer that line will connect you to where you need to go.

 

They may well invite you to go to the nearest emergency room. ERs are not necessarily the best place to go if you're simply sad or blue, but if you are feeling that you or someone near you is heading into a dangerously dark place, and you call me, I might just say myself "Hey, can I meet you at the ER?"

 

An assessment at the ER can involve specially trained staff who will involve our county emergency mental health support, which is provided through Behavioral Healthcare Partners of Central Ohio (formerly known as Moundbuilders Guidance Center). They do our county crisis intervention for emergency mental health and alcohol/drug crisis situations; you can call them directly, weekdays, at 522-8477 or night and weekends you call . . . yep, 2-1-1.

 

Perhaps you're just feeling like the world is closing in on you, life is appearing grim and sorrowful, and you – or someone you know – needs to talk to someone. Or you're a pastor or church leader, and you've met with and prayed with someone, and you can tell that there's a desire for hope, but a struggle to actually feel anything other than sadness and sorrow.

 

Honestly, you can still call 2-1-1. Just talk to the person on the other end of the line. They welcome your call, and know how to guide you. You can call BHPCO at 522-8477 during regular business hours, again whether sufferer or caregiver, and ask what to do. And you can also call directly our Licking & Knox County co-ordinating body, the Mental Health & Recovery offices, 522-1234 (easy enough to remember in a pinch!) and talk to the Clinical Director there. Todd will be happy to help you!

 

If you are just muddled about mental health, and are looking for clarity, or help of a more general nature, you can call the folks at Mental Health America of Licking County at 522-1341. Even if you just look at their website at www.mhalc.org you can find online screenings, and information about support groups and programs that deal with all sorts of angles having to do with mental and behavioral health.

 

And finally, if you're already in recovery or living with a mental illness, you should know about The Main Place, whether online at www.themainplace.org or on South Third Street in downtown Newark. "Promoting Hope, Providing Tools, Removing Barriers" is their mission statement, and it's a good summary of what they do.

 

(What I've offered up here doesn't deal directly with addiction & recovery; that's an area I plan to discuss in the third and final part of this series next Saturday.)

 

Jeff Gill is a writer, storyteller, and pastor in Licking County; he's interested in a community based approach to mental health & wholeness. Tell him what makes you feel whole at knapsack77@gmail.com or on Twitter @Knapsack.

Faith Works 2-23

Faith Works 2-23-13

Jeff Gill

 

Believing in mental health

___

  

Mental health and religion are often uneasy residents of a ramshackle duplex.

 

I'm not just trying to be discreet and avoid the usual "bedfellows" metaphor, but to make a slightly different point altogether.

 

The question of mental health not that long ago was mental hygiene, and before that, wasn't a medical specialty at all. Sadness, madness, or badness were all considered the work of the church, unless you harmed another person out of your dis-ease, in which case you became a legal matter, for the stocks or jail or some other legal punishment that might extend all the way to a penitentiary . . . and in that word you can see those two worlds coming full circle, since your time apart in confinement was supposed to be less a penalty as time to sit alone with your thoughts and prayers and have a chance to firmly resolve to amend your life.

 

Other than a social change from reformatories and penitentiaries to "prison" and a more punitive outlook, not much has changed (and that, I'd argue, for the worse).

 

Wait, you may well ask, what are you saying? Are you cra . . . I mean, what has deranged your thoughts? Aren't you aware of the great movement towards mental health and psychiatry and psychoactive pharmacology and counseling and coaches and, um, all that stuff?

 

Oh, trust me, I'm aware of it. And value it, both personally and as a pastor. The mental health community is a valuable asset, and in pastoral counseling, with which I have basic, minimal training, I know just enough to know my limits, and when to make a referral, which is pretty quickly in most cases. Most pastors are not fully up to speed in dealing with clinical depression, suicide, addiction and recovery, marital crisis beyond the basic communication and relationship level, unruly kids, and so on. We may have training or skills in one or two of those areas, but we're not going to be the whole enchilada.

 

A skillful referral can be our best skill when it comes to most pastoral counseling.

 

But to make a skillful referral, we need someone, somewhere to refer to, and it has to be doable. In terms of cost, in terms of access, in terms of availability. For many clergy in Licking County, there's a not unreasonable anxiety that for many of our parishoners, effective mental health supports seem out of reach. That's where I say that for a major swath, if not an actual majority of the population, there's still mainly the church, and the legal system, and not much more.

 

There are medications, and they have their place. Suddenly – and I can't remind us too often of how utterly new and still experimental so much of this world is – we have medications that any family practitioner can prescribe: for depression, for ADHD, for anxiety. They themselves still work within a billing and cost-management straightjacket (can we still use that word?) of twelve minute patient interviews (or less), but they can write the scrip and recommend a person or place to talk to someone, and then your management and self-care is still largely on your own.

 

You and Oprah, and Dr. Phil, or that book cousin Ed recommended.

 

There are options in Licking County for people without insurance or money to get help with mental health issues. Next week, I want to talk about some of our community providers, who are more approachable and accessible than is generally thought. Is it instantaneously available? Pretty much never, but a little patience can pay great dividends. There is a smaller hole in the doughnut than many seem to think. The worst case scenario is for someone working and making a semi-decent income, but with no insurance or on a very restrictive plan. IMHO, this demographic has the worst options before them, but even they have some places to turn, though nowhere near enough.

 

But I also want to extend an olive branch to the mental health community from those of us in the churches. There's a general sense that religion, at the very least, has a tendency to dysfunction, and that churches are enemies, not allies.

 

Aside from saying that's simply not true, I'd add a note from good old Sigmund Freud himself, who said "The goal of psychoanalysis is to convert neurotic misery into ordinary unhappiness."

 

Fair enough, Siggy. You do your part, and we pick up from there: faith communities can be where ordinary unhappiness can be transformed into joy. There's no pill for that. But we reserve the right to suggest that God might be part of the treatment team for that last step!

 

 

Jeff Gill is a writer, storyteller, and pastor in Licking County; he's interested in a community based approach to mental health & wholeness. Tell him what makes you feel whole at knapsack77@gmail.com or on Twitter @Knapsack.

Knapsack 2-21

Notes From My Knapsack 2-21-13

Jeff Gill

 

Education and its discontents

___

 

Recently a high school teacher wrote a compelling essay in the Washington Post about what he sees as the decline of the cultural & verbal skills of the best students heading into college. He wrote it as an apology to college professors.

 

I think he made some good points (it's easy enough to find online), but overall, I'm not sure an apology is really what's called for.

 

In this country, we are embarked on a great experiment, whose uncertainty of delivery right now does not undermine the intent behind it. No similar geographic area and breadth of cultural diversity has ever tried to say, as our country is right now, that "we intend to bring 94+% of all children up to a certain minimum standard of educational accomplishment."

Any large landmass that's tried to deliver education this broadly, in a comparable manner, has generally excluded large groups entirely from the process, or ended up delivering quality in most major population centers while leaving most of the hinterlands high and dry. I can tell you that high school students in Rio Arriba County, NM, Greenbrier County, WV, or Licking County, OH have startlingly *similar* academic experiences, and that was not true just thirty years ago. Our urban core schools are hamstrung by a mix of systemic racism and economic implosion that are reinforced in toxicity by a deeply embedded culture that is itself a result of that same racism and economic injustice, and we are still trying to figure out an adequate answer that works for more than 30-40% of the students in that context, but good people are trying hard (including many in union leadership).

American education is a marvel, and the "hoop jumping" some note in terms of increased graduation requirements is a contrast to the possibility not so long ago in many districts to get a HS diploma with minimal effort and little impact on the mind or memory. You are now expected to know something and be able to show ability to go with that knowledge if you get a HS diploma, but expecting each district to reach that benchmark with 90% or more of their students is a NEW challenge, and I can't say that often enough. 50% grad rates, measured by all children (not just by those who began high school), was seen as a good school as recently as the 1980s in much of the country.

All of which is to say: I'm encouraged and hopeful in many ways about the big picture, but the general quality of the best students, say the top 20%/quintile, as measured by their knowledge of social studies, literature, and effective written/verbal communication, is going to be lower for some time into the future, because we not only aren't focusing on those kids the way we used to — not entirely a bad thing! — but in order to do these other things for most/all, we're not doing the humanities & critical thinking & expression parts of learning for almost any. I don't think it's a malign conspiracy to make cattle of us, but there's a real reason to worry, and (to make some lemonade here) an opportunity for church youth groups and service clubs and art studios and many other extra-curricular venues to jump in and pick up some of what's been dropped.

Jeff Gill is a writer, storyteller, and pastor in Licking County; he has been diagnosed in the past with chronic optimism, an apparently untreatable condition. Tell him what you think at knapsack77@gmail.com, or follow @Knapsack on Twitter.