Notes From My Knapsack – March 2004 “The Church Window”

Most of you reading this know that, when trying to understand a problem of today, my first impulse is to look at the past. History is not an unfailing guide, but can be a useful directional arrow. In the same sense, Scripture guides us not by having specific counsel for every situation we meet, but by always pointing us towards God’s presence in every event.

These are, indeed, interesting times we find ourselves in. Americans, and Christians of this nation, have found themselves in morally challenging situations before. I look to the period before the Civil War, the work of the abolitionists, when I think about the dilemma of abortion in society.

When we look back on the 1830’s, 40’s, and 50’s, I don’t think many of us have trouble sympathizing with the supporters of the Underground Railroad, who had stops right here in the Hebron area on the way to the Western Reserve, Canada, and freedom. And it takes little empathy to understand the resistance of many slaveholders, who greatly feared releasing those whom they had bought and sold and slain. Those who are most baffling, looking back, are the bulk of Americans who had little concern about slavery and bondage as long as they weren’t bothered, financially or personally. It was their indifference that led to five years of slaughter and bloodshed between Union and Confederate troops.

When a future era looks back on the days of abortion on demand throughout the third trimester, I fear they will wonder much the same about us. Even after viability, you chose to permit the killing of unborn infants? How could so many have been so indifferent?

At the same time, some would evoke the era of the Civil Rights struggle of the 1950’s and 60’s to urge people of good will to support the cause of same-sex marriage, equating sexual orientation and racial status, making this the new civil rights debate. I have spent much time in prayer and reflection and study over this question, and yet cannot find a way to make any behavioral choice one might make the same as an ethnic status. There are friends I have lost over this question, and more pain ahead I can see.

Others insist on a literally Biblical turn of argument, where also I cannot go. My concern over widening the scope of marriage is that the bonds of obligation are already looser than they were a generation ago, and the clear losers are the most vulnerable and weak. As Christians, we are called to shape communities and build relationships that defend and support the weak and powerless.

May we faithfully use both Scripture and Tradition to bring past and future together this Lenten season.

In Grace and Peace, Pastor Jeff

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Pastor’s Class for Membership

Sundays at 4 pm, starting March 7

For age 11 through ??

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“The Purpose Driven Life”
by Rick Warren
a 40 Day study through Lent!
“What on earth am I here for?”

Small Group opportunities:
Sunday @ 9:30 am – Older Youth Class
-- Adult Class
Wednesday @ 10 am – Lenten Study Group
Thursday @ 7 am – Prayer & Study Group
Thursday @ 6:30 pm – Junior Choir (brief)
Thursday @ 7 pm – Senior Choir (brief)
Saturday @ 8 am – Hometown Deli

As well as Sunday sermon through Holy Week,
And weekly themes/questions on the church web site,
http://go.to/Hebron_Christian

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Interfaith Legal Services
offered at Hebron Christian Church
Wed., Mar. 17th
5 to 8 pm
First 30 present are assisted

Hebron Crossroads 2-22-04
By Jeff Gill

Janice Harris assures me that CPT does indeed stand for “certified personal trainer,” since she just got that certification herself. It is a good thing to hear that places like “It’s a Girl Thing” are doing so well, and that personal fitness and physical health are valued in a new way by so many. Keep up the good work, y’all!
Helping others with their health was the result of the ongoing series of Red Cross blood drives at the Hebron Municipal Complex. The date and even time change (starting at 2 instead of 1 pm, which wasn’t Linda’s idea!) kept some from donating, but over sixty people will benefit from the two-dozen pints donated right before Valentine’s Day. We’ll remind you here at the Hebron Crossroads of the mid-April blood drive a little closer to the day, which is Apr. 19 and will go back to a 1 pm start.
In the volunteering and helping others department, I heard that Beth Walters received the “Volunteer of the Quarter” award from the Licking County Board of Realtors. That group is a real county wide asset, by the way, with a track record for service and support matched by few trade associations. For Beth to stand out among that crowd is a double compliment.
Beth has been a big part of the 9-11 “Patriots Day” community service projects these last few years, and we’re looking at a possible “Crossroads Festival” for the Hebron area coming soon. . .stay tuned.
We’ll also have more to share in the next few weeks about the work Lakewood Intermediate is doing to prepare for the writing portions of the proficiency tests coming in a few weeks. There are some great budding writers over on Lancers Road, and that’s good news for editor Amy as she looks for future correspondents and columnists in a few years.
Next week is Ash Wednesday, the traditional beginning of Lent, the period that leads to Easter. For some, the significance is that it’s the day after “Fat Tuesday” (or in French, “Mardi Gras”) when the big blowout before the rigors of Lenten fasting and discipline begin. The Licking County Coalition for Housing will be just a few days late (somehow that seems appropriate) celebrating a great cause with their Mardi Gras fundraiser at the Granville Inn Friday, Feb. 27. Call 345-1970 to see if there’s still a ticket or two left for the murder mystery and fine food evening.
Being a pastor, you’ll expect me to note that the season of Lent really is for preparation, to get ready mind, body, and spirit for Easter week. We’ve talked about physical health: giving up or taking on something for Lent is really about your mental and spiritual health.
There are a number of Licking County churches that are reading the forty chapters of “The Purpose Driven Life” by Rick Warren through Lent day by day, and you can find one near wherever you live.
And you’ve probably heard about the movie. Yep, that movie. “The Passion of the Christ,” a work of love produced and directed by Mel Gibson, who feels that reclaiming his faith saved his life from Hollywood excess. Some feel that the movie has its own excesses, both in terms of the violence shown and the blame cast.
I haven’t seen the movie yet, so my comments are limited, but I do want to make two here. First, from everything I’ve read on-line and seen on TV, this is a devotional message, not so much an evangelistic tool. What I mean by that is that this doesn’t sound like it was meant as a good “front door” or first stop along the way into understanding the message and meaning of Jesus’ last twelve hours on that long ago Friday. Mel didn’t pick Ash Wednesday as the release date at random, I am quite certain. This movie is intended to focus and intensify a Christian’s understanding of what that death represents. I won’t say that “The Passion” won’t spark some conversions, but it is aimed primarily at those who already have a sense of the story and where it leads, drawing them deeper.
As to accusations of blaming the faith of Judaism or Jews in general for Christ’s death, while there is a clear obligation on Christians since the Holocaust to be scrupulously careful about where our teaching leads, I think the movie carries within itself one immensely powerful counterargument, carefully placed.
Mel Gibson made, bankrolled, and risked much to make this film. But he didn’t put his own very bankable self into the shooting. . .except for one scene. You won’t see his face. When Jesus is nailed to the cross, the hands and forearms that hold the nails and swing the mallet are those of Mr. Gibson himself.
I think that should clear up any question of who he thinks is “responsible” for nailing Christ to the cross.
“The Passion” won’t be for everyone. You will have to decide for yourself if the wrenching experience of such violence, graphically depicted, is appropriate for you or those under your care. Yet I don’t think you have to be a preacher to note that this is an event that stands at the heart of human history as we know it, and the question of why we’re still talking about the death of a minor political prisoner in an obscure backwater of a long-dead ancient empire is still worth talking about.

Jeff Gill is pastor of Hebron Christian Church; if you have Lenten events at your church or other news of local interest, e-mail him at disciple@voyager.net or call 928-4066.

Proposed Outline for Camp Christian x 12 Task Force

Our first steps have to be to get everyone together on the same page
as to how Camp Christian has been (in the recent past) used through
Sept. to May, and how the general cost/income structure works, in reference to the general regional budget and as to fee structures for camp/conf, CWF/CMF retreats, congregational use, and outside interests.

After going over this to everyone's clarity, our next task is to look ahead, and then farther forward; to wit:


Short term futures (one to three years)

* Increased usage for training and retreats to empower congregations and leaders (how would this fit into what we're doing now, what plans are currently in the works assuming use of camp facility)

* Year-round school and possible adaptations camp/conf program would make to space under that eventuality

* A New church start support for west-of-Delaware or east-of-Marysville area

* Possible impacts depending on various configurations of relocated regional office


Long term futures (four years and out)

* Revenue generating uses [yes, i'm intentionally putting this under long- term; while a two to three year out possibility exists, i don't want anyone getting too excited based on all i'm hearing from other camps/mgrs i'm talking to about revenue generation; specifically, Camp Lazarus south of Delaware, Beaumont Scout Reservation near Cleveland, UCC's Templed and Pilgrim Hills, Presby's Geneva Hills near Logan, RC's in WV with Wheeling and Charleston retreat centers that are very "posh" for retreat housing and meals]

* Leadership Center/Outdoor Ed Center/Retreat Center subcontracting

* Agressive marketing to a) our region's congregations and small groups, b) the central Ohio market for such a facility, c) Ohio/Midwest church groups with similar aims. This possibility, where seen succesfully, is tied to being seen as a staffed center of excellence in some particular area of training or spirituality. . .and usually requires some extral fiscal support, whether judicatory, general, or grants.

* Or opening a Starbucks/Panera in the new dining hall to attract commuters off of Rt. 37. . .

Hebron Crossroads 2-15-04
By Jeff Gill

Did you watch “Groundhog’s Day” early in February? That Bill Murray & Andie McDowell classic is one of those films that may not be one of the best crafted movies ever made, but just has a lasting impact on your psyche.
It’s one of those movies that becomes, I’d say, part of your “mental furniture,” with images and dialogue that keep cropping up in how we deal with everyday “real” life.
That’s part of the anticipatory excitement I feel for “Girl With a Pearl Earring,” the movie based on a book based on a Vermeer painting.
Vermeer’s art has long fascinated me, and all the critical buzz has so far focused on how each shot in the movie looks like a Vermeer portrait. OK, stop right there. If I get to see live action versions of Vermeer paintings, with stark northern Dutch light angling into stern Delft interiors and enigmatic Netherlandish characters, I’m there. If the plot makes sense, that’s gravy.
Make no mistake about it, the visual images we take in, like “you are what you eat,” shape our view of the world. That’s what is the real story behind the Super Bowl halftime flap: not whether certain body parts shouldn’t seen on primetime broadcast TV (sure, you can guess my answer to that one), but how folks are reaching into our heads and rearranging the sofa and mantelpieces of our everyday imaginings that we never intended. I’m not as bothered by Justin’s immature self-promoting self-absorbtion as I am by MTV, CBS, and the NFL trying to pretend that they had no idea, couldn’t have known, had no intention, blah blah blah.
In the immortal (paraphrased) words of Judge Judy, don’t pour your coffee on my foot and then tell me it’s raining. All of those aforementioned corporate entities want to push our mental furniture and emotional boundaries to where it suits them, and over our heartfelt objections. So we either turn it off, or take control in any way we can, and picking our viewing carefully can sure help.
There are an assortment of “mental furniture” films that earn repeated showings in Chez Gill. These aren’t the finest movies we can name, but they do have lines or scenes that just etch themselves on our memory and have a way of interpreting everyday experience for us. In no particular order. . .
1. We know you’re all tired of hearing me go on about “Holiday Inn,” but from “a great big valise full / of books to read where it’s peaceful,” or “I’ll be big” to, well, every other line in the durn flick, we just find Bing’s or Fred’s dialogue universally applicable.
2. “Local Hero” has long had a strange hold on me, and I keep trying to make Joyce enjoy it too, especially the idea that every idyllic spot is also a place someone is desperately trying to escape from, and vice versa, and they may both be equally right.
3. “The Trip To Bountiful” tells us something about having a connection to a piece of land, no matter how unremarkable, and how that connection gives us meaning and makes us part of something larger than ourselves.
4. You expect a pastor to have a religious film on a list like this, and mine is “Jesus Christ Superstar,” especially the opening soliloquy by Judas and Jesus’ solo in Gethsemane. When Pilate sings softly “Who are you, Jesus Christ,” he asks a question that demands an answer, from us if not from the questioner himself.
5. If you haven’t seen “The Milagro Beanfield War,” you are no doubt in good company. Too, too tragically few ever saw this wonderful movie, which was what Robert Redford the director did after “Ordinary People,” his amazing rookie effort. You really can’t miss when filming northern New Mexico around Chimayo and Truchas, but Bob did even more than make it beautiful, he made it real by making it magical. That stretch of country has some special meaning to my wife and I, but this story adds to that narrative instead of just offering visuals.
6. “Broadcast News,” and the line “no, it’s awful. . .” if you don’t know what I mean, you need to watch the movie; just like
7. “State & Main;” “Go you Huskies.” Don’t ask, just go rent the film.
Or 8., “Roxanne,” and “let’s just stay up here for a while.” Along with counting how many jokes Steve Martin has to tell to get to twenty, and it’s more than 20.
9. “Casablanca” may be a movie more quoted than viewed; if you haven’t seen the story in full, give Bogie and Bergman a chance. This is a pop cultural gold mine, all the way to “this may be the beginning of a beautiful friendship.”
10. If you don’t get a lift from Errol Flynn’s “The Adventures of Robin Hood” and the Hans Zimmer score, you need a cardiologist to give you a thorough check up. Really.
11. “Leap of Faith” has one of the best endings of any movie I know from the last two decades, but for signature lines, let me just remind you: “aluminum siding.” If you start watching it and think in the first twenty minutes this isn’t your taste, give it another twenty, and you can’t turn it off.
12. While we’re singing the praises of one of today’s finest actors, I’ll list another Steve Martin movie. “Parenthood” is a flick that may be a bit trite in parts, but the whole hangs together as something rarely matched. And when Jason Robards tells us (through his “son” Steve) that parents “never get to cross the goal line and spike the ball and do a victory dance,” you know you’re hearing Wisdom with a capital W.
13. “A Man For All Seasons” with Paul Scofield and Orson Welles is the most visually ravishing and best acted versions you will ever see of Robert Bolt’s brilliant script.Bolt’s “The Mission” was amazing in its own right, and existentially searing, but so many scenes in the story of Thomas More come to mind in more everyday life’s challenges. Not yet “Saint” Thomas More, Scofield shows us the path of purification this ambitious man takes from the courts of power to solitary faithfulness.
14. “Nobody’s Fool” is Paul Newman at his best telling one of Richard Russo’s better tales. Read any book you can find by Russo, but catch this realization of friendship as soon as you can, with the most remarkable climactic scene I know of in all moviedom: a small boy carrying an artificial leg across a barroom floor. Yeah, I know what you’ll say, it’s been done. But not like this.
15. For no good reason, Joyce and I have become quite enamoured of “The Right Stuff.” It may be the scenes of Chuck Yeager, played by the incomparable Sam Shephard, asking to borrow a stick of Beeman’s Gum as he heads out to break the sound barrier, or it may be the taglines like “spam in a can,” “our rockets always blow up,” or even “the right stuff,” but right up to the final narration by Gordo Cooper himself, the story is made all the more stirring by being true.
What movies are part of your mental furniture? Let me know at disciple@voyager.net, or call 928-4066. And we’ll share your memorable selections next week at the Hebron Crossroads.

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Hebron Crossroads 2-08-04
By Jeff Gill

So much going on around the Hebron Crossroads this February, and so little time in this, the shortest month of the year! At least we get an extra day this leap year, and on a Sunday no less. We need it. . .let’s go:

As of this weekend, you can now go to the Licking County Coalition for Housing website at http://www.lcchousing.org to register online for their upcoming “Murder at Mardi Gras” fundraising event on February 27 at The Granville Inn.
With the help of the Licking County Players, your $50 ticket will welcome you to a mystery inside The Granville Inn that you might have a part in solving, while enjoying food thingys (I’ve never been able to spell that horse-over-doors French foodie word) and a cash bar. Beads will be provided, since it can’t be Mardi Gras without colorful trinkets, right? More importantly, proceeds help to support the work of this vital assistance agency in our county.
On the LCCH home page, click on "Coming Events", then go to “Murder at
Mardi Gras,” click, and it should take you to the online form hosted by
Sporg.com. Guests can send their checks to PO Box 613, Newark, OH
43058-0613 or call the Coalition office at 345-1970 to pay with VISA or MasterCard. The Granville Inn is taking and holding reservations as well, and response is already lively for this “deadly” event. So you need to mark your calendar and make reservations TODAY!

Are you ready to think about the Hartford Fair in August? A warming thought, isn’t it? This Sunday, Feb. 8, at 6 pm in the basement of Hebron Christian Church on West Main Street, Prime Producers 4-H Club will have their organizational meeting. All school age children, boys or girls, can find a place in this great organization, learning public speaking and presentation skills, working on projects from woodworking and welding to gardening or rabbit raising.
Also on Sun., Feb. 8 is the next preview service for New Life Community at Lakewood Middle School in the auditorium. Worship begins at 10:30 am with child care provided. Come join Brian Harkness and their praise team in some contemporary Christian music and a message for Christ-centered living. They will continue to worship monthly until their “launch” with weekly worship in the fall.
Going back to the Hebron Christian Church basement, next Sat., Feb. 14, the Feast of Saint Valentine (as some might call it), there’s going to be a Sweetheart Spaghetti Dinner serving from 5 to 7 pm. It is a donations-only affair, with contributions going to help us support the new construction at Camp Christian for increased summer camp attendance.
Don’t know where to take your date for Valentine’s Day? Where else can you find bad karaoke and the great Dean Martin, the pride of Steubenville, singing “That’s Amore”? Until the next baked steak dinner at Hebron United Methodist (coming soon!), stock up on yer healthy antioxidants in marinara sauce next Saturday. Atkins plan folks can just have a bowl of the meal sauce with a spoon, and I’ll eat your breadsticks for you. . .

Hebron PTO had a great response for their “Old Fashioned Christmas Celebration” at the school last December, with 50 volunteers from the community that included a great effort from Dow in the Industrial Park. They have also sponsored the “Grandparents Day” programs at Hebron Elementary. 3rd grade has had theirs, and 2nd grade grandparents are re-invited Feb. 11 at 2:30 after they had their own grandparental snow day. 1st grade will have Grandparent Day Feb. 19.
All the feedback so far has been very positive, with Dr. Geist, the principal, telling the PTO about folks saying they hadn’t been in the building since the 50’s or 60’s in some cases, and adding “I had no idea the building was this well maintained!”
Kudos to Tim Nauer, his staff, as well as all the teachers involved, for giving some of our area senior citizens a new look at Hebron High through the eyes of their Hebron Elementary grandkids.
Days out of school ahead include a Parent-Teacher conference day on Fri., Feb. 13, plus the following Monday for President’s Day Feb. 16, and then a two hour early release Wed., Feb. 18.

Recently, I got an e-mail from a personal fitness trainer in the area, Kelly Biemesderfer, CFT. (I’m going to bet that stands for “certified fitness trainer,” dontcha think?) She has a local business, Sound Body Personal Training, and works with a number of local women at “It’s A Girl Thing” in Buckeye Lake.
Kelly also is in that select group of people who, amazingly, read all the way to the end of the Hebron Crossorads for my not-quite-always serious sign-off. When I wrote recently on eight steps to keeping resolutions, Kelly’s was one of a number of appreciative messages I got, but she also noted my “request” for veggie omelet recipe to improve our breakfasts! And here it is. . .

Very Veggie Omelet
Submitted by: Taste of Home's Light & Tasty from http://allrecipes.com
This light and fluffy omelet is a new twist on breakfast. It's chock-full of garden goodness.
Servings: 2

Ingredients:
1 small onion, chopped
1/4 cup chopped green pepper
1 tablespoon butter or stick margarine
1 small zucchini, chopped
3/4 cup chopped tomato
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
1/8 teaspoon pepper
4 egg whites
1/4 cup water
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup egg substitute
1/2 cup shredded reduced-fat Cheddar cheese, divided

Directions:
1. In a large nonstick skillet, saute onion and green pepper in butter until tender. Add the zucchini, tomato, oregano and pepper. Cook and stir for 5-8 minutes or until vegetables are tender and liquid is nearly evaporated. Set aside and keep warm.
2. In a mixing bowl, beat egg whites, water, cream of tartar and salt until stiff peaks form. Place egg substitute in another bowl; fold in egg white mixture. Pour into a 10-in. ovenproof skillet coated with nonstick cooking spray. Cook over medium heat for 5 minutes or until bottom is lightly browned.
3. Bake at 350 degrees for 9-10 minutes or until a knife inserted near the center comes out clean. Spoon vegetable mixture over one side; sprinkle with half of the cheese. To fold, score middle of omelet with a sharp knife; fold omelet over filling. Transfer to a warm platter. Sprinkle with remaining cheese. Cut in half to serve.

Nutritional Analysis: One serving (half an omelet) equals 197 calories, 9 g fat (5 g saturated fat), 21 mg cholesterol, 639 mg sodium, 10 g carbohydrate, 2 g fiber, 19 g protein. Diabetic Exchanges: 2-1/2 lean meat, 2 vegetable.

Jeff Gill is pastor of Hebron Christian Church but is ecumenical in where he eats spaghetti or baked steak; if you have a dinner or breakfast fundraiser to announce or local news to share, call 928-4066 or e-mail disciple@voyager.net. And next week, he may even have something to say about Justin and Janet, after he figures out what it is everyone’s talking about.

Notes From My Knapsack – Feb 2004 “The Church Window”
Hebron Christian Church

Two words that get used all through the Gospels are “law” and “love.” Jesus has quite a bit to say about both; that law is not to be ignored, but must be fulfilled by love in order to move human hearts.

In this month where love – sort of – is celebrated all around, I’m reminded of how often I find myself explaining the practical side of Jesus’ words in present day application.

Grandparents want the law to require visitation with grandchildren, which (in Ohio, in most cases) it does not. Couples think the law can end a long relationship which includes children, and are surprised to find that it only creates a different relationship, and one rarely better than what they had. Neighbors look to the law to resolve tensions along property lines, and are upset that the situation only worsens.

What relationships have to have in order to improve and grow is love, not law. But it isn’t a Valentine’s Day kind of love that grandparents and neighbors and even most couples need, but the love Jesus speaks of and Paul sings the praises of, that doesn’t hold grudges or find fault, but forgives and seeks the best in the other.

Love that buys chocolate and flowers and dinners out certainly has a place, but even that kind of “give something to get something” sort of exchange sounds suspiciously like contracts and “law,” not like sacrifice and covenant and self-giving through love. Wed., March 17, when the Interfaith Legal Clinic visits Hebron again at our church, the line will form at 5 pm of folks looking for a brief time to talk to a lawyer for free.

Most of those 40 some people or families will be looking for a lawyer to straighten out a relationship that began with an intention to love. The intention may have been sincere, but the practice fell short. I hope that we can all use the Feast of Saint Valentine on Feb. 14 as a reminder to give of ourselves in love, and not focus on what is due us in obligation and law. Valentine gave his life out of love for Christ in ancient Rome, and today we can set the example for how the law is truly fulfilled through grace-filled love.

In Grace & Peace, Pastor Jeff

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Lent Begins Feb. 25

Ash Wednesday is the start of the 40 days (less Sundays) until Easter, a season for prayer and preparation leading to the culmination of Holy Week, with Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter Sunrise at the end of our journey alongside Christ.

Sundays Feb. 15 & 22 we will all have a chance to join in a churchwide commitment to read a 40 day devotional together called “The Purpose Driven Life.” Commitment cards will be shared in worship, and a form to order copies of the book (or audio versions that will cost more, either on tape or CD) if you need a copy. Some already have the book, but our goal is to have as many of us as possible reading each day’s devotional on the 40 days from Ash Wednesday to Palm Sunday, Apr. 4 and a celebration brunch after worship.

Small group opportunities will be available through the women’s and men’s fellowships, choirs, Sunday school, and Bible study time on Wed. at 10 am starting Feb. 25. If you have questions, call Pastor Jeff at 928-4066 or e-mail him at disciple@voyager.net. The weekly themes and questions for reflection for the intro and five purposes will be on our church website at http://go.to/Hebron_Christian if you need to work on your own.

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Youth Sunday – Feb. 29???

Sunday, Feb. 29 is not a date that we see in print very often. Some places the day is known as “Sadie Hawkins Day,” and much is done backwards on such a day according to tradition. Our youth will lead worship on this unusual fifth Sunday, after having seven away for the first Sunday of Feb. at Massilon for the biannual Midwinter CYF Retreat.

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Keep The Fire Burning
For Camp Christian

Sat. Feb. 14 is St. Valentine’s Day and a wonderful night to eat spaghetti with Dean Martin! Bring your sweetheart and have dinner at Hebron Christian Church. The price is yours to determine, but remember that all proceeds go to the regional capital campaign for Camp Christian (and with a tithe of the work going to help build a camp in Chile with our global mission partners there).

Hebron Christian Church is one of the leaders in the campaign for District 10/11; to see a breakdown of giving for this region-wide effort, look at the latest “Buckeye Disciple” at http://www.christianchurchinohio.org.

Hebron Crossroads 2-01-04
By Jeff Gill

Winter is surely upon us! A note is in order: it takes an air temperature of Zero degrees or a wind chill of Twenty Below to get a day off of school, and that strikes this columnist as about right.
As for snow and ice, that’s a call by the superintendent of Lakewood schools and the transportation director. When Flint Ridge Road is not a good place for buses to be, it doesn’t matter how good Kelly Drive in Hebron is. We’ll have the snow days we have to have, and that’s the way it is.
Oh, and for walking, skating, or messing around generally on ice. If it isn’t four inches or more, and if there’s any running water underneath, stream or spring fed, stay off it, OK? Having done some things in my distant youth that now blanch me with horror, let me count my blessings and say to risk takers everywhere, “Stay off of thin ice.”
When the overnight temps have gone down into the teens and stayed comfortably in that neighborhood, the iceboats come out on the lake (anyone else remember “The Bobbsey Twins at Snow Lodge”?) and the glories of true winter pastimes are visible to all who can take the windchill.
Sunday is Super Bowl Sunday, and here’s a last warning on “Souper Bowl of Caring” Sunday. Bring those canned goods, especially the always useful cans of soup, to Buckeye Lake LEADS or to your church food pantry, and know that your extra (excessive?) snacking for the big Patriots/Panthers game helped trigger an outpouring of support for local hunger programs during a time of year that often goes unassisted.
Last week a bunch of us from the Hebron Crossroads area were up at “The Place Off the Square” for the Licking County United Way 2003-04 campaign celebration. While they came a bit short of their hoped for goal, the nearly $2,000,000 raised for local assistance and leadership programs was more than had been raised before for the twenty some United Way agencies, like Boy and Girl Scouts, the Licking County Coalition for Housing, and many others.
What was striking about the reporting at the evening event was that fully 21% of the total was raised through the “Give Where You Live” program. That’s over $400,000 from Licking County residents working in Franklin and Delaware Counties. For many of us in the Lakewood area, that comes as no surprise, but it’s a total that will no doubt continue to climb.
New Life Community, the new church start sponsored by the United Methodist Church in the Hebron/Pataskala area, is having their next “preview” service on Feb. 8 at 10:30 am in the auditorium at Lakewood Middle School (entrance off of US 40). They had over 60 at their initial worship for the public, and Brian Harkness, their pastor, plans monthly worship through the summer as they work towards weekly services in the near future.
So, doesn’t it look like Kerry and Edwards are the likely survivors through March? Well, I don’t know as of this writing what the New Hampshire results were anymore than I knew what Iowa’s were for last week’s column, but I’m sticking with the projection I had this time last month. Howard “I Have a Scream” Dean will continue to fade into the silly sidelines, Joe Lieberman will (regrettably) find it hard to build momentum, and General Clark will learn that, by slamming lieutenants, there are many more former looeys and non-coms voting than retired generals.
I’d comment on Kucinich if I could keep him separate from Bob Denver, and as for Al Sharpton, someone has to keep the debates lively, so keep hope alive Rev.!
Ah, and that darn Groundhog! What will Monday bring in Punxsutawney, PA? Stay tuned for your six week weather forecast, and we’ll fight cabin fever next week in the Hebron Crossroads.

Jeff Gill is pastor of Hebron Christian Church and a big fan of Bill Murray whether in “Groundhog’s Day” or “Lost In Translation.” If you don’t want to read a load of filler about movies to watch on snow days next week, send news of local interest to disciple@voyager.net, or call 928-4066.

Hebron Crossroads 1-25-04
By Jeff Gill

While I enjoy writing this column very much, my day (and night) job is that of pastor. This section could easily become an extension of the eulogies I preach or hear at the funerals of some wonderful people whose presence we lose week to week around the Hebron Crossroads, like Frank DeVaul a few weeks ago, or Nancy Pugh right before Christmas.
So rather than miss someone who deserves the mention, I generally don’t spend much time on obituary notices here. But we lost another good one from our company recently, and personally I want to offer a few words about this fine lady.
Betty Friend was not so much a pillar as a foundation stone of Our Lady of Mount Carmel Catholic Church. Monsignor Meagher spoke eloquently of Betty’s commitment to service and ministry in the congregation at her funeral mass. With a business on Main Street in Hebron and volunteer work at Licking Memorial Hospital, she was truly a friend to many throughout the wider community, and welcomed this preacher when he became a neighbor in 1999. On many occasions we would consult together in finding ways to care for distressed travelers along the old National Road passing us both by.
Less than two days before her death she spoke to me about how well her bypass surgery had gone, how much better she was feeling, and of her plans for the future. We talked about some disagreements we’d had recently, and closed the conversation with cheerful fellowship in Christ, even if we didn’t totally agree on every subject. Her death was a real loss to our community, let alone to her family who will miss her greatly.
Jim Friend, who has retired from village council as he looks to care for his mother’s legacy in Hebron, has our prayers and good wishes for the future, and we will all miss his mother, our Friend.
Annelle Porter, a member of Hebron Village council these last five years, was elected president of council, the first woman to hold the position as far as records can confirm. Some would also argue that, for a few hours at least, she then became the first lady mayor while Cliff Mason had some routine surgery and was under anesthetic. Cliff is doing fine now, and Annelle is also no worse the wear for her term (no matter how short) in the chief executive spot: but what do we call Dave Porter? First Spouse? First Guy of Hebron? That’s a tough one. . .
If you read this before Saturday night Jan. 24, make plans to eat dinner with the Lakewood Drama Club at Jacksontown United Methodist Church between 4:30 and 8 pm. They’ve got a plateful of spaghetti with your name on it, and you need to go eat it and hand our local Thespians a few bucks to pay for it. This Spring they plan to perform “The Wizard of Oz,” and each dinner means one more Munchkin costume, so eat hearty!
Speaking of food, with the Super Bowl set between the Patriots and the Panthers on Feb. 1, don’t forget the “Souper Bowl of Caring” on that date, where area churches and food pantries invite you to buy a can of soup for every snack item you buy for Feb. 1, and add to the collection for your area food pantry that week. Most of our area churches welcome your canned goods on any Sunday, but especially in this slack period after the Christmas season, which brings in much generosity but also often ends in barren shelves. Help them restock with “Souper Bowl” Sunday.
With the “time delay” of writing and printing in a weekly paper, you can’t get too much breaking news, but let me go out ahead of even the Iowa caucuses (which you no doubt know the results of by now) and make a prediction. It’s a pre-Iowa prediction, and you can ask my wife if it wasn’t my Jan. 18 forecast. This isn’t an endorsement, but something even more risky: a prediction. You will see the only realistic Democratic candidates in a few weeks as John Kerry and John Edwards, as of March 1. That’s my call, and you can laugh at me later if, like most predictions, they prove askew.
On the other hand, if I’m right, you have to read this column all the way to November at the very least to find out, don’t you?
And if you want to vote in primary elections for Ohio (when the Dem field may well still need weeding, friends), you need to be registered in just the next two weeks. Do it now, OK? Our county commissioners and a number of local elections will also be in play, and need your input. Time’s a wastin’ if you want to vote absentee, as well.
There are folks who have useful news who send it to me too late, forgetting that “two weeks ahead” rule to give me even a chance to print the announcement before the event. And sometimes even I forget that factor! Last week was the Martin Luther King Jr. observance, and in honor of the civil rights movement the holiday celebrates and with the words of the man himself, may I offer this belated tribute: from Martin Luther King, Jr.'s Letter from a Birmingham Jail, April 1963:
“Was not Jesus an extremist for love - "Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, pray for them that despitefully use you." Was not Amos an extremist for justice - "Let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream." Was not Paul an extremist for the gospel of Jesus Christ - "I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus." Was not Martin Luther an extremist - "Here I stand; I can do no other, so help me God." Was not John Bunyan an extremist - "I will stay in jail to the end of my days before I make a butchery of my conscience." Was not Abraham Lincoln an extremist - "This nation cannot survive half slave and half free." Was not Thomas Jefferson an extremist - "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal."
So the question is not whether we will be extremist but what kind of extremist will we be. Will we be extremists for hate or will we be extremists for love? Will we be extremists for the preservation of injustice - or will we be extremists for the cause of justice?
In that dramatic scene on Calvary's hill, three men were crucified. We must not forget that all three were crucified for the same crime - the crime of extremism. Two were extremists for immorality, and thusly fell below their environment. The other, Jesus Christ, was an extremist for love, truth and goodness, and thereby rose above his environment.”

Jeff Gill is pastor of Hebron Christian Church and proud to share a calling with MLK, Jr. If you have historical events to share or news of local interest, call 928-4066 or e-mail him at disciple@voyager.net.

Hebron Crossroads 1-11 (18)-04
by Jeff Gill

Once January moves up into the double digit dates, resolutions that began the New Year start to sag down into the occasional, singular observance.
Weight loss, stopping problematic personal habits, or starting healthier new ones are the bulk of those good intentions that so rarely make it into February. Many times the problem is that we set our goals so high, almost unreasonably so, that we quickly lose heart and get discouraged by the relatively small good effects we see.
As a devotee of St. Murphy, the apostle of low expectations (and unexpectedly successful conclusions!), I want to share with you just a short list of eight simple guidelines. Whatever your resolution was, unless it’s something like completing your Beany Baby collection or converting your Ford Pinto to a hemi, these basic suggestions can help you meet and follow-through on your intentions for better living in 2004.

1. Drink water – most Americans, the American Medical Association tells us, are dehydrated to some degree: all the time. Just the amount of dehydration varies! This comes from our mass consumption of diuretics in soda pop, coffee, and tea (diuretics make you, shall we say, lose water) like caffeine, plus many people take medications that have a diuretic effect as part of their activity in the body.
Dehydration causes headaches, joint pain, general weakness, along with a false sense of hunger for a snack you probably don’t really need.
And water you drink is food or sugary beverages you aren’t consuming; it’s the cheapest appetite suppressant around.

2. Sleep more – the AMA also has come out recently with more bad news about the amount of sleeplessness most Americans drag around behind them like Marley’s Ghost, and that’s starting when we get up, not just right before a late bedtime.
Lack of sleep can cause us to snack to stay awake and alert; more dangerously, it may (no one knows quite for sure) be responsible for more auto accidents than even drinking.
Don’t feel energetic enough to exercise? Maybe you just need a bit more sleep! Don’t have time (let’s just all say it unison) to sleep more? How late did you stay up last night watching a rerun of something you’d already seen before? Just asking.

3. Eat color – this sounds a bit weird at first, but is the best all around guideline according to most dieticians. On the one hand, if your plate most meals is a spectrum of tan, grey, brown, and white, you are likely ingesting a large amount of fat, sugar, and carbos. Contrariwise, if your plate is a real rainbow of reds, greens, bright yellows and vivid blues, you’ve probably got a heap of vegetables and fruit looking back atcha.
This is a simple rule that actually has helped me more than trying to think through calories, portion sizes, or food groups. In most settings, eating color means you’ll fill yourself up with better stuff, while gray gravy, brown meats, and white Ranch dressing over all means look out waistline and artery walls.
Oh, and if I were to add one more to this list: Eat breakfast. With color, of course. Break your fast of the night and you break the whipsaw cycle of hunger through the day.

4. Get moving – yes, yes, the fine folks at the Cooper Institute down in some warm weather state said again a few weeks ago in honor of the new year that every American should exercise “vigorously” three or four times a week for forty minutes or more. Thanks, guys.
Meanwhile, many people I know can even manage to get off the couch (full disclosure: that’s where I’m writing this) to take a walk regularly.
What anyone would really benefit from is just moving more. Do that, and you are making progress. Honest.
If you are seriously overweight, and really can’t hardly walk, let alone jog, OK. Commit to holding your feet straight out and rotating your ankles for five minutes each evening. Clasp your hands behind your head and lift them back and forth like a winning prize fighter for as long as you can. Not much, you say, Mr. Cooper? Hey, it’s a start.
Take the stairs when you have the chance, instead of standing still in an elevator. Park out past the last car in the Kroger lot (it’ll help your paint job, too; no one will open a door into your quarter panels out there). Tighten and relax muscle groups from your face and neck down to your calves and toes while you have to stand in line or wait in a chair. Just move, and you’re moving in the right direction toward exercise.

5. Budget yourself – The numbers are out for 2003 and projections into 2004, and they make me sad. Really. Non-mortgage debt per household was over $18,000, and average credit card debt per family was about $7,500. Analysts say if you factor out the small but significant number of us who always pay off the card each month, that number would be much, much higher.
Meanwhile, most families don’t know what their after-taxes income is, let alone what their expenses are in which categories. Which is why they predict a further increase in the already record pace of personal bankruptcies, vehicle repossesions, and home foreclosures.
If you don’t have a budget, you will have financial problems this year; if you have financial problems, it is easier to justify eating, drinking, or doing other unhealthy things to “deal with” the problems.
If you have a budget, you will have less trouble financially. If this sounds strange to you, it means you’ve never had a budget; just try it this year.

6. Read something – Of course, “The Community Booster” is a good start. But if you want to work your mental muscles and keep them longer, hone your memory, and increase your awareness of the world around you, reading is the key. Newspapers, magazines, books, cereal box labels.
Watch TV, and learn to feel passive, helpless, and under siege. Ol’ Mr. McLuhan had it right: the medium is the message. My concerns with television are and have been not so much with the content (tho’ often appalling, rarely uplifting, trivially educational at best) than with the means we receive the images. In a prone, snack-ready position, we absorb limited, simplified perspectives positioned to best highlight the ads that jam their own odd propositions about reality down our cerebrum.
Read something. Really, almost anything.

7. Grow spiritually – Sure, you knew I’d get to it. Define it how you will, and for some it will be going back to their AA meeting, for others picking up a book in the New Age section, and for many it will be going to worship services. But whatever you do to increase your awareness that there’s more to who you are than your passing desires and temporary worries will benefit not only you, but those around you (ask them, they’ll tell you).
Find a faith community or house of worship that feeds you spiritually, and take the counsel of a leader or wise person you respect about growth, and you will see many of these suggestions and your own resolutions fall into place.

8. Annual physical – Some may say this should go first, but I didn’t want to lose you before you got started. A medical exam on a regular basis can catch the stuff you don’t know is catching you, and a good doctor (they do exist) will tell you about expensive, time consuming, painful procedures to improve your health like “fasten your seat belts” (Thanks, Dr. DeShetler!).
And if you give blood regularly, you can get a quick check in between those physicals that can help keep you in fighting trim, plus help others in need. My health is better because I’m a regular blood donor, and I’ve never needed a pint of blood medically in my life (Thanks, American Red Cross!).

Resolutions and good health are not just for the towering paragons of will power and devotion. Simple steps like these can get us to where we want to go. . .or at least to February!

Jeff Gill is pastor of Hebron Christian Church and wants you to know you should do as he says, not as he does, at least where it comes to breakfast and sleep. If you have veggie omelet recipes to share or news of local interest, call 928-4066 or e-mail him at disciple@voyager.net.

Licking District Trailmarkers – The Scouter SKC/BSA Feb. 2004

District Award of Merit

At January’s Annual Meeting and Awards Night, the highest honor a district in Scouting can bestow was presented to the following three Scouters.

Licking District’s recipients for the “District Award of Merit,” a silver knot on a midnight blue background, are:

- Trig Gamble
- Ina Heath
- Joy Stovcik

Congratulations to these leaders in the Scouting movement who have given so much to unit and district operations over many years!

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Scout Week – Feb. 1 to the 7th

Scout Sunday and Scout Sabbath bracket the observance of Scout Week this year. For 94 years, since Feb. 8, 1910 when Congress chartered the Boy Scouts of America, anniversary events have marked this “birthday” of the World Scouting Movement in our land.

Since William D. Boyce, an American magazine publisher, got lost in the London fog and was helped by an “Unknown Scout” who would accept no tip or reward for simply “doing his duty,” the ideals of Scouting have spread from Baden-Powell’s initial vision through “Scouting For Boys” in 1908 to a global movement for character development and leadership training through outdoor education by the patrol method.

Many units will participate in special worship leadership roles in their chartering organization if it is a church or synagogue, either on Scout Sunday Feb. 1 or Scout Sabbath Feb. 7. On Saturday, Feb. 7, a civic celebration of our organization’s birthday and the work of leadership in this council will be held in the Atrium of the Ohio Statehouse at the center of Columbus.

Come celebrate Scouting with fellow Scouts and Scouters from all across central Ohio and northern Kentucky.

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Pinewood Derby

District Pinewood Derby information is still in development; contact Bill Burgess at the information on our masthead, or Brian Parkhill (current number?). Remember to follow the standard guidelines for car construction. Packs will be contacted when date and location are finalized.

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Spring Camporee

Our Order of the Arrow youth leaders, with Mark Rhodes as their adult adviser, are preparing to meet you all out at the Hartford Fairgrounds (north of Croton, in northwest Licking County) Friday through Sunday, April 23-25. On Tuesdays Feb. 3 and Mar. 2, at our District Roundtable, much more information will be available. If you don’t want to wait for the March “Scouter” to learn more, come by First United Methodist Church in Newark at 7:15 pm those nights and get the latest, breaking news, plus info you can use to improve your troop or pack!

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Trailside Notes

Well, I thought we wouldn’t have much more to say about Lillian on “Survivor: Pearl Islands” (the pirate edition!), but then she made it into the final two.

Lil, a Scouter from Dan Beard Council down around Cincinnati, had been voted out earlier, scrambled back into the tribe on a return challenge, and survived down to the finish, all while wearing a full set of class A’s.

Interestingly, or maybe I should say “sadly,” Lil ended up publicly regretting that she had worn a Scout uniform on the fateful “formal night out” that led to their walking the plank. While her garb held up better than anyone else’s (Armani suits and silk dresses – they don’t wash and rinse well in salt water with sand scrubbing, but Scout Supplies’ finest takes the proverbial licking and keeps on lookin’ good), she found the uniform a handicap in that it made it hard for her to. . .lie.

Oddly, she kept saying that you have to keep a distance between who you really are (and she did and does say that being a Scout following the Oath and Law is who she really is) and how you play games. And there’s no doubt, since they said so, that the other players finally voted her out of the final prize because. . .they held her to a higher standard because of the uniform, and matching what she said to who she claimed to be.

Is who you are in a game really different than who you want to be? Well, it is harder to be the big winner, but maybe that’s the point, Lillian. On the other hand, she picked – after showing amazing toughness in the final challenge and the fitness that should be the best advertising for serving as a Scout volunteer – for her final opponent not the loathed fellow who would have guaranteed her the win, but the better woman who then took the million dollars.

So values came through in the end. . .and she did get a six figure prize for number two. Bet her Friends of Scouting contact called her up right away!

If you have ideas for material in the Licking District Trailmarkers, e-mail Jeff Gill at disciple@voyager.net.

And regularly check out www.lickingdistrict.org!

Hebron Crossroads 1-11-04
By Jeff Gill

Are you following the Mars lander excitement? The probe named “Spirit,” soon to be followed by its twin “Opportunity?”
OK, so you’re more excited about Pete Rose’s chances about getting into the Hall of Fame; hey, I’m glad he finally admitted what everyone already knew. Personally, they should reinstate Shoeless Joe Jackson, then work on Charlie Hustle, but what do I know?
But just down the road from some great aerospace expertise at Boeing (formerly the Newark Air Force Base) plus with the excitement of NASA finally getting a hit right across the sweet spot, this space geek can’t help being excited about another chance to don those cool red-and-blue 3-D googles and see pictures leap off your computer screen.
Hard to believe that it was 1997 when we last wore those geek insignia in front of our terminals, and saw the “Sagan” Pathfinder probe roll across the Martian surface.
Sorry about the “Beagle 2” probe out of the European Space Agency (ESA, for all us geeks) built by Great Britain, which either went down a crevasse and can’t get a cell signal, or just plain broke. But NASA is trumpeting “We’re back!” and you can’t blame ‘em for being happy about hitting a target dead on from literally a world away. Good job, y’all, and we’ll be clicking nasa.gov to see the latest cool real time pics from the Mars surface.
Sunday, Jan. 11 at 10:30 am is a new service for “New Life Community,” a new church start from scratch out of the Methodist Church in our area. They will have their first Sunday morning worship down at the Middle School and all are welcome. Brian Harkness is the pastor, and with a good start-up crew supporting him, this should be a good development for the vitality of our Lakewood area.
This new church may build at some point between here and Pataskala, but for now they’ll be in the middle school auditorium. Come to sing contemporary Christian praise music and worship in a relaxed setting.
Speaking of the wide variety of faith communities around the Hebron Crossroads, has your church or organization announced a special push for “Souper Bowl” Sunday? Feb. 1 is the date this year for the Super Bowl contest, and on that Sunday, for which many shop a bit extra, you’re invited to balance your own “festival of excess” around the football excitement by purchasing an item of canned goods for each snack item you buy, and donating it to local food pantries.
Hebron Christian Church will be promoting a “Souper Bowl Sunday,” (since soups are a great canned item for pantry support) and I hope you’ll do a bit of help in your area for those in need. Can I also thank those who dropped canned goods off before Christmas at our church to support the work of the LEADS Food Pantry? Good work, all. . .
The Lakewood Girls are having a good basketball season overall under new coach Bob Gilbert; on a night last week, the ladies were struggling, but this writer believes that if they take that durn bungie cord off the hoop on their end, the final score will be much more even. Against Granville, the Little Guy and I saw the most amazing rim-revolving shots from the Lakewood team, while the Blue Aces were shooting into a funnel.
Otherwise, they played great. Take the manhole cover off the hoop, and the whole game changes!
Next week, we’ll have a few words about those New Year’s resolutions. For now, don’t give up! You thought of it, you can do it. See the Hebron Crossroads for some inspiration as the weeks turn into months. . .
A regular reader noted something by e-mail worth passing along: all those shots of staggering “mad cows” you’ve seen on TV the last few weeks were universally from Great Britain years and years ago. Really. There is no extant film of the Canadian sick cow, let alone the US specimen who turns out to be from Canada. Makes you feel a bit different, doesn’t it?
There is a whole “science” of risk awareness that notes how we discount or at least deal well with a large possibility that has a good chance of minimal impact. . .like car accidents, where we think we’re in control even when we aren’t. . .versus very, very small odds that obsess us when the result is utterly fatal and uncontrollable, like AIDS and mad cow.
Dear reader, the best way you can protect yourself from mad cow’s effects is to. . .fasten your seatbelt. Yet many Americans these last few weeks will stop eating beef, but keep leaving seat belts unbuckled or not wearing helmets on their bikes, motor or otherwise. Statistically, the latter choice makes for a meaningful chance in your prospects, while dropping ground beef may barely give you a measurable edge in avoiding unpleasant futures.
Or only paying off the minimum on your January credit card bills, which means you might as well ask a guy named Guido to break your kneecaps now, but that too is a whole ‘nother column, so just start buying a can o’ soup for every bag o’ chips and such these next few weeks, and we’ll see you at the Hebron Crossroads!

Jeff Gill is pastor of Hebron Christian Church and a Bears and Steelers fan; since you won’t hear much about the NFL from this point forward out of him, you may safely submit your suggestions for stories of local interest to 928-4066, or e-mail disciple@voyager.net.

Hebron Crossroads 1-04-04
By Jeff Gill

“Rats, Lice, and History” by Hans Zinsser was a book on a reading list for college students someone gave me in high school. Granted, it was an eclectic list an eccentric professor had compiled to prepare young people for higher education, but there were a number of interesting picks on it I’ve never regretted reading: “Tristram Shandy,” “The Mabinogion,” or “Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man.”

But “Rats, Lice, and History” has stuck with my thinking processes far beyond the contents. It is a book, written as a series of magazine articles in the 1930’s, that was intended to make the point that bacteria, amoebas, and communicable diseases of any sort had always played a great role in history beyond what historians have ever wanted to tell. Battles won and lost, sieges lifted or triumphant, civilizations in rise or fall, all have hinged more on typhoid, cholera, or bubonic plague than they have on leadership, skilled generals, or valiant warriors.

In fact, one large section of Prof. Zinsser’s work is meant to sing the praises of the then-and-now unglamorous work of public health officials. Testing back then was usually directly hazardous to the life and health of the university staff or civic officials involved, and rarely well-funded or generally appreciated, but Zinsser argued to my satisfaction that they had advanced human civilization more than most artists, engineers, or diplomats.

The obvious, overarching point was that microscopic life forms have been around from the beginning, and will always be with us. . .necessarily, since microbes make our digestive tract and other systems of our bodies function properly. But his more subtle point had to do with the fact that just when we thought we understood the invisible world of disease thoroughly, there would always be another new outbreak, hitherto unknown, to make new work for the protectors of public health.

Certainly the AIDS pandemic of the 1980’s made Zinsser’s work interesting again, especially since viruses, Human Immunodeficiency Viruses or otherwise, were little understood and less mentioned in “Rats, Lice, and History.” His point was all the more sharp in that infectious agents whose very nature wasn’t understood were the next new public health threat.

And now, mad cow. Or, Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy, called BSE for obvious reasons and “mad cow” for the symptoms in an infected animal. Infected with what? Well, Prof. Zinsser would find the very concept of “prions” fascinating, while yet another example of how public health work is never done.

Some excitable and less well-informed writers have called “mad cow” a mystery disease. The cause isn’t a mystery: proteins that make up our bodies that our bodies constantly make are infected with a “misfolded” protein that causes further proteins to be misfolded, and all these mangled, useless building blocks of life gum up the works. Cholesterol is a necessary building block of our physical fabric, but too much of it in the wrong places gums up the works, which we call coronary artery occlusion, or “a heart attack.” When an organism has a prion disease, you start to have brain attacks, with the works of the mind gummed up, ultimately beyond repair.

There is a mystery, and that is whether prions constitute a lifeform or just a very complicated kind of enzyme; are they just a dead hunk of template run amok, or a deeper mystery of biology? These aren’t abstract questions when you’re looking for cures and preventive strategies, and the implications for our beef-eating society are immense.

But we know very little about prions (my spell check on the computer this gets typed on doesn’t know the word, but I think I’ll enter it into the dictionary when I’m done here for future use), even as their effects turn out to have been long-observed among trout, sheep, and south seas cannibals who noticed that brain-eating often causes a strange, wasting disease (can you say “kuru,” that Scrabble favorite? Yep, same thing).

Should we eat beef? Well, I will disappoint my vegan readers by saying I’m not in favor of going whole hog with chickening out on my meat eating. Good news for steak eaters in that whole cuts of “muscle meat” appear quite safe. The brain, spinal cord, and nervous system material off those parts are where the prions reside, misfolding their origami destruction, and the human hazard seen in Great Britain is in meat processing that gets a little “too close to the bone,” as it were, scraping every scrap off to maximize profits but also increasing risk. Globally, much is now known about what not to feed and how not to process cattle that makes us safer; generally, more is known now among us gen’l public folk about how a calf gets to your dinner table, which is not always pleasant, but helps us accurately judge risk for ourselves.

Ground beef is going to see a number of new checks and balances introduced, increasing the cost a bit for your cheeseburger. Zinsser would have said that we should not begrudge a little extra cost for research as well as prevention, because just as we finally all get informed about BSE, we human creatures can expect to have something new sneak up on our blind side.

Meanwhile, we all could probably do with a lot more vegetable matter in our diets, anyhow. And if you’ve got one of the myriad new strains of the common cold or furious flu, drink plenty of fluids and get some rest, and read “Rats, Lice, and History.” With your chicken soup, of course.


Jeff Gill is pastor of Hebron Christian Church and an omnivore in both reading and eating habits; if you have dietary suggestions or public health guidelines to share, call him at 928-4066 or e-mail disciple@voyager.net.

Notes From My Knapsack – The Church Window January 2004

With the new year, and our annual congregational meeting Jan. 25, many of us are working on our annual report for 2003 (right?).

Anyhow, while such stuff can seem like needless number crunching, there is a kind of stewardship in “being faithful in little” such as tracking how many are in worship and how often, how much we give as “in-kind” gifts as well as in funds, and which areas of church life have met with hearty response. . .or not!

While there’s much of pastoral ministry that can’t be put into numbers, there’s actually quite a bit that can, and thereby tells a story we need to listen to as the elders and leadership plan for the future. Times and circumstances change; thankfully, the Good News doesn’t change, but how we share it is affected by different influences.

One huge one is this: just before Christmas, I made a pastoral visit to my twelfth (that’s 12!) hospital or surgery center – only two of those were one visit each. From Riverside in Columbus to Bethesda in Zanesville, from Fairfield General in Lancaster to Mansfield Memorial, to pray with patients before surgery and wait with families, to visit folks in rehab and come to ER’s late at night, 12 medical centers to get to, navigate within, and work with or through the staff.

There are other interesting numbers: seven nursing homes for resident visits, eight cemeteries for committals (but only three funeral homes I had to work with), three jails to visit inmates, two courthouses where hearings or proceedings needed a friendly face, and one Elections Commission hearing (that was the hardest to find!). But 12 medical centers.

I’d hazard a guess – and since Ralph, Paul, Morgan, Connie, and Keith all read this they may have input to share – that previous pastors in Hebron didn’t have parishioners spread that widely each year, but the new medical reality, with HMO’s and PPO’s and managed care that often seems more than a little mis-managed, is that we go where we’re sent, and that could be about anywhere in central Ohio.

In fact, adding up church mileage on the car yesterday, the total. . .well, put it this way. If you assume an average of 30 mph (which between highway miles and creeping up 79 or 30th St. seems about right), I spent 40 eight hour days just driving. Not including time spent in the hospital or home or meeting, but just turning the steering wheel. Almost two months of standard work week time, getting to where I’m needed. I’m the one who does the driving, and I was surprised.

So that’s some of what you learn by record keeping and report sharing; information we all need so our ministries can continue to grow and be fruitful. Oh, and have you given Ila your report yet?

In Grace and Peace,
Pastor Jeff

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Christian Reading Week

Sunday, Jan. 18, a special set of displays will be on view in the back of the sanctuary and downstairs with reading material and Christian literature. Some is from our library, some for sale (or ordering), and subscriptions to DiscipleWorld, our newest Disciples of Christ national publication, can be signed for at this time.

Winter can be a time for cabin fever, or for enjoying the quiet of a snowy evening. Reading can be one way to keep the winter blues at bay. Inspirational reading, stories of history and faith from our shared past, or vital accounts of the church at work today are all available.

An Inkling

A gleam as through a window seen
Shimmering, shining, dimly lighting
Sill or frame beneath the flame;
One pool of light against the night
Viewed afar, this earthbound star
Grounded in a niche ‘tween hill and ditch
Implies, beneath the lowering skies,
A room behind, a place of warmth to find
For travelers tired, the last miles inspired
Toward a house unseen. All inferred from just one gleam.

So too, we find, standing (in a way) behind
The scene of Mary and blessed Baby
A larger structure, beyond conjecture
Of God and life, peace beyond strife,
New hope today, and in every day
A guide and friend; promise without end.

Should we let this little gleam
Cause us to trust here (in between
Eternities before and begone)
That there’s a larger home hereon?
Can the rooms of faith open one to the other
Like one candle lit from another?

Our steps hasten on to the stable door,
But eyes fixed higher up one floor
To the light in the window, the room behind,
And the house beyond, whose Host we’ll find.

- Christmas Eve, 2003

Hebron Crossroads 12-28-03
by Jeff Gill

Time to file away 2003, and open up a fresh, clean folder (or new icon for the desktop) for 2004.
2003 doesn’t fit well into any niche I’m used to. Contrariwise, 2003 sort of feels like “the year of the niche.�
Christmas music isn’t as much of a general cultural soundtrack as it once was, but now we have two radio stations playing “all Christmas formats� through December. A niche marketing strategy. We are well into the next federal election cycle (you may well keep your attention tuned to other matters, and wisely so, but trust me, we’re in it up to our Iowa caucuses), and everyone is asked to label themselves as Dem, Rep, Lib, Grn, or Fzl. OK, I made the last one up, but party affiliation will be crucial as we approach a primary in early-early March which means, if we want to shape our niches, we’d best be registered by early-early-early February, which might as well mean January.
Threat status “orange� not only doesn’t rhyme with anything, it doesn’t seem to tell us much, either, except which niche our anxiety should go in according to the worst-named government department ever, next to Robespierre’s Department of Public Safety (for more info, see Revolution, French). And as to Iraq, we’re all expected to be tidily “pro-war� or anti-war� about the whole thing.
We don’t have as many of those cross-cultural, crosscutting experiences like watching “Roots� or Walter Cronkite and the moon landing. The centennial of flight ceremonies on Dec. 17 were, to be fair, a bit anticlimactic with the replica Wright Flyer skidding into the mud, but I was hoping for an “everyone will remember this� moment. Didn’t happen. Broad, generic experiences like watching “White Christmas� or a Charlie Brown special are reduced to “Honey, should we get out the tape of that old Bing Crosby movie you like to watch each year?� There’s a niche: on-demand viewing and listening.
Or even more niche-y (?) did you notice that while the mass experience of moviegoing hasn’t gone entirely yet, we (as a society/economy) spend more on videogame experiences than movie admissions? The ultimate niche. We choose our lead role, we take our choice of supporting cast and props, and pick our ending made to order. My experience of a videogame is wildly different from yours, even when we both stuck the same cartridge in the Q-box.
And news! E! for entertainment news, MTV for music news, the Booster for good news, mass circulation dailies (not to mention any parent publications in particular) for less good news, and the History Channel for very old news. Many print outlets are springing up to service smaller areas and particular, oh, niches of news consumers.
The year of the niche, or not?
It could be, but we shouldn’t let it. Or, we may need to go all the way down that road. 2004 looks to be a year when we really need to be individuals all together. Carved into a mince pie of niches, no group, coalition, or alliance can really form to accomplish a task or achieve a goal. Individuals who know that that it’s OK to be totally inconsistent from a mass-cultural point of view aren’t afraid to be part of a movement or group larger than a table for four. You can be a Republican who enjoys Disney films, techno-rave music, and opera, or you may be a Green Party member with good friends in the Marine Corps and a sense that Nader might just be an egocentric nutcase.
In real life, people don’t fit into tidy niches, which is why those Amazon.com “You might also like� recommendations usually include suggestions that leave some grape Nehi spewed across your monitor. And in real life, folks do have broad tendencies to group together, which is why you click on a few of those computer generated hints. I have friends who share many interests with me, but are shocked to learn that we actually let the Little Guy watch cartoons on TV (“you have a television in your house?�), or that I’m pro-Israel (within reason), or that Joyce and I have, yes, an artificial Christmas tree. Allergies, if you must know. Personally, I can’t believe people still wear. . .but considering my wardrobe, forget I said anything.
Something about the tenor of the times tells me that we all need to enjoy not only our own and others’ uniquenesses, so that we can usefully figure out what we have in common enough to work together on. In politics, in community life, in our faith commitments, and in our choice of which two flavors go together best in a waffle cone (coffee and peppermint), it feels like it’s niches that divide, while individuality can be the basis for building consensus.
Here’s hoping you spend this New Year’s weekend, or at least halftime at the Fiesta Bowl, figuring out who you really were in ’03, and who you want to become in ’04.
And then we can figure out what we’ll get done together!
Jeff Gill is pastor of Hebron Christian Church and is extremely predictable except when he isn’t. If you know any exceptions to this rule, or have news of local interest, call 928-4066 or e-mail disciple@voyager.net.

Hebron Crossroads 12-21-03
By Jeff Gill

Christmas Eve services Wednesday night are all around the Hebron Crossroads.
Jacksontown United Methodist Church has their choir cantata Dec. 24 at 7:00 pm, called “The Light of the World.” On Christmas Sunday, Dec. 21 (if you get this that early!), they have a drama at their 9:15 am service only, “The Day After Christmas.”
Licking Baptist Church, north of town on Beaver Run Road, will share a musical in Sunday worship, “Christmas For a Change,” at 10:45 am, and their Christmas Eve service is at 7:00 pm.
Hebron United Methodist will have a candlelight service Dec. 24 at 11:00 pm, where they will repeat selections from their cantata on Dec. 21. On Sunday the full program includes a small orchestra to accompany their chancel choir!
Many area churches offer 7:00 pm services on Christmas Eve; First Community Church in Buckeye Lake has their candlelight service then, as do a number of lake area churches from Thornville to Millersport and on down the canal to Baltimore.
Our Lady of Mount Carmel Catholic Church has Midnight Mass, but you don’t want to get there at midnight for a seat.
And at Hebron Christian Church, we’ll hear a concert of piano and organ music from David Ford from 7 to 7:30 pm, when a Service of Lessons and Carols will include communion for our Christmas Eve, and a candlelight closing to “Silent Night.” The senior choir sings “The Shepherd’s Christmas” in worship Sunday Dec. 21, following a wonderful job by the junior choir with their musical last Sunday.
Hope you find a place to celebrate the season this week!

Speaking of music, there’s been a surfeit of great instrumental and choral performances these last few weeks in the Lakewood school district.
This columnist regrets not making it to every last one of ‘em, but from the Lakewood Holiday Concert Dec. 7 with high school bands and choirs, the Middle School Bands on Dec. 14, Hebron Elementary Dec. 15, and a middle school Choral Concert Dec. 16, it hasn’t been too much, but it is a richness of seasonal blessings.
A few passing thoughts. . .in the Swing Choir section, a great rendition of an “Alvin and the Chipmunks” favorite left me wondering if they were still shown anywhere; do the kids know why they’re singing like a speeded-up Ampex tape deck? But Judith Rauch and the gang sure sounded good.
The Jazz and Symphonic Bands were great as well, with the extra bonus of a guest conductor, Mr. Bill Fisher, a former Lakewood band director. I’m told Mr. Coffey has more guest conductors planned for future concerts, but it will be hard to top this sprightly veteran and his crisp direction from the podium. With his pedigree from Ohio University and the Navy School of Music he made a good match for Scott’s approach to his first year with this ensemble.
As to the middle schoolers, these ears enjoyed the “Pat-a-pan Processional” and “Ding-dong Merrily On High” in particular, but Rob Caldwell pointed out at the band concert how many of the sixth graders had just gone from once or twice a week to daily play, and what a leap they had made. The eighth graders, for whom this is old hat, are now ready to present smooth and steady renditions of “The Christmas Song” and they could even handel “For Unto Us.” The eighth grade choir did a great job on the blur of words crammed into the full version of “It’s Beginning To Look Like Christmas,” and everyone together closed the concert in front of a backdrop and indoor snowfall that Bing and Rosemary should have seen. . .and would have enjoyed.
Many thanks not only to the hard working directors and behind the scenes folk like Martha Fickle and many Band Boosters, but to the crowded auditoriums each concert played for. Parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles, neighbors and friends all came out and shared the applause that echoes into the practice room through the long hours of rehearsal to make it worthwhile. Let’s hear a round of applause for the audiences, too.

Community spirit has been much in evidence, not only with turnout for school events, but for meeting some other pressing needs. Hebron Elementary assisted 98 children in 36 families this holiday season, with many teachers and staff all going the extra mile to help make a brighter Christmas for families having a rough time this December.
But they give the main credit to everyone who went out and did a little extra shopping, put a special offering in the hat, or helped out to “adopt” these families. Companies like Dow, Meritor, and Brezina Construction; community groups like the Hebron Lions and the VFW; churches and individuals who gave of themselves all were part of the effort, and they appreciate the caring work at our local school.

At the village offices, they appreciate how many people really, really, really give of themselves: our regular blood donors through the American Red Cross. Nov. 25 we had 44 people come to give, with 38 units donated (plus many “helpers” who couldn’t give that day).
With the increasing success of this program down at the Municipal Complex on West Main, we began signing up donors as they left for time slots next time, which will be Feb. 13 from 1 to 6 pm. There are already 30 donors registered! What a great response from our Hebron community, and extra thanks to Don Kissack and the Hebron McDonald’s for their special incentives to donors.

A Merry Christmas to you and yours; God bless us, every one! And one more Crossroads tale in 2003 next week. . .

Jeff Gill is pastor of Hebron Christian Church and a bass (retired baritone). If you have a song in your heart to share, or news of local interest, call him at 928-4066 or e-mail disciple@voyager.net.

Hebron Crossroads 12-14-03
By Jeff Gill

Jose and Maria were heading down I-70 towards Wheeling when the old grey Buick Riviera they drove started to overheat.

The cold December night suddenly felt a little more threatening (with the heater not working well, a problem you didn’t notice much in Del Rio through the summer). They were heading to the home of a family member in Steubenville who had a good job for them both, which was really important since their first-born was due soon, roundly visible between the shoulder and lap belt Maria wore.

So Jose reluctantly turned off at the next exit. He didn’t have much cash on him, just his ATM card, which he hated to use more than he had to. Thinking that getting some work done under the hood would be cheaper away from the interstate, he drove past the bright lights of the truck stops and newer hotels, and headed down the road.

They started to feel nervous as they realized both that it was later than they thought, and that there was no large town just off the way. At the next intersection, they saw a closed lumberyard, a few darkened buildings, and relatively few homes. Jose turned right, paralleling their original direction, hoping to find a town, a garage, somewhere reassuring.

Of course it was a dark stretch of road where the engine emitted a “pop” and a sighing wheeze, and red lights punctuated the dashboard behind the wheel Jose struggled to turn onto the shoulder.

Maria gasped with fright, as suddenly in the silence and within the beam of headlights they saw a headstone right in front of them. “Are we in a cemetery?” she asked. Then they saw the arc of “Cumberland” across the top, and Jose said “I think it’s an old milestone on this road; something historic.”

They could just see the glow ahead of some crossroads, and were considering how to bundle up for a walk over the hill and down to whatever lay ahead, when a loud, low, long rumble started to shake the car, and lights shone from behind.

A line of motorcycles rolled past them, divided in front of them, and stopped on both sides of the road. One bright headlight turned back, bumped along the gravel, and pulled up to the driver side window. Jose rolled the crank back about half a turn.

Out of the darkness behind the light, with a creak of leather, a head turned and spoke. “You guys are on the wrong side of the road looking lost. Everything OK?”

Jose answered, “The engine died and I was losing the power steering.”

“Yep, that’s what I thought. This is some old mule of a car; don’t know about finding parts tonight for you. Now if it were a Harley, we’d probably be able to fix you up out of our saddlebags.”

“Who are you guys?” asked Maria.

“Just a bunch of guys out on a poker run, ma’am,” he answered, swinging off the bike to stand by the car. As he turned, Jose saw a blazon on the back of his leather jacket, with gothic letters in a scroll across symbols below, saying “The Nolo Contenderes.”

“Nolo. . .Say, you guys aren’t. . .” Jose trailed off.

“Yeah,” the dark figure said sheepishly, “we’re a bunch of lawyers. That’s the name of our, uh, group. We ride most Fridays if the Bucks aren’t playing. You must know Latin, Mr.?”
“My name’s Jose, this is my wife Maria.” Hands were shaken through a now lowered window. “Actually, we have family just two hours down the road who’ll come and get us, but I hadn’t gotten out my cell phone before you showed up.”

It took very little discussion to realize that, whatever was wrong, thermostat or head gasket, the Buick wasn’t going anywhere, and Maria was in no mood to straddle a passenger seat on a big bike. While Jose contacted Steubenville, a huddle among the “Nolos” ended with everyone back in a circle on the roadside.

“We can probably get someone to come back up here with a car pretty quick,” said the leader through his brushy mustache. “There’s a dance down at the catering hall over the next hill we were dropping by. Meanwhile, we can’t leave you here in the cold; but across the way I know a guy whose house probably has security on it, but I can get you inside their barn full of straw. You can nestle down in that until we get back.”

“So how do you know how to break into buildings, Mr. Lawyer?” asked Jose with a smile.

“Some clients pay in cash, others barter by teaching useful life skills,” answered “Mr. Contendere.” “I could ask you how you speak English so well, Jose; no offense meant.”

“No offense taken,” answered Jose, his smile now a mix of pride and amusement. “Some of my family may do migrant labor that brought us up to Ohio years ago, but some of my family lives on land in New Mexico they have the deed to, marked 1616.”

“Before Plymouth Rock,” nodded the lawyer, swinging back onto his Harley. “Funny how most people’s stories aren’t what you’d think ‘til you let them tell it. Well, keep your story right here in this barn for a bit more, and we’ll be right back. Louie and his wife had four chili dogs and a bag of batter-dip fries they got at the last stop on the poker run and hadn’t opened, so stay close, stay warm, and eat up. We’ll have you somewhere better soon, I promise.”

As he revved the engine at the barn door, he hollered to Maria and Jose, “And when we get you to a better room and a friendly crowd, I can’t wait to tell you the story of how we came to stop right there by ya; you’re not gonna believe it!”

“Oh, tonight I’d believe about anything,” Jose said inaudibly as two other bikers slid the door shut from their cycle seats and roared off.

And of course it was just then, in the dimness of the moonlight filtering down from the window in the hayloft, that Maria squeezed his hand and said nervously, “Dear, I think the baby is coming.”


May your Christmas at the Hebron Crossroads be wonderful, mysterious, and joyful this year of Our Lord Two thousand and three! Next week, Christmas week special services; call 928-4066 or e-mail disciple@voyager.net with details.

* * * * * * *

for the Dec. 21 Community Booster Christmas Traditions --

From Jeff Gill at the Hebron Crossroads: “Each year, after we bake our cookies from flour we’ve ground in our own handmill, and when we finish painting the toys I’ve carved out of wood naturally fallen to the ground from ancient oak trees, we sit around Joyce playing Advent tunes on her dulcimer, with the Little Guy coloring in the angels on the border of our Christmas letters. . .um, wait. That’s what we dream about after eating too much store-bought cookie dough right before another too-late bedtime.

It will come as no surprise that for a pastor’s family, we focus through December on the church celebrations of the season with children’s musicals and choir cantatas and candlelight Christmas Eve planning and preparation, plus the extra work we all get together at Hebron Christian Church to do for food pantries, housing programs, and needy families. Years ago, I used to feel more that we “didn’t get” as much chance for Christmas observance as others, but what I’ve really gotten into is the ancient idea of “Christmastide,” the celebration that is dimly recalled in “The Twelve Days of Christmas.” From Christmas day on the 25th to Jan. 6th, or Epiphany, while the stores tear down all the tinsel and trappings, and the decor shifts to Valentine’s red on the 26th, we can count down to the visit of the Magi (which is what Epiphany marks), keep the music celebrating Christ’s birth playing, and bake the cookies and do the things that others did back in the “Holiday Season.” And did I mention clergy are infamous for sending Epiphany cards more than Christmas cards? The colors of the church vestments go from royal purple to celebration white, and we get to sing the carols while radio stations have gone back to playing the top 40 and see the tree as a symbol of new life instead of a rack for ornaments on sale. Now if we could just bring back Boxing Day, as well. . .”

Hebron Crossroads 12-07-03
By Jeff Gill

Standing on my neighbor’s roof, with the sun setting and Venus bright in the southwest, everything looked different.

Nevermind that I was only about 15 feet off the ground. Forget that a window in my house next door is higher than where I stood, holding one end of a string of Christmas lights. Looking from the ochre horizon of sunset to the eastern darkness spangled with stars, across the shallow bowl of Hebron, down into streets already lit with multicolored strings of bulbs across eaves, everything looked different. Not a whole lot, but noticeably different. Angles of vision, breadth of view, and revelations of distance usually hemmed in by walls and trees and bushes, all making for a new way of looking at my surroundings.

That’s what I think the Wright Brothers brought us 100 years ago next week: not so much flight, or air transportation, let alone overnight shipping, but a new perspective.

That new perspective started at Kitty Hawk but was conceived and raised in Ohio, in their bicycle shop at Dayton and on Huffman Prairie outside of town, the true birthplace of aviation. Now part of the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base complex, these wide open river bottoms, surrounded by low bluffs, were where Orville and Wilbur got their orientation to how the world looked from above. Can’t get to North Carolina? Don’t worry, drive to Dayton instead, and see the Air Force Museum while you’re at it, just up the road.

But last year, while my wife was at a professional conference in Virginia Beach, I looked on a map and realized that the Little Guy and I could make it between breakfast and suppertime pickup down to the famous stretch of windy beach.

We made the trip in the light drizzle to steady rain that kept on us all week, but the longest period of dryness was when we crossed the bridge onto the Outer Banks, rolled down to the Wright Brothers National Park at Kitty Hawk, and rambled across the now grassy plain.
Since he was four, the memories probably won’t last, but watching the boy run down the blacktop path between the granite markers – liftoff, first flight landing, second, and third, all less than the length of a 747 today – will last in my memory for a long time to come.

A sturdy stone memorial tower, arced with curves swooping up from busts of the brothers to metal symbols aimed at the sky, was set atop the adjoining hill. The view reached out to the Atlantic, now separated from the replica hangars by a blacktop road and three rows of vacation homes stilted along the dunes, but the really evocative part of the area is a runway set parallel to the “first flight” zone, with a regular procession of small aircraft puttering down out of the sky, with many touch-and-go-ing right back up into the air. I’m guessing that a flight log with “landing and takeoff” at Kitty Hawk is a point of pride for civil aviators.

Last year, with the National Park Service preparing for 2003’s Centennial of Flight, all the museum space and Wright Flyer replica was closed for renovations and new parking construction. But that was OK. I enjoyed the view from the memorial platform, looking out at the ocean, down at the narrow strip of asphalt where history was made in December of 1903, and up at the everyday fliers who were seeing the world in a different way, thanks to the bishop’s boys from Ohio.

Thanks, guys.


This December also marks a new perspective springing from 160 years ago, in 1843. Just three years before, the general public first saw a Christmas tree in the penny papers as part of the decorations at Windsor Castle of Queen Victoria, brought over by her Germanic family members.

The customs and images and depictions of a “traditional” Christmas were still very much in flux, both in Great Britain and the United States. What happened along to fix much of that picture in our collective unconscious was a little book published in London by Charles Dickens. Already famous, “A Christmas Carol” sealed his place as an icon of English literature, and even more than giving us the remarkable portrait of Ebenezer Scrooge and the Cratchit family, Dickens gave us a perspective of what a Christmas celebration should be, even if we’ve never roasted a goose or cooked a pudding or mulled wine into a steaming Victorian punch.

And his vision of forgiveness and repentance as central to the meaning of the holiday, whether for the religious or the irreverent, through the Ghosts of Christmases Past, Present, and Future, made a lasting impact on the season, for the better and for us all.

Reginald Owen, Alaistair Sim, George C. Scott, and Patrick Stewart among others have all taken a crack at the figure who probably overshadows even Hamlet and Huck Finn in our cultural imagination. Did Charles Dickens change the world as much as the Wright Brothers? Hard to say, but what a fascinating question to ponder this Christmas season.

Cue Tiny Tim: “God bless us, every one!”


A few quick local notes as well. Sunday afternoon at 3 pm the Lakewood Band offers their Winter concert down at the LHS auditorium. Wednesday, Dec. 10, there is a two hour early dismissal. Plus this note to churches planning Christmas Eve special services: please get me your times and titles posthaste, as deadlines are scooting backwards! Just call 928-4066 or e-mail disciple@voyager.net, and remember to note your church name, and times plus anything else you want noted so we can have all our Hebron Crossroads area services in the Dec. 21 Booster. Thank you!

Notes From My Knapsack -- The Church Window Dec. 2003

"Focus" was the Latin word for "hearth." In ancient Rome, and in more recent times on the Ohio frontier, the fireplace, the hearth was indeed the focus of the family living space.
Nowadays, the focal point of most living rooms is the TV set. Even in homes with a fireplace, the location is carefully to one side, so as not to shift the focus of the room, or to block the sight lines to the screen all the furniture points at.
But during this time of year, all kinds of folk are willing to adjust their reality a bit. We move furniture, realign the sight lines, and make our focus the Christmas tree.
If some seats have an obscured view of the picture tube, we decide we can live with it. . .for at least a few weeks. We take a bit of the outdoors, a few ornaments of our family tradition, and some of our faith, and put it on display where no one, least of the residents of that space, can miss the new point of focus.
This is, for many households, an opportunity. A chance to create some new traditions, make a few adornments to our future history, and reflect (by the Christmas lights alone of a late evening) on what our faith tells us about "the reason for the season."
I hope and pray this Christmas season that you may, by the lights echoing those Roman fireplaces, now making you a new hearth through scented candles and electric colored bulbs, find your focus in the Light that comes from a stable, and place your hope in One born under a wintry star over Bethlehem.
In Grace & Peace,
Pastor Jeff

CWF Christmas Dinner for the whole church family -- after worship Dec. 21


Budget/Stewardship Team

The Budget Committee, which was asked to review items from their proposed 2004 budget at the last Board meeting, will meet along with the Stewardship Team, which meets on months between Board meetings.
They will work at the church on Monday night, Dec. 8, at 7 pm to review what will be presented to the congregational meeting Jan. 25.
Due to increased fixed costs and expenses, even with some fairly significant cuts, the new budget will represent an increase over the giving levels in 2003. Jean Wonders, our financial secretary, estimates that if, on average, each of our 50 regular "giving units" (families or individuals by household) gave another $10 per month, we would have a solid budget for 2004.
Thank you for your prayerful reflection on your own giving in the new year, and for your prayers for the board and financial officers in their decision making! We are glad to report that the support for the 604 W. Main property has the principal owed below $60,000 on a $113,000 purchase just four years ago, and we are halfway to our congregational commitment of $12,000 to Camp Christian's new construction.

Notes From My Knapsack -- The Church Window Dec. 2003

"Focus" was the Latin word for "hearth." In ancient Rome, and in more recent times on the Ohio frontier, the fireplace, the hearth was indeed the focus of the family living space.
Nowadays, the focal point of most living rooms is the TV set. Even in homes with a fireplace, the location is carefully to one side, so as not to shift the focus of the room, or to block the sight lines to the screen all the furniture points at.
But during this time of year, all kinds of folk are willing to adjust their reality a bit. We move furniture, realign the sight lines, and make our focus the Christmas tree.
If some seats have an obscured view of the picture tube, we decide we can live with it. . .for at least a few weeks. We take a bit of the outdoors, a few ornaments of our family tradition, and some of our faith, and put it on display where no one, least of the residents of that space, can miss the new point of focus.
This is, for many households, an opportunity. A chance to create some new traditions, make a few adornments to our future history, and reflect (by the Christmas lights alone of a late evening) on what our faith tells us about "the reason for the season."
I hope and pray this Christmas season that you may, by the lights echoing those Roman fireplaces, now making you a new hearth through scented candles and electric colored bulbs, find your focus in the Light that comes from a stable, and place your hope in One born under a wintry star over Bethlehem.
In Grace & Peace,
Pastor Jeff

CWF Christmas Dinner for the whole church family -- after worship Dec. 21

Budget/Stewardship Team

The Budget Committee, which was asked to review items from their proposed 2004 budget at the last Board meeting, will meet along with the Stewardship Team, which meets on months between Board meetings.
They will work at the church on Monday night, Dec. 8, at 7 pm to review what will be presented to the congregational meeting Jan. 25.
Due to increased fixed costs and expenses, even with some fairly significant cuts, the new budget will represent an increase over the giving levels in 2003. Jean Wonders, our financial secretary, estimates that if, on average, each of our 50 regular "giving units" (families or individuals by household) gave another $10 per month, we would have a solid budget for 2004.
Thank you for your prayerful reflection on your own giving in the new year, and for your prayers for the board and financial officers in their decision making! We are glad to report that the support for the 604 W. Main property has the principal owed below $60,000 on a $130,000 purchase just four years ago, and we are halfway to our congregational commitment of $12,000 to Camp Christian's new construction.