The Church Window -- July 2004

Notes from my Knapsack

Camp and VBS are the usual themes for July, after the fireworks of the Glorious Fourth (and the depressing sight of back-to-school supplies right after the bunting comes down).

After my recent bone-crushing experience, a few folks assumed I’d take this summer off of camp directing. Nope, and let me tell you why.

First, I’m healing up very well says Dr. Quimjian, and if he had said “no” then “no” it would be, since I want to be picking up grandkids when I’m in my 70’s and that means doing my therapy and following instructions now.

Second, because the reason we’re here is to transform lives through an encounter with Jesus Christ. That’s the point, folks! We expect, we stand on God’s promises that radical change and healing of mind, body, and spirit can happen when people meet the living Christ. The maintenance mode of most Sunday worship can dull our expectation of what can and does happen – which is why I believe in camp and retreat experiences so much.

There is nowhere else in church life where I so often see that kind of transformation, and follow lasting effects from those changes, than out of long-term Christian community such as you find in a camp setting. Hopelessness and despair and anger and lostness are exorcised, and in their places comes the Spirit of the Living God, and the fruits of that Spirit: hope, peace, joy, and unity of purpose.

For those who suspect I regularly try to sneak bits and pieces of camp into our regular Sunday worship. . .guilty as charged! Because I wish for all of us the kind of life-changing transformation that comes so often through the dining halls and cabins and paths of that place we call camp, but is indeed for many “holy ground.”

In Grace & Peace, Pastor Jeff

PS: Look for some praise choruses in worship at 10:30 in August! jbg

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Hebron Community VBS
Fri. July 30 & Sat. July 31

Our shared VBS effort with Hebron United Methodist will rotate down to their location this year, which will also give us a chance to welcome their new pastor, Rev. Penny Drenton. A Friday evening rally and registration will lead to an all day program Saturday of Bible stories, songs, and shared experience.

More details will come out in the weekly bulletin on times and themes. On Aug. 1, we hope to hear a VBS song from our kids who attended and Mike McFarland of HUMC will share the message.

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Board Meeting Delayed a Week

The July General Board meeting, which normally would be Monday, July 12 at 7:30 pm in the church basement, will go back a week to July 19. At least three officers will be unavailable (including the pastor at camp!) on July 12, and we preferred not to cancel for the month. As always, anyone is welcome to attend as church business and working policy is formed at these meetings; the Board in Jan., Mar., May, July, Sept., & Nov., and Finance working group in Feb., Apr., June, Aug., Oct., & Dec.

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Outdoor Worship & Picnic

Sunday, August 8, Hebron Christian Church will worship at 10:30 am out on the grass in a straw bale amphitheater; following the service we’ll join in a potluck picnic together. The Hartford Fair begins that day, but band camp leaves the next Sunday as folks make their weary way back from Croton, and school the next week, so we’ll picnic before we run into the Sweet Corn Festival and the rest of Labor Day!

Another picnic and activity will come on Sun., Sept. 12

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Stewardship, National & Local

First, the wider perspective:

“Americans' charitable giving rose in 2003 over 2002, and marks only the fifth time since
1971 that charitable giving in America topped 2 percent of gross domestic product, reported the New York Times.

Americans gave an estimated $240.72 billion in 2003, a slight increase from the previous
year, according to an annual survey of charitable contributions compiled by the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University.

Estimated giving in 2003 equaled roughly 2.2 percent of the nation's gross domestic product, the fifth year since 1971 that charitable contributions exceeded 2 percent of the total output of goods and services.

"This occurs despite rather unsettling times," said Henry Goldstein, chairman of the foundation that oversaw the survey.”

Now, on our local scene: the Finance working group, meeting in the months between board meetings, has looked at giving patterns for Hebron Christian. Giving to the general fund of the church has steadily increased, from 1988 to 2003, around 7% a year. This is not including capital giving such as to Camp Christian, parsonage repair, roof replacement, elevator installation, or organ memorials, let alone our 2000 property purchase (which will be down to $50,000 of principal left on the mortgage at year’s end!).

Our stewardship has been strong and responsive through the financial downturn of the last few years, and we’re proud of the commitment of our members. We plan to fulfill the remaining $6000 we pledged to Camp Christian’s new buildings over the next two years, as well.

Hebron Crossroads 6-27-04
By Jeff Gill

So on a Saturday afternoon a few weeks back, I’m out in the driveway playing with the Little Guy, trying to keep him a) amused, b) interested, and c) out of the house while the Lovely Wife does vital and necessary housekeeping activities. Simple, no?
No. In trying to distract and amuse a tired and disgruntled six year old, I flip off a scooter onto the driveway. The concrete driveway. The hard, over six feet down from my eyeballs, very hard driveway; right onto my left elbow and nothing else.
Rolling over to my right, I grasp my left arm with right hand and feel a variety of things moving about that God did not intend to be moving loosely beneath the skin of my elbow, ironically barely scraped.
My first thought: this is not good. My second thought: this is gonna hurt. My third thought: I can get a column out of this!
OK, so the last two might be in reverse order.
Heading towards LMH in the passenger seat, iron grip on left elbow maintained by right hand, I divert the waves of pain and nausea with the thoughts: Who can preach tomorrow at early service? What about second service leadership? And: I’ll bet I could get a whole bunch of columns out of this experience! (Again, sequence open to dispute; it was gonna be a good sermon, though.)
You might have gotten the column on heartless, inefficient staff at the ER. But no, they were fast, caring, and even more extremely compassionate after they saw my x-rays.
You might have gotten the column on foolish, unprofessional behavior in the Fast Track area and Radiology late on a summer Saturday afternoon. But no, they were calm, considerate, and very good at explaining and answering questions. (My fellow patients, most of whom were not (patient). . .could be a column someday. Or a novel. Stay tuned.)
You might have gotten the column on fee-gouging, rapacious pharmacies that prey on those needing off-hours drugs. But no, after handing over a prescription sheet and some very basic data and a reasonable wait, I got pills that made my arm stop throbbing. A good deal, compared to chewing on yarrow shoots and lighting candles. Did I pay money for that? You bet, and my arm stopped hurting (some).
You might have gotten the column on pre-surgery as a humiliating, depersonalizing, alienating experience which precedes pain and terror with isolation and depression. Not at LMH, where friendly staff were helpful and responsive at every turn, and I got back everything I put in the lovely floral plastic bag (hello, the 60’s are so over) and had the LW with me as long as she could stand my brand of gallows humor. . .even had a fellow pastor come and pray with me before surgery, which felt very odd, given that I’m supposed to be the fully clothed one standing up doing the praying in that situation. Hmm, probably good for me to have that role reversal.
You might have gotten the column on opening child proof containers with one hand, but that is sooooo overdone (has that stopped you in the past? - internal editor's note). Yes, the Little Guy opened them for me, how'd you guess? Oh, you saw someone else's column on that. . .
You might have gotten the column on recovering from surgery with said six year old in house and both of you coming down with a stomach flu at the same time, but this is a family paper, so we shall draw a curtain across those grim days when the pain meds did not stay down, nor did anything else, including the Little Guy.
So many column possibilities, ruined by cheery competence, general professionalism, and a small amount of discretion. Since I’m typing with one hand until a further exam determines my next disposition in re metal pins, cast, etc., we’ll keep this short, but. . .
You might have gotten a column on the essential stupidity of the very concept of an HMO, and you will my friends, you will. A whole column, with plenty to say, none of which has to do with the Little Guy or staples or viruses.
But for everyone who aided in my medical care, emergency and otherwise, located in Licking County, who actually had anything to do with pinning together my shattered left elbow and bruised pride and sense of indispensability: thank you! I am, as so many cards, flowers, and ominously hovering balloons command, obeying the order to “Get Well Soon!”
HMOs, I’ll get to you soon.

Jeff Gill is the fractured pastor of Hebron Christian Church and veteran of many hospital visits, usually on other people. If you have tales of healing and hope to share, or scores to settle with HMOs, call 928-4066 or e-mail disciple@voyager.net.

Hebron Crossroads 6-20-04
By Jeff Gill

Sunrise is now before 6 am; ‘tis Midsummer Night’s Eve made famous by the antics of Titania and Oberon in a Grecian wood, the magical time of the longest days of the year.

Tomorrow is the astronomical first day of summer, June 21, and with or without Shakespeare's influence they are turning out to be strange days, indeed. (If sprites and fairies are afoot in Dawes Woods, now celebrating a 75th anniversary as Dawes Arboretum, it would not surprise me in the least.)

More on just how strange life can be in coming weeks, but now, a long overdue look backwards, to a near-magical weekend in Canal Park.


From my point of view, the Crossroads Festival began with two boys on bikes, stopped and leaning forward on their handlebars, watching with rapt attention as the crew from Calliope Productions set up the Giant Slide on Friday.

Setting up the parking area provided by the Bowmans and Coughlin Chevrolet, I saw walking in from the bridge behind Hayman’s three young girls, high stepping through the grass, picking their way toward becoming the first “official” visitors to the carnival grounds.

Not far behind them, Helen Artz and Jean Houston came across the still bright white bridge, painted on Patriot’s Day last Sept. 11, walking past the Ohio outline flower bed also painted and recently renewed by Mary Alice Dernberger, who came along just after to shoot some pictures for her scrapbook of the Hebron festival back again from a long recess.

Scott Walters and his son Josh came by to offer a hand, and we fell to talking about the still-visible outline of the old interurban power plant in the ground nearby, and the near archaeological character of the lot, with dim traces of foundations and lanes just below the grown-over surface.

And I got another chance (not the last of the weekend!) to tell the story passed along to me by the McDaniels about the Madden girls climbing the smokestack, a hundred feet high with their long black skirts fluttering in that long-ago breeze.

Either the lights got brighter, or the day was darkening, when couples hand in hand started to appear with greater frequency; some couples looking too young to be in love and others old enough to know better, but all glad to be together on a cool night under starry skies.

Mrs. Weaver and her stalwart Student Leadership Council members from Hebron Elementary wove in and out of the rides and stands and booths, swapping out new trash bags for full ones from their containers. The roar of the main generator off the midway left many shouting their questions to each other; “Did you get that one?” “Which one?” “No, that one,” but they merrily kept up with their messy but necessary work.

As the clouds broke up with the setting of the sun, landing patterns at Port Columbus changed, bringing a steady parade of jets right across the sky over the crossroads, just under the waxing half moon from the southeast.

From Conestogas down the National Road in the same direction the airplanes echoed, crossed by the trickled tracing of the once important canal route, that feeling of intersection, of past and present crossing, even interrelating, was as visible as it was felt.

Some of those jets no doubt brought home returning soldiers, veterans newly minted, hoping like many vets before them that they might be the last to carry that proud title, hoping that their work overseas might bring us closer to the day when wars are no more.

I hope they looked down as evening fell on May 28, saw the spinning and rotating lights of a simple village festival, and remembered the boisterous peace and contented happiness of carnivals and circuses and cotton candy, a multicolored reflection of all they fought to protect, and to offer to others.

Life and liberty are blessings we know to cherish, but the pursuit of happiness can often confound us. Watching a family walk away from the grounds as night fell, Dad carrying a stuffed animal larger than either of the kids (and almost as big as Mom!) it seemed like Hebron had relearned what it meant to pursue happiness. . .and might even have caught it.

Jeff Gill is pastor of Hebron Christian Church and a proud officer of the Hebron Elementary PTO, which sponsored the Hebron Crossroads Festival. If you have news or stories about the pursuit of happiness in the Lakewood area, call 928-4066 or e-mail disciple@voyager.net.

Hebron Crossroads 6-13-04
"These Are the Boys of Pointe Du Hoc"

With thanks to www.whitehouse.gov, at the Crossroads this week we read the words of Ronald Reagan on June 6, 1984:

WE stand on a lonely, windswept point on the northern shore of France. The air is soft, but 40 years ago at this moment, the air was dense with smoke and the cries of men, and the air was filled with the crack of rifle fire and the roar of cannon.

At dawn, on the morning of the 6th of June, 1944, 225 Rangers jumped off the British landing craft and ran to the bottom of these cliffs. Their mission was one of the most difficult and daring of the invasion: to climb these sheer and desolate cliffs and take out the enemy guns. The Allies had been told that some of the mightiest of these guns were here and they would be trained on the beaches to stop the Allied advance.

The Rangers looked up and saw the enemy soldiers - the edge of the cliffs shooting down at them with machine guns and throwing grenades. And the American Rangers began to climb. They shot rope ladders over the face of these cliffs and began to pull themselves up. When one Ranger fell, another would take his place. When one rope was cut, a Ranger would grab another and begin his climb again. They climbed, shot back, and held their footing.

Soon, one by one, the Rangers pulled themselves over the top, and in seizing the firm land at the top of these cliffs, they began to seize back the continent of Europe. Two hundred and twenty-five came here. After two days of fighting, only 90 could still bear arms.

Behind me is a memorial that symbolizes the Ranger daggers that were thrust into the top of these cliffs. And before me are the men who put them there. These are the boys of Pointe du Hoc. These are the men who took the cliffs. These are the champions who helped free a continent. These are the heroes who helped end a war.

Gentlemen, I look at you and I think of the words of Stephen Spender's poem. You are men who in your "lives fought for life . . . and left the vivid air signed with your honor."

Forty summers have passed since [that] battle. You were young the day you took these cliffs; some of you were hardly more than boys, with the deepest joys of life before you. Yet, you risked everything here. Why? Why did you do it? What impelled you to put aside the instinct for self-preservation and risk your lives to take these cliffs? What inspired all the men of the armies that met here? We look at you, and somehow we know the answer. It was faith and belief; it was loyalty and love.

The men of Normandy had faith that what they were doing was right, faith that they fought for all humanity, faith that a just God would grant them mercy on this beachhead or on the next.

It was the deep knowledge - and pray God we have not lost it - that there is a profound, moral difference between the use of force for liberation and the use of force for conquest. You were here to liberate, not to conquer, and so you and those others did not doubt your cause. And you were right not to doubt.

You all knew that some things are worth dying for. One's country is worth dying for, and democracy is worth dying for, because it's the most deeply honorable form of government ever devised by man. All of you loved liberty. All of you were willing to fight tyranny, and you knew the people of your countries were behind you.

Something else helped the men of D-Day: their rock-hard belief that Providence would have a great hand in the events that would unfold here; that God was an ally in this great cause. And so, the night before the invasion, Gen. Matthew Ridgway on his cot, listening in the darkness for the promise God made to Joshua: "I will not fail thee nor forsake thee."

WHEN the war was over, there were lives to be rebuilt and governments to be returned to the people. There were nations to be reborn. Above all, there was a new peace to be assured. These were huge and daunting tasks. But the Allies summoned strength from the faith, belief, loyalty, and love of those who fell here. They rebuilt a new Europe together.

We in America have learned bitter lessons from two World Wars: It is better to be here ready to protect the peace than to take blind shelter across the sea, rushing to respond only after freedom is lost. We've learned that isolationism never was and never will be an acceptable response to tyrannical governments with an expansionist intent.

But we try always to be prepared for peace; prepared to deter aggression; prepared to negotiate the reduction of arms; and, yes, prepared to reach out again in the spirit of reconciliation.

We are bound today by what bound us 40 years ago, the same loyalties, traditions, and beliefs. We're bound by reality. The strength of America's allies is vital to the United States, and the American security guarantee is essential to the continued freedom of Europe's democracies. We were with you then; we are with you now. Your hopes are our hopes, and your destiny is our destiny.

Here, in this place where the West held together, let us make a vow to our dead. Let us show them by our actions that we understand what they died for. Let our actions say to them the words for which Matthew Ridgway listened: "I will not fail thee nor forsake thee."

Strengthened by their courage, heartened by their [valor], and borne by their memory, let us continue to stand for the ideals for which they lived and died.

Thank you very much, and God bless you all.

Jeff Gill is a pastor of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), the denomination that helped raise and baptized both Lyndon Johnson and Ronald Reagan, and shares his ministerial standing with James Garfield, the only US President to be an ordained clergyman. To share your stories, call 928-4066 or e-mail disciple@voyager.net.

Hebron Crossroads 6-06-04
By Jeff Gill

School ended this week for pretty much everyone within ear and eyeshot of this column; I will not insult you by assuming you drive recklessly by day through the school year, and will slow down by hearing that more kids are on the streets.
But they are, and you should.
Perhaps it would help to get the kids off the streets and into Vacation Bible Schools, which start as soon as the summer begins. Here are the VBS’s that many in the Lakewood region enjoy and benefit from, and you may still send info if there are any I’ve missed for our general area.
In order that they happen:

Heath Church of Christ (on Hebron Road)
June 21-25 9 am to Noon
"Camp Creation"
info: 522-8402

First Community, Buckeye Lake
June 21-25 6 to 9 pm
"Lava Lava Island"
info: Maggie Blade, 928-4615

Jacksontown United Methodist
July 19-23 6:30 to 8:30 pm
"Lava Lava Island"
info: 323-4429

Hebron Community VBS
at Hebron United Methodist, E. Main St.
(with Hebron Christian)
July 30 eve. & 31 all day
info: 928-2471

Our Lady of Mt. Carmel, Buckeye Lake
July 19-23 5:30 to 8 pm
“Jesus Expedition”
info: 928-3264

Stacey Hoffman, the director of the last listed VBS, made a delightful sign that stood in the play area of Canal Park for the Crossroads Festival that showed all these dates.
Stacey, Kim Gowdy, and many others with Hebron PTO and the village staff have much to be proud of, and this column will share more next week about the festival.

Today, June 6, is the 60th anniversary of the D-Day landings in Normandy, the beginning of the end of World War II.
Memorial Day weekend brought many memories to the fore around the dedication of the new National World War II Memorial in Washington, and a concert program on PBS included a harrowing and moving first person recollection of the day from the actor Charles Durning, who was there with the initial landing.
Some of you may have heard other stories from Omaha Beach, or the parachute landings behind the coastline and into the deadly hedgerows.
Two stories that weave through the D-Day narrative for me come from very unusual perspectives that I had the honor to hear firsthand.

One comes from sixth grade, when we had a month studying various countries, with art and recipes and guest speakers. When we came to Germany, a classmate had an uncle now living in town who grew up there, and he was invited to speak to us.
It was years later that I came to appreciate how carefully he chose his words, and explained the situation, as he told us of the late night knock at the door, the three men in the “draft party,” and his forced enlistment in the German Wehrmacht.
But even then I understood that there was something quite unusual about hearing of a person’s fears and doubts and unwillingness to be there on Normandy’s beaches: looking down on the sands through a pillbox slit. How long did he fight, and how hard? All this was, as I think I recall, quite vague; there was nothing indefinite about how over thirty years later he was thankful to be captured, humanely treated, and to end up an American citizen.

My other D-Day memory comes from an elderly woman with a thick Dutch accent, who had helped care for a parishioner of mine in West Virginia, lying in the bed next to hers in an extended care unit of our local hospital. She did not know this woman, but simply wanted to care for someone very near the end of her life.
So it was no surprise that Antje, years before, had been part of the Resistance in her native Netherlands. I continued to come and visit her long after the neighbor had passed away, and she told me stories, many sad, some tragic, a few precious happy ones.
When the 50th anniversary of D-Day came along, I asked Antje on one visit if she recalled D-Day. “Oh yes,” she said, “I never forget it. I was on a streetcar in Rotterdam, carrying a message of a drop coming that night of ammunition. My pocketbook was in my lap, and I was very nervous, very nervous indeed. But then from one of the storefronts, the word was shouted out of the landing in France, that the radio said the Allies were coming, that Americans had entered Europe. And for the rest of the ride, as more passed the word along, I was not nervous, all the way to the edge of the city; not nervous at all.”
Antje is gone now, but not her story. And now you know it too.

Jeff Gill is pastor of Hebron Christian Church and a collector and teller of stories; if you have one to share, call 928-4066 or e-mail disciple@voyager.net. That goes for VBS tales, too!

Sat. May 29 Advocate Church Page message
“Memorials take many forms”
Rev. Jeff Gill, pastor
Hebron Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)

This Memorial Day weekend, many Licking County communities like Hebron conduct solemn ceremonies marking this time-hallowed and sacrifice-marked day. But a few veterans and others who normally are present will be somewhere else.
Washington DC always attracts many with monuments and memorials, from the Iwo Jima Memorial across the Potomac in Alexandria to Washington Monument itself. At the foot of that obelisk is the capitol’s newest place of memory, the World War II Memorial. This year’s “Rolling Thunder” with thousands of motorcycles passing the Vietnam Veterans’ Memorial in review will now come to a plaza facing the Reflecting Pool leading to the Lincoln Memorial, a plaza with twin towers marked Atlantic and Pacific for the two theaters of the globe-spanning war. Between the towers is a wall of 4,000 gold stars, just a token representation of the 400,000 lives this nation lost as over 50 million died worldwide between 1939 and 1945.
This oceanic, continent-hopping war brought 16 million Americans into service. Too few of them lived to see this day, and this long-overdue monument in our nation’s heart. My own family echoes the impact of the war and its aftermath: my dad’s two older brothers served overseas, one in the infantry fighting across Europe to Berlin itself, the other in the Army Air Corps keeping bombers in the air over enemy naval bases. My dad’s nickname as the child he was then, “Butch,” even graced the nose of a bomber over the Pacific theater. Just among my two uncles, the lesson of those two towers is made real. And one is gone, while the other is still with us.
It is well less than half of those WWII vets are still here, and we lose a few more everyday, but they continue to shape our communities and institutions, not the least in our churches.
One of the great privileges of ministry is the chance I have, in homes and hospitals, in living rooms and nursing homes, to learn small pieces of this story that so shaped all our lives.
Without knowing it, I’ve found myself suddenly in the middle of conversations with holders of the Navy Cross and Silver Star, of submariners on diesels under the Pacific and deckhands in the cold North Atlantic. I’ve been given nuggets of the tale that held freedom together by Marines and Air Corps pilots, Coast Guard sailors and Seabees, holders of the CIB and Ranger tabs.
My own WWII memorial consists of recollections not my own from Camp Lee and Fort Hood, of wave top views in Leyte Gulf, vistas across North African sands, and tunnel vision through island jungle roads. And much more.
In some way, I believe that those memories have an essential character that will endure long past the life span on Vermont granite or Hoosier limestone. My prayer this Memorial Day is that our thankfulness for their service will last as long as well.

Hebron Crossroads 5-30-04
By Jeff Gill

There is so much to keep up with around these busy crossroads; your correspondent missed the spring Choral concert, and heard too late about the Economics Fair (which had an incredible turnout, where much learning was had by all) and the Renaissance Day last weekend where everything from jousting to trebuchets was on view, but not by me.
Whatever day you get this, there will be elements of the Hebron Crossroads Festival going on, from Canal Park’s amusements Friday through Saturday until 10 pm, the Gazebo entertainment Saturday afternoon, or the Symphonic Band Pops Concert at the basketball courts near the entrance to Evans Park on Refugee Road at 3 pm on Sunday.
For Saturday afternoon at Canal Park and Sunday 3 pm at Evans, bring your lawn chairs!
Karaoke is still planned for the evening of Saturday after some jazz, Christian contemporary, and other music from 2 pm on. I will be taking donations to Hebron PTO, our sponsor for the festival, to not sing. Pay up now (he threatened).
Last year we dedicated the Evans Park veterans’ monument, and this festival year we still focus Monday, Memorial Day, on the parade down Main Street along the old National Road from Basin Street and the former Ohio & Erie Canal turnaround spot to the east edge of town.
There facing the sunrise is our village cemetery, and the parade will end there with solemn ceremonies marking this day of remembrance going back to the Civil War. There are veterans of that war taking their final rest in the Hebron Cemetery, along with those of conflicts since.
For many of us, our thoughts will also be with a number from the community who have made the long ride to Washington DC as part of the annual “Rolling Thunder” of motorcycles past the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. They will see this year the newly dedicated World War II memorial just around the corner, at the foot of the Washington Monument and facing the Reflecting Pool leading to the Lincoln Memorial.
A great plaza about a pool with fountains, bracketed by low towers marked Atlantic and Pacific, with a wall of Gold Stars symbolize the gold stars marking those who died in service, 4,000 each standing in for a hundred, representing the 400,000 who died from this country of the 50 million who perished worldwide in the war. Bas relief tablets line the entry, showing everything from the home front on the farm to many other forms of service along with combat itself.
I look forward to seeing this marvel for myself. Along with growing up seemingly surrounded by those who fought and worked and served in each of the branches of our armed forces, my dad’s two older brothers served overseas, one in the infantry fighting across Europe to Berlin itself, the other in the Army Air Corps keeping bombers in the air over enemy naval bases. My dad’s nickname as the child he was then, “Butch,” even graced the nose of a bomber over the Pacific theater. Just among my two uncles, the lesson of those two towers is made real. One is gone, the other still with us.
This long overdue memorial already prefigured by salutes in marble, granite, and bronze all around the country in towns large and small, is a tribute to those 16 million veterans of an ocean and globe spanning conflict that still marks our modern civilization, not the least among the hundreds of thousands of WWII vets still helping shape our world.
May our thanks to them endure longer than carvings or sculpture.

Jeff Gill is pastor of Hebron Christian Church and a nephew of veterans of the Atlantic and Pacific theaters of WWII. If you have a story from your family to share or news of local interest, call 928-4066 or e-mail disciple@voyager.net.

Notes From My Knapsack – June 2004 “The Church Window”
Sitting on my front stoop a few weeks ago was my writer’s copy of “Religion in Ohio – Profiles of Faith Communities.” This volume, edited by folks with the Religious Experience Advisory Council of the Ohio Bicentennial Commission, took a little longer to assemble than the Interfaith Committee had anticipated, so here we are post-bicentennial, but the book will be a monument and resource for the next fifty years just as the last version was from 1954.
Hebron Christian Church, near the “historic crossroads of Ohio,” has the distinction of having authors of two sections in their fellowship, myself for the Disciples of Christ, and Herb Hicks, still serving an interim up at Somerset, PA with an UCC parish, wrote the Society of Friends (Quakers) section, having dual standing and family history with that denomination. There are churches with co-authors in them, but I’m betting nowhere else has two different section writers in them!
By the time you read this, the first/renewed “Hebron Crossroads Festival” Memorial Day weekend will be history. I trust that the success of the event, the enjoyment of the participants, and the opportunity for groups like our church to engage the public will make this an annual tradition. . .again. Donna Braig, Maribel Neel’s sister, has written elsewhere of the delights in the 30’s and 40’s of greased pigs & poles, and massive parades (ungreased). We have high hopes for where this festival for our community might develop in the future.
Our reading of “The Purpose Driven Life” is history of a sort, but like all the best sort of historical understanding, it continues to have a life among us. Summer program ideas, mission experiences like what Jennifer McNichols will have later in the month in Nicaragua, and the commitment we share with the new Camp Christian dedicated June 12 (see elsewhere in the newsletter for more on each) with state CYF co-pres Josh Halter participating, all are signs of the vision and mission we seek to build together at Hebron Christian.
How is your vision for what God is doing in the Lakewood area developing? Tell someone about it this summer. . .
In Grace & Peace, Pastor Jeff
* * * * * * *
Jennifer McNichols to Nicaragua
Along with some fellow education students at OSU-N, Jennifer McNichols will spend the latter part of this month in the Central American country of Nicaragua. This is a poor nation, with many simple needs more easily met by direct in-kind giving than by mailing cash. Jennifer has been asked by the trip leaders, who will supervise their time spent living and working among the campesinos (tenant farmers), to bring items easily transportable with their luggage allowance, like soccer or volleyballs that can be deflated for storage, or [blank blank blank]; also they have some allowance for carrying small children’s clothes, which in many cases are the right size for Nicaraguan adults, as well.
Contact the McNichols at 323-4600 for questions of if you have items to get to her before June 8. We look forward to sharing her story when she returns at the end of the month.
* * * * * * *
Camp Christian Dedication & Camps
Magnetic Springs, Ohio has been a center of Disciples of Christ activity since 1949, when Camp Christian sprang into being. We’ve upgraded and built new a few times since then, but no period has seen as much change on the property, just west of Delaware in Union County on Rt. 37, as this past year.
Dedication ceremonies for the “new” Camp Christian are on Sat., June 12, at 11 am, with registration and social time preceding and a sack lunch to follow. Come join the celebration!
The very next day, our first crew of around 20 campers and counselors from Hebron Christian will move into camp for Hocking Chi Rho (middle school). At print time, Alan Cook, Susan Jones, Josh Walters, and Tracy Wildermuth are attending. Send them a greeting at Camp Christian, Hocking Chi Rho Camp, (Name), Magnetic Springs OH 43036 by June 12 to guarantee arrival.
July 4 starts Phyo CYF (high school), with Amy Brown, Crystal Damron, Sonya Ford, Josh Halter, Chris Jones, Sean Jones, Whitney Mason, Kalee McCord, Mattie McCord, & Julie McNichols [ed note - David Scheidegger still a maybe]. Same address, and send by July 2 for arrival that week.
And Templed Hills is our Badger 3-4-5 gr. Camp, with Jared Halter a camper, and Dory Smathers, Crystal Damron, and Josh Halter counseling, with Jeff Gill as co-director. Mail them at Templed Hills, Badger 2137, Box 575, Bellville OH 44813. July 9 is a good date to mail by for them.
* * * * * * *
Graduate Recognition Sunday, June 2 in worship
We recognize LHS seniors Amy Brown, Sonya Ford, Nick Mason, and Julie McNichols (our youth group co-pres), along with Dennis Neel at Lakewood (Maribel Neel’s grandson), Robert Love at JVS (Helen Parker’s grandson), Austin Dernberger at Newark (Ralph & Mary Alice Dernberger’s grandson), Beth Wickizer at Worthington (Rev. & Dr. Wickizer’s daughter), Kyle Rogers at Hilliard (Rev. Hutchings’ grandson) and Jason Bartlett and Ronnie Hodges at Fremont Ross (Charles & Wanda Slater’s gr-grandsons) [ed note – and Tashina Jenkins ???, got note but don’t have referent]; our prayers and congratulations go with you through this new stage in your life and walk with God.
Commencement at Lakewood High is June 2, where Pastor Jeff will deliver the invocation; seniors will perform their final numbers with the band and choir during the ceremony, which begins at 2 pm in the main gymnasium.

Hebron Crossroads 5-23-04
By Jeff Gill

Got cicadas?

That won’t be an ad campaign anytime soon, but it is an interesting question around the Hebron Crossroads, especially given that the dividing line between “broods” seems to run right up the old Ohio & Erie Canal, or Rt. 79.
The 17 year cicada is just what it sounds like: a bug that comes out every 17 years and screams, in a buglike way, until dark (the reverse of a horror movie, I guess); after mating, they plant eggs in slits through the bark of tree limbs, and over the next 17 years they develop living off of tree sap, grow and drop to the ground, burrow in deep and change and grow some more, until 17 years have passed when they burst forth in all their red-eyed, Edsel-faced glory, bug-screaming their way through another summer day.
But not all 17 year cicadas all across the US bust loose on the same timetable. One brood, the infamous “Brood X” (actually, that’s just the Roman numeral ten, but it looks cool, doesn’t it? Like a movie title, “Brood X Screams By Day!”) is over much of Ohio including the Columbus area. Licking County is half Brood X and half another brood that doesn’t hatch ‘n holler until 2008, from here over to Zanesville.
That’s what the maps say, but I was recently up at Flint Ridge and saw a new cicada looking very much at home, though still finding his singing voice. Do you have ‘em yet where you live?

Much more beautiful music last weekend at the Lakewood District Band Festival on Sunday afternoon. It is a very good plan to have one long concert instead of three or four on different nights. . .at least for those of us who have in the family or want to hear and support a bunch of kids from fifth grade right through the graduating seniors. The Band Boosters made this work even better with their cafeteria operation that ran through the afternoon, and the Little Guy loved the shredded chicken. To play with. Oh well.
“Hang On Sloopy” was nicely done by the fifth graders with some help from the high schoolers, like Sonya Ford and Josh Halter, which I thought was a very nice touch for their last number.
And Scott Coffey had a great speech at the start of the high school Symphonic Band portion about a local resident, Frank Robison, who had shared with him about the Hebron and Buckeye Lake tradition of circus bands in our area. They then opened with a march, not a military march but a circus march, and the difference was clearly discernable. “Broadway One Step” was a great piece and also a piece of our local history.
Thanks to all, and also Lauren Houck and Rob Caldwell, who did such a great job with the kids in teaching and directing all year.

Over at Hebron Elementary on Monday, the Spring Arts Program by the third graders (first grades traditionally do Christmas, and so on each year) was a musical presentation called “Child Of The World.” Mrs. Clark has had some health adventures this year, but really wanted the third graders to get their chance. With other teachers and family members helping (including a grandson, who helped, sort of!) the stage looked international and the kids were world class.
Under flags of the US, Israel, Austria, Great Britain, Mexico, Japan, and France all handmade, and over themes of Respect, Honesty, Courage, Compassion, and Responsibility, ditto handmade banners, they shared what it meant to be a “Child of the World.”
Solo pairs in the show were performed by Brianna Ames and Yves Amornyard, and by Mary Gilbert and Courtney Baker. Many other kids delivered lines and bits of song with great aplomb (they were calm and cool, too).

Village of Hebron Crossroads Festival info, including pre-sale tickets at the elementary school, can be found on the front page; suffice it to say that the excitement grows with each passing day! We do still need some parking helpers. Lakewood women’s softball and men’s baseball were continuing their winning ways as these paragraphs were typed; for breaking news, watch our sister publication The Advocate, or go to newarkadvocate.com.

That’s the interesting stuff for now; if you still want to read (or if Editor Amy has room), some of you have shared other observations about the “DaVinci Code” craze and my comments about the book. For what it’s worth, thanks to a “blogging” friend online, Amy Welborn, who has written a book on this phenomenon, here’s a look at how even Dan Brown, the author, has had to back off of some of his more outlandish claims. . .and you can check it out yourself at http://www.danbrown.com/novels/davinci_code/faqs.html:

Early version:
HOW MUCH OF THIS NOVEL IS BASED ON FACT?
All of it. The paintings, locations, historical documents, and organizations described in the novel all exist. Photos of the paintings and locations can be viewed in art books or on my website.
A somewhat later version:
HOW MUCH OF THIS NOVEL IS BASED ON FACT?
The paintings, locations, historical documents, and organizations described in the novel all exist. Photos of the paintings and locations can be viewed in art books or on my website.
Most recent version:
HOW MUCH OF THIS NOVEL IS TRUE?
The Da Vinci Code is a novel and therefore a work of fiction. While the book's characters and their actions are obviously not real, the artwork, architecture, documents, and secret rituals depicted in this novel all exist (for example, Leonardo Da Vinci's paintings, the Louvre pyramid, the Gnostic Gospels, Hieros Gamos, etc.). These real elements are interpreted and debated by fictional characters. While it is my belief that the theories discussed by these characters have merit, each individual reader must explore these characters' viewpoints and come to his or her own interpretations. My hope in writing this novel was that the story would serve as a catalyst and a springboard for people to discuss the important topics of faith, religion, and history.

Jeff in closing: Interesting evolution, no?

Jeff Gill is pastor of Hebron Christian Church and he hopes he looks good in an orange vest Memorial Day weekend; if you’d like to help or have news of local interest, call 928-4066 or e-mail disciple@voyager.net.

A Weekend To Remember
Community Booster 23 May 04
By Jeff Gill

Renewing the tradition of a community festival after a twelve year gap can be a big job, but the Hebron Elementary Parent Teacher Organization is ready, with more than a little help from their friends.
May 28 – 31, Memorial Day weekend, the Hebron Crossroads Festival will start with a carnival in historic Canal Park on Friday, May 28. Michael’s Amusements will open their rides at 4 pm that day, running until 10 pm each of the next three days. Saturday rides open at Noon, Sunday at 1 pm.
The Hebron PTO is offering pre-sale tickets, 5 for $5, saving you up to .50 per ride. 25% pre-sale proceeds got to the PTO. Officers will have the tickets at the elementary school outside the office on Tuesday, May 25 and Wed., May 26 from 9 to 10 am and 2:30 to 3:30 pm, and outside the main entrance on Thursday, May 27 from 5:30 to 7:30 pm.
But fundraising really isn’t the purpose of beginning again this Hebron tradition.
“We’re just excited to be able to offer some things to bring the community together around,” says Kim Gowdy, PTO president. “We saw this as a chance not only to give back to the community on behalf of the school, but also to give children and families a way to see that they don’t have to travel a long distance and spend a whole bunch of money to have a great time. They can come right down the street or around the corner, to the Crossroads Festival.”
Along with the rides, Canal Park will offer a variety of family entertainment on Saturday afternoon and evening, from jazz to gospel, along with storytellers and other family entertainment. Bring lawn chairs or blankets and hang out at the Gazebo for some special Saturday night musical guests.
Between the rides and the Gazebo is a community area with booths from a number of non-profit groups. “Right now we have Girl & Boy Scout troops, Hebron Lions, the Hebron Historical Society, a couple area churches, and others who will offer a variety of goods and activities,” says Stacey Hoffman, PTO vice-president. “Invitations went out to over 40 service oriented groups who were offered the space for free, and if spaces aren’t used, we’ll have a couple businesses or crafters who will rent a space as well.”
The booth area is open through Saturday afternoon and evening, with a pavilion sponsored by Action Pest Control giving a shady spot to eat between the booths and carnival concessions. The carnival rides will open again from 1 to 10 pm, with some of the ClownTown clowns joining the fun in and around the area.
Sunday some of the focus also shifts to Evans Park out on Refugee Road, where the Lakewood Symphonic Band will hold a concert at 3 pm. Bring your lawn chair or blanket and join us out on the fields as we enjoy an open air year-ending offering from Scott Coffey and the gang.
Monday, May 31, is Memorial Day, and the rides and activities close down to allow the entire community to share in the 10 am parade from the American Legion Hall down Main Street to the Hebron Cemetery for a wreath-laying program. Following is an auction at the village firehouse on Basin St. next to the Legion Hall to support the volunteers’ association with the Hebron Fire Department.
“The village is very happy to see this tradition coming back,” affirms Mike McFarland, village administrator. “We’ve enjoyed working with the PTO on this and want to help in any way we can.” Hebron Police and Fire will have booths at the Festival Midway Saturday, and will be active around the carnival and parade all four days of the Crossroads Festival.
Scott Walters, village councilmember for the Parks Committee, offers that “this is a great step back for our community. We’ve really missed having this in our town, and the village appreciates the work the PTO has given to get things rolling again.” Parks and Streets employees have already started preparatory work all around the sites of the Festival, at Canal & Evans Parks, and at the village cemetery.
All agree that this is not a one shot event, but a new beginning of an ongoing tradition for the Hebron Crossroads, with additional events and activities already being considered for 2005. The Hebron Crossroads Festival really looks like it is here to stay.

Hebron Crossroads 5-16-04
By Jeff Gill

We closed the basement door a few weeks ago. No big deal, right?
In the Gill household, we haven’t closed the basement door in seven homes over sixteen years: it’s how the cats got to the litter box.
We moved from seminary housing into a home in my parish in some part because we adopted a grey cat whom we called Gandalf. Actually, he adopted us at the close of a three day revival at the church, showing up each evening to greet arrivals at the door and meow goodbye each night.
The last night he jumped into our car, the last to leave the parking lot. Skipping a few mushy details, he briefly lived an illegal life with a litter box in the half bath until we went to our first home with a basement.
Before we left that house to move to Newark, Ohio from Indianapolis, I brought home another cat, a kitten actually who was about to be put down a well. This was a temporary adoption, until we found somewhere else to place Pumpkin. That was fifteen years ago.
Now they’re both gone, each quietly expiring in the last year from general debility and a final attack of overall collapse. My Lovely Wife and I have been together nineteen years on the 19th, and those darn cats have been one of the few consistent parts of a weird and varied life from Indiana to Ohio to West Virginia to Pennsylvania and back to Ohio again.
At some point, we’ll probably go back to being owned by cats, but for now, we’re closing the basement door and adjusting to black clothing without tufts of cat hair. Those two cats had us to themselves for a decade before we rudely introduced a small child into their golden years, which they accepted with the usual feline hauteur. The Little Guy has chased them into the basement for the last time, and we’ve learned some lessons together about sickness and illness and dying and gone. He’d be delighted now if we adopted the Gahanna Lion, or maybe a lizard. We’ll see.
Sometimes, in church, someone will ask for prayers for a pet, and it usually isn’t a child. Occasionally I’ll get asked about the status of non-humans in heaven, also more often by grown adults than kids.
Pastorally, I know that the love people have for their pets and that they experience, rightly or wrongly, as coming from their “companion animals” is a very real thing to them. Theologically, the comfort I believe we are promised in the Bible where “every tear will be wiped from our eyes and death will be no more” does not rule out cats and parakeets and Labrador Retrievers (though perhaps not in the same room, but if the lion can lie down with the lamb. . .); therefore, I don’t see why I should count them out, either.
What God has made is good, and what shows God’s love is of God. So I offer up the part of our family life these last sixteen years that was Gandalf and Pumpkin, and trust that what God has made, God will preserve. Rest in peace, guys.

Seven days after our thirteenth anniversary, the Little Guy came into this world. A friend pointed out recently that the great thing about “five” is that dad will never be this smart again until age 22 or so. From six on, daddy gets a little dimmer, just a bit dumber and a whole lot less omniscient with every passing year.
Personally, I think we may have gotten a jump on this process, as “Daaaaaaaa-ddeeeee” becomes more and more a declaration of “what part of how I want things to be don’t you understand?” We will celebrate a new year, more big boy teeth, and the blossoming of “I want to do it myself” in everything from getting dressed (a good thing) to lawn mower repair (not so good).
And my pastoral experience tells me it can be a whole lot of fun to be the fount of all wisdom again someday if I can just be patient enough. In between, I’ll just be the amiable goof I am, and stick with embarrassing the dickens out of him. What’s a dad for, anyhow?

Hebron Elementary PTO is getting excited about the Village of Hebron Crossroads Festival. Tickets are going out as a pre-sale for the eight rides that will be available at Canal Park May 28-30, Friday through Sunday Memorial Day weekend. Michael’s Amusements has been very helpful, and their “rainbow posters” are popping up around the area (very attractive, too, Mr. Albanese!); they will make tickets available through the PTO and flyers will go home with kids this week on details.
Many community groups will set up along the “Midway” next to the “Action Pest Control Pavilion” for Sat., May 29, with informational, entertainment, and food item booths between the ride area behind Hayman’s Dairy Bar and the Gazebo/Picnic Shelter end of Canal Park. We can still use some parking aides Friday night and through Saturday guiding folks off Main into the area Coughlin Chevrolet of Hebron is clearing out for us. Contact me if your group is willing to take a two hour block wearing an orange vest and pointing people to parking spots.
And of course: Watch the Booster next week for more details!

Jeff Gill is pastor of Hebron Christian Church and proud member of Hebron PTO; if you have news or notes of local interest, or want to help park, call 928-4066 or e-mail disciple@voyager.net.

Licking District Trailmarkers June/July 2004

Rockin’ the Rock

If we could just get pro wrestler and movie star “The Rock” out to Wilkins Corners for a fundraiser, we’d have “Rockin’ the Rock with The Rock!”

But things are pretty cool as it is: Cub Day Camp booming and, that same week, Staff Training Week under a new summer camp director (good luck, Chris!) in June, and then a solid summer of long-term camping for units from all over Simon Kenton Council, including quite a few from Licking District.

Scouters, remember as you’re thinking about how far to go to get that last kid to go to camp: retention in Scouting more than doubles for kids who have a long-term camp experience. Put another way, the Scout who doesn’t go to camp this summer has less than a 1 in 3 chance in staying active through the next year in your unit.

Thanks to all the Scoutmasters and troop camping chairs who have made the extra effort already! Licking District has an almost 100% amount of troops signed up for a week of camp somewhere, in or out-of-council, and that’s as it should be. Thanks also to Bill Burgess, our DE, and folks like Mike Dalton and our OA chapter officers who are talking up camp around the units.

Our next SKC/BSA “Scouter” will come out in August, which means the next deadline is July 1 for material that many in the district will not see until mid-August, so plan your submitted material accordingly. For instance, we probably should have in this issue info about Scout stuff at the Hartford Fair or Ohio State Fair, but little of that is available in the last week of April! So keep lead times in mind (it helps us plan ahead, anyhow!), and send your news and notes to Jeff Gill at disciple@voyager.net. Thanks!

* * * * * * *
Total County Awareness!
Our Goal for School Night for Scouting

Every youth (and parent) in Licking County should, at minimum, know how they could join the Scouting program appropriate to their age level, in their area.

Bill Acklin, chairperson of the Membership Committee for the Licking County District reports that the membership committee is busy with planning efforts for School Night 2004. The district’s goal is to reach out to the boys of Licking County and share the message of scouting, in particular Cub Scouting. The committee plans to divide the area into five zones, each with a School Night Coordinator to work with and support Pack leaders in this recruiting activity, with the Membership Committee providing overall support. Tim Bubb, Newark City Treasurer and candidate for County Commissioner has volunteered to serve as Chairperson for School Night 2004. We are hopeful that this team approach to School Night 2004 will better ensure that the district will achieve the goal of sharing the Scouting program with the youth of Licking County and make School Night 2004 a complete success.

SCHOOL NIGHT 2004
PROGRAM ANNOUNCEMENT

Purpose: School Night is a concentrated effort held each fall to acquaint boys and parents about Cub Scout opportunities and programs and to register new boys and new leaders with existing Cub Packs.

Goal: We have not been reaching as many young perspective Cub Scouts in the area as we would like to share the Scouting message. We need the help of all existing Cub Packs and Scout Troops to reach out to the youth of Licking County to share the Good News about Scouting.

What can Packs and Troops do to help? Begin planning for this year’s program by identifying a School Night Coordinator for your unit. Review dates for School Night with your sponsoring organization and set a date with the local school(s). The following schedule outlines the upcoming District’s program for 2004 for your guidance.

What support will the District Membership Committee provide? The Membership committee will provide program literature and fliers, training for Unit Coordinators, school contact information and other support as needed.

School Night 2004 Tentative Time Schedule

March 2 Roundtable Introduce School Night 2004

March 22 Mailing Mailing to Cub Masters and Pack committee chairs announcing School Night 2004 and request to have units identify School Night coordinator to attend April 6 Roundtable

April 6 Roundtable Organize School Night w/Packs asking Packs to review dates for School Night with sponsoring organization and set date by May 4 RT

May 4 Roundtable Packs advise dates for School Night

May 15 Deadline for Packs to schedule date for School Night w/schools

August 10 School Night training for presenters and units by District Membership Committee

August 17 Fall Program Kickoff (Boy Talk model presentation)

August 24-September 2 Boy Talk “Warm Up—Information” fliers sent to boys home from school with boys’ other paperwork going to the home from school

August 24-September 9 Boy Talks and School Night rallies to be held

September 2 & 11 Packs turn in new boy’s applications and new leader’s applications (site TBA)


* * * * * * *

Fall Program Kickoff
Newark Public Library Mtg. Room
Tues., Aug. 17 – 5 to 7 pm

Note in the “School Night for Scouting” lead-in schedule the annual Fall Program Kickoff. This event, for all Cubmasters, Scoutmasters, and unit program chairs, includes Popcorn Sale info, leadership training updates, and a chance to meet people with programs from all over Licking County who want to help your Scouts succeed.

From activity options at Buckeye Lake, Flint Ridge & Newark Earthworks State Memorials, Licking Park District or Dawes Arboretum, and the Ohio Nature Education folks, you can reach in one place people from one end of our area to the other. . .plus talk to almost any of our district leadership as the fall program year gets started.

Drop by, have some coffee or pop, and tour the tables, ask questions, and best yet get some answers, whether on charters, youth religious awards, or how to tie a one-handed bowline. See you there!

* * * * * * *

Hebron Crossroads 5-09-04
By Jeff Gill

Happy Mother’s Day, and here at the Hebron Crossroads the Little Guy and your correspondent will treat the Lovely Wife to a delightful afternoon. . .we’ll leave the house.
OK, we’ll try to come up with some other good appreciation-type stuff, but the LW would probably enjoy peace and quiet more than rubies and pearls right now, and we can provide that more easily (cheaply!) as well.
This will be quick and short, with the backlog catching up with news next week of the Hebron Crossroads Festival May 28 through Memorial Day weekend; and in June I may just commit journalism in this space. Stay tuned!
And thanks to Donna Braig in a competing publication for a great historic review of Hebron Festivals in years long past; no, we aren’t bringing the greased pole back, due to liability concerns. Greased pigs are under a PETA injunction, but maybe we can get away with a greased watermelon competition if PETFV doesn’t object.
Lakewood baseball goes into the playoffs May 14 after a bye (for accurate sports news, please turn to our sister publication The Advocate, of course), and Lakewood Bands will offer a Spring Band Festival of their own on Sunday afternoon, May 16. Make it a belated Mother’s Day outing, maybe?
From 2 ‘til 8 pm in the Lou Staffilino Performing Arts Center (aka the auditorium) nearly 300 student musicians from all grade levels from 5 to 12 will offer everything from classical to pop, jazz to. . .ska? Well, probably no ska.
The price is free, but you can buy refreshments through the afternoon in the cafeteria. Come one, come all!

Jeff Gill is pastor of Hebron Christian Church and a very rushed parent and pastor this week; if you think he might write more next week, call 928-4066 or e-mail disciple@voyager.net with news and notes of local interest!

Hebron Crossroads 5-02-04
By Jeff Gill

In school athletics, the value we know our youth gain from participation is Teamwork.
Less appreciated is the teamwork that art teaches: the image of the lonely, solitary artist is perhaps too well known . . .sculptor in the attic studio with a chisel, painter in the stifling garret dabbing away, columnist banging away at a hot laptop late at night . . .

If you saw ?The Wizard of Oz? at Lakewood High School, you saw not only some wonderful young actors (of which more in a later column), but the result of teamwork involving literally hundreds of vitally necessary participants.

A hat tip, too, goes to the orchestra pit where every element of the Performing Arts Department of Lakewood was represented. All the band directors, led by the choir director at the keyboard, supporting the drama department; plus Band, Choir, and Drama Boosters all working together, with students, parents, and area businesses, along with a key role played by administration (the gatekeeper was typecasting for a superintendent, if you ask me). Productions are definitely a team sport!
Four shows plus four special performances made for some quality entertainment around the Hebron Crossroads; better than any TV that was on last weekend.

Footnote: just noticed TV Guide taking quite a risk in the checkout line at Kroger and Wal*Mart . . .putting their publication in sealed bags. Hmmmm. So, they?re admitting that you actually can get all you need to read from them while waiting to scan your rutabagas and canned goods? Was that really what they meant to say? Sounds like it to me. . . Will this get us to buy, not browse their mini-mag while the Advocate has a much easier-to-read version in the Sunday paper? Can?t wait to see how this gamble pays off. I did watch a marvelous TV program last weekend based on Kent Haruf?s novel ?Plainsong,? and that from learning about it on the internet, not on tvguide.com either.

There will be a movie in the Lakewood High School auditorium on Tues., May 4 at 6:30 pm, but this isn?t entertainment. If you would like to be better informed about school funding and how it (doesn?t) work(s), come and watch the film and join the discussion that night. Thanks to the Lakewood Board of Ed, the Citizen?s Advisory Council, and our sterling (emerald?) administration for bringing this to our area.

Kindergarten screenings are coming up in the next few weeks for both Hebron & Jackson Elementary; Hebron is Wed. & Thur. May 5 & 6, from 8:30 ? 11 am & 1 to 3 pm. Call 928-2661 to get scheduled with your child who will be ready for kindergarten next year. Jackson Elementary Kindergarten signups are Tues. May 11 from 1 to 7 pm, and Wed. May 12 from 9 to Noon, call 928-1025 for scheduling a time.

Sat. May 1 will be the observed Arbor Day event for Dawes Arboretum, which is celebrating their 75th anniversary this year, since Beman & Bertie got the big idea in 1929 to turn their Licking County home and grounds, Daweswood, into an arboretum. From 10 am to 4 pm an assortment of activities will take place on and above the grounds around the visitor center, just off Ohio Rt. 13 north of Jacksontown. That, or the Hebron Fish Hatchery fishing day from 9 am to 1 pm makes May Day a good start to the month (see elsewhere in the Booster for more on the hatchery).
Speaking of history (as we often do), the Hebron Historical Society is having a program on ?Amazing American Women? at 7:30 pm Mon., May 3, at the Masonic Building on N. High St. From their monthly first Monday meeting to the last day of May and Memorial Day, the occasions for history education and awareness come thick and fast through this month.

Spring is peaking in the month of May, and so are many tree pollen counts; some of us are relieved to learn that one of the worst allergy zones in the country is from Toledo down southeast through the Columbus area, since, there is so much hardwood forest and particulate pollution upwind of us in that belt. So we?re not crazy (are we? No I?m not, am I?), we?re just breathing, or at least trying to.

Even while sniffling my way through May, I love to see the tulips in full blossom. This time of year is amazing up around Holland, Michigan, on the eastern shore of Lake Michigan, where the largest tulip festival this side of Holland, Holland can be found. The streets are lined with rank upon rank of every color tulip you can imagine; and wooden shoes in all sizes, even 14?s for me, are sold in every store it seems.
Holland, MI?s Tulip Festival is a long standing tradition; Hebron?s Crossroads Festival soon will be! Keep Memorial Day weekend marked on your calendar for carnival events at Canal Park and concerts there and at Evans Park on Sunday, May 30 at 3 pm by the Lakewood Symphonic Band.

We?ve mentioned many other Booster groups in the Lakewood area; mark also the Lakewood Athletic Boosters? Auction and Fish Fry on Sat., May 8 at the Lakewood Middle School. The auction will start at 6:30 pm after the fish gets going by 5 pm, with sensible prices of $5 per person and a $15 family fee. Come eat, bid, and bring home something interesting.

And for all you new readers in the Pataskala, Granville, Alexandria, and Johnstown areas, you?re welcome too! Come on down to our historic crossroads and spend your money. . .

Jeff Gill is pastor of Hebron Christian Church and a proud member of the team around these historic crossroads; if you have news of local interest to share with your teammates, call 928-4066 or e-mail disciple@voyager.net.

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

At the end of this month, Hebron will see the return of a too-long absent friend: a community festival with carnival rides, concerts, and displays along the “midway” of Canal Park. The Hebron Crossroads Festival is Memorial Day weekend, starting Friday evening and wrapping up with our longstanding parade to Hebron Cemetery and program there Monday morning.

This is also the weekend when the long awaited WW II Memorial is dedicated on the National Mall in DC, with a few of our local veterans making the trip to the foot of the Washington memorial to salute the 16 million vets and nearly half-million honored dead of that conflict.

There will be much work to do, especially with the long (12 years, we think) gap since our village and surrounding area pulled one of these off, but the wagon train last summer proved that, between groups like the Hebron Elementary PTO, village staff, and our churches, we can do about anything. Two days of festivities last year sort of got this ball rolling, and this year is going to be a true festival for our historic crossroads for years to come.

Jesus spoke of simple things in his parables like yeast, the leaven in the loaf that was a small percentage of the whole, but changed all the contents; community leadership is like that, and our Christian influence and leadership has been present in groups like the PTO, the village and township government, or Lakewood school board and staff.

But don’t forget that we can be that infectious energy and enthusiasm even in our church’s regional structure; key roles like camp counselors are filled by people like Dory Smathers, the Wildermuths, and pastors past and present, and then there are folks like David Dernberger who’ve served on the regional board, or Ila Mason with the CWF commission.

The parable of the yeast says that sheer numbers aren’t everything. But it is gratifying to note that Lent attendance was up dramatically, and our size continues above the median for Protestant congregations in the US (well above it for our region, the Christian Church in Ohio). 15% of American churches are one member larger than they were five years ago, and only 5% of congregations founded are around 100 years later, let alone 137.

As we greet – and say goodbye! – to our interim regional pastor, Suzanne Webb, in worship May 2 remember that Hebron Christian has a role to play and a voice to share that makes a transforming difference in our community and world; we are called to be the yeast in the loaf and the salt of the world.

In Grace & Peace,
Pastor Jeff

* * * * * * *

Camp Christian Re-Dedication
Sat., June 12
Come see how we
“Keep The Fire Burning”
in the new Dining Hall!
(watch the Sunday bulletin for details)

Hocking Chi Rho (6-8 gr.)
Camp Christian -- June 13-19

Phyo CYF Conference (9-12 gr.)
Camp Christian – July 4-10

Badger JYF Camp
Templed Hills – July 11-17

Registrations due May 16;
See Lisa McNichols, Jessica Slater,
or Pastor Jeff for forms and info

* * * * * * *

Hebron Crossroads Festival
Sponsored by Hebron PTO
28-30 May

Carnival rides, games, food
Gazebo events and Sunday
Symphonic Band concert 3 pm
Evans Park

Memorial Day Parade, Mon. May 31
10 am, with program and
Hebron Christian wreathlaying
at Thos & N.V. Madden gravesite

* * * * * * *

Youth Sunday
May 30

A special music Sunday
Including a Memorial Day
Tribute on the dedication of the
National WWII Memorial in DC

* * * * * * *

If you know of any graduates in our church family, on any educational level, please let Jessica Slater know immediately!


* * * * * * *

Mother-of-the-Year voting in worship, May 2
Presentation of traveling Bible and plaque, May 9
for Mother’s Day!

The last special posting in honor of National Poetry Month --

Emily Dickinson is known so well and so little; of her 1775 collected poems, here are a few out of the middle, mostly not the ones that can be sung to "The Yellow Rose of Texas," a legend that grew up about "all" her work because her well-intended admirerers tended to only publish what sounded to them the more lyrical.

Enjoy!

(number in the official collected works) 300

"Morning" -- means "Milking" -- to the Farmer --
Dawn -- to the Teneriffe --
Dice -- to the Maid --
Morning means just Risk -- to the Lover --
Just revelation -- to the Beloved --

Epicures -- date a Breakfast -- by it --
Brides -- an Apocalypse --
Worlds -- a Flood --
Faint-going Lives -- Their Lapse from Sighing --
Faith -- The Experiment of Our Lord


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

301

I reason, Earth is short --
And Anguish -- absolute --
And many hurt,
But, what of that?

I reason, we could die --
The best Vitality
Cannot excel Decay,
But, what of that?

I reason, that in Heaven --
Somehow, it will be even --
Some new Equation, given --
But, what of that?


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

302

Like Some Old fashioned Miracle
When Summertime is done --
Seems Summer's Recollection
And the Affairs of June

As infinite Tradition
As Cinderella's Bays --
Or Little John -- of Lincoln Green --
Or Blue Beard's Galleries --

Her Bees have a fictitious Hum --
Her Blossoms, like a Dream --
Elate us -- till we almost weep --
So plausible -- they seem --

Her Memories like Strains -- Review --
When Orchestra is dumb --
The Violin in Baize replaced --
And Ear -- and Heaven -- numb --


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

303

The Soul selects her own Society --
Then -- shuts the Door --
To her divine Majority --
Present no more --

Unmoved -- she notes the Chariots -- pausing --
At her low Gate --
Unmoved -- an Emperor be kneeling
Upon her Mat --

I've known her -- from an ample nation --
Choose One --
Then -- close the Valves of her attention --
Like Stone --


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

304

The Day came slow -- till Five o'clock --
Then sprang before the Hills
Like Hindered Rubies -- or the Light
A Sudden Musket -- spills --

The Purple could not keep the East --
The Sunrise shook abroad
Like Breadths of Topaz -- packed a Night --
The Lady just unrolled --

The Happy Winds -- their Timbrels took --
The Birds -- in docile Rows
Arranged themselves around their Prince
The Wind -- is Prince of Those --

The Orchard sparkled like a Jew --
How mighty 'twas -- to be
A Guest in this stupendous place --
The Parlor -- of the Day --


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

305

The difference between Despair
And Fear -- is like the One
Between the instant of a Wreck
And when the Wreck has been --

The Mind is smooth -- no Motion --
Contented as the Eye
Upon the Forehead of a Bust --
That knows -- it cannot see --


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

306

The Soul's Superior instants
Occur to Her -- alone --
When friend -- and Earth's occasion
Have infinite withdrawn --

Or She -- Herself -- ascended
To too remote a Height
For lower Recognition
Than Her Omnipotent --

This Mortal Abolition
Is seldom -- but as fair
As Apparition -- subject
To Autocratic Air --

Eternity's disclosure
To favorites -- a few --
Of the Colossal substance
Of Immortality


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

307

The One who could repeat the Summer day --
Were greater than itself -- though He
Minutest of Mankind should be --

And He -- could reproduce the Sun --
At period of going down --
The Lingering -- and the Stain -- I mean --

When Orient have been outgrown
And Occident -- become Unknown --
His Name -- remain --

Hebron Crossroads 4-25-04
By Jeff Gill

Laura Finkes, we mentioned here at the Crossroads recently, has set records not only at Lakewood High School but now for Denison University as a track and field star.
Laura holds records for discus and shotput distance in the North Coast Athletic Conference, and has the school record for the shot now, proceeding on to NCAA competition.
But did you know this Hebron woman is not only an All-American honoree, but has made the Senior Dean’s List, completed an Honors project in the Honors Program at Denison, and is in “Who’s Who Among Students in American Universities and Colleges.”
Oh, and she’s a Heritage Scholar. In her spare time, no doubt.
This is not the result of careful, diligent journalism, mind you. She was an invited guest at a gala reception and dinner at Denison where various faculty and board members were honored (your correspondent was there to take charge of the shiny backing sheets you peel off of nametags, but that’s another story), and it was interesting how many Lakewood area folk were there, as participants or spousal units. We’re taking over, we Lakewood people are!
Another note in passing: the assembly of young trees and shrubs on the southwest corner of the Hebron Elementary property looks particularly beautiful in the spring, with a range of shades in green and accents of white and maroon. If southwest is confusing you, just think the view to your right as you go around the back corner of the building waiting in the pick-up line after school. Which tells you where I picked up that tidbit. . .

We’re still observing “National Poetry Month” around the Hebron crossroads, and you can see more than can be wedged into this space at http://knapsack.blogspot.com from Longfellow (in honor of Lexington and Concord, April 19!), Frost, Yeats, Kinnell, and Tolkien.
You can read some poetry, or better yet, write some. It isn’t hard; try haiku. . .you know, five syllables, seven syllables, five syllables, and they don’t even have to rhyme. (It was Frost who said free verse, poetry with no syllable count, rhythm, or rhyme scheme, was “like playing tennis with the net down.”)
A speedy example of a haiku:

My keyboard clicking
Words streaming across the screen
Crickets click outside

See? Give it a try.

Anyone can be a poet, but it takes a special kind of person to be a children’s author. Steve Isham came to Hebron Elementary a few weeks ago. . .from Australia! He spent some of his youth in Columbus, and still has some ties to the area, giving him and his wife, Marion, a list of titles that includes both “Tasmanian Tiger” (they live on the island of Tasmania just off the southeast corner of the Australian continent) and “Johnny Appleseed” of local fame.
Steve was truly an inspiration to the kids, as he talked about becoming a writer and artist and showed them his diligent working methods both alone and along with his wife. He wove into his talks question and answer on geography, history, biology, art and literature, and was clearly impressed by our kids’ immediate responses about everything from editing “sloppy copy” to what makes marsupials what they are.
Did you know that, while Australia has kangaroos, koalas, and perhaps the Tasmanian tiger, we have a distant counsin here on the other side of the globe. . .the opossum! Well, our kids knew that and more.
He was also inspiring to us grownups, teachers and parents, as he patiently spoke to every child in the building, signing literally hundreds of books with personal dedications and even a little original art. Every child knew Mr. Isham was delighted to be there, and to meet them.
Class group after class group came to hear him, and his program was tailored to the age in front of him. All of this was impressive, but my own perspective was also that of a reading tutor, and what I saw in my time reading that afternoon.
The impact on those young readers was obvious in the extra effort and energy students were putting into work they otherwise might have let frustrate and even halt them. Because it was Steve Isham’s book, and one he had told them about, they wanted not only to read it, but get the full measure of understanding they could from the pages.
When you hear about special days like this in our Lakewood schools, know that they aren’t a distraction from their educational aims, but a real fulfillment of their purposes.
And a hat-tip to Mr. Isham and his devotion to young readers, writers, and artists. You can still see in the halls at both Hebron and Jackson Elementary the art Steve inspired and reviewed.

Earth Day is observed this weekend at Dawes Arboretum and Licking Park District’s William Kraner Nature Center with an assortment of Saturday events. We certainly are with the farmers in hoping that the rich blessing of rain might be eased this weekend, and for a few weeks ahead. Fishing is picking up again for our area anglers, and May 1-2 is “Free Fishing” weekend at all public areas, with the Hebron Fish Hatchery on Canal Road holding a special children’s program on Saturday, May 1, from 9 to 1 pm. An adult must accompany each child.

Beauty all around
Not only up or around
Mud between your toes

Get outside and look for beauty; there’s plenty to see.

Jeff Gill is pastor of Hebron Christian Church and usually wears boots in the mud, to tell the truth; if you would like to leave your own tracks across this column with news or notes of local interest, call 928-4066 or e-mail disciple@voyager.net.

* * * * * * *

Hatching Fish Spawns Local Hidden Gem
By Jeff Gill
For the Community Booster

“We’ve got millions of fish here, but you can’t see them too easily from the bank,” says Jim Stafford, superintendent of the Hebron State Fish Hatchery.
Thousands, if not millions of Ohio anglers and tourists, take up the challenge to see some of those fish up close and personal at the end of their fishing line.
The job of this major local asset is to help ensure that there are fish to catch, and as the largest of Ohio’s six hatcheries, they provide a large portion of what go into fishing camp frying pans at the end of a long, relaxing day all over the state.
Superintendent Stafford and his crew have been working long hours through the spring, first with nearly 15 million eggs “harvested” from fish (think milking, but with even more dexterity required), then the fertilized eggs hatching in complexes of tanks into “fry” that grow into 6.5 million “fingerlings” which ideally result in close to 5 million fish.
They’re tired, but along with delivering the walleyes, saugeyes, bluegills, channel catfish, and striped bass to areas where no natural reproduction occurs, the staff at the Hebron Fish Hatchery take on an additional task: to teach a new generation of young fishermen and women the art and skill of catching your own fish.
Saturday, May 1, the hatchery will host a youth fishing event from 9 am to 1 pm. Children, who must have an adult along with them, will get a chance to learn about fish, fishing, and the work of the facility. “We’re inviting any young people up to age 18 to come out and get oriented to what fishing is all about,” says Stafford.
That weekend is “Free Fishing Weekend” around the state on any public waters, but the hatchery staff wanted to do something a little extra.
“We have nature trails, woods, and wetlands, along with the 63 ponds on this property, along with this building,” he adds with a sweep of his hand, pointing to the visitor’s area through the middle of the Administration/Education Building, one of the newest in the complex. Displays and interactive kiosks combine with an assortment of not only mounted fish (which you’d expect) but a number of other creatures you might find around the grounds, from herons to beavers. “That blank spot will have a bear soon,” Stafford notes, pointing back to the area above the entrance.
At the end of the display area is an outdoor observation deck looking across one of the rearing ponds. Birders have long known that this is a hot spot for observation, with over 250 species sighted on the 230 acres.

All of this is open to the public any weekday from 8 to 4:30 pm, and on the Saturday Fishing Day May 1 from 9 am to 1 pm. For specific information, call 928-8092.

The facility was built in 1938 with assistance from the Civilian Conservation Corps based out of Newark at what is now Great Circle State Memorial, “Camp Moundbuilders.” While the CCC finished work quickly, the first fish weren’t produced until 1941.
As a division of the US Fish & Wildlife Service, the war slowed down progress at the hatchery, but picked up right after, leading to an expansion in 1951. Transferred to the Ohio Division of Wildlife in 1982, a renovation in 1992 led to the complex of buildings and 63 one acre rearing ponds you see today, also home to the Inland Fisheries Research Unit.
Another historical note is that the water for the ponds comes from Buckeye Lake through a working spur of the Ohio & Erie Canal, probably the only ongoing use of the canal along its formerly state-spanning length. So the living history at the Hebron Fish Hatchery goes back to 1826, in a way.
Local historians and archaeologists know fish were speared and netted in rivers, streams, and lakes going back thousands of years in the Big Buffalo Swamp area, now submerged beneath Buckeye Lake, the feeder reservoir for the canal. Salt licks, which attracted animals in search of minerals they craved, are also lost beneath the lake’s surface.
But the area around the lake and the hatchery still see flint knives and other traces of ancient hunter gatherers, who no doubt fished in their hunting camp time while waiting for herds of bison or even a stray mastodon (if you go back far enough) to come to the licks.
Contrast this ancient history for the art and skill of fishing with the science that mobilizes the hatchery staff each spring.
Biotechnology doesn’t have to be in a white coated lab. Here crews muffled against the cold wade out into half drained ponds, picking out the fish loaded with eggs, milking the thousands of eggs into containers soon mixed with the milt of the males to fertilize them, leading to the first set of hatching a fish.
The process varies depending on the species, and some few do things the old fashioned way out in the ponds (keep those thoughts clean; this is what biologists call an “external process” of fertilization), but the careful monitoring and managing of hatched fry, fingerlings, and yearlings is as scientific as rocket science, and hard work to boot.
“We have a success rate much better than Mother Nature,” Stafford says, referring to how many eggs end up being fish to stock at the end of the process. They also have a few tricks she doesn’t use, such as how “Saugeye,” a popular sport fish, come into being. Female walleye eggs are mixed with milt from male saugers; in the same way, hybrid striped bass come from female white bass and male stripers. All of this is very hands-on, labor intensive work, as is the monitoring of fry through the spring from hatching jars as they live off their egg yolk sacs, then swim up to where they can be skimmed off to rearing troughs. These steps take place indoors, until they are judged ready to be transported to the ponds, where each species gets the feeding and water management appropriate to their needs.
“We’re what they call a cool water hatchery, so we don’t raise trout, which require a cold water process,” said Stafford, pointing out that trout and other fish are raised at some of the other five state hatcheries. They all help each other out, as well as coordinating schedules for the stocking around Ohio. Special tanker trucks are used for transport of the fish ready to stock, and the count (done by sampling) will tell them at the end of the process how well they’ve done.
This is a great time of year to visit this mix of history and modern science, outdoor and indoor interests. You don’t have to be fascinated by fish to enjoy the Hebron Fish Hatchery (we saw a heron fly overhead driving in, and a foot-and-a-half snapping turtle stomping off to a pond as we left), but you will certainly find fish more interesting by the time you have to leave.

When readers send along wonderful stuff like this, how can i not add one more?
pax, jbg

Saint Francis And The Sow

The bud
stands for all things,
even for those things that don't flower,
for everything flowers, from within, of self-blessing;
though sometimes it is necessary
to reteach a thing its loveliness,
to put a hand on its brow
of the flower
and retell it in words and in touch
it is lovely
until it flowers again from within, of self-blessing;
as Saint Francis
put his hand on the creased forehead
of the sow, and told her in words and in touch
blessings of earth on the sow, and the sow
began remembering all down her thick length,
from the earthen snout all the way
through the fodder and slops to the spiritual curl of the tail,
from the hard spininess spiked out from the spine
down through the great broken heart
to the blue milken dreaminess spurting and shuddering
from the fourteen teats into the fourteen mouths sucking and blowing beneath
them:
the long, perfect loveliness of sow.

by Galway Kinnell

Well, since you've asked (somebody, anyhow), two more by Robert Frost, including the aforementioned "Two Tramps in Mud Time," but don't forget to scroll down to read "Paul Revere's Ride" in all its glorious historical inaccuracy this anniversary week (Revere's and Lexington's, not Longfellow's):

Two Tramps in Mud Time
by Robert Frost

Out of the mud two strangers came
And caught me splitting wood in the yard,
And one of them put me off my aim
By hailing cheerily "Hit them hard!"
I knew pretty well why he dropped behind
And let the other go on a way.
I knew pretty well what he had in mind:
He wanted to take my job for pay.
Good blocks of beech it was I split,
As large around as the chopping block;
And every piece I squarely hit
Fell splinterless as a cloven rock.
The blows that a life of self-control
Spares to strike for the common good
That day, giving a loose to my soul,
I spent on the unimportant wood.
The sun was warm but the wind was chill.
You know how it is with an April day
When the sun is out and the wind is still,
You´re one month on in the middle of May.
But if you so much as dare to speak,
A cloud comes over the sunlit arch,
A wind comes off a frozen peak,
And you´re two months back in the middle of March.
A bluebird comes tenderly up to alight
And fronts the wind to unruffle a plume
His song so pitched as not to excite
A single flower as yet to bloom.
It is snowing a flake: and he half knew
Winter was only playing possum.
Except in color he isn´t blue,
But he wouldn´t advise a thing to blossom.
The water for which we may have to look
In summertime with a witching wand,
In every wheel rut´s now a brook,
In every print of a hoof a pond.
Be glad of water, but don´t forget
The lurking frost in the earth beneath
That will steal forth after the sun is set
And show on the water its crystal teeth.
The time when most I loved my task
These two must make me love it more
By coming with what they came to ask.
You´d think I never had felt before
The weight of an axhead poised aloft,
The grip on earth of outspread feet.
The life of muscles rocking soft
And smooth and moist in vernal heat.
Out of the woods two hulking tramps
(From sleeping God knows where last night,
But not long since in the lumber camps.)
They thought all chopping was theirs of right.
Men of the woods and lumberjacks,
They judged me by their appropriate tool.
Except as a fellow handled an ax,
They had no way of knowing a fool.
Nothing on either side was said.
They knew they had but to stay their stay
And all their logic would fill my head:
As that I had no right to play
With what was another man´s work for gain.
My right might be love but theirs was need.
And where the two exist in twain
Theirs was the better right -- agreed.
But yield who will to their separation,
My object in living is to unite
My avocation and my vocation
As my two eyes make one in sight.
Only where love and need are one,
And the work is play for mortal stakes,
Is the deed ever really done
For heaven and the future´s sakes.

. . .and

THE DEATH OF THE HIRED MAN

Mary sat musing on the lamp-flame at the table
Waiting for Warren. When she heard his step,
She ran on tip-toe down the darkened passage
To meet him in the doorway with the news
And put him on his guard. 'Silas is back.'
She pushed him outward with her through the door
And shut it after her. "Be kind,' she said.
She took the market things from Warren's arms
And set them on the porch, then drew him down
To sit beside her on the wooden steps.
'When was I ever anything but kind to him?
But I'll not have the fellow back,' he said.
'I told him so last haying, didn't I?
"If he left then," I said, "that ended it."
What good is he? Who else will harbour him
At his age for the little he can do?
What help he is there's no depending on.
Off he goes always when I need him most.
'He thinks he ought to earn a little pay,
Enough at least to buy tobacco with,
won't have to beg and be beholden."
"All right," I say "I can't afford to pay
Any fixed wages, though I wish I could."
"Someone else can."
"Then someone else will have to.
I shouldn't mind his bettering himself
If that was what it was. You can be certain,
When he begins like that, there's someone at him
Trying to coax him off with pocket-money, --
In haying time, when any help is scarce.
In winter he comes back to us. I'm done.'
'Shh I not so loud: he'll hear you,' Mary said.
'I want him to: he'll have to soon or late.'
'He's worn out. He's asleep beside the stove.
When I came up from Rowe's I found him here,
Huddled against the barn-door fast asleep,
A miserable sight, and frightening, too-
You needn't smile -- I didn't recognize him-
I wasn't looking for him- and he's changed.
Wait till you see.'
'Where did you say he'd been?
'He didn't say. I dragged him to the house,
And gave him tea and tried to make him smoke.
I tried to make him talk about his travels.
Nothing would do: he just kept nodding off.'
'What did he say? Did he say anything?'
'But little.'
'Anything? Mary, confess
He said he'd come to ditch the meadow for me.'
'Warren!'
'But did he? I just want to know.'
'Of course he did. What would you have him say?
Surely you wouldn't grudge the poor old man
Some humble way to save his self-respect.
He added, if you really care to know,
He meant to dear the upper pasture, too.
That sounds like something you have heard before?
Warren, I wish you could have heard the way
He jumbled everything. I stopped to look
Two or three times -- he made me feel so queer--
To see if he was talking in his sleep.
He ran on Harold Wilson -- you remember -
The boy you had in haying four years since.
He's finished school, and teaching in his college.
Silas declares you'll have to get him back.
He says they two will make a team for work:
Between them they will lay this farm as smooth!
The way he mixed that in with other things.
He thinks young Wilson a likely lad, though daft
On education -- you know how they fought
All through July under the blazing sun,
Silas up on the cart to build the load,
Harold along beside to pitch it on.'
'Yes, I took care to keep well out of earshot.'
'Well, those days trouble Silas like a dream.
You wouldn't think they would. How some things linger!
Harold's young college boy's assurance piqued him.
After so many years he still keeps finding
Good arguments he sees he might have used.
I sympathize. I know just how it feels
To think of the right thing to say too late.
Harold's associated in his mind with Latin.
He asked me what I thought of Harold's saying
He studied Latin like the violin
Because he liked it -- that an argument!
He said he couldn't make the boy believe
He could find water with a hazel prong--
Which showed how much good school had ever done
him. He wanted to go over that. 'But most of all
He thinks if he could have another chance
To teach him how to build a load of hay --'
'I know, that's Silas' one accomplishment.
He bundles every forkful in its place,
And tags and numbers it for future reference,
So he can find and easily dislodge it
In the unloading. Silas does that well.
He takes it out in bunches like big birds' nests.
You never see him standing on the hay
He's trying to lift, straining to lift himself.'
'He thinks if he could teach him that, he'd be
Some good perhaps to someone in the world.
He hates to see a boy the fool of books.
Poor Silas, so concerned for other folk,
And nothing to look backward to with pride,
And nothing to look forward to with hope,
So now and never any different.'
Part of a moon was filling down the west,
Dragging the whole sky with it to the hills.
Its light poured softly in her lap. She saw
And spread her apron to it. She put out her hand
Among the harp-like morning-glory strings,
Taut with the dew from garden bed to eaves,
As if she played unheard the tenderness
That wrought on him beside her in the night.
'Warren,' she said, 'he has come home to die:
You needn't be afraid he'll leave you this time.'
'Home,' he mocked gently.
'Yes, what else but home?
It all depends on what you mean by home.
Of course he's nothing to us, any more
then was the hound that came a stranger to us
Out of the woods, worn out upon the trail.'
'Home is the place where, when you have to go there,
They have to take you in.'
'I should have called it
Something you somehow haven't to deserve.'
Warren leaned out and took a step or two,
Picked up a little stick, and brought it back
And broke it in his hand and tossed it by.
'Silas has better claim on' us, you think,
Than on his brother? Thirteen little miles
As the road winds would bring him to his door.
Silas has walked that far no doubt to-day.
Why didn't he go there? His brother's rich,
A somebody- director in the bank.'
'He never told us that.'
'We know it though.'
'I think his brother ought to help, of course.
I'll see to that if there is need. He ought of right
To take him in, and might be willing to-=
He may be better than appearances.
But have some pity on Silas. Do you think
If he'd had any pride in claiming kin
Or anything he looked for from his brother,
He'd keep so still about him all this time?'
'I wonder what's between them.'
'I can tell you.
Silas is what he is -- we wouldn't mind him--
But just the kind that kinsfolk can't abide.
He never did a thing so very bad.
He don't know why he isn't quite as good
As anyone. He won't be made ashamed
To please his brother, worthless though he is.'
'I can't think Si ever hurt anyone.'
'No, but he hurt my heart the way he lay
And rolled his old head on that sharp-edged chair-back.
He wouldn't let me put him on the lounge.
You must go in and see what you can do.
I made the bed up for him there to-night.
You'll be surprised at him -- how much he's broken.
His working days are done; I'm sure of it.'
'I'd not be in a hurry to say that.'
'I haven't been. Go, look, see for yourself.
But, Warren, please remember how it is:
He' come to help you ditch the meadow.
He has a plan, You mustn't laugh at him.
He may not speak of it, and then he may.
I'll sit and see if that small sailing cloud
Will hit or miss the moon.'
It hit the moon.
Then there were three there, making a dim row,
The moon, the little silver cloud, and she.
Warren returned-- too soon, it seemed to her,
Slipped to her side, caught up her hand and waited.
'Warren?' she questioned.
'Dead,' was all he answered.