Notes From My Knapsack – Feb 2004 “The Church Window”
Hebron Christian Church
Two words that get used all through the Gospels are “law” and “love.” Jesus has quite a bit to say about both; that law is not to be ignored, but must be fulfilled by love in order to move human hearts.
In this month where love – sort of – is celebrated all around, I’m reminded of how often I find myself explaining the practical side of Jesus’ words in present day application.
Grandparents want the law to require visitation with grandchildren, which (in Ohio, in most cases) it does not. Couples think the law can end a long relationship which includes children, and are surprised to find that it only creates a different relationship, and one rarely better than what they had. Neighbors look to the law to resolve tensions along property lines, and are upset that the situation only worsens.
What relationships have to have in order to improve and grow is love, not law. But it isn’t a Valentine’s Day kind of love that grandparents and neighbors and even most couples need, but the love Jesus speaks of and Paul sings the praises of, that doesn’t hold grudges or find fault, but forgives and seeks the best in the other.
Love that buys chocolate and flowers and dinners out certainly has a place, but even that kind of “give something to get something” sort of exchange sounds suspiciously like contracts and “law,” not like sacrifice and covenant and self-giving through love. Wed., March 17, when the Interfaith Legal Clinic visits Hebron again at our church, the line will form at 5 pm of folks looking for a brief time to talk to a lawyer for free.
Most of those 40 some people or families will be looking for a lawyer to straighten out a relationship that began with an intention to love. The intention may have been sincere, but the practice fell short. I hope that we can all use the Feast of Saint Valentine on Feb. 14 as a reminder to give of ourselves in love, and not focus on what is due us in obligation and law. Valentine gave his life out of love for Christ in ancient Rome, and today we can set the example for how the law is truly fulfilled through grace-filled love.
In Grace & Peace, Pastor Jeff
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Lent Begins Feb. 25
Ash Wednesday is the start of the 40 days (less Sundays) until Easter, a season for prayer and preparation leading to the culmination of Holy Week, with Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter Sunrise at the end of our journey alongside Christ.
Sundays Feb. 15 & 22 we will all have a chance to join in a churchwide commitment to read a 40 day devotional together called “The Purpose Driven Life.” Commitment cards will be shared in worship, and a form to order copies of the book (or audio versions that will cost more, either on tape or CD) if you need a copy. Some already have the book, but our goal is to have as many of us as possible reading each day’s devotional on the 40 days from Ash Wednesday to Palm Sunday, Apr. 4 and a celebration brunch after worship.
Small group opportunities will be available through the women’s and men’s fellowships, choirs, Sunday school, and Bible study time on Wed. at 10 am starting Feb. 25. If you have questions, call Pastor Jeff at 928-4066 or e-mail him at disciple@voyager.net. The weekly themes and questions for reflection for the intro and five purposes will be on our church website at http://go.to/Hebron_Christian if you need to work on your own.
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Youth Sunday – Feb. 29???
Sunday, Feb. 29 is not a date that we see in print very often. Some places the day is known as “Sadie Hawkins Day,” and much is done backwards on such a day according to tradition. Our youth will lead worship on this unusual fifth Sunday, after having seven away for the first Sunday of Feb. at Massilon for the biannual Midwinter CYF Retreat.
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Keep The Fire Burning
For Camp Christian
Sat. Feb. 14 is St. Valentine’s Day and a wonderful night to eat spaghetti with Dean Martin! Bring your sweetheart and have dinner at Hebron Christian Church. The price is yours to determine, but remember that all proceeds go to the regional capital campaign for Camp Christian (and with a tithe of the work going to help build a camp in Chile with our global mission partners there).
Hebron Christian Church is one of the leaders in the campaign for District 10/11; to see a breakdown of giving for this region-wide effort, look at the latest “Buckeye Disciple” at http://www.christianchurchinohio.org.
Wednesday, January 28, 2004
Monday, January 26, 2004
Hebron Crossroads 2-01-04
By Jeff Gill
Winter is surely upon us! A note is in order: it takes an air temperature of Zero degrees or a wind chill of Twenty Below to get a day off of school, and that strikes this columnist as about right.
As for snow and ice, that’s a call by the superintendent of Lakewood schools and the transportation director. When Flint Ridge Road is not a good place for buses to be, it doesn’t matter how good Kelly Drive in Hebron is. We’ll have the snow days we have to have, and that’s the way it is.
Oh, and for walking, skating, or messing around generally on ice. If it isn’t four inches or more, and if there’s any running water underneath, stream or spring fed, stay off it, OK? Having done some things in my distant youth that now blanch me with horror, let me count my blessings and say to risk takers everywhere, “Stay off of thin ice.”
When the overnight temps have gone down into the teens and stayed comfortably in that neighborhood, the iceboats come out on the lake (anyone else remember “The Bobbsey Twins at Snow Lodge”?) and the glories of true winter pastimes are visible to all who can take the windchill.
Sunday is Super Bowl Sunday, and here’s a last warning on “Souper Bowl of Caring” Sunday. Bring those canned goods, especially the always useful cans of soup, to Buckeye Lake LEADS or to your church food pantry, and know that your extra (excessive?) snacking for the big Patriots/Panthers game helped trigger an outpouring of support for local hunger programs during a time of year that often goes unassisted.
Last week a bunch of us from the Hebron Crossroads area were up at “The Place Off the Square” for the Licking County United Way 2003-04 campaign celebration. While they came a bit short of their hoped for goal, the nearly $2,000,000 raised for local assistance and leadership programs was more than had been raised before for the twenty some United Way agencies, like Boy and Girl Scouts, the Licking County Coalition for Housing, and many others.
What was striking about the reporting at the evening event was that fully 21% of the total was raised through the “Give Where You Live” program. That’s over $400,000 from Licking County residents working in Franklin and Delaware Counties. For many of us in the Lakewood area, that comes as no surprise, but it’s a total that will no doubt continue to climb.
New Life Community, the new church start sponsored by the United Methodist Church in the Hebron/Pataskala area, is having their next “preview” service on Feb. 8 at 10:30 am in the auditorium at Lakewood Middle School (entrance off of US 40). They had over 60 at their initial worship for the public, and Brian Harkness, their pastor, plans monthly worship through the summer as they work towards weekly services in the near future.
So, doesn’t it look like Kerry and Edwards are the likely survivors through March? Well, I don’t know as of this writing what the New Hampshire results were anymore than I knew what Iowa’s were for last week’s column, but I’m sticking with the projection I had this time last month. Howard “I Have a Scream” Dean will continue to fade into the silly sidelines, Joe Lieberman will (regrettably) find it hard to build momentum, and General Clark will learn that, by slamming lieutenants, there are many more former looeys and non-coms voting than retired generals.
I’d comment on Kucinich if I could keep him separate from Bob Denver, and as for Al Sharpton, someone has to keep the debates lively, so keep hope alive Rev.!
Ah, and that darn Groundhog! What will Monday bring in Punxsutawney, PA? Stay tuned for your six week weather forecast, and we’ll fight cabin fever next week in the Hebron Crossroads.
Jeff Gill is pastor of Hebron Christian Church and a big fan of Bill Murray whether in “Groundhog’s Day” or “Lost In Translation.” If you don’t want to read a load of filler about movies to watch on snow days next week, send news of local interest to disciple@voyager.net, or call 928-4066.
By Jeff Gill
Winter is surely upon us! A note is in order: it takes an air temperature of Zero degrees or a wind chill of Twenty Below to get a day off of school, and that strikes this columnist as about right.
As for snow and ice, that’s a call by the superintendent of Lakewood schools and the transportation director. When Flint Ridge Road is not a good place for buses to be, it doesn’t matter how good Kelly Drive in Hebron is. We’ll have the snow days we have to have, and that’s the way it is.
Oh, and for walking, skating, or messing around generally on ice. If it isn’t four inches or more, and if there’s any running water underneath, stream or spring fed, stay off it, OK? Having done some things in my distant youth that now blanch me with horror, let me count my blessings and say to risk takers everywhere, “Stay off of thin ice.”
When the overnight temps have gone down into the teens and stayed comfortably in that neighborhood, the iceboats come out on the lake (anyone else remember “The Bobbsey Twins at Snow Lodge”?) and the glories of true winter pastimes are visible to all who can take the windchill.
Sunday is Super Bowl Sunday, and here’s a last warning on “Souper Bowl of Caring” Sunday. Bring those canned goods, especially the always useful cans of soup, to Buckeye Lake LEADS or to your church food pantry, and know that your extra (excessive?) snacking for the big Patriots/Panthers game helped trigger an outpouring of support for local hunger programs during a time of year that often goes unassisted.
Last week a bunch of us from the Hebron Crossroads area were up at “The Place Off the Square” for the Licking County United Way 2003-04 campaign celebration. While they came a bit short of their hoped for goal, the nearly $2,000,000 raised for local assistance and leadership programs was more than had been raised before for the twenty some United Way agencies, like Boy and Girl Scouts, the Licking County Coalition for Housing, and many others.
What was striking about the reporting at the evening event was that fully 21% of the total was raised through the “Give Where You Live” program. That’s over $400,000 from Licking County residents working in Franklin and Delaware Counties. For many of us in the Lakewood area, that comes as no surprise, but it’s a total that will no doubt continue to climb.
New Life Community, the new church start sponsored by the United Methodist Church in the Hebron/Pataskala area, is having their next “preview” service on Feb. 8 at 10:30 am in the auditorium at Lakewood Middle School (entrance off of US 40). They had over 60 at their initial worship for the public, and Brian Harkness, their pastor, plans monthly worship through the summer as they work towards weekly services in the near future.
So, doesn’t it look like Kerry and Edwards are the likely survivors through March? Well, I don’t know as of this writing what the New Hampshire results were anymore than I knew what Iowa’s were for last week’s column, but I’m sticking with the projection I had this time last month. Howard “I Have a Scream” Dean will continue to fade into the silly sidelines, Joe Lieberman will (regrettably) find it hard to build momentum, and General Clark will learn that, by slamming lieutenants, there are many more former looeys and non-coms voting than retired generals.
I’d comment on Kucinich if I could keep him separate from Bob Denver, and as for Al Sharpton, someone has to keep the debates lively, so keep hope alive Rev.!
Ah, and that darn Groundhog! What will Monday bring in Punxsutawney, PA? Stay tuned for your six week weather forecast, and we’ll fight cabin fever next week in the Hebron Crossroads.
Jeff Gill is pastor of Hebron Christian Church and a big fan of Bill Murray whether in “Groundhog’s Day” or “Lost In Translation.” If you don’t want to read a load of filler about movies to watch on snow days next week, send news of local interest to disciple@voyager.net, or call 928-4066.
Monday, January 19, 2004
Hebron Crossroads 1-25-04
By Jeff Gill
While I enjoy writing this column very much, my day (and night) job is that of pastor. This section could easily become an extension of the eulogies I preach or hear at the funerals of some wonderful people whose presence we lose week to week around the Hebron Crossroads, like Frank DeVaul a few weeks ago, or Nancy Pugh right before Christmas.
So rather than miss someone who deserves the mention, I generally don’t spend much time on obituary notices here. But we lost another good one from our company recently, and personally I want to offer a few words about this fine lady.
Betty Friend was not so much a pillar as a foundation stone of Our Lady of Mount Carmel Catholic Church. Monsignor Meagher spoke eloquently of Betty’s commitment to service and ministry in the congregation at her funeral mass. With a business on Main Street in Hebron and volunteer work at Licking Memorial Hospital, she was truly a friend to many throughout the wider community, and welcomed this preacher when he became a neighbor in 1999. On many occasions we would consult together in finding ways to care for distressed travelers along the old National Road passing us both by.
Less than two days before her death she spoke to me about how well her bypass surgery had gone, how much better she was feeling, and of her plans for the future. We talked about some disagreements we’d had recently, and closed the conversation with cheerful fellowship in Christ, even if we didn’t totally agree on every subject. Her death was a real loss to our community, let alone to her family who will miss her greatly.
Jim Friend, who has retired from village council as he looks to care for his mother’s legacy in Hebron, has our prayers and good wishes for the future, and we will all miss his mother, our Friend.
Annelle Porter, a member of Hebron Village council these last five years, was elected president of council, the first woman to hold the position as far as records can confirm. Some would also argue that, for a few hours at least, she then became the first lady mayor while Cliff Mason had some routine surgery and was under anesthetic. Cliff is doing fine now, and Annelle is also no worse the wear for her term (no matter how short) in the chief executive spot: but what do we call Dave Porter? First Spouse? First Guy of Hebron? That’s a tough one. . .
If you read this before Saturday night Jan. 24, make plans to eat dinner with the Lakewood Drama Club at Jacksontown United Methodist Church between 4:30 and 8 pm. They’ve got a plateful of spaghetti with your name on it, and you need to go eat it and hand our local Thespians a few bucks to pay for it. This Spring they plan to perform “The Wizard of Oz,” and each dinner means one more Munchkin costume, so eat hearty!
Speaking of food, with the Super Bowl set between the Patriots and the Panthers on Feb. 1, don’t forget the “Souper Bowl of Caring” on that date, where area churches and food pantries invite you to buy a can of soup for every snack item you buy for Feb. 1, and add to the collection for your area food pantry that week. Most of our area churches welcome your canned goods on any Sunday, but especially in this slack period after the Christmas season, which brings in much generosity but also often ends in barren shelves. Help them restock with “Souper Bowl” Sunday.
With the “time delay” of writing and printing in a weekly paper, you can’t get too much breaking news, but let me go out ahead of even the Iowa caucuses (which you no doubt know the results of by now) and make a prediction. It’s a pre-Iowa prediction, and you can ask my wife if it wasn’t my Jan. 18 forecast. This isn’t an endorsement, but something even more risky: a prediction. You will see the only realistic Democratic candidates in a few weeks as John Kerry and John Edwards, as of March 1. That’s my call, and you can laugh at me later if, like most predictions, they prove askew.
On the other hand, if I’m right, you have to read this column all the way to November at the very least to find out, don’t you?
And if you want to vote in primary elections for Ohio (when the Dem field may well still need weeding, friends), you need to be registered in just the next two weeks. Do it now, OK? Our county commissioners and a number of local elections will also be in play, and need your input. Time’s a wastin’ if you want to vote absentee, as well.
There are folks who have useful news who send it to me too late, forgetting that “two weeks ahead” rule to give me even a chance to print the announcement before the event. And sometimes even I forget that factor! Last week was the Martin Luther King Jr. observance, and in honor of the civil rights movement the holiday celebrates and with the words of the man himself, may I offer this belated tribute: from Martin Luther King, Jr.'s Letter from a Birmingham Jail, April 1963:
“Was not Jesus an extremist for love - "Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, pray for them that despitefully use you." Was not Amos an extremist for justice - "Let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream." Was not Paul an extremist for the gospel of Jesus Christ - "I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus." Was not Martin Luther an extremist - "Here I stand; I can do no other, so help me God." Was not John Bunyan an extremist - "I will stay in jail to the end of my days before I make a butchery of my conscience." Was not Abraham Lincoln an extremist - "This nation cannot survive half slave and half free." Was not Thomas Jefferson an extremist - "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal."
So the question is not whether we will be extremist but what kind of extremist will we be. Will we be extremists for hate or will we be extremists for love? Will we be extremists for the preservation of injustice - or will we be extremists for the cause of justice?
In that dramatic scene on Calvary's hill, three men were crucified. We must not forget that all three were crucified for the same crime - the crime of extremism. Two were extremists for immorality, and thusly fell below their environment. The other, Jesus Christ, was an extremist for love, truth and goodness, and thereby rose above his environment.”
Jeff Gill is pastor of Hebron Christian Church and proud to share a calling with MLK, Jr. If you have historical events to share or news of local interest, call 928-4066 or e-mail him at disciple@voyager.net.
By Jeff Gill
While I enjoy writing this column very much, my day (and night) job is that of pastor. This section could easily become an extension of the eulogies I preach or hear at the funerals of some wonderful people whose presence we lose week to week around the Hebron Crossroads, like Frank DeVaul a few weeks ago, or Nancy Pugh right before Christmas.
So rather than miss someone who deserves the mention, I generally don’t spend much time on obituary notices here. But we lost another good one from our company recently, and personally I want to offer a few words about this fine lady.
Betty Friend was not so much a pillar as a foundation stone of Our Lady of Mount Carmel Catholic Church. Monsignor Meagher spoke eloquently of Betty’s commitment to service and ministry in the congregation at her funeral mass. With a business on Main Street in Hebron and volunteer work at Licking Memorial Hospital, she was truly a friend to many throughout the wider community, and welcomed this preacher when he became a neighbor in 1999. On many occasions we would consult together in finding ways to care for distressed travelers along the old National Road passing us both by.
Less than two days before her death she spoke to me about how well her bypass surgery had gone, how much better she was feeling, and of her plans for the future. We talked about some disagreements we’d had recently, and closed the conversation with cheerful fellowship in Christ, even if we didn’t totally agree on every subject. Her death was a real loss to our community, let alone to her family who will miss her greatly.
Jim Friend, who has retired from village council as he looks to care for his mother’s legacy in Hebron, has our prayers and good wishes for the future, and we will all miss his mother, our Friend.
Annelle Porter, a member of Hebron Village council these last five years, was elected president of council, the first woman to hold the position as far as records can confirm. Some would also argue that, for a few hours at least, she then became the first lady mayor while Cliff Mason had some routine surgery and was under anesthetic. Cliff is doing fine now, and Annelle is also no worse the wear for her term (no matter how short) in the chief executive spot: but what do we call Dave Porter? First Spouse? First Guy of Hebron? That’s a tough one. . .
If you read this before Saturday night Jan. 24, make plans to eat dinner with the Lakewood Drama Club at Jacksontown United Methodist Church between 4:30 and 8 pm. They’ve got a plateful of spaghetti with your name on it, and you need to go eat it and hand our local Thespians a few bucks to pay for it. This Spring they plan to perform “The Wizard of Oz,” and each dinner means one more Munchkin costume, so eat hearty!
Speaking of food, with the Super Bowl set between the Patriots and the Panthers on Feb. 1, don’t forget the “Souper Bowl of Caring” on that date, where area churches and food pantries invite you to buy a can of soup for every snack item you buy for Feb. 1, and add to the collection for your area food pantry that week. Most of our area churches welcome your canned goods on any Sunday, but especially in this slack period after the Christmas season, which brings in much generosity but also often ends in barren shelves. Help them restock with “Souper Bowl” Sunday.
With the “time delay” of writing and printing in a weekly paper, you can’t get too much breaking news, but let me go out ahead of even the Iowa caucuses (which you no doubt know the results of by now) and make a prediction. It’s a pre-Iowa prediction, and you can ask my wife if it wasn’t my Jan. 18 forecast. This isn’t an endorsement, but something even more risky: a prediction. You will see the only realistic Democratic candidates in a few weeks as John Kerry and John Edwards, as of March 1. That’s my call, and you can laugh at me later if, like most predictions, they prove askew.
On the other hand, if I’m right, you have to read this column all the way to November at the very least to find out, don’t you?
And if you want to vote in primary elections for Ohio (when the Dem field may well still need weeding, friends), you need to be registered in just the next two weeks. Do it now, OK? Our county commissioners and a number of local elections will also be in play, and need your input. Time’s a wastin’ if you want to vote absentee, as well.
There are folks who have useful news who send it to me too late, forgetting that “two weeks ahead” rule to give me even a chance to print the announcement before the event. And sometimes even I forget that factor! Last week was the Martin Luther King Jr. observance, and in honor of the civil rights movement the holiday celebrates and with the words of the man himself, may I offer this belated tribute: from Martin Luther King, Jr.'s Letter from a Birmingham Jail, April 1963:
“Was not Jesus an extremist for love - "Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, pray for them that despitefully use you." Was not Amos an extremist for justice - "Let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream." Was not Paul an extremist for the gospel of Jesus Christ - "I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus." Was not Martin Luther an extremist - "Here I stand; I can do no other, so help me God." Was not John Bunyan an extremist - "I will stay in jail to the end of my days before I make a butchery of my conscience." Was not Abraham Lincoln an extremist - "This nation cannot survive half slave and half free." Was not Thomas Jefferson an extremist - "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal."
So the question is not whether we will be extremist but what kind of extremist will we be. Will we be extremists for hate or will we be extremists for love? Will we be extremists for the preservation of injustice - or will we be extremists for the cause of justice?
In that dramatic scene on Calvary's hill, three men were crucified. We must not forget that all three were crucified for the same crime - the crime of extremism. Two were extremists for immorality, and thusly fell below their environment. The other, Jesus Christ, was an extremist for love, truth and goodness, and thereby rose above his environment.”
Jeff Gill is pastor of Hebron Christian Church and proud to share a calling with MLK, Jr. If you have historical events to share or news of local interest, call 928-4066 or e-mail him at disciple@voyager.net.
Thursday, January 15, 2004
Hebron Crossroads 1-11 (18)-04
by Jeff Gill
Once January moves up into the double digit dates, resolutions that began the New Year start to sag down into the occasional, singular observance.
Weight loss, stopping problematic personal habits, or starting healthier new ones are the bulk of those good intentions that so rarely make it into February. Many times the problem is that we set our goals so high, almost unreasonably so, that we quickly lose heart and get discouraged by the relatively small good effects we see.
As a devotee of St. Murphy, the apostle of low expectations (and unexpectedly successful conclusions!), I want to share with you just a short list of eight simple guidelines. Whatever your resolution was, unless it’s something like completing your Beany Baby collection or converting your Ford Pinto to a hemi, these basic suggestions can help you meet and follow-through on your intentions for better living in 2004.
1. Drink water – most Americans, the American Medical Association tells us, are dehydrated to some degree: all the time. Just the amount of dehydration varies! This comes from our mass consumption of diuretics in soda pop, coffee, and tea (diuretics make you, shall we say, lose water) like caffeine, plus many people take medications that have a diuretic effect as part of their activity in the body.
Dehydration causes headaches, joint pain, general weakness, along with a false sense of hunger for a snack you probably don’t really need.
And water you drink is food or sugary beverages you aren’t consuming; it’s the cheapest appetite suppressant around.
2. Sleep more – the AMA also has come out recently with more bad news about the amount of sleeplessness most Americans drag around behind them like Marley’s Ghost, and that’s starting when we get up, not just right before a late bedtime.
Lack of sleep can cause us to snack to stay awake and alert; more dangerously, it may (no one knows quite for sure) be responsible for more auto accidents than even drinking.
Don’t feel energetic enough to exercise? Maybe you just need a bit more sleep! Don’t have time (let’s just all say it unison) to sleep more? How late did you stay up last night watching a rerun of something you’d already seen before? Just asking.
3. Eat color – this sounds a bit weird at first, but is the best all around guideline according to most dieticians. On the one hand, if your plate most meals is a spectrum of tan, grey, brown, and white, you are likely ingesting a large amount of fat, sugar, and carbos. Contrariwise, if your plate is a real rainbow of reds, greens, bright yellows and vivid blues, you’ve probably got a heap of vegetables and fruit looking back atcha.
This is a simple rule that actually has helped me more than trying to think through calories, portion sizes, or food groups. In most settings, eating color means you’ll fill yourself up with better stuff, while gray gravy, brown meats, and white Ranch dressing over all means look out waistline and artery walls.
Oh, and if I were to add one more to this list: Eat breakfast. With color, of course. Break your fast of the night and you break the whipsaw cycle of hunger through the day.
4. Get moving – yes, yes, the fine folks at the Cooper Institute down in some warm weather state said again a few weeks ago in honor of the new year that every American should exercise “vigorously” three or four times a week for forty minutes or more. Thanks, guys.
Meanwhile, many people I know can even manage to get off the couch (full disclosure: that’s where I’m writing this) to take a walk regularly.
What anyone would really benefit from is just moving more. Do that, and you are making progress. Honest.
If you are seriously overweight, and really can’t hardly walk, let alone jog, OK. Commit to holding your feet straight out and rotating your ankles for five minutes each evening. Clasp your hands behind your head and lift them back and forth like a winning prize fighter for as long as you can. Not much, you say, Mr. Cooper? Hey, it’s a start.
Take the stairs when you have the chance, instead of standing still in an elevator. Park out past the last car in the Kroger lot (it’ll help your paint job, too; no one will open a door into your quarter panels out there). Tighten and relax muscle groups from your face and neck down to your calves and toes while you have to stand in line or wait in a chair. Just move, and you’re moving in the right direction toward exercise.
5. Budget yourself – The numbers are out for 2003 and projections into 2004, and they make me sad. Really. Non-mortgage debt per household was over $18,000, and average credit card debt per family was about $7,500. Analysts say if you factor out the small but significant number of us who always pay off the card each month, that number would be much, much higher.
Meanwhile, most families don’t know what their after-taxes income is, let alone what their expenses are in which categories. Which is why they predict a further increase in the already record pace of personal bankruptcies, vehicle repossesions, and home foreclosures.
If you don’t have a budget, you will have financial problems this year; if you have financial problems, it is easier to justify eating, drinking, or doing other unhealthy things to “deal with” the problems.
If you have a budget, you will have less trouble financially. If this sounds strange to you, it means you’ve never had a budget; just try it this year.
6. Read something – Of course, “The Community Booster” is a good start. But if you want to work your mental muscles and keep them longer, hone your memory, and increase your awareness of the world around you, reading is the key. Newspapers, magazines, books, cereal box labels.
Watch TV, and learn to feel passive, helpless, and under siege. Ol’ Mr. McLuhan had it right: the medium is the message. My concerns with television are and have been not so much with the content (tho’ often appalling, rarely uplifting, trivially educational at best) than with the means we receive the images. In a prone, snack-ready position, we absorb limited, simplified perspectives positioned to best highlight the ads that jam their own odd propositions about reality down our cerebrum.
Read something. Really, almost anything.
7. Grow spiritually – Sure, you knew I’d get to it. Define it how you will, and for some it will be going back to their AA meeting, for others picking up a book in the New Age section, and for many it will be going to worship services. But whatever you do to increase your awareness that there’s more to who you are than your passing desires and temporary worries will benefit not only you, but those around you (ask them, they’ll tell you).
Find a faith community or house of worship that feeds you spiritually, and take the counsel of a leader or wise person you respect about growth, and you will see many of these suggestions and your own resolutions fall into place.
8. Annual physical – Some may say this should go first, but I didn’t want to lose you before you got started. A medical exam on a regular basis can catch the stuff you don’t know is catching you, and a good doctor (they do exist) will tell you about expensive, time consuming, painful procedures to improve your health like “fasten your seat belts” (Thanks, Dr. DeShetler!).
And if you give blood regularly, you can get a quick check in between those physicals that can help keep you in fighting trim, plus help others in need. My health is better because I’m a regular blood donor, and I’ve never needed a pint of blood medically in my life (Thanks, American Red Cross!).
Resolutions and good health are not just for the towering paragons of will power and devotion. Simple steps like these can get us to where we want to go. . .or at least to February!
Jeff Gill is pastor of Hebron Christian Church and wants you to know you should do as he says, not as he does, at least where it comes to breakfast and sleep. If you have veggie omelet recipes to share or news of local interest, call 928-4066 or e-mail him at disciple@voyager.net.
by Jeff Gill
Once January moves up into the double digit dates, resolutions that began the New Year start to sag down into the occasional, singular observance.
Weight loss, stopping problematic personal habits, or starting healthier new ones are the bulk of those good intentions that so rarely make it into February. Many times the problem is that we set our goals so high, almost unreasonably so, that we quickly lose heart and get discouraged by the relatively small good effects we see.
As a devotee of St. Murphy, the apostle of low expectations (and unexpectedly successful conclusions!), I want to share with you just a short list of eight simple guidelines. Whatever your resolution was, unless it’s something like completing your Beany Baby collection or converting your Ford Pinto to a hemi, these basic suggestions can help you meet and follow-through on your intentions for better living in 2004.
1. Drink water – most Americans, the American Medical Association tells us, are dehydrated to some degree: all the time. Just the amount of dehydration varies! This comes from our mass consumption of diuretics in soda pop, coffee, and tea (diuretics make you, shall we say, lose water) like caffeine, plus many people take medications that have a diuretic effect as part of their activity in the body.
Dehydration causes headaches, joint pain, general weakness, along with a false sense of hunger for a snack you probably don’t really need.
And water you drink is food or sugary beverages you aren’t consuming; it’s the cheapest appetite suppressant around.
2. Sleep more – the AMA also has come out recently with more bad news about the amount of sleeplessness most Americans drag around behind them like Marley’s Ghost, and that’s starting when we get up, not just right before a late bedtime.
Lack of sleep can cause us to snack to stay awake and alert; more dangerously, it may (no one knows quite for sure) be responsible for more auto accidents than even drinking.
Don’t feel energetic enough to exercise? Maybe you just need a bit more sleep! Don’t have time (let’s just all say it unison) to sleep more? How late did you stay up last night watching a rerun of something you’d already seen before? Just asking.
3. Eat color – this sounds a bit weird at first, but is the best all around guideline according to most dieticians. On the one hand, if your plate most meals is a spectrum of tan, grey, brown, and white, you are likely ingesting a large amount of fat, sugar, and carbos. Contrariwise, if your plate is a real rainbow of reds, greens, bright yellows and vivid blues, you’ve probably got a heap of vegetables and fruit looking back atcha.
This is a simple rule that actually has helped me more than trying to think through calories, portion sizes, or food groups. In most settings, eating color means you’ll fill yourself up with better stuff, while gray gravy, brown meats, and white Ranch dressing over all means look out waistline and artery walls.
Oh, and if I were to add one more to this list: Eat breakfast. With color, of course. Break your fast of the night and you break the whipsaw cycle of hunger through the day.
4. Get moving – yes, yes, the fine folks at the Cooper Institute down in some warm weather state said again a few weeks ago in honor of the new year that every American should exercise “vigorously” three or four times a week for forty minutes or more. Thanks, guys.
Meanwhile, many people I know can even manage to get off the couch (full disclosure: that’s where I’m writing this) to take a walk regularly.
What anyone would really benefit from is just moving more. Do that, and you are making progress. Honest.
If you are seriously overweight, and really can’t hardly walk, let alone jog, OK. Commit to holding your feet straight out and rotating your ankles for five minutes each evening. Clasp your hands behind your head and lift them back and forth like a winning prize fighter for as long as you can. Not much, you say, Mr. Cooper? Hey, it’s a start.
Take the stairs when you have the chance, instead of standing still in an elevator. Park out past the last car in the Kroger lot (it’ll help your paint job, too; no one will open a door into your quarter panels out there). Tighten and relax muscle groups from your face and neck down to your calves and toes while you have to stand in line or wait in a chair. Just move, and you’re moving in the right direction toward exercise.
5. Budget yourself – The numbers are out for 2003 and projections into 2004, and they make me sad. Really. Non-mortgage debt per household was over $18,000, and average credit card debt per family was about $7,500. Analysts say if you factor out the small but significant number of us who always pay off the card each month, that number would be much, much higher.
Meanwhile, most families don’t know what their after-taxes income is, let alone what their expenses are in which categories. Which is why they predict a further increase in the already record pace of personal bankruptcies, vehicle repossesions, and home foreclosures.
If you don’t have a budget, you will have financial problems this year; if you have financial problems, it is easier to justify eating, drinking, or doing other unhealthy things to “deal with” the problems.
If you have a budget, you will have less trouble financially. If this sounds strange to you, it means you’ve never had a budget; just try it this year.
6. Read something – Of course, “The Community Booster” is a good start. But if you want to work your mental muscles and keep them longer, hone your memory, and increase your awareness of the world around you, reading is the key. Newspapers, magazines, books, cereal box labels.
Watch TV, and learn to feel passive, helpless, and under siege. Ol’ Mr. McLuhan had it right: the medium is the message. My concerns with television are and have been not so much with the content (tho’ often appalling, rarely uplifting, trivially educational at best) than with the means we receive the images. In a prone, snack-ready position, we absorb limited, simplified perspectives positioned to best highlight the ads that jam their own odd propositions about reality down our cerebrum.
Read something. Really, almost anything.
7. Grow spiritually – Sure, you knew I’d get to it. Define it how you will, and for some it will be going back to their AA meeting, for others picking up a book in the New Age section, and for many it will be going to worship services. But whatever you do to increase your awareness that there’s more to who you are than your passing desires and temporary worries will benefit not only you, but those around you (ask them, they’ll tell you).
Find a faith community or house of worship that feeds you spiritually, and take the counsel of a leader or wise person you respect about growth, and you will see many of these suggestions and your own resolutions fall into place.
8. Annual physical – Some may say this should go first, but I didn’t want to lose you before you got started. A medical exam on a regular basis can catch the stuff you don’t know is catching you, and a good doctor (they do exist) will tell you about expensive, time consuming, painful procedures to improve your health like “fasten your seat belts” (Thanks, Dr. DeShetler!).
And if you give blood regularly, you can get a quick check in between those physicals that can help keep you in fighting trim, plus help others in need. My health is better because I’m a regular blood donor, and I’ve never needed a pint of blood medically in my life (Thanks, American Red Cross!).
Resolutions and good health are not just for the towering paragons of will power and devotion. Simple steps like these can get us to where we want to go. . .or at least to February!
Jeff Gill is pastor of Hebron Christian Church and wants you to know you should do as he says, not as he does, at least where it comes to breakfast and sleep. If you have veggie omelet recipes to share or news of local interest, call 928-4066 or e-mail him at disciple@voyager.net.
Thursday, January 08, 2004
Licking District Trailmarkers – The Scouter SKC/BSA Feb. 2004
District Award of Merit
At January’s Annual Meeting and Awards Night, the highest honor a district in Scouting can bestow was presented to the following three Scouters.
Licking District’s recipients for the “District Award of Merit,” a silver knot on a midnight blue background, are:
- Trig Gamble
- Ina Heath
- Joy Stovcik
Congratulations to these leaders in the Scouting movement who have given so much to unit and district operations over many years!
* * * * * * *
Scout Week – Feb. 1 to the 7th
Scout Sunday and Scout Sabbath bracket the observance of Scout Week this year. For 94 years, since Feb. 8, 1910 when Congress chartered the Boy Scouts of America, anniversary events have marked this “birthday” of the World Scouting Movement in our land.
Since William D. Boyce, an American magazine publisher, got lost in the London fog and was helped by an “Unknown Scout” who would accept no tip or reward for simply “doing his duty,” the ideals of Scouting have spread from Baden-Powell’s initial vision through “Scouting For Boys” in 1908 to a global movement for character development and leadership training through outdoor education by the patrol method.
Many units will participate in special worship leadership roles in their chartering organization if it is a church or synagogue, either on Scout Sunday Feb. 1 or Scout Sabbath Feb. 7. On Saturday, Feb. 7, a civic celebration of our organization’s birthday and the work of leadership in this council will be held in the Atrium of the Ohio Statehouse at the center of Columbus.
Come celebrate Scouting with fellow Scouts and Scouters from all across central Ohio and northern Kentucky.
* * * * * * *
Pinewood Derby
District Pinewood Derby information is still in development; contact Bill Burgess at the information on our masthead, or Brian Parkhill (current number?). Remember to follow the standard guidelines for car construction. Packs will be contacted when date and location are finalized.
* * * * * * *
Spring Camporee
Our Order of the Arrow youth leaders, with Mark Rhodes as their adult adviser, are preparing to meet you all out at the Hartford Fairgrounds (north of Croton, in northwest Licking County) Friday through Sunday, April 23-25. On Tuesdays Feb. 3 and Mar. 2, at our District Roundtable, much more information will be available. If you don’t want to wait for the March “Scouter” to learn more, come by First United Methodist Church in Newark at 7:15 pm those nights and get the latest, breaking news, plus info you can use to improve your troop or pack!
* * * * * * *
Trailside Notes
Well, I thought we wouldn’t have much more to say about Lillian on “Survivor: Pearl Islands” (the pirate edition!), but then she made it into the final two.
Lil, a Scouter from Dan Beard Council down around Cincinnati, had been voted out earlier, scrambled back into the tribe on a return challenge, and survived down to the finish, all while wearing a full set of class A’s.
Interestingly, or maybe I should say “sadly,” Lil ended up publicly regretting that she had worn a Scout uniform on the fateful “formal night out” that led to their walking the plank. While her garb held up better than anyone else’s (Armani suits and silk dresses – they don’t wash and rinse well in salt water with sand scrubbing, but Scout Supplies’ finest takes the proverbial licking and keeps on lookin’ good), she found the uniform a handicap in that it made it hard for her to. . .lie.
Oddly, she kept saying that you have to keep a distance between who you really are (and she did and does say that being a Scout following the Oath and Law is who she really is) and how you play games. And there’s no doubt, since they said so, that the other players finally voted her out of the final prize because. . .they held her to a higher standard because of the uniform, and matching what she said to who she claimed to be.
Is who you are in a game really different than who you want to be? Well, it is harder to be the big winner, but maybe that’s the point, Lillian. On the other hand, she picked – after showing amazing toughness in the final challenge and the fitness that should be the best advertising for serving as a Scout volunteer – for her final opponent not the loathed fellow who would have guaranteed her the win, but the better woman who then took the million dollars.
So values came through in the end. . .and she did get a six figure prize for number two. Bet her Friends of Scouting contact called her up right away!
If you have ideas for material in the Licking District Trailmarkers, e-mail Jeff Gill at disciple@voyager.net.
And regularly check out www.lickingdistrict.org!
District Award of Merit
At January’s Annual Meeting and Awards Night, the highest honor a district in Scouting can bestow was presented to the following three Scouters.
Licking District’s recipients for the “District Award of Merit,” a silver knot on a midnight blue background, are:
- Trig Gamble
- Ina Heath
- Joy Stovcik
Congratulations to these leaders in the Scouting movement who have given so much to unit and district operations over many years!
* * * * * * *
Scout Week – Feb. 1 to the 7th
Scout Sunday and Scout Sabbath bracket the observance of Scout Week this year. For 94 years, since Feb. 8, 1910 when Congress chartered the Boy Scouts of America, anniversary events have marked this “birthday” of the World Scouting Movement in our land.
Since William D. Boyce, an American magazine publisher, got lost in the London fog and was helped by an “Unknown Scout” who would accept no tip or reward for simply “doing his duty,” the ideals of Scouting have spread from Baden-Powell’s initial vision through “Scouting For Boys” in 1908 to a global movement for character development and leadership training through outdoor education by the patrol method.
Many units will participate in special worship leadership roles in their chartering organization if it is a church or synagogue, either on Scout Sunday Feb. 1 or Scout Sabbath Feb. 7. On Saturday, Feb. 7, a civic celebration of our organization’s birthday and the work of leadership in this council will be held in the Atrium of the Ohio Statehouse at the center of Columbus.
Come celebrate Scouting with fellow Scouts and Scouters from all across central Ohio and northern Kentucky.
* * * * * * *
Pinewood Derby
District Pinewood Derby information is still in development; contact Bill Burgess at the information on our masthead, or Brian Parkhill (current number?). Remember to follow the standard guidelines for car construction. Packs will be contacted when date and location are finalized.
* * * * * * *
Spring Camporee
Our Order of the Arrow youth leaders, with Mark Rhodes as their adult adviser, are preparing to meet you all out at the Hartford Fairgrounds (north of Croton, in northwest Licking County) Friday through Sunday, April 23-25. On Tuesdays Feb. 3 and Mar. 2, at our District Roundtable, much more information will be available. If you don’t want to wait for the March “Scouter” to learn more, come by First United Methodist Church in Newark at 7:15 pm those nights and get the latest, breaking news, plus info you can use to improve your troop or pack!
* * * * * * *
Trailside Notes
Well, I thought we wouldn’t have much more to say about Lillian on “Survivor: Pearl Islands” (the pirate edition!), but then she made it into the final two.
Lil, a Scouter from Dan Beard Council down around Cincinnati, had been voted out earlier, scrambled back into the tribe on a return challenge, and survived down to the finish, all while wearing a full set of class A’s.
Interestingly, or maybe I should say “sadly,” Lil ended up publicly regretting that she had worn a Scout uniform on the fateful “formal night out” that led to their walking the plank. While her garb held up better than anyone else’s (Armani suits and silk dresses – they don’t wash and rinse well in salt water with sand scrubbing, but Scout Supplies’ finest takes the proverbial licking and keeps on lookin’ good), she found the uniform a handicap in that it made it hard for her to. . .lie.
Oddly, she kept saying that you have to keep a distance between who you really are (and she did and does say that being a Scout following the Oath and Law is who she really is) and how you play games. And there’s no doubt, since they said so, that the other players finally voted her out of the final prize because. . .they held her to a higher standard because of the uniform, and matching what she said to who she claimed to be.
Is who you are in a game really different than who you want to be? Well, it is harder to be the big winner, but maybe that’s the point, Lillian. On the other hand, she picked – after showing amazing toughness in the final challenge and the fitness that should be the best advertising for serving as a Scout volunteer – for her final opponent not the loathed fellow who would have guaranteed her the win, but the better woman who then took the million dollars.
So values came through in the end. . .and she did get a six figure prize for number two. Bet her Friends of Scouting contact called her up right away!
If you have ideas for material in the Licking District Trailmarkers, e-mail Jeff Gill at disciple@voyager.net.
And regularly check out www.lickingdistrict.org!
Wednesday, January 07, 2004
Hebron Crossroads 1-11-04
By Jeff Gill
Are you following the Mars lander excitement? The probe named “Spirit,” soon to be followed by its twin “Opportunity?”
OK, so you’re more excited about Pete Rose’s chances about getting into the Hall of Fame; hey, I’m glad he finally admitted what everyone already knew. Personally, they should reinstate Shoeless Joe Jackson, then work on Charlie Hustle, but what do I know?
But just down the road from some great aerospace expertise at Boeing (formerly the Newark Air Force Base) plus with the excitement of NASA finally getting a hit right across the sweet spot, this space geek can’t help being excited about another chance to don those cool red-and-blue 3-D googles and see pictures leap off your computer screen.
Hard to believe that it was 1997 when we last wore those geek insignia in front of our terminals, and saw the “Sagan” Pathfinder probe roll across the Martian surface.
Sorry about the “Beagle 2” probe out of the European Space Agency (ESA, for all us geeks) built by Great Britain, which either went down a crevasse and can’t get a cell signal, or just plain broke. But NASA is trumpeting “We’re back!” and you can’t blame ‘em for being happy about hitting a target dead on from literally a world away. Good job, y’all, and we’ll be clicking nasa.gov to see the latest cool real time pics from the Mars surface.
Sunday, Jan. 11 at 10:30 am is a new service for “New Life Community,” a new church start from scratch out of the Methodist Church in our area. They will have their first Sunday morning worship down at the Middle School and all are welcome. Brian Harkness is the pastor, and with a good start-up crew supporting him, this should be a good development for the vitality of our Lakewood area.
This new church may build at some point between here and Pataskala, but for now they’ll be in the middle school auditorium. Come to sing contemporary Christian praise music and worship in a relaxed setting.
Speaking of the wide variety of faith communities around the Hebron Crossroads, has your church or organization announced a special push for “Souper Bowl” Sunday? Feb. 1 is the date this year for the Super Bowl contest, and on that Sunday, for which many shop a bit extra, you’re invited to balance your own “festival of excess” around the football excitement by purchasing an item of canned goods for each snack item you buy, and donating it to local food pantries.
Hebron Christian Church will be promoting a “Souper Bowl Sunday,” (since soups are a great canned item for pantry support) and I hope you’ll do a bit of help in your area for those in need. Can I also thank those who dropped canned goods off before Christmas at our church to support the work of the LEADS Food Pantry? Good work, all. . .
The Lakewood Girls are having a good basketball season overall under new coach Bob Gilbert; on a night last week, the ladies were struggling, but this writer believes that if they take that durn bungie cord off the hoop on their end, the final score will be much more even. Against Granville, the Little Guy and I saw the most amazing rim-revolving shots from the Lakewood team, while the Blue Aces were shooting into a funnel.
Otherwise, they played great. Take the manhole cover off the hoop, and the whole game changes!
Next week, we’ll have a few words about those New Year’s resolutions. For now, don’t give up! You thought of it, you can do it. See the Hebron Crossroads for some inspiration as the weeks turn into months. . .
A regular reader noted something by e-mail worth passing along: all those shots of staggering “mad cows” you’ve seen on TV the last few weeks were universally from Great Britain years and years ago. Really. There is no extant film of the Canadian sick cow, let alone the US specimen who turns out to be from Canada. Makes you feel a bit different, doesn’t it?
There is a whole “science” of risk awareness that notes how we discount or at least deal well with a large possibility that has a good chance of minimal impact. . .like car accidents, where we think we’re in control even when we aren’t. . .versus very, very small odds that obsess us when the result is utterly fatal and uncontrollable, like AIDS and mad cow.
Dear reader, the best way you can protect yourself from mad cow’s effects is to. . .fasten your seatbelt. Yet many Americans these last few weeks will stop eating beef, but keep leaving seat belts unbuckled or not wearing helmets on their bikes, motor or otherwise. Statistically, the latter choice makes for a meaningful chance in your prospects, while dropping ground beef may barely give you a measurable edge in avoiding unpleasant futures.
Or only paying off the minimum on your January credit card bills, which means you might as well ask a guy named Guido to break your kneecaps now, but that too is a whole ‘nother column, so just start buying a can o’ soup for every bag o’ chips and such these next few weeks, and we’ll see you at the Hebron Crossroads!
Jeff Gill is pastor of Hebron Christian Church and a Bears and Steelers fan; since you won’t hear much about the NFL from this point forward out of him, you may safely submit your suggestions for stories of local interest to 928-4066, or e-mail disciple@voyager.net.
By Jeff Gill
Are you following the Mars lander excitement? The probe named “Spirit,” soon to be followed by its twin “Opportunity?”
OK, so you’re more excited about Pete Rose’s chances about getting into the Hall of Fame; hey, I’m glad he finally admitted what everyone already knew. Personally, they should reinstate Shoeless Joe Jackson, then work on Charlie Hustle, but what do I know?
But just down the road from some great aerospace expertise at Boeing (formerly the Newark Air Force Base) plus with the excitement of NASA finally getting a hit right across the sweet spot, this space geek can’t help being excited about another chance to don those cool red-and-blue 3-D googles and see pictures leap off your computer screen.
Hard to believe that it was 1997 when we last wore those geek insignia in front of our terminals, and saw the “Sagan” Pathfinder probe roll across the Martian surface.
Sorry about the “Beagle 2” probe out of the European Space Agency (ESA, for all us geeks) built by Great Britain, which either went down a crevasse and can’t get a cell signal, or just plain broke. But NASA is trumpeting “We’re back!” and you can’t blame ‘em for being happy about hitting a target dead on from literally a world away. Good job, y’all, and we’ll be clicking nasa.gov to see the latest cool real time pics from the Mars surface.
Sunday, Jan. 11 at 10:30 am is a new service for “New Life Community,” a new church start from scratch out of the Methodist Church in our area. They will have their first Sunday morning worship down at the Middle School and all are welcome. Brian Harkness is the pastor, and with a good start-up crew supporting him, this should be a good development for the vitality of our Lakewood area.
This new church may build at some point between here and Pataskala, but for now they’ll be in the middle school auditorium. Come to sing contemporary Christian praise music and worship in a relaxed setting.
Speaking of the wide variety of faith communities around the Hebron Crossroads, has your church or organization announced a special push for “Souper Bowl” Sunday? Feb. 1 is the date this year for the Super Bowl contest, and on that Sunday, for which many shop a bit extra, you’re invited to balance your own “festival of excess” around the football excitement by purchasing an item of canned goods for each snack item you buy, and donating it to local food pantries.
Hebron Christian Church will be promoting a “Souper Bowl Sunday,” (since soups are a great canned item for pantry support) and I hope you’ll do a bit of help in your area for those in need. Can I also thank those who dropped canned goods off before Christmas at our church to support the work of the LEADS Food Pantry? Good work, all. . .
The Lakewood Girls are having a good basketball season overall under new coach Bob Gilbert; on a night last week, the ladies were struggling, but this writer believes that if they take that durn bungie cord off the hoop on their end, the final score will be much more even. Against Granville, the Little Guy and I saw the most amazing rim-revolving shots from the Lakewood team, while the Blue Aces were shooting into a funnel.
Otherwise, they played great. Take the manhole cover off the hoop, and the whole game changes!
Next week, we’ll have a few words about those New Year’s resolutions. For now, don’t give up! You thought of it, you can do it. See the Hebron Crossroads for some inspiration as the weeks turn into months. . .
A regular reader noted something by e-mail worth passing along: all those shots of staggering “mad cows” you’ve seen on TV the last few weeks were universally from Great Britain years and years ago. Really. There is no extant film of the Canadian sick cow, let alone the US specimen who turns out to be from Canada. Makes you feel a bit different, doesn’t it?
There is a whole “science” of risk awareness that notes how we discount or at least deal well with a large possibility that has a good chance of minimal impact. . .like car accidents, where we think we’re in control even when we aren’t. . .versus very, very small odds that obsess us when the result is utterly fatal and uncontrollable, like AIDS and mad cow.
Dear reader, the best way you can protect yourself from mad cow’s effects is to. . .fasten your seatbelt. Yet many Americans these last few weeks will stop eating beef, but keep leaving seat belts unbuckled or not wearing helmets on their bikes, motor or otherwise. Statistically, the latter choice makes for a meaningful chance in your prospects, while dropping ground beef may barely give you a measurable edge in avoiding unpleasant futures.
Or only paying off the minimum on your January credit card bills, which means you might as well ask a guy named Guido to break your kneecaps now, but that too is a whole ‘nother column, so just start buying a can o’ soup for every bag o’ chips and such these next few weeks, and we’ll see you at the Hebron Crossroads!
Jeff Gill is pastor of Hebron Christian Church and a Bears and Steelers fan; since you won’t hear much about the NFL from this point forward out of him, you may safely submit your suggestions for stories of local interest to 928-4066, or e-mail disciple@voyager.net.
Monday, December 29, 2003
Hebron Crossroads 1-04-04
By Jeff Gill
“Rats, Lice, and History” by Hans Zinsser was a book on a reading list for college students someone gave me in high school. Granted, it was an eclectic list an eccentric professor had compiled to prepare young people for higher education, but there were a number of interesting picks on it I’ve never regretted reading: “Tristram Shandy,” “The Mabinogion,” or “Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man.”
But “Rats, Lice, and History” has stuck with my thinking processes far beyond the contents. It is a book, written as a series of magazine articles in the 1930’s, that was intended to make the point that bacteria, amoebas, and communicable diseases of any sort had always played a great role in history beyond what historians have ever wanted to tell. Battles won and lost, sieges lifted or triumphant, civilizations in rise or fall, all have hinged more on typhoid, cholera, or bubonic plague than they have on leadership, skilled generals, or valiant warriors.
In fact, one large section of Prof. Zinsser’s work is meant to sing the praises of the then-and-now unglamorous work of public health officials. Testing back then was usually directly hazardous to the life and health of the university staff or civic officials involved, and rarely well-funded or generally appreciated, but Zinsser argued to my satisfaction that they had advanced human civilization more than most artists, engineers, or diplomats.
The obvious, overarching point was that microscopic life forms have been around from the beginning, and will always be with us. . .necessarily, since microbes make our digestive tract and other systems of our bodies function properly. But his more subtle point had to do with the fact that just when we thought we understood the invisible world of disease thoroughly, there would always be another new outbreak, hitherto unknown, to make new work for the protectors of public health.
Certainly the AIDS pandemic of the 1980’s made Zinsser’s work interesting again, especially since viruses, Human Immunodeficiency Viruses or otherwise, were little understood and less mentioned in “Rats, Lice, and History.” His point was all the more sharp in that infectious agents whose very nature wasn’t understood were the next new public health threat.
And now, mad cow. Or, Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy, called BSE for obvious reasons and “mad cow” for the symptoms in an infected animal. Infected with what? Well, Prof. Zinsser would find the very concept of “prions” fascinating, while yet another example of how public health work is never done.
Some excitable and less well-informed writers have called “mad cow” a mystery disease. The cause isn’t a mystery: proteins that make up our bodies that our bodies constantly make are infected with a “misfolded” protein that causes further proteins to be misfolded, and all these mangled, useless building blocks of life gum up the works. Cholesterol is a necessary building block of our physical fabric, but too much of it in the wrong places gums up the works, which we call coronary artery occlusion, or “a heart attack.” When an organism has a prion disease, you start to have brain attacks, with the works of the mind gummed up, ultimately beyond repair.
There is a mystery, and that is whether prions constitute a lifeform or just a very complicated kind of enzyme; are they just a dead hunk of template run amok, or a deeper mystery of biology? These aren’t abstract questions when you’re looking for cures and preventive strategies, and the implications for our beef-eating society are immense.
But we know very little about prions (my spell check on the computer this gets typed on doesn’t know the word, but I think I’ll enter it into the dictionary when I’m done here for future use), even as their effects turn out to have been long-observed among trout, sheep, and south seas cannibals who noticed that brain-eating often causes a strange, wasting disease (can you say “kuru,” that Scrabble favorite? Yep, same thing).
Should we eat beef? Well, I will disappoint my vegan readers by saying I’m not in favor of going whole hog with chickening out on my meat eating. Good news for steak eaters in that whole cuts of “muscle meat” appear quite safe. The brain, spinal cord, and nervous system material off those parts are where the prions reside, misfolding their origami destruction, and the human hazard seen in Great Britain is in meat processing that gets a little “too close to the bone,” as it were, scraping every scrap off to maximize profits but also increasing risk. Globally, much is now known about what not to feed and how not to process cattle that makes us safer; generally, more is known now among us gen’l public folk about how a calf gets to your dinner table, which is not always pleasant, but helps us accurately judge risk for ourselves.
Ground beef is going to see a number of new checks and balances introduced, increasing the cost a bit for your cheeseburger. Zinsser would have said that we should not begrudge a little extra cost for research as well as prevention, because just as we finally all get informed about BSE, we human creatures can expect to have something new sneak up on our blind side.
Meanwhile, we all could probably do with a lot more vegetable matter in our diets, anyhow. And if you’ve got one of the myriad new strains of the common cold or furious flu, drink plenty of fluids and get some rest, and read “Rats, Lice, and History.” With your chicken soup, of course.
Jeff Gill is pastor of Hebron Christian Church and an omnivore in both reading and eating habits; if you have dietary suggestions or public health guidelines to share, call him at 928-4066 or e-mail disciple@voyager.net.
By Jeff Gill
“Rats, Lice, and History” by Hans Zinsser was a book on a reading list for college students someone gave me in high school. Granted, it was an eclectic list an eccentric professor had compiled to prepare young people for higher education, but there were a number of interesting picks on it I’ve never regretted reading: “Tristram Shandy,” “The Mabinogion,” or “Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man.”
But “Rats, Lice, and History” has stuck with my thinking processes far beyond the contents. It is a book, written as a series of magazine articles in the 1930’s, that was intended to make the point that bacteria, amoebas, and communicable diseases of any sort had always played a great role in history beyond what historians have ever wanted to tell. Battles won and lost, sieges lifted or triumphant, civilizations in rise or fall, all have hinged more on typhoid, cholera, or bubonic plague than they have on leadership, skilled generals, or valiant warriors.
In fact, one large section of Prof. Zinsser’s work is meant to sing the praises of the then-and-now unglamorous work of public health officials. Testing back then was usually directly hazardous to the life and health of the university staff or civic officials involved, and rarely well-funded or generally appreciated, but Zinsser argued to my satisfaction that they had advanced human civilization more than most artists, engineers, or diplomats.
The obvious, overarching point was that microscopic life forms have been around from the beginning, and will always be with us. . .necessarily, since microbes make our digestive tract and other systems of our bodies function properly. But his more subtle point had to do with the fact that just when we thought we understood the invisible world of disease thoroughly, there would always be another new outbreak, hitherto unknown, to make new work for the protectors of public health.
Certainly the AIDS pandemic of the 1980’s made Zinsser’s work interesting again, especially since viruses, Human Immunodeficiency Viruses or otherwise, were little understood and less mentioned in “Rats, Lice, and History.” His point was all the more sharp in that infectious agents whose very nature wasn’t understood were the next new public health threat.
And now, mad cow. Or, Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy, called BSE for obvious reasons and “mad cow” for the symptoms in an infected animal. Infected with what? Well, Prof. Zinsser would find the very concept of “prions” fascinating, while yet another example of how public health work is never done.
Some excitable and less well-informed writers have called “mad cow” a mystery disease. The cause isn’t a mystery: proteins that make up our bodies that our bodies constantly make are infected with a “misfolded” protein that causes further proteins to be misfolded, and all these mangled, useless building blocks of life gum up the works. Cholesterol is a necessary building block of our physical fabric, but too much of it in the wrong places gums up the works, which we call coronary artery occlusion, or “a heart attack.” When an organism has a prion disease, you start to have brain attacks, with the works of the mind gummed up, ultimately beyond repair.
There is a mystery, and that is whether prions constitute a lifeform or just a very complicated kind of enzyme; are they just a dead hunk of template run amok, or a deeper mystery of biology? These aren’t abstract questions when you’re looking for cures and preventive strategies, and the implications for our beef-eating society are immense.
But we know very little about prions (my spell check on the computer this gets typed on doesn’t know the word, but I think I’ll enter it into the dictionary when I’m done here for future use), even as their effects turn out to have been long-observed among trout, sheep, and south seas cannibals who noticed that brain-eating often causes a strange, wasting disease (can you say “kuru,” that Scrabble favorite? Yep, same thing).
Should we eat beef? Well, I will disappoint my vegan readers by saying I’m not in favor of going whole hog with chickening out on my meat eating. Good news for steak eaters in that whole cuts of “muscle meat” appear quite safe. The brain, spinal cord, and nervous system material off those parts are where the prions reside, misfolding their origami destruction, and the human hazard seen in Great Britain is in meat processing that gets a little “too close to the bone,” as it were, scraping every scrap off to maximize profits but also increasing risk. Globally, much is now known about what not to feed and how not to process cattle that makes us safer; generally, more is known now among us gen’l public folk about how a calf gets to your dinner table, which is not always pleasant, but helps us accurately judge risk for ourselves.
Ground beef is going to see a number of new checks and balances introduced, increasing the cost a bit for your cheeseburger. Zinsser would have said that we should not begrudge a little extra cost for research as well as prevention, because just as we finally all get informed about BSE, we human creatures can expect to have something new sneak up on our blind side.
Meanwhile, we all could probably do with a lot more vegetable matter in our diets, anyhow. And if you’ve got one of the myriad new strains of the common cold or furious flu, drink plenty of fluids and get some rest, and read “Rats, Lice, and History.” With your chicken soup, of course.
Jeff Gill is pastor of Hebron Christian Church and an omnivore in both reading and eating habits; if you have dietary suggestions or public health guidelines to share, call him at 928-4066 or e-mail disciple@voyager.net.
Notes From My Knapsack – The Church Window January 2004
With the new year, and our annual congregational meeting Jan. 25, many of us are working on our annual report for 2003 (right?).
Anyhow, while such stuff can seem like needless number crunching, there is a kind of stewardship in “being faithful in little” such as tracking how many are in worship and how often, how much we give as “in-kind” gifts as well as in funds, and which areas of church life have met with hearty response. . .or not!
While there’s much of pastoral ministry that can’t be put into numbers, there’s actually quite a bit that can, and thereby tells a story we need to listen to as the elders and leadership plan for the future. Times and circumstances change; thankfully, the Good News doesn’t change, but how we share it is affected by different influences.
One huge one is this: just before Christmas, I made a pastoral visit to my twelfth (that’s 12!) hospital or surgery center – only two of those were one visit each. From Riverside in Columbus to Bethesda in Zanesville, from Fairfield General in Lancaster to Mansfield Memorial, to pray with patients before surgery and wait with families, to visit folks in rehab and come to ER’s late at night, 12 medical centers to get to, navigate within, and work with or through the staff.
There are other interesting numbers: seven nursing homes for resident visits, eight cemeteries for committals (but only three funeral homes I had to work with), three jails to visit inmates, two courthouses where hearings or proceedings needed a friendly face, and one Elections Commission hearing (that was the hardest to find!). But 12 medical centers.
I’d hazard a guess – and since Ralph, Paul, Morgan, Connie, and Keith all read this they may have input to share – that previous pastors in Hebron didn’t have parishioners spread that widely each year, but the new medical reality, with HMO’s and PPO’s and managed care that often seems more than a little mis-managed, is that we go where we’re sent, and that could be about anywhere in central Ohio.
In fact, adding up church mileage on the car yesterday, the total. . .well, put it this way. If you assume an average of 30 mph (which between highway miles and creeping up 79 or 30th St. seems about right), I spent 40 eight hour days just driving. Not including time spent in the hospital or home or meeting, but just turning the steering wheel. Almost two months of standard work week time, getting to where I’m needed. I’m the one who does the driving, and I was surprised.
So that’s some of what you learn by record keeping and report sharing; information we all need so our ministries can continue to grow and be fruitful. Oh, and have you given Ila your report yet?
In Grace and Peace,
Pastor Jeff
* * * * * * *
Christian Reading Week
Sunday, Jan. 18, a special set of displays will be on view in the back of the sanctuary and downstairs with reading material and Christian literature. Some is from our library, some for sale (or ordering), and subscriptions to DiscipleWorld, our newest Disciples of Christ national publication, can be signed for at this time.
Winter can be a time for cabin fever, or for enjoying the quiet of a snowy evening. Reading can be one way to keep the winter blues at bay. Inspirational reading, stories of history and faith from our shared past, or vital accounts of the church at work today are all available.
With the new year, and our annual congregational meeting Jan. 25, many of us are working on our annual report for 2003 (right?).
Anyhow, while such stuff can seem like needless number crunching, there is a kind of stewardship in “being faithful in little” such as tracking how many are in worship and how often, how much we give as “in-kind” gifts as well as in funds, and which areas of church life have met with hearty response. . .or not!
While there’s much of pastoral ministry that can’t be put into numbers, there’s actually quite a bit that can, and thereby tells a story we need to listen to as the elders and leadership plan for the future. Times and circumstances change; thankfully, the Good News doesn’t change, but how we share it is affected by different influences.
One huge one is this: just before Christmas, I made a pastoral visit to my twelfth (that’s 12!) hospital or surgery center – only two of those were one visit each. From Riverside in Columbus to Bethesda in Zanesville, from Fairfield General in Lancaster to Mansfield Memorial, to pray with patients before surgery and wait with families, to visit folks in rehab and come to ER’s late at night, 12 medical centers to get to, navigate within, and work with or through the staff.
There are other interesting numbers: seven nursing homes for resident visits, eight cemeteries for committals (but only three funeral homes I had to work with), three jails to visit inmates, two courthouses where hearings or proceedings needed a friendly face, and one Elections Commission hearing (that was the hardest to find!). But 12 medical centers.
I’d hazard a guess – and since Ralph, Paul, Morgan, Connie, and Keith all read this they may have input to share – that previous pastors in Hebron didn’t have parishioners spread that widely each year, but the new medical reality, with HMO’s and PPO’s and managed care that often seems more than a little mis-managed, is that we go where we’re sent, and that could be about anywhere in central Ohio.
In fact, adding up church mileage on the car yesterday, the total. . .well, put it this way. If you assume an average of 30 mph (which between highway miles and creeping up 79 or 30th St. seems about right), I spent 40 eight hour days just driving. Not including time spent in the hospital or home or meeting, but just turning the steering wheel. Almost two months of standard work week time, getting to where I’m needed. I’m the one who does the driving, and I was surprised.
So that’s some of what you learn by record keeping and report sharing; information we all need so our ministries can continue to grow and be fruitful. Oh, and have you given Ila your report yet?
In Grace and Peace,
Pastor Jeff
* * * * * * *
Christian Reading Week
Sunday, Jan. 18, a special set of displays will be on view in the back of the sanctuary and downstairs with reading material and Christian literature. Some is from our library, some for sale (or ordering), and subscriptions to DiscipleWorld, our newest Disciples of Christ national publication, can be signed for at this time.
Winter can be a time for cabin fever, or for enjoying the quiet of a snowy evening. Reading can be one way to keep the winter blues at bay. Inspirational reading, stories of history and faith from our shared past, or vital accounts of the church at work today are all available.
Wednesday, December 24, 2003
An Inkling
A gleam as through a window seen
Shimmering, shining, dimly lighting
Sill or frame beneath the flame;
One pool of light against the night
Viewed afar, this earthbound star
Grounded in a niche ‘tween hill and ditch
Implies, beneath the lowering skies,
A room behind, a place of warmth to find
For travelers tired, the last miles inspired
Toward a house unseen. All inferred from just one gleam.
So too, we find, standing (in a way) behind
The scene of Mary and blessed Baby
A larger structure, beyond conjecture
Of God and life, peace beyond strife,
New hope today, and in every day
A guide and friend; promise without end.
Should we let this little gleam
Cause us to trust here (in between
Eternities before and begone)
That there’s a larger home hereon?
Can the rooms of faith open one to the other
Like one candle lit from another?
Our steps hasten on to the stable door,
But eyes fixed higher up one floor
To the light in the window, the room behind,
And the house beyond, whose Host we’ll find.
- Christmas Eve, 2003
A gleam as through a window seen
Shimmering, shining, dimly lighting
Sill or frame beneath the flame;
One pool of light against the night
Viewed afar, this earthbound star
Grounded in a niche ‘tween hill and ditch
Implies, beneath the lowering skies,
A room behind, a place of warmth to find
For travelers tired, the last miles inspired
Toward a house unseen. All inferred from just one gleam.
So too, we find, standing (in a way) behind
The scene of Mary and blessed Baby
A larger structure, beyond conjecture
Of God and life, peace beyond strife,
New hope today, and in every day
A guide and friend; promise without end.
Should we let this little gleam
Cause us to trust here (in between
Eternities before and begone)
That there’s a larger home hereon?
Can the rooms of faith open one to the other
Like one candle lit from another?
Our steps hasten on to the stable door,
But eyes fixed higher up one floor
To the light in the window, the room behind,
And the house beyond, whose Host we’ll find.
- Christmas Eve, 2003
Monday, December 22, 2003
Hebron Crossroads 12-28-03
by Jeff Gill
Time to file away 2003, and open up a fresh, clean folder (or new icon for the desktop) for 2004.
2003 doesn’t fit well into any niche I’m used to. Contrariwise, 2003 sort of feels like “the year of the niche.�
Christmas music isn’t as much of a general cultural soundtrack as it once was, but now we have two radio stations playing “all Christmas formats� through December. A niche marketing strategy. We are well into the next federal election cycle (you may well keep your attention tuned to other matters, and wisely so, but trust me, we’re in it up to our Iowa caucuses), and everyone is asked to label themselves as Dem, Rep, Lib, Grn, or Fzl. OK, I made the last one up, but party affiliation will be crucial as we approach a primary in early-early March which means, if we want to shape our niches, we’d best be registered by early-early-early February, which might as well mean January.
Threat status “orange� not only doesn’t rhyme with anything, it doesn’t seem to tell us much, either, except which niche our anxiety should go in according to the worst-named government department ever, next to Robespierre’s Department of Public Safety (for more info, see Revolution, French). And as to Iraq, we’re all expected to be tidily “pro-war� or anti-war� about the whole thing.
We don’t have as many of those cross-cultural, crosscutting experiences like watching “Roots� or Walter Cronkite and the moon landing. The centennial of flight ceremonies on Dec. 17 were, to be fair, a bit anticlimactic with the replica Wright Flyer skidding into the mud, but I was hoping for an “everyone will remember this� moment. Didn’t happen. Broad, generic experiences like watching “White Christmas� or a Charlie Brown special are reduced to “Honey, should we get out the tape of that old Bing Crosby movie you like to watch each year?� There’s a niche: on-demand viewing and listening.
Or even more niche-y (?) did you notice that while the mass experience of moviegoing hasn’t gone entirely yet, we (as a society/economy) spend more on videogame experiences than movie admissions? The ultimate niche. We choose our lead role, we take our choice of supporting cast and props, and pick our ending made to order. My experience of a videogame is wildly different from yours, even when we both stuck the same cartridge in the Q-box.
And news! E! for entertainment news, MTV for music news, the Booster for good news, mass circulation dailies (not to mention any parent publications in particular) for less good news, and the History Channel for very old news. Many print outlets are springing up to service smaller areas and particular, oh, niches of news consumers.
The year of the niche, or not?
It could be, but we shouldn’t let it. Or, we may need to go all the way down that road. 2004 looks to be a year when we really need to be individuals all together. Carved into a mince pie of niches, no group, coalition, or alliance can really form to accomplish a task or achieve a goal. Individuals who know that that it’s OK to be totally inconsistent from a mass-cultural point of view aren’t afraid to be part of a movement or group larger than a table for four. You can be a Republican who enjoys Disney films, techno-rave music, and opera, or you may be a Green Party member with good friends in the Marine Corps and a sense that Nader might just be an egocentric nutcase.
In real life, people don’t fit into tidy niches, which is why those Amazon.com “You might also like� recommendations usually include suggestions that leave some grape Nehi spewed across your monitor. And in real life, folks do have broad tendencies to group together, which is why you click on a few of those computer generated hints. I have friends who share many interests with me, but are shocked to learn that we actually let the Little Guy watch cartoons on TV (“you have a television in your house?�), or that I’m pro-Israel (within reason), or that Joyce and I have, yes, an artificial Christmas tree. Allergies, if you must know. Personally, I can’t believe people still wear. . .but considering my wardrobe, forget I said anything.
Something about the tenor of the times tells me that we all need to enjoy not only our own and others’ uniquenesses, so that we can usefully figure out what we have in common enough to work together on. In politics, in community life, in our faith commitments, and in our choice of which two flavors go together best in a waffle cone (coffee and peppermint), it feels like it’s niches that divide, while individuality can be the basis for building consensus.
Here’s hoping you spend this New Year’s weekend, or at least halftime at the Fiesta Bowl, figuring out who you really were in ’03, and who you want to become in ’04.
And then we can figure out what we’ll get done together!
Jeff Gill is pastor of Hebron Christian Church and is extremely predictable except when he isn’t. If you know any exceptions to this rule, or have news of local interest, call 928-4066 or e-mail disciple@voyager.net.
by Jeff Gill
Time to file away 2003, and open up a fresh, clean folder (or new icon for the desktop) for 2004.
2003 doesn’t fit well into any niche I’m used to. Contrariwise, 2003 sort of feels like “the year of the niche.�
Christmas music isn’t as much of a general cultural soundtrack as it once was, but now we have two radio stations playing “all Christmas formats� through December. A niche marketing strategy. We are well into the next federal election cycle (you may well keep your attention tuned to other matters, and wisely so, but trust me, we’re in it up to our Iowa caucuses), and everyone is asked to label themselves as Dem, Rep, Lib, Grn, or Fzl. OK, I made the last one up, but party affiliation will be crucial as we approach a primary in early-early March which means, if we want to shape our niches, we’d best be registered by early-early-early February, which might as well mean January.
Threat status “orange� not only doesn’t rhyme with anything, it doesn’t seem to tell us much, either, except which niche our anxiety should go in according to the worst-named government department ever, next to Robespierre’s Department of Public Safety (for more info, see Revolution, French). And as to Iraq, we’re all expected to be tidily “pro-war� or anti-war� about the whole thing.
We don’t have as many of those cross-cultural, crosscutting experiences like watching “Roots� or Walter Cronkite and the moon landing. The centennial of flight ceremonies on Dec. 17 were, to be fair, a bit anticlimactic with the replica Wright Flyer skidding into the mud, but I was hoping for an “everyone will remember this� moment. Didn’t happen. Broad, generic experiences like watching “White Christmas� or a Charlie Brown special are reduced to “Honey, should we get out the tape of that old Bing Crosby movie you like to watch each year?� There’s a niche: on-demand viewing and listening.
Or even more niche-y (?) did you notice that while the mass experience of moviegoing hasn’t gone entirely yet, we (as a society/economy) spend more on videogame experiences than movie admissions? The ultimate niche. We choose our lead role, we take our choice of supporting cast and props, and pick our ending made to order. My experience of a videogame is wildly different from yours, even when we both stuck the same cartridge in the Q-box.
And news! E! for entertainment news, MTV for music news, the Booster for good news, mass circulation dailies (not to mention any parent publications in particular) for less good news, and the History Channel for very old news. Many print outlets are springing up to service smaller areas and particular, oh, niches of news consumers.
The year of the niche, or not?
It could be, but we shouldn’t let it. Or, we may need to go all the way down that road. 2004 looks to be a year when we really need to be individuals all together. Carved into a mince pie of niches, no group, coalition, or alliance can really form to accomplish a task or achieve a goal. Individuals who know that that it’s OK to be totally inconsistent from a mass-cultural point of view aren’t afraid to be part of a movement or group larger than a table for four. You can be a Republican who enjoys Disney films, techno-rave music, and opera, or you may be a Green Party member with good friends in the Marine Corps and a sense that Nader might just be an egocentric nutcase.
In real life, people don’t fit into tidy niches, which is why those Amazon.com “You might also like� recommendations usually include suggestions that leave some grape Nehi spewed across your monitor. And in real life, folks do have broad tendencies to group together, which is why you click on a few of those computer generated hints. I have friends who share many interests with me, but are shocked to learn that we actually let the Little Guy watch cartoons on TV (“you have a television in your house?�), or that I’m pro-Israel (within reason), or that Joyce and I have, yes, an artificial Christmas tree. Allergies, if you must know. Personally, I can’t believe people still wear. . .but considering my wardrobe, forget I said anything.
Something about the tenor of the times tells me that we all need to enjoy not only our own and others’ uniquenesses, so that we can usefully figure out what we have in common enough to work together on. In politics, in community life, in our faith commitments, and in our choice of which two flavors go together best in a waffle cone (coffee and peppermint), it feels like it’s niches that divide, while individuality can be the basis for building consensus.
Here’s hoping you spend this New Year’s weekend, or at least halftime at the Fiesta Bowl, figuring out who you really were in ’03, and who you want to become in ’04.
And then we can figure out what we’ll get done together!
Jeff Gill is pastor of Hebron Christian Church and is extremely predictable except when he isn’t. If you know any exceptions to this rule, or have news of local interest, call 928-4066 or e-mail disciple@voyager.net.
Tuesday, December 16, 2003
Hebron Crossroads 12-21-03
By Jeff Gill
Christmas Eve services Wednesday night are all around the Hebron Crossroads.
Jacksontown United Methodist Church has their choir cantata Dec. 24 at 7:00 pm, called “The Light of the World.” On Christmas Sunday, Dec. 21 (if you get this that early!), they have a drama at their 9:15 am service only, “The Day After Christmas.”
Licking Baptist Church, north of town on Beaver Run Road, will share a musical in Sunday worship, “Christmas For a Change,” at 10:45 am, and their Christmas Eve service is at 7:00 pm.
Hebron United Methodist will have a candlelight service Dec. 24 at 11:00 pm, where they will repeat selections from their cantata on Dec. 21. On Sunday the full program includes a small orchestra to accompany their chancel choir!
Many area churches offer 7:00 pm services on Christmas Eve; First Community Church in Buckeye Lake has their candlelight service then, as do a number of lake area churches from Thornville to Millersport and on down the canal to Baltimore.
Our Lady of Mount Carmel Catholic Church has Midnight Mass, but you don’t want to get there at midnight for a seat.
And at Hebron Christian Church, we’ll hear a concert of piano and organ music from David Ford from 7 to 7:30 pm, when a Service of Lessons and Carols will include communion for our Christmas Eve, and a candlelight closing to “Silent Night.” The senior choir sings “The Shepherd’s Christmas” in worship Sunday Dec. 21, following a wonderful job by the junior choir with their musical last Sunday.
Hope you find a place to celebrate the season this week!
Speaking of music, there’s been a surfeit of great instrumental and choral performances these last few weeks in the Lakewood school district.
This columnist regrets not making it to every last one of ‘em, but from the Lakewood Holiday Concert Dec. 7 with high school bands and choirs, the Middle School Bands on Dec. 14, Hebron Elementary Dec. 15, and a middle school Choral Concert Dec. 16, it hasn’t been too much, but it is a richness of seasonal blessings.
A few passing thoughts. . .in the Swing Choir section, a great rendition of an “Alvin and the Chipmunks” favorite left me wondering if they were still shown anywhere; do the kids know why they’re singing like a speeded-up Ampex tape deck? But Judith Rauch and the gang sure sounded good.
The Jazz and Symphonic Bands were great as well, with the extra bonus of a guest conductor, Mr. Bill Fisher, a former Lakewood band director. I’m told Mr. Coffey has more guest conductors planned for future concerts, but it will be hard to top this sprightly veteran and his crisp direction from the podium. With his pedigree from Ohio University and the Navy School of Music he made a good match for Scott’s approach to his first year with this ensemble.
As to the middle schoolers, these ears enjoyed the “Pat-a-pan Processional” and “Ding-dong Merrily On High” in particular, but Rob Caldwell pointed out at the band concert how many of the sixth graders had just gone from once or twice a week to daily play, and what a leap they had made. The eighth graders, for whom this is old hat, are now ready to present smooth and steady renditions of “The Christmas Song” and they could even handel “For Unto Us.” The eighth grade choir did a great job on the blur of words crammed into the full version of “It’s Beginning To Look Like Christmas,” and everyone together closed the concert in front of a backdrop and indoor snowfall that Bing and Rosemary should have seen. . .and would have enjoyed.
Many thanks not only to the hard working directors and behind the scenes folk like Martha Fickle and many Band Boosters, but to the crowded auditoriums each concert played for. Parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles, neighbors and friends all came out and shared the applause that echoes into the practice room through the long hours of rehearsal to make it worthwhile. Let’s hear a round of applause for the audiences, too.
Community spirit has been much in evidence, not only with turnout for school events, but for meeting some other pressing needs. Hebron Elementary assisted 98 children in 36 families this holiday season, with many teachers and staff all going the extra mile to help make a brighter Christmas for families having a rough time this December.
But they give the main credit to everyone who went out and did a little extra shopping, put a special offering in the hat, or helped out to “adopt” these families. Companies like Dow, Meritor, and Brezina Construction; community groups like the Hebron Lions and the VFW; churches and individuals who gave of themselves all were part of the effort, and they appreciate the caring work at our local school.
At the village offices, they appreciate how many people really, really, really give of themselves: our regular blood donors through the American Red Cross. Nov. 25 we had 44 people come to give, with 38 units donated (plus many “helpers” who couldn’t give that day).
With the increasing success of this program down at the Municipal Complex on West Main, we began signing up donors as they left for time slots next time, which will be Feb. 13 from 1 to 6 pm. There are already 30 donors registered! What a great response from our Hebron community, and extra thanks to Don Kissack and the Hebron McDonald’s for their special incentives to donors.
A Merry Christmas to you and yours; God bless us, every one! And one more Crossroads tale in 2003 next week. . .
Jeff Gill is pastor of Hebron Christian Church and a bass (retired baritone). If you have a song in your heart to share, or news of local interest, call him at 928-4066 or e-mail disciple@voyager.net.
By Jeff Gill
Christmas Eve services Wednesday night are all around the Hebron Crossroads.
Jacksontown United Methodist Church has their choir cantata Dec. 24 at 7:00 pm, called “The Light of the World.” On Christmas Sunday, Dec. 21 (if you get this that early!), they have a drama at their 9:15 am service only, “The Day After Christmas.”
Licking Baptist Church, north of town on Beaver Run Road, will share a musical in Sunday worship, “Christmas For a Change,” at 10:45 am, and their Christmas Eve service is at 7:00 pm.
Hebron United Methodist will have a candlelight service Dec. 24 at 11:00 pm, where they will repeat selections from their cantata on Dec. 21. On Sunday the full program includes a small orchestra to accompany their chancel choir!
Many area churches offer 7:00 pm services on Christmas Eve; First Community Church in Buckeye Lake has their candlelight service then, as do a number of lake area churches from Thornville to Millersport and on down the canal to Baltimore.
Our Lady of Mount Carmel Catholic Church has Midnight Mass, but you don’t want to get there at midnight for a seat.
And at Hebron Christian Church, we’ll hear a concert of piano and organ music from David Ford from 7 to 7:30 pm, when a Service of Lessons and Carols will include communion for our Christmas Eve, and a candlelight closing to “Silent Night.” The senior choir sings “The Shepherd’s Christmas” in worship Sunday Dec. 21, following a wonderful job by the junior choir with their musical last Sunday.
Hope you find a place to celebrate the season this week!
Speaking of music, there’s been a surfeit of great instrumental and choral performances these last few weeks in the Lakewood school district.
This columnist regrets not making it to every last one of ‘em, but from the Lakewood Holiday Concert Dec. 7 with high school bands and choirs, the Middle School Bands on Dec. 14, Hebron Elementary Dec. 15, and a middle school Choral Concert Dec. 16, it hasn’t been too much, but it is a richness of seasonal blessings.
A few passing thoughts. . .in the Swing Choir section, a great rendition of an “Alvin and the Chipmunks” favorite left me wondering if they were still shown anywhere; do the kids know why they’re singing like a speeded-up Ampex tape deck? But Judith Rauch and the gang sure sounded good.
The Jazz and Symphonic Bands were great as well, with the extra bonus of a guest conductor, Mr. Bill Fisher, a former Lakewood band director. I’m told Mr. Coffey has more guest conductors planned for future concerts, but it will be hard to top this sprightly veteran and his crisp direction from the podium. With his pedigree from Ohio University and the Navy School of Music he made a good match for Scott’s approach to his first year with this ensemble.
As to the middle schoolers, these ears enjoyed the “Pat-a-pan Processional” and “Ding-dong Merrily On High” in particular, but Rob Caldwell pointed out at the band concert how many of the sixth graders had just gone from once or twice a week to daily play, and what a leap they had made. The eighth graders, for whom this is old hat, are now ready to present smooth and steady renditions of “The Christmas Song” and they could even handel “For Unto Us.” The eighth grade choir did a great job on the blur of words crammed into the full version of “It’s Beginning To Look Like Christmas,” and everyone together closed the concert in front of a backdrop and indoor snowfall that Bing and Rosemary should have seen. . .and would have enjoyed.
Many thanks not only to the hard working directors and behind the scenes folk like Martha Fickle and many Band Boosters, but to the crowded auditoriums each concert played for. Parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles, neighbors and friends all came out and shared the applause that echoes into the practice room through the long hours of rehearsal to make it worthwhile. Let’s hear a round of applause for the audiences, too.
Community spirit has been much in evidence, not only with turnout for school events, but for meeting some other pressing needs. Hebron Elementary assisted 98 children in 36 families this holiday season, with many teachers and staff all going the extra mile to help make a brighter Christmas for families having a rough time this December.
But they give the main credit to everyone who went out and did a little extra shopping, put a special offering in the hat, or helped out to “adopt” these families. Companies like Dow, Meritor, and Brezina Construction; community groups like the Hebron Lions and the VFW; churches and individuals who gave of themselves all were part of the effort, and they appreciate the caring work at our local school.
At the village offices, they appreciate how many people really, really, really give of themselves: our regular blood donors through the American Red Cross. Nov. 25 we had 44 people come to give, with 38 units donated (plus many “helpers” who couldn’t give that day).
With the increasing success of this program down at the Municipal Complex on West Main, we began signing up donors as they left for time slots next time, which will be Feb. 13 from 1 to 6 pm. There are already 30 donors registered! What a great response from our Hebron community, and extra thanks to Don Kissack and the Hebron McDonald’s for their special incentives to donors.
A Merry Christmas to you and yours; God bless us, every one! And one more Crossroads tale in 2003 next week. . .
Jeff Gill is pastor of Hebron Christian Church and a bass (retired baritone). If you have a song in your heart to share, or news of local interest, call him at 928-4066 or e-mail disciple@voyager.net.
Tuesday, December 09, 2003
Hebron Crossroads 12-14-03
By Jeff Gill
Jose and Maria were heading down I-70 towards Wheeling when the old grey Buick Riviera they drove started to overheat.
The cold December night suddenly felt a little more threatening (with the heater not working well, a problem you didn’t notice much in Del Rio through the summer). They were heading to the home of a family member in Steubenville who had a good job for them both, which was really important since their first-born was due soon, roundly visible between the shoulder and lap belt Maria wore.
So Jose reluctantly turned off at the next exit. He didn’t have much cash on him, just his ATM card, which he hated to use more than he had to. Thinking that getting some work done under the hood would be cheaper away from the interstate, he drove past the bright lights of the truck stops and newer hotels, and headed down the road.
They started to feel nervous as they realized both that it was later than they thought, and that there was no large town just off the way. At the next intersection, they saw a closed lumberyard, a few darkened buildings, and relatively few homes. Jose turned right, paralleling their original direction, hoping to find a town, a garage, somewhere reassuring.
Of course it was a dark stretch of road where the engine emitted a “pop” and a sighing wheeze, and red lights punctuated the dashboard behind the wheel Jose struggled to turn onto the shoulder.
Maria gasped with fright, as suddenly in the silence and within the beam of headlights they saw a headstone right in front of them. “Are we in a cemetery?” she asked. Then they saw the arc of “Cumberland” across the top, and Jose said “I think it’s an old milestone on this road; something historic.”
They could just see the glow ahead of some crossroads, and were considering how to bundle up for a walk over the hill and down to whatever lay ahead, when a loud, low, long rumble started to shake the car, and lights shone from behind.
A line of motorcycles rolled past them, divided in front of them, and stopped on both sides of the road. One bright headlight turned back, bumped along the gravel, and pulled up to the driver side window. Jose rolled the crank back about half a turn.
Out of the darkness behind the light, with a creak of leather, a head turned and spoke. “You guys are on the wrong side of the road looking lost. Everything OK?”
Jose answered, “The engine died and I was losing the power steering.”
“Yep, that’s what I thought. This is some old mule of a car; don’t know about finding parts tonight for you. Now if it were a Harley, we’d probably be able to fix you up out of our saddlebags.”
“Who are you guys?” asked Maria.
“Just a bunch of guys out on a poker run, ma’am,” he answered, swinging off the bike to stand by the car. As he turned, Jose saw a blazon on the back of his leather jacket, with gothic letters in a scroll across symbols below, saying “The Nolo Contenderes.”
“Nolo. . .Say, you guys aren’t. . .” Jose trailed off.
“Yeah,” the dark figure said sheepishly, “we’re a bunch of lawyers. That’s the name of our, uh, group. We ride most Fridays if the Bucks aren’t playing. You must know Latin, Mr.?”
“My name’s Jose, this is my wife Maria.” Hands were shaken through a now lowered window. “Actually, we have family just two hours down the road who’ll come and get us, but I hadn’t gotten out my cell phone before you showed up.”
It took very little discussion to realize that, whatever was wrong, thermostat or head gasket, the Buick wasn’t going anywhere, and Maria was in no mood to straddle a passenger seat on a big bike. While Jose contacted Steubenville, a huddle among the “Nolos” ended with everyone back in a circle on the roadside.
“We can probably get someone to come back up here with a car pretty quick,” said the leader through his brushy mustache. “There’s a dance down at the catering hall over the next hill we were dropping by. Meanwhile, we can’t leave you here in the cold; but across the way I know a guy whose house probably has security on it, but I can get you inside their barn full of straw. You can nestle down in that until we get back.”
“So how do you know how to break into buildings, Mr. Lawyer?” asked Jose with a smile.
“Some clients pay in cash, others barter by teaching useful life skills,” answered “Mr. Contendere.” “I could ask you how you speak English so well, Jose; no offense meant.”
“No offense taken,” answered Jose, his smile now a mix of pride and amusement. “Some of my family may do migrant labor that brought us up to Ohio years ago, but some of my family lives on land in New Mexico they have the deed to, marked 1616.”
“Before Plymouth Rock,” nodded the lawyer, swinging back onto his Harley. “Funny how most people’s stories aren’t what you’d think ‘til you let them tell it. Well, keep your story right here in this barn for a bit more, and we’ll be right back. Louie and his wife had four chili dogs and a bag of batter-dip fries they got at the last stop on the poker run and hadn’t opened, so stay close, stay warm, and eat up. We’ll have you somewhere better soon, I promise.”
As he revved the engine at the barn door, he hollered to Maria and Jose, “And when we get you to a better room and a friendly crowd, I can’t wait to tell you the story of how we came to stop right there by ya; you’re not gonna believe it!”
“Oh, tonight I’d believe about anything,” Jose said inaudibly as two other bikers slid the door shut from their cycle seats and roared off.
And of course it was just then, in the dimness of the moonlight filtering down from the window in the hayloft, that Maria squeezed his hand and said nervously, “Dear, I think the baby is coming.”
May your Christmas at the Hebron Crossroads be wonderful, mysterious, and joyful this year of Our Lord Two thousand and three! Next week, Christmas week special services; call 928-4066 or e-mail disciple@voyager.net with details.
* * * * * * *
for the Dec. 21 Community Booster Christmas Traditions --
From Jeff Gill at the Hebron Crossroads: “Each year, after we bake our cookies from flour we’ve ground in our own handmill, and when we finish painting the toys I’ve carved out of wood naturally fallen to the ground from ancient oak trees, we sit around Joyce playing Advent tunes on her dulcimer, with the Little Guy coloring in the angels on the border of our Christmas letters. . .um, wait. That’s what we dream about after eating too much store-bought cookie dough right before another too-late bedtime.
It will come as no surprise that for a pastor’s family, we focus through December on the church celebrations of the season with children’s musicals and choir cantatas and candlelight Christmas Eve planning and preparation, plus the extra work we all get together at Hebron Christian Church to do for food pantries, housing programs, and needy families. Years ago, I used to feel more that we “didn’t get” as much chance for Christmas observance as others, but what I’ve really gotten into is the ancient idea of “Christmastide,” the celebration that is dimly recalled in “The Twelve Days of Christmas.” From Christmas day on the 25th to Jan. 6th, or Epiphany, while the stores tear down all the tinsel and trappings, and the decor shifts to Valentine’s red on the 26th, we can count down to the visit of the Magi (which is what Epiphany marks), keep the music celebrating Christ’s birth playing, and bake the cookies and do the things that others did back in the “Holiday Season.” And did I mention clergy are infamous for sending Epiphany cards more than Christmas cards? The colors of the church vestments go from royal purple to celebration white, and we get to sing the carols while radio stations have gone back to playing the top 40 and see the tree as a symbol of new life instead of a rack for ornaments on sale. Now if we could just bring back Boxing Day, as well. . .”
By Jeff Gill
Jose and Maria were heading down I-70 towards Wheeling when the old grey Buick Riviera they drove started to overheat.
The cold December night suddenly felt a little more threatening (with the heater not working well, a problem you didn’t notice much in Del Rio through the summer). They were heading to the home of a family member in Steubenville who had a good job for them both, which was really important since their first-born was due soon, roundly visible between the shoulder and lap belt Maria wore.
So Jose reluctantly turned off at the next exit. He didn’t have much cash on him, just his ATM card, which he hated to use more than he had to. Thinking that getting some work done under the hood would be cheaper away from the interstate, he drove past the bright lights of the truck stops and newer hotels, and headed down the road.
They started to feel nervous as they realized both that it was later than they thought, and that there was no large town just off the way. At the next intersection, they saw a closed lumberyard, a few darkened buildings, and relatively few homes. Jose turned right, paralleling their original direction, hoping to find a town, a garage, somewhere reassuring.
Of course it was a dark stretch of road where the engine emitted a “pop” and a sighing wheeze, and red lights punctuated the dashboard behind the wheel Jose struggled to turn onto the shoulder.
Maria gasped with fright, as suddenly in the silence and within the beam of headlights they saw a headstone right in front of them. “Are we in a cemetery?” she asked. Then they saw the arc of “Cumberland” across the top, and Jose said “I think it’s an old milestone on this road; something historic.”
They could just see the glow ahead of some crossroads, and were considering how to bundle up for a walk over the hill and down to whatever lay ahead, when a loud, low, long rumble started to shake the car, and lights shone from behind.
A line of motorcycles rolled past them, divided in front of them, and stopped on both sides of the road. One bright headlight turned back, bumped along the gravel, and pulled up to the driver side window. Jose rolled the crank back about half a turn.
Out of the darkness behind the light, with a creak of leather, a head turned and spoke. “You guys are on the wrong side of the road looking lost. Everything OK?”
Jose answered, “The engine died and I was losing the power steering.”
“Yep, that’s what I thought. This is some old mule of a car; don’t know about finding parts tonight for you. Now if it were a Harley, we’d probably be able to fix you up out of our saddlebags.”
“Who are you guys?” asked Maria.
“Just a bunch of guys out on a poker run, ma’am,” he answered, swinging off the bike to stand by the car. As he turned, Jose saw a blazon on the back of his leather jacket, with gothic letters in a scroll across symbols below, saying “The Nolo Contenderes.”
“Nolo. . .Say, you guys aren’t. . .” Jose trailed off.
“Yeah,” the dark figure said sheepishly, “we’re a bunch of lawyers. That’s the name of our, uh, group. We ride most Fridays if the Bucks aren’t playing. You must know Latin, Mr.?”
“My name’s Jose, this is my wife Maria.” Hands were shaken through a now lowered window. “Actually, we have family just two hours down the road who’ll come and get us, but I hadn’t gotten out my cell phone before you showed up.”
It took very little discussion to realize that, whatever was wrong, thermostat or head gasket, the Buick wasn’t going anywhere, and Maria was in no mood to straddle a passenger seat on a big bike. While Jose contacted Steubenville, a huddle among the “Nolos” ended with everyone back in a circle on the roadside.
“We can probably get someone to come back up here with a car pretty quick,” said the leader through his brushy mustache. “There’s a dance down at the catering hall over the next hill we were dropping by. Meanwhile, we can’t leave you here in the cold; but across the way I know a guy whose house probably has security on it, but I can get you inside their barn full of straw. You can nestle down in that until we get back.”
“So how do you know how to break into buildings, Mr. Lawyer?” asked Jose with a smile.
“Some clients pay in cash, others barter by teaching useful life skills,” answered “Mr. Contendere.” “I could ask you how you speak English so well, Jose; no offense meant.”
“No offense taken,” answered Jose, his smile now a mix of pride and amusement. “Some of my family may do migrant labor that brought us up to Ohio years ago, but some of my family lives on land in New Mexico they have the deed to, marked 1616.”
“Before Plymouth Rock,” nodded the lawyer, swinging back onto his Harley. “Funny how most people’s stories aren’t what you’d think ‘til you let them tell it. Well, keep your story right here in this barn for a bit more, and we’ll be right back. Louie and his wife had four chili dogs and a bag of batter-dip fries they got at the last stop on the poker run and hadn’t opened, so stay close, stay warm, and eat up. We’ll have you somewhere better soon, I promise.”
As he revved the engine at the barn door, he hollered to Maria and Jose, “And when we get you to a better room and a friendly crowd, I can’t wait to tell you the story of how we came to stop right there by ya; you’re not gonna believe it!”
“Oh, tonight I’d believe about anything,” Jose said inaudibly as two other bikers slid the door shut from their cycle seats and roared off.
And of course it was just then, in the dimness of the moonlight filtering down from the window in the hayloft, that Maria squeezed his hand and said nervously, “Dear, I think the baby is coming.”
May your Christmas at the Hebron Crossroads be wonderful, mysterious, and joyful this year of Our Lord Two thousand and three! Next week, Christmas week special services; call 928-4066 or e-mail disciple@voyager.net with details.
* * * * * * *
for the Dec. 21 Community Booster Christmas Traditions --
From Jeff Gill at the Hebron Crossroads: “Each year, after we bake our cookies from flour we’ve ground in our own handmill, and when we finish painting the toys I’ve carved out of wood naturally fallen to the ground from ancient oak trees, we sit around Joyce playing Advent tunes on her dulcimer, with the Little Guy coloring in the angels on the border of our Christmas letters. . .um, wait. That’s what we dream about after eating too much store-bought cookie dough right before another too-late bedtime.
It will come as no surprise that for a pastor’s family, we focus through December on the church celebrations of the season with children’s musicals and choir cantatas and candlelight Christmas Eve planning and preparation, plus the extra work we all get together at Hebron Christian Church to do for food pantries, housing programs, and needy families. Years ago, I used to feel more that we “didn’t get” as much chance for Christmas observance as others, but what I’ve really gotten into is the ancient idea of “Christmastide,” the celebration that is dimly recalled in “The Twelve Days of Christmas.” From Christmas day on the 25th to Jan. 6th, or Epiphany, while the stores tear down all the tinsel and trappings, and the decor shifts to Valentine’s red on the 26th, we can count down to the visit of the Magi (which is what Epiphany marks), keep the music celebrating Christ’s birth playing, and bake the cookies and do the things that others did back in the “Holiday Season.” And did I mention clergy are infamous for sending Epiphany cards more than Christmas cards? The colors of the church vestments go from royal purple to celebration white, and we get to sing the carols while radio stations have gone back to playing the top 40 and see the tree as a symbol of new life instead of a rack for ornaments on sale. Now if we could just bring back Boxing Day, as well. . .”
Tuesday, December 02, 2003
Hebron Crossroads 12-07-03
By Jeff Gill
Standing on my neighbor’s roof, with the sun setting and Venus bright in the southwest, everything looked different.
Nevermind that I was only about 15 feet off the ground. Forget that a window in my house next door is higher than where I stood, holding one end of a string of Christmas lights. Looking from the ochre horizon of sunset to the eastern darkness spangled with stars, across the shallow bowl of Hebron, down into streets already lit with multicolored strings of bulbs across eaves, everything looked different. Not a whole lot, but noticeably different. Angles of vision, breadth of view, and revelations of distance usually hemmed in by walls and trees and bushes, all making for a new way of looking at my surroundings.
That’s what I think the Wright Brothers brought us 100 years ago next week: not so much flight, or air transportation, let alone overnight shipping, but a new perspective.
That new perspective started at Kitty Hawk but was conceived and raised in Ohio, in their bicycle shop at Dayton and on Huffman Prairie outside of town, the true birthplace of aviation. Now part of the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base complex, these wide open river bottoms, surrounded by low bluffs, were where Orville and Wilbur got their orientation to how the world looked from above. Can’t get to North Carolina? Don’t worry, drive to Dayton instead, and see the Air Force Museum while you’re at it, just up the road.
But last year, while my wife was at a professional conference in Virginia Beach, I looked on a map and realized that the Little Guy and I could make it between breakfast and suppertime pickup down to the famous stretch of windy beach.
We made the trip in the light drizzle to steady rain that kept on us all week, but the longest period of dryness was when we crossed the bridge onto the Outer Banks, rolled down to the Wright Brothers National Park at Kitty Hawk, and rambled across the now grassy plain.
Since he was four, the memories probably won’t last, but watching the boy run down the blacktop path between the granite markers – liftoff, first flight landing, second, and third, all less than the length of a 747 today – will last in my memory for a long time to come.
A sturdy stone memorial tower, arced with curves swooping up from busts of the brothers to metal symbols aimed at the sky, was set atop the adjoining hill. The view reached out to the Atlantic, now separated from the replica hangars by a blacktop road and three rows of vacation homes stilted along the dunes, but the really evocative part of the area is a runway set parallel to the “first flight” zone, with a regular procession of small aircraft puttering down out of the sky, with many touch-and-go-ing right back up into the air. I’m guessing that a flight log with “landing and takeoff” at Kitty Hawk is a point of pride for civil aviators.
Last year, with the National Park Service preparing for 2003’s Centennial of Flight, all the museum space and Wright Flyer replica was closed for renovations and new parking construction. But that was OK. I enjoyed the view from the memorial platform, looking out at the ocean, down at the narrow strip of asphalt where history was made in December of 1903, and up at the everyday fliers who were seeing the world in a different way, thanks to the bishop’s boys from Ohio.
Thanks, guys.
This December also marks a new perspective springing from 160 years ago, in 1843. Just three years before, the general public first saw a Christmas tree in the penny papers as part of the decorations at Windsor Castle of Queen Victoria, brought over by her Germanic family members.
The customs and images and depictions of a “traditional” Christmas were still very much in flux, both in Great Britain and the United States. What happened along to fix much of that picture in our collective unconscious was a little book published in London by Charles Dickens. Already famous, “A Christmas Carol” sealed his place as an icon of English literature, and even more than giving us the remarkable portrait of Ebenezer Scrooge and the Cratchit family, Dickens gave us a perspective of what a Christmas celebration should be, even if we’ve never roasted a goose or cooked a pudding or mulled wine into a steaming Victorian punch.
And his vision of forgiveness and repentance as central to the meaning of the holiday, whether for the religious or the irreverent, through the Ghosts of Christmases Past, Present, and Future, made a lasting impact on the season, for the better and for us all.
Reginald Owen, Alaistair Sim, George C. Scott, and Patrick Stewart among others have all taken a crack at the figure who probably overshadows even Hamlet and Huck Finn in our cultural imagination. Did Charles Dickens change the world as much as the Wright Brothers? Hard to say, but what a fascinating question to ponder this Christmas season.
Cue Tiny Tim: “God bless us, every one!”
A few quick local notes as well. Sunday afternoon at 3 pm the Lakewood Band offers their Winter concert down at the LHS auditorium. Wednesday, Dec. 10, there is a two hour early dismissal. Plus this note to churches planning Christmas Eve special services: please get me your times and titles posthaste, as deadlines are scooting backwards! Just call 928-4066 or e-mail disciple@voyager.net, and remember to note your church name, and times plus anything else you want noted so we can have all our Hebron Crossroads area services in the Dec. 21 Booster. Thank you!
By Jeff Gill
Standing on my neighbor’s roof, with the sun setting and Venus bright in the southwest, everything looked different.
Nevermind that I was only about 15 feet off the ground. Forget that a window in my house next door is higher than where I stood, holding one end of a string of Christmas lights. Looking from the ochre horizon of sunset to the eastern darkness spangled with stars, across the shallow bowl of Hebron, down into streets already lit with multicolored strings of bulbs across eaves, everything looked different. Not a whole lot, but noticeably different. Angles of vision, breadth of view, and revelations of distance usually hemmed in by walls and trees and bushes, all making for a new way of looking at my surroundings.
That’s what I think the Wright Brothers brought us 100 years ago next week: not so much flight, or air transportation, let alone overnight shipping, but a new perspective.
That new perspective started at Kitty Hawk but was conceived and raised in Ohio, in their bicycle shop at Dayton and on Huffman Prairie outside of town, the true birthplace of aviation. Now part of the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base complex, these wide open river bottoms, surrounded by low bluffs, were where Orville and Wilbur got their orientation to how the world looked from above. Can’t get to North Carolina? Don’t worry, drive to Dayton instead, and see the Air Force Museum while you’re at it, just up the road.
But last year, while my wife was at a professional conference in Virginia Beach, I looked on a map and realized that the Little Guy and I could make it between breakfast and suppertime pickup down to the famous stretch of windy beach.
We made the trip in the light drizzle to steady rain that kept on us all week, but the longest period of dryness was when we crossed the bridge onto the Outer Banks, rolled down to the Wright Brothers National Park at Kitty Hawk, and rambled across the now grassy plain.
Since he was four, the memories probably won’t last, but watching the boy run down the blacktop path between the granite markers – liftoff, first flight landing, second, and third, all less than the length of a 747 today – will last in my memory for a long time to come.
A sturdy stone memorial tower, arced with curves swooping up from busts of the brothers to metal symbols aimed at the sky, was set atop the adjoining hill. The view reached out to the Atlantic, now separated from the replica hangars by a blacktop road and three rows of vacation homes stilted along the dunes, but the really evocative part of the area is a runway set parallel to the “first flight” zone, with a regular procession of small aircraft puttering down out of the sky, with many touch-and-go-ing right back up into the air. I’m guessing that a flight log with “landing and takeoff” at Kitty Hawk is a point of pride for civil aviators.
Last year, with the National Park Service preparing for 2003’s Centennial of Flight, all the museum space and Wright Flyer replica was closed for renovations and new parking construction. But that was OK. I enjoyed the view from the memorial platform, looking out at the ocean, down at the narrow strip of asphalt where history was made in December of 1903, and up at the everyday fliers who were seeing the world in a different way, thanks to the bishop’s boys from Ohio.
Thanks, guys.
This December also marks a new perspective springing from 160 years ago, in 1843. Just three years before, the general public first saw a Christmas tree in the penny papers as part of the decorations at Windsor Castle of Queen Victoria, brought over by her Germanic family members.
The customs and images and depictions of a “traditional” Christmas were still very much in flux, both in Great Britain and the United States. What happened along to fix much of that picture in our collective unconscious was a little book published in London by Charles Dickens. Already famous, “A Christmas Carol” sealed his place as an icon of English literature, and even more than giving us the remarkable portrait of Ebenezer Scrooge and the Cratchit family, Dickens gave us a perspective of what a Christmas celebration should be, even if we’ve never roasted a goose or cooked a pudding or mulled wine into a steaming Victorian punch.
And his vision of forgiveness and repentance as central to the meaning of the holiday, whether for the religious or the irreverent, through the Ghosts of Christmases Past, Present, and Future, made a lasting impact on the season, for the better and for us all.
Reginald Owen, Alaistair Sim, George C. Scott, and Patrick Stewart among others have all taken a crack at the figure who probably overshadows even Hamlet and Huck Finn in our cultural imagination. Did Charles Dickens change the world as much as the Wright Brothers? Hard to say, but what a fascinating question to ponder this Christmas season.
Cue Tiny Tim: “God bless us, every one!”
A few quick local notes as well. Sunday afternoon at 3 pm the Lakewood Band offers their Winter concert down at the LHS auditorium. Wednesday, Dec. 10, there is a two hour early dismissal. Plus this note to churches planning Christmas Eve special services: please get me your times and titles posthaste, as deadlines are scooting backwards! Just call 928-4066 or e-mail disciple@voyager.net, and remember to note your church name, and times plus anything else you want noted so we can have all our Hebron Crossroads area services in the Dec. 21 Booster. Thank you!
Wednesday, November 26, 2003
Notes From My Knapsack -- The Church Window Dec. 2003
"Focus" was the Latin word for "hearth." In ancient Rome, and in more recent times on the Ohio frontier, the fireplace, the hearth was indeed the focus of the family living space.
Nowadays, the focal point of most living rooms is the TV set. Even in homes with a fireplace, the location is carefully to one side, so as not to shift the focus of the room, or to block the sight lines to the screen all the furniture points at.
But during this time of year, all kinds of folk are willing to adjust their reality a bit. We move furniture, realign the sight lines, and make our focus the Christmas tree.
If some seats have an obscured view of the picture tube, we decide we can live with it. . .for at least a few weeks. We take a bit of the outdoors, a few ornaments of our family tradition, and some of our faith, and put it on display where no one, least of the residents of that space, can miss the new point of focus.
This is, for many households, an opportunity. A chance to create some new traditions, make a few adornments to our future history, and reflect (by the Christmas lights alone of a late evening) on what our faith tells us about "the reason for the season."
I hope and pray this Christmas season that you may, by the lights echoing those Roman fireplaces, now making you a new hearth through scented candles and electric colored bulbs, find your focus in the Light that comes from a stable, and place your hope in One born under a wintry star over Bethlehem.
In Grace & Peace,
Pastor Jeff
CWF Christmas Dinner for the whole church family -- after worship Dec. 21
Budget/Stewardship Team
The Budget Committee, which was asked to review items from their proposed 2004 budget at the last Board meeting, will meet along with the Stewardship Team, which meets on months between Board meetings.
They will work at the church on Monday night, Dec. 8, at 7 pm to review what will be presented to the congregational meeting Jan. 25.
Due to increased fixed costs and expenses, even with some fairly significant cuts, the new budget will represent an increase over the giving levels in 2003. Jean Wonders, our financial secretary, estimates that if, on average, each of our 50 regular "giving units" (families or individuals by household) gave another $10 per month, we would have a solid budget for 2004.
Thank you for your prayerful reflection on your own giving in the new year, and for your prayers for the board and financial officers in their decision making! We are glad to report that the support for the 604 W. Main property has the principal owed below $60,000 on a $113,000 purchase just four years ago, and we are halfway to our congregational commitment of $12,000 to Camp Christian's new construction.
"Focus" was the Latin word for "hearth." In ancient Rome, and in more recent times on the Ohio frontier, the fireplace, the hearth was indeed the focus of the family living space.
Nowadays, the focal point of most living rooms is the TV set. Even in homes with a fireplace, the location is carefully to one side, so as not to shift the focus of the room, or to block the sight lines to the screen all the furniture points at.
But during this time of year, all kinds of folk are willing to adjust their reality a bit. We move furniture, realign the sight lines, and make our focus the Christmas tree.
If some seats have an obscured view of the picture tube, we decide we can live with it. . .for at least a few weeks. We take a bit of the outdoors, a few ornaments of our family tradition, and some of our faith, and put it on display where no one, least of the residents of that space, can miss the new point of focus.
This is, for many households, an opportunity. A chance to create some new traditions, make a few adornments to our future history, and reflect (by the Christmas lights alone of a late evening) on what our faith tells us about "the reason for the season."
I hope and pray this Christmas season that you may, by the lights echoing those Roman fireplaces, now making you a new hearth through scented candles and electric colored bulbs, find your focus in the Light that comes from a stable, and place your hope in One born under a wintry star over Bethlehem.
In Grace & Peace,
Pastor Jeff
CWF Christmas Dinner for the whole church family -- after worship Dec. 21
Budget/Stewardship Team
The Budget Committee, which was asked to review items from their proposed 2004 budget at the last Board meeting, will meet along with the Stewardship Team, which meets on months between Board meetings.
They will work at the church on Monday night, Dec. 8, at 7 pm to review what will be presented to the congregational meeting Jan. 25.
Due to increased fixed costs and expenses, even with some fairly significant cuts, the new budget will represent an increase over the giving levels in 2003. Jean Wonders, our financial secretary, estimates that if, on average, each of our 50 regular "giving units" (families or individuals by household) gave another $10 per month, we would have a solid budget for 2004.
Thank you for your prayerful reflection on your own giving in the new year, and for your prayers for the board and financial officers in their decision making! We are glad to report that the support for the 604 W. Main property has the principal owed below $60,000 on a $113,000 purchase just four years ago, and we are halfway to our congregational commitment of $12,000 to Camp Christian's new construction.
Notes From My Knapsack -- The Church Window Dec. 2003
"Focus" was the Latin word for "hearth." In ancient Rome, and in more recent times on the Ohio frontier, the fireplace, the hearth was indeed the focus of the family living space.
Nowadays, the focal point of most living rooms is the TV set. Even in homes with a fireplace, the location is carefully to one side, so as not to shift the focus of the room, or to block the sight lines to the screen all the furniture points at.
But during this time of year, all kinds of folk are willing to adjust their reality a bit. We move furniture, realign the sight lines, and make our focus the Christmas tree.
If some seats have an obscured view of the picture tube, we decide we can live with it. . .for at least a few weeks. We take a bit of the outdoors, a few ornaments of our family tradition, and some of our faith, and put it on display where no one, least of the residents of that space, can miss the new point of focus.
This is, for many households, an opportunity. A chance to create some new traditions, make a few adornments to our future history, and reflect (by the Christmas lights alone of a late evening) on what our faith tells us about "the reason for the season."
I hope and pray this Christmas season that you may, by the lights echoing those Roman fireplaces, now making you a new hearth through scented candles and electric colored bulbs, find your focus in the Light that comes from a stable, and place your hope in One born under a wintry star over Bethlehem.
In Grace & Peace,
Pastor Jeff
CWF Christmas Dinner for the whole church family -- after worship Dec. 21
Budget/Stewardship Team
The Budget Committee, which was asked to review items from their proposed 2004 budget at the last Board meeting, will meet along with the Stewardship Team, which meets on months between Board meetings.
They will work at the church on Monday night, Dec. 8, at 7 pm to review what will be presented to the congregational meeting Jan. 25.
Due to increased fixed costs and expenses, even with some fairly significant cuts, the new budget will represent an increase over the giving levels in 2003. Jean Wonders, our financial secretary, estimates that if, on average, each of our 50 regular "giving units" (families or individuals by household) gave another $10 per month, we would have a solid budget for 2004.
Thank you for your prayerful reflection on your own giving in the new year, and for your prayers for the board and financial officers in their decision making! We are glad to report that the support for the 604 W. Main property has the principal owed below $60,000 on a $130,000 purchase just four years ago, and we are halfway to our congregational commitment of $12,000 to Camp Christian's new construction.
"Focus" was the Latin word for "hearth." In ancient Rome, and in more recent times on the Ohio frontier, the fireplace, the hearth was indeed the focus of the family living space.
Nowadays, the focal point of most living rooms is the TV set. Even in homes with a fireplace, the location is carefully to one side, so as not to shift the focus of the room, or to block the sight lines to the screen all the furniture points at.
But during this time of year, all kinds of folk are willing to adjust their reality a bit. We move furniture, realign the sight lines, and make our focus the Christmas tree.
If some seats have an obscured view of the picture tube, we decide we can live with it. . .for at least a few weeks. We take a bit of the outdoors, a few ornaments of our family tradition, and some of our faith, and put it on display where no one, least of the residents of that space, can miss the new point of focus.
This is, for many households, an opportunity. A chance to create some new traditions, make a few adornments to our future history, and reflect (by the Christmas lights alone of a late evening) on what our faith tells us about "the reason for the season."
I hope and pray this Christmas season that you may, by the lights echoing those Roman fireplaces, now making you a new hearth through scented candles and electric colored bulbs, find your focus in the Light that comes from a stable, and place your hope in One born under a wintry star over Bethlehem.
In Grace & Peace,
Pastor Jeff
CWF Christmas Dinner for the whole church family -- after worship Dec. 21
Budget/Stewardship Team
The Budget Committee, which was asked to review items from their proposed 2004 budget at the last Board meeting, will meet along with the Stewardship Team, which meets on months between Board meetings.
They will work at the church on Monday night, Dec. 8, at 7 pm to review what will be presented to the congregational meeting Jan. 25.
Due to increased fixed costs and expenses, even with some fairly significant cuts, the new budget will represent an increase over the giving levels in 2003. Jean Wonders, our financial secretary, estimates that if, on average, each of our 50 regular "giving units" (families or individuals by household) gave another $10 per month, we would have a solid budget for 2004.
Thank you for your prayerful reflection on your own giving in the new year, and for your prayers for the board and financial officers in their decision making! We are glad to report that the support for the 604 W. Main property has the principal owed below $60,000 on a $130,000 purchase just four years ago, and we are halfway to our congregational commitment of $12,000 to Camp Christian's new construction.
Tuesday, November 25, 2003
Hebron Crossroads 11-30-03
By Jeff Gill
So the good word is that unemployment is down nationally, down in Ohio, and even declining in Licking County. Other than Democrats running for President in 2004, that's great news, no doubt about it.
And you are probably reading this on or just after the retail event known as "Black Friday," when traffic reports start early even though few are going to work. "Live helicopter shots" show predawn serpents of tiny little people far below waiting in line at the big box retail giants facing their requisite acre of asphalt. . .at 6:30 am.
Everyone expects consumer spending and retail numbers to be up, up, up this holiday season.
So why do I not feel so good about the economy?
To tell you all the truth, the numbers that would make me feel better about the future would be an increase in the savings rate of Americans, now startlingly low. I'd like to see mortgage foreclosures and personal bankruptcies on the decline, along with food pantry applications. The fact that consumer confidence and personal discretional spending is up doesn't necessarily make me feel like all is rosy again in the economy.
I trust our faithful advertisers won't take it amiss if this columnist points out that with average total balances on credit cards (16 of 'em per household!) pushing $9,000, we think we have a whole lot more money to spend than we actually do. Then when the least little economic tremor knocks a family over the precipice of paying for groceries and car payments off the cards that they're no longer making minimum payments on, the fall is quick and the sudden stop at the end is harsh.
All of which is to say, that as you head out into your Christmas shopping, remember that it really is the thought that counts, that you probably won't win the lottery in January before the credit card bills come due, and that you can't buy love. Stimulate the economy by all means, but don't tickle the tiger named "Chapter 11" to do it. Give gifts of love and service along with the awkward-to-wrap store bought items, and give of yourself instead of giving your future away for a present.
OK, I heard you say that: "Gee, you're in a mood!" Well, sure. Not a bad mood, but a bittersweet one. The Lakewood Area Churches' Thanksgiving Service was very well attended with over 220 at the LHS auditorium, and thanks again to Bob Beyer, Martha Fickle, Judith Rauch, Janice Harris, Martha Graham, Joyce Meredith, and Brian Harkness along with truly a cast of over a hundred who took the stage at one point or another to help present the service, and to Ila Mason and Annette Price who set up refreshments after. Our offering was over $375.
And that's where the bittersweet part comes in. I had already heard from Enid Ray and Maribel Neel that the LEADS Food Pantry at Buckeye Lake had a record number of requests for October, and November is heading down the same path. The when I arrived with the offering, Lynne Cash the director told me it was only the second donation they had received this holiday season so far. . .just like last year. But there's even more exposed shelving this year than last, as giving both in kind and financial is down.
This was just after a wonderful noontime celebration of the decade-plus of service from the Licking County Coalition for Housing, which has gone from a card table in a damp basement and four barely furnished apartments to a million dollar a year budget, still often administered off of card tables!
But the card tables aren't the problem, not at all. That staff will work on their hands and knees setting up shoes around Courthouse Square in a chill wind just to increase public awareness, dontcha know, and they make sure all the best stuff gets used for the families and take the busted pieces donated to furnish their offices. It's just that with all the growth and cooperativeness in Licking County around this transitional housing program, we still see families in crisis we can't quite help. Good folks who lost a job or even just their insurance, and the next thing they know they're bankrupt, evicted, foreclosed. It happens as fast as it takes to get six credit card applications in the mail, or even faster.
So take it easy this Christmas; put something in the savings account even in December, make a budget for 2004, make a contribution in someone's name as a gift this year.
LCCH, LEADS, Catholic Social Services, the Salvation Army, or any group you personally know is helping build community ties and strengthen families: they'd be happy to acknowledge your gift in honor of somebody. And the great thing about a gift like that is that they don't have to figure out where to store it!
Or if you want to build up some holiday cheer, there are so many FREE ways to do so coming up soon. This Sunday afternoon, Nov. 30 at 4 pm, the Land of Legend Symphony and Centenary UMC in Granville are offering a "Sing-along Messiah" for no charge.
Next Saturday, the Granville Candlelight Walking Tour from early evening on and "Christmas in the Country" at Infirmary Mound Park on Rt. 37 will have loads of seasonal spirit with no admission fee, sharing music and Christmas scenes to get you in the mood.
Not the spending mood, but the feeling that life itself is a gift. It can be expensive, but giving of yourself is the gift anyone can afford to give.
Jeff Gill is pastor of Hebron Christian Church, and bemused holder of one credit card with a limit that keeps going up even when he doesn't use it for months. If you can explain that, or have news of local interest, call 928-4066 or e-mail disciple@voyager.net.
By Jeff Gill
So the good word is that unemployment is down nationally, down in Ohio, and even declining in Licking County. Other than Democrats running for President in 2004, that's great news, no doubt about it.
And you are probably reading this on or just after the retail event known as "Black Friday," when traffic reports start early even though few are going to work. "Live helicopter shots" show predawn serpents of tiny little people far below waiting in line at the big box retail giants facing their requisite acre of asphalt. . .at 6:30 am.
Everyone expects consumer spending and retail numbers to be up, up, up this holiday season.
So why do I not feel so good about the economy?
To tell you all the truth, the numbers that would make me feel better about the future would be an increase in the savings rate of Americans, now startlingly low. I'd like to see mortgage foreclosures and personal bankruptcies on the decline, along with food pantry applications. The fact that consumer confidence and personal discretional spending is up doesn't necessarily make me feel like all is rosy again in the economy.
I trust our faithful advertisers won't take it amiss if this columnist points out that with average total balances on credit cards (16 of 'em per household!) pushing $9,000, we think we have a whole lot more money to spend than we actually do. Then when the least little economic tremor knocks a family over the precipice of paying for groceries and car payments off the cards that they're no longer making minimum payments on, the fall is quick and the sudden stop at the end is harsh.
All of which is to say, that as you head out into your Christmas shopping, remember that it really is the thought that counts, that you probably won't win the lottery in January before the credit card bills come due, and that you can't buy love. Stimulate the economy by all means, but don't tickle the tiger named "Chapter 11" to do it. Give gifts of love and service along with the awkward-to-wrap store bought items, and give of yourself instead of giving your future away for a present.
OK, I heard you say that: "Gee, you're in a mood!" Well, sure. Not a bad mood, but a bittersweet one. The Lakewood Area Churches' Thanksgiving Service was very well attended with over 220 at the LHS auditorium, and thanks again to Bob Beyer, Martha Fickle, Judith Rauch, Janice Harris, Martha Graham, Joyce Meredith, and Brian Harkness along with truly a cast of over a hundred who took the stage at one point or another to help present the service, and to Ila Mason and Annette Price who set up refreshments after. Our offering was over $375.
And that's where the bittersweet part comes in. I had already heard from Enid Ray and Maribel Neel that the LEADS Food Pantry at Buckeye Lake had a record number of requests for October, and November is heading down the same path. The when I arrived with the offering, Lynne Cash the director told me it was only the second donation they had received this holiday season so far. . .just like last year. But there's even more exposed shelving this year than last, as giving both in kind and financial is down.
This was just after a wonderful noontime celebration of the decade-plus of service from the Licking County Coalition for Housing, which has gone from a card table in a damp basement and four barely furnished apartments to a million dollar a year budget, still often administered off of card tables!
But the card tables aren't the problem, not at all. That staff will work on their hands and knees setting up shoes around Courthouse Square in a chill wind just to increase public awareness, dontcha know, and they make sure all the best stuff gets used for the families and take the busted pieces donated to furnish their offices. It's just that with all the growth and cooperativeness in Licking County around this transitional housing program, we still see families in crisis we can't quite help. Good folks who lost a job or even just their insurance, and the next thing they know they're bankrupt, evicted, foreclosed. It happens as fast as it takes to get six credit card applications in the mail, or even faster.
So take it easy this Christmas; put something in the savings account even in December, make a budget for 2004, make a contribution in someone's name as a gift this year.
LCCH, LEADS, Catholic Social Services, the Salvation Army, or any group you personally know is helping build community ties and strengthen families: they'd be happy to acknowledge your gift in honor of somebody. And the great thing about a gift like that is that they don't have to figure out where to store it!
Or if you want to build up some holiday cheer, there are so many FREE ways to do so coming up soon. This Sunday afternoon, Nov. 30 at 4 pm, the Land of Legend Symphony and Centenary UMC in Granville are offering a "Sing-along Messiah" for no charge.
Next Saturday, the Granville Candlelight Walking Tour from early evening on and "Christmas in the Country" at Infirmary Mound Park on Rt. 37 will have loads of seasonal spirit with no admission fee, sharing music and Christmas scenes to get you in the mood.
Not the spending mood, but the feeling that life itself is a gift. It can be expensive, but giving of yourself is the gift anyone can afford to give.
Jeff Gill is pastor of Hebron Christian Church, and bemused holder of one credit card with a limit that keeps going up even when he doesn't use it for months. If you can explain that, or have news of local interest, call 928-4066 or e-mail disciple@voyager.net.
Wednesday, November 19, 2003
Hebron Crossroads 11-23
By Jeff Gill
Anniversaries are piling up thick and fast; last Wednesday was the 140th of Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, Saturday was of course the 40th commemoration of the Kennedy assassination, and in the next few weeks the centennial of flight by the Wright brothers plus another number 160, which I’ll let you guess at since the last two will be noted in a future column.
Let’s turkey-trot through some other local business before we gather at the Hebron Crossroads to talk about Nov. 22, 1963, and the two passings we do well to remember this weekend.
This Sunday night, at the Lakewood High School auditorium, our Community Thanksgiving Service led and presented by local youth is at 7:00 pm. Come and see a dramatic presentation called “The Northside Orphanage” done by youth from Jacksontown United Methodist, along with their tone chimes, a bell choir from Hebron Christian Church, a chorus out of Lakewood High singing Ohio State’s anthem in its original Christian hymn form, “Come, Christians, Join To Sing” thanks to help from Judith Rauch, and readings by youth from Hebron United Methodist. Licking Baptist Church and Hebron Church of the Nazarene along with others already mentioned have refreshments ready for after.
This is a joyful, thoughtful, and always well-attended service in the Lakewood area, and a time for us to support our local Buckeye Lake LEADS food pantry through the offering, so please plan to join us.
Across the road in two more weeks, on Sunday Dec. 7 at 5:30 pm in the cafeteria of the Intermediate School, our area’s newest church will have their first “public preview” worship with a meal and brief service. New Life Community, a church-start of the United Methodist Church, is getting going with this preview, which will grow into a monthly Sunday morning experience and, finally, weekly worship.
There will be no offering taken at this worship time, just a meal for all and a chance to experience some contemporary Christian music and a short dramatic message by actors you’ll probably recognize from our neck of the woods. Child care is provided.
“We’re here to help bring a whole generation of unchurched families back into a community of faith,” says Brian Harkness. As an experienced Methodist pastor, he and his wife Melissa (who works at Hebron Elementary with Donita McFarland in the office) moved into the Lake Forest subdivision a few months ago as part of a plan by the Newark District of the United Methodist Church to plant a church somewhere between Pataskala and the Lakewood area.
“Somewhere near the end of January we’ll begin our monthly Sunday morning service, which will be more like an hour, but this is a very brief version we’re offering on Dec. 7 of how we intend to share worship,” Brian adds.
Welcome to New Life Community, and they may add a few guitars to our hymn singing at the Thanksgiving service as part of their arrival to the area. A small group has been meeting for weeks on Sunday evenings to discuss membership and leadership issues, so they can hit the ground running.
Monday, Nov. 24, a tenth anniversary is celebrated by the Licking County Coalition for Housing. Cherry Valley Lodge is hosting this very special edition of LCCH’s annual meeting at noon, with a great lunch and a MC who we hope is funnier than his Hebron Crossroads columns!
I do have to admit that, as one of the original three “incorporators” and part of a virtual “cast of thousands” that got this amazing effort off the ground in 1993, I really cannot believe that it has been ten years since we assembled the requisite wing and accompanying prayer to get going. There have been state and federal grants and generosity unbounded in the years since, but at the beginning was very little but a whole lot of faith and a deep belief that we could help keep people out of emergency shelters piled on bunk beds to the ceilings.
If you want to get an overview of this program that has helped thousands of families get from crisis to confidence, from homelessness to homeownership, drop by Cherry Valley Lodge on Monday. It’s quite a story, one that will give you hope.
And if you need help, call 345-1970. Someone at the Coalition will get you pointed in the right direction if you’ll work with them.
And about that much sadder day 40 years ago. . .
Young as I was back then, all I remember is the funeral procession a few days later, with my mother explaining the meaning of the boots backward in the stirrups, and the sight of John-John saluting, which I’m sure I remember because we were the same age. The sadness of the adults and the mournful atmosphere wherever we went that week, all that I remember, but of the day itself when President Kennedy was shot, I have not a clue.
In years since, like most of us, I’ve learned so much about those days in Dallas and DC that where my memories end and the endless documentaries begin is hard to trace anymore.
But I know for sure that I, like pretty much everyone else, didn’t know a thing then about a death on Nov. 22, 1963 which may have been as large a loss as JFK, but it took much longer for the rest of us to know it. A minor celebrity died in Oxford, England, whose obituary, noting him largely as a children’s book author, was shoved aside by the torrent of wire service copy about the assassination.
Clive Staples Lewis, known as C.S. to the public or Jack to friends like J.R.R. Tolkien, died the same day as Kennedy, and was buried the day before his majestic state funeral. The Anglican ceremony was attended by few, who recall the single candle burning steadily on the coffin-lid in the churchyard, despite the steady breezes blowing on a chill autumn day.
As the years have passed, the significance of C.S. Lewis as a theologian and a thinker, as well as author of the Narnia Chronicles and the Space Trilogy, has become clearer and clearer. His stature and significance to Christians and even to those who would argue against Christianity is greater today than it was the day he died, and continues to grow. And the Narnia books, starting with “The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe” are second only to those “Ring” novels by his friend Tolkien, to whom Lewis dedicated “The Screwtape Letters.”
As you remember Jack Kennedy on Nov. 22, as well we ought, perhaps you would light a candle for Jack Lewis, too. Thanks, and a blessed Thanksgiving to you and yours!
Jeff Gill is pastor of Hebron Christian Church and a fan of the Inklings (you could look ‘em up); if you have obscure British authors to chat about, or news of local interest, call 928-4066 or e-mail disciple@voyager.net.
By Jeff Gill
Anniversaries are piling up thick and fast; last Wednesday was the 140th of Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, Saturday was of course the 40th commemoration of the Kennedy assassination, and in the next few weeks the centennial of flight by the Wright brothers plus another number 160, which I’ll let you guess at since the last two will be noted in a future column.
Let’s turkey-trot through some other local business before we gather at the Hebron Crossroads to talk about Nov. 22, 1963, and the two passings we do well to remember this weekend.
This Sunday night, at the Lakewood High School auditorium, our Community Thanksgiving Service led and presented by local youth is at 7:00 pm. Come and see a dramatic presentation called “The Northside Orphanage” done by youth from Jacksontown United Methodist, along with their tone chimes, a bell choir from Hebron Christian Church, a chorus out of Lakewood High singing Ohio State’s anthem in its original Christian hymn form, “Come, Christians, Join To Sing” thanks to help from Judith Rauch, and readings by youth from Hebron United Methodist. Licking Baptist Church and Hebron Church of the Nazarene along with others already mentioned have refreshments ready for after.
This is a joyful, thoughtful, and always well-attended service in the Lakewood area, and a time for us to support our local Buckeye Lake LEADS food pantry through the offering, so please plan to join us.
Across the road in two more weeks, on Sunday Dec. 7 at 5:30 pm in the cafeteria of the Intermediate School, our area’s newest church will have their first “public preview” worship with a meal and brief service. New Life Community, a church-start of the United Methodist Church, is getting going with this preview, which will grow into a monthly Sunday morning experience and, finally, weekly worship.
There will be no offering taken at this worship time, just a meal for all and a chance to experience some contemporary Christian music and a short dramatic message by actors you’ll probably recognize from our neck of the woods. Child care is provided.
“We’re here to help bring a whole generation of unchurched families back into a community of faith,” says Brian Harkness. As an experienced Methodist pastor, he and his wife Melissa (who works at Hebron Elementary with Donita McFarland in the office) moved into the Lake Forest subdivision a few months ago as part of a plan by the Newark District of the United Methodist Church to plant a church somewhere between Pataskala and the Lakewood area.
“Somewhere near the end of January we’ll begin our monthly Sunday morning service, which will be more like an hour, but this is a very brief version we’re offering on Dec. 7 of how we intend to share worship,” Brian adds.
Welcome to New Life Community, and they may add a few guitars to our hymn singing at the Thanksgiving service as part of their arrival to the area. A small group has been meeting for weeks on Sunday evenings to discuss membership and leadership issues, so they can hit the ground running.
Monday, Nov. 24, a tenth anniversary is celebrated by the Licking County Coalition for Housing. Cherry Valley Lodge is hosting this very special edition of LCCH’s annual meeting at noon, with a great lunch and a MC who we hope is funnier than his Hebron Crossroads columns!
I do have to admit that, as one of the original three “incorporators” and part of a virtual “cast of thousands” that got this amazing effort off the ground in 1993, I really cannot believe that it has been ten years since we assembled the requisite wing and accompanying prayer to get going. There have been state and federal grants and generosity unbounded in the years since, but at the beginning was very little but a whole lot of faith and a deep belief that we could help keep people out of emergency shelters piled on bunk beds to the ceilings.
If you want to get an overview of this program that has helped thousands of families get from crisis to confidence, from homelessness to homeownership, drop by Cherry Valley Lodge on Monday. It’s quite a story, one that will give you hope.
And if you need help, call 345-1970. Someone at the Coalition will get you pointed in the right direction if you’ll work with them.
And about that much sadder day 40 years ago. . .
Young as I was back then, all I remember is the funeral procession a few days later, with my mother explaining the meaning of the boots backward in the stirrups, and the sight of John-John saluting, which I’m sure I remember because we were the same age. The sadness of the adults and the mournful atmosphere wherever we went that week, all that I remember, but of the day itself when President Kennedy was shot, I have not a clue.
In years since, like most of us, I’ve learned so much about those days in Dallas and DC that where my memories end and the endless documentaries begin is hard to trace anymore.
But I know for sure that I, like pretty much everyone else, didn’t know a thing then about a death on Nov. 22, 1963 which may have been as large a loss as JFK, but it took much longer for the rest of us to know it. A minor celebrity died in Oxford, England, whose obituary, noting him largely as a children’s book author, was shoved aside by the torrent of wire service copy about the assassination.
Clive Staples Lewis, known as C.S. to the public or Jack to friends like J.R.R. Tolkien, died the same day as Kennedy, and was buried the day before his majestic state funeral. The Anglican ceremony was attended by few, who recall the single candle burning steadily on the coffin-lid in the churchyard, despite the steady breezes blowing on a chill autumn day.
As the years have passed, the significance of C.S. Lewis as a theologian and a thinker, as well as author of the Narnia Chronicles and the Space Trilogy, has become clearer and clearer. His stature and significance to Christians and even to those who would argue against Christianity is greater today than it was the day he died, and continues to grow. And the Narnia books, starting with “The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe” are second only to those “Ring” novels by his friend Tolkien, to whom Lewis dedicated “The Screwtape Letters.”
As you remember Jack Kennedy on Nov. 22, as well we ought, perhaps you would light a candle for Jack Lewis, too. Thanks, and a blessed Thanksgiving to you and yours!
Jeff Gill is pastor of Hebron Christian Church and a fan of the Inklings (you could look ‘em up); if you have obscure British authors to chat about, or news of local interest, call 928-4066 or e-mail disciple@voyager.net.
Wednesday, November 12, 2003
Hebron Crossroads 11-16-03
By Jeff Gill
Dedication day on Remembrance Day, aka Veterans Day, was quite a day!
OK, so the weather could have been better, but as Phil Herman and Kevin Blade both pinted out, “the veterans we honor put up with a whole lot colder and wetter than this so we could be here today.”
Hebron Village staff put out immense effort to make the surroundings and ceremony all that they could be, plus Ila Mason and Annette Price co-ordinated seating and refreshments through Hebron Christian Church, Hebron United Methodist Church, and Likcing Baptist Church. The VFW and American Legion contingents, Lakewood Band, and the delegation from Hebron Elementary did their parts well.
If you haven’t yet been out to Evans Park to see the memorial, please make a point of doing so. The three flagpoles will have round the clock flags when the proper lighting is installed, says Donna Braig, and kudos to her and co-chair Marian Davis, who as a former school board member got to present the replica Hebron High School diplomas to the six families who lost their loved one in combat before they could return to finish their schooling. Phil and his staff did a great job duplicating the diploma from 1942, and a tip of the hat to Lou Staffilino, who couldn’t be with us but started the idea rolling as a further tribute to our fallen seven.
Last weekend it was out to one of the other Evans Parks in Licking County (thanks, Uncle Tom! T.J. Evans is still doing good for his community long after his passing). The premier show band in Licking County was performing as part of a United Way fundraiser around a flag football game between police and fire personnel. Well, they said it was flag football, anyhow: awful lot of tackling from where I sat!
Another band organization which shall not be named was not present, so the Lakewood Band played pretty much right through the first half and then still put on a great halftime show, which tells you how much material they’ve worked up this year. It was a great fall afternoon, with a medical helicopter and a harvester in an adjoining soybean field to keep even a five year old fascinated.
Add half a dozen costumed mascots from around the county, and you have again quite a day.
But the band is winding down, and it is time for other artists and art forms to take the fore at Lakewood. Friday and Saturday, Nov. 21 & 22 at 7:30 pm, the Lakewood Theatre Department will present “In The Middle of Grand Central Station.” Tickets are $6, and you can order them from any Drama Club or Drama Booster member, or call 928-8340.
Then on Sunday, Nov. 23, at 7 pm in the same auditorium at Lakewood High School, youth and others from many different area churches will offer a combined Community Thanksgiving Service. Song, drama, music, and readings will all be a part of this service of celebration, and an offering is intended for Buckeye Lake LEADS food pantry.
At the Hebron Crossroads, we’ll have Clifford Mason back as mayor for his history-making third term, with Mike Halter returning to council and Christine Taylor joining the work of that panel of elected leaders. A Crossroads salute to Bob Gilbert, who stepped out of the fray to take a post on the sidelines with the exalted title “coach” in place of councilmember: he will be missed. On Lakewood School Board, Tim Spitzer knows he’s got some work to do the next few years on Monday nights, but Frosty Cooperrider and Pam DeVaul are waiting on the provisional ballot results. . .stay tuned!
Sadly, with the circulation at the last minute by dark of night of a flyer with a wide variety of untruths, there will be hearings with the State Board of Elections relating to campaign materials. Nothing that will affect the outcome, but we should get a bit more clarity about claims that have been made, given by an independent, bipartisan tribunal, which is probably for the best even if regrettable.
As the old saying goes, “Lies have wings, while the truth trudges along the side of the road one step at a time.” I asked Scott Walters about some of the latest facts and figures about Lake Forest, the Dominion Homes development on the southeast side of town. This subdivision, which will have 220 homes when complete, “currently has sold 48 homes since January of 2003.”
He also shared with me that “nine of those homes were sold to residents currently renting or owning in the village, plus twelve to residents of areas neighboring Hebron like Buckeye Lake, Jacksontown, and Heath.”
With historic 35 year low interest rates, home ownership is within reach of many who just a few years ago thought they couldn’t get there anytime soon. Isn’t helping people become home owners and property owners, with a neighborhood and community they are well and truly invested in, good for building that “small town spirit” we all value and want to preserve? It sure is better than seeing the owner-occupied housing numbers going down, as we’ve had in the Hebron area for too long.
So welcome to our newest Hebron residents, and get involved! Every council member we have now lives on the west side of High Street; good thing we re-elected Cliff so the east half of town has someone to represent them. But this writer suspects that Lake Forest will have a resident on village council someday soon, as we continue to build our community at the Hebron Crossroads.
Jeff Gill is pastor of Hebron Christian Church, and he’s ready to give thanks; or at least to eat pumpkin pie. If you have stuffing receipes to share or news of note, call 928-4066 or e-mail disciple@voyager.net.
By Jeff Gill
Dedication day on Remembrance Day, aka Veterans Day, was quite a day!
OK, so the weather could have been better, but as Phil Herman and Kevin Blade both pinted out, “the veterans we honor put up with a whole lot colder and wetter than this so we could be here today.”
Hebron Village staff put out immense effort to make the surroundings and ceremony all that they could be, plus Ila Mason and Annette Price co-ordinated seating and refreshments through Hebron Christian Church, Hebron United Methodist Church, and Likcing Baptist Church. The VFW and American Legion contingents, Lakewood Band, and the delegation from Hebron Elementary did their parts well.
If you haven’t yet been out to Evans Park to see the memorial, please make a point of doing so. The three flagpoles will have round the clock flags when the proper lighting is installed, says Donna Braig, and kudos to her and co-chair Marian Davis, who as a former school board member got to present the replica Hebron High School diplomas to the six families who lost their loved one in combat before they could return to finish their schooling. Phil and his staff did a great job duplicating the diploma from 1942, and a tip of the hat to Lou Staffilino, who couldn’t be with us but started the idea rolling as a further tribute to our fallen seven.
Last weekend it was out to one of the other Evans Parks in Licking County (thanks, Uncle Tom! T.J. Evans is still doing good for his community long after his passing). The premier show band in Licking County was performing as part of a United Way fundraiser around a flag football game between police and fire personnel. Well, they said it was flag football, anyhow: awful lot of tackling from where I sat!
Another band organization which shall not be named was not present, so the Lakewood Band played pretty much right through the first half and then still put on a great halftime show, which tells you how much material they’ve worked up this year. It was a great fall afternoon, with a medical helicopter and a harvester in an adjoining soybean field to keep even a five year old fascinated.
Add half a dozen costumed mascots from around the county, and you have again quite a day.
But the band is winding down, and it is time for other artists and art forms to take the fore at Lakewood. Friday and Saturday, Nov. 21 & 22 at 7:30 pm, the Lakewood Theatre Department will present “In The Middle of Grand Central Station.” Tickets are $6, and you can order them from any Drama Club or Drama Booster member, or call 928-8340.
Then on Sunday, Nov. 23, at 7 pm in the same auditorium at Lakewood High School, youth and others from many different area churches will offer a combined Community Thanksgiving Service. Song, drama, music, and readings will all be a part of this service of celebration, and an offering is intended for Buckeye Lake LEADS food pantry.
At the Hebron Crossroads, we’ll have Clifford Mason back as mayor for his history-making third term, with Mike Halter returning to council and Christine Taylor joining the work of that panel of elected leaders. A Crossroads salute to Bob Gilbert, who stepped out of the fray to take a post on the sidelines with the exalted title “coach” in place of councilmember: he will be missed. On Lakewood School Board, Tim Spitzer knows he’s got some work to do the next few years on Monday nights, but Frosty Cooperrider and Pam DeVaul are waiting on the provisional ballot results. . .stay tuned!
Sadly, with the circulation at the last minute by dark of night of a flyer with a wide variety of untruths, there will be hearings with the State Board of Elections relating to campaign materials. Nothing that will affect the outcome, but we should get a bit more clarity about claims that have been made, given by an independent, bipartisan tribunal, which is probably for the best even if regrettable.
As the old saying goes, “Lies have wings, while the truth trudges along the side of the road one step at a time.” I asked Scott Walters about some of the latest facts and figures about Lake Forest, the Dominion Homes development on the southeast side of town. This subdivision, which will have 220 homes when complete, “currently has sold 48 homes since January of 2003.”
He also shared with me that “nine of those homes were sold to residents currently renting or owning in the village, plus twelve to residents of areas neighboring Hebron like Buckeye Lake, Jacksontown, and Heath.”
With historic 35 year low interest rates, home ownership is within reach of many who just a few years ago thought they couldn’t get there anytime soon. Isn’t helping people become home owners and property owners, with a neighborhood and community they are well and truly invested in, good for building that “small town spirit” we all value and want to preserve? It sure is better than seeing the owner-occupied housing numbers going down, as we’ve had in the Hebron area for too long.
So welcome to our newest Hebron residents, and get involved! Every council member we have now lives on the west side of High Street; good thing we re-elected Cliff so the east half of town has someone to represent them. But this writer suspects that Lake Forest will have a resident on village council someday soon, as we continue to build our community at the Hebron Crossroads.
Jeff Gill is pastor of Hebron Christian Church, and he’s ready to give thanks; or at least to eat pumpkin pie. If you have stuffing receipes to share or news of note, call 928-4066 or e-mail disciple@voyager.net.
Wednesday, November 05, 2003
Monuments, Memorials, and Memory
Community Booster 11-09-03
By Jeff Gill
ON Veterans Day 2003, at 1 pm on Nov. 11, a ceremony will begin at Evans Park on Refugee Road to dedicate a new monument for the Hebron area. The ceremony will close years of work and mark literally centuries of service to the nation, and start a new place of memory for local citizens with nearly 600 names on display.
The story of this memorial begins in many places, and one of these beginnings is back in the older part of the village, near some of the oldest homes in Hebron and hard by the entrance of one of the best-loved landmarks in the area since 1914.
With a swath and scattering of red-gold leaves, a sweetgum tree releases some of the last display of autumn by the main doors of Hebron Elementary, once Hebron High School. Breezes blowing from the southeast drift the leaves across the sidewalk, near the base of a boulder, rounded yet solid and strong.
Brought to this area by glacial forces long ago, put in this particular place by human hands and inset with a bronze plaque, the passing students often pause to glance as they trot by this monument, attracting attention simply by its weighty presence.
If you step near and read, you see seven names, and a reminder that these are Hebron school’s “honored dead,” in Lincoln’s evocative words at Gettysburg.
From the puddles of red at your feet to the red stripes on the American flag overhead, the reminders of sacrifice and loss weave through the idea of newness and hope represented by the youth of this school. The newer elementary school sign, bright with apple red and Lakewood blue, stands out against the “1914 Hebron School” in grey behind.
It was this mix of emotion that motivated the Hebron High School alumni association, who hold a very popular reunion each year for graduates of this predecessor of Lakewood’s school system, to find a way to honor the service of her many alums.
In 1999 they were able to set the marker near the Eighth and Deacon entrance of the Hebron School with the names of the seven graduates who have died in their nation’s service. From William Hammond, who died near Manila in some of the first attacks after Pearl Harbor, through Ralph Penick, Russell Blade, Harold Lees, John Ricketts, Carl Swint, and James Lyons, all lost in wars since 1941, these names had long been known to area residents, but lacked a memorial.
With this responsibility fulfilled, the committee quickly shifted their focus to the wide tradition of service that their school represents. Everyone knew that Hebron and Buckeye Lake, plus the southern half of Union Township, had long produced more than its share of soldiers, sailors, marines, aviators, and coast guards. How many would they number, if they could be tallied? What kind of monument could represent this living service, as well?
Through the early plans for Evans Park and the new municipal complex, a number of proposals and designs were considered. Emil Bogden volunteered architectural services to the committee that began to grow around the nucleus of the first workers, led by Donna Braig and Marian Davis.
The final design will be revealed and seen on Nov. 11 when five vets from the Memorial Committee will unveil the monument together: Homer Poorman, Sherman Clay, Denny Davis, Roland McCullough, and Jim Layton. Tim Byrd, a local contractor, has put in many hours of volunteer service, along with Fred Wright in design assistance.
Around this unveiling will be a program of solemn memory and joyful celebration, including a Honor Guards from the American Legion and VFW, music from the Lakewood Band, and a Pledge of Allegiance by students from today’s Hebron Elementary School.
Proclamations will be read by mayors of both Hebron and Buckeye Lake, and Lakewood superintendent Phil Herman assisted by former school board member Marian Davis will present some very special high school diplomas, to families of those who left school to serve and did not live to return to graduate.
The arrangements for this program and the reception following have been done by members of the committee like Betty McCullough, Annette Price, Ila Mason, Pearl Daubenmire, Betty Spurgeon, Mary Gochenbach, and Rob Springer.
For the last three years and more, the committee has used mailings, the media, and their own contacts in the community to pull together the names of anyone who has spent time in the Hebron school who went on to wear a uniform. These names aren’t easy to find, it turns out, and they hide in their numerousness like trees in a forest.
Fairly quickly, they realized that they would have to limit themselves to students as opposed to all area residents with a service record, and even at that the monument grew to accommodate more than 300, than 400, and on past 500 the honor roll went.
The plaques set for the dedication now number 590 names, and in fact five more names have come in since the foundry put words to metal. Committee members hope to add these five plus additional ones they fully expect will still come in at some future date.
On some future Veterans Day, or a Memorial Day, or perhaps even just some sunny day as the ball fields and playgrounds vibrate with laughter and activity, a new resident of Hebron as yet unborn will walk up a curved walkway, sit on a convenient bench, and lean forward to read some of the names on this monument. Those new memories, not yet formed, will come together because of the service dedicated and the work performed by both the veterans named and the committee’s ongoing efforts.
This memorial shows that memory goes forward as well as backward, as the community remembers a responsibility to future generations, to remind them of where their freedoms arose, to help the future be a place where the seven Gold Star names are still remembered.
And where we commit our efforts both at home and abroad that those gold stars will need no further company.
Community Booster 11-09-03
By Jeff Gill
ON Veterans Day 2003, at 1 pm on Nov. 11, a ceremony will begin at Evans Park on Refugee Road to dedicate a new monument for the Hebron area. The ceremony will close years of work and mark literally centuries of service to the nation, and start a new place of memory for local citizens with nearly 600 names on display.
The story of this memorial begins in many places, and one of these beginnings is back in the older part of the village, near some of the oldest homes in Hebron and hard by the entrance of one of the best-loved landmarks in the area since 1914.
With a swath and scattering of red-gold leaves, a sweetgum tree releases some of the last display of autumn by the main doors of Hebron Elementary, once Hebron High School. Breezes blowing from the southeast drift the leaves across the sidewalk, near the base of a boulder, rounded yet solid and strong.
Brought to this area by glacial forces long ago, put in this particular place by human hands and inset with a bronze plaque, the passing students often pause to glance as they trot by this monument, attracting attention simply by its weighty presence.
If you step near and read, you see seven names, and a reminder that these are Hebron school’s “honored dead,” in Lincoln’s evocative words at Gettysburg.
From the puddles of red at your feet to the red stripes on the American flag overhead, the reminders of sacrifice and loss weave through the idea of newness and hope represented by the youth of this school. The newer elementary school sign, bright with apple red and Lakewood blue, stands out against the “1914 Hebron School” in grey behind.
It was this mix of emotion that motivated the Hebron High School alumni association, who hold a very popular reunion each year for graduates of this predecessor of Lakewood’s school system, to find a way to honor the service of her many alums.
In 1999 they were able to set the marker near the Eighth and Deacon entrance of the Hebron School with the names of the seven graduates who have died in their nation’s service. From William Hammond, who died near Manila in some of the first attacks after Pearl Harbor, through Ralph Penick, Russell Blade, Harold Lees, John Ricketts, Carl Swint, and James Lyons, all lost in wars since 1941, these names had long been known to area residents, but lacked a memorial.
With this responsibility fulfilled, the committee quickly shifted their focus to the wide tradition of service that their school represents. Everyone knew that Hebron and Buckeye Lake, plus the southern half of Union Township, had long produced more than its share of soldiers, sailors, marines, aviators, and coast guards. How many would they number, if they could be tallied? What kind of monument could represent this living service, as well?
Through the early plans for Evans Park and the new municipal complex, a number of proposals and designs were considered. Emil Bogden volunteered architectural services to the committee that began to grow around the nucleus of the first workers, led by Donna Braig and Marian Davis.
The final design will be revealed and seen on Nov. 11 when five vets from the Memorial Committee will unveil the monument together: Homer Poorman, Sherman Clay, Denny Davis, Roland McCullough, and Jim Layton. Tim Byrd, a local contractor, has put in many hours of volunteer service, along with Fred Wright in design assistance.
Around this unveiling will be a program of solemn memory and joyful celebration, including a Honor Guards from the American Legion and VFW, music from the Lakewood Band, and a Pledge of Allegiance by students from today’s Hebron Elementary School.
Proclamations will be read by mayors of both Hebron and Buckeye Lake, and Lakewood superintendent Phil Herman assisted by former school board member Marian Davis will present some very special high school diplomas, to families of those who left school to serve and did not live to return to graduate.
The arrangements for this program and the reception following have been done by members of the committee like Betty McCullough, Annette Price, Ila Mason, Pearl Daubenmire, Betty Spurgeon, Mary Gochenbach, and Rob Springer.
For the last three years and more, the committee has used mailings, the media, and their own contacts in the community to pull together the names of anyone who has spent time in the Hebron school who went on to wear a uniform. These names aren’t easy to find, it turns out, and they hide in their numerousness like trees in a forest.
Fairly quickly, they realized that they would have to limit themselves to students as opposed to all area residents with a service record, and even at that the monument grew to accommodate more than 300, than 400, and on past 500 the honor roll went.
The plaques set for the dedication now number 590 names, and in fact five more names have come in since the foundry put words to metal. Committee members hope to add these five plus additional ones they fully expect will still come in at some future date.
On some future Veterans Day, or a Memorial Day, or perhaps even just some sunny day as the ball fields and playgrounds vibrate with laughter and activity, a new resident of Hebron as yet unborn will walk up a curved walkway, sit on a convenient bench, and lean forward to read some of the names on this monument. Those new memories, not yet formed, will come together because of the service dedicated and the work performed by both the veterans named and the committee’s ongoing efforts.
This memorial shows that memory goes forward as well as backward, as the community remembers a responsibility to future generations, to remind them of where their freedoms arose, to help the future be a place where the seven Gold Star names are still remembered.
And where we commit our efforts both at home and abroad that those gold stars will need no further company.
Tuesday, November 04, 2003
Hebron Crossroads 11-09-03
By Jeff Gill
Did you see the Aurora Borealis?
Those are not words I ever thought I’d be using in a “Hebron Crossroads” column. But we did indeed have, way down yonder by the 40th parallel, a display of the fabled “northern lights” here across the night sky.
As Beggar’s Night was wrapping up on Oct. 30, for about an hour, a red glow folded into luminous ripples up and down the northern horizon steadily grew in intensity, spreading to the west and building in contrast. . .until it disappeared as suddenly as it sprang out of the heavens.
Some of us, greeting the hordes of trick-or-treaters (311 past our house until we ran out of all candy, cough drops, and sticks of gum), feared that there was a fire downtown. A little walkie-talkie action quickly confirmed that the lights were, like the end of the rainbow, everywhere and nowhere.
When the vast stage curtain effect became clearer, it suddenly hit me. My mom, back in the 50’s, once traveled to Alaska with her college choir, and described this very phenomenon to me when we studied the 49th state in 4th grade. And the internet had carried warnings earlier in the week of a large electromagnetic storm exploding from the surface of the sun that might affect the transmission grid in North America. If a, then b, so must follow c?
Of course, no phenomena in central Ohio have actually happened until Jym Ganahl confirms them, and at 11 pm he delightedly assured his viewers that Lake Erie was not, in fact, on fire, but that we were getting a display of the Aurora Borealis, such as hadn’t been seen ‘round here since long, long ago, and then some.
For sky geeks, Saturday night Nov. 8 is a total lunar eclipse (Jym will have details).
Tuesday is Veterans Day, on the eleventh day of the eleventh month in keeping with the Armistice ending World War I that gave this observance its birth. Many of us will pause at the eleventh hour on that day for a moment of remembrance, and church bells will toll.
A bit after that, at 1 pm, we will make this a very memorable Veterans Day for the Hebron area, dedicating the memorial out at Evans Park on Refugee Road. There is more information on the front of this paper, and we all hope to see you there.
Election results? Well, this column isn’t a place for breaking news, but I can say this: just as wise Republicans knew when Clinton was elected president, and discerning Democrats understood when Bush was elected, we have our duly elected officials, and let us pray for them, help them fulfill the duties of their offices, and together work to make a better Hebron, finer Union and Licking Townships, and a continually improving Lakewood school district. The above statement stands no matter who was elected! And that’s the way it is. . .
Thanksgiving is coming up soon, on Nov. 27 this year. School holidays ahead include an early release on Wed., Nov. 19, and Tues. Nov. 25 is the last day of classes Thanksgiving week. Sunday evening beginning that week, at 7 pm on Nov. 23, a Community Thanksgiving Service sponsored by a number of area churches will be in the auditorium of Lakewood High School. The service will be youth led and presented, and an offering for Buckeye Lake LEADS food pantry will be gathered.
If you don’t have anything else to come and give thanks for, how about this weather? We can’t regret the frost when it comes after a glorious autumn like we’ve had, with the skies themselves making up for the color absent from most of the leaves.
Jeff Gill is pastor of Hebron Christian Church and a confirmed sky geek. If you’re seeing strange lights in the sky, call him at 928-4066 or e-mail disciple@voyager.net.
By Jeff Gill
Did you see the Aurora Borealis?
Those are not words I ever thought I’d be using in a “Hebron Crossroads” column. But we did indeed have, way down yonder by the 40th parallel, a display of the fabled “northern lights” here across the night sky.
As Beggar’s Night was wrapping up on Oct. 30, for about an hour, a red glow folded into luminous ripples up and down the northern horizon steadily grew in intensity, spreading to the west and building in contrast. . .until it disappeared as suddenly as it sprang out of the heavens.
Some of us, greeting the hordes of trick-or-treaters (311 past our house until we ran out of all candy, cough drops, and sticks of gum), feared that there was a fire downtown. A little walkie-talkie action quickly confirmed that the lights were, like the end of the rainbow, everywhere and nowhere.
When the vast stage curtain effect became clearer, it suddenly hit me. My mom, back in the 50’s, once traveled to Alaska with her college choir, and described this very phenomenon to me when we studied the 49th state in 4th grade. And the internet had carried warnings earlier in the week of a large electromagnetic storm exploding from the surface of the sun that might affect the transmission grid in North America. If a, then b, so must follow c?
Of course, no phenomena in central Ohio have actually happened until Jym Ganahl confirms them, and at 11 pm he delightedly assured his viewers that Lake Erie was not, in fact, on fire, but that we were getting a display of the Aurora Borealis, such as hadn’t been seen ‘round here since long, long ago, and then some.
For sky geeks, Saturday night Nov. 8 is a total lunar eclipse (Jym will have details).
Tuesday is Veterans Day, on the eleventh day of the eleventh month in keeping with the Armistice ending World War I that gave this observance its birth. Many of us will pause at the eleventh hour on that day for a moment of remembrance, and church bells will toll.
A bit after that, at 1 pm, we will make this a very memorable Veterans Day for the Hebron area, dedicating the memorial out at Evans Park on Refugee Road. There is more information on the front of this paper, and we all hope to see you there.
Election results? Well, this column isn’t a place for breaking news, but I can say this: just as wise Republicans knew when Clinton was elected president, and discerning Democrats understood when Bush was elected, we have our duly elected officials, and let us pray for them, help them fulfill the duties of their offices, and together work to make a better Hebron, finer Union and Licking Townships, and a continually improving Lakewood school district. The above statement stands no matter who was elected! And that’s the way it is. . .
Thanksgiving is coming up soon, on Nov. 27 this year. School holidays ahead include an early release on Wed., Nov. 19, and Tues. Nov. 25 is the last day of classes Thanksgiving week. Sunday evening beginning that week, at 7 pm on Nov. 23, a Community Thanksgiving Service sponsored by a number of area churches will be in the auditorium of Lakewood High School. The service will be youth led and presented, and an offering for Buckeye Lake LEADS food pantry will be gathered.
If you don’t have anything else to come and give thanks for, how about this weather? We can’t regret the frost when it comes after a glorious autumn like we’ve had, with the skies themselves making up for the color absent from most of the leaves.
Jeff Gill is pastor of Hebron Christian Church and a confirmed sky geek. If you’re seeing strange lights in the sky, call him at 928-4066 or e-mail disciple@voyager.net.
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