Hebron Crossroads 12-01
By Jeff Gill
This is the last weekend for helping David Scheidegger with his Eagle Scout project. You’ve probably seen the wrapping paper covered boxes in local Kroger’s and area churches. He’s collecting items for members of the armed services overseas, and with the guidance and assistance of the Red Cross, he will get these items collected and delivered to troops in places like Saudi Arabia, Uzbekistan, and Afghanistan.
Scout Troop 33, chartered through The Dawes Arboretum, is working under David’s leadership to get this project closed out this weekend so materials can get to the service personnel by Christmas.
Items on the list (posted in full with the boxes) include microwave popcorn, wet wipes (remember, they’re camping out in a desert!), sunscreen and lip balm, batteries, personal hygiene items, recent paperback books, and even folded gift wrap and ribbon. As David points out, "soldiers like to give gifts, too!"
Last Sunday night was a great evening of Thanksgiving at Lakewood High School as six area churches came together to share our thankfulness. . .and share a generous offering with LEADS at Buckeye Lake for holiday assistance.
The "Won In Him" drama and music group shared a powerful message (actually, three!) and many thanks to Martha Fickle for helping with arrangements while in the middle of the run for "The Christmas Carol" in the same auditorium. Many of the youth from the participating congregations and with "Won In Him" were also in that delightful production, which featured among many other things a cartwheeling Scrooge!
We had over 250 in attendance, and I think everyone left really ready to be thankful right into the Christmas season, which is now upon us. Could I remind everyone with Christmas activities that any Hebron area event is of interest to "Hebron Crossroads," but production requirements mean you’ve gotta get ‘em to me about two weeks before at minimum. That means if you have a Christmas week event at your church or with an organization, let me know right away! I hope to run all the Lakewood Area Christmas Eve and Day worship services here in the column.
Looking even further down the road, I’ve heard some very positive feedback on trying out a book group for a few months, at least, open to anyone in the Hebron community. The first two books proposed, "Johnny Tremain" (a short novel of the days leading to the American Revolution) and "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly" (amazing non-fiction) are available in a display behind the counter at Waldenbooks’ shop at Indian Mound Mall, and some of us are thinking of a "books and coffee" kind of format on a Saturday morning once a month. Could we try that on fourth Saturdays at 10 am from January to May and see what happens? I’ll make the coffee, and the meeting room at 612 W. Main is available. More book ideas are welcome, and we’re still making this up as we go.
Speaking of books, one last observation about the now completed run of "The Christmas Carol": the script was interesting in that it followed the book rather closely, with often missing scenes from the well-known movie versions back in the story. The huddled figures of Ignorance and Want under the robe of Christmas Present (which I only recall from the George C. Scott TV version), and the global tour of Christmases from the helm of a ship at sea to a family in a coal mining village, all were included in the version Lakewood performed. If you haven’t looked at the actual "Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens in some time, this was a great reminder to go back and enjoy the original text in all its richness.
Having said that, what’s your favorite filmed version? I always hear about the Alastair Sim version of ’51, but my personal preference is Reginald Owen, ’39. And of course there’s Mr. Magoo and Mickey, not to mention . . . well, just send in your favorites and why, and I’ll share ‘em Christmas week.
Jeff Gill is pastor of Hebron Christian Church, and has his own "humbug" issues; if you’d like to share a Scroogian memory, call 928-4066 or e-mail disciple@voyager.net.
Tuesday, November 26, 2002
Notes From My Knapsack
Are you ready for Christmas? Hmmmm, "ready" for Christmas. What does that mean, anyhow. . . Not sure? Well, here's a test for you to check with:
Do you have an Advent wreath or Advent calendar at home, so you and yours can let the excitement build from Dec. 1 through Christmas Day? Sure, the chocolate calendars count! You can have fun with anticipation, can't you? Just don't let the sanctuary be the only place you see a wreath or other way of building to the 25th. The "how many shopping days" things in the paper definitely don't count!
Have you stopped and spent some time thinking about what those you love really want in their lives? See, it's not about being "anti-shopping" or anything like that, but what does gift giving mean if it gets run through the sausage grinder of sales imperatives. The commercial side of Christmas is at its worst when it makes people ask for stuff they don't even really "want", but think they have to have. Reflecting on what your loved ones really would appreciate in their lives can be an activity that's downright prayerful, even if you can't always get them those things.
And have you looked at the manger scene yet? Yeah, I know you set it up and all: everybody has one, and I don't have to tell anyone to set it up. But have you looked at it? Have you run the story it tells through your mind -- not only the story the figures tell, but the story I know so many of you have about the history of the set itself? A story which often has to do with the miracle that we, ourselves, are part of the story God is telling in Creation. But don't forget to look at your manger scene, and just let your gaze linger.
In Grace & Peace,
Pastor Jeff
Are you ready for Christmas? Hmmmm, "ready" for Christmas. What does that mean, anyhow. . . Not sure? Well, here's a test for you to check with:
Do you have an Advent wreath or Advent calendar at home, so you and yours can let the excitement build from Dec. 1 through Christmas Day? Sure, the chocolate calendars count! You can have fun with anticipation, can't you? Just don't let the sanctuary be the only place you see a wreath or other way of building to the 25th. The "how many shopping days" things in the paper definitely don't count!
Have you stopped and spent some time thinking about what those you love really want in their lives? See, it's not about being "anti-shopping" or anything like that, but what does gift giving mean if it gets run through the sausage grinder of sales imperatives. The commercial side of Christmas is at its worst when it makes people ask for stuff they don't even really "want", but think they have to have. Reflecting on what your loved ones really would appreciate in their lives can be an activity that's downright prayerful, even if you can't always get them those things.
And have you looked at the manger scene yet? Yeah, I know you set it up and all: everybody has one, and I don't have to tell anyone to set it up. But have you looked at it? Have you run the story it tells through your mind -- not only the story the figures tell, but the story I know so many of you have about the history of the set itself? A story which often has to do with the miracle that we, ourselves, are part of the story God is telling in Creation. But don't forget to look at your manger scene, and just let your gaze linger.
In Grace & Peace,
Pastor Jeff
Monday, November 04, 2002
Hebron Crossroads 11-10
by Jeff Gill
Monday is Veterans Day, November 11. The roots of this observance are in what was once called "Armistice Day," when World War I ended at "the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month," 11 am on Nov. 11.
We all know that President Wilson’s "war to end all war" wasn’t, and sadly we know little beyond that. Marshal Foch, Edith Cavell, Ypres, and even Bellau Wood are names and places that ring only the most distant bells in our modern era.
John Keegan, the great British military historian, recently wrote a fine one-volume summary titled "The First World War" which is now out in paperback. He comments on the fact that the last living memory of that conflict is just now passing entirely from our sight, and I’ll always count it an honor that, as a pastor, I’ve had the privilege to sit at the side of WWI vets and hear their stories of Camp Funston out on the plains, of crossing the Atlantic on luxury liners turned troopships, and of endless seas of mud as our AEF troops came, years late, to the well-trodden muck behind the trenches of the Somme and Marne.
However you observe Veterans Day, I hope you find an opportunity to think a bit back to 1918 and the moment when our country found itself waking up to wider responsibilities in a world growing both smaller, and more dangerous. The Ohio Historical Society’s most recent "Timeline" magazine carried a fascinating story of how one of Ohio’s own carried himself well in the final moment of the sinking of the Luisitania, which in turn was the first moment of our now-inevitable entry into that global struggle. That story will be part of my remembrances on this Nov. 11.
And this may just be a particular concern of my own, but I like to think of Memorial Day, over in May, as the day we pay special attention to both the memory and the memorials of those who died for their country. This observance, Veterans Day, is when I hope we can all pay some extra appreciation out to those who served and returned, and now carry the proud but heavy burden of being a veteran back into their everyday lives among us.
No veteran that I know would dream of complaining about it, but being a veteran is hard work in and of itself. . .really! There is an awareness that never stops of being the one who keeps a memory alive for those who aren’t here to speak of it; a sensitivity to issues of patriotism, saluting the flag, and service to country that you’re not always sure others share or appreciate your always reminding them of.
It is a burden, a responsibility, and certainly a privilege, and vets carry this with them every day. That, and their own memories, not just of battle and terror, but also of tedium and waiting, of days spent doing nothing far from home and wondering if the time spent has been worth the while, or if you’ll just be that many days behind your peers when you return. There’s "Dear John" letters and joyful birth announcements that carry a sadness of their own as you’re not there to share the reality of the event. . .and always the waiting.
While we always want to properly respect "these honored dead," in Lincoln’s words, I hope we can make sure at some point of this Veterans Day to thank a veteran. You know one, of course, and if you think you don’t, ask around and you’ll probably find you’re wrong, and that veteran will be glad you cared enough to ask.
Our Hebron American Legion Post, in simple acts like their carefully crafted ceremony to dispose of worn out American flags last Sept. 11, is a home and haven for many such who proudly carry the burden of flag etiquette, saluting at parades, and reflecting on their past and how that touches our nation’s present. They make sure that an honor guard is present at the church or cemetery when one of their own passes on, and they are there to support when a yound man or woman makes the choice for national service.
Make sure to be there for them; keep a moment of silence at 11 am this Monday, and later on, if you can’t do anything else, drive by the Post on Basin St. and just honk! They’ll know what you mean.
Jeff Gill is pastor of Hebron Christian Church and a proud holder of a simple honorable discharge; if you have a veteran’s story or other news of the Hebron area to share, call 928-4066 or e-mail disciple@voyager.net.
* * * * * * *
Hebron Crossroads 11-17
by Jeff Gill
Somehow, for some reason, the "Holidays" (that run of festive days and events from Halloween to New Year's Day, now extended to Jan. 3 for the Fiesta Bowl) are a time for a double dose of Nostalgia.
Something about the memory of family gatherings long past, recollections of "how we used to do it", and the sights, sounds, smells, and tastes of the holiday season bring along with them a powerful impulse to do wild, irrational things like grind coffee beans in one of those old black cast iron gadgets, or hang up herbs to dry in the basement, and even to try getting the family to sing around a piano.
It may also have to do with the longer nights and colder temperatures, causing us to "click" on the electric ignition of our gas-log, before which we perform feats of complex explanation of how that jolly old elf will come down the chimney of a ventless fireplace.
And do you notice how Santa and his elves, seen in their workshop under high, timbered, open-beam ceilings, are busy at work making blocky wooden toys of the sort that are, shall we say, a hard sell to modern kids? Rocking horses, dolls made from two-by-fours, wooden whistles. . .
Perhaps it's nostalgia for what never was, but it works on a deep level for most of us, triggered by the simplest raisin cookie made with an excess of cinnamon and allspice.
Trains are a part of this, that form of transportation so crucial to making modern life possible, but so irrelevant to most of us today. Not just Lionel train sets (another part of that wistful scene of St. Nicholas snoozing before a fire and an empty cookie plate, with an old style elctric train looping about his feet), but the real deal with smoke stacks, cow catchers, and conductors with gold braid on their caps.
Chris VanAllsburg's "The Polar Express" perfectly captured that gap between memory and modernity by using an Art Deco train of the imagination to give a child a preview of Christmas preparation. Buckeye Central Scenic Railway has some very popular Christmas season runs on weekends leading up to Christmas, there on US 40 across from the Lakewood Schools complex, and the sound of a train whistle travels far across the snow and deep into the heart during this time of year.
Our Hebron Library will have a speaker on "the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad" next Monday, Nov. 18, at 7:00 pm. Carl T. Winegardner has written extensively on "the old B&O", the railroad that opened up business and trade between the Midwest and the East Coast in the 1850's . . . just like the name says!
We here in the Hebron area might be forgiven if we hold a small grudge against the railroads for a) not going through Hebron, and b) killing off the canal system. But it has been 150 years, and we're good people, so come to 934 West Main St. and enjoy a wonderful evening of nostalgia for an era that most assuredly did exist for a time, and is now part the nostalgia that is the heart of this season.
Jeff Gill is pastor of Hebron Christian Church, and always stops to listen when a train whistle sounds in the distance. If you have evocative sounds to recount, or local news to share, call 928-4066 or e-mail disciple@voyager.net.
* * * * * * *
Hebron Crossroads 11-24
by Jeff Gill
Time to give thanks! That’s not a weighty problem, that’s good news; how often do we have a whole lot more to give thanks for than we have a place to give thanks at?
Seriously, I think all of us have regular occasions when we have a passing awareness of the good someone has done us, or the good fortune we enjoy, and there is no one person or no opportunity with the person nearby (or still living, alas) to give those thanks directly.
That’s why about a half-dozen churches in the Lakewood area are joining together to hold a Community Thanksgiving Service at the Lakewood High School auditorium this Sunday, Nov. 24, at 7:00 pm. This will be a simple, ecumenical service open to all faiths and backgrounds. We plan to have music, a small dramatic presentation for the message, a few hymns to sing, and an offering to support LEADS at Buckeye Lake with their holiday assistance and food pantry programs.
Giving thanks isn’t complicated, and it isn’t the private preserve of any one religious tradition. "A thankful heart" brings joy to God throughout the Bible, and a spirit of thankfulness is good for us as individuals in ways almost beyond number. I’d like to express my thankfulness right now for all the work and energy Bob Beyer, pastor of Jacksontown United Methodist Church, has brought to effort to pull together this Community Thanksgiving, and we hope to be thankful for your presence Sunday night at the LHS auditorium!
We are all thankful for the work Lou Staffilino, outgoing superintendent of the district, has done not only for this event, but also throughout the years he has led us to becoming "the most improved schoold district in Ohio!" We all knew we could do it, but it took Lou to show us how.
Some of you may still be asking: do I have anything to be thankful for? In any one situation, I wouldn’t dream of telling someone how or why they ought to be thankful, but for us all around the Hebron crossroads, let me try a few. . .
We really ought to be thankful for how good the corn and soybean harvest ended up, considering how deep our fears were back in late summer. The yields per acre haven’t super, but the fact that they’ve been surprisingly average is a real cause for thankfulness! And while we’re at it, why not be thankful for farmers?
We can be thankful that the Hebron area has so much going for it that we had two-time Heisman Trophy winner Archie Griffin here, right? When was the last time that happened! We have a real, (not-) live rhino inside village limits, too, which my little guy thinks is quite amazing.
We really ought to be more thankful than we are for clean, pure drinking water, and the pumping station on S. High and the waste treatment plant on north Rt. 79 are the input and output of our part in keeping clean and safe drinking water around for generations to come. So you could be thankful the next glass of water you pour from your tap. . .
I’m thankful for the highly professional, but strongly volunteer supported fire and police departments we have in Hebron. Chief Mike Carney has left a mark on our saftey services here in the area that will influence us for many years to come, and while we’re sad to see him go, we’re very proud in how our village played a part in preparing him for greater responsibilities with the federal Department of Justice – Newark may have Judge Frost, but we claim Chief Carney, and we’re thankful to have known him.
And finally, I think we all can be thankful for having so many active, vital churches in the immediate Hebron area; from Licking Baptist and their new worship center on Beaver Run Road, Hebron Church of the Nazarene and a new wing behind the church on Canal Road, the United Methodist Church of Hebron on East Main St. and of course my own Hebron Christian Church on West Main, this village has a reliable source of community spirit, mutual support and encouragement, and a willingness to serve, which was so evident when those churches and staff from our wonderful elementary school turned out late at night for a child safety drill some weeks ago.
Great churches, a wonderful community school, fine businesses, a well-trained and reliable village staff from street department to volunteer firefighters, a crop now in the silos. . .are you thankful yet? Come join our Community Thanksgiving Service Sunday night at 7:00 pm, and I bet we come up with more!
Did I mention being thankful for the fried bologna sandwich at Hometown Deli and strombolis at Clay’s Café?
Jeff Gill is pastor of Hebron Christian Church and he’s thankful for a wide variety of things; if you have food items you’re thankful for or local news to share, call 928-4066 or e-mail disciple@voyager.net.
by Jeff Gill
Monday is Veterans Day, November 11. The roots of this observance are in what was once called "Armistice Day," when World War I ended at "the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month," 11 am on Nov. 11.
We all know that President Wilson’s "war to end all war" wasn’t, and sadly we know little beyond that. Marshal Foch, Edith Cavell, Ypres, and even Bellau Wood are names and places that ring only the most distant bells in our modern era.
John Keegan, the great British military historian, recently wrote a fine one-volume summary titled "The First World War" which is now out in paperback. He comments on the fact that the last living memory of that conflict is just now passing entirely from our sight, and I’ll always count it an honor that, as a pastor, I’ve had the privilege to sit at the side of WWI vets and hear their stories of Camp Funston out on the plains, of crossing the Atlantic on luxury liners turned troopships, and of endless seas of mud as our AEF troops came, years late, to the well-trodden muck behind the trenches of the Somme and Marne.
However you observe Veterans Day, I hope you find an opportunity to think a bit back to 1918 and the moment when our country found itself waking up to wider responsibilities in a world growing both smaller, and more dangerous. The Ohio Historical Society’s most recent "Timeline" magazine carried a fascinating story of how one of Ohio’s own carried himself well in the final moment of the sinking of the Luisitania, which in turn was the first moment of our now-inevitable entry into that global struggle. That story will be part of my remembrances on this Nov. 11.
And this may just be a particular concern of my own, but I like to think of Memorial Day, over in May, as the day we pay special attention to both the memory and the memorials of those who died for their country. This observance, Veterans Day, is when I hope we can all pay some extra appreciation out to those who served and returned, and now carry the proud but heavy burden of being a veteran back into their everyday lives among us.
No veteran that I know would dream of complaining about it, but being a veteran is hard work in and of itself. . .really! There is an awareness that never stops of being the one who keeps a memory alive for those who aren’t here to speak of it; a sensitivity to issues of patriotism, saluting the flag, and service to country that you’re not always sure others share or appreciate your always reminding them of.
It is a burden, a responsibility, and certainly a privilege, and vets carry this with them every day. That, and their own memories, not just of battle and terror, but also of tedium and waiting, of days spent doing nothing far from home and wondering if the time spent has been worth the while, or if you’ll just be that many days behind your peers when you return. There’s "Dear John" letters and joyful birth announcements that carry a sadness of their own as you’re not there to share the reality of the event. . .and always the waiting.
While we always want to properly respect "these honored dead," in Lincoln’s words, I hope we can make sure at some point of this Veterans Day to thank a veteran. You know one, of course, and if you think you don’t, ask around and you’ll probably find you’re wrong, and that veteran will be glad you cared enough to ask.
Our Hebron American Legion Post, in simple acts like their carefully crafted ceremony to dispose of worn out American flags last Sept. 11, is a home and haven for many such who proudly carry the burden of flag etiquette, saluting at parades, and reflecting on their past and how that touches our nation’s present. They make sure that an honor guard is present at the church or cemetery when one of their own passes on, and they are there to support when a yound man or woman makes the choice for national service.
Make sure to be there for them; keep a moment of silence at 11 am this Monday, and later on, if you can’t do anything else, drive by the Post on Basin St. and just honk! They’ll know what you mean.
Jeff Gill is pastor of Hebron Christian Church and a proud holder of a simple honorable discharge; if you have a veteran’s story or other news of the Hebron area to share, call 928-4066 or e-mail disciple@voyager.net.
* * * * * * *
Hebron Crossroads 11-17
by Jeff Gill
Somehow, for some reason, the "Holidays" (that run of festive days and events from Halloween to New Year's Day, now extended to Jan. 3 for the Fiesta Bowl) are a time for a double dose of Nostalgia.
Something about the memory of family gatherings long past, recollections of "how we used to do it", and the sights, sounds, smells, and tastes of the holiday season bring along with them a powerful impulse to do wild, irrational things like grind coffee beans in one of those old black cast iron gadgets, or hang up herbs to dry in the basement, and even to try getting the family to sing around a piano.
It may also have to do with the longer nights and colder temperatures, causing us to "click" on the electric ignition of our gas-log, before which we perform feats of complex explanation of how that jolly old elf will come down the chimney of a ventless fireplace.
And do you notice how Santa and his elves, seen in their workshop under high, timbered, open-beam ceilings, are busy at work making blocky wooden toys of the sort that are, shall we say, a hard sell to modern kids? Rocking horses, dolls made from two-by-fours, wooden whistles. . .
Perhaps it's nostalgia for what never was, but it works on a deep level for most of us, triggered by the simplest raisin cookie made with an excess of cinnamon and allspice.
Trains are a part of this, that form of transportation so crucial to making modern life possible, but so irrelevant to most of us today. Not just Lionel train sets (another part of that wistful scene of St. Nicholas snoozing before a fire and an empty cookie plate, with an old style elctric train looping about his feet), but the real deal with smoke stacks, cow catchers, and conductors with gold braid on their caps.
Chris VanAllsburg's "The Polar Express" perfectly captured that gap between memory and modernity by using an Art Deco train of the imagination to give a child a preview of Christmas preparation. Buckeye Central Scenic Railway has some very popular Christmas season runs on weekends leading up to Christmas, there on US 40 across from the Lakewood Schools complex, and the sound of a train whistle travels far across the snow and deep into the heart during this time of year.
Our Hebron Library will have a speaker on "the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad" next Monday, Nov. 18, at 7:00 pm. Carl T. Winegardner has written extensively on "the old B&O", the railroad that opened up business and trade between the Midwest and the East Coast in the 1850's . . . just like the name says!
We here in the Hebron area might be forgiven if we hold a small grudge against the railroads for a) not going through Hebron, and b) killing off the canal system. But it has been 150 years, and we're good people, so come to 934 West Main St. and enjoy a wonderful evening of nostalgia for an era that most assuredly did exist for a time, and is now part the nostalgia that is the heart of this season.
Jeff Gill is pastor of Hebron Christian Church, and always stops to listen when a train whistle sounds in the distance. If you have evocative sounds to recount, or local news to share, call 928-4066 or e-mail disciple@voyager.net.
* * * * * * *
Hebron Crossroads 11-24
by Jeff Gill
Time to give thanks! That’s not a weighty problem, that’s good news; how often do we have a whole lot more to give thanks for than we have a place to give thanks at?
Seriously, I think all of us have regular occasions when we have a passing awareness of the good someone has done us, or the good fortune we enjoy, and there is no one person or no opportunity with the person nearby (or still living, alas) to give those thanks directly.
That’s why about a half-dozen churches in the Lakewood area are joining together to hold a Community Thanksgiving Service at the Lakewood High School auditorium this Sunday, Nov. 24, at 7:00 pm. This will be a simple, ecumenical service open to all faiths and backgrounds. We plan to have music, a small dramatic presentation for the message, a few hymns to sing, and an offering to support LEADS at Buckeye Lake with their holiday assistance and food pantry programs.
Giving thanks isn’t complicated, and it isn’t the private preserve of any one religious tradition. "A thankful heart" brings joy to God throughout the Bible, and a spirit of thankfulness is good for us as individuals in ways almost beyond number. I’d like to express my thankfulness right now for all the work and energy Bob Beyer, pastor of Jacksontown United Methodist Church, has brought to effort to pull together this Community Thanksgiving, and we hope to be thankful for your presence Sunday night at the LHS auditorium!
We are all thankful for the work Lou Staffilino, outgoing superintendent of the district, has done not only for this event, but also throughout the years he has led us to becoming "the most improved schoold district in Ohio!" We all knew we could do it, but it took Lou to show us how.
Some of you may still be asking: do I have anything to be thankful for? In any one situation, I wouldn’t dream of telling someone how or why they ought to be thankful, but for us all around the Hebron crossroads, let me try a few. . .
We really ought to be thankful for how good the corn and soybean harvest ended up, considering how deep our fears were back in late summer. The yields per acre haven’t super, but the fact that they’ve been surprisingly average is a real cause for thankfulness! And while we’re at it, why not be thankful for farmers?
We can be thankful that the Hebron area has so much going for it that we had two-time Heisman Trophy winner Archie Griffin here, right? When was the last time that happened! We have a real, (not-) live rhino inside village limits, too, which my little guy thinks is quite amazing.
We really ought to be more thankful than we are for clean, pure drinking water, and the pumping station on S. High and the waste treatment plant on north Rt. 79 are the input and output of our part in keeping clean and safe drinking water around for generations to come. So you could be thankful the next glass of water you pour from your tap. . .
I’m thankful for the highly professional, but strongly volunteer supported fire and police departments we have in Hebron. Chief Mike Carney has left a mark on our saftey services here in the area that will influence us for many years to come, and while we’re sad to see him go, we’re very proud in how our village played a part in preparing him for greater responsibilities with the federal Department of Justice – Newark may have Judge Frost, but we claim Chief Carney, and we’re thankful to have known him.
And finally, I think we all can be thankful for having so many active, vital churches in the immediate Hebron area; from Licking Baptist and their new worship center on Beaver Run Road, Hebron Church of the Nazarene and a new wing behind the church on Canal Road, the United Methodist Church of Hebron on East Main St. and of course my own Hebron Christian Church on West Main, this village has a reliable source of community spirit, mutual support and encouragement, and a willingness to serve, which was so evident when those churches and staff from our wonderful elementary school turned out late at night for a child safety drill some weeks ago.
Great churches, a wonderful community school, fine businesses, a well-trained and reliable village staff from street department to volunteer firefighters, a crop now in the silos. . .are you thankful yet? Come join our Community Thanksgiving Service Sunday night at 7:00 pm, and I bet we come up with more!
Did I mention being thankful for the fried bologna sandwich at Hometown Deli and strombolis at Clay’s Café?
Jeff Gill is pastor of Hebron Christian Church and he’s thankful for a wide variety of things; if you have food items you’re thankful for or local news to share, call 928-4066 or e-mail disciple@voyager.net.
Monday, October 28, 2002
Community Booster East
Nov. 3 cover
Hebron’s Future Is Now
by Jeff Gill
Contributing Writer
“It’s amazing,” muses Mindy Kester, village tax administrator, “but I really don’t think people realize what’s happening in Hebron.”
“You have to get out and around and see for yourself.”
Kester has lived her whole life in Hebron, but worked outside of the village until six months ago when she was hired to replace Mike McFarland, who became village administrator.
“I had to work here to realize just how much is in the works for Hebron,” says Kester, who adds, “and the really amazing thing is how much room there is to still grow and yet keep that small town feeling we all love about our home here.”
A small town with new sidewalks and an improved water system, that is. Kester and McFarland were happy to share all the news that was already apparent with the concrete forms for curb cuts and new walks along Main St. in evidence from downtown out to Ninth St., linking with those already installed for Evans Park on Refugee Rd. and the Municipal Complex and Library.
Less obvious, but with larger implications for economic growth in the Hebron area, is work going on at the Water Works on S. High St. just past the entrance to Lake Forest, the Dominion Homes subdivision with its own expanses of new pavement and freshly turned earth.
“We were getting close to maxing out our water pumping capacity at one million gallons a day,” reports McFarland, “so we’re glad to start this expansion that will double our capacity.” The Waste Treatment plant on N. High St. is slated for work planned in another six months to double the capacity there, too. Work has already begun, though, to reduce the “infiltration” through storm drains of run-off water, which increases waste treatment capacity even further at minimal cost. Major excavations along Cully St., paralleling Main to the north, are one example of this work.
“All of this kind of municipal investment is what developers and investors want to see as they decide where to put their money,” says McFarland.
One of the obvious results of this longer-range view towards economic development is the east side of Hebron, where on the further side of the Rt. 79 bypass from Dominion Homes is the peaked roof of Buckeye Outdoors’ new 43,000 square foot retail center, and an even newer peak east of their store marking the site of the Kroger Corporation’s latest investment in Ohio.
After a rousing grand opening a few weeks ago (see Hebron Crossroads from last week - jbg), followed by a number of promotions including a visit from Buckeye great Archie Griffin, store manager Jill Graham feels ready for the long haul.
“Our first week, I was just thrilled,” says Graham, who has helped open a number of new stores for Kroger. She opened the first Kroger fuel station for the company, and says “fuel sales here are good, very strong for a new store.” They expect to draw on a range of customers that extends both west, north, south, and well to the east.
That “well to the east” business model must be true, because clerks at the Duke & Duchess gas station and convenience store in downtown Hebron report that “business is about the same now as it was before Kroger opened.”
Across Arrowhead Drive from Kroger, Buckeye Outdoors personnel said that “fall is always a good time for us, regardless. Even when the economy drops, you can always hunt.” Most of the major bow, blackpowder, and rifle seasons start around Autumn.
Maurice and Sharon Potvin have built their outdoor sporting business on a client base from Wheeling to northwest Ohio, and having a reputation for good stock and reasonable prices gives a whole new meaning to an employee’s comment, “People want to hunt, and they’ll hunt.” Hunting for bargains, it seems, is always in season.
News of the merger with Vance’s in Columbus opens up new markets even beyond the store’s walls, and those walls go quite a ways out, with trophy mounts and displays of gear, clothing, and hunting or fishing accessories as far as the eye can see.
Staff said it was too early to tell if the Kroger opening would increase their business, but “it was pretty good already.” One clerk pointed out that “people love to bring their kids here, and make it a family thing, because children love seeing what’s on display.” The full-size stuffed rhinoceros in the middle of the sales floor appeared to agree.
Next door at the Amerihost, brand-new manager Kris Moore was of much the same opinion, telling of steady, good business at their location, but with nothing new to add to the ongoing rumors about potential occupants of the lot in front of their motel. “We’ll all know about the same time when someone decides to break ground there, but it’ll be a help.” Moore was very upbeat about the “pool memberships” Amerihost offers for $40 a month to local residents to use the recreational facilities between 8 am and 10 pm.
Just north off of 79 is the new McDonalds in Hebron. Store manager Lee Freeman has been preparing new employees since last July, and while job applicants have been steady, the training has surprised some.
“This store has a number of prototype pieces of equipment,” points out Freeman, “and it isn’t all just dunk fries and flip burgers anymore.” So the training continues, with even MickeyD’s becoming a high-tech employer. “But business has been good, and we just want to keep up with it, and maintain a good customer experience.”
New business and economic activity in Hebron isn’t limited to big name brands. Small business growth includes the arrival of PAL Printing next to the Duke station, Cheapskate Music next to JT Computers and Video just down Main, Unique Boutique behind the Shopper Cleaners on N. High, just across from one of the newer professional additions to Hebron, Mantonya Chiropractic Clinic.
At the crossroads of Main and High, Park National Bank’s Rob Springer says, “we’ve refinanced pretty much everyone who’s going to refinance.” He and Betty Green have been kept busy with the sheer volume of refinancing through this recent period of low interest rates, but expect rates to start to increase in the near future.
Back at the municipal building, Kester and McFarland point out that, along with the Lakewood levy for increasing resources to the local school district, there will be a 2 mil continuing levy for the village to maintain and improve basic infrastructure. This will replace the current 2 mil levy which expires next year. They hope area voters will approve both this Nov. 5 Election Day.
“I think we’ll be amazed at where we’ll be just a very few years from now,” says Kester, as she orders the village’s second set of “Hebron thank you” note cards, which will go out even faster than the first box did according to village staff. “We want to be thankful right now for what people are doing for the quality of life here today,” adds McFarland.
Or as Carly Simon sings, “these are the good old days!”
* * * * * * *
Hebron Crossroads 11-03
by Jeff Gill
If you attended the last Lakewood home football game for Senior Night, you’re probably still drying out as I am.
I’ve seen harder rain, and I’ve sat through colder rain, but I’ve never seen harder rain go on for longer and generate a more lastingly miserable climate than we had for the Licking Valley game. (Cue reminiscences of legendary bad weather long ago, fade to black under swelling music and closing credits…)
With a night like that, you just have to salute the kids on the field, including football players, band members, and cheerleaders, for putting up with it all in generally good cheer and keeping up doing whatever it was their job to do, right down to the water bottle gang who, quite frankly, seemed kind of redundant under the circumstances.
Along with all the football and band seniors recognized, a great big Lakewood salute has to go to the retiring David Wolford, who will no doubt long remember (for many reasons!) his 310th marching band performance before a still appreciative if soggy crowd.
It’s too soon to say goodbye, but congratulations on a job well done, Mr. Wolford. Some in the crowd, now lawyers, business owners, moms and dads themselves, were part of that number one performance, and considered it an honor to be present for number 310.
Drew Daubenmire gave us what we hope is a preview of coming attractions for the Lancer football program with those last two touchdowns. Anyhow, congrats to LV and good luck in the playoffs.
Some other youth interests are getting attention in Hebron these days, even as flag football and soccer wind their way to a close for the season. Beyond the new parking area at the northwest edge of Evans Park on Refugee Rd., a few loads of dirt were brought in for a “bike park” as part of the activities out at our ever-growing recreational facility.
Mike McFarland says that, when the earth was scheduled to be dumped, a crew of 15 youths with shovels, rakes, and some turning-to with bare hands went right to work shaping lumps, bumps, and jumps. They were happy to do their part in creating their own fun, and were appreciative of the village support they got. Another tip of the Big L cap to those who did the work and will no doubt enjoy their dirt biking all the more for knowing they made it happen!
If you get this by Friday, Nov. 1, the village will sponsor another Red Cross Blood Drive from 1 pm to 6 pm in the Municipal Complex. Your correspondent will be checking folks in, and giving a pint himself which makes 8 gallons. If I can donate 48 times, you can drop by and give it a try, can’t you? Takes 30 to 45 minutes, and you get a quick health profile to boot, not to mention the cookies.
Don’t forget that Tuesday, Nov. 5 is Election Day; the fine folks who serve as poll workers are set up and ready at 6:30 am, which takes care of me, Ken George, and Mayor Mason. They’re ready for you when you get done with work, too, right down into the evening at 7:30 pm. The Lakewood levy for operating expenses and new heating for Hebron Elementary, the Hebron continuing levy for streets and services, and a variety of state officials will be up on the ballot.
Please make sure to vote, swipe off the back of your ballot for hanging chads, and thank a poll worker as you head out…they’ll be glad you noticed!
Jeff Gill is pastor of Hebron Christian Church and someone who even votes in uncontested primaries; if you have Hebron area news to share, call 928-4066 or e-mail disciple@voyager.net.
Nov. 3 cover
Hebron’s Future Is Now
by Jeff Gill
Contributing Writer
“It’s amazing,” muses Mindy Kester, village tax administrator, “but I really don’t think people realize what’s happening in Hebron.”
“You have to get out and around and see for yourself.”
Kester has lived her whole life in Hebron, but worked outside of the village until six months ago when she was hired to replace Mike McFarland, who became village administrator.
“I had to work here to realize just how much is in the works for Hebron,” says Kester, who adds, “and the really amazing thing is how much room there is to still grow and yet keep that small town feeling we all love about our home here.”
A small town with new sidewalks and an improved water system, that is. Kester and McFarland were happy to share all the news that was already apparent with the concrete forms for curb cuts and new walks along Main St. in evidence from downtown out to Ninth St., linking with those already installed for Evans Park on Refugee Rd. and the Municipal Complex and Library.
Less obvious, but with larger implications for economic growth in the Hebron area, is work going on at the Water Works on S. High St. just past the entrance to Lake Forest, the Dominion Homes subdivision with its own expanses of new pavement and freshly turned earth.
“We were getting close to maxing out our water pumping capacity at one million gallons a day,” reports McFarland, “so we’re glad to start this expansion that will double our capacity.” The Waste Treatment plant on N. High St. is slated for work planned in another six months to double the capacity there, too. Work has already begun, though, to reduce the “infiltration” through storm drains of run-off water, which increases waste treatment capacity even further at minimal cost. Major excavations along Cully St., paralleling Main to the north, are one example of this work.
“All of this kind of municipal investment is what developers and investors want to see as they decide where to put their money,” says McFarland.
One of the obvious results of this longer-range view towards economic development is the east side of Hebron, where on the further side of the Rt. 79 bypass from Dominion Homes is the peaked roof of Buckeye Outdoors’ new 43,000 square foot retail center, and an even newer peak east of their store marking the site of the Kroger Corporation’s latest investment in Ohio.
After a rousing grand opening a few weeks ago (see Hebron Crossroads from last week - jbg), followed by a number of promotions including a visit from Buckeye great Archie Griffin, store manager Jill Graham feels ready for the long haul.
“Our first week, I was just thrilled,” says Graham, who has helped open a number of new stores for Kroger. She opened the first Kroger fuel station for the company, and says “fuel sales here are good, very strong for a new store.” They expect to draw on a range of customers that extends both west, north, south, and well to the east.
That “well to the east” business model must be true, because clerks at the Duke & Duchess gas station and convenience store in downtown Hebron report that “business is about the same now as it was before Kroger opened.”
Across Arrowhead Drive from Kroger, Buckeye Outdoors personnel said that “fall is always a good time for us, regardless. Even when the economy drops, you can always hunt.” Most of the major bow, blackpowder, and rifle seasons start around Autumn.
Maurice and Sharon Potvin have built their outdoor sporting business on a client base from Wheeling to northwest Ohio, and having a reputation for good stock and reasonable prices gives a whole new meaning to an employee’s comment, “People want to hunt, and they’ll hunt.” Hunting for bargains, it seems, is always in season.
News of the merger with Vance’s in Columbus opens up new markets even beyond the store’s walls, and those walls go quite a ways out, with trophy mounts and displays of gear, clothing, and hunting or fishing accessories as far as the eye can see.
Staff said it was too early to tell if the Kroger opening would increase their business, but “it was pretty good already.” One clerk pointed out that “people love to bring their kids here, and make it a family thing, because children love seeing what’s on display.” The full-size stuffed rhinoceros in the middle of the sales floor appeared to agree.
Next door at the Amerihost, brand-new manager Kris Moore was of much the same opinion, telling of steady, good business at their location, but with nothing new to add to the ongoing rumors about potential occupants of the lot in front of their motel. “We’ll all know about the same time when someone decides to break ground there, but it’ll be a help.” Moore was very upbeat about the “pool memberships” Amerihost offers for $40 a month to local residents to use the recreational facilities between 8 am and 10 pm.
Just north off of 79 is the new McDonalds in Hebron. Store manager Lee Freeman has been preparing new employees since last July, and while job applicants have been steady, the training has surprised some.
“This store has a number of prototype pieces of equipment,” points out Freeman, “and it isn’t all just dunk fries and flip burgers anymore.” So the training continues, with even MickeyD’s becoming a high-tech employer. “But business has been good, and we just want to keep up with it, and maintain a good customer experience.”
New business and economic activity in Hebron isn’t limited to big name brands. Small business growth includes the arrival of PAL Printing next to the Duke station, Cheapskate Music next to JT Computers and Video just down Main, Unique Boutique behind the Shopper Cleaners on N. High, just across from one of the newer professional additions to Hebron, Mantonya Chiropractic Clinic.
At the crossroads of Main and High, Park National Bank’s Rob Springer says, “we’ve refinanced pretty much everyone who’s going to refinance.” He and Betty Green have been kept busy with the sheer volume of refinancing through this recent period of low interest rates, but expect rates to start to increase in the near future.
Back at the municipal building, Kester and McFarland point out that, along with the Lakewood levy for increasing resources to the local school district, there will be a 2 mil continuing levy for the village to maintain and improve basic infrastructure. This will replace the current 2 mil levy which expires next year. They hope area voters will approve both this Nov. 5 Election Day.
“I think we’ll be amazed at where we’ll be just a very few years from now,” says Kester, as she orders the village’s second set of “Hebron thank you” note cards, which will go out even faster than the first box did according to village staff. “We want to be thankful right now for what people are doing for the quality of life here today,” adds McFarland.
Or as Carly Simon sings, “these are the good old days!”
* * * * * * *
Hebron Crossroads 11-03
by Jeff Gill
If you attended the last Lakewood home football game for Senior Night, you’re probably still drying out as I am.
I’ve seen harder rain, and I’ve sat through colder rain, but I’ve never seen harder rain go on for longer and generate a more lastingly miserable climate than we had for the Licking Valley game. (Cue reminiscences of legendary bad weather long ago, fade to black under swelling music and closing credits…)
With a night like that, you just have to salute the kids on the field, including football players, band members, and cheerleaders, for putting up with it all in generally good cheer and keeping up doing whatever it was their job to do, right down to the water bottle gang who, quite frankly, seemed kind of redundant under the circumstances.
Along with all the football and band seniors recognized, a great big Lakewood salute has to go to the retiring David Wolford, who will no doubt long remember (for many reasons!) his 310th marching band performance before a still appreciative if soggy crowd.
It’s too soon to say goodbye, but congratulations on a job well done, Mr. Wolford. Some in the crowd, now lawyers, business owners, moms and dads themselves, were part of that number one performance, and considered it an honor to be present for number 310.
Drew Daubenmire gave us what we hope is a preview of coming attractions for the Lancer football program with those last two touchdowns. Anyhow, congrats to LV and good luck in the playoffs.
Some other youth interests are getting attention in Hebron these days, even as flag football and soccer wind their way to a close for the season. Beyond the new parking area at the northwest edge of Evans Park on Refugee Rd., a few loads of dirt were brought in for a “bike park” as part of the activities out at our ever-growing recreational facility.
Mike McFarland says that, when the earth was scheduled to be dumped, a crew of 15 youths with shovels, rakes, and some turning-to with bare hands went right to work shaping lumps, bumps, and jumps. They were happy to do their part in creating their own fun, and were appreciative of the village support they got. Another tip of the Big L cap to those who did the work and will no doubt enjoy their dirt biking all the more for knowing they made it happen!
If you get this by Friday, Nov. 1, the village will sponsor another Red Cross Blood Drive from 1 pm to 6 pm in the Municipal Complex. Your correspondent will be checking folks in, and giving a pint himself which makes 8 gallons. If I can donate 48 times, you can drop by and give it a try, can’t you? Takes 30 to 45 minutes, and you get a quick health profile to boot, not to mention the cookies.
Don’t forget that Tuesday, Nov. 5 is Election Day; the fine folks who serve as poll workers are set up and ready at 6:30 am, which takes care of me, Ken George, and Mayor Mason. They’re ready for you when you get done with work, too, right down into the evening at 7:30 pm. The Lakewood levy for operating expenses and new heating for Hebron Elementary, the Hebron continuing levy for streets and services, and a variety of state officials will be up on the ballot.
Please make sure to vote, swipe off the back of your ballot for hanging chads, and thank a poll worker as you head out…they’ll be glad you noticed!
Jeff Gill is pastor of Hebron Christian Church and someone who even votes in uncontested primaries; if you have Hebron area news to share, call 928-4066 or e-mail disciple@voyager.net.
The Church Window -- Hebron Christian Church
Nov. 2002 print newsletter
(pastor's text material; send me an e-mail to go on mailing list! - jbg)
Notes From My Knapsack
We’ve got a variety of interesting articles for you to read this month. But I would like to encourage everyone to think about something coming up next month. . .sooner than we might like to think: namely, Christmas.
We traditionally give gifts for this holiday, and to the degree that we’re echoing the Magi in their joy and sharing with the Christ child, when we’re giving of ourselves for the happiness of others, gifts can be a great part of the holiday season. Yet we got an interesting hint recently of just how this tradition gets mangled.
You may have heard news coverage of the recent longshoreman’s strike on the West Coast, and seen pictures of idle container-loading docks and schools of cargo ships bobbing in the waters off Long Beach, San Diego, or Seattle. But did you notice that the big fear for the wholesalers and retailers was that the big toy sellers, the likely "craze sales" like Cabbage Patch dolls or Tickle Me Elmos of years past, were stuck out at sea, and might not make it to store shelves in time for Christmas.
Just think about that for a moment: we don’t even know what those products are yet (trade secrets, y’know), but the makers are so sure of their ability to make us crave and covet these yet-unkown products that they’ve already had made in China and are in the middle of shipping to us that, if they don’t get ‘em here by mid-December, they’ll go broke. The whole business is dependent on getting us to want, on demand and with precision timing, what they want to sell us even when we have no idea we want it.
Remember that as you start to browse the shelves and ads for your Christmas shopping this year; is that what someone really desires for themselves, or are we just "wanting" on cue for the benefit of someone else? Give gifts this Christmas, not products. That helps the giver and the receiver get a little closer to the reason for the season!
In Grace & Peace,
Pastor Jeff
* * * * * * *
For more information on the recent Regional Assembly of the Christian Church in Ohio, see "What’s New" at http://go.to/Hebron_Christian for a rundown of development with Basic Mission Finance (BMF), soon to be renamed Disciples Mission Fund, or (you guessed it!) DMF. The special day offerings (inserts & envelopes) will change in their purpose as well to reflect the new priorities built into the DMF system. Talk to Pastor Jeff for more details.
* * * * * * *
Pastor Jeff will join his wife Joyce at the National Association of Interpretation (her professional assoc.) annual meeting in Virginia Beach, VA Nov. 12-17; so they and Chris can take some vacation time this year, Jeff will be off from Nov. 11 to the 19th. The elders will be available for pastoral needs and to preside over worship on the 17th. The elders will be able to contact the pastor if necessary, but will take care of most congregational needs through this time.
* * * * * * *
Program Planning Retreat
Sat., Nov. 9, 9 am to Noon
"Open Wide The Door"
Theme - Organizational Evangelism
Leadership study – John 10:1-18 & Rev. 3:7-8, 20-22
Open to all members; elders, the diaconate, and officers of the church are expected!
* * * * * * *
Community Thanksgiving Service
Sun., Nov. 24, 7 pm
Lakewood High School auditorium
Please bring a friend or neighbor to this ecumenical service of thanksgiving
Nov. 2002 print newsletter
(pastor's text material; send me an e-mail to go on mailing list! - jbg)
Notes From My Knapsack
We’ve got a variety of interesting articles for you to read this month. But I would like to encourage everyone to think about something coming up next month. . .sooner than we might like to think: namely, Christmas.
We traditionally give gifts for this holiday, and to the degree that we’re echoing the Magi in their joy and sharing with the Christ child, when we’re giving of ourselves for the happiness of others, gifts can be a great part of the holiday season. Yet we got an interesting hint recently of just how this tradition gets mangled.
You may have heard news coverage of the recent longshoreman’s strike on the West Coast, and seen pictures of idle container-loading docks and schools of cargo ships bobbing in the waters off Long Beach, San Diego, or Seattle. But did you notice that the big fear for the wholesalers and retailers was that the big toy sellers, the likely "craze sales" like Cabbage Patch dolls or Tickle Me Elmos of years past, were stuck out at sea, and might not make it to store shelves in time for Christmas.
Just think about that for a moment: we don’t even know what those products are yet (trade secrets, y’know), but the makers are so sure of their ability to make us crave and covet these yet-unkown products that they’ve already had made in China and are in the middle of shipping to us that, if they don’t get ‘em here by mid-December, they’ll go broke. The whole business is dependent on getting us to want, on demand and with precision timing, what they want to sell us even when we have no idea we want it.
Remember that as you start to browse the shelves and ads for your Christmas shopping this year; is that what someone really desires for themselves, or are we just "wanting" on cue for the benefit of someone else? Give gifts this Christmas, not products. That helps the giver and the receiver get a little closer to the reason for the season!
In Grace & Peace,
Pastor Jeff
* * * * * * *
For more information on the recent Regional Assembly of the Christian Church in Ohio, see "What’s New" at http://go.to/Hebron_Christian for a rundown of development with Basic Mission Finance (BMF), soon to be renamed Disciples Mission Fund, or (you guessed it!) DMF. The special day offerings (inserts & envelopes) will change in their purpose as well to reflect the new priorities built into the DMF system. Talk to Pastor Jeff for more details.
* * * * * * *
Pastor Jeff will join his wife Joyce at the National Association of Interpretation (her professional assoc.) annual meeting in Virginia Beach, VA Nov. 12-17; so they and Chris can take some vacation time this year, Jeff will be off from Nov. 11 to the 19th. The elders will be available for pastoral needs and to preside over worship on the 17th. The elders will be able to contact the pastor if necessary, but will take care of most congregational needs through this time.
* * * * * * *
Program Planning Retreat
Sat., Nov. 9, 9 am to Noon
"Open Wide The Door"
Theme - Organizational Evangelism
Leadership study – John 10:1-18 & Rev. 3:7-8, 20-22
Open to all members; elders, the diaconate, and officers of the church are expected!
* * * * * * *
Community Thanksgiving Service
Sun., Nov. 24, 7 pm
Lakewood High School auditorium
Please bring a friend or neighbor to this ecumenical service of thanksgiving
Sunday, October 27, 2002
The Church Window -- news special for Sunday, 27 Oct 2002
* * * * * * *
* * * * * * *
Hey everyone out there in cyberspace -- I was waiting to get past the Regional Assembly
to send the e-version of "The Church Window" out, and then. . .anyhow, the print version
will go out shortly. (See saved text at http://knapsack.blogspot.com)
You'll get an early November e-letter with Thanksgiving info, but i'm slapping this one
out because i thought you might want to know something i just heard (well, read, at
disciples.org/internal): that Rev. Cynthia Hale and her Disciples' congregation in Georgia,
New Hope Christian Church, will be part of a 60 Minutes piece on "Black migration back
to the South" tonight at 7 pm or when football ends. THAT'S TONIGHT!!!
And just to make it all worthwhile, here's a few more links to sink you teeth into,
first, one on Bible translation and one of the great Christians of the last century:
http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2002/011/2.46.html
An amazing new discovery in Israel that i wasn't ready to focus on in a sermon yet:
http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2002/141/11.0.html
Finally, one i couldn't resist ('cause if i don't point it out, who would?), esp. #2:
http://www.christianitytoday.com/cr/9r5/9r5035.html
In Grace & Peace,
Jeff
* * * * * * *
* * * * * * *
Hey everyone out there in cyberspace -- I was waiting to get past the Regional Assembly
to send the e-version of "The Church Window" out, and then. . .anyhow, the print version
will go out shortly. (See saved text at http://knapsack.blogspot.com)
You'll get an early November e-letter with Thanksgiving info, but i'm slapping this one
out because i thought you might want to know something i just heard (well, read, at
disciples.org/internal): that Rev. Cynthia Hale and her Disciples' congregation in Georgia,
New Hope Christian Church, will be part of a 60 Minutes piece on "Black migration back
to the South" tonight at 7 pm or when football ends. THAT'S TONIGHT!!!
And just to make it all worthwhile, here's a few more links to sink you teeth into,
first, one on Bible translation and one of the great Christians of the last century:
http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2002/011/2.46.html
An amazing new discovery in Israel that i wasn't ready to focus on in a sermon yet:
http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2002/141/11.0.html
Finally, one i couldn't resist ('cause if i don't point it out, who would?), esp. #2:
http://www.christianitytoday.com/cr/9r5/9r5035.html
In Grace & Peace,
Jeff
Tuesday, October 22, 2002
Hebron Crossroads 10-27
by Jeff Gill
"We’re all just so very excited," said Terri Orr, the new "front end manager" of the newest of 116 Kroger’s right here in Hebron. Terri, as a Hebron resident, is particularly proud of this top-of-the-line store and fuel station that was opened and dedicated two weeks ago. She had to shout, though, to be heard over the Lakewood High Marching Band as Kroger officials from the top on down and most of "official" Hebron assembled for the ribbon-cutting.
"I have some family reasons for taking a personal interest in this store," said Marnette Perry, the familiar face of Kroger’s on TV and president of the company. "My in-laws live right down the road (near Thornville) and this is the store they’ll be shopping at."
No pressure there for Jill Graham, the manager brought in to face the challenging task of opening a new facility literally from the ground up! But there are familiar faces from the Krogers in Heath, Newark, and Pataskala, and many employees from Hebron like Terri, and a piece of tradition few in the crowd were aware of that Sunday 8 am.
"This is not Kroger coming to Hebron," said CEO Perry, to more than a few blank stares; and then, "this is Kroger coming BACK to Hebron."
Turns out a Kroger had been in Hebron in the 20’s to some point during WW II, when it closed, was later reopened, and then closed again in 1954. . .a little before my time. The well-informed tell me it was located about where Park National’s drive-thru lanes front on Main Street, opposite Fitch’s Market.
In fact, Kroger has done a great job of decorating their facility with large prints of both modern and historic views of Hebron, including a shot down old Main Street with the Pure Oil gas station in the foreground, and a wonderful shot of the canal with a lone canal flatboat in the middle distance.
Farms silhouetted against the sunset, a nearby National Road milestone, and the façade of Lakewood High School are some of the modern day views looking down on the shoppers.
Shoppers were visible in abundance, with the pose for the ribbon-cutting regularly disrupted by carts already coming out of the store filled with bags full of groceries. Kroger management tells me they expect, from past experience (it is, after all, their 116th, so you hope they’ve learned a thing or two) to draw on an area with a 20 mile radius. The bulk of the shoppers will come from closer, but the idea of including a pharmacy with a drive-up window and fuel station is to make the trip worthwhile for folks from Etna and Kirkersville to the east, over to Brownsville and beyond to Muskingum County in the west, and south into Perry and Fairfield Counties.
The location just off of US 40 and the Rt. 79 bypass just north of I-70 makes it a good stop-off point for commuters from Franklin County to homes in Thornville and around the east end of Buckeye Lake.
All that, of course, is good for the Hebron economy, shown by the full turn-out of village councilmembers and staff, the mayor of course, and assistant superintendent Phil Hermann for the schools with his family. Even at the early hour, this was a "can’t miss" event in the latest chapter of Hebron’s history as "Historic Crossroads of Ohio."
Some of our local history was honored in a unique way last weekend at Octagon State Memorial, also known locally as Moundbuilders Country Club, just north of Licking Memorial Hospital.
A prayer circle gathered at the center of the Observatory Circle, just one part of the vast 2000 year old structure known as the Newark Earthworks. 117 participants joined in spoken and silent prayer, heard drumming and flute and sung prayer offerings, spoke out of American Indian, Christian, and Buddhist faith traditions, and came from as far away as Michigan and Minnesota to be present for this last of four "golf-free" days at a site known globally as one of the 70 wonders of the ancient world.
That’s right, one of the most significant spots of ancient history, a few miles north of us! Of that list of 70 sites like the Pyramids, the Colosseum in Rome, and Stonehenge, only three are in North America: Cahokia Mounds near St. Louis, Chaco Canyon in New Mexico, and the Newark Earthworks, of which ours is the oldest as well.
This site is believed to be connected by an ancient "road" of 60 miles to Chillicothe, which passes just through the village limits of Hebron to the west, and some traces of this double walled way can be dimly seen on older aerial photography near Beaver Run.
It was a pleasure and an honor to be part of this ecumenical prayer circle honoring this site, and to be part of the ongoing "connection" to the Hebron area, which truly has been a "Historic Crossroads of Ohio" . . .for two millenia!
Jeff Gill is pastor of Hebron Christian Church and associate of Friends of the Mounds; if you have Hebron area news or questions about Licking County prehistory, call 928-4066 or e-mail disciple@voyager.net.
by Jeff Gill
"We’re all just so very excited," said Terri Orr, the new "front end manager" of the newest of 116 Kroger’s right here in Hebron. Terri, as a Hebron resident, is particularly proud of this top-of-the-line store and fuel station that was opened and dedicated two weeks ago. She had to shout, though, to be heard over the Lakewood High Marching Band as Kroger officials from the top on down and most of "official" Hebron assembled for the ribbon-cutting.
"I have some family reasons for taking a personal interest in this store," said Marnette Perry, the familiar face of Kroger’s on TV and president of the company. "My in-laws live right down the road (near Thornville) and this is the store they’ll be shopping at."
No pressure there for Jill Graham, the manager brought in to face the challenging task of opening a new facility literally from the ground up! But there are familiar faces from the Krogers in Heath, Newark, and Pataskala, and many employees from Hebron like Terri, and a piece of tradition few in the crowd were aware of that Sunday 8 am.
"This is not Kroger coming to Hebron," said CEO Perry, to more than a few blank stares; and then, "this is Kroger coming BACK to Hebron."
Turns out a Kroger had been in Hebron in the 20’s to some point during WW II, when it closed, was later reopened, and then closed again in 1954. . .a little before my time. The well-informed tell me it was located about where Park National’s drive-thru lanes front on Main Street, opposite Fitch’s Market.
In fact, Kroger has done a great job of decorating their facility with large prints of both modern and historic views of Hebron, including a shot down old Main Street with the Pure Oil gas station in the foreground, and a wonderful shot of the canal with a lone canal flatboat in the middle distance.
Farms silhouetted against the sunset, a nearby National Road milestone, and the façade of Lakewood High School are some of the modern day views looking down on the shoppers.
Shoppers were visible in abundance, with the pose for the ribbon-cutting regularly disrupted by carts already coming out of the store filled with bags full of groceries. Kroger management tells me they expect, from past experience (it is, after all, their 116th, so you hope they’ve learned a thing or two) to draw on an area with a 20 mile radius. The bulk of the shoppers will come from closer, but the idea of including a pharmacy with a drive-up window and fuel station is to make the trip worthwhile for folks from Etna and Kirkersville to the east, over to Brownsville and beyond to Muskingum County in the west, and south into Perry and Fairfield Counties.
The location just off of US 40 and the Rt. 79 bypass just north of I-70 makes it a good stop-off point for commuters from Franklin County to homes in Thornville and around the east end of Buckeye Lake.
All that, of course, is good for the Hebron economy, shown by the full turn-out of village councilmembers and staff, the mayor of course, and assistant superintendent Phil Hermann for the schools with his family. Even at the early hour, this was a "can’t miss" event in the latest chapter of Hebron’s history as "Historic Crossroads of Ohio."
Some of our local history was honored in a unique way last weekend at Octagon State Memorial, also known locally as Moundbuilders Country Club, just north of Licking Memorial Hospital.
A prayer circle gathered at the center of the Observatory Circle, just one part of the vast 2000 year old structure known as the Newark Earthworks. 117 participants joined in spoken and silent prayer, heard drumming and flute and sung prayer offerings, spoke out of American Indian, Christian, and Buddhist faith traditions, and came from as far away as Michigan and Minnesota to be present for this last of four "golf-free" days at a site known globally as one of the 70 wonders of the ancient world.
That’s right, one of the most significant spots of ancient history, a few miles north of us! Of that list of 70 sites like the Pyramids, the Colosseum in Rome, and Stonehenge, only three are in North America: Cahokia Mounds near St. Louis, Chaco Canyon in New Mexico, and the Newark Earthworks, of which ours is the oldest as well.
This site is believed to be connected by an ancient "road" of 60 miles to Chillicothe, which passes just through the village limits of Hebron to the west, and some traces of this double walled way can be dimly seen on older aerial photography near Beaver Run.
It was a pleasure and an honor to be part of this ecumenical prayer circle honoring this site, and to be part of the ongoing "connection" to the Hebron area, which truly has been a "Historic Crossroads of Ohio" . . .for two millenia!
Jeff Gill is pastor of Hebron Christian Church and associate of Friends of the Mounds; if you have Hebron area news or questions about Licking County prehistory, call 928-4066 or e-mail disciple@voyager.net.
Tuesday, October 08, 2002
Hebron Crossroads 10 - 13 & 20
Hebron Crossroads 10 - 13
by Jeff Gill
When our children are threatened, we want to respond. That’s a fairly basic human impulse. Even when children not our own are in danger, our reaction is to jump to assist.
How do we prepare to deal with a possibility of danger when we don’t even know what the emergency situation is? There are ways to organize and plan for a situation like a “stranger abduction” or lost child, so the response time for using volunteers is kept to a minimum.
A “Community Response Team” (or CRT) is a fairly common concept in larger towns or cities, but for a village like Hebron to have a CRT is somewhat unusual, certainly in Ohio.
Oct. 2 was the first full-fledged drill of our Hebron CRT, started at the end of the Council Meeting with the municipal complex as the gathering point. The first calls went out at 8 pm, and while the last few calls were being made, at 8:20 pm there were 18 present and ready to respond, and by 8:30 pm 50 local residents joined around 25 council members, village employees, and police & fire personnel.
Lt. Larry Brooks has been doing the leg work on this plan, with Chief Carney’s full backing. Larry was recently promoted from Sgt., replacing the retiring Lt. Glenn Watson, who stepped down after over 20 years of public service in law enforcement around the area. “Sgt.” Brooks attended a workshop that gave him a vision for what Hebron could have organized in advance, and after talking to the chief and to some folks in the village such as your columnist, the plan became a reality. As the CRT co-ordinator for Lt. Brooks, I want to thank Wes Baker of Hebron Methodist, Bill Van Meter of Hebron Nazarene, Lonnie Aleshire of Licking Baptist, Connie Wildermuth for Hebron Christian, and Jeff Geist at Hebron Elementary for being calling team leaders for their respective institutions.
It was a real pleasure to see the crowded council chamber, with the extra doors to the lobby opened to accommodate all the interested volunteers. Lt. Brooks gave an overview of what Hebron Police and other law enforcement would do while the CRT divides up into search parties to go out and cover assigned areas, each under a police officer with a radio for contact with the command post.
Mayor Mason liked the idea of orange vests that could be quickly issued, and other suggestions are being evaluated by the HPD. The CRT folks will not be involved in house searches, roadblocks, or any other hazardous activity, so our main equipment need is for participants to dress for outdoor weather appropriate to the day or night they’re called!
Still on the municipal front, the new parking lot is getting heavy use on Saturday mornings at Evans Park on Refugee Road. The Union Township Trustees have been a great help in making this expansion possible, with Jack Justice commenting that “there’s a lot of township residents getting a whole lot of benefit from that park.” When we come together for service, amazing things can happen, and it’s been a pleasure to report on so many such instances recently.
Both soccer and flag/tackle football for the younger kids have their strong supporters, and their respective organizations have put some real teamwork into making the game and practice schedules work out, including around the grueling home game tailgate schedule over in Columbus! Everyone wants early Saturday morning, but the share-and-share-alike philosophy has been a good example to our children by the adults.
Teamwork is sure typified by achievements like the state runner-up trophy brought home by the Lady Lancer softball team, and their work is honored by signs at the village limits. You can see them at the top of the signage for a number of Lakewood achievements by the “Hebron” signs. That’s a good reminder to all of us to support our Lakewood School District team Nov. 5 (and don’t forget absentee ballots if you’re going to be out of town that day).
Jeff Gill is pastor of Hebron Christian Church and a home owner with a “Lakewood Yes” sign in his front yard; if you have Lakewood or Hebron area news to share, call 928-4066 or e-mail disciple@voyager.net.
* * *
Hebron Crossroads 10 - 20
by Jeff Gill
Hebron Public Library’s “Storytime” program has already begun for the fall, with sessions on Tuesdays from 11 to 11:30 am until December 3.
Children need to be accompanied by an adult, and both get to hear a story and participate in a craft activity. Holiday cooking trivia is one of the subjects coming up, and every week is a treat specially prepared by the Hebron librarians.
If you have questions about “Storytime” please call 928-3923. The library is behind the municipal complex. There will be no story time during Thanksgiving week.
“Hebron Reads” has also started at Hebron Elementary, but it’s never too late for new reading tutors in this program.
Begun as part of Gov. Taft’s “Ohio Reads” initiative, the results of the program have been challenged by folks who obviously have never participated in reading tutoring, because the intention of the program was never simply to improve reading skills, but to focus volunteer resources on children who are struggling with reading and a variety of other learning skills.
The real test of “Ohio Reads” will not be short term test score bumps, but in longer term areas such as graduation rates and overall achievement. A child who finds reading extremely frustrating in 1st and 2nd grades will likely struggle in many areas over the years, and the tutoring and mentoring from “Hebron Reads” gives the teaching staff an extra tool to fix problems before they even begin.
Could you read to or with a child for a half-hour or hour a week? Call 928-2661 and leave a message. Kudos to Mrs. Frush and Mrs. Henry for the work this reading tutor has seen them put in already this year.
Of course, what a child benefits from most is seeing the adults in their life reading at home. I’ve heard in recent years about programs in cities like Chicago and Cincinnati called something like “All On One Page,” or “Cincinnati Reads,” where a particular book if selected, made available in a variety of locations through schools, libraries, and service groups, for as many as are willing to read during a particular time period.
The idea is that with “everyone,” or at least a whole bunch of people all reading the same book around the same general time, conversations will naturally spring up on the subject or area of the writing, usually a relatively short novel, whether recent or classic.
Some books selected that I’ve heard of include “To Kill A Mockingbird” or “The Yearling.” What would be a good fit for Hebron? This column would be happy to assemble a reading guide and some discussion starters during the reading period set, but you readers need to help me with some suggestions.
If you have ideas, even if they’re just subject areas, and especially book titles, please pass them along to me. As folks at my church know, I’ve been recommending quite often a non-fiction book called “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly.” This is a short book with a lasting impact about dealing with limitations, both physical and spiritual. I also think “Johnny Tremain” is much more than a children’s book, and maybe one of the best American novels around, but that’s just me. What do you think? Our kids will be watching. . .
You may not know that October is “Family History Month,” and you also may not know that Newark has recently obtained and started developing a “Farm Park” north of Cedar Hill Cemetery on Rt. 79. The hope of the Newark Park Department is that this will be a working 19th century farm, and Beth Deering, the site manager, is collecting furniture and recipes from descendants of the farm’s original occupants.
That’s a long way out of Hebron, but I’m telling you because on Sat., Oct. 26 at 11 am I’ll be doing a program entitled “Your Family History: A Story Worth Telling!” This is not going to be about genealogy, which has many expert practicioners in this county. We’re going to talk about the how and in what ways of gathering your family stories into history that lives and breathes for you and your descendants. Come join us on what will surely be a beautiful fall day.
Jeff Gill is pastor of Hebron Christian Church and an avid reader; if you have suggestions for a “Hebron Reads” book selection, call 928-4066, or e-mail disciple@voyager.net.
Hebron Crossroads 10 - 13
by Jeff Gill
When our children are threatened, we want to respond. That’s a fairly basic human impulse. Even when children not our own are in danger, our reaction is to jump to assist.
How do we prepare to deal with a possibility of danger when we don’t even know what the emergency situation is? There are ways to organize and plan for a situation like a “stranger abduction” or lost child, so the response time for using volunteers is kept to a minimum.
A “Community Response Team” (or CRT) is a fairly common concept in larger towns or cities, but for a village like Hebron to have a CRT is somewhat unusual, certainly in Ohio.
Oct. 2 was the first full-fledged drill of our Hebron CRT, started at the end of the Council Meeting with the municipal complex as the gathering point. The first calls went out at 8 pm, and while the last few calls were being made, at 8:20 pm there were 18 present and ready to respond, and by 8:30 pm 50 local residents joined around 25 council members, village employees, and police & fire personnel.
Lt. Larry Brooks has been doing the leg work on this plan, with Chief Carney’s full backing. Larry was recently promoted from Sgt., replacing the retiring Lt. Glenn Watson, who stepped down after over 20 years of public service in law enforcement around the area. “Sgt.” Brooks attended a workshop that gave him a vision for what Hebron could have organized in advance, and after talking to the chief and to some folks in the village such as your columnist, the plan became a reality. As the CRT co-ordinator for Lt. Brooks, I want to thank Wes Baker of Hebron Methodist, Bill Van Meter of Hebron Nazarene, Lonnie Aleshire of Licking Baptist, Connie Wildermuth for Hebron Christian, and Jeff Geist at Hebron Elementary for being calling team leaders for their respective institutions.
It was a real pleasure to see the crowded council chamber, with the extra doors to the lobby opened to accommodate all the interested volunteers. Lt. Brooks gave an overview of what Hebron Police and other law enforcement would do while the CRT divides up into search parties to go out and cover assigned areas, each under a police officer with a radio for contact with the command post.
Mayor Mason liked the idea of orange vests that could be quickly issued, and other suggestions are being evaluated by the HPD. The CRT folks will not be involved in house searches, roadblocks, or any other hazardous activity, so our main equipment need is for participants to dress for outdoor weather appropriate to the day or night they’re called!
Still on the municipal front, the new parking lot is getting heavy use on Saturday mornings at Evans Park on Refugee Road. The Union Township Trustees have been a great help in making this expansion possible, with Jack Justice commenting that “there’s a lot of township residents getting a whole lot of benefit from that park.” When we come together for service, amazing things can happen, and it’s been a pleasure to report on so many such instances recently.
Both soccer and flag/tackle football for the younger kids have their strong supporters, and their respective organizations have put some real teamwork into making the game and practice schedules work out, including around the grueling home game tailgate schedule over in Columbus! Everyone wants early Saturday morning, but the share-and-share-alike philosophy has been a good example to our children by the adults.
Teamwork is sure typified by achievements like the state runner-up trophy brought home by the Lady Lancer softball team, and their work is honored by signs at the village limits. You can see them at the top of the signage for a number of Lakewood achievements by the “Hebron” signs. That’s a good reminder to all of us to support our Lakewood School District team Nov. 5 (and don’t forget absentee ballots if you’re going to be out of town that day).
Jeff Gill is pastor of Hebron Christian Church and a home owner with a “Lakewood Yes” sign in his front yard; if you have Lakewood or Hebron area news to share, call 928-4066 or e-mail disciple@voyager.net.
* * *
Hebron Crossroads 10 - 20
by Jeff Gill
Hebron Public Library’s “Storytime” program has already begun for the fall, with sessions on Tuesdays from 11 to 11:30 am until December 3.
Children need to be accompanied by an adult, and both get to hear a story and participate in a craft activity. Holiday cooking trivia is one of the subjects coming up, and every week is a treat specially prepared by the Hebron librarians.
If you have questions about “Storytime” please call 928-3923. The library is behind the municipal complex. There will be no story time during Thanksgiving week.
“Hebron Reads” has also started at Hebron Elementary, but it’s never too late for new reading tutors in this program.
Begun as part of Gov. Taft’s “Ohio Reads” initiative, the results of the program have been challenged by folks who obviously have never participated in reading tutoring, because the intention of the program was never simply to improve reading skills, but to focus volunteer resources on children who are struggling with reading and a variety of other learning skills.
The real test of “Ohio Reads” will not be short term test score bumps, but in longer term areas such as graduation rates and overall achievement. A child who finds reading extremely frustrating in 1st and 2nd grades will likely struggle in many areas over the years, and the tutoring and mentoring from “Hebron Reads” gives the teaching staff an extra tool to fix problems before they even begin.
Could you read to or with a child for a half-hour or hour a week? Call 928-2661 and leave a message. Kudos to Mrs. Frush and Mrs. Henry for the work this reading tutor has seen them put in already this year.
Of course, what a child benefits from most is seeing the adults in their life reading at home. I’ve heard in recent years about programs in cities like Chicago and Cincinnati called something like “All On One Page,” or “Cincinnati Reads,” where a particular book if selected, made available in a variety of locations through schools, libraries, and service groups, for as many as are willing to read during a particular time period.
The idea is that with “everyone,” or at least a whole bunch of people all reading the same book around the same general time, conversations will naturally spring up on the subject or area of the writing, usually a relatively short novel, whether recent or classic.
Some books selected that I’ve heard of include “To Kill A Mockingbird” or “The Yearling.” What would be a good fit for Hebron? This column would be happy to assemble a reading guide and some discussion starters during the reading period set, but you readers need to help me with some suggestions.
If you have ideas, even if they’re just subject areas, and especially book titles, please pass them along to me. As folks at my church know, I’ve been recommending quite often a non-fiction book called “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly.” This is a short book with a lasting impact about dealing with limitations, both physical and spiritual. I also think “Johnny Tremain” is much more than a children’s book, and maybe one of the best American novels around, but that’s just me. What do you think? Our kids will be watching. . .
You may not know that October is “Family History Month,” and you also may not know that Newark has recently obtained and started developing a “Farm Park” north of Cedar Hill Cemetery on Rt. 79. The hope of the Newark Park Department is that this will be a working 19th century farm, and Beth Deering, the site manager, is collecting furniture and recipes from descendants of the farm’s original occupants.
That’s a long way out of Hebron, but I’m telling you because on Sat., Oct. 26 at 11 am I’ll be doing a program entitled “Your Family History: A Story Worth Telling!” This is not going to be about genealogy, which has many expert practicioners in this county. We’re going to talk about the how and in what ways of gathering your family stories into history that lives and breathes for you and your descendants. Come join us on what will surely be a beautiful fall day.
Jeff Gill is pastor of Hebron Christian Church and an avid reader; if you have suggestions for a “Hebron Reads” book selection, call 928-4066, or e-mail disciple@voyager.net.
Tuesday, October 01, 2002
Hebron Crossroads 10-7
by Jeff Gill
Harvestime is all around us; the soybeans have gone from yellow to brown, the corn stalks tan from grey-green. With those transformations, the farm equipment is out in the fields not from dawn to dusk, but from can-do to can’t-any-longer.
In the fields around Hebron, coming home from late night meetings, I see headlights out in places where I know headlights can’t be. At home after what I like to think of as a long day, I’m seeing the harvesters out describing ever-decreasing rectangles in the fields behind our house, the floodlit arcs shortening and lengthening across the back window.
Folks, that’s the next step towards your corn flakes and tofu, your tortillas and organic plastics, feed for milk cows and beef cattle. As the bumper sticker says, “If you ate today, thank a farmer!” Just don’t try calling them at home the next few weeks.
A few recent conversations have pointed out to me that not everyone knows what’s going on out in those dustplumed combines by day and brightly lit harvesters at night. Harvest is when the farmers go out in fields and start “bringing in the sheaves,” so to speak. Right now the corn and soybeans are ready for harvest, but wheat and hay have come in weeks ago for many, and the pumpkin crop I think we all know just came ripe.
The trick with corn and beans is the moisture content: too much water content and the crop could rot in storage, increasing the necessary expense of drying, but wait too long for everything to get good and dry, and you run an increased risk of storms flattening the plants so that mechanical harvesting can’t work. There’s more to it than this brief description indicates, but the point to keep in mind is that timing harvest is just as tricky – or just as much of a science mixed with luck, if you like – as planting. Too early, too late. . .too bad.
Ohio doesn’t need riverboat gambling or an expansion of the lottery when we’ve already got farming!
Devine Farms had a great first weekend of “pumpkin season,” and Martha Fickel had the Drama Club gang out running the concessions for Ralph and Charla as a fund raiser. You’ll recognize the hot dog makers and cider pourers from “The Music Man” and “Guys and Dolls” down at Lakewood High, or you will recognize them when you go see “A Christmas Carol” later on this year.
The corn maze is a little smaller than some of the multi-acre works of art around Licking County you’ve seen featured in these pages. If you have a four year old, that’s a good thing!
Chris ran up and down the blind alleys and roundabouts with glee, looking a bit confused at times, but quickly reassured by a glance over his shoulder to confirm Dad was still there and smiling. Dad, of course, could look so confident because he could see the barn roofs over the top of the corn stalks, and from his better vantage point stayed oriented. The little guy could only see corn (or “cown” as he regularly shouted), but trusted the big guy to not let him get too far lost.
Obvious metaphor alert. . .i’ll just let you fill in the rest of that meditation.
We don’t normally cross-promote between the Booster and the Advocate, even though we’re corporate cousins, but this is really just a trip out to the recycle bag in the garage for many of you. Last Sunday (Sept. 29), on page 5D, John Skinner had a great old story about Hebron and Henry Clay back in the early 1800’s.
He references “the Licking Arms, a hostelry in Hebron” as the location for a tale of duels, derring-do, and dauntlessness. You’ll have to find the article to get the whole story, but Henry Clay certainly could have stayed the night in pre-Civil War Hebron; he’s featured on historical markers all along both the National Road from Wheeling to Columbus, and down the Zane Trace, such as on the marker in Tarleton between here and Chilicothe.
You should remember Clay from your American History classes as one of the early great Congressional figures, a man who would “rather be right than President,” and who along with Daniel Webster helped negotiate the Missouri Compromise, but later came down solidly as anti-slavery, dooming his chances for the White House in the 1840’s and 50’s.
This and other stories may soon be told in cases within the lobby of the Hebron Municipal Complex, as Larry Rodgers of the Hebron Historical Society and Mike McFarland are working at providing some display space and artifacts there. We’ll let you know as those plans develop, or you can just drop in on their meetings on the first Monday of the month at 7:30 pm in the Masonic Building on N. High St.
The first 50 years of Hebron were wild and wooly ones, and there are many more stories to be told about these Hebron Crossroads!
Jeff Gill is pastor of Hebron Christian Church and a semi-professional pumpkin carver. If you have recipes for roast pumpkin seeds or other seasonal delicacies, send them to disciple@voyager.net or call 928-4066.
by Jeff Gill
Harvestime is all around us; the soybeans have gone from yellow to brown, the corn stalks tan from grey-green. With those transformations, the farm equipment is out in the fields not from dawn to dusk, but from can-do to can’t-any-longer.
In the fields around Hebron, coming home from late night meetings, I see headlights out in places where I know headlights can’t be. At home after what I like to think of as a long day, I’m seeing the harvesters out describing ever-decreasing rectangles in the fields behind our house, the floodlit arcs shortening and lengthening across the back window.
Folks, that’s the next step towards your corn flakes and tofu, your tortillas and organic plastics, feed for milk cows and beef cattle. As the bumper sticker says, “If you ate today, thank a farmer!” Just don’t try calling them at home the next few weeks.
A few recent conversations have pointed out to me that not everyone knows what’s going on out in those dustplumed combines by day and brightly lit harvesters at night. Harvest is when the farmers go out in fields and start “bringing in the sheaves,” so to speak. Right now the corn and soybeans are ready for harvest, but wheat and hay have come in weeks ago for many, and the pumpkin crop I think we all know just came ripe.
The trick with corn and beans is the moisture content: too much water content and the crop could rot in storage, increasing the necessary expense of drying, but wait too long for everything to get good and dry, and you run an increased risk of storms flattening the plants so that mechanical harvesting can’t work. There’s more to it than this brief description indicates, but the point to keep in mind is that timing harvest is just as tricky – or just as much of a science mixed with luck, if you like – as planting. Too early, too late. . .too bad.
Ohio doesn’t need riverboat gambling or an expansion of the lottery when we’ve already got farming!
Devine Farms had a great first weekend of “pumpkin season,” and Martha Fickel had the Drama Club gang out running the concessions for Ralph and Charla as a fund raiser. You’ll recognize the hot dog makers and cider pourers from “The Music Man” and “Guys and Dolls” down at Lakewood High, or you will recognize them when you go see “A Christmas Carol” later on this year.
The corn maze is a little smaller than some of the multi-acre works of art around Licking County you’ve seen featured in these pages. If you have a four year old, that’s a good thing!
Chris ran up and down the blind alleys and roundabouts with glee, looking a bit confused at times, but quickly reassured by a glance over his shoulder to confirm Dad was still there and smiling. Dad, of course, could look so confident because he could see the barn roofs over the top of the corn stalks, and from his better vantage point stayed oriented. The little guy could only see corn (or “cown” as he regularly shouted), but trusted the big guy to not let him get too far lost.
Obvious metaphor alert. . .i’ll just let you fill in the rest of that meditation.
We don’t normally cross-promote between the Booster and the Advocate, even though we’re corporate cousins, but this is really just a trip out to the recycle bag in the garage for many of you. Last Sunday (Sept. 29), on page 5D, John Skinner had a great old story about Hebron and Henry Clay back in the early 1800’s.
He references “the Licking Arms, a hostelry in Hebron” as the location for a tale of duels, derring-do, and dauntlessness. You’ll have to find the article to get the whole story, but Henry Clay certainly could have stayed the night in pre-Civil War Hebron; he’s featured on historical markers all along both the National Road from Wheeling to Columbus, and down the Zane Trace, such as on the marker in Tarleton between here and Chilicothe.
You should remember Clay from your American History classes as one of the early great Congressional figures, a man who would “rather be right than President,” and who along with Daniel Webster helped negotiate the Missouri Compromise, but later came down solidly as anti-slavery, dooming his chances for the White House in the 1840’s and 50’s.
This and other stories may soon be told in cases within the lobby of the Hebron Municipal Complex, as Larry Rodgers of the Hebron Historical Society and Mike McFarland are working at providing some display space and artifacts there. We’ll let you know as those plans develop, or you can just drop in on their meetings on the first Monday of the month at 7:30 pm in the Masonic Building on N. High St.
The first 50 years of Hebron were wild and wooly ones, and there are many more stories to be told about these Hebron Crossroads!
Jeff Gill is pastor of Hebron Christian Church and a semi-professional pumpkin carver. If you have recipes for roast pumpkin seeds or other seasonal delicacies, send them to disciple@voyager.net or call 928-4066.
Saturday, September 28, 2002
The Church Window (print edition) – October 2002
Notes From My Knapsack
Sat., Nov. 9 at 9 am is our annual Program Planning Retreat for all elders, deacons & deaconesses, and officers of the congregation.
Organizational Evangelism is the theme this year, as we review our fellowship groups, programs, and events in light of how they help us share the good news of God’s love made known through Jesus. We’ll spend some time in worship and prayer together, a little Bible study, do some practical exercises in personal evangelism, and then use the rest of our time ‘til noon to review 2003 from Epiphany to next Advent.
Every group in the church should be represented, and all members are welcome. At noon, some of us will stay for lunch and the budget committee will meet to take our ministry priorities from the retreat and put them into dollars and sense.
Please be with us for all or part of Nov. 9 and our PPR!
In Grace & Peace,
Pastor Jeff
* * * * * * *
Stewardship & the Diaconate
Over the next few months, various members of the deacons and deaconesses will share the offering meditations. They will tell us about their look into some of the different outreach causes the congregation supports, from Disciples Mission Fund causes like Homeland and Global Ministries, to local work like LEADS and the Housing Coalition.
First Nora Lee Orr and other Women’s Group members will tell us about Church World Service (CWS) and their Blanket Sunday offering, which is a special offering over and above our budget and mission giving, along with the Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter, and Pentecost envelopes.
The youth will also be preparing for the CROP Walk Sun. Oct. 20, which is also a CWS support, of which 25% stays in Licking County. After the first three weeks on our CWS giving, we’ll hear about the Mental Health Assn., the Jail Ministry, the Regional Capital Campaign, overseas missions, and many others. All of these presentations from members of the diaconate will help prepare us for the Annual Congregational Mtg. in January, and allow the diaconate to fulfill their scriptural mandate (Acts 6:1-6 & I Tim. 3:8-13) of helping manage our outreach.
* * * * * * *
Pastor Jeff will present “Your Family History: A Story Worth Telling” on the rescheduled date of Sat., Oct. 26, at 11 am at the new Newark Farm Park north of Cedar Hill Cemetery on Rt. 79.
* * * * * * *
Regional Assembly – Springfield, OH Oct. 18 & 19
Please pray for our delegates and pastor as they help
in the work of the larger church
* * * * * * *
Wednesday Bible Study
10 am, October & November
“Christian Essentials”
starting with the Letter of Jude
(haven’t read that one lately, have you?)
* * * * * * *
Youth Meetings
Oct. 13 – 6 pm
Oct. 20 – CROP Walk after church to 5 pm
Oct. 27 – 6 pm
Notes From My Knapsack
Sat., Nov. 9 at 9 am is our annual Program Planning Retreat for all elders, deacons & deaconesses, and officers of the congregation.
Organizational Evangelism is the theme this year, as we review our fellowship groups, programs, and events in light of how they help us share the good news of God’s love made known through Jesus. We’ll spend some time in worship and prayer together, a little Bible study, do some practical exercises in personal evangelism, and then use the rest of our time ‘til noon to review 2003 from Epiphany to next Advent.
Every group in the church should be represented, and all members are welcome. At noon, some of us will stay for lunch and the budget committee will meet to take our ministry priorities from the retreat and put them into dollars and sense.
Please be with us for all or part of Nov. 9 and our PPR!
In Grace & Peace,
Pastor Jeff
* * * * * * *
Stewardship & the Diaconate
Over the next few months, various members of the deacons and deaconesses will share the offering meditations. They will tell us about their look into some of the different outreach causes the congregation supports, from Disciples Mission Fund causes like Homeland and Global Ministries, to local work like LEADS and the Housing Coalition.
First Nora Lee Orr and other Women’s Group members will tell us about Church World Service (CWS) and their Blanket Sunday offering, which is a special offering over and above our budget and mission giving, along with the Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter, and Pentecost envelopes.
The youth will also be preparing for the CROP Walk Sun. Oct. 20, which is also a CWS support, of which 25% stays in Licking County. After the first three weeks on our CWS giving, we’ll hear about the Mental Health Assn., the Jail Ministry, the Regional Capital Campaign, overseas missions, and many others. All of these presentations from members of the diaconate will help prepare us for the Annual Congregational Mtg. in January, and allow the diaconate to fulfill their scriptural mandate (Acts 6:1-6 & I Tim. 3:8-13) of helping manage our outreach.
* * * * * * *
Pastor Jeff will present “Your Family History: A Story Worth Telling” on the rescheduled date of Sat., Oct. 26, at 11 am at the new Newark Farm Park north of Cedar Hill Cemetery on Rt. 79.
* * * * * * *
Regional Assembly – Springfield, OH Oct. 18 & 19
Please pray for our delegates and pastor as they help
in the work of the larger church
* * * * * * *
Wednesday Bible Study
10 am, October & November
“Christian Essentials”
starting with the Letter of Jude
(haven’t read that one lately, have you?)
* * * * * * *
Youth Meetings
Oct. 13 – 6 pm
Oct. 20 – CROP Walk after church to 5 pm
Oct. 27 – 6 pm
Monday, September 23, 2002
[Note for Knapsack readers: these short Scouting related articles show up each week on the e-mail distributed "Things To Do This Week in Scouting" edited by the amazing Steve Hoar of Licking District, and are posted in the local news page of www.wclt.com. They show up here in bunches of four to six every. . .four to six weeks!]
pax et gratia, jbg
Commissioner's Corner
by Jeff Gill, Dist. Commish
What so many Scouters don't get to experience in Licking District, and what
I'd like to be able to share with the readers of this feature, is the great
variety of people who are all important to Scouting.
Of course, there are all the Cubmasters and Scoutmasters, and Den Leaders
and ASMs, and Pack and Troop Committee chairpeople who are the "first line"
of adult Scouting. As any active Scouter knows, it takes a whole bunch of
"characters" to do character building for our youth, and we've got 'em in
our units. What about beyond the unit level? There are characters there, too!
You may not see them at the next Camporee, but at the District Golf
Challenge, Mark Evans (along with his brother and dad) did another fine job
this summer bringing together a number of business and industry leaders to
bring both dollars and awareness of Scouting to a new level. At the Council
Executive Board, many more folks who you'll not likely see at the next
Roundtable, but veteran Scouters like John Weaver and Norm Sleight of
Licking County, gather round a table to set plans and agendas for all of
Simon Kenton Council. And at the Commissioners' College, you may not all know
Sharon Scheidegger, Nancy Liming, or George Wilhelm, but they were
representing our district among dozens from all around the council.
Men and women in all walks of life are involved in bringing the Scouting
program right down to the basics, and we're thankful for all of them!
* * * * * * *
Commissioner's Corner
by Jeff Gill, Dist. Commish
While we're talking about the wide variety of people in a variety of roles that it takes to provide Scouting, I want to go from the District to the Council level for just a moment.
Whether you're at a Commissioner College, meeting historians of the Tuskeegee Airmen, or church custodians who specialize in historic preservation, or at a Council Exec Board meeting with the heads of our largest local utility and the state cable news network, you can't help but be struck by how necessary each and every member of the structure is to keep the whole standing. Even when celebrities are brought in for special purposes, like Clark Kellogg or Archie Griffin, you can tell that they know what Scouting is, and why they're there to help.
At Woodbadge or Pow-Wows, you meet materials engineers and sales professionals, data entry folk and machine language programmers, corporate execs and the people who serve lunch to corporate execs. But in the uniform shirt of the BSA, whether with blue, red, green, or silver shoulder tabs, we're all simply Scouters. All vitally necessary, and also all necessarily equal in our potential involvement in this amazing organization.
* * * * * * *
Commissioner’s Corner
by Jeff Gill, Dist. Commish
Saturday, October 12th, while Cub Leader Training is going on just across the hall, the District Commissioner Staff will meet from 9:30 to 11 am at Second Presbyterian Church in Newark. In what will be a quarterly schedule of district level meetings, all district scouters involved in roundtables, unit commissioning, or rechartering are invited to join for a time to review the rechartering process.
The recharter period is a crucial time for unit continuity – in simpler terms, units that can’t get their charter reviewed, corrected, and correctly turned in tend to be units that drop. That means a gap in how Scouting is available in that area, and we don’t want that.
If you are a current or former commissioner, please join us on the 12th; a number of folks in Licking District are close to qualifying for the Commissioner’s Key or Arrowhead, and we’d like to get those awarded this spring as appropriate!
Questions? Leave me a message at 928-4066, or e-mail disciple@voyager.net, and I’ll get back to you or get the right person to call you with the right info.
* * * * * * *
Commissioner’s Corner
by Jeff Gill, Dist. Commish
On a personal note, I got a real satisfaction from my September Scouting magazine (sent free to all registered adult Scouters). On page 16 is an article about an Eagle Scout project that really defines what an Eagle Scout project can be, and that alone would have made the article worth reading – and my recommending!
But the real joy was in reference to the young man’s grandfather, in whose memory the project was completed. Gene Hunsberger was an Assistant Scoutmaster in my home troop, “Lucky” 7 of the former Pottawatomie Council, now Troop 907, LaSalle Area Council. Bill Eckert, the long-time Scoutmaster of T-7 (with 50+ Eagles to his credit, including yrs truly), brought on board Mr. H to help the troop while I was in high school, and while I didn’t get to know Mr. Hunsberger as well as my younger brothers did, he was a great asset to the troop where he continued his Scouting career until his untimely death just a few years ago.
The book described in the article was one he did indeed read from at troop campouts when a Sunday morning called for chapel service, and the book’s history with him as a corpsman in WW II and Korea was part of our troop lore. Congrats to Evan Hunsberger on making Eagle, and to Scouting Mag for helping honor a veteran and scouter like his grandfather Gene.
Makes you want to read your Scouting Magazine, doesn’t it?
* * * * * * *
Commissioner’s Corner
by Jeff Gill, Dist. Commish
James E. West, the legendary first Chief Scout Executive of the Boy Scouts of America, was once asked what the three most important things for a prospective adult leader were. His answer: “Training, training, and training.” Jim Francis, our District Chairman, would probably add, “And some training!”
One of the amazing advantages to being an adult leader in the Scouting Movement is the training program. You have training for all branches of the program, at all levels, and now “position specific” training, and you know that other adult leaders that you meet at Pow-Wows, Council Scout Shows, Jamborees, NOACs, and at Philmont have all been through much the same basic steps.
Whether it’s offering the Fast Start video to new adults in your unit, getting scouters off to Basic or Outdoor training, or going off to any one of the many specialized training experiences offered through the year around the council, make sure you keep “the next step” of training in front of you and your fellow Scout leaders.
Questions? Leave me a message at 928-4066, or e-mail disciple@voyager.net, and I’ll get back to you or get the right person to call you with the right info.
* * * * * * *
Commissioner’s Corner
by Jeff Gill, Dist. Commish
Charters: Ya Gotta Have Em! Yep, a charter is a must. Because Scouting loves paperwork? Not hardly; no Scout leader, whether professional or scouter really enjoys fussing with forms and rosters, but the charter is the one indispensable tool for managing our membership, maintaining communications, and supporting continued advancement and/or training.
The charter, with all the right names, ranks/positions, and addresses, allows the Scouter from the council, Boy’s Life and Scouting from national BSA, and other critical communications to get to the right place. Charters may be returned for lacking certain key indications about adult leadership, especially designations for Tiger Cub or Webelos den leaders. Registration info helps us to track who we’re gaining and just as importantly, who we’re losing and at what age. Heads of organizations (pastors, board chairs, club presidents) need to sign the charter and submit a “free” registration: as much so they know who they’re working with as much as so we can know who they are.
And don’t forget that every penny of the now $10 reg fee goes to Irving, Texas to support the registration management and training support programming of the National Council, so they don’t fundraise out from under local councils. That’s where all registrations, especially adults, are reviewed, and that’s a key element of our youth protection strategy.
Questions? Leave me a message at 928-4066, or e-mail disciple@voyager.net, and I’ll get back to you or get the right person to call you with the right info.
pax et gratia, jbg
Commissioner's Corner
by Jeff Gill, Dist. Commish
What so many Scouters don't get to experience in Licking District, and what
I'd like to be able to share with the readers of this feature, is the great
variety of people who are all important to Scouting.
Of course, there are all the Cubmasters and Scoutmasters, and Den Leaders
and ASMs, and Pack and Troop Committee chairpeople who are the "first line"
of adult Scouting. As any active Scouter knows, it takes a whole bunch of
"characters" to do character building for our youth, and we've got 'em in
our units. What about beyond the unit level? There are characters there, too!
You may not see them at the next Camporee, but at the District Golf
Challenge, Mark Evans (along with his brother and dad) did another fine job
this summer bringing together a number of business and industry leaders to
bring both dollars and awareness of Scouting to a new level. At the Council
Executive Board, many more folks who you'll not likely see at the next
Roundtable, but veteran Scouters like John Weaver and Norm Sleight of
Licking County, gather round a table to set plans and agendas for all of
Simon Kenton Council. And at the Commissioners' College, you may not all know
Sharon Scheidegger, Nancy Liming, or George Wilhelm, but they were
representing our district among dozens from all around the council.
Men and women in all walks of life are involved in bringing the Scouting
program right down to the basics, and we're thankful for all of them!
* * * * * * *
Commissioner's Corner
by Jeff Gill, Dist. Commish
While we're talking about the wide variety of people in a variety of roles that it takes to provide Scouting, I want to go from the District to the Council level for just a moment.
Whether you're at a Commissioner College, meeting historians of the Tuskeegee Airmen, or church custodians who specialize in historic preservation, or at a Council Exec Board meeting with the heads of our largest local utility and the state cable news network, you can't help but be struck by how necessary each and every member of the structure is to keep the whole standing. Even when celebrities are brought in for special purposes, like Clark Kellogg or Archie Griffin, you can tell that they know what Scouting is, and why they're there to help.
At Woodbadge or Pow-Wows, you meet materials engineers and sales professionals, data entry folk and machine language programmers, corporate execs and the people who serve lunch to corporate execs. But in the uniform shirt of the BSA, whether with blue, red, green, or silver shoulder tabs, we're all simply Scouters. All vitally necessary, and also all necessarily equal in our potential involvement in this amazing organization.
* * * * * * *
Commissioner’s Corner
by Jeff Gill, Dist. Commish
Saturday, October 12th, while Cub Leader Training is going on just across the hall, the District Commissioner Staff will meet from 9:30 to 11 am at Second Presbyterian Church in Newark. In what will be a quarterly schedule of district level meetings, all district scouters involved in roundtables, unit commissioning, or rechartering are invited to join for a time to review the rechartering process.
The recharter period is a crucial time for unit continuity – in simpler terms, units that can’t get their charter reviewed, corrected, and correctly turned in tend to be units that drop. That means a gap in how Scouting is available in that area, and we don’t want that.
If you are a current or former commissioner, please join us on the 12th; a number of folks in Licking District are close to qualifying for the Commissioner’s Key or Arrowhead, and we’d like to get those awarded this spring as appropriate!
Questions? Leave me a message at 928-4066, or e-mail disciple@voyager.net, and I’ll get back to you or get the right person to call you with the right info.
* * * * * * *
Commissioner’s Corner
by Jeff Gill, Dist. Commish
On a personal note, I got a real satisfaction from my September Scouting magazine (sent free to all registered adult Scouters). On page 16 is an article about an Eagle Scout project that really defines what an Eagle Scout project can be, and that alone would have made the article worth reading – and my recommending!
But the real joy was in reference to the young man’s grandfather, in whose memory the project was completed. Gene Hunsberger was an Assistant Scoutmaster in my home troop, “Lucky” 7 of the former Pottawatomie Council, now Troop 907, LaSalle Area Council. Bill Eckert, the long-time Scoutmaster of T-7 (with 50+ Eagles to his credit, including yrs truly), brought on board Mr. H to help the troop while I was in high school, and while I didn’t get to know Mr. Hunsberger as well as my younger brothers did, he was a great asset to the troop where he continued his Scouting career until his untimely death just a few years ago.
The book described in the article was one he did indeed read from at troop campouts when a Sunday morning called for chapel service, and the book’s history with him as a corpsman in WW II and Korea was part of our troop lore. Congrats to Evan Hunsberger on making Eagle, and to Scouting Mag for helping honor a veteran and scouter like his grandfather Gene.
Makes you want to read your Scouting Magazine, doesn’t it?
* * * * * * *
Commissioner’s Corner
by Jeff Gill, Dist. Commish
James E. West, the legendary first Chief Scout Executive of the Boy Scouts of America, was once asked what the three most important things for a prospective adult leader were. His answer: “Training, training, and training.” Jim Francis, our District Chairman, would probably add, “And some training!”
One of the amazing advantages to being an adult leader in the Scouting Movement is the training program. You have training for all branches of the program, at all levels, and now “position specific” training, and you know that other adult leaders that you meet at Pow-Wows, Council Scout Shows, Jamborees, NOACs, and at Philmont have all been through much the same basic steps.
Whether it’s offering the Fast Start video to new adults in your unit, getting scouters off to Basic or Outdoor training, or going off to any one of the many specialized training experiences offered through the year around the council, make sure you keep “the next step” of training in front of you and your fellow Scout leaders.
Questions? Leave me a message at 928-4066, or e-mail disciple@voyager.net, and I’ll get back to you or get the right person to call you with the right info.
* * * * * * *
Commissioner’s Corner
by Jeff Gill, Dist. Commish
Charters: Ya Gotta Have Em! Yep, a charter is a must. Because Scouting loves paperwork? Not hardly; no Scout leader, whether professional or scouter really enjoys fussing with forms and rosters, but the charter is the one indispensable tool for managing our membership, maintaining communications, and supporting continued advancement and/or training.
The charter, with all the right names, ranks/positions, and addresses, allows the Scouter from the council, Boy’s Life and Scouting from national BSA, and other critical communications to get to the right place. Charters may be returned for lacking certain key indications about adult leadership, especially designations for Tiger Cub or Webelos den leaders. Registration info helps us to track who we’re gaining and just as importantly, who we’re losing and at what age. Heads of organizations (pastors, board chairs, club presidents) need to sign the charter and submit a “free” registration: as much so they know who they’re working with as much as so we can know who they are.
And don’t forget that every penny of the now $10 reg fee goes to Irving, Texas to support the registration management and training support programming of the National Council, so they don’t fundraise out from under local councils. That’s where all registrations, especially adults, are reviewed, and that’s a key element of our youth protection strategy.
Questions? Leave me a message at 928-4066, or e-mail disciple@voyager.net, and I’ll get back to you or get the right person to call you with the right info.
Sunday, September 22, 2002
Hebron Crossroads 9-29
"Hebron Reads. . .About Pumpkins!"
by Jeff Gill
For those lucky few who get this paper on Friday afternoon, from 6 pm to 6:30 pm the world famous Devine Farms Barrel Train ride will give free rides to kids on the north side of Hebron Christian Church (Cully Ave.) starting from the rear parking lot. Then from 6:45 pm to twilight, the tractor-led string of blue barrels will move to the south side of Main St., meeting in front of Hebron Elementary on Deacon St.
Devine Farms is on Way-West Main St., aka Rt. 40, on the south side of the road -- brake when you see pumpkins! Stump pumpkins, stuffed pumpkins, even real pumpkins arrayed in ranks for the assault on October. Buy them large or small, for painting or carving, but get 'em here in Hebron. Miss Fickle's Drama Club from Lakewood High will be staffing the refreshment area this year, so you can help them in their fundraising while enjoying seasonal goodies. Charla and Ralph will have the usual corn maze, displays, and oh yes, the Barrel Train.
Speaking of Hebron Elementary, Michelle Henry tells me that our local Ohio Reads program, unsurprisingly named "Hebron Reads!", is getting started again with a new school year. Mrs. Henry says she and the other reading teachers are looking forward to sharing reading tutoring tips with some of us old regulars, and with some new tutors. This begins my fourth year with the program, and I can testify that the tutor gets as much joy of learning out of helping teach reading and improving reading skills with the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd graders as those kids do. I've learned about flying pigs, motorcycle riding mouses, and talking moles, and where else can you do that?
Parents, high schoolers, community volunteers are all welcome, but you must be trained, and be able to tutor at some point in the school day between 8:30 am and 3:30 pm.
Call Hebron Elementary at 928-2661 and say you want more information about the "Hebron Reads!" program. Training for returning and new tutors is planned at two times, on Wednesday morning Oct. 2 or Thursday afternoon Oct. 3, and then you'll be matched up with a child for the weekly reading time. You can be a great help to our school by volunteering just a half-hour a week, and if you can give a full hour or two, they can make good use of your time.
Kara Glaser continues to inspire everyone in Hebron. As most of you know, the surgeons did end up recommending the removal of her foot, but largely because of the strength and mobility they think they can promise her with a prosthetic for her lower leg and foot. They mention everything from soccer to square dancing, and for that we're thankful.
But the story should also be told, speaking of strength, that Kara has not been content with giving away a big chunk of her stuffed animal collection. She's been sending her aunt out to buy more with gift money she's gotten. . .so she can give away even more to the other children on her floor.
Kara will be missed at Children's Hospital, but it is only fair to say that she won't miss the place very much herself, and should be home by the time you read this. Welcome home, Glasers!
And we also congratulate Megan Curran and Scott Amick on their wedding this weekend; they get to test out the new air conditioning at Hebron Christian Church, where Mayor Mason and myself will co-officiate at their marriage celebration. A beautiful fall evening is anticipated for them, and we hope they come back and visit Dick & Shirley often.
Jeff Gill is pastor of Hebron Christian Church and an occasional carver of pumpkins; if you have harvest tales or Halloween news to report for October, call 928-4066 or e-mail him at disciple@voyager.net.
"Hebron Reads. . .About Pumpkins!"
by Jeff Gill
For those lucky few who get this paper on Friday afternoon, from 6 pm to 6:30 pm the world famous Devine Farms Barrel Train ride will give free rides to kids on the north side of Hebron Christian Church (Cully Ave.) starting from the rear parking lot. Then from 6:45 pm to twilight, the tractor-led string of blue barrels will move to the south side of Main St., meeting in front of Hebron Elementary on Deacon St.
Devine Farms is on Way-West Main St., aka Rt. 40, on the south side of the road -- brake when you see pumpkins! Stump pumpkins, stuffed pumpkins, even real pumpkins arrayed in ranks for the assault on October. Buy them large or small, for painting or carving, but get 'em here in Hebron. Miss Fickle's Drama Club from Lakewood High will be staffing the refreshment area this year, so you can help them in their fundraising while enjoying seasonal goodies. Charla and Ralph will have the usual corn maze, displays, and oh yes, the Barrel Train.
Speaking of Hebron Elementary, Michelle Henry tells me that our local Ohio Reads program, unsurprisingly named "Hebron Reads!", is getting started again with a new school year. Mrs. Henry says she and the other reading teachers are looking forward to sharing reading tutoring tips with some of us old regulars, and with some new tutors. This begins my fourth year with the program, and I can testify that the tutor gets as much joy of learning out of helping teach reading and improving reading skills with the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd graders as those kids do. I've learned about flying pigs, motorcycle riding mouses, and talking moles, and where else can you do that?
Parents, high schoolers, community volunteers are all welcome, but you must be trained, and be able to tutor at some point in the school day between 8:30 am and 3:30 pm.
Call Hebron Elementary at 928-2661 and say you want more information about the "Hebron Reads!" program. Training for returning and new tutors is planned at two times, on Wednesday morning Oct. 2 or Thursday afternoon Oct. 3, and then you'll be matched up with a child for the weekly reading time. You can be a great help to our school by volunteering just a half-hour a week, and if you can give a full hour or two, they can make good use of your time.
Kara Glaser continues to inspire everyone in Hebron. As most of you know, the surgeons did end up recommending the removal of her foot, but largely because of the strength and mobility they think they can promise her with a prosthetic for her lower leg and foot. They mention everything from soccer to square dancing, and for that we're thankful.
But the story should also be told, speaking of strength, that Kara has not been content with giving away a big chunk of her stuffed animal collection. She's been sending her aunt out to buy more with gift money she's gotten. . .so she can give away even more to the other children on her floor.
Kara will be missed at Children's Hospital, but it is only fair to say that she won't miss the place very much herself, and should be home by the time you read this. Welcome home, Glasers!
And we also congratulate Megan Curran and Scott Amick on their wedding this weekend; they get to test out the new air conditioning at Hebron Christian Church, where Mayor Mason and myself will co-officiate at their marriage celebration. A beautiful fall evening is anticipated for them, and we hope they come back and visit Dick & Shirley often.
Jeff Gill is pastor of Hebron Christian Church and an occasional carver of pumpkins; if you have harvest tales or Halloween news to report for October, call 928-4066 or e-mail him at disciple@voyager.net.
Tuesday, September 17, 2002
Hebron Crossroads 9-22
“It Takes a Village. . .To Paint Fire Hydrants”
by Jeff Gill
Wednesday, Sept. 11 dawned as clear and beautiful as last year’s
day began, but the end of the day was filled with hope and
gladness for 2002.
“Respond To The Call” brought together not only some 60 plus
local residents, but also more than 30 students and parents from
Mrs. Maslowski and Ms. Manter’s 2nd grade class and most of the
firefighters and police officers of Hebron.
At last count, over 125 hydrants were painted and brightened, with
some left undone simply because they are about to be worked on
or turned around. The bright yellow fireplugs say clearly that we
take pride in our village and are all involved in our mutual safety
and security.
Before the service project honoring 9-11 began at noon, it was an
honor to help the HFD & HPD commemorate the losses of last
year by the old Hebron fire bell. Many of those who were gathered
around the flagpole and bell carriage at noon were found just
across the way at 6:30 pm, when the American Legion Post held
their very moving flag memorial and disposal service.
From the County Prayer Breakfast early that morning to Licking
Baptist’s remembrance service in the evening, the focus was on
Patriots and progress, on rebuilding and restoring, insofar as we
can, what was lost, and building anew on solid foundations. Let
that be our goal every 9-11!
We will have another community service project next Sept. 11, of
that you can be sure.
Thanks go to so many groups and individuals that this column is
sure to miss some, but the attempt has to be made: first to the
elders and officers and members of Hebron Christian Church who
came up with the idea for “Respond To The Call” and put the plan
together; thanks to Action Pest Control, Clay’s Café, Hebron Lions,
and Slater Family Farms for their contributions; and of course to
the fire and police departments for their support and involvement,
as well as to the staff of the village, especially Mindy Kester, Mike
McFarland, Jennifer McNichols, Linda Nicodemus, and Theresa
Ours.
Along with Mayor Cliff Mason, Councilmembers Jim Friend, Mike
Halter, Annelle Porter, and Scott Walters were very helpful, but
some of the most helpful assistance came from their spouses,
Rose Mason, Kim Halter, Dave Porter, and Beth Walters at the
registration table. Dave went around and personally
weed-whacked all the hydrant bases so the painting could go right
down to the standpipe collar on most of them. Charla Devine of
Devine Farms, which is starting their busy season these next few
weeks, came out and took on some High St. hydrants that required
a safety guard of firemen, but she didn’t seem to mind too much.
Others who served whether in painting, food, or supervision,
included: Daphne Cable, David Cable, Martha Cable, Allan Cook,
Amber Damron, Heather Damron, Marian Davis, Vivian
Dernberger, Pam DeVaul, Jeff Gill, Vern Griffith, Jared Halter,
Janice Harris, William Harris, Mary Lawrence, Ila Mason, Jeff
Mason, Julie McNichols, Tom McNichols, Joyce Meredith, Pat
Miller, Maribel Neel, Kim Ogershok, Art Ours, Patsy Ours, Helen
Parker, Dale Scheidegger, David Scheidegger, Michael
Scheidegger, Sharon Scheidegger, Jody Schoop, Anne Slater,
John W. Slater, Chad Smathers, Thelma Stadden, Josh Walters,
Connie Wildermuth, Nick Wildermuth, Tracy Wildermuth, and Jean
Wonders.
If we missed anyone, my apologies, but it was great having so
much help we started to lose track! And a final huge thank you to
Lt. Mike Yost, who did such a great job co-ordinating the paint and
supplies end of the whole deal.
No connection, I’m sure, but have you noticed the re-siding and
re-painting work being done by homeowners and landlords
around the village, particularly along Main and High Streets? Our
fair village just gets better looking all the time. . .
And a closing observation about service and selflessness: over at
Children’s Hospital, where Kara Glaser is recovering from the
severe injuries to her leg from a few weeks back, that young lady
has been using her first few trips around the floor in a wheelchair
to give away some of her beanie babies and stuffed animals she’s
received over these last two weeks. “I’ve got more than I need,”
Kara says, “and some of them don’t have so much.” We could all
do with her sense of how much is enough for ourselves, and how
best to make use of the excess. Thanks, Kara!
Jeff Gill is pastor of Hebron Christian Church and an expert at fire
hydrant identification (the Chattanooga hydrants are very different
from the Anniston AL ones close up, you know). If you have hydrant
sightings or other Hebron news, call 928-4066 or e-mail
disciple@voyager.net.
“It Takes a Village. . .To Paint Fire Hydrants”
by Jeff Gill
Wednesday, Sept. 11 dawned as clear and beautiful as last year’s
day began, but the end of the day was filled with hope and
gladness for 2002.
“Respond To The Call” brought together not only some 60 plus
local residents, but also more than 30 students and parents from
Mrs. Maslowski and Ms. Manter’s 2nd grade class and most of the
firefighters and police officers of Hebron.
At last count, over 125 hydrants were painted and brightened, with
some left undone simply because they are about to be worked on
or turned around. The bright yellow fireplugs say clearly that we
take pride in our village and are all involved in our mutual safety
and security.
Before the service project honoring 9-11 began at noon, it was an
honor to help the HFD & HPD commemorate the losses of last
year by the old Hebron fire bell. Many of those who were gathered
around the flagpole and bell carriage at noon were found just
across the way at 6:30 pm, when the American Legion Post held
their very moving flag memorial and disposal service.
From the County Prayer Breakfast early that morning to Licking
Baptist’s remembrance service in the evening, the focus was on
Patriots and progress, on rebuilding and restoring, insofar as we
can, what was lost, and building anew on solid foundations. Let
that be our goal every 9-11!
We will have another community service project next Sept. 11, of
that you can be sure.
Thanks go to so many groups and individuals that this column is
sure to miss some, but the attempt has to be made: first to the
elders and officers and members of Hebron Christian Church who
came up with the idea for “Respond To The Call” and put the plan
together; thanks to Action Pest Control, Clay’s Café, Hebron Lions,
and Slater Family Farms for their contributions; and of course to
the fire and police departments for their support and involvement,
as well as to the staff of the village, especially Mindy Kester, Mike
McFarland, Jennifer McNichols, Linda Nicodemus, and Theresa
Ours.
Along with Mayor Cliff Mason, Councilmembers Jim Friend, Mike
Halter, Annelle Porter, and Scott Walters were very helpful, but
some of the most helpful assistance came from their spouses,
Rose Mason, Kim Halter, Dave Porter, and Beth Walters at the
registration table. Dave went around and personally
weed-whacked all the hydrant bases so the painting could go right
down to the standpipe collar on most of them. Charla Devine of
Devine Farms, which is starting their busy season these next few
weeks, came out and took on some High St. hydrants that required
a safety guard of firemen, but she didn’t seem to mind too much.
Others who served whether in painting, food, or supervision,
included: Daphne Cable, David Cable, Martha Cable, Allan Cook,
Amber Damron, Heather Damron, Marian Davis, Vivian
Dernberger, Pam DeVaul, Jeff Gill, Vern Griffith, Jared Halter,
Janice Harris, William Harris, Mary Lawrence, Ila Mason, Jeff
Mason, Julie McNichols, Tom McNichols, Joyce Meredith, Pat
Miller, Maribel Neel, Kim Ogershok, Art Ours, Patsy Ours, Helen
Parker, Dale Scheidegger, David Scheidegger, Michael
Scheidegger, Sharon Scheidegger, Jody Schoop, Anne Slater,
John W. Slater, Chad Smathers, Thelma Stadden, Josh Walters,
Connie Wildermuth, Nick Wildermuth, Tracy Wildermuth, and Jean
Wonders.
If we missed anyone, my apologies, but it was great having so
much help we started to lose track! And a final huge thank you to
Lt. Mike Yost, who did such a great job co-ordinating the paint and
supplies end of the whole deal.
No connection, I’m sure, but have you noticed the re-siding and
re-painting work being done by homeowners and landlords
around the village, particularly along Main and High Streets? Our
fair village just gets better looking all the time. . .
And a closing observation about service and selflessness: over at
Children’s Hospital, where Kara Glaser is recovering from the
severe injuries to her leg from a few weeks back, that young lady
has been using her first few trips around the floor in a wheelchair
to give away some of her beanie babies and stuffed animals she’s
received over these last two weeks. “I’ve got more than I need,”
Kara says, “and some of them don’t have so much.” We could all
do with her sense of how much is enough for ourselves, and how
best to make use of the excess. Thanks, Kara!
Jeff Gill is pastor of Hebron Christian Church and an expert at fire
hydrant identification (the Chattanooga hydrants are very different
from the Anniston AL ones close up, you know). If you have hydrant
sightings or other Hebron news, call 928-4066 or e-mail
disciple@voyager.net.
Tuesday, September 10, 2002
Hebron Crossroads 9-15
by Jeff Gill
One of the interesting effects of writing in the echo chamber of a weekly newspaper is that you’re better at reporting on what’s going to happen next week than what just happened yesterday, given the necessary lead time on publishing and distributing. On the other hand, you get to look back at stories after the first rush of events has settled down.
So while the “Respond To The Call” accounts of last Wednesday will have to wait another week, I can tell you something about how, at the Sweet Corn Festival in Millersport, the Lakewood Band Boosters went through 110 bags of doughnut mix, after using 83 the year before! The Buckeye Lake Youth Association waffle fry-ers and Hebron Lions also were kept hopping.
Fund raisers are a tough way to generate a budget, but when dues and fees and pledges reach their limits, the unsung heroes who make projects possible for so many youth and community activities are the ones who say yes to that extra shift in the booth, or run out late at night for one last load of supplies. Give yourselves a pat on the back, dunkers and dippers! Those doughnuts turn into dollars that are greatly needed and well used.
Coming up on Wednesday Sept. 18 at 7 pm in the Lakewood Intermediate building is the Fall Round-up for Cub Scout Pack 33. Ed Fuentes is Cubmaster this year, making the transition with the help of Doug Hohl. Pack 33 is ready to sign up boys from 1st grade Tiger Cubs to 2nd grade Wolves and 3rd grade Bears, with the 4th and 5th grade Webelos den to ready the Cubs for Boy Scouts.
Pack 33 is one of the strongest Cub packs in Licking County, and they’ve been helping support Pack 27 out of Hebron Elementary until they can build up a full crew of adult leadership, so this is the Round-up for all the Lakewood district Cub Scouts.
This is the season for all the Cub packs around Licking County to register new scouts and start Fall programs, so whether you live around the Lakewood school district or anywhere else you might be reading the Booster, if you have a young boy in the house, check out Scouting for him!
When the Cubs and Boy Scouts head out to Camp Falling Rock, which just celebrated a 75th anniversary in August, they’ll see the woolly worms out and about. No column worth its salt would miss commenting on wooly worms, and how they predict (?) how hard a winter we’ll have. My problem here is that I’ve heard a) a wide dark stripe means heavy snow, and b) a narrow dark stripe means a hard winter.
It gets worse: the last woolly worm I saw, doing what I hope is the “last mow” of the yard this year, was all tan, with no dark brown stripe at all, except a ring near the tail. Does that mean we’ll get flaming hailstones in December?
Send your reports of woolly worm mythology and stripe sightings to disciple@voyager.net, or leave me a message at 928-4066, and we’ll write ‘em up.
Our entire community is keeping up our prayers and sharing information on young Kara Glaser, who was so badly injured last week after her dad’s motorcycle was struck by a car on US 40 near York Road. After a number of surgeries, there’s no doubt that more are going to be needed, but she’s out of the ICU at Children’s Hospital, and we look forward to seeing her back in Hebron soon. With the odd schedule of these columns, she may be back home with Jim and Tina even as you read this!
Jeff Gill is pastor of Hebron Christian Church and an active Scouter in the Simon Kenton Council, BSA. If you have local news or events, call him at 928-4066 or e-mail disciple@voyager.net.
by Jeff Gill
One of the interesting effects of writing in the echo chamber of a weekly newspaper is that you’re better at reporting on what’s going to happen next week than what just happened yesterday, given the necessary lead time on publishing and distributing. On the other hand, you get to look back at stories after the first rush of events has settled down.
So while the “Respond To The Call” accounts of last Wednesday will have to wait another week, I can tell you something about how, at the Sweet Corn Festival in Millersport, the Lakewood Band Boosters went through 110 bags of doughnut mix, after using 83 the year before! The Buckeye Lake Youth Association waffle fry-ers and Hebron Lions also were kept hopping.
Fund raisers are a tough way to generate a budget, but when dues and fees and pledges reach their limits, the unsung heroes who make projects possible for so many youth and community activities are the ones who say yes to that extra shift in the booth, or run out late at night for one last load of supplies. Give yourselves a pat on the back, dunkers and dippers! Those doughnuts turn into dollars that are greatly needed and well used.
Coming up on Wednesday Sept. 18 at 7 pm in the Lakewood Intermediate building is the Fall Round-up for Cub Scout Pack 33. Ed Fuentes is Cubmaster this year, making the transition with the help of Doug Hohl. Pack 33 is ready to sign up boys from 1st grade Tiger Cubs to 2nd grade Wolves and 3rd grade Bears, with the 4th and 5th grade Webelos den to ready the Cubs for Boy Scouts.
Pack 33 is one of the strongest Cub packs in Licking County, and they’ve been helping support Pack 27 out of Hebron Elementary until they can build up a full crew of adult leadership, so this is the Round-up for all the Lakewood district Cub Scouts.
This is the season for all the Cub packs around Licking County to register new scouts and start Fall programs, so whether you live around the Lakewood school district or anywhere else you might be reading the Booster, if you have a young boy in the house, check out Scouting for him!
When the Cubs and Boy Scouts head out to Camp Falling Rock, which just celebrated a 75th anniversary in August, they’ll see the woolly worms out and about. No column worth its salt would miss commenting on wooly worms, and how they predict (?) how hard a winter we’ll have. My problem here is that I’ve heard a) a wide dark stripe means heavy snow, and b) a narrow dark stripe means a hard winter.
It gets worse: the last woolly worm I saw, doing what I hope is the “last mow” of the yard this year, was all tan, with no dark brown stripe at all, except a ring near the tail. Does that mean we’ll get flaming hailstones in December?
Send your reports of woolly worm mythology and stripe sightings to disciple@voyager.net, or leave me a message at 928-4066, and we’ll write ‘em up.
Our entire community is keeping up our prayers and sharing information on young Kara Glaser, who was so badly injured last week after her dad’s motorcycle was struck by a car on US 40 near York Road. After a number of surgeries, there’s no doubt that more are going to be needed, but she’s out of the ICU at Children’s Hospital, and we look forward to seeing her back in Hebron soon. With the odd schedule of these columns, she may be back home with Jim and Tina even as you read this!
Jeff Gill is pastor of Hebron Christian Church and an active Scouter in the Simon Kenton Council, BSA. If you have local news or events, call him at 928-4066 or e-mail disciple@voyager.net.
Wednesday, September 04, 2002
Well folks, after re-editing and re-sending this two or three times to the Ohio Bicentennial Commission, it suddenly struck me that if you're willing to read my newspaper/radio/church newsletter column stuff, you might actually find this of interest. The request was for 4 to 6 ds pages (approx 1500 wds) on the history of one's religious tradition, with some focus on the state of Ohio, for a book (or CD-ROm, they're now saying) to go out to school libraries and such for the 1803-2003 state bicentennial.
Have you ever noticed that it's the stuff you write for free that is the hardest to get into print? Anyhow, i shudder to think how much total time has gone into this over the last year, but i hope that -- keeping the parameters in mind -- it works for you. Comments, as always, welcome at disciple@voyager.net.
* * * * * * *
Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Ohio
By Jeff Gill
Restoration of “the ancient order of things” and building Christian unity make up the core teaching, or “plea” of Restoration movement churches. Even in the division between Disciples of Christ, Churches of Christ, and independent Christian Churches, all three branches of the Restoration Movement (sometimes called the “Stone-Campbell movement” by historians) still claim this essential plea, and look back to early leaders like Thomas Campbell with their affirmation that “the church of Christ upon earth is essentially, intentionally, and constitutionally one.”
How did a movement based on the need for Christian unity, and discarding creeds and doctrine for a re-emphasis on New Testament teaching as a model for church governance, end up becoming a denomination, let alone three? The Restoration Movement story is told in Ohio much as it might be for the United States and Canada as a whole.
From frontier areas of America as they were around 1800, the need for flexible church organization and the desire for leadership whether ordained or not, sent ripples of change through existing denominational structures. Starting in the Ohio River valley and other margins of settlement, preachers found themselves inviting Christians together who had not worshiped in one place back in Europe, or even along the Atlantic shore. People asked to join in communion celebrations who had not seen clergy of their denomination for months or even years, as well as needing baptisms, weddings, and funerals. Communities used to doing everything from barn raising to militia drill together wanted to hold revival services together, too. Pastors started to wonder, “Why not?”
Barton Stone, a Presbyterian pastor in northern Kentucky, hosted a revival at Cane Ridge in 1801. Methodists and Baptists and scattered other Christian groups were represented in both the preaching and hearing at this celebrated event which drew in thousands from both sides of the Ohio. Presbyterian authorities were highly critical after reports of the eclectic nature of the services, and their attacks led to Stone and others leaving their presbytery, or local organization of churches, and forming their own.
But even that they shortly dissolved, expressing their desire in 1804 to “sink into union with the Body of Christ.” This group, calling themselves simply Christians, acknowledged no organization above that of congregation, and pointed to the scriptures as their single authoritative guide. As Duane Cummins has pointed out, “the formalized church of the time. . .became irrelevant to the frontier settlers.” Tradition and distant formal authority was not a factor in their social setting, and carried little weight in how the settlers turned towards their God.
Not long after, and equally near the waters of the Ohio, a Scots-Irish preacher came by invitation to western Pennsylvania. Thomas Campbell was admittedly weary of the divisions in the Presbyterian church of northern Ireland, but hoped as he left family behind in 1807 that a new start for Christ’s church could be found in this New World. Instead, the disputes over doctrine had come with the other baggage into the frontier settlements along Chartiers and Cross Creeks, and Thomas was quickly embroiled in the same controversies over open communion tables and who was “fit” to serve and receive at the Lord’s table.
Like Stone in Kentucky, Campbell in Pennsylvania withdrew from denominational structures before he could be rejected, and organized on the local, congregational level. He defended his actions in a publication called “Declaration and Address,” which closed with thirteen propositions for the restoration of the New Testament church and Christian unity, starting with his declaration about the nature of “the church of Christ upon earth” and continuing in words best summarized by the reforming motto that predates both Stone and Campbell, “In essentials, unity; in non-essentials, liberty; in all things, charity.”
Almost immediately upon the publication of “Declaration and Address” in 1809, the rest of Thomas Campbell’s family came to Washington, PA. His 21 year old son Alexander had helped his mother Jane hold the family together through a shipwreck during their first attempt to reach America, and nearly a year in Glasgow, Scotland waiting for their next chance to seek passage aboard the “Hibernia.”
Alexander had used the unexpected delay well, attending college at the University of Glasgow, in part out of a commitment to Christian ministry made during the shipwreck that brought them there. He was exposed to Scotland reformers like Glas, Sandeman, and the Haldanes, whose ideas about congregational independence, weekly communion, and believer’s baptism by immersion (given at the “age of accountability” instead of baptizing infants) were to have a lasting impact on the Campbells.
Thomas was relieved to find, when he and Alexander were reunited, that just before departing Glasgow, Alexander too had broken with the Church of Scotland, primarily over the practice of “testing” church members to determine their fitness to receive communion at one of the few times a year the Lord’s Table was set. Both father and son had come to see that baptism and communion are freely given gifts of God through the church to help make souls ready for grace, and that requiring signs of grace before permitting access to those sacraments (or “ordinances” in the language of the reformers) was putting human-made barriers in the way of God’s renewing activity in the world.
During the next year, father and son joined with other families in their area in forming the Christian Association of Washington, PA; meeting in a variety of locations, they soon felt the need to build a place of worship convenient to fellow believers who were coming from all along the valleys and ridges draining into the Ohio. At Brush Run in 1811, right up against the northern panhandle of what was still Virginia (now West Virginia), they built their first church. A fateful trip to borrow precious books, rare on the frontier, took Alexander across the Virginia border to what is now Bethany, West Virginia, where he would meet his future wife Margaret and the place where – when home! – he would live out the rest of his life. He would be ordained by the Brush Run elders on New Year’s Day of 1812, and married not long after.
The newly married couple almost made it to Ohio, now a state, when they considered a move in 1814 to the Zanesville area with a number of younger families out of Brush Run. The plan to pioneer a reforming community, worshiping together and educating their children in the light of “clear teachings of the Bible,” was put on a back burner when Margaret’s father offered his Buffalo Creek home and acreage to the young Campbells for one dollar.
Farming, raising a family, and leading a local congregation could have easily been the rest of Alexander’s story, but the desire to be part of a larger fellowship and supportive Christian community led the Brush Run reformers into and out of Baptist associations, which seemed at first a congenial home for their particular religious beliefs and practices. The frontier respect for autonomy and independence continued to attract supporters, and also kept them in conflict with church structures and traditions. These conflicts led them to a firm objection to doctrinal confessions and creeds “as a test of fellowship,” even when they might have agreed with the substance of their content. The “Christian Baptist” was a publication begun by Campbell in 1823 to share more widely their belief that a simple “Good Confession” of faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior was the only requirement for membership in a fellowship of “Disciples,” which was scripturally his preferred name for their churches.
The final break with the Mahoning (Baptist) Association in Austintown, OH in 1830 led to a change in the title of Campbell’s publication, and a new self-understanding as “a Restoration movement.” Named from Alexander’s belief that the work of the church was to teach and embody the future millennium of Christ’s reign over creation, “The Millenial Harbinger” would carry the Restorationist message not just all across the frontier but ultimately around the world. A compelling preacher from Pittsburgh named Walter Scott joined the growing movement, and began in the Western Reserve area of Ohio to preach in existing churches and begin new congregations. In years to come, many of these northeast Ohioans would follow the frontier to Indiana and Iowa, or south through Missouri to Oklahoma and Texas, repeating the process of church planting they experienced back in Ohio and spreading their model of congregationally governed churches with lay leadership empowered to serve communion and baptize upon hearing the simple words of Peter’s Good Confession.
When Scott moved the center of his ministry down to the Cincinnati area, more connections developed between the “Christians” of Barton Stone and the “Disciples” who had been influenced by the Campbells. New Year’s Day 1832 brought these two streams together in a formal greeting at a worship service in Lexington, KY. While these currents brought strength and power to the Restorationist movement, they also introduced strong forces that Alexander was only just able to hold together until his death in 1866.
As the 1800’s drew to a close, issues of slavery and the Civil War, modernism and “innovations” such as musical instruments in worship, and resistance to co-operative mission work as “unscriptural” led the Churches of Christ down a separate path. Independent Christian Churches have loosely organized around the North American Christian Convention as they parted from the congregations and state societies that came together as the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), the formal name and structure adopted in the late 1960’s. The Christian Church in Ohio, one of over 30 regional bodies for Disciples’ congregations in this state, grew out of the state missionary and Sunday School societies whose co-operative work had grown out of the initial association started in Cincinnati in 1849, with Alexander Campbell as first secretary.
Memorable figures from our past still inspire us today, reminding Ohio Disciples of their traditions of honoring education and public service: embodied by names like James A. Garfield, the only ordained minister to serve as President of the United States, and earlier president of Hiram College, a Disciples’ foundation following in the example of Campbell’s Bethany College. During the last century, notable figures like Gaines Cook, Herald Monroe, and Howard Ratcliff have led the evolving institution that we now call the Christian Church in Ohio, made up of 200 congregations around the state. Today, Ohio Disciples look with pride to their camp and conference programs for youth and adults celebrating over 50 years of vital ministry at Camp Christian near Magnetic Springs, and honor the leadership role our denomination continues to play in ecumenical bodies like the Ohio Council of Churches and Churches Uniting in Christ. With Barton Stone, we still affirm that “Christian unity is our polar star.”
Have you ever noticed that it's the stuff you write for free that is the hardest to get into print? Anyhow, i shudder to think how much total time has gone into this over the last year, but i hope that -- keeping the parameters in mind -- it works for you. Comments, as always, welcome at disciple@voyager.net.
* * * * * * *
Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Ohio
By Jeff Gill
Restoration of “the ancient order of things” and building Christian unity make up the core teaching, or “plea” of Restoration movement churches. Even in the division between Disciples of Christ, Churches of Christ, and independent Christian Churches, all three branches of the Restoration Movement (sometimes called the “Stone-Campbell movement” by historians) still claim this essential plea, and look back to early leaders like Thomas Campbell with their affirmation that “the church of Christ upon earth is essentially, intentionally, and constitutionally one.”
How did a movement based on the need for Christian unity, and discarding creeds and doctrine for a re-emphasis on New Testament teaching as a model for church governance, end up becoming a denomination, let alone three? The Restoration Movement story is told in Ohio much as it might be for the United States and Canada as a whole.
From frontier areas of America as they were around 1800, the need for flexible church organization and the desire for leadership whether ordained or not, sent ripples of change through existing denominational structures. Starting in the Ohio River valley and other margins of settlement, preachers found themselves inviting Christians together who had not worshiped in one place back in Europe, or even along the Atlantic shore. People asked to join in communion celebrations who had not seen clergy of their denomination for months or even years, as well as needing baptisms, weddings, and funerals. Communities used to doing everything from barn raising to militia drill together wanted to hold revival services together, too. Pastors started to wonder, “Why not?”
Barton Stone, a Presbyterian pastor in northern Kentucky, hosted a revival at Cane Ridge in 1801. Methodists and Baptists and scattered other Christian groups were represented in both the preaching and hearing at this celebrated event which drew in thousands from both sides of the Ohio. Presbyterian authorities were highly critical after reports of the eclectic nature of the services, and their attacks led to Stone and others leaving their presbytery, or local organization of churches, and forming their own.
But even that they shortly dissolved, expressing their desire in 1804 to “sink into union with the Body of Christ.” This group, calling themselves simply Christians, acknowledged no organization above that of congregation, and pointed to the scriptures as their single authoritative guide. As Duane Cummins has pointed out, “the formalized church of the time. . .became irrelevant to the frontier settlers.” Tradition and distant formal authority was not a factor in their social setting, and carried little weight in how the settlers turned towards their God.
Not long after, and equally near the waters of the Ohio, a Scots-Irish preacher came by invitation to western Pennsylvania. Thomas Campbell was admittedly weary of the divisions in the Presbyterian church of northern Ireland, but hoped as he left family behind in 1807 that a new start for Christ’s church could be found in this New World. Instead, the disputes over doctrine had come with the other baggage into the frontier settlements along Chartiers and Cross Creeks, and Thomas was quickly embroiled in the same controversies over open communion tables and who was “fit” to serve and receive at the Lord’s table.
Like Stone in Kentucky, Campbell in Pennsylvania withdrew from denominational structures before he could be rejected, and organized on the local, congregational level. He defended his actions in a publication called “Declaration and Address,” which closed with thirteen propositions for the restoration of the New Testament church and Christian unity, starting with his declaration about the nature of “the church of Christ upon earth” and continuing in words best summarized by the reforming motto that predates both Stone and Campbell, “In essentials, unity; in non-essentials, liberty; in all things, charity.”
Almost immediately upon the publication of “Declaration and Address” in 1809, the rest of Thomas Campbell’s family came to Washington, PA. His 21 year old son Alexander had helped his mother Jane hold the family together through a shipwreck during their first attempt to reach America, and nearly a year in Glasgow, Scotland waiting for their next chance to seek passage aboard the “Hibernia.”
Alexander had used the unexpected delay well, attending college at the University of Glasgow, in part out of a commitment to Christian ministry made during the shipwreck that brought them there. He was exposed to Scotland reformers like Glas, Sandeman, and the Haldanes, whose ideas about congregational independence, weekly communion, and believer’s baptism by immersion (given at the “age of accountability” instead of baptizing infants) were to have a lasting impact on the Campbells.
Thomas was relieved to find, when he and Alexander were reunited, that just before departing Glasgow, Alexander too had broken with the Church of Scotland, primarily over the practice of “testing” church members to determine their fitness to receive communion at one of the few times a year the Lord’s Table was set. Both father and son had come to see that baptism and communion are freely given gifts of God through the church to help make souls ready for grace, and that requiring signs of grace before permitting access to those sacraments (or “ordinances” in the language of the reformers) was putting human-made barriers in the way of God’s renewing activity in the world.
During the next year, father and son joined with other families in their area in forming the Christian Association of Washington, PA; meeting in a variety of locations, they soon felt the need to build a place of worship convenient to fellow believers who were coming from all along the valleys and ridges draining into the Ohio. At Brush Run in 1811, right up against the northern panhandle of what was still Virginia (now West Virginia), they built their first church. A fateful trip to borrow precious books, rare on the frontier, took Alexander across the Virginia border to what is now Bethany, West Virginia, where he would meet his future wife Margaret and the place where – when home! – he would live out the rest of his life. He would be ordained by the Brush Run elders on New Year’s Day of 1812, and married not long after.
The newly married couple almost made it to Ohio, now a state, when they considered a move in 1814 to the Zanesville area with a number of younger families out of Brush Run. The plan to pioneer a reforming community, worshiping together and educating their children in the light of “clear teachings of the Bible,” was put on a back burner when Margaret’s father offered his Buffalo Creek home and acreage to the young Campbells for one dollar.
Farming, raising a family, and leading a local congregation could have easily been the rest of Alexander’s story, but the desire to be part of a larger fellowship and supportive Christian community led the Brush Run reformers into and out of Baptist associations, which seemed at first a congenial home for their particular religious beliefs and practices. The frontier respect for autonomy and independence continued to attract supporters, and also kept them in conflict with church structures and traditions. These conflicts led them to a firm objection to doctrinal confessions and creeds “as a test of fellowship,” even when they might have agreed with the substance of their content. The “Christian Baptist” was a publication begun by Campbell in 1823 to share more widely their belief that a simple “Good Confession” of faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior was the only requirement for membership in a fellowship of “Disciples,” which was scripturally his preferred name for their churches.
The final break with the Mahoning (Baptist) Association in Austintown, OH in 1830 led to a change in the title of Campbell’s publication, and a new self-understanding as “a Restoration movement.” Named from Alexander’s belief that the work of the church was to teach and embody the future millennium of Christ’s reign over creation, “The Millenial Harbinger” would carry the Restorationist message not just all across the frontier but ultimately around the world. A compelling preacher from Pittsburgh named Walter Scott joined the growing movement, and began in the Western Reserve area of Ohio to preach in existing churches and begin new congregations. In years to come, many of these northeast Ohioans would follow the frontier to Indiana and Iowa, or south through Missouri to Oklahoma and Texas, repeating the process of church planting they experienced back in Ohio and spreading their model of congregationally governed churches with lay leadership empowered to serve communion and baptize upon hearing the simple words of Peter’s Good Confession.
When Scott moved the center of his ministry down to the Cincinnati area, more connections developed between the “Christians” of Barton Stone and the “Disciples” who had been influenced by the Campbells. New Year’s Day 1832 brought these two streams together in a formal greeting at a worship service in Lexington, KY. While these currents brought strength and power to the Restorationist movement, they also introduced strong forces that Alexander was only just able to hold together until his death in 1866.
As the 1800’s drew to a close, issues of slavery and the Civil War, modernism and “innovations” such as musical instruments in worship, and resistance to co-operative mission work as “unscriptural” led the Churches of Christ down a separate path. Independent Christian Churches have loosely organized around the North American Christian Convention as they parted from the congregations and state societies that came together as the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), the formal name and structure adopted in the late 1960’s. The Christian Church in Ohio, one of over 30 regional bodies for Disciples’ congregations in this state, grew out of the state missionary and Sunday School societies whose co-operative work had grown out of the initial association started in Cincinnati in 1849, with Alexander Campbell as first secretary.
Memorable figures from our past still inspire us today, reminding Ohio Disciples of their traditions of honoring education and public service: embodied by names like James A. Garfield, the only ordained minister to serve as President of the United States, and earlier president of Hiram College, a Disciples’ foundation following in the example of Campbell’s Bethany College. During the last century, notable figures like Gaines Cook, Herald Monroe, and Howard Ratcliff have led the evolving institution that we now call the Christian Church in Ohio, made up of 200 congregations around the state. Today, Ohio Disciples look with pride to their camp and conference programs for youth and adults celebrating over 50 years of vital ministry at Camp Christian near Magnetic Springs, and honor the leadership role our denomination continues to play in ecumenical bodies like the Ohio Council of Churches and Churches Uniting in Christ. With Barton Stone, we still affirm that “Christian unity is our polar star.”
Tuesday, September 03, 2002
Hebron Crossroads 9-08
by Jeff Gill
You don’t have to spend all day Wednesday watching TV. Actually, that’s good advice any day, but there is a growing impression that to properly honor the anniversary of 9-11, you should watch saturation coverage of commemorative events on the tube.
Personally, I like my commemorations up close and personal, and in small doses. If you feel the same way, then early and late on this Sept. 11 you can attend a gathering which remembers the attack, the rescuers, and our honored dead, and in between you can do something, which feels like the best commemorative event of all.
There’s plenty written elsewhere about it, but let me remind you of the County Mayors’ Prayer Breakfast at 5:45 am in Adena Hall at OSU-N, with an amazing guest speaker who has done relief work in Afghanistan and always a wonderful time of worship. Tickets are at Park National Bank branches as well as Moments for Majesty at the mall for $10. See letuspray.net for more details.
Not to be outdone by the mayors of Licking County, the County Commissioners ask us all to observe a minute of silence followed by church bell ringing at 8:45 am.
“Respond To The Call” is the community effort to honor this first anniversary of 9-11 by helping our fire department get all Hebron’s fire hydrants painted between noon and 6 pm. Hebron Christian Church is helping co-ordinate and feed folk who turn out. A staging area behind the church off Cully and Church Sts. will be a good place to start, whether you can go around and help paint, want to drive a crew around in your pickup, or want to stay and work with the food and drink part of the plan. And to further repeat, we’ll paint ‘em the reflective yellow provided by the department, and then go back around and add at the base a simple “In Memoriam 9-11-01.”
Doug Amspaugh tell me that the American Legion will hold their commemorative ceremony at the post at 6 pm, and the closing prayer time for the entire community is at Licking Baptist Church on Beaver Run at 7 pm.
Patriots wear a variety of uniforms, and in Hebron for 9-11, the badge of honor will be yellow paint splots! Next year, we may have some other form of service to offer, but fire hydrants feel awfully appropriate for this year.
Changing course rather drastically, if you have evergreens, you may want to check for some fairly innocent looking football shaped dangles about an inch long or so. They look like needle-covered cones or pendants, and they contain “bagworms” which will, I promise you, kill your plants. West Nile is vastly overblown (the flu kills tens of thousands more a year than this virus will), but bagworms are very common this year, and they are guaranteed destroyers of greenery.
While I like writing about the unappreciated, underestimated glories of nature, these bad boys have to go, and I do mean dead. . .just try not to enjoy killing them, and we’ll all be OK.
Reschedule note, due to Labor Day: the Hebron Historical Society, who just got their signs up at the village limits, wants you to know that you didn’t miss the Sept. meeting, since it was postponed to Mon. the 9th, at the usual 7:30 pm in the Masonic Building on High St. Drop by for a cup of coffee and a quart of history!
We’re all hoping for a good harvest, and something to harvest. Devine Farms is optimistic in the pumpkin department (yep, that time’s coming up soon), but the corn and beans are looking puny, at least around the edges of the fields. We’ll see within a week or so what’s cooking in the middles. Meanwhile, be careful around those corners until the crops come down, and next week we’ll hear about how “Respond To The Call” went around our Hebron Crossroads.
Jeff Gill is pastor of Hebron Christian Church and plans to be splattered with yellow paint come next Wed. If you have local news or events, call him at 928-4066 or e-mail disciple@voyager.net.
by Jeff Gill
You don’t have to spend all day Wednesday watching TV. Actually, that’s good advice any day, but there is a growing impression that to properly honor the anniversary of 9-11, you should watch saturation coverage of commemorative events on the tube.
Personally, I like my commemorations up close and personal, and in small doses. If you feel the same way, then early and late on this Sept. 11 you can attend a gathering which remembers the attack, the rescuers, and our honored dead, and in between you can do something, which feels like the best commemorative event of all.
There’s plenty written elsewhere about it, but let me remind you of the County Mayors’ Prayer Breakfast at 5:45 am in Adena Hall at OSU-N, with an amazing guest speaker who has done relief work in Afghanistan and always a wonderful time of worship. Tickets are at Park National Bank branches as well as Moments for Majesty at the mall for $10. See letuspray.net for more details.
Not to be outdone by the mayors of Licking County, the County Commissioners ask us all to observe a minute of silence followed by church bell ringing at 8:45 am.
“Respond To The Call” is the community effort to honor this first anniversary of 9-11 by helping our fire department get all Hebron’s fire hydrants painted between noon and 6 pm. Hebron Christian Church is helping co-ordinate and feed folk who turn out. A staging area behind the church off Cully and Church Sts. will be a good place to start, whether you can go around and help paint, want to drive a crew around in your pickup, or want to stay and work with the food and drink part of the plan. And to further repeat, we’ll paint ‘em the reflective yellow provided by the department, and then go back around and add at the base a simple “In Memoriam 9-11-01.”
Doug Amspaugh tell me that the American Legion will hold their commemorative ceremony at the post at 6 pm, and the closing prayer time for the entire community is at Licking Baptist Church on Beaver Run at 7 pm.
Patriots wear a variety of uniforms, and in Hebron for 9-11, the badge of honor will be yellow paint splots! Next year, we may have some other form of service to offer, but fire hydrants feel awfully appropriate for this year.
Changing course rather drastically, if you have evergreens, you may want to check for some fairly innocent looking football shaped dangles about an inch long or so. They look like needle-covered cones or pendants, and they contain “bagworms” which will, I promise you, kill your plants. West Nile is vastly overblown (the flu kills tens of thousands more a year than this virus will), but bagworms are very common this year, and they are guaranteed destroyers of greenery.
While I like writing about the unappreciated, underestimated glories of nature, these bad boys have to go, and I do mean dead. . .just try not to enjoy killing them, and we’ll all be OK.
Reschedule note, due to Labor Day: the Hebron Historical Society, who just got their signs up at the village limits, wants you to know that you didn’t miss the Sept. meeting, since it was postponed to Mon. the 9th, at the usual 7:30 pm in the Masonic Building on High St. Drop by for a cup of coffee and a quart of history!
We’re all hoping for a good harvest, and something to harvest. Devine Farms is optimistic in the pumpkin department (yep, that time’s coming up soon), but the corn and beans are looking puny, at least around the edges of the fields. We’ll see within a week or so what’s cooking in the middles. Meanwhile, be careful around those corners until the crops come down, and next week we’ll hear about how “Respond To The Call” went around our Hebron Crossroads.
Jeff Gill is pastor of Hebron Christian Church and plans to be splattered with yellow paint come next Wed. If you have local news or events, call him at 928-4066 or e-mail disciple@voyager.net.
Thursday, August 29, 2002
Grace and peace to you! For everyone who has wandered in due to Mark Shea's very kind compliments and link, this is less a standard "weblog/blog" than it is a dumping ground for my weekly/monthly writing for a local paper/website/church newsletter. I still don't speak html fluently, and am aware this particular blogger page looks, well, lame.
I just wanted to have a simple place to point folk who asked me for a copy of last week/month's article; perhaps it will be more of a blog someday, but for now, greetings from an evangelical immersionist Anglican Restorationist pastor who is currently ticked off at offenses against his Roman Catholic brethren!
Anyhow, the good stuff is, as always, over at http://lileks.com if it's not at http://markshea.blogspot.com or http://amywelborn.blogspot.com (and if i knew what i was doing, those'd be links, but as long as hospice visits are my main priority, you'll just have to copy/paste like we Neanderthals. . .).
Pax et gratia!
(ps -- greetings always welcome at disciple@voyager.net; as to hyperlink, see above, advice also welcome)
I just wanted to have a simple place to point folk who asked me for a copy of last week/month's article; perhaps it will be more of a blog someday, but for now, greetings from an evangelical immersionist Anglican Restorationist pastor who is currently ticked off at offenses against his Roman Catholic brethren!
Anyhow, the good stuff is, as always, over at http://lileks.com if it's not at http://markshea.blogspot.com or http://amywelborn.blogspot.com (and if i knew what i was doing, those'd be links, but as long as hospice visits are my main priority, you'll just have to copy/paste like we Neanderthals. . .).
Pax et gratia!
(ps -- greetings always welcome at disciple@voyager.net; as to hyperlink, see above, advice also welcome)
Sunday, August 25, 2002
Hebron Crossroads 9-01
by Jeff Gill
With the Sweet Corn Festival wrapping up this weekend (did you get your Lakewood Band Booster doughnuts?), the fair season in our neighborhood has just the Fairfield County Fair in Lancaster to look forward to (but that’s quite a bit to look forward to!). Looking backward, I just saw Aaron Dunkle’s ribbon for “Outstanding of the Day” from the Ohio State Fair, where Drew Cable and Chris Jones also got good marks from the judges.
Aaron’s project was on vegetable gardening, and his dad Bryan has been selling some of his great produce down along Rt. 37. Bryan has a computer controlled irrigation system that I can personally testify produces tasty cantaloupe, along with tomatoes, peppers, various melons, and a number of other vegetables not seen at every farmstand.
This is the first chance I’ve had to say how amazing the Newark Bicentennial parade was. It was fun to see an old friend, Charlie Rhoads, as Wayne Newton’s chauffeur in one of Charlie’s classic Oldsmobiles. Who better? And from the point of view of jogging along behind the United Way float for 3 miles pulling a wagon with a load o’ Chris in it, I really think half of Hebron was their to help our friends up north celebrate with style!
We’re all struggling a bit with how to properly prepare for September 11 this year. Everyone knows that this date will continue to be a day of remembrance throughout our lifetimes, and this first commemoration feels important to get right.
While there will be a variety of national and televised observances, and TV-4 will form a “living flag” that day at Crew Stadium in Columbus, here’s what we’re looking at in our area.
At 5:45 am, at OSU-Newark, the regular County Mayor’s Prayer Breakfast is set for the 11th, with a special guest speaker who has spent many years in Afghanistan. This event is always well attended, and they expect close to 1000 this year; individual tickets are $10 and are at “Moments for Majesty” and a variety of other locations. This truly is a county-wide program.
8:45 am, when the first attack struck, is when the county commissioners have asked for bells to be tolled and a moment of silence observed around the county. When the first tower in NYC fell, just after 9:45 am, a commemoration is also being considered.
From Noon to early evening, Hebron Christian Church is co-ordinating for the village a service project open to all, under the theme “Respond To The Call.” In honor of the firefighters and many other public servants who responded 9-11-01, we’re going to help them by getting Hebron’s fire hydrants painted with a fresh coat of reflective yellow (250 or more, in case you wondered).
Volunteers are invited to come by a staging area behind the church building, and as teams are sent out with some quick training and maps for which hydrants to paint, there will also be food, refreshments, and music available through the afternoon and early evening. We also hope to send a follow-up team around, as the hydrants dry, putting a stenciled “In Memoriam 9-11-01” at the base of each one.
The American Legion plans to hold a special ceremonial “flag retirement” at the post at 6 pm; if you have flags that are worn out and need to be respectfully disposed of, bring them by the Legion hall off Basin St.
Finally, Licking Baptist Church, which just dedicated a new worship center on Beaver Run Road last weekend, will host a community prayer and commemoration service at 7 pm.
That’s what the Hebron area plans to do for 9-11 this year, and many thanks to Chief Weekly, Lt. Yost, Mayor Mason, and Councilmembers Halter and Walters for their help in pulling together arrangements. We’ll have more news next week at the Hebron Crossroads on this day of remembrance and service.
When the news of far-off struggle and nearby trouble starts to get you down, I know that one of my grandmother’s favorite “spiritual disciplines” was watching birds (y’know, “they toil not, neither do they spin” as the Boss said) to get calmed and centered.
Recently, quite a flock of purple martins has passed through Hebron, darting and zooming low, flying like swifts but much closer to the grasstops than swifts care to go.
Out our way, a cloud of purple martins and a flotilla of dragonflies were zig-zagging their way through a four-course dinner of newly hatched mosquitos, and their antics were enough to wipe away a long, hard day.
Make sure to get outside before the nights start too soon; anyhow, you have to work off those doughnuts from the Sweet Corn Festival!
Jeff Gill is pastor of Hebron Christian Church and a definite doughnut eater. If you have doughnut sightings, or wildlife on view, call him at 928-4066 or e-mail disciple@voyager.net.
by Jeff Gill
With the Sweet Corn Festival wrapping up this weekend (did you get your Lakewood Band Booster doughnuts?), the fair season in our neighborhood has just the Fairfield County Fair in Lancaster to look forward to (but that’s quite a bit to look forward to!). Looking backward, I just saw Aaron Dunkle’s ribbon for “Outstanding of the Day” from the Ohio State Fair, where Drew Cable and Chris Jones also got good marks from the judges.
Aaron’s project was on vegetable gardening, and his dad Bryan has been selling some of his great produce down along Rt. 37. Bryan has a computer controlled irrigation system that I can personally testify produces tasty cantaloupe, along with tomatoes, peppers, various melons, and a number of other vegetables not seen at every farmstand.
This is the first chance I’ve had to say how amazing the Newark Bicentennial parade was. It was fun to see an old friend, Charlie Rhoads, as Wayne Newton’s chauffeur in one of Charlie’s classic Oldsmobiles. Who better? And from the point of view of jogging along behind the United Way float for 3 miles pulling a wagon with a load o’ Chris in it, I really think half of Hebron was their to help our friends up north celebrate with style!
We’re all struggling a bit with how to properly prepare for September 11 this year. Everyone knows that this date will continue to be a day of remembrance throughout our lifetimes, and this first commemoration feels important to get right.
While there will be a variety of national and televised observances, and TV-4 will form a “living flag” that day at Crew Stadium in Columbus, here’s what we’re looking at in our area.
At 5:45 am, at OSU-Newark, the regular County Mayor’s Prayer Breakfast is set for the 11th, with a special guest speaker who has spent many years in Afghanistan. This event is always well attended, and they expect close to 1000 this year; individual tickets are $10 and are at “Moments for Majesty” and a variety of other locations. This truly is a county-wide program.
8:45 am, when the first attack struck, is when the county commissioners have asked for bells to be tolled and a moment of silence observed around the county. When the first tower in NYC fell, just after 9:45 am, a commemoration is also being considered.
From Noon to early evening, Hebron Christian Church is co-ordinating for the village a service project open to all, under the theme “Respond To The Call.” In honor of the firefighters and many other public servants who responded 9-11-01, we’re going to help them by getting Hebron’s fire hydrants painted with a fresh coat of reflective yellow (250 or more, in case you wondered).
Volunteers are invited to come by a staging area behind the church building, and as teams are sent out with some quick training and maps for which hydrants to paint, there will also be food, refreshments, and music available through the afternoon and early evening. We also hope to send a follow-up team around, as the hydrants dry, putting a stenciled “In Memoriam 9-11-01” at the base of each one.
The American Legion plans to hold a special ceremonial “flag retirement” at the post at 6 pm; if you have flags that are worn out and need to be respectfully disposed of, bring them by the Legion hall off Basin St.
Finally, Licking Baptist Church, which just dedicated a new worship center on Beaver Run Road last weekend, will host a community prayer and commemoration service at 7 pm.
That’s what the Hebron area plans to do for 9-11 this year, and many thanks to Chief Weekly, Lt. Yost, Mayor Mason, and Councilmembers Halter and Walters for their help in pulling together arrangements. We’ll have more news next week at the Hebron Crossroads on this day of remembrance and service.
When the news of far-off struggle and nearby trouble starts to get you down, I know that one of my grandmother’s favorite “spiritual disciplines” was watching birds (y’know, “they toil not, neither do they spin” as the Boss said) to get calmed and centered.
Recently, quite a flock of purple martins has passed through Hebron, darting and zooming low, flying like swifts but much closer to the grasstops than swifts care to go.
Out our way, a cloud of purple martins and a flotilla of dragonflies were zig-zagging their way through a four-course dinner of newly hatched mosquitos, and their antics were enough to wipe away a long, hard day.
Make sure to get outside before the nights start too soon; anyhow, you have to work off those doughnuts from the Sweet Corn Festival!
Jeff Gill is pastor of Hebron Christian Church and a definite doughnut eater. If you have doughnut sightings, or wildlife on view, call him at 928-4066 or e-mail disciple@voyager.net.
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