Happy New Year to each of you this “cliffy” New Year’s Eve.
Every Valley
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Happy New Year to each of you this “cliffy” New Year’s Eve.
The Megachurch?
Shepherd of the Hill in Chaska, MN, so named, in part, after the Sermon on the Mount and the feeding of the 5,000, is a small church. VERY small. 80 members. You might say it’s a Minichurch. Or maybe just a church.
Steve Shoemaker sent this unrelated piece for publication today on Views from the Edge. Here’s one artist’s rendering of the throng that heard the Sermon on the Mount, followed by Steve’s poem.
Sermon on the Mount, a Rocky Landscape Beyond – Abraham Bloemaert (Gorinchem 1566-1651 Utrecht)
“The Megachurch”
The Megachurch had altar calls, of course,
and handed out a little book to all
the saved. It said you had been very wise
and good to come to Jesus (though appalling
evil sinner you must surely be.)
…
There was no mention Jesus was a Jew.
…
A bifurcated Bible had a New
Testament (none other). Read John and see
all that you need to know–not 25
of Matthew, not the Sermon on the Mount,
no law, no Psalms. Just join our church so lively:
…
Hear the rock band play–become a saint.
…
No mention you should learn to serve the poor.
(But to find God ours is the only door.)
– Steve Shoemaker, Urbana, IL, Dec. 31, 2012
Imagine a place…
Where God is love…
and hell exists only in the mind
and heaven is all around us…
A place…
where tradition and questions meet
where jazz-gospel is the language of faith.
A small place…
…where two or three of us
odd, wounded, ducks
are gathered together
in Christ’s name
where your heart is lifted
your mind is challenged
and your spirit refreshed
to change the world.
Imagine yourself at
Sunday Worship at 9:30 a.m.
After the holiday feast
Natural Cures for Indigestion from http://www.natural-home-cures.com.
“Eat”
eat
feast
eat more
appetizers
fruit vegetables
meat potatoes pasta
i want i can eat i will eat
rolls bread pastry real butter
gravy beer pop wine champagne
deserts pie cake cobbler
cookies candy pudding
ice cream custard
flan trifle truffle
tiramisu tums
diabetes
fat
…
fast
work out
walk run lift
portion control
chew food slowly
carrots celery salad
put fork down between bites
talk listen share memories
drink water chew ice
cut small bites
exercise bike
swim trim
healthy
slim
Health and fitness motivation by elisa @ http://www.indulgy.com
– Steve Shoemaker, Urbana, IL, Dec. 30, 2012
NRA vows to fight arms trade treaty at the U.N.
Click HERE for the article published today by MSC.com
My Soul Rejoices in God My Savior
Kites
Old man , Steve Shoemaker, with kite by soybean field on the Illinois prairie behind his home.
Children run to make a kite
lift into the air. I let
wind pull line from reel and stand
still with a quite lazy smile.
…
Then I wrap the string around
poles I beat into the ground.
If the wind stays resolute,
colors maintain altitude!
…
Day and night kites can fly
far from trees and cars and wires.
I live where the fields are wide,
blue skies hold the windy wind.
…
Far away at night I see
red lights in a line. Turbines
turn and electricity
is made from my friend the wind!
– Steve Shoemaker, Urbana, IL, Dec. 24, 2012
Wind turbines at night
“Fiscal Cliff” …?
“Black Sheep Lemming” reprinted with permission of Just Outside the Box.
There is no real cliff.
The only cliff is the one created by the imagination of the lemmings now running toward it.
“Just Outside the Box” published a cartoon of a group of lemmings running toward the cliff. One of them has turned back to run from the cliff. One of the lemmings asks, “Why’s he going in the opposite direction from us?” to which another replies, “Don’t worry about him. He’s the black sheep in the family.”
There never has been a real fiscal cliff. The likelihood is that “the cliff” will disappear before the lemmings reach the brink. If the lemmings that created their cliff don’t all become “black sheep”, they’ll all be in big trouble with their constituents back home.
Maybe the partisan brinksmanship will end up serving a different purpose. If it does, it may turn out to have been one of those “teaching moments” when the light bulb goes on among the students in the classroom.
The United States of America is a representative democratic republic that places the art of compromise for the sake of the common good at the center of the nation’s life. If the perception of a “fiscal cliff” calls the electorate back from the precipice created by ”one-issue, my-way-or-the-highway, lemming politics“, the cliff that never was will turn out to have had the good effect of a new civility.
MEET THE ARTIST: Koffi Mbairamadji
“Abraham’s Sons” – Koffi Mbairamadji
Friday evening, January 11 from 6:00 to 8:00 P.M.
Drop by the wine and cheese reception for African artist Koffi Mbairamadji from Chad.
Click HERE for Georgetown University’s Center for Liturgy article on the artist.
The exhibit will be on display at Shepherd of the Hill Presbyterian Church in Chaska, MN in preparation for the Martin Luther King Day Celebration, January 21, 2013 at 7:00 P.M. in the Chapel of Shepherd of the Hill.
All are welcome.
The Angel Announcements
Not like Barocci’s kneeling pink-cheeked girl
(who’d be afraid of her?) with white lace wings
that gazes up at Mary with a smile…
No, warrior Gabriel had frightened kings
and generals when he appeared: “Fear not!”
had been his necessary words to all.
More likely it was Mary fell prostrate
as holy light threw shadows on the wall,
and words that she was blest and would give birth
without knowing a man clouded her mind.
To Joseph came the same confounding truth:
an angel in a dream said he would find
her pregnant without sex. The angel’s word
from God caused them to accept the absurd.
– Steve Shoemaker, Urbana, IL, December 27, 2012
go to church on sunday
do we
not need
for more
sake to be
ass reminded
embling than
together instructed
– Steve Shoemaker, Urbana, IL, Dec. 23, 2012
Publisher’s note: struggle with this one for a while. Then post your comment on the poem.
Views from the Edge 