Reading Challenge 2015

Challenge is probably too strong a word.  Maybe "plans."  Or "tentative plans."  Or wish list.

How to Respond to Eastern Religions -- finished Jan 7
Crunchy Cons, by Dreher

The Highly Sensitive Person: How to Thrive When the World Overwhelms You,  by Aron
Let's Roll, by Beamer
One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich
Light in the Dark Belt: The Story of Rosa Young
Wild Swans, by Chang
On Being a Theologian of the Cross, by Forde

Holy Housewifery (because somebody mentioned it jokingly on Jenny's FB page and I happen to have a copy)

Somewhere Safe with Somebody Good, by Karon 
Beyond the Mists, by Benchley
Cutting for Stone, by Verghese

Re-reads:
Narnia
Harry Potter
Hammer of God



With Maggie:
Anne of Ingleside
Rainbow Valley
Rilla of Ingleside

Penderwicks
Broken: 7 "Christian" Rules Every Christian Ought to Break

Swallows and Amazon series
or Little House series (again)
or Little Britches series
or Five Little Peppers

Kid's Choice: Mom-at-Home or Mom-at-Work

The story comes from many different families.  Kid says, "Mommy, don't go to work today.  Stay home with me."  Mommy says, "Well, I could quit my job and stay home with you.  But if I do, then we don't have money to buy the things you like.  Don't you like going to the go-kart track?  Don't you like going out for pizza?  Don't you like the toys we buy and the Buzz Lightyear sweatshirt you chose last week?  If I didn't have a job, I wouldn't have money to buy those things."  Kid thinks a bit.  Kid says, "Go to work, Mommy."

People laugh.
People think it's so cute.

I would be embarrassed to announce proudly that my kid would prefer material stuff from me than my company.  (That is, assuming that Mom's income is not buying necessities such as rent, groceries, and medicine.) 

My question:  WHY does a kid answer, "Go to work, Mommy"?  Because the child is accustomed to day-care, does he see only the loss of stuff and not the gain of his parents' attention?  Is it that the child naturally prefers indulgences to being with parents?  (I suspect not but may be wrong.)  Has the child learned that the parents think the toys and outings are a higher priority than copious time together as a family? 

Community -- Consumerism

Consumerists

find and express their personal identity through the consumption of products.  Its ultimate goal is the spread of happiness and well-being through the improvement of material conditions, and the creation of general increase of wealth.
There's nothing objectively wrong with material progress, and a great deal right with it.
The problem is the way we relate to our materials gains.

Crunchy Cons, page 29

A society built on consumerism must break down eventually for the same reason socialism did: because even though it is infinitely better than socialism at meeting our physical needs and gratifying our physical desires, consumerism also treats human beings as merely materialists, as ciphers on a spreadsheet.  It cannot, over time, serve the deepest needs of the human person for stability, spirituality, and authentic community.

Crunchy Cons, page 49

Community -- Technology

Americans naively accept new technologies, thinking only of what these technologies can do, but never what they can undo.

Crunchy Cons, page 33,

referring to Neil      

Postman's Technopoly

Yes.

TV.  Facebook.  Smart-phones.  Email lists. 

But they're here.

No undoing it.

How do we respond, 

using the technology wisely,

and yet preserving what that technology will undo?

Community -- Individualism

Free-market, technology-driven capitalism, for all its benefits, tends to pull families and communities apart by empowering individuals and encouraging --even mandating-- individualism.  Most Americans would say, "Hey, what's wrong with individualism?" not thinking about the social costs of strained and even broken familial and communal bonds.  

Crunchy Cons, page 41

Christmas Pictures: Time for Games

Big girls played "Ticket to Ride."

 

Younger set tried their hand at Battleship.

The fellas pulled out their Magic Cards.

Community -- A Book

Eight years ago, a bunch of my friends started a book-discussion group.  I wanted to join.  But I was still homeschooling three kids.  Somebody's artery was beginning to fail and surgery was being planned.  It was the wrong time for me to be reading for myself. 

So now I'm ready. 
Already.

The book was published in 2006.  Rod Dreher wrote Crunchy Cons. 

I think now is a much better time for me to be reading this book.  I've been struggling with questions that I didn't have eight years ago.  Moving to suburbia and starting a job-for-wages has brought with it an unsettledness.  An unsettledness which I haven't been able to make sense of.  And this book is helping.

The book is about how certain traditionalists can't stand the liberals because so much of what they're about is fulfilling their lusts, unrestrained.  And yet, these same traditionalists can't stand the conservatives because so much of what they're about is fulfilling their greed, unrestrained.   The book is about how this basic premise coincides with a plethora of topics: obesity, immigration policy, how everyone bemoans that we don't know our neighbors, the fussing betwixt our township and the nearby village, organic veggies and food co-ops, a new Meijer's or a new YMCA, the tremendous importance of stay-at-home moms, and so much more.

What I'm pondering most is the thesis that many who consider themselves conservatives, aren't.  They may be in the "conservative" political party.  They may be in favor of the free market.  But if they're still driven by the consumerism that dominates this culture, they're fooling themselves.  Getting more stuff and "growing the economy" isn't conservative.  Spending time with family, appreciating beauty, serving the neighbor, working hard, being in touch with the natural world -- that's what being conservative is really about.

More Christmas Pictures

Fixing Pietism

Joe has been accused of being a pietist.  He wonders, "Am I?" 

What's the solution?

Usually the person cusses, gets drunk, and does other decidedly impious things.  Hey, if he's not pious, then he can't trust in his piety, right?  Problem solved!

Except it's not.

Sometimes the flip-side is a response.  "Am I a pietist?  Am I looking too much at my own devotion, my own prayers, my own obedience?"  So I look closer at myself.  I pay more attention to my devotions and my church-attendance and my prayers.  After all, I need to pay attention to my efforts to not pay attention to myself.

Wait.
What did I just say?

Ohhhhh....
you see the conundrum plain as day, huh?



Maybe there actually is a solution.
A solution that looks nothing like the two common fixes.

Maybe the solution is, "Lord Jesus, I am a pietist.  I want You to like me better than the next guy because I'm such a good Christian.  This is self-idolatry.  I beg You to have mercy on me, a sinner."

Do you think He will?

Christmas Pictures

Mr Photogenic

Matthias weighed down with medals.

Philip's height provides a grrreat view.

Papa and some children.

I love this happy picture!

Pre-Christmas Pictures

Church's choirs singing with the symphony orchestra.

Alia and Zoe -- shepherds in the SunSch Christmas pageant.

Broken in 2014

Broken car.  The deer ran into it.

Broken brain.  Who knew there was an aneurysm waiting to burst?

Broken garden.  But Katie helped.
Broken body.  Side effects of the hospitalization and medications.
Broken garage floor.  Last winter was COLD.

Broken pipe in the septic system.  Last winter was COLD.

Broken furnace.  Again: last winter was cold.

Broken water-filtration system.

Broken lung.  Antibiotics can do wonders for Pneumonia-Girl.

Broken car again.  Another naughty deer.

Broken different-car.  Just some aging.

Youth group began reading Fisk's Broken this year, so Maggie and I read a chapter together before the discussion meetings.  Hey.  HEY!  It was NOT supposed to be an omen!  Here's hoping for a less broken summation-of-the-year twelve months hence.

Sins and/or Ills

At Lessons and Carols the other night, we sang the LSB version of a Gerhardt Christmas hymn:

Children, from the sins that grieve you,
you are freed.

It struck me because TLH says,

Brethren, from all ills that grieve you,
you are freed.

It's like what Matthew tells us (chapter 8).  While Isaiah says, "He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows," Matthew quotes it as "He took up our infirmities and bore our sicknesses."

Even though the sicknesses wouldn't be here but for sin,
even though sin is the cause of illness and death,
sometimes it nice to know that Jesus isn't "just" the cure for our sinfulness, but is also the one who bore the brokenness of our bodies, our snotty noses, our achy joints, our headaches, our mental shortcomings, and our physical weakness.  And because He took those infirmities to the cross, that gives us a cure.  The cure.

"From all ills that grieve you
you are freed.
All you need
I will surely give you."

Broken Day

Pie-filling spilled over on Saturday night.  The oven was smoking.
Maggie and I have snotty, coughy colds.

First item of business Sunday morning?  Stepping in a big pile of kitty-barf.  Squish!

Then I caught myself right before I walked out the door to church.  Dinner in the crockpot, ready to cook while we were gone.  But it was turned off.  Flipped the switch on -- whew!

Came home from church to find dinner cooked (whew!) but the house cold.  Twelve degrees lower than the thermostat was set.  Arranged for the repairman to arrive first thing Monday morning.  I couldn't manage to start a fire in the fireplace, but Gary fixed it when he came home from church.  I couldn't bake for heat, as the oven hadn't been fixed from the pie-spill.  A friend loaned us her space heater.  Blankets, fire, two space heaters, all the body heat contained to one room -- we didn't turn into popsicles.

Adjusting blankets in the evening, we managed to knock over a pint of cranberry juice.  Not cranberry cocktail, all nice and watered down.  100% cranberry juice.  I used a lot of Resolve, and the stain did come out.  Woo hoo!

Repairman arrived this morning.  Weird breakdown, but the part was available somewhere locally.  He had it fixed by 9:30.  We can now [again] feel a noticeable temperature-difference when entering the garage from the house.  Honest and knowledgeable tradesmen are gold.

Helpful Girls

I need to watch my whining around my daughters.  I express any dissatisfaction over what needs to be accomplished and how unable I am ... and somebody shows up to tackle projects. 

On the one hand, I feel guilty.
On the other hand, I feel oh-so-relieved and grateful!

That Scary Part of Amos 5

Woe to you who desire the day of the Lord!
For what good is the day of the Lord to you?
It will be darkness, and not light.
Is not the day of the Lord darkness, and not light?
Is it not very dark, with no brightness in it?   (Amos 5:18-20)

When Pastor read those verses, I hated it.  
Where's the hope?
So, you're waiting for the day of the Lord?  
Sounds like Amos is saying, "Tough noogies.  Ain't you gonna be surprised?  It's going to be terrible!"

But what about the pillar of cloud (Ex 14:20)?  It was darkness to the one side, but light to the other.  That pillar was protection for the people of God; it separated them from those who would harm them. 

They Slumbered and Slept

Interesting what we find back-to-back in Matthew.
Chapter 25 -- the parable of the wise and foolish virgins.  They slept.  They were supposed to watch for the coming of the Bridegroom.  But they couldn't.
Chapter 26 -- the Garden of Gethsemane.  Peter, James, and John were told to watch and pray.  But they couldn't.  Instead, they slumbered.

The Opposite of "Rejoice"

Pastor is always talking about rejoicing, even in the midst of trouble. 

So. Hard. To. Understand.

In my mind, the opposite of "rejoice" is "grieve."
You know -- if you're not happy, then you're sad.

So when you run across a passage like 1 Thessalonians 1:6 ("You received the word in much affliction, with joy in the Holy Spirit"), it messes with my mind.  So I asked a simple question:  "What is the opposite of rejoice?" 

The answer?  "Despair."

Grieving and suffering and hurting and sorrow are NOT the opposite of joy.  Despair is.  Hopelessness is.  Giving-up-on-God's-mercy is the opposite of "rejoice."

Now things are beginning to make sense.

The Malefactors Crucified with Jesus

It's Luke that tells about the two criminals crucified with Jesus (23:39-43).  Luke -- who was connected to the apostle Paul. 

Paul -- who blasphemed at the cross.  Paul -- who scoffed at Jesus' prayer for those who were putting Him to death.

Paul --  who came to believe that he deserved torture and death for his sin.  Paul -- who learned to beg for Jesus' mercy.

No wonder the story is in Luke.  That story of the two criminals probably really resonated with Paul.

Apologetics

Those who like apologetics tend to think of faith as having an intellectual foundation.  They use reason to "prove" why the Bible is true.  But because of this intellectual foundation, they have little regard for the sacraments, which are supernatural, and which cannot be explained by way of reason and evidence.