crazy like your baby

As a new parent I’ve noticed that our culture has created a world where we take care of babies like crazy people. No? Don’t believe me? Here are my four reasons why. You can make a judgment after.

1.    Back in the day people put their babies in these crazy dangerous contraptions called cribs. People wrapped up their babies in blankets to keep their baby warm and put toys in the crib to help the baby entertain himself when need be. Today, the “crib” is a highly sophisticated place to keep your baby safe.  That includes having nothing in the crib with the baby. The toys: a danger. Even blankets are considered choking-hazards. Simply put, the only thing in the “crib” is the baby. The baby is kept in a safe “crib” or “room” alone with nothing to harm himself. Does that remind you of anything?

2.    Since parents are not allowed to keep anything in the crib with the baby including blankets, the popular alternatives today are cocoon blankets. You know, those blankets that you wrap around your baby to keep him warm. The blankets that have excessive amounts of Velcro to keep your baby from getting his arms out of the blanket. In adult terms, this “blanket” is simply called a straight jacket.

3.    In a recent NPR story many parents today are going to their pediatrician to demand drugs for their babies reflux “problems”. The story stated that parents wanted similar drugs that helped adult reflex for their babies. It concluded with the advice from a doctor to parents, suggesting that they not depend on drugs, but first change the baby’s diet. The doctor affirmed that this worked most of the time. The alarming part was in the middle of the story when NPR stated that research on the infant reflux drugs indicated that they didn’t work any better than placebos or sugar pills and in some cases aggravated the problem. In a world where we are increasingly giving people more drugs for their problems, this story substantiates the idea that in some cases we are helping people in the wrong way.

4.    Back in the day… Can I use ‘back in the day’ again? Anyway, back in the day people used to just throw their kids in an open seat in the car and just drive off. Not anymore. Babies have to be put in the back of the car, facing backwards, all locked up and secured. I find it eerily similar to this.

crazy compassion, or lack there of.

Have we all gone crazy? Has the world lost its compassion? Is ‘God dead’? In this brave new world these are the questions that people are asking of us. Has the world lost its compassion? In September of this year a crowd cheered for the death of another human being who theoretically couldn’t afford health insurance. Similar people are calling for the murder of illegal immigrants who cross into the United States. And on Fox News this past month Ann Coulter has brought us straight back to the age of slavery! (Please note my exclamation point. I don’t use these often.) She claims, “Our Blacks are better than their Blacks.” This, the exact propaganda rich slave owners’ declared for their right to enslave African Americans and promote racism in the United States.  

All these obscenities make it feel more like 1811, not 2011. Ann Coulter’s directly racist comment, uttered to make Herman Cain look better than Barack Obama, is an injustice to the decades of work African Americans have put forth to stop this direct racism. Furthermore, when people want to see illegal immigrants murdered because they cross over the United States border for a better life, it is a world that doesn’t reflect modern civilization, but a world in which we used to chase and murder thousands of Native Americans from what was their land. The New World invaders are now mad at the new invaders for coming into a land that they themselves took from someone else. (Invaders: a term used by many of the Right to describe illegal immigrants.)  

And let’s not leave the obscurities to politics. Just last week after the firing of coach Paterno at Penn State, many of the students rioted not for the abused children but for the firing of their legendary coach.

Where is the compassion? Herman Cain who is now dealing with sexual harassment accusations, although an unrelated topic, has taken a similar stance when addressing the situations. Cain didn’t fire back at Coulter to boast that all African American are equal and none are of lesser quality. He didn’t take any higher ground – something that not only demeans himself, but affirms Coulter’s comments.

In all of this can we claim that humans are more civilized or enlightened? People are valuing such insignificant and finite objects such as money, sports, and politics over the life of fellow humans. The basic needs of life- health, shelter and safety - have been abandoned. Maybe the world has gone crazy.

finally a blog

I’ve skipped over about seven weeks of becoming a new parent to go straight to apple picking in October. Why?  Because I haven’t quite figured out how to write about it. Instead, I’m going right to apple picking. Last weekend the three (3) of us went apple picking. We found the closest place, which happens to be about forty minutes away and pick some apples. It is one of our favorite pastimes. We also happened to miss the annual family apple picking in September. We went to Acushnet, which is part town-next-to-New-Bedford, and part farm country. I associate Acushnet with winding country roads, their Country Whip, and the town where we can apple pick and cut our own Christmas tree. 

The place was surprisingly busy. It was also surprisingly warm and sunny.  The parking lot had four long rows of muddy spaces. (It had rained the night before.) Right away Isaac was hungry. We decided to feed him before walking to the entrance. Two seconds later a couple cars pulled up next to ours. They looked odd and none of the passengers were getting out of their cars. After a few moments (aka five minutes) of seeing if the people were actually going to pick apples or just sit in their cars I decided to kick the car in reverse and find a more private parking spot. We found a more secluded spot after driving around to the front again and finally we were ready.

After skipping around to avoid the mud, we reached the big barn-like structure at the entrance. Key word being “like”. In the background you could see the apple trees. In front of the barn were picnic tables where people were eating the popcorn and other treats they had bought. The three of us went on into the barn. Right up front was a lady handing out plastic bags that you could put your apples in. Right there I should have known this wasn’t going to be good. Everyone knows you aren’t supposed to go apple picking with grocery store plastic bags!

Once inside - plastic bag in hand - I looked off to the left where all the goodies were. No donuts! How can they have no donuts? The two go hand-in-hand. Apple picking and donuts! Strike two. I walked out of the barn discouraged but not broken. Right away were the three rows of pumpkins. Not a spectacular display of pumpkins but I know we would find an adequate one for the house from what was available. But that would be after the apple picking.

Walking down the dirt path to the apple orchard was the highlight of the day. To the left was an empty field with a hand painted sign for “Potato Land”. No digging – use your hands. Definitely never seen that before. It was something unique. Alas, the hot sun was getting to me and I wanted to press on to the shaded apple tree area.

The trees (or, should I say the ground) was full of apples. It was clear that the farm had been hit hard by the hurricane that went through at the end of August. It was hard to fill half the plastic bag. I’m not sure how all the other families were doing it. It was disappointing, but it wasn’t the farm’s fault. On the way out we picked out our pumpkin and got in line for some apple turnovers and cookies. Very good.

All in all it was a good day. We learned a lot. One: try not to nurse in the car next to weird people. Two: always try out potato land. Three: hurricanes impact crops. Four: hot weather for apple picking is an oxymoron. Five: always take photos even if you are hot and looking out for those weird people from the cars.    

a holiday from church

Last week at church there was almost not a service, or at least that is the way it looked. The service usually starts with a hymn. Instead, a gentleman (who we would find out later would be leading the whole service) stood up at the front and proceeded to tell us in the most lugubrious voice that the guest pastor who was supposed to be there in place of the current pastor who was on a month long vacation was ill and could not make the service. They had just found out that morning so they would be piecing together the service on such short notice. And pieced it would be.

We never did get to the opening hymn – which may have been a good thing because later on we would sing an awful version of “Amazing Grace”. After the little speech we somehow got through the liturgy until the sermon. The same gentleman, a paid administrator at the church, decided he would be the one doing the sermon. I guess there was no one else available - or more likely - no one else was asked to help lead Sunday worship or the sermon. I’m not quite sure how there could not have been someone with more experience leading. Was there not a second in charge, or third in charge? Was there not a deacon or extraordinary leading in the church on this Sunday? Apparantly not.

Now I’m not saying church has to be done a certain way. On the contrary. It was actually really neat to see the congregation go through the service without its usual leader and to worship corporately anyway. There wasn’t someone “qualified” to bless the communion, but we did it anyway. It was out of the box – and it showed that doing church can be done in many different ways.

This all leads to the important part of the day: there really should have been a leader giving the sermon that day. Why? The reading for the day was the feeding of the 5,000. Standing at the front of the church he said he didn’t believe the feeding of the 5,000 happened but that its a good life lesson. It is an insult to the real miracles that happened 2,000 years ago and to the Savior and Lordship of Jesus as God, and to the general Christian belief in God. Later he claimed he believed in Santa Claus – pronounced “Santy” Claus. (In all fairness he meant the general idea of Santa Claus as a way of giving around the holidays.)

In the end what was a good service was indeed church gone wrong. I hope no one went away with anything from that un-thoughtful sermon.

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In related news. We first went to this church at the beginning of March. There were lots of kids and it was Lent. It truly was in better times. Now I’ve noticed throughout the entire summer that all the kids (including their parents) are no longer attending during the summer. They’ve taken church off for the summer. For me this is a complete knock at God and the Christian community.

In more related news. The other church we were interested in finally got a new pastor which means we can try that church again. Which we will be doing as soon as possible since the other church seems to be taking a holiday from God.

close to home

A week ago, Norway had a devastating tragedy happen to them. For me it brought to light that even countries as far north as Norway have issues and conflicts with immigrants and multiculturalism. Secondly, it was a reminder that a madman will kill until no one is left. There is clearly, though, a larger issue at hand. That was apparant when I learned that the killer was captured and did not kill himself. He wanted to start a revolution against multiculturalism.

It’s an idea that is not far from Nazi ideals. In America it’s not far from the modern day KKK and neo-Nazi movement. Luckily, these groups have not created such carnage in years. I think there is a much more frightening thing going on right now in America that is really not that far from what happened in Norway.

In places like the state of Arizona they are creating laws to do almost whatever they can to keep immigrants out. In NYC the city is divided over whether to let a Mosque be built near the site of 9/11.  And all over the United States people have a similar hatred (a strong but accurate word) for immigrants and Muslims (among others). This really isn’t a new attitude. However, the extreme or counter-cultural ideas are now becoming more mainstream and normal. A quote from a normal “Christian” on Facebook:  

  

“If you cross the N. Korean border illegally, you get 12 yrs. hard labor. If you cross the Afghanistan border illegally, you get shot. If you cross the U.S. border illegally you get a job, a driver's license, food stamps, a place to live, health care, housing & child benefits, education, & tax free business for 7 yrs. No wonder we are a country in debt. Repost if you agree.”

There are a couple alarming ideas in this post. First, it’s stating that the debt problem is coming from the over abundance of illegal immigrants. Ironically, illegal immigrants have been providing cheaper services at hotels, restaurants, and the like for years.  The same capitalism these “legal” citizens believe in has only created a space for cheap illegal labor over American labor. The idea of debt is also a jab at the Democrats, which as the NYT has pointed out is less of a Democrat problem and more of a Bush era problem of cutting taxes to only the rich and many years of war – two things Republicans keep endorsing as good things. It’s also sad to think that people have forgotten just how bad it was during the Bush era (also proved by the NYT graph) and how much damage was caused especially to the economy, and yet still think Bush is a saint compared to Obama.

Second, this Facebook post is endorsing the idea of killing people for being immigrating illegally. The idea is not far from those of the tragedy that happened in Norway not 4 weeks afterward. This person - perfectly “normal” - is saying that the death of people is better than life. The ideas of the United States used to be far from this of course. Just take a look at a quote on the Statue of Liberty: “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.” For many American’s this no longer applies. It was nice when white Europeans were immigrating, but now that it is mainly immigrants from places like Mexico the same attitude does not apply.

That isn’t to say that some type of immigration reform isn’t needed. I’m just not sure death is the answer. Unfortunately for us the Norway killer’s idea of revolution has already started without him. I’m sure this person on Facebook would still post the their message and would want people to repost it.   I am equally as sure that this person – and the many who agree - would also like the U.S. to default on their credit to pay for their bad spending habits.  Habits that, again, ironically don’t come from the current president, but from the Republican president before him who spent billions on national defense while cutting taxes only for the rich and corporations. For the rest of us, we can only hope that the killer’s revolution raises an alarm about the importance of valuing all people. 

3 weeks left

baby boom

With the increase in social media it seems easier for people to get jealous, sad, envious (or happy) about others people’s fortune of having a baby. Back in the day people’s circles were closer. When you learned about someone getting pregnant or having a baby it was either from someone you directly knew or had weekly contact with, or a relative of someone you knew like a co-worker or family member.


Today – you can know just about everything about anyone you have ever met. Now you know when people from high school or college or from the previous town you worked in are having a baby. In some ways it is really neat. I get to learn about the lives of people who - after high school or after I moved away - I may never have heard from again.

In other ways it can be tough. For someone who has just lost a baby, is barren, unable to adopt, or is undergoing fertility treatments, is something like Facebook good or bad? Does it bring sadness or hope? Both? There seems to be very little tragedy on Facebook or at least with the 300+ friends that I have. The statuses of people either contain good or happy things (30%), pointless things (65%), tragedy or sad (5%). This is all anecdotal of course. I think it points out something crucial about social media websites such as Facebook and Twitter – they aren’t building better relationships.

One way I’d like to see if a church is really authentic during their prayer requests (or Sunday School, etc) is if people give real prayer requests. What do I mean? For those who haven’t been to church before or have not witnessed this in many churches prayer requests can be “surface-y” and vague and people don’t show any real meaning when they share a request. Prayer requests that are authentic or real involve the good, the bad, and the ugly.

Without that on Facebook we can never relate to those who may be grieving, only to those with the happy life. For me I think it would be difficult to be grieving and use social media as a tool (at least Facebook). I think the same can be said about similar situations such as job loss. Back in 2009 when everyone seemed to be losing a job little of it was on Facebook.

In some ways I think social media is bringing people closer than they ever would have been otherwise. In other ways it will never replace, nor do I ever think social media sites ever intended it to replace, real authentic relationships. In still other ways I think social media can be a tough place to be in the midst of such surface-y relationships. But hey, that’s just me.

not suitable for suburbanites: a review of death by suburb

I haven’t had a book review on here in a while, but couldn’t resist writing about one I read recently. The book in question is Death By Suburb by Dave Goetz. My first confession: I didn’t finish it. Or to be more precise I couldn’t finish it. I was so repulsed by the writing I finally had to say I’d had enough. I received the book a few years ago from a free bin or something like that. After closer examination of the book I realized the book was discussing how to live in the suburbs and still be a Christian, not how to get out of the suburbs because they are ruining your life. As a result, I put the book off. I finally got the courage to read the book that said the ‘burbs were okay - something I was not okay with.  

My worst dreams were realized when I began the book, but Goetz kept making a few good points, and I would keep reading. The basic premise of his book is six “spiritual” practices to help you really live in the suburbs. I’ll get to the practices in a moment.

Of course the whole idea of the book doesn’t mean you have to live in the suburbs. The book more reflects the moods of a typical middle-class American. If someone has so much money they aren’t worried about their neighbors new BMW, because they already have one, or aren’t worried about their mortgage payment because they paid cash for their house this book isn’t for you. Neither is this book for you if you aren’t worried about your kid’s education or grades because they are already on a fast track to Harvard. This book also isn’t for you if you aren’t worried about this month’s rent, but worried about this week’s rent, or you are worried about sleeping in your car, or what food you may or may not be able to afford to eat today. Basically everyone else: this book is for you in some way – that’s why the middle class is so big.  It encompasses a lot of people.  

The book touches on the aspects of the toxic life that is suburbia. The life of having to have the biggest SUV (or maybe the hippest new Mini or Prius). The life of having 2.5 kids and a yellow lab. The life of green grass and great equity. The life of kids that have good grades and that are good at athletics. Goetz actually makes some important points highlighting the fact that we shouldn’t be envying our neighbors in this way. The envy causes us to have a mortgage we can’t pay for, high hopes for our kids that will never be met, or a SUV so big and with so little MPG that you actually have to continually fill your car with gas (much like a plane being refueled in the air).

This book is more about how not to be green with envy than anything spiritual or Christian. Case in point is Goetz’s third of his eight practices: friendship with the poor. It’s a practice that will keep you from envying your neighbors’ life Goetz states. And this is precisely where he goes wrong. Goetz goes on to write that to help yourself from envying your neighbor’s house, car, kids, or wife, you should instead look at the poor sap down the street with a junky house, a beat up car, dumb kids, and a wife he just can’t seem to get along with. The idea to not envy your rich neighbor is great, even the idea to not think about yourself or your ego. But of course looking at the poor neighbor down the street is only going to boost your ego and pity him. An idea I don’t recommend. There is nothing good about hanging out with the poor to make yourself not be envious and is only cruel when you have alternative motives.

Secondly, Goetz goes on to the subject of your kids. From birth parents are always saying their children are the best and the brightest. Of course, that’s fine until you realize they aren’t the best or the brightest and then it is just a letdown.  A true hit to your ego and parenting skills for sure. Goetz basically says you should be okay with your kid getting “C’s” or being so un-athletic they can’t even make the JV team.  He suggests that you should be okay with it because if your children are getting “A’s”, its likely that you are only happy because it makes you look better at PTO meetings.  The only problem is that this really isn’t the core problem, is it? I mean, is the kid trying? If the “C” he gets in Algebra is his best, then awesome! Why not be proud? But, if it isn’t than should we settle? This isn’t about being envious or proud this is about wanting your child to learn. Because in the end that is what it is all about and what is most important.

I think what really got to me was Goetz’s take on being a missionary. Today, much of Christian international missions are more about the missionaries themselves than about who they are helping. Not everywhere, but in most cases. Today, mission work is about partnerships and and building relationships. While working for the missions department of a small Christian denomination I learned that we were not going over to save the world, but to work with other Christians of the same denomination in other parts of the world. In places like Sudan and Nigeria there were already Christians, and often in bigger populations than in the States. There were also people who were capable of building wells for water, homes for families, and churches for villages. There was no need to have white Americans come over and do what they wanted to do, because the Nigerians had the same skills. It therefore was not about saving or building, but about relationships and learning.

This is the same with short term mission trips. A group of church goers that travel thousands of miles and spend thousands of dollars each to go to a small village where they spend a week building something are not going because the native people cannot do it themselves, and it certainly isn’t for the money. It would be wiser to use all that airfare money and give it directly to the building fund or other project. The reason of course is for the experience - what the church group learns and gains and can bring back to their church.  

Back to my main point. Goetz meets a lady at a wedding that recently came home for a furlough as a missionary. He asks the lady how it must be so strange to come back to the States and just be okay and fine with how everything is.  The lady replies back that when she is in Africa she is in Africa and when in the States she is in the States. She learned to disengage. What!? And Goetz’ lesson from this?  That we should live according to where we are.  When in Rome and all that.

As if we should ignore the blatant health problems in one country while we are enjoying the blatant greed of another country. How could we ever be the same? How could we not want to change the world? How could we not beg our rich neighbors for all their money so we can give it to a few who need adequate healthcare or quality drinking water?  These are fundamental needs that we can easily take for granted.  How can we not be thankful everyday for the amazing blessings we have and not want the same for our neighbor?            

I don’t want to disengage from my neighbor – I want to love my neighbor whether he is a millionaire who I despise with a big gas guzzling SUV or a homeless man who smells and goes around collecting cans around town. I can’t just cross the street or look away from these people – I must be their neighbor.  

Goetz misses the mark in this book. Maybe he has been engulfed in the suburbs himself too long. His writing is like confusing Aristotle for Pauline’s ideas. Although they may seem similar in some aspects they are far different and engulf opposing worldviews. We can’t settle for Aristotle when we have Paul. We can’t settle for Goetz when there is so much more out there.

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There are a few lessons I’ve learned so far before becoming a parent. 1) People, whoever they are, however smart they are, wherever they are will give you advice about how to raise or take care of your baby. A lot of it… are things that a certified nurse is telling you the complete opposite to do.  2) My life will never be the same again, and it’s a good thing. I’m not sure why people always have to add “and it’s a good thing” after they say, “It’s going to change your life forever.” Once people here that you are pregnant everything bad about children and babies comes out through the whole of history. It makes you wonder why people even have babies or that the Shaker movement never became more popular.

3) I’m not sure what stage of raising a child is the most difficult. Is it taking care of a newborn, getting through the terrible 2’s, trying to teach a child how to behave in the world, trying to keep your pre-teen from stalking the latest pop idol, or hoping your teenage doesn’t burn down the town? 4) Babies don’t come with instructions or warnings which is strange considering everything else does in the world. 5) People have literally run out of names for their babies. When and why did people start naming their babies apple or seven? Seriously? Would you want that name? Unique? Yes. Stupid? Even yesser!

In the end though, the best way to figure out your child’s name is to test it out. While camping in Illinois a few years ago, a father taking his children camping on his own was having some trouble. Across the camp road all you could hear was… “Joseph…  Joseph… Joseph… Joseph… Joseph… Joseph… Joseph” I think you get the point. The test works. Let’s try it with apple first. “Apple…  Apple… Apple… Apple” I’m imagining a person staring at an apple on a picnic table trying to call it to him or herself. Were you? Again let’s try it with seven. “Seven… Seven… Seven… Seven… Seven.” I think if I heard a person saying this over and over again in a campsite I might think they escaped the local mental hospital.

Of course I am pondering this same test as we try to pick a name for our child.

settling into a church

It’s been a while since I’ve written about searching for a church. After a long hiatus in June due to moving and painting among other things we got back in the swing of searching for a church. We returned to the church from way back in week 1 at the beginning of March. It was a promising church with many possibilities. After experiencing many other churches (including one church that seemed that it might be the church to go to, but ended up being the craziest of them all) we have fallen back to the church from week 1.

If anything it feels like we have settled for this church. Not because it is a bad church. But because we know what we want and we know the possibilities out there. The other part about shopping for a church now is that it is summer. And for anyone that has gone to church before during the summer months it is a lot different than the rest of the year. Many churches go from two services to one. The pastor, many times, is on vacation along with half of the congregation. Overall there is a different vibe to the church. It’s not good or bad it’s just different.

With that said, how do you know what a church is like if it is different during the summer months? For now this is the best we’ve seen in the area. We’ll continue to look, but at the moment we are settling into a church.

hot election

With the summer heat upon us I thought I would bring some hot topics to today’s blog – the election. I’ve broke it down into topics in three segments on why I think and don’t think Obama will be re-elected. I don’t really understand the American public and much of its voting practices, but it’s fun to think I do.

Why he might lose

ECONOMY – Lack of recovery and return on stimulus

At the beginning of November this may be the only point voters really care about. With an economy that’s been busted way before Obama has been office, it seems (to me) that the nation is looking for Obama to fix it. If the economy doesn’t improve a significant amount by Election Day I don’t think Obama will get re-elected. The days of Roosevelt economic policies are no good anymore. With the government’s spending at a max does anyone want the government spending more money for a recovery?

JOBS – Unemployment is still too high

If the economy doesn’t sink Obama in the election, jobs (and next on the list gas prices) will. Although unemployment is down, and the job growth is better than the job decline of his predecessor, the job market hasn’t improved well enough for the voters.

GAS PRICES – Remember when

It was okay to reelect a president when gas prices were high when the vice president was so influential in the oil business. Now with a recession it is just harmful. With no relief at the pump in a while, Obama can only hope that opening up U.S. oil reserves will help, not hinder him at the polls. Republicans? They are already blaming Obama for high gas prices just as Democrats were doing to Bush eight years ago.

FREEDOM – Fear of the red

Who really knows how many Americans think Obama is a socialist or communist. Various polls range from around 30% to anywhere around 55-60%. Considering he compromised to continue to give tax breaks to the richest in America that’s a very high number. Fear that Obama is a communist or works with many communists is one of many misconceptions that Obama’s administration has to deal with on a daily basis.

WARS/GUATANAMO BAY – Speaking of promises

One wave that Obama rode into his election was that he was going to end the Iraq war and close Guantanamo Bay. Iraq? It’s ending sometime, but much slower than anyone probably thought. Guantanamo? In a failed attempt it looks like Guantanamo will be staying open. What about Afghanistan?

IMMIGRATION REFORM – Kick them out… kick them out… all out!

In the end this topic won’t make or break many votes. For both sides though immigration reform hasn’t been changed or challenged. Anyone looking to vote solely on immigration reform may be upset at Obama. In the end though, Republicans don’t offer a better alternative.

THE ISSUES – just not getting done quickly enough

When you say you are going to bring a soda machine into the school you have to deliver. The hope and enthusiasm that Obama brought to many voters has left them upset at many things they thought would happen. Although he is the President there are still so many check and balances that you can’t blame Obama solely on not being able to deliver on all his promises. To see how Obama is doing on all his promises go here.

BAD PRESS – Who says any kind of press is good press

In 2006 and 2008 Democrats seemed to take control, and to me it looked like Republicans were going to struggle for a while. Not only did they do a complete 180º in 2010, but have even created bad press to the masses leading up to the 2012 election. The Obama administration has not been able to combat all the bad press with many of the good things the administration has done to both independents and Republicans.

CHANGE - keep the change you filthy animal

People afraid that the Obama administration is going to take away their guns, money, and freedom have put on a full scaled launch against Obama. Ironically it has been the banks and other business that they have been deregulating for the past 30 years that have been taking the most money and freedom from them.

Why he just might win

COMPROMISE

One way to win is to compromise. I’ve seen Scott Brown do it in Massachusetts, and Obama can only hope that independents see that he can work with both Republicans and Democrats. Obama has shown considerable compromise in taxes, in a bi-partisan cabinet, and others. He really is a centralist, but nobody knows it.

DADT

It’s not going to change the outcome of the election, but the repeal of the ‘Don’t Ask Don’t Tell’ policy is a step that many Americans see as good.

START security treaty

The treaty with Russia shows that Obama can work with international leaders and work toward a nuclear free world.

AUTO BAILOUT – Vroom vroom

Republicans hate the auto bailout. And it’s not something you want to see a government do all the time. In the end though not only did the bailout save companies like GM and Chrysler, the many suppliers that work with those car companies, and the thousands families who depend on the car industry it actually was a good “business” move for the U.S. government who made money off of the bailout.

TEA Party

The TEA Party keeps growing in popularity. Unfortunately for Republicans the independent voters they are trying to sway aren’t swayed like TEA Party Patriot like Michele Bachman. The Republican Party, if it really wants to win the election, will have to have a more central candidate unless the Republican Party wants another debacle like the TEA Party Patriot, Christine O’Donnell in Delaware.

I’m on the fence

OBAMACARE

The fact that the new healthcare law has been coined “Obamacare” makes me think that it will hinder not help Obama’s election campaign. On the other hand there are many good things about the new law including:

1. Eliminate lifetime limits on insurance coverage
2. Prevent health insurance companies from denying coverage because of a pre-existing condition
3. Allow young adults to remain on parents' insurance until age 26.
4. Provide subsidies for individuals and families and are not covered by an employer to purchase their own insurance.
5. Creates healthcare exchanges for uninsured people to purchase coverage at competitive rates.
6. Gives people on Medicare new access to free preventive services such as screenings for cancer and diabetes.
7. Closes the "doughnut hole" gap in Medicare Part-D by 2020.
8. Slows spending increases for Medicare beneficiaries to 2% per year, from the current rate of 4% a year.

Of course many of these changes won’t take place until after 2012 election which makes many of the good things about the law unsubstantial to voters.

What won’t matter

Reagan’s poor economy verses Obama’s poor economy. Some think that because Reagan won with a poor economy that Obama can do the same. It was a different era and a different mood of the country. I don’t think people can depend on this comparison to think that Obama can win.

A face to the Republican nomination. As of yet, there is still no strong face to the Republican Party. The people who are going to determine the election don’t care if there is a face or not. They want the best person to improve their lives. And whoever presents the better case will win.

Osama bin Laden. It makes Republicans not question Obama’s leadership for about 3 seconds. Those 3 seconds are over. With the rest of the country it has had a bigger impact on the view of Obama. In the end, no one will remember this in the voting booth in November.

Other impacts

Besides the economy the outcome of congress voting on raising the debt ceiling in time or defaulting may have a huge impact on how voters view Obama. By the U.S. defaulting it creates a huge problem for the U.S. In terms of the election it creates animosity towards both sides of congress, but a bigger impact on the President.

Overall I still think the election is a wide open race as to who will win. Obama has a lot riding on the economy and gas prices. If they both don’t improve significantly in the eyes of American voters I’m not sure he can win the election. Sometimes disappointment, disapproval, and disdain bring out the most voters as we saw in both 2006 and 2008. I’m not sure Obama can depend on his supporters to come out even more as they did for Bush in 2004 to re-elect him. He will need to re-convince many of the same independent voters he won over back in 2008 to win.

We're #1

We’re number 37! We’re number 37! We’re number 37! Every four years the U.S. is able to chant “We’re #1!” during the summer Olympics. Let’s face it: the U.S. dominates the summer Olympics. It is easy to get caught up in American’s need to always be number one. Despite the recession and poor economy the U.S. is still ranked one of the best economies. Despite a car bailout GM has re-taken the #1 car spot over Toyota.

But, despite always having to be number one the United State ranks 37th in life expectancy in the world. Regardless of what Fox News would probably say we did not go from #1 to #37 when “Obamacare” was put into law. In fact, the new healthcare law is trying to combat some of the very reasons why we are ranked number 37.

In truth the U.S. does have some of the best healthcare in the world. The only problem is that it isn’t for everyone. It is easy to find these disparities. A quick look at the decline in cancer deaths in the U.S. is one example. Although cancer deaths are declining inequalities persist. Elizabeth Ward of the American Cancer Society, states “‘People of a lower socioeconomic status are more likely to smoke and less likely to get access to care where they can get screened for early detection.*’" Without giving everyone access to healthcare, including preventative healthcare, these discrepancies will continue and we can continue to chant “we’re number 37!”

In the latest finding from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluations at the University of Washington it was concluded that in many parts of the country life expectancy is declining. Two of the biggest factors? Obesity and smoking. Although the U.S. ranks #1 in spending on healthcare, the way healthcare is done now its not reaching everyone.

Some are less likely to get cancer. Some aren’t. Some life expectancy is going up. For others it is going down. If we really want to chant “We’re #1” we need to make healthcare more comprehensive, accessible, and affordable for everyone. Not just the rich.

*June 17, 2011 article from NPR
Also check out the report from the U. of Washington.

food wars

Is the next great political war food? It’s not an ongoing issue like the economy, jobs, or war, but it may be the next big thing. As we’ve found out in the past two years not everyone in the United States wants every citizen to have quality health insurance or any at all. The problem of course is that in the end our tax money that has to pay for the care of people that can’t afford health insurance or quality insurance ends up costing us more in the end. A fact sorely neglected by many people. This same idea has shifted to the food wars.

I first took notice of the food wars when the First Lady, Michelle Obama, began advocating for food change and policy. The changes: the basic idea is nutrition education. Other aspects are providing better school lunches, farm-to-school school programs, less deserts, more food security, etc. This all sounds good to me. Apparently though this is infringing on people’s “rights” to get fat and have more heart attacks and cases of diabetes, the first and sixth leading causes of death in the United States respectively.

Former half-term governor, tv star, book selling, motorcycling, history expert Sarah Palin retorts to the First Lady, “get off our backs” in response to the Let’s Move program. I guess moving is too much to ask.

I’m not surprised by Sarah Palin and millions of others like her who are upset about the idea of better food programs and education to help people eat healthier. I’m surprised, because in a time where it seems cigarettes, something that was widely celebrated in the United States at one point in time, is widely attacked by city, state, and federal laws. Of course cigarettes are not illegal, but in many places such as restaurants, schools, hospitals, public buildings, and now even parks, parking lots are even banning cigarette smoking. Cigarettes are heavily banned in many places, there is hardly any advertising, it is taxed enormously, and it has wiped out the tobacco industry. And people on both sides of the line seem okay with it. Cancer awareness advocates can be proud.

Even more surprisingly to me is the idea that someone like Ron Paul can advocate that a dangerous drug such as heroin should be legal. His logic? Well, if we made it legal no one would use it. The same logic could be used for murder but we wouldn’t make that legal, would we? The government makes a drug like heroin illegal not to infringe on people’s rights, but to protect people from a drug that has damaging effects to a person’s brain as well as possible dangerous effects to family, friends, and strangers.

Doritos, McDonald’s hamburgers, and fried foods are never going to stop being sold. But it would be nice to educate people that a slice of pizza does not have a serving of vegetables, or that drinking a bottomless amount of soda or sports drinks is not good for people, especially adults. If initiatives such as Let’s Move teach children to eat healthier and help small farms bring food to schools - in turn helping the next generation to have less heart disease and diabetes - I’m all for it. Nutrition and what we choose to eat is vital to a healthy life style and the ways it affects our body for good or bad.

closing time

There is something wrong when less than thirty minutes later after closing on a house you find that the kitchen faucet is broken and leaking everywhere. It’s even better to find out that even though the faucet looks fancy the sprayer design is the problem and the leak is easily fixed. That’s what happened to us on Thursday when we closed on the house. A stressful moment that was easily fixed.

I think for some closing on a house is easy. For others it must be extremely stressful, difficult, and downright not worth it. We had a little of each when closing on our house. Much of the process wasn’t stressful or difficult, especially for a short sale. I think this was in part because of realtor and mortgage broker who kept moving things along and had a positive attitude. (It also helps to have a competent lawyer working on the short sale too.) The short sale took about three months. That’s about as short as it gets, too. Many of them last six months to a year, and some even longer.

At the beginning we were told a closing date of May 13. Unfortunately, this number was more of a goal than anything concrete. Fortunately, the goal was not too far off. The paper work seemed to be going through, the banks approved the short sale. And at the end of April it looked like we might move on the 13. By the beginning of May we met with the mortgage broker again who said that we should have a closing by the end of the month. We moved our moving date to Memorial Day weekend. It was better this way. We had a long weekend; it didn’t coincide with work that I had the previous weekend. Then the title, the last part of the process, was found incorrectly processed from the previous sale of the house and it needed to be done correctly. We found this out the Tuesday before the Saturday move. There would be no way to move on the weekend.

Again we had to postpone our moving date. This time it was not a good change. All the help that we had before now couldn’t come. We were frantically looking for help. So much so that we begrudgingly used Facebook to ask for help. Not only that, but the change in date meant that we would be moving in a different month. We had told our landlord we would be out by the end of May. In the whole process we were blessed that the new renter wasn’t moving in until June 8, and we were able to stay in our rental for a few extra days.

We were told that the closing would be the Tuesday or Wednesday after Memorial Day at the latest. The closing? It was done the Thursday after Memorial Day. This brings us back to the beginning where after finally closing and getting to go in our new house – the first thing we find is the faucet broken.

Well, it’s all better now. And so is the house now that the main two rooms are painted. There are still boxes everywhere, and the lawn still isn’t mowed. The walls though, they look good.

when church is downright awesome

It’s hard church shopping. Especially when you know the perfect church is just 45 miles away. Especially when the variety of churches is so few. This week was no exception. It was the third time visiting this particular church. It will probably be the last – at least for a while.

This Sunday it started with a hymn sing. - a chance for the congregation to choose a few songs and sing them. It was welcoming. After the welcome and announcements the bell choir did a rendition of Mighty to Save, which was excellent. Everything was gravy, until the (interim) pastor spoke.

It started off good enough. Talking about the death of Bin Laden, an interesting story about a crazy group of Millerites. The pastor even mentioned that it was horrible to rejoice in an enemy’s death, even one like Bin Laden. Then it happened.

Let me preference this by stating that I’ve been to a lot of churches before and heard a lot of sermons. I’ve heard a lot of bad sermons, sermons proclaiming the prosperity gospel, even a pastor who demeaned Hispanics and women throughout a service.

Today, the pastor claimed that the verses 9-20 in Mark 16 where Jesus comes back to the disciples after his resurrection didn’t happen. His claim, from his mentor, was that if it couldn’t happen today, it couldn’t happen then. Of course his logic would not only conclude that the verses in Mark were untrue, but in fact much of the Bible.

As a visitor I was ready to bolt. We didn’t though. We stayed. I’m glad we did. Toward the end, during prayer requests, one of the choir members called out the pastor’s sermon. I’d never seen a member call-out a pastor during a service. It was awesome! The courage that this particular member had to call out the pastor on such blasphemy was remarkable. I was proud that the member had done that. I can only hope that the other members felt the same.

The pastor is an interim, and we don’t know how long he has been there. From the response from the choir member, he hasn’t been there long, or this is one of the first times he has said something like this. The church is in the middle of a pastoral search. For now we are going to skip the church – we’ll have to try it out again once they have a new pastor. 

journey for a church: not it

Sometimes there are just better churches. This past Sunday we went to a new church in Plymouth. We had already been to a church in Plymouth, but this time the church was in the middle of the tourist area. We circled around a couple times and found a free spot – this time. As the tourist season really heats up we pondered the thought of having to either pay for parking or parking far away and having to walk quite a distance to church.

The church itself was a typical New England looking church – white with a large steeple. From the front doors you walk into the church narthex next and a large fellowship hall. Staircases on both sides of the narthex lead to the sanctuary upstairs. The sanctuary upstairs was large and could easily fit 400 people, maybe 500.  The church had a good attendance of 100 people, but looked empty in such a large church that was probably full back in its heyday.

The church was traditional, yet different from another traditional service from the same denomination that we attended weeks ago. There was a large choir, acolytes, and yokes. There was a normal liturgy, great hymns, and we even said the Gloria Patri.  I am not sure I have ever been to a church that has done that.

The sermon, or should I say communion meditation, was good. It incorporated relevant biblical verses and real life situations. The pastor even had a high school student read much of the service as a way to involve and teach the young people of the church.

Even so, the church didn’t seem ‘it’. Can a church even have an ‘it’? Can a church be judged on the basis of its essence? I don’t know, but it was done on Sunday. 

piping plovers

I’m not one of these people that is trying to ever grow their [bird] life lists. Those are for those birders. If you’re not familiar with life lists – it’s the list created by a birder of all the birds he has ever seen. Sometimes its just mentally kept in someone’s head. I keep a casual list for my own recollection and history. Others keep a list for the sake of making a list - a list of ever expanding birds that can only be satisfied by traveling the world and making a checkmark next to each name. You know these people when you bird with them: after they see a bird they are already racing on to see the next bird. It’s not the bird they are satisfied with but the number.

I say this because I was able to add a notch to my life list this past month. And it was exciting! Earlier this month the bird club went out for a Piping Plover search. Often the bird club will go out in specific search for a certain bird. Many of those times we come up empty handed. So, when I read the email that we were looking for Piping Plovers - a species which I have never seen - that are federally protected, and which beach-goers would rather run over than protect, I was excited but had reservations. It was early April, and still cold in Southeast Massachusetts. The Piping Plover is a small bird. I did not really expect it to have arrived yet, and according to ebird.com it didn’t look like anything had arrived yet (that anyone posted). My only hope was that in years past these birds had arrived around the same dates on which we were searching.

When we got to the beach on West Island in the morning it was fairly empty – only a guy walking his dog in the far distance. It was sunny that day, but we had some snow flurries earlier in the week. We began to walk the beach toward the man and the dog. There didn’t seem to be any bird on the beach let alone a hard-to-see Piping Plover. My hopes were fading that not only wouldn’t we see a Piping Plover, but not much of anything else, either.

Well, that was until Mike, the bird club president, spotted a Piping Plover from across the bay. How he saw it is beyond me and the rest of the group that was there that day. All of a sudden though, the day was looking up. We all stopped next to the water and peered off into the distance to try to find it. Indeed it was a Piping Plover, or at least that was what Mike was telling us. We saw a bird flying back and forth, but even with binoculars it was still just a speck in the sky. Only Mike, an experienced birder, could tell at that distance it was definitely a Piping Plover. [How could he tell? From the way it was flying.]

We got our short glimpse. For me though, I had to have more. We began to walk slowly up the beach toward the bird. We had spotted three birds initially. A few minutes later we saw them fly away peeping as they went by. Our excitement was almost gone, except that only two flew away and not three. We continued to walk. Finally, we got to a reasonable distance were we could really see the birds. And boy, were they hared to see, almost exactly blending in with the sand. No wonder they are federally protected. Not only do the adults look like the sand they live on, but their eggs look like small rocks in the sand.

We got closer and closer until basically we couldn’t get any closer because they were so close. It was our lucky day. The Piping Plovers had probably just flown in during the night, and were exhausted. Although they would walk or fly away if you got too close, we were able to see the birds at a close distance that is usually unattainable. Not only that, but because they had just flown in, they weren’t going anywhere. We were able to watch them for as long as we wanted - real enjoyment for a birder.

Although we didn’t see a wide variety of birds that day, it was probably one of the best birding days I have ever had.

Here are some photos from the day:

it's a race to the finish

I’m so excited! It’s that time of year again when we analyze why or why not someone should be president. I used to think that you had to have lots of money and political connections to be president, then Sarah Palin almost became Vice President, and my mind was forever changed about who the American public would/will elect.

The 2008 (or November 2007) election came down to McCain/Palin and Obama/Biden. I remember when they first announced Palin as McCain’s running mate. The buzz on McCain was huge – and for about two weeks I thought he might win. Then Palin decided to talk and have an interview with Katie Couric and the rest is history. I said it before here and still stand by it – I think if McCain had a different running mate such as Mitt Romney he would have won, even with the War in Iraq looming over the Republicans.

The 2012 election is a lot different for the Republicans. Much like how the Democrats swept through the house and senate in 2006 the Republicans embarrassed the Democrats in the 2010 House elections. There is no War in Iraq looming on the backs of the Republicans. Now, Obama has the economy on his back. This is what I think the key issue is: the economy. If the economy continues to improve, which includes jobs, the housing market, and lower gas prices I think Obama will win. If the economy continues to improve slowly like it is, I think Obama will not win.

Some analysts are already saying Obama has won this election while others say he has already lost it. I’m sure in the weeks and months to come we will see more photos of Obama with turbans and more accusations about his birth certificate, but let’s hope this election spends less time on that and is more focused on the issues.

what does mary have to do with palm sunday?

We decided to try the week 3 church again this week. The first time we visited there was a guest preacher. We also went to the traditional service. This time we went to the contemporary service – which we were told would have more kids, and indeed it did. It was Palm Sunday so you never know what to expect. Will the church have a normal service or does the church do something extra special that day? From what I could tell this church had a little of each.

We got to see the interim pastor on Sunday, who was not there the first time we visited. He looks like Barney Frank, a House Democrat in Massachusetts, and if we heard him the first week we may not have come back. His sermon - certainly nothing to write home about. Even his closing words left us unsure if the service was really over besides the fact that the congregation got up and began conversing with the people around them.

There were a few odd things to note. First, the church is having a dramatic reading for their Good Friday service. Nothing unusual there, except that it was noted in the bulletin and by the pastor that Mary of Magdala - one of the dramatic people being betrayed - is believed by some to have been the wife of Jesus. A common misconception by Christian skeptics and Da Vinci Code enthusiasts at best, it was no place to bring up such an idea. Also odd was the fact that the pastor kept saying “common era” (C.E.), also a phrase used by people who can’t stand the phrase A.D., a Christian calendar that the Western world still uses today.

There was still some liturgy, which Jess and I both like. A common prayer was said aloud by everyone. There was also a good skit that was put on by the kids at the church, and a song by the praise band. All-in-all we still like the church, but some concerns were raised at this service. If the concerns are common practice we will probably move on, if not we do really like the church. 

42... and counting

Once again it is Jackie Robinson Day. This year it corresponds with the week of the 150^th anniversary of the beginning of the Civil War. I’m sure the slaves didn’t think that African Americans would still be breaking the race barrier in 1947, over 85 years later. It wasn’t just that Robinson was a difference maker on the field, but also off the field.

family church, as opposed to that other kind of church

Week four we decided to try our second church in Plymouth. The first week in Plymouth didn’t go so well (you can find more on that here). We were hoping this week would be better. We walked in, were greeted, and handed an eight-page bulletin, front and back.

Although we had already been to this denomination in a previous week we added it to the list to create a better variety of churches. Unfortunately, this time neither Jess nor I liked this church. There was nothing particularly bad about it, but there was nothing particularly good about it.

One thing that was unusual is that every first Sunday the church has a “family” service. Many churches have family services a few times a year.  I am sure others even have it as frequently as this church. This Sunday there wasn’t even a normal sermon, just a homily for the children. I have never been to a church that has totally taken out the sermon in a service.  

This church usually full of Catholic rejects and delinquents seemed as if it wasn’t full of that particular population but rather as if they just had the wrong sign on the outside. Lots of kneeling, sitting, standing, sitting, kneeling, back to standing. For an hour and a half.  You get the point. It just wasn’t for us.

On the bright side, the two reverends seemed nice, smart, even funny. But, it just didn’t feel right. After church we shook off our shoes and left.

baby money

Families are much smaller today than they use to be. Families with eight or ten children were much more common a few decades ago. Today, it is very rare to see a family that size. Well, unless it is on television of course. Why? I believe one of the main reasons is money. That isn’t the only answer. Otherwise we would see a lot of millionaires with huge families. Culture also has a lot to do with it too.

While at the midwife’s office waiting for our appointment to start, I grabbed one of those parenting magazines. Browsing through it I noticed a survey question that asked, “How many kids would you have if money wasn’t an issue?”  Two things were clear by the results. 1) People still didn’t want ten kids, but 2) they did want more.

Now faced with the reality of fatherhood I will also be facing the challenge of providing for a child. Like the majority of people these days we can’t afford to have one person at home to take care of the baby. Therefore, the challenge is to find not only someone you can afford to pay to take care of your baby, but also someone whom you trust.

I wasn’t worried at first when thinking about the idea of daycare. At least not until I actually started looking into pricing. First, we looked into the locations that are convenient to where my wife works. It went from disconcerting, to frightening, to down-right stressful. The prices were just way beyond what we could afford. It wasn’t looking good. Then I called a national daycare chain. My wife let me call this one. It was a hundred more dollars than the local places. Worriment started to set it. Not even half way through the pregnancy and I thought I may have to bring the baby into work with me. (Later Jess would point out to me that the national daycare chain is more because they pay their workers more and pay for their benefits, etc.)

I knew the search was getting desperate when Jess started to get worried. But, all was not lost. Not even a week later a co-worker of Jess’ gave her a daycare listing from a local paper. Jess gave a call immediately. Not only is the daycare affordable but it is close. 

journey for a church: week 3

In the age of unwelcoming churches, have congregations turned a corner? With last week off, this week we attended a new church in Sandwich that, much like the first church and the End Times church, was welcoming. Surprising indeed. The church is not a seeker church – it’s in fact a church that has been around since the first Europeans arrived in Massachusetts and rich in history.

We went to the traditional service. Like many mainstream ‘traditional’ churches it had a welcome, liturgy, and hymns. Some unique aspects of the service were a liturgical prayer and a Lenten moment that happens each week. There weren’t any awkward moments and as visitors we weren’t asked to raise our hands.

Of course the one problem about visiting different churches is that when you arrive you aren’t sure whether the service or the regular pastor will be there that particular Sunday. This week the normal pastor was gone and a visiting pastor gave the sermon. The sermon was wonderful, but it doesn’t reflect the regular week-to-week service. Although I suppose if the visiting pastor had a bad sermon it may reflect badly on the church.

We really enjoyed the worship. But we will have to revisit the church to get a better overview during a regular Sunday. Look for a blog on this church again in the future. Next time we go we will be attending the contemporary service. We’ll be looking for little kids (none of which were at the traditional service) and the regular pastor.  

life

slashing budgets, slashing ecology

With all this talk about slashing budgets whether it is on a national, state, or town level – public funding is taking a big hit. Why?  Well, simply so we don’t leave a huge gaping hole in our children’s children’s pockets. One problem with this thought though, or at least a bit of irony, is that many of the same people who are trying to reign in government and public spending are calling for the opposite in the way we look at our future ecologically.

And no, this isn’t just about greenhouse gases or wind turbines – although that is a big part of it. The way we are tearing apart the earth our children’s children’s pockets may be nothing to worry about if there is no land or resources to be had, whether it is that the land is gone through buildings, houses, giant malls, etc, or through laws (or lack thereof) that allow companies and people to destroy and pollute the land at will.

Through over-killing of such animals as the beaver, buffalo, and fish, many animals are scarce, some even extinct because of human interaction.  Here on Cape Cod a huge complaint is in regard to fish limits. They complain but don’t acknowledge their ancestors overfishing from the past making their living more difficult today. The laws for catch limits are there, in fact, not to keep companies and people from making as much money as they can, but indeed to make sure that their children can continue to fish in the future.

Once upon a time places where animals and birds could be seen in abundance were plenty. What can you see in those places now?  Homes, grocery stores, or even abandoned strip malls. Sprawl is everywhere and is causing a gaping hole in our children’s children’s ecological future.

journey for a church: week 2

It was supposed to be an easy Sunday – a mainstream church, a contemporary service – no surprises, right? At least that is what we thought. We arrived early and were able to have our pick of any seat. It didn’t look like the seats were going to fill, but eventually many of the seats in the pews began to fill as the first worship song began.

It was a little awkward at first. The worship band was not singing loudly and neither was the congregation. After the first song though the worship band seemed to be a little more comfortable and everything seemed normal – sort of. Then the worship leader began to walk down the aisle. Back and forth singing the whole time. I was afraid to stop singing or give eye contact in fear that I might get called out by the worship leader to sing louder or to start jumping up and down and raising my hands like he was. Luckily, eye contact was not given.

After avoiding awkwardness was the welcome time for visitors. The pastor asked for any new visitors to raise their hands. So awkwardly enough both of us raised our hands and received a small welcome packet.

Then – the sermon. On the projector screens appeared up a collage of photos – a little kid with a bowl of water, a couple other photos, and an Apache helicopter. You might be wondering, “Why an Apache helicopter?”. It might become clear when I explain that with the four photos is also an intimidating caption - “A Study in The End Times”.

The first week of Lent seemed like an easy enough Sunday to attend. But alas this church decided to coincide Lent with a series on the end times. It went from awkward to just plain bad. With the word rapture being thrown around I was holding myself down from walking out of the church. In all fairness there were a couple points made during the sermon that were theologically correct – from there urg. At the end the pastor went on to describe that if you didn’t do your devotions, prayers, tell your friends about the gospel each day, and if you instead decide to make up your own gospel, when you come to a huge crisis in your life the cross you’ve “made” won’t be big enough to withstand this huge crisis. Compare that analysis with the idea that it is God and not yourself who is in control.  The pastor’s sermon completely contradicts the knowledge that love does indeed conquer all, and that forgiveness is not something that you can count (Matthew 18:21-22).

We walked out disappointed, much like the rainy day in Plymouth.

journey for a church: week 1

I’m not sure where to begin. So, I’ll begin with the ending.

As we left the beautiful red doors of church number one I was pleasantly surprised that I was not disappointed by the service. In actuality, I was surprised how inviting the church was among other things. I think it helped that it was sunny and 60 for the first time in months. It also helps that the town of Sandwich is a quaint Cape Cod town. How did we get here?

It did not start with a new house (but it did end there). No, it started with the fact that driving to Attleboro every Sunday just became too far and too time consuming. In fact, Attleboro is not even the closest Evangelical Covenant Church to our house in Wareham. Except, we had already established a relationship with the church before moving down to Wareham, and it was not that much further than the other Covenant churches that were a little closer. 

The idea of actually becoming a part of the church was just not possible from that far away. Additionally, with the looming of a baby on board (along with gasoline prices escalating again) we knew we had to switch churches. It was nice to go on Sunday morning, but simply impossible to go any other day of the week.  We decided to look for a collection of churches near our new home. We came up with eight churches in Plymouth and Sandwich. Later, the list was cut to seven because one of the churches had mentioned only supporting men in leadership on their website.

Over the next several weeks we will be going from church to church trying to find a home. I won’t be giving out specific church names or denominations until the end, but hints will be in each blog. The series will go eight weeks (I’ll have to find an additional church to make it eight again). However, the series could end or be extended if we find a church or if the eight weeks are not enough.

Church 1

It was a warm sunny day in Sandwich on Sunday. It made it easy to walk to the small New England church from the side street where we had parked the car. We could see the big red doors of the entrance as we crossed the street to the church.

We walked in to see that the procession of clergy were making their way to the front for the beginning of church. Everyone was singing the first song. A simple wrong turn to the church had made us a minute too late. The church obviously started right on time. After the procession went past we (and a few others that did not quite make it on time) stepped into the sanctuary to find our seats.

From the beginning it was obvious and no surprise that this was high church, with strong emphasis on liturgical worship. This didn’t faze either of us. Well, not until I was singing along with the first hymn and noticed that there were no titles in the hymnal. Finding this peculiar I moved on.

On to the sermon. The sermon can be make-it or break-it with me. In this circumstance I was not persuaded either way. The pastor gave great examples of faith and one not so good example, Augustus Caesar. It wasn’t gripping with theological problems, but it didn’t get me off my seat in awe. All in all it was good.

At the end was communion. Not just communion, but communion with a wafer. It was different and not how I would do it. However, they do have communion each week, which is missed out, even in most Covenant churches. At the end of the service we had a very friendly couple come up to us and talk for a few minutes. This as well does not happen in many churches. A welcome sign from a welcoming church.