September 27, 2008

  • Sabbath: Part 2, Resting

    There is this really fascinating concept in medicine. It is called circaseptan bioperiodicity. The human body seems to have seven-day rhythms in its healing.

    There are actually advantages to timing and dosing of treatments in seven-day periods. For example, if recipients of organ transplants are going to reject an organ, it is often on the 7th or 14th day. Also, human breast milk spikes certain hormones on seven-day cycles.

    This circaseptan (seven-day) rhythm is related to ourcircadian rhythm—the approximate 24-hour rhythm our bodies have. Studies have shown that disruption of our circadian and circaseptan rhythms have adverse effects on our health: frontal lobe damage in our brains, cancerous growths, and psychiatric disorders. There are advantages to having hospitals follow seven-day routines. Here is one example.

    One researcher pointed out that France experimented with a ten-day (metric) week during the time of the French revolution with disastrous results. “The mental institutions filled rather quickly to capacity and then some.” (Life laboratory)

    Some might attribute these rhythms to the rhythms of sunlight and earth rotations, but I believe that even these rhythms are Creator designed.

    My son, T, has done on-the-street surveys with passersby about the 10 commandments. One of the least known commandments is the one about keeping the Sabbath. People just don’t know about it. (The most common one that people know is not to kill other people…but still that is only less than 70% of those he surveys.)

    The commandment actually says that the reason that we should keep the Sabbath holy is that the Creator made the world in six days and rested on the seventh. (Exodus 20) So, the raison d’etre is Creation, which means—like the rest of the 10 commandments, it applies to us, not just pre-Jesus Christ people.

    Jesus said that the Sabbath was “made for man, not man for the Sabbath” (Mark 2:27). This is a radical concept to us, as it was for the religious leaders of Jesus’ time: the Sabbath is made for us. There are blessings associated with it.

    Some people have jobs of mercy and necessity that require working on Sunday. One can’t always rest on Sunday if he or she is a firefighter, physician, or prime minister. And that is OK. Jesus said we would need to get some “oxen out of our ditches” on the Sabbath. One pastor that I knew said that because he had to consistently work on Sunday (in a demanding way often), he claimed Mondays as his Sabbath. He rested that day instead. He found it a blessing to himself, his marriage, and his family.

    Could it be that putting aside our work on the Sabbath will benefit our health? Could it be that a concept of Sabbath helps us maximize our circaseptan rhythms?

    Could it be that the day was made for me?

    |||||| lynard

September 20, 2008

  • Sabbath: Part 1, The Marketplace

    In our family, we celebrate Sunday as the Christian Sabbath. For us, that means putting aside our six days’ labor. We make it a priority to attend worship with other believers, to spend time with others, to do acts of mercy, and to get rest. Our goal is to celebrate the Sabbath out of love for God and out of our desire for His best for us. Personally, I have found it a blessing to my health—spiritual, mental, and physical.

    Getting legalistic about the Sabbath is not the point. Different families use their six days differently, so when it comes to their Sabbaths, rest, hows and whys, and spiritual pursuits are going to differ. Our circumstances will create different boundaries. We know that Jesus rocked the Sabbath boat on more than one occasion, particularly for reasons of mercy or necessity. The question for us is what does it mean to make the day “holy”?

    Sabbath and the Marketplace
    When I was a teen, I had a few jobs in fast food. Asking off for the Sabbath was always difficult. Managers were quick to offer some flexibility so I could attend church, but they were cynical about my request to have the whole day off. One manager had all the employees vote (in front of me) whether they would be willing to cover me so that I would never have to work on Sunday. They all voted yes!

    After going to all this embarrassment and trouble, I realized that it would not be cool to show up at these restaurants and have fellow employees wait on me. If I didn’t believe in working on Sunday, it would be hypocritical for me to patronize that place and require others to serve me.

    This was not a big issue because, at that time, my parents would not normally buy anything, let alone convenience food, on their Sabbath. But it became a small issue because I had a Sunday school teacher who liked to walk down with our class to meet over a coke while we discussed our lessons. Ironically, one of the places our class liked to go to was the place where I got my first job. This situation made me check my convictions and my pride.

    The longer I worked, the more I began to think past the embarrassment. I began to realize that part of the problem was that it was human nature to be greedy to make money all seven days. The Blue Laws of yesteryear had made recreational shopping and dining on Sunday a non-issue—but now, who would want to miss the income and good customer service reputation of being open for business all seven days?

    This realization took away my desire to even be part of the system. Besides needing a rest from my own consumerism, I no longer wanted to be part of the reason for businesses staying open on Sundays. It became easy for me not to shop or dine out unnecessarily.

    Rabbi Abraham J. Heschel, who wrote The Sabbath: Its Meaning for Modern Man referred to the Jewish Sabbath as “a palace in time.” I like this image for the Christian Sabbath, too. It’s a special place I can enter at the beginning of the week, ideally in a state of awe, to rest, refuel, and admire the Creator. (OK, the awe doesn’t always work; sometimes I just crawl into the palace…)

    Do you view Sunday ( or another day) as your Sabbath? If so, how do you celebrate it, guard it, and observe it?

    ||||||   lynard

September 17, 2008

September 13, 2008

  • Congrats Danielle and John!

    Today was a special day. A friend who has faced many adversities got married. We had to shoehorn people into our church. There was hardly a seat or dry eye in the house. Her story is a testimony to how to live a life in God’s grace, and I get the idea that their story together will be one as well.


    Oh yeah, I danced with my boyfriend, and the bride’s brother wore a kilt.

    ||||||  lynard

September 9, 2008

  • Pam Baker’s Photography

     

    I was impressed with the photographer at the recent wedding of my nephew.  If you live near Rochester, NY, and need a competent photographer, check out http://www.pjbphotos.com/

    If you’ll click on weddings, you’ll see some of Pam’s more creative work. And you might see more peeps that you know! 

    ||||||  lynard

September 6, 2008


  • After over six months, our hibiscus decided to pop a bloom today. The cell phone pic does not do it justice.

     The plant started from a clipping from my dad’s hibiscus, which has taken over half of his livingroom. You can’t even sit on his couch anymore, because the hibiscus vines reach out and grab your face from the coffee table.  Our plant hasn’t been as prolific or as colorful. His blooms in abundance. But when ours blooms it is a natural anti-depressant. *snoopy happy dance*

    ||||||  lynard

September 3, 2008

  • Salad in the Backyard

    I thought we might not get tomatoes, but there they are. We were worried because yellow leaves appeared at the base of our plants a few weeks back. Some had brown dots. The vines are still not lush but the tomato crop looks decent for gardeners who don’t weed or water. (We mulch a LOT with newspaper and seedless hay. Well, one year it wasn’t seedless, but that is a scary bedtime story.)

    The jalapeños are gorgeous, but the jury is still out on the bell peppers. I never get a big crop of bells, which is a bummer because I adore stuffed peppers and you need a crowd of peppers for those. Maybe it is the anti-watering thing. We need to get our rain barrel hooked up to the hose; it is not as easy as it sounds. The dryness probably killed the cukes in July while we were out of town. Happily, the lettuce and zucchini are still producing. (Does anything kill zucchini?)

    By the way, this year, I bought the five-variety lettuce seed pack. You have to find them early because they sell out on the internet. These packs make a beautiful salad—light green, curly, dark green, red, and yum—all in one little sowing and harvest. Then when you add the tomatoes and balsamic vinegar,  you have an elegant feast. Alas, it only last a few weeks a year.

    ||||||  lynard

August 28, 2008

  • Revenge of the Gestapo

    Every year Trinity Christian School has a retreat for the high school. They have a spiritually minded speaker, junk snacks, late cabin discussions, and games. Sometime during the retreat they play a game called Gestapo. To my understanding, the teachers that have the privilege of chaperoning are in control of the game and the clues to where people are hidden. And, I think, they play in the dark, so it is kinda spooky.

    This is my son’s video to promote the high school retreat, especially the Gestapo game, but it doesn’t really show how the real game is played. The video is all about hype. It was shown in high school assembly and got lots of laughs. Take two and a half minutes and enjoy. (What I want to know is how he gets teachers to do this stuff!! He filmed this before school even started by calling teachers at home and asking them to participate.)

August 24, 2008

  • Neighborhood Clean Up

    Because my youtube movie of Covenant Fellowship’s Neighborhood Clean Up Day didn’t work, I am posting pics instead. There are a few more pics in my album than in this post.Our congregation had a Neighborhood Clean Up last year with the help of our visiting RP Mission team, but since it was the first time, finished only a half dozen properties.

    This year, the mission team got the plywood from the borough early (72 sheets donated!) and measured windows, cut boards and painted them before the work day. In the end, over a dozen properties were done. One encouraging note was that six people from the community–unrelated to the congregation–came out to help. Also, local businesses donated materials and drinks for the workers.

    In addition to boarding up vacant houses, brush was cleared and trash picked up. In the business district a few blocks away, a team pulled weeds in front of the storefronts, and hauled them away in wheel barrows.

    60% of the properties near our church are abandoned. It is sad, but there are still precious families living here, trying to keep their kids safe. My kids live several blocks away and sometimes walk these streets.

    I have pics of people working, but some of the simple before-and-afters of the properties tell the story well. Imagine if you lived here, how much better you might feel. I am so thankful that God’s people care enough to show this kindness to a rough spot.
    ||||||  lynard

     

August 23, 2008

  • Eats, Shoots, and Leaves the National Parks

    LynneTruss3
    When pictures of the author of Eats, Shoots, and Leaves surfaced, showing Lynne Truss fixing the punctuation in the Two Weeks’ Notice movie marquis, I was tempted to carry whiteout and a Sharpie in my purse. It would be fun to help the world communicate better. I mean, hey, I make typos, too, and I appreciate it when people help me clean up my words. How noble it would be to help others that make mistakes and errors of ignorance!

    It seems that I was not the only one inspired to good deeds. Jeff Deck and Benjamin Herson challenged the country to the 2008 Typo Hunt Across America, sponsored by TEAL (Typo Eradication Advancement League):

    This March through May, we, sworn members of TEAL, will be taking a road trip around the country to stamp out as many typos as we can find, in public signage and other venues where innocent eyes may be befouled by vile stains on the delicate fabric of our language. We do not blame, nor chastise, the authors of these typos. It is natural for mistakes to occur; everybody will slip now and again. But slowly the once-unassailable foundations of spelling are crumbling, and the time has come for the crisis to be addressed. We believe that only through working together with vigilance and a love of correctness can we achieve the beauty of a typo-free society.
    The itinerary is as follows:
    •Whole of March: From Boston to San Diego, via the steamy South
    •Much of April: Up the West Coast
    •Late April – Mid-May: From Seattle, through the Northern plains and mighty lakes, to New England once again
    (from www.jeffdeck.com/teal, which is now only available in a cached version)

    Their travels came to an untimely end when they decided to “fix” a sign that was a historic landmark in the Grand Canyon. Documenting their permanent marker and whiteout repair on their website, Deck and Herson led federal prosecutors right to them, and they were charged for vandalizing government property. They pled guilty, and they were fined to pay for the restoration of the sign. (Will they fix the typo?)

    The worst is that they are banned from national parks for a year! That is traumatic. I love national parks. I think I’ll keep my Sharpie in my purse.

    |||||| lynard