The sun is shinning brightly and the temperature is a pleasant 63 degrees. Two, happy, fishermen are on the pond with a little oar. They are laughing uproariously and I think that is because of the little oar. I have not seen a boat on our pond since my neighbors, Larry and Vickie, got in their paddle boat and paddled around the body of water over ten years ago. We had a lovely church service this morning and many of my fellow congregants reflected on what Earth Day meant to them. One of the members had a great slide show of some beautiful places on our third rock from the sun.

Often may readers response to my scribbles reminds me of the Literature Analysis class that I was enrolled in during the 1980’s. Of course the class involves the students reading a piece of writing and then breaking it down to explain what the author meant. I found that it was not an exact science. My first paper was applauded by the professor and read to the class, anonymously, to illustrate good analysis. I received an A grade and felt pretty good about my analytical abilities… That was the first and last A grade that I received in the class…and instead I progressively declined in grades on my papers. What I had seen so clearly on the first analysis…evaded me on all of the rest of the course study. At the conclusion of the semester the professor told me that he had never experienced a student who demonstrated in the first paper of the class that he understood all that the class was designed to teach…but that I had. He went on to say that although it seemed somewhat unorthodox to give me an A for the semester, it was the right grade due to my first attempt…and that he was perplexed as to my slow decline for the rest of the study.

O. Henry was known for his surprise endings. His works include the Gift of the Magi and Ransom for Red Chief. Many of my writings are patterned after Mr. Henry in that I strive for the surprise ending. Also, the theme of many of my blogs may not be evident until the latter portion of the document. I enjoy writing from personal experience but endeavor to correlate the experience with larger global themes.

I often speak of nature, which is a subject that I could write all day regarding, and yet my critical point is that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. A person can live in the most lovely natural surroundings and yet be bitter and afraid and depressed. Happiness comes from within. I am amazed at how much beauty that I see…when I am in the mood to receive it. I am equally amazed at how much awe inspiring Earth events that I miss when my heart is not right… I was watching a Danish film last night that is in contention for an Academy Award, entitled, Another Round, where a group of teachers decide that they are going to follow the advise of a study that illustrates that 0.5 alcohol blood alcohol content is the natural state of humans that should be striven to achieve for maximum career and social success. The insidious results seem, at first to be working, until the group ups their drinking…with comical results. I reflected that our society teaches us that perhaps we need that extra supplement of drug or drink to excel in our profession or social interactions.

Good writing makes the reader think. It should not be easily decipherable. It should not be in the network television shows practice of scene changes every minute or less. It should not be in the mindless approach of reality TV. Not so long ago the purpose of education and higher education was to make a better member of the human family. The goal was not to tell the student what to think but to teach them how to think. Einstein did not come from the conventional classroom. Dr. Martin Luther King showed us the way of nonviolent protest…he demonstrated to us a new and better way. Good writing enriches the mind with questions that do not have easy answers. Good writing brings peace to the troubled…and trouble to the complacent.

The Bible is an outstanding piece of literature. It speaks to us in allegory and inference and parable and the most heightened form of writing…story. Story has caused us to go to war…and story had brought us peace. President John F. Kennedy told us a story of going to the moon…and we did. Martin Luther nailed 95 thesis to the door of the church and thus began the Protestant reformation. We read the story of the baby Jesus…wrapped in swaddling clothes and laid in a manger…because there was no room for him in the Inn…and millions and billions of people have followed him until this day…

Jonathon and I were just talking about money orders. It occurred to me that I have not thought of money orders for several years and that the era of the Debit card and on-line purchasing had somewhat supplanted what was the go-to method of payment a generation ago. Now I realize that money orders are […]

Subtle Change — The Jazz Man

Earth is an enjoyable place to live. I have lived all of my 63 + years here…and have every anticipation that I will live the remainder of my days on our brilliant blue globe. I love nature. I take a nature walk every day. I am enthralled by water. When I travel to Destin, Florida I can literally sit and watch the Gulf for hours. Around our house is an abundance of nature’s sounds. Among the sounds are birds singing and frogs croaking. We currently have a lost goose in our yard and a great blue heron who is eyeing him suspiciously. We have a busy beaver in our pond who travels back and forth across our lane to forage for dam building materials.

We are constructed from the earth. There is a reason that we feel one with nature…we are nature. On a few rare occasions I have been in fellowship with deer in our Campus woods. I have been close enough to touch them. I did not feel like the supreme mammal in the mix…but rather I felt humbled that they allowed me to visit with them in their home.

Pounds Hollow was my sanctuary when I was a boy. Mom loved to swim and so did I. She drove me and often my cousin Brenda to the happy place…three or four times a week in the summer. At times my buddy Jackie Brooks would accompany us. Mom always cautioned me that water moccasin snakes were in the water and therefore not to swim out beyond the ropes that illustrated where the shallow water ended and the deep water began. I was not a strong swimmer…but I could float like a beach ball. Soon I was floating into the deep and all the way to the other shore. It was exciting and exhilarating and I felt like an explorer. There is a peaceful tranquility to floating…with your ears under the water and drifting out beyond all other human life. Life’s problems seem so small when you are surrounded by the vastness of earth’s abundant water.

Nature is there for us when all of the accolades of career accomplishments have faded. The earth welcomes us when it seems like our friends have forsaken us. When I was looking at the deer in his big brown eyes…he seemed to be saying, ‘How are you,’ and I replied, ‘I am fine…here with you…’

Heaven is the dream of many faith communities. Heaven is a beautiful concept but as of yet I have not spoken with anyone who has personally seen it. I do know many people who have witnessed heaven on earth. From the majesty of spring blossoms and new life…to the beauty of new fallen snow and a winter’s landscape. We humans came from the earth and to the earth we will return. Our home has incomprehensible mesmerizing beauty. I walk the campus of Southern Illinois University @ Carbondale on a daily basis. I know that my friends must think why does Jay take the same photographs over and over again? I see something different in nature…every time that I look at it. It is a gift that keeps on giving.

Nature is a cup that I can not stop drinking of…and I never get my fill…

I still love floating into the deep water…

Blue Skys and high spirits are billowing out of the happy inhabitants of Little Egypt. We are a bit like a bottle of Coca Cola…that has been shaken…prior to being opened. There is so much pent up exuberance that it is on display for all around us to see and be the beneficiary’s of. Campus was abuzz with laughter and music and happy talk as I walked its’ spring confines. Everyone was so demonstrably happy…that I became happy. I began to reflect on all of the good things that God has in store for us. I just finished a fascinating book entitled, ‘The Children’s Bible,’ by Lydia Millet. In the book, which is a cautionary tale regarding global warming, one of the characters likens the Bible to nature…I see the correlation. I visited our churches wonderful Administrative Professional, Barb Stewart, this morning. I presented a thank you card and gift from our churches governing board, the Session, and once again was made hopefull by her wonderful personality and servant/leadership. Have you ever known someone that just by being in their presence…you are encouraged?

The other night I was watching an old recording of The Hopeful Gospel Quartet. The show was from 1993 on the PBS program Austin City Limits. The Quartet began on the radio show from Minnesota, A Prarie Home Companion, which was a creation of the popular author of Lake Wobegon Days, Garrison Keillor. The show transported me back in time where I had a cassette tape for a tape player that I had in my car. The cassette tape experience seemed the epitome of modern technology and that alone with the pager that I wore on my belt assured me that I had reached the land of the old cartoon, The Jetsons. The Hopeful Gospet Quartet sang songs of hope and uplifting and promise of God’s love and a brighter future…I wore the tape out…

A mistake that I have made is to think that happiness is directly proportional to happenings. Not so…I have discovered. Happiness is a conviction that you are alight and that you can help others to feel alright. By sharing of yourself you can encourage and help others. The irony of happiness is that by focusing on your story…my story is written… The riddle of contentment is to make those with whom you have connection feel content and safe and secure…and loved…

My friend thanked me for bringing others hope…and I was gobsmacked…and humbled. That is what I am stumbling around trying to do…but I doubted if anyone noticed…

It is currently 46 degrees with a low of 28 degrees forecast for tonight. My favorite Campus fountain, Paul and Virginia, has just been filled with water…I wonder if it will freeze? As I took my daily walk at Southern Illinois University @ Carbondale, I snapped several photos of blossoming trees that will look much different after the cold bites their leaves. As I was driving home I saw one of the staff at our Civic Center covering their flowering plants as a blanket from the cold. I noticed a squirrel who’s bushy tail was blowing in the chilly breeze as he furtively consumed an acorn.

Nature was dancing and singing and rejoicing in the freedom of the spring and all the bounty that it promises. Now, today, nature is wondering why it bloomed so early? The same surprises confront our human experience. We are so happy and relieved and feeling freedom from Covid 19 since the vaccinations have been offered to all adults. Yet the Pandemic is not over and it is rearing its ugly head…still…across the planet.

So we have a unique opportunity to participate in a new normal. We have a second chance to reassess our reality and remember that we are all in this together. We live together…we die together…we must survive together. It is a myth that we each live in our own Green Zone Compound… and are safe and secluded in the bubble that we have carefully created. We that are well and have no needs and enjoy fulfilling our wants, have been awakened by the Virus.

We must invite others into our circle. We must expand our circle. We have to understand that the divisions that we have erected to divide us…are false and fake and destructive. Jesus saw everyone. Jesus loved everyone. Jesus was often found in the company of the marginalized of his time. The scripture tells us that, ‘the common people heard him gladly.’ Things change… Covid 19 will ultimately be vanquished….but what about Covid 20? Do we want to die when our neighbor…who we have dismissed and who we have ignored and who we do not see…has the medicine that will heal us?

As I was listening to Pastor Kerry’s sermon, this morning, I thought of the innumerable exciting possibilities that are before us. He spoke of those of us who are happy and content in our faith community and yet…how do we reach out to so many of our human family who need some good news and […]

Exciting Possibilities — The Jazz Man

The older I become the less likely I am to embrace change. Change is fun to talk about…and hard to accomplish. Yet, as I look back on my 63 years on earth nothing has been a more regular traveler with me on the road of life…than change. When I retired, over 10 years ago, I understood that change was coming. I had watched my friends and colleagues retire at the historical retirement age and soon become incapacitated or often soon die after their entrance into the joys of the Golden Years. I hoped to beat the system…at least a little. Many of our current social and political problems are the direct result of we citizens balking at the change that is already upon us.

On January the 6th of this year our Capitol was overran by insurrectionist attempting a coop. Although the United States has proudly worn the moniker of a melting pot for all peoples…our practice of this profound statement has been sorely lacking. Many Anglo Saxons cannot comprehend that they soon will be in the minority in our country. Rather than engaging in the dynamic movements of peoples from across the planet they have chosen to shut their eyes from seeing and shut their ears from hearing the cries of their black and brown brothers and sisters. It has been said that ‘Denial’ is a river in Egypt. Conspiracy theories and prejudice and hate for our fellow human beings has moved in where the vacuum left by unrecognized change…has skulked like a hidden wolf…

Faith Communities have changed. Not so much for we life long members of various denominations…we are still alright and comfortable in the faith of our fathers and the warm embrace of familiarity of worship. We realize, on some level, that there are a multitude of our neighbors and friends that want the assurance of a community of believers that will, ‘walk with us and talk with us along life’s narrow way.’ At one time our home churches were overflowing with people hungry for somewhere that was a demonstration of a real Christian faith…that was illustrated by how the poor and needy were treated. Could it be that now everyone is alright and happy without the comfort and the challenge of a Christian community?

Change is not always dramatic. It can be ignored for some time…until we are faced, like a slap in the face, with our chosen blindness to what has been occurring for many years. Sadly we choose not to visit our doctor when we have what seems to be manageable until we are bedfast and almost beyond medical assistance. Many friends tell me that one day they are going to retire and then they are going to travel and enjoy life…

Change happened in 2020. Our once in a century Pandemic altered all of our lives. I watched as a congressman endeavored to make Dr. Fauci the fall guy for the Pandemic. He blamed the doctor for the restrictions that accompany the need to not die from Covid. Over 570 thousand Americans have died from the virus. We so hate to change that many of us refuse to wear a face mask and claim that our rights have been infringed upon. One hundred years ago face masks were a requirement for the Spanish Flu. A new normal is now part of our reality.

We are afraid of the unknown. However, the great unknown awaits us all…and it will be a change…

It is unseasonably cool in our neck of he woods. Our furnace has been reengaged. I was at Dr. Jenny’s Dentist office yesterday and I thoroughly enjoyed petting one of her Boxer dogs. It caused me to reminisce about our recently lost, Parker. I was talking with a group of friends, the other day, and we were ruminating regarding change and our comfort levels with it.

When Jesus brought his ministry to the people of his day he was rejected by the established religions that surrounded him. ‘Then some of the scribes and Pharisees said to Him, ‘Teacher, we want a sign from You.’ But he answered and said to them, ‘An evil and adulterous generation craves for a sign; and yet no sign will be given to it but the sign of Jonah the prophet; for just as Jonah was Three Days and Three Nights In The Belly Of The Sea Monster, so will the Son of Man be be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. Matthew 12: 38-42.

Little Jesus was the title of a blog that I wrote recently. My Little Jesus is a small stuffed Jesus figure that I purchased from Hallmark. It is designed for children and it suits me perfectly. Little Jesus brings me significant comfort. Sometimes it is the little things that make the difference in our lives. Many times we in the church seek a master plan for change and renewal and outreach for those who need a faith community. We scratch our heads and study and strive to discover a comprehensive plan that will tell people that we love them…and that Christ can help… Often a kind word that is said by the person in the pew in front of you…or a uplifting song…or a greeting from a smiling and caring minister that says come back and be with us…works miracles.

Jesus made people uncomfortable. The Christian message to the rich man of, ‘Sell all that you have and give it to the poor…and come and follow me,’ is uncomfortable for many. Over two years ago I felt a call to join the governing board of our church at First Presbyterian, in Carbondale. That is uncomfortable for me…I am an introvert and I like to sit in the back of the sanctuary and be unnoticed and for the most part…unheard.

Christ had such an impact on the earth that we are talking about him today. His message of loving the poor and caring for the needy and accepting the unwanted…is uncomfortable. The Christian walk through life is about seeking the will of God. To truly be open to the will of God is to be like the cowboy of old with a burr in his bedroll. No matter which way that he turns…there is some prickly pain to endure. When Jesus was taken by the Romans to be tried and then crucified, Peter was asked a question. Now the Messiah had prepared Peter for the upcoming question prior to his being asked it; ‘Jesus said to him, ‘Assuredly, I say to you that this night, before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times.’ Matthew 26:34. KJV.

‘Peter said to Him, ‘Even if I have to die with You, I will not deny You!’ All the disciples said the same thing as well.’ Matthew 26:35. KJV

Now Peter was sitting out in the courtyard, and a servant girl come up to him. ‘You also were with Jesus the Galilean,’ she said. But he denied it before them all: ‘I do not know what you are talking about. And when he was gone out onto the porch, another maid saw him, and said unto them that were there, This fellow was also with Jesus of Nazareth. But again he denied with an oath, I do not know the man! And after awhile came unto him they that stood by, and said to Peter, Surely thou also art one of them; for thy speech bewrayeth thee. Then began he to curse and to swear, saying, I know not the man. And immediately the cock crew.’ Matthew 26: 69-74. KJV