Apostle's Creed #8

I believe in God, the Father Almighty,
   maker of heaven and earth.

And in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord;
   who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
      born of the virgin Mary,

born of the virgin Mary,

A second thought about this line of the Creed; this is in fulfillment of prophecy. In Isa. 7:14, the prophet tells the king, “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.” This is a prophecy with two fulfillments. In the time of Isaiah, around 735 B.C., God tells King Ahaz that in the time it takes for a woman to get married, conceive, give birth to, and wean a child, the enemy that is threatening his kingdom will be destroyed.

But, by making the prophecy specific, “And shall call His name Immanuel,” God is also speaking of the birth of His Son 700 years later. Immanuel, or Emanuel as it is in the Hebrew, means “God with us.” God is telling His people that His own Son is going to be born of a virgin.

And two chapters later, God gives Isaiah more information about this child, that he will be called “Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, and Prince of Peace,” that He will sit on the throne of David, and that He will reign eternally.

When I say this portion of the Creed, I am confessing that God does intervene in time, and that He did so with the purpose of fulfilling His promise to send a Savior.

All Aboard!!

We have reached the place that the media has been saying, for some time now, that we have been headed towards. The place where politics dictates violence. With the shooting at the offices of the Family Research Council yesterday (8/15/12), we have arrived at the point where your political views are now the targets of would-be killers and thugs.

Why do I say we arrived here yesterday, and not before? After all, wasn’t the shooting of  Democrat Gabby Giffords, in Arizona last year, political? No, it wasn’t, although the left and the media (I repeat myself) screamed that Sarah Palin and the Tea Party was to blame. Palin’s map, with gun sites over close elections, was cited as the reason for the coarsening of political dialog, and that she and the Tea Party were inciting violence and had made targets out of wonderful, sweet, water-walking Democrats.

Jared Loughner

I guess the fact that the shooter actually turned out to be a total loon, who had been on the radar of the Tucson Sheriff’s Department for a while didn’t really matter. After all, just because the boy was a loon didn’t meant that Sarah Palin didn’t inspire him. And even if she didn’t, why let that fact spoil a good attack line.

And this year, when James Holmes shot up the midnight showing of Batman, in Colorado, wasn’t it a great chance for ABC’s Brian Ross to go on the air to report that there was a James Holmes with the Denver Tea Party organization? It didn’t matter that the James Holmes of the Denver Tea Party was 52, and shooter was only in his 20’s. Why let facts get in the way of a good meme? Jump on it; after all, we know that all right-wingers are liars, loons, and/or losers. They deserve it!!

But, wait a minute. It turns out that there was no political connection at all in the Batman shootings, It seems that James Holmes, the loon, was known about for weeks, had been seeing a psychiatrist, who had reported him to the authorities. WHO DID NOTHING!!

And now we come to yesterday. Floyd Corbin, a volunteer at the DC Lesbian, Gay, Bi-sexual & Transgendered offices, legally purchased a gun in Virginia, five days prior, with intentional malice. He walked into the FRC lobby, tried to say that he was an intern at FRC, and when challenged by the security guard, said, “I don’t like your policies,” took out his gun and shot the guard.

This was political, intentionally political. Tony Perkins, president of FRC, and FRC itself, had taken a position supporting Chik-Fil-A in their stance against same-sex marriage. This LGBT volunteer bought a gun and tried to kill people because he didn’t like the policies of the FRC, and believed it was his right and duty to try to kill those whose politics he didn’t like.

So yes, we have arrived at the place that the liberal left has said that we were coming to: the time when one side will use violence to try to suppress the other. Only, it is the left doing the suppressing, using the violence to bully, to hurt and to try to silence the other side.

Apostle's Creed #7

I believe in God, the Father Almighty,
   maker of heaven and earth.

And in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord;
   who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
      born of the virgin Mary,

“Born of the virgin Mary,”

I know that the default image is something medieval or Renaissance, a la da Vinci or Titian, but I’m pretty sure that crude roughness is the truth of Mary’s situation. Living in a brutish time, forced to walk/ride to Bethlehem and finding ‘sanctuary’ in a cave used as a cattle pen, with flea-infested straw and home-spun cloth as a “hospital” birthing bed, and a rough-hewn board manger and straw for a bassinet, Mary, Joseph and Jesus did not present a Christmas-card tableau for the Three Magi to happen upon. (Yes, I know that the Bible doesn’t say there were three magi, but I can only deal with so many icons in one one post.)

But the truth of the Creed is not in our idealization of the imagery of Christmas, but with the statement of the Bible about our Savior, and what God accomplished. And with the humble obedience of a young girl, on the cusp of womanhood, who accepted her place in God’s plan of salvation.

There is no way that this can be minimized. We know that Mary had to deal with whisperings behind her back about the legitimacy of Jesus’ birth (after all, at one point, the Pharisees cast His birth back at Jesus “Where is your Father”.) Told by Simeon that her heart would be pierced, she watched her son crucified by Romans.

And, yet, she was faithful to her promise to God throughout her life. “Let it be to me according to your word.” One more testimony of faith in God that we look to when we say the Creed. 

We confess that Mary’s obedience is a model for ours. We, too, are servants of God, and say with her, “Let it be to me according to Your will.”

(I need to thank my son for bringing this back up to me. Yes, it’s been a long time since I started writing this, and never did finish. But now is as good a time as any to continue.)

Be Angry...

I am really starting to get tired of trying to be nice when nice is no longer called for. Recently, I pointed to an article that talked about how it was incumbent on Christians to dialog with the “Other”, to show compassion for those who saw themselves excluded by Christians. The Other might be homosexuals, or the poor, or the “disenfranchised” (whatever that means.) But I’m having a hard time getting  my head around being nice to those who want to be evil towards me.

I can be civil, but that doesn’t mean that I have to make nice with them, does it? Am I called to sit and sing Kumbayah with every foul-mouthed, abusive twit who screams for attention, bawling out maledictions in my face? I can keep from killing the dastard; isn’t that enough for his mommy?

Two videos make my point. As you know, if you’ve not been living under a rock for the past month, Chick-Fil-A restaurant was tagged as the Victim-of-the-Month by the homosexual community and their supporters. “Hate-mongers!” was the cry and protest that rang across the media. MIke Huckabee, tired of the media crucifixion of decent people, asked that decent people support Chick-Fil-A on Aug. 1, and decent people came out in record numbers.

Unfortunately, so did at least one scumpuppy.

(This jerk, thinking that everyone would applaud his protest “against hate”, found out to his shame that being a jackass for the sake of righteousness doesn’t always work. He got fired when his video went viral.)

While that’s interesting, the point I want to make is this - because I’m a Christian, am I obligated to say, “Well, that’s alright, you’re an scumbag but Jesus loves scumbags just as they are.” I don’t think so. Sometimes a turd is just a turd, and it’s alright to point out the fact.

The next video, to me, is even more disturbing. Adam Smith, above, at least had the ‘decency’ (if you want to call it that) to vent his spleen at Chick-Fil-A. (It was his misfortune to be a total d’bag to the nicest, sweetest, cutest counterworker in America, and so come off as a total loser.) But in this video, these bellends don't have that excuse. They are mean and cruel to a homeless man with no connections to Chick-Fil-A. The reason that he merits their display of homosexual “tolerance”? He’s reading a Bible to himself.

Belabor me for a bad Christian, but seeing those abusive homosexuals tormenting that man for reading a Bible just makes me angry.

And anger is not necessarily a sin.

Letting My Inner Coot Run Wild

Okay, time to bestir myself again.

I am going to use this blog to write things that my Facebook account won't have room for. As well, FaceBook is for dealing with friends and family, and sometimes I don't play nice. So I am going to use this site to put down my thoughts on many topics, and let this blog be the place where I can get real.

First things first. For almost two years, I have been listening to the podcasts of Mark Gungor, a Green Bay pastor who also has created a seminar of marriage entitled Laugh Your Way (To A Better Marriage). The man is a flat-out hoot, when speaking in his seminar, and you can view 4-10 minute clips of him on YouTube. He is best known for his explanation of the difference between the male and female brain.

He also does a daily podcast on which he, his co-host Diane Brierly and son-in-law Ross (an under-pastor in Mark's church) give marital advice to people who email them with problems. The only problem is that the three of them can be really brutal in treatment of the people who write them. I have listened to everyone one of his podcasts for the past two years, and I will let you know that some of what they do has rubbed off on me.

At 62, I realize that I have reached the point where I am not going to be emotionally black-mailed or coerced in to caring for stupid, anymore. I am also not going to make nice when I think that nice isn't called for. Now, I will admit that, as a Christian, I am not in the habit of cussing, but I do believe in giving proper credit where credit is due, so when someone is being an a$$hole, ..... Well, Irene has asked that I not use that particular term, so I won't. But I will be blunt in calling a turd a turd.

So, isn't this just lovely? Another old coot decides that the world is entitled to his opinion. Just what the world needs. But I figure it's cheaper than medication.

Day After, Part 2

Here are a couple of photos that Abby took today:

The Day After

Well, here it is, the Morning After the Day Before. And it is snowing to beat the band!! I just checked our local TV station's weather page, and some places here in the Tidewater area are going to get 6-12". Already, there is 4" outside our door, and it is supposed to snow all day. As WAVY put it on their page, "This is the big one."

So that means that we are snowed in, and as you can gather from posts in my archive, this is my favorite thing to have happen. To be able to curl up with a book (laptop?), hot cocoa or International Foods coffee and watch the snow fall from a couch and warm blankets is nirvana.

We had a great day yesterday, and everyone was pleased with their gifts. I certainly am in love with my two new CDs. I love swing music, and one of the modern purveyors of Swing is the band Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, and Abby got me one of their albums.

Right now, I am listening to The Limeliters. They were a folk trio from the 50's & 60's, and were a favorite of my Mom's. Which meant, of course, that all of us Fisher kids grew up with Limiliter music. One of Mom's passions was music. She had the biggest collection of LPs that I can think of, what with Broadway and movie musical soundtracks, and other albums. One of her favorites was the Limeliters, so I grew up with their music as part of my personal soundtrack.

A few years ago, I found a Limeliters CD and have enjoyed it on my computer and on my iPod since then. And thanks to Amazon's Wish List function, I got a double collection, two classic Limeliter albums on one CD: Slightly Fabulous and Sing Out. I'm listening to it now, as I blog, and it is so delightful. Glenn Yarborough's high tenor vocals, the trio's musicianship, and Lout Gottlieb's uproarious patter make this CD an absolute delight!

I hope you get to enjoy this day after Christmas. It's going to be a good one for me.

Merry Christmas

Well, it's now after 11:00 and we've just finished opening our presents. Everyone is happy with their presents and we've gone about our different ways of enjoying the day. Irene, of course, is in the kitchen, preparing for Christmas dinner. We are having ham for Christmas, and Irene is glad. She's buzzing about wearing her new snood -- "Snood?", you ask. Yes, a snood. She told me over a month ago that she wanted one (Google it, you'll see what I'm talking about.

Abby is listening to her new Tom Waits CD, Orphans. Waits is her new passion, and this one is probably going to be a forever one, as Waits is like Bob Dylan - a less-than-passable singer who is a genius with lyrics. Plus he has the sense of humor that Dylan lacks. He can screw with your head so fast it will make your head swim.

Amelia is lost in her new jewelry-making book. She is becoming such a talented jewelry designer/maker and it is her future, I'm sure.

Me? I'm blogging, putting up with Tom Waits, and occasionally looking down at my left hand. My big present this year is that I am wearing my wedding ring again. We had it resized, and so I am able to wear my original wedding ring again.

A ring is given as "a token" of love in the wedding ceremony, and it is supposed to symbolize the eternity of love, a never-ending circle. But do you ever get the feeling that you don't deserve love? And, occasionally, I feel that I am not loved.

Not today. It's Christmas, and I am happy that God's love is manifested in the Incarnation of Jesus.

Merry Christmas to all my readers (you know who you aren't.)