NY Times article

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/17/us/in-kansas-city-sermons-avoid-mention-of-abuse-scandal.html?_r=2&hp

I find it interesting that while the church members keep their faith in God, they aren't able to vocalize their anger, frustration and distrust in the church and its leaders. Is the reason because they fear god or the church? Or do they feel that if they ignore it then it will either go away or maybe if they ignore it then it doesn't really exist. does the philosophical question, if a tree falls in the forest and no one is there does it make a sound, apply here?

The ending line by the priest "I wish I could make it all go away"----yes I bet he would.

Just thought I would share the NY Times perspective. Just trying to stimulate conversation. Thoughts anyone?

Carmel Corn---Childhood Calling

Fall has arrived. The walnut trees are dropping their yellow leaves and walnuts(go squirrels). The pin oaks are dropping acorns and the deer are making their annual return to our Downing Road backyard and driveway to feast on them. It is an Indian Summer with warm days and cool nights. Halloween is just around the corner. Coyotes are yipping. I guess the sights and smells of early fall triggered a yearning for some good ole fashion carmel corn---the easy stuff that Mom used to make on the stove. So one evening I got out a pan, heated up some olive oil and popped me a big ole bowl of popcorn. Then I cooked some brown sugar, butter, salt(optional) and water in the same pan(after I dumped said popcorn into the bowl of course). I stirred the concoction until it stared to bubble a little and slightly thicken then I drizzled it over my popcorn for a light coating, just enough sweet but not too much as to make the popcorn soggy or to be overwhelming. John came down stairs and grabbed a handful not realizing it was carmel corn(Yuk, said his facial expression) and while he obviously does not really like carmel corn, he did say it was the best he ever had. I guess it was the best carmel corn he ever disliked.

Anyway I ate nearly the whole bowl, probably thousands of calories, but it tasted so good!
So if you ever get a hankering for something on the sweet side and you have some popcorn, brown sugar and butter available there you go.

Mom used to make this once in a while when I was a kid, so I like to think that maybe Mom was sharing that bowl with me----unfortunately probably not the calories.

Alabama Immigration Law

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44793726/ns/us_news-life/

This article is about the new immigration law in Alabama. It is one of the toughest in the country. The overview follows

The law allows police to detain people indefinitely if they are suspected of being in the country illegally and requires schools to check the status of new students when they enroll. Those elements make it perhaps the toughest law in nation.

"The law targets employers by forbidding drivers from stopping along a road to hire temporary workers. It also bars businesses from taking tax deductions for wages paid to illegal workers and makes it a crime for an illegal immigrant to solicit work. A federal judge has temporarily blocked those sections of the law so she can study them more.

Right now the fall out is that " legal americans" are not rushing to take over these back breaking jobs. Farmers are not finding enough field hands to harvest crops. People are not flocking to be roofers or rough in construction workers. It is hard work and does not come with benefits. "

John has found this to be true, even in this economy with so many out of work people it is hard to get someone to want the labor jobs. He recently posted signs at various places looking for a farm hand, being a rural area this wouldn't seem like a big deal, anyway he was paying $12.00 an hour and you would supply your own chain saw as he wanted some trees cleared in the fields that he is having converted to switch grass. It was going to be about 2 weeks worth the work. He did not get one inquiry. He finally did get a young guy who was unemployed, but he was referred to John by someone. We wanted some things done around the house. The big one is putting a roof on the atrium. We had someone come out and give us an estimate and said he would be available in about 2 weeks. He never showed up and never returned John's three phone calls. John is doing the work himself with the help of a young strong guy to help him. This is a physical job, for those of you who remember the atrium the roof was all glass. These panes of glass are 8 or 10 feet long and very heavy. They were able to remove the panes without breaking any. They are now roughing it in. We are lucky, since John has done so much home remodeling from back in his college days and his engineering background he is able to really oversee the work and because he couldn't really find anyone willing to work, help with it. The young guy who is helping is between jobs, likes physical work and is very strong, but he is not able to really "think through a problem" So John has to pretty much be hands on. The point is that even with high unemployment there is a lack of workers to do labor unless it is for $20.00-$40.00 an hour, now you can argue that it is worth that kind of money, probably true, but then you have to be willing to pay for it all the way down the line and down the line is at the grocery store, any tangible items and so forth. May I say that most women have been accepting these kinds of wages and lower for generations, even when the economy is strong. So what do you all think? would you take $12.00 an hour if you were unemployed or if you needed to supplement your regular job or would you find it degrading and not worthy of you? If I could find a 40 hour a week regular job for $12.00 an hour that included health insurance I would be thrilled. I wouldn't have anything left over at the end of the day, but I don't know, so what the heck.

As farmers Rebecca and Tom could not afford to be full time farmers if not for the fact that they did not have to purchase land, as they are using the family farm. The members work a few hours a season and that helps with labor. They have two interns as well. They offer the interns a small salary a week, free housing and all the produce they can eat. They in turn learn about organic farming. They work 10 hours a day in temperatures that range in the upper 30's or 40's in early spring and late fall to 100 degree temperatures in the summer. I would not want to do it and I am grateful there are people who do. They could not afford to pay workers $20.00 an hour to harvest crops and that is true of most small farms. That is part of the problem, so many family farms are being developed for homes and also sold to agrifarms which use pesticides other unhealthy growing systems.

I don't think we have the right to exploit migrant workers or any worker for that matter, but our style of living, as well as our entitlement belief has gotten out of hand.

OK the floor is open for comments.

Church Home

I think I have found the perfect church for me. A few weeks ago at a Saturday afternoon masters swim practice, I was doing a kick set with one of my teammates, and he mentioned his church. Since I was still looking for a church home in Wichita, I asked him about it, and the first thing he said (sort of nervously) was, “Well, we’re kind of progressive.”


My ears perked right up. “Tell me more.”

And so he did. He told me about the new, inspiring pastor at College Hill United Methodist Church. He told me that the church supports a woman’s right to choose.

“What about non-believers?”

“Everyone’s welcome.”

“Good. I don’t want people judging me when Trent doesn’t come to church with me … what about gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people?” I asked.

“Everyone is welcome and valued,” he replied. “My brother was gay, and I can’t abide churches that disparage people based on sexual orientation.”

“Was?” I asked.

“He died of AIDS.”

“Oh, I’m sorry.”

“Yeah, he was a great guy.”

So after swim practice, I got on the church’s website (http://collegehillumc.org/), and I was thrilled with what I found. Parishioners are encouraged to read Scripture with “patience, openness, humility, knowledge, critical thinking, skepticism at times, and a willingness to wrestle with complexity and contradictions” (College Hill Convenant). Yes! And the church is very focused on social justice and taking action within the community to raise awareness about injustice and take steps to right it.

In a couple of weeks, for example, the church is facilitating a three-day series on human trafficking. Did you know that Wichita is among the top five origination cities in the United States for exploited children? Traffickers come to Wichita, kidnap children, and take them to other cities and states to exploit them, usually sexually. Local experts estimate that 400-500 children and sexually exploited in Wichita each year. That’s horrifying. Now I want to figure out what I can do about it.

So I have been attending College Hill United Methodist Church for about 4-5 weeks now. I’ve joined the choir, and I attend practice on Wednesday nights with them. They are really good too. Most of them have musical backgrounds. Several are music teachers, and several are paid soloists at the church. But even with all this talent, they are extremely welcoming toward me and my non-professional voice. I know they don’t actually need me to sound good (heck, sometimes I’m just lip-synching because I’ve forgotten the notes), but every week every single person in the choir and the choir director welcomes me to practice, welcomes me to church, and thanks me for joining them. And today, I received a compliment on my voice from one of the soloists who teaches music at a local middle school.

“Surely, you must have been listening to someone else,” I replied.

“No, I was right behind you, and you sounded great.”

Totally made my day.

I love this church. I’m home.