Creativity somehow helps my very soul. Playing with photography has helped in the past. Recently I was inspired by some mixed media art I saw and I decided to experiment using some of the photographic images I created. I do a bit and then I sit it on the mantle and stare at it until I decide what to do next. Here are two of the stages I have reached so far. The background is made up of a photo I took at Hagia Sofia in Istanbul and torn magazine pages. I added acrylic paint over that. Now I am thinking about the next step.

Nearly eight weeks and no word from the boy. We are very sad.

Work on the house continues... redoing the guest bathroom now and shredding loads of old financial papers and receipts that were stored in the attic. Everything was taken out of storage and we have to go through it all.

Walked aroung the neighbourhood and in the park this week.

Went to a Christmas craft fair at the Aldi Mansion in Doylestown. It was interesting to see what creative ideas people have these days. It was also a little sad because I can't imagine that the holidays will be very fun this year. I tried taking photos with the camera phone and they did not turn out so if I go for a second visit, I will take the better camera.

Thanks for the comments on my two previous posts. They were excerpts from my husband's sermon last Sunday. Some of you expressed an interest in what the gist of the sermon was. Although it had humorous elements, it was a pretty serious subject. My husband is an expert in church history. The sermon was about a man named Martin Luther.

Perhaps you have heard of Martin Luther who was a priest living in Germany in the 1500's? If not you may have heard of the Lutheran church denomination? Sunday was Halloween and it was also Reformation Day, a day associated with Luther. Martin was obsessed with fear over what would happen to him after death. You would think being a priest would give you a handle on those kind of things but at the time he lived it did not. The church gave no assurances. People feared going to hell but almost no one went straight to heaven. Instead they all ended up (according to church teaching) in a place called purgatory. The only apparent difference between purgatory and hell was the duration of time you were assigned there.  Martin began to investigate Biblical teaching on the subject and came to the conclusion that no one entered heaven on the basis of works. It was a free gift of grace from God that got people into heaven. Martin took issue with many teachings of the church and could have been killed for this except that he had a wealthy benefactor who protected him. He was especially against church practice when it came to purgatory. People were afraid of going there and no one liked to think of any of their loved ones being stuck there and the church stook advantage of this and began selling "indulgences" which were basically tickets out of purgatory (by the way...there is no such place in Scripture) for yourself or any of your family members. People were basically parted with what little cash they had in order to alleviate their fear of purgatory. The money was used to fund the churches many building projects, particularly those in Rome.  The two practices I mentioned, "souling" and carving turnips, were also associated with getting people out of the suffering of purgatory.  

These days I don't think people give much thought to what happens to them when they die. I don't think they believe in purgatory or hell. What do you think?

In "olden times" people would make round spice cakes (think molasses cookies or spice wafers or gingerbread) called "soul cakes." On this night children and the poor would go from house to house looking for these cakes and it was called "souling." When you gave a soul cake to a person at your door and they ate it a person from your family immediately got out of purgatory and into heaven. Imagine that! One bite of cake could usher someone into the presense of God! Assuming, of course, that it worked. This was the earliest practice of going door to door to get sweets on All Hallows Eve. (See previous post to learn about turnip carving.)

My husband is associate pastor of a small church here. The pastor is away and my husband get's to preach this Sunday. He is the king of one time sermons and has done some very creative ones. For example, he did one entitled "Everything I Need to Know in Life I Learned From my Chihuahua." He did that one when I was away on a women's retreat so I wouldn't be embarrassed. I found out. Another one he did was around Christmas and it was called "The Gospel According to Ebenezer Scrooge." It included clips for the musical version of the Christmas Carol such as the song "I Hate People." In spite of this they still invite my husband to preach from time to time.  This Sunday is Halloween ... so you can imagine ... usually he does not tell me ahead of time what he is going to share and I get to be "surprised" along with the rest of the congregation. This time he told me a few bits. It is not totally clear to me until I see and hear it but it involves Reformation Day and various superstitions that have resulted in Halloween traditions. One that I will share is the tradition of the carved turnip. See the example below.

This was a European practice found particularly in Great Britain and Ireland. There were a great many superstitions surrounding religious practice. You may know that there are thousands of "saints" who each have a "day" dedicated to them and just in case they missed anyone (or perhaps because they ran out of days) they designated November first as "All Saints Day." Due to some kind of confusion between pagan or celtic practice and Christianity there were alternate festivities surrounding important church festivals and that is basically how halloween came to be. The practice of carving a turnip and putting a lighted candle in it (pumpkins are thought to have originated in North America and this practice is much older) originally was connected to helping souls get out of purgatory. (as is spice cakes but that is another blog) A family (particulary poor families during medieval times)would carve a turnip and light a candle in it and pray for the soul of a deceased family member to make it out of purgatory and get to enter heaven. Later it became associated with discouraging evil spirits from coming near your house. I don't know what the connection is apart from some association with death but that is how the cute little tradition of the carved pumpkin started out.

I love the early morning light at Bethesda (the name we gave to our house...it means "house of kindness" which has always been our hope for it).  

I love early morning light from God's word as well. It is a "lamp unto my feet."

From heaven the LORD looks down and sees all mankind; from his dwelling place he watches all who live on earth- he who forms the hearts of all, who considers everything they do.

The LORD is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.

It has been a long and lonely six weeks.

  Just a couple of before and after photos to share .... we still have a lot to do but we will get there in the end

Family Room

Kitchen

Update: After five weeks, we did have a brief email from our son who still does not want to talk to us or let us know where he is. However, some people have helped us to locate him and we know he is safe. At least we have had some relief.

Why is it that one semester at "university" can undo 18 years of love and training in a kid? We nurture them and try to prepare them for independence and send them off with all hopes for a good experience and a bright future and they return confused, troubled, possibly addicted to alcohol and/or drugs ... a mess. These schools get loads of money from us and then refuse to give access to progress or grades. They boast in letters home about their federally funded prevention of alcohol abuse plans but when you try to report a real abuse situation, it is not their problem. We are duped into thinking there is no alternative but college if we want our kids to succeed in the world but there is not even a guarantee of employment if they do somehow make it through the minefield. What a ridiculous system we have invented for ourselves!  

I will celebrate the light ... though I stumble in the darkness, I will call your name by night ...

Filled with grief for my sons but sometimes, God sends encouragement in unusual ways ...

 On a beautiful Sunday morning (at 10:10 on 10-10-10) we participated in a fund/awareness raising walk to remember a girl that died too soon and to support her family. Two years ago, Sarah died in a car accident because she wasn't wearing a seat belt. She was nineteen. The family organizes the walk to raise awareness of the importance of wearing seat belts when driving and riding.