Perfection

February 24, 2019

Year 4, Day 55 | No Comments

Section of Christ and the Woman of Samaria, Benedetto Luti, 1715-20

It is not uncommon for persons to confuse themselves, in mind and action, when they are drawn into conflict with sophisticated ideas and practice. A writer to an advice columnist complained about being shut out of her community circle. With her husband, likely in retirement, she had moved into a new community, and joined in the social interchange that had been formed among the neighbors. As the new persons on the block they were invited into the home of the others for the planned periodic celebrations with food and banter. They liked it, with one objection – two of the couples in the group were gay, obvious by their arrival at the parties, simple identity with each other, leaving parties… Read more

Community and Values

January 1, 2019

Year 4, Day 1 | No Comments

Section of Sistine Chapel ceiling, Michaelangelo, 1508-1512

I lived in San Francisco for seventeen years. It is a storied city of about fifty square miles, set on hills, with the beauty of great waters on three sides, and a highly developed corridor South toward San Jose with the productive Salinas Valley and Santa Cruz Mountains. S. F. is the center of a much larger community of cities and urban development south, east across the Bay, including north and northeast. Across to the north is a magnificent area extending upwards from the Golden Gate through Santa Rosa and onward to Oregon. The North feels pastoral and woodsy, with magnificent vineyards, protection of the environment, and cultivating nature. The whole area is creative, has excellent educational facilities, and contributes… Read more

International Peace

November 6, 2018

Year 3, Day 310 | No Comments

Section of The Crucifixion, Pedro Orrente, ca. 1625–30

This is being written on the close of the 2012 Olympics in London, U.K, also known as Great Britain. It has been an excellent Olympics XXX – of the modern age. Today the American team in Basketball won the gold medal with a score of 107 to 101, playing the Spanish team. The American team included Kevin Love from the Minneapolis professional team, and the Spanish included Mario Rubio from the same team. (Both Olympic teams were manned by excellent players, some from professional teams in the sport.) Rubio is a Spanish citizen, but did not play in the game while recovering from an injury. He represented his country for the team. The Olympics had nothing to do with either… Read more

Breaking the Mold

November 1, 2018

Year 3, Day 305 | No Comments

Section of The Descent from the Cross, Rogier van der Weyden, c. 1435

There are problems in society that seem to be perpetual. Some of them suggest that in standard societal life we do not really address main points that would change the profiles of mankind in society, both in personal and social life. One of these contexts has been mentioned rather often in literature, but usually in passing, without much effort in addressing solutions, or in communicating the ways persons follow for life survival and functioning. Just one short article in The Week (11/12/2012, pg. 23) will provide citation that can be replicated from other publications: …. If people with your surname in 1800 were members of the elite, you’re likely to be elite, too; if your family name was linked to… Read more

Substantive Sermons

October 16, 2018

Year 3, Day 289 | No Comments

Section of The Last Supper, Leonardo Da Vinci

At this editing I have been 30 years in semi-retirement. On averages, ministers and professors have long lives – similar to each other in earthly context. I have served both fields holding them in tandem – mutually helpful. In the event that one might take some satisfaction in long life, I am reminded that the averages for these professions are nearly matched by comedians. I hope the serious humorist is near the top of that group. Like the humorist, I want to present life as true, pleasant even in conflict, often incomprehensible without God. Without humor a person is in real trouble in conjuring life balances. But I digress. Each day for me begins with the usual habits or preparations… Read more

Elections

October 15, 2018

Year 3, Day 288 | No Comments

We return to the search of mankind for freedom. Socially, in western nations it is presumed to be more fully promised under democratic procedures than in a court of royalists, or a confederacy of tribes, or a disorder of anarchy – or in combinations of systems. Democracy is dependent upon an effective means for discovering the will of the majority of the population. This is presumed to be that the nation will find an effective way to determine the will of the people. In this there is, for democracy, laws and guidelines for gaining the votes of individuals. Even if there is nothing better than a well formed plan to legalize authority in the electorate, there are problems, sometimes becoming… Read more

Family Mystery

October 14, 2018

Year 3, Day 287 | No Comments

The support of the family, by the individual person, family unit itself, and the larger society is likely the major influence for gaining what might be called the good society. The family is the microcosm of the larger society, and provides a miniature model of what that society may be – good or ill. It is also a favored creation of God in which he nurtures life and in loving care makes a workable unit of persons, persons serving each other in love, and illustrating in the unit the hints of the family of God beyond nature. It is also illustrated in the dysfunctional family – the splintering away from the family of God. The family is a basic idiom… Read more

Education and Christianity

October 13, 2018

Year 3, Day 286 | No Comments

Section of Adoration of the Magi, artist unknown

We return on this Page to a very important theme: Values. Each year the Minneapolis Star-Tribune publishes a supplement on the best companies in the state to work for. It is an excellent and somewhat extensive narrative about the treatment of employees, and the consequence for the business relating to the values of the various companies, owners, and employees of the winning corporations. Don MacPherson, president of the Modern Survey stated: Our research has found that employees who know and understand their organization’s values are 30 times more likely to be fully engaged than someone who works at an organization without values or who is unaware of the organization’s values. We have found that having values makes full engagement possible… Read more

Self-Esteem

September 16, 2018

Year 3, Day 259 | No Comments

An excellent article appeared in The Atlantic magazine related to the theme of self-esteem. Though excellent, the title, as for so many articles, wounds the meaning of great concepts as in this instance on self-esteem. The cover title is How the Cult of Self-esteem Is Ruining Our Kids, authored by Lori Gottlieb. I too have been detoured by editorial choices for titles of books and articles I have written, so I do not lay my blame at the author’s paper or computer. The title in location of the article may be ascribed to its author, and it is different and improved over the cover title: How To Land Your Kid in Therapy. This title does not refer to self-esteem, preferring… Read more

Future Wisdom

August 21, 2018

Year 3, Day 233 | No Comments

Section of The Infant Jesus and St. John the Baptist, Guido Reni, n.d.

The world needs problem-solvers – the theme we follow on this date. To solve problems we look for wisdom (maturity) which is the conclusion of knowledge and understanding. We find it in persons who have a wholeness concept of the world and mankind. It is obvious in the family relationship, a relationship with many facets: genders, mates, parents, workers, and other factors which, if in balance builds community starting with individuals in families. Accents change as decades roll by, but there is a trace of optimism in the person or community that gains good leadership from safe and sane persons who hold objectives for all. What happens when we disassociate ourselves from some segment of the society, a society we… Read more

Category Archive: Values