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| PFC asked, "You can eat Borage flowers?" Yes they are often put in salads and are listed as medicinal herbs. "I Borage, give thee Courage." Stay healthy with vitamin D, zinc, and Borage. |
Yesterday, we had a double birthday party for Christina and PFC at the Military Gardening Group event. Sassy insisted on handling perimeter defense - until the heat and humidity sent her inside. We exchanged gifts, had pour-over coffee with sugar, whipped cream, or both, and birthday treats. They noticed the Clethra was now almost fully bloomed.
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| The Cinnabon Tree has bloomed. None dare call it Clethra around me. |
Via the blog and Facebook, we also celebrated Jeshra's 12th birthday. She is the daughter of Missionary Jordan Palangyos and his wife Amabel.
We discussed the new rule at WalMart - face diapers must be worn by customers, not just by staff. That made me think about the sudden shift to online education fostered by the Wu Flu. Needless to say, no educational institution was too proud to go online when face-to-face classes stopped. As a result, everyone is clamoring for training in online education, something I have practiced and taught for 17 years.
In fits and starts, sputtering and gasping, congregations jumped or dragged themselves into online services. I wonder - how many applied for federal relief money? The lethargy was overwhelming.
Online broadcasting and teaching are great opportunities for pastors and congregations. I have promoted it - with blogging - for a long time. However, my impression is that ministers will continue to do as little as possible. Lethargy and laziness will be their downfall.
If ministers cannot visit - not that modern pastors were taking the time - they have the week to prepare a service and write a sermon out. They can lay out the foundations of the Christian Faith - without interruptions, to the world - for 30 minutes to an hour each week: simply by online broadcasting. Services are archived. How many congregations preserve their precious worship bulletins, only to have them fill up cupboards that smell vaguely like mice? Archive or broadcast - the cost is minimal with both, the effect quite different.
Our church, for example, has taught the entire Gospels of John and Mark, plus Romans 1-5 in Greek. We piggyback Advent and Lent services with teaching opportunities after the service.
I have been improving our worship service with better links, partly from panic that the online hymn lyrics were disappearing. A 10 day blog adventure - The Bethany Lutheran Hymnal Blog - solved that problem. Google Blogger decided to change its tools, so I have been dealing with that too.
At the same time media ministries in the congregation have blossomed, with each person working independently and also in harmony with the rest. (That is the Linux model, not the Microsoft-denomination model of dictatorial stupidity, enforced by Synod President B. L. Zebub.)
The last time the Christian Church had the chance to communicate everywhere was the Reformation. In effect, they were saying, "The Word is so effective and powerful that we must get it out in as many ways as we can, from illustrated catechism posters to commentaries."
In this rich and somewhat free country, anyone can do the best or the worst with Christianity.
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| Missionary Jordan Palangyos and his wife Amabel. They care for their Philippine mission with the Means of Grace and with rice for the hungry (due to bad weather and crops). |
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| World missionaries are crying for support. Every parish can adopt one and see how "The light that shines abroad shines brightest at home." In common English, that means - "A congregation supporting a mission has even more support locally." Something about the Efficacy of the Word Motherlode. |
