Jack’s Winning Words 8/18/16
“As rough and tough as the world is, don’t forget to see the beauty in simple things.”  (Unknown)  Our family once visited a Shaker community in Ohio.  The Shakers are a religious group known for plain clothing, plain buildings, plain furniture, plain food, plain everything, even plain songs, including a favorite of mine: Simple Gifts (Lord of the Dance).  This world idolizes the biggest, the greatest!  The Shakers found beauty in the simple things.    ;-)  Jack

FROM ST PAUL IN ST PAUL:  good words for today... once again!  if only the world would believe this word of wisdom.  how easily we get caught up in the race for more "stuff"====JACK:  As we age, the operative word is, Simplify...get rid of stuff.  Off the subject (but, not)...there's a German soccer player named, Christian Stuff.  As a follow up, our Christianity has accumulated a lot of stuff through the centuries, since Jesus simply said, "Love God and love your neighbor as you love yourself." ====SP:  yesterday i took 3 of our grandkids to the History Museum in St. Paul and afterward, because it was right across the street,  i took them to see the St. Paul Cathedral.  inside i picked up a colorful brochure telling all about Indulgences and Purgatory.  i was rather shocked.  i thought the RCC had progressed further than that!  but NO, it was all right them spelled out in great detail.  the bottom line was you are a condemned sinner and only but penance and good works can  you ever hope to escape the fires of hell.  or at the least, purgatory.  what a perversion of the Gospel.   and i also noted that the ELCA in convention is now seeking even closer relations with the RCC.  i am a very progressive and liberal person for the most part but do we really want to espouse doctrines that we know are contrary to the scriptures.  time to read Galatians once again...  blessings,  plh     yes, the church has added a lot of baggage i fear...====JACK:  Be careful not to fall into the trap of seeing one church as representing all churches.  If that be the case, then the "religious right" would be representative of your church and mine.  In the large picture, the ELCA has done a remarkable and progressive thing in cooperation with "modern" Catholicism

FROM PASTY PAT IN PALESTINE:  Thank you for this well-timed reminder! (posted from Palestine)====JACK:  I remember your first journey to the Holy Lands.  In retrospect, look now to where it has led you...and how far you have journeyed.

FROM PEPPERMINT MARY:  Sweet and simple.  We sang the simple gifts song at one of our pageants this year.====JACK:  Isn't it interesting that a 150-yr-old simple song has been so often used by folk singers, symphony orchestras, church choirs, and by a school like yours.  It's used at weddings, funerals and even at presidential inaugurations.  Who woulda thought.....====MARY:  it is usually the simplest of things that endure.

FROM BLAZING OAKS:  One of my dear friends, who was a bridesmaid in my wedding so long ago (Tyke Fisher Flinn, M.H.S.) is a docent at the Shaker Village in New Hampshire, and I've been there 3X...They died out, because they didn't marry(!) but  certainly lived their faith in community. And the craftmanship of my music box, and stacked oval boxes made by them is superb!  It's a constant tug between the world's standards, and Christ's teaching. Daily decisions, all our life long! ====JACK:  Do you remember the song, "Birds do it, bees do it, even educated fleas do it?'  If the Shakers had done it, they might still be around today.

FROM SBP IN FLORIDA:  "the beauty in simple things." The poem "Flower in a/the Crannied Wall" comes to my mind. So much beauty and mystery in everything! "Take time to smell the roses." My friend in South Haven sent me pressed leaves in the Fall. So much to savor and contemplate. ====JACK:  The Parable of the mustard seed comes to mind.  On another tangent, today, just for the fun of it, I YouTubed Little Jimmy Dickens singing, "Sleepin' At the Foot of the Bed."