Jack’s Winning Words 5/11/17
“The future is full of surprising things we cannot possibly imagine now.”  (Rebecca Solnit)  After the breakup of the Beatles, John Lennon wrote the song,  Imagine.  Imagine--all people living in peace, no greed or hunger, all people sharing.  Maybe I’m a dreamer.  Dreams sometimes have ways of coming true.  What thoughts come to you as think of the future and what it might be…in a positive sense?  Try humming, Imagine, as you day-dream..    ;-)  Jack

FROM PEPPERMINT MARY:  Thanks for the song of the day ♡====JACK: gination is funny, it makes a cloudy day sunny
Imagination is crazy, your whole perspective gets hazy
Imagination is silly, you go around willy-nilly
(Here's a phase to teach your little ones...willy-nilly.)

FROM OUTHOUSE JUDY:  Positive dreams:  we have plenty....traveling to counties in the U.S. we haven't been in, fixing up our new old house, watching our grandkids grow up, reading all the beautiful books we've accumulated, writing a book, helping more Compassion International children grow up in good health and teaching them about Jesus, building up our many gardens and growing older with good health and with for love our family, friends and lives devoted to our good God. ====JACK:  We should not be surprised that God has created a world full of surprises.

FROM ST PAUL IN ST PAUL:  that song also contained the line,  "Imagine there is no religion too." (which would have put both of us our of work:):):)     i always used that line to try to explain to some skeptics the difference between religion per se and the need for faith in our lives.  it was not always easy to do. especially when some religions seem to endorse violence, including Christianity as some times in our past.   but  when ALL religions of the world get lumped together (as in the minds of many today)  drawing such distinctions is difficult at best.====JACK:  Your response begs the question....What is religion?  And.... if it is an attempt know the unknowable, no wonder there is so much frustration in that.  Maybe we should just concentrate on exploring the "good" life.====ST PAUL:  have  you not then just turned all faith systems into watered down pablum?====JACK:  No!  I'm just looking at the "religious" system as an observer.  I "see" the various faith systems claiming to know the unknowable.  My Christianity cause me to look at Jesus as a human form of God showing us what God is like and how it is possible for humans to live the Godly life.  But, that is a faith concept.  As a pastor, I cease to be an observer and try to explain a Lutheran concept of faith.  Some would consider that to be pablum, but that's just another way of looking at the God concept.
====ST PAUL:  i recall one of my profs who often said to us students to remember that whenever we started talking about God,  we also were immediately limiting God with our very finite human understand of God.====JACK:  That's what I was trying to say:.====SP:  agreed.  at the same time,  we preachers are obligated to say something:):):)   horns of a dilemma.     p.s. i  had a classmate who left the seminary in our last year because he wasn't sure he could "speak for God" with any credible authority.  maybe, in his case, he was right. 

FROM HONEST JOHN:  On a positive note....I foresee a day when Donald Trump will no longer be POTUS.====JACK:  Be careful what you wish for.  Next in line is the V.P, and, after that, the Speaker of the House.  Perhaps the best you can hope for  is a swift passage of the next two years.

FROM BLAZING OAKS:  I'm currently participating in a five-evening seminar, of dialogue between Muslims and Christians, to explore the differences and similarities of our faith. Tonight will be our outlook on Jesus. It's been very informative and interesting, but the main thing is, we all do "imagine" a world where both (and all  other) religions can live together in love and peace. One of the leaders is a rare woman Muslim interfaith chaplain, who has a fantastic ministry in the Washington D.C. area. Not many women Muslim clergy!  She is Arab/African born in Kenya, but U.S. citizen for 30+ years. If we could all live the teachings of our faith, we might achieve Lennon's Imagined world! ====JACK:  When John Lennon writes, " Imagine...no religion," I imagine that he's referring to the "religions" that divide us rather than the "religions" that unite us.

FROM AW IN ILLINOIS:  True...for this world and the next.====JACK:  I like the hymn, "O God, our help in ages past..."expecialy the line, "in this world and in the next."