Life In Greencastle

Do I need to know, I wondered - watching the smoke trail away. The more I thought, the more I knew: I did not need to know the news of the day, the uprising and job reports and the progress with the talks with China. Yes, it is a global world, but today I did not care. One of the disciplines I have is to read brief meditations. Yesterday, #2 asked me, Where are you? What time is it? Meditation #2 told me, the answer to the first is "here." the answer to the second is "now." So I let the need to know about the world's struggles and hopes disappear - dissipating like the smoke before my eyes. Later today, I did a chore: cut some wood to keep our home warm. The tracks of deer and rabbit and dogs were all around, but there was no life to speak of, only the calm cool slow motion of winter, the gray sky. Yesterday, I saw three deer up on a ridge. I watched them for awhile, until the trees on the other side moaned their age. I turned away, I looked back, they were gon...

This past Sunday, we talked in worship a good deal about the value of having communal songs. My sermon focus was largely on how one of the ways we pass on our faith to our children is through the music that we sing, and after the sermon I invited the congregation to fill out a little card that had at the top the words "My Favorite Hymns". The response was overwhelming. Not that we needed to verify this, but you all - as most Christians do - care a lot about hymns. Indeed, we all have certain hymns that are meaningful to us. I was speaking with Jean Holley this morning, and she noted how she has a few lines from one of her favorite hymns posted on the inside of one of her kitchen cabinet doors. Every time she opens that door, she is reminded of how much this is God's world and how richly God's glory and goodness shines throughout all creation (can you guess the hymn?). Not surprisingly, the hymns that received the most votes were the ones that have long topped the...