Author: Jim C

Football

Sigh… Well, the Buckeyes didn’t do it in the National Championship game (though they were really there a year early anyway) and the Browns couldn’t pull it together against the Bengals to get into the playoffs. Then the Colts had a letdown last week and the Packers couldn’t do it last night (I thoroughly enjoyed watching last week’s game in the snow from the comfort of my nice warm, dry living room). I guess I’ll have to root for the Giants in the Super Bowl, since the first team I really followed and rooted for was the 1972 Dolphins. Until a few years ago, I could have told you the entire starting lineup on both sides of the ball (that won’t make a new friend of mine very happy, since she is a huge Patriots fan, but…). Go Giants, ruin New England’s dreams of a perfect season!!!

Homelessnes

I came across this item today. A study in Dallas that determined that for less than the cost of 1 year’s services to the homeless you could actually end the problem. I’m sure there are other issues that would need to be addressed (see the comments in the original post), but it does make one wonder.

The Middle East

I hesitated a long time before even starting to type this because I really don’t plan for this blog to become too political, but with Shane still in Iraq, these things are on my mind. While I have some theological disagreements with Pastor Nathan, I find myself mostly in agreement with this sermon of his and I appreciated Deanna Mershed’s response. It was also heartening to hear the Israeli Prime Minister last week admit that continuing to expand the “settlements” and otherwise not keeping their agreements wasn’t helping the situation. I fear that it will take generations to rebuild the good will we, as a nation, enjoyed around the world as recently as the immediate aftermath of 2001-09-11. Sigh…

Search committee

As you may or not be aware, since last April I have chaired the Pastoral Search Committee for Grace UCC. I’m happy to report that it looks like the end is in sight. At last evening’s meeting of the Church Council, we set the date of 10 Feb for a trial sermon and congregational meeting. The entire committee is quite excited about our candidate although I’ll withhold details about her until the letter has gone out to the congregation other than to say that she is a 28-year-old single woman and, like me, also a PK. It has been a long and very busy year since we began the process in earnest, and I think the entire congregation will be happy to see the new pastor called (and installed).

Religious discrimination in the political process

I also came across this item today. With ~80,000 citizens of Nevada identifying themselves as Jewish, you’d think they might have thought this one out a little better. It is particularly disturbing to me that the Republican party official wasn’t even aware of the problem. Have the Republicans completely written off the Jewish community? Do you think they would ever even consider holding the caucuses on Sunday morning at those times? And, of course, no coverage of this in the mainstream media that I can tell.

Burnout remedy?

I saw this post by Tony Campolo today and I will be putting this book on my Amazon religion wish list (one of 5 wish lists I have at Amazon, I think I’ll add links to them in the side bar), for anyone who wants to get it for me for my birthday. 🙂 I have not been as successful as I’d like recently in working on my own spiritual practices, but this sounds like something I can/should try.

Buckeye Sadness

Well, congrats to LSU, I guess. They played well and we didn’t, at least, not for the whole game. Everyone will talk about the blocked FG and that was big, but I think the biggest one was the roughing the kicker call. If we actually block the punt or don’t run into the punter, this is a completely different game, we may still not win it, but if we stop them on their first 3 possessions of the 2nd half it is a much more interesting game in the 4th quarter. Still, a great season for the Buckeyes, especially since we were picked preseason to finish 3rd in the Big Ten. Unfortunately, we probably lose Laurinitis, Gholsten, and Freeman to the NFL now which will hurt next year. The basketball Bucks try to remain undefeated in the Big Ten (okay, it is only their 3rd conference game of the season, but Matta’s teams haven’t managed to start the Big Ten season 3-0 yet even though they went 15-1 in the conference last season) on Wednesday.

Signs of the Apocalypse?

I actually found myself rooting for the Michigan Wolverines earlier this week. Okay, so it was a bowl game and they were playing Florida, so it was for the honor of the Big Ten. An interesting fact I saw someplace earlier this week. The Buckeyes are 1-9-1 against SEC times all-time. Guess who the win and they tie were against? LSU. So, here’s to making it 2-9-1 on Monday night.