Mark's Notebook

All Articles - August 2005

WWJD?

God Behind Barbed Wire

Christianity Today

by Philip Yancey

Jürgen Moltmann was planning on a career in quantum physics until he was drafted at age 18 at the height of the Second World War. Assigned to anti-aircraft batteries in Hamburg, he saw compatriots incinerated in the fire-bombings there. The question "Why did I survive?" haunted him.

Moltmann felt an inconsolable grief about life, "weighed down by the somber burden of a guilt which could never be paid off."

After surrendering to the British, the young soldier spent the next three years in prison camps in Belgium, Scotland, and England. An American chaplain gave him an Army-issue New Testament and Psalms. "If I make my bed in hell, behold thou art there." As he read on, Moltmann found words that perfectly captured his feelings of desolation. He became convinced that God "was present even behind the barbed wire — no, most of all behind the barbed wire."

Upon release, Moltmann began to articulate his theology of hope. Through all of Moltmann's dense theological works run two themes: God's presence with us in our suffering and God's promise of a perfected future. If Jesus had lived in Europe during the Third Reich, Moltmann noted, he likely would have been branded like other Jews and shipped to the gas chambers. In Jesus, we have definitive proof that God suffers with us, as Moltmann explains in The Crucified God.

"God weeps with us so that we may someday laugh with him."

http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2005/009/20.120.html

Mother Teresa: The joy of serving God

Christianity Today

by Ruth A. Tucker

Mother Teresa of Calcutta was born Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu in Albania in 1910. Her father was a businessman whose death when she was 9 years old left the family in difficult financial circumstances. But their faith sustained them. With her mother and brother and sister, Agnes attended church every day, and she sang in the church choir. Her widowed mother, though nearly destitute herself, volunteered in the neighborhood, caring for an invalid alcoholic woman and later taking six orphaned children into her own home. It was a model of servanthood that did not go unnoticed by young Agnes.

At age 12, Agnes sensed God calling her to his service, but she struggled with how she could know for certain. She prayed and talked with her mother and sister, but she had no real peace. Then she talked with her Father confessor. "How can I be sure?" she asked. He answered, "Through your joy. If you feel really happy by the idea that God might call you to serve him, then this is the evidence that you have a call. The deep inner joy that you feel is the compass that indicates your direction in life."

"By blood and origin, I am all Albanian.
My citizenship is Indian. I am a Catholic nun.
As to my calling, I belong to the whole world.
As to my heart, I belong entirely to Jesus." — Mother Teresa

http://www.ctlibrary.com/4397

Why Men Hate Going to Church

Mississippi Clarion-Ledger

By Jean Gordon

Men lead most Christian churches, but observers agree it's the women who dominate the flocks. Though theories about the church gender gap have longed blamed men for their spiritual apathy, a new book finds another force driving men away from church: the church itself.

"The church is like a white cake with chocolate frosting," said David Murrow, author of Why Men Hate Going to Church (Nelson Books, $13.99). "If you look at the icing, it's male dominated. But if you plunge below, it's feminine all the way."

With its easy listening music, pastel-hued decor and an emphasis on comfort and nurturing, Murrow said modern church culture fails men craving a challenge.

A man's project-oriented, outdoorsy nature is not conducive to passively sitting through a worship service or volunteering to lead a children's ministry.

And beyond excuses ranging from boredom to lack of time to an aversion to being asked for money, Murrow said men stay away from church because their skeptical natures resist taking a leap of faith.

"Men like to question and answer and give and take," he said. "The church's style of lecturing is not as conducive to spiritual growth."

Churches that do the best job of attracting men, Murrow said, are mission-focused evangelical congregations.

"There's an element of risk there," he said. "It's more risky to go on a foreign mission trip than to volunteer at a soup kitchen."

http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050821/FEAT05/50821031
1/1023

Square Dance History in the U.S.

The square dance is an American institution. It began in New England when the first settlers and the immigrant groups that followed, brought with them their various national dances, which we now call folk dances, but which were the popular dances of the day in the countries of their origin - the schottische, the quadrille, the jigs and reels and the minuet, to name a few. After a week of toil in building new homes and carving homes out of virgin forest, the settlers would gather in the community center on Saturday evening and enjoy dancing their old-world favorites.

http://www.dosado.com/articles/hist-maca.html

Berlin Square Dancers Do-Si-Do to 'YMCA' (1998)

Christian Science Monitor (1998)

by Mary Beth Warner

The normal quiet of a Sunday spring evening in the German capital was broken recently by all the whooping and hollering down at the White Rose recreation center. Lofting from the basement windows are calls of "yee-hah" and "do-si-do," as dozens of feet slide across the parquet floor. Due to the cramped, temporary quarters, the 30-odd T-shirt and jeans-clad dancers aren't outfitted in their traditional garb, including full petticoats for the women and Western-style shirts with bolo ties for the men. About 100 people in all belong to the Berlin Swinging Bears, just one of the city's nearly dozen square dance clubs.

Square dancing was brought to Germany and other European countries by American military personnel after World War II. At first, Germans could only go to dances on US bases if they were invited by local servicemen or women. As its popularity grew, Germans began forming their own clubs.

http://www.csmonitor.com/cgi-bin/durableRedirect.pl?/durable/1998/05/14/fp8s2-cs
m.htm

Scientists Speak Up on Mix of God and Science

New York Times

Can you be a good scientist and believe in God?

Disdain for religion is far from universal among scientists. And today, as religious groups challenge scientists in arenas as various as evolution in the classroom, AIDS prevention and stem cell research, scientists who embrace religion are beginning to speak out about their faith.

"It should not be a taboo subject, but frankly it often is in scientific circles," said Francis S. Collins, who directs the National Human Genome Research Institute and who speaks freely about his Christian faith.

According to a much-discussed survey reported in the journal Nature in 1997, 40 percent of biologists, physicists and mathematicians said they believed in God - and not just a nonspecific transcendental presence but, as the survey put it, a God to whom one may pray "in expectation of receiving an answer."

The survey, by Edward J. Larson of the University of Georgia, was intended to replicate one conducted in 1914, and the results were virtually unchanged. In both cases, participants were drawn from a directory of American scientists.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/23/national/23believers.html

Square Dance ABC

Square Dance ABC is an introduction to today's square dancing.

Enjoy three fun, easy beginner square dances with no experience necessary.

The A, B, and C dances can be experienced in any order. (This is the main difference between Square Dance ABC and traditional "lesson-based" approaches. You can do the three beginner dances in any order.)

New dancers can start Square Dance ABC at any time (and all the time)!

After attending the individual A, B and C dances, dancers have learned 22 square dance calls. The next step is the combined "ABC" dance featuring the 22 calls. New dancers and their friends can join Square Dance ABC at any time by dancing the individual A, B and C dances in any order. Square Dance ABC spells an easy way for people to try square dancing at any time, with little or no commitment but with lots of opportunity for Fun, Fitness and Friends!

Rio Grande Valley Callers Association

Doug Bennett
Larry Letson
Darryl Lipscomb
Joe Saltel
Nasser Shukayr
Jerry Story

http://www.squaredanceabc.com/

Starlite Stumblers

By George V. Schubel

It all started at the New Dancer dance hosted by the new dancer class of the Starlite Shufflers’ square dance club of Sacramento, California. Three club members (Joyce, Sharon and Betty) asked my wife Patty and I if we would like to join the Starlite Shufflers’ comedy demonstration team, the Starlite Stumblers. I knew they wore a big sack over their heads and it was sure to be hot in there. I get very hot when I dance even without a sack over my head. In fact I think most of the club members knew me as the new guy who always fans himself before they even knew my name.

To get ready for out first performance we would have five Sunday afternoon practice sessions. The first two would be in regular street clothes; the next practice would add the swim flippers. Then there would be one with the sack over my head and the flippers and the last practice would be in full costume with the sack, the jacket with the fake stuffed arms and of course the swim flippers. The large burlap sack had a face on it and the costume made you look like you were 4 feet tall.

Roy and Evelyn, past Stumblers, gave us a beautiful set of matching costumes. I could not resist trying mine on in my house. On went the flippers; over my head went the comic sack head. Inside the sack I held onto the plastic pipe that held up the sack. Patty fastened the fancy jacket with the great false arms around my waist. I tried to walk around in the house, but right off I stepped on the dog and banged into the walls a few times. No doubt about it, I was getting the hang of this. This will be a piece of cake.

http://squaredancehumor.blogspot.com/

Median county home price slips

San Jose Mercury News

By Margaret Steen, Mercury News

The median price of a single-family home in Santa Clara County declined slightly in July, falling to $700,000 from $705,000 in June, according to DataQuick Information Systems, which gathers data from public records of completed sales. It was the first monthly decline in a year.

Still, it's not clear whether the drop means the market has reached its peak or merely has entered a normal summer slowdown. Prices also declined slightly from June to July 2004, then zoomed to record highs.

The volume of sales also declined: 1,887 single-family homes were sold in the county in July, down from 2,175 the previous month. The sales numbers also were down from July of last year, when 2,045 houses were sold. Nonetheless, last month tied for the third busiest July in the 18 years DataQuick has collected real estate information.

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/business/12403099.htm

Housing market dips a bit

San Francisco Chronicle

by Kelly Zito, Chronicle Staff Writer

The torrid Bay Area housing market hit the pause button in July, with sales falling nearly 11 percent and prices dipping below record territory for the first time this year, a real estate information firm reported Tuesday.

The median price for a single-family home in the nine counties last month was $643,000, nearly 18 percent above the year-ago median, but just shy of the June peak of $644,000, according to DataQuick in La Jolla.

The number of properties that changed hands in July dropped 11.9 percent from June and 10.8 percent from July 2004.

For the last few years, economists have fretted that the Bay Area and other high-priced housing markets represent bubbles on the verge of popping -- in the worst-case scenario -- or at least leaking some air.

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/08/17/HOMES.TMP

A Band Called Sleep Drove Me Away

I was shopping at one of my favorite record stores today, Streetlight Records on Bascom Avenue. I was shopping for folk and Christian albums - bought one each by Steve Fry, Phil Keaggy, John Gorka, and Chuck Brodsky.

The whole time I was there, they were playing some obnoxious album cut that lasted a long time. I told them that perhaps they should consider that some customers might leave the store in a hurry just to get away from the obnoxious music. The clerk told me that each employee gets to choose something to play, and their only reason for not playing any particular cut might be if it contained profanity.

I asked what was playing, and he told me it was "A Band Called Sleep." I looked them up when I got home, and I found this on the All Music Guide:

Sleep

Perhaps the ultimate stoner rock band, Northern California trio Sleep's career wafted in and out of focus from within their self-mandated cloud of marijuana smoke. In their short time together, the group issued some of the heaviest, most uncompromising doom metal albums ever recorded, leaving a legend far exceeding the actual volume of their output.Formed in the late 80's in San Jose, California by ...

I think it was this album, 52 minutes of one song: Jerusalem

Perhaps Streetlight might want to keep their customers in mind when they program this music. Streetlight has always provided music that the employees want to listen to, but it's the customers who pay the bills.

Wheaton College lifts 143-year dance ban (2003)

CNN

Wheaton College is a Christian school that had not allowed social dancing since the war.

The Civil War.

For generations, students were barred from dancing -- on campus or off -- unless it was with members of the same sex or a square dance. It was not until the 1990s that students and faculty were permitted to dance with spouses or relatives at family events such as weddings.

Nine months ago, the school lifted the ban altogether, freeing students to cut the rug on campus or off, at Chicago clubs or other places. Under the new set of rules, called the Community Covenant, students may dance, but should avoid behavior "which may be immodest, sinfully erotic or harmfully violent."

Judging by what happened at a recent dance in the gym, meeting those criteria will not be a problem. There was no slithering going on, only students, some about as rigid as rakes, watching their feet as they tried to master some basic steps.

"They had a lot of fun, but they kind of approached it from almost an academic standpoint," said Rich Nickel, a local dance instructor who helped get the students ready for the Rhythm Rockets' lineup, which will feature such standards as "Sentimental Journey" and "Sunny Side of the Street."

All of which led one parent to remark: "They MAY dance at Wheaton. Whether they CAN dance is another question."

http://www.cnn.com/2003/EDUCATION/11/14/wheaton.dance.ap/

Do-Si-Do Fitness (2001)

Web MD

By Denise Mann

With all its moving, twisting, and turning, square dancing provides more than the daily dose of heart- and bone-healthy physical activity. Remembering all the calls -- from "do-si-do" to 'alemand' -- keeps the mind sharp, potentially staving off age-related memory loss, experts say. And the companionship that regular square dancing offers is an antidote to depression and loneliness, a statement confirmed by square-dancing advocates everywhere.

http://my.webmd.com/content/article/11/1676_53041

Meet Evangelist Tony Campolo

The Progressive

By John Oliver Mason, From the August 2005 Issue

An ordained Baptist minister, Tony Campolo overcame a heresy trial to preach social justice in the United States. Along with Jim Wallis of Sojourners and Ron Sider, the founder of Evangelicals for Social Action, Campolo is trying to counter the forces of the religious right from within a church-based tradition.

"To be a Christian in today's world is to be opposed to America," he says. "Why? America believes in capital punishment, and Jesus says, ‘Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.’ America says, ‘Blessed are the rich.’ Jesus said, ‘Woe unto you who are rich, blessed are the poor.’ America says, ‘Blessed are the powerful.’ Jesus said, ‘Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.’ "

"It's about time we realized that Christianity is a call not to conservatism but to change," he says. "Jesus came to the world not to conserve the system as it was, but to change the world into what it ought to be. That's where I am, and that's where I want to be."

http://progressive.org/?q=mag_camp0805

iGod

London News-Telegraph

By Jonathan Petre, Religion Correspondent

The podcast is becoming the Godcast. In a phenomenon which has amazed the clergy, thousands of worshippers are using their iPods to listen to sermons.

While most people use their fashionable portable music players to download their favourite pop tunes from the internet, many are adding a spiritual element to their playlists.

Even the Vatican is catching up with the new trend. Its official radio station in Rome is now offering its own podcasts, and the latest features Pope Benedict XIV issuing a far from fashionable message - a critique of feminism.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/08/05/nigod05.xml&sShe
et=/news/2005/08/05/ixhome_fri.html

A new church for gay believers

Lexington (KY) Herald-Leader

By Frank E. Lockwood, Herald-Leader Staff Writer

Jubilee Fellowship describes itself as Christ-centered, spirit-filled, Bible-based and open and affirming.

In other words, it's a Pentecostal-style, gay-friendly church, and it's coming to Lexington.

The Rev. Cori Wood, the new congregation's pastor, is a fervent, tongues-speaking, Scripture-quoting preacher.

She's also a lesbian.

Across America, small, predominantly gay Pentecostal and Charismatic churches are forming in Tampa, Fla.; Little Rock, Ark.; and San Jose, Calif.

http://www.kentucky.com/mld/heraldleader/living/religion/12308061.htm

Bostons in Paraguay

(My brother in law and his family are missionaries in Paraguay. This is their latest newsletter.)

July 2005     

Actually, the Bostons are now in Sacramento, California. We arrived in Sacramento June 2 after leaving Paraguay on May 13.  We made a detour to Quito, Ecuador where Rebecca joined us to celebrate Pauls high school graduation, then we spent a week in Florida with Brenda’s mother.

Our goodbyes in Paraguay were bittersweet. For the two weeks prior to our leaving we had meals out every single day with our Paraguayan friends who we were saying goodbye to.  The highlight was a special 3 hour long service with participation from nearly every department in the church.   We left Paraguay feeling loved and honored. Our plan is to stay in California until March 15th of 2006 and then return to Paraguay to resume our ministries.  During our stay in California we will be speaking in churches, participating in Missions conferences, womens events and other activities where we have the opportunity to speak about Paraguay.  

Bob continues as Field director in Paraguay, doing the work long distance. Dan and Becky Klassen are interim pastors of the San Lorenzo church and Bob stays in touch with them and keeps up with news of all the CMA churches in Paraguay.  The Lambare church is experiencing great growth under the leadership of Jorge Bernardini accompanied by Chilean missionaries Edwin and Octavia Sotomayor and Debora Parada.  The Lambare church is quickly outgrowing its rented property and is looking to buy a place that will be permanent for them.  They are running over 150 on Sundays and recently hosted their first ladies tea with more than 100 ladies present. Join us in prayer for the future of this church.  

News from San Lorenzo is good.  The church recently participated in a city wide Franklin Graham campaign and followed up on the campaign with a dinner for new comers and a ladies tea at which 80 women were present and there were 10 decisions for Christ.  Dan and Becky Klassen are doing a good leading the church along with a leadership team.  Pray for Dan and Becky and daughter Emily, they were in Paraguay less than 4 months when we left them alone.  Pray also for Jorge, Nancy and Ignacio, our seminary students.

One of the highlights of being in the United States is that we have been able to speak on the phone with our new missionaries preparing to depart for Paraguay. Forest and Sarah Schell will be working with us to plant a new church on Mariscal Lopez near Asuncion, and J and Karen Spurling will work in the Asuncion church. We are encouraged that God is sending dynamic, talented people willing to work hard with us in Paraguay.   Currently they are participating in a language acquisition course and both couples, accompanied by Melanie Bagamary will depart for Costa Rica in August. They will spend a year in Costa Rica learning Spanish and then join us in Paraguay. Pray for all the transition and cultural and language learning these couples will experience.

On a more personal note, we are happy to be back in California and to be reunited with our children and extended family.  Rebecca graduated from Sacramento State University in May and has a full time at a public relations firm and a part time job doing public relations at the Mexican Cultural Center.   Paul has a part time summer job and is preparing to go to Azusa Pacific University in the fall.  When we are not out speaking at other churches, we attend Church of the Foothills in Cameron Park, California.  Many thanks to the folks from COTF and Trinity Alliance in Redding who helped us get settled in our home here in Sacramento.   

We would love to hear from you.  You can call us at (916) 362-3606.

Thank you for giving to the Great Commission Fund from which we receive our support.  

Blessings,

Bob and Brenda Boston
Missionaries of the Christian and Missionary Alliance
PO Box 35000
Colorado Springs, CO 80935-3500

The Alliance has a web site here: http://www.cmalliance.org/

And the Paraguay missionaries have information here:
http://www.cmalliance.org/im/mlocator/results.jsp?name=&country=paraguay

More evidence for the end of a housing bubble

New York Times Op-Ed

by Paul Krugman

In the nation as a whole, housing prices rose about 50 percent between the first quarter of 2000 and the first quarter of 2005. But that average blends results from Flatland metropolitan areas like Houston and Atlanta, where prices rose 26 and 29 percent respectively, with results from Zoned Zone areas like New York, Miami and San Diego, where prices rose 77, 96 and 118 percent.

Business Week reports that by 2004 the cost of renting a house in San Diego was only 40 percent of the cost of owning a similar house - even taking into account low interest rates on mortgages. So it makes sense to buy in San Diego only if you believe that prices will keep rising rapidly, generating big capital gains. That's pretty much the definition of a bubble.

Meanwhile, the U.S. economy has become deeply dependent on the housing bubble. The economic recovery since 2001 has been disappointing in many ways, but it wouldn't have happened at all without soaring spending on residential construction, plus a surge in consumer spending largely based on mortgage refinancing. Did I mention that the personal savings rate has fallen to zero?

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/08/opinion/08krugman.html

14-month-old deaf twins get surgical implants to aid hearing

San Jose Mercury News

By HongDao Nguyen, Mercury News

When Olivia and Tallulah Hogan entered the audiologist's office Tuesday morning, the girls could barely hear the roar of a motorcycle engine with a hearing aid. But the 14-month-old twins left the room with technology that will enable them to hear their mother's voice in another room.

The Los Gatos girls, deaf since birth, are among the youngest in the country to have "cochlear implants" surgically inserted in both ears at once. On Tuesday, an audiologist at the California Ear Institute in East Palo Alto activated the devices amid a roomful of hushed onlookers and family members.

Their implants are thin, oval-shaped devices, about the size of a fat peanut, placed behind the ear underneath the skin.

The implants work with half-dollar-size magnetic microphones the girls wear on the sides of their heads and processors they wear in their pockets like small iPods to convert sounds their inner ears can process.

Though cochlear implants have been around since the 1970s, it's only been in the last few years that implanting two instead of one has become more popular, said Lisa Tonokawa, an audiologist with the Let Them Hear Foundation, a non-profit affiliated with the California Ear Institute. Two implants give patients a better sense of where sound is coming from.

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/living/health/12290488.htm

See also these other earlier stories:

Implants allow twins to hear for first time (Deaf Today, April 2003)

Twin infants hear at near normal levels for first time (The Leader, January 2005)

Bono gives an explicit confession of being saved by Grace, not Karma

World Magazine

by Gene Edward Veith

Is Bono, the lead singer and songwriter for the rock group U2, a Christian? He says he is and writes about Christianity in his lyrics. Yet many people question whether Bono is "really" a Christian, due to his notoriously bad language, liberal politics, and rock star antics (though he has been faithfully married for 23 years).

"It's a mind-blowing concept that the God who created the Universe might be looking for company, a real relationship with people, but the thing that keeps me on my knees is the difference between Grace and Karma."

http://www.worldmag.com/subscriber/displayarticle.cfm?id=10892

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