One of the technical issues I am working through is how to post my sermons to this site. Much of my creative and prayerful energy each week is dedicated to my preaching and the Sunday morning bible study I teach. Our sound technician records each week's service of which my message is a part. I am working on figuring out how to take that raw media and get it into a form that I can upload to my blog. I am working through those issues and hope to make my series on prayer available through this website.
Also I am looking at rewriting some of my essays on availability and vulnerability and will make those accessible through this site as well.
Finally I am trying my hand at writing a retreat for one of our members and if there is anything worthwhile that comes out of that endeavor I'll post it here as well.
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
Friday, November 11, 2011
Veteran's Day
Yesterday was Veteran's Day here on Kwaj and we had a ceremony not unlike our Memorial Day ceremony. We gathered at the flagpole where there are memorials to those who fought and died taking the atoll and where the flags of United States and Republic of the Marshall Island fly. We were fortunate to have the keynote address from the US Ambassador to the Marshall Islands. During her speech she asked the veterans to stand. Since we live on a military installation many of the people stood and were recognized for their service. Then she asked the veteran's family members to stand and another group stood. I was reminded again that this holiday is really about people and their service. We wouldn't have the freedoms we enjoy if people hadn't served. It was good celebrate the service of the people we see day in and day out here on the island and to thank them for their sacrifice.
Another touching moment was last weekend as we celebrated All Saints Day at our church. In a normal church we would remember and pray for the congregational families who lost loved ones in the previous year. This place being different than a normal congregation we haven't had any deaths since I have been here so I decided that we should pray for the families and remember the names of those who have died in combat this last year. So at our second service we had a slide show with all their names followed by prayer and in our first service we had members of the congregation read their names during our prayer time. What struck me was the sheer volume of names. It took six volunteers nearly ten minutes to simply read the names (no title or rank) of those who died this past year. We can easily forget their sacrifice and the grief that their loved ones experience. I think it is good to remember them in our prayers regardless of how we feel about our wars or foreign policy. For the families they simply experience the pain of grief and the sting of death. Therefore they should be held in our prayers.
For the veterans who read this thank you for your service and happy Veteran's Day.
Another touching moment was last weekend as we celebrated All Saints Day at our church. In a normal church we would remember and pray for the congregational families who lost loved ones in the previous year. This place being different than a normal congregation we haven't had any deaths since I have been here so I decided that we should pray for the families and remember the names of those who have died in combat this last year. So at our second service we had a slide show with all their names followed by prayer and in our first service we had members of the congregation read their names during our prayer time. What struck me was the sheer volume of names. It took six volunteers nearly ten minutes to simply read the names (no title or rank) of those who died this past year. We can easily forget their sacrifice and the grief that their loved ones experience. I think it is good to remember them in our prayers regardless of how we feel about our wars or foreign policy. For the families they simply experience the pain of grief and the sting of death. Therefore they should be held in our prayers.
For the veterans who read this thank you for your service and happy Veteran's Day.
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
Rain, Rain
Rain rain go away come again another day.
I think we have finally hit the 100" mark this week for total annual rainfall. That puts us about 25" over the normal and we still have all of November and December left. I came from a place that I thought had a lot of rain. What I am realizing more fully is that Seattle has lots of gray days with rain but it certainly doesn't have tropical rain.
Tropical rain is a beast unto itself and almost a year into it I am still impressed with how much rain can come down in a such a short amount of time. Being outside for a minute is enough to soak you to the bone. Riding a bike for 5 minutes in the rain without a coat is enough to leave you miserably wet and if you have to go into an air conditioned building for any length of time miserably cold as well.
The difference between Seattle and Kwaj is that when it is done raining here it will eventually get clear; the blue sky will come out and it will get hot. Seattle on the other hand stays well, gray. The folks here struggle when the day is completely gray (doesn't happen all that often) and Kim and I find the gray days actually remind of us of home and make it feel like winter. That is of course when we step outside to 85 degree weather, then we feel like we are in the tropics.
Another major difference between Seattle rain and Kwaj rain is church attendance. When it rains in Seattle people still come to church and when it rains here people stay away since they don't want to put full rain gear on over their church clothes, drag their kids fully laden and make their way to worship. Seattle is the opposite in that when it is sunny people want to enjoy the beauty of the Northwest and stay away. We have enough sunny days here that people can still make their way to worship and then go to the beach.
Personally I don't mind the rain but if I am going to be living in the tropics I would rather have the sun.
I think we have finally hit the 100" mark this week for total annual rainfall. That puts us about 25" over the normal and we still have all of November and December left. I came from a place that I thought had a lot of rain. What I am realizing more fully is that Seattle has lots of gray days with rain but it certainly doesn't have tropical rain.
Tropical rain is a beast unto itself and almost a year into it I am still impressed with how much rain can come down in a such a short amount of time. Being outside for a minute is enough to soak you to the bone. Riding a bike for 5 minutes in the rain without a coat is enough to leave you miserably wet and if you have to go into an air conditioned building for any length of time miserably cold as well.
The difference between Seattle and Kwaj is that when it is done raining here it will eventually get clear; the blue sky will come out and it will get hot. Seattle on the other hand stays well, gray. The folks here struggle when the day is completely gray (doesn't happen all that often) and Kim and I find the gray days actually remind of us of home and make it feel like winter. That is of course when we step outside to 85 degree weather, then we feel like we are in the tropics.
Another major difference between Seattle rain and Kwaj rain is church attendance. When it rains in Seattle people still come to church and when it rains here people stay away since they don't want to put full rain gear on over their church clothes, drag their kids fully laden and make their way to worship. Seattle is the opposite in that when it is sunny people want to enjoy the beauty of the Northwest and stay away. We have enough sunny days here that people can still make their way to worship and then go to the beach.
Personally I don't mind the rain but if I am going to be living in the tropics I would rather have the sun.
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