Express Yourself - Latest comments

In response to: November 8-14

Yvonne Schneiders [Visitor] — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 02:58:15 +0000

I have seen a great exertion to do
away with legalism, hypocrisy and the error of salvation by works.While
this seems to be biblical high ground
the reality and irony of resultant
depressions in the landscape of
Christianity mocks this human effort
as a work in itself. A work that
does not save us but assimilates us
into the culture of the world. We
have become almost boastful of our
transparent sins and authentic life
journey, daring anyone to be so
judgmental and self righteous as to
point out the error of our ways. We
have striven to create the ultimate
"one size fits all" religion only to dind find that our God is so much bigger
than any of us have imagined and He
does not desire to fit us but to fit
us for Himself. Perhaps those who
submit to this holy tailoring will be
priveleged to be the remnant who
truly are blood-washed clean of our
legalism, hypocrisy, and works and
by the power of Christ in us will
carry the scarlet cord as a banner
for those who come behind us! Christ
in us, our hope of glory!

In response to: October 11-17

Bill Ehlig [Visitor] — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 22:17:37 +0000

Okay, I'll bite.

Daily.

From the Gospels, Psalms, Proverbs, and Sirach each day.

The rest of the NT I complete each year.

The rest of the OT and Apocrypha I try to complete every 2 years.

It takes about 15 minutes a day or about 100 hours a year.

There are other study times, but these are the most important.

In response to: August 16-22

Pam Ferguson [Visitor] — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 16:13:47 +0000

With my latest article on Barclay Press about our community garden, I obviously have an interest in this question.

Is there a growing interest? From my experience in Eastern Indiana, the answer is definitely “yes”. Since 1998 two grocery stores in our town of 5,000 people have closed after the building of a new Walmart. Fresh food in our community is limited, expensive and not very fresh. The Farmer’s Market is meeting a need and has doubled in size in the last few years. Many of the vendors at the market are people who garden for the market in efforts to create extra income. There are a few, like myself, who participate in the market to provide fresh food to raise money for projects. The Community Garden is a perfect feeder for the Farmer’s Market. In addition to providing fresh food to those who use the pantry, we encourage tithing of the produce grown in each plot to be given to the food pantry directly or to be sold at the table at the Farmer’s Market.

I’m surprised by the interest in our community garden. In the set up stage of the garden, newspapers from two larger cities 30 miles from Winchester chose to do feature stories on this community garden. The headlines for the articles were “Gardening for the Common Good” with an emphasis on our encouragement to give some of the fresh food produced to the local food pantry. Since then we’ve hosted people from other communities who are in the process of starting gardens and looking for help and ideas. FYI - we've been able to give bushels of fresh produce to the food pantry every week for the last 6 weeks in addition to raising over $300 for the pantry. All this creates awareness of the needs facing our food pantry.

For me personally, this is about double benefits. I like to garden and I need to connect to the earth. Gardening heals my soul and gives me hours to think and pray. Gardening also gives me opportunities to visit with my neighbors, gives me exercise I don’t pay for, and provides fresh food that isn’t brought into my community from miles away. Cooking with my fresh garden produce provides better nutrition for me and reduces processed food and empty calories from my diet. I also expend calories making meals from scratch. All of those benefits are good things and worthy of giving a second look to growing your own food.

In response to: August 16-22

Amy Ong [Visitor] — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 05:24:51 +0000

After watching the movie : Food Inc, it is safer to eat locally grown food. The evil in the food industry is unbelievable !

In response to: August 16-22

Charity Sandstrom [Visitor] — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 16:40:16 +0000

I have a definite interest in local produce, but am not always good about getting out on the two days we have a farmer's market available. Judging by the lines at the farmer's market, interest is booming and the one organic farm close to home is already sold out of shares for 2010.
I hope the interest continues to grow and that each of us do our part to encourage this trend!

In response to: August 2-8

Mary Heathman [Visitor] — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 16:03:40 +0000

I believe I first heard the term, "school of the spirit" from Andrew Murray's writings. When we are in this school, then anything becomes a vehicle through which God can teach, train, equip, correct. . . us!

A clip from The Matrix is used by one of our leaders to illustrate how the enemy masks himself as beauty and distracts us.

A movie I continue to be profoundly encouraged by is Lars and the Real Girl -- a story of how a whole community gathers to walk alongside one man suffering from a delusion.

In response to: August 2-8

John Punshon [Visitor] — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 09:17:53 +0000

All stories that take us out of ourselves can carry a spiritual message. Some are desirable and some not, of course. I find redemption a constant theme in good movies. The Shawshank Redemption even uses the word in its title. One of the most 'Christian' films I have ever seen was 'The Spitfire Grill' if anybody remembers that.

In response to: August 2-8

Julie [Visitor] — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 23:25:22 +0000

Yes, I find spiritual value in movies, just as I find spiritual value in any form of story.

What comes to mind immediately is the profound effect AWAKENINGS had on my theology of salvation. My thinking changed dramatically after watching it.

Then there are the movies that tell of great moral courage (THE CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTOR is the most recent that I've watched) that call me examine my own behavior in living out our Quaker Testimonies.

And sometimes a good story can simply make me want to be a better person: LORD OF THE RINGS, CHRONICLES OF NARNIA, FINDING NEMO, DRESDEN.