Short & Sweet - week beginning 30 July, 2012

Here is the church and here is the steeple...

Sometimes when driving I spontaneously pull over to take pictures of churches and contemplate whatever message the resident pastor or priest or reverend has deemed worthy of signage this week. I think it's a marvellous thing to contemplate, that even in this day and age so many of them remain all over the place, though they have turned many away and others have gone astray. Come what may, there they be, in town and city.

One of my favourite scenes in that seminal film Home Alone 2 Lost in New York is when Macaulay Culkin takes refuge in the church in order to run away from the "baddies" (aka "the wet bandits") and comes across the scary man from next door who had been estranged from his son. Really, churches are full of all sorts, which I'm sure delights God because He created us that way, and all.

This past Sunday, our church welcomed a budding but shy young preacher to the pulpit and I was agape at what he had to say... humble, simple but defiant in his approach, he brought it back to Jesus – our most wonderful friend and fearsome fellow – time and time again as he preached on the Beatitudes. "I think Jesus goes deeper, because it's all about your heart, ultimately, and if it's not, then you're just like the religious people who did all the good stuff but didn't get righteousness, other people and love," he said. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth, indeed.

The Word for the Week: "Be confident and determined and so what the Lord orders you to do. Obey all His laws and commands, as written in the Law of Moses, so wherever you go you may prosper in everything you do." 1 Kings 2:3
Quote for the Week: "I was just so proud of myself for getting this far and just believing in myself was the big thing. Having the odds stacked against you is really tough but to have to believe in yourself under those circumstances is even harder. You always have negative comments going through your head but today it was about, "Well, this is you office, you know what to do!" Leisel Jones, girl-hero and Olympic swimmer.
Dictionary.com word for the Week: usageaster \YOO-sij-as-ter\, noun: A self-styled authority on language usage. "Bill Bryson, Lynn Truss, Stephen Fry... all lovers of language contributing books celebrating the proper usage of English for the layman, and yet mere usageasters in the eyes of professional linguists, much like the lay preacher on the pulpit."

Girl With a Satchel