July 4, 2009

40 Bits of Wisdom from Ben Franklin

Gleaned from Poor Richard’s Almanack in honor of Independence Day:

1.  To lengthen thy Life, lessen thy meals.

2.  He that lies down with Dogs, shall rise up with fleas.

3.  Men & Melons are hard to know.

4.  What one relishes, nourishes.

5.  Would you persuade, speak of Interest, not of Reason.

6.  Diligence is the Mother of Good-Luck.

7.  He that can compose himself, is wiser than he that composes books.

8.  There are no ugly Loves, nor handsome Prisons.

9.  There is no little enemy.

10. Who has deceiv’d thee so oft as thy self?

11. Is there any thing Men take more pains about than to render themselves unhappy?

12. Read much, but not many books.

13. Let thy Discontents be Secrets.

14. Blessed is he that expects nothing, for he shall never be disappointed.

15. He that sows thorns, should not go barefoot.

16. What you would seem to be, be really.

17. The things which hurt, instruct.

18. If you’d be beloved, make yourself amiable. 

19. He’s a fool that can’t conceal his Wisdom.

20. To God we owe fear and love; to our neighbours justice and charity; to our selves prudence and sobriety.

21. When the Well’s dry, we know the Worth of Water.

22. Dost thou love Life? then do not squander Time; for that’s the stuff Life is made of.

23. We are not so sensible of the greatest Health as of the least Sickness.

24. Write Injuries in Dust, Benefits in Marble. 

25. Suspicion may be no Fault, but shewing it may be a great one.

26. The Muses love the Morning.

27. Lost Time is never found again.

28. If your head is wax, don’t walk in the Sun.

29. Clean your Finger, before you point at my Spots.

30. Little Strokes fell great Oaks.

31. Friendship increases by visiting Friends, but by visiting seldom.

32. The Proud hate Pride — in others.

33. Generous minds are all of kin.

34. An ill Wound, but not an ill Name, may be healed.

35. Diligence overcomes Difficulties, Sloth makes them.

36. The Sting of a Reproach, is the Truth of it. 

37. He that resolves to mend hereafter, resolves not to mend now.

38. Keep your eyes wide open before marriage, half shut afterwards.

39. Half the Truth is often a great Lie.

40. One to-day is worth two to-morrows.

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July 3, 2009

Saddam Hussein Wrote Poetry

He made time each day to read fiction too.  He also apparently lied about possessing weapons of mass destruction to appear stronger to his rival Iran.  That boast brought him to an ignominious end.

Advocates have offered two reasons for the ‘03 invasion of Iraq:

  1. A fear of WMDs falling into the wrong hands (a potent concern in the aftermath of 9/11).
  2. A desire to end a cruel totalitarian government and partner with the people to build a humane, consensual one.

Ever since events discredited No. 1, the war’s critics have felt vindicated; but I’ve not heard them offer a credible plan to address No. 2, ending cruel totalitarian governments around the world, the kind exemplified in Hussein’s Iraq and the Taliban’s Afghanistan.  Peaceful means should come first, of course, but I don’t see a realistic way of ending these governments if force of arms is not an option.  (Although arms can let loose the Furies.)

Having said this, I should note the denomination I serve, the United Methodist Church, regards all warfare as ‘incompatible with the teachings of Christ.’  Yet war also seems to me a sad and necessary thing in some cases.  Whether war was necessary to dethrone a certain poetry loving dictator, I’ll leave history to decide.  Or better, Christ to judge.

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July 2, 2009

Flag In the Sanctuary

flag

In anticipation of the Fourth of July, On the Jericho Road asks whether the United States is a Christian nation.  The answer he gives is no, since nations cannot make the faith commitment needed to be religious.  And besides, what nation can follow the New Testament ethic of loving enemies or not storing up wealth?

In broad strokes I agree with this assessment.  Someone may consider the U.S. a Christian nation since it has more professing Christians in it than any other nation.  But beyond this, no it’s not a Christian nation.  The challenge, Jericho Road notes, is for those who profess Christian faith actually to live it.

Independence Day raises another issue:  the presence of American flags in church sanctuaries in the U.S.  Critics of this practice are vocal, but their arguments have never persuaded me.  So long as the flag stands discreetly to one side, its presence doesn’t bother me.  Love of country is a part of love of neighbor, and singing My Country, ‘Tis of Thee on occasion is acceptable in worship.  We thank God for our country and its blessings.

I make it a point, though, during the prayer time in worship always to include prayers for people in other nations — from Iran to Brazil — remembering God is active and present in the lives of all peoples and lands.

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July 1, 2009

Are There Really Multiple Intelligences?

Christopher J. Ferguson, a behavioral sciences professor at Texas A&M, highlights the lack of empirical evidence in support of the theory of multiple intelligences.

There probably is just a single intelligence or capacity to learn, not multiple ones devoted to independent tasks. To varying degrees, some individuals have this capacity, and others do not. To be sure, there is much debate about Gardner’s theory [of multiple intelligences] in the literature, with contenders for and against. Nonetheless, empirical evidence has not been robust. While the theory sounds nice (perhaps because it sounds nice), it is more intuitive than empirical. In other words, the eight intelligences are based more on philosophy than on data.

There is, he notes, ample empirical data to indicate a single intelligence, ‘an innate cognitive ability that powers learning.’  This capacity arises from heredity not environment, and some possess more of it than others.  The theory of multiple intelligences may satisfy our democratic aspirations — we want it to be true — but it doesn’t rest on an empirical foundation that can be measured.  The obvious differences we see in children and adults Ferguson attributes to varying talents and inclinations, not intelligences.

I just finished three days at camp, assisting in the faith development of eight-year-old girls and boys and deepening my own in the process.  Our curriculum made generous use of the theory of multiple intelligences, even tagging elements of each lesson with specific ones, but Ferguson’s commentary makes me wonder about this approach now.  I don’t know enough about educational theory, though, to argue one way or another.

Mostly at camp I saw how children learn through story, song, repetition and activity.  These elements also characterize the church’s weekly communal worship.  I imagine they’re among the ways we learn in all seasons of life.

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June 27, 2009

Off to Crystal Lake

Crystal Lake

We leave today for Crystal Lake, Michigan, where we’ll be counselors at a mini-camp for children.  Crystal Lake is a jewel — I love the different shades of blue on the water.

ADDED:  We arrived home late Tuesday night after three days at mini-camp with a group of 17 eight-year-old girls and boys.  Rain on Monday brought our games and activities indoors, but even so we had a great time.

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June 26, 2009

Crocodile Dock

For anyone interested, here was the final look for the Crocodile Dock set.  The children gathered in front of the dock for singing at the beginning and the end of each session.  We had about ninety children each day.

Crocodile Dock 1

Crocodile Dock 2

Crocodile Dock 3

The set in an earlier stage is here.  Check out posts earlier this week for pictures of some of the Bible teaching props — a burning bush, an Israelite house and the Red Sea — which were a slice of the total experience for the children.  They also had crafts, games, snacks, and a video Bible time for the little ones.

It’s over now.  Whew!!  We all had a great time.  A nap is in order.  This week the children learned five good things:

  • God is with us.  (Burning Bush)
  • God is powerful.  (Plagues on Egypt)
  • God does what he says he’ll do.  (Passover)
  • God gives us life.  (Jesus dies and comes alive again)
  • God cares for us.  (Crossing the Red Sea)

When my last Bible time was done, I thanked the children and told them I hoped they learned as much from the stories as I had.

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June 26, 2009

Children’s Ministry and the Incarnation

I devote time each year to children’s ministry by teaching a Bible lesson for older children at our Vacation Bible School.  Not having children of my own, this helps me see life from their level for a few days.

We use Group’s curriculum — it’s experiential, sensory and creative.  This year the theme is Crocodile Dock, and most of the Bible stories come from Exodus.

In Friday’s story the children walk through the Red Sea on dry ground, a wall of water on their right and on their left:

red sea

It takes hard work to help children experience a Bible story.  Actually, it can be exhausting, but it’s worth it to see their delighted faces.

The need children have to see and touch things reminds me of the Incarnation.

That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life.  (1 John 1.1 TNIV)

To become children of God, we need to see and touch divine love ourselves and join ourselves to that love by faith.

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June 25, 2009

Blood Stains

Israelite House

On Wednesday children in Vacation Bible School heard the story of the Passover.  They painted blood on the door frames of their houses, just as the Israelites did.  The houses were card tables, and the door frames were grocery bags filled with crumpled newspapers.  The ‘blood’ was red paint, which each child applied in turn.

After they crawled inside their house, each group waited for God’s angel to see the blood stains on the door and pass over them.

The Passover story was hard for me to share with children, as was Tuesday’s about the first nine plagues.  These stories raise much moral discomfort.  Even ancient Jewish and Christian interpreters struggled with the moral implausibility of these stories, which fueled their project of interpreting them symbolically so as not to stain God’s hands with blood. For Christians a symbolic reading of the Passover naturally leads to Jesus, the focus of Thursday’s Bible story.

Children think concretely, though, not symbolically.  For them, blood means blood.  Which is good in its own way.  As Kathleen Norris notes, blood imagery in the Bible points our attention to the concrete reality of the Incarnation, the eternal Word made human flesh, bone and blood.

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June 24, 2009

Dogs Communicate, But They Don’t Talk Well

Although dogs can imitate human sounds and give owners an illusion of talking, they’re unable to use their lips and tongues well enough genuinely to talk.  So says Scientific American.

But they can communicate with one another and with humans:

Despite what they may lack in the elocution department, dogs do communicate their feelings to humans as well as read our cues, thanks to domestication, Julia Riedel and colleagues of the Max Planck Institute (M.P.I.) for Evolutionary Anthropology reported in March 2008 in Animal Behavior. Dogs follow people’s pointing, body posture, the direction of their gaze, and touches for cues to find hidden food, notes Mariana Bentosela and colleagues at the University of Buenos Aires in the July 2008 Behavioural Processes. They also gaze at their trainer when they need more information to find their reward.

My dog Jazz and I communicate with one another in non-verbal ways.

jazz on couch

What do you think Jazz is communicating here?

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June 23, 2009

How to Build a Burning Bush

burning

Lay a coarse blanket on the floor.  Take larger sticks and place them in a triangle shape on the blanket.  Put a tangle of smaller, brush-like sticks on top of the triangle.  Intertwine two strings of white Christmas tree lights in the brush.  Top it off with plastic greenery, and intertwine this with the rest.  Hide the extension cord under the blanket, and plug it in out of sight behind a curtain.

Our Vacation Bible School began yesterday with 88 children, plus youth and adult volunteers.  The older children heard God’s voice speaking out of this burning bush.  (The voice was on CD behind the curtain.)  They learned that sometimes God asks us to do hard things just like Moses, but God always promises to stay with us and help us finish the task.

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