Volume 3 Issue 5

It’s that time of year again to renew the contract with GiC’s web host. That consequently makes it time to review GiC’s mission and how effectively it is being met. As stated on the home page: Growing in Christ is to serve as an interactive forum for those seeking to explore their faith and spiritual identity. Growing in Christ is an ongoing project grounded in the belief that theology should not be the exclusive domain of scholars and academics, but should touch the everyday lives of the most common people like you and me. This far into the project, I think it is a fair assessment to fail GiC as “an interactive forum.”
This leaves open the question of whether or not GiC is one way or another enabling theology to touch our everyday lives. Feedback is so scarce as to make any sort of evaluation of this measure essentially meaningless. My personal feeling is that a homiletical monologue—as GiC has unintentionally turned out to be—probably does not register in most minds as a form of constructive theologizing. I am keenly aware at this point that GiC is really nothing more than the ancient method of the written word not-too-cleverly disguised in cybertech trappings.
In an admittedly desperate attempt to generate some sort of response, the current “sermon” actually consists of three “starts” that I never finished. I envision this as working one of a couple different ways: first, readers can employ the Share Your Response/Reaction To This Sermon With Mark function at the end of the page to communicate to me which, if any, of the meditations seem worthy of completion; or (and I think this approach could be really interesting), readers could write their own endings and post them to the Bulletin Board.
Either way, an indication of interest in the continuation of GiC will be provided. Certainly there are a variety of other ways that any such interest can also be expressed, and those, too, are welcome. In the truest spirit of responsible stewardship, however, no response or reaction would be a legitimate indication that the project has run its course and needs to be brought to a respectable and dignified close. As always, I really will look forward to “hearing” from those of you who have been supportive of this effort since its inception regarding your feelings about the optimal way to proceed into the eternal future, and whether or not GiC has a viable role in that process.
Until next time…….Shalom!

Volume 3 Issue 4

Happy Mother’s Day! to all who have provided the miracle of birth to the rest of us. I am keenly aware that loving, caring, nurturing motherhood is incredibly more than just instinctual to our species, and so profound words of gratitude and appreciation are due to all those who have faithfully answered their divine calling. I am truly blessed to be one such child!
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Rebecca’s upcoming high school graduation (June 8, 2004) has recalled what a very busy—but joyous--event this is! She got a new job and a new (to her) car this last week, is arranging to take a couple of summer classes at Community College of Southern Nevada, and is enrolled to enter the University of Nevada at Las Vegas next fall. I know that she will enjoy receiving congratulatory e-mails at: beccascreename@aol.com
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Rachel has completed her second year at Northern Arizona University, so she’s halfway there! She will continue to work part-time this summer at the student advisement center. We’ll be traveling to Flagstaff the last weekend of this month to help her move with three of her classmates into a new apartment. She’s a moving target as far as e-mail goes, but you can follow her adventures at her website: http://hometown.aol.com/jackrach06/
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Both daughters are a living tribute to Mary’s motherhood, and those who e-mail her at: Maryteach5@aol.com should simply remember that all that excellent mothering treats computer time as a low priority.
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There! I think I’ve done a pretty good job of shifting the focus away from the fact that I didn’t get a newsletter out last week, and that there’s no new sermon as of yet. On a more serious note, I am literally at a loss for words to give any sort of meaning to current events. Characteristically the Bush Administration is zeroing in on the enlisted personnel as the criminals while effectively deflecting attention from themselves as those guilty of immorally and deceitfully attacking Iraq in the first place. I join former Nixon White House counsel John W. Dean in wondering aloud why George W. Bush is not being impeached as the most treacherous president in the history of the United States of America. I shall continue to look for those theologically responsible words.
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Until next week……Shalom!