I think this is really just a Texas sorta thing, so if you aren’t a local reader, just know during homecoming football games boyfriends or parents buy their girls a mum to wear. The mums aren’t made out of flowers, but usually a bunch of ribbons and glitter and stuff. In my hometown small cowbells were actually attached which made the hallways between classes sound like a cattle calls.
They look something like this:
What’s crazy is that they get even bigger and more elaborate.
Anywho, on to the story . . .
The Southlake Journal may not be a big newspaper, but a recent article has caused some Texas-sized controversy.
It started with a Nov. 4 column from Dr. Cindy Ryan, a pastor and writer, who tackled the issue of oversized mums and the exorbitant amount of money people are paying for them.
Ryan suggested instead of paying massive sums for those massive mums, the school kids and their parents put the money toward programs that feed the hungry.
Ryan went on to point out, ”Each outrageous mum represented to me 33 hungry children who could be fed for a month.”
And as if she knew what was coming, Ryan tried to head off those florists and mum business owners by suggesting instead of sending an angry letter or e-mail they “get busy designing the cool ribbon or button everyone could wear instead which says, ‘I banned a mum and fed 33 children.’”
Well that very Christian idea lead to some not very Christian responses from readers printed in a Nov. 18 column.
There’s a new slogan making its way onto car bumpers and across the Internet. It reads simply: “Pray for Obama: Psalm 109:8”
A nice sentiment?
Maybe not.
The psalm reads, “Let his days be few; and let another take his office.”
Presidential criticism through witty slogans is nothing new. Bumper stickers, t-shirts, and hats with “1/20/09” commemorated President Bush’s last day in office.
But the verse immediately following the psalm referenced is a bit more ominous: “Let his children be fatherless, and his wife a widow.”
With its combination of symbolical and practical strength, it’s hard to think of a situation where this pendant would not have you covered.
The bits sizes are based on actual screwing bits, including an IKEA standard tool – handy for those touch up jobs you never get around to. Though not as hard as ‘real’ tool bits, a bit cross can be used for light jobs.
On November 4-6, 300 contestants gathered in Washington, D.C. for the first annual National Bible Bee, a motivating Bible memory competition for children and youth from 7 to 18 years of age. Nine contestants emerged as contest winners and received the following awards:
“I Was Just Flipped Off By A Silver-Haired Old Lady With a Honk if You Love Jesus Sticker on the Bumper of Her Car” by Antsy McClain and the Trailer Park Troubadours.
SANTA ANA – A play depicting Jesus as a gay man played to an appreciative audience in a packed church sanctuary tonight while a handful of protesters outside called it blasphemous.
It was the second showing of “Corpus Christi” in Orange County in about two years. The show sparked protests and bomb threats at its 1998 opening at the Manhattan Theatre Club in New York.
The play depicts Jesus as a gay man living in 1950s Corpus Christi, Texas, playwright Terrence McNally’s hometown. The cast of 13 portray Jesus and the 12 Apostles.
While many higher-education institutions have been affiliated with particular religions since their founding, there has been a broad movement in recent years to accommodate religious diversity by enlisting additional chaplains to serve different faith groups, such as Muslims, Jews, Hindus and various Christian denominations that might not have been present at institutions’ foundings.
Now an organization of non-religious students at Tufts University is saying: Hey, what about us?
The Tufts Freethought Society — a group of about 150 students who identify as atheistic, agnostic, or otherwise non-religious — wants the university to establish a “humanist” chaplaincy to serve as a resource for students who are interested in exploring how to live “ethical and meaningful lives” without subscribing to any religion.
Cowboys For Jesus Christian Fellowship is a nondenominational church for country and cowboy folks who want to get out of “religion” and into Jesus. It is for people who want to get out of tradition and into a meaningful relationship with Jesus and other people who are not afraid of trusting each other. Our vision is to do exactly what Jesus told us to do: heal the sick, cast out demons, go into all the earth making disciples and baptizing in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. We accept everyone, but we are not looking for people who regularly attend other churches. We are looking for the ones that do not go to church and do not have anyone to care about them.
ROME (Reuters) – An Italian inventor has combined faith and ingenuity to come up with a way to keep church traditions alive for the faithful without the fear of contracting swine flu — an electronic holy water dispenser.
The terracotta dispenser, used in the northern town of Fornaci di Briosco, functions like an automatic soap dispenser in public washrooms — a churchgoer waves his or her hand under a sensor and the machine spurts out holy water.
“It has been a bit of a novelty. People initially were a bit shocked by this technological innovation but then they welcomed it with great enthusiasm and joy. The members of this parish have got used to it,” said Father Pierangelo Motta.
Catholics entering and leaving churches usually dip their hands into fonts full of holy water — which has been blessed by a priest — and make the sign of the cross.
But fear of contracting the H1N1 virus has led many in Italy — where some 15 people have died of swine flu — not to dip their hands in the communal water font.
A day after the massacre at Fort Hood, Dan Ross of Lehigh Acres ordered a $59.95 bouquet of yellow roses.
They were not meant to honor the dead, but to soothe the alleged shooter.
In an e-mail order to Marvel’s Florist in Texas, the 61-year-old asked a note to be addressed to Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, the suspect who remains in intensive care at an Army hospital in Texas.
The florist didn’t complete the order, but alerted the FBI. Ross said the agency visited his home.
Why would someone do such a thing?
As a Christian, Ross said he is called to love his enemies and do good to them.
And as the reincarnated Apostle Peter, Ross said, the Holy Spirit told him to send the flowers.
“He a hero to the Muslim community,” Ross said of Hasan Tuesday night.
James Gadiel of Kent, Conn., was a 23-year-old trader who died in the World Trade Center terror attacks. As a tribute to him, his father, Peter, approached local leaders to suggest placing a memorial plaque at the town hall.
Kent’s de facto mayor, First Selectman Ruth Epstein, readily agreed — until she saw the proposed wording: “James Gadiel, lifelong resident of Kent, murdered in the World Trade Center by Muslim terrorists on Sept. 11, 2001.”
Church volunteers greet visitors entering the lobby. The worship band begins its set and a pastor offers to pray privately with anyone during the service.
When the sermon is done, it’s time for communion, and the pastor guides attendees through the ritual. Later, worshippers exchange Facebook and e-mail addresses so they can stay in touch.
There is nothing remarkable about this encounter, which is replicated countless times each weekend at churches around the world. It’s all happening online.
The World Wide Web has become the hottest place to build a church. A growing number of congregations are creating Internet offshoots that go far beyond streaming weekly services.
The sites are fully interactive, with a dedicated Internet pastor, live chat in an online “lobby,” Bible study, one-on-one prayer through IM and communion. (Viewers use their own bread and wine or water from home.) On one site, viewers can click on a tab during worship to accept Christ as their savior. Flamingo Road Church, based in Cooper City, Fla., twice conducted long-distance baptisms through the Internet.
“The goal is to not let people at home feel like they’re watching what’s happening, but they’re part of it. They’re participating,” said Brian Vasil, Flamingo Road’s Internet pastor.
The move online is forcing Christians to re-examine their idea of church. It’s a complex discussion involving theology, tradition and cultural expectations of how Christians should worship and relate. Even developers of Internet church sites disagree over how far they should go. Many, for example, will only conduct baptisms in person.
A 22-year veteran kindergarten teacher in the Texas Bible Belt could lose her job for refusing, on religious grounds, to give fingerprints under a state law requiring them.
The evangelical Christian, Pam McLaurin, is fighting a looming suspension, claiming that fingerprinting amounts to the “Mark of the Beast,” and hence is a violation of her First Amendment right to practice her religion. Her case is similar to a lawsuit by a group of Michigan farmers, some of them Amish, challenging rules requiring the tagging of livestock with RFID chips, saying the devices are also the devil’s mark.
WAKITA — This tiny town near the Oklahoma-Kansas state line north of Enid may soon own the country’s only all-Christian prison, with Christian administrators, employees, counselors and programs.
The idea is backed by Wakita’s leaders, has some support from state officials, and, its founders believe, is able to pass constitutional muster.
“If Chicken Little doesn’t come to town, we’ll be open in 16 months,” said Bill Robinson, the founder of Corrections Concepts Inc., a Dallas nonprofit prison ministry that is spearheading the projec t.
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla., Nov. 2 /Christian Newswire/ — After posting an article in support of Rush Limbaugh, James L. Paris was suspended from Twitter two weeks ago. Although his account was reinstated after eight days, Paris decided to start his own Christian version of Twitter called Christian Chirp www.christianchirp.com. The site was launched this past Thursday.
So, what is Gospelr all about you say? Is it just another Twitter service? The answer is no. It’s not just another one in the mix, but rather it’s microblogging-as-ministry: Ministry Microblogging perhaps! Sure, you can tweet from Gospelr but you can also look at Gospelr as an online social bible study as well. Share your dreams, wishes, and prayers with other like-minded Christians.
The purpose is to provide an effective communication medium for sharing thoughts, ideas, words of encouragement, prayer requests, daily scripture readings/devotionals, and more to friends, staff, ministries, family, and others. But our hope is that it becomes so much more than just a Christian-Twitter: Our desire is that it is actually effectual in regards to sharing the Gospel with those who have already heard the Good News (because we all could use a good reminder… daily!) and those that have not. That’s why it’s integrated with Twitter.
ROME (Reuters) – An Italian inventor has combined faith and ingenuity to come up with a way to keep church traditions alive for the faithful without the fear of contracting swine flu — an electronic holy water dispenser.
A day after the massacre at Fort Hood, Dan Ross of Lehigh Acres ordered a $59.95 bouquet of yellow roses.
So, what is Gospelr all about you say? Is it just another Twitter service? The answer is no. It’s not just another one in the mix, but rather it’s microblogging-as-ministry: Ministry Microblogging perhaps! Sure, you can tweet from Gospelr but you can also look at Gospelr as an online social bible study as well. Share your dreams, wishes, and prayers with other like-minded Christians.