THYME Magazine

Citizen Journalism with a Better Flavor


Volume V, Issue XXIII

When Beauty Obscures  Truth

The 'other' weekly news magazine this week features The Angelina Effect [click to read]. Lovely Angelina Jolie's surgery puts genetic testing in the spotlight, begging a discussion of  'The Halo Effect.'

How is it possible for a relatively obscure Senator from Illinois, who reporters themselves said of: "We know very little about him;" to rise to the greatest office in the land? Consider the confident appearance, the tailored suits and the general attractiveness the candidate projected. The election was a perfect demonstration of 'The Halo Effect.' Other than those voting for ideological reasons, it was quite clear that youth and virility were being packaged in the 'marketing of a candidate' to the uninformed and undecided.

Psychologist Edward Thorndike first studied the Halo Effect, or halo error, which is a cognitive bias in which one's judgments of a person’s character is influenced by one's overall impression of him or her. This has great implications in settings such as the courtroom and the classroom, where impartiality is essential. Nonetheless, research shows that people perceived as more attractive obtain better judgements in court and often are favored in the educational system. 

In his 1920 article “The Constant Error in Psychological Ratings,” [1.] Thorndike presented empirical evidence for his theory. Other psychologists created more elaborate studies in the Nineteen-seventies.

In a pre-media age, it is possible that the Halo Effect was not so ubiquitous. Without a 'national standard' imposed by media images, true beauty was a richer and more diverse pallate. Just as some men prefer blondes or brunettes (this writer is squarely in the brunette camp), beauty can be found in rich diversity if one follows his or her own inclinations without being 'taught' what society at large calls 'beautiful.'

To some extent, the ethnicization of fashion has been a positive influence in reversing a narrow standard of 'beauty,' yet recent reports of  the treatment received by a wounded veteran [2.] show that it is hard for people to overcome 'beauty bias.' The man, disfigured by an explosion, was often shunned by people in public, people who never had a chance to learn of the man's heroic service to his country.

My memory wanders back to an autumn in my youth. Some friends and I were hitchhiking to the Outer Banks of North Carolina when an older gentleman picked us up. He was the last lightkeeper of the Hatteras lighthouse and as we rode toward the coast he told us many fascinating stories. He had a severe facial wound of some sort, possibly a wartime injury, but we were too polite to pry. His bright eyes twinkled as he spun his tales! Finally he invited us to join him and travel on to the lighthouse. How I wish we had not felt the constraint of schedule or pre-planned itinerary. I've often remembered that day with lament, wondering what a holiday with this lovely gentleman would have held for us... but we were young, and the sight of Jockey Ridge had us eager to be on our own way.

My point in all this is that beauty has been dumbed-down, much to the detriment of society. I am often amazed to find that the people I find the most attractive do not think of themselves as so. I lament the demise of publications like 'The Sunday Sun Magazine' which featured the photography of A. Aubrey Bodine [3.] They have been replaced with thin tabloids, usually featuring some celebrity on the cover. How fascinating it was to look recently at Readers' Digest's listing of the 100 'Most Trusted' people in America. The top four were ACTORS! [4.], people who PRETEND to be other people! Buried in the middle were men and women of the stature of Billy Graham. The article spoke VOLUMES about America's preoccupation with appearance. Celebrity spokespersons have championed products, causes and campaigns. Congress once held hearings on the plight of farmers... addressed by actors who had PLAYED farm wives! [5.]

Loveliness is a wonderful thing. Beauty and truth are to be celebrated, but outward appearance cannot always be trusted as an indication of inward virtue.

Breaking Through the Clouds at Raven's Roost

Sunlight Illuminating the Mountains of Big Levels


"The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined." -- Isaiah 9:2

Mothers' Day Pink Lady Slipper

Seen Along the Lake Trail at Miller School


The afternoon light illuminated a beautiful pink lady slipper.

THYME Magazine

Citizen Journalism with a Better Flavor


Volume V, Issue XXII

G-d's Word to Praying People

“Shout it aloud, do not hold back.
    Raise your voice like a trumpet.
Declare to my people their rebellion
    and to the descendants of Jacob their sins.
For day after day they seek me out;
    they seem eager to know my ways,
as if they were a nation that does what is right
    and has not forsaken the commands of its God.
They ask me for just decisions
    and seem eager for God to come near them.
‘Why have we fasted,’ they say,
    ‘and you have not seen it?
Why have we humbled ourselves,
    and you have not noticed?’

“Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please
    and exploit all your workers.
Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife,
    and in striking each other with wicked fists.
You cannot fast as you do today
    and expect your voice to be heard on high.
Is this the kind of fast I have chosen,
    only a day for people to humble themselves?
Is it only for bowing one’s head like a reed
    and for lying in sackcloth and ashes?
Is that what you call a fast,
    a day acceptable to the Lord?

“Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:
to loose the chains of injustice
    and untie the cords of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free
    and break every yoke?
Is it not to share your food with the hungry
    and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—
when you see the naked, to clothe them,
    and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?
Then your light will break forth like the dawn,
    and your healing will quickly appear;
then your righteousness will go before you,
    and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard.
Then you will call, and the Lord will answer;
    you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.

“If you do away with the yoke of oppression,
    with the pointing finger and malicious talk,
and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry
    and satisfy the needs of the oppressed,
then your light will rise in the darkness,
    and your night will become like the noonday.
The Lord will guide you always;
    he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land
    and will strengthen your frame.
You will be like a well-watered garden,
    like a spring whose waters never fail.
Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins
    and will raise up the age-old foundations;
you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls,
    Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.

“If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath
    and from doing as you please on my holy day,
if you call the Sabbath a delight
    and the Lord’s holy day honorable,
and if you honor it by not going your own way
    and not doing as you please or speaking idle words,
then you will find your joy in the Lord,
    and I will cause you to ride in triumph on the heights of the land
    and to feast on the inheritance of your father Jacob.”For the mouth of the Lord has spoken." -- Isaiah 58

A special thank-you to Carl Tate for pointing out this scripture as we as a community prepare to participate in Spark 2013 [click to read]. As the 'other' weekly news magazine celebrates the 'Me' Generation's potential to become the next 'Greatest Generation' a number of great messages have been preached about dying to self and seeking to "decrease that G-d might increase." Indeed, men and women such as Jeremiah Lanphier, George Müller and Florence Nightengale began their journeys in prayer with a recognition of the heart of G-d.

This led them to minister to the pain of people around them. Then, realizing their own inadequacy, they redoubled their laboring in prayer.G-d met them and did amazing works through them.

Such is the hope that we should have as we begin a season of earnest prayer... that G-d will shine forth in the world, and that we will be open to His Spirit doing so.

Jeremiah Lanphier's Journey of Prayer

How A Nation Was Turned to G-d and Restored


Jeremiah Lanphier discovered the power of prayer in his own life.

A Milestone Monday Feature

America found herself at a crossroads. Wild speculation and greed had built a house of cards. While a few became incredibly wealthy, the gap between haves and have-nots grew ever wider.   The economic crash had put 30,000 men out of work on the streets of New York City.  Churches languished as people explored Spiritism and other "new" ideas. We, of the Twenty-first Century, would find the condition of the culture strangely familiar.

Political corruption, shady dealings in business and a general moral decline were the norm.  "Atheism, agnosticism, apathy and indifference to God, to the church, and its message abounded on every hand. The decline was fourfold: social, moral, political and spiritual." -- Tom Shanklin

Then came the crash! Factories were shuttered. Banks failed and merchants were ruined. Thousands were destitute. Winkie Pratney, who chronicled the great revival, says: "A near socio-economic collapse jolted America away from her apathy into a national cry for spiritual reality." Chuck Balsamo presents a wonderful concise history of this revival in his book Make Me a Legend [click to read]. The story does not begin with a mighty move and thousands of conversions, rather it begins in a rather small way.

Jeremiah Lanphier was a middle-aged businessman caught in the crossroads. Having no children and no family, he was drawn to minister to the needs of those living in the dark slums of Hell's Kitchen. Leaving his business, he became a lay missionary with the North Dutch Church in Manhattan. Pouring his life into the lives of those he saw caught in hopelessness, he soon came to the end of his own strength. Physically and mentally exhausted, Lanphier discovered that just as the body needs food, the soul and spirit of a man need to be nourished in prayer.[1.]

Each day at midday, Lanphier would seek solace in the Church Consistory Building, where he would cry out to G-d for spiritual strength. He experienced G-d in a mighty way in these times and felt that others would benefit from prayer as well, especially the city's businessmen. He printed up and distributed 20,000 flyers advertising his first noontime prayer meeting, on September 23, 1857.

That day he prayed alone for thirty minutes before six others joined him. The next week there were twenty. The week after that forty people showed up. In time over 100 churches had noonday prayer meetings going throughout the city. G-d's powerful move was felt far beyond New York City. Newspaperman Horace Greeley wanted to get a count of the number of men  praying in New York so he sent a reporter out to the meetings. Racing around the city in a horse-drawn buggy, the reporter was only able to get to twelve meetings in the noon hour, but he counted 6,100 in attendance.

Spiritual awakening followed and Americans found strength in G-d for the turbulent days that followed. This Third Great Awakening not only revitalized the spirit of America's people, but led to missionary outreach around the world.  [2.]

Spark 2013 in Stuarts Draft, Virginia

A Concert of Prayer for Our Place and Time...



"In the mid 1700s, pastor and theologian Jonathan Edwards coined the term “concerts of prayer” to describe corporate gatherings of Christians for intercession and spiritual renewal. Regular prayer meetings at the time became a spark for the First Great Awakening in the United States.

Similarly, the Third Great Awakening was largely initiated and sustained through a movement of prayer. In 1857, Jeremiah Lanphier started a noon prayer meeting on Manhattan’s Fulton Street. The meeting quickly grew to several thousand business leaders and revival spread across the country, spawning some 2 million conversions and great works of social reform. Slavery was cut short in the United States through the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation in 1865 largely because of this awakening. The Salvation Army, The Christian and Missionary Alliance, and other Christian movements found their birth during this period, and the mighty Student Volunteer Movement was launched which sent approximately 25,000 students to the mission field in the coming decades.

Such corporate gatherings for prayer and around-the-clock Prayer Watches have worked together through history to strengthen prayer ministry. The New York City “Concerts of Prayer” initiative, for example, combined their Concerts of Prayer with a Prayer Watch that united 35 churches in 1995. The combined effort continued and over the next five years, the murder rate in New York City dropped 70%, making it one of the safest cities in the country with over a million people" -- Concerts of Prayer [click to read].  
Henderson County Ministerial Association.

Spark 2013 [click to read] begins May 12, 2013 and continues through May 19, 2013.

THYME Magazine

Citizen Journalism with a Better Flavor


Volume V, Issue XXI
  
"The true great works are rooted in love and born in prayer" -- Unknown

"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law." -- Galations 5:22,23

A Great Work... Ushering in the World to Come

Who among us has not at some point imagined themselves involved in some great work? We love the stories of triumph and bravery and wonder if it might be our lot to ever be part of such a tale? So-called 'Realism' raises a hand at this point and argues that most men live in obscurity and live lives that are insignificant. Yet the belief that significance is something to be desired presses the possibility of it being attained. Travelling to Bolivia last year, I sensed there were a thousand stories in search of a Hemingway.

I saw an amazing medical mission that grew out of one woman's loving heart. She herself survived breast cancer and when most people would have started savoring retirement, this soft-spoken RN was G-d's instrument to bring decent medical care to the poorest people in Santa Cruz and now Sucre. (Her SECOND clinic just opened in February)! Cindy Thacker is doing a great work, as are the comitted staff of Mission of Hope Bolivia. It was a priviledge to hear their stories and by our work there to contribute to them.[1.]

In a South American slum there is a man who creates orchestra instruments from trash! 'Landfill Harmonic' brings beautiful music to young people who would otherwise know only the sound of despair. [2.] Redemption! all the great stories tell of it. Is it a false hope?, or something that the great stories hold out to us because its realization could be nearer than we dare imagine?If we can imagine something, is it possible that that ability to imagine is rooted in sound reasons?

These are the stories the media rarely report to us. One hears so much about the dysfunction in our world... and it is real. Yet, quiet your heart. You will find amazing stories around you. You might even find yourself a part of one! Great works abound in our own back yard. How shall we find them... be still, watch and listen!

Watching Kristina Elaine Riley paint her latest mural depicting "Acts of Kindness Rooted in Love," it was clear that she was engaged in a great work. [3.] The painting she is completing with elementary and middle school children in the Farrier Court Community center carries a redemptive message. Indeed, it could be seen as an extension of her "Journey to Jesus," [4.] where she took ordinary children's photographs, often in places of great hardship, and painted them as princes and princesses of the New Heaven and the New Earth spoken of in Isaiah 60, Isaiah 61 [5.] and Revelation 21 [6.]

Audio Aredrenalin's "Kings and Queens" echos that message [7.] To love "the least of these" is to make kings and queens in G-d's Kingdom. Empowering children to be noble by rooting themselves in love... an unseen foundation upon which to build a noble edifice!

Hebrews 11 talks of Faith: "The evidence of things hoped for, the substance of things not seen," and tells of Abraham, who wandered and lived all of his life in tents, longing for "that city who's architect and builder is G-d!" Those who share in the hope that Abraham had have a stake in the greatest of works... joining G-d in building His Kingdom!

Nehemiah engaged himself in a great work... rebuilding the walled city of Jerusalem. Just as he became a man of singular purpose, we too should consider the ruined state of our own culture and "arise and build!" A study of Nehemiah's life reveals that he didn't begin by sorting stones or drawing plans, he PRAYED. Scripture is clear that he began by seeking G-d and the mighty work sprang from that prayer [8.]

 In the Nineteenth Century, Evangelist George Müller was moved by the plight of unwanted children. He prayed. Without asking for a penny, he saw G-d provide the means to care for thousands of children and build fine homes for them to live in [9.]

In a world of chaos, we seek order, beauty and truth. These things will elude us if we do not seek the AUTHOR of order, beauty and truth. Great works do not just happen, they spring from the hand and mind of purposeful authorship. If purposeful authorship is evident in Creation, then it behooves us to seek to learn from the Author of purpose.

Pastor Chuck Balsamo of Destiny Fellowship in Stuarts Draft invites all who would to join in a time of Prayer, Fasting and Worship [click to read]. The purpose, not unlike Nehemiah's, is to seek G-d in a world where order, beauty and truth are all too rare.

My point in writing this is that G-d has a great work and the promise is clear. The murky uncertainty of our post-modern world is all too evident and threatens to obscure OUR view of that purpose. If we as a people will come away to seek His face, we will find ourselves in the very presence of G-d. Perhaps it is time to stop saturating ourselves in the news and MAKE news... led by the same fire that "turned the world upside down" in the First Century [10.]

That is key. This is not about growing bigger churches or merely creating a moral superiority, or economic prosperity, it is about unleashing the power of G-d's Holy Spirit to build G-d's Holy Kingdom! How does one describe the Kingdom of G-d and His promised presence there? It is like describing a mountain vista to a blind man. Where do you begin? Yet this is a picture that I as an artist feel compelled to paint! Mankind needs this vision. How does one begin to paint it?

Does one start by descriptions rooted in the scents of seasons... the smell of leaves and lavendar, the deep smell of Earth beneath the firs? One CAN deduce from what one CAN percieve that there is more unseen. That is the artist's mission. Just as a visual artist creates depth with line and shadow and aerial perspective, we can point to that which is beyond our ability to literally render.

Can we "see" the promise, pushing onward. and offer relationship with G-d Himself to a world of lonely and injured pilgrims? Can we join together as G-d seeks to rebuild lives and bring His Kingdom to Earth? Can we see that G-d is at work, purposefully authoring the promised Kingdom? In the combined sense of PEACE and PURPOSE found in communion with the Divine, might we have a part in ushering in the World to Come?

Farrier Court Community Building Mural

Young People Picturing Acts of Kindness Rooted in Love


Muralist Kristina Elaine Riley designed the mural for Bridgewater College students to paint with elementary and middle school youth in the apartment complex. The project was done through the Office on Youth.


The leaves will feature acts of kindness written by the children...


...rooted in love.

Teriffic Tuesdays! A chance for kids to interact with positive role models and even make something beautiful! Muralist Kristina Elaine Riley has designed this project where kids paint along with students from Bridgewater College. Now a project of the Office on Youth, the Teriffic Tuesdays program will soon be taken over by the Blue Ridge Church of Christ as an ongoing ministry to the community.


Kristina paints colorful creatures into the mural.

Dance of the Dogwoods

Spring Comes to the Hilltops as Trees Blossom








In the days of black and white film, photographers such as A. Aubrey Bodine would rely on line, composition and contrast to capture the subtleties of the season. This exercise is my attempt to emulate their methodology.

THYME Magazine

Citizen Journalism with a Better Flavor


Volume V, Issue XX

The Giving of the Law and the Spirit

Seven weeks after Passover comes Shavuot. is directly linked to that of Passover. Shavuot commemorates the giving of the Torah, the Law, on Sinai. On Passover, the people of Israel were freed from Egyptian servitude; on Shavuot they were given the Torah and became a nation committed to serving G-d. Shavout is one of the three 'pilgrimage feasts,' where the people were required to come to Jerusalem. The three feasts are: Pesach (Passover), Shavuot (Weeks), and Sukkot (Tents or Booths).

Shavuot also is a the first time for the giving of the Bikkurim, or first fruits. The first fruits of wheat, barley, grapes, figs, pomegranates, olives, and dates (Deut. 8:8) would be brought in a procession to the temple.

As thousands of pilgrims filled Jerusalem for this feast, after Jesus had risen from the dead and ascended into heaven, the second chapter of the Book of Acts records a unique event:

"And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven. Now when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together, and were confounded, because that every man heard them speak in his own language. And they were all amazed and marvelled, saying one to another, Behold, are not all these which speak Galilaeans? And how hear we every man in our own tongue, wherein we were born? Parthians, and Medes, and Elamites, and the dwellers in Mesopotamia, and in Judaea, and Cappadocia, in Pontus, and Asia, Phrygia, and Pamphylia, in Egypt, and in the parts of Libya about Cyrene, and strangers of Rome, Jews and proselytes, Cretes and Arabians, we do hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of G-d. And they were all amazed, and were in doubt, saying one to another, What meaneth this?

 Others mocking said, These men are full of new wine. But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and said unto them, Ye men of Judaea, and all ye that dwell at Jerusalem, be this known unto you, and hearken to my words: For these are not drunken, as ye suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day. But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel; And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith G-d, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams: And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy: And I will shew wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke: The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and notable day of the Lord come: And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. Ye men of Israel, hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of G-d among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which G-d did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know."

These were the firstfruits of the promise made to Abram in Genesis 22:18: "And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice."

Shavuot, or Pentecost, as it is called in Greek, first marked the giving of the Law. It was also the time for giving of the firstfruits of the Promised Land. Now the Spirit was given, empowering the Church to bring in human firstruits of the Promised Kingdom! The disciples, who had cowered in the upper room, now spoke boldly to men from other nations who had assembled in Jerusalem. The Church was now reaching out in Judea, Samaria and eventually to the very ends of the Earth. Isaiah 60 and Revelation 21 speak of the Nations coming to this Jerusalem and the restoration of fellowship between man and the Almighty!

In Isaiah 60 [4.] and in Revelation 21 Believers look to a New Heaven and a New Earth where a Heavenly Jerusalem descends to join the Earth. Here is a Kingdom that needs no temple, needs no sun to light it, for G-d Himself is the force that illuminates it! [5.]

"And I saw a new Heaven and a new earth: for the first Heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from G-d out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of G-d is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and G-d himself shall be with them, and be their G-d." -- Revelation 21:1-3


Journey to Jesus, a mural depicting the nations coming to Jesus in the New Heaven and New Earth described in Revelation 21. Mural by Kristina Elaine Riley and Bob Kirchman

Journey to Jesus [click to view larger images].

"Our Christian hope is that we're going to live with Christ in a new Earth, where there is not only no more death, but where life is what it was always meant to be." -- Timothy Keller.


The sun breaks through after a passing storm.

Remembering a Great Mentor

There was a Man who Convinced Me I Could Do This


Reconstructing my model of Ellicott's Mills for the B&O Railroad Museum.

A Milestone Monday Feature

In Chapter 14 of Chuck Balsamo's new book Make Me a Legend Pastor Balsamo talks about the importance of finding a good mentor. He brought back some important memories as I recalled the influence of a man named Reggie. Reggie served in the Navy during World War II and achieved the rank of Aviation Machinist's Mate, Second Class. He was a first class mentor.

I met this amazing man because I went to school with his daughter. He was a Chevrolet mechanic and an avid outdoorsman. He introduced me to the wonders of Coastal New Jersey as I happily paddled for hours through marshes and creeks. At about 50 years old, Reggie became an instructor at the vocational technology school. There he discovered his true gifts and passions.

At an age where most men are thinking about taking it easy, Reggie enrolled in Rutgers University and pursued a degree in administration. Education and young people had become his true calling and he graduated from college the same time one of his daughters did.

Days at Reggie's place where full ones. He lived in a little postwar bungalo and when his children and their assembled friends were descending on the place around ten in the evening, he'd put on a pot of coffee. It came as no surprise that Reggie enjoyed lively conversation and sometimes these talk sessions would end in the wee hours of the morning. Good coffee, however, always made up for sleep deprivation.

Reggie went on to become a high school principal, but I have to believe that the best classes he ever taught were at his own kitchen table. He noticed that I was a hands-on guy struggling with an academic world. He found information on architectural model making and shared it with me. "You'd be good at this, Bob." Years later I was literally living off of this compliment. My little studio built models for architects, including one famous one. I worked on several models for resort projects in Japan, though I'm not sure how a man who served in the Pacific Theatre would feel about that.

No doubt, this man has influenced many young lives in a similar manner. I am priviledged to have known him.

This week the 'other' weekly news magazine presents its list of 100 'most influential' people. THYME maintains that the most influential people are unsung and unknown.How many people know the name of Edward Kimball? [1.] Kimball led a shoe salesman to Faith in Christ. The shoe salesman happened to be Dwight L. Moody. Here in Volume V, Issue XIX, THYME celebrates the lives of those who truly influence others!

Thoughts on True Greatness [click to read] by Rabbi Yonason Goldson in Jewish World Review.

Spring Comes to the Ridgetops

Blossoms Announce the End of Winter


Spring blossoms and new green paint their colors on the landscape.

THYME Magazine

Citizen Journalism with a Better Flavor


Volume V, Issue XVIII

Unmaking America

In 1969 America landed men on the Moon. In the year following the close of the Apollo Program, Roe vs Wade was decided in the Supreme Court, stripping away state laws protecting the unborn. In the years following, We've Forgotten What Belongs On Page One [click to read]. Kirsten Powers in USA Today slaps us in the face with the reality of what has happened to us as a nation: 

"Infant beheadings. Severed baby feet in jars. A child screaming after it was delivered alive during an abortion procedure. Haven't heard about these sickening accusations?

It's not your fault. Since the murder trial of Pennsylvania abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell began March 18, there has been precious little coverage of the case that should be on every news show and front page. The revolting revelations of Gosnell's former staff, who have been testifying to what they witnessed and did during late-term abortions, should shock anyone with a heart." [1.]

Thankfully there are journalists like Powers, who still tell us the news that belongs in the headlines. Unfortunately many media sources today don't bother to print it. When THYME Interactive [click to read] linked to Ms. Powers' article, Facebook spinelessly labeled it as 'spam,' (later rescinding the label); That shows you that our media only wants you to be outraged at what they determine is outrageous. The screams of aborted babies don't count when your agenda is to promote abortion at all stages of pregnancy.

Pro-life speaker Hannah Rose Allen [click to read] knows firsthand the pain and heartache abortion can inflict. She's spoken on the same platform as Dr. Alveeta King (Dr. Martin Luther King's niece), making the case for the unborn and the women who carry them. [2.]

Abortion and the Devaluing of Human Life

Before Christmas an appalling crime occurred in a small town in Connecticut. The murder of six-year old children shocked most Americans. Killing innocent children is wrong. Most of us would agree. When a nine-year old child asks his Mother: “What is an abortion?” and she tries to explain, the child responds: “But, that means killing the baby.” The existence of abortion in the fabric of our culture has long range implications, and they do not bode well for a culture of respect for life [3.].

For forty years abortion has been given privileged protection (your child cannot have an aspirin at school without your consent, but the same school health system may schedule a 'confidential' abortion consultation for your child at Planned Parenthood) [4.]. Attempts to regulate abortion clinics in a manner similar to other medical facilities are regularly challenged. You will never see an abortion performed on educational television. In fact, pro-choice advocates regularly stonewall discussion of the very real issue of protecting preborn life.

I participated in a prayer vigil to silently protest the first abortion clinic built in the city where I lived in 1974. Now, forty years later, one must ask what the long-term consequences are. Occasionally a child survives the attempt to abort her. Gianna Jessen is one such person and though the failed abortion left her with a number of physical challenges, she regularly speaks on the issue of sanctity of life.

Margaret Sanger [click to read] ought to be well reported for her Eugenics. She isn't. That driving force in her mission is quiely 'forgotten' by the media, although it does surface in this Interview with Mike Wallace [click to read]. Planned Parenthood gets a free pass to mainstream respectability in spite of its founder's views, which Adolph Hitler found applicable in his own diabolical doings.

Although Judeo-Christian ideals were built upon to found this country they are now banished from the Academy [click to read]. Dennis Prager [click to read] is one journalist who understands that a society needs to have foundations. He says: "I offer the single most politically incorrect statement a modern American — indeed a modern Westerner, period — can make: I first look to the Bible for moral guidance and for wisdom."

Prager is not alone.

'Made in America'

This week the 'other' weekly news magazine talks about the 'Resurgence' of Manufacturing [click to read] in America. Let's be honest here. The great manufacturing era of the past is nowhere near returning. The 'resurgence' they talk about is largely fueled by the availability of an Undervalued Workforce [click to read] and (compared to Europe) cheap energy. Companies that treated their workers like family members, such as Bill's Barbeque in Richmond, are closing. While I understand sound business decisions, people are more than "human resources" when seen through eyes informed by society's foundations.

When I worked for my Grandfather's company (now closed), a man informed me as he was teaching me how to lace drive belts for large machinery: "Your Grandfather loaned me the money for my first house." Grandpa never did his good deeds in public view, but there were many eager to tell a good story about him.

People no longer see companies loyal to them as employees. Rosetta Stone in Harrisonburg recently downsized, announcing in a press release: "Rosetta Stone announced today that it is re-shaping its Product organization and expanding its operational footprint in order to drive technological innovation and accelerate product development. The company will eliminate 48 positions in its Harrisonburg office."

Translated: "We're hiring new people elsewhere and laying off the office that got us started. Labor costs; you see. Have a nice day!"

THYME Magazine

Citizen Journalism with a Better Flavor


Volume V, Issue XVII

Marriage Wins in the Big Picture

"In terms of their social orientations, journalists are clearly more influenced by the post- 1960s "new morality." Few attend church or synagogue." -- Donald Lazere, American Media and Mass Culture: Left Perspectives.

It is not surprising then that the 'other' weekly news magazine last week stated that traditional marriage has Already Lost [click to read]. This week they're looking at Latino Influence in the Church [click to read] and The Rise of Evangélicos [click to read]. Journalist Elizabeth Dias has discovered a growing interest in Faith among the Latino community. She writes: "What I discovered signaled a Latino Reformation. Both churches were doubling in size every few years. Many of the congregants were Catholic converts, and even more may have been undocumented. All were fervent believers—they sang with hands high, danced during worship, and often brought their own tambourines and flags to Sunday services. They were charismatic and believed in miracles. They told me their stories over tamales and café con leche—how they converted, how G-d healed their physical illnesses, and how their churches became refuges from hunger and homelessness. To the mainstream American culture, and even other white evangelical churches, they were invisible. But they were hiding in plain sight."

"I offer the single most politically incorrect statement a modern American — indeed a modern Westerner, period — can make: I first look to the Bible for moral guidance and for wisdom." -- Dennis Prager [click to read].

The post 1960's culture declared marriage 'obsolete' thirty years ago. Certainly there are trends toward cohabitation, easy divorce and out-of-wedlock parenting (and a new set of societal costs as a result), but marriage as an institution is still a strong force in our society. Mark Steyn [click to read] has a pretty straightforward picture of what is really happening here. Steyn writes: "Gay marriage? It came up at dinner Down Under this time last year, and the prominent Aussie politician on my right said matter-of-factly, "It's not about expanding marriage, it's about destroying marriage."

Steyn's article is worth pondering. The case of Elane Photography [click to read] and the Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association [click to read] bear out Steyn's argument. These cases are not about freedom to marry, but about imposing a civil morality, or civil legality [1.] upon people of faith. In the first case, a photographer is sued for not photographing a same-sex ceremony for reasons of faith [2.]. In the second, a Methodist organization does not allow their facility to be used for a same-sex ceremony for the same reason. Ultimately this is about First Amendment protected religious freedom. Most of us would not deny a person the right to live with whoever they choose, and civil and contract law allow for the sharing of property. Most of us also acknowledge that this country was built upon religious liberty as well as individual freedom.

Marriage has come under attack in times past. Claudius II, Emperor of Rome issued an edict prohibiting marriage for his troops, seeing family life as a 'distraction' to them. A priest named Valentine [3.] performed secret marriages anyway. He was beheaded on February 14, 270. People still give their wives cards on that date, and soldiers still get married. For people of Faith, marriage is more than a human institution. In Ephesians 5:25-32, Paul states:

"Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish. So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself. For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church: For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh.

This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church.

Nevertheless let every one of you in particular so love his wife even as himself; and the wife see that she reverence her husband."

Thus marriage is, for the person of faith, a picture of the relationship of the believer with his G-d. The sacrifice and fidelity of a traditional relationship are essential to this picture. Marriage as an institution survived Claudius. Today, the challenge is to build our own marriages upon the challenge of Ephesians 5. The marriage that models relationship of humanity to G-d is impossible to codify. Those precious couples who's lives actually reflect this, (and I greatly admire them), create a transcendent work of art that no law can snuff out.

It is for this reason that I see great hope for the institution. Are not the stories we remember the stories of love that is steadfast and triumphant in the face of overwhelming challenge. G-d in His wisdom has made that a picture of the Relationship of Redemption!

Revelation 19:6-9 speaks of the time when people of all nations are joined in communion with G-d:

"And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluia: for the Lord G-d omnipotent reigneth. Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints. And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of G-d."

In Isaiah 60 [4.] and in Revelation 21 Believers look to a New Heaven and a New Earth where a Heavenly Jerusalem descends to join the Earth. Here is a Kingdom that needs no temple, needs no sun to light it, for G-d Himself is the force that illuminates it! [5.]

"And I saw a new Heaven and a new earth: for the first Heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from G-d out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of G-d is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and G-d himself shall be with them, and be their G-d." -- Revelation 21:1-3


Journey to Jesus, a mural depicting the nations coming to Jesus in the New Heaven and New Earth described in Revelation 21. Mural by Kristina Elaine Riley and Bob Kirchman

Journey to Jesus [click to view larger images].

"Our Christian hope is that we're going to live with Christ in a new Earth, where there is not only no more death, but where life is what it was always meant to be." -- Timothy Keller.


The hope of Heaven.

The Steeples of Staunton XI

Spires and Symbols of Faith Around Our City


Bible Way Community Church on West Beverley Street.


First Church of the Nazarene on West Beverley Street.


Faith Baptist Church on Essex Drive.


Community Fellowship on Market Street.


Downtown Young Men's Christian Association on Frederick Street.

THYME Magazine

Citizen Journalism with a Better Flavor


Volume V, Issue XVI

Barley, Not Bunnies

The first people to learn of, and celebrate, the Resurrection of Christ would not have associated the day with Spring fertility symbols. They would likely have seen more of an association to the next Feast following Passover.

In Leviticus Chapter 23 there is a list of Feasts, instituted by G-d's command: "Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, Concerning the feasts of the Lord, which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations, even these are my feasts." -- Leviticus 23:1. In verse nine He continues: "Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye be come into the land which I give unto you, and shall reap the harvest thereof, then ye shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest unto the priest: And he shall wave the sheaf before the Lord, to be accepted for you: on the morrow after the sabbath the priest shall wave it. And ye shall offer that day when ye wave the sheaf an he lamb without blemish of the first year for a burnt offering unto the Lord." -- Leviticus 23:10-12

The harvest of Barley, a Winter crop, marked the Firstfruits, and the recognition that this was the beginning of the inbringing of G-d's provision. This came after the celebration of the Passover. After celebrating G-d's deliverance, the people moved on to celebrate G-d's provision!

In 1 Corinthians 15:20, Paul says: "But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept." -- a direct reference to this Feast. 1 Corinthians 15 [click to read] is a wonderful Scripture to read in the days following Resurrection Sunday. Here is a powerful and succinct testimony to the power of Resurrection. h/t Pastor Bruce Hankee

The Sunrise Unseen...

The Sun Rose Today, Above the Clouds



Today I arose early, hoping to catch a glimpse (and a photo) of the rising sun. Often the edge of a cloud pattern arrives just as the sun peeks over the horizon, creating a Master's painting of light and color. On the flight deck of some redeye this morning, the crew is no doubt enjoying the play of light on the top of these clouds. You see, the sun ROSE this morning. Here on the ground, we just didn't see it!

Likewise, the Saviour of the World has risen! May we have the presence of mind to see that great truth! Have a Blessed Easter!

Andrea Oakes, Moses and Joshua...

Going Outside the Camp to the Tent of Meeting

After the people sinned while Moses was receiving the Law, the Tabernacle was pitched outside the camp and those who would seek the Lord had to venture out to it.

"For the Lord had said unto Moses, Say unto the children of Israel, Ye are a stiffnecked people: I will come up into the midst of thee in a moment, and consume thee: therefore now put off thy ornaments from thee, that I may know what to do unto thee. And the children of Israel stripped themselves of their ornaments by the mount Horeb.

And Moses took the tabernacle, and pitched it without the camp, afar off from the camp, and called it the Tabernacle of the congregation. And it came to pass, that every one which sought the Lord went out unto the tabernacle of the congregation, which was without the camp." -- Exodus 33:5-7

Prayer before city counsel meetings has been relegated to the 'work session.' Here is where we are as a culture today. The presence of G-d has been removed to "outside the camp," and we must make the effort if we are to seek G-d for the welfare of our city.

The scripture says that Moses went out regularly to meet with G-d, "And the Lord spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend." -- Exodus 33:11a.

But then we learn a most interesting fact about Joshua: "but his servant Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, departed not out of the tabernacle." -- Exodus 33:11b. Here was a man who wanted to linger far beyond what was required in the presence of G-d.

Moses and Joshua remained in the presence of G-d and were shown the grace of G-d toward the people. Often people see the giving of the law and the sternness of G-d in the books of Moses, but miss the grace. Finding the grace requires a trip to the Tabernacle and time in G-d's presence.

The Law, given on Sinai, is the basis (like it or not) for the right governing of our society. The grace, it is not so easily written on tablets. One needs to seek it in communion with the One who is gracious.

We are blessed to have public servants like Andrea Oakes, who do so.

A Lighthouse on a Mountain

On Mount Greylock, a Monument Rises in the Mist


In the clouds hanging on Greylock, Massachusetts' highest mountain, stands a lighthouse...



"Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path." -- Psalm 119:105

Walking up the trail to the top of Greylock in November of 2000, I stepped into a cloud. The top of the mountain, unseen, was covered with a frosting of heavy ice. Inching upward, I came to this monument at the summit. A war memorial, but also an allusion to local author Herman Melville, who wrote Moby Dick. When the monument was first lit you could see it for seventy miles on a clear night.

Sinai 

After the miraculous deliverance from Egypt, the establishment of the Passover celebration and the inspiration of Bezaleel and Aholiab to build the Tabernacle, Moses went up into a cloud on Mount Sinai. There G-d gave the law that would be a light to thousands of generations to Moses, but the people couldn't see what was happening on the mountain. They Turned Away [click to read] and made themselves a god of metal. Unable to visualize what they didn't see, they subjected themselves to foolishness.

Golgotha

On a hill called Golgotha, the man who said: "I am the light of the world." -- John 9:5 slipped into death.  And the people stood beholding. "And the rulers also with them derided him, saying, He saved others; let him save himself." -- Luke 23:35 Surely they felt that this was not the Messiah they had hoped for. Dying between two criminals, His body placed in the dark tomb, He was gone from them. His followers hid themselves away, fearing they would be killed as well.

Zion

What happened on that mountain, though unseen, changed history. "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." -- Hebrews 11:1. We now know the rest of the story, so it is easy to forget the need to retell the stories of promise. Revelation 21 [click to read] takes us to yet another mountaintop: "And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and shewed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from G-d." -- Revelation 21:10 It is this unseen hope that must sustain us in the world we live in today.


...a war memorial and an allusion to author Herman Melville.

The Steeples of Staunton X

Spires and Symbols of Faith Around Our City


Cherryvale United Methodist Church on Cherry Hill Drive.


Calvary Assembly of God on Springhill Road.


Staunton Church of Christ on Churchville Avenue.


First Church of God on Shutterlee Mill Road.


Parkway Wesleyan Church on Springhill Road.


Saint Paul's United Methodist Church on Shutterlee Mill Road.

THYME Magazine

Citizen Journalism with a Better Flavor


Volume V, Issue XV

The Meaning of the Miraculous

For many Centuries man has acknowledged  the miraculous. This week the Jewish community celebrates their deliverance from Egypt and the beginning of their journey to the Promised Land. A dialogue set in a meals has all generations together consider the preservation of their people that could only be seen as a work of G-d. Previous generations always saw G-d, or some miraculous force as Creator. The Patriarchs saw Him as Provider and Deliverer! The relatively recent concept of Evolution (Charles Darwin in the Nineteenth Century) has created a philosophy of Naturalism that either outright rejects or quietly diminishes the Theistic explanation.

I once attended an Easter service at a large church in Richmond. The minister asserted that the Resurrection was not important! I don't remember anything else he said. I was astonished because Christ's Resurrection would seem to be a cornerstone of Christianity. Many voices today denounce Faith. They may not directly denounce it, but in the academy it is the subject of "open discourse" such as that experienced by Ryan Rotella at FAU [click to read]. Rotella was asked to leave a class. His "offense" was refusing to participate in an excercise where students were required to "stamp on Jesus." Dennis Prager [click to read] has more details. Though the school ultimately apologized to Rotella, it justified its so-called "open discourse" in doing so.

Running from the Resurrection

In fact, among many in academia today you are likely to hear some variation of the following: "There are other reasons why I consider Christianity to be an ill-chosen creed, such as the morals actually taught in the Bible, many of which are abhorrent to a compassionate and just man, or other details of its theology which run counter to observable facts." writes atheist Richard Carrier in introduction to his argument against Jesus' resurrection from the dead.

Here in his introduction, Carrier gives what I believe is his real reason for being uncomfortable with a physical resurrection. A G-d who can so control the laws of nature can ask 'unreasonable' things of us as well. A 'Compassionate and Just Man,' in Carrier's world can support abortion on demand because it is not 'abhorrent' to his viewpoint that abortion is a kind response to the needs of women with unplanned pregnancies. The beating heart of the unborn child need not be seen here as an 'observable fact.' Likewise, the 'restrictive' definition of marriage as a relationship defined by Scripture in specific terms may be viewed as archaic and discriminatory.If G-d didn't design it, He cannot write the specifications.

The elimination of Christianity as an authoritative source allows us to personalize moral decisions. In a culture that elevates self-actualization, this is virtue. It spares us the heavy lifting required to weigh moral absolutes with human frailty.

Jesus, meeting a Samaritan woman at a well, is a prime example of what I mean by this heavy lifting. Balancing compassion for the woman with his observation that she has not been a faithful wife, Jesus creates a constructive dialogue. He does not condemn her, nor does He overlook the complexity she has created in her relationships. He speaks truth and ultimately the dialogue that results sets her free. Here Absolute Love and Absolute Truth are in no way mutually exclusive. In the end her search for 'Living Water' trumps her desire to live as she pleases. [2.]

A G-d who can part the Red Sea, Create worlds and has power over death is pretty much to be respected. A G-d who changes human lives in intimate communion with his Creation is amazing.

Before Jesus appeared, the concept of Resurrection is found in Scripture. Sometimes it is very clear and other times it is a logical assumption consistent with the text.

Resurrection Foretold

"And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth. Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities. Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors." -- Isaiah 53:9-12

The famous Messianic text above talks of triumph after death. Other texts that may be seen as prophetic of Resurrection are: Genesis 3:15, Psalm 2:7, Psalm 16:9-11, Psalm 22:14-25, Psalm 30:29, Psalm 40:13, Psalm 110:1, Psalm 118:21-24, Hosea 5:15-6:3, Zechariah 12:10.

Resurrection Documented and Verified

"I know of no one fact in the history of mankind which is proved by better, fuller evidence of every sort, to the understanding of a fair inquirer, than the great sign which God hath given us that Christ died, and rose again from the dead." says Dr. Thomas Arnold, formerly Professor of History at Rugby and Oxford Universities. Simon Greenleaf, one of the most skilled legal minds ever produced in this nation, top authority on the question of what constitutes sound evidence, developer of the Harvard Law School, after a thorough evaluation of the four Gospel accounts from the point of view of their validity as objective testimonial evidence, concluded:

"It was therefore impossible that they could have persisted in affirming the truths they had narrated, had not Jesus actually risen from the dead, and had they not known this fact as certainly as they knew any other fact." [3.] Dr. Henry M. Morris PhD writes more on The Importance of the Resurrection [click to read]. His point is that the foundational truth of the Christian faith has plenty of evidence to support it.

A G-d who can part the Red Sea, Create worlds and has power over death is pretty much to be respected. A G-d who changes human lives in intimate communion with his Creation is amazing.


A Caterpillar becomes a butterfly. Nature itself suggests the possibility of miraculous transformation and new life! Rice Paper Butterfly, or Paper Kite Butterfly, Idea leuconoe.
Illustration © 2013, by Kristina Elaine Riley for HOPE Publications, Pvt. ltd.

The Steeples of Staunton IX

Spires and Symbols of Faith Around Our City


Promiseland Baptist Church on Maple Street.

"And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, See, I have called by name Bezaleel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah: And I have filled him with the spirit of God, in wisdom, and in understanding, and in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship, To devise cunning works, to work in gold, and in silver, and in brass, And in cutting of stones, to set them, and in carving of timber, to work in all manner of workmanship. And I, behold, I have given with him Aholiab, the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan: and in the hearts of all that are wise hearted I have put wisdom, that they may make all that I have commanded thee;" -- Exodus 31:1-6


Mount Salem Baptist Church on Stuart Street (Old Sanctuary).


Mount Salem Baptist Church on Stuart Street (New Sanctuary).