Marc's Musings

My friend Kate Armstrong Lee posted these new texting abbreviations to her Facebook profile. I’m not aware of any Boomers that might be able to use them. The Boomers I know seem so young, but…

New texting abbreviations for Baby Boomers…

ATD = at the doctor

BFF = best friend fell

BTW = bring the wheelchair

BYOT = bring your own teeth

FWIW = forgot where I was

GGPBL = gotta go, pacemaker battery low

GHA = got heartburn again

IMHO = is my hearing aid on?

LMDO = laughing my dentures out

OMMR = on my massage recliner

ROFLACGU = rolling on floor laughing and can’t get up

What would you add? Tell us in the comments!

By now you’ve heard of the guy who’s “proven” that the end of the world is happening tomorrow. I’d link to the website but I really don’t want to glorify them anymore.

Announcements like this awaken the sarcastic and (I think) witty person in me. I want to laugh and chide and share in the general mockery.

I could even use Scripture to mock these people. After all, Jesus clearly said no one would know when the return would happen (Matthew 24:36).

But I can’t. Like the restraining bolt on R2-D2, something is holding me back. Here’s are some thoughts on what that might be.

• People will be really hurt on Sunday

  When I was in college, some folks went to a church that “knew” Jesus’ return was going to be on a certain date. They earnestly believed it. Their whole faith in Jesus was invested in it.

  And it didn’t happen. I’m not sure these people ever got over it.

  I hate seeing people taken out like this. Jesus gets blamed for someone else’s…what do you call it? A lie? A misguided teaching? A heresy? Whatever it is, good, sincere people get hurt deeply.

• Crack pot announcements like this discredit the Gospel for years afterward

  As a follower of Jesus, I would that all would encounter Him. As I’ve grown in my faith, I have moved away from the “I have all the answers to the questions you’re not asking.” Instead, I want my life, actions, words, and deeds to be so different that is screams “This guy knows Jesus.” I think it’s St. Francis who’s credited with saying, “Preach the Gospel at all times. If necessary, use words.”

  We Christians already do enough to give Jesus a bad name. Crazy stuff like this is like proclaiming that bad PR through loudspeakers.

  Sometimes I think it would be better if we were taken out of the way so people could experience Jesus without having to go through us! But for some reason God keeps us here and still chooses to work

• There really will be an end…at some point

  Hebrew and Christian Scriptures both point to an end. A Day of Reckoning. The end of the world. “That Day.” Jesus even talks about it in the chapter I referred to above, Matthew 24. As a follower of Jesus, I believe this to be true.

  So, in theory, the world could end tomorrow. Or today. Or Monday. There’s just as much chance of it ending before I finish typing this sentence as it ending in another 1000 years.

  Having people publicly proclaim the end, however misguided, reminds me of one of the strong teachings of my faith. And that, like so much in Scripture, makes me a bit uncomfortable.

  It gets me thinking about my life, how I’ve lived it, if I’m doing all I can for God, loving Him with all that I am. Or not. Bracing stuff.

So I do snicker when I see signs like the one above on the streets of Portland. But not whole heartedly.

Perhaps I’ll play R.E.M.’s “It’s the end of the world as we know it” and pray for God to use even this for His glory.

This month’s meat pie was another of the Blokes Who Bake called Easy Peasy Pie.

And it was.

1 lb ground beef
1 lb ground pork
1 onion
1 cup mashed potato
1 cube chicken bullion
shredded cheddar cheese
pie crust pastry

This recipe called for the bottom crust to be baked at 350 F for about 10 minutes. Then I started cooking the onions in a skillet. Then threw in both meats. Once those looked done, I added the potato and crushed bullion cube.

All that went in the crust, top of crust went on, and the pie was baked for 25 minutes. Then came the cheddar cheese. YUM. Covered the pie all over with cheese and baked for another 10 minutes.

Very nice but next time I believe I’ll use all beef, not beef and pork.

Making mashed potatoes took more time than making the pie! So I decided to make some ginger nuts too. New Zealand recipes were well represented in our house today!

The meat pie was going so easily, I decided to make some ginger nuts too. I’d had some while in New Zealand last fall. Had to sort of gnaw on them.

These were very similar!

This Blokes Who Bake recipe required a lot of conversion from the metric system, so I was grateful for The Metric Kitchen.

Here’s how the recipe came out:

1/4 lb butter (1 stick)
1 1/4 C sugar
1 egg
1 T golden syrup
2 C flour (The recipe called for a bit more so I rounded the second cup)
1 tsp baking soda
4 tsp ginger

It was pretty easy. The butter and sugar get creamed with egg.

Not having “golden syrup,” I mix 2 teaspoons of light corn syrup and 1 teaspoon of molasses.

The rest get blended together. The dough is then rolled into balls and put on a cookie sheet.

They baked at 350F for 25 minutes.

Out of the oven they were nice and soft. And within minutes, they’d hardened to a hearty crunch. Very nice with one of my remaining Elf Warmer Christmas Ales!

The King James Version of the Bible turns 400 today.

Normally that wouldn’t have mattered to me. I don’t read the KJV. I associate it with the type of Christians that use lots of other adjectives on their church signs like “fundamentalist” and “blood bought” and (ironically) “independent.” I prefer a more immediately accessible translation like the TNIV.

But last month I heard a great story on the creation of the KJV translation on NPR. I hadn’t realized how much this translation had impacted our language and culture. The NPR story helped give me new appreciation for the KJV.

So I took notice when I learned that the folks at YouVersion, my favorite geeky Bible site and app, were planning a celebration. Their goal? To read the entire KJV of the Bible in 400 seconds!

They did this by dividing up the text among anyone who would sign up to read at the appointed time. They called it a sort of “digital flash mob.”

And sign up they did! According to the YouVersion folks, there were enough people to read the entire KJV eight times in 400 seconds! Here’s a map on where readers came from:

I was assigned Isaiah 64. Not only was it oddly fun to read the now archaic language oddly compelling, I even rediscovered the Hebraic roots of one of my favorite biblical passages like 1 Corinthians 2:9:

“No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him” (NIV)

Rather than just reading it, I chose to live stream it from my office using Bambuser. You can see my 2 minutes of reading here:

A fun way to spend part of my lunch hour.

If you want to learn more on the KJV, check out the story NPR did or click on this terrific infographic prepared by YouVersion (click on it to expand it):

Or you could just start reading it. Why not try reading Isaiah 64?

I’m so saddened by people saying God’s mad with them. And by churches telling people only about God’s anger.

I suppose churches do that because fear makes it easier to control people. But it’s not just the churches’ fault. When I pastored a church, I actually had people complain that I didn’t tell them how bad they were. They seriously complained.

God’s anger is a real part of the story. But for crying out loud, so is God’s love and mercy!

That’s what Easter is all about!

God is angry

I think of God’s anger at some level as being similar to the anger I feel as a parent when my kid’s disobey. I set rules for their own protection and well being. When they disobey, I need to punish them. But I don’t enjoy it.

So to with God…or so I imagine. God too set up rules. We broke them. In a big way. Our disobedience let in things like pain and sickness. Our disobedience let the works of the Enemy into this part of God’s creation. According to the story in the first chapters of Genesis, we even gave the Enemy some level of authority here.

God’s anger isn’t so much with us. It’s with the one who tricked us. Don’t hear me wrong. We are still culpable and our debt still needed to be paid. So in His love, He became one of us to pay the debt and free us for life again. Jesus said, “…I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

God’s not out to “get” us

If you needed any more proof that God isn’t out to “stick it to you,” check out John 21. If anyone let Jesus down, it was Peter. He denied Jesus three times, right at the hour of his deepest need.

In this chapter, Peter’s back at the fishing. I’d imagine he knew he’d blown it. He had every reason to believe that there was no way Jesus could use him after what he’d done.

But Jesus doesn’t blast him. Jesus restores him. Like drawing the venom out of a wound, Jesus draws Peter back to Himself.

Never beyond His reach

So enough with wallowing in self pity. Don’t let people put you down with threats of his anger. If you’re guilty of something, confess it. Let Jesus restore you. The Good News is He loves us. Extravagantly.

There’s a song by John Mark McMillan that says it so well. Here are some of the lyrics:

He is jealous for me,
Loves like a hurricane, I am a tree,
Bending beneath the weight of his wind and mercy.
When all of a sudden,
I am unaware of these afflictions eclipsed by glory,
And I realize just how beautiful You are,
And how great Your affections are for me…

We are His portion and He is our prize,
Drawn to redemption by the grace in His eyes,
If grace is an ocean, we’re all sinking.
So Heaven meets earth like a sloppy wet kiss,
And the heart turns violently inside of my chest,
I don’t have time to maintain these regrets,
When I think about, the way…

That He loves us,
Oh how He loves us,
Oh how He loves us,
Oh how He loves…

You can get the song for yourself on Amazon at: “How He Loves” [amazon affiliate link]. It’s an amazing reminder. A reminder of Truth.

Looking for a church to join in Holy Week services? Here is our schedule at Pleasant St. United Methodist Church. We’d love to have you join us!

Maundy Thursday, April 21

5:30 – 8:00 pm – Visit the interactive labyrinth.
A mixture of visuals, rituals, contemplative words and music will help guide personal reflection. You may also drop in to the sanctuary to view a PowerPoint presentation of Maundy Thursday related art.

Good Friday, April 22

7:00 pm – Good Friday Cantata in the sanctuary
The story of the last days of Jesus’ life as recorded in the Scriptures will be told through narration and anthems by the Youth and Senior Choirs.

Holy Saturday, April 23

9:00 am – Taize contemplative service in chapel
Through simple and repeated chant, scripture, and quiet contemplation, we create a community of shared silence, and rest into God’s reassuring love.

Easter Sunday, April 24

6:00 am – Ecumenical Sunrise Service on the steps of Colby College Library

Easter Sunday worship at 8:30 and 10:30 in the sanctuary
No Sunday school classes. Child-care will be provided at the 10:30 am service for children through 5 years old.

As I’ve been working on my goal of one meat pie a month, I’ve been getting to know the folks at our local butcher shop. Last month, I discovered one of them was from Great Britian. He was excited that I was making meat pies like he knew growing up. (Everyone else here thinks I’m making tourtière!)

He told me I had to make Cornish pasties!

Not only are they a comfort food for him, but they had a cool history. Apparently, miners needed a meal they could eat with their hands but were not sandwiches. And since they were so dirty and sooty, they had to be able to eat with only one hand. Thus, Cornish pasties were born. (For what it’s worth, he pronounced it “pah-stees”.)

These are exceedingly easy to make. I read as many recipes as I could from a simple Google search. (Alas, Blokes Who Bake didn’t have any recipes. Apparently Cornwall didn’t make it to the Kiwis.) But it was so simple, I created my own recipe.

1 lb ground pork
2 potatoes
1 onion

That was it.

I chopped the potatoes and onions and mixed them with the pork. My son put in some salt and pepper.

For the dough, I unrolled my trusty store bought pie crusts and cut 6 inch circles out of them. I was surprised to get 8! Spooned the filling in the circles, folded them over, sealed them, brushed with egg, cut a slit in the top, and popped them in the oven.

They baked at 425 for the first 10 minutes; then 350 for the remaining 35 minutes.

They were pretty yummy!

I knew we New Englanders were special. But I didn’t realize we could have our own yoga poses!

Today I continued my meat-pie-a-month commitment with a great pre-St. Patty’s day pie: Steak, Guinness, & Cheese. (January’s was a bacon & egg pie. February was a Beef & Onion pie.)

The recipe I used was on Epicurious.com and attributed to Jamie Oliver.

Beef brisket (1 inch pieces)
Store bought puff pastry
3 onions sliced
Sprig of rosemary
3 cloves of garlic; minced
1 tbsp butter
2 sticks celery – finely sliced
2 carrot sticks – peeled and sliced
Field mushrooms (portabella); as many as you like; sliced
1 can Guinness
1 heaping tbsp flour
Beef stock
2 handfuls of shredded white cheddar cheese
1 egg, beaten with a fork

When I went to my favorite butcher, Joseph’s Market, Danny recommended New York Sirloin rather than brisket. Apparently, they only sell brisket in 6 lb sections! (He also made me promise to try making Cornish pasties for one of my pies. He had them growing up and says they’re amazing!)

The recipe was sort of vague, so I got a couple pounds of meat. Everything was combined in a pot on the stove, one at a time. (I forgot the mushrooms, much to my family’s glee.) Oh yes, I also used Guinness Extra Stout. That’s how I roll.

Since this is a stew, I checked another cookbook and added oregano and Worcestershire Sauce. I also added garlic salt.

Then you bake the contents in the pot in an oven at 350 for a couple hours. Boy did the house smell good!

I sampled it about 90 minutes in and thought it a little bland. So I put some Lost in the Woods Hot Sauce to give it a little kick.

After the oven, you add a handful of cheese, pour the stew in a pie crust, and add another handful of cheese on top. Brush it with egg and bake it at 350 for 40-45 minutes.

It is delicious!!