Reflections from J. Christy Ramsey, a Pastor serving in the Goodyear Heights neighborhood of Akron, Ohio

Reflections from J. Christy Ramsey, a Pastor serving in the Goodyear Heights neighborhood of Akron, Ohio http://www.christyramsey.com/blog/index.php Loving Knowing and Knowing Love http://www.christyramsey.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry120129-090000 I Corinthians 8:1-13

Worship is the divine intermission in humanity's drama. We can reconnect in love with others without worrying about the parts we are asked to play on the human created stage built in God's realm.

Knowledge Puffs Up but Love Builds Up

Pufferfish by Bruce Moravch, NOAA image

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Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.]]> Manger Moments http://www.christyramsey.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry111224-190000

How to find Manger Moments in the long Shepherd Months

by Christy Ramsey 2011 © Some Rights Reserved

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Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.]]> Family Gathering Survival Guide: Living As If... http://www.christyramsey.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry111211-090000 Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11
1 Thessalonians 5:16-24

What is your reason for celebrating Christmas? Every Christmas special is about the REAL reason for Christmas. Pastor Christy reveals why we have the biggest celebration of the year at the worst time of the year.

by Christy Ramsey 2011 © Some Rights Reserved

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Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.]]> 2011 Christmas Letter http://www.christyramsey.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry111208-222722 This year's Christmas Letter is in the form of a twitter page. It is being tweeted in December, one line an afternoon, by Bette Lynn's account, @twitwidow.

If you want the tweets in one batch, here it is in the format of the old style of a twitter page.

Includes photos on the second page of the PDF file. God is with us, with you and with all!

]]> God's Patience is Our Salvation http://www.christyramsey.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry111204-090000 2 Peter 3:8-15a

Every had an unanswered prayer? Pastor Christy explores the answer to the uberprayer: "God, When are you going to set everything right?"

The perfect answer to prayer is here this week.

by Tomasz1950 © Some Rights Reserved

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Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.]]> Paterno's Choice http://www.christyramsey.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry111113-090000 Joshua 24:1-3, 14-25

Scandal in the Penn State football program provided a illustration about choosing the way of the good old boys or the way of the Lord in this week's message.

Listen for the preacher telling the congregation that he has and will call the police on them. Surely a rare moment in preaching.

by Chris Pesotski © Some Rights Reserved

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Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.]]> You're Holding It Wrong http://www.christyramsey.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry111023-090000 Matthew 22:34-40

A quote attributed to the late Steve Jobs about the iPhone is the title of a message using Diana Butler Bass's illustration about payphones and cellphones and boxes that love comes it.

by yan-yin © Some Rights Reserved

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Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.]]> Binary or Not? http://www.christyramsey.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry111013-210000 The Space Between Always and Never

I fix computers to relax. They are like puzzles for me. Folks know this and bring me their computers to put back together.

The latest wounded beast was a laptop that had visited before. I had set it to ask, "Do You Want to Allow...?" before a user (or a virus!) made a change. The owner knew if the little Robot icon popped up, she needed to consider if she wanted to make this change, or if it was a rogue website or malicious software trying to worm its way into her system.

She brought me the beast because the robot urging reflection had been replaced by a flat out refusal! No options, no consideration allowed, just a no. She couldn't even change the time on her computer much less install a new program.

Click to double sizeLike most computer conundrums, a little change fixed the problem. However making the small change was involved. You see, it was easy to set the computer to NEVER allow changes and a simple matter to set it to ALWAYS allow changes...but to ask if changes were acceptable...that took some research.

Religion has the same dynamic. It is easier to set up a binary system, ALWAYS or NEVER with nothing in-between. In fact you can find folks who measure their righteousness by how many NEVERS and ALWAYS they can quote and strive to obey. I think some compare and trade DOS and DON'TS like they were spiritual power-up cards. (Even though such card games are often on NEVER lists.)

Setting our computer or ourselves to be mindful of what we are doing, is more difficult. Neither blindly going along with whatever a rogue person or program wants to do with us nor closing ourselves off to all possibilities of change (upgrade?) is a way of faith that involves a person's whole being: heart, soul, mind and strength.

Perhaps that is why Jesus popped up in history, not to restrict or permit, but to call us to consider...is this a change you will allow?

Considering Or Not

Then they sent to him some Pharisees and some Herodians to trap him in what he said. And they came and said to him, ‘Teacher, we know that you are sincere, and show deference to no one; for you do not regard people with partiality, but teach the way of God in accordance with truth. Is it lawful to pay taxes to the emperor, or not? Should we pay them, or should we not?’ But knowing their hypocrisy, he said to them, ‘Why are you putting me to the test? Bring me a denarius and let me see it.’ And they brought one. Then he said to them, ‘Whose head is this, and whose title?’ They answered, ‘The emperor’s.’ Jesus said to them, ‘Give to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s.’ And they were utterly amazed at him. - Mark 12:13-17

The New Revised Standard Version, copyright 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

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]]> Akron Roundtable EXTRA Prayer http://www.christyramsey.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry111004-115000 Akron Roundtable speaker was John R. Kasich Governor, State of Ohio, I use some thoughts from his recent book, Every Other Monday: Twenty Years of Live, Lunch, Faith, and Friendship in my prayer.

Here's a quote from the book (105-106) where John Kasich writes why he attends church:

I don't go looking for stimulation or uplift, even if they sometimes find me anyway....I go to honor HIm, and to worship Him. I go because it's a place of peace and quiet and solemnity, offering a glorious point of pause to the rest of the week.

Also in the book John Kasich talks about the time he led a reluctant congregation to sing the wrong song in worship, going so far as to stop the service and instruct them to "sing it like you mean it". Only later did he find out that reason they were singing half-heartedly was because it was not right song.

Here's my prayer:

Giver of Harmony, at times we suspect
you called the wrong hymn for us to sing
so we stumble and mumble through your song
hoping you'll take the hint and change your tune.

Help us to sing Your sweet song together,
leaving no one to sing solo, but in unison,
each helping the other create beauty for all your children
so that faith, hope and love will not only survive but thrive
now and forever, Amen.

I thank Katie Rennard, president of the Akron Roundtable board for asking me to pray before this Roundtable Extra.

Akron Roundtable is held at noon on the third Thursday of every month, Akron Roundtable is a non-partisan forum. Each event, held at the Quaker Station located at the Quaker Square Inn on the campus of The University of Akron, begins at 12:00 noon with the speaker’s address immediately followed by a question and answer session. Doors open for the event at 11:45 a.m. The event concludes at approximately 1:15 p.m. $20

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]]> Paying Kiwanis Dues http://www.christyramsey.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry110928-193000 I end my year as Kiwanis President this month. This is my farewell address at our annual dinner.

I started my year with statement that Kiwanians do service. After a year of personal and professional challenges, I am more convinced than when I started that the future of Kiwanis is the same as its past, in service. Kiwanis will grow only if it focuses on its mission rather than its membership and seeks to change the world, one community and one child at a time for the betterment of all.

When you peek behind the curtains of Kiwanis at a board meeting, one hidden scene you get to witness is the unveiling of the overdue dues report which lists all the members who haven’t paid their membership dues. The entertaining part of the ceremony is watching everyone check to see if their name graces the report. Board members, the most active of Kiwanians, don’t remember, for sure, if they have written their yearly membership dues check. We could probably charge the most active Kiwanians twice and they would gladly pay…there is a new club fundraiser!

You would be excused if as an outsider you got the impression from the seminars and speeches, contests and conventions that all Kiwanis talked and thought about was dues paying members. But, among the folks who value Kiwanis to give themselves to it, membership dues are the least important part of what Kiwanis means to them and to others, in fact, they are forgettable.

But we pay other dues. Laura Brelin paid her dues collecting and delivering school supplies to a 4th grade at Glover CLC, Howard Tolley and others signed in to read to children at Barber CLC in Goodyear Heights. Kevin Sherwood puts on his Santa Claus work uniform at Children’s Hospital where Kiwanis sang for children being helped with speech and hearing problems. Kara Hanzie squeezed in a Kiwanis shift between two company events to ring the bell for Salvation Army; Mark Fairhurst got his tool belt on and started a Gingerbread House for family fun at Lock 3 in partnership with the city; Jenny Deiss pushed her cleaning cart with others to work at our Boy Scout cabin at Camp Manitou, our board showered services on a family that rents from member Roberta Rininger, at the Boys and Girls Club for Kiwanis One day Olivia Wakeling organized us in helping children learn how money matters in the real world, Dan McClish grabbed a level and a hammer for a Habitat for Humanity build. Ginger Baylor, Bonnie Binns and the Aktion club punched in to launch Youth Baseball at Lock 3, I raced along our sponsored Akron Soap Box Derby racer: Adam Wade; and Bill Fesler packed lunches with the rest of the crew for Keep Akron Beautiful volunteers at the Akron Zoo.

These are what I remember doing, not writing a check, but paying dues to community & kids. No one got here without someone paying your dues. Teachers taught. Pastors prayed. Farmers fed. Soldiers bled. People helped you. A community encouraged you. A country protected you. Kiwanis is a way we can pay those dues, to those who built better communities, and built us into better adults. That is the dues I remember being paid by others for me, and I want not to forget to pay those dues to others, and Kiwanis is a good way to remember to pay our dues. In Kiwanis, people pay the dues for better communities and better kids.

Thanks to all Kiwanians that came to meetings, to Katie Rennard for our programs and always needed yet rarely welcomed reminders, for Laura Brelin for doing everything and more, for Jenny Deiss for coming to everything as long as there is coffee, for Mark Fairhurst's calm and efficient way of disaster management, for Phil Stauffer for taking minutes and shepherding the board elections, for Jennifer Eckhoff and Dan McClish for joining our club, and all the former presidents for their help and encouragement.

I have pledged my support and participation to Laura as she starts her year as President. She is responsible for most of our new service projects during my term and I am encouraged and excited to see what she does with us as we pay our dues to change the world for the better, one community and one child at a time next year.]]>