All three pieces of this BRAMBLES issue are about jigsaw puzzles: NEW BLOG ABOUT PEACE ISSUES TITLED “PEACEPUZZLE,” ABOUT JIGSAW PUZZLES…, and CREATE A JIGSAW PUZZLE PIECE (CHRISTMAS) ORNAMENT
NEW BLOG ABOUT PEACE ISSUES TITLED “PEACEPUZZLE”
A Beanery Writers Group member, Joe, has a passion for developing peace. As a member of the Unitarian Universalist Church in Ligonier, PA, he leads a small group of others who also have an interest in issues of peace.
His latest endeavor is a blog, which is designed to engage its readers in a dialogue on peace issues.
He presents the concept of approaching peace like one approaches a puzzle, starting the process somewhere, it matters not where, and finding (more…)
On April 24, 2005, I was privileged to attend the Myers Lecture at the Church of the Savior United Methodist Church in Cleveland Heights, Ohio (I happened to be in the community for my grandson’s birthday). The guest speaker was the Rev. Peter Storey, a renowned peace advocate and former Methodist bishop of South Africa. The following is taken from his notes, which he so graciously gave me.
This is the first of a three-part article. The second part will explain how peace after apartheid was accomplished. The third part will speak about the 2008 Lake Junaluska Peace Conference.
In 1990, South Africa’s new president spoke words that shook the world. As leader of the white, racist regime, he stated that he had come to realize that apartheid must end—Nelson Mandela must be freed, the black people must be free, and there must be a new democratic future for South Africa. It was a time for transition.
This happened in a country where the church role was divided. Prominently supporting the racist regime: the (more…)
—written by Monte:
One of my tenants said “It’s a small world,” after I related to her a few of our experiences on the New England trip. Later I thought to myself, “No! It’s a world in which God brings some real surprises to remind us that He is still in charge, that ‘Behind the dim unknown, standeth God within the shadow keeping watch above his own,’ as James Russell Lowell wrote in a familiar hymn.”
The surprising events—let me tell you a few of them, starting with the most amazing situation. A year ago Carolyn had sent out a note to the New England Conference of the United Methodist Church, letting them know I was available for guest or fill-in preaching during our vacation. Rev. Karen Munson, pastor of the Readfield: Torsey Memorial United Methodist Church in Readfield, Maine, responded, scheduling us on September 7 in this small community northwest of Augusta. At the beginning of worship, during a greeting time for the forty-five to fifty worshipers, I went down from the pulpit side and Karen descended from the lectern side. Soon she approached me. “You need to come over here and meet someone (more…)
—written by both Carolyn and Monte Holland
When considering child abuse from the Scriptural perspective there are some important questions. Below is an attempt to answer some of them.
First: Children must be MADE to OBEY (their parents), right?
Obedience IS important. Ephesians 6:1, 4 and Colossians 3:20-21 instruct children to be obedient. However, this directive does not stop there: it continues on (more…)
BRAMBLES 1-4 includes pieces titled WEATHER IS RELATIVE, YOU’RE TOO OLD TO DO WHAT…?, and LOST DREAMS
WEATHER IS RELATIVE
In mid-June the temperature was just under forty degrees. As I prepared a hot cup of tea, wrapped up in a cozy robe, and hunted for the book I am reading, I thought back to the time not long ago when forty degrees seemed such (more…)
Through the years, the logging industry has played a major role. Below are four scenerios, from the Peru-Brazilian border; Sullivan, Maine; the Penobscot Million lands in Hancock/Washington counties, Massachusetts (Maine) in the 1790s, and Maine’s unorganized territory in 2008.
SCENERIO 1
The amazing pictures were beamed around the globe: a handful of warriors from an ‘undiscovered tribe’ in the rainforest on the Brazilian-Peruvian border brandishing bows and arrows at the aircraft that photographed them. These photographs were published to make a political point, to perhaps (more…)
Eight years after purchasing our retirement home, and five years after moving in full time, I finally am doing some very belated “landscaping” work.
Lest you consider us slothful, we had done some outside work in previous years—two years ago my husband, Monte, and son, Nolan, removed big rocks in our woods, then made a path between (more…)
SUPPLIES
One 4 foot x 4 foot x four foot container
Pitchfork
Watering can or hose
INGREDIENTS
2-3 wheelbarrow loads of green stuff such as grass clippings, weeds, kitchen plant material
2-3 wheelbarrow loads of brown stuff, such as fall leaves, corn stalks, dead plants, chopped grasses
Water
DIRECTIONS: (more…)
According to an Atlanta Journal-Constitution newspaper article, “If coffee is the fuel of France, then the cafe may be the soul of France — a place to (more…)
TV talk shows often feature “reunion” experiences, usually between adopted children and their bio-parents, but sometimes between children of divorce and their “lost” parent. My experience is in the latter category.
My “excursion” only lasted two days. The bus left Butler, Pennsylvania late Friday afternoon, and left New Jersey to return to Butler late Sunday. But this two-day “vacation” enriched—and overwhelmed—my life more than I expected.
My parents divorced when I was very young. Unfortunately, all I knew about my father was that (more…)
