Tuesday, October 14, 2003

October 14, 2003


5:14 PM Sunday Schedule: Worship at 8, 9:15, 10:30, 11:45 AM … Billy Sunday presentation at Forest Home Cemetery in Forest Park, 1-4 PM … Game 2 of the World Series—Chicago Cubs at Boston Red Sox, 7 PM. 5:11 PM Andrew Irvin reports that we have 10 people scheduled to be baptized this Sunday AM. There is room in the 8 AM service for others to be baptized. If you would like to be baptized in the early service this Sunday, please contact Pastor Irvin at 708/386-3900 or send him an e-mail. 5:04 PM Special thanks to Jim Stuart for pointing out an excellent article in the University of Chicago magazine called “Healthy, Wealthy and Wed.” The author discusses recent research demonstrating “that marriage itself is good for your physical and mental health, good for your financial stability, good for your sex life, good for your kids–good for almost every aspect of what many Americans consider a happy life.” 1:53 PM George Will says the real controversy in the Episcopal Church isn’t about homosexuality. The true issue is the loss of biblical authority. Bill Murchison makes a similar point. Here’s an excerpt:

Anglican tolerance should be fabled everywhere, inasmuch as Anglicans never quit talking of it and of how openness, diversity, ambiguity and such are at the heart of how Anglicans do theology. (Anglicans don’t study theology; they “do” it.) With a certain kind of Anglican, anything goes — except, perhaps, orthodox Christianity. If you’re Anglican, you’re expected to claim the right to theological speculation, whether or not you run afoul of the creeds and the Scriptures.

11:34 AM Yesterday Nick helped me do some patching on our driveway. He did the resealing in August, and then I decided there were some bare spots—or something like that. So I held the bucket while Nick did the patching with this gooey black asphalt sealer. At the end, he said, “Dad, I’m not sure this was a good idea.” Marlene said the same thing later. Plus it rained last night before everything dried so my little home improvement project was not exactly a resounding success. 11:30 AM Taking Nick out to lunch, then he flies back to Samford this afternoon. I told Nick I would take him anywhere he wanted to go for lunch as long as it was to Lalo’s (the Mexican restaurant on Oak Park Avenue). He laughed at that. I wrote a few days ago about how good it is to have the family all together. With the boys mostly grown up now, I think of our family as a group of planets in orbit that come together for a brief conjunction in space, and then soar off on their own again. It was extra special to have Marlene’s Mom with us for a few days. She flew back to Phoenix yesterday, Mark went back to Moody on Saturday, Nick flies to Samford today. That leaves us back where we were—Marlene and me and Josh. Plus Dixie, of course. 9:23 AM Chuck Colson explains the importance of heterosexual marriage (a redundancy since there is no other kind of legitimate marriage) in his column Marriage and the Common Good. 9:19 AM Dennis Prager says the current culture war is really the Second American Civil War. Here’s an excerpt:

In general, however, the similarities are greater than the differences. Once again the North and the South are at odds (though many individuals on each side identify with the other). And once again, the fate of the nation hangs in the balance. The two sides’ values and visions of America are as incompatible as they were in the 1860s.

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