August 2011
August 28, 2011
Anybody remember the Psychic Friends Network, that 900-number outfit from the 1990’s one could call for friendly, sage, and prescient advice? At one time their infomercials, featuring Dionne Warwick, flooded late night cable channels. If you have not heard from them for awhile there is a reason. The Psychic Friends went bankrupt in 1998. Yes, it was a very sad thing. As their attorney ruefully remarked to the media at the time (I remember reading this), “They never saw it coming.” (Russell Saltzman)
August 24, 2011
Our new Sunday Evening Class begins October 2 at 5:30 PM. Our book this time is "Reaching Out Without Dumbing Down: A Theology of Worship for this Urgent Time" by Marva Dawn.
August 24, 2011
I've long had a horror of seeming to be a boastful person. I've gotten over it with regard to my children, about whom I'm happy to boast at the drop of a hat. (I'm practicing for hoped for grandchildren!) I wouldn't put this in print had not a church member seriously suggested it might be helpful. So, trepidatiously, here goes. I've been fat all my life. At least since adolescence. If you asked me when I was 20 if I wanted to go water-skiing or read a book, the book won every time. I like being sedentary. In my twenties I read that the average American male puts on a pound a year after age 20, and by golly, I did my part. By January of this year I was 238 with nothing on but my watch and my glasses! Last year my doc was telling me I was borderline diabetic and approaching cholesterol hell and had put me on three additional medicines in addition to my blood pressure medicine which I'd taken since I was 23. For 30 years I'd tried, haphazardly, a variety of dieting schemes and never could get the weight down. Every intake reduction left me hungry, distracted, shaky, and thinking about FOOD all the time. That was then.
In January, I read Eat This, Lose Weight, by Gary Taubes, in the Reader's Digest. It was like I felt something click in my head. Taubes is a science journalist, who also has two books on the topic, Why We Get Fat and What to Do About It, (2011) and Good calories, Bad Calories : Fats, Carbs, and the Controversial Science of Diet and Health (2007). In the article, Taubes suggested that the best way to permanently lose weight, was to cut as much carbohydrates out of your diet as possible.
As someone who used to eat a couple of large mixing bowls of popcorn for dinner, this was scary. But, and this is key: he said don't count calories, just eat whatever meat, fish, fat, eggs, green vegetables, nuts, and berries you want. Eat slowly, and stop when you're full. If you're not hungry at the next meal time, don't eat. Here's an excerpt from the article that really caught my attention:
Basically, Dr. Atkins got it right with the Atkins diet, although he didn't get all the science right…When I was first getting into this subject, I tried the Atkins diet as an experiment. It had never crossed my mind to do that- I associated it with quackery. But now I would go to a restaurant with friends, and they would get skinless chicken breast with green salad, and I would get a pepperoni and melted mozzarella cheese appetizer and a steak.
The weight just dropped off. If I walked down the street, it was like you could see the pounds lying behind me on the sidewalk. I eat eggs and bacon or sausage for breakfast every day. At lunch I might have three quarters of a pound of hamburger with cheese, no bun. Dinner is a pound of steak or half a roast chicken or the largest piece of fish I can buy, and vegetables.
You eat what you want until you're satiated-you just don't eat the things that will make you fat.
So, I tried it. Since January 28, I've lost 43 pounds and six inches in the waist and here's what I try to eat: Any meat (including bacon and kippered herring), scrambled eggs, lots of spring green mix salad (almost daily) with regular Ranch dressing (lots of fat, but no sugar) blueberries, (or blackberries or raspberries) and pecans, almonds or peanuts at lunch, any vegetables that don't have much starch.
Here's what I avoid: all soft drinks, any sugar in tea or coffee (I use half & half), all potatoes, all bread, all pasta, any flour products, all crackers, sugary sauces, all fruit juice, most fruit (except berries) all chips of any kind, all corn, all carrots, any root vegetables, all cookies, pie, cake, ice cream, you get the picture. I saw the doc last week and my glucose levels were 90 and my overall cholesterol was 132 and my A1C score was in the fives. If you drink, you gotta watch the "tonic" water, which has 22 grams of sugar in 8 oz. Beer has 12-20 grams as well in a 12 oz serving. My goal is to stay below 20 grams of carbohydrates a day every day, instead of the average 210 grams the average person eats.
I love what I eat, and I don't miss the sugar, much. The hardest thing was doing without it in my coffee, but even that craving has gone away. You know I work a desk job. I walk maybe twice or three times a week, maybe a mile or so. Nothing strenuous. I mow my own small yard. I do a (very) little gardening. I lift 25 lb hand weights a few times a week. That's it. We'll all see, this time next year, if it's sustainable. Read Taubes' article at this link: http://tinyurl.com/3ewa9yu . Both his books are at the Linebaugh Library.
August 24, 2011
AN INVITATION -- Joan Maples invites you
to attend a six-week Music Theory I class, 5:30-6:30 PM, beginning Sunday, October 2 and ending Sunday, November 6, 2011.
The six class sessions are designed to help participants develop greater ability in music reading, ear training, sight singing and better understanding of chord structures and music terminology. In addition, subject areas of special interest to class members will be explored.
Please let Joan know of your desire to participate in Music Theory I atTLMaples4@aol.com.
August 22, 2011
Our August First Sunday Luncheon was a great success and thanks to Shepherding Groups 1 & 2 for hosting. Next First Sunday Luncheon is October 2 with Groups 7 & 8 hosting. November 6 is 5 & 6, and December 4 is 3 & 4.
August 21, 2011
Hear ye! Hear ye!
August 13, 2011
The first and most important step in preparing a sermon is choosing and understanding the scripture text one will be preaching on. This specifically, how to interpret the Bible, is the majority of what a seminarian spends time on, in a variety of ways. For whether a Christian minister is a counselor, a community leader, a manager, or a "change agent," he or she is first and foremost a proclaimer of the gospel, and the gospel is the message of the Bible. In the December quarter of my Church School class, we will hear from a variety of business, government and education leaders about their work, like this summer's "You're the Expert!" series. But beginning September 4, the fall quarter of my Church School class will work together on a variety of Bible texts to learn together what the preacher most often does not know: How does the congregation hear and understand the Bible? The narrow, intense focus of the preacher in his study, poring over the Bible and its commentaries, can and should be supplemented by the broader, fresher, more varied perspective of the salesman, the retired officer, the realtor, as well. Together we will examine a series of texts from the four year lectionary I created years ago as a D.Min project, and begin the process that leads from the study to the pulpit, with a stop along the way in the Church School classroom. In September, we will study Nahum 3:1-9, I Corinthians 7:1-16, Psalm 6, and John 10:1-18. I encourage you to read these passages in advance. See ya there! smo
Class Texts
9/4 Nahum 3:1-9
9/11 I Corinthians 7:1-16
9/18 Psalm 6
9/25 John 10:1-18
10/2 2 Kings 6:15-23
10/9 2 Corinthians 1:23-2:17
10/16 John 11:47-57
10/23 Numbers 13:32 - 14:25
10/30 Galatians 3:1-22
11/6 John 14:8-24
11/13 Job 3:11-26
11/20 Psalm 39
11/27 John 16:25-33
August 1, 2011
The books that our Sunday night Book Class reads are usually books that I have already read and feel like would work well for that kind of study/discussion group. But recently I chose a book that I hadn't read completely but was intrigued by the title. I'm writing about it again because it just gets better with every chapter. I really want to encourage you to read it on your own even if you don't like to read or study. This book has something for you. The book is addressed to Christians who somehow feel less than adequate in one of a variety of ways. The title is "Good News for Anxious Christians: Ten Preactical Things you DON'T have to Do." It's by Phillip Cary and it is one of the best books I've read in years. Even more astounding, he's a philosophy professor who writes simply, clearly and sometimes humorously. Websites here, here, and here have reviews and this link is to the our church link to buy the book from Amazon.com. You'll be glad you did.