Bandits No More

Here’s a recent report from the UK:

Marriage is on the rocks in Britain, with the proportion of unmarried people set to exceed that of married people within 25 years as more men and women opt to live together without constraints, according to government statistics published this week.

The proportion of married men is expected to fall from 53 percent in 2003 to 42 percent in 2031, while the percentage of married women will decline from 50 percent to 40 percent, Britain’s Office for National Statistics predicted Thursday.

The “Population Trends” report predicted on the other hand that the number of unmarried couples living together will almost double from two million in 2003 to 3.8 million in 2031.

The projections are based on the recent steep fall in marriage rates for people aged under 30. As the older generation dies, a new generation of people who prefer living together to marriage will take their place.

My travels have not yet taken me to the UK, so I can’t speak from personal experience, but I have difficulty seeing these trends as being good for children – or even for those who for the sake of freedom (is that their reason?) eschew marriage.

Marriage is hard work. Raising children is hard work. Both require self-denial. Both require delayed gratification, often for years – sometimes forever. Both are still worth doing.

If we want to learn about faith, holiness, the bible, money, evangelism – and many other subjects – John Wesley is a great source. But when it comes to learning how to lead one’s family life, Wesley’s example is best taken as how not to do family life.

Here’s a post from Randy Hageman about some opportunities to help people recover from Hurricane Katrina:
Gateway Community Church (formerly Abundant Life UMC), in conjunction with Gloria Dei Lutheran Church (both Clear Lake area churches) have set up the C.O.R.E. (Christians Organized for Relief Efforts) Base Camp in Ocean Springs, Mississippi at St. Paul’s UMC. This camp is designed to be a staging area for volunteers wanting to help in the relief efforts along the Mississippi Gulf Coast following Hurricane Katrina. This camp is available to any church group, of any denominational affiliation, as well as community groups and other volunteers, who desire to serve in this area. C.O.R.E. Base Camp is working in conjunction with Jackson County relief efforts and other relief organizations.
 C.O.R.E. Base Camp can now accommodate 200+ volunteers at a time. The camp provides large air-conditioned tents, cots, meals, portable restroom facilities, showers and more to meet the physical needs of volunteers who will serve in weekend and week-long service projects. “This is not your ‘pup-tent’ operation,” said Mike Malkemes, camp director. “One of our tents is 4,000 square feet… with air conditioning!”
 At the present time there are over four hundred projects waiting for volunteers, with each project taking, on average, a couple of days for a team to complete. If you are interested in volunteering there, or taking a group there, go to www.katrina-relief.net and click on “Volunteer Information” on the right-hand side. In addition, the camp now has two phone numbers: (228) 875-3416 & (228) 875-3568. The website also offers additional information and pictures about the camp and its mission.
 Obviously there will be significant needs right here in our own conference in the Golden Triangle area. However, for those wishing to serve in Mississippi, or who are interested in serving right now before sites are open in the East Texas and SW Louisiana areas, C.O.R.E. is available.
Grace and Peace,
Randy Hageman
Gateway Community Church
760 Clear Lake City Blvd.
Houston, TX  77598
(713) 551-4800
www.gateway-community.org
www.welcometoyourjourney.com
www.katrina-relief.net

This just in from a friend who wanted to remain anonymous:

City officials of Houston have seen the errors of their ways during the recent hurricane evacuation and have improved the Houston Hurricane Evacuation Plan. Here is the newly developed Houston Hurricane Evacuation Plan:

• Cajuns use I-10 E to Lafayette
• Hispanics use I-10W to San Antonio
• Rednecks use 59N to East Texas
• Republicans fly Continental to Washington DC
• Yankees & Democrats use 45 S to Galveston
• Longhorns use 290 W to Austin
• Aggies use Loop 610

Steve has no been profiled at Locusts & Honey. Go check it out!

This is “Banned Books Week.”  Let’s all take a minute to celebrate that in the good ol’ US of A we don’t ban books!  Why, then, have a “Banned Books Week,” you ask?

In honor of freedom of the press and freedom of speech, the American Library Association wants to take this week to proclaim that there are people who complain about what books and videos are in their libraries.  To make the “Banned Books” list all that is required is that someone somewhere has questioned the placement of a book in a library.

We should realize as good Americans that the only persons qualified to choose which books are “in” and which books are not are the librarians.

Clearly censorship is alive and well, at least in my community.  Why, a quick spin on Amazon.com would reveal thousands of books our local librarians do not want us to read!

The librarians who are proudest of their own strategic censorship are the ones who shelve Books in Print. A quick perusal of this compared to their local card catalog or computer equivalent makes it clear our librarians are choosy, choosy, choosy.

So if you find a book that is in your local library and you don’t think it should be, or if you find an erotic thriller shelved in the children’s section and think it inappropriate, You better get an MLS degree before you say anything, otherwise you are BANNING BOOKS!

If ever you doubted God’s providence, surely you are a believer after the past week!

Less than one week after focusing worship on Jesus’ parable of the Talents and what it means to live in the Kingdom of God, we received an incredible opportunity to put it into practice.

I remember preaching that the Kingdom of God is here, on earth, but its appearance is dependent upon us, as citizens of the Kingdom, to make it visible. We made it visible, beginning last Thursday evening.

After what must have seemed an interminable drive out of the Houston area, over 50 people arrived at our Family Life Center for shelter. Before I returned that evening, you all had opened the building, set up sleeping arrangements, planned and organized meals, and already began to make that place feel more like home than anyone expected.

Many of you have expressed to me that you felt like you received more from stepping up and acting than you could have given to others. That is EXACTLY the point of living the Kingdom; of living in a relationship with God here and now.

All who opened their hearts to our guests quickly realized that we were blessed to be able to do so: not that we are so well off we should help others, but that as recipients of God’s grace, we cannot help but pass it on to others!

I asked in a Monday morning email: “How can we repay our guests, the evacuees, for what they have done for us?” I understand some of you may not have thought of the question this way. I encourage you to consider it too.

Elsewhere in this newsletter you will find one church member’s answer to this question. I received this reply within hours of sending out the email. I encourage you all to answer the question, from your heart. Please write, call, or email me with your answer!

Denmark has an offical state church (of the Lutheran variety). One of their leaders (a custodian) decided years ago that he thought reinarnation was part of Christianity so he started teaching it. The other leaders in the church (pastor, bishop, etc) decided this was inappropriate and excommunicated him, in essence saying, “Reincarnation is not only not a Christian doctrine, but it is a teaching that doesn’t fit within Christian doctrine.” Well, the custodian took his case to Caesar’s courts and was unexcommunicated.

The lesson? When you take Caesar’s money (12% of the national church’s budget comes from the Caesar), Caesar gets a say in what you do and what you can’t do. The Christian tradition might value truth and faithfulness fo Jesus, but Caesar puts a higher value on niceness, lack of conflict and profit.

I have been occupied hosting evacuees from south Houston since last Thursday night. I will have many thoughts about sbservations from my experiences, but for now, I’ll consider it enough to post these few paragraphs.

First United Methodist Church of McGregor received a great opportunity, to which we have responded, overall, marvelously. We have learned much, and will learn much moreover the coming weeks.

We were blessed to be able to offer shelter, meals, and friendship to over 50 people, many of whom were across a langauge barrier from most of us. Nevertheless, God is so good that we are all in agreement that we have been blessed ourselves in the opportunity.

First news on how UM churches have fared in Rita. Susan Buchanan, pastor at Mont Belvieu (east of Houston) has pictures up on the destruction at their church – they lost part of their roof. According to the Beaumont Examiner, FUMC Vidor has some damage (broken stained glass). More folks to pray for.