GRAFFITI

This past Thursday, I experienced a tough way to start the day.  Someone had spray painted (with dark blue spray paint) what appeared to be a gang graffiti design-logo on the front of our church building on the yellow brickwork.  I'd  say the "design" was approximately. 5 feet by 1 foot.

Granted, if there had been 8 such designs it would have been much harder and would have at least taken up my whole morning, so I AM thankful there was only one.  Someone also wrote "Jose" and a design in black felt tip pen on one of the lower windows.  The black felt tip pen came off very easily.

HAD the blue graffiti design been done on the PAINTED surface, it would have been MUCH easier to deal with.  In that case, I'd just open a can of paint, get a brush and paint it out.

In this case, I had to go to Monnick Supply and buy graffiti remover.  I also bought a heavy duty sponge and some paper towels, and I brought in a wire brush from home.

It took probably 45 min. of spraying and wiping and scrubbing to get rid of 98% of the blue paint.  If one looks REAL close, you certainly can see remnants and vestiges of it, but otherwise it's pretty well cleaned off.

When I arrived at the property on Thursday morning, I also discovered that one of the concrete parking barriers in the dirt, gravel lot had been moved and flipped over.  I had previously pulled a muscle in my back somehow.  SO, moving that concrete barrier back into place on Thursday morning was NOT easy!  I was afraid I'd hurt my back more, but thank God,  I did not.

So, Thursday was an "interesting" day.  I realize this may sound awful,  but some people are very angry about the potential "gentrification" of downtown Framingham, with people buying $400,000 condos, etc.  I welcome it.  I don't think too many owners of $400,000 condos will be coming by our church building spraying blue gang graffiti!

BLUE CHRISTMAS?

"In Rama was there a voice heard, lamentation, and weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, and would not be comforted, because they are not."  (Matthew 2:18)

That comes from a part of the Christmas story we don't like to talk about very much; that is, when King Herod the Great massacred all boys in the Bethlehem area age 2 and under.  He hoped to have killed the Baby Jesus, but Jesus, Mary, and Joseph had previously fled to Egypt.

There can be difficult and sad aspects to Christmas.  Yesterday morning I went to my pastors' prayer and fellowship group.  One guy commented that our people have the luxury of not really being ready for Christmas in their hearts.  They can come to a Christmas Eve service and sit back and be ministered to.  On the other hand, we HAVE to be spiritually ready; and it can be a great stress and a lot of pressure when you're conducting a service and you know you're just not ready.  Almost every pastor there said he's gone through the motions of conducting a Christmas Eve service and just not being ready.  One said that one year he was just not in a good place, and he ended up conducting a very depressing Christmas Eve service which someone commented to him about (critically) later on.

Of course, we've all had great Christmas Eve services, but this CAN be a tough time of the year.  On Christmas Day 1975, the car my father was driving (with my sister, my grandmother, and my great aunt as passengers) was plowed into by a drunk driver.  The elderly women were injured and taken to the hospital.  Christmas was "different" that year.  In 1986, my father was in the hospital, having suffered a stroke.  Yesterday at the pastor's group, one shared that his mother-in-law is expected to die at any moment.  One shared that there are major problems in his church and he may soon be out of a  job.  One pastor phoned in during the group saying that he had not made it to the group because his wife had been taken ill and hospitalized.

As Elvis Presley once pointed out, for some, Christmas can be a "blue Christmas".  Honestly, I had a not-so-good week last week, and I'm having a not-much-better week this week.  Two fine Christian families I know are going through terrible problems at this time.  But, one of the pastors at yesterday's group summed it up well, saying that we may have problems at Christmas and it may not be picture perfect but we can still rejoice because Jesus Christ is our Savior and we know we'll live eternally with Him.  That's true, and it does help put everything in perspective.

THIS MAY SOUND REALLY STUPID

“Let all things be done decently and in order.”  (I Corinthians 14:40)

At this time of the year, I know most people would expect me to write beautiful, inspirational, heavenly and poetic pieces about peace on earth- good will toward men.  Thus, this may sound really stupid, but I just want to give some of you a “heads up” about something, and just take it as sort of a Christmas present - or a “Christmas heads up” to you.

This is pertinent to Massachusetts drivers:  I’ve noticed many expired inspection stickers as I’ve walked around the streets and parking lots of Boston’s MetroWest suburbs.  Most people just don’t think about their car’s inspection stickers nor about their car’s registrations and license plate validations for that matter.  Many of you know that my Dad was a career Registry of Motor Vehicles employee, retiring as one of the Supervisors at the Registry’s Boston headquarters in 1982.  I grew up to notice inspection stickers, plates, and such.

Now, it WAS a lot easier in the 1950s and 1960s.  In those days, you changed sets of license plates every two years and the new plates were always a different color so it was pretty hard to have invalid plates on the car.  And, in those days, cars were mandated to have state inspection every Spring and Fall.  The stickers were very distinctive.  The shapes and colors were changed so that if you had an old, expired sticker, it literally stuck out like a sort thumb.

Today, state inspection is once a year, and it all depends on the big number in the middle of the sticker.  Plates pretty much stay on cars forever (although the state is seriously trying to phase out the old white plates with green lettering which date back to the 1970s).  The thing that validates the plate is that little sticker you attach to it.  Check yours.  Has it expired?  If so, you need to contact the Registry.
And, LOOK at your WINDSHIELD’S lower passenger side corner for the inspection sticker.  When does it expire?  I’ve seen stickers that expired a year or more ago.  People just never think of it.

Is driving around with an expired inspection sticker a big deal?  Well, years ago, it just meant you got a ticket, paid it, and had a state inspection done on your car.  My understanding is that the law has changed and that the longer the car’s inspection has been expired, the greater the fine is.  Has it been over a year?  You’d better plan to go to a finance company to take out a major loan if the cops write you up for it!  AND, that goes on your insurance policy as a surcharge for like SIX years!

I’ve actually left friendly little notes on the windshields of cars that have expired stickers.  It’s better for those drivers than getting tickets.  So check your cars, and check your friends’ and neighbors’ cars.  AND, if you’re reading this in another state, check out THAT STATE’S laws about license plate validation and state inspection.  It could also save you a lot of trouble!

SOME CHRISTMAS THOUGHTS

“And it was at Jerusalem the feast of the dedication, and it was winter.  And Jesus walked in the temple in Solomon’s porch.”  (John 10:22-23)

That line may seem as though it has nothing to do with Christmas.  In fact, it HAS NOTHING to do with Christmas.  If you’re really sharp, you’ll notice it’s talking about Hanukkah.  Jesus never celebrated Christmas- well unless you count LITERALLY when he was a baby in Bethlehem.   But it’s very unlikely that Jesus was born in late December.  Jesus, as a Jew, did celebrate Hanukkah at this time of the year.  Incidentally, with the exception of the “apocryphal” books of the Maccabees, there are no Old Testament references to Hanukkah, but there IS a New Testament reference to Hanukkah, and that’s it!

Christmas was not celebrated by the early Christians.  Now, there WAS a Roman holiday in late December.  It was a very festive holiday.  Many torches and lanterns were illuminated.  There was much drinking of “adult beverages” and much eating and celebrating.  The holiday was “Saturnalia” in honor of the Roman god Saturn.  Howie Carr of WRKO has said that he isn’t really sure what he believes about Jesus (although he’s a nominal Roman Catholic) but he says, “This is such a lousy time of the year, you just NEED a holiday!”  Well, in a sense, he has a point.  That was the reason the Romans had Saturnalia.  

When the Roman Empire had been largely “Christianized” in the 4th Century (most, like Howie Carr were Christians culturally but only a small percentage had a big, serious commitment to Jesus Christ- just like today) the institutional church changed “Saturnalia” to “Jesus’ birthday”.  People loved it.  They could still get drunk.  They could still “pig out”.  They could still light torches and lanterns.  They could give gifts... only now instead of being about Saturn, it would be about Jesus.  (The Christmas tree was German.  My understanding is that it didn’t become a “universal” custom until many centuries later.)

The early Puritans in Massachusetts Bay colony outlawed Christmas.  They called it “Romish Rags”.  In fact, “Christmas” means “Christ’s Mass” (from Roman Catholicism). My understanding is that Christmas wasn’t “REALLY BIG” in the U.S.A. until around the 1870s.  Sure it was celebrated, but it wasn’t close to what it is today.  I believe it was in the 1880s that Christmas became a federal holiday.  The poem “The Night Before Christmas” popularized most of the American Santa Claus (a derivation of “St. Nicholas”) mythology.

In a recent piece I talked about Christmas carols.  I do really like singing Christmas carols.  I do kind of like the lights and decorations.  As a kid, I LOVED the presents.  Like all kids I just LIVED for the presents!  It was in my 30s that I began to really dislike the materialistic side of Christmas.  On our small salaries, we found ourselves buying presents we just could not afford, but we didn’t want to offend family and friends.  My wife used to get really mad at me, because I’d calculate how we “did” for Christmas, and many years I concluded we “ran in the red”- meaning we took in far less than we’d spent.  The whole thing seemed wasteful and stupid to me.  

I will admit that the Christmas that jarred me OUT of hating Christmas to INSTEAD being much more neutral (and genuinely liking parts of it) was Christmas of 1998.  That year was very tough financially for us.  Honestly, we were having a “poor people’s Christmas” that year.  It was Christmas Eve.  We had come home from our Christmas Eve service and were dining on take-out Chinese food.  A late 1980s full-sized Chevrolet pulled up in front of our house.  A young guy dressed in a Santa Claus outfit rang our doorbell.   I opened it and he asked, “Is your name Bob?”  I replied that it was.  He handed me a bag full of presents.

“You must have the wrong house,” I said.  (I really thought he did!)  
“Nope,” he said, “I got the right house,” and he drove off.

There were no $1000 presents in there, but there WAS some good stuff.  I got razor blades and shaving cream.  No joke, I like that kind of stuff.  I also got a book about Gilligan’s Island by the guy who played the Professor!  I loved that book.  Did you know the pilot for Gilligan’s Island was filmed on November 22, 1963 (J.F.K. assassination day) in Honolulu, Hawaii?  Well, I didn't until I read that book!

We were all happy with our gifts and with being thought of.   I try to think of others at Christmas and I try to do things that make them happy.  As you can tell from this entry, though, I’m “all over the ballpark” in my feelings about Christmas.

And, as I said at the beginning, Jesus celebrated Hanukkah!  “What would Jesus do” about the Adam Sandler Hanukkah song?  Well, don’t freak out, but I think He’d laugh and enjoy it!

BIZARRE BILLY GRAHAM UPDATE (extra entry)

“Render therefore to all their dues: ... honour to whom honour.”  (from Romans 13:7)

Recently I posted a piece about a crazy story circulating on the internet saying Billy Graham recently led a victory marching through the streets of New Orleans- singing and marching like a man in his forties.  Sadly, the story is completely untrue.  Apparently it is meant to try to make fools of Billy Graham and his admirers.

I thought I’d heard it all until I tuned in to the “Imus in the Morning” radio program yesterday morning.  You might think that profane cowboy shock jock Don Imus would be mocking Billy Graham.  Far from it.  In fact, Imus greatly admires Billy Graham, and Charles McCord, the newsman on the Imus show is a born-again Christian.  Imus had a female journalist on the air who has broken a bizarre story about the Billy Graham organization.  I regret that I did not catch her name.  (I know, I know, I write about accuracy in media on this blog, but in fact I am trying to be accurate.)  The journalist is a personal friend of Billy and Ruth Graham.  She shared their sadness (“devastation” is more accurate) that the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association is constructing a bizarre tourist/amusement attraction just a short distance from their Charlotte headquarters.  The attraction will be a barn with a talking cow (well, obviously a fake talking cow!) and will be the location of the Graham’s future GRAVES.  Visitors will be admitted free, but at the end will be invited to sign onto the Graham organization’s mailing list.  The idea was cooked up by one of the Board members of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association who is also a wealthy developer.  He pretty much sold Graham’s son Franklin on the idea.  

Billy and Ruth Graham had planned to be buried either at “The Cove”, a study and retreat center in western North Carolina established by the Graham organization, or on their own family property in Montreat, NC.  Although rumors have circulated that Ruth Graham is experiencing some forms of confusion and dementia, the journalist soundly refuted that, stating that both Grahams are mentally very sharp and articulate.  She described Ruth Graham as crying and pleading, “Please don’t let them do this to us!”

I’ve been an admirer of Billy Graham for thirty-six years.  May the Graham organization give these dear elderly saints a Christmas present and dump this incredibly stupid idea!

CHRISTMAS CAROLS

“For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given:  and the government shall be upon his shoulder:  and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Price of Peace.” (Isaiah 9:6)

I’ve mentioned previously that I have mixed feelings about Christmas.  (I hope to write about that sometime within the next couple of weeks.)
While there are a number of things about the Christmas holiday that I don’t like, there area a number of things about the Christmas holiday that I do like.  One of my favorites is singing Christmas carols.

The Rev. Mindi Welton-Mitchell and her congregation at First Baptist Church of Framingham (the old-fashioned white steepled church in the Framingham Centre area) came up with a wonderful idea for this year’s Christmas season.  It’s singing Christmas carols at the Framingham train station for the commuters as they get off the train to return home.  The caroling will be done on two Thursday evenings, December 14 and December 21.   The First Baptist folks opened this up to other churches who wanted to get involved and a few people from First Assembly of God of Framingham, along with some folks from four or five other churches are going to be joining them.

If you’re going to be around the downtown Framingham area anytime between around 5:20 and around 6:30 on Thursday evening, December 14 or Thursday evening, December 21, please drop by and enjoy the singing.  The carols certainly remind us (as the late Dr. Seuss did) that “Christmas  doesn’t come from a store” and that Christmas is “a little bit more” (actually a LOT more)!

IT DOESN'T GET ANY BETTER (extra entry)

“...be instant in season, out of season;...” (from 2 Timothy 4:2)

You snow lovers are going to want to kill me, but I’m so excited after yesterday, that I just had to post this special piece!  Why am I excited?  I mowed my lawn yesterday!  Now, if I lived in Pensacola, Florida, I’m sure that mowing a lawn on December 12 would be no big deal.  For me, it was a very big deal.  My previous record for the latest in the season to mow the lawn was December 2, 2001, which also happened to have a record breaking temperature of 72 degrees.

Back in the pre-1997 days, I’d usually try to make the last day I cut the lawn on (or around) November 11.  Some years cold and snow would beat me to it, and my last mowing would be as early as October 14.  The year Mary Ann and I were newlyweds (1982) I remember a big Sunday snowstorm in early December.  For a minister, a Sunday snowstorm is a bummer.  I remember being up early shoveling and shoveling.  One of my first years in Framingham, there was a significant snowstorm on November 11.  One year in the early ‘90s (maybe 1992) there was a major blizzard on Thanksgiving Day.  I shoveled a lot and ate a lot of turkey.

I’m no leftist ecological nut.  Most of you know I’m a Republican and I lean to the right on many issues.  But global warming is real. Now, WHY it’s happening IS debatable.  Some scientists say Mars is warming at about the same rate as earth. If that is true, then the sun is throwing off a little more heat for some reason.  Our greenhouse gasses MAY only be responsible for about 4% of global warming, and the rest may just be nature.  I realize that in a long-term, ecological sense, global warming is probably bad.  But, as a guy who very much dislikes ice and snow, I’m really happy!

You may think I’m the type who likes the temperature to be 99 with blistering sunshine and high humidity.  I don’t.  Well, honestly, if I’m on vacation at Cape Cod and at the beach, then I DO like that kind of weather, but normally I don’t.  I don’t like extremes of weather.  That’s why my favorite seasons are spring and fall.  To me, an ideal day is sunny with a high of 68 and a low of 48.  (In my ideal world, about every 6th day would be a rainy one just to keep everything green and clean, but otherwise, I’d want sunny and in the 60s.)

Yesterday was not like December 12.   Temperature-wise, it was much more like you’d expect October 12 to be, and that’s fine with me.

When I was in Bible College in Springfield, Missouri in the late 1970s, yesterday’s Boston area weather was what the Missouri weather in late November and early December was like.  Ironically, they’ve already had at least one ice storm and at least one major snowstorm.  My understanding is that even THAT is a sign of global warming.

I know people want it to look Christmassy, and it really DOESN’T.  I know people want it to FEEL Christmassy, and it really DOESN’T.  But, as far as I’m concerned:  sunny and 48 degrees and mowing the lawn on December 12?  It doesn’t get much better than that!