Great Art in Places of Worship

Choose to see Great Art in Places of Worship

Stained Glass ?   Religious Paintings ?  Sculptures? They have their place. Not all churches can have this kind of Art.

I see Artistic classics in the faces of the congregation. 

As a former pastor of rural and urban congregations the faces are what come back to my mind.  There they are – a panorama of real people.

The details of infancy, childhood, youth, young adults, mid age persons, older adults, the very old appear in those faces. Black, Brown, White, Yellow.

The Creator was and is the Artist

Learning to see a group of people as an artistic creation in motion, constantly changing, emotional, happy, grim faced, exhausted from work and worry, frightened by illness, serenely happy and contented.  Thinking of a picture of the people is and art itself taking discipline and practice.

Church worship as an art gallery is a matter of perspective. A habit of choosing to exalt people who are a composite of stories and dramas. 

Do not worry about God in this approach.

The Creator infuses every sacred gathering.

SENIOR LIVING OPTIONS

 

The is written to help fellow seniors to know about what will be coming. These issues will come to most of us unless death intrudes.

1 Stay in one’s own home. Stairways and property care demand attention.  Contract for services like cleaning and yard work.

2. Move to Independent Living in a retirement community where a single floor helps and most indoor and outdoor chores are usually provided. Rent will be necessary. Costs will vary. Many hospitals will have clinics with Care Coordinators and services intended to enable staying home at considerable cost savings compared to next options.

3. Assisted Living in a Retirement Community. There will be significant limitations to mobility and privacy.

4. Nursing Homes. High costs. Variable quality of life provision.

5. Memory Care Facility.  Quality varies significantly. Very High costs.

6. It helps to have an Elder Care Attorney and Financial Planner early in the process. 

Delton in my 89th year.   8-8-17   dkrueger@visi.com

DUST RETURNING TO DUST

 

This is you and me. At birth I was involved in many things and everyone in the vicinity was distracted. This little living creature seemed so fresh and new yet this is dust assembled as a baby. Some day at a grave side the words “Dust to Dust and Ashes to Ashes……” will be said by other creatures of dust. The dignity and grandness of it all is 

usually overcome by spasms of grief. 

 What a mystery is this drama. Why all the bother?   Here is one answer.

It is all a matter of prayer being defined as dust grasping for meaning. This upends many rigid religious rituals. I content that this “algorithm” gives prayer a new and vital energy. This drama takes religion on to the next evolutionary phase in the earth creation of meaning.

I contend that religious institutions are not ready for their demise in the face of the onrushing future. Why, may I ask, are these religions not giving priority to “religion for robots”? There is still time to get this act together. The train is just leaving the station and is beginning to pick up speed.  

No need to verbalize “let us pray”.  Our body minds have been at this praying all along but we got busy and tend to not notice.

These words make me uncomfortable. Yet, here they are and something tells me that it is okay to say them. 

Del