My life is upgraded this holiday season; it is a time for cultivating an already good relationship with my five grandchildren. My desire and goal is to make the bond between us an ever growing one. An intimate connection with them will enrich their lives and mine.

On Sunday at church we sang “This little light of mine, I’m going to let it shine.” The lyrics and melody escorted me down Memory Lane. I learned that lively song in a Nazarene Church Sunday school. It was comforting to listen to this music again.

In my life of seventy-plus years, I remember men and women of faith who served as lights in my journey of faith. There were Jack Folson and Henry Meade, who picked me up on Sunday for religious education at the Central Church of the Nazarene. I credit their “light” for assisting me in spiritual pilgrimage as a youth. Through the “light” and inner glow of these influential lay leaders I was attracted to God. Through their patience, compassion and and devotion since I was 16 years old, I continue to sing “…everywhere I go, I’m going to let shine” as a testimonial to the development of my spiritual traits nurtured through wondrous grace.

Within the next fifteen years it’s likely that my “light” will be extinguished with my demise. I believe, though, that my grandchildren will memorialize me as a light that continues to exert an influence upon their behavior and values. My “light” is to pass on to them the values of faith, hope, trust, love and generosity.

My design and purposae is to enrich their lives and to be a source of comfort and stability in life and in death. Through my actions of living faith, I am shining my “light.”

This song from an African-American tradition still contributes to our spiritual development.

Prayer: “Thank you, Lord, for for the lights in our journey of faith. Help us, in turn, to be lights for others.”

Thought for the Day: Leave a light on for the grandchildren, friends and the community.

Hymn of Inspiration and Challenge: “This Little Light of Mine” – verse 3

“Building up a World, I’m going to let it shine…”

In my understanding of stewardship, I learned from my parents and my faith group to give a percentage of my income to helping organizations. I not only believe supporting selecting organizations, I make it my practice to support the St. Louis Zoo, St. Jude Research Medical Center, and World Vision. For some of these gifts I receive a tax deduction.

Perhaps, though, I should keep myself informed about the financial income of the charities and churches. The value of stewardship includes holding accountable organizations that are the beneficiaries of our largess. It came as a surprise the amount that some religious organizations acknowledge as an annual income. The following are faith-based organizations where huge income is impressive:

• James Dodson’s Focus on the Family raked in more than $156 million
• Alan Sears’ Alliance Defense Fund budget exceeded $31 million
• Tony Perkins’ Family Research Council brought in nearly $13 million
• Don Wilmond’s American Family Association took in $22.5 million
• Pat Robertson’s Broadcast Network amassed nearly $250 million

They are politically active and aggressively pursue their objectives. With significant resources resources they sponsor troubling initiatives across the United States. Contributions to them are legally diverted into political activism.

As citizens of the Kingdom of God, it is incumbent to keep informed on what happens to the dollars we donate to any faith group. Asking for information on salaries or other expenditures makes us more responsible in our Stewardship. It is okay to ask any organization “where are my (donated) dollars going?”

A few words about uplifting literature: In my spiritual pilgrimage I am discovering my faith rekindled through reading newspapers, magazines, books (fiction and non-fiction), and The Upper Room, a daily devotional guide published by the United Methodist Church.

Today, through prayer and thought the conclusion of the Upper Room devotional energized and encouraged my faith in our Lord.

The prayer is as follows:

“All caring God, we rejoice in being your children. Help us to feel your comfort, your love, your joy, your peace, and above all, your presence.  Amen.”

The thought for the day, inspired by Psalm 139:1-12, is: “God’s presence is a glorious and comforting gift.”

These spiritual nuggets were written by a Tennessee resident.

Our reading is one source for making ourselves sensitive to the spiritual resources available to us daily. Share with fellow believers a devotional that inspired you during the past week. send it to .

Here is the text of Psalm 139:1-12:

1. O LORD, you have searched me and you know me.
2. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar.
3. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways.
4. Before a word is on my tongue; you know it completely, O LORD.
5. You hem me in—behind and before; you have laid your hand upon me.
6. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain.
7. Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?
8. If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, [a] you are there.
9. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea,
10. Even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.
11. If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,”
12. even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you.

We are befuddled and and disciplining ourselves on expenditures. We diligently search for ways to reduce our travel. My daughter in Reno is resolved to not use her car one day a week. As we evaluate our financial flight we have a discoerted feeling that this financial problem is not short term, it will not be over in a few months. Our financial nosedive and free fall won’t be over for a year or two. Maybe.

There is uncertainty about our family finances. As grandparents, the saving for the education of our wonderful grandchildren will diminish as we redirect that part of our budget to survive and meet our personal needs for the basics of life.

Our neighborsare “caught in the undertow of the mortgage crisis or personal debt, losing homes and cars and more.” Others are working hard but getting poorer. There are no quick fixws for our current financial woes.

How shall we live in such a financial turmoil? Simple pieties that faith in Jesus will make everything better isn’t the answer to our woes. However, our faith, whether Christian, Jew, Muslim of any other, is a strength in this struggle. Our baptism, whether as an infant or as a believer, continues to assure us that our spiritual commitment is significant in trying times such as the financial anxiety now terrorizing us.

Our faith reassures us that we aren’t held captive by Wall Street, by oil prices or mortgage rates. Our challenge is to translate and integrate our freedom into daily living and long-term planning in these tumultuous days.

Even in this troublesome period, as God’s children, be that Christian, Jew, Moslem, Hindu, Unitarian and even our neighbors who make no religious profession, a word of praise, a generous spirit and grateful heart will benefit us with endurance, perseverance and vitality. In this worrisome, stressful, taxing and tormenting time, there are spiritual resources within to benefit us and to hold us up.

Continuing to practice the principles of saving, investing, and giving is an expression of our freedom and demonstrates that we will not be shackled from doing good by this alarming economic downturn.

It’s not too dramatic to say that prayer and fasting are often called for in a crisis, “but also vital are honest conversations with family and friends, sharing of ideas, and mutual care.” Thoughtful spiritual communion helps and supports us materially and mentally when financial hardship strikes and sinks its fangs of pain into our dreams.

We are infused inspiration and encouraged with strength and wisdom as we continue to perform spiritual principles of sharing, saving, and spending, no matter how difficult the present time. I still find power in the these ancient words of consolation: “A time to gain, and a time to lose.” ((Ecc 3.6) and “To everything there is a season.” (Ecc 3.1)

In these days, when our enthusiasm and financial gains over the years are being depleted, we can still, with God, live with hope. With determination, discipline and sacrifice we can make this epoch one of spiritual growth.

For three years, I received medical attention from the Clarksville clinic; they were always professional and I was always left with an appreciation of their services. By following their medical advice, my injury from Vietnam and duty in Germany continued to improve.

The VA is also focused on the spiritual welfare of its patients. At the VA Medical Center, Chaplains are on staff and space is dedicated to serve as “chapels.”

The Department of Veteran Affairs requires that their chapels be open to all faiths. This policy is similar to the guidelines in the use of Army Chapels, too. In the Army, the chapel’s religious symbols such as the Cross aren’t afixed to the building as a permanent attachment unless the symbol could be covered when the chapel wasn’t being used for worship. In the Army, a chapel could be and often is another facility for all faiths including Christian.

When a retired chaplain and VA officials removed Christian symbols from the chapel, Rev. Barrington, a Baptist minister, protested the action and insisted that non-Christians should find another room for worship, prayer and meditation.

Again, VA and military chapels are expected to be open to the members of all faiths. Religious symbols, such as the cross, may be displayed during Christian worship but are not to be displayed permanently.

The mission of the VA is to make its chapels available to veterans of all faiths to worship while remaining free from proselytization.

As Christians, let’s appreciate the neutrality of the VA chapels and respect all faiths, which means providing a practical means for them to worship as they choose.

Resthaven Cemetery

On a Sunday, my 13-year-old grandson and I were on our way to the Unitarian Universalist Church to refresh ourselves spiritually. Since we were early, we detoured to the Resthaven Cemetery on the way. As we walked solemnly and respectfully among the final resting places of hundreds of people, I discussed with him death. After sharing with him about cremation, my select means of disposing of my body, and the traditional burial six feet under the sod, he turned to me and said “Papa, I’ll come to visit your burial place if you have one.” On that Sunday, I experienced a deeper intimacy with my grandson, Brett.

As a veteran, I have a death benefit. If I choose, my survivors could request a military funeral with a flag, firing of the volley, playing of TAPS, a Chaplain from Fort Campbell to say a few meaningful words, and a single gravestone marker. I can be buried at the new Kentucky Veterans Cemetery. These benefits are available even with the increasingly popular cremation. Every American veteran deserves such benefits, especially those killed in action.

Recently in the Church and State newsletter, I read a story of Sgt. Patrick Stewart, killed in the war, whose family was denied the privilege of full military honors. In Missouri, we use the metaphor “that causes my blood to boil” to express our outrage, anger, and righteous indignation.

What disqualified Sgt. Stewart and his family for this benefit? This is the inside story:

“…Sgt. Patrick Stewart was killed in combat in September of 2005 when his helicopter was shot down. The Department of veterans Affairs refused to put a pentacle, the symbol of Stewart’s Wiccan faith, on his memorial marker. Roberta Stewart (his wife) sued. to settle the case, officials in the department greed to add the pentacle to its list of disapproved religious symbols.

“Patrick was my everything,” (Roberta) Stewart said in taped remarks. “I decided to fight because I decided that if I didn’t, I felt felt it made our love not as valid, and I wasn’t willing to accept that. Nor was I willing to accept discrimination. We took our vows underneath a pentacle, on our altar; the pentacle was a huge part of our lives. Every special moment in our life, there was a pentacle present. And there would be one on my husband’s headstone.”

“…(Roberta Stewart) regrets nothing about battling the federal government. She noted that president George Bush even called her to apologize after she was left out of a meeting with family members of deceased veterans.

“My husband was a military man…there was no way (he would forget) his brothers on the front line, his Pagan brothers, his Wiccan friends. I had to fight and continue to litigate.”

Discrimination does exist, although it’s done covertly. Through spiritual growth and especially fellowship with others of different denominations and major faiths, we can be aware of our religious prejudices and control and conquer such latent evil in us. The VA under pressure expanded their policy to include even unpopular religious so-called “sects.” VA benefits for all regardless of their faiths. Religious symbols on memorial markers are normally Christian and Jewish, but now, because of one wife’s insistence, the surviving families of all deceased veterans will have their requests granted, even when their faith is not on the “popular list.”

As I read this story, I gave a prayer of Thanksgiving for Americans United for their support of Roberta Stewart. AU accepted a member of our greater US Army family. The AU is dedicated to serving everyone, including the members of minority faiths.

Chaplain Joe Messing, of the Jewish faith, was one of my favorite Post Chaplains. At Fort Bliss, he was our religious leader and supervisor as Post Chaplain, attaining the rank of colonel or “full bird,” a rare achievement in the Army. He was fully qualified for both position and rank; many of us, during his sojourn, wished for him a promotion to General and selection of Chief of Chaplains.

My life was enriched through fellowship with Jewish active duty and retired soldiers. Having such a healthy relationship with them, I am disturbed by the discrimination against students in Texas who adhere to the Jewish faith.

In a story from Church and State News, I read that Plano, Texas, students were pressured by classmates to pick up copies of the New Testament and were taunted when they declined.

“The fuss started after Gideon’s International, an evangelical Christian group, used display tables in 12 Plano schools to offer free Bibles. The Dallas Morning News reported that the evangelism effort sparked interfaith tension.

“Probably the one I hear most was was ‘If the Bible touches you, like, will you burn or something?’ said 16-year-old Vines High School Sophomore Jeffrey Lavine.”

Lavine said he played down the comment as a joke, but noted that it was “meaner” than what he was accustomed to. School officials said a federal judge’s order on distribution of materials in schools meant he had to allow the Gideon’s access. Superintendent Doug Otto reported that a 1999 court ruling mandated equal treatment of outside information coming into the school.

“As long as some people have access to the distribution table, all people have access. That is the policy, and we’re trying our best to make people aware of it. We certainly don’t want people to think we endorse one religion over another.” — Supt. Doug Otto

Points to consider from this story are several and serve as a guide in relating to our friends who are of a different church or faith group. First, the school must avoid further controversy by having the Bible distribution off school property. Any well-meaning group has no privilege to distribute literature on school property. Second, the Americans United is for Bible distribution if done responsibly and not on public property. They have no fight with the distribution of the Bible, but do object to it taking place in a public school. Third, though in the minority, these Jewish students have rights to be protected. Fourth, the principal of the school should cancel any such program that creates this kind of dissension.

As citizens we will face periodic faith challenges as to the rights of minorities. our community is better when we request and even defend the rights of our Jewish citizens, and citizens of all faiths beyond our own.

“A model’s life is over at 21.” This television commercial is a commentary on the brevity of life and on how fleeting are the passages of life. Our young adult passage went by rapidly even though we have fond memories and a storage room of precious memories. At a glance back at that time, there was first the benefit of leaving home tp go to college, seminary and later, to volunteer for the Army. There was my courtship and marriage to Marilyn Page.

The benefits of life are to some degree within our control. Through a dedicated regimen of preventive and proactive care, we can very likely prolong our health and our lives. Through diligent attention, no matter the years, we increase our opportunities for a full life.

I have heard earnest people speak of every person having a time to die and speak of it as inevitable.How many times while maturing in faith have you heard that God has our number, meaning that there is a time and place for our demise steered by our Creator. To me this is a meager explanation of something we don’t understand. In recent years our understanding of this concept has changed. Wenow recognize that numbered days are determined by our personal choices.

Ten Tips for a Healthy Heart” [Consumer Reports 5.08] provides a litany of principles for extending our days and enriching our years. In this narrative I review two tips for a healthy life and heart. The fitness of our heart plays a decisive part in our longevity.

For a healthy heart and life, reduce the intake of bad [LDL] cholesterol-laden foods. In the Ozarks, we were raised on a weekly diet of fried chicken, including consuming that crispy skin. I vividly remember my father, raised on a farm and in poverty, stating: The skin is the best part of fried chicken.” Today we recognize the value of eating skinless chicken.

For a healthy heart and life, eliminate or reduce the intake of salt. In one passage of life, I salted food before tasting it. Now, since my by-pass, I have eliminated this seasoning. Now I am sensitive to the amount of sodium listed on the nutritional label posted on canned foods as well as what I use to seasoned home-prepared foods. I have been successful, by discipline in adhering to my goal of reducing my salt intake.

Other salient and decisive points contribute to our heart health and the span and length of life. Here are more Consumer Report suggestions:

• Lose the gut.
• Huff and pump [exercise]
• Calm down [de-stress your life]
• Drink alcoholic beverages in moderation
• Know your CRP number
• Know your body and listen to its messages

Successfully navigating the passages of life necessitates a frequent revision of our views on how to live healthy and successful lives in faith means periodic analysis and revision, amending and even fully changing our views physically , psychologically and spiritually.

I recommend reading Consumer Reports regularly. The health article, like many other in tis magazine, contains practical ideas for remain fit — and that keeps us fit spiritually.

AU is sometimes criticized for representing and supporting individuals whose constitutional rights are being violated. Their mission is to protect Christians, Muslims, Jews, Buddhist Americans and others from civil and religious leaders who restrict the rights of others based on religious belief or disbelief.

Recently the AU defied tradition in two South Carolina school districts where school were allowing religious proselytizing in their schools.

How the AU responded at the request of parents demonstrates their commitment and understanding that the Constitution applies to everyone. This story illustrates their mission in protecting the rights of children regarding proselytizing.

A baptist minister began with merit to help schoolchildren by supplying shoes to the most needy. Such a project up to this point is in keeping with the teachings of Jesus and other faith founders. That’s a positive action deserving of praise. Such a distribution is a holy and sacred act. It is sacrificial compassion.

So you may ask, where is the rub? What is there to object to since good is being done?

It is the second part of the project that precipitated this imbroglio. The good Baptist pushed the give-away with foot-washing rituals as an integral part of the give-way. Remember where this is occurring: on public school property. Christian rituals have meaning in our lives, and have appropriate places for such rituals to be conducted.

This “Laces of Love” program, sponsored by the First Baptist Church of North Augusta, had the addition of a religious ritual in a dollop and measure or evangelicalism/proselytizing.

The AU gave a positive and negative interpretation of this well-meaning project. Director Barry Lynn said:

“Providing poor children with new shoes is a worthy endeavor. But the manner in which the church is doing so is blatantly unconstitutional.”

The offending schools were informed that facilitating the program with the ancient ritual of foot-washing, or providing a list of needy children, hosting the foot-washing on school time was crossing and violating constitutional rights.

The result was that the school denied knowledge of the “foot-washing” ritual when the children received their shoes.

From this incident we learn several lessons on how to approach such issues:

1. Be kind to the person who reported this violation of religion separation or abuse in our schools.
2. Inform the school board or have an attorney report those abuses.
3. Just doing something good for the children is a sacred in itself. The imposition of religious ritual is unnecessary. The Spirit will bear witness to our acts of kindness.
4. Above all, the adage “there is a time and a place for everything” applies to religious rituals too.
5. We must be alert to respect our public schools in this matter of education. They do not need distractions or disruptions of the Constitutional rights of any citizen – child or adult.

I appreciate the Americans United and their wholesome contribution to our communities.

Editor’s Note: “… before Americans United issued its report, the local paper, the Augusta Chronicle, published several references to the practice. In a November 28th story previewing the giveaway, the Augusta Chronicle reported in a caption beneath the photo of Mark Owens (above), who leads the church’s “Laces 4 Love” project: “Before the Passover, Jesus washed the disciples’ feet. In two weeks, nearly 300 volunteers will follow his example and kneel before school children to wash their feet.” Other photos …published by the Chronicle also refer to and show foot-washing.” http://www.jewsonfirst.org

fasting is a sacrifice where a person voluntarily abstains from consuming food or drinking liquids. I grew up in an evangelical church environment that suggested and encouraged regular fasting as a means of spiritual growth.

As a teenager in St. Louis, I accepted the challenge of abstaining from one meal a week, a challenge for a 16-year-old boy with a typical appetite. For me, I purposely opted to abstain from the Friday school lunch. To heighten my appreciation for this weekly event, I retreated to a quiet place in the high school for an hour of meditation and reflection. This discipline became a spiritual growth hormone for me. This sacrifice aided my efforts to a good teen and to say no to the temptations of being a junior in high school.

Upon graduation, this act of discipline was so integrated into my spiritual nature that it continued in college. At Southern Nazarene University, I became a member of the Fasting and Prayer Fellowship meeting on Fridays, an hour of spiritual discipline. I elected the ritual voluntarily and found it to be a means of renewal and sometimes I benefited from a natural emotional high. The end result was resolve, persistence, and steadfastness to finish college and work with the Lord. I know the performance of this prescripted habit enabled me to capitalize on my spiritual resources.

Precipitating these thoughts on fasting was an article in The Upper Room [Mar-Apr 2008] describing how to make thebdiscipline even more profitable to our well-being.

The following is the verbatim experience of another person on an evangelical pilgrimage and how her fasting contributed to her enrichment. She received an epiphany on how to sacrifice even more than missing a meal:

“My 24 hours of fasting, solitude, introspection and prayer were finished. I was mentally and spiritually fulfilled but physically starved. It was time to break my fast. The food before me was one of my favorite meals, and as is my custom before eating, I said a prayer of thanks for this Bounty from God’s earth. Here was the food my body craved, now blessed and ready to be eaten. Yet I could not eat; something was missing. What was it?

“I could not define the problem for some time. Finally my mind focused , and the answer was right in front of me. What would I do with the money that I had not spent for food wile fasting? How would I spend it? What did God want me to do with it? I broke my fast by eating, and as my physical hunger subsided, I spotted a copy of The Upper Room.

“The answer was clear: take the money saved by fasting and send a subscription to The Upper Room to alleviate the spiritual hunger of someone in need of God’s guidance. This way my fast can help spread the word of God and send spiritual encouragement to someone.” — A. Brooks Drake

In college, I never had the money to donate, since I was living “on a shoestring” in my 20s. If you adopt this discipline and wish to donate to a worthy organization, the Loaves and Fishes will use that gift to feed the hungry and provide spiritual encouragement. For spiritual guidance, read The Upper Room, available at all United Methodist Churches.

I still find this advice helpful in my personal life and in my retirement. In this narrative, I have a recoomendation that you will or will not like.

I am recommending a book that may or may not be your “cup of tea,” a book you may not find agreeable. Eckhart Tolle’s A New Earth. It is currently a book of the month selection on Oprah Winfrey’s television show and may be purchased for the low price of $14 (plus tax). Before spending your hard -earned cash on it, remember I do not guarantee that ‘you will like it.” The very opposite is the expected outcome because of provocative insight into our personal lives and what makes us “tick” psychologically, physically and spiritually.

It contains modern interpretations of our dilemma as children of God. Though not exclusively a book on religion, it does provide epiphanies about spiritual experiences, challenges us to a mature faith and discovery of a serendipitous depth to our personal faith.

Reading a few chapters “may or may not” contribute to the development of your theology. A word of caution: Reading A New Earth can only be accomplished through an act of discipline and with pauses every three pages or so to meditate on what was read, It takes more time to read than a popular western such as the Zane Grey novels.

A few intriguing quotes from the book include:

“I assign myself the role of victim.”

“What is commonly called ‘falling in love” is in most cases an intensification of egoic wanting or needing…”

“In the modern world, more and more people are confused as to where they fit in, what their purpose is, and even who they are.”

“The greater part of most people’s thinking is involuntary, automatic and repetitive.”

A New Earth is the text for study/discovery group at the University United Methodist Church in Lincoln, Nebraska. This fellowship, meets for discussion, mediation, and spiritual renewal. If you are interested in forming such an interesting, soul enriching activity in Clarksville, e-mail a reply to me via my Clarksville Online e-mail listed below.

Read A New Earth; you may find it a stimulus to your understanding of faith. I am also interested in your opinions of Chapters 1 & 2.

Editor’s Note: The Oprah Winfrey Show is sponsoring a repeat of the ten week online course of A New Earth. Check out the website for details and registration. The book is available at local bookstores. The workbook pages for the Oprah program can be downloaded from the website.

The Root of All Evil?, by the Oxford University evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins, is his controversial documentary that complements his bestselling book The God Delusion. Dawkins presents his view of religion as a cultural virus that, like a computer virus, once downloaded into the software of society corrupts many of the programs it encounters. It isn’t hard to find examples to fit this view; one has only to read the dailies coming out of the Middle East to see its nefarious effects.

This documentary is available on DVD for $29.95 [ Click here to order] or click read more to find out more and watch a preview of this video for free online

Dawkins is so compelling in his on-camera narrative style in his cultured British accent, marshalling his facts, examples, and interviews so convincingly that when you reach the end you are compelled to answer Yes! to the rhetorical question posed in the documentary’s title.

Of course, religion is so pervasive around the world and throughout history that it is a two-edged sword that cuts both ways — a force for unspeakable evil as well as unmitigated good. It is Dawkins’ belief that because of the widespread availability of mass communications coupled to weapons of mass destruction, the evil outweighs the good and that it is time for humanity to grow beyond religion and toward a worldview of science and reason.

*Text on this page copied from Richard Dawkin’s web site for this video.