The UmBlog

Today, we are celebrating the successful completion of twelve years of schooling by Miss Elena Umland. She has had the privilege of enjoying most of her education tutored mostly by her mother. Her education fit her well, as she drew most of it's lessons from literature. She was born to reading parents, educated in a literary curriculum, yet still finds pleasure in books. But she's not just a bookworm. She's an artist as well. She dances. She plays two instruments. She sings. She acts. She pursues the creative life, seeking to contribute to the world's beauty. Yet, there's this deep, deep well inside her that has only just been tapped. She was born a mature soul. Before she was even a year old, Elena could give a "thousand yard stare." Sixteen years ago our friends at church would come up to us and try to get a baby fix, but Elena would not play their game. Tickles from strangers? "No thank you," her stare would say. If she wasn't into you...

The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) revealed today their majority opinion on the federal Defense of Marriage Act , signed by President Clinton in 1996. In particular, section 3 of the act prevented homosexual spouses from receiving federal marriage benefits. The SCOTUS found this section violated the 5th Amendment 's Due Process clause , which made the law unconstitutional. I support the effect, although I don't understand the legal methodology, see the court's opinion in PDF . I support this ruling because I'm proudest of my country when it helps minorities. I'm also terribly ashamed of it when it hurts minorities, see yesterday's ruling on the Voting Rights Act . I believe, and I used to believe differently about this, that wanting my gay neighbors, friends, and co-workers to be treated fairly under the rule of law, to not have any fewer benefits than I do for no crime on their part, aligns with Jesus' Golden Rule . Treating others the way...

Sometimes, when I drive to work, that familiar route is driven by my subconscious auto-pilot and I'm not even aware of the scenery. It's as if I teleported from my house. The same thing happens to those of us who use the Lord's Prayer or the Apostles Creed regularly. These are gifts to aid us in worship, to get us from earth to heaven, but the familiarity with them actually hinders their utility. Father Dwight Longenecker invites us to look at the scenery in the Apostles Creed behind every phrase. The tour guide makes the difference on the tour, and he is a rambunctious, hilarious docent who brings the creed to life. How can you not expect a fun ride from a guy who graduated from Bob Jones University then became an Anglican priest and is now a Roman Catholic priest . He knows how to make fun of himself and fellow believers and church while keeping all his love and devotion to God. I enjoyed his presentation of church history as it relates to one line of the creed, ...

When I was in high school in the late 1980's, I worried about Mutual Assured Destruction (M.A.D.). The commies in Reagan 's 2nd term were the bogeymen, and  our very real fear had to do with our proximity to a nuclear attack submarine base in Groton, Conn. I trace my fascination with Russia back to an elective class I took when I was a high school senior called Modern Russia. I keep coming back to this fascinating nation. It's history is full of horribleness. Stalin contribution to the horror is unmatched. His paranoid war against his own people, in pursuit of a utopian communist world, cost as many Russian lives as his war with Nazi Germany , 25 million each. It's this body count in World War 2 that has also attracted my attention. As I've read more World War 2 history, and as Russian archives have been opened to Western historians, my understanding with the war's center of gravity has shifted east. The Nazi Reich's defeat came on the Russian fron...

Pastor Martin is strong in being weak. This is good. His honesty in his weakness and God's goodness towards him, nevertheless, makes him an engaging author of Prototype: What Happens When You Discover You're More Like Jesus Than You Think?  He tells story of a Jesus who is awesome and who does awesome things through the people around him. He elevates everyone else in this book and not himself. He keeps pointing to others as examples of Jesus at work and points to himself only to show the wonder-working power of his savior. His perspective, and style, are seen in this quote, I feel like the guy from the old Hair Club for Men commercials: "I'm not just the president... I'm also a client." I'm not just the pastor, I'm a body under renovation. Because if God is saving anybody at Renovatus , He's saving me, and I have plenty to be saved from and even more to saved to . p. 186 The more honest he is about his oddities, the more normal he comes acr...

In light of yesterday's blog about stronger homes for stronger tornadoes, I've been thinking about two related issues. Issue one is the added cost for safety. Hurricane straps  make a difference , as would basements, or safe rooms . In an interview on NPR yesterday with the former mayor of Joplin, Missouri , Mike Woolston, he talked about the burden poorer people would bear if the building code was changed to require safe rooms. Joplin was severely damaged by a monster tornado two years ago. BLOCK: You mentioned rebuilding there in Joplin. And I wonder if - as people are rebuilding, do you find that they are building any differently? Are they making their homes any - possibly any safer than they were before, adding safe rooms or storm shelters ? WOOLSTON: I think quite a few people are adding safe rooms, and I think probably more of them at least talking about it. There was some effort moving forward shortly after the storm to have safe rooms required in all new const...

I like housing that is outside the norm, which could also be phrased, I like abnormal housing. Look at my Pinterest page to see all the alternatives that strike my fancy. Maybe they have a different shape, or a smaller size, or use a different building material. In New England, we have an abundance of stone houses. We "grow" as many rocks as we do trees up here. I like the solidity of stone. I like the solidity of timber framing as well. But stone is continuously solid, unlike the fame only of the timber. Growing up, I played in rock forts. I didn't build them, but in the woods around my childhood home, boulders that were dug up and out of the way of construction were shoved into the woods. They made a great fortress for childhood Johnny. Nowadays, I like rammed earth . It's solid, and beautiful. I also like the earth log wall . But I live in New England which gets pretty cold. Neither dirt nor stone have a great R-value. I like thermal mass, but research shows...