# 19, December 5, 2002.

Christmas Social Has Been Postponed to December 14.

Due to the probable residuals of snow and ice in the neighborhood of George and Carolyn Thomas, the Christmas Social has been postponed to Saturday, December 14, 2002. Hopefully the weather will be more suitable for a successful SSBSC party on that Saturday. As General Patton did at the Battle of the Bulge, those in command will order a weather prayer. Brother Bill Simpson had heard from some class members who had decided not to attend the party because of the effects of last night's snow/sleet/ice storm. After consultation with Carolyn Thomas, the decision was made to postpone the party. Hopefully all recipes will be just as tasty on December 14 and a good time can be had by all during this busy holiday season. Twenty-nine year old Shepsons are wise to be cautious. Directions to the Thomas Home appeared in last week's PHA and will be published again in next week's PHA. In order to know that everyone on the E-mail list has read this announcement before this Saturday night, please send an E-mail response to me (PH, E-mail address: Henry4FDR@aol.com). Those who do not respond by Saturday morning will be called regarding the postponement of the Christmas Social.

Two Confessed Sinners on Pulpit Committee

PH was relieved to hear from two confessed sinners. Both are on the Pulpit Committee and are SSBSC members. They will no doubt inspire a proper perspective in finding a new pastor. Ed Pruden wrote PH:

"PH may rest assured that at least one well qualified sinner has been elected to the Pulpit Committee!" Ed

About one hour after Ed wrote PH, Doris Curtis wrote PH the following:

"I can assure you there is indeed at least one sinner included . . . As Jim mentioned in his sermon yesterday morning, we (I) are caught between "have and have not." Between having the knowledge of my sin but not having the ability to be sinless or temptationless on my own. So, yes, I am the "at least one sinner" on the search committee. I'm proud to represent the Shepsons in this regard."

Not only are these two worthy sinners confessing, but also they are "qualified" and "proud" to represent the SSBSC on the Pulpit Committee. Thanks be to God.

Bell Ringing Set for Saturday, December 14, 2002

Sheila Marsh is leading an army of bell ringers for the Salvation Army. The schedule below consists of nine bell ringers and they could all use some help. Since our Christmas Social begins at 6 PM, perhaps some friends or offspring of class members might be able to ring the bell from 6 PM to 8 PM. Volunteers will be welcomed with gratefulness. This is a very worthy cause. Hopefully the SSBSC Dixie Chicks will go straight to the party after bell ringing and get warmed up.

The SSBSC will ring bells for the Salvation Army on Saturday, December 14th in front of the Ukrop's at the Village Shopping Center on Three Chopt Road. We will have responsibility for the kettle from 10 a.m. until 8 p.m. that evening. The schedule so far is:

10:00 - 12:00 - Don and Vonda (hear Don's stories and Vonda's lyrical songs)
12:00 - 2:00 - Ann James and Bob Shepherd (Ann and Bob will sing classical and bluegrass)
2:00 - 4:00 - Bill Simpson (Kermit the Frog or Miss Piggy may join him)
4:00 - 5:00 - Mary and Julian (Mary and Julian are very close to Mary and Joseph)
5:00 - 6:00 - Beth and Sue (come hear the SSBSC Dixie Chicks ring those bells)

Prayer Rounds

PH did receive an E-mail letter from Rick Mears last week and the letter was sent to the PHA E-mail list. However, PH will paste the letter below. The letter is well written and speaks for itself. It is encouraging to read that Rick is persevering. Rick writes:

"Henry and Class,

First of all, I apologize sincerely for the belatedness of this letter. It is inexcusable, and I am so sorry.

I would like to thank you and the class for your continued love and prayers over these last long months. The experience has been a terrible one for me, and it has meant so very much to me to know that there are sweet Christian friends, most of whom I have never even met, who care enough to keep me in their thoughts and prayers. I have received innumerable cards from class members, and most of the time, I have had to ask Linda who the individuals were who sent them. Additionally, the financial help that was sent was a wonderful and unexpected blessing, a tremendous help, and I do not have words to express my thanks. You dear folks have truly shown us the true spirit of Christian love, and I am grateful beyond measure. The comfort of your shared love has been wonderfully uplifting to me during this time.

I know Linda has kept you abreast of my condition and progress, so I will not repeat it now. I do feel like I am slowly improving, although there is still a long way to go, and there are still more issues to deal with.

Please express my gratitude to the class, and send them my sincere love and best wishes.

Thank you again!"

--- Rick Mears (Linda's husband)

PH has learned that Barbara Deer has a new pacemaker as if Donald is not pacemaker enough. Donald wrote:

"Barb had to have her Richmond pacemaker replaced by a new one this morning [Wednesday]. Everything went fine, but I am taking care of her now." PH wonders: with the energy problems that California had a year ago, hopefully a California pacemaker is equal to a Richmond pacemaker.

In addition to Rick and Linda, remember Terry Marsh's mother, Pam Proffitt's two friends, Barbara Deer, the Pulpit Committee, and those only known to you in your prayers.

Moyers Celebrate Thirteenth Anniversary

Doug and Janet Moyers will celebrate their thirteenth wedding anniversary on Monday, December 9. Let's see. Twenty-nine minus thirteen = sixteen. Thus, Doug and Janet married at age sixteen. Was this an elopement, double barreled affair, or a good ole fashioned teenage romance? Regardless, congratulations are in order. Maybe the hymn this Sunday should be, "Lo, How a Rose E'er Blooming."

Teacher Bob Will Begin at John 3:25, But PH Can Never Be Sure

Once again, John the Baptist will take the spotlight, but in doing so will try to convince the reader that he (John) is the friend of the bridegroom (Jesus) and is happy to willingly stand by as a friend of the bridegroom. Did John the Baptist really take a back seat or is this pronouncement an agenda or interpretation by the writer(s) of the Gospel of John? Teacher Bob will probably reach verse 36, which reads:

"Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever disobeys the Son will not have life, but will remain under God's punishment." (Donald Deer Good News Bible translation)

For PH, this is one of those hard sayings. The verse is rather clear. Believing in the Son means following the Son and that is not always an easy task, and is often a process involving "have and have not" and "in the meanwhile" as Pastor Jim emphasized in last Sunday's sermon.

Barbara Brown Taylor

Barbara Brown Taylor is an Episcopal priest (ordained -- not acceptable to the Baptist Faith and Message, but perhaps acceptable to God) and has been named by Baylor University as one of the twelve most effective preachers in the English-speaking world. In her lecture on "Famine" published in When God Is Silent, she writes:

"I met a man last summer - a preacher - who nursed his wife until her death, at fifty-something from cancer. When she stopped breathing, he said, the silence in the room destroyed all language for him. No words could get into him and none could get out. He resigned from his church. Months and months later, his voice is still raspy. "It makes you want to go to Dachau," he said. "You want to go to the place where there are no answers." He did not sound angry when he said that. He sounded like someone who had been scorched by the living God and who knew better than to try and talk about it.

Christian tradition knows others who, like him, have abandoned speech: the desert fathers and mothers, the Celtic monks of the Skelligs, the Trappists, Saint John of the Cross. We call it the via negativa, the negative way - not because it lacks positive virtues, but because it presumes nothing. Those who follow God down the negative way do not try to name or describe the living God. The true God is the God they cannot say. Any god they could say would be their own invention.

While this "disontology" is strenuous for people who believe in divine revelation, and especially in the revelation of the Word made flesh, it is borne out in the parts of our tradition that prohibit the saying of God's name or the seeing of God's face. Scripture teaches us that both of those are life-threatening activities that only a privileged few may attempt at divinely sanctioned moments, and even then in full knowledge that they risk their lives to do so.

In this way, silence becomes God's final defense against our idolatry. By limiting our speech, God gets some relief from our descriptive assaults. By hiding inside a veil of glory, God eludes our projections. God deflects our attempts at control by withdrawing into silence, knowing that nothing gets to us like the failure of speech. When we run out of words, then and perhaps only then can God be God. When we have eaten our own words until we are sick of them, when nothing we can tell ourselves makes a dent in our hunger, when we are prepared to surrender the very Word that brought us into being in hopes of hearing it spoken again - then, at last, we are ready to worship God."

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