To clasp the hands in prayer is the beginning of an uprising against the disorder of the world.  Karl Barth

Friends, These words from one of the greatest theologians need little explanation.  One of his great characteristics is his clarity.  The above says we are part of an uprising, we are warriors against the disorder of the world.  The disorder is in our minds and hearts -- a legacy of Adam's fall.  But the abyss of sin is all around us, a part of the landscape of the world.  In church, we find the outpost of order, the lovely landscape of the days to come, when Grace comes full circle and Hope abounds in the places of our abode.  Let us hear Barth's words and shout a resounding "Amen!" and continue the uprising.

Blessings,

Bill

A Prayer for the Journey

Dear Lord Jesus, The temptations to abandon our journey to your city are many. They would pull us aside from our chosen task. There are so many calls to action, so many interesting things to do. We walk steadily along a main road but there are meadows filled with interesting colors and fragrances; there are inns along the way that serve the soothing drafts of forgetfulness. Dear Lord Jesus, there is so much to distract us from the journey that it is difficult to maintain momentum toward your golden city. Help us not to lose our way. Help us not to retreat into forgetfulness. Help us not to forsake our call, our vows, words not lightly spoken. Keep us on the journey Dear Lord Jesus!

And we are wary of the road ahead. We know that there are brook-gladdened meadows ahead and mountains of wearisome height; that the road stretches on through the long afternoon, and passes away to the night. Yet we will not fear the future, but find faith to take the nearby steps, the future is yours, yours, Dear Lord Jesus. We ask for rest and strength. Rest that we may rise tomorrow, and strength to renew the journey. In your Name, Dear Lord, we answer your call and send back to you holy words you have given us for the journey…..Pray the Lord's Prayer.
from the Prayers of Bill Spencer

Blessings on your journey home,

Bill

An Advent Prayer of Thanks

Dear Lord Jesus, we try hard to focus upon your holy season of Advent, and look ahead to its culmination in the power-filled message of Christmas.  Sometimes we are uncertain how to feel.  The world we live in, with all its blessings, seems to try to create for us a perfect mood for a perfect world.  We are shown again and again in TV specials and advertisements a picture of happy faces, with many presents, and no problems in view.  We get pressured to buy into a view of your holy season that is very secular and very idealistic.  Then we hear of cancer in a friend, a relative has surgery, an accident takes the lives of young children, and that doesn't square with the picture we get of the great secular holiday included in the grand sweep of "season's greetings!"

Teach us again, Dear Lord Jesus, that you did not come in a palace, in a studio, in a concert hall, in a shopping mall, or in places of spectacle and power.  Teach us that you came to real people in the middle of real life.  It was a painful journey.  They lodged in a barn.  They placed their child in a feeding bin.  It was in the real world, to the real world, for the real world.  And for that we give great thanks.  We do not have to be perfect or young or wealthy or any of the secular images.  You have come to us where we are -- in the middle of aging and loss, in the midst of traffic and pressure, to us as we are, not to some dream world.  Thank you for loving us as we are.  Thank you for caring for the hungry and the lost, the hurting and the homeless.  Thank you for caring for the sick and the dying, and for us in our various places of journey between the hither and the farther shore.  Thank you  that you came into our lives.  Stay with us.  Hear our cries and our pleas.  Keep our loved ones and your loved ones in your circle of lambent love.  Hear us, Dear Lord Jesus, as we bow before you this day, remembering and so re-membering our lives and spirits, our realistic hopes and dreams. We sing in our hearts to you as we pray your prayer….(Pray the Lord's Prayer.) from Bill Spencer's prayers.

Blessings,

Bill

A Prayer for Thanksgiving .... 

Dear Lord Jesus, Yours is the Name above every name. At Your name all creatures -- winged creatures, swimming creatures, singing birds, beasts that walk on the earth, and your human creatures join in the dance of worship, standing on tip-toe before your throne. We breathe your spirit and with joyful voices give you praise. Yours is the glory and the power and the majesty forever and ever. To you we bring our deepest hopes. To you we send our requests for change in this your world. To you we cry for help and to you we smile in thanksgiving.

Dear Lord Jesus, the season of harvest is past. We sing, "All is safely gathered in, ere the winter storms begin. God our maker doth provide for our wants to be supplied. Come to God’s own temple come; raise the song of harvest home."  You have given us showers of blessing, gifts beyond our imagining. We can hardly grumble that you have not blessed us on this journey to the Promised Land. We are grateful and give you thanks for the blessings of harvest and home, of church and family, of food and clothing and shelter. Thankful for all your gifts, we ask for grateful hearts, to serve you faithfully all our days of this pilgrim journey.

Bless all your children this day. Help us to be blessings to the hungry, the poor, and the distressed. Send hope to the despairing and healing to the suffering. And hear every prayer. Rejoice every heart. We ask in your name, the Name above every name, and we pray this sacred prayer…  Pray the Lord's Prayer.

from the prayers of Willard Spencer

Angel's Song.

The bones of the ground would quake ever so slightly, the grass and leaves shiver, the hearts of the Saints would leap and sinners tremble at it's clarion call. Now it was silent. Held fast by disuse, lashed with the silk-silver of heedless spiders, the sound of the old bell had not echoed over the hills for times and half times, it would seem, an apocalypse ago.

Pity, to have so great a song to sing and no one to loose it . . . Angel's song wrapped human silence.

Are you singing your best song? Nay, not just "yours", for all good songs are but echoes of the one grand harmony. Does God's music sound clearly from your life and lips or is the song muted by disuse, lashed by the flimsiness of your own will and ways?

"Loose our best songs Father, on this land. Let the bones quake, the leaves shiver. May the hearts of the Saints rejoice and sinners tremble at its clarion call."

Light and Warmth,

Bill

The Frost

The Beauty of Frost.

Does the frost have a life of its own? Of course it has. A few years ago we lived in a house on a hill. On wood-fire mornings in October we would look out to see if the frost had come. First we would see it along the banks of the creek at the base of the hill. Then, day to day, the frost would edge up the hill until it peered in our window panes and crackled on the cold stone of the rock garden.

Frost has a beauty all its own. Have you seen the sparkle of street lights reflected on the gem stones of frost? Have you not traced (with your vision) the moonlit patterns of crystal on your window pane? Hunter's moon is frost's light.

The frost comes asking questions. What about the year? Has the passing brought you closer to the frost's creator? What about the winter? Are you prepared for the slackened light? The frozen breath? Have you a supply of wood? A hearth fire? A haven beyond soul chill?

The frost has a life of its own and brings, in its own time, beauty to behold and questions we should answer.

Blessings, Bill

An end for everything.

The sparrow returns to her nest. The sun sets in the west. The river flows to the sea. Not only does there seem to be an ordering, but an end, a point of completion. It is so with the flux and flow of inanimate nature. And even the animals live and die in their cycle...a completion, a true end. Shoot an arrow in the air and it will trace a course to it's proper end.

"So for us, O Lord...our true end, our completion. Reveal to us not only the ordering of our days, our daily toil and daily bread, but the end of the journey. We cannot find it by ourselves. And we only, of all Your creatures, resist and refuse our given goal.

"Bring us, Lord, our hearts and minds and spirits, before You, burdens left behind, doubts and fears aside. Bring us before You in utter astonishment and utter joy. There may we find the end and purpose appointed for us. Gather our restless hearts unto Thee, secure in Your love, safe in the shadow of Your wings, living our days before You, our highest end. Amen"

Blessings,

Bill

Hebrews 12:1-13

The stands of the athletic field are filled with witnesses. They are cheering the runners who compete in the race. Those in the stands have completed their race and now they encourage those who are still in the competition. You and I are the runners, still in the race of life. We are advised to throw off whatever attitude, evil, or habit that hinders our running. Lighten the load. Train for the race. Then onto the track and into the lane! Look for the goal! Look for the tape that marks the ending. Look unto Jesus, the author and finisher of the race of faith. The crowd roars. We look to the lap we are running. Let us run with patience the race given us, (which is not necessarily the one we choose), and run with joy, by faith, as did the Lord who was faithful even unto death. Think about him and do not grow weary of the journey.

Light and Warmth,

Bill

Living is a thing you do

now or never, 

which do you?

As eternity 

is reckoned,

there's a lifetime

in a second.

He that lets

the small things bind

him,

leaves the great 

undone behind him.

Grooks by Piet Hein

Friends, here are three of the over ten thousand grooks written during his lifetime.  He was a philosopher-poet, a mathematician, designer, and a world level scientist. During WW II he was a soldier of the Danish secret army that opposed the Nazi occupation. There are fine levels of thought and humor in the little poems.  Enjoy them.  Look for more on-line if you like.  

Blessings,

Bill

Savior, more than life to me, I am clinging, clinging, close to Thee;
Let Thy precious blood applied, Keep me ever, ever near Thy side.

Refrain
Every day, every hour, Let me feel Thy cleansing power; May Thy tender love to me Bind me closer, closer, Lord to Thee.

Through this changing world below, Lead me gently, gently as I go;
Trusting Thee, I cannot stray, I can never, never lose my way.

Friends, Wm. H. Doane wrote the tune first...  Then Frances Jane Crosby added the words. That was in 1875.  Doane was looking for a hymn focusing on 'every day and every hour.'  The blind poet gave him words that would last far beyond their lives .. They both died in 1915. 

Blessings,
Bill

Jeremiah 30:1-11
Chapters thirty and thirty one of Jeremiah have been called the "Little Book of Comfort." In these writings the Prophet looks beyond the suffering of the present time. Jeremiah wrote during the time just prior to the destruction of Jerusalem. His time of service spanned the days of destruction. It was a terrible time. There is a great lesson in the fact that these chapters are actually here. Jeremiah looked beyond the terrible days. His vision then reached out toward the day when the Messiah would come to ransom and redeem the people. Here is a view from the mountain top. In our troubled days we need to see things in a longer perspective. There will be other days. And the days to come are not just an automatic succession of days. The Lord will guide the days to come. Judah and Israel will be saved by the hand of the Almighty. God's words are, "So do not fear, O Jacob my servant...I will surely save you out of a far away place." The future is in God's hands.

-"You're so lazy."  "No, I'm not. I've been converting oxygen into... carbon dioxide all day."

-They say you need to listen to what your body is telling you. But mine just points and laughs.

-On the 90th day of Christmas, my true love said to me: You take Christmas too seriously.

-Now that I’m older, my memory is a mighty fortress. Nothing penetrates it.

-We have nothing to fear except fear itself and toddlers asking “Why?"

-You're annoying, but honestly, I've been annoyed by better.

-Beware of half truths... you may get the wrong half.

Friends, Just enjoy the humor... a smile is a kind of sunshine... be welcome on a cloudy day like we are having.

Blessings,

Bill

We have come from God, and inevitably the myths woven by us, though they contain error, will also reflect a splintered fragment of the true light, the eternal truth that is with God. Indeed only by myth-making, only by becoming 'sub-creator' and inventing stories, can Man aspire (in writing) to the state of perfection that he knew before the Fall. Our myths may be misguided, but they steer however shakily towards the true harbour, while materialistic 'progress' leads only to a yawning abyss and the Iron Crown of the power of evil.

J.R.R. Tolkien

Friends, The above quote tells us more about Tolkien than we usually read in the press releases .. e.g., about the movies. Tolkien was a great myth maker, but he was a philosopher, and he was a Christian.  In several writings he explains his own views of life and writing.  I commend them to you.  Read "Essays Presented to Charles Williams,"  a series of writings by Lewis, Tolkien, Sayers, Barfield, etc.  Also, the "Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien" is a treasure of thought. It is wonderful that in his Lord of the Rings writing, he has in mind the Light beyond all Lights.  There are many lines touching that thought.  Still think Tolkien and Lewis are the best writers of the century.  Hope you are enjoying this glorious weather.  --Warmth before the frost -- get your woolies ready. 

Blessings,

Bill

Jeremiah 17:12-14

Dust and water are the opposites pictured in these verses. Those people who turn away from the living God will be written in the dust. Did you ever draw pictures in the sand box? Ever write something in the dust of a road? Have you built little dams in the water running at the curb? Perhaps you have constructed sand castles at the waters edge. All of these are temporary things, things that do not last for longer than a day or a season. So it is with those who turn away from the Lord. They may make their mark on things for a time, but they are soon like the dust. A well watered land, on the other hand, will give sustained growth, will provide a place for evergreen plants. Olives will grow. Figs will grow. Dates will grow. The well watered life flourishes. The Lord is the spring of Living water. Did not Jesus reveal that to the woman at the well? And did not Jesus reveal the shame and forsaken lives when he wrote in the dust in the story of the woman found in adultery? The living water is available to you today and each day.

Light and Warmth,

Bill

Butterfly on the Casket -- a true story

Right on the edge of the grave I intoned the ancient words, always more comforting than their face value -- the old words of the faith which carry faith's memory and future . . . " The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear?" And, "If this earthly tent we live in is destroyed . . . " And, "Jesus said, 'I am the resurrection and the life . . .'" I stood at the edge of the grave . . . you should see a preacher's-eye view of it.

Then, before these eyes, the meaning of the faith words was revealed. A lovely butterfly flew right to the casket flowers, paused a few short seconds and took flight. I thought, "Butterfly, once cocoon wrapped in airless dark, now soaring in the sunlight of a new day, you point to the promise. The resurrection is real. Life goes on in some new splendor, within the realm of God's mercy."

Can anyone, having seen a butterfly, not believe in resurrection? Can anyone, having seen the risen Lord, through faith's eyes, believe any less?

Blessings,
Bill

-Another World's Oldest Man has died. This is beginning to look suspicious.

-The cool part about naming your kid is you don't have to add 6 numbers to make sure the name is available.

-I broke up with my gym. We were just not working out.

-One day I'll look up from my phone and realize my kids put me in a nursing home.

-I have a condition that renders me unable to go on a diet. I get hungry.

-Told the doctor I thought I had athlete's foot. He looked at me and said, "I don't think you have athlete's anything."

-You know you're stressed when you start getting on your own nerves.

Friends, Just enjoy the laughter. May the Most High God grant you joy in your soul. May the Holy Spirit lift you into a place of peace and hope. May the Lord Jesus Christ give you a heart devoted to the Triune God. Hope all is well in your division. Hold steady on the journey to forever.

Blessings,

Bill

Leaf Play

He laughed so hard that he got the hiccups. And getting the hiccups is funny in itself, so we laughed in between the hiccups. In fact, we sat down in the leaves and laughed – long lung expanding guffaws, life affirming, healing laughter, the medicine of the spirit. (That is in Proverbs. Remember? "A merry heart has a continual feast." Also, "A merry heart does good like a medicine.") So we laughed in the warm sunlight of a fall afternoon.

What were we doing? Well it was not complex equations, nor keeping rounds of appointments,
not even a necessary meeting. It was a game, a simple game. We were playing in the leaves in the yard…a fitting fall activity for grandson and grandfather.

Does time fly swiftly? Is the old saying correct? "Time, stern huntsman, who can balk, strong as hound, swift as hawk?" Just ask yourself where the summer went. Yes, the days fly! Earth tilts upon its axis and the daylight wanes swiftly. The geese form "vees" and honk their way after the sun. The owls call out in the night.  The locusts have surrendered their stage to the crickets. In the old days the corn would have been in shocks by now.

Let us gather a harvest of autumn days…joy and laughter, word and deed. Let us find time to play in the sunshine with the children. And remember that someone has called worship "Holy play". We gather close to altar fire, in the full warmth of that never diminishing flame, to sing and pray, to weep and to laugh, to share together these swiftly moving days. Some Sunday "activities" should give way to that kind of enduring joy.

Seek the Sabbath rest and laughter.

Light and Warmth,

Bill

Many promising reconciliations have broken down because, while both parties came prepared to forgive, neither party came prepared to be forgiven.  Charles Williams

Friends, Williams was an author who wrote in the first half of the 20th century.  He influenced C. S. Lewis.  Some of his novels bordered on science fiction with a Christian base.  I saw an ad for a new movie about animals appearing in places not normally animal space .. thus being a threat.  This was a theme for a Williams novel of the forties. Interesting.The quote above is accurate .. sometimes we are prepared to forgive, but fail to accept forgiveness as a need. Think about it. Hope all is well. The Spencers  are holding steady on the journey to forever.  Think we saw the last of the roses.  Fall is upon us.  Rejoiced in the Cardinal's victory Wednesday evening.  Great whoops of joy were heard around here.

Blessings,

Bill

A god who let us prove his existence would be an idol.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Friends, the above quote is one that we read and discussed many years ago in grad school.  The truth of the statement still holds; the power of the idea wakens the reason and affirms the faith.  The are many 'proofs' for the existence of God.  The Intelligent Designer proof reads as follows:  Whatever acts for an end must be directed by an intelligent being.  So the world must have an intelligent designer.  This is God.  This still resonates in my thought, and could now be expanded universally by such tools as the Hubble Telescope.  (Been looking at the star clusters recently.)  But basic to all thought is a belief in thought.  And thought presupposes a creator of thought.  God is in the mind, and the text books, but the intense reality of the Holy One is found in our hearts -- in the faith that lifts and sustains, in song and word, in sermon and caring action.  Bonhoeffer is accurate.  

Blessings,

Bill

-I'm ready to be a parent because I just told the oil change guy "no" 15 times in 30 seconds.

-He said "Your obsession with cats is out of control. I can't handle it anymore."

She cried, "You're kicking meeeowt?"

-They say you need to listen to what your body is telling you. But mine just points and laughs.

-Now that I’m older, my memory is a mighty fortress. Nothing penetrates it.

-We have nothing to fear except fear itself and toddlers asking “Why?”.

-You're annoying, but honestly, I've been annoyed by better.

Friends, Enjoy the laughter. It is a gift from God.

Blessings,

Bill

We must learn to regard people less in light of what they do or omit to do, and more in the light of what they suffer.  Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Friends, Bonhoeffer was a well known name in the middle of the last century.  His writings were requirements for religion courses in college and seminary.  On of his posthumous published writings was Letters and Papers in Prison.  He was jailed by the Nazis.. for his Christian opposition to their policies, and his personal opposition to Hitler.  Later, when the Reich was falling, he was executed, a martyr of the faith.  Read the above in light of his full commitment of his life to Jesus Christ.  I hope they still read his works in school.  Suffering is a key to character.

Blessings,

Bill

Prayer for a Time of Fear

Dear Lord Jesus, we rejoice that you have told us not to fear. "Fear not!" You tell us. And we hear those words and tremble. It is not easy to "Fear not!" And some of our fears we rather enjoy, they stimulate us, keep us alert, or they distract us from something from which we want distracting. But we do not like being afraid. It is a poor place to stand, fear. So, as often is the case, we are caught between the sheer joy of your audacious command and our human weakness in response to it. Help us, Dear Lord Jesus, to know that what you command you enable. Help us to see that we can be -- more and more -- without fear. The more we trust in you, the less fear will penetrate our hearts. Save us from "fear" as an everyday condition of our heart, and lead us toward a fearless reliance on you. So strengthen us, help us,uphold us with your righteous right hand. We wait upon you here in this place and we remember your words that whoever waits on you will renew their strength, will soar on wings like eagles, will run and not grow weary, will walk and not faint. We wait for you, claiming your words, your saving grace. Be with us this day.

Dear Lord Jesus, hear the prayers of all today. Hear and grant your saving touch:

+To those who walk in pain

+To those who suffer depression

+To those who fight disease and debilitating illness

+To the hungry, the thirsty, the lonely

+To those alienated from family

+To those who speak to you in silence, pouring out the deepest needs of their lives

+Be strength to the feeble, sight to the blind.

+Be words to those who find shaping sounds difficult

+Be with all of us in this sacred place, a resting-place on the journey to your Holy Land.

Answer us and we will not be afraid; but we will take heart and journey faithfully, singing and saying your holy words…..Pray the Lord's Prayer.

Light and Warmth,

Willard Spencer

-The only member of my family with a personal trainer is the dog.

-Nothing in fine print is ever good news. Andy Rooney-A day wasted on others is not wasted on one's self. Charles Dickens (A distant relative)

-A loving heart is the truest wisdom.  Charles Dickens

-The pain of parting is nothing to the joy of meeting again.  Charles Dickens

-For fast-acting relief try slowing down. Lily Tomlin 

-I always wanted to be somebody, but now I realize I should have been more specific. Lily Tomlin 

Friends, Here are some collected thoughts to start the day.  Hope they add to the hours, lift the spirits, give some helpful direction.  Hope all is well in your life. Cool and clear here in the Piedmont.  Starting to get a bit dry -- a difference from the summer.  Still have a few roses, but not for much longer.  Any change in the leaves in your setting?

Light and Warmth,

Bill

Ephesians 2:11-19

Here is another before and after picture. "Before" you were like the Greeks, and the other non-Jews, that is, without hope. Did not Sophocles write,"Youth's beauty fades, and manhood's glory fades. Faith dies and unfaith blossoms as a flower; nor ever wilt thou find...that one wind blows true forever."?   There was a pervasive melancholy about aging and death. There was no relief, no answer. We were "strangers" to God. The Greek word means an unheard of person. We were "foreigners" to the kingdom. The Greek word means resident aliens, without any citizenship rights. But "after" Christ has come into your lives you are a part of the "new" humanity. New means not just another variation, but something utterly new, which did not exist before. Christ has made us one people, people with citizenship, with rights and responsibilities, with hope. We are reconciled, meaning to bring together estranged friends. We have access to the Almighty. Quite a change in those two pictures. Thanks be to God. (from Listening for Joy, Devotions for a Year, by Bill Spencer .. book in the library or on line)

Blessings,

Bill

-Look alive! Here comes a buzzard!  Pogo

-Diplomacy is the art of saying, "Nice Doggy!," until you find a rock.

-Of all the seven dwarfs, only Dopey had a shaven face.  This should tell us something about the custom of shaving.  Tom Robbins

-Author: a fool, who, not content with having bored those who have lived with him, insists on tormenting the generations to come.  Montesquieu

-"Gone home to die a natural death." Note found in a Doctor's waiting room.

-"What's another word for 'thesaurus'?  Steven Wright

-The meek shall inherit the earth, but not the mineral rights.  J. Paul Greedy

-More lovely than the sun laughing on the wind-blown lake is the Light of the Almighty leaping alive in our heart.

Blessings, 

Bill

Hills and Rocks and People

There was a little hill town surrounded by the old 'mountains' found on the edges of the Ozark Plateau.  The mountains towered over all, surrounded all.  We lived in their shadows.  Approaching from a distance you could see the hills cradling the little village and its people.  There was safety.  There was family and love. There was home.  Many towns are marked by their location on rivers of great consequence.  Some were built where the rivers ceased to be navigable, fall-line cities that rose out of the wilderness to lift travelers up and over the cascades.  There are cities defined by the sea, safe havens from the wind and wave, harbors for ships and sailors, for fishers whose crafts carved paths in the deep, seeking the ever elusive finned creations that Thoreau called 'animalized water.'  But in this little village the story was not told by the height of the hills, nor by the tug and pull of pine and oak.  The little city set in the hills was defined by rocks. 

Rocks told the story of the place.  Around the area were the massive upheavals of limestone, creating high bluffs that lined the little rivers that watered the land.  The limestone, gray, unchanging, was reflected in the faces of the settlers who carved out a living in the shadows of the hills.  There were wonderful areas of pink granite that created massive boulders, rounded by the slow sculpting of wind and water until they had, from a distance, the appearance of massive elephants.  The granite was quarried by hand, the hands of hardy pioneers, who chiseled the rock from surface quarries.  The rocks made streets and houses and buildings, many in the not too distant city named after Louis IX.  River rock was rolled and smooth, carved by the sandy currents of the swift moving mountain streams.  Even the broken glass left in the rivers soon became smooth of edge, and current artisans collect it as 'river glass.'  But the tell tale rock was not visible at all.  It was beneath the ground where, for a hundred years, miners had toiled in the endless dark -- save only for their carbide lamps -- to chip away the buried boulders until there was nothing left but massive caverns, the roof of which (called the 'back') was supported by pillars of rock, left by the mining process, supports for the limestone of the over-rock roof.  At first mules were used to haul out the rock.  Mules -- blinded by being forever in the dark, yet knowing every inch of the little paths over which they pulled little ore cars laden with the 'gold' of those mines.  There were miles, hundreds of miles of underground passages that had yielded their treasure to the sturdy workers.  They were the largest lead mines in the world.  Not a few of us grew up drinking the underground water that had to be pumped out in order for the mines to be worked.  The standing joke was that we all were  raised on 'lead' water.  Working around the clock in shifts the miners, upon entering the shafts, knew neither light of sun or stars.  Time was not marked by passing shades of light and shadow.  There was simply rock and water, darkness and backbreaking labor, and a willingness to earn the coveted dollar.  A dollar a day was the wage, for loading nine one ton ore cars, which could then be pulled to the surface.  Rocks told the story, beautiful rocks, dense rocks, rocks needed for what they grudgingly gave into the hands of industry. 

Days and decades were spent in the mines.  Hours and years were marked on the limestone walls with markings around eating areas, gathering places where the blinding dark was sprinkled with the little lights that miners wore, their only edge in a place where night rules.  Have you ever been in a cave when all the tour lights were extinguished?  Darkness that is palpable, not just the shimmering shades of surface nights.  How could you ‘feel’ time in the ever-during dark?

Families were close.  Values of loyalty and courage were held dear.  Determination to survive bred generations of strong willed, strong bodied people who could dance in the dark on little walkways hung from the roof of the mine, and who could sing in the light reflected on the clear, fast rushing streams, that hurried through the everlasting hills.  They are about gone now, but we remember and hold dear their lives and labor.  May they not be forgotten.  The hills will remember long after we are all gone.

Willard Spencer

Dear Lord Jesus, we thank you for Bittersweet and pyrocantha, for Burning Bush and Sumac, for yellow hickories and red maples. For all the clear signs of fall in the hills and throughout the land, we give you thanks. We thank you for the soft days at the end of a season of change, the warmth of the waning sun, the clear blue of the firmament. Before the winter is upon us we pause and offer our prayer of thanks. For all your blessings we are grateful.

There are interruptions in a soft season: moments of sudden, fiery death. They remind us of the brevity of life and the importance of using it well. Be with those who mourn the loss of loved ones. Speak to us again the words of life: whosoever believes in you shall not perish but have everlasting life. We believe and affirm this faith for all our partings.

We remember before you all those who have gone through surgery recently: speed their recoveries. We pray for those who have broken bones: may they knit quickly and strongly. We ask for courage for all who need it today; life can be very scary, and change, even needed change, is difficult. We ask for hope for the despairing -- Lord we need a vision of meaning for the days to come. Let us not just go through life with no sense of purpose, no destination. Show us again your mercy this day. You have already done that just by calling us to come before you this moment. Be yourself to us. Call us by name. Tell us you will not forsake us, and bring us all, at the last, to the portals of your everlasting Kingdom, we ask in the sweet name of Jesus, our Savior and Lord, who gave us soft words of prayer…..Pray the Lord's Prayer.  (from the prayers of Bill Spencer)

Blessings,

Bill

We have a bunny rabbit in our back yard .. not just a rabbit, but a bunny rabbit.  He has been there so long now that we think of him as the former. He is not quite a friend, but surely a good acquaintance.  Our backyard contains a Medieval Garden. There are twelve (for the apostles) 8 x 8 flower boxes all in a square.  They are around a brick circular area that contains a tall, white flowering Crepe Myrtle .. symbolizing the risen Lord. It is a delight to watch the bunny circle the center, moving when a blue bird or other swift winger lands close.  The older dog that finds residence here is always sensing the bunny rabbit, but they have not met.  I've tried for photos of our friend, but motion or something else seems to interfere.  We greatly enjoy this little creature of God.  He won't be with us long, but these waning summer days are blessed with this reminder of the gentleness of God's creation.  

Blessings,

Bill

Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase.  

M. L. King, Jr.

Friends,  Faith has many definitions.  Rev. King pointed out that faith is involved with taking a step up the ladder even if you don't have all the answers. The humorous reflection of the English street lad, "Faith is believing steadfastly what you know ain't so!", reveals a problem of our day.  Faith is steadfast belief in what we know is true.   It does not give us all the answers, but it gives us a clear direction to go.  Let us 'follow the gleam' of the torch of faith.  It burns brightly for us to see.   When the darkness draws near, when shadows gather in our lives, let us take the step of faith toward Jesus, and renew the glow of certainty in our lives.

Blessings,

Bill 

“A single dream is more powerful than a thousand realities.” ― J.R.R. Tolkien
“Little by little, one travels far”
“It's the job that's never started as takes longest to finish.”
“Not all those who wander are lost.”
“You can only come to the morning through the shadows.”
“A man that flies from his fear may find that he has only taken a short cut to meet it.”

Friends,  The quotes above come from that great author Tolkien.  Much thought in these lines.  I hope that they stir your hopes and dreams. 

Blessings,
Bill

Another Spencer basketball player

Note: a six week study begins this Sunday, 6 p.m., at the Terraces Clubhouse.  The first two weeks will focus on "How to Pray."  Then four weeks on the Book of Ruth.  All welcome.  Out by 7 p.m. Come for one or both of the topics.  Bring your Bible.

-It's a shame how so many of you have such nice, expensive, in many cases even brand new cars and yet the turn signals don't seem to work.

-I never apologize. I’m sorry, but that’s just the way I am...

-There is an urban legend that say cellphones can cause brain tumors. I think that it depends on with who you talk to..

-I finally found a diet plan that works. It's called 'The Cost of Food'.

-I miss your absence.

-One of the 'World's Strongest Man' events should be-- Pulling apart two shopping carts that are stuck together.

Friends, Enjoy the smiles, and praise the Living God, who gave us the gift of laughter.

Blessings,

Bill

Note: a six week study begins this Sunday, 6 p.m., at the Terraces Clubhouse. The first two weeks will focus on "How to Pray."  Then four weeks on the Book of Ruth.  All welcome.  Out by 7 p.m. Come for one or both of the topics.  Bring your Bible.

Prayer for a Culture of New and More

Dear Lord Jesus, We live in a time and place that multiplies needs. We need something new every time we turn around. It seems that we are driven by ever-increasing demands and plagued by ever diminishing pleasures. We need more this and new that. We expand our store of needs until it overflows the "barns" we build. And not everything new is bad, Dear Lord Jesus, it is just "more." Help us in this deluge of novelty not to lose sight of the essential things, the heart of truth, the sufficiency of grace, the abundance of mercy and love. Fix in our hearts, Dear Lord Jesus, the image of your sacrifice, your endless care for us. Translate our images of grace into action for you in this time and place, surfeited with novelty and fluff. Let us keep hold of the needful thing and not starve in the midst of plenty, perish on food that does not satisfy.

Find us here in our seeking. Find us poor and lost, blind and lame…and let your light shine in our eyes, in our souls, and bring to us what we really need. Bring hope that does not fade. Bring joy that triumphs over despair. Bring challenge to face real needs in your way. Show us the mission field right outside of our door and send us into it caring for the lost and the lame. Give us voices to speak for you. Give us eyes to see those who need to hear and give us a will, a courage, a readiness to tell the good news of your grace.

Be help to the helpless, Dear Lord Jesus. Be hope to those who have almost given up. Be our light in every darkness, and stir within us the fire of faith. Re-kindle the flames first found in solemn vows taken before your altar. To you be praise and glory always. We praise you this day with words you gave us….. Pray the Lord's Prayer.

Light and Warmth, 

Bill

When I was a boy the Dead Sea was only sick.
George Burns

Friends, He was a natural.  Humor flowed from him.  Some of us will always remember the George and Gracie Show. The quote stirs the awareness of time.  Not "Seize the time, but 'Redeem the time.'  It does fly.

Light and Warmth,
Bill

Work, for the night is coming,
Work through the morning hours;
Work while the dew is sparkling,
Work ’mid springing flowers;
Work when the day grows brighter,
Work in the glowing sun;
Work, for the night is coming,
When man’s work is done.

Work, for the night is coming,
Work through the sunny noon;
Fill brightest hours with labor,
Rest comes sure and soon.
Give every flying minute,
Something to keep in store;
Work, for the night is coming,
When man works no more.

Work, for the night is coming,
Under the sunset skies;
While their bright tints are glowing,
Work, for daylight flies.
Work till the last beam fadeth,
Fadeth to shine no more;
Work, while the night is dark'ning,
When man’s work is o’er.
Annie L. Coghill

Friends, She lived in Canada and, later, England.  Annie wrote this hymn when she was 18 years old.  It is in the Cokesbury hymnal and many others.  We used to use the word "One's" for "man's."  The content is for all.  Labor -- work -- a necessity and often an joy.  Not what we want to think about on a holiday?  I guess you are right.  Let's just have a safe and happy Labor Day.  

Blessings,
Bill

If God would have wanted us to live in a permissive society, he would have given us Ten Suggestions and not Ten Commandments.

Zig Ziglar

Friends, A catching quote .. and scary if we think about it.  What if, during the prelude time, we repeatedly read the Ten Commandments in, say, four translations, instead of visiting?  That is scary.  I like to visit, to greet new comers and young folks and friends of the journey.  If we did that every Sunday it would get 'old,' but it would press the 'Thou shalt...' upon us.  I don't know.  We need a less permissive society for sure.  And we could raise the Words to a higher level in our own memory.

Light and Warmth,

Bill

A Hymn for Grandparents

A grandmother, a grandfather, are reflections of the love

Of a caring heavenly parent, watching over from above.

Dearest children and grandchildren are the joy of all their years.

Give them prayers and dreams and blessings,

Soothe their sorrow, dry their tears.

Down the little lanes of memory, gathering roses red and white,

Fragrant blossoms stir a vision of their own in God’s pure light.

Now the years fly by so swiftly, youth and beauty on the wing.

Still God strengthens and sustains us.

Let us all God praises sing.

Gather then your loved ones closely, sing them melodies of dawn.

Quote them verses, play them music, for that song will linger on.

Give them smiles and hugs and stories. Play the childhood games again,

Till the joys of childlike wonder

Fill the hearts of women, men.

Unto you, dear God of Wonder, and to you, dear God the Son,

Blessed Spirit, Holy Spirit, fiery wind, God three in One,

Unto You be praise and glory. All the voices all the days

Sing thanksgiving for the children.

All grandparents sing your praise.

from the hymns of Willard Spencer

I lift up my eyes to the hills, from whence comes my help.

memory of a line from Psalms

Friends, I love the beach.  The waves stretch out to a seeming eternity, the light flashes upon the horizon, the mighty power smashes the flood against the land.  It is always an eternal experience.  It is the hills that live deeply in my memory.  I grew up on he last hill (Crowley's ridge) in the Ozarks.  It overlooked the level earth that stretches out to the Gulf.  Used to ride my bike down the hill -- lots more fun than riding back up.  The mountains and hills are deeply lodged in memory and heart. I lift up my eyes to the hill .. lift up.  Hope all is well in your domain.  The days runs quickly toward the edge of fall.  Feels a bit like that now.  Rain has lifted a bit and the sun has taken its place in the heavens.  

Blessings,

Bill

-Never let a bad day make you feel like you have a bad life.

-A bad attitude is like a flat tire .. you cannot get far until you change it.

Friends, Here are ideas to feed your daily journey.  May they be of help.  I hope that all is well with you .. the blessings of the Lord include a hope that does not pass away, that is unfading. We can be up or getting up.  (remember John, Columbia friends?)  

Blessings,

Bill

-Little by little, one travels far.
-A single dream is more powerful than a thousand realities.
-All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.
-Never laugh at live dragons.
-Faithless is he that says farewell when the road darkens.
-The world is indeed full of peril and in it there are many dark places. But still there is much that is fair. And though in all lands, love is now mingled with grief, it still grows, perhaps, the greater. ― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings

Friends, I bought the three volumes of the Lord of the Rings in 1970.  I still have them -- much worn, marked in countless places, and still treasured.  Tolkien (and his friends in the "coal biters" group of writers) have the gift of stimulating imagination.  They add to the process of thought and reflection.  The best books of the 20th century.  

Blessings,

Bill

Learning isn't easy...embrace struggle...and grow.  Krissy via Christine

The above is a quote I found on Facebook, sent by an dear friend of Cheryl.  As teachers, this was a time of year to challenge themselves to begin again the ongoing joyous struggle of teaching.  It was for learners as well, of course, and for each of us in the daily journey to forever.  Face.. don't flee.. you are never alone.  

Light and Warmth,

Bill

The ferry boat moved slowly across the water.  The Buckland shore drew nearer.  Sam was the only member of the party who had not been over the river before.  He had a strange feeling as the slow, gurgling stream slipped by: his old life lay behind in the mists, dark adventure lay in front.  He scratched his head, and for a moment had a passing wish that Mr. Frodo could have gone on living quietly at Bag End.

John Ronald Ruel Tolkien, Lord of the Rings, vol. 1

Friends, Ah, Tolkien is my favorite of favorites.  Each reading is alive.  His is the best style, grammar, story.  In this quote the great adventure of the ring is just beginning.  The quote catches a feeling we all have had -- crossing a boundary.  Sam crossed the river on the edge of the Shire, and life was not to be the same again.  Behind were the mists, ahead the adventure.  Scary but sometimes necessary.  Life has its changes.  Some we choose.  Some just come to us.  You don't have to cross boundaries alone.  Go with a 'party.' There is One who will always go into adventures with you.  And the Church is your traveling party. Blessings on your adventures.

Light and Warmth,

Bill