Friday was a ridiculously up-and-down day. The day began preparing to host a funeral for a 17-year-old Iowa City high school student who tragically took his own life on Monday. The family is emotionally destroyed, and his friends incredibly distraught. A week earlier I teched the funerals of two 89-year-olds who, I believe, died of natural causes...both of whom you kinda have an expectation for their soon passing simply because of their age. But the death of this 17-year-old shocked our community (his dad and stepmom are from our church community). It's difficult to hold on to hope with a suicidal death that no one saw coming. The funeral itself was very hard...some people stayed TWO HOURS after the service's conclusion weeping and mourning next to the casket.

Later that day was completely different--I took part in a friend's proposal to his long-time girlfriend. TOTALLY sweet. He put together a video, which he claimed was for a church service...but it was actually a photo montage for her with Matthew West's "You Are Everything" as a music bed. Following an off-site dinner, they entered the Worship Center, and the video was immediately played with him hugging her from behind. Throughout the video he had video clips of him writing sweet messages on a whiteboard...the last shot showing the message, "Turn Around!" When she turned around, he was on his knee poppin' the question. Meanwhile, another friend was video taping the event from a hidden corner to capture their reactions. She said, "Yes." :)

What a day...from sadness to joyfulness in a matter of hours. Goes to show our circumstances are only temporary. Joy won the day.

Some shots I captured after the final stanza of the most recent ice storm...

Check this out...holy water...IN BOTTLE FORM! It's about time somebody got this stuff marketed. It's WATER, PEOPLE!!! The Newsweek article below is a funny read (if you're looking for something about which to shake your head)...

You need only go back to the first chapter of Genesis to see how elemental water is to the observance of faith: "And the Spirit of God," the Bible says, "moved upon the face of the waters." In the Torah, water is used to ordain priests and to purify the sons of Aaron before they enter the temple. In the New Testament, John baptizes Jesus with water from the Jordan River. Observant Muslims wash hands and feet before they pray, orthodox Jewish women take ritual baths once a month--and every Christian denomination still uses water as part of its sacred rites. Mormons, when they take the weekly sacrament, drink water instead of wine.

So it's not surprising that a few savvy marketers would seize on this universal symbol of purity for financial gain. Inspired, perhaps, by vitamin and energy waters, a number of new companies have begun making more explicit claims: their water doesn't just promote good health, it actually makes you good. Holy Drinking Water, produced by a California-based company called Wayne Enterprises, is blessed in the warehouse by an Anglican or Roman Catholic priest (after a thorough background check). Like a crucifix or a rosary, a bottle of Holy Drinking Water is a daily reminder to be kind to others, says Brian Germann, Wayne's CEO. Another company makes Liquid OM, superpurified bottled water containing vibrations that promote a positive outlook. Invented by Kenny Mazursky, a sound therapist in Chicago, the water purportedly possesses an energy field that Mazursky makes by striking a giant gong and Tibetan bowls in its vicinity. He says the good energy can be felt not just after you drink the water but before, when you're holding the bottle.

The most recent entry in this niche is Spiritual Water. It's purified municipal water, sold with 10 different Christian labels. The Virgin Mary bottle, for example, has the Hail Mary prayer printed on the back in English and Spanish. Spiritual Water helps people to "stay focused, believe in yourself and believe in God," says Elicko Taieb, the Florida-based company's founder who was formerly in the pest-control business. All three companies give a portion of their profits to charity.

This small band of feel-good entrepreneurs may face objections from a surprising quarter. Some religious believers, also convinced of the elemental importance of water, are campaigning against its ubiquitous sale and packaging on the grounds that the practice is neither ethical nor good for the environment. "Water is life," says Sister Mary Zirbes, a nun in the Franciscan Sisters of Little Falls, Minn. "It really should not be a commodity to be bought." The Franciscan Sisters, together with a community of Benedictine nuns nearby, have launched a letter-writing campaign against the largest producers of bottled water and they've designed coasters to encourage people to drink glasses, not bottles, of water from the tap. The Vineyard church in Boise, Idaho, sells slim reusable plastic bottles in its bookstore, and it has placed water stations throughout the church. "In a world where a billion people have no reliable source of drinking water, where 3,000 children die every day of waterborne diseases, let's be clear: bottled water is not a sin, but it sure is a choice," says Richard Cizik of the National Association of Evangelicals. "Spending $15 billion a year on bottled water is a testimony to our conspicuous consumption, our culture of indulgence." Taieb calmly refutes the implication that his Spiritual Water is bad for the planet. People put fewer of his bottles in the trash, he says, because they don't want to discard images of Jesus or Mary. Instead, they refill them with other beverages. Obviously, even do-gooders can disagree. Some believe that water is life, while others believe that water is their livelihood.

Seriously...some religious guy walking around a water bottling factory is filling someone's bank account! At least these larger companies are donating some of their funds to charitable organizations---probably to help smolder the ruckus they've caused. I'm JUST curious enough to give the water a try. Maybe I should buy a Jesus action figure while I'm at it...putting him on the same shelf as my Incredible Hulk action figure might turn the Hulk into Flanders.

Well, I'm welcoming the month of December blogging under an ice storm warning. And it's NASTY out there. The weather can't decide whether to snow, sleet, ice or rain...so it's doing all of them at once. Apparently, this is supposed to continue till tonight...then it's supposed to rain all night...then snow tomorrow. Yay. What a blessing to have a warm home...enjoy an unplanned day off...and a FIREPLACE! Here's a shot from our place...

Here's a news story from CBS 2 in Chicago...who recently looked into the emerging church. Though there are plenty of similarities between with the current modern church movement and the emerging church movement, there are also plenty of differences. This news story doesn't get into the theology aspect of the differences. It's interesting to see the buzzwords "emerging church" in the mainstream news...

My family has never "celebrated" Halloween. I can remember passing out boxes of raisins to trick-or-treaters one year, but that's all I can recount of our participation with (what some people still figure as a) "holiday". Since then we would refrain from handing out treats and put a sign on our front door saying so. More often than not, parents accompany their children as they go from door to door, so we weren't concerned about getting tricked (though we did get the occasional egg from year to year).

From a Christian perspective, how are we supposed to approach Halloween? Do we involve ourselves with the festivities? My dad taught a class study on Halloween ten years ago, and I still have his notes and thought I would share them with you. He doesn't answer these questions, but presents some pretty dynamic and historical info...enough to allow people to make their own choices. Read on...
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What are some of the things we associate with Halloween? Witches, cats, bats, pumpkins, pranks, masks, costumes, tricks and treats, communion with the dead, divination.

What is society's perception of Halloween? Innocent fun; evil isn't real.

Is it okay for Christians to participate in Halloween? Is Halloween really tied to Satan and the occult?

Occult influence has been around since the fall of man. Eve was without sin and yet was tempted by Satan. The Old Testament has many accounts of sorcery, divination, and idol worship. Kings and Pharaohs all had their team of advisors (cf Exodus 7.11-12, 1 Samuel 28, Daniel 2.1-3).

Fall celebrations or festivals date back to the book of Leviticus where God orders the Feast of Tabernacles (Lev 23.29)...also known as the "Feast on Ingathering".

American traditions associated with Halloween can be traced back to European Celtic culture. The Celts' origin dates back hundreds of years before Christ. Descendants of Noah's son, Japheth, who moved north to the land then known as Gaul (current-day Europe).

The Celts, according to history, were a pagan and barbaric people steeped in tradition and ceremony. In the generations before Christ, they were illiterate. They had no written works, no form of government, and knew nothing of the highly educated Green or Roman culture. The culture was passed on orally through the generations. Everything taught had to be remembered. The cultural leaders were those who were most influential with their speech.
Knowledge was considered a "spiritual gift". Archaeological findings are all that substantiate the existence of the Celts of that time. Celtic writing didn't start until approximately the fifth century A.D. Explorers from Rome recorded stories of their contacts with the pagans of the northern forest regions. They noted specifically their amazement at the Celts' memory skills, eloquence and story-telling abilities.

Celts believed in the immortality of the soul. After a period of time, the soul of a deceased person would pass to another body (usually a newborn child). Evil spirits were believed to inhabit animals...particularly cats. Horses were believed to be a sacred animal, probably because of their size, strength, or beauty. They were sometimes used as sacrifices to appease a perceived angry spirit.

Druids were priests of the Celtic people. They held great power over the people. Their three main functions were 1) the source of knowledge for the tribe, 2) administer law and justice, and 3) oversee social and religious ceremony. Druids were known to practice animal and human sacrifices. They practiced magic and divination using the bones of the offering. Cats and horses were caged in wicker baskets and burned alive. Humans, if they weren't burned alive, were stabbed or shot with arrows. The manner in which the sacrifice died (motions, sounds, etc.) also was used to divine the future.

The most sacred of the festivals for the Druids was the festival of Samhain, Lord of the Dead. Held on November 1, it was the first day of winter and also New Years Day. On the even of Samhain, October 31, (Celts counted by nights, not days--midnight to midnight) the ancestral dead would rise from the grave and, along with demons, roam the earth and cause trouble. Great bon fires were built on hill tops on the eve of Samhain. Druids conducted divinations from the Samhain fire and performed magic that night because they believed the barrier between our world and the powers of darkness was weakest. The spirits of those who had died that year, they believed, were judged by Samhain that night. Good spirits were allowed another 12 months of death; bad spirits were sentenced to 12 months inhabiting a lowly animal.

Families put out food and drink (treat) for dead souls to appease them, so they would not cause harm to them or their property. An angry spirit, they believed, would kill livestock, spoil milk and food, or cause sickness (trick). People disguised themselves in goulish costumes so the evil spirits would think they were of their world and wouldn't harm them.

Bon fires build on hilltops served more than one purpose. They were the center of ceremony--a guide for the spirits and a place to offer sacrifices. One tradition was for family members to mark stones and place them in the fire. The next morning any stone that was missing meant that person would die in the coming year. People were to extinguish all fires in their homes on the eve of Samhain. The Druids would light a torch from the Samhain fires and walk around the village re-lighting the fires in the homes. It was customary and expected to give an offering (treat) in exchange for the sacred fire. If you didn't the Druids were likely to torch your crops, your bull or your house (trick). As a sign of good-will, a jack-o-lantern was placed in the front of your house.

Transalpine Gaul (France and the Rhineland) was conquered by Julius Caesar in the first century B.C., and most of Britain came under Roman rule int he first century A.D. Ireland was never conquered by Rome (they stopped short and just decided not to bother with it). As a result pagan traditions and beliefs remained strong in Britain, Ireland and Scotland regions while Christianity was spreading across the Roman Empire. Thousands of pagans were being converted yet they were still accustomed to celebrating their rituals. In an effort to reach the pagans, the Church began assimilating their traditions into new "Christian" ones. Pope Gregory I declared...

All Saints' Day (also known as All Hallows Day), established May 13, 610 A.D., was a day to remember and honor those who died for their belief. Int the eighth century, Pope Gregory III moved this day to November 1. The church was trying to change people from celebrating pagan traditions to celebrating Christian ones. Traditions with food and costume were even copied.

All Souls' Day (a Catholic feast day), held on November 2, was established in the early ninth century by Amalarius as a special commemoration of those who had died that year to help them through purgatory. In 993 A.D. it was officially made part of the Church by Abbot St. Odilo.

The reformation was initiated by Martin Luther when, on October 31, 1517, he nailed his 95 theses on the church door. The theses opposed the teachings and practices of a corrupt Catholic church (paying money for sins committed). Lutherans and Calvinists fought Catholics for 200 years, and, in the end, reformation Protestants abandoned the observance of All Saints' Day.

On November 5, 1605, Catholic revolutionary Guy Fawkes tried to blow up the Protestant sympathetic House of Lords. He was caught and executed along with his conspirators. It became a celebration day for some of triumph of Protestant over Catholic. Because it was so close to All Hallows Day, traditions were borrowed. Bonfires, hollowed out turnip lamps and grotesque masks became tradition. The eve of Guy Fawkes Day became a night of mischief. Kids went around begging for lumps of coal for fires to burn effigies of Guy Fawkes.

With the Roman influence came the celebration of the Festival of Ponoma, held on November 1. Panoma was the mythical goddess of the orchard and the harvest. She was a nymph who loved pruning and grafting in the orchards. The apple was a symbol of love and fertility. Anyone who could pull an apple from a tub of water using only their mouth was destined to have great fortune in the coming year (thus, apple-bobbing).

The Catholic church continued to support the custom of remembering the dead on the eve of November 1. The three observances became known as Hallowmas. The evening before Allows was known as All Hallows Eve, which later became Halloween. But in all cultures, in one way or another, it remained a celebration of the dead.
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