Tag: Church

I’m Bored!

Posted on by Julia Smead

Quintessential Quinciensis
by The Rt. Rev. Keith L. Ackerman, SSC

bored-churchBoredom has been elevated to a new justification for not doing something.  For example,  some people do not want to visit residents of Nursing Homes (except at holidays or when they belong to a singing group) because it’s boring.  Some children do not want to visit relatives because it’s boring.  They do not want to go to church, because it’s boring.  It is not as if boredom has never existed, it is just that far too many parents allow this protest from their children to determine the outcome.  Frankly, staring at a screen for hours for many of us is boring. Adults can find attending children’s events to be boring.  Adults having to go see yet another movie that has no real effect on life can be boring.  But adults do many boring things out of love.  Parents need to understand that they do not need to win their children’s approval to be a good parent, nor should they be held captive by children’s uninformed opinions.  I find sitting in a waiting room at the Doctor’s office to be boring…..but I know why I am there.  Boredom is simply a part of life, but it is not a decision making event.  In the end, many people who are bored can be quite boring to others – it’s just that the others have learned how to operate out of love and respect.  I wonder if God finds us to be boring? Sometimes love, respect, and being present to others simply needs to be taught.

Bishop Ackerman Quits BASEBALL!

Posted on by Julia Smead

Quintessential Quinciensis
by The Rt. Rev. Keith L. Ackerman, SSC

In spite of a lifetime of being brought up in baseball, I am quitting baseball.  I have had it!  I have quite a few reasons for my decision, and here there are!

baseball fieldToday I could not find a parking place, but when I did they wanted money for me to park! That means I had to drive around numerous lots, and then when I found a spot not only did I have to pay, but I had to walk a great distance just to get inside the ballpark.  It became worse.  I had to pay to get into the game!  These people should simply be happy that I came to see them.  Then – nobody said hello to me.  Just when I thought it couldn’t get worse, I had to wait in line to go to the bathroom!  Can you believe it?

Then I went to my seat.  The people around me had no respect.  They talked, they blocked my view, and they expected me to pass money down the line to a man holding a bottle of water that cost more than what I usually pay for lunch!  Everywhere I went there was someone trying to sell something.  I also find the times to be inconvenient.  They are too late at night for me, since I go to bed at 10 P.M.  Besides – who decided to add lights at the ballpark to force us to come at night? Then there are the games that are in the middle of the day when I take my nap.  Now here is my complaint about the manager.  I have waited in line to talk to him, and he is too busy for me.  If I show up – he should give me some of his time, after all what I pay to go to this game helps to pay his salary.  Plus – one of the ushers offended me by telling me to move from the aisle.  I don’t have to put up with that.  I was a baseball fan before he was born.

Then there are all the changes.  It wasn’t like this when I was a boy!  Designated hitters, artificial grass – when Ford Frick was the Baseball Commissioner we didn’t have any of this.  And those uniforms – artificial materials.  Wool uniforms were good enough for Babe Ruth!!  AND they expect me to come to all of those extra games.  When I was a boy and Danny Murtaugh was the manager we had 150 games – not 162.  And the best team in the National League played the best team in the American League.  It was simple – no playoffs. Too many rules have changed.  Abner Doubleday would be furious.

Now they want me to give them my email address so that they can send me information about what is coming up next.  I want to enjoy baseball in my own way.  So I am staying away.  If they want me back, they will have to invite me personally.  After all my grandfather and my father paid a lot of money to keep that ball park open during the Depression.  So, on baseball days I will sit in my chair and think about the former baseball players.  That’ll teach the new players a lesson!

IS THERE ROOM IN YOUR INN?

Posted on by Julia Smead

By Bishop Keith L. Ackerman, SSC

Nativity caveSo often we can read the historical elements of the Holy Scriptures in such a way that we determine who the heroes and villains are.  For example, I suspect that most people would not have a high regard for those in Bethlehem who could offer no room for the Holy Family.  We have an image of the Blessed Mother and St. Joseph going from Inn to Inn, with Joseph knocking on many doors, pleading for a place for his pregnant wife to deliver her child, as Mary sat on a donkey writhing in pain.

Later we learn that one Innkeeper offered a Stable.  So very often when we think of Stables and Mangers we see the lovely ones depicted in pictures, in our homes, and in our churches.  While they may well be shown as having rough wood, the reality is that in Bethlehem wood was a rare commodity.  In fact the wood used for the Temple in Jerusalem, which is located about 5 miles from Bethlehem, was imported from Lebanon.  Olive wood, as lovely as it is for carved Manger figures, is not typically large enough to cut planks that could be used for building.

The greater reality may well be that Jesus was born in a cave in a stone cold manger.  There were two types of mangers in animal caves: the rectangular type for the water and the rounded type for the grain.  In all probability Jesus, who would follow in his foster father’s footsteps as a “tekton” (according to the Greek) would work with stone, and in the end, would be placed in a stone cave, on a stone slab.  But Jesus burst forth from both caves.  In the former, to be a light to Gentiles and a glory to Israel, and in the latter to redeem the world.

Today Jesus knocks at the door of our hearts.  Sometimes our stables are so filled with anger, hostility, fear, doubt, grudges and pain that there simply is no room for Jesus.  Even in the Church today, there are good people who are so angry with the Bride of Christ that they leave no room for the Bridegroom.  Jesus seeks to be born in our hearts again, but we need to make room for him.  In life there simply are many things over which we have no control, and yet we function, all too often, as if we are in control.  As we celebrate this Christmas Season, let us hand over those things which we simply cannot control, and make room for Jesus so that He can be in control.