A Sunday School Student "Puzzler"

Today my Sunday School class learned about the promises made by a person when he or she is baptised. The person either makes these promises in response to the celebrant's questions, or they are answered for him or her by a godparent.

The first three are renunciations--things one should not do, like my cats above on the top. You should NOT hit your brother or sister.

The second three are pronouncements of what one should do following Jesus Christ in love, similar to the loving picture of my cats on the bottom. Yes, they can be very kind to each other.

First find pp. 302-303 in the Book of Common Prayer.

Here is the Puzzle. (It might help if you printed this page out first.)

Fill in the word that is missing in each renunciation (First Three), and each pronouncement (second three).

Then circle the first letter of the first two questions' missing words, the second letter of the third, the third letter of the fourth, the first letter of the fifth and the first letter of the sixth.

1. Do you renounce _ _ _ _ _ and all the spiritual forces of wickedness that rebel against God?

2. Do you renounce the evil _ _ _ _ _ _ of this world...?

3. Do you renounce all _ _ _ _ _ _ desires that draw you from the love of God?

4. Do you _ _ _ _ to Jesus Christ and accept him as your Savior?

5. Do you put your whole trust _ _ his grace and love?

6. Do you promise _ _ follow and obey him as your Lord?

Now that you have filled in all the blanks and circled the appropriate letter in each word. Put the six letters together in the order listed and you will have a gift you receive at your baptism.

Send me this word to me as a comment to the blog, or tell me on Sunday and you will be eligible for a prize just before Christmas! Please give your name as well as the answer in your comment.

Time Shares Work but Take Work

I finally had a 3 on a par 3 hole. Here I am triumphantly holding my purple ball. This is the 17th hole on the Penninsula Jack Nichlaus course.

Yes, Raphael came through and even gave us the $10 difference between what we had paid and should have been able to pay for a round of golf.

Still the impression that we were going to get the cost of our upgrade out of renting units here and other lovely spots in Mexico, is "spin" to pull us in or b.s. according to Harry Frankfurt, an emeritus professor of philosophy at Princeton. In his book On Bullshit, he establishes the premise that "spin" or b.s. is worse than lying for the person doing it, because in time they no longer know what is true or false but believe their made up series of not lies but fantasy versions of reality. Then this is a distorted version of reality for others to make decisions and bad for your soul!

The real helper here at Puerto Penasco, has been Susie Parker, Member Services. She has given us tips on use and potential rentals which I am going to work at. We enjoy our time-shares--and would anyone out there like to rent a suite with a kitchen and separate bedroom (sleeps 4) for a week or two on the ocean at Acapulco, Mazatlan, Cancun, Puerto Penasco, Puerto Vuerto, or Nuevo Vuerto?

For all of you whom I bought Christmas gifts for see picture of Harley Davidson pants at the top of this blog. These beautiful black stretch pants, with "Harley-Davidson" in rinestones across your bottom--could have been yours! Sadly, I did not think they would look quite right swinging down the street on anyone on my list.

Ethics and Time-Shares

This is Rafael (like the Archangel) in the truck. He sold us an upgrade of our Mayan Palace time- share in Puerto Penasco, Mexico, on Saturday with the promise of 1/2 off golf.

The only problem was, when we got to the Jack Nicklaus golf course they charged us a higher rate than promised the night before, and I did not have the $45 coupon from our check-in with us.

But Rafael drove in from the sales area and promised to "comp" our playing yesterday. Will he keep his word? Most people think we are crazy to spend so much of our vacation opportunities on time shares. We did play golf--(see picture above of my great shot on the final par 3 hole). And I found the coupon later. I will let you know tomorrow if they gave us the appropriate discount or even "comp-ed" the round!

Psalm 72:12-13 " For he shall deliver the poor who cries out in distress,

and the oppressed who has no helper.

He shall have pity on the lowly and poor;

he shall preserve the lives of the needy.

My Cat as a Priest

My cat, Hildegard of Bingen, is a Main Coon and basically runs our house.

Hildegard was an abbess who founded 2 convents in the mid-1100's. She was a mystic, visionary, and composer of music.

Her music, made popular by Anonymous Four, is a bit discordant, which is exactly the way our cat "sings."

The original Hildegard (whose saints day is September 17, about when our cat was born), never got to be a priest. So I thought it would be nice to get to see her feline image as a priest!

SS Youth Meet St. Francis

http://revpammulac.typepad.com/rev_pam_mulac/files/improvisational_drama_for_all_saints_day.docHere is an improvisational script I used with our 3rd--8th grade Sunday School class, to learn more about All Saints Day.

We had started the day learning the words and then singing--"I sing a Song of the Saints of God." My purpose was to introduce the youth to the idea that everyone could become a saint (and thus ascribe to this, over their lifetime.)

Then we read through the following script:file://improvisational_drama_for_all_saints_day.doc/

One youth wisely asked: "If you have to be dead to be a saint, how come the song said, 'you can meet them at school, or in lanes, or at sea, etc." Which baffled "St. Francis" and made me think about it. As saints are canonized after their death, but live saintly lives (known to God) while they are alive.

It was a fun skit, and I remember dramas and filmstrips from my youth, much better than lectures!