#4: “Only the Informed Can Act” Really? What if…

Posted on July 10, 2023 by Karen Thomas Olsen

Amazing. I am overwhelmed at all the ideas and information I encounter daily. You know I spend a fair amount of time reading. And I listen to some podcasts. I also listen to some news on various outlets. But reading is my main avenue of information.

Here are some of the books I’m in the middle of reading:

…

Yesterday, I was reading The Origins of Sectarian Protestantism, subtitled ” A Study of the Anabaptist View of the Church.” My religious heritage is the Brethren, originating in 1708 in Schwarzenau, Germany. The Brethren were influenced by the Roman Catholic, Reformed (Lutheran and Presbyterian), Anabaptist, and Radical Pietist elements of the universal church. So, I pulled out my two volume Brethren Encyclopedia and spent hours in them reading.

 

…

I inherited The Brethren Encyclopedia from my father, the author of that poem, “Suppose” (included in my post from May).  I was amazed at what I found inside these books. No, I should not have been surprised. What I found was just what I should have expected. My dad added lots of highlighting, commentary, photographs, and articles.

In his retirement years, besides writing sermons and poetry, my dad wrote letters to elected officials and submitted many “letters to the editor” of the local newspaper which were printed in the Findlay Courier (Findlay, Ohio). He wrote these letters for the editorial page for years, and we heard about them (mostly positive responses) from family and friends. I’ve often wished that we had paid more attention to this. We were busy living our own lives, and I don’t remember reading dad’s submissions. I found a number of them taped inside the encyclopedia volumes. I want to share one of them with you today that fits perfectly with my current JNC series. Dated March 30, 1984, it is entitled “Bible Reading Needed For Freedom.”

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Categories: Education, Grandparenting, Parenting, Perspectives on Culture | Tags: , , , | 4 Comments

#3: From Trans to Trans: Getting Involved in the Transformative Activity of the Gospel

Posted on June 8, 2023 by Karen Thomas Olsen

In the midst of the messy times in which we live, I have so much encouragement to pass on to you today! Let the exclamation point communicate anticipation and excitement!

(Confident in their Creator, these tall irises transform our front yard.)

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This is the third in a series dealing with certain, current social issues and some needed, biblical responses. I began with a contrast between the trans movement of today and the ancient, biblical trans movement of Christ-transformation. Then, through my father’s poem, “Suppose,” we considered what life would be like if Jesus had never entered human history, observing that the world in which our children live today is rather like that “suppose He never came” world. For many, such supposing is so. Sigh.

But Christ did come, fulfilling Old Testaments promises and bringing us hope.

I concluded the previous post by reminding us of Jesus’ proclamation in the synagogue at the beginning of His ministry when He read aloud from the Isaiah scroll:

The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me because He anointed Me to preach the Gospel to the poor.

He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind,

to set free those who are downtrodden, to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord.”

Luke 4:18-19

Closing the scroll, with all eyes fixed on him, Jesus explained:

 “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing” (verse 21).

 I concluded:

“Today. Today is the worst of times; today is the best of times. Today is the “favorable year of the Lord.”

Let us seek Him.”

In this worst-best of times, I ask in today’s post, how can we help hurting people find Him who is seeking them?

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Categories: Dr. A.A. Hodge, Education, Grandparenting, Parenting, Perspectives on Culture | Tags: , , , , | 8 Comments

#2: Suppose

Posted on May 13, 2023 by Karen Thomas Olsen

I’ve never done this before, but it’s time.  For twelve years I’ve written all the articles for this blog, Journey North Character. I’ve never re-posted an article, but I am today, adding a bit at the opening and closing to connect it to our new series. I’ll also add a photo.

Last month I began a new series dealing with some current social issues and biblical responses, by juxtaposing the trans movement with transformation in Christ. Now there’s a contrast.

I published the following post on June 22, 2014, entitling it “The Rest of Dad’s Poem.” Paul and I lived in Prescott Valley, Arizona then. Sigh (memories).

***

I’ve been sitting on my recliner, reading my father’s poetry and his grandfather’s poetry. My dad — Marion R. Thomas. My great-grandfather — Daniel Driver Thomas. I never met Daniel Driver, but I heard about him from my father. Dad loved and respected his family members. Dad loved and enjoyed God’s world.

Marion Thomas, age 81. Picture taken by his oldest grandchild, Amanda, when she was taking a photography class at our community college. Note the knit cap he often wore in his latter years when he was cold.

I even found a poem he wrote entitled, ” Come, Celebrate Grass” ( 40 lines about his lawn, written around 1987).  [Another poem he wrote, which I think will connect well with our new series on current social issues, is Dad’s poem entitled “Suppose” written in the 1940’s when Dad was in his 20s.] Here it is. Continue reading →

Categories: Education, Parenting, Perspectives on Culture, Spiritual Growth | Tags: , | 6 Comments

#1: Isaiah, Jesus, and Whatevermike

Posted on April 22, 2023 by Karen Thomas Olsen

I read. I listen. I compare. Hmm. What are the meanings of their messages? Can one discern?

Whose messages?

Isaiah, the Prophet, as he “hears the word of the Lord,” Jesus, the Christ, as He hears the word of the Lord through Isaiah, and Whatevermike, as he hears the word and anti-words of another god.

Ahh. I have distinguished already differing deities. If the messages are from the one and same “god,” then we will interpret the meaning and consider applications differently than we would if the messages are sourced in separate “gods.”

Where is this world headed? Who is at the helm?

I am currently reading the book of Isaiah. During the season leading up to Resurrection Sunday, I was nourished by the New Testament gospels. Isaiah lived probably 700 years before Christ. His writings, ancient to the Son of Man (but not to the I AM of John 8:58), present Christ’s calling card:

“The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor” (Isaiah 61:1-2a; compare to Luke 4:19-20).

How privileged we are to have the Scriptures, to be able to read them and hear them taught. I have not been sheltered from the Bible. God’s Word has not been canceled from my sight or hearing. But the Word has been sidelined in our society, as you well know.  In the public square it has been ridiculed, maligned, disdained, and largely rejected. Yet, its voice is not extinguished. Like invisible sound waves, its truths penetrate, rumbling beneath our feet.

What is the spirit of this age? Whose spirit is upon whom?

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Categories: Education, Parenting, Perspectives on Culture, Spiritual Growth | Tags: , | 4 Comments

For Your Progress and Joy in the Faith

Posted on March 13, 2023 by Karen Thomas Olsen

You’ll find this phrase, “for your progress and joy in the faith,” in the middle of a Pauline passage, Philippians 1: 21-26, which needs to be read within the context of the entire, little epistle.

It is true that I did not post anything in the month of February. I have a draft that I never finished, and I’m not going to use it. I am starting with a fresh focus today that has been simmering in my mind recently, and it awoke me this morning: “for your progress and joy in the faith.” Such an intriguing thought nested within Paul’s themes.

I found this picture at the Good Samaritan Mission. It fits perfectly with the class I taught there called A Traveler’s Guide through Suffering and Joy.

Though a fresh focus, it fits well with my last post, my January post, which caused a number of you to contact me personally via email, phone, and even by card through the postal system! I felt a need to be more personal, because it is easy for us to simplify, unintentionally, those people who write or speak, because we do not see them in their contexts. So I gave you a bit more of my context. Thank you for your caring touches.

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Categories: A Personal Note, Spiritual Growth | Tags: , | 6 Comments

Like Sea Waves: A Personal Note

Posted on January 22, 2023 by Karen Thomas Olsen

After returning to Indiana from a six week snowbird trip to Florida last March, I began a downhill slump that didn’t begin to turn upward until October. What happened?

I think I need to be more personal with you. So, today’s post will differ in tone and content from most of my posts. No explorations into Noah Webster’s original dictionary. No quotation from an obscure theologian. No fascinating dives into word etymologies and usages. No book reviews. But I will include photos! We need their encouragement.

At Spanish Springs in The Villages of Florida.

Paul and I returned to Florida a month ago now. We plan, Lord willing, to stay until mid-March. But we may be moved to change our plans.

My perspectives and attitudes did move last year, surging like sea waves on the beach, crescendoing and then receding. Signifying what?

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Categories: A Personal Note | Tags: , , | 2 Comments

A Story Told: The Cosmic Adventure

Posted on December 15, 2022 by Karen Thomas Olsen

A story told is the breaking of the silence.

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1).

“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1).

“He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being” (John 1:2-3).

 “Before the foundations of the world, He chose us in Him… in love” (Ephesians 1: 4).

“In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men.  The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it” (John 1:4-5).

 

After brunch we read one chapter to the children and adults.

In the breaking of the silence, as in the breaking of bread, a story is told to nurture the life of the world.

Man shall not live by fact alone.

Here’s the way for a nana to live, and I’m looking more like her each year!

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Is Atheism Dead? – Eric Metaxas Replies

Posted on October 13, 2022 by Karen Thomas Olsen

Is atheism dead?

It is easy to observe in secularized societies that atheism — “no-Godism” is the practical presumption (the underlying, working worldview), opening big doors to “yes-godisms” — the innovative idol-making-machines of millions of human hearts in search of meaning. If you don’t devise your own gods, then the obvious meaninglessness of existence settles in to destroy you – nihilism. What’s the point of living?

In 2021 Eric Metaxas published a book of 403 pages by this title, Is Atheism Dead? I included it in my list of books to review this year in my Roaming Reader series.

I’m sorry to take so long to get to this book! In the meantime, Eric has come out with another book, a mere 139 pages, entitled Letter to the American Church. Pastor Erwin W. Lutzer writes that Metaxas’ new book “is like a bucket of cold water thrown into the face of a sleeping church.”

I ordered it and added it to our small stack of Eric’s work. Metaxas is a prolific writer as well as a radio host, international speaker, host of “Socrates in the City”, and cultural-political commentator. He has written three, significant, biographical tomes, one on Martin Luther, another on William Wilberforce, and a volume on Dietrich Bonhoeffer. He’s written humor (which flavors most of his writing and speaking), children’s books, scripts for Veggie Tales, and articles appearing in many magazines.*1

403 fascinating pages.

His December 25, 2014 op-ed in the Wall Street Journal, entitled “Science Increasingly Makes the Case for God,” became the most popular article in the history of WSJ. *2  You will find two links to this article below. (If you can’t read the book, at least read this article. I suspect that you will appreciate it and will be encouraged.) The huge response to the article spurred him to invest much time and work to write Is Atheism Dead?.

The WSJ article begins:

“In 1966 Time magazine ran a cover story asking: “Is God Dead?” Many have accepted the cultural narrative that he’s obsolete– that as science, progresses, there is less need for a “God” to explain the universe. Yet it turns out that the rumors of God’s death were premature. More amazing is that the relatively recent case for his existence comes from a surprising place —science itself.”

“As science progresses, there is less need for a “God” to explain the universe”? This sets up his 2021 book, Is Atheism Dead?.

Metaxas lists five challenges to the “secular consensus” of God’s death, which have become clearer and louder over the years since 1966 — most of which many publishers and pundits prefer to overlook and avoid (a kind of censoring?). Metaxas speaks out. Here are the five challenges his text develops.

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Categories: Christian Reader, The Roaming Reader | Tags: , , , | Leave a comment

Witnessing the Witness of Queen Elizabeth II

Posted on September 23, 2022 by Karen Thomas Olsen

Much has been discussed recently regarding the memorializing, mourning, and burying of Queen Elizabeth II. Most of us were attuned, in varying degrees, through the services of technology, to the unfolding of events since her passing on September 8 . I too followed along. Watching both the state funeral at Westminster Abbey and the committal service at St. George’s Chapel on Monday, September 19, one particular item (among numerous fascinations) caught and maintained my attention.

Each attendee held a copy of the Order of Service and followed along.

The Order of Service.

I listened. I observed. I watched people reading or singing from the substantial bulletin. The speakers read their contributions from the printed liturgy.  Every word appeared scripted. (Even the funeral sermon, not printed in the liturgy, is printed and available online.) But what was the content? What was the focus? What was the meaning? And who may have believed it? Who will believe it?

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Categories: Biography, Christian Reader, The Roaming Reader | Tags: , , , | 2 Comments

Picking Two Books (Back to The Roaming Reader Series)

Posted on August 26, 2022 by Karen Thomas Olsen

I have two, excellent books to tell you about today. You may never read them, but you may be glad to know about them. Maybe you will want to pick up one of them. No matter, I hope you’ll find some encouragement, enjoyment, and even inspiration from this post.

Paul has been picking                                           climbing cucumbers in our raised-bed gardens. Fun, fun! So is picking a good book to read.

I began The Roaming Reader series in March while still in Florida.* I  interrupted the series in the last three posts in order to respond to some questions from a reader. Now, we need to get back to the list of eight books that I picked for discussion. In March through May, I focused four posts on just two books. Today, I want to consider two more books. Since I”m looking at two in one post, this roaming reader will shorten her leash!

Which books on the list did I pick for today?

One fiction: A Gentleman in Moscow, by Amor Towles (2016).

One nonfiction: Liturgy of the Ordinary, by Tish Harrison Warren (2016).

Within these selections, what do we find?

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Categories: Christian Reader, The Roaming Reader | Tags: , , , | 5 Comments

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