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Grief is the experience of coping with loss, or the acute pain that accompanies the loss of someone or something that has occupied a space in our lives, our hearts. Why, then, did the term ‘good grief” arise? How might we acquaint grief with something good? The phrase may have originated as an explanation in a short story by Raymond Chandler in the late 1930’s. It then began to appear in the 1940’s in other writings. However, it began became more common in the 1950’s and 1960’s when used by Charles Schultz in his popular comic strip. We a...
Will you agree that living in the North Platte Valley is an honor and a privilege? Perhaps you have never thought of it before. We are so privileged to breathe clean air, to be in a place where a large variety of birds – water birds, song birds, and birds of prey – can be seen and heard daily. Deer are free to wander through the town, though not everyone thinks of this as a blessing. We do not suffer traffic jams or road rage, and the wait at the grocery store is seldom long, and there are always wonderful people to chat with in case of a del...
I was raised in a traditional church, a liturgical church in which the seasons of the church year were practiced: Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, Easter, Pentecost now termed Ordinary Time. The altar and pulpit were draped with cloths representing the colors of the seasons: blue or purple for Advent, Green for Epiphany, purple for Lent, Red for the day of Pentecost and green again for that long period of time from Pentecost to Advent. White adorned the altar on through the seasons of Christmas and Easter. While the observance of these...
I have the privilege of being the officiant at two weddings this July, and this has provided the inspiration to meditate on, pray on, and research weddings through the ages. As we remember, Jesus very first miracle was turning water into wine at a wedding feast! Other that having barrels of wine, we wonder what other traditions surrounded an ancient Jewish wedding. The Jewish family would have been very familiar with the Hebrew Scriptures and would have known Genesis 2:18, 22, “The Lord God said, ’It is not good for the man to be alone. I wil...