Gail Seidel's blog

The February edition of Latina magazine posted an article "Mothers Know Best". The article’s byline reads – “Latina moms reject new age parenting practices relying instead on the old-fashioned methods they learned from their elders: say no to sleepovers, make clothes call, teach respect, promote privacy, don’t spare the rod.”

While I am an evangelical protestant historically anchored in the Baptist and Anabaptist movements and am married to a man with deep German Lutheran roots, I have great appreciation for our Catholic brethren. In many ways we Protestants stand on the shoulders of the Catholic Church who kept the faith alive for centuries.

A lamb appears in God’s narrative toward the beginning, throughout and is present at the conclusion.  The lamb in Exodus 12: 1-13 was the sacrificial Passover lamb. One lamb was sacrificed for one family. If your family was small you might share a lamb with another small family. It was a real live lamb that was slaughtered.

When I asked the retreat speaker during my 15 min appointment with him - “how do you know if you are in love?”, I had no idea that 51 years later I would be writing a tribute about that speaker’s life.  Dr. Howard Hendricks was the speaker for our Campus Crusade for Christ retreat at the University of Texas. That was in the 60’s.

Today is Ash Wednesday - what exactly is this day? What are the origins? Is this something I should be aware of and participate in?

This day of repentance, which for many in the Western church marks the beginning of Lent, the 40-day period of fasting before Easter following the example of our Lord who spent 40 days in the desert to fast and pray (Matthew 4:1-11). 

On October 23, 2003 in New York’s Grand Central Terminal the StoryCorps Project was launched to celebrate the lives of the uncelebrated by giving people a chance to simply tell their story. A sound booth complete with proper lighting, a table, chairs and recording equipment was installed right in the middle of the station and the interviews began.

The Christmas story is not complete until the journey of the wise men is told. Their visit, celebrated on January 6, marks the end of the 12 days of Christmas and is also known in the church calendar as Epiphany – “the appearing”.

Advent demonstrates that God always keeps His promise, that He uses ordinary people to accomplish His purposes and that the Christmas story happened to real people like you and me.  

The stage is set.

Suddenly an angel appears to Zacharias right in the midst of performing his priestly duties.

The prophets Isaiah (Isa 7:14), Jeremiah (Jer 23:5-6), Micah (Micah 5:2) prophesied of a coming king, a predicted rescuer. The Jewish people longed for this king, this deliverer and they had been waiting, wanting, hoping for and anticipating Him for a long time.

400 years. SILENCE – not a word.

We should do this, right? Say Grace? This practice is most often associated with giving thanks before a meal - a simple thank you to God for all of our blessings, for family, for friends, for God's provisions. Especially at Thanksgiving we do this - why?

FOMO – ever heard  of it – this new acronym that’s being tossed around in the current sociological conversation? FOMO? Is it a new ecological agency in the administration in Washington? The name for latest hair product, a new insect repellant, a warranty seal on your new air conditioner?

American adults receive 16,000 sensory images per day.

 In the year 2000 – it was estimated that: a new web site was created every 2 seconds; new products every 30 minutes; and world’s knowledge doubled every 18 months…no doubt these statistics have escalated in the last 12 years.

It seems pretty silly, mundane and almost embarrassing, that 4 months of house chaos would create such internal chaos when considering it in light of the bigger scheme of life. No one died. No one has cancer. My husband has not lost his job.

The growing ground swell of concerned believers calling for prayer for our country caught my attention this week. I often feel like I am only one person and what can I do? After getting my friend’s invitation to join her in this prayer effort, I decided there is something I can do and it has strong biblical precedent.

Two emails we received this week caught my attention from individuals struggling with life threatening cancer. One of them with a bone marrow transplant and the other dealing with another tumor just when they hoped the cancer was being defeated.

On this day in 1776 the delegates to the Continental Congress signed the Declaration of Independence. With that signing our country was born. Today we celebrate America’s birthday.

On this day I am grateful today for:
-    the pursuit of freedom for self governance and worship our country was founded on

Last week, to celebrate one of our granddaughter’s 16th birthday, my husband and I spent 4 days in our nation’s capitol. Accompanied by her 13 year old sister and armed with their googled lists of “must sees” in Washington, we hit the ground running each morning hardly stopping until we fell in bed at night grateful for sleep.

A friend emailed me this week commenting on how much she is looking forward to the summer break. "I do want to slow down this summer and catch my breath.  Maybe even read a little in some of the books I have under my bed! "

Walking the 3 miles from our house to Al’s Formal wear seemed like the best option.I needed to return my son’s tux from the high school prom and I needed time to process the present situation and clear my head.

Once the tunnels are dug the men can begin to squeeze through them to start the insertion of 11 steel piers under our foundation. To raise the sinking middle of our house’s foundation they have to get the dirt out before they can begin the restoration process...

I have a long distance friend who makes a choice every day to be grateful in spite of huge personal losses and the diagnosis of a serious, debilitating disease. Her commitment to gratitude has caught my attention.

We’ve been talking about how our souls get depleted and starved if we are too busy to notice or pay attention. If we are frantically living in the fast lane functioning like everything is a crisis we miss out. Our souls get cluttered if we do not maintain good “housekeeping” techniques.

The exit ramp for souls starved by activism is slowing. Slowing? How will I get anywhere if I do that? How will THE LIST get completed if I don’t work as quickly as I can?

Arthur Michael Ramsey (1904-1988) who used this phrase argued that there was not enough quiet in the world. He loved spaces and places of silence. As the 100th Archbishop of Canterbury in England (1961-1974) toward the end of one millennia he advocated a life style that seemed out of step with the coming techno-savy, fast moving new millennium.

A few days before 2012 began a fairly random thought invaded my mind. What would my life be like without the indwelling Holy Spirit? As I followed the progression of this thought, here is what happened. I began to wonder how entering the New Year would be impacted by this reality – no Holy Spirit.

I would be operating totally on my own resources.

After the angel spoke to Joseph in a dream assuring him that he could take Mary as his wife because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit, the text of Matthew 1:22-23 reads, “All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet. The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son and they will call him Emmanuel – which means, “God with us”.

When the angel Gabriel appeared to the young woman Mary she had no warning. He came unannounced to this small town, Nazareth, in the region of Galilee and spoke directly to Mary, a virgin who was pledged to marry to Joseph, a descendant of King David.

Can you imagine?

The front page headlines November 23, 2011 from The Dallas Morning News read - “Thanksgiving means big crowds, big business  - holiday headaches”; section E – “GIVE THANKS - for 26 last-minute tips to streamline the big meal.”

Really? Is this all Thanksgiving is about?

Listen up! Pay attention, look at me…speak a little louder. I can’t hear you. What did you say? Huh? Hey, what did you say? I can’t believe you said that… did I hear you correctly? Pardon me. What? Please say it one more time…again?

In earlier periods of church history it was common to have individuals serving as care givers of the soul. Cura animarum was the common Latin phrase connoting “cure” and “care” which described those who came alongside of others in their spiritual pilgrimage.