2010 Census

Check all that apply:

( ) Hispanic Origin
( ) Japanese
( ) Chinese
( ) Korean
( ) Vietnamese
( ) Indonesian
( ) Pacific Islander
( ) Indian
( ) A Country ending in Stan
( ) Persian
( ) Arab
( ) Egyptian
( ) Native American (Specify Tribe)
( ) African American
( ) Mediterranean European
( ) Other
( ) White-bread

I'm last again.

Jesus

"The truth of the matter is that I am motivated by scholarly interest to learn as much as I can about Jesus, but at the same time being a practicing Jew and not a Christian, I am independent of any church. I readily admit, however, that I personally identify myself with Jesus' Jewish weltanschauung, both moral and political, and I believe that the content of his teachings and the approach he embraced have always had the potential to change our world and prevent the greatest part of evil and suffering."
- David Flusser

Happy St. Urho's Day

A great thing about America is that we are so diverse that we are willing to celebrate holidays from other countries. We drink Margaritas and eat Mexican food on Cinco De Mayo, Corned Beef and Cabbage and drink Guniess for St. Pat's Day, and Hamburgers and Sam Adams for the 4th of July.
The thing that makes us great also makes us ridiculous. How many of us actually are Irish, Mexican, or American yet we still celebrate the respective holidays.
So in honor of all of the nationalities that are left out and because half of my blood is from Finland I wish you all a St. Urho's Day.
Despite the fact that over 80% of Finland is Lutheran and the other 20% is non-religious and therefore no feasts of the Saints are actually recognized, some Finnish people have created this glorious day. It is on this day that we celebrate St. Urho's feat of chasing frogs out of Finland and presumably all the way to the Vatican so that the frogs will not eat all of the mosquitos.( I made up the last part about mosquitos but judging from the upper mid-west, this must be the truth).
On this day we drink "feelia sour" which is sour whole milk (again probably taken from Minnesota dairy farmers) and we eat "kala mojaka" which is fish soup.
It is conveniently celebrated on March 16th because the food is one step better than boiled meat of the Irish Peasants. So enjoy the day and remember the Finnish people that have also brought us ice fishing, cribbage, snow, and full-bodied thermal underwear with buttons in the butt. Kippis!

Celebrate the Resurrection?

After working on church staffs for many years I have been a part of tons of worshipful Easter Sundays and tons of less worshipful ones. Something happens to church planners when we think of the possibility of more people than usual attending our services. For some reason, many churches decide that this should be a day dedicated to entertainment in order to help the less committed feel comfortable in church.

Two Questions:
Does this create a problem in light of the old theory of "how you win them is how you keep them" comes up.

When thinking of Easter Sunday, is this a day when we should cater to the masses in hopes of attracting a few new converts or is this a day for the devoted to celebrate the love the Savior has for us all?