Glendale Church of the Brethren

Tuesday Movie Night at 7pm – “MoneyBall” & the “Muppets”

Jan 31st, 2012 by pastorjohn | Comments Off

MoneyBall will be shown in he Fellowship Hall at 7pm, and then we will have a brief theological reflection after the movie. The Muppets will be shown in the Youth Room.

Everyone is welcome to this Free Event

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Christmas Duet by Tom and Christine with Jonas on flute and Elya on Piano

Dec 26th, 2011 by pastorjohn | Comments Off

Follow this Link to see the Video on Tube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZAULS7DKEoQ&list=UUql_9-KVhxF0IiW1n-VdPug&index=1&feature=plcp

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All Church Christmas Photo – 2011

Dec 24th, 2011 by pastorjohn | Comments Off

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euthanasia

Nov 16th, 2011 by pastorjohn | Comments Off

I was on a hospice board and a head hospice chaplain for a number of years. The following are my personal observations about end of life decision making.

None of us knows how our life will end. Many people today would like to go quietly and quick in their sleep. The idea that some would die without having a chance to say “good bye” to loved and friends would have been considered a curse not that long ago.

As a pastor I have observed that those who choose to assist in caring for a loved one who is dying does better with grief then those who stay away. I have heard people say: “I don’t want to see him/her near death, I would rather remember him/her healthy.” Yet those who do so (stay away) are unhealthily affected by grief long after the person has passed away. Also, when you are caring for a loved who is dying, it is almost like you “pre-grieve.” I say this because when the time comes to let the loved one go you are sad, but you also have a sense of relief because you would not want to continue to let them suffer when there is no longer any reasonable hope for recovery.

This brings us to euthanasia and living wills. A few points I would like to make:

1) Living Wills cannot cover every contingency So you may have a great living will but it might not cover your situation. There is also difference between your Living Will being in the chart and being IN the chart. Sometimes your Living Will will be in the chart, but the medical professionals will ignore it. Thus it is key to have someone designated (legally) to make sure your wishes are carried out. I have seen doctors continue “life saving” procedures just so it will look good in court, even when the patient has made it clear that they do not wish to have these procedures.

2) Doctors take a medical oath to do no harm, thus many would argue that doctors cannot assist in euthanasia.

3) Many people can become despondent (depressed) when facing terrible pain. A perfectly reasonable patient can “wish” for death to escape current pain, even though the long term prognosis is still not certain. Yet if the patiet can become “cured,” the pain (which currently the patient cannot tolerate) in six months will only be a distant memory. Also, many people underestimate the amount of discomfort they can deal with in life. For instance, I would absolutely hate to be confined to a wheel chair (“I would rather die”) yet many people live rich and fulfilling lives even if they are permanently confined to a wheel chair.

I think it is dangerous for a caregiver, and/or patient to make end of life decisions on his/her own. These end of life decisions, I believe, are made best in a team approach where doctors, nurses, social workers, family, and clergy (if the person is of faith) discern the best course of action – this is especially true if the patient no longer is able to be cogent.

My reading of the Bible tells me that life isn’t so much “sacred” as it is a “gift” from God. I believe we have a moral responsibility to care for and take care of that gift. However, since life is a gift from God, it is only natural that it will someday return to God. Thus the point is not to extend life beyond all reasonable means, but to live your life in a manner in which would give witness to your respect and gratitude for the life you have been given.

As a Christian, it would be hard to me to see how it would be God’s will to take active measures to end a person’s life. Yet, I see absolutely nothing wrong with not giving food, medication, and medical procedures (or maybe even going out on a ice flow) when (given all the stipulations above) have been adequately met. People think starvation (not putting in a feeding tube) is cruel, actually, when the body lacks nutrition – it goes into a kind of stasis (blood pressure, pulse are all normal – until the time of death). Even pneumonia is considered the “old man’s friend” because it eased the transition to death.

The great point is that today is not the day of our death…it is a day to appreciate life here on God’s Good Green Earth.

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Biblical Authority

Nov 13th, 2011 by pastorjohn | Comments Off

We may not be on the same page, but we are reading from the same book

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Family Circus

Nov 10th, 2011 by pastorjohn | Comments Off

John Christine Found-Jackson

During my college years I was a Communications Major and a Linguistics Minor.For my “Minor” I took a class on Transformational Grammar that focused
on Noam Chomsky and how he transformed the theory of linguistics from
a structuralist approach (
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Structuralism) to a Transformative
Generative Approach to language.

This is a long way to say that in this class we discussed and analyzed
Bill Keane’s comic strips which (many) were based on actual
“children’s mistakes” with English Grammar and also what constituted
humor.

Children’s grammatical “mistakes” are actually them trying to make
logical sense out of the illogical English Language. (
http://www.familycircus.com/) and thus they apply rules universally.
Some of the best examples are – We Didn’t Do It! or I Had A
Frightmare! or Sing me a loveaby!

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Life and Death

Nov 7th, 2011 by pastorjohn | Comments Off

“I am not afraid of death, and thus I am not afraid to live.” – Pastor John Jackson

“I’m not afraid to die / I’m not afraid to live.” - U2 “Kite”

“Life is difficult. This is a great truth, one of the greatest truths. It is a great truth because once we truly see this truth, we transcend it. Once we truly know that life is difficult – once we truly understand and accept it – then life is no longer difficult. Because once it is accepted, the fact that life is difficult no longer matters.” M. Scott Peck “The Road Less Traveled”

From Star Trek: The Next Generation – episode “The Neutral Zone.” 1988

[Crusher reports about 'Sonny' Clemonds's extensive drug abuse in his earlier life]

Capt. Picard: Sounds like someone who hated life. Yet he had himself frozen, presumably so he could go through it all again.

Doctor Beverly Crusher: Too afraid to life, too scared to die.

“For me to live is Christ, and to die gain.” – The Apostle Paul

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