Ministry

George Washington, first president of the United States of America.

It is the 4th of July.  It is a day of celebration in the United States, where the role of religion in American public life has been and will continue to be a matter of debate. I’ve written about this before in an article about the Separation of Church and State. The “founding fathers” were a remarkably diverse group with a variety of perspectives, both religious and non-religious. George Washington believed religion and morality were “indispensable supports” for “political prosperity”. Other founding fathers had different views.

From George Washington’s Farewell Address - 1796:

“Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of patriotism, who should labor to subvert these great pillars of human happiness, these firmest props of the duties of men and citizens. The mere politician, equally with the pious man, ought to respect and to cherish them. A volume could not trace all their connections with private and public felicity. Let it simply be asked: Where is the security for property, for reputation, for life, if the sense of religious obligation desert the oaths which are the instruments of investigation in courts of justice ? And let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion. Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined education on minds of peculiar structure, reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle. . . . .

“Observe good faith and justice towards all nations; cultivate peace and harmony with all. Religion and morality enjoin this conduct; and can it be, that good policy does not equally enjoin it ? It will be worthy of a free, enlightened, and at no distant period, a great nation, to give to mankind the magnanimous and too novel example of a people always guided by an exalted justice and benevolence. Who can doubt that, in the course of time and things, the fruits of such a plan would richly repay any temporary advantages which might be lost by a steady adherence to it ? Can it be that Providence has not connected the permanent felicity of a nation with its virtue ? The experiment, at least, is recommended by every sentiment which ennobles human nature. Alas! is it rendered impossible by its vices?”

Source: The Avalon Project at Yale Law School

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Cemetery, The Presidio, San Francisco, California. Photo © Jim Doty, Jr.

Memorial Day began unofficially in a variety of places as people felt the need to recognize those who gave their lives in the Civil War. Memorial Day was officially declared on May 5, 1868, when General John Logan of the Grand Army of the Republic ordered a day of observance when all Union and Confederate Graves at Arlington National Cemetery would be decorated with flowers on May 30, 1868. One state after another adopted May 30 as a Memorial Day observance until all of the Northern states had adopted May 30 by 1890. Many Southern states had picked different days to honor the Confederate dead.

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Freedom from Want - Painting © Norman Rockwell

When I was growing up, we spent many a Thanksgiving and Christmas at grandpa’s house. Thanksgiving was a much anticipated and happy time. We would often leave Pueblo on Wednesday afternoon after dad got home from work. It was a long 7 hour drive to Haxtun in those pre-interstate highway days, so it would be really late by the time we arrived.

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Robert Alter, a professor of Hebrew at the University of California Berkeley, created a new translation of Psalms with brief commentary, published as The Book of Psalms. Some of his renditions are sure to raise eyebrows.

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Photo © Jim Doty Jr.

SPECline Friday,

Well it has come and gone – the last day of 2007 SPECTACULAR. It has been an awesome week. Like all good things it’s with mixed emotions I write this last column. It’s such a Xanadu kind of place that I hate to see it end – and yet I am ready to go home.

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Hip-Hop Extravaganza. Photo © Jim Doty Jr.

SPEC photo albums are online at ImageEvent.com/JimDoty and also at Flickr.com/photos/JimDoty.
Due to travel commitments immediately after SPEC, the final SPEC albums will not appear until the week of August 20. Come back then and check out the rest of the photos.

Due to several requests, prints of SPEC photos will be available to SPEC participants and their families. The cost is $10 per 8×10 plus shipping. For more information, send an e-mail. Be sure and put “SPEC photos” in the subject line of your email.

Photo © Jim Doty Jr.

SPECline Thursday,

Good morning readers. The week just seems to be racing by. I can’t believe the adventure is about to end. Thursday was the second sleep-in day, and most folks took advantage of the extra hour sleep. The days are getting hotter and the nights aren’t cooling down like at the beginning of the week. Your reporter misses Colorado.

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Morning Celebration. Photo © Jim Doty Jr.

SPECline Wednesday (really),

No this isn’t a repeat, this one really does talk about Wednesday. Sorry about the glitch yesterday. Hope you all finally received your copy. Today, along with the usual regular and Spanish scrambles eggs and potatoes, we also had French Toast. Big thick Texas type bread dipped and fried. Boy was it good. And of course one of my favorites – pineapple on the fruit bar. And the strawberries are wonderful also. There’s cantaloupe, honey dew, and grapes too.

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Photo © Jim Doty Jr.

SPECline Tuesday,

This reporter is very grateful for the words of encouragement. Thanks. Today is one of two days each year lovingly called “sleep-in days.” There is no morning celebration and so the campers get an extra hour of sleep. Breakfast is also later so the ones of us who don’t or can’t sleep in have to wait for breakfast. Today we had eggs, sausage patties, special potatoes, fruit, juice milk and cinnamon rolls hot and sticky. Sin on a plate.

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Evening. Photo © Jim Doty Jr.

SPECline Monday,

Sorry if I threw you off yesterday with the heading. I was hoping for a Dateline Sunday sort of feel and how I picked Wednesday instead of Sunday I don’t know. Also I was waiting for my roommate to wake up so I could finish the sentence about the girls playing softball with us - and I forgot to add it before I went to press. They are from Oklahoma.

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David Brock. Photo © Jim Doty Jr.

SPECline Wednesday

What if the question is more important than the answer? When is the process more important than the conclusion? What if the wrestle itself brings us more than the actual outcome? Is doubt every better than faith? Different ways of asking the same question.

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One of the members of the band, “Emery”. Photo © Jim Doty Jr.

Hello All,

Well the first day of SPEC is in the can, as they say - it’s a wrap. The band Emery is soothing the campers to sleep even as we speak. You may even hear the sound and feel the vibrations as you read. The boys from the Rockies will be here shortly, and your roving reporter will try to bring some closure and focus to the day with evening devotions. Wish me luck.

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Class, SPEC 2006. Photo © Jim Doty Jr.

Hello Faithful Readers,

It’s hot! hot! hot! The sunflowers are gorgeous. And the corn is “as high as an elephants eye.” It must be time for SPEC. You’re right; it is a week early. This reporter is not sure why, but if I find out I will let you know.

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SPEC Reports for 2007 will be posted at two sites, this site and at spec2007.blogspot.com.

SPEC 2007 photo albums will appear here. If you are reading this long after SPEC, scroll down to July 2007. SPEC photo albums will also be posted here.

The news article is at Beliefnet.