He was born in Ulm, a city situated on the Danube River.  His father was a salesman and engineer; who along with his uncle founded an electrical engineering company in Munich.  His mother was a quiet woman, well educated, who had a penchant toward the arts and played the piano. At the age of five she insisted her son begin violin lessons.  Although he was born into a Jewish family, they were non-observant Jews so he attended a Catholic elementary school until the age of ten.

It would appear this young boy’s insatiable inquisitiveness nature was awakened when he was still quite young; he was fond of retelling this story to anyone who would listen: "I encountered a wonder of such a kind as a child of 4 or 5 years when my father showed me a compass. That this needle behaved in such a determined way did not fit into the way of incidents at all which could find a place in the unconscious vocabulary of concepts (action connected with “touch”).  I still remember – or I think I do – that this incident has left with me a deep impression.  There must have been something behind things that was deeply hidden. To things which man sees from childhood on in front of him he does not respond to in such a way, he does not wonder about the falling of bodies, about wind and rain, not about the moon nor about the moon not falling down and not about the difference between the animate and inanimate."  The young boy was none other than Albert Einstein.   

In May of 2009 the United Methodist began a new campaign called: Rethink Church.   The catchphrase used to express this campaign is: Rethink Church: What if Church was a Verb.  My English dictionary gives me all kinds of information on the function of a verb in a sentence.  The important thing to remember is that every subject in a sentence must have a verb.  Without a verb you will have written a fragment, a major writing error. To keep things simple for this illustration some verbs put static objects into motion while other verbs help to clarify the objects in meaningful ways.  Put another way the “Rethink Church” means the church (a noun, an object, the subject) needs to stop being stationary and be enthusiastically involved in ministry.

I was invited by the Brookville Indiana American Legion and the VFW to give the annual Memorial Day address for 2010.  What follows is the address.
Thank you for taking the time today to pause and honor the memory of the men and women who gave their lives so that we may be free. 

As many of you know Memorial Day was officially proclaimed on May 5th, 1868 by General John Logan, national commander of the Grand Army of the Republic, and was first observed on May 30th 1868, when flowers were placed on the graves of Union and Confederate soldiers at Arlington National Cemetery.  Today marks the 142nd observance of this solemn day.  Some people might consider the dedication of the Gettysburg National cemetery on November 19th, 1863 as the forerunner to Memorial Day.  It was there that Abraham Lincoln delivered his most famous speech, the Gettysburg Address.  When I was in grade school we had to learn the Gettysburg Address.  It was the last part of this speech that has stuck with me all these years.

1.  IN the latter end of the year 1739, eight or ten persons came to me in London, who appeared to be deeply convinced of sin, and earnestly groaning for redemption. They desired (as did two or three more the next day) that I would spend some time with them in prayer, and advise them how to flee from the wrath to come; which they saw continually hanging over their heads. That we might have more time for this great work, I appointed a day when they might all come together, which from thenceforward they did every week, namely, on Thursday, in the evening.

In adulthood he stood about five feet ten inches high, broad shouldered and athletic.  It was said his eye was brilliant and had in it the `muse of fire.'  He wore his hair cued, with side curls, and powdered; he was very clean and he looked like a gentleman of the old French school.  He was born in Thetford England.  His parents, Joseph, a corseter by trade, was a Quaker and mother Frances an Anglican were poor.  By the age of 12 he had failed school—so he began apprenticing for his father, but he failed that also.  At 19 he enlisted as a privateer and went to sea. This too didn't last long.  Returning to Britain he married Mary Lambert and establishing a stay-maker shop; his business collapsed soon after and his wife Mary and child died in childbirth.  He found work as an excise officer twice and was fired twice.  He married Elizabeth Ollive and opened a tobacco shop and it failed; he separated from his wife and moved to London.  It looked as if failure was to be his lot in life.  But circumstance and providence was about to smile on him.  A friend introduced him to Benjamin Franklin, who suggested he immigrate to the colonies.  So on November 30, 1774, he arrived in Philadelphia—America—amidst a tremendous amount of anti-British sentiment and cry for independence.  

Six years ago the movie The Passion of the Christ was released on Ash Wednesday, February 25, 2004. The film received mixed reviews from critics.  Critics praised the performance of Jim Caviezel as Jesus.  The June 2006 issue of Entertainment Weekly named The Passion of the Christ the most controversial film of all time.  Syndicated Film critic Roger Ebert gave the film four out of four stars.  However, reviewer David Edelstein called it "a two-hour-and-six-minute snuff movie" (a motion picture genre that depicts the actual death or murder of a person or people, for the express purpose of distribution and entertainment or financial exploitation).  The New York Daily News’ Jami Bernard called it the most virulently anti-Semitic movie made since the German propaganda films of World War II; and Rotten Tomatoes (and aggregator movie review web site) reported that 50 percent of critics gave the film positive reviews; with the consensus that ‘the graphic details of Jesus' torture make the movie tough to sit through and obscure whatever message it is trying to convey.

Two thousand years ago the Romans had an iron grip on their Empire. Because of this the world at that moment was at peace. Outside the little town of Bethlehem some shepherds were watching their flocks. Suddenly…the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were very afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David, a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; You will find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.

Just a few hundred years ago survival was harsh.  It is difficult to imagine a time when there were no roads, supermarkets, convenience stores, cars, indoor plumbing, iPods, the Internet, and so on.  By today’s standards a hundred or perhaps even fifty years ago may seem primitive or still part of the “pioneer days” of days gone by.  My most vivid memory of the rigors of childhood survival was bringing in the coal, splitting wood for kindling to start a fire, or spading up the ground so dad could plant a garden (isn’t it ironic that as soon as us kids were grown dad purchased a garden tiller).  “Thankfully” we had indoor plumbing as I shudder to think of jotting out to the outhouse in winter when nature called!

He was the youngest of eight sons.  Born into a large family comprised of eight sons and two daughters he was at the bottom of family pecking order.  His family was farmers and ranchers by trade as were his forefathers before them.  It was hard work yet the boy was loved and cared for by his older siblings and grew into a handsome young man.  He was given the responsibility to keep the herd and became diligent in his duties as he loved his father and sought to please him as any child would.  The clouds of war came and all the available young men of the town were called to action; but he was too young to be of much help (or so most people thought) so he was exempted from serving.  As chance would have it there was a lull in the fighting and his father—well stricken in years—sent him to the front to see how his brothers fared and to give their captain some provisions.  The young man faithfully carried out his father’s orders and found his brothers in the trenches and distributed the provisions as he was instructed.  As he stood in the trench gazing across no-man’s-land he was shocked and appalled.  There had been a lull in the fighting for the past forty days.  No doubt the weary soldiers were grateful for the respite from battle but their nerves were worn to a frazzle.  For forty days they had waited for the coming attack and onslaught from the enemy; because every morning the enemy would cheer and catcall them challenging them to come out of their trenches and fight.  However today, unbeknownst to the combatants, a decisive battle was to be fought and history was to be made.