The Scroll
A Periodic newsletter
for SAM's Lambs
http://www.samslambs.org

Why God Will Never Get Tenure at Any University

1. Only published one book.
2. It was in Hebrew.
3. It had no references.
4. He did not publish it in referenced journals.
5. Some doubt He even wrote it Himself.
6. He is not known for his cooperative work.
7. Sure. He created the world, but what has He done lately?
8. He did not get permission from any review board to work on human subjects.
9. When one of His experiments went awry, He tried to cover it up by drowning all the subjects.
10. When sample subjects do not behave as predicted, He deletes the whole sample.
11. He rarely comes to class. He just tells His students to read the Book.
12. It is rumored that He sometimes lets His Son teach the class.
13. Although He only has 10 requirements, His students often fail His tests.
14. He expelled His first two students for learning.
15. His office hours were infrequent and usually held on a mountain top.

(From faculty members at Kansas State University and instructors at Allen County Community College)

Internet References:

Singles in the Church: Is There Seating For One In The Church?

 The Rev: A Transforming New Year

by Reverend Lance Robbins
Rector, The Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd

A new year with new possibilities, new dreams, new plans, new calendars not yet filled with all the dates of future activities. This January what are your hopes for a new year, what are your wishes?

Henri Nouwen, a wise author, wrote these lines concerning the difference between hopes and wishes. "I see hope as an attitude where everything stays open before me. Not that I don’t think of my future in those moments, but I think of it in an entirely different way. Daring to stay open to whatever today will offer me, or tomorrow, two months from now or a year from now, that is hope. To go fearlessly into things without knowing how they’ll turn out, to keep on going, even when something doesn’t work the first time, to have trust in whatever you’re doing."

Daring to stay open, to trust, this is real hope. Oh yes, we all wish for many things in the new year. But this year why not make it a hope-full one. To let go of some of the many worries of life and try to find in people and situations a glimmer of real hope. The hope of change, of reconciliation, of new and exciting possibilities in day to day life. It can be there you know.

Why trust? Why hope? In our faith communities we believe that God works in and within God’s creation. God cooperates with us. Perhaps all we even have to do this new year is not to worry so much and simply as the saying goes "Let go and let God."

Another author I’m very fond of put it this way: "Let go of the dark, which you wrap yourself in like a straightjacket, and let in the light. Stop trying to protect, to rescue, to judge, to manage the lives around you – your children’s lives, your friends – because that is just what you are powerless to do. Remember that the lives of other people are not your business. They are their business. They are God’s business because they all have God whether they use the word God or not. Even your own life is not your business. It also is God’s business. Leave it to God. It is an astonishing thought. It can become a life-transforming thought.

This year, real hope, real trust in God. Your life and God’s business. Perhaps a good year indeed! Perhaps a life-transforming one.

Faithfully,

(The Rev) Lance Robbins,
Rector, The Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd,
Webster NY       Tel: 585-872-2281

Bishop Jack McKelvey  of the Episcopal Diocese of Rochester NY recently visited Good Shepherd where he delivered an address on "Marks of an Effective Congregation"  It looks like Good Shepherd’s congregation and clergy would definitely fall in the Effective Congregation category.