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Text of the page (random words):
ng here but take consolation in knowing that my redeemer lives yes it is okay that i am not okay and i do request patience and understanding from those around me there is no quick fix for the heartache there is only an unspecified amount of time spent in the darkness of grief but that is what is okay i am old fashioned i suppose but i think obscenity in non fiction detracts from the argument devine and many of her fellow self help authors throw in four letter words perhaps to be culturally relevant but i find it distracting and unprofessional a new journey on september 17 2020 september 17 2020 by holly hansen in faith and culture leave a comment it has been quite some time since i have posted here there have been so very many life changes in the past two years that have left me with little time for personal writing as many of my followers know i began writing for digital media outlet the texan in 2019 an endeavor that has given me a marvelous opportunity to learn and grow in knowledge and skill but in 2020 my life changed most profoundly when my beloved husband became ill and died the journey from diagnosis to death was bewildering chaotic and somehow both too short and too long the grief is sometimes more than i can bear in the midst of this valley however i have been asked to share my experiences meditations and insights on the journey of grief the request comes from friends but i also feel the nudge of god s holy spirit in my prayer time and so i will begin sharing here i am not a therapist or theologian and i am certainly not god so i cannot answer every question or heal every hurting heart but i do hope that there are those who will read my words and maybe find comfort and encouragement even if it only stems from the knowledge that you have a fellow traveler in this valley in juggling all of the aspects of this new life i have been forced to accept i cannot guarantee a regular posting schedule but will endeavor to post once a week i close with this thought from the book of job the lord gives and the lord takes away blessed be the name of the lord amen peter the great russia and the church on may 19 2019 may 20 2019 by holly hansen in faith and culture uncategorized leave a comment although i ve had robert k massie s pulitzer prize winning biography peter the great his life and world on my bookshelf for a couple of decades i d never gotten around to actually reading it until this year at 890 pages the length may seem daunting to some readers but massie s compelling narrative style and superb research make the book well worth the effort as a history major at the university of central florida years ago i took every available class on russian and soviet history all taught by the inimitable dr john evans rip i found the history of the region and people fascinating their story is complicated sometimes beautiful often brutal and always intriguing certainly anyone attempting to understand and analyze modern russia and the surrounding region will be utterly lost without the essential background knowledge of this people and their unique culture massie published peter the great in 1980 and won the pulitzer prize in biography the following year so there are a vast number of fine book reviews available to potential readers in short massie wove together knowledge of russia s people religion art architecture literature military strategy and politics to create a compelling narrative of peter alexeyevich and his undeniable impact on russia and the world even with its pre glasnost viewpoint peter the great provides ample fodder for discussion and one insight on politics and religion is particularly relevant to modern christians in describing peter s reforms of the russian church which included positive aspects such as clerical education massie suggests that subjugating the church to the state contributed to the downfall of the government and the hostile atheism embraced by the bolsheviks and subsequent soviet government massie writes in time however the assumption of state control over the church had an injurious effect on russia individual parishioners could seek salvation and find solace from life s burdens in the glory of the orthodox service and its choral liturgy and in the warm communality of human suffering found in a church community but a tame church which occupied itself with private spiritual matters and failed to stand up against successive governments on behalf of christian values in questions of social justice soon lost the allegiance of the most dynamic elements of russian society the church which might have led simply followed and ultimately the entire religious bureaucracy established by peter followed the imperial government over the cliff the holy synod was abolished in 1918 along with all the other governing institutions of the imperial regime lenin reestablished the patriarchate but it was a puppet patriarchate more controlled by the state than the holy synod ever was it was the continuing passivity and servitude of the russian church which alexander solzhenitsyn was regretting when he declared that the history of russia would have been incomparably more humane and harmonious in the last few centuries if the church had not surrendered its independence and had continued to make its voice heard among the people throughout the world christians continue to wrestle with their role in society and government in china the vatican has agreed to let the government appoint bishops and in the european union churches are recognized and affirmed in some ways but also subject to restrictions such as those on employment and parental choices in education christians in the united states are also increasingly finding conflict with government and hearing calls from within the faith to stand down on controversial issues the dilemma for some is a well intentioned desire to focus on salvation of souls rather than engagement with prickly political issues and of course there are plenty of examples of christians who do not engage well or winsomely but in light of the russian example just how efficacious and attractive is a church that has in all matters subjected itself to the state the same day i read the above passage from massie world magazine s daily news podcast included a segment marking the 35 th anniversary of the death of francis schaeffer they played audio from a speech schaeffer delivered in 1982 in which he warned against a complacent and silent church and argued that even in the early church believers practiced a dangerous civil disobedience that led to death in an arena with wild beasts schaeffer argues that christians have always acted in the realization that if there is no place for disobeying the government that government has been put in the place of the living god in such a case the government has been made a false god christ must be the final lord and not society and not caesar lessons from history whether from the early church or russia or anywhere else can enlighten our choices for engagement and we should be careful of the ways we define success a form of worldly success and world peace may be attainable in the short term but what we do today may very well matter in 200 years and will certainly matter in eternity massie robert k peter the great his life and world 9th ed new york ballantine books 1980 p 815 photo by unidentified painter 1 public domain https commons wikimedia org w index php curid 5705235 no copyright this work has been identified as being free of known restrictions under copyright law including all related and neighboring rights we call this friday good on april 19 2019 april 19 2019 by holly hansen in faith and culture uncategorized leave a comment i once met an associate pastor who surprised me by saying he found wearing a cross repulsive to be fair he was not a seminarian but worked in an administrative position he asserted that a cross was an ugly thing a symbol of death and suffering and he did not understand why anyone would wear something reminiscent of so much pain in some variations of the christian faith i think there s a tendency to skip over the events of good friday and the reality of the crucifixion of jesus after all to understand the meaning behind the suffering of that day we must fully embrace the depths of our sin not a popular pastime in a culture for which the highest values are good self esteem and tolerance of anything and everything to understand the cross we must acknowledge that we are not good and therefore not acceptable to a perfectly perfect and holy god while these are not pleasant meditations without this awareness and understanding the resurrection of jesus and the easter celebrations are meaningless and empty while the above mentioned pastor was certainly correct about the original meaning of a cross i think he had not yet fully embraced the truth that through christ s suffering and death that which is ugly is made beautiful not only is the symbol transformed but also those who embrace the cross and the sacrifice mystery and overwhelming love of the one true god after his conversion 20th century poet t s eliot wrote many lines expressing the deeper truths of christ s sacrifice and what it means to embrace christianity among his powerful four quartets is a profound passage from east coker which describes the passion of the christ in a modern context a wounded surgeon who will heal us but who must first destroy our sin on first encountering these lines i found them ugly and repulsive but deeper study and meditation of their meaning has changed my mind they are about a truth that is both good and beautiful they are about the cross for your good friday meditation the wounded surgeon plies the steel that questions the distempered part beneath the bleeding hands we feel the sharp compassion of the healer s art resolving the enigma of the fever chart our only health is the disease if we obey the dying nurse whose constant care is not to please but to remind of our and adam s curse and that to be restored our sickness must grow worse the whole earth is our hospital endowed by the ruined millionaire wherein if we do well we shall die of the absolute paternal care that will not leave us but prevents us everywhere the chill ascends from feet to knees the fever sings in mental wires if to be warmed then i must freeze and quake in frigid purgatorial fires of which the flame is roses and the smoke is briars the dripping blood our only drink the bloody flesh our only food in spite of which we like to think that we are sound substantial flesh and blood again in spite of that we call this friday good t s eliot four quartets east coker cypress fairbanks isd asks for record breaking 1 76 billion bond on april 17 2019 may 2 2019 by holly hansen in education uncategorized 2 comments on may 4 2019 texas third largest school district will ask voters to approve the largest school bond debt package in state history cypress fairbanks isd located northwest of houston reports a student enrollment of 116 249 for 2018 19 the district has grown significantly over the past few decades although growth has slowed recently with an increase of about 3 000 since the district s last bond election in 2014 cfisd officials predict the district will grow by another 3 000 to 4 000 students by 2025 earlier this year the cfisd board of trustees voted unanimously to hold a new bond election requesting a record setting 1 76 billion in new debt if approved cfisd ballot language states that the funds will be used for a variety of construction and renovation projects purchases of land and buses as well as improvements to security infrastructure the cfisd website indicates that the bond package will only fund two new schools but also a new performance center and an instructional support center despite the unprecedented amount of tax payer debt requested there does not seem to be any organized opposition to the nearly 1 8 billion proposal the district seems to be promoting the bond with its taxpayer funded website and as with the 2014 bond election a number of contractors businesses and individuals have funded a political action committee entitled say yes for cfisd kids in order to pay for campaign materials promoting passage many of the 2014 contributors are again listed on the pac s 2019 website and some of those 2014 supporters were awarded isd contracts related to the previous bond ici construction inc listed as a 2014 say yes for cfisd kids pac contributor was awarded 16 87 million in contracts by the district just last september the 2014 cfisd bond set records at the time successfully obtaining approval for 1 2 billion in new debt as of february 2019 the district had yet to issue 158 8 million from that package but chief financial officer stuart snow indicated the district would sell the remaining amounts in the fall of 2019 cfisd s 2014 bond was infamous for more than breaking the billion dollar mark the board of trustees authorized the use of controversial rolling polling which significantly suppressed voter turnout and provoked state scrutiny during early voting the district moved voting locations daily creating an inconvenient and chaotic scenario for citizen participation consequently only 7 266 of more than 200 000 registered voters participated in that election with only 5 909 voting to approve the controversial strategy used by both the cypress fairbanks and frisco districts prompted the texas legislature to outlaw so called rolling polling the following year as bill sponsor greg bonnen r pearland noted in 2015 the practice could allow school districts to essentially harvest votes bonnen stated that did not seem consistent with giving all the voters an equal stake in the election while pro taxpayer advocates successfully banned cfisd s problematic election structure state bills proposed to improve transparency and voter participation have not prevailed texas school districts and other local government entities are not required to display existing outstanding debt information including principal and interest there is also no ballot language requirement for displaying estimated principal and interest of the proposed bond nor the estimated tax impact even without a ballot language requirement such information is difficult to find the texas comptroller s debt at a glance site is woefully out of date and only includes data from august 31 2017 the site does note that a portion of the district s debt is due to capital appreciation bonds controversial and costly non voter approved borrowing that was finally restricted by the state in 2015 cfisd s cab debt includes a principal amount of 505 000 but a maturity amount of a staggering 6 64 million the texas bond review board site is a little more helpful reporting the following for cfisd fiscal year 2018 principal 2 517 955 000 2 5 billion interest 1 338 864 254 1 3 billion total payment 3 856 819 254 3 8 billion reformers argue that any business or indi...