Winter Reporter 2006
(275k. Click here to access color, illustrated version in PDF file format)

Old South Church
Boston MA 02116
http://www.oldsouth.org

What's inside? (Text only version)

• What is Sacred Art?
• Dancing: an Advent Reflection
• Sixty 60s from the 60s
• Perfect MATCHUP for Old South
• Handbells at Old South Church
• What is Podcasting (and Why is My Church Doing it?)
• Happy Birthday Ben!




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What is “Sacred” Art?
by Thomas Keydel

Historically, the Church has been one of the most enduring and significant patrons of arts, using it to accentuate the message of faith. For over two thousand years, Christianity has incorporated the arts into its faith practices in ways that are different from other faiths. Art holds an important role in the Christian ministry because it offers a window into the meaning of what God has created and how we perceive God’s place in our lives. Art enriches our worship experience and moves us beyond the limits of verbal description, helping us mediate our relationship with God in exciting and unexpected ways.

As chairperson for the Committee on Religion & the Arts, I am constantly looking for ways to use art as a doorway into a deeper understanding of God’s presence in our lives. It is the central calling of my committee, one that requires reinterpretation and reassessment over time, both as the congregation itself changes and as the leadership of the church changes. I can tell you a lot about how my committee has historically interpreted its charge for deeper understanding, but with the recent changes in the congregation and with installation of Nancy Taylor and Quinn Caldwell as the church’s new ministerial staff, it has become increasingly clear that the R&A Committee needs to reinvent itself to meet the church’s rapidly changing direction.

So much of the Committee’s work starts with the congregation. What are the current interests now? How do people feel called to artistically express their faith and spirituality? For some, that expression starts primarily through simple appreciation of the arts and how they mediate their understanding of God. When we walk into a church, the architecture impacts us. The color and text of the environment impacts us. We see references that remind us of God’s message in the world and we choose to align ourselves with those messages which enable us to feel closer to God. That is one way that appreciation awakens the spirit of God within us.

In the past, this kind of simple appreciation of art’s capacity to mediate God’s presence spawned any number of different groups and events around the church: Writing into God, Theater At Old South, the Sewing Circle, the open-mike Coffeehouse events, Old South Cabaret nights, ornament-making events, and palm-folding events. All of these groups and events came into existence because there was a message that people wanted to explore and to use as a way to experience God. There was something in those experiences that they wanted to discover, which was about how God works in their lives — today, right now.

Our appreciation of art and the varying types of “sacred” art that we can experience is an ongoing process; so too is our patronage of sacred art. Traditionally we think of sacred art as church architecture, painting or stained glass which is used to exalt our understanding of God. But that is only one interpretation of sacred art. Art in all forms carries some traces of God, since all artistic endeavor mimics God’s original creative impulse. Here at Old South, we have been blessed with a very rich “sacred art” environment, the design of the building, the decoration of the sanctuary, the beauty of the stained glass. But our patronage of sacred art need not stop with passive appreciation. Each of us can become active “patrons of the arts” by exploring the way that God excites us to become fully alive, fully involved in life, maybe even involved enough to pick up the tools of an artistic medium and explore how that medium reveals God to us.

Our new ministers have started changing the way that we use art during worship services. We are being encouraged to expand our thinking about how we allow art to inform us of God’s presence. This change has been happening slowly, but there has been a greater willingness to explore traditions which are not exclusively historical, not exclusively mainstream, or Protestant, or European, since not all artistic expressions which are steeped in centuries of religious tradition must be the only ones we label “sacred.” More and more, we are being asked to look at our contemporary experience and use that as means for understanding the sacred. And the more that we are able do that — explore our perceptions; expand what we think of as “sacred art” — then the more we might be willing to view our contemporary lives as “sacred.” That, of course, is the purpose of religious awakening - to point out how each one of us, how each one of our lives, excites the passion of Christ as a living testament to God’s presence on earth. Art enables us to take “in” the message. We are all expressions of God’s love in the world. We all carry the potential of manifesting and becoming sacred art — to ourselves, to others, and to God.

For those who want to explore this idea of the sacred and how we express what is sacred through art, Old South is partnering with Boston University’s School of Theology and Park Street Church to present the course, The Christian Church as Patron of Art: History, Theology, Practice. The course is being taught by Andrew Shenton, a classical music scholar and the author of “Think on These Things” The Very Reverend Walter Hussey: Twentieth-Century Patron of Art. The course meets on Tuesday evenings at Boston University School of Theology from 6:30 to 9:00 p.m. and will run from January 17 through to March 25. The course highlights church architecture, stained glass, furnishing, sculpture, and painting. There are separate field trips to Old South, Trinity, Park Street Church and the Museum of Fine Arts. Emphasis on the role of art in contemporary theology includes the examination of “commissioning practices” used to create new work in today’s world.
 
Old South members are invited to attend classes free of charge. A syllabus is available to those interested. To sign-up for the remaining classes, individuals should contact Andrew Shenton at <shenton@bu.edu>. We encourage you to sign-up now for this special course.

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Dancing: an Advent reflection
by Nancy S. Taylor, Senior Minister
from a sermon preached on Dec. 11, 2005

In the beautiful anthem Tomorrow Shall Be My Dancing Day (setting and melody by John Gardner), Jesus sings a love song to humankind. He sings to us, to you and me. Addressing us as his true love, the carol is a kind of serenade … a song in which he invites us to dance with him.

The words of this carol are from a poem that comes from medieval times. The use of dance as a metaphor for life is at least as old.

Perhaps it is for this reason that recently a great dance was held, arguably the greatest annual dance in the world. It is held each year on December 10th in Oslo, Norway. On that night this year, hundreds of people danced at the ball and banquet that followed the presentation of the Nobel Peace Prize.

It is an odd and wonderful juxtaposition: all those serious recipients of the Nobel Peace Prize dancing the waltz in a gilded ballroom. Can you see it in your minds eye? Can you see Martin Luther King who struggled for civil rights? Can you see Mother Teresa who lived among the poorest of the poor? Can you see Mohamed ElBaradei, this year’s recipient, a man who battles with the most powerful nations of the world, struggling to control the proliferation of nuclear weapons? Can you imagine them? Can you see them – Martin, Teresa, Mohamed – dancing?

In 1964 when Dr. King was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, he was hesitant to step onto the dance floor. He and Corretta were expected to open the ball with a waltz. But as a Baptist minister Dr. King had decided never to dance in public so as not to offend the older members of his congregation. Dr. King was not personally opposed to dancing and had been a wonderful dancer in his youth. It’s just that he knew many Baptists didn’t approve and he didn’t want to offend. On the night he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, however, he threw these scruples to the wind. He and Corretta danced and danced.

I don’t know whether Mother Teresa danced in 1979 when she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. But I like to think that she did. I like the image of Martin, the civil rights battler, and Teresa, the woman who loved lepers, and Mohamed, the man determined to decrease nuclear weapons … I like to imagine them dancing. I like to imagine them dancing because they surely deserved relief from the weight of the worlds they carried on their shoulders. Their ability to dance reminds us that the worlds troubles do not need to paralyze us, or deprive us of what joy there is, or shrivel our spirits.

When my husband and I were married, our friend who officiated at the wedding spoke of dance as a metaphor for marriage. He described marriage as a way of moving in synchronicity with another. He said that to love and cherish each other for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, was a kind of dance. For the dance to flow, each partner must be keenly sensitive to the moves and moods of the other. In a good marriage, he said, the one who leads and the one who follows, must and should alternate, depending on the circumstance.

About eight years ago my husband, Peter, was diagnosed with prostate cancer. He had a particularly aggressive form of the disease and we responded with aggressive treatments. Alas, despite every medical effort, the cancer kept reappearing. It has now metastasized into his bones. In early December he had major surgery as a consequence of the narcotics he takes to manage the bone pain. The surgery took a toll on him and he is still in the early stages of recovery.

When I took Peter to the hospital, he and I were still dancing. We both want to tell you – Peter from his recovery bed and I from this pulpit – that we are still dancing … though the music has changed and so has the tempo. Today we are doing a slow dance and we are learning new ways to follow each other’s lead.

We also know that while we are off on a corner of the dance floor, we are all a part of this dance . . . this dance of life to which Jesus has invited us. Peter and I have felt that so acutely as you have responded to his medical news with overwhelming kindness. We have felt your prayers and we are surrounded by cards, gifts, food and offers of assistance in the most amazing ways. As Peter is unable to eat, many of you have directed your culinary attentions to me. Who would have guessed that Old South contained so many Jewish mothers!

The dance to which Jesus invites us encompasses the various stages of his life. It celebrates the birth of Jesus, but it also anticipates his whole life: his suffering and death. Just as we dance with him through the whole of his life, so too does he dance with us through the whole of ours: the good and the bad, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health.

This is the holy dance to which Jesus invites us. Those who will be joining Old South in coming weeks as our newest members, will respond to his invitation to join the dance. We welcome you to this dance.

Welcome to this divine-human dance that is characterized, as is most dancing, by intimacy. Indeed, it is this very intimacy that makes our lives bearable. Mother Teresa made bearable the lives of people with leprosy, by writing their names on her dance card … when no one else would. Martin Luther King made life bearable by choreographing an intimate and non-violent dance, in holy defiance of the brutality of racism.

Mohamed ElBaradai labors to make all our lives more bearable, by decreasing the amount of nuclear weapons the nations of the world aim at one another. Our God makes this life bearable for all of us by walking with us, by sending Jesus to be with us, and in the end, which is our beginning, by overcoming death.

Medieval Christians likened life to a dance as a way of expressing their conviction that the spirit can soar even when the body is crushed. To join the dance to which Jesus invites us is to express and celebrate our ultimate freedom. We may be constrained and limited by the punishing realities of disease or oppression or hurricane or war or poverty. But our ultimate freedom is in found in the story we tell over and over again this time of year. It is the story of a love song and an invitation to dance … to dance throughout all the stages of our lives in intimate communion with God.

Welcome to this holy dance. +

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Sixty 60s from the 60s
by Barbara (Westdyke) Wellnitz

We may be 60-somethings who first met during the 1960s, but we still call ourselves the “Old South Group.” And, on New Year’s Day, we followed a 40-plus-year tradition by gathering together to renew longstanding friendships, hear about retirement plans, and, especially, to show pictures of our grandchildren. We are scattered all over the country, and into Canada, now, but we stay in touch like the family we’ve become over the years.

Some of us found Old South Church when we moved to Boston after college; others came from suburban Boston churches; a few came by invitation from co-workers. But, single all, we found our way to something called Old South Seminar on Sunday nights. We met other young singles, enjoyed discussion groups, dances, ski trips, and summer outings – and did a fair share of community service. Eventually, we married spouses we met at Old South, began attending one another’s weddings and baby showers, and – more recently – the weddings and baby showers of one another’s children.

We kept assistant ministers Courtney Peterson, Bill Zeckhausen and Tom Boates, in succession, busy performing wedding ceremonies in Gordon Chapel, the “big” church, and in brides’ hometown churches.

Seminar’s name was changed to reflect reality: Old South Singles. And, the Singles spawned a Couples Club. Asked where we met our spouses, many of us continue to say “in church.”

A few women in this close circle of (then) young friends married men outside the group – mostly graduate students – and brought them into the expanding circle. Some of our number remained single. Sadly, some now are widows.

But we continue to gather on New Year’s Day.

Why New Year’s Day? Our tradition began with the tea dance held each January 1st on the 4th floor of the church, complete with a live orchestra (which later played at some of our weddings). A “tea dance” may seem quaint today, but we were dancers and loved this event. After the dance, many of us would go to the Hilltop Steakhouse in Saugus, and when the dance was eventually discontinued for lack of attendees, our group simply met at the Steakhouse instead.

Over the years, we sometimes met in the home of one of the group – a lot easier when the group included our young children – and now we are as apt to be at a house party as we are to be at the Hilltop. But, New Year’s Day is reserved for our reunion.

During the “singles” days and for a few years afterward, there were ski trips to Stowe and “Ma Russell’s” lodge and to Sugarloaf, where the wind chills were off the charts, froze our bus, and closed down the slopes. There were summer trips to Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard, trips to Marshfield with Edward Rowe Snow, and boat trips to Boston Harbor. We enjoyed Halloween parties in the Seminar rooms, where one of our group dressed as a moose – and a nickname was born, and dances at the MIT Faculty Club, where more than one couple met the love of their lives. Some even had their wedding receptions there. And, truth be told, we often adjourned to the Lenox Hotel lounge after the Sunday evening meetings.

Jobs and families took many of our group out of the Boston area, and we’re scattered all over now – in California, Michigan, North Carolina, New Jersey – but our roster is sixty strong. We maintain the contact list of address changes as retirement beckons some to new locations. But, when any of this Old South Group comes to Boston, we gather the clan and, often, visit Old South Church.

For a couple of years, we dressed up as Pilgrims, each representing a specific person among the Pilgrims alive for the first Thanksgiving, and went as a group to the Thanksgiving service at the Meetinghouse. The Canadian friend among us, who long ago returned to Canada with his Old South bride, still remembers his Pilgrim days. Eighteen of us attended the most recent Meetinghouse service, sans Pilgrim costumes.
 
We had been talking about returning to our roots at the Meetinghouse service for several months. Momentum built from the time we e-mailed all over the country the Boston Globe photos of the Old South ministerial staff from the Patriots victory parade, and then when we had a party for friends visiting from North Carolina last April. They were married at Old South and wanted to meet Nancy Taylor, so we went to Old South that Sunday. Weeks before the Meetinghouse service, another e-mail went out: “Meet us at the Meetinghouse for Thanksgiving Sunday.” Before long, 18 people said “I’ll be there.”

Over lunch at Durgin Park after the service, we talked about the sermon and music we heard that day – and the history of the church of our roots. Comments like, “The tradition of preaching at Old South is alive and well.” “It’s so good to hear a sermon that we can discuss.” “I’m glad that Old South is still leading the way on social issues of the day.” (We were the Vietnam generation, after all.) The older we get, the more we appreciate the historic significance of Old South and the fact that a woman is senior minister for the first time since 1669.

The music too was awe-inspiring, of course. “Wow, it isn’t every day that you hear such wonderful music; I’ve missed that.” There were some enthusiastic hymn-singers in our band of friends that day.

Lives have come full circle over the years. There have been second-generation weddings at Old South. Our son Jamie married Kerri in Gordon Chapel, with Tom Boates officiating. (Ask Janet Butler about the buses!) The daughter of another couple also chose Gordon Chapel for her wedding — and the Lenox Hotel for her reception.

I can only wish for today’s 20s/30s group a similar
memorable story to tell 40 years from now. +
 

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Perfect MATCH-UP
for Old South
by Duane Day

For over 20 years MATCH-UP Interfaith Volunteers has provided friendly visitors, medical escorts, visits from pets and their owners, help with household chores, encouragement and motivation to stretch and exercise, a friendly presence and a listening ear on the phone to elders and adults with disabilities. All of this is accomplished through the donation of time and energy generously given by volunteers from all faiths and all walks of life.

Old South Church has been in partnership with MATCH-UP since its very beginning. Originally MATCH-UP was a program of Boston Aging Concerns and was funded by a 3 year seed grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation – one of 25 Interfaith Volunteer Caregiver grantees in America. But in 1991 when BAC decided to focus only on affordable housing, MATCH-UP was threatened with ending its ministry. However, with help and encouragement from Old South, MATCH-UP incorporated as an independent 501c3 nonprofit corporation and successfully applied for grants and gifts from local congregations, individuals and foundations. MATCH-UP has been a consistent recipient of annual grants from Old South’s Christian Service and Outreach Committee. Several Old South members have served on the MATCH-UP board of directors and standing committees, as well as serving as medical escorts and friendly visitors.

One of the earliest matches was Duane Day with Alice Smith, when Duane and Janice lived in the South End and first joined Old South. Alice was 99 years young and legally blind, and lived in an elderly housing building in the South End. At their first meeting when Janet Seckel-Cerrotti, MATCH-UP Executive Director, introduced Alice and Duane, Alice was surprised at the objective of the match. She later admitted that she thought MATCH-UP was a matrimonial initiative! But after several years of weekly friendly visits and medical escorts, both Alice and Duane talked of the mutual benefits derived from the match. Alice was able to stay in her own apartment for several years and avoid entering a nursing home. Duane acquired a new senior friend and advisor and they shared many happy memories.

John Dutton has been a long time MATCH-UP supporter and was instrumental in helping MATCH-UP acquire its first IBM computer and organized its membership roster. John has also served on the MATCH-UP board of directors and on various standing committees. John also had an informal match for many years with a German couple who came from Hamburg, the same German city where John’s wife Mary came from.

Judy and Ely Pierce have had a five year match with Marcia Collins, a 97-year-old, legally blind, fragile lady. They call on Marcia usually twice per week – Judy goes on Tuesdays and Ely on Saturdays. They usually bring some kind of food and beverages to share and enjoy together. They have brought Marcia to Old South on several Sundays. Marcia loves coffee hour and meeting and greeting others. Marcia listens to the radio constantly and likes to discuss current events. One Sunday after church Judy and Ely introduced Marcia to Gregory Peterson, who let her play the organ by feel which thrilled Marcia. Marcia is very faithful and attends Catholic mass every week. Her only relative is a niece who lives in New York City. Marcia never complains and is eternally grateful for the friendship and ministry of the Pierces. Judy feels the one-on-one match-up is very satisfying and inspirational, and highly recommends the MATCH-UP ministry and its partnership with Old South.

Charlotte Simpson serves on the MATCH-UP development committee and greatly enjoyed her match until the match moved away recently. Brent Damrow served as chair of MATCH-UP’s development committee and member of the board for several years. Elizabeth and Betty Pitcher had a match for a number of years with an older lady who lived in East Boston. Betty says MATCH-UP is a wonderful program and she enthusiastically endorses it.

MATCH-UP has held many of its annual meetings at Old South Church. James W. Crawford, Robert H. Christensen, and Jennifer Mills Knudsen were all strong MATCH-UP supporters and advocates. The Rev. Nancy Taylor, during a recent MATCH-UP briefing, concluded that Old South and MATCH-UP are an ideal partnership. Mount Vernon Church has also been a regular and strong financial
supporter of MATCH-UP.

MATCH-UP has a 14-member board of directors, 3 standing committees, a staff of 5, and nearly 200 active volunteers. MATCH-UP’s current annual budget is $349,400. Resources come from individuals, congregations, foundations, and the City of Boston Commission on Affairs of the Elderly. Presently there are 75 elders or individuals with disabilities on the waiting list for a match. MATCH-UP also needs more Medical Escorts available weekdays during the daytime, with or without cars.

MATCH-UP Executive Director Janet Seckel-Cerrotti will be a great speaker at an upcoming Old South Moment for Mission and will be available at the following coffee hour to discuss current needs and opportunities for new potential volunteers, or you can call the MATCH-UP office at 617-482-1510 to volunteer or get more information. You may also speak with any of the Old South members named in this article to get more information about MATCH-UP
and its ministry.+

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Handbells at Old South Church
by Peter Coloumbe

Handbell ringing at Old South Church dates back to 1929, when the church acquired a set of handbells from the Whitechapel Foundary in England. This was only the third set of handbells imported into the United States and the first to be acquired by a church. Margaret Schurcliff of Beacon Hill, Boston, brought the first set to America in 1902 and used them for neighborhood Christmas caroling. The second set was purchased by Dulcevare King who bought them for his Granite Trust Company of Quincy, Massachusetts, in 1926. Old South’s set was the very next in 1929.

Tuned sets of handbells originate in England as a way for tower ringers to practice their peals away from the cold steeples and in the warmth of a neighborhood pub! Later, groups of ringers began playing familiar hymn tunes on the bells. Within the last fifty years, handbell ringing has developed into a professional level art. Along with a steady growth in the number of church and community groups, the range of music has grown with new arrangements of familiar hymns, secular works, and exciting original compositions aiding in the spiritual life of churches across the country.

Today, the handbell ministry at Old South is a beloved part of the music ministry of Old South. The Old South Ringers rehearse on a weekly basis and contribute to the Sunday worship service approximately once a month from September through June. In addition to the full handbell choir, small ensembles occasionally play for special services as well. The Old South Ringers are a member organization of the American Guild of English Handbell Ringers (AGEHR). To join us or to find more information, please contact me through the church office.+

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What is Podcasting
(& Why is My Church Doing it?)
by Evan H. Shu

Perhaps you are among the many people who are slightly uncomfortable when you hear the term “podcasting” bandied about. Obviously, it must be something that “young people” are doing with one of their many techno-gadgets, so why is that term now being used in our Sunday Bulletin of all places? And what on earth does podcasting have to do with the sermons, for goodness sake?

While, first of all, let’s dispel some of your anxieties by defining a few of these new words in easy-to-understand terms. Podcasting, first and foremost, is nothing but an audio recording, not that much different than one that you may find on an audiotape or CD (or 45 or LP record, if you go back that far!) Second of all, it is a digital audio recording, which means that it is stored in a file on a computer. This digital audio file (usually in MP3 format) can be played by just about any computer or any other device that plays digital audio files.

Pod is an interesting term that has nothing to do with vegetables but stems from the widespread popularity of the Apple iPod digital audio player. It now applies to a whole range of like devices of many makes and models. A pod (or iPod) is simply a handheld device that plays digital audio (and now even video) files. Remember when the Sony Walkman hit the market in the early 80s? The idea of a personal stereo sound system was quite revolutionary at the time. As many similar personal radios, tape players, and such hit the market, we tended, at first, to call them all “Walkmans” even though most were no longer made by Sony – so it is with iPods. Go back even further to the early 60s, when the craze were portable transistor radios that would fit in your pockets and you could hold them up to your ears (or put under the pillow when it was past bedtime!) for personal listening pleasure. Those were really the first “pods.”

So pods (or iPods) are the next evolutionary step from transistor radios and Walkmans — but instead of receiving radio stations or playing tapes, they play digital files. In each pod is a mini-computer hard drive (Yes, that small! Picture a thin silver platter about 2” in diameter) that stores and plays audio (or now video) files. Pods, like the Walkman before it, come in many guises and names: MP3 players, cell phones, PDAs, blackberries, Palm Pilots, PocketPCs, etc. But they all have the ability to play digital audio files. Note that we have been careful to say “audio” files and not just “music” files. For while the music industry might have initially driven the podcasting market, now any type of audio (lectures, dramatic readings, theater plays, news stories, commentaries – and, yes, you guessed it, even sermons!) can be recorded in a digital file and played in one of these devices.

So, now we come to the “casting” part of the term, which is obviously from the term “broadcasting.” While television and radio stations broadcast their shows via the airwaves and over cable lines, podcasting shows “cast” (or store) their shows (digital files) on the Internet. If you know where to look on the Internet, you can download a whole podcast show to your computer or to any “pod” device for your listening pleasure at any time you want.

In the same way that you might set your VCR to record your favorite show every week, you can also subscribe to your favorite podcast show rather than keep checking back to a website to see if a new episode has been posted or not. Free computer programs (generically called RSS Aggregators), such as iTunes <www.itunes.com> will store your subscription requests by remembering the location of a so-called RSS (Really Simple Syndication) Feed, which is nothing more than a little text file in a special format that lists which episodes are available. This aggregator program will periodically (usually, daily) check this little RSS Feed on the Internet and see if anything new has been posted. If so, it will automatically be downloaded to your computer. These new shows can then be transferred to whatever pod you use (either manually or automatically via a so-called “syncing” procedure) for you to take with you as you leave your home.

All that goobledygook terminology is the preamble to the question of “Why is Old South Church podcasting sermons?” Certainly, Old South is not alone in this endeavor but is part of a growing wave of hundreds of churches around the world now regularly podcasting their sermons. It is not only a service of convenience for those who may miss attending a Sunday service; it is also a service of outreach, spreading the voice of Old South Church to potential visitors, to our friends in both near and far-off places, to the curious who may want to listen in before they come, and to those who are searching for good news as they surf their way through the Internet

This past August, a New York Times article by Tania Ralli (Missed Church? Download It to Your iPod) wrote: “Sending spiritual messages over the airwaves is nothing new. The Vatican made its first radio broadcast in 1931 . . . New technology like podcasting updates the mission, although on a much smaller scale for now . . . But [some] believe that podcasting will have an impact on the church as profound as that of the printing press when the first Bibles were printing in the 15th century.”

In October, Old South’s Senior Minister Nancy Taylor further explained in her sermon, The Living Word: “Through podcasting and increasingly greater attention to our Web site, Old South is attempting to make use of the opportunities presented by electronic media to reach a new generation . . . As we podcast sermons . . . as we imagine how to cast our story to a new generation of tourists and visitors, of seekers and the curious, we are improvising along the way. We find ourselves communicating in media and in languages in which we are not entirely at ease. But that’s okay.

“When Mark set out to write the first gospel, he was convinced that he had to write in Greek to reach the audience he was aiming for. Yet, Mark, whose first and second languages were Aramaic and Hebrew, had not mastered Greek. He was struggling to write his Gospel in a language he had not entirely mastered. This is great news for those of us who for whom liquid crystal displays, iPods, and streaming webcasts are not our first language.”

Better yet, instead of just reading the above words, experience the power of the spoken word itself by using your computer to go the Old South Church website at <www.oldsouth.org>. Go to the Sermons section (2005), and click on the little MP3 symbol next to the October 16, 2005 sermon, The Living Word. You may need little convincing after that, for truly, “hearing is believing” in learning of the power and value of podcasting. +
 




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Happy Birthday Ben!

We salute our famous Old South ancestor, Benjamin Franklin as he would celebrate his 300th birthday on January 17th. Here are some fun facts about this amazing man that we have collected for your enjoyment.

* On Sunday, January 17, 1706, Benjamin Franklin was born in a house on the south corner of Milk and High streets. The Old South Church (Cedar Meeting House) was just across the street, at the other corner, on the north side of Milk and High. The Franklins lived on Milk Street for the first six years of Franklin’s life. Ben was the youngest son and the fifteenth child born to his father Josiah, and the seventh child born to his mother Abiah.

* Soon after his birth, he was baptized by Old South Senior Minister Samuel Willard in 1706 at the Old South Church's original home, the Cedar Meeting House. After a fire destroyed the Cedar Meeting House, the Old South Meeting House was built to replace it in 1729.

* His father intended for Ben to enter into the clergy but could only afford to send his son to school for one year and clergymen needed years of schooling. But, as young Ben loved to read he had him apprenticed to his brother James, who was a printer. When Benjamin was 15 his brother started The New England Courant, the first newspaper in Boston to cover local news.

* Ben wanted to write for the paper but his brother would not let his lowly apprentice do so. So Ben began writing letters at night and signing them with the name of a fictional widow, "Silence Dogood." Dogood was filled with advice and very critical of the world around her, particularly concerning the issue of how women were treated. Ben would sneak the letters under the print shop door at night so no one knew who was writing the pieces. They were a smash hit, and everyone wanted to know who was the real “Silence Dogood.” After 16 letters, Ben confessed.

* James and Ben became embroiled in controversy with Boston’s Puritan preachers, the Mathers. Smallpox was a deadly disease in those times, and the Mathers supported inoculation; but the Franklins believed inoculation made people sicker. Bostonians did not like the way James made fun of the clergy during the debate and James was thrown in jail for his views, and Ben was left to run the paper for several issues. Perhaps, Ben learned at an early age that humor and satire were safer ways to engage in controversial debates.

* Upon release from jail, James was not grateful to Ben for keeping the paper’s going. Instead he kept harassing his younger brother and administering beatings from time to time. Ben, now 17, could not take it and decided to run away in 1723 and ended up in Philadelphia, where he found work as an apprentice printer.

* He did so well that in 1729 at age 23, he was able to buy the newspaper, the Pennsylvania Gazette. He often contributed pieces to the paper under aliases and his paper soon became the most successful in the colonies. His newspaper, among other firsts, would print the first political cartoon, authored by Ben himself.

* Deborah Read remembered Ben as rather “odd-looking” when he first arrived in Philadelphia. Now he was living with the Read family and they were talking marriage but Ben did not think he was ready. Ben left for London to buy fonts and printing equipment (based on an empty promise from Massachusetts' governor). While he was gone for an extended time, she married another man. But Deborah’s husband was soon to desert her, and in 1730 with Ben back in Philadelphia, they were finally able to marry.

* In 1733 he started publishing Poor Richard’s Almanack. Franklin published his almanac under the guise of a man named Richard Saunders, a poor man who needed money to take care of his carping wife.

* Ben was appointed Postmaster of Philadelphia in 1737. But, by now, he was quite often in far-off places such as Paris and London, so guess who had to shoulder the brunt of this responsibility? Wife Deborah, of course! (Typical male!) See Founding Mothers by Cokie Roberts for more.

* He invented the best stove in the colonies. It is still being purchased today. The Franklin stove was the most efficient stove in the world when Ben started selling it in 1742.

* We all know of the story of Ben and his kite and key to proved that lightning was electricity. But he was even smarter than the common story relates, for Ben also invented the lightning rod! As he carried out his famous kite experiment, Franklin was safely sheltered in a nearby shed when he attracted lightning with a key tied to a kite with the string then secured into the ground. He watched the lightning raise the hairs on the hemp kite string as it traveled downward into the Earth. But Ben couldn’t resist reaching out to touch the string and, yup, he got a little shock.

* Ben Franklin coined some electrical terms we still use today, such as “battery,” “positive,” “negative’’ and “charge.”

*Mozart and Beethoven both composed music for an instrument Ben invented, the armonica, a simple instrument that was played by touching the edge of spinning glass with dampened fingers.

* Ben Franklin’s theory that storms and hurricanes moved up from the south, although the winds in the storms blew from the northeast, is regarded as the genesis of scientific weather forecasting.

* Franklin founded the Library Company of Philadelphia in 1731. It was a subscription library. Members pooled their money to buy books and paid an annual fee to buy more books each year.

* Ben founded Philadelphia’s first volunteer fire department in 1736, but it was not the nation’s first. His hometown Boston and other cities already had volunteer departments at the time.

* Without Ben, we might not have bifocals today. Ben, who was both near-sighted and far-sighted, became frustrated that he had to constantly switch his pairs of glasses. He had the lenses of two pairs of spectacles cut in half and put half of each lens in one frame.

* Politics became more of an active interest for Ben in his 40s. In 1757, he went to England to represent Pennsylvania in its fight with the descendants of the Penn family over who should represent the Colony. He remained in England to 1775, as a Colonial representative not only of Pennsylvania, but of Georgia, New Jersey and Massachusetts as well.

* In 1765, he was caught by surprise by America’s overwhelming opposition to the Stamp Act. His testimony before the English Parliament helped persuade the members to repeal the law. But he started wondering at that point if America should break free of England.

* Ben Franklin’s big break with England occurred in the “Hutchinson Affair.” Thomas Hutchinson was an English-appointed governor of Massachusetts and pretended to take the side of the people of Massachusetts in their complaints against England, but was actively working for the King behind the scenes. Franklin got a hold of some letters in which Hutchinson called for “an abridgment of what are called English Liberties” in America. He sent the letters to America where much of the population was outraged. After leaking the letters Franklin was called to Whitehall, the English Foreign Ministry, where he was condemned in public.

* Ben Franklin was elected to the Second Continental Congress and worked on a committee of five that helped to draft the Declaration of Independence. While Thomas Jefferson clearly wrote the document, many of the concepts were Ben Franklin’s. In 1776, he signed the Declaration, and afterward sailed to France as an ambassador to the Court of Louis XVI.

* In part because of Ben’s wild popularity in France, the government of France signed a Treaty of Alliance with the Americans in 1778. Franklin also helped secure loans and persuade the French they were doing the right thing. He was on hand to sign the Treaty of Paris in 1783, after the Americans had won the Revolution.

* Today, Ben Franklin's picture is on the U.S. $100 bill.

* Franklin was fascinated by the hot-air flight reports, and he witnessed two later manned flights in 1783. When an observer asked him, “What use is it?” Franklin replied, “What use is a newborn baby?”

* At the age of 78, Ben wrote An Economical Project, a light-hearted essay on the economy of natural versus artificial lighting, which led to many crediting him as the father of Daylight Savings Time. Scholars suggest he wrote this essay as a spoof. Nevertheless the concept was largely adopted in Europe and US after World War I.

* After a lifetime of incredible achievement, Ben Franklin died on April 17, 1790 at the age of 84. 20,000 people attended the funeral of the man who was called, “the harmonious human multitude.”

Editor’s Note: While we have compiled these fun facts about Benjamin Franklin from a number of Internet sources, we recommend the most authoritative being at the University of Delaware web site by scholar J.A. Leo LeMay, who is one of the nation’s leading Franklin
scholars <www.english.udel.edu/lemay/franklin/>.+

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Old South Reporter (Back Issues)
OSC Reporter, a voice for the extended community of the Old South Church, explores the mission of the church and aspects of the Christian life through news, stories, poetry, essays, and commentaries

Communications Committee:
Evan H. Shu , chair, Lois Harvey, David Clark, Mark Strickland, Janet Eldred, Elizabeth England, Eleanor Jensen, Helen McCrady, Estelle Ellis, Nancy S. Taylor and Michael Fiorentino.
 
 

Deadline for next issue: March 19, 2006

Old South Church in Boston
Gathered 1669
A congregation of the United Church of Christ
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Nancy S. Taylor, Senior Minister
Jennifer Mills-Knutsen, Assistant Minister
Patricia Hazeltine, Church School Director
Tadd Allman-Morton, Ministerial Intern