Poems for Summer. To everything there is a season. Ecclesiastes 3:1

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1 Poems for Summer To everything there is a season. Ecclesiastes 3:1 O Lord, how manifold are your works! In wisdom you have made them all, The earth is full of your creatures. These all look to you To give them their food in due season. Psalm 104:24, 27 A Passing Glimpse By Robert Frost I often see flowers from a passing car That are gone before I can tell what they are. I want to get out of the train and go back To see what they were beside the track. I name all the flowers I am sure they weren t: Not fireweed loving where woods have burnt The following poem was composed in about 1260 A.D. in Middle English. See whether you can guess the meanings! A modern translation is given on page 4 below. Sumer is icumen in, Lhude sing, cuccu; Groweth sed and bloweth med, And springth the wode nu; Sing, cuccu! Awe bleteth after lomb, Lhouth after calue cu; Bulluc sterteth, Bucke uerteth, Murie sing, cuccu! Cuccu, cuccu, Wel singes thu, cuccu; Ne swic thu naver nu. Sing, cuccu, nu; sing, cuccu; Sing, cuccu; sing, cuccu, nu! Not bluebells gracing a tunnel mouth Not lupine living on sand and drouth. Was something brushed across my mind That no one on earth will ever find? Heaven gives its glimpses only to those Not in position to look too close. 1

2 Polytheism for Our Own Time In February, 2002, Claudia and I moved into our current home on Zephyr Drive in Wheat Ridge. Talking with our realtor, one of us asked rhetorically, What is a zephyr, anyway? No one was sure, so we looked it up and found the definition, Zephyr: the Greek god of the west wind. Hearing this, our realtor, Mark Baxley, remarked dryly, Boy, those Greeks had a god for everything, didn t they? The ancient Greeks did have a lot of gods. They felt it necessary to have varying deities to explain not only the forces of nature the winds, the sun and moon, the oceans, volcanoes, etc. but also human activities like love, war, wine, agriculture, and so on. Even today the varieties and legends of historic religious beliefs makes Greek and Roman mythology a complex and interesting subject. The ancient Hebrews believed in only one God, and so they tended to think that that one God was responsible for almost everything. Any cataclysm that defied ordinary explanation was attributed to the Lord. Thus in the Bible various floods, famines, and plagues are seen not as accidents of nature but as forms of divine wrath. Today we know that floods and earthquakes are caused not by God s anger but by meteorological factors and shifting tectonic plates, respectively. We can rely on science to explain things. Or can we? Does science really explain everything? Though I am very much in favor of science, I personally have engaged in some recent research that suggests strongly that there are still many things about modern life that science cannot explain and for which there may therefore be some supernatural cause. It is only reasonable to conclude that such inexplicable events are the result of unknown supernatural forces. After a lot of deep thought, and having watched Ghost Busters several times over the years, I have come up with some suggested names for these mysterious modern deities, which I hereby list for your edification, along with the effects they typically cause. Electrolost the god of lost or stolen electrons. Why does junk always appear instantly, while urgent messages freeze in mid-download or vanish altogether? Why does Windows always crash right before you save an important file? Why do batteries last forever in the boom-box of that noisy teenager at the mall but die at the very time you most need them in your cell phone, laptop, or flashlight? It s because the electrons have been blocked, diverted, or stolen by the great god Electrolost. Boxerum (pronounced box-air-em ) a god who afflicts mainly young men. Boxerum makes the force of gravity double on a boy s trousers but shrink to zero on his boxer shorts, thus producing a 4-to-6-inch gap between the 2 waistlines. Hosierya the god of unmatched socks. You put matched pairs in the washer, but odd ones are missing after they go through the dryer. How can this be? The missing socks are stolen by Hosierya, who has only one foot and therefore never steals a complete pair. (continued next page) 2

3 Auto-Mars the god of road rage. Why do perfectly decent people suddenly go berserk when they re driving? They have been cursed by the evil deity Auto-Mars. Waxrainia You are washing and waxing your car and, though it hasn t rained for almost a month, suddenly a thunderstorm materializes! This is caused by the god Waxrainia, who lives in the sky and is annoyed by the flashiness of shiny vehicles on roads and driveways down below. Therefore Waxrainia sends rain, hail, dust storms, or flocks of birds to restore your car to its usual, non-glossy condition. Idiotus the god of preposterous TV programming. Why do millions of viewers persist in watching repetitious, inane shows about people pretending to be marooned on an island, women picking out a rich boyfriend, and serial killers who deliberately leave riddling clues for the cops? It can only be because the masses are under the malicious spell of Idiotus. Fatisto the god of useless dieting. Your body burns 1800 calories a day by just sitting around, and so you cut back to a 1200-calorie diet but you don t lose any weight! Impossible! Oh, but no! It is the fault of Fatisto, who sneaks into your bedroom at night and adds fat cells to your body while you sleep. Though these gods have supernatural powers, all is not lost. There is some possibility that certain kinds of burnt offerings may placate these deities and mitigate their evil influence. For example, incinerating your TV would probably get rid of Idiotus. I will let you know if further research turns up anything helpful. David Conner Revised from the Mouse, August 2005 June Birthdays and Anniversaries June 8, Rosalie Dorland June 9, Nancy and Warren Lawrence June 12, Keith and Norma Daly June 15, Dave Whitehead June 18, Shirleen Joha 3

4 Special Services during June! On June 8 our congregation will celebrate the 10 th Anniversary of our vote to become an Open and Affirming ( ONA ) Congregation! There will be special music and short testimonials from 3 or 4 of our members. It is wonderful to stop and celebrate the positive changes that have we have experienced because we are ONA. On June 15 we will celebrate Laity Sunday, led by Moderator Cynthia Parkinson and other lay people in the congregation. Ministers may be helpful, but the church is really sustained by and for lay people! Please come and support this important service. A potluck luncheon will be held downstairs in the Fellowship Hall afterwards. Since this is Fathers Day, all dads eat free! May Offerings and Attendance May 4: $ 4, May 11: $ 3, April 20: $ 2, April 27: $ 1, Total: $11, Average attendance during May: 57 We need $9,600 per month to balance the budget. If you are behind on your estimated giving, please try to catch up. Despite having good receipts during May, the church treasury is still a bit depleted because our April offerings were so low. Moreover, church attendance and offerings often decline during the summer! Please resolve to keep coming to church this summer whenever you are able. Also, if you can make an extra gift to the church, this would be a great time! Sumer Is Icumen In in Modern English Summer is a-coming in, Loudly sing, cuckoo! The seed is growing And the meadow is blooming, And the wood is coming into leaf now, Sing, cuckoo! The ewe is bleating after her lamb, The cow is lowing after her calf; The bullock is prancing, The billy-goat cavorting, Sing merrily, cuckoo! Cuckoo, cuckoo, You sing well, cuckoo, Never stop now. Sing, cuckoo, now; sing, cuckoo; Sing, cuckoo; sing, cuckoo, now! Cactus Flowers May photo: C. Schmitt 4 (Isn t it really kind of more fun in Middle English? ed.)

5 Greetings to all! Summer is here and we mice are looking forward to all the special activities that come with the warm weather. Elisa Rains Thomas, baby daughter of Lee and Leif Rains-Thomas, was baptized on May 25. A whole host of grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins were here. Congratulations to the family! Zadie Loren Nacthweih was baptized on May 4! Parents Shea Kluender and Dave Nachtweih and Shea s parents and grandmother were there to celebrate. Mark, Becky, and Bella Anderson recently traveled to Ogallala, Nebraska for the Memorial Day weekend. They had a nice visit with Mark s family. Our choir is now on recess for the summer. Thank you, choir! Congratulations to Melissa and Russ Borneman, who hiked up on North Table Mountain and got married on May 18! This was an intimate ceremony attended only by the happy couple and the Spirit of God s Love. Blessings on you both! A reception is planned for later this summer. Wanda Bonner recently got to travel to the Deep South to see the blooming azaleas and dogwood trees. Wanda says everything was beautiful, and she loved the trip! Lois Carson died in her apartment in northwest Denver on Mothers Day, May 11. Lois was 98. We feel the sadness of this huge loss but are glad that Lois s pain and physical diminishment are ended. We express sympathy to the entire Carson family. Services will be held at our church on Saturday, June 7, at 10:30 a.m. An obituary by Lois s son Tom is on our church web site: Owen Stocking had to have another surgery and is re-learning to swallow, but he is at home now! We pray that he continues to improve. Bob Liska has moved to 145 Nightingale Suites, West 65 th Way, Arvada, CO Bob s number is still We are thinking of you, Bob! After 3 terms representing House District 24 in the Colorado State House of Representatives, Sue Schafer has decided not to run for another term. We are very proud of the many things that Sue accomplished in the legislature! Thank you, Sue! The church is not allowed to endorse candidates (and we wouldn t engage in party politics, anyway), but in case you are curious, Sue says she supports Kris Teegardin, who is running for office as her successor. Thanks always to Cynthia Parkinson for being such a great moderator, and especially for leading Laity Sunday on June 15! A pot-luck luncheon will follow the worship service that day. David Conner will be in Manitou Springs June 9-11 for the annual meeting of the Institute for American Religious and Philosophical Thought. Then on June 12 he and Claudia Schmitt will travel to Grand Junction to represent our congregation at the annual meeting of the Rocky Mountain Conference of the United Church of Christ. David and Claudia return on June 17. If you have news or know of news pertaining to someone else, or if your birthday or anniversary is not listed when it should be, please let us know. Best to all of you! Squeak, squeak! 5

6 June 1: Holy Communion June 7: Lois Carson services, 10:30 a.m. Calendar for June and July June 8: Celebration, 10th Anniversary of our Open & Affirming Resolution! This day is also Pentecost! The Strengthen The Church special offering will be received. June 14: NO MEETINGS OF DEACONS OR TRUSTEES! Postponed until July. June 9-11: Pastor Conner out of town for continuing ed., Manitou Springs June 12-14: Rocky Mtn. Conference annual meeting, Grand Junction June 15: Laity Sunday at church, Cynthia Parkinson, leading. June 15: Fathers Day. June 25: 57 th Anniversary of the United Church of Christ (created in 1957 by the merger of the Congregational Christian and Evangelical & Reformed denominations) July 4: Independence Day July 6: Patriotic Sunday. Wear read, white, & blue. July 13: Annual Church Picnic at Morse Park, 20 th & Carr St. No activities at the church. July 27: Shorts Sunday. Parts of the worship service will be shortened, and all are invited to wear shorts! August 3: Jazz Communion This Summer: Lawn Mowing and Child Care Again this summer we need volunteers to mow the grass, and to watch the older children during the last half of the worship service. Mowing our own lawn saves several hundred dollars. Watching the kids gives our Sunday School teachers a break and keeps the kids safe and supervised. No lessons or teaching are involved. Melissa Borneman watches the infants & toddlers. Only 5 more people are needed to mow the lawn, but we still have 12 Sundays when we need a chaperone for the children! Help! Men, you can do this, too! If enough people sign up, no one will have to cut the grass or watch the kids more than once. This is our goal! Please step up to the plate and say yes to one (or both!) of these tasks. The sign-up sheets are on the table in the Library/Commons Room. The Church Mouse is published monthly by the Wheat Ridge Congregational Church, United Church of Christ. The deadline for copy is the 3 rd Tuesday of each month. Articles may be handwritten or typed, but we prefer plain text sent via to wheatridgeucc@gmail.com. Articles must indicate the name of the writer and/or sender. Unsigned articles are written by the editor. The church website is: News and photos for the website should be sent to the same address listed above. Sunday worship is at 10:00 a.m. Sunday School for children is held during morning worship beginning at approximately 10:20, following the Time With Our Children in the sanctuary. Adult Education begins at 9:00 a.m. every Sunday. Office hours are 9:00 to noon daily. Monday is the minister s day off. The pastor may be reached at (office), (cell), or wheatridgeucc@gmail.com. 6