Founder's Day Notes: 11/1/09

Zion UMC Celebrated its 132nd year of existence this year,

and to commemorate the event, the following texts were read:

Ecclesiastes Chapter 3

Psalm 37:3-6

and

Matthew 24:35-51...

The following information was also conveyed:

In 1877, when our church was first organized,

• Rutheford B. Hayes succeeded Ulysses S. Grant as President of the U.S.
• Queen Victoria of England was celebrating her Golden Jubilee
• The Indian Wars were still being fought out West
• Paved roads and highways were not yet in existence
• Automobiles were not yet being widely produced
• Orville and Wilbur Wright were years away from their first flight at Kitty Hawk, NC

Yet the Word of God was being proclaimed in our church, just as it is today.

Other interesting facts:

Those in our congregation who were kids

in the 40's, 50's, 60's, or 70's

probably shouldn't have survived.

Why?

• Our baby cribs were covered with bright colored lead-based paint.
• We had no childproof medicine bottles, doors, or cabinets, and what in the heck was a bike helmet? We won't even talk about hitchhiking. . .
• As kids we would be carted around in cars with no seat belts or air bags and riding in the back of a truck on a warm day was always a special treat.
• We would spend hours building scooters. . . skateboards. . . go-carts out of old wood, rusty scraps and then rode down hills, only to find out we forgot the brakes. . . but we had our feet!
• We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back when the street lights came on. (And no one was able to reach us because cell phones hadn't been invented.)
• We fell out of trees, got cuts, broke bones and teeth, and there were no law suits from these accidents. They were accidents. Remember accidents? No one was to blame, but us.
• We had fights and punched each other and got black and blue and learned to get over it.
• We drank water from the garden hose and not from a bottle.
• We ate cakes, bread and butter, and drank sugar cordials, but we were hardly ever overweight because we were always outside playing and although we shared one soft drink with four friends, no one ever actually died.
• We did not have Play Stations, X-Boxes, 99 channels on cable, DVDs, surround sound, cell phones, personal computers, FaceBook, MySpace, Blackberries, or Internet chat rooms. We had friends. We went outside and found them. We rode bikes, roller skated, or walked to their homes and stood in front and yelled for them to come out to play, or knocked on the door, rang the bell or just walked in to visit them. Imagine such a thing. Without asking a parent! By ourselves! Out there in the cold cruel world! How did we do it?
• We made up games with sticks and tennis balls and ate worms and although we were told it would happen, we did not put out very many eyes, nor did the worms live inside us forever.
• Tests were not adjusted for any reason. Some students weren't as smart as others so they failed a grade and were held back to repeat it. And the next time they usually passed.
• Our actions were our own. Consequences were expected and there was no one to hide behind.The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke a law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law.

  And despite ... or, perhaps, because of all this ... this generation has produced some of the most outstanding risk-takers, problem solvers, innovators and inventors, ever.
  The past 50 years has seen an explosion of advancement and new ideas.
  Why?

Because we were given freedom and responsibility. . . the chance to succeed and to fail.

And we learned how to make the most of what we were given.

If you are one of us, Congratulations! Give yourself a hand!

Also conveyed was the following:

Thirty Years Make a BIG, BIG Difference

1979: Long hair

2009: Longing for hair

1979: KEG

2009: EKG

1979: Acid rock

2009: Acid reflux

1979: Moving to California because it's cool

2009: Moving to California because it's warm

1979: Hoping for a BMW

2009: Hoping for a BM

1979: Going to a new, hip joint

2009: Receiving a new hip joint

1979: Rolling Stones

2009: Kidney Stones

1979: Being called into the principal's office

2009: Calling the principal's office

1979: Disco

2009: Costco

1979: Parents begging you to get your hair cut

2009: Children begging you to get their heads shaved

1979: Passing the drivers' test

2009: Passing the vision test

Just in case you weren't feeling too old today, this will certainly change things.

Each year the staff at Beloit College in Wisconsin puts together a list to try to give the faculty a sense of the mindset of this year's incoming freshmen.

Here's this year's list:

The people who are starting college this fall across the nation were born in 1989.

• The space shuttle Challenger blew up before three years before they were born.
• Their lifetime has always included AIDS.
• Bottle caps have always been screw off and plastic.
• The CD was introduced six years before they were born.
• They have always had an answering machine.
• They have always had cable.
• They cannot fathom not having a remote control.
• They grew up thinking Jay Leno was always the host of the Tonight Show.
• Popcorn has always been cooked in the microwave.
• They never took a swim and thought about the movie 'Jaws.'
• They can't imagine what hard contact lenses are.
• They don't know who Mork was, or where he was from. And they don't care.
• They never heard: "Where's the Beef?" or "I'd walk a mile for a Camel" or
• "Ze plane Boss, ze plane."
• They do not care who shot J. R. and have no idea who J. R. even is.
• McDonald's never came in Styrofoam containers.
• They don't have a clue how to use a typewriter.

.

And yet the Word of the Lord endures forever. Amen.