Category Archives: Christianity

Tenebrae Good Times!

April 8, 2023 Christopher D. Bennett

Okay, so that journal title is highly inappropriate. Last night our Good Friday worship service was a Tenebrae worship service. The Good Friday worship service is the most somber service of the year, as it “celebrate” Jesus’ crucifixion.

Both the Maundy Thursday service and the Good Friday service combined the congregations of the churches of the “holy block”. The First United Methodist Church, The First Baptist Church, The First Presbyterian Church, The Central Christian Church, and the Grace Episcopal Church.

The Maundy Thursday service was held at the Presbyterian Church. I thought I had been in that church before, but once I got in there, it was obvious I haven’t. The orientation of the sanctuary is the exact opposite of what I expected and I did spend a fair amount of the worship service trying to wrap my head around it. It made me do a list of all the local churches in Boone to try to figure out how many I haven’t been in. I think the only ones I haven’t been in are the Boone Church of the Nazarene, Church of God of Prophecy, Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses, and the Berean Baptist Church. However, I’m pretty sure the Berean Baptist Church wouldn’t let me in their doors. And the Jehovah Witnesses have been at my house enough that I think I should be able to count as having been there. The one I’m wishy-washy on is Stonebridge. I think I’ve been there, but I can’t quite place a reason why I might have been there. I’ve been to their affiliate church in Ames and regretted that though. Also, I don’t know if I count Assembly of God as a Boone church. It is outside the city limits. So I don’t.

The way we took communion on Thursday night was out there for me. Now remember, I have been pretty comfortable worshiping in a ton of different environments for worshipping with Southern Baptists, Amish, and too many different ways to count on mission trips. It didn’t make me uncomfortable. It was just strange. It involved passing everything around the congregation on a plate. It took forever. What can I say. When I’m there for the body and blood of Christ, I want a well-oiled machine.

Good Friday service was a little off as well. But that was mostly because the sound system produced a near constant hum of feedback for parts of the service. Must be what is was like to see Jimi Hendrix.

I took my camera to the Good Friday service because I thought that it was going to be photogenic, with the 15 candles and it getting gradually dimmer. But there were lights on the entire time and the candles were tiny. But I took pictures any ways.

On to Easter!

Angie, Black & White, Carla, Cathie, Christianity, Commercial, Event, Kim, Lowell, Michelle, Micky, Sarah Toot, Still Life, Travel, Work, WPC - Reminder

Viva Las Vegas: Day 3B

April 7, 2023 Christopher D. Bennett

Today is Good Friday. I wish those who celebrate, a good Good Friday.

Matthew 27:32-56
32-34 Along the way they came on a man from Cyrene named Simon and made him carry Jesus’ cross. Arriving at Golgotha, the place they call “Skull Hill,” they offered him a mild painkiller (a mixture of wine and myrrh), but when he tasted it he wouldn’t drink it.

35-40 After they had finished nailing him to the cross and were waiting for him to die, they killed time by throwing dice for his clothes. Above his head they had posted the criminal charge against him: this is jesus, the king of the jews. Along with him, they also crucified two criminals, one to his right, the other to his left. People passing along the road jeered, shaking their heads in mock lament: “You bragged that you could tear down the Temple and then rebuild it in three days—so show us your stuff! Save yourself! If you’re really God’s Son, come down from that cross!”

41-44 The high priests, along with the religion scholars and leaders, were right there mixing it up with the rest of them, having a great time poking fun at him: “He saved others—he can’t save himself! King of Israel, is he? Then let him get down from that cross. We’ll all become believers then! He was so sure of God—well, let him rescue his ‘Son’ now—if he wants him! He did claim to be God’s Son, didn’t he?” Even the two criminals crucified next to him joined in the mockery.

45-46 From noon to three, the whole earth was dark. Around mid-afternoon Jesus groaned out of the depths, crying loudly, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?”

47-49 Some bystanders who heard him said, “He’s calling for Elijah.” One of them ran and got a sponge soaked in sour wine and lifted it on a stick so he could drink. The others joked, “Don’t be in such a hurry. Let’s see if Elijah comes and saves him.”

50 But Jesus, again crying out loudly, breathed his last.

51-53 At that moment, the Temple curtain was ripped in two, top to bottom. There was an earthquake, and rocks were split in pieces. What’s more, tombs were opened up, and many bodies of believers asleep in their graves were raised. (After Jesus’ resurrection, they left the tombs, entered the holy city, and appeared to many.)

54 The captain of the guard and those with him, when they saw the earthquake and everything else that was happening, were scared to death. They said, “This has to be the Son of God!”

55-56 There were also quite a few women watching from a distance, women who had followed Jesus from Galilee in order to serve him. Among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Joseph, and the mother of the Zebedee brothers.

There is a Tenebrae worship service at my church (Boone First United Methodist Church) at 7 PM tonight if you are interested in attending. You. Are. Invited. At least I will be there.

But what is a Tenebrae service? Glad you asked is:

For United Methodists and some other Protestants, the story of the suffering and death of Jesus from John’s gospel is divided into 16 readings. After each segment of the story is read, a candle is extinguished. After the fifteenth reading, which confirms that Jesus had died on the cross, the last of the 15 lit candles is extinguished or taken away, and a loud sound (called strepitus in Latin) is made to convey the sense of total loss of God’s presence and the effect of the death of Jesus on the universe. The final story of the burial is read in near darkness.

Now aren’t you glad I used scripture from Matthew?

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After spending most of the day part of Day 3 in the conference room area making sure things were working for the speakers and being a de facto sound guy, the evening was for partying. The type of party that you are required to go to by the Computer Mine, but it is okay cause you are getting paid to be there. Plus, I was tasked with taking pictures of the event, so I wasn’t required to mingle. Just kidding, taking pictures of the event required much more mingling than not photographing the event.

The theme of the CMC Party was Game Night. Costumes were encouraged, but not necessarily required. Unless you were employed by the Computer Mine. Then they were required. I don’t believe a picture of my costume exists, so you will have to imagine what it was like. I will tell you that my costume was a BIG hit with some people and a head scratcher for others. It was maybe a little tangential to the Game Night theme, but my goal was 100% comfort. The one thing I didn’t expect was how boiling hot it was in that costume. The costume you only get to imagine.

Here is a first collection of pictures from the evening:

One of the jobs of Computer Mine employees was to hand out poker chips… I may have gave 90% of my chips to this office.

There is a strong yellowish hue to these pictures cause of the lighting at the event. I could fix more of that in post, but don’t know there is a reason to do that.

There is still one more collection of pictures from Day 3 to share. When I share them, I will give the Per Diem Watch Update.

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This is your reminder that this week’s THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE theme is ODD CAMERA ANGLE:

ODD CAMERA ANGLE

ODD CAMERA ANGLE! What a great theme for Year 10 of THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE!

But what is an ODD CAMERA ANGLE photo? Simply put, it a picture taken from an angle that is different than normal. The grand majority of pictures are taken from the eye level of the photographer. This theme challenges you to look down at your subject. Or look up at your subject. Or look at it from an angle where something small looks big and something big looks small. Or try out a Dutch angle. Put yourself on the ground or in a hole or in the air. Just don’t take your picture eye level. That’s all we’re asking here. The world is your oyster. You just have to look at it askew.

This isn’t the first time that ODD CAMRERA ANGLE or something similar to it has been a theme for THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE. Have a look back at a few submissions from the past for a bit of inspiration:

WEEK 326 - ODD CAMERA ANGLE - MICKY AUGUSTIN

Micky Augustin – Week 326

Sarah Toot – Week 359

Angie DeWaard – Week 359

Carla Stensland – Week 359

Christopher D. Bennett – Week 85

Hopefully something in there inspires somebody.

Happy photo harvesting!

Animals, Christianity, Flowers, Macro

Heart’s Content

April 6, 2023 Christopher D. Bennett 1 Comment

Today is Maundy Thursday. I hope this Thursday is the maundiest Thursday you have ever had. And if you know what maundy means, you know that sentence is nonsense. But joyful nonsense.

If you are not familiar with Maundy Thursday, let me explain. Pull up a chair, but don’t get too close, cause I’m about to drop knowledge bombs on you.

Maundy Thursday celebrates Jesus giving us his final commandment. Maundy is short for the Latin word mandatum, which means command. Jesus and the disciples had just shared the Last Supper, which as a Methodist I believe consisted of Welch’s Grape Juice and tortillas, and while Jesus was washing the disciples’ feet he gave them the New Commandment. I’m not sure about the tortilla part. But last Sunday when we took communion at Boone First United Methodist Church the bread that was served really tasted like a tortilla. I’m not complaining, but I have to tell somebody.

But what was this New Commandment? Was it go on social media and badmouth your neighbor? Kick people while they are down? Pile on the oppressed? Ban books? Sit in judgment of others? Tell others how to live their life?

I mean those would have been all great commandments and easy enough to follow. But the New Commandment was:

I am giving you a new commandment, that you [f]love one another. Just as I have loved you, so you too are to love one another.
-John 13:34

This version of the verse is from the Amplified version of The Bible and it has a footnote next to the word “love’ that I think is great and so I wanted to share it:

The key to understanding this and other statements about love is to know that this love (the Greek word agape) is not so much a matter of emotion as it is of doing things for the benefit of another person, that is, having an unselfish concern for another and a willingness to seek the best for another.

It isn’t necessarily an emotional love for one another. It is the type of love that is an action (not that kind of action perverts) but showing love in your actions and deeds that benefit another person. Without getting a benefit out of it in some way.

What is more, a word that is missing from this commandment is “deserve”. It isn’t a command to love those who deserve it, (which is kind of a weird concept when you think about it, there are people that are deserving of love and others that you somehow have decided are not worthy of love, but I digress) it is a command to love everybody and as Clint Eastwood says in UNFORGIVEN in what couldn’t be a more different context, “Deserves got nothing to do with it.”

But I don’t think you should cut off the scripture there. The next thing Jesus said is kind of a bomb too.

By this everyone will know that you are My disciples, if you have love and unselfish concern for one another.”
-John 13:35

It is through how you love others that others will know that you are a Christian. Now Jesus wouldn’t have ever used the phrase “Christian” and so let me change that word to “Christ Follower”.

How you love (serve) others is how they will know your are a follower of Christ.

Oh snap!

Not by wearing a cross necklace. Not by reposting something on Facebook about seeing how many “real” Christians they can get to repost the same thing. Not by slapping a bumper sticker on the back of your car for the local Christian music radio station.

But by how you treat others. All others. Even that annoying person at work that talks way too loud on the phone. Sometimes headphones are for watching Netflix at work. Sometimes they are for not having to hear that loud person too cubicles over… but that seems like an oddly specific example.

I was going to close this section on Maundy Thursday with a quote. Like most quotes it is a misattribution and so it is impossible to know who originally said it. But it goes a little something like this:

Preach the Gospel at all times. Use words if necessary.

It is often attributed to Saint Francis of Assisi, but he probably never said it.

If you Google this quote the first several hits are articles written by people that I am sure more learned than me, that absolutely hate this quote. I mean absolutely HATE this quote. They’ve written full articles about false dichotomies and neglecting personal evangelism. And this makes me think that whomever wrote or spoke these words was on to something.

I almost forgot to extend an invitation to you, if you are looking for a Maundy Thursday Worship Service. We aren’t having a service at our church this year. The Boone Ministerial Alliance has decided to combine forces. Therefore, the Maundy Thursday service you will find me at is at the First Presbyterian Church. That is the church straight across Greene Street from the Ericson Public Library. It starts at 6:30. Anyways, show up if you want.

But where will the Good Friday service be…

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Maybe you thought I hung the moon
Maybe you thought we were Johnny and June
Maybe we thought it was just us two
Maybe we spoke too soon

We never lie and we don’t tell tales
We bite our tongues and our fingernails
We fall in love and we don’t fall out
Maybe we speak too soon

Maybe we hurt who we love the most
Maybe it’s all we can stand
Maybe we walk through the world as ghosts
Break my own heart before you can
-Brandi Carlile

Thursdays are for flowers, but sometimes adorable (as Jen would say) grasshoppers sneak in. So this week I asked ChatGPT to write me a poem about grasshoppers. This is what it wrote:

Amidst the golden fields of green,
There hops a creature seldom seen,
With legs so long and wings so bright,
It’s the grasshopper, taking flight.

With nimble feet and agile grace,
It leaps and bounds from place to place,
A master of the summer breeze,
Its song a symphony to please.

In emerald hues, it blends with ease,
Into the grasses and the trees,
A fleeting glimpse of fleeting joy,
As it flits and flies, without a toy.

With every hop, it takes a chance,
To dance and sing and seek romance,
A lover of the sunny days,
Its carefree ways, forever ablaze.

So if you see a grasshopper near,
Take a moment, lend an ear,
For in its song, there lies a tale,
Of life and love, of joy and gale.
-ChatGPT

Perhaps the most beautiful words penned by artificial intelligence about our green friends.

Here is a collection of flowertography pictures I took on October 4, 2022:

Raise a hand if you are getting pumped for flowertography season! There is already green things protruding out of my dirt. It is exciting times in these parts!

Art, Christianity, Road Trip, Ruins

Wapello County Aux. – Vol. 1

March 22, 2023 Christopher D. Bennett

Time to start sharing the next collection of images from my road trip to Wapello County to harvest their town signs. I didn’t spend that much time in Ottumwa because I’ve done some time in Ottumwa back in the day. But I did take a few pictures there.

Chillicothe

Blakesburg

Ottumwa

Still more pictures to share from this road trip.

Animals, Art, Basketball, Birthdays, Carla, Christianity, Flowers, History, Monica, Nathanial, Nature, Politics, Road Trip, Self-Portrait, Slice of Life

Clayton County Aux. – Vol. 6

March 15, 2023 Christopher D. Bennett

I need to start today by wishing Carla a happy birthday. Happy birthday Carla!

I hope your birthday is as full of as much joy as you can handle!

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I also need to wish Monica a happy birthday. Happy birthday Monica!

I also hope your birthday is as full of as much joy as you can handle!

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A reminder that you have until Thursday at 11 AM (Central) to get your picks in for Year 18 of the Roundball Oracles. Click on the link below to join:

Roundball Oracles – Year 18

It costs nothing to participate. First Place gets a trophy. Last Place Adult that gives full effort also gets a trophy. Hope many of you participate!

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Finally, I also need to wish Nathanial a happy birthday. Happy birthday Nathanial!

I also hope your birthday is filled with as much joy and photography opportunities as you can handle!

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It is time to share the final collection of images I took while harvesting the town signs of Clayton County. All of these were either taken at Pikes Peak State Park or in Marquette.

Pikes Peak State Park

Marquette

The next time we hit the open road to look at auxiliary images for THE TOWN SIGN PROJECT, we will visit Wapello County.

Art, Christianity, Nature, Road Trip

Clayton County Aux. – Vol. 5

March 8, 2023 Christopher D. Bennett

Time once again to share some auxiliary images from my road trip to Clayton County to harvest their town signs several months back. Clayton County is a beautiful county and I would like to visit again this year. We will have to see how my life goes. But I think I can swing it!

Guttenberg

Best View in the World!

Garnavillo

Furniture and Undertaking

Clayton

Pikes Peak State Park

Bridal Veil Falls was a bit of a disappointment.

Pikes Peak Park has such an incredible overlook of the Mississippi River. Even when it is lousy with other people. I’d love to go back there and use Rodan139 to get a few pictures. When the place isn’t lousy with people, of course!

Still one more collection of pictures from this trip left to share!

Animals, Art, Black & White, Christianity, Nature, Road Trip

Clayton County Aux. – Vol. 4

March 1, 2023 Christopher D. Bennett

Time once again to share a collection of images from my road trip through Clayton County to harvest their town signs.
Most of these are taken in Guttenberg, which is beautiful little river town. I’d love to spend more time there at some point in the future and really give it a good photographing!

Guttenberg

Still so many pictures to share from this road trip!

Art, Christianity, Nature, Railroad, Road Trip

Clayton County Aux. – Vol. 3

February 22, 2023 Christopher D. Bennett

Time for another collection of pictures from my road trip to harvest the town signs of Clayton County I took last July. Finally, in this collection, there are pictures from Clayton County. Although the first few are still in Dubuque County.

Balltown

North Buena Vista

A 2023 goal is to ride this ferry.

Osterdock

Elkport

Still plenty more pictures left to share from this trip. After all, we have just started to dip our toes into Clayton County!

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Clayton County Aux. – Vol. 2

February 17, 2023 Christopher D. Bennett

Time to share another collection of images from my road trip to harvest the town signs of Clayton County that I took back in July. These images were once again, all taken in Dubuque County. That area of the state, Clayton County, Allamakee County, and Dubuque County is the prettiest part of Iowa. Almost feels like a different state.

Epworth

Bankston

Holy Cross

Luxemburg

Still so many pictures from this trip to share. Eventually we might even make it to Clayton County!

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This is your reminder that this week’s THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE theme is FRAME:

FRAME

FRAME! What a great theme for year 10 of THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE! This is a theme that was suggested by Sarah Toot.

But what is a FRAME picture. It is simply an image where the main subject of your photo is FRAME(d) by something else. In the theme reveal, it is literally a FRAME, but in practice it would more likely be something else. Something else blocking in your main subject to draw attention to it. And your subject doesn’t have to be FRAME(d) on all 4 sides. 3 sides or 2 sides also works. Of course, there is more than one definition of FRAME.

This isn’t the first time that FRAME or FRAMED was a theme for THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE. Here are some of the submission for that theme from the past:

Mike Vest – Week 342

Suzie Brannen – Week 342

Michelle Haupt – Week 268

Carla Stensland – Week 212

Christopher D. Bennett – Week 112

Hopefully that provides some inspiration!

Happy photo harvesting!

Art, Christianity, Flowers, Road Trip

Clayton County Aux. – Vol. 1

February 15, 2023 Christopher D. Bennett 1 Comment

I want to start out by pointing out that not a single person questioned my Romantic Comedy Power Rankings. Once again proving that my power rankings are definitive and beyond contestation.

Time to share a collection of auxiliary images I took while tooling around Clayton County harvesting their town signs. However, every picture in this collection was actually taken in Dubuque County on my way to Clayton County.

Farley

Epworth

Still, so many pictures from this trip to share. That isn’t an exaggeration at all. I think there will be 6 volumes of pictures from this trip. Buckle up!