Advent Candle – Love

December 22, 2019 Christopher D. Bennett

The candle set that I have pictured and that we have been using here is one I “made” for the Youth Group. It isn’t the correctly color scheme. It it didn’t come from an official religious artifact store. It is a collection of scented candles from Wal-Mart. It was painted by Youth Group alumnus Megan Osborne.

I bring this up because the Love candle is the one that gets lit the least, next to the Christ Candle in the middle. The majority of the youth think that this is the best smelling candle and wish we could just light it all the time for that reason.

Despite the humble origins of this Advent Candle set, I believe that it has been sanctified by the love that has been put into it and the love that surrounds it.

Let’s light that Love Candle:

One: Love’s memory is long.
As we come to the last Sunday of Advent,
we recall the many times we have been here before
with still so much to do
and so much love left unexpressed.
The Hebrew Bible lesson today recalls a promise to King David,
which the church has often understood
to be fulfilled in the birth of Jesus.
Love’s promise is often kept in unexpected ways.

All: God’s love endures forever.
In a world where even evergreens turn dry and brittle,
God’s love is the one reality on which we can rely.
Today we prepare for the greatest expression of that love,
as we listen once more for the Word in the words.

One: A reading from the Second Book of Samuel, Chapter 7, verses 10-11; 16.
I will appoint a place for my people Israel and will plant them, so that they may live in their own place, and be disturbed no more; and evildoers shall afflict them no more, as formerly, from the time that I appointed judges over my people Israel; and I will give you rest from all your enemies… Your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me; your throne shall be established forever.

All: God’s love endures forever.
Through acts as simple and common
as the birth of a baby,
God transforms the world,
and God’s promises are kept.
It is that expression of faithful love
we anticipate and celebrate this day.
It is that promise that brings light to our deepest night.

One: So, as we light the fourth candle
in eager anticipation of God’s greatest promise fulfilled,
what else can we do but name this candle Love?

I would add that not pictured is the green hula hoop we use to signify a wreath. I forgot to bring a wreath and the youth decided that a green hula hoop could have the same meaning as a wreath.

The green of the wreath symbolizes continuous life. The circle of the wreath, which has no beginning or end, symbolizes the eternity of God, the immortality of the soul, and the everlasting life we find in Christ. A green hula hoop has the same qualities and therefore can symbolize the same things. Plus it is more meaningful since the youth picked that out themselves.

However, the reason it isn’t pictured is because somebody stole (or more likely moved) our green hula hoop. I guess they wanted themselves some of that everlasting life found in Christ.

Liturgy of Light was written by the Rev. Michael Piazza, Dean and National Pastor of the Cathedral of Hope UCC,
Dallas Texas.
Copyright 2008 Local Church Ministries, Worship and Education Ministry Team, United Church of Christ, 700 Prospect Avenue, Cleveland, OH

Black & White, Formal Portrait, Jay, Lists

2009-07-29

December 21, 2019 Christopher D. Bennett 5 Comments

The pictures in the folder are from a series of pictures I made that are mostly playing with in-camera special effects and also an homage to what is probably my favorite television show of all time THE OUTER LIMITS.

In fact, this seems like a good time to give you my official TELEVISION SHOW POWER RANKINGS.

These are the greatest 10 Shows of All-Time in order. (Confession, I didn’t really watch television from the end of KNIGHT RIDER until DEXTER. If a show was on then, I haven’t seen it, but it probably wasn’t all that good anyways.)

10 GREATEST SHOWS OF ALL-TIME

1. THE OUTER LIMITS
2. FARGO
3. MR. SHOW
4. DOWNTON ABBEY
5. THE TWILIGHT ZONE
6. STRANGER THINGS
7. THE MARVELOUS MRS. MAISEL
8. GAME OF THRONES
9. ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT
10. ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK

This list comes from me, therefore, is beyond contestation. Feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments section below.

Shows like THE DAILY SHOW or the COLBERT report were not considered.

By adding these pictures to The Photography 139 Gallery, I was able to restore the following historic “An Artist’s Notebook” entries to their original glory:

The Outer Limits

Next Sautrday’s walk down memory lane will involve the last Ames Jaycees event I ever attended.

Black & White, Christianity, Macro, Nature, Photo Journal, Vest, WPC - Reminder

A Photo Journal – Page 66 & 67

December 20, 2019 Christopher D. Bennett

It has been since September 20 that I published something from THE PHOTO JOURNAL PROJECT. For several months, I have been down to just a couple pages and I had the final page done, but I just couldn’t pull the trigger on that last page. Faced with my deadline of being done with this project by the end of the year, so I could pick up another project for 2020.

I finally knocked off this project on Thursday with the help of Vest. These pages call for a celebrity picture of sorts and for the longest time I was concentrating on Tiger Woods, but in the end I decided a person that was less a celebrity, but more of a historical figure.

I’m not going to reveal who this “celebrity” is supposed to be. I hope that people can deduce it from the images, although I know that they might not make sense and you might not be able to figure out what they represent. That is okay, if I can at least get people to think a little bit, that is all I ask.

Page 66 & 67 0 Make a sequence of four pictures inspired by the rise and fall of Britney Spears (or another celebrity).

If you think you know what I was trying to say, feel free to leave your guess in the Comments section of this here blog.

This leaves only one page left to reveal:

Page 123 – Don’t take any more photographs -none- until you see something that emotionally moves you. Only then pick up your camera.

That picture will be revealed next Friday, along with my new photo project.

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

LANDSCAPE

A LANDSCAPE image is a picture of an area of land. That is it. You can poke your head out your back door (assuming you live in a house) and take a LANDSCAPE picture.

Happy photo harvesting!

Boone FUMC, Candid Portrait, Event, Formal Portrait, Holidays, Kio, Still Life, Youth Group

Methodistgiving

December 19, 2019 Christopher D. Bennett

For like the last 15 or 16 or more years, my church has held a free Thanksgiving dinner open to anybody in the community. The last few years I have went down and photographed the event until I needed to tap out and go to my family Thanksgiving.

Here are a few of my favorite photos from the day, you might even recognize a few faces from the Youth Group (present and past):

If you don’t want to cook for Thanksgiving or just find that you are alone, feel free to join us next year for Thanksgiving!

Black & White, Candid Portrait, Photoshop, Railroad, Teresa, Youth Group

Who’s a Big Boy? – Chapter 1

December 18, 2019 Christopher D. Bennett

Before we get into the meat of this post, I’d like to remind you that tonight at the Boone First United Methodist Church from 5:15-6:30 we are having a soup supper that is a fundraiser for our 2020 Mission Trip to Indianapolis:

Hope to see many of you there tonight! You can even stay for the Christmas Concert that follows!

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Back in early August, the world’s largest steam engine (or something like that) the Big Boy toured through Boone. It was on its way from Des Moines to Omaha. I took part of the day off and followed it from roughly Cambridge to Carroll. Here is a collection of some of the pictures:

Teresa joined me after the Big Boy stopped in Boone for the rest of the trip.

I took a gamble with where I set up for when it crossed the high bridge and I lost big. Very big. But I’ll get into those details in Chapter 2.

Animals, Black & White, Naima, Ruins, WPC - Alternate

A Jazz Standard

December 17, 2019 Christopher D. Bennett

Today’s post features some pictures I took back in February. Some are pictures I took for the RUINS theme of THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE in Colo. The majority of the pictures are of Naima playing around in the backyard of the Photography 139 Studio.

Some of these pictures clearly don’t follow the rules of composition and that is why I love them so.

Andy, Angie, Becky, Candid Portrait, Jen, Jesse, Kim, Michelle, Micky, Nature, Running, Tamara, Willy, WPC - Submissions

WPC – WEEK 222 – SPORTS/GAMES

December 16, 2019 Christopher D. Bennett

Another healthy week of submissions. The 12th week in a row of double digit submissions!

But you didn’t come here to listen to me talk all tommyrot about submission rates. You came to see the submissions:

Kim Barker

Christopher D. Bennett

Tamara Peterson

Micky Augustin

Andy Sharp

Michelle Haupt

Jen Ensley-Gorshe

Becky Parmelee

Angie DeWaard

Jesse Howard

But enough dwelling on the past. Time to look to the future. We are all interested in the future, for that is where you and I are going to spend the rest of our lives. And remember my friend, future events such as these will affect you in the future! This week’s theme:

LANDSCAPE

LANDSCAPE! What a great theme! But what is a LANDSCAPE photo? Here is a good definition I took from the Wiki:

Landscape photography shows spaces within the world, sometimes vast and unending, but other times microscopic. Landscape photographs typically capture the presence of nature but can also focus on man-made features or disturbances of landscapes.

You could also do a cityscape or a waterscape. Remember LANDSCAPE has more than one meaning.

I look forward to seeing your interpretations!

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HOUSEKEEPING

A MESSAGE FROM THE PHOTOGRAPHY 139 RULES DIVISION

The picture has to be taken the week of the theme. This isn’t a curate your pictures challenge. This is a get your butt off the couch (my personal experience) and put your camera in your hands challenge. Don’t send me a picture of you next to the Eiffel Tower, when I know you were in Iowa all week. I will point out that I have let that slide some in the past. I will not in the future. Since it is literally about the only rule.

Your submission needs to be emailed to bennett@photography139.com by 11 AM on the Monday of the challenge due date.

I now allow people to text me their submissions. In the past, I had made exceptions for a couple people that aren’t real computer savvy, even though it was an inconvenience for me and required at least 3 extra steps for me. I am now lifting that embargo because I have a streamline way of uploading photos. I’m not giving out my phone number, but if you have it, you can text me.

It should be pointed out that this blog auto-publishes at 12:01 on Mondays. So it wouldn’t hurt to get your picture in earlier.

That is it, them’s the rules.

A MESSAGE FROM THE PHOTOGRAPHY 139 SHAMELESS SELF-PROMOTION DIVISION

Nobody showed class, taste, and sophistication this week by signing up for a Photography 139 email subscription. I’ll try and do better next week.

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That’s all I got for today, so if the good Lord’s willin’ and the creek don’t rise, we will commune right here again next Monday. Hopefully it will be a very landscaped Monday!

Christianity, Holidays, Jodie Cue, Still Life, Youth Group

Advent Candle – Joy

December 15, 2019 Christopher D. Bennett

Before we kick the tires and light the fire on the Joy Advent Candle, I do want to invite you to another Mission Trip Fundraiser.

This Wednesday from 5:15 to about 6:30 at the Boone First United Methodist Church we will be serving chili and potato soup. All you have to do is drop is knock down a bowl or two of soup. Then drop whatever you fill is appropriate in our donation basket.

Then, if you are feeling up for it, at 6:30 you can head up to the sanctuary and watch the Christmas Concert, which I have no doubt will be a beautiful disaster. Just like they are meant to be!

Because we have a different schedule than normal, the youth spent last Wednesday night making the soup and chili. Here are some pictures of the production:

Yes, Jodie, we used your recipes.

So hopefully, we’ll see a few of there!

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Let us light the Joy Candle:

One: This season of preparation is half done,
and today we light the third candle of our wreath.
It is pink to remind us
that there is so much about which we should rejoice.

All: In the midst of all the parties and merriment,
we are a people seeking true joy
in the arms of the One who comes to bring it.
Even as night continues to lengthen,
we sense the coming of light that will brighten our days,
so we listen for the Word in the words of the prophet.

One: A reading from the Prophet Isaiah, Chapter 61, verses 1 to 3.
The spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me; he has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed, to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and release to the prisoners; to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn; to provide for those who mourn in Zion— to give them a garland instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the mantle of praise instead of a faint spirit. They will be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, to display his glory.

All: We rejoice in the Anointed One
who came and who comes.
With joy-filled hearts,
we join the energy of our life to the life
whose birth we anticipate.
With Christ, we, too,
will bring good news to the oppressed,
bind up the broken-hearted,
proclaim liberty to the captives
and release to the prisoners,
and proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.

One: For us, God has replaced our mourning
with the oil of gladness,
so we light this third candle and name it Joy.

Animals, Art, Black & White, Brandon, Flowers, Formal Portrait, Night, Railroad, Sara

2009-07-24 & 2009-07-27

December 14, 2019 Christopher D. Bennett

I decided to throw two folders into today’s walk down memory lane because one folder really only had two pictures of Brandon in it.

The other folder had a ton of pictures from a trip to Ledges and a trip to Des Moines with Sara. There has been a lot of pictures of Sara in these recent trips down memory lane. I think I’ve seen Sara exactly one time in 2019. I think I saw her twice in 2018. If things break just right, I might see her again in 2020.

By adding these pictures to the Photography 139 Gallery, I was able to restore the following historic “An Artist’s Notebook” entries to their original glory:

Future Road Trip Master

Lousy with People

Next Saturday’s walk down memory lane will involve Jay and more sparklers.

Basketball, Black & White, Derrick, Iowa State, Music, Still Life, WPC - Reminder

Not What I Appear to Be

December 13, 2019 Christopher D. Bennett

Happy Friday the 13th! May your night be Jason Voorhees free! Or, if you want, have the proper amount of Jason Voorhees. I have to confess that while I was on vacation I got sucked down a rabbit hole of watching the special features on about all of the discs in THE FRIDAY THE 13TH boxed set. I didn’t know if I would ever watch the movies when I picked up the boxed set for like $3 in a Wal-Mart bargain bin about 3 years ago. Turns out, I’m a sucker for documentaries and commentary tracks on terrible movies. You probably could have guessed that though.

Today’s collection of pictures is from August. Back when MUSIC was the theme for THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE. I visited Derrick at Rieman Music to take some photos. These are the ones I didn’t select:

If you have ANY music needs, you really should hop down to the Ames location of Rieman Music and talk to Derrick. The man knows everything there ever is to know about guitars.

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This is your reminder that this week’s WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE theme is SPORTS/GAMES:

SPORTS/GAMES

A SPORTS/GAMES photo is any photo that involves anything that surrounds SPORTS/GAMES.

Happy photo harvesting!