Crucifixion

We believe
Jesus of Nazareth
was crucified.

Crucifixion is the
ultimate obscenity.
Crucifixion is the
ultimate deterrent.

Crucifixion involves stripping the victim in order to humilate.
Crucifixion means a body would be picked apart by birds of prey.

Crucifixion sates the sadistic desires of the strong.
Crucifixion is reserved for vile criminals.

Crucifixion is synonymous with shame.
Crucifixion is synonymous with suffocation.

Crucifixion gives a lasting commentary on a person's life.



Crucifixion means a person is cursed by God.

~Scot McKnight, One.Life p186

Parish Nurse Notes: Bedbugs

There has been a lot of controversy lately over the rise of incidents of bedbugs.

This has caused a significant amount of anxiety, especially among those who stay in hotels. If you are going to travel, there is a website called the Bedbug Registry. At this site you can check hotels and apartments across the U.S. to see if any complaints have been made about bedbugs.

As with most issues, one way to decrease anxiety is to learn more about it. Once you have information about what concerns you it becomes easier to deal with the issue, and decreases anxiety.

Here is a small overview of bedbug knowledge: Bedbugs 101

* Bedbugs are small, oval, brownish insects that feed on the blood of animals, and humans. Fully mature bedbugs have flat bodies about the side of an apple seed. After a feeding of blood they turn a rather reddish color.

* Bedbugs do not have the ability to fly. They are speedy little critters that can move quickly over floors, walls, and ceilings. Females lay hundreds of eggs over the course of their life. Baby bedbugs, called nymphs, are about the size of a speck of dust. Nymphs can develop fully in as little as a month and can produce three or more generations in a year.

* Bedbugs are sneaky little critters that enter the home through luggage, clothing, used beds and couches, and other items. In the summer time it is common to buy used furniture such as at garage sales. That couch or bed may be a great deal, but proceed with caution. My own recommendation is not to buy bedding from someone you don’t know. You don’t want to risk the possibility of bringing an unwanted bonus home to your house.

* Bedbugs do not live in nests but tend to stay hiding in groups. Over time they can spread through the bedroom to any place that is protected such as a crevice in a wall. They will spread through a home or apartment given time. They mainly like the mattress or other parts of the bed where there is access for biting in the night.

Most bedbug bites are painless at first, but later they turn into itchy welts. Fleas usually like to bite around the ankles but bedbugs will bite anywhere they can find a spot. Many times people think that bedbug bites are actually mosquito bites. In order to be certain of what is happening you must search and find the bugs visually.

If you notice that you are waking up with bites that you did not have at bedtime you likely have bedbugs especially if it is around the time you got a used bed or other piece of furniture. Some signs of infestation include: bloodstains on the sheets and pillowcases, dark rusty spots on the sheets or walls which are an indication of bedbug excrement, signs of fecal material, egg shells, or shed skin in areas where bedbugs like to hide. There can also be a musty odor present from the bugs scent glands.

If you are concerned that you may have a bed bug infestation the first thing to remember is to stay calm. If you have young children you do not want to get upset and panic, as this may cause sleeping problems such as nightmares.

Remember: be VERY cautious about bringing used furniture into your home, especially from a garage sale or second hand store. If you decide you are going to buy a used piece of furniture please be sure to inspect it thoroughly for any sign of bugs, eggs, shed skin, etc.

Next week I will give an overview on what to do if you do find that you have the critters in your home. I pray for all the Lord’s best for the people of Anchor. If you have any questions or comments about what I have written, please feel free to contact me.

Scott G. Eddy, RN BSN

The Servant-Leader

There seems to be a lack of great leaders in our society. It's easy to be the person in charge, it's easy to be named head-honcho, but it's a totally other thing to have the skill and knowledge to do the next right thing as a leader. In politics, where are the great leaders? In business, where are the great leaders? In culture, where are the great leaders? In religion, where are the great leaders?

Yes, there are people calling the shots, but where are the people with the courage, the integrity, the wisdom to call to make the right decisions? The temptation is to not consider yourself a leader, to avoid the responsibilities of leading those in need around you. Maybe there is a lack of great leaders because too many give in to the temptation to stay quiet, to not get too involved, to not care so much.

For all Christians who serve and care and get involved in the messiness of other people's lives, we must learn to be great leaders. Not just great leaders, but servant-leaders like Jesus.  Henri Nouwen reflects on this:

After having asked Peter three times, "Do you love me?" Jesus says, "Feed my lambs, look after my sheep, feed my sheep." Having been assured of Peter's love, Jesus gives him the task of ministry. In the context of our culture we might hear this in a very individualistic way as if Peter now was being sent on a heroic mission.

But when Jesus speaks about shepherding, he does not want us to think about a brave, lonely shepherd who takes care of a large flock of obedient sheep. In many ways, he makes it clear that ministry is communal and mutual experience.

First of all, Jesus sends the twelve out in pairs. We keep forgetting that we are being sent out two by two. We cannot bring good news on our own. We are called to proclaim the Gospel together, in community.

I need my brothers and sisters to pray with me, to speak with me about the spiritual task at hand, and to challenge me to stay pure in mind, heart, and body. But far more importantly, it is Jesus who heals, not I; Jesus who speaks words of truth, not I; Jesus who is Lord, not I. This is very clearly made visible when we proclaim the redeeming power of God together.

Ministry is not only a communal experience, it is also a mutual experience. Jesus, speaking about his own shepherding ministry, says, "I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for my sheep." As Jesus ministers, so he wants us to minister.

He wants Peter to feed his sheep and care for them, not as "professionals" who know their clients' problems and take care of them, but as vulnerable brothers and sisters who know and are known, who care and are cared for, who forgive and are being forgiven, who love and are being loved. Somehow we have come to believe that good leadership requires a safe distance from those we are called to lead.

But how can anyone lay down his life for those with whom he is not even allowed to enter into a deep relationship? Laying down your life means making your own faith and doubt, hope and despair, joy and sadness, courage and fear available to others as ways of getting in touch with the Lord of life.

We are not the healers, we are not the reconcilers, we are not the givers of life. We are sinful, broken, vulnerable people who need as much care as anyone we care for. The mystery of ministry is that we have been chosen to make our own limited and very conditional love the gateway for the unlimited and unconditional love of God.

Therefore true ministry must be mutual. When the members of a community of faith cannot truly know and love their shepherd, shepherding quickly becomes a subtle way of exercising power over others and begins to show authoritarian and dictatorial traits. The world in which we live - a world of efficiency and control - has no models to offer to show who wants to be shepherds in the way Jesus was a shepherd.

The leadership about which Jesus speaks is of a radically different kind from the leadership offered by the world. It is a servant leadership in which the leader is a vulnerable servant who needs the people as much as they need him or her.

From this it is clear that a whole new type of leadership is asked for in the Church of tomorrow, a leadership which is not modeled on the power games of the world, but on the servant-leader, Jesus, who came to give his life for the salvation of many.
~In the Name of Jesus, pg39-45

Who Can Do It All Alone

Life was not meant to be lived alone. You ought to live such that you have at least one good friend. To have a friend, be a friend. And when it comes to ministry, no one ought to serve and care for others all alone. Christian ministry flows out of a community. While everyone may have different skills and knowledge to contribute, we need each other.

But in our culture, within the church and throughout our society, there is a special place in our hearts for those people that can thrive and achieve something great all by themselves. We have a special admiration for those gifted and talented women and men who can do so much seemingly all alone.
It is a mirage.

The downside of this mirage is that we become disappointed in ourselves when we need someone. We hold it against ourselves if we must lean on another in order to succeed. Thus even our achievements are cheapened because we couldn't do it all alone. We become miserable in our loneliness, as well as in our companionship. Ack!

What is the Christian to do - the one who wants to serve and lift up and listen and heal and be good news? Be in community. Let others into your life. Don't seek to go it alone. Cooperation and collaboration reflect your desire for community and accomplishment. Jesus may have gotten a lot more done all by himself, but he was fully human, and he chose twelve men to spend some years with him. And that was a better way.

Here are some reflections by Henri Nouwen on the temptation to do it all alone - life and ministry:

The second temptation to which Jesus was exposed was precisely the temptation to do something spectacular, something that could win him great applause. "Throw yourself from the parapet of the temple and let the angels catch you and carry you in their arms." But Jesus refused to be a stunt man. He did not come to prove himself.

When you look at today's Church, it is easy to see the prevalence of individualism among ministers and priests. Not too many of us have a vast repertoire of skills to be proud of, but most of us still feel that, if we have anything at all to show, it is something we have to do solo.

You could say that many of us feel like failed tightrope walkers who discovered that we did not have the power to draw thousands of people, that we could not make many conversions, that we did not have the talents to create beautiful liturgies, that we were not as popular with the youth, the young adults, or the elderly as we had hoped, and that we were not able to respond to the needs of our people as we had expected.

But most of us still feel that, ideally, we should have been able to do it all and do it successfully.

Stardom and individual heroism, which are such obvious aspects of our competitive society, are not at all alien to the Church. There too the dominant image is that of the self-made man or woman who can do it all alone.
~In the Name of Jesus, pg39-39

Parish Nurse Notes: Cyber-Bullying

My previous blog dealt with the subject of bullying, its various forms and the signs that it is taking place. In this blog I would like to talk about one of the more insidious forms of bullying, cyberbullying.

As we all know, we live in a world full of technology. Computers, cell phones and so forth are evolving every day as more and more technology boosts our ability to communicate, do business, and have fun. But there is also a very sinister side to all this technology. As always sin crouches at every opportunity to use whatever means possible to do evil.

This year I have been doing some guest teaching at various schools, and grades in the Fort Wayne area. I have been amazed at the technology that kids bring in their pockets every day. One day I inquired at the office of a moderately large school. My question was what to do when I am teaching a class, and I find kids actively using various forms of technology, ie. cell phones and iPods. To my amazement the answer given was “Well if the student using the device isn’t bothering anybody we usually don’t do anything.” I was amazed at the number of kids who were ignoring the lesson at hand, in order to use these devices on a regular basis.

Bullies have also seized upon technology to aid in their misdeeds. Cyber-bullying is a form of bullying does not require the bully to be face to face with his/her victim. This form of bullying has been shown to peak around the end of middle school, and the beginning of high school.

Examples of cyberbullying include but are not limited to:
-sending rude, threatening, and abusive messages via cell phone or computer.
-the use of “social networks” to spread lies, rumors, or other false information.
-using websites to post videos or other social media with the goal of humiliating, and embarrassing others.

This form of bullying is insidious because it can take place at any time of the day or night. It can be spread to many different audiences, and can be spread anonymously.

This problem has major social consequences for its victims. Some problems include skipping school, poor grades, low self esteem, and various physical and mental issues. Students who are victimized have higher rates of alcohol and drug use and are more likely to have face to face interaction with the bully.

One of the best tools we have to help stem this bullying is to listen to our kids. Be proactive and question them if there is any problem either face to face, or through technology.

In conclusion: Cyberbullying is on the rise every day. Its victims may be hesitant to reveal the issue due to embarrassment or fear of retribution.

Visit  this website - it has a lot of helpful information: stopbullying.gov

Keep watching your kids. We cannot depend on school systems, and organizations for kids to keep watch, and deal effectively with this issue. Parents and other family members have the advantage to be the ones who help stem the tide of this growing issue.

Scott G. Eddy, RN BSN

Connecting to the Community: with Wallace Butts and Carla Castro

For our final 2011 Lenten Gathering, the 46808 Neighborhood Churches met at Anchor Community Church. We had a great array of piping hot, homemade soups and chili! We also had the Fort Wayne Fatherhood Coalition join us, represented by the Coalition Coordinator, Wallace Butts. Carla Castro also shared a bit she is Anchor's Community Connections Director, as well as the coordinator of programs for FWFC hosted by Anchor. She is also the marketing director for FWFC - that's a lot of hats! She wears them well.

Wallace started off our time together with this great video that highlights the joy and dedication of some great dad!



This was followed up by some sad and sobering statistics on what a family can become without a good dad involved in the home. Here's a few to consider:
* 63% of teen suicides come from homes with uninvolved fathers.
 5 times the national average.
* 90% of all runaways and homeless children are from homes with uninvolved fathers.
32 times the national average.
* 85% of children with behavioral problems come from homes with uninvolved fathers.
20 times the national average.

What can neighborhood churches do when they realize that dads in their congregation - and in their community - need help? Help to become a better dad, to become a more involved dad, to be a more confident and caring dad? The Fort Wayne Fatherhood Coalition consists of churches and non-profit organizations committed to providing helpful services to dads. We also connect with other dad-oriented organizations for the sake of collaboration and improved services for the dads we are helping. When dads want to get help, we want to be there for them. And with them.

For more information, check out the FWFC website. You'll see the organizations that consist of the coalition, as well as more details about the services we provide.

It's worth noting where the Fort Wayne Fatherhood Coalition came from. Last year, our 46808 Neighborhood Churches met with Judge Charles Pratt and Kate Rusher to learn more about the court system. We had discovered that many, many families in our neighborhood had some member caught up in the system. How could a church become helpful to a family involved in the court system? That's what we wanted to find out. Find out what we learned!

It was fun meeting with Judge Pratt to prepare for that series. In the weeks leading up to our Lenten series, Judge Pratt approached our churches, along with other congregations and non-profits in the community to pitch the idea of a fatherhood coalition. Indiana Youth Institute had an opportunity for a fatherhood initiative if there were interested organizations. The interest was definitely there! IYI provided great support, some great leaders emerged, and within a few months a coalition had been created.

Almost two-hundred dads were served last year through our coalition. The knowledge that was shared, the skills imparted, the relationships formed, and the homes impacted - its a great reward for the families and the coalition. We owe a debt of gratitude to Judge Pratt for introducing us to the idea, and to Indiana Youth Institute for making the opportunity a reality.

It's amazing what can happen in a year - for dads, for FWFC, for our congregations, for our city.