Sunday Snippets

--The NPR show On Being offered a rebroadcast of the Roseanne Cash interview.  It's an uplifting treat.  Go here to listen, to read the transcripts, to enjoy the extras.

--An interesting article in The New York Times explores the legacy of Lutheran thought in Germany's approach to austerity and bailing out its neighbors: 

"And it is true that Lutheranism is hardly the only social force alive in Germany today. Yet it is of a piece with the country’s two millenniums of history, filled as it is with redemptive self-sacrifice and bootstrapping. In the fourth century A.D., German warriors controlled virtually every senior military post in the Roman army. Later, Germans turned the wilds of northern Central Europe into a bountiful breadbasket — and, most recently, an industrial machine.


What’s more, Lutheranism survived both right-wing Nazism and left-wing Communism, both of which tried to replace its values with their own. If anything, its resilience comes to the fore when challenged by change."

--Yesterday, our Vacation Bible School adult leader group gathered at a bowling alley to celebrate our accomplishments and enjoy fellowship.  Most of them are teachers in the public school system.  When we did our VBS stint, they were all at the beginnings of their summers.  Now, they're all returning to work.  The summer has zipped by.

--But even though the summer has zipped by, there's still time for summer pleasures.  I'm working on a photo essay to run August 18-23 that reminds us of summer pleasures to enjoy with autumn joys to anticipate.