George Martzen "georgos"

There is a wonderful, yet simple joy in greeting another person. Greetings may take the form of the amorous kiss of two lovers, or a cheerful "Good morning" beween friends and family members, a simple nod of passing strangers, or the formalized expressions of a ritualized public:      "The Lord be with you."      "And also with you."      "Let us pray." Each form of expression is a way not only of acknowledging the other's existence, but also of creating space for further interpersonal encounters. I love the few minutes at the conclusion of a worship service when I as a pastor take the liberty to walk through the nave, to greet people still seated or just leaving their warm pews.  It is a moment of heightened anticipation.  The people have shared the space together for an hour or more, sung, chanted, recited, listened, watched, and otherwise participated in the corporate mystery of faith. They have been bless...

Out of sight, out of mind. Last month we sent our son to New York.  That's New York state. Upstate New York.  College. We try to keep in touch, which isn't hard these days with all the different social media.  We say good morning and good night all almost every day. On the other hand, out of sight, out of mind.  I don't come home and see him around the house.  Or visa versa.  So it's not bad, because we don't argue.  But I do miss him.  And it troubles me sometimes that he's out of my mind, because I don't see him, except on some digital image on my mobile device. Today is 11 Sept 2015.  Fourteen years ago the day was infamous as nine eleven, the day several individuals with a deadly passion carried out their mission by taking control of airline jets and ramming them into New York's vertical real estate. I had almost forgotten about it, because I live 8,000 miles away from the place that issued my California drivers licence.  Out...

We are taking a few days off to visit Taman Negara National Park in Malaysia. I have driven into Malaysia many times while living in Singapore, but this time we decided to fly up to KL to my brother-in-law's place.  As we were going through the new budget airport, KLIA2, I was thinking about the affects of the recent decline in Malaysia' currency, the Ringgit.  A decade ago, it was fairly stable at roughly 2 to 1 Singapore dollar. Currently it has dropped below 3 to 1. While on the surface that looks good for Singapore travelers and shoppers, because the exchange favors those holding Sing dollars, I already observed some clues that it is not that rosy. We stopped to get bread at a bakery outlet, the kind that sells nice fluffy pastries with cheese or chicken filling. In Singapore, the typical price would be about $2 per item.  These individual pastries were priced about RM 4 to 5.  We bought two pieces plus  a 500 ml bottle of drinking water.  The total w...