text:
The 1996 Princeton Lectures on
Youth, Church, and Culture
"Christ and the Adolescent:
A Theological Approach to Youth Ministry"
I am honored to introduce the first volume of the Princeton Lectures on Youth, Church, and Culture, presented in Daytona Beach, FL, and Princeton, NJ, in the spring of 1996 by James W. Fowler, Robin Maas, and Robert Wuthnow. The Princeton Lectures on Youth, Church, and Culture are designed to foster original research on youth and the church. As part of a new venture in ministry sponsored by Princeton Theological Seminary, the Institute for Youth Ministry they describe a shift occurring in the churches thinking about youth and ministry. Instead of ghettoizing youth into clubs apart from the congregation, the church's mission with youth views young people as integral to the total mission of the church, and youth ministry as a theological task which is not only about youth ministry, but about youth's ministry as well.
The 1996 lectures, titled "Christ and the Adolescent: A Theological Approach to Youth Ministry," address mainline churches who have suffered grievous losses in their attempts to address teens. These losses come at a time when public institutions are calling attention to the important role churches play in adolescent development. Churches agree: We believe we have something to contribute to youth in the person of Jesus Christ-‐and therefore Jesus Christ, not age-‐level education, pastoral counseling, or recreational programs, must be the starting point for youth ministry.
We asked each of our lecturers to approach this theme from the perspective of their own disciplines. James Fowler posits a new shape for youth ministry that recognizes nuances of human development; Robin Maas uses biblical exegesis to redefine the spiritual journey of youth and the adults who mentor them; and Robert Wuthnow analyzes the sociological significance of service learning trends for the church's ministry with teenagers. Together they point to a new direction for ministry with young people.
We approach this direction humbly and with hope. We know that the church's renewal depends not on the church of tomorrow, but the church of today-‐a church in which youth can be integral missionaries to their elders and world. May this volume challenge and nourish the ministry God has laid before you.
Director, Institute for Youth Ministry
1996 Lectures
- "Christ and the Adolescent: Piper or Prophet?"
- "Christ and the Adolescent: A Decision for Love"
- "Christ and the Adolescent: Written in Stone"
- "Perspectives on Adolescents, Personhood, and Faith"
- "Adolescence in the Trinitarian Praxis of God"
- "Grace, Repentance, and Commitment: Youth Initiation in Care and Formation"
- "Youth and Culture in American Society: The Social Context of Ministry to Teenagers"
- "Religious Upbringing: Does It Matter and, If So, What Matters?"
- "Unto the Least of These: Youth and the Ministry of Caring"
There is a legend, told now as a charming nursery tale, that must chill the heart of every parent who reads it to her children. It is a story of seduction and enchantment, a story in which children disappear— forever. You know the tale I mean. It comes to us in the form of a long narrative poem by Robert Browning—The Pied Piper of Hamelin (1842). Most children today probably encounter bowdlerized versions—retellings which may try to mitigate the horror. (One such "retelling" asserts that all the adults of Hamelin—and not just the city fathers—were greedy and ungrateful, implying that these parents deserved to lose their children.) What you may not know is that the legend is rooted in an actual historical event, recorded by some ancient, unknown hand on the city walls of Hamelin, Germany.
Something awful happened in Hamelin. We shall probably never know precisely how it happened or why. But it did happen and that, I believe, is why this story is at the same time so strangely fascinating and repulsive. The writing is on the wall. It happened.
Just what does the writing say? That on July 22 of the year 1284, 1 some 130 children were led out of town by a "Pied Piper" and were lost in (not on) Koppen Hill. Some believe the Piper was an agent of a Bishop Olmutz who, in the late thirteenth century, drew many of page 36 Hamelin's youth to Moravia, where they were permanently resettled. Others claim that the children were kidnapped by landowners to replace serfs who had died in recent epidemics. A more elaborate theory proposes that the children of Hamelin suffered from the purple fungus ergot, which grows on rye grain during rainy seasons. Anyone who consumed the contaminated grain was likely to be afflicted with severe muscle spasms and hallucinations. The poison acted to constrict blood vessels, causing burning sensations in the victim's hands and feet which could be relieved by strenuous physical activity, such as dancing; hence, the hiring of musicians, such as the Piper, to play for the afflicted so that they might dance.
This last explanation is a particularly poignant and intriguing one, since ergot is the source of the modern drug lysergic acid diethylamide, or LSD—the poison of choice for many of today's youth. 2
Another even more interesting hypothesis connects the legend to the bizarre and infamous children's crusade, which occurred in the year 1212. Close to a hundred thousand youth—most of them boys around the age of twelve—set off from both France and Germany to recapture Jerusalem from the Muslims by entirely peaceful means. Against all reason, rejecting all adult pleas to the contrary, these idealistic but deluded and ignorant children—led by other idealistic, ignorant, and deluded children and accompanied by a motley crew of both well- and ill-intentioned adults—set off to put right what the adult crusaders had got wrong.
While the majority of clergy and almost all other adults looked askance at the project and tried to dissuade the young idealists, there were some, including the father of the boy who led one of the German contingents, who found either personal or professional advantage in encouraging the unlikely project. The lad who led the French contingent claimed that Jesus himself appeared to him and handed him a letter commanding him to organize the crusade. One popular explanation of what really might have happened proposes that the boy was duped by an ambitious and unscrupulous priest, pretending to be the Lord. 3
At any rate, there was no stopping them once the ball got rolling; and, in the end, many thousands of them perished or disappeared. Of the lost, those who did not die from cold, exhaustion, and starvation en route to the Mediterranean either perished at sea or were sold into slavery and prostitution in North Africa. The lucky ones straggled home, bitterly disillusioned.
Whatever happened in Hamelin, the fact remains, the young are always easy targets, especially when somebody comes along who will protest adult incompetence and injustice, make great music, and hold out the Utopian promise of a perfect world—somebody like the Pied Piper.
A plague of vermin has a choke-hold on the town of Hamelin. Destroyers of both public and private peace, these countless rats, harbingers of deadly plagues, fought the dogs and killed the cats,page 37
And bit the babies in the cradles,
And ate the cheeses out of the vats
And licked the soup from the cook's own ladles,
Split open the kegs of salted sprats,
Made nests inside men's Sunday hats
And even spoiled the women's chats
By drowning their speaking
With shrieking and squeaking
In fifty different sharps and flats 4
The beleaguered citizens of Hamelin are ready to throw their ineffective government out of office when an improbable savior suddenly appears. The poet Browning describes him as a tall, thin, ethereal character, swarthy but beardless, and quaintly garbed in a brightly colored, long robe—half yellow, half red—hence, the designation "pied." He claims to be an expert "terminator," a professional rescuer; and so the politicians, desperate for any kind of a solution, hire this strange-looking fellow. Besides, his resume looks good:
"Please your honours," said he, "I'm able,
By means of a secret charm, to draw
All creatures living beneath the sun,
That creep or swim or fly or run,
After me so as you never saw!
And I chiefly use my charm
On creatures that do people harm."
Of course it will cost. They promise him a thousand guilders to do the job, and then watch with astonishment as the Piper pipes thousands of rats out of town, leading them to their doom as they plunge, like lemmings, into the river Weser.
You remember the rest. Freed of the plague of rats, the mayor reneges on his promise and offers the Piper only fifty guilders in place of the original thousand. The Piper, a man not to be trifled with, gets his revenge. He changes his tune, and this time it is the youngest citizens of Hamelin who dance after him in droves, only to be swallowed up, not by a river, but by a magic mountain, wherein the Piper promised a veritable garden of delights. None are left to tell the tale except a single child, a little lame boy who could not keep up the pace and was left to his lonely fate in a town full of grown-ups:
It's dull in my town since my playmates left!
I can't forget that I'm bereft
Of all the pleasant sights they see,
Which the Piper also promised me;
For he led us, he said, to a joyous land,
Joining the town and just at hand,
Where the waters gushed and the fruit trees grew,
And flowers put forth a fairer hue,
And everything was strange and new.
page 38 The sparrows were brighter than peacocks here,
And their dogs outran our fallow deer,
And honey-bees had lost their stings,
And horses were born with eagle's wings;
And just as I became assured
My lame foot would be speedily cured,
The music stopped and I stood still,
And found myself outside the Hill,
Left alone against my will
To go now limping as before,
And never hear of that country more!"
Because of his physical imperfection, he misses out on the delicious paradise promised by the Piper, where everything would be" strange and new"—a place that sounds remarkably like that wonderful "holy mountain" envisioned by the prophet, where "the wolf shall dwell with the lamb and the leopard shall lie down with the kid, and the calf and lion and the fatling together—where the nursling will play over the viper's den without risk of harm, and where nothing can hurt or destroy us— ever . (Isa. 11)
This bereft and damaged child, who knows he is not perfect, is the only one of his generation fated to remain behind in the mundane and bourgeois little hamlet filled with anguished adults who, try as they might to find him, cannot pay the Piper what they owe and whose beautiful children, bound for an unearthly paradise, are lost to them forever.
Browning appends a word of advice at the conclusion to this cautionary tale:
So, Willy, let me and you be wipers
Of scores out with all men—especially pipers;
And whether they pipe us free from rats or from mice,
If we've promised them aught, let us keep our promise. 5
I suspect that those of you who are full-time youth ministers may feel a profound empathy for the Piper. Perhaps you even envy him. You, too, may feel manipulated by ungrateful adults who, for a pittance, want you to keep their children out of mischief and out of their hair, who expect you to work miracles by ridding the local environment of all its toxic elements, but who certainly do not wish you, in any sense of the word, to work miracles with their children.
You, too, may have fantasized about a showdown with the senior pastor or the parish council about craven compromises and fundamental injustices in the running of the youth program; and you have probably dreamed of having 130 teenagers hanging on your every word, taking what you have to offer with utmost seriousness and showing up, without fail, for every meticulously planned meeting and event your program has to offer.
Perhaps you'd give anything for that "secret charm" and, like the Piper, you'd chiefly use it "on creatures that do people [especially young people] harm."page 39
You, too, may be ready to pipe a different tune—because it's easy to be seduced, even when you're not so young. So be warned! The Piper remains a dangerous man, not just for the young but also for those who minister to them.
But take heart. There is another historical figure who, though he shares many of the Piper's exotic and engaging qualities, offers a model of spiritual leadership that will lead neither you nor the young astray.
A voice cries:
In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD,
Make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
Every valley shall be lifted up,
and every mountain and hill be made low;
The uneven ground shall become level,
and the rough places a plain.
And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed,
and all flesh shall see it together;
for the mouth of the LORD has spoken. (Isa. 40:3-5)
This voice, urgent, piercing, insistent, penetrates hearts and either stirs or shakes them. The sound of this voice is not seductive, but it is compelling. We cannot ignore it, for it speaks words of both warning and promise. It is the voice, not of the Piper, who says, "I can deliver you—and the goods," but of the prophet, whose role it is to prepare us for reality, who says, "It's time. Get ready. He's coming."
The young listen to this voice with excitement, the old perhaps with fresh hope, the powerful with suspicion, the wicked with disdain or despair. But it is a sound, a message, that cannot be shut out: Wake up! Put your house in order! All your bills are falling due— it's time to pay the Piper! Yes, something wonderful awaits those who are faithful to the God of Israel, but first there is something you must do. And it will not be fun. You will not go dancing to this task.
The people who first listened to this voice had some sense of what he was talking about. The prophet told them not only what to expect, but what to do about it: Clear a path, a straight level path, a highway for your God. He is going to come barreling through in a way that cannot be mistaken for anything but what it is meant to be. The glory of the Lord carries with it beauty, terror, and power—the power to move mountains, to level them, if need be, and the will to lift up whatever has sunk into the depths. Is this the path to paradise? And if it is, do we want to be on it? Do we want our kids on it?
This is not a route that leads through the land of good grades, high SAT scores, careers, babies, and minivans. The prophet is talking about God. God is coming, and our little dreams, our modest hopes and plans, may all come to naught. The voice that makes this radical claim is a voice crying out about the transformation of a wasteland, the restructuring of an entire landscape. God is coming, and nothing will ever again be the same. Everything page 40 will be strange, and everything will be new.
This voice, the one that urges us to hurry up, to get ready, to prepare a highway for our God, is always the voice of the prophet—the one through whom the Lord speaks. Although these words first appear in the Book of Isaiah, Christians have learned to associate them with the voice of a prophet named John, who did indeed announce the coming of God.
This young man was all about getting ready for God. He embodies readiness for God in much the same way Mary does. Each one was bringing something to light. In the darkness of Mary's womb, the light was taking flesh. Through this very young woman, "the true light that enlightens every [living soul] was coming into the world." (Jn. 1:9) She neither piped nor prophesied. She was the instrument through which God blew, not the Piper, but the flawless pipe.
John does not bear the light within, but points beyond himself toward the light. John's words, his works, his life all testify to the light that is coming into the world. (Jn. 1:7) The prophet is always herald, witness, guide. His words, his works, his person all bear witness to a reality that is beyond him, to something, Someone, else. Any power he exercises is borrowed, derivative. His role, first and always, is to speak the truth and in this way to warn, console, prepare. It is the prophet John the Baptizer—and not the mysterious Piper—who best serves as a model for youth ministers. Where the Piper enchants, the prophet prods and pokes. He is follower first, leading only where he is led. His testimony, because it is true, compels but cannot coerce.
What do we know about John? First, that he was kin to Jesus, son of a priest and a very pious but previously barren woman. Like so many great figures in biblical history, the circumstances of his birth mark him out as a special gift from God. The angel Gabriel tells John's father, Zechariah, that his son will drink neither wine nor strong drink. He will not need these intoxicants because he will be filled, inebriated, with the Holy Spirit—even from his mother's womb where the as-yet-unborn prophet recognizes the presence of the Messiah and leaps for joy. (Lk 1:44)
turn many of the sons of Israel to the Lord their God, and he will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared. (Lk. 1:16-17)
Can it possibly be that your own calling mirrors that of this new Elijah? Do we find in John's commission a clue to an authentically prophetic ministry with the young?
. . . in the spirit and power of Elijah . . .
The child's name, chosen by Elizabeth in obedience to the angel Gabriel and in defiance of family tradition, means "Yahweh has shown page 41 favor." The God of Israel loves his people. He takes pity on them and sends them prophets. John is the last of these remarkable gifts from God to his people. He comes when things are in a desperate state. He is Israel's last chance—to change.
Those of us who read the Gospels centuries later would like to think that we would have heeded the preaching of this remarkable young man. We would have recognized him as the true messenger of God. Maybe. Maybe not. Mark's account suggests he was on the eccentric side. He camped out in that very same wilderness the prophet Isaiah had said would have to be transformed—leveled—for the highway of God. Like his spiritual predecessor Elijah, John wore a (camel's) hair garment, with a big leather belt. He ate bugs sweetened with honey. (Mk. 1:6-7) John, descended from a line of priests, was irritatingly noisy and odd—as odd in his own way as that other strange messenger of God, Elijah.
I think of Elijah as the prototypical Hebraic prophet: a morose loner, cranky, eccentric, irascible, "meddling." A seasoned "smiter," his word "burned like a torch." (Sir. 48:1) Using curses as his favorite weapon, he could call down fire and famine. He did indeed attack injustice; but his driving passion was combating idolatry—the vicious practices associated with the loathsome worship of Baal.
By John's day, nearly nine centuries later, Elijah was an ancient memory—a symbol loaded with Messianic significance, with hope. At the appointed time, it is written, Elijah will be the one "to calm the wrath of God before it breaks out in fury, to turn the heart of the father to the son, and to restore the tribes of Jacob." (Sir. 48:11)
In Malachi we see another instance of how the association of John with Elijah's spirit comes to be made: "Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes. And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the land with a curse." (Mai. 4:5-6)
John, who like Elisha now wears the mantle of Elijah, is sent to tell Israel—and us—what to expect and what to do before that great and terrible day when we stand revealed for what we really are in the light that is Christ. John as the new Elijah is sent to turn hearts—to turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers. And there is, we should recognize, only one way to turn hearts—and that is through repentance.
That is why John comes preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. Repentance is the hard, not-so-fun work of spiritual path-clearing or moral roadwork. It is a heart-turning, stomach-churning, mind-burning experience which actually changes people; and contrary to popular and current Christian opinion, forgiveness is not offered prior to repentance.
It is not enough, as you probably know, to be a show-stopping preacher. Strong words seize our attention—for as long as their sound page 42 lingers in the air. Real change requires a death; and that is what baptism is—even the baptism of repentance is a slayer; and what we expect to find in the wake of dying is grief. And tears. These are the real change agents. The prophet always demands change; and this demand, though often experienced as harsh, is rooted in compassion; for the unpleasant dousing we receive in the baptism of repentance is a painful but effective way of staying out of hot water.
It is always the prophet's responsibility to tell people this, especially young people who today scarcely know what sin is and whose culpability is perhaps mitigated by adult unwillingness to reveal this truth to them. Better they be smitten by the torch of John's word now than—sooner or later—to meet their Lord unprepared. How foolish we are when we think the young will reject outright a righteous rebuke when many of them are yearning for precisely this sign of love—for this prophetic witness to their worth.
. . . to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just . . .
The prophet John the Baptizer makes a dramatic appearance in the church lectionary during the season of Advent; and just as Advent signifies a special time of preparation in the church calender, adolescence represents a special time of preparation in the life cycle of each individual. For the teenager, there is light just over the horizon. The teen calls this light "freedom" and equates it with adulthood. But while the light is in sight, the teen still needs a lot of adult guidance in preparing for adult responsibilities. High schools and colleges are places where youth prepare themselves for the adult responsibilities our society has identified as necessary for personal success.
The church has the responsibility for preparing youth for something much more momentous, however. Like John, the light to which we bear witness is Christ himself. We bear the heavy responsibility of announcing his coming to youth, of convincing them that he is indeed on the way, and that they can and must do something about it. We must do this, so that they have the chance to change.
The kind of change we most often expect from youth is the kind of change we call "development." It is change that is bound to come, so to speak, and the issue is how well each individual will navigate the shoals of certain types of necessary change. But that's not the only kind of change you, as youth ministers, need to be concerned about. The kind of change John the Baptist is asking for is personal moral conversion. It can happen when you're fifteen, five, or fifty. And while I imagine you think often about certain changes you would like to see effected in your youth, including moral change, you may not have thought much about your role in terms of bringing them to repentance— to tears—as a way of preparing them to meet Christ, the Lord of the Universe who is asking to be Lord of their hearts.page 43
A great deal of energy is expended by youth leaders and program developers in the interest of social justice. Certain aspects of American society, our culture, and "the establishment" are regularly excoriated for perpetrating injustices. This is fine as far as it goes. But we must be careful that we adults are not sending our kids off on fruitless and dangerous crusades for which they remain spiritually under-equipped. It is a form of adult exploitation to train our youth to sniff out these corporate moral failures from miles away while allowing them to remain blissfully ignorant of their personal moral failings because we have forgotten, or choose not to remember, that the prophets confronted individual sinners as well as nations.
We may all deeply regret the injuries suffered by those who occupy the lower social and economic rungs of the ladder; but the wounds that actually bring us to tears of repentance are those for which we recognize our own personal culpability—when the person we've hurt has a face and a name.
We know John the Baptist did not neglect the larger moral horizon in which he lived; it was one of his favorite sermon topics. But he baptized people one by one. To each one who came to him he said, "Own up to your sins, name them, repent, be cleansed in the waters of baptism—and change your ways. If you have been dishonest, hypocritical, selfish, a cheat, indifferent to the poor, change your behavior."
We religious professionals hear that, and we think about the complacent and comfortable-but-faceless adults who, although they sit in the pews of our churches, remain indifferent to human suffering and go on consuming this world's goods as if there were no tomorrow. Think again.
Remember, the new Elijah was to turn hearts, in particular the hearts of fathers and children. The human family is the nursery of virtue and vice, and anyone who has spent more than ten sessions with a therapist has been forced to recognize how many bruises on the heart first appear in disappointing and destructive struggles with family members. I remember— you remember—how anxious you were as a youth to be rid of your tiresome siblings, your meddling mother, your embarrassingly inept or overbearing father. I said, you said, when I am grown up, when I am married, when I am a parent, I will not be like that. . . . If I could just get away from this mess, I could be happy—I could even be good! You and I—because we expected our families and our world to be perfect—were easy bait for the Piper.
So what are we saying—that the youth minister's job is simply to whip up a lot of adolescent guilt and remorse, to make the girls cry and the boys blush with shame? By no means! Back to John.
Although the prophet profoundly disturbs people, he also gives them hope, because he tells them the truth—not the false hope of a paradise without pain, but the real hope of conversion, of personal change. This is how the two-edged sword of truth works. It cuts to the bone; but truth is a surgeon, not a slayer. It is the axe laid to the root of the tree. It removes only page 44 that which is dying or already dead.
John gave his hearers hope because he told them there was something they could do to change themselves. He said: You can do something now that will make this future encounter with the Lord a "fruitful" one. And what he asked of those who wanted to prepare themselves was nothing heroic. It was doable. "Produce good fruits as evidence of your repentance. . . . Whoever has two cloaks should share with the person who has none. And whoever has food should do likewise." (Lk 3:8, 11) Nothing here about trouping off to liberate the Holy Land or being burned at the stake. Just the cheerful, unresenting performance of duty, simple kindness to the neighbor, the generous impulse unhesitatingly indulged.
Youth ministers are in a unique position to confront youth on immediate problems of personal morality, as well as trying to sensitize them to macro- and long-term issues of social justice. This is where you have a golden opportunity to "turn the disobedient to the wisdom of the just." Turning the hearts of the young should begin with the place where their hearts are most vulnerable: the home, first, and then the school. These are places where personal accountability, courage, self-restraint and self-respect, honesty, and generosity are either nurtured or starved to death. These are the places where kids are not only vulnerable but where they are powerful as well, where they can hurt and destroy. These are the places where teenagers can most effectively begin to produce the kind of fruit that will testify to their repentance.
Youth ministers, insofar as they are prophets and not pipers, can say what a parent wants to say but is often afraid to say. You can offer warnings that will be heard where voiced parental forebodings are ignored. You can witness to the coming of Christ not simply as a consoling personal encounter, but as an acutely clarifying event, first in your own life and then in theirs. Don't be surprised if this opportunity is not immediately embraced. Some kids would rather be swallowed up by a magic mountain than exposed to the light—especially if they are sinning and lack the courage or even the concepts and the language to acknowledge this.
The coming of God in the flesh to our flesh is a time when the light gets turned on. When the light gets turned on we can see everything, including the things we'd rather not see. When the light gets turned on, other people see things we'd rather not have them see. That's the thing about light: It's ruthless, because it reveals whatever is there, roadkill and all.
to turn many of the Sons of Israel to the Lord their God
. . . to make ready for the Lord a people prepared
When we have done what we can, when we have told youth the truth about what to expect and what they can do right now, right where they live, to prepare for the coming of God, when we have instructed the disobedient in the wisdom of the just, when we have exhorted them to turn their hearts, with tears of repentance, back to their families and schoolmates, page 45 then we will have done much to prepare them to confront what is wrong in our imperfect world, without their being tempted to give up on it in despair or disgust when the changes they want to see happen are slow in coming, or do not come at all.
When we have done all this, and if we have not tried to co-opt immature youth by enlisting them prematurely in our own pet adult crusades, we will have "made ready for the Lord a [young] people prepared." They will be prepared for whatever grand and challenging new missions the real rescuer, the master piper, has destined this particular generation. When we have done all this, we will have done as much as we can properly do.
That you will often "pipe" in your ministry to those who will not dance is to be expected. Jesus himself complains that he and John both have come to a generation who will not hear, no matter what kind of tune the piper plays. (Matt. 11:16-18) That you will sometimes be plagued with faith-threatening doubts about the Lord and the claims you make for him is also to be expected. John himself did not escape these doubts (Matt. 11:2-6); and no doubt, the Lord will answer you as he answered John: "What changes have you seen? What evidence of the Spirit is at work in the lives of those you serve? . . . Wisdom is justified by her deeds." (Matt. 11:4-6,19) Neither of these problems need defeat you. But there is something else that could.
Several years ago, while on a trip to Peru, I met a Jesuit priest involved in youth work. He said something very interesting and very important about his work which I have never forgotten, and which has provided the seed for what I am saying here. Youth work, he said, is very appealing because young people are so responsive, so appreciative, and so easily idolize their leaders. The great temptation of the youth leader, therefore, is to say: "Come to me, come to me." What they should be saying, of course is, "Go to him, go to him."
Because the kind of people who tend to be drawn to youth ministry are usually caring, compassionate, and idealistic, they can easily fall into the trap of trying to be pipers instead of prophets—they can be seduced into thinking that they have what these kids really need, that they are personally responsible for saving them from themselves.
When this happens, what the trade calls "burn out" is not far behind. The distressingly rapid turnover of people in youth ministry has much to do with failing to be content simply with witnessing to the light. We are not the light. Youth ministers who cast themselves in the role of piper are not entirely unlike those well-intentioned but naive adults who accompanied the brave but deluded child crusaders on their impossible journey over the Alps. And what a burned-out youth minister often leaves in her wake are disappointed, sometimes disillusioned young crusaders.
So hear, all ye who are burned out, the words of the prophet to his disciples: "Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world." (Jn. 1:29) Behold, the one who can remove the impossible burden from your page 46 weary shoulders by relieving you of your illusions.
Look! says John the Baptizer, to those who are searching, there is the one you should follow—not me. John admits he didn't know who the great one who would be coming after him would be. That he now recognizes Jesus as God's own anointed is due to the visible manifestation of the Spirit. The same Spirit with which John is filled descended on the Lord like a dove when John baptized his cousin; and because he has seen this revelation with his own eyes, he can say with authority, "He is the one—follow him."
When Jesus inaugurates his own ministry and quickly gains a following, this news is communicated to John the Baptizer by his disciples: "Rabbi, the one who was with you across the Jordan, to whom you testified, here he is baptizing and everyone is coming to him." Instead of feeling threatened by this development, John replies,
You yourselves bear me witness, that I said I am not the Christ, but I have been sent before him. He who has the bride is the bridegroom; the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom's voice; therefore this joy of mine is now full. He must increase, but I must decrease. (Jn. 3:28-30)
He must increase, I must decrease. These words should be engraved on the heart of every youth minister. We must never forget that the children of God are meant to walk in the light. If we are not the light, then when the light appears the ones we love must be on their way—on his way.
This, of course, is the hard part of being a youth minister, but also the best part. It is closely related to the understanding that we are not the light but only witness to it. If we are in fact faithful and effective in witnessing to the light, then sooner or later, the young people we work with are going to go after it. And if we are like John, this is when we will feel most rewarded, when our joy will be "full."
Here is the true measure of John's greatness as a spiritual leader. He knows when to let go; he knows that if he is true to his calling, he will indeed diminish in importance to his disciples. They will be increasingly attracted, not by him and his radical witness, but by the radiant beauty—the light—to which his radical witness points. He cannot hang on to the wonderful young people who follow him for a while. To be true to his calling he must constantly point beyond himself to something more. Something better. Someone Else.
How hard this is! It is so good to be needed, so good to be adored—or at least appreciated! But for this John was born, for this he leapt in his mother's womb, foreswore strong drink, wore camel's hair, and ate bugs—not to pipe his followers into an earthly paradise, but to help each person prepare a way, a broad and beckoning highway, over which the Lord may pass, into her life, into his heart.
The valleys that must be filled, the mountains that have to be leveled, the rough country that must be smoothed over, are apt metaphors for our own inner terrain. This is where the serious road work of repentance page 47 has to begin. It is an equally apt description of the unfinished state of adolescence—peaks of exhilaration, valleys of despair, rough and rugged ways of thinking, speaking, acting—a real wilderness of confusion and rebellion.
Into this rough and not-yet-ready place comes the prophet, the new Elijah, looking a little rough and ragged himself, but filled with unshakable faith in the truth of God's promise to deliver—both us and the goods; filled with a healthy fear of God's wrath and an immense hope in God's mercy; filled with a hatred of sin and the injustices that are its inevitable fruits; and filled with boundless compassion for the sinner. Filled to the brim because he is inebriated with the Spirit, who blows his own tune, who never fails to enchant. This new Elijah is not someone who will have to go looking for young listeners. They will come flocking—because they are looking for the light. And they are ready to do something about it.


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20-25 Days. Snappy Fresh Mesclun baby greens can be grown indoors at any time of year and are a nutrient-packed way to get your "green fix" in the dead of winter. Move containers as needed for best light exposure and temperature. Harvest when 2"?4" tall and enjoy! For a continuous supply of baby greens, cut leaves as needed. Plants will continue to grow and produce tender, new leaves. Sow successively every 2 weeks to extend the harvest. Detailed sowing instructions inside packet.
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Days to Emerge:
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When to sow outside: 2 to 4 weeks before average last frost, when soil temperature is at least 50°F, ideally 60°?70°F. Successive Sowings: Every 2 weeks until 2 weeks before the first fall frost.
When to start inside: RECOMMENDED. Sow indoors any time of year, with indoor temperatures 60°-75°F. Successive Sowings: Every 2 weeks for a continual supply.
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THIS MIX OF BABY GREENS INCLUDES: (percent of mix by weight)
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Micro- and baby greens are tiny, tender, flavorful seedlings of vegetables and/or herbs. Microgreens may be…

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Dogs can eat regular human peanut butter, although in moderation. But if you want to give your canine best friend a treat without fear of causing allergies or making it sick, then give it peanut butter that's especially formulated for dogs. Aptly called Dogsbutter, this creamy, peanut butter-flavored spread can be enjoyed slathered on your dog's favorite biscuits or on your fingers.
Each jar is notably pricier than regular human peanut butter at $10, but if you love your dog as much as you love yourself, then price wouldn't even be an issue.
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Muscogee County Sheriff's Office
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About the Sheriff's Office - Mission Statement
We, the members of the Muscogee County Sheriff's Office, are dedicated to safeguarding the lives and property of our community through fair and impartial treatment of all citizens. We strive to protect the community and to operate the Muscogee County Jail within the boundaries of the State and U. S. Constitutions while providing a safe, humane, and secure environment for both the staff and the inmates. We are committed to effectively serving the Judiciary needs of all of the Courts within our jurisdiction. We seek to strengthen our partnerships with all facets of our community and will fulfill our duties by adapting to the changing needs of our citizens and by adhering to the highest standards of integrity, ethics and professionalism when performing our duties as employees of the Muscogee County Sheriff's Office.
Core Values
As a leader in the Sheriff's Office, I commit myself to honorably perfrom my duties with respect for the dignity of all people, integrity to do what is right, courage to fight what is wrong, and wisdom to apply common sense and fairness.
Every officer serves with:
|• Loyalty
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Our Customers
The public we serve is the customer for the services we provide. As with any business, we value and respect the needs of our customers and continuously strive to provide them with public safety services in an effective, efficient and timely manner. We are a public service agency staffed by professionals. Our presence in the community helps provide a sense of safety and well being for our customers. Our conduct earns us respect and admiration by the law-abiding citizens as well as the law violators.
Responsibilities of the Sheriff
As a Law Enforcement Officer
The sheriff has the Responsibility of Protecting Life and Property and Preserving the Public Peace. This includes all law enforcement functions associated with those endeavors. The Sheriff is the chief law enforcement officer in Muscogee County.
As an Officer of the Court
In addition to providing physical security in the courtrooms and building, the sheriff must serve as Bailiff to the Superior Court, or designate deputies to serve in that capacity. Bailiff duties include escorting juries to the courtroom, and if requested to do so, to their meals and hotel rooms. Bailiffs otherwise attend to the needs of the jury, and guard them against outside influences. The sheriff is charged with serving all court summonses, including subpoenas and civil process papers. In addition, the sheriff must execute all court-ordered levies on property to satisfy judgments- in court actions. The sheriff is also responsible for the transportation of mentally ill residents of his county to mental health emergency facilities.


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Secrets of September 11
The Bureau: The Secret History of the FBI
Black Mass: The True Story of an Unholy Alliance Between the FBI and the Irish Mob
See No Evil: The True Story of a Ground Soldier in the CIA's War on Terrorism
Al-Qaeda: In Search of the Terror Network that Threatens the World
The Cell: Inside the 9/11 Plot, and Why the FBI and CIA Failed to Stop It
Inside Al Qaeda: Global Network of Terror
The second job of any intelligence organization, after identifying where danger lies, is to protect its secrets. In theory the secrets are being kept from enemies so that the organization—the Federal Bureau of Investigation or the Central Intelligence Agency, say—can pursue the rest of its important work, but in practice the secrets held most tightly are those that can wreck careers, let cats out of bags, or bring a halt to operations—the secrets of failure kept from public exposure. The glacial progress of the investigations of the two most damaging spies in American secret history, Aldrich Ames at the CIA and Robert Hanssen at the FBI, may be explained in part by the queasy certainty of high agency and bureau officials that they were going to catch unshirted hell when the news got out. Of course, the longer the wait the worse the explosion, but who wants trouble today when it can be put off until tomorrow—and maybe even left to ruin the career of the next person to fill the job?
Hiding trouble seems to be part of the ethos of intelligence agencies, especially at the FBI, which rejected and denied all criticism during its half-century under J. Edgar Hoover, the strange celibate who built the bureau in his own crabbed image. "Investigation" was the mission he hid behind: he insisted the bureau only collected facts—it did not interpret them. Filed in his "Do Not File" file were the capital's most embarrassing personal secrets; when he acquired a juicy one he made sure the subject knew about it—a main reason why no president dared fire him, although several wished to, and why congressional committees rarely turned down his budget requests.
Personal survival was Hoover's first goal but the second was to protect America from the kind of internal decay which fire-and-brimstone orators of yesteryear used to call "moral pollution." For decades, as recounted in Ronald Kessler's history The Bureau, Hoover detested all those he considered un-American—most famously godless socialists and Communists—and found ways to hound and torment them; but Hoover's deepest loathing was reserved for "sexual perverts," Negro agitators like Martin Luther King Jr., and civil libertarians who denounced the bureau's appetite for gossip, rumor, and innuendo.
Still, Hoover, who died in office in 1972, was both rigid and adaptable. When public enemies changed he did, too, and by the mid-1960s the bureau was seeking telephone wiretaps, bugs, mail covers, and especially confidential informants who could deliver intelligence about the Ku Klux Klan and the loosely organized families of Italian-American gangsters known as La Cosa Nostra ("Our Thing") or the Mafia, an old word which has no accepted translation. For years Hoover resisted pressure to go after organized crime, fearing that the bureau's special agents would be corrupted by Mafia money. But Robert F. Kennedy, United States attorney general under his brother Jack, refused to take no for an…
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Dr. James Steckelberg is a consultant in the Division of Infectious Diseases and a professor of medicine at Mayo Medical School.
A native of Fremont, Neb., Dr. Steckelberg was a Rhodes Scholar and graduated from the Mayo Graduate School of Medicine as a resident in internal medicine and a fellow in infectious diseases, and is board certified in both. He is the former director of the Infectious Diseases Research Laboratory at Mayo Clinic.
Dr. Steckelberg belongs to numerous professional organizations. He is a founding member of the Musculoskeletal Infection Society and a fellow of the American College of Physicians and of the Infectious Diseases Society of America. He has served on many Mayo Clinic committees and is a member of the Department of Medicine Leadership Committee and of the executive committee of the Division of Infectious Diseases. He also served on the editorial boards of "Mayo Clinic Proceedings" and "Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy" and has been an editorial reviewer for more than a dozen publications.
Dr. Steckelberg's research interests include experimental models of infection, epidemiology of infection, and antimicrobial resistance and therapy of bacterial infections.
Original article: https://www.mayoclinic.org/expert-biographies/james-m-steckelberg-m-d/bio-20025119
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Mayo Clinic is a nonprofit organization and proceeds from Web advertising help support our mission. Mayo Clinic does not endorse any of the third party products and services advertised.
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A Simple Garden Wedding at Westmont College in Santa Barbara, California
meiwen wang photo
Alison Yeh (23 and a graduate student) and Daniel Cheung (23 and a graduate student) grew up in the same city but crossed paths by chance years later. "We grew up within 20 minutes of each other but met through a group of friends," Alison says. The couple proposed to each other in the park where they'd had their first date. "We wanted everything to be done together, including the proposal, ring designing and wedding planning—this made the whole process very rewarding for us," Alison says. Alison and Daniel's wedding took place at their alma mater, Westmont College in Santa Barbara, California. Working to stay within a budget, they opted for minimal decorations. "We knew we were working with the terrific Santa Barbara coast, so we went really minimal with the design. We were lucky enough to have the wedding at one of the first places we'd met, and that significance—set along the California coast—was enough for us," Alison says. A quartet of Westmont orchestra members played throughout their ceremony in the university's picturesque rose garden. Afterward, Alison and Daniel hosted 400 guests in a reception on the nearby lawn of the college's mansion. "We were working on a shoestring budget, and we knew that anything could be made to look good," says Alison, whose friend custom-made their invitations. —Carolyn Meers
meiwen wang photo
Sage Event Planning
Four Seasons Catering
Simple Slice Cakes
Westmont College


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Billy's Stone Crab Waterfront Seafood Restaurant & Market in Hollywood Beach, FL
Billy's Stone Crab Restaurant is known far and wide nationally and internationally as one of THE best seafood restaurant & market in the Ft. Lauderdale area. And for a good reason. Billy's two story fine dining seafood restaurant, is accessible both by elevator and stairs and has floor to ceiling captivating views of the Intracoastal Water Way in the main elegant dining room. The sunset is magnificent. And at night, when the draw bridge of Hollywood Boulevard is illuminated and the lights change colors, the view is quite spectacular, making the restaurant a preferred city spot. If you come sit on the dock or dine upstairs, you can watch this beautiful panoramic nature over the Hollywood Beach Marina. According to owner Billy Hershey, "It's very romantic. We have a comfortable atmosphere allowing customers to relax, look over the water and watch the boats pass by." Billy's Stone Crab Restaurant & Market is an ALL YOU CAN EAT* stone crab restaurant. We have ALL YOU CAN EAT* medium, large, jumbo and colossal stone crabs, stone crab dinners and ALL YOU CAN EAT* jumbo Alaskan king crab legs. Hershey says, "People come here and say Wow! Your crabs are better than Joe's. We will never say our crabs are better than Joe's. We will thank them for the greatest compliment that we can ever have."
Billy's menu is very extensive and offers a wide variety of Florida fresh Seafood: from famous fresh stone crabs, rated best in Florida by the New York Times, to Florida Lobster Tails, Alaskan King Crab Legs, choices of fresh fish, such as mahi-mahi, grouper, snapper, Norwegian Salmon, Tuna, to Apalachicola oysters, clams, alligator bits, frog legs, as well as silver rated steaks and filet Mignon, free range chicken and pasta entrees. Our goal is to make each guests' visit a very special and a memorable one and create an atmosphere of an old fashioned classy and elegant dining experience."
* All you can eat is subject to availability, please call ahead to confirm.


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The iPad Pro is Apple's flagship iPad coming in 12.9 inch. As Apple says, it is an "uncompromising vision of personal computing for the modern world". The models are a merger of power and performance, with portability and agility, and wonderful form, to bring you the most powerful and frictionless experience. The advanced screen means you'll be able to see the millions of pixels in many different lighting scenarios, and the high quality speakers on each corner of the device, ensure you'll immerse yourself in music and entertainment on you iPad Pro.
And you'll always be looking good with your iPad as it comes in a range of colors, namely: Silver, Gold, Space Gray, Rose Gold. Configure storage up to 256GB, and throw in an Apple Pencil too (Apple's ultimate multi-touch pointing device), and you'll be in possession of the ultimate portable device.
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LMFAO: Referee Tackles NFL Football Player "Kenneth Darby"!
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Photo Credit: Liev Schreiber's picture is courtesy of MSN. Photographic illustrations of Liev Schreiber are copyright © by their respective holders. The images are published with permission or as allowed by the copyright law's fair use or quotation provisions. If any copyright holder objects to an image being included, please notify us and it will be removed immediately.
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China cracks down, again, on world's oldest profession
- Thousands of Chinese police raid sex joints in cities nationwide
- Prostitution booms in China%3A Estimates range to up to 20 million engaged in it
- Some Chinese experts call for sex industry to be legalized
BEIJING — Thousands of police officers have raided karaoke bars, nightclubs, hotels and saunas in 16 Chinese cities over recent days, detaining more than 1,000 suspects in the latest attempt to curb the country's illegal but booming sex industry.
More busts are likely now that the China's Ministry of Public Security ordered a nationwide crackdown on prostitution, gambling and drugs. Some experts doubt the arrests will solve the problem given the popularity of the service in China.
Others say the biggest reason that prostitution remains endemic to China is that police and authorities in cities take bribes to overlook the crime, and so the only thing to do is no longer treat it as a crime.
Li Yinhe, a sociologist at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, says the government must reconsider its laws and approach. Legalizing the industry could reduce corruption and ensure health checks and education of sex workers, who could be offered training for other work, she told Caixin Media.
Prostitution is available everywhere in China, from street-side barbershops to high-end hotels. Many of the arrests in the latest sweep are taking place in Dongguan, a southern manufacturing hub long notorious as China's "sex capital."
An undercover report aired by the state broadcaster CCTV on Feb. 9 revealed prostitutes parading themselves before men inside an upscale Dongguan hotel. Within hours of the report, Dongguan police dispatched more than 6,000 officers to raid hundreds of entertainment venues, hotels and massage parlors.
Last Wednesday, more than 4,800 policemen in Harbin, in China's frigid northeast, swept through 2,700 venues. At least 16 cities in nine provinces were carrying out crackdowns, the Beijing News reported Monday.
Dongguan Police Chief Yan Xiaokang was fired Friday for "dereliction of duty" and seven other local officials were also removed from their positions, reported the state news agency Xinhua.
More heads may roll as the Ministry of Public Security, China's national police force, warned Sunday that it will target the organizers, operators and the "protective umbrella" of the city's sex trade, referring to local police officers.
The anti-prostitution drive follows an ongoing anti-corruption campaign by China's Communist Party leader, Xi Jinping. But critics say the party is being hypocritical.
Richard Burger, author of Behind the Red Door: Sex in China, has written that the moralizing of China's state-run media "reeks of hypocrisy."
"It is the well-connected and the government officials who most enjoy the services of the high-end prostitutes and ernai," wrote Burger, referring to mistresses who are paid a regular salary.
"And the local authorities depend heavily on the bribes and fines they earn from the sex trade industry," he said.
Fighting prostitution is called "sweeping the yellow" in China, after the Chinese term for the pornography that is also illegal but highly popular in China. With a 3,000-year history in China, interrupted by a 25-year ban under Chairman Mao, prostitution is a "cornerstone of the economy," contributing 6% to 8% of China's annual GDP, Burger said.
Ma Xiaonian, one of China's leading sexologists, told the China Daily newspaper last week that China's prostitutes now number about 20 million. Legalizing their trade will not bring social instability, said Ma, who welcomed the support many Internet users have expressed online for prostitutes.
"It's an indication of people's strong awareness of human rights, as well as social tolerance," he said.
The ruling Communist Party's main mouthpiece, the People's Daily newspaper, said in a commentary Friday that prostitution was a "blasphemy against civilization." While other state media have rallied to this call, some outspoken Chinese citizens have instead renewed their criticism of the state broadcaster.
"'Sweeping the yellow' is not wrong; there's a moral and legal basis for attacking prostitution," Beijing lawyer Zhang Kai wrote on the Sina Weibo microblog.
"But it's wrong to let CCTV report this issue first, because everybody knows CCTV is dirty all over, and even dirtier than Dongguan," he said, alluding to the state-run station's deference to reporting news only approved by the Communist Party.
"It's like a thief crying 'stop, thief'; between the mafia and a thief, everyone will definitely stand on the weaker side."
Contributing: Sunny Yang


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In the wake of last week's surprise vote for Britain to leave the European Union (EU), markets, analysts, and politicians are springing to respond.
The British pound lost over 7% of its value almost instantly against the U.S. dollar, bringing the currency to its lowest point since 1985. The decline has significantly hurt British purchasing power for imported goods and services, but has also made British companies more competitive internationally; the economic impact of the change in currency remains uncertain.
Most economists warn that the country's ability to export to the European Union is significantly impacted by Brexit, although its ability to export to other nations has improved due to the weaker pound. Tourism is also expected to rise in the near term as a result.
Stock markets throughout Europe also suffered major losses on Friday after the result was announced, but Britain fared significantly better than many of its continental peers. While the FTSE 100 index fell over 3%, France's CAC 40 lost over 8% and Germany's DAX fell nearly 7%. Greece's Athex Composite lost over 13%, while Spain's IBEX 35 fell over 12%—the largest one-day decline in that country's history.
The larger weakness on the continent points to market concerns that Brexit will not only negatively impact Britain, but could be a prelude to long-term instability in Europe as a whole. Already some politicians in the Netherlands are calling for a referendum of their own to leave the EU.
Political Fallout
The political response across Europe has been immediate and varied. British Prime Minister David Cameron, who promised a referendum when elected and has since fiercely opposed a vote to leave, has announced his resignation no later than October. Saying that a new Prime Minister will have to decide how and when to follow through on British voters' wishes to leave the EU, he said he would continue to prepare the country for Brexit in his remaining weeks in office.
On the continent, French and German politicians have given varied responses to the Brexit. German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who has been in power for over 10 years, said she wants leaving talks to begin soon, adding that there is "no need to be nasty" as Europe abides by Britain's wishes. Merkel also added, however, that the EU would not offer the UK special consideration in trade negotiations, which they currently enjoy as a full EU member.
Outside of Europe, responses to the Brexit have been more muted. The White House issued a statement saying that they respected Britain's decision, and that the special relationship between the UK and America "is enduring."
Obama previously urged the UK to remain in the EU, and warned that Britain would lose favor in trade deals if the country left the EU. Recently, White House spokesman Eric Schultz affirmed that the president stands by that warning.


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Ruined Your Bridal Chamber's Candles
"His Highness Prince Xiang's bodyguard, are you blaming my Feng family for not being thorough with its treatment, or are you disdaining this second rank county princess for not being of high enough status? Since you disdain the idea of even receiving that plate of fruit."
The bodyguard kneeled on the ground with a face of unwillingness, struggling to stand up. But for some unknown reason, the pain in his knees slowly became numbness. Regardless of what he did, he could not exert any strength to stand up.
Feng Yu Heng looked at him with a pair of eyes that could cause anyone to feel panicked, "What is it? You're just a humble bodyguard, yet this county princess does not even have the right to punish you?"
The more the bodyguard looked at Feng Yu Heng, the more panicked he felt. He could not help but turn his head to look at Xuan Tian Ye, but he saw Xuan Tian Ye nod to him. Only then did he reply: "This lowly one does not dare!"
"You don't dare?" The cold light in Feng Yu Heng's eyes erupted, "As I see it, there's nothing that you don't dare to do!" She slightly leaned over and brought her face closer to the bodyguard.
The feeling of an ever-increasing pressure caused the bodyguard's brow to become soaked with sweat. He wanted to avoid her, but he could not move his legs. With Feng Yu Heng's face getting closer and closer before him, his breathing also became stifled.
"Cou-county princess!"
"Hmph!" Feng Yu Heng flicked her sleeve and stood up, "Since it's not that you are looking down on this county princess, then just continue kneeling! Remain there until night time before returning with your master!"
Xuan Tian Ye frowned and asked Feng Yu Heng in confusion: "What are you getting mad at a servant for?"
Feng Yu Heng laughed coldly, as the words that Gu Mo's Zhou Chou had said to her echoed in her ears once more- At the time that his Highness the ninth prince was surrounded in the mountains, this humble general led people to rescue him, and I met him face to face…
She gritted her teeth tightly, and her eyes became stern. When she looked again at Xuan Tian Ye, she no longer showed a trace of kindness. She said: "There's no point in just getting angry at a servant. I am just giving his master a reminder. The things that have already been done the in past, please make sure that they are clearly remembered. There will come a day when I will come to collect on each of them." She turned around and began to leave; however, she raised her voice to say: "No rush. Sooner or later, a day will come when it is your turn!"
Once she said this, she left the two trembling in the pavilion.
Xuan Tian Ye clenched his fists so tight that his knuckles turned white. The departing figure was once again struck him like a nail, and he hated that he could not pull it out immediately.
Unfortunately, he could not.
"At that time, did you leave anything that could identify you?" He asked the bodyguard kneeling at his side.
That person thought a little then said: "This servant was always very careful. I never revealed my face in front of the generals of Da Shun. It's impossible for county princess Ji An to know about this matter."
Xuan Tian Ye gritted his teeth then slapped the bodyguard: "But she clearly came directly at you today!" He pointed at the blood flowing from the legs, "In that battle, Xuan Tian Ming's legs were ruined. She was clearly getting revenge for Xuan Tian Ming!"
"Forget it!" Xuan Tian Ye waved his hand, "Now is not the time to get angry with them. Just continue kneeling. These legs… will definitely be given back to them."
This day's wedding banquet only ended after the sun went down, with the guests leaving in an orderly manner. Feng Jin Yuan personally sent off the important guests. At the very end, it was Xuan Tian Qi followed by a group of palace servants carrying Ru Jia out of the manor.
Feng Jin Yuan looked at Ru Jia, and he felt his heart twitch. This daughter that was not his had only just entered the manor, yet she was already in this much trouble. How was he to explain to Kang Yi!
Watching Xuan Tian Qi's carriage take Ru Jia away, Feng Jin Yuan already began to feel a headache from having drank too much wine. Turning around, he stomped back into the manor. Wearing his red wedding clothes, he furrowed his brow slightly, as he did not know how to face Kang Yi.
"Father drank quite a bit today. Daughter has already written a prescription to help with your hangover and given it to a servant to have it prepared." Feng Jin Yuan raised his head and happened to see Feng Yu Heng walking over to him.
He froze momentarily then felt the alcohol hit him hard once more. He grabbed Feng Yu Heng and begged her, saying: "A-Heng, help your father. Can you help save Ru Jia?"
Feng Yu Heng was puzzled, "Princess Ru Jia is going into the palace to learn about the rules. This is a great thing. Why is father using the word save?"
"Ah!" Feng Jin Yuan stomped his feet, "Dear daughter, just help your father this one time. Just consider it your father begging you, ok?"
"Begging me?" Feng Yu Heng laughed, "Last time father begged daughter, you presented the deed for the Feng manor. What are you prepared to give this time?" She sneered and took a couple steps forward, "Daughter will tell father, not to mention saving, if she dares to say those sorts of things again, I will send her directly to see King Yama!"
Feng Jin Yuan suddenly retreated a couple steps in fear. With his mind in a daze, he took one misstep and fell over.
The servant behind him supported him then turned around; however, he found that Feng Yu Heng had already left. Her departing figure was arrogant and unfeeling. This caused him to wonder if she was still Feng Jin Yuan's daughter.
"Master." The servant reminded him from the side: "It's no longer early. The new madam has already been waiting in Tian Xiang courtyard for a long time. Master should return."
It would have been better if he did not mention this. Upon mentioning this, Feng Jin Yuan became even more depressed.
This person was terrible with alcohol. If he was sober, with his ability as the prime minister, he would still have the ability to persuade and communicate. But once he drank wine, and as the host, he drank plenty, being able to walk in a straight line was his limit. If he was asked to face Kang Yi, who was waiting to ask him for her daughter, Feng Jin Yuan truly felt his head swell.
Just as he was hesitating, he saw a young servant hurriedly running over. Upon seeing Feng Jin Yuan, she quickly said: "Master! Master, quickly take a look. Concubine mother Han's belly is not feeling well. It has already been hurting for an hour!"
"What?" Feng Jin Yuan was extremely shocked. At the same time, for some reason, he let out a slight sigh of relief internally. If something happened to Han shi's belly, he had a real reason to go visit her. Although he could not avoid this matter forever, it was fine to avoid it for now. Thus he quickly said: "Quickly! Let's go to Yu Lan courtyard."
When this servant came to report, Feng Yu Heng had not gone far. She had faintly heard about Han shi's belly not feeling well, causing her to turn around to take a look. Feng Jin Yuan was already following the servant and going in the direction of Yu Lan courtyard.
Huang Quan said: "It's the day of the wedding, and the new wife is waiting in the bridal chamber, yet this prime minister Feng is going to a concubine's room. If Princess Kang Yi knew, wouldn't she die of anger?"
Feng Yu Heng pondered a little then thought of something interesting and said: "Let's go and take a look."
Yu Lan courtyard's side had already become extremely chaotic. Han shi's cries continued endlessly, and the sound of her cries was quite alarming. When Feng Jin Yuan entered the courtyard, he was grabbed by Fen Dai, who repeatedly said: "Father, you can't ignore concubine mother. She is suffering a great amount of hardship from bearing this child. She has also been busy for this entire day. Presently, her belly is in a great amount of pain. She has been calling out for you the entire time."
But of course, Han shi's wild screams would occasionally include: "Husband! Why do you not want me. I am still pregnant with your child!"
Feng Jin Yuan was worried from hearing this. Being pulled along by Fen Dai, he entered Han shi's room. While walking, she said: "Stop shouting. Don't hurt the child." At the same time, he asked Fen Dai: "Has a doctor been called?"
Fen Dai shook her head, "Today is a day of celebration. Inviting a doctor to the manor is bad luck!"
A maidservant to the side was quick to add: "Wasn't an imperial physician called for Princess Ru Jia?"
Fen Dai scolded her: "Where is there any room for you to speak? She is a princess. Can concubine mother Han be compared to her?"
Upon hearing this, Feng Jin Yuan became unhappy, "The child in Han shi's belly is my own flesh and blood. How could it not be comparable? Quickly go call a doctor!"
At this time, they had walked over to the side of the bed, and Han shi immediately grabbed Feng Jin Yuan's hand, saying: "Husband, you cannot call a doctor. Today was a day of celebration at the manor. This concubine cannot interfere with the new madam!"
When she spoke like this, it caused Feng Jin Yuan to pity her, as he also grabbed her hand and said: "The child in your belly is important. Even if Kang Yi was here, she would have also called a doctor."
"Husband!" Han shi's tears began to flow, "This concubine thought that once the new madam came in, this concubine would never see husband again. Husband…" As she said this, she began to cry.
With her crying, Fen Dai also wiped away tears, "Father, concubine mother has been washing her face with tears over the past few days. Daughter will not ask for anything else. I will only ask father to come and visit concubine mother more often before the child is born. Just… just treat it as taking care of my unborn younger brother."
Feng Jin Yuan nodded, "That is natural. I will promise you, so stop crying."
He was doing his best to console them, as another young servant came in to report: "Master, second young miss has arrived."
"What has she come here for?" Fen Dai rolled her eyes, as her eyes lit up.
Feng Jin Yuan, however, said: "She came at a good time. To have a doctor come by at this time. Just have her take a look at your concubine mother. With her taking a look, we can feel at ease."
Han shi was very conflicted with having Feng Yu Heng examine her, as she repeatedly shrieked: "No, I don't want anyone to come and examine me. This concubine only wants husband to accompany me. I don't want anything else!"
At this time, Feng Yu Heng had already entered the room. While walking, she said: "Concubine mother, even if you do not think of yourself, you must make considerations for the Feng family's flesh and blood in your belly." As she said this, she arrived before them. Looking at Feng Jin Yuan, she then said: "Would father allow me?"
Feng Jin Yuan put down Han shi's hand and gave Feng Yu Heng some space.
Han shi was extremely nervous. Looking at Feng Yu Heng, she desperately tried to disappear into the bed; however, Feng Yu Heng had already grabbed her wrist. It did not appear to exert much force, but Han shi was completely unable to move. She could only obediently allow for her to examine her.
After a long time, she heard Feng Yu Heng say: "Her mood is unstable, and her thoughts have become an illness. The fire in her heart is burning too vigorously, and the fetus is unstable."
"What does that mean?" Feng Jin Yuan asked her, "The fetus is unstable?"
She put down Han shi's wrist and said to Feng Jin Yuan: "Concubine mother Han is suffering from a psychological illness, and her thoughts have affected the fetus. Only by having her mood stabilize can the fetus be stabilized."
Upon hearing this, Fen Dai was stunned. Feng Yu Heng was speaking for Han shi? Why?
She could not understand, but when she heard the follow-up, she immediately understood, as she heard Feng Yu Heng add: "Concubine mother Han's condition is something that father has already seen. What a pregnant woman needs most is her husband's company. Yet not only did father not accompany her, you also chose to bring in a new mother at this time. How could concubine mother Han endure such a great blow."
Feng Jin Yuan was startled. He then looked at Feng Yu Heng and asked her: "Then what should be done? Is there a medicine for this illness?"
Feng Yu Heng said: "The best method is not to take medicine. It would be for father to remain in Yu Lan courtyard to accompany concubine mother Han. Perhaps this illness will have gotten better by tomorrow morning."
Fen Dai immediately understood. Feng Yu Heng also disliked Kang Yi and her daughter. She had whipped Ru Jia brutally during the wedding, and now she wanted to use Han shi to trample on the bridal candles in Kang Yi's bridal chamber. But this was also quite good. This would give the mother and daughter a bit of a lesson. So what if you were the eldest princess? Upon entering the Feng family's gates, she could not be too full of herself.
Feng Jin Yuan felt that something was improper, and he wanted to head towards Tian Xiang courtyard, but his legs would not move no matter what. After thinking a little more, rather than going to face the wife who is waiting for her daughter, Han shi had given him a proper reason to remain. Why would he not go with the flow a little longer?
Thus he nodded and said: "Fine, for the safety of the child of the Feng family, father will remain here tonight."


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We are pleased to announce that Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup 0.10.2, the
latest maintenance update following the February release of 0.10, is now
available for all operating systems from the Downloads page. This
update incorporates the changes in version 0.10.1, which hasn't been widely announced. The changes since 0.10.0 are:
* Lots of fixes for various crash cases
* Grey draconians can't drown — we mean it this time
* Slaying now works as expected for magical staves
* Allies are not allowed to smite enemies through glass
* Allies can now cast Orb of Destruction
* Reaching with polearms is not allowed while trapped in a net/web
* Description text updates to match 0.10 changes
* plus many other small updates and fixes.
A bit more detailed list of changes can be found in the changelog.
Work on the next major release, Crawl 0.11, is proceeding rapidly. This
release will land in time for the next tournament, most likely sometime in
August. Bug fixes on the 0.10 stable branch will continue, as we are trying to give more than just lip service to actually maintaining the released version. You can help by
reporting any bugs you find (not counting spiders, giant cockroaches,
and killer bees — those are your problem!). And don't forget to take a
few minutes to complete the Stone Soup Survey.


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Michael Gibney
About the Author
Michael Gibney began working in restaurants at the age of sixteen and assumed his first sous chef position at twenty-two. He ascended to executive sous chef at Tavern on the Green, where he managed an eighty-person staff. He has worked in the kitchens of Morgans Hotel Group, 10 Downing in Manhattan, and Governor in Brooklyn's DUMBO, among many others. Over the course of his career, he has had the opportunity to work alongside cooks and chefs from many of the nation's best restaurants, including Alinea, Per Se, Eleven Madison Park, Daniel, Jean Georges, Le Bernardin, Bouley, Ducasse, Corton, wd~50, and Momofuku. In addition to his experience in the food service industry, Gibney also holds a BFA in painting from Pratt Institute and an MFA in nonfiction writing from Columbia University. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.


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Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is an acclaimed and award winning Nigerian author. This book won the Orange Prize in 2007. When asked why she wanted to write a book about the Biafran war she said this:
"I wrote this novel because I wanted to write about love and war, because I grew up in the shadow of Biafra, because I lost both grandfathers in the Nigeria-Biafra war, because I wanted to engage with my history in order to make sense of my present, because many of the issues that led to the war remain unresolved in Nigeria today, because my father has tears in his eyes when he speaks of losing his father, because my mother still cannot speak at length about losing her father in a refugee camp, because the brutal bequests of colonialism make me angry, because the thought of the egos and indifference of men leading to the unnecessary deaths of men and women and children enrages me, because I don't ever want to forget. I have always known that I would write a novel about Biafra."
Few of us can forget the images of starving children from the Biafran war. Stick thin arms, swollen bellies, blank expressions, but what caused the war and what was it really about? In the novel, there are three characters whose lives tell the story. Ugwu, a poor houseboy who works for a University professor and develops a passion for writing. Olanna, a young woman who abandons her life of privilege to live with her revolutionary and charismatic lover. Richard, an English writer who comes as an expatriate and never leaves Nigeria or Olanna's twin sister.
Earlier this year I heard Adichie speak at a book conference. Her written and spoken voice is insightful, important, and articulate. Though she has studied at Harvard and Yale, she is dedicated to promoting the writer's craft in her home country of Nigeria, leading yearly workshops in Lagos.
In 2009 Adichie held a TED Talk which captivated me. She talks about the danger of the single story. It is 20 minutes long, but listening to it is time well spent. "The single story creates stereotypes, and the problem with stereotypes is not that they are untrue, but that they are incomplete. They make one story become the only story." (Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie )


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Review: 'Desert Cities' can be hot and cold
Globe stages cutting production of compelling but problematic Baitz play
There's a certain strain of modern American plays in which family members dedicate themselves to saying the most outrageous things to one another, in an implacable effort to slit each other's throats with wit.
So on a scale of, say, one to "August: Osage County" (Tracy Letts' monumentally caustic domestic slugfest), Jon Robin Baitz's "Other Desert Cities" rates about five "Whoas!"
Not that Baitz's story of a family riven by politics and a tragic past should be judged solely on its level of biting humor. But at least as staged in an absorbing but tonally bumpy production at the Old Globe, the play does lean hard on the laugh lines, especially in the first act. (On opening night, boisterous audience reaction drowned out follow-up dialogue at several points.)
And while Baitz does weave in some good zingers, at times those lines try a bit too hard to be wry: "He's too old and too British — which is the same thing, really" (said of one character's husband) is one that feels a few degrees away from landing.
It's part of a larger issue with the play, at least to these ears (and I fully recognize I'm in the minority on "Desert Cities," which was a Pulitzer finalist in 2012 and had a healthy Broadway run). While director Richard Seer's cast brings a sharp sense of nerves chafed raw by decades of loved ones' reflexive aggression, the way these characters relate can feel tinged by inauthenticity for the sake of the comic. That sense is heightened by a tendency for the story to strain under the weight of exposition stacked onto what's meant to be normal conversation.
Of course, give Baitz this: There's a lot for an audience to catch up on, because the Wyeth family is all about back story.
The action begins at Christmas 2004, as young-adult siblings Brooke (Dana Green) and Trip (Andy Bean) visit the expansive Palm Springs home of their parents, Lyman (Robert Foxworth) and Polly (Kandis Chappell). (Alexander Dodge has designed those digs to spectacular, midcentury-modern perfection, but the living room alone is so vast that the actors can seem lost in it.)
The parents are both long-ago Hollywood veterans turned conservative political heavyweights; the kids are diehard liberals who likewise work in entertainment, of a fashion. Trip produces a TV show that sounds like a lower-brow version of "The People's Court." Of more import to the story — in fact, it's the catalyst for looming catastrophe — Brooke is a writer, and her latest book is a Wyeth tell-all.
The memoir focuses mostly on the fate of her older brother, Henry, who devoted himself to radical causes in the 1970s, was implicated in a deadly bombing and eventually leaped from a ferry into oblivion. Brooke, who was close to Henry, has struggled to move on, losing years to depression.
"I want to talk about Henry until it makes sense," she tells her family.
But the parents aren't having it. Tough and emotionally Teflon'd Polly, played by Chappell (who seems in the midst of a dazzling career renaissance) with a masterful sense of the imperious, objects the most forcefully at first. But the bottled-up Lyman — whom the versatile Foxworth lends a laconic sense of resignation and dry humor — finally boils over, too.
Green plumbs Brooke's depths of despair (and flinty exterior) with sensitivity and insight (and works up volcanic passions toward the end). And while Trip sometimes seems there more as sounding board than fleshed-out character, Bean gives him an oddball, what-the-hell wit.
And then there's Silda, Polly's sister, a lifelong leftie (and drinker) who's barely hanging onto the wagon. Robin Pearson Rose lends her a matchless comic touch and gets some of the show's best laughs.
"Other Desert Cities" (named for a phrase on a freeway sign) takes its time reaching an 11th-hour twist. But there are moments in the tense second act that weave together nicely all the threads of politics, truth-telling and family legacy. (The production also boasts polished contributions from York Kennedy's desert-umber lighting, Paul Peterson's spacious sound and Charlotte Devaux's spot-on costumes — especially her sleek tennis warmups for Lyman and Polly.)
In one moment that's both startling and weirdly touching, Polly leans in and plants a kind of Judas smooch on Brooke. It's a kiss that seems more like a fist.
"Other Desert Cities"
When: 7 p.m. Tuesdays-Wednesdays; 8 p.m. Thursdays-Fridays; 2 and 8 p.m. Saturdays; 2 and 7 p.m. Sundays. Through June 2.
Where: Old Globe Theatre, Balboa Park
Tickets: $29 and up
Phone: (619) 234-5623
Online: oldglobe.org
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Please send all parish information changes to Lorena Gonzalez at .
Masses offered in: English, Korean
2111 Camino Lago
Irving, TX 75039 (Map)
Phone: 972-620-9150
Fax: 972-484-4628
Pastoral Administrator(s):
Rev. Nam Gil Kim
John Lee
Website: St. Andrew Kim Catholic Parish
Saturday Anticipatory Mass:
5:00 p.m. (Korean)
10:00 a.m. (Korean)
12:00 p.m. (English)
3:00 p.m. (Korean)
Tue: 7:30 p.m. (Korean)
Wed: 10:00 a.m. (Korean)
Thu: 7:30 p.m. (Korean)
Fri: 10:00 a.m. (Korean)
Holy Days:
7:30 p.m. (Korean)
30 minutes before every Mass
First Thursdays: After 7:30 p.m. Mass


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More and more we have to look to people like David Frum as the voice of the last remaining rational vestiges of conservatism. He does not disappoint on the New Town tragedy:
Daily Beast— And I'll say: I'll accept no lectures about "sensitivity" on days of tragedy like today from people who work the other 364 days of the year against any attempt to prevent such tragedies.
It's bad enough to have a gun lobby. It's the last straw when that lobby also sets up itself as the civility police. It may not be politically possible to do anything about the prevalence of weapons of mass murder. But it damn well ought to be possible to complain about them – and about the people who condone them.


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Lawyers for Hassan Diab, a former Carleton University sociology professor implicated in a notorious 1980 Paris synagogue bombing that killed four people, said they'll seek leave to appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada after Ontario's Court of Appeal upheld a lower court decision to extradite him to France for the crime.
Judge Robert Maranger ruled May 15 that he had no other option under Canadian extradition law but to send Diab back to Paris for trial.
Diab, a 60-year-old native of Lebanon, has been accused of being a one-time member of the terrorist group Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) when the bombing occurred. He has maintained his innocence for the last six years, saying he did not enter France in 1980.
Diab has no criminal record in Canada and has insisted, with his lawyers, that he is a victim of mistaken identity.
In his decision, Maranger agreed that the evidence against Diab did not necessarily meet standards for conviction in a Canadian criminal court, but at an earlier hearing, he said France had enough prima facie evidence to warrant Diab's return there for trial.
The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs applauded the decision.
"The fact that the main suspect in this hateful terrorist attack will indeed face the justice system gives hope to the survivors and to the families of the innocent victims," CIJA said in a statement.
"The upholding of the extradition order does not assume Diab's culpability. Diab will be able to defend himself before France's judicial system, which is just as impartial as Canada's."
On Oct. 1, 1980, as Simchat Torah began, a bomb containing a large amount of the plastic explosive Semtex detonated outside the Union Libérale Israélite de France synagogue on Rue Copernic in Paris, killing four non-congregants and injuring more than 40.
At the time, then-French prime minister Raymond Barre called it a "heinous crime against Jews."
Diab, a Canadian citizen since 1993 – with dual citizenship – and an Ottawa resident since 2006, has a PhD in Sociology from the University of Syracuse in New York.
He was first arrested by the RCMP in Ottawa in connection with the bombing in November 2008 at the request of French authorities, based on German intelligence that used handwriting samples suggesting that Diab was a member of the PFLP implicated in the bombing.
Experts, though, have had conflicting opinions over the handwriting evidence.
In July 2009, Carleton University terminated Diab's teaching contract over the allegations, but professors there say his firing breached the university's contract with him.
After a series of extradition hearing delays going back to January 2010 over intelligence and evidentiary disputes, Maranger ordered Diab extradited in June 2011. In April 2012, then-justice minister Rob Nicholson ordered the same thing, but the case has continued under appeal under strict $250,000 bail conditions.
Diab has only been able to leave his home for work at the University of Ottawa, for meetings related to his case or for personal appointments. He has also been required to wear a GPS ankle bracelet pending resolution of his extradition case.