Wow! We had a beautiful January thaw this week followed by a winter storm. I hope that you are staying warm and cozy. You may want to hold off on shoveling until the snow has a chance to absorb the water under the ice before the temperature drops. This will keep the pavement from glazing over. Be sure to keep faucets dripping and cabinet doors open to prevent your pipes from freezing when the temperatures drop!
While you are shut in, you might be binging on Netflix or some other favorite media. I turn my attentions to cooking to avoid cleaning. Today I am developing a pasta sauce based on what I have on hand. Do you think lasagna sounds like something comforting to eat on a cold winter day? Hopefully this will help clean out my pantry a bit.
International Bible Study: Tuesdays, 9:30-10:30, room 100.
It was so nice to reconvene our Bible Study group on a slightly warmer January morning! When we last met in December, we began our discussion of the Beatitudes, a wonderful part of Jesus's Sermon on the Mount in Matthew Chapter 5. Today we took a deeper look into the statements of what it means to be "blessed" for being "poor in spirit" or for being "pure in heart" and why/how God would comfort "those who mourn," or be merciful to those who show mercy. And who are the "peacemakers" anyway?
When Matthew, inspired by the Holy Spirit, wrote his Gospel account, he specifically targeted the audience of Jewish people who were very familiar with the Scriptures known as the The Old Testament of the Bible. Much of what he recorded of Jesus's Sermon on the Mount was not new material. When Jesus said in verse 5, "Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth," it is almost identical to Psalm 37:11: "But the meek will inherit the land." Since Jesus is God, His message is God's message: God loves you and wants to be in a close relationship with you. When we realize that God loves us completely and unreservedly we are tempted to think that we are completely unworthy (poor in spirit). Jesus teaches that whatever our poverty and even when our hearts are broken over our failures (those who mourn), we can be comforted by God. Even if people insult us and persecute us, we can be blessed eternally. All these blessings make us eager to share God's love with others. God offers hope and peace with everyone.
January 16: Join us as we continue to read Matthew 5
International Friends: Tuesdays, 10:30-12:00, room 100.
We enjoyed catching up and then we talked about words in Japanese that take a good paragraph of explaining in English! You can see the words here. Can you think of words in English that are not directly translatable in your home language or vice versa?
January 16: Join us as we learn to make dumplings Chinese style!
Conversation: Wednesdays, 4:30-6:00, room 209.
Bill Prann dropped by to say hi and stayed for the class. Bill is one of the staff at CLC and is responsible for education programs for the children of the congregation. He was delighted to meet someone from Iran (the first Iranian he has ever met) to talk about the recent history of this country and implications to current events. This was so timely for Bill since he had just watched a YouTube documentary, so it was great to talk with someone first hand who had lived through Iranian transitions and had waited on the U.S. immigration wait list for 13 years. It was an educational dialogue.
January 17: Join us as we talk about whatever is on our minds.
English Classes: Thursdays, 9:30-12:00, upstairs classrooms.
It was great to visit a few of the classes and see what was happening after the break. Writing class practiced presenting their writing verbally. An aside in Accent Training shifted conversations to food and restaurants: Devour Indy runs January 22-February 4 and provides a great opportunity to taste some new restaurants or enjoy some old favorites at a great price. Level 2 talked about the difference between wander and wonder...do you know what is is? Can you hear the difference?
January 18: Join us next week. It's never to late to pick up your English lessons where we left off.
January thaw: a period of unseasonable warm weather in January
glazing over: coated or covered with a layer of ice
shut in: not able to leave your home
binging: excessive enjoying something
on hand: what we have without having to go shopping
pantry: cabinet or closet where food and cooking supplies are kept; often used to describe food that is kept on hand
a bit: a small amount; not much
Holy Spirit: Christianity teaches that God is three persons or gods in one god: Father, Jesus and Holy Spirit. All are independent but one and the same.
Gospel: a biography of Jesus; the literal translation good news
reconvene: to come together again or assemble, usually for some purpose
mourn: to feel or express sorrow or grief
Scriptures: sacred or holy writing in the Christian Bible
poverty: being inferior or less than sufficient
hearts are broken: extremely sad over the loss of a relationship with another person
persecute: to pursue with harassing or oppressive treatment, especially because of religious or political beliefs, ethnic or racial origin, etc.
directly translatable: a word that corresponds with a word in another language
vice versa: either way, from one to another and back again
congregation: group of people who meet together to worship or for religious reasons
implications: possible conclusions because of some event or action
dialogue: give and take in conversation between two people
whatever is on [our] mind[s]: what we are thinking about or pondering
presenting their writing verbally: give a speech!
an aside: a change in the direction of a conversation
left off: ended
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