Jochen, We live across the street from the United Church of Santa Fe. It is a member of the United Church of Christ denomination (UCC). A friend whose father was a Presbyterian minister said that UCC informally means "Unitarians Concerned with Christ". The point is that their beliefs are universalist.
Despite living so close to the church for 25+ years I have attended fewer than five services there, including Joe Traub's funeral. After dinner on Christmas Eve I impulsively said, "Why don't we go to the service at 5:00?" That service was focused on children. Our group included my Jewish wife, a Muslim granddaughter (7), and our daughter and son-in-law who are Evangelical Christians. The latter have a daughter who is three. Our 11 year old grandson says he has a relationship with God and he doesn't want anyone to tell him what it should be. I am a fallen-away Presbyterian. It was a beautiful and well attended service. After the pastor told the story that Franz Gruber discovered that his church's organ wouldn't play because of damage caused by mice so he asked the organist to play a guitar to accompany a poem that he, Gruber, had written. The result was the Christmas carol "Silent Night". Then that moment was reiterated here by the choir director playing that carol on his guitar while the congregation sang. The point is that it was, by my lights, a lovely service. The church's parking lot is filled to capacity every Sunday morning. I am optimistic but probably won't attend services there regularly. Frank --- Frank C. Wimberly 140 Calle Ojo Feliz, Santa Fe, NM 87505 505 670-9918 Santa Fe, NM On Tue, Dec 26, 2023, 3:20 AM David Eric Smith <desm...@santafe.edu> wrote: > I increasingly think the last keeper of democracy in the U.S. will be a > black woman. Everybody else seems afraid. The perennial complaints about > Neville Chamberlain come to mind. > > But still, best wishes for the New Year to you Jochen and to All. > > Eric > > > > > On Dec 26, 2023, at 4:39 AM, Jochen Fromm <j...@cas-group.net> wrote: > > > > Merry Christmas from Berlin! It must be Farolitos time now in Santa Fe, > right? Here in Berlin we have plenty of Christmas markets where you get hot > mulled wine. At Christmas Eve I was in the "American Church of Berlin" > which is over 120 years old. It was mostly empty though. > > > > While Donald Trump embodies the bad site of America - adultery, fraud, > hate, lies, greed and the rest of the mortal sins - the church classically > represents the good side of America: the selfless care for others, > Christian values and the feeling that everybody is welcome. > > > > It is sad to see churches slowly dying out like the old lighthouses at > the coast which showed ships the right way for centuries but are now > turning into mere tourist attractions. Will democracy die out together with > the churches too? > > > > This article about the last lighthouse keeper in the U.S. makes me > wonder if president Biden will be the last keeper of democracy in America > before the land falls into the darkness of a Trump dictatorship. What do > you think? > > > https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2023/11/06/the-last-lighthouse-keeper-in-america > > > > -J. > > -. --- - / ...- .- .-.. .. -.. / -- --- .-. ... . / -.-. --- -.. . > > FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv > > Fridays 9a-12p Friday St. Johns Cafe / Thursdays 9a-12p Zoom > https://linkprotect.cudasvc.com/url?a=https%3a%2f%2fbit.ly%2fvirtualfriam&c=E,1,MfR7QY5u51Gek4F9oRb_H-rpZMkBj6daRnKfn-mPdVfgv1KCKR3uwkL-6pQSk9QZ2o6DH1O9z4veyG1ABO5_B_QnwteY8TmVGT8xbDorDUIX8haTKmNsCIZz&typo=1 > > to (un)subscribe > https://linkprotect.cudasvc.com/url?a=http%3a%2f%2fredfish.com%2fmailman%2flistinfo%2ffriam_redfish.com&c=E,1,f2TWbvpGcjkqirB14icZsxL3RYnDEpqO0ZOQAX12e-05QcrhOncVBYD0HuGJtYyvLkyiAIfTPkEiLATEIIxAyoXbK0bwQgMG19N9ssSobFRcT6RdzdzLd6e5&typo=1 > > FRIAM-COMIC > https://linkprotect.cudasvc.com/url?a=http%3a%2f%2ffriam-comic.blogspot.com%2f&c=E,1,ZJNM_l7mA-1WkFb0SoV7NPNkMmK44OPkHcAKeX3APz3xso8KqnPtL9saQI5WJZzUc21pad08IvlPyhPbhPbJEIH34UgyQT74CxPKP6EBUouiHZD3&typo=1 > > archives: 5/2017 thru present > https://linkprotect.cudasvc.com/url?a=https%3a%2f%2fredfish.com%2fpipermail%2ffriam_redfish.com%2f&c=E,1,12Fs6Aum0-Kg-G8oQHsrc9kqev9gb8kgkm5D13AtyVXeM750k0n4RndfXRe3ddOq3WHNZkPYn56KNAFyyGYI2DA4Tc-7AOwh43bDgLKWjq09ow,,&typo=1 > > 1/2003 thru 6/2021 http://friam.383.s1.nabble.com/ > > > -. --- - / ...- .- .-.. .. -.. / -- --- .-. ... . / -.-. --- -.. . > FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv > Fridays 9a-12p Friday St. Johns Cafe / Thursdays 9a-12p Zoom > https://bit.ly/virtualfriam > to (un)subscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com > FRIAM-COMIC http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/ > archives: 5/2017 thru present > https://redfish.com/pipermail/friam_redfish.com/ > 1/2003 thru 6/2021 http://friam.383.s1.nabble.com/ >
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