Joseph's Complaint

If you ask me, and no one ever does,
The whole thing was a mess
From start to finish.
And I had to wade my own way
Through it.

The day Mary said yes
Should have been the beginning
Of my joy. She didn't bring
Much to the marriage. No
dowery. No connections.

But I didn't require much.
As one of Nazareth's working poor, I
Just want a wife to make a
home. Have children.
Carry on the family name.

It began to fall apart
When she told me she was
"with child" without me!

My rights under the law
Were clear. I could denounce her.
She could have been stoned.
I couldn't bear that.

So I decided to make it a nice
Quiet separation. A quick, easy
Divorce. That's the kind of guy
I am. No trouble. No big deal.

Then came the dream and I somehow
Knew that something bigger than me
Was happening with Mary.
I had to go through with the marriage.

Mary began to show and nothing
Could stop the village tongues
From wagging. Everyone knows
Everyone's business in Nazareth.

Women clucked their tongues and
Pointed at us. Boys walking past
Me showed me "the horms" with their
Fingers spread on either side of their heads.
Groups of me laughed quietly behind me .

Then came the news that
The Romans wanted to count us,
So that they can better tax us.
More money to make their boot
On our neck heavier.

To makes sure they counted
Every last taxable Jew,
We had to go to the city of our
Birth, so I had to return to
Bethelem, my old hometown
With my pregnant, unwed fiance.

As we got closer, her time
Got nearer. No place would take us,
So we found a barn just in time.
Mother and child were fine.
Both lucky to be alive.

I cannot help but wonder
Where was God in all this?
I have been faithful, trusting,
And what did I get for it?

I still have to struggle
To feed my family, am no richer
For having been faithful.
Everyone will doubt my son's parentage.
In our land, those not of pure
Blood are unclean, outcast, unholy.

All I have left is trust,
The trust that somehow
God is involved in the mess
Of our lives, and will make
Something good out of it.

I cannot imagine what that could be.(For Robin Meyers)

From Mayflower Congregation Church on Dec. 19, 2010

From Rev Robin Meyer's Christmas message today entitled "Cleaning Up the Mess". (I'm paraphrasing):

We struggle so hard to have "the perfect Christmas" as it is defined by department stores, toy stores and auto dealerships.

There is no perfect Christmas in the Gospels. The first Christmas was marked by scandal. Mary was an unwed mother who Joseph could have ruined just by following the law. However, Joseph trusted that God would redeem the situation. And God did. So we too must find the perfect gift of trust, trust in the power of God to redeem our efforts through grace.

More Snow Pics

Merry Christmas

Blizzard conditions on the Southern Plains

Looking out my front door
We're pretty well snowed in here. The airport reports 11 inches plus of snow.

Cat and I are safely at home with each other. Hope you are able to enjoy your Christmas wherever you are!

Merry Christmas!

"Life" Lesson

Watching the Frank Capra film It's a Wonderful Life is a Christmas tradition for many people. The film teaches an eternal lesson we would all be better off to heed.

When the monied interests in our community have free reign, life pretty much turns into suck.
Mr. Potter, the face of unfettered capitalism in the film

My Sunday Worship Leader Remarks

Each Sunday at the 10:45am service, one lay person serves as "Worship Leader." One of the duties of the Worship Leader is to give some brief remarks prior to the offering. This is called the "Prayers of the People," and it gives lay members an opportunity to talk about whatever is on their minds. Here is the text of my remarks:

Typically, we celebrate December 25th as the birth date of Jesus. Many scholars suggest that Jesus likely was born in late March or early April, the time shepherds “abide” in the fields to help ewes giving birth.

I was born in March. Perhaps Jesus and I share a common birth date. Had this date been used for Christmas I would have greatly dismayed as a child. We all pitied the kid whose birthday came near enough to Christmas to get combination birthday-Christmas gifts.

We are not sure how December 25 became the date celebrating Jesus’ nativity. Perhaps it was an attempt to convert a popular pagan celebration. Perhaps to was due to the fact that 4 days after winter solstice the daylight hours begin to get noticeably longer. Some have suggested that the fact that date is 9 months after the Jewish Passover celebration had something to do with the choice.

I think there is something to this last idea. After all, putting Christmas in March or Christmas in April would mean that we would celebrate his birth at the same time we honor his death. This way, the church now gets two big days to pack the pews.

Seriously, I think it noteworthy that we celebrate the birth of Jesus at a time when all seems dead in our world. And we honor his death at the time when the world is starting to come alive. I think this is another paradox of our faith that we have been noting throughout this Advent season. God is always acting in ways contrary to our expectations: giving us grace where grace is not deserved, extending hope when all seems hopeless.

So let us live within God’s grace that gives life all that is dead within us. And let us live in hope as we work to bring life to a dying world.

And let us display this hope we have in a very practical way by making out our pledge cards and placing them in the offering plate. May the ushers come and receive our hopeful pledges and offerings at this time.

We have some time off for now.

Cat and I have a couple of weeks rest from school. One of the very best things about both being in the teaching profession is that we get to spend holidays together.

Right now we are preparing for a December 21st "Solstice Party" with some friends. Cat is doing holiday baking. I have been putting up some decorations.

Merry Christmas

Right now the "Green-LaFlamme" household is in "nursing mode." My wife, Cat, had hip surgery to repair some torn "cushion" in her hip socket and to straighten out a thign bone that had become curved over the years.

The doctors hope that this way Cat can avoid hip replacement surgery.

So far, she's doing well, doing her therapy exercises, using her walker. (She says it reminds her of that scene in the Mel Brookes musical The Producers where all the little old ladies do a chorus line dance with their walkers.


I get to place nurse, which has its own joys. I get to be important to her and build up "Brownie points" for later redemption.

Hope you are enjoying the love of your own family in whatever form that may take in your case.

My Worship Leader Remarks at Mayflower Church

"A Candle in Hope" by Juntos

I have not been posting in quite a while. Frankly, for some reason I did not feel much like writing, but I hope now to begin once again. Here are the remarks I made at Mayflower Congregational Church on Christmas Sunday as the lay Worship Leader.

For those of us living in Oklahoma who believe passionately in social justice, 2008 has been “the best of times” and “the worst of times,” a real “Dickens” of a time. Sorry, but I’ve been saving that pun for a while now.

At this time, how appropriate it is that we gather here on the winter solstice when our part of the world goes through its longest darkness. We gather to celebrate the birth of Hope, which first came during one of the very darkest of times. In a time of terror and fear, a man of questionable birth brought us Hope and taught us to live lives of Hope by revealing to us the Life of Grace: God’s enabling power which helps us to realize our true potential.

And that’s what I love about you. You live such gracious lives. You recognize that you have received Grace. And having received Grace, you know you must show grace to others by helping them to enjoy all the wonderful possibilities that God wants all of us to realize in her creation.
You make Hope live in our world by being God’s Agents of Grace

Thank you for living graciously. For without people like you, we would be facing a “season of Darkness” without the prospect of “the spring of hope."

A Few Pictures from My Christmas

Cat with her son John, his wife Stephanie, and their children Skylar and Devin
My niece Serenity
Cat and our nephew Tristan
My granddaughter Skyler