Our need for precision filters down to our calendars. These days everyone, it seems, has a date book within easy reach. We meticulously keep our appointments noted there with time and sometimes even the place.

It’s not odd then that our astronomy (a science constantly seeking precision) has set the exact time in which we change from one season to another. Fall (a.k.a. autumn) begins when the sun is directly over the equator on September 22.

Yet, our senses tell us the change in seasons doesn’t follow the calendar. Winter really starts in November. Spring waits for April. And fall? I have a hunch that many of us think the summer season has changed over when kids go back to school.

Good-bye summer. This is your final hurrah. Next Tuesday the schools open their doors with hopes and expectations for loads of students tromping back to the books. Next Monday fall begins.

Pastor B.

While you’re punching the remote and running through the stations, you may have tripped over the Roman Catholic television network (about around 75, I think). I realize any non-cable folks can’t get there, but for those of you who do you might also have stumbled upon Mother Anglica.

The spunky nun spouts spiritual wisdom that is food for all Christians. So, today a few of those shorter spoutings.

Everything starts with one person...I don’t care if you’re 5 or 105, God from all eternity chose you to be where you are, at this time in history, to change the world.

If you are following God, he never shows you the end. It’s always a walk of faith.

Faith is one foot on the ground, one foot in the air, and a quesy feeling in the stomach.

You are a holy bunch of sinners, and I’m in the club too.

You know what a realist is? A realist today is a neurotic with an excuse for doing nothing.

We have lost the theology of risk. Unless you are willing to do the ridiculous, God will not do the miraculous.

God is looking for dodos. There are a lot of people who know it can’t be done so they don’t do it. But a dodo doesn’t know it can’t be done. God uses dodos.

Patience is adjusting your time to God’s time.

St. Jerome had a terrible temper. He would hit himself with a rock everytime he lost his temper. I’d be dead as a doornail, with no ribs, if I did that.

Holiness is a beautiful struggle.

You may be the only Jesus your neighbor will ever see.

Everyone drags his own carcass to market. So be careful.

Pastor B.

In the mid-1970's two movie critics from Chicago began a television program on public television. The setting was made to look like a balcony, and the critics Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert sat on either side of the center aisle in seats that didn’t look a lot different than what OSLC has in its Mission Matinee Theater. They would review the most recent releases - usually four or five in the half-hour show. Often they disagreed on whether a film was worth seeing. If they agreed on a flick’s positive value, they would give it a "two thumbs up". Over the years movie makers longed for the ability to write "two thumbs up" in their movie ads.

In its public television days I watched the two quite often. I found it interesting that the reviews were not based on a sliding scale (one to four stars). Rather, it was thumbs up (worth seeing) or thumbs down (save your money).

When the show moved to commercial television (even movie critics want more money), I lost touch with the two because of the late Sunday time slot they owned. Still, I would occasionally run into it while surfing.

Over the early stages of the show I tended to side with Gene Siskel in those times when they disagreed. Siskel died of a brain tumor in 1999 and was replaced by Richard Roeper. The repartee was not the same. For the last few years, Ebert has also been ill.

It appears the show and its setting are coming to an end. Both Roeper and Ebert are cutting ties with the Disney conglomerate which now owns the franchise. However, "two thumbs up" is a trademarked phrase so it still belongs to Ebert and Siskel’s widow.

So, another era comes to an end. I’m not an avid movie goer, but if I was going to see a film I would mostly consider those ones that received "two thumbs up." Adios Siskel and Ebert. It was a great run.

Pastor B.

Not a lot of science involved here, but some observations. It seems to me that in a world more and more electronically connected we seem to be increasing our isolation

A few weeks ago Susan and I were out to eat. Not far from us was a couple in their mid-20's also dining out. Right after the drinks were served the young man received a call on his cell phone. For the next half-hour he talked to an unseen companion while the companion on the other side of the table sat alone and bored.

In meeting with couples before weddings I take down the usual pieces of information. No one has a land line phone anymore. Everyone has a cell phone that does not belong to a "community" of users but to one person. When you call a land line phone you may be greeted by anyone in the household. Usually a little light conversation connects you to each others lives. With cell phones, you normally only talk to the person you want to call. It’s my phone, not ours.

Will the white pages of the phonebook start getting thinner and thinner? Cell phone numbers are not listed and most cell phone owners prefer it that way. Still, the phonebook is a sign of community and the unity of humanity in a certain place. If you’re not there, you’re not part of the community.

A couple of days ago I saw three high school age girls walking down the Main Street sidewalk. Each had a phone glued to an ear. They were walking together, but each was in her own little space.

I have a cell phone. My wife has a cell phone. We’ve become relatively dependent on them though we’re pledged to turn them off in restaurants and several other venues. They’re not going to go away anytime soon, I’m sure. Do you think it’s possible that those three girls were talking to each other.

Pastor B.