Carl's Random Thoughts

The Sunday Morning Class continued looking at Calvin’s “Institutes of the Christian Religion.”

To Download an audio file of the class, right-click here: Calvin 021912, select “Save Target As…” then save to your computer or MP3 player. Note: The audio file is recorded separately from the video, so you may not be able to hear the class comments.

Here is the Class Video (for some reason the video stops abruptly about 10 seconds before the end. The entire class was recorded, but the last few seconds were cut off during the upload):

Our daughter Erin and her husband Ray make their living as variety entertainers (clowning, stilt walking, comedy skits and so on . . . a variety of . . . entertainment).

Today Erin (with about 40 others) worked a promotional gig for Royal Caribbean cruise line in midtown Manhattan. During the morning and afternoon rush hours on the subway shuttle between Penn Station and Grand Central Station, they pretended to be shipboard employees and satisfied customers, talking up Royal Caribbean to the commuters (the exterior of each car was painted to resemble a cruise ship).

The gig was supposed to end with a flash mob song and dance routine in the main concourse at Grand Central, but as you will see it didn’t work out that way. The police put a stop to it.

Here are three short clips (about 3 minutes each) of Erin at work. She’s the tall gal wearing the blonde wig.

I recorded this on my cell phone so the video and sound quality aren’t great, but it will give you an idea of her type of work.

The “boos” that you hear at the end are directed at the police (who were very professional and polite), not the entertainers.

You can see Erin and Ray together at their web site: Grins & Grins Comedy Show.

Here is the video of today’s gig:

Our Sunday Morning Class continued discussing John Calvin’s “Institutes of the Christian Religion.” We focused on the doctrine of The Trinity.

To Download an audio file of the class, right-click here: Calvin 021212, select “Save Target As…” then save to your computer or MP device (Note: class members’ comments may not be audible).

Here is the class video:

Sunday’s Message was from Matthew 5:33-37, and looked at Jesus’ teaching on personal integrity.

“What Jesus says in this passage this morning may not seem as dramatic as anger or lust or divorce, but I want to show you that he is speaking directly to an issue that plagues our nation and also many of us as individuals. The issue is personal integrity. Am I an honest person? Am I a trustworthy person? Can I be depended on to tell and do the truth, even if telling or doing the truth conflicts with my own best interests?” To Read More or to Print a Copy of the Message, click here.

To download an audio file of the message, right-click here: Message 020512, select “Save Target As…”, then save to your computer or MP3 device.

Here is the Video of the message (you may need to adjust the volume on your computer). Yes, I know I misspelled “integrity” in the opening title. It slipped through a number of proof-readings and after it was posted to YouTube I decided it wasn’t worth the bother to go back, correct it, and re-post it:

Our Sunday Morning Class continued reading Anthony Lane’s abridged edition of Calvin’s “Institutes of the Christian Religion.”

To Download an Audio File of the class, right-click here: Calvin 020512, select “Save Target As…” then save to your computer or MP3 device.

Here is the Video of the class:

The Sunday Morning class continued our study of Anthony Lane’s abridged and modernized edition of John Calvin’s “Institutes of the Christian Religion.”

To download an audio file of the class, right-click here: Calvin 012912, select “Save Target As…” then save to your computer or MP3 device. The audio file is recorded separately from the class video, so comments by class members may not be clearly audible.

Here is the class video:

Here is the class video from Sunday’s session on John Calvin’s “Institutes of the Christian Religion.”

The new microphone arrangment worked out well. Class member comments sound loud and clear, and there is a minimum of extraneous noise.

The title editing is rather quick and dirty since I am using a new movie-editing program, uploaded on Tuesday, and have not yet mastered all of its features. As I progress along the learning curve it should improve.

Sunday’s Message continued our series on The Sermon on the Mount, and was about Jesus’ teaching on divorce in Matthew 5:31, 32, and 19: 3-12.

“In the church, the subject of divorce is one of the most sensitive, potentially hurtful and even offensive, topics that a minister can touch. Just as Social Security reform is the third rail of politics which lawmakers avoid for all they are worth lest they get burned, divorce is the topic that most preachers secretly dread to bring up because they know that in some respects it places them in a no-win situation.

“Despite the preacher’s best efforts to remain sensitive to people’s feelings, if he wishes to be faithful to the truth of God’s Word the topic of divorce never fails to stir up deep emotions such as sorrow or guilt or shame, or feelings of failure, or anger, or bitterness, or worse. If that were not bad enough, it is all too easy for preachers to fall into one of two serious errors when dealing with this subject: legalism and compromise.”

To Read or Print Out a copy of the meditation, click here.

To Download an audio file of the message, right-click here: Message 012212, select “Save Target As…” then save to your computer or MP3 device.

Here is the video of the message (you may need to turn up the volume on your computer):

My Sunday Morning Class began reading Anthony Lane’s much abridged and modernized edition of John Calvin’s “Institutes of the Christian Religion.”

This was the first class using the new camera and microphones which were added so that class members’ comments could be heard online.

Many thanks to everyone who donated to this project. We were able to buy a good quality camera and mikes and still come in about $20 under the amount raised. Special thanks for the donation of the mixer!

As it happens, the new camera records in a format which is not supported by the movie-editing program that I use. After reading about this issue online I decided not to download one of the free file-converter programs (too risky) or pay money for one which would only add another level of complexity to the operation. Instead, I bought a new movie-editor program. As soon as it arrives I will upload the class video.

To Download an audio file of the class, right-click here: Calvin 012212, select “Save Target As…” then save t0 your computer or MP3 device.

The Class Video will posted later this week.

The Sunday Morning Class which was supposed to resume yesterday beginning a study of Calvin’s “Institutes of the Christian Religion” was postponed to next Sunday, the 22nd, due to me having a bad sore throat and fever.

The Message on Sunday continued a series on The Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5. This week we considered Jesus’ teaching on Lust.

“Jesus had a knack for saying things that make us feel exceedingly uncomfortable. If you think that Jesus was all about sweetness and light and warm feelings, all you have to do is read the Gospels and you will discover how quickly he can make you squirm. This passage today, and Jesus’ follow-up comment on divorce which we will look at next time, are good examples of that.” To Read More or to Print a Copy of the meditation, click here.

To Download an audio file of the message, right-click here: Message 011512, select “Save Target As…”, then save to your computer or MP3 device.

Here is the video of the message:

Sunday’s Message was from Matthew 5:1, 2, 21-26: Jesus on Anger.

“Beginning with today’s passage, and continuing all the way through verse 14 of chapter 7, Jesus provides a number of concrete examples of how true Christians are to respond to some of the most common, and difficult, situations that we may face from time to time on our journey through this life. What he says here may make some of us feel uncomfortable and even offend us. But we need to attend to Jesus’ words, because he means what he says. This is what men and women who have the indwelling presence and power of the Holy Spirit can look like as their character and behavior become more and more conformed to his.

“In our verses this morning, Jesus teaches us the Christ-like response to a very serious sickness of the heart: anger.” To Read More or Print a Copy of the message, click here.

To Download an audio file of the message, right-click here: Message 010812, select “Save Target As…” then save to your computer or MP3 device.

Here is the video of the message:

My Sunday Morning Class resumes on the 15th. We will begin reading together the Anthony Lane abridgement/modernization of John Calvin’s “Institutes of the Christian Religion”. The upgrade to the camera and sound system is complete, so online viewers will be able to hear class members’ comments as clearly as my own. Many thanks to all of you whose donations made this upgrade possible!

The Sunday Morning Class will resume on January 15th.

The Message on New Year’s Day resumed the series on The Sermon on the Mount. I spoke about Jesus’ relationship to Law and lawlessness from Matthew 5:17-20.

“Jesus knew that some of his disciples would react to his sermon by becoming discouraged, so before he begins listing concrete examples of lived faith he takes a moment to clarify what he is about to say. In our verses today he makes it as clear as he can that he has no intention of teaching his disciples either of the two great errors of religion: legalism or lawlessness.” To Read More or to print a copy of the message, click here.

To Listen to the message, click here:

To Download the message, right-click here: Message 010112, select “Save Target As…” then save to your computer or MP3 device.

Here is a video of the Message. This is an experiment which I may or may not repeat. You may need to adjust the volume of the video at the YouTube site, or on your computer.