Friday, December 25, 2020

In March I was ready for Spring

In March I was ready for Spring


In March I was ready for Spring,

By April the world was suffering,


I was stuck in my little house, 

For weeks with my loving spouse.


Work continued through the gloom,

Online with a tool called Zoom.


Wife and son in the other room,

Teaching, learning and meetings of doom.


“You’re on mute!”  “Click your mic!”

“Damn it! Shit!” “Sorry, I meant Shoot.”


In March I was ready for Spring, 

By May, I finally found toilet paper.


June came and Spring was spent.

Life continues, pandemic bent.


July came and went,

I wonder how my Summer was spent.


In March I was ready for Spring, 

By April the world was suffering.


Rex Seigler

September 20, 2020


Wednesday, November 18, 2020

Advent Devotional | Christmas Plays

Luke 2: 8-12 NIV 8 And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. 9 An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10 But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. 11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. 12 This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” Nothing spreads as much fear and trepidation, to young parents as hearing that your child has a part in the upcoming Christmas play. Yep, all of us parents have been there. Wondering if your budding actor will be the shepherd that undresses in the middle of the wise men entrance, or if Mary will start crying because someone moved Baby Jesus. With us, it was watching Jonah place a choke hold on the stuffed sheep and praying that its head wouldn’t pop off during the play. Beastial decapitation is rarely included in the script, but alas it does happen. We all gather to watch these plays, rejoice, laugh and celebrate the joy of the Advent spirit of the season. No, the plays do not always go by the script, the live animals occasionally brought in for the occasion can give us a surprise, and young performers astound us with their improvisations, but the scripture and music provided give us all Hope and Joy for the season. As a Church, we all love to see the Christmas Play, it reminds us of how Jesus’ story began, yet sometimes we forget that Christ’s story began at creation. His birth with Mary and Joseph, in Bethlehem, was a part of our salvation story. Prayer: Heavenly Father, help us remember your plan of salvation for us. Help us to reach out to others who do not know you, and share with them love, compassion, and hope. Help us to alway be your children and respond to your word. Amen.

Silent Night Advent Devotional

Luke 2:7 ESV And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn. Imagine a small Austrian town, in 1818. The town is Oberndorf bei Salzberg. It is night, you are walking home, in the darkness and the only illumination is from candles or lanterns. The moon rises stately over the mountains and there is a crisp December crunch under your feet. The sounds of the organ come drifting serenely from the church, until a broken note breaks the serenity of the night. The organ was damaged due to water damage from a recent flood. A young priest that was to lead the Christmas Eve Mass composed a new hymn and had his friend Franz Gruber write a melody for it. It was performed simply that Christmas Eve with only a guitar accompaniment. No other song has ever been penned that has the clarity, beauty and hope of this familiar tune, Silent Night. The song has become so integral in our Advent and Christmas time celebrations, I doubt that it would feel like Christmas without it. Silent night! Holy Night! All is calm, all is bright Round yon virgin Mother and child! Holy Infant, so tender and mild, Sleep in heavenly peace! Sleep in Heavenly Peace! Prayer Heavenly Father, Grant us the peace of knowing that you have everything under control. Grant us the wisdom to discern what is important in your eyes. Grant us the power to do your will during this Advent season and beyond. Thank you for our salvation through Christ, Jesus.

Advent Devotional

Matthew 25: 31-40 New International Version 31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. 32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. 34 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’ 37 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’ 40 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’ Blind Man Where did you come from? Before you leaned against the wall Of that jaded discount store? Did people see your cane And pass you in disdain? How long did you sit there, Before anyone spoke? Asked you a question? Have you been here before? Have you sat in this heat? What is that you said? You need to borrow a phone? You can use mine. You need some water, You can have mine. Oh there’s your ride, Have a nice day friend. I wrote these lines in July of 2019 long before the pandemic ever struck. It was a record of my interaction with a man that I noticed sitting outside a big box store. He was sitting on the hot concrete leaning against the wall. As I passed, there was a whisper in the back of my mind, an itch, or as I like to think, the Holy Spirit. I shopped for the items on my list, then on a whim bought a bottle of water. I usually don’t buy water, because I think the bottles are a threat to our environment. I started back to my car with my bags. There he was, the man, still sitting in the heat. His red and white cane was across his lap as he waited. I sat down next to him, no easy feat with my arthritic back, but it allowed me to engage with him and find out if he needed anything. This story is about one small encounter, but this meeting made a small difference, in one person’s life. It is moments like this, when we respond to that small quiet voice, the whisper of the Holy Spirit, that we experience the hope and love of the advent season. Prayer: Heavenly Father, thank you for giving us the gift of the Holy Spirit, guide through life’s struggles, help us to know how to be your hands in this cruel world and experience love, hope and peace during this Advent season. Amen

Wednesday, July 8, 2020

Umpa Lumpas, BLM, and Internet Debauchery

Many things are really ticking me off. The Grand Imperial Umpa Lumpa (Trump) and the Wicked Witch of the East (DeVos) and the TEA (Texas Education Agency) and Governor Abott, have all decided that beyond all costs it is a must that schools must be in a face to face classes in the fall and that parent should have the final say in whether their children go to school face-to-face or virtually. The districts are mandated to offer this, but there are no firm safety guidelines, except some useless suggestions and no funding to go along with this. Teachers who have already been asked to do things way beyond the acceptable job description and with out adequate funding for so long, many of them are going to snap.

Also, there are no firm guidelines on how we are to start back to school safely, but we already have in place a testing calendar,

Now this is where a long convoluted conversation should begin that covers many different topics. Yes, Black Lives Matter, I get that and I truly understand the depth and gravity of that situation and the importance we should all be having that discussion. It is a matter of privilege and I will redouble my efforts to self examine my hidden biases (I have now for a while) and work to end them in the world around me. But there is another conversation of privilege that is not necessarily a racial one, but it is also an overlapping one, and that is the privilege to have a reliable, and affordable access to the Internet.

Most of my students have access to some sort of Internet capable device, usually a cell phone. There are so many discarded phones around, and statistics show that there are know more cell phones on the globe than there are people, an estimated 16 billion (Statistica).  Many of those are Internet capable regardless of cellular activation in a WiFi environment.

Do students have access to WiFi at home? Do students have access to other necessary supplies at home? Do students have adequate nutritional support at home?  With the rising unemployment, inflation, reduction of income, certainly indicate that many families will have to make some serious choices about finances, and WiFi and other school supplies are often, and justifiably so, are not very high on the family priority list. I get it.

I also get that we still know very little about this disease. We don’t know if you gain immunity, or how long you will have immunity. We don’t know why some people are infected with the exact same germ and are totally devastated, while others are asymptomatic, or are only inconvenienced by the illness. We don’t know what the true long-term effects are, because there appears to be neurological effects as well as devastating long-term effects on the pulmonary system.

So let’s go and send kids (by the way the infection rate for the population of the under 20 years old is rising) to face-to-face school environments in older buildings with cranky HVAC systems, and rooms to small to provide the suggested distancing rules with teachers, some of which have health conditions that are dangerous with Co-Vid 19 and no real plan on how this will work out. We are already in a national teachers shortage, and in Texas and abyssal supply of substitute teachers.  

This insanity needs to stop. I want to get off this ride.....

That is all for now, for me, and my typewriter too.


July 7 2020



Saturday, May 16, 2020

Devotional inspired by Evan Hansen

Thursday, May 14


Matthew 22:36-40 New International Version (NIV)
36 "Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" 37 Jesus replied: "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.'38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."
 
A couple of months ago I was listening to the musical Dear Evan Hansen, by Steven Levenson, I was driving so I didn't really pay attention to the storyline, I just noted that the lyrics of one song really hit home. This week, I revisited that song, and realized it is about each of us in some way. It was a song about our separation and the loneliness. We are a people in a modern culture, connected more through social networking than ever before in our history. We can and do communicate instantaneously with people on far sides of the globe, yet we have a hard time telling the people we love most, how we feel. Sometimes the largest separations come in the same house.
 
Somehow, somewhere in our digital age, during the time of tragedy or disaster people, pull together and reach out to those around them, usually in a digital way, that is not costly to them, but in a cheap digital tribute that makes them, and us feel better and more useful, because we have responded, to the situation.
 
Let us take time now, while we have to collectively pause, and renew the connections to those we love, to those who are disconnected and lonely.
 
Dear Evan Hansen, is a social commentary on a reality that we as Christians do not have follow. We can take action, and make connections, and serve those who may look ok on the outside, but are actually lonely and hurting inside.
 
For the moment, we may have to make do with a digital touch or hug, God's love cannot be taken away as long as we share it.
 
Prayer
Heavenly Father, help us to remember those who are lost, who are lonely, who are isolated and without any hope. Father help us to realize who most needs your love, and how we as a people can connect them to You.  Amen

Rex


 




Grandma fought a skunk



Monday, May 4, 2020

Social Media Disconnection

Matthew 22:36-40 New International Version (NIV)


36 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” 37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’[a] 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’[b] 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”


A couple of months ago I was listening to the musical Dear Evan Hansen, by Steven Levenson, I was driving so I didn’t really pay attention to the storyline, I just noted that the lyrics of one song really hit home.  This week, I revisited that song, and realized it is about each of us in some way. It was a song about our separation and the loneliness. We are a people in a modern culture, connected more through social networking than ever before in our history. We can and do communicate instantaneously with people on far sides of the globe, yet we have a hard time telling the people we love most, how we feel. Sometimes the largest separations come in the same house.


Somehow, somewhere in our digital age, during the time of tragedy or disaster people, pull together and reach out to those around them, usually in a digital way, that is not costly to them, but in a cheap digital tribute that makes them, and us feel better and more useful, because we have responded, to the situation. 


Let us take time now, while we have to collectively pause, and renew the connections to those we love, to those who are disconnected and lonely. 


Dear Evan Hansen, is a social commentary on a reality that we as Christians do not have follow. We can take action, and make connections, and serve those who may look ok on the outside, but are actually lonely and hurting inside.


For the moment, we may have to make do with a digital touch or hug, God’s love cannot be taken away as long as we share it.


Prayer


Heavenly Father, help us to remember those who are lost, who are lonely, who are isolated and without any hope. Father help us to realize who most needs your love, and how we as a people can connect them to You. Amen



Wednesday, April 29, 2020

Communion Wherever We Are

Devotional


Communion Wherever We Are

Written 4-29-2020

John 17:21 That they may all be one, just as you, Father are
in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the
world may believe that you have sent me. ESV

This morning I was watching an old documentary on public
television on the Apollo 11 mission. During the program, I was
struck by a piece of information that usually doesn’t get
much attention.

I was reminded that Buzz Aldrin, one of the two astronauts
that were about to walk on the moon, stopped everything to
pause, pray and observe Holy Communion.
It seems that Buzz Aldrin was an elder in his church, the
Webster Presbyterian Church, and was given special
dispensation to take the blessed elements of bread and wine
into space, for this purpose. Several astronauts had already
prayed while in space, but Edwin Eugene “Buzz” Aldrin Jr. was
the first to observe the Sacrament of Holy Communion.
There they were, Aldrin and Neil Armstrong, separated from
Earth by approximately 237,000 miles were connected with us
and God by a common act.

During our current period of separation caused by this global
pandemic, we may feel separated and forgotten, but we are
connected by our faith, our rituals and most of all, by the
Holy Spirit. We are all waiting until the time that we can
regroup and commune together.
So take a moment, remember be thankful for what we have, and
do what we can to stay connected to one another, even if we
are physically separated.

Prayer: Father, help use to remember who we are, your
children, and that we can never be separated from your love.
In Jesus name, Amen.

Rex Seigler

Friday, April 24, 2020

Devotion Written 4/24/2020

Bible Verse 

Ecclesiastes 3:11 For everything, there is a season, a time for every activity under heaven. -NLT

Several years ago, my how time flies, we went on a youth mission trip to Wyoming, to serve and witness on a Native American Reservation there near Lander. For me, that trip did not begin well at all. The day before departure, I was warming up for a jog, and somehow slipped a disc in my neck. Overnight, the pressure on the nerve had become excruciating. By morning, I could barely move, much less endure two days of travel by van.

When we finally arrived after two days, the housing site was actually in an unused section of the state hospital. The men’s dorm was downstairs in the basement storage. The women were housed in actual patient rooms, that had concrete benches for beds. The next day, workgroups were selected and sent off to begin serving the reservation and a nearby nursing facility. I was in so much pain, that I was just going along for the ride.

At the nursing home, there were two projects to do, painting and cutting down an overgrown snarl of rose bushes. Everyone chose the painting, but I couldn’t look up or move a paintbrush. I picked up the lopping shears and carefully made my way to the rosebushes. I did not want the kids to get hurt by the tangle of sharp thorns. I could cut one stem at a time and very slowly I carved my way through the forest of briers. I thought of Christ while I was working. He was doing work that no one else wanted to do, under pain and duress, yet willingly he chose to do so, even with the sting of whips, a crown of thorns, and the burden of the sins of the world. I realized that this situation, is not where I wanted to be, but my suffering would only be temporary.

Through the rest of the week, our group would encounter Christ in many ways, but the Holy Spirit gave me peace. Gradually the pain began to wane and I was able to witness and participate in the rest of the journey.

Our current situation of global pandemic is like that time. We are all forced to take a step back and look at a painful situation. Whether it is by isolation, scarcity, hunger or loss of loved ones by death, we are comforted by the fact that there is a season for us to be tested, and there will soon be a time for us to rejoice and celebrate the Resurrection. While in Wyoming, I had to experience my injury, and learn a hard lesson; that Christ sacrificed much more for us and has Risen victorious.

Thought for the day

Remember those who are isolated and sick, for soon we will be reunited.