Babies, Blankets, Battles, etc.

We had six pregnant women at one time at our church not so long ago. I think Gina was first with a boy in September, then Shelley had her little girl in December, and Ruth, and a few days later Rhoda and Teresa had theirs just a few minutes apart, and Jean is still waiting, and I think I'm forgetting someone, and I probably got the order mixed up here, but you get the idea.

Meanwhile, yesterday I spoke at a women's gathering at a Lutheran church in Eugene. A young woman at our table had a month-old baby and the other ladies were of course fussing over it. The lady in charge, who was sitting beside me, explained, "We don't have many babies at our church; that's why we're making such a fuss over this one."

They began figuring and I think decided that there are about 3 babies at their church.

The group at our table also included a woman and her lovely 16-year-old daughter. The mom said there are 7 high-schoolers in church and her daughter was very fortunate because they all went through elementary and middle school together and were such a support for each other. For high school they've parted ways somewhat but still are a close-knit youth group.

I thought that was very nice.

I asked the lady beside me how many people attended church there. She said, "Well, we just did a count, and right now we have 278 members."

I found those numbers astonishing.

In comparison, our church has about 70 members. In addition to the abovementioned babies, we have 20 kids enrolled in my junior Sunday school class which is ages 9 to 12. And of course there are swarms of toddlers coming along and well, we just have lots of children in our church.

In other comparisons, I'd say that the Lutheran church was as friendly as ours or if anything even more welcoming, and their food was nearly as good as Mennonite food, and the singing came very close to Mennonite singing, and the small amount of theology I encountered was similar to ours, and the ladies I met obviously loved and served God. And they made an announcement that they have these quilt tops that need to be quilted but at the moment they don't have any quilters at church, and is there any chance someone from Central Lutheran would like to come over and teach them how?

So with all these similarities, why the vast difference in the percentage of children? And what does this mean for their congregation and ours in 20 or 30 years?

Here's some info from Wikipedia:

Demographers have examined the statistical basis of the long-term decline in the mainstream membership versus the growth in the conservative denominations.

There are four basic factors: birth rates; switching between denominations; departure from Protestantism; and conversions from non-Protestant sources. By far the main cause is birth rates—low for the mainline bodies, and high for the conservatives. The second most important factor is that fewer conservatives switch to mainline denominations than before. Secularization (moving to "no religion") is a third factor.

Evidence from the General Social Survey indicates that higher fertility and earlier childbearing among women from conservative denominations explains 76% of the observed trend: conservative denominations have grown their own. Mainline denomination members have the lowest birthrate among American Christian groups. Unless there is a surge of new members, rising death rates are predicted to diminish their ranks even further in the years ahead.

<sup>Food for thought, I would say.

Meanwhile, I decided to be like my mom and make flannel blankets for all the new babies. Unlike my mom, I didn't piece and knot thick little flannel comforters. Instead I took pieces that were too small to make pajamas out of and put two big squares face to face and sewed them together and left it at that.

And today I showed my scatterbrained age. I had blankets at church for the two newest babies and went to give them out after church. Neither new mom was in church but there was Arlis and Teresa's Courtney, age 10, so I gave her the one blanket to take home to her new sister. Now to find Marcus whose wife just had a son. Hmmm, no Marcus in the sanctuary, or over there....but there was Arlis in the back, talking with someone, and somehow my mind switched him with Marcus, so I went and gave him the boyish-looking blanket to take home.

It was some 7 hours before I realized what I'd done. I called Teresa who laughed and laughed. Kindly. No explanation of mine made sense. She laughed some more and said Arlis can give the blanket to Marcus at work tomorrow. It was ok, really, she said.

It really is nice when people like Teresa are kind to people like me.

Like I said, I feel like my mom, making blankets for babies at church. Which always reminds me of something that happened a long time ago that was rather profound. Mom has always been an amazing crafter, making clothes and quilts and beautiful stuffed dolls and teddy bears and a zillion other things. Just before Christmas in 1987, Mom and Dad's house burned down. Among all the heartbreaking losses it was especially hard to think of all the handiwork that had been destroyed. All those beautiful things she was working on, including 27 big quilts in some stage, from cut-out pieces to ready-to-quilt.

Then some time later we visited Mom and Dad and of course went to the church at Grove City, and I watched as all the families came bustling into church. And there came one baby after another wrapped in Mom's handiwork, her trademark pastel patchwork flannel comforters, tied with white yarn. So, it turned out, whatever she had given away survived, and in a sense, what she still had was whatever she hadn't kept.

There's a good lesson there, you know.

[And I can't figure out why this part shows up so tiny. Sorry]

And while I am going off down rabbit trails I will wander down one more. After my talk yesterday I was packing up my books and the lady in charge just out of the blue told me this completely random piece of trivia:</sup>
"The president of Gettysburg College during the Civil War was named Smucker."

Now is that just enough to make a history buff and a Smucker go a bit crazy or what? So I came home and Googled it.

Gettysburg College, it turned out, was a Lutheran seminary, founded and run for many years by a fiery man named Samuel Simon Schmucker. The battle of Gettysburg was fought pretty much at their doorstep, and the Seminary Ridge phase of the battle was named after this Lutheran seminary.

There's an interesting story about it all here, including this:

As the leading unit of the first Corps, Cutler’s Brigade, arrived on campus that first hot July morning, Mrs. Schmucker set out buckets of water for the men, but the officers kicked them over so that the soldiers would not break their fast pace to the field of battle.

Samuel Simon Schmucker had been warned to flee because he was a marked man. His activities in the Underground Railroad – he had occasionally sheltered fugitives from southern slave owners – probably were not known, but his advocacy of abolition was well known, so that southern troops would likely have pinpointed his home. Confederate soldiers, usually not given to vandalism, did trash his books and papers. Some of the seminary’s early documents were lost. Several of his books still show the effects of being thrown onto the floor, and out the window, probably trampled by muddy boots.

Tne abused Bible carries this penciled message: “J.G. Bearden of the reel army. . . this is the Holy Biele I pick up out of the . . . and has placed on the case again.”

Schmucker wrote under these words as follows: “this pencil note was written by an illiterate, but I trust pious rebel, during the sacking of my house and library, during the great battle of Gettysburg” (dated September 25, 1870).

I also found an article by the current president of Gettysburg Seminary that included this:

So often in life, it is the unexpected chance encounters that lead to memorable moments. So it was on Packard Day here on the hill. As my spouse and I were heading back home following a stroll among the cars parked everywhere on campus, we met up with a couple named Smucker. A brief conversation soon led to the discovery that they likely are at least “shirt-tail” relatives of the Seminary’s founder, Samuel Simon Schmucker. Upon discovering their probable family connection, we promptly invited them into Lewars House to see the historic Schmucker desk, which belonged to Samuel Simon and survived the battle of Gettysburg. A bit further along in conversation, it was revealed that these members of the current extensive Smucker/Schmucker clan are deeply committed Mennonites. It so happens that Packard Day here on campus, July 22^nd, was the very day on which the Lutheran World Federation held the international service of repentance for Reformation excesses perpetrated by early Lutherans upon Mennonites and others of the so-called “Anabaptist” tradition. So, because of a pack of Packards perched atop Seminary Ridge for a few hours, we could clasp hands with our new friends and enjoy a personal moment of ecumenical reconciliation and recommitment.

Life is just plain interesting.

Quote of the Day:
"How much do you spend for your beef, Mom? There's some meat here that's about $1.50 per adjective."
--Ben, looking at a sale flyer for Market of Choice and an ad for All Natural Painted Hills Boneless Beef New York Steaks