Rev. George M. Docherty dies

Associated Press
ALEXANDRIA, Pa. - The Rev. George M. Docherty, 97, whose sermon before President Dwight Eisenhower helped push Congress to insert the words under God into the Pledge of Allegiance, has died.

Mr. Docherty died on Thanksgiving at his home in central Pennsylvania after a lengthy illness, according to his wife. Sue Docherty said her husband of 36 years had been in failing health for about three years.

"George said he was going to live to be a hundred and he was determined," she said in a telephone interview yesterday. "It's amazing that he was with us this long."

Born in Glasgow, Scotland, Mr. Docherty moved to the United States in 1950 to become pastor of the New York Avenue Presbyterian Church in Washington. He was unfamiliar with the pledge until he heard it recited by his 7-year-old son, Garth.

". . .he recited it, 'one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all,' " Mr. Docherty recalled in an interview with the Associated Press in 2004. "I came from Scotland, where we said 'God save our gracious queen,' 'God save our gracious king.' Here was the Pledge of Allegiance, and God wasn't in it at all."

Mr. Docherty then wrote a sermon saying that the Pledge of Allegiance should acknowledge God. There was little effect after he first delivered the sermon to a group of clergy visiting Washington in 1952; a 1953 bill went nowhere. But two years later, after learning that Eisenhower would be in the congregation, Mr. Docherty decided to deliver it again, hoping it would inspire the president.

From the pulpit that morning, he said the pledge was missing "the characteristic and definitive factor in the American way of life. Indeed, apart from the mention of the phrase 'the United States of America,' it could be the pledge of any republic. In fact, I could hear little Muscovites repeat a similar pledge to their hammer-and-sickle flag in Moscow with equal solemnity."

The next day, Rep. Charles G. Oakman, (R., Mich.) introduced a bill to add the phrase under God to the pledge; a companion bill was then introduced in the Senate. Eisenhower signed the new law on Flag Day.

Please be careful out there ;-)

Holidays are never perfect

Go ahead and get that thought in your head now, holidays will be what they are, don’t try to make them more than that. Many times we have grand visions about the perfect time, everyone getting along, kids like angels and our football team always winning. Our table like set like a Hallmark commercial, the Thanksgiving prayer brings tears to everyones eyes etc…etc…ect…. Probably it is more like, loud, burnt, spilt, laughing, crying… It is whatever your particular group is. We may not always realize it, but we are all from perfectly normal families.

Do yourself a favor this season, just relax, be in the moment, look around at the wonderful, mixed up, funny, frustrating group we call family and friends and remember, perfect is what we make it. And yes, your family and friends are probably thinking the same about you ;-)

Thanksgiving Meal

We had a great time Sunday night as the English and Spanish speaking congregations joined together for fellowship. (Which is the same in any language) I enjoyed getting to meet some new friends.






Link to More Pictures

Babette

Bailey had her last preformance of Raggedy Ann and Andy Saturday. As you can tell, she was the french doll Babette. Bailey is quite the actress, I am going to miss the plays after she graduates.

Alice Update

A couple of before and after pictures of the Alice's motor. She is getting back to her old pretty self.

Russian church 'taken by thieves'

A 200-year-old church building has disappeared from a village in central Russia, officials from the Russian Orthodox Church say.

The building had stood near the village of Komarovo since 1809.

It was intact in July but some time in early October thieves made off with it brick by brick, they said.

Local prosecutors had been informed and an investigation was under way, a spokesman for the local Russian Orthodox Church said.

The disappearance of the Church of the Resurrection, some 300 km (186 miles) north-east of Moscow, was not immediately noticed.

It was in an out-of-the-way area and was not being used, although Church officials were considering resuming services there.

Now all that remained of the two-storey building - a school before it was turned over to the Church - were its foundations and some sections of wall, the Church said.

Thieves often target churches in rural Russia. Religious icons can be sold and church structures sold off for building materials.

Braveheart has got to be one of my most favorite movies, and this clip one of its finest. Faced with overwhelming odds the army would give up, but William Wallace helps them understand what is really at stake.
I wonder sometime if we really understand what is really at stake in our lives? Would we stand when it would be much easier to cave in and run?
Dear God, give us the strength to face tough days.......

Living By Faith

We sang this song today for Sister Maxine. Have you ever really read the words? I have thought about them today, they really put a lot of things in perspective dont they.

1. I care not today what the morrow may bring,
If shadow or sunshine or rain,
The Lord I know ruleth o’er everything,
And all of my worries are vain.

Refrain:
Living by faith in Jesus above,
Trusting, confiding in His great love;
From all harm safe in His sheltering arm,
I’m living by faith and feel no alarm.

2. Though tempests may blow and the storm clouds arise,
Obscuring the brightness of life,
I’m never alarmed at the overcast skies—
The Master looks on at the strife.

3. I know that He safely will carry me through,
No matter what evils betide;
Why should I then care though the tempest may blow,
If Jesus walks close to my side.

4. Our Lord will return for His loved ones some day,
Our troubles will then all be o’er;
The Master so gently will lead us away,
Beyond that blest heavenly shore.