Messages of other months can be read by clicking HERE.

Hare and Hair (09/12/02)
Campus/Palms (09/12/07)
“Downsizing” (09/12/11) Beyer House (09/12/15)
East and West (09/12/19)
Christmas (09/12/24)
The Month After Christmas (09/12/29)

Hare and Hair (09/12/02)

There are two different English words pronounced hare (hair). The one spelled h-a-r-e, denotes a small animal similar to a rabbit, but having longer ears, large hind feet and long legs adapted for jumping. North American hares are also called jackrabbits. (Unlike the term “jackass,” this word does not apply only to male hares.) The other word with the same pronunciation is spelled h-a-i-r. It signifies the threadlike growth on the skin of mammals. The hair of hares, however, is not called “hair.” For some reason, dogs, horses and goats have “hair,” but cats, foxes and hares have “fur.” I have more hair than most male residents in this retirement community, so I regularly go to have it cut at the same place that women go to have their hair taken care of. The place where women have their hair cut is often called a “beauty shop” while men go to a “barber shop.” It may be that women go to the beauty shop to become more beautiful but men go the barber shop simply to get barbered. In this retirement community both men and women have their hair cut in the “Pamper Room” by a lady hairdresser. To “pamper” means to “treat with excessive indulgence,” but I really don't feel pampered when I go there. To portray the wonderful loving care of our heavenly Father, Jesus said to his disciples, in Matthew 10:30, “even the very hairs of your head are all numbered.” (035)

Campus/Palms (09/12/07)

The word "campus," from the Latin word for "field," usually denotes the grounds of an educational institution, but the area of Penney Retirement Community, where my wife and I now live, is called a "campus" by its residents. This campus, which includes about 192 acres, or 77 hectares, has been designed so that streets run north and south and avenues run east and west. At the center of the community is the Penney Memorial Church, located at the end of a boulevard. Most of the cottages and independent housing units on this campus are surrounded by spacious lawns and there are many trees both in the lawns and along the streets, avenues and boulevard. These trees include magnolias which bear pretty flowers, which bloom and fall down, and evergreen trees such as pines, live oaks and palms. Branches of the magnolias, pines and oak trees extend far out from the trunk, providing shade for the surrounding area, but palm trees do not have branches. The large palm leaves, or fronds, grow out of the top of the trunk. Palm leaves were symbols of victory from ancient times. In the 1st century B.C., the Latin poet, Horace, wrote of the "victor's palm" and in the heavenly vision recorded in Revelation 7:9, there was a multitude "wearing white robes and holding palm branches in their hands." In the Christian Church year, the Sunday before Easter is called Palm Sunday, commemorating the Triumphal Entry of Jesus into Jerusalem, when, according to John 12:13, people "took palm branches and went out to meet him, shouting, 'Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.'" (400)

“Downsizing” (09/12/11)

Ten years ago, my wife and I left Japan, after serving churches and schools there for 48 years, and came to the United States of America, our homeland, to retire. There were various reasons why we chose the Penney Retirement Community in Penney Farms, Florida. In this Christian community there are different kinds of residences available. There are independent houses with their own yards around them. There are hotel-like buildings having one or two-room apartments that remind me of a college dormitory. There are also assisted-living units for residents who require or desire special help of some kind. For the past ten years, my wife and I have been living in an independent house having five rooms plus a small kitchen. Because of my Parkinson’s disease, we have had our names on a list of those interested in entering an assisted-living unit. Recently, an appropriate unit became available and we agreed to move immediately. We are now in that new two-room unit, but are still moving our things into it. We have one month to complete the move to the unit only a short distance from our previous location. We continue to go back and forth between the two places, but we find that “downsizing” from five rooms to two is very difficult—deciding what to discard, what to keep and where to put things. Our postal address and telephone number remain the same and we continue to participate in many activities. Although I continue to drive a car, I also make use of a walker and a cane when I walk and sometimes go a short distance in a motorized chair. (1272)

Beyer House (09/12/15)

As noted in the previous message, my wife and I are now living in an assisted-living unit in this retirement community. The main such unit, which serves as a nursing home (“a private hospital for the care of the aged or chronically ill,”) is called the Pavilion. “Pavilion” may simply designate a large tent, but in this case, the name is derived from the statement in the Old Testament book of Psalms, chapter 27, verse 5 that “in the time of trouble, he [God] shall hide me in his pavilion.” The unit in which we are living is called Beyer House. It was erected in 1975 and although its name is pronounced the same as “buyer house,” it was named after the president of the Community at that time, Harold C. Beyer. There are about forty residents in Beyer House now and the “assisted-living” we enjoy here includes housing, meals, housekeeping and laundry services. We eat our meals with other residents in the dining hall and are able to choose certain menus. While we are eating breakfast, workers enter our rooms to clean them, make our beds and dispose of our trash. Laundry service is provided once a week. There are other activities, which Beyer House residents can participate in and we are still members of the larger community. My wife and I are continuing to carry items from our former home to this new one and find it very difficult to make decisions regarding what things to discard and what to keep. We realize once again how truly blessed we are in comparison with the majority of people in the world today. (1273)

East and West (09/12/19)

Since returning to the United States, I have had a number of opportunities to give talks on Japan. At such times, I often begin with the question of where Japan is located. I surprise most listeners by my statement that Japan is located in the far west for it is commonly thought that Japan is in the Far East. Nevertheless, when going from the United States to Japan, it is usual to travel west. World maps printed in the United States usually have the U. S. A. in the center and Japan is located in the far western area of such maps. It is on world maps with Europe at the center that Japan is located in the far east. Of course, maps made in Japan have Japan at the center and on such maps, the United States is in the far east. So it all depends on one’s perspective. We tend to look at the world with our homeland at the center and at other people with ourselves as the standard. One of the advantages of living for a while in a foreign country is to be able to view our own culture, traditional customs and ways of thinking from a different perspective. It can be a very broadening experience and should result in a better understanding of our own nation and both its positive and negative aspects. On a global map, there are north and south poles which indicate the limits of those directions, but it is not so for east and west. To express the unlimited nature of God’s compassion, in Psalm 103:12, it is written: “as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from” . (037)

Christmas (09/12/24)

In many countries, December 25 is a holiday called “Christmas” to celebrate the birth of Jesus, who is called “Christ,” although we are not sure of the day, the month or even the year, when Jesus was born. In Japan, December 25 is not a holiday, but December 23 is a holiday, the birthday of the present emperor, who was born on that day in 1933. The word “Christmas” is a combination of two words: “Christ” and “mass.” “Christ” is derived from the Greek word for the Hebrew term, “messiah,” meaning “anointed one,” used for those Hebrew men who had been anointed by the high priest under divine direction to serve as kings or priests in ancient Israel. There was also the expectation that a special “Messiah,” or “Christ,” would arise in the future to save Israel and the world from their miserable conditions. Jesus did not fulfill the hopes of the people of his day, but Christians consider him the promised Messiah who came to manifest the spirit of God and to redeem suffering, sinful people. “Mass” is the Roman Catholic term for the liturgical expression of Jesus’ command to his disciples to remember him by taking bread and wine as symbols of his body and blood, which many Protestant churches call “communion.” Thus, the original meaning of “Christmas” was to remind people of the person and work of Christ. Nowadays, we often see “Xmas” instead of “Christmas.” Although this may reflect an elimination of Christ from the Christmas celebration, which actually is so in many communities, the “X” is simply an abbreviation of the Greek term for “Christos,” which begins with that letter. During this Christmas season, let us not only remember the birth of Jesus, but his life and teaching as well, being conscious of his spiritual presence and power here with us as we partake of the common food before us. (1274)

The Month After Christmas (09/12/29)

One of the many groups that residents of this retirement community are able to join, either for their own enrichment or for the benefit of others, is the Clown Group. My wife is a member of this group, attends its weekly meetings, paints her face and wears her clown costume for programs. Recently, she noted the following poem, a parody of the well-known poem “The Night Before Christmas,” was presented and I thought readers would be amused to read it.