Maher Studios

As the year came to a close, ventriloquists around the world heard the news that after 39 years of wonderful service, the doors of Maher Studios would come to a close. Clinton Detweiler and family have given their lives to compassionate service and encouragement of ventriloquists all around the world. They will be sorely missed, not only for their products, their repair service, and most of all, the quality people that they are. All the best to the Detweilers in their well-deserved retirement years! God bless you folks!

Carson Newman it is!

We began a search for a college for my daughter while she was a junior. She took her ACT test a few times. She toured many colleges. Some she liked, others she did not. At first there seemed like hundreds of possibilities, but the list was easily narrowed. We discarded some because they were way to big. Others were out of the running because they were way to small. Some were too far away. Others were too difficult to get in-- can students really earn a 4.6? Some were not the kind of school we would want to send our daughter to. Some did not have what she was looking for in a major. With all things considered, we finally decided on Carson-Newman College.

Carson-Newman is a wonderful small college about 35 miles east of Knoxville, TN. It has 2,000 students and is well regarded by the folks who rate colleges and universities. Princeton Review calls it one of the best in the Southeast. US News rates it in the top 35 masters degree granting colleges in the South.

So Carson-Newman it is!

A Visit with the Funeral Directors

I was asked to speak to the employees of a local funeral home today on the subject of why their work is important. It was their employee Christmas appreciation meeting and they wanted me, a local pastor, to put their work in perspective. Since they knew I did ventriloquism, they welcomed me to bring one of my "little buddies" along. So I did.

Ida Clair, a sweet little old lady figure, helped me to tell them how they make a difference with their compassion and attention to detail. The employees really loved it when Ida talked about owner geting to the Metal Ages. Middle ages I asked. No, the Metal Ages she replied-- he has silver in his hair, gold in his teeth, and lead in his behind. The place howled with laughter-- something you don't often hear in funeral homes!

It was a privilege to bring a smile to a group of people who work hard in a difficult setting to help people during very difficult times.

Dummy the Last to Say Goodbye

Although I have been a pastor for 25 years or so, this is the first time I have ever been asked to include one of my ventriloquist characters in a memorial service for one of our members. Chuck Brooks, a delightful 81 year old man went home to be with the Lord. He so loved the children's sermons that I do each Sunday using my puppets and ventriloquism figures that his family insisted that one of the figures offer the final words. How is that for unusual? But then again, these figures gave him great pleasure at a time in his life when there were many challenges and disappointments. So why not!

O Christmas Tree, O Holiday Tree

Roanoke, VA began it's "Dickens of a Christmas" celebration last night with the lighting of the "Holiday Tree." The print and broadcast media have had a field day with this politically correct nomenclature. Television stations have been running polls about what area citizens feel about this. About 89% seem to be quite upset that the tree is not called a Christmas tree.

What's the fuss? Christmas trees are rooted more in folk lore than religion anyway. If you really push it, you have to admit that they were "borrowed" from the pagans long ago. They certainly are not mentioned in the Bible as being a part of the birth of Christ. In reality, there is little to commend the practice from a theological perspective.

National, state, and city Christmas trees are merely an exercise in civil religion. Civil religion, or state sponsored quasi-religious ceremonies and customs are always watered-down, least-common-denominator type of "spiritual" exercises that lack the vitality of the real thing. What civil religion brings is form without substance. It offers the outer form of religiousness without the life that true spirituality brings.

Christmas tree, holiday tree-- call it what you will. The reality of it is that you should not look to the government to promote religion. If you do, you will be sadly disappointed and will have to settle for some generic, please-all expression that falls far short of the life-changing reality of the gospel of Jesus Christ.