No better than; Party line; Inverted exla-point; Dust on the bible

Life may not get much better than this:

Retired minister John Helt

reads to his grandson

Think of all the times he's read scripture

from pulpits here

and there

 ~ I was there when he started his preaching career

at Friedens United Church of Christ (UCC)

in the shadow of Pabst brewery

at 13th and Juneau in Milwaukee ~

we may not have provided more willing faces

as thoroughly appreciative Emerson Helt does,

 shown here.

AT FRIEDENS

John Helt was sent here fresh out of

seminary.

A gracious demographically dying old church

peopled only by die-hards.

As his first assignment

Helt worked to raised it up.

Helped give it death with honor...

Nice start in a long pastoral career,
reading a lot and etc..

See:  
http://raccoonnews.blogspot.com/2009/07/you-want-cemetery-with-that.html

^,^

Play here:

https://www.facebook.com/karimfanpage/posts/10152077077726135

All God's children got a place in the choir

some sing low and sone sing higher

^,^

Appeal to the Grammarians

by Paul Violi

We, the naturally hopeful,

Need a simple sign

For the myriad ways we're capsized.

We who love precise language

Need a finer way to convey

Disappointment and perplexity.

For speechlessness and all its inflections,

For up-ended expectations,

For every time we're ambushed

By trivial or stupefying irony,

For pure incredulity, we need

The inverted exclamation point.

For the dropped smile, the limp handshake,

For whoever has just unwrapped a dumb gift

Or taken the first sip of a flat beer,

Or felt love or pond ice,

Give way underfoot. We deserve it.

We need it for the air pocket, the scratch shot,

The child whose ball doesn't bounce back,

The flat tire at journey's outset,

The odyssey that ends up in Weehawken.

But mainly because I need it – here and now

As I sit outside the Caffe Reggio

Staring at my espresso and cannoli

After this middle-aged couple

Came strolling by and he suddenly

Veered and sneezed all over my table

And she said to him,

"See, that's why

I don't like to eat outside."

Paul Violi, "Appeal to the Grammarians" from Overnight.                                                                                                                                  Copyright © 2007 by Paul Violi.  Reprinted by permission of Hanging Loose Press

Yours in mystery,                                                                                                               poetry,                                                                                                                                         and the yet to be,

TB

^,^

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=59hWl7I81fc