Milk in Stained Glass: A21st. Century Clarification of Christian Beliefs and Creeds

By Ron Sims

Who/What is/are the Trinity, and who/What is/are he church which/who worships him/her/them/it? Sound confusing? It isn't. We just need to believe what G0d says about God's self instead of what humans tell us. Milk in Stained Glass challenges readers to examine Christian teachings with a new clarity. What, for instance, if the Trinity is not a persons, but actions of a perfect loving parent? What if the church is not just a place holder between visitations of the Christ, but God-on-Earth in the between times? What if there is neither a heaven nor a hell, yet heaven and hell are both real? What if evil doesn’t even exist, but is still a powerful force in our lives? Milk in Stained Glass both poses and answers these and many more theological questions with a clarity that is unique to the twenty-first century.

Illustrated with images from the amazing stained glass windows of Trinity Church, Milk in Stained Glass leads its readers on a journey from the Late Bronze Age, through the present information Age, to their final home coming. well as two new statements of belief.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Ron Sims
• Release date: Apr 1, 2018
• ISBN: 9781370442478

Ron Sims

If you read Milk in Stained glass critically, you’ll discover that I’m no writer. You’ll find awkward sentence structures and forced alliterations that no self-respecting writer would use. I have no such revulsion, because I think they’re fun. So, while I claim no writing talent, I do have a history of making complex religious issues easy to understand.I’ve held management and administrative positons in adult training and human resource development areas. I’ve also developed and delivered training on environmental and hazardous materials handling regulations.I have been an active member of my church since confirmation in 1948. I was first elected to the church council while in my twenties and have been reelected to it numerous times since. I have also been elected to lead the congregation as its lay president multiple times.I have taught both children and adult Sunday school classes since the 1950s.Most importantly, I have been giving walking tours of Trinity’s amazing stained glass windows for more than forty years. Each time, it seems that I discover some new revelation that God wants me to share. And now I have.My history, as you have seen, is one of making complex issues easy to understand. I have continued exercising that skill in Milk in Stained Glass. I do not see this book, however, as a writer’s project; it is rather a calling that I had to answer.

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Milk in Stained Glass

By R. E. Sims

Copyright 2016 Ronald E. Sims

Smashword Edition

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Many individuals and groups contributed to the writing of Milk in Stained Glass. Some knowingly offered their help, while others did so without realizing that they were shaping a manuscript.

Pastor Edward S. Frey -- Pastor Frey’s vision of Trinity’s new church building was a contagion that infected members and suppliers alike. He insisted that only the highest quality of materials and excellence in workmanship were acceptable contributions to God’s house. He envisioned a worship center that surrounded the worshippers with stained glass windows that reminded the congregation what it meant to be Trinity Church.

The Willit Stained Glass Company of Philadelphia -- The Willit Company designed, fabricated and installed the windows that inspired Milk in Stained Glass. The quality of their product, skills of their artists, and talents of their installers are still evident and admired half a century later. In 1997 the Willit Stained Glass Company joined with Hauser Architectural Glass to form Willit-Hauser Architectural Glass with headquarters in Winona MN. In 2014 the company was purchased by Associated Crafts Inc. of Phoenix, AZ which continues their tradition of beauty and quality.

Author(s) of Trinity’s 1949 dedication booklet -- I have borrowed heavily from the dedication booklet which includes descriptions and explanations of the images frozen in the stained glass windows. Those images became the foundation of my own revelations. While the forward for the booklet is signed by Pastor Frey, and contributions by contractors are noted, other participants are not identified.

The members of Trinity during the mid-1940s -- These hard working, God fearing individuals were willing to substantially increase their debt load in order to have true stained glass windows included in their worship center. How many congregations today would invest that amount of money in art and inspiration that would continue to live long after they expired?

The members of Trinity through the years -- As I related the stories of Trinity’s windows to new members and other interested groups, I was often told that I should put my talk on paper so it would outlive me. Little did they know that they were delivering a God-sent message to me to stop dawdling.

My family

---June, who quietly accepted the long hours I spent at the keyboard and in her reading, uncovered many misspelled and misused words

---Jeff, who synthesized my tentative themes and incomplete concepts during our evening walks. Our discussions often revealed that my efforts were not robust enough for a true clarification of Christian beliefs. .

---Kelly who corrected the syntactical errors and confusing constructions in my early drafts.

Pastor W. Stevens Shipman: Pastor Steve identified the heresies of my early explanations of the Trinity, forcing me to wait for more accurate and theologically sound revelations. Sometime later, Pr. Steve confided in me that he really liked Trinity congregation. It’s a nice church, he said, No one is ever going to write a book about it, but it’s a nice church.

Why not? I asked myself.

Why not you? came the reply.

Pastor D. Evan Houck who reviewed what I thought was a late draft. His comments and advice disclosed many sections that needed rewritten, expanded or explained. Pr. Evan also lent me the pulpit to expound on my clarification of the Trinity.

Mr. Herbert Bamberger, friend, social worker, consultant, psychologist, and once-Lutheran-pastor – Herb graciously offered to read the final draft. His insightful responses and suggestions convinced me that the book was far from finished.

Mrs. Kathy Hartwell -- friend and wordsmith, who edited an earlier version and offered many useful comments

Smashwords -- whose style guides and keys to e-book publishing brought enjoyment to the drudgery of writing and offered an inexpensive method for getting the word out.

The Perfect Parent -- who continually sent me spiritual text messages that said, Write right, right now! each time I used, family pressures, unreasonable demands on my time, and the infamous Writer’s Block in futile attempts to avoid the keyboard.

The Executive Committee of Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church, Lemoyne, PA who reviewed the final manuscript and agreed to support its release.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

FOREWARD

Simple Mysteries

Why Words Fail

Why Windows Win

Is This The Book For You?

Plain Old Milk

Read On

Biblical References

SECTION I: THE TRINITY

Simple Revelations

I Am. I Do.

CHAPTER 1: A PARENT’S DEMAND: (God the Father)

Chapter Overview

Rebellion of the Toddlers

Give Me Strength

A Family Matter

Family Matters

Symbols of the Perfect Parent’s Actions as the Father

A Dangerous Choice

CHAPTER 2: A PARENT’S LOVE: (God the Son)

Chapter Overview

Daddy, Save me!

The Homecoming

About Face

An Order of Fish

Symbols of the Perfect Parent’s Actions as the Son

In the Meantime

CHAPTER 3: A PARENT’S PRESENSE: (God the Holy Spirit)

Chapter Overview

With You in Spirit

The Dove of Love

Raise Your Hands

She Lived to Sew

Symbols of the Perfect Parent’s Actions as the Holy Spirit

The Road Back

SECTION II THE CHURCH

Come Back Home

A Difficult Trip

Repentance

You’ll Never Walk Alone

CHAPTER 4: BUILT ON A ROCK: (The Church Promised)

Chapter Overview

A Rocky Start

The Rock of Ages

Symbols of the Church Promised:

CHAPTER 5: THE SHIP IS LAUNCHED: (The Church Founded)

Chapter Overview

Promises, Promises

The Ship of Life

A Fiery Birth

Here Comes the Bride

Symbols of the New-Born Church:

Evil

CHAPTER 6: FEED MY SHEEP: (The Church Nourished}

Chapter Overview

Eat to Live

Receiving the Word

Spreading the Word

A Good-News Spreader

Symbols of the Church Nourished

Feed My Sheep

CHAPTER 7: A GREAT IDEA: (The Church at Work)

Chapter Overview

What’s For Supper?

Miracle Workers

Symbols of the Church at Work:

SECTION III: THIS IS THE LIFE: (Everlasting)

In Conclusion

Heaven and Hell

The Homeless

CHAPTER 8: FOLLOW THE LEADER (The Return of the Prodigals)

Chapter Overview

The Lion-Hearted Lamb

SECTION IV: THE CREEDS

A Universal Belief Statement

The Milk Creed

The Apostle’s Creed

The Nicene Creed

The Athanasian Creed

PERSONAL NOTES

FOREWORD

SIMPLE MYSTERIES

Surely the God I serve will show Himself now! exclaimed Elijah expectantly as he retreated farther into the cave. Streams of ferocious fire had just erupted from hundreds of jets on the holy mountain where he was hiding. The fiery floods were now meandering down the mountain’s flanks. They seemed like giant undulating scarlet serpents devouring all that would impede their journey. Their searing heat had singed Elijah’s beard and driven him farther into the depths of his sanctuary. The cave, he had thought, would hide him from those who sought to kill him. He had also thought that his God would appear to him there. My God, he pleaded, do not disappoint me for yet a third time.

He had first thought that his God would be revealed within the terrible wind that began to pummel him as he stood at the entrance to his shelter. The wind was so strong that it dislodged rocks and boulders. Avalanches cascaded down the steep sides of the mountain into the valleys below! But he had heard no word. Nor had his God shown Himself when the mountain first shuddered and then shimmied through a series of massive earthquakes. The temblors had rattled the cave, throwing Elijah against the sides and bouncing him across the hard floor. Now bruised, frightened, and twice disappointed, Elijah viewed the smoldering rubble beyond the cave. He wept. His God had not been in the fire either.

Now there was just silence.

No wind.

No quakes.

No fire.

Just silence.

What’s that? A whisper so low I can hardly hear it.

Elijah strained to hear the whispers, but they were so soft that their words were felt more than heard. He could feel love. Then a rush of strength and encouragement. At last his God was speaking to him. (1 Kings 19:11-13)

That was then; this is now. Many things have changed over the last 2,900 years or so. Elijah’s holy mountain of seclusion and exclusion, for instance, has been replaced by houses of worship -- some as large as mountains, others as small as caves.

Other things in these early decades of the second millennium, however, are pretty much the same. We moderns, as Elijah, are still searching for God and still complaining when He doesn’t appear where and when we want. We, also as Elijah, fear for our lives and our livelihoods as an expanding array of threats focuses and intensifies our search Here are some general ones:

--Terrorism

--Acts of nature (Droughts, floods, earthquakes, fires)

--Economic turmoil

--End-of-the-world fears

--War

--Religious conflicts

--Distrust of judicial and political systems.

Realize, however, that each of us also has our own personal dreads and anxieties. Those concerns are just as frightful as any I can list here.

These threats and the perceived erosion of our country’s moral and ethical foundation make us realize that

--we are not in total control of our lives,

--there is a strong evil component in the world, and

--we cannot rely on ourselves or our governments to save us.

Yes, we, like Elijah, are searching for a spiritual answer to quiet our human fears.

The Great Creative, Sustaining Life Force -- that’s how some modern day searchers may describe the object of their quest. Others use other names, but it’s still God whom they seek. So why is that a problem? Because how people identify God determines how and where they look for Him.

Believing Him to be nothing more than an all pervading spiritual force, some search for God in new-age philosophies. Others, surrounded by orthodox religious practices, think He’s revealed in liturgies and rituals. At the same time charismatically inspired groups are seeking God in miraculous interventions. Sadly, like Elijah, all they discover are places where God can’t be found.

In spite of our lack of success, we continue to search for God in what are nothing more than spectacular special effects. Certainly earth-changing forces of nature; the immensity of the cosmos; and the weirdness of the quantum world do reveal God’s creative power. As awesome as they may be to contemplate, however, God is not in them. Nature is the result of the Creator, not the residence of Him.

So then, how can we find God? Sadly, the answer is that we can’t. No matter how hard we hunt; no matter how deep we dig; or how high we fly. No matter how plentiful our pleas or, passionate our prayers, we cannot and will not find God. We can’t find God because it’s not God who is lost. It is we. You are the one who is lost, as am I. It is God who seeks, and He will certainly find us if we let Him. God found Elijah -- beaten, dirty, lost in his despair and disappointment -- weeping in the dust of his cave. Like a loving parent, God found His child, and when the time was right, He whispered to him.

Who does the finding is addressed in the Bible by St. Paul in his letter to the church in Galatia. He is criticizing them for disavowing his true teachings and following the false teaching of others. He reminds then that once they worshipped imaginary gods, but then they found the real God. Or, he continues, to be more accurate, God found them. (Gal 4: 8, 9)

As humans, we think that God should announce His presence in ways that we consider to be spectacular and complex. God, however, never seems to act like we think He should. Much of the blame for our misunderstanding should be placed on a long line of religious authorities and teachers. Through the centuries they have obscured the clear presence of God with layers of regulations and repetitive rituals.

A thousand years before