Viewpoints

The Joy of Christmas Pageants

At my congregation in Lansing, we’re busy preparing for our annual Sunday school Christmas pageant. The children and youth of Our Savior’s Lutheran have performed in a Christmas pageant for as long as anyone can remember. The same could probably be said of your church.

Every year, the script has a slightly different twist but the story never changes: it proclaims the humble birth of Jesus Christ all those years ago in Bethlehem. It shines brightly with the hope of a new world this baby has come to bring.

Invariably, something goes wrong like the Baby Jesus fusses or a cow forgets his line (even though it’s just “Moo!”) or a little angel toddles around the sanctuary instead of staying in her place. Regardless of these mishaps, the congregation laughs and sings and bursts with enthusiasm. Everyone loves a Christmas pageant!

To the Editor:

Sometimes the work at the U.S. Capitol seems far removed from everyday Iowans. However, the Infrastructure Bill will impact everyday Iowans and Iowa farmers who rely on good roads to get their crops to market, good communication to make economic decisions, and will improve clean water distribution.

According to KCCI.com, the Infrastructure Bill will help Iowans in three basic areas:

To the Editor:

Allamakee County Republicans invite all Independents and Democrats in Iowa and the rest of the nation to join us in putting an end to the Build Back Better (BBB) agenda of President Joe Biden and the out-of-touch Democrats. The Build Back Better  is right out of the Karl Marx playbook, requiring destruction of the system that is already working, so it can be replaced by a “Marxist” program that means more big government, less individual freedom and diminishing the power of the Constitution and Bill of Rights.

Advent Waiting

A blessing and spiritual gift: Advent is the season of four weeks, the time within the church year, that invites us to embrace the spiritual discipline of waiting. Yes, my friends, there actually are spiritual gifts and blessings we receive through waiting and while in the midst of waiting.

Let’s explore a few of these spiritual gifts:

To the Editor:

In the November 24 issue of The Standard newspaper there were two letters to the editor espousing manmade climate change. I have some questions to be addressed to Pam Larson and Cate St. Clair, authors of those letters.

Where is the empirical evidence for anthropogenic climate change? What percentage of human activity is responsible for climate change? What would we have to do to maximize that activity to reduce the amount of carbon before industrialization? For a given proportion increase in the atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide, how much warming will we get globally for a given increase of CO2 warming?

Thankfulness

Last week we had the privilege of celebrating Thanksgiving.  For many people the Thanksgiving holiday is a time to get together and eat way too much while watching football. Quite often we forget that the original purpose of the day was to give thanks to God!

To the Editor:

It’s hard to know which spurious claim to address in any given Lowell Engle letter, so I threw a dart and went with climate change.

In his letter of November 10, Mr. Engle dismisses the threat posed by climate change, writing, “There is not a meteorologist that I have heard who agrees with that.” Without knowing how many meteorologists Mr. Engle has heard, I decided to check with the American Meteorological Society (AMS) to see if I could get an overview of their opinions.

Right off the bat, the AMS website states: “Climate Change is among the most pressing issues facing the world today.”

To the Editor:

With regards to the flag that flies in Rossville: Yes, the owner has a legal right to fly it, but is it morally right? How do you open up a conversation with someone who feels the need to express themselves with vulgarity, no matter the rationale?

A recent letter writer said that he does not know a meteorologist that believes in the threat of climate change.

Decades of scientific data, including satellite images, show that human-caused climate change is real and affecting our planet at an alarming rate, according to multiple agencies and organizations including the United Nations, the National Academy of Sciences, NASA, NOAA and the American Meteorological Society.

The Nobel Prize for Physics this fall was given to two pioneering climate scientists who laid the foundation for our understanding of the role of human activities and greenhouse gases in climate change, calling climate change “a major crisis”.

We just don’t know!

“When I applied my heart to know wisdom, and to see the business that is done on earth, how neither day nor night do one’s eyes see sleep, then I saw all the work of God, that man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun. However much man may toil in seeking, he will not find it out. Even though a wise man claims to know, he cannot find it out” (Ecclesiastes 8:16-17).

King Solomon was the wisest man on the earth (I Kings 10:23). Solomon’s wisdom was known throughout the world and all kinds of people would come from far and near just to learn and see his wisdom. In the verses above, Solomon, the wisest man on the earth, teaches us a very important truth - we cannot be certain of God’s purpose behind each event.

To the Editor:

The newly passed Infrastructure Bill means no new taxes for Iowans, yet will bring better roads and bridges, and new construction jobs for Iowans.

However, the three Republican Iowa U.S. Representatives voted “no”. They voted “no” even though this money will provide needed roads, bridges, water improvements, regional airport renovations, and broadband without raising taxes. Ashley Hinson, the representative for northeast Iowa, did not represent the needs of northeastern Iowans by voting “no”. Only Cindy Axne, the lone Iowa U.S. Democrat Representative voted “yes”.

Thankfully, the Democrats passed the Infrastructure Bill. For Iowa, that means $3.4 billion over five years, or approximately $700 million per year, that Iowans will not have to pay. Because infrastructure is generally paid for by state and local taxes, Iowans will receive the needed infrastructure improvements without the state of Iowa or local entities increasing taxes.