I Was Just Thinking...

…about James Bond. I am hesitant to admit I’m a bit of a James Bond nut—I own all of the movies on DVD, and I have watched them enough to be able to point out some of the more esoteric elements of each one. (For example, when drug baron Franz Sanchez shoots at Bond as he hangs to a semi barreling down a Mexican highway, you can clearly hear the bullets make a phrase from the James Bond theme. The more you know!) There are incredibly insensitive moments of machismo that does not lend itself well to a post-modern progressive as myself, but maybe there is something primal and resounding in the Y chromosome about a man who has a laser-firing watch, exploding pens and looks great in a tux.

I bring this up for two reasons. One, every Thanksgiving weekend, I watch a few Bond movies. I don’t know why, but I do, and I am very excited about it. (I may go see the new one again, it was quite good.) Two, and more importantly—at the end of each film, we are reassured, “James Bond Will Return.” For the first dozen or so, the next film was named.  (Fun and unnecessary fact! At the end of The Spy Who Loved Me, the next film was said to be For Your Eyes Only, but because of the success of Star Wars, the producers opted for Moonraker instead.  Moonraker is horrible, and they should have skipped it. Or, you know, not given James Bond a spacesuit and laser gun.)  After they ran out of Ian Fleming titles, the producers just truncated it to “James Bond Will Return.”

Friends, it makes me very happy to announce that in 2013, Midway Hills Will Return as well. Thank you for your pledges and continued support of our ministries and our action at MHCC. If you have not turned in a pledge card yet, please do so! In the coming weeks, a budget will be formed and sent out to the congregation for approval. And in just two weeks, we start a new church year with Advent as we prepare and anticipate the arrival of the Christ Child. 

I hope to see you this Sunday. Amber will be preaching, and I look very forward to hearing her in person.  I hope you do, too.  Have a filling and wonderful Thanksgiving, and I’ll see you sooner than later. 

Shalom y’all,  Arthur