TIM’s TALES (9/30/25)

My Great Uncle Bob was a man of immense kindness and dignity. He married a childhood crush and adopted her son. He worked nights to attain his law degree and rose to become the chief patent attorney for the Chrysler corporation. He mastered sailing and captained his own sailboat on Lake Erie. He was a man of immense joy and exuded hope. And he had polio. He walked stiffly pulling his leg braces with each step and eventually required crutches.

My friend Jackie has polio. She was a preschool teacher and determined churchwoman who raised a loving family.

Polio is not an abstract subject for me or for people of my generation. My brothers and I received the live polio vaccine as did our entire neighborhood and school. In my lifetime vaccines eliminated polio from the United States.

Cheryl and I vaccinated our daughters and, when asked, I encourage parents to fully vaccinate their children. To not vaccinate our children is to endanger our children, the people of our communities and the health of our world.

History records various forms of vaccination from 200 BCE and, due to science and scientists, vaccines have never been safer.
I have been thinking a great deal about how religion and science interact. For our October Banned Book series, I have been reading Galileo Galilei’s seminal Dialogue which the inquisition banned in 1633. Galileo posited a heliocentric view of the universe which conflicted with church doctrine and sparked centuries of debate about the role of science in guiding life.

I will offer a sermon on Galileo’s work on October 19 wherein I will explore how the world of scientific exploration continuously opens new and astounding expressions of God’s wonder.

The four-part sermon series will begin October 5 with a best seller and often banned book, the Bible. Rev. Knuepfer will preach on the banning of our sacred text.

Fry Bread will be the book of October 12. This book explores Native American culture through the staple of fry bread. In this story I find countless parallels to the Biblical telling of the Israelite and Christian stories.

The series will conclude October 26 with the sensitive book 13 Reasons Why. Rev. Glowiak will preach the boundaries and banning of this tender and controversial book.

Each Sunday, you are invited to participate in a discussion of the book and its reasons for banning and how reading banned books impacts our intellectual freedom.