The Year of Our Lord, 2005

This was the year of the Muslim. In April the Muslim world erupted into the “Newsweek Riots,” killing at least 16 people, after Newsweek erroneously reported that guards at Guantanamo flushed a copy of the Koran down the toilet. In November radical Muslim “pirates” attacked a ship off the coast of Africa; Muslims rioted for three weeks in France, burning cars and causing general mayhem; and radical Muslims bombed a hotel in Amman, Jordan. In response to the hotel bombing, the Jordanian clan of terrorist leader, Abu Musad al-Zarkawi, disavowed their terrorist “son.” Closer to home, with a straight face, Nation of Islam leader, Louis Farrakhan, claimed the government blew holes in New Orleans levees to destroy poor black neighborhoods. This increasingly common pattern raises the question how long Islam honestly claim to be a religion of peace.

It was a rough year for President Bush, with the war in Iraq shaking our nation’s confidence in his leadership. The mainstream media made a celebrity of Cindy Sheehan, camping out at the Bush ranch near Crawford Texas. She demanded another meeting with the President to answer questions she had forgotten to ask in her first meeting with him. Two vacancies on the Supreme Court galvanized the opposition to whomever the President might nominate. While the opposition couldn’t touch Judge John Roberts, they forced the withdrawal of Harriet Miers. The jury is still out yet on Judge Samuel Alito, with the Gang of Fourteen weighing the possibility of a filibuster and a filibuster-buster.

Meanwhile, the war in Iraq whimpered on. Regular disruptions by the mostly-alien-terrorists raised American military deaths in Iraq past the 2000 mark about mid-year, but increasingly drew the ire of Iraqis who are trying to rebuild their nation after decades of unrest. The trial of Saddam Hussein began with fits and starts, and with the judge receiving a clear message on where he could go. Successful Iraqi elections in January (to elect an interim legislature), in October (to approve a constitution), and in December (to elect a permanent legislature) hasn’t convinced President Bush’s “loyal opposition.” A daily diet of news reports on the latest firecracker, grenade or roadside bomb, ignoring vast progress across most of Iraq, has moved a vocal bunch of United States Senators to wave the white flag of surrender.

Meteorologically, this was a record breaking year, with 26 named tropical storms. Four major hurricanes hit the U.S., with hurricane Katrina leveling the city of New Orleans. The $4 million trial of Michael Jackson ended with his acquittal in June. Lance Armstrong won his record seventh-straight Tour de France. The concept of Intelligent Design moved from the classroom to courtrooms and voting booths in Dover, Pennsylvania and the state of Kansas. The Supreme Court ruled that the concept of Eminent Domain gave local governments the authority to seize your property in order to develop greater tax revenues, and a Federal Court ruled it unconstitutional to say the pledge of allegiance in a public school. This was the year that Christmas made a comeback, finally; and C.S. Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia opened in theaters across America. This was the year we began plans for combating a looming bird flu pandemic.

In Wisconsin, Coach Barry Alvarez announced his retirement as head football coach at UW Madison after sixteen successful seasons, leading the Badgers to more bowl games than they had been to in all of their previous history. The Brewers finished the season at 82-82, and the Packers struggled to 3-12.

Ten Oostburg area churches combined efforts in constructing the Jeremiah House, donating $128,000 to CRWRC for Disaster Response. This was the year that FOCRC tried merging the Christian Education Fund into the General Fund. It was the year that Gwen completed nearly four years as Coordinator of Youth Ministry, and we hired Pastor Ben Johnson as our Youth Pastor.

During the course of the year we witnessed the baptism of five children, the professions of faith of seven young people, the marriage of three members, and the death of four members. This was the year of our Lord, 2005.