The Kindly Kurmudgeon

What??? Wait a minute! You’ve misspelled curmudgeon you say? Well, yes, I did. Perhaps it was to achieve alliteration, perhaps to suggest a phonetic spelling.

After thinking I am now old enough to act curmudgeonly, that is, old enough to know better, but too old to matter if I didn’t, I actually decided to check the definition. The term goes back as far as Samuel Johnson in Merry Olde England. He used the term to describe someone who was intemperate when hoarding all his worldly wealth. Hmm... since I don’t have worldly wealth, that isn’t quite right.

How about it if I create an oxymoron - putting together two concepts that are at odds with each other? Think “giant shrimp,” “objective science,” “authentic reproduction” and one that I’m “almost certain” you’ve heard - “cold as hell.” How often do you get mail that, without using the term, informs you that you are “(conditionally) approved” for a new credit card? I’m sure you get the idea. If I were to continue, I could not “eschew obfuscation.”

“Kindly kurmudgeon” - a different sort of curmudgeon, who isn’t quite so cantankerous toward others. However, I make no promises to be perfect and to act properly in every context and situation.

I tried my hand at blogging once before, and ended up with lengthy posts. I’d like to keep this one fairly short, or at least try.

I enjoy cooking, classical music, word games, reading, classic movies - and I’m a Christian of the Reformed persuasion. That ought to qualify me as old enough to be curmudgeonly in my interests. You never heard of Reformed Christianity? It is the branch of Christianity that, believing that the Reformers recaptured the most Biblical sense of doctrine, generally follows the teachings of the Reformers, e.g., John Calvin. However, most Reformed also remember the teaching “ecclesia reformata et semper reformanda” reformed, and always reforming to reflect the best understanding and application of Biblical teaching.

I hope that I, too, will always be reformed and reforming according to Scripture. Perhaps in thinking through themes in this blog I can advance toward that goal. Perhaps, your interaction will also help keep me moving in that direction.