God, mark us with grace and blessing! Smile!
The whole country will see how you work,
all the godless nations see how you save.
God! Let people thank and enjoy you!
Let all people thank and enjoy you!
Let all far-flung people become happy
and shout their happiness
because You judge them fair and square.
You tend the far-flung peoples.
God! Let people thank and enjoy you!
Let all people thank and enjoy you!
Earth, display your exuberance!
You mark us with blessing, O God, our God.
You mark us with blessing, O God.
Earth's four corners -- honor Him!
Friday, February 27, 2015
Reply from COMMON ENGLISH BIBLE Web Staffer/s [3 p.m. Feb. 27, 2015]
Thank
you so much for your question and your support of the CEB. We will forward this
to the group that manages the hymnal and official UM worship resources. Maybe we
can get a supplement created.
Question asked to COMMON ENGLISH BIBLE webmasters (Feb. 27, 2015, 2:22 p.m.)
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Subject Line
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Psalms - responsive usage
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Question / Comment
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Will there be offered to United Methodist worshippers using
the 1989 UM Hymnal a revised Psalter based on the Common English re-translation?
Thanks for checking on this as a feasible new way to sing praises with Psalm
readings.
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Interpretation and exegesis of Psalm 66 -- Hans-Joachim Kraus
From PSALMS 60 - 150 (1993 Fortress Press Edition: translation by Hilton C. Oswald):
SETTING:
Verses 1 to 7 contain a choral hymn. The whole world is called on in the introit to sing to Yahweh and to see his great deeds (verses 3 following, then 5 and following). Which deeds are meant?
Verse 6 provides the answer: Yahweh turned the sea into dry land, and Israel was able to "march through the stream / sea / river." The walk through the river and the liberation of the people of God form the real main theme of the choir hymn (verses 1 - 7) and probably also of the grateful song of praise attached (verses 8 to 12).
But where does the hymnic representation of the miracle of the sea and of Israel's passage through it have its actual locale? In verse 6 we read: "There (s-h-e-m) we will rejoice!" Which place is meant?
Verse 6 describes the crossing: "They march through the stream on foot" (most likely the Jordan : compare Psalm 114:3, 5 and Joshua 3:17). Yet in the interest of realism the Jordan River is looked upon as the "great stream" and is crossed -- corresponding to the crossing of the sea (a festal situation that re-enacted the miracle of the sea and the crossing of the Jordan). In this way, verses 1 - 12 could originally have been associated with a festival of passage. . .and of entrance into the land. . . Exulting and singing, the community "remembers" the mighty deeds of God and draws "all the world" into the song of praise.
The situation is entirely different in verses 13 - 20. Here an individual who has been heard in his affliction presents vows of praise and offerings before Yahweh. The worshipper comes into the sanctuary and there tells of the wonders God has performed (verses 13 & 16). . . The two main assertions of Psalm 66 [ "Yahweh liberates his people" and "Yahweh helps an individual person" ] are coordinated with each other. The salvific deed an individual has experienced is coordinated with the act of salvation in Israel, but it is at the same time also subordinated. All the help and deliverance experienced by the individual have their origins and source in the salvation that has mightily made its appearance in Israel. Here the Lord has come forward who performs frightening deeds (verse 3), brings the soul of his people to life (verse 9), and through fire and water lets it attain to liberty (verse 12).[excerpted and adapted from pages 35 - 38]
SETTING:
Verses 1 to 7 contain a choral hymn. The whole world is called on in the introit to sing to Yahweh and to see his great deeds (verses 3 following, then 5 and following). Which deeds are meant?
Verse 6 provides the answer: Yahweh turned the sea into dry land, and Israel was able to "march through the stream / sea / river." The walk through the river and the liberation of the people of God form the real main theme of the choir hymn (verses 1 - 7) and probably also of the grateful song of praise attached (verses 8 to 12).
But where does the hymnic representation of the miracle of the sea and of Israel's passage through it have its actual locale? In verse 6 we read: "There (s-h-e-m) we will rejoice!" Which place is meant?
Verse 6 describes the crossing: "They march through the stream on foot" (most likely the Jordan : compare Psalm 114:3, 5 and Joshua 3:17). Yet in the interest of realism the Jordan River is looked upon as the "great stream" and is crossed -- corresponding to the crossing of the sea (a festal situation that re-enacted the miracle of the sea and the crossing of the Jordan). In this way, verses 1 - 12 could originally have been associated with a festival of passage. . .and of entrance into the land. . . Exulting and singing, the community "remembers" the mighty deeds of God and draws "all the world" into the song of praise.
The situation is entirely different in verses 13 - 20. Here an individual who has been heard in his affliction presents vows of praise and offerings before Yahweh. The worshipper comes into the sanctuary and there tells of the wonders God has performed (verses 13 & 16). . . The two main assertions of Psalm 66 [ "Yahweh liberates his people" and "Yahweh helps an individual person" ] are coordinated with each other. The salvific deed an individual has experienced is coordinated with the act of salvation in Israel, but it is at the same time also subordinated. All the help and deliverance experienced by the individual have their origins and source in the salvation that has mightily made its appearance in Israel. Here the Lord has come forward who performs frightening deeds (verse 3), brings the soul of his people to life (verse 9), and through fire and water lets it attain to liberty (verse 12).[excerpted and adapted from pages 35 - 38]
Psalm 66 -- Common English Bible (2011) -- a 21st Century translation for readers and worshippers
For the music leader / / / a song / / / a psalm / / / [ shifts in this lyric from opening twelve verses then verses 13 - 20]
Shout joyfully to God, all the earth!
Sing praises to the glory of God's name!
Make glorious his praise!
Say to God:
"How awesome are your works!
Because of your great strength,
your enemies cringe before you.
All the earth worships you,
sings praises to you,
sings praises to your name." -- SELAH.
Come and see God's deeds: his works for human beings are awesome;
(Verse 6) He turned the sea into dry land
so they could cross the river on foot.
Right there we rejoiced in him!
(Verse 7): God rules with power forever,
keeps a good eye on the nations.
So don't let the rebellious exalt themselves. -- SELAH.
All you nations, bless our God!
Let the sound of his praise be heard!
God preserved us among the living;
he didn't let our feet slip a bit.
But you, God, have tested us --
you've refined us like silver,
trapped us in a net,
laid burdens on our backs,
let other people run right over our heads --
we've been through fire and water.
But you've brought us out to freedom!
(Verse 13): So I'll enter your house with entirely burned offerings.
I'll keep the promises I made to you,
the ones my lips uttered,
the ones my mouth spoke when I was in deep trouble.
I will offer the best burned offerings to you
along with the smoke of sacrificed rams.
I will offer both bulls and goats. -- SELAH.
Come close and listen,
all you who honor God;
I will tell you what God has done for me:
my mouth cried out to thim
with praise on my tongue.
If I had cherished evil in my heart,
my Lord would not have listened.
But God definitely listened.
He heard the sound of my prayer.
(Verse 20): Bless God! He didn't reject my prayer;
he didn't withhold
his faithful love from me.
Shout joyfully to God, all the earth!
Sing praises to the glory of God's name!
Make glorious his praise!
Say to God:
"How awesome are your works!
Because of your great strength,
your enemies cringe before you.
All the earth worships you,
sings praises to you,
sings praises to your name." -- SELAH.
Come and see God's deeds: his works for human beings are awesome;
(Verse 6) He turned the sea into dry land
so they could cross the river on foot.
Right there we rejoiced in him!
(Verse 7): God rules with power forever,
keeps a good eye on the nations.
So don't let the rebellious exalt themselves. -- SELAH.
All you nations, bless our God!
Let the sound of his praise be heard!
God preserved us among the living;
he didn't let our feet slip a bit.
But you, God, have tested us --
you've refined us like silver,
trapped us in a net,
laid burdens on our backs,
let other people run right over our heads --
we've been through fire and water.
But you've brought us out to freedom!
(Verse 13): So I'll enter your house with entirely burned offerings.
I'll keep the promises I made to you,
the ones my lips uttered,
the ones my mouth spoke when I was in deep trouble.
I will offer the best burned offerings to you
along with the smoke of sacrificed rams.
I will offer both bulls and goats. -- SELAH.
Come close and listen,
all you who honor God;
I will tell you what God has done for me:
my mouth cried out to thim
with praise on my tongue.
If I had cherished evil in my heart,
my Lord would not have listened.
But God definitely listened.
He heard the sound of my prayer.
(Verse 20): Bless God! He didn't reject my prayer;
he didn't withhold
his faithful love from me.
Psalm 65 - Common English Bible -- 21st Century translation
For the music leader / / / A psalm of David / / / A song / / /
God of Zion,
to you even silence is praise.
Promises made to you are kept --
you listen to prayer --
and all living things come to you.
When wrongdoings become too much for me,
you forgive our sins.
How happy is the one you choose to bring close,
the one who lives in your courtyards!
We are filled full
by the goodness of your house,
by the holiness of your temple.
In righteousness you answer us,
by your awesome deeds,
God of our salvation --
you, who are the security of all the far edges of the earth,
even the distant seas;
you establish the mountains by your strength;
you are dressed in raw power;
you calm the roaring seas;
calm the roaring waves,
calm the noise of the nations.
Those who dwell on the far edges stand in awe of your acts.
You make the gateways of morning and evening sing for joy.
You visit the earth and make it abundant,
enriching it greatly by God's stream, full of water.
You provide people with grain
because that is what you've decided.
Drenching the earth's furrows,
leveling its ridges,
you soften it with rain showers;
you bless its growth.
You crown the year with your goodness;
your paths overflow with rich food.
Even the desert pastures drip with it,
and the hills are dressed in pure joy.
The meadowlands are covered with flocks,
the valleys decked out in grain --
they shout for joy;
they break out in song!
God of Zion,
to you even silence is praise.
Promises made to you are kept --
you listen to prayer --
and all living things come to you.
When wrongdoings become too much for me,
you forgive our sins.
How happy is the one you choose to bring close,
the one who lives in your courtyards!
We are filled full
by the goodness of your house,
by the holiness of your temple.
In righteousness you answer us,
by your awesome deeds,
God of our salvation --
you, who are the security of all the far edges of the earth,
even the distant seas;
you establish the mountains by your strength;
you are dressed in raw power;
you calm the roaring seas;
calm the roaring waves,
calm the noise of the nations.
Those who dwell on the far edges stand in awe of your acts.
You make the gateways of morning and evening sing for joy.
You visit the earth and make it abundant,
enriching it greatly by God's stream, full of water.
You provide people with grain
because that is what you've decided.
Drenching the earth's furrows,
leveling its ridges,
you soften it with rain showers;
you bless its growth.
You crown the year with your goodness;
your paths overflow with rich food.
Even the desert pastures drip with it,
and the hills are dressed in pure joy.
The meadowlands are covered with flocks,
the valleys decked out in grain --
they shout for joy;
they break out in song!
Psalm 64 -- Common English Bible (2011) - 21st Century translation for readers and worshippers
For the music leader / / / a psalm of David / / /
Listen to me when I complain, God!
Protect my life from the enemy's terror!
Hide me from the secret plots of wicked people;
hide me from the schemes of evildoers
who sharpen their tongues like swords.
They aim their arrow -- a cruel word -- from their hiding places
so as to shoot an innocent person.
They shoot without warning and without fear.
They encourage themselves with evil words.
They plan on laying traps in secret.
"Who will be able to see them?" they ask.
"Let someone try to expose our crimes!
We've devised a perfect plot!
It's deep within the human mind and heart."
But God will shoot them with an arrow!
Without warning, they will be wounded!
The LORD will make them trip over their own tongues;
everyone who sees them will just shake their heads.
Then all people will honor God,
will announce the act of God,
will understand it was God's work.
Let the righteous rejoice in the LORD;
let them take refuge in him;
let everyone whose heart is in the right place give praise!
Listen to me when I complain, God!
Protect my life from the enemy's terror!
Hide me from the secret plots of wicked people;
hide me from the schemes of evildoers
who sharpen their tongues like swords.
They aim their arrow -- a cruel word -- from their hiding places
so as to shoot an innocent person.
They shoot without warning and without fear.
They encourage themselves with evil words.
They plan on laying traps in secret.
"Who will be able to see them?" they ask.
"Let someone try to expose our crimes!
We've devised a perfect plot!
It's deep within the human mind and heart."
But God will shoot them with an arrow!
Without warning, they will be wounded!
The LORD will make them trip over their own tongues;
everyone who sees them will just shake their heads.
Then all people will honor God,
will announce the act of God,
will understand it was God's work.
Let the righteous rejoice in the LORD;
let them take refuge in him;
let everyone whose heart is in the right place give praise!
"Seeking Faith and Understanding" -- Google Blog -- Page Views (February - March 2015)
Count for Thursday 2/26/2015 and Wednesday, Feb. 25th:
Pageviews today
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: 239
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Pageviews yesterday:
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71
Count for March 3 (today) and March 2 (First Monday of new month):
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Remarks about his life and impact -- Services at Basilica (Funeral Mass) for his family, University Trustees, Sacred Cross religious TBA
In accord with Father Hesburgh’s wishes, a customary Holy Cross funeral Mass will be celebrated in the Basilica of the Sacred Heart at Notre Dame in coming days for his family, Holy Cross religious, University Trustees, administrators, and select advisory council members, faculty, staff and students. In lieu of flowers, contributions can be made to the Father Ted Hesburgh, C.S.C., Fund for Excellence in Catholic Education at Notre Dame or to the Congregation of Holy Cross.
A University tribute to Father Hesburgh will take place in Purcell Pavilion at the Joyce Center at a time to be announced.
Information, updates and a retrospective on Father Hesburgh’s life and career are available on the University’s website, www.nd.edu.
http://hesburgh.nd.edu/
Tuesday Wake & Visitation while body is moved to Basilica (Tuesday, March 3); Wednesday Funeral (tickets required) & Tribute (in campus basketball arena) 7:30 P.M.
A University tribute to Father Hesburgh will take place in Purcell Pavilion at the Joyce Center at a time to be announced.
Information, updates and a retrospective on Father Hesburgh’s life and career are available on the University’s website, www.nd.edu.
http://hesburgh.nd.edu/
Tuesday Wake & Visitation while body is moved to Basilica (Tuesday, March 3); Wednesday Funeral (tickets required) & Tribute (in campus basketball arena) 7:30 P.M.
Fr. Theodore Hesburgh, C.S.C. -- (1917 - 2015) Rest in Peace
from Newspaper commentary - obituary since late Thursday release to news media of his death at age 97 [ www.southbendtribune.com ] :
He is credited with transforming Notre Dame from a midwestern Catholic men’s institution known primarily for its football team into a co-educational university with an international academic reputation.
At one time, Hesburgh was rated by his peers as the most influential man in the nation in education and the third most influential in the country in religion. He was the only man listed twice in a survey of leaders in 14 prominent fields.
The Nation magazine once called him “the most influential cleric in America, and the only possible rival to Dr. Billy Graham as preacher to the nation.”
President of the university from 1952 to 1987, Hesburgh’s retirement ended the longest tenure among active chief executive officers of American institutions of higher education.
At the time of his death (Feb. 26, 2015), he was the oldest living Holy Cross priest in the United States.
Thursday, February 26, 2015
Thinking things over at night
Psalm 63 : 6 - 8 [comments by Hans-Joachim Kraus for PSALMS 60 - 150, Fortress Press, 1993: Translated by Hilton C. Oswald]
"Thinking things over at night is mentioned rather frequently in the Psalter (Psalms 4:4; 16:7; 119:55). We may assume that the psalmist also at night abides in the sanctuary's area of protection and asylum (verses 2, 7). From verse 7 we learn that the persecuted individual knows that he is sheltered by Yahweh. He is in the protective area that is symbolized by the wings of the cherubim. Verse 8 speaks of the constant trust in Yahweh. The psalmist "clung" to Yahweh. He held on to him and was held by Yahweh's hand (Ps. 73:23; Isaiah 42:6)" (page 20).
"Thinking things over at night is mentioned rather frequently in the Psalter (Psalms 4:4; 16:7; 119:55). We may assume that the psalmist also at night abides in the sanctuary's area of protection and asylum (verses 2, 7). From verse 7 we learn that the persecuted individual knows that he is sheltered by Yahweh. He is in the protective area that is symbolized by the wings of the cherubim. Verse 8 speaks of the constant trust in Yahweh. The psalmist "clung" to Yahweh. He held on to him and was held by Yahweh's hand (Ps. 73:23; Isaiah 42:6)" (page 20).
Romeo and Juliet (75-minute version) -- ND Shakespeare Festival March 5 - 7, 2015: special limited run
March 5–7, 2015 [Campus only]
Regis Philbin Studio Theatre
DeBartolo Performing Arts Center, University of Notre Dame
A special three-night-only run of our NDSF: ON TOUR production of ROMEO AND JULIET, March 5-7 at 7:00 p.m. in the Philbin Studio Theatre. The play has been abridged and will run 75 minutes with no intermission. There are only 99 seats available for each performance, so get your tickets before they sell out.DeBartolo Performing Arts Center, University of Notre Dame
Verona bursts to life with live acoustic music, stunning swordfights, Shakespeare’s brilliant and beautiful wordplay, and a tale all young people (and parents) must hear: when we love with too much passion, can any guidance prevent all from being lost?
Directed by NDSF's Ryan Producing Artistic Director Grant Mudge and featuring actors from Chicago Shakes, Montana Shakespeare in the Park, the Utah Shakespeare Festival, and many more, don't miss this chance to catch "R&J" before it embarks on its statewide tour.
TICKETS [select seats can be ordered online at Performing Arts dot-nd dot-edu]
$20 for adults, $15 for ND faculty/staff, and $10 for students.
Psalm 63 -- Common English Bible (2011) -- a fresh translation to touch the heart and mind
A psalm of David, when he was in the Judean desert / / /
God! My God! It's you --
I search for you!
My whole being thirsts for you!
My body desires you in a dry and tired land, no water anywhere.
Yes, I've seen you in the sanctuary; I've seen your power and glory.
My lips praise you because your faithful love is better than life itself!
So I will bless you as long as I'm alive;
I will lift up my hands in your name.
I'm fully satisfied --
as with a rich dinner.
My mouth speaks praise with joy on my lips --
whenever I ponder you on my bed,
whenever I meditate on you in the middle of the night --
because you've been a help to me
and I shout for joy in the protection of your wings.
My whole being clings to you;
your strong hand upholds me.
But what about those people who want to destroy me?
Let them go into the bowels of the earth!
Let their blood flow by the swort!
Let them be food for wild jackals!
But the king should rejoice in God;
everyone who swears by God should give praise
when the mouths of liars are shut for good.
God! My God! It's you --
I search for you!
My whole being thirsts for you!
My body desires you in a dry and tired land, no water anywhere.
Yes, I've seen you in the sanctuary; I've seen your power and glory.
My lips praise you because your faithful love is better than life itself!
So I will bless you as long as I'm alive;
I will lift up my hands in your name.
I'm fully satisfied --
as with a rich dinner.
My mouth speaks praise with joy on my lips --
whenever I ponder you on my bed,
whenever I meditate on you in the middle of the night --
because you've been a help to me
and I shout for joy in the protection of your wings.
My whole being clings to you;
your strong hand upholds me.
But what about those people who want to destroy me?
Let them go into the bowels of the earth!
Let their blood flow by the swort!
Let them be food for wild jackals!
But the king should rejoice in God;
everyone who swears by God should give praise
when the mouths of liars are shut for good.
Psalm 62 - Common English Bible - 21st Century translation
For the music leader / / / According to Jeduthun / / / a Psalm of David
Only in God do I / does my soul find rest;
my salvation comes from him.
Only God is my rock and my salvation -- my stronghold! --
I won't be shaken anymore.
How long will all of you attack others;
how long will you tear them down
as if they were leaning walls or broken-down fences?
The only desire of this people is to bring others down low;
they delight in deception.
With their mouths they bless, but inside they are cursing. -- SELAH.
Oh, I / my soul must find rest in God only,
because my hope comes from him!
Only God is my rock and my salvation -- my stronghold! --
I will not be shaken.
My deliverance and glory depend on God.
God is my strong rock.
My refuge is in God.
All you people: Trust in him at all times!
Pour out your hearts before him!
God is our refuge! -- SELAH.
Human beings are nothing but a breath.
Human beings are nothing but lies.
They don't even register on a scale; taken all together they are lighter than a breath!
Don't trust in violence; don't set false hopes in robbery.
When wealth bears fruit, don't set your heart on it.
God has spoken one thing - - make it two things - -
that I have myself have heard: that strength belongs to God,
and faithful loves comes from you, my Lord --
and that you will repay everyone according to their deeds.
Only in God do I / does my soul find rest;
my salvation comes from him.
Only God is my rock and my salvation -- my stronghold! --
I won't be shaken anymore.
How long will all of you attack others;
how long will you tear them down
as if they were leaning walls or broken-down fences?
The only desire of this people is to bring others down low;
they delight in deception.
With their mouths they bless, but inside they are cursing. -- SELAH.
Oh, I / my soul must find rest in God only,
because my hope comes from him!
Only God is my rock and my salvation -- my stronghold! --
I will not be shaken.
My deliverance and glory depend on God.
God is my strong rock.
My refuge is in God.
All you people: Trust in him at all times!
Pour out your hearts before him!
God is our refuge! -- SELAH.
Human beings are nothing but a breath.
Human beings are nothing but lies.
They don't even register on a scale; taken all together they are lighter than a breath!
Don't trust in violence; don't set false hopes in robbery.
When wealth bears fruit, don't set your heart on it.
God has spoken one thing - - make it two things - -
that I have myself have heard: that strength belongs to God,
and faithful loves comes from you, my Lord --
and that you will repay everyone according to their deeds.
Psalm 61 - Common English Bible (2011)
For the music leader, with stringed instruments / / / Of David / / /
God, listen to my cry;
pay attention to my prayer!
When my heart is weak, I cry out to you
from the very ends of the earth.
Lead me to the rock that is higher than I am
because you have been my refuge,
a tower of strength in the face of the enemy.
Please let me live in your tent forever!
Please let me take refuge
in the shelter of your wings! -- SELAH.
Because you, God, have heard my promises;
you've given me the same possession
as those who honor your name.
Add days to the king's life!
Let his years extend for many generations!
Let him be enthroned forever before God!
Make it so love and faithfulness watch over him!
Then I will sing praises to your name forever,
and I will do what I promised every single day.
God, listen to my cry;
pay attention to my prayer!
When my heart is weak, I cry out to you
from the very ends of the earth.
Lead me to the rock that is higher than I am
because you have been my refuge,
a tower of strength in the face of the enemy.
Please let me live in your tent forever!
Please let me take refuge
in the shelter of your wings! -- SELAH.
Because you, God, have heard my promises;
you've given me the same possession
as those who honor your name.
Add days to the king's life!
Let his years extend for many generations!
Let him be enthroned forever before God!
Make it so love and faithfulness watch over him!
Then I will sing praises to your name forever,
and I will do what I promised every single day.
Ride on, King Jesus -- College Chorus concert -- March 1, 7:30 p.m.
The Goshen College Men's Chorus concludes its "Spring Break" tour to New Orleans with an eclectic program of spirituals and classic pieces. The concert takes place 7:30 p.m. on Sunday, 3/1/2015. The theme comes from a set of three spirituals by New Orleans composer and conductor Moses Hogan. The program will also include choral pieces by G.F. Handel, Jacob Handl, Mikhail Ippolitov-Ivanov, and Ludovico da Viadana. A live stream of the entire concert can be viewed at http://goshen.edu/academics/music/livestream. Tickets are $5 - 7; free for Goshen College Students, faculty, and staff with I.D. More information at (574)-535-7361 and the website gcmusiccenter.org
Assyrian Christian Villages in NE Syria (members of Chaldean Christian sect still speak Aramaic, ancient language of Jesus and 1st Century) -- abducted by IS militant raids
A U.S.-led alliance launched air strikes against Islamic State on Thursday in an area of northeast Syria where the militants are now estimated to have abducted at least 220 Assyrian Christians this week, a group monitoring the war reported.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the air strikes targeted Islamic State fighters near the town of Tel Tamr, where the militants, also known as ISIS, had captured 10 Assyrian villages. . .
"What is happening is a threat to our existence," said Ablahd Kourieh, an Assyrian Christian who is deputy head of a Kurdish-led defense council in northeastern Syria, speaking to Reuters from the region via Skype. He estimated the number of abducted Assyrians was even higher, at between 350 and 400.
He called on the U.S.-led alliance to mount air strikes and to arm Kurdish-led forces which are battling Islamic State in the region. He estimated that 3,000 Assyrians had fled from the villages for the main cities of Qamishli and Hasaka.
"We call for bombardment of the terrorists' positions there, and the provision of quality weapons," said Kourieh. He said there had been no contact with Islamic State, which has yet to claim the abductions.
The United States and its allies have carried out hundreds of air strikes in both Iraq and Syria since launching a campaign to "degrade and destroy" Islamic State last year. Washington on Wednesday condemned the attacks against Christians, which it said included the burning of homes and churches and abduction of women, children and the elderly.
Online article by Oliver Holmes of REUTERS -- http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/02/26/us-mideast-crisis-syria-christians-idUSKBN0LU0KX20150226
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the air strikes targeted Islamic State fighters near the town of Tel Tamr, where the militants, also known as ISIS, had captured 10 Assyrian villages. . .
"What is happening is a threat to our existence," said Ablahd Kourieh, an Assyrian Christian who is deputy head of a Kurdish-led defense council in northeastern Syria, speaking to Reuters from the region via Skype. He estimated the number of abducted Assyrians was even higher, at between 350 and 400.
He called on the U.S.-led alliance to mount air strikes and to arm Kurdish-led forces which are battling Islamic State in the region. He estimated that 3,000 Assyrians had fled from the villages for the main cities of Qamishli and Hasaka.
"We call for bombardment of the terrorists' positions there, and the provision of quality weapons," said Kourieh. He said there had been no contact with Islamic State, which has yet to claim the abductions.
The United States and its allies have carried out hundreds of air strikes in both Iraq and Syria since launching a campaign to "degrade and destroy" Islamic State last year. Washington on Wednesday condemned the attacks against Christians, which it said included the burning of homes and churches and abduction of women, children and the elderly.
Online article by Oliver Holmes of REUTERS -- http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/02/26/us-mideast-crisis-syria-christians-idUSKBN0LU0KX20150226
On this date in American History (1993) -- bombing of the World Trade Center Parking Garage (NewYork City, NY)
ON THIS DAY
On
Feb. 26, 1993, a bomb exploded in the garage of New York's World Trade Center,
killing six people and injuring more than 1,000 others.
Happy Birthday to playwright - poet Christopher Marlowe!
from Writer's Almanac (Minnesota Public Radio - American Public Media):
Playwright Christopher Marlowe was baptized in Canterbury, England, on this date in 1564. The son of a shoemaker, he was so intellectually gifted that he was accepted into Cambridge on a scholarship meant for men entering the clergy. He chose to write plays rather than pursue holy orders, and he was frequently absent, possibly because he was spying for Queen Elizabeth I, an occupation he may have held until the end of his life. He may have been posing as a Catholic to gather intelligence on any plots against the Protestant queen; he was almost denied his diploma because it was rumored he had converted to Roman Catholicism, and he was only granted his degree after the queen's Privy Council intervened on his behalf.
Marlowe was one of the bad boys of the Renaissance. We don't know too much about him — even less than we know about Shakespeare, which isn't much — but his plays reveal an author who was cynical about nearly everything: religion, society, and politics. He was most likely gay and an atheist in a time when it was very dangerous to be either, let alone both. But he was also a brilliant poet and dramatist, breaking away from the traditional dramatic form of rhymed couplets to work in blank verse, and inspiring Shakespeare to do the same. One of the plays he wrote while at Cambridge was Tamburlaine the Great, and it was produced in London in 1587. It did well enough that he wrote a sequel; these were the only of Marlowe's plays produced before his untimely death at 29, when he was stabbed in a dispute over a tavern bill. Marlowe also wrote Doctor Faustus, The Jew of Malta, Edward II, and The Massacre at Paris.
Playwright Christopher Marlowe was baptized in Canterbury, England, on this date in 1564. The son of a shoemaker, he was so intellectually gifted that he was accepted into Cambridge on a scholarship meant for men entering the clergy. He chose to write plays rather than pursue holy orders, and he was frequently absent, possibly because he was spying for Queen Elizabeth I, an occupation he may have held until the end of his life. He may have been posing as a Catholic to gather intelligence on any plots against the Protestant queen; he was almost denied his diploma because it was rumored he had converted to Roman Catholicism, and he was only granted his degree after the queen's Privy Council intervened on his behalf.
Marlowe was one of the bad boys of the Renaissance. We don't know too much about him — even less than we know about Shakespeare, which isn't much — but his plays reveal an author who was cynical about nearly everything: religion, society, and politics. He was most likely gay and an atheist in a time when it was very dangerous to be either, let alone both. But he was also a brilliant poet and dramatist, breaking away from the traditional dramatic form of rhymed couplets to work in blank verse, and inspiring Shakespeare to do the same. One of the plays he wrote while at Cambridge was Tamburlaine the Great, and it was produced in London in 1587. It did well enough that he wrote a sequel; these were the only of Marlowe's plays produced before his untimely death at 29, when he was stabbed in a dispute over a tavern bill. Marlowe also wrote Doctor Faustus, The Jew of Malta, Edward II, and The Massacre at Paris.
March 3 - Saint Teresa of Avila - Lecture at Center for Spirituality in Saint May's College, Notre Dame, IN
Teresa the Theologian on the Human Person as Capax Dei Tuesday, March 3, 2015 at 7:30 p.m.
Vander Vennet Theatre, Student Center, Saint Mary's College
Speaker: Elizabeth Dreyer, professor of religious studies, Fairfield University
The 2015 series, which includes two talks and one panel discussion, is titled Saint Teresa of Avila: Carmelite Mystic and Doctor of the Church. It marks the 500th anniversary of Saint Teresa’s birth. The lectures are free and open to the public. The Saint Mary’s College Annual Endowed Lecture Series Fund sponsors the lectures.
https://www.saintmarys.edu/news-events/news-releases/cfs-spring-lecture-series-st-terese-2015
Vander Vennet Theatre, Student Center, Saint Mary's College
Speaker: Elizabeth Dreyer, professor of religious studies, Fairfield University
The 2015 series, which includes two talks and one panel discussion, is titled Saint Teresa of Avila: Carmelite Mystic and Doctor of the Church. It marks the 500th anniversary of Saint Teresa’s birth. The lectures are free and open to the public. The Saint Mary’s College Annual Endowed Lecture Series Fund sponsors the lectures.
https://www.saintmarys.edu/news-events/news-releases/cfs-spring-lecture-series-st-terese-2015
Wednesday, February 25, 2015
Feature Film (2014) -- on Alzheimer's Disease, early onset -- at nearby Cinema (Vickers Theatre, 6 N. Elm Street, Three Oaks, MI)
STILL ALICE
1 hour 39 minutes Rated PG-13
| 02/27/2015
Fri. 02/28 Sat. 03/01 Sunday |
9:00 p.m. 3:15 & 9:00 p.m. 3:15 p.m. |
Oscar Winner - Best
Actress (Julianne Moore)
A newly named "Doctor of the Church": St. Gregory of Narek (Armenian theologian and monastic teacher) - 10th Century
A 10th-century Armenian monk has been named among the doctors of the church.
Pope Francis approved the designation for St. Gregory of Narek during a meeting Saturday Feb. 21, 2015 with Cardinal Angelo Amato, prefect of the Congregation for Saints' Causes.
The Roman Catholic church confers this designation on saints whose writings are considered to offer key theological insights for the faith.
St. Gregory of Narek is considered one of the foremost figures of Armenian theology and thought, and many of his prayers are included in the Armenian Divine Liturgy.
He was born in 950 in the Armenian town of Andzevatsik, located in present-day Turkey. He entered a monastery at a young age and was ordained a priest at 25. He lived at the monastery at Narek his whole priestly life and taught at the monastic school.
His best-known writings include a commentary on the Song of Songs and his "Book of Lamentations," more commonly known as "Narek."
"Narek" is considered his masterpiece. It includes 95 prayers and has been translated into more than 30 languages.
St. Gregory died in Narek around 1005.
St. Gregory brings the current number of doctors of the church to 36. His feast day in the Armenian churches is Oct. 13; he is remembered in the Roman Catholic Church on Feb. 27.
Online article by Laura Ieraci, Catholic News Service for National Catholic Reporter =
http://ncronline.org/news/vatican/pope-francis-names-st-gregory-narek-doctor-church
Pope Francis approved the designation for St. Gregory of Narek during a meeting Saturday Feb. 21, 2015 with Cardinal Angelo Amato, prefect of the Congregation for Saints' Causes.
The Roman Catholic church confers this designation on saints whose writings are considered to offer key theological insights for the faith.
St. Gregory of Narek is considered one of the foremost figures of Armenian theology and thought, and many of his prayers are included in the Armenian Divine Liturgy.
He was born in 950 in the Armenian town of Andzevatsik, located in present-day Turkey. He entered a monastery at a young age and was ordained a priest at 25. He lived at the monastery at Narek his whole priestly life and taught at the monastic school.
His best-known writings include a commentary on the Song of Songs and his "Book of Lamentations," more commonly known as "Narek."
"Narek" is considered his masterpiece. It includes 95 prayers and has been translated into more than 30 languages.
St. Gregory died in Narek around 1005.
St. Gregory brings the current number of doctors of the church to 36. His feast day in the Armenian churches is Oct. 13; he is remembered in the Roman Catholic Church on Feb. 27.
Online article by Laura Ieraci, Catholic News Service for National Catholic Reporter =
http://ncronline.org/news/vatican/pope-francis-names-st-gregory-narek-doctor-church
Maple Syrup -- late winter - spring weeks
Shepherd, Michigan (Central Michigan, USA):
The weeklong Festival is held the last full week of April each year {April 23 - 26, 2015} . During Syrup Festival week there are numerous garage & yard sales.
Thursday night is our annual Carnival "Buddy Nite". We start the Carnival with buy one ride band and get a second ride band for half price. The Carnival rides open at 5:00 p.m.
We look forward to celebrating the our 57th Annual Maple Syrup Festival with you!
The Village of Shepherd is located West of US 127 between Alma/St. Louis to the South and Mt. Pleasant to the North
All work on the syrup, candy, and all other areas of the festival is voluntary and almost everyone participates! Children work with adults carrying sap buckets during the sap run in late February or early March. Many retirees are our most faithful sausage makers. Would you believe that we make two-and-one half tons of sausage on the Saturday before the festival? Other pre-festival activities include a queen’s pageant, silverware wrapping bee, and candy making. Then we all work together again during the festival weekend.
The weeklong Festival is held the last full week of April each year {April 23 - 26, 2015} . During Syrup Festival week there are numerous garage & yard sales.
Thursday night is our annual Carnival "Buddy Nite". We start the Carnival with buy one ride band and get a second ride band for half price. The Carnival rides open at 5:00 p.m.
We look forward to celebrating the our 57th Annual Maple Syrup Festival with you!
The Village of Shepherd is located West of US 127 between Alma/St. Louis to the South and Mt. Pleasant to the North
All work on the syrup, candy, and all other areas of the festival is voluntary and almost everyone participates! Children work with adults carrying sap buckets during the sap run in late February or early March. Many retirees are our most faithful sausage makers. Would you believe that we make two-and-one half tons of sausage on the Saturday before the festival? Other pre-festival activities include a queen’s pageant, silverware wrapping bee, and candy making. Then we all work together again during the festival weekend.
As usual there will be the famous and delicious Pancake, Maple Syrup, and Sausage Meals served at the Shepherd High School Friday afternoon through Sunday afternoon.
All of the planned activities (including craft shows, entertainment, children’s activities, museums, tractor pulls, classic car and tractor displays, parades, chainsaw carving, and amusement, train, and pony rides) add up to a most enjoyable and memorable weekend for people of all ages.
Psalm 60 - Common English Bible (2011) a translation for 21st Century readers / worshippers
For the music leader / / / a testimony / / / a miktam of David / / /
God, you have rejected us, shattered us. You've been so angry.
Now, restore us!
You've made the ground quake, splitting it open.
Now repair its cracks because it's shaking apart!
You've made your people suffer hardship;
you've given us wine and we stagger.
Give a flag to those who honor you,
so they can rally around it, safe from attack. - - SELAH.
Save us by your power and answer us so that the people you love might be rescued.
God has spoken in his sanctuary:
"I will celebrate as I divide up Shechem and portion out the Succoth Valley.
Gilead is mine;
Manasseh is mine;
Ephraim is my helmet;
Judah is my scepter.
But Moab is my washbowl;
I'll throw my shoe at Edom.
I shout in triumph over Philistia!
I wish someone would bring me to a fortified city!
I wish someone would lead me to Edom!"
But you have rejected us, God, haven't you?
God, you no longer accompany our armies.
Give us help against the enemy;
human help is worthless.
With God we will triumph;
he's the one who will trample our adversaries.
God, you have rejected us, shattered us. You've been so angry.
Now, restore us!
You've made the ground quake, splitting it open.
Now repair its cracks because it's shaking apart!
You've made your people suffer hardship;
you've given us wine and we stagger.
Give a flag to those who honor you,
so they can rally around it, safe from attack. - - SELAH.
Save us by your power and answer us so that the people you love might be rescued.
God has spoken in his sanctuary:
"I will celebrate as I divide up Shechem and portion out the Succoth Valley.
Gilead is mine;
Manasseh is mine;
Ephraim is my helmet;
Judah is my scepter.
But Moab is my washbowl;
I'll throw my shoe at Edom.
I shout in triumph over Philistia!
I wish someone would bring me to a fortified city!
I wish someone would lead me to Edom!"
But you have rejected us, God, haven't you?
God, you no longer accompany our armies.
Give us help against the enemy;
human help is worthless.
With God we will triumph;
he's the one who will trample our adversaries.
Change Breaks the Chains -- event at St. Joseph, Michigan (Sunday March 1 at Church of God campus)
Sunday, March 1, 2015 | 6:30 p.m.
First Church of God - 2627 Niles Ave, St. Joseph, MI
First Church of God - 2627 Niles Ave, St. Joseph, MI
- Hear Andy Soper introduces you to the Manasseh Project in Grand Rapids, the first shelter for underage victims of human trafficking;
- Survivors will be on hand to tell their stories and give you the real face of human trafficking;
- State Senator John Proos gives a brief overview of human-trafficking laws that took effect January 14, 2015;
- Get inspired with uplifting musical guests, Songs Against Slavery, and other local artists;
- Practical Warning Signs Handouts available;
- Donations go to ongoing training of law enforcement.
Tuesday, February 24, 2015
Lenten Observance
from Benedict's Rule: a Translation and Commentary by Terrence G. Kardong (1996):
RB 48 (excerpt):
"During the days of Lent, in the morning they should be free for their readings until the end of the third hour, and they are to work until the end of the tenth hour at what has been assigned them. In these Lenten days, they should each receive a separate fascicle of the Bible, which they are to read straight through to the end. These books are to be given out at the beginning of Lent" (pages 382-3).
RB 49 (The Observance of Lent):
"At all times the lifestyle of a monk ought to have a Lenten quality. However, because few have that kind of strength, we urge them to guard their lives with all purity during these Lenten days. All should work together at effacing during this holy season the negligences of other times. The proper way to do this is to restrain ourselves from all evil and to devote ourselves to tearful prayer, reading, compunction of heart and asceticism (Leo I sermon on Lent). Therefore in these days, we should increase the regular measure of our service in the form of special prayers and abstinence from food and drink. In that way each one, of his own free will with the joy of the Holy Spirit (I Thess. 1:6), can offer God something beyond what is imposed on him. Let him deny his body some food, some drink, some sleep, some chatter, some joking, and let him await Holy Easter with the joy of spiritual desire" (page 402 and notes thereafter).
RB 48 (excerpt):
"During the days of Lent, in the morning they should be free for their readings until the end of the third hour, and they are to work until the end of the tenth hour at what has been assigned them. In these Lenten days, they should each receive a separate fascicle of the Bible, which they are to read straight through to the end. These books are to be given out at the beginning of Lent" (pages 382-3).
RB 49 (The Observance of Lent):
"At all times the lifestyle of a monk ought to have a Lenten quality. However, because few have that kind of strength, we urge them to guard their lives with all purity during these Lenten days. All should work together at effacing during this holy season the negligences of other times. The proper way to do this is to restrain ourselves from all evil and to devote ourselves to tearful prayer, reading, compunction of heart and asceticism (Leo I sermon on Lent). Therefore in these days, we should increase the regular measure of our service in the form of special prayers and abstinence from food and drink. In that way each one, of his own free will with the joy of the Holy Spirit (I Thess. 1:6), can offer God something beyond what is imposed on him. Let him deny his body some food, some drink, some sleep, some chatter, some joking, and let him await Holy Easter with the joy of spiritual desire" (page 402 and notes thereafter).
Sunday, February 22, 2015
On art, architecture, and liturgical space (Lecture at DeBartolo Hall Auditorium, Notre Dame) - Monday Feb. 23, 2015, 5 - 6:30 p.m.
Lecture: "Architecture, Art, and Liturgical Space in Postwar America"
Gretchen Buggeln holds the Phyllis and Richard Duesenberg Chair in Christianity and the Arts at Valparaiso University, where she is associate professor of art history and humanities. Professor Buggeln writes and teaches about the intersection of Christian belief and the material world. Her primary research interest is American sacred spaces, and she is currently at work on a book about the ubiquitous, modern-style, suburban church of the postwar era.
This event is cosponsored by the Notre Dame Center for Liturgy and the School of Architecture.
This event, which will take place in 140 DeBartolo Hall, is free and open to the public.
This event is cosponsored by the Notre Dame Center for Liturgy and the School of Architecture.
This event, which will take place in 140 DeBartolo Hall, is free and open to the public.
Purpose and Thrust (Psalm 59) -- essay by Hans-Joachim Kraus (his commentary PSALMS 1 - 59, Fortress Press, 1993)
Exegetical approach to this "prayer song": From the depths of slander and persecution a falsely accused individual calls to Yahweh or help. The enemies want to kill the psalmist and separate him from Yahweh. The appeal in verses 4b - 5 prays that God may come forward as the one who is alive and "arisen."
Dark and disgusting is the picture of the greedy enemies as the abysmal powers. But in the depth of the inescapable persecution there awakes (so to say, as an answer to and reflection of the reveille called out in verses 4b - 5) trust in Yahweh's power, which rules over the whole earth and mocks at all enemies. The judge of the people is the Deus praesens -- the refuge and protective fortress for him who is surrounded by hostile forces.
In the Old Testament (Hebrew Bible) the salvation of God is effective in history; in symbolic manifestations it makes its entrance in the midst o this world and carries out the justifying verdict. It is under this presupposition that verses 11 - 13 are to be understood. It is not the cruel demand for revenge that dictates the petitions and demands, but the plea that the rule of God in Israel which is breaking out in judgment may not be overlooked or forgotten (verse 11a) but may become known in all the world (verse 13).
[ PAGE 543 middle}
Dark and disgusting is the picture of the greedy enemies as the abysmal powers. But in the depth of the inescapable persecution there awakes (so to say, as an answer to and reflection of the reveille called out in verses 4b - 5) trust in Yahweh's power, which rules over the whole earth and mocks at all enemies. The judge of the people is the Deus praesens -- the refuge and protective fortress for him who is surrounded by hostile forces.
In the Old Testament (Hebrew Bible) the salvation of God is effective in history; in symbolic manifestations it makes its entrance in the midst o this world and carries out the justifying verdict. It is under this presupposition that verses 11 - 13 are to be understood. It is not the cruel demand for revenge that dictates the petitions and demands, but the plea that the rule of God in Israel which is breaking out in judgment may not be overlooked or forgotten (verse 11a) but may become known in all the world (verse 13).
[ PAGE 543 middle}
Psalm 59 - COMMON ENGLISH BIBLE - 21st Century translation (2011)
For the music leader / / / a miktam of David, when Saul sent men to watch the house in order to kill him / / /
Oh, my God, deliver me from my enemies;
put me out of reach from those who rise up against me.
Deliver me from evildoers;
save me from the bloodthirsty.
Look at how they lie in ambush for my life!
Powerful people are attacking me, LORD --
but not because of any error of sin of mine.
They run and take their stand --
but now because of any fault of mine.
Get up when I cry out to you!
Look at what's happening!
You are the LORD God of heavenly forces, the God of Israel!
Wake up and punish all the nations!
Grant no mercy to any wicked traitor! -- SELAH.
They come back every evening,
growling like dogs,
prowling around the city.
See what they belch out with their mouths;
swords are between their lips!
Who can listen to them?
But you, LORD, laugh at them.
You mock all the nations.
I keep looking for you, my strength,
because God is my stronghold.
My loving God will come to meet me.
God will allow me to look down on my enemies.
Don't kill them,
or my people might forget; instead, by your power
shake them up and bring them down,
you who are our shield and my Lord.
For the sin of their mouths,
the words that they speak,
let them be captured in their pride.
For the curses and lies and they repeat,
finish them off in anger;
finish them off until they are gone!
Then let it be known to the ends of the earth.
that God rules over Jacob. -- SELAH.
They come back every evening, growling like dogs,
prowling around the city.
They roam about for food,
and if they don't get their fill,
they stay all night.
But me? I will sing of your strength!
In the morning I will shout out loud about your faithful love
because you have been my stronghold,
my shelter when I was distraught.
I will sing praises to you, my strength,
because God is my stronghold, my loving God.
Oh, my God, deliver me from my enemies;
put me out of reach from those who rise up against me.
Deliver me from evildoers;
save me from the bloodthirsty.
Look at how they lie in ambush for my life!
Powerful people are attacking me, LORD --
but not because of any error of sin of mine.
They run and take their stand --
but now because of any fault of mine.
Get up when I cry out to you!
Look at what's happening!
You are the LORD God of heavenly forces, the God of Israel!
Wake up and punish all the nations!
Grant no mercy to any wicked traitor! -- SELAH.
They come back every evening,
growling like dogs,
prowling around the city.
See what they belch out with their mouths;
swords are between their lips!
Who can listen to them?
But you, LORD, laugh at them.
You mock all the nations.
I keep looking for you, my strength,
because God is my stronghold.
My loving God will come to meet me.
God will allow me to look down on my enemies.
Don't kill them,
or my people might forget; instead, by your power
shake them up and bring them down,
you who are our shield and my Lord.
For the sin of their mouths,
the words that they speak,
let them be captured in their pride.
For the curses and lies and they repeat,
finish them off in anger;
finish them off until they are gone!
Then let it be known to the ends of the earth.
that God rules over Jacob. -- SELAH.
They come back every evening, growling like dogs,
prowling around the city.
They roam about for food,
and if they don't get their fill,
they stay all night.
But me? I will sing of your strength!
In the morning I will shout out loud about your faithful love
because you have been my stronghold,
my shelter when I was distraught.
I will sing praises to you, my strength,
because God is my stronghold, my loving God.
Psalm 58 -- Common English Bible (2011)
For the music leader // a Psalm of David, a miktam //
Do you really speak what is right, you gods (Elohim)?
Do you really judge humans fairly?
No: in your hearts you plan injustice; your hands do violence on the earth.
The wicked backslide from the womb;
liars go astray from birth. Their venom is like a snake's venom -- like a deaf cobra's --
one that shuts its ears so it can't hear the snake charmer's voice
or the spells of a skillful enchanter.
God, break their teeth out of their mouths!
Tear out the lions' jawbones, LORD!
Let them dissolve like water flowing away.
When they bend the bow,
let their arrows be like headless shafts.
Like the snail that dissolves into slime,
like a woman's stillborn child, let them never see the sun.
Before your pots feel the thorns,
whether green or burned up,
God will seep them away!
But the righteous will rejoice when they see vengeance done,
when they wash their feet
in the blood of the wicked.
Then it will be said:
"Yes, there is a reward for the righteous! Yes, there is a God who judges people on the earth."
Do you really speak what is right, you gods (Elohim)?
Do you really judge humans fairly?
No: in your hearts you plan injustice; your hands do violence on the earth.
The wicked backslide from the womb;
liars go astray from birth. Their venom is like a snake's venom -- like a deaf cobra's --
one that shuts its ears so it can't hear the snake charmer's voice
or the spells of a skillful enchanter.
God, break their teeth out of their mouths!
Tear out the lions' jawbones, LORD!
Let them dissolve like water flowing away.
When they bend the bow,
let their arrows be like headless shafts.
Like the snail that dissolves into slime,
like a woman's stillborn child, let them never see the sun.
Before your pots feel the thorns,
whether green or burned up,
God will seep them away!
But the righteous will rejoice when they see vengeance done,
when they wash their feet
in the blood of the wicked.
Then it will be said:
"Yes, there is a reward for the righteous! Yes, there is a God who judges people on the earth."
Pull-out from Afghanistan by end of 2016 -- Defense Secretary to re-consider (U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT)
No decisions have been made, but President Barack Obama will discuss a range of options for slowing the U.S. military exit when Afghan President Ashraf Ghani visits the White House next month, Ash Carter said at a joint news conference with Ghani at the Presidential Palace.
The "common denominator" in the new thinking about the U.S. military mission is a belief in Washington that the formation of a unity government in Kabul last year has opened new possibilities for progress not only on the political front but also in the security arena, Carter said.
http://www.usnews.com/news/politics/articles/2015/02/20/new-pentagon-chief-ash-carter-visits-afghanistan
The "common denominator" in the new thinking about the U.S. military mission is a belief in Washington that the formation of a unity government in Kabul last year has opened new possibilities for progress not only on the political front but also in the security arena, Carter said.
http://www.usnews.com/news/politics/articles/2015/02/20/new-pentagon-chief-ash-carter-visits-afghanistan
1980 Soviet occupation of Afghanistan (State Department Historical e-summary)
Finally, on Christmas Eve 1979, the invasion began. Soviet troops killed Hafizullah Amin and installed Babrak Karmal as the Soviet’s puppet head of government.
Although the Carter administration had closely watched this buildup from the outset, its reaction following the invasion revealed that, until the end, it clung to the hope that the Soviets would not invade, based on the unjustified assumption that Moscow would conclude that the costs of invasion were too high. In response, Carter wrote a sharply-worded letter to Brezhnev denouncing Soviet aggression, and during his State of the Union address he announced his own doctrine vowing to protect Middle Eastern oil supplies from encroaching Soviet power. The administration also enacted economic sanctions and trade embargoes against the Soviet Union, called for a boycott of the 1980 Moscow Olympics, and stepped up its aid to the Afghan insurgents.
https://history.state.gov/milestones/1977-1980/soviet-invasion-afghanistan
Although the Carter administration had closely watched this buildup from the outset, its reaction following the invasion revealed that, until the end, it clung to the hope that the Soviets would not invade, based on the unjustified assumption that Moscow would conclude that the costs of invasion were too high. In response, Carter wrote a sharply-worded letter to Brezhnev denouncing Soviet aggression, and during his State of the Union address he announced his own doctrine vowing to protect Middle Eastern oil supplies from encroaching Soviet power. The administration also enacted economic sanctions and trade embargoes against the Soviet Union, called for a boycott of the 1980 Moscow Olympics, and stepped up its aid to the Afghan insurgents.
https://history.state.gov/milestones/1977-1980/soviet-invasion-afghanistan
Saturday, February 21, 2015
Sermon on Fasting (2010 translation from series of Homilies on Creation and Fall)
Author / homilist : Severian of Gabala [ translated by Robert C. Hill for IVP Ancient Christian Texts series: Commentaries on Genesis 1 - 3 (Intervarsity Press, Academic, Downers Grove, IL):
Fourth Homily on The Fourth Day of Creation [ excerpt of page 60 ] --
. . .Let us gird ourselves, then for good works, for righteousness, so that fasting may take wings: just as a bird, unless it has the cooperation of its wings, cannot fly, so too fasting has two wings, prayer and almsgiving, without which it cannot rise on high.
Note Cornelius possessing these wings along with fasting; hence he also heard a voice coming from heaven: "Cornelius, your prayers and your alms have ascended to God" (Acts 10:4). Imagine fasting to be a living being, dearly beloved, and likewise in wings to be almsgiving and prayer, without which it cannot rise on high. Such a thing even if it does not speak, bellows what is righteous with a loud voice, virtue being a great supporter of righteousness -- hence the saying "Hearken, Lord, to my righteousness" (Psalm 16:1). While first, then, the highest good consists of prayer, almsgiving, and righteous behavior, what is secure, unshakeable and the root of everything is the knowledge of God, worship of the Only-Begotten, and the confession of the Holy Spirit -- one faith, undivided, secure, total and integral. . .
I beg you, dearly beloved, to maintain your fasting undiluted, uncontaminated, free of injustice, free of oppression. Consider the futility of those who devote themselves to abstinence from food and pay no heed to abstinence from sins. I do not drink wine, they say; I do not take oil; I do not eat meat.
Well and good if done for God's sake, well done -- but let us examine the facts. Bread, water, wine, meal, oil: all these are God's creations; oppression, injustice, and impiety are the devil's works. You abstain from the works of God for the sake of fasting: do you not abstain from the works of the devil for the sake of fasting? Bread and wine and oil and all the rest are works of God, totally good, even very good; Paul says, "Everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected, provided it is received with thanksgiving, or it is sanctified by God's word and by prayer" (I Timothy 4:4-5).
Fourth Homily on The Fourth Day of Creation [ excerpt of page 60 ] --
. . .Let us gird ourselves, then for good works, for righteousness, so that fasting may take wings: just as a bird, unless it has the cooperation of its wings, cannot fly, so too fasting has two wings, prayer and almsgiving, without which it cannot rise on high.
Note Cornelius possessing these wings along with fasting; hence he also heard a voice coming from heaven: "Cornelius, your prayers and your alms have ascended to God" (Acts 10:4). Imagine fasting to be a living being, dearly beloved, and likewise in wings to be almsgiving and prayer, without which it cannot rise on high. Such a thing even if it does not speak, bellows what is righteous with a loud voice, virtue being a great supporter of righteousness -- hence the saying "Hearken, Lord, to my righteousness" (Psalm 16:1). While first, then, the highest good consists of prayer, almsgiving, and righteous behavior, what is secure, unshakeable and the root of everything is the knowledge of God, worship of the Only-Begotten, and the confession of the Holy Spirit -- one faith, undivided, secure, total and integral. . .
I beg you, dearly beloved, to maintain your fasting undiluted, uncontaminated, free of injustice, free of oppression. Consider the futility of those who devote themselves to abstinence from food and pay no heed to abstinence from sins. I do not drink wine, they say; I do not take oil; I do not eat meat.
Well and good if done for God's sake, well done -- but let us examine the facts. Bread, water, wine, meal, oil: all these are God's creations; oppression, injustice, and impiety are the devil's works. You abstain from the works of God for the sake of fasting: do you not abstain from the works of the devil for the sake of fasting? Bread and wine and oil and all the rest are works of God, totally good, even very good; Paul says, "Everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected, provided it is received with thanksgiving, or it is sanctified by God's word and by prayer" (I Timothy 4:4-5).
John Calvin (Biblical commentator - exegete) on Psalm 57:3 (Translated by James Anderson for Eerdmans published volume, 1949)
"In the words before us (verse 3), he (David - the Psalmist) glories in the divine help with as much assurance as if he had already seen the hand of God interposed in his behalf. When it is said, he shall send from heaven, some consider the expression as elliptical, meaning that he would send his angels; but it seems rather to be an indefinite form of speech signifying that the deliverance which David expected was one not of a common, but a signal and miraculous description. The expression denotes the greatness of the interposition which he looked for, and heaven is opposed to earthly or natural means of deliverance."
FROM -- Hans-Joachim Kraus PSALMS 1 - 59 commentary (1993 Fortress Press Edition).
FROM -- Hans-Joachim Kraus PSALMS 1 - 59 commentary (1993 Fortress Press Edition).
Psalm 57: Common English Bible (2011)
for the music leader / / / a miktam of David, when he fled from Saul into the cave / / /
Have mercy on me, God;
have mercy on me because I have taken refuge in you.
I take refuge in the shadow of your wings until destruction passes by.
I call out to God Most High -- to God, who comes through for me.
(verse 3) He sends orders from heaven and saves me,
rebukes the one who tramples me. -- SELAH.
God sends his loyal love and faithfulness.
My life is in the middle of a pack of lions.
I lie down among those who devour humans.
Their teeth are spears and arrows;
their tongues are sharpened swords.
Exalt yourself, God.
higher than heavens!
Let your glory be over all the earth!
They laid a net for my feet to bring me down;
they dug a pit for me, but they fell into it instead! -- SELAH.
My heart is unwavering, God --
my heart is unwavering.
I will sing and make music.
Wake up, my glory!
Wake up, harp and lyre!
I will wake the dawn itself!
I will give thanks to you, my Lord, among the peoples;
I will make music to you among the nations
because your faithful love is as high as heaven;
your faithfulness reaches the clouds.
Exalt yourself, God,
higher than heaven!
Let your glory be over all the earth!
Have mercy on me, God;
have mercy on me because I have taken refuge in you.
I take refuge in the shadow of your wings until destruction passes by.
I call out to God Most High -- to God, who comes through for me.
(verse 3) He sends orders from heaven and saves me,
rebukes the one who tramples me. -- SELAH.
God sends his loyal love and faithfulness.
My life is in the middle of a pack of lions.
I lie down among those who devour humans.
Their teeth are spears and arrows;
their tongues are sharpened swords.
Exalt yourself, God.
higher than heavens!
Let your glory be over all the earth!
They laid a net for my feet to bring me down;
they dug a pit for me, but they fell into it instead! -- SELAH.
My heart is unwavering, God --
my heart is unwavering.
I will sing and make music.
Wake up, my glory!
Wake up, harp and lyre!
I will wake the dawn itself!
I will give thanks to you, my Lord, among the peoples;
I will make music to you among the nations
because your faithful love is as high as heaven;
your faithfulness reaches the clouds.
Exalt yourself, God,
higher than heaven!
Let your glory be over all the earth!
The singer's tears are gathered by the LORD in a bottle (Psalm 56:8)
Source : Hans-Joachim Kraus (translated by Hilton C. Oswald for PSALMS 1-59 Commentary):
"Words of assurance are spoken by the psalmist in verses 8 - 11. The petitioner knows that Yahweh has not only seen his tears but that he has carefully taken note of all his misery. Like precious water, the tears are carefully preserved by him in a bottle (for this picture in another, compare both Job 14:17 and Hosea 13:12)."
"Words of assurance are spoken by the psalmist in verses 8 - 11. The petitioner knows that Yahweh has not only seen his tears but that he has carefully taken note of all his misery. Like precious water, the tears are carefully preserved by him in a bottle (for this picture in another, compare both Job 14:17 and Hosea 13:12)."
Psalm 56 - Common English Bible 21st Century translation (2011)
for the music leader / / / a miktam of David when the Philistines seized him in Gath / / /
God, have mercy on me because I'm being trampled.
All day long the enemy oppresses me.
My attackers trample me all day long
because I have so many enemies.
Exalted One, whenever I'm afraid,
I put my trust in you --
in God, whose word I praise.
I trust in God; I won't be afraid.
What can mere flesh do to me?
All day long they frustrate my pursuits;
all their thoughts are evil against me.
They get together and set an ambush --
they are watching my steps,
hoping for my death.
Don't rescue them for any reason!
In wrath bring down the people, God!
You yourself have kept track of my misery.
Put my tears into your bottle -- aren't they on your scroll already?
Then my enemies will retreat when I cry out.
I know this because God is mine.
God: whose word I praise.
The LORD: whose word I praise.
I trust in God; I won't be afraid.
What can anyone do to me?
I will fulfill my promises to you, God.
I will present thanksgiving offerings to you
because you have saved my life from death,
saved my feet from stumbling
so that I can walk before God in the light of life.
God, have mercy on me because I'm being trampled.
All day long the enemy oppresses me.
My attackers trample me all day long
because I have so many enemies.
Exalted One, whenever I'm afraid,
I put my trust in you --
in God, whose word I praise.
I trust in God; I won't be afraid.
What can mere flesh do to me?
All day long they frustrate my pursuits;
all their thoughts are evil against me.
They get together and set an ambush --
they are watching my steps,
hoping for my death.
Don't rescue them for any reason!
In wrath bring down the people, God!
You yourself have kept track of my misery.
Put my tears into your bottle -- aren't they on your scroll already?
Then my enemies will retreat when I cry out.
I know this because God is mine.
God: whose word I praise.
The LORD: whose word I praise.
I trust in God; I won't be afraid.
What can anyone do to me?
I will fulfill my promises to you, God.
I will present thanksgiving offerings to you
because you have saved my life from death,
saved my feet from stumbling
so that I can walk before God in the light of life.
Friday, February 20, 2015
Was Jesus tempted just three times "in the wilderness"? In which order? Faced other temptations?
Find help on this Scriptural divergence and plurality of answers --
What is the proper order of the temptations? Matthew gives one order, and Luke another. This is not a contradiction, but it is a good example of how critics operate. Neither Matthew nor Luke claim to represent the chronological sequence. Luke may have reflected on the scene from the standpoint of geography, relating the two in the wilderness first, and then the one on the temple’s pinnacle (R.C. Foster, Studies in the Life of Christ, Joplin: College Press, 1996, p. 328).
Matthew records that after the temptation on the high mountain, Jesus said, “Get thee hence, Satan” (KJV). Matthew’s order, therefore, may be the chronological sequence, but there is no contradiction between the two inspired writers.
These inquires have to do with “what” happened. Other questions are about “how” this could have happened.
EXCERPT of page here at https://www.christiancourier.com/articles/1208-temptations-of-christ-the
What is the proper order of the temptations? Matthew gives one order, and Luke another. This is not a contradiction, but it is a good example of how critics operate. Neither Matthew nor Luke claim to represent the chronological sequence. Luke may have reflected on the scene from the standpoint of geography, relating the two in the wilderness first, and then the one on the temple’s pinnacle (R.C. Foster, Studies in the Life of Christ, Joplin: College Press, 1996, p. 328).
Matthew records that after the temptation on the high mountain, Jesus said, “Get thee hence, Satan” (KJV). Matthew’s order, therefore, may be the chronological sequence, but there is no contradiction between the two inspired writers.
These inquires have to do with “what” happened. Other questions are about “how” this could have happened.
EXCERPT of page here at https://www.christiancourier.com/articles/1208-temptations-of-christ-the
Psalm 55: Common English Bible as a 21st Century translation (2011)
For the music leader / / / With stringed instruments / / / A maskil of David
God, listen to my prayer;
don't avoid my request
Pay attention! Answer me!
I can't sit still while complaining.
I'm beside myself over the enemy's noise,
at the wicked person's racket,
because they bring disaster on me
and harass me furiously.
My heart pounds in my chest
because death's terrors
have reached me.
Fear and trembling have come upon me.
I'm shaking all over.
I say to myself.
I wish I had wings like a dove!
I'd fly away and rest.
I'd run so far away!
I'd live in the desert. -- SELAH.
I'd hurry to my hideout,
far from the rushing wind and storm.
Baffle them, my Lord!
Confuse their language because I see violence and conflict in the city.
Day and night they make their rounds on its walls,
and evil and misery live inside it.
Disaster lives inside it;
oppression and fraud never leave the town square.
It's not an enemy that is insulting me --
I could handle that.
It's not someone who hates me
who is exalted over me --
I could hide from them.
No. It's you, my equal,
my close companion, my good friend!
It was so pleasant when together we entered God's house with the crowd.
Let death devastate my enemies;
let them go to the grave alive because evil lives with them --
even inside them!
But I call out to God,
and the LORD will rescue me.
At evening, morning, and midday
I complain and moan so that God will hear my voice.
He saves me / my soul, unharmed, from my struggle,
though there are many who are out to get me.
God, who is enthroned from ancient days,
will hear and humble them -- SELAH.
because they don't change and they don't worship God.
My friend attacked his allies,
breaking his covenant.
Though his talk is smoother than butter,
war is in his heart;
though his words are more silky than oil,
they are really drawn swords:
"Cast your burden on the LORD --
he will support you!
God will never let the righteous be shaken!"
But you, God, bring the wicked down to the deepest pit.
Let bloodthirsty and treacherous people not live out even half their days.
But me? I trust in you!
God, listen to my prayer;
don't avoid my request
Pay attention! Answer me!
I can't sit still while complaining.
I'm beside myself over the enemy's noise,
at the wicked person's racket,
because they bring disaster on me
and harass me furiously.
My heart pounds in my chest
because death's terrors
have reached me.
Fear and trembling have come upon me.
I'm shaking all over.
I say to myself.
I wish I had wings like a dove!
I'd fly away and rest.
I'd run so far away!
I'd live in the desert. -- SELAH.
I'd hurry to my hideout,
far from the rushing wind and storm.
Baffle them, my Lord!
Confuse their language because I see violence and conflict in the city.
Day and night they make their rounds on its walls,
and evil and misery live inside it.
Disaster lives inside it;
oppression and fraud never leave the town square.
It's not an enemy that is insulting me --
I could handle that.
It's not someone who hates me
who is exalted over me --
I could hide from them.
No. It's you, my equal,
my close companion, my good friend!
It was so pleasant when together we entered God's house with the crowd.
Let death devastate my enemies;
let them go to the grave alive because evil lives with them --
even inside them!
But I call out to God,
and the LORD will rescue me.
At evening, morning, and midday
I complain and moan so that God will hear my voice.
He saves me / my soul, unharmed, from my struggle,
though there are many who are out to get me.
God, who is enthroned from ancient days,
will hear and humble them -- SELAH.
because they don't change and they don't worship God.
My friend attacked his allies,
breaking his covenant.
Though his talk is smoother than butter,
war is in his heart;
though his words are more silky than oil,
they are really drawn swords:
"Cast your burden on the LORD --
he will support you!
God will never let the righteous be shaken!"
But you, God, bring the wicked down to the deepest pit.
Let bloodthirsty and treacherous people not live out even half their days.
But me? I trust in you!
Psalm 54 - translation for 21st century COMMON ENGLISH BIBLE (2011)
For the music leader / / / With stringed instruments / / / A maskil of David, when the Ziphites came and said to Saul, "Isn't David hiding among us?"
God! Save me by your name;
defend me by your might!
God! Hear my prayer;
listen to the words of my mouth!
The proud have come up against me;
violent people want me dead.
They pay no attention to God. -- SELAH.
But look here: God is my helper;
my Lord sustains my life.
He will bring disaster on my opponents.
By your faithfulness, God, destroy them!
I will sacrifice to you freely;
I will give thanks to your name, LORD,
because it's so good,
and because God has delivered me from every distress.
My eyes have seen my enemies' defeat.
God! Save me by your name;
defend me by your might!
God! Hear my prayer;
listen to the words of my mouth!
The proud have come up against me;
violent people want me dead.
They pay no attention to God. -- SELAH.
But look here: God is my helper;
my Lord sustains my life.
He will bring disaster on my opponents.
By your faithfulness, God, destroy them!
I will sacrifice to you freely;
I will give thanks to your name, LORD,
because it's so good,
and because God has delivered me from every distress.
My eyes have seen my enemies' defeat.
Psalm 53: Common English Bible [ this psalm's text was transmitted earlier in PSALM 14, with slight variations ]
For the music leader / / / a maskil of David / / /
Fools say in their hearts, There's no God.
There are corrupt and do horrible deeds,
not one of them does anything good.
God looks down from heaven on humans
to see if anyone is wise,
to see if anyone seeks God.
But all have turned away.
Everyone is corrupt.
No one does good --
not even one person!
Are they dumb -- these evildoers --
devouring my people like they are eating bread
but never calling on God?
There, where there was nothing to fear,
they will be in utter panic
because God will scatter the bones of those who attacked you.
You will put them to shame because God has rejected them.
Let Israel's salvation come out of Zion!
When God changes his people's circumstances for the better,
Jacob will rejoice, Israel will celebrate! [
Fools say in their hearts, There's no God.
There are corrupt and do horrible deeds,
not one of them does anything good.
God looks down from heaven on humans
to see if anyone is wise,
to see if anyone seeks God.
But all have turned away.
Everyone is corrupt.
No one does good --
not even one person!
Are they dumb -- these evildoers --
devouring my people like they are eating bread
but never calling on God?
There, where there was nothing to fear,
they will be in utter panic
because God will scatter the bones of those who attacked you.
You will put them to shame because God has rejected them.
Let Israel's salvation come out of Zion!
When God changes his people's circumstances for the better,
Jacob will rejoice, Israel will celebrate! [
Thursday, February 19, 2015
Lent - Schedule of Lectioary Readings - Themes of Worship (GBOD) - Year B 2015
[FROM Taylor Burton - Edwards - GBOD dot-org / resources]
Here is an outline of the gospel readings for Lent, themes for each Sunday, and connections to the major verbs of the baptismal covenant to explore during worship and work on during the intervening weeks in small, formational groups. These themes and suggestions for formational groups will be further developed in the Worship Planning Helps designed for each of these Sundays during the coming year . . . .http://www.gbod.org/resources/planning-lent-and-easter-for-worship-and-discipleship-year-b
Here is an outline of the gospel readings for Lent, themes for each Sunday, and connections to the major verbs of the baptismal covenant to explore during worship and work on during the intervening weeks in small, formational groups. These themes and suggestions for formational groups will be further developed in the Worship Planning Helps designed for each of these Sundays during the coming year . . . .http://www.gbod.org/resources/planning-lent-and-easter-for-worship-and-discipleship-year-b
| Sunday/Day | Theme | Scripture | Baptismal Vows |
| Lent 1 | Wilderness | Mark 1:9-15 | Renounce, Reject, Repent |
| Lent 2 | Expectations | Mark 8:31-38 | Accept, Resist |
| Lent 3 | Cleansing | John 2:13-22 | Confess, Trust, Serve |
| Lent 4 | Believe INTO | John 3:14-21 | Join (in union with…) |
| Lent 5 | Called to Die | John 12:20-33 | Remain, Represent |
| Palm/Passion | The Passion | Mark 14:1-27 | Surround/Pray |
| Maundy Thursday | Pre-Washing | John 13:1-17,31b-35 | Surround/Pray |
| Good Friday | Execution | John 18:1- 19:42 | Surround/Pray |
| Holy Saturday (a.m.) | Vigil at Tomb | Matthew 27:57-66 | Surround/Pray |
| Great Vigil of Easter | Resurrection | Mark 16:1-8 | Baptism/Profession |
Psalm 52: Common English Bible (2011)
For the music leader / / / A maskil of David when Doeg the Edomite came and told Saul, "David has gone to Ahimelech's house" / / /
Hey, powerful person!
Why do you brag about evil?
God's faithful love lasts all day long.
Your tongue devises destruction;
it's like a sharpened razor, causing deception.
You love evil more than good;
you love lying more than speaking what is right. - - SELAH.
You love all destructive words; you love the deceiving tongue.
But God will take you down permanently;
he will snatch you up,
tear you out of your tent,
and uproot you from the land of the living! - - SELAH.
The righteous will see and be in awe;
they will laugh at those people:
"Look at them! They didn't make God their refuge.
Instead they trusted in their own great wealth.
They sought refuge in it - - to their own destruction!"
But I am like a green olive tree in God's house;
I trust in God's faithful love forever and always.
I will give thanks to you, God, forever,
because you have acted.
In the presence of your faithful people,
I will hope in your name because it's so good.
Hey, powerful person!
Why do you brag about evil?
God's faithful love lasts all day long.
Your tongue devises destruction;
it's like a sharpened razor, causing deception.
You love evil more than good;
you love lying more than speaking what is right. - - SELAH.
You love all destructive words; you love the deceiving tongue.
But God will take you down permanently;
he will snatch you up,
tear you out of your tent,
and uproot you from the land of the living! - - SELAH.
The righteous will see and be in awe;
they will laugh at those people:
"Look at them! They didn't make God their refuge.
Instead they trusted in their own great wealth.
They sought refuge in it - - to their own destruction!"
But I am like a green olive tree in God's house;
I trust in God's faithful love forever and always.
I will give thanks to you, God, forever,
because you have acted.
In the presence of your faithful people,
I will hope in your name because it's so good.
Martin Luther on Psalm 51, verse 17 (translated by H.C. Oswald for PSALMS 1 - 59 commentary)
This is the sweetest, most beautiful promise. If a person could only believe it, that our afflictions are for God the most acceptable sacrifices. . .(1) To Preach, (2) To Suffer and To Be Disquieted -- these please our God and are his finest sacrifices. He is here not speaking of the sacrifice of praise Humiliation is the greatest sacrifice, because it happens to the old hu/man. . .So do our afflictions please God that one is equal to a thousand sacrifices before God. A disquieted spirit is a greater sacrifice than all the sacrifices of Leviticus. Yes, indeed, if a person could only believe it" (From Luther's Works ERLANGEN Edition Vol. 17: 225f.).
Wednesday, February 18, 2015
Feb. 20 - - a sad, sad anniversary for President Abraham Lincoln, First Lady, and sons
from www.abrahamlincolnonline.org/
In an elegant White House guest room, the 11-year-old son of Abraham and Mary Lincoln lay ill in a huge carved rosewood bed, now known as the Lincoln Bed. At five p.m. on February 20, 1862, William Wallace Lincoln died. Elizabeth Keckly, the former slave who designed Mrs. Lincoln's beautiful wardrobe, washed and dressed him. When the president gazed at him, he mourned, "My poor boy, he was too good for this earth. God has called him home. I know that he is much better off in heaven, but then we loved him so. It is hard, hard to have him die!"
She watched him bury his head in his hands, "his tall frame convulsed with emotion." At the foot of the bed she stood "in silent, awe-stricken wonder," marveling that so rugged a man could be so moved. "I shall never forget those solemn moments -- genius and greatness weeping over love's idol lost." President Lincoln then walked down the hall to his secretary's office. He startled the half-dozing secretary with the news: "Well, Nicolay, my boy is gone -- he is actually gone!" John Nicolay recalled seeing his boss burst into tears before entering his own office. Mary Lincoln was inconsolable in the loss of her favorite son. To add to the anguish, Tad, her youngest son, lay seriously ill in another room. Both children apparently suffered from typhoid fever, a common illness in disease-ridden Washington, D.C. Willie was the third son born to the Lincolns in Illinois, arriving on December 21, 1850, the same year their second son died. Now with Willie's death, the family circle grew smaller yet. Robert, a student at Harvard College, was the eldest son, the only one who would outlive his parents. In the words of a government official's wife, "The White House is sad and still, for its joy and light have fled with little Willie. He was a very bright child, remarkably precocious for his age, and had endeared himself to every one who knew him." Mary Lincoln's cousin said he was "noble, beautiful ... a counterpart of his father, save that he was handsome." Mary herself called him the "idolized child, of the household." Willie's body was taken downstairs to the Green Room where it remained until burial. Drs. Brown and Alexander handled the embalming, a procedure they would perform three years later after the president's assassination. Willie lay in a flower-covered metallic coffin designed to resemble rosewood, with his name and date of birth and death inscribed on a silver plate. Friends came to pay their respects on February 24, the morning of the funeral. Just before the service the Lincoln family gathered around the coffin for a private farewell. Benjamin French, who supervised the arrangements, wrote, "While they were thus engaged there came one of the heaviest storms of rain & wind that has visited this city for years, and the terrible storm without seemed almost in unison with the storm of grief within, for Mrs. Lincoln, I am told, was terribly affected by her loss and almost refused to be comforted." Mary Lincoln grieved in her bedroom upstairs during the funeral and burial. The funeral began at 2 p.m. in the East Room, where the huge gilt mirrors were draped in mourning, with black fabric covering the frames and white covering the glass. Dr. Phineas D. Gurley, pastor of the nearby New York Avenue Presbyterian Church, conducted the service. The Lincoln family attended Dr. Gurley's church, where Willie recently told his Sunday School teacher he wanted to become a teacher or preacher of the gospel. President Lincoln, his son Robert, and members of the Cabinet sat in a circle, surrounded by a crowd which included representatives from Congress and foreign countries. The writer Nathaniel Parker Willis recalled the service as "very touching." He saw "[General] McClellan, with a moist eye when he bowed in prayer ... and senators, and ambassadors, and soldiers, all struggling with their tears -- great hearts sorrowing with the president as a stricken man and a brother."
In an elegant White House guest room, the 11-year-old son of Abraham and Mary Lincoln lay ill in a huge carved rosewood bed, now known as the Lincoln Bed. At five p.m. on February 20, 1862, William Wallace Lincoln died. Elizabeth Keckly, the former slave who designed Mrs. Lincoln's beautiful wardrobe, washed and dressed him. When the president gazed at him, he mourned, "My poor boy, he was too good for this earth. God has called him home. I know that he is much better off in heaven, but then we loved him so. It is hard, hard to have him die!"
She watched him bury his head in his hands, "his tall frame convulsed with emotion." At the foot of the bed she stood "in silent, awe-stricken wonder," marveling that so rugged a man could be so moved. "I shall never forget those solemn moments -- genius and greatness weeping over love's idol lost." President Lincoln then walked down the hall to his secretary's office. He startled the half-dozing secretary with the news: "Well, Nicolay, my boy is gone -- he is actually gone!" John Nicolay recalled seeing his boss burst into tears before entering his own office. Mary Lincoln was inconsolable in the loss of her favorite son. To add to the anguish, Tad, her youngest son, lay seriously ill in another room. Both children apparently suffered from typhoid fever, a common illness in disease-ridden Washington, D.C. Willie was the third son born to the Lincolns in Illinois, arriving on December 21, 1850, the same year their second son died. Now with Willie's death, the family circle grew smaller yet. Robert, a student at Harvard College, was the eldest son, the only one who would outlive his parents. In the words of a government official's wife, "The White House is sad and still, for its joy and light have fled with little Willie. He was a very bright child, remarkably precocious for his age, and had endeared himself to every one who knew him." Mary Lincoln's cousin said he was "noble, beautiful ... a counterpart of his father, save that he was handsome." Mary herself called him the "idolized child, of the household." Willie's body was taken downstairs to the Green Room where it remained until burial. Drs. Brown and Alexander handled the embalming, a procedure they would perform three years later after the president's assassination. Willie lay in a flower-covered metallic coffin designed to resemble rosewood, with his name and date of birth and death inscribed on a silver plate. Friends came to pay their respects on February 24, the morning of the funeral. Just before the service the Lincoln family gathered around the coffin for a private farewell. Benjamin French, who supervised the arrangements, wrote, "While they were thus engaged there came one of the heaviest storms of rain & wind that has visited this city for years, and the terrible storm without seemed almost in unison with the storm of grief within, for Mrs. Lincoln, I am told, was terribly affected by her loss and almost refused to be comforted." Mary Lincoln grieved in her bedroom upstairs during the funeral and burial. The funeral began at 2 p.m. in the East Room, where the huge gilt mirrors were draped in mourning, with black fabric covering the frames and white covering the glass. Dr. Phineas D. Gurley, pastor of the nearby New York Avenue Presbyterian Church, conducted the service. The Lincoln family attended Dr. Gurley's church, where Willie recently told his Sunday School teacher he wanted to become a teacher or preacher of the gospel. President Lincoln, his son Robert, and members of the Cabinet sat in a circle, surrounded by a crowd which included representatives from Congress and foreign countries. The writer Nathaniel Parker Willis recalled the service as "very touching." He saw "[General] McClellan, with a moist eye when he bowed in prayer ... and senators, and ambassadors, and soldiers, all struggling with their tears -- great hearts sorrowing with the president as a stricken man and a brother."
Warning -- Wed. Feb. 18, 2015 - National Weather Service for Berrien County Michigan
WINTER STORM WARNING IN EFFECT UNTIL 7 P.M. EST THURSDAY...
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN NORTHERN INDIANA HAS ISSUED A WINTER STORM WARNING FOR HEAVY SNOW AND BLOWING SNOW; WEST TO NORTHWEST WIND GUSTS OF 20 TO 30 MPH AND SNOWFALL RATES IN EXCESS OF AN INCH PER HOUR WILL CREATE BLOWING SNOW AND REDUCED VISIBILITIES WITH NEAR WHITEOUT CONDITIONS AT TIMES.
Psalm 51 - Common English Bible translation (2011)
For the music leader / / / a Psalm of David when the prophet Nathan came to him just after he had been with Bathsheba / / /
Have mercy on me, God [LATIN title is Miserere],
according to your faithful love!
Wipe away my wrongdoings according to your great compassion!
Wash me completely clean of my guilt;
purify me from my sins!
Because I know my wrongdoings,
my sin is always right in front of me.
I've sinned against you -- you alone.
I've committed evil in your sight.
That's why you are justified when you render your verdict;
completely correct when you issue your judgment.
Yes, I was born in guilt, in sin,
from the moment my mother conceived me.
And yes, you want truth in the most hidden places;
you teach me wisdom in the most secret space.
Purify me with hyssop and I will be clean;
wash me and I will be whiter than snow.
Let me hear joy and celebration again;
let the bones you crushed rejoice one more.
Hide your face from my sins;
wipe away all my guilty deeds!
Create a clean heart for me, God;
put a new, faithful spirit deep inside me!
Please don't throw me out of your presence;
please don't take your holy spirit away from me.
Then I will teach wrongdoers your ways,
and sinners will come back to you.
Deliver me from violence, God,
God of my salvation, so that my tongue can sing of your righteousness.
Lord, open my lips and my mouth will proclaim your praise.
You don't want sacrifices. If I gave an entirely burned offering,
you wouldn't be pleased.
A broken spirit is my sacrifice to God.
You won't despise a heart, God, that is broken and crushed.
Do good things for Zion by your favor.
Rebuild Jerusalem's walls.
Then you will again want sacrifices of righteousness -- entirely burned offerings
and complete offerings. Then bulls will again be sacrificed on your altar.
Have mercy on me, God [LATIN title is Miserere],
according to your faithful love!
Wipe away my wrongdoings according to your great compassion!
Wash me completely clean of my guilt;
purify me from my sins!
Because I know my wrongdoings,
my sin is always right in front of me.
I've sinned against you -- you alone.
I've committed evil in your sight.
That's why you are justified when you render your verdict;
completely correct when you issue your judgment.
Yes, I was born in guilt, in sin,
from the moment my mother conceived me.
And yes, you want truth in the most hidden places;
you teach me wisdom in the most secret space.
Purify me with hyssop and I will be clean;
wash me and I will be whiter than snow.
Let me hear joy and celebration again;
let the bones you crushed rejoice one more.
Hide your face from my sins;
wipe away all my guilty deeds!
Create a clean heart for me, God;
put a new, faithful spirit deep inside me!
Please don't throw me out of your presence;
please don't take your holy spirit away from me.
Then I will teach wrongdoers your ways,
and sinners will come back to you.
Deliver me from violence, God,
God of my salvation, so that my tongue can sing of your righteousness.
Lord, open my lips and my mouth will proclaim your praise.
You don't want sacrifices. If I gave an entirely burned offering,
you wouldn't be pleased.
A broken spirit is my sacrifice to God.
You won't despise a heart, God, that is broken and crushed.
Do good things for Zion by your favor.
Rebuild Jerusalem's walls.
Then you will again want sacrifices of righteousness -- entirely burned offerings
and complete offerings. Then bulls will again be sacrificed on your altar.
Tuesday, February 17, 2015
Psalm 50 -- A Psalm of Asaph translated for 21st Century readers - worshippers -- The Common English Bible (2011)
From the rising of the sun to where it sets,
God, the LORD God, speaks,
calling out to the earth.
Fro Zion, perfect in beauty,
God shines Brightly.
Our God is coming;
he won't keep quiet.
A devouring fire is before him;
a storm rages all around him.
God calls out to the skies above and to the earth,
in order to judge his people.
"Bring my faithful to me, those who made a covenant with me by sacrifice."
The skies proclaim his righteousness because God himself is the judge. SELAH.
"Listen, my people, I will now speak;
Israel, I will now testify against you,
I am God -- your God!
I'm not punishing you for your sacrifices or for your entirely burned offerings,
which are always before me.
I won't accept bulls from your house or goats from your corrals,
because every forest animal already belongs to me,
as do the cattle on a thousand hills.
I know every mountain bird;
even the insects in the fields are mine.
Even if I were hungry, I wouldn't tell you because the whole world and everything
in it already belong to me.
Do I eat bulls' meat?
Do I drink goats' blood?
Offer God a sacrifice of thanksgiving!
Fulfill the promises you made to the Most High!
Cry out to me whenever you are in trouble;
I will deliver you, then you will honor me."
But to the wicked God says,
"Why do you talk about my laws?
Why do you even mention my covenant?
You hate discipline, and you toss my words behind your back.
You make friends with thieves whenever you see one;
you spend you time with adulterers.
You set you mouth free to do evil, then harness your tongue to tell lies.
You sit around, talking about your own siblings,
you find fault with the children of your very own mother.
You've done these things and I've kept quiet.
You thought I was just like you!
But now I'm punishing you, I'm laying it all out, rights in front of your face.
So consider this carefully,
all your who forget God,
or I'll rip you to pieces with no one to deliver you.
The one who offers a sacrifice of thanksgiving is the one who honors me.
And it is the one who charts the correct path that I will show divine salvation."
God, the LORD God, speaks,
calling out to the earth.
Fro Zion, perfect in beauty,
God shines Brightly.
Our God is coming;
he won't keep quiet.
A devouring fire is before him;
a storm rages all around him.
God calls out to the skies above and to the earth,
in order to judge his people.
"Bring my faithful to me, those who made a covenant with me by sacrifice."
The skies proclaim his righteousness because God himself is the judge. SELAH.
"Listen, my people, I will now speak;
Israel, I will now testify against you,
I am God -- your God!
I'm not punishing you for your sacrifices or for your entirely burned offerings,
which are always before me.
I won't accept bulls from your house or goats from your corrals,
because every forest animal already belongs to me,
as do the cattle on a thousand hills.
I know every mountain bird;
even the insects in the fields are mine.
Even if I were hungry, I wouldn't tell you because the whole world and everything
in it already belong to me.
Do I eat bulls' meat?
Do I drink goats' blood?
Offer God a sacrifice of thanksgiving!
Fulfill the promises you made to the Most High!
Cry out to me whenever you are in trouble;
I will deliver you, then you will honor me."
But to the wicked God says,
"Why do you talk about my laws?
Why do you even mention my covenant?
You hate discipline, and you toss my words behind your back.
You make friends with thieves whenever you see one;
you spend you time with adulterers.
You set you mouth free to do evil, then harness your tongue to tell lies.
You sit around, talking about your own siblings,
you find fault with the children of your very own mother.
You've done these things and I've kept quiet.
You thought I was just like you!
But now I'm punishing you, I'm laying it all out, rights in front of your face.
So consider this carefully,
all your who forget God,
or I'll rip you to pieces with no one to deliver you.
The one who offers a sacrifice of thanksgiving is the one who honors me.
And it is the one who charts the correct path that I will show divine salvation."
Letter to Pope Tawadros II -- church patriarch to Egypt's Coptic Church (Feb. 17, 2015)
17 February 2015
The World Council of Churches (WCC) has joined its member churches, partners and people in Egypt as they mourn the killings of 21 Egyptian Christians kidnapped by the so-called “Islamic State” (IS) militants in Libya.
“We express our deepest sympathy and condolences to the families of the young Egyptian men who had travelled to Libya to work for their support, and who became the victims of this outrage,” said Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, WCC general secretary, in a letter addressed to Pope Tawadros II, patriarch of the Coptic Orthodox Church in Egypt, issued on 17 February.
“We pray for them, their communities and for the whole Church in Egypt, from whom these precious lives have been torn,” he added.
Tveit stressed that these killings add to the lengthening litany of brutality conceived by minds disordered by a twisted misinterpretation of religion.
“We pray for metanoia - a transformative change of heart on the part of those driven to such inhuman violence and hatred of the other,” he said.
Tveit affirmed the WCC’s commitment towards “active solidarity across faith and community boundaries with all those affected by such violence and hatred, and with all those who seek peace and who recognize the God-given human dignity and equal and inalienable human rights of all”.
http://www.oikoumene.org/en/press-centre/news/wcc-mourns-the-killing-of-egyptian-coptic-christians-1
“We express our deepest sympathy and condolences to the families of the young Egyptian men who had travelled to Libya to work for their support, and who became the victims of this outrage,” said Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, WCC general secretary, in a letter addressed to Pope Tawadros II, patriarch of the Coptic Orthodox Church in Egypt, issued on 17 February.
“We pray for them, their communities and for the whole Church in Egypt, from whom these precious lives have been torn,” he added.
Tveit stressed that these killings add to the lengthening litany of brutality conceived by minds disordered by a twisted misinterpretation of religion.
“We pray for metanoia - a transformative change of heart on the part of those driven to such inhuman violence and hatred of the other,” he said.
Tveit affirmed the WCC’s commitment towards “active solidarity across faith and community boundaries with all those affected by such violence and hatred, and with all those who seek peace and who recognize the God-given human dignity and equal and inalienable human rights of all”.
http://www.oikoumene.org/en/press-centre/news/wcc-mourns-the-killing-of-egyptian-coptic-christians-1
Psalms 48 & 49 - 21st Century Translation in Common English Bible (2011)
A song / / / A psalm of the Korahites / / /
In the city belonging to our God,
the LORD is great and so worthy of praise!
His holy mountain is a beautiful summit,
the joy of the whole world.
Mount Zion, in the far north, is the city of the great king.
God is in its fortifications, revealing himself as a place of safety.
Look, the kings assembled themselves, advancing all together --
when they saw it, they were stunned;
they panicked and ran away frightened.
Trembling took hold of them right there -- like a woman giving birth,
or like the east wind when it smashes the ships of Tarshish.
Just like we had heard, now we've seen it for ourselves
in the city of the LORD of heavenly forces,
in the city of our God. May God make it secure forever! SELAH.
We dwell on your faithful love, God,
in your temple.
Your praise, God, just like your reputation,
extends to the far corners of the earth.
Your strong hand is filled with righteousness.
Let Mount Zion be glad;
let the towns of Judah rejoice because of your acts of justice!
Walk around Zion;
go all the way around it;
count its towers.
Examine its defenses closely;
tour its fortifications so that you may tell future generations:
"This is God;
our God, forever and always! He is the one who will lead us even to the very end!"
(49:1) Listen to this, all you people!
Listen closely,
all you citizens of the world --
people of every kind,
rich and poor alike!
My mouth speaks wisdom;
my heart's meditation is full of insight.
I will pay close attention to a proverb (MASHAL);
I will explain my riddle on the lyre.
Why should I be afraid in times of trouble,
when the wrongdoing of my bullies engulfs me --
those people who trust in their fortunes and boast of their fantastic wealth?
Wealth? It can't save a single person!
It can't pay a life's ransom price to God.
The price to save someone's life is too high --
wealth will never be enough --
no one can live forever without experiencing the pit.
Everyone knows that the wise die too,
just like foolish and stupid people do, all of them leaving their fortunes to others.
Their graves are their eternal homes,
the place they live for all generations,
even if they had countries named after them!
People won't live any longer because of wealth;
they're just like the animals that pass away.
That's how it goes for those who are foolish,
as well as for those who follow their lead, pleased with their rule -- SELAH.
Like sheep, they're headed straight for the grave.
Death will be their shepherd --
but those who do right in their hearts will rule over them come morning! --
their forms wasting away in the grave rather than having some dignified residence.
But God will save my life
from the power of the grave,
because he will take me. -- SELAH.
Don't be overly impressed when someone becomes rich,
their house swelling to fantastic proportions,
because when they die,
they won't take any of it with them.
Their fantastic things won't accompany them down under.
Though they consider themselves blessed during their lives,
and even thank you when you deal well with them,
they too will join the ancestors who've gone ahead;
they too will never see the light again.
Wealthy people?
They just don't understand;
they're just like the animals that pass away.
In the city belonging to our God,
the LORD is great and so worthy of praise!
His holy mountain is a beautiful summit,
the joy of the whole world.
Mount Zion, in the far north, is the city of the great king.
God is in its fortifications, revealing himself as a place of safety.
Look, the kings assembled themselves, advancing all together --
when they saw it, they were stunned;
they panicked and ran away frightened.
Trembling took hold of them right there -- like a woman giving birth,
or like the east wind when it smashes the ships of Tarshish.
Just like we had heard, now we've seen it for ourselves
in the city of the LORD of heavenly forces,
in the city of our God. May God make it secure forever! SELAH.
We dwell on your faithful love, God,
in your temple.
Your praise, God, just like your reputation,
extends to the far corners of the earth.
Your strong hand is filled with righteousness.
Let Mount Zion be glad;
let the towns of Judah rejoice because of your acts of justice!
Walk around Zion;
go all the way around it;
count its towers.
Examine its defenses closely;
tour its fortifications so that you may tell future generations:
"This is God;
our God, forever and always! He is the one who will lead us even to the very end!"
(49:1) Listen to this, all you people!
Listen closely,
all you citizens of the world --
people of every kind,
rich and poor alike!
My mouth speaks wisdom;
my heart's meditation is full of insight.
I will pay close attention to a proverb (MASHAL);
I will explain my riddle on the lyre.
Why should I be afraid in times of trouble,
when the wrongdoing of my bullies engulfs me --
those people who trust in their fortunes and boast of their fantastic wealth?
Wealth? It can't save a single person!
It can't pay a life's ransom price to God.
The price to save someone's life is too high --
wealth will never be enough --
no one can live forever without experiencing the pit.
Everyone knows that the wise die too,
just like foolish and stupid people do, all of them leaving their fortunes to others.
Their graves are their eternal homes,
the place they live for all generations,
even if they had countries named after them!
People won't live any longer because of wealth;
they're just like the animals that pass away.
That's how it goes for those who are foolish,
as well as for those who follow their lead, pleased with their rule -- SELAH.
Like sheep, they're headed straight for the grave.
Death will be their shepherd --
but those who do right in their hearts will rule over them come morning! --
their forms wasting away in the grave rather than having some dignified residence.
But God will save my life
from the power of the grave,
because he will take me. -- SELAH.
Don't be overly impressed when someone becomes rich,
their house swelling to fantastic proportions,
because when they die,
they won't take any of it with them.
Their fantastic things won't accompany them down under.
Though they consider themselves blessed during their lives,
and even thank you when you deal well with them,
they too will join the ancestors who've gone ahead;
they too will never see the light again.
Wealthy people?
They just don't understand;
they're just like the animals that pass away.
Illuminating the Middle Ages (free insde story) - Thursday Feb. 19, 5 - 7:30 p.m.
Illuminating the Middle Ages
Unknown artist, Annunciation to the Shepherds,15th century, pigments and gold on parchment, 7 x 5.50 inches. University of Notre Dame, Hesburgh Library, Frag. III.I, fol. 58r.
Get the inside story on the Hour by Hour: Reconstructing a Medieval Breton Prayer Book exhibition with cuartor David Gura and explore the process of illuminating a Medieval manuscript with scribe Valerie Weilmuenster. She will break down the processes and materials used, share contemporary works that she has created, and demonstrate the art of illumination.
http://sniteartmuseum.nd.edu/visit-us/events/2015/02/19/31301-3rd-thursdays-the-snite-illuminating-the-middle-ages/
Unknown artist, Annunciation to the Shepherds,15th century, pigments and gold on parchment, 7 x 5.50 inches. University of Notre Dame, Hesburgh Library, Frag. III.I, fol. 58r.http://sniteartmuseum.nd.edu/visit-us/events/2015/02/19/31301-3rd-thursdays-the-snite-illuminating-the-middle-ages/
Happy Chinese New Year (February 19) -- buy a new calendar
from USA TODAY (online edition) article by Calum Macleod:
BEJING — The Chinese New Year starts this week. So it's time for people here to get a new calendar — and a dose of propaganda, ranging from the importance of the government's "one child" policy to the virtues of President Xi Jinping.
Giving a colorful calendar, with dates marked for both the lunar and Gregorian systems, remains a common New Year tradition in China. The year of the sheep starts Thursday (Feb. 19, 2015).
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2015/02/15/beijing-china-calendars-lunar-new-year/23122395/
BEJING — The Chinese New Year starts this week. So it's time for people here to get a new calendar — and a dose of propaganda, ranging from the importance of the government's "one child" policy to the virtues of President Xi Jinping.
Giving a colorful calendar, with dates marked for both the lunar and Gregorian systems, remains a common New Year tradition in China. The year of the sheep starts Thursday (Feb. 19, 2015).
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2015/02/15/beijing-china-calendars-lunar-new-year/23122395/
Monday, February 16, 2015
Psalm 47 (as part of OT Wisdom Books -- Paraphrase THE_MESSAGE by Eugene Peterson, 1998)
Applause, everyone. Bravo, bravissimo!
Shout God-songs at the top of your lungs!
GOD most high is stunning,
astride land and ocean.
He crushes hostile people,
puts nations at our feet.
He set us at the head of the line,
prize-winning Jacob, his favorite.
Loud cheers as God climbs the mountain,
a ram's horn blast at the summit.
Sing songs to God, sing out!
Sing to our King, sing praise!
He's lord over earth,
so sing your best songs to God.
God is Lord of godless nations --
Sovereign - He's King of the mountain.
Princes from all over are gathered,
people of Abraham's God.
The powers of earth are God's --
he soars over all.
Shout God-songs at the top of your lungs!
GOD most high is stunning,
astride land and ocean.
He crushes hostile people,
puts nations at our feet.
He set us at the head of the line,
prize-winning Jacob, his favorite.
Loud cheers as God climbs the mountain,
a ram's horn blast at the summit.
Sing songs to God, sing out!
Sing to our King, sing praise!
He's lord over earth,
so sing your best songs to God.
God is Lord of godless nations --
Sovereign - He's King of the mountain.
Princes from all over are gathered,
people of Abraham's God.
The powers of earth are God's --
he soars over all.
Clap Your Hands (Global Celebration, 2003) - lyric that incorporates Psalm 47 - 21st Century praise musc
CLAP YOUR HANDS ( PSALM 47 )
Words by Georgian Banov and Dan McCollam, Music by Georgian Banov © 2003 BlissSong
CLAP YOUR HANDS ALL YOU PEOPLE
SING ALOUD HIS SONGS OF JOY
CLAP YOUR HANDS ALL YOU PEOPLE
DANCE WITH HIM, MAKE A JOYFUL NOISE
YOU ARE THE KING OVER ALL THE EARTH
YOU ARE A GREAT KING AND YOU REIGN
CLAP YOUR HANDS ALL YOU NATIONS
SHOUT TO GOD WITH A VOICE OF TRIUMPH
CLAP YOUR HANDS ALL YOU
SERENADE THE KING OF ZION
GOD IS ASCENDING IN SHOUTS OF JOY
GOD IS ARISING IN OUR HEARTS WITH PRAISE -
(www.globalcelebration.com/ )
Words by Georgian Banov and Dan McCollam, Music by Georgian Banov © 2003 BlissSong
CLAP YOUR HANDS ALL YOU PEOPLE
SING ALOUD HIS SONGS OF JOY
CLAP YOUR HANDS ALL YOU PEOPLE
DANCE WITH HIM, MAKE A JOYFUL NOISE
YOU ARE THE KING OVER ALL THE EARTH
YOU ARE A GREAT KING AND YOU REIGN
CLAP YOUR HANDS ALL YOU NATIONS
SHOUT TO GOD WITH A VOICE OF TRIUMPH
CLAP YOUR HANDS ALL YOU
SERENADE THE KING OF ZION
GOD IS ASCENDING IN SHOUTS OF JOY
GOD IS ARISING IN OUR HEARTS WITH PRAISE -
(www.globalcelebration.com/ )
Sunday, February 15, 2015
Former U.S. Poet Laureate Philip Levine died today at Fresno, CA (2/15/15) -- he was born in 1928
From WASH. POST story online (dates back to May 4, 2012):
At 14, Philip Levine didn’t know what poetry was. “I simply had no name for what I was doing,” he said May 3 at the Library of Congress. “I composed my first poems in the dark . . . secret little speeches to the moon when the moon was visible.”
Before a packed auditorium of fans, the 84-year-old poet delivered his final lecture as the U.S. poet laureate with the same humility and quiet passion that have marked his work for decades. His 40-minute address, entitled “My Forgotten Poets,” recalled the fellow students at Wayne University who first introduced him to writers beyond Chaucer and Shakespeare, whom he’d studied at his Detroit high school.
It was a moving speech of reminiscence, literary criticism and poetic reclamation that paid tribute to his first literary friends. There was Bernard, an impossibly brilliant young student who read one of his own poems in a strange, strained voice at a small gathering. “I was struck by the boy’s willingness to openly acknowledge his narcissism,” Levine said. But he was also struck by Bernard’s knowledge of modern verse, and he profited from his advice about what to read.
“So much of what I read was inspiring and left me lost and found,” Levine said. “I learned to love the mystery of it, and I still love the mystery of it.” Lines from “Abel,” by the Greek poet Demetrios Capetanakis have stayed with him for 60 years. He fell in love with a poem by New York writer Naomi Replansky four years before she published her first book.
Coming of age during WWII, he lived in dread — “shameful dread” — of going into battle, and so war poets such as Keith Douglas spoke to him powerfully. Wilfred Owen, he said, was “the first great poet who mattered to me.” And one day in the library, he discovered a cheap little volume called Ha Ha Among the Trumpets, by a Welshman named Alun Lewis, who survived the war just long enough to regret enlisting. The book had never been checked out. “It’s now in my study,” Levine said to startled laughter. “I admit this in a library: I’m nuts!”
One of the great pleasures of his speech was hearing him read short sections of these poems, many of them fallen out of currency, in a voice filled with great feeling and sensitivity.
All this slowness, all this hardness,
The nearness that is waiting in my bed,
The gradual self-effacement of the dead.
“What might Lewis have written,” Levine asked, “if war had not devoured him?”
One by one, his fellow students disappeared, too. Bernard died in a car crash in his 30s, before his literary potential was realized. Another dear friend gave up poetry and vanished into Latin America to help the poor.
“I didn’t realize back then how much I needed them and how much they had given me,” he said. “They shared with me their faith in the perfect words, the words we knew as children and then forgot.”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/style-blog/post/philip-levine-delivers-last-lecture-as-us-poet-laureate/2012/05/04/gIQAlSsM1T_blog.html?hpid=z4
At 14, Philip Levine didn’t know what poetry was. “I simply had no name for what I was doing,” he said May 3 at the Library of Congress. “I composed my first poems in the dark . . . secret little speeches to the moon when the moon was visible.”
Before a packed auditorium of fans, the 84-year-old poet delivered his final lecture as the U.S. poet laureate with the same humility and quiet passion that have marked his work for decades. His 40-minute address, entitled “My Forgotten Poets,” recalled the fellow students at Wayne University who first introduced him to writers beyond Chaucer and Shakespeare, whom he’d studied at his Detroit high school.
It was a moving speech of reminiscence, literary criticism and poetic reclamation that paid tribute to his first literary friends. There was Bernard, an impossibly brilliant young student who read one of his own poems in a strange, strained voice at a small gathering. “I was struck by the boy’s willingness to openly acknowledge his narcissism,” Levine said. But he was also struck by Bernard’s knowledge of modern verse, and he profited from his advice about what to read.
“So much of what I read was inspiring and left me lost and found,” Levine said. “I learned to love the mystery of it, and I still love the mystery of it.” Lines from “Abel,” by the Greek poet Demetrios Capetanakis have stayed with him for 60 years. He fell in love with a poem by New York writer Naomi Replansky four years before she published her first book.
Coming of age during WWII, he lived in dread — “shameful dread” — of going into battle, and so war poets such as Keith Douglas spoke to him powerfully. Wilfred Owen, he said, was “the first great poet who mattered to me.” And one day in the library, he discovered a cheap little volume called Ha Ha Among the Trumpets, by a Welshman named Alun Lewis, who survived the war just long enough to regret enlisting. The book had never been checked out. “It’s now in my study,” Levine said to startled laughter. “I admit this in a library: I’m nuts!”
One of the great pleasures of his speech was hearing him read short sections of these poems, many of them fallen out of currency, in a voice filled with great feeling and sensitivity.
All this slowness, all this hardness,
The nearness that is waiting in my bed,
The gradual self-effacement of the dead.
“What might Lewis have written,” Levine asked, “if war had not devoured him?”
One by one, his fellow students disappeared, too. Bernard died in a car crash in his 30s, before his literary potential was realized. Another dear friend gave up poetry and vanished into Latin America to help the poor.
“I didn’t realize back then how much I needed them and how much they had given me,” he said. “They shared with me their faith in the perfect words, the words we knew as children and then forgot.”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/style-blog/post/philip-levine-delivers-last-lecture-as-us-poet-laureate/2012/05/04/gIQAlSsM1T_blog.html?hpid=z4
International Food Fair (Berrien County University) -- 5th Sunday of March, 2015
March 29, 2015 - This is the day of INTERNATIONAL FOOD FAIR. This event will showcase the international diversity with the variety of cuisine brought to us from around the world. This is a very popular annual event and it will be well attended with many clubs and organizations making available the variety of food for you to purchase and enjoy.
http://www.andrews.edu/services/iss/importanteventsandnews/
http://www.andrews.edu/services/iss/importanteventsandnews/
Psalm 46: Common English Bible's 21st Century Translation (2011)
For the music leader / / / Of the Korahites / / A song / / /
God is our refuge and strength, a help always near in times of great trouble.
That's why we won't be afraid when the world falls apart,
when the mountains crumble into the center of the sea,
when its waters roar and rage,
when the mountains shake because of its surging waves. -- SELAH.
There is a river whose streams gladden God's city,
the holiest dwelling of the Most High.
God is in that city. It will never crumble.
God will help it when morning dawns.
Nations roar; kingdoms crumble.
God utters his voice, the earth melts.
The LORD of heavenly forces is with us!
The God of Jacob is our place of safety -- SELAH.
Come, see the LORD's deeds,
what devastation he has imposed on the earth --
bringing wars to an end in every corner of the world,
breaking the bow and shattering the spear, burning chariots with fire.
That's enough! Now know that I am God!
I am exalted among all nations;
I am exalted throughout the world!"
The LORD of heavenly forces is with us!
The God of Jacob is our place of safety. -- SELAH.
God is our refuge and strength, a help always near in times of great trouble.
That's why we won't be afraid when the world falls apart,
when the mountains crumble into the center of the sea,
when its waters roar and rage,
when the mountains shake because of its surging waves. -- SELAH.
There is a river whose streams gladden God's city,
the holiest dwelling of the Most High.
God is in that city. It will never crumble.
God will help it when morning dawns.
Nations roar; kingdoms crumble.
God utters his voice, the earth melts.
The LORD of heavenly forces is with us!
The God of Jacob is our place of safety -- SELAH.
Come, see the LORD's deeds,
what devastation he has imposed on the earth --
bringing wars to an end in every corner of the world,
breaking the bow and shattering the spear, burning chariots with fire.
That's enough! Now know that I am God!
I am exalted among all nations;
I am exalted throughout the world!"
The LORD of heavenly forces is with us!
The God of Jacob is our place of safety. -- SELAH.
Happy Birthday to Galileo!
from Writer's Almanac dot-org (American Public Media: Garrison Keillor):
Today is the birthday of scientist and writer Galileo Galilei, born in Pisa, Italy (1564), who defended the scientific belief that the Earth was not the center of the Universe and was tried by the Roman Inquisition for heresy. He once prophesied that, in the future, "There will be opened a gateway and a road to a large and excellent science into which minds more piercing than mine shall penetrate to recesses still deeper."
Galileo was a mathematics professor at Padua when he first heard about a new invention from the Netherlands, the telescope. When he couldn't get his hands on one to even look at, he worked out the mechanics on his own. The spyglass everyone had been talking about could magnify objects to three times their original size. The instrument Galileo made with lenses he ground himself, magnified all the way up to 20 times. He was able to see the valleys and mountains of the moon, the Milky Way, and to discover four moons of Jupiter. In 1610, Galileo published the story of his telescope and the results of his studies as The Starry Messenger.
Galileo had been corresponding with German astronomer Johannes Kepler, who also believed that the Sun, not the Earth, was the center of the solar system. Kepler had been urging Galileo to go public with his theories for years and, though Galileo was tried and convicted by the Church for heresy, he was never tortured or excommunicated as the dominant narrative goes—in reality, he remained a loyal Catholic his entire life.
Today is the birthday of scientist and writer Galileo Galilei, born in Pisa, Italy (1564), who defended the scientific belief that the Earth was not the center of the Universe and was tried by the Roman Inquisition for heresy. He once prophesied that, in the future, "There will be opened a gateway and a road to a large and excellent science into which minds more piercing than mine shall penetrate to recesses still deeper."
Galileo was a mathematics professor at Padua when he first heard about a new invention from the Netherlands, the telescope. When he couldn't get his hands on one to even look at, he worked out the mechanics on his own. The spyglass everyone had been talking about could magnify objects to three times their original size. The instrument Galileo made with lenses he ground himself, magnified all the way up to 20 times. He was able to see the valleys and mountains of the moon, the Milky Way, and to discover four moons of Jupiter. In 1610, Galileo published the story of his telescope and the results of his studies as The Starry Messenger.
Galileo had been corresponding with German astronomer Johannes Kepler, who also believed that the Sun, not the Earth, was the center of the solar system. Kepler had been urging Galileo to go public with his theories for years and, though Galileo was tried and convicted by the Church for heresy, he was never tortured or excommunicated as the dominant narrative goes—in reality, he remained a loyal Catholic his entire life.
Saturday, February 14, 2015
Valentine's Day took the place of Lupercalia (ancient Roman festival of fertility) - Writer's Almanac
from Minnesota Public Radio - American Public Radio - Garrison Keillor:
Today is Valentine's Day, a big day for greeting card and candy sales, which goes back more than 1,500 years to the Feast of St. Valentine established in the fifth century, though nobody is sure exactly which of the many martyred Valentines it is the feast day of.
The ancient Romans had a fertility festival celebrated at mid-February of every year. The festival was called Lupercalia in honor of Lupa, the wolf who was said to have suckled Romulus and Remus, who went on to found the city of Rome. Lupercalia was a pagan fertility festival celebrated with sacrifices of goats and dogs, with milk and wool and blood. Young men would cut strips from the skins of the goats then strip naked and run through the city in groups, where young women would line up to be spanked with the switches, believing it would improve their fertility. Lupercalia was still wildly popular long after the Roman Empire was officially Christian, and it's not difficult to see why the Church would have wished to have a different sort of holiday take its place.
[entry in Writer's Almanac dot-org for 2/15/15]
Today is Valentine's Day, a big day for greeting card and candy sales, which goes back more than 1,500 years to the Feast of St. Valentine established in the fifth century, though nobody is sure exactly which of the many martyred Valentines it is the feast day of.
The ancient Romans had a fertility festival celebrated at mid-February of every year. The festival was called Lupercalia in honor of Lupa, the wolf who was said to have suckled Romulus and Remus, who went on to found the city of Rome. Lupercalia was a pagan fertility festival celebrated with sacrifices of goats and dogs, with milk and wool and blood. Young men would cut strips from the skins of the goats then strip naked and run through the city in groups, where young women would line up to be spanked with the switches, believing it would improve their fertility. Lupercalia was still wildly popular long after the Roman Empire was officially Christian, and it's not difficult to see why the Church would have wished to have a different sort of holiday take its place.
[entry in Writer's Almanac dot-org for 2/15/15]
Psalm 45 - 21st Century Translation - Common English Bible
A love song: Marriage of the king / / / Of the Korahites / / A maskil / / /
You are the most handsome of men; grace has been poured out on your lips.
No wonder God has blessed you forever!
Strap on your sword, great warrior, with your glory and grandeur!
God and succeed in your grandeur!
Ride out on behalf of truth, humility, and righteousness!
Let your strong hand perform awesome deeds.
Let the people fall beneath you.
May your sharp arrows pierce the hearts of the king's enemies.
Your divine throne is eternal and everlasting.
Your royal scepter is a scepter of justice.
You love righteousness and hate wickedness.
No wonder God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of joy more than all your companions!
All your clothes have the pleasing scent of myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon.
The music of stringed instruments coming from ivory palaces entertains you.
The royal princess is standing in your precious jewels;
the queen stands at your right, dressed in the gold of Ophir.
Listen, daughter; pay attention, and listen closely!
Forget your people and your father's house. Let the king desire your beauty.
Because he is your master, bow down to him now.
The city of Tyre, the wealthiest of all, will seek your favor with gifts, with riches of every sort
for the royal princess, dressed in pearls, her robe embroidered with gold.
In robes of many colors, she is led to the king.
Her attendants, the young women servants following her, are presented to you as well.
As they enter the king's palace, they are led in with celebration and joy.
Your sons, great king, will succeed your fathers;
you will appoint them as princes throughtout the land.
I will perpetuate your name from one generation to the next so the peoples will praise you forever and always.
You are the most handsome of men; grace has been poured out on your lips.
No wonder God has blessed you forever!
Strap on your sword, great warrior, with your glory and grandeur!
God and succeed in your grandeur!
Ride out on behalf of truth, humility, and righteousness!
Let your strong hand perform awesome deeds.
Let the people fall beneath you.
May your sharp arrows pierce the hearts of the king's enemies.
Your divine throne is eternal and everlasting.
Your royal scepter is a scepter of justice.
You love righteousness and hate wickedness.
No wonder God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of joy more than all your companions!
All your clothes have the pleasing scent of myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon.
The music of stringed instruments coming from ivory palaces entertains you.
The royal princess is standing in your precious jewels;
the queen stands at your right, dressed in the gold of Ophir.
Listen, daughter; pay attention, and listen closely!
Forget your people and your father's house. Let the king desire your beauty.
Because he is your master, bow down to him now.
The city of Tyre, the wealthiest of all, will seek your favor with gifts, with riches of every sort
for the royal princess, dressed in pearls, her robe embroidered with gold.
In robes of many colors, she is led to the king.
Her attendants, the young women servants following her, are presented to you as well.
As they enter the king's palace, they are led in with celebration and joy.
Your sons, great king, will succeed your fathers;
you will appoint them as princes throughtout the land.
I will perpetuate your name from one generation to the next so the peoples will praise you forever and always.
Feb. 14, 2015 8 a.m. - Feb. 15, 2015 Winter Storm Warning -- Blizzard Warning 4 - 10 p.m.
from National Weather Service:
(UPDATE)
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN NORTHERN INDIANA HAS ISSUED A BLIZZARD WARNING... WHICH IS IN EFFECT UNTIL 10 PM EST THIS EVENING. A WINTER STORM WARNING HAS ALSO BEEN ISSUED. THIS WINTER STORM WARNING FOR SNOW AND BLOWING SNOW IS IN EFFECT FROM 10 PM EST THIS EVENING TO 7 AM EST SUNDAY.
HAZARDOUS WEATHER...
* TIMING... BANDS OF MODERATE TO HEAVY LAKE EFFECT SNOW WILL CONTINUE THROUGH THIS EVENING.
* SNOW ACCUMULATIONS... GENERALLY RANGING BETWEEN 3 AND 7 INCHES. DUE TO THE NATURE OF LAKE EFFECT SNOW... EXACT TOTALS MAY VARY SIGNIFICANTLY DEPENDING ON WHERE THE HEAVIER SNOWBANDS SET UP.
* BLOWING SNOW... SNOWFALL WILL BE ACCOMPANIED BY VERY STRONG WINDS TODAY
* DANGEROUS COLD... WIND CHILLS ARE EXPECTED TO FALL TO BETWEEN 10 BELOW AND 20 BELOW ZERO TONIGHT INTO SUNDAY MORNING (Feb. 15).
* TRAVEL IS EXPECTED TO BE HAZARDOUS DUE TO FALLING SNOW... AND BLOWING AND DRIFTING SNOW... WITH WHITEOUT CONDITIONS POSSIBLE.
* STRONG WINDS GUSTING UP TO 45 MPH SATURDAY MAY RESULT IN SOME POWER OUTAGES.
(UPDATE)
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN NORTHERN INDIANA HAS ISSUED A BLIZZARD WARNING... WHICH IS IN EFFECT UNTIL 10 PM EST THIS EVENING. A WINTER STORM WARNING HAS ALSO BEEN ISSUED. THIS WINTER STORM WARNING FOR SNOW AND BLOWING SNOW IS IN EFFECT FROM 10 PM EST THIS EVENING TO 7 AM EST SUNDAY.
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