Alzheimer's Talks - web seminar on "Depression, Mental Illness, and the Elderly"- August 19, online

Publicity from UM Communications:
Wednesday, Aug. 19, 2015

Alzheimer's Talks Teleconference — 3 to 4 p.m. EDT. Dr. Scott Mackin, associate professor of Psychiatry at University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine, will speak about his work trying to understand mental illness and late-life depression and how that relates to cognitive decline. Alzheimer’s Talks is a monthly teleconference series produced by USAgainstAlzheimer's to raise awareness about issues. The United Methodist Board of Church and Society is helping with the talks.

Congressman Emanuel Cleaver -- part of POTUS trip to Kenya and Ethiopia (July 2015) -- he is a UM Full Elder (Kansas)

from Congressman's Press Release (http://cleaver.house.gov/)
Congressman Cleaver is pleased to announce that he will be joining President Barack Obama and other Members of Congress on their five-day trip to Kenya and Ethiopia, leaving from Washington, D.C. Thursday evening. The bipartisan delegation includes both Senators and Representatives, including members of the Congressional Black Caucus. This is the first trip by any sitting US President to Ethiopia.
“As today’s global economy becomes more and more interconnected, we must do our part to ensure that African countries can compete worldwide,” said Congressman Cleaver. “I am looking forward to participating in this delegation and bringing the importance of job growth, education, health care, and even climate change into the forefront of our discussions. I am grateful for this opportunity, as a person with African roots, to strengthen the ties between the United States and these African nations and the African people.”
While in Kenya, the delegation will attend the Global Entrepreneurship Summit (GES), an annual event begun by the President in 2010. This year’s summit, held in Nairobi, will assemble entrepreneurs, leaders of business in varying industries, start-up business mentors, and high-level government officials. Previous summits have taken place in Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, Malaysia, and Morocco.
On Saturday, Members of Congress and the President will attend the opening plenary with all attendees. That afternoon, they will also visit and meet with representatives of Kenya’s environmental community, before attending a State Dinner at the State House with Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta. On Sunday, President Obama will address the GES, speaking about the United States’ relationship with the Kenyan people within the global economy. Later in the trip, the delegation will travel to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, where the delegation will meet with Ethiopian President Mulatu Teshome and Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn. Additionally, President Obama will deliver a speech at the African Union Tuesday morning before returning to Washington, D.C.
https://cleaver.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/congressman-cleaver-to-join-president-obama-on-historic-trip-to-africa

Updated Translations of Luther writings (Fortress Press series) - why do Christian thinkers & theologians need this?

from FORTRESS PRESS dot-com:
Timothy J. Wengert:The Annotated Luther series offers Martin Luther's most important writings to the broadest possible English-speaking audience. By updating translations, providing more extensive introductions and marginal annotations, as well as pictures and maps, this series will allow readers insight into one of the most important theologians of the past five hundred years. The Reformation that his writings sparked continues to influence many churches to this day.
Kirsi I. Stjerna: The Annotated Luther series is modern, in many senses of the word. It has a global intent and is prepared with global horizons in mind. It is the result of a highly collaborative enterprise. It is the result of loving care for the subject and careful planning that took years. This series is international, involving scholars around the world. It is methodologically exciting and ground-breaking: contributors bring in their own specialties, and the introductions and annotations are crafted in novel ways that breaks the mold of how Luther research is done. It is unique in its layout, design, and pedagogical vision. This work is unique being a US-based, ground-breaking work that invites the whole world to work with Luther with new questions and methods. The series beautifully values and highlights the importance of continued linguistic study of Luther and shows the relevance of constructive theological reflection with Luther. The volumes with their critical introductions and annotations build bridges between historical and theological study, and include in essential ways the best of social studies and gender studies. The series features Luther research that is both critically classical and creatively cutting edge.

These volumes are utterly unique in this regard: they present Luther's text in English that is modern and critical and inclusive. The unnecessary gender-exclusive language and the unnecessary he-pronouns cultivated in the previous translations have been replaced, fairly and on the basis of careful analysis of the original text and intent.
Paul W. Robinson: As the name of the series suggests, the notes are the distinctive feature. Because Luther wrote for specific occasions and against specific opponents, the main points of his writings can be lost without an understanding of the time and the individual situations he is addressing. Yet the main points still have tremendous value, and Luther is still very much worth reading. These texts will make it possible for today's readers to have a richer experience when they interact with Luther via the printed page.
Hans J. Hillerbrand: It offers in six volumes the most cogent of Luther's writings, in revised English translations and enhanced by a rich plethora of annotations.
Euan K. Cameron: The Annotated Luther series will occupy a place in between the relatively short, highly edited single-volume collections of Reformation sources, and the very large and expensive multivolume editions of (nearly) complete works. It will also comprise six volumes that are organized thematically, allowing those who are not already familiar with the key works of Luther (and there were many of those!) to explore selectively major issues in his huge body of writing.
http://fortresspress.com/annotatedluther

POTUS - 54th Birthday - Celebration early in Buckeye State (Cleveland, OH)

President Obama Birthday Party

August 1, 2015                                  

Harvard Wine and Grille (Cleveland, OH)

Join us for a Celebration of President Obama's Birthday!

National Friendship Day (for United States) - First Sunday in August -- World Ambassador is "Winnie-the-Pooh"

from FRIENDSHIP DAY dot-org :
History of Friendship Day in US Considering the valuable role friends play in our life it was deemed to fit to have a day dedicated to friends and friendship. The United States Congress, in 1935, proclaimed first Sunday of August as the National Friendship Day. Since then, celebration of National Friendship Day became an annual event. The noble idea of honoring the beautiful relationship of friendship caught on with the people and soon Friendship Day became a hugely popular festival.

Following the popularity and success of Friendship Day in US, several other countries adopted the tradition of dedicating a day to friends. Today, Friendship Day is enthusiastically celebrated by several countries across the world including India.

In 1997, the United Nations named Winnie - the Pooh as the world's Ambassador of Friendship.
http://www.friendshipday.org/friendship-day-history.html

Peter Cartwright United Methodist Church (Pleasant Plains, IL) - Archives and History online background

Peter Cartwright (1785-1872) was born in Amherst County, Virginia. The family soon moved to Logan County, Kentucky, where 16 year old Peter was converted at a camp meeting and joined the Methodist Episcopal Church. He became a preacher in 1802 and was later ordained by Francis Asbury and William McKendree. In 1812 he was appointed a presiding elder (now District Superintendent), and he served in that office for the next fifty years.

Cartwright moved from Kentucky to Illinois in 1824. In his autobiography he gave several reasons for this decision. Among them were that in Illinois he "would get entirely clear of the evil of slavery, that he could improve his financial situation and procure lands for my children as they grew up. And...I could carry the Gospel to destitute souls that had, by their removal into some new country, been deprived of the means of grace."

Cartwright was a founding member of the Illinois Annual Conference in 1824, and remained in Illinois for the rest of his life. He was a towering figure of frontier Methodism and one of the most colorful and energetic preachers the church has produced. He was elected to 13 General Conferences and called himself "God's Plowman."

Despite (or perhaps because of) his own background, Cartwright tirelessly promoted Methodist education and helped found McKendree College (Lebanon), MacMurray College (Jacksonville), and Illinois Wesleyan University (Bloomington). He also was active in state affairs. Twice a member of the Illinois legislature, he ran for the United States Congress in 1846, but was defeated by the Springfield lawyer, Abraham Lincoln.

In 1808, Cartwright married Frances Gaines; together they had two sons and seven daughters, one of whom, Cynthia, died on the journey to Illinois.

The present Cartwright Church began in 1824 as a class in the Cartwright home. In 1838, Cartwright donated land and $300 towards the construction of a log chapel where the congregation worshipped until 1853. By that time, the church had grown so much that it had to divide into two congregations. One moved two miles west and built the Bethel Methodist Episcopal Church (which was torn down in 1953). The other moved into the new village of Pleasant Plains and the current building was constructed in 1857. Two additions have been made, but the sanctuary is nearly the same as it was during Cartwright's time.

Points of interest at this Heritage Landmark: Five places make up the Landmark. Most prominent is the Peter Cartwright Church, which has a small museum with family artifacts; Cartwright's pulpit is still used in the church. Peter and Frances Cartwright, their oldest son Madison, and other family members are buried in the Pleasant Plains Cemetery. In addition, visitors can see the site of the log cabin home of Eliza Cartwright Harrison, oldest Cartwright daughter, and the site of original farm home of Peter Cartwright. Bethel Cemetery is the site of Bethel Church and the burial place of Cartwright daughter Mary Jane Mickel. Parking and restroom facilities are available at the Cartwright Church, which is also wheelchair accessible.

Special events: The Peter Cartwright Memorial Sermon is preached on the third Sunday in September. The congregation also places a wreath on Cartwright's grave at the conclusion of the worship service on Memorial Sunday in May.
http://www.gcah.org/research/travelers-guide/peter-cartwright-united-methodist-church

Who was the author of WUTHERING_HEIGHTS ?

from Writer's Almanac (American Public Media, Garrison Keillor):
Emily Brontë was born in Thornton, Yorkshire, England, on July 30 in 1818. She was the daughter of a clergyman, and the sister of Anne and Charlotte Brontë; there was also a brother, Branwell, who was an artist and poet. Emily's mother died of cancer when Emily was only three, and because their father was a quiet, solitary man who spent much of his time in his room, the children soon learned to entertain themselves. They read Shakespeare, Milton, and Virgil, played the piano, and told each other stories. Charlotte and Branwell created an imaginary land, Angria, so Anne and Emily came up with the country's rival, Gondal; the four children wrote histories of their imaginary lands and populated them with a rich cast of characters. Emily never outgrew her fascination with Gondal, and continued to think up stories and poems about it until her death. All three Brontë sisters were writers, and they published under male-sounding pseudonyms: Acton, Currer, and Ellis Bell. Emily only produced one novel — Wuthering Heights (1847) — and many critics didn't like it much, finding it too brutal and dark.
Most of what we know about Emily comes from things other people have written about her. She stayed close to home, mostly just talked to her family and the servants, and didn't leave behind many personal papers: just two short letters, two diary pages from her teenage years, and two "birthday papers," written when she was 23 and 27. Some historians try to infer things about her life or personality from Wuthering Heights, but of the three Brontë sisters, she drew the least from her own experience to write her novel, so it's not a reliable source.
In 1845, Charlotte discovered some of Emily's notebooks filled with poetry, which she had written in secret, and encouraged her to publish her poems. Emily was angry at the invasion of her privacy, and refused, until Charlotte produced the poems that she herself had written, also in secret. As it happened, Anne had been writing poetry too, so the sisters self-published a volume called Poems by Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell in 1846. Reviews of the day were not good, but since then, Emily's work has gained in reputation and she's now considered one of the great English lyric poets. Emily Dickinson thought so highly of her that she requested Brontë's "No Coward Soul is Mine" be read at her funeral.
Emily's health suffered in the months after Wuthering Heights was published, and she wore herself out caring for Branwell, who by this time was an alcoholic and drug addict, and was dying of tuberculosis. She caught a cold at his funeral and refused all medical attention. She died three months later.

Ending Modern Slavery (online event July 30, 2015) - Twitter

from GBCS dot-org (United Methodist Church General Board of Church & Society):

World Day Against Trafficking Twitter Rally Thursday, July 30, 1-5pm EST

A Call to Action to End Modern Slavery

Friend, On World Day Against Trafficking in Persons, nonprofit, faith-based and anti-trafficking organizations will host a Twitter Rally to build momentum for legislation that combats human trafficking and get the word out about the importance of increased investments. The United Methodist Church “regards the institution of slavery … as a[n] infamous and atrocious evil” (Social Principles ¶164A). John Wesley spoke out against England’s endorsement of slavery as “wrong and incompatible with Christ’s teachings” (Book of Resolutions  #6021). Invite your friends and colleagues to join you on Thursday, July 30, between 1pm and 5pm EST. Let’s make this a huge show of support for ending modern slavery in our generation! Goal: Raise awareness about the End Modern Slavery Initiative Act. Make members of Congress take notice by making #EndSlaveryAct a trending topic.

Paradise Lake Neighborhood, rural Mattoon (event August 2, 2015)

Sunday, August 2 -- event sponsored at Wabash Fire House, Paradise Community,

Wabash Fire Protection District  

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Fire Station

Address: 3287 Lake Rd, Mattoon, IL 61938

 

Sponsor: Zion Hill U.M. Church;

"Everyone Welcome: Come for the entire day - or come and go as your schedule permits.  Worship at 10 a.m.; Free Lunch - 11:30 to 12:30; Fellowship - Visiting - Games - Sharing & Music - 1 p.m. Kids receive "Back to School Supplies"

On July 29, 1981 (St. Paul's Cathedral, London)

Prince Charles marries Lady Diana Spencer

• •  

  • July 29, 1981

  •  

Nearly one billion television viewers in 74 countries tune in to witness the marriage of Prince Charles, heir to the British throne, to Lady Diana Spencer, a young English schoolteacher. Married in a grand ceremony at St. Paul’s Cathedral in the presence of 2,650 guests, the couple’s romance was for the moment the envy of the world. - - from History dot-com

He wrote the epic poem "The Wreck of the Deutschland" -- Happy Birthday, Gerard Manley Hopkins!

from Writer's Almanac (American Public Media, Garrison Keillor):
July 28 is the birthday of poet and priest Gerard Manley Hopkins, born in Stratford, near London, U.K. (1844). He was the eldest of nine children. The whole family drew pictures, wrote stories, and put on plays together. When Hopkins wasn't drawing or painting, he liked to climb trees, and especially loved the feeling of walking barefoot in the grass.
Hopkins attended a fancy boarding school, where he was a star student — he won prizes for his poetry, and he was a talented painter. He went on to Oxford University, U.K. to study classics, but he had a religious conversion. His parents were High Church Anglicans, but the young Hopkins decided to become Catholic, inspired by John Henry Newman, whose book Apologia Pro Vita Sua (1864) was a best-seller while Hopkins was at Oxford.
Two years later, Hopkins decided to become a Jesuit priest and started his training. He burned all of his poems and announced that he was giving up poetry. He didn't write at all for seven years. In 1875, a German passenger ship called the SS Deutschland sank in a storm, and more than 75 passengers died, including five Franciscan nuns who were escaping harsh anti-Catholic laws. He wrote a long poem, The Wreck of the Deutschland, in commemoration. Hopkins saw poetry as a way to express his faith, and started writing again. In 1877, the year he was ordained as a priest, he wrote most of his best-known poems, including "Spring," "The Windhover," "As kingfishers catch fire, dragonflies draw flame," and "God's Grandeur," which begins: "The world is charged with the grandeur of God. / It will flame out, like shining from shook foil."
Although Hopkins had graduated at the top of his class from Oxford, in July of 1877, he failed his final theology exam with the Jesuits. He was still ordained, but it seriously limited any chance of his ever advancing in the priesthood. Eventually, he was sent to University College in Dublin as a professor of Greek and Latin. The college was underfunded — he described it as "a ruin and for purposes of study very nearly naked." He hated it there, became profoundly depressed, doubting his own religious ideas, even contemplating suicide. During his years in Ireland, he wrote what are called his "terrible sonnets" because he was in such a dark place.
Hopkins died in 1889 of typhoid fever, at the age of 44. During his lifetime, he had published only a handful of minor poems, scattered through random publications. His friend Robert Bridges, who was now the poet laureate of England, edited and published the first book of Hopkins' poems in 1918.

On this date in 1914 - beginning of World War I

from NYTIMES dot-com:

ON THIS DAY On July 28, 1914, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia. World War I began as declarations of war by other European nations quickly followed.

Born on this date (Joseph Mitchell, New York City journalist - writer)

from WRITER's ALMANAC (American Public Media, Garrison Keillor):
July 27 is the birthday of Joseph Mitchell, born in Fairmont, North Carolina (1908). He was a writer for The New Yorker magazine for many years. His stories focused on people living on the fringe in New York City. They featured gypsies, alcoholics, the homeless, fishmongers, and a band of Mohawk Indians who worked as riveters on skyscrapers and bridges and had no fear of heights. Much of his journalism is included in the book Up in the Old Hotel (1992). While at The New Yorker, Joseph Mitchell interviewed criminals, evangelists, politicians, and celebrities. He said that he was a good interviewer because he had lost the ability to detect insanity. He listened to everyone, even those who were crazy, as if they were sane. He said, "The best talk is artless, the talk of people trying to reassure or comfort themselves."
Mitchell published his last book in 1965, Joe Gould's Secret, about a man who said that he learned the language of seagulls and was now writing the longest book in the world.

U.S. Flags at half-mast -- in honor of Chattanooga, TN shooting victims (mid-July 2015)

from WHITE HOUSE Press office (Proclamation: POTUS):
Our thoughts and prayers as a Nation are with the service members killed last week in Chattanooga.  We honor their service.  We offer our gratitude to the police officers and first responders who stopped the rampage and saved lives.  We draw strength from yet another American community that has come together with an unmistakable message to those who would try and do us harm:  We do not give in to fear.  You cannot divide us. And you will not change our way of life.
We ask God to watch over the fallen, the families, and their communities.  As a mark of respect for the victims of the senseless acts of violence perpetrated on July 16, 2015, in Chattanooga, Tennessee, by the authority vested in me as President of the United States by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, I hereby order that the flag of the United States shall be flown at half-staff at the White House and upon all public buildings and grounds, at all military posts and naval stations, and on all naval vessels of the Federal Government in the District of Columbia and throughout the United States and its Territories and possessions until sunset, July 25, 2015.  I also direct that the flag shall be flown at half-staff for the same length of time at all United States embassies, legations, consular offices, and other facilities abroad, including all military facilities and naval vessels and stations.

120th Anniverary -- gift of Judge & Mrs.Cunningham, Urbana, Illinois, USA

120th ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION

Cunningham Children's Home will celebrate 120 years of service to youth and families in need on Sunday, July 26. Hundreds of visitors including former staff, alumni, and community members will be in attendance at the Anniversary and Homecoming event. Alumni, and former and current staff of Cunningham will be able to reconnect and share memories at a private brunch. Former residents, students, and staff are encouraged to contact Cloydia Hill Larimore , Vice President of Philanthropy, at 217-337-9005 for details of the alumni events. From 1 to 4 p.m., the public is invited to tour the main campus, meet the staff, and learn more about the programs and services offered to children and youth at Cunningham. The highlight of the afternoon will be the 120th Anniversary Celebration Service, which will be held in the Spiritual Life Center at 2:30 p.m. www.igrc.org/

On this date in History (First lunar astronauts reach moon's surface)

ON THIS DAY 46 years ago

On July 20, 1969, the astronaut Neil Armstrong became the first man to walk on the moon.

Venus: The Evening Star -- visible with Crescent Moon (July 18, 2015) and Jupiter

the Evening Star, share these half dozen cool facts about Venus (second planet in Solar System):

• It's the shiniest planet in the universe. 
• It's so reflective because it's covered with brilliant white clouds made of sulfuric acid droplets. 
• Venus is [also] the slowest spinning body in the known universe. You can walk as fast as it rotates!
• It's the hottest of all worlds. 
• And it is the only one whose size closely matches our own beloved Earth.
• http://www.almanac.com/blog/astronomy-blog/weeks-amazing-sky-evening-star

Happy 153rd Birthday, Ida B. Wells (b. 1862)!

A pioneer for human rights - anti-lynching - freedom of press:
Ida Bell Wells-Barnett, more commonly known as Ida B. Wells, was a journalist, newspaper editor, suffragist, sociologist, Georgist, and an early leader in the Civil Rights Movement.
[honored with Google illustration on this date = 16 July 2015 ]

Happy Birthday, Sister Clare (of Assisi, Italy) -- born 1194!

from Writer's Almanac (American Public Media, Garrison Keillor):

Today is the birthday of St. Clare of Assisi, born 1194. As the eldest daughter of a wealthy family, she was expected by her parents to marry well, and they began trying to fix her up with eligible bachelors when she was only 12. She managed to convince them to wait until she was 18, but by that time she preferred to go and listen to the young and radical Francis of Assisi preaching the gospel. One Palm Sunday, she ran away in the middle of the night to give her vows to Francis. He cut her hair, dressed her in black, and brought her to a group of Benedictine nuns. Later, he moved her to the Church of San Damiano, where she embraced a life of extreme poverty, after the example set by Jesus. Clare’s sister Agnes eventually ran away to join her, and so did other women, and the order became known as the “Poor Ladies.” They spent their time in prayer and manual labor, and refused to own any property.
Clare defended her lifestyle of poverty and sacrifice by saying: “There are some who do not pray nor make sacrifices; there are many who live solely for the idolatry of their senses. There should be compensation. There should be someone who prays and makes sacrifices for those who do not do so. If this spiritual balance is not established, earth would be destroyed by the evil one.”

Disaster Relief teams (Quincy, IL area) needed (Week of July 13, 2015)

from IL Great Rivers Conference e-posting (www.igrc.org/)

Chainsaw crews are needed in the Adams County (Illinois) area due to the storms from Monday July 13, 2015.

The Adams County Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster (VOAD) needs crews to help clear debris in the Quincy area. 

If you or an organization have chainsaws, trailers and manpower to assist individuals, we would like to hear from you. 

Please note in your response the following things:

• How many volunteers you are bringing?
• What days are you available?
• Will you bring your own equipment?
• Will you be hauling the debris away?
• What other services can you provide?

As requests are received, we will contact you to determine the best place for you and your volunteer crew. 

VOLUNTEERS ONLY. NO CONTRACTORS! 

Happy Birthday to Painter of ARRANGEMENT_IN_GREY_AND_BLACK (born on this date in 1834)!

from Writer's Almanac (American Public Media, Garrison Keillor):
July 11 is the birthday of the artist best known for a painting of his mother: James Abbott McNeill Whistler, born in Lowell, Massachusetts (1834). In 1885, Whistler gave his famous “Ten O’clock Lecture” to general acclaim. One reviewer wrote: “[T]he Prince’s Hall was crowded [...] There were lords and ladies, beauties and their attendant ‘beasts,’ painters and poets, all who know about Art, and all who thought that they did [...] all seemed delighted with ‘Jimmy.’” In the hour long lecture, Whistler talked about his philosophy of “art for art’s sake.” Unlike most Victorians, he didn’t believe art or artists had a responsibility to convey a moral message. The artist's most famous painting was titled Arrangement in Grey and Black No. 1 (1871), but it’s more commonly known as “Whistler’s Mother.” It’s a portrait of Anna Matilda McNeill Whistler in a black dress, seated in profile against a gray wall. When Whistler’s scheduled model didn’t show up for a sitting, he decided to paint his mother instead.

What was SKYLAB? Fearful "space junk" of 1979 -- on this date in history

from NY TIMES dot-com:

ON THIS DAY

On July 11, 1979, the abandoned United States space station Skylab made a spectacular return to Earth, burning up in the atmosphere and showering debris over the Indian Ocean and Australia.

Acolyte Festival - October 10, 2015 - National Cathedral, Washington, D.C. at 10 a.m.

10/10/15 at 10:00 a.m. Eastern Time.

Saturday, October 10, 2015 10 AM

Annual National Acolyte Festival

About the Festival

Join acolytes from across the United States for a morning service of rededication and Holy Eucharist. Bring your processional crosses, banners, torches, thuribles, flags, and streamers for a festive procession of acolytes, clergy, and vergers. Workshops in the afternoon offer enrichment and instruction.

Highlights

• Meeting acolytes and worship leaders from across the nation
• Combining processional crosses, banners, torches, thuribles, flags, and streamers for a festive procession of acolytes, clergy, and vergers
• Liturgical dance group participation
• Lunch together and a variety of workshops.

Happy Birthday, Marc Chagall (7/7/1887)!

from Writer's Almanac (American Public Media, Garrison Keillor):
July 7 is the birthday of artist Marc Chagall, born in Vitebsk, Russia (1887). He was one of nine kids in a family of modest means; his father worked for a salt herring factory, and his mother ran a shop. He wanted to be an artist, and he moved to St. Petersburg, where he failed his first entrance exams but eventually was accepted to art school. It was in Paris, surrounded by other artists, that he really began to develop his style. Though he was homesick and could not speak French, he later said, “My art needed Paris like a tree needs water.” Chagall is known for bright and complex colors, and his fantastical images from Russian-Jewish folklore and his childhood: ghosts, livestock, weddings, fiddlers, scenes of his village, Vitebsk, a couple floating in the sky, and fish.

Pope Francis to address Congress and public that gathers in D.C. - September 2015

from NCR Online (National Catholic Reporter) - http://ncronline.org/
Pope Francis' address to a joint meeting of Congress Sepember 24, 2015 will be broadcast live to members of the public on the West Front of the Capitol, House Speaker John Boehner announced Wednesday, July 8.

"The visit of Pope Francis to the U.S. Capitol is a historic moment for the country," he said in a statement, adding that "the unprecedented nature of his visit" prompted the decision to broadcast his address.

Pope Francis also "has expressed an interest in making a brief appearance on the West Front," the Ohio Republican said. "We look forward to welcoming Pope Francis and Americans from all walks of life to our Capitol on Sept. 24."

On this date in history (July 10, 1509)

July 10 is  the birthday of John Calvin, born in Noyon, Picardy, France (1509). He experienced a religious epiphany sometime between 1528 and 1533, in his early 20s, when, he said, “God subdued my soul to docility by a sudden conversion.” Calvin embraced Protestantism at a time when that was a dangerous thing to do; in 1534, two dozen Protestants were burned at as heretics in France. He took up a nomadic lifestyle for the next several years, traveling throughout France, Italy, and Switzerland, finally settling in Geneva.
In 1536, Calvin published Institutes of the Christian Religion; it was intended for a general readership - - - It is no small honour that God for our sake has so magnificently adorned the world, in order that we may not only be spectators of this beauteous theatre, but also enjoy the multiplied abundance and variety of good things which are presented to us in it.

Who is Don Saliers? Authority and leader in Christan Worship

Don E. Saliers is Wm. R. Cannon Professor of Theology and Worship, Emeritus, at Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia, and is adjunct professor at St. John’s University School of Theology, Collegeville, Minnesota. A graduate of Ohio Wesleyan University, Yale Divinity School, with doctoral work at Cambridge and Yale Universities. He served as President of the Society for the Study of Christian Spirituality, and the North American Academy of Liturgy, from whom he received the Berakah Award in 1992. Before joining Emory University in 1974, he taught at Yale Divinity School and has taught in the summer programs at St. John’s University (Collegeville, MN), Notre Dame, Boston College, Vancouver School of Theology, and more recently at Boston University School of Theology.
For many years he directed the Sacred Music Program at Emory, and has been organist/choirmaster at Cannon Chapel for 35 years. Among his fifteen published books are Filled With Light ( 2008),  Music and Theology (2007), Sounding Glory: Hymns for the Church Year (2006), A Song to Sing, A Life to Live (2005), Worship and Spirituality (1996), Worship Come to Its Senses (1996), Worship As  Theology: Foretaste of Glory Divine (1994), and The Soul in Paraphrase: Prayer and the Religious Affections (1991).  He has published more than 150 articles, essays, chapters in books and book reviews.  Currently he is working on a theological commentary on the Psalms.
http://divinity.yale.edu/don-saliers-1

A plea to prevent a world of "debris, desolation, filth" -- June 2015 call by Pope Francis, Roman Catholic world leader

Pope Francis has clearly embraced what he calls a "very solid scientific consensus" that humans are causing cataclysmic climate change that is endangering the planet. The pope has also lambasted global political leaders for their "weak responses" and lack of will over decades to address the issue.

In what has already been the most debated papal encyclical letter in recent memory, Francis urgently calls on the entire world's population to act, lest we leave to coming generations a planet of "debris, desolation and filth."
"An outsider looking at our world would be amazed at [our] behavior, which at times appears self-destructive," the pope writes at one point in the letter, titled: "Laudato Si', on Care for Our Common Home."
Addressing world leaders directly, Francis asks: "What would induce anyone, at this stage, to hold on to power only to be remembered for their inability to take action when it was urgent and necessary to do so?"
Francis writes, "As often occurs in periods of deep crisis which require bold decisions, we are tempted to think that what is happening is not entirely clear. ... Such evasiveness serves as a license to carrying on with our present lifestyles and models of production and consumption. This is the way human beings contrive to feed their self-destructive vices: trying not to see them, trying not to acknowledge them, delaying the important decisions and pretending that nothing will happen."
http://ncronline.org/news/theology/pope-francis-encyclical-urgent-call-prevent-world-debris-desolation-and-filth

Five hundred million votes -- All-Star Game favorite players -- MLB dot-com

Toronto Blue Jays third baseman Josh Donaldson collected over 2.7 million votes last week to not only move into the top spot at the hot corner in the American League, but surpass Salvador Perez of the Kansas City Royals as the top vote-getter in all of Major League Baseball for the 86^th All-Star Game, to be played on Tuesday, July 14^th at Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati, Major League Baseball announced today. Overall, the 2015 Esurance MLB All-Star Game Ballot has eclipsed 500 million votes, exceeding the previous record total of 391 million votes (2012). The 2015 Esurance MLB All-Star Game Ballot, which is available exclusively online for the first time via MLB.com, Club sites and mobile devices, will be accessible until the voting period ends on Thursday at 11:59 p.m. (ET).
http://m.royals.mlb.com/news/article/133608728

Happy Birthday, Herman Hesse (1877)!

from Writer's Almanac (American Public Media, Garrison Keillor):
July 2 is the birthday of Hermann Hesse, born in Calw, Germany, in 1877. In 1911, he took a trip to India and started studying Eastern religions, and ancient Hindu and Chinese cultures. His travels inspired his novel Siddhartha, about the early life of Gautama Buddha. It became popular among the counterculture movement of the 1960s, more than 40 years after it was published.
He said: "The world is not imperfect or slowly evolving along a path to perfection. No, it is perfect at every moment, every sin already carries grace in it."

End of Supreme Court Term (October 2014 - June 30, 2015): analysis and critical comparisons [excerpt of Bill Blum's article at TruthDig]

The Supreme Court has spoken: Obamacare will survive, and same-sex marriage is the law of the land.
Has the court under the leadership of Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. lost its ideological marbles and, gasp, turned liberal? That’s the billion-dollar question observers of the high tribunal are asking in the wake of the tumultuous October 2014 term.
The answer, though complicated, is that the court’s drift to the left has been exaggerated by cheerleaders on both ends of the mainstream political spectrum. Here is the first of five takeaways from the current term to help explain - - -

According to a detailed report published June 23 by The New York Times, two days before the ruling (King v. Burwell) on Obamacare was announced, the court was on track to conclude its most liberal term since the heydays of the Warren Court in the 1950s and ’60s. The Times’ article was based on the findings of the Supreme Court Database, an analytics-based research project that uses criteria developed by political scientists to evaluate and code the court’s decisions.

With the release of Roberts’ majority opinion in King and the opinion on same-sex marriage the next day, alarm bells were sounding on the American right, with the chief justice bearing the brunt of the opprobrium.
“Roberts = Souter,” tweeted campaign consultant Matt Mackowiak, founder of the ultra-right Potomac Strategy Group, referring to former Supreme Court Justice David Souter, a Republican appointee who compiled a surprisingly moderate record during his tenure on the bench.
Roberts “is now just the water boy for the welfare state,” tweeted the unremittingly hysterical Fox News host Andrea Tantaros, ratcheting up the heat another notch.
Extending the metaphorical social-media lynching of Roberts still further, Fox Business Network anchor Charles Payne bloviated in his tweet of the day that the King ruling was “another giant step toward Banana Republic.” Although unspecified, Payne clearly had in mind the form of government at one time prevalent in Latin America, not the retail clothing chain.
And not to be outdone, Presidential candidate Ted Cruz—the Texas senator whom I have sometimes compared in my own Twitter account to the late Sen. Joseph McCarthy, R-Wis., in both physical appearance and vitriolic rhetoric— called for a constitutional amendment that would subject Supreme Court justices to periodic judicial-retention elections in order to “restore the rule of law.”
The reality, of course, is that Roberts is neither the second coming of David Souter nor, even more so, Earl Warren. With few exceptions—notably, the King decision and last year’s unanimous ruling in Riley v. California that shielded arrestees from warrantless searches of their cellphones—Roberts is what he has always been: a reliable conservative who nearly always votes in line with his backward-looking brethren Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas, and Samuel Alito. In fact, according to the statistics compiled by Scotusblog.com, Roberts voted in agreement with Scalia during the current term at an 83 percent clip, higher than his agreement rate with any other member of the panel.
Any question as to Roberts’ right-wing bona fides were laid to rest June 26 with his dissenting opinion in the court’s landmark 5-4 ruling on gay marriage, Obergefell v. Hodges. Penning a dissent, Roberts channeled his own version of Ted Cruz, condemning the Obergefell majority’s endorsement of same-sex marriage as an outrageous form of judicial activism, arguing:
“As a result [of the majority ruling], the Court invalidates the marriage laws of more than half the States and orders the transformation of a social institution that has formed the basis of human society for millennia, for the Kalahari Bushmen and the Han Chinese, the Carthaginians and the Aztecs. Just who do we think we are?”
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/scotus_wrapup_5_takeaways_from_the_supreme_courts_current_term_20150629