Two flashbacks before we get started -
First, Sept 25
-in 1789 the Bill of Rights was approved by Congress and sent to the states for ratification. [Note, there were originally 12 proposed amendments. The 11th had to do with the size of the House, which quickly became irrelevant, the 12th was to prevent members of Congress from raising their pay without letting the constituents have a say. It finally became law when Michigan ratified it on 5.7.1992, pushing it over the 2/3’s requirement.]
- in 1981, Sandra Day O’Connor was installed as the first female member of the Supreme Court,
-and in 2020 RBG became the first woman to Lie in State in the Capital. [And it just is such a sadness that the Republican leadership did not attend the service. The times we live in - ]
Second, Sept 26, was National Pancake Day; in fact the second National Pancake Day as IHOP holds one each year late in Feb or early in Mar. Anyway, even though we missed it, The Cheesecake Factory has a recipe for Lemon-Ricotta Pancakes – which sound like they could be worth trying, even a couple of days late. We didn’t have any ricotta, so we went with gingerbread pancakes – ginger, cinnamon, molasses, applesauce. They were good.
Ok – on with the week -
A few days from the church calendar
Sept 29 – Michael and all Angels - in particular Gabriel and Raphael [Michaelmas] [ok, I grew up Methodist/United Methodist – anything like “Michaelmas” just sounds exotic and cool.] Michael is thought of as chief of the angels after defeating Lucifer. It marks the end of the harvest, and is one of the ‘quarter days’ when school terms started, accounts were settled, rents were paid. Also the last day to pick blackberries. “It is said that when St Michael expelled Lucifer, the devil, from heaven, he fell from the skies and landed in a prickly blackberry bush. Satan cursed the fruit, scorched them with his fiery breath, stamped, spat and urinated on them, so that they would be unfit for eating. As it is considered ill-advised to eat them after 11 October (Old Michaelmas Day according to the Julian Calendar), a Michaelmas pie is made from the last of the season.” Sounds like a good idea to me.
Oct 1 Threse of Lisieux She became a French Carmelite nun at age 15 and died of tuberculosis only nine years later. Her spirituality was characterized by a child-like trust. ‘She was content to be the toy with whom the child Jesus could play’. Her motto was ‘repay love by love alone.’ There’s a lot more to her story – it’s worth reading over.
Oct 3 John Raleigh Mott An American Methodist layperson, he was an evangelist and long-serving leader of the Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA) and the World Student Christian Federation (WSCF). He received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1946 for his work in establishing and strengthening international Protestant Christian student organizations that worked to promote peace.
Here’s the collect for his day -
Give us grace, O merciful God, to seek and serve you in all nations and peoples,
following the example of your servant John Raleigh Mott,
that all the peoples of the earth, who divided and enslaved by sin,
might be led into that glorious liberty that you desire for all your children;
through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom with you and the Holy Spirit be all honor and glory,
now and for ever. Amen.
Oct 4 Francis of Assisi What can we say – he lived the high life as a young man, heard a voice saying “Francis, Francis, rebuild my church”. He renounced his family’s wealth, some say stripping naked until the bishop covered him with his cloak. He started the Franciscan Order, dedicated to Lady Poverty, striving to live like Christ and do his work. He had a great affection for all of God’s Creation. The Canticle of the Sun is his most famous work and there are a variety of hymn and anthem settings. It is one of the first pieces of literature written in Italian. Oh, oh – spoiler alert ‘Lord, make me an instrument of your peace…’ usually attributed to him is probably not from him, is not found in his writing, and in fact has not been traced back further than 1912. Apparently it was printed on the back of a St Francis holy card.
And a few days from the world calendar -
Sept 29
- Louis Pasteur died. He developed pasteurization, and a vaccine against anthrax.
- W.H.Auden died in 1973. Here’s his page at The Poetry Foundation – I don’t know enough of his work to pick one.
Sept 30
- George Whitefield died. He encouraged John Wesley to preach outside the church building, where the people were, and was one of early Methodism’s most powerful voices.
-The Flintstones premiered in 1960 “Ya ba da ba do”?
Oct 1
- The first World Series game was played in 1903 between the Pirates and the Pilgrims. According to W Paul Jones, “baseball has been theologized as the only game where time is irrelevant and whose goal is to go ‘home’ to a place from whence one has come.”
- Full moon – in fact it’s the Harvest Moon – “Snow time”, no time to sit around and spoon, is coming! And get ready – it’s a Blue Moon on Halloween!
Oct 2
- The comic strip Peanuts was created in 1950. Wow, 70 years of Charlie Brown, Snoopy, and the gang. Have a favorite theme from the strip?
- Paavo Nurmi died in 1973
Oct 3
- [1849] Edgar Allen Poe was seen in public for the last time – sick and delirious. He died a few days later on Oct 7. He was one of the country's earliest practitioners of the short story. He is also generally considered the inventor of the detective fiction genre and is further credited with contributing to the emerging genre of science fiction. Poe was the first well-known American writer to earn a living through writing alone, resulting in a financially difficult life and career. The Coterie Theatre in Kansas City is doing a play in a cemetery, instead of tickets for a seat, you can have four people on a plot.
- in 1863, Abraham Lincoln proclaimed the last Thursday in November as Thanksgiving Day.
- Woody Guthrie died [1967], after telling us, among other things, that This Land Belongs To You And Me. He opposed all forms of fascism.
Oct 4
- Rembrandt died [1669] His life took on a sadness after his wife died early, and he became a master of light and dark, perfect vehicles for themes of forgiveness and compassion in many of his religious paintings.
- Russia launched Sputnik in 1957. There was a piece on the radio about all the space junk in low earth orbit that threatens the space station and other critical space infrastructure.
Question for the week – what are you going to do with all those green tomatoes? Bread? Cake? Curried Green Tomatoes? Here’s a green tomato pasta toss – saute a chopped onion in some olive oil. Add 6 chopped green tomatoes and cook for 10 minutes while a pound of tri-colored pasta cooks. Drain the pasta, toss with tomatoes, top with 1 cup crumbled feta cheese. Try it?n
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