Words 10.25

 Words Twice a Week         10.25 

(still waiting to get my computer back!)

And first, a couple of flashbacks -

+Jerry Jeff Walker, the man “who knew a man Bojangles and he danced for you” died last Friday.  

+and Oct 25 (yesterday) was the birthday of Anne Tyler – I just finished listening (audiobook streamed from the Library) to her latest book (Redhead By the Side of the Road) last night.  She’s written numerous books, including Saint Maybe, and Vinegar Girl, a contemporary retelling of The Taming of the Shrew, and Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant.

Some notes from the church calendar -

Oct 28 St Simon (the Zealot) and St Jude    About the first, Wikipedia says “one of the more obscure of the Apostles.”  About the second, it’s not really clear who he actually was, but there are some interesting legends connected with him.  Some say he was the groom at the wedding of Cana, and others link him with a kind of “Shroud of Turin” story -

Jude is traditionally depicted carrying the image of Jesus in his hand or close to his chest, betokening the legend of the Image of Edessa.  Eusebius relates that King Abgar of Edessa (now Şanlıurfa in southeast Turkey) sent a letter to Jesus seeking a cure for an illness afflicting him. With the letter he sent his envoy Hannan, the keeper of the archives, offering his own home city to Jesus as a safe dwelling place. The envoy painted a likeness of Jesus with choice paints (or alternatively, impressed with Abgar's faith, Jesus pressed his face into a cloth and gave it to Hannan) to take to Abgar with his answer. Upon seeing Jesus' image, the king placed it with great honor in one of his palatial houses. After Christ's execution, Jude Thomas the Apostle sent Addai, one of the 70 or 72 in Luke 10:1–12, to King Abgar and the king was cured. Astonished, he converted to Christianity, along with many of the people under his rule.   (Wikipedia)

St Jude is also known as the patron saint of lost causes - 

Among some Roman Catholics, Saint Jude is venerated as the "patron saint of lost causes". This practice stems from the belief that few Christians invoked him for misplaced fear of praying to Christ's betrayer, Judas Iscariot, because of their similar names. The ignored Jude thus supposedly became quite eager to assist anyone who sought his help, to the point of interceding in the most dire of circumstances. The Church also wanted to encourage veneration of this "forgotten" apostle and maintained that Saint Jude would intercede in any lost cause to prove his sanctity and zeal for Christ.  He’s the Patron Saint of a bunch of different organizations and locations, including the Chicago Police Department.  And St Jude’s Hospital for children.  (Wikipedia)    Hey, Jude…..

Oct 30 John Wycliff  (also spelled Wyclif, Wycliff, Wiclef, Wicliffe, Wickliffe!)  He was an early reformer and made one of the first English translations of the Bible.

And some from the world/earth calendar -

Oct 26 

+ Elizabeth Cady Stanton, a leader in the women’s suffrage movement died in 1902.

+ the Erie Canal opened in 1825, opening up the Great Lakes region to shipping, and encouraging the growth of midwest cities.  And a couple of good songs!

Oct 27 

+ Lou Reed died in 2013.  There is an asteroid named for him, and a velvet spider that lives underground in Spain called Loureedia.  (Reed was part of the band Velvet Underground.)  He said "I know my obituary has already been written. And it starts out, "Doot, di-doot, di-doot…""  Hey babe, let’s take a walk on the wild side…

Oct 28

+ Constantine’s victory at Milvian Bridge.  Legend says he had seen a sign, heard a voice, and put a Christian symbol on his soldiers shields.  After that Christianity became the state religion.  W Paul Jones writes “on the one hand this marked the end of persecution.  On the other hand, by uniting church and state there began a diminution of the gospel’s radicalness, a dilemma that haunts the church to this day.”

Oct 29

+ Wall Street crashed in 1929

+ first ball point pen sold in 1945.  Originally as a novelty that could write underwater, it replaced traditional pen and ink writing and helped foster “throw-away products” (and poor penmanship! -cw).

+ The National Organization of Women founded in 1966

+ Clarence Jordan died in 1969.  He founded Koinonia Farm in Americus GA, which Millard Fuller morphed into Habitat for Humanity.  Jordan wrote The Cotton Patch Gospel, which was then turned into a musical by Harry Chapin and Tom Key.

Oct 31

+ in 1517 Martin Luther posted his 95 Theses on the chapel door, kind of the blogspot of that day, touching off the Protestant Reformation.

+ Halloween – the eve of All Saints Day when in Celtic tradition witches and ghosts roamed free.  It is now the second most lucrative holiday in the US.

This week’s challenge - write a “ball point pen” haiku.

Here’s a prayer I came across that’s worth thinking about and praying this week -

Giver of Life,

what is it that makes us so desperate to have an “other”?

Is this something we have been taught?

Or is it, deep within us, our original sin?

Is it possible for me to just be me?

Or do I have to be “not you”?

Can it be enough to be myself,

Or does my sense depend upon being better than “them”

 – whoever I have defined “them” to be?

I may not be perfect, but I’m not ____________.

(Fill in the blank with the “other” of your choice.)

O God, where have I learned to think like this?

When did I learn to distort love into judgment?

Help me, God. Help me to see myself through your eyes.

Help me to break the chains of “othering.”

Help me to know that none of us may be perfect,

But every one of us is your child, beloved and accepted.

Help me, God. Help me.

        Elizabeth Moore, O.S.L.

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