Words 8.29

 Words Twice a Week        8.29

If you are more into listening than reading, Words Twice a Week is available, along with other good stuff, as a podcast from St Paul’s Episcopal Church.  Click here.

And first a comment from last time – James’ words about “Be quick to listen, slow to speak…”  there was a line in the Love People book – “Speak only when your words are more valuable than silence.”  And then I was reading Walking the Old Road, and the author was telling about learning to listen to the elders.  So, moving on -

And this is really bare bones, but I wanted to get something to you before I head back to camp!

Some days from the church calendar -

Aug 30 Charles Chapman Grafton, Bishop of Fond du Lac, and Ecumenist, 1912. Hey – he was the bishop of Fond du Lac!

Aug 31 Aidan, 651, and Cuthbert, 687, Bishops of Lindisfarne, or more correctly, the Holy Isle of Lindisfarne, a cool place.

Sept 3 Phoebe, First Century Deacon, in fact the only woman in the Bible identified as a deacon!  Kind of like the book group reading The Only Woman in the Room..  Paul also refers to her as a “patron” – she was probably a woman of means who supported the work.   Paul trusted her to deliver his letter to the Romans.  “Paul introduces Phoebe as his emissary to the church in Rome and, because they are not acquainted with her, Paul provides them with her credentials.”

Sept 4 Albert Schweitzer, Theologian and Humanitarian, an Alsatian polymath. He was a theologian, organist, musicologist, writer, humanitarian, philosopher, and physician.  He ditched it all to go and build and run a hospital in Lambarene, (I just like saying the name!) in French Equatorial Africa, later to become Gabon.  He won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1952.

Some days from the world/earth calendar -

Aug 30

+ Thurgood Marshal became a Supreme Court Justice in 1967 – the first African American.  He was sworn in on Sept 2.

Aug 31

+ Thomas Edison patented his motion picture camera in 1897.  Stop and ponder how it has made a difference to have visual stories, records of history?

+ US Marines left Haiti in 1926 after a 10 year occupation in which W Paul Jones says “the country was made to function much like an economic colony.”

+ Princess Diana was killed in a car accident in 1997.

Sept 1

+ Martha, last known passenger pigeon, died in 1914, in the Cincinnati Zoo.

+ Hitler attacked Poland, starting WWII in 1939

Sept 2

+ Eugene Field was born in  1850    “Field was not a serious student and spent much of his time at school playing practical jokes. He led raids on the president's wine cellar, painted the president's house school colors, and fired the school's landmark cannons at midnight.  Field tried acting, studied law with little success, and also wrote for the student newspaper. He then set off for a trip through Europe but returned to the United States six months later, penniless.”  He wrote over a dozen volumes of poetry, much of it light-hearted and humerous, and for children.  He wrote Wynken, Blynken, and Nod and The Duel, (between a gingham dog and a calico cat).  It apparently shares some content with a limerick There once were two cats from Kilkenny! (There’s quite a long story about the “Kilkenny Cats”)  It also apparently inspired an album and title track  The Gingham Dog and the Calico Cat by Chet Atkins and Amy Grant.  Seems like it ought to be on youtube, but I can’t find it.  Here’s a girls chorus singing it.

Sept 3

+ Ebay was founded in 1995

+ Sally Benson was born in 1897. She wrote screenplays, including Shadow of a Doubt (1943) for Alfred Hitchcock, Come to the Stable (1949), Summer Magic (1963), Viva Las Vegas (1964) and The Singing Nun (1966). Her screenplay for Anna and the King of Siam (1946) was nominated for an Academy Award.  Come on – Viva Las Vegas and The Singing Nun  (Dominica,nica, nica…..)!

Sept 4

+ Google founded in 1998 – “Just Google It”

+ Orville Faubus called out the National Guard to block 9 black students at Central High School, Little Rock.  (Hey, we’ve been there – they have a really excellent National Historic Site Museum that even does tours into the High School.)

+ Geronimo surrendered in 1886.

Sept  5

+ After surrendering and while in US custody, Crazy Horse was assassinated in 1877.

Jeeze, kind of grim ending there, let's stick the Prayer for Peace in the world in here, just to hang onto a little hope with all that has gone on and is going on in the world -

God of all Creation, 

let the peace which is in your heart 

flow into your world, 

and may all who share your world 

live together in justice, kindness and humility. 

We ask it in the name of Jesus, Prince of Peace. Amen.

That’s what I got for now…..

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Words 8.26, finally

 Words Twice a Week        8.26 

well, 8.27 by the time I finally get it done!

If you are more into listening than reading, Words Twice a Week is available, along with other good stuff, as a podcast from St Paul’s Episcopal Church.  Click here.

Some thoughts on some of the lectionary texts for this Sunday – Proper 17

Song of Songs 2.8-13

+ Song of Songs is a series of love poems, some of them quite explicit.  Are they just about a man and a woman?  Are they about God and Israel? Are they about Jesus and the Church? It seems to me anything besides a man and a woman ends up being quite a stretch.

+ Physical and even sexual love has a place in the Christian faith.  Has that been your experience?

+ My beloved comes, leaping, bounding, “hot to trot”.  (A little too disrespectful?)

+ “The winter is past” – well actually, the summer is just about past.  Winter is over the horizon.  Nevertheless, it is always time for singing?

+ “Arise my love, my fair one, and come away.”  Well, it does recall the times Jesus called the disciples to come away to a desolate place for prayer.  I don’t think that’s what the guy has in mind here!

+ “Arise my love, my fair one, and come away” – an invitation to take a break now and then, for prayer, for meditation, for relaxation and fun, just to be together.

+ Anyway, the Bible would just be a whole lot less interesting without the Song!   And a note that St Bernard preached 86 sermons on the book and never got beyond the third chapter.

Ps 45.1-2, 6-9

+ A song of praise for the king, perhaps on his wedding day.

+ But still, this psalm is a little odd.

+ words of grace, scepter of equity, love of righteousness – reflection of reality or hopeful longing?

+ but then “robes fragrant with myrrh, aloes, cassia” – what’s that about?

+ “Out of the ivory palaces, into a world of woe; only his great redeeming love, made my savior go.”

James 1.17-27

+ Great is thy faithfulness, O God, my Father, there is no shadow of turning with thee...

+ “Those who study this letter diligently find that it lacks a carefully defined structure”!

+ “James is convinced that as the word comes to the believers, and the believers open themselves to the presence and the power of this word in their lives, they will be able to defeat the power of sin that is within them, because God’s word is powerful unto salvation”.  How has that worked out in your life?

+ And some of our familiar words – be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger; be doers of the word, and not merely hearers; If any think they are religious, and do not bridle their tongues but deceive their hearts, their religion is worthless.

Mark 7.1-8, 14-15, 21-23

+ the disciples are criticized for not following the ritual, and Jesus comes to their defense; 

+ “Jesus called the God and the religion of purity codes into question, and like the prophets o old he called people beyond mere ritual to genuine devotion to living out God’s will.  If the crud that comes out of a human life reflects the corruption of that person’s soul, then the good that comes forth in the course of living demonstrates the health and wholeness of one’s life.  If this is the case, and we appraise the matter theologically, the God is concerned that our inner dispositions and our actual lives be congruent in terms of active good.  In turn, if this is true, then God is not removed from life into a heavenly compartment of super-purity; rather God is present and active in the world, especially in the hearts and lives of truly religious people, accomplishing that which is good, honest, compassionate, generous, and of lasting value.  God’s glory is grace, not sanitation.

   “The words of Jesus are both liberating and irritating.  He refuses to allow us the comfort of a carefully prescribed and regulated religion.  There is no easy parade for the kind of piety Jesus talks about.”  - Preaching the Revised Common Lectionary

+ “We cannot misconstrue Jesus’ words here.  They do not say that religion is a matter of inward piety rather than external behavior, that one’s private spirituality is valued more highly than one’s physical life in the world.  Rather, Jesus warns that sin arises from within and leads to destructive deeds such as fornication, theft, murder, and the like.  The lack of holiness is marked not by breaches in the cultic code, but in evil acts that spring from evil intentions._  -  Fred Craddock

+ So how does that intersect with our lives?  Would it be eating without saying grace?  Would it be dressing nicely to go to church?  Would it be giving a tenth of your income to the church but then doing whatever you want with the rest?  What rituals are our faith built around?

+ Or, do we think of God being distant from everyday life, perhaps now and then intruding to do something, or do we think of God participating in each moment?

That’s what I got for now…..

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Words 8.26

 Busy day today - I might not get to this until tomorrow!

Words 8.22

 Words Twice a Week        8.22

If you are more into listening than reading, Words Twice a Week is available, along with other good stuff, as a podcast from St Paul’s Episcopal Church.  Click here.

Ok – we are getting back into the groove.  But first off, backspace, backspace to 8.20 and “Booth Led Boldly With His Big Bass Drum/Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?”  That’s right, Gen William Booth, who walked out of the Methodist Church and founded the Salvation Army, died on 8.20.1912.  The poem is by Vachel Lindsey

Some days from the church calendar -

Aug 23  Rose of Lima – her family named her “Rose” because she was a beautiful baby.  But she wanted to be known for more than beauty – she moved into a summer house in the garden, blistered her skin with pepper, dressed in rough clothing, and cut off her hair.  She focused on the plight of the poor, Indians, and slaves, and is heralded as the originator of social services in Peru.  She died at age 31.  She was the first person born in the Americas to be canonized by the Catholic Church.

Aug 24  Bartholomew, Disciple, Apostle  In the first three Gospels, he is always mentioned together with Philip.  In John, Philip is mentioned with Nathaniel.  Some people think they are the same, some don’t.  The tradition is that Bartholomew and Jude/Thaddeus preached in India and Armenia, and that Bartholomew was martyred for converting the king of Armenia to Christianity.  

Aug 25  St Louis, King of France  The only king of France who was a saint.  He was known for his fairness; he introduced the idea of the presumption of innocence into the legal system; he was respected by other European monarch, who sometimes asked him to mediate their differences.  On the other hand, he was pretty strict and punished blasphemy by mutilation of the tongue and lips, and he burned 12,000 manuscripts of the Talmud and other Jewish books.  St Louis, MO is named for him, as is the cathedral in New Orleans, and , I assume, the church in Harvey!  And a lot of other places and buildings.

Aug 27  Monica, mother of Augustine of Hippo  Well, she also is remembered on May 4, a little closer to Mother’s Day.  You can check back to then -

Aug 28  Augustine of Hippo – he was a good student, but “in spite of the good warnings of his mother, as a youth Augustine lived a hedonistic lifestyle for a time, associating with young men who boasted of their sexual exploits. The need to gain their acceptance forced inexperienced boys like Augustine to seek or make up stories about sexual experiences.”  At age 31 he converted to Christianity and became a priest.  Believing the grace of Christ was indispensable to human freedom, he helped formulate the doctrine of original sin and made significant contributions to the development of just war theory. When the Western Roman Empire began to disintegrate, Augustine imagined the Church as a spiritual City of God, distinct from the material Earthly City.

Aug 29  The Beheading of John the Baptist  -  well, we never really covered that in Sunday School, singing the songs, acting it out, and all that!

Aug 29  Also John Bunyan   One Sunday the vicar of Elstow preached a sermon against Sabbath breaking, and Bunyan took this sermon to heart. That afternoon, as he was playing tip-cat (a game in which a small piece of wood is hit with a bat) on Elstow village green, he heard a voice from the heavens "Wilt thou leave thy sins, and go to Heaven? Or have thy sins, and go to Hell?"  He wrote The Pilgrim’s Progress. He spent 12 years in jail for preaching outside of the church.

And some days from the world/earth calendar -

Aug 22

+ it’s the birthday in 1922 of Ray Bradbury.  Fahrenheit 451, Something Wicked This Way Comes, The Martian Chronicles, I Sing the Body Electric, Dandelion Wine and many more. Something called Farewell Summer as an audiobook at PWPL. A little bit early, maybe. I'll give it a try and let you know.

Aug 23

+ It’s the birthday of Edgar Lee Masters in 1868. We (or at least, “I”) know him as the author of Spoon River Anthology, but he also wrote a bunch of other things - The New Star Chamber and Other Essays, Songs and Satires, The Great Valley, The Serpent in the Wilderness, An Obscure Tale, The Spleen, Mark Twain: A Portrait, Lincoln: The Man, and Illinois Poems. In all, Masters published twelve plays, twenty-one books of poetry (one called The Domesday Book), six novels and six biographies, including those of Abraham Lincoln, Mark Twain, (afore mentioned) Vachel Lindsay, and Walt Whitman.  I dabble in Spoon River now and then, but never seem to get all the way through it!

+ It’s also the day in 1966 that the first photo taken of Earth from moon orbit.  (And by the way, hasn’t the moon been something these last few nights.  I’ve been sleeping downstairs because of my knee, and it has really shone through the back windows!)  Back to the picture of Earth, what beauty it displays and what evil and suffering is there under the surface.  We noted that last time.  

Aug 24 

+ it’s Waffle Day – the waffle iron was patented in 1869!  Waffles for dinner?  I’m good with that. And maybe Stroopwaffles for dessert!

Aug 25

+ it’s the birthday of Leonard Bernstein in 1918.  He had a career that covered just about everything musical.  In October 1976, Leonard Bernstein led the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and pianist Claudio Arrau in an Amnesty International Benefit Concert in Munich. To honor his late wife and to continue their joint support for human rights, he established the Felicia Montealegre Bernstein Fund of Amnesty International USA to provide aid for human rights activists with limited resources.  He conducted his final concert at Tanglewood on August 19, 1990.

+ It marks the beginning on The Great Moon Hoax of 1835.  Really, you got to read it for yourself.  It was published in The Sun, a New York paper which never did print a retraction. (Note the Edgar Allen Poe also wrote a “moon hoax”.)  Again, if there really was a civilization on the moon, we would have seen it over these past few days!

Aug 26

+ the first public kindergarten in the US established in St Louis.   The first kindergarten in the US was founded in Watertown, Wisconsin in 1856, and was conducted in German by Margaretha Meyer-Schurz.  Elizabeth Peabody founded the first English-language kindergarten in the US in 1860. The first free kindergarten in the US was founded in 1870 by Conrad Poppenhusen, a German industrialist and philanthropist, who also established the Poppenhusen Institute. The first publicly financed kindergarten in the US was established in St. Louis in 1873 by Susan Blow.  These were all influenced by the thought of Freidrich Froebel.  I mention that because when I was growing up there was a school at Pine and Ridge that I think was called Froebel.  I did not go there though I lived a block away.  I went to Pierce for kindergarden – with Mrs Willmer -  through 8th grade because my family was connected with Northern Michigan (College, at that time).

Aug 27

+ Petroleum discovered in Pennsylvania in 1859.  Amazing what we have done with that in 150 years!  A day to work on reducing our “footprint”!

Aug 28

+Martin Luther King Jr’s “I have a dream speech” delivered in 1963.

+ Frederick Law Olmsted died in 1903.  He designed parks and landscaping, with an eye towards keeping things natural.  And yes, the wikipedia page notes Olmsted was also known to oppose park projects on conservationist grounds. In 1891, Olmsted refused to develop a plan for Presque Isle Park in Marquette, Michigan, saying that it "should not be marred by the intrusion of artificial objects."  Good day to go around the Island!

Aug 29

+ Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast as a category 5 in 2005, devastating New Orleans, site of afore mentioned St Louis Cathedral!

+ Ingrid Bergman was born on this day in 1915 and died on this day in 1982.  In between she had one off the most influential movie careers in history.  She played opposite Humphrey Bogart, Gary Cooper, Cary Grant, and Gregory Peck, among others.  “Play it again, Sam”

That’s what I got for now…..

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Words 8.19

 Words Twice a Week        8.19

If you are more into listening than reading, Words Twice a Week is available, along with other good stuff, as a podcast from St Paul’s Episcopal Church.  Click here.

Some thoughts on some of the lectionary texts for this Sunday, Proper 16

1 Kings 8:(1,6,10-11), 22-30, 41-43

+ So Solomon brings the Ark, the representation of God’s Presence on Earth, which has been down in the Lower Harbor Park, and sets it up in the inner room of this impressive building.  Is this a positive development?  If we have an elegant, dramatic, impressive, historic building, what are the good things about that?  What are the difficult things?

+ What issues arise when the interface with God is in some sense “hidden away” in the inner chamber with only the priests, maybe only the High Priest, having access to it?  Do we have direct access to God?  “A Royal Telephone? A Hot Line to God?  Call Him Up and Tell Him What You Want.”  What is the appropriate role of the priest?

+ the “epiphany” – the cloud, the glory.  Have you ever experienced anything like that?   Where?  When?

+ so the priests cannot handle being in the room, but Solomon can?  Hmmm.

+ Solomon lifts up God’s faithfulness (covenant) and steadfast love and claims the Ark in the Temple is the fulfillment of God’s covenant with David.  Think so?  Or is Solomon putting the stamp of “God’s action” on his own effort?  Are we ever tempted to do that?

+ “Will God dwell on Earth?” - Solomon kind of dances around here.  Just what is in that inner room – “God’s Name”?  The Interface with God?  The place where God check’s God’s messages each morning?  Where does God dwell in your understanding?

+ “Hear the plea of the Israelites; also, when foreigners come to hear about God’s wonderful power and come with their pleas, hear them as well, that that all will know….”  So – would this include the Palestinians?  Does it include you and me?   If “foreigners” (people of other faith traditions) come to pray in our church, what would happen?  I did a baptism once where one of the sponsors was Jewish – which raised one or two eyebrows.  I said, well, yeah, that sponsor is not going to teach the child about the Christian faith, or provide a Christian community for the child to be part of, but if it came down to it, that sponsor would transport the child to someone who would.

Psalm 84

+ could have been a psalm to sing on your pilgrimage to the Temple in Jerusalem?  Or could have been a song for those who stayed home?

+ the joy of pilgrimage – churches in England (at least small country Methodist ones) often had a “Homecoming Sunday” when people who had moved away would come back for special service, meals, etc.  The United Methodist Church in Centennial (Keweenaw) used to hold a “Homecoming Service” each summer, even though the church was no longer operating!

+ the sparrows and the swallows find a home.  Pigeons?  Bats (in the belfry?)  Are we down with little creatures finding a home in the church?  Mice?  

+ a couple of our favorite lines to enjoy – “A day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere”, and “I would rather be the doorkeeper/usher/custodian in the house of the Lord than dwell in the tents of wickedness”.  (What goes on in the tents of wickedness?)

+ and then this comment “This psalm is a celebration of Zion.  It was no doubt sung by the choirs of the Jerusalem Temple in celebration of the Temple.  Thus it lives at the edge of self-congratulation.  Every such exaltation of the church as building or institution runs the risk of falling in love with an idol.”

+ and this – “In an inordinately utilitarian climate like ours, it is crucial to see that God is end and not means.  Communion is the thing, the fulfillment of human life.  This poem does not seek communion with God as a means toward anything else.”   How, when, do you experience communion with God?  

Joshua 24:1-2a, 14-18

+ Again, one of our favorite lines - “Choose this day whom you will serve.  As for me and my house we will serve the Lord.”  Did you grow up singing “I have decided to follow Jesus, no turning back, no turning back…”?  And did you sing along with Bob Dylan “You know you gotta serve somebody…”?

+ Joshua is getting ready to die and turn the leadership of the people to the succession of judges whom God will raise up to address specific situations.

+ in vs 2-13 he recites all the ways God has acted to save them.

+ and I love it – he says “Who are you gonna serve?”, and they say “We will serve the Lord”, and he says “No way you are going to be able to do that.”  (Ok, the passage ends before we get there, but that’s how it continues.  And when they say “No, we will serve the Lord” Joshua says “Then get rid of the gods you brought out of Egypt or happened to pick up along the way.” (Joshua as one of The Minimalists!  There is still just time to get into the book discussion!)

+ and one final note – this story was put in it’s final form during the Babylonian Exile, when in fact the people had not been able to serve the Lord and were suffering the consequences.  At least that’s the traditional way of understanding what happened.

+ we come back to the question of whether we can adequately serve the Lord in the reading from Ephesians and the Gospel.

Ephesians 6.10-20

+ the conflict of good and evil surpasses our own human understanding and limitations.  Evil is not just the sum of human misdeeds, though that is no small sum.  How do you think about evil in the world?

+ so “put on the armor of God”.  How comfortable are we with these images?  To have kids in Sunday School picking up swords and shields and helmets?  Note that the pieces of armor represent qualities of God, not humans.  Does the reality of the struggle justify strong images?

+ one writer notes that Charles Wesley wrote 16 or 17 verses of the hymn “Soldiers of Christ, Arise” which has shrunk down to 2 or 3 verses in most of our hymnals, if it didn’t get tossed out with “Onward Christian Soldiers”, and also notes that it was retained the hymnal of the “peace-oriented” Mennonites!

John 6:56-69

+ still more about the bread.

+ and some accept and some wander off.  God has a hand in it, and it is mystery.  Have there been times when you wandered off?  Why did you come back?  (Ok, confession, at one time I came back because I thought the church would be a good place to meet girls!)

+ “The fundamental offense in the words and work of Jesus is the offense of grace.  It is sometimes stated gently: we have life from the bread that God gives.  It is sometimes stated bluntly, so as to offend all our claims of free will and self-determination: no one can come to me unless that person has been drawn of God.  This is truly the hard saying, but the issue is clear.  Do we preside over life, demanding that Jesus do as Moses did, calling for signs as proof so we can decide whether of not to believe, electing Jesus king by our acclamation?  Or do we accept the gift from heaven?  The bread in the wilderness was a gift; the bread as the word from heaven was and is a gift; the bread of the Eucharist is a gift.  Take, eat, and live.”  (that’s Fred Craddock)

And a prayer -

Loving God,

we are intensely aware of the evil and suffering in the world, 

from the conflict in Afghanistan to the earthquake in Haiti.

Some of it is a result of human misdeeds, some of it just is.

How grateful we are that you also “just are”,

and “just are” steadfast love and faithfulness.

Show us how we can resist evil and share love

in all your Creation.

Just as Jesus did.

That’s what I got for now…..

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Words 8.12

 Ok - didn't get it done today - we went to camp, which was lovely!  I'll try to get something up tomorrow!

Words 8.8

 Words Twice a Week  8.8       

If you are more into listening than reading, Words Twice a Week is available, along with other good stuff, as a podcast from St Paul’s Episcopal Church.  Click here.

Ok – having gotten back into the swing, let’s see if we can stay there!

A few days from the church calendar - 

Aug 9  Edith Stein (St Teresa Benedicta of the Cross)  Born in 1891, she was a German Jewish philosopher, who became agnostic by her teenage years.  Moved by the tragedies of WW1, in 1915 she took lessons to become a nursing assistant and worked in an infectious diseases hospital. After completing her doctoral thesis at the University of Freiburg in 1916, she obtained an assistantship there.  Reading about St Teresa of Avila, she was drawn to the Catholic Church and was baptized on Jan 1, 1922.  She taught at a school in Speyer (Germany), when she was forced to quit, not having an “Aryan Certificate”.  She became a nun, and was moved to the Netherlands, for her security.  “Ultimately, she would not be safe in the Netherlands. The Dutch Bishops' Conference had a public statement read in all churches across the nation on 20 July 1942 condemning Nazi racism. In a retaliatory response on 26 July 1942 the Reichskommissar of the Netherlands, Arthur Seyss-Inquart, ordered the arrest of all Jewish converts who had previously been spared. Along with two hundred and forty-three baptized Jews living in the Netherlands, Stein was arrested by the SS on 2 August 1942. Stein and her sister Rosa were imprisoned at the concentration camps of Amersfoort and Westerbork before being deported to Auschwitz.”  Along with her sister Rosa, she was probably killed in a gas chamber on August 9.   She is one of the 6 patron saints of Europe.

(Interestingly, the Sunday Book Group at St Paul’s is reading The Only Woman in the Room, a novel about the life of Hedy Lamarr.  She was Jewish, but converted to Christianity when she married an Austrian arms merchant who was besotted with her, hoping to be a kind of “Esther figure” for the Austrian people, especially the Jews.  She didn’t have an Aryan Certificate.  It didn’t go well - She finally escaped and came to America.  She and composer George Antheil developed a “frequency-hopping spread spectrum” technology for use in Allied torpedoes.  While the Navy did not pick it up until 1957 [the book says – because it was developed by a woman!], some of the same technology is apparently used in Bluetooth and some cell phone and WI-FI systems.   Huh.)

Aug 10 Saint Lawrence   He was a deacon in the church at Rome, in charge of the treasury and riches of the Church and “the distribution of alms to the indigent.”  Then as the story goes - “At the beginning of August 258, the Emperor Valerian issued an edict that all bishops, priests, and deacons should immediately be put to death. Pope Sixtus II was captured on 6 August 258, at the cemetery of St. Callixtus while celebrating the liturgy and executed forthwith.  After the death of Sixtus, the prefect of Rome demanded that Lawrence turn over the riches of the Church. St. Ambrose is the earliest source for the narrative that Lawrence asked for three days to gather the wealth. He worked swiftly to distribute as much Church property to the indigent as possible, so as to prevent its being seized by the prefect. On the third day, at the head of a small delegation, he presented himself to the prefect, and when ordered to deliver the treasures of the Church he presented the indigent, the crippled, the blind, and the suffering, and declared that these were the true treasures of the Church.”  No surprise here, on Aug 10, Lawrence, last of the deacons and thus the highest ranking church official, was put to death.  And yes, on his second voyage, French explorer Jacques Cartier, arriving in the river estuary of the North American Great Lakes on the Feast of St. Lawrence in 1535, named it the Gulf of St. Lawrence.  And, the Perseid Meteor Shower, which should be happening about now, is sometimes called “the Tears of St Lawrence”.

Aug 11  Claire of Assisi  One of the first followers of St Francis, she left her father’s house and  lived with some Benedictine nuns.  When other women joined her in a life of poverty, austerity, and exclusion from the world, she established an order – the Poor Ladies of Assisi – and wrote a Rule for them, the first written by a woman.  After her death it was renamed the Order of St Claire, or commonly, “the Poor Claires.”

Aug 12 – Florence Nightingale  Founder of modern nursing.  “She gave nursing a favourable reputation and became an icon of Victorian culture, especially in the persona of "The Lady with the Lamp" making rounds of wounded soldiers at night.”

Aug 15  Mary, Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of our Lord Jesus.  How much of her story is factual, how much is myth, how much is true/truth?  I don’t know.  I especially like the annunciation where all Creation waits for this young girl to respond.  I am touched by thinking of her as Jesus’ mother, watching him head off into a life that she must have known was not going to end well, (at least until it did).

And a few days from the earth/world calendar -

Aug 9

+ Bombing of Nagasaki in 1945, killing 75,000?.  And yes, that means Aug 6 was Hiroshema, killing 100,000?  We noted last time that war offers us only compromise solutions.  And yesterday was the closing ceremony of the 2020 Olympics.  What themes of forgiveness, restoration, renewal do you see in that?

Aug 11 

+ Steve Wozniak was born in 1950, to build the Apple Computer.

+ and 42 years later, in 1992, the Mall of America opened for all those who like to shop in person instead of online.

Aug 12

+ William Blake died in 1827.  He was a poet, painter, and printmaker. 

+ the Social Security Act was signed in 1935.  I’m thankful for that!

+ Katherine C Bates was born – she wrote “O Beautiful for Spacious Skies…”

Aug 13

+ Opha May Johnson joined the US Marine Corps in 1918.  She was the first woman.  She was assigned to a desk at the headquarters.

+ Annie Oakley was born in 1860.  At 15 she won a shooting match against a traveling show marksman named Frank Butler, who said he could beat any local fancy shooter.  The hotelier arranged a match with Annie, saying “The last opponent Butler expected was a five-foot-tall 15-year-old girl named Annie." They later married.  They joined the Buffalo Bill Wild West Show, where she would shoot a cigar out of her husband’s lips and split a playing card sideways at 30 paces.

Aug 14

+ Maximilian Marie Kolbe died in 1941 – he was a brilliant Polish priest, skillede in theology, philosophy, mathematics, physics, and astronomy.  Outspoken, he was arrested several times by the Gestapo and finally imprisoned at Auschwitz.  In retaliation for the escape of an inmate, all the prisoners were made to stand in the scorching sun and some were selected for death by starvation.  When one cried out because of his wife and children, Kolbe stepped forward and said, “I am a Catholic priest.  I would like to take his place.”  

+ Bertold Brecht died in 1956.  He wrote The Threepenny Opera, adapting John Gay’s 18th century The Beggar’s Opera.  “Oh the shark has pretty teeth, dear, and he shows them, pearly white.  Just a jack-knife has Macheath, babe, and he keeps it out of sight…..”

Aug 14

+ It’s the birthday of Steve Martin.  “He is an American actor, comedian, writer, producer, and musician. Over his distinguished career he has earned five Grammy Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award, and was awarded an Honorary Academy Award at the Academy's 5th Annual Governors Awards in 2013.  Among many honors, he has received the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor, the Kennedy Center Honors, and an AFI Life Achievement Award. In 2004, Comedy Central ranked Martin at sixth place in a list of the 100 greatest stand-up comics.”  A “wild and crazy guy”, he sang “King Tut” and won a Grammy with Earl Scruggs in 2002.  What do you remember about him?

Aug 15

+ First showing of The Wizard of Oz in 1939.

+ Woodstock opened in 1969.

+ The US pulled out of Vietnam in 1973.

That’s what I got for now…..

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