Words 1.23

 Words Twice a Week        1.23

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.

First the answer from last week – the other inductee to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame was, of course, Elvis!

And as for that Thesaurus poem – I didn’t get anywhere with that.  You?

Some days from the church calendar -

Jan 24  Florence Li Tim-Oi  She was the first woman to be ordained to the priesthood in the Anglican Communion, on 25 January 1944.  She was in the Macau region of China during the Japanese occupation.  As there were no priests available to give the sacraments, Bishopo Ronald Hall authorized her to give communion to her fellow Anglicans.   Hall explained to the Archbishop of Canterbury at the time, William Temple: "I have given her permission to celebrate the Lord’s Supper. If I could reach her physically I should ordain her priest rather than give her permission … I'm not an advocate for the ordination of women. I am, however, determined that no prejudices should prevent the congregations committed to my care having the sacraments of the Church."  It was another 30 years before any Anglican church regularized the ordination of women.

Jan 25  The Conversion of Saint Paul – on the Damascus Road.  

Jan 26  Sarah Louise Delany and Annie Elizabeth Delany  -  they were educators and civil rights pioneers.  Sarah  was the first African-American permitted to teach domestic science at the high-school level in the New York public schools.  Elizabeth earned a Doctor of Dental Surgery (DDS) degree from Columbia University in 1923. She was the second black woman licensed to practice dentistry in New York State.  Sarah died in 1999 at the age of 109, Elizabeth in 1995 at age 104.  They were two of ten children of Rev Henry Beard Delany, first African-American elected bishop in the Episcopal Church in the United States.  “Sadie” and “Bessie” were the subjects of a best selling biography Having Our Say: The Delany Sisters' First 100 Years, by journalist Amy Hill Hearth. 

Also on Jan 26 – Timothy, Titus, Silas – companions of Paul

Jan 27  Lydia, Dorcas, and Phoebe  -  witnesses to the faith

Also on Jan 27  John Chrysostom -  an important Early Church Father who served as archbishop of Constantinople. He is known for his preaching and public speaking, by both ecclesiastical and political leaders. His “name” comes from the term for “golden mouthed” in Greek.  Unfortunately, as we look back, his life seems to be something of a mixture of good and not so.

Jan 28 Thomas Aquinas – a Dominican friar, philosopher, Catholic priest, and Doctor of the Church.

Jan 29  Andrei Rublev  -  He was an artist and a monk.  He painted in cathedrals and churches and ended his life painting icons.

Jan 30  Charles   -   Actually, Charles I, who was King of England, Scotland and Ireland from 1625.  He was put on trial for attempting to rule as an absolute monarch rather than in combination with Parliament, and executed on January 30, 1649.  Charles is regarded by many members of the Church of England as a martyr because, it is said, he was offered his life if he would abandon the historic episcopacy in the Church of England. It is said he refused, however, believing that the Church of England was truly "Catholic" and should maintain the Catholic episcopate.  And then this is a little weird - “In an unprecedented gesture, one of the prominent leaders of the revolutionaries, Oliver Cromwell, allowed the King's head to be sewn back on his body so the family could pay its respects.” 

Some days from the world/earth calendar -

Jan 24

+ In 1946 he UN General Assembly passed it’s first resolution – founding the United Nations Atomic Energy Commission.

+ In 1984 the Apple Macintosh computer went on sale.  It was the first personal computer to use a graphical interface and a mouse!

+ Thurgood Marshall died in 1993.  He was the first African-American Supreme Court Justice.

+ Winston Churchill died in 1965

Jan 25

+ the first Winter Olympics opened in Chamonix, France, in 1924.

+ the first solar power plant opened in Odeillo, France in 1969.

+ Robert Burns was a Scottish poet, born on this day in 1759.  He wrote "A Red, Red Rose", "A Man's a Man for A' That", "To a Louse", "To a Mouse", "Tam o' Shanter", "Ae Fond Kiss", and of course, “Auld Lang Syne.”  “Burns Night”, in effect a second national day, is celebrated on his birthday, with Burns Suppers around the world, and is more widely observed in Scotland than the official national day, St. Andrew's Day.  Here’s the traditional “Selkirk Grace” for the meal -

  Some hae meat and canna eat,

  And some wad eat that want it,

  But we hae meat and we can eat,

  Sae let the Lord be Thankit!

I always think we should have some kind of a supper – maybe with a pasty instead of a haggis!  We could do it on zoom and each person read a Burns poem.

+ the League of Nations was founded in 1919.  It held it’s first meeting on Jan 16, 1920.

Jan 26

+ it’s the birthday (1904) of Sean MacBride, co-founder of Amnesty International

+ the world’s largest diamond – the Cullinan - was found in South Africa in 1905.  It weighed 1.37 lbs.  It was cut in to a number of stones, of various cuts and sizes, the largest of which is named Cullinan I or the Great Star of Africa, and at 530.4 carats (106.08 g) (3.74 ounces) it is the largest clear cut diamond in the world. 

Jan 27

+ Giuseppe Verdi died in 1901.  Mahalia Jackson in 1972.  Pete Seeger in 2014.  Music in the heavenly spheres that day.

+ a cabin fire during a launch rehearsal test at Cape Kennedy Air Force Station Launch Complex 34 on January 27 killed all three crew members—Command Pilot Gus Grissom, Senior Pilot Ed White, and Pilot Roger B. Chaffee—and destroyed the command module. The name Apollo 1, chosen by the crew, was made official by NASA in their honor after the fire.

+ Mozart was born in 1756, Lewis Carrol in 1832

Jan 28

+ the Challenger Space Shuttle exploded shortly after take off in 1986, killing all seven passengers.

+ the Lego brick was patented in 1958.

+ USA For Africa recorded “We Are The World” in 1985.

+ Pride and Prejudice was published in 1813.

Jan 29

+ Robert Frost died in 1963.  Have a favorite?  Nope – too many to choose from.

+ The Raven was published in 1845, and “quoth the raven……….”

+ German engineer Carl Benz patented the first gas-driven car in 1886.

Jan 30

+ Gandhi was assassinated, trying to mediate a dispute between Muslims and Hindus in India and Pakistan.

+ the last public performance by the Beatles in 1969

+ Hitler became Chancellor of Germany in 1933.

+ a German cruise ship/hospital ship/military transport ship – the William Gustloff – was sunk by a Russian submarine during WWII, killing 9,400 people in 1945.  It was the deadliest maritime disaster in history.

That’s what I got for now…..

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Words 1.20

 Words Twice a Week        1.20

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 the lectionary texts for this Sunday – Third after Epiphany

Psalm 19

+ “The heavens are telling the glory of God” – you can just hear the music swell!

+ vs1-6 is about the Creation, 7-11 celebrate the Law/Word, 12-14 recognize that we don’t know everything and thus need forgiveness.  I’m not sure that’s the attitude from which we usually pray vs 14!

+Thomas Berry said something along the lines of that we have spent so much time and attention on the written/Revealed word (ie, the scriptures) that we ought to just put the Bible on the shelf for a couple of years and pay attention to the first/Created word (ie, the Creation).  

+ On the other hand, experiencing Creation is not enough to know God and find the best/abundant life.  God has written a personal note to humanity.  Note “Yahweh”, the personal name for God  (LORD in NRSV) is used 6 times in vs7-9, no times in vs1-6!

+ How does it work to have speech without words?  What do sun, day, night tell us about God – that God provides energy, cycle of work and rest, day/night changes provide weather...

+ someplace I wrote or read – How does the bridegroom leave his chamber?  Lingeringly, wistfully, happily - Is he leaving his new wife behind and going to his daily work, or is he leaving his chamber to head for hers?

+ nothing is hid from the heat of the sun – is that a good thing?  Does it suggest there really is a solar power option?  And what about the animals that live deep underground?

+ the law, the decrees, the precepts…. Different words for the same thing, basically.  The law has a two-fold function – 1) to warn, provide boundaries within which to safely live, a canopy under which to be safe, and 2) “rewards” – not trophies or plaques, but the blessings of a life lived well.

+ “hidden faults” and “presumptions sins” (risks or acts of courage) – where would each of these fit in – eating the apple, splitting the atom, cloning a cell, burning fossil fuels, gene manipulation, artificial intelligence?

+ on vs13 – “the psalmist can be whole/perfect/blameless because God is graceful.  This abundant life results not from human achievement.  Rather it depends on God.  To be perfect/blameless/whole is not to be sinless, but to live in dependence on God.”   Texts

+ more valuable than gold (most coveted metal in ancient times), sweeter than honey (their primary sweetener)!  Is that how we think about the scriptures?  And what would be a “most coveted ____” today – platinum, titanium, rare earth metals?  Number of followers?  What would be a primary sweetener – maple syrup for me!

Nehemiah 8.1-3,5-6,8-10

+ backstory is that Ch1-7 of Nehemiah have told about getting the wall built around Jerusalem.  The wall would protect them from external threats (well, sort of), and now the law will protect them from internal and interior threats.

+ so I love this – the first thing you do when there are gaps on the lesson is look up and see what was left out or skipped over!  Here, it’s the names.  Why does the lectionary committee want to leave these people anonymous?  Who are these people?  Who gets to be anonymous in our world (disinformation/misinformation spreaders, talkless filibusterers,….?)  How is that a good thing?  How is it not?

+ probably some kind of description of early worship.  And in fact one of the first times we experience the people reading words to hear God’s voice.  Pretty much always before it had just been someone talking.  Now the words are written down and read out.  We begin to look to the scriptures.

+ It went on and on – early morning to midday!  We get upset if the service goes much over an hour.   There was a story in a youth ministry article once -

"What's the biggest number you ever counted to?"

   "12, 785"  (or something like that.)

"Why'd you stop?"

   "Church was over!"

+ three issues – 1) it was communal – men, women, children; 2) there was understanding [people used to say children shouldn’t take communion until they could understand it – but I’m not sure the adults really “understood” it, or what they would say if anyone asked them!], and 3) it led to action as a result.

+ The readers/lectors read from the book and the preacher interpreted what was read, so that people could understand – not just the meaning of the words, but what the passage meant for them, for their day.  It is not enough to read and even revere the scripture – it must be taught and understood.  A sermon does not just repeat the words of scripture – it applies, extends, explains, explicates, re-presents, ….?  That’s why it’s hard work.  Special thanks to those who preach!

+ Time to pause and honor one of my preaching heroes – Fred Craddock – who championed the shift from deductive preaching (where the preacher explained everything, 3 points and a prayer or poem) to inductive preaching (where the preacher leads the congregation on a journey of discovery.)  He also was a master of stories – he said to write down a story each day of something that you saw or experienced, and put them in a note book until the time comes when that story “asks to be included in a sermon.”  Well – he was just really good at biblical interpretation and at preaching.

+ so church is over, (vs10) “he” said to them “Go and feast!”  [Who was the “he” – Nehemiah (governor) or Ezra (priest)?  Heck, it’s Nehemiah’s book, we’ll say it’s him.]  But note that in vs1-6 it’s Ezra doing the talking, in vs 7 these other folks get involved, and in vs 9, Nehemiah (the governor also get’s into the act!

+ Go home for Sunday dinner, go hit the Sunday buffet – boy, it’s been a long time since we did that!

+ the people were upset when they heard what God’s word was (and what it said about who they were?) – but the leaders told them to be happy because of who God is.  Does that work for us – we’re upset when we see what life is, but can we rejoice because of who God is?  In any case, the quintessential Faith emotion is joy.  What feeling/emotion does our worship leave us with?

+ How can we send some of our feast to those who don’t have enough.  Is that just food, or other things as well?

1 Cor 12.12-31a

+ Paul continuing his thoughts on “spiritual gifts”/gifts of grace/gifted people.

+ differences are not limitations or barriers, but a gift from God.  How does diversity bless us?

+ the diverse members need each other.  Who is someone different from you that you need their gift?

+ there is no hierarchy of gifts/persons.  Who do we sometimes think of as more important, less important?

+ there should be mutual care instead of dissension and strife

+ “note to preachers – the imagery is enough – don’t let the preaching get in the way.”  Texts 

+ “These words of Paul, when taken serkiously, keep the church from developing a cookie-cutter mentality.  The missionary thinks leveryone in the church should become a missionary. Likewise the teacher, church musician, and so forth.  We all live with the tyranny of the specialties, each of us looking at the whole through the lens of our particular gift, wondering why everyone doesn’t aspire to it as we do.  But should every person in the church be a teacher?  Paul thinks not.  His is not a monochrome vision of the church.”  Preaching the New Common Lectionary

+ Kodachrome gives those nice bright colors…

+ but then Paul throws this curve ball – “Strive for the greater gifts”  What?

 

Luke 4.14-21

+ Jesus in Nazareth.  A little bit of backstory here, too.  Both Matthew and Mark tell a similar story, but later on in their gospels.  Note that Luke is a little confusing here, because the people in Nazareth ask about things Jesus did in Capernaum, but Luke hasn’t told us about that yet!  That comes up in vs33-44.  Is that a flashback, or has Luke created a different story order?  And note that Luke tells us what scripture Jesus read – a “servant song” from Isaiah. Mt and Mk didn’t have that.  Putting all of that together, some scholars think Luke has adapted and inserted this story at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry as kind of a prologue, preview, programmatic narrative, foreshadowing of what is to come – for Jesus and for those who follow him.

+ and note that this is just the first half of even the Nazareth event.  Next week’s lesson (vs22-30) tells of the congregation’s reaction.  You probably don’t need to look it up!

+ as in Nehemiah, Jesus stand up, reads, (sits), and teaches/gives the understanding.

+ Jesus goes to the synagogue, “as was his custom”.  1) he was firmly within his Jewish tradition – he was a reformer, not a revolutionary!  And 2) he fulfilled his “stewardship of presence” pledge!  With apologies to the folks who are working this weekend to put out The Messenger, there was the story about the “non-attender” who ran into the minister downtown and said “I don’t know why you mail out that newsletter – doesn’t seem very significant or substantial”.  (Theirs was not at all like The Messenger!).  The minister said, “What – you think we send the good stuff out to just anybody?  No, you gotta get up and dressed and show up at church on Sunday morning.  That’s when we hand out the good stuff.”   Thoughts?

+ Jesus says “Today…”  Fred Craddock says don’t turn it into a vague, distant “someday”. ‘The “someday” of hope is the “today” of fulfillment.’

+ And these words from MLKjr -

One day, youngsters will learn words they will not understand.

Children from India will ask: What is hunger?

Children from Alabama will ask: What is racial segregation?

Children from Hiroshima will ask: What is the atomic bomb?

Children at school will ask: What is war?

You will answer them.

You will tell them:

Those words are not used anymore

like stage coaches, galleys or slavery

Words no longer meaningful.

That is why they have been removed from dictionaries.

 Someday? Today?

That’s what I got for now…..

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Words 1.16

 Words Twice a Week         1.16

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 days from the Church calendar -

Jan 17 - Saint Anthony   “When persecution was replaced by a domestication of Christianity within the secular culture, many Christians went out into the desert, considered the home of the demons, to do spiritual battle in the name of Christ.”  (Jones)  Anthony gave al he had to the poor and moved outside his hometown in Egypt to live as a hermit.  He was one of the foremost of the Desert Fathers.

Jan 18 – the Confession of St Peter  an event described in Mt, Mk, and Lk, in which essentially Jesus the disciples who they think he is, and Peter proclaims “You are the Christ”.  The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity starts today and ends on Jan 24 with the Conversion of St Paul.  Sometimes churches would have ecumenical noontime services and hunger lunches during the week.

Jan 20 – Fabian  He was an unknown layperson who was made Pope in 236 after a dove landed on his head during the papal election.  He was proclaimed bishop and pope.  When the persecutions began again, he was one of the first to be martyred.

Jan 21 – Agnes  She was one of the seven virgin martyrs.

Jan 22 – Vincent  He was a deacon and martyred in 304. According to legend, after being martyred, ravens protected St. Vincent's body from being devoured by vultures, until his followers could recover the body. His body was taken to what is now known as Cape St. Vincent in Portugal, the south-westernmost point of Portugal and Mainland Europe.  A shrine was erected over his grave, which continued to be guarded by flocks of ravens. 

Jan 23  Phillips Brooks He was a preacher, but we know him best for his hymn “O Little Town of Bethlehem”. And Thomas A. Dorsey He wrote 3,000 songs, a third of them gospel, including Peace in the Valley, and Precious Lord, Take My Hand. Author Anthony Heilbut summarized Dorsey's influence by saying he "combined the good news of gospel with the bad news of blues"!  He was born in 1899 and died on this day in 1993.

And some days from the earth/world calendar

Jan 17

+ the Hanshin earthquake hit Kobe, Japan, in 1995.  6,434 people died.

+ it’s the birthday of Benjamin Franklin in 1706.  His comment about “a republic, if you can keep it” rings out today.  And Michelle Obama in 1964.  

+ The UN Security council held its first meeting in 1946.

+ “Operation Desert Storm” launched in 1991.  About 100,000 civilians were killed.

+ in 1604, the Hampton Court Conference commissioned a translation of the Bible into English – the King James Version.  It had a big influence on the development of the language. Do you have a favorite translation?  A favorite KJV passage?

Jan 18

+ Borge Ousland became the first person to cross Antarctica (1864 miles) alone and unaided in 1997.  Wasn’t there someone else that was doing it about the same time and died at the end?  And ok, it’s in the 20’s – you can still get out and take a walk!

+ once again, it’s the birthday of A.A.Milne in 1882.  We could, I suppose, read The House at Pooh Corner.  We’ll see once we get Saint Maybe done.

+ it is the birthday (in 1779) of Peter Roget.  If you are at a loss for words – the latest edition of his thesaurus has 443,000 of them.  You should be able to find one in there somewhere.  (He started out in 1805 with 15,000).

Jan 19

+ George Claude patented the “neon discharge tube” and the nighttime has never been the same!

+ it’s the birthday of (take a deep breath!) Dolly Parton, Janis Joplin, Edgar Allen Poe, Robert E Lee, and (steam engine) James Watt.

+ Scrabble was first marketed in North America in 1952.  

Jan 20

+ Barack Obama was sworn in as U.S. President, the first Black president.  (Three days after his wife’s birthday.  It must have been a busy time.  Hope they had time for cake!)

+ the first official game of basketball was played in 1892.  It ended with a score of 0-1.

Jan 21

+ George Orwell died in 1950.

Jan 22

+ The Roe vs Wade case was decided by the Supreme Court in 1973.

+ the CIA was established in 1947.

+ in Spearfish SD, in 1943, the temperature went from -4F to 45F in 2 minutes.  Can’t even think what that must have felt like.

+ In 1970 the Boeing 747 took off on its first scheduled flight – from new York to London.

+ David Edward Hughes died in 1900. He was one of the inventors of the microphone.

Jan 23

+ Huddie Ledbetter (Leadbelly) was born in 1888.

+ 1986 - First inductees into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame – Chuck Berry James Brown, Ray Charles, Sam Cooke, Fats Domino, The Everly Brothers, Buddy Holly, Jerry Lee Lewis, Little Richard, and ______________! Ans next week!  No women.  Aretha Franklin was inducted the next year, 1987.

+ Take a deep breath – the Trieste dove to 35,797 feet, the bottom of the Challenger Deep, Earth’s deepest known point, in 1960.

+ Walter Frederick Morrison sold the rights to his flying disk to the Wham-O toy company in 1957.  Anybody want to toss one around?

+ Edvard (The Scream) Munch died in 1944, Salvador (The kind of weird) Dali died in 1989.

+ and starting the week off with earthquakes, we’ll end with another – in 1556 the deadliest earthquake on record killed about 830,000 people in China.

  

Ok, let’s write a thesaurus poem -

Write a short sentence down the left side, and then put two or three words that mean the same thing on each line.  Extra credit for metre and rhyme schemes -

Example:

  Let, permit, allow, 

  snow, ____, ____ 

  fall, drop, ____, ____

  gently, ____, ____

  white, ____, ____

We’ll see what we get.

That’s what I got for now…..

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