Words Twice a Week 12.5
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 -
(and note these are off the Wikipedia list of Saints in the Episcopal Church, but they are maybe not all recognized/observed by all Episcopalians.)
Dec 6 Nicholas Saint Nicholas was an early Christian bishop of Greek descent from the maritime city of Myra in Asia Minor during the time of the Roman Empire. Because of the many miracles attributed to his intercession, he is also known as Nicholas the Wonderworker. Saint Nicholas is the patron saint of sailors, merchants, archers, repentant thieves, prostitutes, children, brewers, pawnbrokers, unmarried people, and students in various cities and countries around Europe. His legendary habit of secret gift-giving gave rise to the traditional model of Santa Claus ("Saint Nick"). That’s right – and he knows if you’ve been naughty or nice, so you better watch out. Our book says it’s a day for making St Nicholas cookies and giving them by the baker’s dozen!
Dec 7 Ambrose Another bishop – not Santa Claus! “As bishop, he took a firm position against Arianism and attempted to mediate the conflict between the emperors Theodosius I and Magnus Maximus. Tradition credits Ambrose with promoting "antiphonal chant", a style of chanting in which one side of the choir responds alternately to the other, as well as with composing Veni redemptor gentium, an Advent hymn.” Ok – cool, but still not Santa Claus
Dec 8 Narcisa de Jesús Martillo Morán (I just like the name!) was known for her charitable giving and strict devotion to Jesus Christ while becoming somewhat of a hermit dedicated to discerning his will. She lived among the Dominican religious in Peru until her death on this day in 1869. She was canonized on October 12, 2008.
Dec 9 Atilano Coco Martín (again – I like the name!) He was a Spanish Protestant pastor, priest of the Spanish Reformed Episcopal Church in Salamanca, where he also served as a teacher in the school attached to the Anglican church. He was also a prominent member of the Radical Socialist Republican Party and later of the Republican Union. That likely led to his being arrested and assassinated on this day in 1936.
Dec 10 Karl Barth and Thomas Merton Theologians
Dec 12 Francis de Sales and Jane Frances de Chantal They worked with the poor and the sick.
And some days from the world/earth calendar -
But before we leave Dec 5, it’s the birthday (1830) of Christina Rossetti – she was a poet, known best for writing Love Came Down at Christmas, and In the Bleak Midwinter.
Dec 6
+ Dave Brubeck was born in 1920. Wait a minute, didn’t we note him last week? Yes we did – he died on Dec 5, one day short of his 92nd birthday!
Dec 7
+ Pearl Harbor Day. They were noting on the radio that Bob Dole was one of the last of our political leaders to have served in WWII.
+ “The Blue Marble” Earth photograph was taken on this day in 1972. It was taken by the crew of Apollo 17 while they were on their way to the moon. That was the last time humans were far enough from Earth to take such a picture, though many others have been taken by uncrewed (looks like “unscrewed” – an attempt to avoid “un-manned”, I suppose) spacecraft, and others have been put together from partial pictures to create a whole. Interesting to note that NASA released the photograph after being pestered by Stewart Brand, who, seeing a "psychedelic illusion" of the Earth's curvature during an LSD trip, was convinced that a picture of the entire planet would change how humans related to it. (Quick now, without clicking this link – who was Stewart Brand?) Earthrise is another popular photograph of the Earth from space.
Dec 8
+ the US entered WWII, against Japan. We declared war n Germany and Italy on 12.11.41
+ James Thurber was born in 1894. He wrote a variety of books, including The Secret Life of Walter Mitty. Some of his short stories were collected in My Life and Hard Times. He attended Ohio State and edited the student magazine, but never graduated because his poor eyesight prevented him from taking a required ROTC course! His poor eyesight was because his older brother had shot him in the eye with an arrow when they were “playing William Tell”!
+ Bernie Madoff was arrested after running the largest Ponzi scheme in American history.
Dec 9
+ In 1979, the World Health Organization certified that after a number of concentrated vaccination campaigns around the world smallpox had been eradicated. That was a world away, wasn’t it!
+ in 1965, A Charlie Brown Christmas aired for the first time. Going to watch it this year?
+ Bishop Fulton J Sheen died in 1979. He is credited with the line “Love People, Use Things.”
Dec 10
+ The Universal Declaration of Human Rights was passed by the UN in 1948.
+ The Fellowship of the Ring movie was released in 2001.
+ Emily Dickinson was born in 1830. She was a bit of an eccentric, and extremely private. Her poems were published (heavily edited) after her death. Many scholars question her relationship with her brother’s wife, Susan, whose name was edited out of a number of her poems. Wild Nights With Emily is a film (available on Kanopy) that explores this aspect of her story!
Dec 11
+ The Kyoto Protocol (addressing climate change) was adopted in 1997. And…..
Dec 12
+ Our Lady of Guadalupe – Here is the story from Catholics Online of how she became the “patroness of Mexico, and then of all the Americas” (Pope Pius XII on Oct 12, 1945). Here’s more from the shrine, which you might think would be in Mexico. You’d be wrong – it’s in LaCross, WI! (I’m sure there are others actually in Mexico!)
A prayer for this week -
God of all Creation,
a diversity of lives with wonderful names and amazing abilities
- writers, scientists, theologians, musicians, hermits -
send you greetings and thanks for all that is
from the Big Blue Marble.
And a prayer that we might find the wisdom and grace
to live well within it.
That’s what I got for now…..
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