Gov. John Peter Altgeld, 175 Years

John Peter Altgeld was governor of Illinois in 1893-1897. Born in what is now the Rhineland-Palatinate on December 30, 1847---175 years ago today---he was an infant when his parents emigrated with him to the U.S. As governor he led progressive reforms like child labor laws and workplace safety. Among the several people whom he pardoned were three men convicted in the Haymarket bombing of 1886. He also refused to break up the Pullman railroad strike by force. Controversial in his time, he is considered one of Illinois' best governors, up there with Edward Coles (1822-1826) and Thomas Ford (1842-1846). In my lifetime, at least, Illinois governors have been notorious for getting in trouble with the law. (Photo from: https://primarysourcenexus.org/2013/12/today-history-john-peter-altgeld/)

Stan Lee, 100 Years!

100 years!  Stan Lee was born on this day (as Stanley Lieber) in 1922!  He died in 2018.

(picture from: https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/people/stan-lee)

Of course, comics always makes me think of Capps' Drug Store and the Day 'n' Nite Supermarket in my hometown Vandalia, IL, where I typically bought them. 

 

Wounded Knee Anniversary

"On December 29 [1890], the U.S. Army’s 7th Cavalry surrounded a band of Ghost Dancers under Big Foot, a Lakota Sioux chief, near Wounded Knee Creek [on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota], and demanded they surrender their weapons. As that was happening, a fight broke out between an Indian and a U.S. soldier and a shot was fired, although it’s unclear from which side. A brutal massacre followed, in which an estimated 150 Indians were killed (some historians put this number at twice as high), nearly half of them women and children. The cavalry lost 25 men.... Some historians speculate that the soldiers of the 7th Cavalry were deliberately taking revenge for the regiment’s defeat at Little Bighorn in 1876."

https://www.history.com/topics/native-american-history/wounded-knee?fbclid=IwAR0E8tdCMXJ3pM0Kr3oWikgFfSIpfqDfrytgs3tUUuWOA5e9emXbVYCJBGM

Actor James Gregory

I meant to post this last week. Actor James Gregory was born December 23, 1911. He was a regular on the series "Barney Miller," the 1959-1961 series "The Lawless Years," and an episode of "Star Trek TOS." He also appeared on stage, and in movies like "The Manchurian Candidate," "PT 109," "Beneath the Planet of the Apes," and others. 

When Emily was a baby and we still lived in Arizona, we were eating supper at a Sedona restaurant. As it turned out, Gregory was also there, a few tables away. (We learned later that he'd retired in Sedona. He died in 2002 and is buried there.) Gregory waved at Emily from his table during the meal. We told him that he was the first celebrity whom she'd met, which pleased him.

(Photo copied under fair use principles.) 

Dakota Indian Tragedy

The largest mass hanging in U.S. history took place 160 years ago yesterday. In the aftermath of the U.S.-Dakota War of 1862, 303 Dakotas were tried and sentenced to death, while 16 were given prison terms. President Lincoln commuted the sentences of all but 38, who were hanged at Mankato, Minnesota on December 26, 1862--two by mistake. 

https://www.usdakotawar.org/history/aftermath/trials-hanging?fbclid=IwAR3_xUPRBQtkkVmUykdYiC-Os6Fc5SSTqwbT7ODnCMO86ZdJ0zi2EuXNULc 

Louis Pasteur: 200 Years!

Don't let this birthday get past your eyes... Chemist and microbiologist Louis Pasteur was born on this day in 1822! 200 years!

Ava Gardner

Actress Ava Gardner was born 100 years ago, December 24, 1922. She died in 1990. She was alluringly beautiful and an excellent, honored actress. She was a lifelong supporter of civil rights for African Americans. She was born in central North Carolina and is buried there with family members.

 

Thank you, Paul Winchell!

Actor, comedian, ventriloquist, humanitarian, and inventor Paul Winchell was born 100 years ago today! (He died in 2005). Born as Paul Wilchinsky, he hosted several series with his dummies Jerry Mahoney and Knucklehead Smiff. I have fond memories of his show when I was a kid in the late 1960s! Winchell also appeared "solo" on several TV shows. Using his medical training, he invented and patented an artificial heart! As a voice actor, he was famous as the voice of Winnie the Pooh's friend Tigger. 

Rock and Roll!

Disc jockey Alan Freed popularized the term "rock and roll." A DJ in Akron, Cleveland, and New York, he promoted that music on the radio and in concerts. He was one of the organizers of the "The Moondog Coronation Ball" at the Cleveland Arena on March 21, 1952---70 years ago this past spring, This event is considered the first major rock and roll concert. Freed is credited in breaking racial barriers in U.S. popular music and culture. He was born December 15, 1921. 

Copied under fair use principles. 

Governor Edward Coles

Here is an old book that I've had for several years. Elihu Benjamin Washburne (1816-1887) was a noted Illinois Republican congressman, ally of President Lincoln and President Grant, and the U.S. Minister to France in 1869-1877. He is my fourth cousin four times removed. Washburne also wrote this important biography of Illinois’ second governor, Edward Coles. 

Coles was born on this day (December 15) in 1786. A neighbor and associate of Thomas Jefferson and James Monroe, he was James Madison's secretary. An anti-slavery advocate, Coles urged Jefferson to free his slaves. Coles himself moved to Illinois in 1819 and manumitted 19 of his slaves, obtaining land for them. He was one of a very few slaveowners to entirely manumit his slaves. Coles was elected Illinois governor in 1822 and served until 1826. Vandalia was still in its early days as Illinois' state capital. During his term, Coles led the effort to prevent a constitutional convention that was a potential way by which slavery might be increased in Illinois. It is said that he contributed his gubernatorial salary ($1000 a year) to the anti-convention/anti-slavery effort. Later, Coles was a founding member of Illinois' first historical society. He moved to Philadelphia in the 1830s. Although he didn't resume a political career, he continued his anti-slavery advocacy and lived to see passage of the 13th amendment. He is considered one of the two best governors of early Illinois statehood (the other is Thomas Ford, governor in 1842-1846).

Home for the Holidays

A devotion written for our church to complement the Sunday sermon 

Home for the Holidays

Mark 3:31-35 

As I listened to the Sunday sermon, I thought Pastor Jason made a brilliant point about Jesus and the healing of the leper (Mark 1:40-45). The man was “homeless” in the sense that his disease made him isolated from sympathetic people. When Jesus healed him, the man went and told everyone, contrary to Jesus’ instructions. But I had never thought (until Pastor Jason talked about it) that the man changed Jesus’ sense of home! Jesus could no longer go into town without being mobbed by people needing to see him and to be healed. Jesus’ identity was out and big news!  

Now, as the leper had done, Jesus was obliged to stay in lonely places (although, unlike the leper, his problem was popularity rather than quarantine). One assumes that Jesus missed how things used to be. 

All of us have holiday memories of “home.” When I was growing up over in south-central Illinois, we had cousins who lived in Dutchtown and who subsequently moved out to Crestwood. We exchanged visits throughout the year, but I remember Christmastime visits in particular. My great-aunt Jean liked to do what my mother called a “lightning tour” of visits to her several relatives in the area. My parents usually hosted them, and then we all met out at my grandmother’s farmhouse. 

Aunt Jean died in 1971 when I was 14, and my grandma died the following year. The cousins subsequently moved to Florida--to the chagrin of my parents. I think the cousins extolled the virtues of Florida so frequently that my parents didn't feel very missed. 

But that’s how life is! People move away, and the relationship is no longer the same. Our loved ones die, and we must process their loss. Events intervene to change our sense of home—but we miss how things used to be. We feel those changes keenly during the holiday season. Even the annoying things (like Aunt Jean’s sense of matriarchy) take on a Christmas shine when remembered. 

Another scripture from Mark can help us tremendously, though. In Mark 3:31-35, we read, 

“Then his mother and his brothers came; and standing outside, they sent to him and called him. A crowd was sitting around him; and they said to him, ‘Your mother and your brothers and sisters are outside, asking for you.’ And he replied, ‘Who are my mother and my brothers?’ And looking at those who sat around him, he said, ‘Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.’” 

It's best not to focus on Jesus’ seeming neglect of his family. Maybe he went out to see them after he told this to his followers, after all. But Jesus is telling them (and us) that anyone who does God’s will is Jesus’ family. 

Pastor Jason also talked about Jesus’ call for us to bring healing and help to the world. Many are lonely and even homeless during the holidays. There are many millions of people throughout the world who are refugees from their home countries. None of us can solve the world's problems but, in Jesus’ name, we can serve where we can. In doing God’s will, we’re members of Jesus’ family who can bring others into the comfort of God’s fold. 

Our relationship with Jesus does change over time---because we change, and have new experiences. We grow and regress and return to faith. But Jesus is always faithful. He doesn’t move away and forgets to write. Advent is always a beautiful reminder of his continual, familial presence. 

Prayer, during this Advent season, welcome us into your family in new and deeper ways. Amen.   

A Hero: Yitzhak Zuckerman

Polish Jewish leader Yitzhak Zuckerman realized early the implications of Nazi deportation of Jews. In 1942 he created the Jewish Fighting Organization (Żydowska Organizacja Bojowa; ŻOB) to meet the threat with armed resistance, and to obtain black-market and donated weapons. During the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising in 1943, the ZOB smuggled weapons into the ghetto and helped Jews escape. One of the few survivors of that uprising, Zuckerman also participated in the 1944 Warsaw Uprising. He emigrated to Israel after the war, and later testified at the Eichmann trial in 1961. Zuckerman was born December 13, 1915. 

Poet Erasmus Darwin

English physician and poet Erasmus Darwin was born on this day in 1731! Here is one of his major works, the two part poem "The Botanical Garden" (1789, 1791). In his poetry, he offered a view of evolution that influenced his grandson Charles. 

Charles wrote and published a short biography of him. Here it is, published by Charles' London publisher John Murray, which published "Origin of Species" and all his several subsequent books.

Vampira at 100

Finnish-American actress Maila Nurmi was born 100 years ago today! (She died in 2008.) Nurmi portrayed the character Vampira on 1950s TV and later, and in Ed Wood's 1959 film, "Plan 9 from Outer Space." Later, the character Elvira was developed on TV and film as a kind of Vampira, with Cassandra Peterson in that role. (photo copied under fair use principles from: http://cultsirens.com/vampira/vampira.htm)

Cesar Franck

Belgian composer-pianist-organist César Franck was born 200 years ago today. Along with a selection of compositions, he is known as a teacher of several notable composers like Chausson, d'Indy, Duparc, Vierne, and others.

 

Redd Foxx

Comedian and actor Redd Foxx was known for his many comedy records, his raunchy nightclub routines, and his roles in film and TV---notably his show "Sanford and Son" (1972-1977). When my folks and I visited cousins in Crestwood, MO during the 1960s, my folks wouldn't let me listen to our cousin's Redd Foxx records. :-) Foxx was born in St Louis (as John Elroy Sanford) on December 9, 1922--100 years ago. 

"Adam W. Snyder in Illinois History"

My first book was a history of my hometown, Vandalia, IL, when it was state capital (1819-1839). While doing the research, one of the books that I enjoyed was Adam W. Snyder and his period in Illinois history, 1817-1842. The author, his son Dr. John F. Snyder, wrote numerous articles about early Illinoisans. Adam W. Snyder served in the Illinois Senate in 1830-1831, 1832-1833, and 1840-1841. He also served Illinois in Congress in 1837-1839. He was the Democratic nominee for Illinois governor when he died in 1842.  

I've had a "second revised edition" of the book for many years. It was published in Virginia, IL in 1906. Although I wasn't searching diligently, I never saw a first edition for sale and wondered if it had been withdrawn by Snyder or was otherwise unavailable.  But recently, I saw a first edition for sale! The text is about the same length in both editions, but the first has no other illustration besides that of Adam Snyder. The second edition has several photographs of Snyder's friends and colleagues. 

Welcome to politics, Lincoln

On this day in 1834, Lincoln began his first political position, as a state legislator in my hometown. He was 25. This page is from that day in the Journal of the House of Representatives of the 9th Illinois General Assembly. His colleague named there, John T. Stuart, became his mentor and later his law partner. The statehouse at the time was a brick building on Fourth Street near Gallatin, about where the Copper Penny Restaurant now stands.

Charles Schulz, Born 100 Years Ago!

Charles Schulz was born on this day in 1922. "Peanuts" ran from October 2, 1950, to February 13, 2000. Schulz was proud that he never used assistants, writing and drawing the strip entirely himself. He didn't want it continued by someone else. He died of cancer the day the final strip ran in newspapers. I purchased
the Fantagraphics "Complete Peanuts" books as they came out.

Copied under fair use principles. 

 

Ned Rorem, 1923-2022

Composer Ned Rorem passed away this week. I enjoy his music as well as his diaries, particularly "Nantucket Diary" and the diary "Lies." Sadly, he assumed that his partner, organist James Holmes, could care for him in later years. (Holmes was several years younger). But Holmes died of cancer related to AIDS in 1999. "Lies" is a sadly vivid chronicle of a love one's decline and death. Norem was famous for his many song settings as well as works in nearly every type of classical music. In his diaries he was wonderfully transparent and even put-upon. The early ones are landmarks of gay literature. It would be an interesting life to share a cab ride with John Updike and to send grumpy notes to neighbor Itzhak Perlman because his AC unit is too loud.

Here is a recent Gramophone article. 

https://www.gramophone.co.uk/classical%20music%20news/article/the-american-composer-ned-rorem-has-died?utm_campaign=Echobox&utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Facebook&fbclid=IwAR39WCNH4r2EaJS6qrkr6UkdE6sZNWPZRvgkLjpyDUhVzVMFHThyoX2wgXY#Echobox=1668798386

Jodie Foster

Jodie Foster turned 60 yesterday! When I was at Yale Divinity School, she was an undergrad at Yale--the residential college now named Hopper College. I was in line for a slice of pizza at a restaurant in New Haven. When I turned around with my tray, I realized she was in line right behind me. She's 5'2" or 5'3". I said, "Excuse me." She said, "Sure." I thought I should respect her privacy. So that was the entire conversation, LOL.

Copied under fair use principles. 

Christ the King Sunday

Today is Christ the King Sunday, the last Sunday of the Christian liturgical calendar. The First Sunday of Advent next week will begin a new liturgical year. The Post-Nicean church father Cyril of Alexandria wrote that Christ "has dominion over all creatures, a dominion not seized by violence nor usurped, but his by essence and by nature. His kingship is founded upon the hypostatic union [the union of his divine and human natures]. From this it follows not only that Christ is to be adored by angels and men, but that to him as man angels and men are subject, and must recognize his empire; by reason of the hypostatic union Christ has power over all creatures" (from Wikipedia). Although the theological ideas are ancient, the holiday itself was only instituted in 1925, by Pope Pius XI. Several Protestant churches now commemorate the day as well.

Richard Dawson, 1932-2012

Happy memories of watching Family Feud in my 1980s parsonage, and watching Hogan's Heroes today! English actor-comedian Richard Dawson would've been 90 today! (He died in 2012.) His birth name was Colin Lionel Emm. Later he took the stage name Dickie Dawson. Eventually he changed his name legally to Richard Dawson. He played Corp. Peter Newkirk in Hogan's Heroes (1965-1971), was a regular panelist on Match Game (1973–1978), and hosted Family Feud (1976–1985, 1994–95).

Stay in Love with God

A devotion written for our church, to complement the Sunday sermon.  

Rule 3: Stay in Love with God

Deut. 30-19-20

Paul Stroble

“I call heaven and earth to witness against you today that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Choose life so that you and your descendants may live, loving the Lord your God, obeying him, and holding fast to him; for that means life to you and length of days, so that you may live in the land that the Lord swore to give to your ancestors, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob” (Deut. 30:19-20).

Putting your whole self into a loving relationship is a commitment and a process. As Pastor Jason points out, we must nurture our relationship with God so that it remains vital and growing. But we live in a noisy world that distracts us from God. We’re human, we fail, get tired, become disappointed.

Our scripture this week is well-complemented by Deut. 6:5, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might.” Jesus paraphrases it slightly, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind” (Matt. 22:37). Loving God is not a one-time experience, but a choice to put our whole selves into the relationship over the long haul.

Obviously, God does not come to the door to greet us when we come home or give us a big hug to express love. We know God through God’s word, our experiences of divine guidance, the sermons of our pastor, the sharing of communion, the love expressed to us by others, and the love that we show to others.

Our love for God includes our emotional feelings, but feelings are notoriously changeable and inaccurate. For instance, we can feel distant from or even condemned by God—when, in fact, we are deeply loved!

Martin Luther once committed that when our feelings sag, we become spiritually confused and forget to trust in God’s love. “Troubled consciences are like geese. When hawks pursue them, they try to escape by flying… when the wolves threatened them, they try to escape by running.” Luther said that when our faith and feelings aren’t meshing well, we need to hold to God’s promises in God’s word and trust God’s love. (The converse is also true: we could feel smug in our faith but are actually drifting away from God.)

Both the Old and New Testaments teach that loving God is indivisible with loving others. This makes the love of God a more difficult prospect than having emotional feelings toward God. People can be difficult and hard to love!  Helping others can be difficult. (Many of us have thought to ourselves, “No good deed goes unpublished” when our desire to help someone backfired.) But the prospect of loving others gives us an excellent guide to our progress in loving God.

Like the Israelites, we struggle to “stay in love with God.” Romans 12:9-21 reminds us what an active, self-giving, covenantal love looks like: you treat your persecutors with kindness and benevolence, you try to abandon your feelings of pride and stubbornness, you refrain from cultivating vengeful feelings, you work with others without competing for praise and credit. Elsewhere in the Bible, Hebrews 13:3 teaches a kind of empathy where we put ourselves into the “shoes” of suffering people: “Remember those who are in prison, as though you were in prison with them; those who are being tortured, as though you yourselves were being tortured.”

But we always need God’s help to grow in love. Fortunately, as we look to God, we discover that God is always ready to help us!   

Amen.

Do Good!

My wife Beth's devotion, written for our church to complement the sermon.  

Rule 2: Do Good: Two Tiny Words That Pack Quite a Punch

By Beth Stroble

While the rubric of Wesley’s three simple rules may not have been referenced in my Lutheran upbringing, their Biblical basis is clear. Luke 6:27-36 elaborates what many call the Golden Rule, “Do to others as you would have them do to you.” As Luke recounts Jesus’ words from the Sermon on the Mount, we understand that “others” are not only friends, family, and those who are easiest to love. Jesus calls his followers to love all, to include all, to care for all, to embrace all, and to be merciful to all.

What I do recall from confirmation classes in the Evangelical Lutheran Church (then Lutheran Church in America), was Martin Luther’s explanation of the ten commandments in his Small Catechism. For each commandment, Luther described the positive actions that each commandment required.  Not only were Christians to follow Rule 1: Do No Harm, they were to express a love of others in thought, word, and deed. For example, Luther explained the fifth commandment, “You shall not murder,” to mean: “We are to fear and love God, so that we neither endanger nor harm the lives of our neighbors, but indeed help and support them to all of life’s needs.” For the eighth commandment, “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor,” Luther teaches, “We are to fear and love God, so that we do not try to trick our neighbors out of their inheritance or property or try to get it for ourselves by claiming to have a legal right to it and the like, but instead be of help and service to them in keeping what is theirs.”

Growing up, I may have thought that those two commandments were the easiest to follow until I understood the active role that Rule 2 requires. It is not enough to do no harm. And if I extrapolate Luther’s line of thinking and take an expansive and honest view of the harm that we can and do cause others, then the good we are called to do is a necessary companion to Rule 1, a commitment that is the tangible expression of doing no harm.

Do good. Shorthand for think good, say good, act good. Unpacking those two words does pack a punch for each of us as individuals and for us collectively. Am I a force for good? Are we agents for good in the ways we form bonds and groups?

During today’s service, we asserted that WE ARE NOT ALONE.

That is a motivation and challenge for our good doing, that we see ourselves as members of a larger community for whom our active care and concern is shared, wanted and needed. And it is encouragement that as we seek to follow Jesus’ teaching: “This is my commandment, love one another as I have loved you,” that we have the grace and mercy of God—creator, redeemer, and spirit—as the model and source for our journey to love others as we are loved.

May all know we are Christians by our love. Amen.

Happy 200th, Rutherford Hayes

Our 19th president, Rutherford Hayes, was born 200 years ago: October 4, 1822, in Delaware, OH. This is an interesting article about him from the alum magazine of Kenyon College, his alma mater.

https://bulletin.kenyon.edu/feature/reconstructing-rutherford-b-hayes/

Thomas Nast

Thomas Nast was a caricaturist and editorial cartoonist, born on September 27, 1840. In his cartoons he attacked the racist policies of Democrats of the "Solid South," the KKK, and the corruption of the Tammany Hall political organization. He supported African-Americans, Chinese immigrants, and Native Americans. Unfortunately, he used racial stereotypes in his cartoons and lampooned Irish immigrants and Catholics. His drawings of Santa Claus gave us our popular images of the big guy. (In one of these cartoons, Santa is scolding two congressmen for not doing their jobs: some things never change, LOL) Nast was also the first to use the elephant as a symbol of the Republican Party. Years ago I begged my parents to buy me a bound volume of 1876 Harper's Weekly magazine from the antique dealer in Pocahontas, IL. I used to show it to my history students at UAkron. The volume is filled with Nast's cartoons, including this one that helped bring down Boss Tweed of Tammany Hall, an infamous figure of the time. 

Happy 300th, Samuel Adams

A second cousin of John Adams, Samuel Adams was born 300 years ago today! He was one of the first American leaders to commit to deny Parliament's authority and to commit to independence.  He led the radicals in Massachusetts and eventually served in the Continental Congress and as Massachusetts governor. He was one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. This is an interesting summary of some of his activities:  https://www.britannica.com/biography/Samuel-Adams In this portrait by John Singleton Copley, Adams points to the Massachusetts Charter, a document that he esteemed for protecting people's rights. I learned that the beer brand Samuel Adams honors his contributions to American history, drawing on the tradition that he had been a brewer.

Magritte, "Sixteenth of September"

 https://www.rene-magritte.com/sixteenth-of-september/

Happy birthday, Alexander von Humboldt

Alexander von Humboldt was born on this day in 1769! He was the German polymath and naturalist whose work on botanical geography established the field of biogeography. In 1799-1804, he explored South America then traveled to what was then called New Spain and finally visited the U.S., where he met President Jefferson. Jefferson, in turn, sent some of Humboldt's data out to Lewis and Clark, who were already along the Missouri River. Humboldt revitalized the ancient Greek word Kosmos to unify aspects of the natural world--and our intellectual, aesthetic, and emotional pleasure that we derive from Nature. He influenced many scientists, artists, and writers, including Darwin, Alfred Russel Wallace, Frederic Edwin Church, Jules Verne, Walt Whitman, and numerous others. Anti-German sentiment during World War I erased his tremendous popularity in this country, but many places in the U.S. are named for him. Two years ago we got to visit Humboldt University in Berlin. This portrait is in the nearby Nationalgalerie. ...

If you're still interested at this point, LOL, here is a quotation from Smithsonian Magazine. "[Humboldt] claimed to sleep only four hours a night and called coffee 'concentrated sunbeams.' Among his many scientific achievements, Humboldt theorized the spreading of the continental landmasses through plate tectonics, mapped the distribution of plants on three continents and charted the way air and water move to create bands of climate at different latitudes and altitudes. He tracked what became known as the Humboldt Current in the Pacific Ocean and created what he called isotherms to chart mean temperatures around the globe. He observed the relationship between deforestation and changes in local climate, located the magnetic equator and found in the geological strata fossil remains of both plants and animals that he understood to be precursors to modern life forms, acknowledging extinction before many others." 

Another article: https://www.savacations.com/genius-alexander-von-humboldt-latin-americas-second-columbus/?fbclid=IwAR1id_WUUVWIlohQNFnXAg_yXFf3NQ25U-UitlSmN7xXW000d_4rWhFb0XU#a-new-concept-of-nature

Belated happy 350th birthday, James Washburn

This is a family that I'm studying these days. I realized that my 6th-great-grandfather was born 350 years ago this past May 15th. Belated happy birthday, James! His father came to Plymouth Colony from Worcestershire in 1635. Then one of his and Mary's great-grandsons settled near Brownstown, IL, establishing the family of my grandma Crawford's mother. 

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/22519024/james-washburn?fbclid=IwAR3-TMFEBwwBPqAYr2ZXZg3ZPWUREyGq_84LmKJxFiE016WV_iqLxVoocCE

Photo from Find-a-Grave 

Queen Elizabeth

Interesting piece in the NYT about the historical contexts of the Queen's times. 

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/08/opinion/queen-empire-decolonization.html?fbclid=IwAR2QZb45YBzN4ZD_vbIl_3jQ0MKkFqBs_SW5cwx_hbFLSsSY6YH_L4kLea8&smid=fb-nytimes&smtyp=cur

Witnessing

 Witnessing

Paul Stroble

Psalm 126:1-3

When I was a teenager and then a college student, I thought I should be able to witness to my faith. As Pastor Jason reminds us, witnessing is one of the most important but most neglected spiritual practices. I wanted to be sufficiently comfortable in my faith to speak naturally to other folks about religion, so that they might gain faith as well.  I even purchased a popular book of the time, How to Give Away Your Faith.

But witnessing can be difficult. If you talk about your faith “cold,” a person may feel that you’ve crossed their boundaries. Even if you have a relationship with that person, it’s awkward to bring up religion. It seems easier to talk about sports or the weather!

When I was in college, a pastor suggested that we should be so warm and joyful as Christians, people will naturally want to know why. Then you can tell them about Jesus because Jesus is so positive in your life.

But I’m someone who has struggled all my life with depression. There are lots of times when I’m not joyful. It’s my brain chemistry, not an absence of faith. You can “fake it till you make it,” as the saying goes. But faking joy isn’t a good way to be Christian! Plus, I’m an introvert by nature, and I didn’t want to pretend to be extroverted.

In time, I learned to be natural in my expression of faith, including honesty about my struggles of faith and the ways I’d messed up. I shared about ways I’d experienced Christ in my life—especially Christ’s faithfulness across the years, creating “story arcs” of care in the lives of me and my family. (Of course, I hadn’t had many years with Christ when I was a teenager.)

But we don’t always have to describe our faith to people. As Pastor Jason reminds us, we all have different gifts. Some of us may share our faith in music, or in art, or in writing, or in kinds of service.

In our Evangelism seminar at Eden Seminary, we’ve talked about the role of the Holy Spirit in Evangelism. If the Holy Spirit hasn’t prepared the situation, there’s really no point in trying to force an evangelistic situation. When I was young, evangelism seemed more like a kind of persuasion, rather than a sharing that the Spirit had already put in motion.

In that seminar, we’ve also talked about hospitality and welcoming as powerful ways to be evangelistic. In the spirit of the Epistle of James, we seek to find out people’s needs and help meet them. We don’t pressure people, but rather create safe places for them to share faith.

That brings me to our lesson, Psalm 126:1-3. Psalm 126 is the text for the old hymn “Bringing in the Sheaves.” I sang the hymn for years as a boy before I knew what a “sheaf” was. I thought it was a euphemism for someone you invited to church.

A sheaf, of course, is a bundle of harvested grain stalks wrapped for easy carrying. Why are the people so happy “carrying their sheaves”? They’re happy because this has been a life-or-death situation. The people have returned to the land after the Babylonian exile, and they must rebuild their farms in order to survive. They can’t run to Schnucks if crops failed: to have sheaves of grain meant that they had food!  Having food was to them a sign of God’s blessing.

Having successful farms, the people naturally were very happy! “Then our mouth was filled with laughter, and our tongue with shouts of joy; then it was said among the nations, ‘The Lord has done great things for them.’ The Lord has done great things for us, and we rejoiced.”

What has the Lord done in your life? It might be something big, or it might be faithful comfort over a period of time. This week, think about ways you could tell someone about how God has been in your life.  Amen.

Walking with Jesus

Walking with Jesus

By Beth Stroble

In this Summer of Psalms, Pastor Jason has encouraged us to reflect and act on the psalmists’ wisdom.  From that wisdom, we learn anew the spiritual practices that bring us closer to God, that bless us and confirm us in our faith.

This week’s words from Psalm 119 call upon the faithful to find happiness by walking “in the Lord’s instruction,” guarding “God’s laws,” and seeking “God with all their hearts.”  The psalmist asserts that those “whose way is blameless” are the “truly happy!” (verses 1 and 2).  In the later verses (10-16) of the psalm, the psalmist no longer addresses us as readers but instead uses his voice to address God: “I have sought you with all my heart. Don’t let me stray from any of your commandments. I keep your word close, in my heart, so that I won’t sin against you. You, Lord are to be blessed!  Teach me your statutes. I will declare out loud all the rules you have spoken. I rejoice in the content of your laws as if I were rejoicing over great wealth.  I think about your precepts and examine all your paths. I will delight in your statutes; I will not forget what you have said.”

The psalmist’s words anchor us in the need to study the scriptures and hold them in our hearts. This spiritual practice keeps us grounded and focused on God’s love and will for us. What I notice in this psalm are the plentiful references to movement, through repetition of walking, seeking, straying, paths, and a way.  It’s not unusual to think of the time of our lives—literally and spiritually—as a pilgrimage, a journey, a passage. The metaphor of walking for growing in faith and love is common in the Old and New Testaments.  In many New Testament letters, walking with Jesus signifies a time of learning and growth in faithfulness while in intimate conversation.

Not only is the act of walking with Jesus a sign of our love for God’s word; it is a path to understanding God’s way, a means of grace and instruction, and a path to keeping our hearts pure.  In our walk—through prayer, through reading and study of scripture, through the singing of hymns, through meditation and presence in worship—we center our being on what God intends for us.  Through God’s grace, we are blessed to be those who are truly happy.

So many hymns echo these thoughts: I Want to Walk as a Child of the Light; I Want Jesus to Walk With Me; Precious Lord, Take My Hand; ‘Tis So Sweet to Walk With Jesus; Just a Closer Walk With Thee, and many more. These hymns make the choice personal—will I walk with Jesus and be guided by God’s ways and commands?  Or will I stray from God’s wisdom, forgetting the blessings and comfort that come from trusting in him because I seek only my own counsel and gain my sustenance from sources that cannot satisfy nor sustain?

The psalmist calls out to each of us. True happiness comes from the Lord.

Amen.

Beethoven's Immortal Beloved

Happy 210th anniversary to the Immortal Beloved letter! Such an interesting historical mystery. 

Beethoven died March 26, 1827. As his effects were sorted, a compartment of his desk fell open, revealing a 10-page love letter. Beethoven had poured out his heart with passionate love for an unnamed woman. Among his several loving names, he calls her his "Unsterbliche Geliebte" (Immortal Beloved). The letter is dated July 6-7.  Later analysis determined that the letter was written in 1812 at Teplitz (now Teplice). 

Did Beethoven ever send the letter? Apparently not. There was no envelope with the letter, which seemingly would've been the case if the woman had returned the letter. 

Who was she? Beethoven never married but had affections for several women. Among them, Antonie Brentano and Josephine Brunswick (pictured) are strong contenders, based on similarities of wording with known love letters. Josephine's sister Therese is another. Beethoven dedicated the Moonlight Sonata to Julie Guicciardi, who is another possibility. I have a book that builds the case for Dorothea von Ertmann, a talented pianist who performed Beethoven's works. 

The letter is one of the most famous aspects of the composer's life. A 1994 movie about the letter starred Gary Oldman. The woman is also featured in the Trans-Siberian Orchestra's rock opera "Beethoven's Last Night." 

Photos from Wikipedia 

Pequot Massacre, 385 Years Ago

Terrible history, but it's what we need to learn and remember and teach. I've been researching this topic because some of my white relatives participated in other 1600s New England conflicts against the Native tribes, if not this one.

The Pequot War was a conflict in 1636-1637 between English settlers and their allies--including the Narragansett and Mohegan on one aside, and the Pequot tribe and their allies on the other. The Pequot had opposed English settlement in southern Connecticut. Remember that permanent English colonization had begun just 16 years before with the Mayflower..

385 years ago tonight, in the early morning of May 26, 1637, the English and their Native allies attacked the Pequot fort at Mystic. Perhaps 400 Pequot men, women, children, and elderly were shot or burned alive in about an hour. Survivors were sent into slavery in different parts of New England. ... Reflecting the Puritan belief in divine providence, English commander John Mason wrote, “Thus, the Lord was pleased to smite our Enemies in the hinder Parts and to give us their Land for an Inheritance." 

Britannia.com has this: "In the end, the Pequot War forever changed the political and social landscape of southern New England, and it influenced colonial and U.S. policies toward Native Americans for centuries... the English ability and will to wage total war against their Indian enemies." You can certainly draw a historical line between the Mystic massacre and Wounded Knee, over 250 years later.

Here are two other pieces: https://www.voanews.com/.../usa_did-english.../6201084.html

http://pequotwar.org/about/

The Story of Tabitha

A devotion written for our church, to complement the Sunday message. 

The Story of Tabitha

Acts 9:36-43

Paul Stroble

Leslie told me that her Sunday sermon is on John 13: 1-15 (Jesus’s washing the disciples' feet), if I wanted to pick a complementary scripture. I decided to look at the story of Tabitha (Acts 9:36-43), a person noted for her humble service to others.

Contrary to some ugly stereotypes about Judaism, Jews are known for their generous charitable giving. The religious concepts of chesed (mercy, kindness), tzedek (justice), and tzedakah (charitable giving) are important aspects of the Jewish tradition.

We see these aspects of faith in Acts. Luke has already shown that the disciples practiced distribution of their goods so that no one will be in need. (Sorry if you think this is socialist!) In chapter 6, we read that the church is growing, but the provision of the basic needs of economically vulnerable members is neglected. Everything stops until this problem is addressed. The disciples prayerfully set up an infrastructure, so to speak, so that the needy can be cared for (Acts 6:1-6).

This finally brings me to Tabitha, also named Dorcus. I always liked this story. Her name obviously calls to mind that old show “Bewitched,” a family favorite. I also have a 19th-century cousin named Tabitha buried in our family cemetery. The biblical Tabitha was a woman of Joppa. She was known for her “good works and acts of charity” (vs. 36). Making clothes was a big aspect of her tzedakah. When Peter came, widows of her community showed him “tunics and other clothing that Dorcas had made while she was with them” (vs. 39).

Something really strikes me about the story of Tabitha. She does not have a “speaking role” in her own story. Instead, her good works and charitable giving speak for her. It’s human nature to want to tell others about your good deeds. But as Judaism teaches, the works of the greatest righteousness are those done the most quietly.

The story of Tabitha is also one of a miracle: Christ’s resurrection power that restored Tabitha to life. One of my Bible commentaries points out what we could call a quiet miracle: the gathering of a small community that grew from her sickness and death. Peter, too, became part of this community of persons—not the “big” people of Joppa, but those in need. One time I heard a question, which haunted me, “How many people among your friends are poor people?” Then, as now, I can’t think of any. I can think of plenty of people who are “poor in Spirit,” as Jesus puts it. We can think of small “communities” to which we belong as a consequence of supporting one another in times of sickness and distress.

We’ve all known people who felt sad that they didn’t get healing miracles. The New Testament depicts even resurrection miracles like Tabitha’s to be so “easy.” Healing miracles do still happen. But now that Jesus has risen from the dead, we have all kinds of wonderful miracles daily and forever. These miracles are always available. Jesus has given us life with God forever. He gives us access to God in prayer. He gives us fellowship. He gives us his Holy Spirit. He gives us power and grace through the sharing of the Lord’s Supper. He has given us the assurance of God’s love. He has given us power and guidance for daily living. He has given us the guarantee of Heaven and takes us there when we die. He draws us together in communities of service and mutual support.

We may tend to forget these less "showy" miracles, but actually, they’re the most important of all.

Prayer: Dear Lord, From Jesus’ washing of the disciples’ feet, to the quiet acts of service done by Tabitha, keep showing us ways to humbly serve one another, in His name. Amen.

All Are Welcome, All Are Blessed

My wife Beth's devotion for our church for this past Sunday. 

All are welcome. All are blessed.

By Beth Stroble

Did you realize that the description of Jesus’ feeding of the Five Thousand is the only miracle that appears in all four Gospels? The elements of the story are generally well-known, although the context for the story likely less so. Memory brings to mind an image of Jesus and his disciples taking time to refresh and regroup in a relatively remote location. Masses of people found them, and as Jesus took time then to teach them, all grew hungry. When the disciples suggested sending the crowd away to get food, Jesus instead instructs the disciples to gather what is available. They produced a meager assortment of five loaves and two fish, Jesus blesses the food, all are fed abundantly, and twelve baskets of leftovers remain. A miracle.

The miracle is at least two-fold as we recall Jesus’ words to the devil after being tempted for forty days. Luke tells us that Jesus had eaten nothing in those forty days and was starving. The devil tempted him to use his power to command a stone to become a loaf of bread. “Jesus replied, ‘It’s written, People won’t live only by bread’” (Luke 4:4). He refuses the dare, but we do not doubt his power to do such a thing. From Jesus’ words and actions, we begin to understand that the miracle of the feeding of the five thousand is about more than a transformation of a few items of food to the bounty capable of feeding so many.

With Rev. Lemoine’s sermon, we begin a series of sermons that will take us on the journey of Jesus and the disciples as told by Luke. In this journey, we learn more about the lessons Jesus gave the Twelve and gives us for our own discipleship journeys.

One of these is startling to someone who, admittedly, struggles with packing for a trip. Because of wanting to make sure I have items for any eventuality, I over-pack. Jesus’ advice to the disciples as he charged them to go out in a ministry of teaching and healing was to take nothing and instead to rely upon the hospitality of strangers. This is hard advice to hear and to act on, even though my experiences of arriving in China and Uzbekistan without luggage, and the helpfulness I encountered from my hosts should give me more faith in others and the wisdom of traveling light. Instead, I cram more into a carry-on. How hard to let go of even the least productive habits!

I think of the five thousand. They came with very little yet left with abundance—food for the spirit and food for the body. All were fed. Generosity prevailed. All were welcome. All were blessed, and all received the gift of grace.

I think of the Twelve. After a long journey that created the need for a time of rest and retreat, their expectations to get what they needed instead turned to a time to give to others’ needs.

As they saw themselves lacking the resources to meet the crowd’s and their own needs, faith made a miracle, to use Rev. Lemoine’s words. Jesus blessed the food, and they had plenty.

I think of ourselves and the times we gather in worship to refresh our spirits, to gain the strength we need for the coming week. I think of our coming together at the Lord’s Table, participating in the same communal meal foreshadowed by the Feeding of the Five Thousand and the Last Supper. All are welcome. All are blessed. We live by more than bread. We come with nothing and leave with everything, through the redeeming grace and power of our risen Lord. And we are all charged to go forward, serving others with all that we have and are.

Dear God, we praise you for the blessings you shower upon us. We thank you for providing abundantly for our need, not because of our worth, but because of your love for us. Help us have faith in your miraculous generosity and your power to equip us for your service. Fuel our love of you and our fellow travelers on this earthly journey. Bless us to live with a spirit of abundance and generosity. In Christ’s name we pray. Amen.

Happy 200th, U.S. Grant

Ulysses S. Grant was born on this day (as Hiram Ulysses Grant) in Ohio 200 years ago today. According to the National Park Service website where I got this picture, he graduated from West Point in 1843 and was ordered to join the 4th U.S. Infantry at Jefferson Barracks in St. Louis. While there, he met Julia Dent, the sister of Grant's West Point roommate's younger sister, Julia Dent. Julia lived nearby on the White Haven estate. She and Ulysses were married in 1848. This picture is from the mid 1840s. https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/ulysses-s-grant-in-st-louis-1854-1860.htm?fbclid=IwAR27K8gOvLwmru_pvFpwirAq05vWob5LO_RoLgtnKBuSDovg3wUE1sUUiag

Yom Hashoah

Yom Hashoah begins this evening and continues till tomorrow evening. As this says: "The full name of the day commemorating the victims of the Holocaust is “Yom Hashoah Ve-Hagevurah“– literally the “Day of (Remembrance of) the Holocaust and the Heroism.” It is marked on the 27th day in the month of Nisan — a week after the seventh day of Passover, and a week before Yom Hazikaron (Memorial Day for Israel’s fallen soldiers)." 27 Nisan, which is a lunar date, falls on April 27-28 this year. As I understand it, the Israeli government first established the day to coincide with the anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising in the spring of 1943, when 35,000 Jews staged a resistance against the Nazis that lasted nearly a month.

https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/yom-hashoah-holocaust-memorial-day/?fbclid=IwAR2QL6OZxIlqNJw3IwMRengDzZAHtcXh-rwthVqWbEzhFIuiMHGXkuJkQ60

Jack Klugman

A wonderful actor! Jack Klugman was born 100 years ago today. (He died in 2012.)

Landscape: Robert Newton Hurley

"Prairie Landscape" by Robert Newton Hurley (1894-1980), from: https://www.mutualart.com/Artist/Robert-Newton-Hurley/A1BF3551CC9D3F07/AuctionResults?Type=Sold_Unsold&action=filter

Death of the Red Baron

Manfred von Richthofen, the "Red Baron", was killed on this day in 1918, aged only 25. He was credited with 80 air victories, the most among World War I pilots. He was fatally wounded as he chased a Sopwith Camel flown by a Canadian pilot. Richthofen's death was at first credited to another Canadian pilot, pursuing from behind. That pilot modestly only ever claimed to have fired at a red triplane. Through eyewitness accounts and analysis of the angle of the Baron's wound, researchers have determined that he died from ground fire from an Australian anti-aircraft gunner. There is speculation that a previous head wound, or perhaps combat stress impaired the usually careful Richthofen's judgment in engaging in an air battle over a risky area. On the other hand, the changing areas of the western front in April 1918 made military intelligence difficult to gather and relay. 

I have a book, "Who Killed the Red Baron?" (1969), in which the author investigates the circumstances of his death: fascinating though sad reading. Another book that I enjoyed when I was in junior high: "The Red Knight of Germany. The Story of Baron von Richthofen, Germany's Great War Bird" (1927). I checked it out of Vandalia's library several times! I also enjoyed putting together models of World War I planes. At the time, Vandalia had a lovely little hobby shop, on North Sixth Street just south of Orchard. 

 

Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun

Here's an interesting artist whose birth anniversary was this past Saturday. Élisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun was born April 16, 1755. She painted 660 portraits and 200 landscapes, many of which are in the Met, the Louvre, Versailles, Uffizi, the Hermitage, London's National Gallery, and others. Here are two self-portraits, one of her portraits of Marie Antoinette, and the landscape "La fête des bergers à Unspunnen" (The Shepherds' Festival at Unspunnen). "There is also a long tradition of great artists– Rubens and Velázquez, John Singer Sargent and Tina Barney – who served as courtiers to the elites of the day, and used the power that intimacy afforded to remake the rules of representation. Vigée Le Brun was an artist at that lofty level, at a moment women weren’t supposed to be artists at all" (https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2016/feb/12/vigee-le-brun-metropolitan-museum-of-art-woman-artist-revolutionary-france).

Bergen-Belsen Anniversary

This anniversary is tomorrow but I'm reading about it today. This is very hard to read and comprehend but it's so important, if you can. Allied forces liberated the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp on April 15, 1945. This was the camp where Anne and Margot Frank died in February 1945, among the perhaps 50,000 persons, mostly Jews, who died there during the first months of 1945.

https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/bergen-belsen?fbclid=IwAR0mI23k7qirOS5kLA3dheBL6_Ov3PlWQ7KsV6gaCz1gMWYuePeiVy0Pugk

Christiaan Huygens

Multitalented Dutch scientist Christiaan Huygens was born on this day in 1649. He is considered the first theoretical physicist; he derived the formulae for centripetal and centrifugal force; identified the laws of elastic collision; developed a wave theory of light; invented the pendulum clock; made improvements to the telescope; discovered Saturn's moon Titan and also the rings of Saturn.

The Grapes of Wrath

".. the people are in flight, and they come into 66 from the tributary side roads, from the wagon tracks and the rutted country roads. 66 is the mother road, the road of flight." 

Steinbeck's "The Grapes of Wrath" was published 83 years ago today. It was a great book to read for our "American Highways and American Wanderlust" honors class at UAkron, back in the '00s. 

Lincoln's Assassination

157 years ago this evening, April 14, 1865, Lincoln and his wife Mary and two others went to Ford’s Theatre to see the comedy “Our American Cousin.” April 14 was Good Friday that year. John Wilkes Booth and his co-conspirers had plotted to assassinate Lincoln, Vice President Andrew Johnson, and Secretary of State William Seward. The would-be assassin of Johnson got cold feet.  Although Seward was seriously injured, he was not killed. But Booth entered Lincoln’s theatre box, at a moment in the play where Booth knew the gunshot would be drowned out by audience laughter: "Don’t know the manners of good society, eh? Well, I guess I know enough to turn you inside out, old gal — you sockdologizing old man-trap." At that, Booth fatally wounded Lincoln with a single shot and jumped onto the stage, breaking his leg in the process. He escaped, and a few days later he was located and killed. Lincoln was carried to the house across the street from the theatre, where he died at 7:22 AM Saturday morning, April 15. Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton is reported to declared, "Now he belongs to the ages."

King Philip's War Treaty Anniversary

King Philip's War was a bloody colonial conflict between the New England English and several Native tribes who had tired of English encroachment upon tribal lands in spite of earlier treaties. Wampanoag chief Massasoit had negotiated a peace treaty with the colonists at Plymouth Plantation in 1621. By 1675, his son Metacom, angered by the hanging of three Wampanoags at Plymouth, led attacks against English settlements, destroying some, including Providence, RI, Simbury, CT, and others.... English militia responded by attacking native villages, including a Narragansett fort in Rhode Island, although the Narragansetts had been trying to stay neutral. ... Some of my relatives lived in Bridgewater, MA at the time; at least one and maybe 3 participated in the fighting. ....The murder of Metacom  in August 1676 effectively ended much of the war, although a formal treaty wasn't signed until April 12, 1678. The war was the bloodiest war per capita in American history and tragically set the template for future attitudes and policies toward Native tribes: the ugly characterization of them, the sense of entitlement to their lands, broken treaties, and the erasure of their histories from later accounts of Euro-American history. Even the Declaration of Independence, with its vision of "all men are created equal," characterizes Native tribes as "the merciless Indian Savages." .... The town of Metamora, IL is named for a popular 19th-century play, a fictionalized story of Metacom that did make him a heroic, tragic figure... Here's the grave of my 7th-great-uncle who is on record as a soldier in the war:  https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/10749663/john-washburn