A wiser man than I said, “For every current book you read, read five at least 100 years old.” I would modify that a bit and say, “For every 19th, 20th, or 21st century book you read, read five from before then.”
One old book worth reading is Plutarch’s Lives of the Nobel Greeks (His Lives of the Nobel Romans is good as well.). In his entry about the hero of Athens’s, Pericles, he begins with this rather stunning observation by Caesar: (more…)
I once observed in a paper on another subject that one of the most frustrating things to hear when asking for directions is, “You can’t get there from here.” What? Aren’t all roads connected? There has got to be some way to get from where I am in physical space to another physical space. True enough about physical realities, but there are some spiritual realities you can’t get to from where a person is at the moment. (more…)
I was celebrating the Lord’s Supper one Sunday about 4 years ago. I said the dismissal, “Now may this Body and Blood strengthen and preserve you in the true faith unto life everlasting. Amen.” As I said, “Amen,” I heard a visiting communicant say in a loud, affirming voice, “Amen!” I was taken aback. (more…)
I was raised in the era when the Flag touching the ground was an unforgivable sin. My time in the Army reinforced this. When I flew the Flag from the flagpole outside our church the Sunday after 9/11, I was careful not to let it touch the ground.
Among the Greeks and Romans, one of their idols falling over and touching the ground was a big deal, a bad omen, something to be avoided at all costs. Centuries before them, the Philistine’s god, Dagon, was disgraced when the Lord caused that idol to fall “downward on the ground before the ark of the Lord” (I Samuel 5:3). My favorite apocryphal story about Baby Jesus’ flight to Egypt is that as soon as He crossed into Egypt all the idols crashed to the ground at once. How cool!
But I write not about the Flag touching the ground or false gods touching the ground, I write about the Eucharist, the Holy Communion, touching the ground. (more…)
One of my favorite apocryphal stories about Jesus goes like this: Jesus, Mother Mary, and Joseph are fleeing the wrath of King Herod heading for Egypt. They are all riding on the back of a donkey. Joseph becomes impatient with the slow progress of the beast, and he begins to dig his heels into the animal. This doesn’t do any good, so he resorts to whipping the plodding donkey saying, “You stupid, good for nothing donkey! Don’t you know that you are carrying the Christ-child? Don’t you realize that Herod is out to slay the child? Don’t you know that you must hurry or he will catch us?” Just then the Lord gives the donkey the gift of speech. (more…)