A Famine in the Land
Posted on February 9, 2009 in the General, Liturgy category
Our church has begun the “Reading the Bible through in 90 Days” challenge. Last week was our first week. Earlier today, my beloved husband sent me this article from Bloomberg. A couple of sentences from the article are worthy of note:
The worst financial crisis in two generations has erased $14.5 trillion, or 33 percent, of the value of the world’s companies since Sept. 15; brought down Bear Stearns Cos. and Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.; and led to the takeover of Merrill Lynch & Co. by Bank of America Corp.
The pledges, amounting to almost two-thirds of the value of everything produced in the U.S. last year, are intended to rescue the financial system after the credit markets seized up about 18 months ago.
As I read the Bloomberg article, I was reminded of a passage in Scripture, which I had recently read during my “challenge” time:
18 When that year had ended, they came to him the next year and said to him, “We will not hide from my lord that our money is gone; my lord also has our herds of livestock. There is nothing left in the sight of my lord but our bodies and our lands. 19 Why should we die before your eyes, both we and our land? Buy us and our land for bread, and we and our land will be servants of Pharaoh; give us seed, that we may live and not die, that the land may not be desolate.”
The entirety of the passage can be found here. The people of Egypt gave up everything to Pharaoh — their government, and in the course of those seven years of famine they found themselves no longer landholders and freemen, but servants and slaves to the government. Pharaoh owned everything:
15 So when the money failed in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan, all the Egyptians came to Joseph and said, “Give us bread, for why should we die in your presence? For the money has failed.”
16 Then Joseph said, “Give your livestock, and I will give you bread for your livestock, if the money is gone.” 17 So they brought their livestock to Joseph, and Joseph gave them bread in exchange for the horses, the flocks, the cattle of the herds, and for the donkeys. Thus he fed them with bread in exchange for all their livestock that year.
You can draw your own conclusions, but I am reminded of the saying, “He who fails to learn from history is doomed to repeat it.” Seems to me we’ve been repeating history an awful lot lately.
Mr. Lewis’ Screwtape Letters
Posted on November 24, 2008 in the General, Literature category
We are reading C.S. Lewis’ The Screwtape Letters in our church book club. This work originally was published in July 1941, during the middle of World War II. While I had heard about Mr. Lewis and his writings for a long time, I’d never actually read anything by him. So, it was with a sense of anticipation and curiosity that I attended our first reading. I was hooked after the first chapter.
One of the things I found interesting - even before I began reading the book, was what Mr. Lewis had to say in his Preface:
There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils. One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe, and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them. They themselves are equally pleased by both errors and hail a materialist or a magician with the same delight.
Given the fact that a movie based on vampires (Twilight) just grossed $102.3M in opening box office receipts, I’d say that Mr. Lewis’ admonishment–and the tome within which it resides–is as timely today as it was 66+ years ago, if not more so.
We’ve been reading through each chapter while listening to a British speaker recite the same from an audio file. To hear Mr. Lewis’ words and phraseology in his mother tongue, incorporating that well-known dry British wit, is an experience not to be missed and only deepens and strengthens the gist of the book in its entirety. We’ve been at it a few weeks now, and Chapters VIII and IX, which we just completed, I found particularly insightful given today’s society. I thought I would share them with you here.
Traveling Man
Posted on November 14, 2008 in the Liturgy, Poetry category
He began life a gardener
Looking after his Master’s land.
Temptation won; now a prisoner.
Adam was a traveling man.
He played at tilling the soil;
Purity and righteousness he did feign.
Jealousy won; all the earth did roil;
A traveling man was Cain.
He built a boat tall and long
Listening to his Master’s plan.
Humanity lost; waters here then gone.
Noah was a traveling man.
He left family, country, and home
Heading for the promised land.
Covenant made; bright future to come;
A traveling man was Abraham.
He followed into the wilderness
Trusting his da; split wood on his back.
Obedience won; the Lord did bless.
A traveling man was Isaac.
He struggled with his twin;
Taking the right of the clan.
Twelve sons; a chosen kin.
Jacob was a traveling man.
He dreamt and then told;
Hating, his brothers did plan.
Tunic torn; into slavery sold.
Joseph was a traveling man.
He balked and then he pled;
Telling all, “Yahweh chose us.”
Plagues won; the people fled.
A traveling man was Moses.
He felled the mighty giant;
Only to make Saul king livid.
God’s heart sought; yielding, pliant.
A traveling man was David.
He disobeyed, railed and spent
Three days before spat on land.
Big fish won; to Ninevah he went.
Jonah was a traveling man.
He prophesied and to all would say,
“Immoral! Idolatrous! Repent if you can!”
Sayings true; Isaiah, Amos, Hosea;
Each prophet was a traveling man.
He in chains to Babylon did come.
To Nebuchadnezzar he did tell;
Dreams interpreted, the battle won.
A traveling man was Daniel.
He came to quench a world of thirst.
Teaching one and all the Master’s Plan.
Tree raised; and so did the First.
Jesus was a traveling man.
He being the Three-In-One
Moving through time and space.
Father God, Holy Spirit, Son;
Traveling I am to see Your face.
Nancy Jones (Larswife) © November 2008
A Brief History on The Churching of Women - part 6
Posted on August 23, 2008 in the Family, Liturgy, Poetry category
I want to leave you with a poem written by John Keble, an English churchman and one of the founders of the Oxford Movement. Mr. Keble is best known for his work, The Christian Year, a collection of poetry that first appeared in 1827. The object of the work, as described by the author himself, was to bring the thoughts and feelings of the reader into unison with those exemplified in the Prayer Book.
A Brief History on The Churching of Women - part 5
Posted on August 23, 2008 in the Family, Liturgy category
I mentioned in passing a moment ago in the Roman Catholic rite that the woman is to carry a lighted candle. There is a date on the Christian calendar, including our own, one of the Holy Days, called the Purification of Saint Mary the Virgin, which occurs on February 2nd. The Collect and readings for that day can be found in our Prayer Book beginning on page 250. This date is also known as the Feast of the Presentation of Christ in the Temple. The Feast is also known to many in Christendom as Candlemas. In times past, it was the celebration of Candlemas that provided an annual occasion to preach about the need for women to follow the custom of churching.
The Feast of the Presentation is among the most ancient of feasts in the Christian Church. References to it can be found as far back as the early 300s. The earliest reference to specific liturgical rites can be found in a long letter, which dates from around 381-384, written by a Spanish or Gallic woman named Egeria[1], who made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land during this time and documented her experiences.
In pre-Reformation days it was the custom in England for women to carry lighted tapers when being churched. Lamburn’s Ritual Notes state, “The woman should hold a lighted candle in her right hand in memory of Simeon’s prophecy.”[2] As the prophet Simeon said in Luke 2:
29 “Lord, now You are letting Your servant depart in peace,
According to Your word;
30 For my eyes have seen Your salvation
31 Which You have prepared before the face of all peoples,
32 A light to bring revelation to the Gentiles,
And the glory of Your people Israel.”[3]
[1] also known as Aetheria.
[2] Lamburn, Ritual Notes.
[3] Luke 2:29-32 (NKJ) (emphasis original). This is known as the Nunc Dimittis, traditionally the second Canticle sung or recited at Evening Prayer; see p. 29 in the BCP (Dss. Annette).
A Brief History on The Churching of Women - part 4
Posted on August 23, 2008 in the Family, Liturgy category
Some observations are, I think, now in order on how the Eastern Orthodox and the Roman Catholic churches observe this occasional service; for this rite is still very much practiced in both churches. Read more
A Brief History on The Churching of Women - part 3
Posted on August 22, 2008 in the Family, Liturgy category
The rubric from our Prayer Book states:
The Woman, at the usual time after her delivery, shall come into the church decently appareled, and there shall kneel down in some convenient place, as has been accustomed, or as the Ordinary shall direct.[1]
A Brief History on The Churching of Women - part 2
Posted on August 21, 2008 in the Family, Liturgy category
There does not appear to be a clear consensus as to when the Churching of Women found its way into the Prayer Book. There is very little information regarding this matter from the time of the Early Church fathers to the 11th Century when the service first begins to appear. There is, however, one notable exception, and our source for this exception is none other than the Venerable Bede, who was born in AD 672 and died in AD 735. Read more
A Brief History on The Churching of Women - part 1
Posted on August 20, 2008 in the Family, Liturgy category
I recently gave a devotional at the baby shower of a dear young woman, who is trying to juggle (now) two small children under the age of two, a home-based business, and other assorted wifely and motherly duties. The following is the complete text of that devotional, which I’ve broken down into several posts for easier reading. I intend to post further on a couple of issues that caught my eye and curiosity as I was researching for the devotional. But for now, I hope you find what I have already done of interest and value. Read more
Has a nation changed its gods?
Posted on July 10, 2008 in the General, Liturgy category
10 For pass beyond the coasts of Cyprus[a] and see,
Send to Kedar[b] and consider diligently,
And see if there has been such a thing.
11 Has a nation changed its gods,
Which are not gods?
I was particularly struck by this passage recently during one morning reading in the Book of Jeremiah. I continued reading: Read more
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