Earth Day 2021

 

 

Lake James Pokagon State Park

Psalms 146 through 150 begin and end with the call “Praise the Lord”. An examination of the ancient Hebrew meaning of the word which we commonly, and even casually, use in church reveals this…”The verb hālal means "praise." "This root connotes being sincerely and deeply thankful for and/or satisfied in lauding a superior quality or great, great acts of the object."

There should be a sense of great thankfulness as we praise God. It does not appear that God seeks empty lip-service. It seems that because he has been wonderfully generous with his creation that all of creation might respond with joyous acknowledgement.

As we approach Earth Day, April 22, 2021, let us, along with all other created moments and objects of existence release from our innermost sense of identity an applause that will reach to the ears and heart of God.

Psalm 148 speaks of all things in existence offering this applause to God.

Let us join their unending hymn…

Praise ye the Lord. Praise ye the Lord from the heavens: praise him in the heights.

² Praise ye him, all his angels: praise ye him, all his hosts.

³ Praise ye him, sun and moon: praise him, all ye stars of light.

⁴ Praise him, ye heavens of heavens, and ye waters that be above the heavens.

⁵ Let them praise the name of the Lord: for he commanded, and they were created.

⁶ He hath also stablished them for ever and ever: he hath made a decree which shall not pass.

⁷ Praise the Lord from the earth, ye dragons, and all deeps:

⁸ Fire, and hail; snow, and vapours; stormy wind fulfilling his word:

⁹ Mountains, and all hills; fruitful trees, and all cedars:

¹⁰ Beasts, and all cattle; creeping things, and flying fowl:

¹¹ Kings of the earth, and all people; princes, and all judges of the earth:

¹² Both young men, and maidens; old men, and children:

¹³ Let them praise the name of the Lord: for his name alone is excellent; his glory is above the earth and heaven.

¹⁴ He also exalteth the horn of his people, the praise of all his saints; even of the children of Israel, a people near unto him. Praise ye the Lord.

The Last Supper? I Think Not!

 

 

da Vinci Public domain picture from Wikipedia

 

Greetings Sisters and Brothers in Christ…

Contemplate these words from Luke, chapter 24 (which take place after Jesus' resurrection)

³⁰ When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. ³¹ Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight. ³² They asked each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?”

 

So you see, the commonly referred to “Last Supper” was not in fact the last supper Jesus had with disciples. I imagine he had many suppers with them after his resurrection and before ascension.

But I suppose these suppers just didn’t have enough sensational impact for Leonardo da Vinci! Thus, we are stuck on the one he pictured.

 

Now why, in this scene, Jesus stays only long enough to eat, be recognized and then “poof” he’s gone I can’t say for sure. I think he is making the point that he is capable of lovingly intervening in our tangible and spiritual lives simultaneously. And so we should also attend to both, the spiritual and physical.

But he appears to a greater group of disciples later. And, once again, he eats with them!

⁴⁰ When he had said this, he showed them his hands and feet. ⁴¹ And while they still did not believe it because of joy and amazement, he asked them, “Do you have anything here to eat?” ⁴² They gave him a piece of broiled fish, ⁴³ and he took it and ate it in their presence.

⁴⁴ He said to them, “This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.”

⁴⁵ Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures.

Much is often said about fasting as a spiritual discipline. Humph!

I find it very interesting that these scenes, in which Jesus is recognized and the Scriptures understood, are in the context of supper!

I suggest this…the next dinner, breakfast or lunch you have with family, friends, coworkers, ask not only that the food be blessed but also that your eyes be more fully opened that you may see Jesus more clearly and understand Scripture more fully.

Ask and you will receive!

Labyrinthine Grammaticae

 

 

I recently was described as the “M.C. Escher of the sentence” by a thespian of excellent stature!

My goodness what a compliment my ego embraced in that comment.

And I suppose there are some sentences in which I do attempt to turn the predicate around to move back toward the subject that it may then again travel toward the predicate.

But generally, I merely attempt to adorn a simple subject and predicate with application of adjective and adverb. I garnish the simple sentence with punctuation in hopes to pull into the simple, though adorned, sentence informative concepts that otherwise would remain extra-sentence stand alone grammatical creatures in their own, unadorned, right.

Well, as an example of how I develop a grammatically correct, yet labyrinthine group of words, I offer the following scenario.

I begin with a very simple sentence such as…

“I ate pie.” So what!

Therefore, to give the sentence charm, I add a descriptor…

“I ate lemon-meringue pie.” You see how now you can almost taste the lemon and see the yellow and white coloring.

Now, allow me to describe, not only further the kind of pie I ate, but my personal character in doing so…

“I ate precisely sliced lemon-meringue pie without guilt.”

Still, “without guilt” does not adequately describe the undisciplined character of the subject. So, let me further besmirch this deserving subject…

“I, in willful iniquity, ate precisely sliced lemon-meringue pie without entertaining even a hint of guilt.”

I suppose that sentence would be generally accepted as full and complete and soundly in compliance with generally accepted grammatical style. It is composed of only sixteen words, two commas, one hyphen, and one period. It is quite economical.

But, it is not yet fun enough for me!

So, allow me, in conclusion (I promise) my signature fatiguing style of grammatical excess.

“I, in willful iniquity, and as an exercise in punch-to-the –nose insult of on-watching calorie spies, ate precisely sliced lemon-meringue pie without entertaining even a hint of guilt!”

The Historic Gatehouse at Pokagon State Park

 

Sherry and I periodically travel to the Pokagon State Park around Angola Indiana to spend a few nights or sometimes just to have dinner.

This last Sunday, Easter, we went for Easter brunch.

As we entered we discovered that the historic gatehouse was open to visitors.

It has been remodeled to be somewhat of a museum inside.

Being nostalgic and an amateur historian, I had to experience this little slice of Pokagon history.

And so, Sherry and I visited.

I never previously heard the term “Pocket Museum”.

One thing that punched my attention was that there was no restroom!

Can you imagine (assume interrobang here)

Enjoy the photos…

But at least there was a fireplace to stay warm.

If ever you get a chance to visit Pokagon, drop in on the Historic Gatehouse.

Oh yes, the brunch was tasty!

Defries Calendar Garden Elkhart County

 

Those folk who attend to the Defries Calendar Garden in Elkhart County Indiana sure do stay up on their work diligently!

 

They have this circular walk way paved with bricks. There is a brick engraved with the date of each day of the year and also bricks engraved with names of holidays.

You can see that they move the bricks to accommodate moving holidays.

 

As if that were not enough, they stay tuned to changes in federal tax deadlines.

They have moved the tax brick from April 15 to May 17 in response to the change in IRS policy for year 2021.

I’m pretty impressed with these folk!

Sherry and I had a wonderful Holy Saturday walk along the brick-paved garden today.

You can learn more about Defries Gardens at:

https://elkhartcountyparks.org/destinations/defries-gardens/