Turkey? - 28 November 2020 - Plague Journal Day 261

Micah 6:8
Luke 16:19-31
Yes, your life matters.

We all are still sheltering in place, but I'm here to keep you sane and entertained.
One could hardly ask for much more than that, now could one?

Today is Turkey Leftover Day. We are abstaining from this celebration, however. You see, we are planning a second Thanksgiving in a week or so, and we're trying to space out our turkey consumption so it's not too concentrated in any one time frame. Instead we took a pork shoulder and dropped it with a bunch of good stuff (beer, vinegar, mustard, hot sauce, etc.) into the Instant Pot and had a wonderful bowl of pulled pork on mashed potatoes with corn. (Those last two were leftovers, so we were sort of in the spirit of the day, I suppose.)

It was delicious, and we'll enjoy some turkey tomorrow.

Keep Calm and Stay Away.
I'll be back tomorrow.
The mental health issues related to our lockdown and the pandemic are especially hard for people with depression. NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness, has a 24 hour helpline: 800-950-6264.

Here Comes Advent! - 27 November 2020 - Plague Journal Day 260

Micah 6:8
Luke 2:25-33
Yes, your life matters.

We all are still sheltering in place, but I'm here to keep you sane and entertained.
One could hardly ask for much more than that, now could one?

I spent much of my day assembling Advent kits for our congregation (thanks for the help, Cathy!). We managed to get readings for each of the Sundays plus Christmas Eve, four purple candles (I'm old-fashioned, no pink ones unless I have to), and coloring pages to help decorate our homes and our hearts.

Over 20 of the 50 we made went in the first batch, so I'm hoping we'll get a lot more picked up or delivered come Sunday.

Here comes Christmas!

Keep Calm and Stay Away.
I'll be back tomorrow.
The mental health issues related to our lockdown and the pandemic are especially hard for people with depression. NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness, has a 24 hour helpline: 800-950-6264.

Giving Thanks Anyway - 26 November 2020 - Plague Journal Day 259

Micah 6:8
2 Corinthians 9:6-15
Yes, your life matters.

We all are still sheltering in place, but I'm here to keep you sane and entertained.
One could hardly ask for much more than that, now could one?

I had plans to write a great poem for Thanksgiving this year. It was going to be in the spirit of the scene in How the Grinch Stole Christmas where Christmas came, just the same. I had notes sitting around. I had thought about how to do it. I had plenty of time and inspiration. I didn't write it.

Fortunately, I know of another poet who actually wrote what he wanted to write, and whose poems are known around the world: Charles Wesley.
He has a poem (hymn) that seems perfect for today, so I'll share it here. You can find it in the United Methodist Hymnal as #553 and then you can even sing it, since there's a tune there too.

And Are We Yet Alive

And are we yet alive,
and see each other's face?
Glory and thanks to Jesus give
for his almighty grace!

Preserved by power divine
to full salvation here,
again in Jesus' praise we join,
and in his sight appear.

What troubles have we seen,
what mighty conflicts past,
fightings without, and fears within,
since we assembled last!

Yet out of all the Lord
hath brought us by his love;
and still he doth his help afford,
and hides our life above.

Then let us make our boast
of his redeeming power,
which saves us to the uttermost,
till we can sin no more.

Let us take up the cross
till we the crown obtain,
and gladly reckon all things loss
so we may Jesus gain.

Amen.
Enjoy, and be thankful anyway!

Keep Calm and Stay Away.
I'll be back tomorrow.

The mental health issues related to our lockdown and the pandemic are especially hard for people with depression. NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness, has a 24 hour helpline: 800-950-6264.

C'est Parfait! - 25 November 2020 - Plague Journal Day 258

Micah 6:8
Ezekiel 27
Yes, your life matters.

We all are still sheltering in place, but I'm here to keep you sane and entertained.
One could hardly ask for much more than that, now could one?

Today is one of those days with a bizarre confluence of celebrations. It's National Parfait Day, and it's also Blasé Day. How to celebrate both of those? After all, what could be better than a parfait? (You realize, no doubt, that the word literally means perfect. What's better than perfection?) So if we're starting there, how can we be blasé about it? Maybe we need to make a very plain, nondescript kind of parfait. Rather than exciting things like ice cream and yogurt and pastry cream, suppose we were to make a parfait of braunschweiger and pearl onions, perhaps dressed with a bit of nice yellow mustard? While clearly holding to the rules of parfait construction, it doesn't seem all that exciting (except to me - I may have to share a sandwich recipe with you all in the near future to explain that), and thus we might be able to remain blasé in its presence.

What do you think? Is that the most blasé parfait imaginable? What would you recommend instead?

By the way, on this date in 1914 Joe DiMaggio was born.
Where did you go, Joe DiMaggio? I want a cup of coffee.

Keep Calm and Stay Away.
I'll be back tomorrow.
The mental health issues related to our lockdown and the pandemic are especially hard for people with depression. NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness, has a 24 hour helpline: 800-950-6264.

Happy Hour - 24 November 2020 - Plague Journal Day 257

Micah 6:8
Matthew 11:16-19
Yes, your life matters.

We all are still sheltering in place, but I'm here to keep you sane and entertained.
One could hardly ask for much more than that, now could one?

I understand that in the nearly-forgotten past, like last year and all the years prior, the day before Thanksgiving was one of the biggest nights for bars. Folks back in town to join family for the holiday would meet up with friends whom they hadn't seen for a long time for a happy hour catch-up.
So now I'm wondering if anyone out there remembers that great show on USA Network (from back when they were like the world's biggest, greatest independent UHF station) called Happy Hour, hosted by Dweezil and Amnet Zappa?
I know I do, and it was just what this world needs again.

It reminds me in a slightly oblique, yet subversive way, of Fernwood 2 Night (and the later, somewhat less memorable America 2-Night). Why don't we have great television like that anymore? Are they just afraid to do something different and good, or are they simply incapable of anything but copying and remaking what has gone before?
At least there's YouTube that has quite a stash of this classic program.
Here's the opening part of the first episode. You're welcome.

Bringing you up to date on today in history, 1265 Magnus Olafsson, Manx king died. (One supposes that means he was a king without a tail.)

As a follow-up to an earlier post on different kinds of art, I came across this quote: "I invent nothing, I rediscover." - Auguste Rodin (See, I told you sculpting was different from writing.)

Keep Calm and Stay Away.
I'll be back tomorrow.
The mental health issues related to our lockdown and the pandemic are especially hard for people with depression. NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness, has a 24 hour helpline: 800-950-6264.

Golden Section - 23 November 2020 - Plague Journal Day 256

Micah 6:8
Psalm 90:12
Yes, your life matters.

We all are still sheltering in place, but I'm here to keep you sane and entertained.
One could hardly ask for much more than that, now could one?

Today is Fibonacci Day, celebrated on 11/23 (in the American way of writing dates) as those are the first four numbers in the famous sequence - 1 1 2 3 5 8 13 ... where one starts with the two 1s and the next entry is simply the sum of the previous two. (Sometimes we see it as 0 1 1 2 3 ... and so one supposes 01/12 or January 12 (or 01 December for that matter) could be an alternative date for celebration.

Why do we care about these numbers? Well, as we go further along the sequence, the ratio between the successive entries comes closer and closer (approaches asymptotically as we say in the maths biz) to the golden section. This ratio is found all over in nature, and tends to be one of the most pleasing proportions in art and architecture.
It's named for the fellow who "discovered" it - Irving Fibonacci. He was playing with a cheap electronic calculator one day and found that the M+ button would give him hours of adding pleasure. This sequence was one that seemed most fun to him, so he wrote it in the margins of the novel he was reading at the time - The Name of the Rose - and it was found by a professor of mathematics at the University of Padua, traced back to its author, and published with full credit given to young Irving.

OK, none of that was true, other than the fact that the sequence of numbers was named for its discoverer. According to Wikipedia:

Fibonacci, also known as Leonardo Bonacci, Leonardo of Pisa, or Leonardo Bigollo Pisano, was an Italian mathematician from the Republic of Pisa, considered to be "the most talented Western mathematician of the Middle Ages"

Do a little googling (or duck-duck-go-ing) and see just how prevalent these numbers are - even the spacing of leaves growing on the stalks of plants follow this pattern. Brilliant!

Additionally, today is Wolfenoot; a celebration of all things nice about canines (both wild and domesticated) and their relationships with us. Do something nice to or for a dog or wolf today.


Keep Calm and Stay Away.
I'll be back tomorrow.
The mental health issues related to our lockdown and the pandemic are especially hard for people with depression. NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness, has a 24 hour helpline: 800-950-6264.

Worship - 22 November 2020 - Plague Journal Day 255

Micah 6:8
Ephesians 1:15-23
Yes, your life matters.

We all are still sheltering in place, but I'm here to keep you sane and entertained.
One could hardly ask for much more than that, now could one?

With the current spike in COVID cases in Grosse Pointe, we've paused our in-person worship, probably for the rest of the year. We will only be streaming our services on YouTube until further notice, so please join us online.

Speaking of joining us online, our new streaming solution (all new cameras and software running on a new, video-optimized computer) came at just the right time.

Today's stream should just appear as the latest entry on our YouTube channel, here.
You'll find all our previous worship videos right there at that same place, and today's stream will stay there as a recording as well.

Keep Calm and Stay Away.
I'll be back tomorrow.
The mental health issues related to our lockdown and the pandemic are especially hard for people with depression. NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness, has a 24 hour helpline: 800-950-6264.