Stuffing? - 10 April 2021 - Plague Journal Day 394

Micah 6:8
Proverbs 16:11-13
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?

 

OK, team. We've got the White House. We've got the House and the Senate. We can do whatever we want!
Oh, but most of it "might" be unconstitutional. What shall we do?
Let's just change the court so they won't strike down anything we do!

At least they're not transparent.

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.

09 April 2021 - Plague Journal Day 393

Micah 6:8
Psalm 30:1-5
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?

On the day when we heard the news that Prince Philip has died, I was surprised at how appropriate today's entries on the celebration calendar were. Not only is it National Winston Churchill Day, but it's also National Gin and Tonic Day.

Prince Philip and Churchill both worked tirelessly to promote the British Crown and people., so it's good to see them together. They also were both known for witty, jocular comebacks and conversations.
Further, what could be more British than enjoying a refreshing gin and tonic once 5PM rolls around? Pretty much nothing. Raise a glass to the Prince today, and remember Winston Churchill too.

I've visited the War Rooms in London a few times. It's where Churchill directed much of the British war effort during WWII, including recording many of his radio broadcast speeches. If you're ever in London, I highly recommend making a visit to the War Rooms.

On a lighter note, it's also National Unicorn Day. Enjoy!



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.

Misled and Mixed-Up - 08 April 2021 - Plague Journal Day 392

Micah 6:8
Daniel 2:27-28
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 got a promotional email from Barnes and Noble today. Reading the subject line, "Spend a Night Inside a Museum," I had already decided that what I wanted it to be about was better than what it really was going to be about. My assumption was that it was going to be a novelization of the Night at the Museum movies or something of that ilk.
Imagine my delight when it turned out to be actually about the book I had thought was better than whatever they were going to promote - "From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler" by E. L. Konigsburg! Huzzah!

If you don't know this book, if you don't remember reading it as a kid, if you don't remember your kid reading it, I would encourage you to get a copy and read it. There are scenes in that book that have stuck with me since I read it when I was ten or so. It's an adventure/mystery tale with plenty of fun and humor.
Go read it.
Highly recommended.

By the way, I just noticed that I have posted to this blog every day for more than a year. Today is the 374th consecutive day of blogging. When I started back to this as a way of staying sane during the two weeks to flatten the curve, I had no idea I would still be posting lo these nearly 54 weeks later.

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.

Personification - 07 April 2021 - Plague Journal Day 391

Micah 6:8
1 Corinthians 8:4-6
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?

You know what drives me crazy these days?
OK, that's not a fair question: there are far too many things trying to push me over the edge. Let me just tell you rather than post a quiz.
I keep hearing medical and public health experts tell us that "the virus is trying to get around our best efforts," or "the virus is trying to mutate to get past the vaccines," or a raft of similar pronouncements.
Balderdash. The virus isn't trying anything. It has no will, it merely exists. I seldom agree with Yoda, but in this case there really is no try. [There's still debate as to whether a virus is even alive (they were not considered "life" back when I studied Biology, lo these many years ago, but the state of that "science" is a bit different to what I learned).]

I understand the desire to personify the disease one is fighting. It's easier to think of fighting an enemy than of fighting a force of nature. Still, we managed to send men to the Moon and rovers and probes to other planets without talking of our war with Gravity.

A couple asides here:

• Yes, I believe we did land men on the Moon and returned them safely to Earth.
  
• Yes, I still like the poem "High Flight" - not in spite of its imagery of slipping the surly bonds of Earth, but largely because of that imagery.
  

 Back to my rant. I haven't heard them for quite a while, but there was a series of anti-cancer PSAs playing nearly constantly on the radio where the speakers addressed Cancer as though it were a super-villain and they the heroes fighting valiantly against it. I may have posted a screed about those some time ago (it's suddenly seeming as though I had). That screed, should it exist, still expresses my feeling that we're fooling ourselves by trying to make it a Good v. Evil thing. It's simply a part of fallen Nature with which we have to deal.

Enough vituperation. How about something just plain fun? Glad to oblige.
I ran across this video a few years ago, but yesterday it showed up again and I like it so much I wanted to share it with you. Yes, it really is Tico Tico for guitar four hands - one guitar, four hands.
Enjoy!

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.

Make a Joyful Noise! - 06 April 2021 - Plague Journal Day 390

Micah 6:8
Psalm 147:1-9  Zephaniah 3:14-17
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?
   
 
If you read the Psalms, you know that music has always been an important part of the worship of God.
 

I think it's very interesting that we never read things like, "Only the best singers may sing to the Lord." nor "Let not the tone-deaf enter into His gates." nor "Unless he practices an hour every day for ten years the player shall not play his lyre unto the Lord." Nope. Nothing remotely like that.

  

Instead we are told over and over to sing to the Lord a new song, to praise Him with song and music and dance. We are all told to do this, not just the specially designated musicians among us.

But shouldn't we want the best music for our worship? Shouldn't we make sure we don't let those "amateurs" spoil our worship with less than stellar music?

The short answer is "No," that's not how music in worship should be approached.
After all, it's not like God needs us to give Him the best music there is. He can get the very best there could ever be at any time He wants it.
So what does He want from us?
I believe that what He wants from us, and what we should want right along with Him, is for us to express the Joy of worshiping Him through our music - whether singing or playing an instrument (or even dance!).

Now let me be clear. This is not meant as an excuse to do a bad job; rather it's an invitation to do the best job we can - now.
Again, we're not always asking for the best we could ever do, but for the best we have now - and that current best will come out of the Love we have for Him (and the Love He has for us), and the Joy it produces in our lives.

That's how we should approach the music we share in worship, and when we do, God will delight in it just as we do, and will sing over us 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.

Now What? - 05 April 2021 - Plague Journal Day 389

Micah 6:8
Acts 13:13-52
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?

Well. Holy Week is over. Lent is over. Now what will stimulate my blogging?

Breakfast this morning was strange. I no longer had my Lenten devotions to read, as all three of the books I've been reading are now completed. I am reading CS Lewis's book on the Psalms, so that's still there, but I'm almost done with that one too.
As the title says here - Now What?

If you know me well at all, you probably know that my shirt collars all have holes in them. I have worn a cross pin on my collar for many years now. (I'm thinking it started in June 1985, but I'm not completely certain of that date. It's within a year, one way or the other.) Over those 35 years I've collected a few different crosses (and lost one I really liked), and I tend to change them based on the season or particular activities or happenings.

   

One thing I do is to wear the one that incorporates a G clef when we're heading into a Music Sunday or other special music event. Another was to wear the (now lost) Celtic cross I bought at the New Room in Bristol, England when there were Wesley dates.

Holy Week is another time when I have a pattern. It's whatever cross I've been wearing until Good Friday, then I switch to a pin that has three crosses on it (I have matching cuff-links should my shirt allow). Then on Saturday I switch to a fish pin. Why the fish? Because Jesus told folks that the only sign they would get was the sign of Jonah. While some think that sign is a successful outreach to Gentiles. mostly it's taken to refer to the 3 days in the belly of the fish = 3 days in the tomb and then a resurrection. That's why I wear my fish pin on Holy Saturday. Generally I then put in a pin with the words "He Is Risen" for Easter.

Now you know.

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.

He Is Risen! - 04 April 2021 - Plague Journal Day 388

Micah 6:8
John 20
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?

 

 

This Sunday is Easter Sunday - The Lord Is Risen! The Lord Is Risen Indeed!

With the COVID case levels settling down in Grosse Pointe, we've resumed our in-person worship!
Yes, we have in-person worship in the Sanctuary today. You need to have registered ahead of time to attend, and an email went out from the church with all the details!

For those hardy souls willing to brave the early morning hours, we're hosting a Son Rise service around the Memorial Garden. Please bring your own chairs (just like our Summer worship), and we'll maintain our safe distancing. The highlight of this service is ... we're going to sing a hymn together out there! Christ the Lord Is Risen Today - how much joy will we experience by singing this wonderful hymn with our church family? There's only one way to find out - show up and join in! (Note, you don't need to register for this service, but we will take attendance and all that good stuff.)

For our 9:30 worship service we have another great virtual choir anthem for our offertory time and a hymn for us to read along while Doug plays - with a few handbells thrown in for good measure. (We're slowly getting back to real Methodist worship!) Remember, we'll be streaming for all those who can't join us in person. Don't forget, Pastor Ray mentioned a surprise on the way into this worship service, so watch for something special as you come to the church entrance.

As usual, 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