MIDWEEK PRAYER

 A post I wrote about nine years ago.

3/01/2017

INTERFAITH WISDOM

What a day to talk about faith.  Ash Wednesday.  Much of the Christian world observes the period (forty days) leading up to Easter as Lent -  a time for repentance and preparation.  Today is the beginning of that season.  

The symbolism of ashes goes to ancient times.  It was once common for those in a repentant state to cover themselves with ashes as if they were the poorest of the poor.  It was self-humiliation.  In some Christian churches, an Ash Wednesday service includes the placing of ashes on the forehead of those present while saying  "Remember, you are dust and to dust you shall return." or something similar.  

It is grounding to be reminded that we will all die - that this body in which we live will decompose to dust.  Depriving oneself of food or drink during the coming season will again remind us that there is a struggle going on between what we want and what we need - just like the struggle between evil and good.  Deprivation strengthens a person to exert self-control.  It is a typical prayer for this day that follows:

Lord, 

On this special day, Ash Wednesday,
may my small sacrifices in fasting be a way to clear away
the clutter in my life to see you more clearly.
May my longing for meat and other food,
help me to focus my life today more outside myself.
Let me be aware of those who are in so much more suffering than I am
and may I be aware of them as the brothers and sisters you have placed in my life.
Lord, I know there is darkness within me and around me.
Bless these days with your Word.
Let your Light shine in the darkness.
Help me long for that Light
until we celebrate it at the Vigil six weeks from now.
And most of all Lord,
help me to honor this day with the ashes on my forehead.
They help me remember where I have come from and where I am going.
May I acknowledge to you my sins
and my deep need for your loving forgiveness and grace.
I pray that this Lenten season will make me so much more aware
of how much I need your healing in my life.

AMEN

HAPPY NEW YEAR

With all that's going on, I almost forgot that our Chinese friends are celebrating today as their New Year's Day.  The Chinese use a lunisolar calendar - based on the movement of the moon and the sun.  The Chinese zodiac puts their calendar in a twelve year cycle - each year with a designated symbol.  All the symbols are animinals although one is an imaginary one.  It is thought that the symbols tell something about those born during that year.  In astrology, the Chinese zodiac begins today as the Year of the Horse, a fire element. 

I have checked all my offspring, their spouses, their offspring, their spouses and their offspring.  Here's what I came up with for the Chinese zodiac.

Evan and Scot were born in a year of the HORSE.  The Horse is brave, stong and talented.  Very independent. Like the horse, a means of travel, these people get around.  

Amy, Frank, Ben, Katie and I were all born in a year of the ROOSTER.  Stacey and Ryan were born in a year of the SHEEP.  Michelle, Joe and Lucy were born in a year of the MONKEY.  Andy, Andrew and Bella were born in a year of the TIGER.  Jack and Milo were born in a year of the PIG.  Maddy was the only one born in a year of the OX.   Missy was born in a year of the RABBIT.  RJ and Mac were born in a year of the DRAGON.  Finally, Jeff was born in a year of the RAT.  Sorry. 

If I got any of these wrong, that could be why you didn't get my birthday card.  

QUIZ

 If you knew French, you would know that Mardi Gras means Fat Tuesday.  It is more than a day in many places.  The celebration of Mardi Gras goes on for several days to a week ending on the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday.  The partying and celebrating come to an end on that Wednesday for Christians. 

The day is also called Shrove Tuesday by some.  To shrive is to confess and to be shriven is to be absolved.  It is the day to complete your pre-lenten preparation by confessing your sins.  I suppose many will have to do that in between gorging themselves with food and drink and dancing in the streets in wild costume.

Of course, for Christians, Lent is a period (40 days) of fasting, prayer and reflection in preparation for Easter.  The question for today's quiz is:  what will you do or deny yourself during this Lenten season? 

There will be no answer to this one on Friday.  

ANSWERS

 Okay, here's my list of real words including the word 'snow'.  All of these can be found in the M-W dictionary. Remember, don't count the addition of 's' as a new word or hyphenated words. So, I came up with thirty (30), how about you?

Snowflake

Snowbank

Snowplow

Snowdrop

Snowstorm

Snowbird

Snowdrift

Snowball

Snowman

Snowmen

Snowpile

Snowless

Snowing

Snowed

Snowy

Snowfall

Snowfield 

Snowmaker

Snowmaking

Snowmelt

Snowcap

Snowcapped

Snowcat

Snowpack

Snowpants

Snowscape

Snowshoe

Snowslide

Snowshed

Snowballed

Not good-two words: snow blinded, snow cone, snow cloud, snow globe, snow blinded, snow angel.

Avoid the triskaidekaphobians, today.  They're weird.  

NO HORSING AROUND

What picture comes to your mind when thinking about the indigenous American Indian?  Well, here's a factor you should consider.

There were horse-like creatures in our hemisphere as far back as 55 million years ago.  These creatures were similar but not really horses as we know them.  In any case, they went extinct about 10-12,000 years ago due to climate changes and, maybe, hunting by humans.  There were no horses in the Americas from that time until 1493, when, on his second trip, Columbus carried a few here.  The Europeans had developed the horse and found out how to tame, ride and use them for agriculture and warfare.  

So understand, the indigenous people we called Indians had no idea what a horse was until the Europeans arrived.  Tribes of the eastern US, east of the Mississippi, had no horses, or very few, ever.  

The big influx of horses came to the Americas with the Spanish military conquest of Mexico beginning in 1519.  The horses the Spanish brought and dispersed spread northward into the land now called the western USA.  Escaped horses, we call mustangs, formed large herds on the Great Plains.  It wasn't until the early 1600s that the Indians of the western and northern regions began acquiring and integrating these horses into their cultures.  

The tribes that best conquered the use of horses were the most powerful. When the Europeans spread westward using horses to pull wagons, the Indians had no idea who they were.  To them, they were the same as other tribes trying to take their land.   Then, the migrating Europeans introduced them to the gun - but that's another story.

MIDWEEK PRAYER

For today, a week before the start of the Lenten season,  I choose a morning prayer written by and for the Missionary Sisters of Charity in Yemen.  It would be a good prayer any morning.

Lord, teach me to be generous,

Teach me to serve you as you deserve;

to give and not to count the cost,

to fight and not to heed the wounds,

to toil and not to seek for rest,

to labor and not to ask for reward.

Thank you.

CHANGES

 I've lived a long time so I've, naturally, seen a lot of changes.  Changes don't phase me that much but the rate of change does.  Ideas come so quickly for an old fart like me.  The changes in our society come so slowly.  

When I was very young, I lived in an all-white, all-christian community and it wasn't that way by accident.  Sadly, there was nothing covert about it.  Blacks had been set free eighty (80) years before I was born.  As I grew up, those with darker skin were still trying to attain status and privileges that lighter-skinned people had.  I was twenty when a Civil Rights Act was passed by Congress to protect all individuals from descrimination based on race, color, religion, sex or national origin.  Now I'm eighty and it still seems that the change is not complete.  How long should things take?  Laws don't do it.  They help, but don't make it so.  Only generations can make it work.  

Women received the right to vote in the U.S. in 1920 by the 19th amendment to our constistution.  That was 145 years after our country was established. When I was very young, my mother never worked.  Very few women worked ouitside the home.  World War II had pushed women into the factories and showed they could work. The House and Senate approved an Equal Rights amendment in 1971 and '72 that would guarantee women the same rights as men.  By our Constitution, three quarters of the states have to approve the amendment to make it law.  That has never happened!  We can't get 38 states to agree that women should have the same rights as men. OMG!  How slowly changes are made.  Laws don't do it.  They help but don't make it so.  Only generations can make it work.

In the last thirty years of my life, new causes have arisen; the rights of gays was out front.  They were joined by a myriad of other special cases (lesbians, gays, bi-sexuals, trans, queers, and more) - all seeking equal rights and equal protection.   Being impatient is normal but don't expect much to happen too quickly.  Laws don't do it.  They help but don't make it so.  Only generations can make it work.  

QUIZ

 Well, we've about had it with snow this year in southwest Ohio.  I think we've had enough for several years.  Snow probably got called some rather coarse names this year by those of us who had to deal with it.  You probably think you've heard about it too many times already but I'm giving it one last harrah.

Give me a number of how many words you can make with the word "snow" in them.  I'll give you one: SNOWFLAKE.  Comment the number you came up with - you can use snowflake.  Don't jumble the letters - be able to read the word "snow".  Real words, now!  Hyphenated words don't count - proper names don't count.  Adding 's' to make a plural doesn't count.  I'll have my list on Friday's entry.  

Who thinks our snow will be totally melted by Friday?

SON DAY

 Yes, it is the Son's Day, God's son.  Be friends with Him.  

It is also, the birthdate of my third grandchild; of course, another grandson.  Congratulations to his parents for their work in bringing him to us.  Congratulations to his wife for sustaining him in the chill of North Dakota and for carrying his greatest gift.  Happy Birthday, BEN.

ANSWERS

 Last Monday's "QUIZ" asked you to choose which countries in my list were in the Northern Hemisphere and which are in the Southern Hemisphere.

ANSWER:  All of the listed countries are completely in the Northern Hemisphere - just like me.  Were you surprised about any of them?

THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW

 So much great information, all in one spot.

  1.  Birds don't pee

  2.  Bats can't walk

  3.  Ants never sleep

  4.  White polar bears have black skin

  5.  Honeybees have two stomachs - one for food and one for honey.

Surely this little nugget is worth the price you paid to visit my blog.

MIDWEEK PRAYER

 Last May, a card was produced noting the election of a new Pope.   Included was a prayer, written by St. Augustine, who lived in the fourth and fifth centuries.  Augustine, a theologian and philosopher, is recognized as a saint by the Catholic Church as well as the Lutheran Church and the Anglican Church.  The prayer is directed to the Holy Spirit, a distinct member of the Trinity;  the "Giver of Life", who proceeds from the Father and Son, who with the Father and Son is adored and glorified.

Breathe in me, O Holy Spirit,

That my thoughts may all be holy.

Act in me, O Holy Spirit,

That my work, too, may be holy.

Draw my heart, O Holy Spirit,

That I love but what is holy.

Strengthen me, O Holy Spirit,

To defend all that is holy.

Guard me, then O Holy Spirit,

That I always may be holy.

PREPARATION

"BE PREPARED"  This is the motto of the Boy Scouts of America.  It's great advice and a good thing to keep in mind all through your life.

I heard Elon Musk say, in essence, that even though the intrinsic purpose of a rocket launch may be to put something or some people into orbit, the planners have to keep in mind that every rocket flight is an opportunity to learn more for the next flight.  That's real preparation.  

In your life, every step you take will move you in one direction or another but it can also be an opportunity to learn. Each decision we make should make the next decision a better one.  Think about that during your day.

Give this a try.  Figure out what you can learn while you're doing a daily chore.  Ask yourself if there might be a better way of doing it.  Try something new - a different way of doing something you often do.  You just might really learn something.  There is always "a better way".  Test yourself - - test what you do.  Make changes.  If not good, try others.  Ultimately, be prepared.

QUIZ

 This is easy and not so much a quiz as a list to test yourself.  You could look up the answers but what fun would that be.  At least give it a try.

For ease of locating things, we divide the Earth up into hemispheres.  A hemisphere is one half of the whole.  I live in the Northern Hemisphere.  The Southern Hemisphere is determined by the Equator.  The Equator is an imaginary line that divides the world in two - half in the North and half in the South.  

So here is the test.  I'm giving you a list of countries near the equator.  All you have to do is say if you think they are in the Northern Hemisphere or the Southern Hemisphere.  Okay?  I'll give you the answers on Friday if you don't want to look them up before that.

1.  Vietnam (Southeast Asia)

2.  Panama  (Central America)

3.  Nigeria (Africa)

4.  Iran (Western Asia)

5.  Venezuala (South America)

6.  Ethiopia  (Africa)

7.  India  (South Asia)

8.  Greenland (😂)

Do you think the groundhog had the nerve to peek out of his hole, today?  He could get a frostbitten nose.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JACOB!