dual personalities

Last night my Church Community Group started up again after its summer recess, so I am back to doing homework! We are continuing to read this book…

…which we began last spring. I think I would rather read an actual book by Tim Keller, but this is okay. We got some good conversation going.

Next week my Women’s Bible Study starts back up. We are continuing with the study of Exodus (19-40) by Jen Wilken. So more homework! It’s a good thing my shredding project is almost finis. And in case you are wondering, somehow I have kept up with my daily Bible reading! I just read 2 Corinthians 4–I highly recommend it.

Tomorrow I am going to a ladies’ lakeside mini-retreat at Innsbrook about an hour out of town. I am looking forward to this fellowship time with my church friends.

Here’s a fascinating look at the “secular liturgy” that is Goodnight Moon. This book is still a favorite of my younger grandchildren, but it cannot be denied that its author, Margaret Wise Brown, was a real mess and lost soul. (You may recall that she was the granddaughter of early Missouri governor Gratz Brown, about whom I wrote a while ago.) Her famous book reflects her lostness. I have to admit, I always thought the book was a little odd. “Instead of appealing to a God who holds all things together in his ordered creation, the liturgy of Goodnight Moon simply observes the randomness of an inexplicable universe: Goodnight nobody. Goodnight mush.“

This is much better:

O LET the Earth bless the Lord: * yea, let it praise him, and magnify him for ever.
    O ye Mountains and Hills, bless ye the Lord: * praise him, and magnify him for ever.
    O all ye Green Things upon the earth, bless ye the Lord: * praise him, and magnify him for ever.
    O ye Wells, bless ye the Lord: * praise him, and magnify him for ever.
    O ye Seas and Floods, bless ye the Lord: * praise him, and magnify him for ever.
    O ye Whales, and all that move in the waters, bless ye the Lord: * praise him, and magnify him for ever.
    O all ye Fowls of the air, bless ye the Lord: * praise him, and magnify him for ever.
    O all ye Beasts and Cattle, bless ye the Lord: * praise him, and magnify him for ever.
    O ye Children of Men, bless ye the Lord: * praise him, and magnify him for ever.

–BCP, 1928