On the spiritual journey, there is usually someone in our family, business or community whom we cannot endure, someone who has a genius for bringing out the worst in us. No matter what we do, we cannot seem to improve the relationship. They have not done anything to cause it. God simply uses them to reflect back to us what our problem is. Thus the person who gives us the most trouble may be our greatest gift from God.
–Thomas Keating
53 today
Someone who is actually slightly older than I am! And very well preserved (as my mother would say) he is.
Mary and Fredbird c. 1990
Tonight our daughter #1 will be watching the first game of the World Series with East Coast baseball fans. They are decidedly NOT Cardinal fans. But she knows from whence she hails and who her friends are (see above).
(Please note her shoes. Patent leather flats–suitable for any occasion!)
From ghoulies and ghosties,
Long-leggety beasties,
And things that go bump in the night,
Good Lord, deliver us.
Not to mention CLOWNS!
Yul Brynner in "The King and I"
He’s bald, sexy, and he can dance. He has a walk like a jungle cat.
as Ramses II
He can wear a pointy hat and remain dignified and mysterious,
the artiste
or pull off that European look with a cigarette and a hat angled just right. So very virile.
And he even wrote a cookbook!!! How’s that for versatility? And, thanks to my dual personality, I get to remember Yul every time I go in my family room.
http://www.epauletshop.com/servlet/the-1128/Gant-MB-Cardinal-Fairisle/Detail
(Hat tip to Michael Kurth for this fashion find.)
Then the Pharisees went and took counsel how to entangle him in his talk. And they sent their disciples to him, along with the Hero’dians, saying, “Teacher, we know that you are true, and teach the way of God truthfully, and care for no man; for you do not regard the position of men. Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?” But Jesus, aware of their malice, said, “Why put me to the test, you hypocrites? Show me the money for the tax.” And they brought him a coin. And Jesus said to them, “Whose likeness and inscription is this?” They said, “Caesar’s.” Then he said to them, “Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” When they heard it, they marveled; and they left him and went away.
–Matthew 22: 15-22
I wish I could tell you what the sermon was about today, but I really can’t. Our associate rector lost me somewhere early in her rambling exposition on the gospel and how it’s about everything-belongs-to-God-and-we-need-to-share-it. Yadda yadda over and out.
If I had been giving the sermon I would have talked about how great Jesus is and how he could, in just a few words, talk circles around those Pharisees. No wonder they hated him. I mean he had a tone! He’s saying don’t mess with me. These are details. I would have quoted from Salinger’s great Zooey rant about his sister’s mis-use of the Jesus prayer. Here’s part of it:
“If God had wanted somebody with St. Francis’s consistently winning personality for the job in the New Testament, he’d’ve picked him, you can be sure. As it was, he picked the best, the smartest, the most loving, the least sentimental, the most unimitative master he could possibly have picked.”
Yes, indeed.
Yes, it’s John Wayne–around 1930 when he made The Big Trail. Adorable.
Since I did not make a Friday recommendation (although some of you no doubt ran out to rent Kingdom of the Spiders), I recommend watching a John Wayne movie (any John Wayne movie) tonight. For myself, I think I will watch one of my favorites: The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance. John Wayne (at his very best) dominates this movie, despite Jimmy Stewart having a lot more screen time. It’s also John Ford’s last great movie. And there are lots of the usual character actors doing their best as well: Strother Martin, Edmund O’Brien, John Qualen, Andy Devine, and the impressive Woody Strode. Lee Marvin is very scary. This is the movie that even mentions the Picketwire River (The Purgatoire) in Las Animas County, southeastern Colorado, pioneered by our own ancestors. I can’t think of a better way to spend a Saturday evening.
And, yes, that is a picture of John Wayne (from Liberty Valance) on my kitchen wall. On occasion people have asked why I have a picture of John Wayne on my kitchen wall. I always say, “Doesn’t everyone?”
