Today we toast Aaron Copland (1900-1990) on his birthday. Born in Brooklyn of Lithuanian Jewish parents, he wrote some of the most deeply “American” music of the 20th century. I have loved his music since being introduced to it in childhood. Recently daughter #2 read the play “Our Town” by Thornton Wilder so here is Copland’s “Our Town Suite” which was used in the 1940 movie.
Here’s a reminder that Christians are to use their gifts to serve one another, but also that the testimony of Scripture demonstrates that “throughout redemptive history, God’s people have used their gifts not just for those within the covenant community but for others as well.”
And here’s a little reminder about the difference between Pilgrims and Puritans.
And here’s a prayer that I’ve included before, but it bears repeating:
“Give us grace and strength to forbear and to persevere. Give us courage and gaiety, and the quiet mind. Spare to us our friends, soften to us our enemies. Bless us, if it may be, in all our innocent endeavours. If it may not, give us the strength to encounter that which is to come, that we may be brave in peril, constant in tribulation, temperate in wrath, and in all changes of fortune, and down to the gates of death, loyal and loving to one another.”
We are experiencing Indian Summer this week in flyover country–absolutely beautiful days in the 70s and even 80s with the sun hitting the orange leaves in a really spectacular way. And the leaf blowers are out in full force. I do get tired of all the noise, like a bajillion bees coming in waves to attack us. 🙄
My friend Don sent this photo of his birdbath with “the neighborhood bluebirds”.
I live a mile or so away and I have never seen a bluebird!
As we all know, the streaming platforms are a wasteland and I haven’t watched network tv for years. So I am forced to watch episodes of old shows like the old lady that I am. Lately, however, I have added Harry Wild to my watch list (on Acorn). It stars the lovely Jane Seymour as a recently retired English professor who discovers a knack for investigation and cannot help but interfere with the cases assigned to her police detective son.
Although she doesn’t quite look her age–she’s five years older than I am–she doesn’t hide the fact that she is an old retired lady. She dresses like I do. She drives an old (red) car and drinks (too much) red wine. She knows a lot about English literature. She speaks with grammatical precision and corrects those who don’t. I can actually relate to her. Also the show is filmed in Dublin and I have actually been there, so that is interesting and familiar. The show is not American, so the Irish are not stereotypes.
So I recommend it if you are looking for something to watch. And who isn’t?
Today we must not forget to remember that unsung hero Elijah Parish Lovejoy (November 9, 1802 – November 7, 1837) who was an American Presbyterian minister, journalist, newspaper editor and abolitionist. He was murdered by a pro-slavery mob in Alton, Illinois, during their attack on his warehouse to destroy his press and abolitionist materials. As I’ve said before, Lovejoy’s life (and murder) is another reminder to us today of how rough and dangerous life was in my part of the country back in the mid-nineteenth century. And people think emotions run high these days!
We also remember Edna May Oliver who died on this day, her birthday, in 1942. She was an American stage and screen actress who specialized in formidable older women, such as Lady Catherine de Bourgh in Pride and Prejudice (1940) and Miss Pross in A Tale of Two Cities (1935). She was only nominated once for a supporting actress Oscar, but it was for a doozy–Mrs. McKlennar in Drums Along the Mohawk (1939).
I re-watched this movie recently and was really impressed by it. And Edna May Oliver is great; she never crosses the line into farce which a lesser actress might do. She is always 100% believable.
So enjoy these last beautiful days of fall, watch an old lady in a tv show or movie, remember some history, and praise God from whom all blessings flow!
Help me to see that although I am in the wilderness it is not all briars and barrenness. I have bread from heaven, streams from the rock, light by day, fire by night, thy dwelling place and thy mercy seat.
In the late afternoon of November 1, 1941, Ansel Adams took this black-and-white photo, “Moonrise, Hernandez, New Mexico”. Pretty cool indeed.
Also pretty cool is Lyle Lovett, and it is his birthday today! Happy Birthday, Lyle! Hats off to you–67 years old and still touring.
Today is also the anniversary of the death of Ezra Pound (1885-1972) who was a major figure in the modernist poetry movement. An indulged son of privilege, he was always somewhat “out of key with his time”–another way to say, he never fit in. I was amused to discover that his first job out of graduate school was teaching at Wabash College in Crawfordsville, Indiana, which he considered the “sixth circle of hell”. Well, la di da.
Not surprisingly, he was asked to leave Wabash shortly after starting there.
Anyway, his “legacy” is certainly a mixed one, and he is mostly remembered for his advancement of some of the best-known modernist writers of the early 20th century. All the cool kids: Eliot, Joyce, Lewis, Frost, Williams, Hemingway, H.D., Aldington, and Aiken, Cummings, Bunting, Ford, and Marianne Moore, who became one of his staunchest defenders throughout his controversial career. He lived a long life and is buried in the Protestant section of the San Michele cemetery in Venice. Supposedly Pound had wanted to be buried in Idaho (where he was born) with his bust by Henri Gaudier-Brzeska on his grave. Tant pis. He wouldn’t have fit in there either.
I would rather toast Noah Beery, Jr. who also died on this day in 1994. He was, of course, a supporting actor best known for playing James Garner’s father in The Rockford Files. However, he acted in a lot of movies, most notably as a pilot in Only Angels Have Wings (1939) and as a cowboy in Red River (1948)–both directed by Howard Hawks.
So on this first day of November, look up at the sky, listen to some good music, read a poem, watch an old movie, embrace your supporting part.
It was a dark, rainy fall weekend and the wee bud had a bye in his soccer team’s schedule, so you will not be getting my usual repetitive weekend wrap-up. Go ahead and sigh with relief, oh loyal readers.
We did, however, arrange to have my large glass doll case moved from my house to daughter #1’s house and that was my major accomplishment of the weekend. Our friends in the crew at Davis Place Estate Sales obliged us and did the heavy lifting and carrying up and down several flights of stairs. I meant to take pictures, but forgot. But here it is home now in daughter #1’s craft room.
Sunday was Reformation Sunday and we sang “A Mighty Fortress is Our God” in church (with trumpet accompaniment) with appropriate gusto. Afterwards we enjoyed total depravity casserole (with tater tots!) at our house and our first fire of the season.
And Halloween Peeps from Aunt Mary!
And though this world, with devils filled, should threaten to undo us, we will not fear, for God has willed his truth to triumph through us. The prince of darkness grim, we tremble not for him; his rage we can endure, for lo! his doom is sure; one little word shall fell him.
The days are getting shorter, aren’t they? I hope you are enjoying these wonderful fall days.
Meanwhile, Trevin Wax has been wondering “How can anyone preach Jesus without mentioning judgment? How do you deal with his parables? With his constant and consistent warnings about perdition? With his either-ors and contrasts? Even if you fashion yourself a “red-letter Christian” who waves off Paul and the other apostles, you can’t miss the red letters that warn about destruction and losing your soul, images of a worm that won’t die and a fire that never goes out.”
I have been wondering about that as well–where do people get this idea that Jesus is non-judgmental? In reality he is the mediator and judge of us all. He tells us not to judge, lest we be judged. But make no mistake, we will all be judged by Jesus.
Along those lines, Anne says, “I am always excessively bemused about so many pastor-influencers who purport to speak about a God they insist cannot be known by his own words. How do they know what it means to ‘Follow in the way of Jesus’ when they will not let Jesus have the last, authoritative, and final Word? How can they possibly say what God is like when they reject his Law, his instructions, his precepts, his version of the story? Why does anyone still listen to this?”
They listen because it is what they want to hear. The truth is too hard. It has always been too hard. I am currently reading the book of John in my daily reading and Jesus emphasizes many of his really important statements by starting off with “Most assuredly, I say to you…”. For instance, John 6:53:
“Then Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you.”
You will recall that after this long, difficult section in John 6:53-65, “many of His disciples went back and walked with him no more.” Indeed.
Well, consider this your weekly reminder to read your Bible. Get to know the real Jesus.
And here’s a bonus pic of Katie and Ida in their two little bees finery.
The painting is Autumn Roadside, Kentucky by William Forsyth, 1903
We enjoyed another really beautiful fall flyover weekend. We went to the pumpkin patch at the Methodist Church…
…and Mr. Smith proudly wore his pumpkin suit…
We went to 19North and officially switched back to our red blend for the fall. We asked if we could order french fries off-menu and were told, of course, that was no problem, because “we know someone.” I felt so seen.
On Sunday our church service was held outside on the lawn in front of the youth house.
It was our usual service with music, sermon and communion–I was a doubter, but I really enjoyed sitting in lawn chairs in the beautiful sunshine.
We sang my favorite new hymn, “Come Ye Sinners, Poor and Needy”, and I cried from start to finish. I cannot help myself. Here’s your weekly reminder to repent.
Come, ye weary, heavy laden, lost and ruined by the fall; if you tarry till you’re better, you will never come at all.
After church we had Episcopal Calvinist Souffle, which daughter #1 suggests we call Total Depravity Souffle, and later we went to the wee laddie’s soccer game.
The bud’s team is still undefeated and once again made the opposing team’s goalie cry (he made it to the third quarter at least). This is not due to anything the bud contributes, but at least he can act like Messi after each goal. This time I remembered to take a picture of our favorite coach/photographer.
In addition to all this, I also went to a funeral on Saturday–the 95-year old father of a high school friend. He was like a lot of the fathers I knew growing up. He was the captain of his high school baseball team and the president of his class. He went to Amherst and was the president of his fraternity. He was president of his company. He liked history and singing. He was an all-around good guy, a happy guy who knew that “Every day is the best day” and that God is the author of all things. He was a conservative man whose outspoken daughter must have taxed his soul, but he loved her and they got along despite their differences. He ended up happily living with her the last few years of his life. I mean, that is the ultimate reward–to have children who want you around.
Of course, the ultimate, ultimate reward is to be in heaven with Jesus, and my guess is he is there, having laid down his trophies at last.
His family went to church with me growing up, but I guess after his daughters graduated from high school and the Episcopal Church alienated a goodly portion of their members in the 1970s, he moved to the PCA and was a pillar of the church in which the funeral was held. He figured things out much sooner than I, but we ended up in the same place.
We sang “How Great Thou Art,” “The Old Rugged Cross” and “It Is Well With My Soul” and a bagpipe band piped us out with “Amazing Grace”. He had planned the whole service, scriptures and all. You guessed it; I cried through a lot of it and was undone by the pipers. You can bet I was taking notes!
Well done, good and faithful servant.
And when before the throne I stand in Him complete, “Jesus died my soul to save,” My lips shall still repeat.
Jesus paid it all, All to Him I owe; Sin had left a crimson stain, He washed it white as snow.
This prayer from The Valley of Vision really convicts:
O CHANGELESS GOD,
Under the conviction of thy Spirit I learn that the more I do, the worse I am, the more I know, the less I know, the more holiness I have, the more sinful I am, the more I love, the more there is to love. O wretched man that I am! O Lord, I have a wild heart, and cannot stand before thee; I am like a bird before a man. How little I love thy truth and ways! I neglect prayer, by thinking I have prayed enough and earnestly, by knowing thou hast saved my soul. Of all hypocrites, grant that I may not be an evangelical hypocrite, who sins more safely because grace abounds, who tells his lusts that Christ’s blood cleanseth them, who reasons that God cannot cast him into hell, for he is saved, who loves evangelical preaching, churches, Christians, but lives unholily. My mind is a bucket without a bottom, with no spiritual understanding, no desire for the Lord’s Day, ever learning but never reaching the truth, always at the gospel-well but never holding water. My conscience is without conviction or contrition, with nothing to repent of. My will is without power of decision or resolution. My heart is without affection, and full of leaks. My memory has no retention, so I forget easily the lessons learned, and thy truths seep away. Give me a broken heart that yet carries home the water of grace.
There is always a lot to do after traveling in regards to catching up on laundry, putting things back where they belong, re-stocking the refrigerator, and generally re-establishing order. I also had a lot of reading to catch up with since I was (intentionally) without a computer for four days. Zut alors!
This is a great rant from Blair Sobel on “fashion”: “However, if you want to see real poor taste schlubbery go to any airport. Remember when it meant something to dress up to go travel? Last week a woman appeared naked from the waist down exposing more than her ass cheeks while waiting in a ticket line at Spirit Airlines in Florida. Is it time to get real Fashion Police in to do some clean up now!?! Forget decorum. Basic decency is at risk here. But this is how far things have sunk in our collective. And it is kinda serious. I refuse to travel because the airport experience alone permanently repulses me — no matter how great the place I plan to go is.” She is not wrong about the airport!
Carl Trueman explains that “There is a lesson here for us all in this current political climate: The enemy of my enemy is not necessarily my friend, and, as soon as I start thinking he is, I might find myself on the way to excusing or even justifying evil.”
As usual, I agree with Anne about Halloween. “What this means is that there are no holidays in America. By the time you get to the special day, you are sick of it and just want it to go away. Through no fault of anyone except Satan, all the actual feasting has been transformed into a strange fast, an always Halloween but never All Saints Day, always Christmas and never Advent—or something like that.”
Not grace to bar what is not bliss, Nor flight from all distress, but this: The grace that orders our trouble and pain, And then, in the darkness, is there to sustain.
Also, when I left for Maryland I was in the middle of moving all my houseplants inside from the Florida Room and trying to find them winter homes in the limited confines of my house. Some of my plants have grown so much over the toasty summer!
Well, I had a wonderful visit with daughter #2’s little family–the weather was perfect and we had quite an extended gabfest. We went to all the parks: green, red and blue. We went to the pumpkin patch.
I had a wonderful time.
My travel, though stressful (heightened security!) and exhausting, was incident-free and (relatively) easy-peasy. Daughter #1 was waiting for me at the airport when I returned and the OM did not burn the house down while I was gone. ☑️
On Sunday everything was back to normal and we went to church and watched the wee bud play soccer. But it was a lot colder this weekend and we had to dig out some hats and gloves!
Are we having fun yet?
Even so, it is good to be back in flyover country!
Lead me, Lord, lead me in thy righteousness, make thy way plain before my face. For it is thou, Lord, thou, Lord only, that makest me dwell in safety.
Teach me, Lord, teach me truly how to live, that I may come to know thee, and in thy presence serve thee with gladness, and sing songs of praise to thy glory.
I am traveling today to see darling daughter #2 and her sweet family, so I will be mostly off the internet for the rest of the week. Prayers for traveling mercies are much appreciated!
In the meantime, here are some good reads to keep you occupied.
Dear friends, we know that souls are not to be won by music. Heh heh.
10 things to know about the most famous blessing in the Bible.
The OM and I have joined a group at church that is reading The Pilgrim’s Progress by John Bunyan. I have not read it in awhile, so I am really enjoying re-visiting it.
The Crown is before you, and it is an incorruptible one; so run that you may obtain it. Some there be that set out for this Crown, and after they have gone far for it, another comes in, and takes it from them; hold fast therefore that you have, let no man take your Crown; you are not yet out of reach of the gunshot of the Devil. You have not yet resisted unto death in your striving against sin. Let the Kingdom be always before you, and believe with certainty and consistency the things that are yet unseen. Let nothing that is on this side of eternal life get inside you. Above all, take care of your own hearts, and resist the lusts that tempt you, for your hearts are deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked. Set your faces like a flint; you have all the power of Heaven and earth on your side.
(Evangelist to Christian and Faithful)
The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.
