dual personalities

Tag: spirituality

March 10, 2022

When the morning stars sang together

by chuckofish

Recently I read a quote on Instagram that said something to the effect that you can’t believe in the sovereignty of God and be anxious every time you face something unexpected or that you can’t control.

This is true. Take a deep breath and pray, “I believe. Help thou mine unbelief.” (Mark 9:24)

This is also scary. And this. Mark Zuckerberg is not God, and “…when we try to deify ourselves, what pathetic creations we make!  What pathetic gods we turn out to be!” No kidding.

I am really trying to wean myself off of my computer. This means actually reading more actual books. Every morning I start my day by reading the Bible–if I can keep it up, I’ll read the whole Bible in 2022. Yesterday I read Job 38.

4 “Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?
Tell Me, if you have understanding.

5 Who determined its measurements?
Surely you know!
Or who stretched the line upon it?

6 To what were its foundations fastened?
Or who laid its cornerstone,

7 When the morning stars sang together,
And all the sons of God shouted for joy?

8 “Or who shut in the sea with doors,
When it burst forth and issued from the womb;

9 When I made the clouds its garment,
And thick darkness its swaddling band;

10 When I fixed My limit for it,
And set bars and doors;

11 When I said, ‘This far you may come, but no farther,
And here your proud waves must stop!’

12 Have you commanded the morning since your days began,
And caused the dawn to know its place,

13 That it might take hold of the ends of the earth,
And the wicked be shaken out of it?

Read the whole chapter here. And relax–God is in control.

1 Comment
March 3, 2022

For all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen

by chuckofish

Well, the world is apparently going to hell in a hand-basket, but the weather has been nothing to complain about here in flyover country. Yesterday the temperature soared to over 80 degrees. In fact, we broke the record high on Wednesday of 79 from 1992. (Temperatures are expected to be about 30 degrees cooler today, but yesterday was beautiful.)

(Don’t you feel better after watching ol’ Gordon MacRae? Truly, I did.)

I felt moved to get out of the house and I walked around the pond at our local park. A breath of fresh air and the sun on your face does wonders for your spirit.

Yes, the ice is gone. The crocus (croci?) are blooming in Don’s yard…

…but they have just barely poked through in mine. However, the Christmas cactus is blooming anew. How about that?

Well, Ash Wednesday has come and gone. There were no pancakes for moi this year. No ashes. I did receive a letter from the Bishop of the diocese of Missouri asking for money. It was addressed to “Dear Siblings in Christ,” because, you know, we don’t have brothers and sisters in this diocese anymore. That would be too gender normative. The bishop needs money to “accomplish positive change.” Good luck with that.

I am very grateful for Anne Kennedy and her blog posts. She reads the New York Times so I don’t have to and she responds to their articles so I don’t have to. Here she is responding to their article about Ash Wednesday and Lent. “I’m so sorry, but I must say it once more with tears—you are not a Christian if you don’t believe in Jesus, and one of the markers of your belief, the fruit, if you will, is that you earnestly desire to be in church with other people who believe. There is no ‘unchurched Christian faithful.’ That is not a thing…” Read the whole post.

I watched a good movie (which I had never seen) on TCM–The Naked City (1948). It is an American film noir directed by Jules Dassin, starring Barry Fitzgerald and Don Taylor as police detectives in the 10th precinct of New York City. Shot entirely on location in NYC, it depicts the police investigation that follows the murder of a young model.

After years of devotion to NYPD Blue and Law and Order, it was fascinating to watch this movie, which certainly blazed the trail for later TV crime dramas. It won the Academy Award for black and white cinematography and for editing, and rightly so. It was very well done and the final scenes leading up to the denouement on the Williamsburg Bridge are very exciting. For anyone who has spent any time in NYC, it is a fascinating picture. Here’s a blog post that shows all the film locations and what they look like currently. It was also fun to notice several actors in uncredited parts who later came to prominence in movies and on TV: Paul Ford, James Gregory, Arthur O’Connell, David Opatoshu, John Randolph, as well as Yiddish icon Molly Picon.

Well, it’s back to Leviticus for me. Enjoy your Thursday!

For all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us.

2 Cor. 1:20
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February 24, 2022

“I’m only a sinner saved by Grace”*

by chuckofish

In the past week I have had my annual follow-up appointments with my oncologist, surgeon and radiologist, along with an extra bonus dentist appointment. Add to that various tests and lab visits and you have a fun month. Ah, February. Needless to say, I will be happy to move on to March!

I watched the movie Something of Value (1957) on TCM the other night, which I had not seen in many years. I had read the book by Robert C. Ruark many years ago as well. The subject still resonates.

The poster misses the point as usual

The movie takes place in British colonial Kenya during the Mau Mau uprising (1952-1960) and centers on two friends, Peter (Rock Hudson) and Kimani (Sidney Poitier), who end up on opposite sides of the conflict. Written and directed by Richard Brooks, it tells a balanced story and does not take sides. For 1957, it is pretty stark and violent. My favorite character was Rock Hudson’s father, Henry MacKenzie, who says, when asked if he is afraid, “I fear nothing but the wrath of God.” To feel that in your heart and know it to be true is a great thing, whether you are facing marauding Mau Mau rebels or oncologists.

In other news, it is time for the annual Mardi Gras parade this weekend and once again, I could care less. But it is a Big Deal in our flyover city.

Literally my idea of Hell

I wish all those small businesses down in Soulard well, but oh mylanta.

This is an interesting article: “The information superhighway is a dead end, almost always leading us to rely more on itself than making us independent thinkers. It does not lead to wisdom.”

Sam Bush has some good ideas in this article: “There’s one catch to this furious attempt to be unique: trying not to be like everyone else has paradoxically become the definition of conformity. We may each be individual snowflakes, but, once we start to accumulate, we begin to look the same.”

I always thought that in order to survive childhood we need to think we’re special. That’s what good parents make us feel. But it is a sign of growing up when we figure out that we are not special. (Some people never figure that out.) Indeed, life is one long lesson in humility, right? And to be a Christian, one must be humble. “He must increase, but I must decrease.” (John 3:30)

Well, we are experiencing yet another “wintery mix” event. Time perhaps to listen to some Del McCoury, age 83, who has a new album! Here’s a link to listen to a couple of his new songs.

I guess Tuesday was Twins Day–I missed that–but our twins were twins-ing per usual…Aren’t they grown up?

*James M. Gray (1851-1935)

3 Comments
February 7, 2022

“Though great our sins and sore our woes/ His grace much more aboundeth”*

by chuckofish

Well, we got about 6-7 inches of snow last week in our neck of the woods. It took us awhile to dig out–we had to get our driveway plowed–and so I was home until Saturday.

In the meantime I managed to shovel the front walk and felt pretty darn good about it.

No one lost their electricity and we had plenty of food and the house wine, so I kind of enjoyed it. Here’s a couple of pictures my friend Don took of the Frank Lloyd Wright house in his neighborhood in our flyover town.

Look at that unbroken stretch of white–just some deer tracks. So beautiful.

On Sunday the OM and I officially joined our new church along with fifteen or so other new members. We attended both morning services so people could get a look at us as we said our “I do’s” in response to the five vows in front of the church body (Do you acknowledge yourselves to be sinners in the sight of God, justly deserving His displeasure, and without hope save in His sovereign mercy?…). I like this old hymn by Martin Luther we sang (even with piano, guitar and drums), but the boy was offended that someone had turned it into a “praise song” with a new tune.

Well, you can’t please all the people all the time. Anyway, we are Presbyterians now! Our Scottish ancestors were all non-conforming Baptists, but our Irish ancestors were Presbyterians (until one married my namesake Catherine Rand, an Episcopalian.) We are back in the fold.

Recently I was reading something written by James Muilenburg, who taught at Union Theological Seminary back when Frederick Buechner was a student there in the 1950s (and back when it was a seminary worth going to.) It seems rather apropos to today and the misdirection of so many to the self.

This is a good interview with the Very Rev. Dr. Paul Zahl about the last third of life. “Where it becomes deeply Christian is, you get to a point when you realize that engagement with the world is sort of a joke, in that the world really is passing away. You can’t tell someone who’s in the midst of life at 35 years old, or 45 years old, that that’s true, because at that time it doesn’t feel like it is. This is why I’m speaking empirically, not prescriptively. But then they’ll get to a stage when they’ll see that a tremendous amount of what felt important simply is passing away.” Amen, brother.

I also liked this article, especially because I, too, am reading Job. “The thing that I fear comes upon me, and what I dread befalls me.” (Job 3:25) We all deal with this one. “If atomic bombs or Chaldeans or tornados or illness or accidents or injury or our worst-case scenario finds us, let it find us living — not curled up in a ball in the corner.”

Amen, brother. Grace aboundeth.

*Martin Luther, Psalm 130

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February 3, 2022

Be that as it may

by chuckofish

I was contemplating daughter #1’s thought-provoking post from yesterday and I was struck by something George Meyer said in the New Yorker article: “I say this to people and they think I’m kidding, but I didn’t realize that ‘The Dick Van Dyke Show’ was supposed to be funny. I thought you just watched it.”

I remembered how I use to watch syndicated episodes of “I Love Lucy” back in the 1960s when I was in elementary school. I thought it was kind of a sad show about poor people who lived in a tiny apartment. Lucy and her friend Ethel did really stupid things and their eye-rolling husbands were constantly exasperated. I had no clue it was supposed to be funny.

Well, I guess George and I figured out what was funny along the way. But I think it is safe to say, since the mid-20th century, parents have allowed their children to watch way too much television without much supervision and the cost to civilization has been great.

This reminded me that I did watch Greyfriars Bobby (1961) last week and was, once again, very touched by it. This Disney movie is child-appropriate and teaches some valuable lessons about kindness. It also shows what real poverty is in a very subtle way. Most twenty-first century Americans have little idea what real poverty is–when tenement-dwelling children can be shocked that the wee dog is fed chicken broth. “Chicken for the dog? I’ve never tasted it.” Only one of the children can read and write. But their hearts are warmed by the wee dog and the tavern keeper learns kindness and generosity. This lovely story led me to watch The Little Kidnappers (1953), a J. Arthur Rank production, about two wee Scottish-Canadian boys who go to live with their strict Calvinist grandparents in Nova Scotia when their parents die. The five and eight-year old actors who portray these boys are wonderful (the five-year old later appears in Greyfriars Bobby and Thomasina) and it is a wonderful story about forgiveness and learning to love one’s neighbor. It is available to watch on Youtube:

Anyway, as you may have heard, we are in the middle of a winter snowpocalypse which, in reality, affects me very little as I am retired and was not planning to travel anywhere. My bible study group is meeting via Zoom today–my first Zoom meeting since retiring last year. Well, the whole region is on hold again, which just goes to prove, if it’s not one thing, it’s another.

Meanwhile, I am reading this classic of Puritan writing by Stephen Charnock: Discourses upon the Existence and Attributes of God.

You can read more about him here.

Here is comfort in afflictions. As a sovereign, he is the author of afflictions, as a sovereign, he is the remover of them; he can command the waters of affliction to go so far, and no farther. If he speaks the word, a disease shall depart, as soon as a servant shall from your presence with a nod. If we are banished from one place, he can command a shelter for us from another. If he orders Moab, a nation that had no great kindness for his people, to let his outcasts dwell with them, they shall entertain them, and afford them sanctuary. (Is. 16:4) Again, God chasteneth as a sovereign, but teacheth as a father (Ps 90:12).

I think this antique wooden model that I rescued at the auction last weekend is so my ascetic:

And there’s this:

I am definitely going to start wearing sunglasses more often.

“Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.”

– Philippians 4:8

4 Comments
January 19, 2022

In him we live and move and have our being

by chuckofish

Yesterday I caught up on all the stuff I do to keep the home fires burning. However, I also caught up on a new puzzle I was working on before I left and that took up an alarming amount of time.

Zut alors!

Tonight we will toast per usual our January 19th birthday girls–our mother…

and Dolly Parton,

who share a birthday with the fictional character Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Our three favorite role models.

This was an interesting article about the problem with leaving the Church. “We can’t comprehend the love of Christ individually. There may be a time to leave the local congregation but never a time to leave the church.”

Genesis 1.21: like I always say about elephants, evolution cannot begin to explain whales.

This is wonderful. (Thank you, Anne.)

And I loved this scene from the book of Acts (17: 22-31) which I read in my daily reading:

So Paul, standing in the midst of the Areopagus, said: “Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious.  For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription: ‘To the unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you.  The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything.  And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, for

“‘In him we live and move and have our being’;

as even some of your own poets have said,

“‘For we are indeed his offspring.’

 Being then God’s offspring, we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man. The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.”

When I was going through an old file, I found this New Yorker cartoon, torn out of a magazine in 1979.

Don’t forget to stop and look out the window today (but brush your hair first). There is a lot of Life going on out there: squirrels and birds and weather and the UPS man stopping by.

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January 11, 2022

“My thanksgiving is perpetual”*

by chuckofish

Today is the feast day in the Anglican Church of Mary Mitchell Slessor (1848-1915), a Scottish Presbyterian missionary in Nigeria. She is most famous for having stopped the common practice of infanticide of twins in Okoyong, an area of Cross River State, Nigeria. She was 27 and had been a factory worker for 14 years when she heard that David Livingstone, the famous missionary and explorer, had died. She decided she wanted to follow in his footsteps. Her’s is quite the story. More here.

Today is the 76th birthday of John Piper, theologian, pastor, and chancellor of Bethlehem College and Seminary in Minneapolis, MN. I have quoted him quite a bit on this blog and he has been quite influential in my spiritual walk. He does not mince words. Here are his 10 reasons to read the Bible every day. And here’s a clip from his famous “Don’t Waste Your Life” sermon.

I would toast him, but he’s a Baptist and might not approve of that. He would probably not approve of me making that little joke either. I confess I am always fighting my “allergy to seriousness.” But I am serious about my admiration for John Piper.

In other news, I did another puzzle over the weekend.

This was a fun one for obvious reasons. It inspired me to watch Errol Flynn in San Antonio (1945), a Warner Brothers technicolor western, but it was disappointing.

Although still in his prime at 36, Flynn is giving about a 50% effort and that is not enough. Plus, I never thought Flynn and Alexis Smith had much chemistry and the supporting cast is the WB B team. I expected more from the Alan LeMay/W.S. Burnett screenplay. Well, you win some, you lose some. C’est la vie.

Finally, here’s a positive story about good things actually happening in Chicago. “We understand that God is sovereign in all things, including the trials we went through during our leadership transition, COVID, and the individual trials in the lives of our members. We understand that ultimately it is in God that we live and move and have our existence (Acts 17:28), and that he is sovereign over every human heart, head, and hands (Prov. 16:9; Isa. 46:9–10).”

*Henry David Thoreau

4 Comments
December 2, 2021

“Here, there and elsewhere”*

by chuckofish

December is here and Advent with it. Katiebelle is playing with her new nativity set which was handmade by daughter #3. I have always contended (like my mother before me) that children should have their own creche and unbreakable nativity figurines to play with. When they are a little older, they can have their own little tree and their own ornaments. Start those collections early!

Paul Zahl is back with a roundup of good movies to watch on TCM in December. He is, as always, right on target and this made me laugh regarding The Bishop’s Wife: “Nathan’s novel is more detached than the film, and perhaps a little cynical concerning the long-term spiritual prospects of the bishop. But, hey, when it comes to most bishops, I’ve come to feel about the same way Nathan did. Wish I didn’t.”

If you have an hour to spare, this is a great conversation with Ben Johnson and Harry Carey, Jr., filmed back in 1995, about a year before Ben died. Those two old-timers have some wonderful stories to tell from their movie-making days.

As I mentioned earlier, I have been catching up on Michael Caine movies and the other night I watched Alfie (1966). It was quite risqué for its day and the amoral womanizing of the anti-hero Alfie was considered rather scandalous even by swinging ’60s sophisticates. “Live for yourself, like I do” is Alfie’s motto. “I never want to hurt anybody,” he says, but, of course, he does. Ultimately, he hurts no one so much as himself.

I couldn’t help thinking as I watched the movie that what has obviously changed in our society in the 55 years since its debut is that today everyone (and specifically women) is encouraged to “live for yourself.” In fact, since the feminist “revolution,” woman feel free, even entitled, to act just like Alfie. Such bad behavior as Alfie demonstrates is no longer judged to be “wicked”–at least when women act that way. And the climactic abortion scene would be considered no big deal today. In the film, the seriousness of the event even shocks selfish Alfie into realizing that a perfect little life has been ended without its having had a say in the matter. Gosh, what old-fashioned thinking!

While I didn’t find this “comedy” to be very funny, I will say that the movie is a must-see as social commentary and Michael Caine is sensational. It was a break-through part indeed.

I also will note that I watched Bob Fosse’s All That Jazz (1979) which I had not seen since 1979. It seemed very dated–all those jazz hands.

Well, watching such movies is a good reminder of what Sinclair Ferguson says: “The mortification of sin is indeed vital. [John] Owen was right: if we are not killing sin, it will be killing us. His memorable one-liner comes as a shock to much modern Christianity: ‘Let not that man think he makes any progress in holiness who walks not over the bellies of his lusts.'” I mean, sin literally kills the Bob Fosse character in All That Jazz–not that this thought is ever actually expressed overtly. But c’mon.

“God designed the human machine to run on Himself. He Himself is the fuel our spirits were designed to burn, or the food our spirits were designed to feed on. There is no other.” — CS Lewis

Amen, brother.

*Billy Collins–read the poem here.

4 Comments
November 16, 2021

Who makes much of miracles?

by chuckofish

In yesterday’s blog post I described a fun overnight visit to my daughter in Jefferson City. I was thinking more about it and it occurred to me that there was nothing particularly “Instagrammable” or blog-worthy about it. It was very ordinary indeed. But isn’t it in the ordinary that we see the beauty and blessings of God’s world?

Sure, it would have been great to eat dinner at the Gasparilla Inn in Boca Grande or sit on a patio overlooking Lake Como sipping a cocktail. But for me, eating lunch at the Grand on High Street in our state capitol is really just as pleasant. Driving around that small midwestern town and seeing the park and the local university was just as fun as sightseeing in Washington D.C. My point being that wherever you are, there you are, and your glass is either half full or half empty.

My glass is half full. I wake up every morning and thank God that His mercies are new every morning. (Some days it takes me a moment or two to remember what day it is or what month, but I get there eventually.) And there is usually a pot of coffee going that the OM made before I got up. And I know that nothing extraordinary will happen to me today–at least I hope not–but the memory of holding my grandchildren’s tiny hands as we crossed the church parking lot on Sunday will keep me going all week.

Well, I am going to tidy up and get ready for a houseful of family at Thanksgiving. I am thankful for a sweet son-in-law who is driving his family 700 miles to be here. I am thankful for a sweet daughter-in-law who is making special matching holiday pajamas for the cousins–a family tradition on her side of the family. We’ll have cheesy potato casserole and green beans and crescent rolls and Dierberg’s will prepare the turkey breast. And even if there is no canned jellied cranberry this year because of the sorry state of commerce in our country (I noted the absence of this staple today at Dierberg’s), we’ll survive. If the whole meal implodes, we’ll be fine. Because it’s not just about the yummy food and the perfect table settings. We have plenty to be thankful for.

Yes, it is November and we like to count our blessings extra hard in the run-up to Thanksgiving. I encourage you to do this as well. But keep in mind that being grateful means little if you do not know and acknowledge to whom you are grateful. So praise God from whom all blessings flow/Praise Him, all creatures here below/Praise Him above, ye heavenly host/Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost.

And take note of all the miracles in your life!

Why, who makes much of a miracle?
As to me I know of nothing else but miracles,
Whether I walk the streets of Manhattan,
Or dart my sight over the roofs of houses toward the sky,
Or wade with naked feet along the beach just in the edge of the water,
Or stand under trees in the woods,
Or talk by day with any one I love, or sleep in the bed at night with any one I love,
Or sit at table at dinner with the rest,
Or look at strangers opposite me riding in the car,
Or watch honey-bees busy around the hive of a summer forenoon,
Or animals feeding in the fields,
Or birds, or the wonderfulness of insects in the air,
Or the wonderfulness of the sundown, or of stars shining so quiet and bright,
Or the exquisite delicate thin curve of the new moon in spring;
These with the rest, one and all, are to me miracles,
The whole referring, yet each distinct and in its place.

To me every hour of the light and dark is a miracle,
Every cubic inch of space is a miracle,
Every square yard of the surface of the earth is spread with the same,
Every foot of the interior swarms with the same.

To me the sea is a continual miracle,
The fishes that swim—the rocks—the motion of the waves—the
        ships with men in them,
What stranger miracles are there?

–Walt Whitman

6 Comments
November 4, 2021

And like a thunderbolt he falls

by chuckofish

Well, here we are in November and the end of the year approaches. Yikes. Thanksgiving is in three weeks! Advent starts on November 28!

However, Advent is not a Presbyterian tradition, and our senior pastor reminded us last Sunday that the Semper Reformanda (always Reforming) does not mean that we’re always adding to the Reformation, or modifying it to fit the world’s trends. No, it means the exact opposite, a return to Reformed confessional standards. So I don’t think Advent will be a thing at our new church.

I am okay with that. Advent has gone commercial anyway–anything to make a buck.

I agree with Anne as usual.

Happy November movie viewing on TCM–check out Laura’s detailed rundown of what’s showing. Sydney Greenstreet is the Star of the Month. I watched The Maltese Falcon (1941) last night for the first time in a very long time, and Sydney was truly one-of-a-kind. They knew about character actors back in the day.

I was happy to see the Atlanta Braves win the World’s Series, although I have pretty much opted out of MLB. But it did my heart good to hear shortstop Dansby Swanson give the glory to God: “God’s always got a plan and having faith in that plan will never fail you.” Amen.

Are we living in the last days? (You know you’ve asked yourself that question.) Here’s the answer:

But don’t allow yourself to get down in the dumps. Here is my favorite three-year old poetry aficionado reciting The Eagle: A Fragment by Aldred, Lord Tennyson. He makes me smile every time!

He clasps the crag with crooked hands;

Close to the sun in lonely lands,

Ring’d with the azure world, he stands.

The wrinkled sea beneath him crawls;

He watches from his mountain walls,

And like a thunderbolt he falls.

Wish me luck on Saturday when I am giving a talk on the Santa Fe Trail to a group of DAR ladies here in town. You can bet I will work in a way to mention ol’ John Simpson Hough. It should be fun, right?

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