Praises of The Divine Mercy (949)
The Love of God is the flower - Mercy the fruit. Let the doubting soul read these considerations of Divine Mercy and become trusting.
Divine Mercy, gushing forth from the bosom of the Father, I trust in You.
Divine Mercy, greatest attribute of God, I trust in You.
Divine Mercy, incomprehensible mystery, I trust in You.
Divine Mercy, fount gushing forth from the mystery of the Most Blessed Trinity, I trust in You.
Divine Mercy, unfathomed by any intellect, human or angelic, I trust in You.
Divine Mercy, from which wells forth all life and happiness, I trust in You.
Divine Mercy, better than the heavens, I trust in You.
Divine Mercy, source of miracles and wonders, I trust in You.
Divine Mercy, encompassing the whole universe, I trust in You.
Divine Mercy, descending to earth in the Person of the Incarnate Word, I trust in You.
Divine Mercy, which flowed out from the open wound of the Heart of Jesus, I trust in You.
Divine Mercy, enclosed in the Heart of Jesus for us, and especially for sinners, I trust in You.
Divine Mercy, unfathomed in the institution of the Sacred Host, I trust in You.
Divine Mercy, in the founding of the Holy Church, I trust in You.
Divine Mercy, in the Sacrament of Holy Baptism, I trust in You.
Divine Mercy, in our justification through Jesus Christ, I trust in You.
Divine Mercy, accompanying us through our whole life, I trust in You.
Divine Mercy, embracing us especially at the hour of death, I trust in You.
Divine Mercy, endowing us with immortal life, I trust in You.
Divine Mercy, accompanying us at every moment of our life, I trust in You.
Divine Mercy, shielding us from the fire of hell, I trust in You.
Divine Mercy, in the conversion of hardened sinners, I trust in You.
Divine Mercy, astonishment for Angels, incomprehensible to Saints, I trust in You.
Divine Mercy, unfathomed in all the mysteries of God, I trust in You.
Divine Mercy, lifting us out of every misery, I trust in You.
Divine Mercy, source of our happiness and joy, I trust in You.
Divine Mercy, in calling us forth from nothingness to existence, I trust in You.
Divine Mercy, embracing all the works of His hands, I trust in You.
Divine Mercy, crown of all of God’s handiwork, I trust in You.
Divine Mercy, in which we are all immersed, I trust in You.
Divine Mercy, sweet relief for anguished hearts, I trust in You.
Divine Mercy, only hope of despairing souls, I trust in You.
Divine Mercy, repose of hearts, peace amidst fear, I trust in You.
Divine Mercy, delight and ecstasy of holy souls, I trust in You.
Divine Mercy, inspiring hope against all hope, I trust in You.
Selected Prayers from The Diary of Saint Faustina
http://www.keepsakesbyleo.com/Documents/Diary%20Prayers.htm
Sunday, April 02, 2006
Friday, March 31, 2006
Quotes from Simone Weil
A doctrine serves no purpose in itself, but it is indispensable to have one if only to avoid being deceived by false doctrines.
A hurtful act is the transference to others of the degradation which we bear in ourselves.
A mind enclosed in language is in prison.
A self-respecting nation is ready for anything, including war, except for a renunciation of its option to make war.
A test of what is real is that it is hard and rough. Joys are found in it, not pleasure. What is pleasant belongs to dreams.
All sins are attempts to fill voids.
An atheist may be simply one whose faith and love are concentrated on the impersonal aspects of God.
Attachment is the great fabricator of illusions; reality can be attained only by someone who is detached.
Beauty always promises, but never gives anything.
Charity. To love human beings in so far as they are nothing. That is to love them as God does.
Culture is an instrument wielded by teachers to manufacture teachers, who, in their turn, will manufacture still more teachers.
Difficult as it is really to listen to someone in affliction, it is just as difficult for him to know that compassion is listening to him.
Equality is the public recognition, effectively expressed in institutions and manners, of the principle that an equal degree of attention is due to the needs of all human beings.
Every perfect life is a parable invented by God.
Every time that I think of the crucifixion of Christ, I commit the sin of envy.
Evil being the root of mystery, pain is the root of knowledge.
For when two beings who are not friends are near each other there is no meeting, and when friends are far apart there is no separation.
Force is as pitiless to the man who possesses it, or thinks he does, as it is to its victims; the second it crushes, the first it intoxicates. The truth is, nobody really possesses it.
Human beings are so made that the ones who do the crushing feel nothing; it is the person crushed who feels what is happening. Unless one has placed oneself on the side of the oppressed, to feel with them, one cannot understand.
Humanism was not wrong in thinking that truth, beauty, liberty, and equality are of infinite value, but in thinking that man can get them for himself without grace.
Humility is attentive patience.
I am not a Catholic; but I consider the Christian idea, which has its roots in Greek thought and in the course of the centuries has nourished all of our European civilization, as something that one cannot renounce without becoming degraded.
I can, therefore I am.
I suffer more from the humiliations inflicted by my country than from those inflicted on her.
I would suggest that barbarism be considered as a permanent and universal human characteristic which becomes more or less pronounced according to the play of circumstances.
If Germany, thanks to Hitler and his successors, were to enslave the European nations and destroy most of the treasures of their past, future historians would certainly pronounce that she had civilized Europe.
If we are suffering illness, poverty, or misfortune, we think we shall be satisfied on the day it ceases. But there too, we know it is false; so soon as one has got used to not suffering one wants something else.
Imagination and fiction make up more than three quarters of our real life.
Imagination is always the fabric of social life and the dynamic of history. The influence of real needs and compulsions, of real interests and materials, is indirect because the crowd is never conscious of it.
In struggling against anguish one never produces serenity; the struggle against anguish only produces new forms of anguish.
In Switzerland they had brotherly love, five hundred years of democracy and peace, and what did they produce? The cuckoo clock!
In the Church, considered as a social organism, the mysteries inevitably degenerate into beliefs.
It is an eternal obligation toward the human being not to let him suffer from hunger when one has a chance of coming to his assistance.
It is only the impossible that is possible for God. He has given over the possible to the mechanics of matter and the autonomy of his creatures.
Life does not need to mutilate itself in order to be pure.
More than in any other performing arts the lack of respect for acting seems to spring from the fact that every layman considers himself a valid critic.
Most works of art, like most wines, ought to be consumed in the district of their fabrication.
Nothing can have as its destination anything other than its origin. The contrary idea, the idea of progress, is poison.
Nothing is less instructive than a machine.
One cannot imagine St. Francis of Assisi talking about rights.
Oppression that is clearly inexorable and invincible does not give rise to revolt but to submission.
Petroleum is a more likely cause of international conflict than wheat.
Purity is the power to contemplate defilement.
Real genius is nothing else but the supernatural virtue of humility in the domain of thought.
The contemporary form of true greatness lies in a civilization founded on the spirituality of work.
The danger is not lest the soul should doubt whether there is any bread, but lest, by a lie, it should persuade itself that it is not hungry.
The destruction of the past is perhaps the greatest of all crimes.
The future is made of the same stuff as the present.
The highest ecstasy is the attention at its fullest.
The love of our neighbor in all its fullness simply means being able to say to him, "What are you going through?"
The most important part of teaching is to teach what it is to know.
The mysteries of faith are degraded if they are made into an object of affirmation and negation, when in reality they should be an object of contemplation.
The only hope of socialism resides in those who have already brought about in themselves, as far as is possible in the society of today, that union between manual and intellectual labor which characterizes the society we are aiming at.
The payment of debts is necessary for social order. The non-payment is quite equally necessary for social order. For centuries humanity has oscillated, serenely unaware, between these two contradictory necessities.
The poison of skepticism becomes, like alcoholism, tuberculosis, and some other diseases, much more virulent in a hitherto virgin soil.
The proper method of philosophy consists in clearly conceiving the insoluble problems in all their insolubility and then in simply contemplating them, fixedly and tirelessly, year after year, without any hope, patiently waiting.
The real stumbling-block of totalitarian regimes is not the spiritual need of men for freedom of thought; it is men's inability to stand the physical and nervous strain of a permanent state of excitement, except during a few years of their youth.
The role of the intelligence - that part of us which affirms and denies and formulates opinions is merely to submit.
There can be a true grandeur in any degree of submissiveness, because it springs from loyalty to the laws and to an oath, and not from baseness of soul.
There is no detachment where there is no pain. And there is no pain endured without hatred or lying unless detachment is present too.
Those who are unhappy have no need for anything in this world but people capable of giving them their attention.
To be a hero or a heroine, one must give an order to oneself.
To be rooted is perhaps the most important and least recognized need of the human soul.
To get power over is to defile. To possess is to defile.
To set up as a standard of public morality a notion which can neither be defined nor conceived is to open the door to every kind of tyranny.
To want friendship is a great fault. Friendship ought to be a gratuitous joy, like the joys afforded by art or life.
To write the lives of the great in separating them from their works necessarily ends by above all stressing their pettiness, because it is in their work that they have put the best of themselves.
Two prisoners whose cells adjoin communicate with each other by knocking on the wall. The wall is the thing which separates them but is also their means of communication. It is the same with us and God. Every separation is a link.
We are like horses who hurt themselves as soon as they pull on their bits - and we bow our heads. We even lose consciousness of the situation, we just submit. Any re-awakening of thought is then painful.
We can only know one thing about God - that he is what we are not. Our wretchedness alone is an image of this. The more we contemplate it, the more we contemplate him.
We must prefer real hell to an imaginary paradise.
What a country calls its vital economic interests are not the things which enable its citizens to live, but the things which enable it to make war. Petrol is more likely than wheat to be a cause of international conflict.
Whatever debases the intelligence degrades the entire human being.
When a contradiction is impossible to resolve except by a lie, then we know that it is really a door.
When once a certain class of people has been placed by the temporal and spiritual authorities outside the ranks of those whose life has value, then nothing comes more naturally to men than murder.
Who were the fools who spread the story that brute force cannot kill ideas? Nothing is easier. And once they are dead they are no more than corpses.
Why is it that reality, when set down untransposed in a book, sounds false?
With no matter what human being, taken individually, I always find reasons for concluding that sorrow and misfortune do not suit him; either because he seems too mediocre for anything so great, or, on the contrary, too precious to be destroyed.
http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/s/simone_weil.html
A hurtful act is the transference to others of the degradation which we bear in ourselves.
A mind enclosed in language is in prison.
A self-respecting nation is ready for anything, including war, except for a renunciation of its option to make war.
A test of what is real is that it is hard and rough. Joys are found in it, not pleasure. What is pleasant belongs to dreams.
All sins are attempts to fill voids.
An atheist may be simply one whose faith and love are concentrated on the impersonal aspects of God.
Attachment is the great fabricator of illusions; reality can be attained only by someone who is detached.
Beauty always promises, but never gives anything.
Charity. To love human beings in so far as they are nothing. That is to love them as God does.
Culture is an instrument wielded by teachers to manufacture teachers, who, in their turn, will manufacture still more teachers.
Difficult as it is really to listen to someone in affliction, it is just as difficult for him to know that compassion is listening to him.
Equality is the public recognition, effectively expressed in institutions and manners, of the principle that an equal degree of attention is due to the needs of all human beings.
Every perfect life is a parable invented by God.
Every time that I think of the crucifixion of Christ, I commit the sin of envy.
Evil being the root of mystery, pain is the root of knowledge.
For when two beings who are not friends are near each other there is no meeting, and when friends are far apart there is no separation.
Force is as pitiless to the man who possesses it, or thinks he does, as it is to its victims; the second it crushes, the first it intoxicates. The truth is, nobody really possesses it.
Human beings are so made that the ones who do the crushing feel nothing; it is the person crushed who feels what is happening. Unless one has placed oneself on the side of the oppressed, to feel with them, one cannot understand.
Humanism was not wrong in thinking that truth, beauty, liberty, and equality are of infinite value, but in thinking that man can get them for himself without grace.
Humility is attentive patience.
I am not a Catholic; but I consider the Christian idea, which has its roots in Greek thought and in the course of the centuries has nourished all of our European civilization, as something that one cannot renounce without becoming degraded.
I can, therefore I am.
I suffer more from the humiliations inflicted by my country than from those inflicted on her.
I would suggest that barbarism be considered as a permanent and universal human characteristic which becomes more or less pronounced according to the play of circumstances.
If Germany, thanks to Hitler and his successors, were to enslave the European nations and destroy most of the treasures of their past, future historians would certainly pronounce that she had civilized Europe.
If we are suffering illness, poverty, or misfortune, we think we shall be satisfied on the day it ceases. But there too, we know it is false; so soon as one has got used to not suffering one wants something else.
Imagination and fiction make up more than three quarters of our real life.
Imagination is always the fabric of social life and the dynamic of history. The influence of real needs and compulsions, of real interests and materials, is indirect because the crowd is never conscious of it.
In struggling against anguish one never produces serenity; the struggle against anguish only produces new forms of anguish.
In Switzerland they had brotherly love, five hundred years of democracy and peace, and what did they produce? The cuckoo clock!
In the Church, considered as a social organism, the mysteries inevitably degenerate into beliefs.
It is an eternal obligation toward the human being not to let him suffer from hunger when one has a chance of coming to his assistance.
It is only the impossible that is possible for God. He has given over the possible to the mechanics of matter and the autonomy of his creatures.
Life does not need to mutilate itself in order to be pure.
More than in any other performing arts the lack of respect for acting seems to spring from the fact that every layman considers himself a valid critic.
Most works of art, like most wines, ought to be consumed in the district of their fabrication.
Nothing can have as its destination anything other than its origin. The contrary idea, the idea of progress, is poison.
Nothing is less instructive than a machine.
One cannot imagine St. Francis of Assisi talking about rights.
Oppression that is clearly inexorable and invincible does not give rise to revolt but to submission.
Petroleum is a more likely cause of international conflict than wheat.
Purity is the power to contemplate defilement.
Real genius is nothing else but the supernatural virtue of humility in the domain of thought.
The contemporary form of true greatness lies in a civilization founded on the spirituality of work.
The danger is not lest the soul should doubt whether there is any bread, but lest, by a lie, it should persuade itself that it is not hungry.
The destruction of the past is perhaps the greatest of all crimes.
The future is made of the same stuff as the present.
The highest ecstasy is the attention at its fullest.
The love of our neighbor in all its fullness simply means being able to say to him, "What are you going through?"
The most important part of teaching is to teach what it is to know.
The mysteries of faith are degraded if they are made into an object of affirmation and negation, when in reality they should be an object of contemplation.
The only hope of socialism resides in those who have already brought about in themselves, as far as is possible in the society of today, that union between manual and intellectual labor which characterizes the society we are aiming at.
The payment of debts is necessary for social order. The non-payment is quite equally necessary for social order. For centuries humanity has oscillated, serenely unaware, between these two contradictory necessities.
The poison of skepticism becomes, like alcoholism, tuberculosis, and some other diseases, much more virulent in a hitherto virgin soil.
The proper method of philosophy consists in clearly conceiving the insoluble problems in all their insolubility and then in simply contemplating them, fixedly and tirelessly, year after year, without any hope, patiently waiting.
The real stumbling-block of totalitarian regimes is not the spiritual need of men for freedom of thought; it is men's inability to stand the physical and nervous strain of a permanent state of excitement, except during a few years of their youth.
The role of the intelligence - that part of us which affirms and denies and formulates opinions is merely to submit.
There can be a true grandeur in any degree of submissiveness, because it springs from loyalty to the laws and to an oath, and not from baseness of soul.
There is no detachment where there is no pain. And there is no pain endured without hatred or lying unless detachment is present too.
Those who are unhappy have no need for anything in this world but people capable of giving them their attention.
To be a hero or a heroine, one must give an order to oneself.
To be rooted is perhaps the most important and least recognized need of the human soul.
To get power over is to defile. To possess is to defile.
To set up as a standard of public morality a notion which can neither be defined nor conceived is to open the door to every kind of tyranny.
To want friendship is a great fault. Friendship ought to be a gratuitous joy, like the joys afforded by art or life.
To write the lives of the great in separating them from their works necessarily ends by above all stressing their pettiness, because it is in their work that they have put the best of themselves.
Two prisoners whose cells adjoin communicate with each other by knocking on the wall. The wall is the thing which separates them but is also their means of communication. It is the same with us and God. Every separation is a link.
We are like horses who hurt themselves as soon as they pull on their bits - and we bow our heads. We even lose consciousness of the situation, we just submit. Any re-awakening of thought is then painful.
We can only know one thing about God - that he is what we are not. Our wretchedness alone is an image of this. The more we contemplate it, the more we contemplate him.
We must prefer real hell to an imaginary paradise.
What a country calls its vital economic interests are not the things which enable its citizens to live, but the things which enable it to make war. Petrol is more likely than wheat to be a cause of international conflict.
Whatever debases the intelligence degrades the entire human being.
When a contradiction is impossible to resolve except by a lie, then we know that it is really a door.
When once a certain class of people has been placed by the temporal and spiritual authorities outside the ranks of those whose life has value, then nothing comes more naturally to men than murder.
Who were the fools who spread the story that brute force cannot kill ideas? Nothing is easier. And once they are dead they are no more than corpses.
Why is it that reality, when set down untransposed in a book, sounds false?
With no matter what human being, taken individually, I always find reasons for concluding that sorrow and misfortune do not suit him; either because he seems too mediocre for anything so great, or, on the contrary, too precious to be destroyed.
http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/s/simone_weil.html
Thursday, March 30, 2006
Enjoying and Enduring
"The art of life is to know how to enjoy a little and to endure very much."
~ William Hazlitt
~ William Hazlitt
Wednesday, March 22, 2006
John Stott - Why I Am a Christian
For the son of man came to seek and to save what was lost.
~ Luke 19:10
Chapter One - The Hound Of Heaven
Because I am writing on why I am a Christian, I cannot avoid being personal and telling my story. Looking back over a long life, I have often asked myself what it was that brought me to Christ. As I have said already, it was neither my parental upbringing nor my own independent choice; it was Christ himself knocking at my door, drawing attention to his presence outside.
He did this in two major ways. The first was my sense of estrangement from God. I was no atheist. I believed in the existence of God—someone or something somewhere, the ultimate reality behind and beyond all phenomenon. But I could not find him. I used to visit a dark little chapel in the school I was attending in order to read religious books and recite prayers. All to no avail. God was remote and aloof; I was unable to penetrate the fog that seemed to envelop him.
The second way in which I heard Christ knocking at my door was through my sense of defeat. With a vibrant idealism of youth I had a heroic picture of the sort of person I wanted to be—kind and unselfish and public-spirited. But I had an equally clear picture of who I was—malicious, self centered and proud. The two pictures did not coincide. I was high-idealed but weak-willed.
Yet through my sense of alienation and failure the Stranger at the door kept knocking, until the preacher I mentioned at the beginning of this chapter threw light on my dilemma. He spoke to me of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. He explained that Christ had died to turn my estrangement into reconciliation and had been raised from the dead to turn my defeat into victory. The correspondence between my subjective need and Christ’s objective offer seemed too close to be a coincidence. Christ’s knocking became louder and more insistent. Did I open the door, or did he? Truly I did, but only because by his persistent knocking he had made it possible, even inevitable.
I have told you my story; I wonder about yours. Jesus assures us in his parables that, whether or not we are consciously seeking God, he is assuredly seeking us. He is like a woman who sweeps her house in search of a lost coin; like a shepherd who risks the dangers of the desert in search of only one lost sheep; and like a father who misses his wayward son and allows him to taste the bitterness of his folly, but is ready at any moment to run to meet him and welcome him home.
Why I am a Christian, pages 29-30
John Stott
former Rector of All Souls Church in London
author of Basic Christianity, The Cross of Christ and The Imcomparable Christ
~ Luke 19:10
Chapter One - The Hound Of Heaven
Because I am writing on why I am a Christian, I cannot avoid being personal and telling my story. Looking back over a long life, I have often asked myself what it was that brought me to Christ. As I have said already, it was neither my parental upbringing nor my own independent choice; it was Christ himself knocking at my door, drawing attention to his presence outside.
He did this in two major ways. The first was my sense of estrangement from God. I was no atheist. I believed in the existence of God—someone or something somewhere, the ultimate reality behind and beyond all phenomenon. But I could not find him. I used to visit a dark little chapel in the school I was attending in order to read religious books and recite prayers. All to no avail. God was remote and aloof; I was unable to penetrate the fog that seemed to envelop him.
The second way in which I heard Christ knocking at my door was through my sense of defeat. With a vibrant idealism of youth I had a heroic picture of the sort of person I wanted to be—kind and unselfish and public-spirited. But I had an equally clear picture of who I was—malicious, self centered and proud. The two pictures did not coincide. I was high-idealed but weak-willed.
Yet through my sense of alienation and failure the Stranger at the door kept knocking, until the preacher I mentioned at the beginning of this chapter threw light on my dilemma. He spoke to me of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. He explained that Christ had died to turn my estrangement into reconciliation and had been raised from the dead to turn my defeat into victory. The correspondence between my subjective need and Christ’s objective offer seemed too close to be a coincidence. Christ’s knocking became louder and more insistent. Did I open the door, or did he? Truly I did, but only because by his persistent knocking he had made it possible, even inevitable.
I have told you my story; I wonder about yours. Jesus assures us in his parables that, whether or not we are consciously seeking God, he is assuredly seeking us. He is like a woman who sweeps her house in search of a lost coin; like a shepherd who risks the dangers of the desert in search of only one lost sheep; and like a father who misses his wayward son and allows him to taste the bitterness of his folly, but is ready at any moment to run to meet him and welcome him home.
Why I am a Christian, pages 29-30
John Stott
former Rector of All Souls Church in London
author of Basic Christianity, The Cross of Christ and The Imcomparable Christ
Reframing Pain
Reframing Pain:
When pain is good:
When it tells you you have to pay attention to it.
When it breaks you open, making you bigger.
When it connects you with the pain of others.
When it forces you to look at the world differently.
When it reminds you that you are alive.
When it compels you to be honest.
When it makes you understand that it is inevitable.
When you recognize it as one of the most intense, and potentially, valuable, experiences in your life.
-- Jerusha Hull McCormack in Grieving: A Beginner's Guide
When pain is good:
When it tells you you have to pay attention to it.
When it breaks you open, making you bigger.
When it connects you with the pain of others.
When it forces you to look at the world differently.
When it reminds you that you are alive.
When it compels you to be honest.
When it makes you understand that it is inevitable.
When you recognize it as one of the most intense, and potentially, valuable, experiences in your life.
-- Jerusha Hull McCormack in Grieving: A Beginner's Guide
Saturday, March 18, 2006
Ladies First
Ask Yahoo
Thursday March 6, 2006
What is the origin of the phrase "ladies first"?
Speculation abounds about the origin of this tradition. Some say it began during Victorian times. Others believe it stemmed from men being concerned about assassination attempts and walking behind women when entering or exiting buildings. We don't know if they were using the women as shields, or if they were being chivalrous in fending off rear attacks.
Our favorite answer, however, comes from "By the Light of My Father's Smile," by Alice Walker: "It is because, in the early days, if we were permitted to walk behind the man, we would run away. If we were kept in front, they could keep an eye on us."
According to Chabad.org, a site that reports on Judaism and the Torah, the "ladies first" rule is a very old tradition. The story goes that when Moses was instructed to inform the people of Israel about the Torah, he was told to "speak to the house of Jacob, and tell the sons of Israel." Since the house of Jacob appears first in the instructions, and it refers to women, the theory follows that Moses had to speak first with the ladies. Probably a smart political move.
http://ask.yahoo.com/20060316.html
additional information from http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=504&letter=E&search=house%20of%20Jacob
The principle "ladies first" has Biblical authority according to the Rabbis. The most important message of Moses to prepare the Israelites for the reception of the Torah on Mount Sinai was addressed first to the women and then to the men ("Thus shalt thou say to the house of Jacob [women], and tell the children of Israel [men]": Ex. xix. 3, according to Mekilta, ib. 2 [ed. Friedmann, p. 62b]).
Thursday March 6, 2006
What is the origin of the phrase "ladies first"?
Speculation abounds about the origin of this tradition. Some say it began during Victorian times. Others believe it stemmed from men being concerned about assassination attempts and walking behind women when entering or exiting buildings. We don't know if they were using the women as shields, or if they were being chivalrous in fending off rear attacks.
Our favorite answer, however, comes from "By the Light of My Father's Smile," by Alice Walker: "It is because, in the early days, if we were permitted to walk behind the man, we would run away. If we were kept in front, they could keep an eye on us."
According to Chabad.org, a site that reports on Judaism and the Torah, the "ladies first" rule is a very old tradition. The story goes that when Moses was instructed to inform the people of Israel about the Torah, he was told to "speak to the house of Jacob, and tell the sons of Israel." Since the house of Jacob appears first in the instructions, and it refers to women, the theory follows that Moses had to speak first with the ladies. Probably a smart political move.
http://ask.yahoo.com/20060316.html
additional information from http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=504&letter=E&search=house%20of%20Jacob
The principle "ladies first" has Biblical authority according to the Rabbis. The most important message of Moses to prepare the Israelites for the reception of the Torah on Mount Sinai was addressed first to the women and then to the men ("Thus shalt thou say to the house of Jacob [women], and tell the children of Israel [men]": Ex. xix. 3, according to Mekilta, ib. 2 [ed. Friedmann, p. 62b]).
The Need for Focused Attention
"Every child needs focused attention -- genuine encounter -- to feel loved. Your child is likely to view continual distancing -- concern with the past, future, schedules, and tasks -- as lack of love. He can only feel lovable if you take time to be fully with his person. Make a habit of being open to the wonder of your child in the here-and-now. Check yourself frequently on your focused attention rating."
Your Child's Self-Esteem
Dorothy Corkille Briggs
Your Child's Self-Esteem
Dorothy Corkille Briggs
Friday, March 17, 2006
Loving Christ and Mortal Man
"She is dedicated to the memory of her husband," Tommaso told Michelangelo. "Since his death she has loved only Jesus."
Michelangelo:
"If the love of Christ prevented a woman from loving mortal man, the Italian people would have died out long ago."
The Agony and the Ecstasy: the biographical novel of Michelangelo
Irving Stone
Michelangelo:
"If the love of Christ prevented a woman from loving mortal man, the Italian people would have died out long ago."
The Agony and the Ecstasy: the biographical novel of Michelangelo
Irving Stone
Thursday, March 16, 2006
Tuesday, March 14, 2006
Keep the Audience Awake
from the Tuesday, March 14, 2006 Philadelphia Inquirer:
Maureen Stapleton was brought up in a strict Irish Catholic family.
www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/obituaries/14091764.htm
by Adam Gorlick, Associated Press
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. - Maureen Stapleton, 80, an Oscar-winning character actress whose subtle vulnerability and down-to-earth toughness earned her dramatic and comedic roles on stage, screen and television, died yesterday. The longtime smoker died from chronic pulmonary disease. ...
"There are many roads to good acting," Ms. Stapleton, known for her straightforwardness, said in her 1995 autobiography, Hell of a Life. "I've been asked repeatedly what the 'key' to acting is, and as far as I'm concerned, the main thing is to keep the audience awake."
Maureen Stapleton was brought up in a strict Irish Catholic family.
www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/obituaries/14091764.htm
by Adam Gorlick, Associated Press
Thursday, March 09, 2006
Interests at Stake
"A liberal is a person whose interests aren't at stake at the moment."
- Willis Player
- Willis Player
Wednesday, March 08, 2006
How were you built?
The wall of hatred was asked, "How were you built?"
And the reply was, "From the stones of insults."
~ Spanish proverb
And the reply was, "From the stones of insults."
~ Spanish proverb
Saturday, March 04, 2006
How close to success
Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.
~ Thomas A. Edison (1847 - 1931)
~ Thomas A. Edison (1847 - 1931)
Unity and Comprehension in a stormy and divided age
MOVEMENTS & TRADITIONS
A Pen in God's Hand
Richard Baxter wrote, preached, taught, and visited his way to become the model pastor.
By Paul C.H. Lim
http://www.christianitytoday.com/ch/2006/001/4.17.html
A Pen in God's Hand
Richard Baxter wrote, preached, taught, and visited his way to become the model pastor.
By Paul C.H. Lim
On July 28, 1875, the town of Kidderminster in the English Midlands witnessed a rare moment of Christian unity. After over 200 years of deep Protestant divisions, clergy from all denominations came together for the unveiling and dedication of the statue of a Puritan preacher.
The inscription at the base of the statue read, "Between the years 1641 and 1660 this town was the scene of the labors of Richard Baxter, renowned equally for his Christian learning and his pastoral fidelity. In a stormy and divided age he advocated unity and comprehension, pointing the way to everlasting rest."
Baxter himself would have been pleased by the ecumenical spirit of the event. Refusing to be boxed into any party or sect, he called himself a "mere Christian"—a phrase that would influence C. S. Lewis centuries later—and spent his life trying to persuade his fellow Protestants to reconcile their doctrinal and political differences and work together towards holiness. "In necessary things, unity; in doubtful things, liberty; in all things, charity" was his motto.
http://www.christianitytoday.com/ch/2006/001/4.17.html
Friday, March 03, 2006
Hunting Down Errors
"There are sadistic scientists who hurry to hunt down errors instead of establishing the truth."
~ Marie Curie
~ Marie Curie
Tuesday, February 28, 2006
Life is a puzzle, come here for the missing peace.
Churches use signs of the times
Life is a puzzle, come here for the missing peace.
Sermon: Love Thy Neighbor. Guests welcome!
Extreme Makeover, Transforming Your Life: New Year, New You?
The Christian Faith Gets Physical!
Holiday rush got you down? Come here for a faith lift.
If you drive thru Mon-Fri stop by on Sunday.
Friends don't let friends go to hell.
It's a good thing God changes lives quicker than we do our sign!
from a news story by Lisa Pupo,
Philadelphia Inquirer, Feb. 28, 2006
www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/opinion/local2/region/13977651.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp
Life is a puzzle, come here for the missing peace.
Sermon: Love Thy Neighbor. Guests welcome!
Extreme Makeover, Transforming Your Life: New Year, New You?
The Christian Faith Gets Physical!
Holiday rush got you down? Come here for a faith lift.
If you drive thru Mon-Fri stop by on Sunday.
Friends don't let friends go to hell.
It's a good thing God changes lives quicker than we do our sign!
from a news story by Lisa Pupo,
Philadelphia Inquirer, Feb. 28, 2006
www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/opinion/local2/region/13977651.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp
Monday, February 27, 2006
Happy IVGLDSW Day!
Today is International Very Good Looking, Darn Smart Woman's Day, so please send this message to someone you think fits this description. Please do not send it back to me as I have already received it from a Very Good Looking, Darn Smart Woman!
And remember this motto to live by: Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, chocolate in one hand, wine in the other, body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming "WOO HOO what a ride!" Have a wonderful day!
To Us!!
Inside every older person is a younger person -- wondering what the heck happened.
-Cora Harvey Armstrong-
The hardest years in life are those between ten and seventy.
-Helen Hayes (at 73)-
I refuse to think of them as chin hairs. I think of them as stray eyebrows.
-Janette Barber-
Things are going to get a lot worse before they get worse.
-Lily Tomlin-
My second favorite household chore is ironing. My first one being -- hitting my head on the top bunk bed until I faint.
-Erma Bombeck-
Old age ain't no place for sissies.
-Bette Davis-
A man's got to do what a man's got to do. A woman must do what he can't.
-Rhonda Hansome-
The phrase "working mother" is redundant.
-Jane Sellman-
Every time I close ! the door on reality, it comes in through the windows.
-Jennifer Unlimited-
Thirty-five is when you finally get your head together and your body starts falling apart.
-Caryn Leschen-
I try to take one day at a time -- but sometimes several days attack me at once.
-Jennifer Unlimited-
If you can't be a good example -- then you'll just have to be a horrible warning.
-Catherine-
I'm not offended by all the dumb blonde jokes because I know I'm not dumb -- and I'm also not blonde.
-Dolly Parton-
If high heels were so wonderful, men would still be wearing them.
-Sue Grafton-
I'm not going to vacuum 'til Sears makes one you can ride on.
-Roseanne Barr-
In politics, if you want anything said, ask a man. If you want anything done, ask a woman.
-Margaret Thatcher-
I have yet to hear a man ask for advice on how to combine marriage and a career.
-Gloria Steinem-
Nobody can make you feel inferior without your permission.
-Eleanor Roosevelt-
And remember this motto to live by: Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, chocolate in one hand, wine in the other, body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming "WOO HOO what a ride!" Have a wonderful day!
To Us!!
Inside every older person is a younger person -- wondering what the heck happened.
-Cora Harvey Armstrong-
The hardest years in life are those between ten and seventy.
-Helen Hayes (at 73)-
I refuse to think of them as chin hairs. I think of them as stray eyebrows.
-Janette Barber-
Things are going to get a lot worse before they get worse.
-Lily Tomlin-
My second favorite household chore is ironing. My first one being -- hitting my head on the top bunk bed until I faint.
-Erma Bombeck-
Old age ain't no place for sissies.
-Bette Davis-
A man's got to do what a man's got to do. A woman must do what he can't.
-Rhonda Hansome-
The phrase "working mother" is redundant.
-Jane Sellman-
Every time I close ! the door on reality, it comes in through the windows.
-Jennifer Unlimited-
Thirty-five is when you finally get your head together and your body starts falling apart.
-Caryn Leschen-
I try to take one day at a time -- but sometimes several days attack me at once.
-Jennifer Unlimited-
If you can't be a good example -- then you'll just have to be a horrible warning.
-Catherine-
I'm not offended by all the dumb blonde jokes because I know I'm not dumb -- and I'm also not blonde.
-Dolly Parton-
If high heels were so wonderful, men would still be wearing them.
-Sue Grafton-
I'm not going to vacuum 'til Sears makes one you can ride on.
-Roseanne Barr-
In politics, if you want anything said, ask a man. If you want anything done, ask a woman.
-Margaret Thatcher-
I have yet to hear a man ask for advice on how to combine marriage and a career.
-Gloria Steinem-
Nobody can make you feel inferior without your permission.
-Eleanor Roosevelt-
Saturday, February 25, 2006
Modern Crucifixion
"If Jesus Christ were to come again today, people would not even crucify him. They would ask him to dinner, and hear what he had to say, and make fun of it."
~ Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881),
19th-century British historian.
~ Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881),
19th-century British historian.
Friday, February 24, 2006
"I'd rather be happy than right."
Make yourself happy instead of right.
"Start evaluating the things you do in your relationship based on whether those thoughts, feelings and actions are working. For example, you don't have to prove over and over that you know what you're talking about more than your partner. Instead, choose a different emotion such as tolerance, understanding or compassion that does not escalate hostility in your relationship. By deciding to be happy rather than right, you will be receptive to your partner's attempts to de-escalate hostility and return to civil interactions."
~ Dr. Phil
http://www.drphil.com/
articles/article/81
"Start evaluating the things you do in your relationship based on whether those thoughts, feelings and actions are working. For example, you don't have to prove over and over that you know what you're talking about more than your partner. Instead, choose a different emotion such as tolerance, understanding or compassion that does not escalate hostility in your relationship. By deciding to be happy rather than right, you will be receptive to your partner's attempts to de-escalate hostility and return to civil interactions."
~ Dr. Phil
http://www.drphil.com/
articles/article/81
a sense that he truly respected what they did
Harvard: Rich, prestigious and unmanageable?
CNN.com, Thursday, February 23, 2006; Posted: 9:54 a.m. EST
(bold added by blogger)
BOSTON, Massachusetts (AP) -- Leading the world's wealthiest and probably most famous university sounds like the plummiest job in academe -- with a staff, a house, and a half-million dollar salary among the many perks.
But running Harvard isn't easy. Neil Rudenstine, school president from 1991 to 2001, was forced to take a leave of absence for exhaustion in 1994. His successor, Lawrence Summers, announced Tuesday he would resign June 30 after a tumultuous five years, his ambitious agenda to get Harvard's territorial undergraduate and professional schools on the same page done in by faculty revolts and a brusque management style. . . .
"Universities have been around for a long time. It's not unusual to have blips like this," said David Ward, president of the American Council on Education. "I think it becomes serious when you have four or five presidents in a row who only last two or three years."
The choice will have to be someone who knows how to get things done in the unusual structure of a university, where faculty -- as they proved with Summers -- hold many of the cards.
"The question is can you buy them off with love," said Claudia Goldin, an economics professor. "That's cheap, but it takes someone to do it. And Larry didn't have the ability to buy them off with love and kindness and affection and a sense that he truly respected what they did, though deep down inside he does."
http://www.cnn.com/2006/EDUCATION/02/23/
harvard.future.ap/index.html
CNN.com, Thursday, February 23, 2006; Posted: 9:54 a.m. EST
(bold added by blogger)
BOSTON, Massachusetts (AP) -- Leading the world's wealthiest and probably most famous university sounds like the plummiest job in academe -- with a staff, a house, and a half-million dollar salary among the many perks.
But running Harvard isn't easy. Neil Rudenstine, school president from 1991 to 2001, was forced to take a leave of absence for exhaustion in 1994. His successor, Lawrence Summers, announced Tuesday he would resign June 30 after a tumultuous five years, his ambitious agenda to get Harvard's territorial undergraduate and professional schools on the same page done in by faculty revolts and a brusque management style. . . .
"Universities have been around for a long time. It's not unusual to have blips like this," said David Ward, president of the American Council on Education. "I think it becomes serious when you have four or five presidents in a row who only last two or three years."
The choice will have to be someone who knows how to get things done in the unusual structure of a university, where faculty -- as they proved with Summers -- hold many of the cards.
"The question is can you buy them off with love," said Claudia Goldin, an economics professor. "That's cheap, but it takes someone to do it. And Larry didn't have the ability to buy them off with love and kindness and affection and a sense that he truly respected what they did, though deep down inside he does."
http://www.cnn.com/2006/EDUCATION/02/23/
harvard.future.ap/index.html
Tuesday, February 21, 2006
Anger
Anger comes from pain, fear, or frustration.
The best way to reduce anger is to adjust your expectations to be more realistic.
We try to control the external world because we feel chaos inside.
We can't control life.
Just try to get through today and try to find joy.
Don't expect to control everything.
~ Dr. Phil, Feb. 21, 2006
The best way to reduce anger is to adjust your expectations to be more realistic.
We try to control the external world because we feel chaos inside.
We can't control life.
Just try to get through today and try to find joy.
Don't expect to control everything.
~ Dr. Phil, Feb. 21, 2006
Friday, February 17, 2006
Go to Sleep, Angelo
from a sermon by Rev. Dr. David McKane
PARABLES OF THE KINGDOM
Delivered July 17,2005
First-St. Andrew’s United Church of Canada
London, Ontario, Canada
http://www.fsaunited.london.on.ca/
Worship/20050717.html
from a sermon by the Rev. Dr. David E. Leininger:
WHOSE CHURCH IS IT ANYWAY?
Delivered 7/14/96
First Presbyterian Church, Warren, Pennsylvania
http://www.presbyterianwarren.com/
whose.html
PARABLES OF THE KINGDOM
Delivered July 17,2005
First-St. Andrew’s United Church of Canada
London, Ontario, Canada
http://www.fsaunited.london.on.ca/
Worship/20050717.html
Pope John 23rd was one of God’s great saints. He was a deeply humble man with a great sense of humour. He was born into a farming family of thirteen children and once said that the family was so poor that there was no wine for the children.
"There are three ways to ruin your life," he once told the press with a twinkle in his eye, "gambling, loose women, and farming. My father chose the most boring."
Every evening he would end his prayers by asking himself, "Who governs the church? You or the Holy Spirit?
Very well, then, go to sleep, Angelo."
Angelo Guiseppe Roncalli, Pope John 23rd
from a sermon by the Rev. Dr. David E. Leininger:
WHOSE CHURCH IS IT ANYWAY?
Delivered 7/14/96
First Presbyterian Church, Warren, Pennsylvania
http://www.presbyterianwarren.com/
whose.html
Perhaps you are familiar with the name Angelo Roncalli. You may know him better by the name he took late in life, Pope John XXIII. It is safe to say the John XXIII made more of an impact on the life of the Christian church than anyone since Martin Luther. It was John XXIII who was responsible for the sweeping changes brought about by Vatican II - a less legalistic approach to faith, worship in the language of the people, an openness to non-Catholic Christians, to name just a few.
It is said that Pope John's bedtime prayer was routinely the kind of conversation between himself and the Lord that prayer ought to be. As he reflected on the events of the day, the trials and tribulations of leadership, he heard, "Whose church is it anyway? Yours? or Mine?" There would be no need to respond. Then he would hear, "Very well then. Go to sleep, Angelo. Go to sleep."
Loneliness
"At times loneliness will weigh heavily on the priest, but not for that reason will he regret having generously chosen it. He who has chosen to belong completely to Christ will find, above all, in intimacy with him and in his grace, the power of spirit necessary to banish sadness and regret and to triumph over discouragement."
Pope Paul VI
http://www.elibronquotations.com/
cat.phtml?sctnid=152&page=4
Pope Paul VI
http://www.elibronquotations.com/
cat.phtml?sctnid=152&page=4
Productivity
The following quotes are from Sally McGhee:
-- Sally McGhee, Consultant and Productivity Expert,
McGhee Productivity Solutions
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/
FX011456171033.aspx
http://www.microsoft.com/atwork/getworkdone/
productivity.mspx?pf=true
Small things done consistently in strategic places have major impact.
The truth is, most people use only 15 percent of what they file, and this makes the other 85 percent ineffective.
A simple test for deciding whether to keep information is to ask yourself these questions:
* Does the information relate to one of your meaningful objectives? If not, delete it.
* Can you find the information somewhere else, such as another department, a SharePoint site, your company intranet, or the Internet? If so, delete it.
* Are you likely to refer to the information in the next six months? If not, delete it.
* Do you have to keep the information because it is legal or human resources information? If not, delete it.
On average, people we work with spend two to three hours a day working in e-mail and 60 minutes a day finding and filing information. After setting up an Integrated Management System, they spend one to two hours a day working in e-mail and 10 minutes a day finding and filing information. That's a savings of nearly two hours a day, or almost 12 weeks a year!
-- Sally McGhee, Consultant and Productivity Expert,
McGhee Productivity Solutions
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/
FX011456171033.aspx
http://www.microsoft.com/atwork/getworkdone/
productivity.mspx?pf=true
Friday, February 10, 2006
Philadelphia Presbytery spreading the Gospel
In 1707, Philadelphia Presbytery sought to establish by common consent a “uniformity of procedure in the interests of spreading the Gospel:”
From 1706 to 1716 the number of ministers increased from seven to seventeen.
from Presbyterians in Colonial Pennsylvania, Guy Soulliard Klett. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1937, pages 46-7, 50.
First, That every minister in their respective congregations, read and comment upon a chapter of the Bible every Lord's day, as discretion and circumstances of time, place, &c., will admit.
Second over: That it be recommended to every minister of the Presbytery to set on foot and encourage private Christian societies.
Third over: That every minister of the Presbytery supply neighboring desolate places where a minister is wanting, and opportunity of doing good offers.
From 1706 to 1716 the number of ministers increased from seven to seventeen.
from Presbyterians in Colonial Pennsylvania, Guy Soulliard Klett. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1937, pages 46-7, 50.
Find one person who can be supportive
The important thing is to keep pursuing what you love. Keep honing and developing those skills.
Everyone else may say "You should be this and that." They probably mean well. They might love you.
Be kind to them, be respectful of them, but hang out with somebody else.
Find one person, just one person, who can be supportive of what you are doing.
~ David Amram, musician
Everyone else may say "You should be this and that." They probably mean well. They might love you.
Be kind to them, be respectful of them, but hang out with somebody else.
Find one person, just one person, who can be supportive of what you are doing.
~ David Amram, musician
Difficult vs. Impossible
Google Quote of the Day:
"Men are generally idle, and ready to satisfy themselves, and intimidate the industry of others, by calling that impossible which is only difficult."
-- Samuel Johnson
"Men are generally idle, and ready to satisfy themselves, and intimidate the industry of others, by calling that impossible which is only difficult."
-- Samuel Johnson
Friday, February 03, 2006
Men and Women Minding Their Own Business
This is so true!
Letters To An American Lady
-- C.S. Lewis
“I have a notion that, apart from actual pain, men and women are quite diversely afflicted by illness. To a woman one of the great evils about it is that she can’t do things. To a man (anyway a man like me) the great consolation is the reflection “Well, anyway, no one an now demand that I should do anything”. I have often had the fancy that one stage in Purgatory might be a great big kitchen in which things are always going wrong — milk boiling over, crockery getting smashed, toast burning, animals stealing. The women have to learn to sit still and mind their own business: the men have to learn to jump up and do something about it. When both sexes have mastered this exercise, they go on to the next.” . . .
-- written at Magdalene College, Cambridge, 31/7/62
“My idea of the Purgatorial kitchen didn’t mean that anyone had lately been “getting in my hair”. It is simply my lifelong experience — that men are more likely to hand over to others what they ought to do themselves, and women more likely to do themselves what others wish they would leave alone. Hence both sexes must be told “Mind your own business”, but in two different senses!”
-- written at The Kilns, Headington Quarry, Oxford, 3 Sept 62
pages 102-4
The Sin of Hiding
I think that the following Mitazi Minor article is extreme on the side of feminism, especially the naive, condescending, and disrespectful view that the Syro-Phoenician woman "bested him in the argument." However, she makes some good points and the "sin of hiding" is descriptive of people I know.
I like better the C.S. Lewis quote from Letters To An American Lady (see previous blog entry):
following is quoted from:
SPIRITUALITY TODAY
Summer 1991, Vol.43 No. 2, pp. 134-141
http://www.spiritualitytoday.org/spir2day/91432minor.html
Mitzi Minor:
The Women of the Gospel of Mark
and Contemporary Women's Spirituality
bold font added by blogger:
I like better the C.S. Lewis quote from Letters To An American Lady (see previous blog entry):
“I have often had the fancy that one stage in Purgatory might be a great big kitchen in which things are always going wrong — milk boiling over, crockery getting smashed, toast burning, animals stealing. The women have to learn to sit still and mind their own business: the men have to learn to jump up and do something about it. . . . It is simply my lifelong experience — that men are more likely to hand over to others what they ought to do themselves, and women more likely to do themselves what others wish they would leave alone. Hence both sexes must be told “Mind your own business”, but in two different senses!”
following is quoted from:
SPIRITUALITY TODAY
Summer 1991, Vol.43 No. 2, pp. 134-141
http://www.spiritualitytoday.org/spir2day/91432minor.html
Mitzi Minor:
The Women of the Gospel of Mark
and Contemporary Women's Spirituality
bold font added by blogger:
CONTEMPORARY women who are seeking to nurture the spirituality both of themselves and of other women have discovered the need of women to develop their own sense of self, to become fully human, so that they are able to relate to God and to others as whole persons capable of developing and sharing their vital energies and creativity with the world. This need is a result of the reinforcement by most patterns of family and education of two roles for women: (1) women are socialized into being desirable objects who dress, think, and act in order to receive acceptance and adulation, especially from men; (2) women are socialized to live for others, that is, to submerge themselves in others' identities, needs, interests.(1) A woman who has been so socialized can give up too much of herself so that nothing remains of her own uniqueness. She may come to view herself as an emptiness seemingly without value to herself, to her peers, or, perhaps, even to God, writes Valerie Saiving (37). In such circumstances, this woman's sin, instead of being encompassed by such terms as "pride" or "will-to-power" (definitions of sin constructed primarily on the basis of masculine experience)(2) requires other terms such as triviality, distractibility, lack of an organizing center, dependence on others, inability to make decisions for oneself, sentimentality, mistrust of reason, weak submissiveness, fear, self-hatred, jealousy, timidity, manipulation -- in short, underdevelopment or negation of self (Conn 37,39,11).
Susan Nelson Dunfee has called this sin "the sin of hiding" and notes that it results in a woman expending her energy not in the acceptance of her own freedom and full humanity but in running from that freedom by pouring those energies into the lives of others (319). To have a healthy spirituality, women must "repent" of this sin. Furthermore, according to Karen Barta, instead of pursuing what is often viewed as the highest Christian virtue (i.e. self-sacrificing love which makes negation of self into a virtue),(3) women must first seek to become fully human by being self-asserting and self-possessing so that they have the courage to expose themselves to the fears and dangers involved in being fully responsible for themselves (94). By such claiming of themselves they come to understand themselves as whole persons with worthy contributions to make to God's creation.
...
NOTES
(1) Joann Wolski Conn, "Women's Spirituality: Restriction and Reconstruction," in Women's Spirituality: Resources for Christian Development, ed. Joann Wolski Conn (New York: Paulist Press, 1986), 10-11. In a similar vein, Sandra M. Schneiders, "The Effects of Women's Experience on their Spirituality," also in Women's Spirituality, writes of women being socialized to "nonpublic" roles. In public roles, a woman is "male-dependent" -- the daughter of, the mother of, the sister of, the wife of someone who had a name in a way she never would" (32). Both of these articles were originally published in Spirituality Today, the former in Winter 1982 and the latter in Summer 1983.
(2) Saiving (35). See also Wendy M. Wright, "The Feminine Dimension of Contemplation," in The Feminist Mystic and Other Essays on Woman and Spirituality, ed., Mary E. Giles (New York: Crossroad, 1982), 109.
(3) Dunfee (321). Dunfee also noted that the sin of hiding actually hides under the guise of self sacrifice (322). Conn, in "Women's Spirituality," claims that "women are led to believe they are virtuous when actually they have not yet taken the necessary possession of their lives to have an authentic 'self' to give in self-donating love. They are often praised as holy when they are still spiritually dwarfed" (12).
...
WORKS CITED
Barta, Karen A. The Gospel of Mark. The Message of Biblical Spirituality Series, vol. 9. Wilmington, DE: Michael Glazier, 1988.
Conn, Joann Wolski, ed. Women's Spirituality: Resources for Christian Development. New York: Paulist Press, 1986.
Dunfee, Susan Nelson. "The Sin of Hiding: A Feminist Critique of Reinhold Niebuhrs Account of the Sin of Pride." Soundings 65 (1982).
Saivin & Valerie. "The Human Situation: A Feminist View." In Womanspirit Rising. Ed. by Carol P. Christ and Judith Plaskow. San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1979.
Patience
quotes on patience from Quotations Page:
Have courage for the great sorrows of life and patience for the small ones; and when you have laboriously accomplished your daily task, go to sleep in peace. God is awake.
-- Victor Hugo (1802 - 1885)
A great preservative against angry and mutinous thoughts, and all impatience and quarreling, is to have some great business and interest in your mind, which, like a sponge shall suck up your attention and keep you from brooding over what displeases you.
-- Joseph Rickaby
Have patience with all things, but chiefly have patience with yourself. Do not lose courage in considering you own imperfections but instantly set about remedying them - every day begin the task anew.
-- Saint Francis de Sales
Patience serves as a protection against wrongs as clothes do against cold. For if you put on more clothes as the cold increases, it will have no power to hurt you. So in like manner you must grow in patience when you meet with great wrongs, and they will then be powerless to vex your mind.
-- Leonardo da Vinci (1452 - 1519)
Learn the art of patience. Apply discipline to your thoughts when they become anxious over the outcome of a goal. Impatience breeds anxiety, fear, discouragement and failure. Patience creates confidence, decisiveness, and a rational outlook, which eventually leads to success.
-- Brian Adams
It is very strange that the years teach us patience - that the shorter our time, the greater our capacity for waiting.
-- Elizabeth Taylor (1932 - ), "A Wreath of Roses"
Good ideas are not adopted automatically. They must be driven into practice with courageous patience.
-- Hyman Rickover (1900 - 1986)
How poor are they who have not patience! What wound did ever heal but by degrees.
-- William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616)
Patience is the companion of wisdom.
-- Saint Augustine (354 AD - 430 AD)
He that can have patience can have what he will.
-- Benjamin Franklin (1706 - 1790)
It is hard to have patience with people who say "There is no death" or "Death doesn't matter." There is death. And whatever is matters. And whatever happens has consequences, and it and they are irrevocable and irreversible. You might as well say that birth doesn't matter.
-- C. S. Lewis (1898 - 1963)
With time and patience the mulberry leaf becomes a silk gown.
-- Chinese proverb
Fortune knocks but once, but misfortune has much more patience.
-- Dr. Laurence J. Peter
Genius is only a greater aptitude for patience.
-- George-Louis Leclerc de Buffon
All human power is a compound of time and patience.
-- Honore de Balzac (1799 - 1850)
Through patience a ruler can be persuaded, and a gentle tongue can break a bone.
-- Proverbs 25:15
Teach us, O Lord, the disciplines of patience, for to wait is often harder than to work.
-- Peter Marshall
Knowing trees, I understand the meaning of patience. Knowing grass, I can appreciate persistence.
-- Unknown
For want of self-restraint many men are engaged all their lives in fighting with difficulties of their own making, and rendering success impossible by their own cross-grained ungentleness; whilst others, it may be much less gifted, make their way and achieve success by simple patience, equanimity, and self-control.
-- Smiles
Man was born to be rich, or grow rich by use of his faculties, by the union of thought with nature. Property is an intellectual production. The game requires coolness, right reasoning, promptness, and patience in the players. Cultivated labor drives out brute labor.
-- Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803 - 1882)
Only those who have the patience to do simple things perfectly ever acquire the skill to do difficult things easily.
-- Author Unknown
There are times when God asks nothing of his children except silence, patience and tears.
-- C. S. Robinson
They who lack talent expect things to happen without effort. They ascribe failure to a lack of inspiration or ability, or to misfortune, rather than to insufficient application. At the core of every true talent there is an awareness of the difficulties inherent in any achievement, and the confidence that by persistence and patience something worthwhile will be realized. Thus talent is a species of vigor.
--Eric Hoffer (1902 - 1983)
An ounce of patience is worth a pound of brains.
-- Dutch
Patience is bitter, but its fruit is sweet.
-- Aristotle (384 BC - 322 BC)
It is not necessary for all men to be great in action. The greatest and sublimest power is simple patience.
-- Horace Bushnell
Whoever is out of patience is out of possession of his soul. Men must not turn into bees, and kill themselves in stinging others.
-- Sir Francis Bacon (1561 - 1626)
It seems to me probable that anyone who has a series of intolerable positions to put up with must have been responsible for them in some extent; not that it was simply "their fault" - I don't mean that- but that they have contributed to it by impatience, or intolerance, or brusqueness- or some provocation.
-- Robert Hugh Benson
Have courage for the great sorrows of life and patience for the small ones; and when you have laboriously accomplished your daily task, go to sleep in peace. God is awake.
-- Victor Hugo (1802 - 1885)
A great preservative against angry and mutinous thoughts, and all impatience and quarreling, is to have some great business and interest in your mind, which, like a sponge shall suck up your attention and keep you from brooding over what displeases you.
-- Joseph Rickaby
Have patience with all things, but chiefly have patience with yourself. Do not lose courage in considering you own imperfections but instantly set about remedying them - every day begin the task anew.
-- Saint Francis de Sales
Patience serves as a protection against wrongs as clothes do against cold. For if you put on more clothes as the cold increases, it will have no power to hurt you. So in like manner you must grow in patience when you meet with great wrongs, and they will then be powerless to vex your mind.
-- Leonardo da Vinci (1452 - 1519)
Learn the art of patience. Apply discipline to your thoughts when they become anxious over the outcome of a goal. Impatience breeds anxiety, fear, discouragement and failure. Patience creates confidence, decisiveness, and a rational outlook, which eventually leads to success.
-- Brian Adams
It is very strange that the years teach us patience - that the shorter our time, the greater our capacity for waiting.
-- Elizabeth Taylor (1932 - ), "A Wreath of Roses"
Good ideas are not adopted automatically. They must be driven into practice with courageous patience.
-- Hyman Rickover (1900 - 1986)
How poor are they who have not patience! What wound did ever heal but by degrees.
-- William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616)
Patience is the companion of wisdom.
-- Saint Augustine (354 AD - 430 AD)
He that can have patience can have what he will.
-- Benjamin Franklin (1706 - 1790)
It is hard to have patience with people who say "There is no death" or "Death doesn't matter." There is death. And whatever is matters. And whatever happens has consequences, and it and they are irrevocable and irreversible. You might as well say that birth doesn't matter.
-- C. S. Lewis (1898 - 1963)
With time and patience the mulberry leaf becomes a silk gown.
-- Chinese proverb
Fortune knocks but once, but misfortune has much more patience.
-- Dr. Laurence J. Peter
Genius is only a greater aptitude for patience.
-- George-Louis Leclerc de Buffon
All human power is a compound of time and patience.
-- Honore de Balzac (1799 - 1850)
Through patience a ruler can be persuaded, and a gentle tongue can break a bone.
-- Proverbs 25:15
Teach us, O Lord, the disciplines of patience, for to wait is often harder than to work.
-- Peter Marshall
Knowing trees, I understand the meaning of patience. Knowing grass, I can appreciate persistence.
-- Unknown
For want of self-restraint many men are engaged all their lives in fighting with difficulties of their own making, and rendering success impossible by their own cross-grained ungentleness; whilst others, it may be much less gifted, make their way and achieve success by simple patience, equanimity, and self-control.
-- Smiles
Man was born to be rich, or grow rich by use of his faculties, by the union of thought with nature. Property is an intellectual production. The game requires coolness, right reasoning, promptness, and patience in the players. Cultivated labor drives out brute labor.
-- Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803 - 1882)
Only those who have the patience to do simple things perfectly ever acquire the skill to do difficult things easily.
-- Author Unknown
There are times when God asks nothing of his children except silence, patience and tears.
-- C. S. Robinson
They who lack talent expect things to happen without effort. They ascribe failure to a lack of inspiration or ability, or to misfortune, rather than to insufficient application. At the core of every true talent there is an awareness of the difficulties inherent in any achievement, and the confidence that by persistence and patience something worthwhile will be realized. Thus talent is a species of vigor.
--Eric Hoffer (1902 - 1983)
An ounce of patience is worth a pound of brains.
-- Dutch
Patience is bitter, but its fruit is sweet.
-- Aristotle (384 BC - 322 BC)
It is not necessary for all men to be great in action. The greatest and sublimest power is simple patience.
-- Horace Bushnell
Whoever is out of patience is out of possession of his soul. Men must not turn into bees, and kill themselves in stinging others.
-- Sir Francis Bacon (1561 - 1626)
It seems to me probable that anyone who has a series of intolerable positions to put up with must have been responsible for them in some extent; not that it was simply "their fault" - I don't mean that- but that they have contributed to it by impatience, or intolerance, or brusqueness- or some provocation.
-- Robert Hugh Benson
Sunday, January 29, 2006
Running With the Pack
The values of the secular world:
"In politics you must always keep running with the pack. The moment that you falter and they sense that you are injured, the rest will turn on you like wolves."
~ R. A. Butler
British (Indian-born) politician (1902 - 1982)
"In politics you must always keep running with the pack. The moment that you falter and they sense that you are injured, the rest will turn on you like wolves."
~ R. A. Butler
British (Indian-born) politician (1902 - 1982)
Friday, January 27, 2006
"Naughtiness is a child's protest against a perceived injustice."
EdmontonSun.com
www.edmontonsun.com
quote below, bold added:
www.edmontonsun.com
quote below, bold added:
LOS ANGELES -- Nanny McPhee, a dark yet delicious children's movie, deals boldly with an age-old question in parenting: What do you do with naughty children?
In life, writer-actress Emma Thompson admits she does not have a clue. She even confesses to falling into a total emotional collapse when wrestling with the demons which occasionally inhabit her own spirited daughter, six-year-old Gaia (whom she shares with second husband, actor Greg Wise).
"Generally speaking," Thompson says with a laugh, "I often will end up weeping on the floor saying, 'I don't know how to discipline you! I don't know what to do now!'
"And my daughter has come up to me, looked at me weeping, sitting on the floor, given me a hankie and said, 'Let's have a game of cards.' I've also taught her how to make bloody marys now, so she knows kind of how to calm me down and it's all right now. Actually, in all seriousness, I think it's very difficult to know (what to do)."
In the movies, however, Thompson's title character in Nanny McPhee has some answers. They involve magic but also rely on human ingenuity, a child's cleverness and simple but forthright communication between generations.
Thompson says there is also one truth that unites the seven very naughty Brown children in the movie and most naughty children in real life. "Parents always think it's the kids' fault. If they're naughty, it's the kids' fault. Not true! Children generally are not naughty for no reason."
Those reasons, she says, usually involve an adult who does something, says something or ignores the children when they do and say things that demand close attention. Naughtiness is a child's protest against a perceived injustice, Thompson says. So acting out is sometimes a good thing.
Wednesday, January 25, 2006
Fear They Won't Be Loved
Many women have more power than they recognize, and they're very hesitant to use it, for they fear they won't be loved.
-- Patricia Schroeder
-- Patricia Schroeder
The Masculine Goal of One-Upmanship
As females expand their power base beyond the powder room, one of their greatest challenges will be to resist the masculine goal of one-upmanship, a goal that can feel as ill-fitting to a woman as a man-tailored suit.
-- Rita Freedman
-- Rita Freedman
Sunday, January 22, 2006
Fishing: Pelicans Caught Unprepared
Pelicans Caught Unprepared
I recently read an article about some pelicans in California. If you’ve ever seen pelicans in action, you know they’re great fishermen, or fisher-birds, I guess. These pelicans were hanging out near a fleet of fishing boats. The fishermen on the boats would pull into the little harbor, and clean the fish right on the spot, throwing the heads and the rest into the water. The pelicans picked up on this, and began eating the leftovers without having to go out fishing. And if you’re a pelican, that’s good eating. So for weeks, they just sat by the harbor and waited for the fishing boats to come in.
After a while, the fishermen found out they could sell the fish waste, and so they stopped chucking it into the water. The pelicans were caught unprepared. They continued to sit and wait for the fishing boats to come in and throw free food in the water. And they grew thinner and thinner and seemed able to do nothing about their situation.
Wildlife officials came to check out what was going on, and concluded that the pelicans had forgotten how to fish. So what they did was to bring pelicans in from another area to join the flock and teach the starving birds how to fish again.
The Reverend Dr. Gary Nicolosi
______________________
Nostalgic Fishermen
Someone suggested that we imagine this fishing club where the members merely sat around swapping fish stories about the big one they landed, the whopper that broke away, but they never stepped into a boat or cast their line in the water. What kind of a fishing club would it be whose members were content to admire the trophies on the wall but never go out and actually go fishing?
A lot of churches are like that. They sit around bragging about the days when their boat was full of fresh fish. They look nostalgically to the days when the main purpose of their church was to go fishing, to reach others for Christ. But they never actually go fishing; they merely talk about going fishing. That's not what we're about as a church.
Dr. Mickey Anders, “Go Fish”
________________________
Tips for Fishing
What are some of the tips we need to remember as we fish for disciples?
Go where the fish are. Be with people on their own turf.
Be real, be vulnerable, and be honest.
Be creative. We don’t have to do things the same old way.
Be spiritual, but not "churchy".
Be patient
Be ready for surprises!
Be willing to step out of your comfort zone.
Be on the lookout for where God is at work.
Be praying.
Rev. Linda A. Jacobus, “Forgetting How to Fish”
I recently read an article about some pelicans in California. If you’ve ever seen pelicans in action, you know they’re great fishermen, or fisher-birds, I guess. These pelicans were hanging out near a fleet of fishing boats. The fishermen on the boats would pull into the little harbor, and clean the fish right on the spot, throwing the heads and the rest into the water. The pelicans picked up on this, and began eating the leftovers without having to go out fishing. And if you’re a pelican, that’s good eating. So for weeks, they just sat by the harbor and waited for the fishing boats to come in.
After a while, the fishermen found out they could sell the fish waste, and so they stopped chucking it into the water. The pelicans were caught unprepared. They continued to sit and wait for the fishing boats to come in and throw free food in the water. And they grew thinner and thinner and seemed able to do nothing about their situation.
Wildlife officials came to check out what was going on, and concluded that the pelicans had forgotten how to fish. So what they did was to bring pelicans in from another area to join the flock and teach the starving birds how to fish again.
The Reverend Dr. Gary Nicolosi
______________________
Nostalgic Fishermen
Someone suggested that we imagine this fishing club where the members merely sat around swapping fish stories about the big one they landed, the whopper that broke away, but they never stepped into a boat or cast their line in the water. What kind of a fishing club would it be whose members were content to admire the trophies on the wall but never go out and actually go fishing?
A lot of churches are like that. They sit around bragging about the days when their boat was full of fresh fish. They look nostalgically to the days when the main purpose of their church was to go fishing, to reach others for Christ. But they never actually go fishing; they merely talk about going fishing. That's not what we're about as a church.
Dr. Mickey Anders, “Go Fish”
________________________
Tips for Fishing
What are some of the tips we need to remember as we fish for disciples?
Go where the fish are. Be with people on their own turf.
Be real, be vulnerable, and be honest.
Be creative. We don’t have to do things the same old way.
Be spiritual, but not "churchy".
Be patient
Be ready for surprises!
Be willing to step out of your comfort zone.
Be on the lookout for where God is at work.
Be praying.
Rev. Linda A. Jacobus, “Forgetting How to Fish”
Thursday, January 05, 2006
The Joys of Life
"Life should NOT be a journey to the grave
with the intention of arriving safely
in an attractive and well-preserved body,
but rather to skid in sideways ,
chocolate in one hand,
glass of wine in the other,
body thoroughly used up,
memory full of friends and adventures,
heart full of love,
totally worn out
and screaming "YAA HOO" - what a ride".
-- Author Unknown
with the intention of arriving safely
in an attractive and well-preserved body,
but rather to skid in sideways ,
chocolate in one hand,
glass of wine in the other,
body thoroughly used up,
memory full of friends and adventures,
heart full of love,
totally worn out
and screaming "YAA HOO" - what a ride".
-- Author Unknown
A "really old" losing coach has a flawed winning season
In the Philadelphia Inquirer Sports section today, Bob Ford describes the latest turnaround in Joe Paterno's career.
At the end of last year's losing season, many Penn State Lions fans agreed that Joe Paterno's winning days were over and he should resign. The Nittany Lions had lost four of the last five seasons, and Paterno was 78 years old.
Paterno believed that he could achieve a winning season. He wasn't ready to give up, and neither was the team. This year the Nittany Lions "finished off an 11-1 season with a three-overtime Orange Bowl win against Florida State on Tuesday night. The final polls will probably have them ranked No. 3 in the nation."
Paterno's determination and hard work paid off. However Ford feels that there is more to good leadership than winning games, and the end of this winning season is a good time for Paterno to retire:
Posted on Thu, Jan. 05, 2006
Paterno can leave as a winner now
By Bob Ford, Philadelphia Inquirer Columnist
http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/sports/13551585.htm
At the end of last year's losing season, many Penn State Lions fans agreed that Joe Paterno's winning days were over and he should resign. The Nittany Lions had lost four of the last five seasons, and Paterno was 78 years old.
A year ago, school president Graham Spanier and athletic director Tim Curley went to visit Paterno at his State College home. They went, according to published reports, to ask Paterno for his resignation.
"I said that I thought that, if I could keep the staff together and we could be stable, that we could get this thing back where it belonged," Paterno said of the meeting. "I was very emphatic about that, and they went along with me. I would think that maybe I had enough clout."
When Joe Paterno is very emphatic, he can lead the nation in emphatic. ... Paterno has always been combative, and, as with everyone who gets a little older, he hasn't really changed, but has simply become a larger, less inhibited version of himself.
Paterno believed that he could achieve a winning season. He wasn't ready to give up, and neither was the team. This year the Nittany Lions "finished off an 11-1 season with a three-overtime Orange Bowl win against Florida State on Tuesday night. The final polls will probably have them ranked No. 3 in the nation."
Paterno's determination and hard work paid off. However Ford feels that there is more to good leadership than winning games, and the end of this winning season is a good time for Paterno to retire:
It really isn't all right to make jokes about the physical appearances of other people, as Joe does, and it really isn't all right to say rude things to one's host, as Joe does, and it really, really, isn't all right to make light of an alleged sexual assault, which Joe also did this week. ("A cute girl knocks on the door, what do you do?" he said, responding to a question about FSU player A.J. Nicholson, who was sent home after being accused of committing rape at the team hotel.)
All of it is waved away because it is Paterno, and he is 79 years old, and the elderly are given a pass on decorum for some reason. It is the he-doesn't-know-any-better defense.
Well, he is the holder of a prestigious position at a state university, and that job is a privilege, not a right. The state and the university both deserve to be represented by someone who does know better and who can be held accountable for what he says and does.
If Paterno is as smart and as sharp as he claims, he will realize that the time has come - before he says something worse, before he grabs a referee and does a Woody Hayes on national television.
Posted on Thu, Jan. 05, 2006
Paterno can leave as a winner now
By Bob Ford, Philadelphia Inquirer Columnist
http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/sports/13551585.htm
Friday, December 30, 2005
Farris Hassan's Trip to Bagdad: "So I Will"
Quote from BBC news:
An American teenager is on his way back to Florida after secretly travelling to Iraq to research a journalism project. Farris Hassan, 16, did not tell his parents - who are both Iraqi - anything about his trip before leaving. ...
"I know I can't do much. I know I can't stop all the carnage and save the innocent. But I also know I can't just sit here," he wrote.
"Going to Iraq will broaden my mind. We kids at Pine Crest live such sheltered lives. I want to experience during my Christmas the same hardships ordinary Iraqis experience everyday, so that I may better empathize with their distress."
"If I know what is needed and what is right, but do not act on my moral conscience, I would be a hypocrite. I must do what I say decent individuals should do. I want to live my days so that my nights are not full of regrets. Therefore, I must go," he concluded.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/world/middle_east/4569712.stm
Published: 2005/12/30 16:08:49 GMT
Quote from the Philadelphia Inquirer, Friday, Dec. 30, 2005:
"There is a struggle in Iraq between good and evil, between those striving for freedom and liberty and those striving for death and destruction," [Farris Hassan] wrote.
"Those terrorists are not human but pure evil. For their goals to be thwarted, decent individuals must answer justice's call for help. Unfortunately altruism is always in short supply. Not enough are willing to set aside the material ambitions of this transient world, put morality first, and risk their lives for the cause of humanity. So I will."
http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/news/nation/13511872.htm
An American teenager is on his way back to Florida after secretly travelling to Iraq to research a journalism project. Farris Hassan, 16, did not tell his parents - who are both Iraqi - anything about his trip before leaving. ...
"I know I can't do much. I know I can't stop all the carnage and save the innocent. But I also know I can't just sit here," he wrote.
"Going to Iraq will broaden my mind. We kids at Pine Crest live such sheltered lives. I want to experience during my Christmas the same hardships ordinary Iraqis experience everyday, so that I may better empathize with their distress."
"If I know what is needed and what is right, but do not act on my moral conscience, I would be a hypocrite. I must do what I say decent individuals should do. I want to live my days so that my nights are not full of regrets. Therefore, I must go," he concluded.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/world/middle_east/4569712.stm
Published: 2005/12/30 16:08:49 GMT
Quote from the Philadelphia Inquirer, Friday, Dec. 30, 2005:
"There is a struggle in Iraq between good and evil, between those striving for freedom and liberty and those striving for death and destruction," [Farris Hassan] wrote.
"Those terrorists are not human but pure evil. For their goals to be thwarted, decent individuals must answer justice's call for help. Unfortunately altruism is always in short supply. Not enough are willing to set aside the material ambitions of this transient world, put morality first, and risk their lives for the cause of humanity. So I will."
http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/news/nation/13511872.htm
Doggedly Blundering toward Heaven
on the humanity of the saints:
"They lost their tempers, got hungry, scolded God, were egotistical or testy or impatient in their turns, made mistakes and regretted them. Still they went on doggedly blundering toward Heaven. And they won sanctity partly by willing to be saints, not only because they encountered no temptation to be less."
Saint-Watching, Phyllis McGinley
"They lost their tempers, got hungry, scolded God, were egotistical or testy or impatient in their turns, made mistakes and regretted them. Still they went on doggedly blundering toward Heaven. And they won sanctity partly by willing to be saints, not only because they encountered no temptation to be less."
Saint-Watching, Phyllis McGinley
Tuesday, December 27, 2005
Five Christian Movie Review Sites
New York Times, December 26, 2005
New Cultural Approach for Conservative Christians: Reviews,
Not Protests
By JOHN LELAND
Christian groups used to ignore movies like " Brokeback Mountain." Recently, they have been more willing to examine popular culture critically.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/26/movies/26crit.html?th&emc=th
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Christian Movie Review Sites quoted in the above New York Times article:
pluggedinonline.com
Focus on the Family Web site pluggedinonline.com , which started reviewing movies in 1990, gets 800,000 monthly visitors to pluggedinonline, and 50,000 see the magazine in print, a spokeswoman said.
Christianitytodaymovies.com
The mainstream evangelical magazine Christianity Today last year started Christianitytodaymovies.com and the site gets 125,000 visitors a month.
HollywoodJesus.com
HollywoodJesus " HollywoodJesus.com" gets one million visitors a month, said its founder, David Bruce, a former Protestant minister who has also worked in television and publishing.
decentfilms.com
Decent Films Guide ( decentfilms.com ) an independent Roman Catholic site
movieguide.org
The more conservative MovieGuide, which runs on syndicated television, radio and online at movieguide.org, is a Web site dedicated to "redeeming the values of the mass media according to biblical principles."
Reviewer Mr. Snyder, who has a doctorate in film studies from Northwestern University, says "Hollywood projects a leftist homosexual agenda, which goes along with radical feminism, and a misunderstanding of what Christianity teaches."
Seminary quoted: Fuller Theological Seminary, an evangelical institution, in Pasadena, Calif.
Strategy:
quote: So far the religious reaction to "Brokeback Mountain" has been limited to the review pages. … This too represents a growing sophistication in the way conservative Christian groups engage the popular culture, said Stuart Shepard, managing editor of Focus on the Family's daily e-mail news updates, which go out to 115,000 subscribers. "We're not going to go out and protest it because it would probably play into the marketing plans of the producers," he said. "They'd say, the Christian right is opposed to this movie, so you really, really, really want to see it."
"We learned from 'Last Temptation of Christ' that if it wasn't for the protest, the film wouldn't be remembered today," Mr. Shepard said. "Our expectation is 'Brokeback Mountain' won't do as well in the heartland, but protest would bump that up."
New Cultural Approach for Conservative Christians: Reviews,
Not Protests
By JOHN LELAND
Christian groups used to ignore movies like " Brokeback Mountain." Recently, they have been more willing to examine popular culture critically.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/26/movies/26crit.html?th&emc=th
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Christian Movie Review Sites quoted in the above New York Times article:
pluggedinonline.com
Focus on the Family Web site pluggedinonline.com , which started reviewing movies in 1990, gets 800,000 monthly visitors to pluggedinonline, and 50,000 see the magazine in print, a spokeswoman said.
Christianitytodaymovies.com
The mainstream evangelical magazine Christianity Today last year started Christianitytodaymovies.com and the site gets 125,000 visitors a month.
HollywoodJesus.com
HollywoodJesus " HollywoodJesus.com" gets one million visitors a month, said its founder, David Bruce, a former Protestant minister who has also worked in television and publishing.
decentfilms.com
Decent Films Guide ( decentfilms.com ) an independent Roman Catholic site
movieguide.org
The more conservative MovieGuide, which runs on syndicated television, radio and online at movieguide.org, is a Web site dedicated to "redeeming the values of the mass media according to biblical principles."
Reviewer Mr. Snyder, who has a doctorate in film studies from Northwestern University, says "Hollywood projects a leftist homosexual agenda, which goes along with radical feminism, and a misunderstanding of what Christianity teaches."
Seminary quoted: Fuller Theological Seminary, an evangelical institution, in Pasadena, Calif.
Strategy:
quote: So far the religious reaction to "Brokeback Mountain" has been limited to the review pages. … This too represents a growing sophistication in the way conservative Christian groups engage the popular culture, said Stuart Shepard, managing editor of Focus on the Family's daily e-mail news updates, which go out to 115,000 subscribers. "We're not going to go out and protest it because it would probably play into the marketing plans of the producers," he said. "They'd say, the Christian right is opposed to this movie, so you really, really, really want to see it."
"We learned from 'Last Temptation of Christ' that if it wasn't for the protest, the film wouldn't be remembered today," Mr. Shepard said. "Our expectation is 'Brokeback Mountain' won't do as well in the heartland, but protest would bump that up."
Friday, December 23, 2005
Going Back to Normal
New York Times, Dec. 23, 2005
- QUOTATION OF THE DAY -
"There's nothing so beautiful as going back to normal."
- MAHMOUD SADAKAH, a taxi driver, on the end of New York's transit strike.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/23/nyregion
/nyregionspecial3/23voices.html?th&emc=th
- QUOTATION OF THE DAY -
"There's nothing so beautiful as going back to normal."
- MAHMOUD SADAKAH, a taxi driver, on the end of New York's transit strike.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/23/nyregion
/nyregionspecial3/23voices.html?th&emc=th
Wednesday, December 21, 2005
Helpful Hint
"One of the most important points to remember is the scale stamped on the inside of the pan is actually a good standard to follow."
Tiger Corporation electronic rice cooker operating instructions
Osaka, Japan
Tiger Corporation electronic rice cooker operating instructions
Osaka, Japan
Are you OK?
"If you believe in God, and He exists, you're OK.
If you believe in God, and He doesn't exist, you're OK.
If you don't believe in God, and He doesn't exist, you're still OK.
But, if you don't believe in God, and He does EXIST, then boy you're in BIG trouble!"
--author unknown
If you believe in God, and He doesn't exist, you're OK.
If you don't believe in God, and He doesn't exist, you're still OK.
But, if you don't believe in God, and He does EXIST, then boy you're in BIG trouble!"
--author unknown
Monday, December 19, 2005
Shine Anyway!
When you are not allowed to shine, shine anyway.
When you are discouraged from shining, shine anyway.
When you are criticized for shining, shine anyway.
Matthew 5:14-16
14 "You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid.
15 No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house.
16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.
Shine anyway!
When you are discouraged from shining, shine anyway.
When you are criticized for shining, shine anyway.
Matthew 5:14-16
14 "You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid.
15 No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house.
16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.
Shine anyway!
Saturday, December 10, 2005
Trying to Please Everyone
"You know, they say that a preacher who tries to please everyone is like a stray dog at a whistler's convention. ...
If you try to address every side ... in any given teaching situation, you'll be all over the place. Changes are good you won't do any one thing very well."
Dr. Richard Robert Osmer
Teaching for Faith, A Guide for Teachers of Adult Classes
video, Princeton Theological Seminary
If you try to address every side ... in any given teaching situation, you'll be all over the place. Changes are good you won't do any one thing very well."
Dr. Richard Robert Osmer
Teaching for Faith, A Guide for Teachers of Adult Classes
video, Princeton Theological Seminary
Monday, December 05, 2005
Statistics
"Statistics are like bathing suits. What they reveal is tantalizing, but what they conceal is crucial."
Dr. Brent A. Strawn - Candler School of Theology at Emory University
Dr. Brent A. Strawn - Candler School of Theology at Emory University
Rendering Vulnerable
"Writing is most powerful when it renders both the writer and the reader vulnerable."
Chris Bolin, student, poetry
Iowa Writer's Workshop
Chris Bolin, student, poetry
Iowa Writer's Workshop
Wednesday, November 30, 2005
Best Bathrooms Around the World
As seen on NBC 10 News at 11 p.m.:
Links: Best Bathrooms
POSTED: 8:02 pm EST November 30, 2005
Bathrooms
Link: www.thebathroomdiaries.com
Link: www.wheretostopwheretogo.com
Links: Best Bathrooms
POSTED: 8:02 pm EST November 30, 2005
Bathrooms
Link: www.thebathroomdiaries.com
Link: www.wheretostopwheretogo.com
Getting a Human on the Phone
New as of Feb. 2, 2006: go to gethuman.com
The IVR Cheat Sheet by Paul English
www.paulenglish.com/ivr/
Includes: finance company, phone number, steps to find a human
The IVR Cheat Sheet
Thursday, 2-February-2006
The "get human" fury unleashed by over one million consumers has become too great to be handled by the sole blogger who started this campaign in 2005.
As of today, the IVR Cheat Sheet™ is being shut down...
...and is now replaced with a new free site powered by over one million consumers who demand human contact.
Please change your links to http://gethuman.com.
—Paul English
The IVR Cheat Sheet by Paul English
www.paulenglish.com/ivr/
Includes: finance company, phone number, steps to find a human
The IVR Cheat Sheet
Thursday, 2-February-2006
The "get human" fury unleashed by over one million consumers has become too great to be handled by the sole blogger who started this campaign in 2005.
As of today, the IVR Cheat Sheet™ is being shut down...
...and is now replaced with a new free site powered by over one million consumers who demand human contact.
Please change your links to http://gethuman.com.
—Paul English
Monday, November 28, 2005
A Chance to Repent
The good die young that they may not degenerate; the wicked live on that they may have a chance to repent, or to produce a virtuous progeny.
-Zohar, Genesis, 56b
from 'A Treasury of Jewish Quotations,' edited by Joseph L. Baron, Jason Aronson Inc.
(from Nancy D.)
-Zohar, Genesis, 56b
from 'A Treasury of Jewish Quotations,' edited by Joseph L. Baron, Jason Aronson Inc.
(from Nancy D.)
Saturday, November 26, 2005
Living for Others
"She's the sort of woman who lives for others -- you can always tell the others by their hunted expression."
-- C. S. Lewis in The Screwtape Letters
-- C. S. Lewis in The Screwtape Letters
Wednesday, November 16, 2005
Expose yourself to Enthusiasm!
from a sermon by John Galloway,
Wayne Presbyterian Church, Wayne, PA, Sept. 4, 2005
"Expose yourself to enthusiasm!"
There is awesome spiritual power in enthusiasm.
Wayne Presbyterian Church, Wayne, PA, Sept. 4, 2005
"Expose yourself to enthusiasm!"
There is awesome spiritual power in enthusiasm.
Tuesday, November 15, 2005
St. Theresa's Prayer
May today there be peace within.
May you trust God that you are exactly where you are meant to be.
May you not forget the infinite possibilities that are born of faith.
May you use those gifts that you have received, and pass on the love that has been given to you....
May you be content knowing you are a child of God.
Let this presence settle into your bones, and allow your soul the freedom to sing, dance, praise and love.
It is there for each and every one of you.
"Saint Theresa is known as the Saint of the Little Ways. Meaning she believed in doing the little things in life well and with great love She is also the patron Saint of flower growers and florists. She is represented by roses.”
http://www.cotwest.com/1/COTW
/prayers.asp?NsID=2995
May you trust God that you are exactly where you are meant to be.
May you not forget the infinite possibilities that are born of faith.
May you use those gifts that you have received, and pass on the love that has been given to you....
May you be content knowing you are a child of God.
Let this presence settle into your bones, and allow your soul the freedom to sing, dance, praise and love.
It is there for each and every one of you.
"Saint Theresa is known as the Saint of the Little Ways. Meaning she believed in doing the little things in life well and with great love She is also the patron Saint of flower growers and florists. She is represented by roses.”
http://www.cotwest.com/1/COTW
/prayers.asp?NsID=2995
Mother Theresa: Love Them Anyway
Way of Life
Author: Mother Teresa
People are often unreasonable, illogical, and self-centered; Forgive them anyway.
If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives; Be kind anyway.
If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some true enemies; Succeed anyway.
If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you; Be honest and frank anyway.
What you spend years building, some could destroy overnight; Build anyway.
If you find serenity and happiness, they may be jealous; Be happy anyway.
The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow; Do good anyway.
Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough; Give the world the best you‘ve got anyway.
You see, in the final analysis, it is between you and God; It was never between you and them anyway.
Author: Mother Teresa
People are often unreasonable, illogical, and self-centered; Forgive them anyway.
If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives; Be kind anyway.
If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some true enemies; Succeed anyway.
If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you; Be honest and frank anyway.
What you spend years building, some could destroy overnight; Build anyway.
If you find serenity and happiness, they may be jealous; Be happy anyway.
The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow; Do good anyway.
Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough; Give the world the best you‘ve got anyway.
You see, in the final analysis, it is between you and God; It was never between you and them anyway.
Revenge
Quotes from Juvenal (Decimus Junius Juvenal)
Revenge is always the weak pleasure of a little and narrow mind.
[Lat., Semper et infirmi est animi exiguique voluptas Ultio.]
Source: Satires (XIII, 189)
You are not to do evil that good may come of it.
[Lat., Non faciat malum, ut inde veniat bonum.]
Source: Satires (XIII, 209)
http://www.worldofquotes.com/author
/Juvenal-(Decimus-Junius-Juvenal)/1/
Revenge is always the weak pleasure of a little and narrow mind.
[Lat., Semper et infirmi est animi exiguique voluptas Ultio.]
Source: Satires (XIII, 189)
You are not to do evil that good may come of it.
[Lat., Non faciat malum, ut inde veniat bonum.]
Source: Satires (XIII, 209)
http://www.worldofquotes.com/author
/Juvenal-(Decimus-Junius-Juvenal)/1/
Saturday, November 12, 2005
Saturday Collection
quotes from Saturday:
"Discipline enables people to experience success."
~ VisionQuest
"When Life gives you scraps, make Quilts."
~ Mom's stationery
"We can't work 20 hours a day anymore," says Matalin, 41. "We've got a dog now. We have responsibilities."
~ Mary Mataline, wife of James Carville, explaining why she and her husband didn't plan to work in the '96 presidential elections as they had in the past.
Philadelphia Inquirer, Jan. 6, 1995
"Discipline enables people to experience success."
~ VisionQuest
"When Life gives you scraps, make Quilts."
~ Mom's stationery
"We can't work 20 hours a day anymore," says Matalin, 41. "We've got a dog now. We have responsibilities."
~ Mary Mataline, wife of James Carville, explaining why she and her husband didn't plan to work in the '96 presidential elections as they had in the past.
Philadelphia Inquirer, Jan. 6, 1995
Friday, November 11, 2005
Monday, November 07, 2005
Terrell Owens permanently suspended
Despite his outstanding talent, Terrell Owens was permanently suspended from the Philadelphia Eagles for conduct detrimental to the team (disruptive conduct, negative remarks, etc.).
Donovan McNabb's reaction:
We will be better off without him. Last night we played as a team.
Donovan McNabb's reaction:
We will be better off without him. Last night we played as a team.
Inform, Reflect, Crusade, Connect
"I cling to a simple formula I devised year ago to describe what a good newspaper ought to do:
Inform, reflect, crusade, connect."
Jane Eisner, American Rhythms
from her farewell column
The Philadelphia Inquirer
Sunday, Nov. 6, 2005
Inform, reflect, crusade, connect."
Jane Eisner, American Rhythms
from her farewell column
The Philadelphia Inquirer
Sunday, Nov. 6, 2005
Japanese Tea Ceremony
The four basic principles of the Japanese tea ceremony:
harmony, respect, purity, and tranquility
Chado--The Way of Tea
www.art.uiuc.edu/tea/
also:
http://www.art.uiuc.edu/galleries/japanhouse
/classes/chado/university/project1.cfm
art 209 : tea ceremony and zen aesthetics : Final projects
CHADO INVITATION : VIKY CHI
Project description. You're Invited to Attend a Traditional Japanese Tea Ceremony
Please Join Us for a Cup of Tea.
The Japanese tea ceremony is a simple process in which the host serves the guest a carefully prepared bowl of tea. Within this process, you are given the opportunity to revitalize your spirit, identifying with your own true self, as well as with others sharing the tea experience.
The ceremonial aspects of Chado are simple, unadorned with any unnecessary objects or actions. The process consists of the host's careful preparation of a bowl of tea, showing great concentration with every movement. The tea utensils are revered with the highest consideration, with careful cleansing and handling. Powdered green tea is measured into a specific tea bowl chosen for the occasion. The host adds hot water and, with a tea whisk, blends the tea until it is fit to serve to the guests. The tea is then served and received in a manner that communicates respect and gratitude from both the host and the guest.
Every component of the tea ceremony is prepared and performed with the greatest consideration-- with one's mind, heart and spirit. This pureness of the Way of Tea is the Zen approach to every aspect of one's life.
Please relax and enjoy yourself today as we share a bowl of tea.
Guest Procedures
The guests approach the host's home through a slightly open garden gate. A small, garden path called a roji leads to the tea hut. Roji, translated as "dewy ground", is where the guest is able to discard the unnecessary burdens of the outside world, clearing their minds for the tea ceremony.
A tsukubai is placed near the entrance of tea hut. At this low, stone water basin, the guests stoop down to wash their hands and mouth, symbolically purifying themselves.
The guests enter the tea hut by crawling through a small doorway called the nijiriguchi. The nijiriguchi is built at a size in which all who enter must crawl through at the same level, reflecting a sense of humility and connection with the other guests.
The guests perform toko-viewing before the tokonoma, where objects of art are displayed by the host. The guest approaches the tokonoma and bow, showing respect and appreciation. The objects in the tokonoma are usually: a hanging scroll, a floral arrangement, and an incense container which are chosen in accordance with the season and theme of the tea ceremony.
When the host strikes a gong, the guests seat themselves in the tea room and exchange formal greetings with the host by the act of bowing. The mood is quiet as the guests watch the host prepare the tea. The guests share this bowl of tea, offering and receiving the tea by bowing, to show respect and gratitude.
After the ceremony, the guests are welcome to examine the tea utensils and converse with host.
An important concept underlying all the aspects of the tea ceremony is Kokoro, meaning mind, heart and spirit. This is the extent to which the host and the guest are involved in the ceremony. Every effort made by the host is put forth with the mind, heart and spirit towards creating a wonderful experience for the guests. Every detail in the garden and tea hut and every movement in making the tea is performed with great concentration. The guests appreciate and show respect for these efforts with their entire mind, heart and spirit as well. With careful observance of the display in the tokonoma and bowing with respect to others, the guest also gives the most sincere effort in their part of the tea ceremony.
Reflecting on the various scrolls displayed throughout this semester, this concept, kokoro, has had the most impact on the way I view my life. I read this and thought about all the experiences I have encountered in the past. I realize that the ones the stand out and those that I am the most proud of are ones in which I have put my entire mind, heart and spirit into. This was most evident when I recollect on all the classes I've taken as an undergraduate. I realize that often I have received high grades in my courses, but I cannot honestly say that I learned the most from those classes and that they had much affect on me. Instead it was the courses that I put my entire efforts in, my time, my interest, and my will to learn, that I have learned the most from and I am proud of.
harmony, respect, purity, and tranquility
Chado--The Way of Tea
www.art.uiuc.edu/tea/
also:
http://www.art.uiuc.edu/galleries/japanhouse
/classes/chado/university/project1.cfm
art 209 : tea ceremony and zen aesthetics : Final projects
CHADO INVITATION : VIKY CHI
Project description. You're Invited to Attend a Traditional Japanese Tea Ceremony
Please Join Us for a Cup of Tea.
The Japanese tea ceremony is a simple process in which the host serves the guest a carefully prepared bowl of tea. Within this process, you are given the opportunity to revitalize your spirit, identifying with your own true self, as well as with others sharing the tea experience.
The ceremonial aspects of Chado are simple, unadorned with any unnecessary objects or actions. The process consists of the host's careful preparation of a bowl of tea, showing great concentration with every movement. The tea utensils are revered with the highest consideration, with careful cleansing and handling. Powdered green tea is measured into a specific tea bowl chosen for the occasion. The host adds hot water and, with a tea whisk, blends the tea until it is fit to serve to the guests. The tea is then served and received in a manner that communicates respect and gratitude from both the host and the guest.
Every component of the tea ceremony is prepared and performed with the greatest consideration-- with one's mind, heart and spirit. This pureness of the Way of Tea is the Zen approach to every aspect of one's life.
Please relax and enjoy yourself today as we share a bowl of tea.
Guest Procedures
The guests approach the host's home through a slightly open garden gate. A small, garden path called a roji leads to the tea hut. Roji, translated as "dewy ground", is where the guest is able to discard the unnecessary burdens of the outside world, clearing their minds for the tea ceremony.
A tsukubai is placed near the entrance of tea hut. At this low, stone water basin, the guests stoop down to wash their hands and mouth, symbolically purifying themselves.
The guests enter the tea hut by crawling through a small doorway called the nijiriguchi. The nijiriguchi is built at a size in which all who enter must crawl through at the same level, reflecting a sense of humility and connection with the other guests.
The guests perform toko-viewing before the tokonoma, where objects of art are displayed by the host. The guest approaches the tokonoma and bow, showing respect and appreciation. The objects in the tokonoma are usually: a hanging scroll, a floral arrangement, and an incense container which are chosen in accordance with the season and theme of the tea ceremony.
When the host strikes a gong, the guests seat themselves in the tea room and exchange formal greetings with the host by the act of bowing. The mood is quiet as the guests watch the host prepare the tea. The guests share this bowl of tea, offering and receiving the tea by bowing, to show respect and gratitude.
After the ceremony, the guests are welcome to examine the tea utensils and converse with host.
An important concept underlying all the aspects of the tea ceremony is Kokoro, meaning mind, heart and spirit. This is the extent to which the host and the guest are involved in the ceremony. Every effort made by the host is put forth with the mind, heart and spirit towards creating a wonderful experience for the guests. Every detail in the garden and tea hut and every movement in making the tea is performed with great concentration. The guests appreciate and show respect for these efforts with their entire mind, heart and spirit as well. With careful observance of the display in the tokonoma and bowing with respect to others, the guest also gives the most sincere effort in their part of the tea ceremony.
Reflecting on the various scrolls displayed throughout this semester, this concept, kokoro, has had the most impact on the way I view my life. I read this and thought about all the experiences I have encountered in the past. I realize that the ones the stand out and those that I am the most proud of are ones in which I have put my entire mind, heart and spirit into. This was most evident when I recollect on all the classes I've taken as an undergraduate. I realize that often I have received high grades in my courses, but I cannot honestly say that I learned the most from those classes and that they had much affect on me. Instead it was the courses that I put my entire efforts in, my time, my interest, and my will to learn, that I have learned the most from and I am proud of.
Thursday, November 03, 2005
Fear of Women
Woody Allen explains why at age 57 he started a passionate affair with his girlfriend Mia's adopted daughter, age 22, and married her:
"I don't ever feel that I'm with a hostile or threatening person. It's got a more paternal feeling to it."
"Newsmakers," Philadelphia Inquirer, November 1, 2005.
"I don't ever feel that I'm with a hostile or threatening person. It's got a more paternal feeling to it."
"Newsmakers," Philadelphia Inquirer, November 1, 2005.
Wednesday, November 02, 2005
Diplomacy
President Lyndon Johnson explained why he retained controversial FBI director J. Edgar Hoover:
It’s probably better to have him inside the tent pissing out, than outside the tent pissing in.
—Lyndon B. Johnson
Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.
—John F. Kennedy
http://www.bartleby.com/quotations
/052002.html
It’s probably better to have him inside the tent pissing out, than outside the tent pissing in.
—Lyndon B. Johnson
Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.
—John F. Kennedy
http://www.bartleby.com/quotations
/052002.html
Destroyed?
In an interview with Fortune magazine, Martha Stewart optimistically said:
"I have learned that I really cannot be destroyed."
from "Newsmakers," page D2, Philadelphia Inquirer, Tuesday, November 1, 2005
"I have learned that I really cannot be destroyed."
from "Newsmakers," page D2, Philadelphia Inquirer, Tuesday, November 1, 2005
Saturday, October 29, 2005
Bell & Evans chicken
Bell & Evans
Fredericksburg, VA
“For years our Bell & Evans chickens have been raised without antibiotics, animal byproducts or animal fats. Unlike some others, our company strives to raise ALL of our chickens without the use of antibiotics and to demanding humane standards. Bell & Evans has had a Preharvest HACCP plan in place to certify this industry-leading performance.”
Bruno S. Schmalhofer, CEO, Letter to the New York Times, Feb. 14, 2002
http://www.keepantibioticsworking.com/new
/consumers_statements.cfm
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Philadelphia Inquirer
Posted on Fri, Aug. 05, 2005
Pampered poultry
By Harold Brubaker
Inquirer Staff Writer
FREDERICKSBURG, Pa.
...
Three of the industry's major players - Bell & Evans, BC Natural Chicken, and College Hill Poultry - have plants here.
...
Bell & Evans, which traces its roots to Bellmawr, Camden County, in the 1890s and employs nearly 1,200, is the largest. ... Three national customers - Whole Foods Market, Chipotle Mexican Grill, and Panera Bread - are counting on him. They have been buying as much Bell & Evans chicken as they can get and are looking for more, even though it costs as much as 50 percent more than conventional chicken. ... When Panera chose Bell & Evans, it was not looking for a "natural" chicken, just a better-tasting chicken, said John Taylor, Panera's director of product development. "We started with taste, and this is what we came across," he said.
...
Instead of looking for the cheapest available feed, Bell & Evans feeds its chickens a strict diet of corn, soybean meal, vitamins and minerals, Sechler said. That's more expensive - at retail, a natural whole chicken recently was selling for $1.99 a pound at Whole Foods, compared with $1.69 for conventional chicken at a nearby Acme - but Sechler thinks it gives the chicken consistently good flavor.
In another effort to improve the flavor of Bell & Evans chicken, the company installed a new system to chill the chickens using cold air after they are killed, instead of dunking them in cold water treated with chlorine.
...
"Natural" - Whole Foods, Bell & Evans and others use the term for chickens that are given vegetarian feed and no antibiotics.
Organic(USDA) - These chickens eat organically grown feed and no antibiotics.
Free range - The birds have access to an outside pen for a portion of their lives.
Pastured - The chickens get up to 20 percent of their feed from pasture forage, typically living in movable pens.
SOURCES: National Chicken Council, American Pastured Poultry Producers' Association, Inquirer research.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Contact staff writer Harold Brubaker at 215-854-4651 or hbrubaker@phillynews.com.
http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer
/business/12306473.htm
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
© 2005 Philadelphia Inquirer and wire service sources. All Rights Reserved.
http://www.philly.com
Fredericksburg, VA
“For years our Bell & Evans chickens have been raised without antibiotics, animal byproducts or animal fats. Unlike some others, our company strives to raise ALL of our chickens without the use of antibiotics and to demanding humane standards. Bell & Evans has had a Preharvest HACCP plan in place to certify this industry-leading performance.”
Bruno S. Schmalhofer, CEO, Letter to the New York Times, Feb. 14, 2002
http://www.keepantibioticsworking.com/new
/consumers_statements.cfm
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Philadelphia Inquirer
Posted on Fri, Aug. 05, 2005
Pampered poultry
By Harold Brubaker
Inquirer Staff Writer
FREDERICKSBURG, Pa.
...
Three of the industry's major players - Bell & Evans, BC Natural Chicken, and College Hill Poultry - have plants here.
...
Bell & Evans, which traces its roots to Bellmawr, Camden County, in the 1890s and employs nearly 1,200, is the largest. ... Three national customers - Whole Foods Market, Chipotle Mexican Grill, and Panera Bread - are counting on him. They have been buying as much Bell & Evans chicken as they can get and are looking for more, even though it costs as much as 50 percent more than conventional chicken. ... When Panera chose Bell & Evans, it was not looking for a "natural" chicken, just a better-tasting chicken, said John Taylor, Panera's director of product development. "We started with taste, and this is what we came across," he said.
...
Instead of looking for the cheapest available feed, Bell & Evans feeds its chickens a strict diet of corn, soybean meal, vitamins and minerals, Sechler said. That's more expensive - at retail, a natural whole chicken recently was selling for $1.99 a pound at Whole Foods, compared with $1.69 for conventional chicken at a nearby Acme - but Sechler thinks it gives the chicken consistently good flavor.
In another effort to improve the flavor of Bell & Evans chicken, the company installed a new system to chill the chickens using cold air after they are killed, instead of dunking them in cold water treated with chlorine.
...
"Natural" - Whole Foods, Bell & Evans and others use the term for chickens that are given vegetarian feed and no antibiotics.
Organic(USDA) - These chickens eat organically grown feed and no antibiotics.
Free range - The birds have access to an outside pen for a portion of their lives.
Pastured - The chickens get up to 20 percent of their feed from pasture forage, typically living in movable pens.
SOURCES: National Chicken Council, American Pastured Poultry Producers' Association, Inquirer research.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Contact staff writer Harold Brubaker at 215-854-4651 or hbrubaker@phillynews.com.
http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer
/business/12306473.htm
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
© 2005 Philadelphia Inquirer and wire service sources. All Rights Reserved.
http://www.philly.com
Friday, October 28, 2005
Reforming the Establishment
quotes from "Patching the Presidency" by David Brooks, New York Times editorial, Thursday, Oct. 27, 2005:
Ronald Reagan hired David Abshire as a special counselor halfway into Reagan's second term to help recover from the Iran-contra scandal. In his new book, "Saving the Reagan Presidency," Abshire said he had four main tasks:
1. "puncture the bubble of intellectual conformity that marks every administration by breaking the spell of groupthink and self-serving spin"
2. iron out internal "feuds and tensions" between executive branch departments
3. "repair relations with Capitol Hill"
4. help "kick-start a new policy agenda" by bringing in new staff, having Reagan take responsibility for failure in a contrite public speech ("his approval rating jumped nine points" afterward), and launching new domestic and foreign policy initiatives ("including the speech calling on Gorbachev to tear down the Berlin Wall")
Brooks says that "every president since Grant has had a miserable second term," primarily because working in the White House is "psychologically corrosive." "There is a tendency to curl inward under the barrage of criticism, much of it ill informed. The sheer busyness of life becomes enveloping and isolating, and slowly an un-earned disdain builds for those who are not in the bubble."
After he left office, Calvin Coolidge wrote: "The political mind is the product of men in public life who have been twice spoiled. They have been spoiled with praise and they have been spoiled with abuse. With them, nothing is natural, everything is artificial."
According to Brooks, the president needs to bring in "like-minded but objective people who haven't been molded by five years in power, ... people more akin to peers. (The White House staff is too emotionally dependent on the president to be brutally honest with him.) It means humbly acknowledging, as Peggy Noonan wrote, that change has to start with oneself. As Lincoln showed, humility is the only antidote to the corruptions of the insane life-style of the presidency."
Ronald Reagan hired David Abshire as a special counselor halfway into Reagan's second term to help recover from the Iran-contra scandal. In his new book, "Saving the Reagan Presidency," Abshire said he had four main tasks:
1. "puncture the bubble of intellectual conformity that marks every administration by breaking the spell of groupthink and self-serving spin"
2. iron out internal "feuds and tensions" between executive branch departments
3. "repair relations with Capitol Hill"
4. help "kick-start a new policy agenda" by bringing in new staff, having Reagan take responsibility for failure in a contrite public speech ("his approval rating jumped nine points" afterward), and launching new domestic and foreign policy initiatives ("including the speech calling on Gorbachev to tear down the Berlin Wall")
Brooks says that "every president since Grant has had a miserable second term," primarily because working in the White House is "psychologically corrosive." "There is a tendency to curl inward under the barrage of criticism, much of it ill informed. The sheer busyness of life becomes enveloping and isolating, and slowly an un-earned disdain builds for those who are not in the bubble."
After he left office, Calvin Coolidge wrote: "The political mind is the product of men in public life who have been twice spoiled. They have been spoiled with praise and they have been spoiled with abuse. With them, nothing is natural, everything is artificial."
According to Brooks, the president needs to bring in "like-minded but objective people who haven't been molded by five years in power, ... people more akin to peers. (The White House staff is too emotionally dependent on the president to be brutally honest with him.) It means humbly acknowledging, as Peggy Noonan wrote, that change has to start with oneself. As Lincoln showed, humility is the only antidote to the corruptions of the insane life-style of the presidency."
The Positives of Masculinity
According to USA Today, the positives of masculinity are:
"confidence, leadership, passion and compassion"
Craig Wilson, USA Today, Wed. Oct. 26, 2005
"confidence, leadership, passion and compassion"
Craig Wilson, USA Today, Wed. Oct. 26, 2005
Wednesday, October 26, 2005
Aging Successfully
Dr. Weil's recommendations on how to age successfully:
"Learn the principles of healthy eating,
increase physical activity,
learn to breathe properly,
try to learn another language,
spend more time in the company of people who have lifestyle habits you want to develop,
and think about the rewards that aging can bring."
Dr. Andrew Weil, USA Today, Tuesday, October 25, 2005
from an interview about his book Healthy Aging
"Learn the principles of healthy eating,
increase physical activity,
learn to breathe properly,
try to learn another language,
spend more time in the company of people who have lifestyle habits you want to develop,
and think about the rewards that aging can bring."
Dr. Andrew Weil, USA Today, Tuesday, October 25, 2005
from an interview about his book Healthy Aging
Friday, October 21, 2005
Forgiveness
The reaction of Sheila and her daughter Crystal on Dr. Phil show 594, refusing to forgive Brandi:
“There will never be forgiveness. Never.”
www.drphil.com/shows/show/594
"Cheerleader Scandal
Brandi was just 17 years old when she hit and killed her estranged high school boyfriend Daniel. She did it with her parents' car that she snuck out earlier that night. She says it was an accident, but Daniel's family [Sheila and Crystal] disagrees. They say she purposely ran their son down in a fit of rage."
commentary:
This is an example of how people whose spiritual needs are unmet can affect others in ways they never expected. When we neglect the spiritual needs of others around us, there are consequences.
Hebrews 12:14-15 NRSV
14 Pursue peace with everyone, and the holiness without which no one will see the Lord. 15 See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no root of bitterness springs up and causes trouble, and through it many become defiled.
Words of Jesus about forgiveness:
Matthew 6:9-15 NRSV
9 "Pray then in this way: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. 10 Your kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. 11 Give us this day our daily bread. 12 And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. 13 And do not bring us to the time of trial, but rescue us from the evil one. 14 For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you; 15 but if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
Matthew 18:21-22 NRSV
21 Then Peter came and said to him, "Lord, if another member of the church sins against me, how often should I forgive? As many as seven times?" 22 Jesus said to him, "Not seven times, but, I tell you, seventy-seven times.
Luke 6:35-38 NRSV
35 But love your enemies, do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return. Your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High; for he is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked. 36 Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. 37 "Do not judge, and you will not be judged; do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven; 38 give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap; for the measure you give will be the measure you get back."
John 20:21-23 NRSV
21 Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you." 22 When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained."
“There will never be forgiveness. Never.”
www.drphil.com/shows/show/594
"Cheerleader Scandal
Brandi was just 17 years old when she hit and killed her estranged high school boyfriend Daniel. She did it with her parents' car that she snuck out earlier that night. She says it was an accident, but Daniel's family [Sheila and Crystal] disagrees. They say she purposely ran their son down in a fit of rage."
commentary:
This is an example of how people whose spiritual needs are unmet can affect others in ways they never expected. When we neglect the spiritual needs of others around us, there are consequences.
Hebrews 12:14-15 NRSV
14 Pursue peace with everyone, and the holiness without which no one will see the Lord. 15 See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no root of bitterness springs up and causes trouble, and through it many become defiled.
Words of Jesus about forgiveness:
Matthew 6:9-15 NRSV
9 "Pray then in this way: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. 10 Your kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. 11 Give us this day our daily bread. 12 And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. 13 And do not bring us to the time of trial, but rescue us from the evil one. 14 For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you; 15 but if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
Matthew 18:21-22 NRSV
21 Then Peter came and said to him, "Lord, if another member of the church sins against me, how often should I forgive? As many as seven times?" 22 Jesus said to him, "Not seven times, but, I tell you, seventy-seven times.
Luke 6:35-38 NRSV
35 But love your enemies, do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return. Your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High; for he is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked. 36 Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. 37 "Do not judge, and you will not be judged; do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven; 38 give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap; for the measure you give will be the measure you get back."
John 20:21-23 NRSV
21 Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you." 22 When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained."
Wednesday, October 19, 2005
The Universality of Jesus Christ
Following is an example of someone who mistakenly thinks the God of the Bible is "too small, too tribal and too humanlike":
Wesley Wildman, a professor of theology at Boston University
above quote from the Philadelphia Inquirer, Tuesday, Oct. 18, 2005
Can faith, science coexist?
by Faye Flam
Inquirer Staff Writer
http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/living
/education/12928255.htm
commentary:
The God of the Bible is not a small, tribal, human-centered God. The God of the Bible created the universe before man was created. The God of the Bible, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, is complete in Gods-self and does not need man to live and love. Rather than being a tribal God, the God of the Bible created and loves all the people of the world, and sends rain on the just and the unjust. The God of the Bible enforces justice impartially for all people, and does not tolerate injustice in any chosen people.
The God of the Bible is beyond human comprehension, but chooses to reveal Gods-self to humans in a way that we can comprehend. God Emmanuel is with us. God spoke to Abraham and had dinner with him. God wrestled with Jacob. God spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks with his friend. God wrote the Ten Commandments. God spoke through the prophets.
Then, at the right time, the creator God who is beyond human comprehension became incarnate in Jesus Christ, born of the virgin Mary, to help us know God more clearly. Jesus spent three years revealing God's grace and truth to the world, so we may be reconciled to God and live.
Jesus told his disciples to go into all the world and preach the good news that God wants to draw us all together in love as God's adopted children. Rather than being a tribal God, Jesus Christ gave his life to draw all people to God through himself, in one holy, catholic and apostolic church, including all the men and women of the world.
~ Truthful Grace
Boston's Wildman said his faith does not depend on the notion of humanity as central to the purpose of the universe. "It's a silly conceit and it makes human beings feel better to think that way - that the whole success of the universe turns on the success of the human project."
He said the tradition of ascribing so much importance to humanity goes back to the notion of a chosen people in the Old Testament. For Christians it comes from the belief that Jesus was God's son.
But such a God looks too small, too tribal and too humanlike, he said, to avoid getting pushed out of the ever narrowing gaps in science. That in turn can reinforce the notion that to be scientific you must be an atheist.
For him, a human-centered God is an approximation of the real thing, "and the real thing is beyond human comprehension."
Wesley Wildman, a professor of theology at Boston University
above quote from the Philadelphia Inquirer, Tuesday, Oct. 18, 2005
Can faith, science coexist?
by Faye Flam
Inquirer Staff Writer
http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/living
/education/12928255.htm
commentary:
The God of the Bible is not a small, tribal, human-centered God. The God of the Bible created the universe before man was created. The God of the Bible, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, is complete in Gods-self and does not need man to live and love. Rather than being a tribal God, the God of the Bible created and loves all the people of the world, and sends rain on the just and the unjust. The God of the Bible enforces justice impartially for all people, and does not tolerate injustice in any chosen people.
The God of the Bible is beyond human comprehension, but chooses to reveal Gods-self to humans in a way that we can comprehend. God Emmanuel is with us. God spoke to Abraham and had dinner with him. God wrestled with Jacob. God spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks with his friend. God wrote the Ten Commandments. God spoke through the prophets.
Then, at the right time, the creator God who is beyond human comprehension became incarnate in Jesus Christ, born of the virgin Mary, to help us know God more clearly. Jesus spent three years revealing God's grace and truth to the world, so we may be reconciled to God and live.
Jesus told his disciples to go into all the world and preach the good news that God wants to draw us all together in love as God's adopted children. Rather than being a tribal God, Jesus Christ gave his life to draw all people to God through himself, in one holy, catholic and apostolic church, including all the men and women of the world.
~ Truthful Grace
Tuesday, October 18, 2005
Winston S. Churchill quotes
"In Critical and baffling situations, it is always best to return to first principle and simple action." - Sir Winston S. Churchil
"It so often happens that, when men are convinced that they have to die, a desire to bear themselves well and to leave life’s stage with dignity conquers all other sensations." - Sir Winston S. Churchill
"There is at least one thing worse than fighting with allies – And that is to fight without them!" - Sir Winston S. Churchill
"The power of an air force is terrific when there is nothing to oppose it." - Winston Churchill
"Democracy is the best form of the worst type of government" - Winston Churchill
"A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on." - Winston Churchill
"Courage is rightly esteemed the first of human qualities, because it is the quality that guarantees all others" - Sir Winston S. Churchill
"The Americans will always do the right thing... After they've exhausted all the alternatives." - Winston Churchill
"Arm yourselves, and be ye men of valor, and be in readiness for the conflict; for it is better for us to perish in battle than to look upon the outrage of our nation and our altar." - Prime Minister Winston Churchill
"Never give in--never, never, never, never, in nothing great or small, large or petty, never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy." -Winston Churchill
"We shall defend our island whatever the cost may be; we shall fight on beaches, landing grounds, in fields, in streets and on the hills. We shall never surrender and even if, which I do not for the moment believe, this island or a large part of it were subjugated and starving, then our empire beyond the seas, armed and guarded by the British Fleet, will carry on the struggle until in God's good time the New World with all its power and might, sets forth to the liberation and rescue of the Old." - Prime Minister Winston Churchill (after the fall of France)
"You ask, what is our aim? I can answer in one word. It is victory. Victory at all costs. Victory in spite of all terrors. Victory, however long and hard the road may be, for without victory there is no survival." - Prime Minister Winston Churchill
"To have the United States at our side was to me the greatest joy. Now at this very moment I knew the United States was in the war, up to the neck and in to the death. So we had won after all!...Hitler's fate was sealed. Mussolini's fate was sealed. As for the Japanese, they would be ground to powder." - Prime Minister Winston Churchill (after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor)
"You were given the choice between war and dishonor. You chose dishonor and you will have war." - Churchill's remark after Chamberlain returned from signing the Munich pact with Hitler
and
"Britain and France had to choose between war and dishonor. They chose dishonor." - Prime Minister Winston Churchill
"Battles are won by slaughter and maneuver. The greater the general, the more he contributes in maneuver, the less he demands in slaughter." - Winston Churchill
"My most brilliant achievement was my ability to be able to persuade my wife to marry me." - Winston Churchill
http://www.titanfusion.net/infos/quotes.txt
HUMBLE ACTS OF SERVICE
During the dark days of World War II, England had a great deal of difficulty keeping men in the coal mines. It was a thankless kind of Job, totally lacking in any glory. Most chose to join the various military services. They desired something that could give them more social acceptance and recognition. Something was needed to motivate these men in the work that they were doing so that they would remain in the mines.
With this in mind, Winston Churchill delivered a speech one day to thousands of coal miners, stressing to them the importance of their role in the war effort. He did this by painting for them a mental picture. He told them to picture the grand parade that would take place when VE Day came. First, he said, would come the sailors of the British Navy, the ones who had upheld the grand tradition of Trafalgar and the defeat of the Armada. Next in the parade, he said, would come the pilots of the Royal Air Force. They were the ones who, more than any other, had saved England from the dreaded German Lufwaffa. Next in the parade would come the Army, the ones that had stood tall at the crises of Dunkirk.
Last of all, he said, would come a long line of sweat-stained, soot-streaked men in minor's caps. And someone, he said, would cry from the crowd, "And where were you during the critical days of the struggle?" And then from ten thousand throats would come, "We were deep in the earth with our faces to the coal."
We are told that there were tears in the eyes of many of those soot laden and weathered faced coal miners. They had been given a sense of their own self worth by the man at the top.
Service does not always come with big fancy ribbons. And I think that it is forever true, that it is often the humble acts of service that provide us with the deepest sense of joy and the most fulfilling satisfaction. Jesus said those who are willing to lose their life for my said shall find it.
– Brett Blair, www.eSermons.com, Sept 2003.
NEVER GIVE UP ... NEVER ... NEVER ... NEVER!
Sample of Daily Encounter by Dick Innes
"It is God himself, in his mercy, who has given us this wonderful work [of telling his Good News to others], and so we never give up" (2 Corinthians 4:1, TLB).
Some time ago I read the following story about Sir Winston Churchill in Our Daily Bread. Churchill attended grade school at Harrow where he was in the lower third of his class and showed no particular potential. After he graduated he went on to a university and eventually became famous.
Near the end of his life, he was invited back to Harrow to address the student body and was introduced as one of the greatest orators of all time. The students were told to take plenty of notes.
When Sir Winston addressed the boys he said, "Young gentlemen, never give up! Never give up! NEVER GIVE UP! Never! Never! Never! NEVER!" That was his entire address. I'm certain that none of those students ever forgot that advice.
Because of God's promise to you and me: "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you" (Hebrews 13:5, NIV), we, too, can have the confidence to never, never, never give up no matter what.
Suggested prayer: “Dear God, knowing that you will never leave me or forsake me, please help me to be persistent in all that I do, trust my life and way to you in every circumstance, and never, never, never give up. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name. Amen.”
http://www.actsweb.org/encwknd3703.htm
"It so often happens that, when men are convinced that they have to die, a desire to bear themselves well and to leave life’s stage with dignity conquers all other sensations." - Sir Winston S. Churchill
"There is at least one thing worse than fighting with allies – And that is to fight without them!" - Sir Winston S. Churchill
"The power of an air force is terrific when there is nothing to oppose it." - Winston Churchill
"Democracy is the best form of the worst type of government" - Winston Churchill
"A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on." - Winston Churchill
"Courage is rightly esteemed the first of human qualities, because it is the quality that guarantees all others" - Sir Winston S. Churchill
"The Americans will always do the right thing... After they've exhausted all the alternatives." - Winston Churchill
"Arm yourselves, and be ye men of valor, and be in readiness for the conflict; for it is better for us to perish in battle than to look upon the outrage of our nation and our altar." - Prime Minister Winston Churchill
"Never give in--never, never, never, never, in nothing great or small, large or petty, never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy." -Winston Churchill
"We shall defend our island whatever the cost may be; we shall fight on beaches, landing grounds, in fields, in streets and on the hills. We shall never surrender and even if, which I do not for the moment believe, this island or a large part of it were subjugated and starving, then our empire beyond the seas, armed and guarded by the British Fleet, will carry on the struggle until in God's good time the New World with all its power and might, sets forth to the liberation and rescue of the Old." - Prime Minister Winston Churchill (after the fall of France)
"You ask, what is our aim? I can answer in one word. It is victory. Victory at all costs. Victory in spite of all terrors. Victory, however long and hard the road may be, for without victory there is no survival." - Prime Minister Winston Churchill
"To have the United States at our side was to me the greatest joy. Now at this very moment I knew the United States was in the war, up to the neck and in to the death. So we had won after all!...Hitler's fate was sealed. Mussolini's fate was sealed. As for the Japanese, they would be ground to powder." - Prime Minister Winston Churchill (after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor)
"You were given the choice between war and dishonor. You chose dishonor and you will have war." - Churchill's remark after Chamberlain returned from signing the Munich pact with Hitler
and
"Britain and France had to choose between war and dishonor. They chose dishonor." - Prime Minister Winston Churchill
"Battles are won by slaughter and maneuver. The greater the general, the more he contributes in maneuver, the less he demands in slaughter." - Winston Churchill
"My most brilliant achievement was my ability to be able to persuade my wife to marry me." - Winston Churchill
http://www.titanfusion.net/infos/quotes.txt
HUMBLE ACTS OF SERVICE
During the dark days of World War II, England had a great deal of difficulty keeping men in the coal mines. It was a thankless kind of Job, totally lacking in any glory. Most chose to join the various military services. They desired something that could give them more social acceptance and recognition. Something was needed to motivate these men in the work that they were doing so that they would remain in the mines.
With this in mind, Winston Churchill delivered a speech one day to thousands of coal miners, stressing to them the importance of their role in the war effort. He did this by painting for them a mental picture. He told them to picture the grand parade that would take place when VE Day came. First, he said, would come the sailors of the British Navy, the ones who had upheld the grand tradition of Trafalgar and the defeat of the Armada. Next in the parade, he said, would come the pilots of the Royal Air Force. They were the ones who, more than any other, had saved England from the dreaded German Lufwaffa. Next in the parade would come the Army, the ones that had stood tall at the crises of Dunkirk.
Last of all, he said, would come a long line of sweat-stained, soot-streaked men in minor's caps. And someone, he said, would cry from the crowd, "And where were you during the critical days of the struggle?" And then from ten thousand throats would come, "We were deep in the earth with our faces to the coal."
We are told that there were tears in the eyes of many of those soot laden and weathered faced coal miners. They had been given a sense of their own self worth by the man at the top.
Service does not always come with big fancy ribbons. And I think that it is forever true, that it is often the humble acts of service that provide us with the deepest sense of joy and the most fulfilling satisfaction. Jesus said those who are willing to lose their life for my said shall find it.
– Brett Blair, www.eSermons.com, Sept 2003.
NEVER GIVE UP ... NEVER ... NEVER ... NEVER!
Sample of Daily Encounter by Dick Innes
"It is God himself, in his mercy, who has given us this wonderful work [of telling his Good News to others], and so we never give up" (2 Corinthians 4:1, TLB).
Some time ago I read the following story about Sir Winston Churchill in Our Daily Bread. Churchill attended grade school at Harrow where he was in the lower third of his class and showed no particular potential. After he graduated he went on to a university and eventually became famous.
Near the end of his life, he was invited back to Harrow to address the student body and was introduced as one of the greatest orators of all time. The students were told to take plenty of notes.
When Sir Winston addressed the boys he said, "Young gentlemen, never give up! Never give up! NEVER GIVE UP! Never! Never! Never! NEVER!" That was his entire address. I'm certain that none of those students ever forgot that advice.
Because of God's promise to you and me: "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you" (Hebrews 13:5, NIV), we, too, can have the confidence to never, never, never give up no matter what.
Suggested prayer: “Dear God, knowing that you will never leave me or forsake me, please help me to be persistent in all that I do, trust my life and way to you in every circumstance, and never, never, never give up. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name. Amen.”
http://www.actsweb.org/encwknd3703.htm
Saturday, October 15, 2005
Project Progression after PANIC Hits
What happens to most projects after the initial enthusiasm wears off:
Enthusiasm
Disillusionment
PANIC
Search for the guilty
Punishment of the innocent
Praise and reward of the non-participants
What happens to a project after the initial enthusiasm wears off and God's love remains strong:
Enthusiasm
Planning
PANIC
Persistence
Participation
Party (celebration)
"We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose." Romans 8:28
"In all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us." Romans 8:37
(Rev. Osy Nuesch, Sept. 2005)
Enthusiasm
Disillusionment
PANIC
Search for the guilty
Punishment of the innocent
Praise and reward of the non-participants
What happens to a project after the initial enthusiasm wears off and God's love remains strong:
Enthusiasm
Planning
PANIC
Persistence
Participation
Party (celebration)
"We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose." Romans 8:28
"In all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us." Romans 8:37
(Rev. Osy Nuesch, Sept. 2005)
Wednesday, October 12, 2005
Can Cancer Conquer You?
I doubt it … for cancer is so limited.
It cannot cripple love.
It cannot shatter hope.
It cannot corrode faith.
It cannot eat away peace.
It cannot destroy confidence.
It cannot kill friendship.
It cannot shut out memories.
It cannot silence courage.
It cannot invade the soul.
It cannot reduce eternal life.
It cannot quench the Spirit.
It cannot lessen the power of the resurrection.
Author Unknown
It cannot cripple love.
It cannot shatter hope.
It cannot corrode faith.
It cannot eat away peace.
It cannot destroy confidence.
It cannot kill friendship.
It cannot shut out memories.
It cannot silence courage.
It cannot invade the soul.
It cannot reduce eternal life.
It cannot quench the Spirit.
It cannot lessen the power of the resurrection.
Author Unknown
Be a sign for others of joy and Christ-like love
Br. Roger, Parable of Community, Taize Community:
"Open yourself to all that is human and you will find that every vain desire to escape from the world disappears. Be present to your age; adapt yourself to the conditions of the moment. 'Father, I pray you, not to take them out of the world, but to keep them from evil.' (John 17:15) Love the deprived, all who are suffering human injustice and thirsting for justice. Jesus has a special concern for them. Never be afraid of their bothering you.
Love your neighbor, whatever his religious or ideological point of view. Never resign yourself to the scandal of the separation of Christians, all so readily professing love for their neighbor, yet remaining divided. Make the unity of Christ's Body your passionate concern."
Rule of Taize:
"The Lord Christ, in his compassion and his love for you, has chosen you to be in his Church a sign of God's love. It is his will that with your brothers (and sisters) you live the parable of community. So, refusing to look back, and joyful with infinite gratitude, never fear to outsrip the dawn."
David Bryan Hoopes OHC, commenting on Br. Roger's Rule:
"Perhaps a synonym for joy could be well-being. Well-being for a Christian is having the confidence that God's grace will outlast any of our human destruction and is sufficient to quell the turmoil which we create. It grows out of the conviction that the resurrected Christ is alive and very present in our daily life; because He lives, we too live. Being fully alive in Christ keeps us open to love - both giving and receiving it."
"Open yourself to all that is human and you will find that every vain desire to escape from the world disappears. Be present to your age; adapt yourself to the conditions of the moment. 'Father, I pray you, not to take them out of the world, but to keep them from evil.' (John 17:15) Love the deprived, all who are suffering human injustice and thirsting for justice. Jesus has a special concern for them. Never be afraid of their bothering you.
Love your neighbor, whatever his religious or ideological point of view. Never resign yourself to the scandal of the separation of Christians, all so readily professing love for their neighbor, yet remaining divided. Make the unity of Christ's Body your passionate concern."
Rule of Taize:
"The Lord Christ, in his compassion and his love for you, has chosen you to be in his Church a sign of God's love. It is his will that with your brothers (and sisters) you live the parable of community. So, refusing to look back, and joyful with infinite gratitude, never fear to outsrip the dawn."
David Bryan Hoopes OHC, commenting on Br. Roger's Rule:
"Perhaps a synonym for joy could be well-being. Well-being for a Christian is having the confidence that God's grace will outlast any of our human destruction and is sufficient to quell the turmoil which we create. It grows out of the conviction that the resurrected Christ is alive and very present in our daily life; because He lives, we too live. Being fully alive in Christ keeps us open to love - both giving and receiving it."
Tuesday, October 11, 2005
Time and Obsessive Power
"No one has more time or obsessive power than an adolescent male."
~unknown speaker at a computer law seminar, describing an adolescent male who used a credit card number fradulently 12,000 times
1/21/88
~unknown speaker at a computer law seminar, describing an adolescent male who used a credit card number fradulently 12,000 times
1/21/88
Saturday, October 08, 2005
Paul's hope and glory and joy and crown of boasting
18 For we wanted to come to you-- certainly I, Paul, wanted to again and again-- but Satan blocked our way.
19 For what is our hope or joy or crown of boasting before our Lord Jesus at his coming? Is it not you?
20 Yes, you are our glory and joy!
~ 1 Thessalonians 2:18-20
19 For what is our hope or joy or crown of boasting before our Lord Jesus at his coming? Is it not you?
20 Yes, you are our glory and joy!
~ 1 Thessalonians 2:18-20
Bringing Peace to Paradise
British missionary John Williams pioneered the spread of Christianity in the South Pacific by employing the zeal of Polynesian converts.
By Steven Gertz
www.ChristianityToday.com
"One day they will come, with crucifix in one hand and the dagger in the other, to cut your throats or to force you to accept their customs and opinions," wrote the French intellectual Diderot in 1772. "One day under their rule you will be almost as unhappy as they are."
Diderot was sounding the alarm for Tahitians unfamiliar with European colonialism before the English missionary effort in the South Pacific got underway. Could he have witnessed how Christianity actually spread throughout the islands, he might have retracted his dire prediction.
Read this article from the Christian History & Biography website.
http://www.christianitytoday.com/ch/2005/003/12.44.html
By Steven Gertz
www.ChristianityToday.com
"One day they will come, with crucifix in one hand and the dagger in the other, to cut your throats or to force you to accept their customs and opinions," wrote the French intellectual Diderot in 1772. "One day under their rule you will be almost as unhappy as they are."
Diderot was sounding the alarm for Tahitians unfamiliar with European colonialism before the English missionary effort in the South Pacific got underway. Could he have witnessed how Christianity actually spread throughout the islands, he might have retracted his dire prediction.
Read this article from the Christian History & Biography website.
http://www.christianitytoday.com/ch/2005/003/12.44.html
At odds with the Word of God...
"For God's sake, do not put yourself at odds with the Word of God. For truly it will persist as surely as the Rhine follows its course. One can perhaps dam it up for awhile, but it is impossible to stop it."
~ Ulrich Zwingli
Militant Swiss reformer
~ Ulrich Zwingli
Militant Swiss reformer
Thursday, October 06, 2005
Moments of Anger and Fear
Can you accept the moments of anger and fear as guests, be willing to receive them with kindness without feeling obliged to serve them a five-course meal?
~ Christina Feldman in Compassion: Listening to the Cries of the World
To Practice This Thought: Live with your feelings; allow them to arise and to pass, without either rejecting them or becoming overly solicitous toward them.
~ Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat
SpiritualityHealth.com
Anger and fear are like leaves floating down a stream. Sometimes they get stuck on a branch or a rock, but the stream of living water flows on.
~ Truthful Grace
~ Christina Feldman in Compassion: Listening to the Cries of the World
To Practice This Thought: Live with your feelings; allow them to arise and to pass, without either rejecting them or becoming overly solicitous toward them.
~ Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat
SpiritualityHealth.com
Anger and fear are like leaves floating down a stream. Sometimes they get stuck on a branch or a rock, but the stream of living water flows on.
~ Truthful Grace
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)