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George Macdonald

Dec10

George Macdonald was born December 10, 1824. He wrote At the Back of the North WInd, The Light Princess, The Princess and the Goblin, and The Princess and Curdie, all fairy tale/fantasies for children. I’ve read all four of these, and I like best The Light Princess, the story of a princess who was cursed at birth with “no gravity,” both in the iteral and the figurative sense. I tried to read one of Macdonald’s romances a long time ago, but I don’t remember finishing it. C.S. Lewis was quite fond of Macdonald’s adult fantasies, Phantastes and Lilith. I think I also tried one of these long ago but didn’t understand it (which proves that I’m not C.S. Lewis’ intellectual equal, not that I ever thought I was). Macdonald also had a long and successful marriage which produced six sons and five daughters.

Some people think it is not proper for a clergyman to dance. I mean to assert my freedom from any such law. If our Lord chose to represent, in His parable of the Prodigal Son, the joy in Heaven over a repentant sinner by the figure of “music and dancing’, I will hearken to Him rather than to man, be they as good as they may.” For I had long thought that the way to make indifferent things bad, was for good people not to do them.

I wonder how many Christians there are who so thoroughly believe God made them that they can laugh in God’s name; who understand that God invented laughter and gave it to His children… The Lord of gladness delights in the laughter of a merry heart.

Certainly work is not always required of a man. There is such a thing as a sacred idleness – the cultivation of which is now fearfully neglected.

What things are we Christians “making bad” by not participating in them? Should we not be involved in all the “indifferent” aspects of our culture in order to redeem them and bring them under the Lordship of Christ?
Engineer Husband and I had a good laughing time tonight; it was good to laugh together.
And why can’t we all just sit still and be sometimes? I wish Engineer Husband and I could try a little “sacred idleness.” Alas, we can laugh sometimes, but true idleness seems to be beyond our abilities.

John Milton, b. 1608, d. 1674

Dec9

Milton was born December 9th in London. He graduated from Cambridge in 1632, and a few years later he went on a tour of the Continent. When he returned to England, he became a Puritan and a follower of Oliver Cromwell. In 1652 he became completely blind, and his first wife died. He later remarried. He wrote much of his poetry after he became blind.

Those who danced were thought to be quite insane by those who could not hear the music. L’Allegro It seems to me that there a quite a number of people who cannot hear the music these days. He who has ears to hear, let him hear—and dance.

Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake. Samson Agonistes There is good reason to be silent and let some people talk themselves and their ideas into oblivion. Who has the time to argue with the wind, and why?

Here we may reign secure, and in my choice
To reign is worth ambition though in Hell:
Better to reign in Hell, than serve in Heaven. – Paradise Lost
Familiar, but still true. I hear people say all the time–in one way or another–I will not submit. I will do what I want to do. I WILL–no matter where it leads.

Give me the liberty to know, to utter, and to argue freely according to conscience, above all liberties. And this is true liberty, not license. If we do these things, are free to do these things, according to conscience, we will surely come to the Truth , and the Truth shall make us free.

Who overcomes By force, hath overcome but half his foe. Paradise Lost Which is why the job in Iraq is only half-finished. We must leave Iraq better than we found it, and we must demonstrate democracy amd the peace of God before we leave.

Join voices, all ye living souls: ye birds, That singing up to heaven-gate ascend, Bear on your wings and in your notes his praise. Paradise Lost Great idea.

Happy Birthday, Sir

Dec8

Today is the birthday of one of my favorite musicians. See if you can guess who?

1. He was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland.
2. He began his musical career by playing the penny whistle as a small child.
3. He is 65 years old today.
4. He tours extensively playing both classical and popular music.
5. He has collaborated with such musicians as Henry Mancini and John Denver and with actor Liam Neeson.
6. He also performs on several tracks from the soundtrack for “The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King” in a score composed, orchestrated and conducted by Academy Award-winner Howard Shore.
7. Twice Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II of England has honored him, in 1979 with an Order of the British Empire and in 2001 with a Knighthood for services to music.
8. He reminds me of Sean Connery for some reason. I guess it’s the beard.
9. I used to try to play the same instrument that this man plays, but I was a flop.

Natalists?

Dec7

David Brooks calls us “natalists,” people who are having three, four and even more children.

All across the industrialized world, birthrates are falling – in Western Europe, in Canada and in many regions of the United States. People are marrying later and having fewer kids. But spread around this country, and concentrated in certain areas, the natalists defy these trends.

They are having three, four or more kids. Their personal identity is defined by parenthood. They are more spiritually, emotionally and physically invested in their homes than in any other sphere of life, having concluded that parenthood is the most enriching and elevating thing they can do. Very often they have sacrificed pleasures like sophisticated movies, restaurant dining and foreign travel, let alone competitive careers and disposable income, for the sake of their parental calling

And he says, “People who have enough kids for a basketball team are too busy to fight a culture war.” Not quite. I believe I am fighting a culture war every day as I raise my children. I am doing my dead level best to teach them to be “spiritually, emotionally and physically invested in their homes” and to “sacrifice pleasures” for the greater good of the kingdom of God. I pray for them, nurture them, teach them, and love them every single day, and this is how I “fight a culture war.” Culture is made up of people, and a Godly, Christlike culture is made up of people who are committed to living out the life of Christ in all areas of culture. Together we “natalists” can change the culture–peacefully, non-violently–but it’s a struggle nevertheless.

Abigail–A Father’s Joy

Dec6

I found a link to this story in the Houston Chronicle (thanks to Daryl Cobranchi at Homeschool and Other Stuff) about a young couple from Atascocita and their very special baby girl, Abigail. Abigail was born September 22, 2003 with a portion of her brain protruding from her skull; the condition is called encephalocele, and it’s fairly rare and usually fatal. The parents, Jonathan and Elizabeth Rugulieski, are both graduates of homeschools, and both exhibit a maturity not found in mnay couples twice their age.

The Ruguleiskis credit home-schooling for the maturity others see. Jonathan finished high school early and completed one semester at Kingwood College before Abigail’s birth; he hopes to return to college soon.
Elizabeth says spending so much time with her mother helped her to grow up. “My mom was like a best friend. Instead of her coming down to my level, I went up to her level.”

That’s where they came from. Then, there’s this quote that tells where the Ruguleiskis are now:

“He’s my best friend,” Elizabeth says of her husband.
Jonathan nods. “We believe there’s nothing we couldn’t handle together,” he says. “There were a lot of hard times, but it was very minor compared to the good times.”

Somebody ‘Splain

Dec5

Two of the offspring and I went to our favorite hangout, Barnes and Noble, this afternoon. I found the following books in one particular section where I was browsing:

Confessions of a College Freshman by Zach Arrington
Creating Money by Samantha Stevens (On the back of the book the author was described as “a trance channeller, tarot and aura reader.”)
Autobiography of Malcolm X by Alex Haley
Angels and Demons by Dan Brown (author of The DaVinci Code)
Jewish Displaced Persons in Camp Bergen Belsen (I really think this one was misshelved, but it was there.)
The Act of Marriage by Tim LaHaye
Caring for Aged Loved Ones (published by Focus on the Family)
Courting Disaster by Pat Robertson (about the Supreme Court)
Illuminata by Marianne Williamson
Christian Family Guide to Parenting Toddlers
Christian Family Guide to Surviving Divorce

What do all these books have in common? What section of the bookstore was I looking through?
If you guessed “Christian Inspiration,” you would be, amazingly, right. Now I thought about accusing B&N of creating a Christian ghetto for books written from a Christian perspective, no matter what the subject. I was even more convinced of the segregation of books with a Christian worldview when I checked out the “Self-Improvement” section and found these books:

My Grandfather’s Blessings by Rachel Naomi Remen, M.D. (The grandfather of the title was an orthodox Jewish rabbi and student of the Kabbalah.)
Dianetics by L. Ron Hubbard
The Book of Secrets by Deepak Chopra

But there were no self-help books from a Christian perspective that I could find. So we have a “Christian ghetto” for Christian books—or rather for books that are perceived to be Christian. When I look again at the first list of “Christian Inspiration,” I note that several of the books are not Christian at all. No, I don’t think it’s a big conspiracy to protect the pagans from Christianity and infiltrate the Christian world with “aura readers” and Da Vinci codes. I do think that B&N doesn’t “get religion” any better than the mainstream media does. And I do wonder why they can’t shelve the parenting toddlers book from a Christian publisher with the rest of the parenting books, Pat Robertson’s book on the Supreme Court with the other books about American government or current issues, and the aura reader’s book with the rest of the nut cases. Whoops, sorry about that last suggestion. Creating Money belongs in the financial section, of course.
Or alternately, (although it’s not the best solution), B&N could put only Christian books in the “Christian Inspiration” section. I fear that policy would require a level of discernment that’s not easily found in the average bookstore employee.
Next time we visit the bookstore: Semicolon checks out the “Christian Fiction” section of Barnes and Noble to determine whether these fiction books would actually contaminate the “Fiction” section.

Christina Georgina Rossetti

Dec5

Poet Christina Rossetti was born in London December 5, 1830. She was homeschooled, devoutly Anglican, and she never married. Her brother, Dante Gabriel Rossetti was both a poet and a painter. Together with William Morris, John Ruskin, William Holman Hunt, and others, Christina and Dante Gabriel Rossetti were leaders in what came to be called the Pre-Raphelite movement. The Pre-Raphaelites were concerned with medievalism, religious symbolism, and passion and realism in art. I think Eldest Daughter could have been a Pre-Raphaelite.

A Christmas Carol
by Christina Georgina Rossetti

In the bleak mid-winter
Frosty wind made moan,
Earth stood hard as iron,
Water like a stone;
Snow had fallen, snow on snow,
Snow on snow,
In the bleak mid-winter
Long ago.

Our God, heaven cannot hold Him,
Nor earth sustain;
Heaven and earth shall flee away
When He comes to reign:
In the bleak mid-winter
A stable-place sufficed
The Lord God Almighty
Jesus Christ.

Enough for Him whom cherubim
Worship night and day,
A breastful of milk
And a mangerful of hay;
Enough for Him whom angels
Fall down before,
The ox and ass and camel
Which adore.

Angels and archangels
May have gathered there,
Cherubim and seraphim
Thronged the air,
But only His mother
In her maiden bliss
Worshipped the Beloved
With a kiss.

What can I give Him,
Poor as I am?
If I were a shepherd
I would bring a lamb;
If I were a wise man
I would do my part, –
Yet what I can, I give Him,
Give my heart.

Birthdays Commemorated by Me and by Others

Dec1

There were lots of great authors’ birthdays this week that I just couldn’t get around to memorializing.

C.S. Lewis, b. 11/29/1898.
Louisa May Alcott, b. 11/29/1832 Her best books are Eight Cousins and its sequel Rose in Bloom, by the way IMHO.
Madeleine L’Engle, 11/29/1918 I really should have blogged about this one. I really like Madeleine L’engle, especially her books The Love Letters (out of print) and A Severed Wasp. I’m planning on reading A Wrinkle in Time to the children as soon as we finish Johnny Tremain
Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens), b. 11/30/1835
Winston Churchill, b. 11/30/1874.
Jonathan Swift, b. 11/30/1667 Swift should be recognized for writing the essay A Modest Proposal in which he proposes that the poor of Ireland eat their excess children so as to put an end to their poverty. Unfortunately, I am told that some college students who read this proposal in these benighted times do not understand that it is satire and that JS was not seriously advocating the wholesale slaughter of infants for the convenience and enrichment of their parents.
L.M. Montgomery, b. 11/30/1874 Montgomery, of course, wrote the beloved Anne of Green Gables and seven more Anne books in addition to three books about another heroine, Emily of New Moon and various and sundry other books–all of which are favorites among the females around here. Eldest Daughter tried to get her dad to read Anne of Green Gables, but he never quite got into it.
Finally, for today, the author is one of my three favorite mystery writers. (The other two are Dame Agatha and Dorothy Sayers.) I think he’s the best American mystery writer, creator of that dynamic duo, Nero Wolfe and Archie Goodwin. Nero is a 300+ pound genius, and Archie is his legman. Nero is a great detective, but he needs Archie to run errands since The Big Man seldom leaves his brownstone in New York City. The thirty-one Nero Wolfe novels and the multiple short stories are just pure fun–no socially redeeming value at all. If you’ve never read any of these books, I’d suggest you start with Prisoner’s Base or The Mother Hunt, a couple of my favorites.

O Come, O Come Emmanuel

Nov29

According to a book we own called Color the Christmas Classics, this Christmas carol dates back to the time of Emperor Charlemagne of France. It was originally sung in Latin and was an antiphon, “a short liturgical text sung in response to a psalm or other spoken text.” The carol was sung over a period of seven days, from December 17th to the 23rd, in response to a scripture about the brith of Christ read by the priest.

My favorite antiphon:
O Come thou Branch of Jesse! Draw
The quarry from the lion’s claw;
From the dead caverns of the grave
From neither hell thy people save. OR

O come, thou Branch of Jesse’s Tree
Free them from Satan’s tyranny
That trust thy mighty power to save,
And give them Victory o’er the grave.

John Bunyan Was Born November 28, 1628

Nov28

Poetry by Bunyan:

UPON THE SACRAMENTS.
Two sacraments I do believe there be,
Baptism and the Supper of the Lord;
Both mysteries divine, which do to me,
By God’s appointment, benefit afford.
But shall they be my God, or shall I have
Of them so foul and impious a thought,
To think that from the curse they can me save?
Bread, wine, nor water, me no ransom bought.

UPON APPAREL.
God gave us clothes to hide our nakedness,
And we by them do it expose to view.
Our pride and unclean minds to an excess,
By our apparel, we to others show.

And Sherry says, “Amen.”

You can go here to find the online texts of John Bunyan’s many works. And in honor of Bunyan’s birthday, here’s a hymn by John M. Neale written in 1862. We sing a version of this at my church set to a different tune than cyberhymnal gives for it.

O happy band of pilgrims,
If onward you will tread,
With Jesus as your Fellow,
To Jesus as your Head.

O happy if you labor,
As Jesus did for men;
O happy if you hunger
As Jesus hungered then.

The cross that Jesus carried
He carried as your due;
The crown that Jesus weareth
He weareth it for you.

The faith by which you see Him,
The hope in which you yearn,
The love that through all troubles
To Him alone will turn.

The trials that beset you,
The sorrows you endure,
The manifold temptations
That death alone can cure.

What are they but His jewels

Of right celestial worth?
What are they but the ladder
Set up to heaven on earth?

O happy band of pilgrims,
Look upward to the skies,
Where such a light affliction
Shall win you such a prize.

To Father, Son, and Spirit,
The God Whom we adore,
Be loftiest praises given,
Now and for evermore.