Musical Monday: Ingrid

Coming to The Pageant on July 16:

The Earth Adorned

The earth adorned in verdant robe
sends praises upward surging,
while soft winds breathe on fragrant flowers
from winter now emerging.
The sunshine bright gives warmth and light
to budding blossoms tender,
proclaiming summer splendor.

    From out the wood, the birds now sing
    and each its song now raises,
    to join with all the universe 
    in voicing thankful praises.
    With hope and joy their songs employ
    a rapturous exultation
    in praise of God's creation.

O God, amid these joys of life, 
creation's glory beaming,
grant us the grace to keep your word
and live in love redeeming.
All flesh is grass, the flowers fade,
and time is fleeting ever;
God's word remains forever. 

Waldeman Ahlen (trans. Carolyn and Kenneth Jennings)

A Mother's Prayer

At Grant's baby shower 18 years ago, my sister, Sherre, gave me a cassette with this song, which Grant and I listened to daily during his infancy.  I prayed this prayer for him over and over again throughout his childhood, and I'm praying it for him today as he prepares to leave us on Monday:  (the video is irrelevant, but this is the only recording I could find of this song)

May he have the faith of Abraham

May he have the boldness of Paul
May he have a heart like David
Always seeking God.


May he have the wisdom of Solomon
May he have the patience of Job
May he be a leader like Joshua
Always full of hope.


May he have the courage of Daniel
May he have the love of John
May he know your voice like Samuel
Always obey God.

Father God, bless my son
May he grow to be a man of God.

A Man's Requirements

BY ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING

I

Love me Sweet, with all thou art,

   Feeling, thinking, seeing;

Love me in the lightest part,

   Love me in full being.

II

Love me with thine open youth

   In its frank surrender;

With the vowing of thy mouth,

   With its silence tender.

III

Love me with thine azure eyes,

   Made for earnest granting;

Taking colour from the skies,

   Can Heaven’s truth be wanting?

IV

Love me with their lids, that fall

   Snow-like at first meeting;

Love me with thine heart, that all

   Neighbours then see beating.

V

Love me with thine hand stretched out

   Freely—open-minded:

Love me with thy loitering foot,—

   Hearing one behind it.

VI

Love me with thy voice, that turns

   Sudden faint above me;

Love me with thy blush that burns

   When I murmur Love me!

VII

Love me with thy thinking soul,

   Break it to love-sighing;

Love me with thy thoughts roll

   On through living—dying.

VIII

Love me when in thy gorgeous airs,

   When the world has crowned thee;

Love me, kneeling at thy prayers,

   With the angels round thee.

IX

Love me pure, as musers do,

   Up the woodlands shady:

Love me gaily, fast and true

   As a winsome lady.

X

Through all hopes that keep us brave,

   Farther off or nigher,

Love me for the house and grave,

   And for something higher.

XI

Thus, if thou wilt prove me, Dear,

   Woman’s love no fable.

I will love thee—half a year—

   As a man is able.

Pinterest Recipes

Here are some recipes I've tried from Pinterest, along with my opinion of them:

Homemade Ice Cream in a Baggie:

This continues to make the rounds on Pinterest, but I actually tried it and it was a colossal failure!  1) It took about 25 minutes for the ice cream to even begin to solidify and my hands were in absolute misery from the cold.  2)  The ice cubes beat holes in the ice cream baggie, causing water and salt to leak into the cream bag and the cream to leak out of its bag!  Ugh.  I stopped and double bagged the cream, but it still wasn't effective.

Gotta give this one a thumbs down, Big Time.  Love the idea...but not the results.

Ultimate Pretzel-Crusted Peanut-Butter-Cookie-Candy Brownie Bars

I've made these 4 times already for a variety of parties, and they have been a hit every time.  My oldest son thinks they're a bit much, but he's the exception.  These are a little time-consuming to put together because there are so many layers, but it's worth the effort if you have teenaged boys around.  You'll be The Cool Mom.

Ultimate Chocolate Chip 'n Oreo Fudge Brownie Bars 

This one is similar, in theory, to the previous recipe, and was really good too!  The oreos remain rather crunchy, so they're almost impossible to eat with a fork, but they're almost too messy to eat by hand...but worth the effort or mess, one way or another. 

Buttersnap Turtles

These are a quick, easy treat that will disappear almost as quickly as you can put them together!   I made some with pecans, but since many kids/teens seem to reject nuts, I made the majority with another pretzel smashed on top instead of a pecan.  Both were yummy!  

Have you noticed a pattern emerging?  All of the recipes are chock full of SUGAR!?!  Yes.  That's because...umm...NOT because I'm addicted!!...it's because...I have to feed teen boys and THEY love sugar.  It's all for them.  No, really.

Feeling Sentimental...

Musical Monday: The Three Pickers

As the gentlemen at the end says: "Mighty purty."

A Hymn for Pentecost

Come Down, O Love Divine

Words: Bianca of Siena (circa 1425)

Music: Ralph Vaughn Williams - Down Ampney

Come down, O love divine, seek Thou this soul of mine,
And visit it with Thine own ardor glowing.
O Comforter, draw near, within my heart appear,
And kindle it, Thy holy flame bestowing.


O let it freely burn, til earthly passions turn
To dust and ashes in its heat consuming;
And let Thy glorious light shine ever on my sight,
And clothe me round, the while my path illuming.


Let holy charity mine outward vesture be,
And lowliness become mine inner clothing;
True lowliness of heart, which takes the humbler part,
And o’er its own shortcomings weeps with loathing.


And so the yearning strong, with which the soul will long,
Shall far outpass the power of human telling;
For none can guess its grace, till he become the place
Wherein the Holy Spirit makes His dwelling.

Filming Grace

When I decided to rent The Grace Card, I was determined to lay aside my preconceived bias against "overtly Christian" movies, which nearly always lack depth and artistry.  Unfortunately, this movie only reinforced that bias.

My primary objection to this and other recent "Christian" films (Facing the Giants, Fireproof, etc.), is the false, happy-clappy assertion that as soon as anyone trusts Christ, everything works out right.

In The Grace Card, "all things work together for good" means that the Christian wife always says the right thing with the right inflection, body language and motive, while her Christian husband always responds with humility and a gracious spirit.  Their Christian children are perpetually cheerful and obedient.  Knowing Christ = the absence of sin, trouble, conflict, and hardship.  

In the opposite corner, we have the UN-Christian family whose eldest son dies an untimely death, whose only other son ends up near-death as a result of his rebellious lifestyle, and whose abusive, loveless marriage is shattering.  However, as soon as the father calls on Jesus, his son is rescued from the brink of death and their very broken, estranged relationship is instantly healed.  He and his wife suddenly and miraculously love each other.  His lifelong, racist attitude is reversed so dramatically that we find him and his family sitting, as the lone white occupants, worshipping comfortably on the front row of an all-black church where...drumroll, please...the criminal responsible for his first son's death, seeks him out and asks for forgiveness which he...of course... symbolically grants by handing him a "Grace Card" with this inscription:

“I promise to pray for you every day, ask your forgiveness, grant you the same, and be your friend always.”

That may all sound really sweet and lovely...the way things ought to be.  But it portrays an emotional, sappy, shallow Christianity that I find embarrassing.  Trusting in Christ becomes a magic talisman that dissipates trials.

Now...the movie wasn't entirely without merit, and I assume the film's writers, producers, actors, sponsors, etc., had faithful intentions and truly desired to forward the cause of grace and its power to radically change lives.  But I am a firm believer in the marriage of content with form and, quite frankly, Christians need to master the art form of narrative, script writing, and cinematography if they're going to gain respect and a voice.

For now, if you'd like to experience an artful story of grace, I recommend Get Low with Robert Duvall.  It isn't exciting or sensational, but it is wonderfully comic at times...charming...warm-hearted.  You won't be spoon-fed a message, nor will you hear a pedantic presentation of The Gospel.  In fact, forgiveness and grace come slowly, subtly, and late for Duvall's character, but its arrival carries a power and beauty which affects a quiet, but thoroughgoing, transformation of The Guilty One.  The gospel of grace and redemption shines beautifully through this story.

Musical Monday: Sara Watkins

A sober, bare-bones performance by Sara Watkins, formerly of Nickel Creek:

Ascension Sunday

Ascension by John Donne

Salute the last and everlasting day, Joy at th' uprising of this Sun, and Son, Ye whose true tears, or tribulation Have purely wash'd, or burnt your drossy clay. Behold, the Highest, parting hence away, Lightens the dark clouds, which He treads upon ; Nor doth He by ascending show alone, But first He, and He first enters the way. O strong Ram, which hast batter'd heaven for me ! Mild Lamb, which with Thy Blood hast mark'd the path ! Bright Torch, which shinest, that I the way may see ! O, with Thy own Blood quench Thy own just wrath ; And if Thy Holy Spirit my Muse did raise, Deign at my hands this crown of prayer and praise.

Calvin on Christ's Ascension

Jesus is at the right hand of God in this nature which He assumed with us...He is always ready to stretch out to us His hand, and we must be certain that, although we suffer for a time, the end of it will be for our salvation. That is what must be understood when His Ascension is spoken of. Thus, since He has gone up there, and is in heaven for us, let us note that we need not fear to be in this world.

It is true that we are subject to so much misery that our condition is pitiable, [but] we look to our Head Who is already in heaven, and say, “Although I am weak, there is Jesus Christ Who is powerful enough to make me stand upright.


Although I am feeble, there is Jesus Christ who is my strength.


Although I am full of miseries, Jesus Christ is in immortal glory and what He has will some time be given to me and I shall partake of all His benefits."

Yes, the devil is called the prince of this world. But what of it? Jesus Christ holds him in check; for He is King of heaven and earth.

There are devils above us in the air who make war against us. But what of it? Jesus Christ rules above, having entire control of the battle. Thus, we need not doubt that He gives us the victory.

I am here subject to many changes, which may cause me to lose courage. But what of it? The Son of God is my Head, Who is exempt from all change. I must, then, take confidence in Him.”

Ascension Liturgy

(Giotto)

Pastor:  The cross on which our captain was fastened as to a mast,

Congregants:  Has become the rudder of our shipwrecked nature.

Pastor:  The cross steers us to the heavenly harbor.

Congregants:  For our captain has triumphed!  He has guided us home.

Pastor:  Therefore, rejoice!  Look today to the second Adam.

Congregants:  He has been received into the highest heaven.

Pastor:  Christ's ascension is our uplifting.

Congregants:  We have gained more in the new Adam than we lost in the first.

Pastor:  In Christ, WE have penetrated the heights of heaven.

Congregants:  In his ascending, WE are received into the Father's house.

Jesus Ascended

I thought I would share a few quotes from Gerrit Dawson's book, Jesus Ascended, in which he thoughtfully lays out the significance and implications of Christ's ascension into heaven as an embodied Man...flesh and blood intact.  

His bodily ascension means that the Man, Jesus Christ, "retains an affinity with our frailty, even now," because He is forever united to our humanity.

The Godhead is not stripped of humanity, but adorned with it.  The incarnation was not a lightning strike that is brilliant one moment but gone the next.  No - though he is in heaven, he remains one of us, wearing the clothes of flesh he acquired on earth, even unto eternity.  (p43)

Head & Firstfruits: the way into the Father's presence has been opened because where the Head goes, the Body follows. 

In the ascension, Christ Jesus opens heaven.  As he passes through the gates, the way is made for human beings, in him, also to pass into that communion heretofore blocked by sin and moral frailty. (p65)

Ascending in the glorified skin and bones of our nature, Jesus guarantees in his very person what we will become...  Not only does Christ send the Spirit as a pledge in our hearts, he bears in himself the guarantee of what we will become in union with Christ.  (p88)

...our firstfruits ascended up to heaven, and taking up the flesh from us took possession of his Father's throne in order that He might work reconciliation for His servants, destroy the old enmity, and bestow freely upon the men of earth the peace of the powers above. (p112, Chrysostom)

Priesthood & Intercession:

The Son of God passed through the earth to gather his lost and mortally wounded children.  Through the sewers of human sin he strode, picking us up, we who were bound for the grave.  He carried us upstream on his back, through the filthy waters of our defiance and corruption.  Jesus brought us through death and into the place of healing and communion.  He passed through the veil and into the Father's presence, in our name and on our behalf.  The ascension brings our humanity out of the sewers of sin and into the Father's house, the place of union and communion.  This is the essence of priesthood. (p119)

We require a constant advocacy, a dynamic ministry of the mediator to hold us continually in union with him.  The sin offering on the cross was indeed once and for all.  But his life of intercession on our behalf consists of the self-offering he has made continuously from all eternity and now makes not only as the Son of God, but also as the Son of Man, eternally incarnate in the power of the Holy Spirit.  Our sanctification depends on the dynamic, continual intercessions of the Son at the right hand of the Father... (p132)

As we pray in faith, Christ takes our prayers, cleanses them, makes them his prayers to the Father, presenting us in himself to the Father, and makes his prayers our prayers...  (p140)

Dual Citizenship:

We strive to set our minds on heaven at the same time as we plunge into the world with the message of grace.  We sojourn as aliens among people not our own, yet for whom we lay down our lives in hope that they will become our own brothers and sisters.  We strive to maintain our core identity as citizens of heaven even as we interact with the City of Babylon that sets itself up as independent of God.  (p145)

As citizens of the City of God, we may participate in the life of the world, striving with it, thankful for it, bruised by it, hoping for it, knowing this is not our truest home.  We do not possess anything and so we possess everything.  For we belong to Christ and all things are his.  (p159)

Musical Monday: Sleepy Man Banjo Boys

Musical Monday: Ray LaMontagne

Grateful for friends who introduce me to artists like Ray LaMontagne: (music begins at 1:00)

Do You Believe in Magic?

Musical Monday: Pokey & the South City Three

Here's how one fan describes Pokey:


"...his slight frame is packed with Southern charm the relentless drive of a Wall Street tycoon, the mischievous spirit of every class clown you've ever known, and what seems like, one very old soul."

Seven Stanzas At Easter

Seven Stanzas At Easter

byJohn Updike

Make no mistake: if He rose at all 

it was as His body;
if the cells' dissolution did not reverse, the molecules
reknit, the amino acids rekindle,
the Church will fall.

It was not as the flowers,
each soft Spring recurrent;
it was not as His Spirit in the mouths and fuddled
eyes of the eleven apostles;
it was as His flesh: ours.

The same hinged thumbs and toes,
the same valved heart
that--pierced--died, withered, paused, and then
regathered out of enduring Might
new strength to enclose.

Let us not mock God with metaphor,
analogy, sidestepping, transcendence;
making of the event a parable, a sign painted in the
faded credulity of earlier ages:
let us walk through the door.

The stone is rolled back, not papier-mache,
not a stone in a story,
but the vast rock of materiality that in the slow
grinding of time will eclipse for each of us
the wide light of day.

And if we will have an angel at the tomb,
make it a real angel,
weighty with Max Planck's quanta, vivid with hair,
opaque in the dawn light, robed in real linen
spun on a definite loom.

Let us not seek to make it less monstrous,
for our own convenience, our own sense of beauty,
lest, awakened in one unthinkable hour, we are
embarrassed by the miracle,
and crushed by remonstrance.

A Better Resurrection

BY CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

I have no wit, no words, no tears;

         My heart within me like a stone

Is numb'd too much for hopes or fears;

         Look right, look left, I dwell alone;

I lift mine eyes, but dimm'd with grief

         No everlasting hills I see;

My life is in the falling leaf:

         O Jesus, quicken me.

My life is like a faded leaf,

         My harvest dwindled to a husk:

Truly my life is void and brief

         And tedious in the barren dusk;

My life is like a frozen thing,

         No bud nor greenness can I see:

Yet rise it shall—the sap of Spring;

         O Jesus, rise in me.

My life is like a broken bowl,

         A broken bowl that cannot hold

One drop of water for my soul

         Or cordial in the searching cold;

Cast in the fire the perish'd thing;

         Melt and remould it, till it be

A royal cup for Him, my King:

         O Jesus, drink of me.

O Most Villainous Villain!

I just read Shakespeare's Othello for the first time.  Perhaps I never would have read it, but   the Shakespeare Festival of St. Louis is performing it this summer at Forest Park and I wanted to be familiar with the storyline.  Wow.

I may have just been introduced to Shakespeare's most villainous villain!  Iago is a wicked man. When passed over for a promotion, he begins plotting the destruction of friend and foe alike...and if you know Shakespeare, you know how that's bound to turn out!

MacBeth's tragedy unfolds through a desperate grasp for power, Hamlet's through a driving desire for revenge, but the tragedy in Othello comes through the outworking of overwhelming jealousies: both Iago's, as well as false snares of jealousy which he lays out for others.

I was excited to learn that Bruce Longworth, who directed Hamlet a couple years ago, is filling that role again.  Though the cast is missing the talents of Jim Butz, I expect Mr. Longworth will do great things once again.  

Join me?  

The Triumph of Easter

The Triumph of Easter 

(an excerpt)

by: Dorothy Sayers

When Judas sinned, Jesus paid; He brought good out of evil, He led out triumph from the gates of hell and brought all mankind out with Him; but the suffering of Jesus and the sin of Judas remain a reality. God did not abolish the fact of evil: He transformed it. He did not stop the crucifixion: He rose from the dead. 

"Then Judas, which had betrayed Him, when he saw that He was condemned,... cast down the pieces of silver in the temple, and departed, and went and hanged himself." And thereby Judas committed the final, the fatal, the most pitiful error of all; for he despaired of God and himself and never waited to see the Resurrection. Had he done so, there would have been an encounter, and an opportunity, to leave invention bankrupt; but unhappily for himself, he did not. In this world, at any rate, he never saw the triumph of Christ fulfilled upon him, and through him, and despite of him. He saw the dreadful payment made, and never knew what victory had been purchased with the price.

All of us, perhaps, are too ready, when our behaviour turns out to have appalling consequences, to rush out and hang ourselves. Sometimes we do worse, and show an inclination to go and hang other people. Judas, at least, seems to have blamed nobody but himself, and St. Peter, who had a minor betrayal of his own to weep for, made his act of contrition and waited to see what came next. What came next for St. Peter and the other disciples was the sudden assurance of what God was, and with it the answer to all the riddles.

If Christ could take evil and suffering and do that sort of thing with them, then of course it was all worth while, and the triumph of Easter linked up with that strange, triumphant prayer in the Upper Room, which the events of Good Friday had seemed to make so puzzling. As for their own parts in the drama, nothing could now alter the fact that they had been stupid, cowardly, faithless, and in many ways singularly unhelpful; but they did not allow any morbid and egotistical remorse to inhibit their joyful activities in the future.

Now, indeed, they could go out and "do something" about the problem of sin and suffering. They had seen the strong hands of God twist the crown of thorns into a crown of glory, and in hands as strong as that they knew themselves safe. They had misunderstood practically everything Christ had ever said to them, but no matter: the thing made sense at last, and the meaning was far beyond anything they had dreamed. They had expected a walk-over, and they beheld a victory; they had expected an earthly Messiah, and they beheld the Soul of Eternity.

It had been said to them of old time, "No man shall look upon My face and live"; but for them a means had been found. They had seen the face of the living God turned upon them; and it was the face of a suffering and rejoicing Man.

From St. John's Passion

From the bonds of my sins to unbind me, my Salvation is bound. To heal me fully from all boils of vice He lets Himself be wounded.

O my senses, where have you finally gone!  Where shall I restore myself?  Shall I stay here, or do I wish mountains and hills to fall upon my back?  With the world there is no counsel at all, while in my heart persist the agonies of my misdeed, for the servant has denied his lord.

Give thought, my soul, with anguished pleasure, with bitter delight and half-anxious heart, to thy highest good in Jesus' sorrows, how from the thorns that pierce him heavenly flowers bloom for thee.  Thou canst pluck much sweet fruit from the bitter wormwood, therefore look unceasingly upon him.

Consider how his blood-tinged back in all its parts is just like the sky, where, after the floodwaves of our sins' deluge have passed by, the most exceedingly beautiful rainbow stands as a sign of God's grace.

Through your captivity, Son of God, freedom must come to us.  Your prison cell is the throne of grace, the refuge of all the devout.  For if you had not entered into servitude, our servitude would have had no end.

Hasten, you tormented souls, leave your dens of misery.  Hasten!  Where to?  To Golgotha!  Take the wings of faith and fly!  Where to?  To the hill of the cross!  That is where your powers will be revived.

At the bottom of my heart your name and cross alone shine forth every minute of every day, for which I can be joyful.  Show me in my mind's eye - for consolation in my distress - how you, Christ, so abundantly bled to death!

My precious Savior, let me ask you: Since you were nailed to the cross and have yourself said, "It is accomplished," have I been made free from death?  Can I, through your pain and death, inherit the kingdom of heaven?  Is the redemption of the world here?  You can, in agony, it is true, say nothing, but you bow your head and say in silence, "Yea."

O help, Christ, Son of God, through your bitter suffering that we, ever submissive to you, may shun all wrongdoing.  May consider, to our benefit, your death and its cause for which we, though poor and weak, may bring you thank-offerings.

Punctuation Matters

From my friend, Randy Stone:

An English professor wrote the words, "Woman without her man is nothing" on the blackboard and directed his students to punctuate it correctly.

The men wrote: 

"Woman, without her man, is nothing."

The women wrote: 

"Woman: Without her, man is nothing."

A Poem

Soldier Sacrifice

By Eric Shaffer

If you have the strength of a thousand men

And the courage of a lion;

If you can handle the unpredictable seas

And have an iron fortress of a stomach;

If you have the honor to fight 

And the will power to leave the ones you love;

If you have the agility of a cheetah 

And the intelligence of a computer;

If you have the dedication to keep on when all others have failed

And the discipline to go the extra mile; 

If you have the love to leave no man behind

And the kindness to protect the innocent;

If you have all of these admirable traits

Then you could be one of the few…. a Marine.