partsofspeaking

As you will see from some of my other posts, I went to Maryland on Dec.26-29.  My son and I flew to BWI, a nice airport, and spent three nights with family.  We did not want to sit around or impose, so we determined to do some sightseeing. Not sure I would get there but hoping to, I secured a ticket online for the new Museum of The Bible. Since we took the Metro from New Carrollton Station to the Smithsonian station, we were on the National Mall.  If one wants to walk, one can see a great deal of D.C. attractions in one day, and we have in the past. The Museum of the Bible is about three blocks off the mall, so it is not hard to get to.  I suggest visitors take the Metro and not mess with parking, and if it's a nice day, visitors can see lots of other things.  Unfortunately, this Thursday was not a nice day.  It was below 20 degrees, and windy, so I'm still trying to get warm (it's cold here in North Georgia, too, below freezing, and with that unique damp feeling we get

If you come to this blog and wonder what's going on, I am in another state visiting family. We fly back in tonight.  We had a great day of sightseeing yesterday in 19 degree weather. 

Saturday Night Live has a funny video out on Hallmark movies.  I was ahead of them.  This is a reprint of a post from 2010 on Hallmark.  They haven't changed. I used to say that these Lifetime and Hallmark movies have five plots that are just recycled. I am beginning to think there are fewer. These are the normal elements. 1. Woman as main character. She is thin and beautiful. 2. She is successful but unhappy. She is either a journalist or a lawyer or high power businesswoman 3. She is usually engaged or involved with an obnoxious, much older, controlling, and/or distant man who either has a lot of money or whom she works with. 4. For some reason she has to go to a small town and stay in a bed and breakfast or with a kind family. 5. She meets a hunky guy, who is of course available, very quickly upon coming to the town, but she usually is way uptight and does everything she can to run him off, but he is too good a guy to conclude she's the witch she is

Where and when did we start using the term "we are wired for. ..." ? What in the world does that mean?  Seriously.  We have no wires.  And "wired for" means someone did the wiring. 

This is not a recipe.  Recipes for cookies abound. This post is what I have learned about baking cookies in 62 years.  (Well, in my lifetime.) 1.  The fat (butter, margarine, or Crisco) must be soft, but not melted.  Butter is the best to use, if you have it; Crisco should be used only when the recipe specifies it. I have no opinions on butter-flavored Crisco. 2.  Use exactly the amounts on the recipe.  If you try to skimp on, say sugar to make it less sweet or high calorie, don't eat cookies.  Cookies are fattening.  That's why they exist. 3.  The directions about keeping the dry ingredients separate from the wet ones is valid.  Throwing ingredients in randomly is risky. 4.  Baking soda is not the same as baking powder. 5.  Use a KitchenAid mixture.  Those are the world's greatest inventions for a cook. 6.  Cookies are either rolled and cut or dropped.  Dropped cookies present the challenge of uniformity, so you would do best to have a  scooper (like a melon ball sc

My fat fingers make many mistakes on the iPhone keys.  I was trying to type tournament and the alternative I got was "toe amenities."  What are those?

My mother is buried in a large cemetery in a town to the adjacent north of Chattanooga.  That is vague enough that no one will be too offended by this, if anyone reads it.  I go to her grave about every two weeks, to make sure the flowers are all right, or to replace them (they are Hobby Lobby and Walmart fresh!).  When I visit my mother's grave, I always make sure the rainwater is out of the iron vase; I dust off any grass; I say something to her, and I look around at the nearby graves.  If something is amiss, I correct it.  The other day, while doing that, I decided to look more closely at the writing on the markers (all of which are flat to the ground). This proved interesting. My mother's says "The Lord is My Shepherd."  I think she would have liked that (by the way, markers are ridiculously expensive, another disadvantage of dying).  Near her was a marker that said "Go Vols" under the names of a married couple.  I was taken aback by that.  Who reall

I play many roles, but one of them is as an academic.  As I've written elsewhere, I think the academic culture and lifestyle is a barrier to hearing the gospel. I'm not sure it should be, but it is. The good part of academia is that we value work ethic and the culture is a meritocracy.  We are protective of our disciplines and view ourselves as gatekeepers even if we wouldn't say it that way.  We also know we are smart, well-read, aware.  Knowledge is our job.  Being smart is our job and our identity. On the negative side is that our knowledge is very discipline-specific, usually, but we forget that and think we know a lot about other fields.  And because we are smart, and have obviously come to our conclusions through rigor, anything that counters our conclusions must be wrong. And because of the above, we are self-contained.  We are able to handle things; we don't need help.  It might be concluded that the primary barrier for academics in regard to the gospel

The words!   Lo, how a Rose e’er blooming  From tender stem hath sprung! Of Jesse’s lineage coming, As men of old have sung. It came, a flow’ret bright, Amid the cold of winter, When half spent was the night. Isaiah ’twas foretold it, The Rose I have in mind; With Mary we behold it, The virgin mother kind. To show God’s love aright, She bore to men a Savior, When half spent was the night. This Flow’r, whose fragrance tender With sweetness fills the air, Dispels with glorious splendor The darkness everywhere. True man, yet very God, From sin and death He saves us, And lightens every load. the song:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fUGTzpntLs8

One can enjoy Christmas, or being entrapped and enslaved by it because of foolish expectations.  I chose the former. 

A friend posted a "meme" that said, essentially, that if you want to keep Christ in Christmas, feed the hungry, welcome the lonely, clothe the naked, etc. Indeed. I hear a lot of talk about Christian duty but not much action. Talk is cheap.  I visited a friend today who has a chronic disease and is essentially a shut-in.  No one but family comes to see her (and me occasionally, but not enough). This has gone on for years.  I confess to having been part of a legalistic fundamentalist group when I was younger.  But they did teach me that it's not just about what's in your heart, but what you do.  Just like talk is cheap, heart felt emotion can be cheap, too.  Back then we assumed you went to church two or three times a week--that was what Christians do.  Now once a week is considered a big deal.  Visitation (especially by the pastor) was assumed.  About 3% of churchgoers really tithe. Christians were careful about what they watched on TV and movies, if they we

http://www.christianitytoday.com/news/2017/december/johnson-amendment-repeal-blocked-final-gop-tax-bill-byrd.html Should the Johnson amendment be repealed?  Yes, because it blocks freedom of speech, and anything that does that is evil, constitutionally speaking. I'm surprised it hasn't been struck down by the Supreme Court. Secondly, it isn't working anyway.  Pastors speak about politics all the time and don't get called on it.  It's more of a threat than reality.  However. . . its repeal will encourage some to be bigger loudmouths about politics in the pulpit in a time we should be focusing on the kingdom rather than the state.  But that's the possibility of free speech--things get said that some of us don't like.  Toooooo bad.

I am a bit behind on these and transitioning from carols to thoughts. One of the advent candles stands for hope (the first).  Hope is often conflated with emotion, but it is more than that and only contains, not is, human emotion.  Hope in the Biblical sense is grounded in knowledge, therefore cognitive with emotional effect.  I saw Star Wars the other day ( The Last Jedi ) and one of the themes of the movie is hope.  Hope in what is not clear; hope that the Resistance will win over the "empire" (not called that in this film) seems to be the desired outcome, although realistically (and this is a plot hole) they have been fighting the "empire" or "first order" for years and don't seem to get much traction despite seeming wins.  No matter.  My point is that the hope in this universe is futile because there is no basis for it. The only hope they have is that there will be someone to keep fighting, new bodies to pour into the fight, but not an end

In the spring, I had the flu (for the third time that school year).  I was miserable and went to the doctor for something to get me through it.  I had a UTI.  I had been having a lot of them.  The nurse practitioner made an appointment for me to go to a urologist.  That took until August.  At that appointment, the nurse practitioner for the urologist signed me up for a cystoscopy and a CAT scan of bladder because I had blood in my urine, more than was normal.  (There's usually a little bit for most people, I have been told). In early October I had those two tests.  Nothing was anatomical wrong, so I was sent for physical therapy for the pelvic floor.  I didn't at the time know there was such a thing.  That was helpful; I imagine I will be doing those PT exercises for a long time.  I changed some other habits; different way of consuming water, scheduling bathroom visits, no  iced tea or soda, putting my feet up.  They even massaged my bladder (painful but felt great afterward)

I'm running out of carols I want to post, not because there aren't lots of them but because they are archaic in language and a little heterodox for my taste.  Joseph is an old man, Mary was a perpetual virgin born without sin, etc.  They were real people, according to the Bible.  So, one more, and this will be the end.  I will be without Internet for a few days anyway.  Here Is Joy For Every Age Here is joy for every age, Every generation; Prince and peasant, chief and sage, Every tongue and nation: Every tongue and nation, Every rank and station Hath today salvation, Alle Alleluia. When the world drew near its close, Came out Lord and Leader; From the Lily sprang the Rose, From the Bush the Cedar; From the Bush the Cedar, From the judged the Pleader, From the faint the Feeder: Alle Alleluia. God, that came on earth this morn, In a manger lying, Hallowed birth by being born, Vanquished death by dying; Vanquished death by dying, Rallied back the flying, Ended sin and sighin

As a communication professor, I have to be aware of these things.  I'm reading up on it.  And I can't make a decision.  I am neutral on net neutrality. I see both sides.  I used to be a debate coach, so that's what they do.  I lean toward net neutrality, maybe 51%.  I don't think the anti-neutrality folks make a good enough case that consumers will not be hurt.  At the same time, I don't like federal regulations and do think the big ISP companies should be able to charge their own prices.  If people don't like it, we don't use it.  The problem is that it's hard to find other ISPs in a lot of areas, just like it's hard to find an alternative power or water company.  That's why I lean toward net neutrality.  From what I read though, I think the horrible scenarios aren't going to happen.  Liberals and progressives have become Chicken Little about everything--we're all going to die from whatever the Republicans do.  It gets old. 

Just saw a meme of Forrest Gump.  "Isn't is strange how all the Roy Moore accusers disappeared after the election?"  I liked it.  Not because I think he's guiltless, but because of the media nonsense.  I mean, seriously, this all came out conveniently after there wasn't legally time to change to a different candidate in Alabama. This should have come out in the primary. The other Republicans, Mo Brooks and Luther Strange, probably knew about it but were following Reagan's adage, Thou Shalt Not Speak Ill of Another Republican.  They should have broken it to protect the people, the process, and the party from a terrible candidate.  And Moore was a terrible candidate.  He's weird, ideological, not aware of real laws, perhaps a Dixiecrat, even if he wasn't a predator.  We are better off without him in the Senate.  But that doesn't mean there weren't loads of dirty politics in this whole thing.  It all stinks. The Democrat will get easily beaten

OK, serious spoilers alert.  Do not read if you haven't seen it. Yes, I went about as early as I could have.  I was off work, the first day of Christmas break, and wondrously free of obligations.  My son was going, so I went (he went twice yesterday). It's very good, even for nominal Star Wars fans.  (Me).  I enjoyed every minute of it, lots of suspense because it was clear from the start that it wasn't going to fall on all the usual tropes.  The killing of Snoke, the hologram of Luke, the ploys of Holdo, Benecio del Toro's part, Rey's parents, and several others.  All the best characters still there, Chewy, droids.  Really like the casino planet.  Even the explosions and the strange little birds didn't get on my nerves.  The last planet was cool with the red and white "soil."  Wonderful end with the children. Theme of hope balanced with reality, nothing maudlin but definitely moving.  But as I watched, I did have some questions. 1.  Why does Ky

This one is fun. 1. The holly and the ivy, Now both are full well grown. 1 Of all the trees that are in the wood, The holly bears the crown. Chorus Oh, the rising of the sun, The running of the deer. The playing of the merry organ, Sweet singing in the quire. 2 2. The holly bears a blossom As white as lily flower; And Mary bore sweet Jesus Christ To be our sweet Savior. Chorus 3. The holly bears a berry As red as any blood; And Mary bore sweet Jesus Christ To do poor sinners good. 3 Chorus 4. The holly bears a prickle As sharp as any thorn; And Mary bore sweet Jesus Christ On Christmas day in the morn. Chorus 5. The holly bears a bark As bitter as any gall; And Mary bore sweet Jesus Christ For to redeem us all. Chorus 6. The holly and the ivy, When they are both full grown, 4 Of all the trees that are in the wood, The holly bears the crown. Chorus [7. The rising of the sun And the running of the deer, The playing of the merry

Behold a simple tender babe, In freezing winter night, In homely manger trembling lies: Alas! A piteous sight. 2. The inns are full; no man will yield This little Pilgrim bed; But forced He is with silly beasts In crib to shroud his head.  3. Despise Him not for lying there; First what He is inquire: And orient pearl is often found In depth of dirty mire.  4. Weigh not His crib, His wooden dish, Nor beasts that by Him feed; Weigh not His Mother's poor attire, Nor Joseph's simple weed. 2   (Old word for dress) 5. This stable is a Prince's Court, The crib His chair of state, The beasts are parcel on His pomp, The wooden dish His plate;  6. The persons in that poor attire His royal liveries wear; The Prince Himself is come from heaven, This pomp is prized there.  7. With joy approach, O Christian soul,  Do homage to thy King; And highly praise His humble pomp, Which He from heaven doth bring.' This carol is by Robert Southwell, an Englis

A Welsh carol from the 1700s.   Sleep my child and peace attend thee, All through the night Guardian angels God will send thee, All through the night Soft the drowsy hours are creeping Hill and vale in slumber sleeping, I my loving vigil keeping All through the night. While the moon her watch is keeping All through the night While the weary world is sleeping All through the night O'er they spirit gently stealing Visions of delight revealing Breathes a pure and holy feeling All through the night. Love, to thee my thoughts are turning All through the night All for thee my heart is yearning, All through the night. Though sad fate our lives may sever Parting will not last forever, There's a hope that leaves me never, All through the night.

I went to see this yesterday, mostly because I can't pass up an Agatha Christie.  I am a student of the detective fiction genre.  I'm writing one now, and I'm reading Wilkie Collins, The Moonstone , in which all the tropes of the detective genre are created.  Wilkie doesn't get enough credit; he's a genius.  The narrative technique, the characters, the method, it's all there.  There would have been no Sherlock Holmes without Wilkie Collins, writing much earlier. Anyway, back to the movie.  It's good, worth a watch, but it is not an accurate portrayal of Hercule Poirot, by a long shot.  Poirot is fussy and very fat; he lives in his head and his body enjoys the food; he doesn't chase criminals down bridge scaffolding.  So don't go looking for faithfulness. It was still fun, though, and moving.  I think they changed the ending--(spoiler, but most know the plot)--instead of them all happening to be there, they are recruited and are the only passenger

Someone recently mentioned that with the flood of sexual harassment complaints going back decades and re-surfaced tweets from eight or nine years ago, a new precedent is being set.  Even if the guilty person has grown and changed in the subsequent time, it doesn't matter.  Jobs must be lost and the guilty must be punished.  I'm not talking about ongoing behavior, a la the self-righteous Matt Lauer and pig Harvey Weinstein.  I'm talking about something done when a person was young and stupid and hasn't done for years. The new precedent has a law of unintended consequences:  Why bother to change if what you do is going to follow you forever?  You're doomed; your fate is determined by your mistakes.   I am glad God doesn't hold us to that standard. However, I think we Christian fall into a different type of hyperbole.  I heard a well known speaker say the other day on the radio (oh, we must fill up air time and blogs and websites!) "Herod was living his

I was reading Philippians 2:5-11 for a future teaching assignment and thought that this hymn contains more theological knowledge about the incarnation.  It dates from mid-1800s.  Too many of the Christmas carols get stuck on mangers, barns, and animals rather than the Incarnation's mystery. 1 Thou didst leave Thy throne and Thy kingly crown, When Thou camest to earth for me; But in Bethlehem's home was there found no room For Thy holy nativity. O come to my heart, Lord Jesus, There is room in my heart for Thee. 2 Heaven's arches rang when the angels sang, Proclaiming Thy royal degree; But of lowly birth didst Thou come to earth, And in great humility. O come to my heart, Lord Jesus, There is room in my heart for Thee. 3 The foxes found rest, and the birds their nest In the shade of the forest tree; But Thy couch was the sod, O Thou Son of God, In the deserts of Galilee. O come to my heart, Lord Jesus, There is room in my heart for Thee. 4 Thou cam

This one, by William Chatterton Dix, and whose title is the first line, is sung to "For the Beauty of the Earth."  1. As with gladness men of old Did the guiding star behold; As with joy they hailed its light, Leading onward, beaming bright, So, most gracious Lord, may we Evermore be led by Thee! 2. As with joyful steps they sped, Savior, to Thy lowly bed, There to bend the knee before Thee whom heaven and earth adore, So may we with willing feet Ever seek Thy mercy-seat! 3. As they offered gifts most rare At Thy cradle, rude and bare, So may we with holy joy, Pure and free from sin's alloy, All our costliest treasures bring, Christ, to Thee, our heavenly King! 4. Holy Jesus, every day Keep us in the narrow way; And when earthly things are past. Bring our ransomed souls at last Where they need no star to guide, Where no clouds Thy glory hide. 5. In the heavenly country bright Need they no created light; Thou its Light, its Joy, its Crown, T

A few thoughts:  There are websites where one can find ancient carols, so I don't want to overdo here.  This one is from the 1840s in England, written by a woman who would become a Anglican bishop's wife:  Cecil Alexander.  Cecil is seen as a man's name today, but Beverly used to be a man's name, so these things change. We were supposed to travel this weekend but this sudden snow in North Georgia has prevented that, so I am home to enjoy a weekend by myself of hot chocolate and decorating a tree.  And listening to carols.  Once in Royal David's city    Stood a lowly cattle shed. Where a mother laid her baby    In a manger for His bed. Mary was that mother mild,    Jesus Christ that little child. He came down to earth from Heaven,    Who is God and Lord of all. And his shelter was a stable,    And his cradle was a stall. With the poor and mean and lowly,    Lived on earth our Saviour Holy. And our eyes at last shall see Him    Through His own redee

While Shepherd Watched their Flocks by Night 1. While Shepherds watch'd their Flocks by Night,      All seated on the Ground, The Angel of the Lord came down,      And Glory Shone all around. 2. "Fear not, said he, (for mighty Dread      Had seiz'd their troubled Mind) Glad Tidings of great Joy I bring      To you and all mankind. 3. To you in David's Town this Day     Is born of David's Line,    A Saviour, which is Christ the Lord;     And this shall be the Sign. 4. The heav'nly Babe you there shall find      To human View display'd.     All meanly wrapt in swaddling Bands,     And in a Manger laid. 5.  Thus spake the Seraph, and forthwith       Appeared a shining Throng   Of Angels praising God, and thus       Addressed their joyful Song: 6. "All glory be to God on high,       And to the earth be Peace; Good Will, henceforth, from Heaven to Men       Begin and never cease.

Not so ancient in date, but in spirit.  Note the length and complexity of word and thought. 1. When righteous Joseph wedded was     To Israel's Hebrew maid, The Angel Gabriel came from Heav'n,     And to the Virgin said: Hail, blessed Mary, full of grace,     The Lord remain on thee; Thou shalt conceive and bear a Son,     Our Saviour for to be. Chorus. Then sing your all, both great and small,     Now well, now well, now well; We may rejoice to hear the voice     Of the Angel Gabriel. 2. 'Tis wondrous strange, said Mary then,     I should conceive and breed, Being never touched by mortal man,     But pure in word and deed. The Angel Gabriel thus replied,     'Tis not the work of man, But as the Lord in Heav'n decreed,     Before the world began. Chorus. 3. This Heavenly message she believ'd,     And did to Jury go; There three months with her friends to stay,     God's blessed will to show; And then return'd to Joseph

This one is an audio. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZH2rACpO9zs

Today is born of a virgin He who holds the whole creation in His hand (3x) He whose essence none can touch is bound own swaddling clothes as a Child God who in the beginning established the heavens lies in the a manger He who rained manna on His people in the wilderness is fed on milk from His mother’s breasts The Bridegroom of the Church summons the wise men The Son of the Virgin accepts their gifts We worship Thy birth, O Christ (3x) Show us also Thy Divine Theophany Read more at http://www.patheos.com/blogs/joeljmiller/2012/12/christmas-carol-you-may-have-never-heard/#wzaibuzCkA0zoKF1.99

This was is really not ancient, but from the 19th century, and one of my favorites. In the bleak midwinter, 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 midwinter, 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 midwinter a stable place sufficed the Lord God Almighty, Jesus Christ. Angels and archangels may have gathered there, cherubim and seraphim thronged the air; but his mother only, in her maiden bliss, worshiped 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.

This year I am going to post "ancient" things.  Here is a song, There is a Blossom Sprung of a Thorn" found on this site,  The language is archaic, but it gives a sense of what historically the church has thought of the Nativity.  We like to think our modern conservative theological positions have always been the norm, but not always. 1. There is a Blossom sprung of a thorn, To save mankind that was forlorn, As the prophets said beforn,     Deo Patri sit gloria! 2. There sprang a well at Mary's foot, That turned all this world to boot; 1 Of her took Jesus flesh and blood,     Deo Patri sit gloria! 3. From that well there stretched a stream, Out of Egypt into Bethlehem; God through His highness turned it again,     Deo Patri sit gloria! 4. There were three kings of diverse lands, They thought a thought that was strong, Him to seek and thank among.     Deo Patri sit gloria! 5. They came richly with their presents, With gold, myrrh and frankincen

I blog advent posts every year.  This year it will be traditional things.  Here is the ancient (600s) hymn Creator of the Stars of Night." It is, like many of that period, distinctly Trinitarian. Creator of the stars of night, Thy people’s everlasting light, Jesu, Redeemer, save us all, And hear Thy servants when they call. Thou, grieving that the ancient curse Should doom to death a universe, Hast found the medicine, full of grace, To save and heal a ruined race. Thou cam’st, the Bridegroom of the bride, As drew the world to evening-tide; Proceeding from a virgin shrine, The spotless Victim all divine. At Whose dread Name, majestic now, All knees must bend, all hearts must bow; And things celestial Thee shall own, And things terrestrial, Lord alone. O Thou Whose coming is with dread To judge and doom the quick and dead, Preserve us, while we dwell below, From every insult of the foe. To God the Father, God the Son, And God the Spirit, Three in O