Tuesday, October 10, 2017
October in Northern Arizona
Monday, October 2, 2017
Creations
(October 31, 2017 is the 500th anniversary of the Lutheran/Protestant Reformation. It is said that on this date, Dr. Martin Luther posted 95 Theses, statements of discussion, on a church door. At any rate, we do know that these 95 Theses, first written in Latin, were quickly distributed among the populace in German. Luther wrote a lot of hymns. This one, while not as well-known as "A Might Fortress", makes suitable poetry on a nature-lover's, creation-oriented page.)
We all believe in one true God,
Who created earth and heaven,
The Father, who to us in love
Hath the right of children given.
He both soul and body feedeth,
All we need He doth provide us;
He through snares and perils leadeth,
Watching that no harm betide us.
He careth for us day and night,
All things are governed by His might.
We all believe in Jesus Christ,
His own Son, our Lord, possessing
An equal Godhead, throne, and might,
Source of every grace and blessing.
Born of Mary, virgin mother,
By the power of the Spirit,
Made true man, our elder Brother,
That the lost might life inherit;
Was crucified for sinful men
And raised by God to life again.
We all confess the Holy Ghost,
Who sweet grace and comfort giveth
And with the Father and the Son
In eternal glory liveth;
Who the Church, His own creation,
Keeps in unity of spirit.
Here forgiveness and salvation
Daily come through Jesus' merit.
All flesh shall rise, and we shall be
In bliss with God eternally. Amen.
--by Martin Luther, 1525
A Secular Take on Luther & Viral Trends
Sunday, September 3, 2017
Fountain of Life
These pictures are from Fossil Creek in Northern Arizona. The waterfall and pool make me think of "Cauldron Pool" in The Last Battle, Book 7 of "The Chronicles of Narnia."
from Psalm 36
Your love, O Yahweh, reaches to the heavens,
Your faithfulness to the clouds.
Your righteousness is like the mountains of God,
Your judgements are like the great deep.
You, O Yahweh, preserve both people and animals.
How priceless is your unfailing love, O God!
Humanity's children take refuge in the shadow of Your wings...
You give them drink from Your river of delights.
For with You is the fountain of life;
in Your light we see light.
Your faithfulness to the clouds.
Your righteousness is like the mountains of God,
Your judgements are like the great deep.
You, O Yahweh, preserve both people and animals.
How priceless is your unfailing love, O God!
Humanity's children take refuge in the shadow of Your wings...
You give them drink from Your river of delights.
For with You is the fountain of life;
in Your light we see light.
Labels:
Biblical poetry,
birds,
clouds,
joy,
justification,
light,
love,
mountains,
rocks,
sanctification,
water
Tuesday, August 1, 2017
North Rim Grand Canyon
[July 2017 vacation]
Some things are poetry without words!
Angel's Window, on of the few places to see the Colorado River from the North Rim.
(Look closely through the window on the close-up.)
There is also the escaped buffalo herd from a failed cattle-buffalo crossing experiment over 100 years ago. (They have some cattle DNA.)
"In His hand are the depths of the earth;
The peaks of the mountains are His also." (Psalm 95:4)
"...He who was seated on the throne said,
'See, I am making all things new...
To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment.'
He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more,
neither shall there be mourning,
nor crying, nor pain anymore,
for the former things have passed away.”
(Revelation 21:5,6b,4)
Saturday, July 1, 2017
Natural Wonders of America
The U.S. Flag featured at some of our public lands for the Fourth of July
(uncredited internet photos)
Southern Swamps |
Avenue of Flags
Mount Rushmore National Monument, SD
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Storms moving in... |
Bryce Canyon National Park, UT |
Grand Canyon National Park, AZ |
Half Dome at Yosemite Nat'l Park. CA |
Folding the Flag
at Ft. McHenry National Monument, MD
(where "The Star-Spangled Banner" was written)
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Friday, June 2, 2017
Saturday, April 1, 2017
Easter
[from The Temple]
Rise, heart, thy lord is risen. Sing his praise
Without delays,
Who takes thee by the hand, that thou likewise
With him may'st rise:
That, as his death calcined* thee to dust,
His life may make thee gold, and, much more, just.
Awake, my lute, and struggle for thy part
With all thy art,
The cross taught all wood to resound his name
Who bore the same.
His stretched sinews** taught all strings what key
Is best to celebrate this most high day.
Consort, both heart and lute, and twist a song
Pleasant and long;
Or, since all music is but three parts*** vied
And multiplied
Oh let thy blessed Spirit bear a part,
And make up our defects with his sweet art.
******
--George Herbert, Welsh-Anglican Priest (1633)
Rise, heart, thy lord is risen. Sing his praise
Without delays,
Who takes thee by the hand, that thou likewise
With him may'st rise:
That, as his death calcined* thee to dust,
His life may make thee gold, and, much more, just.
Awake, my lute, and struggle for thy part
With all thy art,
The cross taught all wood to resound his name
Who bore the same.
His stretched sinews** taught all strings what key
Is best to celebrate this most high day.
Consort, both heart and lute, and twist a song
Pleasant and long;
Or, since all music is but three parts*** vied
And multiplied
Oh let thy blessed Spirit bear a part,
And make up our defects with his sweet art.
******
I got me flowers to straw**** thy way;
I got me boughs off many a tree:
But thou wast up by break of day,
And brought’st thy sweets along with thee.
The Sunne***** arising in the East,
Though he give light, & th’ East perfume;
If they should offer to contest
With thy arising, they presume.
Can there be any day but this,
Though many sunnes***** to shine endeavour?
We count three hundred, but we misse:
There is but one, and that one ever.******
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--George Herbert, Welsh-Anglican Priest (1633)
*calcined: Reduced to lime or other substance. (Oxford English Dictionary.) In this case reduced to our lowest commonest denominator, dust, of which we all are made.
**stretched sinew: Christ on the cross. Crucifixion stretches the sinews & ligaments horribly. Herbert, a lute player, compares this to the strings of a stringed instrument.
*** three parts: Most chords have only 3 different notes which are repeated, multiplied, at different octaves in different voices or instruments.
Note on Form: Herbert’s poems sometimes take a double-poem organization with two separate stanza forms. Because he played the lute and was familiar with popular songs of his day, he may have adapted this two-part structure. He may even have intended the poems to be sung.
****straw: "strew", scatter without plan
*****Sunne/sunnes: Old spelling for "Sun"
******The" Son" of God (Jesus) is the one and only Eternal "Sun". (Cp. Malachi 4:2; the "Sun of Righteousness [Messiah] shall rise with healing in His wings.)
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Labels:
Crucifixion,
death,
Easter,
eternal,
eternity,
flowers,
Holy Spirit,
Jesus Christ,
music,
Resurrection,
sun,
sunrise,
temporal,
trees
Saturday, March 11, 2017
Flowers at Home
If this is how nature looks while it's "groaning" (Romans 8; and we live in a desert, so we do see nature groan at its worst!), how much better will heaven be?
BACKYARD: Prickly pear cacti, African daisies, sunflower (another not blooming).
green bean plant (base of sunflower), pumpkin plant (foreground), marigolds (foreground)
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OLD ROSE (bred for desert life): Closer to "wild rose."
Related to fruit tree family (plum, apple, cherry, etc.)
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Wednesday, March 1, 2017
From St Patrick
God, my God, omnipotent King, I humbly adore thee.
Thou
art King of kings, Lord of lords. Thou art the Judge of every age.
Thou art the
Redeemer of souls.
Thou art the Liberator of those who believe.
Thou art the
Hope of those who toil.
Thou art the Comforter of those in sorrow.
Thou art the
Way to those who wander.
Thou art Master to the nations.
Thou art the Creator
of all creatures.
Thou art the Lover of all good.
Thou art the Prince of all
virtues.
Thou art the joy of all Thy saints
Thou art life perpetual.
Thou art
joy in truth.
Thou art the exultation in the eternal fatherland.
Thou art the
Light of light.
Thou art the Fountain of holiness.
Thou art the glory of God
the Father in the height.
Thou art Savior of the world.
Thou art the plenitude
of the Holy Spirit.
― St. Patrick
“For that sun, which we see rising every day, rises at His command… - Greg Tobin, The Wisdom of St. Patrick from St. Patrick’s Confession”
Labels:
Ancient Wisdom,
Catholic poetry,
creator,
eternal,
eternity,
forgiveness,
Holy Spirit,
hope,
Jesus Christ,
joy,
justification,
light,
peace,
salvation,
sanctification,
Spring,
trust,
truth
Thursday, February 2, 2017
The Winter's Spring
The winter comes; I walk alone,
I want no bird to sing;
To those who keep their hearts their own
The winter is the spring.
No flowers to please--no bees to hum--
The coming spring's already come.
I never want the Christmas rose
To come before it's time;
The seasons, each as God bestows,
Are simple and sublime.
I love to see the snowstorm hing;
'Tis but the winter garb of spring.
I never want the grass to bloom:
The snowstorm's best in white.
I love to see the tempest come
And love it's piercing light.
The dazzled eyes that love to cling
O'er snow-white meadows sees the spring.
I love the snow, the crumbling snow
That hangs on everything.
It covers everything below
Like white dove's brooding wing,
A landscape to the aching sight,
A vast expanse of dazzing light.
It is the foliage of the woods
That winters bring--the dress,
White Easter of the year in bud,
That makes the winter Spring.
The frost and snow his poises bring,
Nature's white sporuts of the spring.
John Clare (1793 - 1864)
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