Nessie versus Athena? Nessie wins, more or less, though Athena maintains her dignity. This is the present “versus game” in our house, a game of great antiquity. One of my children, now a very clever adult, as a child wished for a school play on the Loch Ness monster and Dracula. These were two very great interests and the only other requirement was that in the play both creatures be REAL. I was not allowed to pawn off Nessie as a... Read more
The students rushed off to see the grave of a classical Russian novelist and our Russian friend began to cry. Had we been rude? Had our enthusiasm caused us recklessly to disregard customs that mattered? No. She explained to me (quietly) that she hardly ever came to this place any more with Russian guests. Why? Russian young adults were more interested in more superficial things, they had no interest (at all) in more difficult aspects of Russian culture. They like... Read more
On Charity with a (fairly) Uncontroversial Point for Christians Christ commands us to love our enemies. This includes those who disagree with us, though as Christ’s life shows, this does not prevent calling out bad ideas. Jesus Christ could speak a “woe to you” without cutting off grace and mercy. The command to love enemies implies at least two things. First, we cannot love people we do not understand. Failure to take the time to see what people with bad... Read more
When times are fearful, we can pray “Lord send the fire, that Pentecostal power!” Pentecost is not a day, but a season in the life of the church. Pentecost comes to Christ’s church for Christ’s church to serve everyone in the world. On the day of Pentecost, Christ sent the Holy Spirit to His church. This church, the ark of salvation, had existed from the foundation of the world, but now the Holy Spirit came to all Christ’s friends, not... Read more
Some things we cannot control. Other people decide differently than they should or things just do not go the way we planned. We fail because we called “heads” and “tails” came up. Sometimes, however, we fail having almost won. A battle won, yet a war lost. Why? A lack of persistence can squander gains. In our lives, in societies, lives and nations can fail when exhaustion appears. To finish a job requires a will to keep moving forward, but we can become weary of... Read more
What to read this summer? This week two helpful books stood out. One was the excellent biography US Grant by Ron Chernow. We find why this great, though flawed man, may have been underestimated for the last one hundred years due to his assault on the Klan and support for civil rights following the Civil War. Grant’s thoughts on Robert E. Lee and his “helpfulness” after the War are too little known and worth the read to see them in context... Read more
Cure the bite of the “tarantula!” Disharmony is a bad sign in the soul or the body politic. Visible, superficial disharmony, may point to more serious issues. Just as fever is sometimes a sign of the underlying disease, so disharmony is (usually) not the problem, but a symptom of the problem. Symptoms must be noted as they help diagnose deeper disease. Nobody would want to treat only the symptoms while ignoring the disease, yet too often this is what we... Read more
On Winning and Losing Losing is no virtue, but then neither is winning. The Soviets conquered the Baltic states before the Second World War, but this win was immoral and part of a deal signed with Adolph Hitler. The brave people in nations such as Estonia lost and that was not good as losing began a brutal Soviet occupation. Eternally, however, the tyrants of the Soviet Union lost their souls for the price of victory. Defeat in a good cause... Read more
Mickey Mouse is ninety-one. I suspect that with jazz, Lincoln, and scientific advances, Disney animation will be remembered as a cultural gift from America to the world. Other nations do animation well, see Japan, but America was the Columbus of animation. Others may have done it first, but after Disney, nobody could ignore it. Mickey Mouse paid the bills for Walt and his creative crew of geniuses to innovate. As a character, he was popular globally, though partly as a... Read more
A visit to the tombs of the Hapsburg dynasty is a review of a large part of European history: There are fresh flowers in front of the tomb of Franz Ferdinand, emperor of the Austro-Hungarian empire. The crypt is full of the bodies of his ancestors and the monks still watch over the Hapsburg dynasty, but it is Franz Joseph that draws attention. Marie Theresa, an earlier Empress with healthy self-esteem, has the grandest tomb, but it is overdone. Her... Read more
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