Palm Sunday

Greetings,

            Today is Palm Sunday.  It is also the Sunday of the Passion of the Lord.  The two can never really be separated, as the events of what we call Palm Sunday - the procession into Jerusalem accompanied by the praise of the people - are an integral part of the love, suffering and sacrifice of our Lord. 

You shall take the fruit of majestic trees, branches of palm trees, boughs of leafy trees, and willows of the brook; and you shall rejoice before the LORD your God.

                                                                                                                      Leviticus 23:40

Fair and eloquent flowers

            have the children strewn before the King:

the donkey was garlanded with them,

            the path was filled with them;

they scattered praises like flowers,

            their songs of joy like lilies.

Now too at this festival

            does the crowd of children scatter for you, Lord,

praises like blossoms.

            Blessed is he who was acclaimed by young children.

It is as though our hearing embraced        

            an armful of children’s voices,

while chaste songs, Lord,

            fill the bosoms of our ears.

Let each of us gather up a posy of such flowers,

            and with these let all intersperse

blossoms from their own piece of land,

            so that, for this great feast,

we may plait a great garland.

            Blessed is he who invited us to plait it!

Let the chief pastor weave together

            his homilies like flowers,

let the priests make a garland of their ministry,

            the deacons of their reading,

strong young men of their jubilant shouts,

            children of their psalms,

young women of their songs,

            chief citizens of their benefactions,

ordinary fold of their manner of life.

Blessed is he who gave us

            so many opportunities for good!

                                                                                                            Ephrem   (Fourth century)

Yours & His,

DED

The Passion: All About Being Born Again

Greetings,

Another reading from Charles H. Spurgeon (one of the greatest English preachers at the turn of the century).

*   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *

“Ye must be born again.”  (John 3:7)

Regeneration is a subject which lies at the very basis of salvation.  We should be very diligent to take heed that we really are “born again,” for there are many who fancy they are, who are not.  Being born in a Christian land and being recognized as professing the Christian religion is of no avail whatever, unless there is something more added to it—the being “born again” by the power of the Holy Spirit.  To be “born again” is a matter so mysterious, the human words cannot describe it.  “The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit” (John 3:8).  Nevertheless, it is a change which is known and felt.  This great work is supernatural.  It is not an operation which a man performs for himself.  It is not a change of my name, but a renewal of my nature so that I am not the man I used to be, but a new man in Christ Jesus.  If you have been “born again,” your acknowledgment will be, “O Lord Jesus, the everlasting Father, You are my spiritual Parent; unless Your Spirit had breathed into me the breath of a new, holy, and spiritual life, I would have been to this day ‘dead in trespasses and sins.’  My heavenly life is wholly derived from You, to You I ascribe it.  My life is hid with Christ in god.  It is no longer I who live, but Christ who liveth in me.”  May the Lord enable us to be well assured on this vital point, for to be unregenerate is to be unsaved, unpardoned, without God, and without hope.

*   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *

      As we approach Holy Week and the remembrance of the Passion of our Lord, it is important to be reminded of the reason for the Passion of the Christ.  John says that he wrote his Gospel “so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.”  Spurgeon reminds us of that essential reason.  It is not enough to be moved by the depiction of the great sacrifice of Jesus on our behalf.  It is not enough to be impressed on Palm Sunday, touched on Maundy Thursday, or even horrified on Good Friday, by the suffering endured and sacrifice freely given by Jesus on our behalf.  Until we allow our selves to “be born again” none of it really means anything for us.  And when we allow God’s love and grace to fill us and to wash us clean, it means everything. 

      As we come to the remembrance of the Passion, may the real Passion take place once again in our heart, and may the power of Christ’s Holy Spirit cleanse and transform anew our life. 

Yours & His,

DED

A View of Eternity

Greetings,

Père Jean Nicolas Grou (1731-1803) wrote an incisive book, The Hidden Life of the Soul.  The following passage is as pertinent today as it was some 200 years ago.

We tremble at the thought of eternity, and well we may; but if the fear was turned to good account, we should soon learn to rejoice in trembling.  To those who yield unrestrainedly to their passions, the thought of eternity must needs be terrible.  Yet they too might well pause and think whether they do well to sacrifice an eternal future to the moment of time now passing.  Those too who cling tightly to the hopes and joys of this life may tremble to feel that what they cherish most is gliding from beneath their grasp, and eternity alone remains.  But then arises the question, If all this is so soon to pass away, why should I cleave so closely to it?  Why not seek that which endureth for ever rather than that which is but as foam upon the sea, as lightning in the midnight sky?  Again, some timid souls shrink from the thought of the possible condemnation, and loss of that blessed eternity promised to the faithful.  But let such remember that God loves them better than they love themselves; that He desires their salvation more earnestly than they desire it, that He has given them unfailing means of salvation, if they will but use such means.  What more need they save faith and trust?  Their overweening fearfulness comes of self—from measuring God by their own poor standard, rather than themselves by His boundless greatness.  They have not looked chiefly at His Glory, His Will, His Love, but at themselves.  Let them look higher, and fear will yield to love; peace will come to their souls, and Eternity will cease to dismay them.

It must do more;—it must become a source of abiding rest and joy.  Hear St. Paul telling us that ‘our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory!’  Will not this thought carry you over many waves of this troublesome life, through many heartaches and wearinesses, and sorrows?

Yours & His,

DED

United in Death and Resurrection

Greetings,

Still thinking about death and life as we move to the Passion of Jesus.  Remember the last comments, and then read what Walter Burghardt has to say.

“What did it mean for Christ to die?  The depths of his death we theologians [that is all of us who try to understand God and our relationship to God] are still struggling to plumb.  For it was not only an unrepeatable man that died on Calvary; it was the God-man.  What happened?  Karl Rahner put it powerfully:

‘Jesus surrendered himself in his death unconditionally to the absolute mystery that he called his Father, into whose hands he committed his existence, when in the night of this death and God-forsakenness he was deprived of everything that is otherwise regarded as the content of a human existence.’ [This means that] ‘in the concreteness of his death it becomes only too clear that everything fell away from him, and in this trackless dark there prevailed silently only the mystery that in itself and in its freedom has no name and to which he nevertheless calmly surrendered himself as to eternal love and not to the hell of futility.’” The world never ends in the pits: “He who came out of God’s glory did not merely descend into our human life, but also fell into the abyss of our death, and his dying began when he began to live and came to an end on the cross when he bowed his head and died.” 

It is also true for us that our dying begins when we begin to live (our birth) and that our dying can come to an end on his cross, when he bowed his head and died for us.  We have the opportunity to be united with him in his death and resurrection. 

Yours & His,

DED

Remember the Poor

Greetings,

Another reading from Charles H. Spurgeon (one of the greatest English preachers at the turn of the century).  This is an interesting commentary, and regardless of the reasons for the existence of the poor, a real challenge to us.

Remember the poor  (Galatians 2:10).

Why does God allow so many of His children to be poor?  He could make them all rich if He pleased. He could lay bags of gold at their doors.  He could send them a large annual income.  He could scatter around their house an abundance of provisions, as He made the quails lie in heaps around the camp of Israel and rained bread out of heaven to feed them.  “The cattle upon a thousand hills are his” (Psalm 50:10).  He could make the richest and the mightest bring all their power and riches to the feet of His children, for the hearts of all men are in His control.  But He does not choose to do so. 

Why is this?  There are many reasons: one is to give us, who are favored with enough, an opportunity to show our love for Jesus.  We show our love for Christ when we sing of Him and pray to Him.  But if there were no needy people in the world, we would lose the sweet privilege of evidencing our love by ministering in sacrificial giving to His poorer brethren.  He has ordained that thus we should prove that our love stands not in word only, but in deed and in truth.  If we truly love Christ, we will care for those who are loved by Him.  Those who are dear to Him will be dear to us.  Let us then look on it not as a duty, but as a privilege, to relieve the poor of the Lord’s flock—remembering the words of the Lord Jesus, “Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me” (Matthew 25:40).

Yours & His,

DED

Maryland Day

Greetings,

Today is, of course, Maryland Day.  March 25, 1634, the Ark and the Dove land at the old St. Marys City and the Calvert family claims its land granted by the King Charles I of England to George Calvert, the first Lord Baltimore.  Calvert wished to found a colony for persecuted Roman Catholics. He died in 1632, however, and the charter was granted to his son Cecilius, or Cecil, the second Lord Baltimore.  The Calvert grant of land embraced the present state of Maryland and parts of Pennsylvania and Delaware. Under this charter, the first settlers arrived in 1634. Led by Cecilius' brother, Leonard Calvert, they settled about 10 miles up the St. Mary’s River, near the southern tip of the Western Shore. On the East bank of the river they built St. Mary’s City. This served as the seat of government until Annapolis became the capital in 1695.

      Officially Maryland was named for Queen Henrietta Maria (Mary), the wife of Charles I.  Unofficially, the Roman Catholic Calvert-Crossland family chose the name to honor the Blessed Virgin Mary, mother of Jesus.  They also saw it as God’s will that the date of the landing, March 25, was the Feast of the Annunciation of the Maternity of Mary (when the angel Gabriel announced to Mary that she would bear God’s child). 

Governor Calvert welcomed not only Roman Catholics but non‑Catholic Christians as well.  In 1649 Maryland passed the Act Concerning Religion that granted liberty of worship to all Christians.  This was the first religious toleration act passed in America, and, indeed, one of the first passed anywhere in the world.  This Act had tremendous influence on the shaping of religious freedom in the colonies and in the new country soon to be formed.

In 1649 some Puritans from Virginia Colony made a settlement at Providence (now Annapolis). For years this group quarreled with the Catholic government of the Calverts.  Finally, in 1692, Maryland became a royal colony with the Church of England as the established religion.  Marylanders were then taxed to support this church.  They continued to protest this tax until the Revolution.  To protest against another British tax, the ship Peggy Stewart with its cargo of tea was burned in the Annapolis harbor on Oct. 19, 1774 (Boston’s may have been first, but ours was better - the same as with the U.S.F. Constitution in Boston and the original U.S.F. Constellation, the first frigate in the U. S. Navy, and the U.S.S. Constellation, the Sloop of War now in its honored place in Baltimore Harbor, restored by the Navy at a cost of only $9 million).  Peggy Stewart Day is still celebrated in Maryland (at least that’s the official line - last I looked ours was the only celebration I could find). 

During the American Revolution the state contributed many soldiers and officers, including General William Smallwood, the highest ranking Marylander in the Revolutionary War (talk to Roberta about General Smallwood - everything you always wanted to know, but were afraid to ask).  Indeed, the popular nickname for Maryland is the Old Line State, supposedly suggested by Gen. George Washington in admiration for the performance of the Maryland troops during the American Revolution. Another nickname, Free State, is used to honor Maryland's long tradition of freedom, especially religious freedom (though it was originally proposed by a newspaper editor to criticize the state's position against prohibition - though it should be remembered that back then prohibition was a “religious” issue).

I was very disappointed to see virtually no comment on this being Maryland Day.  Maryland has a place of importance in the history, economics, and politics of the nation far out of proportion to its geographic and population size.  If we in Maryland do not lift up our heritage to learn from it, and to challenge us to carry it forward, who will?   In our society today the lessons of Maryland’s heritage are desperately needed, from religious freedom to philanthropy to commitment to medical and scientific research and advances to patriotism to literature to the arts.  Eubie Blake, M. Carey Thomas, Johns Hopkins, Ebenezer Cook, Frederick Douglass, Howard Kelly, Francis X. Bushman, Samuel Chase, William Osler, James M. Cain, George Peabody, Sidney Lanier, John Work Garrett, Daniel Coit Gilman, Charles Carroll, Brooks Robinson, William S. Halstead, Dashiell Hammett, Harriet Tubman, Enoch Pratt, Charles Wilson Peale, Helen Tausig, William Smallwood, William H. Welch, Jimmy Foxx, Clarence Mitchell, Payton Rous, Edgar Allan Poe, John Charles Thomas, William Walters, Henry Walters, Cal Ripkin, Theodore R. McKeldin, John Eager Howard, Tom Clancy, Francis Scott Key, Thurgood Marshall, Carl Brode, Rosa Ponsell, John M. T. Finney, Perrin Mitchell, Rodger B. Taney, Jonathan Hager, William S. Thayer, Christopher Morley, Wallis Warfield Simpson, John Unitis, H. L. Menken, Mason Locke Weems, and Barry Levinson - fifty Marylanders (born here and/or lived here) off the top of the head who had a major influence on life in this country or the world. 

It is not too late to celebrate Maryland Day.  Be like the Federal government and switch all holidays to a Monday, and celebrate it this year on Monday, March 26.  Let the rich diversity of Maryland’s heritage inspire you.  Let the standard of freedom and commitment to the highest principles which informed the history of Maryland shape our actions today and tomorrow.  And may we, whatever our work and endeavors, follow in the path of excellence blazed by those Marylanders who have gone before us.

Yours & His,

DED

Johann Sebastian Bach

Greetings,

            Johann Sebastian Bach was born in March 21,1685, and died on July 28, 1750.  As a young organist in Muhlhausen he served with a pastor who was deeply influenced by the pietism of Philipp Jakob Spener, the German Lutheran reformer.  Bach’s profound and simple faith, his deep religious experience, and his personal devotion to Jesus Christ are evident in his letters and his music, especially his treatment of German hymnody.  Contemporary worshipers are unable to think of the texts of “O Sacred Head Now Wounded” or “Jesus, Joy of Our Desiring” apart from his harmonizations.  He composed nearly three hundred church cantatas, as well as passions, oratorios, and motets, and a great deal of sacred organ music including preludes for many Lutheran chorales.  J. B. Mac Millan calls him “unquestionably the greatest composer of all time for the organ” (The New International Dictionary [Grand Rapids, Michigan: The Zopndervan Corporation, 1974], p.94).  His devotional interpretation of hymn texts through music has been called “the greatest of all contributions to the praise of God through the hymn” (Charles Winfred Douglas, Church Music in History and Practice [New York: C. Scribner’s Sons, 1937], p. 194).  He consistently inscribed his compositions “soli Deo gloria”—“to the glory of God alone.”  A few days before he died, he composed a prelude on a chorale whose text in English is:

                                                            Before thy throne, my God, I stand

                                                            Myself, my all are in thy hand;…

                                                            Grant that my end may worthy be,

                                                            And that I wake thy face to see,

                                                            Thyself for evermore to know!

                                                            Amen, Amen, God grant it so!

           

            When I was 14 or so my father gave me my first recording of Albert Schweitzer performing Bach.  While it was made in the early days of the recording industry, the power and clarity of it came through, and I was hooked on Bach.  In the late 1960’s the flamboyant classical organist Virgil Fox started playing Bach on powerful electronic organs at venues like Filmore East and Filmore West, attracting a rather large following of young people who did not know Bach. 

            Tastes in music change.  Organ music is decidedly not “in” now.  And the intricate, reasoned, beauty of counterpoint is far from the ear used to volume and sliding and pounding.  However, as long as anything like the music we know now endures, Bach will find at least a small following, and as the cycle comes round, will enjoy popularity again.

Yours & His,

DED

I Come to Thee with Empty Hands

Greetings,

A poem by Dora Greenwell (19th century), who has an interesting way of putting things.  I love the “and yet accepted, free” and “I come to thee with empty hands.”

When I have said my quiet say,

When I have sung my little song,

How sweetly, sweetly dies the day,

The valley and the hill along;

How sweet the summons, “Come away”,

That calls me from the busy throng!

I thought beside the water’s flow

Awhile to lie beneath the leaves,

I thought in Autumn’s harvest glow

To rest my head upon the sheaves;

But lo! methinks the day was brief

And cloudy; flower, nor fruit nor leaf

I bring and yet accepted, free

And blest, my Lord, I come to Thee.

What matter now for promise lost

Through blast of spring or summer rains!

What matter now for purpose crost,

For broken hopes and wasted pains!

What if the olive little yields!

What if the grape be blighted!  Thine

The corn upon a thousand fields,

Upon a thousand hills the vine.

My spirit bare before Thee stands;

I bring no gift, I ask no sign,

I come to Thee with empty hands,

The surer to be filled from Thine.

Yours & His,

DED

A Pilgrim Already At Home

Greetings,

            Another reading from Charles H. Spurgeon (one of the greatest English preachers at the turn of the century).

            You have made the Lord your refuge, even the Most High your dwelling place.

                                                                                                                                       Psalm 91:9

            In the wilderness the Israelites were continually exposed to change.  When the pillar stopped, the tents were pitches, but tomorrow, before the morning sun had risen, the trumpet sounded, the ark was in motion, and the fiery, cloudy pillar was leading the way through the narrow trails of the mountain, up the hillside, or along the arid waste of the wilderness.  They had scarcely time to rest a little before they heard the sound of “Away! this is not your rest; you must still be onward journeying toward Canaan!”  Even wells and palm trees could not detain them.  Yet they had an abiding home in their God.  His cloudy pillar was their roof, and its flame by night their household fire.  They must go onward from place to place, continually changing.  “Yet,” says Moses, “though we are always changing, Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place through all generations.”  The Christian knows no change with regard to God.  He may be rich today and poor tomorrow; he may be sickly today, and well tomorrow; he may be in happiness today, tomorrow he may be distressed—but there is no change with regard to his relationship to God.  If He loved me yesterday, He loves me today.  He is my strong habitation whereunto I can continually resort (See Psalm 71:3).  I am a pilgrim in the world, but I am at home in my God.

Yours & His,

DED

The Need for Daily Prayer

Greetings,

            During Lent we are looking at improving our daily walk with Jesus.  After the prayer from St. Patrick the other day, this meditation from George S. Stewart, in The Lower Levels of Prayer (1939), focuses us on the importance of each day.

            Begin the day by offering it and yourself to God.  Look at the day as an individual thing that begins and ends with completeness in itself; then take this thing, this day, and offer it to God to be a day for His use…The day at once becomes a unity and life becomes unified.  However many distracting details come into the day, both mind and emotion are dominated, not by them, but by the sense that you have only one thing to do—namely, to act in obedience to God with regard to them.

*              *              *

            At the end of a common day’s life, with all care, and no deliberate handling of unclean things, our hands are soiled.  Life in this world is like that.  Even our bodies, clothed and covered from contact with the outside world, are soiled.  Living in the world we know inevitably brings defiling.  So it is with soul and spirit.  The day’s living, in contact with much that is stained with evil, in the common world we know, brings its own soiling and weakening.  At the close of the day, even where no deliberate sin appears, we ask for cleansing from the dust of the way, the soil of the day’s life with all its contacts.  And God gives it, with refreshing and renewal and rest in His gift.  Truly we need this.  It is no shame to a man to come home from his day’s work with soiled hands.  They have been soiled in the inevitable contact with soiling things, and are more honourable in their stain than hands that have kept their whiteness by withdrawal from the world’s life.  Yet they are soiled and unclean.  It is shame to him if he leaves them so, and eats and sleeps without the washing he should give.  Then he becomes truly a dirty person.  This is true of the spiritual life also.  It is no disgrace that the soiling of the day’s life affects our souls; it is disgrace if we suffer it to remain uncleansed and accept the defilement.  So we ask God for cleansing from “the dust of the way.”  How willingly Christ washed His disciples’ feet!

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            Good old George understood the need for daily Reading & Writing – the essential, most effective process of all true spiritual growth.  Even a little bit each day is far better than a lot once a week – just ask the people who sit next to you on the bus or in your workplace. 

Yours & His,

DED

A Personal Note & Prayer Request

Greetings,

            At approximately 5:00 am on Sunday, March 18, Roberta’s father, Edward J. Funk, died in his sleep in his apartment at Blakehurst.  He was exactly 100 years and 9 months old.  Up until his hospitalization three weeks ago, he had continued to care for himself in his own apartment, and to enjoy his social life with friends.  Our suggestions to get together with him were frequently turned down because he had a cocktail party to go to, or had invited friends to dinner.  He was continuing to write articles about topics of interest to him for various newsletters, pressing Roberta to edit his writing and provide pictures and a professional look to presentation copies of his articles. 

Mr. Funk enjoyed worshipping at the Mission Helpers Center and maintained a close relationship with the sisters there.  Recently the Baltimore Polytechnic Institute Alumna Association started a Century Club to recognize the achievements of Poly graduates who reached the 100 year old mark.  At a luncheon by the association, Mr. Funk was inducted as the first member of the Century Club, which pleased him greatly. 

Both of his grandchildren, our daughter Brenda, and Roberta’s nephew Alex, have very fond memories of doing interesting things with him.  Brenda has posted on her Facebook page some pictures of him at our Christmas dinner, 2011.  We were planning for Easter dinner with him and friends and Alex and his family were planning to join us.  He always enjoyed making holidays into very festive occasions, and would bring something to be acted out, like A Christmas Carol, or read.  We have wonderful memories of he and Pat hosting very formal Christmas dinners, with the ladies in their long formal gowns and the gentlemen in their tuxedos.  We had some very interesting experiences at them. 

When Mr. Funk returned home from his recent hospitalization he began a rapid decline.  It seemed to us that as he contemplated the many restrictions which his new health problems imposed, he decided he did not want to continue if it could not be on his terms.  He had to have 24 hour nursing care in his apartment, and was not really able to move beyond his bed and his chair in the living room.  His condition and his medications made it difficult for him to speak and hard to hear what was being said. 

Mr. Funk was not one to talk much about his faith, but I cannot help but think that as he contemplated Paul’s question of whether it was better to die and be with Jesus now, or to live and continue the work of Jesus here, he decided that as he felt he could no longer be productive here, he would prefer to go to the Lord. 

We have this assurance, that “living is Christ and dying is gain.”  For indeed, “We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain, where Jesus, who went before us, has entered on our behalf.”  Thus we commend Edward Joseph Funk to the sure and certain hope of the resurrection in Jesus Christ our Lord.

Yours & His,

DED

March 17th & A Vital Prayer

Greetings,

While much of the world pretends to be Irish today, for those few of us who are Orangemen, March 17 has more than one meaning.  Even Orangemen appreciate the achievements of Patrick, who is, after all, far more Orangeman than Irish.  Patrick the slave who becomes the transformer of Irish culture, who converts the island to Christianity, and who thereby is responsible for the civilizing of much of the western world.  He died on March 17, 461.

            From the Confession of Saint Patrick:

            “I give unceasing thanks to my God, who kept me faithful in the day of my testing.  Today I can offer him sacrifice with confidence, giving myself as a living victim to Christ, my Lord, who kept me safe through all my trials.  I can say now: Who am I, Lord, and what is my calling, that you worked through me with such divine power?”

            It was on March 17, 1862, that the U. S. Treasury sanctioned the first two issues of greenbacks, in an effort to deal with counterfeit cash which was flooding the nation (North in the Civil War).

            The day is also the birth of several notable people.  Of local/personal interest are Roger Taney, Chief Justice of the U. S. Supreme Court, and Nat “King” Cole.

            March 17, 1938, Irkutsk in the Russian republic of the Soviet Union:  Rudolf Nureyev is born.  He became the most compelling ballet dancer of his era, perhaps of all time.  After defecting to the West, he eventually danced with the Royal Ballet in London.  With Margot Fonteyn he danced 'Giselle', 'Marguerite and Armand', and 'Swan Lake'.  I had the opportunity to see “Swan Lake” and “Giselle.”  He was not only the most skilled dancer I have ever seen, he was also the most artistic and musically expressive dancer.  Solo, or in his unbelievable duets with Dame Margot, he was the music, he was the complete expression of the power, emotion, and experience he danced.  His life gave renewed life to Dame Margot, some twenty years his senior, literally resurrecting her to new life so she danced as his equal.  The two of them together were beyond description.  The tapes cannot begin to convey the power of their performances, nor of his solo performances.

            Mikhail Baryshnikov rightly stands at the mountain top of dancers in this century, and far above in the clouds is Nureyev.

      I periodically return to this prayer by St. Patrick, especially in the midst of the tribulations of life.

The Prayer of St. Patrick

I arise today
Through the strength of heaven;
Light of the sun,
Splendor of fire,
Speed of lightning,
Swiftness of the wind,
Depth of the sea,
Stability of the earth,
Firmness of the rock.

I arise today
Through God's strength to pilot me;
God's might to uphold me,
God's wisdom to guide me,
God's eye to look before me,
God's ear to hear me,
God's word to speak for me,
God's hand to guard me,
God's way to lie before me,
God's shield to protect me,
God's hosts to save me
Afar and anear,
Alone or in a multitude.

Christ shield me today
Against wounding
Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me,
Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ on my right, Christ on my left,
Christ when I lie down, Christ when I sit down,
Christ in the heart of everyone who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me,
Christ in the eye that sees me,
Christ in the ear that hears me.

I arise today
Through the mighty strength
Of the Lord of creation.

Yours & His,

DED

Starting a Religion

Greetings,

            A thought for this Lenten season when we are focusing on sacrifice.

            C. H. Robinson tells the story of a M. Lapeaux who on one occasion confided to Talleyrand his disappointment at the ill success with which he had met in his attempt to bring into vogue a new religion which he regarded as an improvement on Christianity.  He explained that despite all the efforts of himself and his supporters his propaganda made no way.  He asked Talleyrand’s advice as to what he was to do.  Talleyrand replied that it was indeed difficult to found a new religion, more difficult indeed than could be imagined, so difficult that he hardly knew what to advise.  “Still,” he said—after a moment’s reflection, “there is one plan which you might at least try.  I should recommend you to be crucified and to rise again on the third day.”

            Robinson goes on to comment: “Whether we are prepared or no to accept the occurrence of the Resurrection as a fact of history, we cannot deny the influence which a belief in it has exercised in the world.  We cannot deny that it has brought life and immortality to light as no other belief could conceivably have done; that it has substituted for the fear of death, for a large portion of the human race, that sure and certain knowledge of God which is eternal life; that it has permeated our customs, our literature, and our language with a glory and a hope which could have been derived from no other source.”  (Studies in the Resurrection of Christ [1909], pp 46-48.)

            Had M. Lapeaux been trying to start his new religion today instead of in the early 1800's, I expect he might have been much more successful, especially if he started in California. 

Yours & His,

DED

The Constancy of God’s Love

Greetings,

      Another reading from Charles H. Spurgeon (one of the greatest English preachers at the turn of the century).

      You have made the Lord your refuge, even the Most High your dwelling place.

                                                                                                                                       Psalm 91:9

      In the wilderness the Israelites were continually exposed to change.  When the pillar stopped, the tents were pitches, but tomorrow, before the morning sun had risen, the trumpet sounded, the ark was in motion, and the fiery, cloudy pillar was leading the way through the narrow trails of the mountain, up the hillside, or along the arid waste of the wilderness.  They had scarcely time to rest a little before they heard the sound of “Away! this is not your rest; you must still be onward journeying toward Canaan!”  Even wells and palm trees could not detain them.  Yet they had an abiding home in their God.  His cloudy pillar was their roof, and its flame by night their household fire.  They must go onward from place to place, continually changing.  “Yet,” says Moses, “though we are always changing, Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place through all generations.”  The Christian knows no change with regard to God.  He may be rich today and poor tomorrow; he may be sickly today, and well tomorrow; he may be in happiness today, tomorrow he may be distressed—but there is no change with regard to his relationship to God.  If He loved me yesterday, He loves me today.  He is my strong habitation whereunto I can continually resort (See Psalm 71:3).  I am a pilgrim in the world, but I am at home in my God.

Yours & His,

DED

Girl Scouts 100th Anniversary

Greetings,

            On returning to America from England to Georgia in 1912, Juliette Gordon Low placed her historic telephone call to her cousin, Nina Anderson Pape: "Come right over! I've got something for the girls of Savannah, and all of America, and all the world, and we're going to start it tonight!"  They feverishly recruited girls and leaders throughout Savannah—from the Female Orphan Asylum to Synagogue Mickve Israel, to the steps of Christ Church, and the daughters of the powerful and influential families.  On March 12, 1912, “Daisy” Low gathered 18 girls to register the first troup of American Girl Guides. 

Juliette Gordon Low was born Juliette Magill Kinzie Gordon in Savannah, Georgia on October 31, 1860.  She was always called by her nickname "Daisy" by her friends and family. When she was about 25 years old, Juliette had an ear infection which was treated with silver nitrate.  This damaged her ear and caused her to lose a great deal of her hearing in that ear.

In 1886, Daisy married William Mackay "Willy" Low, a British heir.  During the ceremony, a grain of wedding rice lodged in her good ear and became infected.  When the doctor attempted to remove the rice, it damaged the nerves in her ear and caused total deafness in that ear. After his death in 1905, Juliette spent the next several years globetrotting through Europe and India.  The settlement of her husband’s estate enabled provided her with the means to continue spending part of the year in London and Scotland and the colder months in the United States, particularly Savannah.  

In 1911, when she was 51, Low's social circles in England brought her into contact with Sir Robert Baden-Powell, who had founded the Boy Scouts organization.  The two became good friends and Baden-Powell introduced Low to his sister Agnes, who had founded a similar group for girls known as the Girl Guides. The social aims of the Boy Scouts and Girl Guides - to provide healthy activities for children while instilling a sense of responsible citizenship - struck a chord in Low, who soon founded her own Girl Guide troops in Scotland and England.  Her enthusiasm for the cause quickly evolved into a desire to introduce the Girl Guides program in the United States.  

Returning to Savannah, she established the first U.S. unit of the Girl Guides on that fateful March 12, 1912. 

Her group included two small troops of girls that met in the carriage house behind Low's home.  The Girl Guides engaged in a variety of sports and outdoor activities such as camping.  Other girls in Savannah were eager to join in the fun, and the response convinced Law that a nationwide organization should be formed.  Margaret "Daisy Doots" Gordon, her niece and namesake, was the first registered member.  Her mother Eleanor was one of the first "Guide Mistresses" as they called leaders.  By May 1912, Daisy was on her way back home to London, but her mother wrote her that some mysterious benefactor was converting carriage house behind the house Daisy was renting to the Nash family to "club rooms" for the Girl Guides.  Daisy's mother guessed the benefactor was in fact Daisy.  The Nash family were illustrious in their own right.   Ogden Nash, 10 years old in 1912, grew up to become on of the most famous American poets.  He also became an interesting connecting link between the beginning of Girl Scouting and the movement in what became the Girl Scouts of Central Maryland when he moved to Baltimore in 1934 and called Baltimore his home for the rest of his life.   He immortalized "Mrs. Low's House" in one of his poems.  Mr. Nash continued to pay rent for the carriage house even after it was converted for use by the Girl Guides, becoming one of the first financial supporters for the fledgling movement. 

            The name of the organization was changed to Girl Scouts by 1913.  The organization was incorporated in 1915 with the national headquarters at Washington, D.C., with Daisy serving as the first president until 1920.  By 1916, there were more than 7,000 girls participating in Girl Scouts.

            In March, 1913, a group of women in the community of Pikesville, Maryland, decided to form a club for the girls in the area.  One of them heard about the Girl Guides and a letter was sent to Sir Baden-Powell asking for information about the organization.  In May a response came from Mrs. Low’s secretary with the promise of the handbook to follow, and the first Girl Scout troop in the Baltimore Area was begun.  Under the leadership of Mrs. Boiling Barton, and her able assistants, this troop became the 11^th in the U.S.A. to receive its charter, and promptly adopted the name of the “Poppy Troop.”  This charter, signed by Juliette Low is safely kept in the Archives of the Girl Scouts of Central Maryland. 

            The Pansy Patrol, the first Girl Scout Troop in Baltimore City, began meeting in 1914.  By 1916 the Girl Scout Council of Baltimore and Baltimore County was organized with Mrs. Boiling Barton as the Commissioner, or President.  The history of Girl Scout camps in the area dates back to at least 1920, with many different camps over the years serving the needs of Girl Scouts up to the present time.  In 1928, March 6, the Baltimore Area Girl Scout Council, Inc. was incorporated as a non-stock corporation   The Anne Arundel County Girl Scout Council, Inc. was incorporated on June 19, 1940, and the Frederick County Girl Scout Council was incorporated on April 28, 1958. 

            The consolidation of the three Councils took place on October 1, 1962.  The Girl Scouts of Central Maryland had a girl membership of almost 25,000 and more than 6,500 adult members.  It was also the 50^th Anniversary of the Girl Scouts in America. 

            As Girl Scouting enters a new century of service as the largest volunteer organization for girls in the world, the future is bright.  Girls are being taught traditional values and commitments while being prepared to take their place as effective, dynamic women serving their God, their country, their families, and themselves. 

Yours & His,

DED