cappella?

I always have trouble with the word acapel...a capela...a capella...a cappela???
Well, I think there are two acceptable spellings: a capella and a cappella. But one site I found that says that the most predominatn and most 'correct' spelling is a cappella -- two words, two 'p's' -- two 'l's.' Maybe I can remember that.

The phrase means "in the style of the chapel." In normal musical use it means: singing without musical accompaniment. The Xenia Hospitality Barbershop Chorus sings a cappella. They will sing in our worship on July 5. In fact, the whole service will be a cappella.

Some Presbyterian/Reformed churches used to insist on a cappella music in worship. No organs; no pianos; no guitars; no accordians (thank goodness). Still today there are some churches (Church of Christ is one) that do not use instruments in worship. They say the New Testament never commands the use of instruments, and in fact says only "make melody with your hearts" (Eph. 5). So, the use of musical instruments (other than the voice) are unbiblical according to them.

I think that's getting picky with the bible. I don't think you can wall off the Book of Psalms and the Book of Revelation (both of which have musical instruments) and say that only the New Testament books--and those that deal with pre-heaven--count. This just proves that logic is not enough for understanding the biblical religion.

Now that I know how to spell a cappella I can focus on the spell of music.

The Revised Standard Twitter Version

The Protestant Church in Germany has tweaked the whole Bible. They broke the Bible into 3000 sections and got volunteers to tweak verses. So, you can go on Twitter and look them up and read the whole Bible in very small sections.

The German site is www.evangelish.de
Unfortunately, it's all in German.

Or go to Twitter.com and look it up.

Just another way to read the Bible.
It must have been fun to do.

txtng

I finished reading the book, "Txtng: the gr8 db8" by David Crystal, a linguistics professor (Oxford University Press).

Texting while driving is dangerous. That's obvious. But is texting a threat to our kids' education? Is texting causing a breakdown in real social interactions? Is it a waste of time?

David Crystal answers 'no.' He points out that we have been 'texting' for a long time--that is, texting is a form of using abbreviations. And we all use them. We send money to the IRS (that's texting for Internal Revenue Service). We watch the NFL (texting for...well, you know).

Crystal says that texting takes skill; it builds certain kinds of skills in the use of language. There are poems now written in texting language; there has been a novel (probably more than one) written entirely of text symbols. There are texting contests. Just this morning I open The Presbyterian Outlook magazine and saw a Psalm re-written in texting code.

Texting is simply another way to communicate. Sure, you can become obssessed with texting, just as you can become obssessed with reading or eating. But it's a way to connect. It can be fun too. People like to play with language and with words. (Crossword puzzles?) There is a novel written in 1939 by Ernest Wright entitled, Gadsby. It's an unusal novel in that there is not one 'e' vowel in the whole 50,000 words.

Some children have been found to overcome their shyness of isolation by the use of texting. They found they could connect with others on equal ground and be involved in the conversation.

I don't text, simply because of the cost to the phone bill (although I pay to use a Blackberry). But the use of different kinds of language appeals to me. Have you ever looked at a Hebrew Bible? There are no vowels; just consonants. It certainly looks like a 'texted' Bible. (Did God 'text' to Moses?)

We old folks need to lighten up and allow the younger people to help evolve our language. As I have led the Bible study in the Book of Revelation, I have once again been reminded of the power of symbols. Apocalyptic language has its own code. However we communicate with one another, we need to understand the code. If you're 'all thumbs,' texting might be for you. At least that's the way I see it, IMHO.

Life!

According to the World Population Clock, 154,000 people die every day. That's 107 deaths every minute!
Whew. I woke up this morning still alive. I'm happy to be alive. The gift of life is so precious. You never know.
Let's not waste a minute.
Let's enjoy.
Give thanks.
Do something fun.
Help somebody.
Say a prayer.
Listen to music.
Read a poem.
Listen to birds.
Take a walk.
Call somebody.
Breathe deeply.
Tell a joke.
Give a gift.
Smile at someone.
Dance a little.
Quote some Scripture.
Hug somebody.
Volunteer.
Encourage someone.
Sing a song.
Eat dessert.
Receive forgiveness.
Go to the library.
Give blood.
Read to a child.

Psalm 103.1

amor sui

The late Pope John Paul II wrote about St. Augustine's notion of original sin. Augustine described it like this: amor sui usque ad contemptum Dei (self-love to the point of contempt for God). It was amor sui which drove our first parents toward that initial rebellion and then gave rise to the spread of sin througout human history.

JPII says: The only way to overcome this dimension of original sin is through a corresponding amor Dei usque ad contemptum sui (love for God to the point of contempt of self).

This is done by the Holy Spirit. It is he who allows us to penetrate deeply into the mysterium Crucis and at the same time to plumb the depths of the evil perpetrated by humans. That is what the expression "convince the world about sin" means. If the Church, through the power of the Holy Spirit, can call evil by its name, it does so only in order to demonstrate that evil can be overcome if we open ourselves to amor Dei usque ad contemptum sui. This is the fruit of Divine Mercy.

In Jesus Christ, God bends down over humanity to hold out a hand to us, to raise us up, and to help us continue our journey with renewed strength. We cannot get back onto our feet unaided: we need the help of the Holy Spirit.

reasoned leap

Andrew Greeley's book Jesus--a Meditation on His stories and His Relationships with Women is a good read. The last sentence of the book speaks of our relationship to God being a "leap of faith, not a blind leap surely, but a reasoned leap into wonder and mystery and surprise."

The Catholic theological sensibility always combines mystery and rationality. So, a "reasoned leap of faith" holds at bay the extreme position of faith without reason. But it's also a leap into "wonder and mystery and surprise." It doesn't degenerate into rationalism (no mystery).

have more kids?

A Baptist seminary's president avocates bigger families...
The story is here.

The basic argument is that Muslims and others are out-multiplying Christians.
The seminary president says that Baptists/Christians shouldn't use birth control.
Baptists and Catholics seem to be getting closer and closer.

We Presbyterians are behind the 8-ball too when it comes to fertility.
Our average age is getting older and older.
And unlike Abraham and Sarah, we don't seem to be able to pull off the miracle
of senior citizen conceivability.
Come on, Presbys! You can do it!
Let's have a revival in the bedroom.
Let's all read the Song of Solomon every week with our spouses
and 'go thou and do likewise.'
Let's be known as the fecund faithful.
Let's see if Presbyterians can outnumber Baptists.
Let's put fun back in faith.
Let's put pleasure back in piety.
Let's not have too much 'decency and order.'

Evangelism may just get to be a good word again.

old bible

A collector of rare books ran into an acquaintance who told him he had just thrown away an old Bible that he found in a dusty, old box. He happened to mention that Guten-somebody-or-other had printed it.

"Not Gutenberg?" Gasped the collector.

"Yes, that was it!""You idiot! You've thrown away one of the first books ever printed. A copy recently sold at an auction for half a million dollars!"

"Oh, I don't think this book would have been worth anything close to that much," replied the man. "It was scribbled all over in the margins by some guy named Martin Luther."

Info on the go

Some helpful info:

On your cell phone you can make a free call at:

1-800-Goog-411 (1-800-4664-411)

Someone will ask your location.
Then they will ask what you need.
You can ask for the nearest Frisches or the nearest
movie theatre, or the nearest service station, etc....
Then you can ask what time a particular movie begins, or whatever
you need to know.

Yes, it's free.

Pro Sports

Maybe I picked the wrong profession...
The median salary PER GAME is...

$7,099 for major league baseball

$14,024 for the national hockey league

$33,536 for professional basketball

$51,875 for the NFL


But God didn't intend me to be a pro athlete, else he would have given me
a different body.
Best I ever did was play the first position on my high school tennis team.
And I've been serving every since.

3 strikes

I personnaly find baseball so crushingly boring I would happily plunge knitting needles into my eyes to avoid another snap zoom of Joe Torre's nostril hairs.

The above was written by Rick Reilly in ESPN Magazine.
So, he suggests ways to make baseball a better game:

--put in a pitch clock... you get 15 seconds for each pitch
--once a week, every player signs autographs for 10 minutes by the dugout.
--we'll bring in Olympic testing... the World Anti-Doping Agency can test anytime, road or home
--if you're 0-for-4, the crowd gets to pick your at-bat music
--the National League will get the DH.
--We'll fine more players.
--umps will be in charge of rainouts year round
--balls that hit the foul pole are foul...Duh
--a prospect won't be allowed to enter an MLB farm system until he's the age of a college sophomore, just like the NBA
--and if you're the dweeb fan on your cell phone behind home plate waving at the camera, the rest of your section gets to pour beer down your shorts.

[wayne]: is there any sport on TV that is more slow or meditative than baseball? Okay, there's golf. And poker. Will these slow sports still be there in 10 years? Or maybe the 'meditative types' of TV watchers will always be around.

Fat

"This is a lasting ordinance for the generations to come, wherever you live: You must not eat any fat." (Leviticus 3.17)

handbells

Last night Pat and I went to hear and see the Westminster Choir College Handbell Choir. Westminster Choir College is historically connected to Westminster Presbyterian Church in downtown Dayton. The college's campus is in Princeton, New Jersey and is part of Rider University.

It's fascinating to watch a handbell choir of this caliber. They do things with handbells that you would think are impossible--playing music that church handbell choirs couldn't touch with a twelve-foot pole.

The college's choir has performed on the Today Show, at Carnegie Hall, and on NPR, etc.

Music is one of God's good gifts.

from Chronicles

Here's an interesting passage I read today from Second Chronicles:

"May the Lord, who is good, grant pardon to everyone who has resolved to seek God, the Lord, though they be not clean as holiness requires." [2 Chr. 30.18b-19]

The next verse says that God did forgive them.

The context shows that God forgave people who had the right attitude, even though they had not crossed every 't' and dotted every 'i.'

clean

You don't get anything clean without getting something else dirty.
- Cecil Baxter

wall

In one of her writings Simone Weil describes two prisoners who are in solitary confinement in cells next to each other. Between them is a stone wall. Over a period of time they find a way to communicate using taps and scratches. The wall is what separates them, but it is also the only means they have of communicating.