not the Alamo, not the Maine, not Pearl Harbour, not 9/11
You know, I was wrong: I don't understand War any more. "Let's remember Pearl Harbor" meant releasing unrestrained fury and "go on to Victory" that left the foe in the ashes of fiery Hell. Anymore, War seems to be tit for tat: you attack me, I hit you back sufficient to consider that I have saved face without undue risk, and we call it quits.
Except for the way Russia wages War, which is old fashioned total obliteration, the main facet of War these days is the screaming and shouting muscle flexing threats of Blowhards on every side. When ours is at it, he lets his voice move from his chest up into his throat where it sounds high-pitched and strained instead of deep and powerful.
It's good actually, not bad, eh? Hopefully, less destruction and fewer people hurt and killed.
IDK about the MIGA hats, though, reckon they'll be green, white, and red? Make Iran Great Again. A new American venture into - - "Nation Building" - - ? Anyway, when was Iran great? Well, scripturally, in the Time of Cyrus, Isaiah 45:1 כֹּה־אָמַ֣ר יְהוָה֮ לִמְשִׁיחוֹ֮ לְכ֣וֹרֶשׁ when YHWH calls Cyrus לִמְשִׁיחוֹ֮ - - his Messiah, his anointed; for Christians, worrisomely through the Greek LXX Οὕτως λέγει Κύριος ὁ θεὸς τῷ χριστῷ μου Κύρῳ, his Xpistos, to the English, his Christ. Cyrus YHWH's Christ. At seminary, our Old Testament professor LOVED shocking us with that one.
I'm used to it; if it bothers you, sorry, maybe you need to study harder?
So, MIGA, eh?
I don't think so.
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We are up early for the two of us, 3:50 AM or some such, for coffee, mine hot & black, Linda's sweet, blond, and hot.
Stuff a sock in it, Bubba.
Up early, television talking the news that the ceasefire is being marred by Iran continuing to fire missiles. I hope not: if this resumes and continues, Iran risks having done so to the total annihilation of their government and military capabilities.
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So, "regime change" in Iran? Well (there's that overused filler word "well" again), from theocratic despotism that proves indisputably the evil of certitudinous religion and its fringe freaks, to the chaos of anarchy until something inconceivably even more evil crawls out from under the rocks. Theocracy is the ultimate proof that religious certainty is the greatest sin, and laying it on as enforced government is Earth's greatest evil - - religious absolutists, whether they are Islamic fanatics or right wing Christian nationalist fundamentalists determined to lay their certainties on all Americans.
God help us. Good Lord, deliver us.
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Looking ahead, here's Sunday's gospel reading:
Luke 9:51-62
When the days drew near for Jesus to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem. And he sent messengers ahead of him. On their way they entered a village of the Samaritans to make ready for him; but they did not receive him, because his face was set toward Jerusalem. When his disciples James and John saw it, they said, "Lord, do you want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?" But he turned and rebuked them. Then they went on to another village.
As they were going along the road, someone said to him, "I will follow you wherever you go." And Jesus said to him, "Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head." To another he said, "Follow me." But he said, "Lord, first let me go and bury my father." But Jesus said to him, "Let the dead bury their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God." Another said, "I will follow you, Lord; but let me first say farewell to those at my home." Jesus said to him, "No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God."
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"When the days grew near for Jesus to be taken up brings to mind the Elijah story that in fact is our OT reading for Sunday:
2 Kings 2:1-2, 6-14
When the Lord was about to take Elijah up to heaven by a whirlwind, Elijah and Elisha were on their way from Gilgal. Elijah said to Elisha, "Stay here; for the Lord has sent me as far as Bethel." But Elisha said, "As the Lord lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave you." So they went down to Bethel.
Then Elijah said to him, "Stay here; for the Lord has sent me to the Jordan." But he said, "As the Lord lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave you." So the two of them went on. Fifty men of the company of prophets also went, and stood at some distance from them, as they both were standing by the Jordan. Then Elijah took his mantle and rolled it up, and struck the water; the water was parted to the one side and to the other, until the two of them crossed on dry ground.
When they had crossed, Elijah said to Elisha, "Tell me what I may do for you, before I am taken from you." Elisha said, "Please let me inherit a double share of your spirit." He responded, "You have asked a hard thing; yet, if you see me as I am being taken from you, it will be granted you; if not, it will not." As they continued walking and talking, a chariot of fire and horses of fire separated the two of them, and Elijah ascended in a whirlwind into heaven. Elisha kept watching and crying out, "Father, father! The chariots of Israel and its horsemen!" But when he could no longer see him, he grasped his own clothes and tore them in two pieces.
He picked up the mantle of Elijah that had fallen from him, and went back and stood on the bank of the Jordan. He took the mantle of Elijah that had fallen from him, and struck the water, saying, "Where is the Lord, the God of Elijah?" When he had struck the water, the water was parted to the one side and to the other, and Elisha went over.
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Whether you see it or not, there is a force driving the gospel evangelists that must show Jesus equal to and greater than the prophets, especially and specifically Moses and Elijah. Jesus' sensational birth and Moses' in the bullrushes. Jesus as the one prophesied by Moses. Jesus wondrously feeding the hungry with bread as Moses did with manna. Jesus on the mountaintop with Moses and Elijah and the voice from heaven singling Jesus out as "my beloved Son." Jesus raising children from death, as did both Elijah and Elisha. Ultimately perhaps, Jesus ascending bodily into heaven as splendiferously as Elijah was. Greater than Moses, greater than Elijah is here.
So, Jesus being "taken up" means both his being physically elevated on the cross, and his being physically taken up into heaven. You can work through the rest of the gospel reading yourself.
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Tuesday: on our POD, a doctor appointment, a trip to find a proper chocolate cake for Malinda's 67th birthday tomorrow (a special friend at the Time used to bake the topmost best heavy and moist chocolate cake for me every year on my birthday), and tentatively a stop at Gene's Oyster Bar because of their Facebook mention of "large oysters" (pic above)
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Remembering again this morning, a hymn that closed out worship at St Andrew's Episcopal Church during WW2 when I was a boy:
1 O God of love, O King of peace,
Make wars throughout the world to cease;
Our greed and violent ways restrain.
Give peace, O God, give peace again.
2 Remember, Lord, your works of old,
The wonders that your people told;
Remember not our sins' deep stain.
Give peace, O God, give peace again.
3 Whom shall we trust but you, O Lord?
Where rest but on your faithful word?
None ever called on you in vain.
Give peace, O God, give peace again.
4 Where saints and angels dwell above
All hearts are joined in holy love;
Oh, bind us in that heav'nly chain.
Give peace, O God, give peace again.
And let all the people say, "AMEN"
RSF&PTL
T89&c