Monday journal diary blog ramble
Dear Diary so to speak, happy Monday to you.
Clear sky this early morning, two planets and a geostationary satellite visible. A ship, Waalborg 351x60, that was in port for layup, on her way out, anchored across the way overnight, in the far channel, her lights shining brightly, still there this morning, now suddenly she's gone.
Bright flashes of lightning and cracks of thunder Sunday evening, appeared to be out over the Gulf. It's all natural activity of creation, but as I've said, my fascination with close electrical storms dried up the day in 2018 when Joseph was struck. He's a miracle and a blessing.
Supper last evening, not that this is a food blog, but - - two slices dark German style bread toasted crisp, limburger cheese, braunschweiger. Mayonnaise with minced Vidalia onion mixed up in. Toast cut into strips. Smear of onionMayo on as holder, bite size of cheese or liver sausage on strip of toast. Ice cold Japanese barley tea.
Our so-called "Propers" for next Sunday are all good except the gospel reading from Luke is a bummer for preaching. Would be great for an adult Sunday school class exploration, but I'm retired from doing that. Maybe I'll have a hack at blogging about it sometime this week, but not a sermon, with the other readings being so good.
We're waiting for the Artemis 1 liftoff, but news reports that a leak and a crack were found during final checks, so may be delayed. Next opportunity is Wednesday? We have a personal interest in this project because Jacob Williams is heavily involved. From 1984 to 1998 Jacob was a little boy growing up, my parishioner and acolyte at Trinity, Apalachicola. Jacob's grandfather Nick George was also my parishioner and a dear friend, who used to help me at our eight o'clock Early Service. I know the family, including Jacob's father Jerry and brother Travis. Jacob and his sister Despina were two of the brightest children and young people I've ever been around. Their mother Mary George Williams used to bake the most beautiful, elegant, large round loaves of Greek bread for our Eucharist at Easter and Christmas, baked around with Greek letters and words about Jesus Christ, and studded with red cherries - - little kids coming up to the Communion rail and begging, "Father Tom, can I have a cherry?" Years after retiring from Apalachicola, I officiated both Jacob's and Despina's weddings, and later baptized Jacob's son Nick, who is named for his great-grandfather, my friend. Jacob is a NASA scientist at Johnson Space Center, and an author and co-author of numerous scientific articles. Judging by what I see on Facebook, Nick seems to be in his father's footsteps for extraordinary intelligence; and maybe Nick's younger sister Helen. Not especially bragging about my history with this singularly special family (classmate and friend of eighty years Robert quotes Dizzy Dean, "if you done it, it ain't braggin'" and I done it), but a happiness to have known them, Jacob since he was about four years old.
Breakfast this morning: baked a loaf of my German bread, they call it "farmer's bread", a thick slice with butter. Second cup of hot black coffee from my special Christmas and Father's Day coffee club. With each package that arrives I think that, along with the first, which was coffee from a roaster in Alabama, this may be the best yet.
Oh, here are the Propers for next Sunday:
The Collect
Grant us, O Lord, to trust in you with all our hearts; for, as you always resist the proud who confide in their own strength, so you never forsake those who make their boast of your mercy; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
Old Testament Jeremiah 18:1-11
The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: "Come, go down to the potter's house, and there I will let you hear my words." So I went down to the potter's house, and there he was working at his wheel. The vessel he was making of clay was spoiled in the potter's hand, and he reworked it into another vessel, as seemed good to him.
Then the word of the Lord came to me: Can I not do with you, O house of Israel, just as this potter has done? says the Lord. Just like the clay in the potter's hand, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel. At one moment I may declare concerning a nation or a kingdom, that I will pluck up and break down and destroy it, but if that nation, concerning which I have spoken, turns from its evil, I will change my mind about the disaster that I intended to bring on it. And at another moment I may declare concerning a nation or a kingdom that I will build and plant it, but if it does evil in my sight, not listening to my voice, then I will change my mind about the good that I had intended to do to it. Now, therefore, say to the people of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem: Thus says the Lord: Look, I am a potter shaping evil against you and devising a plan against you. Turn now, all of you from your evil way, and amend your ways and your doings.
Psalm 139:1-5, 12-17
1 Lord, you have searched me out and known me; * you know my sitting down and my rising up; you discern my thoughts from afar.
2 You trace my journeys and my resting-places * and are acquainted with all my ways.
3 Indeed, there is not a word on my lips, * but you, O Lord, know it altogether.
4 You press upon me behind and before * and lay your hand upon me.
5 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; * it is so high that I cannot attain to it.
12 For you yourself created my inmost parts; * you knit me together in my mother's womb.
13 I will thank you because I am marvelously made; * your works are wonderful, and I know it well.
14 My body was not hidden from you, * while I was being made in secret and woven in the depths of the earth.
15 Your eyes beheld my limbs, yet unfinished in the womb; all of them were written in your book; * they were fashioned day by day, when as yet there was none of them.
16 How deep I find your thoughts, O God! * how great is the sum of them!
17 If I were to count them, they would be more in number than the sand; * to count them all, my life span would need to be like yours.
The Epistle Philemon 1-21
Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother,
To Philemon our dear friend and co-worker, to Apphia our sister, to Archippus our fellow soldier, and to the church in your house:
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
When I remember you in my prayers, I always thank my God because I hear of your love for all the saints and your faith toward the Lord Jesus. I pray that the sharing of your faith may become effective when you perceive all the good that we may do for Christ. I have indeed received much joy and encouragement from your love, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you, my brother.
For this reason, though I am bold enough in Christ to command you to do your duty, yet I would rather appeal to you on the basis of love-- and I, Paul, do this as an old man, and now also as a prisoner of Christ Jesus. I am appealing to you for my child, Onesimus, whose father I have become during my imprisonment. Formerly he was useless to you, but now he is indeed useful both to you and to me. I am sending him, that is, my own heart, back to you. I wanted to keep him with me, so that he might be of service to me in your place during my imprisonment for the gospel; but I preferred to do nothing without your consent, in order that your good deed might be voluntary and not something forced. Perhaps this is the reason he was separated from you for a while, so that you might have him back forever, no longer as a slave but more than a slave, a beloved brother-- especially to me but how much more to you, both in the flesh and in the Lord.
So if you consider me your partner, welcome him as you would welcome me. If he has wronged you in any way, or owes you anything, charge that to my account. I, Paul, am writing this with my own hand: I will repay it. I say nothing about your owing me even your own self. Yes, brother, let me have this benefit from you in the Lord! Refresh my heart in Christ. Confident of your obedience, I am writing to you, knowing that you will do even more than I say.
The Gospel Luke 14:25-33
Now large crowds were traveling with Jesus; and he turned and said to them, "Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself, cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not first sit down and estimate the cost, to see whether he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it will begin to ridicule him, saying, `This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.' Or what king, going out to wage war against another king, will not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to oppose the one who comes against him with twenty thousand? If he cannot, then, while the other is still far away, he sends a delegation and asks for the terms of peace. So therefore, none of you can become my disciple if you do not give up all your possessions."
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