Judith This is a fictional story of a woman's bravery, ingenuity, faith in God, and patriotism. It's a book of the Apocrypha or Deuterocanonicals, a collection of material that's found in the Septuagint or Greek Old Testament but not in the Hebrew Bible. In a war with King Arphaxad of Medes, King Nebuchadnezzar of Assyria sends word to the lands under his subjection to muster troops to help with the war. Many, including those in Palestine, Galilee, Samaria and Judea ignore the summons. This infuriates Nebuchadnezzar, who swears that when the war is over he will massacre and decimate those who snubbed him. When the war is won, he does indeed follow through on his vow, sending Holofernes, his top general, to conduct the campaign of vengeance, destruction and death. Holofernes prosecutes his assignment with terrifying success. But when he comes to the city of Bethulia (an apparently obvious reference to Shechem), the people resist him. He sets up a siege that includes cutti...

SSS Computation Manual for Academic Year 2012-2013 ... ... is what popped up when my MacBook was opened this morning. We are officially into what NAIS, the National Association of Independent Schools, calls Financial Aid Season. And it’s always a busy time for me as Financial Aid Administrator for Holy Nativity Episcopal School. For member schools, NAIS operates School and Student Services (SSS), which provides a need-based financial aid analysis system for families and schools. This includes HNES, which, as part of its history, tradition, mission and soul has throughout the years made it possible for many capable and deserving children whose families could not otherwise afford it, to attend our school. For the past ten years or so, HNES has used SSS, which gives the school, families and children a uniform, equitable application, analysis and award process.  Financial aid at HNES is need-based and provides only partial tuition assistance. Families seeking financial aid apply online...

2 Kings 2 (Revised Standard Version) [ 1 ] Now when the LORD was about to take Eli'jah up to heaven by a whirlwind, Eli'jah and Eli'sha were on their way from Gilgal. [ 2 ] And Eli'jah said to Eli'sha, "Tarry here, I pray you; for the LORD has sent me as far as Bethel." But Eli'sha said, "As the LORD lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave you." So they went down to Bethel.  [ 3 ] And the sons of the prophets who were in Bethel came out to Eli'sha, and said to him, "Do you know that today the LORD will take away your master from over you?" And he said, "Yes, I know it; hold your peace." [ 4 ] Eli'jah said to him, "Eli'sha, tarry here, I pray you; for the LORD has sent me to Jericho." But he said, "As the LORD lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave you." So they came to Jericho. [ 5 ] The sons of the prophets who were at Jericho drew near to Eli'sha, and said to him,...

Yesterday my welcome home from HNEC Monday morning staff meeting was to be greeted by Linda somewhat panicked. There had been a vicious raccoon fight in the attic over our bedroom; plus, she had heard the animals scuffling on a roof jut-out that’s over the laundry room and under the firescape (yes, my enormous 1912-1913 house has a fire escape, that’s a blog posting for another morning, perhaps).  My first step was to make loud noises in the attic to drive them out. My further exploration had to stop suddenly upon hearing the familiar and very obvious sound of a quite large raccoon heading toward the newly discovered entry and exit hole where I was searching with a flashlight.  The last time raccoons made a major visitation, a couple years ago, the most help we could get from local pest control outfits was an offer to rent us traps. It ended the dark and early rainy, stormy morning that water came dripping through the ceiling and onto us in bed. Going immediately into the atti...

beans beans good for the heart Hot bean soup for supper on a freezing Sunday evening last night. We are eating lots of bean soup these days, and enjoying. Apparently, a serving of beans provides as much protein as a serving of meat, and as a former heart patient (??once a heart patient, always a heart patient??) my diet has shifted to very little beef. Not no beef, but very little beef.  Linda makes the bean soup from scratch, or we buy bean soup mixes, there’s always a booth at Holly Fair offering a fine variety of soup mixes, and we buy a supply. Instead of just water per recipe, she sometimes uses chicken broth, turkey broth, or beef broth. When she makes the broth, she boils the bones, then removes the bones, lets the liquid cool, and scoops off and discards all fat. The broth makes for delicious bean soup.  We serve our soup differently, Linda has hers in a wide, flat bowl, with a regular soup spoon, mine’s in a deep bowl, with a cream soup spoon. Our tastes differ too. T...

Safety Net, GOP race, Afghan War, Vice President Xi Jinping, Occupy Regrouping, Whitney Houston, Iran, Syria Massacre, Murdoch Hacking Arrests ... How come nobody’s reporting on DeSoto  Hernando DeSoto (1496-1542) DeSoto cars (1928-1961) 1928 roadster with flappers 1931 roadster with rumbleseat Sleek 1933 sedan with sidemounts Disastrous DeSoto Airflows 1934-36 Fast, hurried retrench 1935 DeSoto Airstream Dumpy 1939 sedan 1940 Convertible 1942 DeSoto: covered headlights. Fluid Drive with tiptoe shift Postwar convertible: 1946, 47, 48 1949 DeSoto sedan 1949 DeSoto woody wagon 1950 sedan 1951, 1952 DeSoto Suburban leather interior, 9 passenger. The 1951 and '52 were visually identical except that green tinted windows were first offered as optional accessory on all 1952 Chrysler products. Also, the USA was thick in the Korean War at the time, and there were material shortages, and the 1952 DeSoto and other Chrysler cars as well, used very inferior chrome material for...

Sixth Sunday after the Epiphany: February 12, 2012 O God, the strength of all who put their trust in thee: Mercifully accept our prayers; and because through the weakness of our mortal nature, we can do no good thing without thee, give us the help of thy grace, that in keeping thy commandments we may please thee both in will and deed; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. Liturgical churches have a “prayer of the day” that is offered early in worship, at a point that liturgists may consider the end of the Entry Rite or the beginning of the Liturgy of the Word. Given that our worship generally proceeds as opening hymn, acclamation, collect for purity, song of praise, then collect for the day, the prayer that originally seems to have been meant to unify us, collect our attention, and focus our thoughts on God comes too far along in worship to accomplish its likely original intent. This makes it obvio...