In TV news last evening, students of a school in Canada were shown in blackface , arms and legs and faces painted black. It stirred memories of the minstrel shows we used to see years ago. We had a minstrel show in our class at Cove School once or twice, one boy as “Mr. Interlocutor” and two or three boys with faces painted black, representing African-Americans. The interlocutor asked questions and elicited dialogue in which the blackfaced boys said simple, ridiculous, foolish things. It was all meant to be hilarious, and we saw it so. We were what we knew. We were products of our age, culture, upbringing, regional view of the world. It was an everyday thing to see the Confederate battle flag displayed; what, to us, then, was a symbol of pride, today is in your face . We stood up when “Dixie” was played. “Amos and Andy” were popular on radio. So was Jack Benny’s servant Rochester. Not to mention Al Jolson. We were naive and innocent. Those days are gone in America, along with slavery. ...

Exodus 17:1-7 From the wilderness of Sin the whole congregation of the Israelites journeyed by stages, as the Lord commanded. They camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. 2 The people quarrelled with Moses, and said, ‘Give us water to drink.’ Moses said to them, ‘Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the Lord?’ 3 But the people thirsted there for water; and the people complained against Moses and said, ‘Why did you bring us out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and livestock with thirst?’ 4 So Moses cried out to the Lord, ‘What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to stone me.’ 5 The Lord said to Moses, ‘Go on ahead of the people, and take some of the elders of Israel with you; take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. 6 I will be standing there in front of you on the rock at Horeb. Strike the rock, and water will come out of it, so that the people may drink.’ Moses did so, in the sight of the elders of Israe...

Carousel and Cow Sometimes there was a merry-go-round. At the end of Harrison Avenue there was a turnaround circle and a broad grassy area down to the Bay. My first ride was there, age two or three, 1937 perhaps, or 1938. A carousel was set up for a few days and my mother took me. When she sat me in the saddle of one of the animals, I was too small to hold on to the pole by myself, so she sat with me in the fancy, decorated seat. A ride, and on our way to Hoffman’s. Hoffman’s was a mom and pop grocery. You went up to the counter with your list, and Mr. or Mrs. Hoffman picked your items from the shelves behind them, laid them on the counter, totaled your purchase, and made your change. There’s no cash register in my memory, just a cash drawer. Hoffman’s Grocery was on 6th Street, which was paved, on a corner. The side street was a dirt road -- Grace, Jenks or Mercer perhaps -- more than seventy years ago, memory fades, and I can't ask my mother. Directly across the dirt side road wa...

Venite     Psalm 95:1-7 Come, let us sing to the Lord; *    let us shout for joy to the Rock of our salvation. Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving *    and raise a loud shout to him with psalms. For the Lord is a great God, *    and a great King above all gods. In his hand are the caverns of the earth, *    and the heights of the hills are his also. The sea is his, for he made it, *    and his hands have molded the dry land. Come, let us bow down, and bend the knee, *    and kneel before the Lord our Maker. For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture and the sheep of his hand. *    Oh, that today you would hearken to his voice! A Collect for Sundays O God, you make us glad with the weekly remembrance of the glorious resurrection of your Son our Lord: Give us this day such blessing through our worship of you, that the week to co...

Cousins Liking to read along with her, this morning my reading was Elie Wiesel’s Night -- Kristen’s assignment for a college class. Night takes a couple hours to read, start to finish. My second reading, the first years ago. No less horrifying. May 1945 we saw newsreels of liberated Nazi concentration camps; the newsreels still roll in my mind. Night stirs again my dismay at finding out that my Weller forebears were not Andrew, Henry, Lawrence and John -- but Andreas, Hans, Lorentz and Johann. Who and what were my cousins in my generation during the Nazi Holocaust of the Third Reich? Humanity is community, all are complicit. We think sin is personal, but in the Old Testament, sin was known to be communal. Guilt by relation.  Who are the cousins of Achan? Who are the cousins of Adam?  Who and what are we, who are my cousins, and therefore who am I, and what are my sins unknown? Shabbat. Shalom. W

2 Kings 1:2-17 ( Listen ) 2  Now Ahaziah fell through the lattice in his upper chamber in Samaria, and lay sick; so he sent messengers, telling them, “Go, inquire of c Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron, d whether I shall recover from this sickness.” 3  But the angel of the Lord said to Elijah e the Tishbite, “Arise, go up to meet the messengers of the king of Samaria, and say to them, ‘Is it because there is no God in Israel that you are going to inquire of c Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron? 4  Now therefore thus says the Lord, f You shall not come down from the bed to which you have gone up, but you shall surely die.’” So Elijah went. 5  The messengers returned to the king, and he said to them, “Why have you returned?” 6  And they said to him, “There came a man to meet us, and said to us, ‘Go back to the king who sent you, and say to him, Thus says the Lord, Is it because there is no God in Israel that you are sending to inquire of c Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron? There...

Exodus 16:2-15 (King James Version)   2 And the whole congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness:   3 And the children of Israel said unto them, Would to God we had died by the hand of the LORD in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the flesh pots, and when we did eat bread to the full; for ye have brought us forth into this wilderness, to kill this whole assembly with hunger.   4 Then said the LORD unto Moses, Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a certain rate every day, that I may prove them, whether they will walk in my law, or no.   5 And it shall come to pass, that on the sixth day they shall prepare that which they bring in; and it shall be twice as much as they gather daily.   6 And Moses and Aaron said unto all the children of Israel, At even, then ye shall know that the LORD hath brought you out from the land of Egypt:   7 And in the morning, then ye ...