April 21,1836, the Texian army defeated Santa Anna at the short Battle of San Jacinto. When the news reached the General (national) Conference of The Methodist Church, three men came forward to volunteer to be missionaries in the newly independent Republic of Texas.
One of them, Martin Ruter, was president of Allegheny College in Meadville, Pa. A fine scholar, he left that career to go to Texas. He had already done two spectacular things: 1) passed legislation in a previous national gathering to establish a college in every area as the Methodists moved westward (now numbering more than 170 nationwide), and 2) founded the Western Book Concern. Southwestern University at Georgetown was founded as Rutersville College in his honor.
After a short time in Texas, Ruter died of an illness and is buried in Navasota.
And today, we are connected. I got a reminder of his work: a catalog came from Cokesbury Books, now so named, which grew directly out of the Western Book Concern. This scholar who came to Texas as soon as he could, this one who could speak five languages and read and write seven others, this creative leader of lots of people, came to Texas.
He believed and gave his life in the fulfillment of the mission to Texas. That might not be YOUR mission, or MY mission, but he performed HIS mission in such a way that EVERYONE should be inspired to find and fulfill THEIR mission in life just as energetically.
Texans have a fine heritage! Sometimes as earthy as the backwoodsman, and sometimes as noble as the ones who shaped our high ideals. And almost uniquely to Texas, sometimes it was the backwoodsman WITH the high ideals who models out best.
Aim high.
Monday, April 22, 2013
Sunday, April 14, 2013
One Influential Rabbi
Dr. Goldstein, rabbi in Port Arthur, was an unforgettable character. Holder of five doctorates (Law, Philosophy, Medicine, Canon Law, History), a survivor of the Holocaust as a child, he had a love of life. Rabbi Goldstein drove an enormously long, old, gold Chrysler, and was "fearless" about things like stop signs and such.
I met him when he brought a program to the Port Arthur Ministers Alliances with a provocative title: "The Egyptian Roots of the Christian Communion." In part, it was a summary of the Passover rituals, and their influence on Communion through the Last Supper setting. But, in part, it was an exploration of Egyptian religion and its influence on the Hebrew Scriptures. Like most folks, I was of a mind that there was little influence flowing from Egyptian to Hebrew.
Moses grew up and was educated as an an Egyptian nobleman. He knew the law. He knew what was called the Book of Courtesies, much of which is quoted in Proverbs. And he knew another thing lost to us until after Napoleon's discovery of the Rosetta Stone: Egyptian poetry.
The spiritual poetry, with so much reflection on the world of nature and the mysteries of the stars, just the simple wonder of a starry night, was lost for such a long time. Each "new age" of rulers has always tended to erase the culture of the former dominant figures (just as the Spanish erased much of the Aztec and Inca cultures which they conquered.) But Moses knew it all well.
Bit by bit, we discover treasures, all over again, from the ancients. To slowly read ancient Egyptian poetry about the wonders of the created night sky, the magnificent gifts from the divine to the human, is to recognize that God has never hated any people, but revealed himself to those who seek him.
The key? Once I stop looking at the ancient world as a "more modern" person, and see the products of those of another time who are my equal, history and history's God begin to open into an incredibly broad view. God loves all his children. Never told more profoundly than in Jesus Christ, but never left UN-told.
(To follow up on some interesting reading: Awakening Osiris by Normandi Ellis, and The Hermetica by Freke and Gandy.)
I met him when he brought a program to the Port Arthur Ministers Alliances with a provocative title: "The Egyptian Roots of the Christian Communion." In part, it was a summary of the Passover rituals, and their influence on Communion through the Last Supper setting. But, in part, it was an exploration of Egyptian religion and its influence on the Hebrew Scriptures. Like most folks, I was of a mind that there was little influence flowing from Egyptian to Hebrew.
Moses grew up and was educated as an an Egyptian nobleman. He knew the law. He knew what was called the Book of Courtesies, much of which is quoted in Proverbs. And he knew another thing lost to us until after Napoleon's discovery of the Rosetta Stone: Egyptian poetry.
The spiritual poetry, with so much reflection on the world of nature and the mysteries of the stars, just the simple wonder of a starry night, was lost for such a long time. Each "new age" of rulers has always tended to erase the culture of the former dominant figures (just as the Spanish erased much of the Aztec and Inca cultures which they conquered.) But Moses knew it all well.
Bit by bit, we discover treasures, all over again, from the ancients. To slowly read ancient Egyptian poetry about the wonders of the created night sky, the magnificent gifts from the divine to the human, is to recognize that God has never hated any people, but revealed himself to those who seek him.
The key? Once I stop looking at the ancient world as a "more modern" person, and see the products of those of another time who are my equal, history and history's God begin to open into an incredibly broad view. God loves all his children. Never told more profoundly than in Jesus Christ, but never left UN-told.
(To follow up on some interesting reading: Awakening Osiris by Normandi Ellis, and The Hermetica by Freke and Gandy.)
Saturday, April 13, 2013
Canards and Canaries
The dictionary says:
Canard:
a : a false or unfounded report or story; especially : a fabricated report. b : a groundless rumor or belief.
"Canards" show up when political debates get long, when one side or the other is too eager for something persuasive, especially when they feel their argument is "in trouble" for one reason or another. They are the meat and potatoes of propaganda.
"Canaries" were the old-fashioned early warning signal for gasses inside mines. When the canary died, being sensitive to the gasses, it was time for the people to leave immediately.
Canards and canaries BOTH signal, in their own ways, that things are really going downhill. When a politician fabricates stuff, he or she begins to lose "believers". It is sometimes a desperate move.
You hear canards every day, usually making up "reasons" for things, or causes that really don't fit. One example of a canard is this one: "Women are about eight times more likely to die from cardiovascular disease than by breast cancer, so all that concern about breast cancer is overblown." Extreme and ridiculous, but an example of what can come up in a financial argument.
Physicians and surgeons already make more money than burger-flippers, some arguments seem to run, therefore we don't need to pay them much from Medicare. Canards appear attacking most anything that does not benefit ME personally. Ranting about property taxes is a good source for finding some, if you look.
So, in healthcare discussions, gun control discussions, any good hot-button conversation, when the "Here's why...." argument comes up with unbelievable stuff, you usually have some of those weird "canards". I would wager that the Congressional Record is the depository of the largest number anywhere in the world.
And they keep recurring! 53 years ago as a college sophomore, the debate topic was "National Health Insurance", and part of our task was to recognize and refute the same canards you can hear in any conversation or political speech on the subject today. More emotion than logic (death panels, for example) they still stir up folks.
But, if you've been fooled by these weird things once, maybe twice, they lose their influence (for most folks!) and we can get on with the conversation. Our nation has plenty of conversations that need to be productive, and fewer of these old propaganda tools running around.
Canard:
a : a false or unfounded report or story; especially : a fabricated report. b : a groundless rumor or belief.
"Canards" show up when political debates get long, when one side or the other is too eager for something persuasive, especially when they feel their argument is "in trouble" for one reason or another. They are the meat and potatoes of propaganda.
"Canaries" were the old-fashioned early warning signal for gasses inside mines. When the canary died, being sensitive to the gasses, it was time for the people to leave immediately.
Canards and canaries BOTH signal, in their own ways, that things are really going downhill. When a politician fabricates stuff, he or she begins to lose "believers". It is sometimes a desperate move.
You hear canards every day, usually making up "reasons" for things, or causes that really don't fit. One example of a canard is this one: "Women are about eight times more likely to die from cardiovascular disease than by breast cancer, so all that concern about breast cancer is overblown." Extreme and ridiculous, but an example of what can come up in a financial argument.
Physicians and surgeons already make more money than burger-flippers, some arguments seem to run, therefore we don't need to pay them much from Medicare. Canards appear attacking most anything that does not benefit ME personally. Ranting about property taxes is a good source for finding some, if you look.
So, in healthcare discussions, gun control discussions, any good hot-button conversation, when the "Here's why...." argument comes up with unbelievable stuff, you usually have some of those weird "canards". I would wager that the Congressional Record is the depository of the largest number anywhere in the world.
And they keep recurring! 53 years ago as a college sophomore, the debate topic was "National Health Insurance", and part of our task was to recognize and refute the same canards you can hear in any conversation or political speech on the subject today. More emotion than logic (death panels, for example) they still stir up folks.
But, if you've been fooled by these weird things once, maybe twice, they lose their influence (for most folks!) and we can get on with the conversation. Our nation has plenty of conversations that need to be productive, and fewer of these old propaganda tools running around.
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