I Can't Imagine... Do We Need a "Funeral Channel"?

Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood singing John Lennon’s song, Imagine, at Jimmy Carter's funeral in the National Cathedral.

 Atheistic drivel at a funeral no less. 

I didn't believe it until I pulled up the video on YouTube. Interestingly, YouTube has turned off comments and "Thumbs Down" votes for this one. 

So much for free speech.

The National Cathedral is run by Episco-pagans, and Jimmy Carter's Baptist church tolerated his revisionist views, so I would expect no less from this service. 

I am glad that I didn't tune in.

This makes me second guess my proposed "Funeral Channel ™" (I added the little trademark) for television. Since people seem to love to watch celebrity send offs, I thought that endless hours of royal funerals, matinee idols' "celebrations of life", expert commentary with play-by-play analysis, cross cultural funerary programming, and advertising from casket makers, local funeral homes, and anti-aging remedy manufacturers would be a sure-fire money maker. 

It certainly would get some attention initially.

But would it have legs?

Maybe, if I could get Garth and Trisha involved.

Imagine that!

The Revised Common Lectionary: Use at your peoples' own risk

 This Sunday's reading from Luke 3:15-16,21-22 has another of those curious deletions found in the Revised Common Lectionary (RCL).

15 As the people were filled with expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Messiah, 16 John answered all of them by saying, ‘I baptize you with water; but one who is more powerful than I is coming; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandals. He will baptize you with* the Holy Spirit and fire.

21 Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heaven was opened, 22 and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, ‘You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.’

The deleted verses, 17-20, contain then bad news that the editors of the RCL felt should be withheld from the Sunday pewsitters.

17 His winnowing-fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing-floor and to gather the wheat into his granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.’

18 So, with many other exhortations, he proclaimed the good news to the people. 19 But Herod the ruler, who had been rebuked by him because of Herodias, his brother’s wife, and because of all the evil things that Herod had done, 20 added to them all by shutting up John in prison.

See what can happen when you proclaim the good news. You get locked up and beheaded.

Guess what happens when you don't proclaim the good news. 

John the Baptist tells us.

Chaff.

Musn't let the congregation hear that!

 

Oh Virginia!

 Those of you who are employed or in the wage-earning years of life should be wary of what you post on social media. I quote from CBN,

A Virginia realtor accused of "hate speech" for posting a Bible verse on Facebook has been found "guilty" of an ethics violation.

The Virginia Association of Realtors ruled on December 11 that Wilson Fauber of Staunton violated the ethics code that prohibits realtors from "certain religious expressions."  Fauber maintains he did nothing wrong and is expected to appeal. 

This started to come to light last year when the 70-year-old Fauber, a realtor and pastor, decided to run for Staunton City Council. Long before his decision to run, Fauber had reposted a scripture from Rev. Franklin Graham on his personal Facebook page in 2015. It stated that homosexual sex is a sin, based on Leviticus 18:22. Then last year, two Staunton realtors, including an openly gay man, filed a complaint with the Virginia Association of Realtors accusing Fauber of "hate speech." 

Sounds like a political hit job to me. 

When asked why he believes this is all coming out now in 2024, Fauber said, "Because the National Association of Realtors is woke. The leadership of the National Association of Realtors has made it very clear about their involvement in endorsing and approving of the LGBTQ community, and just recently, just a few weeks ago actually, in Charlottesville, Virginia, the National Association of Realtors provided funding for a Drag Queen Show." 

The Charlottesville Area Association of Realtors did host a Drag Show in November in the name of a "Fair Housing Symposium", which was reportedly funded in part by the National Association of Realtors' "fair housing grant." We contacted the N.A.R. for a comment and no one has responded to our request. 

Fauber's attorney sees it as a double standard that the N.A.R. can use realtor money to fund drag shows but Fauber can't post a Bible scripture on his Facebook page. "That's the position that's being suggested, correct," said Michael Sylvester with Founding Freedoms Law Center.

He tells CBN news that while this is a violation of free speech, there's a catch.  "So, it all changed in 2020 when the National Association of Realtors adopted a rule that prohibits anybody from speaking what they deem 'hate speech' against certain protected classes such as sexual orientation or gender identity. But what's incredible here is the post that Wilson made was in 2015, five years before that rule even existed. He simply was presenting his religious views about marriage that should not qualify for a hate speech charge," Sylvester said. 

For now, Fauber can keep his real estate license while pursuing a possible appeal. He says this "guilty ruling", however, sets a bad precedent and will likely affect other organizations, not just realtors. 

"Christians don't have rights, and this is just totally wrong. And the National Association of Realtors being the largest trade organization in America, they have set a precedent by adopting this policy. If I'm guilty because I post my religious beliefs in a meme or a scripture on my Facebook or social media accounts, and if that's guilty of "hate speech"… there are millions and millions of Christians that agree with my position, and we don't have a voice," Fauber said.

If the guilty verdict stands, Fauber could face fines as high as $15,000 and possibly lose his license which would likely end his real estate career. 

As Christians, we are called to spread the Gospel, even the parts that are offensive because it would be wrong to promise people a rose garden when Jesus never said it was going to be easy. 

To the homosexual realtor who was offended by Leviticus, I say, just wait until you read Romans 1.

 

Screwtape and the Revised Common Lectionary: Hiding the Horror

 The Revised Common Lectionary (RCL) used in many churches gives the following options for the reading from the Gospels this Sunday. You can choose from Matthew 2:13-15,19-23; or Luke 2:41-52; or Matthew 2:1-12.

So why does Matthew 2:13-15,19-23 omit verses 16-18 (highlighted in red)? 

13 Now after they had left, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, ‘Get up, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you; for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.’ 14 Then Joseph got up, took the child and his mother by night, and went to Egypt, 15 and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfil what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet, ‘Out of Egypt I have called my son.’

16 When Herod saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, he was infuriated, and he sent and killed all the children in and around Bethlehem who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had learned from the wise men. 17 Then was fulfilled what had been spoken through the prophet Jeremiah:

18 ‘A voice was heard in Ramah,

   wailing and loud lamentation,

Rachel weeping for her children;

   she refused to be consoled, because they are no more.’

19 When Herod died, an angel of the Lord suddenly appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and said, 20 ‘Get up, take the child and his mother, and go to the land of Israel, for those who were seeking the child’s life are dead.’ 21 Then Joseph got up, took the child and his mother, and went to the land of Israel. 22 But when he heard that Archelaus was ruling over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. And after being warned in a dream, he went away to the district of Galilee. 23 There he made his home in a town called Nazareth, so that what had been spoken through the prophets might be fulfilled, ‘He will be called a Nazorean.’

Since Holy Innocents was not on the Sunday calendar for churches using the RCL, the congregations will never get to hear the missing verses. They will be protected from hearing about the horror of slain children in the ancient world.

All the better to advance the abortionists' agenda in the present world.

Well done Wormwood.

Signed, 

Screwtape

Resolutions

 Every New Year people make resolutions and within two weeks they drop them. That day is called "Quitting Friday". 

This year I resolve to try to do two things that I know I can't do even if I resolve to do them. 

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment.  And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself." - Matthew 22

Try as you might, you won't be able to keep these past Quitting Friday. 

And that, my dear readers, is why we need a Savior. 

But don't give up trying!

Holy Innocents, “Lully, lullay, thou little tiny child/ Bye bye, lully, lullay…”

December 28 marked the Feast Day of the Holy Innocents. I remember it as the day we would sing the Coventry Carol. Listen to the clash of notes, the moving notes in the tenor line, and the Picary third.

I found this interesting history by Helen Brown in the Financial Times, 

Sung from the perspective of women soothing their soon-to-be-slaughtered babies, the “Coventry Carol”is surely the darkest of all Christmas songs. First written down in 1534, this maternal lament was originally part of a medieval mystery play, performed annually in the city from the late 12th century until 1579. Mounted in June, on the Feast of Corpus Christi, The Shearmen and Tailors’ Pageant was a Nativity play retelling events from the Annunciation to the Massacre of the Innocents...

...The Protestant monarchy eventually banned the mystery plays because of their Catholic origins. But an original prompt book belonging to an actor/manager called Robert Croo survived long enough to be transcribed by a local antiquarian in the early 19th century. The carol was restored to popularity after the Coventry blitz of November 1940.

Codenamed “Moonlight Sonata”, the 11-hour German raid targeted the city’s munitions factories. More than 550 people were killed and 43,000 homes were destroyed, along with the medieval cathedral. Two charred roof-beams which had fallen in the shape of a cross were bound and placed at the site of the ruined altar.

That Christmas, BBC radio broadcast a service from the ruins during which the provost Dick Howard offered a message of peace. “We are trying,” he said, “hard as it may be, to banish all thoughts of revenge… We are going to try to make a kinder, simpler, a more Christ Child-like sort of world in the days beyond this strife.” The broadcast (part of which is accessible online) ended with the “Coventry Carol”. 

I am reminded of the cruelty of the world into which both we and Jesus were born. 

I can't help but think of the innocents killed by abortion each year in the present world.

I have sung the Coventry Carol several times as a member of various choirs, and being aware of these realities, it is hard to do so without tearing up. 

Merry Christmas

 Merry Christmas to all.

The reason for the season,

Listen to "For unto us a Child is born by Handel."

Thank God for His gift this day.