A Dixie Carpetbagger

March Madness you’ve heard of, but what about “March to Madness?”  Currently in round 4 (Execrable Eight), it’s getting down to the wire.

Some of the highlights for this round:

Matthews lost because not even God watches his show anymore.  [...]  Dan Brown takes down the ol’ Ku Klux Kodger of the Senate. While they both lie with impunity, people actually believe Dan Brown.  [...]  Tough choice in the battle between VOTF and the view. One group is composed of a bunch of secular loud mouth biddies that deride anything holy, mock the Pope, and are nauseatingly shallow and the other is the girls of the View.

This reminds me why I love Catholics.  That, and the motto of the blog: “we laugh because we believe.”  (For those who have never read it, The Joyful Noiseletter is the epitome of that idea.)

I’m just sad O’Reilly got knocked out– seriously, the guy listens to re-runs of his own show.  “Screw you, Aw-ec Bard-win!”  And Biden took out Nickelback in the first round.  Which I applaud, and I like Nickelback.

Also, for the giggle factor, the same thing, but with Presidents.

To the Work

To the work! To the work! We are servants of God;
Let us follow the path that our Master has trod;
With the balm of His counsel our strength to renew,
Let us do with our might what our hands find to do.

Refrain

Toiling on, toiling on,
Toiling on, toiling on,
Let us hope and trust,
Let us watch and pray,
And labor till the Master comes.

To the work! To the work! Let the hungry be fed;
To the fountain of life let the weary be led;
In the cross and its banner our glory shall be,
While we herald the tidings, “Salvation is free!”

Refrain

To the work! To the work! There is labor for all;
For the kingdom of darkness and error shall fall;
And the love of our Father exalted shall be,
In the loud swelling chorus, “Salvation is free!”

Refrain

To the work! To the work! In the strength of the Lord,
And a robe and a crown shall our labor reward,
When the home of the faithful our dwelling shall be,
And we shout with the ransomed, “Salvation is free!”

Refrain

O Lord my God, When I in awesome wonder,
Consider all the worlds Thy Hands have made;
I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder,
Thy power through-out the universe displayed.
“How Great Thou Art”

Via Linoge, a wonderful little app.  Even in our local neighborhood, the distances and times involved are tremendous.  Most plans for a Mars mission are timed for around 2 1/2 to 3 years.  A mission to Venus would last about a year.  With our current technology, the outer Solar System is out of reach, much less the rest of our galaxy.  Now begin to imagine the rest of space.

Heck, we live in suburbia.  Boring G2 dwarf in a boring neighborhood, with a few oddball planets.  Compared to some stars out there, our Sun is a pipsqueak:

And then you get to the fact that our universe is huge:

Thy pow’r thought the universe displayed…

Arfcom thread about buying an abandoned church.  Add to this kaveman’s “Church of G.O.D.“, and I’m beginning to get an idea…

Temple on Saturday, church on Sunday.  Monday through Friday it’s a membership based gun store during the day, and a educational center at night.  Bible study at 6, CCW (or other gun related) class starts at 7.  Friday night is movie night– this week it’s Red Dawn followed by Death Wish.  Volunteering in the soup kitchen gets you a 10% discount, and a week with the community assistance team gets you 2 free FFL transfers.

As far as a name… I’m thinking “Saint John of the Desert.”  Who’s in?

He, Who bore all pain and loss
Comfortless upon the cross,
Lives in glory now on high,
Pleads for us, and hears our cry;
Alleluia!

Many churches in the American South still hold traditional sunrise services in cemeteries as a sign of recognition that Jesus no longer lay in the tomb on Easter morning. The service starts early in the morning and is timed so that the attendants can see the sun rise when the service is going.  — Wikipeda, “Sunrise Service”

——–

Now upon the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came unto the sepulchre, bringing the spices which they had prepared, and certain others with them. And they found the stone rolled away from the sepulchre. And they entered in, and found not the body of the Lord Jesus. And it came to pass, as they were much perplexed thereabout, behold, two men stood by them in shining garments: And as they were afraid, and bowed down their faces to the earth, they said unto them, Why seek ye the living among the dead? He is not here, but is risen: remember how he spake unto you when he was yet in Galilee, Saying, The Son of man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again. And they remembered his words, And returned from the sepulchre, and told all these things unto the eleven, and to all the rest.

– Luke 24:1-9, KJV

——–

There are bad weeks, and there are bad weeks.  For a certain carpenter from Nazareth, the events leading up to Good Friday (April 3, 33 AD) could be considered the latter.  Having entered Jerusalem to great fanfare the Sunday before (Palm Sunday), Jesus ended the week crucified by the desires of the corrupt officials He had preached against.

One of the Good Friday passages that ties in with Easter morning is John 19.  In the fifth verse, Jesus is brought before Pilate and the court, and Pilate presents Jesus with the introduction “Behold the man!”  The Latin for this is “ecce homo,” which is the title Ciseri used for this painting:

One of the messages of Easter morning is that each of us must personally “behold this man.”  We can do as Pilate did, and judge without preconception, or we can do what the members of the crowd did, and allow our personal biases and actions to determine our position.  Either way, we must choose.

But the most powerful message of Easter morning is the message of hope.  Hope in the form of communion with God, since the veil has now been torn down, and hope of life beyond, since He who was dead is now alive– for evermore.  For those who now seek the Master, remember that “He is not here, but is risen.”  Amen.

This is my Father’s world.
O let me ne’er forget
that though the wrong seems oft so strong,
God is the ruler yet.
This is my Father’s world:
why should my heart be sad?
The Lord is King; let the heavens ring!
God reigns; let the earth be glad!

This isn’t the end.  The end was passed a long time ago.  This is simply the epilogue.  – Robb Allen

Please note: there is quite a bit more, after the break.  Just didn’t want to throw all this up onto the front page…

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O God, our help in ages past,

Our hope for years to come,

Our shelter from the stormy blast,

And our eternal home.

Under the shadow of Thy throne

Thy saints have dwelt secure;

Sufficient is Thine arm alone,

And our defense is sure.

Before the hills in order stood,

Or earth received her frame,

From everlasting Thou art God,

To endless years the same.

Thy Word commands our flesh to dust,

Return, ye sons of men:

All nations rose from earth at first,

And turn to earth again.

A thousand ages in Thy sight

Are like an evening gone;

Short as the watch that ends the night

Before the rising sun.

The busy tribes of flesh and blood,

With all their lives and cares,

Are carried downwards by the flood,

And lost in following years.

Time, like an ever rolling stream,

Bears all its sons away;

They fly, forgotten, as a dream

Dies at the opening day.

Like flowery fields the nations stand

Pleased with the morning light;

The flowers beneath the mower’s hand

Lie withering ere ‘tis night.

Our God, our help in ages past,

Our hope for years to come,

Be Thou our God while life shall last,

And our eternal home.

If I shut up heaven that there be no rain, or if I command the locusts to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among my people; If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.   (2 Chronicles 1:13-14, KJV)