Tuesday, November 18, 2008

The Bible in Literature

Psalm 97. Dominus regnavit.
The LORD is King, the earth may be glad thereof; * yea, the multitude of the isles may be glad thereof.

Psalm 99. Dominus regnavit.
The LORD is King, be the people never so impatient; * he sitteth between the Cherubim, be the earth never so unquiet.

From Morning Prayer for Tuesday, November 18, 2008, in the Book of Divine Worship

Also a clue in the Dorothy Sayers mystery, The Nine Tailors.

Monday, November 17, 2008

Collect for the Week of the Sunday closest to November 16

Blessed Lord, who hast caused all holy Scriptures to be written for our learning: Grant that we may in such wise hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them, that, by patience and comfort of thy holy Word, we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life, which thou hast given us in our Savior Jesus Christ; who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Saturday, November 15, 2008

Beat your plowshares into swords

The first lesson at Morning Prayer according to the Anglican Use of the Roman Catholic Church for Saturday, November 15, 2008 -- Joel 3:9-17.

3:9 Proclaim ye this among the Gentiles; Prepare war, wake up the mighty men, let all the men of war draw near; let them come up: 3:10 Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruninghooks into spears: let the weak say, I am strong. 3:11 Assemble yourselves, and come, all ye heathen, and gather yourselves together round about: thither cause thy mighty ones to come down, O LORD. 3:12 Let the heathen be wakened, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat: for there will I sit to judge all the heathen round about. 3:13 Put ye in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe: come, get you down; for the press is full, the fats overflow; for their wickedness is great. 3:14 Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision: for the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision. 3:15 The sun and the moon shall be darkened, and the stars shall withdraw their shining. 3:16 The LORD also shall roar out of Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shall shake: but the LORD will be the hope of his people, and the strength of the children of Israel. 3:17 So shall ye know that I am the LORD your God dwelling in Zion, my holy mountain: then shall Jerusalem be holy, and there shall no strangers pass through her any more.

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

In Flanders Fields

IN FLANDERS FIELDS
by John McCrae
[Canadian Poet, 1872-1918]

In Flanders fields the poppies grow
Between the crosses, row on row
That mark our place: and in the sky
The larks still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved, and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The Torch: be yours to hold it high!
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

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John McCrae, physician, soldier, and poet, died in France a Lieutenant-Colonel with the Canadian forces.