Above: The earliest known photograph of Abraham Lincoln from the mid-1840’s William Knox was a Scottish farmer and poet. He is not very well known except for this poem, and this piece is remembered primarily because it was Abraham Lincoln’s favorite. Lincoln first read it when he was a young man. He liked it so […]
352) Abraham Lincoln’s Favorite Poem Read More »
Daily Reflection by Mark D. Roberts on Saturday, April 16, 2011 (from <www.thehighcalling.org>) For all can see that wise men die; the foolish and the senseless alike perish and leave their wealth to others. –Psalm 49:10 Psalm 49 isn’t exactly what you’d call cheery. Its main point is that the rich will die just like
332) The Inevitability of Death Read More »
From a sermon / May 2011 (…continued) And so, I do feel sorry for Clint Eastwood. You wouldn’t think anyone would need to feel sorry for him at all, with all that money, success, fame, and honor. But as you well know, a man of his age is on the verge of leaving
312) Feeling Sorry for Clint Eastwood (part two) Read More »
From a sermon / May 2011 Clint Eastwood is a really tough guy. Just think of the hundreds of bad guys we’ve watched him kill or beat up over the last 50 years, and he hardly ever gets killed. Of course, that’s just television and movies, but Clint Eastwood looks tough in real
311) Feeling Sorry for Clint Eastwood (part one) Read More »
Frank McCourt (1930-2009) (…continued) Frank McCourt was a man skilled in the writing and speaking of words. He won a Pulitzer Prize for his best-selling book Angela’s Ashes, in which he tells hilarious stories of his miserable childhood growing up in Limerick, Ireland. It is not all hilarious, of course, as
299) If There is a Heaven (part two) Read More »
AND WHEN I DIE by Blood, Sweat, and Tears I’m not scared of dying, And I don’t really care. If it’s peace you find in dying, Well then let the time be near. If it’s peace you find in dying, And if dying time is here, Just bundle up my coffin ‘Cause it’s cold way
298) If There is a Heaven (part one) Read More »
(…continued) Where is Eddie now? Let’s look at the question from a different perspective, from the other end of life. Imagine a little newborn baby, let’s call her Aisha. Let’s say Aisha was born just this morning, so she is here now; but where was she a year ago? How did she get
297) Can These Bones Live? (Part Two) Read More »
In Ezekiel 37 the prophet is given a vision of a valley filled with skeletons, the remains of thousands of dead people. The Lord asked Ezekiel if those dry bones could live. ‘Can the dead really live again?’ was the question. “O Lord,” Ezekiel replied, “only you know that.”
296) Can These Bones Live? (Part One) Read More »
A Funeral Sermon by James Weldon Johnson (1871-1938), (see meditation #270 for a brief biography), from God’s Trombones, 1927 Weep not, weep not, She is not dead; She’s resting in the bosom of Jesus. Heart-broken husband– weep no more; Grief-stricken son– weep no more; Left-lonesome daughter– weep no more; She only just gone home. Day
271) Go Down, Death Read More »
From a letter by Martin Luther to Doctor Benedict Paul, whose son had lately been killed by a fall from the top of a house. (Paraphrased from The Table Talk of Martin Luther, translated by William Hazlitt, 1857; available at <www.ccel.org> ) Although it is nowhere forbidden in Holy Scripture to mourn and grieve for
195) A “Measured Sorrow” Read More »
