My brother graudated from high school last Sunday. It was such a glorious day…and the ceremony was nice, too.
On Christmas Day, we put gifts underneath a pine tree, hang socks above the fireplace, kiss under weeds hanging on the ceiling, eat a lot of candy, leave cookies and milk out for Santa and perhaps, in some circumstances, might even sing happy birthday to Jesus. Now that I think about it, that sounds a bit odd. And actually, the more I think about it, the more I wonder why we don’t celebrate May Day as a nation. I mean, it’s not all that different from Christmas. Well…it’s a holiday with pagan origins. I guess that’s about where the similarities end.
The day has roots in celebrating fertility (ancient Egypt), remembering political/social victories (U.S. and U.K.), engaging in sexual activity (Germany), warding against witchcraft (Germany), and commemorating the beginning of spring (England). During the festival in England, at the break of dawn on May 1, villagers would go out into the forest and gather flowers and wood for the day’s celebration. The largest piece of wood brought back would be used as the Maypole. This gathering of flowers and wood is calling “bringing in the may.” Geoffrey Chaucer is attributed with the poem Court of Love, written in 1561. The following excerpt is a glance into the Mayday Festival. (It’s in old English…but you’ll do fine.)
And furth goth all the Court, both most and lest,
To feche the floures fressh, and braunche and blome;
And namly, hawthorn brought both page and grome.
With fressh garlandes, partie blewe and whyte,
And thaim rejoysen in their greet delyt.
I’m sure somebody will be able to put a Christian spin on this, right?
The Maypole, in England, in all its glory.
It shouldn’t have taken this long, but I’m finally at 100 posts. So, now you know what I do in most (if not all) my free time.
Here’s some good blogger jokes in honor of my 100th post. Enjoy.
Q: How many bloggers does it take to change a lightbulb?
A: 100. 1 to change the lightbulb and 99 to comment on how it should have been done differently.
Q: Why did the blogger cross the road?
A: Because the WIFI signal was stronger there.
“If this book doesn’t change the world — we’re all screwed.”
- Penn, of Penn & Teller
Penn is referring to Richard Dawkins’ book The God Delusion. I wonder if Penn knows that the best selling book of all time is the Bible. The second? Not Dawkins’ book. Not Darwin’s book.
It’s John Bunyan’s The Pilgrim’s Progress – which is practically like the Bible.
Go figure.
C.J. Mahaney, of Sovereign Grace Ministries, on his credentials as a pastor and theologian:
I regret I have no degrees. I have only graduated from high school and even that should be investigated. I am however an exceptional athlete.
Famed astrophysicist Stephen Hawking claims that there is most likely life in the universe outside Earth. He said, “if the human race is to continue for another million years, we will have to boldly go where no one has gone before.” This is the best quote of the short article though:
Hawking compared people who don’t want to spend money on human space exploration to those who opposed the journey of Christopher Columbus in 1492.
“The discovery of the New World made a profound difference to the old. Just think we wouldn’t have had a Big Mac or KFC.”
I’m so happy that Columbus discovered the New World, just so I can stuff my face with a greasy Big Mac. Yum! No wonder we celebrate Columbus Day! Maybe in the new “New World” we’ll find more fast food that can vastly fuel our addiction to angioplasties.
I’ve read that it’s not blog etiquette to change the design of a blog often–so I’ll just change it once. I’d been mulling over switching the blog to an edgier, more vibrant and 21st century look. Hope I found it. If people stop commenting, then I’ll figure out I probably made a mistake.
Abraham Piper blogged on a clip from the Resurgence conference when Matt Chandler said that just because Mark Driscoll is called by God to be a jerk, doesn’t mean everyone is. It’s priceless.
I laughed because I have always been the one in a group meeting, Bible study, or something to say, “I don’t want to be ‘that guy’ or a jerk, but let me say something…”
Oh, the joy of preaching. Maybe that’s what James meant when he said, “Not many of you should become teachers.”
Lord willing, I’ll be that jerk in a church someday.
