Today is the last day in Christmastime.  The music is now shut off at the Institute, and the Christmas posters are put away.  New posters are on the way and new music as well.   Those who complained to the police about our religious music should enjoy this respite.  The Good News will soon be broadcast from 827 Webster Street once again – and throughout 2008.  As previously stated, the building has penance to do, and the Institute is more than happy to help do it.

Most of the sacred art presented during Advent has been of the Italian variety. Today we travel north to the Netherlandsto enjoy a fine painting by Pieter de Grebber.

While the baptism depicted could be historical as to form, it is likely that John the Baptizer preferred immersion over the mere pouring of water over the head.  Those who wanted John’s baptism went to the Jordon River.  Why walk all that way to just get your head wet? 

Immersion is the full sign of baptism.  Immersion best signifies the death to sin, with coming up out of the water best signifying the believer’s new life in Christ.

Anyone really wanting to perform baptism in the best possible mode should consider triple immersion, in the “Name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.”

For those who think the author might be drawing more from his recent Baptist heritage than his ancient Catholic heritage, think again —  both are correct in valuing immersion as the highest expression of baptism:   

 628 Baptism, the original and full sign of which is immersion, efficaciously signifies the descent into the tomb by the Christian who dies to sin with Christ in order to live a new life. “We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.”.

1262 The different effects of Baptism are signified by the perceptible elements of the sacramental rite. Immersion in water symbolizes not only death and purification, but also regeneration and renewal. Thus the two principal effects are purification from sins and new birth in the Holy Spirit. .1239 The essential rite of the sacrament follows: Baptism properly speaking. It signifies and actually brings about death to sin and entry into the life of the Most Holy Trinity through configuration to the Paschal mystery of Christ. Baptism is performed in the most expressive way by triple immersion in the baptismal water. However, from ancient times it has also been able to be conferred by pouring the water three times over the candidate’s head. Source:   http://www.scborromeo.org/ccc.htm  (The Catechism of the Catholic Church).

Note the fate that is fulfilled in today’s painting.   The former jumping fetus (John) baptizes the former visiting embryo (Jesus).  Mere time brought both “little ones” to their highest callings.  Click here for the background on this discussion:   Abortion and the Visitation . Postscript:Baptism of Christ Artist:  Pieter de Grebber (b. ca. 1600, Haarlem, d. 1652/53, Haarlem)Original: oil on canvas, displayed at St. Stephanus Church, Beckum, Germany  The eldest son of the history and portrait painter, Frans Pietersz de Grebber (1572/73-1649), Pieter first studied with his father before being apprenticed to the renowned history painter, draughtsman, and printmaker, Hendrick Goltzius.Frans de Grebber served as Peter Paul Rubens’s agent, and young Pieter accompanied his father to Antwerp in 1618, where he met the great Flemish master.  

Although only now regaining historical recognition, Pieter de Grebber was a highly regarded history and portrait painter in his day and distinguished himself as a pioneer of Haarlem classicism with a characteristic clarity and order in his designs, pale hued palette, and painterly execution in his mature works. His early paintings attest to his admiration for the Utrecht Caravaggisti, and he clearly had firsthand acquaintance with the achievements of both Rubens and Rembrandt,but his own style, which he had perfected by the mid-1620s, was unique, not merely an amalgam of Northern and Southern Netherlandish elements.

 Source:  http://www.wga.hu/frames-e.html?/bio/g/grebber/biograph.html

As previously stated, the Institute celebrated the 12 Days in postings, art and music.  Last Saturday was the 12th day, and the Institute yet celebrates the Christmas season.  “Ordinary time” begins Monday, January 14, and the subject matter of these postings will change at that time. 

Tonignt we mark the 12th Day, albeit late.  We have saved this toward the end of our celebration because the poetry below forms a bridge to the Institute’s next theme.  The Christmas posters will be taken down and the Christmas music packed away.  Music stressing the Evangelical nature of our Christian Faith will be the focus of our broadcasts into the park during ”ordinary time.”  We will feature more than a few contemporary Christian artists during this time.  Plan to brave the inclement weather on January 26 to come to our open house during the Annual March for Life.

The late Rich Mullins will be one of the featured artists.  He is quoted in our lengthy philosophical statement found by clicking on the mission criticals tab above.  Rich was a great gift to the American church. He is greatly missed by those cognizant of his faith and his work. 

The 12th Day of Christmas is paralleled to the 12 points of doctrine found in the Apostles Creed. (Again, while this may not be the source of the 12 Days carol, it sure is a welcome glossing on an otherwise meaningless song!)  Many Evangelical Protestants are shy when it comes to creeds.  Rich Mullins was an Evangelical Protestant who had no aversion to the Apostles Creed. 

Find below the lyrics to Rich’s great song, Creed, numbered to correspond to the 12 points of doctrine found in the Apostles Creed.  Note Rich’s subtle broadside against post-modernity in the song:  We did not make up this doctrine, it instead makes us who we are.  God is the author of the doctrine in Creed, man merely discovers it and it redeemed as she lives it.

(1) I believe in God the Father almighty
Maker of Heaven and Maker of Earth
(2) And in Jesus Christ
His only begotten Son, our Lord
(3) He was conceived by the Holy Spirit
Born of the virgin Mary
(4)Suffered under Pontius Pilate
He was crucified and dead and buried

CHORUS:
And I believe what I believe
Is what makes me what I am
I did not make it, no it is making me
It is the very truth of God and not the invention of any man 

            CLICK HERE FOR A REAL BLESSING: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o15DwifRmq8

(4) I believe that He who suffered
Was crucified, buried, and dead
(5) He descended into hell and
On the third day, rose again
(6) He ascended into Heaven where
He sits at God’s mighty right hand
(7) I believe that He’s returning to
Judge the quick and the dead
Of the sons of men

CHORUS

I believe it, I believe it
I believe it
I believe it, I believe it

(1) I believe in God the Father almighty
Maker of Heaven and Maker of Earth
(2) And in Jesus Christ His only begotten Son,
Our Lord
(8) I believe in the Holy Spirit
(9) One Holy Church, the communion of Saints
(10) The forgiveness of sin
(11) I believe in the resurrection
(12) I believe in a life that never ends

CHORUS

I believe it, I believe
I believe it, I believe
I believe it, I believe it

Rich Mullins & Beaker, Songs album, 1996

A fine discussion of the creed and its 12 point architecture can be found at http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01629a.htm

Postscript:

The above painting of the Last Supper by the artist Jacopo Bassano was completed in 1542. The original is oil on canvas and can be viewed at the Galleria Borghese in Rome. Bassano’s Last Supper is one of the masterpieces of 16th-century Italian painting. Instead of the elegant grouping of figures in Leonardo’s painting, which inspired it, this dramatic scene features barefoot fishermen at the crucial moment when Christ asks who will betray him, and the light passing through a glass of wine stains the clean tablecloth red. Recent restoration has only now revealed the extraordinary original colours, which had been heavily painted over in the 19th century, when the emerald green and iridescent pinks and oranges were not in fashion.

Warning!  Graphic pictures are presented in this post.

While most of us have packed away the decorations and are now more concerned with paying credit card bills than celebrating the Incarnation, the Institute has been reminded by good Catholic friends that Christmastime continues until the Feast of the Baptism of Jesus. 

Thus the Institute is doing just that.  Our decorations remain up, and the Christmas music plays on.  (Although one of Fort Wayne’s finest has let us know that at least one complaint has been received regarding our music!)  

Consulting the Catholic calender, one finds that Advent began on December 2, 2007 and continues until January 13, 2008.  This more than five week long celebration and remembrance is filled with feasts, holy days and tradition.  One thing about those Catholics, they do know how to do pageantry.  (Any Orthodox readers are free to roll their eyes at that last sentence.  The Orthodox Church does do a very fine job with pageantry!)   

Christmas time is a time of joy, merriment and great family fun for all, right?  Everything good for the kids, right?  No negatives, no bad news, no reason to cry, right?

Wrong.  While the greatest of joy permeates the Christmas story, the joy that comes from Elizabeth’s great gift in the form of the embryo John and Mary’s great choice in saying yes to God’s Incarnational Will, there is great sadness in the Christmas story as well.

(Mt 2:16-18) “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. Then was fulfilled what had been spoken through the prophet Jeremiah: “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.”

Imagine, if you will, the great despair that fell upon Bethlehem in the two years or so following the birth of Jesus.  Despair that would have remained with that sad little city for a good two generations.  Who can forget Roman soldiers roughly taking your children from you and swiftly putting them to death, probably right before your eyes?  Few stories from antiquity are as horrifying as this post Christmas reality.

One does come to mind.  It happened at the birth of Moses.  Kids thrown to the Nile crocs.  The parallels exist for a reason.  Just as Moses was the lawgiver of the Old Covenant, the New Moses, Jesus, was the lawgiver of the New Covenant.  (We can leave for another post the parallels between the first and second Adams.)

Pro-lifers are sometimes accused of showing too gross of graphic pictures in their goal of communication the reality of abortion.  The two pictures on this post communicate the reality of the slaughter of the innocents that King Herod ordered once he realized that the Wise Men of the East had anointed a king in the historic city of David.

It seems only fitting, since the Institute is headquartered in a former abortion clinic, to present this dark side of Christmas.  We live on a fallen planet.  Bad things happen to good babies.  Sometimes at the hands of strangers, sometimes due to the government, and sometimes by the choice of the parents.  In the cases presented on this post the parents would have certainly chose otherwise.  In the sad reality of abortion on demand in America, the babies die due to the choice of the parents, at the hands of strangers and with the complicity of the federal government.

Michael the ArchAngel, protect us from ourselves. 

Postscripts:

The first painting above is by the artist Duccio di Buoninsegna (c. 1255-1260 – c. 1318-1319).  It is entitled Slaughter of the Innocents, and the original can be viewed at the Museo dell’Opera del Duomo, Siena.

di Buoninsegna was one of the most influential Italian artists of his time. Born in Siena, Tuscany, he worked mostly with pigment and egg tempera and like most of his contemporaries he painted religious subject matters. He has influenced Simone Martini and the brothers Ambrogio and Pietro Lorenzetti, among others.

The second paiting above is by the artist Domenico Ghirlandaio (1449-1494).  It is also entitled The Slaughter of the Innocents and the original fresco can be viewed in the Church of Santa Maria Novella, Florence.

Ghirlandaio was born in Florence and studied painting and mosaic with the noted Florentine painter Alesso Baldovinetti. His style was also influenced by the Italian Renaissance artists Giotto, Masaccio, Andrea del Castagno, and Andrea del Verrocchio. Ghirlandaio is considered one of the greatest masters of the Florentine school.

Today is Epiphany and Epiphany Sunday.  

Imagine the surprise when Mary and Joseph, poor as they were, received “Kings” from the Eastern empire (Parthia)  bearing the most costly and kingly of gifts.  

It was an ”epiphany” for some, I imagine.  Yet another sign of just who the baby born of Mary really and truly was — a great king.  The King of Kings, in fact.   

The great pretender, Herod, certainly took notice.  Powerful non-Romans should not just slip in from the East and anoint a newborn King.  Such an act portends civil war.  Herod’s dynasty and even the entire Roman Empiral system was threatened by the visit that we celebrate today.  Remember that the Holy Lands had already been the site of fierce battles between the East and the West, and that the West, in the person of the Greek general Alexander, had forced “modernity” upon those lands over much turmoil and bloodshed.  (See the Book of Maccabees.) 

Yes, the visitation we mark today was so much more than just a baby shower!

 Seven hundred years before the Christ Child received the contingency from the East one of the greatest prophets of Israel wrote of this day in geopolitical terms . . .

For to us a child is born,
       to us a son is given,
       and the government will be on his shoulders.
       And he will be called
       Wonderful Counselor,  Mighty God,
       Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Of the increase of his government and peace
       there will be no end.
       He will reign on David’s throne
       and over his kingdom,
       establishing and upholding it
       with justice and righteousness
       from that time on and forever.
       The zeal of the LORD Almighty
       will accomplish this.

 Postscript:

For more on the artist Rubens click here: The Twelve Days of Christmas

The above poster greeted us when we first walked through the former abortion clinic.  It was one of three that the former team left behind.   We assume that the above poster was on this door while the building was used as an abortion clinic. 

The poster celebrates “reproductive options” in history, all the way back to early Greek and Roman times, through Elizabethian England and into modernity.  (Including Margie Sanger and Planned Parenthood.) The poster presents a “womyn-centric” view of the world, employing a neo-marxist, female fertility lens to look back down the corridors of time.  

It is a teaching tool, a catechism if you will, destined to be posted and designed to be read.  The goal of this catechism is to teach the reader to celebrate contraception, including abortion services, as the empowerment of women. 

Which brings to mind the following quote from Mother Teresa: “It is a poverty to decide that a child must die so that you may live as you wish.”http://www.gargaro.com/mother_teresa/quotes.html .  This teaching poster was on the door into the southeast room on the clinic’s first floor.   Christian counselors who have discussed the abortion experience at 827 Webster Street with women who were unfortunate to be served at that location tell us that this room was where the women waited to be called into one of the three “procedure” rooms.  The women have described huddling in start silence around a space heater. (The clinic’s boiler had failed and the management had resorted to electric space heaters rather than put any money into the filthy facility they ran — for profit.) 

We are pretty certain that the noise of the vacuum aspiration machines could be heard from this waiting roon, and any cries or loud sobs would have been audible as well. It was a room of despair, a hopeless suite leading to a robbed womb.  (And much money for George Ulrich Klopfer and Susan Hill.)

 No more!  The following picture, mounted on translucent material, now beams out of this room day and night!  The original was painted by the great Perugino.  This masterpiece celebrates true femininity, the women of faith and substance who look to the Christ Child for deliverance and sane, women-affirming teachings on how to live this life we have been given.    Postscript

The Virgin and Child Surrounded by Two Angels, St. Rose, and St. Catherine.

Oil on wood.

Louvre, Paris, France

Borrowing from Wikipedia and New Advent:  Pietro Perugino (1446–1524) was a well-known painter of the Umbrian school, who developed some of the qualities that found classic expression in the High Renaissance.  He was born Pietro Vannucci in Città della Pieve, Umbria, Vannucci; his nickname characterizes him as from Perugia, the chief city of Umbria.Perugino adopted a rising tradition and made it his own by adding to it the decorative taste of his master, Fiorenzo di Lorenzo, and influenced by the powerful style of Piero della Francesca.He was a contemporary and peer of  Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo.  The latter once told Perugino to his face that he was a bungler in art (goffo nell arte).  Perugino brought an action for defamation of character, unsuccessfully  Perugino’s most accomplished student was  Raphael. There can be no doubt that the artists mentioned in this post have given Christendom a great wealth of beauty to comtemplate. 

Building upon our earlier post at The Twelve Days of Christmas, please consider the following:

According to the Wikipedia,

Festival origin

The Twelve Days of Christmas as a celebration and festival is old and steeped in traditions. Over the centuries, differing churches and sects of Christianity have changed the actual traditions, time frame, and their interpretations.

Middle Ages

In the Middle Ages this period was one of continuous feasting and merrymaking, which climaxed on Twelfth Night, the traditional end of the Christmas season. Twelfth Night itself was forever solidified in popular culture when William Shakespeare used it as setting for one of his most famous stage plays. Some of these traditions were adapted from the older pagan customs, including the Roman Saturnalia. [snip edit]

Colonial America

The original American colonists brought their version of the Twelve Days over from England, and adapted them to their new country, adding their own variations over the years. [snip edit]

Modern United States

With the onset of more Americanized and secular traditions throughout the past two centuries (such as the American “Santa Claus“, popularity of Christmas Eve itself as a holiday, and rise in popularity of New Year’s Eve parties as well), the traditions of the Twelve Days of Christmas have been largely forgotten in the U.S. This is also heightened by the commercial practice to have “After-Christmas Sales” begin on December 26th and run usually until New Year’s Eve.

As in olden days, Twelfth Night to Epiphany morning is then the traditional time to take down the Christmas tree and decorations.

Another Wikipedia entry states that

“The Twelve Days of Christmas” is a children’s rhyme that was originally published in a book called Mirth without Mischief in London around 1780. It was originally a memory and forfeit game and it was played by gathering a circle of players and each person took it in turns to say the first line of the rhyme. When it is the first player’s turn again he says the second line of the verse and so on.

This same entry also reports the folowing on the meaning of the carol:

A bit of modern folklore claims that the song’s lyrics were written as a “catechism song” to help young Catholics learn their faith, at a time when practicing Catholicism was discouraged in England. There is no substantive evidence supporting this claim, and no evidence that the claim is historical, or “anything but a fanciful modern day speculation”.  http://www.snopes.com/holidays/christmas/12days.asp,

So, the Institute is not pressing the anti-Elizabethian underground side of the 12 Days.  Could be it is all historical revisionism. 

But that said, creative minds have assigned an interesting theological construct to the song.  Why not use this for a time of family catechesis, or Sunday School discussion, on Epiphany Sunday, January 6?  Just because it was (probably not) used against King Henry VIII and his monarchial heirs is no reason to ignore it as a traditional teaching device.

Religious symbolism of The Twelve Days of Christmas (The 12 Days of Christmas)

1 True Love refers to God
2 Turtle Doves refers to the Old and New Testaments
3 French Hens refers to Faith, Hope and Charity, the Theological Virtues
4 Calling Birds refers to the Four Gospels and/or the Four Evangelists
5 Golden Rings refers to the first Five Books of the Old Testament, the “Pentateuch”, which gives the history of man’s fall from grace.
6 Geese A-laying refers to the six days of creation
7 Swans A-swimming refers to the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, the seven sacraments
8 Maids A-milking refers to the eight beatitudes
9 Ladies Dancing refers to the nine Fruits of the Holy Spirit
10 Lords A-leaping refers to the ten commandments
11 Pipers Piping refers to the eleven faithful apostles
12 Drummers Drumming refers to the twelve points of doctrine

Source: 

http://www.carols.org.uk/the_twelve_days_of_christmas.htm

Imagine how much better things might be if all of the children in America could tick off the above 12 and the meaning behind them as easily as they tick off sports trivia, pop culture ditties and/or Nintendo games. 

Friends, we desperately need to get this culture back to the basics!!!

Mea culpa! I did not intend, in the last post, to communicate anything more than that I was writing the anonymous posts to this website. As for help, aid and angels in human form, I have many looking after me, including the following . . .

A Methodist angel who designed and set up this website. I did not mean to shortchange Ron Shank with my last post! Ron (Optimus Media) is an old friend from my days at the American Family Association, and was used as an angel to help get the Institute up and running. Click on Optimus Media below to get to Ron. Let him know if you like the look, the logos and the usability of this site. Ron is the midwife as to the e-technology that launched the ArchAngel Instititute. You can also drop Ron a line at rshank@optimusmedia.com

I have already honored my Wesleyan angel. Find below three other angels who have been much help in the launch of the Institute.

The picture is vintage, take about a year after I left the Fort for Wichita back in the early 90’s. Pictured is my Missionary Church angel (Brett in red flannel), my Lutheran angel (Kevin, standing in front of me in gray) and my Baptist angel (Keith, in stripes). I was a free agent angel at that time!

Many other angels, Catholic, Protestant, Orthodox and free agent have helped get the Institute up and running over the past months. The Institute is — and will continue to be — an experiment in evangelical ecumenism. We are bound together by a love for the Lord Jesus Christ, who was incarnated in the womb of the virgin to save humankind from the ravishes of the great rebellion. The Creator being created in flesh to give his very flesh for the life of the world. It is the greatest love story ever told, and the Institute considers it the heart and soul of the Institute’s evangelical mission.

There are many, many other angels in the band that have helped birth the Institute, including a great Board of Directors.

Too many angels in human form to introduce all in one post. More is coming on this subject in subsequent posts. . .

At the risk of offending the Institute’s Protestant friends and supporters on this first day of 2008, please consider the closing prayer from a recent Novena that Bishop John D’Arcy asked the good Catholics of the Fort Wayne-South Bend diocese to pray. All are invited to carefully note the prayer’s scriptural warrant.

“Almighty God, we offer this novena to honor the Blessed Virgin Mary. She occupies a place in the Church, which is highest after Christ and yet very close to us, for You choose her to give the world the Life which renews all things, Jesus Christ. And so we pray as Mary:

“My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord, my spirit rejoices in God, my Savior, for he has looked with favor on his lowly servant. From this day all generations will call me blessed: The Almighty has done great things for me, and holy is His Name.”   Luke 1:46-49

The Institute is not sponsoring Mary worship. That is not Christian.  It is not even Catholic. The Institute is merely agreeing that the Mother of Jesus should be called “blessed.”  She certainly was blessed to carry the Incarnation in her womb!  She is not analogous to a mere beast of burden who carried Jesus into Jerusalem.  She is instead more like an Eve who did not say yes to the great deceiver, but instead said yes to the Holy Spirit.

To the Institute’s Protestant friends and supporters: Try this link instead of a novena.  It was sung this morning at St. Charles by an outstanding youth quartet and choir.   http://www.kodachrome.org/marydid/  This song is very moving, and was probably sung in many Protestant churches during this Advent season.

   The above picture that  opens this posting is on display in the window of a former “procedure” room at 827 Webster Street.  The Institute had two prints made on an expensive translucent material.  Drive by after dark for the full effect.  Viewing those two paintings of true femininity and motherhood shining through the windows of a former abortion clinic while Christian music is broadcast into the adjacent park is a spiritually uplifting experience. 

Postscript  Accoridng to Wikipedia, “The Madonnina, commonly known as the Madonna of the Streets, was a painting created by Roberto Ferruzzi and first publicly exhibited in 1897 at an art exhibition in Venice. … Although not originally painted as a religious picture, this painting was received by the public as a beautiful image of the Virgin Mary holding her Infant Son, and has become the most renowned of Ferruzzi’s works.

The Original is lost.  In this instance the original was altered into the likeness of an icon.

John R. Brown (pictured  standing before a famous painting of his namesake) is the Institute’s favorite Wesleyan angel.  (Remember that angel has multiple definitions).  John is the most active partner in the Donegal Corridor, LLC.  (Click on the tile “Fly the Corridor” above for an explanation of the Corridor).  John Brown has taken the bull by the horns to get the Institute off the ground in 2007.  Not only did JB drive the green side of securing the former abortion clinic, he, a man in his late 70’s, spearheaded much of the cleaning (including a big mess in the basement), financed the new furnace and supervised the plumbing repairs.  It is no overstatement to say that the ArchAngel Institute would not be off the ground without John Brown’s significant and substantial sacrifices.  John Brown is the Arch Guardian Angel.  The Institute has awarded him with a red shirt bearing the title “Den Father.”  In this final post of 2007 the Institute honors John Roger Brown of New Haven.  It is a title befitting the point man at the Donegal Corridor.

John is one of many who pledged to help get the Institute going through prayers, financial contributions and/or labor.  None have done more than John to get the ArchAngel Institute airborne.  Notice the shirt John is modeling.  It is the “Guardian 2007″ shirt that any who helped launch the Institute are encouraged to wear.  Any who helped launch the Institute can order such a shirt.  The shirts cost the Institute about $25 to produce.  If you would like such a shirt, merely drop us a note with your shirt size.  We ask that any ordering such a shirt help us out with a donation, but if that is an economic hardship we still want to order such a shirt for those who helped us launch.  So if you helped, please ask for your shirt and just let us know if you cannot afford the donation.  We will take it from there.  We really do want those who helped us get the ship off the ground to have a red ArchAngel shirt memorializing their commitment. 

New Haven’s John Brown is a Guardian Angel due to his faith, which is a result of his upbringing by his father Richard Brown and example of grandfathers Luther and John M. Brown.  John R. Brown is a Wesleyan Guardian Angel thanks to Lifeway Wesleyan Church and his good friend Pastor Rick Fletcher.  Pastor Rick is a friend of the Institute, even a guardian angel himself.  Pastor Rick has supported the launch of the Institute, offered his spiritual counseling and advice, and been a constant advocate of God’s unmatched grace and graciousness to the Institute’s Executive Director.  Pastor Rick and John Brown are two of the Institute’s favorite angels, Wesleyan or otherwise.

Join Pastor Rick and John Brown in flying the Guardian 2007 colors by ordering your Guardian 2007 shirt today! 

And if you have not yet helped in the launch, then come aboard now and we will order you a Guardian 2008 shirt! 

Postscript:

The picture of the historic John Brown in this post is found in mural form in the Kansas capitol building.  It was painted in the 1930’s by Kansas artist John Steuart Curry (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Steuart_Curry) and represents Bloody Kansas as the precursor to the Civil War that tore the United States asunder in 1861.  The mural is entitled “Tragic Prelude.”  This great mural makes the point that there are values that rightly divide a people.  Note the book in John Brown’s upraised hand.

Some claim that if you look very close, John Brown’s buckskin is stamped Guardian 1858.  The Institute neither confirms nor denies this report.  The Institute does want to make the point that John Brown of Harpers Ferry was not a Wesleyan. 

Trivia question:  Who can identify this stained glass window?

“Hark! The Herald Angels Sing” is a Christmas hymn or carol written by
Charles Wesley (pictured below), the brother of John Wesley, the co-founder of Methodism and, by implication, all of the many denominations that flowed out of the revival that was Methodism.

This great hymn of the Faith first appeared in a work entitled Hymns and Sacred Poems in 1739. The original opening couplet was “Hark! how all the welkin rings / Glory to the King of Kings”. The version known today is the result of alterations by various hands, most notably George Whitfield, Wesley’s co-worker, who changed the opening couplet to the familiar one we know today.

Source: Wikipedia

If only half of your progenitors since 1740 sang Hark the Herald, and only half of them could sing it in faith, then that is still more than 500 of your ancestors, since the 1740’s, who celebrated Christmas as the birthday of the Incarnated One by singing this great carol.

That is 500 of your ancestors who sung these words, embracing them as their own statement of faith, their own creed.  It truly earns credit as a hymn celebrated by the faith of our fathers!

Hark! The herald angels sing,
“Glory to the newborn King;
Peace on earth, and mercy mild,
God and sinners reconciled!”
Joyful, all ye nations rise,
Join the triumph of the skies;
With th’angelic host proclaim,
“Christ is born in Bethlehem!”

Refrain

Hark! the herald angels sing,
“Glory to the newborn King!”

Christ, by highest Heav’n adored;
Christ the everlasting Lord;
Late in time, behold Him come,
Offspring of a virgin’s womb.
Veiled in flesh the Godhead see;
Hail th’incarnate Deity,
Pleased with us in flesh to dwell,
Jesus our Emmanuel.

Refrain

Hail the heav’nly Prince of Peace!
Hail the Sun of Righteousness!
Light and life to all He brings,
Ris’n with healing in His wings.
Mild He lays His glory by,
Born that man no more may die.
Born to raise the sons of earth,
Born to give them second birth.

Refrain

Come, Desire of nations, come,
Fix in us Thy humble home;
Rise, the woman’s conqu’ring Seed,
Bruise in us the serpent’s head.
Now display Thy saving power,
Ruined nature now restore;
Now in mystic union join
Thine to ours, and ours to Thine.

Refrain

Adam’s likeness, Lord, efface,
Stamp Thine image in its place:
Second Adam from above,
Reinstate us in Thy love.
Let us Thee, though lost, regain,
Thee, the Life, the inner man:
O, to all Thyself impart,
Formed in each believing heart.

Refrain

For more of Wesley’s inspired poetry click here:

http://gbgm-umc.org/umhistory/wesley/hymns/