At the close of one year and the beginning of another, here are some thoughts and questions. Today’s sort of a holiday, so I’m just asking stating them, not elaborating on or answering them. You can do that when you come home at 1:30 in the morning.
Should Christians follow the ‘normal’ calendar, rather than the church calendar?
Should we follow both?
Should we continue to use names for days of the week like “Thor’s day”, or should we rename them?
Can we really get away from holidays at all– if we avoid the ones already created, won’t we end up creating our own rituals and set-apart days?
Ella Hansen lights a Christmas candle and imagines the newborn Christ child.
When pieties are said, and lamps go dim,
That only moon and star touch midnight snows,
Beneath the shelter of a quiet hymn,
The first spark flickers, and a candle glows.
Did He whose strength kindled the fires of sun
See with such wide eyes candle-flame begun?
In the year 2326 AD, mankind is on the brink of self-destruction. Sub-nuclear weapons, psychotic dictators, mutant toxic waste, lack of national environmental policy reform, etc. A bold and passionate scientist works tirelessly on his secret underground project. Selective human reproduction using specifically selected “breeders” and careful genetic modification. To save the human race. And make it better: perfect, in fact.
The scientist — known to future generations only as Dr. Geoffrey — succeeds before his tragic death (and the subsequent demise of all other human life due to a severe international crisis) in creating two perfect humans: male and female. He names them Leonardo and Kate. They form a natural and chaste bond of respectful affection for one another, and in the ashes of the apocalyptic wasteland, they uncover a KJV 1611 Bible and are moved to live their lives according to its precepts.
Then, in Spring, when the ubiquitous smog seems almost tolerable, and the zombie skylarks twitter their pathetically warped melodies, the pair perform a DIY marriage ceremony in the ruins of New York City. Children follow. More children. Lots more children. The world repopulates to a comfortable and sustainable level. And their children, miraculously, are also perfect.
They are as perfect as perfectly distilled water. Dr. Geoffrey’s genetic tweaks are flawless. All lust, all gluttony, all greed, all sloth, all wrath, all envy, all pride, all gone. These creatures are psychologically deterred from even considering any of them. Their natures are free of sin.
And they live happily ever after. The End.
Are all humans inherently sinful? Can the human affinity for sin be neutralized?
Philip Hilton scribbles,
In this week of Advent, we are all reading the story of Jesus’ birth according to Luke. For some, this may inspire joy, credulity and various levels of inspiration. These chosen mortals can relive the Annunciation, and feel only what they ought to feel — the joy of the coming, the terror of the angel, the solemnity of the presence of the wise men. Unfortunately, I am rather willful, and I have been endowed with a regrettable amount of skepticism, particularly when it comes to the angelic pronouncements.
Ella Hansen starts to translate Catullus 31 and then wanders off in her own ideas.
Gem among islands, sweetest of all lands
Embraced by liquid lake or kissed by sea’s
Salacious waves, touching upon the sand,
Your lights among the green and shadowed trees
Are festal lamps. Shall I believe my sight,
That I have left the fields’ icy north glare
And see your palms in peace? Shall I, at night,
Lay down my body and my journey’s care?
Bright lions’ city, hail! Be glad and make
Your mistress’s joy your own, and waves, rejoice;
But softly now, and do not let her wake;
Gentle the laugh of your litoral voice,
Washing the dusk rocks of your eastern park,
Lest your dream fade your soaring lights in dark.
