Category: Saints and Scalawags

What a tag team these guys are! A little on the competitive side, but at bottom, they have a genuine fondness for each other. Peter and Paul (well, I suppose one could add Mary, too) sure put in the hours. It would not be an overstatement for Sistertech to say that the place would be a lot less populated up here if it had not been for these two.

Psalm 87

¹ On the holy mount stands the city he founded;
² the Lord loves the gates of Zion
more than all the dwellings of Jacob.
³ Glorious things are spoken of you,
O city of God.

Today Sistertech remembers Irenaeus. A true believer if ever there was one. He was such an incredibly good advocate for orthodoxy as opposed to heresy. More on Irenaeus’ exploits here.

The Psalm appointed for this day is one of my favorites: Psalm 145. I can speak from personal experience that this truly captures the character of The One In Charge.

⁸ The Lord is gracious and merciful,
slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
⁹ The Lord is good to all,
and his compassion is over all that he has made.

¹⁰ All your works shall give thanks to you, O Lord,
and all your faithful shall bless you.
¹¹ They shall speak of the glory of your kingdom,
and tell of your power,
¹² to make known to all people your mighty deeds,
and the glorious splendour of your kingdom.
¹³ Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom,
and your dominion endures throughout all generations.

The Lord is faithful in all his words,
and gracious in all his deeds.

Sistertech’s Russian is practically non-existent. She can count to ten, with difficulty. And I can say “Very Good!” and “Thank You”.

But Isabel was a whiz at Russian. What a champ! She translated into English the central liturgy used in the Russian Orthodox Church, the Divine Liturgy. This labor of love certainly helped begin to bridge the Eastern and the Western sides of Christendom.

Continue reading “Isabel Florence Hapgood (d. 1928)”

Sistertech gets a bit teary-eyed when she thinks about James Weldon Johnson’s stirring poetry for Lift Every Voice and Sing. Hard to believe it was written so recently, well recent in angel years, 1899.

Lift every voice and sing,

‘Til earth and heaven ring,

Ring with the harmonies of Liberty;

Let our rejoicing rise

High as the listening skies,

Let it resound loud as the rolling sea.

Sing a song full of the faith that the dark past has taught us,

Sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us;

Facing the rising sun of our new day begun,

Let us march on ’til victory is won.

The Psalm appointed for today appropriately reflects Johnson’s faith and his unyielding work toward achieving civil rights for African Americans.

¹ God is our refuge and strength,
a very present^* help in trouble.
² Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change,
though the mountains shake in the heart of the sea;
³ though its waters roar and foam,
though the mountains tremble with its tumult.

⁴ There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
the holy habitation of the Most High.
⁵ God is in the midst of the city; it shall not be moved;
God will help it when the morning dawns.
⁶ The nations are in an uproar, the kingdoms totter;
he utters his voice, the earth melts.
⁷ The Lord of hosts is with us;
the God of Jacob is our refuge.

We all think that saints are special. However, allow Sistertech to let you in on a little secret. Some of them were more embraceable (in every sense of the word) as infants than they were as adults. John is a perfect example. It’s not that Sistertech doesn’t admire John. She does. It’s just that he’s got this “grumpy old uncle” vibe going on. Frankly, I only visit him when other angels are present, too. It helps to deflect the force of John’s preaching which is still quite intense. Yes. Even after all these years.

Now, when he was a baby! That’s another thing entirely. Cute beyond belief! Cuddly, too. So happy birthday JB!

Psalm 80:14-19

¹⁴ Turn again, O God of hosts;
look down from heaven, and see;
have regard for this vine,
¹⁵ the stock that your right hand planted.
¹⁶ They have burned it with fire, they have cut it down;
may they perish at the rebuke of your countenance.
¹⁷ But let your hand be upon the one at your right hand,
the one whom you made strong for yourself.
¹⁸ Then we will never turn back from you;
give us life, and we will call on your name.

¹⁹ Restore us, O Lord God of hosts;
let your face shine, that we may be saved.

Al (d. 304) is an all-around stand up kind of guy.  As he sees it, the notion of “taking the fall for someone” is not at all the way to look at his martyrdom. It’s about standing up for something and someone that one believes in. No wonder this Psalm was appointed for his day. He could have ducked out. But then he would have surely fallen “into the net”.

Psalm 31:1-5

¹ In you, O Lord, I seek refuge;
do not let me ever be put to shame;
in your righteousness deliver me.
² Incline your ear to me;
rescue me speedily.
Be a rock of refuge for me,
a strong fortress to save me.

³ You are indeed my rock and my fortress;
for your name’s sake lead me and guide me,
⁴ take me out of the net that is hidden for me,
for you are my refuge.
⁵ Into your hand I commit my spirit;
you have redeemed me, O Lord, faithful God.

I just left a celebration for Bernard Mizeki. He’s an amazing fellow.

He reminds me of Ephrem in his ingenuity and adaptability in using the target community’s existing resources, be those resources their beliefs or aspects of their culture, to relate messages from The One In Charge.

Sistertech wishes others were as willing and adept at thinking outside the box.

The Psalm appointed for him today references what we remember about his martyrdom.

Psalm 124

¹ If it had not been the Lord who was on our side
—let Israel now say—
² if it had not been the Lord who was on our side,
when our enemies attacked us,
³ then they would have swallowed us up alive,
when their anger was kindled against us;
⁴ then the flood would have swept us away,
the torrent would have gone over us;
⁵ then over us would have gone
the raging waters.

⁶ Blessed be the Lord,
who has not given us
as prey to their teeth.
⁷ We have escaped like a bird
from the snare of the fowlers;
the snare is broken,
and we have escaped.

⁸ Our help is in the name of the Lord,
who made heaven and earth.

These two! Not again! It’s not that they caused a lot of commotion up here, because there is always quite a bit of activity.

No. It’s just that, well. How can I put this nicely? Let us start with Georgie, um, I mean Bishop Berkeley. First of all, he is quite particular about how one pronounces his name. The One In Charge knows that for some reason the Bishop prefers “Bark-lee” instead of the perfectly reasonable “Berk-lee” as in the name of one of Sistertech’s university clients in California.

Continue reading “Bishop Berkeley and Bishop Butler”

You might wonder why Sistertech is such a big fan of Evelyn Underhill. I’ve been talking to the Lenny in the Public Relations Department about the branding problem. Well, I think it is a problem.

You see, try as I might, when I suggest people read Underhill, they visibly shudder. It is as though I were telling them that the clock is ticking on the Second Coming and that they had better, well, get busy. I mentioned this to Lenny. My clients tend to be either Type A personalities or at least addicted to frenetic activity. Navel gazing and frenetic activity don’t mix, as far as they’re concerned.

I agree. Continue reading “Evelyn Underhill”