Trinity Sunday – I saw the Lord (Stainer)

…I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and His train filled the temple. Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings, and with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly. And one cried unto another: Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Hosts: the whole earth is full of His glory. And the posts of the door moved with the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke. (Isaiah 6:1b-4)

O Trinity! O Unity!
Be present as we worship Thee,
And with the songs that angels sing
Unite the hymns of praise we bring.

Book Review (Kind Of): In the Heart of the Sea by Nathaniel Philbrick

So, a piece of info about your blogmistress that probably won’t surprise anyone: I don’t normally buy books without reading reviews of them first, because I don’t want to end up paying money for something that looked good but turned out to be deficient or substandard in some way. I made an exception for In the Heart of the Sea when I found it at the front of Books-a-Million last month, for a few reasons. One, it was a mass-market paperback so it didn’t cost too much; two, Nathaniel Philbrick is a well-known historian with a good reputation; and three, flipping through it, I realized it would give me an opportunity to expand upon a topic I’d already discussed here at Scarlet Letters. And on that note, if you’ve seen the In the Heart of the Sea movie that was recently made, you’re probably wondering what a book about whaling and survival at sea has to do with the usual fare here (Christian gender issues and patriocentricity). Continue reading →

Easter – When Mary thro’ the garden went (Stanford)

When Mary thro’ the garden went,
There was no sound of any bird,
And yet, because the night was spent,
The little grasses lightly stirred,
The flowers awoke, the lilies heard.

When Mary thro’ the garden went,
The dew lay still on flower and grass,
The waving palms above her sent
Their fragrance out as she did pass.
No light upon their branches was.

When Mary thro’ the garden went,
Her eyes were dim.
The grass beneath her footsteps bent,
The solemn lilies, white and slim,
These also stood and wept for Him.

When Mary thro’ the garden went,
She sought within the garden ground
One for whom her heart was rent,
One who for her sake was bound,
One who sought, and she was found.

(Mary Elizabeth Coleridge, 1861-1907)

Good Friday – Popule meus (Victoria)

Popule meus, quid feci tibi?
Aut in quo contristavi te?
Responde mihi.

Quia eduxi te de terra Aegypti:
Parasti crucem Salvatori tuo.

Hagios o Theos. Sanctus Deus.
Hagios ischyros. Sanctus fortis.

My people, what have I done to you?
Or how have I offended you?
Answer Me.

I led you out of the land of the Egyptians;
You have prepared a cross for your Savior.

O holy God! Holy strong One!

Quia eduxi te per desertum quadraginta annis,
Et manna cibavi te:
Et introduxi in terra satis optimam:
Parasti crucem Salvatori tuo.

Hagios ischyros. Sanctus fortis.

I led you through the desert for forty years,
And fed you with manna,
And brought you into a land exceeding good;
You have prepared a cross for your Savior.

O holy strong One!

Ego quidem plantavi te vineam meam speciossissam,
Et tu facta es mihi nimis amara:
Aceto namque sitim meam potasti,
Et lancea perforasti latus Salvatori tuo.

Hagios athanatos, eleison ymas.
Sanctus immortalis, miserere nobis.

I planted you, My most beautiful vineyard,
And you have become exceeding bitter to Me;
For in my thirst you gave Me vinegar to drink,
And with a spear you pierced the side of your Savior.

O holy and immortal One, have mercy upon us.

Maundy Thursday – Hoc corpus (Robledo)

Hoc corpus quod pro vobis tradetur:
Hic calix novi testamenti est in meo sanguine, dicit Dominus:
Hoc facite quotiescumque sumitis, in meam commemorationem.

This is My body which is given for you;
This cup is the new testament in My blood, saith the Lord;
Do this as often as you meet together in remembrance of Me.

So Much More, p. 107-131 – Part 3: The Laborer Is Worthy of His Wages

“A&E” refers to Anna Sofia and Elizabeth Botkin, authors of So Much More. I chose the abbreviation to save space and time.

Before I wrap up chapter 9, I’d like to comment on a bit of a strange theme I’m seeing emerging from A&E: their seemingly elitist attitude toward wage earners. I first noticed this because they seem bizarrely fond of the terms “wage slave” and “wage slavery” (which Doug Phillips has also used): Continue reading →