Deus Misereatur

  (This is the Invocation I will use at our Christmas Eve Service tonight) This night, O Lord, we celebrate and meditate. We are here to bask in the light of your coming, to revel in your incarnation. And we are here to open ourselves to you, that you would have your way with us. “Come, thou Long-expected Jesus, born to set thy people free. From our fears and sins release us. Let us find our rest in thee. Israel’s strength and consolation, hope of all the earth thou art. Dear desire of every nation, joy of every longing heart.” But we are here recognizing that some may find this season hard. Grief at the loss of loved ones, at the loss of livelihood, at the loss of health and independence. Others find this season difficult because they’re working at the hospital, out on patrol, on call for fire emergencies, or deployed far away from their families. For them we pray you to preserve them, fill them with the satisfaction of knowing that they’re not forgotten, and that they’re engaged...

  Clearly, David Brooks doesn’t need my evaluation of this book. And with 2,100 reviews on Goodreads and over 3,100 on Amazon, clearly you don’t either. So, quickly:  Of the 10 chapters, 8 are biographical - Dorothy Day, Augustine, General George Marshall, Philip Randolph, George Eliot, etc.  All are examined in the ways they built and bolstered their character, sometimes failing and picking themselves back up. Great stories, one and all. The first and final chapters are about the shift between the “Little Me” culture to the “Big Me” culture. It’s not a diatribe against the shift, as much as a series of observations, and how we can still build character in a world of “Big Me” without giving in to “Me”. I enjoyed the closing section, specifically the 15 Planks of his “Humility Code”. I think if more people took them seriously and embraced them - whether Boomers, GenX, Millennials, or GenZ - we’d see a different society and country. Further, it seems to me that Brooks is co...

  HBO made a series partly based on his work called "The Pacific". Robert Leckie was a journalist who joined the United States Marine Corps not long after Pearl Harbor. On the day he was shipped out to boot camp, he was loaded on a train with hundreds of others for the long trip to Parris Island. As the train chugged down the tracks, the young men began to interact with one another. Leckie noticed that many gathered around a fellow he names as "Red" because of his red hair. Red had been a catcher for the Saint Louis Cardinals, even hitting a homerun. "Red had been in the big time" wrote Leckie, and he became an instant hit on the lengthy trip. The other recruits began to gather around Red and "consult him about everything from pitching form to the Japanese General Staff. "Whaddya think it'll be like at Parris Island, Red?" "Hey, Red - you think the Japs are as tough as the newspapers say they are?" Red had become an instant Roc...

  I'm a retired active duty enlisted Air Force guy. So I was delighted to pick up Lee Kennett's "The First Air War 1914-1918". This 288-page hardback chronicled the rise of air power from long before WW I. Kennett showed how dirigibles were used and the developments there, especially for military purposes. Then came the planes, and their evolution. Design changes, mission, flaws, flops, successes. It was a pleasure to read. And the author seemed to give everyone their due, whether the allied forces or the axis. No one flyer takes center stage, but the ways aircraft became a new item in war, and how that developed and continued to develop after the Great War. If you like history, are a WW I buff, or like airplanes, this is a super volume. I highly recommend it. 

  Since you are God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, we pray for your creation and creatures whom you made, and whom you sustain. Thank you for the rains we’ve received here. Please continue to supply the showers and rainfalls we need. Replenish our resources and reserves. Preserve our continent from fires and floods, plagues and pestilence. Please continue your kindnesses to our country and shine the light of your mercy on all nations to include Ukraine, Russia, Poland, and Moldova. Bring all peoples to recognize that in you we live and move and have our being. Bring kindness and care to be exhibited unilaterally. Calm the troubling voices and saber-rattling. We also implore your compassion for those who need our prayers, because their estate in life at present is precarious or poor (…). Lift up their heads from the dreariness or darkness that they may come to count it all joy when they meet trials of various kinds and come to know that the testing of their faith i...