Deus Misereatur

  I was visiting my over-80 mother yesterday and she was showing me pictures of my childhood. Inside the packet of pictures there was a booklet for Mother's Day I had put together in 1971. Once we opened the cover, inside were two poems I had written as a 10-year-old. Five lines of youthful  and heartfelt rhyming. Poetry has been around in my heart since early on, though not a quality I've ever developed. Most of my poetic efforts trend to be at the level of "Roses are red, violets are blue, etc." So, when I opened the newly published and annotated version of George MacDonald's "Diary of an Old Soul" I trembled a bit, knowing I was entering the presence of an accomplished poet. This 296-page handy-sized hardback has been republished in the way MacDonald intended, with the poems on one leaf and a blank page on the next, to jot down reflections. Timothy Larsen, the McManis Professor of Christian Thought at Wheaton College, has done a nice job introducing t

  John Fea is a professor of history at Messiah University in Mechanicsburg, PA. A university founded in 1909 by the Brethren in Christ Church. He originally published "Was America Founded as a Christian Nation? A Historical Introduction" in 2011, and it was revised in 2016. This 328-page paperback is packed full with Colonial and American history, drawing from original sources to answer that question. It is a book written "for the historically minded and thoughtful reader who is looking for help in sorting" out this question, avoiding polemics (xix). Since we live in a sound-bite culture, Fea recognizes that it is difficult to have a sustained dialogue on this topic, but he makes a valiant effort toward having that sustained dialogue. The book reads fairly straightforward, and doesn't seem to get bogged down in the contentious mudpuddles or bogs. In the end, Fea seems to get his point across. To answer the reigning question if America was founded as a Christian

  “O LORD, I am your servant; I am your servant, the son of your maidservant. You have loosed my bonds. I will offer to you the sacrifice of thanksgiving and call on the name of the LORD. I will pay my vows to the LORD in the presence of all his people, in the courts of the house of the LORD, (…) Praise the LORD” (Psalm 116:16-19)! O LORD, we thank you for saving us from many dangers and devastations – known and unknown; for providing us with livelihoods and loves; for filling us with good things and being a God of steadfast love and faithfulness. Glory to you, O God Most High!   Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name : O God, how we long to see you honored by all; to be reverenced and held in high regard by presidents and presidential candidates of all parties, constituents and denizens in all regions, by multiple Medias world over, family members, fellow workers, friends and foes. Since the fear of the LORD is Zion’s treasure (Isaiah 33:6c), may the hallowing of your