Our church in St. Louis has been closed since March 15, and my wife and I missed the March 8 service. It’s streaming the Sunday worship service, and even some of the Sunday School classes and prayer groups have been meeting online. And the church staff has been posting devotionals each night during the week. But as much as is being done, we would all say that it’s just not the same as being there in person, together. Christians, Jews. Muslims, and those of other faiths are all asking, when will our houses of worship reopen? Joe Carter at the Gospel Coalition has some insightful answers to that question.
April 14 is a significant date in American history. On April 14, 1862, Fort Sumter in Charleston harbor was fired upon, officially starting the Civil War. On April 14, 1865, the American flag was once against raised at Fort Sumter. And that night, in Washington D.C., John Wilkes Booth shot Abraham Lincoln at Ford’s Theater. Historian Chris Mackowski at Emerging Civil War talks about two of those events – the lowering and raising of the American flag.
Author Michael Crichton (1942-2008) was best known for two hugely popular books that became hugely popular movies – The Andromeda Strain and Jurassic Park – among many others. In 2002, he gave speech at the International Leadership Forum in La Jolla, California, entitled “Why Speculate?” His question was specifically addressed to the news media – what is there so much speculation that is officially called news? His answer: the media are given undeserved credibility. He pointed out that speculation is near-constant because the media are about entertainment, nobody knows the future, and talk is cheap. And his point is even more valid 18 years later.
More Good Reads
Life and Culture
The Best Place to Buy Used Books – Terry Whalin at The Writing Life.
5 Good Things That Can Come From 1 Bad Virus – Dan Reiland.
Remembering After Coronavirus – Brian Volck at Front Porch Republic.
Moral Realism, Public Health, and Truth-telling Amid COVID-19 – Andrew Walker at Mere Orthodoxy.
Copper’s Virus-Killing Powers Were Known Even to the Ancients – Jim Morrison at Smithsonian Magazine.
Poetry
The Lemons – Eugenio Montale at Literary Hub.
Alexander – Daniel Kemper at Society of Classical Poets.
Two sonnets for the road to Emmaus – Malcolm Guite.
The Automat – Nicholas Christopher at Literary Hub.
On the Burning of Notre Dame – David Russell Mosley at The Imaginative Conservative.
Faith
COVID-19: A Prolonged Sabbath in a Culture of Productivity – Laura Cerbus at Morning by Morning.
British Stuff
A medieval pharmacy: Apothecary – Toni Mount at English Historical Fiction Authors.
Writing and Literature
Those Classic Detective Series You've Always Been Meaning to Read, Anyway - Olivia Rutigliano at CrimeReads.
Why Anxious Readers Under Quarantine Turn to "Mrs. Dalloway" – Evan Kindley at The New Yorker.
Seasons of Norway – A Time-Lapse Adventure
Now that I'm on my fourth time through "Kristin Lavransdatter," I definitely need to get to Norway.
ReplyDeleteWe've been watching various "Nordic noir" series on Netflix and Amazon Prime. I keep glancing over at my wife, who has considerable Swedish in her family heritage. And the Netflix series "Occupied" got us interested in Norway.
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