newmusic: January 2021

Monday, January 25, 2021

MUSIC OF THE SPHERES

My attention was drawn to the hymn This Is My Father's World by remembering that it includes the words 'Music of the Spheres.' The concept is an ancient one, explored by Pythagoras and contradicted by Aristotle. The astronomer Kepler took it very seriously; he concluded that "the Solar System was composed of two basses (Saturn and Jupiter), a tenor (Mars), two altos (Venus and Earth), and a soprano (Mercury), which had sung in “perfect concord,” at the beginning of time, and could potentially arrange themselves to do so again."

The imaginations of contemporary musicians and scientists are stimulated by considering relationships among the vibrations of notes which produce music and the arrangement of planets in various solar systems.

This video lets us listen to music which would be produced by The Harmonic Series Played By Planets.

An Astronomer who is also a musician has produced a Ted Talk on this subject. Matt Russo introduces a way to hear with our ears what we thought was only visible to our eyes.

What does the universe sound like? He gives a musical tour of what the universe sounds like.

Since sound does not travel through a vacuum whatever sound our earth makes would not be audible from space. However our planet does emit electromagnetic waves which can be translated to audible sound wave just like radio waves become sound waves from our radios. This video lets us listen to waves Earth produces.

Electromagnetic waves as sound

Returning to our original hymn, This Is My Father's World, we can listen to a recording which is arranged to emphasize that the world is the vehicle through which spiritual music is being played.

This Is My Father's World

Sunday, January 24, 2021

CLAYTON FAMILY MOVES SOUTH 6

7. James Clayton of LA

We consider now "James Clayton, Jr.", born in N.C. in 1809, who married Mary McBride in 1828 and received $216 from Rev. James, his guardian and father in 1830. In 1850 he appears in the Mississippi census at Jackson and soon thereafter he went on to Louisiana. He lived successively in Jackson Parish, Concordia Parish and finally Red River Parish where his remains lie today. James Clayton of Louisiana had 13 children by two wives: An account of his life on p. 131 of the Red River Parish Heritage Book lists his children.

He married first in Butts Co. GA Mary McBride (born 1812 in SC). Issue of this union was:

1. John McBride Clayton (1830-1903) (detail later)

2. Mary C Clayton, born 1833 in GA

3.Harriet Clayton, born 1836 in GA

4. Henry M Clayton, born 1838 in GA

5. Isabella I. Clayton, born 1840 in GA

6. James E Clayton, born 1842, died 1862 in Confederate army

7. Robert W. Clayton, born 1845 (in MS according to 1850 census)

8. William D. Clayton, born 1847 (MS?)

9. E.W.Clayton, (daughter), born 1851 MS(?) Eunice(?)
The date of Mary McBride Clayton's death is not known by this writer, but about 1865 James Clayton married Mrs. Amanda Hobbs Curry Cox (born 1836 AL) and four children were born from this union. The marriage took place in Jackson Parish, LA, but soon the family was living in Red River Parish:

10. Anne Ellizabeth Clayton (1863-1934, md Sterling Price Carroll in Red River Parish, moved in 1912 to Sweetwater, TX

11. Amanda Jane Clayton (1869-77)

12. Thomas R. Clayton, born 1874 in Red River Parish, died 1932 in Baton Rouge, LA. He married Geraldine Blockson in Catahoula Parish in 1902 and had four children: Geraldine, Myra, Thomas, and Clarence

13. Mattie L. Clayton, born 1876, md Jim McGraw of Tallulah and had two daughters:: Olivia and Cecilia.

James Clayton died in 1879 and Amanda in 1885 and both were buried in Red River Parish. (For much of the info in this section the writer is indebted to the article of Kay Fowler of Coushatta, LA describing James Clayton, which appeared in Red River Parish Our Heritage (1989)
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The Family of Capt. John McBride Clayton of Clayton, LA

John McBride Clayton was born in Butts Co., GA in 1830, son of James and Mary McBride Clayton. He was married to Lousette Mary Eugenia Gahagan Gahagan in Bienville Parish, LA in 1854. As a boy he lived in GA, probably AL briefly and Jackson County, MS. Moving to LA he lived briefly in Natchitoches Parish, but then settled in Concordia Parish where the Clayton family maintained residence until the present date. His father, James Clayton, also lived briefly in Concordia Parish.

At the outbreak of the war John McBride Clayton organized a company of infantry. It was said that to get the consent of his boys' mothers he promised to remain with them throughout the war. He kept this promise, although he had the sad experience of bringing home the body of his younger brother, James E Clayton about a month after they had gone into camp. John M. Clayton left the army at the end of the war with the rank of Captain.

After the war, the Missouri Pacific Railroad passing through the area, Capt. Clayton gave land for the right of way, and a station was placed there leading to the establishment of the town of Clayton. Capt. Clayton farmed and operated a mercantile establishment in Clayton and was quite active in local politics. He died in 1903.

Children of John McBride Clayton and Luzette Gahagan Clayton:

1. K.S.Clayton (daughter) 1855

2. Robert Wood Clayton born 1856 lived his entire life in Concordia Parish. He established Tanglewood plantation there and his son, Robert Waddell, his grandson, Robert and his great grandson, Robert operated Tanglewood--up to the present.

3. James Lawrence Clayton, born 1858, became a doctor and practiced medicine in Concordia Parish

until his death in 1912. He married Anna Elizabeth Blockson in 1894 and had 3 daughters: Carrie Clayton Gibson, Ella, and Etta Odile Clayton Sullivan, and one son, J.L.Clayton, Jr. Carrie married Herman Gibson and they had two sons, Dr. Herman Gibson, Jr. who practices in Ferriday and Clayton Gibson, who has lived his entire life in Clayton, LA.

4. Oren Henry Clayton (1860), married Adella Vauna Bright in 1887. This was not a happy marriage and O.H.Clayton eventually fled to TX.

5. John Elliott Clayton (1861-1918)(detail later)

6. Ella Louise Clayton married J.S.Johnston of Jonesville, LA. The Johnstons moved to Arkansas City, AK

7. Oscar Estell Clayton lived only 6 years. He was named for Oscar Estell, color bearer of Capt. John McBride Clayton's unit. At the final surrender Oscar Estell secured the company colors in the lining of his coat. He arrived home and delivered it to his company commander. This (unsurrendered) emblem of Dixie remained in the home of my great grandfather until his death. His younger son, Shelley then donated it to the Confederate Museum in New Orleans, now a part of Howard Tilton Library at Tulane University. (The south shall rise again!!) Soon after the war Mary McBride Clayton died. Some time thereafter Capt. Clayton married Eudora Gibson:

8. Nettie Clayton, born 1872, married Rev. Lewis Bailey Hawley of Arkansas City, AR. They had a son named Francis Asbury Hawley. Rev. Hawley's father was a Confederate veteran. Nettie died at Trivia Plantation in what became Clayton, LA and was buried with other members of her family in Natchez.

9. Lou Clayton, born 1878, died young

10. Shelly Clayton, born 1882, attended Jefferson Military College in MS. Returning from school Shelly helped his father's business activities and continued to operate after Capt. Clayton's death.

The Family of John Elliott Clayton of LA and NM

John Elliot Clayton was born in Concordia Parish, LA went to law school at Tulane University and practiced law in Louisiana. He contracted tuberculosis and moved to Roswell, New Mexico for his health. He had three children:

1 John Elliot Clayton, Jr. never married. He worked hard, saved his money and made the last years of his siblings and their children comfortable.

2 Ethel Clayton Campbell married Daniel Maurice Campbell in New Orleans, a wholesale grocer. In his last years he labored with congestive heart failure, and his wife drove for him and carried his sample case, no doubt prolonging his life for a period of time.

Descendents of John Elliot Clayton Dorothy, Margaret, Majorie, Larry, Rennie, Kim, Mark, Mildred

3 Rev Robert L Clayton, Sr of New Orleans LA

Son of John Elliot Clayton

Robert Lawrence Clayton b. 1897 in New Orleans, married Mary Maude Leech of Memphis in 1922. In 1926 Robert L. Clayton became a United Methodist minister and served for the next 41 years (until his death) in the Louisiana Conference of the Methodist Church. He and his wife spent their retirement in Shreveport, where he died in 1967. His wife lived another three years and died in Cedar Pines Park CA, where she had gone to live near her daughter, Margaret Thomas.

Rev Robert L Clayton, Jr of New Orleans LA

Re Rev. R.L.Clayton, Jr., a picture is worth a thousand words:

Re the Rev. (Larry) there is much to say (consult my autobiography!). My father and I both were excessively nomadic, more so than all the rest of the Claytons put together; I went to 11 schools, largely in rural communities in LA where my father moved as an itinerant Methodist minister, and I swore I would not wish that on my children. At 16 I went from New Orleans to Durham NC to attend Duke on a scholarship. Our home life has been more geographically stable; Paul, the oldest has only lived three places. But during the 40's and 50's I visited 26 countries engaging in the two main wars of that day. We have lived many places, but almost entirely in the southeast.

The picture was taken in 1984 when Mark, the second son, got his first degree--at Virginia Tech.

Later he was to graduate at UCLA and achieve his PhD at Stanford and soon became the Executive Dean of the College of Architecture at Texas A. and M.

Rob chose an alternative high school in Northern Virginia where we were living at the time. He later went with two of his girl friends to an alternative college (New College) in Sarasota FL. He went to Law School at William and Mary, and served briefly in the White House in the closing months of the Clinton administration. At present he and his wife are teaching English in northern Thailand.

Paul earned his degree in Accounting at Winston Salem State University while working at Wachovia Bank. For three years he was president of the Piedmont Appalachian Trail Hikers Association. Unmarried, he took an underprivileged child under his wing and has done a bang up job with helping to raise her. Of the three boys he has probably most fully learned the values of his parents, although he would likely deny that with some heat.

The mother of them all, Ellie must have been taking the picture. She is largely responsible for whatever character any of the four of us may have achieved.

Wednesday, January 20, 2021

CLAYTON FAMILY MOVES SOUTH 5

Butts county Georgia

Butts County, Georgia was established in 1826 and James, Rev. James as he will be called, was soon there. According to Lois McMichael, writer of the History of Butts County, he was one of four ministers in Butts County in 1827. He was also on the grand jury there in 1827. He purchased 100a of land in the county and served as a founding trustee for the Methodist Episcopal Church in the acquisition of a plot of land.

Churchill Delamar is associated with James Clayton in Butts County--and in the Methodist church there. Churchill Delamar of Craven County, N.C. had married Polly Clayton in 1811. Polly was the daughter of Rev. James. She and Churchill Delamar are both buried in Richmond Co. GA according to cousin Bill Sparrow.

Butts County deed book B on pp 100-103 in 1828 describes a deed of a portion of Lot 256 in the first district of Henry Co., now Butts Co. from Thomas Key and Sarah Key his wife to James Clayton, together with Thomas Cook, Henry Vanvibber, Joseph C. Adkins, and Richard Shepperd, who were trustees for the acquisition of property for a building for a place of worship for the Methodist Episcopal Church. (12 years before James Clayton had served in the same capacity for the acquisition of a Methodist church in Person Co. NC.)

This Thomas and Sarah Key are perhaps the parents of the Joseph Lawrence Key who in 1831 was to marry James Clayton's granddaughter, Elizabeth Delamar.

In 1830 Rev James went to the courthouse and settled upon his ward, James Clayton, Jr. $216 on Jr's 21st birthday. He is referred to in court records as Jr's guardian. (This led to some uncertainty as Jr's relationship with Rev. James for a number of years, until the family of Rev. James Clayton was found listed in a document in an old trunk. I later ran across a letter from Craven Co. written in 1823 in which Elizabeth Delamar mentions just being appointed guardian of her two sons. Apparently it was customary to appoint a parent as guardian when property was inherited by minor children.)

On Jan 13, 1828, at the age of 18 or 19, James, Jr. married Mary McBride, the daughter of John McBride, a member of the Butts County court. Their oldest son, John McBride Clayton, was to marry Lucinda Gahagan. In 1829 Lawrence Gahagan married Elcy Mobley, the daughter of Jethro and Esther Lovejoy Mobley: they became the parents of John M. Clayton's wife.

John McBride Clayton

Lucinda Gehagan Clayton

The 1830 Butts Co. census (presented alphabetically) included males, females and slaves

James Clayton 4 4 1
James Clayton 1 2 1
Churchill Delamar 2 8 2
Larence Gahagan 1 2 3
John McBride 7 6 6
Jethro Mobley 5 1 12

In 1830 Rev James went to the courthouse and settled upon his ward, James Clayton, Jr. $216 on Jr's 21st birthday. He is referred to in court records as Jr's guardian. (This led to some uncertainty as Jr's relationship with Rev. James for a number of years, until the family of Rev. James Clayton was found listed in a document in an old trunk. I later ran across a letter from Craven Co. written in 1823 in which Elizabeth Delamar mentions just being appointed guardian of her two sons. Apparently it was customary to appoint a parent as guardian when property was inherited by minor children.)

In 1831 Rev. J.W(arren?) Clayton officated at the marriage of his granddaughter, Elizabeth Dawson "Betsey" DELAMAR, born 8 March, 1812 in Craven County, North Carolina; she married Joseph Lawrence "Joe" KEY on 1 December, 1831 in Butts County, Georgia; she died 22 March, 1903 in Holly Springs,

Rev. James' brother, Dempsey, settled in Newton County, just across the river from Butts in the 1820's. Later Rev. Dempsey and Rev. James both moved to Carroll Co, a bit further west.
-----------------------------------

Later Years of Rev. James Clayton (of N.C., Ga, and Ala.)

The 1840 census finds James Clayton (as well as Dempsey W. Clayton) in Carroll County Ga. In 1830 Dempsey W Clayton had been in Newton County (across the river from James), but in the 1827 Georgia Land Lottery he had drawn lot no. 102 9 in Carroll County. Apparently between 1830 and 1840 James and Dempsey both moved to Carroll County.

The census for James Clayton listed 2 males aged (15-20), who Margaret supposed to be John Elliott Clayton (who was later found to be not John, but Joshua) and William (who died soon after 1840).

In 1792 James Clayton married Sarah Carraway , daughter of Nathaniel and Mary Whitehurst Carraway. The issue of this union was:

1. Mary (Polly) Clayton (b. 1793) married Churchwell Delamar in 1810.

2. Betsey Clayton (b. 1797 - d. 1831)

3. Fanny Clayton (b. 1800 - d. 1801)

4. Rhoda Ann Clayton (b. 1803 - d. 1803)

5. Dempsey Clayton (b. 1806 - d. 1807)

6. James Clayton (b. 1809) married Mary McBride in 1827.

7. Rhoda Ann (II) Clayton (b. 1812 - d. 1813)

Sarah died in 1816, and the same year James Clayton married Sarah Mixon and had a second family:

8.Harriet Asbury Clayton (1818-1900); buried in Duck River Cemetery, Cullman Co. AL); married William M.Harper (1803- 1865 in Civil War) in 1835 in Butts Co, AL

9. Joshua Elliott CLAYTON (b. 12 February 1820, North Carolina - d. 2 July 1889, Helena, MT) married Naomi B. (b. circa 1830 in Georgia). Sometime in the 1870s or 1880s Joshua Elliott CLAYTON married a Mrs. HAMPTON of Portland, Oregon. His stepson's name was William Huntley HAMPTON.

10. Elijah Mixon Clayton (b. 1822); Methodist minister. JP in Coosa County AL in 1855.

11. William McKendree Clayton (b. 1824 - d. 1841, Carroll Co., GA) (The 1841 Southern Christian Advocate Issue of April 30 announced the death of William Clayton (aged 16), youngest son of Rev. James and Sarah Clayton, a member of the M.E.Church. This was in Carrol Co.)

12. Johanna Bruce "Jo" CLAYTON (b. 1826 - d. 1905, Oakland, California) married William Cogan

Buckelew 20 Dec 1820 - d. 12 Aug 1869, Clayton Ranch [near Brownsville], Yuba Co., California)

The Clayton extended family was in Carroll Co. GA as late as 1842 when they appeared on the tax list:

Carroll County Georgia Tax Digest 1842

James Clayton 714 10

J. E. Clayton 714 10 (James' son)

Dempsey W.Clayton 713 11 (James' brother)

William M. Harper 714 10 (James' son-in-law)

The Tallapoosa County Ala marriage book shows James Clayton, M.G. solemnizing two weddings in 1844. The same year two Clayton girls were married: Johanna Clayton married William C. Buckelew and Milly A Clayton married Samuel Eley. (Note that

Lawrence Gahagan was in this county for the 1840 census.) (The identity of Milly Clayton is presently undetermined.)

Margaret Clayton Russell stated that "Old Cousin James" and his wife Sarah came from Coosa County Ala and spent their last years (beginning in 1855) under the wing of her great great grandfather, Nelson Clayton in Chambers County Ala. "Old Cousin James was a Methodist minister." Two of Rev. James' children, Joshua Elliott Clayton and Johanna Bruce Clayton Buckalew went to California. Rev. Elijah M Clayton (b 1823) was a J.P. in Coosa County in 1855 and Minister of the Methodist Church South in 1864. (This researcher has found no appearance of Rev. James and Sally Clayton in the 1850 census, and it seems possible they may have been in the home of their son Rev. Elijah M Clayton.)

The 1860 census shows Rev. James, aged 84 and wife, Sallie, aged 65, living in Chambers Co. Margaret Clayton Russell does not know the date of "Old Cousin James Clayton's" death. Sally Clayton, wife of "Old Cousin James" ("Rev James), died Feb 20, 1866, aged 81 years, 5 months and 20 days.

Sunday, January 17, 2021

REUNION

A year or two before we retired I received an important letter from Clayton, La., which in effect influenced the way Ellie and I spent much of our time for the next few years. Clayton Gibson, my second cousin, had lived at Clayton all his life. About my age, he had gone to La. Tech briefly, as did his brother Dr. Herman Gibson. One or both of them were in fact there while I was there, although I did not know them.

Clayton, as all the world knows, had been named for our common great grandfather, John McBride Clayton. Locally he was known as 'Captain Clayton'. The place got its name when Capt. Clayton gave land for the right of way of the railroad. That may have been about 1880. And now 100 years later the railroad discontinued, and the property reverted to the heirs of Capt. Clayton.

Capt. John McBride Clayton, my great grandfather, was the family patriarch. He had come to Concordia Parish, across the river from Natchez, as a young man. The Civil War broke out when he was about 30. He organized a company of infantry. He was undoubdtedly a man of exceptional talent. In addition he was the second cousin of the commanding general of the Alabama forces. So he might have expected higher rank, and in fact he was offered promotion to major, which he declined.

He declined because, when recruiting his company, he had promised the mothers of his recruits that he would stay with them through the whole war. Promotion would have taken him away from the close relationship he had with them; hence he declined. One of his men, named Oscar Estell, had been entrusted with a special mission at the end of the war. Rather than surrendering the company flag, Oscar had wrapped it around himself under his shirt, and had smuggled it back to Louisiana. It resides today in the Howard Tilton Library at Tulane, and as late as 1987 staff at the library offered to exhibit it on the wall of the building---for a fee. Family members did not feel like spending money for such a purpose.

Capt. Clayton and his first wife, Lucinda Gahagan, had five sons: Robert, who became a planter, James, who became a doctor, Oren Henry, and John Elliott, my grandfather, a lawyer. A fifth son, named Oscar Estell, lived only briefly. After Lucinda's death Capt. Clayton married again, Eudora Gibson. By her he had uncle Shelley--the only one of these people I ever met.

My grandfather and his brother Oren Henry married sisters, daughters of Capt. Bright, a steamboat man. (Steamboats used to come up the Black River, upon which the Clayton property fronted.) These two girls did not fit in too well with the Clayton culture. I knew my grandmother by reputation as a difficult person. Her husband died long before I was born. In my childhood Grandmother stayed primarily with her daughter, Aunt Ethel and Uncle Maurice, a most saintly, though not particularly religious man. When some problem in that family arose, Grandmother came to live with us (I may have been about 12), but we soon found it necessary to send her back to Aunt Ethel.

Grandmother's sister must have been a more severe person. Her husband, my great uncle Oren Henry, found it necessary to desert her and flee to Texas. This lady apparently followed him because the last we heard of her she was running a boarding house somewhere in Texas. All the family accounts that I heard strongly intimated that Uncle Henry was fully justified in his action. We often have a choice to fight or fly, and, being a man he peace, he chose to fly.

Clayton Gibson had been trying to locate all of his second cousins (on his mother's side). He found my address through the Methodist Church (they knew that I had been a Methodist minister). So out of the blue one day I found a letter from this kinsman informing me of the reversion of the railroad property; I was one of the heirs.

I immediately replied to his kind letter, and we began a correspondence. Unhappily I had known nothing about these Clayton cousins and had no interest whatever in such matters. But Clayton Gibson's letter reawakened that interest: blood is thicker than water. Before much time had elapsed, Ellie and I visited our old family seat. I had a very dim recollection of the place, and it looked much the same.

The first time we went there I went into the Post Office to get directions and told the postmaster who I was looking for. He told me where Clayton lived and also where "Miss Carrie" lived--his mother. Miss Carrie was my first cousin, once removed. She was about Daddy's age and remembered him well. She soon got to be one of my favorite relations.

For some years I have been accustomed to saying a special goodbye to friends who were up in years (Miss Carrie was in her 90's). I would tell the person, "If you get up there before me, prepare a place for me." I would usually get a rather quizzical look, but Miss Carrie had an immediately and lovely reply. She said, "You will be very dear to me." Although she couldn't attend to society for very long at a time, her mind was as sharp as a tack.

Her house was right beside the old tracks--and the property which we now jointly owned. As we were walking back toward our car, I made a rather joking remark: "I think I'll get the heirs to let me have some land right over there and build a house and there I'll be." Like a flash came her reply. "Yes, and your phone will ring, and you'll hear me saying, 'Lawrence, get over here'". She had taken my kidding and trumped it, a characteristic Clayton trait. A lovely old lady! I always enjoyed being in her presence. She is up there now, and hopefully I am very dear to her as she said. We hoped to visit her again in 1995, but she died a few months before our trip.

A couple of years later Margaret had plans to go to Kentwood for her 40th class reunion. So she and Cousin Dorothy Tatum (and Dorothy's husband Maurice Tatum) made plans for a family reunion at Natchez. Quite a few people converged on the place. We organized several carloads of people to visit Miss Carrie. I had the pleasure of introducing a lot of the family to her. Of course she knew who they all were, but it had been many a year since she had seen most of us. The reunion was a great success.

I felt really good about these new relationships. As a person without family roots of much consequence it was good to discover family abiding where their (our) great, great grandfather had lived well over a hundred years ago. My grandfather had been born there, and my father had been reared nearby.

Clayton Gibson's letter also aroused in me an interest in the family history that led to a pretty extensive amount of research over the next several years. I discovered first that those Claytons had come west from Butts County, Ga. A while later I traced the Butts Co Claytons back to Craven, and then Hyde Co., N.C. with 1744 as the earliest date.

Then, after four or five years of study, I determined that the NC Claytons had come from Kent County Delaware, and before that, in 1682, from Cheshire Co. England. Ellie began by going with me and worked on her own family, and we had a lot of fun. We visited every state archive from Pennsylvania to Texas.

I also worked on my mother's family--the Leeches. They appear to have come from Strabane, Ireland early in the 18th Century, and passed through York County, SC, Tenn., Ala, Miss, and finally back to Memphis, where mother was born. One important link came when I researched the Confederate army records. James McGrady Leech had been in Virginia during the war. Near the end he was listed as a deserter, and his birthplace was given as Lawrence Co., Ala. We knew he had later lived and enlisted from Lafayette Co., Miss.

All this stuff may seem trivial, even puerile to most people, but at a certain age it will become important--if your mind works anything like mine. One of my happiest discoveries was to learn that James Clayton, my great, great, great grandfather, had been a Methodist minister. As far as I know my father, although something of a Methodist historian, had been ignorant of that.

Tuesday, January 12, 2021

BRIDGE

Walter told me that in a discussion (years ago) of the difficulty of making a connection between God and the created world, Larry shared an insight. Larry said "We are the bridge."

Monday, January 11, 2021

FIRST BIRTHDAY

Hugh, Joel, Eleanor Babylon

Paul and Mark Clayton

Paul, Eleanor and Mark Clayton

One candle was on the cake as the children gathered around the little table which was placed in the yard for the celebration of a first birthday. When my mother wasn't looking Hugh pushed his candle down into his cake. Mother didn't know where it had gone until she cut the cake.

Other than the same table being in both pictures, I was the connecting link between the two scenes.

Rennie at 1 year old

GRADUATION

Saturday, January 9, 2021

DIVINE ECONOMY

From Reflections of a Happy Old Man

Saturday, August 19, 2006

Ellie's Divine Economy

I found this on Ellie's computer, and she modestly confessed that it is her own:

DIVINE ECONOMY

We get more than we deserve.
Everything of real value can’t be paid for.
We receive from those whom we cannot repay.
We can’t recreate the past.
We can’t control the future.
Co-operation out-succeeds competition.
Diversity contributes to the whole.
The whole provides for the parts.
Nothing is lost, nothing is wasted.
We participate in the great exchange.
An external source supplies energy to sustain.
There is no limit to the supply of love, mercy, grace, and compassion.
We are pipelines for God to supply the world.
The richness of the design comes from changing patterns.
We can’t hold back the flow of God’s movement.
We stand on the shoulders of giants.
We pass on what we receive, emptying ourselves in the process.
There is no receiving without giving; there is no giving without receiving.
Transformation is the mode of operation.
We must die to be born again.
God has declared creation to be good.
God intends change. We are to change ourselves, to change others, to be changed by others.
Nothing static is alive; to live is to change.
We are always on the verge of a new awakening.
The key is in the lock, the door awaits opening. Can we turn the key, open the door, and walk through?
We are members of one another.
We are given enough light to take the next step.
The attitude of gratitude opens the windows of our hearts.
There is a time to reflect, and a time to participat
We cannot give love if we cannot accept forgiveness.
We cannot receive love if we cannot forgive others.
The image of God can be found wherever we look.
Spirit is the real; matter is the illusion.
Our task is to see the real through the illusion.
We see a sliver of reality which can contribute to an image with other slivers.
Without the awareness of a community my perceptions are incomplete.
Darkness is a void without independent existence.
Darkness disappears when light appears.
If we open ourselves to the spirit, we will receive.
The end is the beginning.

FROM SANDY

Thursday, September 2, 2010

SANDY

Dear Larry and Ellie,

Have you read many of the older Pendle Hill Pamphlets? Last year I decided to read them all, starting with the #1. I wanted a historical perspective of contemporary Quaker thought. The time period that I have read about encompasses many of the challenges facing people in the middle of the 20th century. I am now on # 63, The Ninth Hour by Gilbert Kilpack. It would be a fascinating Bible study about the crucifixion and the meaning of the cross.

I study the Bible not because I believe it has all the answers, but because it is a guide to finding many of the most important answers. The Bible helps me understand how people have been asking questions and trying to understand the meaning of life throughout human history. I feel that there are many , and probably all, fundamental truths in the Bible, but I am not ready to believe every word at face value. I hope I do not come across as irreverent in Bible class.

The statement that stopped me in my path during my morning reflection today is The church is the "that of God" in everyman united; it is there buried, unheeded; Jesus did not make it, he revealed it. I've had a difficult time meshing the Bible (and all its historical, cultural, and church centered baggage) with Quaker testimonies, historical Quakerism and contemporary beliefs as I see them in our meeting.

This statement and the amplification which followed really spoke to me. I immediately thought of the faithful work you both do as you share your understanding of the Bible with us. I'll probably have the pamphlet back in the library this Sunday if you want to borrow it.

Have a good day, Sandy

HEBREWS

Tuesday, July 22, 2014

quotes-2

This is for several OT verses referred to in Hebrews:

In Hebrew 1 the writer is quoting Psalms 2.7 and 2 Samuel 7:14

Hebrews 1:5 For unto which of the angels said he at any time, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee? And again, I will be to him a Father, and he shall be to me a Son?

Psalms 2:7 declaring the ordinance of the Lord: the Lord said to me, Thou art my Son, to-day have I begotten thee.

2 Samuel 7:14 I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son. And when he happens to transgress, then will I chasten him with the rod of men, and with the stripes of the sons of men.

Hebrews 1:7

And of the angels he saith, Who maketh his angels spirits, and his ministers a flame of fire.

Psalms 103:4

Who makes his angels spirits, and his ministers a flaming fire.

Hebrews 1:8,9

But unto the Son [he saith], Thy throne, O God, [is] for ever and ever: a sceptre of righteousness [is] the sceptre of thy kingdom. Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity; therefore God, [even] thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.

Psalms 44:6,7

Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: the sceptre of thy kingdom is a sceptre of righteousness. Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity: therefore God, thy God, has anointed thee with the oil of gladness beyond thy fellows.

Hebrews 1:10-12

And, Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works of thine hands: They shall perish; but thou remainest; and they all shall wax old as doth a garment; And as a vesture shalt thou fold them up, and they shall be changed: but thou art the same, and thy years shall not fail.

Psalms 101:25-28 In the beginning thou, O Lord, didst lay the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works of thine hands. They shall perish, but thou remainest: and they all shall wax old as a garment; and as a vesture shalt thou fold them, and they shall be changed. But thou art the same, and thy years shall not fail.

Hebrews 2:12

Saying, I will declare thy name unto my brethren, in the midst of the church will I sing praise unto thee.

Psalms 21:22 I will declare thy name to my brethren: in the midst of the church will I sing praise to thee.

Hebrews 2:13

And again, I will put my trust in him. And again, Behold I and the children which God hath given me.

2 Samuel 22:3 my God; he shall be to me my guard, I will trust in him: he is my protector, and the horn of my salvation, my helper, and my sure refuge; thou shalt save me from the unjust man.

Hebrews 3:7-11 Wherefore (as the Holy Ghost saith, To day if ye will hear his voice, Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness: When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works forty years. Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and said, They do alway err in [their] heart; and they have not known my ways. So I sware in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest.)

Hebrews 3:15 While it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation.

Hebrews 4:3 For we which have believed do enter into rest, as he said, As I have sworn in my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest:

Hebrews 4:5 And in this [place] again, If they shall enter into my rest.

Hebrews 4:7 Again, he limiteth a certain day, saying in David, To day, after so long a time; as it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts.

Psalms 94:7-11 For he is our God; and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. Today if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, according to the day of irritation in the wilderness: where your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works. Forty years was I grieved with this generation, and said, They do always err in their heart, and they have not known my ways. So I sware in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest.

Hebrews 8:5

Who serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things, as Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the tabernacle: for, See, saith he, [that] thou make all things according to the pattern shewed to thee in the mount.

Exodus 25:40

See, thou shalt make them according to the pattern shewed thee in the mount.

Hebrews 9:19,20 For when Moses had spoken every precept to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of calves and of goats, with water, and scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book, and all the people, saying, This [is] the blood of the testament which God hath enjoined unto you.

Exodus 24:8 And Moses took the blood and sprinkled it upon the people, and said, Behold the blood of the covenant, which the Lord has made with you concerning all these words.

Hebrews 10:16,17 This [is] the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them; And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.

Jeremiah 38:31-34

Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Juda: not according to the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day when I took hold of their hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; for they abode not in my covenant, and I disregarded them, saith the Lord. For this is my covenant which I will make with the house of Israel; after those days, saith the Lord, I will surely put my laws into their mind, and write them on their hearts; and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people. And they shall not at all teach every one his fellow citizen, and every one his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least of them to the greatest of them: for I will be merciful to their iniquities, and their sins I will remember no more.

Hebrews 10:30

For we know him that hath said, Vengeance [belongeth] unto me, I will recompense, saith the Lord. And again, The Lord shall judge his people.

Deuteronomy 32:36

or the Lord shall judge his people, and shall be comforted over his servants; for he saw that they were utterly weakened, and failed in the hostile invasion, and were become feeble:

Hebrews 11:5 By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God

Genesis 5:24 And Enoch was well-pleasing to God, and was not found, because God translated him

Hebrews 12:5,6 And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him: For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.

Proverbs 3:11,12 My son, despise not the chastening of the Lord; nor faint when thou art rebuked of him: for whom the Lord loves, he rebukes, and scourges every son whom he receives.

Hebrews 12:12 Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees;

Isaiah 35:3 Be strong, ye relaxed hands and palsied knees.

Hebrews 12:20 (For they could not endure that which was commanded, And if so much as a beast touch the mountain, it shall be stoned, or thrust through with a dart:

Exodus 19:13 A hand shall not touch it, for every one that touches shall be stoned with stones or shot through with a dart, whether beast or whether man, it shall not live: when the voices and trumpets and cloud depart from off the mountain, they shall come up on the mountain.

Hebrews 12:21 And so terrible was the sight, [that] Moses said, I exceedingly fear and quake:)

Deuteronomy 9:19 And I was greatly terrified because of the wrath and anger, because the Lord was provoked with you utterly to destroy you; yet the Lord hearkened to me at this time also.

Hebrews 12:26 Whose voice then shook the earth: but now he hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven.

Haggai 2:7 For thus saith the Lord Almighty; Yet once I will shake the heaven, and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land;

Hebrews 12:29 For our God [is] a consuming fire.

Deuteronomy 4:24 For the Lord thy God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.

Hebrews 13:5 [Let your] conversation [be] without covetousness; [and be] content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.

Deuteronomy 31:6 Be courageous and strong, fear not, neither be cowardly, neither be afraid before them; for it is the Lord your God that advances with you in the midst of you, neither will he by any means forsake thee, nor desert thee.

Deuteronomy 31:8 And the Lord that goes with thee shall not forsake thee nor abandon thee; fear not, neither be afraid.

Joshua 1:5 Not a man shall stand against you all the days of thy life; and as I was with Moses, so will I also be with thee, and I will not fail thee, or neglect thee.

Hebrews 13:6 So that we may boldly say, The Lord [is] my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me.

Psalms 117:6 The Lord is my helper; and I will not fear what man shall do to me.

Above is the last one.