INTO THE WOODS

https://worshipsongsonline.com/2016/09/27/music-and-message/

Composer/Arranger - John Purifoy

Pisgah National Forest
Headwaters of the French Broad

Here is a hymn that captures the the trauma and release experienced by Jesus as he entered the woods and meditated before he faced his enemies.

In our own ways we enter the woods with our concerns and find comfort and strength. 

This performance combines two Hymns. After the first verse of "Into the Woods" the choir sings "Tis Midnight and On Olive's Brow" before singing the second verse of "Into the Woods." 

Click on yellow link to listen to hymn.

Into the woods my Master went

by Sidney Lanier, 1842 - 1881

"Into the woods my Master went,
Clean forspent, forspent.
Into the woods my Master came,
Forspent with love and shame.
But the olives they were not blind to Him,
The little gray leaves were kind to Him:
The thorn-tree had a mind to Him
When into the woods He came.
 
Out of the woods my Master went,
And He was well content.
Out of the woods my Master came,
Content with death and shame.
When Death and Shame would woo Him last,
From under the trees they drew Him last:
'Twas on a tree they slew Him--last
When out of the woods He came."

Tis midnight and on Olive's brow

by William B Tappan, 1794-1849

"Tis midnight, and on Olive's brow
The star is dimmed that lately shone;
'Tis midnight in the garden now,
The suff'ring Savior prays alone.

'Tis midnight, and from all removed,
The Savior wrestles lone with fears-
E'en that disciple whom He loved
Heeds not his Master's grief and tears.

'Tis midnight, and for other's guilt
The Man of Sorrows weeps in blood;
Yet He that hath in anguish knelt
Is not forsaken by His God.

'Tis midnight, and from heavenly plains
Is borne the song that angels know
Unheard by mortals are the strains
That sweetly soothe the Savior's woe."

SHADY GROVE

Shady Grove
Doc Watson

WINDOWS COMPUTER

I've been thinking that I should fire up Larry's old Windows computer to use with Zoom. So today was the day to accept the challenge. First to turn it on, where is the button to push, why doesn't it work? Somehow I checked enough connections and satisfied its demands and it responded. This is a used CPU that Larry bought for $100. I think he wanted to see if there was anything he could do with Microsoft that he could not do with his various Linux implementations. It was another toy to play with. When Windows 10 came out Mary convinced him that he would like it. It seemed fine for a while then the machine got really cranky. I ignored his pleas for help in getting it repaired. When Mark came to visit, Larry got him to help him take it to the repair shop. Success! They added memory and the system was up and running.

 

I think Larry mainly used it to listen to music with his earphones.

 

Here it is 2020 with corona virus and Zoom meetings. I don't have enough Linux skills to use Zoom on my computer so I use my cell phone as a substitute, but the video leaves much to be desired.

 

So I managed to set up the old windows machine without thinking it through. Now I realize that the relic does not have a camera or a speaker. I may be able to see the Zoom participants full size which would be nice, and I may be able to hear them with earphones. We shall see. I was more fun when Larry and I could work out these things together.   

AIR

Gates of Paradise

Does he look familiar?

ARLINGTON 1980

Arlington 1980

I posted this as a comment to a post in William Blake: Religion and Psychology in 2015.

Larry got into computers and William Blake around the same time. Exciting days there were when we were living in Arlington and going to the Church of the Savior in Washington DC. He was entirely dependent on print material for studying Blake. Access to good libraries in the metro area made it possible. The books he purchased in those days furnish many of the quotes I use in blogging today. I see that we purchased FEARFUL SYMMETRY at YES! bookstore in Georgetown in Dec. 1980.

(The following month Larry acquired the other necessity for studying Blake at that time:
BLAKE Complete Writings by Geoffrey Keynes. YES! was the source once again.)

The primitive computers we had in those early days would not have been any help. We had neither random access to stored data, nor search engines or the internet. I'm grateful for the ability to study Blake with tremendous assistance from digital resources. 

VISITORS

October 2015

Written by Dinata Misovec for her blog subtitled Senior Adventures.

Ocala, Florida and the Cosmos

"We got to the house about 15 minutes before eleven.  There were no other cars in the driveway, but we have learned in the past that many Quakers get there a minute or two late.  I was smitten with the flowers as soon as I got out of the car.  They are seven or ten feet tall!  The orange and yellow was electric in the morning sun and dappled shade!  I started taking pictures of the blossoms.

Perhaps I should have called ahead.  Sometimes home worship groups can vary their time and place of meeting.  We rang the bell and Larry answered the door. They had children, grandchildren, and a great grandson visiting. Everyone else had gone to the park.  Uh oh. He insisted that we come in and wait while he went to the park to get them so I went back outside to take more pictures of the flowers.

The more pictures I took, the more excited I became.  “Each one has its own personality!” Andy was not so moved.  “Look at the sun through this one!” I didn’t even elicit a grunt.  Andy thought we should leave so as not to inconvenience the family. He finally convinced me just when the family returned. Ellie told us that on the fourth first day, other members of the group to go the Gainesville meeting.

It did turn into a meeting, but not a silent worship we Quakers are accustomed to.  We sat around the table with three generations of Claytons and talked. At noon, Ellie and her daughter-in-law visiting from Texas got up and made lunch.  Then we sat for another hour telling stories and simply chatting. At first we felt a bit awkward, but they continually told us how happy they were that we came and what a pleasure it was to see us. By the time we left, we really believed it.

Larry mentioned that he is 89 and a Korean War vet.  He and Andy talked about being in the military.

Their son Paul keeps his sailboat on the Neuse River and gave me his blog address. http://www.neuseriversailors.com/ We got to talk about boating.

Ellie also works diligently on her blog about William Blake.  She showed me her library of books by and about him.  I confess ignorance here, so I looked him up when I got home. William Blake (1757 to 1827) was an English poet, artist, and engraver. I love Wikipedia! I did not find out how Ellie came to study him. Her blog is William Blake: Religion and Psychology.

As I said, it was not a Quaker meeting, but was a delightful visit.

And, oh the cosmos!  That was my spiritual awakening this morning. These were so tall that I wasn’t sure they were cosmos.  The ones I grew in my garden were only two or tree feet high, and pink. I had to coin a new word for the experience: photogasm. I couldn’t find it in Merriam Webster, so it is my word. Then I decided the word should be florigasm and coined that one too. You don’t need to credit me if you decide to use either of them in a sentence.

How many flower pictures can you stand to look at in one sitting?"

SUBLIME

Joel, Hugh and Eleanor
Biloxi, Mississippi

I grew up in a family of three children close in age. My parents seldom left us unsupervised, but eventually all parents must leave their children alone. But we were warned that if anything went wrong when they were gone, we would be in trouble. However my younger brother had some minor scrape which he decided to treat with iodine. Unfortunately the whole bottle of iodine spilled on the bed leaving a large brown stain which we couldn't wipe away. However before Mother returned the evidence that the iodine had spilled had completely disappeared and so no scolding ensued.

I understand now that the iodine crystals were dissolved in alcohol which evaporated leaving only the iodine crystals which sublimated leaving no trace.

So I completely accept that moving from state to state without passing through an intermediary state can be an entirely beneficial process. 

.