Hopewit

  “When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.” (I Corinthians 13:11, KJV) Chapter 13 of Paul’s first letter to the Corinthian church has two themes: the nature of true charity (love) and the limits of knowledge. The first theme sets an unbelievably high bar for the exercise of self-denying love, as in “And though I bestow all my goods to feed  the poor , and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.” The later theme is typified in “For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.”                It’s in this latter section of the chapter that verse 13 appears, almost an aside and only tangentially supportive of what comes before and after.        ...

  Tradition vs. Change is thematically central to the Downton Abbey series we’re watching for the second time in our house. The superb acting of Maggie Smith carries the load for arguing the absolute importance of tradition and the stability it provides while her granddaughter, Sybil Crawley, speaks and acts for the embracing of the inevitable change by becoming a nurse to wounded WWI soldiers, and then marrying the chauffeur, no less.                This isn’t a review of Downton Abbey . Rather, I’m thinking here about the times in history when sea changes were forced upon peoples that had developed stable views, hierarchies, and protocols over time, and were thereby required to live in a newness they hadn’t asked for and didn’t desire. Mennonites, Gypsies, Jews, Kurds and other minorities that were a threat to traditions of the majority wherever they settled, have historically been oppressed and/or driven ou...

  I'm sitting in my recliner here on January 1, 2022 and wondering if there are synonyms for happy that I could use to express that wish in a more appropriate way. Word suggests glad, fortunate, lucky, delightful, content and so from that list I pick and say, Fortunate, lucky, delightful and content New Year to you all . You and we deserve at least a taste of it after 2021, don't we? And are the admonitions of the sages enough to keep our keels even should 2022 be a carbon copy? Keep your chin up? Look on the bright side? In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight? Take heart by remembering that many are experiencing the same afflictions you are … minus food and shelter from the cold? Agnes and I could complain without ceasing. For me, it's been a year and two months now since a complicated pneumonia put me in hospital, and the aftermath for my breathing is worrisome, plus a stupid act on my part did my back a nasty number and turned my p...