Monday, August 5, 2019

Save

8.6.19

Save
the World
拯救世界 
Zhěngjiù shìjiè
世界を救う
Sekai o sukuu
ps99

The sun shines for all the earth.
The moon shows fractions for what it's worth.

Rain falls for growth
in plants and animals, both.

Life is for living.
Love is for giving.

We live to rejoice!
Make music with your voice!

Praise the essential presence
of life in the present
as the field of perception
that rules out deception.

Use what was right in the past
to make the goodness last
and plan improvement for the future
to guide the present with its nurture.

Mighty lovers of justice,
equity will not bust us!

Wonderful winners of fame,
responsibility builds your game!

Wise witness of accountability, 
care for others. Build your security.

Security is compensation
for unfair dispensation.

Reconciliation for the damage to liberty's bell
is more important than the crack can tell.

The competition for prosperity
has to be governed for posterity.

Let people agree.
This is easy to see.

No one is without flaw.
No one is above the law.

Murder for profit
is not on the docket.

Judgment is the purpose for reason.
Proof is the objective for judgment in season.

Reason rejects the fear of threat
as the justification for death
or destruction 
as time's only induction.

Invasion, genocide, murder and torture,
are agents of massively destructive misfortune.

Violence, cruelty and vice 
are not elements of immortal device.

The existence of threat
is grounds for preparing defense.

Defense is limited to the least force
for the protection of our course.

Induction and deduction are ways
to learn logic as instruction in what to pray or say.

Making use of words implies having general ideas.
Animal consciousness is more like ours than the asclepias'.

Perception with controlled experimentation
is for the selection of facts in truth's detection.

The property of value is from solid substance drawn.
Background provides contrast like the sky above the horizon at dawn.

Freedom is seen in the observation of the sky.
Release from tedium helps your spirit fly.

Providence for labor requires land for construction 
and machines for production.

The division of labor is an object for observation.
The labor is divided for ease in conservation.

The inference of prevalence
is to measure occurrence in relevance.

The rejection of false reason
helps us act in due season.

The salvation of hope for improvement
is the rock for political movement.

This formula for success
has gradual growth in the newness 
of the que's access to due process
in economic noblesse.
Storytelling for the protection of theft
is express disrespect for what is left
in the national chest to invest.

Fake news 
is not something to choose.

Truth in darkness and light
is present with or without sight.
It is the test of reason for right.

Reform for the code of law
began with that which the view from the mountain saw.

Jesus was transfigured by prayer on the mountain. 
His appearance changed with the prophets’ counsel counted.

The sound from the scarlet feathers of the phoenix
rose with joy above the ashes to redeem keenness for cleanness. 

The rule of law protects rights, not wrongs.
It is the bong that belongs with the gong.

Forgiveness allows for development
of the elements of the celebrant.

Restitution fosters retribution
for correction, not the institution 
of elocution for destruction.

Revel in the revelation of love for others.
Shine forth with light for your sisters and brothers,
fathers and mothers; for your family wonders.

Respect rights for life with liberty and justice.
Save the world from reduction to the augustus 
of just us. It will help others to trust us.

Save the world from a world full of hurt.
Then you'll laugh with Ernie and Burt.

 -------------------------


Transfiguration


The transfiguration of Jesus is an event reported in the New Testament when Jesus is transfigured and becomes radiant in glory upon a mountain. The synoptic gospels, 2 Peter and the gospel of John refer to it. A number of monasteries on Mt. Tabor are dedicated to it.

Thomas Aquinas considered the transfiguration "the greatest miracle" in that it complemented baptism and showed the perfection of life in Heaven.

The event was anticipated by the revelations to Moses and Elijah on Mt. Sinai.

Exodus 33:17-22; 34:29-33

The LORD said to Moses, "I will do the thing that you have asked for you have found favor in my sight. I know you by name." Moses said, "Show me your glory, I pray."

He said, "I will let my goodness pass before you. I will proclaim the name, 'the LORD.' I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious. I will show mercy to those whom I will show mercy, but you cannot see my face. No one will see me and live."

The LORD continued, "There is a place by me where you will stand on the rock. While my glory passes I will put you in a cleft of the rock. I will protect you with my hand until I have passed. You will see my back but my face will not be seen."

Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the covenant in his hand. He did not know that the skin of his face shone because he had been talking with God. When Aaron and all the Israelites saw him they were afraid to go near him because of the shine.

Aaron and all the leaders of the congregation returned to him when he called to them. He spoke with them. All the Israelites came near afterwards. He gave them all the LORD had spoken to him on Mount Sinai in commandment.

Moses put a veil on his face when he was done speaking with them.

1 Kings 19:11-16

God said, "Go out and stand on the mountain." The LORD passed. A mighty wind tore into the mountain. Rocks were broken in pieces, but the LORD was not in the wind. An earthquake came after the wind, but He was not in the earthquake. A fire came after the earthquake, but He was not in the fire. A still small voice came after the fire.

When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle to stand in the entrance of the cave. A voice came to him and said, "What are you doing here, Elijah?"

He said, "I have been zealous for the LORD God of hosts, because the childen of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars and killed Your prophets with the sword. I alone am left and they seek to take my life."

Then the LORD said to him: "Go. Return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus. When you arrive, anoint Hazael as king of Syria. You will also anoint Jehu the son of Nimshi as king of Israel. Anoint Elisha son of Shaphat of Abel Meholah as prophet in your place."

Psalm 99:5-7

Extol the LORD our God.
Worship at his footstool
for he is holy.

Moses and Aaron were among his priests.
Samuel was also among those who called on his name.
They cried to the LORD and he answered them.

He spoke to them in the pillar of cloud.
They kept his decrees
and the statutes that he gave them.

Luke 9:28-36

Jesus took Peter, James and John with him on a mountain to pray about 8 days after he had spoken of his death and resurrection. The appearance of his face changed as he prayed. His clothes became a dazzling white.

Suddenly they saw Moses and Elijah talking to him. They appeared in glory and speaking of the departure he was to achieve in Jerusalem. Peter and his companions had been weighed down with sleep, but they saw his glory and the two men standing with him since they had stayed awake.

Peter said to Jesus, "Master, it is good for us to be here. Let us make three dwellings, one for you; one for Moses and one for Elijah." He did not know what he had said. A cloud came and overshadowed them while he spoke. They were terrified as they entered the cloud.

A voice came from the cloud that said, "This is my Son, my Chosen. Listen to him." Jesus was found alone when the voice had spoken. They kept silent in those days. No one was told any of the things they had seen.

2 Peter 1:16-21

We did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. We had been eyewitnesses of his majesty. He received honor and glory from God the Father when that voice was conveyed to him by the Majestic Glory saying, "This is my beloved Son with whom I am well pleased."

We heard this voice come from heaven while we stood with him on the holy mountain. We have the prophetic message more fully confirmed. You will do well to be attentive to this as to a lamp shining in a dark place until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.

You must understand this first of all. No prophecy of scripture is a matter of one's own interpretation. No prophecy came by the human will. Men and women moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.

John 1:14

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son who came from the Father full of grace and truth.

Transfiguration of Jesus

The Transfiguration is one of the five milestones in the gospel narrative of the life of Jesus. The others are Baptism, Crucifixion, Resurrection and Ascension. Each event served as testimony to the divine royalty of the Son.

Origen's theology of the Transfiguration influenced the patristic tradition. It became the basis for theological writings by others. He commented that the glorified states of the Transfiguration and the Resurrection must be related given the instruction to the apostles to keep silent about what they had seen.

Maximus the Confessor said in the 7th century that the senses of the apostles were transfigured to enable them to perceive the true glory of Christ.

2 Corinthians 3:18

All of us are seeing the glory of the Lord with unveiled faces. We are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. This comes by the Spirit.

-----------------------

Gregory Palamas cited 2 Corinthians 3:18 to define the apostolicity of the Church. He commented on the concept of the "transfiguration of the believer" by the end of the 13th century. True "knowledge" was to be transfiguration by the Spirit. The transformation of the believer continued to remain a theme for achieving closer union.

The setting on the mountain is presented as the point where human nature meets God. It was the meeting place for the temporal and the eternal. This meeting has been celebrated in the Feast for the event.

The churches that observe the date set for the Latin rite celebrate the feast on August 6. The date does not extend back to the Early Church. The celebration of the feast was present in various forms by the 9th century, but the date was set by Pope Callixtus III after the siege of Belgrade was lifted in 1456.

The Ottoman Sultan Mehmed the Conqueror had rallied his resources in order to subjugate the Kingdom of Hungary after the fall of Constantinople in 1453. The siege lasted from July 4-22. John Hunyadi was the highest ranking official in Transylvania.

He had fought many battles against the Turks in the previous two decades. He prepared the fort of Belgrade for defense.

The siege escalated into a major battle. Hunyadi led a sudden counterattack that overran the Ottoman camp. He ultimately compelled the wounded Mehmed II to lift the siege and retreat.

The battle had significant consequences. It stabilized the southern frontiers of the Kingdom of Hungary for more than half a century. This considerably delayed the Ottoman advance in Europe.
The pope celebrated the event as a transfiguration of the status of the Church in the Holy Roman empire by placing it in the calendar for remembrance as close to the end of the siege as possible.

The celebration recounts the occasion recorded in the synoptic gospels (Matt. 17:1-8 = Mk. 9:2-8 = Lk. 9:28-36) on which Christ revealed Himself in shining splendor to Peter, James and John. Moses and Elijah were present. They are taken to signify that the Law and the Prophets testify that Jesus is the promised Messiah.

The event is Trinitarian insofar as the Father revealed the Son by the power of the Spirit.

The Festival of the Transfiguration has been celebrated since the late fourth century in the East. It is one of the twelve great festivals of the East Orthodox calendar.

There were some countries that felt that the feast was a "recent innovation" at the time of the Reformation.  It was not immediately taken over into most Reformation calendars.

The Lutherans only observed the feast as the last Sunday after the Epiphany until a change in the liturgical calendar in the 1970's. This is the Sunday immediately preceding Ash Wednesday at the start of the season of Lent.

The Sunday of the Transfiguration marks the last day of the Epiphany season on the last Sunday before Ash Wednesday in the Presbyterian and Reformed Calvinist Church.

The celebration is now found on most calendars that have been revised in the twentieth century.

The Synoptic texts agree that Jesus began to speak of his forthcoming death just before the time of the Transfiguration. It forms a fitting transition between the Epiphany season in which Christ makes himself known and the Lenten season in which he prepares the disciples for what lies ahead.

This was the liturgical innovation as the observation of the feast. August 6 was identified as the date by the pope when the Church was unified in Holy Roman empire in the 15th century.

--------------------------------

Sunday School and Transfiguration

The Sunday School Movement produced the public school system in England and the US. It is based on the non-sectarian study of the bible. The bible has to be read in relation to sources that share knowledge about the time, the culture and the geography of the Middle East.

Knowledge of the history of the Roman republic is critically important with respect for the re-construction of classical consciousness for citizens in a constitutional republic or monarchy.

Time and the Sunday School Movement

Henry Clay Trumbull
b. 6.8.1830 Stonington, Connecticut
d. 12.8.1903 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Henry Clay Trumbull was an American clergyman and author. He became a world-famous editor, author and pioneer of the Sunday School Movement.

He was born in Connecticut in the first half of the 19th century.

Stonington

Stonington is located in the southeastern corner of the state. It includes the villages of Pawcatuck, Lords Point and Wequetequock. The eastern halves of the villages of Mystic and Old Mystic are part of town. The other halves are in the town of Groton.

The present territory of Stonington was part of lands that had belonged to the Pequot people. The Pequot referred to the areas making up Stonington as Pawcatuck and Mistack. Pawcatuck was between the Stony Brook and the Pawcatuck River. Mistack was between the Mystic River and Stony Brook.

The first European colonists established a trading house in the Pawcatuck section of town in 1649. It was named Souther Towne by Massachusetts in 1658. It officially became part of Connecticut in 1662 when the colony received its official charter. Souther Towne was renamed "Mistick" in 1665. It was finally renamed as Stonington in 1666.

Stonington first gained wealth in the 1790's when its harbor was home to a fleet engaged in the profitable seal hunting trade. Seals were hunted on islands off the Chilean and Patagonian coasts. Their skins were sold as fur in China.

Stonington repulsed two British naval bombardments. One was a desultory bombardment during the American Revolution by Sir James Wallace in the frigate HMS Rose on August 30, 1775. The other was a more damaging three-day affair between August 9 and 12, 1814 during the War of 1812.

The Stonington Harbor Light is a low stone building erected in 1823. It was the first lighthouse established by the federal government. Stonington supported a small fishing, whaling and sealing fleet in the 19th century. There was some direct trade with the West Indies.
Henry Clay Trumbull

Henry Clay Trumbull was born on June 8, 1830, at Stonington, Connecticut. He was educated at Williston Northampton School in Easthampton, Massachusetts.

It was said that poor health kept him from formal education past the age of 14, but Yale College was located within 34 miles of where he worked as a young man.

Yale was established by clergy to prepare Congregationalist ministers for ministry. The curriculum was originally restricted to theology and sacred languages, but it expanded to include science and the humanities by the Revolutionary War. He was eventually awarded honorary degrees from Yale, Lafayette College and the New York University.

Trumbull had a religious conversion experience at the age of 21 in 1851. He found employment as a clerk in Hartford, Connecticut with the Hartford, Providence and Fishkill Railroad.

He  joined the Congregationalist church in 1852.  He became the superintendent of a mission Sunday-school under the Connecticut State Sunday School Association while continuing to work for the railroad.

 He married Alice Cogswell Gallaudet in 1854.

He became the Sunday-school missionary for Connecticut in 1858 after trying a few different jobs.
He was ordained as a Congregational minister in 1862. He served as chaplain of the 10th Connecticut Infantry Regiment during the American Civil War.

Trumbull was captured at the battle of Fort Wagner near Charleston, South Carolina on July 19, 1863. He was held in several Confederate prisons as a prisoner of war.

He rejoined the 10th Connecticut after being exchanged on November 24, 1863. He served with that regiment until it was mustered out of service in August 1865
.
He became the New England secretary for the American Sunday-school Union after his military service. He and his family moved to Philadelphia where he became editor of the Sunday School Times in 1875. He held the position until his death in 1903.

Sunday School Movement

A Sunday school is usually a Christian educational institution.

William King started a Sunday school in 1751 in Dursley, Gloucestershire in southern England. He suggested that Robert Raikes start a similar one in Gloucester.

Raikes was editor of the Gloucester Journal. He wrote an article in his journal. Many clergymen supported the schools as a result. The education aimed to teach the youngsters reading, writing, cyphering (doing arithmetic) and a knowledge of the Bible.

The idea became a movement in the 1780's. There were  250,000 English children were attending Sunday school in 1785. The Society for the Establishment and Promotion of Sunday Schools had distributed 91,915 spelling books, 24,232 Testaments and 5,360 Bibles by 1835.

The Sunday school movement was cross-denominational. It was financed by subscription. Large buildings were constructed that could host public lectures and provide classrooms. Different ages would attend the same class. Learning to read and write the language was a prime value. Public education had yet to be established.

The Methodists withdrew from the large Sunday school and built their own in some towns. The Anglicans set up their own National schools that would act as Sunday schools. Day schools followed. These were the precursors to a national system of education.

The role of the Sunday school changed with the Education Act 1870 which provided universal elementary education in England and Wales.

The American Sunday school system was first begun by Samuel Slater in his textile mills in Pawtucket, Rhode Island in the 1790's. Henry Clay Trumbull noted that the investment in study of things outside of the bible was usually limited to the different languages used in the translation.

Trumbull added sources of interest that helped the modern reader to understand the cultural and geographical context in which the bible was developed.

A large extent of the transfiguration for English speaking Christianity was established by the Sunday school movement as a reflected development of the instruction that was provided by synagogues from the time after the Exile. 

Henry Clay Trumbull

wiki Sunday School Movement

Kadesh Barnea by Henry Clay Trumbull

The Blood Covenant by HCT

Reflection on Transfiguration

Transfiguration is the goal for belief in resurrection. This is not however just about personal conversion. It is a societal goal. This is directed towards conversion at every level of society; not just the leadership; not just the people; not just the wealthy; not just the poor.

Law is the transcendent function for government. It is supposed to be for the people. It is for employment. It is against murder and discrimination. It had started as an instrument for punishment wherein crimes lesser in severity than murder were punished by death.

Modern republic has assisted in limiting the use of the death penalty to convictions for murder. Society is however faced with the difficulty of discriminatory judgment. Even scientific judgment that is not rigorous enough in seeking proof for the charge in a court is not sufficient for imposing death as a penalty.

Anyone who is not guilty of murder, but is put to death based on a false conviction is murdered. This is not an area where it is legitimate to say it's okay if you were wrong. You did your best. There has to be a higher standard for proof.

I believe that Jesus of Nazareth was someone who proclaimed love as good news for life. Even if the reference in Josephus was added, there is testimony from the community that listened to him teach.

He taught about love in a time when war and cruelty in punishment were viewed as a norm for the expansion of empire. This love was not limited to Christianity or any particular state. It is for the fullness of humanity with grace through the law for society.

Classical Consciousness

Josephus and Vespasian set up a debate between polytheism and monotheism from the Judean monotheistic position.

Some have argued that monotheism is just imperialism or it has just shifted the sword of Damocles to a genocidal threat against those who won't join the alliance.

Polytheism was imperial. The polytheistic empire used the threat of genocide to quell rebellion. There was a significant amount of aggression against monotheism as the cause of threat to the sanctity of security.

Science has often taken a position against religion of any kind, but when a position for religiosity as a social norm is expressed polytheism is the default. This was the case with Darwin. He simply tried to make belief in the monkey king the predominant monotheistic expression.

Freedom of religion takes a position where you can argue against that which is wrong about polytheism or monotheism.

Religion as a social organization can't promote revolution without being seditious towards the peace and security of a country.

Religion is a force for social organization insofar as it promotes petition as a means to participate in government. Protest is allowed as a deterrent to belief in rebellion.

The monotheistic position as framed by Josephus in terms of core values is for the social contract. Government has been instituted to represent legal rights for citizens, future citizens or temporary alien residents.

Illegal immigration doesn't fit into this picture. Legal immigration does. The wall makes sense as a deterrent to illegals crossing the border. Immigration reform is necessary to encourage immigrants to choose the legal path to citizenship.

Moses represents the law. Elijah embodies the prophets. Jesus is the transfiguration of humanity.

Cyrus was named Christ for having set free the captives.

Las Casas used the fullness of human nature in the Son to argue against slavery.

William Wilberforce argued against the inhumanity of the slave trade and slavery to persuade the British parliament to outlaw both.

The English Bill of Rights promoted the ownership of private property. It also defended the right to bear arms. It prohibited cruel punishment. While it was too particular to the Puritans, the bill served as a model for the US Constitution in the representation of constitutional law and authority.

Russia and China adopted constitutional republic as the form of government, but they have maintained a policy for cooperation with other nations for trade. Their position for conservative expenditure has helped them to maintain their policy.

The British and the Japanese chose constitutional monarchy. The Japanese outlawed war to deter expansion by military force. Gradual economic expansion with conservative expenditure promises to protect alliance with cooperation.

No comments:

Post a Comment