Monthly Archives: December 2008
Odetta – One Thing to Know about Today in History
Image by Getty Images via Daylife Odetta Holmes was born on this day in 1930. Martin Luther King, Jr. once called her "The Queen of American Folk Music." Though at first Odetta thought about becoming an opera singer, this all changed when she heard some folk music in San Francisco and decided that was the [...]
Celebrate “The Monkees” – One Thing to Know about Today in History
Today is the birthday of two of the four original Monkees. Michael Nesmith turns 66 today, and Davy Jones is 63. As this comment from IMDB puts it concerning their TV show: [The Monkees] “hopped from one outlandish, corny adventure to another, with overly bright colors, altered film speed, out-of-focus shots, etc. more-or-less inspired by [...]
One Thing to Know about Today in History – December 29th
Image via Wikipedia On this day in 1989 the playwright Vaclav Havel was elected president of Czechoslovakia by the country’s Federal Assembly, becoming the first non-Communist to hold the post in more than four decades. Havel was the tenth and last President of Czechoslovakia (1989-1992) and the first President of the Czech Republic (1993-2003). He [...]
One Thing to Know about Today in History – December 28th
On this day in 1968, The Beatles “The White Album" went to number 1 on the album chart and stayed in that place for nine weeks. There are 30 tracks on this double album, including my all-time Beatles’ favorite “Blackbrid.” Here are six versions of this great song from youtube. The first is the original, [...]
The Visitor – A Short Review
Written and directed by Thomas McCarthy (the man who brought us the excellent “The Station Agent”), “The Visitor is another film about how we sometimes form community with people who were previously strangers to us. Richard Jenkins does a great job as the lead character Walter Vale in the film, playing a professor who has [...]
One Thing to Know about Today in History – December 27th
On this day in 1784 In Baltimore, at its first General Conference (called the Christmas Conference) held this side of the Atlantic, Francis Asbury, 39, was ordained the first bishop of the Methodist Church in America. This was after he had been ordained as a deacon on Christmas Day by laying on of hands and [...]
Marley and Me – A Short Review
!!! SPOILER ALERT !!! “Marley and Me” was not as bad as it could have been, despite it’s obvious manipulative tear-jerker ending. Of course, if Marley had been my dog, I would have had the animal put to sleep long before he could have died of natural causes. Then again, I have a kitten almost [...]
Let Jesus Show
Here is my sermon from Christmas Eve 2008 ——– It was time for the annual Christmas pageant at one church. The manger was down in front of the sanctuary, where it always was. Mary was there in a blue cloak and Joseph had on his beard made of cotton. The wise men were also there, [...]
One Thing to Know about Today in History
Today is the 190th anniversary of the composition of "Silent Night." Composed by Franz Joseph Gruber on this day in 1818; it was sung for 1st time the next day at Christmas services. What is interesting about this carol (and many other carols that have to be translated into English is how different they are [...]
One Thing to Know about Today in History – December 23rd
On this day in 1889 the Swiss Reformed theologian Emil Brunner was born. Along with Karl Barth, Brunner is most often associated with neo-orthodoxy or the dialectical theology movement. In particular, Brunner rejected liberal theology’s view of Jesus as only a highly-respected human being. Instead, Brunner insisted that Jesus was God incarnate and central to [...]
