On this day in 1907 Ruyard Kipling received the Nobel prize for literature.  Who reading this did not have to read “Gunga Din” in school at one time or another?  I thought so.  You all read it.  It was required.  Of everyone.  While I won’t reprint it here, given its familiarity, I will post two other poems of Kipling.

—–

When Earth’s Last Picture Is Painted

When Earth’s last picture is painted and the tubes are twisted and dried,
When the oldest colours have faded, and the youngest critic has died,
We shall rest, and, faith, we shall need it — lie down for an aeon or two,
Till the Master of All Good Workmen shall put us to work anew!

And those that were good shall be happy: they shall sit in a golden chair;
They shall splash at a ten-league canvas with brushes of comets’ hair;
They shall find real saints to draw from — Magdalene, Peter, and Paul;
They shall work for an age at a sitting and never be tired at all!

And only the Master shall praise us, and only the Master shall blame;
And no one shall work for money, and no one shall work for fame,
But each for the joy of the working, and each, in his separate star,
Shall draw the Thing as he sees It for the God of Things as They Are!

—–

A Carol
"The Tree of Justice" – Rewards and Fairies

Our Lord Who did the Ox command
  To kneel to Judah's King,
He binds His frost upon the land
  To ripen it for Spring --
To ripen it for Spring, good sirs,
  According to His Word.
Which well must be as ye can see --
  And who shall judge the Lord?

When we poor fenmen skate the ice
  Or shiver on the wold,
We hear the cry of a single tree
  That breaks her heart in the cold --
That breaks her heart in the cold, good sirs,
  And rendeth by the board.
Which well must be as ye can see --
  And who shall judge the Lord?

Her wood is crazed and little worth
  Excepting as to burn,
That we may warm and make our mirth
  Until the Spring return --
Until the Spring return, good sirs,
  When Christians walk abroad;
When well must be as ye can see --
  And who shall judge the Lord?

God bless the master of this house,
  And all who sleep therein!
And guard the fens from pirate folk,
  And keep us all from sin,
To walk in honesty, good sirs,
  Of thought and deed and word!
Which shall befriend our latter end....
  And who shall judge the Lord?

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The actor Tommy Kirk was born on this day in 1941.  He is best known for his role as Travis in the film “Old Yeller.”  What a tear-jerker of a movie that was.  Again, I must ask a question.  Is there anyone out there who saw this movie as a child and didn’t cry when Travis had to put down Old Yeller?  And again, I thought not.  If you did see this film and not cry, then you are simply not human.

———-

Albert Schweitzer received the Nobel Peace Prize on this date in 1954 primarily for his philosophy of "Reverence for Life", which was expressed in many ways, but most pertinently in his founding and sustaining the Albert Schweitzer Hospital in West Central Africa.  Schweitzer was also a theologian who rejected the modern quest for the historical Jesus.  In the concluding paragraph of his book “Quest of the Historical Jesus,” we read:

He comes to us as One unknown,

without a name,

as of old, by the lake side,

He came to those men who knew Him not.

He speaks to us the same word:

“Follow thou me!”

and sets us to the tasks

which He has to fulfill for our time.

He commands.

And to those who obey Him,

whether they be wise or simple,

He will reveal Himself

in the toils, the conflicts, the sufferings

which they shall pass through in His fellowship,

and, as an ineffable mystery,

they shall learn in their own experience Who He is.

———-

The great Swiss theologian and minister Karl Barth died on this day in 1968 at the age of 82.  This author of the 14 volume “Church Dogmatics” was once asked by a young student if he could sum up what was most important about his life’s work and theology in just a few words. The question was posed even as gasps escaped from the mouths of many people in the audience. Barth thought for just a moment, smiled, and then said "Yes, in the words of a song my mother used to sing me, ‘Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so.’"

Barth was also known as one of the primary forces behind the Barmen Declaration, which opposed “the Nazi-supported "German-Christian" movement. The ‘German Christians’ who were hostile to the Confessing Church combined extreme nationalism with anti-Semitism. The Barmen Declaration specifically rejects the subordination of the church to the state. Rather, the Declaration states that the church ‘is solely Christ’s property, and that it lives and wants to live solely from his comfort and from his direction in the expectation of his appearance (source).’”