QUARANTINE BLOG # 130

August 7, 2020

Greg and Kjersten Offenbecker, who own The Nordic Pineapple in St. Johns, Michigan, took Norway’s flag down after being accused of promoting racism.  Some observers (nosey and ignorant) mistook it for a Confederate flag in front of the Offenbecker’s 1860s bed and breakfast hotel.  They are replacing it with a vimple, a type of long, pennant-shaped flag that has the colors of the Norwegian flag – a red background with a blue cross superimposed on a white cross.

“Beauty is in the eye of the beholder,” said someone in 3rd century Greece.  Shakespeare said, “Beauty is bought by judgement of the eye” (Love’s Labour’s Lost, Act 2, Scene 1).  The writer of this blog says, “People looking for a cow patty will find it even in the middle of a rose garden.”  Forrest Gump said, “Stupid is as stupid does.”

👉  On August 7, 1782, in Newburgh, New York, General George Washington, the commander in chief of the Continental Army, created the “Badge for Military Merit.”  Only three known soldiers received the award during the Revolutionary War.  The decoration was then largely forgotten until 1927, when General Charles P. Summerall, the U.S. Army chief of staff, sent an unsuccessful draft bill to Congress to “revive the Badge of Military Merit.”  In 1931, Summerall’s successor, General Douglas MacArthur, took up the cause, and on February 22, 1932, Washington’s 200th birthday, the U.S. War Department announced the creation of the “Order of the Purple Heart.”

The Order of the Purple Heart, the oldest American military decoration for military merit, is awarded to members of the U.S. armed forces who have been killed or wounded in action against an enemy.  It is also awarded to soldiers who have suffered maltreatment as prisoners of war.

👉  Celebrated annually since 2018, today is Particularly Preposterous Packaging Day.  The day is for anyone who has ever purchased something at the store that was particularly difficult to get out of its packaging.  Or for someone who got something in the mail that was in a box that was way too big, and the packaging seemed wasteful.  This day is also known for creating wrap rage.  Symptoms are: throwing the package, accidentally cutting the object in the package, and cutting yourself as you wrestle with the offending package.

👉  Here are a couple of cartoons from our “People Have More Fun Than Anybody Department.”

👉  This is the original version, the official video of ABBA’s “Mamma Mia.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=unfzfe8f9NI Check out these costumes!

My guess is you have heard of and/or seen “Mamma Mia” on stage or as the movie version.  And then there was the second movie, “Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again.”  I’ve enjoyed the stage version and the two films, and as I said yesterday, it is my other # 1 musical (I don’t know if you can officially have two number ones, but I do).  It is kind of funny that I enjoy them so much because I never listened to ABBA, couldn’t have told you a single song of theirs.

The musical set to the songs of the pop supergroup tells the story of Sophie (Amanda Seyfried) and her mother, Donna (Meryl Streep).  As Sophie prepares for her wedding day, the question of her paternity arises and she invites three of Donna’s past flames (Pierce Brosnan, Colin Firth and Stellan Skarsgård) in hopes of finding her real father.  Pierce Brosnan took singing lessons and campaigned for the part because he wanted to do a film with Meryl Streep.

The first story has the memorable scene of Sophie reading her mother’s diary to her girlfriends.  Instead of being explicit, when Donna meets a boy and things turn romantic, she simply writes “and dot dot dot.”  It makes for a funny scene.

Of course, the question of who is Sophie’s father is not resolved, but each of the men stand up for the claim, so Sophie has three dads.

The 2018 sequel goes into the backstory of Donna, and further explores her flings with all three men in addition to the rise of her band, Donna and the Dynamos.  From the graduation scene for the three girls comes the great number “When I Kissed the Teacher.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YSN08rz66zE .

Both movies do “Super Trouper” – “Here We Go Again” features Cher has Sophie’s grandmother https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zqv3YesdtRU.  And from “Mamma Mia https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGScDixmUQM&list=RDeGScDixmUQM&start_radio=1.

And both do “Dancing Queen.”  Here it is from “Mamma Mia” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QRoWiTcO7dk.  And from “Here We Go Again” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3lR-s-Q5XsQ.

Finally, Judy Craymer, a producer behind the original stage production of “Mamma Mia!” as well as the two film adaptations, said a third installment could be coming.

Before the coronavirus pandemic, Craymer had been planning the franchise’s third film.  Both “Mamma Mia” and its sequel, “Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again” were hits at the box office, with the latter grossing nearly $400 million worldwide.  “I think one day there will be another film,” Craymer said, “because there’s meant to be a trilogy, you see.”  I’m in!

👉  Today’s close is from Morning and Evening, by Charles Spurgeon.

“The Lamb is the light thereof”
(Revelation 21:23 KJV).

Quietly contemplate the Jesus Christ, Lamb of God, as the light of heaven.

Light in Scripture is the emblem of joy.  The joy of the saints in heaven is comprised in this: Jesus chose us, loved us, bought us, cleansed us, robed us, kept us, glorified us: we are here entirely through the Lord Jesus.

Light is also the cause of beauty.  There is no beauty is left when light is gone.   Without light no radiance flashes from the sapphire, no peaceful ray proceeds from the pearl; and thus all the beauty of the saints above comes from Jesus.  As planets, they reflect the light of the Sun of Righteousness; they live as beams proceeding from the central orb.  If he withdrew, if his glory were veiled, their glory must expire.

Light is also the emblem of knowledge.  In heaven our knowledge will be perfect, and  the Lord Jesus himself will be the fountain of it.  Dark things and circumstances, never understood before, will then be clearly seen, and all that puzzles us now will become plain to us in the light of the Lamb.  Oh! what unfoldings there will be and what glorifying of the God of love!

Light also means manifestation.  In this world, it does not yet appear what we shall be.  When Christ receives his people into heaven, he will touch them with his own love, and change them into the image of his manifested glory.  They were poor and wretched, but what a transformation!  They were stained with sin, but one touch of his finger, and they are bright as the sun, and clear as crystal.  Oh! what a manifestation! All this proceeds from the exalted Lamb.

Whatever there may be of radiant splendor, Jesus shall be the center and soul of it all.  Oh! to be present and to see him in his own light, the King of kings, and Lord of lords!

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