QUARANTINE BLOG # 324

February 17, 2021

Today the wife of my youth did something she’s never done before: she woke up in bed with a 74 year old man.  Bless her heart.  And mine.  Happy Birthday to me.

👉  As African Americans began to participate in the developing car culture, they were restricted by racial segregation.  State laws in the South required separate facilities for African Americans and many motels and restaurants in northern states also excluded them.  Victor Green, a postal employee, said, “For the Negro traveler there was always trouble finding suitable accommodation where he would be welcomed.”

In 1936 Green began collecting information on hotels, restaurants and gas stations “that catered to Negroes” for his first edition of The Negro Motorist Green Book. Since some towns did not have any hotels or motels that would accept African American guests, he listed “tourist homes,” where owners would rent rooms to travelers.  Passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 marked the beginning of the guide’s obsolescence with the last volume appearing in 1966.

👉  COVID-19 infection and hospitalization rates are falling nationwide, but experts talk in dire terms about what will happen if variants of the virus are allowed to surge this spring.  Public health experts said they dread the possibility of a fourth wave.  

Three state legislatures – North Dakota, Iowa and Wisconsin – lifted mask mandates in recent days, and New York and Massachusetts eased restrictions on restaurant seating in time for Valentine’s Day. “The best way to mitigate the threat of the strains is to control the virus,” Dr. Luciana Borio, former acting chief scientist of the Food and Drug Administration said, “to use the public health tools we have, like mask-wearing, hand-washing, avoiding crowds, and vaccination.”

👉  Deep Creek Lake – 96 years old this year – is Maryland’s largest freshwater lake, covering 3,900 acres and 65 miles of shoreline. The man-made lake got its start in 1925 with a move to generate electric power by harnessing the power of Deep Creek.  A 1,300-foot-long impoundment dam was constructed to stem the flow of water in Deep Creek.  On May 26, 1925, the hydroelectric plant kicked into service, with water from the lake transported to the powerhouse through a 7,000-foot tunnel.

Two bridges cross the lake: the Route 219 Bridge and the Glendale Bridge.  The Glendale Road bridge was designed with a much narrower deck and it often had short backups during the summer months.  As cars became bigger and faster, courtesy and patience was required.  New rules of the road developed, i.e. whoever dared to start across the bridge first ruled the road. 

Both bridges were eventually replaced with new structures. The Route 219 bridge was replaced in 1986. The Glendale Bridge held on for another 11 years.  The pictures of the Route 219 bridge are from the Bro’s collection – thanks little brother!

Route 219 Bridge

Glendale Bridge

👉  Amy asks, “What is the origin of the phrase ‘in a nutshell?’”  The origin story begins in AD 77 with Roman historian, Pliny the Elder.  He recorded in his Natural History, that he was aware of a copy of Homer’s The Iliad that was written on parchment, and enclosed within a nutshell – certainly a hyperbole.

Shakespeare, who often took themes from the classics, gave Hamlet (Act 2, Scene 2) the line, “I could be bounded in a nutshell, and count myself a king of infinite space, were it not that I have bad dreams.”

The figurative use of “in a nutshell” to mean specifically “in few concise words” didn’t emerge until the 19th century.  William Makepeace Thackeray used it in print in The Second Funeral of Napoleon, 1841: “Here, then, in a nutshell, you have the whole matter.”  Thackeray was writing about the reburial of the emperor.

Modern nanotechnology has made microminiaturization possible. The Bible is one book that has versions which would fit inside a walnut shell, and are readable with a microscope.

👉  In closing, I am going to introduce the Season of Lent, and a series of Lenten devotions I am writing.  Because of that, this closing piece is longer than normal.

Lent is an important season in the life of the Church, and one that is very much misunderstood.  It’s kind of like the time I left an early evening Ash Wednesday service at the church where I was a member, and went to the church where my kids were worshipping.  One of their friends looked at the cross of ashes on my forehead and asked, “What is that?”  One of my offspring replied, “Oh, that’s a Methodist thing.”

Yes it is, and no it isn’t.  Methodists observe Ash Wednesday and Lent, and so do a lot of other churches and believers.  Too often Lent is presented as a time to make self-denial and give up something.  Yesterday I read one comment about Lent: “I am giving up.”  Nothing specific, just generally giving up.  Tom Lehrer said his wife was “the girl I gave up Lent for.”  Years ago someone asked me, “What are you giving up for Lent this year?” and I said, “Jack Daniels whiskey.”  The astonished reply was, “But you don’t drink whiskey.”  I replied, “Right!  See how well it is working!”

Lent is a time of preparation when we look forward to celebrating the greatest day in the history of the universe – the day God raised Jesus from the dead.  Lent is 40 days, commemorating the 40 days Jesus fasted before beginning his ministry.  Sundays don’t count, because every Sunday is a Resurrection Sunday, a day of celebration.

For the next 45 days (46 if you count today) I’m going to share a scripture from the Lectionary readings for this season and a devotion.  May this be a time of anticipation and celebration as we look forward to singing “Up from the grave he arose, with a mighty triumph o’er his foes.  He arose a Victor from the dark domain and he lives forever with his saints to reign.  He arose!  He arose!  Hallelujah! Christ arose!”

February 17

The jury returned from deliberation and the judge asked, “Have you reached a verdict?”

“Yes, your honor,” the foreman said, “4 of us find the defendant guilty, 6 of us find him as guilty as they come, and 2 of us find him guilty as sin.”

King David was guilty as sin.  And guilty of sin (you can read the whole story in 2 Samuel 11 and 12).  He had, from a secret place, watched a woman performing a ritual bath, lusted over her, brought her to his bed, and when she became pregnant, had her husband murdered.  “But the thing David had done displeased the Lord” (2 Samuel 11:27).

Nathan, God’s prophet, told David the story of a man who had large herds of cattle and flocks of sheep, but when a visitor came, the man took his neighbor’s only possession, a ewe that he raised like a child, and killed it to feed his visitor.  When David proclaimed a death sentence for that man, Nathan pointed his finger at the king and said, “You are the man!” (2 Samuel 12:7).  David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord” (2 Samuel 12:13).

Psalm 51 is one of several psalms that begin with a title, or give the tune to which it was to be sung: “A Psalm of David when Nathan the prophet went to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.”  Click here to read verses 1-4. 

David’s confession in verse 4 (and his initial confession to Nathan) sounds strange: “Against you [God] and you alone, have I sinned.”  He was the king and he had ordered Bathsheba to his house and to his bed.  When Uriah, her husband, refused to have a marital visit, David had him murdered.  Rape.  Adultery.  Murder.  And yet David said, “My sin is against God alone.”  In that moment of repentance he realized all sin is ultimately against God, and it drove him to his knees.  With total sincerity he prayed, “Give me back my joy again” (2 Samuel 12:8).

Begin this Lenten season by acknowledging your sin and shortcoming, but unlike David whose life at that moment was dominated by his transgression – “For I recognize my rebellion; it haunts me day and night” – experience, as G. Campbell Morgan said, “the stupendous wonder of the everlasting mercy of our God.”  God promised through Isaiah “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow” (1:18).

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