QUARANTINE BLOG # 627

December 17, 2021

Amy reminded me of a film clip that would have been perfect with yesterday's musings about the moon.

👉  With Christmas Eve one week away, you may be looking for menu suggestions for your Christmas Dinner (the menu at 233 Woodland Drive is basically the same menu as the one that we enjoyed at 117 Shenandoah Avenue).  In Japan, KFC, formerly known as Kentucky Fried Chicken, is a popular choice.  On Christmas, it might be your very last resort to go into a fast-food restaurant to celebrate the day.  However, KFC has become an integral part of Japanese Christmas culture and many would happily spend their day here munching on fried chicken and mashed potatoes with gravy (after he sold his creation, Col. Harlan Sanders once said the owners’ new gravy was more like wallpaper paste).  The tradition started in 1970 when the owner of the first KFC in Japan overheard a group of foreigners lamenting how they missed their traditional Christmas due to a lack of turkey – a type of poultry that’s hard to find in Japan around Christmas.

👉  If you’re not thinking about Christmas dinner, maybe you are trying to wrap up your shopping and you need one more item for an Atlanta Braves fan (after a World Series win, what more do you need).  Perhaps a baseball card will do.  Hank Aaron is the legitimate home run king – no chemical enhancements – and his 1954 Topps rookie card may be the perfect gift.  It was in one of the first sets to be printed with new printing techniques that led to them being much sturdier.  A mint condition of this particular card sold for $357,000 in 2012.  Happy hunting.

👉  If you are looking for a similar item to put in my Christmas stocking (and you can’t arrange a World Series win) my preference would be Roberto Clemente’s rookie card.  In 2012, a mint copy of his 1954 Topps rookie card brought in almost $500,000, and in 2016, a grade nine reached $500,000.  And I thank you in advance.

👉  One last shopping piece for today comes from our “Ooh You’re Gold” Collection:

👉  Back in the before time, when I was the manager of Taber’s Jewelers (your jeweler with the 100 day money back guarantee), one of the biggest sales I made was to a couple who purchased a Ceylon Blue Sapphire.  The island nation had already been renamed Sri Lanka, which means Resplendent Island, but that classic gem’s name was unchanged – it is a rich color that commands a top price.  Well, this past Sunday, gem folk unveiled a 683 pound sapphire.  The massive gemstone is dubbed the Queen of Asia.  The Gemological Institute of Ratnapura estimates the stone could be worth more than $100 million.  The institute is targeting potential buyers including museums and wealthy private collectors in the Middle East.  Oh, my sale was a puny $5,000.

👉  A parent’s frequent joy is to embarrass their children.  Getting one of your offspring to say, “I just threw up in my mouth,” is a prize moment for sure.  Ed and Helen Kudlick earn a top prize in a recent Dustin strip.

👉  Some pictures to smile at:

👉  Three signs you shouldn’t need to post:

👉  Today’s close “Under New Management,” is once again from Celebrating Abundance, by Walter Brueggemann.

“For I am about to create new heavens and a new earth; the former things shall not be remembered or come to mind” (Isaiah 65:17)

Let me speak about the new heaven. That may seem strange and removed to you. And if it does not seem strange and irrelevant here, it does seem so almost everywhere else, for almost everyone, believer and unbeliever alike. For almost everyone assumes that heaven is either closed or empty and irrelevant. That is, almost everyone assumes the God-question is closed or empty. 

But isn’t it strange that this poet uses his precious poetic gifts to speak of a new heaven? And he does so in a time of despair and stress in his community, when you would have thought he had other things to do. But he takes that as his proper task.

The newness that must be acknowledged is the bold recognition that we have to do with a new God, unlike any of the conventional gods who run the empire or who at least accommodate the empire. The news of the Bible is that a new power governs from on high, and the policies of that God are at edge of fulfillment on earth.

I dare to say to you that this poem is about as relevant as we can get, for it affirms to us that the current contrivance that makes some rich at the expense of others is a momentary contrivance. That contrivance need not endure. Finally, it will end because God has set in motion, soon or late, promises that will be kept. We grow cold and cynical. And we forget. But it is so. We are not conformers to this age, but we are the ones who move toward a new age of justice.

Soon or late, we know your promises will be kept, O God. We know that a new earth follows in the wake of your new heaven, and so we wait with eager longing. Keep us attentive to your rule. Empower us to overcome unjust contrivances and gamble toward your newness. Amen.

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