QUARANTINE BLOG # 630

December 20, 2021

Today’s sermon from the Crawfordville Pulpit is an Advent message, “Trust Beyond Reason, Hope Beyond Doubt.”  The Bible reading is Matthew 1:18-25.

👉  In celebration of the Pittsburgh Steelers incredible comeback win – the outcome of the game was not settled until the next to last play of the game (and a horrible initial spot of the ball by the officials) – we start today’s articles with some NFL nicknames.

The Kansas City Chiefs began play in the AFL in 1960 as the Dallas Texans.  When the team moved to Kansas City in 1963, owner Lamar Hunt changed the team’s name to the Chiefs after also considering Mules, Royals, and Stars.  Hunt said the name was locally important because Native Americans had once lived in the area (I wonder how long it will be until today’s cancel culture forces a change).

Chet Soda, Oakland’s first general manager, sponsored a name-the-team contest in 1960.  The winning entry, Señors, was an allusion to the old Spanish settlers of northern California, was ridiculed in the weeks that followed.  Scotty Stirling, a sportswriter for the Oakland Tribune who would later become the team’s general manager, provided another reason to abandon the nickname.  “That’s no good,” Stirling said. “We don’t have the accent mark for the n in our headline type.”  Responding to the backlash, Soda and the team’s other investors decided to change the team’s nickname to Raiders, which had been a finalist in the contest along with Lakers.  The Raiders have been back and forth between Oakland and Los Angeles, and the franchise relocated to Las Vegas in 2020.

There are varying accounts as to why team owner Barron Hilton chose Chargers for his franchise, which spent one year in Los Angeles before relocating to San Diego.  (The franchise moved back to the Los Angeles area before the 2017 season.)  According to one story, Hilton liked the name, in part, for its affiliation with his new Carte Blanche credit card.  The owner also told reporters that he was fond of the “Charge!” bugle cry played at the Los Angeles Coliseum.

👉  I haven’t looked at “This Day in History” since doing the month ender for November (and December’s is coming up) so I missed an important day yesterday –  National Hard Candy Day.  Hard candy consists almost entirely of sugar.  And it has great names: candy buttons, gobstoppers, jawbreakers, Jolly Ranchers, Life Savers,  stick candy, sweethearts, and candy canes.  Since I didn’t tell you about it yesterday, have two pieces today for good measure.

👉  Regular readers of QB know of my general dislike for all social media platforms.  Well, Friday there was an extra policeman on duty at the school my grandson, Mac, attends because of a report that was allegedly on TikTok.  It’s old news today, but there was – according to traditional news outlets – a nationwide viral TikTok trend about school shooting and bomb threats for every school in the USA on Friday, December 17.  In a statement, TikTok said, “We have not found evidence of such threats originating or spreading via TikTok.”  TikTok spokesperson Jamie Favazza said. “We are deeply concerned that the proliferation of local media reports on an alleged trend that has not been found on the platform could end up inspiring real world harm.”  In a tweet published Friday, TikTok said they are “working to remove alarmist warnings that violate our misinformation policy” after local authorities, the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security confirmed there’s no credible threat.  If there is no credible threat, and QB takes Favazza’s word for it, then conventional media is responsible for the spread of this story.  The danger is mirrored in the story of “The Boy Who Cried Wolf.”  When there is a real threat, no one may not believe it.

👉  Well, this close to Christmas let’s change gears and lead into the close with a few smiles:

I admit, I had to have this one explained to me, and then it was Head Slap and LOL

👉  Barry Kauffman writes a blog, “Hymns with a Message,” where I turn if I need a reliable source to find the story behind a hymn.  

He writes today’s close:

To me it really isn’t Christmas until I hear a good soloist sing the traditional Christmas carol “O Holy Night.”   For decades we had a Christmas Eve service and “O Holy Night” was the last special number sung by a soloist before we closed singing Silent Night while lighting the candles.  

The hymn reminds us of how this world was in sin and error until Christ came and a new and glorious morn broke for mankind.  It shares how the King of Kings lay in a lowly manger, born to be our Friend and Savior.  It reminds us of how He taught us to love one another.  Truly His law is love and His gospel is peace.  

It is an old carol.  The words and lyrics of the old carol were written by Placide Cappeau de Roquemaure in 1847.  Cappeau was a wine seller by trade but was asked by the parish priest to write a poem for Christmas, even though he had never showed any interest in religion.  He obliged and wrote the beautiful words of the hymn.  He then realized that it should have music to accompany the words and he approached his friend Adolphe Charles Adams (1803-1856) who agreed and the music for the poem was composed by Adams.  The carol was later translated into English by John Sullivan Dwight (1812-1893), giving us this powerful carol which has been sung for years.  

And so at this Christmas season may we claim the closing words of the final verse, “Sweet hymns of joy in grateful chorus raise we, with all our hearts we praise His holy name.  Christ is the Lord! Then ever, ever praise we,  His power and glory ever more proclaim!   His power and glory ever more proclaim!”

Here is a powerful presentation of the hymn by David Phelps.

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