December 21, 2021
I am wondering about the logic of “if testing shows more infections, then stop testing.” This does not solve the problem, it merely hides the problem. What does this new policy of “The Show Must Go On” say about the NFL’s concerns about the health and safety of their players, indeed about all of the rest of us? Will this “if we don’t mention it, it isn’t there” idea become more widespread? If you stick your head in the sand, your backside is raised up and exposed as a target.
👉 With only 5 days until the unveiling and unwrapping of our Christmas presents, this piece may not help your last minute shopping, but it could get you a head start for next year. From January 11 through February 2, Christie’s Auction is conducting a special “Americana Week.” The article that sent me exploring this featured two incredible paintings – and in writing cruise talks, I have developed a new appreciation for good art (not that any of what I like is affordable to your favorite blogger).
 |
In the Yosemite, a landscape by Albert Bierstadt (1830-1902), a German-American painter best known for his sweeping American Western landscapes, looks almost like a photograph. The painting has a presale estimate between US$300,000 and US$500,000. |
 |
Another highlight is Frederic Edwin Church’s landscape Winter Scene in Hartford, with an estimate between US$200,000 and US$300,000. |
Approximately 70 lots of 19th-century American art from two collections will be included in the Christie’s sale on January 19, with an estimated total value of between US$3 million and US$4.5 million. The link above let’s you see other pieces that will go under the gavel.
👉 Speaking of Christie’s, we missed the Magnificent Jewels auction (December 8). Because I contributed my share to the family budget for 17 years selling jewelry, I took a peek. There were some incredible things, but none of them would have been in the showcases at Taber’s Jewelers (Your Jeweler with the 100 Day Money Back Guarantee).
 |
This fancy dark gray-blue emerald-cut diamond – internally flawless – of 8.74 carats, triangular-shaped diamonds, in a platinum setting was my favorite. The pre-sale estimate was USD 1,200,000 - USD 1,500,000 and it sold for USD 2,610,000. That would have made my budget at Taber’s for 2 years. |
 |
This Tiffany & Co., Jean Schlumberger Enamel and Multi-gem Parrot Clip-brooch featuring blue and green paillonné enamel (a 19th-century technique of applying layers of translucent colored enamel over very fine sheets of silver or gold resulting in dramatically bright and brilliant colors), black enamel, round peridots and ruby, polished coral, and set in 18k yellow gold only brought $11,875, but I like it. |
👉 Vanessa Friedman writes a fashion column for The New York Times. A reader asked her, “Should we participate in the ugly Christmas sweater phenomenon? And why do people even call them ‘ugly’?” Well, I was ready for a PC discourse on calling things (and by extension, people) ugly – “appearance challenged,” perhaps, or maybe “beauty free,” but not ugly. Vanessa shocked me by doing a straight piece. I didn’t think she was going to when she started with “a better word for the spectacle you are referring to may be ‘kitschy holiday sweater’ or ‘novelty holiday sweater.’”
Then she went on: There are ugly Christmas sweater parties (and guides on how to hold them). Ugly Christmas sweater office competitions. (The Times has one of those – or did, before Covid.) Ugly Christmas sweater coloring books Ugly Christmas sweater coloring books. Ugly Christmas sweater children's books. Also, of course, a variety of sites and sellers that specialize in ugly Christmas sweaters. Amazon alone sells more than 50 different ones. And if you want to participate, but don’t want to actually buy an ugly sweater, there is at least one company that rents them, but Augusta is not one of the markets they serve.
I mentioned last week that I came in second in the ugly sweater contest at St Mark UMC, and that Pastor Sargent Nelson won the event. Here are those prize winning entries (you can’t tell from the still photograph, but Sarge’s sweater had blinking lights – maybe next year I’ll go one better and add sound).
👉 Today’s close, “A New Decision,” is from Celebrating Abundance, by Walter Brueggemann.
In that region, there were shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, ‘‘Do not be afraid; for see – I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord.” (Luke 2:8-11).
Christmas is the celebration of the new decision of God. You know that decision well: “to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord” (v. 11). Not Caesar in Rome, not Herod in Jerusalem, not Pilate as governor, not all the presidents and premiers and executives and generals, not any of them will be king, because the world has been turned a new way. It has been turned so that a king shall come from Bethlehem, not from the great city, but from a little city filled with filth and poverty.
But think what it means. It means, to anybody who knows, that the promises of God have been kept. He is faithful. He has not reneged. For a thousand years earlier he said, I will keep this royal family and this royal promise and this royal vision. I will send the true David, and he will turn the world back to its sanity. Where there has been fear, he will bring joy. Where there has been oppression, he will bring justice. Where there has been suffering and sorrow, he will bring wholeness.
All the kings of the world hustled to keep their thrones. They are panic-stricken powers, scared of everything and everyone, but they don’t know how to work at it except to kill and destroy, and our whole human history is like that.
Except God has made a fresh decision, and this new one does not come as threat but as child. He does not come as victory but as helpless child. He does not come in pride but in a way almost unnoticed by the world. But he is king. He is not robed in splendor but in baby clothes. He is not in the royal nursery but in a barn. None of it makes any sense. At least it does not make sense to people who think they have all of life reduced to a pattern and a formula.
The Christmas event in Bethlehem makes no sense unless you allow that it is a fresh decision from God himself about the new shape of the world. All of that came with the new announcement of the king. And then that messenger was joined by the chorus of angels who gave the theme of the divine decision: glory and peace.
Maybe you think angels are a little primitive, but it is one symbolic attempt to talk about God’s new program coming to us. Christmas is a time for leaving our sober, sane world of budgets and schedules and rules and for just a moment blowing our minds with the thought that God intends other ways for us to live.
Break into our staid lives with the power of your holiness. Break up our old patterns and expectations, and transform us through the good news brought by the singing of angels: “to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord.” Amen.
-30-
No comments:
Post a Comment