Susan's Fate

*WARNING: If you have not read The Chronicles of Narnia, do not read on. SPOILER!*

Authors have a big task when constructing a novel or series of novels, and many show their brilliance in what they write and how they explain. In my opinion, one mark of a truly great author is what he leaves open to the imagination of the reader, rather than explaining.

Such is the fate of Susan Pevensie, one of the important characters of C.S. Lewis' The Chronicles of Narnia. Very few characters actually survive the series. We witness the deaths of the White Witch, Miraz, Caspian, the Lady of the Green Kirtle, even Aslan. We see Reepicheep go up the wave in his coracle to Aslan's Country. We hear about the death of Caspian's beloved Queen in a flashback. We see Prince Rabadash of Calormen transformed into a donkey, and he has to be transported to Tashbaan where he is transformed back into a man in the temple of his god Tash. He reforms and leads a peaceful reign, but we read that he eventually dies, and his people proceed to call him Rabadash the Ridiculous. Some characters die during the time between books. We don't know how, but for example, thousands of years have passed in Narnia between The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and Prince Caspian. By virtue of the passage of time, we know that the Beavers, Tumnus and all the others have long since died by the time Prince Caspian starts. In The Last Battle, we see Ginger the Cat get overconfident, take one look at Tash, and shoot out of the stable like a bullet, unable to speak. Tash grabs Rishda Tarkaan and Shift and takes them away.

However, perhaps the most heartbreaking fate is that of Susan...and she is one of the few characters that actually survives.

After King Tirian pulls Rishda Tarkaan through the stable door in The Last Battle, Tirian finds himself in a beautiful paradise, and Rishda finds himself face-to-face with the reality that the evil god he has not believed but has pretended to worship all his life is very real and is not happy. Tirian turns to find before him nearly all of the Friends of Narnia that we have met throughout the series. Jill and Eustace, with whom he just fought the Last Battle, are there, along with Peter, Edmund, Lucy, Polly and Digory. Tirian is amazed to be before so many heroes from throughout Narnia's history, and he is mystified when he realizes that Queen Susan is not there. When he asks where she is, Peter explains that she is no longer a friend of Narnia. It turns out that she has decided that Narnia was child's play, and she doesn't understand how her siblings can still think it's real. In other words, she has contracted a serious case of adultitis. She is more concerned with the superficial trappings of being a woman and going to parties than she is with spending quality time with her loved ones and remembering the lessons she learned not so long ago.

As we read on, we find out that the Friends of Narnia have been trying to return. Peter and Edmund went to retrieve the rings that transported Polly and Digory to Narnia, and they were waiting at the train station for the others to arrive. The train rounded the bend too fast, crashing into the station and probably derailing, killing those on board and in the station. Peter, Edmund, Lucy, Polly and Digory suddenly found themselves in the New Narnia, and Eustace and Jill found themselves in the Old Narnia with a task to help King Tirian to defend their nation to the end. Oh yeah, forgot to mention that the Pevensies' parents are also on board the ill-fated train. They suddenly find themselves in a New London.

Beyond what is told above, we don't know what happened to Susan. When a child asked Lewis about it, he had this to say:

Dear Martin,

The books don't tell us what happened to Susan. She is left alive in this world at the end, having by then turned into a rather silly, conceited young woman. But there is plenty of time for her to mend, and perhaps she will get to Aslan's country in the end--in her own way. I think that whatever she had seen in Narnia she could (if she was the sort that wanted to) persuade herself, as she grew up, that it was "all nonsense".

Congratulations on your good marks. I wish I was good at Maths! Love to all,
Yours,
C.S. Lewis

Letters to Children, Letter of 22 January 1957

Think about it: Susan has just lost her ENTIRE family. Her nearest living relatives that we know of are her Aunt Alberta and Uncle Harold, who have also lost a son. All three of her siblings, her parents, her cousin, even the respected Professor who took her in during the war, have all died in one train crash. If that isn't enough to shake a person to their senses, I don't know what is. I've lost family members, but only one at a time--and none as close as a sibling or parent. I can't imagine what it would be like to lose so much at once. Not to mention that she's only 21 at this point. She has her whole life ahead of her, and she has to live it without the ones who have been closest to her growing up.

Susan's fate is both heartbreaking and hopeful. As Lewis pointed out to young Martin, Susan has a chance to remember the lessons she learned from Aslan and let go of her selfish pride and adultitis. As Aslan pointed out in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, he has another name in this world. On January 22, 1952, Lewis explained in a letter to a child named Carrol that the word Aslan "is Turkish for lion ... And of course I meant the Lion of Judah." He likely expected Carrol to understand that the Lion of Judah is a name for Jesus in the Bible. Thus, Susan has a choice. She can continue to reject the hope that has been given to her in the form of Christ appearing to her in the form of a lion, or she can put her trust in Christ, who died to save her from her sin. (She saw this reenacted only a few years earlier as Aslan gave his life on the Stone Table to save Edmund from death, and then the Stone Table cracked and Aslan rose from the dead and defeated the White Witch).

Susan has a choice. Which did she choose? We'll never know, because she's a fictional character...but each of us has the same choice. We can choose to follow Christ and one day find ourselves in His presence, or we can reject Him and find ourselves in the presence of someone worse than Tash.

Rob Phillips

This has been a difficult week, as I lost a dear friend and brother in Christ early Tuesday morning (February 15, 2011). A heart attack hit, and suddenly he was gone, despite the best efforts of the doctors and nurses.

It all started when I joined Christian comedian Bob Smiley's online message board in approximately 2000. That was where I met Jerri Phillips, a wonderful Texan woman of God who I have grown to admire more and more over the years. She had a husband and two children that I heard about often.

Fast-forward to 2007. My friend Brian Green was getting married in Texas, and I was honored to be requested to come and be a groomsman. I decided to make a vacation of it and visited friends in Louisiana and Texas, as well as surprising Christian singer Clay Crosse by attending a concert in Baton Rouge (we've become good friends). After spending a few days in Louisiana with friends, I took the train to Dallas, where I was greeted by a very excited Jerri and her two children. Her husband Rob was at work, but I got to meet him when he got home that evening. Over the next few days, I got to know their family, and I gained even more of a respect and love for each of them. They took me around, and we generally had a great time. The kids especially are very artistic, and I also enjoyed my time doing artwork with them at their home. At one point, they took me to a restaurant they loved (I forget the name), and Rob introduced me to their cheese fries. Probably terribly fattening, but they were oh so good!

One thing that particularly impressed me about Rob was his thoughtfulness. About a month before Jerri's birthday one year, he sent out an e-mail to all of their friends and asked us to send birthday cards, as a special surprise for Jerri. He worked it out for us to send them to their neighbor so Jerri would not catch wind of the plan. Then on her birthday, she was flooded with cards from all over the country.

Tuesday morning of this week, I was on the bus, almost to work, and I checked my e-mail on my phone. I saw a message from Jerri explaining that Rob had had a massive heart attack shortly after midnight. I was immediately very concerned, and then a little confused when I saw in the next paragraph that there would be a celebration service. Then I reread the first paragraph and realized that it said "fatal massive heart attack." Then the bus arrived at work. Early in the day, I sent an e-mail to my manager explaining that I had lost a dear friend and may be a bit slower than normal doing my work, due to the shock. At lunch I called my friend Carmel, also a good friend of Rob and Jerri, to make sure she knew (I didn't feel I had the right to tell her what happened, as it needed to come from Jerri, but I recommended that she check her messages). Most of this week I have had to hold in the grief, or I would not get any work done. But this weekend I have had some time to process it. I don't, and probably never will, understand how or why God would choose to take a healthy 42-year-old man who had a family who needed him, and I can't fathom how it must feel for the family left behind. I know that I've shed lots of tears this week.

When looking through my pictures of my trip to Texas, I was disappointed not to find any of Rob, but I found a few of the rest of the family. (One of my favorites is at the top of this post.) Please keep Jerri, Anna and Robert in your prayers. I can't even begin to imagine their pain, but if it's been this tough for me, it's got to be much harder for them. I know that God will work even this out for good, but sometimes it's so hard to see the beauty to come through the difficult and strangling ugliness right now.

Update: Jerri reminded me that the restaurant with the cheese fries is called Snuffer's. If you're ever in the Fort Worth area, I highly recommend it.

Harriet Tubman

As February is Black History Month, I thought I'd feature some of the black heroes who have made our country what it is today. As I already did a post on Martin Luther King, Jr., I won't be doing another...but there are so many more amazing people that need to be remembered. I can guarantee I won't get to all of them this month, but I'll see how many we can do. (I also expect I'll be doing posts on Lincoln and Washington this month in honor of their birthdays.)

Harriet Tubman was born Araminta Ross (Minty for short) in March of 1822. During her childhood, she was hired out to several masters who beat and abused her. At one point, she was sent to a local dry-goods store to get some supplies. There, she met a slave who had left his master without permission. The other slave's master asked young Minty to help him restrain the slave, and when she refused, the angry slaveowner threw a 2-pound weight at the fleeing slave. It missed the target and instead hit Minty in the head, breaking her skull. She was returned to her master, who let her rest without medical care for two days and then sent her back out into the fields to work, still bleeding. Her injury would haunt her for the rest of her life. She suffered from headaches and seizures as a result. She also had many visions and dreams that she believed were revelations from God (and I don't doubt it), and may also have been related to her injury.

As a slave, she held onto her faith in God and to biblical promises of freedom. In 1840, her father was freed, and when she consulted a white lawyer, it was discovered that her mother should also have been freed...but her family's masters had ignored that bit in a former master's will, and Minty couldn't afford to challenge it in court.

In about 1844, Araminta Ross married a free black man named John Tubman, and soon after their marriage, she changed her first name to Harriet. This complicated matters as a free man married a slave. The couple began praying for Harriet's master, first that God would change his heart and free her, and when that didn't seem to be happening, that God would take her master out. A week later, her master died, and she regretted her prayer. Her master's widow started work on selling off the slaves, and Harriet decided that "there was one of two things I had a right to, liberty or death; if I could not have one, I would have the other." On September 17, 1849, she escaped with her brothers Harry and Ben, but her brothers began to have second thoughts about escape, and they returned, bringing her along.

She later escaped by herself, using the Underground Railroad. She traveled by night, using the North Star as her guide, and stayed with friendly people, many of them Quakers, who secretly helped many slaves to escape. She would later describe her arrival in Pennsylvania thus: "When I found I had crossed that line, I looked at my hands to see if I was the same person. There was such a glory over everything; the sun came like gold through the trees, and over the fields, and I felt like I was in Heaven."

Harriet spent the next while helping to free members of her family, going back and forth between Pennsylvania and Maryland. Her efforts earned her the nickname Moses by abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison. As the North became more and more dangerous to escaped slaves due to the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, she began helping fleeing slaves to go further north to Canada. She especially worked on this during the winter months, when the nights were longer.

She had an intense faith that God would protect her, and she had several close calls when passing former masters...but she was a quick thinker and managed to hide in plain sight (at one point pretending to read a newspaper - since she was known to be illiterate, her former master didn't figure that was her). She would often use spirituals as coded messages.

She later worked with abolitionist John Brown, who called her General Tubman. Brown believed in a more violent method of freeing slaves, but they both had similar goals, and both looked to God for protection. Brown would later be caught and hanged for treason.

During the Civil War, Tubman urged President Lincoln to free the slaves in the South. Partway through the war, Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, which Tubman saw that as a step in the right direction. She even had a strategic part in guiding a troop of Yankee soldiers in an assault on Southern plantations. During the war, her aid to the Northern army helped to free hundreds of slaves - and many of the freed men joined the Union Army.

After the war, she married a Civil War veteran named Nelson Davis in 1869 (her first husband had been killed several years earlier), and they adopted a girl named Gertie.

Later in life, Tubman worked alongside Susan B. Anthony and others in the fight for women's suffrage.

Around the turn of the century, she joined the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, and in 1903 she donated a parcel of land to the church to found a home for elderly folks. The Harriet Tubman Home for the Aged opened on June 23, 1908. Due to her childhood injury, she had to undergo brain surgery in the 1890s, and she became a patient in her own Home for the Aged in 1911. On March 10, 1913, she died of pneumonia, quoting her Savior Jesus to the people in the room: "I go to prepare a place for you." She was buried with full military honors.

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Some quotes from Harriet Tubman:

"Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world."

"I freed a thousand slaves. I could have freed a thousand more if only they knew they were slaves."

"I grew up like a neglected weed - ignorant of liberty, having no experience in it."

"I was the conductor of the Underground Railroad for eight years, and I can say what most conductors can't say; I never ran my train off the track and I never lost a passenger."

"I would fight for my liberty as long as my strength lasted, and if the time came for me to go, the Lord would let them take me."

"Lord, I'm going to hold steady onto You and You've got to see me through."

The Road to Emmaus

I wrote this a couple years ago for a Sunday school lesson on Luke 24, and thought I would share it. I ran out of time to finish before teaching the class, so when I got to the end, I just told it to them without reading it. I just now finished it. The first paragraph is based on the beginning of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol, and the end is based on the final lines of his A Tale of Two Cities.

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Jesus was dead, to begin with - deader than a doornail. I don't know what's so dead about a doornail. I don't even know if they used nails in their doors in Jerusalem at that time. I do know that several of Jesus' friends watched Him die, and they saw Him buried. There was no question that He was dead.

Now it was the third day since He had been tortured and killed in a way that no human should have to suffer. Strange rumors were going around town. A few women were saying they had gone to Jesus' tomb, and that it was empty! Not only that, but they said angels had appeared to them and told them Jesus was alive! Of course, Cleopas knew better. People didn't come back to life after being dead. These women must have been out of their minds!

After a very sad and very strange day, Cleopas and his friend were walking home to the town of Emmaus, seven miles from Jerusalem. As they walked, they were talking about what had happened the past few days. They had been through a lot the past week, and now this new rumor was really confusing.

While they were walking, a stranger joined them and asked what they were talking about. Cleopas couldn't believe that someone didn't know what had happened. He asked the stranger, "Are you a visitor to the area? Do you really not know what's been going on lately?"

"What's been going on?" asked the stranger.

So Cleopas and his friend explained all about Jesus. They told the stranger how Jesus had come to town and done some amazing things, and that they had been sure this must be the promised Savior. But the priests had arrested Him, and the Romans and the priests had condemned Him to death on a cross. They explained how they had hoped He would save Israel, but instead, they had watched their beloved teacher die slowly on a cruel wooden cross.

Then they explained what the women had told them about the empty tomb and the angels. Then Peter and John had gone to look, and they found that the tomb was empty. This was all very strange, and they couldn't figure it out.

Then the stranger surprised Cleopas and his friend. He said, "You silly people! Why is it taking you so long to believe what the prophets said? Don't you know that the Savior had to suffer and die? Then He started in the book of Genesis and explained everything the prophets had said about Jesus.

Pretty soon, they reached Emmaus, and the stranger acted like he was going to go on his way. It was getting dark, so Cleopas and his friend invited the stranger to stay with them for the night.

So they sat down at the table to eat. The stranger thanked God for the food. Then he broke the bread and handed it to them. Maybe it was the way He gave thanks and broke the bread. Maybe they saw the holes in His wrists as He handed them the bread. Whatever it was, they suddenly realized: This was Jesus! And just like that, He disappeared.

Needless to say, they forgot their dinner. They jumped up and went right back to Jerusalem ... seven miles ... in the dark ... and they told Jesus' followers that Jesus was alive and they had seen Him with their own eyes! Then they found out that Peter had also seen Him alive. However, some people in the room still didn't believe them ... that is, until Jesus appeared in the middle of them. Even then, some people thought He was a ghost. So He showed them His hands and feet. He had them touch Him because ghosts don't have skin or bones. Then He asked for something to eat, so they gave Him some fish, and He ate it. Since ghosts don't eat fish, they knew He was alive! Jesus reminded them that this was what He had told them before. He explained that everything Moses, the Prophets and the psalms said had to come true. The Savior had to die a terribly painful death to save us from our sins, and He had to rise from the dead the third day. Starting in Jerusalem, His followers needed to proclaim the great news of His death and resurrection to everyone around the world. He reminded them that they had seen this with their own eyes, and promised that He would send them the power to preach, as God had promised. However, they needed to stay in Jerusalem until that happened.

And so they did. Jesus left them a few days later and returned to Heaven, but just as promised, He sent them the power of the Holy Spirit, and they preached boldly. Many of them gave their lives so that others would know that He came to save them from an eternity of torment. It was a far, far better thing they did than they had ever done, and when their time on earth was done, it was a far, far better rest they went to than they had ever known.

Waltzing Matilda

Now close your eyes and imagine with me. OK, don't close your eyes...it's kinda hard to read with one's eyes closed. Anyway, picture a large sports stadium, where everyone is gathered to enjoy a rousing game of rugby. Before the game starts, a voice over the loudspeaker says in an Aussie accent, "G'day, mates! Everyone please rise for the national anthem!" A renowned opera singer steps up to the mic and begins to sing. Everyone swells with patriotic pride as the diva belts out the notes of a song telling the story of one lone poor man who stops for a break by a watering hole, steals a sheep, and is getting ready to eat it when he is nearly arrested for sheep stealing. To add to everyone's national pride, the man then decides that, rather than go to jail (or be hanged), he'll just commit suicide. Then for all time, his ghost haunts said watering hole. As the opera singer belts out the final notes, there is not a dry eye in the stadium, as everyone is so inspired.

Does that sound as absurd to you as it does to me?

That's because, contrary to popular belief, Waltzing Matilda is not, and never has been, the national anthem of Australia. (In fact, that claim would be akin to calling Clementine the national anthem of the US.) That honor goes to Advance Australia Fair.

Interestingly, the above scenario came close to being a reality. In a vote on May 21, 1977 (coincidentally, exactly 6 months before I was born), a group of Aussies decided to make Advance Australia Fair the national anthem, winning at only 43%. Second place was Waltzing Matilda at 28%, followed by God Save the Queen (19%) and Song of Australia (10%). Personally, I think Advance Australia Fair was a much better choice of national anthem.

I learned Waltzing Matilda when I attended Faith Academy in the Philippines in the '80s. Several of my classmates were even from Australia. Once, I played the swagman in a dramatization of the song (that's me sitting by the billabong in the picture above, with the squatter and troopers mounted on their thoroughbreds coming to get me). As we learned the song, we learned the definitions of the words.

A swagman is a poor homeless man. According to Wikipedia, swagmen traveled from farm to farm searching for jobs. They carried big packs on their backs containing all their earthly belongings.

A billabong is a watering hole, or a small lake formed by being cut off from a nearby river. When they have water in them, it is stagnant.

A coolibah tree is a kind of eucalyptus. (Good thing the song isn't about me. Eucalyptus and I don't agree.)

In school, we learned that a jumbuck is a sheep. I didn't know until now that there's more to it than that. Jumbucks are generally large sheep that are wild and hard to shear. Makes me think his tucker bag must have been huge.

A billy is a can used for boiling water. As you'll notice in the article linked in this paragraph, they've become more modern and advanced since the days of swagmen.

A tucker bag is a bag for carrying food ("tucker"). It could often be closed by means of a drawstring. These days, the term also refers to reusable shopping bags, although I'm sure that was not what the swagman had. :-)

Troopers are policemen.

In the Philippines, we knew squatters to be poor people who live in huts made of cardboard, plywood, whatever they can find to build a house with. However, as we learned, the word has a different meaning in Australia. An Aussie squatter is a farmer and shepherd, who may or may not have a legal right to the land they are using to herd their sheep.

As for the title, waltzing refers to the practice of traveling around and doing jobs in different places, often for 3 years and one day at a time. According to Wikipedia, some carpenters still do this. A Matilda is the large pack that the swagmen carried. To waltz Matilda is to travel around from job to job, carrying a Matilda containing one's personal belongings.

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The Aussie poet Banjo Paterson wrote the words to the song in 1895. (He is also known for his poem "The Man from Snowy River", which would later inspire an excellent movie.) The music was written by Christina Macpherson, based on a folk song that she somewhat remembered. She was probably remembering the Scottish song "Thou Bonnie Wood of Craigielee", written by Robert Tannahill in 1805 and set to music by James Barr in 1818.

In other news, today is January 26, Australia Day. Thus this blog post about Australia's most famous song.

Wisdom of Martin Luther King, Jr.

It seems that these days, people on nearly all sides of the political and social spectrum look to Martin Luther King Jr. with respect. As most people know, he was instrumental in the Civil Rights Movement and his advocacy of non-violent resistance for the betterment of society. Thanks in large part to him, Rosa Parks and others, minorities now have a greater voice, and his dream of racial equality has made large strides. In some ways, the dream has a long way to go, but it has made great progress since the 1950s and 60s.

One thing I just learned that I find interesting is that he was born Michael King, Jr. However, when he and his family visited Germany, they were impressed with the legacy of Martin Luther, and the senior Michael King changed both his own and his son's names to Martin Luther King. Best known for his "I Have a Dream" speech, the younger Martin Luther King became an ordained Baptist minister, and he became the youngest person to win the Nobel Peace Prize for his work to achieve racial equality. He was assassinated on April 4, 1968, by James Earl Ray while staying at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, TN. That motel is now the National Civil Rights Museum, in his honor. Rev. King was only 39 years old. Mr. Ray spent the rest of his life in prison (after being arrested at London's Heathrow Airport).

Sources: Wikipedia articles for Martin Luther King, Jr. and his assassination

After his death, his widow Coretta Scott King took up the banner and continued the fight for racial equality, as well as joining the Women's Movement. His four children also picked up the banner and continued the fight. His niece Alveda King has done much for the fight for racial equality, focusing particularly on defending the youngest and most defenseless, those who have not yet been born. She also has a Twitter account, which I highly recommend following.

I thought it would be good to include some quotes from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (thus the title of this post)...

"Faith is taking the first step, even when you don't see the whole staircase."

"Hatred paralyzes life; love releases it. Hatred confuses life; love harmonizes it. Hatred darkens life; love illuminates it."

"I submit that an individual who breaks a law that conscience tells him is unjust, and who willingly accepts the penalty of imprisonment in order to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice, is in reality expressing the highest respect for the law."

"In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends."

"Our lives begin and end the day we become silent about things that matter."

"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere."

"Now, I say to you today my friends, even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream. I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: 'We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.'"

"And I've looked over, and I've seen the promised land. I may not get there with you, but I want you to know tonight that we as a people will get to the promised land. I'm so happy tonight. I'm not worried about anything. I'm not fearing any man." [He said this the day before he reached the promised land, shot to heaven by an assassin's bullet.]

"Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity."

"Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided missiles and misguided men."

"I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character."

"The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy."

Truly a wise man.

(The picture is of Martin and Coretta King in 1964. I got it from the Wikipedia article on Coretta Scott King, and according to Wikipedia, it is in the public domain.)

We Three Kings

We Three Kings is a great song. Like many hymns, people who know it often only know the first verse. It tells the story recorded in the book of Matthew of three wise men who came from the east, following a star to visit the infant Jesus and bring Him kingly gifts. I find it interesting that they use the word "traverse" rather than "travel." The two words are related, but traverse involves crossing, going back and forth. It often implies a search, rather than just a trip. The wise men knew from their studies of ancient prophecies and the heavens what the star meant. But a star is high in the heavens. If one is following a star, it's hard to tell precisely where it is leading. That's probably one reason they visited Herod to find out what he knew about the promised King of the Jews. He didn't know much, so he asked his experts, who told him that the prophet Micah had foretold that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2). After consulting the experts, Herod, terrified about this promised King who might just overthrow him, got back to the wise men and told them to search for the new King in Bethlehem and come back so that he could "worship" [see: kill] Him. The wise men then proceeded to follow the star until it stopped over the house [note it does not say stable...more about that later] where Jesus was. I'm not sure how they knew it was that exact house. Many paintings depict a shaft of light coming from the star like a celestial spotlight, shining on the house/stable. However they figured out which house it was, it seems that it was pretty obvious to them when they got there. They presented their gifts and left by a different route, since they had been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod. When Herod realized that the wise men weren't coming back, he got really mad and ordered all the boys in Bethlehem under the age of 2 killed. The song, of course, doesn't mention most of those details, but that's what happened.

The second, third and fourth verses of the song go into greater detail on the individual gifts that they brought:

Gold was a gift for a King. Prophecies foretold that Jesus would be King of the Jews, and that His reign would last forever. The wise men came to pay homage to the newborn King, who was so great that His birth and reign had been prophesied for hundreds of years.

Frankincense was a gift for God. Prophecies also indicated that Jesus would be no ordinary King, but rather God in human form. Frankincense is basically the hardened sap from a Boswellia tree (see the Wikipedia article for more details). It is often used in incense, and when it is burned, it lets off fragrant smoke that rises into the heavens (provided there aren't walls and a roof in the way). It is used by many traditions in worship. In India, they use it for medicine, and some people use it as a mosquito repellent.

Myrrh was a gift for the Messiah, who would one day, about 30 years later, die a painful death to save us from our sins. Like frankincense, it is a kind of sap, this time from the Commifora variety of trees. In several ancient cultures, it was used as an embalming spice. It was likely one of the spices the ladies brought when they came to put on Jesus' body and instead discovered that His tomb was empty. Myrrh is also used in many cultures (including China and India) for its medicinal qualities.

The final verse is more or less a summary of the gifts and praise to God. It points out that He is "King [thus the gold] and God [frankincense] and sacrifice [myrrh]." It then goes on to say "Alleluia, alleluia! [הללו יה, Hebrew for "Praise the Lord!"] sounds through the earth and skies."

The lyrics are here. The song was written by John Henry Hopkins, Jr. in 1857 for a Christmas pageant featuring his nephews and nieces. It was also featured at another pageant at New York City's General Theological Seminary, where he was the music director at the time. It was published in 1863. (See the Wikipedia articles on the song and Hopkins for more on that.)

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As for the timing and location of the visit of the Magi...they are often portrayed as being at the stable, all ready for the group shot with the shepherds, sheep, goats, cattle, Mary, Joseph, and baby Jesus in the manger. Not so. Matthew specifically states that they came to the house, not the stable, where Jesus was. The census was over, and many people had gone home. Apparently, Mary and Joseph had stayed in Bethlehem and found a house to live in by this point. I'm sure they got out of the stable as soon as possible, and they probably didn't want to make the difficult journey back with a newborn baby in tow. Jesus could have been as old as two years by this point, judging from the fact that Herod ordered all the boys age 2 and younger to be killed (based on information he had gotten from the Magi).

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One thing I find interesting about We Three Kings is that the title is a bit of a misnomer. There were probably more than three of them, and they were not kings. The Bible doesn't actually say how many wise men came, so the traditions draw the number from the number of gifts that they brought. Traditionally, their names were Balthasar, Gaspar and Melchior. According to Spanish tradition, Melchior came from Europe, Gaspar came from Asia, and Balthasar came from Africa...which is interesting, since the Bible states that they came from the East, and Europe and Africa are northwest and southwest, respectively, of Israel. In any case, I don't know how many of them came. I just know that they brought at least three gifts.

So if they weren't kings, who were the wise men? The Bible calls them Magi (or "wise men"; the singular form is magus), an order of advisers to the King of Persia dating back centuries before the birth of Christ, to the days of their founder Zoroaster. They studied the stars and interpreted their meanings. Today we would call them astrologers. It is likely that the advisers of King Nebuchadnezzar, in the prophet Daniel's time, were magi. Some even believe Daniel was a magus. Interestingly, the term is also translated "sorcerer" in the book of Acts. The word magic is related to it.

This tells me a lot about the people to whom God chose to announce His coming. They were the last people anyone would think of announcing the arrival of God in flesh. Shepherds were the lowest of the low in Jewish society. They were regarded as dirty outcasts, only fit for raising sheep to be used in sacrifices. Astrologers have long been regarded as evil occultists in religious circles. (The apostle Paul even struck a magus with blindness, due to his opposition to the Gospel.) When He grew up, Jesus pointed out that "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance" (Luke 5:31-32). The shepherds probably had very little, if any, education, and they likely didn't know much about the prophecies or even the Lord, but one visit from an army of angels, and they became some of the first evangelists. The Magi were highly intelligent individuals who had the ancient texts and the interpretations of the stars at their disposal. They were obviously very rich, considering the gifts that they brought. They believed that the stars foretold the future. As believers in Christ, we often tend to shun people who believe, dress or behave differently from us...but that's exactly who God chose to announce His coming to. Jesus died to save them. Shunning and avoiding them is an insult to His sacrifice. I'm not saying we should do what they do, but we need to show them His love, not scorn. Judging is God's job, not ours.

Oh...one more thing. Why am I posting this now? I meant to post it on January 6, which is Three Kings' Day, also known as Epiphany, the traditional end to the Twelve Days of Christmas (the day the singer received a whopping 78 gifts - 23 birds, 55 people, and 5 rings). In his novel Notre Dame de Paris (which was later translated into English and renamed The Hunchback of Notre Dame), Victor Hugo tells about a counter-celebration that the non-Catholics celebrated on January 6, the Feast of Fools (or, as the Disney version calls it, Topsy Turvy Day). On a related note, I find it interesting that in English, both the French musical Notre Dame de Paris and Disney's version of The Hunchback of Notre Dame involve Quasimodo being crowned "the King of Fools." But Hugo wrote his novel as a criticism of hypocrisy he saw in the Catholic Church, and the French versions of the novel and the French musical have them crowning Quasimodo "the Pope of Fools." Once again, people translating something as "King" where that's an inaccurate translation.

Auld Lang Syne

There are lots and lots of Christmas songs to choose from when recording one's thoughts in a blog. The choices are much more limited when it comes to New Year. Auld Lang Syne is, for many, the first song that comes to mind. For me, the song evokes images of the final scene of It's a Wonderful Life, in which Harry Bailey leads the crowd of friends in a rousing rendition of the song. George is holding Zuzu, and he has his arm around Mary, and family and friends gathered around. Even Zuzu is singing along (although she only knew a few of the words). Oh hey, that rings a bell...

Anyway, I find it fascinating how well-known Auld Lang Syne is, as opposed to how many of the words most people know. To many, the song goes like this:

Should auld acquaintance be forgot

and never la la la

Hm hm hm hm ba da da da

La la la AULD LANG SYNE!

So what are the words, and what, exactly does "Auld Lang Syne" mean? I thought you'd never ask. In the past, I've always heard it translated "Days Gone By". According to Wikipedia, that is an accurate translation, but more literally, it is Scots for "Old Long Since." "Days Gone By" makes more sense to our American ears. Another way of translating "auld lang syne" would be "in the olden days."

Robert Burns wrote the song in the Scots language in 1788, based on an older poem by James Watson (1711), and set it to a traditional tune. The fact that the song is in Scots, which is similar to English, likely accounts for the fact that so few people know the words:

Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
and never brought to mind ?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
and auld lang syne ?

CHORUS:

For auld lang syne, my jo,
for auld lang syne,
we’ll tak a cup o’ kindness yet,
for auld lang syne.

And surely ye’ll be your pint-stowp !
and surely I’ll be mine !
And we’ll tak a cup o’ kindness yet,
for auld lang syne.

CHORUS

We twa hae run about the braes,
and pu’d the gowans fine ;
But we’ve wander’d mony a weary fit,
sin auld lang syne.

CHORUS

We twa hae paidl’d i' the burn,
frae morning sun till dine ;
But seas between us braid hae roar’d
sin auld lang syne.

CHORUS

And there’s a hand, my trusty fiere !
and gie's a hand o’ thine !
And we’ll tak a right gude-willy waught,
for auld lang syne.

CHORUS

Is it any wonder that modern Americans don't know the words very well? What in the world is that saying? Fortunately for us, Wikipedia has an English translation. The gist of the song is as follows:

The first verse is asking if old acquaintances and old times should be forgotten.

The chorus is resolving to be kind (using a cup metaphor) and drink to the old days.

Verse 2 - both people mentioned (you and me) are going to buy pint cups so they can drink to the old days. ("It comes in pints? I'm getting one!" -Pippin Took)

Verse 3 - Since the olden days, we've both spent a lot of time running through the hills and picking daisies, but since then, we've spent a lot of time wandering to the point of exhaustion.

Verse 4 - We used to paddle in the stream from morning to dinnertime, but since then, wide seas have separated us.

Verse 5 - I'll reach out my hand to you, and you reach out your hand to me, and we'll drink to the old days.

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It's human nature to look back on the old days with fondness, remembering a time when things were simpler, we didn't have so many worries, and life was a lot more enjoyable. We often tend to conveniently forget the difficulties of the previous years, and often we forget that the times weren't nearly as simple as we remember them.

I think it's important to remember the past, and it's even good to look back on it with fondness. As they say, "Those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it." We need to remember the good things and the bad, so that we can learn and become better people. There is, however, a danger in living in the past. We need to remember the past...but we also need to remember that "Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 3:13b-14).

Remembering is good, but pressing forward is equally as important. We can't live in the past or the future. We have to use our memories of the past, as well as what we've learned from our parents and history books, to help us press forward into the future.

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Auld Lang Syne was originally sung in Scotland at New Year's celebrations, and as the Scotsmen moved around the world, the song spread. The Scottish even have a dance that goes with it. It is also sung at funerals, graduations, and other celebrations/ceremonies that signify beginnings and endings. It has been performed by a variety of musicians, including John Philip Sousa, Elvis Presley, Jimi Hendrix and Susan Boyle. It has also been used in a bunch of movies (not just It's a Wonderful Life).

This song makes me happy, and I really should try to learn the words, if for no other reason than to feel nerdy. :-)

The Twelve Days of Christmas

One thing I find fascinating about the Christmas season is how soon people start packing up the Christmas decorations. Christmas Day ends, and boom! People start thinking about taking the decorations down. They don't realize that traditionally, December 25 is the BEGINNING of the Christmas season! Traditions differ on whether the legendary 12 Days of Christmas are December 25-January 5 or December 26-January 6. Either way, Christmas is not over at the stroke of midnight on Boxing Day. December 25 is, obviously, Christmas. December 26 is St. Stephen's Day. January 6 is Epiphany or Three Kings' Day.

As for the song The Twelve Days of Christmas, there are a few stories about its background. The one that comes to mind is from an e-mail that has been circulating. Snopes considers it to be bunk, and while I have learned to take Snopes with a grain of salt sometimes, I think they have a point here. More about that later.

According to the e-mail, the song was written during a time when the Catholics were severely persecuted. They wrote this song to remember the tenets of their faith in a way that the persecutors would not recognize. The gifts symbolized the following (I added the dates...they aren't mentioned in the e-mail. I included both possible dates, depending on which tradition):

A partridge in a pear tree (Dec 25 or 26): Jesus on the cross (also symbolizing His sadness over Jerusalem)

Two turtle doves (Dec 26 or 27): The Old and New Testaments

Three French hens (Dec 27 or 28): Faith, hope and love (1 Corinthians 13:13)

Four calling birds (Dec 28 or 29): The 4 Gospels/Evangelists (Matthew, Mark, Luke, John)

Five golden rings (Dec 29 or 30): The Pentateuch (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy)

Six geese a-laying (Dec 30 or 31): The 6 days of creation

Seven swans a-swimming (Dec 31 or Jan 1): The 7 gifts of the Spirit and the 7 Sacraments

Eight maids a-milking (Jan 1 or 2): The 8 Beatitudes

Nine ladies dancing (Jan 2 or 3): The 9 Fruits of the Spirit

Ten lords a-leaping (Jan 3 or 4): The Ten Commandments

Eleven pipers piping (Jan 4 or 5): The 11 faithful disciples (in other words, minus Judas, who betrayed Jesus and then committed suicide)

Twelve drummers drumming (Jan 5 or 6): The 12 points of doctrine in the Apostles' Creed

Snopes points out that there's no ancient documentation to support this, and the earliest data they can find to support it dates way back to the 1990s AD. One point that comes to mind for me is the Catholics' main enemies in the Middle Ages were Protestants...and most of the doctrines mentioned above are areas of agreement between Catholics and Protestants. Laws did go back and forth giving the death penalty alternately to Catholics and Protestants (depending on the persuasion of the King), but areas where the two faiths agree probably wouldn't have needed to be put in code. (Snopes also points this out.)

That said, I'm not convinced it's completely bunk. It may have involved some or all of that symbolism, but I think the info in the e-mail is generally a recent invention.

Now, for my facetious thoughts.

The singer has a very rich true love. Think of it: On day one, he or she gives a partridge in a pear tree. On day two, the gifts include two turtle doves and another partridge in another pear tree. The list goes on. According to my calculations, that comes to a total of 12 partridges in 12 pear trees, 22 turtle doves, 30 French hens, 36 calling birds, 40 golden rings, 42 geese a-laying, 42 swans a-swimming, 40 maids a-milking, 36 ladies dancing, 30 lords a-leaping, 22 pipers piping, and 12 drummers drumming, for a grand total of 364 gifts. The receiver would need a lot of space for a sudden onslaught of an arboretum of pear trees, a menagerie of 184 birds, and 140 people (who would all need someplace to sleep and live). Oh, and not to mention enough fingers to wear 40 rings. Maybe the singer could wear a different ring depending on what else they're wearing? Of course, that doesn't take into account that the geese are actively laying, so there will soon be many more geese. That also doesn't account for the fact that in order to be able to lay, all the geese would need to be female. There would need to be at least one gander in addition to the 42 geese. The swans would need someplace to swim. We would presumably need something for the maids to milk, since one doesn't typically milk birds. I would guess the ladies and lords have to dance and leap to get around and over everything else. The drummers and pipers would need a way to care for their instruments. That's also assuming that a partridge and a pear tree are a single gift.

So many animals in one place would probably raise concerns with organizations such as PETA and ASPCA, and if they allowed the singer to keep all the gifts, said singer would probably need to get a business license, declare it to be a zoo or farm, and make sure all the birds are treated humanely. I'm not sure what kind of legal issues that would raise in addition to that, but I'm sure there would be lots.

Then there's the issue of owning 140 people. The 13th Amendment to our Constitution specifically states:

Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.

Thus, all the people being given need to have consented of their own free will (unless, of course, they're serving time for a crime), and they would need to be treated with respect. They would either need to be under the clear understanding that this dancing, milking and music-making is volunteer labor, or they would need to be paid. Some politicians would probably insist that they unionize, which could lead to a lot of headaches and the threat of strikes if the singer doesn't treat them well or pay them as much as they feel they should be paid. Then there's the sticky issue of background checks. They would probably also need a lawyer or ten.

Oh yeah, and the singer would probably need to hire labor to take care of those 12 pear trees, clean up after the animals, feed the animals, etc.

Conclusion: I hope my true love, when I find her, understands that I don't expect her to give me all that, and I really don't want the headaches that would come with it.

Good King Wenceslas

December 26 is a somewhat underappreciated day. Many people just know it as the day after Christmas. Stores are starting their post-Christmas sales and getting ready for the New Year celebration. Some folks are suffering from hangovers after their Christmas parties last night. This being Sunday, many people have just been to church.

December 26 is also known for its own celebrations. According to tradition, it is the first day after Christmas, the day the singer of The Twelve Days of Christmas got a partridge in a pear tree. Britain, Canada, Australia and other countries are celebrating Boxing Day, and many folks are celebrating the Feast Day for St. Stephen, the first Christian martyr. Shortly after Jesus rose from the dead and ascended into heaven, Jesus' disciples started fearlessly preaching the Gospel. They were so busy preaching that the widows started complaining that their needs were being neglected. The apostles thus appointed seven men to take care of the widows and the needy. Among them was a man named Stephen. In addition to helping the needy, he preached the good news that Christ was the promised Messiah. This didn't sit well with the Jewish authorities, who felt that Jesus was a blasphemer. They thus put Stephen up for trial, and he gave an eloquent speech detailing the history of Israel, going through the prophecies of the Messiah, and explaining how Jesus fulfilled those prophecies. At the end of his speech, Stephen looked up to heaven and saw a vision of Jesus sitting at the right hand of God. When he told the Jewish authorities what he saw, they had heard enough. They dragged him out of the city and stoned him. As he died, he echoed Jesus' words on the cross, praying that God forgive his murderers, and committing his spirit into God's hands. The men who stoned him took off their coats and asked a Pharisee named Saul to hold them for them. This event had a strong impact on Saul's life, as he would later be stopped in his tracks by a blinding light from God and turn his life over to God. Saul became Paul, one of the greatest apostles, whose ministry spanned several decades and several countries around the Mediterranean region--present-day Israel, Turkey, Greece and Italy, possibly even Spain.

You probably weren't expecting a paragraph summarizing the book of Acts in a post on Good King Wenceslas, were you? :-)

Wenceslas was born near Prague, now the capital of the Czech Republic, then part of Bohemia, around the year AD 907. His father died when he was 13, and he succeeded him as duke. Until his father's death, Wenceslas was raised by his grandmother Ludmila. At that point, his mother Drahomira took over as regent, due to Wenceslas' young age. Drahomira proceeded to persecute Bohemian Christians, and it is believed that she ordered the murder (by strangulation) of Ludmila. She didn't allow Ludmila and Wenceslas to see each other out of fear that they would conspire to overthrow her. Wenceslas did indeed overthrow his mother when he was 18, and he ruled in a much more just manner. He was good to the poor, and he stopped the persecution. He even did a lot to spread Christianity in Bohemia, much to the displeasure of the nobility. He was assassinated in AD 935 by his brother Boleslav and some of Boleslav's supporters. After his death, Wenceslas was canonized as a saint, and he became the patron saint of Bohemia, and later of the Czech Republic. His feast day is September 28. Emperor Otto I of the Holy Roman Empire later granted him the title of King, thus the title of the song. However, during his lifetime, Wenceslas was only a duke.

Engraving by Brothers Dalziel, 1879

Another thing...the title of the song kind of makes it sound like he might be a wizened king...perhaps in his 50s or 60s...which is how I have always pictured him. However, doing the math, I just realized that he was about 28 when he was martyred. Wenceslas actually lived a relatively short life (although I think the life expectancy was shorter back then).

According to Wikipedia, the tune of "Good King Wenceslas" comes from a 13th-century Latin song called Tempus adest floridum (It is Time for Flowering), and the lyrics were published by John Mason Neale in 1853, a translation from a poem by Czech poet Václav Alois Svoboda in Czech, German and Latin.

I think it's significant (and intentional) that the song tells the story of something Wenceslas did "on the Feast of Stephen." Both Wenceslas and Stephen used the gifts and talents they had to serve the poor, and both were sainted after their deaths.

The carol itself is fairly well-known, but until now, I have only really known the first verse. This song tells the story of a time when Wenceslas saw a lowly peasant out gathering firewood on a bitterly snowy St. Stephen's Day evening. It turned out that the peasant in question lived a fair distance away, and would have a difficult time getting home in the deep snow and frost. Wenceslas took his page, and the two of them went to bring the peasant to the castle to dine at his table and get warm. The page started complaining that he couldn't go any farther in the snow, or he would freeze to death. Wenceslas thus told him to follow behind him, and step in his footsteps. The duke (or king) then led on until they got to the poor man. The last verse is a challenge to all of us to serve the poor, and in so doing, we will not only be blessing the poor, but also ourselves.

This has all the marks of a legend, and I'm not sure if it's entirely a true story, but Wenceslas was a historical figure, and true or not, I think we can all learn from this selfless act of a duke who had every right to stay in his warm and cozy castle, but instead looked out and had pity on a man who likely would have frozen to death if he hadn't stepped in.