Seals
Jewish New Year
Circulating Art Committee
Major League Champion Teams
Carmelites/St. Teresa
Crowns and Clowns
First Electric Light
Boar(d) and Bore(d)
Protestant Reformation
Seals
05/10/02
One kind of “seal” is a signet that makes a mark on a document. In Japan, such seals are very important for they are used in place of signatures. If I have the registered seal of someone, I can legally withdraw money from that person’s bank account or use it as that person’s signature on a document. When I was in Japan, I made use of three different seals. One simply contained the katakana symbols for my surname: o-fu-na. A more ornate one consisted of three capital letters (C. B. O.) in Gothic English. But the official seal which was registered with the government, contained my name in the Chinese characters I chose, which signified a large boat with nine storerooms which are beautiful, pronounced “Oo-funa Kura-ku Bi.” One day, at a special place in a department store, a man gave free advice to those who asked him regarding whether their names were lucky or unlucky, depending on the number of strokes in their Chinese characters. First, I asked him about the significance of the number of strokes in my name, written in katakana, but he said it is only Chinese characters that are relevant, so I asked about the four characters: “Oo-funa Kura-ku.” His reply was that the number of strokes indicated an unlucky result. However, I noticed that he did not correctly count the number of strokes in the character “ku.” He informed me that for characters that signify numbers, that number is counted rather than the number of strokes. So I asked if the result would change if the character “bi,” was added. After counting the strokes in that character, he replied that the result was still unlucky. I am surprised that educated people in Japan continue to believe such superstitious traditions. (897)
Jewish New Year
05/10/05
When does a new year begin? That depends on the calendar one uses. Some calendars are related to the phases of the moon as it circles the earth. Others are related to the movement of the earth around the sun. There are also variations in the number of days in a month and the number of months in a year. Consequently, the New Year begins at different times depending on whether one is using a lunar or solar calendar, the Gregorian, Islamic, Jewish or another kind of calendar. According to the Jewish calendar, a new year began this week. Called Rosh Hashana, it begins on the first day of the Jewish month of Tishri. In Jewish tradition, Rosh Hashana also marks the beginning of ten penitential days which end with Yom Kippur, which falls on October 13th in the Gregorian calendar for this year. During those ten days, conscientious Jews reflect on the sins they have committed in the past year and seek God’s forgiveness. Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, is considered the holiest day in the Jewish year. The original tradition related to this festival is found in the Old Testament book of Leviticus, but times have changed and since there is no Jewish temple at the present time, the rules cannot be followed literally. Because the ritualistic prayers are read by the rabbis in Hebrew, brief courses in the Hebrew language have been offered to make them more meaningful to those who attend the services. The prayers of Buddhist priests in Japan would also become meaningful if the listeners were able to understand them. Not only at the beginning of a year, but every day is an appropriate time to reflect on our sins and seek forgiveness. (898)
Circulating Art Committee
05/10/08
There are over 500 residents in this retirement community and most of those who are fairly healthy are actively involved in a variety of activities. Along with the volunteer services that enhance the effective operation of the entire community, there are activities that provide for the expression of individual abilities or interests, including musical groups for both singers and instrumentalists. The wide variety of artwork includes stained glass, woodcarving and pottery as well as painting. In the Art Studio, instruction is given by accomplished artists in various kinds of painting— including oil, watercolor, acrylic, pastel and paintex (a special Japanese method of painting using powdered silk). The paintings of numerous artists are on display on the walls of meeting rooms and corridors of many buildings in this community. Persons who regularly walk along those corridors or who attend meetings in those rooms will see those particular paintings so often that they may lose their attractiveness. To tend to this problem, a new committee has recently been formed to circulate artistic works around the community. My wife and I are now members of the Circulating Art Committee and, following a recent meeting, we went to the corridor for which we will be responsible and noted the titles, artists and type of art of the ten framed works of art hanging there. Next week, we will take down those paintings, deliver them to committee members responsible for another corridor and hang the paintings from still another corridor on ours. We expect that both the viewers and the producers of these works of art will approve the activities of this committee. (899)
Major League Champion Teams
05/10/11
In the Sports section of recent newspapers, readers have been informed daily of the results of the games of teams seeking to be the champions of their leagues. Finally, the winners of the American League and National League championships will play each other in the World Series. The names of the four teams in each league involved in this struggle will be considered in today’s message. They are the New York Yankees, Los Angeles Angels, Boston Red Sox and Chicago White Sox in the American League, the St. Louis Cardinals, San Diego Padres, Atlanta Braves and Houston Astros in the National League. I do not know the details of how the names were chosen for those particular teams, but I will note my observations. The Boston and Chicago teams are obviously named for the color of the “socks” they wear. Depending on the context, a “Yankee” may denote a native of the U.S.A., of a northern state in general or of a New England state in particular. The “Angels” are located in the city whose Spanish name means “The Angels.” The “Padres,” which means “Fathers” or “priests” in Spanish, come from another California city with a Spanish name; “San Diego” is the term used for “St. James.” Houston, Texas, the largest city in the South, has a Spacecraft Center and an Astrodome, so there are many “Astros” or “Astronauts” there also. The team from St. Louis is one of three major league teams that have birds’ names. Can you name the other two? But “Cardinals” are not only bright, red birds; they may also be members of an important council in the Roman Catholic Church. Finally, the name of the team from Atlanta originally denoted a Native American warrior who fought “bravely.” (900)
Carmelites/St. Teresa
05/10/15
One of the surprising facts I discovered in my preparation for this message was that there is no word in an English dictionary spelled c-a-r-m-e-l. Until now, that was how I thought the word designating a certain kind of candy or syrup that I have enjoyed through the years was spelled. Now, I find that the correct spelling is c-a-r-a-m-e-l and that there are three different ways to pronounce that word. There is a mountain in northwestern Palestine, however, called Carmel, from Hebrew words meaning “garden land.” It was from a group of hermits living on Mt. Carmel that the religious order in the Roman Catholic Church came to be called “Carmelites.” Other religious orders in the Roman Catholic Church are the Dominicans, Franciscans and Jesuits. A nun who entered a Carmelite convent in 1535 later became an earnest reformer whose influence continues to inspire and motivate seekers of spiritual vitality today. She felt that convent life was not conducive to spiritual growth and meaningful prayer and sought to initiate reforms that would encourage a more effective spiritual life. Having endured years of severe physical illnesses, she began to have visions and mystical experiences and established a number of small religious communities in Spain, including some whose nuns were called Discalced Carmelites. “Discalced” means “without shoes” in Latin. Nuns in such convents went barefoot or wore sandals. In 1622, 40 years after her death, this lady was beatified by Pope Gregory XV and became St. Teresa, one of the great mystics and religious reformers in the Roman Catholic Church. In 1970, St. Teresa of Avila became the second woman to be declared a Doctor of the Church. Her annual feast day is October 15. (901)
Crowns and Clowns
05/10/19
I hope this message will be included in the “Voiced Message” file for the benefit of Japanese readers especially because many Japanese students of English have difficulty discerning the difference between the “r” and “l” sounds in certain English words. There is a big difference in the meanings of “play” and “pray” and of the expectations of people who have gathered together to do one or the other. Likewise, there is a difference between “clown” and “crown.” In the New Testament, there are a number of verses that include the word “crown” in English, but in the original Greek manuscripts, two completely different words are translated “crown.” The most common one denotes the wreath that is placed on the head of the winner of an athletic event as noted in I Corinthians 9:25. The other kind of crown is the golden diadem worn by royalty. In the New Testament, the word “clown” is not found, but there are residents in this retirement community who are engaged in a “clown ministry.” This group of less than ten women and men meet regularly to talk and plan for the events they are asked to attend to entertain, encourage or stimulate others. Soon after our arrival here six years ago, my wife joined this group of clowns and has been an active member ever since. Whenever she participates in the clown ministry, she spends more than an hour to paint her face white with a large red lip, black eyebrows and a red ball for a nose, before donning her red clown costume with a yellow wig and tall red hat. Along with their ministry in this community, they are sometimes asked to perform in surrounding communities as well. They do a good job and each of the clowns deserves a crown. (902)
First Electric Light
05/10/21
Among the many conveniences those of us living in industrialized societies enjoy are electric lights. How different our lives would be if such lights were not available. We are reminded of this during times of power outages. It was 126 years ago this week that Thomas Edison and his associates in New Jersey, tested an incandescent light bulb that burned for a remarkable 131/2 hours. Edison and his team had been experimenting for years with various materials that could sustain high temperatures without fusing, melting or burning out and for a suitable encasement through which light could shine. Finally, on October 21, 1879, they accomplished their aim. Thomas Edison, who held more than 1,300 U.S. and foreign patents, was one of the greatest and most productive inventors of his time. The “faith” of this enlightened thinker may be seen in his affirmation that “this world is ruled by Infinite Intelligence. It required Infinite Intelligence to create it and it requires Infinite Intelligence to keep it on its course. Everything that surrounds us—everything that exists—proves that there are Infinite Laws behind it. There can be no denying this fact. It is mathematical in its precision.” In our daily lives today, electric lights are very important. But to live a meaningful, satisfying life, spiritual light is also needed. In the Gospel According to John, chapter 8, verse 12, Jesus is quoted as saying to the people, “ I am the light of the world,” but in the Gospel According to Matthew, chapter 5, verse 14, he said to his disciples: “You are the light of the world.” So it is expected that the spiritual light which came from above in Jesus, the Christ, will continue to shine through the lives of his disciples. (904)
Boar(d) and Bore(d)
05/10/25
For some readers, this may be a very boring message. One of the homonyms it considers is the word “bore,” one meaning of which is “to make weary with dullness.” The noun related to this verb, which is spelled and pronounced the same, denotes “a person that arouses boredom.” Another verb with the same spelling and identical pronunciation means “to make a hole in or through, as with a drill,” and the noun related to that verb, spelled and pronounced the same, means “a hole made by boring.” But there is a noun with the same pronunciation, which has a different spelling and a very different meaning. A “boar” is a wild animal having a heavy body with short legs, cloven hoofs and a long, mobile snout. Domesticated boars are called hogs or pigs. If a “d” is added to these words, another group of homonyms are produced. “Bored” is simply the past tense of “bore,” but there are a number of meanings related to the word “board.” The simplest one denotes “a long, flat slab of sawed lumber.” Such boards are used for the floors and walls of many homes. A table that is set for serving food may be called a “board” and, at times, this word may denote the food or meals provided, so certain inns use the term “room and board” to refer to the services they provide. Finally, “an organized body of administrators” may also be called a “board.” During my years in Japan, I served on the boards of directors or trustees of a number of international organizations as well as local churches. At the present time, I am serving on the Board of the Penney Memorial Church. At times, those serving as board members may become bored members, but seeing a boar on a board would certainly attract their attention. (903)
Protestant Reformation
05/10/28
There are many different kinds of Christian churches—not only different kinds of church buildings, but different kinds of church organizations also. It is common to divide the churches into “Eastern” and “Western” traditions. Orthodox churches are considered “Eastern;” Roman Catholic and Protestant churches are considered “Western.” On October 31, 1517, Martin Luther, a German priest, posted 95 theses on the door of the Roman Catholic Church in Wittenberg, Germany, questioning the custom of selling indulgences for the benefit of both the living and the dead--a custom promoted by the Church. These theses were quickly publicized and questions were raised regarding various details of the Church’s doctrine that Luther believed were not supported by the Bible, which he considered the final authority for Christian belief. He also emphasized that salvation, according to the New Testament teaching of the Apostle Paul, was gained through faith alone, not by works. Following subsequent confrontations, Luther was excommunicated and his supporters, who “protested” the actions taken by the Church, were called “Protestants.” Since Luther sought to stimulate “reforms” in Church doctrine (including recognition of the Bible as the final authority and that salvation is gained by faith alone), the movement he began 488 years ago is called the “Reformation.” Many Protestant churches observe the last Sunday of October as “Reformation Sunday.” Sermons on that day relate to Luther’s example and emphases, and the hymn for which he wrote both the words and the music, “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God,” is often sung. (905)