All Souls Day
November
Trimming/Pruning
States/Prefectures Names
Red People/Oklahoma
Gettysburg Address
Camp Anokijig
Special Days in November
November 30th
All Souls Day
05/11/02
In the Roman Catholic Church, the first day of November is designated “All Saints Day” to honor all the saints who have departed from this world and are now in heaven. The vigil of preparation on the evening before that day, originally called “All Hallows’ Eve,” is now known as “Halloween.” The next day, the second day of November, is called “All Souls Day” in the Roman Catholic Church. On this day, the souls of those believers who have died but have not yet entered heaven because they have not yet been fully cleansed of all their sins are remembered. According to the doctrine of the Roman Catholic Church, the souls of saints immediately go to heaven after dying, but the souls of other believers must endure the cleansing, or purging, of their sins in the state or place called “purgatory.” There is no mention of such a state or place in the Bible, so Protestants do not recognize its existence nor do they observe “All Souls Day,” but there may be similarities between the feelings of Catholic believers on “All Souls Day” and of Japanese Buddhists who remember family members and others who have died in their rituals before the Buddhist altar in their homes. From my perspective, it is commendable to remember those who have died, but the true character of one’s faith is more clearly seen in the attitudes and actual deeds manifested toward those who are living around us. If, indeed, the souls of those who have died are aware of the actions of those of us still living, I believe it would be more satisfying to them for us to show practical love to those around us now than to perform rituals for the dead. (906)
November
05/11/05
November is the name of the 11th month in the calendar used in most English-speaking countries in the world today. This name is derived from the Latin word for “nine” and it originally designated the ninth month of the old Roman calendar, which consisted of ten months. Even after two months had been added to the beginning of the year of that calendar, the names of later months remained unchanged. Although the names of the 5th and 6th months were changed to July and August to honor Julius and Augustus Caesar, the names of September, October, November and December continued to be used for the 9th, 10th, 11th, and 12th months even though the prefixes in their names come from the Latin numbers 7, 8, 9 and 10. Checking my dictionary, I find that of those four months, November is the one with the fewest number of words beginning with the prefix related to its number. The only word listed, beginning with “nov,” derived from the Latin word for “nine” is “novena,” which denotes “prayers and devotions for a special purpose, repeated for nine consecutive days” in the Roman Catholic Church. Most of the words beginning with “nov” are related to the Latin word for “new,” including “novation,” “novel,” “novelty,” and “novice.” Thomas Hood, an English poet and humorist, has written: “No warmth, no cheerfulness, no healthful ease, No comfortable feel in any member, No shade, no shine, no butterflies, no bees, No fruits, no flowers, no leaves, no birds, November!” and Edwin Way Teale, an American teacher, editor and writer has written: “How sad would be November if we had no knowledge of the spring.” (907)
Trimming/Pruning
05/11/09
On Monday mornings, I join a group of residents at the community cemetery which is nearby. For a couple of hours we work to keep the cemetery in good condition. Some men ride mowers to mow the grass. Others use a cutter to cut the grass around the bronze markers on which are the names of the persons buried there. There are a number of different kinds of bushes and trees in the cemetery and it is my job to trim them to keep them looking trim. To maintain the preferred shape of the bushes, I clip off branches that protrude. As I do so, I am reminded of a Japanese proverb about the pounding down of a post that sticks out and say to myself, “The branch that sticks out gets cut off.” Another word for this action is “prune.” As a noun, “prune” denotes a dried plum, but it has a homonym, which is a verb meaning to “to cut off or remove dead or living parts or branches of a plant to improve shape or growth.” In the translation of the New International Version of the Bible, the 15th chapter of the Gospel According to John begins with these words of Jesus to his disciples: “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” (908)
States/Prefectures Names
05/11/12
I wonder how many of the 50 states now included in the United States of America the average citizen in the U. S. A. can name from memory, or how many of the 47 prefectures in Japan the average citizen of Japan can name. Probably, high school students can name more than their parents. Looking at the list of names of states in the U. S. A., I find that ten of them have two words in their names. How many of them can you name on the spur of the moment? Five of them begin with a direction, such as “North,” “South” or “West.” Four of them begin with the word “New.” And one has an “Island” in its name. Among the Japanese prefectures, three of them have three Chinese characters in their names. All of the others have only two. In six of the prefectural names, we find the character for “mountain” and in three of them the character for “river.” It would be interesting to know how the present names were chosen. In the case of the state names beginning with “New,” three of them were included in the original 13 colonies and, obviously, their names were related to places in England. The names of three of the states have only four letters in their names and the names of three others have only five letters. I will conclude this message with a brief explanation regarding the name of the state in which I now reside. “Florida” is derived from the Spanish word for “flowers.” The Spanish explorer, Ponce de Leon, who landed here in the year 1513 on Easter Sunday, the “Feast of Flowers,” gave it that name. There are many beautiful flowers that grow in this “Sunshine State” and Jesus also told his disciples to look at the flowers in the fields and learn from them (Matthew 7:28-30). (909)
Red People/Oklahoma
05/11/14
The color red has a number of different connotations depending upon the culture and context in which it is used. It is the color of blood and to describe a person as “red-blooded” implies that the person is strong or virile, but a person’s face may become red when that person is angry or embarrassed. As a traffic signal, a “red light” signals drivers to stop their vehicles, but a “red-light district” denotes a neighborhood containing many brothels. “Redneck” is a slang term for a member of the white rural laboring class in the southern United States who manifests a conservative, bigoted attitude, but “red” is also commonly used for a Communist. In the past, “red tape” was used to tie British official documents and now it denotes official forms and procedures, which are complicated and take much time to complete. A “red carpet” signifies a carpet laid down for important visitors who are welcomed with great honor and dignity. Along with “white,” “black” and “yellow,” “red” has also been used as a racial designation related to skin color and “redskin” is a slang term for a Native American. The name of the American state of Oklahoma literally means “red people” in the language of the Choctaws, one of the Native American tribes that were forced to relocate in that area. It was on November 16, 1907 that President Theodore Roosevelt signed the proclamation admitting Oklahoma into the Union as the 46th state. For this purpose, he used a quill pen fashioned from an eagle feather found in the mountains in southeastern Oklahoma. Americans today should get red in the face when they read about how the “white” settlers from Europe treated the Native American “red people” in this land. (910)
Gettysburg Address
05/11/18
The town, or borough, of Gettysburg, with a population of less than 8,000, is located in southern Pennsylvania, just north of the Maryland state line. This borough, or burg, was named for Gen. James Gettys, to whom the site was originally granted by William Penn, the leader of Pennsylvania. It became the site of a major military confrontation between the armies of the Union and the Confederacy during the Civil War. In the Battle of Gettysburg, over 3,000 soldiers of the victorious northerners and almost 4,000 soldiers of the defeated southerners lost their lives. A military graveyard for the Union soldiers who died there was dedicated on November 19, 1863. Edward Everett, a noted orator and former senator from Massachusetts, was asked to deliver the major address at the Dedication Ceremony. Following his two-hour talk, President Abraham Lincoln was asked to deliver “a few appropriate remarks” for the occasion. Having spent the previous day on the train, he did not complete the preparation of his talk until the morning of the day on which he took less than two minutes to deliver the 270-word message which is now known as the Gettysburg Address. Although his short speech was not highly acclaimed at the time, it has since become a famous document in American history, ending with the words “that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.” The expressed hope of this great American president continues to be relevant today. (911)
Camp Anokijig
05/11/22
The city of Racine, Wisconsin, is located about 35 kilometers north of my hometown of Zion, Illinois. During my high school days, I sometimes went with church friends for a couple of weeks during the summer vacation to a camp on the shore of a spring fed lake which was owned and operated by the Racine Y.M.C.A. The name of the camp was Anokijig. At the camp, a capable staff prepared meals and supervised daily schedules, which included swimming, boating, fishing, hiking and horseback riding. The last year I went to that camp, I served as a tent-leader for the entire summer. Recently, I received an e-mail message from a friend who lives in Wisconsin informing me that the Y.M.C.A. was planning to sell that camp and a group of former campers quickly organized “Friends of Anokijig” which aimed to raise enough money to buy the camp and continue its program. According to a recent report, the Y.M.C.A. agreed to sell the camp to that group and the report included “comments” by some of those involved. In one of those “comments,” the names of the former Camp Director and one of the “counselors” was included, as follows: “As a 71 year old who remembers well his two weeks at Anokijig when I was eight or nine, I am glad to read it will be preserved as a camp to serve youth. Thanks to all who made this possible. I still have fond memories of Ray Vance, both at the camp and in Racine. I even remember my counselor’s name...Clark Offner from Zion, IL.” You can imagine my surprise at reading this “comment” by a man I do not know that stimulated fond memories of camping experiences about 65 years ago. (912)
Special Days in November
05/11/25
This eleventh month of the year, called November in the Gregorian calendar, has special days for my family. Of course, there are certain special days observed by citizens throughout the country, including a couple of national holidays. November 11th is “Veterans Day.” For some years after the end of the First World War, which was officially concluded with the signing of an armistice by representatives of the armies involved at 11:00 a.m. on the 11th day of the 11th month in 1918, that day became a day for remembering those servicemen who had sacrificed their lives for their country during that war. Now, the veterans of subsequent wars—the Second World War, the Korean War, the Vietnam War are also included in the memorial activities. Our second son was born on that day, so it has a special significance in our family. Thanksgiving Day is celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November in the U. S. A. now, so various activities in both churches and public places are held to express thanksgiving for a harvest of many kinds of grains, fruits and vegetables. I was the leader of the Thanksgiving Eve Service at the church in our retirement community on November 23rd. At that service, the Womens Chorus sang and my homily included the many references to thanksgiving (kansha) in the (Japanese) Bible. An elder sister of mine was born on November 28, so her birthday sometimes falls on Thanksgiving Day. And one of our granddaughters, who lives in Japan, was born on November 26 in the 62nd year of the Showa era, so the date of her birthday, written in the regular Japanese order of 62-11-26 can be read the same, whether from left to right or from right to left. (913)
November 30th
05/11/28
In this Christian retirement community, a weekly Communion Service is held in a chapel on Wednesday mornings led by one of the resident retired ministers. On November 30th, I will be in charge of that service and give the homily. On such occasions, I try to speak on a topic that is related to the church calendar, the season of the year, the date or some current events, but November 30th poses a special problem, for that is not only the feast day of St. Andrew, one of Jesus’ apostles, but also the birthday of a couple of famous American and British writers whose words continue to stimulate serious thought. Mark Twain, the American humorist and writer, was born on this day in 1835 and Winston Churchill, the British statesman and prime minister during World War II was born on this day in 1874. According to Mark Twain, “Man is the only animal that blushes. Or needs to.” And the following quotation is from Prime Minister Churchill during the war: “Victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory however long and hard the road may be; for without victory there is no survival.” But Andrew was the subject of my homily. Although he was not especially famous, according to the Gospel of John, on three occasions, Andrew introduced people to Jesus that became very important—including his brother, Simon Peter, who became an influential leader (1:40-42), the boy with the loaves and fish by which a multitude was fed (6:8-11), and a group of Greeks (12:20-22). In this regard, Andrew is a good example for all of us. We may not be famous nor outstanding, but we may be able to function as an intermediary, introducing people, things or ideas to others that may have important results. (914)