Nebraska
Religious Leaders
Running Red Lights
The Ides of March
Attending a Funeral
Easter Sunrise Service
District of Columbia

Nebraska
08/03/01

How many of the fifty states in the United States of America can you name? Eight of them begin with an M and eight of them begin with an N. Four of those beginning with N have two words in their names: “New” or “North.” See how many of them you can name. One of those beginning with N is Nebraska. Nebraska is located in the “Great Plains” between the Appalachian and Rocky Mountains known as the “Midwest.” One hundred forty-one years ago, on March 1, 1867, Nebraska became the 37th state. As is the case with about half of the states, the name of this state is derived from words of a Native American language. In the case of Nebraska, the words meant “flat water” and may have originally referred to the shallow Platte River that flows through the state. In Nebraska, the 1st day of March is celebrated as “State Day,” the anniversary of the state’s admission into the Union. Every year, a state law requires the governor to issue a proclamation commemorating the event and requesting the state’s citizens to celebrate this part of their heritage. The largest city in Nebraska is Omaha, but the capital is Lincoln, the second largest city. Nebraska is a leading grain-producer with bumper crops of sorghum, corn and wheat. More varieties of grass, which is good for forage, is grown in this state than in any other. The state’s sizable cattle and hog industries make a couple of its cities the nation’s largest meatpacking centers. The motto of the state is “Equality before the law.” About 10 percent of its citizens are not Caucasian, so it is important that all of them are respected and treated equally before the law. (1129)

Religious Leaders
08/03/06

There are a number of different terms used for religious leaders that vary, depending on the religion and the role of the leaders involved. In Islam, a prayer leader is called an “imam,” derived from an Arabic word related to “leading.” In Judaism, the common term for the leader of a congregation is “rabbi,” meaning “my master,” and Jesus’ disciples frequently used it for him (John 6:25; 9:2, etc.), but he advised them not to use it for themselves or others (Matthew 23:7-10). In the Roman Catholic Church, the highest office is that of the “pope,” related to the Latin word for “father” or “papa.” “Cardinals” (derived from a Latin word meaning “principal, pertaining to a hinge”) rank just below the pope and many of them are also “bishops” (from a Greek word, meaning, “watch over”) of certain geographical areas. Some Protestant denominations also have “bishops,” or “overseers,” who “oversee” areas assigned to them. But the more common term used for religious leaders on the local level, is “pastor” (related to “pasture” , from a Latin word for “shepherd.”) The pastor of a congregation seeks to “shepherd” the “sheep” under his or her influence. In the Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox and more formal Protestant churches, in which religious leaders are considered intermediaries between God and human beings, leaders are also called “priests,” who serve as “mediators.” Also, the terms “elder” (“older”) and “deacon” (derived from a Greek word meaning “minister”) are used both for ordained ministers and laity who “minister” to others. The highest office in some Protestant churches is “moderator,” which expresses the expected function of that leader, not only to be “moderate,” but also to “moderate.” In fact, from my perspective, it is preferable for members of all religions, whether “leaders” or not, to be “moderate” in the expression of their faith. (1130)

Running Red Lights
08/03/11

Thirty years ago, my daughter wrote a thesis on the significance of the colors white, black and red in English, Greek and Japanese in which she made clear that colors have different meanings in different cultural settings. In the Occident, red is often related to danger and the drivers of automobiles are expected to stop at red lights. It is interesting that even though traffic lights along a highway have both green and red lights, many people refer to them as “red lights.” When a traffic light is red, the driver of a vehicle is legally required to stop. Some drivers, however, do not stop; they continue to drive in an intersection, even when the light is red. It is common to accuse such drivers of “running a red light.” Checking my dictionary, I was amazed to see the numerous definitions of the word “run:” as an intransitive verb (27 definitions), as a transitive verb (27 definitions), or as a noun (32 definitions). Such traffic violations may result in serious accidents or deaths, so drivers who are seen to run a traffic light by a policeman is arrested and fined. In some cities, cameras have been installed to record such violations; violators can then be charged. A recent news article reported that in the last eight months of 2007, in Rockville, Maryland, such cameras recorded 224 cases in which police vehicles were traveling more than 10 miles per hour over the speed limit. The police union, however, says that the policemen should not pay fines because the citations are issued to the owner of a vehicle, which is not the driver. It will be interesting to see what the outcome of this legal confrontation is. (1131)

The Ides of March
08/03/14

A calendar is a diagram of a year divided into months, weeks and days. At the present time, the most widely recognized calendar is the Gregorian Calendar, introduced by Pope Gregory XIII in 1582. The Gregorian Calendar was a revision of the Julian Calendar, which the Roman autocrat, Julius Caesar, had devised from the ancient Roman Calendar. “In Roman computation, three days in the month were used in counting the date.” These three were the “Kalends” (from which the word “calendar” is derived), the 1st day of the month, the “Nones” (the Latin word for “ninth”), the 7th day in March, May, July and October, the 5th day in the other months, considered to be the 9th day before the “Ides,” which was the 15th day in March, May, July and October, and the 13th day in the other months. In countries where the dramas of William Shakespeare are well known and respected, the phrase “Beware the Ides of March” is a warning of impending and certain danger because Julius Caesar was assassinated on the “Ides of March” (March 15) in the year 44 B. C. E. after having been given that warning by a soothsayer. According to the account written by the ancient Greek biographer, Plutarch, “many report that a certain soothsayer forewarned him of a great danger which threatened him on the ides of March, and that when the day was come, as he was going to the senate-house, he called to the soothsayer, and said, laughing, ‘The ides of March are come’, to which he answered, softly, ‘Yes, but they are not gone.’” It was in the senate-house that he was stabbed to death by his enemies, and Shakespeare’s drama, “Julius Caesar,” has made the “ides of March” a common literary term. (1132)

Attending a Funeral
08/03/19

Recently, a telephone call from my sister, who lives in Pennsylvania, informed us of the death of her husband. Since he was 84 years old, had Alzheimer’s disease and was in a nursing home, his passing away was not unexpected, but we were saddened to hear of it and decided to make the 700 kilometer trip to the southern part of North Carolina to attend the funeral at the church they had attended for many years before moving to Pennsylvania. We left our home in northern Florida on Friday morning and arrived at the North Carolina town in the evening, which we spent talking and eating with other guests, including relatives who came from Pennsylvania, Michigan, Illinois and West Virginia. The next day, we drove to the church and viewed the corpse of my brother-in-law in a casket. The minister offered prayer, read from the Bible and gave a homily, which, along with the hymns we sung, was related to the final victory and heavenly blessings that await faithful believers. Family members and others then gave remembrances of the departed. My sister and her husband were missionaries for many years in Africa; her eldest daughter and family continue to serve there. A younger daughter, wife of a French pastor, came from France to attend the service. The day after the funeral, we attended the Sunday morning worship service at the church and then returned to our home. It was a busy, but meaningful, time. We enjoyed meeting relatives we had not met for a long time, were happy to encourage my sister and her children and to be reassured that even death may be a time of joy and peace that is the result of a healthy faith. (1133)

Easter Sunrise Service
08/03/24

Why does a week have seven days? According to the ancient account of the creation of the world found in the first chapter of Genesis at the beginning of the Old Testament, God created the world in six days, rested on the seventh day and designated it a holy day of rest for human beings (Genesis 2:2-3). One of the Ten Commandments given to the Israelites was to faithfully observe that Sabbath day (Exodus 20:8-11). Christians, however, have changed the holy day of rest and worship to the first day of the week to commemorate the resurrection of Jesus, the Christ. All four Gospels in the New Testament conclude with an account of people visiting the tomb where Jesus’ body had been placed “very early” (Mark 16:2; Luke 24:1), “at dawn” (Matthew 28:1) “while it was still dark” (John 20:1) on the first day of the week, but his body was not found. The central celebration of the Christian Church is not Christmas, celebrating Jesus’ birth, but Easter, commemorating his resurrection from the dead and emphasizing the new life which is found through faith in him. Many churches hold a Sunrise Service on Easter Sunday to remind believers of the deep meaning of Jesus’ resurrection. Such a service was held last Sunday outdoors in this Penney Retirement Community, which is primarily made up of retired pastors and missionaries. It was a cool morning, but our singing of hymns, accompanied by the Brass Band, listening to the Men’s Chorus and the Meditation presented by one of our members, served to warm us up and we enjoyed a simple breakfast together in the nearby meeting place. Every morning, we give thanks to God for a new day, for the new life that is ours and for the opportunities to share it with others. (1134)

District of Columbia
08/03/28

The man who is called the discoverer of America is Christopher Columbus. A country in South America and many places in the United States of America are named after him. However, there are two different spellings of such names. The South American country is spelled C-o-l-o-m-b-i-a, but North American places that use that name are spelled with a “u” as the second vowel rather than an “o”. This includes the capital city of the U. S. A.: Washington, D. C., District of Columbia. This 61 square mile (158 square kilometer) district is located on the Potomac River between the states of Virginia and Maryland. It was in 1800 that it became the new capital, but since it is not recognized as a state, its residents were not able to vote or have representatives in Congress until the 23rd Amendment to the Constitution was passed in 1961. As a result of that amendment, its 600,000 citizens now have the “number of electors of President and Vice-President equal to the whole number of Senators and Representatives in Congress to which the District would be entitled if it were a state, but in no event more than the least populous state.” Until 1967, the District was administered by three commissioners appointed by the president, but in 1974, following the approval of a Home Rule Charter, it was able to elect a mayor and a 13-member council. And it now has one nonvoting member in the House of Representatives. In 1983, a petition asking for the district’s admission to the Union as the 51st state was filed in Congress and new statehood bills were introduced in 1993, so the district is continuing its drive for statehood, (1135)