Who will speak for Luther's wife? (ex-nun Katharina von Bora; Luther rescued this beautiful flower from the gloomy, concealed life of a convent because he knew that it is no fun to be a nun. Martin Luther being the father of the "Reformation")
I thought I'd start a series of open threads for the next day and a half. What's on my mind is the mention in more than one thread of evangelicalism and fundamentalism, and my lifetime of Lutheran "schooling", although I'm not any of those things for the last 15 years. So I'm going to give you a few links to peruse at your leisure about November 1st ... the Day of the Dead, about the Reformation, and "Reformation Sunday" and the words to perhaps the best-known Reformation Day hymn of all times by the English-born 20th Century, Ralph Vaughan Williams:
1. For all the saints, who from their labors rest,
who thee by faith before the world confessed,
thy name, O Jesus, be forever blest.
Alleluia, Alleluia!
2. Thou wast their rock, their fortress, and their might;
thou Lord, their captain in the well-fought fight;
thou in the darkness drear, their one true light.
Alleluia, Alleluia!
3. O may thy soldiers, faithful, true, and bold,
fight as the saints who nobly fought of old,
and win with them the victor's crown of gold.
Alleluia, Alleluia!
4. O blest communion, fellowship divine!
We feebly struggle, they in glory shine;
yet all are one in thee, for all are thine.
Alleluia, Alleluia!
5. And when the strife is fierce, the warfare long,
steals on the ear the distant triumph song,
and hearts are brave again, and arms are strong.
Alleluia, Alleluia!
6. From earth's wide bounds, from ocean's farthest coast,
through gates of pearl streams in the countless host,
singing to Father, Son, and Holy Ghost:
Alleluia, Alleluia!
I was a long-time church organist as well as a congregant who sung this song every year. It beats "When the Roll is Called Up Yonder."
Day of the Dead
Old Lutheran Humor - Reformation ideas...
Knock yourselves out on this thread. Religion or none ... sine or no-mine... politics... The Day of the Dead calls to us simple and mortal homo sapiens sapiens.
