King's Meadow Study Center

Mardi Gras

George Grant — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 02:12:00 +0000

The historical origins of Mardi Gras are much debated, butmany of its traditions seem to have their roots in early Celtic Christianrituals in ancient Gaul, Ireland, and Scotland—which, in turn, seem to haveeven earlier Greek and Egyptian antecedents. Mardi Gras, or Fat Tuesday, was a celebration of life’sexcesses before the austere self-sacrifices of the Christian season ofLent. It received its name fromthe tradition of slaughtering and feasting upon a fattened calf on the last dayof the Winter Carnival that followed the Twelfth Night, or Epiphany.

Lent begins on Ash Wednesday, forty days before Easter, and traditionally included a much more proscribed lifestyle for faithful Christianfamilies—a season of severe fasting and asceticism. The day prior to Ash Wednesday, wasthus, the final hurrah and excesses frowned upon at any other time of the yearwere actually embraced and exulted.

The ancient Mardi Gras tradition was first brought to theNew World by the French, and it became a vital component of the culturesettlers established along the Gulf Coast. Though it is most often associated with the city of NewOrleans, all throughout the region, festive carousers celebrate during the twoweeks before the beginning of Lent with parades, balls, masquerades, streetdances, concerts, amusements, jocularity, and merry banquets.

In 1682, French explorer Robert Cavalier Sieur de la Salle,claimed the region from where the Mississippi drained into the ocean all theway to Pensacola Bay in the name of King Louis XIV of France. Spanish explorers had alreadydiscovered the region, but abandoned it when they failed to discover gold. La Salle attempted to return to theregion two years later, but ended up in Texas instead. He spent the next twoyears searching for his discovery—a search that ended when his men finallymurdered him.

War prevented France from continuing its colonizationefforts until 1697. King Louis XIVthen commissioned a Canadian, Pierre le Moyne, Sieur D’Iberville, to secure acolony and French interests in the region. Iberville’s flotilla finally landed on this day, twelvemiles off the Mississippi Gulf Coast, and established his headquarters on thesite of present-day Ocean Springs, Mississippi. The following spring, he built a fort near present-dayPhoenix, Louisiana—the first permanent French colony on the Gulf Coast.

But ongoing wars and other concerns kept the attentions ofKing Louis away from the New World. When he died in 1715, he was succeeded by his five-year-old greatgrandson in name, and in practice by Philippe, Duke of Orleans, who served asRegent for the young king. One ofthe Regent’s friends was John Law, who devised a get-rich-quick strategy ofpromoting Louisiana’s riches. Thescheme virtually bankrupted France, but not before the dramatic expansion ofthe colony, and the founding of New Orleans, Biloxi, Mobile, and Pensacola inthe spring of 1718.

Progress in the new towns was slow, but Mardi Grasfestivities are believed to have begun in their earliest days. It provided them with a sense ofcultural cohesion and identity. Indeed, it seemed that early on the Mardi Gras of the colonies took on acharacter and a flavor it never had back in France.

Corporate Complicity

George Grant — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 01:53:00 +0000

A pro-life organization that has spent decades working to try to get corporations to stop giving financial donations to the Planned Parenthood abortion business has released a revised listing of companies backing the abortion giant.

Life Decisions International has released a revised edition of “The Boycott List,” which identifies corporations that support Planned Parenthood, which does more abortions than any other business in the nation. Kenneth Garvey, the communications director for LDI, says the boycott has been successful over the years.

“As a direct result of the commitment, action and prayers of pro-family people, at least 281 corporations have stopped funding Planned Parenthood,” he said. “It is estimated that the boycott has cost Planned Parenthood more than $40 million since the Corporate Funding Project (CFP) began. This should serve as a testament to those who think it impossible to change corporate behavior.”

Garvey noted that the great success of the Corporate Funding Project is due to the tenacity of pro-life people who “understand the power of the dollar and are willing to be inconvenienced for the sake of preborn children.”

New boycott targets include Mesa Air Group and Trinity Investments, but the main portion of the boycott list is dedicated to corporations that LDI has been targeting for their Planned Parenthood donations for some time.

Some of the companies that occupy a continued place on the LDI boycott list include: Adobe, AOL, Bank of America, Bayer, Chevron, Darden Restaurants (Olive Garden, Red Lobster, etc.), eBay (PayPal, etc.), Laureate Education, Midas, Nationwide (insurance), Nike, Select Comfort (Sleep Number bed), Southwest Airlines (Jet Blue, etc.), Starwood Hotels (Aloft, Element, Four Points, Le Méridien, Sheraton, St. Regis, W, Westin, etc.), Symantec, Wells Fargo, and Whole Foods.

The pro-life group also maintains a list of prominent nonprofit organizations that LDI says “are associated with Planned Parenthood and/or its agenda.” The organizations may not necessarily make donations to the abortion business but may have some sort of relationship with it, such as joint programs, allowing Planned Parenthood leaders access to its members, or in other ways.

That list from LDI includes the following new groups: Comic Relief, Eagles Clubs, Elks Clubs, Elton John AIDS Foundation, and the Red Cross. Continuing members of the list of nonprofits that associate with Planned Parenthood include: AARP, American Cancer Society, Amnesty International, Audubon Society, Boys & Girls Clubs, Camp Fire, Dr. Phil Foundation, Girl Scouts, Girls Inc., Human Rights Watch, Juvenile Diabetes Foundation, Kiwanis Clubs, Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, Lions Clubs, March of Dimes, Michael J. Fox Foundation, Muscular Dystrophy Association, Paralyzed Veterans of America, Parkinson’s Disease Foundation, Ronald McDonald House Charities, Rotary Clubs, Salvation Army, Save the Children, Sierra Club, Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, YMCA, and YWCA.

The pro-life group says the boycott list “includes corporations that have donated to Planned Parenthood, at any level, in any amount, within the past five years, but whose officials refuse to say donations will not be made in the future. Some officials claim their respective company no longer supports Planned Parenthood. If officials refuse to say donations will not be made in the future, the company remains on a boycott target until grants to Planned Parenthood have ceased for five years.”

That explains how some pro-life people receive information from corporations saying they do not support Planned Parenthood, but see the name of the company listed in the boycott.

“This is done to prevent corporations from donating five times as much money every five years and claiming for four years that they do not support the pro-abortion groups,” LDI says. “We learned early on that corporate leaders will turn to devious methods to continue supporting Planned Parenthood. For example, one corporation had donated $5,000 to the pro-abortion group every year since 1991. After becoming a boycott target, the corporation donated $25,000 and for four years told consumers they do not support Planned Parenthood. Therefore, do not be surprised if a corporation responds that it is no longer supporting Planned Parenthood.”

All corporations listed have received information about Planned Parenthood, along with a request that it stop its donations, LDI says, which could include cash donations, gifts in-kind and matching gifts. LDI does not track donations made to United Way or other organizations that bundle gifts individuals make through a third party.

“A corporate name is added to The Boycott List only if, after a reasonable amount of time, its leaders refuse to change the philanthropic practice,” LDI says. “A company will be dropped as a boycott target if it stops funding Planned Parenthood for at least five years (automatically) or if a corporate official states that the pro-abortion group will be made ineligible for support in the future (immediate removal from The Boycott List). It is the responsibility of corporate officials to notify LDI if a company qualifies for removal from The Boycott List.”

The Closing of the American Mind

George Grant — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 14:13:00 +0000

“There is a grave danger for American democracy that the two parties not only can’t agree, they can’t even discuss. Left and right live in their little ghettos of the mind, unwilling to listen to anything that doesn’t reinforce their own views. If you only hear what your opponents are thinking through the warp of second-hand caricatures, then there is no chance of understanding their point of view. Thinking gets trapped within a very narrow box–one that often bears little relation to problems in the real world.” BBC’s Mark Mardell

Pastor George Grant; Forward through the Ages; Genesis 9:18–29

Parish Presbyterian Church — Sun, 19 Feb 2012 18:32:00 +0000

Genesis 9:18–29

The sons of Noah who went forth from the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. (Ham was the father of Canaan.) These three were the sons of Noah, and from these the people of the whole earth were dispersed.

Noah began to be a man of the soil, and he planted a vineyard. He drank of the wine and became drunk and lay uncovered in his tent. And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father and told his two brothers outside. Then Shem and Japheth took a garment, laid it on both their shoulders, and walked backward and covered the nakedness of their father. Their faces were turned backward, and they did not see their father’s nakedness. When Noah awoke from his wine and knew what his youngest son had done to him, he said,

“Cursed be Canaan;

a servant of servants shall he be to his brothers.”

He also said,

“Blessed be the LORD, the God of Shem;

and let Canaan be his servant.

May God enlarge Japheth,

and let him dwell in the tents of Shem,

and let Canaan be his servant.”

After the flood Noah lived 350 years. All the days of Noah were 950 years, and he died.

A Busy Ministry

George Grant — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 17:20:00 +0000

http://kingsmeadow.com

http://parishpres.org

http://grantian.blogspot.com

http://eleventary.blogspot.com

http://ppgi.blogspot.com

http://parishlife.blogspot.com

http://deruns.blogspot.com

http://www.ms-academy.org

http://csmedes.org

http://www.franklinclassical.com

http://newcollegefranklin.org

A Valentine’s Day Elegy

George Grant — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 16:01:00 +0000

You have, to be sure, known pain and fear,

And the anguish of failure and frustration are near;

Yet your eyes read companionship not distance,

Your home beckons forth, with no hint of resistance;

Indeed, your cloak, though threadbare, is half mine,

You are my friend, and I, most assuredly, am thine.

Tristan Gylberd

Pastor George Grant; The Unstrung War Bow; Genesis 8:20–9:17

Parish Presbyterian Church — Sun, 12 Feb 2012 15:25:00 +0000

Genesis 8:20–9:17

Then Noah built an altar to the LORD and took some of every clean animal and some of every clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar. And when the LORD smelled the pleasing aroma, the LORD said in his heart, “I will never again curse the ground because of man, for the intention of man’s heart is evil from his youth. Neither will I ever again strike down every living creature as I have done. While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease.”

And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. The fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth and upon every bird of the heavens, upon everything that creeps on the ground and all the fish of the sea. Into your hand they are delivered. Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. And as I gave you the green plants, I give you everything. But you shall not eat flesh with its life, that

is, its blood. And for your lifeblood I will require a reckoning: from every beast I will require it and from man. From his fellow man I will require a reckoning for the life of man.

“Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image. And you, be fruitful and multiply, increase greatly on the earth and multiply in it.”

Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him, “Behold, I establish my covenant with you and your offspring after you, and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the livestock, and every beast of the earth with you, as many as came out of the ark; it is for every beast of the earth. I establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.” And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations: I have set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds, I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh. And the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.” God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant that I have established between me and all flesh that is on the earth.”

Favorite Indonesian Foods

George Grant — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 14:20:00 +0000

1. Satay

2. Nasi Goreng

3. Char Siew Wonton

4. Popiah

5. Roti prata

6. GorengPisang

7. Kalamansi Limes

8. Rojak

9. Ayam Penyet

10. Sambal Belachan

11. Nasi Lemak

The Mundane and the Metaphysical; Psalm 4; Nathan George

Parish Presbyterian Church — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 20:29:00 +0000

Psalm 4

1 Answer me when I call, O God of my righteousness! You have given me relief when I was in distress. Be gracious to me and hear my prayer!

2 O men, how long shall my honor be turned into shame? How long will you love vain words and seek after lies? Selah

3 But know that the LORD has set apart the godly for himself; the LORD hears when I call to him.

4 Be angry, and do not sin; ponder in your own hearts on your beds, and be silent. Selah

5 Offer right sacrifices, and put your trust in the LORD.

6 There are many who say, “Who will show us some good? Lift up the light of your face upon us, O LORD!” 7 You have put more joy in my heart than they have when their grain and wine abound.

8 In peace I will both lie down and sleep; for you alone, O LORD, make me dwell in safety.

Pastor George Grant; And in the End, Worship; Genesis 8:1–20

Parish Presbyterian Church — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 16:17:00 +0000

Genesis 8:1–20

But God remembered Noah and all the beasts and all the livestock that were with him in the ark. And God made a wind blow over the earth, and the waters subsided. The fountains of the deep and the windows of the heavens were closed, the rain from the heavens was restrained, and the waters receded from the earth continually. At the end of 150 days the waters had abated, and in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat. And the waters continued to abate until the tenth month; in the tenth month, on the first day of the month, the tops of the mountains were seen.

At the end of forty days Noah opened the window of the ark that he had made and sent forth a raven. It went to and fro until the waters were dried up from the earth. Then he sent forth a dove from him, to see if the waters had subsided from the face of the ground. But the dove found no place to set her foot, and she returned to him to the ark, for the waters were still on the face of the whole earth. So he put out his hand and took her and brought her into the ark with him. He waited another seven days, and again he sent forth the dove out of the ark. And the dove came back to him in the evening, and behold, in her mouth was a freshly plucked olive leaf. So Noah knew that the waters had subsided from the earth. Then he waited another seven days and sent forth the dove, and she did not return to him anymore.

In the six hundred and first year, in the first month, the first day of the month, the waters were dried from off the earth. And Noah removed the covering of the ark and looked, and behold, the face of the ground was dry. In the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth had dried out. Then God said to Noah, “Go out from the ark, you and your wife, and your sons and your sons’ wives with you. Bring out with you every living thing that is with you of all flesh—birds and animals and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth—that they may swarm on the earth, and be fruitful and multiply on the earth.” So Noah went out, and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives with him. Every beast, every creeping thing, and every bird, everything that moves on the earth, went out by families from the ark.

Then Noah built an altar to the LORD and took some of every clean animal and some of every clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar.