Miraculous Water

 

 

From the wilderness of Sin the whole congregation of the Israelites journeyed by stages, as the Lord commanded. They camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. The people quarreled with Moses, and said, “Give us water to drink.” Moses said to them, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the Lord?” But the people thirsted there for water; and the people complained against Moses and said, “Why did you bring us out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and livestock with thirst?” So Moses cried out to the Lord, “What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to stone me.” The Lord said to Moses, “Go on ahead of the people, and take some of the elders of Israel with you; take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. I will be standing there in front of you on the rock at Horeb. Strike the rock, and water will come out of it, so that the people may drink.” Moses did so, in the sight of the elders of Israel. He called the place Massah and Meribah, because the Israelites quarreled and tested the Lord, saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?” 

Exodus 17:1-7*

 

Moses Striking the Rock and Bringing Forth the Water

BACCHIACCA

(Francesco d’Ubertino Verdi)

1540 - 1545

National Gallery of Scotland

Edinburgh

Great Britain

http://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/diglib-fulldisplay.pl?SID=2017093010526526&code=ACT&RC=51130&Row=9

 

Only one signed work by Francesco is known, the decoration of a Terrace for the duchess and her children, with his abbreviated Christian name and nickname: "FRANC. BACHI. FACI."[7] His works typically contain carefully observed illustrations of nature. The artist's trademark method and style consists of the combination of figures, exotic costumes and other motifs acquired from Italian artists and German and Netherlandish prints into entirely new compositions. These cosmopolitan assemblages exhibited the most praiseworthy elements of both Flemish and Italian Renaissance art, which appealed to his courtly clientele.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francesco_Bacchiacca





Bacchiacca used this Old Testament subject as a means to include a wide range of exotically clothed figures and various birds and animals in a stylised, rocky landscape. Moses kneels in the centre, before the rock from which water miraculously appears to relieve the thirst of the Israelites as they journey to the Promised Land. This is collected in, and enthusiastically drunk from, beautifully crafted jugs. The picture may well be connected with a commission Bacchiacca received from a Florentine guild of jug-makers to decorate a festival stand in 1525 with scenes from the Old Testament.



https://www.nationalgalleries.org/art-and-artists/4667/moses-striking-rock-after-1525



 

 

 

 

 

Water is fluid, soft, and yielding.

But water will wear away rock, which is rigid and cannot yield.

As a rule, whatever is fluid, soft, and yielding

will overcome whatever is rigid and hard.

This is another paradox:

what is soft is strong.

~ Lao-Tzu

 

 

 

 

There is always more goodness in the world than there appears to be,

because goodness is of its very nature modest and retiring.

~ Evelyn Beatrice Hall

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SWEDISH CRAYFISH PARTY!

Sunday, September 24, 2017

at Merit and Donald’s home

aaa

Karen Hume and Merit Hellman-Funk

(two golfing buddies … sometimes)

This is a Swedish yearly tradition of Merit’s.

 

Bill Blaustein wasn’t shy about starting!

 

 

John Erlandson and Merit sang some of the Crayfish Songs.

Hmmmm.  Some of them had very familiar tunes!

 

 

 

 

Woofie, JAK, and I had an all-day session at the CSU Veterinary Hospital

on Tuesday in Fort Collins.  We go back in two weeks.

 

Woofie’s toes are a mess but it is the left wrist that is

the real problem.  Apparently the right wrist is headed

the same way.

 

 

Center for the Arts Evergreen

Donor Appreciation Party

September 28, 2017

6:00 to 9:00

Martin Museum Residences

1200 Acoma Street, #601

Denver, Colorado

Sharon Martin was our generous hostess.

Her husband, Lanny, was in Chicago.

They recently donated 25M as seed money

for the revitalization of the Denver Art Museum’s North Building

(which will be renamed after them).

 

 

Chef Kevin Taylor, on the right, with his partner, Austin.

They catered the tasty goodies for our event.

 

Carolyn Alexander on the Martin’s balcony.

The Denver Art Museum is on the left in the background

and the Denver Library is on the right.

I was not allowed to take pictures inside

because of the art work.

 

 

Bill and Dr. Marsha Manning

 

 

 

Our Rotary Club honored the life of a wonderful man!

Wayne Lundhagen

March 19, 1937 - September 22, 2017

 

 

 

 

 

 

When the well’s dry,

we know the worth of water.

~ Benjamin Franklin

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

October 1, 2017     Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost; Proper 21

 

Previous OPQs may be found at:

     http://www.dotjack.com/opq.htm

 

*See also Numbers 20:1-29 where Moses is commanded to speak to the rock.

 

 

When Jesus entered the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to him as he was teaching, and said, “By what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?” Jesus said to them, “I will also ask you one question; if you tell me the answer, then I will also tell you by what authority I do these things. Did the baptism of John come from heaven, or was it of human origin?” And they argued with one another, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say to us, ‘Why then did you not believe him?’ But if we say, ‘Of human origin,’ we are afraid of the crowd; for all regard John as a prophet.” So they answered Jesus, “We do not know.” And he said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things.

“What do you think? A man had two sons; he went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work in the vineyard today.’ He answered, ‘I will not’; but later he changed his mind and went. The father went to the second and said the same; and he answered, ‘I go, sir’; but he did not go. Which of the two did the will of his father?” They said, “The first.” Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are going into the kingdom of God ahead of you. For John came to you in the way of righteousness and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him; and even after you saw it, you did not change your minds and believe him.

Matthew 21:23-32

Agnus Day, by James Wetzstein

Agnus Day appears with the permission of www.agnusday.org

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Exodus 17:1-7 with Psalm 78:1-4, 12-16 or
Ezekiel 18:1-4, 25-32 with Psalm 25:1-9
Philippians 2:1-13
Matthew 21:23-32