“All the darkness in the world cannot extinguish the light of a single candle.”
St. Francis of Assisi (1182-1226)
What Is?
America The Beautiful
O beautiful for spacious skies, For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties
Above the fruited plain!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!
O beautiful for pilgrim feet
Whose stern impassioned stress
A thoroughfare of freedom beat
Across the wilderness!
America! America!
God mend thine every flaw,
Confirm thy soul in self-control,
Thy liberty in law!
O beautiful for heroes proved
In liberating strife.
Who more than self their country loved
And mercy more than life!
America! America!
May God thy gold refine
Till all success be nobleness
And every gain divine!
O beautiful for patriot dream
That sees beyond the years
Thine alabaster cities gleam
Undimmed by human tears!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!
Katherine L. Bates (1859-1929)
No Acknowledgment
“There is no faithfulness, no love, no acknowledgment of God in the land. There is only cursing, lying and murder, stealing and adultery; they break all bounds, and bloodshed follows bloodshed. Because of this the land mourns, and all who live in it waste away;
the beasts of the field and the birds of the air and the fish of the sea are dying.” Hosea 4:1b-3
my people are destroyed from lack of knowledge. “Because you have rejected knowledge, I also reject you as my priests; because you have ignored the law of your God, I also will ignore your children.” Hosea 4:6
And it will be: Like people, like priests. I will punish both of them for their ways and repay them for their deeds.
Hosea 4:9
For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings.
Hosea 6:6
Ignite A Flame
“Ignite a flame in our hearts that we may not neglect you,
but pursue you with everything we have.”
The final request to God from Dr. R.C. Sproul (1939-2017) In his concluding prayer from his last sermon, “A Great Salvation”, to the congregation at St. Andrew’s Chapel in Sanford, FL on November 26, 2017
Woe To Those
Woe to those who rise early in the morning
to run after their drinks,
who stay up late at night
till they are inflamed with wine.
They have harps and lyres at their banquets,
tambourines and flutes and wine,
but they have no regard for the deeds of the Lord,
no respect for the work of his hands. Isaiah 5:11-12
Woe to those who draw sin along with cords of deceit, and wickedness as with cart ropes,
Isaiah 5:18
Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put
darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter
for sweet and sweet for bitter. Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and
clever in their own sight.
Isaiah 5:20-21
Therefore the Lord’s anger burns against his people; his hand is raised and he strikes them down.
The mountains shake, and the dead bodies are like refuse in the streets.
Yet for all this, his anger is not turned away, his hand is still upraised.
He lifts up a banner for the distant nations,
he whistles for those at the ends of the
earth. Here they come, swiftly and speedily!
Not one of them grows tired or stumbles, not one slumbers or sleeps;
not a belt is loosened at the waist, not a sandal strap is broken.
Their arrows are sharp, all their bows are strung; their horses’ hooves seem like flint,
their chariot wheels like a whirlwind.
Their roar is like that of the lion, they roar like young lions; they growl as they seize
their prey and carry it off with no one to rescue. In that day they will roar over it like
the roaring of the sea.
And if one looks at the land, he will see darkness and distress;
even the light will be darkened by the clouds.
Isaiah 5:25-30