National Fast Day

I’ve been reading a journal written by a Confederate nurse (Kate:  The Journal of a Confederate Nurse, Louisiana State University Press, 1987) and she mentions a date as “following the last fast day”.  Well that was a term I had to research a little and what I learned was eye opening in so many ways.

During The Civil War both President Lincoln and President Davis declared days for their nation to fast  and pray for peace.  Nurse Cumming mentions the day the same way she would say “last Thursday” which seems to indicate she accepted the day and the directive from her president.  Bishop Meade of Christ Church in Millwood, VA delivered a lengthy sermon on that day, that was so well accepted that the Richmond Enquirer and Job Press was requested to publish it. 

President Lincoln declared “the 30th. day of April, 1863, as a day of national humiliation, fasting and prayer. And I do hereby request all the People to abstain, on that day, from their ordinary secular pursuits, and to unite, at their several places of public worship and their respective homes, in keeping the day holy to the Lord”. (Citation)

Even from Colonial times the nation sought mercy and wisdom from The Lord by corporate prayer and fasting in times of drought, famine or Indian attacks.  In 1668 the Virginia House of Burgesses declared August 27th a “Day of Humiliation, Fasting and Prayer, to implore God’s mercy” (Citation) .

Now fasting has been a difficult practice for me to embrace – not because I’m so unwilling to give something up, but because I never want to stomp my foot at God and demand He act, and a hunger strike always seemed a little like that.  As I’ve studied, and frankly as the Lord has changed my heart and opened my eyes, I’ve come to appreciate that I can better hear His direction and I can better communicate with a Sovereign God if my mouth and my head are not filled with the concerns of this world. 

Reading about our people coming together to pray for peace and unity really moved me because we live in a time and a nation that can’t seem to agree on anything and where disunity seems to be our motto.  We have a national day of prayer that barely gets a mention and isn’t always attended by our presidents.  In fact a Google search for “National Fast Day” now yields results for the National Fast Food Day.  Does that strike you as ironic?

Reading this journal written more than 150 years ago and during such a hard time in the life of this young woman as well as our country is proving quite thought-provoking.  It sheds a light on how people thought during the nineteenth century, what their priorities and fears were and how they compare to us today.

directi

The Purposes of Fruit Jars

My husband and I each drink a protein shake most mornings and after trying whisks, shaker bottles and blenders, the best way I’ve found to mix and drink them is in a good ole’ Mason jar.  Well my Ruthie saw me mixing it today and asked “Are you gonna’ drink out of that jar?”  I’m not sure what about the upbringing I’m giving her would ever make her incredulous to drinking from a fruit jar but she found it so curious that she asked to try it herself. 

Now, we’ve talked here before about using and re-using stuff like mayonnaise jars and snuff glasses but canning jars are used around my house for all kinds of stuff.  Anything that needs to be contained, kept airtight or carried away is subject to a jar.  And of course that always includes a glass of ice tea you need to take to the field with you, or cold water to carry out to the yard and of course my daily protein shake.  But I also store grains and beans and even nails and screws in jars.  In fact, when they started putting mayonnaise and jelly in plastic jars they were best for the garage because they wouldn’t break and strew glass and nails all over a driving path. 

My son recently asked me after we sang along with John Denver’s “Thank God I’m a Country Boy”, whether he was a country boy.  Of course I told him he was – but now I’m wondering if these kids need to see more uses for Mason jars, grass string and duct tape!

Do you still use fruit jars for more than fruit?  I hope you’ll click on “Comments” below and tell me all about it.

A Letter from Beth about The Next Book

Good evening Friends and Readers,

I write you a few hours later than I normally publish the weekly blog but I hope you will forgive my tardiness when I tell you that I’ve spent this day - in fact the last few days - frantically working to get Margaret’s Faith to press. I’ve got a proof copy on its way and by next week I hope to be able to report the book is available on Amazon with copies at retail locations shortly thereafter!

There is always a long list of people who ought to be thanked for getting one of these things out - one of these days I’ll attempt to present that list - and you readers are certainly on it.

Thank you for your patience with me as I finish up these details. I very much look forward to sharing this story with you and I’m always eager to hear your feedback.

BETH

Southern Humor

If you can’t laugh at yourself you will miss an awful lot of fun and I have always appreciated that my Plateau neighbors can in fact laugh at themselves.  Well we got to listening to some old Ray Stevens songs the other day and I remembered how much I could always relate to those songs. 

When I hear “The Mississippi Squirrel Revival” I naturally picture the little church I grew up in.  And when he tells about going on a retreat with his wife in the mountains of East Tennessee in “Smokey Mountain Rattlesnake Retreat” I can just imagine gettin’ myself into that situation.

Then there’s “Sittin’ Up with the Dead” – now by the time I came along we had become quite accustomed to entrusting our loved ones’ to the funeral home but I’ve heard again and again about folks sitting up with the dead and knowing our superstitious nature on the mountain, that song easily evokes images of my grandparents and their siblings.

I didn’t really set out today to write a tribute to the Georgia-born Stevens, however, I’m not hesitant to do so.  I love that a southern boy can look at our customs in a humorous and yet respectful manner.  Jerry Clower was from Louisiana and their rich culture is very different than the Cumberland Plateau’s yet he was another one that I can easily relate to.  Today’s comedians think they have to curse every other breath – and how is that even funny? – and they want to talk about ugly stuff that you probably shouldn’t ever listen to it but you sure don’t want to play it around your Mama or your kids.  Jerry and Ray were rarely indelicate but they’ll keep you rolling.

My stories from the mountain aren’t necessarily comical but we are often a funny people and we often recount funny stories, even from recent history.  This is a season of visiting and we’ll be laughing together I know.  I look forward to that and I hope you do too.  If you are looking for a laugh, pop into YouTube and listen again to these guys who tell stories so like our own.

One Big Family

Clarkrange Baptist Church, 1949
From Remembrances by Luther Atkinson, 1992

This week I got a call from my Mama that Daddy was having pain in his chest and across his arms.  We headed to the ER and I started praying.  On that drive I also started reaching out to my church family and my circle of beloved Christian sisters with a familiar request, “I need some prayer support.”

It’s safe to say I may have been a little emotional not knowing what the situation would be when I got to the hospital, but thinking about these faithful prayer warriors nearly overwhelmed me with a myriad of emotions I’m hard-pressed to name.  Then the very next day I opened up my devotional and here’s what I got:

…The idea of a universal family sounds very ‘summer of love.’  The ‘flower power’ generation grasped the concept of loving humanity, but they sometimes put more faith in sex and drugs than in God.

The idea of a family in which we are all God’s children is like G.K. Chesterton’s description of Christianity.  It ‘has not been tried and found wanting, it has been found difficult and not tried.’ A true family of Christ is still possible.  It begins when we lay aside fear and hold out a hand. (The KJV Daily Devotional, Barbour 2018)

We’ve just passed our Thanksgiving Holiday and jumped right into the Christmas season so family is at the forefront of our minds.  Families can be wonderful and terrible – often at the same time.  The trouble is that families are made up of us foolish and utterly sinful human creatures.  Church families are not a whole lot different than biological families on account of the same kind of people making up both. 

Family is a persistent theme among the Tennessee Mountain Stories – and it’s both kinds of family. Sure on the mountain you are surrounded in the church-house by siblings, cousins and in-laws but there are also lots of non-relations and they are still family if you choose to love and serve them.

Group from Martha Washington Freewill Baptist Church circa 1983

In the day when the government offered no social safety net and public services were either non-existent or too far removed to rescue an injured child or burning building, then your family and neighbors provided the necessary help.  As helpful as Social Security and fire and rescue squads are, we may have grown a little lazy relying on them to take care of others.

So this week I’m reminded that ‘a man [or me!] that hath friends much shew himself friendly’ (Proverbs 18:24) and I am encouraged to see that we still maintain some of that old-time mountain sense of community, love for our neighbors and readiness to help a friend in need!

And by the way, Daddy’s doing much better now.