Earth's proud empires, pass away

Just a small bit of perspective

I’ve been gathering material and ideas that might be used in a parish adult formation process on social ethics. The war between Israel and Hamas set me in motion. Part of my own history included training to become a high school history teacher and a significant amount of work in seminary around social ethics. College was a lot of US and world history including US Army history and tactics. Seminary was a good bit around the history of the church under the Nazis and work on a theology of revolution. So, in the weeks ahead I hope to offer several ways to help parishioners engage in conversations about social ethics. I’ll often use the current war as the content but my primary concern is the educational process.

Yesterday I discovered a video on the history of  -- “Who Controlled Jerusalem the Longest?” The video doesn't solve anything about the current conflict, but does offer a sense of perspective with the editor’s own views at the very end.

Sister Michelle, OA and I said Evening Prayer last night. It was the Eve of the Feast St Simon & St Jude. Our discussion of the video brought her to sing "The day thou gavest, Lord, is ended." It was a hymn sung by British POWs in Japanese prison camps during WW2. The soldiers of an empire about to fade held by the soldiers of another old empire about to be defeated. 

So be it, Lord, thy throne shall never

Like earth's proud empires, pass away

Thy kingdom stands, and grows forever

'Til all thy creatures own thy sway

Here’s a link to “Who Controlled Jerusalem the Longest.”

You might want to return to the hymn and prayer after watching. Here is the hymn sung during Queen Elizabeth II's State Funeral Service 2022 in Westminster Abbey.

Brother Robert, OA

On the Feast St Simon & St Jude