I'm going to venture off the beaten path and highlight an individual that I think did a lot to bring "exposure" to God's creation. I will dedicate this entry to Nordlys as she is a wonderful photographer of nature.
Ansel Adams was born in 1902, long before color photography or the brief video images that we see on TV today. He was the first to really develop the art of the prolonged exposure. He had a tremendous love for the American west. His photographs of Yosemite are timeless in their simplistic beauty. I think it could be said that the modern environmental movement owes a lot to Ansel Adams. He served on many environmental boards including the Sierra Club.
I don't know of anyone who doesn't recognize his work. No digital cameras. He used very large negatives to keep the grain fine on the pictures.
Adams died in 1984 of cancer. His ashes were taken to a mountain that he loved to photograph. As I recall it was a mountain that required great effort for him to hike up and photograph. As you watch the change of colors this fall, remember the black and white work of Ansel Adams and how it preserved the colors you are seeing.
Just a side note to my Ansel Adams post. His most famous photograph ( and one that I have) is "Moonrise Hernandez". It was taken 64 years ago tomorrow (10/31/41). The story behind this wonderful photograph is that he spent a frustrating afternoon trying to get the lighting right and gave up. As he drove off he glanced out the window of his car and saw that scene. Only problem was that he forgot his light meter and had to do a "trial and error" shot. I think there is a sermon somewhere in this story.
Ya'll thought I was done with this thread. Think again.
My next addition came at the suggestion of another RHPner which tells me there is hope for humanity. Jim Wallis is an active speaker, author , and commentator on religion in our culture and in particular our politics. He came from an evangelical family and was quite troubled by racial segregation during his formative years. He became quite acitve in the civil rights movement and antiwar demonstrations. He heads up Sojourners Magazine which is dedicated to social justice. Wallis is an extremely articulate man and I think many of you who are so skeptical of religion and religious talk would find his ideas to be a breath of fresh air. His latest book is God's Politics. Some people describe him as a "leftist", but I find him to be a very reasonable man that clearly has a passion (and a brain) for what he believes.
I thought I would include some of his thoughts just to give you a flavor of his thinking.
"The Right is comfortalbe with the language of religion, values , and God talk. So much so that they sometimes claim to own that territory. Or own God. But then they marrow everything down to one or two issues: abortion and gay marriage. I am an evangelical Christian, and I can't ignore thousands of verses in the Bible on things like poverty. I say at every stop , "Fighting poverty's a moral value , too."
And he's got a sermon for democrats as well.
"Democrats forget their own progressive history. Every social movement in our history was fueled in large part by religion and faith. Abolition, women's suffrage, child labor laws, and infamously, civil rights. Where would we be today if the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. had kept his fiath to himself? Here's a party that was vitally connected tot he civil rights movement, led by black churches, now driven so far away, thy're successfully portrayed by the Right as a secualr party hostile to religion."
Jim Wallis will be in the UK on Nov 5-6 in Eastbourne. Go give him a listen and tell him Rev. K sent ya.
Originally posted by kirksey957 Ya'll thought I was done with this thread. Think again.
My next addition came at the suggestion of another RHPner which tells me there is hope for humanity. Jim Wallis is an active speaker, author , and commentator on religion in our culture and in particular our politics. He came from an evangelical family and was quite troubled by racial segre ...[text shortened]... s will be in the UK on Nov 5-6 in Eastbourne. Go give him a listen and tell him Rev. K sent ya.
I heard about Jim Wallis from my uncle, who is so conservative that he makes my conservative mother (his sister) uncomfortable. Aside from his disagreement with most of Wallis's politics, my uncle had lots of praise for the man. The short version is this: "Wallis lives his values."
My uncle was one of my childhood heroes, and a man who lives an exemplary Christian life (except for his conservative politics).
Maybe I can get some hate mail with my next nominee or at the very least stir some discussion. My next nominee was a drug addict and a murderer of two people. A pic axe was the weapon.
Karla Faye Tucker may be one of the most famous persons put to death in the US. I included her for several reasons. I think she had a profound conversion and her execution asks the question of whether our so-called religious sentiments carry any weight in our secular decisions.
KArla Faye Tucker had a horrible life. Abused as a child , she was on drugs by the time she was 12 years old. She travelled around with various bands and hung out with the wrong kind of men. I believe her mother was prostitute. In 1983 she commited a brutal murder that horrified the jury as she talked about having an orgasm as she slammed a pic axe into her victims. She was high on drugs at the time of the murders.
While in prison she began a life of self-reflection and as we say "came to know Jesus." She started a prison ministry for deathrow inmates on her cell block. Her whole outlook on life changed.
She was denied clemency by the parole board as it is their feeling that the only mitigating factors should be innocence and denied justice. She was also a woman and a born-again Christian. Enter the picture George Bush, governor or Texas. He denied clemency with a curt "God bless Karla Faye Tucker and God bless her victims."
She was executed in 1999 by lethal injection. Even Pat Robertson was outraged. Imagine that.
She went to her execution with dignity and some say even joy. To me there was another victim in this story who received little attention as a victim. Mr. Thorton, the husband of one of her victims. Full of bitterness and resentments he angrily declared that the first person she would meet on the "other side" would be his wife. There is a deeper story here about why his wife was where she was the night of the murder, but suffice it to say, he would enjoy a pic axe fight in heaven.
OK, I'm doing a lot of research and all so forgive me fo not keepin this here quality thread at the top of tha list where it belongs. I'm going to dedicate my next addition to Monsignior Ivanhoe for the simple reasons that my person is Dutch and a priest. Before I get into this individual, would anyone like to venture a guess as to who it is? I will give you the hint that his ministry intersected another one of the previously discussed saints from this thread.
I will give five extra credit points if someone can tell me his favorite metaphor for Jesus. I will give you another hint. Ivanhoe has accused me of this.
Originally posted by kirksey957 I will give five extra credit points if someone can tell me his favorite metaphor for Jesus. I will give you another hint. Ivanhoe has accused me of this.
Originally posted by kirksey957 How about the person? Do you have any idea of who it is. A very famous writer/priest. Dang, how many Dutch priests are there to choose from?
I don't think ivanhoe is really a Dutchman. He just acts like one here.
Originally posted by kirksey957 How about the person? Do you have any idea of who it is. A very famous writer/priest. Dang, how many Dutch priests are there to choose from?
Merciful Jesus. Thank the Lord for this thread as I'm gonna give you a wonderul theologian under your own roof. His name is Henri Nouwen. I will save my essay until tomorrow as this one will take some time. Oh, by the way, the metaphor he really liked for Jesus was a clown. Sorry about that. 🙂
Originally posted by kirksey957 How about the person? Do you have any idea of who it is. A very famous writer/priest. Dang, how many Dutch priests are there to choose from?
Ivory Tower Blessed Are They Forum
31 Oct '05 02:00
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