Malibu morning picture of the day - Wednesday, October 1, 2014

Dear Gentle Readers,

October is here. It's blue stripes again.

The air did not look so dingy as this photo implies. Sometimes the software decides to adjust to a reality all its own. Almost looks like a sandstorm--but is that even possible over the ocean? Although I understand that you cnn see massive Saharan Desert sandstorm blowover  over the Atlantic Ocean in aerial photos. There is no worthy 2nd look today.

For all you history buffs, the Colloquy of Marburg was convened 485 years ago today by Phillip of Hesse. What did they talk about? Well... which best describes your reaction to the following image:





A. "Artisanal bread? Organic small-press wine? Period setting? Not bad for a start, but where's the entree? I'll have the wild-caught Atlantic salmon, lightly poached, and a wilted kale salad garnished with heirloom tomatoes and a Meyer lemon dressing. Oh, and haricot vertes instead of the new potoates please."

B. "That looks like bread and wine, but it's the actual blood and body of Jesus Christ."

C. "It's bread and wine alrighty, but Jesus is present in those things during the Communion Services. So behave yourself..."

D. "Highly necessary props needed for our weekly/monthly liturgical theater."

Phillip of Hesse
I'm digging the outfit...

If you chose A, you're a foodie and you probably take pictures of your food all the time like this.

What Phillip of Hesse was after in this meeting was to get all of the C and D people friendly enough with each other to bash in the heads of the B people (his aims were more political than faith-based). The meeting produced a lot of agreement (trinity, person of Christ, His death and resurrection, original sin, justification by faith not works, etc.), but the above was the holdout position. To a guy in the 21st century, all of the foregoing seems like big stuff to me and this seems like a detail, but I wasn't there, so I'm sure it was very important.

Even so, it's interesting that when two parties are basically in agreement, small things become huge--like a couple who decide to buy a Honda Accord and they wind up having a big fight about the color of the seats.

By the way, B people are those of the Hapsburg Holy Roman Empire (Catholics who paid attention in theology class), C's are followers of Luther, and D's are followers of Zwingli. I'm a "D" FWIW, but you probably guessed that. Oh? You didn't? Oh my. Put away the gun, now.

See you tomorrow. Maybe.

Love,
Pops, a "Reform School" alumnus