What’s the weekly mettle maker? Training tips and educational information in support of our free programs, that’s what! What’s mettle? According the American Heritage Dictionary, mettle is, “The ability to meet a challenge or persevere under demanding circumstances; determination or resolve.”
Mettle Maker #338
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Self-Defense: Get out your floor bag and do a wrestling conditioner. Set a timer for 10- 20 minutes and run through repeated cycles of the following: Knee inserts and Toe Extracts, Clocks, Back Bridges, Bottom Scissors (to failure), and Rolling Pins (for for body toughening). If none of this makes sense, sounds like you need a martial arts training program. Click here to sign up for the 100% free Heritage Self-Defense Distance Learning Program.
Me after a three0mile tire run a few years back.
Fitness: Try an old-school fitness run. Fun fact about the old-timers: they most ran short distances, and they mostly did them sprint/walk style. This is because running has limited value outside the sport of running itself, which is why I never run for more than a mile or so these days. For general fitness, I recommend running shorter distances and, if you need more intensity, I suggest focusing on sprints or addiong a fun “old school” wrinkle. One of my favorites is a “Rocky run” — that is, punch the air the entire time you’re running. I also like Apache runs, Prisoner runs, Tire runs, and so on. Want to learn more? Click here to sign up for the 100% free Heritage Fitness Distance Learning Program.
Outdoor skills: In the words of the great Yogi Berra, “You can observe a lot by watching.” Click here to read about Ben Bacon, the furniture conservator who saw something in cave paintings that no anthropologist, archaeologist, or art historian was previously able to see. “A London furniture conservator has been credited with a crucial discovery that has helped understand why Ice Age hunter-gatherers drew cave paintings. Ben Bacon analysed 20,000-year-old markings on the drawings, concluding they could refer to a lunar calendar. It led to a specialist team proving early Europeans made notes about the timing of animals' reproductive cycles.”
Interested in a free outdoor skills distance learning program? Check out our free programs here.
Holy Communion is now LIVE on YouTube every Sunday at 9AM. Due to YouTube LIVE processing times, the weekly Holy Communion video is often partial until late afternoon or evening. If you attempt to view the video, and running time is less than 40 to 45 minutes, please check back later.
CLICK HERE TO VIEW AND PRINT THE HOLY COMMUNION PROGRAM
Homily for the Second Sunday in Ordinary Time, 1/15/23 – Archdeacon Mitch
Readings: Is 49:3, 5-6, Ps 40:2, 4, 7-8, 8-9, 10, 1 Cor 1:1-3, Jn 1:29-34
Today’s epistle reading from 1 Corinthians is a little hard to understand, depending on the translation. Paul says,
Paul, called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ* through the will of God, and our brother Sosthenes, 2 to the assembly of God which is at Corinth—those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called saints, with all who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ in every place, both theirs and ours: 3 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
And once you figure it out, it seems so mundane. You think, “Oh, I get it. But it’s just the salutation of a letter – what are we supposed to learn from this?” Well, rest assured, like most everything Saint Paul says, his simple greeting to fellow Christians in Corinth is jam-packed with meaning. Let lay it out for you.
Paul makes it clear that the message he is sending isn’t coming him alone, but also from his brother in Christ, Sosthenes. And, furthermore, he emphasizes that he and Sosthenes are joined together in holiness with those he’s addressing who are in Corinth, as well as with everyone who calls on the name of Christ. The very next thing Paul says to them is,
“Now I beg you, brothers and sisters, through the name of our Lord, Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfected together in the same mind and in the same judgment.”
Let this be a warning to us also my friends. We must always and everywhere be witnesses of Christ in our thoughts, desires, actions, and beliefs – in our words and in our hearts – or else our message will not get through clearly. And you may ask, “What’s the message?”
We are the message.
Our words? Yes. But also our demeanor, our choices, our attitude, our body language -- all of it. If a picture is worth a thousand words, how many words is a cold shoulder worth? How many volumes does a betrayal speak? One callous comment is a trumpet blast, each insensitivity is a volcanic eruption.
In my evangelism work, I can’t tell you how often I hear comments like,
· “I left my church because the people there were jerks.”
· “Christians are all judgmental prudes and nitwits.”
· “Christians think they’re perfect and everybody else is going to hell.”
· “You priests and pastors are just leeches on society.”
These statements are far from true. But it’s a fact that every misbegotten word, inappropriate comment, and cutting glance falls like a domino, and leads we know not where. We are wise if we remember the words of James 1:26,
“If anyone among you thinks himself to be religious while he doesn’t bridle his tongue, but deceives his heart, this man’s religion is worthless.”
† 1:14 The phrase “only born” is from the Greek word “μονογενους”, which is sometimes translated “only begotten” or “one and only.”
*1:1 “Christ” means “Anointed One.”
* 2:1 The word for “wise men” (magoi) can also mean teachers, scientists, physicians, astrologers, seers, interpreters of dreams, or sorcerers.
✡ 2:6 Micah 5:2