First Annual Heritage Arts Campout!
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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 #347
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““I would advise you when You do fight Not to act like Tygers and Bears as these Virginians do – Biting one anothers Lips and Noses off, and gowging one another – that is, thrusting out one anothers Eyes, and kicking one another on the Cods, to the Great damage of many a Poor Woman.” ”
Self-Defense: What in tarnation is American Rough ‘n’ Tumble martial arts? Here at Heritage Self-Defense, we practice American Rough ‘n’ Tumble — a self-defense oriented martial art that originated in the Southern Virginia backcountry during the Colonial Era. It incorporates boxing, wrestling, kicking, indigenous fighting methods, and weapons (walking stick, knife, tomahawk, etc.), as well as physical culture and spiritual development. Want to learn more about Rough ‘n’ Tumble? If technical, historical information is your speed, check out this great article by E. J. Gorn originally published by the American Historical Association or check out this fun historical research blog called Gouger’s Bible. But if something more popular is your speed, here’s a piece courtesy of Vice Sports. Of course, for best info on American Rough ‘n’ Tumble join the Heritage Self-Defense club in Richmond, VA or click here to join the Heritage Arts Self-Defense distance learning program!
Fitness: Fit to do what? Yeah, yeah, we know, we ask that question a lot around here. How about fit enough to move through the environment? The great Theodore Roosevelt was famous for his “walks” which he continued to do even when he was President of the United States. He was fond, you see, of walking through the woods “point to point” — in other words, his rule was that you had to ford any creeks, clamber over rocks and trees, and get through any thickets — no exceptions. Here’s a fun and famous story about Jean Jules Jusserand, the ambassador of France, getting looped into a “walk” with T. R. Okay, so, watch the video on the left, and get to scrambling! Want more old-school fitness material? Click here to sign up for our 100% free program!
An old chianti bottle once used for a candle holder
Wildwood: Who knew you could practice primitive skills at a wine tasting? Yes, you can open your sensorium by tasting wine. I was never able to taste any of the crazy stuff that hoity-toity wine people say they taste in wine. You know, like minerality, specific fruits, and all of that. That is until, in the course of reading about how historical trackers and indigenous people could taste the air and smell much more acutely, I began to think that my inability to taste things in wine might be attributable to having the wrong mindset. I began to consider that just as “instinct” and “intuition” are mostly about being open to more input — perceiving with our whole bodies, the air moving the hair on our skin, the sun on our face to tell direction, peripheral vision sensing movement, etc. — I should be open to any opportunity to improve my sensorium. So, when a Master Sommelier invited me to a wine tasting, I jumped at the chance. He took me under his wing, and bang! On my very first try I tasked all kinds of fancy-pantsy stuff — hints of leather, dried fruit, and jam — all of which my guide assured me were valid perceptions. Just as a tracker or a martial artist trusts his instincts, a wine taster does the same. There are a few tricks though — some physical hacks for tasting and smelling more. Sound fun? Click here and sign up for the 100% free Heritage Wildwood distance learning program!
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.
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Homily for the Fourth Sunday of Lent, Sunday 3/19/23 – Archdeacon Mitch
Readings: 1 Sm 16:1b, 6-7, 10-13a, Ps 23: 1-3a, 3b-4, 5, 6, Eph 5:8-14, Jn 9:1-41
1 As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. 2 His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”
3 Jesus answered, “This man didn’t sin, nor did his parents, but that the works of God might be revealed in him. 4 I must work the works of him who sent me while it is day. The night is coming, when no one can work. 5 While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” 6 When he had said this, he spat on the ground, made mud with the saliva, anointed the blind man’s eyes with the mud, 7 and said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means “Sent”). So he went away, washed, and came back seeing.
8 Therefore the neighbors and those who saw that he was blind before said, “Isn’t this he who sat and begged?” 9 Others were saying, “It is he.” Still others were saying, “He looks like him.”
He said, “I am he.”
10 They therefore were asking him, “How were your eyes opened?”
11 He answered, “A man called Jesus made mud, anointed my eyes, and said to me, ‘Go to the pool of Siloam and wash.’ So I went away and washed, and I received sight.”
12 Then they asked him, “Where is he?”
He said, “I don’t know.”
13 They brought him who had been blind to the Pharisees. 14 It was a Sabbath when Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes. 15 Again therefore the Pharisees also asked him how he received his sight. He said to them, “He put mud on my eyes, I washed, and I see.”
16 Some therefore of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, because he doesn’t keep the Sabbath.”
Others said, “How can a man who is a sinner do such signs?” So there was division among them.
17 Therefore they asked the blind man again, “What do you say about him, because he opened your eyes?”
He said, “He is a prophet.”
18 The Jews therefore didn’t believe concerning him, that he had been blind and had received his sight, until they called the parents of him who had received his sight, 19 and asked them, “Is this your son, whom you say was born blind? How then does he now see?”
20 His parents answered them, “We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind; 21 but how he now sees, we don’t know; or who opened his eyes, we don’t know. He is of age. Ask him. He will speak for himself.” 22 His parents said these things because they feared the Jews; for the Jews had already agreed that if any man would confess him as Christ, he would be put out of the synagogue. 23 Therefore his parents said, “He is of age. Ask him.”
24 So they called the man who was blind a second time, and said to him, “Give glory to God. We know that this man is a sinner.”
25 He therefore answered, “I don’t know if he is a sinner. One thing I do know: that though I was blind, now I see.”
26 They said to him again, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?”
27 He answered them, “I told you already, and you didn’t listen. Why do you want to hear it again? You don’t also want to become his disciples, do you?”
28 They insulted him and said, “You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses. 29 We know that God has spoken to Moses. But as for this man, we don’t know where he comes from.”
30 The man answered them, “How amazing! You don’t know where he comes from, yet he opened my eyes. 31 We know that God doesn’t listen to sinners, but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does his will, he listens to him.✡ 32 Since the world began it has never been heard of that anyone opened the eyes of someone born blind. 33 If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.”
34 They answered him, “You were altogether born in sins, and do you teach us?” Then they threw him out.
35 Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, and finding him, he said, “Do you believe in the Son of God?”
36 He answered, “Who is he, Lord, that I may believe in him?”
37 Jesus said to him, “You have both seen him, and it is he who speaks with you.”
38 He said, “Lord, I believe!” and he worshiped him.
39 Jesus said, “I came into this world for judgment, that those who don’t see may see; and that those who see may become blind.”
40 Those of the Pharisees who were with him heard these things, and said to him, “Are we also blind?”
41 Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no sin; but now you say, ‘We see.’ Therefore your sin remains.”
I love folk remedies. They’ve always fascinated me. Tricks like rubbing dirt on a bruise, putting butter on a burn, drinking the juice off a can of fruit for heartburn, and stopping a headache with a hot footbath. The first two don’t work, by the way, but science backs up the second two. So is that what Jesus is doing in today’s reading? When he makes a bit of clay from dirt and spit, is he practicing a folk remedy or perhaps casting a magic spell? No, I don’t think Jesus is doing either of those things. I think he is physically illustrating or acting out an important concept.
Look at it this way. A modern businessperson illustrates sales trends using charts and graphs. A science teacher spins a small weight on a string to demonstrate centrifugal force. Actors and actresses, through plays, shows, and movie dramatizations, help us better understand complex social situations. They help us empathize with real people long after the show is over. And what Jesus does with his dramatization is blind the blind man with clay so that the Pharisees may see. Isn’t that something?
Remember, the disciples asked Jesus whose sin caused the man’s blindness and Jesus said nobody’s sin did. Jesus knew how the Pharisees were going to react to his little reality play. So he answered the disciples, “it is so that the works of God might be made visible through him.” Jesus knew that the Pharisees were blinded by their laws and rules. He knew that they would consider it impossible for a sinful man like him, who broke the sabbath rules, to perform signs – even if they saw the evidence and heard the testimony. Jesus knew that, for the Pharisees, illnesses, calamities, and catastrophes of all kinds were considered proof of sin. Therefore he knew that the Pharisees would consider the man’s testimony untrustworthy because he worn blind – born in sin. And Jesus is right. When the blind man tells the Pharisees the truth of his cure, the Pharisees’ answer is, “You were born totally in sin, and you are trying to teach us?” and they threw him out of their midst.
By covering the blind man’s eyes with clay, Jesus shows – the same way an actor dramatizes a story -- that the Pharisees are blind to their own blindness. Not only are they blind to the miracle Jesus has performed, they are blind to the wrong-headedness of their presuppositions.¹ And by washing away the clay to heal the man, Jesus shows that only by becoming aware of their blindness do the Pharisees have any hope of salvation. This is why Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no sin; but now you say, ‘We see.’ Therefore your sin remains.”
The one who thinks he knows everything is closed to new knowledge. Ignorant of his own ignorance, he is blind to his own blindness and bound to remain in darkness. Only by becoming aware of our ignorance and faults can we open our eyes and move toward the light.
✡ 9:31 Psalm 66:18; Proverbs 15:29; 28:9
¹ To my knowledge this is the oldest known example of the concept, popularized in 2002 by former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, of “unknown unknowns” – things that we do not know that we do not know. The so-called “Rumsfeld Matrix” consists of four possibilities: (1) known knowns, or things that we know and are aware of, (2) known unknowns, or things that we do not know and are fully aware that we do not know, (3) unknown unknowns, or things that we don’t know that we don’t know, and (4) unknown knowns, or things that we know but do not explore because they conflict with our preferred worldview. The Pharisees belong in the fourth category – the willfully blind.