For the Fourth of July: A Mystery and History solved

Maybe this is a little self-indulgent but a few weeks ago I heard a Shaker hymn in a Catholic Church which I found intriguing because it appeared to be the theme I remembered from long ago for a news program. Yesterday we sang it again and today I decided to solve the mystery. 

The theme as I heard it decades ago was played full symphonic. The first version I found today was sung by four young girls dancing and singing in front of a Melrose Church in 18th or 19th century costume. Having identified the source of theme I checked further and found that "Simple Gifts" was a theme adopted by Aaron Copeland for a movement for his  ballet " Appalachian Spring.  "Simple Gifts."  begins simply but he then reiterates it  five or six times, each time increasing in complexity until the last iteration goes full symphonic as I remembered from all those years long ago. It only takes a minute and a half  in toto..

This is the Fourth of July. Somehow I think to listen to this melody and how it developed into a majestic symphonic movement maybe   analogous to the remarkable development and growth of our nation.

Happy Fourth of July. We have come a long way but we have much farther to go.

Simple Gifts

Appalachian Spring


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This is not a promo for my book Quantum Christ but you can find out about it at:
http://johnklotz.blogspot.com/2015/01/the-coming-of-quantum-christ-has-arrived.html

The Apocalypse of Selfishness and The Shroud of Turin

“When it is evening, you say, ‘It will be fair weather for the sky is red.’ And in the morning, 'There will be a storm today, for the sky is red and lowering.' You know then how to discern the face of the sky, and can you not know the signs of the times?”
	Matthew 16:2-4

It is my premise  that the Shroud of Turin is the authentic burial cloth of Jesus, called Christ, and that it offers evidence that supports the claim of his resurrection within three days of his crucifixion. The scientific examination of the Shroud began with the Secondo Pia photographs in 1898. Until then,  the facts concerning the death and purported Resurrection were essentially matters of faith drawing on the four Gospels accounts, the Epistles of Christ’s apostles and oral traditions of cloudy provenance. There were even those who claimed that Christ never existed at all. Science has now provided a rock of fact to which believers may cling. But so what?

Here’s what: Humanity now faces an apocalyptical extinction as a species. Revelations and other apocalyptical writings have been until now mystical allegories and metaphors. But science is not prophesying in metaphors or allegories ‑ its prophecies of doom are based on hard facts.

The Apocalypse that threatens us is an apocalypse of selfishness. The heedless exploitation of our environment has resulted in multiple crises that demand immediate, concerted international cooperation and action, but the very apostles of selfishness that are driving humanity to the brink of extinction bar our way.

For prophecy of an apocalypse, let us turn to the current Roman Catholic Pope.

“Small yet strong in the love of God, like Saint Francis of Assisi, all of us, as Christians, are called to watch over and protect the fragile world in which we live, and all its peoples.
	Pope Francis ¶216 Evangelii Gaudium

Despite some criticisms from conservative elements in the Church, Francis has not retreated from his elevation of the environment to a religious issue. On May 21, 2014, Pope Francis told an audience; “If we destroy creation, creation will destroy us.”

Is Francis right? Was his statement hyperbole or prophecy? Creation destroying us! Is he prophesying an Apocalypse?