Maundy Thursday

The Last Supper
Leonardo da Vinci

Lest I forget...

(All quoted material is from the OAFSSRFTOTN.)

Maundy Thursday (also known as Holy Thursday, Covenant Thursday, Great and Holy Thursday, Sheer Thursday and Thursday of Mysteries) is the Christian feast, or holy day, falling on the Thursday before Easter. It commemorates the Maundy and Last Supper of Jesus Christ with the Apostles as described in the Canonical gospels. It is the fifth day of Holy Week, and is preceded by Holy Wednesday and followed by Good Friday.

Maundy (from Latin Mandatum), or Washing of the Feet, is a religious rite observed as an ordinance by several Christian denominations. John 13:1–17 mentions Jesus performing this act. Specifically, in verses 13:14–17, He instructs them, 14 "If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet." 15 "For I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you." 16 "Most assuredly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master; nor is he who is sent greater than he who sent him." 17 "If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them." As such, many denominations observe the washing of the feet on Maundy Thursday of Holy Week Moreover, for some denominations, foot-washing was an example, a pattern. Many groups throughout Church history and many modern denominations have practiced foot washing as a church ordinance.

And of course this week is also the celebration of Passover -

The Jewish people celebrate Passover as a commemoration of their liberation over 3,300 years ago by God from slavery in ancient Egypt that was ruled by the Pharaohs, and their birth as a nation under the leadership of Moses. It commemorates the story of the Exodus as described in the Hebrew Bible especially in the Book of Exodus, in which the Israelites were freed from slavery in Egypt.

In the narrative of the Exodus, the Bible tells that God helped the Children of Israel escape from their slavery in Egypt by inflicting ten plagues upon the ancient Egyptians before the Pharaoh would release his Israelite slaves; the tenth and worst of the plagues was the death of the Egyptian first-born.

The Israelites were instructed to mark the doorposts of their homes with the blood of a slaughtered spring lamb and, upon seeing this, the spirit of the Lord knew to pass over the first-born in these homes, hence the name of the holiday. There is some debate over where the term is actually derived from. When the Pharaoh freed the Israelites, it is said that they left in such a hurry that they could not wait for bread dough to rise (leaven). In commemoration, for the duration of Passover no leavened bread is eaten, for which reason it is called "The Festival of the Unleavened Bread". Thus Matzo (flat unleavened bread) is eaten during Passover and it is a symbol of the holiday.

It was to Jerusalem Jesus went, to celebrate Passover with his Disciples and to fulfill his destiny. Without Judaism, there would be no Jesus. Without Jesus there would be no salvation. I hope we would always remember just how intertwined these two great faiths are and to treat each other with love and respect.

Of course, I would hope that regardless of what faith someone professes, we would always treat each other with love and respect. Whether we believe it or not, we are all God's children and we are all brothers and sisters in His Sight.

I will be reflecting deeply on the meaning of this weekend and the events which took place two millennia ago. Especially when I look around me at the secular world. Without my faith I would be in absolute despair at times. But I have faith and I have hope.

Regardless of which of these two faiths you adhere to, or whether you adhere to no faith at all, may God grant you peace, long life and happiness. Never lose hope.

Silly Sarge will return, it's just that 

sometimes Serious Sarge has to get a

few words in.

Play This, Loud

It Seems That I Need To...

It seems that I have let the honors, awards, accolades, glory, compliments, kudos, praise, recognition, high fives, applause, congratulations and such go to my head.

It all started with a simple story about having been recognized at another blog. Then it escalated into the whole "I Love Me Wall" thing. And then, and then, I was recognized at another blog. I became...

... full of myself.

Normally I am a shy, retiring, humble, non-assertive, meek, mild, law abiding, simple man, who would never, ever seek the limelight or make a spectacle of myself and...

Sorry, sorry. Perhaps next time, I'll actually think of a good topic to post about or maybe...

Nah...

I like being silly!

A Plethora of Honors

The Rumbear Honors were announced last night. And Your Humble Scribe was awarded the prestigious and coveted Rumbear Seal of Approval (depicted above). It was a gala (virtual) event. As you can see I wore my very best "photo-shopped" uniform.

It should be noted that Rumbear was the second commenter on Ye Olde Blog and the very first grizzly bear (Ursus arctos horribilis) to comment. For a rather large and powerful animal he's rather deft with a keyboard. (I included his "About Me" bit from his blog, that's him in his pool, cell phone in hand, er, paw.)

It's been quite a week here. First the Suldog honors and now this.

I won't be attending the dinner at the White House. (What, there is no dinner at the White House? Oh. I see.)

I might be attending the dinner at White Castle...

But only if I can be at the same table as Harold and Kumar. I'm led to believe they might be there as well.

The I Love Me Wall

When I retired from the Air Force, my fellow sergeants presented me with a couple of things which really touched me deeply. The picture above is a really not-so-good photo of my "shadow box". This contains (on the left) the various ranks I had borne over my 24 year career. On the right are the medals I earned and at the top (kinda fuzzy, I know) are an Air Force crest with my qualification badges to either side. The one on the left is from my flight-line days (Senior Aircraft/Munitions Maintenance) and the one to the right is from my days as a "bit-whacking weenie", or computer programmer (Master Communications and Information).

The globe has arrows pointing to the various locations where I was stationed and at the bottom, the best part of all, is a flag flown over the U.S. Capitol building. (Provided by the Congress-Critter of one of my buddies. Said Congress-Critter having at one time been an actor on The Love Boat. Kinda tells you who the Congress-Critter was and what state my buddy was from. For those of a mind to go look.)

My fellow sergeants also gave me one of these - 

Yes, a French heavy cavalry saber. The one depicted is from the 1st Empire (think the Napoléon), mine is from the 2nd Empire (Napoléon III, nephew of the Napoléon). Yes, the officers in attendance got a little nervous when I drew my saber, then breathed a sigh of relief when I returned it to its scabbard. I had a reputation as being something of a "wild child" back in the day. Not wholly undeserved but I had somewhat mellowed by the time I retired. Somewhat.

Now many folks have, what we in the Armed Forces of these here United States like to call an "I Love Me Wall" (ILMW). You'll hang your various diplomas, pictures of you in olden days (sometimes with famous people, most times not, just the folks you served with) and other bits and pieces of bric-a-brac which make you feel good about yourself.

I used to have an ILMW until the Missus Herself decided that my Command Post needed to be gussied up and prettified for when folks came to visit. (For those of you who have seen my inaugural video post, the mess in the background is what I have made of the gussied-up-and-prettified Command Post. When people come to visit, the door is closed and the guests are told "that room we use for storage". Sigh...) But I see that I digress. Surprise, surprise. That almost never happens.

Now, here on Ye Olde Blog I have an ILMW of sorts. Over on the right sidebar you may have noticed this -

There are 13 folks at the time of this writing who are accounted as members by Gargoyle Google+. I like to call them "The Friends of the Old Sarge" (that's that French bit at the top). And they are (Left to right, top to bottom):

• The Chief (Yes, A Real Live Retired Navy Chief, so mind your manners!)
• Tuna (Of Aquatic Fame, self-noted for his sense of humor.)
• Greg (My Old High School Buddy, he still holds the local record for holding one's breath in chemistry class.)
• jphag13 (Cranky Old Man - that's his blog. We just call him "Joe".)
• Six (Of The Warrior Class. The blog AND he's an actual warrior.)
• (not necessarily your) Uncle Skip (That's his moniker. I don't make these things up when they fall into my lap like ripe apples. Hhhmm, that could be painful.)
• jib (Also a blogger and a surgeon. Good with a blade. Just sayin'...)
• Flying Tiger Comics (Don't know much about this one. But hey, they clicked the button to join! Cool icon too.)
• Dapper Dan (Another blogger. Also an Oh Brother, Where Art Thou reference.)
• Suldog (Yes, that is the Suldog, thank you very much. Accept no substitutes.)
• Your Humble Scribe (A man who wouldn't join his own blog wouldn't be much of a man, now would he? And you're right, I don't know how that happened. I was playing with the buttons on the dashboard. Never a good idea.)
• WING WIFE (Yes, that Wing Wife. An actual published author, unlike we scribblers of blogs, she has written an actual book. Also her husband is a Marine, a flying Marine, so tread lightly.)
• Bag Blog (Uh, that would be Lou. Who's blog is splendiforous. Which isn't a word in the real world. It is here though. I made it one by Imperial Fiat. Which is parked in the garage next to the Royal Chevy Malibu.)

I view it as a personal triumph over the Dark Forces menacing the world every time someone joins. Er, no, not really. But I do feel humbled and honored. That's gotta count for something, right?

Then there is another honor I have received in the past week which really got me going.

Seems I had an e-mail from my blog-buddy Suldog (or blogger extraordinaire as I sometimes call him, yes, need I say it again? The Suldog.) announcing that I had been promoted on his blog and now had my very own category. So if you head over there and look, on Suldog's left sidebar, you'll see this - (go on, go look, I'll wait)

Yup, that's me at number three, just below Buck!

So thanks go out to all the members of my blog (noted above), to Suldog and to all the fine folk who stop by here from time to time to read my musings, rants, war stories, tales of my improbable escapades and occasional political commentary (thought that last lot is a bit rare).

Let me leave you with these words of wisdom...

Think about it.

I'm willing to bet Suldog gets it. (Yes, that Suldog.)

Iterating With the Diametric Leg

Pulled this from the Spam Filter at my other blog this morning, too weird (and bizarre) to just throw away and not share. Or something to that effect…

Now, one time this bade is dry trading floor, then Iterate with the diametric leg. They fifty-fifty own the car been more than set aside seen by the USCG outset, not put out in circulation for the executive chairs fourth part backs to shell forth with their condemnations.

Yeah, bro’. Don’t be shelling forth with those condemnations. Otherwise…

Huh?

Well, they DID mention the Coast Guard (I think) so yeah, it’s relevant.

Head. Going. To. Explode.

Yup, been over to Quick Meme again. Can't help myself. There are days I want to post about certain things and I quickly get to the point of imagining my neighbors being interviewed on TV:

"He was such a quiet guy, always kept to himself. But he seemed nice..."

Um, yeah. I'll fantasize about "going postal" but am far too civilized to ever actually do so. Though she might disagree from time to time, I actually was paying attention when my Mom was teaching us common sense, good manners and the sorts of behaviors guaranteed NOT to upset the neighbors. (Usually immediately after we HAD upset the neighbors.)

Today at work was one of those "If I get one more unreasonable, no-value-added request from those idiotic so-and-so's in the such-and-such department I am going to turn in my badge, head for the door and bid this place farewell!" Let them fix this problem, let them explain to the customer at some future point in time why this stuff "ain't done yet".

No, it came close to that, but cooler heads prevailed. I was actually able to provide a rational explanation as to why I would not be performing an action which (a) made no sense, (b) added no value to the product, (c) would delay the execution of the real work I needed to get done and (d) all of the above. Damn-it! Um, yeah. I'll get "feisty" at work from time to time and it usually manages to amaze one or two people who just aren't paying attention.

I may seem jovial and happy-go-lucky all of the time, but there are days when that's just a thin veneer covering the raging animal buried in all of us. Imagine Santa suddenly pulling out a battleaxe and laying about himself like a frenzied Viking berserker. Yeah, it's like that. When the old dog's tail ain't wagging, stay off the damn porch!

I prefer to be the cute, cuddly little bunny.

But I can be the wolf. If that's what you want. If you push too hard.

The wolf almost got loose today.

I feel better now. Much better.