Theologian's Almanac for Week of February 23, 2020
Welcome to SALT’s “Theologian’s Almanac,” a weekly selection of important birthdays, holidays, and other upcoming milestones worth marking - specially created for a) writing sermons and prayers, b) creating content for social media channels, and c) enriching your devotional life.
For the week of Sunday, February 23:
February 23 is the day in 1455 that the first printing of the Gutenberg Bible commenced in Mainz, Germany. Prior to Johannes Gutenberg’s invention of the printing press, every book in Europe had been painstakingly copied out by hand (Chinese craftsmen by then had been printing books for more than five hundred years, unbeknownst to Europe). The first book Gutenberg printed with his new machine was the Bible; he produced 45 copies of the nearly 1,300-page volume on calfskin vellum, and another 135 copies on paper made from linen clothing.
February 23 is also the birthday of scholar and civil rights activist W.E.B. Du Bois, born in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, in 1868. He was the valedictorian of his high school class, and the town raised funds for him to attend Fisk University in Tennessee. At Fisk, Du Bois encountered Jim Crow laws for the first time: voter suppression and segregated drinking fountains, restrooms, restaurants, banks, schools, transportation, and lodging. He decided to devote his life and work to the study and dismantling of racism, and the advancement of people of color.
Du Bois went on to study in Germany and Massachusetts, and became the first African American to earn a PhD from Harvard University. In 1905, Du Bois met with 30 other African-American scholars and activists in Canada, near Niagara Falls (because blacks weren’t allowed to stay in white-owned hotels in the United States). This meeting kicked off a discussion that eventually resulted in the establishment of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. At the age of 95, Du Bois became a naturalized citizen of Ghana, where he died in August of 1963 - the day before Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his now-famous speech at the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.
February 23 is also the birthday of composer George Handel, born in Halle, Germany, in 1685. After moving to England and becoming the Master of the Orchestra at the Royal Academy of Music, he was asked by King George for a concert on the River Thames; for this occasion, Handel wrote his now-legendary “Water Music.” On a summer evening in 1717, the king boarded a barge on the river, and another barge floated nearby, carrying about 50 musicians along with Handel himself. Londoners boarded boats and barges, too, and listened to the concert from the shorelines. King George was so delighted that he ordered the music to be repeated three times, up and down the River Thames.
In 1741, Handel was asked to do a benefit in Dublin, and for this occasion, he worked feverishly on a new oratorio, often neglecting meals and sleep. In just over three weeks, he wrote “The Messiah,” one of the most recognizable pieces in the history of Western music. At the end of the score, he scrawled, Sola Deo Gloria, “To God Alone the Glory.” Upon finishing the work, it is said, he exclaimed, “I think God has visited me!”
February 23 is also the day in 1940 that Woody Guthrie wrote the lyrics to “This Land Is Your Land” - now one of America’s most celebrated folk songs, and for many, the country’s unofficial national anthem. Its melody is from an old Baptist hymn, and Guthrie wrote the lyrics in response to what he considered the pompous and pretentious “God Bless America,” written by Irving Berlin. Guthrie didn’t perform “This Land is Your Land” until 1944, and it didn’t become widely known until the 1960s, when Bob Dylan covered it, and it became a popular anthem during the Civil Rights movement.
February 24 is the birthday of the American poet Jane Hirshfield, born in New York City in 1953. Born to Jewish parents who were only occasionally observant, she eventually became an ordained lay practitioner of Zen Buddhism. She came to California to be a writer, and decided to take a detour: “I was curious about Zen and knew there was a monastery, Tassajara, in the Ventana Wilderness inland from Big Sur. Because it was the summer guest season rather than the stricter winter practice period time, I was able to drive in over the rather perilous 14-mile dirt road and stay for a week as a ‘guest student’... I decided to stay a few months, until I understood what Buddhism was all about. After a few months, what you understand is that you know nothing about what Buddhism is all about… I think of this time as the diamond at the center of my life. Whoever I now am came out of that experience.” After eight years at the monastery, she returned to writing and translating poetry. Her edited anthology, Women in Praise of the Sacred: Forty-Three Centuries of Spiritual Poetry by Women, is now a classic.
February 26 is Ash Wednesday, the beginning of the 40 days of Lent. Here are two meditations on the day and the season it begins: “Ash Wednesday,” from Rev. Heidi Carrington Heath, and “Resist,” from Rev. Holly McKissick.
February 26 is also the day in 1919 that President Woodrow Wilson established Grand Canyon National Park, after three decades of organized opposition from miners, ranchers, other businesspeople. The park now receives some 5 million visitors every year.
The canyon itself is 277 river miles long, 10 miles wide, and about a mile deep. Upon seeing it for the first time, Theodore Roosevelt remarked: “The Grand Canyon fills me with awe. It is beyond comparison - beyond description; absolutely unparalleled throughout the wide world... Let this great wonder of nature remain as it now is. Do nothing to mar its grandeur, sublimit, and loveliness. You cannot improve on it. But what you can do is to keep it for your children, your children's children, and all who come after you, as the one great sight which every American should see.”
February 29 is Leap Day, when the month has 29 days instead of 28. This happens every four years, and only in years divisible by four. Why does it happen? It takes the Earth 365 days and six hours to orbit the sun - so an extra 24 hours accrues every four years, and Leap Day covers it.
Well, in truth, it ever-so-slightly more than covers it. The exact time it takes the Earth to orbit the sun is 365 days, 5 hours, and 49 minutes - 11 minutes shy of a full six hours extra, so each Leap Day, we slip 44 minutes ahead of ourselves. To correct for this discrepancy, there’s no Leap Day in any year divisible by 100 but not by 400. So, there will be no Leap Days in 2100, 2200, and 2300; and there will be a Leap Day in 2400. And so on. Please make a note of it. :)