Audiocassettes have gone the way of the slide rule. Considering all the cassettes I have had tangle up over the years, I can't say that I'll miss them.
But our 2001 Impala has a cassette player, not a CD player. So I'm glad I still have some cassettes around.
Recently I was preparing for a drive and looked around for a cassette to play in the car. I came across an old copy of Hooked on Classicsthat we had purchased in the early 1980s, back before we came to Oxford.
Here were medleys of some of the most famous snippets of Western music, skillfully blended together and set to a disco beat. (As Dave Barry would say, I am not making this up.) Take the Flight of the Bumblebee, add the opening of Mozart's 40th, a little Rhapsody in Blue, some Beethoven's 5th and 9th, some Lone Ranger music, the Hallelujah Chorus.... With such great ingredients, you can't miss. Start with the Wedding March. Put in the Brahms Lollaby, Peer Gynt, some Wagner Kill Da Wabbit music---why not?
I hadn't heard any of these arrangements in years, but it is still true that when one of these bits of music pops into...
On August 15 Messianic singer Jonathan Settel led worship at the Church of the Messiah. He was in Dayton attending a Haverim School of Discipleship on the subject of the Feast of Tabernacles.
This was at least the second time over the last 10 years that Settel had come to Dayton. A number of years ago he visited Dayton and gave a concert. He has a deep, rich, resonant voice,and I was glad for the opportunity to hear him again. We have his album Kol Ba'Midbar (Voice in the Wilderness) on cassette, and his voice has kept us company during a number of car trips over the years.
On August 1, 2009, James Whitman gave the sermon at the Church of the Messiah. His text was 1Tim 1:13:
"What you heard from me, keep as the pattern of sound teaching, with faith and love in Christ Jesus. " (NIV)
Mr. Whitman raised the question: What are the characteristics of "sound teaching'? He explained that the Greek word for "sound" comes from a root that is the source of the English word "hygiene". The same word is translated "enjoy good health" in 3 John 2. So "sound" teaching is sound in the sense of healthy.
To give further insight into this word, he went on to explore its use in the Gospels:
In Matt 12:9-13 Jesus participates in a halakhic discussion on the subject of healing on the Sabbath. He gives sound teaching and also heals a man's hand, restoring it to soundness.
In Matt 15:29-31 Jesus heals many people. The crippled are "made well" (Gk. hygios) , prompting those present to praise God.
In Mark 5:25-34 a woman who has suffered for 12 years seeks healing from Jesus and receives it. Later this woman would have been able to look back on this event with thanksgiving. It...
Yesterday the public library in Oxford held its annual used book sale. Hardback books were a dollar, paperbooks fifty cents. I browsed for about 90 minutes and picked up 6 hardbacks and 8 paperbacks for a total of $10.
I look forward to this sale every year. Since I've been to 25 of them now, I suppose I must have accumulated around 300 books from them all together. Out of all of these books, the one I've used the most has been a hardback copy of the NRSV, with apocrypha, that I picked up in excellent condition one year. (At that point, hardbacks were probably 50 cents.)
Some of the best bargains over the years:
Edersheim's Bible History, an old 7-volume set in decent condition, for $1.50.
James R. Newman's four-volume anthology, The World of Mathematics, in good condition for a dollar.
A 1969 edition of The Baseball Encyclopedia in good condition for a quarter (back in the 1980s when hardbacks were a quarter and paperbacks a dime).
Along with the gems I've picked up some junk that I'd never have purchased if the prices were higher. It is for a good cause, and funding for public libraries in Ohio is being slashed...
