Pete Seeger meets Shakespeare in Qoheleth

Ecclesiastes 3 has more to do with modern society than first meets the eye.

As You Like It (1936 film), act II, scene 7,
after "Seven Ages of Man" monolog

Shakespeare, Pete Seeger, and Martin Luther King, Jr., all drew on the timeless poetry that opens the third chapter of Ecclesiastes, the word of the teacher, Qoheleth.

My wife, Misty, and I had the privilege today to visit our friends at North Scituate (R.I.) Baptist Church (NSBC), which is led by our friends Pastor Kim Nelson and his wife Nancy. 

I spoke on Ecclesiastes 3:1-8, "Written and Directed by God." I am grateful to Misty for pointing me to Shakespeare's As You Like It, act II, scene 7. Many years on, she is ever ready to put her university English degree to good work.

The service at NSBC is livestreamed weekly and archived on the church YouTube channel.

Amos, King: love one another; defend the oppressed; plead the cause of the innocent, the powerless

David Erickson CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons

On this Martin Luther King, Jr. weekend, I was blessed with the opportunity to stand in the pulpit of the historic North Scituate Baptist Church, Rhode Island, affording a rest for beloved Pastor Kim Nelson there.

I spoke to the Book of Amos, chapter 5, verses 21 to 24 (NIV), often cited by Dr. King. In the "I Have a Dream" speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in August 1963 (photo), Dr. King quoted Amos 5:24: “[L]et judgment run down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream" (KJV).

In the history of the church, Amos at times has been controversial for its ominous depiction of God. But Amos contains a call for social justice that is as important and relevant today as it was in America during the Civil Rights Movement and in Israel in the 8th century B.C.

My wife and I are deeply grateful to the people at North Scituate for their warm hospitality.

'For the first time, we're seen as we should be seen,' Martin Luther King Jr. told Star Trek's 'Uhura'

Prepping the spring semester when classes start the day after an involuntary furlough is prone to put a particular professor perpetually a week behind.  So forgive me for belatedly marking Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, which fell this year on Monday, January 18. Or we can say this is a more timely commemoration of yesterday's World Day for African and Afrodescendant Culture.

Of all the things one could relate about the legendary Dr. King, Nichelle Nichols (IMDb, PBS), Star Trek's original Lt. Uhura, has the very best story.

That's from the 2011 documentary, Trek Nation (IMDb, Amazon).  She told the story also to the Television Academy Foundation in 2019.