It's a Holiday

It’s the 17th of May (Syttende Mai) or Constitution Day for Norwegians. It was in 1814 that Norway broke away from Denmark after being under Danish control for several hundred years, and on May 17th of that year Norway’s constitution was established.  Nevermind that Norway was part of a kingdom with Sweden until 1905; this is still the day that they celebrate their independence. 

 

So to celebrate the Seventeenth of May here on the blog, I’m posting the words to the Norwegian national anthem, Ja, vi elsker dette landet, and including a link at the end so you can hear it as well.

 

In Norwegian:

Ja, vi elsker dette landet,
Som det stiger frem,
Furet, værbitt, over vannet,
Med de tusen hjem.
Elsker, elsker det og tenker
På vår far og mor
Og den saganatt som senker
Drømme på vår jord,
Og den saganatt som senker
Senker drømme på vår jord,

Norske mann i hus og hytte,
Takk din store Gud!
Landet ville han beskytte
Skjønt det mørkt så ut.
Alt hva fedrene har kjempet,
Mødrene har grett,
Har den Herre stille lempet,
Så vi vant vår rett,
Har den Herre stille lempet,
Så vi vant, vi vant vår rett.

Ja, vi elsker dette landet,
Som det stiger frem,
Furet, værbitt over vannet,
Med de tusen hjem!
Og som fedres kamp har hevet
Det fra nød til seier
Også vi når det blir krevet,
For dets fred slår leir,
Også vi når det blir krevet,
For dets fred, dets fred slår leir.

 In English:

Yes, we love this country
as it rises forth,
rugged, weathered, above the sea,
with those thousand homes.
Loving, loving it and thinking
about our father and mother
and the saga night that sends
dreams to our earth.
And the saga night that sends,
sends dreams to our earth.

Norseman, in house and cabin,
Thank your great God!
It was His will to protect the country
Although things looked dark.
While fathers fought
And mothers cried,
Our Lord quietly opened the way
So that we won our right.
Our Lord quietly opened the way
So that we won our rights.

Yes, we love this country
as it rises forth,
rugged and weathered, above the sea,
With those thousand homes.
And as our fathers’ struggle has raised it
from distress to victory,
even we, when it is demanded,
for its peace will encamp
even we, when it is demanded,
for its peace will encamp.

—Listen. 

Easy Cream Cheese and Spinach Roll Ups

These are good for when you need something that looks more fancy than crackers and cheese, but takes just about as much time and thought .

 

• Several flour tortillas, either plain, sun-dried tomato flavored or spinach flavored.
• Flavored cream cheese (I use Arla Buko Whipped Cream Cheese, Garlic and Herbs flavored.)
• Fresh spinach

Spread tortillas with cream cheese. Place spinach leaves in a single layer on top to cover the cream cheese. Roll up the tortillas, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for a couple of hours or until serving time. Slice each tortilla roll into 1-inch thick pieces, place pieces cut side up on a platter and serve.

Variations:

• Egg Salad and Spinach Roll Ups—Substitute egg salad for the cream cheese.
• Tuna and Spinach Roll Ups—Substitute tuna salad for the cream cheese.
• Ham and Spinach Roll Ups—Place a layer of thin sliced deli ham between the cream cheese and the spinach.
  

Be sure to browse more appetizer recipes in May’s Recipe Round Up found at Hireath today. There’s still time to participate if you’d like, since Kim will add recipes to the collection until 8pm CDT today.  (Isn’t this fun?)

 

Next month’s Recipe Round Up will feature desserts at Simply A Musing Blog. I’ll be sure to post more details of that one as the date for it approaches.

On Preparing for Suffering and Evil from D. A. Carson

Last week I gave you notes on the first sermon of Donald Carson’s two sermons on this subject.  The two sermons give us five pillars on which to “lay out a stable way on which to think about suffering and evil.”  (I suggest you listen to this second sermon for yourself and only use my notes to supplement  it. I like to listen to sermons and lectures while I do the drudgework around here, and that might work for you, too.)  The first sermon included the first three of the five pillars, and this one included the last two. I’m including the first three pillars in my list here for clarity’s sake, and then the notes on the second sermon start with pillars four and five.

1. Insights from the beginning of the Bible’s story line: Creation and fall.
2. Insights from the end of the Bible’s story line: There’s a heaven to be gained, and a hell to be shunned.
3. Insights from the place of innocent suffering: Job.


4. Insights from the mystery of providence: God is sovereign, but human beings are responsible.
   
   This is one of the most difficult areas to work through theologically, and yet it is very important for us to come to some sort of stable view of these matters. Carson begins with two propositions, which he says are biblically mandated for thoughtful Christians. 
   
   
   • God is utterly sovereign, but his sovereignty never functions to mitigate human responsibility.
   • Human beings are morally responsible creatures, but their moral responsibility never functions to make God absolutely contingent (dependent on us in some way).
     
   These propositions can be defended in text after text after text. The trick is to put them together. In philosophical theology, the fact that they belong together is sometimes called compatibilism.  Compatibilism doesn’t claim that we can know exactly how they are compatible. It merely claims that we can know enough to believe both propositions.

Click to read more ...