What Happened In Carthage On March 7th?
Well, I had a great time in Carthage yesterday. It was a small group - probably about twenty people, until all the kids left for junior church, then it was only about 10.I preached on I Peter 2:1-3...and used some of these illustrations: The Battle Of The Toast, Deceit and Spiritual Appetites.
After the service, we all trooped into the fellowship hall for coffee and sweet rolls and other goodies. (everyone laughed about how, after I'd talked about changing appetites, they had sweet rolls with the sugary glaze just dripping off them!) But the thing I most enjoyed about that time was, in the midst of all the chatting and fun and silliness, I heard three distinct conversations discussing things from the sermon. And I thought "What a great thing this is, to have a fellowship time right after the service every Sunday...because this is the time when people are most likely to talk about the message, and the ways it might apply to their lives."
My Calendar has filled up a bit more...I've added two more dates of preaching at Carthage, in April. So that makes 5 total. They also asked me about the possibility of a VBS, but I doubt that'll happen this summer!
I gave the congregation a "research" assignment...I asked them if they could find out why the date March 7th was an important date for anyone living in Carthage. They tried a couple guesses, but nobody figured it out...it'll be interesting to see if anyone comes up with the answer. Can any of you find the answer?
Then in the afternoon I had lunch with Katie and Bobbie, and then we watched a movie together. Had a really nice time. And I found out that after Katie and Bobbie are married, they're going to be living right in South Paris. And hopefully will get involved in helping out with the youth group. That'll be nice!
On another subject...I got an amusing email yesterday, from a guy who wanted to do a "link exchange" with me. The idea of a link exchange is, I post a link to his site on my site, and he posts a link to my site on his. I get these emails all the time, but this one was particularly amusing...after saying he wanted to do a link exchange, he said that unfortunately he can't place my link on his web page because he's limiting his outbound links.
I'm wondering whether I should bother writing back to him and explaining the concept of a link exchange because he obviously doesn't get it.
Posted On Feb 27, 2006 at 6:38 AM
On Feb 27, 2006 Mr. T wrote: March 7 - Carthage
Quote:
| At the beginning of the third century, the Roman emperor Septimus Severus forbade conversions to Christianity. Among those disobeying that edict were Perpetua, a young noblewoman, and her maidservant Felicitas. Both were jailed at Carthage in North Africa along with three fellow Christians. During their imprisonment, Perpetua and Felicitas witnessed to their faith with such conviction that the officer in charge became a follower of Jesus. After making arrangements for the well-being of their children, Perpetua and Felicitas were executed on 7 March 203. Tradition holds that Perpetua showed mercy to her captors by falling on a sword because they could not bear to put her to death. The story of this martyrdom has been told ever since as an encouragement to persecuted Christians. |
[From "Commemorations Biographies," Lutheran Hymnal Project, LCMS Commission on Worship, http://www.lcms.org/?3777 ]
Is that it?
Doug Replied: Well done. Although there is a great deal of discrepancy in the various reports of the events. For example, in some reports, Septimus Severus did not actually forbid conversion to Christianity. Rather, he stated that everyone had to sacrifice to the Roman Gods (which was, for most Christians, essentially the same as outlawing Christianity)
Other reports indicate that Perpetua and Felicity/Felicitas didn't even know each other until they were imprisoned together.
And, of course, there were different reports of the actual execution...most report that, unlike the men who were martyred along with them, Perpetua and Felicity were not thrown to the lions, but to a mad heifer. This is reported in just about every accounting, however, some have the alternate ending that you found...the trompling by the mad heifer did not finish them off, so the soldiers had to slay them.
Here's a picture of the place where they were martyred.
On Mar 1, 2006 BackStage wrote: Do you suppose that history lesson has anything to do with Harry Potter?
Doug Replied: Errr...I must be missing something here... ???
On Mar 2, 2006 BackStage wrote: "Septimus Severus" - Severus Snape
But I couldn't find any meaningful reference to Perpetua or Felicitas in the HP books.
What else do we know about this emperor?
Doug Replied: Oh, now that's really interesting...do you suppose Rowling chose that name specifically because of the emperor? I just read a really brief online bio of Septimus Severus, and didn't see anything that reminded me of snape...
On Mar 2, 2006 BackStage wrote: I don't know...but if the Emperor persecuted Christians, and if Rowling chose that name for a reason, it could be a clue as to what's going on at the end of "Half Blood Prince."
On the other hand, it could just be a red herring.
Doug Replied: or maybe John Granger is right in theorizing that "Severus Snape" is a pun on "Sever his nape", indicating that Snape is going to get beheaded.
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