A Meme

Okay I tagged you all for a meme. You can do it in the combox or in a seperate post, whichever you prefer.

This is what you do

1. Pick up the nearest book (of at least 123 pages).
2. Open the book to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the next three sentences.
5. Tag five people.

Have fun!

Chesterton quotes?

I'm doing an assignment for school on alcohol abuse, and I thought I could incorporate some good Chesterton quotes. Does anyone know any?
Thanks!

Next order of buisness

OK people!

I have received clearance from higher up, so we can proceed with debate preparations. If any one interested would e-mail their time zone to webmaster@love2learn.net we will put together several times when all could be on and show them to you. You can then say which one/s you prefer and we could set a date. That's about it so if this confuses please say so. Other wise, 'tra la!'

Poetry Thursday- A Hymn

O God of earth and altar,
Bow down and hear our cry,
Our earthly rulers falter,
Our people drift and die;
The walls of gold entomb us,
The swords of scorn divide,
Take not thy thunder from us,
But take away our pride.

From all that terror teaches,
From lies of tongue and pen,
From all the easy speeches
That comfort cruel men,
From sale and profanation
Of honour and the sword,
From sleep and from damnation,
Deliver us, good Lord.

Tie in a living tether
The prince and priest and thrall,
Bind all our lives together,
Smite us and save us all;
In ire and exultation
Aflame with faith, and free,
Lift up a living nation,
A single sword to thee.

An accompanyment for it can be found here.

Poetry Thursday- The Christmas Truce

On Christmas Eve 1914, in the middle of WWI, in numerous places along the trenches, an unusual thing happened. Men stopped fighting. They sang, held broken conversations in various languages, played soccer, had Mass together... it must have been incredible. There is a movie, by name Joyeux Noel, which tells the story of one of the truces, and here you can see a six minute video on this topic, which you really should watch.

Alright, that was not a completely random tangent, although it may have sounded like one, for Chesterton wrote a poem about the truce, and so the above badly-written paragraph was my weak attempt to give you some background.

The Truce of Christmas
By G.K. Chesterton

Passionate peace is in the sky —
And in the snow in silver sealed
The beasts are perfect in the field,
And men seem men so suddenly —
(But take ten swords and ten times ten
And blow the bugle in praising men;
For we are for all men under the sun;
And they are against us every one;
And misers haggle and madmen clutch,
And there is peril in praising much,
And we have the terrible tongues uncurled
That praise the world to the sons of the world.)
The idle humble hill and wood
Are bowed upon the sacred birth,
And for one little hour the earth
Is lazy with the love of good—
(But ready are you, and ready am I,
If the battle blow and the guns go by;
For we are for all men under the sun,
And they are against us every one;
And the men that hate herd all together,
To pride and gold, and the great white feather,
And the thing is graven in star and stone
That the men who love are all alone.)

Hunger is hard and time is tough,
But bless the beggars and kiss the kings;
For hope has broken the heart of things,
And nothing was ever praised enough.
(But hold the shield for a sudden swing
And point the sword when you praise a thing,
For we are for all men under the sun,
And they are against us every one;
And mime and merchant, thane and thrall
Hate us because we love them all;
Only till Christmastide go by
Passionate peace is in the sky.)

Such is Life

School is informative...

And the weather is dull...

But the Chesterteens are utterly Charming!

Opinions?

I was wondering what you all thought about having a monthly/bimonthly/annual Chesterteens debate or something of the sort? I mean with everyone logged on at the same time and all arguing about a topic? Be as frank as you please.

Poetry Thursday

It's J.R.R. Tolkiens birthday today!!!!! And I'm sure Gilbert would approve a brief breaking of the conventions here to post a Tolkien poem.

All that is gold does not glitter,
Not all those who wander are lost;
The old that is strong does not wither,
Deep roots are not reached by the frost.
From the ashes a fire shall be woken,
A light from the shadows shall spring;
Renewed shall be blade that was broken,
The crownless again shall be king.