Not all people have the physical courage of Saint Francis, but some do. I’m an Army brat proud of my father’s service to our country and proud of my son Evan who began yesterday pre-Ranger School training at Fort Bragg. I received just now a copy of this email my brother Sean sent to our father. It deserves a wider audience. Hat tip to Sean Royal Ellsworth, West Chester, PA.

Dad,

I want to share this personal, related story. Last month while boarding a plane in Dallas to fly back to Philadelphia I observed a young E-1 Air Force Airman take a seat in coach about three rows in front of me. Many fellow citizens were thanking him for his service and just being generally accommodating to the men in uniform on the flight (you gotta love Texans!). As the flight attendants were preparing for take off I saw two of them approach this young serviceman and could tell they were asking him for something in particular. It was taking some coaxing on their part so my interest grew then I saw an older gentleman stand up in first class as the young airman walked toward the front of the plane in his combat dress unform. These two men exchanged a heartfelt handshake and I then knew that the older man was giving up his first class seat for him. This struck many people in the plane as they observed this and the older gentleman received some high fives as he made his way back toward the back of the plane. Afterward as we walked toward baggage claim in Philly I shook the older man’s hand and thanked him for his excellent act of citizenship and leadership that made such a lasting impression on so many on the flight. He told me he was a young E-1 Airman once and served 22 years in the Air Force and will never forget these young servicemen and women.

Share these stories. Look for these divine appointments in your day as they can make a lasting impression on those around you. Veterans Day is in 35 days. Maybe you are being “called” to do something special this fall for somebody in your neighborhood or community that is serving our country or has a son or daughter serving.  Maybe next time you are in an airport and you see young servicemen in line for some food or something to drink you tell the cashier to put it on your tab.

Evan updates are oft requested. Here’s the latest, by way of his reply to his Uncle Sean, a former Army officer. Evan copied this to me. Reading it, you’re reading someone else’s mail. That is what we do when we read the Bible. It is certainly what we Gentiles are doing when we read the Old Testament. More about that later.

________________________________

Sent: Tue 5/12/2009 9:36 PM

Re: FW: Army Ten-Miler April Update

Sean,

The butter bar training is going alright. I spend a lot of time in the field, and a lot more time working on OPORDs. The pace is very demanding. When in garrison I typically am having an OPORD several nights per week and quizzes thrown in as well, sometimes on the same nights. The field is more my element, and I prefer being a set of boots on the ground as opposed to a pogue in the classroom. I’ll be here at Knox until 9 July in Mounted Officer Basic Course. After that, the schedule is not exactly certain. I will definitely go to Airborne School (again) for 3 weeks. The other two courses that are up in the air are the Army Reconnaissance Course (ARC) and Ranger School. I may or may not attend those simply because my brigade combat team deploys to Afghanistan in either August or September to move out and draw fire. If deployment were not so imminent, I would definitely be going to ARC and Ranger. I still may, which would probably reduce my time in theater from 12 months to more like 8, and mean I’d probably deploy around December as opposed to September.

Hope all is well in West Chester. I’m glad Sean Jr. chose to go to Wheaton. He will be in good hands academically, spiritually, and professionally. Lieutenant Colonel Anderson is a true servant leader and a model of Christian officership at its best.

As for the Army 10 miler, I’d love to run it at some point. I have a buddy who is an Engineer and a West Point ‘08 grad. He and I were talking about training for a marathon once we get to Bragg (we are in the same brigade). I’m always up for a challenge though, and hopefully I can run the 10 miler at some point in the near future. See if you can convince my old man to do it!

Evan Ellsworth
2LT, AR, USA

_____________________________

‘butter bar’. A 2LT rank insignia is a single gold bar, hence the nickname ‘butter bar’.

OPORD. Operation Orders.

My own experience in reading the Gospels was at one stage even more depressing than yours. Everyone told me that there I should find a figure whom I couldn’t help loving. Well, I could! They told me I would find moral perfection — but one sees so very little of Him in ordinary situations that I couldn’t make much of that either. Indeed some of His behavior seemed to me open to criticism, e.g. accepting an invitation to dine with a Pharisee and then loading him with torrents of abuse.

Now the truth is, I think, that the sweetly-attractive-human-Jesus is a product of 19th century scepticism, produced by people who were ceasing to believe in His divinity but wanted to keep as much Christianity as they could. It is not what an unbeliever coming to the records with an open mind will (at first) find there. The first thing you really find is that we are simply not invited, so to speak, to pass any moral judgement on Him, however favourable: it is only too clear that He is going to do whatever judging there is: it is we who are being judged, sometimes tenderly, sometimes with stunning severity, but always de haut en bas [‘from high to low’]. (Have you noticed that you can hardly free your imagination to picture Him as shorter than yourself?) The first real work of the Gospels on a fresh reader is, and ought to be, to raise v. acutely the question, ‘Who — or What — is This?’ For there is a good deal in the character which, unless He really is what He says He is — is not lovable nor even tolerable. If He is, then of course it’s another matter: nor will it then be surprising if much remains puzzling to the end. For if there is anything in Christianity we are now approaching something which will never be fully comprehensible.

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C. S. Lewis, in a letter to his brother Warnie, dated 21 March 1940, in The Collected Letters of C. S. Lewis, Volume II. See my next post to read the beginning of the same letter.

Say Heav’nly Muse, shall not thy sacred vein

Afford a present to the Infant God?

Hast thou no verse, no hymn, or solemn strain,

To welcome Him to this, his new abode…?

December 24, 2008

Dear Family and Friends,

The biggest news we have for you this year is that our eldest son, Evan Robert, was married May 31st to Kristin Signe Torok, the daughter of Andrew and Robin Torok of San Juan Capistrano, CA. Phil co-officiated the ceremony at All Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena. All four of Kristin’s siblings and all three of Evan’s were involved in the wedding. Kristin gave Evan the wedding ring my mother had given my father, and which I’d worn for twenty-five years after he passed away in 1982. The reception was at the Jonathan Club in downtown Los Angeles. It was lovely—and what a party! Kristin and her parents planned everything to perfection. We enjoyed spending nearly a week in southern California and are thrilled for Evan and Kristin. It was also truly a pleasure to see so many of our relatives and friends at the wedding; guests flew in from at least four continents, including my brother Russ with Beth and Anna from Kenya. Even now, we often find ourselves reminiscing about how wonderful the fairy-tale wedding was.

I’m afraid that I have gotten a bit ahead of myself in talking about the wedding; I would like to tell you about how we came to know Kristin better. She spent weekends with us in our home in the fall of 2007 whilst she interned at the White House in the First Lady’s Press Office. We have all come to love her and are delighted to welcome her into our family.

Evan and Kristin were graduated from Wheaton College May 11th. The same day, Evan was commissioned a Second Lieutenant in the 82nd Airborne Division of the U. S. Army. He and Kristin spent this fall back in Wheaton while Evan worked as a Gold Bar Recruiter for the ROTC Department at Wheaton. From mid-January through the Spring, he will be at several Army bases around the country; and in the summer, he will deploy for a one-year tour in Iraq. Kristin finished up her law school applications in November and will begin the study of law in the fall.

Gabriel enjoyed being Evan’s Best Man in the wedding. Currently in his sophomore year at Yale, he served this past semester as the Chief Whip of the Tory Party in the Yale Political Union. He is the principal oboist in the Saybrook College Orchestra at Yale and he worships at Christ Church Episcopal, the Anglo-Catholic parish close to campus. A highlight this year for us was listening these past several days to Gabriel having domestic conversations in Japanese with his お祖母さん (grandmother). He has now completed three semesters of Japanese language study.

Gillian is in her senior year at St. Andrew’s Episcopal School in Potomac. She is graceful, lithe, and lovely. In the midst of her college applications, she is involved in school theatrical productions, AP Studio Art, and youth group at our parish, Saint Francis Episcopal Church. She has a heart for the Dayspring from on High, and I am confident that her tender spirit will guide her through her life. She and I have become close friends and enjoy reading together, walking with our dog, shopping, and baking. Gillian will be graduating from high school in June. And whither then? We cannot say.

Aaron, aged thirteen, has grown eight inches taller this year. He and I spend our days at Norwood School in Bethesda together, where he is in seventh grade. Aaron took up the viola a year ago and plays in my string ensemble. He also continues to play the piano, which he performed on Saturday at a local nursing home (I bring my students and children there every December to play carols and sing for the residents). Aaron loves sports, history, youth group, eating, and playing and relaxing with his dad. The poor boy wept uncontrollably at Evan’s wedding. Though he loves his new sister-in-law and is happy for Evan, the wedding signified a big change for him, as he and Evan have become best friends in the last few years.

We took our annual summer holiday in Harbor Springs, Michigan this July. Phil served again as the vicar of St. John’s Episcopal Church, a summer chapel there, for three Sundays. This was our sixth year in Harbor, and we are so grateful for the opportunity to relax there and for our Saint John’s friends. This year, we had the particular pleasure of spending part of our time there with Evan and Kristin and Andy and Robin Torok and their children! It’s always interesting having three thirteen-year-olds running around, especially since Aaron was born within an hour of twins Andrew and Ashley Torok.

In closing, I would like to convey something that Phil taught our friends at Saint Francis at the Adult Forum on Sunday. As we celebrate the Nativity of our Lord, I am astounded by the paradox that the Most High, who creates the universe by speaking a word, becomes an infant. For our word infancy comes from the Latin word infans, which literally means, “not speaking.” It may be entirely inappropriate for Milton to chide the muse as he does, and his competitiveness is unseemly, but he has our sympathies even so.

See how from far upon the Eastern road

The Star-led wizards haste with odors sweet:

O run, prevent them with thy humble ode,

And lay it lowly at his blessed feet.

The poet sees the magi bearing their gifts as they follow the Star of Bethlehem to the manger, and he (being Milton!) wants to beat them to the scene. So I wonder. If I could outrun the magi to lay words at the wordless one’s feet, what would they be? Words of thanksgiving. For him. And for you. For “Think where man’s glory most begins and ends, / And say my glory was I had such friends.”

Blessings,

Victoria Ellsworth (for Phil, Evan, Kristin, Gabriel, Gillian, Aaron, and dog Maddie)

O Blessed Lord Jesus, our choicest gift, our dearest guest; Let not our souls be busy inns that have no room for you and yours, but quiet homes of prayer and praise, where you may find the best company, where needful cares of life are wisely ordered and put away, and where wide, sweet spaces are kept for you. So when you come again, O Blessed One, may you find all things ready, and your servants waiting for no new master, but for one long loved and known. Even so, come, Lord Jesus.

John Milton, On the Morning of Christ’s Nativity, line 15.

On the Morning of Christ’s Nativity, line 22.

W. B. Yeats, The Municipal Gallery Revisited, lines 54-55.

7 January 1945
Dubrovnik

Darling Laura, sweet whiskers, do try to write me better letters. Your last, dated 19 December received today, so eagerly expected, was a bitter disappointment. Do realize that a letter need not be a bald chronicle of events; I know you lead a dull life now, my heart bleeds for it, though I believe you could make it more interesting if you had the will. But that is no reason to make your letters as dull as your life. I simply am not interested in Bridget’s children. Do grasp that.

[Evelyn Waugh, in the British Army, to his wife]