May 2*: National Day of Prayer

Every year on the first Thursday in May, people across the United States gather to pray for our country. This year, President Obama’s proclamation asks believers everywhere to remember those affected by the bombings at the Boston Marathon, the shootings at Newton, Connecticut, and the explosion in West, Texas (I can’t count the number of times I’ve pulled off the highway to grab a kolache from the Czech Bakery there.), as well as all our soldiers and first responders here and across the world.

The National Day of Prayer Task Force has selected a new theme for 2013 – Pray for America – and a theme verse:

“In his name the nations will put their hope.”
Matthew 12:21

P.S. May 2 is also Brothers and Sisters Day, so give your siblings a call, because siblings make the best friends around!

July 15*: National Ice Cream Day

Since Ronald Reagan signed it into law in 1984, July has been known as National Ice Cream Month across the United States, and the third Sunday of the month is officially National Ice Cream Day.

Well, I think we all know how to celebrate this! What’s your favorite flavor?

“How sweet are your words to my taste,
sweeter than honey to my mouth!”

Psalm 119:103

June 14: Flag Day

In the United States, June 14 is celebrated every year as Flag Day, because, on this day in 1777, the Second Continental Congress adopted the flag. Of course this flag only had thirteen stars, one for each state that existed at the time.

Supposedly Betsy Ross sewed this first flag from a small sketch given to her by George Washington (sadly, this story can’t be proven).

You can celebrate today by raising the flag, learning about flag history and etiquette, host a party, or making (and eating!) a flag cake.

“First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way.”

1 Timothy 2:1-4

April 16*: Patriot’s Day

Patriot’s Day (or Patriots’ Day, depending on where you live) marks the beginning of the Revolutionary War, the battles of Lexington and Concord, and “the midnight ride of Paul Revere.” Many New England states have a huge celebration on the third Monday in April, although the battles were actually held on April 19.

I’m a minor history buff, so I really enjoy this type of holiday. Someday, I’d love to celebrate Patriot’s Day in Massachusett’s Minute Man National Historical Park. Besides the parades, ceremonies, and general excitement, they also host a huge reenactment with all sorts of people completely dressed for the part.

“The LORD is my strength and my song;
he has become my salvation.
He is my God, and I will praise him,
my father’s God, and I will exalt him.
The LORD is a warrior;
the LORD is his name.”

Exodus 15:2-3

[This day should not be confused with Patriot Day, commemorating those lost in the 9/11 attacks in 2001.]

March 11: Johnny Appleseed Day

Johnny Appleseed Day is celebrated on March 11 (the day many people think he died in 1845) and September 26 (his birthday, in 1774). Johnny Appleseed was a real person, an American frontiersman named John Chapman who became a legend in his own time. Strangely enough for this legend, most of the stories about him are true.

Johnny Appleseed did travel through the unsettled “west” during his lifetime, although, at the time, the wild, wild, west included places like Ohio, Michigan, and Indiana. As he went, he often stopped to plant apple seeds and create nurseries that would later become apple orchards. He didn’t just toss the seeds anywhere though; Johnny carefully planned and tended for his seeds and saplings, built fences to keep out predators, and made sure someone else would care for the land before he left.

Johnny Appleseed was also a very religious person and a member of the New Church (also called the Swedenborgian Church). As he traveled the west, he frequently stopped to preach and praise God for the wonders of his creation. Where others saw dark and dangerous forests filled with predators, Johnny saw the beautiful evidence of God’s glory, filled with God’s creatures of all shapes and sizes. (Of course, he still built fences to protect the nurseries he planted!)

God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.

Genesis 1:25

February 20: Presidents’ Day

As I’m sure everyone knows, today, February 20, 2012*, is Presidents’ Day (and if you didn’t know yet, how have you missed the ads and commercials?). Although every U.S. president is celebrated today, the focus is on George Washington and Abraham Lincoln.

Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth.

Worship the LORD with gladness;
come before him with joyful songs.

Psalm 100:1 & 2

Our first president was a Virginian gentleman born February 22, 1732. Somehow Washington kept a small untrained army of Americans together and eventually managed to defeat the well-trained and proper regiments of British soldiers, all without any clear American government. After the revolution was over, Americans welcomed him almost as king and savior. However, he served as president for only two terms, retiring at age 65, and beginning the tradition of turning down power.

Lincoln had a very different background. Instead of being a proper and high-born gentleman, Lincoln was born February 12, 1809, to poor, unknown parents, in the wilderness of Kentucky, before it had been well settled. After the horror of the Civil War, when brother fought against brother, Lincoln begged everyone to rebuild the nation lovingly: ”With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation’s wounds” (from his Second Inaugural Address).

*Presidents’ Day is celebrated every year on the third Monday of February. In 2012, that’s February 20, but the specific date changes.

February 15: Susan B. Anthony Day

Susan B. Anthony was born February 15, 1820. Although we remember her primarily for her work promoting women’s rights, she was also an abolitionist (arguing for civil rights around the time of the Civil War). Susan B. Anthony Day celebrates her birthday and the women’s suffrage movement.

The B. stands for Brownwell

Shown with fellow women’s rights activist, Elizabeth Cady Stanton

She died in 1906, 16 years before the 19th amendment was passed and women received the vote.

In 1979 she became the first woman to be featured on a U.S. coin.

 

 

February 8: Boy Scouts Day

On my honor, I will do my best
To do my duty to God and my country;
To obey the Scout Law;
To help other people at all times;
To keep myself physically strong, mentally awake and morally straight.

~ Scout Oath

Boy Scouts of America was officially established on February 8, 1910. W. D. Boyce established it after learning about the Boy Scouts Association located in England. Over the next few years, several similar organizations joined the Boy Scouts of America. The Boy Scouts have served in some way at every inauguration ceremony since Woodrow Wilson in 1913.

Scouts often celebrate the association’s birthday on the Sunday before February 8, Scout Sunday. Whether or not we wear the uniform, we could probably all benefit from following the scout motto, “Be prepared,” and the scout slogan, “Do a good turn daily.”

Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.

1 Timothy 6:18 & 19

February 3: Four Chaplains Day

On February 3, 1943, during the middle of World War II, the USAT Dorchester was torpedoed by a German U-boat near Newfoundland. About 900 men were on board, mostly soldiers in transit, not sailors. The boat tilted to dramatically that many of the lifeboats could not be launched, and the water was cold enough to cause hypothermia in just a few minutes.

While the boat was sinking, four chaplains on board – George Fox, Alexander Goode, Clark  Poling, and John Washington – began organizing the escape. When the soldiers ran out of life jackets, the chaplains gave their life jackets away, knowing they had no chance without a lifeboat or life jacket.

According to survivors (only about 230 survived), the four chaplains stood together while the ship went down, praying for the safety of the soldiers.

My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.

John 15:12 & 13

 

February 1 – National Freedom Day

Today is National Freedom Day because on February 1, 1865, Abraham Lincoln signed what later became the 13th Ammendment, making slavery illegal. Since 1942, people have remembered this date by laying a wreath on the Liberty Bell at Independence Hall in Philadelphia.

I have chosen the way of truth;
I have set my heart on your laws.
I hold fast to your statutes, O LORD;
do not let me be put to shame.
I run in the path of your commands,
for you have set my heart free.

Psalm 119:30-32