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What’s the weekly mettle maker?
Training tips and educational info in support of our free programs, that’s what! What’s mettle? Mettle is, “The ability to meet a challenge or persevere under demanding circumstances; determination or resolve.”
Mettle maker #457: Stones and Milestones
Milestone #1: Friday was the 16th anniversary of Heritage Arts. Huzzah! Seems like just yesterday my son was building the old website, we were struggling to find a venue and figure out how to run a non-profit martial arts club (we’re still working on that last bit). Ah, the memories! Here’s to 16 more years — but will I make it to 80 years old to see it? That’s the question…
Milestone #2: On Tuesday 5/6, three people tested for yellow bandana and passed — Alex, Gabe, and Olek. Three is the biggest testing class we’ve ever had at the club — a club record! Could we finally be hitting our stride? See photo set on the right.
Enough patting ourselves on the back — let’s get on the the mettle making!
Stones for Practical Strength
As often as humanly possible I finish every training session with a carrying exercise, preferably stones. There’s something about picking up rocks that’s just primal. If you haven’t watched them yet, I highly recommend all three of the stone lifting documentaries by Rogue Fitness: Stoneland, Fullsterkur, and Levantadores. If you watch any of those, you will want to pick up rocks. Guaranteed.
“The loaded carry does more to expand athletic qualities than any other single thing I’ve attempted in my career as a coach and athlete.” ~Dan John
Who is Dan John? He’s a former All-American discus thrower and a high-level, senior division competitor in Olympic lifting and Highland Games. He is the current holder of the American record in the Weight Pentathlon (which he set at age 47), a fitness coach, and a Fulbright Scholar who currently teaches religious studies at Columbia College of Missouri. In every way imaginable, he is a beast.
The Mysteries of Stones
There is something going on with stones, something more than meets the eye. I’m currently working on a documentary about the Petraenigma Stone which my son and I made back in 2020 and completed on Palm Sunday 2021 (see photo gallery left).
What is the Petraenigma Stone? Petraenigma is the word we made up for the stone. It is pronounced \pe-trə-‘nig-ma\ and it’s derived from the Greek pétrā (“rock” or “stone”) + aínigma (“riddle”). It is a stone monument topped with a brass plaque. Embodied in the Petraenigma are twelve concealed riddles and answers, all of which are revealed only to those who receive their black bandana in Heritage Rough ‘n’ Tumble.
The stone was made right before the transition from our old name (“Cabal Fang”) to our new name and way of doing things. The stone is both a work of art and a practical lifting stone. And it explains what we came to understand through the first 11 years of the martial and spiritual project now known as Heritage Arts — but it does so in an interactive, metaphoric way, through touch, poetry, and puzzle-solving.
Touch the stone and try to solve it. Then you will begin to see what the first 11 years of this project was like.
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Homily for the Fourth Sunday of Easter 5/11/25 – Father Mitch
Readings: Acts 13:14, 43-52, Psalm 100:1-2, 3, 5, Revelation 7:9, 14b-17, John 10:27-30
Revelation 7:9, 14b-17
9 After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no man could count, out of every nation and of all tribes, peoples, and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, dressed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands. 14b Then one of the elders said to me, “These are those who came out of the great suffering.† They washed their robes and made them white in the Lamb’s blood. 15 Therefore they are before the throne of God, and they serve him day and night in his temple. He who sits on the throne will spread his tabernacle over them. 16 They will never be hungry or thirsty any more. The sun won’t beat on them, nor any heat; 17 for the Lamb who is in the middle of the throne shepherds them and leads them to springs of life-giving waters. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”
John 10: 27-30 World English Bible
Jesus answered them, 27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. 28 I give eternal life to them. They will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. 29 My Father who has given them to me is greater than all. No one is able to snatch them out of my Father’s hand. 30 I and the Father are one.”
31 Therefore the Jews took up stones again to stone him. 32 Jesus answered them, “I have shown you many good works from my Father. For which of those works do you stone me?”
Last week I mentioned that over 1 billion Hindus and half a billion Buddhists consider Jesus an enlightened teacher, 1.9 billion Muslims believe that Jesus is a prophet and messenger of God, 9 million followers of the Baháʼí faith believe that Jesus is the Son of God, and that even 21% of Jewish millennials believe that Jesus was God in human form.
Jesus’ message has spread so far and wide that he appears in the scriptures and traditions of the four most popular non-Christian religions. Over 5 billion non-Christians today venerate Jesus. If you add in professing Christians, that means that at least 4 out of 5 people on Earth – over 80% of the world’s population! – believe that Jesus is the moral teacher we should be turning to for guidance.
And that’s a miracle. It simply defies all odds and all human logic that the 2,000 year-old moral directives of an itinerant preacher would come to dominate human morality. That anyone could teach for just three years and transform the world forever is inconceivable. Unless of course Jesus is the Son of God, true God from true God, true light from true light, who came to earth on our behalf, died, rose from the dead, and ascended into heaven. Then it makes perfect sense. Only God can do what God did.
The words from the Book of Revelation, which we read today, recorded shortly after the Resurrection, are true. They are true yesterday, today, and tomorrow; they are true literally, metaphorically, and spiritually. They are true in all places, in all times, and for all people.
These words were true yesterday in the sense that they describe the Jews in our reading from Acts. They were content to stand on the outside, observing the laws of the Torah, but they could not enter into communion with God. They couldn’t take that next step and be held in his hands as a shepherd holds his sheep.
The words of the Book of Revelation are true today in the sense that the overwhelming majority of the world’s people have heard God’s voice, and they are approaching the metaphorical Jerusalem, waiving their palm fronds. But it’s not enough to just stand outside and wave. This is true for many people. Even Richard Dawkins, the outspoken atheist, admits to being a cultural Christian who supports Christian morality and customs. But those who stand on the outside and wave – and let us pray most urgently – must take the next step and enter into communion with Christ.
The words from the Book of Revelation are true yesterday, today, and yes, tomorrow also. Jesus will return, and many will smile and wave from afar, even as many of different faiths do today. Let us pray that we are all humble enough to do more than hear his voice, that we may truly be held eternally in his hands.
In order to fully make true the vision of the Book of Revelation which we read today, we must all follow him, like his sheep, into the city, and be baptized. If we want to dwell with him and for him to dwell in us, we must follow the star to his Incarnation, gather at the manger where he lies, go with him to the river to be baptized, and eat the true food and true drink that are his body and blood.
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† 7:14 or, oppression