Celtic Odyssey

The Prayer All-Loving and everlasting God, increase in us the gifts of faith, hope, and love; and, that we may obtain what you promise, make us love what you command; through Jesus the Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.                                     The Lessons Joel 2.23-32 (CEB; adapted): [1] 23 Children of Zion, rejoice and be glad in Yahweh your God, because Yahweh will give you the early rain as a sign of righteousness; and will pour down abundant rain for you, the early and the late rain, as before. 24 The threshing floors will be full of grain; the vats will overflow with new wine and fresh oil. 25 I’ll repay you for the years that the cutting locust, the swarming locust, the hopping locust, and the devouring locust have eaten — my great army, which I sent again...

The Prayer All-Loving and everlasting God, in Christ you have revealed your glory among the nations: Preserve the works of your mercy, that your people throughout the world may persevere with steadfast faith in the confession of your Name; through Jesus the Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and ever, and unto the ages. Amen.                                     The Lessons Jeremiah 31.27-34 (CEB; adapted): [1] 27 The time’s coming, declares Yahweh, when I’ll plant seeds in Israel and Judah, and both people and animals will spring up. 28 Just as I watched over them to dig up and pull down, to overthrow, destroy, and bring harm, so I’ll watch over them to build and plant, declares the Lord. 29 In those days, people will no longer say: Sour grapes eaten by parents leave a bitter taste in the mouths of their children. 30 Because everyone...

Eastfarthing — Sutliff Private Stock Recently, I reached out to Sutliff Tobacco Company asking if they had a tinned tobacco similar to my favorite — their 504C Aromatic English. They responded that they didn’t have anything similar but suggested I try Eastfarthing from their Private Stock series. I found that Pipes and Cigars carried Eastfarthing however they were out of stock at the moment but it was on backorder. I submitted my request to be notified when it was back in stock. I got my notice but waited a couple of days before going to Pipes and Cigars. When I got there, though, I saw that they were already running low — they only had 5 on hand — so I quickly placed my order. My package arrived on a Saturday and I tore into it immediately, but I waited until Sunday morning to have it with my morning coffee. For those of us who don’t know, Eastfarthing is one of the four farthings from the Shire in J. R. R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings novel. It’s been said that Sutliff’s E...