I assume that’s what some of you are thinking right now (even if the name rings a bell, you just can’t think why). Fans, no doubt, are quoting Anne, ticking off how many times they’ve visited Green Gables, and re-enacting “The Lady of Shalott.”
Fans are the majority. So I can safely assume most are thinking: whatever did happen to Anne Shirley, the feisty orphan who impacted so many lives on Prince Edward Island (PEI)?
For the “Anne who?” crowd, keep reading. All will come clear.
To date, L. M. Montgomery’s first novel, Anne of Green Gables, has sold over 50 million copies, has been translated into 36 languages, and has never been out of print. It is the source of multiple movies, television productions, plays, and musicals. Not bad for a 111 year old novel.
As longtime “Fans of Anne,” we recently traveled to Charlottetown, PEI (Canada) to find the answer to our question. It was there we attended Anne & Gilbert, the Musical. The 2.5 hour show is lively, interesting, fun, and, to those wanting to know “what happened next,” informative. Picking up where the first novel leaves off, we learn through song, dance, and dialogue about the post-high school years of Anne-With-An-E and her wanna-be beau, Gilbert Blythe.
There’s a lot to that story and I’m not going to print any spoilers, here. Go see the musical. One of the rewards for doing so is that you will get to enjoy the musical numbers, particularly the toe-tapping, often hilarious, You’re Island Through and Through.
The author was a Prince Edward Island devotee. She once wrote, "We Prince Edward Islanders are a loyal race. In our secret soul we believe that there is no place like the little Province that gave us birth... Prince Edward Island, however, is really a beautiful Province — the most beautiful place in America, I believe."
The song captures this, perfectly, with such lines as:
If You're Pleased As Punch With Where You Live
And Proud Of What You Do
You're Island, You're Island Through And Through
And If You Mind Your Business
And You Mind Your Neighbor's Too
You're Island, You're Island Through And Through
Verse after verse provides reasons why a person could claim to be “island through and through.” Much the same way, the verses in this week’s selection from the Letter to the Colossians provide us a means to know if our citizenship is “above” with Jesus. We are called to set our minds “on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.”
We are to strip off our old selves by dropping those earthly things that argue against our Heavenly citizenship, such as impurity, evil desire, greed (which is idolatry), anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive language. We are further commanded, “Do not lie to one another....”
The reward for taking these steps is a renewal that leads to community, a state where our differences no longer divide us, where “there is no longer Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and free; but Christ is all and in all!”
In other words, Jesus through and through.
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PHOTO: https://m.viator.com/Prince-Edward-Island-tourism/Anne-of-Green-Gables-on-Prince-Edward-Island/d5643-t18561
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READINGS FOR THE COMING WEEK
Proper 13 (18) (August 4, 2019)
https://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu//texts.php?id=273
Hosea 11:1-11
Psalm 107:1-9, 43
Ecclesiastes 1:2, 12-14; 2:18-23
Psalm 49:1-12
Colossians 3:1-11
Luke 12:13-21
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Join us Friday morning at the “Egg and I” restaurant (soon to be renamed “Our Breakfast Place”) for DaySpring’s Lectionary Breakfast. We start at 8:00, and we fill the hour with scripture, prayer, food, and fellowship (and a little frivolity).
Blessings,
Steve
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