Some thoughts on the recent unpleasantness

I see the same thing going on in the Anglican Communion that I see in local politics. Those who fervently want power and control, and are determined to force their will on others simply act as if they already have that power and control.

It's the big lie, told often and repeatedly, and it can work.

That's what the GS/"Windsor"/etc. bishops are trying to do, through their communique. The rest are going along with it, at least to some degree, in the hope, or is it delusion, of maintaining Anglican unity.

The lie must be exposed for what it is, on a repeated basis, and rejected.

It was a lie that crucified Christ.



"Forgive them Father, for they know not what they do."




Mark Harris has an excellent post on "The Standard and Its Costs."

I would add, if we are to live into our baptismal covenant, we must keep the work of the cross before us. This includes not only shining the light on lies, but acting in love and in forgiveness, even against our own wills. This is the toughest part of the standard.

The toughest part of the baptismal covenant

The Episcopal Church must live into its calling, and we can't do that and cave in to the bullies. If this means the end of our participation in the Anglican Communion, so be it. If we must go our separate ways, let us do it with the cross before us at all times, and act without hate and acrimony.

"Why us?"

Why have the primates targeted the Episcopal Church, and not the Canadians and others who dare to bless people against their edicts?

My dad said, "Always look for the money. Who's got it, and who wants its."

That's exactly why they're targeting the U.S., with its well-heeled dioceses and parishes that can be carved up like pirates' booty. I don't think that would be so easy to do in Canada or other parts of the Commonwealth.

Plus, anti-American sentiment usually isn't hard to whip up. And we've made that very easy the last few years.

He's back

Our friend Clyde is back, after taking a little hiatus. He's coyly seeking a little encouragement ... go on over there, and give it to him!




Yes, Clyde, too, is playing with Appleworks!

Beware!

If you don't know who I mean, go here.

The story of St. Perpetua

This is the story of Perpetua and her companions. It is a good story to remind all Christians who lives in this country, but feel persecuted for their faith, just what martyrdom really is.

The story is too long to post on the right column, as I've been doing with the stories of female saints and other Godly women, so here it is in its entirety: James Kiefer's bio:

Perpetua and Her Companions, Martyrs at Carthage
7 March 202


During a persecution of Christians under the emperor Septimius Severus, a group of Christians died together in the arena at Carthage. Their final days have been recorded for us in a document that is partly in their own words, and partly in those of an anonymous narrator (sometimes thought to be Tertullian). What follow are extracts, sometimes condensed, from that document.

Vivia Perpetua was a catchumen (i.e. a convert not yet baptized), well educated and from a prosperous family, about 22 years old, married and apparently recently widowed, with a child at her breast, and with two brothers and both parents still living. (Her father was not a Christian.) Felicity (Latin: Felicitas) was a slave woman in advanced pregnancy. With them were Revocatus (also a slave), Saturninus, and Secundus.

They were arrested and placed in a dungeon, but after a few days two deacons visited the prison and by a gift of money to the jailers arranged (1) that they should have an interval in the better part of the prison to refresh themselves, and (2) that Perpetua should be allowed to keep her child with her.

Perpetua had a vision in which she saw a golden ladder, guarded by a fierce dragon, but she climbed it, stepping on the dragon's head to do so. At the top, she found herself in a green meadow, with many white-robed figures, and in their midst a shepherd, who welcomed her and gave her a morsel of cheese from the sheep-milk. She awakened and understood that their martyrdom was certain.

Perpetua writes:

After a few days there was a report that we were to have a hearing in court. And my father came to me from the city, worn out with anxiety. He came up to me, that he might cast me down, saying: "Have pity, my daughter, on my grey hairs. Have pity on your father, if I am worthy to be called a father by you. If with these hands I have brought you up to this flower of your age, if I have preferred you to all your brothers, do not deliver me up to the scorn of men. Have regard to your brothers, have regard to your mother and your aunt, have regard to your son, who will not be able to live after you. Lay aside your courage, and do not bring us all to destruction; for none of us will speak in freedom if you should suffer anything." These things said my father in his affection, kissing my hands, and throwing himself at my feet, and with tears he called me not Daughter, but Lady. And I grieved over the grey hairs of my father, that he alone of all my kindred would have no joy in my death. And I comforted him, saying, "On that scaffold, whatever God wills shall happen. For know that we are not placed in our own power but in that of God." And he departed from me in sorrow.

Perpetua had had a brother who died of cancer when he was eight years old. She prayed for him, and received assurance in a vision that all was well with him.

Her narrative continues:

After a few days, Pudens, an assistant overseer of the prison, began to hold us in high esteem, seeing that God was with us, and he admitted many of the brethren to see us, that we and they might be mutually refreshed.

Perpetua had another vision, in which she saw herself fighting against a gladiator in the arena, and winning. She understood this to signify victory over the devil.

Saturus also had a vision, which he records in his own words, in which he and the others, having died in the arena, are borne by angels into a beautiful garden, where they greet other martyrs who have gone before them, and are brought before the throne of God, surrounded by twenty-four elders (see Revelation 4), who greet them and say, "Enter into joy." Perpetua says to Saturus: "I was joyful in the flesh, and here I am more joyful still."

The narrator writes:

Now Felicitas was eight months pregnant, and the law did not allow a pregnant woman to be executed. She was accordingly fearful that her death would be postponed, and instead of dying with her fellow Christians she would be put to death later in the company of some group of criminals. She and her companions accordingly prayed, and Felicity went into labor, with the pains normal to an eight-month delivery. And a servant of the jailers said to her, "If you cry out like that now, what will you do when you are thrown to the beasts, which you despised when you refused to sacrifice?" And she replied: "Now it is I that suffer what I suffer; but then Another will be in me, who will suffer for me, because I also am about to suffer for Him." Thus she brought forth a little girl, whom a certain sister brought up as her own.

The day of their victory shone forth, and they proceeded from the prison to the amphitheater, as if to an assembly, joyous and of brilliant countenance. At the gate, the guards were going to dress them in the robes of those dedicated to Saturn and to Ceres. But that noble-minded woman [Perpetua?] said: "We are here precisely for refusing to honor your gods. By our deaths we earn the right not to wear such garments." The guards recognized the justice of her words, and let them wear their own clothing.

The men of their company were scheduled to be killed by beasts, but the wild boar turned on its keeper instead, and the bear refused to leave its cage. The leopard, however, attacked Saturus and mortally wounded him. He bade farewell to his guard, Pudens, encouraging him to obey God rather than man, and then fell unconscious.

For the young women there was prepared a fierce cow. Perpetua was first led in. She was tossed, and when she saw her tunic torn from her side, she drew it as a veil over her middle, rather mindful of her modesty than of her sufferings. Then the was called up again, and bound up her dishevelled hair, for it is not becoming for a martyr to die with dishevelled hair, which is a sign of mourning. She saw Felicity wounded, and took her hand and raised her up, and at the demand of the populace they were given a respite.

Now all the prisoners were to be slain with the sword, and they went to the center of the arena, first exchanging a farewell kiss of peace. The others died unmoving and silent, but when the awkward hand of the young executioner bungled her death-stroke, Perpetua cried out in pain, and herself guided his hand to her throat. Possibly such a woman could not have been slain unless she herself willed it, because she was feared by the impure spirit.

Prayer (traditional language)

O God the King of saints, who didst strengthen thy servants Perpetua and Felicitas and their companions to make a good confession, staunchly resisting, for the cause of Christ, the claims of human affection, and encouraging one another in their time of trial: Grant that we who cherish their blessed memory may share their pure and steadfast faith, and win with them the palm of victory; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

Prayer (contemporary language)

O God the King of saints, who strengthened your servants Perpetua and Felicitas and their companions to make a good confession, staunchly resisting, for the cause of Christ, the claims of human affection, and encouraging one another in their time of trial: Grant that we who cherish their blessed memory may share their pure and steadfast faith, and win with them the palm of victory; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

Psalm 34:1-8 or 124 Hebrews 10:32-39 Matthew 24:9-14 (St3)

Outwaiting Tanzania and making the sign of the cross

I'm trying not to read too much about what going on at the Primate's meeting in Tanzania. Apparently, so far so good, and the ultra-right is entirely pissed about it. That's what I've gleaned from a glance a a couple of the blogs.

Sticking with the meeting blow by blow, with unending speculation and analysis is beyond me. Maybe I'm a wimp, but I know there's nothing I can do, and I want it over with. I want to know where we are, and not be angsting over every speech, paper or comment.

We won't know where we are until it's over.

My prayers go to Bishop Katharine, especially, for her spiritual, physical, mental and emotional wellbeing through all of it. My prayers cover all, asking they hear the

voice of the Spirit speaking to them. I pray they act without hubris and self-righteousness. I pray they act in love. They will, if they listen to the Spirit.

Some will listen. The jack-booted ones in purple garb I don't expect too much from. It's a good thing God is an optimist about human beings.

Nu?











P.S. -- I thought I'd try a photoshoppy thing with Appleworks, figuring if the Mad One can do it, maybe I can. Not too bad for a first effort.

Hey, baloney brains!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Saint Pat spends the night with a knight

Yes, it's true. Saint Pat spent the whole night with one of our local finest. And a fine man he is, gentlemanly and gallant.

This is how the story began:


... there was a little hamlet called Cracktown. It was just beyond the borders of our own Hometown, though some of our citizens would sometimes slip into Cracktown, to its cribs and corner dealers.

Yea, then Realtors and redevelopers, hearing the call of trendiness, and obeying the dictates of The Almighty Dollar, invaded Cracktown with an army of renovators, redesigners, interior decorators, landscapers, hairdressers and real-estate agents, waging war on Cracktown's untrendiness.

"Forsooth, varlets," they decreed to the dealers. "Take your wares and depart this place. We claim it in the name of Trendiness, and in the name of our God, the Almighty Dollar."

Across the burg, now renamed "Trendy District," the dealers and pimps trembled. The Knights of Hometown, summonsed by the Duchess of Trendy District, rode in on their metal steeds, and helped dispatch the unsavory element.

Still, the hearts of Trendy District's newest citizens were unsettled, for lo, though the crack dealers had fled into exile, the poor were still with them. It greatly grieved the hearts of Trendy citizens to see these unstylish, untailored, uncoiffed and sometimes unsanitary peasants walking on their trendy sidewalks.

It distressed the good people of Trendy District further that some of these peasants might occasionally beg alms from them. It was rumored that alms-begging and an object or two filched from the porch of a renovated Trendy home provided demon beer or perhaps even a burger at the local royal burger purveyor. After all, everyone knows the undeserving poor should be forced to work for their burgers and beer, whether they're capable of it or not.

And the Trendy burghers complained mightily about the church that dared to operate a soup kitchen for the hungry in their midst.

"If you feed them, they will come," the burghers cried, "And then those homeless varlets will wander down our streets. It's annoying, and it brings down property values. Besides, we don't like looking at them. They are not pretty, like us."

But alas, the ministers to the undeserving paid no heed.

The Duchess sent for the Head Knight and instructed him to rid Trendy District of this pestilence, forsooth.

"Round them up," she said. "Put them on a reservation. We need a final solution to this problem."

The Head Knight bowed his head.

"Madam," he said, "Yea, though I would like to obey your request, I cannot. For there are laws higher than yours at work here. These laws say I can't send them to Coventry unless they have committed a crime. I can't even put them in the dungeon just because you don't like their looks."

"Truthfully, I say to you, they have been here even longer than you, even back unto the days of good Emperor Reagan, who freed them from the onus of mental-health services and a place to sleep. They will always be with you," he added.

"Fool," cried the Duchess, after thinking for a minute. "Don't you know these people are responsible for the rampant crime in Trendy District? Our citizens cower in fear behind their heart-pine-wood doors inset with Tiffany stained-glass ovals. Yes, crime is on the upsweep and it's all because of the gnarly homeless."

The Head Knight now scratched his head.

"Truly, madam, we know of no such crime spree. But I will send in my knights, armored to the max, riding in their shiny-white metallic steeds. They shall patrol both day and night, scouring Trendy District in search of marauding homeless," he said.

And so, the Head Knight sent out an edict to all his knights to concentrate their attention on Trendy District, and hunt down these bold criminals.

These knights, in turn, scratched their heads, for it seemed to them that actual crime in Trendy District had waned in recent years, fleeing from the forces of Trendiness. The knights obeyed, even though they felt they might find more dragons and damsels in distress in other parts of the countryside.

They searched. They poked. They prodded. They spotlighted. They field-interrogated. But alas, they found no crime wave in Trendy District.

And so it came to pass that a certain plucky reporter came to ride with one of the knights through Trendy District for the whole of a Friday night, just looking for trouble. But alack, neither knight nor reporter could find anything more amiss than the minor collision of two steeds at a busy crossroads, a few people walking down the sidewalk, just minding their own business, and some of the rich Young Baronets of Trendy District having a slightly noisy party.

And so ends the tale. The plucky reporter returned to Hometown, having enjoyed her diversion with a knight in shining armor.

First FEMA trailer rolls into Central Florida

Just kidding, DHS, JUST KIDDING!

heh-heh

The humor may not be so obvious to anyone who hasn't been through disaster-recovery efforts, but I had a paroxysm of laughter when I spotted this trailer and thought of the tag line.



The Equalizer

But I'm getting a little punchy, with 14-hour days covering recovery, angering **certain** officials with my questions, going through more devastated areas and such.

I took this photo in a neighborhood near the river:



While the Christmas-Day tornado victims were almost exclusively mobile-home dwellers, the Feb. 2 monster was an equal-opportunity destroyer. It took out comfy river homes with the same casual aplomb with which it ripped apart mobile homes and low-budget apartments. I saw virtually empty lots where a few of these houses stood.


They'll Know We Are Christians by Our Love

The most heartening thing I've seen in these storms is the response from the community of faith. Just about every church around was involved in some way.

Some of these churches ran mission trips to the Gulf Coast after Hurricane Katrina, and they've gotten a lot of practice at home, too, with the 2004 hurricanes, last year's fires, this year's tornadoes. They were out within a couple of hours of the tornado touchdown, serving hot breakfasts to shell-shocked survivors and rescuers, helping clear debris and making emergency repairs. They're terrific.

I was talking to one of these pastors Tuesday, and he said they've had more people wanting to volunteer than they've been able to place, though by the first of the coming week they may need more, when the first wave takes off to rest or go back to work.

Amazing.

Thank you Lord, for bringing this good out of disaster. Thank you for these servants who are so willing to serve you, and showing us how we as a faith community can come together. Help us preserve this unity after the crisis passes. Amen.

Splitting the Communion

I came upon this article this morning. It bears solid evidence of the plan to split the Communion, with the pirate Robert Duncan, Akinola, and assorted other thugs entering into a separate Communion.

Doesn't leave much doubt what will be under discussion at the Tanzanian meeting.

Notice the stealthiness of the whole thing -- Duncan kept the newest missive hidden until his hand was forced, and after the diocesan convention, at which a vote was made to present the APO request to the Archbishop of Canterbury. ( Just a minor change of wording.)

Duncan wants "cover" from Nigeria to protect him when the Episcopal Church wants its property back.

The Episcopal Church is making it clear foreign primates have no say in our domestic affairs, and yes, Duncan and his crowd can leave if they want, but not with the church property.

At least Bp. Howe hasn't signed on to this -- as far as I know.

We don't know what other secret documents are floating around.

Here's the article, from ENS:


PITTSBURGH: Bishop Duncan reveals appeal for oversight to Global South Primates

By Mary Frances Schjonberg
Friday, February 02, 2007

[Episcopal News Service] According to a document made public on January 29, the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh has changed the nature of its request for a relationship with an Anglican Communion primate other than Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori.

A third version of the request, posted on the diocese's website, is addressed to "our beloved in the Lord, primates representing the global south" rather than to the Archbishop of Canterbury and others, as were two previous versions.

This newest version was posted three days before the diocese was required by a Pennsylvania state court judge to turn over certain documents pertaining to its "alternative primatial oversight" (APO) request as part of a civil court action brought by Calvary Church in Pittsburgh.

The new version is dated November 6, which was two days after the diocese voted during its annual convention to support the request for APO already made by Duncan and the diocesan Standing Committee. It also was made about 10 days before a meeting in Virginia between four primates of the global south and Duncan and other dissenting bishops.

The Calvary Church court action alleges, among other things, that it was during that meeting that Duncan and others agreed "to submit to the authority of certain foreign Primates." Calvary is seeking evidence of that submission as part of its argument that the diocese is attempting to transfer ownership of property held in trust for the Episcopal Church.

The November 6 version of the APO request contains more specificity that the two previous requests and assumes that another Anglican structure will be put in place in the United States.

The request asks, in part, for "connection," "cover," and "consultation." Under the category of "cover," the request states that "during the period in which a ‘separate ecclesiastical structure' can be worked out among us, we need protection from those who would ‘seek to destroy the child'" while it uses "domestic legal and property battles" to show that it is the part of the Episcopal Church that is a constituent member of the Anglican Communion.

It also asks that the global south primates "convene, when the time is right, an organizing ("constitutional") convention for the purpose of approving the infrastructure necessary to the permanent Anglican entity in the U.S., and to choose the domestic leader for, and Anglican Communion representative of, that structure."

The global south Primates said at the end of a meeting in Kigali, Rwanda, in September 2006, that "the time has now come to take initial steps towards the formation of what will be recognized as a separate ecclesiastical structure of the Anglican Communion in the USA." The Kigali Communiqué said that the Primates had asked the Global South Steering Committee to develop such a proposal "in consultation with the appropriate instruments of unity of the Communion."

Duncan, writing a pastoral letter to his diocese the same day the newest version of the request was posted, quoted colonial pamphleteer Thomas Paine, who said "now are the times that try men's souls," calling this time a "transitional moment."

"The Alternative Primatial Oversight Request points to the likely path forward for us and for others who share our commitment to the Faith and Order of the universal church," he said. "Emerging structures beyond the level of the diocese can only be conjectured at. They are not merely our decision."

He also denied that Calvary's court action is about property. "The matters in play are theological and ecclesiastical," he said. "They have nothing to do with the property of the diocese."

The Pittsburgh Standing Committee also issued a statement about the newest version of the request.

The president of Progressive Episcopalians of Pittsburgh, a group opposed to Duncan's plans, said February 1 that the newest version of the APO request is evidence of a coup in progress.

"What Bishop Duncan and the Pittsburgh Standing Committee are proposing is nothing less than an international coup that would overthrow not only the established government of The Episcopal Church, but destroy the Anglican Communion," Joan R. Gundersen said in a news release. "The Anglican primates have no authority over The Episcopal Church, no matter what Bishop Duncan or the Standing Committee might wish."

According to the Constitution and Canons of the Episcopal Church, dioceses are created or dissolved only by acts of General Convention (Articles V and VI).
Congregational property is held in trust for the diocese, and the diocese holds property in trust for the wider church (Canon I.7.4 of the Episcopal Church).

"Bishop Duncan and the Standing Committee are free as individuals to separate from The Episcopal Church, but they do so as individuals and cannot take the diocese, or any part of it, with them," Gundersen said.

The first version of the APO request, made on June 28, 2006, ten days after Jefferts Schori was elected Presiding Bishop, appealed to the Archbishop of Canterbury, the primates of the Anglican Communion and the Panel of Reference for "immediate alternative Primatial oversight and pastoral care."

In that appeal, Pittsburgh's Standing Committee said it had voted that day to join the "alternative primatial oversight" request made June 19 by the Diocese of Fort Worth and announced that day during the 75th General Convention. Along with Pittsburgh, the dioceses of San Joaquin and South Carolina also made APO requests June 28.

The second version of the requests, made July 20, 2006, by "the Bishops and Dioceses of Central Florida, Dallas, Fort Worth, Pittsburgh, San Joaquin, South Carolina, and Springfield," was addressed solely to the Archbishop of Canterbury.

The Diocese of Quincy joined the appeal September 16. Dallas Bishop James Stanton withdrew from the request on October 27, saying he had asked initially for "direct primatial oversight" from the Archbishop of Canterbury and that he now had misgivings about the requests because the terminology used was causing "confusion and some anxiety" in his diocese.

The constitution of the Anglican Consultative Council, the Anglican Communion's main policy-making body, makes no provisions for alternative primatial oversight. Neither do the Constitution and Canons of the Episcopal Church.

-- The Rev. Mary Frances Schjonberg is national correspondent for the Episcopal News Service.


(Bolding is mine)

From Saint Pat's joke file

Prairie Home Companion seems to be my major source of jokes lately. Here's a great one I heard on the radio as I drove to church this morning:

A woman and her toddler-son walked on the beach, along the surf, one day, when the undertow suddenly caught the son and pulled him out to sea.

The woman said, "God, you can't take my son from me. He is my life. Please, you must return him; otherwise, I couldn't live. Please, God."

Sure enough, a large wave deposited the woman's son on the beach. She picked him up and tenderly held him, brushing the sand off him.

Then, she looked up into the clouds and said, "He did have a hat."


It was funny (if you didn't think so, blame it on my poor memory/paraphrasing). I laughed all the way to the church.

Like a lot of humor, it points out a truth about human failings. What an attitude of gratitude this woman didn't have!

I thought this scripture passage particularly appropriate, and added a few more.

Deuteronomy 10:21
He is your praise; he is your God, who performed for you those great and awesome wonders you saw with your own eyes.


1 Chronicles 16:34
Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever.

Philippians 4:6
Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.

1 Corinthians 15:57
But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Ephesians 5:20
always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

You can probably think of a million more.

A collect for evening prayer

For all the hurting, the grieving, the lost, the homeless, the needy who are suffering in tonight's chilly air, and all the workers who seek to help them:

Keep watch, dear Lord, with those who work, or watch, or weep this night, and give your angels charge over those who
sleep. Tend the sick, Lord Christ; give rest to the weary, bless the dying, soothe the suffering, pity the afflicted, shield the
joyous; and all for your love’s sake. Amen.

From the Book of Common Prayer, "Daily Evening Prayers" Rite 2.

Phenomenal devastation

The sight of twisted metal wrapped around trees is growing old.





At the tornado command center yesterday, I heard a lot of words like "phenomenal" to describe the tornadoes' devastation, and "amazing" to describe the fact that no one was found dead in the rubble in this county, though around 20 died in a neighboring county. That's still amazing. So many more people could have died. People whose homes were reduced to splinters or twists of scrap metal on the ground around them survived with barely a scratch.

I can't help but think that's Providence -- God's mercy at work.

For the survivors, the initial shock is wearing off, and they're worrying about rebuilding their lives.

I can't imagine losing my little home in an instant -- just like that. When I heard the sound of the tornado, all I could think about was grabbing my animals and huddling in the bathroom with them: preserving life, which is more important than houses and stuff.

Still.

My mind doesn't even want to wrap around the notion of losing the haven of my home, of losing everything from my underwear to irreplaceable treasured photos and heirlooms. Coffee maker, dishes, clothes, bed, everything -- gone. My life as I know it -- gone with the wind.

No wonder survivors spend days and weeks sifting through the rubble, looking for anything salvageable. For the unluckier people, there's not even any rubble to be found. It's been blown all over the neighborhood.

These unluckier people are also the most unfortunate in another sense, for many have no insurance. They have resources to help them find another home, or furniture, or dishes, or underwear, or linens or anything.

People like me would be the lucky survivors. I could look forward to an insurance check to help me get a new place to live, clothing, furniture and the other necessities of life. I live in a little block-and-stucco home.

I would have hope, despite the trauma I'd been through.


Victims of the Christmas Day tornado were almost exclusively mobile-home dwellers, and almost none of them had any insurance. Most of the worst hit in yesterday's early-morning storm were mobile-home dwellers.

Hope isn't a word that can come easily for these storm victims.

None of the insurance companies like to write mobile-home coverage in Florida, and few of the big companies will write any new business at all. For the purchaser of a new mobile-home, insurance is terribly expense, when you can get it, and it's often not very good coverage.

None of the companies will cover older mobile homes. That left these dwellers with no options, no protection.

Why live in a mobile home, especially one more than 10 years old? Economics.

A used mobile home can be purchased for less than the closing costs of a conventional home, never mind the down payment required. So, for as little as around $5,000-$8,000 thousand dollars, you can buy an older-but-decent mobile home and have a roof over your family. It makes economic sense, when that's the most you can scratch up at one time. Once you've moved in, there's no money to put in savings after paying lot rent, utilities and other living expenses.

Some people inherited a mobile home from Aunt Bessie and moved in it with their kids. Some have lived in their mobile homes for 20 years and are elderly and retired, on a limited income.

These are mostly people who were barely getting by before a disaster.



Keep them in your prayers. They are devastated right now. Keep all those who were hurt or killed, and their families in your prayers, too. Thank you for the prayers you've already sent.

In your mercy, Lord, bring the tornado survivors comfort, and give them hope for the future. Heal the wounded, tend to the grieving, and stay right beside them. Let your love be manifest in all who minister to them.

Thank you that you have taken the dead into new life in your kingdom. Help searchers find any living or dead who might remain in the ruins.

Thank you for your mercy.

I will write more about insurance and FEMA, coming up.


[I took these photos the day after the Christmas tornado.]

Tornadoes

More tornadoes ripped through Central Florida. The last were in the devastating Christmas Day storms. One tornado woke me during the night -- I heard it go past.

At least 14 people are dead, but search and rescue missions continue, and it's likely more will be found.

I'm going out to get photos, and will report more later.

Update 9:30 p.m.

Hi, everyone. I'm fine. I had a hard time getting around town because of all the power lines down, trees down and police-barricaded streets.

My boss asked me to go to the emergency command center and cover the goings-on there. All the emergency management, search and rescue, and law enforcement operations were run and staged there.

Every honcho in Central Florida showed up, and the governor stopped in for press conference and photo op (which explains why every honcho was out there).

I got a few pics on the way, like this one:



NOTE: Double-click on the photo for a larger, more detailed view. It's amazing.

And I didn't even go into the mobile home communities where the devastation was more complete.

What he said

This is the most clear, succint description of Christian faith I've ever read. I think it could replace the creeds.

Where did I find it? At MadPriest's. Yes, you heard me, MadPriest wrote it, on a discussion thread at his blog.

Saint Pat is momentarily silenced.

What I am going to say to you is absolutely orthodox in all denominations. It is not even open for discussion. If you don't believe this you are not a Christian.

When Jesus was raised from the dead by the Father everything was radically changed - everything. This change can not be refused or altered.

Through baptism we are born again of water and Spirit and so become enabled to proclaim that radical change in our words and our actions. We can, however, refuse to take advantage of this gift, though it will never leave us.

Everything that has life has always shared in the life of God because the breath of God is in everything that has life. It doesn't what you believe or don't believe, whether you're a human or an animal, you share in the life of God. No matter how evil you are you are still part of God's existence which is why he loves everything.

Yes, we become more like Jesus, but that is not very important. What is important is that Jesus became us and in dying like we die formed that link through which we become one with him. Don't try and be like Jesus but live your life in the belief that Jesus is one with you - then, if your thankfulness is honest you will become like him without conciously trying. But you do not have to get to a certain level of Christlikeness, you certainly don't have to become equal to Christ. Just relax and enjoy God and he'll sort the rest out.

The people who visit this blog are relaxed in their love of God. They are relaxed because they actually understand what grace is all about.

You see, for an Anglican, I'm an excellent Lutheran, but that's because Luther was an excellent catholic.

I got pinned

I got pinned tonight -- got my pin for five years as a volunteer, on-call chaplain at a local hospital, that is.

Five years have flown by. It doesn't seem like I've done enough to earn the pin, but I'll put it on my ID badge, anyway.

Looking around the room at the group of volunteer chaplains sharing dinner tonight, I saw a great group of people. Their views might diverge widely, but they would come together for anyone who needed prayer and comfort. I was comforted by their company.

The chaplain I sat next to had a tiny, handcrafted angel dangling from her badge. Apropos of nothing, she suddenly removed it and gave it to me, so I'd have a little angel to watch over me, she said, and she would make another one for her badge.

The (official) hospital chaplain is terrific. I've gotten to know a lot of the local pastors through my job, and there are none I admire more than this one.

He knows of the situation with my mother. He put his arm around me tonight, and said, "Let's have lunch or a cup of coffee, and you can tell me about it and cry on my shoulder. I'm here for you, too."

It struck me, I don't have anyone at my church I could talk to right now. Father J left last week. There's no assisting. We'll be getting an interim.

This kind man made me feel so much better.

Thank you Lord, for the people you put in my life.

Happy anniversary, Caminante!

Caminante is celebrating the 13th anniversary of her ordination. Congratulations, gal!

And since you have no comments section on your blog to tell you this, I'm posting it here. And I'm lifting the poem, the one you've been saying for 13 years, because it's so terrific:

The day you were called
to break bread for a living
was the day you were called
to be broken.

The days you spend
bending over bread
are spent
bent around a mystery of fraction.

If you are indeed broken,
you need to gather up
each other's fragments gently,
and remember how,
again through you,
God feeds so many
with so little.

(author unknown)

Always remember the mystery. Here's to the next baker's dozen of years!

A curious tale

In my day job, some interesting stories come across my e-mail. Take this one, for example: from The Advocate - Louisiana.

Report: Officers followed policies in subduing man

Published: Jan 24, 2007

LAFAYETTE, LA - Police officers did not violate any department policies and procedures in the Dec. 17 death of a man who died hours after officers used a Taser stun gun to subdue him, a Lafayette police spokesman said in a news release issued Tuesday.

Forensic reports from the Lafayette Parish Coroner's Office found MR. SMITH of X-TOWN died as a result of "cocaine-induced excited delirium," Cpl. Paul Mouton said. The department's policy on the use of stun gun devices was scheduled to go before the Lafayette City-Parish Council on Tuesday night.

MR. SMITH was involved at a disturbance at a Waffle House on Northwest Evangeline Thruway. He was naked and confronting a female employee, police said.

A male employee managed to subdue MR. SMITH, but when police arrived, MR. SMITH began to resist again, police said. MR. SMITH was eventually subdued by the use of a Taser stun gun - an electrical stunning device - then taken to a local hospital, which is automatically required under the department's policy.

He died later that day at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital.

Police conducted an administrative inquiry into MR. SMITH's death. The inquiry is a normal procedure whenever a person is injured or dies while in police custody, Chief Jim Craft said shortly after the man's death.

MR. SMITH was naked and causing a disturbance about 5:10 a.m. on that Sunday. His leg had been broken and the bone was sticking out of his skin from an earlier jump from the second story of a Motel 6 on Evangeline Thruway. After jumping, police said, MR. SMITH removed his clothes in the hotel lobby before hitching a ride down the street to the Waffle House.

The initial investigation had pointed to MR. SMITH being on some sort of mind-altering substance, Craft said. "We don't think the Taser caused his death," Craft said. Police policy requires officers to be trained in the use of stun
guns, also known as an "electro-muscular disruption device," before using such a device.

***

Now, my question is NOT whether it was cocaine or Taser that done him in, which was the sender of the e-mail's concern. It seems obvious to me, combine a bunch of cocaine with tasering, and it's goodbye cruel world.

No, my question is, who would let a naked, drugged-up man with his bone sticking out of his leg ('cause he just jumped out of the second floor of a Motel 6) "hitch a ride" to the Waffle House with them?

Sometimes you've just got to wonder.

p.s. I changed the man's name -- this is a true story.

'I'm so tired and I just wanna go home'

I made a blitz of a trip to see my mother, 450 miles one way up yesterday afternoon, then another 450 back today, after a visit with her in the nursing home this morning.

Faithful readers will remember she fell and broke her hip a couple of weeks ago. She underwent hip replacement surgery, for which her heart meds and coumadin had to be cut back, then had a bout of atrial fibrillation. Every time she's had one of these bouts, her mental functioning has gone down a notch, I suspect because not enough oxygen gets circulated into her brain. She has Alzheimer's.

She's definitely worse than last time I saw her, in October. Today, she stayed a little confused about who I am, even thought I made sure to tell her a couple of times. She sat and talked for a couple of minutes, though what she said didn't make sense, then the light just seemed to go out. She quit talking and just sat there.

She did this last week, when I called to talk to her. Pain meds could be muddling her mind a bit, but my sense is this is how she is now. She cried and fussed in pain when the aide put her on the toilet.

My mother looks skeletal. She is so thin and without padding, I could see the shape of every bone in her face and skull. The aide said she doesn't want to eat, except for a few sweets. This is nothing new, except maybe the degree. She's grown progressively thinner the last few years.

A nurse told me "not to get my hopes up" my mother would be able to walk around again, or show significant improvement.

No, I won't. I got the sense, sitting with her, my mother wants to go on out of this life. It's just a question of how long it will take her body to cooperate. I anointed her with oil, as she slept, asking God to bless her and keep her, make her comfortable, take away her pain and anxiety, then wrap her in his arms and take her home when the time comes.

I flew back up the highway, longing for my little haven of a home, messy and grubby though it is -- sure sign of a blogger, I hear. Betsy, who is the best dog in the world, accompanied me on the trip, and I was glad for her companionship. She loves to go with me, but even she was tired and starting to fret the last miles of the trip.

I came in, checked my e-mail, fixed supper and unloaded the car while it cooked. Now I'm sitting, thinking, and listening to the great music of the young Rod Stewart, courtesy of MadPriest, as I sip a glass of wine.

Thanks, Maddie. It's just what I needed.

It's like I said, church buildings don't travel well

From Episcopal News Service

VIRGINIA: Bishop inhibits clergy; diocese responds to filings by separated churches

By Mary Frances Schjonberg
Tuesday, January 23, 2007

 
[Episcopal News Service]  Bishop Peter Lee of the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia, inhibited 21 diocesan clergy on January 22 and rescinded the licenses of six others, saying that he was acting on the determination of the diocesan Standing Committee that the clergy "have openly renounced the doctrine, discipline or worship of the Episcopal Church and, therefore, have abandoned the communion of the Episcopal Church."

Lee's action came after the votes of the majority membership of 15 diocesan congregations at various times in 2006 to leave The Episcopal Church.


The Standing Committee met on January 18 and determined that the clergy attached to these departed congregations "are now leading congregations that have declared that they do not recognize the ecclesiastical or legal authority of either The Episcopal Church or the Diocese of Virginia," according to a January 23 diocesan news release.


The clergy have six months under the terms of Episcopal Church canons (Canon IV.10.1-2) to reverse their decision to abandon the communion of the Church. After that time they can be removed from the Episcopal ministry.


Inhibited clergy are not members of the Virginia Annual Council under Article III of the diocesan Constitution. The Annual Council meets January 26-27, with the election of a bishop coadjutor and Lee's eventual successor set for the first day.


"As further evidence of their decision to abandon The Episcopal Church and the Diocese" the release said, the majority membership of the 15 churches have filed civil actions styled as "reports" with the respective circuit courts in an effort to transfer ownership of the congregations' properties. The diocese has filed responses denying any transfer of property, citing both Virginia law and the canons of the Episcopal Church and the Diocese of Virginia, the release said.


"The majority membership of the 15 churches voluntarily chose to sever their ties with the Diocese and, in doing so, they abandoned the property for the purposes for which it was set aside, namely the mission of the Episcopal Church and the Diocese of Virginia," the diocese argued in the release.


According to the Constitution and Canons of the Episcopal Church, dioceses are created or dissolved only by acts of General Convention (Articles V and VI) and dioceses create or dissolve Episcopal congregations in their midst. Congregational property is held in trust for the diocese, and the diocese holds property in trust for the wider church (Canon I.7.4 of the Episcopal Church). Virginia's diocesan canons concur with the national canons.
  
In a January 18 letter to the diocese, Lee said, "In the structure of the Episcopal Church, individuals may come and go but parishes continue."


He wrote that "previous generations of Episcopalians worshiped, worked, prayed and gave generously for the spread of the Kingdom of God. It is the trust that they created, and that we inherited, which now we must move to protect, preserve and expand for generations to come."


The 15 congregations (of the 195 in the diocese) where property has been declared abandoned are: All Saints, Dale City; Christ Our Lord Anglican Church, Lake Ridge; Church of the Apostles, Fairfax; Church of the Epiphany, Herndon; Church of the Holy Spirit, Ashburn; Church of Our Saviour, Oatlands; Church of the Redeemer, Chantilly; Church of the Word, Gainesville; Potomac Falls Church, Sterling; St. Margaret's, Woodbridge; St. Paul's, Haymarket; St. Stephen's, Heathsville; South Riding Episcopal Church, Fairfax; The Falls Church, Falls Church; and Truro Church, Fairfax.


The majority of the laity and clergy of those congregations voted to sever ties with the Episcopal Church and affiliate with the Anglican Church of Nigeria by way of the Anglican District of Virginia, part of the Convocation of Anglicans in North America (CANA). The members amount to about 8,000 of the diocese's roughly 90,000 Episcopalians. The Episcopal Church includes some 7,200 congregations in its 100 domestic dioceses, and about 150 in its 10 overseas dioceses and one convocation.
-- The Rev. Mary Frances Schjonberg is national correspondent for the Episcopal News Service.

  

St. Mary Mags takes an encore

All right: Per Maddie's request, St. Mary Magdalene in the Grotto makes a return appearance. The artist was Jules Joseph Lefebvre, who painted Mags in 1876. He apparently liked his Bollywood women of the day, and the nuder the better.

To see more of his paintings, go to The Art of Jules-Joseph Lefebvre. A number of them are really quite good IMO, but I prefer the clothed ones. Mags is the best of the nudes -- the others are mostly all painted in the same hip-jutting posture and get a little boring. I'm not a man, however.

Where I first came across the painting, though was at a site with the story -- a combination of information from the Bible, various legends and conjecture -- about the life of Mary Magdalene, at The Nazarene Way. Interesting reading.

The St. Mary Madalene in the Grotto painting illustrated one of the French stories of how St. Mary Magdalene came to France. (from whence Dan Brown copped some of his Da Vinci Code stuff. She would go to a grotto to reflect, fast and pray penitential prayers, according to the stories.

Somehow, I don't think the spiritual side of St. Mags was the only thing on Lefebre's mind.

There. I feel better about posting it, with a little lesson attached. St. Mags is at the top of my "Favorite Saint" list. She was a real, live passionate woman.



Maddie, you DID read the lesson, didn't you?


***
Also, scroll down to Jan. 19's "I've been tagged!" entry for KJ's response to the 7 Things Meme.

From St. Pat's bad joke files

Here's a joke I've been longing to tell:

"You know how President Bush likes those photo ops of him clearin' brush with the ranch hands or hangin' out at the ranch in a cowboy hat and shirt."

"Yeah?"

"Yup. The truth is, he's terrible scairt of horses. That's why you never see him ridin' a horse."

"Well, if that don't get all."

"Yup. Cowboy? Why, the closest that man ever got to the back of a horse was openin' a can of Alpo."

(St. Pat rolls on floor, laughing her patootie off. Well, it's late, and she's a little punchy. Plus, she lived in Texas when she was a child, and rode horses. She can't help it.)



Bush hoofs it. It's a long ride across Texas, without a horse.

My two feet

Have you ever noticed the two sides of our bodies are mirror images of each other? On my left foot, the big toe is on the right. On my right foot, the big toe is on the left. The little toe is on the left on my left foot, and on the right on my right foot.

Hmm. Diversity.

Can the toes on my right foot judge the toes on my left foot defective, and unfit to serve my body, because the orientation of the left toes is the reverse of the orientation of the right toes? What if my right foot accused my left foot of walking apart?

How can it?

Would I think my feet were serving me properly?

What if my hands were to decide neither of my feet are worthy to serve Christ, because feet are so obviously differently from hands, and now my hands want to sever themselves from my body, and join a new, footless body?

Kind of ridiculous. And painful, for hands and body.

That's the point of today's epistle, Paul's letter to the Church at Corinth (1 Corinthians 12:12-31a). See the full text of the reading at the end of the entry.

When I hear church people speak of being unequally yoked, I wonder why they want to pull the wagon, "the body," if you will, all alone. The yoke will chafe them. They will tire out much more quickly. They can't go as far. They will fail in their mission.

It's like removing the left engine of a twin-engine aircraft just before takeoff, because the right engine doesn't like being "yoked" to the other engine. The result: The aircraft would pull sharply to the left and down after it just got into the air -- crashing and bursting into flame. The right engine isn't strong enough to lift the aircraft off the ground properly, and the plane's energy is out of balance.

When one engine goes out during flight, the plane just wants to go in circles.

The right engine could power a single engine plane alone, but without the same strength, cargo (read "mission") capacity, or range. When it has a bad day, the plane goes down. There's no backup.

In the same way, a church that eliminates or segregates some of its members becomes weaker and out of balance.

I don't want to belong to a "straight" church. I don't want to belong to a "gay" church. That's a church hopping around on one foot.

I don't want to belong to a church that worships the thinking of Spong or Akinola, either one. That church, and its theology, is out of balance.

To go back to the airplane analogy, we need to fly the course that recognizes, "If one member suffers, all suffer together with it; if one member is honored, all rejoice together."

I hear some in my diocese, and in other dioceses, say the Episcopal Church is screwed up, and they want to leave it to join like-minded "right" feet in another province.

I think they're making a mistake, one that diminishes all of us, the body of Christ.


We are the body of Christ, Paul tells us.


1 Corinthians 12:12-31a

Just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body--Jews or Greeks, slaves or free--and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.

Indeed, the body does not consist of one member but of many. If the foot would say, "Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body," that would not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear would say, "Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body," that would not make it any less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole body were hearing, where would the sense of smell be? But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. If all were a single member, where would the body be? As it is, there are many members, yet one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, "I have no need of you," nor again the head to the feet, "I have no need of you." On the contrary, the members of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and those members of the body that we think less honorable we clothe with greater honor, and our less respectable members are treated with greater respect; whereas our more respectable members do not need this. But God has so arranged the body, giving the greater honor to the inferior member, that there may be no dissension within the body, but the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together with it; if one member is honored, all rejoice together with it.

Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it. And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers; then deeds of power, then gifts of healing, forms of assistance, forms of leadership, various kinds of tongues. Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? Do all possess gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret? But strive for the greater gifts.

Sex lives of Windsor bishops

This morning, I was thinking how ridiculous is all this absorption some people have with the sex lives of others. Windsor bishops must spend a lot of time contemplating other peoples' activities behind closed bedroom doors, they stay so het up about it. Their musings seem to take them particularly into the areas of homosexual activities, å la Viruosity.

What's the deal with this? All sex is kind of ridiculous-looking, whether heterosexual or homosexual. I don't want to spend time considering what other people are doing. Yuchhh.

[Of course, my romantic fantasies aren't yucchhy at all, but they're mine. And they're private.]

I don't enjoy seeing people making a spectacle of their sexuality. I don't want to ponder what others, especially clergy, are doing in the bedroom with their significant others. Keep your private life private, thank you.

And, it isn't any of my business. Thank God! Imagine having to contemplate the sex life of +Robert Duncan or +Peter Akinola. EEUUUWWWW!!! ACKKKK!!!


They don't have any business trying to peek into the bedrooms of monogamously partnered clergy, either.

Maybe the Windsor bishops could spend more time worrying about their flocks, and less time on their prejudices and/or secret fantasies.

Then I read Bishop Desmond Tutu's comments here.
Of course, I could be wrong...: Tutu With Follow Through

"I am deeply disturbed that in the face of some of the most horrendous problems facing Africa, we concentrate on 'what do I do in bed with whom'," Tutu told a news conference in Nairobi.

"For one to penalise someone for their sexual orientation is the same as penalising someone for something they can do nothing about, like ethnicity or race. I cannot imagine persecuting a minority group which is already being persecuted."

Exactly.

Mrs. Grundy-bishops, please spend more time on other things.

On a more enjoyable note,

I've Been Tagged!

The 7 things meme

Padre Mickey done tagged me!

1. Name a book that you want to share so much that you keep giving away copies

Hmm. That would be All Creatures Great and Small. I've bought (used) and given away several copies of it. It's one of my all-time favorites.

2. Name a piece of music that changed the way you listen to music

Schubert's "Ave Maria." It's so full of the longing for the divine; it reaches straight into my soul, and takes me so close to the divine, as I listen.

3. Name a film you can watch again and again without fatigue

There are two that come to mind, both with the name Africa in them. Out of Africa, which I've seen a number of times, yet, if it comes on TV, I find myself sitting and watching again. The other is The African Queen. Another great story, with two of my favorite actors: Humphrey Bogart and Katharine Hepburn.

Like Kate, I adored Bogie.


4. Name a performer for whom you suspend all disbelief

The aforesaid Humphrey Bogart (whom I've adored since I first saw him) and Katharine Hepburn. Also, Kevin Spacey, Morgan Freeman, Tom Hanks, to name a few more. I obviously have trouble limiting my choices.

5. Name a work of art you’d like to live with

Hmmm... so difficult to choose. Some great works of art are great on museum walls, but difficult to live with. I guess I'd pick one of the impressionist or post-impressionist paintings -- maybe Degas' "Dance Instructor." I have a copy of Van Gogh's "Sunflowers" -- maybe "Starry Night" to go with it. Maybe Rodin's sculpture "The Thinker."

6. Name a work of fiction which has penetrated your real life

I read To Kill A Mockingbird as an adolescent, after having spent a couple of years in South Alabama, where white people still held their breath while passing a "colored" person on the street. I had picked up some of those attitudes, but that book started a shift in me. Then, I read I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings in high school. Oh, my. On a more intellectual level, and also read in high school, Brave New World and 1984 shocked me into what is my now firm anti-FASCIST stand and reluctance to give up any right to Big Brother. (George W. Bush certainly augmented and cemented that attitude.)

7. Name a punch line that always makes you laugh

I'm not sure it's a punchline, but Jack Benny putting his hand to his face and saying, "Well." Benny is another one I saw on TV from the time I was a little child, and I adored him. Still do.

OK. I tag Jim at Today's Gospel Insights, Lisa at My Manner of Life and Brother Causticus at titusoneten! (I can't wait to see which books and movies he casts his gimlet gaze upon!) And KJ, ninh and Mimi, who post at MadPriest's all the time. Drat that Padre Mickey -- he already tagged MadPriest.

Update 9:58 p.m. Friday, Jan. 19

I've heard back from Jim at Today's Gospel Insights. His musings are too good to be left in the comments section:

Well, OK. Jim says

1. Name a book that you want to share so much that you keep giving away copies: The Way of the Wolf, by Martin Bell

2. Name a piece of music that changed the way you listen to music: "Once in Royal David's City," performed by the Cambridge Choir.

3. Name a film you can watch again and again without fatigue: The Caine Mutiny, once again a Bogey flick. I have met too many Queegs in my life, and enjoy rolling the marbles down their speaking pipes!

4. Name a performer for whom you suspend all disbelief: Bogey! Who knew? [I suspected, Pat says]

5. Name a work of art you’d like to live with: Michaelangelo -- Anything

6. Name a work of fiction which has penetrated your real life: Thomas Wolfe's You Can't Go Home Again. You can't.

7. "Come on, Dad, you promised you'd play fair!" (Jesus to God on the first hole)


Jim's answer to No. 7 made me spew Diet Coke all over my keyboard.

Update 3:15 p.m. 01-20-07

Both Lisa and Brother Causticus have posted great entries. Grandmére Mimi, are you out there?

Update 11:38 p.m. 01-24-07

Our friend KJ chimes in with his 7 Things Meme:

KJ said...
I have completed my homework.

1. Name a book that you want to share so much that you keep giving away copies

"Is the Homosexual My Neighbor?" by Letha Scazoni and Virginia Mollenkott. This book was given to me prior to coming out and I found it very helpful in making the seemingly complex very, very simple. As I have become an evangelical gay boy magnet, I find many opportunities to share this book.

2. Name a piece of music that changed the way you listen to music

J.S. Bach's Concerto for Two Violins in D minor, 2nd movement. Few baroque pieces communicate passion the way that movement does, IMO.

3. Name a film you can watch again and again without fatigue

October Sky. I think that the theme of father and son with so much in common, yet worlds apart, both loved, faults and all, by wife and mother, is ageless.

4. Name a performer for whom you suspend all disbelief

Denzel Washington and Jodi Foster. I'd pay to watch and listen to the two of them read the phone book.

5. Name a work of art you’d like to live with

I own it. It was painted by a friend of mine. It's a Western Washington pastoral scene, milk cows and all. It hangs on the wall next to my desk where I can look at it as opposed to the parking lot out the window.

6. Name a work of fiction which has penetrated your real life

"The Keys of the Kingdom" by AJ Cronin. I first read this book when I was in high school and it challenged many of the stereotypes I had about priests, and the Catholic faith.

7. Name a punch line that always makes you laugh

"Run away! Run away!" which I guess isn't really a punch line as much as a recurring funny line in a movie of infamy and damn good advice.

KJ, I don't know the movie you're referring to in #7. ?? (I don't get out a whole lot) I remember Keys of the Kingdom - terrific.

Thanks!
I suspect Grandmere Mimi is going to be busy trying to figure out her new blog for a little bit. We may have to wait a while for her "7 Things."

An eerie stillness

There's an eerie stillness in the Diocese of Central Florida tonight. The news is out, posted by sources as varied as The Daily Episcopalian and Titusonenine.
The Episcopal Voices listserv is quiet. There's not a word from anyone, yet the news is big.

Bishop Peter Lee and the Diocese of Virginia have declared the 11 parishes that voted to leave the Episcopal Church for the Nigerian church vacant and abandoned, and they are being reclaimed for the Episcopal Church.

Lee said, in a separate letter, "When the membership of these congregations voted to sever their ties with the Episcopal Church and affiliate with CANA, they left remaining Episcopal congregations in those places without vestries, without clergy and without their churches, whether the remaining congregations numbered one or 100 souls. The spiritual abandonment of their Episcopal brothers and sisters of the past, the present and the future, is perhaps the greatest offense for which there is no redress under our tradition...

Bishop Lee detailed his attempts to maintain relations with the leadership of these churches, for naught.

"We have resisted attempts to deny them seat, voice and vote at the Annual Council when they stopped funding the budget of the Diocese. They have enjoyed access to our diocesan-managed medical and dental benefits. They have enjoyed other diocesan resources like grant funding for church planting, mission work and congregational development, Shrine Mont and Roslyn. I have met dozens of times with the leadership of these churches and with their counsel in an effort to find common ground on matters of theology."

I'm waiting to see what happens here, in the eerie quiet. Is it the calm before the storm?

The groundwork was being laid in this diocese for the move to Nigeria. Last week, one of the Network types in my parish (a nice person, but sadly tapped into this stuff) sent a e-mail around, with propaganda hot off the AAC press:

The Path of the Episcopal Church

Here we chronicle the events and their dates leading up to the "Walking Apart" of the US branch of the Anglican Communion from the main body of both the Communion and the Holy Catholic Church.

The Protestant Episcopal Church of the United States of America (PECUSA), is also known as the Episcopal Church of the United States of America (ECUSA), the Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society (DFMS), and The Episcopal Church (TEC).

After this intro comes a long timeline of "proofs" that the Episcopal Church has chosen to walk apart. Spong's name figures big in it. Events of 2003 (Gene Robinson becomes bishop, the General Convention) are marked it red.

The sender says, "An interesting read no matter how you 'feel' about things. I hope you'll familiarize yourself with events and go on line and do your own research. I truly believe we will be challenged to make some decisions sooner or later and the more informed each of us is, the better we'll be able to make those decision. SO - PRAY, RESEARCH, PRAY, READ, PRAY and PRAY someone."

I have been, and Bishop Lee and the Diocese of Virginia have answered one of my prayers.

Now let's see what the leadership in this diocese does.

Mad kings and mad wars

[If the cartoon text is difficult to read, in the top line, Hobbes asks Calvin, "How come we play war and not peace?" Calvin replies, "Too few role models."]


War is stupid. It should be resorted to in last-ditch defense.

Unfortunately, we have a leader in the White House, who when he can't intimidate the generals into saying what he wants, fires them. We have a leader who listens to no one -- not even the Pentagon or his advisors, about this war. We could soon find ourselves at war in other places in the world. Iran? Bombing Somalia? Mad King George reigns.

Even the Saudis are nervous. And they're unhappy with the Shias, who are in charge of the Iraqi government. The Saudis are Sunnis.

The more I read Middle Eastern news, I see how the U.S. has destabilized an already volatile region. All of it could be engulfed in a religious war.

Perhaps Bush is one of those end-timers who wants to bring it on.

Here a take that seems to sum up Arab thinking:

Arab Perspectives on Bush's Iraq plan
Q&A with Jamal Dajani
New America Media, Q & A, Camille T. Taiara, Posted: Jan 16, 2007

Editor's Note: The Arab media was "bewildered" by Bush's plans to send more troops to Iraq without changing an admittedly failing strategy, reports Jamal Dajani, director of Middle Eastern programming for LinkTV.

Bush's plan to place new brigades in some of Iraq's most hotly contested areas is equivalent to "poking a tiger with a stick," Jamal Dajani said. And the administration's refusal to negotiate with Iran -- as the Baker-Hamilton Report advised -- is putting our allies in the region in an increasingly tight spot.

In the meantime, Iraqis are bracing themselves.

New America Media interviewed Dajani within 24 hours of Bush's speech, in an article called Arab Perspectives on Bush Plans.

Bush said the purpose of sending the extra troops is to help the Iraqis quell sectarian violence. But how will this "surge" actually affect the war?

This is the Shia's first opportunity in hundreds of years to have a Shia-dominated government. I wouldn't be surprised if [Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri] al-Maliki starts purges against Sunni strongholds. At the same time, putting 4,000 of those new troops -- who are unfamiliar with the terrain, the customs, the culture -- in [Sunni-majority] Anbar, which is a very large province, is just creating more targets for the Sunnis, who still perceive the U.S. as occupiers. U.S. troops might find themselves in the position, not only of separating the Shia from the Sunnis, but of being under very heavy attack from the Sunnis, and then they'll be playing into the hands of Maliki -- by bombing the Sunnis by air, by using heavy force against them. At the end of the day, you're going to see more American soldiers killed, and it's not going to stop the sectarian war.

How is the Arab world interpreting the opposition Bush faces from Congress, from the American public, from within the military?

Basically, they feel that Bush is defying all logic. But whereas people used to differentiate between U.S. policy and the American people, there's been a change in attitude. People feel the Americans are co-conspirators, because they elected Bush, and they let him continue with his policies.


Meanwhile, the toll mounts. Here'sThe Palm Beach Post Jan. 15, on the true cost the president's "surge" will have on American soldiers:


Within hours after President Bush announced a troop increase in Iraq, the Minnesota National Guard began reaching out to family members of soldiers.

The president's "surge" will mean that as many as 3,000 Minnesotans may have to spend an extra four months in Iraq. The Minnesota Guard is sending military counselors and making mental health-care providers available to help families, stressed emotionally and financially to the breaking point, deal with the extension. The same is happening in other states. In 2005, according to the Pentagon, more than half of the combat forces in Iraq were guard members. "Citizen soldiers" doesn't fit anymore.


Last week, an Associated Press investigation found that an Army private charged with slaughtering an Iraqi family had been diagnosed as a homicidal threat by a military mental-health team three months before the March attack. About 20 percent of soldiers returning from Iraq come home with serious mental illness. The length of deployment, repeated tours, family separation and the stress of urban warfare have spread post-traumatic stress disorder like a virus. Veterans hospitals are seeing a spike in war patients in their 20s. The suicide rate for Iraq soldiers and veterans doubled in 2005, surges the administration doesn't talk about.


Democrats are pushing through stopgap financing to keep the Veterans Affairs health-care system running. It needs $3 billion more this year just to continue covering the veterans already in the system. Backlogs in claims processing and appointments with physicians are surging toward historic levels. It will be years before the VA feels the full weight of the Iraq toll.


The president's call for more troops stresses the all-volunteer military as never before. It takes two years to recruit, train and arm 10,000 troops. Recruiters already have lowered standards to reach targets, thus risking more atrocities such as Mahmoudiya. The Army's 3rd Infantry from Fort Stewart, Ga., that led the 2003 invasion has been recalled to Iraq, the first division to be tapped for a third deployment.


President Bush wants a "surge" of 21,500 troops. The question obvious everywhere but in the White House is: A surge from where?

Yeah, I wonder.

Your own somebodiness: Remembering Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Only a day late ...

Among King's best-remembered writings are his "I Have a Dream" speech and his letter from Birmingham jail.

This one touch me deeply, too. It's timely, in these days when some people in the church are told they're not worthy:


In 1967, King spoke to a group of students at Barratt Junior High School in Philadelphia. He said, "I want to ask you a question, and that is: What is your life's blueprint?"

He went on to say, "Whenever a building is constructed, you usually have an architect who draws a blueprint, and that blueprint serves as the pattern, as the guide, and a building is not well erected without a good, solid blueprint."

"No. 1 in your life's blueprint, should be a deep belief in your own dignity, your worth and your own somebodiness. Don't allow anybody to make you feel that you're nobody. Always feel that you count. Always feel that you have worth, and always feel that your life has ultimate significance."

Calvin, the anti-blah

Caught in the throes of my foul mood Saturday, I flopped down in my green easy chair. Looking for something to distract me, I pulled a book from the coffee table. It was a collection of Calvin and Hobbes comics (Weirdos from Another Planet) I came across it a while back, while looking for another book.



I sat and flipped through it, and in a short time, found myself laughing out loud.

Calvin, the anti-blah. I think he's my spiritual child. If I had a little boy, I suspect he would be just like Calvin.

Bill Watterson packed a lot into these little comics. Many of them have as much message as you could get in an hour's sermon -- but packaged in terms of hilarity. No preaching involved.

Watterson quit doing the strip in 1995. It is our loss.

So, I''m taking a retro look at the theology and philosophy expressed Calvin and Hobbes. Take a look at the Calvin and Hobbes site. You can pull up comic strips according to theme. If you're not familiar with Calvin and Hobbes, here are a few hints: try searching for snow, God, food, school.

The series involving snowmen is the best anti-winter-blah medicine around -- also check out Calvin and Hobbes Snow Art Gallery.

To be, or not to be ... or to melt. Take THAT, winter!

Thank you, Bill Watterson.

The cruelest months

I've been thinking about my foul mood of the other day. (See entry of Saturday; thanks to the gang at MadPriest's for sending hugs and prayers.)

This is the crummiest time of year for me. Maybe there's some SAD (seasonal affective disorder) going on. But it's the time of year of several significant losses and other bad things.

Maybe Father J leaving is adding to it. Intellectually, I know it isn't, but that little girl inside me isn't happy at this abandonment.

I have detailed images stored in my memory of the appearance of snow blanketing the ground, and the way the light hit it, as my father fought his final battle with cancer. Memory is a strange thing.

I've been making a mental list of the good things that happened this time of year. And refleccting on the bad stuff, I see the good things that later came from it.

And spring is just around the corner.

Female Saints of the Week and Other Godly Women

I posted the image of a penitent, weepy Saint Mary Magdalene as sort of a humorous counterpoint to the image of my undeserving self.

Then, I got to thinking, it would be nice to feature images of various saints who happened to be women, and I thought, "Well, we have to have a little bio of the saint of the week, so everyone will know who she is/was."

Women have always made the church go 'round.

It's a good reminder of the role of women in the church these days, when some want to push us back into a box we were never in -- like that pope of the Middle Ages, who connected Mary Magdalene with the penitent (former prostitute?) who anointed Jesus' feet. There's no reason to think that woman was Mary Magdalene.

Who was Mary Magdalene, then?

It's possible Mary Magdalene was the Mary who was sister of Martha and Lazarus. I can see her sitting at the feet of Jesus. Also, Jesus' resurrection of Lazarus was not long before Jesus' final trip into Jerusalem -- Mary could have accompanied him.

Still, there's nothing in the Scriptures that definitely connects the two Marys. And Mary (or "Miriam," like John and James, was a very common name.

We know for certain that Mary Magdalene was Jesus' most dedicated apostle. He had healed her. She stayed with him at the cross, when others turned and ran in fear. She was the first to see the risen Lord. And by many accounts, she was a favorite of Jesus.

So, there you have it. I'll change the image every week or so. It will uplift me; you can look if you want.

Bad, bad mood

I've been in a bitchy mood all day.

I've been in a bad mood all week.

I feel like Calvin (of Bill Watterson's comic strip, "Calvin and Hobbes").



It was only the best comic strip ever.

Anyway, there was one where a disgruntled Calvin, stomping around with a big frown screwed onto his face, says, "Boy, I'm in a bad mood today! Everyone had better steer clear of me!"


Screwing his face up even more, Calvin says, "I hate everybody! As far as I'm concerned, everyone on the planet can just drop dead. People are scum."

Calvin stands, his hands crossed over his chest, glaring, waiting for a reaction.

"WELL-L-L-L? Doesn't anyone want to cheer me up????" he says, after a moment.

I know just how he feels.

Can I get a virtual hug, please? Sometimes when we need it the most is when we act like it the least.

Thank you.