More Visitors Than Ever

On Tuesday of this week, both Stand Firm and TitusOneNine linked to Wounded Bird. No, I'm not giving links to their sites. I was amused that the name of my blog was not mentioned. The links simply said go "here".

The links were to Bishop Charles Jenkins' most recent letter to the members of the Diocese of Louisiana, which I had posted, but which was not yet online at the diocesan website. The folks at SF and T19 did not much care for Bishop Jenkins' letter, and the posts and some of the comments were quite negative. In fact, I was somewhat startled by tone of the posts, but especially by some of the comments.

The upshot of the linkage was that I had the largest number of visitors to my blog ever. They broke my record which had been set with my post on my trip to Mexico, which included the flag of Mexico at the top. For some reason which I could not fathom, the flag attracted many visitors to that post.

I wrote to another blogger after I read the posts and comments, because I was somewhat concerned about all the visitors from those sites. The other blogger, one of the top-tier religious bloggers, told me that the visitors were a good thing, because there are always lurkers reading the blogs, and that perhaps, some of the lurkers were undecided and persuadable on certain controversial issues. That made sense to me. So I welcome all visitors from now on.

Anyway, judging from the numbers, the excitement is dying down, and I'm getting back to normal. No one from either blog left a negative comment about the letter on my site.

No chance of my succumbing to pride over the numbers, since the popularity of neither post was attributable to anything that I had written.

Happy 46th Anniversary To Us!

Grandpère and I celebrate 46 years together today. We have three great children and six beautiful grandchildren. We are together today because I have learned to "keep sweet" and obey my husband. (Uproarious laughter in background)

Seriously, folks have asked us how on earth two such different people could ever get together - and stay together. Sometimes we look at each other and ask ourselves the same question. We were friends before we came to agree that we wanted to be together for the long haul. Neither of us was swept off our feet by the other. No love at first sight. It was like at first sight that grew into love.

We enjoy some of the same activities, while we go our separate ways for others. This seems to work well for us. We both enjoy a good laugh, although we don't always laugh at the same things, and we share an appreciation for irony. The saving grace, in my humble opinion, is that neither of us will permit the other to take him/herself too seriously.

This doesn't sound very romantic, does it? Trust me; we have our moments.

(Grandpère)
"I know..."
But do you love me?

(Mimi)
Do I love him?
For forty-six years I've lived with him
Fought him, starved with him
Forty-six years my bed is his
If that's not love, what is?

(Grandpère)
Then you love me?

(Mimi)
I suppose I do.

(Grandpère)
And I suppose I love you too

(Both)
It doesn't change a thing
But even so
After forty-six years
It's nice to know.

With apologies to the writers and composers of "Fiddler on the Roof".

UPDATE: I forgot to mention that I received a dozen of these from Grandpère.



UPDATE 2: Tim Chesterton at Tale Spin has shared with Grandpère and me a beautiful love song which he wrote. It's a lovely anniversary gift. Thank you, Tim.

Top image from Wonder ClipArts.
Bottom image from WebShots.

Feast Day Of St. Cyprian Of Carthage

As usual with the early saints, Padre Mickey has the word.

Readings:

Psalm 23 or 116:10-17
1 Peter 5:1-4,10-11
John 10:11-16

Feast Day Of John Henry Hobart

Image from Wiki.

From Cynthia McFarland at the Lectionary;

After the American Revolution and the Independence of the United States, the Episcopal Church, under public suspicion in many quarters because of its previous association with the British government, did very little for about twenty years. John Hobart was one of the men who changed this.

Hobart was born in 1775, was ordained to the priesthood in 1801, and became Bishop of New York in 1816.

To look at John Henry Hobart, you wouldn't have predicted greatness. Height always distinguishes, and he was notably short. Blessed with attractive blue eyes, he was nearsighted and forced to wear thick glasses. In an age of marmoreal gestures in the pulpit, he was melodramatic. At a time of dignified eloquence, he spoke rapidly, with emotion. When most men were reserved, even with their families, he was warm, whether with ambassadors or farmers, to the point of being thought odd.

Most bishops were content if they bestirred themselves for episcopal acts a hundred miles from home. Hobart had the energy of ten men: horses dropped under his exertions and he thought nothing of a winter visitation of 2,000 miles in western New York or 4,000 at a more seasonal time.
....

He knew all the clergy in the Church generally and in his own diocese intimately. He was aware of their background, remembered their families, forgave their frailties, and appreciated their strengths. He watched over his candidates for Holy Orders with a paternal interest, meeting with them weekly.
....

He took 26 clergy at the beginning of his episcopate in 1811 and quintupled them to 133 by his death; watched the number of parishes increase from about 50 to almost 170; and confirmed roughly 15,000.

This lovable, indefatigable, type-A bishop went virtually nonstop from his ordination until his death.

He became seriously ill in September 1930 at St. Peter's Church in Auburn, New York, where Francis Cuming was rector. During his final illness he often asked to hear Lancelot Andrewes' litany, and joined in reciting it.

Cuming writes: "His pains were so severe he could not give his mind to them unless they were short, and when I had invoked our Heavenly Father to continue to be gracious to his suffering servant; and that whereas he had studied to approve himself to God upon earth, he might be permitted to stand approved by his Master in heaven, he interrupted me by saying, 'Amen: O yes, God grant it, but with all humility I ask it.'"

"On Friday, September 10th, just before the going down of the sun, and as its last rays had forced themselves through the blinds, and were playing upon the wall not far from the bed, he said, 'Open the shutters, that I may see more of the light; O how pleasant it is; how cheering is the sun--but there is a Sun of Righteousness, in whose light we shall see light.'"
....

Early Sunday morning, September 12, 1830, John Henry Hobart died, aged 55. The funeral took place in New York City on September 16. The mourners included the governor of the state and the mayor of New York City, and the procession was estimated at nearly 3,000.

The third bishop of New York is buried under the chancel of Trinity Church, New York.

What a man of God! He wore himself out in service to his God and to God's people. He sounds absolutely endearing. He was a short man, like Zacchaeus, to whom Jesus said, "Today salvation has come to this house...." How fitting that this reading from Jude is part of the celebration of Hobart's feast day:

But you, beloved, build yourselves up on your most holy faith; pray in the Holy Spirit; keep yourselves in the love of God; look forward to the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life.

Now to him who is able to keep you from falling, and to make you stand without blemish in the presence of his glory with rejoicing, to the only God our Saviour, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, power, and authority, before all time and now and for ever. Amen. Jude 20-21,24-25


READING:

Psalm 78:3-7 or 133
Jude 20-21,24-25
John 17:11b-19

PRAYER
Revive your Church, Lord God of hosts, whenever it falls into complacency and sloth, by raising up devoted leaders, like your servant John Henry Hobart whom we remember this day; and grant that their faith and vigor of mind may awaken your people to your message and their mission; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

Sixth Anniversary of 9/11

Image from Wiki.

I have not forgotten. I wanted to write a memorial for those who died on September 11, 2001, and extend a word of comfort to their families and friends, but I find that I have no words, only thoughts and emotions which I cannot express. I offer these from The Book of Common Prayer:

I am Resurrection and I am Life, says the Lord.
Whoever has faith in me shall have life,
even though he die.
And everyone who has life,
and has committed himself to me in faith,
shall not die for ever.

As for me, I know that my Redeemer lives
and that at the last he will stand upon the earth.
After my awaking, he will raise me up;
and in my body I shall see God.
I myself shall see, and my eyes behold him
who is my friend and not a stranger.

For none of us has life in himself,
and none becomes his own master when he dies.
For if we have life, we are alive in the Lord,
and if we die, we die in the Lord.
So, then, whether we live or die,
we are the Lord's possession.

Happy from now on
are those who die in the Lord!
So it is, says the Spirit,
for they rest from their labors.

BCP - p. 491



Interfaith service at St. Paul's Chapel on Broadway on September 11, 2006, from Wiki.

UPDATE: You may want to read Fr. Jake's wonderful sermon in remembrance of 9/11.

From Bishop Jenkins Of Louisiana

Today I received my copy of ChurchWork, the official journal of the Diocese of Louisiana. The former newspaper style is now a magazine. The latest issue is not yet on line, but I wanted to post this from Bishop Charles Jenkins to the members of the diocese:

...The Bishops of the Episcopal Church will be meeting at the Hotel Intercontinental from Sept. 18-25. I ask you to join me in praying for Divine Grace that we may be faithful to Jesus, who, in His High Priestly prayer, asked the Father (that)"we may be one as He and the Father are one."

I need not state anew my traditional and unchanged thoughts on the questions before us. However, I do wish to share several observations, which have expanded my thinking a bit. As our Lord taught in the Parable of the Good Samaritan, it was the Samaritan who proved the good neighbor because it was this racial and religious outcast who demonstrated the quality of mercy. Our Lord's command around mercy was simple, "Go and do likewise." We in Louisiana have seen and experienced mercy from the hands of many for the past two years. People from radically differing perspectives around sexuality have come together in a mission of mercy, and have found their lives changed and the seeming hot button issues put in the proper perspective. Why can we as Anglicans not demonstrate the same mercy toward one another?

A failure to find a way forward together shall not simply hurt each and every one of us, but as sin is always communal in its effects, our failures will hurt the poor and needy whom we serve and to whom mercy is a symbol of hope. The Anglican Communion is engaged in a huge ministry of justice, mercy, and compassion around the world. If we give in to the sin of self-absorption, our souls shall surely be hardened but it is the poor who will suffer most. No matter which side of the issue of human sexuality you believe to be of God, I suggest that if you really want to break the heart of God, you should work to make the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion as absorbed with itself and her disagreements as is possible.

The time and the place of the Archbishop's visit is significant. I think we in Louisiana and Mississippi have demonstrated the truth of mission to the Communion. The Morial Convention Center was the place of such suffering and death. Just several weeks after the second anniversary of our being brought so low, we come together to thank God and the church throughout the world for the mercy and support which has enabled us to begin our recovery.

The bishops and their spouses will take off Saturday and Sunday to do work in Louisiana and Mississippi.I need your prayers as I try to get a building for All Souls in the Lower Ninth. The Bishops are bringing offerings to pay for this new Church and I hope they will be able to finish it come September. You will likely have a guest Bishop in your parish Church on the Sunday of the New Orleans meeting. If you want to hear the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, plan to come to Christ Church Cathedral on that Sunday morning at the 10:00 a.m service....

Feast Day of Alexander Crummell

From James Kiefer at the Lectionary:

Alexander Crummell was born in New York City in 1819, and wished to study for the priesthood, but received many rebuffs because he was black. He was ordained in the Diocese of Massachusets in 1844, when he was 25 years old, but was excluded from a meeting of priests of the diocese, and decided to go to England.

After studying at Cambridge he went to Liberia, where he worked under American leadership to establish a repatriation location in Liberia for freed slaves. Crummell hoped for a "black Christian republic combining the best of European and African culture, and led by a Western-educated black bishop."

His work in Liberia ran into opposition and indifference, and he returned to the United States, where he undertook the founding and strengthening of urban black congregations that would provide worship, education, and social services for their communities. When some bishops proposed a separate missionary district for black parishes, he organized a group, now known as the Union of Black Episcopalians, to fight the proposal.


PRAYER:

Almighty and everlasting God, we thank you for your servant Alexander Crummell, whom you called to preach the Gospel to those who were far off and to those who were near. Raise up in this and every land evangelists and heralds of your kingdom, that your Church may proclaim the unsearchable riches of our Savior Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.

READINGS:

Psalm 19:7-11
Sirach 39:6-11
Mark 4:1-10,13-20

Our Sunday School Class

This morning I was up and out early for the adult Sunday school class at my church, arriving late, but not too late. We are watching N. T. Wright's DVD set, Simply Christian, and discussing the presentation afterward.

I like the talks by Bishop Wright, except for a few minor quibbles. His TV presence is quite good. Last week, the subject was justice, and when we went to the discussion, one man in the group had brought 250 pages of material which he had printed from a conservative Roman Catholic website on the glories of the free market, the form of economy most likely to produce justice and equality, soi disant. I sat there taking this in with a large dose of skepticism, and he went on and on, until the rector gently interrupted before he read all 250 pages. Thanks be to God, because I was dying in my seat. I squeezed in a few words to the effect that this was odd material coming from a Roman Catholic website, since the present pope and his predecessor both had spoken out against injustices produced by untrammeled free markets. His going on and on about free markets seemed to take the wind out of the rest of us for any kind of lively discussion. Any wonder?

This morning the subject was spirituality. After watching the good bishop's presentation, the same gentleman was the first to pipe up again to tell us that ours is a Christian nation, and yet there are people who believe nothing except what they can prove through science. Who knew? Then he proceeded to tell us that these folks are walking free among us and having meetings. They are loose on the streets and gathering together. Imagine that! He went on again at some length, and once he was done, I had to bite my tongue to keep from saying, "These folks really should be rounded up, don't you think?" After that we went on to have a pretty decent discussion.

I find it nearly impossible to sit still for this kind of talk and not answer back. What saved the day was the discussion after this man stopped talking. He's talking politics, and if he wants to talk politics, I can do that, but that's going totally off topic and defeating the purpose of the course.

What do I do? Talk to my rector? Continue to go with the hope that he'll stop? Continue to go and pray I won't pop off at him if he keeps it up? Stop going to the class?

Bill Richardson - Opinion

From Bill Richardson, governor of New Mexico and Democratic candidate for president, in an opinion column in the Washington Post:

In the most recent debate, I asked the other candidates how many troops they would leave in Iraq and for what purposes. I got no answers. The American people need answers. If we elect a president who thinks that troops should stay in Iraq for years, they will stay for years -- a tragic mistake.

Clinton, Obama and Edwards reflect the inside-the-Beltway thinking that a complete withdrawal of all American forces somehow would be "irresponsible." On the contrary, the facts suggest that a rapid, complete withdrawal -- not a drawn-out, Vietnam-like process -- would be the most responsible and effective course of action.
....

My position has been clear since I entered this race: Remove all the troops and launch energetic diplomatic efforts in Iraq and internationally to bring stability. If Congress fails to end this war, I will remove all troops without delay, and without hesitation, beginning on my first day in office.

Let's stop pretending that all Democratic plans are similar. The American people deserve precise answers from anyone who would be commander in chief. How many troops would you leave in Iraq? For how long? To do what, exactly? And the media should be asking these questions of the candidates, rather than allowing them to continue saying, "We are against the war . . . but please don't read the small print."

Bravo, Bill Richardson. I absolutely agree. He's thrown down the gauntlet. He's challenged the other candidates to state plainly what they will do about Iraq. I challenge them, too. I want details from all of the candidates, not vague statements like, "Well, it's complicated." Dennis Kucinich has stated that he will bring all of the troops home, but what about the rest of them?

I put to them the question that John Kerry asked about the Vietnam War, "How do you ask a man to be the last man to die for a mistake?" Think about that, Democratic candidates, and tell us what you will do if you become president.

Please Pray - Again

The vet did exploratory surgery on my daughter's cat, Beyoncé, and her condition is hopeless. She will put her down in a few minutes.

My daughter and her three boys are distraught from grief. The cat was with them only a few months, but she had captured their hearts in a powerful way.

O Lord God bestow your love upon A, B, A, and W and heal them in spirit, mind, and body. Give them strength and courage to go on, and fill their hearts with your peace that passes understanding in Christ Jesus. Amen