From The Lead at the Episcopal Café:
Leadership is - is, to me, a very, very murky and complicated concept. Often, as I - I think I've said before, what people mean when they say leadership is making - making the right noises, affirming a particular set of views, convictions or even prejudices. It doesn't always have very much to do with how you make a difference. And I think the question I always find myself asking of myself is: will a pronouncement here or a statement there actually move things on, or is it something that makes me feel better and other people feel better, but doesn't necessary contribute very much?
The quote is from an interview with Archbishop Rowan Williams by Alan Rusbridger, published in The Guardian in 2006. We should have paid more attention.
Preceding the above statement is this exchange with Rusbridger:
AR: What do you think the public role of Archbishop should consist of?
AC: Should or does?
AR: Should.
AC: Should. Setting some kind of tonal vision for the church, the Church of England; pastoral involvement and collaboration with the other bishops. And the Church of England being the way it is, trying to - to find, crystallise some sort of - some sort of moral vision that's communicable to the nation at large. I think those - those are the ascensions of it. And I think that - that brings with it the elements of the times being what I once called comic vicar to the nation.
AR: The what vicar?
AC: The comic vicar.
AR: The comic vicar.
AC: You are bound to be where a lot of the brickbats end up as well, you may have noticed.
I don't know about the rest of you, but I find the Archbishop's words astonishing - astonishingly prophetic, for one thing. I don't think that I have ever read that interview before. Such a timid, tentative approach to the position of an archbishop in the Church of England must be somewhat similar to his concept of his role as the first among equals in the Anglican Communion.
Was this interview widely noted at the time? He seems quite the reluctant leader. I should have paid more attention, because this interview explains a lot.
"Leadership is a...murky and complicated concept" and "a comic vicar"? If those are his ideas of leadership by an archbishop, then it seems very likely that he will be that sort of leader.
I don't enjoy being critical of the Archbishop of Canterbury, and I wish I could speak more positively about him. Perhaps he has some grand plan in mind that will serve to bring the Anglican Communion together, and perhaps the unknown plan will have some success. I pray that's the case.
The piece in The Lead and the 2006 interview in the Guardian are both worth reading, or, perhaps, in the case of the interview, re-reading.
UPDATE: Ann at What The Tide Brings In has the video of Archbishop Williams' statement on World AIDS Day, which I think is quite good and gives me an opportunity to speak positive words about him, which I gladly do.
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
Married To A Celebrity
Photo by (Abby Tabor/Staff)
Ha! I'll bet that you didn't know that I was a celebrity wife, or, you could say a trophy wife. Well, maybe I'm too old for the trophy wife, but a celebrity wife, anyway. The picture above is splashed all over the front page of the local newspaper, and is, indeed, my man, Grandpère.
From the Daily Comet:
By John DeSantis, Senior Staff Writer
LOCKPORT - Hidden behind the brick walls of a pre-World War I commercial building on this central Lafourche town’s main street, wooden treasures lie at rest from their many years of labor.
Boats once used for crabbing and fishing, as well as for put-putting around south Louisiana’s bayous and canals, await the loving hands of woodworkers who will sand, plane, paint and touch up, just enough to return the vessels to their former glory.
Back in 1979, Grandpère and a history professor from Nicholls State University started a small boat museum at the university, which they named the Center for Traditional Louisiana Boatbuilding. They accumulated donations of old wooden boats and placed them at the university here, there, and anywhere the powers would allow, always dreaming that one day they would have a museum to house the boats, but never knowing where the money would come from.
They located older boatbuilders, who built wooden boats in in the old ways, with no plans, out of their heads, and had them teach classes in an attempt to preserve the craft of wooden boatbuilding. Eventually, the history professor dropped out of the project, and Grandpère was left to pursue the goal, along with other interested persons in the community who worked with him.
A few years ago, the city of Lockport, La., a town down Bayou Lafourche from Thibodaux, took a step in faith and purchased in an old Ford dealership. It's a nice old building, built in 1917, with huge doors, sized for putting new car models on the floor, but also perfect for moving large boats in and out of the building. And it's right on the water. The building has good bones, but it needs work, extensive work, before it will be useful to house the boats, the tools, the art work, and all that has been collected over 28 years.
The Center has had grants over the years to build boats in the old way, but nothing in the way of real money to move forward the goal of having its own museum building to gather all the materials together in one place. Now they have a $100,000 allocation from the state and a set of plans to begin the real work of renovating the building. That amount will not be enough to complete the project, but there is hope for another $100,000 from the state.
Here's a link to the Center's website. You can view some of the boats in the collection here.
The picture below shows the largest boat in the collection, a New Orleans oyster lugger, a boat which is now extinct. This one was constructed in 1997, and is the only one of its kind.
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Another Must See!
Another visual that you must see at Padre Mickey's Dance Party. I'm not kidding. You'll be sorry if you don't go. Be sure to click to get the large version.
Who For President?
Our friend, Ormonde, at Through the Dust has been trying very hard to remain apolitical throughout the presidential campaign, but temptation got the better of him, and he has posted a video on his favorite candidate. You must see it.
The video went to Ormonde via Ken's Blog.
Via, via, via, but we must give credit where credit is due.
The video went to Ormonde via Ken's Blog.
Via, via, via, but we must give credit where credit is due.
GOOD NEWS!
I feel so happy. I feel so stupid. IT IS DIANA'S BAD EYE THAT WAS INJURED! Grandpère did not want me to look at Diana's injury last night, because the eye was hanging out. Since I am squeamish about blood and injuries, especially the eye, I chose not to look. I asked him if it was her good eye or the bad eye, and he said that it was the good eye. Now we have put drops in the bad eye, the eye with glaucoma, many times. I'd have known in an instant, if I had looked, whether it was the eye she was blind in, or the other. BUT I DIDN'T LOOK!
WHAT GOOD NEWS! The vet had talked with us about removing her bad eye previously, because it was difficult to keep the pressure from the glaucoma down, and she had little or no sight in it anyway, due to other problems.
She must have been hit by a car, because she has a small break in the bone under the eye, which the vet thinks will heal on it's own, and a lot of soreness in her head and neck area, but no other broken bones.
I feel as if we've had a miracle, even though we didn't. Thanks for all the prayers and support. Y'all are great!
THANKS BE TO GOD!
UPDATE: I just spoke to the technician who is caring for Diana at the vet's, and she said that she is still in a lot of pain in the head and neck area, so they had to give her pain medication, and she was asleep. Keep her in your prayers. Otherwise, she is doing well.
WHAT GOOD NEWS! The vet had talked with us about removing her bad eye previously, because it was difficult to keep the pressure from the glaucoma down, and she had little or no sight in it anyway, due to other problems.
She must have been hit by a car, because she has a small break in the bone under the eye, which the vet thinks will heal on it's own, and a lot of soreness in her head and neck area, but no other broken bones.
I feel as if we've had a miracle, even though we didn't. Thanks for all the prayers and support. Y'all are great!
THANKS BE TO GOD!
UPDATE: I just spoke to the technician who is caring for Diana at the vet's, and she said that she is still in a lot of pain in the head and neck area, so they had to give her pain medication, and she was asleep. Keep her in your prayers. Otherwise, she is doing well.
Dull, Dull, Dull
From the Times-Picayune:
The city of Hammond was dull, dull, dull, said Whitney Jefferson, 76, a retired New Orleans siding installer displaced there by the flood.
"It's a country town. No buses or streetcars, no nothing," he said.
Not that Jefferson has ridden a city bus in years.
"But I like to know it's out there," he said, pushing his wheelchair to the third-floor window of St. Margaret's Daughters Nursing Home in New Orleans, which recently moved into the former Bywater Hospital building on St. Claude Avenue.
Whitney is a lady after my own heart. I lived in Hammond, La. for five years, and it was dull, dull, dull. All three of my children were born there. It's their place of birth. How could that be?
I feel like Whitney about New Orleans. Even if I don't live there, I like to know it's out there. Fortunately, I can visit often.
Another lady after my own heart, a resident of the same nursing home, had this to say:
"I've never been so lonely in my life," said Odessa Maas, 92, who was displaced to what she called an "isolated" Avoyelles Parish facility.
"You looked out the window and all you saw was trees, trees and maybe a little traffic," she said, rolling her eyes.
Oh, Odessa, I get it. I really do get it.
Avoyelles was such a backwater, Maas said, that she'd had no liquor in two years' time.
"Not a drop," she said.
....
Last week Maas offset her long temperance with an outing to Cy's Bar in Chalmette, where she drank Budweiser and caught up with people she hadn't seen for two years: her son, daughter-in-law and 25 fellow VFW club members.
"I was the star attraction," she said coyly, rolling down beige support hose to reveal still-toned calves.
Whitney and Odessa were overjoyed to return to the nursing home in New Orleans, and I know exactly how they feel. They wanted to go home.
There's nothing wrong with the town I live in. It's just not New Orleans. You're going to hear this until you're bored silly, but New Orleans will always be the home of my heart.
I had this post written and ready to post last night, when we got the news about Diana, so I'm posting it anyway. No use wallowing in gloom all day.
The city of Hammond was dull, dull, dull, said Whitney Jefferson, 76, a retired New Orleans siding installer displaced there by the flood.
"It's a country town. No buses or streetcars, no nothing," he said.
Not that Jefferson has ridden a city bus in years.
"But I like to know it's out there," he said, pushing his wheelchair to the third-floor window of St. Margaret's Daughters Nursing Home in New Orleans, which recently moved into the former Bywater Hospital building on St. Claude Avenue.
Whitney is a lady after my own heart. I lived in Hammond, La. for five years, and it was dull, dull, dull. All three of my children were born there. It's their place of birth. How could that be?
I feel like Whitney about New Orleans. Even if I don't live there, I like to know it's out there. Fortunately, I can visit often.
Another lady after my own heart, a resident of the same nursing home, had this to say:
"I've never been so lonely in my life," said Odessa Maas, 92, who was displaced to what she called an "isolated" Avoyelles Parish facility.
"You looked out the window and all you saw was trees, trees and maybe a little traffic," she said, rolling her eyes.
Oh, Odessa, I get it. I really do get it.
Avoyelles was such a backwater, Maas said, that she'd had no liquor in two years' time.
"Not a drop," she said.
....
Last week Maas offset her long temperance with an outing to Cy's Bar in Chalmette, where she drank Budweiser and caught up with people she hadn't seen for two years: her son, daughter-in-law and 25 fellow VFW club members.
"I was the star attraction," she said coyly, rolling down beige support hose to reveal still-toned calves.
Whitney and Odessa were overjoyed to return to the nursing home in New Orleans, and I know exactly how they feel. They wanted to go home.
There's nothing wrong with the town I live in. It's just not New Orleans. You're going to hear this until you're bored silly, but New Orleans will always be the home of my heart.
I had this post written and ready to post last night, when we got the news about Diana, so I'm posting it anyway. No use wallowing in gloom all day.
Monday, November 26, 2007
Please Pray For Our Dog, Diana
Tonight our dog, Diana, got out and got hit by a car. She is blind in one eye, and it appears that her other eye is badly injured. I don't know about other injuries. She doesn't look bad except for her eye. We don't know how she got out. Grandpère is at the vet's now with her. I'll let you know when I have more news. I'm afraid she will be blind.
UPDATE: The vet found no other injuries except one abrasion on her nose, but he will have to remove her eye, and we will have a blind dog. The vet says that dogs can do well blind, getting around by their sense of smell. At least she will be in a familiar place. We're not sure if she got grazed by a car, or perhaps got in a fight with another animal. It could be worse.
UPDATE: The vet found no other injuries except one abrasion on her nose, but he will have to remove her eye, and we will have a blind dog. The vet says that dogs can do well blind, getting around by their sense of smell. At least she will be in a familiar place. We're not sure if she got grazed by a car, or perhaps got in a fight with another animal. It could be worse.
Headline From Fox News
From Fox News:
Bush to Act as Key Negotiator at Mideast Peace Talks in Annapolis
Does the headline fill you with confidence that there will be a successful outcome to the peace talks?
I hope against hope that there is a coming together, but it's difficult for me to wrap my head around the idea of our dear leader as a successful negotiator. But then, perhaps the fault lies in my lack of imagination.
Bush to Act as Key Negotiator at Mideast Peace Talks in Annapolis
Does the headline fill you with confidence that there will be a successful outcome to the peace talks?
I hope against hope that there is a coming together, but it's difficult for me to wrap my head around the idea of our dear leader as a successful negotiator. But then, perhaps the fault lies in my lack of imagination.
"...The New Puritans Will Fail"
From Giles Fraser at the Church Times:
This week’s stop (my final one) on my American adventure is Pittsburgh, the belly of the beast. The good people of Calvary Church have been looking after me and sharing their fears.
These are not radicals or revolutionaries, just puzzled suit-and-tie churchgoers doing their best to follow God’s call. What are they to do when their Bishop, the Rt Revd Robert Duncan, wants to lead their whole diocese out of the Episcopal Church because he does not like its theology?
....
Archbishop Desmond Tutu preached about inclusion here at Calvary Church recently. Bishop Duncan squirmed through the sermon with a face like a bulldog chewing a wasp.
Giles Fraser, thank you for "a bulldog chewing a wasp". I won't soon forget that. I'd love to have been there to see Bishop Robert Duncan squirm through a sermon by Archbishop Tutu on inclusion. Because of the choice simile, I forgive you for "Episcopalian bishop". "Episcopalian" is a noun. Episcopal is the adjective. Why is that so hard?
This week’s stop (my final one) on my American adventure is Pittsburgh, the belly of the beast. The good people of Calvary Church have been looking after me and sharing their fears.
These are not radicals or revolutionaries, just puzzled suit-and-tie churchgoers doing their best to follow God’s call. What are they to do when their Bishop, the Rt Revd Robert Duncan, wants to lead their whole diocese out of the Episcopal Church because he does not like its theology?
....
Archbishop Desmond Tutu preached about inclusion here at Calvary Church recently. Bishop Duncan squirmed through the sermon with a face like a bulldog chewing a wasp.
Giles Fraser, thank you for "a bulldog chewing a wasp". I won't soon forget that. I'd love to have been there to see Bishop Robert Duncan squirm through a sermon by Archbishop Tutu on inclusion. Because of the choice simile, I forgive you for "Episcopalian bishop". "Episcopalian" is a noun. Episcopal is the adjective. Why is that so hard?
Sunday, November 25, 2007
Alleluia! Sing To Jesus
Alleluia! sing to Jesus!
His the scepter, his the throne.
Alleluia! His the triumph,
his the victory alone.
Hark! the songs of peaceful Zion
thunder like a mighty flood.
Jesus out of every nation
hath redeemed us by his blood.
Alleluia! not as orphans
are we left in sorrow now;
Alleluia! He is near us,
faith believes, nor questions how;
Though the cloud from sight received him
when the forty days were o'er
shall our hearts forget his promise,
'I am with you evermore'?
This morning in church, the feast of Christ the King, we sang the hymn above, which is one of my favorites. We sang all five verses, as we do almost all the time - sing all the verses, I mean. I love to praise God in song. I thank God for our small congregation who lift their voices and make a joyful noise unto the Lord, Sunday after Sunday.
Our closing hymn was another of my favorites:
Soon and Very Soon
Soon and Very Soon
(text and music by Andrae Crouch, adapted by Wm. F. Smith)
1. Soon and very soon, we are going to see the King
Soon and very soon, we are going to see the King
Soon and very soon, we are going to see the King
Hallelujah! Hallelujah! We're going to see the King.
2. No more crying there, we are going to see the King (3 times)
Hallelujah! Hallelujah! We're going to see the King.
3. No more dying there, we are going to see the King (3 times)
Hallelujah! Hallelujah! We're going to see the King.
I can't help dancing just a little when I sing that one. I believe I may have been instrumental in getting the hymn included in our alternative song book. One in the group of the committee who chose the hymns frowned a little when I asked for it, but when the hymnal was came out, my suggestion was included. Yay!
To move closer to something like an online service, you may want to click over to the website of the Turbulent Cleric, who has posted his sermon for today. His words include the best of what I like to hear in a sermon on the feast of Christ the King. I give a few excerpts to whet you appetite for more:
But is Jesus a King? Well we certainly find him pointing to a Kingdom, the Kingdom of God. This Kingdom is at the heart of his words and deeds, a Kingdom that breaks into our world and which is pregnant with possibilities. And certainly in the account of his crucifixion, this is parodied by his opponents who sarcastically put a notice above him on the cross proclaiming;
“This is the King of the Jews.”
....
But in affecting this earth, let us be clear that Jesus challenges our notions of power. There is no clunking fist telling us what we must believe in or do under threat or coercion. Far from it, Jesus turns our understanding of Kingship upside down for his Kingship is that which rejects the models of domination.
Turbulent Cleric sheds much light on the upside-down Kingdom of God.
Update: Here's a link to an old video of Andrae Crouch singing his own song, "Soon And Very Soon".
His the scepter, his the throne.
Alleluia! His the triumph,
his the victory alone.
Hark! the songs of peaceful Zion
thunder like a mighty flood.
Jesus out of every nation
hath redeemed us by his blood.
Alleluia! not as orphans
are we left in sorrow now;
Alleluia! He is near us,
faith believes, nor questions how;
Though the cloud from sight received him
when the forty days were o'er
shall our hearts forget his promise,
'I am with you evermore'?
This morning in church, the feast of Christ the King, we sang the hymn above, which is one of my favorites. We sang all five verses, as we do almost all the time - sing all the verses, I mean. I love to praise God in song. I thank God for our small congregation who lift their voices and make a joyful noise unto the Lord, Sunday after Sunday.
Our closing hymn was another of my favorites:
Soon and Very Soon
Soon and Very Soon
(text and music by Andrae Crouch, adapted by Wm. F. Smith)
1. Soon and very soon, we are going to see the King
Soon and very soon, we are going to see the King
Soon and very soon, we are going to see the King
Hallelujah! Hallelujah! We're going to see the King.
2. No more crying there, we are going to see the King (3 times)
Hallelujah! Hallelujah! We're going to see the King.
3. No more dying there, we are going to see the King (3 times)
Hallelujah! Hallelujah! We're going to see the King.
I can't help dancing just a little when I sing that one. I believe I may have been instrumental in getting the hymn included in our alternative song book. One in the group of the committee who chose the hymns frowned a little when I asked for it, but when the hymnal was came out, my suggestion was included. Yay!
To move closer to something like an online service, you may want to click over to the website of the Turbulent Cleric, who has posted his sermon for today. His words include the best of what I like to hear in a sermon on the feast of Christ the King. I give a few excerpts to whet you appetite for more:
But is Jesus a King? Well we certainly find him pointing to a Kingdom, the Kingdom of God. This Kingdom is at the heart of his words and deeds, a Kingdom that breaks into our world and which is pregnant with possibilities. And certainly in the account of his crucifixion, this is parodied by his opponents who sarcastically put a notice above him on the cross proclaiming;
“This is the King of the Jews.”
....
But in affecting this earth, let us be clear that Jesus challenges our notions of power. There is no clunking fist telling us what we must believe in or do under threat or coercion. Far from it, Jesus turns our understanding of Kingship upside down for his Kingship is that which rejects the models of domination.
Turbulent Cleric sheds much light on the upside-down Kingdom of God.
Update: Here's a link to an old video of Andrae Crouch singing his own song, "Soon And Very Soon".
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