This is a year when both Groundhog Day and the State of the Union address occur in the same week.
And as it has been pointed out, "It is an ironic juxtaposition of events: one involves a meaningless ritual in which we look to a creature of little intelligence for prognostication, while the other involves a groundhog."
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Johnieb Has A Blog!
Our virtual and real life friend (we met in New York) and long time commenter, Johnieb, has BEGUN TO BLOG! He's a little crazy, but aren't we all? He has a lovely story about participating in a civil-rights march organized by Martin Luther King. Please check in over at Here Still Running and read it. In person, Johnieb is absolutely charming and brilliant. He's originally from the South, you know.
Graces from "Barefoot And Laughing"
Kirstin at Barefoot And Laughing has a lovely post on her work in New Orleans doing interviews for the Episcopal Diocese of Louisiana.
I’m doing research for EDOLA staff who’s writing a book, one aspect of which is graces in the storm. There have been so many graces in my own life, here. I’ve been given so many unexpected gifts: all at some cost, but which have grown me in ways I won’t understand for a long time.
God bless Kirstin. She even counts among the graces the fact that we gave her whiplash.
Mimi’s been amazing; she checks in with me pretty much daily, to see how I am. I’m just thankful that neither of them were hurt. 2 ½ months of neurological weirdness, I can handle. They’re both older; I’ll heal much faster than they would.
I'll tell you who's been amazing. Kirstin has been amazingly kind and generous. She's a living saint.
Please do read the rest of her very fine post. And pray for quick healing of her injury.
I’m doing research for EDOLA staff who’s writing a book, one aspect of which is graces in the storm. There have been so many graces in my own life, here. I’ve been given so many unexpected gifts: all at some cost, but which have grown me in ways I won’t understand for a long time.
God bless Kirstin. She even counts among the graces the fact that we gave her whiplash.
Mimi’s been amazing; she checks in with me pretty much daily, to see how I am. I’m just thankful that neither of them were hurt. 2 ½ months of neurological weirdness, I can handle. They’re both older; I’ll heal much faster than they would.
I'll tell you who's been amazing. Kirstin has been amazingly kind and generous. She's a living saint.
Please do read the rest of her very fine post. And pray for quick healing of her injury.
Monday, January 21, 2008
Planning For Lambeth 2008
From the Guardian.
The 2008 Lambeth Conference officially opened today. Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams announced that approximately 70% of the bishops of the Anglican Communion have accepted their invitations to the Lambeth Conference and that others have said that they plan to attend. According to the Guardian, much of the conversation at the meeting centered on homosexuality.
With all the dreadful problems facing us in our world today, it is amazing to me that homosexuality was the main topic of the conversation - truly amazing. War, famine, disease, global warming, all yield place to homosexuality.
Bishop Gene Robinson of the Diocese of New Hampshire, who is openly gay and partnered, has not, so far, been invited to Lambeth.
When asked if he had decided whether Robinson would attend, Williams replied: "Gene Robinson has not been invited to the Lambeth Conference and it is proving extremely difficult to see under what heading he might be invited to be around, and that is where we are.
My suggestion is that he be invited around as the bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of New Hampshire. I'd ask Archbishop Williams the reason for his exclusion!
Episcopal spouses will be well cared for under the direction of Jane Williams, wife of the Archbishop of Canterbury, and Margaret Sentamu, wife of the Archbishop of York. They are promised more than "jam and Jerusalem, more tea vicar, or mitre-making and flower arranging".
Oh, well, that's all right, then.
In Memoriam - Martin Luther King
An excerpt from Martin Luther King's acceptance speech for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964:
I accept this award today with an abiding faith in America and an audacious faith in the future of mankind. I refuse to accept despair as the final response to the ambiguities of history. I refuse to accept the idea that the "isness" of man's present nature makes him morally incapable of reaching up for the eternal "oughtness" that forever confronts him.
I refuse to accept the idea that man is mere flotsom and jetsom in the river of life unable to influence the unfolding events which surround him. I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become a reality.
I refuse to accept the cynical notion that nation after nation must spiral down a militaristic stairway into the hell of thermonuclear destruction. I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. This is why right temporarily defeated is stronger than evil triumphant.
I believe that even amid today's motor bursts and whining bullets, there is still hope for a brighter tomorrow. I believe that wounded justice, lying prostrate on the blood-flowing streets of our nations, can be lifted from this dust of shame to reign supreme among the children of men.
I have the audacity to believe that peoples everywhere can have three meals a day for their bodies, education and culture for their minds, and dignity, equality and freedom for their spirits. I believe that what self-centered men have torn down, men other-centered can build up. I still believe that one day mankind will bow before the altars of God and be crowned triumphant over war and bloodshed, and nonviolent redemptive goodwill will proclaim the rule of the land.
"And the lion and the lamb shall lie down together and every man shall sit under his own vine and fig tree and none shall be afraid."
I still believe that we shall overcome.
And so must we believe. He has given us example.
Note: Time edited to keep the post at the top of the page.
Exercise Suggestion For "Older Adults"
From my brother-in-law:
An excellent exercise for "older adults" like me:
Begin by standing on a comfortable surface, where you have plenty of room at each side. With a 5 lb potato sack in each hand, extend your arms straight out from your sides and hold them there as long as you can. Try to reach a full minute, and then relax. Each day, you'll find that you can hold that position for just a bit longer.
After a couple of weeks, move up to l0 lb. potato sacks. Then try 50 lb potato sacks and then eventually try to get to where you can lift a l00 lb potato sack in each hand and hold your arms straight for more than a full minute.
(I'm at this level) After you feel confident at this level, put a potato in each of the sacks.
An excellent exercise for "older adults" like me:
Begin by standing on a comfortable surface, where you have plenty of room at each side. With a 5 lb potato sack in each hand, extend your arms straight out from your sides and hold them there as long as you can. Try to reach a full minute, and then relax. Each day, you'll find that you can hold that position for just a bit longer.
After a couple of weeks, move up to l0 lb. potato sacks. Then try 50 lb potato sacks and then eventually try to get to where you can lift a l00 lb potato sack in each hand and hold your arms straight for more than a full minute.
(I'm at this level) After you feel confident at this level, put a potato in each of the sacks.
Sunday, January 20, 2008
They Prayed Together In The Diocese Of Albany
From the Times Union:
ALBANY -- They prayed together. They recited the Nicene Creed together. They sipped from the same chalice.
On Saturday, the top lay official in the liberal-leaning U.S. Episcopal Church joined conservative Albany Bishop William Love in the first public forum of its kind since Love's consecration.
Bonnie Anderson, president of the Episcopal Church's House of Deputies, challenged the more than 200 people gathered at St. Andrew's in Albany to come up with a model for the national church of how believers of different views can communicate.
....
"We talk about the struggles of the church, and we seem to think that it all has to do with sex," Love said during his sermon. "That's only a symptom of something much deeper. That issue much deeper is God's word. How is it to be understood? How is it to be interpreted? How is it to be lived out?"
Some speakers told the bishop they felt shut out of diocesan events and publications. Some criticized links to conservative religious Internet sites on the diocesan Web page. One said he wasn't comfortable being referred to as a "sodomite" or "heretic" on a Web site recommended by the diocese.
Love said he could check the policy regarding links. He also suggested that if the speaker found the material offensive, "Don't read it."
That drew loud disapproval from the audience and, later in the session, an apology from Love.
....
In interviews at St. Andrew's Saturday, though, people on both sides of the ideological divide gave the bishop credit for showing up. A lot of credit.
"This is true Anglicanism, where you come together even with a divergence of views," said David Kennison, senior warden at St. George's Church in Schenectady and a former Albany Via Media board member.
The Rev. Peter Schofield, a conservative from Christ Church in Schenectady, said he feels Albany Via Media has been "very disruptive in the diocese." But he, too, praised Saturday's service.
"If we did worship together a lot more often than we do, I think we'd have a lot less problems," he said. "We're all one in Jesus."
What website recommended by the diocese would refer to a person as a "sodomite" or a "heretic"?
Here's the link to the Diocese of Albany's website. Could it be one of the blog sites? Here's a quote from one of the blogs recommended by the diocese:
Stand Firm is obviously the site referenced in the article below. I cannot imagine Bishop Love bowing to the demands of the crowd regarding links to this site. Given that Episcopal Cafe, a site run out of the Diocese of Washington DC links to vile places like Mad Priest, it is difficult to maintain the argument that Stand Firm represents anything more "offensive" than a viewpoint with which the small group of dissenters in Albany disagree.
Thanks be to God that the folks in the Diocese of Albany, including Bishop Love, prayed together and shared the Eucharist at the table of the Lord.
ALBANY -- They prayed together. They recited the Nicene Creed together. They sipped from the same chalice.
On Saturday, the top lay official in the liberal-leaning U.S. Episcopal Church joined conservative Albany Bishop William Love in the first public forum of its kind since Love's consecration.
Bonnie Anderson, president of the Episcopal Church's House of Deputies, challenged the more than 200 people gathered at St. Andrew's in Albany to come up with a model for the national church of how believers of different views can communicate.
....
"We talk about the struggles of the church, and we seem to think that it all has to do with sex," Love said during his sermon. "That's only a symptom of something much deeper. That issue much deeper is God's word. How is it to be understood? How is it to be interpreted? How is it to be lived out?"
Some speakers told the bishop they felt shut out of diocesan events and publications. Some criticized links to conservative religious Internet sites on the diocesan Web page. One said he wasn't comfortable being referred to as a "sodomite" or "heretic" on a Web site recommended by the diocese.
Love said he could check the policy regarding links. He also suggested that if the speaker found the material offensive, "Don't read it."
That drew loud disapproval from the audience and, later in the session, an apology from Love.
....
In interviews at St. Andrew's Saturday, though, people on both sides of the ideological divide gave the bishop credit for showing up. A lot of credit.
"This is true Anglicanism, where you come together even with a divergence of views," said David Kennison, senior warden at St. George's Church in Schenectady and a former Albany Via Media board member.
The Rev. Peter Schofield, a conservative from Christ Church in Schenectady, said he feels Albany Via Media has been "very disruptive in the diocese." But he, too, praised Saturday's service.
"If we did worship together a lot more often than we do, I think we'd have a lot less problems," he said. "We're all one in Jesus."
What website recommended by the diocese would refer to a person as a "sodomite" or a "heretic"?
Here's the link to the Diocese of Albany's website. Could it be one of the blog sites? Here's a quote from one of the blogs recommended by the diocese:
Stand Firm is obviously the site referenced in the article below. I cannot imagine Bishop Love bowing to the demands of the crowd regarding links to this site. Given that Episcopal Cafe, a site run out of the Diocese of Washington DC links to vile places like Mad Priest, it is difficult to maintain the argument that Stand Firm represents anything more "offensive" than a viewpoint with which the small group of dissenters in Albany disagree.
Thanks be to God that the folks in the Diocese of Albany, including Bishop Love, prayed together and shared the Eucharist at the table of the Lord.
Obama Sermon In Atlanta
Excerpt from Barack Obama's sermon at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, the church where Martin Luther King, Jr. ministered:
Unity is the great need of the hour – the great need of this hour. Not because it sounds pleasant or because it makes us feel good, but because it’s the only way we can overcome the essential deficit that exists in this country.
I’m not talking about a budget deficit. I’m not talking about a trade deficit. I’m not talking about a deficit of good ideas or new plans.
I’m talking about a moral deficit. I’m talking about an empathy deficit. I’m taking about an inability to recognize ourselves in one another; to understand that we are our brother’s keeper; we are our sister’s keeper; that, in the words of Dr. King, we are all tied together in a single garment of destiny.
....
For most of this country’s history, we in the African American community have been at the receiving end of man’s inhumanity to man. And all of us understand intimately the insidious role that race still sometimes plays – on the job, in the schools, in our health care system and in our criminal justice system.
And yet, if we are honest with ourselves, we must admit that none of our hands are entirely clean. If we’re honest with ourselves, we’ll acknowledge that our own community has not always been true to King’s vision of a beloved community.
We have scorned our gay brothers and sisters instead of embracing them. The scourge of anti-Semitism has, at times, revealed itself in our community. For too long, some of us have seen immigrants as competitors for jobs instead of companions in the fight for opportunity.
....
Brothers and sisters, we cannot walk alone.
In the struggle for peace and justice, we cannot walk alone.
In the struggle for opportunity and equality, we cannot walk alone
In the struggle to heal this nation and repair this world, we cannot walk alone.
So I ask you to walk with me, and march with me, and join your voice with mine, and together we will sing the song that tears down the walls that divide us, and lift up an America that is truly indivisible, with liberty, and justice, for all. May God bless the memory of the great pastor of this church, and may God bless the United States of America.
Whomever you're rooting for as the candidate for president, can we agree that this is a damned good speech?
From Andrew Sullivan's The Daily Dish, where you can read the whole sermon.
Thanks to IT in the comments at Of Course, I Could Be Wrong for calling the sermon to my attention.
Unity is the great need of the hour – the great need of this hour. Not because it sounds pleasant or because it makes us feel good, but because it’s the only way we can overcome the essential deficit that exists in this country.
I’m not talking about a budget deficit. I’m not talking about a trade deficit. I’m not talking about a deficit of good ideas or new plans.
I’m talking about a moral deficit. I’m talking about an empathy deficit. I’m taking about an inability to recognize ourselves in one another; to understand that we are our brother’s keeper; we are our sister’s keeper; that, in the words of Dr. King, we are all tied together in a single garment of destiny.
....
For most of this country’s history, we in the African American community have been at the receiving end of man’s inhumanity to man. And all of us understand intimately the insidious role that race still sometimes plays – on the job, in the schools, in our health care system and in our criminal justice system.
And yet, if we are honest with ourselves, we must admit that none of our hands are entirely clean. If we’re honest with ourselves, we’ll acknowledge that our own community has not always been true to King’s vision of a beloved community.
We have scorned our gay brothers and sisters instead of embracing them. The scourge of anti-Semitism has, at times, revealed itself in our community. For too long, some of us have seen immigrants as competitors for jobs instead of companions in the fight for opportunity.
....
Brothers and sisters, we cannot walk alone.
In the struggle for peace and justice, we cannot walk alone.
In the struggle for opportunity and equality, we cannot walk alone
In the struggle to heal this nation and repair this world, we cannot walk alone.
So I ask you to walk with me, and march with me, and join your voice with mine, and together we will sing the song that tears down the walls that divide us, and lift up an America that is truly indivisible, with liberty, and justice, for all. May God bless the memory of the great pastor of this church, and may God bless the United States of America.
Whomever you're rooting for as the candidate for president, can we agree that this is a damned good speech?
From Andrew Sullivan's The Daily Dish, where you can read the whole sermon.
Thanks to IT in the comments at Of Course, I Could Be Wrong for calling the sermon to my attention.
Thought For The Day, Two - Not Mine
It is the first responsibility of every citizen to question authority.
Benjamin Franklin
Benjamin Franklin
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