Dining With Friends - Part One

Wow! Was it only a week ago? So much activity crammed into one week makes it seem like an age ago since I lived anything like a normal life. My plane was delayed an hour in departing from New Orleans due to mechanical problems. I made it with little time to spare to meet with Tobias, James, and Fran to go to dinner. We met at my hotel and walked a couple of blocks to Molyvos, a Greek restaurant nearby, where Grandpère and I had previously eaten and enjoyed the meals. Since quite a few of the other patrons were going to Broadway shows, the crowd in the restaurant thinned quite a bit after an hour or so. Since we were in no hurry, the staff very kindly allowed us to stay from 6:30 until 10:30. Yes. Four hours.

The food was good, and the company was even better. What pleasure to meet Fran in real life. I had met James briefly at St. James in Fordham, where Tobias is vicar, when I attended a service there on the Sunday after our Friday in October gathering. Tobias and I were seated across from each other, so we did have a chance to talk in October. Anyway, we all hit it off from the beginning and had a lovely dinner, along with absolutely sparkling dinner conversation. Although I had invited everyone, the "boys" gallantly picked up the check.

I offered the extra bed in my hotel room to Fran, so we would not have to rush dinner in order for Fran to begin her trip home to Albany that evening. In true girl slumber party manner, we stayed up until midnight talking, talking, talking, as though we had known each other for ages. In fact, the four of us dove right in from the beginning as though we were old friends. Amazing.

The picture above is the only one I have of any of my meals with blog friends, and you can see that it's dark, and I did not know how to brighten it up. Fran remembered to ask the waitress to take the picture. I wish I had pictures of my other meetings now, but I forgot to ask anyone to take our pictures, and my companions did not ask either. I'm afraid that I'm not a good reporter. Here's a link to Fran's post on the event with a picture that's less dark.

On Saturday, I met with David, aka Reverend Boy, for brunch at The Eatery, a restaurant about two long blocks away from my hotel. David lives within walking distance of the restaurant, too, so it was convenient to both of us. David is such a dear and so good-looking that I wanted to pack him up and take him home with me as an honorary grandson. We had lovely conversation during a very good meal. We caught up on the latest news on both sides. David has taken a leadership position in the Integrity chapter in New York, and has a post about it, which I have not yet had time to read.

If anyone knows how to PhotoShop the picture, you are welcome to copy it and email the PhotoShop to me, and I will post it.

To be continued....

UPDATE: Thanks to the skill of my brilliant dog pal, Clumber, I have posted a brightened and clearer version of the picture of our Friday dinner.

Welcome Home To Me!

What a fantastic trip! But it's great to be home again. You'll hear about it until you're bored silly.

In the meantime here's an old family picture sent to me by my daughter.



Isn't she a sweetie?

Manhattan Bound

Tomorrow, I'm bound for New York City, one of my favorite places. I'm winding down with posting here, because I have to pack. I will turn on comment moderation while I'm gone. If I have access to a computer, I will permit comments to go through, if they're not nasty.

I will be on my own for a few days, and I will be meeting up with some wonderful folks, while I'm there. I will tell you all about them when I return home. The other folks will probably scoop me and tell the stories first and post pictures first, but I will do my best to give you the stories behind the stories when I get home - you know, the juicy parts that they will leave out.

During the second part of my trip, I will be here.


That's a picture of the Metropolitan Opera House, where I will be spending a good bit of time - four operas in five days, including a backstage tour. For many years, I have dreamed of attending a performance at the Met, and now I will do so with a vengeance. I'm yielding to one of those I-want-to-do-this-before-I-die things, and unless something happens in the next few days, it appears that I will have my dream fulfilled.

I usually respond to comments, but if I don't, please understand and forgive me. I will allow comments without moderation until tomorrow.

Images from Wiki.

Diana Now

Some of you may remember our family crisis, (Does it seem that we're often having a family crisis?) when our dog, Diana, made her way out of our fenced yard and got hit by a car. She was blind in one eye, and, at first, we endured a night of believing that she had injured her good eye and that she would be a blind dog.

Thanks be to God, that turned out not to be the case. She had injured the blind eye, and the eye had to be removed. Our wonderful veterinarian did a marvelous work in his surgery on her eye. She was quite uncooperative with the picture-taking, but I finally managed to get a picture of her to show you what a great cosmetic job the vet did. He asked if we wanted a prosthesis for Diana, but we declined that offer.

There she is above in all her one-eyed splendor, relaxing on her L. L. Bean bed, which she adores, and which is the first bed that she has not chewed to pieces. I think she doesn't look bad at all. What do you think? If you click on the picture, you get a better view. Check out her new collar, too. That was Grandpère's idea.

Feast Day Of George Herbert

From James Kiefer at the Lectionary:

After serving at Cambridge as Public Orator, Herbert was ordained to the priesthood.

He served faithfully as a parish priest, diligently visiting his parishioners and bringing them the sacraments when they were ill, and food and clothing when they were in want. He read Morning and Evening Prayer daily in the church, encouraging the congregation to join him when possible, and ringing the church bell before each service so that those who could not come might hear it and pause in their work to join their prayers with his.
....

Today, however, he is remembered chiefly for his book of poems, "The Temple", which he sent shortly before his death to his friend Nicholas Ferrar, to publish if he thought them suitable. They were published after Herbert's death, and have influenced the style of other poets, including Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Several of them have been used as hymns.

Readings:

Psalm 23 or 1
1 Peter 5:1-4
Matthew 5:1-10

PRAYER:

Our God and King, who called your servant George Herbert from the pursuit of worldly honors to be a pastor of souls, a poet, and a priest in your temple: Give us grace, we pray, joyfully to perform the tasks you give us to do, knowing that nothing is menial or common that is done for your sake; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

THE HOLDFAST

I threatened to observe the strict decree
Of my deare God with all my power and might:
But I was told by one, it could not be ;
Yet I might trust in God to be my light.

Then will I trust, said I, in him alone.
Nay, ev'n to trust in him, was also his:
We must confesse, that nothing is our own.
Then I confesse that he my succour is:

But to have nought is ours, not to confesse
That we have nought. I stood amaz'd at this,
Much troubled, till I heard a friend expresse,
That all things were more ours by being his.
What Adam had, and forfeited for all,
Christ keepeth now, who cannot fail or fall.

George Herbert

Image from Wiki

Stop The Lies!

From Paul at Byzigenous Buddhapalian:

Here's a little quiz for you:

Where was Barack Obama born?

a. Somalia
b. Kenya
c. Hawaii
d. Indonesia
e. Illinois

Now, here is a sub-quiz:

1. I had to look this up online
2. I knew the answer for certain
3. I just took a guess
4. I have no flipping clue
5. I had a pretty good idea but now I'm not so sure.

So, how did you do?

Here's the answer:

Barack Obama was born on August 4th, 1961, in Hawaii to Barack Obama, Sr. and Ann Dunham.

From his Senate web site. Wikipedia specifies that it was Honolulu, where his parents met and where he spent most of his childhood. His father was born in Kenya. He lived for a while in Jakarta, Indonesia (ages 6-10) with his mother and Indonesian stepfather. He is a Senator from Illinois. A photo taken of him in native garb while visiting Somalia (something politicians do now and again) is currently being re-circulated with the implication that he is "from there" (i.e., a non-American nation, and a Muslim one at that, one where American troops have been killed).

Let's review our geography, folks. Honolulu, Hawaii, is in the United States. Try to wrap your minds around that one. I remember when it was admitted as a state, so if you are a geezer this may still seem like something new, but it happened in 1959, two years before Obama was born.

OK. Are we all clear now? Barack Hussein Obama, Jr., was born in the United States. He has lived abroad, something I think would be extremely desirable in a president, given the appalling ignorance of the world around us demonstrated by the current destructive twit.

Now, here is a quote from Democratic Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs Jones, a Clinton supporter, talking with Pat Buchanan:

JONES: "Understand this: The Clinton campaign does not condone people putting out pictures that they seem to believe are inappropriate. But let me say this: I have no shame or no problem with people looking at Barack Obama in his native clothing, in the clothing of his country."

[Emphasis mine]

I am not making this up:

WTF is this woman on about? Is she that ill-informed? Or that mendacious? I would expect one huge fecking apology out of her, on the assumption that she has a shred of decency.

In conclusion: Now you know. You can do your part to stop misinformation.

--the BB
Posted by Paul at 12:05 PM

Paul gave me permission to lift his whole post except for the pictures. You really should click the link to his blog to see the pictures and to view the appalling video of Stepnanie Tubbs Jones spouting her foolishness, or mendaciousness, or whatever it was.

I left this in the comments at the BB's site:

Grandmère Mimi said...

I failed when I gave my answer, Paul, but I knew better. I knew he was born in Hawaii. The sliming of Obama has penetrated my consciousness. Shame on me. Had he not been born in the US, he could not run for president, right? Shame, shame on me.

Yes, I am ashamed. If this happened to me, it could happen to millions of folks in this country. I fear that the sliming will only get worse, very much worse. We have not hit bottom yet. Far from it.

Bishop Paul Moore's Secret

Not a few bloggers have written of Honor Moore's book titled The Bishop's Daughter, about her father, Bishop Paul Moore, the 13th Episcopal Bishop of New York, and the "open secret" of his sexuality. An excerpt from the book is in the March 3, 2008 issue of The New Yorker.

Caminante posted a lovely reflection on Bishop Moore at her blog, titled "Dear Paul".

There are many who have their Paul Moore stories… mine is taking a quarter-credit course my middler year in seminary with him. The subject was ministry in the urban setting but mostly it was listening to this retired bishop prophet muse about his lifetime of ministry. The papers he had us write were thought-provoking and posed questions I still use in ministry.

Do read the rest of Caminante's moving account of her experience in his class. I felt almost as though I was there with her in the class. In the comments to her post, I left these words, "And don't we all have our secrets that only God knows?"

The article is not available online, but here's the link to an audio interview with Honor Moore at the The New Yorker website.

Other bloggers who have posted on Honor Moore's book are Mark Harris at Preludium and Elizabeth Kaeton at Telling Secrets.

Feast Day Of St. Matthias

I had this ready yesterday, but I forgot to post it, so here it is a day late. The icon is lovely, isn't it?.

Little is known of St. Matthias except that, after Jesus' ascension, he was chosen by lot to replace Judas as one of the Twelve and, according to the account in Acts, he walked with Jesus from the time of his baptism by John until his ascension into heaven.

From the Lectionary:

Readings:

Psalm 15
Acts 1:15-26
Philippians 3:13-21
John 15:1,6-16

PRAYER

O Almighty God, who in the place of Judas chose your faithful servant Matthias to be numbered among the Twelve: Grant that your Church, being delivered from false apostles, may always be ordered and guided by faithful and true pastors; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.

Patronage: alcoholism; carpenters; Gary, Indiana; Great Falls-Billings, Montana; smallpox; tailors

Image from Wiki.

From Bishop Charles Jenkins Of Louisiana

The Diocesan Convention of 2008 will have a different look than Conventions of recent years. We will be meeting at St. Luke's Church, Baton Rouge, on February 29 and March 1. You are invited to join us - even if you are not elected a delegate from your congregation you may register and attend as a guest. For information on how to do so, please visit our website at www.edola.org/convention2008.php.

We will begin on Friday afternoon, February 29, with the opening gavel at 3 p.m. It is my intention to begin the process of electing deputies to General Convention that Friday afternoon. I then intend to begin a series of reports that will illustrate the life and ministry of the Diocese of Louisiana. This Convention is designed to do more than just the necessary business of the Diocese. The Convention is intended to be one of Community building and restoring the sense of identity common to our life and missions in the Diocese.

Our guest will be the Rev'd Jo Seoka, of the Diocese of Pretoria in the Church of South Africa. I met with Bishop Seoka and his wife, Dr. Timeya Seoke, this past summer when I took part in the mission consultation sponsored by Trinity Church, Wall Street. The Bishop and Dr. Seoka are both well-versed Christians. I have asked Bishop Seoka to address the Convention by preaching at Evensong (Friday afternoon at 4:45 p.m. in St. Luke's Church) and then again on Saturday morning.

I asked Bishop Seoka to come as our guest not simply because he is an impressive Christian but also because of his kn9owledge of and participation in the Truth and Reconcilation Commission in South Africa. As you may know, several of us in New Orleans are in a period of discernment concerning an attempt to do something similar in Louisiana. If God leads us to such a ministry, which is a huge undertaking and a great risk, it may well be that our learning can and should be applied applied elsewhere across the state. I no longer have much contact with the civil parish of my birth but I do not perceive that the issues of education, health care, economic opportunity, racism, and the like are much better in rural Louisiana than in urban Louisiana. So it is that I seek what Ron Heifetz (founder of the Center for Public Leadership) calls an adaptive rather than a more technical response to these issues. A technical fix is important, but without the adaptive remedy the problem will occur repeatedly. As I listen to political hopefuls, there is much rhetoric about technical fixes and only an occasional bit of adaptive remedes. We in Louisiana have too long settled only for the technical fix without seeking the adaptive solution. It is my hope that Bishop Seoka will be a resource for us as we continue in discernment on this matter. I am enthusiastic about the possibilities but must curb that enthusiasm as we as a group wait upon God.

I am certain that Bishop Seoka will also be willing to share with us his perspective on the situation in the Anglican communion. I will speak to this during the Bishop's address at Convention (currently scheduled for mid-morning on Saturday in the gym at St. Luke's) but I need write something of it now. It is my intention to remain a constituent member of the Anglican Communion and active as a Bishop in the Episcopal Church.

I am not compromised by either the left or the right. I will continue to associate with people from both ends of the spectrum. I will continue to hold mission as the essence of the Church and will try my best not to allow disagreement to sidetrack mission. Indeed, there has been and continues to be a great deal of change in my life. My position on the "hot button" issues remains unchanged. Also unchanged is my commitent to the dignity of all and my intention to remain in contact with all who will have me. This perplexes many.

I do not think the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church is to be the creation of man or simply an assembly of like-minded people. Call me old fashioned and high church if you need to do so, but I still believe the Church is of the will of God and is brought into being by the action of the third person of the Trinity. Because I am so convinced from Scripture, Tradition and Reason, it is my intention to remain part of this Church and Communion. Never should we underestimate the value of a differentiated presence in the midst of an anxious system.

January 31 of this year was the tenth anniversary of my consecration as the tenth Bishop of Louisiana. Thank you for your graciousness and kindness to me. Please keep me in your prayers.

God's blessings to you,

The Rt. Rev. Charles E. Jenkins

From ChurchWork, Spring Issue, 2008

The issue is not yet online at the website of the Diocese of Louisiana.

Recurring Dream Predicts Blogging

Fran's comment was in response to another blogger's post on recurring dreams:

FranIAm said...

I used to have a recurring dream of becoming someone who communicated with many others on some strange machine that did not yet exist.

Somehow I would type words that others would read and then I would go read words that others had typed and I would put my thoughts down in funny little boxes as part of the theme of their words.

It all went very well and I met so many nice people, especially a very kind, smart and funny woman from Louisiana- some kind of grandmother.

Thenl I fell under the sway of some renegade Anglican from the UK and suddenly the dream took on a strange quality. This priest type was very Svengali like and he had many followers.

The words in the boxes on the funny machines that talk to each other got more and more unusual - some are funny, some are sad, many are quite moving and some of them have songs that seem very scary.

I always wake up at that point.

Funny, that.

(ok i know this was supposed to be serious and people have written of their dreams very beautifully. i am just being my contrary bratty little self over here. do forgive me please.)
25 February, 2008 02:20

When did the requirement to be serious at that blogsite go into effect? No one told me.

I hope everyone pays close attention to the bolded words.