Pray For Lambeth

MadPriest reminds us to pray for Lambeth. Here is the official prayer from the Lambeth Conference website:

Pour down upon us, O God, the gifts of your Holy Spirit, that those who prepare for the Lambeth Conference may be filled with wisdom and understanding. May they know at work within them that creative energy and vision which belong to our humanity, made in your image and redeemed by your love, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

I confess that I don't have great hope that good will come out of the Lambeth Conference, but perhaps I shall be pleasantly surprised. However, I will join in with all my heart to pray for the bishops and the conference, that God's perfect will may be done, keeping in mind the following passage:

The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.
John 3:8

Come, Holy Spirit!

Lindy Has A New Blog Home

Lindy, the guardian of the Rowan, the dog of renown pictured above, the Rowan that we all know and love, has a new blog name and location, Still Fruity. She has all sorts of interesting and amusing add-ons on her sidebar. It's an amazing place. Check it out.

Louisiana Legislators Cut Programs

Back to my own little plot of ground. The members of the Louisiana House of Representatives Committee on Appropriations voted to cut the budget submitted by Governor Bobby Jindal.

From the Advocate:

Lawmakers slashed Gov. Bobby Jindal’s $30 billion state government spending plan by $120 million Sunday.

Most of the cuts in House Bill 1 — the budget legislation for the state spending year that begins July 1 — were to the Medicaid program and public colleges and universities.

For example, lawmakers trimmed $52 million in payments to private doctors and others who treat the poor.

Of course, the poor with no voice and little power for advocacy come first in the cuts. And public education in Louisiana has such a sterling reputation for excellence, that we can surely afford to cut allocations to the universities.

Legislators recommended the cuts in answer to a push by so-called fiscal conservatives to rein in the growth of state government.
....

Another $2.5 million was whittled away from a pre-kindergarten program for 4-year-old students.

Sigh....

These cuts come in the face of a large budget surplus from royalties from the increase in the price of oil. I'm having a hard time finding an exact figure for the size of the surplus, but one estimate was $800 million. Now, the citizens of Louisiana deserve some of that money back in in the form of tax cuts, but in the cause of fiscal conservatism, it's not right to target health care for the poor and education to take the first hits - or so it seems to me.

UPDATE: Meanwhile there's a bill in the Senate to triple the salaries of the legislators.

"The English" - Bad News, Good News

Themethatisme on his blog, Conscientisation:

The English

Nothing "so fascinating, beautiful and culturally diverse yet as insular, self-important and irritating as England."
..so saith the writers of the 'Rough Guide' series for world travellers. I am delighted. "England is an irritating and insular country full of overweight, binge-drinking, reality TV addicts, a new guide warns tourists." they go on to say.

Unfortunately they also say some pleasant things too. Unlike several other commentators...

The English think soap is civilisation - Heinrich von Trietschke

Britain is the only country in the world where being 'too clever by half' is an insult. - A.A.Gill

The English have an extraordinary ability for flying into a great calm. - Alexander Woolcott ....

There's more, but the more is "over there" at his blog. As for his blog handle and the title of his blog, I know he chose them deliberately so that they'd be difficult to type. You have to actually THINK while you're typing them, especially with the added complication of the craaaazy English spelling.

A New Son - Grandson For Johnieb

johnieb sez:
....

O/T, but family related, it appears my new grandson's birthday will be today; my daughter's water broke last night and the pains are five minutes apart as of 0630 Phoenix time. I request all your prayers and good wishes.

Prayers and good wishes coming right up, Johnieb.

UPDATE: From Johnieb: Daughter just called from Phoenix, , sounding like an old hand, with the new baby crying in the background. Both are fine; he was born about two hours ago: 4:30 Phoenix time.

Thank you all for your prayers and support. 7 lbs. 8.4 oz, 19 inches and something, but the due date was the 25th.

What Is Peace?

“Peace is not the product of terror or fear. Peace is not the silence of cemeteries. Peace is not the silent result of violent repression. Peace is the generous, tranquil contribution of all to the good of all. Peace is dynamism. Peace is generosity. It is right and it is a duty.” - Oscar Romero, January 7, 1978

San Romero de América, Pastor y Mártir Nuestro
by Pedro Casaldáliga

...Y supiste beber el doble cáliz del Altar y del Pueblo,
con una sola mano consagrada al servicio.
América Latina ya te ha puesto en su gloria de Bernini
en la espuma aureola de sus mares,
en el dosel airado de los Andes alertos,
en la canción de todos sus caminos,
en el calvario nuevo de todas sus prisiones,
de todas sus trincheras,
de todos sus altares. . .
¡En el ara segura del corazón insomne de sus hijos!

San Romero de América, pastor y mártir nuestro:
¡nadie hará callar tu última homilía!


...And you knew how to drink from the double chalice of the Altar and of the People,
with one single hand devoted to service.
Latin America has already laid you in its glory of Bernini
in the foamy halo of its seas,
in the angry canopy of the alert Andes,
in the song of all its streets,
in the new calvary of all its prisons,
of all its trenches,
of all its altars. . . .
In the secure altar of the sleepless heart of its children!

San Romero of America, our shepherd and martyr:
nobody will silence your last homily!

Picture from Wiki.

Excerpt and translation of the poem from Monthly Review.

Heavy Lifting

Scene from the period during which George and Laura led a cadre of volunteers and rebuilt New Orleans.

Earthquake in China

From the Associated Press:

CHENGDU, China - One of the worst earthquakes to hit China in three decades killed nearly 9,000 12,000 people Monday, trapped about 900 students under the rubble of their school and caused a toxic chemical leak, state media reported.

The 7.9-magnitude earthquake devastated a hilly region of small cities and towns in central China. The official Xinhua News Agency said 8,533 people died in Sichuan province and more than 200 others were killed in three other provinces and the mega-city of Chongqing.

Lord, have mercy.

Send help and deliverance to our brothers and sisters in China.

Why I Never Disagree With Tobias Haller

In Tobias' own words:

You are, of course, quite welcome to remain firm in the belief that you are a part of the only true church -- as that is a part of the Orthodox tradition. You can keep lobbing insults at Rome or Anglicans to your heart's content. But where I come from such behavior is seen as a kind of pathology, and at the very least a bit ungracious -- and hardly likely to win anyone to your side of the divide.

Tobias writes at In A Godward Direction, among other places.

UPDATE: I've met Tobias, and he is a lovely man and a wonderful priest. We happen to agree on the big things, but I know that if I crossed swords with him, the outcome would be foreordained.

Here's The Church....

 

Here's the church
Here's the steeple.
Open the doors....

Well, the doors are closed, so you can't see all the people.

Bishop Leonidas Polk established St. John's Episcopal Church in Thibodaux, Louisiana, in 1843. In that same year he laid cornerstone for the building, and construction of the building was completed in 1844. What is now the narthex of the church was once an open porch with columns, but the porch was eventually closed in. It's one of the oldest Episcopal churches west of the Mississippi River.

Bishop Polk is also known as the fighting bishop. He was a graduate of West Point, and Jefferson Davis prevailed upon him to take a position as a commanding general in the Army of the Confederacy. He seemed not to have been a very good fighting general, but he cared for his troops well, and they grieved sorely when he was killed in Pine Mountain, Georgia, in 1864.



Above is a picture of the sanctuary, with the altar and the stained glass depicting St. John the Evangelist. If you click on the picture to enlarge it, you can see that a snake is rising up out of the cup that John holds. According to legend, John was handed a cup of poisoned wine by the emperor Diocletian, and when he blessed it, the poison came out in the form of a snake.

The altar was originally attached to the wall, but in the 1970s, it was moved forward to permit the priest to face the congregation during the celebration of the Eucharist.

The kneelers are in a fixed position halfway between up and on the floor, so that when you're kneeling, or trying to, your bum rests on the pew. I have heard it said that they were done this way to accommodate the hoop skirts worn by the ladies at the time the church was built. I've thought myself that it may simply be the chosen Via Media between kneeling and sitting during the services.

A complete restoration of the building, which cost the earth, was completed in 2001. I think that it's a lovely gem of a small church. In another post, I'll show more pictures of the interior and of the wonderful old restored pipe organ which we installed a few years ago.