Feast Of The Martyrs Of Sudan

Episcopal News Service

The Christian bishops, chiefs, commanders, clergy and people of Sudan declared, on May 16, 1983, that they would not abandon God as God had revealed himself to them under threat of Shariah Law imposed by the fundamentalist Islamic government in Khartoum. Until a peace treaty was signed on January 9, 2005, the Episcopal Church of the Province of the Sudan suffered from persecution and devastation through twenty-two years of civil war. Two and a half million people were killed, half of whom were members of this church. Many clergy and lay leaders were singled out because of their religious leadership in their communities. No buildings, including churches and schools, are left standing in an area the size of Alaska. Four million people are internally displaced, and a million are scattered around Africa and beyond in the Sudanese Diaspora. Twenty-two of the twenty-four dioceses exist in exile in Uganda or Kenya, and the majority of the clergy are unpaid. Only 5% of the population of Southern Sudan was Christian in 1983. Today over 85% of that region of six million is now mostly Episcopalian or Roman Catholic. A faith rooted deeply in the mercy of God has renewed their spirits through out the years of strife and sorrow.

From the proposal before the 75th General Convention

Readings:

Wisdom 3:1-9
Psalms 109, 110, 111, 116:10-17
Hebrews 10:32-39
Matthew 24:9-14

PRAYER

O God, the One who is steadfast in the midst of persecution, by your providence the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church: Grant that we who remember before you the blessed martyrs of the Sudan, may, like them, be steadfast in our faith in Jesus Christ, to whom they refuse to abandon, even in the face of death, and by their sacrifice brought forth a plentiful harvest, through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

From James Kiefer at the Lectionary.

"Thought for 05.15.08"

From Tobias Haller at In A Godward Direction:

Charitable feelings are of no use
without acts of charity.
Compassionate feelings are of no use
without acts of compassion.
Loving feelings are useless
unless they lead to acts of love.
The Priest and Levite may well have felt sorry
for the wounded man
as they steered a course past him,
and the Samaritan who stopped to help
may have been muttering
under his breath
at the inconvenience
the whole time.
How they felt
was immaterial to the wounded man.

I post these wise and wonderful words as a reminder to me.

Lucky Senator Vitter

From the New York Times Editorial Board:

As Congressman Vito Fossella, Republican of New York, faces demands he resign for the one-two punch of a DUI charge and revelations that he fathered a daughter from an extramarital affair, he can only envy the good luck of Senator David Vitter, his Republican colleague from Louisiana.

Senator Vitter, a hearty family values Republican, shocked Louisiana constituents last year when his name popped up on a Washington madam’s private phone logs. Reeling from the news, Senator Vitter offered no explanation, simply providing a quick apology for a “very serious sin in my past for which I am, of course, completely responsible.”

“Responsible,” perhaps, but not accountable, apparently.

The Senate Ethics Committee responded to the complaint filed against Sen. Vitter by dismissing it. Since the meetings with the prostitute took place while Vitter served in the U.S. House of Representatives, the committee members concluded that they had no jurisdiction in the matter. Since Vitter is in the Senate now, the House no longer has jurisdiction. As the board says:

There’s a lesson here, kids, if you’re thinking of running for Congress. If you do something unethical while you’re in the House — you’d better get elected to the Senate.

Allie Is Doing The Lambeth Walk

Allie is a young graduate student from central New Jersey. We met at our gathering of the crazies in New York City last year. She is charming, smart, and funny. She calls herself an Episcojew.

At her blog, The Conformist Rebel, Allie tells us:

Many people don't know this, but Lambeth has a "Young Adult Stewards Programme." Basically, if you can get to the University of Kent, they cover room, board and a small allowance that I think might cover tube fares.

I recently recieved an email informing me that I was accepted into the programme. This includes being a general grunt, "one on one" time with the ABC, and attending "the garden party and Buckingham Palace" (the bourgeois church at its best, I suppose) with the rest of Lambeth attendees (and I'm sure a huge number of other people as well).

I'm very excited for this opportunity, and yes, I will be blogging the entire time...

but, as many of you know, I've crashed my car and my laptop died.

So I'm asking you, if you can, to help me get to Lambeth.
The cheapest tickets I could find were $850 (which I bought) but that also doesn't account from getting (by rail I assume) from Heathrow to Kent. If you can help at all, please let me know.

As you see, Allie's had a bit of bad luck lately. I'd rather give my money to Allie to go to Lambeth, than to some of the bishops. If you can help her even with a small amount, she will greatly appreciate it. Here's the mailing address:

Alicia Graham
c/o
Grace-St. Paul's Episcopal Church
3715 E. State Street Ext
Mercerville, NJ 08619

You can see that Allie is legitimate, because her church will receive the money and make sure it goes to the right place. Allie, careful with the "one on one" time with the ABC, and attending "the garden party and Buckingham Palace". You know the English and their propensity to throw bacchanalias.

Kirstin - The Half-Vulcan

From Kirstin at Barefoot and Laughing:

I'm not looking forward to seeing my ear for the first time--but part of me is also giggling at the idea of being half-Vulcan.

Yep. Still loopy. Or just damn happy that this part is over. Thankful to God, my doctors, my community, and my body.

She may be missing part of her ear, but she's not missing her sense of humor. Click the link to see her picture. She looks great!

Thanks be to God!

The Words Are For Me!

Wise and helpful advice on reading the Scriptures came from a friend named Margaret, many years ago. It was not her original thought, but I have forgotten whose it was. She said, "When you read the Bible, always take the words as directed to you." That was a difficult lesson to learn, for, at times, I'd hear the words from the Scriptures or read them and think, "Wow! So-an-so really needs to take that to heart!" Thoughts of someone else's misdeeds came to mind more often than I care to remember.

As soon as Margaret spoke the words, I knew she was right. How absolutely liberating to read the words in this new way - as directed to me - to take the words into my heart and my mind to apply them to my life.

As for contemplating the sins of others, Mother Julian of Norwich says:

The soul that would preserve its peace, when another’s sin is brought to mind, must fly from it as from the pains of hell, looking to God for help against it. To consider the sins of other people will produce a thick film over the eyes of our soul, and prevent us for the time being from seeing the ‘fair beauty of the Lord’-- unless, that is, we look at them contrite along with the sinner, being sorry with and for him, and yearning over him for God. Without this it can only harm, disturb, and hinder the soul who considers them. I gathered all this from the revelation about compassion...This blessed friend is Jesus; it is his will and plan that we hang on to him, and hold tight always, in whatever circumstances; for whether we are filthy or clean is all the same to his love.

I am rereading Kathleen Norris' Cloister Walk. Norris is an Oblate of the Order of St. Benedict.

An Oblate is a lay or clerical, single or married, person formally associated to a particular monastery. The Oblate seeks to live a life in harmony with the spirit of Saint Benedict as revealed in the Rule of Saint Benedict and its contemporary expression.

She spends varying periods of time in monasteries with Benedictine monks and nuns. In the course of several weeks, the monks and nuns read through the entire book of Psalms, since they pray them at morning, noon, and evening prayer each day. Norris says:

But to the modern reader the psalms can seem impenetrable: how in the world can we read, let alone pray, these angry and often violent poems from an ancient warrior culture? At a glance they seem overwhelmingly patriarchal, ill-tempered, moralistic, vengeful, and often seem to reflect precisely what is wrong with our world. And that's the point, or part of it. As one reads the psalms every day, it becomes clear that the world they depict is not really so different from our own; the fourth-century monk Athanasius wrote that the psalms "become like a mirror to the person singing them," and this is as true now as when he wrote it. (p 93).

In praying the psalms we find ourselves - ourselves when we feel angry and vengeful, ourselves when we want to do violence, if only verbal violence, intermixed with periods when we find ourselves filled with joyful praise and thanksgiving from grateful hearts.

The psalms make us uncomfortable because they don't allow us to deny either the depth of our pain or the possibility of it transformation into praise.

Norris' take on the psalms set me free, for I formerly found myself cringing at certain of the words, but when I began to pray them in this new way, I was able to enter into the poetry of the psalms and let it carry me along.

There you have it: another episode in the story of Mimi, who is neither a Scripture scholar nor a theologian, making up her Christianity as she goes along.

Keith Says It All

Rmj at Adventus has the video from Countdown of Keith Olbermann's examination of the great ongoing "sacrifice" that Bush has made in solidarity with those who have lost their lives in the war in Iraq. It's 12 minutes, but it's well worth watching. It makes you want to cry for Bush's pain. For some strange reason, Keith doesn't seem impressed.

Lapinbizarre And Becky

Their story told by Lapinbizarre:

Three or four weeks back I noticed a particularly sad case on an English Pointer rescue site I check from time to time. Becky, an eight-year-old hunting dog, had been worked out by her last owner and dumped, lame and barely able to walk, at a dog pound. Fortunately for her she was located by Dogs Hope, a rescue group. Judith, her rescuer and a fellow-librarian, wrote, "Such a love. Becky just came. She was taken to the shelter because she couldn't keep up with the hunt. Her back legs are in very bad shape and it is clear that each step is painful. I'm hoping that she can take pain medication, as she is crippled in both back legs - front legs don't look too good either. She is devastated by losing the only home she ever knew, even if it wasn't the best home."

That last sentence touched me so much, that I contacted Judith. Dogs Hope doesn't ship, but it's in North Carolina, about three hours north of here. We agreed that when Becky had recovered her strength sufficiently, I would drive up there and she and I would check one another out. Things worked out well and I brought her back to Columbia last Saturday. She's a delightful, intelligent dog. Physically her condition has improved amazingly. She's mobile once more and this morning, for the first time, was pulling me as we walked. While she's clearly been physically neglected, she shows no obvious scars, as my other two "rescue" dogs do, one more than ten years after I adopted her, of physical or psychological abuse.

She's a demon for getting into things. Like the garbage. "No" is not in her vocabulary - one reason I do not believe she has been physically or verbally abused. I was greeted this morning by a couple of hundred or so plastic grocery bags, bagged for recycling, all laboriously unpacked and spread wall to wall across the kitchen floor. Very pleased indeed with herself!

A beautiful story with a happy ending, no? And Lapinbizarre, aka Roger, is a lovely man.

What kind of owner dumps a working dog, when it can no longer work? Why not give her a comfortable retirement? Thanks to our friend Lapin, she has that now.

Here's the link to the website of Dogs Hope.

Please Pray For Kirstin

Kirstin at Barefoot and Laughing is undergoing surgery today to remove a melanoma from her ear. Pray that lesser surgery is sufficient to remove the tumor and that "All manner of things shall be well."

Almighty God our heavenly Father, graciously comfort your
servant Kirstin in her suffering, and bless the means made use of
for her cure. Fill her heart with confidence that, though at times she may be afraid, she yet may put her trust in you; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Kirstin says:

How to be with me, in the next while

I don’t know whether I’m going to be admitted. I don’t know what the surgeon’s going to want to do, beyond the excision of (on?) my ear. (I don’t even know if he has jury duty tomorrow.) I don’t know what kind of lymph involvement I do or don’t have. I really, really, really don’t want a neck dissection.

From Susan S.:

Also, Kirstin.... I dropped off at the hospital 30 minutes ago. I wait for someone to call and tell me when to come to pick her up. The actual surgery is scheduled for 1:00pm PDT.

UPDATE: from Susan S.:

Kirstin has been back from the hospital since about 7:00pm DST. She had some nausea, but otherwise is ok. She has gone to bed and will not get up until tomorrow, I think. In any case, they nipped her ear thingy off and I think she thinks they biopsied a lymph node. She will tell you more when she feels like it.

Thanks be to God! And thank you, Susan for the report.

Please Pray For Jack, Sr.

From Jack at The World of Doorman-Priest:

There may be sporadic posts......

....as Dad is in hospital! Seventy eight and now with no appendix and a perforated bowel. So prayers for Jack snr. please and for Daphne, left rather adrift and anxious, but with sense of humour intact!

UPDATE from Doorman-Priest: Thanks all. He appears to be a bit perkier and has gone from his own room to a room with three other chaps, which I take to be a good sign. He now also has a radio, so is in touch with the world again.