Wrong, Just Plain Wrong!

From Bishop Gene's blog:

Never have I felt more in need of your prayers. As I write this, the opening service of the Lambeth Conference is going on at Canterbury Cathedral. I am a few miles away -- but it feels like a much further difference. I am not appearing at the opening service, as I promised the Archbishop.
....

The most infuriating blow came this morning with news that when the Episcopal Church's House of Bishops meets on Tuesday afternoon (each of the 38 "national" provinces of the Communion will have its own gathering), I will not be allowed to participate, because this would look like I had become a "participant," and the organizers seem intent on enforcing my status as a non-invitee. If nothing can be done to change this decision, it will be a particularly painful blow. At our House of Bishops meeting in March, I pleaded with the House not to let Lambeth separate us. For me to be excluded from my own House of Bishops seems especially cruel and unnecessary.

How can this be? How can Bishop Gene be excluded from a meeting of his own House of Bishops? I said that I would not blog while I was in Kansas City, but I was shocked, angered, and outraged when I read of his exclusion, and I simply could not keep quiet. I say to our bishops of the Episcopal Church, "Please do not allow Gene to be excluded. Speak up. Take a stand for what's right. Cancel the meeting, if no way can be found for Gene to attend."

Please pray for Bishop Gene. Thanks to Fran for the link to Gene's post.

Kansas City Here I Come - Pt. 2

Wilbert Harrison singing and playing the piano

I'm taking a plane, and this crazy little woman is gonna be there. Well, I'm not exactly little, but I'll be there anyway. You'll find me standing on the corner at Twelfth Street and Vine.


Peeps, I jitterbugged to this music in the 50s, when I was a mere slip of a girl. This song has cleaner lyrics than a good many of the other R&B songs that I could name from that time. Oh, it brings back memories! Those were the days for dancing!

This is very likely my last post before we leave, although you never know. Tomorrow morning, I'll enable comments moderation. If I have enough time on a computer while I'm away, the comments may appear, except for the trolls. If not, they'll show up when I return the following weekend.

See you in a week. Behave yourselves while I'm gone, and no gossiping about me while I'm not around. Do you hear me? Bless your hearts; you take care, now.

UPDATE: Harrison may be saying "crazy looking women". If so, the shoe fits me. I checked the lyrics on that line, and there are wide variations in the wording.

Pharisaios Journal On Lambeth

Please forgive me. I'm late with the link to The Pharisaos Journal's special Lambeth edition from the Diocese of Wenchoster. I'm sorry, but I've been busy, busy, busy. Here it is finally and you can catch up.

The special edition will be updated, so you'll want to check in periodically.

Imagine! Bishop Roderick Codpiecium is BLAWGING the conference!

DAY ONE

Hello! I am so exsated that I can hardly … oops! Never mained!

Being here in Centerbury awlways feels lake coming home. Es I walk dine the familiar streets, jostling with shoppers end tourists alake, looking whimsically et the Jolly Sailor in Northgate Street, may mained goes beck to the iteings with the Guild of Sarvers of the Sinctuary awl those yars ago. Humphrey Mountford, the MC, awlways in charge. He chicked our cottas one by one before we went into the tearooms for ‘levenses. I wonder what happened to him after the ruling by the Diocese of Oxwich? Then there was Miss Hornblower, the village school teacher, who awlways came along for the raid, end who showed an unnatural fascinat-i-on with gargoyles, and the dark spaces behained the tomb of Saint Augustine.

But I digress. Today I joined the other Bishops end Archbishops for luncheon in the grand refectory. I was told that may accompanying crucifer end acolytes were (what did they say?) “a bit over the top.” So I gave may boys twenty quids (you see, even es a Lord Bishop I cen still talk the vernacular!) end sent them into tine to enjoy themselves end make new Christian friends in the Tesco car park.

Looking arind at the tables I saw thet I was the only one wearing cope end mater, so decided that it was tame to divest.

Later this afternoon we met for prar in the main hall, end I marveled at the sea of faces arind me. Awl Englicens together. I hope to make many new friends over the next few days end hope to keep you, may people end darsis, informed every process-i-onal step of the way, in this, may farst blawg!

Have a look at the Behind the Quire section.

GANDALF SAVES THE SHIRE!


In a surprising TV interview this week, Mithrandir (also now known openly as Gandalf the Pink) had declared that he will use his wisdom and powers to forge an alliance with the Lord (Bishop) of the Ham Shire, Tipto Robensween.

Interviewed by the BBC’s Thomas Bombadil, Gandalf insisted that, “In the face of those who would threaten the Ham Shire, or not invite its leaders to candlelight suppers and tea parties (primarily those of the Southern Realms, the Darkest East and the witch realm of Rochester) such peoples must be faced down, or rather faced up… oh bother, you know what I mean! Fool of a hack!”

You won't want to miss the picture Gallery. Here's a sample, but there's more, much more.


Enjoy!

Meet Under There

Under There at Under The Overpasses ministers to the homeless who live under an overpass on the wrong side of town. Here's an excerpt from his latest post:

It is my firm conviction that it borders on the blasphemous to use human services as a carrot or a stick for faith. We have our share of atheists and adherents to other religions who stay there. I better not ever find out that they have been treated with anything but equal dignity and respect. I believe our actions present more about the authenticity of the Good News than we can ever say. It is often a delicate balance. We want to invite people to God’s banquet like Jesus did. We never want anyone to feel that they are unworthy or excluded from the grace of God enacted in Jesus Christ. Thank God that Christianity is not some exclusive club. My membership card would have gotten lost in the mail for sure. However, at the same time, we never want to shove it down someone’s throat. Like everything else offered at my shelter, the good news is always freely available, but never mandatory. I meet so many people who have suffered at the hands of people who practiced that type of “evangelism.” The scars still run deep and the stench of religious insanity still lingers whenever Jesus is mentioned. My heart hurts for them and it makes me angry when I think of how someone turned God’s invitation to the community of life and the things that affirm life into something so deadly. It may grieve the Holy Spirit, but it makes me want to kick some terrorizing evangelist in the nuts for making a mockery of it all. I frequently encounter people who have visited other shelters where that type external pressure to “convert” has been applied. They walk in with their game faces on and start spouting off about the “good Lord” or some such thing. The fellows at the shelter call it “God hustling.” It is a special survival skill that many of the homeless have been forced to master over the years. It does not take them long to figure out that simply does not make any difference to their stay at my shelter.

I left this comment to an earlier post of his:

Under There, you do the Lord's work. You build the kingdom. You are a true disciple.

"Lord, when did we see you?" You see him.

"Here's Another" Says Doug

Two Irishmen meet on the street.

"Patrick, I haven't seen ya at the bar in over six months! Is
everything arrright?"

"Of course," Patrick replies. "It's just that... Well, since me
divorce, I've had to completely give up drinking."

"Why's that?"

"I lost me motivation."

Now this one could get me into trouble. Mongrel bitch that I am, I have no Irish in me that I know of.

Doug Says, "I'll Have A BLT"

It's amazing!

You can't eat lettuce any more because of E. Coli.

You can't eat tomatoes any more because of Salmonella Saintpaul.

Who would have ever thought that the healthiest part of a BLT is the bacon???

Kansas City Here I Come - Pt. 1

Today I completed my final two APPOINTMENTS in my APPOINTMENT-filled week before we head up to Kansas City. Did I mention that my granddaughter would be accompanying us? Well, she won't. She changed her mind. She does not want to be away from both her parents for a whole week. Her brother had already dropped out much earlier. When they originally said they would go, I bought non-refundable tickets for the flight. I think GD would have a good time, but I won't press her, because if she is unhappy for the week, we will all be unhappy for the week. We had resigned ourselves to wasting one airline ticket, but Grandpère was livid about wasting two. Since, in his superior wisdom, he told me from the beginning that it was not a good idea for us to take the children along, and because I did not listen to him, I bore the brunt of his lividness. We were in the car on the way to the lawyer's office when my GD called, so I could not walk away from him. Besides, IT WAS ALL MY FAULT!

I said I was sorry and took full responsibility for the debacle to no immediate good effect. Then, I preached a mini-sermon about how in the large scheme of things, this was not really a huge tragedy, and that we were both old and might not have too many years left and asked, "Should we really spend them in blame and recriminations?" I offered the hope that all would not be lost, for the airline might make an adjustment for us, and he finally calmed down.

The lawyer spoke in plain English, and not legalese, so my eyes did not glaze over once. We settled the business of updating our wills easily and smoothly and went on our way. When I reached home, I called the airline with my sad story, (I'm sure they've heard them all) and the service rep, who was exceedingly polite and helpful, told me that we would be charged a flight cancellation fee of $50 per ticket, amounting to $100 and that we could get vouchers to fly on the airline for the rest of the cost of the tickets. I'm going to name the airline - ExpressJet - because the young woman handled the matter so well. The first hitch is that ExpressJet does not fly to many cities from New Orleans. The second hitch is that on September 1, 2008, they will stop flying out of New Orleans altogether, so our vouchers must be used before then.

ExpressJet flies to San Antonio, where GP have talked about visiting. GP said maybe, although the trip will be quite soon after the trip to Kansas City, and we would not choose August as the best month to go. Anyone can use the vouchers, so if he doesn't go, I can invite someone else.

My ears are tended to, my hair is cut, and my teeth are clean and need no work, so we are good to go.

Kansas City claims to be the birthplace of jazz.

From Michael, A Young Priest At Canterbury

From our friend Elizabeth Kaeton, who is presently in Canterbury as national President of The Episcopal Women's Caucus, at her blog, Telling Secrets:

The Rev'd Michael Sniffen is in Canterbury, working as a Lambeth Steward. He sent this letter this morning and has graciously allowed me to reprint it here.

Because I liked Michael's letter so much, I asked his permission to publish it here on my blog, and he kindly allowed me to do so.

Greetings from Canterbury!

I am not blogging or sending lengthy e-mails throughout the conference, but I want to keep in touch with those of you on the list while I am here and share a few experiences. Consider this an introduction the Lambeth from behind the curtain. I will say this later on - but, the press have it pretty wrong so far!

The last 8 days have been amazing. We stewards have all enjoyed getting to know one another as we have arrived from around the communion (over 28 countries I believe). We are a diverse group to be sure. Off the top of my head, we are from the US, France, UK, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, Nigeria, Tanzania, South Africa, The Solomon Islands, Japan, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina...and the list goes on. Even within the Episcopal church the stewards are from diverse places. Me (from Newark), one from Virginia, one from North Carolina, one from New Jersey and one from Fort Worth.

We have spent the last week going through a thousand and one briefings with various members of the design team and the ABC's staff (Rowan Cantaur has been SO welcoming and kind to us - more on that later). We have also been at prayer twice a day with the chaplaincy team which is a group of monks and nuns from around the communion (with a large number from the Solomon islands). The spirit of the worship has been deeply moving and the music is out of this world. We have worked together on the intercessory prayers that will be used throughout the conference, which has been a real challenge and a joy to do as well.

Perhaps the most fun briefing was the one regarding our garden party with the Queen, which happens next week. We were told that some of us would have an opportunity to shake hands with the Queen and to chat briefly, but that we are not to reach out for her - she will reach out for us and invite us to speak. We have also been told to call her "Your Majesty" the first time and "M'am" after that (Ma'm as in Ham is what we were told). We were also walked through the appropriate protocol for the lunch at Lambeth Palace.

I must say that the mood here is not what I expected at all. There is a deep sense of contemplation and reflection and very little focus on the politics of schism. There is also a whole lot of joy - and it is not superficial. The program has been designed so well and my hope for some good to come from this conference continues to increase - even more now that the bishops have arrived.

Rather than large plenaries and opportunity for resolutions to be made - the bishops are in bible study groups of six in the morning after Morning Prayer, breakfast and Eucharist. Then they move to their Indaba groups of about 40 to have a guided discussion of a topic - "The Bishop and Evangelism" for example. Then they eat together - then have "self select sessions" in the afternoon followed by dinner and time to visit the marketplace and fringe events ending with Night Prayers. That is the basic shape of each day. There are only three plenary sessions the whole time (all keynote speeches by ecumenical guests).

The bible study is very well written and follows the gospel of John for the whole conference. I will be bringing copies home (Along with Lambeth Praise, the hymnal put together for the conference - and the worship resources)!

The last two days have been pretty crazy - but a lot of fun. All the bishops have arrived with their spouses and we have had the responsibility of making sure all the luggage was tagged appropriately and brought to the right rooms on campus by the Canterbury Volunteers (of which there are 350). I always thought that bishops had a lot of baggage before I arrived, but I had no idea! They have come with hat boxes and all! I did get to check in the PB's luggage as well as +Mark's and +Orris's. (Yes, I did ensure that the bishops I knew got through a little more quickly than others - I will confess that favoritism later!) Bishop Katherine is in great form, had an excellent time in Salisbury with the Sudanese bishops and looked great!

OK. Saved the best for last. I was asked two days ago to assist with the opening Eucharist as one of the only priests on the stewarding team. I of course said YES! - and assumed I would be off the the side somewhere shuffling things. As it turned out, I was distributing communion with the dean of Canterbury Cathedral and Ian Douglas from EDS. I had a seat in the front row at the top of the steps beside the altar looking out at 650 bishops and their spouses for the whole Eucharist. It was unreal. Then at the end after chatting with the dean, he asked if I would like to say mass at the Cathedral once a week during the rest of my stay...I almost fell over!!! I managed a "yes, I would be extremely honored." So, I will be saying mass sometime in the next few days. Of course all of you will be in my prayers!

Please pray for me as I continue my ministry of support for the bishops and spouses during their conference. Don't buy what the press has been saying about schism looming over the conference strongly. Schism seems very far from the conference as someone who is directly involved with it. Of course, the Lambeth Conference is not going to solve the current issues in the communion, but I do think it will help the center to hold through building relationships and deepening the sense of connection bishop to bishop - through bible studies that cut across the provinces provinces. I have met (albeit momentarily) almost every bishop at the conference and it seems to me that there is an enormous amount of grace around in Canterbury. More than I ever imagined possible.

I hope you all are well. I look forward to seeing you when I get back. Yes, I am sure I will still be floating!

Peace and Love,
Michael+

P.S. We had a wonderful tour of the Cathedral the other night after it had closed to the public and really had time to soak in the place. What a space! The stewards will be on retreat for 3 days after the conference with the Archbishop of Canterbury. He has even invited us to his palace beside the cathedral! It really is all too much!! I continue to just soak it in and be thankful - between all the thoughts of "why me?!" Thoughts and prayers.

What a wonderful opportunity for all the young people working as stewards at the Lambeth conference. As someone said, they are the future of the Anglican Communion. May God bless them in their time there.

Governor Bobby Jindal's Style

From the August issue of Details, which is a magazine about men's style, comes an article on our governor.

The 37-year-old governor of Louisiana is out to reinvent the Republican Party in his own slick, telegenic image. And if that means purging the GOP of its Dubya-era demons, no matter—he likes a good exorcism, too.

The first thing you notice about Bobby Jindal—everyone says this—is how damn young he looks. Stick him next to John McCain, however, and his appearance skews toward the pubescent. It's a sun-blasted, sweat-stained late-April day in New Orleans, and Jindal—102 days into his term as the governor of Louisiana, and just 36 years into a life that's looking increasingly politically charmed—is walking beside McCain down Caffin Avenue in the city's blighted Lower Ninth Ward.

The neighborhood's few remaining residents—easily outnumbered by the hordes of National Guardsmen and political aides and the reporters sequestered in the flatbeds of two National Guard trucks—are out on their porches, with arms folded, observing this odd promenade. McCain's giant, gleaming bus ("the Straight," as his aides call it) looks like an alien spacecraft idling beside the scruffy Caffin Avenue median.

How 'bout that bus name, "the Straight"? Just so we all know, it's completely hetero? See. I made a poem.

What an anomaly he is for a Louisiana politician. He doesn't care much about food, he likes FM rock or whatever is playing, he doesn't drink alcohol. Why he doesn't even drink coffee! I ask you. Does he represent me? Whom does he represent? Perhaps a few of the straighter-laced folks from the Nawth - nawth Louisiana, that is.

Is his a "telegenic image"? I'll just say that I've seen better looking men, especially Indian men. Some of them are the-stuff-dreams-are-made-of handsome. Just sayin'.

The whole article is worth reading. Rush right out to your newsstand and buy a copy, or read it at the link.

Thanks to Jim at JindalWatch for the alert.

Feast Day Of William White

William White was consecrated bishop, along with Samuel Provoost, in England, by the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Archbishop of York, the Bishop of Bath and Wells, and the Bishop of Peterborough, as the second and third US bishops after the first American bishop, Samuel Seabury.

White was largely responsible for the Constitution of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America. At his suggestion, the system of church government was established more or less as we have it today.

The words below, William White's own, are as timely today as when he wrote them. I'd like to see them printed and passed around at Lambeth for all the bishops in the Anglican Communion to read.

The power of electing a superior order of ministers ought to be in the clergy and laity together, they being both interested in the choice. In England, the bishops are appointed by the civil authority, which was a usurpation of the crown at the Norman conquest, but since confirmed by acts of parliament. The primitive churches were generally supplied by popular elections; even in the city of Rome, the privilege of electing the bishop continued with the people to the tenth or eleventh century, and near those times there are resolves of councils, that none should be promoted to ecclesiastical dignities, but by election of the clergy and people. It cannot be denied that this right vested in numerous bodies, occasioned great disorders; which it is expected will be avoided, when the people shall exercise the right by representation.

Let us next take a view of the grounds on which the authority of episcopacy is asserted.

The advocates for this form maintain, that there having been an episcopal power originally lodged by Jesus Christ with his apostles, and by them generally exercised in person, but sometimes by delegation (as in the instances of Timothy and Titus) the same was conveyed by them before their decease to one pastor in each church, which generally comprehended all the Christians in a city and a convenient surrounding district. Thus were created the apostolic successors, who on account of their settled residence are called bishops by restraint; whereas the apostles themselves were bishops at large, exercising episcopal power over all the churches, except in the case of St James, who from the beginning was bishop of Jerusalem. From this time the word "episcopos," used in the New Testament indiscriminately with the word "presbyteros" (particularly in the 20th chapter of the Acts where the same persons are called "episcopoi" and "presbyteroi"), became appropriated to the superior order of ministers. That the apostles were thus succeeded by an order of ministers superior to pastors in general, episcopalians think they prove by the testimonies of the ancient fathers, and from the improbability that so great an innovation (as some conceive it) could have found general and peaceable possession in the 2d or 3d century, when epicopacy is on both sides acknowledged to have been prevalent. The argument is here concisely stated, but (as is believed) impartially.

Readings:

Psalm 92:1-4,11-14 or 84:7-12
Jeremiah 1:4-10
John 21:15-17

PRAYER

O Lord, who in a time of turmoil and confusion raised up your servant William White, and endowed him with wisdom, patience, and a reconciling temper, that he might lead your Church into ways of stability and peace: Hear our prayer, and give us wise and faithful leaders, that through their ministry your people may be blessed and your will be done; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Quotes from James Kiefer at the Lectionary.

Image from Wiki.