Please Pray For Evan And His Family

From Ruth:

I'm very sad to report that Evan, the boy with leukemia I asked you to pray for, has rejected his bone marrow transplant. They are going to try again, this time with his mother's marrow. She's not a perfect match, but studies have shown a very high success rate with mother-to-child transplants. I have a great deal more information in my blog post today:

http://rhchatlienblog.blogspot.com/2008/12/update-on-evan.html

Evan's survival is still very much in doubt, and I ask for continued prayers.

Ruth

P.S. He was visited by players from his favorite football team a few weeks back. This photo was taken then.

Evan and his family have been through a lot. Let them know that you care.

Bishop Charles Jenkins To Retire

From the Episcopal Diocese of Louisiana:

Thursday, December 04, 2008
Bishop Charles Jenkins Announces Pending Retirement
Dear Friends in Christ,

At the December 4, 2008 meeting, the Standing Committee of the Diocese of Louisiana heard of my decision to retire as the tenth Bishop of Louisiana effective December 31, 2009. This move is based on issues of health and a concern for the mission strategy of the diocese. To that end, I now call for the election of the eleventh Bishop of Louisiana.

This decision and the timing of my announcement are not what I had hoped. However haltingly I have displayed my value of transparency over the last decade, I do think transparency important. As we struggle with the new realities of our life in common for 2009 and beyond, I thought it best that I make this announcement now rather than continuing my discernment. I am of the mind that a healthy Bishop, fully engaged with the needs of the Diocese and one who has the confidence of the clergy of the Diocese, will better lead us through this challenge and into the future.

My struggle with health issues since Katrina has not been a secret. My PTSD was exaggerated by the experience of the mandatory evacuation in Hurricane Gustav. The symptoms that accompany the PTSD now seem deeper and more frequent. After talking with various health professionals, it seems best for me that I take a significant rest, which means an absence from the stress and strains of the episcopate. I considered and explored the possibility of a medical leave and even a sabbatical. I could not bring myself to do this for there is no assurance that I would be back to lead the Diocese. I am not willing to ask this Diocese to take such a risk.

I discern God’s call to continuing concern for and involvement with the social apostolate of the Church across Louisiana. In such ministries I find energy, excitement and satisfaction. I pray that God will enable me to continue to give myself to the work of a newly constituted Episcopal Community Services in Louisiana. I hope by God’s grace that I will be able to devote even more time and energy to the social ministry in Louisiana. We are in a position of leadership in our part of the Kingdom like the Episcopal Church has never been before; let us not turn our back on this ministry especially in times of economic uncertainty. I shall remain Bishop of this Diocese until the day of my retirement and I shall do all in my power to see that we stay on this path to Biblical justice, the building of the Beloved Community, and the realization of the New Jerusalem midst our ruin and degradation.

We will have time over the coming year to bid farewell and perhaps enjoy memories of the past decade. Perhaps, by God’s grace we can do several things in my last year. I want to incorporate Episcopal Community Services and merge the Office of Disaster Response into ECS. I pray that somehow we can move ahead with some sort of Reconciliation work in south Louisiana. What would it take to get us off “stuck” in conversations about race and class? Second, I hope we can break ground on the Youth Campus at SECC. The revitalization of youth ministry in this Diocese will be an important accomplishment for today and for tomorrow. Finally, I want to more firmly anchor the Diocesan Perpetual Memorial and Endowment Fund. Let us get these tasks done in the year to come.

The Standing Committee has met with Bishop Clay Matthews of the Presiding Bishop’s office to begin moving us towards the election of the eleventh Bishop of Louisiana at an Electing Convention to be convened in 2009. The Standing Committee is already developing the process for choosing our next Bishop. The broad outline of this process will be shared publicly in early January. The Standing Committee is committed to transparency, accountability and widespread participation as we move forward.

Thank you for your love and patience with me and I hope in return you know that I have loved you as brothers and sisters in the Lord Jesus Christ.

In Christ,

+Charles E. Jenkins
Tenth Bishop of Louisiana

UPDATE: Prayer For the Election of a Bishop

Almighty God, giver of every good gift: Look graciously on your Church, and so guide the minds of those who shall choose a bishop for this Diocese, that we may receive a faithful pastor, who will care for your people and equip us for our ministries; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
BCP p. 818

THANGS I LARNED WILE LIVIN' IN LUSIANA

1. Possums sleep in the middle of the road with their feet in the air.

2. There are 5,000 types of snakes and 4,998 live in LOUISIANA.

3. There are 10,000 types of spiders.

All 10,000 live in LOUISIANA plus a couple no one's seen before.

4. If it grows, it sticks; if it crawls, it bites.

5. Onced and twiced are words.

6. It is not a shopping cart; it is a buggy.

7. Fire ants consider your flesh as a picnic.

8. People actually grow and eat okra.

9. Fix & into is one word: FIXINTO

10. There is no such thing as 'lunch'. There is only dinner and then there is supper.

11. Ice tea is appropriate for all meals, and you start drinking it when you're two. We do like a little tea with our sugar!

12. Backards and forwards means 'I know everything about you.'

13. Jeet? is actually a phrase meaning 'Did you eat?'

14. You don't have to wear a watch because it doesn't matter what time
it is. You work until you're done or it's too dark to see.

15. You don't PUSH buttons, you MASH them.

From my daughter. You see? I taught larned her right.

"These Processes Will Take Years...."

From Episcopal Life Online:

A spokesperson for Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams has responded to the Common Cause Partnership's December 3 release of a provisional constitution and canons that outline the formation of what they are calling a new Anglican province in North America.

"There are clear guidelines set out in the Anglican Consultative Council Reports, notably ACC 10 in 1996 (resolution 12), detailing the steps necessary for the amendments of existing provincial constitutions and the creation of new provinces," the spokesperson said. "Once begun, any of these processes will take years to complete. In relation to the recent announcement from the meeting of the Common Cause Partnership in Chicago, the process has not yet begun."

No. It Couldn't Be

I've a regular visitor from San Clemente, California. You don't suppose.... No, it couldn't be. Not the ghost of Richard M. Nixon come to haunt me as George W. Bush gets close (not close enough!) to the end of his term.

If you click the link, you'll see the comment by the creator of the cartoon.

Cartoon by David Ravenwood at Flickr.

Elvis In Advent - For The Sad And Lonely

Especially dedicated to the many depressed Englishmen of my virtual acquaintance, but for anyone who feels sad or lonely during the season. I know that you are not few in number. In all seriousness, you have my sympathy.

Thanks to Renz for the idea.

A Sunset Gone Bad

From Eric Lutz at The Onion.

Eric wanted to celebrate his 10th wedding anniversary in a special way. He bought a bottle of wine, took his wife out to the country, climbed up a hill, and prepared to view what he hoped would be a spectacular sunset.

I had high hopes. All the signs were right. The sun was dipping down to the mountain peaks, which looked almost purple in the autumn dusk. But as the light spilled over the landscape in a flood of fiery streaks—if you can even call them streaks—I thought to myself, "Where is this going?"
....

You know how watching a burning ball of gas several thousands miles away streak across the sky and then disappear can make you realize that every single day we are given on this earth is a blessing? This was nothing like that.

Read it all, especially his startling conclusion.

Advent - A Season Of Hope - II

Michelangelo Merisi, called Caravaggio, Italian, 1571-1610
"Saint John the Baptist in the Wilderness", 1604-1605

The Proclamation of John the Baptist

The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

As it is written in the prophet Isaiah,
‘See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you,*
who will prepare your way;
the voice of one crying out in the wilderness:
“Prepare the way of the Lord,
make his paths straight” ’,

John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. And people from the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him, and were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. Now John was clothed with camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. He proclaimed, ‘The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the thong of his sandals. I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with* the Holy Spirit.’
Mark 1:1-8

COLLECT:

God for whom we watch and wait, you sent John the Baptist to prepare the way of your Son: give us courage to speak the truth, to hunger for justice, and to suffer for the cause of right, with Jesus Christ our Lord.

Collect from the Church of England website.

UPDATE: I seem to be two weeks ahead in my lectionary readings. I can't think how that happened, but John the Baptist stays. I may have different plans two weeks from now. Everything happens for a reason, right?

Nothing To See

Last night on Countdown, Olbermann and Howard Fineman were discussing Bush's horrible presidency in general and, at the end, his inability to second guess himself and the lack of any capacity for introspection. They agreed that Bush was incapable of either. Olbermann's final words on the matter were, "If there's nothing to see, then there's no reason to look inside your soul.

Amen.

"as u have done 4 the least of these"

WORLD AIDS DAY - 2008

With deep gratitude to Tobias Haller for the icon and the title of the post.

What a beautiful tribute. My eyes are wet, my friends.