From the Orange County Register:
Prominent evangelical pastor Rick Warren of Saddleback Church has thrown a lifeline to a conservative Newport Beach parish on the verge of losing its house of worship because of a feud with its parent church.
The California Supreme Court this month ruled that St. James Anglican Church, a 500-family congregation on the Balboa Peninsula, forfeited the rights to its church property when it split in 2004 from the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles and the national Episcopal Church.
....
"(Our) brothers and sisters here at St. James in Newport Beach lost their California State Supreme Court case to keep their property," Warren wrote, according to Christianity Today.
"We stand in solidarity with them, and with all orthodox, evangelical Anglicans. I offer the campus of Saddleback Church to any Anglican congregation who need a place to meet, or if you want to plant a new congregation in south Orange County."
....
"We are overwhelmed by his generosity," [St. James's rector, Rev. Richard] Crocker said. "It is an encouraging sign of support from Christians in the community."
Warren would not make the same offer to progressive Episcopalians who have lost the use of their property, however temporarily, because he could hardly say with any honesty that he stands in solidarity with them, since, in his view, they would not be "orthodox, evangelical Anglicans".
If the sharing works out for the congregants of St. James and Saddleback, then God bless them as they continue their worship.
UPDATE: If anyone has information as to whether all 500 families in St. James left with the Rev. Crocker, I'd like to know.
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
The Blessing - Bishop Gene Robinson
"Blessing given by the Rt. Rev. Gene Robinson, Bishop of New Hampshire, at the end of services at All Saints Church Pasadena on Sunday, July 15, 2007."
The video is an example of a blessing by Bishop Gene Robinson - a taste perhaps of the type of invocation we may expect from him at the opening event of the Inaugural Week activities, “We are One,” to be held at the Lincoln Memorial, Sunday, January 18, at 2:00 pm.
Of course, the choice of Bishop Robinson by President-Elect Obama and the bishop's announcement that the blessing will be neither "happy Clappy" nor specifically Christian are already being roundly criticized by the Christian right, but no matter. It is good and right that he should do this.
Today Is A Better Day
A picture of me yesterday
Yesterday, I spent the better part of the day trying to get my flight reservation to England fixed. After I had already paid my credit card bill for the flight to England, I noticed, much too late, that another person's name was on my e-ticket. I checked the airport and flight information on the printout, but I did not check the name. Who would think that someone else's name would be on the ticket? Not I.
Into stress and panic mode and on the phone with the number punching and long waits. I thought it would be a simple matter of correcting the ticket, but no, the airline, which I would dearly like to name, but I won't, said that they would have to initiate a fraud investigation to make sure that no one stole my reservation. They let it slip that the person whose name was on the ticket was from California. If my credit card number had been stolen, it seems to me that I would have had other fraudulent charges on my bill, but I did not. What I believe happened is that someone typed in the wrong name to my reservation made with my credit card, but the airline would not admit that and their attitude was "take no responsibility and CYA". It's not as simple as I have stated, because I was passed from person to person, then to a supervisor, with long waits in between conversations.
The airline said that they would contact my credit card company after they had done their investigation, but I did not trust them, so I called the company myself. Their service was excellent. The person I talked to laughed when I said that the airline was doing a fraud investigation. The rep said, "This happens often. The airlines put in the wrong name." Ha! She said that they would proceed to challenge the charge and issue me a credit and give me a new card number "just in case".
So now I have no reservation, because the other was canceled. I checked around the internet and made a couple of calls, because I really, really did not want to fly with the same airline, but no other airline had flights which were equal in price and convenient flight times, so I booked again with the same airline, and I now have a ticket in my very own name, for which I had to pay, of course.
Part of this trouble was my own doing for not reading the information on the ticket carefully. I am not a detail person, but, nevertheless, I should have read every word on the ticket. I've learned a lesson - I hope.
Grandpère took my place in picking up the grandchildren from school and staying with them until I could get my affairs arranged and get myself together to go to my son's house to relieve him. I wanted to see my grandchildren, because it was their last day with their dad.
End of story.
Uh-Oh!
Gunfight at the OK Corral?
However, most everybody pictured Vice President Cheney next week heading out of Dodge after the inauguration and virtually four decades of inside government experience -- and fishing, enjoying Wyoming, family, six grandchildren, hunting, all that.
He will.
But Cheney, the silent sly one who's words were mostly saved for the ears of the president, just told Sean Hannity today that he's seriously considering writing a book.
"I never have," Cheney said. "and my family has been bugging me about it. I've got 40 years since I came to town to stay 12 months. I've got a lot of stories to tell. And a few scores to settle."
From the Los Angeles Times Blog
However, most everybody pictured Vice President Cheney next week heading out of Dodge after the inauguration and virtually four decades of inside government experience -- and fishing, enjoying Wyoming, family, six grandchildren, hunting, all that.
He will.
But Cheney, the silent sly one who's words were mostly saved for the ears of the president, just told Sean Hannity today that he's seriously considering writing a book.
"I never have," Cheney said. "and my family has been bugging me about it. I've got 40 years since I came to town to stay 12 months. I've got a lot of stories to tell. And a few scores to settle."
From the Los Angeles Times Blog
Monday, January 12, 2009
The Bailout Solution
Aha! I knew it. Sounds right to me!
Little Johnnie in Montana bought a horse from a farmer for $100.
The farmer agreed to deliver the horse the next day.
The next day he drove up and said, 'Sorry son, but I have some bad news, the horse died.'
-------------------
Johnnie replied, 'Well, then just give me my money back.'
The farmer said, 'Can't do that. I went and spent it already'
Johnnie said, 'Ok, then, just bring me the dead horse.'
------------
The farmer asked, 'What ya gonna do with him?
Johnnie said, 'I'm going to raffle him off.'
The farmer said, 'You can't raffle off a dead horse!'
Johnnie said, 'Sure I can, Watch me. I just won't tell any body he's dead.'
------------------
A month later, the farmer met up with Johnnie and asked,
'What happened with that dead horse?'
Johnnie said, 'I raffled him off.
I sold 500 tickets at two dollars a piece and made a profit of $898..'
The farmer said, 'Didn't anyone complain?'
Johnnie said, 'Just the guy who won. So I gave him his two dollars back.'
-------------------------------
Johnnie grew up and works now for the government.
He was the one who figured out how to "bail us out".
UPDATE: If you think this is only a joke, here's a word from TPM:
Last week, Congress's oversight panel for the TARP funds confirmed in a report that the Treasury Department essentially has no idea what banks have done with the astronomical sums they've been handed.
Little Johnnie in Montana bought a horse from a farmer for $100.
The farmer agreed to deliver the horse the next day.
The next day he drove up and said, 'Sorry son, but I have some bad news, the horse died.'
-------------------
Johnnie replied, 'Well, then just give me my money back.'
The farmer said, 'Can't do that. I went and spent it already'
Johnnie said, 'Ok, then, just bring me the dead horse.'
------------
The farmer asked, 'What ya gonna do with him?
Johnnie said, 'I'm going to raffle him off.'
The farmer said, 'You can't raffle off a dead horse!'
Johnnie said, 'Sure I can, Watch me. I just won't tell any body he's dead.'
------------------
A month later, the farmer met up with Johnnie and asked,
'What happened with that dead horse?'
Johnnie said, 'I raffled him off.
I sold 500 tickets at two dollars a piece and made a profit of $898..'
The farmer said, 'Didn't anyone complain?'
Johnnie said, 'Just the guy who won. So I gave him his two dollars back.'
-------------------------------
Johnnie grew up and works now for the government.
He was the one who figured out how to "bail us out".
UPDATE: If you think this is only a joke, here's a word from TPM:
Last week, Congress's oversight panel for the TARP funds confirmed in a report that the Treasury Department essentially has no idea what banks have done with the astronomical sums they've been handed.
Strange In Seattle
From the New York Times comes a story of one of the strangest churches I've ever heard of.
Mark Driscoll is American evangelicalism’s bête noire. In little more than a decade, his ministry has grown from a living-room Bible study to a megachurch that draws about 7,600 visitors to seven campuses around Seattle each Sunday, and his books, blogs and podcasts have made him one of the most admired — and reviled — figures among evangelicals nationwide. Conservatives call Driscoll “the cussing pastor” and wish that he’d trade in his fashionably distressed jeans and taste for indie rock for a suit and tie and placid choral arrangements. Liberals wince at his hellfire theology and insistence that women submit to their husbands. But what is new about Driscoll is that he has resurrected a particular strain of fire and brimstone, one that most Americans assume died out with the Puritans: Calvinism, a theology that makes Pat Robertson seem warm and fuzzy.
Calvinism mixed with macho. Thus it ever was, I suppose, but the style is entirely new. I don't know where to begin to note the twists and contradictions that I see in Driscoll's teachings, nor can I fathom the reason for his appeal.
Driscoll represents a movement to revamp the style and substance of evangelicalism. With his taste for vintage baseball caps and omnipresence on Facebook and iTunes, Driscoll, who is 38, is on the cutting edge of American pop culture. Yet his message seems radically unfashionable, even un-American: you are not captain of your soul or master of your fate but a depraved worm whose hard work and good deeds will get you nowhere, because God marked you for heaven or condemned you to hell before the beginning of time. Yet a significant number of young people in Seattle — and nationwide — say this is exactly what they want to hear. Calvinism has somehow become cool, and just as startling, this generally bookish creed has fused with a macho ethos. At Mars Hill, members say their favorite movie isn’t “Amazing Grace” or “The Chronicles of Narnia” — it’s “Fight Club.”
But wait! There's more.
God called Driscoll to preach to men — particularly young men — to save them from an American Protestantism that has emasculated Christ and driven men from church pews with praise music that sounds more like boy-band ballads crooned to Jesus than “Onward Christian Soldiers.” What bothers Driscoll — and the growing number of evangelical pastors who agree with him — is not the trope of Jesus-as-lover. After all, St. Paul tells us that the Church is the bride of Christ. What really grates is the portrayal of Jesus as a wimp, or worse. Paintings depict a gentle man embracing children and cuddling lambs. Hymns celebrate his patience and tenderness. The mainstream church, Driscoll has written, has transformed Jesus into “a Richard Simmons, hippie, queer Christ,” a “neutered and limp-wristed popular Sky Fairy of pop culture that . . . would never talk about sin or send anyone to hell.”
It's a long article, but quite an amazing read. Driscoll rules with an iron fist and brooks no criticism. I'd guess that the church won't outlast Driscoll, because he is the church and arrogates ever more power to himself. I can't think of much in the way of commentary, but if I attended a service at Mars Hill Church, I'd feel that I was in the middle of a nightmare.
Blame it on Dennis.
Mark Driscoll is American evangelicalism’s bête noire. In little more than a decade, his ministry has grown from a living-room Bible study to a megachurch that draws about 7,600 visitors to seven campuses around Seattle each Sunday, and his books, blogs and podcasts have made him one of the most admired — and reviled — figures among evangelicals nationwide. Conservatives call Driscoll “the cussing pastor” and wish that he’d trade in his fashionably distressed jeans and taste for indie rock for a suit and tie and placid choral arrangements. Liberals wince at his hellfire theology and insistence that women submit to their husbands. But what is new about Driscoll is that he has resurrected a particular strain of fire and brimstone, one that most Americans assume died out with the Puritans: Calvinism, a theology that makes Pat Robertson seem warm and fuzzy.
Calvinism mixed with macho. Thus it ever was, I suppose, but the style is entirely new. I don't know where to begin to note the twists and contradictions that I see in Driscoll's teachings, nor can I fathom the reason for his appeal.
Driscoll represents a movement to revamp the style and substance of evangelicalism. With his taste for vintage baseball caps and omnipresence on Facebook and iTunes, Driscoll, who is 38, is on the cutting edge of American pop culture. Yet his message seems radically unfashionable, even un-American: you are not captain of your soul or master of your fate but a depraved worm whose hard work and good deeds will get you nowhere, because God marked you for heaven or condemned you to hell before the beginning of time. Yet a significant number of young people in Seattle — and nationwide — say this is exactly what they want to hear. Calvinism has somehow become cool, and just as startling, this generally bookish creed has fused with a macho ethos. At Mars Hill, members say their favorite movie isn’t “Amazing Grace” or “The Chronicles of Narnia” — it’s “Fight Club.”
But wait! There's more.
God called Driscoll to preach to men — particularly young men — to save them from an American Protestantism that has emasculated Christ and driven men from church pews with praise music that sounds more like boy-band ballads crooned to Jesus than “Onward Christian Soldiers.” What bothers Driscoll — and the growing number of evangelical pastors who agree with him — is not the trope of Jesus-as-lover. After all, St. Paul tells us that the Church is the bride of Christ. What really grates is the portrayal of Jesus as a wimp, or worse. Paintings depict a gentle man embracing children and cuddling lambs. Hymns celebrate his patience and tenderness. The mainstream church, Driscoll has written, has transformed Jesus into “a Richard Simmons, hippie, queer Christ,” a “neutered and limp-wristed popular Sky Fairy of pop culture that . . . would never talk about sin or send anyone to hell.”
It's a long article, but quite an amazing read. Driscoll rules with an iron fist and brooks no criticism. I'd guess that the church won't outlast Driscoll, because he is the church and arrogates ever more power to himself. I can't think of much in the way of commentary, but if I attended a service at Mars Hill Church, I'd feel that I was in the middle of a nightmare.
Blame it on Dennis.
Only In Alaska
This guy raised an abandoned moose calf with his horses, and believe it or not, he has trained it for lumber removal and other hauling tasks.
Given the 2,000 pounds of robust muscle, and the splayed, grippy hooves, he claims it is the best work animal he has.
He says the secret to keeping the moose around is a sweet salt lick, although during the rut he disappears for a couple of weeks, but always comes home....
Thanks to Doug
Good News!
From the Episcopal Cafè:
We received this email from Bishop Robinson this morning:
I'm quite pleased to hear that Bishop Gene will be so honored. Obama redeems himself somewhat for the choice of Rick Warren to give the invocation on Inauguration Day. I hope that he won't restrict himself to choosing Christians for all the prayers.
Thanks to Renz and others for sending this in.
UPDATE:
As for himself, [Bishop] Robinson said he doesn't yet know what he'll say, but he knows he won't use a Bible.
"While that is a holy and sacred text to me, it is not for many Americans," Robinson said. "I will be careful not to be especially Christian in my prayer. This is a prayer for the whole nation."
Robinson said his prayer will be reflective of the times.
"I think these are sober and difficult times that we are facing," he said. "It won't be a happy, clappy prayer."
From the Concord Monitor via TPM
We received this email from Bishop Robinson this morning:
I am writing to tell you that President-Elect Obama and the Inaugural Committee have invited me to give the invocation at the opening event of the Inaugural Week activities, “We are One,” to be held at the Lincoln Memorial, Sunday, January 18, at 2:00 pm. It will be an enormous honor to offer prayers for the country and the new president, standing on the holy ground where the “I have a dream speech” was delivered by Dr. King, surrounded by the inspiring and reconciling words of Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address. It is also an indication of the new president’s commitment to being the President of ALL the people. I am humbled and overjoyed at this invitation, and it will be my great honor to be there representing the Episcopal Church, the people of New Hampshire, and all of us in the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community.
+Gene
I'm quite pleased to hear that Bishop Gene will be so honored. Obama redeems himself somewhat for the choice of Rick Warren to give the invocation on Inauguration Day. I hope that he won't restrict himself to choosing Christians for all the prayers.
Thanks to Renz and others for sending this in.
UPDATE:
As for himself, [Bishop] Robinson said he doesn't yet know what he'll say, but he knows he won't use a Bible.
"While that is a holy and sacred text to me, it is not for many Americans," Robinson said. "I will be careful not to be especially Christian in my prayer. This is a prayer for the whole nation."
Robinson said his prayer will be reflective of the times.
"I think these are sober and difficult times that we are facing," he said. "It won't be a happy, clappy prayer."
From the Concord Monitor via TPM
Sunday, January 11, 2009
Please Continue To Pray
JCF has left a new comment on your post "Please Continue to Pray For Sue And Fr. Ed":
Update: Sue's still at home (couldn't get into the rehab center they wanted). FrEd still sounds very stressed out. Please continuing praying!
Update: Sue's still at home (couldn't get into the rehab center they wanted). FrEd still sounds very stressed out. Please continuing praying!
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