Can This Be A Good Thing?

From the Episcopal Café:

We have heard from a pair of well-placed and unrelated sources that Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, may be coming to the General Convention of the Episcopal Church in Anaheim in July. These reports are still unconfirmed, but details from the two sources are similar. They suggest the ABC would arrive on the first or second day of the convention, possibly participate in some sort of forum about the world economic situation, offer a meditation at the daily Eucharist on the third day of convention and then depart. A number of other Primates are invited as well. We will keep you posted.

If this is true, I pray that the Archbishop of Canterbury doesn't come to try to exercise influence at GC. If he comes to listen, and learn, and observe how the General Convention of the Episcopal Church works, that could be all right. I'm always a bit nervous about the ABC - more than a bit, really. I hope for the best, but I fear the worst.

H/T to Ann.

UPDATE: A reminder to all from Susan Russell at An Inch At A Time:

(Book of Common Prayer, page 10 in the Preface)

... when in the course of Divine Providence, these American States became independent with respect to civil government, their ecclesiastical independence was necessarily included; and the different religious denominations of Christians in these States were left at full and equal liberty to model and organize their respective Churches, and forms of worship, and discipline, in such manner as they might judge most convenient for their future prosperity; consistently with the constitution and laws of their country.

GOOD NEWS FROM ROSEANN!

Dear Mimi,

There is good news from Arkansas this morning!

Roseann's MRI results are in, and there is NO BREAK! She suffered a very bad bruise, and is being treated with some pain meds and Attavan for the anxiety. She ate some dinner last night and following dialysis this morning she will go home.

There will be a breast biopsy done in March, but that was expected.

She is greatly relieved, and Thanks the entire OCICBW blog Community for the prayers and good wishes sent for her and Gary.

You folks are simply awesome!!

Blessings to you all.

Sue

Disregard the previous message about sending cards to Roseann at the hospital. I don't know what to say, but, "Thanks be to God, and thanks to all who prayed or sent good thoughts flying her way." Otherwise, I'm dumbfounded but very happy for Roseann.

A Prayer For Rich And Poor

From The Lead at the Episcopal Café:

We also pray that while the so-called ‘perfect storm’ rages on, the spirit of Ubuntu will prevail. You have taught us that true religion is to care for the widows and the orphans and all who are weak, vulnerable and in distress; who eke out a precarious living and barely survive. Through these crises you have focused attention on their plight by, in a strange way, threatening the complacency of those who have lived in comfort and by and large ignored the plight of the man, woman and child “who has fallen by the wayside”. As in the story of the ‘Good Samaritan’, they have passed by on the other side when children slept hungry, fed from rubbish heaps or died of malaria. Occasionally they have thrown a few alms in the form of aid, but without thinking deeply about the consequences of their actions or inactions. Often, they have hardly bothered to know how much of what they have given reaches the intended beneficiaries, which in the donor world, has become “holy ground”.

Archbishop Njongonkulu Ndungane, former Anglican Archbishop of Capetown

South Africa has enriched the Anglican Communion with the gift of two godly men, Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Archbishop Ndungane.

Read the entire prayer at the link above.

The Chinese Dinner

A couple decides to go out to eat at a Chinese restaurant. After looking over the menu, they both decide to order Mandarin Duck, the chef's special.

A short time later, the waiter brings their meal on a covered dish. As the wife reaches for the lid, it rises up a few inches. She can see two little eyes looking out at her before the lid slams down.

Startled, she asks her husband if he had seen the eyes. Just then, the lid rises up again, revealing the same pair of eyes before slamming down again.

Perturbed, the couple calls over the waiter and explains what has happened.

"I solly," says the waiter, "I make mistake . I brought you Peeking Duck."

Don't blame me. Blame Doug.

Roseann - Latest News

Dear Mimi,

I just had a very quick chat with Roseann. She is in a great deal of bone pain, but had an MRI today, and pending the results of the MRI will determine if she has pins put into her hip or not.

She really couldn't talk very long because of the pain and the nurses had just given her a pain medication.

She asked me to pass along the latest news.


Blessings.

Sue

Keep the prayers, emails, and now cards going, folks. Let's try to pray Roseann well and cheer her up.

Sue, thank you for keeping us posted.

Fred And Shirley Phelps Banned From UK

From the Guardian:

Pastor Fred Phelps, of Topeka, Kansas, with placards protesting against homosexuality outside court in Laramie, Wyoming, at the 1999 trial of a man accused of killing a gay student.

A homophobic American cleric who runs a website called God Hates Fags and was allegedly planning to picket a play showing in the UK has been banned from Britain by the home secretary, Jacqui Smith.

Fred Phelps had vowed to come to Britain with his daughter, Shirley, to picket a school play in Basingstoke, Hampshire, that promotes tolerance for gay people. The play, The Laramie Project, depicts the murder of a homosexual teenager, ­Matthew Shepard, in the Wyoming town in 1998. It will be staged tomorrow evening at Queen Mary's College.

Phelps, who runs the Primitive Baptist Westboro church in Topeka, Kansas – most of whose congregation are members of his family, including his 13 children – has bought a plot of land in Laramie where he plans to build a memorial celebrating the murder, despite local opposition.
....

A posting on Phelps's companion website God Hates the World this week stated: "God hates England. Your Queen is a whore. You're going to hell."

Good for the Home Secretary Jacqui Smith. I wish we could expel Fred and Shirley to another country.

H/T to Lapin.

Jindal Shames Brown And Oxford

For the real skinny on Bobby Jindal and the Louisiana Science Education Act read Oyster at Your Right Hand Thief. Here's one quote:

Bobby Jindal and Timmy Teepell are not like Bush and Rove. No. Bobby and Timmy don't meet with leaders of the Fundagelical Right about legislative priorities, and then laugh at them after they leave the room. They don't string the fundagelical right along with "culture of life" talk, and just use them for their votes. No. But, surprisingly, it's not the reverse, either. The fundagelical right isn't using Bobby Jindal to further their political aims. Why? Because he's totally on board! People need to understand that Bobby doesn't "pander" to the extreme religious right, nor is he "used" by "them" because, in his heart of hearts, he is one of them. As hard is it may seem, Jindal really believes in the Discovery Institute pseudoscience just as he believes in the religious pseudo-history of Dan Barton.

How can this be? Jindal is an honor graduate in biology from Brown University, and he received his advanced degree from Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar. Oh, it be. It be.

Jindal does exorcisms, too.

Snooks Eaglin - R.I.P

Snooks Eaglin playing "Baby Please" at the Lone Star Roadhouse with George Porter Jr.

From the Times-Picayune:

Snooks Eaglin, the idiosyncratic New Orleans rhythm & blues guitarist with fleet-fingered dexterity and a boundless repertoire, died Wednesday afternoon. He was 72.

"He was the most New Orleans of all the New Orleans acts that are still living," said Mid-City Lanes owner John Blancher.

Snooks got his name from Baby Snooks. Y'all remember Baby Snooks, don't you? Of course, you youngsters don't. You have to be old to remember her.

Glaucoma blinded Eaglin in infancy.

The digits on Mr. Eaglin's right hand flailed at seemingly impossible angles as he finger-picked and strummed a guitar's strings. A set by the so-called "Human Jukebox" could range from Beethoven's "Fur Elise" to Bad Company's "Ready for Love."

He thrived on feedback from onlookers, gleefully took requests and challenged his musicians to keep up. Utterly unselfconscious, he would render fellow guitarists slack-jawed with a blistering run, then announce from the stage that he needed to use the bathroom
....

In the early 1960s, Mr. Eaglin released a handful of singles for Imperial Records under the name "Ford" Eaglin. He logged three years in the house band at the Playboy Club off Bourbon Street.

After the British Invasion decimated the market for New Orleans rhythm & blues, he semi-retired. The launch of the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival in 1970 brought with it fresh opportunity.
....

"He's an irreplaceable guy," Blancher said. "More celebrities came to see Snooks than anyone. His reputation was as big as anyone's in New Orleans. And he wouldn't travel, so if you wanted to see Snooks you had to come to Rock 'n Bowl."

During the 2000 Jazz Fest, Bonnie Raitt showed up at the Mid-City Lanes to hear Mr. Eaglin. He exclaimed from the stage, "Listen to this, Bonnie! You gonna learn something tonight, girl!" She later lent a hand by replacing a broken string on his guitar.


Like many of us, Eaglin was a storyteller.

Among the most infamous is the time Mr. Eaglin drove the Flamingos home following a Saturday night gig in Donaldsonville. The musicians were so intoxicated that they decided their blind guitarist was the most qualified driver.

Mr. Eaglin claimed he navigated the curves of the road from memory. The crunch of gravel under the tires warned him when the '49 Studebaker strayed onto the shoulder. The story concludes with Mr. Eaglin pulling up to his house early Sunday morning and his mother suggesting the musicians proceed directly to church.

I defy anyone to top that New Orleans story.

I commend Keith Spera for writing a fine tribute to Snooks.

Thanks Be To God!

My grandson was accepted into the high school of his choice, the school that his older brother attends. He's taking the separation of his parents quite hard, and, had he not been accepted, it would have been a terrible blow to him. Normally, I don't have much patience with the mentality that not getting into the right school will ruin a young person's life, but, in this case, my grandson didn't need another big disappointment coming right at this time.

What Do You Think?

From Lance, who laughs his way through his pain, with the following message:

Best scarf of 2009......you would look SO good in one of these! So toasty and warm.....AND attractive!

Perhaps for my visit to that cold place?