St. John's Episcopal Church - Thibodaux

Last night, Lisa Fox at My Manner of Life challenged me to a pictures-of-our-churches duel. It was too late, and I was too tired to do it last night, but Lisa got a second wind and posted her pictures late yesterday. I saved my efforts for this morning. Lisa has the clergy and the congregation in hers, but our church is so small that the people would be recognizable, so I waited until they had left to take my pictures, because I was not sure they'd want to be on the internet.

 

Here's my church, here's the steeple (belfry), open the door, and all the people have left. The parish was founded in 1843 by Rt. Rev. Leonidas Polk, and the church building was completed in 1844. The church originally had a porch with columns, but the porch was enclosed and is now the narthex. An extensive renovation was completed in 2001, but the on-going maintenance costs continue to be high.

As a youth, Bishop Polk, known as the Fighting Bishop, attended West Point and when the Civil War began, he joined the Confederate Army. He wasn't a very good military strategist, but he cared well for his troops. He was shot in battle in Georgia and is buried there.


The view of the sanctuary of the church shows the stained glass window of St. John the Evangelist, holding a chalice with a snake coming out of it. According to legend, the emperor Domitian offered poisoned wine to John, but he blessed the wine and the poison came out of the cup in the form of a snake.

The beautiful needlepoint kneeling cushions at the communion rail were a years-long project of the Episcopal Church Women of St. John. I was asked to do background fill for the needlework, but once I saw the lovely work that other more talented women had done with the designs, I declined, because I knew my needlework skills were not up to par even to do the background.

 

The unusual kneelers in the church are in a fixed position, halfway between up and down. The undocumented story is that they were built in that manner to accommodate women's hoop skirts, which makes sense to me. Or else, the position may represent halfway between Catholic and Protestant custom, the Via Media, so to speak.

 

In the choir loft are the pipes and other innards of our old organ. The pipes that you see in the picture are decorative only. The true sounding pipes are behind them and are visible only on the sides of the organ from a position in the choir loft and cannot be seen from the nave.

The organ, which dates to the late 19th century, was originally in an Episcopal mission church in the Northeast, and the church authorities wanted to get rid of it and were willing to give it away to anyone who would dismantle it and cart it away. Jim Hammann, who restored the organ, took it apart, transported the parts to New Orleans, rebuilt the organ, and installed it in our church for quite a reasonable price, or we would not have been able to afford it.

 

The cabinet of the organ console is completely new, since the original was unsalvageable.

UPDATE: From Ormonde Plater at Through the Dust:

After his death in 1864, Polk was buried in Augusta, Georgia. In 1945 his body and that of his wife were disinterred and buried in Christ Church Cathedral, New Orleans. They are on the right, or downtown, side aisle near the organ console. Worshippers returning from the altar rail have to step around them. (Bishop Iveson Noland, who died in a plane crash in 1975, and his wife are in the opposite aisle.)

I once asked the bishop how come we got the Polk bodies back from Georgia. He replied: "The UDC did it." That's United Daughters of the Confederacy, at that time more powerful than an altar guild.

Thanks, Ormonde. I did not know that. I'm happy to pass on the information to my readers. Next time I visit Christ Church, I'll be sure to look for the grave marker.

Note: To lend perspective to the chunk of time that blogging takes from my life, this post took approximately three and a half hours, with breaks for breakfast, to load the dryer and fold the clothes in need of immediate folding or they would be wrinkled, and have an argument with Grandpère about his negative attitude versus what he calls my don't-care attitude. Just so you'll know how much time a post like this takes. Of course, I may work at a slower pace than other blogggers. I don't know how Lisa did her wonderful post in the late hours last night, because we are in the same time zone, and I was way too tired and would have made a botched mess of a post, had I done mine then.

Does It Strike Your Fancy?

So here is a different one that might strike your fancy:

A policeman in a small town was on night patrol and, as he was checking the used car lot, he came upon two little old ladies sitting in a used car.

He stopped and asked them why they were sitting there in the car. Were they trying to steal it?

"Heavens no! We bought it."

"Then why don't you drive it away?"

"We can't drive."

"Then why did you buy it?"

"Friends told us that if we bought a used car here we'd get screwed....

So we're just waiting."

Cheers,

Paul (A.)

That Paul. He's a naughty one, and he tempts me to naughtiness, and I succomb.

Nevertheless, it was a real pleasure to see him again at the convention. And he lent me his computer, too! Good thing, because I was wasting away from internet deprivation.

Please Pray For Frank And Carol

From David@Montreal:

This prayer call comes in response to two of your cherished number who in the last 24 hours have e-mailed requests for news on my dear cousin Frank, who as you might remember is under-going genetic therapy as a last-ditch attempt to beat his leukemia.

I've just spoken with Carol, Frank's wife and to quote her 'they're in the thick of G vs H' (Graft vs. Host) which is the grueling process which will see if Frank's body permanently accepts the new genetic material or not. Something which is complicated by the fact that only a 9/10 match was possible to begin with.

Frank's spirits are incredible, and he's convinced he's 'going to beat this' but the process has been remorseless.

In reaction to the prednisone his muscle tissue has been seriously diminished, so he's falling down unexpectedly on a regular basis. For someone formerly quite athletic, it was quite the experience the other day when two senior ladies tried getting him to his feet again at the bottom of his driveway.

There's also the first signs of some slight impact on the liver.

He's been hospitalized twice in the last three weeks with extraordinarily high temperatures, and there's more secondary complications than you really want to know about. Good news: the c-difficile is beaten for now.

So I'd ask for your prayers for both Frank and Carol please.

Thank-you my beloved Giants

Many prayers for Frank that the side effects diminish and that his body accepts the new genetic material. Prayers for strength and peace for both Carol and Frank.

Sue-z Update

From JimB:

She is showing a little more kidney function. While it is still not adequate it is better and the trend is positive. Her breathing is still not great but with the O2 she can catch her breath. She is still getting lots of Heprin and Cumidem and the concentration in her blood is rising. It is not enough to actually dissolve the clots yet but we are closer.

So, she will be better -- but it will take a while. Our family doctor had the same problem. Getting home took him 10 days. On that schedule we are talking about a wee from now.

I will keep sending updates to Fr. Jon on OCICBW, facebook, and my own blog Jims Thoughts.

Sue-z says thanks to all for their prayers and thoughts.

FWIW
jimB

Thanks be to God! Prayers that Sue-Z continues to improve until she is restored to full health. Prayers for peace for all the family.

Bishop Gene -"Restored To The Community"

Bishop Gene Robinson of New Hampshire posted a final summing up of GC09 from his vantage point at his blog Canterbury Tales from the Fringe.

This Convention had an unexpected -- and wonderful -- effect on me. The marginalization I have felt from my own House of Bishops since Lambeth seems to have disappeared. Finally, after months of feeling "cut out of the herd" by Lambeth, I once again feel restored to the community of bishops. Perhaps it was my own doing, I don't know. But whatever distance I felt, now seems mostly healed. And for that I am very grateful.

One brother bishop noted in private that my blog was still called "Canterbury Tales from the Fringe," and wondered if that was not out of date now. While I had simply decided to continue the same blog, rather than establish a new one, I now wonder if at some level I had still felt "on the fringe." Because that is no longer the case, if I decide to blog again (I'm sure I will), it will be under a different name. I, along with my gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender brothers and sisters, are moving into full participation in the Body of Christ. There is no sweeter result of General Convention than this one.

Please read Bishop Gene's entire post. I regret that he was not able to participate in the African Indaba process at Lambeth, as he did at the convention in Anaheim, because I believe that he would have made an enormous positive contribution. Although he was barred from the meetings at Lambeth, the Anglican Communion came no closer to unity because of it.

Of the meeting of 25 bishops who stayed up late in the night, Bishop Gene says:

NEVER in my six years as a bishop have I experienced the holy speaking and holy listening I experienced that night.

Thanks be to God.

Thanks to David@Montreal for sending me the link.

Frank McCourt - R. I. P.

From the Washington Post:

Frank McCourt, who melted the hearts of millions of readers with "Angela's Ashes," a lyrically poignant memoir of his poverty-stricken Irish childhood, died of melanoma July 19 in New York. He was 78.

Mr. McCourt was a retired teacher in his mid-60s when he wrote "Angela's Ashes," an unflinching and unforgettable account of his family's misery in Limerick, Ireland, in the 1930s and 1940s. It was his first book, published in 1996, and immediately won critical acclaim and a vast readership.

The memoir received the Pulitzer Prize and stayed on the New York Times bestseller list for 117 weeks, including 23 at No. 1. In a review, Washington Post book editor Nina King wrote, "This memoir is an instant classic of the genre."

I'm ashamed to confess that I have not read Angela's Ashes, but I intend to remedy that as soon as possible. The reason that I didn't read the book is that I thought I couldn't bear it. Reading about suffering children takes a heavy toll on me. The images of pictures and verbal descriptions stay with me long after I read the stories.

May Frank rest in peace and rise in glory.

Image from Wiki. H/T to The Lead for the link to the story.

Your Gasoline Purchases At Work

 

AN ENGINEERING MASTER PIECE

During the construction phase…Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

 

All finished. Notice the palm trees outside.

 

The INSIDE view:

Remember, this is in the middle of the desert. The very HOT desert where temperatures get up to 120 degrees...

Unbelievable! But true.

 

But, but, but...where's Santa and his sleigh and reindeer in this Winter Wonderland?

I confess to doubting that this was a real vacation spot, but I owe Doug an apology.

Thought For The Day - Richard Rohr

Let’s state it clearly: One great idea of the biblical revelation is that God is manifest in the ordinary, in the actual, in the daily, in the now, in the concrete incarnations of life. That’s opposed to God holding out for the pure, the spiritual, the right idea or the ideal anything. This is why Jesus stands religion on its head!

From Things Hidden by Richard Rohr.

Happy Birthday To TheMe!

From themethatisme:

hang on a moment..

...and now I'm 43!!!

Gosh, he's getting old. The last time I saw him, he was 42.

"Broken Heart" - From Roseann

From Roseann:

My arms are swelling again. I had a good day yesterday and today I am in a lot of pain. Mostly my heart is breaking for Gary. When will this suffering end?

Dear, dear Roseann, I don't know when the suffering will end. Much love and many prayers for you and Gary.