Our Pet Egret

 

The egret is not really our pet, but he/she visited for quite a while yesterday afternoon eating bugs around the vines on the fence.

 

We see egrets quite often in the neighborhood, but we've never had one to visit in our yard for such an extended period.

 

Look at those legs! They seem too fragile to hold the bird up, but they do the job. And the neck is long! The muscles in the neck must be quite strong.

 

What a lovely profile view. You'd think the birds would be gangly, but they're quite graceful and beautiful in flight. Pet Egret spread his/her wings once, but I was not quick enough to get a shot.

 

Pet Egret wanders toward our back door. I was excited, but I didn't want to get too close to scare the beauty away.

 

See Pet Egret behind the crepe myrtle tree? She/he is quite close to our back door now.

I was thrilled and excited by Pet Egret's extended visit, and I hope she/he found bugs that were tasty and satisfying enough to entice the beauty to make return visit. I have many more pictures, and I'd like to post them all, but I admit there's a sameness about some of them.

I'm filled with gratitude for this lovely gift of nearness from one of God's beautiful creatures.

"The Presiding Bishop Writes The Church"

My brothers and sisters in Christ:

The 76th General Convention is now history, though it will likely take some time before we are all reasonably clear about what the results are.

We gathered in Anaheim, as guests of the Diocese of Los Angeles, for eleven full days of worship, learning, and policy-making. The worship was stunning visually, musically, and liturgically, with provocative preaching and lively singing.

Our learning included training in Public Narrative, as well as news about the emergent church, in the LA Night presentation.

We welcomed a number of visitors from other parts of the Anglican Communion, including 15 of the primates (archbishops or presiding bishops), other bishops, clergy, and laity.

You can see and hear all this and more at the Media Hub: http://gchub.episcopalchurch.org/

The budget adopted represents a significant curtailment of church-wide ministry efforts, in recognition of the economic realities of many dioceses and church endowments, which will result in the loss of a number of Church Center staff who have given long and laudable service. Yet we will continue to serve God's mission, throughout The Episcopal Church and beyond. This budget expects that more mission work will continue or begin to take place at diocesan or congregational levels. Religious pilgrims, from the Israelites in the desert to Episcopalians in Alaska or Haiti, have always learned that times of leanness are opportunities for strengthened faith and creativity.

As a Church, we have deepened our commitments to mission and ministry with "the least of these" (Matthew 25). We included a budgetary commitment of 0.7% to the Millennium Development Goals, through the NetsforLife® program partnership of Episcopal Relief & Development. That is in addition to approximately 15% of the budget already committed to international development work.

We have committed to a domestic poverty initiative, meant to explore coherent and constructive responses to some of the worst poverty statistics in the Americas: Native American reservations and indigenous communities.

Justice is the goal, as we revised our canons (church rules) having to do with clergy discipline, both as an act of solidarity with those who may suffer at the hands of clergy and an act of pastoral concern for clergy charged with misconduct.

The General Convention adopted a health plan to serve all clergy and lay employees, which is expected to be a cost-savings across the whole of the United States portion of the Church. Work continues to ensure adequate health coverage in the non-U.S. parts of this Church. The Convention also mandated pension coverage for lay employees.

Liturgical additions were also included in the Convention's work, from more saints on the calendar to prayers around reproductive loss.

What captured the headlines across the secular media, however, had to do with two resolutions, the consequences of which were often misinterpreted or exaggerated. One, identified as D025, is titled "Anglican Communion: Commitment and Witness to Anglican Communion." It

* reaffirms our commitment to and desire to pursue mission with the Anglican Communion;
* reiterates our commitment to Listening Process urged by Lambeth Conferences of 1978, 1988, and 1998;
* notes that our own participation in the listening process led General Convention in 2000 to "recognize that the baptized membership of The Episcopal Church includes same-sex couples living in lifelong committed relationships 'characterized by fidelity, monogamy, mutual affection and respect, careful, honest communication, and the holy love which enables those in such relationships to see in each other the image of God'";
* recognizes that ministry, both lay and ordained is being exercised by such persons in response to God's call;
* notes that the call to ordained ministry is God's call, is a mystery, and that the Church participates in that mystery through the process of discernment;
* acknowledges that the members of The Episcopal Church, and of the Anglican Communion, are not of one mind, and that faithful Christians disagree about some of these matters.

The other resolution that received a lot of press is C056, titled "Liturgies for Blessings." The text adopted was a substitute for the original, yet the title remains unchanged. It

* acknowledges changing circumstances in the U.S. and elsewhere, in that civil jurisdictions in some places permit marriage, civil unions, and/or domestic partnerships involving same-sex couples, that call for a pastoral response from this Church;
* asks the Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music, and the House of Bishops, to collect and develop theological and liturgical resources for such pastoral response, and report to the next General Convention;
* asks those bodies to invite comment and participation from other parts of this Church and the Anglican Communion;
* notes that bishops may provide generous pastoral responses to the needs of members of this Church;
* asks the Convention to honor the theological diversity of this Church in regard to matters of human sexuality.

The full text of both resolutions is available here: http://gc2009.org/ViewLegislation. I urge you to read them for yourself. Some have insisted that these resolutions repudiate our relationships with other members of the Anglican Communion. My sense is that we have been very clear that we value our relationships within and around the Communion, and seek to deepen them. My sense as well is that we cannot do that without being honest about who and where we are. We are obviously not of one mind, and likely will not be until Jesus returns in all his glory. We are called by God to continue to wrestle with the circumstances in which we live and move and have our being, and to do it as carefully and faithfully as we are able, in companionship with those who disagree vehemently and agree wholeheartedly. It is only in that wrestling that we, like Jacob, will begin to discern the leading of the Spirit and the blessing of relationship with God.

Above all else, this Convention claimed God's mission as the heartbeat of The Episcopal Church. I encourage every member of this Church to enter into conversation in your own congregation or diocese about God's mission, and where you and your faith community are being invited to enter more deeply into caring for your neighbors, the "least of these" whom Jesus befriends.

The Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori
Presiding Bishop and Primate
The Episcopal Church

From The Lead.

Do I have A Scoop For You!

 

For the very first time on the intertubes, I give you a picture of Blogland's famous IT and BP, her wife. IT blogs at The Friends of Jake and comments all over the place with unusual (even in my smart crowd) brilliance. She is (or was until Erp came along) our token atheist, but she gets Christianity more right than many Christians and is also more knowledgeable about current affairs in the church than many of us. She is a scientist and brings the gift of that viewpoint into our discussions.

It was my great pleasure in Anaheim to spend an afternoon with IT and BP before the Integrity Eucharist and our gathering at Bar Louie. They are both lovely women, bright and funny, and wonderful company. We did not sit together at the Integrity Eucharist, nor were we seated near one another at Bar Louie, so I treasure my time with them earlier. I hope very much to meet them again face to face.

Although I'd had many online conversations with IT, I had never "talked" to BP, but we bonded right away and plunged into lively conversation from the start. There was never a moment of silence amongst the three us. Before we went to the café to have a bit of food, we met Prior Aelred and James, Tobias Haller's beloved, outside the convention center.

The photo was taken in the lounge at the Hilton before the Integrity Eucharist. In the front row, are Prior Aelred (Who else? He's easy to recognize.), looking rather stunned at being in the company of the group of women, me, always laughing, and the two lovelies, IT and BP. In the back row, are two more lovelies, Margaret of Leave It Lay Where Jesus Flang It and Susan Russell, the President of Integrity, who blogs at An Inch at a Time.

IT, thank you for giving me the honor of being the first to post a picture of you and BP. It's quite a generous gesture, since you surely could have had the scoop at FOJ.

Belated acknowledgement: Photo courtesy of Susan Russell, via, via, via others. Sorry about that, Susan.

"Update Prayers And Answers"

From JimB:

Sue-z is clearly better. She is breathing O2 enriched air, but not using a mask anymore, only the nasal tubes - that is a big deal. The doc ordered solid food for the first time in 5 days and her kidney functions are coming back. Now we need to see the clots disovle. She is having a chest scan this afternoon to show the docs how the clots are behaving.

We are grateful for the prayers and hope they can continue.

Thanks be to God. May Sue-z continue to improve until she is restored to full health.

Mike Castle Gets A Lecture And More

I saw this on the tee vee last night, and I laughed out loud, but it's really not funny. These are your fellow members of the GOP today, Rep. Mike Castle from Delaware. How do you like them? The folks in the video are Birthers, convinced of the "fact" that Obama is not a native-born citizen of the United States.

What can you do when a spectator in the crowd starts to say the "Pledge of Allegience", but stop the show, put your hand over your heart, and say the pledge?

H/T to TBogg and his post titled "Mama Weer All Crazee Now" at FireDogLake for pointing me to the YouTube, which I was wanting very much. TBogg comments:

Democrats may want to revisit the provisions for mental health care in their health care planning.

We're gonna need a bigger boat...

Some of the comments to TBogg's post are quite funny, too.

Oh My! How Lovely

Roseann has a lovely post today on her life and mandalas. Please read it. What a beautiful attitude to see in a person carrying her burden of troubles. Here's a snippet:

This is one of my favorite types of days. Thunder, rain, nothing violent like strong winds, hail or tornados. Just that sound of the rain with occasional rumblings. This is a day when I can relax and read and color mandalas.

May God bless you, Roseann, and give you many more peaceful days in the midst of the thunderstorms of your life.

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.