The Cowboy And St. Peter

A cowboy appeared before St. Peter at the Pearly Gates.

'Have you ever done anything of particular merit?' St. Peter asked.

'Well, I can think of one thing,' the cowboy offered. 'On a trip to Sturgis out in South Dakota, I came upon a gang of bikers, who were threatening a young woman. I told them to leave her alone, but they wouldn't listen. So, I approached the largest and most

heavily tattooed biker and smacked him in his face, kicked his bike over,ripped out his nose ring, and threw it on the ground.

I yelled, 'Now, back off!! Or I'll kick the crap out of all of you!'

St. Peter was impressed, 'When did this happen?'

'Just a couple of minutes ago...'

From Doug.

Pray For Fr. Christian

Father Christian's condition has deteriorated, although with Tamiflu and a nebulizer he's expected to be feeling much better in the next 24 hours.
....

'Consuella'

In the meantime, while he heals, he has instructed us to meditate on the icon pictured above.

Pray and meditate.

UPDATE: Thankfully, it appears that Fr Christian is on the mend.

The Ukulele Orchestra Of Great Britain

A wee entertainment to cheer you on a Tuesday morning, inspired by TheMe and Susan at Conscientisation. The inspiration took several days to work itself through since I read the post last Friday.

Many years ago, I played the ukulele. It was the thing to do for a while during my high school years. It's easy to play simple chords, but difficult to play really well, and I was never very good at it. However, my friends and I enjoyed singing songs together, while accompanying ourselves on instruments.

UPDATE: The first time that I played the video from my blog, it played only in stops and starts. If that happens, the only remedy that I know to offer is to play it through once in fits and starts, go do something else, and then come back and replay it. The second time, it played through for me. I hope that works for you.

"The Dangerous Bishop of Durham – part 2"

From Colin Coward at Changing Attitude Blog:

Arrogance
The Bishop of Durham claims to speak for the House of Bishops and to know the mind of the Archbishop of Canterbury better than the Archbishop knows himself. He takes it upon himself to clarify and expand upon what the Archbishop ‘really meant’.
....

Durham has a solution to the problems of complexity and manipulation. ‘The ABC himself is now the main person, if not the only person, in a position to give a clear and authoritative answer’. The bishop has spoken. The Archbishop of Canterbury must take unilateral, authoritative action now, and the action must be what Durham has decided is for the best. But as the Archbishop has made very clear, he doesn’t have any legal, canonical authority over the Communion and neither does he want it.
....

Durham refers to ‘certain habits and styles of life’ which are left behind when people rise to new life in Christ (para. 6). LGBT people do not have ‘certain habits’ which are different from the habits of heterosexuals. Nor do we have distinctive ‘styles of life’. His language is deliberately chosen to demean LGBT people. I have met hundreds of LGBT Christians whose lives are characterised by holiness and a renewed humanity. The bishop cannot know the people of his own diocese well if he hasn’t discerned holiness in many of his partnered lesbian and gay clergy and laity. Perhaps, like other bishops I know, he is blind to their presence.
....

In a confusing paragraph Durham writes about the categories of chastity, celibacy and a weak or negligible sexual drive as if they are alternative choices for Christians. Chastity – fidelity in love and sexual relationships - is for all, as he rightly says - the same for lesbian and gay people and heterosexuals. It is totally distinct from the call to celibacy, a charism given to very few people, and utterly different from having a weak or negligible sex drive. I know what the bishop really wants to say – no sex for gay people – God doesn’t approve. Why can’t be honest?
....

Prayer
The Bishop of Durham concludes by naming the main priority for the Communion as prayer. I agree 100% with his commitment to prayer and with the intentions he outlines:

‘Prayer for the church; for our beloved Communion and the many other Christians with whom we seek to deepen fellowship; for Archbishop Rowan; for wisdom, courage, clarity and vision; for God’s glory, the extension of his kingdom, and the power of the gospel and the Spirit at work in hearts, lives, communities and throughout our world’.

Changing Attitude also prays for these intentions and for the full inclusion of LGBT people in the church of which we are already full members, though disenfranchised and condemned in many parts of the Communion.

I once stopped attending an adult class in our church which consisted of a set of DVDs by Bishop Tom, the first of which had to do with how inclusive Jesus was, associating with all manner of what were considered the undesirables of his day. The content of the teaching was quite good, but I was aware of Bishop Tom's views of LGTB folks, and I could not watch and listen to him on Jesus' all-embracing love for everyone, knowing what I knew.

As I said to Colin at CA in the comments to Part 1:

"Colin, you have no idea how tiresome a good many of us in the US find Bishop Tom's bashing of gays and lesbians and the Episcopal Church. Thanks for your essay."

However, I join with Bishop Tom in his prayer and with Colin in his addition to the prayer.

"The Dangerous Bishop of Durham – part 1"

From Colin Coward at Changing Attitude Blog:

The Bishop of Durham’s paper claiming to ‘unpack’ the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Reflections is dangerous for the Church of England, for LGBT people and for the worldwide Anglican Communion. People in the Changing Attitude network, gay and straight, are furious at his abuse and dishonesty. The paper reveals a bishop with a megalomaniacal drive to impose his own solution unilaterally on the Communion.

Durham would like The Episcopal Church and partnered LGBT people evicted from the Communion right now. His stand is unprincipled. The bishop has partnered lesbian and gay clergy in his own diocese and knows full well that there are many partnered clergy in the Church of England. Instead of addressing what he says is the impossibility of the church recognising same-sex blessings, he diverts attention away from home and focuses his attack on The Episcopal Church. (My emphasis)

Interfering with The Episcopal Church
The Bishop of Durham sets out to exacerbate divisions within The Episcopal Church. Whereas the Archbishop of Canterbury writes of ‘the broken bridges into the life of other Anglican Provinces’, Durham claims that the Archbishop ‘rightly’ indicates that ‘the Communion is already broken’. TEC is not choosing to walk apart now but did so some time ago, he declares. ‘Schism has already happened’ (Para. 13 iii). The Bishop of Durham has joined those conservative pressure groups that have been campaigning for some years to evict The Episcopal Church from the Anglican Communion. They misuse language and construct their own reality in pursuing their goal.

It's way past time to shed light on what I can only call the hypocrisy of certain English bishops who lash out at the Episcopal Church for not exercising strict discipline against partnered lesbian and gay clergy and bishops, when they know full well that the same partnerships exist in their own church, except under cover of "don't ask, don't tell".

Part 2 comes tomorrow at CA.

H/T to Thinking Anglicans.

Un Crie Du Cœur

The king was deeply moved, and went up to the chamber over the gate, and wept; and as he went, he said, ‘O my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom! Would that I had died instead of you, O Absalom, my son, my son!’

2 Samuel 18.33

For some reason, that verse from yesterday's reading in the book of Samuel leapt out at me. What a heartrending cry! I have never lost a child, but I know folks who have, and I can't even imagine what it must be like. I still pray that I die before my children or grandchildren. What that verse must mean to parents who have lost a child to death! "Oh yes, that's my cry, too!"

O God, whose beloved Son took children into his arms and blessed them: Give us grace to entrust our children, those who still live and those who have passed on, to your never-failing care and love, and bring us all to your heavenly kingdom; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

(Adapted from the Book of Common Prayer, p. 494)

Thought For The Day - Mark Harris

The inward and spiritual reality is that God’s love in Jesus Christ never fails us. And all of us can act in witness to that love by the love we show one another, whatever its cost, and it never fails.
....

Our being, our existence, is created and sustained by God, and without God there is nothing. We exist within the love of God. The issue at hand is how we live within that love.

The thought (should that be thoughts?) for the day is taken from Mark's sermon yesterday at St. Peter's Episcopal Church in Lewes, Delaware. The entire sermon is excellent and well worth a read.

Feast Day Of Laurence Of Rome

"Lawrence before Valerianus" - Fra Angelico - Nicholas Chapel, Vatican Museum

Ormonde at Through the Dust has a wonderful post, which includes a lovely icon, on Laurance of Rome, deacon and martyr. His post includes the legend about "the treasures of the church" which the prefect of Rome demanded that Laurence hand over.


2 Corinthians 9:6-10

The point is this: the one who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and the one who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each of you must give as you have made up your mind, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to provide you with every blessing in abundance, so that by always having enough of everything, you may share abundantly in every good work. As it is written,
‘He scatters abroad, he gives to the poor;
his righteousness endures for ever.’
He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness.


PRAYER

Almighty God, who called your deacon Laurence to serve you with deeds of love, and gave him the crown of martyrdom: Grant that we, following his example, may fulfill your commandments by defending and supporting the poor, and by loving you with all our hearts, through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Image from Wiki.

UPDATE: Padre Mickey has a very good post on St. Laurence, too.

A Query

To my readers:

Do you prefer the "pop-up window" or the "embedded below post" format for comments? I changed to the "embedded below post" format recently, but I'm not sure if I like it, especially for longish comments, because the viewing window is so small.

UPDATE: I changed the format back to the pop-up window. Thanks for weighing in.

Life's Two Questions

Life really boils down to 2 questions...

1. Should I get a dog....?




OR...

2. Should I have children?



Just to let you know I'm thinking of you today.

No matter what situations life throws at you....

No matter how long and treacherous your journey may seem..

Remember ~~ there is a light at the end of the tunnel.



You're laughing aren't you?

That's good ~~ my job here is done!

Have a great day !!!

Thanks to Susan (Erika's beloved) for thinking of me and giving me a good laugh, which I hope my readers share.