STORY OF THE DAY - WAITING

I don't mind waiting for a little while, he
said, if I get a treat in the end. What do
you think is a treat? I said. Not having to
wait too long, he said & I had to give him
points for honesty.


From StoryPeople.

I'd say Grandpère could have written this little story, but he minds very much waiting for a little while.

"Ah, there's Good News Tonight!"...About Myron

Gabriel Heater was a radio personality many years ago and this was the way he opened his show.

The Good News is this. Myron is being discharged from Bryn Mawr Rehab Hospital on Thursday January 14Th. He has been making really stellar progress with his PT. His speech and his mental acuity is clearer. The feeding tube was removed today, so he is putting on weight. Visiting nurses will come to the house on Friday to assess his needs, and arrange for PT and OT, speech and cognitive therapists. There may be a personal aide also. So most of his care will be done at home for now.

Maryann, my sister-in-law is so excited and a little nervous too. He has made such great strides since August 20Th when the accident occured.

I will continue to keep you posted as news occurs.

Blessings to you all,

Sue

Thank you for passing on the good news, Sue. I'm so very pleased for Myron and his family.

Prayer Request

From Arkansas Hillbilly:

Could you all please pray for Chris (Mrs. H.)? She's having a really tough bout with depression at the moment and I am worried. Thank you.

O God, the strength of the weak and the comfort of sufferers: Mercifully accept our prayers, and grant to your servant Chris (Mrs. H.) the help of your power, that her sickness may be turned into health, and our sorrow into joy; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

ISN'T SHE A BEAUTY?

Izzie and Amelia are even more delightful in real life than online. Izzie is every inch the little queen reclining on the red brocade hassock. She chose the seat all on her own as she knew that the colors would set off her coat, which is not in full luxuriant growth because of shaving associated with her recent surgery. Izzie walks quite well and did a pretty good job of negotiating the stairs in our house.

Let's see. Izzie had a companion with her. Oh right! That would be poor Amelia, who was forced somewhat into the shadows due to our excitement about the presence of the celebrity canine blogger, Izzie.

Just kidding, Amelia was as much of a joy to have for a visit as her more famous companion. We settled all the controversies in the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion. We'll write up our conclusions in a series of scholarly papers, which we will submit for peer review, but we already know that you will respond properly. If you find the papers so brilliant that you are at a loss for words, I suggest:

Great!
Perfect!
Brilliant (of course)!
You knocked it out of the ball park!
Awesome!

You get the drift.




Here we are, the three of us. If this is a beauty contest, Izzie wins; Amelia is a close second; and Mimi drags up in the rear.

Amelia, but not Izzie, attended church with me, and my fellow parishioners were much impressed with my priest friend from Maine and a little puzzled when I told them that we met online. After church, we picked up Grandpère to go to Houma to eat at Café Milano.

We had spinach-artichoke dip with buttered French toasted bread as an appetizer, the house green salad with raspberry vinaigrette dressing, and oysters with artichoke over pasta in a garlic cream sauce, all delicious dishes.

I'm in awe of Amelia and Izzie driving all over the country, just the two of them. I believe that plucky and energetic Amelia does most of the driving.



Izzie, once more with feeling, with poor Amelia not just in the shadows, but with her face and most of the rest of her entirely cropped out of the picture to get a close-up of Queen Izzie.

A good time was had by Grandpère and me. I hope that Izzie and Amelia passed a good time.

TOBIAS FINDS TWO PROPHETS

From Tobias Haller at In a Godward Direction:

I had the very great pleasure of knowing Bishop Walter D. Dennis, Suffragan of New York, in his capacity as Visitor to the Brotherhood of Saint Gregory. He also had a keen eye for trends in the church, and often wrote about his prognostications.

Bishop Dennis:

If it turns out that unity with the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches is a high priority for the new Archbishop of Canterbury [George Carey], then ECUSA, as part of the Anglican Communion, may feel obliged to sell out on some of the commitments it has already made, namely, on the ordination of women, on the issue of abortion, on the issue of theological dissent and liberation theologies, and on gay rights. Clearly, many would revolt, feeling that the price of unity is too high if it requires Episcopalians to forfeit these commitments.

Read the rest of Bishop Dennis' prophetic words at Tobias' blog. The quotes are taken from “A Personal Prospectus On The Episcopal Church In The 1990s,” Walter D. Dennis, in The St Luke’s Journal of Theology, December 1990, Volume XXXIV Number 1, pages 11-12

And Tobias gives us lagniappe from Bishop Dennis' essay, a quote from Archbishop of Canterbury Robert Runcie:

One of the characteristics of Anglicanism is our Reformation inheritance of national or provincial autonomy. The Anglican tradition is thus opposed to centralism and encourages the thriving of variety. This is a great good. There is an important principle to be borne witness to here: that nothing should be done at a higher level than is absolutely necessary. So Anglicans have become accustomed to speak of a dispersed authority. And we are traditionally suspicious of the Lambeth Conference becoming anything other than a Conference. We may indeed wish to discuss the development of more solid structures of unity and coherence. But I for one would want their provisional character made absolutely clear; like tents in the desert, they should be capable of being easily dismantled when it is time for the Pilgrim People to move on. We have no intention of developing an alternative Papacy. We would rather continue to deal with the structures of the existing Petrine Ministry, and hopefully help in its continuing development and reform as a ministry of unity for all Christians. [The Lambeth Conference, 1988, The Truth Shall Make You Free (London: Church House Publishers, 1988).]

YES!!!

Archbishop Rowan Williams, did you know...?

Cryptic Message

A new pastor was visiting the homes of his parishioners. At one house it seemed obvious that someone was at home, but no answer came to his repeated knocks at the door. Therefore, he took out a business card and wrote "Revelation 3:20" on the back of it and stuck it in the door.

When the offering was processed the following Sunday, he found that his card had been returned. Added to it was this cryptic message, "Genesis 3:10".

Reaching for his Bible to check out the citation, he broke up in gales of laughter. Revelation 3:20 begins, "Behold, I stand at the door, and knock." Genesis 3:10 reads, "And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself."

Thanks to Paul (A.).

THEY NEVER MISS AN OPPORTUNITY...

...to bash the Episcopal Church. That would be the Archbishop of Canterbury and his minions. From the Anglican Journal:

There is “general pessimism” among bishops of the Anglican Church of Canada about the potential for “any clear resolution” of the divisive issue of sexuality at the church’s upcoming General Synod in Halifax this June.

This is one of the many observations recently made by two pastoral visitors from the U.K. who were deputized by the Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams. They were invited to attend the four-day meeting of the House of Bishops last November in Niagara, Ont., at the request of Archbishop Williams. Archbishop Williams is seeking ways to heal divisions among member provinces of the Anglican Communion.
....

The visitors said they were also reminded frequently by bishops that “Canada is not the USA.” While the United States is seen as a melting pot culture where religious and ethnic groups are synthesized into “Americans,” Canadians “genuinely value and seek to live with diversity.” Differences between the Anglican Church of Canada and The Episcopal Church were underscored, including the area of Christology. “We sensed that in Canada there was a general consensus on the nature of orthodoxy, with fewer extreme views of the kind that have led to some of the aberrations south of the border,” the report said. “Even the bishops who were strongly progressive in the matter of same-sex blessings insisted that they stood firmly within the creedal mainstream.” This, the report said, is “an encouraging sign that it allows for a more obviously Christ-centred approach to issues that currently divide the Communion, to say nothing of the wider church.” (My emphasis)

They never let up. The Archbishop of Canterbury's representatives pay a visit to Canada to report on the situation in the Anglican Church of Canada, but they cannot resist a dig at the Episcopal Church. Maybe we should stop paying attention or caring what the ABC and his minions say.

H/T to John Chilton at The Lead.

OH NO!

Ummm, maybe not yet. How about sometime in February? I hope my house guest, Amelia, will not be shocked to see my Christmas decorations still in place. I mean they're not hurting anyone, except perhaps W. H. is turning over in his grave.

Well, so that is that. Now we must dismantle the tree,
Putting the decorations back into their cardboard boxes --
Some have got broken -- and carrying them up to the attic.

Shamelessly stolen from Rmj at Adventus.

PERFECT DAY

It was a day filled with the glow of
ordinary things & we passed them
quietly from hand to hand for a long
time & someone said she had picked a
perfect day to be born & I think all of us
felt the same.

From StoryPeople.

GUESS WHO'S COMING TO DINNER

That would be MotherAmelia. She's returning to Maine by the southern route to avoid the snow and cold. We have no snow, but we have cold. The low predicted for tonight and tomorrow night is 20­­° F.

She's spending the night, and she will be attending church with me on Sunday. Maybe Amelia can be persuaded to stay longer than one night. I am sooo looking forward to her visit.

Pray for safe travel for Amelia tomorrow and for the rest of her trip home.