THE DOORMAN CAN PREACH!

Doorman-Priest posted an excellent sermon based on I Corinthians 13, Paul's famous words on love. DP begins:

1 Corinthians 13 is one of the most famous passages in all of scripture, equal to the 23rd Psalm as a much loved text etched in the memory of Christians. In it we get some of the most beautiful language found anywhere on love. Paul writes: “Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails.”

The only problem with these words is that they don’t really ring true. The beauty of 1 Corinthians 13 masks a different reality: love is very hard. Who can live up to this? Aren’t we all sometimes impatient, sometimes unkind? Don’t we all have limits to what we can endure? Which of us is perfect in this love, even when described in Paul’s humble way?

I urge you to read the rest at DP's blog. I read the sermon yesterday and left these words in the comments:

Jack, this sermon is one of your very best. One might even say that it's inspired. I had chills as I read, and I felt the life of the Spirit stirring in my heart.

Today, after church, I went to read the sermon again. As I said over there, the sermon is still excellent.

"STRANGE AFFAIR" - JUNE TABOR AND MARTIN SIMPSON

Achingly beautiful vocal from June Tabor and stunning fingerstyle guitar from Martin Simpson. Written by Richard Thompson.

Yes. Lovely.

"The Covenant as theater"

From the Rev. Dr. Frederick Quinn on Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams' December 18 video promoting the adoption of the Anglican Covenant:

The setting is spooky, a large, cold English room filled with furniture of different styles and periods crowded together and needing a good dusting. It could be the setting for Masterpiece Theatre or Mystery, with the voice of Vincent Price introducing another dark tale of intrigue, etc. But the voice was that of Rowan Williams and this was his December 18 four minute visual presentation designed to win friends for the proposed Anglican Covenant that is otherwise going no where.
....

As a longtime follower of Mystery, I thought the video might end with a crow flying past or a suit of armor clanging to the floor, but the tape just stopped. Maybe what is needed is for some actors from Mystery or Masterpiece Theatre to film a set of short spots in period costumes ending with a line like “The Covenant really is good for you” or somesuch. But so far the Covenant rollout is unconvincing.

Read the rest at Daily Episcopalian.

Delicious, no?

Dr. Quinn's words on the Anglican Covenant from September 2009 still apply. An excerpt from Of fish bones and following winds also at Daily Episcopalian:

The Covenant exercise should be seen for what it is, one part of a multi-year power play that has gone awry. It represents a sustained but erroneous effort to rewrite history and claim that a narrow, mean spirited perspective somehow represents our heritage. Windsor was an incomplete, biased report, the coup attempt at Dar Es Salaam failed, and the draft Covenant represents an unattainable effort to seize the levers of power in an amorphous organization.
The Anglican Communion’s binding ties are not legal ones but extend through long cultivated bonds of affection and commitment to the creative challenges of mission. The fish bones in the draft Covenant are far too numerous, and the following wind has long expired. So should the Covenant.

Indeed. The Covenant has too many fish bones to be edible, and the wind at its back has died down.

The Rev. Dr. Frederick Quinn has served as advisor to constitutional drafters in several countries of central and Eastern Europe, and as a chaplain of Washington National Cathedral. He has written extensively on law, history, and religion. He is former head of the Rule of Law programs for the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s Warsaw-based Office of Democratic Institutions and Human Rights.

STORY OF THE DAY - LOST AT THE FAIR

When I was 5, he said, my family forgot
& left me at the fair. I wandered around
in the bright sounds & smells of hot
sawdust & cotton candy for hours. It
was already too late by the time my
parents found me. I haven't been fit for
decent society since.


From StoryPeople.

FOR CHRISTMAS?

Archbishop Robert Duncan Ornament (Oval)
Made by The Anglican Church in North America
on October 09, 2009 at 11:33 AM

Only $12.00 from Café Press.

Think how the archbishop's jewel-encrusted mitre will sparkle on your Christmas tree. If you find the perfect decoration, it's never too early to shop.

H/T to Mark Harris at Preludium.

LEATHER DRESSES

Do you know that when a woman wears a leather dress, a man's heart beats quicker, his throat gets dry, he gets weak in the knees, and he begins to think irrationally???

Ever wonder why?




It's because she smells like a new Truck.


Don't blame me. Blame Ann.

AND TOMORROW IN NEW ORLEANS...

Cammy Lynn Hebert

From the New York Daily News:

Bobby Hebert will be the best-dressed man on Bourbon Street tomorrow.

The former Saints quarterback will be in a black and gold sequined dress, custom-designed and sent to him from New York by his daughter, Cammy Lynn, who describes it as "very Who-Dat-esque."

Lady Gaga, eat your heart out.

Hebert is picking up the promise made by the late New Orleans sportscaster Buddy Diliberto to parade down Bourbon Street in a dress should the Saints reach the Super Bowl. Diliberto, a Big Easy icon, died five years ago. Hebert has hosted Buddy D's radio show since his death.

Tomorrow, Hebert won't be alone on Bourbon Street. He will be joined by "thousands" of other men in drag as they sashay from the Superdome to the French Quarter.

"This parade has gotten totally out of control," Hebert said. "We had men calling the station and wanting to form a club to march in all these Mardi Gras parades. I said, 'Wait a minute, I just said I would do this one time.' I'm not going to go to monthly meetings. I'm sure you will see a few characters. Some of these guys probably dress like this every day. It's a way of life for them.

"My daughter who is in New York in the fashion industry, she made me a dress. It's black and gold sequins, all of that."

Actually, it's all of Dat.

The picture above shows Bobby's daughter, Cammy, in her black and gold sequined dress. I'll do my best to post a picture of Bobby in his black and gold sequined dress, if the NFL doesn't issue him a "cease and desist" order.

And doncha know that every parade and party in NOLA risks getting totally out of control?

Note to Bobby: You, too, are a character, cher.

Thanks to Doug for the link.

SO SARAH LAUGHED....

They said to him, ‘Where is your wife Sarah?’ And he said, ‘There, in the tent.’ Then one said, ‘I will surely return to you in due season, and your wife Sarah shall have a son.’ And Sarah was listening at the tent entrance behind him. Now Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in age; it had ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women. So Sarah laughed to herself, saying, ‘After I have grown old, and my husband is old, shall I have pleasure?’ The Lord said to Abraham, ‘Why did Sarah laugh, and say, “Shall I indeed bear a child, now that I am old?” Is anything too wonderful for the Lord? At the set time I will return to you, in due season, and Sarah shall have a son.’ But Sarah denied, saying, ‘I did not laugh’; for she was afraid. He said, ‘Oh yes, you did laugh.’ (Genesis 17:9-15)

The passage from Genesis is one of my favorites. Sarah's laugh and ironic response and her subsequent step back from her laugh is delightfully human. God corrects Sarah but then gives her Isaac anyway, which reinforces my conviction that God uses irony and that God appreciates irony.

MY PROTEST SIGN DID IT!

Wow! First Big Phone Company backs down and now the NFL. My sign worked, despite having been in place only since late yesterday afternoon. I am drunk with power.

From the Times-Picayune.

The National Football League appeared to back off Friday on its trademark ownership claims to the phrase "Who Dat" and the fleur-de-lis logo, saying it is challenging the sale of items only "when those products contained or are advertised using other trademarks or identifiers of the Saints."

"Who Dat we do not claim to own by itself," said Brian McCarthy, a spokesman for the NFL. "It's when Who Dat is used in conjunction with Saints marks that it's a problem."

Who Dat shirts being sold at the Fleurty Girl shop on Oak Street would be acceptable, McCarthy said, as long as the shop removes advertising referring to the Saints.

In a letter to Sen. David Vitter, R-La., the league described the trademark tussle, which has enraged New Orleans Saints fans across the country since it erupted this week, as "a significant misunderstanding."

McCarthy said T-shirts and items with Who Dat and a fleu-de-lis logo unlike the one owned by the Saints is allowed as long as they are not advertised as being Saints or NFL paraphernalia.

More like a serious miscalculation, I'd say. The NFL came off looking like big bullies. What nonsense that the "brains" in the NFL thought they could take ownership of "Who dat?" and the fleur-de-lis symbol.

STORY OF THE DAY - PERFECT ENDING

I'm not sure how it's going to turn out,
except I'll die in the end, she said. So,
really, what could go wrong?


From StoryPeople.