FEAST OF GEORGE HERBERT - PRIEST AND POET

Portrait of George Herbert by Robert White in 1674. From National Portrait Gallery (UK)

After his student days at Cambridge University, George Herbert was appointed a fellow of Trinity College and later to the position of orator, where he gained the notice and favor of James I near the end of his reign. It appeared that Herbert may have soon moved to a high position in the court, but the king died. Herbert then returned to his original desire to become a priest. After his ordination, he served two parishes near Salisbury, Bemerton and Fugglestone.

He served faithfully as a parish priest, diligently visiting his parishioners and bringing them the sacraments when they were ill, and food and clothing when they were in want. He read Morning and Evening Prayer daily in the church, encouraging the congregation to join him when possible, and ringing the church bell before each service so that those who could not come might hear it and pause in their work to join their prayers with his. He used to go once a week to Salisbury to hear Evening Prayer sung there in the cathedral. On one occasion he was late because he had met a man whose horse had fallen with a heavy load, and he stopped, took off his coat, and helped the man to unload the cart, get the horse back on its feet, and then reload the cart. His spontaneous generosity and good will won him the affection of his parishioners.

From James Kiefer at the Lectionary.

Readings:

Psalm 1
Exodus 28:29-30
Philippians 4:4-9
Matthew 5:1-10

PRAYER

Our God and King, who called your servant George Herbert from the pursuit of worldly honors to be a pastor of souls, a poet, and a priest in your temple: Give us grace, we pray, joyfully to perform the tasks you give us to do, knowing that nothing is menial or common that is done for your sake; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen

Herbert is known today for his collection of religious poems, The Temple, which was published after his death.

LOVE

LOVE bade me welcome; yet my soul drew back,
Guilty of dust and sin.
But quick-eyed Love, observing me grow slack
From my first entrance in,
Drew nearer to me, sweetly questioning
If I lack'd anything.

'A guest,' I answer'd, 'worthy to be here:'
Love said, 'You shall be he.'
'I, the unkind, ungrateful? Ah, my dear,
I cannot look on Thee.'
Love took my hand and smiling did reply,
'Who made the eyes but I?'

'Truth, Lord; but I have marr'd them: let my shame
Go where it doth deserve.'
'And know you not,' says Love, 'Who bore the blame?'
'My dear, then I will serve.'
'You must sit down,' says Love, 'and taste my meat.'
So I did sit and eat.

George Herbert

Portrait from Wiki.

STORY OF THE DAY - DANGEROUS THOUGHTS

Filled to the brim with dangerous
thoughts & no where to put them since
she lives in a small town & everybody's
always watching.


The story is about me!

From StoryPeople.

2 FEET OF SNOW IN NEW YORK!

 

Don't blame me. Blame Doug.

IT'S WORDS ON ANTI-THEISM

IT, at The Friends of Jake, makes a fine statement on the difference between atheism and anti-theism in her post titled Humane values.

Friday, July 25, 2008

Over the last couple of years, several commentators have dubbed the fundamentalist Christians as “Christianists” in an effort to reclaim the title of “Christian” from those who do not really live its values.
....

But [PZ] Myers and Dawkins and others are a new breed that makes a faith out of anti-theism and insults believers and their beliefs. While I can understand that some of this is a backlash against the Christianists, and I can be quite sympathetic (especially when, for example, my civil rights as a gay American are trumped by the religious values of hard right Christianists), the rigid binaries of the new atheism are just as limited and fundamentalist as the black and white views of those it purports to disdain. So it is itself a religion, and counter to my secular values.

So, just as you folks don’t like being tarred by the brush that paints James Dobson, don’t tar me or other secularists by the fundamentalist colors of PZ Myers. Let’s instead embrace ambiguity. We'll meet somewhere in the 256 shades of grey and not limit ourselves to the extremes of black and white.

Excellent, IT.

Read the rest of IT's post at the above link to FOJ.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY - PRIDE

Pride is no less present in the one who experiences Schadenfreude than in the proud in whose distress one takes satisfaction.


A Lenten lesson learned from meditating on my response to Dawkins' discomfort.

Mea culpa. Kyrie eleison.

GROVE JOKES AND QUOTES

By the time Ted arrived at the football game, the first quarter was almost over. "Why are you so late?" his friend asked.

"I had to toss a coin to decide between going to church and coming to the game."

"How long could that have taken you?"

"Well, I had to toss it 14 times."

------------------------------------------------------------------------

There was once an aspiring veterinarian who put himself through veterinary school working nights as a taxidermist.

Upon graduation, he decided he could combine his two vocations to better serve the needs of his patients and their owners, while doubling his practice and, therefore, his income.

He opened his own offices with a sign on the door saying, "Dr. Jones, Veterinary Medicine and Taxidermy -- Either way, you get your dog back!"

------------------------------------------------------------------------

An artist asked the gallery owner if there had been any interest in his paintings on display at that time.

"I have good news and bad news," the owner replied. "The good news is that a gentleman inquired about your work and wondered if it would appreciate in value after your death."

"When I told him it would, he bought all 15 of your paintings."

"That's wonderful!" the artist exclaimed.

"What's the bad news?"

"The guy was your doctor."

------------------------------------------------------------------------

If you like the jokes, please forward this whole message to your friends. To receive direct from Grove you can subscribe on the Grove home page

Thanks to Erika for the Friday laughs.

OH DEAR, DICKIE!

From the Times:

Richard Dawkins has something of a reputation for provoking the religious community, but it seems he may have underestimated the atheistic fervour of his own fanbase. Amidst a tsunami of vulgar and vitriolic comments, the 85,000-strong forum on his official website RichardDawkins.net had to be shut down this week.

The implosion appears to have been provoked by an announcement on the website that discussion threads and responses would in future be tightly moderated to help curb irrelevant discussions, frivolous gossip and abuse.

However, the announcement itself created such an explosion of ire that the planned 30-day switch-over period had to be scrapped and the discussion forum locked down immediately. Some members are complaining that their profiles have been wiped out and others have lost access to files and messages that they uploaded onto the website. Not willing to be silenced, many of the former Dawkins fans are continuing to vent their feelings on atheist forums elsewhere on the net.
....

Dawkins himself is less than sympathetic. In a personal message posted today entitled Outrage, he lets rip at the members of his website:

Imagine that you, as a greatly liked and respected person, found yourself overnight subjected to personal vilification on an unprecedented scale, from anonymous commenters on a website. Suppose [...] that somebody on website expressed a “sudden urge to ram a fistful of nails” down your throat. Also to “trip you up and kick you in the guts.” And imagine seeing your face described, again by an anonymous poster, as “a slack jawed turd in the mouth mug if ever I saw one".

(You will also have to imagine the uncensored version of this extract)


I think I need a priest! Now! Does ROTFLMAO count as schadenfreude? Ah, 'fraid so. Them atheists sure have a way with words. Will I also need to confess that I don't greatly like and respect Dawkins? The reason that I don't like and respect him is because he pontificates on religion, despite displaying rather obvious ignorance of matters religious. It would be the same as if I pontificated on matters scientific and told scientists that they were living in fantasy land.


See also Rmj's post at Adventus titled Schadenfreude For Lent.

PLEASE PRAY...

...for my cousin Marie Lynn who passed away a few days ago and whom I mistakenly called Marylynn in a previous post. We never used her name, because she used a nickname always, always, always. Thanks be to God that Marie Lynn rests in peace and will rise in glory. She had many troubles in her life, including a painful last illness, but she nearly always had a smile on her face. I'm sure she's smiling now that she is released from her suffering. Pray for Marie Lynn's two sons, her sister, her daughter-in-law, her two grandchildren, and all who love her. I'm off to her funeral in New Orleans now.

STORY OF THE DAY - LITTLE HOUSE

This used to be a mean monster until he
got sick one winter with the flu & stayed
in bed & watched too much Little House
on the Prairie & now the littlest thing &
he starts to cry.


Love this one, too.

From StoryPeople.

A GIFT OF HARMONY - ALLELUIA!

Two Sundays ago, we sang "Alleluia No. 1", No. 178, from the 1982 hymnal for Communion, one of the final "Alleluia!" hymns before Lent. The beginning words are, "Alleluia, alleluia, give thanks to the risen Lord...." At the end of the second-to-last verse, a woman in the congregation, who was visiting that morning, soared into harmony with her lovely voice. Folks sitting in front of her looked around to see where the sounds came from, because no one who is not in the choir sits toward the rear of the church and sings with a voice like hers. At the end of the last verse our visitor soared once again into the stratosphere with her beautiful voice. What a gift!

Once the service was over, I went over to welcome the woman and thank her for the wonderful and serendipitous offering. She hugged me and thanked me for being so welcoming of her gift to our service. Several members of the congregation thanked her. Is there anyone who would not have welcomed the woman and thanked her? She's originally from the US, but she lives in London now.

The lyrics and an extract from the music are here.