STORY OF THE DAY - UNCONDITIONAL LOVE

I try to use unconditional love in small
amounts, she said, so people really
appreciate it. The rest of the time I just
try not to yell.

From StoryPeople.

BISHOP KATHARINE AT ST. PAUL'S IN LONDON

From Bishop Katharine's sermon:

... [When we Christians fish for people] [t]he goal is a healed society where all have the dignity that comes of right relationship with God and neighbour. We usually call it the reign of God, or the common weal of God. That commonweal of God work is a prophetic vocation, often deeply unpopular and challenging, and born of the dream that dignity for all is a deeply divine warrant. That kind of prophetic witness, in both word and deed, is what made Jesus so offensive to the powers at hand.
...
Dignity means a sense of worth, suitability, or honour, and it is the state in which God created all that is. The indignities came later. One of the eucharistic prayers in the Episcopal church's prayer book says that we have been created worthy to stand in God's presence. When we treat others as less than that, we reject God's good creation, and in a very real sense, we deny our own dignity. Prophetic work helps to restore the dignity of creation, and acknowledges that creation reflects the utter dignity of the creator. We get in trouble when we limit dignity to lesser things, or deny dignity to some....

Lovely words to remind us what we are to be about if we call ourselves Christians - followers of Jesus.

Thanks to John Chilton at The Lead for the excerpt from the sermon. John does a compare and contrast that you may want to check out.

Photo from Episcopal Life.

WELCOME TO ST. MATTHEW-IN-THE-CITY

Wonderful ark banner from St. Matthew-in-the-City in Auckland, New Zealand. The church's website is eye-catching, inviting, colorful, and informative. Makes you want to hang around and explore - which I did.

And after further exploring, I'd say St. Matthew's website is fabulous, and the church community sounds lovely, too.

As usual, click on the picture for the larger view.

Thanks to Lapin for the picture.

I'M GETTING NUMB

From NOLA:

A leaking oil wellhead in lower Jefferson Parish could be plugged today, according to a parish official, but the investigation into the cause of the spill continues.

An oil wellhead on Bayou St. Denis near the Barataria Waterway continues to spew oil, contaminated water and natural gas after a dredge barge crashed into the rig early Tuesday.

The company contracted to cap and plug the damaged well is on site and preparing to begin work, said Deano Bonano, Jefferson Parish director of homeland security. Wild Well Control of Harahan is currently doing a site examination of the well, and depending on the results, could have the leak stopped today, he said.

The well is small. Thanksgiving for small mercies.

"BRING CHAIN SAW WHEN YOU COME"

The title is taken from an email by a neighbor in New Roads. Our neighbor added, "No damage to power lines." Thanksgiving for that favor.

Grandpère will have his work cut out for him on his next visit. Work, work, work is how he spends his time in New Roads during the summer. When the grass stops growing in September, he can relax, except for cutting up broken pecan tree limbs. The trees drop limbs all too often.

A ONE-NIGHT BENEFIT FOR NEW ORLEANS AND THE GULF IN NYC

V-Day, Ashe' & The Women Donors Network present Swimming Upstream

A Special One-Night Benefit paying tribute to the women of New Orleans and the Gulf South on the 5th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina

Performances by Troi Bechet, Asali Njeri DeVan, Anne-Liese Juge Fox, Karen-kaia Livers and singers Michaela A. Harrison, Leslie Blackshear Smith and featuring Shirley Knight & Kerry Washington*

Written by 16 New Orleans' women, Swimming Upstream is a powerful theatrical production that tells the raw and soulful stories of women who lived through the flood with grace, rage and great resiliency, punctuated by a flair for story telling, humor and music that comes from being New Orleanian. Purchase your tickets before August 1st and receive a 25% discount per ticket (not applicable to $500 seats) enter code SUSNY10 $250 & $500 tickets gain admission to the post performance reception

*All performers pending scheduling
With generous support from the Rockefeller Foundation and The Culture Project. For more information please go to vday.org/sus

If I were going to be in NYC, I would go. If you're in the area, please consider attending. Seats costing a fraction of $250 are available.

Thanks to Ann for the link.

THANKSGIVING FOR JOEL

From Margaret:

he (Joel) is now --and suddenly, a walking, talking, swallowing, pooping, breathing, smiling machine folks!!! Yeppa. It was like suddenly all the connections were re-connecting --yesterday afternoon!!! FINALLY!!!!! Hopefully he will be checking in to a lower rent district SOON

Thanks be to God, to all who prayed, to all who ministered to Joel in his illness. My heart is filled with joy and gratitude.

PLEASE PRAY FOR NANCY

From Ann Fontaine:

Prayers for my friend Nancy- had colon surgery and the results are cancer. Not sure what is next.

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

FEAST OF WILLIAM REED HUNTINGTON

I was going to take a pass on doing the feast day today, since we've had a rather full week of feast days, but when I saw which saint was being honored, I changed my mind, because Huntington's legacy is pertinent to the times.

From James Kiefer at the The Lectionary:

W R Huntington, although never a bishop, had more influence on the Episcopal Church than most bishops....In each of the thirteen General Conventions...of the Episcopal Church that met between 1870 and his death,he was a member, and indeed the most prominent member, of the House of Deputies. In 1871 he moved for the restoration of the ancient Order of Deaconesses, which was finally officially authorized in 1889. His parish became a center for the training of deaconesses.

....

In his book "The Church Idea" (1870), Huntington undertook to discuss the basis of Christian unity, and he formulated the Chicago-Lambeth Quadrilateral, a statement adopted first by the House of Bishops of the Episcopal Church in 1886 and then, with slight modifications, by the Bishops of the world-wide Anglican Communion assembled at Lambeth in 1888. The statement set forth four principles which Anglicans regard as essential, and offer as a basis for discussion of union with other Christian bodies.

From Anglicans Online:

Lambeth Quadrilateral

Adopted by the House of Bishops Chicago, 1886
We, Bishops of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, in Council assembled as Bishops in the Church of God, do hereby solemnly declare to all whom it may concern, and especially to our fellow-Christians of the different Communions in this land, who, in their several spheres, have contended for the religion of Christ:

1. Our earnest desire that the Savior's prayer, "That we all may be one," may, in its deepest and truest sense, be speedily fulfilled;

2. That we believe that all who have been duly baptized with water, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, are members of the Holy Catholic Church.

3. That in all things of human ordering or human choice, relating to modes of worship and discipline, or to traditional customs, this Church is ready in the spirit of love and humility to forego all preferences of her own;

4. That this Church does not seek to absorb other Communions, but rather, co-operating with them on the basis of a common Faith and Order, to discountenance schism, to heal the wounds of the Body of Christ, and to promote the charity which is the chief of Christian graces and the visibile manifestation of Christ to the world.

Read the rest at Anglicans Online.

Why is this document no longer sufficient as the basis of unity for the Anglican Communion? Why do we need Windsor Reports and covenants beyond what's covered in the the Creeds and the Lambeth Quadrilateral?

PRAYER

O Lord our God, we thank you for instilling in the heart of your servant William Reed Huntington a fervent love for your Church and its mission in the world; and we pray that, with unflagging faith in your promises, we may make known to all peoples your blessed gift of eternal life; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

READINGS:

Psalm 133
Job 22:21-28
Ephesians 1:3-10
John 17:20-26


NOTE: A repost from Huntington's feast day in 2007 without changing my words. Plus ça change, plus c'est la meme chose.

UPDATE: I changed the link and quote to the Chicago-Lambeth Quadrilateral, because the previous link no longer worked.

JANE AUSTEN'S FIGHT CLUB

Thanks to Ann for sending the link.