AMiA CHURCH IN BATON ROUGE FINDS A HOME

From the Baton Rouge Advocate:

The congregation of All Saints Anglican Church has come a long way in a few short years.

A small gathering of believers who met initially in a public building without a priest has grown to several dozen meeting in a leased building with a full-time pastor.

About a dozen local Episcopalians, disaffected and dismayed by what they see as the liberal direction of the Episcopal Church USA under the leadership of Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, found each other in April 2007, and began worshiping at the Burden Conference Center at the Rural Life Museum.

Meeting under the auspices of the Anglican Mission in the Americas, a missionary outreach of the fundamental Episcopal Church of Rwanda, the small group slowly gained members.
....

“We’ve been faithful and walking in obedience to God and he is blessing us,” Turner said after a recent “Rally Sunday” service attended by around 40 congregants. “He has provided everything we have.”
....

Denham Springs residents and lifelong Episcopalians Gerry and Anna Coryell have been attending All Saints for several months. They left their former church, which they said they “dearly love,” when the Episcopal Diocese of Louisiana consecrated the Very Rev. Morris K. Thompson as its new bishop in May.

“My issues with the Episcopal Church go beyond gay priests,” Gerry Coryell said. (Bishop Thompson is not gay but does approve ordaining gay clergy.) Coryell said he served on the committee that interviewed Thompson and the other bishop candidates. When Thompson told the committee he agreed with the liberal direction Schori was taking the church, “that was the final straw. I didn’t see a future there.”
....

All Saints Anglican Church is the only AMiA church in Louisiana and is affiliated with the Little Rock Network of AMiA, a group of 12 parishes from California to Tennessee, four smaller fellowships and two mission works.

The members of All Saints Anglican Church left the Episcopal Church honorably. I'm sorry that they chose to leave, but I wish them well.

What I find somewhat odd is the prominent coverage that the Advocate gives to the church. The article covers approximately two-thirds of the front page of today's religion section and one third of the second page.

FROM ADRIAN AT "PLURALIST SPEAKS"

Now click on over to Adrian's blog, and read what he says about Dr Rowan Williams' "pass".

"GOOD ROCKIN" FROM J&M

From NOLA.com:

To trumpeter Porgy Jones, the corner of North Rampart and Dumaine streets is hallowed.

"I feel like I'm going to kiss the ground," said Jones, 71, on Friday, just before the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum designated Cosimo Matassa's J&M Recording Studio as a historic Rock and Roll Landmark, one of 11 nationwide.

It was here, in a small backroom at 840 N. Rampart St., that Matassa engineered and produced some of rock 'n' roll's earliest hits in a studio given the initials of his father, John Matassa.

A few J&M recordings -- including Fats Domino's single "The Fat Man", Roy Brown's "Good Rockin' Tonight" and Little Richard's "Tutti Frutti" -- have sometimes been called the first rock 'n' roll record. Incorrect, said Hall of Fame president Terry Stewart: Scholars agree there is no definitive first record classified as rock, said Stewart as he stood Friday in front of the former studio, now a laundromat, at the edge of the French Quarter.

What's indisputable, Stewart said, is that when the genre was in its infancy, "the baby got rocked right here in this building."

Matassa, now 84, opened the Rampart Street studio in 1945 after he dropped out of the chemistry program at Tulane University. Inside the legendary studio -- which measured 15 by 16 feet with a control room that he said was "as big as my four fingers" -- Matassa recorded a storied list of acts. They included Domino and his longtime collaborator, trumpeter and producer Dave Bartholomew, as well as saxophonist and producer Harold Battiste, Ray Charles, Allen Toussaint, Irma Thomas, Roy Brown, Sam Cooke, Jerry Lee Lewis, Professor Longhair, Earl Palmer, Dr. John, James Booker, Guitar Slim, Smiley Lewis, Lloyd Price and many others.

Awright! This IS good news. Perhaps the building is secure from the wrecking ball, which has already destroyed many a historic building in New Orleans.



In the early 1950s, I discovered rock 'n' roll playing on the jukeboxes in the lounges in New Orleans, which, at that time, had virtually no lower age limits. I would have been perhaps 16. Many of the songs included double-entendre lyrics, so this was not music that could be played or listened to at home, but it was great for jitterbugging in a place where parents were not around.

Below is a list from the Times-Picayune of recordings made at J&M:

"Good Rockin' Tonight" - Roy Brown - 1947

"Long About Midnight" - Roy Brown - 1948

"Mardi Gras in New Orleans" - Professor Longhair 1948

"The Fat Man" - Fats Domino - 1949

"Goin' Home" - Fats Domino - 1951

"Lawdy Miss Clawdy" - Fats Domino - 1952

"Tipitina" - Professor Longhair - 1953

"Feelin' Sad" - Ray Charles - 1953

"Going to the River" - Fats Domino - 1953

"The things That I Used to Do" - Guitar Slim - 1953

"Jock-a-Mo" - Sugar Boy Crawford - 1953

"Blue Monday" - Smiley Lewis - 1953

"I Hear You Knocking" - Smiley Lewis - 1955

"Poor Me" - Fats Domino - 1955

"Tutti Frutti" - Little Richard - 1955

"(See You) Later Alligator" - Bobby Charles - 1955

"My Blue Heaven - Fats Domino - 1955

"Long Tall Sally" - Little Richard - 1956

Bear with me on my nostalgic trip down memory lane. I loved putting together this post.

UPDATE: Here's a photo which shows the entire building.

WHAT, ME WORRY?

From the Guardian:

The Archbishop of Canterbury has said he has "no problem" with gay people being bishops but they must remain celibate.

In his first explicit declaration on the subject since taking office in 2002, Dr Rowan Williams signalled his personal support for the consecration of gay bishops in the Church of England but said he would never endorse gay clergy in relationships because of tradition and historical "standards"

Then what happened with his good friend Jeffrey John when he was chosen for the position of Bishop of Reading? Although John was in a partnered relationship, he stated that he was celibate. I'm confused. Why did Dr Williams ask Jeffrey John to stand down?

He used today's interview to deny that his present stance on gay sex therefore meant he was not being true to himself.

"I think if I were to say my job was not to be true to myself that might suggest that my job required me to be dishonest and if that were the case then I'd be really worried. I'm not elected on a manifesto to further this agenda or that. I have to be someone who holds the reins for the whole debate. To put it very simply, there's no problem about a gay person who's a bishop. It's about the fact that there are traditionally, historically, standards that the clergy are expected to observe. So there's always a question about the personal life of the clergy." (My emphasis)

The words from Dr Williams' quote which I have bolded make no sense to me. If someone can enlighten me as to their meaning, I'd like that. What is he saying?

Standards! We have standards! But if bishops and clergy hide their gay relationships in the closet, then apparently there's no problem for Dr. williams.

H/T to Leonardo at Eruptions At the Foot of the Volcano.

ANOTHER ACCUSATION AGAINST BISHOP LONG

See Box Turtle Bulletin.

Bishop Long may resign.

BANNED ON SESAME STREET...

...for cleavage. Shocking, just shocking. It's only right. Why should children be exposed to the reality that women have breasts at such an early age? What were Katy Perry and the producers of the show thinking? At least, they saw the error of their ways before the kiddies were exposed to the scandalous segment.

H/T to Richard Adams at the Guardian.

Thanks to Lapin for the link.

MORE ON THE DIOCESE OF SOUTH CAROLINA

Andrew Gerns at The Lead offers an update on matters concerning the Diocese of South Carolina and Bishop Mark Lawrence, which includes a link to an excellent essay by Dr. Joan Gunderson.

I am truly surprised by the Anglican Communion Institute's and the Diocese of South Carolina's sudden negative reaction to the revised Title IV (ecclesiastical discipline) of the Episcopal Church canons. While I do not find the revision perfect and hesitated briefly before voting for them as a deputy at the 2009 General Convention, the time for protest is long past. In fact, these canons were developed over at least seven years in an open process that included posting of multiple drafts. The 2006 draft received numerous criticisms, but questions of constitutionality were not raised. In fact, conservative blogger Brad Drell republished (June 9, 2006), a set of comments made by Province I Chancellors after a careful study of the 2006 draft. Constitutionality issues were raised neither by Drell nor the Province I Chancellors. General Convention listened to the many critics and, rather than pass the 2006 version sent the draft back to committee for further revision. The intent of the revision was to move away from an adversarial mode based on a courtroom trial model focused on uncovering truth and fostering reconciliation. Its closest model was the professional standards board. Driving the revision were concerns about dealing with sexual misconduct, not theological controversy.

Dr. Gunderson concludes:

So why is there such a fuss now? Is it really the changes that worry South Carolina, or is it that some are looking for a wedge issue to drive South Carolina further from the rest of the Church and isolate it more? Were some of South Carolina’s leaders following a strategy based on evading one set of disciplinary canons only to find that the loopholes they had counted on were about to be closed? Were South Carolina leaders so asleep at the switch that for five years they didn't notice a major revision of the canons until the deadline for implementation of the canons drew near? Whatever explanation you pick, it would seem the problem lies more within the Diocese of South Carolina than in Title IV.

Why only now the objections? An excellent question, indeed.

The article at The Lead notes and links to Bishop Mark Lawrence's response to the letter from the Episcopal Forum to the Executive Council of the Episcopal Church.

Bishop Lawrence's concludes:

It is increasingly clear that we are engaged in a worldwide struggle for the soul of Anglicanism in the 21st Century. This Diocese of South Carolina has been affirmed in our stand by numerous Dioceses and Provinces around the world: Archbishops and bishops from Ireland to Australia, Southeast Asia to Tanzania, from England to Egypt have pledged us their prayers and their hearts. What will emerge from this struggle we cannot say—but I am convinced of our vocation to Make Biblical Anglicans for a Global Age. It is far more than a slogan for a T-shirt. Not unlike a battalion in a military campaign which is ordered to hold a pass even against overwhelming odds, we are called to resist what appears is a self-destructive trajectory by many within The Episcopal Church. We are called to stand our ground and proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ until it is no longer possible; and at the same time to continue to help shape the emerging Anglicanism in the 21st Century, which is increasingly less provincial, less institutional and more relational. If this is our calling then we rejoice that his strength is made perfect in weakness. This is not a time to give-in nor give up; rather let us hold fast to the best of our Episcopal heritage while sharing Christ’s transforming freedom—with hearts set free—to a needy world today.

Cue the violins.

Bp. Lawrence's overblown rhetoric is a call to battle in the struggle between the forces of good and the forces of evil, and the troops on the side of good rally and prepare for battle knowing that Jesus is on their side. (Multiple eye-rolls)

Yes, I know. Lots of links, but it can't be helped if you want the latest information. I lifted shamelessly from The Lead, for which I pray Andrew Gerns forgives me. You really should go over there to read their article, because Andrew includes more links (Yes, even more links than my post!) and more information.

STORY OF THE DAY

This is a story that usually I write in
white ink, but most people miss it &
start to read too much into it & think it
says something about life they couldn't
figure out themselves. So, now I write
only with stuff people can read & say
things as clearly as I can. Like this:
don't believe anyone who writes with
white ink on white paper. They have too
much to hide.

Well, of course! I never trust people who write in white ink.

From StoryPeople.

JERICHO ROAD INTRODUCES NEW VACANT LAND MANAGEMENT PROGRAM

Jericho Road formally launched its new Vacant Land Management Program with recently awarded support from the Greater New Orleans Foundation(GNOF) and the hire of a Program Manager Alison Ecker. The program, a vacant land remediation program, will turn empty properties into neighborhood assets.

Vacant properties and abandoned houses are scattered throughout the Central City community. Many lots lie overgrown and unkempt and numerous houses sit abandoned and boarded-up. Dumping occurs, trash accumulates and weeds grow high over the sidewalks. Although the negative effects may at first seem only visual, these neglected properties contribute to a feeling of a neighborhood in decline, attracting crime, decreasing real estate values and potentially posing serious health hazards. Maintaining this status quo of carelessness is unacceptable.

Jericho Road is committed to a minimum "maintenance" level of landscaping investment on each lot which includes demolition and clearing the lot of debris such as existing foundations, old fences and dumped materials. Jericho Road believes solid and attractive fencing will more than pay for itself with the cumulative benefit of improving land values and discouraging negative activities. The program will also include several special projects like the newly awarded fruit orchard.

If you recall, I asked you to vote for the Jericho Road program in a recent competition to win a fruit garden orchard, which they were awarded, thanks in part to your vote.

Read more about Jericho Road at the website of the Episcopal Diocese of Louisiana.

Jericho Road still has a $25,000 need for supplementing some sites with additional tree plantings and other aesthetic lot enhancements.

If you'd care to help, you can donate here.

Jericho Road was founded in part by Episcopal Relief and Development after Katrina and the federal flood.

YOU CAN SEE IT NOW!

Steadfast love and faithfulness will meet;
righteousness and peace will kiss each other.
Faithfulness will spring up from the ground,
and righteousness will look down from the sky.

Psalm 85:10-11

As I read the readings from the Lectionary this afternoon, the words above from the psalm leapt out to me. I prayed, "O God, let it be!"

And the thought came to me, "It is! It is! You can see it all around you. Open your eyes. Amidst the evil, the suffering, the betrayals, all manner of perversions of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, you will see a host of the people of God (whether they know they are of God, or not) performing acts of love and faithfulness. You will see the works of the righteous and the bearers of peace risen from amidst the squalor and the turmoil. Look around and see!"

And I said, "Amen,"