JESUS AND MO - WHY?

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

From Jesus and Mo.

PRAY FOR HAITI THAT CHOLERA DOES NOT SPREAD

From Reuters:

The rate of deaths in Haiti's cholera epidemic slowed on Monday as a multinational medical operation scaled up to limit the spread of an outbreak that has killed 259 people in the earthquake-hit country.

Despite initial encouraging signs of a decrease in the week-old outbreak's lethality, Haitian and international health authorities warned they were still preparing for the deadly diarrheal disease to extend further before it was controlled.

"A nationwide outbreak with tens of thousands of cases is a real possibility," the United Nations humanitarian agency OCHA said in a statement.
....

After several days in which fatalities had numbered dozens each day, only six cholera deaths were recorded in the last 24 hours in the main outbreak region of Artibonite in central Haiti, bringing total deaths to 259. Confirmed cases rose to 3,342, compared with 3,015 a day ago, health authorities said.

Pray that the cholera epidemic does not spread further, especially to the tent cities in and around Port-au-Prince, where those who lost their homes in the earthquake are living.

A Prayer for Haiti

by Josh Thomas

O Father of the poor and Mother of the oppressed: Enfold in your arms the suffering people of Haiti. Comfort those in mourning; relieve those in pain; give shelter to the homeless and hope to those in despair. Feed your people, O God, with bread both earthly and divine, and give them your water and wine. Help them bury the dead, nurse the sick and wounded, and raise their faith and dignity, for they are some of your dearest children. Proclaim your truth that this vibrant, creative nation still shines as a beacon of freedom throughout the Americas. And help the people of Haiti, with the nations of the world, to rebuild their colorful land in the image of your Son Jesus Christ, who knows our suffering because he took our mortal pain into his body on the Cross, then rose again to live and reign with you and the Holy Comforter. Amen.

From The Daily Office.

UPDATE: Please consider giving to your favorite charity to help the people of Haiti. If you have no favorite, I suggest Episcopal Relief and Development. The organization provides excellent aid in Haiti and operates on very low overhead, so that nearly all of your donation goes toward actual help for those who are in need.

UPDATE 2: From the comments, Caminante adds:

Anyone wanting to contribute to this for now can send a cheque made out to the DFMS (Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society of the Protestant Episcopal Church) with Haitian Initiative in the memo line.

Also Pure Water for the World, a 501 c 3 foundation run by a member of the congregation I serve has been working madly in Haiti to get inexpensive but good water filters out.

PLEASE PRAY FOR JCF AND HIS FRIEND CATHY

From JCF:

First and foremost, for my friend Cathy (Stage 4 Lung Cancer, been fighting for 2 years). She's not doing well, and her indomitable spirit seems to be dimming. Please pray she is comforted (strengthened!).

(A distant) second: Yours Truly has a

{believe it or not!}

job interview on Thursday (it's at 8:30AM, so please pray Night Owl JCF is fully awake, and ready to impress the nice people at the {SPL} what a good, ridiculously over-educated, grunge-worker I can be. It's grunge-work that COULD turn into something much better, however, so I don't just see this as a survival job.) Prayers mucho appreciated!

Thanks,
JCF

From OCICBW.

ZOMBIES ARE COMING

Q. How do you know a zombie is tired?
A. He's dead on his feet.

Q. What do little zombies play?
A. Corpses and Robbers.

Q. What did the zombie get a medal for?
A. Deadication.

Q. What's a zombie say when he gets a letter from his girlfriend?
A. It's a dead-letter day.

Q. Where do zombies go for cruises?
A. The Deaditerranean Sea.

Q. What did the zombie's friend say when he introduced him to his girlfriend?
A. Good grief! Where did you dig her up from?

Q. What do you call a zombie in a belfry?
A. A dead ringer.

Are these groaners so bad that they're good?

If not, don't blame me. Blame Doug.

RIGHTEOUS RAGE

Doxy expresses Righteous Rage, and I don't blame her. I become frustrated and angry at the same injustices.

I am angry about people who promise the moon and have no intention of delivering. I am particularly angry about people who do this while asking for my money and my time/vote.

I am angry about a society that puts profits before people, and actually rewards the robbers while it throws people out of their homes into the streets. I am angry at the selfishness of those who "have"--determined to deny their fellow citizens a decent standard of living and some security because it might mean they have to give up some frills in their lives.

I am furious with people who have the power to help others--and refuse to do it.

Do read the rest of Doxy's post, which serves as a mirror for us to see ourselves and what we have become in these sorry times.

SO ALL THE TROUBLE STARTED WITH BISHOP GENE?

Well, no. Blame the present troubles in the Anglican Communion on the ordination of the first openly gay and partnered bishop in the Anglican Communion, if you will, but you will be wrong. And pay close attention to the word "openly", for Bishop Gene is not the first partnered gay bishop.

The Episcopal Church has been in the naughty chair, or as we say here in the US, in time-out, at least since 1998, when Pete Broadbent wrote from an evangelical perspective in praise of Gareth Bennett's Preface to the 1988 edition of Crockford's Clerical Directory. I could not find the text of Bennett's Preface to the 1988 edition online.

Broadbent states:

Catholic Anglicans are far more preoccupied than Evangelicals with the vagaries of certain parts of the Anglican Communion. New Directions frequently carries news of the latest Spong-related horror story from the Episcopal Church in the USA, with the implicit assumption that what happens in that church today is bound to infiltrate these shores sooner or later.
....

Bennett devoted three pages of his preface to ECUSA, and concluded that the Lambeth Conference of 1988 [convened by Archbishop of Canterbury Robert Runcie] would decide to resolve the American Anglican "crisis" by doing nothing. In this he was proved correct. There is, of course, an alternative course of action for those who believe that Spong and others like him are beyond the pale. It would run contrary to catholic principle, but it would be consistent with the practice of the New Testament Church. To dissociate the rest of the Anglican Communion from ECUSA until it deals with the various cuckoos in its nest would be a powerful statement that the Anglican Communion is more interested in Trinitarian orthodoxy than societally-driven liberal whim. ECUSA is anyway over-represented at Lambeth, and exerts an influence way beyond its global significance.

Evangelical Anglicans, with their more pragmatic ecclesiology, are not in any event as concerned with the unity of worldwide Anglicanism as are Catholic Anglicans. Many of us would prefer to be Presbyterian or Baptist when sojourning in the USA. Bennett's questions about the coherence of the Anglican Communion are, for many of us, part of a bigger issue which puts a premium on Christian orthodoxy above denominational preference. This has particular implications for the UK Christian scene, and to this I will return.

Since 1998 and even before, it seems that the Episcopal Church in the US has been a problem for Evangelicals, as well as Anglo-Catholics, in the Church of England. So. The "Spong-related horror stories" started it all - the "infamous" Bishop Jack Spong?

Well, no, not really. The trouble started from the beginning of the history of the Church of England, when it declared itself free of the authority of the Church of Rome. Anglicans have always been a contentious lot who managed to live together in tension for over 500 years.

Evangelicals and Anglo-Catholics and, indeed, all of us of any persuasion of Anglicanism, need to read our church history, which, in early days, was written in blood. And we need to learn from history not to repeat the mistakes of the past.

Huge thanks to Poppy Tupper at The George Carey Fan Club for his post titled "A long campaign of hate and exclusion" and for the links. Poppy advised me, "Have a gin and sit down before you read them!!" I was still drinking my tea when I began to read, but, once I started, I wish I'd sloshed a bit of gin into my tea.

A link to further commentary on the Preface in 1997 from Geoffrey Rowell, Bishop of Basingstoke.

I grieve that the Preface affair culminated in the tragic suicide of Gareth Bennett.

Image from Wikipedia.

CHURCH MOUSE 'SPLAINS IT ALL AND ADVISES

If any of you in the Episcopal Church are confused about the societies popping up here and there and everywhere in the mother church, the Church of England (although some might say that the mother church is the Scottish Episcopal Church), read Church Mouse.

Rowan tells us that the Anglican Communion is doing just fine. Yet Mouse is somewhat concerned.

And aren't we all!

Of the many societies and alphabet soup of groups, Church Mouse says:

What a dreadful mess. Factions within the church are not happy just being factions, they intend to build bigger walls around themselves so they are not contaminated by others from within their own church. And they have the nerve to say this is being done in the interest of mission. Please try explaining all this to someone of Generation Y for whom Christianity is "a distant cultural memory" and then tell me that these groupings help mission.

And might we not apply the words to the alphabet soup mix of groups in the US? The breakaways? Those who stay, but who are ever at the ready to flee, with bags packed and one foot in and one foot out? And all for the sake of mission?

Mouse says further:

Mouse has a word of advice to those looking to establish walls around their factions. Stop. Stop now. Please.

Ah, but who will heed Mouse's advice?

Thanks to Cathy for the link.

BECKY SAID IT WAS TIME - GOOD-BYE SWEET GIRL

From Roger:

Becky was put down late this morning. She regained her appetite somewhat yesterday, eating 3/4 lb of raw hamburger meat late morning and about 1/2 lb of sliced "Tavern" ham last night. She spent a good night and was eager to go the the Doggie Park this morning, but weakened fast once we got there and after a time stood by the gate, wanting to leave. By the time we were home, she was quite shaky on her feet and was misjudging distances and locations, walking into things, so I called the vet's to see if there was an opening this morning, which there was, and I took her in right in. She seemed ready to go, though it was four or five minutes before the anaesthetic sent her to sleep, so there was still some strength left.

Pray for Becky and Roger.

O Lord our God, we come before You this day in sadness. Becky, who brought Roger so much joy in life, has now died. Her happy times in Roger’s embrace have come to an end. He misses Becky already.

Help him, O God, to remember the good times with Becky. Remind him to rejoice in the happy times she brought to his home. Let him be thankful for the good life he was blessed to give to her.

We are grateful to You, God, for creating Becky, for entrusting her to Roger's care, and for sustaining her in his love for a measure of time. We understand that all that lives must die. We knew that this day would come. And yet, O God, Roger would have wanted one more day of play, one more evening of love with Becky.

O God, as he has taken care of Becky in life, we ask that You watch over her in death. You entrusted Becky to Roger's care; now, we give her back to You. May Becky find a happy new home in Your loving embrace.

As we remember Becky, may we love each other more dearly. May we care for all Your creatures, for every living thing, as Roger protected the blessed life of Becky. May her memory bless our lives with love and caring forever. Amen.

By Rabbi Barry H. Block.

(Slightly edited)

IMAGE OF THE DAY - ANGLICAN COVENANT

The Anglican Covenant as a turkey (a bad play)

With proper foresight, the producers would realize that the play should never get as far as rehearsals, much less ever be staged.

H/T to Bishop Alan, who inspired the image.

BABY PORCUPINE - RELATIONSHIPS

Have you ever seen a baby porcupine?

Fable of the porcupine

It was the coldest winter ever and many animals died because of the cold.

Some porcupines, realizing the gravity of the situation, decided to group together to share warmth.

This way they were better covered and protected ; however - the quills of each one wounded their closest companions.

After a while they decided to distance themselves one from the other and soon after they began to die, alone and frozen.

So they had to make a choice: either accept the quills of their companions or disappear from the Earth.

Wisely, they decided to go back to being together.

They learned to accept the little wounds that were caused by these close relationships, in order to benefit from what their companions offered.

It was this way that they were able to survive and thrive.

Moral of the story:

The best relationships are not ones that bring together perfect beings, but are instead ones where individuals learn to live with the imperfections of others and can still accept the gifts they have to offer.

Thanks to Doug.

UPDATE CORRECTION: According to HelloAdorable, the pictures above are baby hedgehogs and not porcupines. Further, according to HelloAdorable:

You'll be happy to know that their spines are not barbed and do not come off in self-defense like porcupines.

Oh dear! What to do about my post?

I couldn't bear to remove the pictures of the adorable baby hedgehogs, but below is a picture of a baby porcupine, which is also cute, but not, I think, as adorable as the baby hedgehogs.



Thanks to Susan S.