A CROWD OF WITNESSES

Eastern Orthodox icon of All Saints. Christ is enthroned in heaven surrounded by the ranks of angels and saints. At the bottom is Paradise with the bosom of Abraham (left), and the Good Thief (right).

2 Esdras 2:42-47 (NRSV)

I, Ezra, saw on Mount Zion a crowd too large to count, all singing hymns of praise to the Lord. In the middle stood a very tall young man, taller than all the rest, who was setting a crown on the head of each one of them; he stood out above them all. I was enthralled at the sight, and asked the angel, "Sir, who are these?" He replied, "They are those who have laid aside their mortal dress and put on the immortal, those who acknowledged the name of God. Now they are being given crowns and palms." And I asked again, "Who is the young man setting crowns on their heads and giving them palms?", and the angel replied, "He is the Son of God, whom they acknowledged in this mortal life." I began to praise those who had stood so valiantly for the Lord's name. Then the angel said to me, "Go and tell my people all the great and wonderful acts of the Lord God that you have seen."

Hebrews 12:1-2 (NRSV)

As for us, we have this large crowd of witnesses around us. Let us rid ourselves, then, of everything that gets in the way, and the sin which holds on to us so tightly, and let us run with determination the race that lies before us. Let us keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, on whom our faith depends from beginning to end. He did not give up because of the cross! On the contrary, because of the joy that was waiting for him, he thought nothing of the disgrace of dying on the cross, and is now seated at the right hand of God's throne.

The saints from the ages stand with us in our witness. Thanks be to God.

Image from Wikipedia

OCTOPI

Finally, a use for that bad plural form of octupus.

From Pharyngula.

Thanks to Paul (A.)

OUR FRIEND IT REPORTS FROM THE SCENE ON THE RALLY TO RESTORE SANITY

Do you see us? Two lesbians under the pink arrow waving! (Photo from CBS, arrow added by IT)

IT at The Friends of Jake posted an eye-witness account from the Stewart/Colbert Rally To Restore Sanity.

We started to realize it would be a Big Thing on the plane, when about 1/3 of the passengers raised their hands when asked who was going to the rally. One woman behind us said friends of hers from New York were on the train and said everyone else on their train was also going. We got to our hotel (in Crystal City, where BP lived about 25 years ago) by 8pm and had a reasonably early night, since we wanted to get to the Mall early in the AM for some sightseeing before the rally. I'll blog later about that.

The same company that estimated 87,000 for the Glenn Beck rally estimated 215,000 for this one.

How wonderful to see sane people in the US highlighted, which almost never happens. For the most part, the BIG Media did not at all understand why the sane amongst us should receive attention. Hey, guys, here it is again from Jon Stewart's closing speech:

"The press can hold its magnifying glass up to our problems, bringing them into focus, illuminating issues heretofore unseen," he said. "Or they can use that magnifying glass to light ants on fire. And then, perhaps host a week of shows on the sudden, unexpected, dangerous ant-fire epidemic."

Jon's first statement is what you are to be about if you do your job properly.

DVD TO ART, BUT DON'T MAKE WAVES

"The Wave" by Lucinda Naylor in collaboration with 2,000 households

From Jesus in Love:

An inclusive sculpture made from anti-gay DVDs was unveiled Friday in Minneapolis.

Artist Lucinda Naylor showed off “The Wave,” which she created out of 2,000 DVDs that were originally sent by the Catholic Church to oppose same-sex marriage.

Minnesota Archbishop John Nienstedt.sent 400,000 of the DVDs to Minnesota Catholics, urging them to seek a constitutional amendment against same-sex marriage. Naylor responded by asking people to give her their DVDs for recycling into art with an inclusive theme of hope.

Naylor’s project made waves in the church and led authorities to fire her from her job as artist-in-residence at the Basilica of Saint Mary in Minneapolis.

And there you have it. If you work for the Roman Catholic Church, you must not make waves, not in art...and perhaps not even in the water? Who can tell us?

Lucinda, your sculpture is wonderful. You laid your job on the line for what you believe in - hope for inclusion. Thank you for standing up for justice and equality.

He has told you, O mortal, what is good;
and what does the Lord require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,
and to walk humbly with your God?
(Micah 6:8)

STORY OF THE DAY

1: trying on new looks because the old
ones take too long in the morning &
everyone just thinks "O, she's wearing
that old thing again" anyway

2: really small mirror so she doesn't
have to take the shock all at once

From StoryPeople.

ALL SAINTS DAY

St. Louie swings with his band and the dancing lady.

THEY DIDN'T KNOW IT WAS ABOUT THEM...

...until Jon Stewart told them.

From Politicususa:

Jon Stewart managed to do something with his Rally to Restore Sanity that hasn’t been done in a long time. He confused the mainstream media to the point of a near collective nervous breakdown. The media couldn’t figure out what this rally was about, and it was only when Stewart explained it to them that they realized that it was about them.

From NPR:

It wasn't until the very end of the so-called Rally to Restore Sanity that Stewart got a little serious.

"Now, I thought we might have a moment, however brief, for some sincerity," he told the crowd. "I know there are boundaries for a comedian pundit talker guy — and I'm sure I'll find out tomorrow how I have violated them."

Stewart went on to lay the blame for all the bickering, hostility and hyperbole in politics these days on the media — in part, at least.

"The press can hold its magnifying glass up to our problems, bringing them into focus, illuminating issues heretofore unseen," he said. "Or they can use that magnifying glass to light ants on fire. And then, perhaps host a week of shows on the sudden, unexpected, dangerous ant-fire epidemic."

Don't you love it? I won't soon forget the flaming ant metaphor.

H/T to Rmj at Adventus.

THE COVENANT AS LEGAL FICTION?

Paul Bagshaw at Not the Same Stream writes with great clarity on Section 4 of the Anglican Draft Covenant, the objectionable section. As I said in the comments to Paul's post:

Paul, I commend you on the clarity of your breakdown on what I choose to call the awfulness of Part 4 of the Daft Covenant.

I've said elsewhere that while many of us see no need for an Anglican Covenant, at least some of us could perhaps live with the first three sections. Part 4, with its snatching away of autonomy from member churches and its punitive consequences for those churches who don't have their doctrinal and practical ducks lined up in a proper row, is the section that is unacceptable as it's now presented. That the Daft Covenant is declared to be not subject to amendment, means that only a yea or nay vote on the document as submitted is all that is possible.

The emblem on my sidebar clearly sends the message that I see no need for an Anglican Covenant. The Anglican Communion has held together without a Covenant since 1867. Why now? If common worship and the bonds of affection will not hold us together, if, indeed, the bonds of affection are already severed in the case of several churches of the Communion with respect to several other churches, how will the Covenant restore the bonds? Will expelling members from the Communion or demoting them to second tier membership serve the purpose? As I see it, the Covenant as is now written is a set-up for accusations by one or more provinces against one or more other provinces with the consequent wrangling amongst the membership as to whether the actions (and teachings?) of a particular province should result in expulsion from the Communion or demotion from full membership.

But I digress. Forgive me for taking off on my own away from the subject of Paul's post, the legal fiction of the Covenant. For me, the Covenant is one of the subjects about which I say, "Don't get me started!" To put it simply, those who will share Communion at the Lord's table are those who are in communion with each other.

Please read Paul's post. As he says, "The fiction is that no Covenant signatory is in any way subordinated to an external body."

DOUBLE DOUBLE TOIL AND TROUBLE

Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!

Thanks to Ann at What the Tide Brings In, who put the video together with great skill in matching up real people with the words in the song.

While you're at Ann's blog, please read her splended sermon for XXIII Pentecost on the Gospel reading for today, the story of Zaccheaus, the man of small stature, and his encounter with Jesus.

FOGGY HALLOWEEN NIGHT

A man is walking home alone late one foggy night . . . when behind him he hears:

Bump . . . BUMP . . . BUMP . . . .

Walking faster, he looks back and through the fog makes out the image of an upright casket banging its way down the middle of the street after him.

BUMP . . . BUMP . . . BUMP . . . .

Terrified, the man begins to run toward his home, the casket bouncing quickly behind him.

FASTER . . . FASTER . . . BUMP . . . BUMP . . . BUMP . . . .

He runs up to his door, fumbles with his keys, opens the door, rushes in, slams and locks the door behind him. The casket, however, crashes through his door, with the lid of the casket clapping

clappity-BUMP . . . clappity-BUMP . . . clappity-BUMP . . .

at his heels, so the terrified man runs.

Rushing upstairs to the bathroom, the man locks himself in. His heart is pounding; his head is reeling; his breath is coming in sobbing gasps. With a loud CRASH the casket breaks down the door, bumping and clapping toward him.

The man screams and reaches for something, anything, but all he can find is
a bottle of cough syrup! Desperate, he throws the cough syrup at the casket . . .

and . . .



The coffin stops.

Don't blame me. Blame Paul (A.). He went that way ---------------->