PHOTOS OF ST. MATTHEW'S EPISCOPAL CHURCH IN HOUMA, LA, AFTER FIRE

Watch the slide show at WDSU.

Historic Church Destroyed In Morning Fire - Photos - WDSU New Orleans

Almighty God, we give thanks for the gift to the parishioners of St. Matthew's of many years of fellowship and worship in their beautiful church building. We ask you to give your people comfort, consolation, and the peace that passes understanding as they grieve the loss of their building. May the people of St. Matthew's remain bound together in love and obedience to you, ever mindful that a church is the gathering of its people to give you praise, honor, and glory. Give them strength and courage to continue in worship and fellowship, as they move forward to rebuild their building. We pray in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

TONY HAYWARD - NOT OUR IDOL

From the Guardian:

The former boss of BP admitted last night that the oil giant had been completely unprepared for the Gulf of Mexico accident that nearly sank it financially.

When the crisis hit, BP was forced to make up its oil spill disaster response as it went along, something that made it look "fumbling" and "incompetent" in the eyes of the public, said Tony Hayward.

"Embarrassingly we found ourselves having to improvise on prime-time TV and slap bang in the middle of the glare of the global media.

"Our efforts involved amazing feats of engineering – tasks completed in days that would normally take months, numerous major innovations with lasting benefits.

"But because every move was scrutinised around the world, what the public thought they saw was fumbling and incompetence."

No! You made it up as you went along? Really?

But BP was not the only company at risk from such an event, he added. "The whole industry had been lulled into a sense of false security after 20 years of drilling in deep water without a serious accident, till now," said Hayward, in criticism which will be challenged by oil rivals who have tried to distance themselves from the behaviour of the British oil group.

The other oil companies did it, too?

"For me perhaps the most shattering reflection was just how much havoc can be wreaked by a single accident in one small part of a giant company's operations — an accident moreover that all our corporate deliberations had told us simply could not happen," he said. "For BP this was the ultimate low-probability, high-impact event – a black swan to borrow a term used in the financial crisis."

And now we all know that the impossible happens.

Our federal agencies, especially the Minerals Management Service, are not off the hook. The MMS allowed the oil companies to write the regulations for the service which was established to regulate the oil companies. And the service did not follow up with sufficient inspections to see if the companies followed the rules that they had written.

He told the BBC in a documentary screened on Tuesday night that he would have needed to study drama at RADA rather than geology at Edinburgh University if he had wanted to perform better in front of a hostile US public.

Heh, heh.

Which public would that be? Mainly the public who live on or near the coast of the Gulf of Mexico. True, Tony, you are not our Gulf Coast Idol.

Thanks to Cathy for the link.

AN OLDIE, BUT GOODIE FROM GILES FRASER

From the Church Times:

I THINK I have partly resigned my self to the fact that this Anglican Covenant thing is going to happen. Published in its final form last week, it reminds me of that awful state ment of belief that Christian Unions force their speakers to sign before they are allowed to say a word to their stu dents.

In both cases, it is not so much the content that I object to. I object to the Covenant’s very existence. I’d object to it even if I agreed with every word.

Let me be clear. There is nothing wrong with the expression of mutual commitment, and for this mutuality to have a formal aspect. The marriage service, for instance, is precisely that. But the Anglican Covenant isn’t at all like the commitments of a marriage service. It is more like the anxious and untrust ing legalism of that thoroughly distasteful feature of modern life, the pre-nuptial agreement.

And no amount of Lambeth Palace spin is going to persuade me that, like the pre-nuptial agree­ment, this Covenant isn’t a way of arranging, in advance, the terms of some future divorce. The only people who are going to love this document are the lawyers. (My emphasis)

The column is not really that old, only as old as January of this year, but Giles' words are more pertinent than ever as the vote on the Covenant approaches in the Church of England General Synod this month.

Giles' final words:

There must be no down hearted fatalism about the inevitability of the Covenant. We must fight it on the beaches. . . (My emphasis)

And they all said, "Amen!"

NO ANGLICAN COVENANT!

Please read Giles' entire column.

JESUS AND MO

Click on the strip for the larger view.

author says:

Uh oh. This one looks like it could be a running gag. I feel it in my bones.

Peace and blessings,

J&M

From Jesus and Mo.

WHAT WOULD JESUS THINK?

From the Guardian:

At more than 100ft tall, it will tower imperiously over the Polish town of Swiebodzin. But a giant statue of Jesus currently under construction has divided Polish Catholics and led to charges of megalomania against the Catholic church.

The 36 metre (118ft)-high structure is being built on a 16 metre-high hill in the western Polish town. Locals claim it will be taller, just, than the 80-year-old Christ the Redeemer in Rio de Janeiro, currently the world's highest statue of Jesus.

The main body of Swiebodzin's Jesus is 33 metres high – a metre for each year he lived – and is topped with a 3 metre-high metal crown of thorns.

So. The statue will be higher than Christ the Redeemer in Brazil. What would Jesus think of the competition to have the tallest statue of him? Not much, I expect.

The project has split Polish society with some expressing pride, others derision, and with many practising Catholics calling for it to be abandoned. The chief building inspector has received threats, including having a brick thrown through his car window.

Jesus would not think much of the expressions of pride, nor would he approve of death threats or bricks thrown at car windows.

Remember "Touchdown Jesus" at the Solid Rock Church? Lightening struck the statue and set it afire, which resulted in its destrction.

Vanity of vanities, says the Teacher,
vanity of vanities! All is vanity.

What folly. Next time someone, anyone, has the bright idea to build another tall statue of Jesus, why not kill the idea, give it a decent burial, and give the money to the poor?

Thanks to Paul (A.) for the link.

VETERANS DAY - HONORING ALL WHO SERVED

To all who have served in the armed forces of our country, I honor and thank you for serving. I honor you who have served in wars, you who have experienced the horror of war. I honor you who have returned from war wounded in body, mind, or spirit.

I honor your loved ones who waited, and worried, and prayed for your safe return. With them I join in thanksgiving for your return home.

Lord God, Almighty and everlasting Father, I ask your blessing upon all veterans today. Pour out your love upon them and bring healing of body, mind, and spirit. Grant all strength and courage as they go forward, and, Lord God, give them comfort, consolation, and your peace that passes understanding to keep their minds and hearts.

O Judge of the nations, we remember before you with grateful hearts the men and women of our country who in the day of decision ventured much for the liberties we now enjoy. Grant that we may not rest until all the people of this land share the benefits of true freedom and gladly accept its disciplines. This we ask in the Name of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

(Book of Common Prayer, p. 839)

PLEASE PRAY...

...for a young couple with a difficult pregnancy.

O God, give strength, comfort, and the peace that passes understanding to the young couple and their family and friends, as they wait anxiously through this difficult pregnancy. May the two young people experience the healing power of your love and the love of all those who care for them and care about them. We pray in the name of your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Archdeacon Ormonde Plater, who blogs at Through the Dust, called to say that he needs gall bladder surgery, but his heart rate is too rapid, and the doctors want the rate slower before they do the surgery.

O God, may the efforts of the medical staff to slow Ormonde's heart rate succeed, and may all go well with his surgery and recovery so that he may be restored quickly to full health and strength. We offer our prayers in the name of your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

FIRE DESTROYS ST MATTHEW'S EPISCOPAL CHURCH IN HOUMA, LOUISIANA

From WDSU News:

The Houma Fire Department officials are investigating an early-morning blaze that destroyed St. Matthew's Episcopal Church at the intersection of Barrow and Belanger Streets.

The fire was reported around 3:41 a.m. Thursday.
Officials say the church was completely engulfed in flames. Portions of the school and surrounding trees are reported to have been destroyed as well. Witnesses reported seeing flames up to 100 feet in the air.

St. Matthew's Church is on The National Register of Historic Places.

Pray for the rector and congregation of St. Matthew's and for the students and teachers at St. Matthew's school.

Houma, Louisiana, is about 20 miles away from Thibodaux, where I live. I've attended activities at St. Matthew's on several occasions. How sad. St. Matthew's was a lovely old church.

UPDATE: From the Daily Comet:

The full extent of the damage remains unclear, but damage was sustained at the church and the lower building of the school. Houma Fire Department District Chief Chris LeCompte said nobody was in the church or the school at the time.

All that remains of St. Matthew's Episcopal Church in Houma at daybreak today.

Members of the tight-knight congregation learned of the overnight fire by way of a flurry of phone calls made as the community awakened and encountered firefighters and flashing lights still surrounding the smoke-filled intersection.

Some parishioners, teachers and school workers gathered nearby to watch firefighters work.

Beulah Rodrigue, a church member for 70 years, said she was among a group of ladies who spent the past 11 years on needlepoint work that decorated the sanctuary's prayer kneelers.

Rodrigue peered down Barrow Street this morning, toward the spot where the church's steeple once poked through the trees.

“You can't see the church from here any more,” she said. “To me, (the church) was the star of Houma.”

Updates continue at the Daily Comet website.

UPDATE 2:

But church officials said they will rebuild the historic church.

“The church will be rebuilt. We're not sure what it will look like, but the outpouring of support we've gotten from the community has been very encouraging and affirmative,” said the Reverend Craig Dalferes, pastor of St. Matthew's.

He added that much remains uncertain in the immediate aftermath of the fire. Church administration will meet tonight to decide where the congregation will meet on Sunday. Dalferes said a number of community churches have called to offer St. Matthew's aid.

THE LECTURE

An elderly man is stopped by the police around 1 am. and is asked where he is going at this time of night.

The man replies, “I am going to a lecture about alcohol abuse and the effects it has on the human body”.

The officer then asks, “Really? Who is giving that lecture at this time of night?”

The man replies, “My wife.”

Don't blame me. Blame Doug.

Still, I must tell you that this joke strikes my funny bone a sharp blow.

"IT'S ON THE ALTAR NOW"

Please read Elizabeth Kaeton's post at her blog, Telling Secrets. It's powerful.