ONLY ONE WORRY

Rabbi Mordecai of Lekovitz said:

"We must not worry. Only one worry is permissable: a man should worry about nothing but worry."

From Tales of the Hasidim by Martin Buber.

"CAN TWO WALK TOGETHER EXCEPT THEY BE AGREED?"

From Jonathan Jennings in the comments to Bishop Alan's post titled, Right solution, wrong problem?:

The prophet Amos asks "can two walk together except they be agreed."

Yes they can. I have always held that pilgrims bound for different destinations may still, for a time, share the same road.

Some 25 years ago I found myself on a mountain with a young man with, to my ears, completely unformed political views. We argued for about three hours whilst journeying half way towards the summit. When we got to our lunch stop, my rucksack was found to contain no lunch. Although our views were becoming more divergent he instantly broke his sandwiches in half and we shared them and then his soup and chocolate, before starting our descent, arguing the whole time.

We parted that evening, still unreconciled but having shared a day, a lunch and an incredible mountain.

I have long treasured the memory of that day, made more poignant as he, sadly, was killed on that mountain about three weeks later on an expedition that I had at one stage been due to join.

I have no difficulty with the idea that we might journey and break bread with those whose views we find repellent.

What a lovely story! How pertinent to our present discussion of the Anglican Covenant. Jonathan's commentary presents an alternate perspective to that of the Anglicans who refuse to share the table with "sinner" provinces, neither the table of the Lord, nor even the table to meet and speak with one another.

Bishop Alan's post and the entire, lengthy discussion in the comments is well worth reading.

THE HEARTBREAKING STORY OF CHRISTIANS IN IRAQ

From the Guardian:

When George W Bush sent the US into Iraq in 2003, he believed he would be replacing Saddam Hussein with a peaceful, pro-American Arab democracy that would naturally look to the Christian west for support. In reality, seven years on, it appears that he has instead created a highly radicalised pro-Iranian sectarian killing field, where most of the Iraqi Christian minority has been forced to flee abroad.

This week saw new levels of violence directed at Iraq's Christians. Eight days after the attack on Baghdad's main Catholic church that left more than 50 worshippers dead, militants detonated more than 14 bombs in Christian suburbs, killing at least four and wounding about 30. Since then the Islamic State of Iraq (ISI), an al-Qaida front, has warned of a new wave of attacks on Christians "wherever they can be reached … We will open upon them the doors of destruction and rivers of blood."
....

The Christian community in Iraq is one of the oldest in the world: according to tradition it was St Thomas and his cousin Addai who first brought Christianity to Mesopotamia, soon after the crucifixion. At the council of Nicea, where the words of the creed were thrashed out in 325AD, there were more bishops from Mesopotamia than from western Europe.

From Christians of Iraq:

According to UN statistics, 1.5 million Christians of different sects were living in Baghdad before the American invasion. “The majority of Christians left Iraq because of religious persecution by extremists,” Joe Obayda, an Iraqi ex-pat living in England told The Media Line.

“Today there are less than 500,000 Christians left in Iraq.” Obayda is a member of the executive council of Iraqi Christians In Need (ICIN), a British charity set up in May 2007 to address the influx of Christians leaving Iraq. He said that his charity helped both Christian Iraqi refugees in neighboring Arab countries and internally displaced Christians in Iraq. Obayda said that his cousin was forced to flee Iraq after militants tried to forcefully convert his daughters to Islam and demanded money from him.

He added that the United States was partially to blame for the plight of Iraqi Christians. “The Americans did not foresee the problems that would occur [as a result of the invasion], even though they should have,” he said. “Now that the Americans have left Iraq, the Christians will become a greater target than they already are.”

France, the country decried by the pope for its secularism, is welcoming Christians wounded in the recent attacks, according to John Chilton at The Lead:

The Rt. Rev. Pierre Whalon, president and co-founder of AEMO, and bishop-in-charge of the Convocation of Episcopal Churches in Europe, expressed his thanks for the rapid response of the French government in this case. "In offering refuge to the victims of this latest assault, we are making more than a gesture. We are also protesting this egregious violence inflicted on fragile religious minorities in Iraq, and indeed, throughout the Middle East," he said.

Secular Italy has also begun to admit wounded Iraqi Christians into their country. Kurdish leader, Massoud Barzani, in northern Iraq, "...wants to make clear that the Chaldean Catholics are welcome in the northern part of the nation, and says he welcomes Chaldean families with open arms."

I Googled, "US welcomes/admits Iraqi Christians" and found nothing, but perhaps I missed the stories. George Bush & Co., what about the plight of the Christians in Iraq? Any comments? Any regrets for the unintended consequences for Christians in Iraq?

President Obama, when will we hear from you about actions to help and support Iraqi Christians beyond deploring the suffering and death they have already endured?

H/T to DP at The World of Doorman-Priest for prodding me to address this tragic story.

BORSHT BELT JOKES

Many comedians began their careers as stand-up comedians in the NY Catskill's. Their appearance was usually loaded with one-liners. And there was never one single swear word in their comedy. Here are a few examples:

I just got back from a pleasure trip. I took my mother-in-law to the airport.

I've been in love with the same woman for 49 years! If my wife ever finds out, she'll kill me!

What are three words a woman never wants to hear when she's making love? "Honey, I'm home!"

Someone stole all my credit cards but I won't be reporting it. The thief spends less than my wife did.

The Doctor gave a man six months to live. The man couldn't pay his bill so the doctor gave him another six months.

The Doctor called Mrs. Cohen saying, "Mrs. Cohen, your check came back." Mrs. Cohen answered, "So did my arthritis!"

Doctor: "You'll live to be 60!" Patient: "I am 60!" Doctor: "See! What did I tell you?"

Patient: "I have a ringing in my ears." Doctor: "Don't answer!"

The Harvard School of Medicine did a study of why Jewish women like Chinese food so much. The study revealed that this is due to the fact that Won Ton spelled backward is Not Now.

Q: Why don't Jewish mothers drink?
A: Alcohol interferes with their suffering.

That's all for now. More to come.

Don't blame me. Blame Doug.

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)