STORY OF THE DAY

decided that being tolerated was not
enough of a reason to stay (2nd story):
suitcase of essentials which means he
left a lot more stuff than he first thought

I fear that the story is all too true.

From StoryPeople.

"THE DRUIDIC COVENANT - A PARABLE"

Lesley Fellows at Comprehensive Unity:

Once upon a time the Archdruid Rowan lived in his house in the woods in England. He had thirty-seven children, and they had all left home and were spread across the world, but they all came home at Christmastime.

One Christmas, one of the children spoke up at the dinner table, her name was Cassandra. She had always been a girl who knew her own mind and didn’t follow convention, but her announcement was to shock some of her brothers. ‘Daddy, I’m a lesbian’, she said. The dinner table immediately went quiet, and you could hear a pin drop. All the children knew that Miles and Lucas hated gays, and called for the death penalty for homosexuals in their own countries. Marcus spoke up, ‘Maybe this is the moment to mention that I am bisexual’. All hell broke loose, cruel and vindictive language was used, and some of the children stormed off. It was a mess.
....

Yes, I give you a teaser. If you want to read the rest of Lesley's parable, you know what to do.

"Comprehensive Unity" is the No Anglican Covenant blog.

The Revd Lesley Fellows is a priest in the Church of England and blogs at - Surprise! - Lesley's Blog.

AN EPISCOPAL WAISTCOAT AND BREECHES

A friend says:

[A well-known auction house] have just sent me a catalogue for their December fashion auction (!). It includes a totally fetching 18th c Italian Episcopal breeches/waistcoat ensemble. Maybe someone will buy it for B-- D-----?

At £1,000 - £2,000 ($1,604 - $3,208) the outfit seems a bargain to me. Remember, although Thanksgiving has not yet arrived, Christmas is just around the corner. For B-- D----- or your own favorite bishop?

POPE SAYS CONDOM USE JUSTIFIED FOR MALE PROSTITUTES

From Yahoo News:

VATICAN CITY – Pope Benedict XVI says in a new book that condoms can be justified for male prostitutes seeking to stop the spread of HIV, a stunning comment for a church criticized for its opposition to condoms and for a pontiff who has blamed them for making the AIDS crisis worse.

The pope made the comments in a book-length interview with a German journalist, "Light of the World: The Pope, the Church and the Signs of the Times," which is being released Tuesday. The Vatican newspaper ran excerpts on Saturday.

Church teaching has long opposed condoms because they are a form of artificial contraception, although it has never released an explicit policy about condoms and HIV. The Vatican has been harshly criticized for its opposition.

Benedict said that condoms are not a moral solution. But he said in some cases, such as for male prostitutes, they could be justified "in the intention of reducing the risk of infection."

Benedict called it "a first step in a movement toward a different way, a more human way of living sexuality."

One wonders how many male prostitutes waited with bated breath for guidance from the pope and how many will change their behavior because of the pope's stance.

What about Roman Catholic married couples with one spouse HIV-positive? Give them condoms (maybe!), but not yet? The "first step in a movement toward a different way, a more human way of living sexuality" is not for Roman Catholic married couples but for male prostitutes. Logic according to the Vatican. Meanwhile the Roman Catholics who are HIV-positive and who heed the Vatican's proscription against the use of condoms will continue to spread the infection to their spouses, who get sick and may die.

When I first began to read the the article, I burst out laughing at the sheer absurdity of the pope's statement, but I'm no longer laughing, because the consequences of the pope's stance on the use of condoms for married couples are so very tragic.

Thanks to Lapin for the link.

QUOTE OF THE DAY - "A DIFFERENT KIND OF PRIMATES MEETING"

From Canon Kenneth Kearon at the Anglican Communion Office:

“The proposal is that it begins with a number of different conversations taking place simultaneously at first. This is to provide a safe space where dialogue can begin and progress together in a spirit of discernment.”

The Primates of the Anglican Communion will meet together in separate rooms. Priceless! Only out of the Lambeth offices could such a daft arrangement issue forth. What do the powers at the ACO fear? Fisticuffs? A reach across the table to grab a fellow Primate by the throat?

As others have said before, invite all the Primates and whoever comes is in communion.

From Simon Sarmiento at Thinking Anglicans. The quote is from the Church Times, which is available only to subscribers for a week.

BEST POEM IN THE WORLD

I was shocked, confused, bewildered
As I entered Heaven's door,
Not by the beauty of it all,
Nor the lights or its decor.

But it was the folks in Heaven
Who made me sputter and gasp--
The thieves, the liars, the sinners,
The alcoholics and the trash.

There stood the kid from seventh grade
Who swiped my lunch money twice.
Next to him was my old neighbor
Who never said anything nice.

Bob, who I always thought
Was rotting away in hell,
Was sitting pretty on cloud nine,
Looking incredibly well.

I nudged Jesus, 'What's the deal?
I would love to hear Your take.
How'd all these sinners get up here?
God must've made a mistake.

'And why is everyone so quiet,
So somber - give me a clue.'
'Hush, child,' He said,
'they're all in shock.
No one thought they'd be seeing you.'

JUDGE NOT!!

Remember...Just going to church doesn't make you a Christian any more than standing in your garage makes you a car.

Every saint has a PAST...
Every sinner has a FUTURE!
Now it's your turn... Share this poem.

All right, Doug, I did as you said.

JESUS AND MO - DRIVE

Click on the strip for the larger view.

author says:

Enough of the tortuous metaphors! Time for a bit of slapstick.

Peace and blessings,

J&M

From Jesus and Mo.

"NO THEM ONLY US"

"No Them Only Us", a double-sided sculpture/painting by Mark Titchner.

Bishop Alan Wilson gets to the heart of the matter on the wisdom of adopting the Anglican Covenant in his post titled Only us, redeemed. General Synod of the Church of England will decide on Wednesday of next week whether to adopt the covenant.

When I become a follower of Jesus Christ in baptism, when I receive the bread and wine, I am swept up personally into a process of reconciliation between heaven and earth in which all principalities and powers are disarmed, all sins forgiven, all and, in the end, every tear wiped away from all eyes. The ordinary business of worship is my point of contact, now, with that glorious reality where Christ will one day be all in all.

I really believe this stuff, and, it has, for me, unmistakable “relational consequences” of its own that are far deeper than any merely human falling out however justified. I exercise saving faith when I allow Jesus to break down barriers that divide people, not when I define them. Any label I slap on others who disgust me (what a comical concept in itself) will be torn off anyway, on the day of unveiling. Any dividing wall has been fatally undermined by the earthquake that came after Jesus died. Any protecting veil for what human beings hold, rightly or wrongly, to be holy, been torn in two.

Therefore, in the end, if we take the cross seriously, there can no longer be “us” and “them.” There is only “us,” at the foot of the cross, even though, confronted with the other people involved, some of us find that distasteful for now. (My emphasis) Defining people by their acts, gathering them into self-validating camps within which they can huddle fantasizing about their own righteousness and the opposition’s faithlessness is childish, unworthy and sub Christian. All we have to do to find healing and grace is stop doing it. And designing hidiing places where anyone can hide from the true implications of the cross is the silliest and most perilous policy for Christians to contemplate. It really is alien to our best tradition.

I really believe this stuff, too. So far as I know, Bishop Alan is the only bishop in the Church of England to publicly question the wisdom of the adoption of the covenant, which I believe to be a heroic stance on his part. A decision to stand alone amongst one's peers is not easy. I've heard, but not firsthand, that other English bishops privately express doubts about the covenant but think that they must go along and vote to adopt because Archbishop Rowan Williams wants the covenant so badly.

The words on the artwork pictured above are taken from Bill Clinton's acceptance speech at the 1992 Democratic Convention:

And so we must say to every American: Look beyond the stereotypes that blind us. We need each other - all of us - we need each other. We don’t have a person to waste, and yet for too long politicians have told the most of us that are doing all right that what’s really wrong with America is the rest of us - them.

Them, the minorities. Them, the liberals. Them, the poor. Them, the homeless. Them, the people with disabilities. Them, the gays.

We’ve gotten to where we’ve nearly them'ed ourselves to death. Them, and them, and them.

Substitute "every member of the Anglican Communion" for "every American" and the words serve us well at the present moment.

When I was in Leeds in England last year, I saw the sculpture pictured above in an exhibit. In my post on the exhibit, I said:

I was intrigued by the sculpture/painting the moment I read the words. It is a large block with all sides painted, taller and wider than it is thick, like a domino. At first, I thought the words were quite satisfying - if only the world was like that - but, as I thought about them more, I realized that more than one meaning was applicable.

The other interpretation of the artwork is that we close ranks and exclude "them", and we are left with only "us". We seem to be at a point of decision as to which way the Anglican Communion will go.

You know what I think: No Anglican Covenant!

PRAY FOR POOR MADPRIEST

MADPRIEST UPDATE:

This is just typical of my life.

Having gone through a course of antibiotics a few weeks back to get rid of a tooth abscess, I was persuaded by my dentist to have root canal work on the offending premolar to stop the abscess returning. This morning, after a fitful sleep, I woke up to find my jaw had swollen up (not quite like a melon but certainly resembling an average size satsuma). So, off I went to the dentist to discover that the surgery to stop me getting another abscess had given me, yes, you guessed it, an abscess.

This has been why I have been in such agony since Monday. Unfortunately, because my dentist had warned me that I might get some toothache for two or three days, it hadn't crossed my mind that it could be anything other than post surgery pain.

Anyway, it's back on the horse tablets for another week. I hope they take effect soon as, at the moment, I look like a lopsided hamster.

Lately, the poor heart has had trouble upon trouble. I wrote in the comments:

If I could draw, I'd make a cartoon of a lopsided hamster, dressed in clericals, with a black rain cloud over his head, if I could draw....

Of course, perpetual prayers for your troubles without end.

Well, I can't draw, but I drew a lopsided hamster anyway.

O God, the strength of the weak and the comfort of sufferers: Mercifully accept our prayers, and grant to your servant Jonathan the help of your power, that his sickness may be turned into health, and our sorrow into joy; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

ST. JAMES ON THE AMERICAN WAY

From the Epistle of James 4:13-5:6:

Come now, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a town and spend a year there, doing business and making money.’ Yet you do not even know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, ‘If the Lord wishes, we will live and do this or that.’ As it is, you boast in your arrogance; all such boasting is evil. Anyone, then, who knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, commits sin.

Come now, you rich people, weep and wail for the miseries that are coming to you. Your riches have rotted, and your clothes are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver have rusted, and their rust will be evidence against you, and it will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up treasure for the last days. Listen! The wages of the labourers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, cry out, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts. You have lived on the earth in luxury and in pleasure; you have fattened your hearts on a day of slaughter. You have condemned and murdered the righteous one, who does not resist you.

In 1923, President Calvin Coolidge said:

“After all, the chief business of the American people is business. They are profoundly concerned with producing, buying, selling, investing and prospering in the world. I am strongly of the opinion that the great majority of people will always find these the moving impulses of our life.”

Coolidge's words apply today. That the great majority of those who presently support giving businesses and corporations free rein do not benefit from such policies does not seem to concern them.