FOURTH SUNDAY IN ADVENT

Isaiah 42:1-12

Here is my servant, whom I uphold,
my chosen, in whom my soul delights;
I have put my spirit upon him;
he will bring forth justice to the nations.
He will not cry or lift up his voice,
or make it heard in the street;
a bruised reed he will not break,
and a dimly burning wick he will not quench;
he will faithfully bring forth justice.
He will not grow faint or be crushed
until he has established justice in the earth;
and the coastlands wait for his teaching.


Thus says God, the Lord,
who created the heavens and stretched them out,
who spread out the earth and what comes from it,
who gives breath to the people upon it
and spirit to those who walk in it:
I am the Lord, I have called you in righteousness,
I have taken you by the hand and kept you;
I have given you as a covenant to the people,*
a light to the nations,
to open the eyes that are blind,
to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon,
from the prison those who sit in darkness.
I am the Lord, that is my name;
my glory I give to no other,
nor my praise to idols.
See, the former things have come to pass,
and new things I now declare;
before they spring forth,
I tell you of them.


Sing to the Lord a new song,
his praise from the end of the earth!
Let the sea roar* and all that fills it,
the coastlands and their inhabitants.
Let the desert and its towns lift up their voice,
the villages that Kedar inhabits;
let the inhabitants of Sela sing for joy,
let them shout from the tops of the mountains.
Let them give glory to the Lord,
and declare his praise in the coastlands.

John 3:16-21

‘For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.

‘Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Those who believe in him are not condemned; but those who do not believe are condemned already, because they have not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgement, that the light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. For all who do evil hate the light and do not come to the light, so that their deeds may not be exposed. But those who do what is true come to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that their deeds have been done in God.’

Picture from Wikipedia.

O RADIX JESSE

Antiphon sung by the Dominican student brothers at Blackfriars in Oxford.

December 19

O Radix Jesse, qui stas in signum populorum,
super quem continebunt reges os suum,
quem Gentes deprecabuntur:
veni ad liberandum nos, jam noli tardare.


O Root of Jesse, which standest for an ensign of the people,
at Whom the kings shall shut their mouths,
Whom the Gentiles shall seek,
come to deliver us, do not tarry.

Isaiah 11:1, 11:10

A shoot shall come out from the stock of Jesse,
and a branch shall grow out of his roots.
....

On that day the root of Jesse shall stand as a signal to the peoples; the nations shall inquire of him, and his dwelling shall be glorious.

Text from Fish Eaters.

Reposted from last year.

DADT IN THE DUSTBIN OF HISTORY - YES!

From TPM:

With just a signature from President Obama, a ban on openly gay servicemembers will no longer be the law of the land.

By a vote of 65 to 31 this afternoon, the Senate voted to repeal the military's Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy.

As with almost everything in the Senate these days, the vote for something is a lot less newsworthy than the vote to consider voting for something. Thus, the real fight was over whether repeal proponents could gather the required 60 votes to break a GOP filibuster, end debate and hold a final vote. They did that -- led by Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) -- and repeal moved ahead earlier today.

Go ahead and smile, Harry. I give you permission to gloat. I'm gloating. It's way past time for the discriminatory and ridiculous policy to be repealed.

Back when Clinton announced the DADT policy, I thought, "How ridiculous and unworkable!" And so it turned out to be.

Congress is good for something, after all.

REPUBLICANS IN FULL THROTTLE AGAINST REPEAL OF DADT...

...but looking about ready to run out of gas.




H/T to Box Turtle Bulletin.

DADT INTO THE DUSTBIN OF HISTORY?

Oh, I hope so!

From TPM:

The Senate took a big step toward ending the military's ban on openly gay servicemembers today. By a vote of 63 to 33, the Senate voted to end debate on a bill repealing the military's Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy, opening the door for a final Senate vote on the standalone repeal bill passed by the House Tuesday. That means a simple majority of 51 Senators can now bring the legislative fight on repealing DADT to an end. That vote is expected to come -- and expected to succeed -- by the end of the weekend.
....

The path to today's vote was not clear until this week, when the House hastily passed a standalone repeal bill following the Senate GOP's blocking of DADT repeal as part of a defense spending bill that came up earlier this month.

At the time, some thought repealing DADT could no longer happen this year. But Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) and House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer sprang into action, working together to write a standalone bill and push it through the House and Senate quickly. That struggle seems to have all but ended today.

Did I ever think I'd be grateful to Joe Lieberman? No, I did not! Thank you Joe!

O ADONAI

Antiphon sung by the Dominican student brothers at Blackfriars in Oxford.

December 18

O Adonai, et Dux domus Israel,
qui Moysi in igne flammæ rubi apparuisti,
et ei in Sina legem dedisti:
veni ad redimendum nos in brachio extento.


O Adonai, and Ruler of the house of Israel,
Who didst appear unto Moses in the burning bush,
and gavest him the law in Sinai,
come to redeem us with an outstretched arm!


Isaiah 11:4-5

But with righteousness he shall judge the poor,
and decide with equity for the meek of the earth;
he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth,
and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked.
Righteousness shall be the belt around his waist,
and faithfulness the belt around his loins.

Text of the antiphon from Fish Eaters.

Reposted from last year.

STORY OF THE DAY - HEADING SOUTH

They drove south one winter until they
could stand outside with no coats on &
we never saw them again.

They'll have to go further south than south Louisiana if they don't want to wear coats, because it's cold here - or what passes for cold in my territory.

From StoryPeople.

PLEASE PRAY...

From Cathy:

I saw someone's lost pet bird in the local park yesterday as I was running for the Tube. It was a cockatiel (same as my birdies) and I could tell it was lost because it was in a horrible panic and screaming frantically in the hope of getting a response from familiar faces and voices, but it must have flown too far away from its home for anyone to hear. It called desperately for a few seconds then flew off. I couldn't help it because cockatiels are very strong flyers and it was high up in the trees - by the time I had walked to the tree it was in it could already have been a quarter of a mile off. In the meantime this big freeze and heavy snow has come down. I prayed for it whenever I thought of it yesterday and this morning. There is pretty much no chance it will ever be reunited with its owner but there is a very slim chance it will land in someone's backyard so exhausted that they will be able to catch and rescue it. I feel so sorry for it and also for its owner, who, if they loved their bird, must be utterly distraught,

Poor little birdie. I pray the owner or someone with a kind heart finds the bird and rescues the little one.

Photo from Wikipedia.

"THE EFFECT OF THE COVENANT ON MISSION"

As the Ten Reasons Why the Proposed Anglican Covenant Is a Bad Idea circulated around the internet, several persons left comments here at Wounded Bird and at other blog sites pointing out that reason No. 1 was unrealistic, because the churches of the Anglican Communion are not "a vibrant, cooperative, fellowship of churches".

When leaders and members of the churches proclaim their opposing opinions, accuse fellow member churches of heresy, threaten schism, and even, in a few cases, make good their threats, the state of the Anglican Communion may look dire, indeed. But even as the quarrels in the AC continue, we must not forget that mission activities such as Lisa describes below continue between and amongst dioceses and parishes.

Please read Lisa's wise words.

From Comprehensive Unity, the No Anglican Covenant Blog:

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

The effect of the Covenant on mission

Deputy Lisa Fox of the Diocese of Missouri reflects on the relationship between the Diocese of Lui in Sudan and her diocese:

My Diocese of Missouri is in a companion relationship with the Diocese of Lui (Episcopal Church of Sudan). Before the governing bodies of Missouri and Lui adopted the covenant between our dioceses, it is my understanding that the bishops had frank conversations.

There are many differences in our dioceses.

The Diocese of Lui uses a Moru translation of the 1662 CoE prayer book, and their translation is a very Protestant one in which the Eucharist is merely a "memorial" of the Lord's Supper.

The Diocese of Missouri celebrates the Eucharist as a sacrament, informed by the liturgical renewal of the past century.

The people of Lui tend to read the Scriptures more literally than do we in Missouri. LGBT persons are ordained in Missouri, while that isn't on the radar in the Diocese of Lui or anywhere in Sudan.

We have very different ways of counting our "members."

However, we have a healthy relationship, between our bishops, congregations, and individuals. There is deep sharing between us as dioceses and individuals. We recognize and accept the differences, but we are brought together by our respect for each other and by our respect for one another's churches.

The current structure of the Anglican Communion allows us to do that. We can differ, but still love and support one another. We can and do respect the different contexts of how we minister in Missouri and Lui.

I believe it has been a blessing to our Diocese of Missouri to understand and walk with the people in the Diocese of Lui. I hope the reverse has also been true.

The proposed Anglican Covenant would, I fear, bring an end to this "diversity within unity." That Covenant would give each province a right of "veto" over any other province's movement. Many other people have written more articulately than I can about the loss of unity in the enforcement of uniformity.

This much I know: I have learned a great deal about Christian faith from my brothers and sisters in Lui, when I was there in 2006 and in our communications since then. We would disagree about some philosophical/theological/theoretical matters. But we are bound together in love, fellowship, and mission.

For the life of me, I do not understand those who support a Covenant that would reduce our respectful and diverse fellowship to a curia demanding "uniformity of belief."

I've been a kibitzer on the Bishops and Deputies listserve (HOBD) since 2003, and hope to contribute to our dialogue now that I've been elected a deputy.

Gratefully --
Lisa

Lisa Fox
L4, Diocese of Missouri

Lisa blogs at My Manner of Life>

WHERE WERE ALL THE IMPORTANT PEOPLE?

From nakedpastor, David Hayward, who is kind enough to have his cartoons in Creative Commons, which permits free use unless the material is used for commercial purposes.

Thanks to Ann. Ann, you don't have to buy me a Christmas present, since you give all year long.