PIGS FLY IN VIRGINIA

A must-read for today is margaret's post at Leave It Lay Where Jesus Flang It, which brings us news and commentary from the 216th Annual Council in the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia.

In the Bishop's pastoral address at Council yesterday it was announced that the first class of vocational deacons will be ordained.... yes, the blessing of the order of deacons (except as transitional to priesthood) has not been present in Virginia... thirty years behind the curve on this one. And kinda nice to ponder on the day we remember St. Vincent, Deacon.
....

And, the internalized oppression of our LGBTQ sisters and brothers has begun to break apart --we have a year to work on the details... and then in 2012 the blessing of these Christian unions--households--families that endure such wicked discrimination may begin.

Read the rest over at margaret's place. A new day dawns in the diocese. Thanks be to God!

FOUR YEARS AGO TODAY

On January 22, 2007, I wrote my first post here at Wounded Bird as a lark, and I never thought I'd still be blogging away four years later. I never once thought that blogging would turn out to be serious, a ministry, of sorts - at least that's how it seems to me. Although I post jokes, cartoons, and funny stories, I feel a responsibility toward my readers, which I take very seriously. And I feel a responsibility to tell certain stories and promote certain causes, as well as post prayer requests, as they come in.

Without my visitors (I can count you) and my readers who leave comments, I would not have continued for so long a time. In great part, I have been blessed with wonderful feedback in the comments, with only a few brief periods of being plagued with offensive or trollish comments. Without the folks I call my stringers, the people who send me links, stories, cartoons, and jokes, Wounded Bird would be much the poorer.

Imagine my surprise when I visited The Lead on December 28 and saw this in their "2010: Top Ten Stories" post:

Our top blogs to quote: Wounded Bird and Thinking Anglicans

Moi! As I said in the comments:

Episcopal Café had a great year. Thanks to all of you for your hard work. My posts would be fewer, if not for the stories for which I owe a tip of the hat to you folks at EC.

I am honored and humbled by having my blog quoted. Truly! I don't deserve the distinction, etc., etc., etc., but I thank all you good people from my heart.

Th folks at the Café have been good to me. I wasn't going to link to the post at the EC, because it seemed prideful and self-serving, which it is, but consider the mention an anniversary indulgence.

This post is No. 4713, which averages to more than 1000 posts per year. Amazing!

PS: I fixed the link above to my original post at Wounded Bird.

THE BRITS DON'T WANT PASTOR TERRY JONES

From CNN:

Britain has denied entry to the Florida pastor who said last year that he was "praying about" whether to burn Qurans to protest the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

"The government opposes extremism in all its forms which is why we have excluded Pastor Terry Jones from the UK," a Home Office spokesperson said in a statement. "Numerous comments made by Pastor Jones are evidence of his unacceptable behaviour."

I don't blame the British authorities for keeping the trouble-maker out of their country. Jones threatens litigation. Well, let him sue. We'll see how far that goes.

Thanks to Paul (A.) for the link.

JUDGE GRANTS EPISCOPAL CHURCH'S MOTIONS FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENTS IN DIOCESE OF FORT WORTH

From Jim Naughton at The Lead:

On Friday, January 21, 2011, the Hon. John P. Chupp of the 141st District Court, Tarrant County, Texas, granted the Local Episcopal Parties’ and The Episcopal Church’s Motions for Summary Judgments. He denied the Southern Cone parties Motion for a Partial Summary Judgment The orders can be seen here.

The Court orders provide in part that the defendants, including Bishop Jack L. Iker, “surrender all Diocesan property, as well as control of the Diocesan Corporation, to the Diocesan plaintiffs and to provide an accounting of all Diocesan assets within 60 days of this order.” Additionally, “the Court hereby orders the Defendants not to hold themselves out as leaders of the Diocese.”

It's only right, and it's about time.

In November 2008, former Bishop Jack L. Iker and other diocesan leaders left The Episcopal Church and aligned themselves with another church, the Anglican Province of the Southern Cone. Since then they have been using the name and seal of the Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth and occupying Episcopal Church property.

For over two years, faithful Episcopalians in the diocese have not only been denied the use of their property, but they've had their name appropriated by those who left the Episcopal Church. Here's the website of the real Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth.

Check out the phony Diocese of Fort Worth. Confusing, right? The giveaway on the home page is the prominence of the link to Exodus International "a ministry of freedom from homosexuality through the power of Jesus Christ".

It's been a long night, but a new day has dawned.

UPDATE: From the phony Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth comes the news that they will appeal the decision by Judge Chupp, which is not surprising. Will they ask for a stay on the order to vacate the property, and, if so, what are the chances that a stay will be granted? Thanks to Bex in the comments for the update.

HILDEGARD - "A FEATHER ON THE BREATH OF GOD"

On this day (The Feast of St. Agnes) two years ago, my beloved cat Hildegard departed this world. She truly was a "feather on the breath of God" and I still miss her terribly. Call me a sentimental old man, but know that my life is not the same without her. At some primal, yea theological, level I'm confident she waits for me in the heavenly realms. Good girl!

--Bruce+ (aka Canon Itchy)

Bruce, I won't call you a sentimental old man. I'll call you a man who belonged to the beautiful Hildegard who loved him very much, and a man who loved Hildegard back with all his heart. My sympathy to you on this day. I know, too, that Hildegard waits for you.

WHAT CAUSES ARTHRITIS????

A drunk man, who smelled like beer, sat down on a subway next to a priest. The man's tie was stained, his face was plastered with red lipstick, and a half-empty bottle of gin was sticking out of his torn coat pocket. He opened his newspaper and began reading. After a few minutes the man turned to the priest and asked, 'Say Father, what causes arthritis?'

The priest replies, 'My Son, it's caused by loose living, being with cheap, wicked women, too much alcohol, contempt for your fellow man, sleeping around with prostitutes and lack of a bath.'

The drunk muttered in response, 'Well, I'll be!!!!' Then he returned to his paper.

The priest, thinking about what he had said, nudged the man and apologized. 'I'm very sorry. I didn't mean to come on so strong. How long have you had arthritis?'

The drunk answered, 'I don't have it, Father. I was just reading here that the Pope does.'

MORAL: Make sure you understand the question before offering the answer.

Don't blame me. Blame Lisa. Yes, that Lisa.

NOVEMBER 2011

On November 11, at 11:11 and 11 seconds AM and/or PM, it will be:

11/11/11 11:11.11

---------------------------------------------

This year we will experience 4 unusual dates.-1/1/11, 1/11/11, 11/1/11, 11/11/11.

Now go figure this out.... take the last 2 digits of the year you were born plus the age you will be this year & it Will EQUAL .... 111.


Cool,huh?

From Doug.

"BLACK SWAN" - A WILD EMOTIONAL RIDE

A couple of nights ago, Grandpère and I went to see "Black Swan". GP pushed me to go, which surprised me, because I didn't think he'd care to see a ballet movie. The ratings were positive, for the most part, and I was happy to go.

What a wild emotional ride the movie turned out to be. We were both swept up in the experience and stayed with it until the end. "Black Swan" has been described as a psychosexual thriller, and that's about right. I'll try my best not to give away too much of the story, as I write about the movie. Wonder of wonders, Grandpère, who has never been to a ballet, now says that he would like to see a ballet. For him, the film was a conversion experience.

Across the board, the principal actors gave fine performances. Natalie Portman, as Nina Sayers, an aspiring ballerina, was amazing. I read that she did 90% of the dancing in the movie. She and Mila Kunis, who played Lily, Nina's rival/friend (in an impressive performance!), both spent several months practicing and getting into shape to play their roles as dancers.

The artistic director of the ballet company to which both Nina and Lily belong, Thomas Leroy (Victor Cassel), plucks Nina from the corps de ballet to dance, according to tradition, the dual starring roles of Odette/Odile, the good white swan and the evil black swan. Leroy is confidant of Nina's ability to dance the part of Odette, but he harbors doubts that Nina has what it takes to dance the evil Odile. Lily is chosen as the understudy.

Barbara Hershey (Erica Sayers) as the creepy, smothering, former ballet-dancer stage mother of Nina was outstanding, as were Winona Ryder (Beth Macintyre), in a cameo role as the aging ballerina, edged out of the limelight, and Vincent Cassel (Thomas Leroy) as the artistic director.

Benjamin Millepied plays David, Nina's dance partner in "Swan Lake". The real-life Natalie Portman is now engaged to Millepied. and the two are expecting a baby.

The cinematography, which was shot in cinema verité style, is terrific, as is the score for the film, with Tchaikovsky's wonderful music for the ballet woven in. All the excellence is pulled together by the director Darren Aronofsky from a screenplay by Mark Heyman and Andres Heinz.

Make no mistake, the movie put us through an emotional wringer and won't be soon forgotten. The film is many-layered, and I know I missed out on a good many details in certain scenes. After GP and I left, and we questioned each other, "What really happened there and there?" We answered some, but not all of the questions that we posed one to the other, and, about certain scenes, we concluded that there may be no one answer.

I highly recommend the movie, although I expect it won't be everyone's cup of tea. But keep in mind that GP and I have fairly different tastes in movies, and we'd both like to see the film again.

THE LOW ANTHEM - "CHARLIE DARWIN"

Thanks to AmyJ for the push to do what I was already thinking about doing. I've posted the video before, but I like the song, and I like the stop-action video.

BLOGGER'S BLOCK?

Is there such a thing? I don't know, but I'm having a hard time writing and posting lately, even posts that are mostly quotes and a link. It doesn't help that I've been heavily involved in the maintenance of me with various visits to doctors, tests, etc., really boring stuff, but stuff that's got to be done. I'm past the family physician, the blood work, the eye specialist, and the audiologist, with only the dentist and the mammogram left to pursue. Imagine how I look forward to the white-knuckle time in the dentist's chair and having my breasts squeezed by a heartless machine. I haven't had the courage to even make the appointments yet, but I will, and soon.

Tomorrow, Grandpère and I are off, bright and early, to New Orleans for sweet William's Grandparents' Day at his school with a mass scheduled at nine o'clock in the morning. Groan...not for spending the morning with William, but for the early hour. Why not an afternoon mass and visit?

Yesterday, on the way to New Orleans for my appointment with the ophthalmologist, I listened to a gorgeous CD of arias sung by the late Swedish tenor, Jussi Björling, titled "The Ultimate Collection", which was a gift to me from Cathy, my friend, fellow-traveler, and fellow survivor of MadChauffeur's driving. On the way home, I listened to The Low Anthem's "Oh My God Charlie Brown Darwin", different music, but satisfying, too. (Added: Can you believe my mistake?)

Since I was stuck in 5 mpr traffic due to road work for miles on the way to NO, I was grateful for the presence of Jussi's lovely voice. I was also 30 minutes late for my appointment, but everyone in the office was quite nice about my tardiness.

Catharsis! The post was good for me. Was it good for you? Nevermind. Don't answer the question. I probably should have written and saved what's here permanently to draft form and never let it see the light of day, but here it is, for all the world to see. Perhaps, I'm now unblocked. We shall see.