MY EYES!

From Lapin who says:

If this doesn't draw you back to Rome, I don't know what will.

LINDA SAYS GOOD-BYE TO LOUISIANA

From the Daily Comet:

She had been afraid and anxious, but 64-year-old Linda Lahme sat calmly in her wheelchair Monday morning at Maison De’Ville nursing home, wrapped in a blanket and wearing a wool hat against the early-morning chill.
....

She was still sick, unable to stand for any length of time and aching. But sick or not, she was going home, back to the foundation she helped start in Luapula Province, Zambia, the southern-African nation where she spent the past 10 years working to educate and feed children orphaned by famine, AIDS and other diseases.

“I’m going back because I can’t get any medical care here,” she said Friday. She has had no source of income since being diagnosed with colon cancer last year and was forced to resign her position as the director of the Luapula Foundation to seek treatment, first in South Africa and then in Louisiana.

However, Lahme, a retired nurse who spent most of her adult life in Thibodaux, couldn’t endure another round of chemotherapy. Instead she settled into the nursing home and the care of hospice workers.

In December, she said she hoped to live long enough for her 20-year-old adopted Zambian daughter, Winnie Kunda, now studying medicine in Russia, to arrange for a visa that would allow a visit to her bedside.

But last week, she said she had run out of options. Medicaid had found out about a bank account she set up in Africa to pay for Kunda’s education and said the asset made her ineligible for the program, Lahme said. Lahme refused to tap into the account, opting to return to Zambia and limited medical care rather than compromise Kunda’s future.

“To qualify for Medicaid, I would have to spend all the money I set aside for my daughter’s education,” Lahme said.
....

Though she was so sick she listened while lying in a pew, Lahme attended Sunday services at St. John Episcopal Church in Thibodaux, which has helped raise money and purchase goats for the impoverished people served by the foundation.

“This was really a prayer of thanksgiving for her life in Africa and her life among us,” said Rector Ed Robertson, who visited Lahme frequently at the nursing home. Robertson said Lahme’s experience fits the definition of a “holy death,” a concept that means her terminal illness has brought others closer to God.
....

It is the rainy season now in Luapula, Lahme said Monday morning as she gazed out the glass door waiting for her ride. There will be mud everywhere.

“I was afraid last night and this morning I wasn’t,” she said.

As soon as I have more news of Linda, I will let you all know.

Prayer for Linda:

May God the Father bless you, God the Son heal you, God the Holy Spirit give you strength. May God the holy and undivided Trinity guard your body, save your soul, and bring you safely to his heavenly country; where he lives and reigns for ever and ever. Amen.

The website for the Luapula Foundation is under construction. Donations may be sent to:

Luapula Foundation
c/o St. John's Espiscopal Church
718 Jackson St.
Thibodaux, LA 70301

My earlier posts on Linda are here and here.

PLEASE PRAY FOR CATHY AND FOR THOSE WHO SEEK EMPLOYMENT

Our friend Cathy has been ill with a feverish gastrointestinal virus for several days. Tonight she said she felt somewhat better, but please pray for her recovery to full health and strength.

Also, Cathy missed several work days because of her illness. Since she works on contract, she gets paid only when she works. Please pray that she will be offered replacement shifts to make up for the days she missed.

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

For the unemployed and underemployed:

Heavenly Father, we remember before you those who suffer want and anxiety from lack of work. Guide the people of this land so to use our public and private wealth that all may find suitable and fulfilling employment, and receive just payment for their labor; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Alison

David@Montreal

JCF

Jim B

Jonathan

Penny

And others you may want to name in the comments.

UPDATE ON AILEEN AND MIKE

From Aileen's husband, Mike:

February 7, 2011

Aileen is still doing well in the same ways, however she had about a 45 minute procedure to put some type of filters to block the blood clots from moving up from her legs to the organs; heart, lungs, brain, ect. She does have quite a few more clots in both legs today so the doc thought it was necessary to get one put in as soon as possible. She did very well during the procedure. I'm proud of her.


February 13, 2011

Just got back from Billings, and touring and meeting the staff at Advanced Care Hospital of Montana. What an incredibly impressive facility and staff.

(From Sally Boyd:

Aileen has been in an uncommunicative state since a series of strokes this past Thanksgiving Day. She is a 37 year old mother of two little boys, and her husband Mike has been a faithful and faith-filled support to her over these many weeks in the hospital in Rapid City, S.D. He is now seeking long-term care for her, but must wait for another round of fever-related-to-infection to be addressed. He appreciates prayers for his beloved wife and for his little family.)

Sally Boyd is the priest who ministers to Aileen and Mike.

For Aileen:

May God the Father bless you, God the Son heal you, God the Holy Spirit give you strength. May God the holy and undivided Trinity guard your body, save your soul, and bring you safely to his heavenly country; where he lives and reigns for ever and ever. Amen.

O God, give to Mike and all who watch and wait with Aileen strength and courage during this difficult time. Surround them with your presence in the power of your Holy Spirit that they may trust in your everlasting love.

From Ann.

UPDATE: Also from Ann:

On Saturday the 12th JT Thurston passed away unexpectedly. Please keep Annie, Codi, Cassie, Hilary, and Wyatt in your prayers. Information regarding a memorial services is pending.

May JT Thurston rest in peace and rise in glory.

May God give Annie, Codi, Cassie, Hilary, and Wyatt comfort, consolation, and the peace that passes understanding to keep their minds and hearts in Christ Jesus.

PLEASE PRAY FOR LINDA

Linda is dying. Linda is also flying back to Zambia tomorrow. She was in church today, and she did not look well. Please pray that Linda can make the trip in a measure of comfort.

Linda's story is here. I'm sorry, but I can't write any more.

UPDATE: I just talked to one of the two parishioners who took Linda to the airport. The staff at Delta Airlines and the airport went out of their way to care for Linda with compassion and efficiency, and Linda got on the plane for Atlanta. A friend was to meet her in Atlanta to help her board her flight to Johannesburg, where friends will meet her and offer her hospitality for the night, and she will set out for Zambia the next day. Thanks be to God that, although Linda seemed to be in great pain when the group left Thibodaux, she felt better once she arrived at the airport. Thanks be to God for the two fine people from our church who helped Linda on her way.

Please continue to pray that Linda will make it safely to Zambia, as Brian says, in the cradle of God's arms.

Thank you all for your prayers and comforting words. They mean more to me than I can say. I type these words with tears of sadness in my eyes, but also with tears of thanksgiving for your love and support.

For Linda:

May God the Father bless you, God the Son heal you, God the Holy Spirit give you strength. May God the holy and undivided Trinity guard your body, save your soul, and bring you safely to his heavenly country; where he lives and reigns for ever and ever. Amen.

"CRITICALLY IMPORTANT MINISTRY IN UGANDA"

From Leonardo Ricardo at Eruptions At The Foot Of The Volcano:

The Rev. Canon Albert Ogle, Integrity USA’s Vice President of National Affairs, announces his resignation from the Integrity organization in order to work full time with Bishop Christopher Senyonjo, retired Bishop of West Buganda, Uganda.

Read the rest at Leonardo's blog.

Here's the link to make a donation to St Paul's Foundation for International Reconciliation.

STORY OF THE DAY - NO DIFFERENCE

There was a boy with skin as dark as the
earth & a girl with eyes as blue as the
deep & they loved each other so well
that people could not tell them apart,
for in their hearts, there was no
difference between them.

From StoryPeople.

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

somewhere i have never travelled - by e. e. cummings

somewhere i have never travelled, gladly beyond
any experience, your eyes have their silence:
in your most frail gesture are things which enclose me,
or which i cannot touch because they are too near

your slightest look easily will unclose me
though i have closed myself as fingers,
you open always petal by petal myself as Spring opens
(touching skillfully, mysteriously) her first rose

or if your wish be to close me, i and
my life will shut very beautifully, suddenly,
as when the heart of this flower imagines
the snow carefully everywhere descending;

nothing which we are to perceive in this world equals
the power of your intense fragility: whose texture
compels me with the colour of its countries,
rendering death and forever with each breathing

(i do not know what it is about you that closes
and opens; only something in me understands
the voice of your eyes is deeper than all roses)
nobody, not even the rain, has such small hands

Image from Wikipedia.

BE SCG'S VALENTINE

SCG at Wake up and LIVE wants you to be her valentine. She has a great idea for giving, rather than receiving, to celebrate the day of love. Read her post and take your choice.

I choose:

St. Paul's Foundation for International Reconciliation.

This is an organization headed by Rev. Canon Albert Ogle in San Diego, CA. Started last year, its focus is on helping communities commit to reconciliation particularly around LGBT issues, HIV/AIDS, women and literacy. They are supporting the work of retired Ugandan Bishop Christopher Senyonjo, who has risked his life to help LGBT Ugandans (+Christopher shared the front page of the scurrilous Ugandan rag "Rolling Stone" with the late David Kato. The newspaper called for the hanging of "homos". ) As anyone who has followed my blog or postings at Facebook knows, I have been deeply troubled by Kato's murder and the subsequent circus that happened at his funeral. Please follow this link to make a donation.

THE FAITH...ENTRUSTED TO THE SAINTS

Caravaggio - "Supper at Emmaus"

In the present Anglican disagreements, we hear much talk of the leadership of the Episcopal Church having left "the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints." Because of what seems to me the unthinking overuse of the phrase and one other phrase, the accusation that the Episcopal Church has "torn the fabric of the Anglican Communion", my reaction to hearing the words is pretty similar to my reaction to the sound of scratches on a chalkboard.

The former phrase, which is my present concern, is from Jude 1:3:

Beloved, while eagerly preparing to write to you about the salvation we share, I find it necessary to write and appeal to you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints.

I've just begun to read Diarmaid MacCullough's Christianity: The First Three Thousand Years. On page 10 of the introduction to the book, are the following words:

The passions which have gone into the construction of a world faith are if nothing else the catalyst for enormous human creativity in literature, music, architecture and art. To seek an understanding of Christianity is to see Jesus Christ in the mosaics and icons of Byzantium, or in the harshly lit features of the man on the road to Emmaus, as Caravaggio painted him. Looking up at the heavily gilt ceiling of Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome, one should realize that all its gold was melted down from temples across the Atlantic Ocean, sent as a tribute to the Christian God and to the Catholic Church by the king of Spain, the theft accompanied or justified by the frequent misuse of the name of Christ. The sound of Christian passion is heard in the hymns of John and Charles Wesley, bringing pride, self confidence and divine purpose to the lives of poor and humble people struggling to make sense of a new industrial society in Georgian Britain. It shapes the divine abstractions of the organ music of Johann Sebastian Bach. During the drab and mendacious tyranny of the German Democratic Republic, a Bach organ recital could pack out a church with people seeking something which spoke to them of objectivity, integrity and serene authenticity. All manifestations of Christian consciousness need to be taken seriously; from a craving to understand the ultimate purpose of God, which has produced terrifying visions of the Last Days, to the instinct to comfortable socialbility, which has led to cricket on the Anglican vicarage lawn.

Santa Maria Maggiore, Rome - Gilt ceiling

So then with reference to "the faith...entrusted to the saints", was there a cut-off date when the faith was "once for all" established as given? Surely, the first century was not the end of revealed faith. Was it the second century? The third? The Council of Nicea? A later council? Was the Reformation all a mistake? A departure from the "faith...entrusted to the saints"?

With all the variety in Christianity over the centuries, who is in, and who is out? I'm asking questions only, not answering the questions. Do we see Jesus in the Caravaggio painting? Do we see Jesus in the glorious gilt ceiling in Santa Maria Maggiore, tainted though it is by the history that made its beauty possible? My queries are sparked by the words in the quote above, which seem to me very right. There's room in the Church, the Body of Christ, for great diversity, and it appears to me that we humans are the ones who confine the faith, who set boundaries which are perhaps not of God.

And what of the continuing work of the Holy Spirit in the Church and individuals?

‘I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own, but will speak whatever he hears, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, because he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine. For this reason I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you. (John 16:12-15)

Who discerns which movement or work is of the Spirit? Testing the fruits over a period of time by a broad swath of the Christian community would seem to me a likely way to move forward to consensus if we do not wish to quench the Spirit. Enlarge the circle.