PRO-UNION SIGNS IN MADISON, WISCONSIN

Courtesy of Jude at First Draft, who was at the protest yesterday.



Pictured above is a prime specimen of a union "thug". Frightening, isn't she?



Can you believe this nice-looking young woman offers hugs to "thugs"?



The Lego sign is close to my heart, as I've stepped on such a number of the little pieces in my sock feet, that I've grown quite fond of them.



Too little, too late, but at least the sign demonstrates that some folks are teachable, even if they must learn the hard way.

At First Draft, both Jude and Scout have done a remarkable job of reporting from the scene in Madison.

STORY OF THE DAY - BLUE SQUARES

We lay there & looked up at the night
sky & she told me about stars called blue
squares & red swirls & I told her I'd
never heard of them. Of course not, she
said, the really important stuff they
never tell you. You have to imagine it on
your own.

From StoryPeople.

EGRETS COMING HOME TO ROOST

About this time of the year, we enjoy an amazing drama near one or another of the bridges not far from my house. As the sun begins to set, egrets fly in to roost overnight in a clump of bushes growing on the bank of Bayou Lafourche. Last year the egrets chose a spot near a bridge further up the bayou. Why the birds chose another roost, and why such a large number of birds crowd into one rather small group of bushes, I have no idea.



The bushes in the photo above look pretty well full of roosting egrets, but, as you see in the photo below, more birds are arriving.



Up in the sky, even more birds are flying in. They keep coming until you think that there can't be one more perch available, and still they come.



By the time the egrets settle, the bushes are covered with white birds and a few pairs of blue egrets or herons. Since the blue birds are about the same size as the white birds, I know they are not Great Blue Herons.

I call the street in the background Visual Blight Boulevard. Big box chains, franchise restaurants and take-outs, service stations, giant concrete parking lots, and everything ugly lines the street on both sides. You could be in Anytown or Anycity for the sameness of the blight.

PS: I've redone the pictures so that a click on the pic will give you a somewhat larger view.

ANOTHER SUNDAY, ANOTHER PARADE

 

The pictures are from the Ambrosia parade in Thibodaux, Louisiana, Sunday a week ago, which I mistakenly thought was the Sunday before Mardi Gras. In fact, last Tuesday, I put up a post wishing everyone Happy Mardi Gras, which I quickly removed as soon as I found out it was not Mardi Gras day. The posts stay in Google Reader seemingly forever, even after they are deleted, and I was well embarrassed.

 

Below is Grandpère watching the parade the easy way and not caring at all if he catches beads.

 

The young man below was, by far, the most adorable amongst the people watching the parade. Just look at his strawberry blond hair!

 

A recycled photo of Diana in her beads.



Today is the real Sunday before Mardi Gras, with another parade that passes in front of our church. Usually the crowds that attend today's parade, Cleophas, are larger than the numbers who come out for the Ambrosia parade.

At this very moment, Grandpère is putting together the ham and sausage jambalaya which will be our contribution to the potluck lunch in the church hall before today's parade.



See how Grandpère and I love one another? Last Sunday, it was quite warm with a strong wind blowing. Today, the weather is gray and cooler.

"THE LENTEN LESSON"

Lent is upon us. And Bishop Yellowbelly has the perfect Lenten discipline for all Anglicans: a study of the Anglican Covenant. Can such a common lay person as Ms. Trenchmacher reason with him?

UPDATE: On the subject of the Anglican Covenant, read her post on Lesley's Blog titled "What causes organizations to survive crises?"

"RISE AGAIN" - STAN ROGERS

In solidarity with the workers and their supporters protesting in Madison, Wisconsin.

And you, to whom adversity has dealt the final blow
With smiling bastards lying to you everywhere you go
Turn to, and put out all your strength of arm and heart and brain
And like the Mary Ellen Carter, rise again.

Rise again, rise again - though your heart it be broken
And life about to end
No matter what you've lost, be it a home, a love, a friend.
Like the Mary Ellen Carter, rise again.

Thanks to Jude at First Draft for the video. Jude is on the scene in Madison.

From Athenae at First Draft:

I really don't think it's possible to overstate what is happening here. How many times have we watched this happen? Really, how many times? People stood up against the war in 2003, in the millions, and we still went to war. People stood up for John Kerry in 2004, in the hundreds of thousands, and he lost. People have rallied and rallied and rallied, and all they've ever gotten for it is pounded on, when they weren't being ignored.

But they keep getting back up. Walker won the election and claimed a mandate, and they came. The bill passed the state assembly, in the middle of the night, and they came. The state's talk radio haters and newspaper commenters and conservative columnists called them all scum, and they came. Walker gave interview after interview, speech after speech, declaring victory, and they came.

The doors were locked against them, the building ringed by armed guards, and still they came.

Armed with nothing but signs, nothing but post-it notes, nothing but donated pizza and boundless cheer and limitless good will, they came. And they sang and they drummed and they wrote and they called and they inspired their friends and their neighbors and their elected officials and a nation, and no matter what happens now, everyone has seen it: What happens when you stand up. That it isn't pointless and it isn't useless and there is always, win or lose, value in it, because the view from uprightness is so much clearer and you need to see like that, once or twice in your life at least.
....

I believe in expecting the worst so as not to be surprised or disappointed, but it's hard to shake this horrible feeling, that is hope.

Watch the video from last night as the protestors left the capitol singing.

"HELLO AND THANK YOU...GOODBYE AND GODSPEED"

Fred Schwartz at Off-Topic Allowed says "hello and thank you for coming to Provisional Bishop-elect Chet Talton and goodbye and godspeed to Provisional Bishop Jerry Lamb" in the Episcopal Diocese of San Joaquin. Why not go there and help Fred out in his thanksgivings?

UPDATE: Fred added a second post and a video of the "Hello" and "Goodbye" celebration in the Diocese of San Joaquin.

GOOD NEWS FROM CHRIST CHURCH CATHEDRAL, NZ

From stuff.co.nz:

TEARS OF JOY

The Dean of ChristChurch Cathedral cried when he was told early today there were no bodies buried in the rubble of the church.

The Very Reverend Peter Beck got a telephone call about 1am from the head of the Urban Search and Rescue task force, Ralph Moore, who told him the shattered cathedral had been checked and rechecked and there were no bodies in the rubble.

"I was expecting to get a call from him saying they had found a body and I and my colleagues were going to go down and say prayers at the side of the body.

"But of course I got this other news and I just burst into tears. I was speechless, It was unbelievable."

Thanks be to God! Earlier predictions estimated that as many as 22 people might have been inside when the tower of the cathedral collapsed.

The death toll was lifted by two to 165 today....

Eternal rest grand unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them.
May they rest in peace. Amen.

O merciful Father, you who taught us in your holy Word that you do not willingly afflict or grieve your children: Look with compassion upon the sorrows of your servants in Christchurch, New Zealand, for whom our prayers are offered. Remember them, O Lord, in mercy, nourish their souls with comfort and a sense of your goodness, lift up your countenance upon them, and give them peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

H/T to Andrew Gerns at The Lead.

YOUNG IDEAS FOR THE CHURCH

The elderly priest, speaking to the younger priest, said, 'You had a good idea to replace the first four pews with plush bucket theater seats. It worked like a charm. The front of the church always fills first now.'

The young priest nodded, and the old priest continued, 'And you told me adding a little more beat to the music would bring young people back to church, so I supported you when you brought in that Rock 'n Roll Gospel Choir.

Now our services are consistently packed to the balcony.'

'Thank you, Father,' answered the young priest. 'I am pleased that you are open to the New Ideas of Youth.'

'All of these ideas have been well and good,' said the elderly priest, 'But I'm afraid you've gone too far with the Drive-thru Confessional.'

'But Father,' protested the young priest, 'my confessions and the donations have nearly doubled since I began that!'

'Yes,' replied the elderly priest, 'and I appreciate that.... But the flashing neon sign, 'Toot 'n Tell or Go to Hell' cannot stay on the church roof.'

Don't blame me. Blame Doug.

BISHOP JOHN SAXBEE ON THE ANGLICAN COVENANT

Many thanks to the Rev Lesley Fellows for the video and the transcript of Bishop John Saxbee's speech at the November 2010 Church of England General Synod. Bishop Saxbee retired as Bishop of the Diocese of Lincoln in January of this year.

The speech is splendid. I'm somewhat disappointed that the bishop decided to vote for the covenant to move on to the next step in the process, that of presenting the covenant to the dioceses for study and a decision at to whether or not to approve the document, and I regret that Bishop Saxbee's voice will no longer be heard in future gatherings of GS.

In relation to the Anglican Covenant, I’m on record as saying in this synod that I entirely support the process, as long as it never ends. Let me explain what I mean. The Anglican Communion doesn’t need a Covenant because Anglicanism is a covenant. It is a way of Provinces listening, living distinctively apart from each other whilst remaining part of one another. That is a way of doing difference differently from the ways in which groups and individuals usually do difference. It is predicated on grace and goodwill, and if there is grace and goodwill then a covenant will be unnecessary and if there is no grace and goodwill then a covenant will be unavailing.

Listen to this quote from Hilary Mantel’s book ‘Wolf Hall’, putting words into the mouth of my distinguished predecessor, Cardinal Wolsey, “Wolsey always said that the making of a treaty is the treaty, it doesn’t matter what the terms are, just that there are terms. It’s the goodwill that matters, when that runs out the treaty is broken, whatever the terms may say’.

Members of Synod, the Church of England has a bit of a history of putting in place measures in response to a particular presented issue and then discovering that the proposed cure does not only have unintended consequences (and The Good Intentions Paving Company is still very much in business, I assure you), not only will there be unintended consequences, but the cure can actually make matters worse.

We all know that the process towards the drawing up of this Covenant was triggered by events in The Episcopal Church of a few years ago, notwithstanding the long preamble which was helpfully presented to us by the Bishop of Bath and Wells. Those events were by no means trivial, but to elevate them to the status of game changers when it comes to how we deal with each other over time is… well… stepping over a very significant mark in the sand. And I truly doubt whether it will be conducive to long term stability.

The Covenant may of itself not be tyrannical, but there are those in the Communion whose treatment of our lesbian and gay sisters and brothers has had at least a touch of the tyrannical about it. And if I ever come to the conclusion that a covenant of this kind would give them comfort then I would be bound to resist it.

Anglicanism has been described as a fellowship of civilised disagreement. Well I leave you to judge whether a two-tier Communion with first and second division members answers to that description of civilised disagreement. It frankly feels like we will be sending sincere and faithful Anglicans to stand in the corner until they have seen the error of their ways and can return to the ranks of the pure and spotless.

I am grateful to Mr Roy for referring to the story of the woman taken in adultery. Jesus, if you recall, first of all draw an extended circle of sinfulness to include those who considered themselves to be more righteous than she was, and then drew an extended circle of acceptance to count her in. You know the little rhyme,

“They drew a circle that shut me out —
Heretic, rebel, something to flout.
But Love and I had the wit to win:
We drew a circle that took them in.”

We can draw ever tighter circles of sinfulness or we can draw ever wider circles of acceptance, so that all Provinces, and not just some, hear our Lord’s injunction, ‘Go and sin no more’, but also echo his reassurance, ‘Neither do I condemn you’. I love the Anglican Communion. I value our inter-diocesan links and I have learnt so much from visits to many dioceses. But I don’t love it so much that I would want it to be still a communion but no longer Anglican. That prize is not worth the price.

And so, Madam Chair, I simply leave you with the wise words of the American philosopher H. L. Mencken which you may well be familiar, ‘For every difficult and complex problem there is a solution which is simple, straight-forward and wrong’. As an answer to a difficult and complex problem, this Covenant is simple, straight-forward and I still believe probably wrong. There is too much religion in the world and not enough faith, and I think this Covenant seems to be more about factory farmed religion than free range faith.

As I want the conversation to continue, I cannot vote against the motion to go on considering it and its implications. But I do think the implications are very significant. And as I ride off into the wonderful sunsets of West Wales, I wish you all well and hope and pray that as this process continues you will enjoy discussing the idea of a covenant and hesitate long and hard before signing up to one.

Thank-you.