AROUND AND ABOUT AT THE BLOGS

In the past few day, I've noted posts by other bloggers in Bloggerland, which I believe are well worth reading.

For a quote from Kant apropos of the Anglican Covenant, see Themethatisme's post at Conscientisation.

And why Theme chose a name for his blog which is impossible to spell is beyond my understanding.

About the state of the union, see Rmj's post titled "Angels and Demons" at Adventus.

Rmj and I go back to the beginning of his blogging days some years ago, more than four, because his blog is older than mine. In a certain sense, although I am a good many years older than he is, he is one of my blog parents, because he taught me a good bit about how to blog. Nowadays he doesn't write often, but he writes well.

And last, but most certainly not least, on the proper way to use Scriptural texts in the midst of controversy, see Tobias Haller's post titled "No New Revelation" at In a Godward Direction.

I left a comment at Conscientisation and Adventus, but all I could think of to say at In a Godward Direction was, "Yes!" which seemed singularly unimaginative, so I left my wisdom unspoken.

"LOSING OUR WAY"

From Bob Herbert in the New York Times:

So here we are pouring shiploads of cash into yet another war, this time in Libya, while simultaneously demolishing school budgets, closing libraries, laying off teachers and police officers, and generally letting the bottom fall out of the quality of life here at home.

Welcome to America in the second decade of the 21st century. An army of long-term unemployed workers is spread across the land, the human fallout from the Great Recession and long years of misguided economic policies. Optimism is in short supply. The few jobs now being created too often pay a pittance, not nearly enough to pry open the doors to a middle-class standard of living.
....

The U.S. has not just misplaced its priorities. When the most powerful country ever to inhabit the earth finds it so easy to plunge into the horror of warfare but almost impossible to find adequate work for its people or to properly educate its young, it has lost its way entirely.
....

The current maldistribution of wealth is also scandalous. In 2009, the richest 5 percent claimed 63.5 percent of the nation’s wealth. The overwhelming majority, the bottom 80 percent, collectively held just 12.8 percent.

General Electric, the largest corporation in the country, paid zero taxes last year. The company's CEO, Jeffery Immelt, is on Obama's Council on Jobs and Competitiveness.

The numbers of citizens in the middle class continue to fall. Government services for the people in the land continue to be cut. More and more, the US looks like the land of opportunity for only the rich. And yet, somehow the US can always find the money to start another war.

Read Herbert's entire excellent column, which is his valedictory.

This is my last column for The New York Times after an exhilarating, nearly 18-year run. I’m off to write a book and expand my efforts on behalf of working people, the poor and others who are struggling in our society. My thanks to all the readers who have been so kind to me over the years.

So long, Bob. I, for one, will miss you, but I'm encouraged that your voice will not be silent, that you will continue to speak out after your departure from the NYT.

"MY FOOLISH HEART" - MARGARET WHITING

As a teenager I saw the movie of the same title, starring Susan Hayward and Dana Andrews, before the Roman Catholic newspaper came out with the rating of "C" for CONDEMNED! I was happy that I squeezed in the movie before I saw the rating, otherwise, I would not have gone. What can I say? I was a good Catholic girl.

The romantic song played throughout the film, which the critics panned, but which I loved.

The New Yorker wrote that it was "full of soap-opera clichés," and, while allowing for "some well-written patches of wryly amusing dialogue," Time rejected it as a "damp fable....the screenplay turns on all the emotional faucets of a Woman's Home Companion serial.

"My Foolish Heart" surely turns on all my emotional faucets. I'd say it was my age at the time, but I own the video, and I still watch with pleasure. The movie was adapted from a story by J. D. Salinger, titled "Uncle Wiggliy in Connecticut", and, as Salinger disliked what had been done to his story, he never again relinquished control of his other publications to Hollywood.

Oh, and critics panned the song, too. Still, I think Margaret Whiting sings a lovely version? What do the critics know?



Quote from Wikipedia.

BISHOP ALAN WILSON ON THE ANGLICAN COVENANT

Bishop Alan is Bishop of Buckingham in England. He blogs at Bishop Alan's Blog (Surprise!).

The article is from The Anglican Covenant: a Church Times guide, which also includes an annotated copy of the text of the covenant.

I tried to choose quotes from the article, but I couldn't decide what to leave out, because I think the article is splendid, so I decided to post the entire piece. Bishop Alan does not mince words, and I'm quite fond of direct speaking. And I do love his chocolate teapot as a metaphor for Part 4 the covenant.

A USEFUL COMPENDIUM, BUT LOSE THE CHOCOLATE TEAPOT

IN THE village where I began my ordained ministry lived two clans who had feuded, off and on, for 500 years. Local lore says that their young men were having a customary New Year punch-up down by the riverside, when their neighbours hit on the novelty, for the 1920s, of telephoning the police.

The brawl on the banks of the Thames was reaching positively Glaswegian proportions by the time the Keystone Cops from the city lurched into view in their shiny new paddy-wagon. At this point, both tribes laid aside their ancient quarrel for 20 minutes, dealt with the police, hurled their paddy-wagon into the lock, and then got back down to business. A copper’s lot is not a happy one.

If the Anglican Covenant is supposed to patch up the Anglican Communion after the culture wars over sexuality which gave rise to the Windsor report, it has probably already failed. Those whose consent would be necessary for it to achieve that purpose have said openly that they just don’t buy it. The paddywagon is in the lock, and it won’t be taking anyone off to the cells tonight. The thought may allay liberal fears as much as disappoint conservative aspirations.

This failure is probably a mercy, because seven years is a long time in politics — even church politics. Much has changed. As the dust settles on what some felt was sub-Christian bickering about sexuality, colonialism, and biblicism, perhaps a real opportunity is opening up to work out who we really are and what we stand for.

None of the contentious issues of 2003 has gone away, but the energy has drained away from fighting over them. Certainly, in the pews around here, people would sooner stick their heads in a food mixer than see the Anglican dog return to this particular vomit. The Christian faith is about following Jesus Christ, and loving God and neighbour, not having punch-ups by the riverside to feed the self-importance of our most zealous pharisees.

When all is said and done, Anglican Churches are no more than delivery systems for the Kingdom — expressions of discipleship. We did not become Anglicans to build an Anglican brand, but in order better to follow Jesus Christ. We are Anglicans to be Christians, not the other way around. Our ecclesiology, largely implicit, points to this fact by its very incompleteness.

THE first three sections of the Covenant clearly express a reformed Catholic view, based on Archbishop Fisher’s principle: “We have no doctrine of our own — we only possess the Catholic doctrine of the Catholic Church enshrined in the Catholic creeds, and those creeds we hold without addition or diminution.”

The procedural fourth section is a chocolate teapot. Do with it what you will, but do not expect it to hold boiling water. I would detach it from the useful stuff as quietly and as tactfully as possible. Lawyers say that this cannot be done, but I seriously question whether a civilisation capable of conquering space can really be that incapable.

The useful compendium in sections 1-3 could seriously help dioceses and deaneries to explore what being Christian means for them. It could unlock some fascinating questions that are all too seldom addressed.

What does it mean to be a Christian today? How far is an Anglican a member of a global society, and to what extent simply a Christian living out faith in a particular local culture? What kind of local inculturation for mission requires central regulation, and what kind do Churches have to trust other Churches to handle for themselves?

Just what does it mean to be Anglican? Does it involve membership of a global denomination?

The New Testament knows of local churches — small “c” — as part of the whole mystical body of Christ, the first-fruits of the whole human race redeemed: Church with a capital C. What room is there, in that scheme of things, for “denominations”, self-contained mini-Churches developed over the past 300 years, defining themselves over and against each other about particular dogmas?

Perhaps we are supposed to organise our life around deominations. Different as they are, they all use much the same grandiloquent biblical sound-bites to capture their unique selling points. How much authority should we invest in defining and defending the corporate brand?

THESE questions may lead to others. Homosexuality, the main bone of contention in 2003, was not even defined in a modern sense until the last century. There is nothing in any historic creed about it, and next to nothing in the Bible — possibly three or four verses, at a pinch. So how do we deal faithfully with new issues beyond the scope of our base formularies?

What part should bishops, synods, rules, and lawyers play in the Church? When people in the family fall out, do we tinker with the system, or address the problem itself? If we could not use effectively the instruments that we had, what chance is there that we will use new ones better?

What do we mean by church unity? How can legal engineering create unity, and how can it impede it? Is it about producing a single visible organisation in some ideal sense, or does it transcend particular organisations?

Is the Church, ultimately, a smooth-running spiritual society, or humanity as a whole, fully redeemed in Christ? If the latter is God’s purpose, the people you chuck out now come back in the end anyway; so you might as well learn how to live with them.

These are big questions. I hope that, as the Covenant goes out for discussion, lay people’s answers will be as carefully received as those of lawyers and ecclesiastical technocrats have been so far in this process. And if the ordinary people of God, the plebs sancta Dei, who came through the gay wars with their credibility far more intact than that of their bishops, should be allowed a voice, I hope our elders and betters will be listening.

Dr Alan Wilson is the Bishop of Buckingham

In the Study Guide, Bishop Gregory Cameron, amongst other contributors, makes the case in favor of the covenant. The full text of his article is available at Lesley's Blog.

FEAST OF THE ANNUNCIATION

BOTTICELLI, Sandro - Cestello Annunciation
Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence

Aubade: The Annunciation

When the dim light, at Lauds, comes strike her window,
Bellsong falls out of Heaven with a sound of glass.

Prayers fly in the mind like larks,
Thoughts hide in the height like hawks:
And while the country churches tell their blessings to the
distance,
Her slow words move
(Like summer winds the wheat) her innocent love:
Desires glitter in her mind
Like morning stars:

Until her name is suddenly spoken
Like a meteor falling.

She can no longer hear shrill day
Sing in the east,
Nor see the lovely woods begin to toss their manes.
The rivers have begun to sing.
The little clouds shine in the sky like girls:
She has no eyes to see their faces.

Speech of an angel shines in the waters of her thought
like diamonds,
Rides like a sunburst on the hillsides of her heart.

And is brought home like harvests,
Hid in her house, and stored
Like the sweet summer's riches in our peaceful barns.

But in the world of March outside her dwelling,
The farmers and the planters
Fear to begin their sowing, and its lengthy labor,
Where, on the brown, bare furrows,
The winter wind still croons as dumb as pain.

Thomas Merton - 1946

PRAYER

Pour your grace into our hearts, O Lord; that we who have known the incarnation of your Son Jesus Christ, announced by an angel to the Virgin Mary, may by his cross and passion be brought unto the glory of his resurrection; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.

READINGS

Psalm 40:1-11 or
Canticle 3;
Isaiah 7:10-14;
Hebrews 10:5-10;
Luke 1:26-3

Padre Mickey posted a lovely sermon for the feast.

SISTER KUNEGUNDA GASOLINE

Sister Kunegunda, who worked for a home health agency, was out making her rounds visiting homebound patients when she ran out of gas. As luck would have it, a Texaco Gasoline station was just a block away.

She walked to the station to borrow a gas can and buy some gas. The attendant told her that the only gas can he owned had been loaned out, but she could wait until it was returned. Since Sister Kunegunda was on the way to see a patient, she decided not to wait and walked back to her car.

She looked for something in her car that she could fill with gas and spotted the bedpan she was taking to the patient. Always resourceful, Sister Kunegunda carried the bedpan to the station, filled it with gasoline, and carried the full bedpan back to her car.

As she was pouring the gas into her tank, two Baptists watched from across the street.. One of them turned to the other and said,

'If it starts, I'm turning Catholic!'

Don't blame me. Blame Doug.

STORY OF THE DAY - MIDDLE GROUND

I try & walk a line between terror &
ecstasy, she said & then she shook her
head. You'd be amazed at the people
who avoid me for no good reason, other
than that.

From StoryPeople.

AZALEAS FOR OLGA

 

DEDICATED TO OLGA SZPYLCZYN...

FOR FRAN, MARK, AND ERICA,

WITH LOVE FROM GRANDPÈRE AND MIMI

Grandpère says these are double azalea flowers. Whether they are or not, they are lovely.

FEAST OF ÓSCAR ROMERO AND THE MARTYRS OF EL SALVADOR

"EACH OF US CAN DO SOMETHING."
Óscar Romero

Óscar Arnulfo Romero y Galdámez (August 15, 1917 – March 24, 1980), commonly known as Monseñor Romero, was a priest of the Roman Catholic Church in El Salvador. He later became prelate archbishop of San Salvador.

As an archbishop, he witnessed numerous violations of human rights and began a ministry speaking out on behalf of the poor and victims of the country's civil war. His brand of political activism was denounced by the hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church and the government of El Salvador. In 1980, he was assassinated by gunshot while consecrating the Eucharist during mass. His death finally provoked international outcry for human rights reform in El Salvador.

From Wikipedia.

In the sermon just minutes before his death, Archbishop Romero reminded his congregation of the parable of the wheat. "Those who surrender to the service of the poor through love of Christ will live like the grains of wheat that dies. It only apparently dies. If it were not to die, it would remain a solitary grain. The harvest comes because of the grain that dies… We know that every effort to improve society, above all when society is so full of injustice and sin, is an effort that God blesses; that God wants; that God demands of us."

From Caritas Europa.

On December 2, 1980, four American churchwomen were killed by El Salvadoran National Guardsmen: lay missionary Jean Donovan, Maryknoll sisters Ita Ford and Maura Clarke, and Ursuline sister Dorothy Kazel .

On November 6, 1989, six Jesuit priests, their housekeeper, and her daughter were killed by armed men who broke into their house: Ignacio Martín-Baró, SJ, Joaquín López y López, SJ, Juan Ramón Moreno, SJ, Amando López, SJ, Ignacio Ellacuría, SJ, Segundo Montes, SJ, Elba Ramos, and Celina Ramos.

In 2009, the General Convention of The Episcopal Church voted to add San Romero de las Américas and the Martyrs of El Salvador to the church calendar. Their feast day is observed on the date of Romero's martyrdom, March 24.

PRAYER
Almighty God, you called your servant Oscar Romero to be a voice for the voiceless poor, and to give his life as a seed of freedom and a sign of hope: Grant that, inspired by his sacrifice and the example of the martyrs of El Salvador, we may without fear or favor witness to your Word who abides, your Word who is Life, even Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom, with you and the Holy Spirit, be praise and glory now and for ever. Amen.

“LET THOSE WHO HAVE A VOICE, SPEAK OUT FOR THE VOICELESS.”
Óscar Romero

San Romero, ruega por nosotros.

R. I. P. OLGA SZPYLCZYN

Rest in peace dear Olga. May the angels speed you to paradise.

+Olga Szpylczyn
Born, Stuttgart, Germany May 15, 1947
Died, Johnson City, NY March 23, 2011

It was our Lord Jesus himself who said, “Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest.” Let us pray, then, for our sister Olga, that she may rest from her labors, and enter into the light of God’s eternal sabbath rest.

Receive, O Lord, your servant, for she returns to you.

Into your hands, O Lord, we commend our sister Olga.

Wash her in the holy font of everlasting life, and clothe her in her heavenly wedding garment.

Into your hands, O Lord, we commend our sister Olga.

May she hear your words of invitation, “Come, you blessed of my Father.”

Into your hands, O Lord, we commend our sister Olga.

May she gaze upon you, Lord, face to face, and taste the blessedness of perfect rest.

Into your hands, O Lord, we commend our sister Olga.

May angels surround her, and saints welcome her in peace.

Into your hands, O Lord, we commend our sister Olga.

Almighty God, our Father in heaven, before whom live all who die in the Lord: Receive sister Olga into the courts of your heavenly dwelling place. Let her heart and soul now ring out in joy to you, O Lord, the living God, and the God of those who live. This we ask through Christ our Lord. Amen. (Book of Common Prayer)


Please pray for our friend Fran, for her husband Mark, Olga's brother, and for Erica, Olga's niece, that God may give them comfort, consolation, and the peace that passes understanding to keep their minds and hearts in Christ Jesus.

Please leave your prayers and thoughts at Fran's blog There Will Be Bread.