BOND GIRL TO CATHEDRAL CANON

My friend Cathy sent me the link to the story last night, but I've learned the hard way not to post late at night when I'm tired. I see MadPriest posted the story first, and I give him due credit, but my post is not a copycat. It's just that the folks in England have the advantage because they get up earlier over there.



From the Daily Mail:

Shannon Ledbetter appeared alongside Pierce Brosnan in the 1997 film Tomorrow Never Dies, wearing a £250,000 PVC dress.

A £250,000 PVC dress!!! A plastic dress at that price? Well, I never!

Shannon looks a bit sad in her expensive plastic dress. :-(

But after throwing in the towel on her acting career, she studied theology and was ordained in 2003. Shannon, 47, was inducted yesterday as a canon - a permanent member of cathedral clergy - by The Bishop of Blackburn Reverend Nicholas Reade and Dean of Blackburn, the Very Reverend Christopher Armstrong.

There now. That's much better. Shannon is perhaps a bit dressed down from her Bond days, but she looks so very happy. Just look at her radiant smile.

In 2009 the Cathedral was criticised for supplying communion bread blessed by a man in case members of the congregation refused to accept the sacrament after a woman priest had consecrated it.

But Canon Ledbetter said she welcomes the challenge faced by women in the church.

She said: "Many women are ordained in the Church of England and have been for a number of years. I'm happy to embrace the challenge of changing people's minds, people can only judge by my actions. I hope to fulfil the role well."

Go Canon Shannon!

And now I'll tell you my real reason for going forward with the story, even though MadPriest had it first. Cathy not only supplied the link, but she supplied the following commentary:

From loose woman to loose canon!! Haha!!! :)

Now I'm sure Canon Shannon was not a loose woman before she became a canon, but do you really think I was going to let an execrable pun go to waste?

NOTE: All joking aside, I wish Canon Ledbetter the very best as she begins her work in the new position.

BISHOP MARK LAWRENCE ON LAMBETH 2008

From Anglican Mainstream:
Canterbury, England

I am glad I came here for this Lambeth and worshipped one last time in the Cathedral home of Augustine and Dunstan, Anselm and Becket, Cranmer and Laud, Temple and Ramsay. I had come to speak a word of hope and perhaps to intervene on behalf of our beloved, but in the last resolve the family refused the long needed measures. So he just slipped away, our noble prince, one dreary morning in Canterbury with hardly even a death rattle.

The new prince was born last month in Jerusalem. I was there—arriving late, departing early. I was never quite sure what I was witnessing. It was an awkward and messy birth. He hardly struck me as I gazed upon him there in the bassinet as quite ready to be heir to the throne. I even wondered at times if there might be some illegitimacy to his bloodlines. But that I fear was my over wedded ness to a white and European world. May he live long, and may his tribe increase—and may he remember with mercy all those who merely mildly neglected his birth.

As for me my role for now is clear, to hold together as much as I can for as long as I can that when he comes to his rightful place on St. Augustine’s throne in Canterbury Cathedral he will have a faithful and richly textured kingdom.

Bishop Mark Lawrence of South Carolina

The death of the noble old prince is such a sad story - a real heart-breaker, but the good news of the birth of another prince brings a bit of heartsease. And the new prince's name? GAFCON! The name carries great weight and seems a heavy burden to lay upon a mere babe in a bassinet. Still: The prince is dead; long live the prince! And we rest a bit more secure in the knowledge of Bishop Lawrence's mighty effort to hold things together until the new prince takes the throne.

No more words, unless I take a page from the New Yorker to say: Block that metaphor!

Thanks to a friend who found this gem hidden away in the archives at Anglican Mainstream. If you check out their website, you'll soon realize that 'Mainstream' is a misnomer.

WELL DONE, ARCHBISHOP ROWAN

During his visit to Zimbabwe, in his sermon at the celebration of the Eucharist in a stadium crowded with 15,000 people, Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams struck all the right notes.

It is not only that some refuse the invitation of God to share his abundant love and generosity. It is all too easy for us human beings to try and block that love and prevent it from reaching others. You know very well, dear brothers and sisters, what it means to have doors locked in your faces by those who claim the name of Christians and Anglicans. You know how those who by their greed and violence have refused the grace of God try to silence your worship and frustrate your witness in the churches and schools and hospitals of this country. But you also know what Jesus' parable teaches us so powerfully – that the will of God to invite people to his feast is so strong that it can triumph even over these mindless and Godless assaults. Just as the Risen Jesus breaks through the locked doors of fear and suspicion, so he continues to call you and empower you in spite of all efforts to defeat you. And in the Revelation to John, the Lord proclaims that he has set before us an open door that no-one can shut. It is the door of his promise, the door of his mercy, the door into the feast of his Kingdom.

In your faith and endurance, you have kept your eyes on that open door when the doors of your own churches have been shut against you. You have discovered that it is not the buildings that make a true church but the spiritual foundations on which your lives are built. And as we together give thanks for the open door that God puts before us, we may even find the strength to say to our enemies and persecutors, 'The door is open for you! Accept what God offers and turn away from the death-dealing folly of violence.'
....

This Eucharist is the sign of God's purpose for all of us; it is a feast in which all are fed with Christ's new life, in which there is no distinction of race, tribe or party. In this community there can be no place for violence or for retaliation: we stand together, sinners in need of grace, proclaiming to the world that there is room at God's table for all people equally. What the Church has to say to the society around it, whether here or in Britain, is not to advance a political programme but to point to the fact of this new creation, this fellowship of justice and joy, this universal feast. It is on the basis of this vision that we urge all people to say no to violence, especially as the next election approaches in this country; to discover that deep reverence for each person that absolutely forbids us from treating them as if their welfare did not matter, from abusing and attacking them.

Read it all. It is excellent.

There's more.

Following their meeting with President Robert Mugabe, the Archbishops of Canterbury, Central Africa, Southern Africa and Tanzania issued the following statement at their press conference.

In our capacities as leaders of the Anglican Church in Africa and worldwide, we have just met President Robert Mugabe.

We come here to be in solidarity with our Anglican sisters and brothers at the invitation of the local church – the Anglican Province of Central Africa, which includes the five dioceses of Zimbabwe.

As you know this has been a time of immense trial.

Since 2007 Anglican congregations in Zimbabwe have suffered serious persecution at the hands of the police. They have been intimidated. Their churches have been closed. Properties, including schools and clinics, have been seized.

As representatives of the Anglican Communion, and with the support of ecumenical friends worldwide, we strongly and unequivocally support the efforts of ordinary Anglicans to worship in peace and to minister to the spiritual and material needs of their communities.

Today we were able to present President Mugabe with a dossier compiled by the bishops in Zimbabwe which gives a full account of the abuses to which our people and our church has been subject. We have asked, in the clearest possible terms, that the President use his powers as Head of State to put an end to all unacceptable and illegal behaviour.

We are proud of our church and our people who have suffered so much, but who continue to serve with love and with hope.

For our part we pray, and invite you to join us in praying, that the Anglican Church in Zimbabwe be allowed to carry out its mission in peace, and serve its communities with love.

Gracious Father, we pray for thy Anglican Church in Zimbabwe. Fill it with all truth, in all truth with all peace. Where it is corrupt, purify it; where it is in error, direct it; where in any thing it is amiss, reform it. Where it is right, strengthen it; where it is in want, provide for it; where it is divided, reunite it; for the sake of Jesus Christ thy Son our Savior. Amen.

PLEASE PRAY...

From Ann Fontaine:

Asking for prayers for Ann A. -- a long time friend-- who has to go back for more chemo as her cancer is growing again.

Also for Vashti Thompson -- a little girl who has been very sick.

Vashti and I take this time to thank each and everyone of you for your prayers, support, care, and concern -- expressed or not – during this time of our daughter, Vashèd’s medical uncertainty. On Monday, Sept. 26, Vashed presented flu symptoms with a fever that would not break plus cough and a sore throat. Her Pediatrician ordered some lab work, which showed severe anemia, an enlarged spleen, and fused but well-functioning kidneys (apparently congenital). As all this was inexplicable, she recommended further evaluation, which we sought at the HIMA Hospital in San Juan, Puerto Rico where we have been all of this past week.

In the last few days Vashèd has been pricked, poked and seen through in ways no 7-yr old (her birthday is actually October 25) should have to endure – constant drawing of blood, a sonogram, a chest X-Ray, a CT scan, a hemoglobin electrophoresis, and a bone marrow respiratory biopsy – but all of it necessary. The initial analyses of these tests are showing no malignancy and nothing extraordinary, and we continue to pray that it remains that way. Her hemoglobin count is up; and red and white blood cells as well as blood platelets are stable. Vashèd is in high spirits and is ready to return to school. We hope to be back home for church this week-end. There is follow-up with the Hematologist in the next couple weeks.

Vashti and I continue to ask for your prayers.

Also for JimB's wife:

And please add Sue-z whose broken foot is incredibly painful and debilitating. My love can barely walk the few feet from our bed to the dinner table without crying. She WILL heal, and it will get better, but watching her now hurts.

O God, the strength of the weak and the comfort of sufferers: Mercifully accept our prayers, and grant to your servants Ann A. and Sue-Z the help of your power, that their sicknesses may be turned into health, and our sorrow into joy; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Heavenly Father, watch with us over your child Vashèd, and grant that she may be restored to that perfect health which it is yours alone to give; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

A LOAD OF LAUNDRY

"I did a load of laundry yesterday. All my socks are accounted for but now the dryer's missing."

Cheers,

Paul (A.)

From Daily Kos Cheers and Jeers.

JOE THE PLUMBER STRIKES AGAIN!

From Capitol New York:

Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher, better known as "Joe the Plumber," has formed a congressional campaign committee and filed a statement of candicacy, according to the Federal Election Commission's website.
....

The statement of candidacy isn't online yet, but it lists Wurzelbacher in Ohio's Ninth District, which has been held by Democrat Marcia Kaptur since 1983. Wurzelbacher floated the idea he might challenge Kaptur in 2010, and there have been rumors recently that he might consider a run.

If you think folks like Joe have had their 15 minutes of fame, and we've seen the last of them, you'd be wrong. Joe apparently liked his brief time in the limelight and wants more. I'm curious about the finances behind the kick-off of Joe's campaign for the House of Representatives.

H/T to David Nir at Daily Kos.

Picture from Wikipedia, from 2008.

AIN'T IT THE TRUTH?

Found on Facebook, posted by Ron.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING, MY CANADIAN FRIENDS!!

BONNE ACTION DE GRÂCE, MES AMIS CANADIENS!!

I've posted the same pictures more than once to extend good wishes to you, my friends in Canada, because I like them. I hope you like them.

OLD SOUTH CHURCH IN BOSTON - JESUS DIDN'T TURN PEOPLE AWAY

Click on the image for the larger view.

H/T to Ann Fontaine on Facebook.

STORY OF THE DAY - SMART EXERCISE

If you were smart, you'd probably spend
more time stretching, he said & I said, If
I were really smart, I'd probably spend
more time just sitting in the shade
drinking lemonade

From StoryPeople.