IT AND BP - 3RD WEDDING ANNIVERSARY

Blessings and congratulations, dear IT and BP! May you have many more happy years together.

IT says, 'Every day, I feel blessed to be married to my Beloved.'

Extend your good wishes to IT and BP at The Friends of Jake.

JESUS AND MO

Click on the cartoon for the larger view.

From Jesus and Mo.

STORY OF THE DAY - EASY OPTION

I'm not that good at live & let live, she
told me, when it's just as easy to avoid &
then I don't even have to think about it.

From StoryPeople.

A GAY VOICE ON COMING OUT DAY

André, Age 4, Baton Rouge, La. (1972)

From The Huffington Post Gay Voices:

The picture of André with the little pink purse is adorable. André's story is bittersweet. He found the picture above as he was looking through an old photo album and showed it to his mother. His mother commented that his sister was really cute at that age. André told his mom that it was his picture rather than his sister's, and she said nothing and turned the page. Sadly, André's parents never came to understand what it meant for him to be gay.

I laughed out loud when I came to this part of André's story:

In my 12 years of Catholic schooling, just about every report card included the comment, "André is a sensitive boy." That was Catholic school code for "gay as a daisy."

André goes on to say:

It was tough growing up "sensitive," and the journey was never easy. It was worth it, though. I can now say I love who I am, and I love the life I've built for myself.

I love that I've learned to honor and protect that sensitive, little boy with the pink Easter purse and black galoshes.

Read the entire story. It's not long, and you won't be sorry. Be sure to look at the pictures of other children in the slide show at the link. A few are hilarious. If being gay is a choice, and sensible people know it is not, then the choice is made early on.

Thanks to Roger for the link.

MUGABE SHOCKED, JUST SHOCKED

From the Daily Mail:

The Archbishop of Canterbury shared tea, scones and jam with Robert Mugabe as he confronted the dictator over the persecution of Anglicans in Zimbabwe.
....

Dr Rowan Williams urged the tyrant to call a halt to a campaign of terror which has seen thousands of the country's Anglicans forced out of their churches and abused.

Dr Williams later said the tyrant, who is a Catholic, claimed to have been shocked at the level of persecution of Anglicans in his country.

He said: ‘He expressed his concern at the damage the division was doing to communities generally in Zimbabwe.'

No doubt Mugabe is a tyrant, but as the Mail tells the story, one pictures the scene with Dr Williams shouting, 'You tyrant! Stop the persecution now!'

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.