A COUNTRY TALE

A clergyman was walking down a country lane one warm summer day and encountered a young farmer struggling to load hay back onto a cart after it had fallen off.

"You look hot, my son," said the parson. "Why don't you rest a moment, and then I'll give you a hand."

"No, thanks," said the young man, continuing to work away. "My father wouldn't like it."

"Don't be silly," the minister said. "Everyone is entitled to a break. Come have a drink of water."

Again the young man protested that his father would be upset. Losing his patience, the clergyman said, "Your father must be a real slave driver. Tell me where I can find him and I'll give him a piece of my mind!"

"Well," replied the young farmer, "right now he's under this load of hay."


Regards,

Paul (A.)

This one really ticked my funnybone. I'm guessing Paul (A.) didn't sign off with his usual, 'Cheers', because he knew the joke would cheer me.

CARDINAL FRANCIS GEORGE APOLOGIZES (SORT OF)

From the Chicago Tribune:

Chicago's Cardinal Francis George apologized Friday for remarks aired on Christmas Day comparing the gay pride parade to the Ku Klux Klan.

"I am truly sorry for the hurt my remarks have caused," George said in an interview with the Tribune. "Particularly because we all have friends or family members who are gay and lesbian. This has evidently wounded a good number of people. I have family members myself who are gay and lesbian, so it's part of our lives. So I'm sorry for the hurt."

But is the cardinal sorry for his words?

"When I was talking, I was speaking out of fear that I have for the church's liberty and I was reaching for an analogy which was very inappropriate, for which I'm sorry," George said. "I didn't realize the impact of what I was saying. ... Sometimes fear is a bad motivation."

Come now, Cardinal George, fear for the liberty of your church? Visit the Middle East, where, in certain countries, Christians are being killed for the faith, and perhaps you'll gain a bit of perspective about the threat to your church in the US.

George said he didn't expect the public uproar over the comments.

Well, now he knows.

Photo from Wikipedia.

UPDATE: Oops, I forgot. H/T to Ann Fontaine at The Lead.

A NEW IDEA TO INCREASE CHURCH MEMBERSHIP

Video from WNEM-TV.

From Salon:

A Michigan pastor who says he’s doing everything he can to reach out to people who don’t feel comfortable at a traditional house of worship has opened a tattoo parlor inside his church.

Rev. Steve Bentley of The Bridge, a church located inside a Flint Township shopping center, said his ministry is built on the belief that mainstream religion has become ineffective and irrelevant to most people. To that end, he opened Serenity Tattoo.

Tattoo artists Ryan Brown and Drew Blaisdell work by appointment or from noon until 8 p.m., Monday-Saturday, at the county-licensed tattoo shop that sits not far from Bentley’s office as well as the watering trough that he uses for baptisms.

Bentley, who has two tattoos, said he understands some don’t like the idea of Serenity Tattoo inside the church, but the pastor considers tattooing a “morally neutral” practice that he likens to getting one’s ears pierced.

“We are about doing church in a different way and being relevant to people,” Bentley told The Flint Journal. “You can get a tattoo in a clean environment. You can do it while still sticking to your moral code.”

Somehow, I don't think a suggestion for a tattoo parlor in the church or the parish hall would gain traction at my church or any Episcopal church that I know of, although there may be churches out there who would be willing to implement the idea.

On the church website, Pastor Steven Bentley's says:

Wow!!! Front page article about The Bridge having a Tattoo Parlor in our building has turned into quite the media frenzy. Few things about this - We did not open Serenity Tattoo for publicity, rather to change lives beginning with the artists, their clients and apprentices and spreading from there. Many positive posts from all walks of life - love to see some "getting it." Some negative posts that fall into 3 categories - 1 being Leviticus 19:28 which says not to cut yourselves or make permanent marks - 2 being Jesus clearing the temple in Matthew and 3 being the church is a place for worship not tattoos or other stuff.

The first one is really simple - Lev 19:27 also says to not cut the hair at your temples or trim your beards and that chapter contains many cultural/ceremonial prohibitions based on what the local idolaters were doing and trying to make sure the Israelites were distinguishing themselves from them. Anyone that wants to say that one verse is a prohibition on tattoos must also condemn ear piercing, shaving, and many other currently acceptable practices. Using that verse to condemn tattooing is pure ignorance of good bible study.

Pastor Bentley is spot on about the passage in Leviticus. The book is chock full of laws that both Jews and Christians consider cultural norms for the times, rather than laws to be obeyed today.

Read the rest of Pastor Bentley's statement, which also addresses objections to the tattoo parlor based on passages in the Christian Testament, the cleansing of the temple and the church as a house of worship. His defenses are not all that persuasive to me. In all honesty, I found the toll booths in York Minster to be offensive. I question charging a fee to visit a church. It's fine to suggest an amount for a donation, but to charge an admission fee seems wrong. No one should be kept out of a church because of an inability or even an unwillingness to pay.

I wonder if the experience of getting tattooed is serene at Serenity Tattoo. I was rather tense while getting tattooed several years ago, and I wanted the session to be over as quickly as possible.

T S ELIOT READS 'JOURNEY OF THE MAGI'

A rare recording taken from a live interview T. S. Eliot did for the BBC, broadcast during World War II. The original audio was pretty bad, but I cleaned it up as best I could. The thing that comes through most clearly is that nobody reads Eliot like Eliot.

Uploaded to YouTube by bobtoomey on Sep 15, 2009

The Journey of the Magi

'A cold coming we had of it,
Just the worst time of the year
For a journey, and such a long journey:
The ways deep and the weather sharp,
The very dead of winter.'
And the camels galled, sore-footed, refractory,
Lying down in the melting snow.
There were times we regretted
The summer palaces on slopes, the terraces,
And the silken girls bringing sherbet.
Then the camel men cursing and grumbling
And running away, and wanting their liquor and women,
And the night-fires going out, and the lack of shelters,
And the cities hostile and the towns unfriendly
And the villages dirty and charging high prices:
A hard time we had of it.
At the end we preferred to travel all night,
Sleeping in snatches,
With the voices singing in our ears, saying
That this was all folly.

Then at dawn we came down to a temperate valley,
Wet, below the snow line, smelling of vegetation;
With a running stream and a water-mill beating the darkness,
And three trees on the low sky,
And an old white horse galloped away in the meadow.
Then we came to a tavern with vine-leaves over the lintel,
Six hands at an open door dicing for pieces of silver,
And feet kicking the empty wine-skins.
But there was no information, and so we continued
And arrived at evening, not a moment too soon
Finding the place; it was (you may say) satisfactory.

All this was a long time ago, I remember,
And I would do it again, but set down
This set down
This: were we led all that way for
Birth or Death? There was a Birth, certainly,
We had evidence and no doubt. I had seen birth and death,
But had thought they were different; this Birth was
Hard and bitter agony for us, like Death, our death.
We returned to our places, these Kingdoms,
But no longer at ease here, in the old dispensation,
With an alien people clutching their gods.
I should be glad of another death.

What a treasure! Thanks to Bob Toomey for the find and the fix.

Thanks to Katie Sherrod via Ann Fontaine on Facebook.

OH DEAR!

FEAST OF THE EPIPHANY

ANGELICO, Fra - Adoration of the Magi - 1423-24
Abegg-Stiftung, Bern

Collect

O God, who by the leading of a star manifested your only Son to the Peoples of the earth: Lead us, who know you now by faith, to your presence, where we may see your glory face to face; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.

Isaiah 60:1-6,9

Arise, shine; for your light has come,
and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you.
For darkness shall cover the earth,
and thick darkness the peoples;
but the Lord will arise upon you,
and his glory will appear over you.
Nations shall come to your light,
and kings to the brightness of your dawn.

Lift up your eyes and look around;
they all gather together, they come to you;
your sons shall come from far away,
and your daughters shall be carried on their nurses’ arms.
Then you shall see and be radiant;
your heart shall thrill and rejoice,
because the abundance of the sea shall be brought to you,
the wealth of the nations shall come to you.
A multitude of camels shall cover you,
the young camels of Midian and Ephah;
all those from Sheba shall come.
They shall bring gold and frankincense,
and shall proclaim the praise of the Lord.
For the coastlands shall wait for me,
the ships of Tarshish first,
to bring your children from far away,
their silver and gold with them,
for the name of the Lord your God,
and for the Holy One of Israel,
because he has glorified you.

Psalm 72

Of Solomon.
Give the king your justice, O God,
and your righteousness to a king’s son.
May he judge your people with righteousness,
and your poor with justice.
May the mountains yield prosperity for the people,
and the hills, in righteousness.
May he defend the cause of the poor of the people,
give deliverance to the needy,
and crush the oppressor.

May he live while the sun endures,
and as long as the moon, throughout all generations.
May he be like rain that falls on the mown grass,
like showers that water the earth.
In his days may righteousness flourish
and peace abound, until the moon is no more.

May he have dominion from sea to sea,
and from the River to the ends of the earth.
May his foes bow down before him,
and his enemies lick the dust.
May the kings of Tarshish and of the isles
render him tribute,
may the kings of Sheba and Seba
bring gifts.
May all kings fall down before him,
all nations give him service.

For he delivers the needy when they call,
the poor and those who have no helper.
He has pity on the weak and the needy,
and saves the lives of the needy.
From oppression and violence he redeems their life;
and precious is their blood in his sight.

Long may he live!
May gold of Sheba be given to him.
May prayer be made for him continually,
and blessings invoked for him all day long.
May there be abundance of grain in the land;
may it wave on the tops of the mountains;
may its fruit be like Lebanon;
and may people blossom in the cities
like the grass of the field.
May his name endure for ever,
his fame continue as long as the sun.
May all nations be blessed in him;
may they pronounce him happy.

Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel,
who alone does wondrous things.
Blessed be his glorious name for ever;
may his glory fill the whole earth.Amen and Amen.

The prayers of David son of Jesse are ended.

Ephesians 3:1-12

This is the reason that I Paul am a prisoner for Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles— for surely you have already heard of the commission of God’s grace that was given to me for you, and how the mystery was made known to me by revelation, as I wrote above in a few words, a reading of which will enable you to perceive my understanding of the mystery of Christ. In former generations this mystery was not made known to humankind, as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit: that is, the Gentiles have become fellow-heirs, members of the same body, and sharers in the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.

Of this gospel I have become a servant according to the gift of God’s grace that was given to me by the working of his power. Although I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given to me to bring to the Gentiles the news of the boundless riches of Christ, and to make everyone see what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God who created all things; so that through the church the wisdom of God in its rich variety might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. This was in accordance with the eternal purpose that he has carried out in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have access to God in boldness and confidence through faith in him.

Matthew 2:1-12

In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, asking, ‘Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we observed his star at its rising, and have come to pay him homage.’ When King Herod heard this, he was frightened, and all Jerusalem with him; and calling together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born. They told him, ‘In Bethlehem of Judea; for so it has been written by the prophet:
“And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
for from you shall come a ruler
who is to shepherd my people Israel.”’

Then Herod secretly called for the wise men and learned from them the exact time when the star had appeared. Then he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, ‘Go and search diligently for the child; and when you have found him, bring me word so that I may also go and pay him homage.’ When they had heard the king, they set out; and there, ahead of them, went the star that they had seen at its rising, until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw that the star had stopped, they were overwhelmed with joy. On entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother; and they knelt down and paid him homage. Then, opening their treasure-chests, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they left for their own country by another road.

The painting by Fra Angelico is breathtakingly beautiful. The art of the holy monk places high in my list of favorites.

The choice of the well-known traditional hymn for the day may seem rather pedestrian, but the performance by the Kings College Choir is truly lovely.

Image from the Web Gallery of Art.

A FREAKY, FREAK ACCIDENT

Yesterday afternoon, Grandpère opened a can of Mountain Dew in the back yard, took a swig and put the can down briefly to do a chore. A few minutes later, he took another swig, and a bee flew out of the can, but not before stinging him on the lip.

GP seems to have more than his share of odd and freaky accidents, most of them resulting in only minor injuries, thank heavens. He came inside and said, "Guess what happened."

I said, "How did you hurt yourself this time?" with the big one in mind, although I could see that he was in one piece and not obviously bleeding.

Apparently, the bee was thirsty and was attracted to the soda can by the sweet smell and decided to have a swig, too.

"Take a Benadryl," says I.

"No, I don't like taking medicine," says he.

Before long, GP was back in the house with a bulbous bottom lip. Of course! I gave him a short anatomy lesson, telling him that the lips were not far from the throat (like the knee bone is connected to the thigh bone), and that he would not want his throat swollen so he couldn't breathe, and that I would rather avoid a trip to the ER. He took the Benadryl. About a half hour later, I suggested he take another, which he did. By the evening, the swelling had gone down quite a bit.

It's not easy being right all the time when dealing with a stubborn man.

WHO SHOULD MAKE THE COFFEE?

A man and his wife were having an argument about who should brew
the coffee each morning.

The wife said, "You should do it, because you get up first, and then we won't have to wait so long to get our coffee".

The husband said, "I disagree: You are in charge of the cooking around here and so you should do it, because that is your job. I can just wait for my coffee."

Wife replies, "No, you should do it, and besides it is in the Bible that the man should do the coffee."

Husband replies, " I can't believe that, show me."

So she fetched the Bible, and opened the New Testament and showed him at the top of several pages, that it indeed says:


"HEBREWS"


Cheers (and Happy New Year!),


Paul (A.)

But I drink tea!

I wonder if Paul's lovely wife hears these stories every single day.

JESUS AND MO - MANY

From Jesus and Mo.

STORY OF THE DAY - BUTTERFLIES

He told me that the night his mother
died, there were storms & far away he
saw purple lightning & someone left the
window open & the room filled with a
swirl of butterflies & she slipped out
quietly without anyone noticing & I'm
sure the grief was softer because of that.

From StoryPeople.