WHAT STEPHEN SAYS...

I report. You decide.

Click on the picture for the larger view.

'THE BLESSED COMPANY...'

From Donald Schell's essay titled 'The Blessed Company of All Faithful People', Part II at the Daily Episcopalian:

Just what do Episcopalians mean by “salvation?” A lot of different things, of course. I think salvation has little to do with “where we end up” and everything to do with God’s work reconciling us to each other and to God, moving closer to our embrace of one another in God now and forever.

Amen! Read the rest of Schell's essay, which is excellent, along with the commentary, which is quite good.

STORY OF THE DAY - GODDESS

I do much better as a goddess, she said,
since my secretarial skills have always
been limited

Oh yes. Quite true.

From StoryPeople.

LORD CAREY, PLEASE ENJOY A QUIET RETIREMENT

From the Telegraph:

Lesley Pilkington was effectively barred from her professional register after attempting to convert a homosexual man in a therapy session at her home.

Her patient turned out to be a gay rights journalist, who had secretly recorded the sessions and then reported her to her professional body. Mrs Pilkington, a committed Christian, was subsequently found guilty of professional misconduct.

The therapy practised by Mrs Pilkington had been described as "absurd" by the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) and roundly condemned by the Royal College of Psychiatrists.

But ahead of her appeal against the BACP ruling, Mrs Pilkington has received backing from the Rt Rev Lord Carey, the former Archbishop of Canterbury.

In a letter to her professional body, Lord Carey – along with a number of senior figures – suggests Mrs Pilkington is herself a victim of entrapment whose therapy should be supported.

So now Mrs Pilkington is the victim and wants professional recognition and approval to practice her brand of psychotherapy, which has been shown to be destructive in some cases and ineffective over all.

Amongst the co-signers of the letter are Rt Rev Michael Nazir-Ali, the former Bishop of Rochester and the Rt Rev Wallace Benn, the Bishop of Lewes. You may recall that Bishop Benn compared the campaign for women bishops in the Church of England to the storm clouds gathering over Europe in 1939.

In the course of the type of psychotherapy practiced by Mrs Pilkington and her cohorts:

Homosexual men are sent on weekends away with heterosexual men to "encourage their masculinity" and "in time to develop healthy relationships with women", said Mrs Pilkington.

When will Lord Carey cease his foolishness and fade away into the quiet retirement he so justly deserves?

Picture from Wikipedia.

Thanks to Lapin for the the link to the Telegraph.

NEW ORLEANS JAZZ GREATS - 'BUCKET'S GOT A HOLE IN IT'

Uptown Bumps (1958).... Featuring: Sweet Emma Barrett, Punch Miller, Slow Drag Pavageau, George Guesnon, Paul Barbarin, Peter Bocage, Charlie Love, George Levis, Louis Nelson

When Preservation Hall opened in 1961, it was my great pleasure to hear music played by the New Orleans jazz musician greats featured in the video.

WINTER FLOWERS

The dwarf azaleas in front and on the side of our house are in bloom once again after showing their colors around Christmas. We never know when the azaleas will burst into bloom, so they're always a pleasant surprise.

JONATHAN CLATWORTHY ON THE PAPER DOLL

At Modern Church, Jonathan Clatworthy, General Secretary to the organization, wrote an excellent response to Peter Doll's inaccurate and downright insulting essay on the Episcopal Church in the United States and its relationship to the Anglican Communion and to the proposed Anglican Covenant. Doll is originally from the US, but he has served in the Church of England since his ordination. Still, Doll claims to know the church which he says nurtured him well. Peter Doll is Canon Librarian at Norwich Cathedral in England, therefore one would expect the fruits of his personal knowledge and research to exhibit a result that paints an accurate and evenhanded picture of the Episcopal Church, rather than the biased views expressed in the essay.

Keep in mind that Clatworthy is English and that it is entirely possible to arrive at a more realistic and balanced view of the Episcopal Church from across the big pond in the Green and Pleasant Land. That Doll's paper was sent to all the bishops in the Church of England with the stamp of approval from Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams is astounding to me.

Wait! On second thought, as I remember certain of Rowan's statements about the Episcopal Church, I am not so surprised, because Doll and Rowan come to seem more like birds of a feather, which makes me even more grateful for Clatworthy's admirable rebuttal.

I met Jonathan when I was in England, and we had a wonderful, long, chatty lunch in London between his trains, and I speak from personal knowledge when I say that he's all right.

Disclosure: Jonathan and I are both members of the No Anglican Covenant Coalition.

Jonathan Clatworthy lives in Liverpool and is Modern Church General Secretary. He has worked as a parish priest, university chaplain and lecturer in Ethics.

APHORISM OF THE DAY - A BETTER WORLD

I dream of that better world, too. Poor chickens.

Thanks to MM for my first laugh of the day.

WAXING CRESCENT MOON

Bright hornéd crescent
Suspended in darkened sky
Upward facing points

SATURDAY UPDATE: Tonight at twilight, the sky was a beautiful, clear midnight blue, with the very bright crescent somewhat larger than last night, again poised between the shining planets, Venus and Jupiter, with Orion overhead, slightly to the east. Lovely.

STORY OF THE DAY - QUIET PRIDE

There has never been a day when I have
not been proud of you, I said, though
some days I'm louder about other stuff
so it's easy to miss that.

From StoryPeople.

The story is for Grandpère as a late birthday gift. I'm sad to say the story applies, more often than I'd like.