'GOD IS LOVE' - THE INNOCENCE MISSION

Rain or shine
This street of mine is golden
Rain or shine
This street of mine is golden

With the gold of hickory leaves
I can walk under these clouds
Rain or shine this street of mine is golden

God is love
And love will never fail me
God is love
And love will never fail me

If I'm driving there today
And I really am this afraid
God is love
And love will never fail me

Some birds I know are moving on this weekend
Some birds I know are moving on this weekend
And I'm under the sky, I am on the ground, with my coat
Some birds I know are moving on this weekend

God is love
And love will never fail me
God is love
And love will never fail me

And some days I will decide
To let everything else go by
God is love
And love will never fail me
Love will never fail me

THEY HAVE NAMES

Total War Deaths: 7787

Iraq: Total Deaths: 4804
-no casualties this past week

Afghanistan: Total Deaths: 2983

WORKMAN, Chris J., 33, SGT, US Army, Boise, ID, 25th Infantry Division
VIRAY, Don C., 25, CWO, US Army, Waipahu, HI, 25th Infantry Division
SHAFFER, Dean R., 23, SGT, US Army, Pekin, IL, 25th Infantry Division
JOHNSON, Nicholas S., 27, CWO2, US Army, San Diego, CA, 25th Infantry Division
METCALF, Michael J., 22, PFC, US Army, Boynton Beach, FL, 82nd Airborne Division
WALSH, Jonathan P., 28, 1st LT, US Army, Cobb, GA, 82nd Airborne Division
FANKHAUSER, Joseph H., 30, SSGT, USMC, Mason, TX, I Marine Expeditionary Force
VASQUEZ, Manuel J., 22, SPEC, US Army, West Sacramento, CA, 172nd Infantry Brigade
GONZALEZ, Moises J., 29, SPEC, US Army, Huntington, CA, 504th Battlefield Surveillance Brigade
NEAL, Benjamin H., 21, SPEC, US Army, Orfordville, WI, 82nd Airborne Division
BRITTONMIHALO, Andrew T., 25, SSGT, USMC, Simi Valley, CA, 2nd Battalion, 7th Special Forces Group
EGGLESTON, Brandon F., 29, SSGT, US Army, Candler, NC, 3rd Special Forces Group
LEE, Jr.,Dick A., 31, SSGT, US Army, Orange Park, FL, 21st Theater Sustainment Command
MOSKO, Christopher E., 28, LT, US Navy, Pittsford, NY, Joint Special Operations Task Force
EDENS, Jason K., 22, SPEC, US Army, Franklin, TN, 1st Armored Division

Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them. May they rest in peace. Amen. May their souls and the souls of all the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen.

May God give comfort, consolation, and the peace that passes understanding to those who love the service members who died.

Almighty God, we commend to your gracious care and keeping all the men and women of our armed forces at home and abroad. Defend them day by day with your heavenly grace; strengthen them in their trials and temptations; give them courage to face the perils which beset them; and grant them a sense of your abiding presence wherever they may be; through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.  (Book of Common Prayer)

Source: iCasualties.org

Note: Estimates of civilian casualties in Iraq range from 105,000 to 1,033,000
For information, click here.

Estimates of civilian casualties in Afghanistan range from 17,000 to 37,000
For information, click here.

List from The Daily Office.

A-MAYING

'Queen Guinevere's Maying' - John Maler Collier

For thus it chanced one morn when all the court, 
Green-suited, but with plumes that mocked the may, 
Had been, their wont, a-maying and returned, 
That Modred still in green, all ear and eye, 
Climbed to the high top of the garden-wall 
To spy some secret scandal if he might, 

(Alfred, Lord Tennysosn -  'Idylls of the King' - 'Guinevere')

Image from Wikipedia.

FOCA - COUP, SCHISM, OR SOMETHING ELSE?

FoCA Conference, London

Paul Bagshaw at Not the Same Stream explains for us what happened at the recent conference in London of the Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans.  Here's a snippet, but do read the entire post.

The epistemic divide is clear. FCA members have objective criteria (both biblical and from within traditional church teaching, though the former is definitive) by which to critique both secular society and Christian praxis.

In particular history in the sense of legitimating and identity-forming narratives is replaced by salvation history: judgement by objective biblical and theological criteria.

Our own (or is he?) +Mark Lawrence attended the London conference and, according to Simon Sarmiento at Thinking Anglicans, he was invited by The Guildford Diocesan Evangelical Fellowship to give a talk in Surrey, before he headed home to Charleston, South Carolina.  If you'd like, you can listen to +Mark's talk at Baby Blue Online. 

I wonder if +Mark will attend General Convention of TEC this year.  GC09 left him feeling quite dyspeptic.  Few would be greatly surprised if the bishop bolted from TEC.

Photo from Baby Blue.

FURTHER ON LIBERTY...

Ain't that the truth?

Thanks to Juan at Informed Comment.

GOOD-BYE SWEET IZZIE

RIP My Sweet Izzie

 From Izzie's human friend, Amelia:

Izzie was put to sleep this afternoon.  My little sweetie has crossed the rainbow bridge.  She has been really failing over the last year or so.
....

I will miss my little sweetie.  I will miss her snoring next to me at night. Her snores were famous in Vestry meetings where they helped move the discussion forward, sounding out at just the right time.  I found her funny, loving, stubborn and always up for an adventure.  Now she will have a new adventure, joining her doggie friends, Sydney and Daisy and Luci as well as Bear and Oso and Eva who have already crossed the rainbow bridge. I'm sure she will be waiting for me, tail up and curled, when it's my time.

Read the rest of the story of Izzie's life with Amelia.

Grandpère and I had the privilege of hosting Izzie and Amelia for a couple of days.  Both Izzie and her human were great guests, the kind you'd like to have back.  Alas, Izzie you'll not come to stay again, but we won't forget you, and perhaps Amelia will return.

The photo above, taken by Amelia, is my favorite, because Izzie looks smashing resting on the quilt of many colors and wearing her pink bow.

O Lord our God, we come before You this day in sadness.  Izzie, who brought Amelia so much joy in life, has now died.   Her happy times in her embrace have come to an end.  She misses Izzie already.

Help her, O God, to remember the good times with Izzie.  Remind her to rejoice in the happy times she brought to her home.  Let her be thankful for the good life she was blessed to give to her.

We are grateful to You, God, for creating Izzie, for entrusting her to Amelia's care, and for sustaining Izzie in her love for a measure of time.   We understand that all that lives must die.   She knew that this day would come.  And yet, O God, she would have wanted one more day of play, one more evening of love with Izzie.

O God, as Amelia has taken care of Izzie in life, we ask that You watch over her in death. You entrusted Izzie to her care; now, she gives her back to You.  May Izzie find a happy new home in Your loving embrace.

 As we remember Izzie, may we love each other more dearly.   May we care for all Your creatures, for every living thing, as Amelia protected the blessed life of Izzie.  May her memory bless our lives with love and caring forever.  Amen. 

(Prayer from Rabbi Barry H. Block)

'THE HEART OF GOD'

By nakedpastor.

The cartoon is so sad.  It made me cry.

AIRCRAFT HITS FOUR BUILDINGS

Even though this is tough to watch, please do watch it...it's important to those involved. It just shows the dangers of attending these events. 

Air Show Disaster - Amazing photo shows great detail. The pilot at low level had no control over his aircraft. It narrowly misses a crowd gathered for the air show and slams into four buildings. 

One can only imagine the horror of the occupants inside those buildings.

Probably scared the shit out of them. Don't blame me.  Blame Doug.

FROG PSYCHIC HOTLINE

Recently, the Psychic Hotline and Psychic Friends Network have launched
telephone hotlines for frogs.

A frog telephones the Psychic Hotline to get his fortune told and the psychic considers and says, "You are going to meet a beautiful young girl who will want to know everything about you."

The frog replies, "This is great news!  Will I meet her at my pond, at a party, or what?"

"No," says the psychic.  "Next semester in her biology class."


Cheers,

Paul (A.)

Wicked cruel!

Picture from Wikipedia.

'THE CHURCH SHOULD BLAZE A TRAIL....'

From the Church Times in England:

AS A committed, Bible-believing Chris­tian, I am ashamed and ap­palled by the debate about gay marriage. My views are not those of my son, who is gay and who is now an atheist, but result from some ten years of reading, prayer, dis­cussion, and serious thought.

My son came out at the age of 20, having spent much of his previous ten years knowing that he was not growing up to feel attracted to girls, but to boys. I don’t think he even knew the word “gay” at the be­ginning of this process, but he knew that he was growing up differently.

 I am now convinced that homo­sexuality is a developmental condition that is not amenable to change at any psychological level; it is not a matter of choice; and is something that has caused many boys and girls to live in shame and fear from their early teens onwards. I know that my son had no access to other gay people through his adolescence, and that it was only at university that he was able to talk this through with hetero­sexual friends, finally coming to the conclusion that he was gay.

We, the Church, over centuries have perpetrated a great wickedness on these children and developing adults, forcing many to live by deceit, in failed heterosexual marriages, and even in an inability to form rela­tionships because of their own private hell.

At least the gay-rights cam­paigners have had the courage to stand up and work on some sort of social change. It is a pity that the Church did not do this in the first place.

A mother's cry from the heart, surely, and a cry that should touch other hearts and perhaps melt a few hearts of stone.  With great courage, Linda names wickedness for what it is.  With the mess that straight folks have made of marriage today, who are we to disrespect couples of the same sex who wish to love and cherish one another in faithful, committed relationships?  Who are we to decree that these couples may not call their relationships marriage?  And where is the church in all this?  Why are the civil authorities in England leading the way?  Linda speaks to her Church of England, but here in the Episcopal Church in the US, we still have a way to go, although we are headed in the right direction.   As Linda says, 'The Church should blaze a trail....'

H/T to Simon Sarmiento at Thinking Anglicans.