HAPPY SUMMER SOLSTICE!

Earth's seasons.  Far left: summer solstice for the Northern Hemisphere.

 What will be my midsummer night's dream?   What will be yours?

Video from Stonehenge in 2010. 



Picture from Wikipedia.

A GREAT CHASM...

SCG put together this Bishop Yellow Belly video a year and a half ago.  The content seems as relevant today as when it was made, including the portion on the Anglican Covenant, as I suspect that there are those in the Church of England who wish to revive the corpse.

UPDATE: No sooner had I hit "Publish" when a new post from Paul Bagshaw in England appeared in my reader on (of all things!) the subject of the Anglican Covenant.

"No timeframe" and "following ACC-15" keep options open. Drexel Gomez' drumbeat of 'urgent, urgent' has clearly been ignored. Instead an open-ended process would allow the Anglican Consultative Council to kill the Covenant if enough members wished to do so. Alternatively it would allow one province after another to sign up till those who had initially declined to do so became overwhelmed by its popularity and conceded.

Hmm...and further from GS1878: report by the Business Committee on the reference [of the Covenant] to the dioceses :

6) ... For the record, there is nothing in the Synod’s Constitution or Standing Orders that would preclude the process being started over again, whether in the lifetime of this Synod or subsequently, by another draft Instrument to the same effect being brought forward for consideration by the General Synod before being referred to the dioceses under Article 8. The Business Committee is not, however, aware of a proposal to re-start the process in this way.

Please read Paul's entire commentary on the shenanigans "amongst those who might regard themselves as 'players' in this particular game."  Sounds to me as if the "players" want to keep all options open, including an attempt to revive the corpse of the covenant in England.  

TRINITY WALL STREET COULD HAVE CHOSEN FORGIVENESS

#OWS #D17 Trial photo by Jefferson Siegel

Below is a portion of Occupied Bishop George Packard's sentencing statement at his trial yesterday on charges of trespassing and criminal mischief.

No, my great sadness today has nothing to do with the law, its fairness or even an economic system favoring the few at the expense of the many in these days. 

It has to do with how Trinity Church has chosen to hop back and forth between being the aggrieved and trespassed party on the one hand and the sympathetic ear and support for those who deserve a message of mercy and forgiveness on the other. There was nothing to be gained by going forward with these prosecutions. Rector James Cooper even appreciated "the healthy debate" about  his property. I guess that discussion has limits for him when his corporate  side and cash flow takes over.

Is this entity a corporation worried about fiduciary interest or a portion of the Body of Christ? Which are they? We have received our answer today by their insistence for this action. In a time when we hope our moral institutions will speak with clarity…this one didn’t.

Read it all at the link above to Bishop George's blog.

The New York Times gives the story short shrift with only brief coverage, but Episcopal News Service covers the story with more thoroughness.

A retired Episcopal bishop and a priest from the Episcopal Diocese of New York were among seven people convicted June 18 on charges of trespassing on property owned by Trinity Episcopal Church, Wall Street, during a Dec. 17 Occupy Wall Street demonstration and sentenced to four days of community service.

George Packard, former Episcopal bishop suffragan for armed services and federal ministries, and the Rev. Earl Kooperkamp, rector of St. Mary’s Episcopal Church in Harlem, had faced up to 90 days in prison on the most serious charge, Packard’s lawyer, Gideon Oliver, had previously told ENS.

An eighth defendant, Mark Adams, was convicted of trespassing and additional charges of attempted criminal mischief and attempted possession of burglar’s tools, reportedly for trying to use bolt-cutters to slice through the fence surrounding the property. He was sentenced to 45 days in prison on Rikers Island and taken from court in handcuffs, Oliver said in a telephone interview after the trial.
....

Packard said he was surprised, disappointed and saddened by the trial’s outcome. He spoke to ENS via cell phone while attending a post-trial conference about how to support Adams, who he said had “become the fall guy” for the Dec. 17 Occupy action. The prosecutor recommended a 30-day sentence, but Adams received 45 days, he said.

“The eight of us [defendants] feel sort of bonded in brotherhood,” he said. “We’re feeling like a member of the family has been torn out from among us.”

Trinity did not have to pursue the charges, but it opted to “protect fiduciary interests,” Packard told ENS. “It’s pretty sad. I mean, this is what our church has come to. You don’t have enough pledging units to sustain many places. So we depend on the cash flow of corporate investment. It’s a caricature of what the gospel is.”

Statement from Trinity Wall Street after the verdict was handed down:

Like many churches, Trinity has a long and active history in addressing social and economic inequities. While we are sympathetic to many of the OWS protestors' stated goals, we do not support the seizure of private property. Trinity urged the District Attorney's Office to offer non-criminal dispositions before trial and to request non-jail sentences for those defendants who chose to proceed to trial. All protestors received sentences of four days of community service, except for one defendant who was convicted of additional crimes and had several open cases unrelated to Duarte Square. We continue to support the basic principles underlying the Occupy movement, and will continue to welcome protestors, as we welcome all others in our community, to our facilities in the Wall Street neighborhood.

As I have said elsewhere, Trinity's choice was stark and not complicated...to be on the side of the angels or on the side of the greedy bankers and financiers who run our country. Surely the Occupiers represent a very small David taking taking on the Goliath of Wall Street, but they did it anyway.

In the beginning of the Occupy movement, I wondered what were the demands of the Occupiers, what conditions they wanted met, until I visited the group in New Orleans before they were removed from two public spaces. I talked to the people there and suddenly it clicked. The Occupy folks will not be boxed in by a set of conditions or demands. When I asked the people why they were there, each person had a different reason, but it all came down to the injustice embedded in our political system, which is controlled by the big money folks. We are the 99%.

And I'm sure many of the Occupiers would laugh at my calling them the angels, for they are a messy, sometimes loud, and sometimes unsightly bunch. I don't know but its the kind of situation in which you either get the Occupy movement or you don't. The light bulb comes on, or it doesn't.

Trinity's choice should have been easy, and they chose wrong.  TWS is a church, part of the Body of Christ. What about hospitality? What about forgiveness?

LAWYER OPERATION RECOVERY

A lawyer awakened after a serious operation, only to find herself in a dark room with all the blinds drawn.

"Why are all the blinds closed?" she asked her doctor.

"Well," the surgeon responded, "they're fighting this huge multi-alarm fire just across the street from the hospital, and we didn't want you to wake up and think the operation had failed."


Cheers,

Paul (A.)

Kudos to Paul (A.) for sharing lawyer jokes, since lawyering is his profession, though I note the lawyer in the joke is a woman, which may give him a degree of deniability. 

OCCUPY WALL STREET TRIAL

#OWS #D17 Trial photo by Jefferson Siegel

 The defendants were some of the dozens arrested last Dec. 17, a month after O.W.S.’s eviction from Zuccotti Park. Half of the 20 defendants in this particular group had already had their cases adjourned or charges dropped entirely.

 Eight stood ready to go to trial on Monday morning. Charges for most of those who entered the lot included trespassing and criminal mischief.
....

t the end of the second day of testimony, retired Episcopal Bishop George Packard — who was the first to climb a ladder and enter LentSpace on Dec. 17 — stood outside the court building with his fellow defendants.

“I just felt like Occupy Wall Street needed a new home and we should place our bodies in a location of justice,” Packard said of his motivation for entering the fenced-off square.
Defense lawyer Gideon Oliver said Trinity has had chances to drop the case against his client Packard, but refused to do so.

“Packard had a good-faith belief, based on Trinity’s past practices and his relationship with Rector James Cooper, that Trinity would exercise forbearance. Trinity had multiple opportunities to back off these prosecutions,” Oliver said.

Defense lawyer Stolar offered a more faith-based outlook.

“The Bible and prayer say, ‘Forgive us our trespasses.’ That’s what Trinity should be doing.”

The trial resumes tomorrow. 

O God of justice and mercy: We ask you to bless this court of justice, the defendants, their defense attorneys, the leaders of Trinity Church, Trinity's attorneys, and the judge, and give to all who participate the spirit of wisdom and understanding, that they may discern the truth, and impartially administer the law; We ask that the hearts of the leaders of Trinity be open to the spirit of forgiveness; through your Son our Savior Jesus Christ.

Photo and link from Bp George Packard's Facebook page.

UPDATE:

Eight Occupy Wall Street members were convicted on Monday of criminal trespass for breaking into a fenced-in private lot last December during a protest.

The protesters scaled an eight-foot fence, ignoring signs that warned against trespassing, and entered a plaza known as Duarte Square that is owned by historic Trinity Church, one of lower Manhattan's largest land-owners.

The one-week trial in Manhattan Criminal Court pitted the church, once a strong ally of the movement, against Occupy supporters, who pressured church leaders not to cooperate with the prosecution.

....

In the trial before Manhattan Criminal Court Judge Matthew Sciarrino, one defendant, Mark Adams, was also convicted of trying to slice through the fence's locks with bolt-cutters

Sciarrino sentenced him (Mark Adams) to 45 days, more than the 30 days that prosecutors had been seeking; he did not offer an explanation.

The other seven defendants received four days of community service.

Trinity could have dropped the charges.  What about forgiveness?

H/T to Jim Naughton at The Lead.

GILES FRASER'S NEOLOGISM EXPLAINED

Click on the picture for the larger view.

Giles Fraser's definition of his new word in a visual by Susan Russell as seen on Facebook.

WHAT IS THIS CHURCH OF ENGLAND...?

Canterbury Cathedral

In The Times in London, which you cannot read without a subscription, Diarmaid MacCullough writes about the latest statement from the Church of England on the proposal to allow same-sex civil marriage in England.  Of course, I cannot copy the entire article for a number of reasons, but I'll take the risk of giving you a few snippets:

So “the Church of England cannot support the proposal to enable all couples, regardless of their gender, to have a civil marriage ceremony”. That’s odd, I thought that I was part of the Church of England and I can and do support the proposal. And I know quite a few other people who thought that they were part of the Church of England and they support it too.

So what is this Church of England that doesn’t? It doesn’t actually sign its name to the 13-page public submission it has just made to the Government’s consultation on marriage equality, but it is not difficult to ferret out what it is.

It is a curious theme park called Bishop World. This is a collection of middle-aged to elderly males, some gay (though they don’t like to say so in public), some heterosexual (and they remind us of that all the time in public). They have a penchant for wearing mitres, sitting on committees and talking to each other. They are ably assisted by a small group of lawyers and civil servants, again for the most part remarkably male. A high fence protects the environs of Bishop World, so none of the inmates are troubled by opinions from the distressing wilderness beyond its bounds. Within their defences, nevertheless, they are anxious, insecure creatures, who worry incessantly about the breakdown of society.

I hesitate to post the link where I found the entire article, but if you Google the first words of the piece and the author's given name, you should find it.  I would not want to vacation at Bishop World Theme Park.

Geaux, Diarmaid - er - Sir Diarmaid!

LYME REGIS - PART THREE

For so very long, I'd wanted to visit the little town of Lyme Regis on the coast of England in West Dorset because of its association with Jane Austen and her novel Persuasion, in which Louisa falls when jumping off the steps of the Cobb and suffers a serious injury, because of the setting of the movie "The French Lieutenant's Woman", and the book of the same title, and more recently because I read a novel about Mary Anning, the young fossil hunter. For the full story of why I wanted to go to Lyme Regis, see my earlier post on the town.

The entire visit to the little town had an air of unreality about it, as I could not quite believe I was finally there. The emotions that I thought would emerge when I arrived in the place I had so wanted to visit didn't come, and I felt a detachment, as though I was watching a film of someone else in Lyme Regis. I said nothing to Cathy, my fellow traveler, about my feelings, because she might have taken them to be disappointment, but that was not the case at all. What happened was that the emotions were too great, so a kind of numbness took over, which is the reason why I've taken so long to actually write about the place. As I write these words, I sound a little crazy, even to myself.

We drove through the town and parked as close to the beach as we could, which was pretty close considering our visit was during the tourist season. We walked straight to the beach, and I had my first view of the Cobb, which featured so prominently in two of the books and the movie.

Cathy and I walked out on the Cobb, and she insisted that I do the Meryl Streep imitation.  Since I couldn't quite believe I was actually walking and standing on the Cobb, the joking around with the scarf and me as Meryl Streep early in the visit was probably a good thing.


After the walk on the Cobb, Cathy and I headed for the beach.  Although smaller fossils (curies, as the local people call them), can still be found at Lyme Regis, during the tourist season the beach is pretty much swept clean.   As we walked along, Cathy spotted the small fossil pictured at the left and gave it to me as a memento of our trip.  I was quite surprised by the find and even more moved by Cathy's generous gift.

We walked back to town and looked for a restaurant to eat lunch, but all were either too crowded or unsatisfactory for one reason or another. We headed back to the beach, walked up and down, and settled on By The Bay, where we intended to have lunch at one of the outdoor tables, protected by umbrellas, with a full view of the beach. However, as we walked toward the restaurant, a light rain began to fall, and by the time we reached the restaurant, the rain came down harder, so we took a table inside. Of course, we had to order fish and chips, and Cathy recommended ginger beer, as she said, "Fentimans, a good old Newcastle firm, the logo is the owner's dog, which is one of the reasons I like it."  What could I do?  I ordered Fentimans Ginger Beer, along with a glass of wine.

I'll let Cathy speak again, "We had a good time :) The restaurant served damn good fish and chips."  Indeed!  We had a lovely lunch, with delicious fish and chips and tasty ginger beer. 

After lunch, we walked along the row of colorful beachfront changing cabins, where folks had their chairs, iceboxes, and food and drink - their supplies for a day on the beach.  I imagine the ladies of the late 18th and early 19th century changing into their bathing costumes with hardly an inch of skin exposed beyond the face and hands and being rolled out to sea in bathing machines.

As we headed back to town past the shops and made our way to the car, I particularly noted the beautiful lampposts with shell motifs.  The photo to the left with the birdie perched on one of the beauties is very likely not mine, but where it comes from, I can't say.

My sense of inhabiting a dream had lifted a little toward the end of the visit, but the entire time in the town has an air of unreality about it until this day.  Did I really visit Lyme Regis, or are my memories  a figment of my imagination?  The pictures prove I was there, but still... 

Image at the head of the post and of the Cobb from Wikipedia.

Note: The picture of the streetlamps is also from Wikipedia.

...INTO THE VERY HEART OF GOD

Bro John Anthony

11:44am Jun 15

When we talk of Jesus making intercession for us to the Father, it’s not Jesus ‘talking’ to God about us or for us, it is Jesus being intimately close to His Father and carrying us whom He loves on His heart, and into the very heart of God.

-Br. Geoffrey Tristram
Society of Saint John the Evangelist

Bro John Anthony posted in St. Cuthbert's Cottage

"PATIENT TRUST" - PIERRE TEILHARD DE CHARDIN

Patient Trust

Above all, trust in the slow work of God.
We are quite naturally impatient with everything
to reach the end without delay.
We should like to skip the intermediate stages.
We are impatient with being on the way to something
unknown, something new.
And yet it is the law of all progress
that it is made by passing through
some stages of instability -
and that it may take a very long time,
And so I think it is with you.
Your ideas mature gradually – let them grow,
Let them shape themselves, without undue haste.
as though you could be today what time,
(that is to say, grace and circumstances
acting on your own good will)
will make of you tomorrow.
Only God could say what this new spirit
gradually forming within you will be.
Give Our Lord the benefit of believing
that His hand is leading you,
and accept the anxiety of feeling yourself
in suspense and incomplete.

~Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, S.J.

Thanks to David@Montreal for sending me the wise and beautiful poem.