WE'RE MOSTLY NOT WATCHING

...not that we have anything in particular against the Olympics, but we don't have anything in particular for them that would draw us to watch.  I don't wish to spoil the enjoyment of the games for anyone else, but the purpose of my announcement is to let you know that I'm not up on the latest events (or the earliest for that matter) in the Olympics extravaganza.  If you refer to events, I will probably know nothing about them, so you'll have to fill me in.

THE KINGLY POWER OF CHRIST THE KING

I can say with integrity that I believe Jesus Christ is Lord and King, but that acclamation is tempered by the sober knowledge that the Lordship of Jesus and his kingly power are of an utterly different kind and ken from that which the world esteems and which most of us – like the twelve – secretly desire.

-Br. Kevin Hackett
Society of Saint John the Evangelist

Bro John Anthony posted in St. Cuthbert's Cottage

HUBIG'S PIE BAKERY DESTROYED BY FIRE

The massive fire broke out at the Marigny factory on Dauphine Street between Mandeville and Spain streets before dawn.


According to company officials, two or three Hubig Pie employees were in the building at the time the fire began. The fire is believed to have started in the center of the factory, in an area called the fry-room, and spread quickly throughout the building.
....

"This business fed our first responders after Katrina. Our guys put this out with their tears," said NOFD Chief Charles Parent.
....

"We have and will be a good neighbor, this is hard - we're trying to wrap our heads around it," said Hubig's Pies owner Andrew Ramsey. "We have 40 employees and we will rebuild."

The New Orleans bakery opened in 1922.  As a child, I remember buying Hubig's small, individualized pies from a man who traveled the neighborhoods with a pushcart.  My favorite then was peach pie.   Umm...yummy.  Hubig's folded fried pies (of beaucoup calories), were available in the supermarkets and convenience stores here in Thibodaux, and, now and then, I'd treat myself, or Grandpère would buy me a pie, since he knew how much I liked them.  I salivate when I see the pies.  No joke.  We'll be without them for a while, but I'm so pleased the owners will rebuild.  Hubig's Pies are, as they say, an institution in New Orleans.

Below is a video of scenes from inside the bakery.  You can see how the fried pies are made.



Photo on the right from Wikipedia.

THE THEOLOGY GOD

This isn’t to say that we give up trying to describe. But let’s not think we’ve ever arrived.

 From nakedpastor.

BROKEN ANGLO-SAXON LINK?

Mitt Romney on the London Olympics:

The dustup began Wednesday, as Romney, who ran the 2002 Salt Lake City games, said there were "disconcerting" signs in the days before this year's games.

"The stories about the private security firm not having enough people, the supposed strike of the immigration and customs officials -- that obviously is not something which is encouraging," he told NBC News.

"Do they come together and celebrate the Olympic moment? And that's something which we only find out once the games actually begin," he said.

Whoa!  Then Mitt Romney backs up:

In comments before meeting with Labour Party leader Ed Miliband, Romney was more measured. "My experience with regards to the Olympics is it is impossible for absolutely no mistakes to occur," he said. "Of course, there will be errors from time to time, but those are all overshadowed by the extraordinary demonstrations of courage, character and determination by the athletes."

Wait!  What about the special Anglo-Saxon relationship that is really special?  The relationship between the US and England that President Obama does not understand because his father is from Africa?

In remarks that may prompt accusations of racial insensitivity, one suggested that Mr Romney was better placed to understand the depth of ties between the two countries than Mr Obama, whose father was from Africa.

“We are part of an Anglo-Saxon heritage, and he feels that the special relationship is special,” the adviser said of Mr Romney, adding: “The White House didn’t fully appreciate the shared history we have”.

Is the Anglo-Saxon link between England and the United States broken beyond repair?

Is it possible for Mitt Romeny and his campaign staff to be more incompetent?

BISHOP JUSTIN WELBY - CENTRAL CASTING ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY?

Although he's fourth in line behind Christopher Cocksworth, Graham James, and John Sentamu, Giles Fraser likes Bishop of Durham Justin Welby for Archbishop of Canterbury.

Paddy Power has him as 6:1 to be the next archbishop of Canterbury. But Justin Welby, the Bishop of Durham, is having none of it. He really doesn't want the job. "Lets be clear, I'm one of the thicker bishops in the Church of England," he tells me. I'm not taken in by this disarming self-deprecation – something for which Old Etonians like him are not especially noted. No, there is nothing remotely thick about Bishop Welby. 

Ah well, I don't know whether Bishop Welby is thick or not, so I'll take Giles' word for it that he's not.  For the sake of my English friends, I hope and pray for a wise choice by the Crown Nominations Commission.  For the sake of the Anglican Communion, too, although I hope the leaders of the Episcopal Church will never again be as obsequious to another Archbishop of Canterbury as they have been at times to Archbishop Rowan.  I also nurse a small hope that the next ABC might like the members of the Episcopal Church just a little and have the occasional kind word for us, unlike Rowan Williams who seemed so often to scorn, scold, and lecture.

"I have tried to avoid saying anything," he admits at the end of the interview. Well, I'm not sure he succeeded. On many levels he seems like a central-casting Church of England bishop. On the subject of women bishops he speaks of the need to square the circle, reconciling those who think it a theological necessity and those who think it a theological impossibility. How do you do this? "Well, you just look at the circle and say it's a circle with sharp bits on it."

On the question of women bishops, Bishop Welby surely succeeded in not saying anything to me, for I have no idea what he means by his "circle with sharp bits on it".  Still, he'd have Giles Fraser's vote, if he had a vote, which should count for something.

WEEKLY REMINDER

And not only that:

President Obama’s health care overhaul will shrink rather than increase the nation’s huge federal deficits over the next decade, Congress’ nonpartisan budget scorekeepers said Tuesday, supporting Obama’s contention in a major election-year dispute with Republicans.

About 3 million fewer uninsured people will gain health coverage because of last month’s Supreme Court ruling granting states more leeway, and that will cut the federal costs by $84 billion, the Congressional Budget Office said in the biggest changes from earlier estimates.

Republicans have insisted that "Obamacare" will actually raise deficits — by "trillions," according to presidential candidate Mitt Romney. But that’s not so, the budget office said.

Well, excluding people from health care coverage is a sorry way to reduce the deficit, but even if the governors of the various states had not decided against adopting the extension of Medicaid, the deficit would have been reduced by the Obama plan.  Take that, Mitt Romney! 

At the time it was approved in 2010, CBO estimated the law would reduce the deficit by $143 billion from 2010 to 2019. And CBO estimated that last year’s Republican repeal legislation would increase deficits by $210 billion from 2010 to 2021.

Mitt won't take that, as his campaign does not operate in the real world, and he will probably continue to say that Obamneycare will increase the deficit, the truth be damned.

JESUS AND MO - CERN

From Jesus and Mo.

BUYER'S REMORSE?

Republican and Democratic legislators said Monday they are skeptical of Jindal administration claims that health care would not suffer with more than $320 million in cuts to the LSU hospital system.

LSU’s 10-hospital system would bear 60 percent of some $522.5 million in health care spending reductions outlined so far in response to an unexpected cut in federal funding.

Gov. Bobby Jindal is counting on surplus revenues materializing to close the rest of an $859 million congressionally created hole in the Medicaid program for the state fiscal year that began this month.

Come on guys, you just passed the Jindal budget and now you're scared by a lil' ole unexpected $859 million hole in the Medicaid program and a lil' $522.5 million cut to LSU's hospital system?  Heavens to Betsy!  Don't you ever look ahead and plan for the unexpected?  Now you may have to start looking at generating some revenues.  Some of you want a special session to address the budget hole, but the guvna says that won't be necessary because he's counting on surplus revenues to materialize.  You believed his hokus-pokus before, but now you're beginning to doubt?  Iizzy-wizzy, let's get busy; there's a charm for that.

You see, LSU's hospital system is talking of goring oxen - er - closing down clinics and hospitals that treat the uninsured and poor, and the other hospitals in those areas fear lines around the block of people wanting treatment in their emergency rooms.

“I just worry how do we take care of those people if some of these doomsday scenarios happen?” [Sen. Ronnie] Johns responded. “The private hospital sector is absolutely fearful of people showing up on the steps of their emergency room.”

What we have here is a mess on our hands, but what?  Me worry?   Indeed not!  The surplus revenues will materialize...out of thin air, if necessary.   The guvna says so.  Besides, everything must be OK in the Gret Stet, because the guvna is mostly not here in Loosiana.  He's busy campaigning around the country.  I'm not sure what he's campaigning for, but he's very busy.

MARY MAGADALENE

"Penitent Magdalene" - Caravaggio

MARY MAGDALENE

Mary, Mary, Jesus healed you.
Full of thanks, you followed him,
Stayed with him until the end,
Mourned your Savior at the cross.

To the tomb you went on Sunday,
Your Lord's body to anoint.
When you found no body there,
By the grave you stood and wept.

"Mary, Mary, why the weeping?"
"Sir, where did they lay my Lord?"
"Mary!"  "Rabbouni!"
"Ah Mary, do not hold me.

"Go now and tell the others
That I live, as they will see."
And you went, and you told them,
"I have seen my Lord.  He lives."

June Butler 7-23-12

Yesterday was the feast of Mary Magdalene.  There is no evidence in any of the four Gospels that Mary was a harlot.

The whole story of Mary as a prostitute, who is fallen and redeemed, is a very powerful image of redemption a signal that no matter how low one has fallen, one can be redeemed.

Powerful as this image may be, it is not the story of Mary Magdalene. Mary Magdalene is mentioned in each of the four gospels in the New Testament, but not once does it mention that she was a prostitute or a sinner. At some point Mary Magdalene became confused with two other women in the Bible: Mary, the sister of Martha, and the unnamed sinner from Luke's gospel (7:36-50) both of whom wash Jesus' feet with their hair. In the 6th Century, Pope Gregory the Great made this assumption official by declaring in a sermon that these three characters were actually the same person: Mary Magdalene, repentant saint. The Catholic Church did later declare that Mary Magdalene was not the penitent sinner, but this was not until 1969. After so long the reputation still lingers.

Indeed!  Although Caravaggio's painting of the penitent Mary contradicts the information above, I chose it because I love his art.  

Image from Wikipedia.