THE REVELRY BEGINS WITH PHUNNY PHORTY PHELLOWS

 

The costumed and masked krewe assembled on Twelfth Night, January 6, 2012 (Sunday) at the Willow Street Car Barn (map) at 6:30pm. At 7pm sharp, the Phunny Phorty Phellows boarded the streetcar and began their ride to "Herarld the Arrival of Carnival" down the St. Charles Ave. Streetcar Line.

All were invited to come see the PPP off beginning at 6:30, when the group started to gather. Of course Storyville Stompers were there with us.

The Phellows are an historic Mardi Gras organization that first took to the streets 1878 through 1898. They were known for their satirical parades and today¹s krewe members’ costumes often reflect topical themes. The group was revived in 1981.

The people in New Orleans don't get a break between Christmas season and Carnival season.  The party goes on until Lent.  Where I live, we don't rush into Carnival partying as quickly, but the custom of sharing king cakes starts tomorrow.

BISHOP GENE ROBINSON RETIRES TODAY

Kelvin Holdsworth, Provost of St Mary's Cathedral in Glasgow, writes a moving tribute to Bishop Gene. He says what is in my heart much better than I ever could.  Kelvin invited the Episcopal Bishop of the Diocese of New Hampshire to celebrate at St Mary's during Lambeth 2008, when Gene was locked out of the conference.  Kelvin says:

I’m grateful to him for his ministry here, one of the most electric Sunday mornings since I came here. I’m also grateful to him for keeping the faith, preaching the gospel and standing up to injustice. And yes, I’m proud of having known the first out gay man in a partnership (marriage now…) who became a bishop.  So, here’s to you, Bishop Robinson, Jesus loves you more than you can know. And I’m thankful for what you shared about that love whilst Bishop of New Hampshire.
....

It is abundantly clear today that it is not all about Gene Robinson any more. The compromise that has been announced in England in the last 24 hours only turns the clock back by about 18 months and I’m genuinely surprised by all the excitement in the media about it. Nothing has changed since yesterday. The key facts remain the same:

  •The Church of England behaves badly to gay people in leadership

  •The public discourse of the Church of England at major festivals is dominated by a prurient interest in Jeffrey John’s private life.

  •The media don’t understand it but like the fuss and use any excuse to put nutters on the television

Read Kelvin's lovely post in its entirety.

Bishop Gene's commentary on his exclusion from Lambeth.

The offer to be hosted at the Marketplace is a non-offer. That is already available to me. One workshop on one afternoon and being interviewed by the secular press was not anything I was seeking. I wasn't going to Lambeth to have another interview with the secular press. If interviewed at all, I want to talk with a theologian. I want to talk about the love of Christ. I want to talk about the God who saved me and redeemed me and continues to live in my life. I want to talk about the Jesus I know in my life.

But my mind boggles at the misperception that this is just about gay rights. It might be in another context, but in this context it is about God's love of all of God's children. It's a theological discussion, it's not a media show. I have been most disappointed in that my desire was to participate in Bible study and small groups, and that is not being offered. It makes me wonder: if we can't sit around a table and study the Bible together, what kind of communion do we have and what are we trying to save?

I am dismayed and sickhearted that we can't sit around a table, as brothers and sisters in Christ, and study scripture together.

Of all the voices that needed to be heard at Lambeth, Gene's was one of the most vital, but  Archbishop Rowan Williams chose rather to exclude him.  The church, for so long, persisted in talking about LGTB persons, rather than engaging with them and listening to them.  Change is taking place in churches and in secular society.  Sadly, the Church of England has not yet caught up.

I'm proud to be a member of the church that consecrated the first gay, partnered bishop in the Anglican Communion.  Gene and Mark are now married.  With his unwavering example in proclaiming the Gospel message of God's love and love for one another, by word and by deed, Gene changed many hearts.  Godspeed, Bishop Gene.

May the blessing of light be on you - light without and light within.
May the blessed sunlight shine on you like a great peat fire,
so that stranger and friend may come and warm himself at it.
And may light shine out of the two eyes of you,
like a candle set in the window of a house,
bidding the wanderer come in out of the storm.
And may the blessing of the rain be on you,
may it beat upon your Spirit and wash it fair and clean,
and leave there a shining pool where the blue of Heaven shines,
and sometimes a star.
And may the blessing of the earth be on you,
soft under your feet as you pass along the roads,
soft under you as you lie out on it, tired at the end of day;
and may it rest easy over you when, at last, you lie out under it.
May it rest so lightly over you that your soul may be out from under it quickly; up and off and on its way to God.
And now may the Lord bless you, and bless you kindly. Amen

From Faith and Worship.

        

IT'S STILL CHRISTMAS - 11 (YESTERDAY)

Yesterday, I completely forgot to note the eleventh day of Christmas, and today is the twelfth day of Christmas.  Tonight, which is Twelfth Night, the revelry begins in New Orleans.

"Grace dances. I would pipe. Dance ye all."
....
Down a gothic nave
comes our Pfarrer now, blessing the West with water:
we may go. There is no Queen's English
in any context for Geist or Esprit; about
catastrophe or how to behave in one
I know nothing, except what everyone knows—
if there when Grace dances, I should dance.

(W H Auden "Whitsunday in Kirchstetten")

The post turns rather serious, thanks to Marthe, who reminded me of Auden.

The image is the cover of a book, Eleven Pipers Piping, a Father Christmas Mystery. Since I'm using the cover as my illustration, the least I can do is include a link.

THREE WISE WOMEN

 

THIS MAN WANTS TO BE YOUR PRESIDENT

From the Advocate:

In Baton Rouge, Gov. Bobby Jindal’s latest round of state budget cuts are forcing shelter director Audrey Wascome to contemplate cutting the number of beds for battered women and children by a third.

The reductions will hit shelters for domestic violence victims across the state, including the Metropolitan Center for Women and Children in the New Orleans area. The Metropolitan Center’s executive director, Dale Standifer, said Thursday the cuts will erode funding for an emergency shelter that gives women a place to sleep when they have nowhere else to go.
....

Funding for family violence prevention and intervention programs was cut by $998,413, a 16 percent reduction in total dollars through the contracts the state holds with shelters and other domestic violence prevention providers.

Other reductions impacted hospice services, health care providers, dental benefits for pregnant women and contract services for the poor, the mentally ill and the drug-addicted.

Jindal wants to put the women and children in hotel rooms, but Wascome says there is no money to pay for hotel rooms.  Right now she turns away women and children every day, because the shelters are full, and she may have to reduce the number of beds in the because of budget cuts.  Why is it so often the most vulnerable who must suffer?

For 2010, the Violence Policy Center ranked Louisiana fourth in the nation in the number of women murdered by men in single victim-single offender homicides.  Between Jan. 1, 2010, and Oct. 31, 2012, domestic violence was blamed for the deaths of nearly 200 people across Louisiana, according to the Louisiana Coalition Against Domestic Violence. 

Bobby Jindal is the very soul of "compassionate conservatism", and he wishes to share his concept of "compassion" with the entire country. He wants to be in charge of the country so much that he travels frequently to promote his own cause and phones in his orders to his staff in Louisiana.

Jindal declines requests for interviews or commentary from the local media, because he wants to be a star on the national stage, and coverage by the media in Louisiana will not further his national ambitions.  The locals know too much and might ask embarrassing questions.

DIANA SIZES HIM UP

 

Diana: I know I've lived here a long time, but do I like this person? Where is his hair? His arms are hairy, but his head....  Something seems to be missing.

IT'S STILL CHRISTMAS - 10

 

Today, I offer ten lords a-leaping on the tenth day of Christmas...literally and fundamentally.  What fun! Thanks to a Facebook friend who found the picture somewhere on the intertubes.

Ten elder lords on Christmas tenth
Leapt upward with a bound.
Though bodies jumped and stretched full length
Feet barely cleared the ground.

Did you know there are two ways of counting the days of Christmas?  Some start the count on Christmas day, and others on the day after Christmas.  I thought you'd like to know.  And that's all I have for you, my peeps.  As I've already said, I'm running out of steam with days of Christmas. 

JESUS AND MO - NORMS

 

Click on the strip for the larger view.

From Jesus and Mo.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY FROM PEACE PILGRIM

"But, you see, I love people and I see the good in them," she continued. "And you're apt to reach what you see. The world is like a mirror: If you smile at it, it smiles at you. I love to smile, and so in general, I definitely receive smiles in return."

Listen to and/or read Peace Pilgrim's story.

H/T to Kurt Weisner at The Lead.

IT'S STILL CHRISTMAS - 9

Not nine ladies dancing, but nine stones set in a circle, the Loch Buie Stone Circle on the Isle of Mull in Scotland, which I visited a couple of years ago with my travel companions, Cathy and Jonathan.

The circle was originally nine granite stones, about 12 metres in diameter, with the tallest stone being about 2 metres high. It is mainly composed of granite slabs which have been positioned with their flatter faces towards the inside of the circle. One of the original stones has been removed and replaced in recent times with a low boulder.

There are 3 single stones in the field at differing distances from the circle. The nearest of these outlying stones is 5m away to the south-east, and is only 1m tall. The second outlier is a spectacular monolith 3m high and set about 40m away to the south-west. Also south-west of the circle, 107m away, is the third outlier, over 2 metres high. The stone is broken at the top and was probably taller when erected.

I wonder why the original stone was removed and replaced with a boulder.   Below is a photo of  the large outlier stone.

To the left is a picture of me standing beside a stone to give you an idea of the size of one of the stones in the circle, which varied in height and width.

Cathy said the photo reminded her of an illustration of Aslan and the evil White Queen from The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, and the resemblance is plain.  If I had tried to strike the pose, I couldn't have done a better job.



And what the subject of this post has to do with Christmas, I can't say, except today is the ninth day of Christmas, and there are nine stones in the circle.  Gimme a break.