New Year

This is to be used as a "first footing" prayer. In Scotland and the northern parts of England, New Year is given much importance: folk go from house to house wishing each other a good year ahead, and celebrate their good wishes with food and plenty of drink. It is often seen as important who should be the first to cross the threshold and 'bring in the year' once midnight has passed.

This song (spoken or sung) asks Christ Himself to come and 'first-foot' for us. The door is opened to welcome Him in and invite His blessing whether He comes in silence or in the company of other guests.

This day is a new day
that has never been before.
This year is a new year,
the opening door.

Open the door

Enter, Lord Christ -
we have joy in your coming.
You have given us life;
and we welcome Your coming.

I turn now to face You,
I lift up my eyes.
Be blessing my face, Lord;
be blessing my eyes.
May all my eye looks on
be blessed and be bright,
my neighbors, my loved ones
be blessed in Your sight.

You have given us life;
and we welcome Your coming.
Be with us, Lord,
we have joy, we have joy.
This year is a new year,
the opening door.
Be with us, Lord,
we have joy, we have joy.


From Celtic Daily Prayer.

Image from The Gutenberg Project.

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HAVE A HAPPY NEW YEAR!

AFTER SERIOUS & CAUTIOUS CONSIDERATION...YOUR CONTRACT OF FRIENDSHIP HAS BEEN RENEWED FOR THE NEW YEAR 2010.

IT WAS A VERY HARD DECISION TO MAKE...SO TRY NOT TO SCREW IT UP!!!


May peace break into your home and may thieves come to steal your debts.

May the pockets of your jeans become a magnet for $100 bills.

May love stick to your face like Vaseline and may laughter assault your lips!

May happiness slap you across the face and may your tears be that of joy.

May the problems you had forget your home address!

In simple words...



Thanks to Doug.

Photo of fireworks on the Mississippi River in New Orleans from Ruba.

Bears!

TRY AND TELL THIS JOKE WHEN YOU'VE HAD A FEW DRINKS IN YA ! HA HA HA ..... A bear walks into a bar in Billings, Montana and sits down. He bangs on the bar with his paw and demands a beer. The bartender approaches and says, 'We don't serve beer to bears in bars in Billings. 'The bear, becoming angry, demands again that he be served a beer. The bartender tells him again, more forcefully, 'We don't serve beer to belligerent bears in bars in Billings...' The bear, very angry now, says, 'If you don't serve me a beer, I'm going to eat that lady sitting at the end of the bar. 'The bartender says, 'Sorry, we don't serve beer to belligerent, bully bears in bars in Billings. The bear goes to the end of the bar, and, as promised, eats the woman. He comes back to his seat and again demands a beer. The bartender states, 'Sorry, but we especially don't serve beer to belligerent, bully bears in bars in Billings who are on drugs. 'The bear looks at him quizzically and says, 'I'm not on drugs.' (You're gonna love me for this...) The bartender says, 'You are now. That was a barbitchyouate.


Don't blame me. Blame Bob. Don't say it. He's already been asked to leave the stage.

Alex And José Are Married

Less than one month after a Buenos Aires court derailed the marriage of Alex Freyre and Jose Maria di Bello, the couple wed Monday at the southern tip of Argentina, making it the first same-sex marriage in Latin America.

"As a couple, we dreamed of marrying for a long time," Freyre told the state-run Telam news agency.

Their marriage was hailed as a victory by gay rights groups in Argentina, though it was unknown whether the legality of their marriage would face any challenges.

Let us hope that José and Alex will overcome should further legal challenges come. For now, they are married.

¡Felicidades! May you have a long and happy life together, Alex and José.

Thanks to David@Montreal for the link.

From CNN.

Counterlight On St. Peter's Basilica

In recent weeks, Counterlight posted a series of virtual tours of St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. His latest, masterful contribution is at his blog, Counterlight's Peculiars. As I said in the comments there, reading the posts was a good news/bad news experience for me. The good news is what I learned about St. Peter's that I did not know before. The bad news is that now I know of all that I missed on my two visits to the basilica. I'd love to take a walking tour through St. Peter's with Doug.

I hope that at least some of Doug's fortunate students appreciate the effort that he puts into his teaching. His posts on art, architecture, and art history have taught me so very much.

To entice you to read Doug's post and view the rest of the pictures, I stole the photo of Bernini's Baldachino over the high altar in St. Peter's from his blog post.

It's Still Christmas - White Christmas

Don't blame me. Blame Doug.

Schillebeeckx - "...A Ghetto Church...."?

The Belgian-born Dutch Dominican theologian, Edward Schillebeeckx, died Dec. 23 at the age of 95 in Nijmegen, Netherlands, where he lived and taught for more than five decades. He wrote well into his 90s.
....

Precious Blood Fr. Robert Schreiter, considered the leading U.S. expert on Schillebeeckx, said his legacy will live on, principally for several major contributions. He was the first Catholic scholar to take seriously all the historical research on Jesus that had been done in the 19th and 20th centuries and present it in an intelligible way.
....

When I visited him in Nijmegen in 2007 I was impressed with his calm demeanor. It came, I think, from his confidence in God and in Christ. He knew the story was not over, though he was keenly aware of the hierarchical church today and had no misapprehensions about the direction in which it seemed to be heading. This is what he said in 1990:

My concern is that the further we move away in history from Vatican II, the more some people begin to interpret unity as uniformity. They seem to want to go back to the monolithic church which must form a bulwark on the one hand against communism and on the other hand against the Western liberal consumer society. I think that above all in the West, with its pluralist society, such an ideal of a monolith church is out of date and runs into a blind alley. And there is the danger that in that case, people with that ideal before their eyes will begin to force the church in the direction of a ghetto church, a church of the little flock, the holy remnant. But though the church is not of this world, it is of men and women. Men and women who are believing subjects of the church.

Fr. Schillebeeckx's words from 1990 are as timely today as they were then, and not simply as applied to the Roman Catholic Church. Is there a lesson for Episcopalians and Anglicans in the words as we ponder and discuss the Anglican Covenant which has been laid before the churches in the "Anglican Communion" to sign - or not? The words "some people begin to interpret unity as uniformity" and "the monolithic church which must form a bulwark" lept out at me. I cannot help but believe that Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams' vision for the "Anglican Communion" is similar to the type of church Schillebeeckx warns against. Did the ABC not study Schillebeeckx's theology or ecclesiology? Or did he study the writings and conclude that they were nothing of value? Why in heaven's name would Rowan want to model his plan for the "AC" after a Roman model that is so obviously flawed and unsuitable for the Anglican churches of today? Why would he strive for the impossible goal of a communion of uniformity and monolithic structure for a group of churches of such wide diversity? What in heaven's name is wrong with a communion based on the Scriptures, the Creeds, common worship, and the bonds of affection?

Repeating Fr. Schreiter's words:

When I visited him in Nijmegen in 2007 I was impressed with his calm demeanor. It came, I think, from his confidence in God and in Christ.

Why a Covenant focused on rules and discipline rather than a focus on the Center, Jesus Christ, in whom "we live and move and have our being"?

From the National Catholic Reporter.

H/T to Ann Fontaine at the Lead.

It's Still Christmas - Straight No Chaser

The original version from 1998. The members of the group reunited and are back in a capella business. See and hear what they look and sound like today at YouTube.

Click on the x at the top right of the ads to remove them from view.

Thanks to Doug.

The Pipe Organ At St. John's In Thibodaux

St. John’s Episcopal Church has an 1893 Farrand & Votey pipe organ rebuilt by Jim Hammann of New Orleans. It has 7 ranks of pipes. One rank is from a Katrina-damaged Unitarian church in New Orleans. It was being installed when Katrina hit but was not damaged. Installation was completed in 2006. Dr. Carol Britt discovered this organ when she was looking for an organ to install in her house. She saw it in Jim Hammann’s shop and thought it would be perfect for St. John’s. Jim acquired this organ from an Episcopal mission church in North Carolina because he had written his doctoral dissertation on the Farrand & Votey organ company and he specializes in saving and rebuilding and maintaining historic organs. St. John’s originally had an electronic Allen organ but was in the beginning stages of renovating and restoring the church when we decided to purchase this organ. The 1893 pipe organ was installed in the choir loft and a separate two-manual console from the 1920s was purchased and installed down front.

 

Thanks to LaDonna Alexander, our gifted church organist, pianist, and choir director, for the information on the organ and console. What a blessing LaDonna is to our church community at St. John's.

The Pay Raise

Our Mexican maid asked for a pay increase. My wife was very upset about this and decided to talk to her about the raise.

She asked: "Now, Maria, why do you want a pay increase?"

Maria: "Well, Señora, there are three reasons why I want an increase. The first is that I iron better than you."

Wife: "Who said you iron better than me?"

Maria: "Your husband said so."

Wife: "Oh."

Maria: "The second reason is that I am a better cook than you are."

Wife: "Nonsense! Who said you were a better cook than me?"

Maria: "Your husband did."

Wife: "Oh."

Maria: "My third reason is that I am a better lover than you."

Wife (really furious now): "Did my husband say that as well?"

Maria: "No, Señora . . . the gardener did."

Wife: "So how much do you want?"


Don't blame me. Blame Paul (A.), who says that he does not have a Mexican maid. Whether I believe him or not is a whole other matter.