Evening Prayer For Blessing During Advent

God of the watching ones,
give us Your benediction.

God of the waiting ones,
give us Your good word for our souls.

God of the watching ones,
the waiting ones,
the slow and suffering ones,
give us Your benediction,
Your good word for our souls,
that we might rest.

God of the watching ones,
the waiting ones,
the slow and suffering ones,
and of the angels in heaven,
and of the child in the womb,
give us Your benediction,
Your good word for our souls,
that we might rest and rise
in the kindness of Your company.


From Celtic Daily Prayer: Prayers and Readings from the Northumbria Community

UPDATE: I "borrowed" the prayer from Image & Spirit.

Bible Too Liberal? Fix it!

From the Christisn Science Monitor:

Indianapolis – The Bible, it turns out, is too liberal.

At least the Conservative Bible Project thinks so. The group has set itself the task of "translating" the Bible in a more conservative way, so as to eliminate liberal "misinterpretations" and prevent liberal "misconstruals."

This is not a joke. Consider Conservapedia, the conservative perspective Wikipedia site that features this translation project.

When it first started, it was difficult to tell if it was an authentic conservative phenomenon or a parody along the lines of "The Colbert Report." Attempts to parody an extreme group often simply end up resembling an even more extreme, possibly very fringe, but equally real group.

But it has become clear that what looks like an attempt at satire is a real project proposed by people who don't seem to grasp the irony of their endeavor.

Now, with similar irony, the Conservative Bible Project plans to replace text in the Bible, which is often open to more than one interpretation, with new text that will be in accord with how the members of the project interpret the text; in some cases, what they think it really ought to say even though it doesn't.

Surely you won't be surprised that the "translation" is not a translation, but rather a rewriting of the Bible to conservative purposes. No attention whatsoever is given to the meaning of the words in the original languages. The goal is to make the Bible all that a proper conservative Bible should be. Whatever it takes, make the Good Book say what you want it to say.

The author of the article, James F. McGrath, an associate professor of religion at Butler University in Indianapolis, says:

These "translators," if they are serious about what they are proposing to do, are exalting themselves above the Bible and, from the perspective of conservative Christianity, above God.

If nothing else, the project illustrates the fact that "conservative" and "Bible-believing" are not the same thing, despite what you'll often hear.

Whaaat! Say it ain't so. What do you think? Here are the guidelines from the folks at Conservapedia for their ideal Bible.

As of 2009, there is no fully conservative translation of the Bible which satisfies the following ten guidelines:[2]

1. Framework against Liberal Bias: providing a strong framework that enables a thought-for-thought translation without corruption by liberal bias
2. Not Emasculated: avoiding unisex, "gender inclusive" language, and other feminist distortions; preserve many references to the unborn child (the NIV deletes these)
3. Not Dumbed Down: not dumbing down the reading level, or diluting the intellectual force and logic of Christianity; the NIV is written at only the 7th grade level[3]
4. Utilize Powerful Conservative Terms: using powerful new conservative terms to capture better the original intent;[4] Defective translations use the word "comrade" three times as often as "volunteer"; similarly, updating words that have a change in meaning, such as "word", "peace", and "miracle".
5. Combat Harmful Addiction: combating addiction[5] by using modern terms for it, such as "gamble" rather than "cast lots";[6] using modern political terms, such as "register" rather than "enroll" for the census
6. Accept the Logic of Hell: applying logic with its full force and effect, as in not denying or downplaying the very real existence of Hell or the Devil.
7. Express Free Market Parables; explaining the numerous economic parables with their full free-market meaning
8. Exclude Later-Inserted Inauthentic Passages: excluding the interpolated passages that liberals commonly put their own spin on, such as the adulteress story
9. Credit Open-Mindedness of Disciples: crediting open-mindedness, often found in youngsters like the eyewitnesses Mark and John, the authors of two of the Gospels
10. Prefer Conciseness over Liberal Wordiness: preferring conciseness to the liberal style of high word-to-substance ratio; avoid compound negatives and unnecessary ambiguities; prefer concise, consistent use of the word "Lord" rather than "Jehovah" or "Yahweh" or "Lord God."

I don't know about you, but I'm pre-ordering my copy. Gimme that ol' time conservative Bible.

Thanks to Chris for the link.

Please Pray

Sue-z who has the bad taste to actually live with me(!) has a date with a surgeon next week. We are about to go to the pre-op testing lab. There is a small but statistically significant chance we are dealing with a malignancy here, albeit the chances are it is not. What? Me worry? 42 years into a marriage I worry about anything and everything.

Please add her to your prayers.

FWIW
jimB

....


Grandmere Mimi -

Could I ask your online community for prayers for my friend Eva's brother Wolf? He will be having a procedure on a blocked artery tomorrow morning at 9 am German time - she isn't sure whether they will be trying to put in a stent or what, but it involves inserting something at his groin and then moving it up from there. Wolf is a man in his 70's who has had serious cardiac problems before and his sisters are very concerned.

Thanks again for being our cyber-grandmere!

Aitchellsee

Lord, hear our prayers.

Diane Jardine Bruce - "I Am Humbled And Honored"

From Episcopal Life:

The Rev. Canon Diane Jardine Bruce became the first woman elected a bishop in the Diocese of Los Angeles on Dec. 4, pending the required consents.
....

Bruce received 134 clergy votes and 237 votes from the laity. The ballot required 132 votes in the clergy order and 202 in the lay order. The results of all the ballots are available here. Bruce was elected from a field of six candidates, three of whom were from the Los Angeles diocese. Two candidates were openly gay.

"I am humbled and honored," said Bruce, a native of Pequannock, New Jersey.

"Diane is a skilled pastor and a proven leader," said Los Angeles diocesan Bishop Jon Bruno. "Her gifts and expertise are major assets in this diocese and the wider church and I am delighted with the opportunity for us to continue to serve together in new ways."

From the LA Times:

Delegates praised Bruce for her strong resume and personal qualities.

In addition, said the Rev. Warren Nyback, a retired diocesan priest and convention delegate: "It's an indication that the diocese is getting tired of male bishops. There's been a yearning for a long time, especially among women clergy."

Indeed! Thank you, Warren Nyback, for your words. I fear that too many of your fellow men will not echo my thanks.

In an interview after her election, Bruce said she hoped to use the position to "keep people connected, to listen to where the spirit is moving." Choking up, she added: "You never expect something like this."
....

An Irvine resident, she has specialized in interfaith work, social-service outreach and multicultural ministries, according to the diocese. She speaks Spanish and Mandarin and holds a master of divinity degree from the Claremont School of Theology and a bachelor's degree in linguistics from UC Berkeley.

The bishop-elect, who prefers to be called Diane, is an excellent choice as a suffragan in Los Angeles. Her election is overshadowed by the more controversial election of Mary Glasspool, a partnered lesbian, more's the pity. I long for the days when the election of a lesbian or gay bishop will be no more controversial or newsworthy than the election of any other bishop.

Word Verification Is On

More spam is coming in than I can handle, and I've turned on word verification. I don't like it, but I must do it. Sorry.

Uganda Drops Death Penalty And Life Sentence For Gays From Bill

From Bloomberg:

Uganda will drop the death penalty and life imprisonment for gays in a refined version of an anti- gay bill expected to be ready for presentation to Parliament in two weeks, James Nsaba Buturo, the minister of ethics and integrity, said.
....

The Ugandan government supports the bill because homosexuality and lesbianism are “repugnant to the Ugandan culture,” Buturo said. Still, it favors a more refined set of punishments, he said.
....

In addition to formulating punishments for the gay people, the bill will also promote counseling to help “attract errant people to acceptable sexual orientation,” said Buturo.

More refined? Even without the death penalty or life sentence, it's still a terrible bill. Read more commentary at Box Turtle Bulletin and Fr. Jake's.

Please Pray

From MadPriet:

But I do ask for your prayers for my wife and myself. I am surprised that I have lasted as long as I have but what is going to happen in the next little while was inevitable from the start. Unfortunately, evil works through what appear to be coincidences as much as God does. But OCICBW... will continue. I know my duty to my friends and to my God.

From Paul the BB:

I would also like prayers for our friend Mark (Mapko) who has been in hospital again.

From Ann:

for our niece Ellie who has ITP.

From cathy:

also, if anyone's got 30 seconds, could they possibly squirrel in a brief prayer for me - my monster 24-hour nonstop flight back from Oz to London is tonight and it would be nice if it all went OK.

Lord, hear our prayers.

Mary Glasspool - "...the inclusiveness of Jesus' love for all people"

From an interview with Mary Glasspool in the Baltimore Sun:

With respect to the Archbishop of Canterbury, he has a personal relationship with the presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church, and I leave that in their realm. Certainly, I’m not ignorant of issues in the culture and the church, so yes, I can say I anticipated some kind of reaction. You never know what kind of reaction.

Isn't that the truth? Although the Archbishop of Canterbury is getting to be more predictable.

I want to be quick to say that personally, I have received hundreds, maybe a thousand at this point, and one negative e-mail among all of them. I’ve received e-mails from all over the world – from an 18-year-old gay man in Auckland, New Zealand, who said how proud and thrilled he was for the church. Episcopalians in the Diocese of Dallas, which is one of our more conservative dioceses, and a married couple, lay people, who wrote and sent their congratulations. A Lesbian couple who are Roman Catholic in England who said they were having such difficulty in their own church and they were so proud that the Episcopal Church was taking leadership in this way, demonstrating not only the reality of who we already are, but the inclusiveness of Jesus’ love for all people.

One negative email? That is amazingly good news. There's a hunger out there for justice and equality all over the world by folks of every color, creed, no-creed, gender, and sexual persuasion. The train is leaving the station. Those who do not get on board will be left behind.

I’ve made it a point throughout my ministry of seeking out very intentionally people who think and feel and believe differently than I do. So right now, I meet once a month with a brother in Christ, a fellow colleague in Christ, who may in fact be in pain. I’ve not talking (sic) with him since the election. But we meet once a month faithfully to engage with one another. And my message to my more conservative sisters and brothers is I need you and the church needs you and you are part of this wonderful family that we hold dear. That in the Episcopal tradition we call the Episcopal Church. So I don’t know what kind of pain is out there yet, and I’d like to talk and say, keep talking, know that what is most important is that we continue to come together around the table on Sunday in celebration of the Eucharist.

Amen! Bishop-elect Mary is right. As weary as I am of listening to words of judgment and condemnation, I know, in my heart of hearts, that Mary is right, and we must remain engaged with those with opposing views, if they will engage with us, and that we must continue to come together around the table in the celebration of the Eucharist. It is in sharing the body and blood of Our Lord, that we shall be healed.

So I’m excited. I’m excited about the future. I think this is a real hopeful sign to the world. You know, especially to young people, who sometimes look at the church and especially the institutional church and say, 'What are they talking about? What is all this stuff?' I think the Episcopal Church is particularly poised to offer hope, to engage with the future, both in terms of new technology, and art and music and science with the story of the people of God.

I agree, but not in a prideful way, because I know that the road ahead will be rough and the journey difficult.

Prayer For Travelers

O God, our heavenly Father, whose glory fills the whole creation, and whose presence we find wherever we go: Preserve those who travel; surround them with your loving care; protect them from every danger; and bring them in safety to their journey’s end; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

(Book of Common Prayer, p. 831)

(All emphases are mine.)

H/T to Ann Fontaine at The Lead.

Shock Of The Day

I looked in the mirror and saw my mother.

Voice Of Reason

Sometimes I think I should just keep my
opinions to myself, she said, but
someone has got to be the voice of
reason.

From StoryPeople.

Story of a Challenged Senior...

I thought about the 30 year business I ran with 1800 employees, all without a Blackberry that played music, took videos, pictures and communicated with Facebook and Twitter.

I signed up under duress for Twitter and Facebook, so my seven kids, their spouses, 13 grandkids and 2 great grandkids could communicate with me in the modern way. I figured I could handle something as simple as Twitter with only 140 characters of space.

That was before one of my grandkids hooked me up for Tweeter, Tweetree, Twhirl, Twitterfon, Tweetie and Twittererific Tweetdeck, Twitpix and something that sends every message to my cell phone and every other program within the texting world.

My phone was beeping every three minutes with the details of everything except the bowel movements of the entire next generation. I am not ready to live like this. I keep my cell phone in the garage in my golf bag.

The kids bought me a GPS for my last birthday because they say I get lost every now and then going over to the grocery store or library. I keep that in a box under my tool bench with the Blue tooth [it's red] phone I am supposed to use when I drive. I wore it once and was standing in line at Barnes and Noble talking to my wife as everyone in the nearest 50 yards was glaring at me. Seems I have to take my hearing aid out to use it and I got a little loud.

I mean the GPS looked pretty smart on my dash board, but the lady inside was the most annoying, rudest person I had run into in a long time. Every 10 minutes, she would sarcastically say, "Re-calc-ul-ating" You would think that she could be nicer. It was like she could barely tolerate me. She would let go with a deep sigh and then tell me to make a U-turn at the next light. Then when I would make a right turn instead, it was not good.

When I get really lost now, I call my wife and tell her the name of the cross streets and while she is starting to develop the same tone as Gypsy, the GPS lady, at least she loves me.

To be perfectly frank, I am still trying to learn how to use the cordless phones in our house. We have had them for 4 years, but I still haven't figured out how I can lose three phones all at once and have to run around digging under chair cushions and checking bathrooms and the dirty laundry baskets when the phone rings.

The world is just getting too complex for me. They even mess me up every time I go to the grocery store. You would think they could settle on something themselves but this sudden "Paper or Plastic?" every time I check out just knocks me for a loop.

I bought some of those cloth reusable bags to avoid looking confused but I never remember to take them in with me.

Now I toss it back to them. When they ask me, "Paper or Plastic?" I just say, "Doesn't matter to me. I am bi-sacksual." Then it's their turn to stare at me with a blank look.


Elmer C. Smith, Ph.D. Pastor

Immanuel Lutheran Church

Thanks to Lisa.

Pink Glove Dance

From a friend of a friend of Paul the BB:

Our daughter-in-law, Emily (MacInnes) Somers, created, directed and choreographed this in Portland last week for her Medline glove division as a fundraiser for breast cancer awareness. This was all her idea to help promote their new pink gloves. I don't know how she got so many employees, doctors and patients to participate, but it started to really catch on and they all had a lot of fun doing it.

When the video gets 1 million hits, Medline will be making a huge contribution to the hospital, as well as offering free mammograms for the community. Please check it out. It's an easy and great way to donate to a wonderful cause, and who hasn't been touched by breast cancer?

Ann Somers

According to Snopes the above paragraph is not true. The statement below is true:

Medline donates a portion of its sales of its Generation Pink gloves to the National Breast Cancer Foundation

Giving them a hit will not get them a donation.

Please click on over and give them a hit.

Tiger's Latest Conquest

ANOTHER ONE??? WILL THE DEPRAVITY NEVER END??????????????

I swore that I would not mention l'affaire le Tigre on my blog, but this photo came in from the irrepressible Doug, and what could I do? I scooped the major media outlets.

Don't blame me. Blame Doug.

"Put Away For Life...Or Put To Death"

From CNN:

As a gay man in Uganda, Frank Mugisha is used to the taunts, the slurs and the daily harassment of neighbors and friends.

But if a new bill proposed in the east African country becomes law, Mugisha could be put away for life, or worse, put to death for having sex with another man.

"Right now, you can't go to places that are crowded, because the mob can attack us or even burn us. We can't walk alone. We are ostracized by relatives. But if this bill passes, it will become impossible for me to live here at all. And that part hurts the most," Mugisha said.

The Anti-Homosexuality Bill features several provisions that human rights groups say would spur a witch hunt of homosexuals in the country:

• Gays and lesbians convicted of having gay sex would be sentenced, at minimum, to life in prison

• People who test positive for HIV may be executed

• Homosexuals who have sex with a minor, or engage in homosexual sex more than once, may also receive the death penalty

• The bill forbids the "promotion of homosexuality," which in effect bans organizations working in HIV and AIDS prevention

• Anyone who knows of homosexual activity taking place but does not report it would risk up to three years in prison

"Who will go to HIV testing if he knows that he will suffer the death sentence?" Elizabeth Mataka, the U.N. Special Envoy on AIDS in Africa, told reporters last week. "The law will drive them away from seeking counseling and testing services."
....

In April, the Observer newspaper published tips to help readers spot homosexuals. And over the summer, the Red Pepper tabloid outed 45 gays and lesbians.
....

In the United States, a coalition of Christian leaders (pdf) released a statement Monday denouncing the bill.

"Regardless of the diverse theological views of our religious traditions regarding the morality of homosexuality, in our churches, communities and families, we seek to embrace our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters as God's children, worthy of respect and love," the statement read.

And this is the bill that our dear leader of the "Anglican Communion", Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, and his brother archbishop, John Sentamu, Archbishop of York, will not publicly condemn. Perhaps it's worth noting that Abp. Sentamu fled for his life from Uganda, when Idi Amin was president.

Henceforth, when I write "Anglican Communion", I shall use quotes, because I am no longer certain that such an entity exists.

Thanks to Ann for the link.

My Thrill Of The Day From Diane Savino

After seeing the video of Sen. Savino's eloquent and passionate speech in the New York State Senate, I wrote to her expressing my admiration and gratitude. Today, I received the following email:

Dear June,

I am sincerely grateful for your kind words. Marriage Equality will be a reality in New York, as well as the rest of the nation, and it will be through people like you.

Sincerely,
Senator Savino

And through people like you, Sen. Savino.

Take her words to heart, my friends. She speaks truth.

PS: I asked Grandpère if he thought Diane was a babe. He said, "I'll put it this way. I wouldn't kick her out of bed." I am soooo hurt. He did not want me to add the PS to my post, but I did it anyway to get my revenge.