UPDATES ON HAITI AND THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH THERE

The Rev. Lauren R. Stanley, Appointed Missionary of The Episcopal Church, Diocese of Haiti, who is currently in Virginia on leave but who has contacts with Haitians and volunteers on the ground, gives updates on Haiti and the Episcopal Church there at Go Into the World.

Thanks to Ann for the link.

BLESS YOU, MARK AND TOBIAS

"Suffering Haiti"
Niobe, 1968 pen and chalk, Tobias Stanislas Haller BSG

For the most part, I have been rendered speechless by the massive and horrific devastation in Haiti. My heart aches; my heart breaks, but few words come. I think of the the devastation of Katrina and the federal flood multiplied by tens of thousands dead, probably hundreds of thousands injured, and millions left to survive in unspeakably wretched misery.

I consider Mark Harris a friend, although we met and conversed for only a brief few moments at GC09, because we communicate fairly regularly online. In his poem titled "RAMA: Weeping For Haiti", Mark so eloquently and movingly speaks words about Haiti which I would have wanted to speak. Below is a brief quote from Mark's poem, but I urge you to go to Preludium to read the poem in its entirety.

The sun was blotted from the sky
and the dust rose
and the night came
with agony in the buildings
and anguish in the streets.
It was day and night, the first day.

Rachel's people,
They are no more,
All have gone down,
Down with the presidential palace,
Down with the churchly palace,
Down with the all the places of block and mortar,
Down to death.

Tobias Haller, a dear friend, whose company I have enjoyed on several occasions and with whom I communicate regularly online and by email, provided me with the perfect image of Haiti in agony as a companion to the quote from Mark's poem

Thanks also to Mark for the link to this story by Simon Romero, who reports from Haiti in the New York Times.

Soon dusk began to fall, enveloping this city, still without electricity, in darkness. An aftershock sent people running out of homes into the street. Many decided it would be safer to remain in the street. They chatted with neighbors and wondered what would come next in Port-au-Prince. Some lighted candles under the night sky.

With no electricity, stars offered the only illumination in the city, which, with its suburbs, is home to nearly 3 million people. For some of those lying on the asphalt or in the parks, cellphones provided a brief glimpse of light.

Then the singing began. Those gathered outside tents, on lawn chairs, sitting in the middle of empty streets, sang their hymns. One phrase in Creole could be heard repeatedly both inside and outside the hospital walls, as if those voicing the words were trying to make sense of the madness around them.

“Beni Swa Leternel,” they sang. “Blessed be the Lord.”

Mark says, "May the faith of the people of Haiti carry them through the terrible times to come."

Amen and amen and amen.

WHAT IF WE IGNORED THEM?

First comes the video of Pat Robertson's ugly and idiotic rant blaming the earthquake in Haiti on God's vengeance for the pact with the devil that the slaves in Haiti made long ago to succeed in their revolt. Then comes convicted drug addict Rush Limbaugh's rant saying that "We've already donated to Haiti. It's called the U.S. income tax."

The despicable words of the two men have absorbed much of the oxygen on major cable news shows and in the blogosphere. I could not bring myself to post Robertson's video, nor did I post on Limbaugh's words until now. What if sensible people ignored the ravings of the likes of Rush and Pat? It seems that even as we protest their vicious and ignorant commentary, we give them loads of free publicity and attention which possibly send more viewers and listeners their way. We make them appear to be serious people, who are worthy of our taking note.

THE ANDERSON/EASLEY PROJECT

St. John's Episcopal Church in Thibodaux hosts a community music program called (surprise!) Music at St. John's. Sunday last, while Amelia and Izzie napped, I attended a concert by the members of the Anderson/Easley Project. The program description:

The Anderson/Easley Project is a jazz trio featuring David Anderson on bass and Dave Easley on pedal steel guitar and Tom Chute on drums The group performs original music of many genres including free jazz, funk, bop, and minimalist and many wonderfully unique approaches to dynamics and expression.

The trio displayed fine musicianship. I heard jazz, bop, blues, and...and..."unique approaches to dynamics and expressions", which means that I don't know how to label the rest of the pieces. When the musicians launched into their solos, their skills were notable. I can't give you titles, because either I didn't hear them or I've forgotten them, because the names were not in the program. One of the pieces was, I believe, a tribute to Gustav, the cat.

The picture at the head of the post is Anderson's bass, the likes of which I have never seen before. The fingerboard was rescued from a bass that was found floating after Katrina and the federal flood, the only usable part of the drowned instrument, and the board was built into a new instrument. During parts of the performance, Anderson played the bass beautifully with a bow, like a cello.



Pictured above is Dave Easley's pedal steel guitar. I'd never seen an instrument like his before, either. Dave is also the vocalist for the group.

The trio of performers are in the photo above with Easley, Anderson, and Chute from left to right.


In the photo above are the drums and the beautiful hammered cymbals, which look like brass, but are made of alloys and are incredibly lightweight and flexible.

During the concert, I was as fascinated by the instruments as by the music, and I made a point of getting pictures and close-up views.

Anderson/Easley Project performs regularly on Sundays at 9 p.m. at Madigan's and other venues in New Orleans and tours, also.

Reviews of the group and individual members performances may be found at JamBase.

"SPRING IS HERE"

Or so says Ann Fontaine in an email from Oregon.

from our walk

Winter Sucks

Thanks to Lapin.

WHEN WE ARE WEAK, WE ARE STRONG

God loves paradoxes and contradictions. When we are weak, we are strong. Every curse becomes a blessing, and stumbling blocks can be turned into stepping stones; the valley of Achor where all was destroyed can be a doorway of hope.

Ah God, You with the Maker's eye,

can tell if all that's feared is real,

and see if life is more than what

we suffer, dread, despise and feel.

If some by faith no longer stand

nor hear the truth Your voice intones,

stretch out Your hand to help Your folk

from stumbling blocks to stepping stones.

From Celtic Daily Prayer.

Unbreakable

A salesman was demonstrating unbreakable combs in a department store. He was impressing the people who stopped to look by putting the comb through all sorts of torture and stress.

Finally, to impress even the skeptics in the crowd, he bent the comb completely in half, but it snapped with a loud crack.

Without missing a beat, he bravely held up both halves of the "unbreakable" comb for everyone to see and said, "And this, ladies and gentlemen, is what an unbreakable comb looks like on the inside."

Don't blame me. Blame Paul (A.).

"ISABELLE'S RUMINATIONS"

Please read Queen Isabelle's account of her visit to our house. Amelia wrote a glowing account of the visit also, but HERS is a bit de trop, if you know what I mean. SHE praises us far too much. Izzie's account is more realistic. A tidbit to entice you to read the entire post:

The next day I got bacon for breakfast and not only that I got the bacon fat poured on my kibble. Boy did that taste really good. Grandpere is a good cook. SHE and Grandmere went to church and I stayed home with Grandpere, who was really nice to me.

Do read HER account, also.

It was so much fun to meet the esteemed doyen of bloggers, Grandmere Mimi and her very dear husband Grandpere.

See what I mean about over-the-top?

What can I say? I'm kinda, sorta lovin' it.

HOW YOU CAN HELP IN HAITI

An injured man carries his dead daughter on Jan. 13. People pulled bodies from collapsed homes, covering them with sheets by the side of the road.

First, all you praying people, pray for the people in Haiti, those who live there and those who will be helping in the recovery from the devastation from the earthquake.

I'm donating to the two charities below.

Episcopal Relief and Development

Doctors Without Borders (Médecins sans Frontières)

You may choose your own organization. Charity Navigator lists non-profits who will be giving aid in Haiti, along with their ratings according to the percentages of the donations that go to overhead and the percentages that go toward the people who need help.



A man calls for help as he struggles to escape the rubble at Port-au-Prince University on Jan. 13. Most of Haiti's 9 million people are desperately poor, and after years of political instability the country has no real construction standards.

Images from MSNBC News.

UPDATE: From the White House:

Americans trying to locate family members in Haiti are encouraged to contact the State Department at (888) 407-4747.

Pray For The People In Haiti

A 7.0 earthquake struck Haiti earlier today. The situation looks bad. No power, the main hospital in Port-au-Prince collapsed, fires. Many injuries, people trapped in rubble. Capitol city largely destroyed.


Father, look with mercy on your people in Haiti. Send them help; relieve their suffering; bring order out of chaos. We pray in the name of your son, Jesus Christ in unity with the Holy Spirit. Amen.

BANNED AT STAND FIRM

 

The comment above is what got me labeled a troll and banned at Stand Firm back in December. Before it was deleted, I captured the comment in a screen shot. My words were in response to a post by Sarah Hey titled "Upper South Carolina Clergy; Lay Leaders Elect Revisionist As Bishop, Choose Further Decline" and the comments which followed. Sorry, no link. What remains instead of my comment is shown below, also from a screen shot.

 

The Bible verse cited below the comment box is Matthew 5:43-45

‘You have heard that it was said, “You shall love your neighbour and hate your enemy.” But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous.

Am I the only person who detects a bit of dissonance here? Mind you, I don't care about being banned from SF, because I registered only recently to comment about the election in the Diocese of Louisiana of Bishop-elect Morris Thompson, who was being dissed over there. I left a couple of comments saying something to the effect that we could give Bishop Thompson a chance, pray for him, that the Diocese of Louisiana is not in imminent danger of death, and that's it, after which Sarah Hey labeled me a "known raving revisionist".

Then, I went back when the author of the post and the commenters were trashing Bishop-elect Andrew Waldo of the Diocese of Upper South Carolina, which is Sarah Hey's diocese, and I only got so far as the above comment. It's probably a good thing that I'm banned, because the atmosphere at SF feels toxic to me.

So why this post? I don't really know. For the record?

"ALASKA ANNOUNCES NOMINEES...."

From Ann Fontaine at The Lead:

The Search Committee of the Diocese of Alaska posted the list of nominees for election as their next bishop:

The Rev. Canon Virginia "Ginny" Doctor, Canon to the Ordinary for the Diocese of Alaska and assisting vicar at St. James Mission in Tanana, Alaska
The Very Rev. Mark Lattime, Rector, St. Michael's Episcopal Church, Diocese of Rochester, Geneseo, NY
The Very Rev. Timothy W. Sexton, Provost/Canon Administrator, Cathedral Church of St. Andrew, Honolulu, HI
The Rev. Suzanne Elizabeth Watson, Christ and Holy Trinity Episcopal Church, Westport, CT

More information on each nominee can be found at the Search website. There is also a process for nomination by petition which may add nominees to the list.

I've added the Episcopal Diocese of Alaska to the prayer for the election of a bishop on the sidebar of WB.

FEAST OF ST. AELRED

When I was in the north of England last year, I wrote at Wounded Bird about my visit to Rievaulx Abbeny.

We arrived at Rievaulx Abbey. Oh my! What a beautiful place. Mrs MP and I toured the Abbey while MP exercised the collies. What a holy place. I could sense the presence of many saints from the past who prayed there, and the prayers seemed to linger in the abbey. I thought of our blog friend Prior Aelred of St. Gregory's Abbey, because his namesake was abbot of Rievaulx Abbey.

Readings:

Psalm 36:5-10
Ruth 1:15-18
Philippians 2:1-4
Mark 12:28-34a




PRAYER:

Almighty God, you endowed the abbot Aelred with the gift of Christian friendship and the wisdom to lead others in the way of holiness: Grant to your people that same spirit of mutual affection, that, in loving one another, we may know the love of Christ and rejoice in the gift of your eternal goodness; through the same Jesus Christ our Savior, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Image of Aelred from The Lectionary.

STORY OF THE DAY - WAITING

I don't mind waiting for a little while, he
said, if I get a treat in the end. What do
you think is a treat? I said. Not having to
wait too long, he said & I had to give him
points for honesty.


From StoryPeople.

I'd say Grandpère could have written this little story, but he minds very much waiting for a little while.