Eating Jesus, as I did that day to my great astonishment led me against all my expectations to a faith I'd scorned and work I'd never imagined. The mysterious sacrament turned out to be not at symbolic wafer at all but actual food - indeed, the bread of life. In that shocking moment of communion, filled with deep desire to reach for and become part of a body, I realized that what I'd been doing with my life all along was what I was meant to do: feed people.
Holy Communion is the Bread of Life and the Cup of Salvation. What human, be it the pope on down to the lowliest of priests and lay ministers, has the right to withhold the Body and Blood of Christ from another human? None! Not one! The Body and Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ are to be freely given to all who desire them.
Some of you may recall our conversation a couple of years ago regarding Sara Miles' book Take This Bread.
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I'm pleased to be able to announce that Sara has completed a new book; Jesus Freak: Feeding - Healing - Raising the Dead. It will be out next month, but you can pre-order it now.
I was fortunate enough to receive an early copy, and just finished reading it. I highly recommend it.
1 Corinthians 13 is one of the most famous passages in all of scripture, equal to the 23rd Psalm as a much loved text etched in the memory of Christians. In it we get some of the most beautiful language found anywhere on love. Paul writes: “Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails.”
The only problem with these words is that they don’t really ring true. The beauty of 1 Corinthians 13 masks a different reality: love is very hard. Who can live up to this? Aren’t we all sometimes impatient, sometimes unkind? Don’t we all have limits to what we can endure? Which of us is perfect in this love, even when described in Paul’s humble way?
Jack, this sermon is one of your very best. One might even say that it's inspired. I had chills as I read, and I felt the life of the Spirit stirring in my heart.
The setting is spooky, a large, cold English room filled with furniture of different styles and periods crowded together and needing a good dusting. It could be the setting for Masterpiece Theatre or Mystery, with the voice of Vincent Price introducing another dark tale of intrigue, etc. But the voice was that of Rowan Williams and this was his December 18 four minute visual presentation designed to win friends for the proposed Anglican Covenant that is otherwise going no where.
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As a longtime follower of Mystery, I thought the video might end with a crow flying past or a suit of armor clanging to the floor, but the tape just stopped. Maybe what is needed is for some actors from Mystery or Masterpiece Theatre to film a set of short spots in period costumes ending with a line like “The Covenant really is good for you” or somesuch. But so far the Covenant rollout is unconvincing.
The Covenant exercise should be seen for what it is, one part of a multi-year power play that has gone awry. It represents a sustained but erroneous effort to rewrite history and claim that a narrow, mean spirited perspective somehow represents our heritage. Windsor was an incomplete, biased report, the coup attempt at Dar Es Salaam failed, and the draft Covenant represents an unattainable effort to seize the levers of power in an amorphous organization.
The Anglican Communion’s binding ties are not legal ones but extend through long cultivated bonds of affection and commitment to the creative challenges of mission. The fish bones in the draft Covenant are far too numerous, and the following wind has long expired. So should the Covenant.
Cammy Lynn Hebert
From the New York Daily News:
Bobby Hebert will be the best-dressed man on Bourbon Street tomorrow.
The former Saints quarterback will be in a black and gold sequined dress, custom-designed and sent to him from New York by his daughter, Cammy Lynn, who describes it as "very Who-Dat-esque."
Lady Gaga, eat your heart out.
Hebert is picking up the promise made by the late New Orleans sportscaster Buddy Diliberto to parade down Bourbon Street in a dress should the Saints reach the Super Bowl. Diliberto, a Big Easy icon, died five years ago. Hebert has hosted Buddy D's radio show since his death.
Tomorrow, Hebert won't be alone on Bourbon Street. He will be joined by "thousands" of other men in drag as they sashay from the Superdome to the French Quarter.
"This parade has gotten totally out of control," Hebert said. "We had men calling the station and wanting to form a club to march in all these Mardi Gras parades. I said, 'Wait a minute, I just said I would do this one time.' I'm not going to go to monthly meetings. I'm sure you will see a few characters. Some of these guys probably dress like this every day. It's a way of life for them.
"My daughter who is in New York in the fashion industry, she made me a dress. It's black and gold sequins, all of that."
Actually, it's all of Dat.
They said to him, ‘Where is your wife Sarah?’ And he said, ‘There, in the tent.’ Then one said, ‘I will surely return to you in due season, and your wife Sarah shall have a son.’ And Sarah was listening at the tent entrance behind him. Now Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in age; it had ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women. So Sarah laughed to herself, saying, ‘After I have grown old, and my husband is old, shall I have pleasure?’ The Lord said to Abraham, ‘Why did Sarah laugh, and say, “Shall I indeed bear a child, now that I am old?” Is anything too wonderful for the Lord? At the set time I will return to you, in due season, and Sarah shall have a son.’ But Sarah denied, saying, ‘I did not laugh’; for she was afraid. He said, ‘Oh yes, you did laugh.’ (Genesis 17:9-15)
The National Football League appeared to back off Friday on its trademark ownership claims to the phrase "Who Dat" and the fleur-de-lis logo, saying it is challenging the sale of items only "when those products contained or are advertised using other trademarks or identifiers of the Saints."
"Who Dat we do not claim to own by itself," said Brian McCarthy, a spokesman for the NFL. "It's when Who Dat is used in conjunction with Saints marks that it's a problem."
Who Dat shirts being sold at the Fleurty Girl shop on Oak Street would be acceptable, McCarthy said, as long as the shop removes advertising referring to the Saints.
In a letter to Sen. David Vitter, R-La., the league described the trademark tussle, which has enraged New Orleans Saints fans across the country since it erupted this week, as "a significant misunderstanding."
McCarthy said T-shirts and items with Who Dat and a fleu-de-lis logo unlike the one owned by the Saints is allowed as long as they are not advertised as being Saints or NFL paraphernalia.
As the Saints' appearance in their first Super Bowl gets closer, the marketplace is being flooded with Saints merchandise and memorabilia as businesses are looking to cash in on the euphoria, but the NFL is cracking down on the use of their trademarks, including the iconic phrase "Who Dat."
But who really owns "Who Dat"? Does anyone? Who is a “Who Dat?” What is a “Who Dat?” Who owns the phrase, "Who Dat?"
They're all questions Fleurty Girl t-shirt shop owner Lauren Thom is being forced to answer.
“The NFL is not a company that I want to rock the boat with, but I definitely want to look into it further to see what my rights are,” Thom said.
Two weeks ago, Thom got a cease and desist order from the NFL.
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Loyola Law School intellectual property professor Ray Arieaux said the ownership of 'Who Dat' may be a gray area.
Sal and Steve Monistere recorded a version of "When the Saints Go Marching In" in the early eighties and incorporated the "Who Dat" chant into it. Aaron Neville recorded it, and performed with our own Eric Paulsen in an early '80's video version.
Because the song helped create the widespread use of the “Who Dat” chant, the Monisteres and their company, Who Dat, inc., say they own "Who Dat."
