Because of recent unpleasantness in the comments, it seems way past time to talk a little about my blogging philosophy . The comments section is part of the lifeblood of Wounded Bird. I love engagement with those who visit my blog. Most comments receive a response, either individual or group, although I miss a few from time to time. I like access to my comments to be easy, but if the unpleasantness continues, that may not be possible.
Wounded Bird is a bit more of a mutual admiration society than I'd like, so I want to make it clear that I encourage disagreement as long as the exchanges in the comments remain respectful and free of personal attacks and name-calling.
I ask you who post anonymously to sign a name at the end of the comment. You don't have to use your real name. Make up a name, or use initials.
If you repeatedly refuse to follow these few simple rules, your comments will be deleted, and if you continue, you will banned. Remember that I have access to the IP number of all commenters, and those who continue to annoy me and my visitors risk having their IP addresses published on the blog.
Comment moderation may be off and on as the situation requires. If moderation is enabled, you will see a note to that effect beneath the comment box.
It's sad that a few spoilers choose to disrupt the blogosphere in this manner, but those of you who engage in this sort of mischief should keep in mind that, although I am an old lady, I am not necessarily an easy mark. I have the makings of a dictator in me. Wounded Bird is my home online, and you must pay me the courtesy of acting here as you would if you visited me in my home.
Saturday, January 24, 2009
Friday, January 23, 2009
President Obama On Torture
"I can say without exception or equivocation that the United States will not torture," the president said at the State Department. "The message that we are sending around the world," he said as he signed the executive orders in the Oval Office, "is that the United States intends to prosecute the ongoing struggle against violence and terrorism, and we are going to do so vigilantly, we are going to do so effectively and we are going to do so in a manner that is consistent with our values and our ideals." "It is precisely our ideals that give us the strength and the moral high ground to be able to effectively deal with the unthinking violence that we see emanating from terrorist organizations around the world," he added. "We intend to win this fight. We're going to win it on our terms."
Excellent. Two and one half days into office, and what change we see already. I don't want to get carried away, but my spirits are greatly lifted. We can fight terrorism, and we can do it in a manner that does not bring shame upon us. In the past 8 years, I've been shamed enough by the powers in my country to last a lifetime longer than mine.
H/T to Juan Cole.
Excellent. Two and one half days into office, and what change we see already. I don't want to get carried away, but my spirits are greatly lifted. We can fight terrorism, and we can do it in a manner that does not bring shame upon us. In the past 8 years, I've been shamed enough by the powers in my country to last a lifetime longer than mine.
H/T to Juan Cole.
Oh Happy Day!
My two grandchildren, a 13 year old girl and an 8 year old boy, are out of school today because of parent-teacher conferences. Guess where they are. Right. Here at my house. Hot wheel tracks are all over my kitchen counter and floor. "Mimi, look! Mimi, watch!" I'm called to watch one hot wheel wreck and catastrophe after another. At the moment, a disagreement seems to be developing about how to arrange the hot wheel tracks. Will it escalate into a major argument? Suspense! We shall see.
My granddaughter went to the orthopedist today for a check on whether her broken arm is healing properly. It is, and, in two and one half weeks, she will have her splint removed from her arm and a smaller splint applied. She has not needed a plaster cast, because her arm is healing well as is, with what was to be a temporary splint.
I'm assigned to the laptop computer, because the little, and not so little, people take over the desktop periodically. Blogging may be light.
My granddaughter went to the orthopedist today for a check on whether her broken arm is healing properly. It is, and, in two and one half weeks, she will have her splint removed from her arm and a smaller splint applied. She has not needed a plaster cast, because her arm is healing well as is, with what was to be a temporary splint.
I'm assigned to the laptop computer, because the little, and not so little, people take over the desktop periodically. Blogging may be light.
What Is The World Coming To?
From Andy Borowitz at The Huffington Post:
In the first two weeks since the election, President-elect Barack Obama has broken with a tradition established over the past eight years through his controversial use of complete sentences, political observers say.
Millions of Americans who watched Mr. Obama's appearance on CBS's 60 Minutes on Sunday witnessed the president-elect's unorthodox verbal tic, which had Mr. Obama employing grammatically correct sentences virtually every time he opened his mouth.
....
The president-elect's stubborn insistence on using complete sentences has already attracted a rebuke from one of his harshest critics, Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska.
"Talking with complete sentences there and also too talking in a way that ordinary Americans like Joe the Plumber and Tito the Builder can't really do there, I think needing to do that isn't tapping into what Americans are needing also," she said.
Click the link and read the rest.
Thanks to Ann.
In the first two weeks since the election, President-elect Barack Obama has broken with a tradition established over the past eight years through his controversial use of complete sentences, political observers say.
Millions of Americans who watched Mr. Obama's appearance on CBS's 60 Minutes on Sunday witnessed the president-elect's unorthodox verbal tic, which had Mr. Obama employing grammatically correct sentences virtually every time he opened his mouth.
....
The president-elect's stubborn insistence on using complete sentences has already attracted a rebuke from one of his harshest critics, Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska.
"Talking with complete sentences there and also too talking in a way that ordinary Americans like Joe the Plumber and Tito the Builder can't really do there, I think needing to do that isn't tapping into what Americans are needing also," she said.
Click the link and read the rest.
Thanks to Ann.
Thursday, January 22, 2009
On Guantanamo From One Who Was There
Blogger Arkansas Hillbilly said...
Mimi,
I for one am glad the President is closing GTMO. I was there when we opened it (part of the fleet hospital treating the wounds of the detainees), and I can tell you that it was never meant to go on this long. We knew that 95% of them were just some poor schmucks who were given weapons and told to fight, but we didn't know which ones, and so many of them were sick and wounded and needed help. I remember one guy we brought back from the brink of death from TB in particular, and the amputations that had to be done to save alot of them. My unit did a lot of good at the time.
Some of those guys are bad men. When he first arrived, David Hicks swore he would "kill an American before I leave". That's the scary part to me. I believe in due process, and I am ashamed of what GTMO became, but when it started we were trying to sort the bad guys from the good,treat all the wounded and hopefully get information WITHOUT torture. When I was there the mere mention of that word was shunned for fear of being accused of it. I used to be proud of the things I did there... and still am of the accomplishments. But all the allegations of torture after I left, what it became, I am horribly ashamed of the whole mess. You shouldn't be ashamed to serve your country, but there it is. Thank you Mr. Bush and Chaney.
Thank you for your words, Arkansas Hillbilly.
Mimi,
I for one am glad the President is closing GTMO. I was there when we opened it (part of the fleet hospital treating the wounds of the detainees), and I can tell you that it was never meant to go on this long. We knew that 95% of them were just some poor schmucks who were given weapons and told to fight, but we didn't know which ones, and so many of them were sick and wounded and needed help. I remember one guy we brought back from the brink of death from TB in particular, and the amputations that had to be done to save alot of them. My unit did a lot of good at the time.
Some of those guys are bad men. When he first arrived, David Hicks swore he would "kill an American before I leave". That's the scary part to me. I believe in due process, and I am ashamed of what GTMO became, but when it started we were trying to sort the bad guys from the good,treat all the wounded and hopefully get information WITHOUT torture. When I was there the mere mention of that word was shunned for fear of being accused of it. I used to be proud of the things I did there... and still am of the accomplishments. But all the allegations of torture after I left, what it became, I am horribly ashamed of the whole mess. You shouldn't be ashamed to serve your country, but there it is. Thank you Mr. Bush and Chaney.
Thank you for your words, Arkansas Hillbilly.
Comments Moderation Is Back On
I'm not putting up with the crap comments that are coming in, and I am the decider about what is crap. If folks want to disagree with sensible arguments, well and good, but I'm not going to spend my time rebutting nonsense, nor will I allow the nonsense to clutter up my comments.
Guantanamo To Be Shut Down - Good News!
From Sam Stein at The Huffington Post:
The Obama administration called on Thursday for the closure of Guantanamo Bay within the next year. The move will be greeted with widespread approval around the world, the end of a blotch on America's image abroad. Coming in the form of an executive order, it carries with it the power of law.
I pray that it won't take a year to close it down.
The Obama administration called on Thursday for the closure of Guantanamo Bay within the next year. The move will be greeted with widespread approval around the world, the end of a blotch on America's image abroad. Coming in the form of an executive order, it carries with it the power of law.
I pray that it won't take a year to close it down.
The Last Word In Political Correctness
DUE TO THE CLIMATE OF POLITICAL CORRECTNESS NOW PERVADING AMERICA:
Kentucky, Tennessee Georgia, North & South Carolina and West Virginia mountain and hill folk will no longer be referred to as 'HILLBILLIES.'
You must now refer to them as
APPALACHIAN-AMERICANS.
And furthermore
HOW TO SPEAK ABOUT WOMEN AND BE POLITICALLY CORRECT:
1. She is not a 'BABE' or a 'CHICK' - She is a
'BREASTED AMERICAN.'
2. She is not 'EASY' - She is
'HORIZONTALLY ACCESSIBLE.'
3. She is not a 'DUMB BLONDE' - She is a
'LIGHT-HAIRED DETOUR OFF THE INFORMATION SUPERHIGHWAY.'
4. She has not 'BEEN AROUND' - She is a
'PREVIOUSLY-ENJOYED COMPANION.'
5. She does not ' NAG' you - She becomes
'VERBALLY REPETITIVE.'
6. She is not a 'TWO-BIT HOOKER' - She is a
'LOW COST PROVIDER.'
HOW TO SPEAK ABOUT MEN AND BE POLITICALLY CORRECT:
1. He does not have a 'BEER GUT' - He has developed a
'LIQUID GRAIN STORAGE FACILITY.'
2. He is not a 'BAD DANCER' - He is
'OVERLY CAUCASIAN.'
3. He does not 'GET LOST ALL THE TIME' - He
'INVESTIGATES ALTERNATIVE DESTINATIONS.'
4. He is not 'BALDING' - He is in
'FOLLICLE REGRESSION.'
5. He does not act like a 'TOTAL ASS' - He develops a case of
'RECTAL-CRANIAL INVERSION.'
(Loved this one!)
6. It's not his 'CRACK' you see hanging out of his pants - It's
'REAR CLEAVAGE.
Don't blame me. Blame a local fellow coonass correspondent.
Kentucky, Tennessee Georgia, North & South Carolina and West Virginia mountain and hill folk will no longer be referred to as 'HILLBILLIES.'
You must now refer to them as
APPALACHIAN-AMERICANS.
And furthermore
HOW TO SPEAK ABOUT WOMEN AND BE POLITICALLY CORRECT:
1. She is not a 'BABE' or a 'CHICK' - She is a
'BREASTED AMERICAN.'
2. She is not 'EASY' - She is
'HORIZONTALLY ACCESSIBLE.'
3. She is not a 'DUMB BLONDE' - She is a
'LIGHT-HAIRED DETOUR OFF THE INFORMATION SUPERHIGHWAY.'
4. She has not 'BEEN AROUND' - She is a
'PREVIOUSLY-ENJOYED COMPANION.'
5. She does not ' NAG' you - She becomes
'VERBALLY REPETITIVE.'
6. She is not a 'TWO-BIT HOOKER' - She is a
'LOW COST PROVIDER.'
HOW TO SPEAK ABOUT MEN AND BE POLITICALLY CORRECT:
1. He does not have a 'BEER GUT' - He has developed a
'LIQUID GRAIN STORAGE FACILITY.'
2. He is not a 'BAD DANCER' - He is
'OVERLY CAUCASIAN.'
3. He does not 'GET LOST ALL THE TIME' - He
'INVESTIGATES ALTERNATIVE DESTINATIONS.'
4. He is not 'BALDING' - He is in
'FOLLICLE REGRESSION.'
5. He does not act like a 'TOTAL ASS' - He develops a case of
'RECTAL-CRANIAL INVERSION.'
(Loved this one!)
6. It's not his 'CRACK' you see hanging out of his pants - It's
'REAR CLEAVAGE.
Don't blame me. Blame a local fellow coonass correspondent.
The Coolest Couple Evah!
At heart, I'm a hopeless romantic of the very worst kind. I was blown away by this romantic slow-dancing moment in the inauguration celebration. Beautiful!
Stolen from that cool Englishman, Doorman-Priest. DP, I had to do it.
Please Pray For David
I could stand being on y'all's prayer list for the next week. There are rumors of job cutbacks here at work and I don't know how severe they'll be. So prayers for my continued employment would be greatly appreciated...
Thanks, David
David, of course we'll pray. Many of the folks whom I know who still have jobs are quite concerned about losing them.
Thanks, David
David, of course we'll pray. Many of the folks whom I know who still have jobs are quite concerned about losing them.
I Can't Believe It - Two Years
My second anniversary in Bloggerland arrives just on time. Here's my first non-post on my non-blog:
Monday, January 22, 2007
No Blog
My friends, I don't really have a blog. It seems I was forced to have a faux blog to be allowed to post comments on certain sites. I am looking at you Elizabeth Kaeton.
Posted by Grandmère Mimi at 9:10 PM
Yet, on the very same day - Voila! - I had a blog. See post No. 2, if you like.
Monday, January 22, 2007
No Blog
My friends, I don't really have a blog. It seems I was forced to have a faux blog to be allowed to post comments on certain sites. I am looking at you Elizabeth Kaeton.
Posted by Grandmère Mimi at 9:10 PM
Yet, on the very same day - Voila! - I had a blog. See post No. 2, if you like.
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
All Is Not Right With The World - Congo
Georgianne Nienaber at The Huffinton Post comes a heart-wrenching story about the conditions in the refugee camp, Mugunga II, located near Goma in the Democratic Republic of Congo:
We were wading through a literal sea of humanity housed on a volcanic landscape that mirrored Dante's Inferno. Children clung to our arms as if our limbs were the branches of trees. The doctor warned us to avoid touching, since disease was present in every snotty nose and dirty hand that reached for comfort. You cannot say no to the begging for human touch, and soon rivers of green, yellow, and brown fluids from runny noses cover arms and hands and clothing, and eventually you give up trying to clean it off. The stench is overpowering--13,360 adults and 7,000 children crammed into huts unfit for animals. It is a little over a week since Christmas day and it occurs to you that even HE was born into better conditions than this.
....
Miserable impressions flood the mind and you are soon overwhelmed and manage to hover above it all, recording images and sounds with cameras and recorders that do the job because there is no way you could ever remember all of this--or would want to. It is only when the writer comes to the page that the tears begin to fall.
....
Imagine a small city with no infrastructure. No electricity, stores, medical care, food, little water and no blankets to cover the newborn whose cries are a testimony to their fight for life. Imagine women working as volunteer midwives who carry pregnant rape victims on their backs from the forests to the relative "safety" of this landscape.
Read the rest of Georgianne's post and weep. Where is the help? Is nothing to be done? Does no one see? How can we look away?
The Transformation Of Bishop Charles Jenkins
From the Times-Picayune:
They are an unlikely pair, chatting up people on porch stoops in the poorer neighborhoods of New Orleans: Bishop Charles Jenkins, 57, the son of white, rural north Louisiana and pastor to 18,000 south Louisiana Episcopalians, and Jerome Smith, 69, black and rumpled, son of Treme, a former Freedom Rider from the civil rights movement.
Before Hurricane Katrina, in the days when Jenkins says he was focused more on the well-being of his predominantly white church than his predominantly black city, they might never have crossed paths.
But since Katrina, they have forged a relationship in which Jenkins, now deep into a profound personal and spiritual transformation, said he has come to love and rely on Smith.
Smith, a sometimes fiery activist in whom Jenkins sees a gentle soul, has become one of the bishop's principal guides into New Orleans' poor African-American culture, a landscape Jenkins said he previously glimpsed but did not understand.
"He's my mentor, you know," Jenkins said recently. "It is a good day whenever Jerome Smith comes by."
For days, I've been wanting to write about this story, but life intervened, along with the inauguration of a new president and vice-president. (Oh happy day!)
Through his own trauma and suffering and from viewing suffering and trauma all around him, Bishop Jenkins life was transformed. How often it is that through the most difficult times of our lives, the greatest changes take place, for good or for ill.
"I don't know if I'm on the right road, but I think I am," he said recently. "I know that God is with me on that road. And I hope than in trying to please him, I do. I'm searching for God. And also searching for myself."
I think of Thomas Merton's prayer:
The Living Spirit
My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end.
Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think that I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so.
But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you.
And I hope that I have that desire in all that I am doing.
I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire.
And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road though I may know nothing about it.
Therefore will I trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death.
I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and will never leave me to face my perils alone.
Most times, that's the best we can do.
Before the storm, "I thought Christianity and priesthood were primarily about the cult," Jenkins said. "And doing the actions correctly -- holding my fingers correctly at Mass, not wearing brown shoes when celebrating the Mass. That it was getting all those right.
"And I was missing the larger picture of the dignity of humanity and the world for whom Christ died."
....
Jenkins' transformation began two or three days after the storm as New Orleans filled with water and the plight of tens of thousands of stranded residents horrified the world.
Having evacuated from New Orleans, he was alone at a friend's house in Baton Rouge when the televised images of exhausted evacuees begging for help at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center torched his soul, driving him to his knees in prayer.
What he saw, he says now, was not merely suffering blooming from decades of social and economic inequality. He saw sin itself: malignant, writhing evil, freshly troweled up from the soil of his very city; social sin, which, for all of his theological sensitivity, he had only dimly sensed.
It nearly broke him.
In the language of the Christian mystic St. John of the Cross, he entered his "dark night of the soul."
"I was overwhelmed. Absolutely. I knew that I did not have the mind or heart or spiritual depth to make an adequate response to what I saw happening to us," he said recently. "I began to weep. I moved toward despair."
After that trauma, Jenkins set out on what he and those close to him describe as a spiritual journey. As many do, it began with personal contrition.
Please, read the entire article. It's beautifully written and quite moving. I've probably gone beyond fair use, but I pray the Times-Picayune will indulge me. I make no profit from this blog, and my intention is to highlight Bishop Jenkins' transformation, Nolan's fine reporting, and the willingness of his newspaper to devote space to the story. Time after time, Bruce Nolan demonstrates what an excellent religion reporter can do. He does his homework in researching the background of the stories he reports, with the result that his reporting, especially in an in-depth article such as this, is as close to the truth as a reporter is likely to get.
UPDATE: I'm bumping this article up, because it's important to me, and I don't want it to be totally eclipsed by the inauguration celebrations.
Prayer Service At The National Cathedral
Here's the link to the National Prayer Service at Washington National Cathedral in DC, from the Episcopal Café.
Jim Naughton says:
Hi folks,
Just back from the National Prayer Service. The Rev. Dr. Sharon E. Watkins preached a heck of a sermon, but for me the high points of the morning were musical: the gently rocking harmonies of the Washington Performing Arts Society’s Children of the Gospel Choir (Annisse Murillo, soloist) singing He’s Got the Whole World in his Hands; the impassioned majesty of Amazing Grace as sung by Dr. Wintley Phipps, President of U. S. Dream Academy; and the sweet, serene tones of The Cathedral Choir whose version of America the Beautiful makes plain the profoundly prayerful essence of that song.
Jim Naughton says:
Hi folks,
Just back from the National Prayer Service. The Rev. Dr. Sharon E. Watkins preached a heck of a sermon, but for me the high points of the morning were musical: the gently rocking harmonies of the Washington Performing Arts Society’s Children of the Gospel Choir (Annisse Murillo, soloist) singing He’s Got the Whole World in his Hands; the impassioned majesty of Amazing Grace as sung by Dr. Wintley Phipps, President of U. S. Dream Academy; and the sweet, serene tones of The Cathedral Choir whose version of America the Beautiful makes plain the profoundly prayerful essence of that song.
"My Country Tis Of Thee" - Aretha Franklin
I stole the idea of posting this version of the video from Mark Harris at Preludium for the same reason that he did, because of its sound quality. I love what Mark said about this still picture of president Obama during the performance:
About half way through there is this still picture that made me know why I believe President Obama is good for the country. He listens with his heart.
"Air And Simple Gifts"
Yo-Yo Ma, Itzhak Perlman, Anthony McGill and Gabriela Montero perform "Air and Simple Gifts" by John Williams at the inauguration ceremony.
A lovely moment.
Thanks to Ann.
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
The Reverend Joseph Lowery - Benediction At The Inauguration Of President Obama
God of our weary years, God of our silent tears, thou, who has brought us thus far along the way, thou, who has by thy might led us into the light, keep us forever in the path we pray, lest our feet stray from the places, our God, where we met thee, lest our hearts drunk with the wine of the world, we forget thee.
Shadowed beneath thy hand, may we forever stand true to thee, oh God, and true to our native land.
We truly give thanks for the glorious experience we've shared this day.
We pray now, oh Lord, for your blessing upon thy servant Barack Obama, the 44th president of these United States, his family and his administration.
He has come to this high office at a low moment in the national, and indeed the global, fiscal climate. But because we know you got the whole world in your hands, we pray for not only our nation, but for the community of nations.
Our faith does not shrink though pressed by the flood of mortal ills.
For we know that, Lord, you are able and you're willing to work through faithful leadership to restore stability, mend our brokenness, heal our wounds, and deliver us from the exploitation of the poor, of the least of these, and from favoritism toward the rich, the elite of these.
We thank you for the empowering of thy servant, our 44th president, to inspire our nation to believe that yes we can work together to achieve a more perfect union.
And while we have sown the seeds of greed — the wind of greed and corruption, and even as we reap the whirlwind of social and economic disruption, we seek forgiveness and we come in a spirit of unity and solidarity to commit our support to our president by our willingness to make sacrifices, to respect your creation, to turn to each other and not on each other.
And now, Lord, in the complex arena of human relations, help us to make choices on the side of love, not hate; on the side of inclusion, not exclusion; tolerance, not intolerance.
And as we leave this mountain top, help us to hold on to the spirit of fellowship and the oneness of our family. Let us take that power back to our homes, our workplaces, our churches, our temples, our mosques, or wherever we seek your will.
Bless President Barack, First Lady Michelle. Look over our little angelic Sasha and Malia.
We go now to walk together as children, pledging that we won't get weary in the difficult days ahead. We know you will not leave us alone.
With your hands of power and your heart of love, help us then, now, Lord, to work for that day when nations shall not lift up sword against nation, when tanks will be beaten into tractors, when every man and every woman shall sit under his or her own vine and fig tree and none shall be afraid, when justice will roll down like waters and righteousness as a mighty stream.
Lord, in the memory of all the saints who from their labors rest, and in the joy of a new beginning, we ask you to help us work for that day when black will not be asked to get in back, when brown can stick around ... when yellow will be mellow ... when the red man can get ahead, man; and when white will embrace what is right. That all those who do justice and love mercy say Amen.
I loved the prayer when I heard it today, and I'm pleased to have the text.
Thanks to Tim at Tale Spin
Shadowed beneath thy hand, may we forever stand true to thee, oh God, and true to our native land.
We truly give thanks for the glorious experience we've shared this day.
We pray now, oh Lord, for your blessing upon thy servant Barack Obama, the 44th president of these United States, his family and his administration.
He has come to this high office at a low moment in the national, and indeed the global, fiscal climate. But because we know you got the whole world in your hands, we pray for not only our nation, but for the community of nations.
Our faith does not shrink though pressed by the flood of mortal ills.
For we know that, Lord, you are able and you're willing to work through faithful leadership to restore stability, mend our brokenness, heal our wounds, and deliver us from the exploitation of the poor, of the least of these, and from favoritism toward the rich, the elite of these.
We thank you for the empowering of thy servant, our 44th president, to inspire our nation to believe that yes we can work together to achieve a more perfect union.
And while we have sown the seeds of greed — the wind of greed and corruption, and even as we reap the whirlwind of social and economic disruption, we seek forgiveness and we come in a spirit of unity and solidarity to commit our support to our president by our willingness to make sacrifices, to respect your creation, to turn to each other and not on each other.
And now, Lord, in the complex arena of human relations, help us to make choices on the side of love, not hate; on the side of inclusion, not exclusion; tolerance, not intolerance.
And as we leave this mountain top, help us to hold on to the spirit of fellowship and the oneness of our family. Let us take that power back to our homes, our workplaces, our churches, our temples, our mosques, or wherever we seek your will.
Bless President Barack, First Lady Michelle. Look over our little angelic Sasha and Malia.
We go now to walk together as children, pledging that we won't get weary in the difficult days ahead. We know you will not leave us alone.
With your hands of power and your heart of love, help us then, now, Lord, to work for that day when nations shall not lift up sword against nation, when tanks will be beaten into tractors, when every man and every woman shall sit under his or her own vine and fig tree and none shall be afraid, when justice will roll down like waters and righteousness as a mighty stream.
Lord, in the memory of all the saints who from their labors rest, and in the joy of a new beginning, we ask you to help us work for that day when black will not be asked to get in back, when brown can stick around ... when yellow will be mellow ... when the red man can get ahead, man; and when white will embrace what is right. That all those who do justice and love mercy say Amen.
I loved the prayer when I heard it today, and I'm pleased to have the text.
Thanks to Tim at Tale Spin
Prayer For President Barack Obama
For the President of the United States and all in Civil Authority
O Lord our Governor, whose glory is in all the world: We commend this nation to thy merciful care, that, being guided by thy Providence, we may dwell secure in thy peace. Grant to the President of the United States and to all in authority, wisdom and strength to know and to do thy will. Fill them with the love of truth and righteousness, and make them ever mindful of their calling to serve this people in thy fear; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, world without end.
Amen.
(Book of Common Prayer, p. 820)
UPDATE: Photo from the new website.
It's Real! It Happened! It's A New Day!
For the first time in a long time, I felt strong stirrings of patriotism. For the first time in a long time, I felt pride in the leadership of my country. I cried during the singing of "My Country Tis Of Thee". I stood proudly and sang the national anthem.
And when this happens, when we allow freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual:
"Free at last! Free at last!
Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"
Martin Luther King - "I Have A Dream"
Hello, President Barack Obama!
Good-bye, Bush and gang.
Less than two hours left! Last night, Grandpère and I talked about what I post on my blog, and he became alarmed when he found out about some of what I've said. He said, "You know, what you say goes out to the world! The FBI will investigate you, and I could be in trouble, too." You know, guilt by association. I told him, "Hey! Tomorrow, I'm out of the woods. Bush missed his chance, and Obama won't begin his presidency by investigating an old lady."
Monday, January 19, 2009
A "Simple Mistake"
From Marc Amber at The Atlaantic:
Barack Obama's inaugural committee is taking for the blame for a scheduling miscue that left gay Episcopal Bishop Gene Robinson's prayer out of HBO's live broadcast of yesterday's inaugural megaconcert.
....
An inaugural committee aide calls it a "simple mistake."
....
Tomorrow, before an audience of 2 million people on the Mall, the inaugural committee will broadcast an edited version of the program on Jumboscreens that includes his prayer.
It was, the aide says, "[a]n honest, unfortunate mistake in executing the program that for which we take responsibility."
The team has apologized to Robinson.
All right, then. The outcry must have been great.
Is there a lesson here on pushback, once Obama takes office? We'll also need to let the Congress know that, although Obama is popular, the Congress is held in low esteem, and they'd best not put up roadblocks to change.
Thanks to Dennis for sending the link.
UPDATE: It's refreshing to see the inaugural committee take responsibility. A new day has dawned, indeed.
UPDATE 2: Go read Bishop Gene's account at his blog of his amazing Monday.
Barack Obama's inaugural committee is taking for the blame for a scheduling miscue that left gay Episcopal Bishop Gene Robinson's prayer out of HBO's live broadcast of yesterday's inaugural megaconcert.
....
An inaugural committee aide calls it a "simple mistake."
....
Tomorrow, before an audience of 2 million people on the Mall, the inaugural committee will broadcast an edited version of the program on Jumboscreens that includes his prayer.
It was, the aide says, "[a]n honest, unfortunate mistake in executing the program that for which we take responsibility."
The team has apologized to Robinson.
All right, then. The outcry must have been great.
Is there a lesson here on pushback, once Obama takes office? We'll also need to let the Congress know that, although Obama is popular, the Congress is held in low esteem, and they'd best not put up roadblocks to change.
Thanks to Dennis for sending the link.
UPDATE: It's refreshing to see the inaugural committee take responsibility. A new day has dawned, indeed.
UPDATE 2: Go read Bishop Gene's account at his blog of his amazing Monday.
Congratulations Are In Order!
MadPriest is celebrating his 1,000,000th visitor. Go over there and congratulate him, or he will never forgive you - or me for not telling you. Of course, I can't vouch for the numbers, and he could be making the whole thing up, but let's give him the benefit of the doubt.
No Matter Who Is President....
In preparation for the incoming President, a broken fence at the White House was recently repaired.
Before the repairs were completed, three contractors were called in to bid for the opportunity to fix the broken fence at the White House in DC: One is from New York, another is from Tennessee and the third, is from Florida .
All three went with a White House official to examine the fence.
The Florida contractor takes out a tape measure and does some measuring, then works some figures with a pencil. "Well," he says, "I figure the job will run about $900: $400 for materials, $400 for my crew, and $100 profit for me."
The Tennessee contractor also does some measuring and figuring, then says, "I can do this job for $700: $300 for materials, $300 for my crew, and $100 profit for me."
The New York contractor doesn't measure OR figure, but leans over to the White House official and whispers, "$2,700."
The official, incredulous, says, "You didn't even measure like the other guys! How did you come up with such a high figure?"
The New York contractor whispers back, "$1000 for me, $1000 for you, and we hire the guy from Tennessee to fix the fence."
"Done!" replies the government official. And that, my friends, is how government contracting works!
I'm afraid that last sentence is more true than I'd like to think.
Don't blame me, blame Doug. And on the eve of the inauguration!
Before the repairs were completed, three contractors were called in to bid for the opportunity to fix the broken fence at the White House in DC: One is from New York, another is from Tennessee and the third, is from Florida .
All three went with a White House official to examine the fence.
The Florida contractor takes out a tape measure and does some measuring, then works some figures with a pencil. "Well," he says, "I figure the job will run about $900: $400 for materials, $400 for my crew, and $100 profit for me."
The Tennessee contractor also does some measuring and figuring, then says, "I can do this job for $700: $300 for materials, $300 for my crew, and $100 profit for me."
The New York contractor doesn't measure OR figure, but leans over to the White House official and whispers, "$2,700."
The official, incredulous, says, "You didn't even measure like the other guys! How did you come up with such a high figure?"
The New York contractor whispers back, "$1000 for me, $1000 for you, and we hire the guy from Tennessee to fix the fence."
"Done!" replies the government official. And that, my friends, is how government contracting works!
I'm afraid that last sentence is more true than I'd like to think.
Don't blame me, blame Doug. And on the eve of the inauguration!
"The Last Token"
A poem from Tobias Haller's Thought For Inauguration:
The Last Token
Let not Barack Obama
be just another token,
pointed to as proof —
sign of one race's victory
or another's tolerance.
Let not this new beginning
be conceived of as an end,
as something we've accomplished;
for we still have far,
so very far, to go.
Rather let this be
a true inauguration,
a new beginning.
Let him not be
just one more sign or symbol,
but an efficacious sacramental presence;
real flesh and blood,
present and vocal:
to call us all
to sweat and tears,
to set our hands to work
to do the many tasks
that lie before us.
Let this be
the end of tokens,
signs and symbols of deceptive promise;
let this be
the inauguration,
not the benediction,
of our hopes.
Let this be
in form and substance
active and alive;
not contented evening,
but the hopeful dawn.
Tobias Haller BSG
As I said in the comments at Tobias' blog, the poem took my breath away. It is so very right and true for the occasion that I can only say a great "Amen! So may it be!"
The Last Token
Let not Barack Obama
be just another token,
pointed to as proof —
sign of one race's victory
or another's tolerance.
Let not this new beginning
be conceived of as an end,
as something we've accomplished;
for we still have far,
so very far, to go.
Rather let this be
a true inauguration,
a new beginning.
Let him not be
just one more sign or symbol,
but an efficacious sacramental presence;
real flesh and blood,
present and vocal:
to call us all
to sweat and tears,
to set our hands to work
to do the many tasks
that lie before us.
Let this be
the end of tokens,
signs and symbols of deceptive promise;
let this be
the inauguration,
not the benediction,
of our hopes.
Let this be
in form and substance
active and alive;
not contented evening,
but the hopeful dawn.
Tobias Haller BSG
As I said in the comments at Tobias' blog, the poem took my breath away. It is so very right and true for the occasion that I can only say a great "Amen! So may it be!"
Wise Words From Martin Luther King
Nonviolence is the answer to the crucial political and moral questions of our time: the need for man to overcome oppression and violence without resorting to oppression and violence. Man must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love.
Martin Luther King, Jr., Nobel Prize acceptance speech, Stockholm, Sweden, December 11, 1964.
Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that. Hate multiplies hate, violence multiplies violence, and toughness multiplies toughness in a descending spiral of destruction....The chain reaction of evil--hate begetting hate, wars producing more wars--must be broken, or we shall be plunged into the dark abyss of annihilation.
Martin Luther King, Jr., "Strength To Love", 1963.
The church must be reminded that it is not the master or the servant of the state, but rather the conscience of the state. It must be the guide and the critic of the state, and never its tool. If the church does not recapture its prophetic zeal, it will become an irrelevant social club without moral or spiritual authority.
Martin Luther King, Jr., "Strength to Love", 1963.
MLK was a prophet, indeed - a man for all seasons.
More On The Missing Prayer
From Aaron Barnhart at TVBarn blog at the Kansas City Star:
As I see it, the Obama campaign has three options when the outcry (which has already started) comes to a boil later today:
1. Claim it was a technical glitch, jumping on the Times blog item. This would not only be a cowardly route, but it would be quickly disproven by one of several possibly gay executives at HBO or a viewer who could point out that the show began precisely and glitch-free at 2:30 p.m. ET.
UPDATE: Option 1 is off the table. An HBO spokesperson told TVB, "The PIC (Presidential Inaugural Committee)made the decision to put Rev. Robinson's invocation in the pre-show."
2. Come clean and admit that they never intended for Robinson to be seen on national TV. Which would mean admitting that Obama cooked up an extremely cynical ploy to pacify gays -- and straights like me who support gay marriage -- with a press release. Well, it failed. Perhaps Team Obama will claim it had no idea Robinson would not be seen giving the invocation. But then what does that say of Team Obama's vaunted preparation, planning, and chesslike working of all the angles?
3. Admit they screwed up and should've included Robinson on camera. If HBO had -- for some reason -- objected to having a gay bishop welcome all of America to "We Are One," then the invocation could have been pushed until after the entry of the presidential entourage. Well, it would not be the first time Team Obama had underestimated a controversial clergyman ... or the second. (How many presidents have gotten into hot water over their ministers three times before they even took the oath of office??)(
Whatever excuse the Obama people choose, exactly zero Americans saw Bishop Robinson on TV welcoming America to a day celebrating a president who is supposedly, to quote Colin Powell, a transformational figure.
And 150 million people will see Rick Warren do the same thing on Tuesday.
Some transformation.
Wounded Bird says that's about right.
H/T to the Episcopal Café.
As I see it, the Obama campaign has three options when the outcry (which has already started) comes to a boil later today:
UPDATE: Option 1 is off the table. An HBO spokesperson told TVB, "The PIC (Presidential Inaugural Committee)made the decision to put Rev. Robinson's invocation in the pre-show."
2. Come clean and admit that they never intended for Robinson to be seen on national TV. Which would mean admitting that Obama cooked up an extremely cynical ploy to pacify gays -- and straights like me who support gay marriage -- with a press release. Well, it failed. Perhaps Team Obama will claim it had no idea Robinson would not be seen giving the invocation. But then what does that say of Team Obama's vaunted preparation, planning, and chesslike working of all the angles?
3. Admit they screwed up and should've included Robinson on camera. If HBO had -- for some reason -- objected to having a gay bishop welcome all of America to "We Are One," then the invocation could have been pushed until after the entry of the presidential entourage. Well, it would not be the first time Team Obama had underestimated a controversial clergyman ... or the second. (How many presidents have gotten into hot water over their ministers three times before they even took the oath of office??)(
Whatever excuse the Obama people choose, exactly zero Americans saw Bishop Robinson on TV welcoming America to a day celebrating a president who is supposedly, to quote Colin Powell, a transformational figure.
And 150 million people will see Rick Warren do the same thing on Tuesday.
Some transformation.
Wounded Bird says that's about right.
H/T to the Episcopal Café.
Bishop Gene's Prayer - The Video
Mike in Texas posted a video of Bishop Gene's prayer.
From HBO:
"The producer of the concert has said that the Presidential Inaugural Committee made the decision to keep the invocation as part of the pre-show."
From HBO:
"The producer of the concert has said that the Presidential Inaugural Committee made the decision to keep the invocation as part of the pre-show."
Sunday, January 18, 2009
To Maintain A Healthy Level Of Insanity
On a lighter note:
1. At lunch time, sit in your parked car with sunglasses on and point a hair dryer at passing cars. See if they slow down.
2. Page yourself over the intercom. Don't disguise your voice!
3. Every time someone asks you to do something, ask if they want fries with that.
4. Put decaf in the coffee maker for 3 weeks . Once everyone has gotten over their caffeine addictions, switch to espresso.
5. In the memo field of all your checks, write 'For Marijuana'
6. Skip down the hall rather than walk and see how many looks you get.
7. Order a diet water whenever you go out to eat.
8. Specify that your drive-through order is 'To go'.
9. Sing along at the opera.
10. Five days in advance, tell your friends you can't attend their party because you have a headache.
11. When the money comes out the ATM, scream 'I won! I won!'
12. When leaving the zoo, start running towards the parking lot, yelling 'Run for your lives! They're loose!'
And The final way to keep a healthy level Of insanity
13. Tell your children over dinner, 'Due to the economy, we are going to have to let one of you go.'
Send This E-mail To Someone To Make Them Smile.
It's called...THERAPY
I'm not sending it in an email. I'm posting it.
Blame it on Doug.
1. At lunch time, sit in your parked car with sunglasses on and point a hair dryer at passing cars. See if they slow down.
2. Page yourself over the intercom. Don't disguise your voice!
3. Every time someone asks you to do something, ask if they want fries with that.
4. Put decaf in the coffee maker for 3 weeks . Once everyone has gotten over their caffeine addictions, switch to espresso.
5. In the memo field of all your checks, write 'For Marijuana'
6. Skip down the hall rather than walk and see how many looks you get.
7. Order a diet water whenever you go out to eat.
8. Specify that your drive-through order is 'To go'.
9. Sing along at the opera.
10. Five days in advance, tell your friends you can't attend their party because you have a headache.
11. When the money comes out the ATM, scream 'I won! I won!'
12. When leaving the zoo, start running towards the parking lot, yelling 'Run for your lives! They're loose!'
And The final way to keep a healthy level Of insanity
13. Tell your children over dinner, 'Due to the economy, we are going to have to let one of you go.'
Send This E-mail To Someone To Make Them Smile.
It's called...THERAPY
I'm not sending it in an email. I'm posting it.
Blame it on Doug.
Comment Moderation Is Turned On
I'm sorry to do this, but I'm getting bombed with anonymous trolls and Jenny. For now, until the pests go away, I have turned on comment moderation. I'm sorry to use controls, since I like to keep access to the blog as free as possible, but until the annoying commenters go away, I'm afraid this is how it will be.
Of Course, The Haters Were There
From the Huffington Post:
Appearing at the primary public entrance to the pre-Inaugural concert at the Lincoln Memorial, representatives from a group calling itself "Brother Ruben and the Official Street Preachers" protested openly-gay Episcopal Gene Robinson's participation in the event.
With a diverse and otherwise joyous crowd of adults and children of all ages streaming by, the three protest participants shouted about hate, hell and "homo-sex" - using a megaphone to assert that "homosexuals are eternally damned" and "Jesus doesn't love homosexuals."
Read the rest of the post and check out Brother Ruben's website. I won't link to it, but there's a link in the HP piece.
Bishop Gene Robinson's Prayer
By The Rt. Rev. V. Gene Robinson, Episcopal Bishop of New Hampshire
Opening Inaugural Event
Lincoln Memorial, Washington, DC
January 18, 2009
Welcome to Washington! The fun is about to begin, but first, please join me in pausing for a moment, to ask God’s blessing upon our nation and our next president.
O God of our many understandings, we pray that you will…
Bless us with tears – for a world in which over a billion people exist on less than a dollar a day, where young women from many lands are beaten and raped for wanting an education, and thousands die daily from malnutrition, malaria, and AIDS.
Bless us with anger – at discrimination, at home and abroad, against refugees and immigrants, women, people of color, gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people.
Bless us with discomfort – at the easy, simplistic “answers” we’ve preferred to hear from our politicians, instead of the truth, about ourselves and the world, which we need to face if we are going to rise to the challenges of the future.
Bless us with patience – and the knowledge that none of what ails us will be “fixed” anytime soon, and the understanding that our new president is a human being, not a messiah.
Bless us with humility – open to understanding that our own needs must always be balanced with those of the world.
Bless us with freedom from mere tolerance – replacing it with a genuine respect and warm embrace of our differences, and an understanding that in our diversity, we are stronger.
Bless us with compassion and generosity – remembering that every religion’s God judges us by the way we care for the most vulnerable in the human community, whether across town or across the world.
And God, we give you thanks for your child Barack, as he assumes the office of President of the United States.
Give him wisdom beyond his years, and inspire him with Lincoln’s reconciling leadership style, President Kennedy’s ability to enlist our best efforts, and Dr. King’s dream of a nation for ALL the people.
Give him a quiet heart, for our Ship of State needs a steady, calm captain in these times.
Give him stirring words, for we will need to be inspired and motivated to make the personal and common sacrifices necessary to facing the challenges ahead.
Make him color-blind, reminding him of his own words that under his leadership, there will be neither red nor blue states, but the United States.
Help him remember his own oppression as a minority, drawing on that experience of discrimination, that he might seek to change the lives of those who are still its victims.
Give him the strength to find family time and privacy, and help him remember that even though he is president, a father only gets one shot at his daughters’ childhoods.
And please, God, keep him safe. We know we ask too much of our presidents, and we’re asking FAR too much of this one. We know the risk he and his wife are taking for all of us, and we implore you, O good and great God, to keep him safe. Hold him in the palm of your hand – that he might do the work we have called him to do, that he might find joy in this impossible calling, and that in the end, he might lead us as a nation to a place of integrity, prosperity and peace.
AMEN.
From the Episcopal Café.
H/T to Ann.
Opening Inaugural Event
Lincoln Memorial, Washington, DC
January 18, 2009
Welcome to Washington! The fun is about to begin, but first, please join me in pausing for a moment, to ask God’s blessing upon our nation and our next president.
O God of our many understandings, we pray that you will…
Bless us with tears – for a world in which over a billion people exist on less than a dollar a day, where young women from many lands are beaten and raped for wanting an education, and thousands die daily from malnutrition, malaria, and AIDS.
Bless us with anger – at discrimination, at home and abroad, against refugees and immigrants, women, people of color, gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people.
Bless us with discomfort – at the easy, simplistic “answers” we’ve preferred to hear from our politicians, instead of the truth, about ourselves and the world, which we need to face if we are going to rise to the challenges of the future.
Bless us with patience – and the knowledge that none of what ails us will be “fixed” anytime soon, and the understanding that our new president is a human being, not a messiah.
Bless us with humility – open to understanding that our own needs must always be balanced with those of the world.
Bless us with freedom from mere tolerance – replacing it with a genuine respect and warm embrace of our differences, and an understanding that in our diversity, we are stronger.
Bless us with compassion and generosity – remembering that every religion’s God judges us by the way we care for the most vulnerable in the human community, whether across town or across the world.
And God, we give you thanks for your child Barack, as he assumes the office of President of the United States.
Give him wisdom beyond his years, and inspire him with Lincoln’s reconciling leadership style, President Kennedy’s ability to enlist our best efforts, and Dr. King’s dream of a nation for ALL the people.
Give him a quiet heart, for our Ship of State needs a steady, calm captain in these times.
Give him stirring words, for we will need to be inspired and motivated to make the personal and common sacrifices necessary to facing the challenges ahead.
Make him color-blind, reminding him of his own words that under his leadership, there will be neither red nor blue states, but the United States.
Help him remember his own oppression as a minority, drawing on that experience of discrimination, that he might seek to change the lives of those who are still its victims.
Give him the strength to find family time and privacy, and help him remember that even though he is president, a father only gets one shot at his daughters’ childhoods.
And please, God, keep him safe. We know we ask too much of our presidents, and we’re asking FAR too much of this one. We know the risk he and his wife are taking for all of us, and we implore you, O good and great God, to keep him safe. Hold him in the palm of your hand – that he might do the work we have called him to do, that he might find joy in this impossible calling, and that in the end, he might lead us as a nation to a place of integrity, prosperity and peace.
AMEN.
From the Episcopal Café.
H/T to Ann.
Bishop Gene's Schedule
Elizabeth Kaeton at Telling Secrets posted Bishop Gene's schedule while he's in Washington, DC. The bishop says:
1. I will be blogging from Washington, using my summer's blogspot: Canterbury Tales From the Fringe.
Perhaps this should be renamed "Tales from Closer to the Center" but I didn't have time!
Read the rest at Elizabeth's blog.
1. I will be blogging from Washington, using my summer's blogspot: Canterbury Tales From the Fringe.
Perhaps this should be renamed "Tales from Closer to the Center" but I didn't have time!
Read the rest at Elizabeth's blog.
Saturday, January 17, 2009
Obama
The Barack Obama family on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial last Saturday
Tonight, after we came home from the play, I viewed parts of the videos of President-elect Barack Obama's train ride from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to Washington, DC. The adjectives which came to mind as I watched him give his speeches were: poised, self-assured, graceful, magnetic, at ease. I could go on.
And then, I remember Counterlight's words, "Never fall in love with a politician". Well, maybe for only a few days? Would that be all right?
Click And Click
Being Peace posted two videos, Born Again American and A Long Way that are worth a look. Click on over there to see.
A Father's Cry
From Juan Cole:
The father of the dead little girls, Dr. Izz el-Deen Aboul Aish, appears to have been a sort of an Arab "Dr. Sanjay Gupta" who came on Israeli television frequently. He was about to do an interview on Israeli television when the word reached him of the atrocity against his family. His wife had earlier died of cancer, so his children were all he had left. He commuted to Tel Aviv from Gaza and told the girls to sleep near the stone walls to stay safe in his absence.
Doctor Izz el-Deen Aboul Aish, 2009-01-16, Israel Channel 10
I'm posting this video to demonstrate the reality of an Arab doctor's gut-wrenching grief upon hearing of the deaths of his daughters and niece in Gaza. My intention is not to stir controversy. Keep in mind that the video is a clip from an Israeli TV station.
A fair warning: If comments to this post get ugly, I shall close the comments down.
The father of the dead little girls, Dr. Izz el-Deen Aboul Aish, appears to have been a sort of an Arab "Dr. Sanjay Gupta" who came on Israeli television frequently. He was about to do an interview on Israeli television when the word reached him of the atrocity against his family. His wife had earlier died of cancer, so his children were all he had left. He commuted to Tel Aviv from Gaza and told the girls to sleep near the stone walls to stay safe in his absence.
Doctor Izz el-Deen Aboul Aish, 2009-01-16, Israel Channel 10
I'm posting this video to demonstrate the reality of an Arab doctor's gut-wrenching grief upon hearing of the deaths of his daughters and niece in Gaza. My intention is not to stir controversy. Keep in mind that the video is a clip from an Israeli TV station.
A fair warning: If comments to this post get ugly, I shall close the comments down.
Feast Day Of Antony Of Egypt
Before the conversion of the Emperor Constantine in 312 AD, back in the days when Christianity was still a persecuted religion, the act of becoming a Christian involved turning one's back on the pursuit of security, of fashionable prestige and popularity, of success as the term is widely understood.
James Kiefer at the Lectionary.
I wonder whether I would choose to be a Christian if I faced persecution. I hope that I would.
Readings:
Psalm 91:9-16 or 1
1 Peter 5:6-10
Mark 10:17-21
As he was setting out on a journey, a man ran up and knelt before him, and asked him, ‘Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?’ Jesus said to him, ‘Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone. You know the commandments: “You shall not murder; You shall not commit adultery; You shall not steal; You shall not bear false witness; You shall not defraud; Honour your father and mother.” ’ He said to him, ‘Teacher, I have kept all these since my youth.’ Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said, ‘You lack one thing; go, sell what you own, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.’
"Jesus, looking at him, loved him...." I find that it's easy to skip over the words, as they're almost a throwaway phrase, but how fraught they are.
PRAYER
O God, who by your Holy Spirit enabled your servant Antony to withstand the temptations of the world, the flesh, and the devil: Give us grace, with pure hearts and minds, to follow you, the only God; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
Image from Wiki.
Friday, January 16, 2009
"The McDonaldisation Of Church Learning"
In his post titled "Church and Education" Pluralist Speaks writes:
So much that passes for church learning I must criticise. Alpha, for example, is the McDonaldisation of church learning: bite size ready answers for whatever questions may arise. It is a recruiting method (or a recycling method, really). It is marketed and carries power connotations: power and influence for Holy Trinity Brompton, power and influence for generally one kind of Christianity delivered with a copyright notice. It's capitalism in religion. It is also lazy teaching and learning, a sort of unwrapped national curriculum of sectional Christianity.Very well spoken. It's surely an apt description of my experience of Alpha, although I could not have put it so well. I disliked the course rather intensely.
Read the rest of Pluralist's post. He describes his model of what church education should be. I find little there with which to disagree.
That's Pluralist's self-portrait up there.
A Place I Want To Visit In England
Rievaulx Abbey
"Pour into our hearts, O God, the Holy Spirit's gift of love, that we, clasping each the other's hand, may share the joy of friendship, human and divine, and with your servant Aelred draw many to your community of love; through Jesus Christ the Righteous, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever."
Prayer attributed to Aelred of Rievaulx
Aelred was born in 1109 at Durham, and was sent to the Scottish court for an education that would ensure his future as a noble and courtier. He succeeded, to the extent of being made Master of the Household of the King of Scotland. Nevertheless, he found success at the court of an earthly king unsatisfying, and at the age of 24 he entered the Cistercian monastery at Rievaulx in Yorkshire. Bernard of Clairvaux encouraged him to write his first work, The Mirror of Charity, which deals with seeking to follow the example of Christ in all things. In 1147 he became abbot of Rievaulx, a post which he held until his death of kidney disease twenty years later at the age of 57.
From James Kiefer at the Lectionary.
I love ruins, especially ruins of sacred spaces. I'll never forget my visit to Glendalough Abbey, St. Kevin's monastery, in Ireland. While I was there, I experienced a sense that I was on holy ground and an almost physical presence. Over the centuries, many prayers were prayed there, and perhaps what I felt was the lingering presence of the prayers and of all the saints who prayed there.
Earlier in the week, I wanted to post on the Feast Day of Aelred, but I didn't have time. I wanted to send blessings and good wishes to Prior Aelred of St. Gregory's Abbey in Three Rivers, Michigan, on the feast day of his namesake, but I didn't do that either.
Prior Aelred, if you happen to pass by, a belated Blessed and Happy St. Aelred's Feast Day!
UPDATE: I visited Rievaulx Abbey in March 2009. It's a lovely and holy place.
R. I. P. Andrew Wyeth
From the New York Times:
Andrew Wyeth, one of the most popular and also most lambasted artists in the history of American art, a reclusive linchpin in a colorful family dynasty of artists whose precise realist views of hardscrabble rural life became icons of national culture and sparked endless debates about the nature of modern art, died Friday at his home in Chadds Ford. He was 91.
....
Because of his popularity, a bad sign to many art world insiders, Wyeth came to represent middle-class values and ideals that modernism claimed to reject, so that arguments about his work extended beyond painting to societal splits along class, geographical and educational lines. One art historian, in response to a 1977 survey in Art News magazine about the most underrated and overrated artists of the century, nominated Wyeth for both categories.
He was popular, therefore he could not possibly be a good painter?
As John Updike said, “In the heyday of Abstract Expressionism, the scorn was simple gallery politics; but resistance to Wyeth remains curiously stiff in an art world that has no trouble making room for Photorealists like Richard Estes and Philip Pearlstein and graduates of commercial art like Wayne Thibauld, Andy Warhol, and for that matter, Edward Hopper.”
I'm not ashamed to say that I liked his paintings, especially "Christina", pictured above.
Wyeth had seen Christina Olson, crippled from the waist down, dragging herself across a Maine field, “like a crab on a New England shore,” he recalled. To him she was a model of dignity who refused to use a wheelchair and preferred to live in squalor rather than be beholden to anyone. It was dignity of a particularly dour, hardened, misanthropic sort, to which Wyeth throughout his career seemed to gravitate.
Misanthropic? Not at all. Wyeth painted Christina with dignity. How is that misanthropic?
I liked the much reviled Helga paintings, too. The writer of this piece calls them "soft core renditions". What are the chances that he is not an admirer Wyeth's work? I can think of thousands of nude paintings over the centuries, which are now called great art, but seem hard core compared to the Helga paintings.
R. I. P. John Mortimer
From the New York Times:
John Mortimer, barrister, author, playwright and creator of Horace Rumpole, the cunning defender of the British criminal classes, died Friday morning at his home in Oxfordshire, England, said his agent, Katherine Vile. He was 85 years old and had been ill for some time, Ms. Vile said.
....
But as a barrister in Britain, Sir John came to be known in the 1960s as a defender of free speech and human rights for taking up cases that he said were “alleged to be testing the frontiers of tolerance.” He became a Queen’s Counsel just in time to tackle some of the civil rights cases that arose in Britain in that decade, all the while writing fiction, non-fiction, drama and comedy.
....
His memoirs, including “Clinging to the Wreckage” (1982), “Murderers and Other Friends: Another Part of Life” (1994), drop dozens of names of the theater and movie people he spent time with. There are trays upon trays of cocktails in his stories, and interviews late in his life note the presence of what was described in one as a “comfortably large Guinness that he is drinking for his health even though it is still a long time until lunch.”
I've always longed to be "she who must be obeyed", like Hilda, Rumpole's wife, but alas! I never succeeded. Grandpère would not cooperate.
Mortimer was a gifted man who lived life with gusto.
Please Pray For Keith And Barbara
BillyD said...
Speaking of doctors, please pray for my brother Keith and his wife, Barbara. Keith fell and broke his hip today - the same day that Barbara found out she has rectal cancer. They're operating on Keith tomorrow, but don't know about Barbara yet.
Oh dear, BillyD! That's hard. Both in the same day! Prayers for healing, comfort, and strength through the difficult days ahead.
UPDATE: BillyD has left a new comment on your post "Please Pray For Keith And Barbara":
Thanks for the prayers. Keith's surgery is scheduled for five o'clock Mountain Time this evening, and is expected to last about four hours. They're putting some sort of rod into his femur.
Speaking of doctors, please pray for my brother Keith and his wife, Barbara. Keith fell and broke his hip today - the same day that Barbara found out she has rectal cancer. They're operating on Keith tomorrow, but don't know about Barbara yet.
Oh dear, BillyD! That's hard. Both in the same day! Prayers for healing, comfort, and strength through the difficult days ahead.
UPDATE: BillyD has left a new comment on your post "Please Pray For Keith And Barbara":
Thanks for the prayers. Keith's surgery is scheduled for five o'clock Mountain Time this evening, and is expected to last about four hours. They're putting some sort of rod into his femur.
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Actual Writings On Hospital Charts By Doctors
A baker's dozen for you:
1. She has no rigors or shaking chills , but her husband states she was very hot in bed last night.
2. Patient has chest pain if she lies on her left side for over a year.
3. Discharge status: Alive but without my permission.
4. Healthy appearing decrepit 69 year old male, mentally alert but forgetful.
5. The patient refused autopsy.
6. Patient's medical history has been remarkably insignificant with only a 40 pound weight gain in the past three days.
7. While in ER, she was examined, x-rated and sent home.
8. Patient was alert and unresponsive.
9. Rectal examination revealed a normal size thyroid.
10. Examination of genitalia reveals that he is circus sized. (Wow!)
11. The lab test indicated abnormal lover function.
12. The pelvic exam will be done later on the floor.
13. Large brown stool ambulating in the hall.
Could be sleep deprivation.
1. She has no rigors or shaking chills , but her husband states she was very hot in bed last night.
2. Patient has chest pain if she lies on her left side for over a year.
3. Discharge status: Alive but without my permission.
4. Healthy appearing decrepit 69 year old male, mentally alert but forgetful.
5. The patient refused autopsy.
6. Patient's medical history has been remarkably insignificant with only a 40 pound weight gain in the past three days.
7. While in ER, she was examined, x-rated and sent home.
8. Patient was alert and unresponsive.
9. Rectal examination revealed a normal size thyroid.
10. Examination of genitalia reveals that he is circus sized. (Wow!)
11. The lab test indicated abnormal lover function.
12. The pelvic exam will be done later on the floor.
13. Large brown stool ambulating in the hall.
Could be sleep deprivation.
They Found Them!
From the Washington Post:
A Justice Department lawyer told a federal judge yesterday that the Bush administration will meet its legal requirement to transfer e-mails to the National Archives after spending more than $10 million to locate 14 million e-mails reported missing four years ago from White House computer files.
Civil division trial lawyer Helen H. Hong made the disclosure at a court hearing provoked by a 2007 lawsuit filed by outside groups to ensure that politically significant records created by the White House are not destroyed or removed before President Bush leaves office at noon on Tuesday. She said the department plans to argue in a court filing this week that the administration's successful recent search renders the lawsuit moot.
Hong's statement came hours after U.S. District Court Judge Henry H. Kennedy Jr. ordered employees of the president's executive office -- with just days to go before their departure -- to undertake a comprehensive search of computer workstations, preserve portable hard drives and examine any e-mail archives created or retained from 2003 to 2005, the period in which e-mails appeared to be missing.
I laughed when I read this story. It is decidedly not funny, but I laughed. The Bush maladministration finally complied with court's orders and spent $10 million of our money to find the "missing" emails. Are you wondering if any person or persons tried, without success, to make them disappear permanently? I know I am.
The dispute over recovery of the missing e-mails was provoked by the disclosure four years ago that the White House, in switching to a new internal e-mail system shortly after Bush's election, had abandoned an automatic archiving system meant to preserve all messages containing official business. Under the new system, any of the 3,000 or so regular White House employees could access e-mail storage files, enabling them to delete messages.
An internal White House report noted in 2005 that e-mails from specific periods appeared to be missing, including key moments related to the invasion of Iraq and to a federal probe of the leak of Valerie Plame Wilson's classified employment with the CIA. White House officials called that study flawed after congressional investigators released it.
What an amazing coincidence! My goodness! What could the Bushies possibly want to hide in their email correspondance previous to the invasion of Iraq and the outing of Valerie Plame? Nothing there, folks. Move along.
Regarding the congressional investigation, the investigators did not have access to the "missing" emails when they produced their "flawed" study.
Five more days.
A Justice Department lawyer told a federal judge yesterday that the Bush administration will meet its legal requirement to transfer e-mails to the National Archives after spending more than $10 million to locate 14 million e-mails reported missing four years ago from White House computer files.
Civil division trial lawyer Helen H. Hong made the disclosure at a court hearing provoked by a 2007 lawsuit filed by outside groups to ensure that politically significant records created by the White House are not destroyed or removed before President Bush leaves office at noon on Tuesday. She said the department plans to argue in a court filing this week that the administration's successful recent search renders the lawsuit moot.
Hong's statement came hours after U.S. District Court Judge Henry H. Kennedy Jr. ordered employees of the president's executive office -- with just days to go before their departure -- to undertake a comprehensive search of computer workstations, preserve portable hard drives and examine any e-mail archives created or retained from 2003 to 2005, the period in which e-mails appeared to be missing.
I laughed when I read this story. It is decidedly not funny, but I laughed. The Bush maladministration finally complied with court's orders and spent $10 million of our money to find the "missing" emails. Are you wondering if any person or persons tried, without success, to make them disappear permanently? I know I am.
The dispute over recovery of the missing e-mails was provoked by the disclosure four years ago that the White House, in switching to a new internal e-mail system shortly after Bush's election, had abandoned an automatic archiving system meant to preserve all messages containing official business. Under the new system, any of the 3,000 or so regular White House employees could access e-mail storage files, enabling them to delete messages.
An internal White House report noted in 2005 that e-mails from specific periods appeared to be missing, including key moments related to the invasion of Iraq and to a federal probe of the leak of Valerie Plame Wilson's classified employment with the CIA. White House officials called that study flawed after congressional investigators released it.
What an amazing coincidence! My goodness! What could the Bushies possibly want to hide in their email correspondance previous to the invasion of Iraq and the outing of Valerie Plame? Nothing there, folks. Move along.
Regarding the congressional investigation, the investigators did not have access to the "missing" emails when they produced their "flawed" study.
Five more days.
" Please Keep Praying!"
JCF has left a new comment on your post "Please Continue to Pray For Sue And Fr. Ed":
Update (I'm posting on this thread, as it's linked to "The Three Legged Stool", where Sue&Ed are also being prayed for).
I saw Sue at home today.
Yesterday, she got put in a cast almost to her hip. As you might imagine, it's none too comfortable (and she's having trouble sleeping). Pain at the worst, itching when not in pain.
DESPITE this, she's in good spirits. She very much appreciates the prayers! And, for you animal lovers out there---and I know there are many in Episcoblog-Land---she's benefitting from the "ministry" of her 3 cats: Jasper, Sapphira and Zechariah (all of whom have found places on her hospital bed to love *g*).
I also saw FrEd today, at the (usual) Wednesday evening Mass. He seems slightly more together, too (the last couple of Sundays, between you and me, he came pretty close to biting a bothersome person's head off: the man's been at his limits!).
Please keep praying! [I asked Sue when she'd be back at church, and encouraged her to shoot for Shrove Tuesday, and pancakes. But maybe as early as Candlemas? "DV"]
Original prayer request here.
Update (I'm posting on this thread, as it's linked to "The Three Legged Stool", where Sue&Ed are also being prayed for).
I saw Sue at home today.
Yesterday, she got put in a cast almost to her hip. As you might imagine, it's none too comfortable (and she's having trouble sleeping). Pain at the worst, itching when not in pain.
DESPITE this, she's in good spirits. She very much appreciates the prayers! And, for you animal lovers out there---and I know there are many in Episcoblog-Land---she's benefitting from the "ministry" of her 3 cats: Jasper, Sapphira and Zechariah (all of whom have found places on her hospital bed to love *g*).
I also saw FrEd today, at the (usual) Wednesday evening Mass. He seems slightly more together, too (the last couple of Sundays, between you and me, he came pretty close to biting a bothersome person's head off: the man's been at his limits!).
Please keep praying! [I asked Sue when she'd be back at church, and encouraged her to shoot for Shrove Tuesday, and pancakes. But maybe as early as Candlemas? "DV"]
Original prayer request here.
"We Never Know...."
We never know which interactions will be our last ones. And so every single moment we are called to compassionate presence. There is not a one of us that doesn't know this. But how easy it is to live out of the grudges, the impatience, the frustration. How very human.
From LJ at Wild and Precious. LJ's father died this past Monday. She wrote a beautiful account at her blog of her dad's last days - what those days were like for him and what the days were like for her and her mom.
LJ's words above resonated powerfully for me, especially these, "We never know...so every single moment we are called to compassionate presence." Amen!
May the peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep the hearts and minds of LJ and her mom in Christ Jesus.
From LJ at Wild and Precious. LJ's father died this past Monday. She wrote a beautiful account at her blog of her dad's last days - what those days were like for him and what the days were like for her and her mom.
LJ's words above resonated powerfully for me, especially these, "We never know...so every single moment we are called to compassionate presence." Amen!
May the peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep the hearts and minds of LJ and her mom in Christ Jesus.
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Racism Is Dead In The US?
Some say that the election of Obama shows that racism is dead in the US. Others say that is not true. Count me in the "others" category.
Video from TPM TV.
Thought For The Day - From The Lord
But the Lord said to Samuel, "Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for the Lord does not see as mortals see; they look on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart."
1 Samuel 16:7
1 Samuel 16:7
Rick Warren Offers Shelter To Departing Episcopalians
From the Orange County Register:
Prominent evangelical pastor Rick Warren of Saddleback Church has thrown a lifeline to a conservative Newport Beach parish on the verge of losing its house of worship because of a feud with its parent church.
The California Supreme Court this month ruled that St. James Anglican Church, a 500-family congregation on the Balboa Peninsula, forfeited the rights to its church property when it split in 2004 from the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles and the national Episcopal Church.
....
"(Our) brothers and sisters here at St. James in Newport Beach lost their California State Supreme Court case to keep their property," Warren wrote, according to Christianity Today.
"We stand in solidarity with them, and with all orthodox, evangelical Anglicans. I offer the campus of Saddleback Church to any Anglican congregation who need a place to meet, or if you want to plant a new congregation in south Orange County."
....
"We are overwhelmed by his generosity," [St. James's rector, Rev. Richard] Crocker said. "It is an encouraging sign of support from Christians in the community."
Warren would not make the same offer to progressive Episcopalians who have lost the use of their property, however temporarily, because he could hardly say with any honesty that he stands in solidarity with them, since, in his view, they would not be "orthodox, evangelical Anglicans".
If the sharing works out for the congregants of St. James and Saddleback, then God bless them as they continue their worship.
UPDATE: If anyone has information as to whether all 500 families in St. James left with the Rev. Crocker, I'd like to know.
Prominent evangelical pastor Rick Warren of Saddleback Church has thrown a lifeline to a conservative Newport Beach parish on the verge of losing its house of worship because of a feud with its parent church.
The California Supreme Court this month ruled that St. James Anglican Church, a 500-family congregation on the Balboa Peninsula, forfeited the rights to its church property when it split in 2004 from the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles and the national Episcopal Church.
....
"(Our) brothers and sisters here at St. James in Newport Beach lost their California State Supreme Court case to keep their property," Warren wrote, according to Christianity Today.
"We stand in solidarity with them, and with all orthodox, evangelical Anglicans. I offer the campus of Saddleback Church to any Anglican congregation who need a place to meet, or if you want to plant a new congregation in south Orange County."
....
"We are overwhelmed by his generosity," [St. James's rector, Rev. Richard] Crocker said. "It is an encouraging sign of support from Christians in the community."
Warren would not make the same offer to progressive Episcopalians who have lost the use of their property, however temporarily, because he could hardly say with any honesty that he stands in solidarity with them, since, in his view, they would not be "orthodox, evangelical Anglicans".
If the sharing works out for the congregants of St. James and Saddleback, then God bless them as they continue their worship.
UPDATE: If anyone has information as to whether all 500 families in St. James left with the Rev. Crocker, I'd like to know.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)