From Episcopal News Service: Bishops' 'Mind of the House' resolutions
Resolved, the House of Bishops affirms its desire that The Episcopal Church remain a part of the councils of the Anglican Communion; and
Resolved, the meaning of the Preamble to the Constitution of The Episcopal Church is determined solely by the General Convention of The Episcopal Church; and
Resolved, the House of Bishops believes the proposed Pastoral Scheme of the Dar es Salaam Communiqué of February 19, 2007 would be injurious to The Episcopal Church and urges that the Executive Council decline to participate in it; and
Resolved, the House of Bishops pledges itself to continue to work to find ways of meeting the pastoral concerns of the Primates that are compatible with our own polity and canons.
Good news, indeed!
A Statement from the House of Bishops – March 20, 2007
...It is incumbent upon us as disciples to do our best to follow Jesus in the increasing experience of the leading of the Holy Spirit. We fully understand that others in the Communion believe the same, but we do not believe that Jesus leads us to break our relationships. We proclaim the Gospel of what God has done and is doing in Christ, of the dignity of every human being, and of justice, compassion, and peace. We proclaim the Gospel that in Christ there is no Jew or Greek, no male or female, no slave or free. We proclaim the Gospel that in Christ all God's children, including women, are full and equal participants in the life of Christ's Church. We proclaim the Gospel that in Christ all God's children, including gay and lesbian persons, are full and equal participants in the life of Christ's Church. We proclaim the Gospel that stands against any violence, including violence done to women and children as well as those who are persecuted because of their differences, often in the name of God. The Dar es Salaam Communiqué is distressingly silent on this subject. And, contrary to the way the Anglican Communion Network and the American Anglican Council have represented us, we proclaim a Gospel that welcomes diversity of thought and encourages free and open theological debate as a way of seeking God's truth. If that means that others reject us and communion with us, as some have already done, we must with great regret and sorrow accept their decision.
One could hardly ask for a stronger affirmation of inclusion than these words. Thanks be to God.
Thanks to Toujoursdan at Culture Choc for the heads up.
Tuesday, March 20, 2007
An Audacious Faith In The Future.
MadPriest posted the whole of an editorial from the Los Angeles Times, written by Larry Kramer, gay activist and founder of ACT UP. The opinion piece is titled, Why Do Straights Hate Gays?
Gays are hated. Prove me wrong. Your top general just called us immoral. Marine Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs, is in charge of an estimated 65,000 gay and lesbian troops, some fighting for our country in Iraq. A right-wing political commentator, Ann Coulter, gets away with calling a straight presidential candidate a faggot. Even Garrison Keillor, of all people, is making really tacky jokes about gay parents in his column. This, I guess, does not qualify as hate except that it is so distasteful and dumb, often a first step on the way to hate. Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama tried to duck the questions that Pace's bigotry raised, confirming what gay people know: that there is not one candidate running for public office anywhere who dares to come right out, unequivocally, and say decent, supportive things about us.
....
Our feeble gay movement confines most of its demands to marriage. But political candidates are not talking about — and we are not demanding that they talk about — equality. My lover and I don't want to get married just yet, but we sure want to be equal.
You must know that gays get beaten up all the time, all over the world. If someone beats you up because of who you are — your race or ethnic origin — that is considered a hate crime. But in most states, gays are not included in hate crime measures, and Congress has refused to include us in a federal act.
Larry Kramer is 72 years old, my age, and has been fighting the good fight for many years. I'm sure he gets tired. Progress is slow. But he still has fire in his belly. What gives gays and lesbians and FOGAL (friends of gays and lesbians) hope? I don't know, but I thought of this speech by Martin Luther King to the SCLC in Atlanta, August 16, 1967:
I must confess, my friends, the road ahead will not always be smooth. There will still be rocky places of frustration and meandering points of bewilderment. There will be inevitable setbacks here and there. There will be those moments when the buoyancy of hope will be transformed into the fatigue of despair. Our dreams will sometimes be shattered and our ethereal hopes blasted. We may again with tear-drenched eyes have to stand before the bier of some courageous civil-rights worker whose life will be snuffed out by the dastardly acts of bloodthirsty mobs. Difficult and painful as it is, we must walk on in the days ahead with an audacious faith in the future.
....
"Let this affirmation be our ringing cry. It will give us the courage to face the uncertainties of the future. It will give our tired feet new strength as we continue our forward stride toward the city of freedom. When our days become dreary with low hovering clouds of despair, and when our nights become darker than a thousand midnights, let us remember that there is a creative force in this universe, working to pull down the gigantic mountains of evil, a power that is able to make a way out of no way and transform dark yesterdays into bright tomorrows. Let us realize the arc of the moral universe is long but it bends toward justice."
King's words still resonate for me. What about you?
UPDATE: These words of Larry Kramer cut deep:
Parts of the Episcopal Church in the U.S. are joining with the Nigerian archbishop, who believes gays should be put in prison. Episcopalians! Whoever thought we'd have to worry about Episcopalians?
UPDATE II: The news from the Mind Of The House post above gives me hope for the Episcopal Church.
Gays are hated. Prove me wrong. Your top general just called us immoral. Marine Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs, is in charge of an estimated 65,000 gay and lesbian troops, some fighting for our country in Iraq. A right-wing political commentator, Ann Coulter, gets away with calling a straight presidential candidate a faggot. Even Garrison Keillor, of all people, is making really tacky jokes about gay parents in his column. This, I guess, does not qualify as hate except that it is so distasteful and dumb, often a first step on the way to hate. Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama tried to duck the questions that Pace's bigotry raised, confirming what gay people know: that there is not one candidate running for public office anywhere who dares to come right out, unequivocally, and say decent, supportive things about us.
....
Our feeble gay movement confines most of its demands to marriage. But political candidates are not talking about — and we are not demanding that they talk about — equality. My lover and I don't want to get married just yet, but we sure want to be equal.
You must know that gays get beaten up all the time, all over the world. If someone beats you up because of who you are — your race or ethnic origin — that is considered a hate crime. But in most states, gays are not included in hate crime measures, and Congress has refused to include us in a federal act.
Larry Kramer is 72 years old, my age, and has been fighting the good fight for many years. I'm sure he gets tired. Progress is slow. But he still has fire in his belly. What gives gays and lesbians and FOGAL (friends of gays and lesbians) hope? I don't know, but I thought of this speech by Martin Luther King to the SCLC in Atlanta, August 16, 1967:
I must confess, my friends, the road ahead will not always be smooth. There will still be rocky places of frustration and meandering points of bewilderment. There will be inevitable setbacks here and there. There will be those moments when the buoyancy of hope will be transformed into the fatigue of despair. Our dreams will sometimes be shattered and our ethereal hopes blasted. We may again with tear-drenched eyes have to stand before the bier of some courageous civil-rights worker whose life will be snuffed out by the dastardly acts of bloodthirsty mobs. Difficult and painful as it is, we must walk on in the days ahead with an audacious faith in the future.
....
"Let this affirmation be our ringing cry. It will give us the courage to face the uncertainties of the future. It will give our tired feet new strength as we continue our forward stride toward the city of freedom. When our days become dreary with low hovering clouds of despair, and when our nights become darker than a thousand midnights, let us remember that there is a creative force in this universe, working to pull down the gigantic mountains of evil, a power that is able to make a way out of no way and transform dark yesterdays into bright tomorrows. Let us realize the arc of the moral universe is long but it bends toward justice."
King's words still resonate for me. What about you?
UPDATE: These words of Larry Kramer cut deep:
Parts of the Episcopal Church in the U.S. are joining with the Nigerian archbishop, who believes gays should be put in prison. Episcopalians! Whoever thought we'd have to worry about Episcopalians?
UPDATE II: The news from the Mind Of The House post above gives me hope for the Episcopal Church.
Monday, March 19, 2007
I Am Sullied - No More
Mostly I don't do political posts, but now and again I feel that I must. The media are taking note of the fourth anniversary of the Iraq War. "War. What is it good for?" What do we have to show for the four years but thousands of dead and wounded on both sides of the conflict and a destroyed country. My own country is suffering from a kind of death by a thousand cuts.
Every day I check the numbers of killed and wounded in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan at Iraq Coalition Casualty Count. I say a prayer for the dead and for the families and friends of the dead and for the wounded and their families and friends. But the numbers don't portray the reality of the killings and maiming. The numbers count real people.
Yesterday the Baton Rouge Advocate published a tribute to the troops from Louisiana who have been killed in the Iraq War, which included pictures. They number 72 as of today. That brought the consequences home more than just the numbers, but, of course, the reality of the losses are borne by the families and friends of the fallen. The online version, unfortunately, does not include the pictures, just the names and home towns.
Last night a non-political candlelight vigil was held in Baton Rouge to commemorate the deaths of all the troops in the US, which number now stands at 3217.
AlterNet posted a link to a story of one of the fallen from The Texas Observer that caught my eye:
Ted Westhusing was a true believer. And that was his fatal flaw.
A colonel in the U.S. Army, Westhusing had a good job teaching English at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. He was a devout Catholic who went to church nearly every Sunday. He had a wife and three young children.
He didn’t have to go to Iraq. But Westhusing was such a believer that he volunteered for what he thought was a noble cause. At West Point, Westhusing sought out people who opposed the war in an effort to change their minds. “He absolutely believed that this was a just war,” said one officer who was close to him. “He was wholly enthusiastic about this mission.” His tour of duty in Iraq was to last six months.
About a month before he was to return to his family—on June 5, 2005—Westhusing was found dead in his trailer at Camp Dublin in Baghdad. At the time, he was the highest-ranking American soldier to die in Iraq. The Army’s Criminal Investigation Command report on Westhusing’s death explained it as a “perforating gunshot wound of the head and Manner of Death was suicide.”
He was 44.
....
When he was in Iraq, Westhusing worked for one of the most famous generals in the U.S. military, David Petraeus. In January, Petraeus was appointed by President Bush to lead all U.S. forces in Iraq. As the head of counterterrorism and special operations under Petraeus, Westhusing oversaw the single most important task facing the U.S. military in Iraq then and now: training the Iraqi security forces.
....
...“Something he saw [in Iraq] drove him to this,” one Army officer who was close to Westhusing said in an interview. “The sum of what he saw going on drove him” to take his own life. “It’s because he believed in duty, honor, country that he’s dead.”
The officer said that “strength of character was Ted’s defining characteristic. It was unflinching integrity.” That integrity, he said, was also Westhusing’s great flaw. “To be a true flaw, the personality has to have great strength. And that characteristic caused his downfall.”
....
At about 1:15 in the afternoon, Westhusing was discovered in trailer 602A. Near his body was a note addressed to his commanders, Petraeus and Fil. Written in large, block letters, it read:
"Thanks for telling me it was a good day until I briefed you. [Redacted name]—You are only interested in your career and provide no support to your staff—no msn [mission] support and you don’t care. I cannot support a msn that leads to corruption, human right abuses and liars. I am sullied—no more. I didn’t volunteer to support corrupt, money grubbing contractors, nor work for commanders only interested in themselves. I came to serve honorably and feel dishonored. I trust no Iraqi. I cannot live this way. All my love to my family, my wife and my precious children. I love you and trust you only. Death before being dishonored any more. Trust is essential—I don’t know who trust anymore. [sic] Why serve when you cannot accomplish the mission, when you no longer believe in the cause, when your every effort and breath to succeed meets with lies, lack of support, and selfishness? No more. Reevaluate yourselves, cdrs [commanders]. You are not what you think you are and I know it.
COL Ted Westhusing
Life needs trust. Trust is no more for me here in Iraq."
Ted Westhusing was a casualty of this evil, stupid war just as much as if he had been shot or killed by a bomb. Why did he do this just one month before he was to return home? He was an honorable man, who believed in the justice of the war. I don't understand how anyone could believe that the Iraq War was justified, but apparently honorable people did. Ted Westhusing came to see that the Iraq War was not one that was worth fighting. I pray Ted Westhusing rests in peace and that his family and friends are healing from their great loss.
I was never a true believer in this war, because, from the beginning, there were dissenting voices to the "evidence" that the Bush maladministration presented to "prove" that Saddam was a clear and present danger to us here in the US. The dissent might have been on page 17 of the newspaper instead of page 1, where it belonged, but it was there.
Current members of the Congress, both Republicans and Democrats, who supported the war, are rushing to declare their outrage in being sucked into that support by the lies of the Bush maladministration. Perhaps some of them were fooled, but others knew, as well as I and many others did, that the intelligence leading up to the war was flawed, yet they were too frightened to oppose Bush at the time.
A few days ago, I learned that I had free access to New York Times Select because my husband is retired from the local university and retains a small cubicle and an email address there. Their columnist, Frank Rich, wrote recently in The Ides of March 2003:
...That’s why a revisionist history of the White House’s rush to war, much of it written by its initial cheerleaders, has already taken hold. In this exonerating fictionalization of the story, nearly every politician and pundit in Washington was duped by the same “bad intelligence” before the war, and few imagined that the administration would so botch the invasion’s aftermath or that the occupation would go on so long. “If only I had known then what I know now ...” has been the persistent refrain of the war supporters who subsequently disowned the fiasco. But the embarrassing reality is that much of the damning truth about the administration’s case for war and its hubristic expectations for a cakewalk were publicly available before the war, hiding in plain sight, to be seen by anyone who wanted to look.
Rich quotes from a piece from the Washington Post from March 16, 2003, by Walter Pincus, that actually was on page 17. I knew there was a reason why I kept using that number:
Despite the Bush administration’s claims about Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction, U.S. intelligence agencies have been unable to give Congress or the Pentagon specific information about the amounts of banned weapons or where they are hidden, according to administration officials and members of Congress. Senior intelligence analysts say they feel caught between the demands from White House, Pentagon and other government policy makers for intelligence that would make the administration’s case ‘and what they say is a lack of hard facts,’ one official said.
Frank Rich is right.
Here's the link to Rich's column, but you can only get to it if you have access to Times Select.
I was drawn to link to Ted Westhusing's tragic story to put a human face on the numbers that I read every day in this war with no end in sight.
Presently, Generals Petraeus and Fil are running the war in Iraq. It's way past time to honor the sacrifices of the dead and the wounded by bringing their brothers and sisters serving in Iraq home, beginning now.
Every day I check the numbers of killed and wounded in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan at Iraq Coalition Casualty Count. I say a prayer for the dead and for the families and friends of the dead and for the wounded and their families and friends. But the numbers don't portray the reality of the killings and maiming. The numbers count real people.
Yesterday the Baton Rouge Advocate published a tribute to the troops from Louisiana who have been killed in the Iraq War, which included pictures. They number 72 as of today. That brought the consequences home more than just the numbers, but, of course, the reality of the losses are borne by the families and friends of the fallen. The online version, unfortunately, does not include the pictures, just the names and home towns.
Last night a non-political candlelight vigil was held in Baton Rouge to commemorate the deaths of all the troops in the US, which number now stands at 3217.
AlterNet posted a link to a story of one of the fallen from The Texas Observer that caught my eye:
Ted Westhusing was a true believer. And that was his fatal flaw.
A colonel in the U.S. Army, Westhusing had a good job teaching English at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. He was a devout Catholic who went to church nearly every Sunday. He had a wife and three young children.
He didn’t have to go to Iraq. But Westhusing was such a believer that he volunteered for what he thought was a noble cause. At West Point, Westhusing sought out people who opposed the war in an effort to change their minds. “He absolutely believed that this was a just war,” said one officer who was close to him. “He was wholly enthusiastic about this mission.” His tour of duty in Iraq was to last six months.
About a month before he was to return to his family—on June 5, 2005—Westhusing was found dead in his trailer at Camp Dublin in Baghdad. At the time, he was the highest-ranking American soldier to die in Iraq. The Army’s Criminal Investigation Command report on Westhusing’s death explained it as a “perforating gunshot wound of the head and Manner of Death was suicide.”
He was 44.
....
When he was in Iraq, Westhusing worked for one of the most famous generals in the U.S. military, David Petraeus. In January, Petraeus was appointed by President Bush to lead all U.S. forces in Iraq. As the head of counterterrorism and special operations under Petraeus, Westhusing oversaw the single most important task facing the U.S. military in Iraq then and now: training the Iraqi security forces.
....
...“Something he saw [in Iraq] drove him to this,” one Army officer who was close to Westhusing said in an interview. “The sum of what he saw going on drove him” to take his own life. “It’s because he believed in duty, honor, country that he’s dead.”
The officer said that “strength of character was Ted’s defining characteristic. It was unflinching integrity.” That integrity, he said, was also Westhusing’s great flaw. “To be a true flaw, the personality has to have great strength. And that characteristic caused his downfall.”
....
At about 1:15 in the afternoon, Westhusing was discovered in trailer 602A. Near his body was a note addressed to his commanders, Petraeus and Fil. Written in large, block letters, it read:
"Thanks for telling me it was a good day until I briefed you. [Redacted name]—You are only interested in your career and provide no support to your staff—no msn [mission] support and you don’t care. I cannot support a msn that leads to corruption, human right abuses and liars. I am sullied—no more. I didn’t volunteer to support corrupt, money grubbing contractors, nor work for commanders only interested in themselves. I came to serve honorably and feel dishonored. I trust no Iraqi. I cannot live this way. All my love to my family, my wife and my precious children. I love you and trust you only. Death before being dishonored any more. Trust is essential—I don’t know who trust anymore. [sic] Why serve when you cannot accomplish the mission, when you no longer believe in the cause, when your every effort and breath to succeed meets with lies, lack of support, and selfishness? No more. Reevaluate yourselves, cdrs [commanders]. You are not what you think you are and I know it.
COL Ted Westhusing
Life needs trust. Trust is no more for me here in Iraq."
Ted Westhusing was a casualty of this evil, stupid war just as much as if he had been shot or killed by a bomb. Why did he do this just one month before he was to return home? He was an honorable man, who believed in the justice of the war. I don't understand how anyone could believe that the Iraq War was justified, but apparently honorable people did. Ted Westhusing came to see that the Iraq War was not one that was worth fighting. I pray Ted Westhusing rests in peace and that his family and friends are healing from their great loss.
I was never a true believer in this war, because, from the beginning, there were dissenting voices to the "evidence" that the Bush maladministration presented to "prove" that Saddam was a clear and present danger to us here in the US. The dissent might have been on page 17 of the newspaper instead of page 1, where it belonged, but it was there.
Current members of the Congress, both Republicans and Democrats, who supported the war, are rushing to declare their outrage in being sucked into that support by the lies of the Bush maladministration. Perhaps some of them were fooled, but others knew, as well as I and many others did, that the intelligence leading up to the war was flawed, yet they were too frightened to oppose Bush at the time.
A few days ago, I learned that I had free access to New York Times Select because my husband is retired from the local university and retains a small cubicle and an email address there. Their columnist, Frank Rich, wrote recently in The Ides of March 2003:
...That’s why a revisionist history of the White House’s rush to war, much of it written by its initial cheerleaders, has already taken hold. In this exonerating fictionalization of the story, nearly every politician and pundit in Washington was duped by the same “bad intelligence” before the war, and few imagined that the administration would so botch the invasion’s aftermath or that the occupation would go on so long. “If only I had known then what I know now ...” has been the persistent refrain of the war supporters who subsequently disowned the fiasco. But the embarrassing reality is that much of the damning truth about the administration’s case for war and its hubristic expectations for a cakewalk were publicly available before the war, hiding in plain sight, to be seen by anyone who wanted to look.
Rich quotes from a piece from the Washington Post from March 16, 2003, by Walter Pincus, that actually was on page 17. I knew there was a reason why I kept using that number:
Despite the Bush administration’s claims about Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction, U.S. intelligence agencies have been unable to give Congress or the Pentagon specific information about the amounts of banned weapons or where they are hidden, according to administration officials and members of Congress. Senior intelligence analysts say they feel caught between the demands from White House, Pentagon and other government policy makers for intelligence that would make the administration’s case ‘and what they say is a lack of hard facts,’ one official said.
Frank Rich is right.
Here's the link to Rich's column, but you can only get to it if you have access to Times Select.
I was drawn to link to Ted Westhusing's tragic story to put a human face on the numbers that I read every day in this war with no end in sight.
Presently, Generals Petraeus and Fil are running the war in Iraq. It's way past time to honor the sacrifices of the dead and the wounded by bringing their brothers and sisters serving in Iraq home, beginning now.
The Feast Of St. Joseph
We owe Joseph a great debt of gratitude for his obedience to God and for his care for Mary and her son, Our Lord Jesus Christ.
From the Lectionary:
PRAYER
O God, who from the family of your servant David raised up Joseph to be the guardian of your incarnate Son and the spouse of his virgin mother: Give us grace to imitate his uprightness of life and his obedience to your commands; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
From the Lectionary:
PRAYER
O God, who from the family of your servant David raised up Joseph to be the guardian of your incarnate Son and the spouse of his virgin mother: Give us grace to imitate his uprightness of life and his obedience to your commands; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
Sunday, March 18, 2007
There's A Wildness In God's Mercy
At church this morning, we sang the hymn, "There's A Wideness In God's Mercy". It's not a hymn that we sing very often, and since I've only been in the Episcopal Church 12 years, and our church musician and choir director tends to vary the music quite a lot, there are many hymns that I'm not familiar with.
As I looked at the words in the hymnal through my bifocals, I misread "wideness" as "wildness", and was brought up short. God, wild! Then, as sometimes happens in church - even during the sermon - my mind drifted off from the subject, or rather the hymn at hand to think that "a wildness in God's mercy" would not be far from the truth.
God dispenses his mercy in a munificent and bounteous manner that could be called wild, tossing it here, there, and everywhere in the manner of the revelers riding on Mardi Gras parade floats tossing out beads and trinkets to the crowds.
"There's a wildness in God's mercy." I think there's the kernel of a hymn there.
As I looked at the words in the hymnal through my bifocals, I misread "wideness" as "wildness", and was brought up short. God, wild! Then, as sometimes happens in church - even during the sermon - my mind drifted off from the subject, or rather the hymn at hand to think that "a wildness in God's mercy" would not be far from the truth.
God dispenses his mercy in a munificent and bounteous manner that could be called wild, tossing it here, there, and everywhere in the manner of the revelers riding on Mardi Gras parade floats tossing out beads and trinkets to the crowds.
"There's a wildness in God's mercy." I think there's the kernel of a hymn there.
The Day After
Dennis, in the comments, says that I can't have only the pious Lorica of St. Patrick for the celebration of his feast day, that I need a drinking song. The day is gone, but here's the offering for the day after. Grab your favorite hangover remedy and sing along:
The Old Dun Cow, words and music traditional.
Some friends and I in a public house
Was playing a game of chance one night
When into the pub a fireman ran
His face all a chalky white.
"What's up", says Brown, "Have you seen a ghost,
Or have you seen your Aunt Mariah?"
"Me Aunt Mariah be buggered!", says he,
"The bleedin' pub's on fire!"
And there was Brown upside down
Lappin'' up the whiskey on the floor.
"Booze, booze!" The firemen cried
As they came knockin' on the door (clap clap)
Oh don't let 'em in till it's all drunk up
And somebody shouted MacIntyre! MACINTYRE!
And we all got blue-blind paralytic drunk
When the Old Dun Cow caught fire.
"Oh well," says Brown, "What a bit of luck.
Everybody follow me.
And it's down to the cellar
If the fire's not there
Then we'll have a grand old spree."
So we went on down after good old Brown
The booze we could not miss
And we hadn't been there ten minutes or more
Till we were quite pissed.
Then, Smith walked over to the port wine tub
And gave it just a few hard knocks (clap clap)
Started takin' off his pantaloons
Likewise his shoes and socks.
"Hold on, " says Brown, "that ain't allowed
Ya cannot do that thing here.
Don't go washin' trousers in the port wine tub
When we got Guinness beer."
Then there came from the old back door
The Vicar of the local church.
And when he saw our drunken ways,
He began to scream and curse.
"Ah, you drunken sods! You heathen clods!
You've taken to a drunken spree!
You drank up all the Benedictine wine
And you didn't save a drop for me!"
And then there came a mighty crash
Half the bloody roof caved in.
We were almost drowned in the firemen's hose
But still we were gonna stay.
So we got some tacks and some old wet sacks
And we nailed ourselves inside
And we sat drinking the finest Rum
Till we were bleary-eyed.
Later that night, when the fire was out
We came up from the cellar below.
Our pub was burned. Our booze was drunk.
Our heads was hanging low.
"Oh look", says Brown with a look quite queer.
Seems something raised his ire.
"Now we gotta get down to Murphy's Pub,
It closes on the hour!"
UPDATE: Dennis has his own blog called "Psychology, Dogs, Politics, and Wine". He posts seriously good music videos and learned wine posts that are far beyond my ken and my low wine tastes, but for knowledgeable wine lovers, he has the skinny.
The Old Dun Cow, words and music traditional.
Some friends and I in a public house
Was playing a game of chance one night
When into the pub a fireman ran
His face all a chalky white.
"What's up", says Brown, "Have you seen a ghost,
Or have you seen your Aunt Mariah?"
"Me Aunt Mariah be buggered!", says he,
"The bleedin' pub's on fire!"
And there was Brown upside down
Lappin'' up the whiskey on the floor.
"Booze, booze!" The firemen cried
As they came knockin' on the door (clap clap)
Oh don't let 'em in till it's all drunk up
And somebody shouted MacIntyre! MACINTYRE!
And we all got blue-blind paralytic drunk
When the Old Dun Cow caught fire.
"Oh well," says Brown, "What a bit of luck.
Everybody follow me.
And it's down to the cellar
If the fire's not there
Then we'll have a grand old spree."
So we went on down after good old Brown
The booze we could not miss
And we hadn't been there ten minutes or more
Till we were quite pissed.
Then, Smith walked over to the port wine tub
And gave it just a few hard knocks (clap clap)
Started takin' off his pantaloons
Likewise his shoes and socks.
"Hold on, " says Brown, "that ain't allowed
Ya cannot do that thing here.
Don't go washin' trousers in the port wine tub
When we got Guinness beer."
Then there came from the old back door
The Vicar of the local church.
And when he saw our drunken ways,
He began to scream and curse.
"Ah, you drunken sods! You heathen clods!
You've taken to a drunken spree!
You drank up all the Benedictine wine
And you didn't save a drop for me!"
And then there came a mighty crash
Half the bloody roof caved in.
We were almost drowned in the firemen's hose
But still we were gonna stay.
So we got some tacks and some old wet sacks
And we nailed ourselves inside
And we sat drinking the finest Rum
Till we were bleary-eyed.
Later that night, when the fire was out
We came up from the cellar below.
Our pub was burned. Our booze was drunk.
Our heads was hanging low.
"Oh look", says Brown with a look quite queer.
Seems something raised his ire.
"Now we gotta get down to Murphy's Pub,
It closes on the hour!"
UPDATE: Dennis has his own blog called "Psychology, Dogs, Politics, and Wine". He posts seriously good music videos and learned wine posts that are far beyond my ken and my low wine tastes, but for knowledgeable wine lovers, he has the skinny.
Saturday, March 17, 2007
Happy Feast Day of St. Patrick
THE LORICA, OR, ST PATRICK'S BREASTPLATE
I bind unto myself today
the strong Name of the Trinity,
by invocation of the same,
the Three in One, and One in Three.
I bind this day to me forever,
by power of faith, Christ's Incarnation;
his baptism in the Jordan river;
his death on cross for my salvation;
his bursting from the spiced tomb;
his riding up the heavenly way;
his coming at the day of doom:
I bind unto myself today.
I bind unto myself the power
of the great love of cherubim;
the sweet "Well done" in judgement hour;
the service of the seraphim;
confessors' faith, apostles' word,
the patriarchs' prayers, the prophets' scrolls;
all good deeds done unto the Lord,
and purity of virgin souls.
I bind unto myself today
the virtues of the starlit heaven,
the glorious sun's life-giving ray,
the whiteness of the moon at even,
the flashing of the lightning free,
the whirling wind's tempestuous shocks,
the stable earth, the deep salt sea,
around the old eternal rocks.
I bind unto myself today
the power of God to hold and lead,
his eye to watch, his might to stay,
his ear to hearken to my need;
the wisdom of my God to teach,
his hand to guide, his shield to ward;
the word of God to give me speech,
his heavenly host to be my guard.
[Against the demon snares of sin,
the vice that gives temptation force,
the natural lusts that war within,
the hostile men that mar my course;
of few or many, far or nigh,
in every place, and in all hours
against their fierce hostility,
I bind to me these holy powers.
Against all Satan's spells and wiles,
against false words of heresy,
against the knowledge that defiles
against the heart's idolatry,
against the wizard's evil craft,
against the death-wound and the burning
the choking wave and poisoned shaft,
protect me, Christ, till thy returning.]
Christ be with me, Christ within me,
Christ behind me, Christ before me,
Christ beside me, Christ to win me,
Christ to comfort and restore me,
Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ in quiet, Christ in danger,
Christ in hearts of all that love me,
Christ in mouth of friend and stranger.
I bind unto myself the Name,
the strong Name of the Trinity,
by invocation of the same,
the Three in One, and One in Three.
Of whom all nature hath creation,
eternal Father, Spirit, Word:
praise to the Lord of my salvation,
salvation is of Christ the Lord.
According to James Kiefer:
The Lorica is a truly magnificent hymn, found today in many hymnals (usually abridged by the omission of the two stanzas bracketed....)
I bind unto myself today
the strong Name of the Trinity,
by invocation of the same,
the Three in One, and One in Three.
I bind this day to me forever,
by power of faith, Christ's Incarnation;
his baptism in the Jordan river;
his death on cross for my salvation;
his bursting from the spiced tomb;
his riding up the heavenly way;
his coming at the day of doom:
I bind unto myself today.
I bind unto myself the power
of the great love of cherubim;
the sweet "Well done" in judgement hour;
the service of the seraphim;
confessors' faith, apostles' word,
the patriarchs' prayers, the prophets' scrolls;
all good deeds done unto the Lord,
and purity of virgin souls.
I bind unto myself today
the virtues of the starlit heaven,
the glorious sun's life-giving ray,
the whiteness of the moon at even,
the flashing of the lightning free,
the whirling wind's tempestuous shocks,
the stable earth, the deep salt sea,
around the old eternal rocks.
I bind unto myself today
the power of God to hold and lead,
his eye to watch, his might to stay,
his ear to hearken to my need;
the wisdom of my God to teach,
his hand to guide, his shield to ward;
the word of God to give me speech,
his heavenly host to be my guard.
[Against the demon snares of sin,
the vice that gives temptation force,
the natural lusts that war within,
the hostile men that mar my course;
of few or many, far or nigh,
in every place, and in all hours
against their fierce hostility,
I bind to me these holy powers.
Against all Satan's spells and wiles,
against false words of heresy,
against the knowledge that defiles
against the heart's idolatry,
against the wizard's evil craft,
against the death-wound and the burning
the choking wave and poisoned shaft,
protect me, Christ, till thy returning.]
Christ be with me, Christ within me,
Christ behind me, Christ before me,
Christ beside me, Christ to win me,
Christ to comfort and restore me,
Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ in quiet, Christ in danger,
Christ in hearts of all that love me,
Christ in mouth of friend and stranger.
I bind unto myself the Name,
the strong Name of the Trinity,
by invocation of the same,
the Three in One, and One in Three.
Of whom all nature hath creation,
eternal Father, Spirit, Word:
praise to the Lord of my salvation,
salvation is of Christ the Lord.
According to James Kiefer:
The Lorica is a truly magnificent hymn, found today in many hymnals (usually abridged by the omission of the two stanzas bracketed....)
Friday, March 16, 2007
Death Is Nothing At All
For Dennis and for all those who have lost loved ones and still miss them:
Death is nothing at all - I have only slipped away into the next room. Whatever we were to each other, that we are still. Call me by my old familiar name, speak to me in the easy way which you always used. Laugh as we always laughed together. Play, smile, think of me, pray for me. Let my name be the household word that it always was. Let it be spoken without effort. Life means all that it ever meant. It is the same as it ever was; there is absolutely unbroken continuity. Why should I be out of your mind because I am out of your sight? I am but waiting for you, for an interval, somewhere very near just around the corner. All is well. Nothing is past; nothing is lost. One brief moment and all will be as it was before - only better, infinitely happier and forever - we will all be one together with Christ.
Carmelite Monastery, Tallow, County Waterford, Ireland
UPDATE: These words are by Henry Scott-Holland.
Death is nothing at all - I have only slipped away into the next room. Whatever we were to each other, that we are still. Call me by my old familiar name, speak to me in the easy way which you always used. Laugh as we always laughed together. Play, smile, think of me, pray for me. Let my name be the household word that it always was. Let it be spoken without effort. Life means all that it ever meant. It is the same as it ever was; there is absolutely unbroken continuity. Why should I be out of your mind because I am out of your sight? I am but waiting for you, for an interval, somewhere very near just around the corner. All is well. Nothing is past; nothing is lost. One brief moment and all will be as it was before - only better, infinitely happier and forever - we will all be one together with Christ.
Carmelite Monastery, Tallow, County Waterford, Ireland
UPDATE: These words are by Henry Scott-Holland.
Alpha - Part 3
Our third Alpha lecture was titled "Why Did Jesus Die?" I'm still puzzling over exactly to whom this series is directed. I asked and the response was folks at different levels of knowledge of Christianity. Not at my level, that's for sure. Look, I'm not setting myself up above anyone, but I have a vague sense of just not liking Alpha, and I can't quite put my finger on why. Not much of a lively discussion followed.
After Nicky's lecture about Jesus taking all our sins and shame upon himself and dying on the cross so that our sins are forgiven, my question was, "Did Jesus have to die for God to forgive our sins?" No true answer came. Then I made my statement that I did not think God willed Jesus's death, nor did Jesus will his own death. He became incarnate to do the Father's will, which was to teach us by word and deed how to live our lives here on earth. In doing so he angered the authorities and was eventually put to death in a cruel and shameful way. In the days preceeding his death, he gave us an example of how we are to approach our own deaths. After he died, God raised him from the dead, and he lives today in the hearts and minds of those who choose to follow him as the Way, the Truth, and the Life. The others seemed to accept that.
Oh, and we were lead in the "Come into my heart, Jesus" prayer again. Honestly, I don't know what to make of it.
After Nicky's lecture about Jesus taking all our sins and shame upon himself and dying on the cross so that our sins are forgiven, my question was, "Did Jesus have to die for God to forgive our sins?" No true answer came. Then I made my statement that I did not think God willed Jesus's death, nor did Jesus will his own death. He became incarnate to do the Father's will, which was to teach us by word and deed how to live our lives here on earth. In doing so he angered the authorities and was eventually put to death in a cruel and shameful way. In the days preceeding his death, he gave us an example of how we are to approach our own deaths. After he died, God raised him from the dead, and he lives today in the hearts and minds of those who choose to follow him as the Way, the Truth, and the Life. The others seemed to accept that.
Oh, and we were lead in the "Come into my heart, Jesus" prayer again. Honestly, I don't know what to make of it.
Thursday, March 15, 2007
A Day In The Life Of a Mimi
What a day! First off this old bird had to get up and get presentable to the world - no longer a simple task. Then off to pick up my granddaughter at school to go for a counselling session, then to MacDonald's to pick up lunch, because she'll miss the school lunch. She eats her lunch in the car and in the counsellor's office. While Mimi waits for her, she reads "People Magazine". Who are these people? I see right away that I'm woefully out of touch. I suppose I should subscribe, just to keep up.
One picture story featured the two English princelings, Will and Harry, and revealed to the world where the boys hang out to get drunk. MadPriest, are you reading this? In lieu of stealing the magazine, I hand-copied the names of the night spots in the event that you travel down to London town and want to hit the cool spots. See the trouble I take for you. I was going to post this in your comments, but I thought, why give all the good stuff to you? Here's the list:
The Pig's Ear
The Cuckoo Club
Archipelago
Boujis
Mahiki's Lanai Lounge
Back to school with my granddaughter. Come home, eat lunch, answer a few emails and post these details of my life which will, I'm sure, captivate all of you. Then at 3:15, I'm off to pick up my son's two children to take them to the dentist. Oh, joy. A six-year-old with ADHD at the dentist. I have my son on stand-by if he gives trouble. You may ask why I am doing all this. My son had to take off a lot of time from work for the custody fight in court, so I'm trying to help. Mimi gotta hold this shit together, don't she? Or she thinks she does.
One picture story featured the two English princelings, Will and Harry, and revealed to the world where the boys hang out to get drunk. MadPriest, are you reading this? In lieu of stealing the magazine, I hand-copied the names of the night spots in the event that you travel down to London town and want to hit the cool spots. See the trouble I take for you. I was going to post this in your comments, but I thought, why give all the good stuff to you? Here's the list:
The Pig's Ear
The Cuckoo Club
Archipelago
Boujis
Mahiki's Lanai Lounge
Back to school with my granddaughter. Come home, eat lunch, answer a few emails and post these details of my life which will, I'm sure, captivate all of you. Then at 3:15, I'm off to pick up my son's two children to take them to the dentist. Oh, joy. A six-year-old with ADHD at the dentist. I have my son on stand-by if he gives trouble. You may ask why I am doing all this. My son had to take off a lot of time from work for the custody fight in court, so I'm trying to help. Mimi gotta hold this shit together, don't she? Or she thinks she does.
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