Ah, A Jesus Sighting!

Espanola Man Finds Image of Jesus In Tortilla

By The Way, Today Is Blogger Appreciation Day

Yep, it's an official [that is to say, unofficial] holiday.  I just thought I'd mention it.

Lenten Wave #8

“Having been tenant long to a rich Lord,
Not thriving, I resolved to be bold,
And make a suit unto him, to afford
A new small-rented lease, and cancell th’ old.

In heaven at his manour I him sought:
They told me there, that he was lately gone
About some land, which he had dearly bought
Long since on earth, to take possession.

I straight return’d, and knowing his great birth,
Sought him accordingly in great resorts;
In cities, theatres, gardens, parks, and courts:
At length I heard a ragged noise and mirth

Of theeves and murderers: there I him espied,
Who straight, Your suit is granted, said, and died. ”
                                                       ― George Herbert

[Herbert was a poet of the 17th century and a priest in the Church of England, which is the "main branch" of the Episcopal Church.]

An Apt Observation Concerning A Bishop's Murder

Reporting on the Anglican Communion and its religious wars is a tricky business. The path of least resistance for most reporters is to secularize the fight, splitting the combatants into liberals and conservatives and placing the dispute within the context of America’s culture wars.

Federal Pants Regulation Is Just Around The Corner

Man arrested with TV in pants

and

Georgia Soccer Player Arrested for Shoplifting Hash Browns in Her Pants

and

Police nabbed Godfrey as he left the store. Godfrey admitted that he had stuffed the jackets in his pants

This May Be An Ill-Advised Move, And Not Just Politically

Quiet fade-out for Obama’s faith council

For what it's worth, the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church has been a member of this council.  I'm surprised that I haven't heard any comments from her office about this.  I'm sure there would be if the current president were from the other political party.

All I've Got Are Prayers

Chardon High School Shooting: Second Student Dies as Alleged Gunman Is Identified

I know this high school as it's in the Eastern portion of the Cleveland suburbs where I grew up and was one of the schools that competed in the same athletic conference as did my school.  It is in a quiet, semi-rural area with a low crime rate and small-town ambiance.  It's where one lives in order to raise a family in a safe environment.

I also feel it because I lost a former parishioner to this type of violence a number of years ago, although about a decade after I had left that particular parish.  Still....

Two Professional Hippies Show Their Age

Ben & Jerry’s Apologizes for Jeremy Lin Inspired Ice Cream Flavor

and

Ben & Jerry's apologises for 'racist' Lin-sanity ice cream

Of course, Ben and Jerry have not owned Ben & Jerry's for some time now.  The company is owned by Unilever,  a British-Dutch corporation that is one of the largest in the world.  It is a tribute to the B. and J. marketing team that we still associate the ice cream with a couple of corpulent flower children in Vermont.  In fact, this marketing success hit its apex this past fall when B and J supported the Occupy Wall Street movement.  The fact that Unilever [one of the so-called "1 percent"] was standing in support of those who were the self-proclaimed champions of the "99 percent" was an irony worthy of Tom Wolfe, Walt Kelly, or Alexander Pope.  The fact that no one noticed this irony brings a certain splendor to it all.

However, what drew my attention to this story was how narrow racial sensitivity can sometimes be.  Even at a gathering of clergy [the most morally superior class of human that has ever existed; really, just ask them] those of Asian, Eastern European, or American Indian [ahem] descent still can expect to hear jokes about driving ability, lack of intelligence, or the habit of building casinos in unlikely places.  Often, those who think themselves the most elevated are the most guilty of this passive form of racial dismissal.

Oh, well.  At least casino jokes are preferable to those about rain dances or Tonto's penchant to be sent into small Western towns by the Lone Ranger in order to get beat up.

Lenten Wave #7

“In the end, it is our defiance that redeems us. If wolves had a religion – if there was a religion of the wolf – that it is what it would tell us.”    
― Mark Rowlands, The Philosopher and the Wolf: Lessons from the Wild on Love, Death, and Happiness

[Remember that there has never been an act of defiance greater than the one realized on Easter morning.  It is one thing to defy Temple authority, or Roman bullying, or Satanic coercion; it is at a whole new aspect of redemption that requires defying mortality itself. - Me.]

Well, That's Okay Then

BBC director-general Mark Thompson has claimed Christianity is treated with far less sensitivity than other religions because it is ‘pretty broad shouldered’.


I guess that means because we don't behead people.

I'm Giving Up Watching Betamax

Chicago Woman Gives Up Facebook For Lent

That Would Do It

Beheadings Raise Doubts That Taliban Have Changed

Gee, What A Surprise

"World's Most Famous Atheist" admits he cannot be sure that God does not exist.

Maybe A Government Will Apologize To Someone About This. That'll Fix It.

Nigeria unrest: Islamist suicide bomb targets church

Lenten Wave #6

“I take literally the statement in the Gospel of John that God loves the world. I believe that the world was created and approved by love, that it subsists, coheres, and endures by love, and that, insofar as it is redeemable, it can be redeemed only by love. I believe that divine love, incarnate and indwelling in the world, summons the world always toward wholeness, which ultimately is reconciliation and atonement with God.”
                                                    ― Wendell Berry, The Art of the Commonplace: The Agrarian Essays

Lenten Wave #5

Christ died once for our sins. An innocent person died for those who are guilty.
Christ did this to bring you to God, when his body was put to death and his spirit was made alive.
                                                                                                                                           - 1 Peter 3:18

[This is from one of today's lections, btw.]

First Sunday In Lent

This week Noah establishes a covenant, Peter speaks, that is, writes plainly, and Jesus gets baptised, this time according to Mark.  All this plus the art and nature of pupule.

The lections may be found here.

Good Advice For All Politicians

Lake Elsinore Falls Into Black Hole; Senate Rules Committee To Step In

I Used To Play Bass For Texting Cow

Texting cow

Waterworld Planet Discovered By Scientists

I'd talk about this at school, but I'm pretty sure that if I said "smaller than Uranus", I would get a lot of giggles, if not outright laughter.  A lot of it from me, of course.