National Day Of Prayer

We will be meeting at noon on the Great Lawn of Christ Church today to recognize the National Day of Prayer.  If inclement, we will meet in the church.

This Isn't What You Think

Horny Jesus hits cop with massive butt

Supermoon = Superwaves

Biggest Full Moon of the year due this weekend as 'supermoon' raises tides around the planet

Continued Gender Problems In Higher Ed

The major reasons young males are not matriculating is a campus atmosphere that is unwelcoming…. It is voiced by young men who enroll but may leave after several semesters: We do not feel welcomed. The environment is anti-male in many classrooms. Administrators, who are now for the most part women, are not interested in how active young men are in college life, with the exception of athletics. Lack of engagement of men in on-campus activities and organizations was one of the first signs of young men being turned off by college life….

This is a commonly expressed issue in seminaries and divinity schools too; although sotto voce, as no one in the greater church wishes to be labeled "disharmonious".

Post-Modern Anarchy: Blowing Up A Place Popular For Elementary School Field Trips

FBI: 5 arrested in plot to blow up bridge

What a surprise: They're members of the Occupy bunch.

Something NPR Left Out

Oh yeah, and a visit from God

Feast Of Sts. Philip And James

As in the case of the other apostles, we see in James and Philip human men who became foundation stones of the Church, and we are reminded again that holiness and its consequent apostolate are entirely the gift of God, not a matter of human achieving. All power is God’s power, even the power of human freedom to accept his gifts. “You will be clothed with power from on high,” Jesus told Philip and the others. Their first commission had been to expel unclean spirits,heal diseases, announce the kingdom. They learned, gradually, that these externals were sacramentsofan even greater miracle inside their persons—the divine power to love like God.

Almighty God, who gave to your apostles Philip and James grace and strength to bear witness to the truth: Grant that we, being mindful of their victory of faith, may glorify in life and death the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Great Moments In Non-Theism

Hunter, a New Age devotee, even called the guru, Bob McGovern, for emergency spiritual advice at a restaurant when the waiter brought her the wrong dressing for her ruben sandwich, Young recalled.

Government Even Has Its Own Theology

FALSANI:Do you believe in sin?
OBAMA:Yes.
FALSANI:What is sin?
OBAMA:Being out of alignment with my values.

Please don't think me a horrid partisan, especially as I have no issue with the current president or any of his predecessors.  Frankly, I don't put a lot of faith in any politician, which is one of the liberating aspects of being a Christian.  God, not government, rules creation, at least in my understanding and that of my Christian culture.  I offer up this interesting quotation to display the "theological" perspective that I think is common in the contemporary governing class, including members of both political parties.

For those puzzled, sin is defined as a separation from God or, put perhaps too simply, from God's values.  We do not commit sin when separated from our own values.  [Unless, of course, we are God; something I don't think even politicians believe.]  If we did, we would confess sin to ourselves, absolve ourselves, and seek to have a closer relationship with ourselves.  God would not be a factor, nor, I think, would Jesus' redemptive moment on the cross.  If we extend the logic of this quoted exchange, we could expect to crucify ourselves for the sake of ourselves and in redemption of ourselves.

Now I'm getting dizzy.

Africa’s War of Religion Heats Up

The explosive growth of Christianity across Africa in the last half century has challenged and rattled Muslims in parts of the continent, and tensions between the groups are further exacerbated when conflicts over resources and between tribal groups get mixed in with religious competition. Add weak states, poorly policed frontiers, rapid population growth and large pools of underemployed young men to the mix, and it seems clear that these two attacks will not be the last.

More may be read here:  A later attack in the northeast city of Maiduguri saw gunmen open fire at a Church of Christ in Nigeria chapel, killing five people, including a pastor preparing for Communion, witnesses said.

No Surprise, Really

Ocean waves boost human happiness: The turbulence of breaking waves alters physical structure of the air and water and triggers endorphins and serotonin, the feel-good hormones.

I Confess, I Get A Little Nervous When Bureaucrats Start Talking About Crucifixion

EPA official: 'Crucify' oil companies

I hope he didn't try to get an "Amen" from the audience.

Why Universities Can't Grant Religious Liberty

Similarly, the modern university is a jealous university with its own commandments, and you shall not put God before it. For more than a generation, universities have sought to marginalize conservative or orthodox religious life. In the 1980s, universities tried to keep religious groups from using empty classrooms. In the 1990s, universities tried to prevent religious groups from sharing in student funds. In both decades, speech codes intended to stifle expression that some students might find offensive were enacted at hundreds of universities across the United States.

The Feast Of St. Mark

Today is the feast of St. Mark the Evangelist, one of the so-called "red days", a reference to the liturgical color of the day that is used to note the feast of a martyr.

In the Epistle to the Colossians, chapter 4, he is identified as a member of Barnabas' family.
In the Acts of the Apostles, he figures often as the disciples meet at the house of Mark's mother, Mary; Paul and Barnabas would bring Mark on a missionary journey with them, their first such journey, but Mark would leave prematurely for reasons that are not identified and return to Jerusalem. On Paul and Barnabas' second missionary journey, Paul took Silas instead of Mark, as he felt that Mark was not reliable, so Barnabas made a separate journey with Mark as his partner. 

Paul would, though, refer to Mark in both Colossians and the First Letter to Timothy as a person of trust, so perhaps whatever controversy existed between Paul and Mark had been reconciled by that time. 

Outside of scripture, Papias' 2nd century work Origins of the Gospels refers to Mark as Peter's aide and interpreter.  It is possible that Mark was in Rome with Peter at the time of the latter's execution.  According to pious legend, Mark then moved to Alexandria, Egypt where he would meet his own martyrdom.

We recognize him today primarily as the composer of the Gospel that bears his name; the oldest Gospel in the New Testament.  The lections for his feast day may be found here.

Almighty God, by the hand of Mark the evangelist you have given to your Church the Gospel of Jesus Christ the Son of God: We thank you for this witness, and pray that we may be firmly grounded in its truth; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Must Have Been A Method Actor

Brazil actor playing Judas dies from accidental hanging

Church And State Separation Seems To Dissolve During Election Years

Obama Asks Students for 'Amen'

Seriously, if I asked for an "Amen" at a secular university, I'd get in trouble.  The last time I was asked to give the invocation at a secular university, I was warned not to mention Jesus and not to ask those present to respond verbally to the prayer's conclusion.  I seem to recall that I got a tatty letter about a week afterwards from the campus' alliance of atheists/agnostics/druids/wiccans, too.

Heck, once at a well-known automobile racing track in Connecticut, I was asked to open a race with prayer as long as it didn't mention God.

The other thing that was weird about this is that the President expected people to say "Amen" after a negative exclamation.  In other words, "You will owe lots of money to a bank when you graduate.  Say 'Amen'". 

Government really is a religion in contemporary America.

This Is A Tempting Notion

Ft. Lauderdale Church Offers Drive Thru Prayer Service

The Feast Of Mellitus, c. 580-624

Well, I've never been that sure how to pronounce his name, either, but he was the first Bishop of London and the third Archbishop of Canterbury.  It appears that he died as natural a death as may be permitted early church archbishops.  During his life he is credited with...well...not that much, actually.  Although, as one may read through the link below, he did use prayer to save Canterbury from fire.  I hope he used prayer and a water bucket, actually; but to each, his own.  Mellitus does not appear on the Episcopal calendar, but is recognized by the Churches of England [natch] and Rome.  Like all of the early British clergy, he was a monastic.

Archbishop of Canterbury from 619. In 601, he was sent from St. Andrew’s Monastery, Rome, to England by Pope St. Gregory I the Great. Mellitus spent three years as a missionary in Kent, England, aiding St. Augustine. He also became the first bishop of London and was responsible for converting the King of the East Saxons. The Saxons, however, exiled him in 616 over some conflict, but Mellitus returned to England and was named archbishop of Canterbury, in succession to St. Lawrence.

 Heavenly Father, Shepherd of your people, we thank you for
your servant Mellitus, who was faithful in the care and nurture of
your flock; and we pray that, following his example and the
teaching of his holy life, we may by your grace grow into the
stature of the fullness of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ;
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God,
for ever and ever. Amen.

[Above is "Scenes from the Passion", a tapestry alleged to have been brought by Mellitus from Rome to England as a gift from the Holy See.]

The Feast Of St. George

St George is the patron saint of England and among the most famous of Christian figures. But of the man himself, nothing is certainly known. Our earliest source, Eusebius of Caesarea, writing c. 322, tells of a soldier of noble birth who was put to death under Diocletian at Nicomedia on 23 April, 303, but makes no mention of his name, his country or his place of burial. According to the apocryphal Acts of St George current in various versions in the Eastern Church from the fifth century, George held the rank of tribune in the Roman army and was beheaded by Diocletian for protesting against the Emperor's persecution of Christians. George rapidly became venerated throughout Christendom as an example of bravery in defence of the poor and the defenceless and of the Christian faith.

O God, Who dost gladden us by the merits and intercesion of Blessed George, Thy Martyr, mercifully grant that we, who ask Thy blessings through him, may obtain them by the gift of Thy grace. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee in Unity of the Holy Spirit, God, world without end. Amen.

This Week's Provocation

Of course, “man’s work” isn’t what it used to be. Forget the “war on women” you’re hearing about right now, although it may well exist. There’s been a “war on men” for the last fifty years, and it’s been more successful than any of the Middle Eastern adventurism which has burned up the lives of American men like so much unwanted firewood at the end of winter. A war against the ideas of manhood, fatherhood, responsibility, dependability. The traditional American man — think Gregory Peck in To Kill A Mockingbird — has been parodied, denigrated, humiliated, ironized, written out of existence. It’s no longer pleasant or even feasible to emulate our grandfathers and their unashamedly masculine lives.

Remarkably, this comes from a review of an automobile. Also, is "ironized" a word?

The Sacrament Of Holy Baptism

The Third Sunday of Easter will feature the baptism of Lexie Jean Armbruster at the 10am celebration.  She will be the third generation of her family to worship at Christ Church.

The lections for tomorrow may be found here.

An Obituary Of Note

Levon Helm dead at 71: Drummer for The Band succumbs to cancer

You may have seen him in some unremarkable films, as he acted quite a bit in his post-Band years.  I particularly enjoyed him in "The Right Stuff" as Chuck Yeager's bemused flight engineer, or in "Coal Miner's Daughter" as Loretta Lynn's father.

But he is primarily known for the work he did with The Band as drummer and vocalist, especially memorable when singing lead on “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down”.  There was something wonderfully American about his accent, as it seemed to contain traces of the disparate places of our country, from central Ohio down to the Delta.

The photo above is of the lamented Tony Mart's in Somers Point, New Jersey, where I misspent a fair portion of my youth.  In the mid-1960's, the house band was Levon and The Hawks.  They were noted for bringing Delta Blues from the cotton fields of Mississippi to a bunch of mostly white kids on the Jersey shore.  One night, Bob Dylan stopped by, liked what he heard, and asked them to be his backup band.  For the sake of irony, they were re-named The Band.

Here's a moment from their heyday:

George Orwell May Have Been On To Something

From the British press, we learn of the latest attempt to use nuanced language to re-cast history and its facts.

Today we learn that the European Union (our real ruler) is opening a £44m museum that will be a House of European History...World War II is to be described as "the European Civil War".

That's some "civil war", given that it included places outside of Europe like...oh...Burma, North Africa, Micronesia, China, Hawaii, etc.  Not to mention that the European Civil War included Americans, Australians, West Indians, Canadians, Japanese, and so on. 

I just hope I'm never named as today's Emmanuel Goldstein.*

[*You have to read 1984 to get it.]

The Feast Of Alphege, 953-1012

Archbishops of Canterbury used to be absolute fire-eaters, to use an English expression.  About fifty years before William the Conqueror and the Normans invaded Britain, the Danes did so and established their king.  When tribute [bribes] was demanded of the church, Alphege politely, but resolutely, told the Danes that it wasn't going to happen.  A collection of drunks then abused and murdered him for not giving them money.  [Interestingly, something similar happened to a Jamaican priest just a few years ago, although not by Danes.] 

More about him may be found here.  By rough count, about eighteen Archbishops of Canterbury have been martyred or otherwise killed for their faith.  Nowadays, they are simply ridiculed by the BBC and Oxford faculty.

O loving God, your martyr bishop Alphege of Canterbury suffered violent death when he refused to permit a ransom to be extorted from his people: Grant that all pastors of your flock may pattern themselves on the Good Shepherd, who laid down his life for the sheep; and who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Sounds Like A Tong War

Man tries to rob deli with hot dog tongs.

I Guess Not

A Korean fishing boat sank in New Zealand waters because it was not watertight, an expert witness testified at an inquest today.

The Feast Of Athanasia, 790-860

Again, this is a feast day in the Church of Rome, not the Church of England and All the Colonies [or, as we prefer, The Episcopal Church in the United States], but the life of Athanasia, though not terribly remarkable compared to many of her contemporaries, does highlight an interesting aspect about the relationship between the church and the state in the early Middle Ages.  To wit:

Greek widow and abbess who lived on an Aegean Island. Athanasia's husband of two weeks was killed fighting Saracens. She remarried, and her second husband decided to become a monk. Athanasia agreed and converted her home into a convent, where she became an abbess. Moving the convent to Timia, Athanasia became an advisor to the Byzantine empress during her seven-year stay in Constantinople.

 In fact, she appears to be so minor that I can't find a collect for her.  I was, however, able to find the icon above.  Here's the Collect of a Monastic from our Book of Common Prayer:

O God, whose blessed Son became poor that we through his
poverty might be rich: Deliver us from an inordinate love of
this world, that we, inspired by the devotion of your servant,

may serve you with singleness of heart, and attain to the
riches of the age to come; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who
lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one
God, now and for ever. Amen.

Matthew 4:16, The Secular Version

"This president has brought us out of the dark and into the light."

Feast Of Ancetus, Who Died In 166

The Episcopal Church does not mark this as a feast day, but the Church of Rome remembers Ancetus on April 17th. He was the tenth successor of Simon Peter and, with Polycarp (who is on our calendar), developed the formula for determining the date of Easter.

Enable us, we pray, almighty God, to proclaim the power of the risen Lord, that we, who have received the pledge of his gift, may come to possess all he gives when it is fully revealed. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

An Obituary Of Note

He abandoned his presidential palace in Lilongwe not out of shame over inhabiting its 300 luxurious rooms, built for $100 million in a country suffering abject poverty, but because he declared it to be haunted and claimed that invisible rodents were running all over him at night.

I Would Have Commended Them For Original Thinking

Which is why I'm the priest of a small parish and no longer a school administrator.

Senior prank lands Murray County students in suspension

It was harmless, creative, and careful to observe decorum and traffic regulations.  So, naturally, the students must be punished.  And how do I know that the administrators know they overreacted?  Behold, the classic "weasel words" uttered by every bureaucratic microbe since the dawn of human history:

"Murray County School Administrator Mike Tuck would not discuss the issue because of the student code of conduct. He would only confirm that "an incident happened."

Well, It Is The Season Of Resurrection

London 2012 organisers wanted Keith Moon to play at Olympics ceremony

For those of you not familiar with the demi-monde of popular music, Mr. Moon was the drummer for The Who.  I say "was" because he died in 1978.  [Thus fulfilling a wish contained in a verse in The Who's breakout single: "Hope I die before I get old."]

Sunday Fun

19 Regional Words

My Ohio grandparents actually used a couple of these.

What May Be The Best Obit Ever

Weary of reading obituaries noting someone's courageous battle with death, Mike wanted it known that he died as a result of being stubborn, refusing to follow doctors' orders and raising hell for more than six decades. He enjoyed booze, guns, cars and younger women until the day he died...So many of his childhood friends that weren't killed in Vietnam went on to become criminals, prostitutes and/or Democrats. He asks that you stop by and re-tell the stories he can no longer tell. As the Celebration will contain Adult material we respectfully ask that no children under 18 attend.

Collect For Easter Saturday

We thank you, heavenly Father, that you have delivered us from the dominion of sin and death and brought us into the kingdom of your Son; and we pray that, as by his death he has recalled us to life, so by his love he may raise us to eternal joys; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

[Things for which I'm thankful:  Guys like this.  100% pure American attitude.]

Collect For Easter Friday

Almighty Father, who gave your only Son to die for our sins and to rise for our justification: Give us grace so to put away the leaven of malice and wickedness, that we may always serve you in pureness of living and truth; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

[Things for which I'm thankful:  Above is the first comic book I ever bought; Fantastic Four #55.  By reading comics I became interested in stories of the "heroic cycle", which lead to reading Greek and Roman myths, then more contemporary literature, then comparative literature, then appreciating opera, then realizing that the archtype of all human endeavor is contained in the life of Jesus and the apostles.  The Marvel Comic Co. helped me generate two Master's theses and a doctoral dissertation.  That was a pretty good return on a 12 cent investment.]

News From Scotland. What Kind Of News, I Have No Idea

Scots deploy taste testers to sample gas leak fish

Time For Something Provocative

In Defense of Herbert Spencer

My former philosophy and ethics students who read The Coracle may recall how we used the general misunderstanding of the works of Spencer as a model as to how not always to trust "credentialed" authority.  An Ivy League degree and position is not always the guarantee of accuracy [trust me, I've had both and know what I'm talking about...er, or don't, but, you know...].  Also, the worst thing a thinking person can do is repeat incorrect information.  Always, always challenge the source.

Collect For Easter Thursday

Almighty and everlasting God, who in the Paschal mystery established the new covenant of reconciliation: Grant that all who have been reborn into the fellowship of Christ's Body may show forth in their lives what they profess by their faith; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

[Things for which I'm thankful:  Dad's 1963 Chevy Nova.  It contained the first carburetor I ever took apart, thus beginning my lifelong fascination with engines.  Unfortunately, it took a mechanic to put it back together.  My dad finally let me near one of his cars again last year.]

Secular "Easter" Is A Gift That Keeps On Giving

Police arrest 6 ft. Easter bunny statue

Collect For Easter Wednesday

O God, whose blessed Son made himself known to his disciples in the breaking of bread: Open the eyes of our faith, that we may behold him in all his redeeming work; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

[Things for which I'm thankful:  I actually grew up ten minutes away from an amusement park.  It was small and a little ratty, but they had the best popcorn balls and hosted many a memorable Sunday afternoon.]

Update:  Well, here's a pleasant surprise.  The popcorn balls are still made by the same people.  They can be ordered here.

Collect For Easter Tuesday

O God, who by the glorious resurrection of your Son Jesus Christ destroyed death and brought life and immortality to light: Grant that we, who have been raised with him, may abide in his presence and rejoice in the hope of eternal glory; through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom, with you and the Holy Spirit, be dominion and praise for ever and ever. Amen.

[Things for which I'm thankful:  Above is Rocky Calavito, the only Cleveland Indian from the 1960's worth talking about, arguing with the ref.  Cleveland boys of my generation held Rocky in a veneration usually assigned to Olympians.]

Without Question

Are you smarter than an atheist?

Especially since I scored 100% on the quiz. Give it a try.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer Was Executed On This Day 67 Years Ago

Lots of sources about him; I'll leave it to readers to do their own research, as I'm using this Android device today and it doesn't always want to link.

Oh? Quelle Surprise!

52 percent of reporters: Media does a poor job explaining religion

Further commentary may be found here, as offered by our friend, Yale's Walter Russell Mead:

This doesn’t just tell us something about the qualifications of journalists. It says something depressing about the ability of editors to hire people with the background and the knowledge that allow them to cover world events intelligently. With some significant and honorable individual exceptions, the mainstream press today lacks the expertise it needs to assess and report some of the most important stories on the planet.

False panics over alleged theocracies lurking under every bush (haha), inability to analyze or cover major news stories involving Islam, and a persistent overestimation of global support for the secular rights-driven agenda that serves much of the MSM as a guiding ideology in lieu of religion can all be traced back to the religious illiteracy of so many journalists today.

The Whole Church/State Thing Is A Bit Of A Canard, Eh?

Tennessee Mother Faces Possible Jail Time For Baptizing Children

I Think I Should Introduce The Principal To My Scottish Cousins. The Male Ones.

Teenager banned from wearing kilt to his high school prom by school officials who 'wanted him to dress like a man'.

The principal, the judge of all things "manly", will not speak to the press.

Another Obituary Of Note

You would not believe how much of the music you have heard was courtesy of this fellow:

Guitar amp pioneer Jim Marshall dies at 88

Jesus Sighting! Aquatic Edition

Charleston woman sees Jesus on back of stingray

Anti-Christian Violence Continues

50 people killed in Easter Sunday bombings in Nigeria

[Above is a photo of our bishops protesting last week on behalf of Connecticut's convicted murderers.]

Update:  It was suggested that my comment about the photo seemed snarky.  That wasn't my intention.  I just wanted a different headline that those of area media.  So, how about "Our bishops representing a political perspective this past week"?  No, that's either too vague or even snarkier, as it seems to suggest that they're merely representing only one of the state's political parties.  How about, "Our bishops protesting state-sponsored murder"?  Wait, that sounds like they're anti-abortion, which they definitely aren't.  I know, "All three of our full-time bishops unite to protest capital punishment."  Dull.  How about New York Post-style: "Prosaic and Peaceful Protest by Protestant Progressives"?  Yes, that's the winner.

I used to work for an editor who would never run stories about Protestant clergy involved in a protest.  "Why?" he would ask, "Every headline would be 'Liberal bishop does something liberal.  That's not news."

Oh, and the reason I juxtaposed the photo with the link is to visually remark on how easy we have it as Christians in the USA.  Here, we protest on behalf of murderers.  In Nigeria, we get murdered.

The Definition Of Hell Can Be Highly Subjective

“Along with the first truly beautiful day of the year, my son and I had our first ruined day at the playground,” the poster named Sarah somberly recounted. “Two different people came into the actual playground with ice cream/Italian ice push carts. I was able to avoid it for a little while but eventually I left with a crying 4-year-old.”  Another angry mother...chimed in.  “I should not have to fight with my children every warm day on the playground just so someone can make a living!” the poster wailed.

An Obituary Of Note

The kind of writer only America could produce.

In Case You Didn't See It Last Week...

...here's a profile of our organist and choir director that appeared in the Litchfield County Times.  It appears he also has a few other interests, too.

Roxbury's Piano Man, Attorney, Board Member, Musician

Collect For Easter Monday

Grant, we pray, Almighty God, that we who celebrate with awe the Paschal feast may be found worthy to attain to everlasting joys; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

[Just as a personal exercise in thankfulness, which is entirely appropriate for Easter Week, I thought I'd illustrate the collects with photos of things for which I'm thankful.  It's a rather eclectic collection.]

My shoulders hurt a little, like after a morning in rough surf. My knee cracks when I kneel. I'm a little tired from waking up in the middle of the night when realizing that there's an error in the order of service. But, Jesus is resurrected, risen, re-born and I feel great.

Welcome, happy morning, everyone.

Collect For Holy Saturday

O God, Creator of heaven and earth: Grant that, as the crucified body of your dear Son was laid in the tomb and rested on this holy Sabbath, so we may await with him the coming of the third day, and rise with him to newness of life; who now lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Collect For Good Friday

Almighty God, we pray you graciously to behold this your family, for whom our Lord Jesus Christ was willing to be betrayed, and given into the hands of sinners, and to suffer death upon the cross; who now lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Collect For Maundy Thursday

Almighty Father, whose dear Son, on the night before he suffered, instituted the Sacrament of his Body and Blood: Mercifully grant that we may receive it thankfully in remembrance of Jesus Christ our Lord, who in these holy mysteries gives us a pledge of eternal life; and who now lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Just in time for Holy Week, the phone in the parish office is out. A.T. & T. is working on it.

[Update: Yay, A.T.&T.]

Holy Week Schedule

Palm Sunday:  Holy Eucharist at 8am; Eucharist with the Great Procession at 10am.  [Remember that we are meeting in the parish hall to bless and receive the palms before the liturgy.

Holy Wednesday: 7:00pm Evening Prayer

Maundy Thursday: 7:30pm Proper Liturgy including the Stripping of the Altar.

Good Friday: Stations of the Cross at Noon; the Proper Liturgy at 7:00pm.
Holy Saturday: 7:00 pm The Great Vigil of Easter.

Easter Sunday: Music and Celebration at both 8am and 10:00am.

Collect For Holy Wednesday

Lord God, whose blessed Son our Savior gave his body to be whipped and his face to be spit upon: Give us grace to accept joyfully the sufferings of the present time, confident of the glory that shall be revealed; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Collect For Holy Tuesday

O God, by the passion of your blessed Son you made an instrument of shameful death to be for us the means of life: Grant us so to glory in the cross of Christ, that we may gladly suffer shame and loss for the sake of your Son our Savior Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Collect For Holy Monday

Almighty God, whose most dear Son went not up to joy but first he suffered pain, and entered not into glory before he was crucified: Mercifully grant that we, walking in the way of the cross, may find it none other than the way of life and peace; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Lenten Wave #40

Let no one grieve at his poverty,
for the universal kingdom has been revealed.
Let no one mourn that he has fallen again and again;
for forgiveness has risen from the grave.
Let no one fear death, for the Death of our Savior has set us free.
He has destroyed it by enduring it.
—John Chrysostom, bishop of Constantinople; sermon, ca. 400

Lenten Wave #39

"God walls the sea with sand. God clears the air with storms. God warms the earth with snow. He exalts us to heaven by the stumbling-block of the cross." - Christopher Wordsworth

Lenten Wave #38

"God is not what you imagine or what you think you understand. If you understand you have failed." - St. Aurelius Augustine

Speaking Of Waves, An Obituary Of Note

Heart attack claims surfing great

MP battled not just the waves, but also schizophrenia.  The fellow thought to be the world's greatest surfer actually considers MP to be the world's greatest surfer.  He was only 59.

Lenten Wave #37

"Wanna find the perfect wave?  Stop looking for it." - Hoodoo Bob, who is always good for some wisdom.

And Again. This Is Getting Monotonous.

A Guitar for the Record Books ... er, Record PLAYER

And, As Related To The Post Just Below...

May the chords be with you: Man makes guitar out of Millennium Falcon

The Making Of A Solid Body Electric Guitar

In this case, a Fender Stratocaster with a sunburst finish.



They speed up the video so it only takes four minutes or so.

Lenten Wave #36

Our Lord has written the promise of resurrection, not in books alone, but in every leaf in springtime.
- Martin Luther

Lenten Wave #35

Prayer is not asking. It is a longing of the soul. It is daily admission of one's weakness. It is better in prayer to have a heart without words than words without a heart. - Mahatma Gandhi

Amazing What Gems Are Found In A Book Review

And I guess it ought to be mentioned, quite apart from the question of whether anything Krauss says turns out to be true or false, that the whole business of approaching the struggle with religion as if it were a card game, or a horse race, or some kind of battle of wits, just feels all wrong - or it does, at any rate, to me. When I was growing up, where I was growing up, there was a critique of religion according to which religion was cruel, and a lie, and a mechanism of enslavement, and something full of loathing and contempt for everything essentially human. Maybe that was true and maybe it wasn't, but it had to do with important things - it had to do, that is, with history, and with suffering, and with the hope of a better world - and it seems like a pity, and more than a pity, and worse than a pity, with all that in the back of one's head, to think that all that gets offered to us now, by guys like these, in books like this, is the pale, small, silly, nerdy accusation that religion is, I don't know, dumb.

A hat-tip to Jack Gilpin for the link.

What A Secular Easter Looks Like

Easter egg hunt canceled because of aggressive parents

This Washed Up In South Carolina

Yikes!

Lenten Wave #34

"How else but through a broken heart may Lord Christ enter in?" - Oscar Wilde

Speaking Of Waves

Fishing boat lost in Japan tsunami reaches Canada

Lenten Wave #33

I will put my law within them—write it on their hearts!—and be their God. And they will be my people. They will no longer go around setting up schools to teach each other about God. They will know me firsthand.... - Jeremiah 31:33 [from today's lections].

Lenten Wave #32

"The soul…is audible, not visible." – Longfellow

The Fifth Sunday In Lent

Jeremiah offers prophecy as to the new covenant to come, the Hebrews learn of who appointed Jesus, and the Greeks get interested in this new rabbi who is both anarchic and orthodox at the same time. All this plus what happens when you paint a hearse blue instead of black.

The lections may be found here.

The Feast Of Gregory The Illuminator

When I attended the General Theological Seminary in New York City, beginning thirty years ago [!], the institution also served as the eastern seminary for the Armenian Orthodox Church in the US. Due to the many similarities between our branches of Christianity [Celtic Christianity is older than the Church of Rome; Armenia was the first nation to convert, before the Roman Empire did], it was a handsome fit. Also, the Armenians, many of whom were enjoying their first stay in the United States, were great friends and classmates as they were gregarious, generous, and full of life.

Two things I learned about them: they have a remarkably low regard for the Turks [see "Armenian Genocide"] and a terrific veneration for St. Gregory the Illuminator. The former is a matter of history, the latter of history and faith:

In the 3rd Century, Armenia served as a buffer state between the empires of Rome and Persia, and was often caught between the empires' competing needs and wants. Gregory was born circa 257. While an infant, his father pro-actively participated in politics by assassinating the King of Persia; family friends carried Gregory away for his protection to Caesarea in Cappadocia, where he was baptized and raised as a Christian.

About 280 he returned to Armenia as a missionary and anchorite, where he was originally treated severely. Eventually, by patience and through sound preaching and example, he brought King Tiridates III and his people to the Christian faith.

A generation later, Gregory was consecrated as the first bishop of Armenia. He died about 332.

Almighty God, whose will it is to be glorified in your saints, and who raised up your servant Gregory the Illuminator to be a light in the world, and to preach the Gospel to the people of Armenia: Shine, we pray, in our hearts, that we also in our generation may show forth your praise, who called us out of darkness into your marvelous light; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Lenten Wave #31

I said to my soul, be still, and wait...So the darkness shall be the light, and the stillness the dancing. - T.S. Eliot

Jesus Sighting! Again!

Woman sees image of Jesus in power meter

The Feast Of James DeKoven

A growing trend in the Episcopal Church is "innovative liturgy". In my curiosity, I attended a conference by that title of couple of years ago. [In my line of work, it's important to be "hep".] There, I learned that the liturgical traditions of the Church were a burden and unimportant in the life of the congregation, that having a loose, extemporaneous feel to the liturgy was preferable, and that the celebrant should wander around the altar and sanctuary with a facial expression like that I once saw on a surfer in Barbados after he had been hit on the head with a coconut.

Personally, I've found that there are a great many things that one may do with liturgy that work, as long as the congregation understands why one is doing those things. That's something I learned from today's subject.

If you have ever travelled eastbound through Middletown on Route 66 [not the fabled one that begins, or ends, at the Santa Monica Pier, but the more prosaic namesake that laces across the Nutmeg State] and have come to a stop at the intersection of Route 9, there is a house that sits on the right side of the road named DeKoven House. You may note that there is an historic plaque on it that cannot, alas, be easily read from the road. That's a pity, because it is significant in the life of one of the most important Episcopalians in our ecclesial history.

Connecticut's James DeKoven was born in 1831 to a prominent maritime family and ordained at the age of 24. His early service to the Church was as a professor at Nashotah House, an Episcopal Church seminary in the wilds of 19th century Wisconsin. Later, he would also serve as Warden of Racine College, an Episcopal college on the frontier.

What makes DeKoven special, at least in the eyes of clergy such as your rector and the shrinking number of his compatriots in liturgy and theology, is that he was a champion and theological apologist for those who believe that the more intentional the Celebration of the Holy Communion, the more purposeful its experience and result.

For example, DeKoven emphasized the "real presence" of the Christ in the bread and wine, not in some superstitious sense, but as an obvious reaction to the teachings of the New Testament. To highlight this understanding, DeKoven resurrected for the American Episcopal Church practices such as bowing, kneeling, the use of candles, the making of the sign of the cross, and the "manual acts" engaged by the celebrating clergy [as seen every Sunday behind the altar at Christ Church].

Naturally, true innovation is so prized in institutions that DeKoven was labeled a "ritualist", slandered a dozen different ways for his "Romish" practices, and twice denied the office of bishop, despite having been elected such by the Dioceses of Wisconsin and Illinois, respectively. That notion of respecting the dignity of every human being can be a fickle thing.

However, his liturgical theology carried with it a logic and, not to be discounted, great ability to use non-verbal imagery to carry those understandings that are beyond words. Hence, he is recognized on this day for his contribution to our common life and, like many of the true innovators of the Church, his providential avoidance of the limitations of the office of bishop.

He died at the age of 48, after teaching that day's classes at Racine College.

Almighty and everlasting God, the source and perfection of all virtues, who didst inspire thy servant James de Koven to do what is right and to preach what is true: Grant that all ministers and stewards of thy mysteries may afford to thy faithful people, by word and example, the knowledge of thy grace; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

How Does the Brain Secrete Morality?

Pondering the neuroscience of moral platitudes, free will, and sacred values.

Europe's Oldest Hate, Now With New Ingrediants

The events unfolding in France, where what officials there describe as a "serial killer" has been targeting Jews and soldiers, reminded me of this article that was written, to my surprise, now three years ago.  While Europe has never been the warmest place for Jews to live, it appears that anti-Semitism in its extreme form is beginning to spread along with changing 21st century demographics.  Click on the block quote below to go to the original article [Standard warning to those of gentle politics: it may be from a source that doesn't always agree with you.]:

In Toronto, anti-Israel demonstrators yell “You are the brothers of pigs!”, and a protester complains to his interviewer that “Hitler didn’t do a good job.”

In Fort Lauderdale, Palestinian supporters sneer at Jews, “You need a big oven, that’s what you need!”

In Amsterdam, the crowd shouts, “Hamas, Hamas! Jews to the gas!”...

In Toulouse, a synagogue is firebombed; in Bordeaux, two kosher butchers are attacked; at the Auber RER train station, a Jewish man is savagely assaulted by 20 youths taunting, “Palestine will kill the Jews;” in Villiers-le-Bel, a Jewish schoolgirl is brutally beaten by a gang jeering, “Jews must die.”

In Helsingborg, the congregation at a Swedish synagogue takes shelter as a window is broken and burning cloths thrown in; in Odense, principal Olav Nielsen announces that he will no longer admit Jewish children to the local school after a Dane of Lebanese extraction goes to the shopping mall and shoots two men working at the Dead Sea Products store; in Brussels, a Molotov cocktail is hurled at a Belgian synagogue; in Antwerp, lit rags are pushed through the mail flap of a Jewish home; and, across the Channel, “youths” attempt to burn the Brondesbury Park Synagogue.

Lenten Wave #30

La natura è l'arte di Dio   [Nature is the art of God]  - Dante Alighieri

Chicks Dig A Guy In Uniform

Needless to say, the conference was successful.

Lenten Wave #29

“Give me a spirit that on this life's rough sea
Loves to have his sails filled with a lusty wind,
Even till his sail-yards tremble, his masts crack,
And his rapt ship run on her side so low
That she drinks water, and her keel ploughs air” – George Chapman

Jesus Sighting!

Cleaner finds image of Jesus's face in pub floorboards

Vegemite Is Better, Anyway

New Zealand has run out of Marmite

If you have never had either, you don't know what you're missing.

As A Connoisseur Of Fine Gibberish, I Declare This Nonsense First Rate

An NYU professor gently explains the nature of his seminar:

The violence that is poised between humanitas and inhumanitas speaks to the metaphysical ordering and phantasms of everyday political terror. Are practices of political aggression separable from the Western metaphysical divide between human and animal, and what are the ideological utilities of this divide? Are acts and discourses of inhumanization how philosophical anthropology (and all anthropologies are ultimately philosophical and political) confesses itself, not as theorem or disciplinary taxonomy, but as a political culture with the most severe material criteria and bodily consequences?

When you take out that second mortgage on your house to get your child through college, remember that this is what you're paying for.  Throw in a couple of references to Jesus [or, better, the "event of Christ"] and this guy could be a bishop.

This link courtesy of an old friend Down Under.

Lenten Wave #28

“By having a reverence for life, we enter into a spiritual relation with the world. By practicing reverence for life we become good, deep, and alive.” – Albert Schweitzer

It's The Photo You Have To Check Out

Click here: Sweden moving towards cashless economy

Donated Food May No Longer Be Given To NYC's Starving

In conjunction with a mayoral task force and the Health Department, the Department of Homeless Services recently started enforcing new nutritional rules for food served at city shelters. Since DHS can’t assess the nutritional content of donated food, shelters have to turn away good Samaritans.

I will share something that I have learned over the course of three decades of ministry: Ignore the dang government.  It wasn't our idea as practicing Christians to allow a stray remark made in one of Jefferson's letters to become this inflated fetish called "separation of Church and state" [Which ignorant students think is in the Constitution.  Of the United States, that is.  Yeah, I know, a $250,000 education doesn't buy much in the way of smarts these days.]  But, if this separation is to be, then let us by all means embrace it by separating ourselves from government programming and oversight.  It is just as easy to hand out food, guerrilla-style, to the homeless and the starving.  By the time any round-rumped official hears of it, the food is already disseminated and, likely, the evidence has vanished.

Here's the thinking from a bureaucratic microbe:  "DHS Commissioner Seth Diamond says the ban on food donations is consistent with Mayor Bloomberg’s emphasis on improving nutrition for all New Yorkers."

Yep, nothing says "nutrition" like denying nutrition to the starving.  Well done, Seth.  You make me want to read Orwell's 1984 again, just for laughs.

Lenten Wave #27

"The waters are rising, but so am I. I am not going under, but over."
—Catherine Booth, co-founder of the Salvation Army

More Like Reductive And Perverse

A Massachusetts school principal is renaming "St. Patrick's Day" with "O'Green Day" in an effort to be "inclusive and diverse"....

If we purge all Christian names from the American lexicon, the world will be made perfect. Seriously, "O'Green Day"?

I Sense A New Liturgy On The Horizon

Bride Marries Herself. Should More Singles Throw Solo Weddings?

The Fourth Sunday In Lent

A few years ago, I tore down an old shed on our property down on Long Island Sound. It seemed to be mostly made of rotten wood, so I didn’t think it would take too long or be too arduous. Besides, there’s nothing like wielding a crowbar and 20 pound sledgehammer on one’s day off.  I also was able to swing a Halligan, which usually just resides in the trunk of the car, a leftover from service with a volunteer fire department.

It turned out I was a little optimistic, as the shed was much sturdier than I thought. What should have been a morning’s work turned into a full day. Somewhere near sundown I managed to get the last joist undone, and also managed to drop a roof beam on my head. Jenni mentioned that this was the third head wound that I had received that year, as both the boom on our sailboat and some teenager’s runaway surfboard had also given me some dents. As I noted how my head was gradually becoming a relief map of my misadventures, Jenni volunteered, “I think you’ve lived your Lent for this year.”

One of the many lost traditions in Christianity is to be found on the Fourth Sunday in Lent. Much like its parallel Sunday on the Third of Advent, this is a feast day that serves as a type of “gasket” during the season of intention and, in ancient times certainly, had developed around it a variety of particular practices.

The Fourth Sunday in Lent [again, it is a Sunday in Lent rather than of Lent, as all of the Sundays are feast days celebrated outside of the dour intentions of Lent], is variously known as Rose Sunday [as is its Advent counterpart], Refreshment Sunday, Mid-Lent Sunday or, the most unusual of all, Mothering Sunday. The latter title did not refer to one’s mother, but to one’s ‘mother church”, as it was the tradition to return to one’s home congregation, and distant family, on this particular Sunday.

Other traditions that developed around the Fourth Sunday in Lent involved clergy wearing rose-colored vestments, the use of flowers on the altar, and the baking of special cakes or loaves of bread, as the traditional Gospel reading for this day was the feeding of the five thousand. In our English-based tradition, it was the only day during Lent when the sacrament of marriage could be offered.

All of this was done to remind worshippers that prayerful intention and amendment of life are not to be left to one particular season, anymore than the celebration of the Resurrection is to be left only to Easter. We live our Lent many times during the year and, we hope, live the Resurrection even more often. In our pattern of faith, while we find moments of Lent and moments of Easter, each extreme is experienced as part of a journey that is always a dynamic blending of the two, so it is the totality that matters, rather than the fragments.  That way, the rich and various experiences of our lives, from the daunting to the fulfilling, always form parts and portions of the whole, as do all of the seasons of the Christian year in their glory.