And Offline, Too

Christian couples staying faithful online

Today In History

September 10, 422: Celestine is elected pope. During his tenure, he called for the Council of Ephesus to combat the Nestorianism (the belief that Christ had two natures and two persons) and reportedly sent Patrick to Ireland as a missionary.

September 10, 1718: Founded in 1701 by Congregationalists who feared Harvard was straying from its Calvinist roots, The Collegiate School at New Haven, Connecticut, changes its name to Yale.

September 10, 1869: A Baptist minister invents the ricksha in Yokohama, Japan.

A Broadening Definition

I have noticed for some time that the more extreme members of the climate change movement have been surrendering scientific terminology for that which is of a more religious nature. I assumed that this was because the scientific consensus about this issue seems so protean and, at times, anything but a consensus. It appears I wasn't the only one to notice:

In the first case of its kind, an employment tribunal decided that Nicholson, 41, had views amounting to a "philosophical belief in climate change", allowing him the same legal protection against discrimination as religious beliefs.

I find myself disturbed not by the fact that environmentalism has become, at least in the eyes of a UK court, a religion; it's that religion is regarded as a mere "philosophical belief".

I Knew I Was Doing It Right

Study: Days are for eating; night for sleep

Somebody's grant money at work, I guess.

The Martyrs Of Memphis

In the 1870's, Memphis, Tennessee experienced an epidemic of yellow fever which so depopulated the city that it lost its charter for fourteen years. Almost everyone who could afford to do so left the city and fled to higher ground away from the river. In the city were several communities of nuns, both Episcopal and Roman Catholic, who had the opportunity to leave, but chose to stay and nurse the sick. Thirty-eight were killed by the fever. One of the first to die, Constance, head of the Episcopal Community of St. Mary, did so on this date in 1878.

We give you thanks and praise, O God of compassion, for the heroic witness of Constance and her companions, who, in a time of plague and pestilence, were steadfast in their care for the sick and the dying, and loved not their own lives, even unto death. Inspire in us a like love and commitment to those in need, following the example of our Savior Jesus Christ; who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, now and for ever.

Today In History

September 9, 1087: William I, "The Conqueror" of England in 1066 and founder of several monasteries, dies.

Today In History

September 8, 1157: Richard I (Lion-Heart) of England, leader of the Third Crusade, is born.

September 8, 1565: Settlers form the first Roman Catholic Parish in America in St. Augustine, Florida.

September 8, 1636: Massachusetts Puritans found Harvard College, America's first higher education institution, a mere six years after arriving from England. They founded the college to train future ministers.

September 8, 1845: English clergyman John Henry Newman converts to Roman Catholicism. Newman had been a leading member of the Oxford Movement, which aimed to reform the Church of England, but he became convinced that the Anglicans had lost their episcopal moorings and had wrongly severed themselves from apostolic succession.

Great Headline. And From A Local Paper, Too.

Dog in a car that crashed through front doors of central Conn. hospital bites cop, now on the lam

I Hope These Headlines Aren't Related

White House: Obama may detail health plans soon

and

Obama: Sneeze into Your Sleeve, Not Your Hands

Oh Dear

One of my heroes in the Episcopal Church was the 19th century priest William Augustus Muhlenberg [1796-1877]. Among other achievements, he founded what's now St. Luke's/Roosevelt Hospital, the Fresh Air Fund, one of the first pension funds, a couple of religious orders, pioneered new ways to use flowers and colors to enhance liturgical presentation, allowed people to sit in any pew they wished [as opposed to those that families had purchased for their own usage], and generally made more sense than any other cleric of his time. Naturally, he was never a bishop.

Oh, and he founded the Church of the Holy Communion in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan. The congregation could no longer support the parish as of the 1980's, so it was sold by the Diocese of New York. That's where the fun begins and, apparently, continues:

Church's third act: mini-mall

Some Sunday Fun

The Fourteenth Sunday After Pentecost

This week we receive the proverb of reputation, James reminds us to make the invisible visible, and Jesus does all things well. All this plus an appreciation of a tree, some stones, and a rock.

The lections for this Sunday may be found here.

Some Friend

Alert over new wave of exploding fridges caused by 'environmentally-friendly coolant'

Celtic Prayer

This is your garden, Creator God
A thing of beauty
Beyond understanding
A poem that is being written
Not in words
But in colours
Wind's whisper
Soaring bird
Snowdrop's petal
Gentle rain
Sunlight's warmth
This is your garden, Creator God
A thing of beauty
Beyond understanding

"Politics" Threatens My Retirement Home

Saba threatens to secede from Dutch Antilles

Jenni and I once sailed to these smaller islands, places like Tintemarre and Lesser Spice Island and, well, Saba. Because of its size [small], water [cool for the Caribbean with lively diving], a prosaically named town [The Town] and main road [The Road], not to mention unique indigenous product [spice liquor], I thought I might retire here.

I wonder about that decision now. Next, they'll be arguing incessantly about health care.

Archaeological News

Bulgaria Archaeologists Find Relics of Medieval Saint at Perperikon

Today In History

September 3, 590: Gregory I is consecrated pope. Historians remember him as the father of the medieval papacy and last of four Latin "Doctors of the Church." He was the first pope to aspire to secular power, the man for whom Gregorian Chant is named, and one of the main organizers of Roman liturgy and its music. He was also one of the prime promoters of monasticism.

September 3, 1752: This day and the next ten never happen in Great Britain as the kingdom adopts the Gregorian Calendar (developed by Pope Gregory XIII in 1582) to replace the inaccurate calendar created by Julius Caesar in 46 B.C. Riots break out as the British argue that the government stole 11 days from their lives.

September 3, 1894: American neo-orthodox theologian H. Richard Niebuhr, professor at Yale University and author of Christ and Culture (1951), is born.

Today In History

September 2, 459 (traditional date): After spending 36 years on top of a pillar praying, fasting, and occasionally preaching, Simeon Stylites dies. At first he sat on a nine-foot pillar, but he gradually replaced it with higher and higher ones; the last was more than 50 feet tall. After his death, the Syrian ascetic—who had won the respect of both pope and emperor—inspired many imitators.

September 2, 1192: The Third Crusade, which had the mission of retaking Jerusalem (it had fallen to Muslim general Saladin in 1187), ends with the signing of a treaty. Though Christians had not won back Jerusalem, Richard I (later king of England) negotiated access to the holy city.

September 2, 1784: John Wesley consecrates Thomas Coke as the first "bishop" of the Methodist church by John Wesley. An indefatigable itinerant minister, Coke crossed the Atlantic 18 times, all at his own expense.

September 2, 1973: Scholar, novelist, and devout Catholic J.R.R. Tolkien, author of The Hobbit (1937) and The Lord of the Rings (1954-55), dies at age 81.

The Martyrs Of New Guinea

The closest thing to an official history of the background of today's feast day seems to be very cautious about being as "correct" as possible with the circumstances of the martyrdom. These things should really be written by objective historians, preferably with no denominational political attachments to constrain their commentary.

I'll refer you here and simply note that, while unmentioned in the entirety of the article, it was the Japanese who executed the members of the Anglican mission. It's okay if we say that because, after all, it's history. I mean, real history as opposed to political history. Real history is the one with the facts; facts that carry no political weight but simply state what was.

Also, the martyrs were not "arrested". They were captured. This wasn't a police raid on some bootleggers or in a tatty burlesque house; it was a war. The mission leaders, eight clergy and two laity, were executed summary to their capture on this day in 1942.

An interesting note: A statue of Lucian Tapiedi, the only indigenous Papuan among the martyrs, is installed, along with other Christian martyrs, in the niches over the west door of Westminster Abbey. He's the one on the left in the photo above. No, that's not mentioned in the official piece, either.

[The one on the right is Wang Zhiming, martyred in his native China during the "cultural revolution" in 1973.]

Good Morning, Roxbury

Ah, it's moving day. Again. How many of these have I had? Last night Jenni and I were talking about first days at new jobs when I realized that this is my seventeenth "first week", fourteen of which have been at parishes. You would think I would have it down by now.

Anyway, after an exciting [No, really] day shopping for furniture bits and pieces at a used hotel furniture warehouse ["Where Dante meets Holiday Inn"], and some vast Swedish warehouse in New Haven [Blurg or Nomso or something], I think I'm ready to start work now. Please.

Office hours will be held on Wednesday of this week. Pastoral calls begin on Thursday. Dinner with the vestry and search committee on Friday. There will be something on Sunday morning, I forget what. We'll see you all in church.