Rectory Phone

It appears that the Rectory telephone is not receiving calls.  It can make them; just not take them.  So, please call the parish office if you're trying to reach me and we'll see if A.T. and T. can clear this up quickly this coming week.

The Tenth Sunday After Pentecost

This week Ecclesiastes' teacher gives us the word about vanity, Paul gives the Colossians the eternal teaching about what matters and what doesn't, and Jesus rejects a common role of 1st Century rabbis.  All this plus the media fascination with the cost of some politician's kid's wedding.

The lections may be found here.

A Video For Friday

This is Piwi, a kiwi, which is a flightless bird, who is recovering from two broken legs.  Piwi's story has captured the attention of lots of folks in Austrailia and New Zealand, judging by the number of references to him in the media.  In this video of Piwi's physical therapy, one may see the end result of a lot of loving care.

Odds 'N Sods

These have been sitting around the file for more than a few weeks.  The first two are fine examples of the headline editors' art.  The first headline states the basic story in such a way that makes one want to read the rest, while the second makes it sound as if the article is about a government official battling addiction.

The third is really special: Whale on the boat!  [This almost happened to me once, as recounted here.]

1.  Female Runner Allowed to Compete as a Female

2.  High Obama aide to meet with Brewer

3.  Forty-ton whale lands on yacht

Speaking Of Nuns

As I mentioned the other day, the Episcopal Church does have nuns and monks included as part of our spiritual organization.  More precisely, the Church has included religious orders [and celibate clergy] for its entire history.  Your Rector, who is a former member of the Society of St. Barnabas, a religious order that was dissolved some twenty years ago, credits his ecclesiology to his early monastic training.  Not to mention his difficulty in taking days off or scheduling vacations.

[Our monastery, St. Barnabas House, is pictured above. It now serves as an assisted living facility.]

However, there are still a number of religious organizations in the Episcopal Church.  In fact, it appears that there are more than ever, which would seem to be sign of spiritual health that is often missed by the PTB*. 

A complete official list may be found here.

[ *Powers That Be ]

I'm Guessing That Most Of The Newsroom Is On Vacation

Jesus seen in chicken's feathers

This sub-headline about sums it all up:

"Jesus, not content with just appearing in Marmite, a frying pan and a drain pipe,..."

This Is Brilliant

So, you have to write a story about the Pope's upcoming visit to the UK.  Really, that's not all that interesting, even for Roman Catholics.  What better way to introduce the story, then, than to make it about his headgear, at least through the first five or six sentences?

Pope sports a very casual cap

Not Only Does The Episcopal Church Have Nuns...

...but, apparently, it has fake ones, too:

Lying Nun

Almost Heaven: A Surf Beach With An Archaeological Site

Rhode Island beach erosion unearths buried ship

[Speaking of which, I'm shredding waves, maybe in Rhode Island, tomorrow.]

Buy This Book

How pleasant it is to sit in the living room of the rectory and listen to CDs by Fawn Segerson and Martin Meyer, peruse Vanity Fair [the magazine, not the Thackeray], watch a couple of Gilpins either be murdered or accused of murder on TV shows, and now open the volume of fascinating personal history that is Jay Tunney's The Prizefighter and the Playwright: Gene Tunney and George Bernard Shaw.

Certainly, Christ Church's members offer a full range of entertainment services to the general public.  Oh, and to the Rector.

Follow the carousel below to purchase those items referenced above.  Remember: 4% of the purchase price is donated by Amazon.com to Christ Church at no extra cost to the purchaser.

This Week In History

July 27, 1681: During a bitter battle between Scottish Episcopalians and Presbyterians, five Presbyterian preachers are martyred in Edinburgh. The Church of Scotland became Presbyterian permanently in 1690.

July 28, 1727: Moody, stiff young preacher Jonathan Edwards marries Sarah Pierrepont, a lively 17-year-old. The union proved happy and produced 11 children, six of whom were born on Sundays. This caused a bit of a scandal, because people then believed children were born the same weekday they were conceived.

July 29, 1794: In a converted blacksmith's shop in Philadelphia, former slave Richard Allen assembles a group of black Christians who had faced discrimination in the local Methodist Episcopal Church. They formed the Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church, the mother church of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, now known throughout the world.

July 29, 1833: English abolitionist William Wilberforce dies a mere three days after England abolishes slavery.

July 30, 1775: The U.S. Army founds its chaplaincy, making it the Army's oldest division after the infantry.

July 31, 1966: John Lennon proclaims the Beatles to be "more popular than Jesus".

August 1, 1714: The "Schism Bill," which was intended to reestablish Catholicism in England, dies with its chief supporter, Queen Anne. For years, Dissenters regarded the date as a day of deliverance, the "Protestant Passover."

August 1, 1779: Francis Scott Key, author of "The Star-Spangled Banner" and a devout Episcopalian who helped establish the American Sunday School Union, is born.

August 1, 1897: Pope Leo XIII issues the encyclical Militantis Ecclesiae, which describes Protestantism as the "Lutheran rebellion, whose evil virus goes wandering about in almost all nations."

August 2, 1100: William the Conqueror's son and successor Rufus, a wicked king who delighted in torture, seizing church property, and blasphemy, is mysteriously killed while hunting by an arrow that flew out of nowhere. No one mourned, and England took his eternal damnation for granted.

LODD

I'm a member of a national organization of chaplains for fire departments.  As such, I am on an e-mail list that urges prayers for those injured on the job and their families.  The most ominous acronym to appear in the subject heading in any e-mail is "LODD".  It stands for "Line of Duty Death".

Overnight I received just such a notice for two firefighters with the Bridgeport FD.  I pass it along for those who pray: 

Two Bridgeport Firefighters Die Battling Blaze, Others Injured

The Ninth Sunday After Pentecost

This week Hosea is ordered to do something that Victorian scholars of the Bible said was just not done; the Colossians learn a lesson worth remembering, and the disciples ask Jesus to teach them the simplest and most transcendent of human actions and they attempt to find their "sound".

The lections may be found here.

Historically, When Secular Powers Attempt To Suppress Our Religion, This Is What Happens

In The Land Of Mao, A Rising Tide Of Christianity

The Feast Of Mary Magdalene

Mary has been known since early Christian tradition as "the first witness" and "the apostle to the apostles", as she was the first to witness the resurrected Jesus when she came to the tomb on Easter morning and was the one to announce the resurrection to Peter, John, and the others.

She is not identified in scripture as having been a prostitute, by the way.  She is mentioned in Luke 8:2 as having seven demons delivered from her body, a reference that grew into the common misconception in Western Christianity that she was not only the "first witness", but a practitioner of the "first profession."

For those willing to commit to some minor research, look up the Eastern Christian story of Mary and the red egg.

Almighty God, whose blessed Son restored Mary Magdalene to health of body and mind, and called her to be a witness of his resurrection: Mercifully grant that by your grace we may be healed of all our infirmities and know you in the power of his endless life; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.

Archaeological News [Well, Ancient Language News, Anyway]

Computers to translate world's 'lost' languages after program deciphers ancient text

The Rt. Rev. Desmond Tutu Was In Yesterday's NYT

Obama’s Overdue AIDS Bill

Why I Love Ohio

Since it is a slow news day, I offer this fascinating article with a great photo:

Death Mask Of Pretty Boy Floyd

Actually, this website is fun if you're planning summer day trips to places of absurd interest.  Check out what's to be found in Connecticut and nearby New York and Massachusetts.

Yes, Definitely Slow

Police report no incidents at James' home   

Must Be A Slow News Day

Dead body found in cemetery