This Week's Feast Days

August 20: Bernard of Clairvaux [1090-1153] Abbot and Theologian [and a poet, too].



From a family both pious and military, Bernard entered religious orders as a reformed Benedictine [or Cistercian] at the age of 23, the beginning of forty years of life in cloister. Theologically, while he was as doctrinaire as any of his 12th century contemporaries, he presented some foundational ideas that were later to be embraced by the Protestants in the early days of the Reformation.  More of him may be found by clicking the paragraph below:

Bernard was able to accomplish many things; one of his greatest achievements took place after the death of Pope Honorius II in 1130. A disputed election of the new pope caused a schism in the Church. Both Innocent II and Anacletus II were claimed to be the new pope. Catholics took sides and neither side would give in. Bernard traveled from one country to another to talk to church leaders in an effort to end the rift. After eight years of preaching and negotiating, the schism was finally ended. That was thought to be Bernard's crowning triumph.

O God, by whose grace your servant Bernard of Clairvaux, kindled with the flame of your love, became a burning and a shining light in your Church: Grant that we also may be aflame with the spirit of love and discipline, and walk before you as children of light; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

August 25, King Louis IX of France [1214-1270]:



It often surprises people that a monarch, and a non-Anglican one at that, is on the list.  His inclusion is due to his sense of justice and considerable interest in the charitable life.  Heck, he lowered taxes and reduced regulations; that alone would grant him a date on my personal feast day calendar.  More may be found by clicking on the paragraph below:

"...despite his wealth and affluence, St. Louis spent his life crusading for justice, love and generosity. It was the poorest of the poor that were recipients of his charity and alms everyday. It is said that he always gave to beggars on his travels, and twice a week, money, bread and leftovers from the royal table were handed out. Every day 120 poor people ate in his household, 13 ate in the same room and three ate at his table...Louis was considered by his family, friends, French nobles, and religious men and women to be a deeply pious and honorable man. He took a special interest in charitable institutions, regarding his kingly duties as part of his Christian vocation."

O God, you called your servant Louis of France to an earthly throne that he might advance your heavenly kingdom, and gave him zeal for your Church and love for your people: Mercifully grant that we who commemorate him this day may be fruitful in good works, and attain to the glorious crown of your saints; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Why You Should Always Befriend Strangers

Please read this wonderful story.

The Twelfth Sunday After Pentecost

David dies, Solomon succeeds and sets the standard for the relationship between God and monarch that will be copied, or attempted to be copied, for the next 3000 years.  However, the seeds of complication will begin to be planted....

The lections may be found here.

Muelenberg

I suppose I should mention some folks from the annals of Anglicanism, but it seems like so many of them are covered by the feast days and, really, it's too much fun to share obscure heroes of music and water, especially as I've discovered in recent weeks that many of the people who read The Coracle had never heard of Kahanamoku, Mishima, Manry, or Howlin' Wolf.  There is a whole rich parade of uncommon people who don't make it on our cultural radar sometimes just because...well, I don't exactly know why.  Maybe it's because they're Polynesian, Japanese, black, or from Cleveland, and those aren't the folks who come to the attention of most of the people with whom I associate these days.

My wife, who is of this writing still incarcerated in a post-surgical rehab clinic, and I were joking the other day about my springing her out of the place.  I told her, when she decided it was time to leave, to simply work the name "Steve McQueen" into a sentence, then I would liberate her from their tender mercies.  Perhaps by using a motorized wheelchair instead of McQueen's iconic motorcycle from The Great Escape.

While I wasn't surprised to discover that the 20-something physical therapist didn't get the reference, neither did a 40-something nurse or an 80-something relative.  So much for Hollywood's "King of Cool", eh?

At any rate, the Episcopal Church's King of Cool, as far as I'm concerned, is a 19th century priest named William Augustus Muelenberg [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.  It then became the rather notorious Limelight nightclub and is now, I'm told, a mini-mall.  God help us.  So, in a way, Muhlenberg may also be credited with helping to create the now-infamous nightclub scene of thirty years ago.  Not a bad legacy, really.

Here's a photo of the Episcopal Church's King of Cool and, by extension, nightclub progenitor:

Thursday's Prayer

Lord, be with us this day,
Within us to purify us;
Above us to draw us up;
Beneath us to sustain us;
Before us to lead us;
Behind us to restrain us;
Around us to protect us.
         - St. Patrick, [Fifth Century]

And I Was Considering Using Them To Insure My Truck

Yeah, about that, Progressive.  Never mind. 

This is worth some of your reading time, as this is how people really speak truth to power.

At the trial, the guy who killed my sister was defended by Progressive’s legal team.
If you are insured by Progressive, and they owe you money, they will defend your killer in court in order to not pay you your policy.

In considering David vs. Goliath, when it comes to the Internet [or a slingshot wielded by a clever shepherd], always bet on David.

[Neither of these guys is an English major, so be prepared for some spelling/grammatical errors.]

In The 21st Century, This Is Considered "Brave"

Desmond Tutu calls for axing 'Stars Earn Stripes'

Let's think about this one a sec, shall we?  We live in the eleventh year of the Global War on Terror, American troops are still placed all over the Middle East, and are getting killed every day [the media got bored with the weekly "death count" after Bush left office], and despite promises made by a tenth Nobel Peace Prize laureate [mention of whom is conspicuously absent from this story], Guantanamo Bay is still open, and this brave collection of peace advocates decide that what is worth their attention is a summer reality show on the 4th ranked network on US television.

Wow, they're really speaking the truth to power now, aren't they?

If I didn't know Tutu [he's a former teacher of mine], I would think he was in the employ of an NBC public relations or advertising firm, as all he did was bring attention to a TV show of limited interest.

This is the danger when secular politics trumps moral theology.  The Episcopal/Anglican Church is invested in the current US president to the point that they cannot criticize him in the least. So, to slake their reason for being, they attack a chimera.

Just so you know, in my world, my colleagues refer to this kind of press release as "courageous".

A real mortal problem is the increasing usage of drones in combat, devices that are notoriously deadly to innocent by-standers.  Among non-combatants in the Arab world, US military drones are known, in English, as "random death machines".  Nice, huh?  That might a good name for a TV show, now that I think about it.  Then, maybe, it would be worth the attention of these luminaries.

Gee, No Kidding. You Should Ask Them Their Opinion About Christianity.

Numerous surveys have found that professors, especially those in some disciplines, are to the left of the general public. But those same -- and other -- surveys have rarely found evidence that left-leaning academics discriminate on the basis of politics. So to many academics, the question of ideological bias is not a big deal. Investment bankers may lean to the right, but that doesn't mean they don't provide good service (or as best the economy will permit) to clients of all political stripes, the argument goes.

And professors should be assumed to have the same professionalism.

A new study, however, challenges that assumption --

Wait, What?

Social Security Administration To Purchase 174 Thousand Rounds Of Hollow Point Bullets

Oh, this just gets better: National Weather Service “ammunition” solicitation triggers confusion

It's okay, it's just a "clerical error".  Nothing to see here, folks.  Move along.  These aren't the droids you're looking for.

I Really Picked The Wrong Profession

Hermosa Beach meter maids making nearly $100K?

Tuesday's Quotation

"The man who really prays never attempts to justify himself. In true prayer, he knows that he cannot do so." - Karl Barth (1886-1968)

This Week's Feast Days

August 13:

Jeremy Taylor [1613-1667] -  In the years between 1633 and the ascendancy of the Puritans in 1645, Taylor was a Fellow of two Cambridge colleges and chaplain to Archbishop Laud and to King Charles. Under Puritan rule, he was imprisoned three times, and forced into retirement as a family chaplain in Wales. After the Restoration, in 1661, he became Bishop of Down and Connor in Ireland.

Taylor wrote many works of theology, but they can be best summarized by this quotation he once offered to one of his students: "A religion without mystery must be a religion without God."

O God, whose days are without end, and whose mercies cannot be numbered: Make us, like your servant Jeremy Taylor, deeply aware of the shortness and uncertainty of human life; and let your Holy Spirit lead us in holiness and righteousness all our days; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

August 14:



Jonathan Myrick Daniels [1939-1965] - Daniels was a seminarian at Episcopal Theological School [now known as Episcopal Divinity School] in Cambridge, Massachusetts.  More of his compelling story may be read here, including links to more sources.  Suffice it to say, he went to Selma, Alabama to witness for civil rights and was martyred by government authority.  It's an old story, isn't it?

The good that came from his martyrdom is that the Episcopal Church did have a renewed sense of mission to the marginalized.  What is often missed is that Daniel's is a story of moral and physical courage, without which no social change may be engaged.  Too many of our contemporary leaders wish to question authority, but not in a way that really endangers them or their way of life.

O God of justice and compassion, you put down the proud and mighty from their place, and lift up the poor and the afflicted: we give you thanks for your faithful witness Jonathan Myrick Daniels, who, in the midst of injustice and violence, risked and gave his life for another; and we pray that we, following his example, may make no peace with oppression; through Jesus Christ the just one, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

August 15:
Feast of St. Mary the Virgin [formerly known as The Feast of the Assumption], of which more will be offered on the day itself.

August 18:



William Porcher Dubose [1836-1918] - One of the Episcopal Church's premier theologians from the latter portion of the 19th century.  If you haven't heard of him, it's because Yankee difficulty with the Confederate States of America, the army of which Dubose served as a chaplain during the War Between The States, prevents him from being too dramatically acknowledged lest his early service distract from the preferred historical narrative of our tradition.

However, some of his books are still around.  As is a well-received biography.

Even his Collect is , as my Scottish grandmother would say, a little "tupenny/ha'penny".

Almighty God, you gave to your servant William Porcher DuBose special gifts of grace to understand the Scriptures and to teach the truth as it is in Christ Jesus: Grant that by this teaching we may know you, the one true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

The 11th Sunday After Pentecost

The last chapter in our summer saga of King David; this week he lets down the whole team with misplaced sentiment.  Also, Jesus is just too dang common to be the vehicle of divine revelation.  After all, he's just one of us.

The lections are here.

Duke Kahanamoku

In keeping with the month and its aquatic nature, this week features one of the lesser known American Olympic athletes, but one who has had a massive influence on American culture and sport more than any other Olympian.

Duke Kahanamoku competed in the 1912 Olympics, winning a gold medal in swimming [Yes, just "swimming" and not butterfly, freestyle, breaststroke, etc.  Swimming competitions weren't as rich and various as they are today]; he came back to the Olympics eight years later and, at the age of 30, won his second gold medal.

Chiefly, though, he is recognized as the father of surfing and, as such, is featured as a statue in Huntington Beach, California [see above] and a mural in Ocean City, New Jersey [see below].  That's really all that matters to me, but much more can be read about The Duke here, here, and here.  The story of his rescue of sailors from a sinking boat is worth reading, as it explains why California lifeguards to this day use surfboards as one of their rescue tools. [A practice that's beginning to take hold in the eastern USA, too.]  It also represents the qualities of self-sacrifice and compassion for which Duke was known and which informed traditional, pre-commercialized surfing, as his nature and character offer what's best about the very odd sport and spirituality of surfing.

[You can find the menu from one of the many restaurants that bear his name here.  I just thought I'd mention it as I'm having a craving for some huli chicken.]

Not Entirely Sure Why, But This Made Me Kinda Sad

World’s Oldest Shipping Company Closes Amid Industry Decline

Thursday's Prayer

Come I this day to the Father,
Come I this day to the Son,
Come I to the Holy Spirit powerful;
Come I this day with God,
Come I this day with Christ,
Come I with the Spirit of kindly balm.

God, and Spirit, and Jesus,
From the crown of my head
To the soles of my feet;
Come I with my reputation,
Come I with my testimony,
Come I to you, Jesu;
Jesu, shelter me.

- ancient Celtic prayer of unknown origin

Tuesday's Quotation

Life together under the Word will remain sound and healthy only where it does not form itself into a movement, an order, a society... but rather where it understands itself as being a part of the one, holy, catholic, Christian Church, where it shares actively and passively in the sufferings and struggles of the whole Church. Every principle of selection, every separation connected with it that is not necessitated quite objectively by common work, local conditions, or family connections is of the greatest danger to a Christian community. When the way of intellectual or spiritual selection is taken, the human element always insinuates itself and robs the fellowship of its spiritual power and its effectiveness for the Church, and drives it into sectarianism.
-
 Dietrich Bonhoeffer [1906-1945), from Life Together [1954].

This Week's Feast Days

August 7:



John Mason Neale [1818-1866] - Neale founded the Sisterhood of St. Margaret, an early convent of nursing nuns in the Anglican [Episcopal] Communion, specifically of and for the Church of England.  However, his greatest contribution was as a composer of hymns, of which this is but a partial list:

A great and mighty wonder
All glory, laud and honor
Alleluia, song of gladness
Blessed city, heavenly Salem
Blessed feasts of blessed martyrs
Brief life is here our portion
Christ is made the sure foundation
Christian, dost thou see them
Come, Holy Ghost, with God the Son
Come, ye faithful, raise the strain
Creator of the stars of night
Draw nigh and take the Body of the Lord
For thee, O dear, dear country
Jerusalem the golden
Jesus, Name all names above
Let us now our voices raise
Light's abode, celestial Salem
Now that the daylight fills the sky
O blest Creator of the light
O God, creation's secret force
O God of truth, O Lord of might,
O sons and daughters, let us sing
O Trinity of blessed light
O what their joy and their glory must be
O wondrous type! O vision fair
Of the Father's love begotten
Sing, my tongue, the glorious battle
Stars of the morning, so gloriously bright
The day is past and over
The day of resurrection
Those eternal bowers
Thou hallowed chosen morn of praise
To thee before the close of day 

Grant, O God, that in all time of our testing we may know your presence and obey your will; that, following the example of your servant John Mason Neale, we may with integrity and courage accomplish what you give us to do, and endure what you give us to bear; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.


August 8:



Dominic [1170-1221], the founder of the Dominican Order of monks and nuns, originally established as a religious community based on the vow of poverty and the exercise of the intellect, and officially known as the Order of Preachers.  Three times he was offered the post of bishop, and turned down each in order to continue a life that was simple and without the opulence that had become associated with episcopal authority.

O God of the prophets, you opened the eyes of your servant Dominic to perceive a famine of hearing the word of the Lord, and moved him, and those he drew about him, to satisfy that hunger with sound preaching and fervent devotion: Make your church, dear Lord, in this and every age, attentive to the hungers of the world, and quick to respond in love to those who are perishing; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.


August 10:



Laurence [?- 258] was one of the seven deacons of the congregation at Rome, those who were in charge of administering the church budget, especially for the care of the poor. In 257, Emperor Valerian began a persecution aimed mostly at the clergy and the laity of the upper classes, the goal of which was the seizure of church property and elimination of Christian "meetings".  Pope Sixtus II and most of the clergy were summarily executed.

The Prefect of Rome, knowing that Laurence was the principal financial officer, promised to set him free if he would surrender the wealth of the Church. Laurence agreed, but said that it would take him three days to gather it. During those three days, he placed all the money at his disposal in the hands of stewards, and then assembled the sick, the aged, the poor, and the widows and orphans, presented them to the prefect, and said, "These are the treasures of the Church."

This was not well-received by Roman authority and Laurence was martyred with creative brutality.

Almighty God, you called your deacon Laurence to serve you with deeds of love, and gave him the crown of martyrdom; Grant that we, following his example, may fulfill your commandments by defending and supporting the poor, and by loving you with all our hearts; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.


August 11:



Clare of Assisi [1194-1253] was the sister of St. Francis and, with him, founded of the distaff portion of the Society of St. Francis, or Franciscans.  Franciscan nuns are sometimes referred to as the "Poor Clares" due to their history of living in extreme poverty, never sleeping in beds, eating only donated food, and eschewing from the consumption of meat.

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 Clare, 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 and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Only If You're Intolerant

The gold medalist is a teenager of deep faith and gratitude -- and that can be a little unnerving

Really? To whom is it unnerving? And why?

Please, writers from 'zines like Salon and those who internally digest them, just come out of your closet and admit you want all people of faith to shut up and go away. Let's be honest about this quiet bigotry now. This attitude has already gelded Protestant leaders. They keep trying to make you and yours happy and have just about made mainstream Protestantism irrelevant, all because they think that's what you want.  But you and me, we know the truth, don't we? You're not going to reward Protestant leaders for their efforts, are you?  It's time to battle this out honestly in what William Blake called "mental fight". I know you want us silent, so that means it's time to shout.

Also, I'd like to add that I find it a little discomfiting that a white writer for Salon, a 'zine with an overwhelmingly white readership, would wish to suppress a genuine expression of African-American  Christianity.  It's almost as if you're saying that you want not only people of faith, but people of color, to shut up and go away.  Ew.

Behind The Pieties

After A Long Fight, Bishop Seabury Church Holds Last Service

I know their politics weren't mine, but they were an active parish and it seems that diocesan leadership could have saved this relationship. Now, over 300 communicants have left the diocese.

It's been an odd week, what with the discarding of this congregation, a priest who is also a bishop's spouse celebrating the sacrament in my parish without my knowledge or consent, and no bishop at all even phoning my wife after her surgery.

 The gyre is widening.

The Tenth Sunday After Pentecost

This week, Big Dave gets schooled.  The lections may be found here.

Cousteau

We all know this fellow.  Maybe because it's summer, and my mind, despite the distractions of a very busy parish season, plus my wife's surgery this week, is filled with the delights of the waterman's pursuits, but I was thinking about Jacques the other day.  Maybe it was because I couldn't get that funky taste out of my scuba regulator, who knows?

Jacques Cousteau was not just the host of the very, very best National Geographic specials EVER [I had them all on videotape and then DVD; I'm going to get them all on digital as soon as they're available] but he was the developer of the underwater portable breathing device, in particular the bulbous gadget attached to the mouthpiece of a scuba ensemble.  It was marketed with the name "aqua lung", which is what they were still called when I first donned one for my federal uncle back in the 1970's.  The bundle he made from that enabled him to leave the French Navy and lease his famous ship Calypso, in order to study most directly the wonders of the oceans.

In addition to his underwater work, he also wrote some bestsellers, including my fave The Silent World, and filmed some theatrical documentaries, two of which won Academy Awards, including World Without Sun, which was one of the two films I saw while on a seaside vacation [the other was The Endless Summer] that either made my life or ruined it, depending on whom you ask. 

More of Cousteau may be found here.  You can also get a red knit cap at that site, just like the ones worn by Cousteau and his divers.  [Yes, I have one.]

I would be remiss not also to mention the fellow who formed my daydreams of scuba diving before I even heard of Cousteau.  He was fictional, but no less real to those of us in the Midwest: Mike Nelson of the TV show Sea Hunt.  The boys of my neighborhood used to pull our t-shirts partially over our heads, with our faces staring our the head hole, and would pretend to "swim" about our yards like Mike and company.  We would also make the gurgling stomach noise that Nelson's regulator always made, too.

Clearly, The Time Has Come For Ukulele Control

Man attacks roommate with ukulele, police say

Thursday's Prayer

O Master and God, Father almighty, Lord, and only-begotten Son, Jesus Christ, and Holy Spirit, one divinity and power, have mercy on me a sinner, and save me, your unworthy servant, in any way you know; for you are blessed unto the ages of ages. Amen.
- by St. Mardarios

[Early Christian prayer tended towards the penitent petition.  As such, the prayers tend to be a little off-putting to 21st century Western Christians.]

A Question You Would Not Have To Ask If You Ever Had My Dad As Your Math Teacher

Is Algebra Necessary?

Yeah, the problem with American education is that there's too much Math. Please.

(Amanda and I agree that my father was the best teacher we ever had; because of him she does billing for a corporation, I do Algebra problems in the evening like others do crosswords.)

Clearly, The Time Has Come For Burrito Control

Minnesota man charged with burrito assault

The Spirit And Promotion Of International Brotherhood That Is The Olympics

Lebanon judo team refuse to train alongside Israel

Ah, The Secular Paradise: No Sin, No Judgement, No Outcasts. Oh, Wait A Minute....

"Back to the new war against obesity: It is not difficult to predict the trajectory which this project will follow. Very probably it will replicate, step by step, the war against tobacco. Once again, the basic rationale is the prevention of illness. Heart disease is the illness most closely associated with obesity—not as scary as lung cancer, but scary enough. The scientific validation of the project is clear—obesity is unhealthy. The same interests that supported the anti-smoking crusaders can be mobilized once again—doctors who jump on the prevention bandwagon when their ability to cure is often limited, researchers in need of funding, bureaucrats looking for new behaviors to regulate, activists in search of employment opportunities, and of course, legions of tort lawyers, salivating at the prospect of gargantuan settlements from the food and drinks industry. Pizza Hut and Pepsi Cola may take the place of Philip Morris as public enemies (and defendants in class-action lawsuits). The same arguments will serve to counter libertarian scruples—social costs and innocent bystanders. Children will again be featured in the litany of victims. (Michelle Obama understandably likes to preach in kindergartens and elementary schools.) Finally, class is again involved here: Upper income and higher education is associated with virtuous slimness, while all these fat working-class types waddle from Burger King to the unemployment lines. Just as the Victorian bourgeoisie tried to convert the poor slobs to its table of virtues (alcohol of course was then the most targeted vice), so the new bourgeoisie bombards the lower classes with its temperance crusade. (One might speak of the eternal return of the Salvation Army—George Bernard Shaw’s Major Barbara would today be reincarnated as a coach with Weight Watchers)...

Does this have anything to do with religion? I think it does. The quest of immortality is one of the most ancient religious themes. The health cult, with its mirage of endless youth if not immortality, is a quasi-religion. Its dogma is the obligation to live healthily. Like all religions, the health cult has a catalogue of virtues and a catalogue of vices, with rituals to affirm the former and ostracize the latter. There is also an equivalent of the Saudi Arabian police force dedicated to “the promotion of virtue and the suppression of vice”—an army of therapists, coaches, educators, advice columnists, dieticians, and other moral entrepreneurs.

Hmmm, "moral entrepreneurs".  Yes, that's a good one.

Maybe The Best Twitter Account Ever

A "mash-up" of the writings of philosopher Soren Kierkegaard and those of...Kim Kardashian.

The Building Conflict Between 'Progressives' And The Faithful

It may seem strange that anyone could look around the pornography-saturated, fertility-challenged, family-breakdown-plagued West and see a society menaced by a repressive puritanism. But it’s clear that this perspective is widely and sincerely held.

It would be refreshing, though, if it were expressed honestly, without the “of course we respect religious freedom” facade.

If you want to fine Catholic hospitals for following Catholic teaching, or prevent Jewish parents from circumcising their sons, or ban Chick-fil-A in Boston, then don’t tell religious people that you respect our freedoms. Say what you really think: that the exercise of our religion threatens all that’s good and decent, and that you’re going to use the levers of power to bend us to your will.

There, didn’t that feel better? Now we can get on with the fight.

An Absolutely Wonderful Observation From The Beginning Of A Book Review

It’s been an interesting decade for thinking about religion. After 9/11 it finally dawned on people that religion wasn’t going away and that ignorance about it might well be debilitating. Many did not cotton to this news; the “New Atheists” represented not so much an intellectual challenge to religious belief, but rather an adolescent cri de coeur from those who felt their fervent unbelief beleaguered by reality and their Voltairean pieties insulted by the course of history. Cornered smugness is never pretty.


Soon several counter-thinkers came forward to return the compliment, abusing the abusers with contempt for their mistakes and scorn for their intellectual fantasies. More recently still, a wave of “New New Atheists” has emerged, exemplified by thinkers such as Alain de Botton and the team of Hubert Dreyfus and Sean Kelly. They grant the value of some facets of religion, such as transcendence (what Kelly and Dreyfus call the “whoosh”) and, echoing antecedents like Auguste Comte, social ordering, but they affirm the generic idea of religion as at best a human-only institution so that they may dump all the awkward bits, like theology, metaphysics and that sort of thing. The superficial understanding and charity they offer to religion is a dodge, of course, but at least they’re polite about it.

A Real Journalist, Finally (Of Course, He's British)

As a journalist, you know you are doing your job properly when you manage to upset rich, powerful and entitled people who are used to getting their own way. And you know you've really got under their skin when they pursue censorship, the avenue of last resort since time immemorial.

Tuesday's Quotation

"If God is silent now at times when we long for some sign from Him, it is because by means of silence He can best make known to us His mind. His silence may mean that our request is so foreign to His will, that it may not be heeded without hurt to the petitioner. Or, on the other hand, He may be luring on our faith and inciting it to a more ambitious flight. Or, again, it may be that His silence is His way of telling us that the answer to our query or petition lies in ourselves."
- Charles H. Brent  (1862-1929)

This Week's Feast Days

July30th:


William Wilberforce [1759-1833] wanted to have a deep effect on his world and was torn between serving God in the church or in the realm of secular politics.  He chose the latter.  He served as a member of Parliament for 45 years and was the champion of causes such as religious liberty [that's when the government can't legislate one's morality; we're still working on that one in the USA] and the abolition of slavery [it took awhile for that notion to take hold in the USA, too].

Wilberforce, who was a member of our Mother church, the Church of England, tempered his secular political life and efforts with daily prayer and study of scripture.  In our time, and in our nation, this would have made him a figure of ridicule by the late night "comedians"; in his day, it ensured the end of institutional slavery throughout the British Empire.  I hasten to add that this took great resolve and just plain bloody-mindedness on Wilberforce's part; another reason to credit his faithful habits for keeping him both grounded and focused.

More of Wilberforce, and of his friend John Newton, who wrote a number of the hymns found in the Episcopal Church hymnal, may be found here.

Let your continual mercy, O Lord, kindle in your Church the never-failing gift of love, that, following the example of your servant William Wilberforce, we may have grace to defend the poor, and maintain the cause of those who have no helper; for the sake of him who gave his life for us, your Son our Savior Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

July 31st:

Ignatius of Loyola [1491-1556] was the founder of the Society of Jesus, better known as the Jesuits.  He was everything a truly great teacher should be: patient, learned, faithful, and [this is the important one, now] mystical.  Through these qualities, he created the most intellectual order of clergy ever known in the Western Church.

More on his life may be found here.

Almighty God, from whom all good things come: You called Ignatius of Loyola to the service of your Divine Majesty and to find you in all things. Inspired by his example and strengthened by his companionship, may we labor without counting the cost and seek no reward other than knowing that we do your will; through Jesus Christ our Savior, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, now and for ever. Amen.

August 1st:

Joseph of Arimathea, who surrendered his tomb to be used by the disciples as a resting place for the remains of Jesus, was a tin merchant.  Whether due to the conventions of pious legend, or because of the presence of tin for export from the British Isles to Rome, Joseph is identified as the one who brought Christianity to the Britons.  More of his story and role in scripture may be found here.

Merciful God, whose servant Joseph of Arimathaea with reverence and godly fear prepared the body of our Lord and Savior for burial, and laid it in his own tomb: Grant to us, your faithful people, grace and courage to love and serve Jesus with sincere devotion all the days of our life; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Global Warming Is A Religion

And it has just met its Luther.

What Watts has conclusively demonstrated is that most of the weather stations in the US are so poorly sited that their temperature data is unreliable. Around 90 per cent have had their temperature readings skewed by the Urban Heat Island effect.

This is why I read British newspapers. This story will never fit the US media narrative.

Things To Come

"...the coming clash over religious freedom in America will likely involve sexuality: abortion, contraception, pornography, same-sex marriage, and so on. On sexuality, progressives seem increasingly unable even to understand the worldview of traditional religious communities like Muslims, Evangelical Christians, Orthodox Jews, and the Catholic Church. The intuitions are totally different: what traditional religious communities can’t help but see as common sense, progressives can’t help but see as psychological repression and bigotry. Disagreement is profound. Clashes may be very ugly, indeed."

Please Remember All Involved In Your Prayers

Lightning bolt starts fatal Brooklyn church-rubble crush

I Finally Watched The Opening Of The Olympics

Did you hear the four Anglican/Episcopal hymns that were sung?


Jerusalem
Guide Me O Thou Great Redeemer
Good Christian Men Rejoice
Abide With Me

Plus that hairy fellow sitting behind the queen was the Archbishop of Canterbury.

Yukio Mishima

Recently, Amanda was visiting and decided to read my old paperback edition of The Great Gatsby.  Despite her private school and liberal arts college education, she had never read about Jimmy Gatz and his self-transformation into the mysterious millionaire of Long Island.  Remarkable, given what that education cost, eh?  She does, however, know that plastic is "bad" or something.

Anyway, she read the story and, when we were talking about it, she mentioned something that's been noticed by many a reader and critic.  Namely, F. Scott Fitzgerald rarely wrote a bad sentence.  I told her I found that to be true even in his later works, when he was surviving on a hot fudge sundae and two quarts of whiskey a day.  I really couldn't think of any other American writer of whom the same could be said.

There was, however, a Japanese writer who had mastered the art of composition; he, too, could not write a bad sentence, although he is not always well-represented by English translators.  He's pictured above in a moment of repose: Yukio Mishima, considered by many to be the greatest Japanese writer of the 20th century. 

He was, as opposed to Fitzgerald, highly disciplined in his physical life.  Instead of fortifying his art with whiskey and ice cream, Mishima was a body-builder and weight-lifter.  He despaired of the relative physical slightness of Japanese men of his generation, especially as compared with the American GI's who occupied post-war Tokyo, and sought to train that away through hard work in gym and dojo.  By 1970, he may have been the most physically fit man of letters the world had ever known.  This discipline is discerned in his artistic craft, as well, as his plays, short stories and novels are clearly the product of much careful labor and thoughtfulness, with no small portion of appreciation for the fractured and fractious beauty of the world.

He was also a little un-hinged.  Did I mention that? 

He died shortly after taking charge of a Japanese army headquarters building.  Yes, that's right.  He did that in 1970, armed only with a sword [and about three or four followers].  He did so in order to lecture the assembled soldiers on the need to re-claim the pre-war values of labor, faith, and industry.  Then he committed ritual suicide; the kind known as seppuku.  I'll spare you the details.

My appreciation for Mishima comes from his writings, as his novels in particular carry with them a beauty that is typically Japanese and cannot be produced in the same manner by any other culture.  It is an art that is difficult to master and no one has surpassed Mishima in this regard.  [Ironically, my Japanese students did not care for Mishima; not for literary reasons, but because they felt he was a cultural embarrassment due to the nature of his death.] 

Also, and as odd as this may sound coming from one of my profession, he turned his self-determined death into a form of art, too.  I appreciate it more and more as the 21st century seems to be a time when timid artists and writers compliment one another on their "courage" and "transgressive work".  Somehow, criticizing Republicans, Mid-Westerners, Southerners, Christians, gun-owners, the obese and the poor doesn't seem as courageous and transgressive as storming an army headquarters, urging an indifferent audience to claim values that had long since become alien, and then ritualizing self-slaughter in order to satisfy...well, perhaps that is best expressed in the quotation below.

"All my life I have been acutely aware of a contradiction in the very nature of my existence. For forty-five years I struggled to resolve this dilemma by writing plays and novels. The more I wrote, the more I realized mere words were not enough. So I found another form of expression.  I want to make a poem of my life."

Oh, We're To Be Slow Now?

I'm with this guy:

No, seriously: these things give me hives because I see a lot of middle-aged people sitting around in a living room, with all the right magazines on the table, the proper voices burbling on the radio in the kitchen, Volvos out on the street with COEXIST bumperstickers, and a bowl of organic carob-dusted peas on the table, or something. You know the stereotype: earnest types who still believe everything they believed in college. Who get a little thrill when they think of Woody Guthrie’s guitar: this machine kills fascists.

Number of fascists killed by that guitar: Zero. At press time.

So, I put parish news on the weblog, through mass e-mailing, on the parish Facebook page, pray that it gets put on the website, announce it in church and, let's face it, live in a small town where information is disseminated with ease and speed, and I still have people mad at me because they didn't know such-and-such had happened. Why, exactly, did I turn down that job in the Virgin Islands again?

Here's the US Virgin Islands:

Here's where I live now:



Thursday's Prayer

PRAYER OF THE SIXTH HOUR

O Lord,
You who have measured
The heights and the earth
In the hollow of your hand,
And created the six-wing Seraphim
To cry out to you with an unceasing voice
Holy, Holy, Holy,
Glory to your name.
Deliver me
From the mouth of the evil one, O Master.
Forget my many evil deeds
And through the multitude of your compassions
Grant me daily forgiveness,
For you are blessed unto the ages. Amen.

- attributed to Amma [Mother] Sarah, an early church desert anchorite

The Protean Nature Of Our Culture

“The equality people will have a fit about this, but I’ll say it anyway: I have gay-wedding burnout,” Mr. Shields, 35, said one day this spring. “I spent my 20s going to weddings, being in weddings, shopping for weddings, helping to plan weddings. In my early 30s they finally started tapering off, and I was like, ‘Oh, thank God, we’re over the hump.’ ”

He paused for dramatic effect. “Nope. Here come the Gays.”

Think Of This Weblog As An Educational Tool

Ten Saints of random things

A Quotation

Many people have a very strangely childish notion, that “praying in the name of Christ” means simply the addition of the words “through Jesus Christ our Lord” at the end of their prayers. But depend upon it, they do not by adding these words, or any words, bring it about that their prayers should be in the name of Christ. To pray in the name of Christ means to pray in such a way as represents Christ. The representative always must speak in the spirit and meaning of those for whom he speaks. If Christ is our representative, that must be because He speaks our wishes, or what we ought to make our wishes; and if we are to pray in the name of Christ, that means that we are, however far off, expressing His wishes and intentions.
... Charles Gore (1853-1932), The Sermon on the Mount [1910]

Jesus Sighting! Sorta.

Palm Bay man claiming to be Jesus held in crowbar attack

Dragnet: Scotland

Solway Firth cockle gangs are 'out of control'

This Week's Feast Days

July 22 [transferred this year to July 23]:

Mary Magdalene, and let's get this out of the way as soon as possible, was not a prostitute.  That particular legend grew from some curious readings of history and scripture during the early middle ages and has really, really taken hold in the popular imagination.  I suspect it's because Hollywood producers are attracted to the image of Jesus having a relationship with a prostitute, since they tend to view all women as representative of that profession in one manner or another and themselves as Messianic figures.  But, I digress.

The best pious stories of Mary M. may be found in Eastern Christianity, of which many may be found here. 

Perhaps the best is that of the "red egg":

A biblical Christian testimony concerning Mary Magdalene says that she was a woman of social status and wealth. Following Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection, she used her position to gain an invitation to a banquet given by Emperor Tiberius Caesar.
When she met him, she held a plain white egg in her hand and exclaimed “Christ is risen!” Caesar laughed, and said that Christ rising from the dead was as likely as the egg in her hand turning red.
Before he finished speaking, the egg in her hand indeed turned bright red, and she cried “Christ is risen, for Jesus has burst forth from the tomb”. And she continued proclaiming the Gospel to the entire imperial house. This miracle turned many of them to Christ at that time.
Today, many Eastern Orthodox Christians end the Easter service by sharing bright red eggs and proclaiming to each other, “Christ is risen!” The eggs represent new life, and Christ bursting forth from the tomb. This began the tradition of coloring Easter eggs.


July 24:

Thomas a Kempis wrote The Imitation of Christ, a 14th century volume that is still in print and still in use to this day:

Remarkable for its simple language and style, it emphasizes the spiritual rather than the materialistic life, affirms the rewards of being Christ-centred, and supports Communion as a means to strengthen faith. His writings offer possibly the best representation of the devotio moderna that made religion intelligible and practicable for the “modern” attitude arising in the Netherlands at the end of the 14th century. Thomas stresses asceticism rather than mysticism, and moderate—not extreme—austerity.

July 25:

St. James the Apostle [brother of John, son of Zebedee] is remembered on this day.

As a member of the inner circle, James witnessed the raising of Jairus’ daughter (Mark 5:37, Luke 8:51), the Transfiguration (Mark 9:2), and Jesus’ agony in the Garden of Gethsemane (Mark 14:33, Matthew 26:37). James and John asked Jesus to let them sit, one at his right and one at his left, in his future glory (Mark 10:35–40), a favour that Jesus said was not his to grant. James was beheaded by order of King Herod Agrippa I of Judaea; according to Spanish tradition, his body was taken to Santiago de Compostela, where his shrine attracts pilgrims from all over the world.


July 26:

The Parents of the Blessed Virgin Mary, of which next to nothing is historically known, are remembered mostly through pious legend.  This quotation below is the best that I can find:

Joachim and Anne were a rich and pious couple who had been married for a long time, but found themselves childless. The couple prayed fervently for a child and promised to dedicate their first born to the service of God. An angel appeared to Anne and told her, "The Lord has looked upon thy tears; thou shalt conceive and give birth and the fruit of thy womb shall be blessed by all the world". Joachim also received the same message from the angel. Anne gave birth to a daughter whom she called Miriam (Mary), who was conceived without sin. As a child, Mary was taken to the temple and her parents suffered great sorrow but at the same time joy for fulfilling the vows they had made to the Lord.

July 27:

William Reed Huntington [1838-1909] was one of the pillars of the Episcopal Church when it was at its height as an institution of influence and spiritual foundation.  The text of the sermon preached at his Office of Burial may be found here.

This prayer, familiar to all faithful Episcopalians who attend the Holy Week liturgies, was written by Huntington:

Almighty God, whose 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 the same thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Isn't It Pretty To Think So?

"More importantly: sometimes, just once in a while — like when human blood is still being cleaned and wounds bandaged, and shocked parents are clinging a little tighter to their children — it might behoove us all, and perhaps even make better people of us, if we can just resist the urge to score a cheap political point or exploit emotions, and give a bit of respectful silence to the grief in our midst; to acknowledge that sometimes, the only appropriate words are offerings of sympathy and prayers, and that anything further is just rampant ego, giving always-divisive evil yet another assist."

Bob Manry

Look at that expression above. That about sums it all up, doesn't it?

Robert Manry was an editor for The Plain Dealer, Cleveland's daily newspaper, back in the 1960's.  He had a mid-life crisis of sorts, after being diagnosed with a heart irregularity.  Did he start of program of exercise and diet?  Sorta.  Did he boost his spiritual life through meditation?  Sorta.  Did he achieve new purpose and greater health?  Oh, boy, you have no idea.

You see, Manry bought a 15ft. sailboat [well, technically 13 feet, 8 inches] and decided, despite the fact that he was a novice freshwater sailor for whom Lake Erie was the largest body of water he'd ever attempted, to sail from Falmouth, Mass. to Falmouth, UK.  Yep, across the North Atlantic.  By himself.  In a 15ft. boat.  Named Tinkerbelle.

Like all serious American nutcases, he kept this intention mostly to himself.  No wonder, as his friends might have tried an intervention.  Or thrown a net over him.  When he asked for a leave of absence from The Plain Dealer, they said "no".  So, he quit.

In case you're wondering, he did make it.  Also, The Plain Dealer now found that their former employee was the toast of sailors around the world and much in demand by the world media.  Oops.

His story in brief may be found here.  If you want, you can still find copies of Tinkerbelle, his tale of the odyssey, from used book dealers.

What made him a hero for me was that he spoke dramatically to our Boy Scout troop about his experience and inspired at least one of us to try to live the life of a waterman whenever possible.  In fact, I would eventually buy a later version of his boat myself. 

Cancer victim uses obituary to confess sins

"He wanted to set a new standard on how obituaries should be written."

It's Not Just Roman Catholics. Interesting.

Leading Protestant college sues over contraception mandate

Thursday's Prayer

Deep peace of the running wave to you,
Deep peace of the flowing air to you,
Deep peace of the quiet earth to you,
Deep peace of the shining stars to you,
Deep peace of the Son of Peace to you, for ever.
(Source unknown - early Scottish)

For A Clergyperson, This Is The Best Way To Go

Congregation Remembers Pastor Who Collapsed, Died After Sermon

I'm just sorry I wasn't there to hear it. It must have been a doozy.

A Quotation

Self is the opaque veil that hides the face of God from us. It can be removed only in spiritual experience, never by mere instruction. We may as well try to instruct leprosy out of our system. There must be a work of God in destruction before we are free. We must invite the cross to do its deadly work within us. We must bring our self-sins to the cross for judgment. We must prepare ourselves for an ordeal of suffering in some measure like that through which our Savior passed when He suffered under Pontius Pilate.
- A. W. Tozer(1897-1963),"The Pursuit of God"

Tozer's a bit intense, isn't he?

This Week's Feast Days

July 16th:
William White [1747-1830], first Bishop of Pennsylvania, second bishop to be consecrated in the Episcopal Church of the United States.  He was also the first chaplain of the US Senate and the author of the Episcopal Church's constitution, which is still in use to this day.  From the forward to this historic document:

The power of electing a superior order of ministers ought to be in the clergy and laity together, they being both interested in the choice. In England, the bishops are appointed by the civil authority, which was a usurpation of the crown at the Norman conquest, but since confirmed by acts of parliament. The primitive churches were generally supplied by popular elections; even in the city of Rome, the privilege of electing the bishop continued with the people to the tenth or eleventh century, and near those times there are resolves of councils, that none should be promoted to ecclesiastical dignities, but by election of the clergy and people. It cannot be denied that this right vested in numerous bodies, occasioned great disorders; which it is expected will be avoided, when the people shall exercise the right by representation.

O Lord, who in a time of turmoil and confusion raised up your servant William White, and endowed him with wisdom, patience, and a reconciling temper, that he might lead your Church into ways of stability and peace: Hear our prayer, and give us wise and faithful leaders, that through their ministry your people may be blessed and your will be done; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

July 19th:


Basil the Great, whose feast day is on June 14th, is thought to be the father of monasticism in the Eastern Christian Church.  His brother, Gregory of Nyssa [March 9th], is recognized as one of the leading theologians of the early church.  Sometimes overlooked is their big sister, Macrina, the founder of the first order of nuns in the Eastern Church, and the sibling who raised her brothers and instilled in them a love of Christ and a nimble manner of expressing that love verbally; not to mention a sense of industry when it came to the performance of good works.  Her birth date is unknown, but she died sometime around the year 379.

Merciful God, who called your servant Macrina to reveal in her life and her teaching the riches of your grace and truth: Mercifully grant that we, following her example, may seek after your wisdom and live according to her way; through Jesus Christ our Savior, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

July 20th:
A number of years ago, the PTB* of the Episcopal Church realized that not enough women or people of color were represented on the calendar of feast days.  As is often the case, the rectification was done in a hurried and [surprise!] politicized manner, resulting in days such as this one, where a convenient historical [and secular] event serves as the platform to capture the contributions of four individuals, all of whom get plunked down on one date.  While I find the relationship to the Episcopal Church rather tenuous in the case of two of today's honorees,  I do know that the other half of today's feast were communicants of the same small parish in upstate New York.

July 20th is the anniversary of the Women's Rights Convention held in Seneca Falls, New York in 1848.  It is considered by many scholars [and by the young woman in my household who has a minor in Women's Studies from William Smith College] to be the formative moment in American feminism.  One of the reasons that Seneca Falls was the site of this conference is that it was the hometown of Cady and Bloomer; both of whom were members of Trinity Episcopal Church in Seneca Falls.

There are many sources with information about Sojourner Truth and Harriet Tubman, both of whom have inspiring life stories.  Likewise Amelia Bloomer, who was a popular public speaker, especially when she would appear in churches to discuss her underpants [or "bloomers"].  She was also a committed missionary of the frontier.

From a scholarly point of view, Elizabeth Cady Stanton was perhaps the most interesting, as she may have been the first "progressive" in the Church to use her religion mainly as a platform for political commentary.  As we now live in an era when even sermons are to be judged more for their political correctness than for fealty to developed Christian thought, this historical addition to common discourse is worth noting. 

[I say this chiefly because I was a seminarian during the Church's most politically guilty period and was privy to well over 100 sermons preached from the seminary chapel's pulpit, only two of which I remember were actually about Jesus.  One sermon was entirely about the preacher's daughter's battle with drug addiction.  A compelling and sympathetic story, certainly, and one that I thought would be worth putting into context with the salvation offered by the resurrected Christ.  Apparently, the preacher did not agree and never did mention Our Lord in his entire oration. 

Later in my career, when I was responsible for a staff of four other clergy, one of the associate priests would, in essence, preach the New York Times Op/Ed page.  He called it a sermon because he sprinkled two or three references to God into it.  God, mind you, never Jesus.]

Anyway, there are many, many sources of information about these women and their stories should be known.  Certainly, we should always remember such visionaries in our prayers:

O God, whose Spirit guides us into all truth and makes us free: Strengthen and sustain us as you did your servants Elizabeth, Amelia, Sojourner, and Harriet. Give us vision and courage to stand against oppression and injustice and all that works against the glorious liberty to which you call all your children; through Jesus Christ our Savior, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

* Powers That Be

Civilization Reaches Full Flower

Sightings App Lets Users Insert Images Of Jesus, Virgin Mary And Bigfoot Into Food Photos

Where's The UN When You Need Them?

Rock stars Springsteen, McCartney silenced after defying curfew at London’s Hyde Park

Tales From The Secular World

British newspaper demands it simply stop raining

HAHAHAHAHAHAH

Sorry, but this is a question posed by the New York Times.  No offence, but how would the New York Times know?

Are Modern Men Manly Enough?

The loss of building skills is, I think, the most unfortunate part of the contemporary male's experience.  I'm often regarded as some kind of throwback or intellectual lightweight by many of the beta males of the Episcopal Church because I like to build things with my hands [or take them apart], change my own automobile oil, clean fish, and shoot guns.  Where [and when] I grew up, these were the normal activities of boys and men.

From a related article, an interesting observation:

I got messed up by my feminist mom in the 1970s, who taught me that gender was a social construct. I can’t believe that social experiment went on as long as it did, since it’s clear by month six of having a child that William does not want a doll. Ladies do go first. We are not free to be you and me. We are born different. As soon as my son was old enough to crawl, he pulled a jar of mustard from the pantry and pushed it around the floor making car noises. We bought him a closetful of stuffed animals, but he sleeps with a Matchbox car clutched to his face. He'll sleep with a doll when they make one with an internal combustion engine.

We can’t solve this man-crisis by sitting on a couch watching “Ice Road Truckers.” We’ve got to start fixing our own toilets, exercising outside at 6 a.m. and hunting the meat that we cowardly eat from far crueler factory farms.

Sounds Like Atheists Need Some "Safe Church" Training

Do Atheists Have A Sexism Problem?  [Short answer: Yes.  Slightly longer answer: "New Atheism" seems like a less fun, much more pretentious form of ComicCon.]

More here: Why the New Atheism is a boys' club

Internal monologue of an atheist:
"But, but, but...we're rational!  It's religion that promotes misogyny, right?  Because if sexism is a portion of human nature, then that means we can't blame 'instituional' religion.  That also means that we would need some moral foundation from which to rise above base human nature.  Where on Earth could we find such a thing?"

Improvising From The Altar! What Was He Thinking?

Actually, he had probably just been reading what's in the New Testament.  If this is his bishop's biggest problem, this is one fortunate diocese.

Improvising Illinois priest barred from pulpit

Howlin' Wolf

Sometimes after a performance the adrenalin is so strong that you can't stop. This is especially true when you have creative synergy with the other musicians.

Above is Howlin' Wolf, one of the great bluesmen to come out of the South as part of the migration that made Chicago the Blues Mecca.  He was flamboyant, highly energetic, ran a very disciplined combo, encouraged young musicians, and served as an inspiration to many of the founders of progressive rock music.

He might have been lost to common history had not the Rolling Stones, when they were asked to appear on the TV show "Shindig", demanded of ABC TV that Wolf also perform on that evening's broadcast.  Howlin' Wolf jumped about, stormed around the stage, played painfully sweet blues from the calluses on his fingers, and performed with such energy that people temporarily forgot about the young soul firebrand, James Brown.  Howlin' Wolf was 55 years old at the time.

I guess he was an overnight sensation, after nearly forty years of performance.

Thursday's Prayer

Look upon us, O Lord,
and let all the darkness of our souls
vanish before the beams of thy brightness.
Fill us with holy love,
and open to us the treasures of thy wisdom.
All our desire is known unto thee,
therefore perfect what thou hast begun,
and what thy Spirit has awakened us to ask in prayer.
We seek thy face,
turn thy face unto us and show us thy glory.
Then shall our longing be satisfied,
and our peace shall be perfect.
(Augustine, 354 - 430)

Wow, How 2007 Of Them

Lagging years behind both secular authority and most of the Episcopal Church's parish clergy, liberal bishops do something liberal.

Episcopal Church becomes biggest US church to bless gay unions

"A meritocracy 'actually based on merit'–actual skills and actual performance–would be preferable to the current one based on college credentials and SAT scores."

The economy would be more open to people with usable talents. Status would be impermanent–nobody would know who would end up where in life, since they wouldn’t be sorted out at the start, some being rewarded with fancy go-anywhere degrees (often mostly in recognition of their skill in acquiring fancy go-anywhere degrees). Since the knowledge needed to advance in a dynamic economy would always be changing, it would be hard to confuse discrete, particular skill sets with some sort of general rank. A good surgeon would just be a good surgeon, a good SEO-optimizer would just be a good SEO-optimizer, a skilled machinist a skilled machinist. They’d all make good money, thanks to the market, but financial success would be harder to confuse with general, permanent superiority–a sense of perspective that would come in handy when advances in robotics put surgeons, SEO-optimizers and machinists out of business.

Which Is Why I Read The British Papers To Get American News

Gallup: Americans' Confidence in Television News Drops to New Low

I'm Really Glad I've Gone To Those "Safe Church" Training Sessions For The Last Eighteen Years

It appears that "punishment", which has been quite severe in the past, is on a two-tier system.  Actually, I learned that in Rhode Island.  Long story.

Episcopal Church admonishes assistant rector

I find this quotation troubling, not because it criticizes the Episcopal Church, but because it, correctly, I think, displays the protean nature of institutional indifference.

“It’s typical in these cases that the church offers psychological treatment to the survivor of sexual exploitation and rehabilitates the clergy member’s reputation,” he said.
“So the survivor appears crazy and the clergy member appears morally pure.”

A Quotation

"The glory of Christianity is to conquer by forgiveness." - William Blake (1757-1827)

Tales From A Secular Society

A number of years ago I was at a dinner party when the fellow seated next to me, upon discovering that I was ordained, became rather agitated and informed me, over some pleasant zabaglione, that the world would be a better place if completely secularized. "You religious lot," he continued, "have mucked it all up."

I asked him what he did for a living, and he told me that he sold antiques. I told him that I thought the world would be a better place without tedious used furniture salesmen.

I wish I could suffer fools more gladly than I do.

Anyway, look what those horrid bluenoses in NYC have done; they've banned dancing:

Couple arrested and spent 23 hours in jail for DANCING at train platform

Wait, do you mean it was secular authority that did this?  It has a wonderfully Iranian vibe to it, doesn't it?

This Is Hard On Non-Profits, Too

This Week's Feast Days

Again, only one this week, Benedict of Nursia [480 - c. 547], the founder of the Benedictine Order and patron saint of brandy, is always remembered on July 11th.

His major and considerable contribution to Christianity was the Benedictine Rule, an order for prayers and devotions that was originally used by members of his order [and is still so used by Benedictine monks and nuns worldwide], but became a manual for guided prayer used by all forms of Catholics and sacramental Protestants. 

Benedict’s character, as Gregory points out, must be discovered from his Rule, and the impression given there is of a wise and mature sanctity, authoritative but fatherly, and firm but loving. It is that of a spiritual master, fitted and accustomed to rule and guide others, having himself found his peace in the acceptance of Christ.

In my monastic days, I lived under the modified Benedictine routine.  It has remained my manner of daily devotion ever since as it accomodates days both easy and difficult, keeping one grounded in prayer and, in particular, works.

Ah, Summer

When reporters...er, I mean "journalists"...go on vacation and those remaining in the newsroom need to come up with filler.  Behold, the annual tradition of the "Sharks are in the water! OMG!" stories:

Great white sharks send Cape swimmers running

Shark sighted; Cape beach closed to swimming

Headline Of The Week

Car Hits Suicidal Man Who Fled Texas Bar With Gorilla In Pursuit

Same Thing Happens During Hurricanes

Surfers encounter 100 sharks in feeding frenzy over dead whale... and they STILL go in

Urban Studies Scholars Begin To Realize That Religion May Have An Important Social Role

Religion scholars say "Duh, no kidding."
Yet urbanists should take religion much more seriously than they often do. That’s because it plays a much bigger role in the city and civic health than currently believed, and because many urban congregations have mastered the art of outreach and conversion in a way that transit and density advocates can only dream about.

Friday's Heroes

The extras from the film "Big Wednesday", just hanging out on the set.  They weren't Hollywood stars [well, except for the guy on the right], just the best collection of surfing talent ever concentrated in one decade.

Don't Care As Long As You Keep It To Yourselves

What Can We Learn From Mennonites' Pee Samples?

Someone Should Maybe Alert The Nobel Committee Or Something

Michigan officials fight drunk driving with talking urinal cakes

No Surprise, Really

US beaches laden with sewage, bacteria

To share the common wisdom of the surf world, politicians don't swim and teenagers/college students, despite their hectoring protestations about the enviroment, don't pick up after themselves.

Government Officials Regard Religious Items As "Debris"? What A Surprise.

City Removes Religious Items Off Property

Archaeological News (Again)

'Britain's Atlantis' found at bottom of North sea - a huge undersea world swallowed by the sea in 6500BC

It's Not Summer Without Shark Stories

Great White Sharks Spotted in Massachusetts

That's Not Funny

Chickens, as anyone with sense knows, are psychotic.

Man calls police to say there's a chicken in his front yard

Overthrowing Self-Appointed Aristocrats Is The Engine Of History

Writers Complaining That Bloggers Have Democratized Writing

It's Still Hard To Be A Jew In Germany

German Court Declares Judaism A Crime

This Could Be The World's Longest Book

What’s wrong with Liberation Theology?

It Would Be Nice If The Episcopal Church Were Consistent About This

Liberals ignore Obama's Guantanamos

A lot of clergy had a lot to say about this just a few years ago. Is it only a moral/human rights issue if there's a Republican in the White House? If that's the case, it would appear that Episcopal clergy are less interested in moral theology and more interested in service to a secular political party.

Gee, I wonder why the greater church is struggling?

Archaeological News

Massive stash of ancient Celtic coins discovered by amateur UK treasure hunters

Think Surfing Is A Calm And Stress-Free Activity?

Look what one has to do when not on "home turf".  Er, home surf, I mean:

Ten rules for surfing waves in non-local surf spots