Five myths about white people
Of particular interest [well, to me] are the stats about worship and marriage. I have to say, I've seen this revealed through parish ministry.
Monday, February 13, 2012
The Feast Of Absalom Jones
On February 13th, 1804, The Rev. Absalom Jones was ordained to the priesthood in the Episcopal Church of the
Sunday, February 12, 2012
Now For The Next Project
Some scenes from the all-but-completed parish house basement, now returned to being the world headquarters of our Christian Education program.
Friday, February 10, 2012
Thursday, February 9, 2012
Climatology Confuses Me, Part Two
As related to a previous posting, it seems things aren't as bad as we were told but, helpfully, we should still be concerned about...things...and stuff, you know?
Earth's Polar Ice Melting Less Than Thought
and
The Himalayas and nearby peaks have lost no ice in past 10 years, study shows
By the way, as I grew up on the literal shore of it, Lake Erie has the smallest volume of any of the Great Lakes, as it is the shallowest.
Earth's Polar Ice Melting Less Than Thought
and
The Himalayas and nearby peaks have lost no ice in past 10 years, study shows
By the way, as I grew up on the literal shore of it, Lake Erie has the smallest volume of any of the Great Lakes, as it is the shallowest.
Wednesday, February 8, 2012
Man, I'm Glad We Won The Cold War
LA County OKs $1,000 Fine For Throwing Football, Frisbee On Beaches
There is also a fine to dig too deep of a hole in the sand. Good thing LA County has no other problems.
There is also a fine to dig too deep of a hole in the sand. Good thing LA County has no other problems.
The European Crisis In A Nutshell
"They think, that we think that the unthinkable cannot be thought. But they better think again," the first official said.
This guy would have had a great career in the church.
This guy would have had a great career in the church.
An Obituary Of Note
Mike deGruy, Who Filmed the Oceans, Dies at 60
Again, you may never have heard of him, but if you've ever watched The Discovery Channel, you know his work.
Again, you may never have heard of him, but if you've ever watched The Discovery Channel, you know his work.
Climatology Confuses Me
Scientists say WA reef growth unsustainable
For years, those of us involved in water sports, and high school students who have no choice in the matter, have been lectured about how pollution is killing the world's coral reefs. Now, this. It's almost as if, when there is no ready explanation, we rely on the catch-all of "global warming/cooling/climate change" to label the phenomenon.
This quotation caught my attention: "Corals are already responding rapidly to the environmental changes that we're imposing upon them." Right, by healthy growth instead of slow death. Why is this bad, again? And really, which is it? Are we killing the coral reefs or making them teem with life and growth? I'm all at sea [no pun intended].
If you're interested in beach and water protection, I've been a member of this group for some time. They, too, are overly reliant on the warming/cooling/change explanation, but they do actively promote beach and water cleanliness and organize events to do something about it.
For years, those of us involved in water sports, and high school students who have no choice in the matter, have been lectured about how pollution is killing the world's coral reefs. Now, this. It's almost as if, when there is no ready explanation, we rely on the catch-all of "global warming/cooling/climate change" to label the phenomenon.
This quotation caught my attention: "Corals are already responding rapidly to the environmental changes that we're imposing upon them." Right, by healthy growth instead of slow death. Why is this bad, again? And really, which is it? Are we killing the coral reefs or making them teem with life and growth? I'm all at sea [no pun intended].
If you're interested in beach and water protection, I've been a member of this group for some time. They, too, are overly reliant on the warming/cooling/change explanation, but they do actively promote beach and water cleanliness and organize events to do something about it.
Sunday, February 5, 2012
Hiatus
Once or twice a year, I get bored with words. Oh, and the Internet. And newspapers. Anyway, this weblog will be left untouched for the next few days. We'll be back, though.
Above is a great photo that I discovered recently. It reminds me of the early days of surfing when it was just about the interior, spiritual aspects of the activity, before multi-million dollar competitions and sponsorships, before militant localism created "surf gangs" that use vandalism, threats, and violence to keep strangers off of "their" beaches. Before it was a "lifestyle" or people received Ph.D.'s for dissertations about "surf culture". Nice reminder that once upon a time, it was just a small collection of folks who enjoyed the water. Obscurely, it also reminds me of how I once regarded the greater church and my service to it. A couple of decades ago, it was the perpetual threshold of spiritual discovery through service and dedication, when I was asked to serve as the hierophant to individuals, families, and congregations. Now, people ask me when I'm going to get on a ladder and change the lightbulbs in the choir loft. Still, there is some Pauline sense of holy service in that, to be sure.
It's funny to me, as I get older, and having had as parishioners a governor, a senator, a congressman, a network anchorman, a presidential advisor, a variety of artists and writers, bishops and their spouses, and been mentored by a Nobel Peace Prize laureate [actually, he was awarded the prize while in the midst of teaching our seminar], that these folks above are the ones who impress me. Nobel Prize? Big deal. Can he ride the North Shore without pearling?
Friday, February 3, 2012
You Mean, If Regulations Are Used To Coerce Human Behavior, People Will Work Around The Regs?!
Why, that's never happened before in the course of human history!
LA school district lunch program spawns thriving junk food black market
I jest, of course. It never works. This particular program had "doom" written all over it.
That doesn't mean that institutions and government will cease attempting to control human behavior. For example, look at this conversation currently taking place:
Sugar Should Be Regulated As Toxin, Researchers Say
The article includes this bit of wisdom sure to excite politicians of both parties:
"The researchers propose regulations such as taxing all foods and drinks that include added sugar, banning sales in or near schools and placing age limits on purchases."
When the Hebrews were in the wilderness, all God [and that's God, the only God, creator of heaven and earth] needed to give them were ten simple, easy to remember and understand commandments. God let them work out the rest themselves. With those ten simple rules for community and congregational behavior, they were able to claim the promised land. When the Hebrews decided to add to the list, and to make the law so complicated that it needed a cadre of clergy/lawyers to decipher, they lost the promised land. Repeatedly. It took God's own son to embody the law to bring this destructive cycle to an end.
As for me, I'm not missing the boat with this prohibition. I'm warehousing sugar and changing my name to "Lucky". Or maybe "Bugsy". When it's illegal, you'll know who to come to.
LA school district lunch program spawns thriving junk food black market
I jest, of course. It never works. This particular program had "doom" written all over it.
That doesn't mean that institutions and government will cease attempting to control human behavior. For example, look at this conversation currently taking place:
Sugar Should Be Regulated As Toxin, Researchers Say
The article includes this bit of wisdom sure to excite politicians of both parties:
"The researchers propose regulations such as taxing all foods and drinks that include added sugar, banning sales in or near schools and placing age limits on purchases."
When the Hebrews were in the wilderness, all God [and that's God, the only God, creator of heaven and earth] needed to give them were ten simple, easy to remember and understand commandments. God let them work out the rest themselves. With those ten simple rules for community and congregational behavior, they were able to claim the promised land. When the Hebrews decided to add to the list, and to make the law so complicated that it needed a cadre of clergy/lawyers to decipher, they lost the promised land. Repeatedly. It took God's own son to embody the law to bring this destructive cycle to an end.
As for me, I'm not missing the boat with this prohibition. I'm warehousing sugar and changing my name to "Lucky". Or maybe "Bugsy". When it's illegal, you'll know who to come to.
Thursday, February 2, 2012
Media Phil
When I was a diocesan employee, I found myself attending a meeting in a church in Punxatawney, Pennsylvania; a place of some significance today [it's Groundhog Day, if you didn't know or care]. I learned two things that day. One, that the town searches for the most photogenic groundhog to use in the official ceremonies of the day. He is generally referred to as "Media Phil" because for years the actual practice of noting a groundhog's attitude on this day, which is a classic example of American mountain hoodoo, was done with a 'hog on the outskirts of town. That 'hog was not, to be diplomatic, very good looking.
The second was that churches often conspire in their own demise. At a break during the meeting, I asked one of the church members if I could use the phone. He told me the church didn't have one. "People would be bothering us all the time otherwise," he explained.
Update: Oh-oh. It looks like there's some disagreement in the rodent meteorlogical world.
The second was that churches often conspire in their own demise. At a break during the meeting, I asked one of the church members if I could use the phone. He told me the church didn't have one. "People would be bothering us all the time otherwise," he explained.
Update: Oh-oh. It looks like there's some disagreement in the rodent meteorlogical world.
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
An Obituary Of Note
'Soul Train' creator Don Cornelius dead in apparent suicide
A virtual unknown to those in Litchfield County, but a significant part of my youth in my much more "cosmopolitan" hometown.
A virtual unknown to those in Litchfield County, but a significant part of my youth in my much more "cosmopolitan" hometown.
From The February Newsletter
I’m too cheap to have a heated workshop [I am, after all, half Scottish], so from December until March there is little work that I can do there. Blanks of ash and alder are stored, paint is in a basement locker, tuners, assorted knobs and switches, strings, and cellulose scratch guards sit in their assigned drawers. During these months I come to miss the slow and careful process that goes into creating or re-creating a guitar: the shaping of the wood, the preparation of its surface, the painting, the soldering of electronic parts, and the careful alignment of neck and bridge. Each step taken with deliberation as the delicacy of the instrument allows few errors.
I pine so for the joys of fabrication that I wind up watching television in the evenings. I’m not a fan of network reality shows or dramas that chiefly feature autopsies, but I do find myself watching shows about home repair, auto and motorcycle customization, or the installation of a stereo system into some NBA player’s Escalade; anything that requires a craftsman to match something already manufactured with something sometimes terribly new.
Part of my pining, too, is that I know I have the body from a 1972 Stratocaster sitting in the workshop. [For those who have lived outside of the demi-monde, a Stratocaster is a famous guitar made by the Fender Company. Whenever you see some rock star capering about on stage, it’s generally a Strat that he’s abusing.] Once upon a time, that guitar was its company’s featured product, coveted both by professional musicians and thirteen-year-olds.
By the time it came into my possession, after being found in a dumpster by an acquaintance, it was as neglected an instrument as I’ve ever seen. In fact, every piece of it was useless except for its body that, although scratched, dented, and stained, was still of a quality in material and fabrication that can’t be easily duplicated these days. All it needs is to be carefully refinished and restored, matched with contemporary parts and then surrendered to someone who will take better care of it than did its original owner.
It is a wonderful moment to see someone, especially a young person, bring life to an instrument that was, a few months before, regarded as nothing more than refuse. As the union of old art and new parts, it will make music again. Rather like our shared life of faith, which is also a combination of older arts and newer hands, it has the potential for intentions as sweetly offered as music.
This may be the reason that, of late, we have such an interest in re-discovering the traditional elements of our faith and liturgies, so that they don’t end up in some form of spiritual dumpster; abused, neglected and discarded. Whether it is that highlighted through new discoveries in Biblical archaeology, prayer themes from our Celtic roots, or the Hebrew foundation of our liturgy, our worship works best when the congregation is as informed as it may be about the history and nature of faith.
This is something that I want us to capture in our new Thursday evening adult forum. While it could be called “Bible study”, this is not going to be limited to a prosaic interpretation of one spare verse of scripture, but a view of the Bible in the context of our entire tradition and our individual lives. If one wishes to know more about the Episcopal Church, Celtic spirituality, archaeological evidence of Biblical events and places, the personalities that have delivered the faith to all of the world’s cultures, then Thursday evenings at 6:30pm would be a likely platform for discovery.
As Jesus used the rabbi’s traditional call to gather his contemporary students, perhaps together we can find ways to blend the traditional with the contemporary to produce and promote new ways of looking at our lives in the context of our faith and the covenant we share with one another and God.
I pine so for the joys of fabrication that I wind up watching television in the evenings. I’m not a fan of network reality shows or dramas that chiefly feature autopsies, but I do find myself watching shows about home repair, auto and motorcycle customization, or the installation of a stereo system into some NBA player’s Escalade; anything that requires a craftsman to match something already manufactured with something sometimes terribly new.
Part of my pining, too, is that I know I have the body from a 1972 Stratocaster sitting in the workshop. [For those who have lived outside of the demi-monde, a Stratocaster is a famous guitar made by the Fender Company. Whenever you see some rock star capering about on stage, it’s generally a Strat that he’s abusing.] Once upon a time, that guitar was its company’s featured product, coveted both by professional musicians and thirteen-year-olds.
By the time it came into my possession, after being found in a dumpster by an acquaintance, it was as neglected an instrument as I’ve ever seen. In fact, every piece of it was useless except for its body that, although scratched, dented, and stained, was still of a quality in material and fabrication that can’t be easily duplicated these days. All it needs is to be carefully refinished and restored, matched with contemporary parts and then surrendered to someone who will take better care of it than did its original owner.
It is a wonderful moment to see someone, especially a young person, bring life to an instrument that was, a few months before, regarded as nothing more than refuse. As the union of old art and new parts, it will make music again. Rather like our shared life of faith, which is also a combination of older arts and newer hands, it has the potential for intentions as sweetly offered as music.
This may be the reason that, of late, we have such an interest in re-discovering the traditional elements of our faith and liturgies, so that they don’t end up in some form of spiritual dumpster; abused, neglected and discarded. Whether it is that highlighted through new discoveries in Biblical archaeology, prayer themes from our Celtic roots, or the Hebrew foundation of our liturgy, our worship works best when the congregation is as informed as it may be about the history and nature of faith.
This is something that I want us to capture in our new Thursday evening adult forum. While it could be called “Bible study”, this is not going to be limited to a prosaic interpretation of one spare verse of scripture, but a view of the Bible in the context of our entire tradition and our individual lives. If one wishes to know more about the Episcopal Church, Celtic spirituality, archaeological evidence of Biblical events and places, the personalities that have delivered the faith to all of the world’s cultures, then Thursday evenings at 6:30pm would be a likely platform for discovery.
As Jesus used the rabbi’s traditional call to gather his contemporary students, perhaps together we can find ways to blend the traditional with the contemporary to produce and promote new ways of looking at our lives in the context of our faith and the covenant we share with one another and God.
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