149  Cantate Domino 1 Hallelujah! Sing to the LORD a new song; *     sing his praise in the congregation of the faithful. 2 Let Israel rejoice in his Maker; *     let the children of Zion be joyful in their King. 3 Let them praise his Name in the dance; *     let them sing praise to him with timbrel and harp. 4 For the LORD takes pleasure in his people *     and adorns the poor with victory. 5 Let the faithful rejoice in triumph; *     let them be joyful on their beds. 6 Let the praises of God be in their throat *     and a two-edged sword in their hand; 7 To wreak vengeance on the nations *     and punishment on the peoples; 8 To bind their kings in chains *     and their nobles with links of iron; 9 To inflict on them the judgment decreed; *     this is glory for all his faithful people.     Hallelujah! This is our psalm for this coming Sunday, Psalm 149. It’s invariably good news when the psalm number is higher than 145, be

Red ribbon in the typewriter and no time to change it this morning. No matter, this can be brief.  Knowing my obsession with cars, my brother and sister each forwarded to me an email  about a Pontiac that General Motors built for the 1939-1940 World’s Fair in New York. It was eye-catching and an enormous hit at the GM display because the “skin,” the covering that normally would be steel, was a brand new material, Plexiglass.  The email is titled “1939 Pontiac Ghost Car commands $308,000 at auction,” and has an article about the car and several revealing photographs inside and outside. Along with gratitude at my siblings' thoughtfulness, my second thought was fascination. Car bodies are routinely plastic, fiberglass nowadays, but not seventy years ago. My first sight of a car with a plastic body was Spring 1954 at a GM technology show on the University of Florida campus. It was a 1954 Corvette. Today both of our GM cars make extensive use of fiberglass in the body.  My first though

“Forgive but don’t forget” may sometimes be trite, maudlin, pious nonsense, even offensive.  At http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bitburg is an account of the debacle surrounding President Ronald Reagan’s 1985 visit to the German military Kolmeshohe Cemetery near Bitburg, Germany. Intended by the President and the German Chancellor as a gesture of healing between bitter, deadly foes forty years after World War II, the visit created an uproar of protest because of 32 rows of headstones, 49 members of Hitler’s Waffen SS were buried there. The SS were central in the Holocaust in which more than six million Jews and other innocent human beings were systematically murdered by the Nazis. Many, many people and groups, including Jewish groups, protested the visit. The Wikipedia article describes the event fairly objectively. At the time, an Episcopal priest who was a friend of mine preached a sermon in which he asserted about the Holocaust that after forty years it was time to forgive and forget.

Nothing profound to say about Hurricane Irene. TV weather people standing ankle deep, leaning into the wind as Atlantic surf washes lightly around them. No longer an “M” on the National Hurricane Center map, it’s a one , not a four , three , or even two . At 75 MPH this morning a minimal “H” and perhaps an “S” before day is done. Will there be a Cantore Story? In his blue slicker, is that real or is he standing in front of a fan while a crewman sprays a hose?  Relief or disappointment when news doesn’t turn out as bad as media frenzy hyped?  Show of hands: who would evacuate PC or PCB for a Cat 1 storm? Hold up your hand. New York City is prepared. A tornado warning was up for Queens this morning, so it’s not nothing, definitely not nothing. PACKING A PUNCH says the PC News-Herald front page headline this morning. Three million without power, several people killed. No hurricane is a nothing, and Irene has been a monster. Sunday morning, 78 F. and not even a breeze in 32401. Read the c

Psalm 105:1-6, 23-26, 45c (BCP)      1 Give thanks to the LORD and call upon his Name; *    make known his deeds among the peoples. 2 Sing to him, sing praises to him, *     and speak of all his marvelous works. 3 Glory in his holy Name; *     let the hearts of those who seek the LORD rejoice. 4 Search for the LORD and his strength; *     continually seek his face. 5 Remember the marvels he has done, *     his wonders and the judgments of his mouth, 6 O offspring of Abraham his servant, *     O children of Jacob his chosen. 23 Israel came into Egypt, *     and Jacob became a sojourner in the land of Ham. 24 The LORD made his people exceedingly fruitful; *     he made them stronger than their enemies; 25 Whose heart he turned, so that they hated his people, *     and dealt unjustly with his servants. 26 He sent Moses his servant, *     and Aaron whom he had chosen. 45c Hallelujah! Th

Last Friday we drove up to the Atlanta area to see Kristen off to her freshman year at college. We stayed over the weekend, then returned home via Callaway Gardens in Pine Mountain, Georgia, spending a night at one of their inns.  The previous week must have been jammed with tourists and visitors; but with school just starting the fall session, we were practically alone, both at the inn and visiting various attractions, the butterfly center, the horticulture center, the country store, the chapel. Sunday afternoon in the chapel, there was an hour long concert of hymns and other music on the Moller organ, which we thoroughly enjoyed and counted as our worship for the Lord’s Day. In the butterfly center we saw butterflies of all sizes and shapes, brilliant colors, including a large blue one we didn’t know existed, beautiful. The butterflies flit comfortably among the visitors. No cameraman, I tried unsuccessfully to snap the Blue Morpho as it flew around me, then again as it sat feasting

Proper 17     The Sunday closest to August 31 Lord of all power and might, who art the author and giver of all good things: Graft in our hearts the love of thy Name; increase in us true religion; nourish us with all goodness; and bring forth in us the fruit of good works; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. This ancient collect of the day for next Sunday dates in Latin from 7th and 8th century Gelasian and Gregorian Sacramentaries (books for celebrating the Mass) and the 11th century Sarum Rite. In his book Commentary on the American Prayer Book (Seabury, 1980), Professor Marion Hatchett aptly describes it as a metaphor of the farmer or gardener. The fruit of good works is brought forth by the grace of God who plants, nourishes, and continues to care. TW+

Romans 12 I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, * by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual * worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this world, * but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect. * 3  For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of yourself more highly than you ought to think, but to think with sober judgement, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. 4 For as in one body we have many members, and not all the members have the same function, 5 so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are members one of another. 6 We have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us: prophecy, in proportion to faith; 7 ministry, in ministering; the teacher, in teaching; 8 the exhorter, in exhortation; the giver, in generosity; the lead

Exodus 3:1-15 Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian; he led his flock beyond the wilderness, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. 2 There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of a bush; he looked, and the bush was blazing, yet it was not consumed. 3 Then Moses said, ‘I must turn aside and look at this great sight, and see why the bush is not burned up.’ 4 When the Lord saw that he had turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, ‘Moses, Moses!’ And he said, ‘Here I am.’ 5 Then he said, ‘Come no closer! Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.’ 6 He said further, ‘I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God. 7  Then the Lord said, ‘I have observed the misery of my people who are in Egypt; I have heard their cry on account of their taskmasters. Indeed, I know

A child is someone who passes through your life on the way to becoming an adult. This weekend we escorted Kristen to her college, told her we love her, hugged and kissed her goodbye.  Hanging on in my mind is her exclamation the day she started elementary school at HNES. Papa! I can’t believe I’m a grader! The years are long for the child. For a doting parent, the years are gone in a flash. Kristen! I can’t believe you’re in college! Having passed through, this is the actual becoming . Fifty-eight years ago my parents drove me to Gainesville and helped me move into my dorm. Later that week my father wrote me that my mother had cried all the way home. She knew: I had only been passing through and it was all over. After that, my times at home were never the same as before. Thanksgiving weekend, Christmas holidays, and summer vacations were uneasy, even strained, because I was no longer willing to be under parental control. I had only been passing through, and had become an adult. Kriste

Psalm 124 (The Message)   1-5 If God hadn't been for us —all together now, Israel, sing out!—     If God hadn't been for us        when everyone went against us,     We would have been swallowed alive        by their violent anger,     Swept away by the flood of rage,        drowned in the torrent;     We would have lost our lives        in the wild, raging water.    6 Oh, blessed be God!        He didn't go off and leave us.     He didn't abandon us defenseless,        helpless as a rabbit in a pack of snarling dogs.    7 We've flown free from their fangs,        free of their traps, free as a bird.     Their grip is broken;        we're free as a bird in flight.    8 God's strong name is our help,        the same God who made heaven and earth. Psalm 124 is today’s response to the Old Testament reading for today, which is Exodus 1:8-2:10.  More than four hundred years have passed (Exodus 12:40), Joseph is long dead and forgotten in Egypt and the Israel