One thing about a weblog instead of social media like FaceBook is that it’s not a forum, it’s just out there, take it or leave it and mostly it’s left. Cynicisms, personal religious aberrations, social oddities and political eccentricities can be said without encountering anonymous snark. A blog post is a wave in the ether. During the 2008 political campaign lots of extremist fringe material was passed around by email and my email address was on some lists. It'll start up again soon. Comments back and forth were always certitudinous, and often ugly, hateful, bizarre lunatic element, threatening, unnerving, alarming, even frightening. My response was back away, learn a lesson about exposing self to anonymous strangers. People who respond anonymously are like a driver well-mannered among friends and neighbors who behind the wheel honks insanely and finger salutes anyone who annoys. On line road-rage: e-rage. He who knows not and knows not he knows not, he is a fool: shun him. On my b...

Proper 26     The Sunday closest to November 2 Almighty and merciful God, it is only by your gift that your faithful people offer you true and laudable service: Grant that we may run without stumbling to obtain your heavenly promises; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. When thou goest, thy steps shall not be straitened; and when thou runnest, thou shalt not stumble. Proverbs 4:12 (KJV). During our “Harry Potter Year” at Holy Nativity Episcopal School we had a family who did not want their child exposed to the witches and wizards. Rather than have one student sent to the library during Religion & Ethics classes, we decided to offer an elective Senior Bible Seminar open to eighth graders only, and in addition to regular religion class. I had wanted and intended to limit it to six students, eight max, but half the senior class signed up, making it somewhat unwieldy for a round-table semi...

Scott Olsen & Mohamed Bouazizi Trinity Wall Street & St. Paul’s Chapel St. Paul’s London v. the Bishop of Buckingham Giles Fraser, Fraser Dyer, Alan Wilson Amendment 1 - Freedom of Religion, Press, Expression. Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. At last the truth can be told. Arab Spring sets the stage for vivid contrast showing that, unlike oppressive lands of the Middle East, North Africa and elsewhere, Americans with OWS grievances against the established order can assemble and demonstrate without being brutalized by repressive government.  Right. Tomorrow’s gospel, Matthew 23:1-12 is about walking the talk. And where is God’s Church? At last the truth can be seen In the News.  OWS TW+

My father used to tell me that as a boy he walked seven miles to school, seems to me it included barefoot in the snow. He exaggerated a bit: it’s exactly one mile from my house, where he lived as a boy, to St. Andrews School. Of course there’s no snow, but barefooted is credible to me, who shed shoes the first week of May each year and didn’t put them on again until Tuesday morning after Labor Day to head for school.  In his day St. Andrews School was a wooden building, two story, apparently, two classrooms up and two down. His brother Alfred would have gone there too, and likely sisters Evalyn and Ruth. Alfred did attend a private school in Anniston, Alabama for awhile, reportedly not his best experience. We have one of his textbooks here: he wrote his name inside the front cover, Alfred Daniel Weller, Jr. St. Andrews was dirt roads then, what roads there were, woods behind our house, my grandmother’s cow grazing free, ambling home at milking time. And there was a water tank for t...

Joshua 3:7-17 The Message (MSG)   7-8 God said to Joshua, "This very day I will begin to make you great in the eyes of all Israel. They'll see for themselves that I'm with you in the same way that I was with Moses. You will command the priests who are carrying the Chest of the Covenant: 'When you come to the edge of the Jordan's waters, stand there on the river bank.'"   9-13 Then Joshua addressed the People of Israel: "Attention! Listen to what God, your God, has to say. This is how you'll know that God is alive among you—he will completely dispossess before you the Canaanites, Hittites, Hivites, Perizzites, Girgashites, Amorites, and Jebusites. Look at what's before you: the Chest of the Covenant. Think of it—the Master of the entire earth is crossing the Jordan as you watch. Now take twelve men from the tribes of Israel, one man from each tribe. When the soles of the feet of the priests carrying the Chest of God, Master of all the earth, ...

A spoof is unconditionally a good thing, all things religious deserve a spoof, everything political deserves a spoof. Otherwise we think we are it and we are not. Even though R-Rateable, the recent spoofs parodying Hitler on YouTube were outlandishly imaginative and funny.    Though the Occupy Wall Street movement won’t last long because it seems to be noise without mind and voice, it’s a good thing because gross and growing economic inequality and consummate greed warrant protest. But also because it shows the world peaceful protest in free and democratic lands, over against the massacres that began peacefully as the Arab Spring. The church is aiding and abetting OWS but we shall see what governments do about the demonstrations -- most likely nothing because the crowd went home for lunch.  It was a criminal outrage and is excruciatingly painful to remember, shouldn’t be necessary even to mention our own Kent State Massacre and those fairly peaceable but reasonable and...

Arising early is my good way to start the day. On a scale of good better best , it might be better if the bladder weren’t so insistent, persistent and regular in watching the clock; but having its own alarm, it lights up inevitably within a quarter hour of three o’clock in the morning. Up, back to the warm, snug bed for a futile effort to keep the mind blank and drift back off. Never happens.   Up happily, glide as quietly downstairs as a creaky hundred year old staircase permits. This was my Uncle Alfred’s staircase, was it so creaky then? Check the WiFi relay. To the kitchen. Click on the coffee pot, grab a large mug, open the fridge, fill the mug a third full of 2% milk, into the microwave to heat for 77 seconds while the coffee pot warms.  Mug under the spigot, punch the middle button to grind 1 coffee and the right button to grind 2 small coffees. Fresh Market, Tallahassee or Destin, have the best local area selections of decaf whole bean. Cover the mug and head ...

One of the fun things to do in Bible study is interesting research. My personal library is fairly decent, but the computer and internet age makes it really fascinating and practically unlimited. The only limit is time, there are thousands, millions of things available and one can’t possibly read all of it. Furthermore, when there is one topic and seven scholars you end up with at least eight opinions or more, because nobody agrees with anybody on anything, much less everything. Preparing for Sunday School and for Tuesday morning Bible study is enjoyably demanding. Lots of research needs to be done, both for my own enlightenment and pleasure and also because the people who come are no dummies, they question and challenge.  Among my current favorites, very basic, useful and helpful, are the writings of Bart Ehrman, professor of religious studies at Chapel Hill, and the lectures of Dale Martin, professor of religious studies at Yale. Both are New Testament scholars. When studying Old ...

Sunday School! This morning’s plan is to pick up again with the little Red Book that General Convention has authorized for use in the Church, Enriching Our Worship. We have already looked at the three new Eucharistic Prayers in EOW , searching out the oblation , the anamnesis, the words of institution , and the epiclesis --  proving ourselves true Anglicans! Today we shall begin with the two new post-Communion prayers in EOW . Laying EOW aside then, let’s explore two of today’s readings from The Lectionary for Year A. The Deuteronomy 34 selection concludes our travels with Moses as he dies and is buried, a controversial story involving crime and punishment and the inscrutable mystery of God the Father. To close, time permitting, we’ll look into the Gospel reading from Matthew 22, in which Jesus confounds those who hate him and delights those who love him. God the Son also can be quite inscrutable! Sunday School, this morning, 9:15 in the Mary Stuart Poole Library. TW+   ...

Matthew 22:34-40 (KJV)   34 When the Pharisees had heard that he had put the Sadducees to silence, they were gathered together.   35 Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying,   36 Master, which is the great commandment in the law?   37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.   38 This is the first and great commandment.   39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.   40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. T he first half of our Gospel for tomorrow morning, these verses from Matthew are commonly called the Summary of the Law. In the first, Jesus is quoting Deuteronomy 6:5, “... thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.” In the second commandment he quotes from Leviticus 19:18, “... thou shalt love thy neighbor as thy...

19881221 103 at 31000 Justice and Vengeance collide or merge. 20111020 - yesterday in Sirte.  The brother  of a 103 victim said, “I’ve waited over twenty years  for this day.” With only memories, Nicole’s mother said, “My grief will be relieved when I’m no longer part of this world.”  Justice, allowed to be sweet, is not. Justice can be satisfying at best. Vengeance  is not allowed to be sweet in civilized society, only bittersweet. But as society is not civilized, may Vengeance be  Sweet? Mad Dog of the Middle East, begging for mercy,  shot by one of his own, with his own golden pistol? (a) Vengeance?  (b) Justice? (c) mercy? (d) Bittersweet? (d) Sweet? (e) All of the above? Blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy. http://www.necn.com/10/20/11/Mother-of-Pan-Am-Flight-103-victim-speak/landing_newengland.html?blockID=580548&feedID=4206 Arab Spring Summer and Fall. Winter, Spring, ... T 20111021

Tuesday morning Bible study has been going well. Eighteen or twenty folks signed up with the understanding that nobody could come every time and that there always would be several folks away. And that our studies would only be a week or two each so that no one who missed a session or two would feel left behind on returning. Participation has been steady at a dozen round the table, a perfect group. A long, drenching rainstorm this week did keep several more away. We have been looking at the work of Saint Paul, epistles of the New Testament. Three of them got us started, with two sessions each on Philippians and First Thessalonians , Paul’s loving letters, then Paul’s angry missile, Galatians . Great stuff. For this week we decided to have a look at a letter that internally says it’s from Paul but that many modern scholars say is almost incontestably pseudonymous, not by Paul: Ephesians . The writing style isn’t Paul’s usual. Considering what is known of Church history and the devel...

Sometimes waking comes slow. Sometimes the early morning thought choices are too much, too many. Trace caffeine in the decaf isn’t quite enough to stir the brain. The urge is to try just one cup, just one cup , just one cup of regular in the a.m.  Give it up, Self. Email first. Personal stuff. Shipment notification for Joe’s birthday gifts. Exchange with Kris about her religion course. NYT and Washington Post. Headlines. op-eds, debate. Anglican Communion News Service, “Occupy” protesters welcomed at St. Paul’s, London. Automotive News, new body plant at Sterling Heights for the next Chrysler Dodge midsize sedan on a Fiat chassis. myucomics, Doonesbury this morning. Online Vacation Deals. Lectionary A weblink. Psalm for Sunday is a favorite, a portion of Psalm 90 to respond to the OT Bible story of Moses’ death, poor fellow. Best read of it: The Message . Most interesting this morning. NYT op-ed. Yes, this blog avoids political, WTH tack it on anyway. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/1...

This morning Gilad Shalit was released by Hamas in exchange for more than a thousand Palestinian prisoners in Israeli custody. Many of the Palestinians being released were convicted of horrendous crimes, and it is understandable that families of Israelis whom they murdered or hurt are outraged that they are being freed. Vengeance and the wish, even need , to punish are normal human feelings, even divine feelings , that we hold as part of our godly image.  In our Bible story for this coming Sunday, God takes Moses to the top of the mountain and lets him look at the Promised Land, then Moses dies, biblically reported (Deut 32:51) because of his sin at Meribah. If it sounds like capital punishment, so be it, that's what it was. The Bible mandates the death penalty for many crimes, sins; but many of the released Palestinian prisoners owe their lives to the fact that capital punishment is generally illegal in Israel. From another viewpoint entirely, the value that Israel places on one o...

Deuteronomy 34:1-12 Common English Bible (CEB) Moses’ death   1 Then Moses hiked up from the Moabite plains to Mount Nebo, the peak of the Pisgah slope, which faces Jericho. The LORD showed him the whole land: the Gilead region as far as Dan’s territory; 2 all the parts belonging to Naphtali along with the land of Ephraim and Manasseh, as well as the entirety of Judah as far as the Mediterranean Sea; 3 also the arid southern plain, and the plain—including the Jericho Valley, Palm City—as far as Zoar.   4 Then the LORD said to Moses: “This is the land that I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob when I promised: ‘I will give it to your descendants.’ I have shown it to you with your own eyes; however, you will not cross over into it.”   5 Then Moses, the LORD’s servant, died—right there in the land of Moab, according to the LORD’s command. 6 The Lord buried him in a valley in Moabite country across from Beth-peor. Even now, no one knows where Moses’ grave is.   7 ...

Matthew 22:15-22 King James Version (KJV)   15 Then went the Pharisees, and took counsel how they might entangle him in his talk.   16 And they sent out unto him their disciples with the Herodians, saying, Master, we know that thou art true, and teachest the way of God in truth, neither carest thou for any man: for thou regardest not the person of men.   17 Tell us therefore, What thinkest thou? Is it lawful to give tribute unto Caesar, or not?   18 But Jesus perceived their wickedness, and said, Why tempt ye me, ye hypocrites?   19 Shew me the tribute money. And they brought unto him a penny.   20 And he saith unto them, Whose is this image and superscription?   21 They say unto him, Caesar's. Then saith he unto them, Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's; and unto God the things that are God's.   22 When they had heard these words, they marvelled, and left him, and went their way. Some will remember the attacks on his Roman ...

Seeing Patty  Glenna recently was diagnosed with two aneurysms and scheduled for corrective surgery that sounded horrendous. During procedures leading up to the surgery, she was found to require three coronary artery bypass grafts before the abdominal surgery could be done. Glenna’s attitude was bright, that she was ready for whatever might come. " And if I die," she told Joe, "it just means I’ll see Patty sooner." The open heart surgery at Kettering Hospital in Dayton went well. Stopping by Joe’s house in Winston-Salem enroute, Lauren drove to Dayton from Raleigh this week to take Glenna home from hospital and care for her as she recuperated and looked forward to the next surgery. Glenna went home Wednesday and had a pretty good day Thursday.  Joe called us Friday morning to say that Glenna died overnight. We are sad, for Glenna who was such a bright soul and who was dearly loved by family. For Lauren, who lost Patty her mother two and a half years ago and now will...

Green is not decaf. Thursday afternoon we had coffee and a bite of pumpkin nutbread -- not a habit, the coffee habit is morning only, but just a from time to time occasion. My coffee is always and invariably decaf anymore. My last cup of regular was after the post-surgery fibrillation event, when the surgeon told me to drink only decaf and even that not for a month. My usual lights out is about nine o’clock, but this morning at one o’clock the eyelids still wouldn’t  close. The light was on: Linda lying here reading a Diana Gabaldon novel.  Another light came on. The total  awake feeling was familiar, from of old. That afternoon cuppa was not my usual from my magic coffee machine, it was a Keurig cup.  "What color was the label?" "Green. Isn’t green decaf?" "No, orange is decaf, green is regular." Finally asleep at one-thirty, awake at seven-twenty. Labels signify.  TGIF. TW+   

1 Thessalonians 1:1-10  (Common English Bible) Greeting    1  From Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy.     To the Thessalonians’ church that is in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.     Grace and peace to all of you. Thanksgiving to God   2  We always thank God for all of you when we mention you constantly in our prayers.  3  This is because we remember your work that comes from faith, your effort that comes from love, and your perseverance that comes from hope in our Lord Jesus Christ in the presence of our God and Father.  4  Brothers and sisters, you are loved by God, and we know that he has chosen you.  5  We know this because our good news didn’t come to you just in speech but also with power and the Holy Spirit and with deep conviction. You know as well as we do what kind of people we were when we were with you, which was for your sake.  6  You became imitators of us and o...