I confess to Almighty God, to his Church, and to you, that I have sinned by my own fault in thought, word, and deed, in things done and left undone; especially __________.  For these and all other sins which I cannot now remember, I am truly sorry.  I pray God to have mercy on me.  I firmly intend amendment of life, and I humbly beg forgiveness of God and his Church, and ask you for counsel, direction, and absolution. Here the Priest may offer counsel, direction, and comfort. The Priest then pronounces this absolution Our Lord Jesus Christ, who has left power to his Church to absolve all sinners who truly repent and believe in him, of his great mercy forgive you all your offenses; and by his authority committed to me, I absolve you from all your sins: In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen. The United Nations designated last Friday, January 27, anniversary of the 1945 liberation of Ausc...

Now okay, so whilst (nice twist on our American word while) one may be nonplussed by the new denizens, who can truly be surprised, they’re only doing what The WH Man promised, though with speed we’re unaccustomed to coming out of government, shoot from the hip instead of studying to death before never getting round to action. I’m not that ongoingly trivial and nitpickety as make an issue of the WH Holocaust statement for addressing all victims without saying Jews.  Some folks are disappointed to get up in the morning and find nothing to be offended about, so root round and find something, I’m not there. And though Shoah was against the Jews, millions of others also were in fact murdered, and not by Germans alone persecuting, but also by Poles, Russians, European antisemitism then, and now rising again; and anamnesis our American slave era still winding down, we WASP Americans against African-Amereicans, Catholics, yes Jews, Irish,  Indians, Latins, currently all those p...

Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free. Inside 99/58 pulse 62, outside 45° and clear, late January winter morning on the Florida Gulf coast. Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free. Boeing 747 cargo plane crashes in village in Kyrgyzstan, dozens killed. Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free. Shooting at a mosque in Quebec City, six murdered more injured. Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free. Yesterday finished reading Laurus , recently translated into English, a contemporary Russian novel situated in the 15th century about a christische figure from before birth, throughout life, to after death, the holy fool I meant to contemplate during sabbatical, so modeled after Jesus as to be slightly beyond credible, healing powers, high priestly prayer subtly slipped in, life of humility unto self-abasement. Give me your tired, your poor,...

Collect for the Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany Almighty and everlasting God, you govern all things both in heaven and on earth: Mercifully hear the supplications of your people, and in our time grant us your peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. Scripture, Tradition and Reason. Lex Orandi Lex Credendi . What do Anglicans, we Episcopalians, believe? Come worship with us and see: our theology may be found in what we do and say and sing and pray when we gather for common prayer, public worship. But clinging as we do to Tradition, the creeds, doctrines, prayers and in some measure hymns — words, the poems — of our Christian ages, allows our theology, unless we are constantly mindful of it, to sink into quaint irrelevance like a city built on marshland. It isn’t as though these things are ignored, but it is as though they move glacially while the world around spins and darts off into space with...

This morning, 44° one square of chocolate Lindt 70% and a mug of Community special roast whole bean bought in Louisiana because their odd coffees are regional, not available here, also a Keurig cup Community with chicory. With coffee Bubba likes to experiment. Lectionary for Epiphany4A is splendid, yuuge, I don’t know how whoever is preaching can choose from among  • Micah 6:1-8 • Psalm 15 • 1 Corinthians 1:18-31 • Matthew 5:1-12 so I’ll copy and paste the whole shootin’ match below except that the English translations from Hebrew and NTGreek matter to me, I prefer what KJV my mother taught and had me commit to memory as a boy.  I’ll always appreciate having drawn the long straw to be oldest &c ho anaginowskown noeito, in part because with the oldest the parents have, certainly in my case had, more time and patience for rearing effort that doesn’t necessarily happen later on and down the line. That is to say, unless there are gaps and more onlies. I h...

47°F and 67%, wind 8mph but still on 7H porch so must be a north wind. Monday morning early was dreadful along the Bay, so windy we had to head inland where just a block off the open water the houses and trees cut the fierce wind. Even so, just a few blocks along the bayshore so took the breath away that walking continued difficult and a relief to see the car parked by Holy Pavilion. Walking mornings regardless, Monday Friday in the Cove, TuWThSaSu here in StAndrews.  Robert and I are starting later today, Friday is breakfast morning and a bit later start will give us more restaurant options than the Bayou cafes Massalina and Johnson, though enjoy both, want a change. Maybe icy cold glass of milk at Golden Corral?  Laurus at between 2/3 and 3/4 the Holy Fool interrupted yesterday by arrival in the mail of can’t-put-down The Sunflower . What's bothering, stirring? IDK at 81, + Time demands at least a moderately new direction of some sort for DThos+ and sabbatical...

We left the barbecue outside on the grill, is what’s bothering me, and Happy got into it. I hollered at him, and clapped my hands, but he paid me no mind, jumped up and got into it anyway. I had to rush out and pull him out of it. Linda had covered it with aluminum foil, but it should've been brought inside to the refrigerator. As I was squatting down patting and hugging him I realized he was pure collie, not like our real shepherd-collie mix Happy, yet the same Happy anyway. He must’ve been in my dream because I liked Walt’s collie named Happy so much when I was there a few weeks ago. 69°F 90% and a line of rain just now coming through with a cold front to lower the temperature about ten degrees. We’ll see. Why that dream, I wonder. Maybe because sleeping on my right side for, I guess, hours, was crushing my weight down on my right shoulder quite painfully. That and old Father Nature’s annoyance he was ignored all night long. But eight-thirty to four-thirty, not a bad sleep...

Standing and looking out either direction, north or south, from where I live and sit it’s safe up here. Same looking east or west as I face south; up too, vertical, except as drones buzz round. Doesn’t feel so, though, arriving home from Pensacola last evening, the gates were down, WTFO, not that gates are security but the feel. The sometime sunset security guard doesn’t do it, the feel. What’s going on? The Kaiser-Frazer  dealership is gone, pulled down, the old art deco building in Little Dothan, with curved corners and round window, I’m becoming the past. The Hudson dealership on W. 6th Street is long gone,  I can’t even tell where it was anymore, and the Crosley store  same vicinity. Now the Nash store, gone, the building pulled down, leaving BayMed crossing MLK you wait till traffic clears both directions then straight across heading west on 6th Street past Walgreens and down the grade to the end at Hamilton Avenue, there’s the buildin...

+Time: 20110124, exactly six years ago at this early morning moment as family and friends look at each other in the outer waiting room, I am in a high wide corridor lying on a gurney under warm blankets watching hurried activity as my OR team prepares my space. Outside, the Cleveland winter is bitter cold, and this hallway quite chilly, but I am snug and warm, clutching my bottle of nitrostat. Not in the least nervous, perhaps because of pre-op sedative, I actually think I am alert. And I have my dreams ready.  Placing my ThriftBooks order for two cheap books a friend recommended for my sabbatical reading, I saw the shipping charge was like five bucks, more than twice the price of either used book, but noticed a flag saying if I spent another three bucks, shipping was free. That must be the new math, so I browsed the religious section even though I’m neither spiritual nor, and came upon The Sunflower: On the Possibilities and Limits of Forgiveness . A hero’s name, Simon W...