Spring 2017
Spring 2017, azaleas are blooming and redbud, seems always first in Tallahassee, which we saw last weekend, then begins catching up in PC and spreading throughout town. Several years ago Linda and our neighbor Bill took cuttings from the faintly sweet fragrant pink azaleas in our yard, antiquities that Anderson and I first planted in our yard in the Cove in the late 1940s, that my mother transplanted with the 1963 move from Massalina Bayou to The Old Homestead. The cuttings thrived and we have two healthy plants in pots on 7H porch.
Good blossoms last spring, one plant already popping into bloom now, just beyond my chair. As some few other things, these azaleas are part of my being.
Joe is to arrive Tuesday, TJCC here next weekend, Joe returns to W-C, NC Monday week. He’s to drive down in his new, red Volvo S-60 that we’ve not seen.
Watched the partial eclipse of the Snow Moon last evening. Got up at three o’clock to check out the comet, but by then the moon was totally full again. Lighting up the sky so shimmering bright that nothing else was viewable. But apparently the comet will be available nightly through February.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/sciencefair/2017/02/07/penumbral-lunar-eclipse-snow-moon-comet/97593778/
BCP Collect for tomorrow:
God, the strength of all who put their trust in you: Mercifully accept our prayers; and because in our weakness we can do nothing good without you, give us the help of your grace, that in keeping your commandments we may please you both in will and deed; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Tomorrow’s Gospel Matthew 5:21-37
21“You have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, ‘You shall not murder’; and ‘whoever murders shall be liable to judgment.’ 22But I say to you that if you are angry with a brother or sister, you will be liable to judgment; and if you insult a brother or sister, you will be liable to the council; and if you say, ‘You fool,’ you will be liable to the hell of fire. 23So when you are offering your gift at the altar, if you remember that your brother or sister has something against you, 24leave your gift there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother or sister, and then come and offer your gift.
25Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you are on the way to court with him, or your accuser may hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you will be thrown into prison. 26Truly I tell you, you will never get out until you have paid the last penny.
27“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ 28But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
29If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away; it is better for you to lose one of your members than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. 30And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away; it is better for you to lose one of your members than for your whole body to go into hell.
31“It was also said, ‘Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.’ 32But I say to you that anyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of unchastity, causes her to commit adultery; and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.
33“Again, you have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, ‘You shall not swear falsely, but carry out the vows you have made to the Lord.’ 34But I say to you, Do not swear at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, 35or by the earth, for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. 36And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. 37Let your word be ‘Yes, Yes’ or ‘No, No’; anything more than this comes from the evil one.
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The gospel, part of Matthew’s presentation of the Sermon on the Mount, is rather harsh. I’m on sabbatical but were I preaching tomorrow I might point out that the Speaker is speaking to you, that the injunctions are addressed to you, cautioning you to mind yourself, they do not instruct you to police your brother or neighbor, as is our want. So mind your own business, mind the beam in your own eye not the speck in your neighbor’s eye, judge not lest ye be judged, in other words tend to your own sins; and as for the sins of neighbor and brother, mind your own business.
Collect for Epiphany 6 (MT 5:21-37)
Source: Prayers for an Inclusive Church, TEC
Living One,
in whose freedom
creation was born as gift:
Free us from the need
to possess, define and silence others
that we might rejoice
in the strangeness of your beauty
revealed in flesh and blood;
through Jesus Christ, our reconciliation.
Amen.
1935 English Ford
thanks, Norm!