The Collect Grant us, O Lord, to trust in you with all our hearts; for, as you always resist the proud who confide in their own strength, so you never forsake those who make their boast of your mercy; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. Old Testament   Exodus 12:1-14     יְהוָה֙  The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt: This month shall mark for you the beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year for you. Tell the whole congregation of Israel that on the tenth of this month they are to take a lamb for each family, a lamb for each household. If a household is too small for a whole lamb, it shall join its closest neighbor in obtaining one; the lamb shall be divided in proportion to the number of people who eat of it.       Your lamb shall be without blemish, a year-old male; you may take it from the sheep or from the goats. You shall ...

  Good morning! This is our Old Testament reading for today. Enjoy! It's an all time favorite, and I have some comments.  Exodus 3:1-15. Moses & the Burning Bush 3:1 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 lo...

  Don't know how you spent last evening, I watched HLaura live on television until two o'clock this morning, watched the eye swirl ashore, hoping for all those folks and their animals and property. Saw farm anmals, cattle in low-lying pastures ahead of the storm, hoping they're okay this morning.  Hoping too that we aren't living into climate-change-natural shifts in the ferocity of hurricanes from here on out? HMIchael was a surprise indication, then last year HDorian hovering over the Bahamas. We've known Category 3 as a tolerable norm, but is this the way it's going to be, and worsening? What brings it on? Ocean temperatures? Melting polar ice? Next time I'm going to be a meteorologist. Maybe start working on it this time if covid19 continues keeping me shut in thinking up things to do? 55 years ago I read myself into an amateur astronomer, can I read myself into an amateur weatherperson? IDK.  As I sat watching, the announcer said the storm surge may go ...

  Let me make one thing perfectly clear: I never explain anything.  My favorite and adopted line from the Mary Poppins film that Linda, Malinda, Joe and I saw at a theater in Tokyo in 1964 or 1965. Wednesday breakfast. All my breakfasts are worth waiting for. Wednesday commitment to a bible visit, anon, anon, I'll get to it, maybe even scramble it in instead of separate. I'm saving John Prine's 1997 Coupe DeVille for a clear day of memories and longings. Well, it's clear out here on 7H porch,   bit hazy, 81 ° 92%. Wind E 9 mph, feels like 91°. The breeze on my walk was warm but pleasant and welcome. Clear weather here, while to the west of us they may be looking at a Category 4 hurricane before it's over.  But I mean clear of distractions. Soon. Maybe tomorrow? Jacob Blake and Black Lives Matter. Did you see his mother on television, and the picture of him with his children? It could be you, you know, if you weren't White. The only conscionable position in all t...

  Milwaukee bishop calls for ‘righteous anger’ after another shooting of a Black man by police https://www.episcopalnewsservice.org/2020/08/24/milwaukee-bishop-calls-for-righteous-anger-after-another-shooting-of-a-black-man-by-police/ One may wonder (I do) what might constitute "righteous anger" in today's America gone bizarre internally and rogue among the nations. Fires and rage, public property (city firetrucks) set ablaze while we watch on film. In a regional capital a fawning Gauleiter attempts to carry out the will of Dear Leader but is bucked by a local school board who are upheld by a court. Meanwhile, unmasked, Shame regroups to continue.  ὁ ἀναγινώσκων νοείτω Righteous anger is the explosive release of pent up resentment in the storming, raging fury of  crowds  wreaking destruction as they protest evil and its symbols.  In the end the crowd either tires and goes home or is put down, evil is restored, and the crowd resumes its seething until next time. ...

This morning on Channel 13 we found out, from their Trivia Question, that the Florida State Pie is Key Lime. WTH? I'd have guessed lemon meringue, which was my grandfather's favorite. Now and then when Pop came over for dinner, Mama had made a lemon meringue pie for him, and it was always perfect. But key lime? When I was a boy nobody ever heard of key lime pie, we had lemon icebox pie, and it was made with lemons and egg yolk and condensed milk, and piled high with real whipped cream. But key lime pie, well, alrighty then But I'm gonna tell you: if a restaurant ever sets something green down in front of you as "key lime", know they're messing with you. Even this far north of the Florida Keys, we know that key lime pie is as yellow as lemon icebox pie. Okay, it's Monday, my commitment to publish the lectionary Propers for next Sunday, so my all time favorite red Coupe DeVille with white vinyl roof gets delayed at least another day. The Propers are below wi...

  Some days blah, some days we look out on spectacular sunsets. Some mornings we look out on a world without people, nothing stirring, not a car in sight - - as it would be if covid19 had its way?   A friend sent me a picture of what was one of my dream cars at the Time, a 1977 red with white vinyl top Coupe DeVille. John Prine was at the wheel, it was his, a recent acquisition he didn't live to long enjoy. I was going to blogpost with, the Cadillac not John, but it's Sunday and I promised a Sunday School lesson of some brief sort.  So then I'm looking at our Collect for the Day with maybe a different eye The Collect Grant, O merciful God, that your Church, being gathered together in unity by your Holy Spirit, may show forth your power among all peoples, to the glory of your Name; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. To show forth thy power? I don't think so. The church is not a military p...