Sunset from 7H last evening, generally it takes clouds to make spectacular sunrises and sunsets. There's a proverb about life there, maybe a sermon, even a funeral homily, eh? How would life be without clouds? My mother died a Sunday morning in July 2011: that evening we drove out along the Bay, stopped over just north of Hathaway Bridge, and I got a memorable picture looking west across the Bay at sunset. Leaving me there to contemplate her life with sunny times, some clouds. Maybe there are more clouds at the end, eh? IDK. Musing, thinking, remembering. I didn't intend to go there, but the sunset across the Bay brought it back. Es tut mir leid. Here's the gospel for the upcoming Sunday: Matthew 21:33-46 Jesus said, “Listen to another parable. There was a landowner who planted a vineyard, put a fence around it, dug a wine press in it, and built a watchtower. Then he leased it to tenants and went to another country. When the harvest time had come, he sent his slaves to th...

Rain now. Fog early, sitting low over the Bay, eerie and beautiful, the word might be haunting, that I should have but failed to get a picture and now cannot adequately describe. Our psalm for next Sunday, Psalm 19, Caeli enarrant, hints though, and  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yTYJm5Ae0Xo the Mormon Tabernacle Choir grandly singing tells it all. Who has lived on StAndrewsBay realizes, has seen and knows that creation's beauty is not only in a grand sunrise or sunset, but as well in the ominous clouds of a gathering storm.  Perspective shows up though: these are of Hurricane Michael turning ominously at sea two years ago. One might exclaim rhetorically Did you ever see anything so beautiful! The Collect Almighty and everlasting God, you are always more ready to hear than we to pray, and to give more than we either desire or deserve: Pour upon us the abundance of your mercy, forgiving us those things of which our conscience is afraid, and giving us those good thi...

  The Gospel  Matthew 21:23-32 When Jesus entered the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to him as he was teaching, and said, “By what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?” Jesus said to them, “I will also ask you one question; if you tell me the answer, then I will also tell you by what authority I do these things. Did the baptism of John come from heaven, or was it of human origin?” And they argued with one another, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say to us, ‘Why then did you not believe him?’ But if we say, ‘Of human origin,’ we are afraid of the crowd; for all regard John as a prophet.” So they answered Jesus, “We do not know.” And he said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things. “What do you think? A man had two sons; he went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work in the vineyard today.’ He answered, ‘I will not’; but later he changed his mind and went. The father went to t...

  We have 70°F this morning, maybe 69°F. Sky gray overcast with a lovely cloud cover, fresh morning and a little salty. It's clear that fall has arrived, autumn in the air but not coloring the trees. See, it's our Florida Gulf Coast autumn, without the chill, crisp smell I recall from other adventures and places in life, that in a different age and my younger days carried a hint that someone was burning leaves. As well as Northern Virginia, I've lived in Rhode Island, Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania and enjoyed their fall colors; but with delightful springtime, fair summers and these magnificent autumn days come their winters, and I pass.  A principal winter memory: waking up in the wee dark hours to the scrape of a snowplow totally covering my car that's parked at the curb. I'll have to root through several cars in the lumpy mound to find mine, dig it out, pour hot water on the door lock to unfreeze it, start the car and let the defroster blow on the windshield whi...

  Wildfires, election campaign, hurricanes, protests & riots. Covid19 pandemic with 200K US deaths and Dr Fauci saying two things he absolutely will not do: neither take an airline flight nor eat in a restaurant. Unnecessary risk. How do we deal with covid19? We change the channel. We grow bored with it. We tire of precautions. We claim our rights. We settle into it as New Normal. We silt back into life as we liked it. We accept death by covid as a statistic. Stalin said, If One dies it's a tragedy, if a Million die it's a statistic. Statistics are impersonal numbers: death by flu, cancer, car crash, plane crash, meteorite, lightning strike, train wreck, accidental shooting, chocolate, poisoning, hunting accident, mugging, shark attack, coronavirus, home invasion, drowning, hit by a fly ball, tetanus, hit and run, falling, terrorism, choking, spider bite, house fire, war, pneumonia, murder, hurricane, heart attack, drive by shooting, stroke, alligator attack, suicide, snake...

  A gray morning at the edge of the fall equinox, which cosmologically begins autumn tomorrow. We had a fair summer, not abominably hot, but hurricane season continues to hang ominously. What I hear out there that mimics Bay waves lapping against the shore is wind NE 12 MPH in the trees and sea grass. That and two USAF jets thundering around and around. The pair come close, over the Gulf just off 7H and roar into the distance, their sound fading to zero, and return. I wonder how much air space they need for their exercises.  Here are the Propers for next Sunday, 27 Sep. Read the Collect's theological assertion and think for yourself: in your experience does God's power seem almighty? Is power that's shown in mercy and pity power at all? If it's power, is it lovingkindness, is it patience, is it restraint?  How in your experience  does God show his/her presence?  What do you think the Collect means by God's "heavenly treasure"?  Good readings this week. Rea...

  "Welcome, happy morning!" age to age shall say  is my favorite Easter hymn, indeed along with "Holy! Holy! Holy!" is a favorite hymn to open any Sunday morning year round. In my parishes long ago in human time, we might have sung it loud and lively at any odd time of the church year. Ice cream is not just for breakfast and "Welcome, happy morning!" is not just for Easter. Sunday morning is my day to wrap up "text week" with a Sunday School lesson of some sort or other on one or more of the lectionary Propers for the day. It'll be short today because yesterday I got wound up like a spring-wound toy and let myself run down and didn't stop until I'd said my piece. Which was about my need to explore things that leave a question mark over my head instead of backing off and not going there. As an Episcopal priest am I bound to embrace, teach and preach church doctrine regardless, or may I question, is there leeway for discussion, and does...

  Just as my Interlude started, a trusted longtime (1971) Navy colleague who surpasses me in wisdom on all things and in knowledge on some things, suggested that as I'm already in the habit, even if not writing for others, I continue writing for myself. So, I've been doing some of that. Comes to mind on summer's late Saturday morning out here on 7H porch as, sipping a second mug of black coffee, I read and think and nibble my way through breakfast: TJ's thick chicken liver paté and thin butter patties on sliced-it-myself extra heavy whole wheat and grains bread. Look, even during covid19 an elderly man must live and eat and have his Being.* Folks have derided my tastes as uncommon, the homiletics professor at seminary writing "You have an eccentric preaching style, but it seems to work for you". My food preferences have been castigated as yucky, for breakfast raw oysters with pepper vinegar, chicken liver paté anytime, sushi, anchovy fillets from tin or jar to...