All Saints Day

 

One of the things I appreciate in being with Linda these seventy-one years is that she tolerates Pigpen as a housemate. She does, I don't really notice it, but around my mini-office here at my bayside window in the living room, things accumulate. It looks like someone used to live here and this was their war room. The immediate space reminds me of a favorite professor's office at Virginia seminary. Every flat surface covered and piled high, but he always knew where everything was. 

I should work more at my office in the church office building, but moved away from that in the work culture shift brought on by covid. However, the space has been nicely renovated, just recently completed after Hurricane Michael - - these things take Time. Starting last Monday morning, I'm thinking to get back to that, to be in the office a morning or so each week, both to resume some normalcy of work habits and in case anyone wants to visit or confer. I dunno, that will require commitment. We'll see. If I can get it reestablished, I'll put a note in the Sunday bulletin and monthly newsletter. 

My study office den here at 7H is nice, with a great vista over downtown St Andrews; but the room gets the first blast of air from the HVAC system, and frankly is too cold for me summer or winter. We have it set up "dually" with a hide-a-bed for when Joe comes to visit, but I expect he's cold too even with the electric blanket.

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All Saints Day. "All Saints Day may always be observed on the Sunday following November 1," says the BCP, so that's what we're doing. My turn in the pulpit, and I'm whittling it down to everything I know in nine minutes or less. Some will wonder how I can stretch everything I know out to nine minutes, but I'm not going to let that be my problem, eh?

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Sadness: war. For some reason, the horrors of the Israel-Hamas war seem more personal to me than the equal and worse Russian atrocities against the people of Ukraine, a war that might have been averted with more deliberate diplomacy and work toward mutual appreciation. All people have value - - even if people who are oppressed have more value than their oppressors, all people have value. And war that is conducted in rage instead of wisdom will prove to have been ineffective in the long run. 

In biblical wisdom literature, Wisdom is compared and contrasted with Folly, both of them personalized. Wisdom v Folly. 

While understandable in view of October 7, Israel's total war on Gaza will not prove the Wisdom of Israel. They are not destined for victory, they are building on hatred.

But, as with our wars in Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq, humans do not learn, we only react. There was a Time when I thought the grandmothers should be put in charge, but I'm not even there anymore, so I'm simply watching.

T88&c