Watching TV out of the corner of my eye, with mute on. On techbytes just now two or three Starbucks aps allow me to order coffee, charge my Starbucks account, check and replenish the balance. It makes sense, eh, to have a church ap. On Sunday morning at the Offertory I can take out my smartphone, pay my tithe, kick in a little extra if the sermon moved me to tears or laughter, and respond to the announcement about the Food Pantry running low by clicking in an extra ten bucks or ordering a case of spaghetti sauce. But no, we’d rather pass a plate around because we’ve always done it that way. Cripes, church, get with it, you might even stream the church's sound system to my iPhone for folks like me. And while we’re at it why not stream online anyway, like my buddy's UMC church does, for folks who wish they wanted to get up and go to church. Or at least wish they wished they wanted to get up and go to church; there’s salvation even in wishing you wished. Stick your iPhone i...

Sins Known and Unknown,  Things Done and Left Undone MOSCOW -- In a regretful letter penned a few months before his death, Mikhail Kalashnikov, the designer of the AK-47 assault rifle, asked the head of the Russian Orthodox Church if he was to blame for the deaths of those killed by his weapon. The Russian daily Izvestia on Monday published the letter, in which Kalashnikov, who died last month at 94, told Patriarch Kirill that he kept asking himself if he was responsible. The AK-47 is the world's most popular firearm, with an estimated 100 million spread around the world. "The pain in my soul is unbearable. I keep asking myself the same unsolvable question: If my assault rifle took people's lives, it means that I, Mikhail Kalashnikov, ... son of a farmer and Orthodox Christian am responsible for people's deaths," he said in the letter. Kalashnikov also shared his bitter thoughts about humankind. "The longer I live, the more often that questio...

Alleluia, let us keep the Feast! HNEC is a feasting church! We resume our Wednesday program today:  11:45 Noon Eucharist followed with Light Lunch & Bible Study .  5:30 p.m. Eucharist followed with Supper & programs including EfM, youth group and anything else planned for the evening . Sundays at Holy Nativity are fun, and not to compare the Lord’s Day with chow-down day, but Wednesdays are even more fun. In traditional fashion, Feast still follows Word, however instead of mainly ritual as on Sunday, the Wednesday feasting is more like the agape’ feasts of New Testament days, visiting with each other and great fellowship as we enjoy a good meal together. It's all free, and you don't have to bring a thing! For lunch today, Linda has made a delicious chicken soup, and there’ll be chips with the soup as we read and discuss the second half of John’s gospel, chapter 1, about the Lamb of God. For a dessert, she’s bringing her world famous gooey cake, the...

Woke up this morning with the rain stopped but trees dripping heavily as I walked out the driveway to pick up Linda’s PCNH, so rain isn’t long stopped. Yesterday was Kristen’s 21st birthday: during lunch we watched on the iPad as a huge green thing of rain headed into Bay County from the west and inched toward us. An hour later as she left to return to her college in Atlanta the sky was darkening and there may have been a few drops already. Rain all afternoon, heavy at times. Last evening, Linda and I parked on Harrison Avenue, walked a block in light drizzle through rain puddles to the Civic Center auditorium, and just as we took our seats for Garrison Keillor, my iPhone vibrated with Kristen’s text “I’m here.” My blog post yesterday remembered something about bridges, several wooden bridges we had in Panama City my growing up years. Tarpon Dock Bridge and 4th Street Bridge. The cross-ways wooden planks on those old bridges would rattle rumble rattle rumble loudly every time a c...

At church yesterday a friend who reads my blog asked if I’ve recovered -- that is, from whatever was bothering me to write such distressed posts last week. One of which so appalled me the next morning that I deleted it, which I’d never done before. Probably I’ll try to do better, or refocus. Back off and write more about Panama City. I remember Panama City where I grew up in the 1930s and 40s and 50s. That noisy wooden bridge over Massalina Bayou at 4th Street. The wooden draw bridge at Tarpon Dock. The Ritz Theatre. The cable system at J.C. Penny's on Harrison Avenue. The wooden Glen Bridge that was half a block north, and why it's "the Glen Bridge." And then the Dixie-Sherman Hotel. And Bay High School where my father and I graduated, Bay High when it was real. The Bud Davis Drive In Theater. And the Isle of View. The USO at the turnaround at the south end of Harrison Avenue on the Bay. And how everything changed over the years, especially my hair from thick jet bla...

Confirmation Class or Inquirers’ Seminar, call it what we may, begins in our adult Sunday school class this morning at Holy Nativity. Always fun, it’s a great time to talk about ourselves, what our parish does together and in the community as our Christian witness, which the Cursillo movement calls “apostolic action.” And to learn or refresh what we know about ourselves as part of the Episcopal Church and the worldwide Anglican Communion. And also, perhaps most especially, to discover how our theology is revealed in our worship. No, that’s not quite right, our “most especially” may be our experience of Bible study together. Of course, we have Bible study every week in adult Sunday school, and when we combine our Sunday school hour (9:15 to 10:15) with Confirmation Class in the same hour, our time is compressed; but we still make time for the main thing.  This morning’s chief Bible reading is the Gospel for today, Matthew 3:13-17, Matthew’s account of the Baptism of Jesus. It’...

In over three years blogging I never once deleted a post until yesterday’s “Wrong Side of the Morning” conflagration that was ignited by empathy with U. S. Marine anger and bitter disappointment about Fallujah being allowed to fall. For those who were there, Fallujah is “died in vain” every much as if Japs were allowed to retake Iwo Jima. The history that America is now developing for its Future Past is shameful, but we won’t read it and by the time present is history we will be beyond worry or care. It’ll be another generation’s history to learn from. Or take pride in, God forbid. My memory is of an America in clear just war , which we did not start, which was based on vital national interest, where the objective was victory of reality in unconditional surrender. Not political σκύβαλον of an imbecile in a flight jacket waving a V while getting his picture taken standing on the flight deck of a warship. God help us. If lives are sacrificed when objective is cloudy and doubtf...