Bobby Google?

This day we celebrated the 40th anniversary of Bobby Dunbar's Ordination. I thought Charlie did a great job with the 10:30 sermon when he went into his Fr. Dunbar stories. It is reassuring to know that we can always count on Bobby's wisdom. In fact, when the computer is down, just "Google" him. Why would anybody go into the priesthood in 1967 anyway? In particular, why would anyone in that age be interested in "tradition." Wasn't that a time of rebellion, a time to reject the values of a "failed" elder generation and to "join the revolution?" The best of the past becomes the best for the present when what we value is based on ultimate truth. A simple celebration can only give us a glimpse of you, and this blog cannot do justice to the value in you. You have been a big part of the spiritual development of so many. Today, this lowly pewster saw God's reflection in the faces of the people you have touched these past 40 years. Thank you Bobby for your ministry.

150 years, will we see 150 more?

It was fun today, what with the guests, the covered dish meal, and a guest preacher in the pulpit. I enjoyed the invocation of Episcopalians past, and present, but I missed the future part. God may know the future, the rest of us have to trust in Him for how it will work out. Or is it up to us to invent the future? I remember reading a biography of Jules Verne entitled "The Man Who Invented the Future." How do Episcopalians shape their future? The AoC is in favor of cautious deliberations. The PB and the Primates (sounds like a BBC Comedy) want action now! The Lord does move in mysterious ways. Let us look up into the depths of the old rafters of the Church of Our Saviour and savor the mystery Rev. Greeley experienced as a child. Invoke the ancient spirits and hear their advice on the current controversies in Episcopaldom. And if you hear their voices, will you listen? Where have you gone Jules Verne?

The Meaning of Life

Turn on our speakers when you follow the link in the Title. Charlie tried to explain "through believing you may have life in his name.." Apparantly the meaning of "life" is not clear. Now we will have to bring our Greek/English dictionary to Church. Zoe! Zoi! Bios! I guess Jesus did not speak Greek but rather spoke Aramaic. So his word was probably something close to the meaning of Zoe whichever meaning you choose. If you remain confused, just how do you think Bible translators feel. If only we had the honest to God literal truth like the Koran; which is not supposed to be translated from the "original" Arabic. (Although the Pewster has an illegal English translation http://www.usc.edu/dept/MSA/quran/) All this makes my head spin. But I have to remember that we are "standing on a planet that's evolving and revolving at nine hundred miles an hour,That's orbiting at nineteen miles a second, so it's reckoned... So remember, when you're feeling very small and insecure, How amazingly unlikely is your birth, And pray that there's intelligent life somewhere up in space, 'Cause there's bugger all down here on Earth."

Verisimilitude

Is Holy Week too much? Ray Mohrmann on Maundy Thursday suggested we need to wash more feet, Mary Cat on Saturday night was short and sweet, and Charlie on Easter Sunday will take some heat for coming out with "verisimilitude" (although the pronunciation sounded more like "versimilitude"). What I found in all these services was my answer to Mary Cat's question "Why are we here on a Saturday night?" The wrong answer would be that this is Rock Hill, and there was nothing else happening on Saturday night. My answer is that the whole of Lent and Holy Week is about "service." Maybe Episcopalians aren't going to cure Aids, reduce poverty, or be of any help in those Millennium development goals. Maybe we should stick to what we do best, and that is putting on a great service. This is the way we serve the Lord. If we keep at it, we just might find that our life "inside" merges with our daily life "outside," and we will find ourselves seeing and serving Christ in every single human interaction. No, Holy Week is not too much. It's just that too many sermons are too much for me.

Heaven on Earth

Pardon the irreverent link in the title. Fr. Dunbar served up another masterful sermon. It takes a great mind to delve deeper than the usual read of the story of the 2 criminals on the cross and to explain this so eloquently. He was even able to make the connection with the unexpected consequences of God's love we have been analyzing lately. In fact his sermon hammered home the point (pardon the reference to the passion), and he reminded me to slow down and do a little more Lectio Divina. http://www.osb.org/lectio/about.html That was one for the books Bobby!