Hold the chicken salad! Today we went into extra innings with the sermon despite the fact that the clock was ticking on the chicken salad lunch that was sitting in the parish hall (one should not leave chicken salad out > 30 minutes). I guess that's what happens when you put an agenda (raising money) into what should be a service glorifying God and remembering the souls of the Saints and the dearly departed. Seems to me that if we stick to the fundamentals of Christianity, then the money woes will take care of themselves. I did catch Charlie with at least one factual error when he said the average length of stay for hospice patients in York County was 48 hrs. I think the national average was 67 days in 2005, while here in York County the average is 46 days. Also, there are not 15 hospices in York County, I the figure is 9 licensed hospices due to a recent surge in for profit hospices (not all are active as one died peacfully from natural causes recently and some of the others are candidates for hospice care themselves).
Did anyone notice that the words for the anthem (in bold italics) actually came from Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War, 431-413 B.C.?
"Fix your eyes on the greatness of Athens as you have it before you day by day, fall in love with her, and when you feel her great, remember that this greatness was won by men with courage, with knowledge of their duty, and with a sense of honor in action. . . . So they gave their bodies to the commonwealth and received, each for his own memory, praise that will never die, and with it the grandest of all sepulchers, not that in which their mortal bones are laid, but a home in the minds of men, where their glory remains fresh to stir to speech or action as the occasion comes by. For the whole earth is the sepulcher of famous men; and their story is not graven only on stone over their native, but lives on far away, without visible symbol, woven into the stuff of other men's lives. For you now it remains to rival what they have done and, knowing the secret of happiness to be freedom and the secret of freedom a brave heart, not idly to stand aside from the enemy's onset." [Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War, 431-413 B.C.]
Now that's a sermon we won't hear at ECOOS. Too warlike.
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Continuing on from yesterday’s post about the drama that is the Labour
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Could it be that our beloved Rector doesn't read his reviews? Over the last ten years, the ASB (average Sunday bloviation) has expanded from a 15-minute average to yesterday's 25-minute production. And, could this be contributing to the declining ASA (average Sunday attendance) and the commensurate DIR (decline in revenues)? One has to wonder.
ReplyDeleteBlessed are the concise for they shall be given God's cell phone #.
ReplyDeleteBlessed are those who use acronyms for they are VIPs and shall be taken to heaven ASAP.
Blessed are the bloggers for they shall inherit the www.
Blessed are those who stand firm in faith for they are the rock of the Church.
With a hat tip to Stand Firm in Faith................
ReplyDeleteThird Law of Episcopal Thermodynamics:
Any joke that you make about the Episcopal Church will eventually come true.
"Seems to me that if we stick to the fundamentals of Christianity, then the money woes will take care of themselves"
ReplyDeleteJust a reminder that the Episcopal Church left the fundamentals (tradition, Scripture, orthodoxy) behind about two generations ago. When +Spong, +Swing, +Pike, et al were allowed to spew their blather with impunity, you knew there was trouble right here in River City. The BP has threatened a decent, God-fearing traditionalist like +Robert Duncan with presentment while the apostates of the recent past go on their merry way. Is it any wonder that 1000 Episcopalians a week are leaving the Church, presumably for denominations where they still worship Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour and where they still accept Scripture as the Word of God? All we get here in the DUSC is a 51% increase in the pledge to 815 to help fund the obscene litigation against those parishes which choose to worship in the traditional Anglican manner.