Revelations

The richest part of today's service was not the sermon where we wallowed in our sinful and "perverted" ways. I thought the reading from Revelation was like hearing some one's dream of Heaven. (Revelation 21:10, 22-22:5) There was just this one unsettling part of the scripture. "But nothing unclean will enter it, nor anyone who practices abomination or falsehood, but only those who are written in the Lamb's book of life." I think Charlie was trying to say that we repent of our sins, are forgiven, and when we repeat the sin, God will forgive us over and over again. So, will we humans ever be clean enough to enter the Holy City? What kind of abominable practice keeps a person out? Can a person rewrite the "Lamb's book of life?" Today's Baptism would have been a good segue to help explain this scripture to us poor pewsters. At least for an hour I was cleansed of sin. Now, here I go again..........

Oct 18 Feast of St. Luke

http://www.goarch.org/en/special/listen_learn_share/luke/learn/index.asp

Read the Hymn for this Holy day.

[1096]Holy Days: St. Luke292. What thanks and praise to thee we owe L.M. [1097]Ely: Thomas Turton, 1844 William D. Maclagan, 1873

What thanks and praise to thee we owe, O Priest and Sacrifice divine,
For thy dear saint through whom we know So many a gracious word of thine;
Whom thou didst choose to tell the tale Of all thy manhood's toils and tears,
And for a moment lift the veil That hides thy boyhood's spotless years.
And still the Church through all her days Uplifts the strains that never cease,
The blessed Virgin's hymn of praise, The aged Simeon's words of peace.
O happy saint! whose sacred page, So rich in words of truth and love,
Pours on the Church from age to age This healing unction from above;
The witness of the Savior's life, The great apostle's chosen friend
Through weary years of toil and strife, And still found faithful to the end.
So grant us, Lord, like him to live,
Beloved by man, approved by thee,
Till thou at last the summons give,
And we, with him, thy face shall see

Flying Solo

She had to wing it today as a solo priest, but Mary Cat gave a nice sermon sticking to the Gospel. Jesus' final commandment was that we love each other with "agape" type love. We have touched on this theme before. I think this is the hardest commandment to follow on a daily basis. People always seem to get in the way, making it hard to see the Holy in them (sometimes all we can see is the ...hole in them). Of course, we have Jesus' example to guide us, but we have to work at it. If we don't listen to Him, we run the danger of becoming like Linus Van Pelt saying, "I love mankind, it's people I can't stand."

Don't Leave the Episcopal Church! (It is just too much fun!)

The lunatics are running the asylum. The PB must be one if this article is true
http://lyflines.blogspot.com/ Oh sure, the rest of the world will catch up to the ECUSA in 50 years. Can she even imagine that 50 years from now the Church might turn in yet another direction? In 1957 America, who was the Jules Verne who predicted this day? The day where a divorced homosexual male Bishop of New Hampshire is going to get married to a man as soon as possible. The disgraced formerly married then outed homosexual, scandalized Governor of New Jersey wants to be an Episcopal priest? I will put on my "Man who Invented the Future" thinking cap and give it a whirl.
Dateline 2057: Wicca Priestess in the running for Episcopal Presiding Bishop. "Because of her love for all of nature, her deep understanding of the relationship between humans and the rest of the animal kingdom, and her "commitment" to the mission of the ECUSA she is considered to be a leading candidate for Presiding Bishop. The only questions being raised center around the possible resumption of ritual animal sacrifice. This may not be an issue as the ECUSA has as it's mission to include all of God's creatures under it's roof. This is often interpreted as all "living" creatures, but is argued by some to include those recently dead or soon to be sacrificed creatures as well.
Current Presiding Bishop Smith welcomes the nominee saying "This is in the great tradition of the Episcopal Church. My many wives and I are in support of this candidate."

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."