I Want You to Hurt Like I Do (Randy Newman)

It was a tough assignment, but I finally tracked down a musical memory that kinda puts the whole Gov. Sanford televised agony thing together with the death of M.J. in one setting.



I know, I have a warped mind, but the highly televised events about our Governor made me feel that he was transferring the pain of the tragedy from himself to either us or his family or both with every revelation.

It is just a coincidence that this song had a part for Michael Jackson. I had forgotten that altogether. I had no idea that M.J. was having problems with drugs. I actually think he was such a private person that he did not want the public to see his pain, so for that reason, I disagree with Randy Newman's verse. But in a weird sort of way, the MSM is making us experience the "King of Pop's" hurt with their ongoing coverage.

Lastly, it is sometimes painful to listen to Randy Newman's singing, and I wanted you to feel my hurt too.

DEFCON 2: GENCON 09

Next week could be a week that will go down in infamy, and I am raising the alert status to DEFCON 2. I am talking about the upcoming triennial convention of the Episcopal Church in Anaheim. Resolutions "debated" and passed by past conventions have frequently been fodder for the national press, and have quite likely been the cause for many to leave our church. I have reviewed many of the resolutions and followed some of the discussion going on over the web. The 2009 convention promises to put the Episcopal Church back in the spotlight once again.

This past Sunday, there was another appearance of a bulletin insert from Episcopal Life Online (A.K.A. Episcopal Pravda). This one surprised a few members of our church when they read for the first time about some of the resolutions up for "debate" which include:

"• Holy Women, Holy Men an overhaul of Lesser Feasts and Fasts, which would add a number of names to the Calendar of the Church Year.

Including the name of self avowed revolutionary socialist Vida Dutton Scudder. Could it be that this soon to be holy woman will also break the sexual orientation barrier in the Episcopal Calendar of "saints?"

• New prayers for: artists and writers; the Virgin Mary; care of God’s creation; on the occasion or anniversary of a disaster; prophetic witness in the church and society; reconciliation and forgiveness; and scientists and environmentalists.

"Prophetic witness" in society leaves the door wide open for any number of controversial issues to show up in your service and cause more conflict in the congo.

• Consideration of requests for authorization to develop rites of blessing for same-gender unions, especially in states that have legalized such unions or marriages.
• Use of gender-neutral language for prayer book marriage services;

That could be the show stopper for many in our church.

• Requests to overturn, nullify or supersede GC06 Resolution B033, which called for restraint in electing or approving the election as bishops of candidates “whose manner of life presents a challenge to the wider church and will lead to further strains on communion.”

Read: Divorced homosexual men, or anyone else otherwise considered by our forefathers as inappropriate leaders of the Church.

Some have asked me, can anything be done to stop this majical mystery bus tour that we are on? I am afraid that all we in Upper South Carolina can do is pray that our Bishop takes a strong stand against these resolutions.

Elsewhere, a few are speaking up. Fr. Dan wrote this on the HoB/D list serve regarding General Convention 2009's many resolutions. I quote with permission.

"What an unconscionable waste of time
for convention to have to consider these resolutions. Talk about poor
stewardship! Convention's action will have absolutely ZERO impact on any of
these issues, all of which are dealt with more effectively by formal and
informal coalitions of interested parties at the local level. And this is to
say nothing of the fact that the vast majority of deputes and bishops lack
the requisite expertise to even be qualified to have an informed opinion on
most of these questions. In the meantime, the world sees us as the mouse
(more like the gnat) that roared, and we alienate even more of our own
members who are embarrassed by their own church's public positions. I am
reminded why I wore out the No button on my voting device in Columbus and
Minneapolis."

You tell em, Fr. Dan!

In the past, conservatives have put up gallant, if unsuccessful, fights to try to stem the tide of new age thinking. This year may be different. The lower part of SC's Bishop Mark Lawrence wrote to his clergy that he did not intend to engage in a political struggle at GENCON 09. (Read it all at T19)

"Certainly, Kendall as our Canon Theologian will monitor the developments at General Convention 2009, but I believe it is in keeping with our declared vision as a diocese to focus on what we believe God is calling us to do, not on the strategies and battles he called us to engage in yesterday."

In other words, there is no point in arguing with lunatics, even when they are driving the bus backwards over a cliff.


What then should we do? Bishop Lawrence goes on to suggest that we look to the real future of Anglicanism,

"...our 'Inside Strategy' is not to tilt at windmills in Quixotic fashion thinking we can turn back the clock to some prior age; it is to help shape the future that is emerging in global Anglicanism from within the Communion."

He appears to be saying that everyone should step back and let the idiots drive off the cliff if they want to.

I have to ask +Lawrence, does that entail getting off this bus and onto another?

I ask +Henderson that if he cannot bear to cut the ties that bind us to that bus, please stretch that rope as far as you can or at least cut us some slack!

Cranmer Was Wrong

(According to our rector)

The martyrdom of Thomas Cranmer, from an old edition of Foxe's Book of Martyrs

Oh my, where to begin? Let us first go back in tyme:

In the 1552 Prayer Book's

"ORDER FOR THE ADMINISTRACION OF THE LORDES SUPPER,

OR

HOLYE COMMUNION. "

We beg to prepare ourselves for communion as follows,

ALMIGHTIE God, father of our Lorde Jesus Christe, maker of all thyngs, Judge of all men, we knowledge and bewayle oure manyfolde synnes and wyckednes, whiche we from tyme to tyme moste grevously have committed, by thoughte, woord and dede, agaynst thy devine Majestie: provokyng most justely thy wrath and indignacion agaynste us: we doe earnestlye repente, and be hartely sory for these our misdoynges: the remembraunce of them is grievouse unto us, the burthen of them is intollerable: have mercye upon us, have mercye upon us, moste mercifull father, for thy sonne oure Lorde Jesus Chrystes sake: forgeve us all that is past, and graunt that we maye ever here after serve and please thee, in newnesse of lyfe, to the honoure and glory of thy name: Through Jesus Christ our Lord.

or for those of you who spell "indignacion" this way, "indignation,"

Almighty God,
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
maker of all things, judge of all men:
We acknowledge and bewail our manifold sins and wickedness,
which we from time to time most grievously have committed,
by thought, word, and deed, against thy divine Majesty,
provoking most justly thy wrath and indignation against us.
We do earnestly repent,
and are heartily sorry for these our misdoings;
the remembrance of them is grievous unto us,
the burden of them is intolerable.
Have mercy upon us,
have mercy upon us, most merciful Father;
for thy Son our Lord Jesus Christ's sake,
forgive us all that is past;
and grant that we may ever hereafter
serve and please thee in newness of life,
to the honor and glory of thy Name;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

(BCP Rite 1)

According to today's sermon by our rector, Cranmer got it wrong in the highlighted "provokyng most justely thy wrath and indignacion agaynste us," because the portrait of a wrathful God is wrong, and this vision of the Lord has done tremendous harm to individuals as well as to post-reformation Christianity as a whole. I shook my head in disbelief as I listened to the reasoning behind this remark. Somehow or another, the people who left "The Wisdom of Solomon" out of many Protestant Canons are also to blame. According to the rector the reading from today's lessons would have solved the problem of God's wrath and indignation for inumerable people.

Those old men in the starched collars did this to us! After all, they left us:

The Westminster Confession (1647). Chapter 1 § 3: "The books commonly called Apocrypha, not being of divine inspiration, are no part of the Canon of Scripture; and therefore are of no authority in the Church of God, nor to be any otherwise approved, or made use of, than other human writings."

(Bible-Researcher.com)

And Article VI (BCP p. 868)

"And the other Books (as Hierome saith) the Church doth read for example of life and instruction of manners; but yet doth it not apply them to establish any doctrine; such are these following:" (listing of the Apocrypha)

And what in today's reading from the apocrypha leads to the rector's conclusion? Here is the text we heard:
Wisdom 1:13-15,2:23-24

Because God did not make death,
and he does not delight in the death of the living.
For he created all things so that they might exist;
the generative forces of the world are wholesome,
and there is no destructive poison in them,
and the dominion of Hades is not on earth.
For righteousness is immortal.

(Notice the big gap here, skipping to the end of Chapter 2)

for God created us for incorruption,
and made us in the image of his own eternity,
but through the devil’s envy death entered the world,
and those who belong to his company experience it.

There we go with missing verses again! As I have mentioned before, I think we are getting a carefully selected, edited, and spliced version which is misleading to us Bible novices.
I think a liberal mind could really get around that wholesome generative forces idea, and it certainly stands in sharp opposition to Cranmer's "...manyfolde synnes and wyckednes..." so maybe that is what the rector was getting at.

To be fair, let's read the expurgated text:
Wisdom 1:16

But the ungodly by their words and deeds summoned death;
considering him a friend, they pined away
and made a covenant with him,
because they are fit to belong to his company.

What, you mean some reject God and are to die? We can't tell the pewsters that, it might sound like "provoking" God.

And we left out this huge swath of chapter 2,

For they reasoned unsoundly, saying to themselves,
‘Short and sorrowful is our life,
and there is no remedy when a life comes to its end,
and no one has been known to return from Hades.
For we were born by mere chance,
and hereafter we shall be as though we had never been,
for the breath in our nostrils is smoke,
and reason is a spark kindled by the beating of our hearts;
when it is extinguished, the body will turn to ashes,
and the spirit will dissolve like empty air.
Our name will be forgotten in time,
and no one will remember our works;
our life will pass away like the traces of a cloud,
and be scattered like mist
that is chased by the rays of the sun
and overcome by its heat.
For our allotted time is the passing of a shadow,
and there is no return from our death,
because it is sealed up and no one turns back.


‘Come, therefore, let us enjoy the good things that exist,
and make use of the creation to the full as in youth.
Let us take our fill of costly wine and perfumes,
and let no flower of spring pass us by.
Let us crown ourselves with rosebuds before they wither.
Let none of us fail to share in our revelry;
everywhere let us leave signs of enjoyment,
because this is our portion, and this our lot.
Let us oppress the righteous poor man;
let us not spare the widow
or regard the grey hairs of the aged.
But let our might be our law of right,
for what is weak proves itself to be useless.


‘Let us lie in wait for the righteous man,
because he is inconvenient to us and opposes our actions;
he reproaches us for sins against the law,
and accuses us of sins against our training.
He professes to have knowledge of God,
and calls himself a child of the Lord.
He became to us a reproof of our thoughts;
the very sight of him is a burden to us,
because his manner of life is unlike that of others,
and his ways are strange.
We are considered by him as something base,
and he avoids our ways as unclean;
he calls the last end of the righteous happy,
and boasts that God is his father.
Let us see if his words are true,
and let us test what will happen at the end of his life;
for if the righteous man is God’s child, he will help him,
and will deliver him from the hand of his adversaries.
Let us test him with insult and torture,
so that we may find out how gentle he is,
and make trial of his forbearance.
Let us condemn him to a shameful death,
for, according to what he says, he will be protected.’

Thus they reasoned, but they were led astray,
for their wickedness blinded them,
and they did not know the secret purposes of God,
nor hoped for the wages of holiness,
nor discerned the prize for blameless souls;

So it was "Reason" that did them in. But isn't "reason" just one of those wholesome generative forces? Therefore things discerned by reason can't be bad. I am afraid the writer of the Wisdom of Solomon would not pass muster in today's more understanding world where we don't talk about ideas or people that way. Today we know that no one is wicked, or blind, and all are blameless because they are, after all, "victims," just like those people in the missing verses were victims of "reason" which led them astray.

Needless to say, I was very confused by today's sermon. To add to the confusion, later in the sermon we were told that there was a part where,

Cranmer got it right!:

O GOD, whose nature and property is ever to have mercy and to forgive; Receive our humble petitions; and though we be tied and bound with the chain of our sins, yet let the pitifulness of thy great mercy loose us; for the honour of Jesus Christ, our Mediator and Advocate. Amen.

(1928 BCP Litany)

The highlighted part was what was quoted during our sermon, nobody heard about the "chain of our sin" business. So God's nature and property of mercy trumps all, and the rector used the story of the prodigal son as a defense. We are getting perilously close to hearing the message "If it feels good do it" from the 60's. My only question is this, "Why does God have to show mercy on us if the generative forces (read passions, lusts, sins, etc) of the world are wholesome to begin with?"

If I were to summarise/summarize the theology of the present, I would say, "God does not punish, only forgives, but there really is nothing that needs his forgiveness anyway."

My response to such nonsense is to quote from C.S. Lewis' "The Problem of Pain." In the chapter on Divine Goodness, he writes of "an analogy full of danger" (pp 39-42), the analogy between God's love for man and a man's love for a woman.

"When we fall in love with a woman, do we cease to care whether she is clean or dirty, fair or foul? Do we not rather then first begin to care?...Love may forgive all infirmities and love still in spite of them: but Love cannot cease to will their removal. Love is more sensitive than hatred itself to every blemish in the beloved...Of all powers, he forgives most, but he condones least..."

"...You asked for a loving God: you have one. The great spirit you so lightly invoked, the 'lord of terrible aspect', is present: not in a senile benevolence that drowsily wishes you to be happy in your own way, not the cold philanthropy of a conscientious magistrate, nor the care of a host who feels responsible for the comfort of his guests, but the consuming fire Himself, the Love that made the worlds, persistent as the artist's love for his work and despotic as a man's love for a dog, provident and venerable as a father's love for a child, jealous, inexorable, exacting as love between the sexes."

DEFCON 3: GENCON 09

The General Convention of the Episcopal Church will be held July 8-15 in Anaheim California. Those attending this big waste of time, talent, and treasure were gifted with a little light reading to study before the big event. This is nicknamed the "Blue Book" (warning this is an 811 page pdf file). One of the most ominous sections was one called the "House of Deputies Committee on the State of the Church" (pp 59-81). This report presents in written, graphic, and tabular detail the decline of the Episcopal empire.

It is amazing how one small paragraph in one long document can tell a great truth.

Found buried on page 63 under the "House of Deputies Committee on the State of the Church" after all the numbers documenting the dropping Sunday attendances, the greying of membership, etc., we read:

"As a final comment on the age structure of The Episcopal Church we note two facts. First, “youth and young adults” were articulated by General Convention as one of our top five priorities for the 2006-2009 triennium. The Executive Council, in developing the draft budget for the 2009-2012 triennium, did not list “youth and young adults” as one of their mission priorities. Second, in the recent reorganization of The Episcopal Church Center staff in New York City, the position of Staff Officer for Youth and Young Adult Ministries was eliminated and the duties of that officer re-distributed to other ministry areas."

I know there are people who think that 815's decision to eliminate this position is wrong, unfair, cruel, indifferent, stupid, etc., and for them, I raise the alert level to DEFCON3.

Personally I don't give a hoot if 815 has a "Staff Officer for Youth and Young Adult Ministries," because youth ministry is a local/regional issue as illustrated out by last week's post on youth mission trips. When a small church has small numbers of youth, the real question should be, "What are we doing wrong?" Real solutions for Rock Hill, SC will not be found by asking some Staff Officer in NYC.

Unfortunately, in reading through the resolutions in the Blue Book, I don't think these folks have a good idea on where to "re-distribute" that officer or those monies. How about sending it back to the Dioceses? Or better yet, why do we send 815 money at all?

11-4

DEFCON 4: Dupes and Lackeys, Spies and Saboteurs

The Reformed Pastor presents an interesting subject in his post "More on the Communist Episcopalian." It all stems from this strange announcement from the Communist Party USA

"The Communist Party USA has established a new Religion Commission to strengthen its work among religious people and organizations. In its leadership are activists representing various religious traditions from around the country. Tim Yeager, a Chicago trade unionist and a member of the Episcopal Church, serves as its chair.

'We want to reach out to religious people and communities, to find ways of improving our coalition work with them, and to welcome people of faith into the party,' Yeager said. 'We invite questions and responses from people who would like to dialogue with us on matters pertaining to religion, Marxism and the struggle for more peaceful, just and secure world.'

'There is a common misconception concerning the position of the Communist Party USA about religion,' Yeager noted. Many who are unfamiliar with the party wrongly assume that all Communists are atheists, or that the party requires its members to be atheists. 'Nothing could be farther from the truth,' he said. 'Religious people are welcome to join.'"

Sounds like Episcobabble to me (translation: "All that communist fundamentalism was bad. Look what happened, Mao is dead, Lenin lays quietly pickled in the Kremlin wall, and who reads Marx literally anymore.")

The Reformed Pastor tracked down a bio on Mr. Yeager from an outfit called the Episcopal Peace Fellowship where he claims,

"Mr. Tim Yeager (Prov. 5) is a member of Grace Church in Oak Park, Illinois, where he serves as assistant organist. Tim is the Chair of the Peace & Justice Committee of the Diocese of Chicago. He is the Financial Secretary/Treasurer of the National Organization of Legal Services Workers, UAW Local Union 2320, which represents nearly 4,000 lawyers, support staff, social workers and other employees working in legal and human services agencies across the country. Tim has served one three-year term on the NEC where he has been a member of the human resources committee and an EPF representative to the Consultation. He is concerned that the Church finds and uses its prophetic voice to advocate for a more just and peaceful socioeconomic order, and feels that there has never been a greater need for all people of good will to join together in the struggle against poverty, violence and fear."

Hero of the Revolution! Saving those oppressed lawyers.

What is going on here? Is Mr. Yeager a Christian trying to change the communist party, an imperialist saboteur? Or is he a communist trying to change Christianity by infiltrating its weakest link? Perhaps he is just another misguided universalist Episcopalian hoping to change the world and is being used by the communists to take more dollars from the unsuspecting capitalists.

I also wonder what the communist party is up to in creating this "Religion Commission." It certainly can't be planning to spread the Gospel of Christ.

Take one guess who will win the inevitable showdown between the old Marxists and Leninists and these new thang God talkers at the next party congress.

I don't mind having communists at the communion rail, as long as they have been baptized, confirmed, and say their/our confession, but if they do that, are they really communists? I suspect not, and I would pray they are not doomed to be condemned to some future gulag by their puppet masters.

This story spurred me to compose,

"An Episcommist Manifesto."

We are an “inclusive Church.” We welcome the enemies of religion. We are not only “inclusive,” we are “accepting” as well. We do not want to offend anyone, especially someone who volunteers for committee work. We will not challenge them in their beliefs. We will not ask them to give up their earthly passions and follow the wandering rabbi (whose name we shall not mention in front of them). We will be ready to hear how the Spirit speaks through their voices. We shall affirm their prophetic messages.

That Mission From God Thing

Today's sermon was delivered by Mary Cat Young, and instead of taking her lead from today's Gospel reading, she tried to rescue the parable of the mustard seed from last week's confusion. She focused on the parallel between her most recent youth "mission" trip to Augusta. ECOOS managed to muster up 2 brave middle schoolers to join a larger group in Augusta. They cleaned, and painted, and put in the sweat equity part of that "loving your neighbor" bit. The tiny mustard seed indeed did grow into a larger something, and I commend them all for their labors. I know there must of have been some teaching, singing, and praying going on, but we adults did not hear anything about that. We were left with the vague impression that this Christianity thing is about this type of "mission." This is where I am afraid that "focus on mission" becomes "focus on good works," and how talking about good works helps us avoid those complicated religious things like talking about how we relate to Christ and He to us. How different we Episcopalians are from our friendly Mormon missionaries, or our local Jehovah's witnesses when we talk of "mission trips."

The Rev. Tim Fountain at Northern Plains Anglican got me to thinking about this last week with his post "We are a SMALL church" which started off with the interesting question:

"'We are a small church' was a rebuke given me for some of my criticisms of Episcopal Church (TEC) shrinkage.

It really has me thinking about my ministry gifts and how to use them. Is there room in TEC for people who like to help congregations grow, or is that for 'those other churches'?"

Yes there is room Tim, and we need more like you!

At the current rate of decline, the Episcopal Church (DIE-C) will need to generate scores of real, honest to God missionaries to bring in the wayward, to bring in the unchurched, and to answer to, instead of falling for, the growing secularism of the world. After all, it's all about spreading the good news that souls can be saved, and Jesus is the way...isn't it? I just don't think that the social activist approach is the way to the salvation of either souls or the Church.

In order for DIE-C to become a growing Episcopal Church, there would have to be a major revolution. This would require dramatic changes in training, education, and of course leadership. Will such a revolution ever occur? Currently, the outlook looks bleak. I pray that Fr. Tim and priests like him will be the mustard seeds that we so desperately need. Our job as pewsters is to be the fertile soil. Let us pray that through such a mission, that an amazing tree of shelter and shade comes forth. Things may look bleak, but there is always hope for a new harvest. I have to remember the Psalms that start with a woeful tone but end in hope.

Speaking of psalms, I present to you the verses that were omitted from Psalm 107 today by the curious lectionary writing process. I have highlighted the verses that Mary Cat might have used to describe how the Lord was present in the Augusta heat of her mission trip.

Psalm 107:4-22

Some wandered in desert wastes,
finding no way to an inhabited town;
hungry and thirsty,
their soul fainted within them.
Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble,
and he delivered them from their distress;
he led them by a straight way,
until they reached an inhabited town.
Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love,
for his wonderful works to humankind.
For he satisfies the thirsty,
and the hungry he fills with good things.


Some sat in darkness and in gloom,
prisoners in misery and in irons,
for they had rebelled against the words of God,
and spurned the counsel of the Most High.
Their hearts were bowed down with hard labour;
they fell down, with no one to help.
Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble,
and he saved them from their distress; he brought them out of darkness and gloom,
and broke their bonds asunder.
Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love,
for his wonderful works to humankind.
For he shatters the doors of bronze,
and cuts in two the bars of iron.


Some were sick through their sinful ways,
and because of their iniquities endured affliction;
they loathed any kind of food,
and they drew near to the gates of death.
Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble,
and he saved them from their distress;
he sent out his word and healed them,
and delivered them from destruction.
Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love,
for his wonderful works to humankind.
And let them offer thanksgiving sacrifices,
and tell of his deeds with songs of joy.

So what is that mission from God thing? In a nutshell, it is both the labor, and the evangelism. It is not our Father's Day gift to Him. Rather, it is yet another of His gifts for us.

Sorry to cut it short today, but I have to type fast today because it is Father's Day and I have several other missions to attend to. Soooo......

"Our Lady of Blessed Acceleration, don't fail me now."



And the good sister said what!?

"And don't come back until you have redeemed yourselves."

I think the writer hadn't studied his/her redemption theology.