For Kirstin

as she starts chemo today... for A who walks with her, and Kirstin's circle of prayer people...

Back home again

After Executive Council and Kouraj pou Vwayaj la - Ayati (Strength for the Journey — Haiti) #1. I have a funeral in an hour so can't tarry but photos and such will be up later. Here is a teaser.

A different take on this morning

from the Living Church...

Of course the first item is the sexuality one whereas that does not really show up in the ENS article.

Questions asked of Kenneth Kearon

Here are the questions that the World Mission Standing Committee of Executive Council prepared and asked this morning of Kenneth Kearon.

There is a covenant being considered that has in it certain processes, some of which have caused great concern for some of the provinces on how fairly they would be applied. For example, the Province of New Zealand gave only partial approval to the covenant, with members of its General Synod noting that Section 4 could “get into a situation where we sanctify a process of exclusion or marginalization” and that it might be implemented in ways that are “punitive, controlling and completely unAnglican.” Do the recent actions of the Archbishop of Canterburygive credence to theseconcerns? [Canon Rosalie Balletine, Esq., Chair of the World Mission Legislative Committee, Diocese of the Virgin Islands]

There are always consequences to living authentically as Christians. Within relationships among Christians, however, we ought to have opportunity to question those consequences, lest all end up walking on eggshells. Is there such a process now? And, do you foresee a season of such sanctions or is the removal of ecumenical committee appointees from The Episcopal Church an isolated event?[President of the House of Deputies Bonnie Anderson, Diocese of Michigan]

You have stated that The Episcopal Church does not “share the faith and order of the vast majority of the Anglican Communion.” Given the place of the Chicago Lambeth Quadrilateral in our common life as The Episcopal Church, how was it determined that The Episcopal Church does not share this faith and order? [Blanca Echeverry, Esq., Diocese of Colombia]

I am Jim Simons, a priest resident in the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh which, as I’m sure you are aware, went through a recent and painful schism. Currently, there are over 100 priests, deacons and one bishop canonically resident in the Province of The Southern Cone as well as another Bishop canonically resident in the Province of Rwanda functioning in our diocese without licenses and laying claim to some of our parishes. This is in clear violation of the canons and it is also not unique to our diocese. What if any disciplinary action do you anticipate toward provinces who engage in such jurisdictional incursions? [the Rev’d James Simons, Diocese of Pittsburgh]

As a lesbian priest, in a 20-year relationship, legally recognized civil union in my state for ten years , and serving in a congregation, I ask this question because inclusion is very important to me. In his Pentecost letter, the Archbishop of Canterbury said, “We are praying for a new Pentecost for our Communion. That means above all a vast deepening of our capacity to receive the gift of being adopted sons and daughters of the Father of Our Lord Jesus Christ. It means a deepened capacity to speak of Jesus Christ in the language of our context so that we are heard and the Gospel is made compelling and credible.” Removing people by executive action seems counter-intuitive to furthering inclusion. How is the exclusion of Episcopal Church members reconciled with the language of the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Pentecost letter? [the Rev’d Canon Lee Alison Crawford, Diocese of Vermont]

The Church of England remains in full communion and ecumenical dialogue with the Old Catholic Church, which blesses same-sex unions, and the Church of Sweden, which has a partnered lesbian bishop and blesses same-sex marriages. Given this fact, how are we to reconcile the removal of Episcopal Church members from ecumenical bodies? [the Rt Rev’d Wendell Gibbs, Bishop of Michigan]

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He visibly blinked and drew back as I identified myself. I thought that body language was telling... when faced with the 'issue' at hand, it is a bit harder to deny its existence, though the answer was clear that blessings of same-sex relationships has risen to the level of faith and order and seems to be the deal-breaker in ecumenical discussions, that because TEC has engaged in same-sex blessings and consecrating a partnered lesbian to the episcopacy, we no longer can participate in these conversations because we do not ascribe to the faith and order. My follow-up question should have been: Since when and how has blessings become so important?

I will say that EC was gracious and restrained in its comportment. I am also very glad that EC voted against going into private conversation as requested. (The press gasped when he asked this of us.)

More later.

Go to it

all you Cafe Press folks...

In response to my question about inclusion, and why were TEC people now excluded from conversations on the ecumenical level, the answer was totally directed toward 'faith and order,' that is, for most practical purposes, same-sex blessings is now a communion-breaking 'issue' of faith and order.

Had I had my wits about me, I would have asked, Since when has blessings become so important that it is the deal-breaking question of faith and order?

So, my proposed t-shirt is:

My relationship is a Communion-breaking issue of 'faith and order.'

Go to it.

The Canser Beast

has raised its head again for our internet sister, Kirstin. For those of you who do not know her on Facebook, or her blog, Barefoot and Laughing, she lives in California, has graduated from seminary and works with the homeless. She just got this news: got the PET scan report back. Metastasis to lungs and bones, "several other places." Waiting for another doctor to call me back and tell me more. Prayers please.

She desires your prayers greatly.

She merits her own posting

Thirteen years ago today I brought La Doyenne home from the Central Vermont Humane Society shelter. She had been found abandoned in an apartment in Barre, VT along with another cat... their names were Jack and Jill (!). I did not take the other cat, a black and white short hair, just this one, brought her home (age 9 months). She was a lean kitteh back then. I will try to scan a photo but here is a recent one, a repeat... in all her glory.

Today

Seventeen years ago today I was ordained a transitional deacon with seven others by the Rt Rev'd G. P. Mellick Belshaw...

Two years ago today, dear Naomi died...

Today there is a new archbishop of IARCA...

And today is Barbara Harris' 80th birthday!!!!

What a day... hold it all in prayer.

Bingo

The Rev'd Marsue Harris, ordained 29 years, said recently of her ordination in The Episcopal Church, “You just don’t grab your Bible and go out to the street and start preaching.”

In all the discussion about ordination, ministry of the baptised, comes the question about seminary and do we still need a three-year residential, costly program or can we do it locally?

I will get flamed from various sides but I still believe that in this church, we need some ordained people to have pulled up stakes, left their home congregation, left their home diocese, pack up and go to seminary where they get mixed in with a whole bunch of other people who have done likewise and where the cross-pollination can enhance their learning.

Regardless, I hope and pray that in TEC, we never lose sight that one of our greatest riches is an educated clergy and people and that, yes, you just don't grab your Bible and go out to the street and start preaching.

Wish I could expand on this little posting; it is short-hand, but work calls.

Maybe it comes into mind because tomorrow marks 17 years since I was ordained to the transitional diaconate, the moment at which I felt I had crossed the Rubicon and there was no turning back... I had just vastly narrowed my options of living into the vows made on my behalf at my baptism which I started renewing in the context of the congregation circa 1981 when I went back to church after a hiatus between 1975-1981 (otherwise known as the college years and my first two years of teaching).

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grabbed from here.

A new take on an old song

Ça commence

Go to the Lead for the full story.

Let's count how many days have passed since the great feast of Pentecost... two weeks.

It took the powers-that-be 14 days instead of 24 hours to kick those members of The Episcopal Church off the relevant Anglican Communion committees — the Standing Committee and the Inter-Anglican Standing Commission on Unity, Faith and Order and the Inter Anglican ecumenical dialogue committee. I guess things have slowed down some? After all, the election of a certain fabulous candidate for bishop suffragan made comment within 24 hours. (As a reminder, it took a week for the ABC's office to acknowledge the near-assassination of one of the Anglican Communion's primates, the Archbishop of IARCA.)

The Church of Canada and Southern Cone are respectively being asked to 'clarify' their positions on not 'obeying the moratoria.' Guess border-crossing is less a threat to the uniformity of the communion than teh gays.

So once again, TEC is the ABC's favourite kicking post. The gut says let's pack up and go but that just means that in the vacuum, the more shrill and exclusionary voices will be heard.

Operating from the head, I say show up anyway and hold our heads high for there is nothing of which we are to be ashamed.

I can't really write too much because I am peeved enough with this basura to be coherent. All I can say is: More and more my plumbline is proving true:

Is a decision/teaching/attitude of Christ or of the Church? If those of the Church contradict those of Christ, then I eschew them.

Right now those decisions of this particular branch of the Church, in this particular office of a certain archbishop, are not anything remotely connected to those of Christ.

Trinity Sunday and Prop 5C sermons

Today's sermon and last week's sermon are up over at the church blog.

A week later

Here is what Hurricane Agatha left in El Salvador... swamped corn fields that are unrecoverable.

What the Deepwater disaster would look like here

Basically the entire state of Vermont would be under the goo. The best part of the NH White mountains would be covered and part of the central Green Mountains. Practically all of the Adirondack Park would also be ooked up.

[click to enbiggen]

Selected cats

Just three photos to let you know things are fine... none of Miss Grey Lady; she does not hang out with the hoi poloi, you know.


This morning all three decided to camp out in my bedroom.


I liked the way he draped his tail in the window this evening.


Then he decided to join me in reading 'Así matamos a monseñor Romero,' an investigation by Carlos Dad in El Faro (San Salvador). Very well read cat, I dare say.

Leave it to the Dead Sect

to come up with a headline like this:

PB Alleges Colonialism, Spiritual Violence

The Living Church (aka the Dead Sect) can be counted on for focusing on the most negative thing the editors can find and writing from that stance.

Meanwhile, the soul here is refreshed to see such a firm but gracious letter stating where TEC stands and who TEC is... and makes clear (I trust) that we are not going back.

More later but the workload on my desk is stacked up like planes at LaGuardia at 5.00 PM on a weekday evening.

More pressure

from ENS:

The Rev. Canon Kenneth Kearon, general secretary of the Anglican Communion, will address General Synod about the Anglican Covenant, which has been recommended as a way of healing divisions triggered by debates over the issue of sexuality. Hiltz said that he thinks the mood of the Canadian church is "we're ready to consider [it], we're not ready to adopt it. I think most [delegates] are going to come and say, 'Sure, let's take a look at it and see what the merits are.' And, in typical Canadian fashion, we'll do it well. We'll take it seriously."

May the Anglican Church of Canada see through this covenant and do as Bishop Hilz suggests: consider the covenant but not adopt it. Just hoping.

From Thinking Anglicans

Resolution Number A137
Be it resolved that this General Synod:
1. receive the final text of The Covenant for the Anglican Communion;
2. request that materials be prepared under the auspices of the Anglican Communion
Working Group, for parishes and dioceses in order that study and consultation be
undertaken on The Covenant for the Anglican Communion;
3. direct the Council of General Synod, after this period of consultation and study, to bring
a recommendation regarding adoption of the Covenant for the Anglican Communion to
the General Synod of 2013.

This is accompanied by an explanatory note/background information, copied below the fold.

EXPLANATORY NOTE/BACKGROUND INFORMATION

Since the decision of General Synod 2007 to commit to participate in the process of drafting of “A Covenant for the Anglican Communion”, the Anglican Communion Working Group, established by the Primate and the Anglican ecclesiology Working Group of the Faith Worship and Ministry Committee, has offered considered comment and critique of the various drafts. These comments have been reviewed by the Council and after amendment/revision have been forwarded to the Anglican Communion Office. On each occasion, the comments of the Anglican Church of Canada have been clearly heard and have for the most part found their way into subsequent revisions of the text. By April 2009, consensus had been achieved with respect to sections 1‐3 of the Covenant.

Following ACC 14 in Jamaica, a decision was taken to reexamine section 4 of the Ridley‐Cambridge Draft, comments were prepared and forwarded to the Communion Office. A revised text of Section 4 was approved by the Standing Committee of the Anglican Communion at its meeting in December 2009 and a final Covenant text has now been circulated to national provinces under cover of a letter from the General Secretary, Canon Kenneth Kearon.

Three key areas were clarified:

First, was clarification about the meaning of the word, church. This clarification was necessary because of expressed concerns that anyone could claim to be an Anglican church and then sign up to the Covenant, in effect opting themselves into the Communion.

The second key area addressed was the completion of the change in tone from the juridical to pastoral and relational.

The third key clarification dealt with who was to manage and administer the Covenant. In successive drafts this has changed from the Primates meeting (Nassau) to the ACC (St Andrews), the Joint Standing Committee of the Primates and the ACC (Ridley Cambridge) to The Standing Committee of the Anglican Communion (Ridley Cambridge revised). This is significant in that the Primatial members(4) are nominated by the Primates Meeting and the remainder are elected by the ACC. The overall operation of the Standing Committee functions under the Constitution of the ACC. This change resolves one of the key concerns raised by Canada and a number of other provinces at ACC 14.

Additionally, the final Covenant text makes it clear that “Nothing in this Covenant of itself shall be deemed to alter any provision of the Constitution and Canons of any Church of the Communion, or to limit its autonomy of governance.”

Agatha in Guatemala and El Salvador

Storm kills 142 in Central America

GUATEMALA CITY (AP) -- Flooding and landslides from the season's first tropical storm have killed at least 142 people and left thousands homeless in Central America, officials said Monday.

Dozens of people are still missing and emergency crews are struggling to reach isolated communities cut off by washed-out roads and collapsed bridges caused by Tropical Storm Agatha.

The sun emerged Monday in hardest-hit Guatemala, where officials reported 118 dead and 53 missing. In the department of Chimaltenango -- a province west of Guatemala City -- landslides buried dozens of rural Indian communities and killed at least 60 people, Gov. Erick de Leon said.

''The department has collapsed,'' de Leon said. ''There are a lot of dead people. The roads are blocked. The shelters are overflowing. We need water, food, clothes, blankets -- but above all, money.''

[...]

In El Salvador, at least 179 landslides have been reported and 11,000 people were evacuated. The death toll was nine, President Mauricio Funes said.

About 95 percent of the country's roads were affected by landslides, but most remain open, Transportation Minister Gerson Martinez said.

The Lempa River, which flows to the Pacific, topped its banks and flooded at least 20 villages, affecting some 6,000 people, said Jorge Melendez, director of the Civil Protection Agency.

Officials warned that the Acelhuate River, which cuts through San Salvador, was running at dangerously high levels and threatened to spill over into the capital's streets.

Agatha made landfall near the Guatemala-Mexico border Saturday as a tropical storm with winds up to 45 mph (75 kph). It dissipated the following day over the mountains of western Guatemala.

The rising death toll is reminding nervous residents of Hurricane Mitch, which hovered over Central America for days in 1998, causing flooding and mudslides that killed nearly 11,000 people and left more than 8,000 missing and unaccounted for.

Rescue efforts in Guatemala have been complicated by a volcanic eruption Thursday near the capital that blanketed parts of the area with ash and closed the country's main airport. Officials are now allowing helicopters and propeller planes to take off, but commercial flights remain grounded.

Happy birthday

in spirit to Naomi who would have been 27 today. She loved parties and so her family had one (I couldn't make it) with cake, volley ball and all the rest. Apart from the smoke from the forest fires in Québec, they had a glorious day on which to remember Naomi.

Here was the birthday girl two years ago today in a new Red Sox t-shirt, a silly crown on her head... celebrating a birthday we all knew in our hearts would be her last on this side of things. We just didn't realise she'd be gone two weeks later.

Naomi's lilacs, one at my place and one at her family's, have not yet bloomed but they are lush and green. The blooms will appear in and around her the anniversary of her death.

Meanwhile, the peonies are beginning to bloom. Not until two years ago did I really pay attention to them; now I do because they were in full bloom as she was dying. There is one peony blooming here as well as at church. They may also be in full bloom up at Naomi's house.

Two years.

Hard to believe.

But... it is what it is, as Naomi said early on in her canser struggle.

Hey, Naomi... stay with us in our hearts.

Idiocy

This type of thinking drives me up the wall:

Michael Zarembski, a combat veteran of Vietnam, complained that security fences prevented him from making his annual pilgrimage to the gravesites of several veterans he knew. “It’s a shame,” he said.

Mr. Zarembski, who said he believes Mr. Obama cannot produce a birth certificate to prove he is an American citizen – an allegation long since disproven as unfounded — stood with his back to the riser with Mr. Obama’s lectern bearing the presidential seal. Leaning on a walker for support, he said he had planned to keep his back to the stage when the commander-in-chief spoke. (from the NYT)

Look at the man's last name!!! Someone somewhere along the line in his lineage didn't come from the Etats (des)Unis. Idiocy.

Twenty-four hours later

I wrote the kernel of this in a response over at Mark's blog, but figure it is worth (?) expanding... so here goes.

The blogosphere has erupted in analysis of the latest missive of the Archbishop of Canterbury with comments ranging from, 'It is a slap on the wrist,' to the predictable, 'It does not go far enough.' Most of the comments land in the realm of, 'Here we go again, it is another attempt to kick out The Episcopal Church and the Anglican Church of Canada.' Mark, over at Preludium, has posted those names of people who would, by the criteria of the letter, no longer be able to function on the 'Anglican curia' or in ecumenical dialogue but most of the blogosphere seems to think who are we kidding when we suggest that the southern churches would be blocked from participating.

Having attempted earlier this week to mediate an unhappy situation that risked becoming an unholy fire, and realising that we were never going to get the two parties to agree, I worked instead on finding a way of apologising, letting go and moving on. And so I ask in this situation what I did earlier this week:

How come the ABC can't do as a mediator would by saying: 'I realise that all parties hold their perspective on the point in dispute, they have their own truths. Rather than try to find a common narrative because I realise we are never going to agree on this particular point, let us instead let go and move on forward.'

Of course it is naive to think that those who are so anti-gay would let go — we have seen too many times that it is a fight to the death cause — and therein lies the wrench in the works. And because of that intractability, the other side (me) says, 'Fine, we're going on ahead regardless because we do not want to be dragged back.' Still, some leadership that would acknowledge the variables, recognise the cultural readings on this, and respect the traditional Anglican approach toward scripture which is not a literalistic reading, instead of creating some sort of punitive document (aka the Anglican Covenant), could help immensely.

For the ABC's saying that the Anglican Covenant is not punitive I dare to disagree given his explanation to the press that follows his Pentecost letter. Kicking people off committees is just the start.

I do think that formulating a response to the Anglican Covenant on the part of TEC is spitting in the wind. A quoi bon? The ABC has already decided what he wants to do with us. I do not want to see TEC backtrack in the name of appeasement.

And what has been done — ordaining people of whom the ABC does not approve — cannot be undone. For the Bishop of Durham to reference the Long Beach ordinations as everything wrong with the church simply shows everything wrong with the straw arguments emanating from the other side of the aisle. Why are people complaining about the smudging? How does that differ from censing a priest before s/he begins the eucharistic canon? And why is it offensive to have dancers from the different peoples within the Diocese of Los Angeles? To those who disagree, I suggest not so gently to get a grip. As for the consecration liturgy, it is beyond me what was wrong or missing except the fact that for some it involved two women and for others, it involved a woman whose life-partner is a woman.

When I think of the time and money that has been spent on this covenant business, I get quite cross. When I think of the energy that has been misdirected into this realm of discussion in lieu of God's mission in the world, I get even crankier.

Yet this is the deck of cards we have been dealt so we might as well play this hand out to the end, regardless where we end up, in or out. Regardless, not all of the individual relationships that people from TEC have established with communion partners will dissolve even if the communion does.

Just some morning cup of coffee musings as it sprinkles out (thereby making it impossible to mow the lawn).

[image: Los Angeles hands on a cross one arm of which is shorter than the rest, symbolising our incompleteness and brokenness, that we are not all yet one... if I remember correctly what Bishop Bruno said of the cross at the consecrations]

Oraciones hoy y mañana

Prayers today and tomorrow for the Anglican Episcopal Church of El Salvador as they meet in their annual convention and tonight as they ordain three men to the priesthood.


Here are candles in our chapel, seven to represent the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit along with a little incense.

Just trying to understand

Isn't this the same guy who refused to take any money from the economic stimulus bill who now is haranguing the government to pay up for everything in the wake of the Deepwater oil spill? The one who is part of the party that wants 'less government' in our lives? Just curious.

Not to make light of the increasing mess in the Gulf of Mexico. The image of the dying heron in the oily muck haunts me.

Another question

Are any of you getting pornographic and violent comments in Japanese? I seem to have gotten onto a couple of spammers' lists and it's gross.

Inquiring minds want to know...

How can Sarah Palin claim with her fake folksiness to be one of the people when she has this going on?

From the New York Times:

'Even the most concrete new development in the Palin family, an enormous structure rising beside their existing 3,400-square-foot house on Lucile Lake, is something of a mystery. Based on the limited evidence in the planning department at Wasilla City Hall (the city does not require building permits), the building’s footprint alone is 6,000 square feet, but much of it is two stories.'

And where in God's name did they come up with names like Track?

Feast of the Pentecost

Sermon from yesterday is up over at the church blog.

Round and round and round we go...

So finally tomorrow I will get to go home, just in time for vestry. Meanwhile, I will have been out to California, back to New York City, zipped off to Indianapolis and finally by way of Philly will get back to Vermont.

This little missive is being posted from the hotel lobby... a place where, should I be re-elected as deputy, I may be occupying in 2012 during General Convention!

My brain has been challenged by the past three days of intense meetings on disparate matters — the final Anglican Covenant and what TEC's response might be to it and today, working with a stellar and impressive team of five preparing for a CREDO-Church Pension Group-sponsored program, Strength for the Journey, being offered for the clergy and lay leaders of the Eglise Episcopale d'Haiti. We will meet in Santo Domingo for the simple reason that there is no place in Haiti that can handle the group and because we want them to go to a place where they won't fear the buildings will come down on them and there is running water, electricity and less chaos.

Meanwhile, assorted photos of the past several days...


Remember Trans World Airlines, aka, Toughest Way Across? Their terminal at JFK, NYC was award-winning but hopelessly antiquated as the security measures kicked in -- the pods were never designed to be blocked off; hence, there were no places to sit or eat because they were in the open main part (that you see). The original building was lovely in its own right — we took my sister there in the 1960s for her to fly off to Spain. But by the late 1980s, 1988 to be exact when I flew to Spain, the place was cramped and dingy. When Jet Blue put up their new terminal, rather than tear the TWA building down, they simply surrounded it. One sees the old building as one walks from the main Jet Blue terminal to the Air Train (finally!!!! Yes, there is public transportation from downtown Manhattan to JFK).

'
The old stomping grounds in NYC, the General Theological Seminary, have also changed greatly. The old front building, which was falling apart, was torn down in 2008, and a new condo building built in its place. If you have $2.5M you can buy a two-BR condo that looks over the Close. I think the penthouse apartment is $4M. Seminarians can no longer enter from Ninth Avenue; they must walk halfway down 21st Street to get in a side gate. This is a huge change to the 'hood (and the seminary took a lot of flack from the Chelsea Preservation folks).


The back end of the Close, on Tenth Avenue, is a lot spiffier than in my days. It used to be that the faculty parking garage was off Tenth — a dismal affair. The dorm, Eigenbrodt on the left and faculty apartments on the right, looked over a somewhat decayed neighbourhood. Chelsea has gentrified and Eigenbrodt is now a fancy hotel, called the Tutu Center. (It also serves as a meeting place.)


The old rail tracks on an elevated line have been converted into the Highline and it is a very pleasant walk. From it, one sees the seminary and the Empire State Building. This past Sunday was a gorgeous night and walking up there was a polyglot experience.


From above ground tracks, one descends down into the subway, a noisy but eminently practical means of transportation. This photo is from my old station, 23rd on Eighth.


Times Square is a lot better than it used to be though it is just as crowded. To get to Grand Central Station from Eighth, one has to wander up and down long corridors until one arrives at the Shuttle that runs between 42nd Street and Grand Central.


And then one arrives at Grand Central (GCT), spared by the 1960s wrecking ball that took down Penn Station. When GCT was restored a decade or so ago, they uncovered the constellations on the ceiling of the main room. I love this station for its size (it also is the main headquarters in Planet of the Apes). It is hard to believe that my father went in and out of this place twice a day for nearly thirty years.


The white onyx clock is the largest onyx clock in the world (that is, the faces are the largest), if I remember correctly. It is worth a pretty penny.


Little did we realise that four out of the six people on the D020 Task Force are Mac users. It was a mini Mac-convention on the third floor of 815.

Here endeth your mini-tour of NYC.

Wonders never cease

Who would believe that I can sit in a cramped airplane but at least have the luxury of free wifi and satellite radio to entertain me? Such small luxuries make up for the flight leaving 1h40 late which makes arrival in my next port (Indianapolis — I am going in the wrong direction from home) a bit more arduous for the hour.

The D020 Task Force finished up its work today. Y'all will see the questions and study guide we produced sometime this summer.

Meanwhile, there was enough time to go to the noontime Eucharist at the Episcopal Church Center. Only seven of us showed up but it was good to put all my travelling around and work into perspective.


There are some wonderful icons and a copy (?) of a 14th-century Madonna and Son in the chapel. As always, I left a candle burning.







It is hard going to 815 nowadays because there are so few people there. The building is designed for a large workforce and no longer does our church have that staffing. I can hear certain deputies saying we should ditch 815 in NYC (I could quote their words because the argument never changes) and while the corporate model is of a bygone era, the emptiness signifies people who lost their jobs, people who were faithful in their duties.

My first trip to 815 was in 1991 with a class on church polity with Dr Pamela Darling. It was a great course, learning about General Convention and all the ins-and-outs from someone who was the President of the House of Deputies, Pamela Chinnis' right hand. The big treat at the end of the semester was trekking across town from General to 815, touring the whole building, meeting the various officers at the different desks and spending some time with the then-Presiding Bishop, Ed Browning.

Memory lane... later, some photos of NYC scenes, the subway, Grand Central Station and the newly opened Highline, a pedestrian walk up on an elevated set of railroad tracks that run down the west side.

Right now I feel the plane dropping altitude in arrival to IND so I will post this before I have to shut down the computer.

A quiet day at 815 Second Avenue

So, while the D020 Task Force of Executive Council tries to work upstairs there is a loud protest going on outside.

Go to Jim Simon's blog to see a video of this protest — it is a large group of Hassadim protesting the destruction of a cemetery in Jerusalem.

Back on the east coast

to a backlog but I will put down some of my impressions about the consecrations yesterday in Long Beach but let me post two photographs that mean a lot to me.


Archbishop Barahona came up from El Salvador to participate in the consecration, his last act of Primate of the Anglican Church of the Region of Central America. Post consecration he spoke of how powerful it is at the moment of laying on of hands because the Holy Spirit is so present. In the evening, he talked about how support of the LGBTI community is a question of human rights because our sexuality is a part of human nature and a gift from God. His ministry, support and witness have been gifts from God to the rest of us. May God continue to protect him.


There is no going back! Each bishop needed two pages for all the signatures and seals. Incredible!

I could not keep from singing, 'Hail thee festival day, blest day that art hallowed forever...'

Backlog of sermons

Easter 5C, Easter 6C and Ascension Day sermons are up over at the church blog.

The old haunting grounds

The people across the street of where I used to live took these photos of an amazing rainbow a couple of weeks ago. They used a low resolution camera so the photos are minute but they still give a good idea of how beautiful the rainbow was.


The rectory where the pot of gold lies (the gold needed to maintain the house!).


How perfect can it get?


'I shall set my bow in the sky....'

In my lifetime?

Will there be same-sex marriage on a federal level in my lifetime (now that I am easily more than halfway through it)? I doubt it.

Witness the latest nominee to the Supreme Court, Elena Kagan, who says quite bluntly that “there is no federal constitutional right to same-sex marriage.”

For this reason, à quoi bon state level marriage if it is not recognised across the country? So one can live in Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Iowa and New Hampshire in same-sex marriage and that is it.

For the time being, however, same-sex couples still have to file single tax returns on the federal level, go through immigration and customs as though they have no family member travelling with them and countless other indignities.

Like a broken record, all I can ask is, 'Of what are people so afraid? If opposite-sex marriage is so fragile that it needs to be protected from the gays, then there is something wrong here.' Until we do our homework on what marriage is and is not, we are not going to advance in this stalemate.

Of cats and fences

Odd combo but that is what is in front of me right now... a shot of La Doyenne perched perfectly on a branch and a branch that crashed through the fence this evening.


She lines up just right with the quetzal.


I didn't think the storm tonight was anything remarkable, just five minutes of wind and hard rain but when I went downstairs to get dinner going, I looked out the kitchen window to see this. The fence went up when the church conveyed an odd strip of property (looks like a former right of way) to the people behind so they could convert the garage into a carriage house (the red building). They provided the fence. This all took place six years ago; I was on Standing Committee which had to approve the transfer. What we lost was a twelve by forty foot strip of land where two rectors back had a garden. Ah.


A panel of this type fence is something like $125-150. Oh well. At least no daffies were smushed.

God help us when the whole tree comes down which will happen sooner than later since it seems to shed branches every night because I am constantly picking them up off the lawn (such as it is).

What is it?

Of all the things that I have posted on Facebook, this photo has generated the most comments.

It is of the stump that Compa helped me dig up (I started working on it on Wednesday) with shovels, trowel, lopers and pry bar. It looks like a multi-chambered heart.

I have no idea what type of vine came out of it other than one that had huge, huge leaves and would grow so fast that you could see it making gains in a couple of hours. Someone planted it long enough ago that the roots go under the footings of the patio. We'll be battling this hydra for ever. But it won't go up the trellis this summer nor will its tendrils reach over and take over the rose bush or hibiscus I planted last year. Evidently two summers ago when no one lived in the house, the vine climbed up and over the patio roof and managed to get to the second floor window (my study).

No more!!!

I was laughing too much to have the look of: Aha, got you, you sucker!

It now is in a very dark place, the dumpster over at the church. God help whatever landfill it ends up in. I dared not put it in my compost heap lest the thing come back to life and take over the back part of the yard.

Ever onwards.

Catch up time... again

Alright... some photos now that I have Photoshop again.


Apropos of nothing, but something that cracked me up when I was at my alma mater four weeks ago. All the street covers had been stencilled with these words.


Cats will find the darndest places to sleep but la Doyenne seems quite happy here.


Mr Officious reads the Lead with a highly critical eye.


The two dark grey tabbies found a common spot on the bed in the sun.


Monday night we had our favourite ensalada mixta (whatever you want to put in a salad) — but the photo features the bread cutter (un coupe-pain) I bought for my parents in 1976 — hunted all over Limoges, France to find one. My father returned it to me because he is afraid of chopping one of his digits rather than the bread.


All of a sudden the maple tree outside my office window has leafed out which totally changes the light in the office. The light becomes much more dappled and soft.


I still am not used to living in such a suburban-looking house... never mind, the daffies I planted last year are up and thriving.


And the lilacs in the backyard are blooming today. Paradise!


The sign says it all.

Just a simple drive home

What caused the massive traffic jam we saw from the northbound lane of I-91, so thankful we were not headed south! People were camped out all over the highway and the backup went on for miles. We went through about 5.00 just after they had opened one lane of traffic but for a while, there was no southbound traffic, just a very quiet four-lane highway.

From the Hartford Courant (newspaper my paternal grandmother always got for the crossword puzzles)

ROCKY HILL
Southbound I-91 reopened fully about 6:30 p.m, Friday, about two and a half hours after a Peter Pan tour bus caught fire, causing state police and firefighters to close the highway and bring the homebound commute to a halt for people headed to communities south of Hartford.

About 40 people were aboard the bus when it pulled off the highway near exit 24 in Rocky Hill about 3:50 p.m.. The approximately 40 passengers headed from Boston to New York City got off the bus before fire consumed much of it. No injuries were reported and the company sent buses to continue the passengers on their journey.

Firefighters from Rocky Hill and Wethersfield used water and foam to extinguish the blaze. All southbound lanes were closed for about 90 minutes because fire hoses were all over the roadway. Two lanes were opened about 5:30 p.m.

The fire's cause is under investigation. The buses tires and engine compartment were consumed by fire, as was much of the passenger compartment, said Rocky Hill fire department Capt. Henry Vasel.

+++
I once was on a bus that caught on fire. I was going from Denver up to Winter Park on a 'San Jose Bus Tours' bus. I was the only New Englander with a bunch of Pan-Handle Texan Christians. They could not understand me nor I them. They also were exceedingly polite such that it took them coming to the front of the bus three times saying, 'Mr Bus Driver, the back of the bus is on fire,' before the driver took them seriously and pulled off the highway out in the middle of nowhere. This was 1979 so there were no cell phones and where we were, I doubt there would be a signal anyway. There was a gas station, a small restaurant and a little gift store. Wait we did... three and a half hours for another bus to come get us. The fire was the radiator going.

Joyeuse fête du muguet

And Happy May Day.