Episcopal Church | dual personalities

April 6, 2015

“The world is more than we know.”*

by chuckofish

Did you have a wonderful Easter?

We had a lovely weekend, full of family,

and friends and church-going goodness.

The weather was Easter-appropriate, so we have nothing here to complain about–even if it is supposed to storm all week. C’est la vie.

The magnolias, forsythia et al are bursting forth. Yard bags are filling up. We sat out on the patio and soaked up the vitamin D. Of course, I had hoped to be finished with my basement clean-up/reorganization project by now, but oh well. Projects like this always are bigger than first anticipated. I soldier on. I may have to (literally) light a fire under the OM, but we will keep going.

Next weekend daughter #1 will be home for a visit! She is running in a half marathon, so we will be adventurous and cheer her on downtown (signs, balloons, etc.) Can’t wait!

Have a good week and try to carry forward all the good Easter mojo.

From the Heidelberg Catechism:

Question 45: What does the “resurrection” of Christ profit us?

Answer: First, by his resurrection he has overcome death, that he might make us partakers of that righteousness which he had purchased for us by his death; secondly, we are also by his power raised up to a new life; and lastly, the resurrection of Christ is a sure pledge of our blessed resurrection.

Footnotes: [For “first”] 1 Cor.15:16 For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised: Rom.4:25 Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification. 1 Pet.1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, [for “secondly’] Rom.6:4 Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. Col.3:1 If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Col.3:3 For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. Eph.2:5 Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) Eph.2:6 And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: [for “lastly”] 1 Cor.15:12 Now if Christ be preached that he rose from the dead, how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead? 1 Cor.15:20 But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept. 1 Cor.15:21 For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. Rom.8:11 But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.

P.S. Wolf Hall was great!

*Esther in Ben Hur (1959)

5 Comments

April 3, 2015

This and that

by chuckofish

Well, it’s Good Friday.

Almighty God, we pray you graciously to behold this your family, for whom our Lord Jesus Christ was willing to be betrayed, and given into the hands of sinners, and to suffer death upon the cross; who now lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (Collect for Good Friday, BCP)

My Holy Week has been less than focused. It has been busy, busy at work, and I’m afraid I’m not the multi-tasker I once was–the result being that I am exhausted in the evening. I fell asleep during everything I attempted to watch this week, from Shogun (1980) to Peter and Paul (1981).

Last night I participated in the “Could you not keep watch with me for one hour?” vigil, as I always do.

In past years I have been late signing up so I always get stuck in the 4-5:00 a.m. or 5-6:00 a.m. slot., but this year I had the 9-10:00 p.m. slot which was a piece of cake in comparison. Which isn’t exactly the point–it being easy–but I was grateful anyway.

Tonight, of course, I will start Ben Hur (1959).

Last year daughter #1 was home and we watched the whole thing at one sitting, but I think I will watch until the chariot race and finish up on Holy Saturday.

What’s the rush?

And don’t forget: Wolf Hall starts on Sunday night on Masterpiece Theatre! Mark Rylance looks right for the Thomas Cromwell part anyway.

In past film renditions he has always been played as an evil, and therefore porcine, politician.

Leo McKern in ‘A Man For All Seasons’ (1966)

Please. I am hoping for the best. We shall see.

Also, tomorrow is our pater’s birthday. He would have been 93!

Love this pose!

A toast would be appropriate and perhaps some bagpipe tunes.

And FYI there will be a lunar eclipse on April 4th!

Have a wonderful Easter! Hopefully the OM will accompany me to church on one of his two annual visits. Then we’ll meet the boy and daughter #3 at my flyover university’s faculty club for brunch. No cooking for me.

4 Comments

March 31, 2015

Tuesday’s message

by chuckofish

“St. Paul Preaching in Athens” by Raphael

Wonderful words for Tuesday in Holy Week:

The message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written,

“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,
and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.”

Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, God decided, through the foolishness of our proclamation, to save those who believe. For Jews demand signs and Greeks desire wisdom, but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.

Consider your own call, brothers and sisters: not many of you were wise by human standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, things that are not, to reduce to nothing things that are, so that no one might boast in the presence of God. He is the source of your life in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification and redemption, in order that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”

(1 Corinthians 1:18-31

The Bible speaks to us in the 21st century. Selah.

2 Comments

March 30, 2015

“The thorn tree had a mind to Him, when into the woods He came.”*

by chuckofish

Did I not tell you this would happen? Here is the picture I tore the house apart looking for–daughter #1 making palm crosses in the fifth or sixth grade…I found it on Sunday, sitting peacefully in a shoe box on a shelf…C’est la vie.

10345927_829780087076609_4276875660709212410_n

A basket of palm crosses at Grace this year.

In church on Palm Sunday we read the Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Saint Mark in place of the Gospel reading. The layreaders took the parts. I was a “Bystander”, which, as my friend Carla explained to my seat-mate, is a step up for me. Usually I am a “Servant Girl”. Carla was a “Witness” and her husband was Judas–who only has two lines, one of which is “Rabbi!” His Method Acting was impressive. My favorite part was when Peter says, “I do not know or understand what you are talking about” and I really think the reader was a bit lost. There is a lot of jockeying for position around the microphone. Since only three of us showed up for practice last week, some confusion is understandable and, although quite avoidable, again par for the course.

And so we enter Holy Week. I’m afraid I have not kept a good Lent. And by that I mean that The Robe (1950) is the only movie on my Lenten movie list that I have watched! I plan to make up for it this week with non-stop biblical epic-watching, culminating, of course, with Ben Hur on Good Friday. I can do this! However, you will not catch me watching A.D. The Bible Continues on Easter. Nosiree, Bob. I will be watching Wolf Hall on Masterpiece Theatre/PBS that night. I advise you to mark your calendars and do the same! It was a huge hit in Britain and I hope that means they did a good job turning this great book into a mini series. We’ll see.

In other news, this weekend there was a three-day estate sale across the street at our neighbor’s house. I got to experience first-hand the annoyance of having hundreds of strangers coming and going and parking all over the place. The shoe was on the other foot and it was weird. The estate sale company put up “No Parking” signs in front of our house and beside it, so we didn’t really have anything to complain about. At least the OM didn’t get into a fight with anyone, which is always a possibility when he comes in contact with the public. Now we will just have to deal with the house being for sale. Whatever.

We had the boy and daughter #3 and some friends over for dinner on Sunday night to hear the highlights of their recent trips to NYC. It was super fun and then the weekend was over.

Have a good Monday.

*Sidney Lanier, A Ballad of the Trees and the Master. Check this out.

5 Comments

March 2, 2015

Holier than thou

by chuckofish

Well, I do feel a bit holier than thou, having gone to church on Sunday when over 300 (mostly small) churches in the area were closed. However, First Presbyterian and Kirkwood Baptist, two large churches which are only a block or two away from Grace, were also closed. And why you ask? Because it snowed on Saturday! But only 6-7 inches! The streets were plowed! I got down my driveway in my little car no problem.

When did this happen? This fear of snow and the weather in general? When did Americans become such sheep huddled together in fear of a big bad weather front coming through? When did church become just another activity that could be canceled at will?

Well, about 40 hardy souls gathered at our church (and 18 at the 8 a.m. service!), including all the acolytes, all the lay readers and half the ushers! The Sunday School held classes. I say high fives all around for these intrepid Episcopalians!

I must say, it was kind of creepy listening to the snow slide loudly off our big ‘ol roof during the service.

I shoveled off the front walk when I got home and part of the driveway and then the OM hired some teenagers with a snow-blower to clear the driveway, so we are all set now.

I watched some of Ken Burns’ The Civil War in anticipation of my trip in a couple of weeks to see daughter #2. We are road-tripping up to Gettysburg to see the National Military Park. I am also re-reading Long Remember by Mackinlay Kantor, which you will recall is a novel about the battle from the viewpoint of the people who lived in the town. It is really good. I will probably also watch Gettysburg (1993) based on the Michael Schaara novel The Killer Angels. I always thought it was pretty good, except for Martin Sheen as Gen. Robert E. Lee. Jeff Daniels, who plays my hero Col. Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, makes up for Sheen.

Speaking of Chamberlains, did you watch Josh Duhamel’s new show Battle Creek last night? He plays a detective named Milt Chamberlain. (And BTW, the actor who played Dewey Crowe on Justified has a small part.)

Have a good Monday!

8 Comments

February 23, 2015

While the nearer waters roll*

by chuckofish

It being the first Sunday in Lent, we started off our service yesterday with The Great Litany which includes all those great “preserve-us-froms” such as “…from the crafts and assaults of the devil; and from everlasting damnation…” and “…from all the deceits of the world, the flesh, and the devil…”

We don’t hear these enough if you ask me. However, I hear that over in England they are discussing getting rid of all references to the devil in the baptismal service. You know, because nobody believes in the devil anymore. Oh please. When will the powers that be in my poor church ever leave well enough alone?

I read the first lesson which was from Genesis and was about Noah and the new covenant God makes with him after the flood. The Gospel lesson was from Mark about Jesus spending 40 days in the wilderness being tempted by Satan. It was all tied together in the second lesson which was Peter talking about Noah and being saved through water and then how we are saved through the cleansing water of baptism. Peter is never as logical as Paul and the points he attempts to make sometimes elude me–they probably eluded him. Our rector is not good at clarifying anything, but he did make the point that we are tempted every day. Truly this is so. Not that he mentioned the devil.

Oh where is Jonathan Edwards when we need him?

He is wretched indeed, who goes up and down in the world, without a God to take care of him, to be his guide and protector, and to bless him in his affairs . . .That unconverted men are without God shows that they are liable to all manner of evil . . .liable to the power of the devil, to the power of all manner of temptation . . .to be deceived and seduced into erroneous opinions . . .to embrace damnable doctrines . . .to be given up of God to judicial hardness of heart . . .to commit all manner of sin, and even the unpardonable sin itself. They cannot be sure they shall not commit that sin. They are liable to build up a false hope of heaven, and so to go hoping to hell . . .to die senseless and stupid, as many have died . . .to die in such a case as Saul and Judas did, fearless of hell. They have no security from it. They are liable to all manner of mischief, since they are without God. They cannot tell what shall befall them, nor when they are secure from anything. They are not safe one moment. Ten thousand fatal mischiefs may befall them, that may make them miserable forever. They, who have God for their God, are safe from all such evils. It is not possible that they should befall them. God is their covenant God, and they have his faithful promise to be their refuge. (The Works of Jonathan Edwards)

Our rector mentioned C.S. Lewis and repeated several stories straight from the internet, but he could have just quoted Jonathan Edwards and been done with it. But he didn’t ask me, did he?

Anyway, I continued with my office organization. I put together a little bookcase to put in the closet I cleaned out and now I have more space for all my papers and notebooks.

So now it is time to get down to work and the devil be damned, right?

Happy Monday!

*Charles Wesley, hymn #699

7 Comments

February 20, 2015

This and that

by chuckofish

So hey, there’s only a week of February left! March is in sight! Spring is on the horizon, right?

I only ask because I have been shivering in my office all week, reduced to wearing a wool shawl around my shoulders because it is so freakin’ cold! Here’s the local weather report:

Some areas are seeing temperatures below zero this morning. Snow flurries are on the way for tonight, plus freezing rain this weekend.

But at least we don’t live in Niagra Falls, NY where the famous falls have frozen. Zut alors!

Moving right along…Today is the birthday of Ansel Easton Adams (February 20, 1902 – April 22, 1984), American photographer and environmentalist.

The Tetons and the Snake River

ansel-adams-1942-yosemite-valley-clearing-winterstorm

Winter storm in Yosemite Valley 1942

Ansel Adams in Yosemite 1942

It is also the anniversary of the death of the great Broadway star John Raitt (January 29, 1917 – February 20, 2005). In his honor, I suggest you watch this show-stoppin’ scene from The Pajama Game (1957) where he and Doris Day sing with gusto and precision one of the hardest darn songs to sing ever written!

Aren’t they great? This always reminds me of the episode in season 5 of Angel when Lorne (of the Deathwok Clan) has to listen to every staff member at Wolfram & Hart sing a song so that he can tell if they are hiding something. One girl sings “There Once Was a Man” and it is pretty funny. I guess you had to be there…

On the Episcopal Church front, we remember Frederick Douglass on the liturgical calendar today, the anniversary of his death in 1895.

Almighty God, whose truth makes us free: We bless your Name for the witness of Frederick Douglass, whose impassioned and reasonable speech moved the hearts of a president and a people to a deeper obedience to Christ. Strengthen us also to be outspoken on behalf of those in captivity and tribulation, continuing in the Word of Jesus Christ our Liberator; who with you and the Holy Spirit dwells in glory everlasting. Amen.

We are grateful for the lives of Ansel Adams, John Raitt and Frederick Douglass and for their contributions to our American culture. And we are grateful that the coach stopped by for dinner!

He moved some big boxes for me. Wasn’t that nice? And it’s Friday! Have a great weekend. Stay warm!

8 Comments

February 18, 2015

“How great thou art “

by chuckofish

Today is the birthday of Louis Comfort Tiffany (February 18, 1848 – January 17, 1933) who was an American artist and designer who worked in the decorative arts and is best known for his works in stained glass.

One of America’s most acclaimed artists, his career spanned from the 1870s through the 1920s. He embraced virtually every artistic and decorative medium, designing and directing his studios to produce leaded-glass windows, mosaics, lighting, glass, pottery, metalwork, enamels, jewelry, and interiors. As the son of Charles Lewis Tiffany (1812–1902), founder of Tiffany & Company, he chose to pursue his own artistic interests in lieu of joining the family business.

One could spend a lot of time looking at/visiting his marvelous windows which are found all over the U.S. (You can click on these images to see them enlarged.)

The Holy City (1905)–St. John’s vision on the isle of Patmos–is one of eleven Tiffany windows at Brown Memorial Presbyterian Church in Baltimore, Maryland. It has 58 panels and is thought to be one of the largest Tiffany Studios windows.

All 62 windows in Reid Memorial Presbyterian Church in Richmond, Indiana were created by Louis Comfort Tiffany.

St. Michael’s Episcopal Church at the corner of Amsterdam Avenue and 99^th Street in Manhattan boasts the largest collection of such windows in New York City.

Here is the May Memorial Window at Temple Emanu-El in Manhattan on East 63rd Street.

This is the Tiffany window in the Pullman Universalist Church in Albion, New York.

This is “Education” in the Chittenden Memorial Window at Yale University.

We even have some right here in town, such as this one at Second Presbyterian in the CWE:

There are so many! Aren’t they wonderful? Well, I have to say it: they don’t make ’em like this anymore!

I’ll be toasting Louis Comfort Tiffany tonight. How about you?

(BTW Tiffany is buried in Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn, NY–just another reason to visit this awesome place.)

7 Comments

February 16, 2015

Day-star in my heart appear*

by chuckofish

How was your weekend?

Mine was very pleasant. I received three of my favorite magazines in the mail on Saturday.

So when I took breaks from my office clean-up, I could read them. I also have two new books to read.

My dual personality found the Jacques Perret book (which I had mentioned in a blogpost a couple of weeks ago) online and ordered it for me. Wasn’t that sweet? I can’t wait to read it, except I am waiting until I’ve finished Anne Tyler’s newest book which was released last Tuesday. I am enjoying it first.

Happiness is a pile of books waiting to be read.

At church I was reminded that Lent starts this Wednesday.

Many lenten pamphlets were available, so I took them all. The “Saintly Scorecard” is for hip Episcopalians who “learn from those who came before us as faithful witnesses to the gospel” while having fun just like the ungodly who bet on basketball during “March Madness.” You pick a bracket and all that jazz. No thanks. (I do not make this stuff up.)

Well, I guess I will have to get in gear for Lent. My life is pretty spartan as it is, so Lent is really just a change of focus for my movie-watching. And I’ll go to church on Tuesday night for pancakes. However. I draw the line at giving up wine or candy in the name of religious fervor.

Let’s just call a diet a diet, shall we? Such as the Diet of Worms…

We couldn’t let Playmobil have all the fun could we?

*Hymn #7 (Charles Wesley)

4 Comments

February 12, 2015

This and that

by chuckofish

There has been a lot of head-scratching and wink-winking over the fact that Bob Dylan is featured in the February/March issue of AARP. But Bob does not consider himself too cool for AARP. He is 73 after all.

In this interview he talks a lot about his new album of standards from the American Songbook (“Shadows in the Night”), many popularized by Frank Sinatra.

These songs are songs of great virtue. That’s what they are. People’s lives today are filled with vice and the trappings of it. Ambition, greed and selfishness all have to do with vice. Sooner or later, you have to see through it or you don’t survive. We don’t see the people that vice destroys. We just see the glamour of it — everywhere we look, from billboard signs to movies, to newspapers, to magazines. We see the destruction of human life. These songs are anything but that.

Bob speaks the Truth. He has a lot to say, including this about Billy Graham:

When I was growing up, Billy Graham was very popular. He was the greatest preacher and evangelist of my time — that guy could save souls and did. I went to two or three of his rallies in the ’50s or ’60s. This guy was like rock ’n’ roll personified — volatile, explosive. He had the hair, the tone, the elocution — when he spoke, he brought the storm down. Clouds parted. Souls got saved, sometimes 30- or 40,000 of them. If you ever went to a Billy Graham rally back then, you were changed forever. There’s never been a preacher like him. He could fill football stadiums before anybody. He could fill Giants Stadium more than even the Giants football team. Seems like a long time ago. Long before Mick Jagger sang his first note or Bruce strapped on his first guitar — that’s some of the part of rock ’n’ roll that I retained. I had to. I saw Billy Graham in the flesh and heard him loud and clear.

You can read the interview here.

And here’s a tidbit from the Let’s-Not-Mince-Words Dept.:

“One might wish that the leadership of the Episcopal Church would come to grips with reality. The people of the Diocese of South Carolina voted by an overwhelming majority to leave the Episcopal Church. Any church bureaucracy that would try to force its will on a Diocese where the majority of people have said they no longer want to be affiliated is manifestly evil. They are just trying to suck the life out of the Diocese of South Carolina (and the other dioceses they are suing) by bleeding them dry through lawsuits. (That’s just my opinion, of course. But this kind of continued pernicious evil from the Episcopal Church’s leadership has been going on long enough that it just makes you wonder what it will take to finally drive a stake through the vampire’s heart.)”

–Rev. Robert S. Munday, former President and Dean of Nashotah House

He’s talking about the bruhaha in South Carolina where part of the Episcopal Church has broken off and joined the Anglican Church. The problem comes down to money and who owns church property. Read the whole thing here.

The other night I watched A Tale of Two Cities (1935) which I had DVR’d from TCM. I was really impressed. This movie is 80 years old, after all, and you might think it would be a tad dated/stilted. But it really isn’t and Ronald Colman is superb.

He was nominated for an Oscar three times, but not for this movie! He is so engaging and sympathetic as the doomed Sydney Carton, who, you will recall, switches places with the husband of the woman he loves and goes to the guillotine in a final act of selfless sacrifice. I nearly wept. Really. (If the music had been better, I would have.) All the supporting players are marvelous as well: Reginald Owen, Basil Rathbone (excellent as the Marquis St. Evremonde), H.B. Warner, Blanche Yurka (Madame De Farge), Edna May Oliver (wonderful as Miss Pross), and Isabell Jewell as the little seamstress.

Well, anyway, if you are ever looking for something to watch, remember this one. You’ll be glad you did. By the way, TCM is showing Academy Award-winning or nominated movies all month in their “31 Days of Oscar.” I check every morning before work and set my DVR accordingly.

And, hey, just a reminder…

Happy Thursday!