Stations of the Cross

One of my fondest childhood memories is that of the Stations of the Cross. Of late, we were once told by a member of JDS clergy that the Stations of the Cross had no business inside a church. He told us that it was not "architecturally sound". I truly beg to differ. Here is one of the most moving songs I remember -- I hope, on this first Friday in Lent it helps set the stage for a reflective 40 days.

San Joaquin Updates

We have some updates for everyone.

First, the long awaited ruling with regard to who really is the representative of the corporate sole will have t owait for another day.  Actually, the motion for summary adjudication was postponed until March 11, 2009.  According to those in the know this is simply a housekeeping chore by the courts.  It manages their dockets and generally without explanation.  That happened, no explanation, this time as well.  In my line of work I beleive that sometimes, even though I am just the engineer, I want to beleive I am the conductor.  The fact is the conductor will manage the train.  We therefore pray and wait.

The second issue is the final determination/written ruling from the California Supreme Court on the issue of St. James, Newport Beach property.  They slightly modified their ruling and in part here is the modification:

The opinion herein, filed on January 5, 2009, and appearing at 45 Cal.4th 467, is modified as follows: The first sentence in the second full paragraph on page 473 is modified to read:"Applying the neutral principles of law approach, we conclude, on this record, that the general church, not the local church, owns the property in question."

The final line in the modifications cited by the court goes like this:

"This modification does not affect the judgment."

There had been a challenge to review the finds by several schismatics but the courts would have none of that nonsense. Here is the read :

The third full paragraph on page 476 is modified to read: "We granted review to decide whether this action is subject to the special motion to strike under Code of Civil Procedure section 425.16 and to address the merits of the church property dispute."The first full paragraph on page 478, under "B.," is modified to read: "Both lower courts also addressed the merits of the dispute over ownership of the local church - the trial court found in favor of the local church and the Court of Appeal found clear and convincing evidence in favor of the general church. We will also address this question, which the parties as well as various amici curiae have fully briefed. We will first consider what method the secular courts of this state should use to resolve disputes over church property. We will then apply that method to  analyze the dispute of this case." The first sentence of the first full paragraph on page 493 is modified to read: "For these reasons, we agree with the Court of Appeal's conclusion (although not with all of its reasoning) that, on this record, when defendants disaffiliated from the Episcopal Church, the local church property reverted to the general church." 

emphasis added.

There you have it.  Keep us in your prayers as the March 11 date slips up on us like the tule fog in February.

Sunday Music - 23rd Psalm

Howard Goodall's The Lord is My Shepherd, and yes - it's the theme song from The Vicar of Dibley!

Gracious Restraint? What's Up?

The Episcopal Book of Common prayer defines sacrament(s) as such:

Sacraments ordained of Christ be not only badges or tokens of Christian men’s profession, but rather they be certain sure witnesses, and effectual signs of grace, and God’s good will towards us, by the which he doth work invisibly in us, and doth not only quicken, but also strengthen and confirm our Faith in him.

The Roman Catholics define sacrament as such:

According to the New Roman Catholic Catechism, the definition of “sacrament” is “an outward sign, instituted by Christ, to give inward grace.” Each sacrament has an outward sign, something that the recipient can see and touch. Though the Church has built rituals around each sacrament to increase reverence and to explain the sacramental effects, the sacrament, itself, was instituted by Christ, since only God has the ability to confer grace

I hope we can all agree that a sacrament is not "magic" but rather a GIFT from God.  Now, as I read the two definitions I see no qualification of who can or cannot receive sacraments. No, let's not get our knickers in a twist, I realize that we, "the church" have established an ordering of sacraments but there are no prequalifications save baptism.  But even with Baptism, there is no "personal" prequalification. That is to say, I find no concept that in order to receive a sacrament one must be white, or tall, or man or woman, or anything such as that.  One must be contrite, in a relationship with the Lord and the gift is yours.  

At Father Mark's place he takes a reductionist argument saying in effect, let's just not baptize the LGBT community (don't get crazy, that was just an argument he used to further his point).  If, as I believe and that persons such as IT and Goran and JCF and others have scientifically demonstrated sexual orientation is an issue of genetics (IT, forgive me and clear it up if I am of target here)  Then gracious restraint, as Father Mark has described, must be invoked at baptism, actually prior to baptism. If it is not then we should be taking back baptism and then, we should withhold communion, ordination, confirmation, and all the other "sacraments" while the other folks restrain themselves from boarding an airplane and traveling to Canada or the United States.  Okay, all together now, HUH? That is by almost any standards, absolutely absurd!

The fact is sacraments are gifts from God, not from man. God gave them to man and I find it hard to understand how man can take them away.  Why would anyone believe that they can take away "God's good will toward us."  Why would anyone, correction, any professing Christian want to?  We must be very careful about taking on the persona of God. We must not decide who is worthy and who is not worthy of sacraments and grace and God's good will.  If we believe that our spiritual health depends on our individual relationship with God and then we place ourselves in God's place, well let me just parrot a line from the Devil's Advocate: "Pride, my favorite sin."  

You Can't Do That!

A hat tip to our good friend James at TTLS!

Here is the latest from the blog of the Conealonialist:

Fr. Howard and Deacon Erin Giles, clergy in good standing of the Anglican Diocese of San Joaquin, are forming a core group to plant an Anglican church in the Las Vegas/Henderson area of Southern Nevada. A group of twelve is planning Ash Wednesday and Lenten Soup Suppers in private homes. Please contact us so that you can join us in fellowship and in seeking the Lord.

Well ladies and gentlemen of both California and Nevada MR. GILES and MRS. GILES are simply laity in the world.  They can, as laity try to raise up a group in Nevada but I would caution those in Nevada with the following comments from Bishop Jerry Lamb, Bishop of the Diocese of San Joaquin:    

 The Standing Committee of the Episcopal Diocese of San Joaquin today determined that sixteen deacons and thirty-six priests had abandoned the communion of the Episcopal Church. Findings against each of the fifty-two clergy were based on specific violations of the Constitution and Canons of the Episcopal Church related to their support of attempts to remove the diocese from the Episcopal Church, and their repudiation of the ecclesiastical authority of the Episcopal Church and the diocese.

 And then Bishop Lamb names the names, the two that Nevada should be concerned with are as follows:

The Rev. Erin Giles, Manteca 

                The Rev. Howard Giles, Manteca

Since there is only the Episcopal Diocese of San Joaquin and that the bishop of that diocese is Bishop Jerry Lamb and Bishop Lamb has deposed several clergy including Mr. and Mrs. Giles this foray into Nevada can only be a short-sighted attempt at creating a new diocese of some conealoneialists.  Please be warned that Nevada is still in The Episcopal Church of the United States and these two therefore are but mere lay persons looking for a handout.  

What we do have is an opportunity to bring the Beatles into this whole thing and so here it is.

The last one sober

Well, it seems that person is me. They tell you in rehab the odds are against you, manipulating the numbers to this message: only one person in this room will make it. That was what they told us almost three years ago, in a quiet little house in the mountains. A place where people cleaned up from all kinds of poison, finding some hope to make a new life, or recapture the best parts of an old one.

Until five months ago, there were two of us. Me, and S - I always referred to him as the "the other sober one." We live five miles apart, the two stubborn cusses that wouldn't drink no matter what. For quite a long time we kept each other strong through the fear, sorrow, insomnia and muscle pains. Phone calls and emails, any time of day or night.

We didn't have much else in common, and in time we became sporadic correspondents. Maybe we just stopped worrying about each other, and that was the wrong thing to do.

Just tonight, I heard from him; the news isn't good. He relapsed hard in November, going into liver failure after a few weeks of daily, constant drinking. Liver failure, indeed...he lapsed into a hepatic coma for about five weeks. The strong, handsome man is now an invalid, struggling to re-solidify the scrambled eggs in his brain. He's slowly improving, but the prognosis is an unknown - I've seen miracles, and I've seen death.

Pray for S.
Pray for everyone who wants that drink they shouldn't have.
Pray for the people I loved that died because they couldn't say - no.

Pray for me, too, because it's lonely to be the last one who wanted to keep living. I don't understand how they lost hope, and I haven't. Because hope isn't in the bottle, hope comes when you pour what's in the bottle down the drain.

Here's a little ditty for all those that are still in the game - She'll Have You Back. Name your she-devil and sing along.

Abide With Me (Sunday Music)

This recording of the famous hymn is truly lovely - an all-male chorus with string accompaniment.

Ladies and gentlemen: The Fron Male Voice Choir from Wales, a cut from their CD Voices of the Valley.