Time For Some Timely Music (Leonard Cohen, who else?)

Here are the Lyrics, you may wish to sing along.  Of course if you are a conelonialist you may want to simply turn the channel.

"Democracy"



It's coming through a hole in the air,
from those nights in Tiananmen Square.
It's coming from the feel
that this ain't exactly real,
or it's real, but it ain't exactly there.
From the wars against disorder,
from the sirens night and day,
from the fires of the homeless,
from the ashes of the gay:
Democracy is coming to the U.S.A.

It's coming through a crack in the wall;
on a visionary flood of alcohol;
from the staggering account
of the Sermon on the Mount
which I don't pretend to understand at all.
It's coming from the silence
on the dock of the bay,
from the brave, the bold, the battered
heart of Chevrolet:
Democracy is coming to the U.S.A.


It's coming from the sorrow in the street,
the holy places where the races meet;
from the homicidal bitchin'
that goes down in every kitchen
to determine who will serve and who will eat.
From the wells of disappointment
where the women kneel to pray
for the grace of God in the desert here
and the desert far away:
Democracy is coming to the U.S.A.

Sail on, sail on
O mighty Ship of State!
To the Shores of Need
Past the Reefs of Greed
Through the Squalls of Hate
Sail on, sail on, sail on, sail on.
It's coming to America first,
the cradle of the best and of the worst.
It's here they got the range
and the machinery for change
and it's here they got the spiritual thirst.
It's here the family's broken
and it's here the lonely say
that the heart has got to open
in a fundamental way:
Democracy is coming to the U.S.A.


It's coming from the women and the men.
O baby, we'll be making love again.
We'll be going down so deep
the river's going to weep,
and the mountain's going to shout Amen!
It's coming like the tidal flood
beneath the lunar sway,
imperial, mysterious,
in amorous array:
Democracy is coming to the U.S.A.

Sail on, sail on ...
I'm sentimental, if you know what I mean
I love the country but I can't stand the scene.
And I'm neither left or right

I'm just staying home tonight,
getting lost in that hopeless little screen.
But I'm stubborn as those garbage bags
that Time cannot decay,
I'm junk but I'm still holding up
this little wild bouquet:
Democracy is coming to the U.S.A. 

                                                          ----- Leonard Cohen



This poet really is a gift to us all.

The Unintended Consequences of the PROPOSED Anglican Covenant

Let's face it folks, we are knee-deep in a discussion of the proposed Anglican Covenant as we were instructed to by the General Convention.  What does this discussion look like in your parish?  Well in my parish, we are focused on several issues.  For starters, we are rehashing the issues of the last twenty years including the prayer book, women's ordination, issues of inclusiveness, issue of theology including issues raised by James Pike and Shelby Spong.  Then of course we are hashing the issue of the covenant itself.  What is this thing, why is this thing, how is this thing and what will it do and what will it accomplish.  I look around and the conversations are reasonably civil and we all still go to the rail together but there is an interesting issue here.

This covenant thingy is NOT of the Episcopal Church in the United States.  It comes from those outside who have already carved up some of the diocese here in the United States and would like nothing more than to carve up ALL the diocese of the Episcopal Church of the Untied States.  Don't think so, read the Chapman Memo.  Now here is the really tough piece of news, our general ASA folks know little to nothing about the history of the Episcopal Church in the United States and less about the Anglican Communion.  I know that is not going to sit well with many, but it is the sad truth.  Talk with those who have already left for the Southern Cone and parts of Africa and you will find precious little historical/traditional knowledge of our Church and our Communion.  We, as the Episcopal Church in the United States have allowed ourselves, in our haste to grab all the ASA we could get, to fail at teaching who and what we are.  And guess what?  The bad guys have taken advantage of that.  let me share but one piece of knowledge.  Mr. Schofield, prior to his Conelonial days ran with a Mennonite Seminary.  His closest allies were/are pastors of "Church of the Feel Good".  Review his monthly newsletters and you will see the overtaking of his theology (or at least his political theology) by bible thumping sermon led priests and friends who are not in touch with history or tradition and I think less with reason, though that might be speculative on my part.

So, the real issue for the covenant, or the reason for studying the covenant is to once again drive a wedge between those who know and understand the Anglican Communion and those who do not.  See, the folks out there know we still have not improved our education system and are gambling on our need to be obedient and study the Anglican Covenant.  The folks  that do not understand are now given a chance to once again reconsider moving to the southern cone, or at a minimum the discussion is re-opening all those old wounds once again, not directly, not with intent to teach and study but rather as an oblique attempt to foment revolution.  So the folks in ACNA, AMiA, GAFCON/FCA and all the alphabet soup win one way or the other. 

And so my question.  Is this an unintended consequence or is this another phase of the Chapman Memo?

Lest We Forget

In Flanders Fields


By: Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, MD (1872-1918)
Canadian Army

In Flanders Fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

Happy Birthday To The Eagle Globe and Anchor!

Today is, you got it, the Marine Corps birthday.  It was on November 10, 1775 at Tuns Tavern that the Marine Corps was founded.  The fact that I know this should tell you a little something about me -- and if you understand the Marine Corps esprit de corps, Semper Fidelis, you know some of my core values.  I enlisted before I was eighteen and yes, my mom signed for me.  She did so on one condition, that I would delay my enlistment until after Christmas.  I acquiesced and on January 1968 I entered the United States Marine Corps.  That made me a mid-Tet replacement in June of 1968 in Vietnam.  I am a tanker and in August of 1969 I left my tank in pretty much the same condition that I found it.  In 1970 I mustered out and I can say with agreat deal of pride, it is my great privilege to be known as a United States Marine.

Here is the first of two things I wish to share on this special day:



Close order drill seems so innocuous until one discovers the big WHY!

Next, is the following:




And finally, I offer this to those who really know me:  "The Marine Corps is the "Men's Department" of the
United States Navy. (;-}

Happy Birthday!

OHHHRAH!

The Damnable Numbers Game

I keep reading in so many various blogs about the numbers game. You all know what I am talking about, the idea that if I have 3 more persons in my Sunday ASA (that's average Sunday attendance) than you do that I am closer, better, more holy, closer to God than you. This is particularly true when it comes to issues surrounding +Gene Robinson, +Mary Glasspool and the inclusion of all LGBTQ persons in our great Episcopal Church. So, I finally went searching for this song and found it. It is probably too obtuse but I offer it anyway.



BTW -- This was a great TV program and I, though clearly giving up my age, will say that I have listened to Johnny Cash since I was old enough to put a record on the turntable (that;'s correct, a turntable.)

"Sometimes I Sits and Thinks and Sometimes I Just sits"

We Are A Nation Afraid of Our Own Shadow

Something really, really, terrible happened in September of 2001. Yes, the Twin Towers came crashing down upon over 2800 of our friends, neighbors, acquaintances, and people we did not even know. When given the chance, our president, George W. Bush, took the low road and convinced us that we have everything to fear including fear itself. He could have given the old FDR speech about how we have nothing to fear but fear itself but he chose to scare us into submission. So, in addition to the fact that we collectively were saddened by the deaths of our countrypersons, we breathed a collective sigh of relief that it wasn't us, and then President Bush followed it up immediately with, "yeah, but not only could it have been you, it may still be you!" That is correct, we are scared out of our collective wits. This is not your vanilla afraid of things, this is look under the beds, check out the closets, keep your doors locked every second of every day 'cause the Al-Quaida terrorists will seek you and and kill you scared!
With that fear he was able to accomplish what the terrorists could not -- and in one sense they have won already. Yep, they want us to be afraid, their tactics and their overall goals depend on us being afraid. We have cut civil liberties especially those issues revolving around the first, fourth, fifth, and fourteenth amendments. Our mail is read, our Internet chatter (yep even this) is spied on, your phone calls your right to a speedy trial. And with that has come this huge push of aliens. Not just foreigners but those who do not look or act like us. That's right, the immigrant is taking a huge blow to the head right now because we are afraid that some is going to sneak in and hurt us and so we want everyone to go home! And yet, which of us did not originally come from someplace else (My grandmother enter this country when she was 13, probably illegally) Our economy doesn't help this either. But the lesser known fallout is the LGBT group that is taking a tremendous pummeling right now, because we are afraid-- yep, we do not know these folks and so we are afraid and that fear now drives us to Proposition 8 (in California) and the kinds and types of things that create suicides and deaths of our friends.

So you see, Al-Quiada has won. We have lost our ability to look fear in the eye and not blink. We have adapted our lives to that fear. The terrorists require nothing more than that for they know that when we are afraid we do stupid things and unfortunately we have demonstrated to the entire world that they are right.