The Sunset Juggler (formerly The Dragon's Mouth)

So, since Tuesday (Monday morning was taken up with getting my prostate biopsied, and I allowed myself to be wounded the rest of the day, and Sunday was, of course, the Day of Pentecost) I have been praying the collect for proper three daily.  And it’s bugged me.  If you are not familiar with it, the collect goes like this:

Grant, O God, that the course of this world may be peaceably governed by your providence; that your church may joyfully serve you in confidence and serenity; through Jesus Christ our Savior, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.  Amen.

It’s a nice thought.  I guess there may even be times and places where this collect will be true.  I’m just not sure I know any of them. (more…)

James Richardson brought this piece (op ed in the New York Times) to my attention.  Can you understand why something was done and still feel total outrage that it was done.  I think that’s how I’m feeling.  Here it is:

NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF Published: May 26, 2010

Fred R. Conrad/The New York TimesTimes

We finally have a case where the Roman Catholic Church hierarchy is responding forcefully and speedily to allegations of wrongdoing.  But the target isn’t a pedophile priest. Rather, it’s a nun who helped save a woman’s life. Doctors describe her as saintly. (more…)

Well, on a personal health note, there is some news.

The first is simply I’m in day three of feeling like I finally have something like my normal energy.  Which means I’m doing more (and feeling energised rather than innervated by it) than I’ve done since my gastric bypass surgery.  It feels good, and I hope it continues. (more…)

Well, today we commemorate Augustine of Canterbury.  And I have to admit, I don’t normally think of him when I think of the Anglican via media.  But, at Gregory’s direction, rather than adhering strictly to the Roman rite, he made at least some allowance for Celtic practices that were ongoing when he arrived.  And, as our first Archbishop of Canterbury, that had to help set a tone. (more…)

Well, I had to fight the balloons.  But for the moment you can hear my Pentecost sermon (about how God litlerally had to set the apostles on fire to get them out of the room and into the world) in our audio files here (for May 23, 2010).

Just a teaser from Dylan’s Grace Notes on theological education.  (If you want to see more after reading below, you can find it here.)  Here goes:

a radical solution re: theological education

I hear a lot of complaining about seminary education. But it’s worth noting that the complaints come mostly from a particular place. I also hear a lot of questions — from the same place — about what creative solution will solve the financial and other problems the church faces around theological education. I’ve got a radical solution, but I think it’s worth reflecting more generally for a bit first. (more…)

The Indigo Girls have a new album available for pre order here.   This is dated 5/17/10 on their home pages …   That’s always big news to me.

For those of you interested in the emerging church and Ian Mobsby comments here on his blog.

Found this on Brian Baker’s blog (he found it on You Tube).  It will NOT be everyone’s cup of tea, but it’s a powerful rant.  Click here to see it.  (I note that there is definite language in this video.)

Thanks to Susan’s note, I found this at St. Dunstan’s Priory, about Bede Griffiths, about whom I had not heard before, who they commemorate May 13 (my father’s birthday):

Bede Griffiths (17 December 1906 – 13 May 1993), born Alan Richard Griffiths and also known as Swami Dayananda (Bliss of Compassion), was a British-born Benedictine monk who lived in ashrams in South India. He was born at Walton-on-Thames, England and studied literature at Magdalen College, Oxford under professor and Christian apologist C. S. Lewis, who became a lifelong friend. Griffiths recounts the story of his conversion in 1931 to Roman Catholicism while a student at Oxford in his autobiography The Golden String. (more…)