Don't know if anybody's watching but...

Like a bald, out of shape rock band, I'll be appearing in some other (blog) venue... check the Anglican blogosphere on Monday, March 19th (2012, that is, in case some future civilization runs across this).

Amos 5:13

It is time for me to close the blog.

First and foremost, I am finally admitting that my life as I am living it is not
effective for things that matter most, and I need to take a calm look and ask God what changes are needed.

I have tried to respond to the special needs of my family and the needs of my parish by taking a second job that provides good health care for the former and reduces some budget pressure on the latter.

The net result is that neither my family nor my parish are well served by me as a person. I'm not available enough to either one in the personal, intangible ways that provide some of God's best stuff, and my stress annoys both family and parish. Tasks get done, errands get run, events get held. At the end of the day, most of that doesn't stand up to the question, "So what?" Blogging becomes a waste of time under such conditions.

"Seek first the kingdom of God," says Jesus, "and God will take care of the basic stuff." I need to get my priorities back in order. Too many concerns about too many things are shrivelling the fruit of the Spirit in my life.

And then there's the obvious problem of "niche." There's really not much to report about Episcopal/Anglican doings. Looking across the Episcopal/Anglican blogosphere, every day seems to be a slow news day. It's all been said. Continued commentary becomes self -... what? Self-serving? Self-deceiving? Self-absorbed? Anyway, there are facebook pages, tweets, blogs, websites and other media way out of proportion to the tiny Episcopal/Anglican presence in North America. If our action ever caught up with our words we might be dangerous.

I've met some great folks, in and out of church, by keeping up this blog. I certainly give thanks for that. Hope some good stuff came your way as a visitor here. I'll avoid the obligatory "sorry if anything hurt you," because relationships are not built or rebuilt by that kind of boilerplate. I will, however, confess that I've been the bad guy sometimes in stuff posted here.

God's peace be with you.

JAMA needs 14 studies to find out what a South Dakotan in a driveway can tell ya

USA TODAY:

"An analysis of 14 previous heart studies in this week's Journal of the American Medical Association suggests that irregular bouts of physical activity can be a trigger for a heart attack or sudden death, while infrequent episodes of sexual activity increased the risk for just heart attacks. No studies looked at the association of sexual activity and sudden cardiac death."

Or as folks here have always warned me, there's a "heart attack season" when folks emerge from winter inactivity and overeating to shovel a bunch of heavy March snow.

South Dakota's Governor signs 3-day wait for abortion into law; activist lawsuits next

Daugaard signs 3-day wait for abortion into law

"The bill requires women to wait 72 hours between contacting an abortion provider and having an abortion. It also requires them to seek counseling with crisis pregnancy centers, groups that consult 'with women for the purpose of helping them keep their relationship with their unborn children,' before undergoing the procedure...

"...'I think everyone agrees with the goal of reducing abortion by encouraging consideration of other alternatives,' Daugaard said. 'I hope that women who are considering an abortion will use this three-day period to make good choices.'"

ACLU and Planned Parenthood threatened the state with lawsuit expenses if the Governor signed, and that's exactly what's next.

The hyperbole and emoting are well underway around the net and the news. I'm not linking to the commentary on this as folks on all "sides" can probably recite all the arguments from memory, and we all just aggravate one another.

It is truly hard to add anything of value to this debate - I understand the critique, even within Christian commentary - about churches seeming to line up on this or that "political" side or wallowing in single issue causes.

But I also react badly to the viciousness and, frankly, incoherence on the "choice side." People who are about social justice, "It takes a village to raise a child," (quotes are because it's someone else words I'm borrowing, not sarcasm) and science become libertarians, radical individualists and vulgar know-nothings on this one issue. I've seen their middle fingers on 41st Street here in Sioux Falls, absorbed their F-bombs, and seen the absolute crazy hate in their eyes.

Most of all, I stand aghast at the endless assertion of a "right" to abort that ignores any substantive discussion of when life begins, or when a couple's responsibility for pregnancy kicks in, or what form the community's responsibility to couples should take - a "right" defended in constant abstractions and evasions that stifle rather than support human understanding and relationship.

Look, I will be what the shorthand calls "pro-life" no matter what any particular law says. And there are plenty of other things that people like me preach, at which people - even church people - roll their eyes, walk away and do the opposite. Goes with the job.

Saddest thing? On something as basic as human love, bonding and life-giving, we are politicized and polarized, dehumanized in some really tragic ways. Elective abortion is just one symptom of the deep wounds in our culture. May we find the path to healing and wholeness - to life.

Some moral thoughts - and an example - from ESPN.com

When I was back in L.A. last year, I walked around the USC campus and even said a prayer over by Heritage Hall for Pat Haden, who had accepted the Athletic Director position with a clean up job in front of him.

I sent him a note to tell him he was in my prayers, and he sent a kind message in reply.

ESPN.com's Johnette Howard thinks that the example he's set deserves more attention and emulation, and says so in an editorial:

...In addition to practical moves like beefing up USC's compliance department and appointing a senior-level liaison (read: watchdog) over the football program and trouble-magnet coach Lane Kiffin, Haden embarked right away on a listening tour with coaches and athletes throughout the USC program. He has said it sparked a lot of introspection about his own life as a student-athlete, and he's made a concerted effort to stress to current athletes how they should look beyond the baseline or goal line and ahead to the rest of their lives.

"I'm embarrassed I can't speak a second language fluently," Haden told the New York Times in the same story in which Nikias spoke. "I should have taken advantage more of this international population here. I wish I would have done some research in one of the labs here. I wish I would have tried out for a play. Isn't that the point of the college experience -- getting outside your comfort zone? So I'm definitely going to encourage it."

If you think about it, what Haden is encouraging, really, is a departure from how athletes are too often apart from the rest of the academy, a theme that critics of big-time college sports have been harping on for years. Beneath Haden's message is a sort of Renaissance-man twist, an exhortation to find a higher purpose. And consider the possible implications: Couldn't it follow that if you could change student-athletes' view of themselves, and their consciousness of how they fit into the bigger world around them, it might change their ethos too?

Would jocks still feel so entitled and special if they got out of their bubble a little more and got some contradictory evidence that they really ain't all that in the grand scheme of things? Might they not be more humbled when presented with flesh-and-blood proof that, yes, they may be the latest guys who arrived at USC able to juke a linebacker or throw a tight spiral, but compared to someone as accomplished as Haden -- who did all that and so much more, yet still talks with genuine humility about what's left to achieve -- there's still so much more to strive for? So much that makes a meaningful life? Is the secret to a better NCAA insisting on, not retreating from, the idea of building better people?

That's an idealistic approach, all right. And so what? What does the NCAA or scandal-weary college sports fans have to lose? Haden's tone is better than all these coaches and administrations who throw up their hands and just agree, "College sports is broken, all right."

Other people may give lip service to reform, but so far, anyway, Haden and Nikias are trying to live it at one of the most sports-addled behemoths on the college map. It's early, granted. But the way Haden handled the O'Neill situation even though the Trojans risked missing the NCAA tournament underscored that USC is serious. So why not nominate Haden for an even bigger stage?

Haden for NCAA President.

Now.

Some great pics of Sioux Falls...

...by KELO AM Morning host Greg Belfrage



He's got all kinds of good ones at his flickr gallery.

Cranmer Blog: On this day, 455 years ago, Archbishop Cranmer was martyred

Plenty of good material, including two videos, on the genius of Anglicanism's Book of Common Prayer.

There are excerpts from a 2006 sermon by the present Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, at a 2006 commemoration of Cranmer's martyrdom, including

"...It led Cranmer - as it led so many others in that nightmare age, as it led the martyrs of our own age - Bonhoeffer, Maria Skobtsova, Janani Luwum - to something more than a contemplative silence: to a real death. When we say that the word of God is not bound, we say that death itself can be the living speech of God, as the Word was uttered once and for all in the silence at the end of Good Friday. Cranmer speaks, not only in the controlled passion of those tight balances and repetitions in his Prayer Book, but in that chilling final quarter of an hour. He ran through the downpour to the town ditch and held out his right hand, his writing hand, for a final composition, a final liturgy. And, because the word of God is not bound, it is as if that hand in the flames becomes an icon of the right hand of Majesty stretched out to us for defence and mercy."

This is the first video he shares. If you now or have ever used a BCP, I think you will be moved. And if you haven't, take a few moments and I think you will find some surprises in this:

Episcopal Bishop gets honest: Lawsuits are for property to liquidate, not use

The usual talking point used by Episcopalians to justify spending millions of church dollars on lawsuits against other Christians is reflected here:

"We have a responsibility to protect the property, name and other assets built up over 170 years by North Texas Episcopalians for use by future generations." Bishop Wallace Ohl

But in an interview run in the Modesto (CA) Bee newspaper last Saturday, Bishop Chester Talton says,

"The national church is supporting the diocese to a considerable extent. We expect the diocese will regain its assets and property and that will assist in paying back those costs."

h/t Anglican Curmudgeon

Episcopal House of Bishops punted to activists, it appears

Baby Blue posts the resolution enabling a process (spending lots of church money on junkets for activists) to further mire The Episcopal Church in a narrow agenda. From resolution C056, General Convention 2009:

"Resolved, That the Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music, in consultation with the House of Bishops, devise an open process for the conduct of its work inviting participation from provinces, dioceses, congregations, and individuals who are engaged in such theological work, and inviting theological reflection from throughout the Anglican Communion..."

So, the Standing Commission on Liturgy & Music held a big do last Friday-Saturday in Hotlanta - while the Bishops themselves were traveling to other venues. It appears that the Bishops simply handed this whole thing over to the activists ("inviting participation from provinces, dioceses, congregations and individuals who are engaged in such theological work...")

Frankly, "theological reflection" was invited from the Anglican Communion, which said "no thanks" in 1998. "Theological reflection" was invited from the House of Bishops Theology Committee in 2003 and they said, "Not the right time for the church to do this." "Theological reflection" was "invited" from the 10% of the Episcopal Church's active members who subsequently left to form a separate denomination, and thousands more who simply walked out the church door and never came back.

Campy, sorry, pathetic joke on the lot of us.

Good caution for bloggers... and me especially when I comment

Warning: Some language may offend.

AP Feature on Indian Youth Suicide Crisis

POPLAR, Mont. | AP Enterprise: Indian youth suicide crisis baffles | The Herald - Rock Hill, SC

"Suicide is the second-leading cause of death behind unintentional injuries among Indian children and young adults, and is on the rise, according to the Indian Health Service. Native Americans ages 10 to 24 killed themselves at more than twice the rate of similarly aged whites, according to the most recent data available from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention."

The Diocese of South Dakota is working to implement an ambitious model of at-risk youth ministry on the Standing Rock and Cheyenne River Reservations. The model seeks to raise up local leadership from among the Tribal young people. Details are on the first page of the latest Diocesan newsletter.

Fr. Tony Clavier (formerly SD): Sermon at Consecration of Bp. Dan Martins

SERMON AT CONSECRATION « h/t Bryan Owens via fb

Excerpts:

"Eric Mascall, one of the greatest theologians of the 20th Century disliked the term 'apostolic succession.' It can mean that Anglican obsession with proving itself valid and authentic. It may also sound like Genealogy, which my mother always said provided one with ancestors one would never invite to tea...

"You Dan are also being incorporated into the worldwide College of Bishops. You must constantly remind us that we are not an American sect or a Western sect, but rather, as our Constitution reminds us and the Creeds teach, part of the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church. Holding the universal and the local in tension without favoring one over the other seems to tax our imagination, particularly when we consider the Covenant, which I support. It is not difficult for God, who is Trinity in unity and unity in Trinity...

"Jesus is described in the New Testament as 'Prophet, Priest and King' and we, the church, through our baptism share in this vocation. Perhaps only Jesus is truly Prophet, Priest and King. The Church as God sees it is a reflection of such a ministry. We, alas, are fallen.

"Dear Dan, my friend, don’t attempt to be prophetic. It’s an assumption tending towards personal vanity. I hear there is a long line of new bishops in our church applying for the charism of Prophet, a smaller line applying for Priest, while no bishop in the US has applied for King since 1776.

"Stand as the Priest in this diocese, bring your people and the world to God, in submission and prayer. Stand for God and your people and this mid western world as you offer God’s forgiveness and love.

The Early Church abolished the order of prophet. It had become a nuisance! Remember that our Lord is the Prophet. The church isn’t a playground to be fixed, it is the Body of Christ. Rather be a pastoral bishop and draw all sides of our divided church into unity. Today there are people in this place together who usually would not wish to be seen together in our divided church. Jesus has enabled you to draw them together to pray for you Dan and to consecrate you. One hopes this is not a lost opportunity. We can find similar ways to enter into dialog without renouncing our principles. Remember that there is a chance that our principles are not God’s, or not entirely of God..."

Latest meetings show Episcopal Church fragmented, incoherent and in some cases dishonest

I am still trying to make heads or tails of this:

Lay and clergy Deputies of the Episcopal Church General Convention (although not all of them, just one invited guest from each geographic diocese) met with the Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music in Atlanta on March 18-19 to develop rationale (bit late for that, as you will see) and ceremonies celebrating same sex relationships.

Meanwhile, it appears that the House of Bishops, the ministers of the church who are "to represent Christ and his Church, particularly as apostle, chief priest, and pastor of a diocese; to guard the faith, unity, and discipline of the whole Church; to proclaim the Word of God; to act in Christ's name for the reconciliation of the world and the building up of the Church; and to ordain others to continue Christ's ministry" (Book of Common Prayer, p. 855) were not included in the event.

It is hard to get a handle on the House of Bishop's schedule - I've checked various Bishops' calendars at diocesan websites and it appears that some are using this weekend to travel to Kanuga, NC for spring meetings. It is possible that some of them went to the LGBT conference in Atlanta, but it does not appear that the HOB was there as a body or in an official role. It's also clear that the Presiding Bishop and others spent Saturday in Springfield, IL for the consecration of a new Bishop.

It is nonsense to have a handpicked group of single-issue activists articulating the church's teaching and worship without the participation of the order of ministry charged with those responsibilities. The Episcopal Church includes all orders of ministry (including lay people) in decision making bodies, but each order has some unique responsibilities. A "theology and worship" meeting without Bishops is incoherent in an "Episcopal" church.

But it gets crazier than that. The Underground Pewster has the video report of the event, and it turns out that many dioceses, despite The Episcopal Church's representations of "restraint" to other Anglicans around the world, have been holding same sex ceremonies for some time. And over half of those who admit to having done them did not engage in any kind of theological discussion or teaching with their congregations - they just went ahead (even ahead of pro-LGBT resolutions) and did what they pleased - lying about it all the time to the rest of the church.

Meanwhile, in the UK, liberal Christian and LGBT supporter Theo Hobson wrote a scathing editorial about the LGBT activist wing of the church becoming a "self-righteous subculture" that makes the church less inclusive and effective, even for progressives.

"put to flight all the darkness of hatred"

Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams led this prayer at the memorial for murdered Christian Pakistani Official Shahbaz Bhatti last week:

"God our Father, whose power is shown in compassion and whose justice gives hope to all your creation, strengthen with your mercy and justice all who work for peace and understanding between nations, between communities of faith, and between neighbours. May the gift of your Spirit of truth and peace be poured out especially upon the people and leaders of Pakistan, so that fear may be overcome, prejudice and hatred be taken away, and trust restored.

"We give you thanks for the witness of all who have risked their lives for reconciliation, and pray that all who live at risk because of their faith will know your presence and your blessing, and be given the courage to seek a place at the feet of Jesus. May the people of Pakistan be renewed and revived, an example of just and loving fellowship in the service of the common good; and may the suffering Church there and elsewhere put to flight all the darkness of hatred in human hearts.

All this we ask for the sake of our crucified Saviour, Jesus Christ, who gave his life so that all might be reconciled to you in the communion of the Holy Spirit. Amen."

Prayers as U.S. joins military action in Libya

Allies Open Push in Libya to Block Qaddafi Assaults - NYTimes.com

From The Book of Common Prayer (1979)

For Peace: Eternal God, in whose perfect kingdom no sword is drawn
but the sword of righteousness, no strength known but the
strength of love: So mightily spread abroad your Spirit, that
all peoples may be gathered under the banner of the Prince of
Peace, as children of one Father; to whom be dominion and
glory, now and for ever. Amen.

For our Enemies: O God, the Father of all, whose Son commanded us to love our enemies: Lead them and us from prejudice to truth: deliver them and us from hatred, cruelty, and revenge; and in your good time enable us all to stand reconciled before you, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

For those in the Armed Forces of our Country: Almighty God, we commend to your gracious care and keeping all the men and women of our armed forces at home and abroad. Defend them day by day with your heavenly grace; strengthen them in their trials and temptations; give them courage to face the perils which beset them; and grant them a sense of your abiding presence wherever they may be; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Hot Rod Anglican: a poem to his wife

I left this comment at his blog:

My Lenten discipline this year is ruthless dedication to dates with my wife each week. Thank you for this. It is timely and encouraging for my soul.

Hot Rod Anglican: The Figurehead

The Figurehead

I am my true love's head, but she the neck:
The crown of Christ's authority I wear.
But she, by will or whimsy, doth direct
All motions of the crown, the head, the hair.

That God created man a quadruped,
Beloved brother Gilbert taught us well!
But which shall be the tail, and which the head?
And how to steer this monster, who can tell?

To all her wifely wisdom, I submit.
But, is such abdication not unjust?
How so, if I employ her sense and wit?
If in my love my heart doth safely trust?

May God, by Whose great wisdom we were wed,
Have mercy upon me, a figurehead.

UPDATED: Some personal connections with St. Joseph on his day

St. Joseph's Roman Catholic Cathedral is a prominent landmark here in Sioux Falls.



We moved here from San Juan Capistrano, CA. That is where swallows complete their spring migration and build their nests in the walls of the old mission, arriving like clockwork every March 19th.



Most personally, St. Joseph was called by God to be a caregiver - to provide for Mary and Jesus as a plan well beyond his understanding played out. As husband and dad in a special needs family, I find comfort and inspiration in Joseph.



UPDATE: Oh, yeah, I forgot (earlier post was pre-coffee): OUR SON IS A JOSEPH!!!!!

A collection of photos from South Dakota history

And it starts with the Deadwood stagecoach, which wasn't just a movie cliche!

A parishioner sent the link on to me - there are 66 photos from a John C. Grabill collection shot in the late 1800s.

Hell yes

Matt Perkins found this great commentary from prolific English author and lay theologian Dorothy Sayers:

There seems to be a kind of conspiracy, especially among middle-aged writers of vaguely liberal tendency, to forget, or to conceal, where the doctrine of Hell comes from. One finds frequent references to the "cruel and abominable mediaeval doctrine of hell," or "the childish and grotesque mediaeval imagery of physical fire and worms." . . .
But the case is quite otherwise; let us face the facts. The doctrine of hell is not " mediaeval": it is Christ's. It is not a device of "mediaeval priestcraft" for frightening people into giving money to the church: it is Christ's deliberate judgment on sin. The imagery of the undying worm and the unquenchable fire derives, not from "mediaeval superstition," but originally from the Prophet Isaiah, and it was Christ who emphatically used it. . . . It confronts us in the oldest and least "edited" of the gospels: it is explicit in many of the most familiar parables and implicit in many more: it bulks far larger in the teaching than one realizes, until one reads the Evangelists [gospels] through instead of picking out the most comfortable texts: one cannot get rid of it without tearing the New Testament to tatters. We cannot repudiate Hell without altogether repudiating Christ.

It's (not) the end of the world as we know it?

There's the headline: "Death rate down, life expectancy up in U.S."

"•Death rates declined for heart disease (down 3.7%), cancer (1.1%), chronic lower respiratory diseases (4.1%), stroke (4.2%), accidents (4.1%), Alzheimer's disease (4.1%), diabetes (4.1%), influenza and pneumonia (4.7%), septicemia (1.8%) and homicide (6.8%)."

With all the terrible news from Japan, the upheavals in the Middle East, our own internal polarization and melodrama, it is easy to read sweeping bad news and "signs" into it (and of course blame somebody we don't like if at all possible).

Some things are worse, some are better, all change. For Christians, a good time for sober attention to our Lord's straightforward counsel:

As he sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the close of the age?” And Jesus answered them, “See that no one leads you astray. For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and they will lead many astray. And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are but the beginning of the birth pains...“But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only." Matthew 24:3-8, 36