What One Can Do

A really interesting article from the online edition of Time magazine about a woman who found a really interesting way to help HIV/AIDS orphans in Africa and make room in her freezer. More info is also online at the IMBP website.

Tags: Africa, HIV/AIDS, IBMP, iThemba Lethu, One, orphans, The Madison Cassady Program

Chance? then into Clothing and onto Portland

Some people think things happen by chance, I'm not one of them.

I was using one of the campus IT Lab (aka the total geek lab) Macs and when I started to type in the URL for Blogger's main log in page, a blogger profile link showed up in Firefox's history. Interested to see whose it was, I followed the link. And found Mike's profile. From there I ended up at his blog, Letters From Paphos. One of his more interesting posts, imho, is the one about the Sudanese Bishop. I'd love to know what Paul Harvey called "the rest of the story" on that one.

It was also on Letters From Paphos that I found a link to Mark Driscoll's post - Dear Abby: Can I wear my swim trunks to church? - which is a very interesting look at attire and worship. (Could someone let St. Nick know that I'd love a "WWJD for a Klondike Bar" t-shirt in a nice roomy oversized xl for Christmas?)

Speaking of dessing up, or not, on Sunday mornings, I'm going back home to the PacNW for Christmas. That means that I'll be dressing up for mass. Most people think Texas is dressier than the PacNW. If you were alive and in the US in the 1990s, can you say Grunge without thinking Seattle?

Uh, I didn't think so.

In Oregon, I often dressed better on Sunday than anyother day of the week. In Texas, I only dress up when I have to. Otherwise it is jeans and t-shirt, occasionally jeans and a nice top. Won't be wearing jeans in Oregon, not on Sunday mornings or at Midnight Mass. (Well the last Sunday up in the PacNW, the one known, liturgically speaking, as The First Sunday of Christmas, I'll most likely be going to church with my mom, and that congreation is non-denominational and way more casual than the local Episcopal Cathedral Cathedral.

Speaking of the great PacNW, I was looking for a pic of the Couch (say KOO-ch not couch) Street enterance to Powells to show a friend a pic of that column of books that they have there. And in the proccess of using Google's Image search found a really cool series of blog entries about a trip last summer to Portland by a San Diego-based foodie blogger.

(Speaking of food, while getting the tag codes from Technorati, I found out that Fast Food Nation the movie comes out this Friday! Cool!)

Tags: Christmas, clothing, not by chance, other bloggers, Pacific NW, Portland, proper attire, Sudan, what to wear to mass

A Really Cool Video

This is a really cool video. Tip of the hat to Ash for posting the link on her blog.



Tags: Free Hugs Campaign, hugs, Video, YouTube

Found on YouTube

Found this on YouTube - very very very interesting opinion by a UK pastor (no mention of denomination) on G. W. Bush with a touch of opinion on Brit PM Tony Blair.



Tags: opinion, Video, YouTube

Update - 24 November 2006: +David in Scotland, who I call the Blogging Bishop, since he is the first bishop in the entire worldwide Anglican Communion I ever heard of who had a blog, nicely took up my challenge to post his much more educated comments on this video that I found on YouTube.

Cat Blogging Day

I couldn't miss Cat Blogging Day which I heard was today. (see previous post "Clawed Monet")



Some other cat blogging posts

• she just LOVES the New Testament from Dylan


• A word from Poppy via +David

Also, though it has nothing to do with Cat Blogging Day, I found Dave Walker's post "A Guide to Ecclesiastical Posture" hilarious. And for some thought provoking reading see what Flax on Friday recently wrote. And for some serious thinking reading see "The Mystical Christ" post at Father Jake Stops the World.

Tags: Cat-blogging, cat blogging, Clawed Monet, friday-cat-blogging, Friday Cat Blogging, other-bloggers, other bloggers, photoblog, previous posts

NaNoWriMo

I'm doing NaNoWriMo again this year. Maybe I'll finish. Maybe. Current word count is about 3,014.

Tags: Fiction, NaNoWriMo, Novel, Word-count, Word Count, Writing

Tag found while looking for the tags above that has one of the strangest tag names I've seen recently - baptist liturgical practices (tag code for this tag link has been detagged, but the link will work)

Thoughts on the Investiture

(Updated - 18 November 2006 - Note: the DVD of the Investiture is now available. ENS has the details. And as of yesterday the webcast was still available for streaming. There is also an offical website for the new PB. And you can also preorder her new book A Wing and a Prayer: A Message of Faith and Hope which will be out on 1 February 2007.)

My rambling thoughts, somewhat organized and linked, on the shattering of the proverbial stained glass ceiling, or at least the TEC part of it, earlier today. I wrote them during the webcast and then added links & formating.

Saturday, November 4, 2006, 11 o’clock, Washington National Cathedral - the Holy Eucharist and the Investiture of The Most Reverend Dr. Katharine Jefferts Schori as Twenty-Sixth Presiding Bishop of The Episcopal Church

Great historical/liturgical explanatory commentary by the two co-hosts (a female priest who also spoke in Spanish and a male deacon)

Multicultural music and inclusion of Native American drumming – good

Also, Native American smudging which I think is way better than resin-laden charcoal heated commercial incense any day of the week if one must have "smells" to go with the bells.

I'm pretty sure I spotted +Johncy Itty, 9th Bishop of Oregon in the HoB procession

I've been to The National Cathedral of Saints Peter & Paul in the past and the Nave seemed so much smaller on the web-cast than it in real life

1st Hymn – Holy, Holy, Holy – very good, one of my favorite hymns
Words: Reginald Heber (1783-1826), alt. Music: Nicaea, John Bacchus Dykes (1823-1876). Public Domain.

More Native American drumming – cool (drummers were Oglala Lakota – Paiute from Wadsworth, NV)

Welcome from ++Frank Griswald, the 25th Presiding Bishop

+++Rowan sent the Bishop of Lincoln as his personal representative – yet 9 yrs ago +++George came to ++Frank’s investiture

Those are some “interesting” vestments that she’s wearing – she is a baby boomer with a degree from Oregon State (GO BEAVS!) so maybe that is why I kept thinking “tie-dye” since I grew up in the shadow of OSU in the 70s.

More drumming, then the Organ with Tympanum (kettle like drums) and The National Brass (2 trumpets & 2 trombones) and dancers with colorful banners dancing around the Font – the dancers were from The Omega Liturgical Dance Company in residence at The Cathedral of St. John the Divine, NYC

Another good hymn - Christ is made the sure foundation
Words: Latin, ca. 7th cent.; tr. Hymns Ancient and Modern, 1861, after John Mason Neale (1818-1856), alt. Music: Westminster Abbey, Henry Purcell (1659-1695), adapt. Public Domain.

1st reading from Isaiah 25:1-9 – good lector, good selection for the Old Testament reading

Could have been a slightly longer pause for reflection between the reading and the singing of Psalm 98 (sung by the Choir of St. Thomas Episcopal with congregational singing on the refrain) – but I have that sort of complaint about my own parish and others I’ve been at – rarely is one given enough time for quiet reflection after the scripture readings

New Testament reading from Ephesians 4:1-8, 11-16 – a very perfect reading selection all things considered – “one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all” and this time there was a slightly longer pause for reflection, though it could have been twice as long since the passage is one that some in HoB (though I doubt those particular bishops were there) could do some thinking on.

Whoa – was that Madeleine Albright – first female Secretary of State and famous Episcopalian – that I saw in the congregation during the singing of Alleluia (Music: Waltier Blocker) before the Gospel reading? It sure looked a lot like her.

Gospel Reading from St. Luke 4:14-21

So was the Gospel reader (listed as the Reverend DeLaney Armstead) a priest or a deacon? Actually, I don’t think deacons get to wear copes so he must be a priest, but why have a priest read the Gospel when there was obviously no shortage of vested deacons present? Hum? Or do deacons get to wear copes? (I’ve never seen one in one, but that doesn’t mean it couldn’t happen.)

Sure enough ++KJS worked the MDGs into the homily and did it in the context of home and shalom and the Kingdom of God - ENS has the homily text online

“the writer of Ephesians” – why that phrase and not "Saint Paul in Ephesians"? just wondering

She also worked in loving our neighbors (see St. Matthew 22:36-39)

I swear I heard her say something about acknowledging that some have felt hurt by recent changes in the Church, but I couldn't find it in the online text of her homily, but I'm pretty sure I heard something along those lines

She also quoted Saint Augustine – “that as Christians, we are prisoners of hope”

And she worked the phrase “make poverty history” into the homily too

Sort of a long homily which is why I guess ENS called it a sermon

There was some choppiness in the web-cast during the Cathedral Choir’s singing of Michael McCarthy’s Vidi aquam, but what little bit I did hear sounded good.

Renewal of Baptism Vows – could hear ++KJS’s voice on both her lines and the responses - the liturgy used for the Renewal of Baptismal Vows comes from the Baptismal Covenant begining on page 303 of the BCP 1979 as well as page 12 of the Leaflet

PoP in multiple languages – made me think of Pentecost

Music during sprinkling of water from Font –excellent – it was sung by all, twice in Zulu, once in English, once in Spanish, and then repeated in Zulu.
Words: South African; Spanish words, Bernardo Murray (b. 1965) Music: Siyahamba, South African. Used by permission.
First phrase in English “We are marching in the light of God” – I think this comes for either LEVAS II or WLP and I have heard it before

Noticed +KJS singing along on the Spanish verse (I hear she speaks Spanish) and no she didn’t have a program in her hand.

During the Passing of Peace – and this is inside the Cathedral Nave – I noticed at one point a very short distance behind the new PB a fully uniformed security guard or police officer (I don’t know what the DCPD uniforms look like enough to know the difference) nor could I tell if he was armed, but it is sort of a sorry state of things to have to have one there because someone could try and do something

After the Peace – announcements by the Dean of the National Cathedral and then a message of greeting from +++Rowan read by the Bishop of Lincoln (CoE)

Good words and advice from +++Rowan – short and to the point (looked for text online but didn't find it, if I do, I'll post it

Collection goes to help sustain the ministry of ERD in support of the MDGs

Anthem at the Offertory
Bryan Kelly’s setting of the Magnificat sung by the Cathedral Choir
The words of the Magnificat used appear to be the ones from Rite I of the Daily Office “He remembering his mercy hath holpen his servant Israel,”

Offertory Acclamation – Through North and South
Words: from Songs of Praise, alt. Music: Lasst uns erfreuen, melody from Auserlesene Catholische Geistliche Kirchengeseng, 1623; adapted and harmonized Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958), alt. Used by permission.

Rite II, Prayer B – one of my faves, but Prayer C would have been cool, considering the “moon rock window” at National Cathedral

Sanctus & Benedictus
Music: From A Community Mass; Richard Proulx (b. 1937) Copyright © 1971, 1977 GIA Publications, Inc. Used by permission.
One of my favorite settings

Traditional language version of the Our Father – so glad they didn’t use that horrid non-poetic contemporary language version – in fact I’d rather hear the NZ BCP one than the clanging in the ears contemporary option from the 79BCP

Fraction Anthem – One bread, one body
Words: 1 Corinthians 10:16, 17; 12:4; Galatians 3:28; The Didache 9 Music: John B. Foley, SJ. © 1978 John B. Foley, SJ and New Dawn Music, P.O. Box 13248, Portland, OR 97213. All Rights Reserved. Used by Permission.
Another wonderful piece of music and this one has an Oregon connection – just like ++KJS

Invitation to Communion in the leaflet doesn’t mention Baptism – something that will probably make some people upset, but I don't recall anywhere in the NT where it actually says if anyone at the Last Supper other than Jesus had been Baptized (and none of them would have been Baptized using a Trinitarian form anyway since it was pre-Pentecost)

Music during Communion
Sung by the Cathedral Choir

Draw nigh and take the body of the Lord
David Hogan (1949-1996) Bangor Antiphoner, c. 690; tr. J. M. Neal, 1851

Sung by all

Tú has venido
Words: Cesáreo Gabaraín (1936-1991), alt. trans. Madeleine F. Marshall, alt. Music: Pescador, Cesáreo Gabaraín (1936-1991), alt. harm. Skinner Chávez-Melo (1944-1992). Used by permission.
Words in English and Spanish in leaflet, sung in Spanish

Sung by SOL
Todo Lo Puedo Hacer / I Can Do All Things
Sandra Montes
Words in both English and Spanish, sung in Spanish

Sung by the St. Thomas Gospel Choir

Communion Praise
Arranged by Waltier Blocker
Words in English, sung in English

Melody of Oh the blood of Jesus, Come over here, & There is power in the Blood

Hymn after Communion
Sung by all
Seek ye first
Words: St. 1, Matthew 6:33; adapt. Karen Lafferty (20th cent.). St. 2, Matthew 7:7 Music: Seek Ye First, Karen Lafferty (20th cent.) Words: Copyright © 1972, Maranatha! Music. All Rights Reserved. International Copyright Secured. Used by permission.
(Another favorite of mine)

Post communion prayer by Bishop Edmond Browning (PB #24)

Then blessing by +KJS, PB#26, in Spanish (using traditional Trinitarian language)

Hymn at the closing - sung by all
Lord, you give the great commission
Words: Jeffery Rowthorn (b. 1934). Music: Abbot’s Leigh, Cyril Vincent Taylor (1907-1991). Used by permission.
I don’t know as I’ve heard this one before.

The Deacon who gave the dismissal has a very booming voice.

++KJS is being seated tomorrow - here's the liturgy leaflet for that

I think I found a typo in the Leaflet near the end where they have “St. Albans Church” instead of “St. Alban’s Church” – in the announcement about where refreshments were available after the service.

Tags: 4 November 2006, Anglican Communion, Episcopal Church, Investiture, Liturgy, opinion, Presiding Bishop & Stained Glass Ceiling

PS Another blog with a post on the Investiture. Also a link to CNN's coverage of the Investiture. Tip of the hat to Ellie