We have windows open at 10:13 p.m. and air conditioning off!
I'm astonished by the summer in New England this year. We usually get 90's and 95% humidity in July and August. So far there's only been one day that I would consider Summer In New England. We sit outside and read most every day, Bern and I. I haven't cursed the gods of summer once yet.
So what's this about?
It tried to rain all afternoon but couldn't, yet there was a cool breeze and it wasn't humid.
I'm beginning to feel like I live on a mountain though Cheshire is probably about 300 feet above sea level--if that.
I'm not complaining...far from it...if this is August in New England I'm glad I live here!
I just don't get it.
But I'm not complaining...not a bit...keep August coming like this....
Friday, August 1, 2014
Thursday, July 31, 2014
David is dead....
David Bolton, a priest of the church, died on July 19. He was 85. He lived on an island off Maine but I knew him in New Haven.
David was Rector of Christ Church, the great Anglo-Catholic parish in New Haven. I was Rector of St. Paul's, the left wing broad church in New Haven.
When he retired, sometimes between 1980 and 1985, I took him to lunch to say good-bye.
He told me, during lunch that he had prayed for decades for God to speak out loud and in English to him and 'tell him what to do'.
It was an interesting and odd story until he told me that God had answered that prayer.
I dropped my fork full of seafood salad and gaped at him.
"What was that like?" I asked, full of confusion and wonder.
"Well," David told me, "he had a Mid-Atlantic accent...."
"No!" I said, not caring what God's accent was (though I should have cared, I believe), "what did God say????"
David took a bite of good French bread and chewed it and swallowed it. Then he said, "He told me, 'David, do whatever comes next,' in a slightly exasperated tone.
Jesus, the only time I get to hear what God says out loud and in a Maryland accent, it is that banal--"David, do whatever comes next."
Maybe David exasperated God with his decades of prayers. And maybe God answered his question the only way that made sense.
Maybe that's what happened.
But a Maryland accent? I'm not even sure what that means besides saying 'Bal-ti-mor'.
I send a prayer to God for David's soul...he was a good, a very good man. But God probably already knows that since God spoke out loud to David, in English, with a Maryland accent and told him the most reasonable thing: 'David, do whatever comes next.'
May David's soul and the souls of all the faithful departed rest in peace.
David was Rector of Christ Church, the great Anglo-Catholic parish in New Haven. I was Rector of St. Paul's, the left wing broad church in New Haven.
When he retired, sometimes between 1980 and 1985, I took him to lunch to say good-bye.
He told me, during lunch that he had prayed for decades for God to speak out loud and in English to him and 'tell him what to do'.
It was an interesting and odd story until he told me that God had answered that prayer.
I dropped my fork full of seafood salad and gaped at him.
"What was that like?" I asked, full of confusion and wonder.
"Well," David told me, "he had a Mid-Atlantic accent...."
"No!" I said, not caring what God's accent was (though I should have cared, I believe), "what did God say????"
David took a bite of good French bread and chewed it and swallowed it. Then he said, "He told me, 'David, do whatever comes next,' in a slightly exasperated tone.
Jesus, the only time I get to hear what God says out loud and in a Maryland accent, it is that banal--"David, do whatever comes next."
Maybe David exasperated God with his decades of prayers. And maybe God answered his question the only way that made sense.
Maybe that's what happened.
But a Maryland accent? I'm not even sure what that means besides saying 'Bal-ti-mor'.
I send a prayer to God for David's soul...he was a good, a very good man. But God probably already knows that since God spoke out loud to David, in English, with a Maryland accent and told him the most reasonable thing: 'David, do whatever comes next.'
May David's soul and the souls of all the faithful departed rest in peace.
Wednesday, July 30, 2014
So I don't often do this...
I read a lot. 5 or 6 books a week, from Cheshire's library. I am a library rat.
I read dozens of books without recommending one.
But I want to.
Carolyn Barkhurst's novel The Nobodies Album is definitely worth a read.
It is a remarkable story and the stuff that will annoy you at first turns out to be the best stuff of all.
I recommend it highly.
I read dozens of books without recommending one.
But I want to.
Carolyn Barkhurst's novel The Nobodies Album is definitely worth a read.
It is a remarkable story and the stuff that will annoy you at first turns out to be the best stuff of all.
I recommend it highly.
Tuesday, July 29, 2014
On the other hand...
OK, I'm hard on Israel, I admit it. And there is another side of the story that needs telling.
Hamas is perfectly aware of Israel's tendency to strike back to attacks with gusto. That's what Israel does, always has. Israel is surrounded by people who hate them. And Israel has the firepower to respond brutally. And they will.
So, Hamas lobs rockets into Israel that, to this point, have done next to no damage, knowing full well that Israel will respond with a heavy hand. There is a sense in which Hamas is playing a cruel and cynical hand, provoking Israel to strike back, knowing many innocent people will die, hoping to garner world opinion against Israel's over-whelming response to the provocation.
I know that is true. The people of Gaza 'should' rise up against Hamas and trust in people who would carefully and painfully negotiate a "separate state" solution to the madness in Israel. But, again, they probably won't turn against Hamas because people they love are being killed by the Israelis.
It is a cruel and cynical gambit by Hamas. But, ironically, cruelty and cynicism often prove successful.
I think it is next to impossible for any American to 'understand' the Middle East since we are so prone to apply Western psychology to any far-flung conflict. That's why I call it Western psychology--the only people who attempt to explain human behavior by psychology are the folks from Western Europe and North America. Psychological 'thinking' doesn't dominate in the rest of the world. No wonder we are so inept at figuring out what to do about issues in Asia, Africa, Eastern Europe. the Arab world and South America.
Most of the world, beloved, doesn't 'think psychologically'. (Unfortunately for them, many Israelis DO! So they don't understand their enemies at all.) Our categories and evaluations are based on our assumption (false!) that everyone thinks like we in western Europe and North America do....And they don't.
The way the rest of the world thinks isn't less subtle or less sophisticated than we think--it simply doesn't have its foundation in Freud and Jung and Adler. ("Psychological thinking" is just over a century old...it is amazing how totally we in the West have bought into it!)
God help us if we ever meet intelligent creatures from another Universe--we'll start wondering about 'depression' and 'anxiety' and 'bi-polar disorder' and they won't have a clue what we're wondering about.
I think as psychologically as the next person--but I do recognize that as a defect when trying to understand people who don't.....
Hamas is perfectly aware of Israel's tendency to strike back to attacks with gusto. That's what Israel does, always has. Israel is surrounded by people who hate them. And Israel has the firepower to respond brutally. And they will.
So, Hamas lobs rockets into Israel that, to this point, have done next to no damage, knowing full well that Israel will respond with a heavy hand. There is a sense in which Hamas is playing a cruel and cynical hand, provoking Israel to strike back, knowing many innocent people will die, hoping to garner world opinion against Israel's over-whelming response to the provocation.
I know that is true. The people of Gaza 'should' rise up against Hamas and trust in people who would carefully and painfully negotiate a "separate state" solution to the madness in Israel. But, again, they probably won't turn against Hamas because people they love are being killed by the Israelis.
It is a cruel and cynical gambit by Hamas. But, ironically, cruelty and cynicism often prove successful.
I think it is next to impossible for any American to 'understand' the Middle East since we are so prone to apply Western psychology to any far-flung conflict. That's why I call it Western psychology--the only people who attempt to explain human behavior by psychology are the folks from Western Europe and North America. Psychological 'thinking' doesn't dominate in the rest of the world. No wonder we are so inept at figuring out what to do about issues in Asia, Africa, Eastern Europe. the Arab world and South America.
Most of the world, beloved, doesn't 'think psychologically'. (Unfortunately for them, many Israelis DO! So they don't understand their enemies at all.) Our categories and evaluations are based on our assumption (false!) that everyone thinks like we in western Europe and North America do....And they don't.
The way the rest of the world thinks isn't less subtle or less sophisticated than we think--it simply doesn't have its foundation in Freud and Jung and Adler. ("Psychological thinking" is just over a century old...it is amazing how totally we in the West have bought into it!)
God help us if we ever meet intelligent creatures from another Universe--we'll start wondering about 'depression' and 'anxiety' and 'bi-polar disorder' and they won't have a clue what we're wondering about.
I think as psychologically as the next person--but I do recognize that as a defect when trying to understand people who don't.....
Monday, July 28, 2014
So when is 'enough' enough....
Sanity and reasonableness if unraveling each day. Ukraine, thousands of children at our southern boarder, mass kidnappings in Africa, and the chaos in Israel.
This will not make me friends--but I'm old enough that I have enough friends already--when will the world tell Israel 'enough is enough'.
Hamas lobbing rockets into Israel is like Mississippi throwing rocks into Georgia and all the power of the US armed forces being aimed at Mississippi.
Israel has an armed force just inferior to ours. Israel could wipe out the Middle East in a week or so--Iran, Iraq, Syria, Jordan, Saudi Arabia--all of it. Their restraint in not doing that is admirable. But the carnage they're unleashing on Gaza is beyond all belief. A thousand Palestinians, mostly civilians, killed and 4 times that many wounded while a handful of Israeli soldiers and 3 civilians have died--that is far beyond an 'eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth' that the Hebrew Bible allows.
Gaza is, I believe, about the size of New Haven County. Imagine the Marines by land, the Air Force by air and the Navy by sea attacking New Haven County!
It is incredible to me that Israel has a 'get out of jail free' card to play in this latest deadly game of War Monopoly.
How many Palestinians equal one dead Jew? Eight hundred, a thousand, ten thousand? Hamas can't damage Israel in any significant way--it's like Mississippi vs. the US government. No contest.
When will someone say to Israel, "this isn't right...you can't extract this punishment for what are, in essence, 4th of July fireworks fired from Gaza toward you."
How much is 'enough'? And when will some one tell them to stop this madness?
The attacks on Gaza smell of Holocaust. I'm sorry to say that and regret that I wrote it. But at some point Israel has to be brought to task for the literal 'overkill' they always inflict for lamentable offenses against them.
Of course, if Mississippi were launching rockets and lobbing mortars into Georgia, reprisal would be expected...but there is a limit to the size of reprisals that would be tolerated.
There's no such limit on what Israel does when attacked.
There should be. Enough is enough....
This will not make me friends--but I'm old enough that I have enough friends already--when will the world tell Israel 'enough is enough'.
Hamas lobbing rockets into Israel is like Mississippi throwing rocks into Georgia and all the power of the US armed forces being aimed at Mississippi.
Israel has an armed force just inferior to ours. Israel could wipe out the Middle East in a week or so--Iran, Iraq, Syria, Jordan, Saudi Arabia--all of it. Their restraint in not doing that is admirable. But the carnage they're unleashing on Gaza is beyond all belief. A thousand Palestinians, mostly civilians, killed and 4 times that many wounded while a handful of Israeli soldiers and 3 civilians have died--that is far beyond an 'eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth' that the Hebrew Bible allows.
Gaza is, I believe, about the size of New Haven County. Imagine the Marines by land, the Air Force by air and the Navy by sea attacking New Haven County!
It is incredible to me that Israel has a 'get out of jail free' card to play in this latest deadly game of War Monopoly.
How many Palestinians equal one dead Jew? Eight hundred, a thousand, ten thousand? Hamas can't damage Israel in any significant way--it's like Mississippi vs. the US government. No contest.
When will someone say to Israel, "this isn't right...you can't extract this punishment for what are, in essence, 4th of July fireworks fired from Gaza toward you."
How much is 'enough'? And when will some one tell them to stop this madness?
The attacks on Gaza smell of Holocaust. I'm sorry to say that and regret that I wrote it. But at some point Israel has to be brought to task for the literal 'overkill' they always inflict for lamentable offenses against them.
Of course, if Mississippi were launching rockets and lobbing mortars into Georgia, reprisal would be expected...but there is a limit to the size of reprisals that would be tolerated.
There's no such limit on what Israel does when attacked.
There should be. Enough is enough....
Sunday, July 27, 2014
Finishing my creed
GW Frazier, who used to be a member of St. James in Higganum, but now lives in Costa Rica, used to talk to me a lot about his 'creed', as opposed to the Nicene Creed.
GW pointed out correctly, that the problem with the Nicene Creed is that there is nothing in it about Jesus' life and teaching. This is how it goes: "...he became incarnate of the Virgin Mary and was made man. For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate; he suffered death and was buried."
Nothing whatsoever about his life and teachings. GW used to say Jesus' life was consigned to the semi-colan after "Pontius Pilate"!
So, referring back to my last post, I want to give you my Creed. It was modified today by the reading from Romans. I don't often praise Paul, but in the 8th chapter of Romans, he absolutely 'nailed it'!
Here's what he said:
Romans 8:38-39: "For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, no height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord."
That was the only thing missing from the things I believe.
CREDO
I believe we must strive to love one another as God loves us.
I believe we much welcome the stranger in our midst.
I believe we must treat everyone else as we want to be treated.
I believe nothing--not anything--can separate us from the love of God.
OK, that's it. I'm through now. That's what I believe and all I believe. Everything else--even stuff about the Sacraments, which I have a very high view of--is secondary to that.
I stand by that. That is my Creed. It's all I need and more than enough.
Sometime I'll rave on about the Nicene Creed. But not tonight. Tonight I have said enough. I know, without a doubt, that's what I believe....
GW pointed out correctly, that the problem with the Nicene Creed is that there is nothing in it about Jesus' life and teaching. This is how it goes: "...he became incarnate of the Virgin Mary and was made man. For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate; he suffered death and was buried."
Nothing whatsoever about his life and teachings. GW used to say Jesus' life was consigned to the semi-colan after "Pontius Pilate"!
So, referring back to my last post, I want to give you my Creed. It was modified today by the reading from Romans. I don't often praise Paul, but in the 8th chapter of Romans, he absolutely 'nailed it'!
Here's what he said:
Romans 8:38-39: "For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, no height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord."
That was the only thing missing from the things I believe.
CREDO
I believe we must strive to love one another as God loves us.
I believe we much welcome the stranger in our midst.
I believe we must treat everyone else as we want to be treated.
I believe nothing--not anything--can separate us from the love of God.
OK, that's it. I'm through now. That's what I believe and all I believe. Everything else--even stuff about the Sacraments, which I have a very high view of--is secondary to that.
I stand by that. That is my Creed. It's all I need and more than enough.
Sometime I'll rave on about the Nicene Creed. But not tonight. Tonight I have said enough. I know, without a doubt, that's what I believe....
Saturday, July 26, 2014
1001--being honest
Somewhere in northern West Virginia or western Maryland, I told my cousin, Mejol, something I've known for quite a while but had never said out loud to another human being.
"The longer I live," I told her, going 80 in her wondrous Honda hatchback, "the less I believe."
It is the truth--I'm being honest here. I believe less and less as I age.
Christianity has been horribly complicated by doctrine and dogma. Here is the essence of Christianity, so far as I can tell: love one another as God loves you; welcome the stranger into your midst; do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
That's about it, so far as I can see. Nothing more. Nothing less.
Everything else is window dressing and bull-shit.
Love one another, welcome the stranger, do to others as you would be done to.
'Nough said. No more necessary. Everything else about the church is expendable, clutter, nonsense.
I'm being honest here. There is nothing beyond those three injunctions (love each other, welcome strangers, treat others as you hope to be treated) that matters in the least. Everything Jesus left us is included in those three injunctions. The rest is 'stuff the church made up'.
I truly believe that though I didn't know how profoundly I believed it until I said it out loud to Mejol going about 80 on some interstate highway or another.
It's good to have it out in the open.
Imagine the world we might have if only we loved each other the way God loves us and welcomed strangers as friends and treated everyone the way we want them to treat us.
Imagine and ponder that for a while and tell me I'm wrong about how simple Christianity truly is....
"The longer I live," I told her, going 80 in her wondrous Honda hatchback, "the less I believe."
It is the truth--I'm being honest here. I believe less and less as I age.
Christianity has been horribly complicated by doctrine and dogma. Here is the essence of Christianity, so far as I can tell: love one another as God loves you; welcome the stranger into your midst; do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
That's about it, so far as I can see. Nothing more. Nothing less.
Everything else is window dressing and bull-shit.
Love one another, welcome the stranger, do to others as you would be done to.
'Nough said. No more necessary. Everything else about the church is expendable, clutter, nonsense.
I'm being honest here. There is nothing beyond those three injunctions (love each other, welcome strangers, treat others as you hope to be treated) that matters in the least. Everything Jesus left us is included in those three injunctions. The rest is 'stuff the church made up'.
I truly believe that though I didn't know how profoundly I believed it until I said it out loud to Mejol going about 80 on some interstate highway or another.
It's good to have it out in the open.
Imagine the world we might have if only we loved each other the way God loves us and welcomed strangers as friends and treated everyone the way we want them to treat us.
Imagine and ponder that for a while and tell me I'm wrong about how simple Christianity truly is....
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