Saturday, February 5, 2022

I'll miss them both but I only like one...

 Two of the best quarterbacks in pro football have retired.

(Actually, one of them may be the best of all time and the other is way above average.)

Tom Brady and Ben Roethlisberger (that's how you spell it, no matter what my spell check says!) won't be back behind their centers next year.

I love Big Ben, always have. Playing for the Pittsburgh Steelers (again, bad, bad spell check!) made him a working class hero. I went to college about 60 miles from Pittsburgh and always admired the blue collar strength of the city. And Big Ben was fun.

Brady, as good as he was--and he was fabulous--never touched my heart. I never liked the Patriots before him, during him and won't after him.

But it was always great to have someone to root against--though he broke my heart over and over.

And he didn't come out of college as a potential star--I think he was drafted 99th, barely making the top 100.

My dislike of his looks, his lifestyle, his play has nothing to do with his talent--it was beyond belief.

I'll miss rooting for Blue Collar Ben and rooting against White Collar Tom.

I'll miss them both--but it's Ben I love.



Thursday, February 3, 2022

This week's sermon

Epiphany 5,2022

        Jesus was by the lake of Gennesaret teaching and the crowds were so close to him, he asked some fishermen to lend him a boat.

        He went a little off shore and sat down (as Jewish teachers did, instead of standing up like I do) and taught the crowds.

        When he was finished, he said to Simon, push off and let down your nets.

        Simon told him they had fished all night and caught nothing, “yet if you say so, I will let down my nets.”

        The catch was so great it was breaking the nets, so the other boat came out to help. They filled both boats with fish and when they came ashore, Simon knelt down to Jesus and said, “Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man.”

        They were all amazed at the greatest fish catch of their lives.

        But Jesus told Simon and John and James, “Do not be afraid, from now on you will be catching people.”

        So, they left their boats and followed him.

        Imagine that—fishermen with the greatest catch of their lives, leaving the fish and their boats and their livelihood and following this strange teacher!

        Amazing!

        And yet Luke tells us that is what happened.

        And, believe it or not, that is Jesus’ call to us.

        In most cases, it is not a call to ‘leave everything behind’—I don’t see any candidates to be Francis of Assisi here!

        But is a call to realize in our own lives “what’s important to God.” And what is important to God in following Jesus is to be ‘saving people’.

        There are lots of ways to be doing that for each of us. Buying a coat and socks and clothes for a homeless person.

        Giving food and money to the food bank.

        You do that already.

        But there is more to do.

        Listen to the last verse of today’s Psalm: “The Lord will make good his purpose for me;/ O Lord, your love endures forever;/ do not abandon the works of your hands.”

        We can speak up against racial injustice.

        We can take a stand for equal housing.

        We can oppose all forms of discrimination.

        We can seek to make the world a better place for all of God’s children.

        We can give of our time and talents and fortunes for all good causes.

        We can heed Jesus’ call and do all in our power to save and protect the men and women and children of our world.

        We can, in our daily lives, help God’s love to endure forever. God, help us BE your Love.

        Amen and amen.

 

 

Wednesday, February 2, 2022

Some quotes to ponder....

 (Thanks to the Mastery Foundation for the quotes.)

"Outside noisy, inside empty."--Chinese Proverb

"Listen to Mustn'ts, child, listen to the Don'ts./ Listen to the Shouldn'ts, the Impossibles, the Won'ts./ Listen to the Never Haves, then listen close to me./Anything can happen, child, Anything can be."  --Shel Silverstein

"Where there is great love there are always miracles."--Willa Cather

"No man achieves immortality through public acclaim."--Bob Dylan

"God, if you'll forgive my little jokes on Thee,/ I'll forgive your one big joke on me."--Robert Frost

"Sacred cows make the best hamburger."--Mark Twain

"Everybody wants to be on a championship team and nobody wants to practice."--Bobby Knight

"Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off the goal."--Hanna Moore

"What history hides is the terror of the unforeseen."--Phillip Roth

"If you want to keep something a secret, don't do it."--Chinese proverb

"Of what you see, believe very little, of what you are told, nothing."--Spanish proverb

"The whole world is a series of miracles, but we're so used to seeing them that we call them ordinary things."--Hans Christian Anderson

"The future you see is the future you get."--Robert G. Allen

"The truth dazzles gradually,/or else the world would be blind."--Emily Dickinson

PONDER ON, MY FRIENDS....



Monday, January 31, 2022

Last day of a hard month

 January was a hard month this year.

Quite a bit of snow and biting cold.

But tonight, at mid-night, it will be over.

And February is promising to come in like a lamb.

It's supposed to be in the 40's on Wednesday and moderate most of this coming week.

I only hope it lasts.

My son, daughter-in-law and three grand-daughters got Covid this month. They were all fully vaccinated and have no troubling symptoms. But they're isolating at home.

Probably got it through someone on the basketball court with Morgan and Emma. Who knows.

Speaking of Cathy, my daughter-in-law, Dr. Wong, my urologist, who looks a lot like Cathy, put a camera in me to look at my bladder. No problems except my embarrassment. 

Trinity Church, where I serve, cancelled three of it's Sundays in January. So, I missed church.

I also had to take my car in for a service to prevent my engine from catching on fire.

Not a comforting thought.

So, all in all, I'm glad this month is almost over....


Saturday, January 29, 2022

No Church Tomorrow

 I'm sorry, but relieved.

Our driveway in under more than a foot of snow and it's dark.

Cornwall Avenue was scraped earlier, but before the snow stopped.

Who knows how I-84 and RT. 8 are?

So, I can sleep in and not worry about driving to Milton in this weather.

It usually takes me under half-an-hour but in these conditions, who knows how long it would take?

And by mid-week it will be in the 40 to 50 degree range, so, I'll go up on Wednesday as I try to do.

Lordy, Lordy, I don't like winter.


Friday, January 28, 2022

snow

Although I don't always trust weather forecasters (I told a woman in line at Big Y today--it was very crowded--that I trust them 50% of the time, she told me, "you're being very generous") lots of snow is in the realm of possibility.

I don't know if Trinity will cancel church--I hope not--but it is a possibility since the biggest snow is in the East.

Snow looses it wonder after Christmas.

No one sings, "I dreaming of a white January 30...".

We'll see what happened tonight and tomorrow.

I'm ready for spring already.

Wishful thinking.

I know.

 

 

Thursday, January 27, 2022

Black lives matter (too)

That should have been the slogan the Black and Brown people used.

That would have made "All Lives Matter" make no sense.

Why are so many white people afraid of minorities?

Because whites will be in a minority in 30 or 40 years?

Because white folks think the tables will be turned and they'll be discriminated against by black/brown/yellow/red people?

Look at South Africa. When the black majority took over things were better for ALL people.

If the slogan had been Black Lives Matter Too, shouting All Lives Matter wouldn't have been possible.

I spent my full time ministry for 5 years in a vastly Black Church, for 5 years in a church that was a third Black and 21 years in a congregation that was more than a third black and West Indian and with a congregation that was Hispanic that was over 100 people.

I trust people of color more than I trust white people.

They have experienced ridiculous discrimination an would not inflict it on others because they know how it feels.

So, back off on ALL LIVES MATTER, unless you are including people of color equally in that statement.

They matter too.

 

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About Me

some ponderings by an aging white man who is an Episcopal priest in Connecticut. Now retired but still working and still wondering what it all means...all of it.