Today's loooong meeting

I was at the Cathedral in Hartford today from 9 a.m. until 3:43 p.m. for an all day (required) meeting on abuse.

The first part was about clergy abuse and the rest about abusers in the parish and abusers of children, the elderly and the disabled.

Parish priests are mandatory reporters of any abuse they discover.

You have only a few hours to report it to the proper agency.

The day was very, very long. We sat at tables on uncomfortable chairs.

Luckily, the presenters were very good and there were slides on a big screen.

We all had to wear masks for the whole thing.

I was glad when I got away.

Either I haven't been paying attention or I haven't been paying attention or I haven't seen much abuse in my 40+ years of priesthood.

And since I was a social worker in child protection for several years, I think I would know it if I saw it.

All in all, a looong day!

 

This Sunday's sermon

LOST AND FOUND

          Today’s lessons are like visiting the Lost and Found department in a store or an airport.

          In Jeremiah we hear these dire words: “For my people are foolish, they do not know me; they are stupid children, they have no understanding. They are skilled in doing evil, but do not know how to do good.”

          Foolish, stupid, skilled in doing evil.

          Poor lost souls.

          In today’s Psalm, it’s not any better.

          Listen to what the Psalmist says: “The fool has said in his heart, ‘there is no God.’ All are corrupt and commit abdominal acts; there is none who does any good.”

          And a little later the Psalm says: “Every one has proved faithless; all alike have turned bad; there is none who does good; no, not one.”

          Talk about being ‘lost’!

          In Paul’s letter to Timothy, we began to find out about being ‘found’. Paul writes: “The saying is sure and worthy of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the foremost.”

          So, if someone like Saul (Paul’s original name) who persecuted Christians and had them killed, can be found, so may we all.

          Saul was blinded by Jesus on the Damascus Road. He was blind for three days until the Lord gave him new eyes, a changed heart, a new name and made his apostle to the Gentiles.

          Lost and found indeed!

          But Luke tells us the real Lost and Found story.

          He was preaching to sinners and tax collectors and hears the grumbling of the Pharisees and scribes. He tells them the story of the lost sheep and lost coin and how the shepherd and the woman searched until the lamb and coin are found and how finding that which was lost gives them great joy. “Just so, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”

          I don’t know about you, but sometimes I feel ‘lost’.

          And when I do, I just remember, God is searching for me and longs to find me.

          We are all, in our way, lost and found.

          Let’s have a few moments of silence to ponder that….

          Shalom and Amen.

 

This day in 1970

Today is our 52nd Wedding Anniversary!

We were married in our Lady of Victory RC church in Gary, WV with an Episcopal priest sharing the altar with the RC, much to that priest's chagrin.

After the wedding we set off in my parents' car (since I had damaged mine on the way to a blood test) towing a You Haul to Cambridge, MA.

While I finished my Master of Theological Study degree at Harvard, Bern went to Northeastern University for her Junior Year.

We were children.

I was 23 and Bern was 20. 

After that year we moved back to Morgantown, WV for Bern to complete her degree in theater. The next year she was in NYC acting in off-Broadway shows, like the Killing of Sister George.

I was a TV camera man and then a social worker in Child Protection.

It was there that the Archangel Miriah told me to go back to seminary and be ordained.

So we spent two years in Alexandria, VA. Me studying and Bern doing dinner theater.

Then to Charleston for my first church for 5 years. Both our children were born there.

Then to New Haven for another 5 years and then to Waterbury for 21 years (though we lived in Cheshire).

Add another 15 years to that with two marriages and four grandchildren to celebrate.

52 years is a long time. 

But it has been full of (mostly) joy and wonder.

52 years ago today, all that began.

Happy Anniversary to us!!!

 

A good sleep and a good day

I slept like a log last night.

(Anyone know where that saying comes from?) 

It's been a good day. A Sunday without church!

Hopefully, it's going to rain all night and much of tomorrow.

We need it badly to end CT's drought.

Talked on the phone to my cousin Mejol.

The Yankees won, 2-1.

The former president is sinking deeper into legal problems.

Gas prices are going down.

I haven't worried about anything.

Brigit is happy.

What could be wrong?

 

 

Back from the Beach

We got up at 4:30 a.m. and drove and hour from Oak Island, N.C. to Myrtle Beach, S.C. to catch our 8:30 flight. We we arrived, very annoyed by a 3 or 4 year old girl who was bossing her grandparents and parents and 2 year old brother around for the whole 1 and 1/2 hour flight, and went straight to Wallingford to pick up Brigit at the Kennel.

I missed her so much.

The beach was great!

Oak Island's beach faces South so the sun rises to the right, in the East, and goes straight up to the West end for wondrous sunsets.

The company was incredible!

Mimi, Tim and Eleanor, our daughter son-in-law and 6 year old granddaughter. We love them so.

Jack and Sherry, who we've known since we arrived in CT.

And John, who we've known since I was a social worker and Bern was finishing college in Morgantown, WV. He went to the house church I attended and Bern and I hosted in our attic.

They are our oldest friends and we know them so well and they know us the same way.

We took turns cooking dinners and had great meals. Lots of fish, Bern's pizza, Tim and Mimi's burritos and other yummy stuff.

We read and talked and sat in the gazebo attached to the house, took beach walks, collected shells (mostly Bern and Eleanor) and put the shells at the public access to the beach with a sign that said "Shell library, take one and leave one". Lots of people took pictures and videos of that.

What could be better than and island in North Carolina with some of the most precious members of your life?

Not much, beloved. Not much....

 

Last post for a week

We dropped Brigit at Holiday Hills Pet Lodge (nice name!) this afternoon and we're leaving from Tweed at 6 a.m. tomorrow....

Today is International Dog Day--seems a bit harsh to leave her at the Pet Lodge today.

A cloud burst happened just as I pulled in the driveway. By the time I got to the front porch, soaking wet, it stopped. Sitting in the car for 2 minutes would have kept me dry.

The suitcases are in the trunk of my car.

We're ready to go.

It will be a great week, but I'll miss Brigit and miss posting here.

Be well and stay well, Umfandusi.

(A South African parting words--'Umfandusti" means "good friends".)

And you are that to me.

"I'll see you in September."

(A song lyric, I think.)

Release the redacted document

 A judge has decided to release the redacted document which caused the FBI to invade Mara-la-Go. 

Most news outlets wanted it though the Justice Department didn't want it released.

It may tell us what we need to know about why the Justice Department searched the former President's residence.

They had to have good reason to get the search warrant.

That would be good to know.

The noose is closing around the former President in these oh-so-odd times.

I can't wait to see it!

Close the noose....

Send him down and to prison.

Please.