Picture Time - My Boys 2 and an Ugly Guy Called Mark

Picture time - My Chapel/oratory/prayer space.

I converted an unused room into a sort of chapel. The focus til now has been painting decoration on the wall, and, as poor as my talent is, I'm rather proud of what I've done with a very simple, small room.

From top to bottom:

(1)A very simple altar and lamp with a stone cross from my brother and sister-in-law, a box I decorated for holding those things sacred to me (reliquary?), flanked by Madonna and Christ painted on the entrance and closet doors, respectively.

(2) Archangel Raphael

(3) Archangel Michael

(4) Archangel Gabriel

(5) Archangel Auriel

Not pictured: St. Francis' Prayer (Lord Make Me an Instrument of Your Peace) runnin along the top of the walls in uncial and a yet-undecorated poem by Rumi.

Picture Time-My boys

Katzie is on the left, Miutu on the right.

Name Calling

I'm sure that they mean it in a derogatory way, but when the "orthodox" call us "revisionists" and "reappraisers," I feel rather proud.

Given Christianity's track record under traditional interpretation and rule, reappraisal and revision are desperately needed.

New Titles

Having heard Katharine's latest display of near bovine leadership

http://www.episcopalchurch.org/3577_59911_ENG_HTM.htm

I have decided her title should be:

SUBSIDING BISHOP OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH, OR WHATEVER BIG PETE TELLS US TO CALL IT

Rowan, as I understand CofE polity, gains a title with the episcopacy. Given this, and as a Southerner, I gladly grant him, in addition, the title formerly held by William Faulkner:

COUNT NO-'COUNT

For Akinola, I think MadPriest's titles:

ARROGANT, EVIL GIT

and

ASSHAT

are good.

I've Been Working On Lovecraftian Books for Kids

I Can Summon It Myself!: Big Conjurations for Little Hands

A Child's Garden of Verse-That-Should-Not-Be.

When Those We Love Are Gone: A Re-animation Primer

I Don't Think They've Thought This Out . . .

Let's say the nature of reality shifts significantly, and TEC comes to accept homosexuality as "intrinsically disordered" -- gays must either be celibate or get out.

Well, Jesus was celibate. Paul said celibacy was best.

We celibate gays are, ipso facto monte christo, better than yonder rutting heteros!

We should be making the decisions, as they are clearly only good for breeding!

Even celibate heterosexuals -- there's no special virtue in denying an intrinsically ordered desire. It's like skipping dessert! But for us gays - well, we've really overcome something.

We're not smug, just clearly better suited to leadership!

Communion

One of the reasons I hear from well-meaning people for preserving the AC (as if it still existed) is UNITY. "Jesus," they say, "said let them be one. That is communion."

But wait! We are in communion with each other through God. Clinging to God, we are in communion with all Christians, whether they like it or not. The rest is mere political structure, and any political entity other than the Kingdom of God doesn't count.

"But, Mark, " they'll say, "You poor, misguided slut! It says that we are all One Body."

Yes. But different parts. The head cannot tell the foot I do not need you, but the foot will have a damn difficult time eating corn-on-the-cob.

Why Georgia is better than South Carolina.

Cairo, Dublin, Berlin, and Houston are in driving distance, along with lands associated with Count Pulaski and Marquis de Lafayette, while doing Charleston went out with the 1920's and ever since Paris hit puberty anyone can have Hilton Head.

Wisdom from My Mom

(About suspect deals)
"Keep an open mind, but not so open that your brain falls out."

(About threats by bigger people)
"You can get something to make you big as God, if you need to."

(On trite comments from a parish priest)
"I love you, but you are so stupid sometimes!"

Taffy was a Welshman

For those who haven't read it, our own Rowan ap Taffy has made another long, hopelessly rambling and largely untrue statement regarding the results of the Tanzanian debacle. You can find it on most of the widely read Anglican sites and blogs, depending on your tastes. It's well worth seeking out, as Spring is right around the bend, and the gardens can use such material.
And in such volume, too!!!

The best analysis of this festering pile of Williams, along with a copy of the best paraphrasing, is found here:
http://blog.republicofdogs.net/

Our Fast

Katharine needs to learn the difference between taking one for the team . . . and taking one because of the team.

Lenten Worries

Obsessing as I do over everything, and blessed with a naturally low self-esteem ground nearly into fine powder by many of those I have looked up to, I found myself worrying:

Is it okay to be angry about all this communique crap?

Having spoken deeply with myself, a habit helped by some degree of inbreeding, I have arrived at a conclusion:

Yes.

Contrary to much of modern theology, I don't believe Jesus was "nice."
Nice is what we do in day-to-day communication. It's what keeps us from saying, "I really don't care what's going on with you, perfect stranger. What do you want?"
Nice is not a moral virtue, though. In fact, when applied to debate over any truly important and far-reaching topic, it becomes a vice . . . at least, beyond a certain point. It makes us feel that we are justified (and just) in abandoning conflict.

Jesus got angry about important things. He didn't say, "You know, this really isn't a proper place for business. As soon as you can get these transactions done, you really should think about moving along." He drove them out with a whip of cords, no excuses about business, calling the money-changers with their usurious rates "Thieves."

The Primates have broken trust with us. They have betrayed TEC and its people by ignoring our concerns and lying about our supposed refusal to offer explanation.

The "orthodox" minority in TEC have been abusive, manipulative and deceitful, and the pain and betrayal they feel is similar to that of someone facing an intervention - the pain of being told they have been destructive and it will no longer be tolerated.

The theology of the "orthodox" has been anything but sound. It is based on a combination of natural theology, Calvinist distrust of human reason, and manifestly unsound science that cannot stand outside of any self-referencing. It is circular at best, dishonest at worst.

If our church accepts the communique as written, all those who believe social justice is inherent to Gospel witness will have had their pastoral relationship to the church ruptured, perhaps beyond repair.

The communique reads not as a call to brotherhood, but terms of surrender.

However "good" anyone regards the theology of the "orthodox" and the GS Primates, their fellowship has been bad from the start.

So, I'm angry and not playing nice.
I'm in good company.

Thanks, MadPriest, Grandmere Mimi, and Toujour Dan . . .

. . for advice about blogs on MadPriest's site. There are others, but the post's title was beginning to sound like an acceptance speech.

One of the things I find completely unacceptable, for myself at least, is rudeness to guests. As such, I will try to visit every blog and respond to every comment. It's that that made me post, half-jokingly, that I don't know if I'll be able to keep up a blog for long.

It's not that I'm particularly lazy. I'm relentlessly self-critical. For those who know such a person, you know that perfection and total coverage are the only acceptable results for such a person. Realization of the impossibility of those leads us to give up.

I'm working on that, and this is part of that work.


Please don't feel ignored or abandoned. I'm new to doing anything but commenting on blogs. It will take me a while to figure out creating a blogroll, for instance. My greatest experience with computers is word processing and minor bookkeeping. In addition, I have no internet at home, and work nights. I'm very fortunate in having an employer that allows me to use the internet here at work Mon-Fri, when I have time. Work is first, however. To that end, there may be times of quiet from me.

It's not a snub, except in a few cases:

I am a gay Episcopalian, conservative in worship (very! I'd have Sarum and Eastern Rites in English as a options in the BCP, if I could), liberal in social issues. I welcome all comments. All but the most outrageously abusive will be considered for retention, but I treat obvious insults and degradation while silent disdain -- usually. I also have a rather quick temper. BE WARNED!!
Abuse may be left, simply to remind the rest of us what we're up against and why we mustn't flag, and those in the opposite camp what kind of company they're in.

Welcome!

Introit

I would love to say that I am fascinating and have all sorts of wondrous things to tell.

I don't.

I started a blog because everyone has one, and I felt left out.

So . . . what to tell you?

I was born on the shortest day of the year in 1967. At least, that's the official story. It must've occurred some time within living memory. There is some question in my mind, however, as to whether the event took place at all, as the only known witnesses "Mom" and "Dad" (not their real names) are both deceased. Though I met them several times throughout my life, it only took once to tell they were a slippery pair.

Anyway, this is an autobiography, so, enough about me.

My family on the maternal side is German with some Scots Irish. The first records we have of them were tales of a group of short, stocky people who simply appeared with George of Hanover as he prepared to take his new throne in England. Though repeatedly asked who they were and who invited them, they responded consistently with glares and sullen silence until George gave up and let them come, too. They insinuated themselves into court through a combination of biting satire and physical intimidation, and the Von Holtens of Thuringia became the Houltons of England, and, later, after some running from charges of witchcraft and vampirism, the Holtons of America.

My father's family was of British extraction. Shopkeepers with a relentless drive for social climbing, but lacking any real ambition, they moved to America, where they figured no one would know any better and pretended to be better than they were, a tradition that I, a Capricorn, proudly keep up.

Through an agreement made between an Anglican great-grandfather and an Irish Catholic great grandmother, the maternal side became Southern Baptist, a church both hated. This is the church I was raised to disregard through my childhood and leave in my youth. I was baptized Presbyterian, because they weren't Baptist, but became Episcopalian because I loved the church. As with many of my relationships, it is an affection inconstantly reciprocated.

My father was a big man-child and my mother -- well, she made life rather like being raised as a Klingon child.

So, welcome to a blog I'm sure I'll weary of and soon forget (I'm a "good starter" according to my priest), and, I leave you with this warm memory: after we'd come home from midnight mass, family gathered in the glow of Christmas cheer, nieces, nephews, brothers, sisters-in-law, friends, Priest and Mrs. Priest, cousins and other uninvited hangers-on, my mother would raise her glass in her traditional Christmas toast:

"Death to our enemies in the New Year!"

So may it be for you and yours.