Father David: Prophetic Voices

Father David's very timely homily is based on yesterday's reading from the book of Amos as well as Jesus's speech in Matthew 23:

It's almost as if Amos and Jesus were responding to today's headlines, isn't it?

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Father David: On the Road Again

The Lessons Appointed for Use on the

Second Sunday of Pentecost

Father David shares a very timely message today, as the world recoils in shock from Trump's overnight bombing of Iran.

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Sunday Drive: Holy, Holy, Holy!

The Lessons Appointed for Use on the

First Sunday after Pentecost:

Trinity Sunday

Lyrics are found here.

Bonus:  Father David's sermon for today has a profound message for believers and unbelievers alike.  I recommend it to all my truckbuddies.

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Easter 2025: Jesus Christ Is Risen Today

Christus Consolator, Bloch, 1881

The Lessons Appointed for Use on

Easter Day 

After two gray, drizzly days, today we awoke to high blue skies, puffy white clouds, soft breeezes, and brilliant sunshine,  Perfect.

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M.P. enjoyed these sermons very much.

In his Easter sermon, Father David has an unusual take on Jesus's appearance to Mary Magdalene:

And the Bishop of Washington, the Right Reverend Mariann Budde, recounts what she told a Dutch TV crew about the meaning of Easter:

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Father David: Mystery

There are some very timely thoughts in Father David's homily on yesterday's Gospel lesson, Luke 13:1-9:

At that very time there were some present who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. He asked them, "Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were worse sinners than all other Galileans? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish as they did. Or those eighteen who were killed when the tower of Siloam fell on them--do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others living in Jerusalem? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish just as they did."

What I Say:  Father David is a brilliant man, a fine speaker; but his thoughts today leave us up in the air.  Christianity, in my view, is not so incomprehensible as he seems to suggest.  There are mysteries and imponderables; but the essential message of Christ seems clear and plain to me:  trust in God and do good, loving your neighbor as yourself.  This message was also given by the Hebrew prophets:  What doth God require of thee, O man, but to do justly and love mercy and walk humbly with thy God? 

Here is a favorite psalm of your Head Trucker's which also bears a timely message for us today.  The painting beautifully illustrates the storm recorded in Luke 8:22-25.

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Father David: Rituals (and Tyranny)

Yesterday's video sermon from Father David, a retired Episcopal priest in Hawaii.  This is a brilliant meditation on rituals, mythology, life, death, and resurrection.  Well worth a listen if you care about spiritual things.

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Brave Bishop

Tyrant Trump has vehemently denounced Mariann Budde, the Episcopal Bishop of Washington, who in her sermon yesterday at the National Catheral very meekly asked him to rule with mercy.  As one journalist put it, "she delivered her sermon so gently – meek and mild, you might even say – that she came across like an unusually brave dormouse."  Now the MAGA cult is viciously attacking her.  CNN reports:

 

God bless the good Bishop for having the courage to speak so quietly and yet so very boldly, as a Christian before a lion. She is an example for us all. 

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From the Sermon on tne Mount, in the fifth chapter of the Gospel of St. Matthew:

1 And seeing the multitudes, he went up into a mountain: and when he was set, his disciples came unto him:

2 And he opened his mouth, and taught them, saying,

3 Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

4 Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.

5 Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.

6 Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.

7 Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.

8 Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.

9 Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.

10 Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

11 Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.

12 Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.

This is the Christian faith.

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Sermon: The Rainbow

An intriguing meditation on the meaning of the rainbow by Father Sean Mullen at St. Mark's Episcopal Church in Philadelphia:

The Great Litany that Fr. Sean refers to is found in the Book of Common Prayer here.  These powerful words are especially appropriate to pray in Lent--and moreover, I dare say, at this particular moment in the history of the world.

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Sunday Drive: When the Lilac Blooms Again

A beautiful arrangement of a captivating tune, which I just recently heard for the first time.

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"As Far as the East Is from the West":  a brilliant Ash Wednesday meditation by Father Sean Mullen at St. Mark's Episcopal Church, Philadelphia.

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Sunday Drive: Early Morning Rain

I did not know till recently that this classic Peter, Paul and Mary tune was written by Gordon Lightfoot.

We had several gloomy, overcast days in a row this week, punctuated by downpours. But this morning it's bright and sunny outside, though just above freezing.

Bonus:  "The Amplitude of Love," a different kind of Christmas sermon, by the Rev. Sean Mullen at St. Mark's Episcopal Church in Philadelphia.

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A Knock at Midnight

Midnight is a confusing hour when it is difficult to be faithful. The most inspiring word that the church must speak is that no midnight long remains. The weary traveller by midnight who asks for bread is really seeking the dawn. Our eternal message of hope is that dawn will come. Our slave foreparents realized this. They were never unmindful of the fact of midnight, for always there was the rawhide whip of the overseer and the auction block where families were torn asunder to remind them of its reality. When they thought of the agonizing darkness of midnight, they sang:

   Oh, nobody knows de trouble I’ve seen,
   Glory Hallelujah!
   Sometimes I’m up, sometimes I’m down,
   Oh, yes, Lord,
   Sometimes I’m almost to de groun’,
   Oh, yes, Lord,
   Oh, nobody knows de trouble I’ve seen,
   Glory Hallelujah!

Encompassed by a staggering midnight but believing that morning would come, they sang:

   I’m so glad trouble don’t last alway.
   O my Lord, O my Lord, what shall I do?

Their positive belief in the dawn was the growing edge of hope that kept the slaves faithful amid the most barren and tragic circumstances.

Faith in the dawn arises from the faith that God is good and just. When one believes this, he knows that the contradictions of life are neither final nor ultimate. He can walk through the dark night with the radiant conviction that all things work together for good for those that love God. Even the most starless midnight may herald the dawn of some great fulfillment.

This excerpt from Dr. King's great sermon "A Knock at Midnight" spoke to me this week, and helped me, here in my own particular midnight.




Honk to Grandmère Mimi at Wounded Bird.
Night street scene of Stanley, Virginia, by O. Winston Link, 1956.

Jesus Was No Bartender

Found at Joe.My.God:  Jesus did not turn water into wine at the wedding of Cana, you ignoramuses:



Which reminds me of a favorite joke my late husband told me:  There are three things Baptists don't recognize.  They don't recognize the Pope, they don't recognize the Jews, and they don't recognize another Baptist in the liquor store.

This video is no parody, guys, but totally for real. And I am surrounded by this kind of thinking (if you can call it that) here.  Of course, it doesn't stop with the grape juice fetish.  Miss Thing Rev. Grice also says The Wizard of Oz is "one of the most God-hating movies that there is," and not because there's a witch in it:



(He hates the movie, but he sure knows all the lyrics and all the steps, don't he? And has the dialogue down by heart.)

Now don't go sending nasty notes to that preacher, he's very small fry and not at all exceptional in his views for this part of the world. I post these vids just to show you boys up there in the blue state wonderland how common and ordinary this approach to life and this concept of Christianity is for millions of people. They are not all bug-eyed, jackbooted fascists, but rather are sadly ignorant of the facts of history and science and even grammar; and are sadly a majority of everyday working people who just don't know any better - but think they know all that matters.

Even more unfortunately, the folks who crowd the fundamentalist churches on Sunday are used for political gain by the real thugs, the slick, smooth, sophisticated ones, who are hellbent now, it seems, on making a theocracy out of a democracy, and all for the ultimate gain of the wealthy.

What's truly incomprehensible is why all you ever hear about on the news shows or in the blogosphere are the firebrand politicans and preachers, and never the sensible, rational ones. Which is why so many people on the liberal end of the spectrum - a majority of the young, I think, and a lot of the middle-aged - now equate all of Christianity with fundamentalism. And that's just not so. This is exactly the same logical fallacy - yes, I mean you, smug reader, with all your college degrees and friend lists and that vaunted "cultural awareness" you are so proud of, whatever that means - it's the exact same stupid thinking as my fellow Texans commit when they assert that all Muslims are terrorists.

Twisted thinking is not the exclusive property of the Right; nor is snobbery or tribalism.  We liberals and gays are human beings just like they are, and subject to the very same human failings.  Which is very important to remember:  we are all one human family, and nobody gets it right all the time.  Not even you or I.

But whether you are a believer or not, you should at least recognize that there is a Christianity that does not depend upon ignorance or literal interpretation of scripture. As witness this very fine sermon, "Brush with Grace," by the Rev. Buddy Stallings - a Mississippi transplant whose accent I love, natch - vicar at St. Bart's Episcopal in Manhattan.  You can read the sermon there, but I strongly suggest you click on the first little round button to the right of the text and listen to it instead.  You might just like what you hear:  a thoughtful, even humorous, Christian message that does not require switching off your brain first.

The ex-roommate and I were discussing this very point the other night:  why do you never hear from the rational, kind-hearted, well-balanced people?  As he said, maybe the Democrats and the Episcopalians (and all the other decent folks of every political and religious persuasion) are just too nice to raise their voices, make themselves heard.  They are rarely to be found screaming their message on street corners for the TV news cameras, so they just aren't covered.

Instead, all we hear are the ranting, foaming extremists.  Which is a great pity, your Head Trucker thinks.  Because that silence of the decent gives the foamers enormous power.

First they came for the communists,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a communist.

Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a Jew.

Then they came for me
and there was no one left to speak out for me.

See also a poem called "Hangman" that your Head Trucker just ran across.