- Announcements at GCVV (22)
- Messages to Ponder (25)
- Uncategorized (2)
- Who knew? (16)
Ascension Day wisdom
17 May 2012 by admin.
According to Welsh superstition, it is unlucky to do any work on Ascension Day. In Devon, it was an ancient belief that the clouds always formed into the familiar Christian image of a lamb. If the weather is sunny, the summer will be long and hot; but if it rains, crops will do badly and livestock, especially cattle, will suffer from disease. Eggs laid on this day will never go bad and will guarantee good luck for a household if placed in the roof. Rain collected on Ascension Day is said to be good for inflamed or diseased eyes. Those suffering from goiter should bite into the bark of a peach tree at midnight on Ascension Day, so that the disease passes to the tree and the sufferer is cured. Gifts to the blind or lame made on this day are sure to be rewarded with great wealth within the following twelve months.
Posted in Messages to Ponder | No Comments »
A reminder
16 May 2012 by admin.
I am no longer keeping “drop-in” office hours. For one thing, almost nobody dropped in. I am, however, available by appointment: in the office, at a local coffee shop, at your home–and at your convenience. Contact me at barriebates@gracevanvorst.org or 201-390-8270 to set up a time to chat.
Barrie +
Posted in Announcements at GCVV | No Comments »
Rogationtide
15 May 2012 by admin.
The sixth Sunday of Easter is also known as “Rogation Sunday,” and the following three weekdays are the traditional rogation days. From the Latin rogare, “to ask,” rogation days are a time of fasting and abstinence, asking God’s blessing on the crops. Elizabeth I of England ordered the “perambulation of the parish” at Rogationtide, a custom still observed in some places. Special collects for the rogation days (prayers for “fruitful seasons,” “commerce and industry,” and “stewardship of creation”) may be found in the Prayer Book, pp.258f.
Posted in Who knew? | No Comments »
No man is an island
13 May 2012 by admin.
You may remember this famous quotation: ‘No man is an island, entire of it self; every man is a piece of the Continent, a part of the main.’ John Donne, the poet and priest who wrote those words some 400 years ago, seemed to understand. For Donne, as for Jesus, boundaries are an invention of foolish humankind.
Posted in Messages to Ponder | No Comments »
The President’s news
10 May 2012 by admin.
As a priest of a congregation that describes itself as based on “community, diversity, and creativity” and as a man married to another man myself, I fully endorse marriage equality and welcome the growing public understanding and appreciation of same-sex couples living as faithful families worldwide. With many of my colleagues throughout the Episcopal Church, I particularly applaud the statement made by President Obama yesterday and will continue to pray and work for the respect of every human being with dignity, justice, and peace for all.
Posted in Messages to Ponder | No Comments »
On or off the bus?
8 May 2012 by admin.
A portion of a commentary by Tom Ehrich of the Religion News Service:
… the so-called “Christian moral agenda” threatens to marginalize, deprive and denigrate many Americans for failing to be “right,” as the Christian right defines “right.”
Homosexuals—off the bus. Women wanting to control their bodies—off the bus. Liberals offering different solutions to a nation’s pressing problems—off the bus. Dark-skinned immigrants, preachers speaking truth to power, anyone questioning big banking, big oil or big business, compassionate feeders of the hungry, hospitals serving all who are sick, educators aiming to raise up all children, environmentalists, scientists—all of you, off the bus.
No respect for you, no dignity, no freedom…. Showy followers of a Savior who said, “Don’t be afraid,” make fear their weapon. They reverse everything Jesus stood for—radical inclusion, justice for all, food for the hungry, respect for outcasts, challenge to the wealthy.
Instead of the actual Gospel, they substitute a fear-driven secular agenda grounded in right opinion, harsh judgment and intolerance, and they call it “Christian.”[1]
Let it not be so for us. As it says in the first letter of John: “If we love one another, God lives in us, and his love is perfected in us. By this we know that we abide in him and he in us.” As members of the Body of Christ, we have a mission and a ministry: to love one another, as God loves us.
[1] http://episcopaldigitalnetwork.com/ens/2012/05/02/countering-the-christians/#.T6FeWIjqv6Q.facebook
Posted in Messages to Ponder | No Comments »
Many thanks
8 May 2012 by admin.
My thanks to all those who pitched in to assist with Blyden Jackson’s memorial last Saturday. It was a real fine funeral!
Special thanks to: Laura Ahumada, pianist; Susan Martin and Mary Graham Aiken, vocalists; Claire Guerette, acolyte; Henry Faulkner, slides; Waylon Faulkner, firemaker; Becca Brasser , refreshments; Chi Modu, Carol Greenberg, and Mendes Touissaint, readers; Robin Lester, logistics; the other Father Bates, at the other Grace Church, incense; and other anonymous helpers—you know who you are!
Posted in Announcements at GCVV | 1 Comment »
C. S. Lewis
6 May 2012 by admin.
“You don’t have a soul. You are a soul. You have a body.”
—C. S. Lewis
Posted in Who knew? | No Comments »