Povey Prattle

I'll be away until Monday 16th June. In the meantime, here is a neat picture from Newfoundland. (Not my work)

I couldn’t resist it! Some three years ago a worshipper at St. James’s in Cambridge (who claimed to be a Sufi) asked if we could have a study group on the book “The Da Vinci Code”. I knew this person to be one who was interested mostly in the esoterica of religion, so I asked her a question. “Have you”, I asked “read the New Testament?” “No” was her predictable reply. “So here’s the deal”, I said. “You read the New Testament and we’ll have a study group on that, after which I’ll read the Da Vinci Code, and we can study that”. That was a bit mean of me, but I could not resist it. I remembered that encounter today when I was in a local Supermarket. It was a quiet day, and Alejandro, a very bright young cashier from Cuba wanted to talk. He asked me what I did before I retired, and so I told him. Of course he had never heard of the Episcopal Church, so he had some questions. “Are you Christians?” “Do you believe in the Trinity?” “Do you believe the Bible?” I said “yes” to each ...

In the summer of 1975 I worked, as a Seminarian, in the American Diocese of Western Massachusetts. Then and there I met DeWolf and Kitty Perry, who were to have a great and positive influence in my life. A year later, following Ordination as Deacon on Bristol Cathedral, England, I returned to Western Massachusetts to become first Deacon in Charge of the Church of the Good Shepherd in West Fitchburg, Massachusetts. DeWolf Perry was the Priest in charge there, and supervised me for six months, until I was Priested and succeeded him in that ministry. Kitty and DeWolf were became two of the greatest good influences in my life. Both are now with G-d. I retain a lively and lovely friendship with two of their children, Dain and Tinka. For that I am grateful. Soon after my arrival in Fitchburg I officiated at three funerals. One was for Professor Arthur Hauler who had grown up in the parish. I’d never met him, but did my best to provide a decent burial service for him; for his wido...

“Take time to smell the roses” “they” say . “What is this life, If full of care. We have no time To stand and stare” Someone else said that. Good wisdom of course. The wisdom of the ages indeed, endorsed by wise thinkers and religious writers in all nations, traditions, and spiritual practices. But seemingly impossible for me! One day in Pittsfield I was driving home from the Supermarket. Even as I drove, my mind was sorting out the order in which I would unpack my groceries. Nonsense of course, but that’s what I was thinking. I suspect that my worries about “the next thing”; rather than any enjoyment of the moment is why I get up so early in the morning (4:00 a.m. would you believe!). And even as I take my 6:00 a.m. walk I am sorting out what I must do when I get back to my home. (As if I did not have all the time in the world). I am always fretting about “what comes next”. This morning, June 8th, I attended the 9:00 a.m. Eucharist at All Angels by the Sea on Longboat K...