Povey Prattle

It’s been such a difficult day. This morning I walked for 50 minutes on Crescent Beach, Siesta Key. It was a misty, moody morning, and the beach was so lovely in the early morning fog. This afternoon I brushed my cat Ada. She goes into sheer delight when I do this. This evening Ben and I took our friends Don and Jerry for dinner at a local Italian restaurant. I ate the plumpest and most delicious mussels, in a marinara sauce. What a difficult day! I am exhausted after all this activity.

GLORIOUS AND GROTESQUE See my earlier post today, for “glorious”. It is a wonderful sermon, by R.C. Bishop Thomas Gumbleton. The photo’ above is grotesque . It is part of a protest display by a customer of my local bank. He is aggrieved at the Bank, but his “hanging man” effigy crosses a line from appropriate protest to nastiness. I have complained to the owners of the Plaza on which the effigy is displayed. I do not believe that the staff of the Bank should have to face this on their way to and from work. The following statement from a R.C. parish Priest in South Carolina is also grotesque: The pastor of St. Mary Catholic Church in Greenville, SC, is urging parishioners who voted for Barack Obama not to present themselves for Communion unless they go to confession first because they have cooperated with "intrinsic evil'' by voting for a candidate who supports abortion rights over a candidate who does not. The Rev. Jay Scott Newman told the Greenville News that he doesn...

The Peace Pulpit by Bishop Gumbleton Sunday, November 9, 2008 Readings: Ezekiel 47:1-2, 8-9, 12 Psalm 46:2-3, 5-6, 8-9 1 Corinthians 3:9-11, 16-17 John 2:19-22 I don't know if this ever happens on any other Sunday or feast day, but there's something very strange about the scriptures today because they seem to indicate that we really ought not to be celebrating the feast of the dedication of a church building, which is what we're doing in this liturgy commemorating the dedication of a huge building located in Rome that has now been designated as the pope's official cathedral church, built in about the fourth century, after Constantine had converted and Christians were free to celebrate in churches. But the early Christians didn't have any churches. They never dedicated church buildings. They celebrated the breaking of the bread in their homes. Small communities of disciples of Jesus gathered together in homes throughout the Roman Empire, and that's ho...

I stopped by Res House yesterday morning (Wednesday 12th Nov ’08) to gather some information for a presentation I was to give later that day. One of our good guests “L” asked for a moment of my time. A week ago (Nov 6th) he had been in tears at our prayer service. At that time he could not tell s why he was weeping. We simply surrounded him with a group hug and prayers. Yesterday he told me that his tears had been because his mother had died. After that encounter I went to All Angels by the Sea Episcopal Church on Longboat Key (our super rich neighbourhood). I spoke with 30 members of their “Episcopal Church Women” about what we try to do with the homeless. I was very well received. These “women of means” have a deep concern for homeless people. In the evening I was at the Sarasota Opera for a performance of “The Barber of Seville” by Joachim Rossini. Here I was with Sarasota’s “glitterati”. Many of them “dressed up”. I “dressed down” – for I was there to hear the music, not...

A couple of political cartoons A brief and early blog tonight ( I am off to the Opera at 8:00 p.m.. Just for fun - (and cos I had nothing much about which to blog) ia a reference to America's Emperor Norton I. http://encyclopedia.tfd.com/Joshua+A.+Norton ( You may have to cut and paste this URL )

Poppy fields in Flanders Kristallnicht. Burning Synagogue in Baden-Baden ARMISTICE DAY 90 years on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armistice_Day KRISTALLNACHT 70 years on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kristallnacht From World War I poet Lawrence Binyon They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old: Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn. At the going down of the sun and in the morning we will remember them.

Most mornings I walk for between 45 minutes and an hour. I do this even when I do not want to! These recent mornings have been wonderful for walking. Night time temperatures have fallen to about 55 F. So the mornings have been relatively “crisp” and a sweat shirt and pants have been the uniform for the morning. We are having some lovely misty mornings as the many local ponds give off their heat. This morning I walked alongside the huge (45-hole) “Bobby Jones Golf Complex” and the misty scene (apart from a few palms) could easily have been one from the Somerset levels. (See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somerset_Levels ) It is so flat here, just like that flat land in western Somerset, England. There are no great vistas, and I believe that’s why I have become much more aware of the sky. Sarasota is not in a great conurbation, so the stars show very brightly. Since our skies are often cloudless I have become very aware of stars in these darker mornings, and also of sister moon. I...

Clergy gathering Diocese of Southwest Florida November 7, 2008 The Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori Presiding Bishop The Episcopal Church I get lots of mail – most of it unsolicited. People send me books, people send me complaints about various things, and people send me advice. Once in a while somebody even writes to say, “thank you.” I try to treat the day’s package of mail in the ways Jesus suggests to the 70, and say “peace” to the missive and its sender before I figure out what kind of response is needed. There’s opportunity at almost every turn to bless what comes, whatever the sender’s state of mind. The only real exception has to do with the folks who just want to make a statement – the kind of letter that includes dozens of single-spaced pages, sent to 50 or 100 of their closest friends. At times, the best response may be no response – just letting the peace flow over it, and not worrying about whether it rests there or not. The kind of pastoral work you and I do on ou...