Povey Prattle

Penny and I went to the Humane Society today for our follow up session after I’d adopted her. It was a very useful hour. Penny is a cool and gentle dog. But I asked about her one “bad habit” – i.e. jumping all over me when I return home after an absence. I do not wish Penny to be a “jumper”. The canine experts at the Humane Society told me that Penny’s behaviour is simply to gain attention, and that, even if I scold her , she is receiving the attention she desires. So they advised me to ignore and walk away from this bad behaviour, and to tell her to lay down. Then after a few minutes I should call her to myself. Dammit – it works! I wish that I had known this many years ago. So often I responded to “bad behaviour” on the part of parishioners by giving them attention. So they learned that “acting out” was the key to my time, so they continued to “act out”. I have learned that rewarding bad behaviour leads to many auto-perpetuating syndromes. Clear behaviour boundaries lead to better...

The vultures have been gathering outside my home, both yesterday and today. The level of the water in “our” pond is very low because of our drought, and I fear that the fishes are dying. I think that the vultures know this. It seems to me that vultures are crucifixion birds. I see them circling the crosses – waiting, waiting, and waiting - only to be cheated in the case of Jesus’ death on Good Friday. Good Friday; drought; vultures: all coming together in my mind. My memory takes me back to some of the exciting liturgies we used at St. James’s in Cambridge. Here is a bit from “Laughing Bird Resources” in Australia - a bit which we used one Holy Week. Dry seeds of hope thirst for life-giving rain; Hard heartlands yearn for a softening shower; The dust and smoke of the parched earth rise up with the prayers of your people: Send your Holy Spirit to call us by name and lead us home. Wearied by the callous heat of hostility, your Son beats back the fires of hell, and calls us to follow hi...

Sermon for Maundy (Holy) Thursday 2009 The Revd. J. Michael Povey at St. Boniface, Siesta Key, FL Exodus 12:1-14; 1 Corinthians 11:23-32; John 13:1-35 Let me tell you about two Dioceses of the Episcopal Church, each is far from Florida. One of them elected a new Bishop in 1994. The other did so in 1996. In each case, members of these Dioceses expressed the hope that they would choose a Bishop who would be “deeply spiritual”. That’s hardly surprising. What would be surprising would be to read of a Diocese whose prime requirement in a new Bishop is that she would be “deeply worldly”. Diocese B elected their “deeply spiritual” Bishop. His office is overshadowed with a cloud of mysticism. His answer to every solution is “pray about it”. Period. He doses out large amounts of syrupy sweetness, when that Diocese almost certainly needs dosing with syrup of figs. Diocese A elected their “deeply spiritual” Bishop. He has become a terrible disappointment to many. For he takes public action on ma...

I am obsessing about the sermon I have to preach on Maundy (Holy) Thursday. So my mind is not focussed on a blog entry. I'll try to write tomorrow.

We do not eat pig, cow/steer, deer, calves, or sheep. But we do eat pork, beef, venison, veal, and lamb. We eat turkey, chicken, goose, quail, pheasant and duck. We also eat rabbit. Some folks eat buffalo, or ostrich. None of us eats horse. But maybe we would if horse meat had a different name. Some good people eat only peas, beans, greens, nuts and soy etc. They seem to do well on this animal-free diet. And so it goes...............

In November 2005 I was preaching one Sunday morning at St. James’s in Cambridge when a strange (to me) through passed my mind. It was: “I don’t want to do this anymore”. The “this” was preaching. ‘Twas a strange thought cos I’ve always loved to preach, and at that time I’d been doing so for 45 years (yes I began preaching when I was 16 years old!). That realisation was one of the factors which led to my early retirement in 2006. I was weary of preaching. It was a warning which I heeded when I realised that I was weary of something I’d loved to do. Folks tell me that I preach well; that I have a “light touch”; and that my sermons are accessible. That’s well and good, and I am grateful for these comments and observations. In March 2009, well into retirement, I preached 13 times. (There were but four sermons on four weekends, but in every parish there were “repeats” due to multiple weekend services). It was again wearying. This week on Maundy (Holy) Thursday I’ll preach again. It w...

I was “minding my own business” so to speak as I drove home this afternoon from a short shopping trip. Keeping to the speed limit, I stopped at the red traffic light at the junction of Honore Ave and 17th Street, ready to turn left when the light changed. Someone ”tooted” me from behind, and at first I thought that I had missed the turn of the light to green. That wasn’t the case, and as I turned left when the light changed I pulled into the right hand lane of what was now a two lane road. The “tooter “roared into the left hand lane, and then tried to force me off the road. As I slowed down, he screamed “you got a problem mother-fucker?” Bemused, shocked and astonished I said something like “I haven’t the slightest idea what you mean”. He screamed out again, much to the discomfort of his girl-friend, “If you have to drive fucking slow, get off the road mother –fucker”. Then he sped off. I was shaken and sad. I wish that I’d had the presen...