Povey Prattle

If I heard it once, I heard it a hundred times. From the lips of older parishioners I heard: “I don’t want to be a burden to my children”. I’d try to unpack those words. “What do you mean by ‘burden’?” I would ask. Then I’d try another tack. “Were your children a burden as you raised them?” would be my next question. The older parishioner would inevitably say, “but of course not”. But try as I might to assure the senior that her/his children would be honoured to care for her/him in the event of incapacity; that senior would counter “but I don’t want to be a burden”. I suspect that behind those words rested a fear of “dependence”. It is indeed tough for we rugged individualists to acknowledge that in senior years we may have to be dependent on others for our health and survival. Wise ones know that life is not simply a matter of independence, nor yet of dependence. They also know that in our personal, family, community and national lives we are all truly interdepend...

Sermon for Thanksgiving 2009 The Revd J. Michael Povey at St. Boniface Church, Siesta Key, FL How would you define an Englishman?  Try this: “An Englishman is a self made man, who worships his creator.” I can tell you that one liner in good heart, for I am English born and raised.  There is more than enough truth in the joke. We are surrounded by “self-made” citizens who proudly affirm “I got all I have by good old fashioned hard work and no one is going to take it away from me” . There is a common belief that good old fashioned hard work is a sign of virtue, and that virtue is rewarded by wealth. Somewhere, deep in the secret part of my heart I believe that too. That belief flies in the face of the facts.  First: There are millions of good hard working Americans, many of whom have two or three jobs, and yet  are barely scraping by.  And there are other millions who would welcome good old fashioned hard work – if such work were available. ...

FROM: THE DOG Dear God: Why do humans smell the flowers, but seldom, if ever, smell one another? Dear God: When we get to heaven, can we sit on your couch? Or is it still the same old story? Dear God: Why are there cars named after the jaguar, the cougar, the mustang, the colt, the stingray, and the rabbit, but not ONE named for a dog? How often do you see a cougar riding around? We do love a nice ride! Would it be so hard to rename the "Chrysler Eagle" the Chrysler Beagle"? Dear God: If a dog barks his head off in the forest and no human hears him, is he still a bad dog? Dear God: We dogs can understand human verbal instructions, hand signals, whistles, horns, clickers, beeper s, scent ID's, electromagnetic energy fields, and Frisbee flight paths What do humans understand? Dear God: More meatballs, less spaghetti, please. Dear God: Are there mailmen in Heaven? If there are, will I have to apologize? Dear God: Let me give you a list of just some of ...

I sometimes fear that I will lose my passion. It’s a passion for justice, for the under-dog, for the poor and homeless, for battered women and for abused children. It’s a passion which despises racism. It’s a passion for the scandalous message of Jesus - e.g. “Blessed are the poor” I am a passionate person. My passions  lead me to anger and to tears. BUT - I sometimes fear that I will lose my passion . I refresh it from various and sundry sources. Oft times it’s from Edith Piaf (1915 – 1963), and Billie Holiday (1915-1959). It’s strange indeed that they were born in the same year. And that their lives had so many similar tragic dimensions. I phantasise that they are both in my home for dinner - and that their conversation dumbfounds, teaches, and re-inspires me. What a conversation that would be! YouTube helps me to re-connect with Edith Piaf and Billie Holiday. Check these YouTube links (you may have to cut and paste them). http://www.youtube.com/watc...

Keith H. became a new friend of mine when I moved to SRQ in 2006.  Since then, Keith has been gathered to his ancestors. He used to make a fantastic fish soup.  Matter of fact, I’d never eaten fish soup until that first and enticing bowl at Keith’s home. I’ve since made it, and my version has been good, but not great. I started a fresh batch this morning in a slow cooker. The recipe was “in my mind”.  I used some “store boughten” (as we say in England) fish stock.  Then I tossed in what I had at hand:  carrots, onions, tomatoes, mushrooms and black beans.  I let it simmer all morning. Soon after noon I turned the slow cooker off for a while. Then mid-afternoon, I cranked it up again and added some leftover raw fish, straight from the freezer.  There were three chunks of mackerel and two of tilapia. By 4:00 p.m. it smelled and tasted so good that I was confident enough to call my pal David F., and invite him for dinner. I am sure that it ...

I continue in my reading of “Trouble in Mind – Black Southerners in the age of Jim Crow” (Leon F. Litwack/Alfred A Knopf/ 1998).  Litwack reveals that “Jim Crow” was frequently enforced by lynchings. For instance he  records that in Sabine County, Texas, the Harkrider Drug Company published a postcard depicting the lynching of five blacks on June 15th 1908. This “poem” appeared under the picture. This is only the branch of a Dogwood tree; An emblem of WHITE SUPREMACY. A lesson once taught in the Pioneer's school, That this is a land of WHITE MAN'S RULE. The Red Man once in an early day, Was told by the Whites to mend his way. The negro, now, by eternal grace, Must learn to stay in the negro's place. In the Sunny South, the Land of the Free, Let the WHITE SUPREME forever be. Let this a warning to all negroes be, Or they'll suffer the fate of the DOGWOOD TREE. In 1937 a New York school teacher, Abe Meeropol, saw a photo of another lynching. It led him, in...