Povey Prattle

August 14th 2000 was my last official day as Rector of St. Stephen’s in Pittsfield, MA. Thus I had served in that parish for exactly 16 years, since my first day there had been August 15th in 1984. August 15th 2000 was my first official day as Rector of St. James’s, Cambridge, MA. I was there through June 2006. Thus I was Rector at St. James’s for just short of 6 years. It’s hard for me to comprehend that I began in Pittsfield 26 years ago, and ended there 10 years ago. It’s also hard to comprehend that I began in Cambridge 10 years ago, and have been retired for more than 4 years. On August 15th 2010 I will be presiding at the Eucharist and preaching, as a “supply priest” at St. Hilary’s in Fort Myers, FL. It will be a blessing to be with a good congregation on my double anniversary date August 15th, and to have the honour of serving in the pulpit and at the Lord’s Table.

If one should mention the name “Ida Tarbell” to an American of my generation or older, she or he is likely to respond “ah the muckraker”. ‘Tis a pity that she is remembered mostly for this unfair sobriquet, pinned on her by President Theodore Roosevelt. Ida was born in 1857 and raised in Titusville, Pennsylvania – an oil boom town.  (Remember that the petroleum business began in that State - think Pennzoil.)   Her family were pious Methodists who were much attached to the Chautauqua Institute.  Ida attended Allegheny College in Meadville PA.  She became fascinated by the physical sciences, but the fates had it mind that she should become a writer. She began her career by working for “The Chautauqua Assembly Herald”, a monthly magazine devoted to the Chautauqua principles of self improvement via piety and education. Employed at first as a proof reader, she soon was able to use her superb ability to write.   She was badly treated by the magazine’s owner an...

There will be more about Ida Tarbell in a day or two when I have finished reading her biography. For today: “Tales of the Pets”. As  I move about my home Penne sits up and keeps just one eye on me, looking like the cartoon dog “Snoopy”. She does this in the hope, of course, that I am about to take her for a walk. She anticipates a walk whenever I get within 3 yards of the front door. If I say “not now”, she will give me what I interpret as a baleful look, and then slink back to her bed. The key words which tell her that a walk is in the offing are “where’s baby?” “Baby” is a soft stuffed toy, created to look like a racoon. Baby is Penne’s constant companion. And when I utter the magic words “where’s baby?” my good dog dashes and prances with glee and presents her soft toy to me. Then the fun begins. We tussle a bit before Penne will surrender baby to me. Then I throw this stuffed toy down the hallway so that Penne can retrieve it. In the meantime, Adelaide, the ...

“He was the greatest genius of his time, perhaps of all time, yet he lacked the crown of greatness – that high wisdom born of reflection and introspection which knows its own powers and limitations, and never abuses them; that fine sense of proportion which holds the rights of others in the same solemn reverence which it demands for its own” (*)  So wrote the fabulous Ida Tarbell in her biography of Napoleon Bonaparte. I believe that Ida Tarbell  "hit the nail on the head" in her  definition of greatness.  It is also a fabulous description of wise leadership.  Would to God that our civic and religious leaders understood this.  More about Ida in a day or two.   (*)  From "Ida Tarbell. Portrait of a Muckraker". (Kathleen Brady, University of Pittsburgh Press 1989)

I am purposefully deaf when it comes to the Tea Party, the Republican party, the "Christian" right, and the anti-Obama wing-nuts. I would be foolish were I to pay any account to their regressive/repressive/un-scientific  nonsense . I am far more intelligent and wise than they. So are you! My left of centre/center stance is the one which leads to progress. Join me in some hurrahs for progressive Christianity; for great science; for Darwinian truths; and for the welfare which an intelligent and wise nation enables for all its people.

Sermon for 8th August 2010. The Revd. J. Michael Povey, at St. Boniface Church, Sarasota, FL. Luke 12:32-40 32“Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. 33Sell your possessions, and give alms. Make purses for yourselves that do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. 34For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. 35“Be dressed for action and have your lamps lit; 36be like those who are waiting for their master to return from the wedding banquet, so that they may open the door for him as soon as he comes and knocks. 37Blessed are those slaves whom the master finds alert when he comes; truly I tell you, he will fasten his belt and have them sit down to eat, and he will come and serve them. 38If he comes during the middle of the night, or near dawn, and finds them so, blessed are those slaves. 39“But know this: if the owner of the house had known at what hour the th...