Povey Prattle

I preached my heart and mind out on Good Friday 2014 at St. Boniface Church in Sarasota. You can read the sermon on this blog.   One friend who heard it told me that she "has difficulties  with the Crucifixion" , so she was glad that I had focused on joy.   Another friend read my sermon on line. This friend was so happy that my sermon dealt with "serving others".   DUH!   When you read the sermon you will (I hope) note that I did not mentio n joy or service.   I guess that many people hear or read what they want to hear or read in the sermons which we preachers hope are so clear! Such is the foolishness of preaching,   -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------   British children of many generations will remember the sugary and chewy sweet/candy which we called  Jelly Babies.     It's very odd t...

  The Revd. J. Michael Povey at St. Boniface Church, Siesta Key, FL John 18:1   - 19:37 There is a necessary prelude to my sermon. Whoever wrote the Gospel according to John frequently refers to “The Jews”. In the story of Mary, Martha and Lazarus which we had the other week the disciples say that it is “the Jews” who are seeking to stone Jesus In an earlier story, the one about the man born blind it is reported by John that “the Jews did not believe that (he) the man had been born blind. In the passion according to John “the Jews” cried out (to Pilate) “If you release this man you are not a friend of Caesar”. It all makes for very painful reading, since John so often refers to “the Jews” as being the skeptics, or the adversaries of Jesus, or the ones who wanted him to be crucified. “The Jews” get all the blame, and this had led to nearly two thousand years of Christian anti-Judaism and persecution unto death. At best we can hope that John meant “some ...

MOTHER JONES MAGAZINE reports this:       March 23, 2011 1:08 pm The best journalism-job want ad ever ever. You should, like, strongly consider applying to work for this guy: We want to add some talent to the Sarasota Herald-Tribune investigative team. Every serious candidate should have a proven track record of conceiving, reporting and writing stellar investigative pieces that provoke change. However, our ideal candidate has also cursed out an editor, had spokespeople hang up on them in anger and threatened to resign at least once because some fool wanted to screw around with their perfect lede. We do a mix of quick hit investigative work when events call for it and mini-projects that might run for a few days. But every year we like to put together a project way too ambitious for a paper our size because we dream that one day Walt Bogdanich will have to say: “I can’t believe the Sa...

I do not subscribe to our local newspaper, partly because I prefer not to waste money on the Sunday paper with its ton of advertising supplements, none of which interest me.  I have often said that "if you do not wish to purchase furniture, and/or you are not interested in sports, then don't get the Sunday paper". But I do  buy the paper six days a week, putting my 75c (a more than fair price) into a nearby vending machine which I pass as I take Penne for her early morning walk. There were three headlines (each above the fold) on the front page of today's paper.  One was about the pursuit by police of a suspected  bank robber - a pursuit which ended in the death of the alleged robber. Another was a piece about the issues regarding "development" in the nearby City of Venice, with the likelihood of new suburbs, and the concern of local residents. The third headliner was a stunningly creative and original 2 1/4" headline about some sh...

Two weeks into using the CPAP machine.........   1. I found that the so called "pillow"(nose only)  connection did not work well for me. The soft plastic nasal buds kept falling out of my nostrils.   2.  Now I am using a mask which covers my snout and my gob. It is more comfortable than I expected it to be.   3. The CPAP machine has all manner of readings, and it also has a removable card which I can download onto my computer.   For instance the card showed that I had 7.9 hours of uninterrupted sleep last night, whilst the CPAP machine readings indicated that my Apnea is not "normal" but that it is slightly above "mild", and well below "moderate " . (There is no way of knowing how many Apneas I  might have had without the machine)   4.  However these readings are affected because I also have "lazy leg syndrome" which the machine might register as Apneas, and  also because there is about a 30% leakage arou...

I was putting Sophie to bed and she said "Mummy saw me and want me. Daddy saw me and want me." Bless, she was talking about when we adopted her.   (Sophie is my great niece, the daughter of my nephew R. and his wife C.)