Povey Prattle

My olfactory system   was mightily stimulated this afternoon. I asked my dog:  "Penne did you just fart?". She declined to answer, on the basis that this was an entirely inappropriate question for a well bred lady. Then she suppressed a giggle, and smirked.

There is beauty in nature for sure - birds, bees, insects, trees etc.   I also see  beauty in decaying buildings.    My Facebook (and personal) friends  Rebecca E. S. and Roger S. seem to agree with me, since each of them have recently posted photo's of old New England buildings.     I call them  "strange beauty".     From Roger S  ( Abandoned Ft. Devens, MA building?)   From Rebecca E.S.   Haverhill MA.     From Roger S. Former Military building, Ft. Devens, MA      

      For the fruit of all creation, thanks be to God. gifts bestowed on every nation, thanks be to God. For the plowing, sowing, reaping, silent growth while we are sleeping, future needs in earth's safekeeping, thanks be to God. In the just reward of labor, God's will is done. In the help we give our neighbor, God's will is done. In our worldwide task of caring for the hungry and despairing, in the harvests we are sharing, God's will is done. For the harvests of the Spirit, thanks be to God. For the good we all inherit, thanks be to God. For the wonders that astound us, for the truths that still confound us, most of all that love has found us, thanks be to God.   (Fred Pratt Green)

Most days I log into the London (U.K.) Guardian Newspaper.  It is a reliable source for news (some of which is never disseminated elsewhere).   The Guardian has three on-line editions - for the U.K,, for the U.S.A., and for Australia.   I often check the Australian edition, fancying myself to have a bit of knowledge about that Commonwealth since my visit there a few years ago.    I also like to read about the dreadful Australian Premier Tony Abbott. He is a member of the Australian "Liberal Party" -  a party which in every other land would be called "conservative", or even "reactionary".   My British friends might think about Premier Abbott as a son born to Tony Blair and Margaret Thatcher.   In the U.S.A. he would be the son of Ted Cruz and Sarah Palin.   -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------   That unbiased opinion aside (!!) I read a Guardian (AU) stor...

I chatted with my second sister Jean today on the occasion of her 75th birthday.  It was a lovely conversation. I still find it hard to reckon with the fact that I have two older sisters who are blessed with the gift of life  one aged 77 and the other aged 75.  It seems that it was only yesterday that we were young children, growing up in Bristol, U.K.  Here we are in our 70's, all those years on! =============================== My chat with Jean made me think about the sister I never knew. Her name is  Sylvia.  She was born in (I think) 1942, two years before my twin and I arrived in 1944. Sylvia's life was brief.  She was born with spina bifida. She died in infancy.  So I never knew this dear sister Sylvia. Today, as a result of chatting with Jean, I have been wondering how Sylvia's life would have developed had she lived. It's made me sad to recall that I had a sister I never knew. Would she have had a lovely and blessed li...

Sermon for 23 rd November 2014. The Revd. J. Michael Povey at St. Boniface Church, Siesta Key FL   Ezekiel 34:11-24; Mathew 25:31-46   ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- “Why are we are we here today?” The obvious answer, on the tip of our tongues is “for worship”, or for a “service of worship”. That is not so. In fact, the very notion that our Sunday morning activity, set apart as a discrete religious event, but un-connected with the rest of our lives is “worship” is offensive to God. I can just about hear the Holy One saying “oh that again, I am utterly bored, I am not interested”. “Sing and pray away as much as you like if that’s what floats your religious boat, but I won’t be logged into your live streaming.   I am too busy standing alongside Syrian refugees in Turkey, and persecuted Christians in Iraq, and little children dying of Ebola in Liberia”. The hymns and prayers are not for...