Povey Prattle

In her novel  "Flight Behavior"  (Harper-Collins 2012)  the great novelist Barbara Kingsolver writes about  the struggles of life in rural Appalachia.  In the early pages of the book a number of women are working together to comb sheep fleeces for burrs and bits of straw. They are presided over by a very religious family matriarch  named Hester. Hester's daughter in law Dellarobia is not so sure about the certainties of conventional religion. Here is an excerpt from Chapter Two:  "They (the women) all attended Hester's Church, which Dellarobia viewed as a complicated  pyramid scheme of moral debit and credit resting ultimately  on the shoulders of the Lord, but rife with middle managers" ==================================================== Good Lord above, as a semi-retired Priest , I know that I have often been a controlling middle manager. I think that the tantalisingly wonderful Pope Francis also kno...

If any wing-nuts on the extreme right of USA politics (Tea Party, KKK, ALEC, Americans for Prosperity, Limbaugh, Palin, Fox News etc.) , or any so-called Republican "moderate" complains, whines, or criticizes President Obama's speech upon the death of Nelson Mandela I will: (1) weep for the future of our Republic, and (2) ) strengthen my resolve to work and pray for God's justice (see the Torah) and God's Kingdom (see three of the four Gospels).   So there you have it. ( Some fifty years ago  by the grace  and judgment of God I bore witness [much against my will] to the injustice of  apartheid. I was no more than a moral coward who had a few moments of witness to the glory of God in all peoples.)

Psalm 55 v 11 and 12 (From the Episcopal Church 1979 Prayer Book version) 11.         Day and night the watchmen make their rounds                         upon her walls, * (national security?)   --------------------------------------------------      but trouble and misery are in the midst of her. 12. There is corruption at her heart; *      her streets are never free of oppression and deceit. (national insecurity?)  

The following story in blue is from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The highlights are mine (jmp) "By   Maureen Downey Cassy Blythe wants her daughter Maddy to play football again next season at Strong Rock Christian, a private school in Locust Grove, where the 12-year-old  girl had a great time playing this year.  Maddy is among the middle school players in the team photo on the school web site, But the school has changed its policy and decreed that Maddy can't play on the boys' team next year, devastating the girl and her family. In a telephone intervew today, Blythe said the decision came out of the blue. “I am still in shock. I don’t know where it came from. All we had received from the coaches was encouragement. ‘Maddy’s wonderful. We want her to keep playing. She has found her niche.’’’ Blythe said the school principal had even come to a game and watched Maddy play. “He told me he was looking forward to her playing next year,” said ...

Justin Welby.  Justin Beiber.  J.K. Rowling.  J.R.R.Tolkien I have just glanced at the Order of Service for the enthronement of Justin Welby as Archbishop of Canterbury. In fact there were two enthronements:   the first as Bishop of Canterbury; the second as the Archbishop of the Province of Canterbury (church talk) and the Primate of All England (more church talk ). If you’d like for me to explain all this on your death bed my fee will be $5000 (pro-rated for inflation) plus first class air fare. Anyway, dear and sweet Justin W elby  , (well meaning as I believe him to be)   has inherited the hot seat of Anglican Christianity without so much as a campaign, a primary election, a manifesto, a vetting by lay christian leaders, a measurement of his body fat index --  or any other such scrutiny.   He will be like Justin Beiber - thrust  into the spotlight of celebrity with no training, and no experience of dealing w...

1. Last Sunday, December 16th 2012 I was in another town and at another Church. I arrived early because my host is a choir member who needed to attend rehearsal. Wandering the huge campus of this church I came across a room named “The Other Cup”.  From outside I noticed that coffee and snacks were available, so supposing that this was a place for a pre-service cup of java I entered the room. There were twelve or fourteen people in the room - not one of whom greeted me. I poured a cup of coffee and took my seat. The others began an un-focussed discussion. Their chat meandered from here to there, and eventually settled on the murders of so many in Sandy Hook, CT on Friday 14th. Of course there were genuine expressions of shock and grief.  But the group easily came to their conclusion that the shooter Adam Lanza was mentally ill, and that “therapy” would have prevented this massacre. I am not so sure. I wanted to ask “what about evil"”,  but as a gue...

It used to be called “The Great War”.  My parents called it "The First War" Some folks called it the 1914/ 1918 war. Now we call it WW1 It was dubbed “the war to end all wars”.  It stumbled to an end on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month in 1918.  There were no victors. There was simply the armistice agreed upon by exhausted countries. It was an utterly unnecessary war, fueled only by the testosterone enriched energies of Kings, Emperors, Generals and Admirals. It signaled the end of the Austrian/Hungarian Empire, the Russian Empire and the German hopes for Empire.  It triggered the eventual demise of the Ottoman Empire, the French Empire and the British Empire. A weakened Russia was ripe for revolution, and the Bolsheviks won. A humiliated Germany was fertile ground for the seizure of power by the National Socialist party. “A war to end all wars”: what a joke.  Within twenty years Europe was at war aga...