Stone of Witness: No Tickee-No Washee

Friday, November 13, 2009

No Tickee-No Washee

Word comes from the Diocese today that you can’t get into the Convention Eucharist without a ticket. And there are color coded tickets I am told—one color if you get in the room with the Presiding Bishop and one color for those who are cast into outer darkness in another room with closed-camera connections.

First of all the idea of tickets to attend the Eucharist is beyond belief. I wonder what Christ would have said to the 5,000? I think he DID say something to the disciples about that and it sure as heck wasn’t tickets!

I also wonder what would have happened if we had planned far enough ahead when asking the PB to have gotten larger accommodations? Would having the Convention Eucharist at another large church been a possibility? What about inviting the PB at another time when she could meet with the clergy and laity of the diocese? How about Clergy Conference like the Lutherans did? What about a gym somewhere? Or perhaps we could have invited her during the summer to an outdoor service at Thornfield—ah yes, we would have had to mow the grass!

So now we have Standing Room Only for a service in which we have invited the whole diocese by making sure that all the clergy are at convention….

Once again Piss-Pore-Planning seems to have overwhelmed us.

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Quotes

"Faith is different from theology because theology is reasoned, systematic, and orderly, whereas faith is disorderly, intermittent, and full of surprises.... Faith is homesickness. Faith is a lump in the throat. Faith is less a position on than a movement toward, less a sure thing than a hunch. Faith is waiting." Frederick Buechner “I realized that an oyster is an organism that defends itself by excreting a substance to protect itself against the sand of its spawning bed. The more sand in the oyster, the more chemical the oyster produces until finally, after layer upon layer of gel, the sand turns into a pearl. And the oyster itself becomes more valuable in the process. At that moment,” I said, I discovered the ministry of irritation.” Joan Chittister

Quotes

So keep fightin' for freedom and justice, beloveds, but don't you forget to have fun doin' it. Lord, let your laughter ring forth. Be outrageous, ridicule the fraidy-cats, rejoice in all the oddities that freedom can produce. And when you get through kickin' ass and celebratin' the sheer joy of a good fight, be sure to tell those who come after how much fun it was.(Molly Ivins 1944-2007)

Dorothy Sayers (Creed or Chaos?)

Let us,

In Heaven's name,

drag out the Divine Drama

from under the dreadful accumulation

of slipshod thinking

and trashy sentiment heaped upon it,

and set it on an open stage

to startle the world

into some sort of vigorous reaction.

If the pious are the first to be shocked,

so much the worse for the pious

--others will enter the Kingdom of Heaven before them.

If all men are offended because of Christ,

let them be offended;

but where is the sense

of their being offended at something

that is not Christ

and is nothing like Him?

We do Him

singularly little honor by watering down

'til it could not offend a fly.

Surely it is not the

business of the Church

to adapt Christ to man,

but to adapt man to Christ.

Just Something to Think About...

"The Bible contains six admonishments to homosexuals and 362 admonishments to heterosexuals. That doesn't mean that God doesn't love heterosexuals. It's just that they need more supervision." (Lynn Lavner, an American comedian and musician from Brooklyn, NY). and...none of the six came from Jesus

"Religion isn’t about believing things. It's ethical alchemy. It’s about behaving in a way that changes you, that gives you intimations of holiness and sacredness." - Karen Armstrong

"A church that doesn't provoke any crises, a gospel that doesn't unsettle, a word of God that doesn't get under anyone's skin, a word of God that doesn't touch the real sin of the society in which it is being proclaimed — what gospel is that?"

-Archbishop Oscar Romero

"If the truth be told, my attitude towards all gatherings of bishops is to avoid them. I have never seen a good outcome to any synod, or asynod which produced deliverance from evils rather than the additionto them … rivalries and manoeuvres always prevail over reason … and intrying to decide between others it is easier to get accused ofwickedness itself than to deal with their wickedness. Consequently Ihave withdrawn to myself. I consider retirement to be the only meansof saving my soul." Gregory of Naziansus (bishop, 4th century)

The Bible contains six admonishments to homosexuals and 362 admonishments to heterosexuals. That doesn't mean that God doesn't love heterosexuals. It's just that they need more supervision." (Lynn Lavner, an American comedian and musician from Brooklyn, NY).