I Added Snap-shots

Now there is a little screen icon next to every hot link, so you can get a preview of the site before you link to it. See what you think, and let me know how you like it (or not!).

RFSJ

A Carbon Fast For Lent: Day 5 and 6

I forgot to post yesterday's entry, so here it is, along with today's:

Sunday - Day 5: Find the most environmentally friendly way you can to get to church today
(e.g. walk, bike, car share).

I could have walked yesterday, since church is within walking distance. but I drove because I was running late. Not good.

Monday - Day 6: Turn your central heating thermostat down by one degree. If you have separate thermostats on radiators, adjust them to suit the use of the room.

My thermostat is one of those programmable ones, and during the day it's set for 60 F. It's usually at 72 F when I'm home, and so I'll turn to to 70 for the remainder of Lent.

What are other people doing? Hopefully, better than me in any case!

Updated: I thought the Collect for the Monday of the First Week of Lent was particularly apt:

Almighty and everlasting God, mercifully increase in us your gifts of holy discipline, in almsgiving, prayer, and fasting; that our lives may be directed to the fulfilling of your most
gracious will; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

RFSJ

The Proper of the Day: The First Sunday In Lent

Today is the first Sunday in the season of Lent. If you look carefully, you will notice that the Sundays during Lent are "in" Lent and not "of" Lent (c.f., The Second Sunday of Easter, for example). Because all Sundays, including the Lenten ones, are Feasts of Our Lord, all Lenten abstinence (except the A-Word) is dispensed during these Sundays. Thus, they are are in Lent but not of Lent.

This First Sunday in Lent is always concerning temptation, and specifically Jesus' temptation in the wilderness. We heard today the original temptation of Adam and Eve in the Garden. Coincidentally, today is Evolution Sunday, so it presumably was a challenge for preachers to work eveolution into the sermon today. I didn't preach, so I was off the hook!

We also heard from Paul's letter to the Romans, following up on the lesson from Hebrew Scriptures, comparing Adam with Jesus. And of course the Gospel was Matthew's account of the temptation of Jesus. I'm tempted to relate each of the temptations to one of the ways we are seperated from God, the world, and each other, but I'll refrain. I do find it interesting that in Matthew, there seems to be the implication that the temptation was intentional or deliberate: "Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil." Neither Mark nor Luke have the verse in quite the same way, and of course John does not mention the event. I find the suggestion compelling. Do you suppose Jesus knew what was to happen? Or was it just Matthew's way of introducing what was to happen? I'm reminded of the movie The Last Temptation of Christ, which was, at the time, a highly controversial midrash on what Jesus might have been thinking on the Cross about just giving it all up and living out his life. I saw it in college when it first opened - this would have been in 1986 or 87, and didn't see it again until last year. Either times have changed or I have, because at second viewing I couldn't find that much bothersome.

There was a really cool coincidence today at Evening Prayer. This evening the First Lesson was from Deuteronomy 8, vss. 1-10. What's neat is that we began reading Deuteronomy back at the beginning of the Eighth Week of Epiphany, omitted this year because Lent began so early. But I was delighted to actually read the passage, given what the Gospel is for today as well. Those lectionary authors are pretty smart!

Almighty God, whose blessed Son was led by the Spirit to be tempted by Satan: Come quickly to help us who are assaulted by many temptations; and, as you know the weaknesses of each of us, let each one find you mighty to save; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

RFSJ

More Dog or Cat?

This one surprised me a bit, because I absolutely love dogs. But there it is, and it's probably about right too:

You Are: 50% Dog, 50% Cat

You are a nice blend of cat and dog. You're playful but not too needy. And you're friendly but careful. And while you have your moody moments, you're too happy to stay upset for long.

Are You More Cat or Dog?

How about you? Tell all in comments.

(Thanks to Grandmere Mimi)

RFSJ

A Carbon Fast for Lent: Day 4

Day four: Are you recycling everything possible? Really – everything? Look into it today.

I'm absolutely not doing this at all, and I need to. So today I will find out what my town does for recycling and report back on what I need to do to get with the program.

Almighty and everlasting God, mercifully look upon our infirmities, and in all our dangers and necessities stretch forth your right hand to help and defend us; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

RFSJ

PS - the collects for each day are from Lesser Feast and Fasts, the Weekdays of Lent. There's one for every day of Lent, with Sundays being in the BCP.

Saturday Morning Cartoons

It's OK to enjoy, even during Lent....





RFSJ

A Theologian Thinks About Heaven

N.T. "Tom" Wright is one of the most formidable figures in the world of Christian thought. As Bishop of Durham, he is the fourth most senior cleric in the Church of England and a major player in the strife-riven global Anglican Communion; as a much-read theologian and Biblical scholar he has taught at Cambridge and is a hero to conservative Christians worldwide for his 2003 book The Resurrection of the Son of God, which argued forcefully for a literal interpretation of that event.

In his new book, Surprised by Hope (HarperOne), Wright quotes a children's book by California first lady Maria Shriver called What's Heaven, which describes it as "a beautiful place where you can sit on soft clouds and talk... If you're good throughout your life, then you get to go [there]... When your life is finished here on earth, God sends angels down to take you heaven to be with him." That, says Wright is a good example of "what not to say." The Biblical truth, he continues, "is very, very different."

Wright, 58, talked by phone with TIME's David Van Biema:

TIME: At one point you call the common view of heaven a "distortion and serious diminution of Christian hope."

Wright: It really is. I've often heard people say, "I'm going to heaven soon, and I won't need this stupid body there, thank goodness.' That's a very damaging distortion, all the more so for being unintentional.

Excellent stuff for Lent. Read it all here.

RFSJ

A Carbon Fast for Lent: Day 3

Day three: Tread lightly – whether that's by foot, by bike, on to a bus or on the gas as you drive. Find a way to reduce carbon dioxide emissions when you travel today.

So far (at 2 PM) I've driven everywhere I've gone today. There was one trip that I couldn't avoid taking the car with, but the other I could have walked or taken the bus, given my schedule, and didn't. So I'm not doing so well today.

How about others?

Support us, O Lord, with your gracious favor through the fast we have begun; that as we observe it by bodily self-denial, so we may fulfill it with inner sincerity of heart; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

RFSJ

A Carbon Fast Lent: Day 2

Day two: Check your house for drafts with a ribbon or feather. If it flutters, buy a draft blocker or some of the window draft tape.

I don't have any drafts in my apartment, because the windows and doors are pretty new, so for today I'm OK. I do miss that light I'm not using in the bathroom, though.

Direct us, O Lord, in all our doings with your most gracious favor, and further us with your continual help; that in all our works begun continued, and ended in you, we may glorify
your holy Name, and finally, by your mercy, obtain everlasting life; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

RFSJ

"Un-necessary" Quotation marks!

Grammarians of the world, unite!


H/T to Ember Days.



RFSJ

Carbon Fast for Lent: Day 1

Today's activity:

Day one
(Ash Wednesday.) Remove one light bulb and live without it for the next 40 days.

Today I didn't turn on one of the ligths in the bathroom as I shaved. I need to actually take the bulb out as well.

What light will you do without through Lent? Let us know.

RFSJ

The Proper of the Day: Ash Wednesday

Today we observe the beginning of the season of Lent with Ash Wednesday. On this day we remind ourselves of our own mortality by receiving ashes on our forehards in the ancient symbol of mourning, along with the words, "Remember that you are but dust, and to dust you shall return." At the same worship service, the Psalm is 103, with its memorable lines:

⁸The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. ⁹He will not always accuse, nor will he keep his anger for ever. ¹⁰He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. ¹¹For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is his steadfast love towards those who fear him; ¹²as far as the east is from the west, so far he removes our transgressions from us.

I love that right in the midst of our "worthily lamenting our sins" we are reminded that are sins are already taken away! That does not mean we aren't responsible for what we've done, or that there is no value in self-examination and repentance. It simply means that we know that our repentance is always accepted by God. We never have to worry that we will not be good enough for God.

And so, my friends, I invite you to a holy Lent:

Almighty and everlasting God, you hate nothing you have made and forgive the sins of all who are penitent: Create and make in us new and contrite hearts, that we, worthily lamenting our sins and acknowledging our wretchedness, may obtain of you, the God of all mercy, perfect remission and forgiveness; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

RFSJ

A Carbon Fast For Lent

This was in the UK paper The Guardian, and it's an excellent idea:

The 40-day plan lists simple energy-saving actions that can lead towards a lighter carbon footprint, including snubbing plastic bags, giving the dishwasher a day off, insulating the hot-water tank and checking the house for drafts.

Read it all. I'm going to see what I can do, and I encourage everyone to consider prayerfully what they can do this Lent as well.

RFSJ

If You Are a Super Tuesday Voter....

There was excellent story on the Brian Lehrer Show yesterday on WNYC. He had top election officials or other exeprts from New York, New Jersey, and Connecticutt on with him. Although the GOP primary is winner-take-all in each state, that's not the case for the Democrats. Essentially, the number of delegates a candidate will receive is proportional to the pupular vote by congressional district in each state.

Bottom line: do not assume your vote will not count today! Your vote will make a difference and will contribute to the success of your candidate down the line.

I voted today. Ask me who I voted for.

RFSJ

A Classic Caper....

It's worth the click!


RFSJ

A Nice Foreshadowing

Yesterday in the Daily Office the Gospel reading was Luke's version of the confession of St. Peter that Jesus is Lord. Today at Morning Prayer the Gospel reading is from John's Passion Narrative. It's Peter's denial that he knows Jesus.

I hadn't noticed the convergence before. Obviously it's deliberate, and I appreciate it. It's an effective way to remind us, just before Lent begins, that we too can be both saint and sinner, and sometimes in the same day or even the same breath.

RFSJ

Almost the End...

and I'm not talking about the Parousia, either.....

9:39 - NE now leads 14-10, with 2:42 remaining.

9:55 - TD, NY! 16-10, with 35 seconds remaining! This is Huge!

9:56: 17-10!!!!!

10:05: The NY giants have won the Super Bowl, against all odds! I'm pleased. No one should be undefeated.

RFSJ

More Super Bowl Blogging

7:28: Fidelity? Prudential? Never say Never. It''s GMC Truck! Huh. 7 out of 10 for keeping me wondering.

7:29 - Bud Light foreign accents: 5. Dumb.

7:30: Still 7-3, NE. I don't know how much I will do this - live blogging is hard!

7:38: "Eu de Planters" - 8!

7:41 - Pepsi Justin Timberlake "Gets you Closer" - eh. 4.

7:42: Doritos Mousetrap: I chuckled. 6.

7:45: There's 1:05 to play in the half. Already?

7:54 - finally, the half time! I'll coment on it when it's over, maybe.

Half-time show: very low key. Lots of Tom Petty standards, but just the standard band-on-the stage views - no drama to speak of. Avoiding wardrobe malfunctions, maybe....

8:38: They just announced: myspace.com/superbowlads to check out the ads - better than my blog, I'm sure :-)
RFSJ

Live Blogging the Super Bowl

Pet Peeve: stupid questions from the announcers to the players. And stupid answers too!

I just realized that Fox is broadcasting this. Yuck!

Here's the KO: receiver down at the 23 or so.

Bud Light Breathing Fire: Pretty Funny! "Breathing Fire no longer available with Bud Light."

Audi "Old Luxury": if you didn't get the reference, you'd be lost.

6:46 PM: diet Pepsi Max: Funny! 7 out of 10. It was the last scene that made it.

7:00 PM: Prudential Footpath Ad: 3. Very dull.

7:01 PM: 3-0, Giants.

7:02: TD NE! 6-3. Now 7-3.

7:04: GoDaddy.com. R-rated - almost X.

7:05: Dell Go(Red): I didn't get it.

7:06: The ads are coming fast!

Fedex Pigeons: 7 rating.

Cars.com: 5 - didn't catch some of it.

Tide My talking Stain: cute - 6 out of ten.

7:13: Bud Hank/Rocky Ad: I loved it, espeically pulling the train! but I was a sucker for the 2002 Bud ad too - watch it here.

7:18 Corolla cell phone: 5

7:19 Garmin GPS Ad w/ Napoleon: 6

7:24 Thriller/Life Water: 8 - I love the lizard line dance!

on to the next segment....

RFSJ

The Proper of the Day: The Last Sunday after the Epiphany

At least since the 1979 Book of Common Prayer, the Sunday before Ash Wednesday has been a commemoration of the Transfiguration, the last and perhaps greatest manifestation of Jesus. The Transfiguration is also separately observed on August 6. It's traditional on this day to sing lots of Alleluias, since the "A-word" is not used in Lent at all, so we have to get our fill of them today. Today we heard an account of Moses going up onto the mountain to receive the Torah, and also from St. Paul about keeping one's eyes and one's heart on the goal of Jesus Christ. And of course we heard Matthew's account of the Transfiguration itself. I finished up my stint of supply at St. Thomas's Episcopal Church in Vernon today, and here's what I offered at the sermon. Comments always welcome, and never mind the typos:

St. Thomas’s Episcopal Church, Vernon

Last Epiphany 2008 (BCP)

Exodus 24:12-18; Ps 99; Phil. 3:7-14; Matt 17:1-9

The Rev. R. F. Solon, Jr.

As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus ordered them, “Tell no one about the vision until after the Son of Man has been raised from the Dead.”

May these words be in the Name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen.

So what’s with all the secrecy? For a month now we’ve been hearing about how in Epiphanytide that the whole point of the season is to manifest – show, make known – Jesus to the entire world. And so it makes a lot of sense to have the Transfiguration as one of the images we have. In this story Jesus goes up on a mountain and is somehow amazingly changed. His clothes become dazzling white and his face shown like the sun. And then, just in case somehow someone still didn’t get the memo, a voice from heaven declared, “This is my Son, the Beloved, with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!” It’s the exact same pronouncement as at Jesus’ Baptism at the River Jordan, that we heard about just a few weeks ago. If you haven’t figured out yet that Jesus is someone very special indeed, then today’s Gospel should really remove all doubt from your mind.

So this is what I don’t get. Why, after that tremendous experience on the top of the mountain, would Jesus tell Peter, James and John to be quiet about it? Isn’t the whole point to make Jesus known? Again, what’s the secrecy?

There are all kinds of secrets in the world. Perhaps you remember growing up and taunting a classmate, “I know something you don’t! Neener Neener Neener!” It really didn’t matter what the secret was. It could have been as simple as what the snack was that day, because you saw the teacher take it out of her car. Maybe it was something someone told you, possibly about another classmate. Maybe you knew about a present that someone was going to get, and you were just bursting to tell, but you couldn’t. I’m not even sure I can remember anything that I knew that I wanted others to know I knew. But secrets were kind of fun. It was fun to have one, and it was excruciating to know someone else had one and I didn’t.

As we got older, sometimes secrets became a bit more serious. There was an initiation into the Scout troop that you were never supposed to talk about, but of course you knew something was going on; what was with all the whispering, anyway? Or maybe a best friend swore you to secrecy over a crush she had, and you had to promise cross-your-heart-hope-to-die that you would never ever tell. Of course, you later found out that your friend was telling all sorts of people the same thing, so it didn’t feel quite so special any more.

There are some secrets in our lives that seem so painful, so scandalous, that we feel like we can never let out. Awful things like abuse or addictions come immediately to mind. We never want to tell others what has happened or is happening, because of the shame that society has built up around the victims of such behaviors. Those are the kind of secrets that, left unaddressed, can tear a family apart, and can damage individual souls almost beyond repair. Even something as relatively benign as adoptions can be something fraught with difficulty, a secret whose revealing one never really knows will be welcome or not.

And of course, as a priest, I deal in secrets too. Anything, anything at all, that I learn from someone during a pastoral call or confession I can never reveal, even to the bishop, and I am charged with carrying that to my grave. As the Book of Common Prayer puts it so well, “The content of a confession is not normally a matter of subsequent discussion. The secrecy of a confession is morally absolute for the confessor, and must under no circumstances be broken.”

So back to the mountain. Jesus undergoes this truly miraculous alteration. He becomes like some sort of angel or something, but even brighter in some strange way. I’m not even sure what modern words to use to describe it. It’s very obvious that Peter, James, and John are supposed to see what is going on, because it’s clear that Jesus took them up the mountain. It’s not like they were just walking along a hillside and happened to see this event take place. Rather, it was intentional. And yet, they’re told not to tell anyone at all. And the word for “command” here is the same word that God uses in the reading from Exodus as Moses receives the Torah. Jesus commands the disciples with the authority of God Himself not to tell anyone what just happened.

Think for a bit about what those three must have been going though. Here they’ve just seen something they really can’t explain. In Matthew’s Gospel, the disciples aren’t present for Jesus’ baptism, so it’s the first time they’ve heard the awesome pronouncement, “This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well please. Listen to him!” So now they have this secret. Presumably they’re not even supposed to tell the other disciples. Think of the most burning secret you’ve ever had. And you aren’t supposed to tell anyone. That’s what James, Peter and John must have been going through. They’ve just gone through one of the most amazing experiences of their lives, and now this.

But listen again to what Jesus commanded them: “Tell no one about the vision until the Son of Man has been raised from the dead.” Ah. So this secret isn’t one of those forever secrets. They don’t have to keep it to the grave. They only have to do so until, what? The Son of Man, that’s Jesus, he’s used that title for himself before. Raised from the Dead? What’s that about? Put yourself in their sandals. Here Jesus is apparently predicting that somehow he will come back to life. Now although it’s not clear how much learning Peter and the others had, they still might have known that it was a common belief that God would come in glory and restore all things to his will, and at that time all the dead would be raised. Maybe they believed that as well. So even though Peter had acknowledged Jesus as the Christ, the son of the Living God, and even though they heard a voice from heaven declaring Jesus indeed to be the Son of God, they still might well have not seen the connection, or even had a clue there might be one. We know there’s a connection because we know the whole story. But the disciples didn’t know, might not have known, and presumably didn’t see the big picture until much later.

You and I, however, aren’t the disciples. We’re disciples of Jesus, sure, but we’re not Peter, John, and James. We know what’s going to happen next. In our lives, Lent comes before Easter. On Ash Wednesday we will begin the period of 40 days, not including Sundays, before Easter. We will, with Jesus, enter our period of 40 days in the wilderness, a time of contemplating what we’ve done and what we hope to do, and a time to prepare ourselves spiritually for the climax of our year, the festival of the Resurrection. But it’s a long road ahead. We have much to do and to contemplate before we light the new fire of Easter. And that’s where, for us I think, the Transfiguration comes in. Notice that Jesus said, “tell no one until the Son of Man has been raised from the dead.” Keep the secret, think about it, Jesus says, until you can clearly see that there is a new time, a different time, than what you’re used to now. Keep it for that long, but no longer.

My friends, Lent can be easy or it can be hard. It’s up to you what you make of it. The more you put into it, the more you will get out of it. Your Lenten disciplines, the things you do to strengthen your spiritual lives, can be strenuous, or they can be light. You may choose to give up one or more things - to perform a fast, in other words. You may decide to take on something positive, perhaps a daily prayer discipline, or reading the Bible, or working once a week at a local service ministry or something like that. Whatever you do, though, do it in the spirit of what Paul wrote for today: “Forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Jesus Christ.”

The secret that Jesus charged the disciples to keep was only until the Resurrection. Even though they perhaps had no idea what Jesus was talking about, though he tried to tell them, we do know. And as we consider the beginning of Lent, we know what comes after. And so as we press on through Lent on the journey to Easter, I invite you to use this final manifestation of Jesus as a means to strengthen and uphold you. Hold the vision of Jesus in your minds and hearts as Lent wears on. Don’t keep this final manifestation a secret, especially from your own soul. That vision, you see, is not only what happened once to Jesus with only a few disciples to witness it. It’s what you and I look like too. Our image may be tarnished a bit with the wear and tear of the world, but Lent is the time to fix that vision up, to get out the spiritual silver polish and remove the dirt and grime we’ve accumulated since last Easter.

I imagine Peter, James, and John talked a lot among themselves on the road to Jerusalem about what they had seen and heard on the mountain. They held that vision in their own hearts and called it to mind when things were getting tough. And they got tough! The Transfiguration was God’s way of saying, “See, this is how Jesus really is, and this is how you will be too. Keep on a little longer and see how my spirit will transfigure you as well.” And God says it to us today as well. We, too, will be transfigured. We, too, will commune with Elijah and Moses, and with Jesus and James and Peter and John. We will get a preview of that in just a few minutes as we celebrate the Holy Communion right here at this altar. And we will take that vision of Jesus into our very selves in the Body and Blood, and then take it out into the world with us. As we begin the season on Lent on Wednesday, do not forget all the ways that Jesus is manifested to you and most importantly, in you. We don’t have to keep the secret, because we know how it will all end. But we do have to get to the end first. Like St. Paul we press on, but we have a sure and certain vision to press on toward, and that is the real Good News of the Transfiguration.

Amen.

RFSJ