Marian McPartland

There is a lovely interview with the jazz pianist and host of Piano Jazz at The Episcopal Cafe.

You can hear the concert at Trinity Wall Street here.

Father Matthew Moretz on Evangelism

It amazes me that some believe that evangelism requires scaring the hell out of people then inviting them to church. Or vice versa. NOT!

I don't believe you can "convert" people by promising prosperity if they attend worship regularly and give money.

If you have never seen Fr Matthew on YouTube, you are missing some great "amateur" video messages. You can find him online at The Geranium Farm or in person at Christ's Church, Rye, NY.

Your Spiritual Number is Two

You bring kindness and harmony into other people's lives. Whenever a situation or idea seems extreme, you try to lend some balance. Right now, your life is about benefiting from choices you've made in your past. You have done your best to be a good person, and it is starting to pay off. You are an idealist with interesting ideas. You can't help but see all of the beauty in the world. But you are also aware of the world and its limitations. You have realistic expectations.

What's Your Spiritual Number?

Friday shuffle

1. Cry Baby - Garnet Mimms and the Enchanters
2. White Rabbit - Jefferson Airplane
3. Everyday People - Sly & the Family Stone
4. You're That Certain Someone - Warrior River Boys
5. Mr. Tambourine Man - The Byrds
6. PDQ Bach: Missa Hilarious, Sanctus
7. Good Morning Starshine - Oliver
8. Schubert: Mass in G, Benedictus - Upshaw, Atlanta, Shaw
9. Lover-O-Lover Polka
10. My Boyfriend Polka

More snow photos

Downtown Greenville

Jamestown

The golf course

Our road

The homestead

Cathouse mess

Tommie eats lunch while I survey the ice mess that has the cathouse roof covered with water and ice. Fortunately the box has a plastic bottom so it shouldn't get wet. I hope Sunday's 40 temperature will allow me to get rid of the ice and patch the plastic roof. I nailed a closed cell foam pad over the carpet so the water will run under it. I have a heater there to help melt the ice but the noise scares the cats. We'll see if PuddyTat gets bold and ignores it for the comfort of her box. She won't need the heating pad. The little heater really makes the entire space quite warm. I'll probably turn it off during the night.

Friday cat blogging

It is this kind of day. Tommie and PuddyTat have been cuddled in her box almost all the time since last evening. Sorry the cats have made such a mess on the window. It is almost impossible to clean it without dismantling the cathouse.

Later in the day, Dude came out to eat and met PuddyTat. She said, "Sorry, I'm not interested", and walked away as he watched.

Jellico appeared to eat this morning. Tommie watched from the box but didn't even sing. The furry cat runs when he sees me so I didn't bother him. He hasn't been around lately so he needs to eat.

Already campaigning

Sarah Palin has launched a political action committee - SarahPac. The ABC story is here. Perhaps the comedians won't need a bailout after all.

Feeling guilty

The last time we had this much snow I didn't have a garage or anyone to plow me out and it didn't last this long. I parked my car up at the road and walked to the house with a little plastic sled to carry groceries and other items and to ride occasionally. Now I have a wonderful neighbor who takes good care of me. He plows but I still have to shovel the car out as well as paths to the door and the cathouse for the felines. I usually also keep the spaces under the feeders clear for the ground feeding birds. Not this time. I'm not strong enough to shovel this much wet snow. So I'm feeling guilty. But the birds do have food and water just like the cats.

I want me one of these

Complete with all the bishops. You can get one too. The story is at Padre Mickey's Dance Party.

The world's cutest grandnephew and grandniece

Glad I'm not RC

Pope Benedict XVI has forgiven and reinstated four breakaway bishops. You can read Time Magazine's article here. One of those denies the Holocaust ever happened. It is one thing to forgive. It is another to allow these men to preach their hatred, prejudice, ignorance. Is his church so desperate for clergy that he must resort to this utter lack of conscience?

I don't know where this man is living but it is not in the 21st century. Will someone please tell him that the first world has moved beyond him and the rest of the world will follow eventually making his office irrelevant. Of course, many of us believe that already. How long will it take for most of his flock to agree? Those wheels grind slowly but they do grind.

More Friday cat blogging

Gave PuddyTat a new box and a cleaner area today. The box is somewhat larger than I would like but it is all I could find other than ones that are too small. I fastened a towel around the top so it will sag a bit making the top slightly lower. Of course PT will not allow Tim or Dude to occupy her space but she will cuddle with Tommie. Tim has her foam in the garage so I don't worry much about her. The only thing these two share is orange and PT is more tannish than Tim. They probably have the same father - Tancat. Otherwise they are radically different people. Tim is much larger and has a much heavier coat. PuddyTat is gentle unless she's mad. Tim is feisty. I hold out my hand and Tim moves her head to where she wants scritched. She will bat me if I withdraw too soon. She used to do it with her claws extended but she seems calmer now. She doesn't want petted elsewhere while PT likes me to scritch the length of her body. Tim is a year younger than PT who will be 11 this spring.

Tom must have found a lady as he hasn't been around today. Neither has Jellico. One or both will probably be back with a bloody spot eventually.

Another reason to avoid the label "Christian"

Biblical Battered Wife Syndrome: Christian Women and Domestic Violence

By Kathryn Joyce
January 22, 2009

"What is a good enough reason for divorce? Well, according Rick Warren's Saddleback church, divorce is only permitted in cases of adultery or abandonment—as these are the only cases permitted in the Bible—and never for abuse."

Read the rest of this scary and revealing article at Religion Dispatches.

For the life of me I can't understand how anyone who claims to follow Jesus could abuse anyone, especially someone supposedly loved. But then, it seems to me that many of the people who claim the label "Christian" have no clue about the message of the Gospels. I will share the eucharist with them but I don't want to be grouped with them.

Friday cat blogging

"Warm" and sunny weather lured Tommie out of shelter.

While PuddyTat contemplated joining him.

Friday shuffle

1. Britten: The Succession of Four Sweet Months - Sixteen
2. Living in the Past - Jethro Tull
3. My Guy - Mary Wells
4. Bach: Sonata in C Major - Stephen Preston, flute
5. Barrel of Fun - Country Cooking
6. Little Brown Jug - Glenn Miller
7. Bang a Gong (Get it on) - T.Rex
8. American Woman - Guess Who
9. Satie: Première Pensée Et Sonneries... - Riri Shimada
10. Purcell: Dido and Aeneas, When I am laid in earth - Jennie Blackham

Loss

A college classmate committed suicide. His partner died intestate on a cruise. The parents apparently took control and left my friend out. He never got over it. I wonder if the parents are "good Christian folks".

Sometimes I dislike religion intensely. I find it difficult to respect people who blindly follow the pronouncements of the pope or the Mormon prophet or anybody claiming to have a direct line to whatever god and know all the rules for salvation, whatever that is. Most but not all of God's creation are less interested in one sex than in another. If it isn't rape or abuse, it is normal. If it doesn't produce offspring who will add to the rolls and the coffers, it is not wrong or harmful to God's plan. It is normal.

Sheez. I wish people would learn to value each other, especially people who claim to follow Jesus. They wouldn't have to worry about salvation or much of anything else. The world would be much more peaceful.

Somewhat speechless

I don't seem to be able to put into a coherent message how I feel about our country and the future now that Barack Obama is president and Bush and his administration are gone. Will people maintain the atmosphere of good and evil, right and wrong, black and white that group fostered or will we put that ugliness behind us and get on with life? Will people who call themselves "Christian" maintain the arrogance the previous administration preached - they are right and all others are wrong - or will they read the Gospels and learn the message of loving service Jesus brought?

President Obama. Wow.

The Invocation HBO didn't include

The annual meeting

ECW provided subs and drinks before the annual parish meeting this morning. Four vestry members were elected. A new era begins with a new Senior Warden. And someday soon I will be an Episcopalian.