An Excerpt from Eliot's "Ash Wednesday"...

The following is an excerpt from the poem Ash Wednesdau by T.S. Eliot.  More than fitting for this sobering day...
 
VI.

Although I do not hope to turn again
Although I do not hope
Although I do not hope to turn

Wavering between the profit and the loss
In this brief transit where the dreams cross
The dreamcrossed twilight between birth and dying
(Bless me father) though I do not wish to wish these things
From the wide window towards the granite shore
The white sails still fly seaward, seaward flying
Unbroken wings

And the lost heart stiffens and rejoices
In the lost lilac and the lost sea voices
And the weak spirit quickens to rebel
For the bent golden-rod and the lost sea smell
Quickens to recover
The cry of quail and the whirling plover
And the blind eye creates
The empty forms between the ivory gates
And smell renews the salt savour of the sandy earth

This is the time of tension between dying and birth
The place of solitude where three dreams cross
Between blue rocks
But when the voices shaken from the yew-tree drift away
Let the other yew be shaken and reply.

Blessèd sister, holy mother, spirit of the fountain, spirit of the garden,
Suffer us not to mock ourselves with falsehood
Teach us to care and not to care
Teach us to sit still
Even among these rocks,
Our peace in His will
And even among these rocks
Sister, mother
And spirit of the river, spirit of the sea,
Suffer me not to be separated

And let my cry come unto Thee.


Let my cry come to Thee....

The First Verb: Hildegard

The Holy Spirit animates
all, moves
all, roots
all, forgives
all, cleanses
all, erases
all, our past mistakes, and then
puts medicine on our wounds.

We praise the Spirit of incandescence
for awakening
and reawakening
all
creation.

Hildegard of Bingen

Definitely a Lenten meditation.  Wishing everyone a meaningful yet lovely Lent.

The artwork is by a young Russian woman artist known as Inna Deriy.  See more of her work here.

Haitian quake was predicted, some experts say: The Turf War

HIGH TECH: Satellite imaging showed fore-shock of 2002 Alaska quake.

By ALBERTO ENRIQUEZ
Special to the Daily NewsNed Rozell

Published: January 24th, 2010 09:36 AM
Last Modified: January 24th, 2010 09:36 AM

In the aftermath of the massive Haitian earthquake on Jan. 12, officials have repeated the long-held opinion that "earthquakes cannot be predicted."

That's no longer true.

New electromagnetic techniques (EM) are detecting ominous signs of a killer earthquake's approach. American and French satellites independently detected signs of danger over Haiti three and four days before the earthquake struck, killing an estimated 200,000 people.

But pre-seismic EM sensing is only funded in a limited research capacity...

Read the rest of the revealing story here: http://www.adn.com/news/environment/earthquakes/story/1107324.html

Misery politicized. It's all about control of information regardless of the situation. How can such a price be placed on human lives. Three days warning, is all it would have taken to prevent so much death and misery. Shame on those who withheld information that could have prevented so much tragedy.

I am still without my distribution lists so kindly pass this article on to others. After all, we know that knowledge IS power, for good or ill.

Get the word out...

...that I have posted a new entry. My distribution lists were vaporized by my PC when it's operating system crashed and left me without access to Outlook where my mail and address book resided. I am hoping to get the O/S restored at some point so I can upload everything to Gmail and get my stuff back. I know the data is safe, just the O/S is problematic at this time. So I write and post to you from a friend's eMac!

Kindly spread the word to your blogging and blogger friends and ask them to leave comments and hopefully my usual suspects will send me an email with their address in it so I can reconstitute my distribution lists. Thanks in advance for that!

Catherine

SCOTLAND: Election to decide if Britain will have first female Anglican bishop

By Trevor Grundy, January 14, 2010

[Episcopal News Service] Britain might soon have its first female Anglican bishop, serving the 38,000-memberScottish Episcopal Church.

The Rev. Alison Peden, aged 57, is one of three candidates for the post of bishop of Glasgow and Galloway. The election is scheduled for Jan. 16.

Observers say that if Peden is elected it is likely to increase pressure on the neighboring Church of England to allow the appointment of women bishops.

"This news is a real boost as it comes at a time when the Church of England is in the process of preparing its own legislation for women bishops," Christina Rees, chairperson of WATCH (Women and the Church) and a campaigner for female bishops, was quoted as saying by The Times newspaper.

Peden, the rector of Holy Trinity Church in Stirling and canon of St. Ninian's Cathedral in Perth, is facing two male rivals for the post of bishop in the Scottish diocese.

They are the Rev. John Applegate, an academic at Manchester University, and the Rev. Gregor Duncan, rector of St. Ninian's Church, Pollokshields, and dean of the Diocese of Glasgow and Galloway.

The candidates were chosen by clergy and lay church members. Under church rules they are not allowed to give media interviews before the election.

Peden is the first woman to be shortlisted in Britain as an Anglican bishop. The General Synod of the Scottish Episcopal Church voted in 2003 to allow women bishops.

The Scottish election comes a year after the small Lutheran Church in Great Britain consecrated its first woman bishop, the Rev. Jana Jeruma-Grinberga.

WATCH's Rees said she believed that legislation allowing women bishops in the Church of England would probably be presented to its General Synod in July 2010, and that final approval would be given in 2012.

"My great hope in 2010 is that we will finally see good, robust and fair legislation for women bishops coming forward," she told Ecumenical News International.

--------------------------------------------------------------

This is the best news I have heard in a while on the Anglican front. The election is two days away, and whilst this may seem trivial in comparison to the disaster in Haiti, it is also important to this devastated country in that more change for the better for all women and men may come about with more women bishops doing the will and work of God in ways no one could ever have imagined. Long or short term, this is a very important event in the Church. Pray with all your being for the people of Haiti and those trying to help, and pray that God's will shall be seen in this election.

Catherine

CHICAGO CONSULTATION RESPONDS TO THE ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY

[and] Asks Archbishop to Reconsider Statement and Silence

CHICAGO, IL, December 7, 2009—The Chicago Consultation issued this statement today from its co-convener, the Rev. Lowell Grisham:

“For weeks the Archbishop of Canterbury has been silent as the Ugandan legislature considers making homosexuality a crime punishable by death. Lambeth Palace has let it be known that it was working behind the scenes to influence the situation because public confrontation would be counterproductive and disrespectful. Yet the election of the Rev. Canon Mary D. Glasspool, a remarkably qualified gay woman as a suffragan bishop of Los Angeles, incited the Archbishop’s immediate statement of alarm, implying there would be grave consequences unless bishops and standing committees in the Episcopal Church refused to consent to her election.

“Canon Glasspool is a qualified, respected and beloved servant of God whom the Diocese of Los Angeles has discerned has the gifts of the Spirit to help lead their ministry. She is no threat to the work of God or to Jesus’ commandment that we love our neighbor as ourselves. On the other hand, executing gay people and creating a state system of oppression is a gross violation of the spirit of the one who welcomed the outcast to his table. We are as perplexed by the Archbishop’s speedy condemnation of the former as we are by his prolonged silence of the latter.

“We believe that honoring the relationships and ministries of gay and lesbian Christians, is, in the end, the only way in which the Anglican Communion can be faithful to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We hope that when the Archbishop realizes the damage he has done to the Communion’s ministry among gay and lesbian Christians and those who seek justice for them, he will reconsider both the words he has spoken and the words he has not.”

The Chicago Consultation, a group of Episcopal and Anglican bishops, clergy and lay people, supports the full inclusion of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Christians in the Episcopal Church and the worldwide Anglican Communion. To learn more about the Chicago Consultation, visit www.chicagoconsultation.org.

HEADLINE: Canterbury issues statement on Los Angeles' election of openly gay bishop suffragan

December 06, 2009

[Episcopal News Service] Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams has issued a statement in response to the Diocese of Los Angeles' Dec. 5 election of an openly gay candidate, the Rev. Mary Douglas Glasspool, as bishop suffragan.

Glasspool is one of two bishops suffragan elected during the Los Angeles diocese's Dec. 4-5 convention in Riverside, California. The Rev. Canon Diane Jardine Bruce became the first woman elected a bishop in the Los Angeles diocese on Dec. 4. Both elections must receive consents from a majority of bishops exercising jurisdiction and diocesan Standing Committees within 120 days from the day after notice is sent to them.

An ENS article about Glasspool's election is available here. An ENS article about Bruce's election is available here.

The full text of Williams' Dec. 6 statement follows:

"The election of Mary Glasspool by the Diocese of Los Angeles as suffragan bishop-elect raises very serious questions not just for the Episcopal Church and its place in the Anglican Communion, but for the Communion as a whole.

The process of selection however is only part complete. The election has to be confirmed, or could be rejected, by diocesan bishops and diocesan standing committees. That decision will have very important implications.

The bishops of the Communion have collectively acknowledged that a period of gracious restraint in respect of actions which are contrary to the mind of the Communion is necessary if our bonds of mutual affection are to hold."

Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury, C of E.

_____________________________________

That he wrongly condemns the Constitution and Canons, the polity of our Church in America, and overtly threatens us is bad. What is worse is that he fails in every way as a Christian and leader by NOT condemning the persecution of gay Christians in Uganda, who now face the death penalty for their "manner of life", and their friends and family members face prison time for knowing about them and not reporting them, and for covering up any knowledge of a friend or relative's "manner of life." Rowan Williams, you have failed in every way to be Christ-like and to love your neighbor as yourself.