Wendell Berry

I know that I have life
only insofar as I have love.

I have no love
except it come from Thee.

Help me, please, to carry
this candle against the wind.
- Wendell Berry

Even More From Franny and Zooey: Jesus vs. St. Francis

I know I'm risking overkill, but F&Z has got to be one of the two or three most quotable books I've ever read:

"Your age has nothing to do with what I'm talking about. There are no big changes between ten and twenty - or ten and eighty, for that matter. You still can't love a Jesus as much as you'd like to who did and said a couple of things he was at least reported to have said or done - and you know it. You're constitutionally unable to love or understand any son of God who throws tables around. And you're constitutionally unable to love or understand any son of God who says a human being, any human being - even a Professor Tupper - is more valuable to God than any soft, helpless Easter chick."

Franny was now facing directly into the sound of Zooey's voice, sitting bolt upright, a wad of Kleenex clenched in one hand. Blooomberg was no longer in her lap. "I suppose you can, " she said, shrilling.

"It's beside the point whether I can or not. But, yes, as a matter of fact, I can. I don't feel like going into it, but at least I've never tried, consciously or otherwise, to turn Jesus into St. Francis of Assisi to make him more 'lovable' - which is exactly what ninety-eight per cent of the Christian world has always insisted on doing. Not that it's to my credit. I don't happen to be attracted to the St. Francis of Assisi type. But you are. And, in my opinion, that's one of the reasons why you're having this little nervous breakdown. And especially the reason why you're having it at home."
---------------

"Franny, I'm being serious. When you don't see Jesus for exactly what he was, you miss the whole point of the Jesus Prayer [i.e. "Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me, a miserable sinner"]. If you don't understand Jesus, you can't understand his prayer - you don't get the prayer at all, you just get some kind of organized cant. Jesus was a supreme adept, by God, on a terribly important mission. This was no St. Francis, with enough time to knock out a few canticles, or to preach to the birds, or to do any of the other endearing things to close to Franny Glass's heart. I'm being serious now, God damn it. How can you miss seeing that? If God had wanted somebody with St Francis's consistently winning personality for the job in the New Testament, he'd've picked him, you can be sure. As it was, he picked the best, the smartest, the most loving, the least sentimental, the most unimitative master he could possibly have picked. And when you miss seeing that, I swear to you, you're missing the whole point of the Jesus Prayer.

Participants Needed For An Online Questionnaire Study

DZ gave me permission to post this on here, so I'll be quick: I'm looking for participants to take part in a questionnaire study that explores people's experiences of asking God for something or to do something (i.e. people's petitionary prayers). It takes anywhere between 20-45 minutes to complete, is entirely anonymous, and has been approved by the University of Cambridge Research Ethics Committee.

If you would like more information or to take part in the study, please click here.

(And if you take part in the study and have comments to share with me, please email me rather than post comments here. Thank you in advance for your help - it is very much appreciated!)

Weds Afternoon Rock n Roll: Joseph Arthur's "Dear Lord"

A fantastic song by an underrated artist, "Dear Lord" is a gutsy conversation between man and God, where suffering creates faith, which in turn births repentance. A very strong "presence of God's absence"/ theology of the cross vibe. Just after it was released in 2002, I remember reading an interview with Arthur, who does not identify himself as a Christian or a particularly religious person, where the interviewer asked him what accounted for all the "religious" songs on the new record, and his wonderful reply was, "I don't know. That's just what comes out. I'm as surprised by it as anyone." That said, I think I smell some sobriety... "Dear Lord" is one of the many standouts on his - get a load of this - Redemption's Son record, which also includes the Gospel-centric closer, "You've Been Loved." The only version on youtube is one of Arthur's trademark live solo loop-fests, and as good as it is, it's not quite a match for the studio version, which is well worth searching out.

Lyrics (with God's voice in italics):

[CONTINUE READING]

From The Onion: Area Woman Prefers To Get Same Advice From As Many People As Possible

Another ridiculously funny/relevant piece (about prayer) from The Onion:

MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA—When faced with any kind of vexing decision or problem, 29-year-old Christine Lim prefers to weigh all her options by getting the exact same advice from as many people who already agree with her as possible, the area woman told reporters Monday. "If I meet a great guy who's really sweet but still getting over a bitter divorce, I just feel better knowing that 20 to 30 of my friends are in lockstep with my predetermined opinion that I should look past it and date him anyway," said Lim, who has also sought out a wide range of identical opinions on recipes, birthday gifts for her mom, and whether or not one of her shoulders is slightly higher than the other. "Calling on those close to me to endlessly reconfirm my worldview makes coming to conclusions that much easier." Lim added that on the occasions when she does encounter someone with a conflicting take, she is quickly reassured by her real friends that Laura is a total _____.

White as Snow...

The following is a piece I did for my school's Advent Devotional. It is based off of the readings for this past Monday (according to the 1979 BCP), specifically Isaiah 1:10-20.

Isaiah’s words are a fitting opening for this season of Advent. In the first nine verses of chapter 1, Isaiah describes the rebellion and iniquity of God’s chosen people; they have not only strayed, they have rejected their God the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, and His commandments (v.4). Isaiah (vv. 10-15) describes the disgust God has over their many sacrifices, vain offerings, feasts. As a result, God turns from His people: “when you spread out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you; even though you make many prayers, I will not listen; your hands are full of blood” (v.15). God, as Judge, has delivered the divine verdict to the people: guilty.

But this is not the final word. Isaiah does not stop there at that word of death. “…though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow…” (v18 b). Among great transgressions, God assures His people through Isaiah: it’s not over, this isn’t the final word; there’s one more word to be spoken: the divine promise, the word of life. This word of life, this divine promise is Jesus Christ: the Incarnate God—the promised Suffering Servant (Is. 53)—Redeemer of the world. Jesus is the Word made Flesh (John 1:1-14) who will (by His life, death, resurrection, and ascension) be the perfect propitiation for the sins of the world, and evoke the very repentance commanded by God (vs. 16-17, 19-20; cf. also 1:27-28); through Him sins are atoned for, “though they are like scarlet, they shall be made white as snow” (v.18b).

Let us, during Advent, wait with Isaiah’s audience, knowing our guilt yet brimming with expectant hope at the fulfillment of the divine promise; let us watch with eager eyes for the birth of Jesus, the Word of Life.

Lord, as we enter into this season of Advent, press upon our hearts the gravity of our transgressions And drive us, Lord, to Your unfaltering promise with full and expectant hearts. Prepare our hearts to rejoice in the Word of Life: Your Son, our Saviour, Jesus Christ.

Suffering and Revival in Haiti

A touching and deeply encouraging article from yesterday's NY Times about the revival of charismatic Catholicism in Haiti (and among Haitian Americans), post-catastrophe. Doubles as something of a Thanksgiving devotion:

The quake, too, is reshaping Haitian religion. It has demanded new resilience — not only from Haitians and Haitian-Americans, who often lay claim to a legendary, divinely inspired endurance, but also from faith itself, suddenly more vulnerable to doubt, disillusion and competition. And it has pumped new life into Haitians’ version of charismatic Catholicism, which seeks direct contact with the Holy Spirit through uninhibited, even raucous prayer. This year, for many Haitians, the movement’s embrace of raw emotion has seemed the only sensible response.
---------------

As [Haitian immigrant] Mrs. Mars’s rosary group praised God’s goodness, one woman balked, saying there was “nothing good” about the quake. Mrs. Mars countered, “Nothing can separate us from the love of God — not earthquakes, not anything.”

For months, people packed Masses, sometimes calling out, “Jesus, Haiti is in your hands!” The priests came to feel the congregation was ministering to them, not vice versa. Father Robinson, 66, who is not Haitian, was jolted when people would declare that if God had not watched over the disaster, “maybe it would have been worse.”

“Are these people for real?” the priest would wonder.
[CONTINUE READING]

Another Week Ends: Altruism, Homer Simpson, Friends, and Dogs

Filling in for DZ this week...

1. Judith Lichtenberg of the NY Times writes this article in defense of altruism over against egotism – known on this blog as a low anthropology. Her critiques of egotism are valid and while she proposes an understanding of altruism which may sound close to Reformation ideas of freedom and love, it instead seems to be a return to Aristotle and the formation of a virtuous identity (ht DZ):

“The point is rather that the kind of altruism we ought to encourage, and probably the only kind with staying power, is satisfying to those who practice it. Studies of rescuers show that they don’t believe their behavior is extraordinary; they feel they must do what they do, because it’s just part of who they are. …As Prof. Neera Badhwar has argued, their identity is tied up with their values, thus tying self-interest and altruism together.”

1a. Speaking of self-perception, a recent study by Dr. Jessica Escobedo has found the people give their actions greater moral worth than their peers -shocking! (ht KW):

“Other data we collected showed that when you're asked to rate your own actions, you rate yourself as about 10 percent more morally good than other people rate your behavior. While this isn't too surprising, we found that if you were asked how other people would rate those same actions, you were remarkably accurate in estimating their ratings of your behavior. In other words, even though you know what other people think of your choices, you still think you're doing better than others give you credit for.”

2. Is Homer Simpson a Roman Catholic? So says this article and the Vatican’s own “L'Osservatore Romano.” As the Vatican magazine suggests: “Few people know it, and he does everything he can to hide it, but it is true: Homer J Simpson is a Catholic”. Who am I to contradict the Vatican on all things Catholic, but this seems like a bit of a stretch (ht DZ).

3. Setting aside political allegiances (honestly), this research article from the Wall Street Journal about the Tea Party movement is worth the read. The author, Jonathan Haidt, sees a strong belief in the notion of Karma amongst conservative Tea Partiers that ultimately underpins their emphasis on personal independence. That’s not to say that all Tea Partiers agree with Karma (Haidt notes that libertarian Tea Partiers largely disagreed with Karma), but given the recent very religious march on Washington, it may be worth it to ask what Christianity has to say about all this. As the article notes (ht JD):

“[In] today's ongoing financial and economic crisis… those guilty of corruption and irresponsibility have escaped the consequences of their wrongdoing, rescued first by President Bush and then by President Obama. Bailouts and bonuses sent unimaginable sums of the taxpayers' money to the very people who brought calamity upon the rest of us. Where is punishment for the wicked?" [CONTINUE READING]

Another Week Ends: Procrastination, Galli on Miners & Prayer, Wes Anderson, JK Rowling & goodnewsforpeoplewithbigproblems

1. A wonderful and highly relevant article in this week's New Yorker by James Surowiecki reviewing a new book on procrastination, The Thief of Time. A perfect storm of Law-related paralysis (also known as "perfectionism" - think Chinese Democracy), Romans 7-style inner divisions and general human silliness:

Philosophers are interested in procrastination for another reason. It’s a powerful example of what the Greeks called akrasia—doing something against one’s own better judgment. Piers Steel defines procrastination as willingly deferring something even though you expect the delay to make you worse off. In other words, if you’re simply saying “Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die,” you’re not really procrastinating. Knowingly delaying because you think that’s the most efficient use of your time doesn’t count, either. The essence of procrastination lies in not doing what you think you should be doing, a mental contortion that surely accounts for the great psychic toll the habit takes on people. This is the perplexing thing about procrastination: although it seems to involve avoiding unpleasant tasks, indulging in it generally doesn’t make people happy. In one study, sixty-five per cent of students surveyed before they started working on a term paper said they would like to avoid procrastinating: they knew both that they wouldn’t do the work on time and that the delay would make them unhappy.

Procrastinators often succumb to this sort of perfectionism. Viewed this way, procrastination starts to look less like a question of mere ignorance than like a complex mixture of weakness, ambition, and inner conflict.

The idea of the divided self, though discomfiting to some, can be liberating in practical terms, because it encourages you to stop thinking about procrastination as something you can beat by just trying harder.

2. A stirring and vulnerable response to the miraculous rescue of the Chilean miners from Mark Galli (our recently announced 2011 NYC Conference speaker!) in Christianity Today. I would re-post the whole thing if I could:

When extraordinary things like this happen, it brings out the megalomania in some people. But I think a local Catholic priest had it right: "God has heard our prayers." Lots of prayers from lots of people. And it was given.

When this sort of thing happens, I feel like I'm being set up. If prayer never "worked," I could deal with it sensibly. I could just give it up. Or give up one type of prayer—intercession. Just stop praying that God would do this or that, change this or that. Prayer could just be communing with God. But when God answers prayer like this, it sets up this god-awful expectation that God gives to those who ask. "Ask and it shall be given" is a nice, warm saying, but it should really be, "Ask and sometimes it will be given." Or more realistically, at least in my prayer experience, "Ask and once in a blue moon it will be given."

"...Feeling hopeless [...] characterizes my prayer life most days. I have so few important-to-me prayers answered that I'm afraid to pray for such things anymore. Who wants to be disappointed with God again? So I find stories like the answered prayer for the Chilean miners more irritating than inspirational. As a CNN story says, the miners "showed us there is hope even when the worst seems certain." Well, for me when the worst seems certain, I have the hardest time having hope.
[CONTINUE READING]

When Disbelief Yields....

This song isn't a hard one to figure out. When it's your heart that is broken, when you are the one who receives the loss, you bear the bulk of the burden of sorrow. While the other persons seems to be just fine, you are in pieces, 'still alive...but...barely breathing'. In this sorrow, in this 'barely breathing' you are pushed to desperation; the pain and heartache is too much...you will do anything because you are desperate: you may just pray to a god you have never believed in.

"I'm still alive but I'm barely breathing
Just prayed to a god that I don't believe in
Coz I got time while she got freedom
Coz when a heart breaks no it don't break even"

And this is why I love this song: because it perfectly captures that very desperate spot we are all in apart from Christ and His Cross. We come broken, weary, worn-out, starving, thirsty...desperate to His Cross. Our hands are empty and are hearts are broken, we offer nothing but our pain and failures. We are barely alive and barely breathing. We come not of our own volition, but because we have no where else to go, no where else to turn. We are pushed to the very edge of ourselves. On that edge, in that moment, the only thing we can do is pray. On that edge, in that moment disbelief yields to something much more substantial: hope.

Weds Morning Rock N Roll: Dion And Phil Spector Go To The Moon

While we bide our time waiting for the long-awaited Phil Spector documentary, The Agony and Ecstasy of Phil Spector to find distribution, the producer's monumental collaboration with Dion, Born To Be With You begs for some (re-)consideration. Also known as Pete Townshend's and Jason Pierce's (of Spiritualized) favorite record, it received close to no attention when it came out in 1974. Partly because it was never released in the States, but mainly because Spector was out of fashion and fading fast, both mentally and commercially, and Dion, whose biggest hits were more than a decade behind him, was still emerging from his recovery from heroin addiction, which would be followed a few years later by an equally dramatic conversion to Christianity. Out of this suitably Nazareth set of circumstances, a masterpiece emerged, one that still resonates with feeling, beauty, madness and an almost impossible amount of reverb.

There's not a weak cut on the record. The first side is particularly stunning, kicking off with the title track, an absurdly prolonged cover of a Chordettes' single from the 50s. Next comes "Make The Woman Love Me," my personal choice for album highlight, a heart-wrenching yet gloriously non-pious prayer that Spector wrote with the same crew as "You've Lost That Lovin Feeling" (Weil/Mann). Dion really gives it all he's got:



"Make The Woman Love Me" is followed by the non-Spector-ized "Your Own Backyard," perhaps the greatest pop song ever written about drug addiction/recovery, composed by Dion himself. Then, as if to up the ante even more, we are given a version of "(He's Got) The Whole World In His Hands" that sounds like it was recorded on the moon. Spector remakes the hokey children's worship song into funeral march, complete with a disembodied female choir and what sounds like a heavily phased Dion vocal. I find it to be very powerful, one of my top-ten Christian recordings, if it can be called such, probably because it borders on insanity in an almost Ezekiel-like fashion:



The second side is no slouch either: "Only You Know" was prominently sampled by Jarvis Cocker a few years back on "Don't Let Him Waste Your Time" and may be the vocal peak of the record (which is saying something, as Dion's pipes are really something to behold). "In and Out of the Shadows" rides a monolithic Wall-of-Sound to haunting effect.

But nothing can touch that first side. And probably nothing ever should... Like many of Spector's later productions, the sessions ended prematurely, in fog of bewilderment and acrimony. Perhaps the murky spirit of the record couldn't have been taken any further. Which is probably for the best. But it means that, as far as the intersection of doo-wop, Christianity and insanity is concerned, Born To Be With You stands alone. A record truly out of time but one very much worth yours.

Born To Be With You was finally re-released on CD a few years ago. Check it out!

Weds Morning Rock N Roll: The Jackson 5 sing Jackson Browne

A really bad idea can sometimes be a beautiful thing. It can even be inspired. Take, for instance, David Bowie doing Little Drummer boy with Bing Crosby in 1977. Or Bob Dylan doing a Christmas album (and a Victoria's Secret commercial) this past year. Left-field career-killing moves are nothing if not fascinating. Another prime, but little known, example would have to be The Jackson 5 choosing to follow up their hit 1972 single "Lookin' Through The Windows" with an extremely peppy take on Jackson Browne's "Doctor My Eyes." Presumably Motown was looking to cash in on the (nominal) success of the Supremes/Four Tops' version of CSN's "Love The One You're With" from the year before? For five short minutes, Detroit and Laurel Canyon must have seemed like a match made in heaven. 

In honor of the anniversary of Michael Jackson's death last week, I thought we'd take a second (or first) look at this historic mis-fire. As we all know, much of The Jackson 5's early success had to do with Michael's amazing mini-James Brown schtick. He could dance and sing like an overheated soulman, cat-calling and crooning with the emotion of someone three times his age. So from the very start, the Jacksons were no strangers to contradictions. In fact, his facility and affinity for contradictions would mark the rest of Michael's career - one might even call it part of his genius: was he 10 or 35? Was he male or female? Straight or gay? Producer or product? Victim or perpetrator? "Black or white"? Law or Gospel(!)? Throughout his career, Michael consistently tried to transcend these categories, or synthesize them, with a surprising amount of success (and often with a doctor's help!). I suppose you could call him a Hegelian.

He also had that rare ability to commit himself fully to whatever project he was working on. There were never any half-measures with Michael Jackson. When he succeeded, he hit the moon. When he failed, it was miserable.

If "Doctor My Eyes" is a dry-run for those later contradictions, which it's probably not, it's a failed one. But fascinatingly so. It's one thing to have a little kid ape the manners of a Lothario, it's quite another to have that same kid sell an anthem of spiritual weariness. True, The Smiths made a (brilliant) career out of setting despondent lyrics to upbeat melodies, but they never really flirted with farce the way the Jacksons do here.

Yet the absurdity serves the recording: the concept is so off-the-wall that it just reeks of creativity and courage, from beginning to end, and the arrangement/performance so contradicts the content that both are put in stark relief. Browne's words are piercing; the doctor being addressed is clearly the Great Physician, and the song a particularly affecting articulation of a man giving up on self-enlightenment. In Michael's 13 year-old hands, the words may lose much/most of their intended exhaustion, but they gain a dimension of exuberance that transforms the song from a somewhat dejected prayer into a hopeful one. Or rather, from a mid-life-crisis prayer into a melodramatic (though no less authentic) teenage one. It's a masterpiece of mis-interpretation that catapults the whole enterprise into a considerably more meta sphere, without losing the religious sincerity of the original.

But even without all that, it's a fun song. Michael's winsomeness as a kid, always a joy to behold, is on full display and the back-up vocals from the other brothers are pure bubblegum ridiculousness, with Jermaine's verse providing a characteristically top-notch foil to MJ.  It's also one of the Jacksons' most rockin' singles, btw, with an astonishing one-note solo at the end. So at just over three minutes, "Doctor My Eyes" is gem of mis-matched glory, a highpoint of early 70s bad judgment. I'd love to know who green-lit it. 



p.s. The cynic in me says it was a brilliant career move, but the 'man in the mirror' would probably maintain that Chris Brown's breakdown was genuine. What did you think?

More from Bo Geirtz....

I couldn't resist posting another entry from Bo Geirtz's devotional. Thursday's reading is pure Mockingbird....
------------------------------------------
THURSDAY AFTER

THIRD SUNDAY

AFTER TRINITY

Romans 4:13- 25

For the law brings wrath .... That is why it depends on faith. Romans 4:15,16

Sometimes we wonder why there's so much talk of the Jews in the Christian Church. If examined closer, we discover it is because we're so much alike - we're actually reading about our own spiritual heritage.

The Jews realized that it was out of undeserved mercy and compassion that God chose them above all others. He had given them His Law to uphold. If they did so, they would be made righteous in God's eyes and enjoy even more of His goodness. The fact that Abraham had been righteous before God through His obedience and deeds was obvious.

Many who call themselves Christian think in the same way. They know God calls them through sheer grace. However, once they're called, they focus on obedience. They've received the Law and it must be obeyed. They believe that if they do this, they are “real" Christians.


Paul says this way of thinking is wrong. Abraham was made righteous because he believed in God and trusted Him, not because of his own good works. His faith is an example of faith in Jesus, the kind of faith that allows us to receive righteousness from God. Abraham believed in a God who can give life to the dead and create life where there is none. Where there was no hope, he hoped anyway. This is exactly what we’re expected to do. The Law produces wrathful judgment. The more serious we are in our wish to obey God in every way and be like Jesus- full of love, absolutely true to Himself and unselfish- the clearer it becomes that there is no plausible hope that people like us could ever be like Jesus. We can’t create new life in our hearts. We can’t bring forth love where there is none.

There is only hope.

[CONTINUE READING]

Today's Devotional from the Hammer of God

I'm generally skeptical of devotionals (Two Words exempted!).  This morning,  I pulled out Bo Geirtz's amazing devotional with a terrible title called, To Live With Christ.   If you're not familiar with Geirtz, he was a Swedish Lutheran Bishop who faithfully maintained his allegiance to the historic gospel amidst a church gone off it's rails.  He was surrounded during his persecutions as a faithful minister by a group of gospel wielding laymen and this little band mutually encouraged each other - a Lutheran Band of Brothers if you will.  I suspect they would've published a blog if there had been such a thing!  He's most noted for his novel The Hammer of God (which I can't recommend more highly).  

All his writings are deeply informed by a concern for pastoral ministry (e.g. people!) and rooted in the historic Gospel of the Reformers.  He carries the Gospel like a shotgun and his devotional was recently discovered and translated into English by a Concordia Ft. Wayne Seminarian and I can't recommend it enough.  For you techies, you can get it as a kindle app and read it on your Kindle/iPhone/iPad,/Computer/Whatever....  It is so so so rooted in what this broken sinner needs to hear each day. 

Thought I'd pass along today's reading (emphasis in bold below is mine) - and I think it speaks to yesterday's insightful post by our own Jady....  

TUESDAY AFTER

THIRD SUNDAY

AFTER TRINITY

Romans 1:1 - 23

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. Romans 1:16

What is the Gospel?

Paul answers this question in his Letter to the Romans. He writes to the church in Rome sometime around AD 51, probably when he was in Corinth. Ai; he is unknown to the recipients, he presents himself and the Gospel God has commanded him to preach everywhere among all Gentiles, even in Rome.

He says the Gospel is "the power of God for salvation." It's about God’s Son, but it is more than just a doctrine. The Gospel is a force; God’s intervention on earth, which leads to something we all need but cannot otherwise attain righteousness from God. It was clear to the Jews, and to all religious people, that righteousness is something we must attain ourselves. Our conscience tells us that God knows what"s right and that it"s dangerous to go against God. The conclusion we form is obvious: To have the correct kind of relationship with God, we have to live the right kind of life because God loves all good people.

This is essentially correct. Paul emphasizes on several occasions that God rewards everyone according to his or her actions. Each person who does good will receive glory, honor, and peace. The only problem is that there is no good person, no one who has done everything God rightfully demands of us. All mankind is in debt to God. We all may know there is a God, simply because He's everywhere in creation. If people had nurtured that, and their conscience, as Paul talks about in the next chapter, they would’ve known God. However, they thought they were wise and didn’t bother to thank and praise God. Their thoughts of God are a travesty. They really only believe in themselves.

It’s in this world and among these people that God intervenes with His Gospel.

[CONTINUE READING]

Possible Answers To Prayer - Scott Cairns

Your petitions—though they continue to bear

just the one signature—have been duly recorded.

Your anxieties—despite their constant,

relatively narrow scope and inadvertent

entertainment value—nonetheless serve

to bring your person vividly to mind.

Your repentance—all but obscured beneath

a burgeoning, yellow fog of frankly more

conspicuous resentment—is sufficient.

Your intermittent concern for the sick,

the suffering, the needy poor is sometimes

recognizable to me, if not to them.

Your angers, your zeal, your lipsmackingly

righteous indignation toward the many

whose habits and sympathies offend you—

these must burn away before you’ll apprehend

how near I am, with what fervor I adore

precisely these, the several who rouse your passions.

Pray for our friends in Pensacola

Everyone has been watching in horror in the last few days as the expanding oil slick threatens the Gulf coast. But few people are feeling it as keenly, we feel sure, as our Mockingbird brothers and sisters in Pensacola, city of sugar-white beaches.

Their wildlife, their beautiful beaches, and their economy are at great risk.

Please keep our many MB friends there in your prayers, especially the lovely parish of Christ Church who so graciously hosted us last January in our first ever mini-conference, as well as the family of beloved MB contributor Jeff Hual.

A recent update:
Famous White Pensacola Sand Beaches Prepare For Oil Spill to Reach Shore

And a couple days ago, with a melancholy discussion on the effect on the town itself:
On Pensacola Beach, fears grow with oil spill

William Blake on Prayer

Thursday Afternoon Rock N Roll: The King in Need

“Prayer is the expression of a relationship. This is easy to say, and sounds a little trite. But prayer is one word: ‘Help!’ That is what prayer is. It is the cry for aid in the circumstance where there is no aid and no resources to provide aid. Prayer is the ‘Help!’ of the person whose intrinsic givens offer no way out.” - Paul Zahl's Grace In Practice, pg 246

And here's Elvis reaching out with the same sentiment, albeit romanticized, at one of his final concerts - bloated and caked in make-up but undeniably full of feeling (almost desperately so):



Finally, from a press conference in 1972, one of Elvis' greatest utterances, his supremely understated summary of the Law:

"It's very hard to live up to an image".

Miserable Offenders

One of the advantages of having a written and printed service, is that it enables you to see when people's feelings and thoughts have changed. When people begin to find the words of our service difficult to join in, that is of course a sign that we do not feel about those things exactly as our ancestors. Many people have, as their immediate reaction to that situation the simple remedy -- "Well, change the words" -- which would be very sensible if you knew that we are right and our ancestors were wrong. It is always at least worth while to find out who it is that is wrong.

-- from "Miserable Offenders -- An Interpretation of Prayer Book Language"

by C.S. Lewis

Read his short essay here. It's not only a help in understanding why we use the words we do, on a day like Ash Wednesday, but a lovely meditation on daily life and what Mockingbird calls "reality."