I thought of beginning by telling you I had smoked chicken for dinner, but what I really had was chicken that basically caught on fire and was burnt to a crisp, because I forgot to turn the grill down before wandering off to consider the square root of a cat’s meow. It was smoked, but not the kind that makes for good eats… there went the rest of this week’s planned meals. Good thing I like Ramen Noodles (I’m sure I’ll figure something else out, but….)
The Queen has been in full chaos mode since about 4:30 this morning when she wanted to begin her game of fetch. Why is it she has the entire house to romp around in, but when she decides to play Queen of the Mountain, I’m the mountain? I’m hoping she decides to sleep tonight, otherwise she may be demoted to Princess. Those eyes say, “You will never sleep again.” Keep you posted (or, given the way she’s wound up, she will.)
For those who remember, I was scheduled to take my sabbatical last year and walk the Camino de Santiago (500 miles across Spain), but a little virus put the kibosh on that, but not indefinitely. We are back on for 2022, so Sir Fat A$$ is now getting out and putting in the steps. I need to drop about 35 pounds and be able to walk up to 15 miles in a day, for several days in a row. That’s going to take some work, so I’ve started working, but my goodness it has been hot out there! 3.2 miles yesterday (95°) and 4.1 miles today (96°). Word for the day: hydrate! Feels good though to begin and to have not only a goal, but a destination. I’m also still enjoying the virtual walks and am about to wrap up The Ring of Kerry (124 miles), but my daily goal on that has been very low, so will be kicking up the game and the challenge. Have been listening to Duma Key as I trudge.
Fermina (Pinot Grigio) is now in the secondary fermenter and looking very tasty. Already cleared significantly, but will not be ready to bottle until July 23. After she’s done, will probably wait until early fall to start a new batch.
About a third of the way through The Plot. So far it is a good read and I can recommend it. Let you know when finished.
Phone calls: you never know which one is next. Will it change the world as you know it, offer you an extended warranty on the car you sold six years ago, or be the fulfillment of anticipation… ring ring…. “Hello…..”
Thought for the day: “Develop an interest in life as you see it; the people, things, literature, music – the world is so rich, simply throbbing with rich treasures, beautiful souls and interesting people. Forget yourself.” – Henry Miller
A clown is out surfing in his full clown costume one day. Suddenly he’s attacked by a great white shark.
The shark takes one bite, quickly realizes his error and swims away.
As the shark rejoins his friends below the surface, one of the them asks him, “Why didn’t you just kill that thing?”
The attacking shark replies, “It tasted funny.”
On the fifth day, “God said, ‘Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the heavens.’ So God created the great sea creatures and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarm, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind.”
The variations and number of God’s creation on this day were so great that we still have not even discovered them all. When it comes to the sea, perhaps the most feared of them all is the Great White Shark (even if they don’t like funny tasting clowns), but there are many other creatures that just go about their business: everything from the Blue Whale that can weigh as much as 330,000 pounds to the tiniest single cell organisms (and lets not forget the Leviathan!) There are so many, so today I want us to consider just one: Nautilus pompilius, also known as the Chambered Nautilus. You’ve got a picture on the cover of your bulletin of one’s shell that has been split. They’ve been around so long that they are included in the fossil record.
One variety can grow up to 10 inches in diameter and live for up to 20 years. They live in the Pacific between Japan and Australia, spend most of their time at 1,000 feet (but can dive to 2,000), and according to one, eat “anything that smells,” because it is through various chemical signatures that they locate their food. Alive… well, they almost look as scary as a Great White Shark, but it is for the beauty of their shells that they have been highly prized for centuries, and you’ll see the shell in art, incorporated into drinking glasses, and other decorative items.
As the creature grows, it develops the various chambers. Its body moving into the larger one as it ages. The empty chambers then are used for buoyancy and to regulate depth by filling them with water or air, and it was the understanding of how the shell and chambers are formed that inspired the poet Oliver Wendell Holmes to write a poem, The Chambered Nautilus (source). Holmes saw the growth of the soul and spirit within the growing chambers of the nautilus. He begins:
“This is the ship of pearl…”
From there he describes how the nautilus spends its life toiling to create for itself a larger and more perfect and glorious home, which is not known until the creatures death, but even so, it persists in that work of growth. Holmes then takes the imagery further, to speak to us about our spiritual “home”:
“Through the deep caves of thought I hear a voice that sings:— Build thee more stately mansions, O my soul, As the swift seasons roll! Leave thy low-vaulted past! Let each new temple, nobler than the last, Shut thee from heaven with a dome more vast, Till thou at length art free, Leaving thine outgrown shell by life’s unresting sea!”
The nautilus grows, creating and recreating a home for itself that is larger and more glorious than the last. We are to do the same, so that when the Lord comes, he will find within us a mansion prepared for himself, but it does not end with the individual, for we are to grow in the image and likeness of God, so that the kingdom of God may also grow. So that a home is created as a sanctuary for every living being. As Jesus said in our Gospel, “The kingdom of God… is like a mustard seed, which, when sown upon the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth; yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes the greatest of all shrubs, and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade.” How are we to understand this and apply it?
“From the smallest of all the seeds on the earth….” The seed that was the smallest, that is, the one that humbled itself the most, was God—Jesus—who was born in a manger and who then humbled himself even more, to death on a cross, and then like a seed that was laid to rest in the earth: Joseph of Arimathea “went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then he took it down and wrapped it in a linen shroud and laid him in a tomb.” We know not how it all happened, but on the third day, Jesus rose from the dead, and from him, from that smallest and humblest of all seeds and all beginnings has grown the greatest of all sanctuaries for every living soul: the Church, but the Church only grows if we—in union with one another—like the nautilus, continue to grow, ever seeking to be more like Jesus.
Is the church perfect? If I’m a part of it, most definitely not! As Archbishop Michael Ramsey stated and something we always need to be reminded of, “The Church is not the society of those labeled virtuous. It is the mixed community of sinners called to be saints.” However, as we seek and discover greater perfection in our own life, creating and recreating our spiritual homes, then we also assist in growing and perfecting what Christ Jesus began when he called twelve—not so virtuous—fellas to follow him. The Church will not reach perfection until the end of days, however, through our good work, it will continue to grow and provide a home for those who are called.
For us to spiritually grow is the will of God. C.S. Lewis, in The Problem of Pain, states, “To ask that God’s love should be content with us as we are is to ask that God should cease to be God.” God is working within us, growing us, so that we might be like him and with him, and so that the Kingdom of God might be fulfilled. Like the nautilus, always be in that process of creating and recreating your spiritual home that you might participate in the greater work of the Church.
Let us pray: Heavenly Father, look upon our community of faith which is the Church of your Son, Jesus Christ. Help us to witness to his love by loving all our fellow creatures without exception. Under the leadership or our Bishop keep us faithful to Christ’s mission of calling all men and women to your service so that there may be “one fold and one shepherd.” We ask this through Christ, our Lord. Amen.
I have two bathrooms in my house (master and guest: both the same size so you’d never know the difference). Mostly alike with a few differences and the one I noticed today is the fact that I have different smelling hand soap in each. Master = Sea Foam and Guest = Coconut Water. I mention this, because today, as I was about to wash my hands, I decided that I wanted them to smell like Coconut Water, so… yeah… I travelled to the other bathroom to wash my hands. I am afraid to ask which mental disorder I may be currently experiencing.
Fermina… ah, Fermina. The lovely character from Love in the Time of Cholera and also the name of the Pinot Grigio that has been fermenting (Fermenting Fermina) in the closet. She was scheduled to be transferred to the secondary carboy today, but, alas… she is not quite ready. Her specific gravity isn’t quite there as you can tell from the photo. For those who think the wine making is magic… well it IS!!! but they make it pretty easy to know each step. When she gets between the two marks that say “FINISH”, she’ll be ready for the clearing process. I’m guessing Saturday as the percolating has slowed considerably, but you can still see the bubbles on the side of the container. Trivia: what do you use to remove the wine from the carboy for testing? Anyone? A wine thief. Which reminds me, I watched a movie yesterday, Adaptation, based on the book, The Orchid Thief, starring Nicholas Cage, Meryl Streep, Chris Cooper (he did a fabulous job) and Tilda Swinton. I’ll give the movie ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️✩. Never read the book.
As for the priesty things, it has been good to be able to begin the visitations, hospital visits, etc. I mean seriously, how often do you get to compare Robert Heinlein and Stephen King? Almost beginning to feel normal again in that respect… not that I really need normal. In addition, the Sunday sermon did some serious percolating and was even able to get a good bit down on paper today. Not too shabby for a Wednesday. Also enjoyed preaching today, although I mostly shared a few of the legends of St. Columba, but… are the really legends? Hmmm…. I like to believe there is truth (if only a little) in them all. I mean, we all know the Loch Ness Monster is real and Columba saw it!
Today it is way too hot to do much outside, so I recommend staying indoors and playing with your toys. It seems like an exceptionally good idea to me. That said, The Queen is ready for a rousing game of fetch, so we’re off.
Thought for the day based on a line in Adaptation (“I suppose I do have one unembarrassed passion. I want to know how it feels to care about something passionately.”): Thought… care about something / someone passionately.
“St Columba Bidding Farewell To The White Horse” / 1925 – John Duncan
Locals were burying a man near a river when a monk came along. The monk inquired as to how the man died and was told that he had been attacked by a creature and dragged under the waters. Later, a companion of the monk was swimming in the same river when a large creature approached him. The monk seeing this, made the sign of the cross over the creature and cried out, “Go no further. Do not touch the man. Go back at once.” The creature obeyed. We know the monk as St. Columba (b.521), the river as Loch Ness, and the creature… yep… the Loch Ness monster. This was the first written account of someone spotting the now legendary creature. True or false? I’ll let you decide.
Columba is highly revered, although I’m guessing that he may have been difficult to live with, especially in his early years. One of his biographers writes, “Of all qualities, gentleness was precisely the one in which Columba failed the most.” He was responsible for a battle that cost 3,000 lives, he got into a legal battle over the copyrighting of the Psalms, and he was required to go into exile. However, that exile landed him and twelve companions on the shores of small island, Iona, which would become one of the most powerful monasteries in existence. Given his growing reputation (dramatically improving by this point), Columba would not only be the Abbot over the monks of the monastery, but he also had authority over the Bishops of Scotland, even though he was only a priest.
There is much to learn about Columba and the monastery at Iona, but as I was reading on him this week, I just kept coming back to the legends, which—whether true or not—probably speak a great deal about the real Columba, so… one more.
In the year 597, Columba was seventy-seven years old. During the Easter season of that year, he felt that he was near death, but did not want to die during Easter so as to grieve his fellow monks during such a festive time. Later that year, when he knew his time was imminent, he went to say goodbye to some who worked in the fields, but because he was so tired, he was unable to walk and was therefore carried in a cart.
He spent time with the monks and blessed them and after awhile began the journey home, but he became so weary that he was required to stop along the way. It was then that his favorite horse, a white one, came galloping up to Columba and placed his head on Columba’s chest and shedding tears, as if aware of his friends nearing death. Columba’s companion tried to shew the horse along, but Columba said to him, “Allow this lover of mine to shed his tears on my chest. For this horse, being an animal, understood instinctively that I was going to be with my Lord, yet you as a man could not foretell this.”
Columba returned to the monastery that day, but died in the chapel, shortly before the night prayers began.
When the seventy disciples retuned, Jesus said to them, “Do not rejoice… that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.” Columba was not without his faults—the same holds true for all of us—but we can give thanks that his name was written in heaven and that he kept the faith alive and assisted in it prospering in Scotland, which in turn, helped restore Christianity following the Dark Ages.
A story by Leo Tolstoy tells of an older sister from the city coming to visit her younger sister in the country. The older sister talks of how much better city life is, but the younger maintains that it is country life that is best and that her husband is a good man and that because they lived in the country and had a simpler life, there was no way her husband, Pahom, could be tempted by the devil. Pahom says that the only problem country farmers have is that they don’t have enough land, but agrees that he could not be tempted. Unfortunately, the devil, who had been lurking in the kitchen, hears this and devises a scheme to trap Pahom, and it comes in the form of a unique offer from a large landowner: for 1000 rubles, Pahom can buy all the land he could walk around in a single day. Only catch: he had to be back at his starting point by sundown. At sunrise the next day, Pahom starts walking.
By noon, he had covered a great deal of ground, but not until late in the afternoon did he realize that he had perhaps gone too far in order to get back by sundown, so he picks up his pace even more. When the sun begins to sink, Pahom begins to run, but just as the sun begins to dip below the horizon, Pahom sees the place where he began, so with everything he had left, he sprinted as fast as he could, and just seconds before the sun disappeared below the horizon, Pahom staggered across the finish line. He then collapsed and died on the spot.
His few servants dug him a grave: a bit over six feet long, three feet wide and six feet deep. The title of Tolstoy’s story: How Much Land Does a Man Need? Turns out, not very much.
I suppose most of us really do have fairly simple needs. There are the basics: food, shelter, etc. And although we may each have a different understanding of how we’ll go about meeting those needs, they are for the most part within reason. However, when those basic needs are met, then our eyes and minds begin to look further and instead of seeking to fulfill our needs, we look to satisfy our wants. Those are OK as well, as long as they are within reason, do not deny others of their basic needs, and don’t consume us in our pursuits of them. It is when we go outside those types of parameters that our wants can lead us to greed, coveting, and then to other more grievous sin. We’ve talked about that in the past: that state of mind when we are never satisfied and can never have enough, no matter how much we have. However, this corrupt appetite for more is not limited to land or things or money, it can also play itself out in relationships, stimulation, thrills, physical perfection, achievements, all sorts of ways. It is as though our minds get bored, and like Pahom in his quest for more land, we will pursue the fulfillment of the appetite regardless of the cost. When we reach such a state, we will never be satisfied. It… fill in the blank for yourself… will never be enough. Hold that thought…
These past couple of weeks, during Morning Prayer, we have been reading from the first chapters of the Book of Deuteronomy. In chapter four, we begin to hear the teachings forbidding idolatry and the Lord comes right out and says why: “Take care, lest you forget the covenant of the Lord your God, which he made with you, and make a carved image, the form of anything that the Lord your God has forbidden you. For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.” And anyone that has been following along with us in Morning Prayer can tell you, that in the next few chapters, God says, “If you do this, I will blow you up.” But, that was not a deterrent. There was Baal and Asherah and all the other gods of the lands they entered into and the people began to worship them as well. Why? Because they believed that these gods would offer them additional benefits. These were fertility gods, thought to bring rain and crops and all sorts of other benefits. They were the gods of the people in the lands they came into, so they wanted to get along. The Israelites did not cast out the One True God, Yahweh, aside however, Yahweh, did not see it this way. He saw it is a complete rejection of Himself, because in their hearts and in their minds, the people were saying, “The One True God… is not enough.” He is not enough, so we have to have all these others in addition to Yahweh, a bit like an insurance policy, in case Yahweh doesn’t come through.
Throughout the biblical history, this attitude of God not being enough and needing to be supplemented to fulfill both needs and wants has been a problem. God wasn’t enough for Adam and Eve, they wanted more, so they ate the fruit. God wasn’t enough following the Exodus, so they made for themselves the Golden Calf. As we just said, God wasn’t enough while they were in the land, so they worshiped the foreign gods. God wasn’t enough to lead them, so they called for the anointing of a king so that they could be like everyone else. There was Yahweh and there were all the rest and Jesus says, “If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand.” When God’s people decide in their hearts and in their minds that God is not enough, then their house is divided, and it cannot stand.
For us today, I do not believe that we intentionally or even consciously declare that God is not enough, but through our actions or inaction towards God, we are saying it. By placing our wants ahead of those things that God desires of us, we say that God is not enough for me to have fulfillment in my life. By not making time for the worship of God, we are saying that God is not enough for me to make a sacrifice of parts of my life for Him. By not making time for prayer, we say that God is not enough for me to commune with. Whenever God and our obligations to Him are pushed to the side in favor of anything else, we are saying that God is not enough and our house is divided. It is not that God does not want us to truly live—he wants us to have life and have it abundantly!—he desires that we have joy and enrichment and fulfillment, but we must take care that the pursuit of those things does not relegate God to a secondary concern in our lives that will divide our house. “Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness—do not be divided—and all these things will be added to you.”
Let us pray: God, our Father, may we love You in all things and above all things. May we reach the joy which You have prepared for us in Heaven. Nothing is good that is against Your Will, and all that is good comes from Your Hand. Place in our hearts a desire to please You and fill our minds with thoughts of Your Love, so that we may grow in Your Wisdom and enjoy Your Peace. Amen.
Rise and shine came early this morning (for a Saturday): 7 a.m. Why? Fishing. Fishing is why. If it hadn’t been for the Queen jumping on my chest, I would’ve fallen quickly back to sleep, but apparently she wanted my clothes smelling like bass… and so they did. No pictures for proof, but they were biting. Very nice. If a sunburn proves anything, I’ve got the proof. This particular adventure was brought to its rightful conclusion with a tasty hotdog and a few beers. No complaints.
This afternoon turned into movie time and I can give ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ to Seeking a Friend for the End of the World with Steve Carell and Keira Knightley. I laughed, I cried… what more could you want. It is worth the last two minutes even if you don’t like the rest of it (which you will). Why is it that we wait until the last two minutes of our lives to live? Foolishness! It is never too late, so… live.
The Sunday sermon is in the book and ready to be preached. I worked from the idea: “When God is not enough.” The Saint, the ones with the capital “S”, can always say that God is enough, but it seems that we “s”aints struggle with this one a good bit. We seem to always be looking for something more. I try to work through this one tomorrow, whether successful or not, I’ll let you be the judge (be kind… I’ll never make “S”aint, so I’m doing the best I can.)
Finally, and speaking of the sermon, I’ve recently had a few questions about the black book that I have during the preachy time on Sunday morning. Answer: I am one that writes out the entire text of my sermon. I don’t stand up there and read it (boring!), but I do have it word for word with me in that book… I’ve no idea how many volumes I have, but many of them are on the shelves in my office. I print off the sermon in a format that’ll fit in the book, cut it to size, Elmer’s Glue stick it in, and then mark it up. I don’t always have to look at the book to know where I’m at, but I’ve practiced it enough times on a Sunday morning that I know where it is at on the page should I need to reference something. Below is a page from (I think) last Sunday’s sermon….
Having done this since 2004, I’ve got my system and it seems to work for me. Some say that they would never prepare before hand because they rely on the Holy Spirit to inspire them on a Sunday morning. Me… I figure the Holy Spirit can inspire a couple days before Sunday so that I don’t stand up there babbling like an idiot hoping that I can remember something stupid the cat did that’ll be relevant to the Gospel reading.
That’s it for now. Beauty rest calls and the Lord knows I need it. Pray you have a blessed Sunday.
Thought for the day: take the time to write an old-fashioned letter… pen to paper, stamps, licking the envelope… the recipient can run their fingers over the words and know that you were truly touching them.
The Church Year is something that liturgical churches are very aware of. In it we have the various seasons: Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, Holy Week, Easter, Pentecost, and the season after Pentecost. We also know that contained within those seasons are various other feast days and celebrations, for example, this past Sunday was Trinity Sunday. We also know that within Holy Week, there are other significant days: Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, etc. and it is on Maundy Thursday that we celebrate the giving of the Holy Eucharist, because it was on the Thursday before his crucifixion that Jesus celebrated the Eucharist for the first time with his disciples in the upper room. With that in mind…
In the year 1192, a young girl, Juliana, was born in Belgium, and she later had a younger sister Agnes; however, their parents died and the two were left orphans, so they were taken to an Augustinian monastery to be raised. Later, Agnes died leaving Juliana alone with the Augustinian sisters. At the age of 16, Juliana began to have the same vision over and over, both during the day and at night: she saw a bright moon with a dark spot on it, but she did not understand its meaning until Jesus explained it to her.
Jesus said that the moon represented the Church Year and that the dark spot was a missing feast day that he wanted to see instituted: a feast day in celebration of the Holy Eucharist. As there was already Maundy Thursday, Juliana asked why another was needed and was told that people would soon begin to forget or disbelieve the Real Presence of Jesus in the Sacrament and that there was also to be a joyous celebration—not something that could take place during Holy Week—of the sacrament. Hearing this, Juliana went on a mission to establish the feast, but the idea was not popular and she only saw it celebrated once in her lifetime. But, if God wills it… as it turns out, one of Juliana’s friends whom she consulted about the entire matter before her death was Jacques Pantaléon, who would later be known as Pope Urban IV. It is good to have friends elevated to such high positions and Pope Urban would eventually establish the Feast of Corpus Christi across the Church and it would continue in the Church of England, even after the split from Rome.
There are few Protestants who believe in the Real Presence and there are many within the catholic tradition who simply believe that the bread and wine remain bread and wine, but… they are wrong. From St. Justin Martyr’s First Apology (FYI: his feast day was yesterday): “We call this food Eucharist, and no one else is permitted to partake of it, except one who believes our teaching to be true and who has been washed in the washing which is for the remission of sins and for regeneration [i.e., has received baptism] and is thereby living as Christ enjoined. For not as common bread nor common drink do we receive these; but since Jesus Christ our Savior was made incarnate by the word of God and had both flesh and blood for our salvation, so too, as we have been taught, the food which has been made into the Eucharist by the Eucharistic prayer set down by him, and by the change of which our blood and flesh is nurtured, is both the flesh and the blood of that incarnated Jesus.” And Jesus could not have been any more clear: “Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him.” (John 6:54-56) In the past, Christians were put to death as cannibals for believing and saying such, but we as God’s people know that the Real Presence of our Savior is truly present, hidden within the bread and the wine; therefore, let us always approach this most wonderful sacrament with joy and awe and wonder and fear, for it is Jesus himself that is being given to us.
Fifth Joyful Mystery: The finding of Jesus in the temple “Now his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the feast of the Passover. And when he was twelve years old, they went up according to custom; and when the feast was ended, as they were returning, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem. His parents did not know it… After three days they found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions; and all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers” (Lk 2:41-47).
I was just outside the entrance to the chamber where He was speaking. Out of shame, I could not enter, so I could not hear what He was saying to the teachers. I knelt on the step closest to the entrance with my face to the ground. I could go no further even though I wanted to be seen by Him. I was simply near and that was all I could do.
I knew she was near. She always is. It was the third day and they had finally found him. Once she knew, she did not rush in. It all made sense to her. As she climbed the steps and as she passed me, I did not look up, but she ran her fingers through my hair. She let me know of her presence, though I knew of it already (I should look for Joseph as well, but I think he would point me to her and she would lead me to Him).
When I felt her touch, I tried to bury my face even further into the pavement of the steps. Such shame… how can the innocence of the Queen of Heaven touch something so… unclean, but she did not hesitate, yet like us all, she came for her Son who she thought was lost. She was anxious to be near Him as we all are.
I still could not hear the conversation. Her words or His. She and Joseph came out. He followed, but did not immediately go down to them. He stopped and sat on the step next to me. I could not look up. He placed His hand on my head and gripped… gently.. my hair. He loved me in spite of…. A child, yet He knew all. He did not forsake me.
I will never know how to serve such Love as this.
O my Jesus, forgive us our sins. Save us from the fires of hell. Lead all souls to Heaven, especially those in most need of thy mercy….. ME!
Candle in a Cave 