Here we go again!

Nothing like moving hardware and software around to make life exciting

A new computer is taking over the audio and video production duties, leaving the other one for administrative and graphics work.  All well and good, but setting up a new computer can be a challenge!  And then moving processes from one to the other can be even more so.

But, the latest “Church Back Home” was produced on the new one, and I will have the audio hardware installed soon enough that the next “Secrets In Plain Sight” will be from there as well.

All that, and Ostara and Easter coming too!

Blessed Be!

Bishop Cal

 

Tempest Smith Day, February 20th

Tempest Smith, died February 20, 2001 at the age of 12. A victim of religious bullying

On February 20th, we’ll honor Tempest Kayne Smith. She was a victim of religious bullying in her school. I’ll be incorporating Tempest Smith Day into the Universal Episcopal Church’s liturgical calendar, where she will be honored as a martyr. Yes, that means she’ll be canonized. It also means that those who are victims of bullying, especially religious bullying, might now have a patron.

She played the flute, wrote poetry, and a number of other things which tell me that today approaching her mid-20′s, she would be working to accomplish something. But instead, she was victimized by bullies – who were people who should have been her friends.

Advent

There was a time when Advent was as severe a time for the Christians as Lent.  Aren’t you glad someone moderated?

But the lessons for Advent give reason for some thought, especially if you understand the basics of Gnosticism (the real stuff, not outsiders’ pre-conceived notions).  Did you notice that they speak about who and what are “coming”?  But in the case of John The Baptist, he told him that they one they were expecting had already arrived – they just didn’t know who it was among them.  A sort of “You know him, but you don’t know who he really is.”  

And that’s one of my perpetual questions.  How often do I (or you or anyone else) long for something that we actually already have, and don’t know it?

And that’s a question that’s above denominational distinctions.

Blessed Be!

Bishop Cal

Oh, the agony!

OK, they recruited me from the human race, and I’m guilty of being human!  So, I thought the Sunday Before Advent was this coming Sunday when it was last Sunday.  

Well, it conveys a message that I feel the need to get out, so you have it.  And next week, we;ll be back to schedule.

Blessed Be!

Bishop Cal

Didja notice?

In the communion service as I’ve adapted for us, a few standard features which I’ve modified.  One is that I do the homily immediately after the Gospel and before the Creed.  That’s for the same of what I see as logical flow.  It also means, for those who have explored church history, that I’ve essentially included the homily into the Mass of the Catechumens, which is where it seems to belong.  And then we go on with the communion.

Speaking of which, did you notice that I’ve made the “Prayer For The Whole State Of The Church” something that the congregation joins in?  I’ve always wondered about that.  The priest says “Let us pray”, and in that particular case it comes across almost as if it were “Listen to me pray”, especially when that is one prayer which every individual in the congregation has a stake it – so why not!  

So good to see all the people who joined in the communion for Jerome Birnbaum.

I can promise you interesting times to come.  

Blessed Be!

Bishop Cal 

Well, it isn’t what you expected, is it!

And well it shouldn’t, to an extent. I want it to feel familiar enough to be comforting, but not to the point that someone might say “not again”. We’re here to meet The Divine, not what some mortal claims is The Divine.

And some other differences might be due to the fact that your bishop was recruited from among the mortals. Why don’t I genuflect or kneel more often? Arthritis is one reason. Another is a leg infection that had me in the hospital that I’m recovering from. Kind of like another bishop I knew who didn’t bow before the cross (and it was his tradition to do so). The reason was simply that if he did so, his mitre fell off his head.

And yes, sometimes I find myself doing the Kabbalistic cross instead of the one you learned in confirmation class. It’s kind of ingrained in me, and when you experience the Kaballah, you’ll see what I mean. But I also like the “regular” one as well.

Blessed Be!
Bishop Cal

Well, here we go!

I did the very first Eucharist for “Church Back Home”, and it is ready to be uploaded. All I need to do now is open a new blip account, set that up, and get the wonnet web site ready to handle it, particularly the sturiel subdomain.

But, we’re close to being underway!