Johnny Cash. This is what you need to know about Johnny Cash -- my grandmother, who would be 100 years old if she were still alive -- went to one of his concerts in the very early 1970s. He also cut a song with the Christian punk/heavy metal group One Bad Pig (on the album I Scream Sunday).

Just last night, I was listening to the newly released At Madison Square Garden a 1969 concert. It's interesting to note how very outspoken he could be, yet you could never pin him down as a "liberal" or "conservative." Or "saint" or "sinner," for that matter. Prefacing his singing an anti-war song, he noted how he'd gone to perform for the troops in Viet Nam and, in a phrase that probably sums up the American approach to war, said, "I may not be a hawk... But maybe I'm a dove with claws..."

Only Johnny Cash could have a setlist that featured the following songs, in consecutive order: A Boy Named Sue - Cocaine Blues - Jesus Was A Carpenter - The Ballad Of Ira Hayes.

And his rendition of "Were You There (When They Crucified My Lord)" is like being in church on Good Friday.

Everyone would probably give a different recommendation about where to start a Johnny Cash collection. I'd recommend "God," if for no other reason than it contains his very hard to find song about the apostle Paul, "Man in White."

Johnny Cash was a modern-day Jacob, who not only wrestled with God, but with all of life.

Oh thus be it e'er when free men shall stand
Between their lov'd homes and war's desolation!
Blest with vict'ry and peace, may the heav'n rescued land
Praise the Pow'r that has made and presrv'd us a nation
And conquer we must when our cause is just
And this be our motto: "In God is our trust."
And the Star-Spangled Banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

My Little Mind. I have a little mind, therefore I can not understand the apparent inconsistency of Diocese of Virginia Bishop Peter Lee.

You see, his rationale for voting for the consecration of Gene Robinson was that he deferred to the will of the people of New Hampshire. In his letter announcing why he was voting for consecrating a man who was not qualified for ordination in Virginia, Lee explained:

Since the election in New Hampshire, I have prayed and wrestled with this question. I have consulted with other bishops, with our diocesan Standing Committee, with deans of our regions, and individually with clergy and lay persons. I have listened to differing points of view and I am aware of the inherent controversy no matter what the final outcome. I am convinced of the need to respect the Diocese of New Hampshire's decision, in spite of my personal reservations and our current diocesan policy, which would not permit Canon Robinson to be ordained in Virginia.

* * *

I believe the Holy Spirit guides the church often through the decisions of lay people and clergy at diocesan conventions, councils and synods.

Well, I guess this position of "states rights would have appeal to a man named Lee in Richmond. Nevertheless, he has not always held such a position.

As recently as last year, Lee chaired a committee sent out by the Presiding Bishop designed to force local congregations to both ordain and call ordained women ministers to the local churches. In fact, Lee didn't give any consideration to the locally presiding Bishop:

"When I wrote to state my objections to the presiding bishop and Bishop Peter Lee, chairman of the task force, I was told that I was not invited to this meeting and that it would go on as planned," [Bishop] Iker said.

Note how Lee's deference to the expressions of the local diocese has rapidly grown in the past year.

See also this article -- an please note that these are articles from the house organ, and are slanted accordingly.

Now, as I've noted in the past, I believe in the ordination of women. I believe it is Biblically consistent and orthodox. Nevertheless, I understand that there are some who read the scriptures and have come up with a different perspective. For the most part, those who trust in the Scriptures respect one another and have worked out ways to repect the conscience of one another. See, for example, this wonderful letter by clergywomen arguing for tolerance of the male-only priest supporters .

Interesting Conversations in Purgatory, Pt. II. Warren Zevon, Leni Riefenstahl and Edward Teller all passed away. Peter Kreeft had a book about a conversation betwixt C.S. Lewis, Aldous Huxley and JFK, all of which departed the veil of tears on November 22, 1963. He could do a sequel regarding these three.

Front Runners. In the campaign to be the nose-picker of the free world:

Dick Gephart


John Kerry


Joe Lieberman


Howard Dean
(I can't believe I originally left him out -- sorry Howie)

Two other candidates demonstrate unconventional nose picking skills (possibly the reason they are not "front runners."):

And, for the record, the reigning nose picker of the enslaved world:

Fidel Castro

News and Prayer Alert! All this from an e-mail received from the other side of the world:

PRAYER ALERT:
TOMORROW & THURSDAY, Sept. 10th & 11th, several of the orthodox bishops will be meeting with Presiding Bishop Griswold to discuss the fall out from General Convention & thoughts on the future in preparation for the upcoming Primates Meeting. Let's PRAY! Invitees include: +Ackerman (Quincy)

News:

1) Diocese of Florida (Bp. Jecko--Voted NO, very strongly orthodox) -- Bishop Jecko [age 63] announces his retirement effective Feb 2004. His assistant bishop coadjutor (Howard) will become new diocesan bishop. Bishop Jecko expresses every confidence in him. I've read that Jecko said it is not really to do with General Convention, but it's hard to know. With his retirement and Bishop Hughes' (see below), it seems like a few of our godly orthodox bishops feel they need to pass on the fight to younger men... We can only pray that the new bishops in these dioceses will contend for the faith once delivered.

2) Diocese of San Diego -- (Bishop Hughes -- Voted NO, AAC-affiliate) -- Bishop Hughes announced his plans to retire as of the end of 2004. An election will need to be held. Let's be praying now for God to raise up a god-fearing & orthodox bishop!

3) Diocese of Central Florida (Bishop Howe, strongly orthodox) has posted their resolutions for the upcoming special diocesan convention Sept. 20 on the diocesan website.

4) Diocese of Virginia (Bishop Peter Lee voted YES, but there are many VERY STRONG & LARGE orthodox parishes in the diocese that are taking a strong stand against apostasy) has posted dates for an additional diocesan meeting to discuss General Convention. The additional meeting is in Northern Virginia on Sept. 30th. This is a good thing, because the first meeting for Northern Virginia on Sept. 23 is full and N. VA is home to several major orthodox parishes that are on the frontlines in terms of networking with Anglican leaders around the world to find a solution for orthodox episcopalians (Four of these churches in Northern Virginia: Truro, the Falls Church, Church of the Apostles, All Saints Dale City, these 4 alone are bigger than the whole episcopal diocese of New Hampshire and there are several other major orthodox parishes in the area as well!). Anyway, lets pray the orthodox clergy & laity in No. Virginia will attend these two meetings in droves and that the Lord would enable our faithful brothers & sisters to speak God's truth boldly in love and with the power of the H.S., and that God would change the heart of Bishop Peter Lee.

5) Summary of some key upcoming events --please be praying! (Unless otherwise specifically noted, all the Bishops of these dioceses voted NO on Robinson).

Saturday Sept. 13th:
--Diocese of Florida: Diocesan Council

--Diocese of Georgia: Special Forum re: General Convention

Saturday Sept. 20th
--Diocese of Albany, Special Convention

--Diocese of Central FL, Special Convention

Tuesday Sept. 23rd & Tues. Sept. 30th
Diocese of Virginia: Northern Virginia Meeting to discuss General Convention. Northern Virginia is home to 5 or 6 very large, very wealthy and very influential orthodox parishes... (Bishop Lee voted Yes, but as the largest ECUSA diocese and one with a very strong orthodox presence, we need to be praying!)

Saturday Sept. 27th
--Diocese of Florida, Special meeting (scroll down on the link)

--Diocese of Fort Worth, Special Convention

--Diocese of Pittsburgh, Special Convention

Monitoring Massachusetts. Almost every morning, I check the website of the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts for the list of decisions to be announced that day. Today's list is pretty large, but the one I'm looking for, Goodridge v. Dept. of Public Health, doesn't appear there. The court could release it under a different name -- that's not unheard of -- Bush v. Gore wasn't filed that way. Accordingly, I checked the docket numbers, looking for SJC-08860, but that one is not there.

Goodridge, if your not aware is the case designed to end marriage between one male and one female.

Jeff Jacoby used the oral argument to get to the heart of the case:

During the oral argument in Goodridge v. Dept. of Public Health, the Massachusetts lawsuit aimed at legalizing same-sex marriage, it was Justice Martha Sosman of the state's Supreme Judicial Court who put her finger on the crux of the case.

"Could it not also be framed," she asked Mary Bonauto, the lawyer for the gay and lesbian plaintiffs, that "you're seeking to change the definition of what the institution of marriage is?" After all there have been right-to-marry cases before, involving (for example) interracial couples, prison inmates, or the mentally retarded. But, Sosman noted, they "have not changed . . . the historical fundamental definition of what the institution is."

That's it in a nutshell. The plaintiffs are not asking for the right to marry, for each of them has exactly the same marriage rights as every other Massachusetts adult. What they really seek is to alter the legal definition of "marriage" so it encompasses something it has never encompassed before: same-sex unions.

Stay tuned -- it's coming.

Congratulations are due to Jason Michael Steffens who passed the Iowa State Bar exam.

Almight God, the Giver of Wisdom, without Whose help resolutions are vain, without Whose blessing study is ineffectual, enable me, if it be Thy will, to attain such knowledge as may qualify me to direct the doubtful and instruct the ignorant, to prevent wrongs and terminate contentions; and grant that I may use that knowledge which I shall
attain to Thy glory and my own salvation; for Jesus Christ's same.
Amen.

--Dr. Samuel Johnson "The Lawyer's Prayer," September 26, 1765

Bishops, Part 4. Last, it appears that pursuant to the resolution which passed the general convention, C051, (quoted below), at least one 'local faith community" in Virginia has begun to develop same-sex blessings, only to run afoul of Bishop Peter... more details later...

Resolved, the House of Deputies concurring,
That the 74th General Convention affirms the following:
5. That we recognize that local faith communities are operating within the bounds of our common life as they explore and experience liturgies celebrating and blessing same-sex unions.

Bishops, Part 3. In discussions yesterday, the question came up about whether the Robinson ordination as Bishop is, in fact an unstoppable, runaway train(wreck). In fact, the answer appears to be "no."

I had almost forgotten about this, but not too long ago, Rev. Robert Trache, (then) rector of St. James', Richmond, Virginia was elected Bishop of the Diocese of Atlanta. This election was certified and official and his nomination was signed off on by all the bishops of the ECUSA. It then came to the attention of the Presiding Bishop that after the election, Trache filed for bankruptcy:

According to news reports, Trache filed for Chapter 7 personal bankruptcy January 20, three months after he was elected, listing his assets at less than $18,000 and his outstanding debts at more than $122,000, most of it to credit card companies. The diocese would not clarify what it meant by "family matters" but it was widely rumored that he had marital problems.

The Presiding Bishop, together with the Diocese of Atlanta, cancelled the elevation of Trache to Bishop:

The Standing Committee of the Diocese of Atlanta, by unanimous decision, has withdrawn its consent to the consecration. The withdrawal, made in consultation with the office of the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church and the professional advisors associated with the consecration of a bishop, means the consecration will not be ordered.

Trache later sued the PB, the ECUSA and others over this decision -- I would suspect this lawsuit is still pending.

For more information on this subject, see this, this, and this.

Bishops, pt. 2 [breaking up my earlier post] The Virginia Episcopalian hit the mailboxes on Saturday. The whole issues, stem to stern, is a shameless piece of propaganda shilling for Peter the Apostate. (okay, maybe not the advertisements -- the one bright spot in the issue was seeing Ken and Ginger McGowan in the ads on page 10. Ken was one of the lay leaders behind the formation of Church of the Apostles -- he was a government attorney and was, in later life, called to the ministry.)

In fact, Peter's letter in the center of Pravda that sheet purporting to be a newspaper is particularly galling. He spends time on e-mail by people consigning him to hell, yet fails to acknowledge the real issues. He is a bright man -- he's a Phi Beta Kappa -- yet, he willfully ignores and distorts the issues. This is not a matter of "policy" or "political hardball" this goes to the very central issue of the importance of the revealed Word of God and our duty to be shaped by His Will.

Martin Luther at the Diet of Worms said it best:

Unless I am convinced by the testimony of the Holy Scriptures or by evident reason-for I can believe neither pope nor councils alone, as it is clear that they have erred repeatedly and contradicted themselves-I consider myself convicted by the testimony of Holy Scripture, which is my basis; my conscience is captive to the Word of God. Thus I cannot and will not recant, because acting against one's conscience is neither safe nor sound. God help me. Amen.

- Heiko Oberman trans. Luther: Man Between God and the Devil (English edition Yale, 1989), quoted by Christian History here.

I have read some of the e-mail messages and letters sent to Bishop Lee and for him to so characterize them as he has is greivously insulting to those who have spent days carefully crafting reasoned, loving, scriptural messages, only to receive his form response in reply. (One lady in our church was devastated to receive a form mail accusing her of hatred toward homosexuals after she set forth the Biblical basis for her objections. She indicated that she joined the Episcopal Church because of it's inclusivity and never dreamed it could be so intolerant toward her.)

Frankly, I'd like to see everyone post their letters and e-mails to Bishop Lee on the web so we could expose his slander. Sunshine is the best disinfectant -- rats and roaches flee before the light -- etc.

Bishops, part 1. The Community Meeting scheduled with the bishops from Virginia, originally scheduled for Church of the Good Shepherd, Burke has been changed to Virginia Theological Seminary (Addison Academic Center Auditorium). I see from the Diosecean website, that this meeting is "FULL." I confess to being a little nervous about this, as I have not received a response to my message, sent Friday, August 22, 2003 9:19 AM. At the time I sent my message, I noticed with some apprehension, that you were required to list your church. To be frank, based on the complete lack of good faith evidenced thus far by the Diosese, I suspect that members of the known confessing churches will be blackballed or severely curtailed in numbers.

I do have my e-mail message, appropriately date-stamped, and will holler to high-heaven if I find evidence of black-balling.

Speechwriting 101. Have you ever wanted to be a presidential speechwriter? This flash website allows you to do just that.

P. O. 'd. This really has me ticked.

More

On the Hill, in both the Senate and House, there are "caucuses" -- formal and informal groupings of Senators and representatives around a particular interest. They may be issue oriented ("Congressional Meth Caucus"), they may be racial or ethnic ("Congressional Caucus on Armenian Issues") or they may just be a group of idiots.

Reflecting the sad fact that there are quite a few bigots in America, it turns out there is a large caucus of bigots in the Senate, the ALC. Set forth here are the members of the Senate's Anti-Latino Caucus:

Daniel Akaka

Max Baucus

Evan Bayh

Joe Biden

Jeff Bingaman

Barbara Boxer

Robert KKK Byrd

Maria Cantwell

Tom Carper

Hillary Rodham Clinton

Kent Conrad

Jon Corzine

Tom Daschle

Mark Dayton

Chris Dodd

Byron Dorgan

Dick Durbin

John Edwards

Russell Feingold

Dianne Feinstein

Bob Graham (FL)

Tom Harkin

Fritz Hollings

Daniel Inouye

Jim Jeffords

Tim Johnson

Edward Kennedy

John Kerry

Herb Kohl

Mary Landrieu

Frank Lautenberg

Patrick Leahy

Carl Levin

Joseph Lieberman

Blanche Lincoln

Barbara Mikulski

Patty Murray

Mark Pryor

Jack Reed

Harry Reid

John Rockefeller

Paul Sarbanes

Charles Schumer

Debbie Stabenow

Ron Wyden

More Football. I think I may be the only person to pick the 'skins to make the playoffs (although I pick them as a wildcard) -- this isn't just a home town prediction. Looking over their schedule, I can see them going 10-6. Their first seven games (before the bye) are tough, with every team being a 2002 playoff team or near miss contender. Yet, they open tonight with the Jets minus Pennington (and the other free agents the 'skins signed), then go to Atlanta, minus Vick. If they come out of the bye at 4-3, you can count on them to go 6-3, the rest of the way.

On the other hand, the Jints open with the Rams, host the Tuna and his 'boys on MNF, then take the shuttle down to DC before the bye. 0-3 is not out of the question, although I'm figuring 1-2. I see the Giants going at best 9-7, which leaves them out.

The Dolphins have a tough closing schedule, following that short week trip to Dallas (at New England, vs. Philly, at Buffalo and vs. N.Y. Jets). Nevertheless, the win over Dallas will give them a chance to take a breather before going to Boston - they should go 3-1 in December, giving them a 12-4 record. The Pats, with a somewhat easier schedule, will still only pull out 10-6. The Browns should eke ahead of them for the wild card, with an 11-5 record.

All of this bring us to the toughest Division in Pro Football: the AFC West. Who's the worst team? San Diego? With LaD and David Boston? Marty S. coaching? Denver? Jake the Snake throwing to Rod Smith, Shannon Sharpe and Ed McCaffrey, Clinton Portis in the backfield? Shanahan coaching? Hmmm, maybe the Chiefs? Priest Holmes? Tony Gonzalez?
Dick Vermeil and his fabled success in third season? Or maybe the Raiders -- who won the Division title for the past three years running? No, it's this competition that makes the whole division even stronger and will leave the winner going into the playoffs battle-tested and confident. The Raiders will win the Division for the fourth year, but only because they will beat the Chiefs in both games. Both teams will finish with 11-5 records.

Predictions. Ben "the Comish" Domenech fearlessly predicts the Raiders will win the Super Bowl. I hope, I hope, I hope, he's right.

My predictions:

AFC
East: Dolphins
North: Steelers
South: Titans
West: Raiders
Wild Cards: Chiefs, Browns

NFC
East: Eagles
North: Packers
South: Bucs
West: Rams
Wild Cards: 49ers, Redskins

AFC Title Game: Miami v. Tenn.
NFC Title Game: Rams v. Eagles

Super Bowl: Fins v. Eagles

Dolphins win everything.

(Or who knows, a rematch of Super Bowl 34?)

Making Amends. I was asked the other day if there was anything my (former) Bishop Peter Lee could do to make amends for his wrongs. What first went through my mind was the scene from Braveheart where William Wallace first presents terms to the British:

Here are Scotland's terms. Lower your flags, and march straight back to England, stopping at every home to beg forgiveness for 100 years of theft, rape, and murder. Do that and your men shall live. Do it not, and every one of you will die today.

Cheltham: You are outmatched. You have no heavy cavalry. In two centuries no army has won without--.

William: I'm not finished. Before we let you leave, your commander must cross that field, present himself before this army, put his head between his legs, and kiss his own arse.

Okay, granted even Peter the Apostate isn't quite in that league yet.

So seriously, what can he do to make amends?

Well, according to the Book of Common Prayer, at the vesturing [sp?] of a bishop, the Presiding Bishop must ask:

Brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus, you have heard testimony given that NN has been duly and lawfully elected to be a bishop of the Church of God to serve in the Diocese of [New Hampshire]. You have been assured of his suitability and that the Church has approved him for this sacred responsibility. Nevertheless, if any of you know any reason why we should not proceed, let it now be made known.

BCP at 514.

In short, for Peter Lee to make amends, he must repent and appear at the service for the installation of Gene Robinson on November 2, and voice his objections in the strongest terms. I would further recommend that he resign the episcopacy and devote his life to serving the poor, the sick, and those in prison. I suspect, however, that he will keep a firm grasp on his office.

High School. Today's the first day of high school for my oldest daughter. I'm feeling many mixed feelings. I'm so proud of her -- she's really an outstanding girl. She's learned a lot over the past few years (under my care and guidance as her 7th and 8th grade teacher -- yet, most of her learning has been "self-taught" rather than instruction). [For an example of her work-product, consider her science experiment, here.] I am confident in her and her abilities, yet, it is always hard to let go...

I'm most pleased with her work in math and geometry (and, somewhat related, logic). Her proofs have been very well laid out -- something I could never grasp. At the orientation on Friday my wife and I saw another mom who was homeschooling her daughter. This mom was surprised we put our daughter in Algebra II (Honors) and asked if we had to have her tested to skip geometry. I guess that's a question that comes up from time-to-time, see, for example, this article. Yet, it never occurred to me that she couldn't handle this level course (although she's the only 9th grader in the class). I'll tell you, I spent a lot of time examining different mathematics curricula -- plus I got good advice from bright homeschooled students (thank you nick e, wherever you are). I used the Harold Jacobs Algebra and Geometry books (get the teacher's guide and test form book, if you use these -- both are worth the money). [I see that there is now a third edition of Geometry out.]

10 Comedian Argus Hamilton observes:

Alabama complied Friday and moved the Ten Commandments from the court lobby to a closet just off the lunchroom. It's insane. In the space of three months, the federal courts have put the Ten Commandments in the closet and let the sodomy laws out.

While I have not written in this space on this controversy (I did try to submit a lengthy comment to Peter Sean Bradley's post here, apparently too long and swallowed in the ether), my thought is that both the lower Federal Court and the Court of Appeals were wrong -- but C.J. Moore was more wrong.

I do take a perverse amusement in people who love to throw stones at "fair-weather federalists" turning out to be fair-weather federalists themselves. Not to mention playing fast and loose with history.

The Churching of Women. A recent Christianity Today editorial notes

More than four decades after the introduction of the Pill, hardly anyone now getting married remembers the time when pleasure, procreation, passion, companionship, and parenthood were all intimately knotted into a bundle called marriage.

It then goes on to offer six points whereby "the local church [may] recreat[e] a biblical understanding of marriage in our society."

The fifth point

Fifth, churches must help their members recover the link between marriage and procreation. . . . Churches need to celebrate the fact that every marriage is procreative by design.

It seems to me that in the Episcopal Church, there is a wonderful little ceremony that reflects this reality. In the 1928 Prayer Book, it went by the quaint name "The Thanksgiving of Women after Child-birth commonly called The Churching of Women." I'll be honest - I know little about the origin of this service. Could it be derivative of Lev. 12, which calls for the purification of women after childbirth? Possibly [Probably]. Yet, the thrust of the title and the service appears to be one of giving thanks for a safe delivery. ("FORASMUCH as it hath pleased Almighty God, of his goodness, to give you safe deliverance, and to preserve you in the great danger of Child-birth") This probably seemed more necessary in a pre-modern age where there was a high rate of mortality in child-birth. Nevertheless, this simple ceremony is something I think almost every parent desires. I know we did -- the first public outing for all of our children was to Church -- to give thanks to God.

The rubric provides:

As soon as convenient after the birth of a child, or after receiving a child by adoption, the parents, with other members of the family, should come to the church to be welcomed by the congregation and to give thanks to Almighty God. It is desirable that this take place at a Sunday service. In the Eucharist it may follow the Prayers of the People preceding the Offertory.

The brief service includes this prayer:

O God, you have taught us through your blessed Son that whoever receives a little child in the name of Christ receives Christ himself: We give thanks for the blessing you have bestowed upon this family in giving them a child. Confirm their joy by a lively sense of your presence with them, and give them calm strength and patient wisdom as they seek to bring this child to love all that is true and noble, just and pure, lovable and gracious, excellent and admirable, following the example of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

In short, I submit, our predecessors left us a Biblical understanding of marriage, which we have, through neglect, allowed to wither. Let's bring them back to life.