One good thing

Dimly seen through the dissipating clouds of hot air now clearing over Columbus was one good decision, one which will matter to us in our pews. On November 22, we will be able to celebrate the life and witness of Clive Staples Lewis.

A094: Church Year Calendar Inclusions. Proposes
these commemorations for inclusion in the
Church Year Calendar and authorizes trial use
for the triennium 2004-2006: Janani Luwum,
Archbishop of Uganda and Martyr, 1977 -
William Temple, Archbishop of Canterbury,
1944 - Clive Staples Lewis, Apologist and
Spiritual Writer, 1963.

Of course, it doesn't take too much speculation to imagine that Lewis is sitting in his favorite heavenly pub, shaking his head in disbelief... or chuckling...

the body

There's a body in the church right now. Yeah, a dead one. You wouldn't think that's unusual enough to remark on, especially if you are among those people that think of church as the place you go to name your baby, get married, and get a good send-off into the next world. But nowadays most of what we see are cremations. I suppose I should think of those little boxes of ashes as bodies too, but it's awfully hard to relate them to a formerly living person. I've had the ashes of former friends sitting on my desk. (I also have the ashes of a beloved cat on my dresser at home, come to think of it.) I've carried people's ashes in a shopping bag to the sacristy. No big deal. But when the hearse arrives, and the men in suits (the funeral director now wears grey!--perhaps that's his gesture to summer) navigate the awkward ramp and all the next of kin stand around, wondering what to do or think, you know. The men must exert themselves to carry this large wooden box. You know there is a body in there. You know someone has passed from this life and it is real. I find it much more moving and solemn tha cremation. And that (in addition to not wanting to add to global warming with more smoke) is why I want to come to rest in earth.

My bit on the Convention

Thanks be to God: it's done.

Some are rejoicing and some are grieving. Danforth's advice for us Episcopos not to follow the example of Congress was too little, too late, I'm afraid. I stand ambivalent, realizing, for the most part, that my church's relationship with the Anglican churches round the world will not really matter to my life of worship here in Pixieville. I may praise or I may stand dumb, as always.

I wonder though, why, when it seems that planet earth has become so small, and our ability to interconnect so much deeper than ever before, that we become further apart in these theological matters, rather than closer.

But as I went running, with my Zen on shuffle, I listened as k.d. lang sang Leonard Cohen's "Hallelulah." And I knew: all shall be well.