”Follow Scripture, then turn left.”

Yesterday at St. David’s Denton was quite a treat. The Bishop of Dallas, The Rt. Rev. James M. Stanton paid a visit.

His sermon was excellent, using all three scripture lessons . . . and St. David’s location. He began by noting that when he was given directions for his first visitation years ago, he was told “follow Scripture, then turn left” (which actually are the correct directions when coming from I-35). He noted that this reminded him of the Episcopal Church.

The theme of his sermon was that we need to be “not just off Scripture, but right on Scripture.” Being refreshingly straight talking, he remarked that being “prophetic” is today often portrayed as announcing something “new.” But that in the Bible, being prophetic is to call people back to God.

He also pointedly quoted Augustine in asking how can a man be a bishop and not hold to the Apostle’s teaching?

Like I said, he’s refreshingly straightforward. And that came through elsewhere during the service. He stumbled a little during the liturgy. St. David’s liturgy is a bit involved (which I like) so that may have thrown him off. But at one point, he just said, “Let’s take this from the top” and started the prayer over.

And during the recessional, he gave some kids a high-five while walking down the aisle. In this and other ways, his joy and humility showed.

By the way, for those who care for such things, his tat was excellent and very red. And he did bring a mitre. Sorry I don’t have a picture, but it was quite a sight.

I’ve wanted to see Bishop Stanton for some time. And I’m very glad I got to do so yesterday.

Judicial Pornography

With my being under the weather (as I still am) and with so much happening of deep interest to me, there is so much I could post on.

But then, this morning, I read of this outrageous federal court ruling on pornography. (Caution: Linked articles may be disturbing.)

When I first read this, I was so mad I could hardly see straight. But as I’m calming down a little, I see there is hope the Supreme Court will overturn this ruling.

But, still, it is an outrage. That hard core porn is protected at all (supposedly under free speech – I could use some free speech to say what I think of that, but I’ll restrain myself.) is an outrage.

I’ve long thought the day may come when it will be necessary to systematically defy a federal court ruling. Bush’s reelection has given me hope that his Supreme Court appointments can prevent such a constitutional crisis.

But if Bush is not successful in bringing sanity to our judiciary, I’m afraid we will face a constitutional crisis or, worse, a judicial dictatorship.

God help us.

I don’t have Adult ADD. Whoa, look at that bird!

You may have seen the ads for AdultADD.com. I actually went to the site and took the test. It says I don’t have Adult ADD, but I wonder. . . .

Take my reading habits for example. It’s rare that I can read any one thing for any length of time. The way I read is to rotate. I read from one book for a few pages, then read from another book for a few pages, and so on. I do actually finish most of the books I start (except for chess books), but it takes me a while. I guess I’m reading six books that way now.

Ditto for magazines, which I rarely finish. Hence the ridiculous height my to-read magazine stack gets. And I read everything from skate mags to First Things.

What’s strange is I wasn’t this way when I was a teenager. I regularly read 30-40 pages of a book at a sitting.

But no, I really don’t have Adult . . . . What was that outside?

The Shanley Trial

(Sorry I haven’t posted for a couple of days. There is so much I could post on. But I’ve been sick for a couple days (and still am) plus I was traveling yesterday.)

I’ve been looking forward to the Paul Shanley trial for a long time. He is the poster boy of all I despise in some clergy. He’s a uberliberal. He advocated man-boy sex and encouraged the formation of NAMBLA, the North American Man-Boy Love Association. Worst of all, for years and years, his superiors in the Roman Catholic Church didn’t defrock him. I would love to see scum like him rot in prison. . . .

. . . Or so I thought. You see, the prosecution lost three of his accusers. And the case of the fourth accuser is relying on repressed memories.

I have serious problems with repressed memories being used as evidence. Too often, repressed memories have turned out to be manipulated memories and even created memories. No telling how many innocent people have been sent to prison using repressed memories.

Child rape is a detestable crime. Paul Shanley is a detestable person. But I also detest prosecutors who are so concerned about getting scalps that they aren’t concerned that their methods could easily send innocent people to prison.

I also don’t like that the statute of limitations was waived in this case on a technicality. Statutes of limitations exist for a reason. Memories and sometimes evidence are not as reliable years and years after the fact. The statute of limitations in this case was 20 years. That’s plenty of time. Putting that aside on a technicality, especially when the case relies on repressed memories is flat wrong.

I have very mixed feelings about this case. If Shanley molested boys, and he probably did, and he walks, it will be sickening. But if he is convicted on such flimsy evidence, putting aside basic principles of justice, then what stops a prosecutor from using such tactics to imprison the innocent?

And don’t say that doesn’t happen. All too often, it already has.

The trial continues today.

A spooky announcement about this Easter

I’m a bit foggy of mind this morning. So instead of my usual intellect-packed post, I will go ahead and make an unusual announcement.

This Easter will be a very special one for me. Not only will it will be my first Easter as a confirmed Anglican, not only will it be it be my birthday, it will be the 30th anniversary of my first profession of faith.

When you look at a church calendar and see that March 27th Easters are quite unusual, it makes this coincidence downright spooky.

In any case, I intend to celebrate. And I’m open to suggestions. I’m probably going to St. David’s Denton Easter morning and hope to have lunch with friends afterwards. But I also intend to do something Saturday and Sunday nights. I might go to Christ Church Plano Saturday night and Denton Bible Sunday night. And I’ll be participating very much in Holy Week as a whole, of course. But nothing’s in concrete yet.

Any suggestions for the special day and week?

"Be strong!"

The two scripture lessons from yesterday’s Morning Prayer service got a hold on me. They were the beginning of Joshua and 2 Timothy 2:1-13.

God exhorts Joshua three times to “be strong and courageous.” Paul exhorts Timothy to “be strong” and to fulfill his purpose to pass on the Faith and to make disciples.

One reason this theme grabbed me is I know God is not having me move to Corpus just for my own enjoyment. I know he has greater purposes. But I can also sense that, now that the time for completing my move draws near, it will be a temptation for me to get lazy and timid and not strive to fulfill God’s purposes for my moving.

So it’s good to be reminded to “be strong” and not wimp out.

The fun of having dreams about the future and about serving God and others is one thing. Actually stepping up and following through is quite another.

I’m sure this is just a coincidence.

One of the two psalms for my morning reading today (following the 1928 BCP) is 127. It begins:

Unless the LORD builds the house,
They labor in vain who build it.

I have an appointment with my builder this morning to begin the process of drawing up plans for my house.