Its Name Is Earl

August 31, 2010Jon No Comments »

…and it’s coming up the coast. We’re eyeing our batteries, radios, flashlights, candles, and food supplies.
If you’re in Bergen County, Route 17 is a coastal evacuation route. If you’re on Long Island, start saying Hail Marys.
I’ve been in several hurricanes, most dramatically Belle in 1976. Our bag was packed and the family waited it out [...]

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Magnus Chord Organ

August 31, 2010Jon No Comments »

By my fifth Christmas, I was already dying to play the organ.
And Santa Claus heard my busy prayer concerning an Emenee Polychord Organ—I think I liked it because the chord buttons comprised a second, smaller keyboard—and brought me, not an Emenee, but a Magnus Chord Organ.
I was slightly surprised at first, having had my heart [...]

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Enough?

August 26, 2010Jon No Comments »

As a huge cat lover, of course I loathe what Mary Bale did. And her action, as well as her somewhat smirky way (thus far) of handling the backlash, leaves me fairly convinced I’m seeing a woman with a cluster-B disorder, perhaps borderline or anti-social personality. Take that as a layman’s opinion, obviously.
But I’m pondering [...]

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Sermon, August 22

August 26, 2010Jon No Comments »

On Sunday, August 22, I preached at the 7:45 and 10:45 services at Saint John’s Episcopal Church, Cornwall, NY. I am deeply grateful for the invitation to preach, as I feel gifted and called in this area and it’s rare enough that I can experience it.
The pericopes were: Isaiah 58:9b-14; Psalm 103:1-8; Hebrews 12:18-29; and [...]

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Bathrobes and Shenorocks

August 26, 2010Jon No Comments »

During the dog days just past, it hung around the bedroom like an uninvited guest. My big, warm, terrycloth bathrobe, I mean. Heavy, ample, darkly striped, with big wizard sleeves and a high collar to turn up, it was the single most inappropriate garment in my wardrobe.
Mornings, I would just put on the summer uniform [...]

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Irresistible

August 25, 2010Jon No Comments »

In case I haven’t said enough today already, I just found this on YouTube, and it’s frankly hilarious. The “facilitator” (named Stanford Nutting) alludes to “seminary in the 1970’s,” and I have to say that he’s got it dead to rights…AND I LOVE G. K. CHESTERTON!

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To Help the Kitties

August 25, 2010Jon No Comments »

I just posted (privately) about Mary Bale, the “moggie mauler” from Coventry, UK who put a stripey kitty named Lola into a “wheelie bin” (garbage can) and left her to die.
I think it’s important to note the way we struggle as a society to understand and restrain abusers like this.
But on a positive note, here [...]

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Protected: Nurturer

August 25, 2010Jon Enter your password to view comments

There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.

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Preaching

August 20, 2010Jon 2 Comments »

A few weeks ago, I announced that I’d be preaching at two services on Sunday, August 15, at my church upstate.
The sermon was rescheduled for several church-related reasons…nothing I could control.
Instead, I’m preaching this coming Sunday, August 22, at the 7:45 Rite I and 10:45 Rite II services.
My text is the healing of the woman [...]

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Beware the Pogonip

August 20, 2010Jon No Comments »

Since 1976, I’ve had a copy of the current Old Farmer’s Almanac at hand. I enjoy it for a combination of reasons—my love of American history and lore, my interest in the movement of planets and such, my stubborn traditionalism, my New England cultural leanings (native of the Middle Atlantic though I be).
A few years [...]

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