Heart thread - 04/18/2012

My sister reports that my niece Jann's surgery went well and things look good. Now, of course, we await the pathology report. Jannita has a good attitude and the doctors are encouraged.

Thanks to all who have held her in prayer.

--the BB

Heart thread with good news - 01/27/2010

My friend Steve in California wrote to report that has accepted a job. Amid the details he wrote this:

You and your prayer group definitely helped me through this tough time, but I believe deeply that God closed one door and opened another. I feel very blessed and I feel that this is going to be a very good year for me. K. and I went to see the surgeon last week and we have a new left hip coming on March 16th. We've been working on the wedding stuff to knock out some small tasks.

[Emphasis mine]
I am hoping to be at the wedding this fall.

We have been praying for our friend Mark (Марко Фризия) from whom we have heard nothing for months. Today he posted on his blog, Amictus Sindone.

I am sorry to have been away for so long. In some ways, the full impact of my loss didn't hit me right away. And then I suddenly felt overwhelmed and I reacted by shutting down. And, I think, this loss had a massive impact on my physical health as well as my mental status. Of course, things are far from perfect now. But I seem to be doing better. A blog posting is impersonal compared with emails to my various friends. I will be catching up with emails sooner or later. But it seemed more important to let everyone know how I was doing in general, sooner rather than later.

Mark, dear friend, we are just delighted to know you are still with us and rest assured you are held in prayer.



--the BB

Heart thread - 11/15/2009

For the repose of the soul of the Very Rev. James M. Jensen and for his wife, Klady, and their family. May he rest in peace and rise in glory.

Grant, O Lord, to all who are bereaved the spirit of faith and courage, that they may have strength to meet the days to come with steadfastness and patience; not sorrowing as those without hope, but in thankful remembrance of your great goodness, and in the joyful expectation of eternal life with those they love. And this we ask in the Name of Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.

For Margaret's Uncle Don and all who mourn as he passes:

All this talk of end-times and birth pangs.... no snark here tonight. Please pray for my Uncle Don who passed from this life to life eternal. He has no use any longer of stones or brick or mortar, edifices grand and regal --he lives now, in the living Temple of flesh and blood, life without end.

May his soul and the souls of all the departed through the mercy of God, rest in peace.

For the repose of the soul of Terra Lyn Swinney, a young mother who attended All Saints, Greensboro, who was killed in her car when a tree fell during this past week's storm. For Kerry, her husband, and their little boy Tristen Douglas.



For continued healing for Mother Sandra:

Thank you for your prayers, as I believe that is the only thing that has gotten me through the last eight weeks. I ask for your continued prayers as I now begin the rehabilitation of my physical being. Until I see you in person at the rehabilitation hospital or at home (hopefully before Christmas), may your journeys continue to be blessed fully by God.
Vaya con Dios,
Sandra

For our brothers and sisters in the Eastern and Oriental Orthodox Churches. In the Orthodox Church we have come to the beginning of the Christmas fast. Words from our siblings at Syntheopoiesis:

If the government, how much greater the harm when caused by dangerous church leaders? Hence, the raison d'être for the Holy Incarnation ... Not just so we all may live as renewed creatures, but that we all may live as the fullness of God's image, as the overflow of God's likeness, as God's own gods (cf. Gal 4:4-6; Jn 10:10). If Orthodoxy teaches the Parousia is here and now; then why do so many shepherds (and their provocateurs) theosis-block their God-entrusted sheep?

For Jack and Shirley, Jay, Jim and Ruthie, Frank and Carol, JimB, Malcolm, Mimi (on her next round of eye surgery), Mark, Rob, Dan, Kirstin, David, Jack, Lindy, David.... for healing, discernment, employment, courage, hope, and whatever else they need right now.

I offer prayers of thanksgiving for Scott, Lois, Annie, Chris, Wyatt, Warren the younger, Steve, Larry, Warren, Anne Marie, Rhonda, Tim, Stephanie, Shawn, Joe, Rhonda the younger, Michal Anne, and Diane who all turned out to make yesterday a Miracle Day at the Church of Our Saviour.

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
--Philippians 4:4-7

--the BB

Heart thread - 03/10/2009

Our dear Roseann (Being Peace) has been denied a kidney transplant. Please continue to hold her and Gary in prayer.

Please pray for a dear one's family caught in tragedy. Thank you.

As I told David@Montreal this evening, I feel very loved and prayed for. Thank you all.

Pseudopiskie becomes an official 'Piskie. Hooray!

OK, Ralph. It's been two weeks. Come home.

Thanks to Margaret for this today:

The reality is, when we are no longer able to comprehend action or anything else at all--dead to this world, it will not be our faith which saves us, but the faith of him who was raised from the dead which shall save us.

Add your own prayer requests or thanksgivings in the comments.

--the BB

Heart thread - 8/7/2008

My friend Sandi asks our prayers for her mother Lois whose perspective on reality advances toward a minority position, as happens to so many of us in later years, and who has begun to wander about, causing distress to the family and fears for her safety. Sandi's husband Louis, meanwhile, is back home in Texas recuperating from the trauma of losing his eye and pondering what to do next in his life. He needs your continued prayers as well. Please remember Sandi, far from both of them and concerned for each.

The Fluffy One (Eileen) bids our prayers for Rita, her grandmother, who is in hospital, and for her mother who has a hard time in the midst of it all. Eileen and the whole family are in our hearts and prayers as well.

Among the blessings of the work-travel situation is meeting new friends. One of these is my co-worker Deborah. We got to know each other one Saturday when she came to me with questions and we have enjoyed each other since then.

Deborah is not only a fellow Episcopalian but a member of St Cuthbert's Church - only the one in Houston, not the one in Oakland. With the exception of a chapel in a convent in New York State, I am not aware of any other St Cuthbert's Episcopal Churches in the United States. If I am wrong, please let me know; I'd love to hear of others.

Deborah is also the latest victim of my fiction. We talked about it and next thing you know she is in possession of one of the few copies of the first draft. Last night she treated as she, her sister, and her daughter (all three of them lovely ladies) and I dined on delicious tapas and I recounted the Chronicles of Midhris (copyright by me, y'all) orally. Today was her last day on this job as she returns to home and to teaching, her regular job. A huge thank you to Deborah and godspeed as you return to your home.

Last Saturday I talked on the phone with Phyllis, the dearest woman, who endures the progression of a brain tumor and proceeds on her final journey this side of glory. Please keep her, her husband Fred, and the family in your prayers as well.

My BFF and I are making plans for the road trip to California next month for my eldest grandnephew's wedding and general visiting of dear friends and old haunts. I am excited about this. I need a vacation and I have not been "home" since moving to New Mexico (two years ago this week). Albuquerque is my home now but I will always be a Californian no matter where I live, as it is my birth soil.


Kirstin is not up to much blogging or correspondence these days as she takes her interferon treatments. All the more reason to keep her in our hearts as she takes this challenging stretch of life's journey.

We continue to hold Elizabeth and her loved ones in prayer following the death of her mother and now the birth of Mason James, a fifth grandchild!

I rejoice in the goodness of the earth and of those who celebrate her. Check out the mycophagist and his photos here. He's pretty darned cute too but don't tell him I said so. And johnieb is sharing some amazing pics too.

Feel free to pray for the Anglican Communion if you're up for it. [I'm not.] Way I see it, Jesus will take care of the church (gates of hell and all that) and our job is to be faithful to the Gospel. So I put my energy on trying to be ever more deeply grasped by and comprehending of the Good News and leave the church to Jesus. We must continually die to what we are in order to become what we might be (grain of wheat etc.), and that is true of each of us and of our collectivities, the church being no exception. If we try to preserve the AC we shall surely lose it: reasoning based on analogy with the highest authority telling us to lose our lives if we would save them. As for calls to sacrifice, I've repeatedly offered to sacrifice the AC for the sake of living the Good News, but the bishops aren't taking me up on that offer and I refuse to do it the other way around and sacrifice the Good New for the sake of the Anglican Communion. There you have it.

Do pray for New Orleans and her people. Grandmère Mimi has a wonderful post up today.

Tandaina is finally at seminary. Hooray. And "bless her heart" (in the three falling tones manner that acknowledges she's bitten off quite a bit, God help her). I pray this grace-filled poet will bless the school and the school will bless her.

Doxy has a moving and well-written post up springing from her attendance at the International AIDS Conference in Mexico City and from her great heart of compassion. It merits a read. Check out this excerpt:

If you are one of the millions of Americans who struggles with your weight, you will recognize the inner voice that tempts you to do things you know in your heart are not healthy for you. Taking sexual risks is really no different than taking the risk of eating too much of the wrong kind of food---they are both rooted in human behaviors that are both deeply meaningful in and of themselves and necessary for the survival of the species. Sex and food are the basic foundations for human life--which is why this struggle is, in some ways, a Sisyphean one.

Until and unless researchers develop a vaccine for HIV, we will only combat the spread of the epidemic by recognizing this fact and developing a way to deal with it--a way that does not stigmatize or demonize those who are, ultimately, only being human.

Let us pray for those who live with HIV/AIDS throughout the world, those who love them, those at risk, the dying, the living, and AIDS orphans. Let us pray for research and a cure, and for destigmatizing disease, for an end to fear and ignorance.

I give thanks that TheMeThatIsMe is blogging again and had such a grand adventure with Mad Priest, going of to Glasgow to hear Bishop Robinson preach.

Of course, and as usual, I have forgotten so many who need our prayers and so many who pray for us (and let us define "prayer" so broadly that none feel excluded or offended by the term). feel free, as ever, to add your own requests, thanksgivings, etc. in comments.

And now, to gather up all the crumbs, a video I found chez FranIAm:



Amen.
--the BB

A Prayer of Thanksgiving

Gracious God, for three things today
I thank you,
for four I praise your Name:
for the wonder of existence
and for the blazing passion
of your steadfast mercies,
for uplifting deeds
of human kindness,
and for the capacity to love;
Quicken my abilities to feel
awe and gratitude, to open
my heart to each
of your children
and to you.
Amen.

--written on the Feast of St Bartholomew 1986

This prayer, based on the Hebrew wisdom pattern of “three things and four,” touches on the miracle of creation (its “thatness”), God’s covenant love (the whole issue of relationship), the outworking of God’s love and grace through human beings (participation and cooperation), and that within us which can love (the image of God). [Distilled from the notes in my paper of prayers]
--the BB

Lo que hice esta noche

Acabo de coser una pancarta de la Virgencita.
I just finished sewing a banner of the Virgencita.

Amazing what one can do with a printed tea towel, dupioni silk, butter yellow satin lining and a couple other fancy bits.

On December 8, a Marian feast in itself, I will be leading an Advent quiet day. We will be honoring Our Lady of Guadalupe, whose feast is 12 December.

For years I have wanted to initiate public processions in the Episcopal Church. I admit it, this is one case where I have Rome envy. My personal piety has increasingly moved toward what might be deemed "folk piety." I wear the label proudly. It is satisfying, expressive, personal, and intimate. Next month, God willing, Mary interceding, and the Rio Grande don't rise, I get to see an procession on a day other than Palm Sunday.

It will be a special day for another reason. Seventeen years ago December 8 also fell on a Saturday and I was ordained a priest by Bishop Swing in Grace Cathedral, San Francisco. A good day to be thankful. (It was a long journey getting there but I won't burden this blog with that story.)

I already had one small banner of Guadalupe with a print of the tilma of Juan Diego. It is very tasteful. Now I am working on two more: larger, more colorful, one with yellows and one with reds. One down, one to go. I also need to assemble the materials I have gathered to make a small palanquin on which we can carry a bulto of Guadalupe.

Twice I have had the privilege of ascending the hill of Tepeyac to visit the Basilica of Guadalupe. On the first trip I was struck by the beautiful words over the doors, words once spoken in Nahuatl to Juantzin.

¿No estoy aquí quien soy tu madre?
Am I not here who am your mother?

I have always felt Mary's presence since that moment.

Señor, Dios nuestro, que has concedido
a tu pueblo la protección maternal
de la siempre Vírgen María, Madre de tu Hijo,
concédenos, por su intercesión,
permanecer siempre firmes en la fe
y servir con sincero amor a nuestros hermanos.
Por nuestro Señor Jesucristo, tu Hijo.
Amén.

--the BB (one of Mary's wayward brats)

For All Who Serve

"Reflections" by Lee Teter
via this site
You may visit the Virtual Wall here.

On this Armistice Day (yes, I'm old enough to remember when that's what we called it), I honor and give thanks for every man and woman who has served this country in the military. I thank them for their patriotism, their courage, and their sacrifice. I pray for them in danger, terror, injured bodies, and haunted dreams. I vote for their pay, their arming, their care, and their veteran benefits. I offer prayers for their safety and their healing, their peace of mind and soul, their safe return, their joy in reuniting with family and loved ones. I am proud of them for all their virtues and their sense of duty.

None of this makes war any less than hell. And so I grieve. In an e-mail today to my ex I wrote this:

Well, here we are: Armistice Day, Veterans Day, X's birthday.

This means I am something of a weepy mess again.

Happens regularly this time of year and Decoration Day (Memorial Day), and sometimes in between. I want to salute them all as heroes and I want to hold them all and rock them in my arms, knowing that if they went into battle they will never be the same. And I mist up. Sometimes I break down into great sobs.

If in some smothering dreams, you too could pace
Behind the wagon that we flung him in,
And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,
His hanging face, like a devil's sick of sin,
If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood
Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,
Bitter as the cud
Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,---
My friend, you would not tell with such high zest
To children ardent for some desperate glory,
The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est
Pro patria mori.
---Wilfrid Owen

Arlington West, Santa Barbara, 10 December 2006

Grandmère Mimi has a lovely post and prayer for Veterans' Day at Wounded Bird.

Thanks to jcf for posting Owen's poem in comments at OCICBW.
--the BB