Disaster Area

Afterlife

From Nakedpastor

West Wing Bible References

Right now we're watching West Wing on DVD. I got the seven season set reasonably priced on eBay. I never watched it at all during its initial run on TV, nor any reruns on cable, so it's fun to see the whole thing back to back. Just into season two, and hit this tremendous scene that's a clear smackdown of the thinly disguised Dr. Laura Schlesinger clone, Dr. Jenna Jacobs in an episode where radio talk show hosts get to meet at the White House..

Biblical references abound as the president takes on fundamentalist craziness...

O Holy Night (from hell)

UPDATED - see below.

As usual at this time of year, the Christmas Carols Gone Wrong get circulated around the intertubes.

The Music Academy trotted out this one again. Audio only. Keep listening, or fast forward to 2:13 for the really great bit.

Many people have commented about how they can't believe someone wouldn't know they were so terrible. And the answer is no, they were not unaware - it's a spoof.

Full story here:

I'm not saying the spoof was a good idea, mind...

UPDATE: Oh, you can even buy it on iTunes. Much like the Portsmouth Sinfonia (see below), a little of this goes a long way.

My favorite version of this great song  is still my friend Eileen McIntyre singing it 20+ years ago back in Pennsylvania. Simple arrangement, beautiful voice.

 

Christmas - Hit and Myth

It's a myth? Really, duh.

Advent...

...of an awesome Phillies starting rotation.

Also featuring the Yankees as the thwarted King Herod and the Texas Rangers as the shepherds - they just get to visit for a little while.

One of the Best Sermons Ever?

The Very Rev Jeffrey John, Dean of St Albans, preaching at the funeral of the Very Rev Colin Slee, Dean of Southwark.

This segment is particularly profound, addressing why bad things happen to good people - a perennial topic of debate, consternation and confusion:

That faith never wavered, not even in the few weeks between the diagnosis and his death. A fortnight ago Colin asked me to say something at a service he had been due to preach at in St Albans.  He said this:

‘People have been shocked by the suddenness and seriousness of my illness, and some have asked ‘Why you?’ Well, why not me? We believe in a God who creates a world with freedom for life, and freedom means the potential for going wrong. Cancer is life gone wrong. But if God didn’t let go and let go wrong, He would be less than the God of the Gospel’.

Other people had said to him ‘It’s not fair: you’ve led a good life’. Colin replied, ‘How do you know? And anyway, whatever goodness I have is God’s gift. We rely on mercy, not fairness’.

Makes one wonder why the Very Rev Jeffrey John isn't a bishop himself...

Stupidest Use of Social Media: Christmas Division

As if tacky Christmas items were in short supply:

 

Anglican Covenant: "Peace For Our Time"

Church of England Synod opens today with the proposed Anglican Covenant on the table. The Minister of Magic, sorry, Archbishop of Canterbury, has this to say about it.

The Covenant text itself represents work done by theologians of similarly diverse views, including several from North America. It does not invent a new orthodoxy or a new system of doctrinal policing or a centralised authority, quite explicitly declaring that it does not seek to override any province's canonical autonomy. After such a number of discussions and revisions, it is dispiriting to see the Covenant still being represented as a tool of exclusion and tyranny."

It is sad to see such a bright fellow reveal himself to be delusional. This blind trust in the covenant designers and promoters reminds me of 1938 and a certain Neville Chamberlain...

My good friends, this is the second time there has come back from Germany to Downing Street peace with honour. I believe it is peace for our time. We thank you from the bottom of our hearts. Now I recommend you go home, and sleep quietly in your beds.

Ah yes, sleep quietly in your beds Anglicans around the world... (but only with members of the opposite sex)

Pope Condones Prostitution! Read All About It...

The BBC has details via a series of interviews the Pope gave to a German journalist to promote a new book.

Pope Benedict XVI has said the use of condoms is acceptable "in certain cases", according to a new book.

He said condoms could reduce the risk of infection with HIV, such as for a prostitute, in a series of interviews he gave to a German journalist.

The Vatican newspaper ran excerpts on Saturday.

The comments appear to soften the Roman Catholic Church's hardline stance, which until now had banned the use of any form of contraception.

I thought they had a fairly hardline stance against prostitution, but maybe that's softening too?

The book is entitled: "Light of the World: The Pope, the Church and the Signs of the Times".

No irony intended, I gather.

Tragi-comic relief

When things are rough there's nothing like a touch of humor. And one of the humorous talents I've run into over the last couple of years is David Hayward, aka nakedpastor. He's a priest, cartoonist and lots more from New Brunswick Canada (and to be honest, I have to think you need a sense of humo(u)r to be from so far from the beaten track.

Why nakedpastor?

In the foreword from his just released book of cartoons:

I started blogging in 2005. I began with “churchpundit”. I liked the name, but it didn’t convey
what I wanted my blog to be about. I eventually came up with “nakedpastor”. After some auctioning, I aquired the domain name. It hasn’t been an easy name to bear. I often have to explain what it means. It’s just about a pastor baring his soul. Nothing else.

And so it is. The story of "why nakedpastor?" is the subject of the first cartoon in the book and is quite hilarious. And the baring the soul part is often raw and honest. The combination is something well worth checking out.

The really fun part is that it's David's birthday Oct 7 (i.e today on the eastern seaboard, but tomorrow still on the west coast) and the artwork on his online store (already affordable) is 50% off during his birthday. So check out the blog, check out the store and if you like what you see , maybe it's not too early to buy a cool Christmas present...