In Honor of George Herbert

Our God and King, you called your servant George Herbert from the pursuit of worldly honors to be a pastor of souls, a poet, and a priest in your temple: Give us grace, we pray, joyfully to perform the tasks you give us to do knowing that nothing is menial or common that is done for your sake; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (from Lesser Feasts & Fasts)

Today is his feast day in the Church, a few of his poems:

LOVE

OVE bade me welcome; yet my soul drew back,

Guilty of dust and sin.

But quick-eyed Love, observing me grow slack

From my first entrance in,

Drew nearer to me, sweetly questioning

If I lack'd anything.




'A guest,' I answer'd, 'worthy to be here:'

Love said, 'You shall be he.'

'I, the unkind, ungrateful? Ah, my dear,

I cannot look on Thee.'

Love took my hand and smiling did reply,

'Who made the eyes but I?'




'Truth, Lord; but I have marr'd them: let my shame

Go where it doth deserve.'

'And know you not,' says Love, 'Who bore the blame?'

'My dear, then I will serve.'

'You must sit down,' says Love, 'and taste my meat.'

So I did sit and eat.

DISCIPLINE

HROW away Thy rod,

Throw away Thy wrath;

O my God,

Take the gentle path!




For my heart's desire

Unto Thine is bent:

I aspire

To a full consent.




Not a word or look

I affect to own,

But by the book,

And Thy Book alone.




Though I fail, I weep;

Though I halt in pace,

Yet I creep

To the Throne of Grace.




Then let wrath remove;

Love will do the deed:

For with Love

Stony hearts will bleed.




Love is swift of foot;

Love's a man of war,

And can shoot,

And can hit from far.




Who can 'scape his bow?

That which wrought on Thee,

Brought Thee low,

Needs must work on me.




Throw away Thy rod;

Though man frailties hath,

Thou art God:

Throw away Thy wrath!

EASTER

GOT me flowers to straw Thy way,

I got me boughs off many a tree;

But Thou wast up by break of day,

And brought'st Thy sweets along with Thee.




Yet though my flowers be lost, they say

A heart can never come too late;

Teach it to sing Thy praise this day,

And then this day my life shall date.

Some online Lenten Resources

Her are a few resources to help you keep a Holy Lent:

• Stations of the Cross
• A Lenten Pilgrimage in the Holy Land
• Love Life Live Lent (from the Church of England)
  
• Morning and Evening Prayer
• The Daily Office
• Daily Devotions (Morning & Evening) for Families for Lent
• 2009 Daily Lenten Meditations (via email) from Episcopal Relief & Development

Start with these, more to come...

Ash Wednesday

Collect:

Almighty and everlasting God, you hate nothing you have made and forgive the sins of all who are penitent: Create and make in us new and contrite hearts, that we, worthily lamenting our sins and acknowledging our wretchedness, may obtain of you, the God of all mercy, perfect remission and forgiveness; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Litany of Penitence

Most holy and merciful Father:
We confess to you and to one another,
and to the whole communion of saints
in heaven and on earth,
that we have sinned by our own fault
in thought, word, and deed;
by what we have done, and by what we have left undone.

We have not loved you with our whole heart, and mind, and
strength. We have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. We
have not forgiven others, as we have been forgiven.
Have mercy on us, Lord.

We have been deaf to your call to serve, as Christ served us.
We have not been true to the mind of Christ. We have grieved
your Holy Spirit.
Have mercy on us, Lord.

We confess to you, Lord, all our past unfaithfulness: the
pride, hypocrisy, and impatience of our lives,
Have mercy on us, Lord.

We confess to you, Lord. Our self-indulgent appetites and ways, and our exploitation
of other people,
Have mercy on us, Lord.

We confess to you, Lord. Our anger at our own frustration, and our envy of those
more fortunate than ourselves,
Have mercy on us, Lord.

We confess to you, Lord. Our intemperate love of worldly goods and comforts, and
our dishonesty in daily life and work,
Have mercy on us, Lord.

We confess to you, Lord. Our negligence in prayer and worship, and our failure to
commend the faith that is in us,
Have mercy on us, Lord.

We confess to you, Lord. Accept our repentance, Lord, for the wrongs we have done:
for our blindness to human need and suffering, and our
indifference to injustice and cruelty,
Accept our repentance, Lord.

For all false judgments, for uncharitable thoughts toward our
neighbors, and for our prejudice and contempt toward those
who differ from us,
Accept our repentance, Lord.

For our waste and pollution of your creation, and our lack of
concern for those who come after us,
Accept our repentance, Lord.

Restore us, good Lord, and let your anger depart from us;
Favorably hear us, for your mercy is great.

Accomplish in us the work of your salvation,
That we may show forth your glory in the world

By the cross and passion of your Son our Lord,
Bring us with all your saints to the joy of his resurrection.

Clergy not role models...

A new survey conducted by Junior Achievement and Deloitte:

Out of 100 American teens,

54% - parents as role models
13% - friends as role models
6% - teachers/coaches as role models
5% - siblings as role models
3% - clergy as role models

11% - say they have no role models

80% of teens believe they are ethically prepared to make moral business decisions,
37% percent believe they need to “break the rules” in order to succeed.

Read about it here.

I have work to do!

Anti-Bono

Questions for Dambisa Moyo The Anti-Bono
Interview by DEBORAH SOLOMON for the NY Times Magazine

Q: As a native of Zambia with advanced degrees in public policy and economics from Harvard and Oxford, you are about to publish an attack on Western aid to Africa and its recent glamorization by celebrities. ‘‘Dead Aid,’’ as your book is called, is particularly hard on rock stars. Have you met Bono?

A: I have, yes, at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, last year. It was at a party to raise money for Africans, and there were no Africans in the room, except for me.

Q: What do you think of him?

A: I’ll make a general comment about this whole dependence on “celebrities.” I object to this situation as it is right now where they have inadvertently or manipulatively become the spokespeople for the African continent.

You can read the rest of it here.

My take on the interview is that she really has a problem with government aid the way it has been given out. She highlights kiva.org as a way to aid Africans through microfinance. I agree there!

But, without Bono and others highlighting the need, where else would we hear about it? Who would get our attention? Who would actually fight to help those in need? Like Bono and others...

It is the old saying: give a man a fish and he has one meal, but teach a man to fish and he can do it everyday for himself and family. But if the water is polluted and he can't fish in the desert what good is the skill? I think aid given in the right way (or the lessening of debts) can help.

The Nets for Life program and others through Episcopal Relief & Development is a good way to help those in need through the proper local programs.

St. Valentine

I know its a day late but better late than never...

St. Valentine by James Kiefer

St. Valentine is a martyr from before 312, commemorated on the 14th of February. Probably he was martyred on that date, but nothing else is known of him. (A Valentine, priest of Rome, and a Valentine, bishop of Ternia (Interamna), are both commemorated on 14 February, and now generally assumed to be the same person.)

In many parts of Europe, it was once said that birds began to pair off for the nesting season in mid-February. Since our forebears often spoke of a given day by naming a saint connected with it rather than by giving the month and the number of the day, we find them saying that birds choose their mates on St. Valentine's day. That is all. If a major earthquake took place on Columbus Day, it would probably be known to future generations as the Columbus Day earthquake, but it would be a mistake to try to connect it with Columbus. There are several stories making the rounds that try to explain the connection between valentines and Valentine. Every one that I have heard sounds like an explanation made up after the fact, probably by a Victorian clergyman lecturing to children. There are other explanations attempting to connect it with various pagan festivals of the early spring. Again, I am not impressed. That young men should send romantic messages in the springtime both in 90 BCE and in 1990 AD does not require a conspiracy theory to explain it.

Afterthought: The chief authority for the statement that 14 February is the date when birds were thought to pair off is Chaucer, who writes of "Valentine's day, when every fowl doth choose his mate." However, it has been pointed out that in addition to the two obscure Valentines commemorated on 14 February, there is a still more obscure one associated with 2 May, and that Chaucer may have had this date in mind. Two arguments for supposing that he did: (1) May seems more likely than February for birds to start building nests--but I am no expert on birds of England; (2) King Richard II was formally betrothed to Anne of Bohemia on 3 May, and Chaucer may have intended a reference to the royal couple. He was a member of the Royal Court, and was often invited to recite his own poems before the King and Queen and others, and his poems contain at least one other indirect reference to the Royal Marriage. If we accept this theory, then we must suppose that, after all memory of the May Valentine had died out in England, Chaucer's statement was misunderstood as referring to the earlier date.

Darwin II

Since I last posted, there have been lots more on Darwin on the web, here's a few I found interesting:

• As Darwin turns 200, Presiding Bishop Jefferts Schori the scientist reflects

• Evolution and faith in dialogue: After 150 years, Darwin's theory still presents challenges
• US churches to discuss evolution vs creation

• Students Reconcile Darwin's Theories With Faith (NPR)
• Examining Darwin On His 200th Anniversary (NPR)

I find Darwin and the whole creation vs. evolution conversation fascinating because it has never troubled my faith. I grew up in the Episcopal Church, never took the Bible literally, and always found science compatible with the Bible.

This fictional interview with Darwin (originally from the German) is an interesting piece (drawn from Darwin's own words). Sadly, death of loved ones & friends and other things contributed to his loss of faith. Read it all here: Darwin Speaks: "How faithlessness stalked me"