...and still I pray

  A Cautionary Tale: I will give you the moral first and you can read the story if you have the time. Moral: If you have been raised to believe that you should help one another every time you are given the chance, please consider in these pandemic times who might suffer if things go south.   The story.   A friend of mine understands that she is here on earth to help others.   Something we should all understand.   On Tuesday she took a friend to the Dentist.   He doesn’t drive and frequently   calls upon her to help him get to and fro.   She admits that part of the time she was not wearing her mask and was in the car which does not promote social distancing.   He was wearing a mask.   On Wednesday he awoke with a 102 degree fever and was taken to the doctor by a relative where he was COVID tested.   He was told he would have results in three days and also told to quarantine and notify those with whom he had been in contact.   He didn’t notify my friend until today (Thursday).   S

 I've taken to walking at Spruce Run Reservoir.  It's a lovely spot.   You can walk on paved paths through the woods... Or you can believe you are down at the Jersey Shore... Or you can just watch the leaves turn... But most of all I like to watch the people.   Today a large family piled out of their SUV with children and scooters and bicycles and grandmother.  I thought "Good.  They are taking the kids out for a picnic and an airing."   But it wasn't really what I thought it would be.  As they fell out of the SUV like clowns out of a VW bug, they started to squabble. That escalated to a fever pitch and eventually the kids (ages 6-12 took their scooters and bikes and headed off down the trails.  The parents headed to a picnic table still squabbling and grandma (probably my age) was left to unload the coolers and baskets of food from the car.  Sighing she looked at me, looking at her from my car from a few yards away, and shrugged.  If it hadn't been for COVID

The trees are beginning to think there will be a fall.  The ones that have escaped the scourge of the spotted lantern fly are changing into their plaid fall shirts.  Some of the plaids are spectacular and some trees haven't quite got the meaning of turning colors, they just turn brown and then let go. Some of the humans I know are brown and letting go as well.  The extroverts among us are trying awfully hard to find ways of turning colors when we humans are asked not to this year.  They gather in groups they want to believe are safe, they call me at strange hours of the night looking for companionship, they look hollow-eyed from searching out those of their ilk who might also want to make COVID mischief, For myself, I am content to be my solitary cantankerous self: writing, watching YouTube or reruns of The West Wing, wondering why the fridge looks so empty but having no earthly urge to go shopping. I guess the world is built on different types but we also exist for different times

No, you didn't go to sleep and miss lent. It is forty days until the election but I am treating it as lent. I am praying steadfastly. I am abstaining from news overload. I am participating in good works. I want this to come out right. What is that? A resurrection, of course.

Recently I read a lovely newsletter from a diocese about the ministry of deacons.   I was asked the questions: "... what we can do to identify deacons in our midst? How might we encourage younger vocations? deacons from underrepresented communities?" These are all very important tasks but I contend that some of these tasks have been hindered by a missing component in the process, namely participation on the part of bishops and priests in encouraging and educating their parishes. I think it is important for deacons to model their ministries in the parish, not only to potential deacons but to everyone in the parish. But it is here we get into a chicken and egg situation. In order to enable deacons to functionally model their ministry to a parish, there must actually be deacons in a parish. Secondarily there must be support at the parish level from the priest. Thirdly there must be support at the diocesan level by the bishop. Finally there must be support from diocesan and n

On this first day of January in the year of Christ 2020, I begin the journey of this blog.  In other places at other times I will explain myself (and fix my header picture) but today I will tell a short story. This morning, as the flurries gently floated through the air, I stopped at my favorite gas station to make a fresh start in the year with my car gassed up.  The usual guy was there at the pump, an older man, muffled up in the custom of his middle eastern country.  I'm not sure of his age, he looks anywhere between 50 and 70 years that have not been kind to him.  He is out in all kinds of weather and that shows too on his face.  But he always has a pleasant greeting, "Hello" and he nods as if by saying "fill it regular, please" I have told him the story of my life.  He never smiles. This morning, though, it was different.  The man in the car in front of me was rude.  He was in a hurry, you see, and after virtually flinging his $50 bill in the pump man&#