Wednesday, April 27, 2011

FW: have you guys seen this??

This is funny!

C. Andrew Doyle
IX Bishop of Texas


-----Original Message-----
From: Carol Barnwell
Sent: Tuesday, April 19, 2011 5:16 PM
To: Andy Doyle
Subject: Fw: have you guys seen this??



----- Original Message -----
From: Cathy Boyd <cboyd@austintrinity.org>
To: aliclay@charter.net <aliclay@charter.net>; Cathy Boyd <cboyd@austintrinity.org>; Carol Barnwell; drw@bainbridge.net <drw@bainbridge.net>; mleesimpson@cox.net <mleesimpson@cox.net>; nan@cobbey.com <nan@cobbey.com>; nross@episcopalatlanta.org <nross@episcopalatlanta.org>; sarahtmoore@earthlink.net <sarahtmoore@earthlink.net>; sbartenstein@saintstephensrichmond.net <sbartenstein@saintstephensrichmond.net>
Sent: Tue Apr 19 13:42:06 2011
Subject: have you guys seen this??

I think "Bossypants" is the Best Title Ever.



Tina Fey's prayer for her daughter, from her new book -Bossypants, 2011


First, Lord: No tattoos. May neither Chinese symbol for truth nor Winnie-the-Pooh holding the FSU logo stain her tender haunches.

May she be beautiful but not damaged, for it's the damage that draws the creepy soccer coach's eye, not the beauty.

When the crystal met is offered, may she remember the parents who cut her grapes in half and stick with beer.

Guide her, protect her
When crossing the street, stepping onto boats, swimming in the ocean, swimming in pools, walking near pools, standing on the subway platform, crossing 86th Street, stepping off of boats, using mall restrooms, getting on and off escalators, driving on country roads while arguing, leaning on large windows, walking in parking lots, riding Ferris wheels, roller-coasters, log flumes, or anything called "Hell Drop," "Tower of Torture," or "The Death Spiral Rock 'N Zero G Roll featuring Aerosmith," and standing on any kind of balcony ever, anywhere, at any age.

Lead her away from Acting but not all the way to Finance. Something where she can make her own hours but still feel intellectually fulfilled and get outside sometimes and not have to wear high heels.

What would that be, Lord? Architecture? Midwifery? Golf course design? I'm asking You, because if I knew, I'd be doing it, Youdammit.

May she play the drums to the fiery rhythm of her own heart with the sinewy strength of her own arms, so she need not lie with drummers.

Grant her a rough patch from twelve to seventeen. Let her draw horses and be interested in Barbies for much too long, for childhood is short - a Tiger Flower blooming Magenta for one day - And adulthood is long and dry-humping in cars will wait.

O Lord, break the Internet forever, that she may be spared the misspelled invective of her peers And the online marketing campaign for Rape Hostel V: Girls Just Wanna Get Stabbed.

And when she one day turns on me and calls me a bitch in front of Hollister, give me the strength, Lord, to yank her directly into a cab in front of her friends, for I will not have that shit. I will not have it.

And should she choose to be a mother one day, be my eyes, Lord, that I may see her, lying on a blanket on the floor at 4:50 A.M., all-at-once exhausted, bored, and in love with the little creature whose poop is leaking up its back.

"My mother did this for me once," she will realize as she cleans feces off her baby's neck. "My mother did this for me." And the delayed gratitude will wash over her as it does each generation and she will make a mental note to call me. And she will forget. But I'll know, because I peeped it with Your God eyes.

Amen.


Sent from my iPad

Saturday, April 23, 2011

Easter Message

Easter Message 2011
By The Rt. Rev. C. Andrew Doyle


Romans 8.24
For in hope we were saved…


As we make our way to Easter Sunday morning we are mindful of our brother and sister Episcopalians and Anglicans worldwide. We are mindful of those who still suffer from economic and health cost of our own system’s failings. We are mindful of those suffering from the recent storms which moved through the country. We are mindful of our neighbors who continue to pull themselves from the ruble and rebuild after quakes in Haiti, New Zealand, Myanmar and Japan.


The Easter 2011 Gospel is from Matthew 28:1-10 and in it both the angel of the Lord and the risen Christ are clear: the women and the disciples are to go to Galilee.  In Matthew’s Gospel Galilee is where the action is.  In Galilee they are to be given the great commission.  The Easter message is clear go to where the mission is; go to where the ministry is. Go and meet God there in the form of the risen Christ in friend and neighbor, in brother and sister. 


Worship God out in the world. Celebrate the risen Lord by aiding people with their doubt and with their seeking a living God; you have a role in helping others to find hope, experience hope, and live in hope.


The message is clear you are to love and act for the good of our neighbor. To love and forgive as God forgives – generously. (Not as a quid pro quo; not as we desire people will do for us) The resurrection is an event that was reserved for the end of human history, but it has happened in the midst of human history – the kingdom of God has broken into this world.


This it seems to me is the proclamation of Easter Sunday - Jesus is raised for a purpose.  This resurrection is an apocalyptic event, a life changing, a world re-creating event, for those who experience it.


Every act of humility, hospitality, and kindness done because we follow the risen Christ and serve him through the power of the Holy Spirit, every work of true creativity – doing justice, making peace, healing families, healing individuals, resisting temptation, seeking and winning true freedom for those who are voiceless and powerless – is an earthly event in a long history of things that implement Jesus’ own resurrection and anticipate the final new creation and act as signposts of hope.” (Surprised by Hope, 293-294)


Jesus resurrection is not about our dying and what happens next; it is about our living and what we can do today.


The empty tomb, the message of the angel and Jesus to go towards life and mission, is about the remaking of the world around us. 
Pope Benedict in his Encyclical on Hope wrote that, “the Christian message [of hope] was not only ‘informative’ but “performative”. That means: the Gospel is not merely a communication of things that can be known—it is one that makes things happen and is life-changing. The dark door of time, of the future, has been thrown open. The one who has hope lives differently; the one who hopes has been granted the gift of a new life. (Encyclical Letter, Spe Salvi, ¶2)


Our lives are shaped in a new way for the sake of the kingdom of God for the sake of others.
Our celebration of Easter reminds us of the hope we have, and how our hope might buoy up those in need, and how our actions empowered by hope may be vessels of God’s grace and love to a world that is all too often hurting and in pain. 


The gospel message of Easter is clear: we are to go. We are to go with hope and meet Jesus at home in our families, in our neighborhoods, at our workplaces, or in a place far far away.  We are to go to Galilee. We are to go and build up God’s kingdom of hope. Our risen Lord Jesus Christ already goes before us and will meet us there. Christ is risen! Christo anesti!



Twitter Easter Morning

Get your Twitter dictionary here

A Twitter 
Easter Morning
Matthew 28:1-10


@Marymag  DMaryjamesmom u up? Almost morning here.

@Maryjamesmom 4WIW just waking up

@Marymag lets go 2 tomb F2F

@Maryjamesmom nah…we already did the spice thing in chapter 26.6ff

@Marymag just wanna go :'-( ASAP

@Maryjamesmom OIC, meet u there

@Marymag where are you? Here at Jesus’ tomb W4U

@Maryjamesmom coming… got a stone in my sandal BRT

@marymag Dpetertherock & Djamesfisherman ATM w/@maryjamesmom at Jesus tomb

@Marymag whats that?

@Maryjamesmom earthquake!

@Marymag cool angel

@Maryjamesmom how did he move that stone

@Marymag earthquake!

@Maryjamesmom awesome. Angel sitting on stone

@Marymag he is a young angel :-)

@Maryjamesmom looks like lightening

@Marymag his clothes r white as snow

@tombguard1 scary angel landed on stone, scared me ½ to death

@tombguard2 crazy lightening! Dude! Ahhhh! scary angel man!

@tombguard1 feeling shaky, sleepy ZZZZZ

@tombguard2 soooo sleepy ZZZZZ

@tombguard3 wat?!? Who rolled away stone? ZZZZZZZZ

@Maryjamesmom cool @Godangel put guards to sleep W2G

@Marymag look a 0:-) 

@Godangel no worries @marymag and @maryjamesmom

@marymag u scary @godangel

@Godangel don’t be afraid

@Godangel @@  looking for Jesus who was crucified?

@marymag yep

@Godangel BION check out empty tomb

@maryjamesmom  its empty :D

@Godangel told u, now u tell @Petertherock @Jamesfisherman @Johnfisherman and all @8disciples

@Godangel pls ff@hipjesus (cooljesus, jesus, and realjesus were already taken) 2 GPS coordinates 32°50′N 35°35′E

@Godangel he is raised, and is meeting you F2F in Galilee

@Godangel u will see @hipjesus there, TTFN

@marymag lets get out of here!

@maryjamesmom I want out of this tomb now

@marymag quickly

@marymag little scared

@maryjamesmom me too -- but excited

@marymag I am excited too…race you to ur home

@maryjamesmom @jamesfisherman and @johnfisherman will be there

@marymag they will not believe this!

@Godangel BOL

@hipjesus greetings!

@marymag OMG

@maryjamesmom OMG2

@hipjesus don’t be afraid

@hipjesus go tell my F4E @Petertherock @Jamesfisherman @Johnfisherman and all @8disciples

@hipjesus tell em to go to @galilee GPS coordinates 32°50′N 35°35′E

@marymag G2G

Thoughts on Evangelism

Here is a presentation that I did for the Episcopal Gathering of Leaders meeting at Camp Allen in 2011. The topic of the three day gathering was Evangelism.

Saturday, April 9, 2011

An Aesthetic Theology at St. Timothy's in Lake Jackson

I presented a Lenten program on an Aesthetic Theology at St Timothy's Lake Jackson.

Follow the below link to see the first in a series of YouTube videos which captured the event:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mm5QmgbeK6g&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Quotes

  • "Christianity is not a theory or speculation, but a life; not a philosophy of life, but a life and a living process." Samuel Taylor Coleridge
  • "Most people are willing to take the Sermon on the Mount as a flag to sail under, but few will use it as a rudder by which to steer." Oliver Wendell Holmes
  • "Perfection, in a Christian sense, means becoming mature enough to give ourselves to others." Kathleen Norris
  • "Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long as ever you can." John Wesley
  • "The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and left untried." G. K. Chesterton
  • "One of our great allies at present is the Church itself. Do not misunderstand me. I do not mean the Church as we see her spread out through all time and space and rooted in eternity, terrible as an army with banners. That, I confess, is a spectacle which makes our boldest tempters uneasy. But fortunately it is quite invisible to these humans." C. S. Lewis
  • "When we say, 'I love Jesus, but I hate the Church,' we end up losing not only the Church but Jesus too. The challenge is to forgive the Church. This challenge is especially great because the church seldom asks us for forgiveness." Henri Nouwen, Bread for the Journey
  • "Christians are hard to tolerate; I don't know how Jesus does it." Bono
  • "It's too easy to get caught in our little church subcultures, and the result is that the only younger people we might know are Christians who are already inside the church." Dan Kimball