Merry Christmas!

Beautiful Vigil Masses at the Missions then a scarifyin' drive to Dallas, where had turned in for the night. So I took advantage of the lull to watch a program about an alien base at Dulce; curious.

Regardless of the impending "disclosure event", here's an interesting, if slightly somber thought:

"When the unstoppable bullet hits the impenetrable wall, we find the religious experience. It is precisely here that one will grow... Heroism could be redefined for our time as the ability to stand paradox."

Robert Johnson wrote that, I found it on the Shirt of Flame blog.

Mind those bullets!

Merry Christmas!

LSP

Pistol

S&W .38 Spl

Wasn't able to ride this morning owing to a nasty case of bruised ribs but took the .38 out for a spin. Shot at 10 and 20 yards against an aggressive square of white paper and it's larger ally, a feed sack.

Did better at the longer range, oddly, then switched over to .22 to do deadly work among assorted cans and a hard to see cigarette box on a stick.

Where's the Target?

I love shooting and today reminded me that pistols are especially enjoyable. Why? Well, they certainly bring the explosive action up close, and I like that because it's exciting. They're also neat in themselves, as firearms - then again, I'm sympathetic to that. Not allowed to own them in England, unless you're a bad guy and have one anyway.

That reminds me of some man in a pub years ago who kept poking me in the ribs, saying:

Some Man: I've gotta '9'.
LSP: Pardon?
Some Man: I've gotta '9'!
LSP: Excuse me?
Some Man (poking vigorously): A '9', a '9'!!
LSP: Ah, a '9'. I'd like a pint of Stella, please, barman.

The '9' holder ran out of steam, fortunately; perhaps the fabled '9' was fictional.

Cheers,

LSP

The Eclipse and the Witch

My rubbish picture of the eclipse

For the first time in 372 years a total eclipse of the moon coincided with the Winter Solstice. Not only that but evidently the sun, moon and earth were in alignment with our "galactic core."

Not wanting to miss out, I gazed up into the heavens, listening to Lemmy sing "The Watcher." Nothing quite like a bit of early '70s space rock, I always think.

But regardless of the implausibility of Brock, Kilminster et al leaving earth on a spaceship, some think that the eclipse has great spiritual significance. Such as the goddess worshiping witch, Starhawk, who thinks the eclipse/solstice/galactic alignment has powerful magic potential.

"For those of you who like to align your meditations and your magic with the movements of the stars, we stand tonight between the past and the future. For the first hour and a quarter of the eclipse...it's as if we step out of time. We are free of the past, and we can consciously create the future, for ourselves, for our communities, for the earth," said the Wiccan priestess witch to abc News.

Here's a picture of Starhawk.

Starhawk on right, with woman

And here's the witch channeling the Star Goddess:

The Charge of the Star Goddess

Hear the words of the Star Goddess, the dust of whose feet are the hosts of heaven, whose body encircles the universe ...

"I who am the beauty of the green Earth,
The white Moon among the Stars,
And the Mystery of the Waters,
I call upon your soul to arise and come unto Me.
For I am the Soul of Nature, which gives life to the universe.

From Me all things proceed,
And unto Me they must return.
Let My worship be in the heart that rejoices,
For behold - all acts of love and pleasure are My rituals...

For behold, I have been with you from the beginning,
And I am that which is attained at the end of desire."

Pagan Tomfoolery

"All acts of love and pleasure are My rituals." Terrifyin' prospect.

This site continues to stand against paganism and goddess worship, in case you wondered.

God bless,

LSP

Dawkins - Peerless Stinker

Dawkins

From time time to time this blog degenerates into a samey mix of horses, guns, space creatures and cheap jibes against the fast disappearing ACoC (Anglican Church of Canada) and its larger sister TEC (The Episcopal Church). To say nothing of the all too easy game of awarding "alien heads" to offending ecclesiastics.

So here's some philosophy to even things out; it's a reflection on Dawkins' take on Aquinas' 4th Way and you'll have to forgive the length but I like the argument.

First, the 4th Way itself, from the Summa:

Among beings there are some more and some less good, true, noble and the like. But 'more' and 'less' are predicated of different things, according as they resemble in their different ways something which is the maximum, as a thing is said to be hotter according as it more nearly resembles that which is hottest; so that there is something which is truest, something best, something noblest and, consequently, something which is uttermost being [i.e. maximally ontologically secure]; for those things that are greatest in truth are greatest in being, as it is written in [Aristotle's] Metaph. ii. Now the maximum in any genus is the cause of all in that genus; as fire, which is the maximum heat, is the cause of all hot things. Therefore there must also be something which is to all beings the cause of their being, goodness, and every other perfection; and this we call God.

Dawkins doesn't like this at all and decides to sneer:

"That's an argument? You might as well say, people vary in smelliness but we can make the comparison only by reference to a perfect maximum of conceivable smelliness. Therefore there must exist a pre-eminently peerless stinker, and we call him God."

But Aquinas is dealing with properties that have an intrinsic and logical, as opposed to de facto, maximum. Eric Mascall explains:

"Goodness, so the argument claims, demands as its cause a God who is good; while heat, though it necessarily demands a God whose knowledge of possible being includes an idea of heat, does not demand a God who is hot as its cause, but only a God who can create."

Peter Williams sums up:

"In modern philosophical terminology, Aquinas is arguing along the following lines:

1. Things exist in the world around us that exhibit finite degrees of great-making properties (e.g. being, goodness, truth, beauty)

2. The existence of something exhibiting a great-making property to a finite degree implies the existence of something that possesses the property in question to a maximal degree

3. Therefore, all great making properties possessed in finite degree by beings in the world around us, including being, are possessed to a maximal degree by something

4. An effect cannot exceed the greatness of its cause

5. Therefore, there exists a maximally ontologically secure being that possess every great-making property possessed by its effects to a maximal degree; and this we call God.

It should at least be clear that Aquinas' argument is logically valid and consequently that this line of thought cannot be dismissed with a jeering reference to smelly people, which is all Dawkins does."

Well said, Peter Williams.

This site supports Aquinas -- not that he needs it.

Cheers,

LSP

Iron Horse, Real Horse

Iron Horse, Real Horse

Found myself scouting about the used car shops the other day, checking out 4x4 pick-ups, when I saw a chopper nonchalantly parked up in a place of its own. It reminded me of Nam, Chelt'Nam, that is, the town's bikers and, of course, "Iron Horse" by Motorhead. But all that was a very long time ago.

Now I get to go on a real horse and find myself returning to basics - spent the morning walking JB around obstacles and over ground poles, with special emphasis on circling to the right. She's forward now, so it seems time to concentrate on control, which'll make a good base for going very fast and jumping over things. That's my plan, anyway.

She managed three successive flying changes the other day; people tell me that's very impressive and it indicates high athletic potential on JB's part. I wish that I'd asked for them deliberately...

Stay on the horse,

LSP

Bishops!

Bishop Sean Manchester

"They should all be locked up and put in a cage..."

Fr. Bowling on certain bishops

Thanks to the untiring efforts of researchers at Team LSP, I can open this series on "Bishops" with Sean Manchester, leader of Britain's Old Catholic Church, founder of the Sacerdotal Society of the Precious Blood, Superior General of the Order of the Holy Graal, Bishop of Glastonbury(!), and Primate of the Apostolic Church of Jesus Christ. You can read about it here, if you have the energy.

Readers may recall that he 'staked out' the Highgate Cemetary Vamp, back in the day, and wrote a book about it.

That's because Sean is a Vampire Hunter. Here he is with a stake.

Sean with tool of the trade - from some Spanish blog

Vampire Hunter? Yes, and for that reason awarded a sturdy six out of ten alien heads.

Well done Sean!

LSP

Ride the Horse Shoot the Gun

Please don't misunderstand me; I like to canter and gallop and enjoy the speed of the thing, but it's a foolhardy business if the horse isn't controlled. After all, who wants to come off at some ungodly speed?

With that in mind, we took a step back with JB and rode in a small pasture around an improvised arena (buckets), concentrating on turning to the right, circles, serpentines and going over ground poles. It was mostly at a posting trot - then more of the same the next day, but in a larger pasture which is home to a small herd of mares. Used natural obstacles, thorn trees, and JB did alright, despite a tendency to duck out and attempt a bolt to the other horses.

By the end of the ride she was listening and responding well, so I rewarded her with a couple of uphill canters to the herd. She didn't seem entirely sure as to why she had been so keen to get there when she arrived, beyond taking the opportunity to try and kick one of her colleagues - but that was an afterthought.

Ride over, it was time for some target practice; reasonable shooting with iron sights at around 75 yards, though the wind was high. Seem to have developed an ironic tendency to pull to the left. Must correct that.

Cheers,

LSP

Hippies

Hippies

Some people think that Hippies are just fine.

Riot Police

Others disagree.

Episcopaliens

Then there's the clerical variant.

Doubleplusbad.

Horse & Gun tomorrow.

LSP

I Want it. I Want it All.

Archdeacon Barry "I want it all" Foster

It seems that the diminutive ACoC (Anglican Chrurch of Canada) is set to become smaller still, with a Calgary parish, St. John the Evangelist, joining the Roman Catholic Church under Pope Benedict's offer of an 'Ordinariate' for ex-Anglicans.

This would allow Anglican converts, including married clergy, to retain elements of their liturgy and have a guaranteed place within the Roman Church.

It's an attractive proposition for the parishioners of St. John's, who voted by 90% to leave the incredibly shrinking ACoC and they hope to keep their Edwardian building. According to the Rector's Warden, Richard Harding, this might be possible because title deeds to the building are held in the name of the Wardens instead of the Diocese of Calgary.

"The title was placed in the name of the elected lay wardens of the parish... It is parish property. The diocese may not be aware of that," stated Harding to the Calgary Herald.

But Barry 'I want it all' Foster, Archdeacon of Calgary, who styles himself 'Executive Officer' of the diocese when not selling menswear at a downtown mall, has a different opinion.

"It's not the case that … they take the property with them. It's not theirs," stated Foster to CBC News.

Assuming, for the moment, that Calgary's clerical haberdasher has a point, what will the Diocese of Calgary do with yet another empty building?

You know the saying, "Sell! Sell! Sell!"

Watch this space - in the meanwhile ACoC continues its trajectory into just that.

Say a prayer for St. John's.

LSP

Horsing About

small herd of mares

Had an interesting ride the other day, not least because JB's horse mind was a little distracted by the loud attention of several stallions. She hears them calling her, you see, and answers back with a mind to galloping off to wherever they are - which isn't where we are. This can be disconcerting, but you know what they say, stay on the horse. Not always easy, I can tell you.

Finished off with a .22 plink about before the sun began to set; neat to see the mares silhouetted, like some kind of Western, which, in a way, it was.

where's that stallion?

On a different note, a Calgary parish has opted to become Roman Catholic, thus making the Anglican Church of Canada (ACoC) even smaller than it already is. More on that later.

Cheers,

LSP

Muslim Genocide

Help Catholics in Iraq

Unsurprisingly, given an aggressively resurgent Islam, Christians are being persecuted throughout the Middle East. Some would call it genocide.

Hudson New York has this to say:

It is obvious by now that the Christians in the Middle East are an "endangered species."

Christians in Arab countries are no longer being persecuted; they are now being slaughtered and driven out of their homes and lands.

Those who for many years turned a blind eye to complaints about the persecution of Christians in the Middle East now owe the victims an apology. Now it is clear to all that these complaints were not "Jewish propaganda."

The war of genocide against Christians in the Middle East can no longer be treated as an "internal affair" of Iraq or Egypt or the Palestinians. What the West needs to understand is that radical Islam has declared jihad not only against Jews, but also against Christians.

In Iraq, Egypt and the Palestinian territories, Christians are being targeted almost on a daily basis by Muslim fundamentalists and secular dictators.

You can read the whole thing here.

Say no to dhimmitude and submission to the religion of peace.

LSP

Happy Thanksgiving!

JB

Braved ferocious traffic on I 35 last night to get to LSP HQ Dallas in time for Thanksgiving. My contribution to the thing is Beer Can Chicken - turkey was voted out for some reason, but BCC is fine and I enjoy the grilling.

Regardless, I thank God for the opportunity to be with family and friends, for horses, guns and the privilege of being in Jack Iker's diocese, as opposed to serving somewhere on the lunatic fringe that seems to constitute most of Western Anglicanism.

So, have a blessed day!

LSP

PS. if you're looking for something to read you might enjoy this, from pajamas media.

Bad Altar

Jackson Pollock's Bath Mat?

Some people wonder if the trads are wrong, or somehow exaggerating, when they say that The Episcopal Church (TEC), is pushing a different religion.

I'll let the above 'altar' speak for itself - they don't even bother to dress up like Christians anymore.

Here's a real Altar, at Pusey House, Oxford.


Comper had this to say about Altars.

"[A church] is a building which enshrines the altar of Him who dwelleth not in temples made with hands and who yet has made there His Covenanted Presence on earth. It is the centre of Worship in every community of men who recognize Christ as the Pantokrator, the Almighty, the Ruler and Creator of all things: at its altar is pleaded the daily Sacrifice in complete union with the Church Triumphant in Heaven, of which He is the one and only Head, the High Priest for ever after the order of Melchisedech."

I think he's right.

LSP

Archbishop Abducted!

Alien

According to the controversial gay bishop of New Hampshire, Gene Robinson, the Archbishop of Canterbury has been abducted by aliens.

"Aliens have come and taken Rowan away from us. They have left something that looks like him but we don't recognise him anymore," stated Robinson to the U.K.'s Daily Mail.

Druid

Experts are divided on the date of Rowan Williams' abduction but some believe that the bearded bishop was replaced by a space creature when he became a druid, at the Gorsedd of Bards ceremony in 2002.

Others disagree. Anglican Samizdat thinks it unlikely that that the Archbishop of Canterbury has been replaced by an alien pod.

"This can’t be true: if aliens had abducted Rowan, they would have replaced him with someone whose looks would allow him to pass for a normal human specimen."

Gene Robinson sparked outrage when he became the world's first openly gay bishop in a worship ceremony at an ice rink in 2003. He lives with his "dearly beloved husband," Mark.

Five bishops have left the Church of England to become Roman Catholics.

Cheers,

LSP

LSP in the City

Thought I'd take a well needed break and head North. So I braved the massive unpleasantness of modern air travel - not dissimilar to taking a bus from Cheltenham to Canterbury in the '80s - and checked into Midtown, New York. It was neat looking down on Broadway, in a Bladerunner kind of way.

Always liked the top of the Crown Building

Visited St. Mary The Virgin, on 46th St., between 7th & 8th, where I gave my first sermon, back in the mists of antiquity. It was a terrible homily and I was terrified to give it, but the people were kind and said it was good. A great church in its day, but now given to the strange new religion of TEC, which is a bad shame.

Scary pulpit at St. Mary's

Managed to get to the Met & the Frick too; both are remarkable museums, to my mind, and well worth the visit. Oddly enough, I enjoyed the arms & armour section of the Met...


Imagine the force of armoured cavalry; the sheer kinetic energy alone would be hard to withstand.

Wandered about Central Park too, which didn't seem remotely as dodgy as it was in the olden days, but perhaps my point of view has changed.

So, after a few days of charging about the city I made my way back to Texas and Lonestarism, which I like. Still, I think there's a greatness to New York, if you can get past the armies of Brits shouting "Yah" on their cell phones as they stride down 5th Ave, and the dangerous number of skateboard and scooter riders. A right menace. All that to say nothing of the Pelosianites who seem to have taken over control of the North East, but more of that anon.

Have a blessed feast of Christ the King tomorrow.

Cheers,

LSP

The Best Shot You Never Took In Your Life

Someone's Truck

Running alongside the field where JB's pastured is a dirt road, some grain bins and a large cornfield. A month or so ago the corn fields were harvested and became a veritable dove magnet. There I'd be, unsaddling the horse after a ride, and there the doves would be, in swarms.

Obviously I wanted to get out the gun and have a go, but hesitated to wander off with the yobbish pump action and blast away until I had permission to hunt the land. People frown on unidentified shooters roaming about their land, understandably. So I was pleasantly surprised to find out that the fields in question belonged to a parishioner who was happy to let me shoot.

After making sure (a few days in advance) that the owners of the horselands were alright with the project, I stalked off, Mossberg in hand.

The strategy was simple. Wait for the doves to arrive in their hundreds and shoot them. To that end I walked across a pasture, ducked under a fence, crossed the road, released the safety and... a great clatter of birds erupted from a tree to my front. The avian acrobats dodged the first two shots, but the third went home and a plump, corn-fed creature fell to the ground - just as I hear a great screaming from the direction of the horses. I won't repeat the language but it was strong and directed at the shooter.

I pondered the situation, reapplied the safety, and strode off down-field, thinking with a heavy heart that my riding privileges were about to be revoked. Still the shoot was still on and I figured I might as well see if I could chase up some birds further away. No luck; they liked the area around the grain bins, which I returned to.

Again, a tremendous whirring of wings as countless birds darted out of the trees around the bins, in all directions - just feet away from me. But I wasn't going to shoot and risk the wrath of the horse guardian. Instead I shouldered the gun and watched the quarry speed away to safety; never seen so many of the creatures so close and in the air at the same time.

Frustrating and doubly so when I learned the cause of the screaming. It was all a case of mistaken identity.

It seems a neighbour was in the custom of driving down the dirt road in his pick-up and taking pot-shots at birds from the window of the truck - towards the horses. Bonnie figured that was the source of the shots. Hence the invective; turns out I could have kept shooting. As it was, the one 'bird down' made for a tasty snack.

Moral of the story?

1. Don't shoot out of the window of your truck towards the barn - it spoils it for the rest of us.

2. Tell Bonnie when you're going to shoot.

3. Fresh dove tastes great.

Simple, really.

Hope you've had a blessed Sunday.

LSP

Goddess Watch

If you go to the improbably named Ebeneezer Herchurch Lutheran congregation in San Francisco, you can buy a neatly crafted Goddess Rosary. Or save yourself the bother and order online for a mere $35.00, post & packaging included. They have a prayer too, which goes like this:

Our Mother who is within us

we celebrate your many names.

Your wisdom come.

Your will be done,

unfolding from the depths within us.

Each day you give us all that we need.

You remind us of our limits

and we let go.

You support us in our power

and we act with courage.

For you are the dwelling place within us

the empowerment around us

and the celebration among us

now and forever. Amen.

I guess the oppressive, patriarchal Lord's Prayer just wasn't good enough for them and, while we're in bizarre religion mode, "Vicky" Gene Robinson has announced his resignation so that he can be with his "beloved husband," Mark. But that won't be till 2013.

Odd how demented space creatures have made such inroads into the Church.

Stay on the horse,

LSP

Church, Horse, Gun

You'll have to forgive the lack of posts, but life has been hectic with various deadlines and the work of looking after several missions - to say nothing of keeping track of the ever diminishing ACoC and its somewhat larger sister, TEC.

Still, I've managed to increase the amount of time spent in the saddle, which is important. How can you expect to train up a horse if you don't ride it? With that objective well in mind, I'm pleased with the result; JB is certainly forward and fast, whereas she wasn't before. Still, a word of warning. Keep your heels down, LSP, it's no fun coming off at 45 mph...

There's been time for shooting too, mostly plinking about but some dove hunting before the season ended. One bird was extremely large and tasty. I told a parishioner about it.

"It was like an eagle, parishioner."
"Oh, you shot a pigeon."
"No, parishioner. It was a dove, the size of a mighty Condor!"

Protests to the contrary, the harm had been done. Must work out some way to redeem the reputation; perhaps against coyotes.


On the religious front, some of you may be aware that the trad Diocese of Fort Worth and its Bishop, Jack Iker, are the victims of multiple lawsuits brought on by Schori's TEC and its potemkin diocese in North Texas. If you go to TEC's diocesan website, you'll find the litigation they've initiated under an interesting title. "Holy Stewardship," they call it. Nothing quite like redefining words to suit your purpose.

God bless our veterans.

LSP

Anglican Church of Canada - Spotted!

The elusive Anglican Church Church of Canada (ACoC) has been spotted, this time over Nowra, Australia.

Appearing to be little larger than a brightly lit soccer ball, the diminutive Church was seen to hover briefly over streetlights before vanishing into the night sky.

Pundits predict that ACoC has resumed its earlier trajectory beyond earth orbit, though some experts believe that the Nowra sighting was a preliminary to a long awaited "full disclosure event."

ACoC's Archbishop, The Rt. Rev. "Fred" Hiltz was unavailable for comment.

Ad Astra,

LSP

PS. Some readers of this blog believe I've galloped through a barn. This is untrue.

Get Back on the Horse!

After an annoyingly indoors kind of week the toe healed sufficiently to pull on my boots and get out to the horses. JB's made real progress -- she stands still when tied, walks, trots, canters and, for the most part, goes where's she's asked to. In brief, the last month or so has been given over to instilling forward movement, response to the aids and confidence in each other.

Nothing wrong with that, so to celebrate progress we moved into a larger pasture with plenty of room to gallop about. After a short longe we moved out at a walk, followed by a trot and fastish canter; pleased at that I turned her 'round, barnwards, and asked for speed.

Well, there's nothing like obedience and JB was only too obliging to hurtle at breakneck pace towards a small herd of mares and the general direction of barndom and a thorn tree. I stayed on, just, she ducked, I lost a stirrup, she went faster, I lost a rein and held onto the mane, so she bucked and off I glided into the thorns.

No harm done; climbed back on and galloped about the field in a largish way. Set to do the same tomorrow, it's a great thing to go fast on that horse. Must combine that with a long overdue shoot, and that's no bad thing either.

Stay out of the thorn tree and God bless.

LSP

Hawking an Atheist!!

According to the Telegraph, Stephen Hawking still doesn't believe in God and states in his recent book The Grand Design, “Because there is a law such as gravity, the Universe can and will create itself from nothing. Spontaneous creation is the reason there is something rather than nothing, why the Universe exists, why we exist.”

I suppose I'm being ignorant, but it seems odd that nothing should create something. For that matter, how could a law like gravity exist when there isn't anything existent -- gravity included. Is Hawking saying that something very like nothing existed and out of that came everything else?

Perhaps; Hawking goes on to say, “It is not necessary to invoke God to light the blue touch paper and set the Universe going.” Who did? The "laws of science", which we can call 'God' if we like, but beware, "it wouldn't be a personal God that you could meet, and ask questions."

Fine, but by way of warning, surely it's the case that people come to resemble the various 'gods' they believe in. Given that, what would the impersonal law god of science look like?

Still grounded from gun & horse -- annoying.

LSP

Total Disaster.

Completely failed to make it out for opening day of Dove season. Why? Managed to rip a toe open on a swinging door.

Useless. No tramping about the country in search of birds -- no charging about on horses either, at least for a few days.

Annoyed.

LSP

Horse & Steak

Back in Texas, which means horses -- mine appears to have regressed and now thinks she doesn't have to be ridden -- and steak. The latter's alright, but how to fix the former? Much more riding, daily if possible, and lots of patience. Well worth it, as the offending quadruped's a joy when she's going well -- very fast, powerful and smooth in her gaits. When she's being difficult... different story altogether, but whoever said life'd be easy?

Viz. steak -- I prefer a charcoal Weber, after using a propane thing in Canada. Regardless, dove season's right round the corner and with it the opportunity for some mixed grill and a chance against the avian acrobats.

On a different theme, two Metroplex lesbians tried to enroll their daughter at St. Vincent's Cathedral School in the diocese of Fort Worth, only to be rejected. Now, like it or not, diocesan policy is pretty clear about its trad stance on sexual ethics and St. Vincent's reflects that in its teaching. So why would two people try to enroll their child in a school that's openly against their lifestyle? Surely Jill and Tracey Harrison weren't trying to use their child to make some sort of political capital? I mean, its not as though two people who made the effort to go to Canada in 2006 and get married might be lesbian activists, or anything like that.

Just a thought.

Cheers,

LSP

Down by the River

Visited 'Red's' sister's place, which is just off the Detroit river in downtown(ish) Windsor; it's a converted attic with a neat deck overlooking the rooftops and trees. Beautiful and remarkably lush after Texas.

She shares it with her 13 year old son, Thomas. He's been learning a kind of 'Britspeak' in my honour and says "Good Lord!" after hairy scrapes on Halo 3. I've taught him that garage is pronounced garridge. We'll see if that sticks.

Regardless, a few more days here then it's back to Texas, the countryside and searing heat; it'll be good to get back though I have to say I'll miss Canada -- a bit of a cross between England and the U.S., I always think.

Cheers and belated blessings for the Feast of the Assumption.

LSP