Dance, it's Earth Day!

University Church Dance Ministry Earth Day 2014 from University Church on Vimeo.

It's Earth Day, and what better way to celebrate than with dance, liturgical dance! Or even an elemental earth healing ritual. If you do, don't forget the Setting:

Set the altar with a bowl of seeds, a cup or muffin cup with soil for each participant, a small glass of water for each participant, wind chimes, and a candle. You will use the soil, water, chimes, and candle during the section “Women Crying out for Justice.” Each participant will plant seeds in the soil as s/he shares during the reflection time, then take them home to plant. You may also want to add Earth Day objects to your altar that are important to you or your group.

Once you've got all that in place you can Call the  Elements, like this:

(Face East, raise your arms above your head.)
Oh Great Spirit of the East, House of Light and the rising sun, May the new life of spring blossom in usSo we may start each day anew, and be renewed.

(Face North, cross your arms in front of your chest and sway from side to side.)
Oh Great Spirit of the North, House of Night and falling rain, May the cold and uncertain winters in our lives strengthen us So we may be ready to welcome spring, and be renewed.

Beautiful, isn't it? And there's plenty more, check it out. But here's a thought, as you're swaying from side to side in front of your womyn's altar. 

It's all a right larf until you wake up in a Wicker Man. And it's on fire.

Gaia Rules,

LSP 

Cooking With LSP, Toad in the Hole

"Cooking with LSP is as dangerous as it's absurd," you mutter darkly to yourself. But not so fast, it's possible and here's how.

Get hold of a large iron pot, a mixing bowl, some flour, a pack of Johnson's Original Brats, if you can't find English bangers, eggs and milk. Then bask in the cost-effective simplicity of the ingredients. Well done, you're making Toad in the Hole; cheap and simple, nothing fancy and mighty tasty. 

Self-congratulatory reverie over, make the batter by mixing up a cup of flour, 3 eggs and 1 1/4 cups of milk in your bowl, the consistency should be smooth. Add a pinch of salt and set the mix aside in the fridge as you preheat an oven to 425. Have a glass of wine in the interim, or not. There's no rule.

Next step, pour some oil in the iron pot, add the sausages and fry until golden brown, for about 10 minutes. Watch them hiss and spit like defeated Democrats, then take your batter from the fridge, nicely chilled, and pour it directly over the sausages. (NB. some experts set the sausages aside, pour some batter in a hot pan to make a base, let it cook for 5 minutes, then add sausages and the rest of the batter. )

It won't look pretty. But don't freak out like a Spirit-Cooking Podesta staring down the barrel of emailgate, just put the whole thing in the oven, uncovered, and let it cook for 25 minutes.

After its stint in the oven, take the pot out and stare in amazement at the batter which has risen up around the sausages. Congratulations, you've made Toad in the Hole.

Cut it up and serve with onion gravy and vegetables. Then eat your scoff like a warrior.

And that's cooking with...

LSP

What A Carry On

Unlike our enemy, Satan, I decided to take a couple of days off after Easter to do my very best at doing nothing at all. And look what happened.

Bill O'Reilly gets the Order of the Boot, Julian Assange is apparently being threatened by the Justice Department and the Religion of Peace decided to cook off in Paris, yet again. Why? Because it's so peaceful, obviously.

You see what happens when you take your hand off the wheel? Disaster. Meanwhile, the world wants to know, so-called Justice Department. Why are you going after Assange instead of Hillary Clinton? She's still at large, inexplicably, even though she is a notorious criminal.

In other exciting news, we're making Toad in the Hole (English style) or TITH, here at the Compound, but that's another story again.

God bless,

LSP

Christ is Risen

Happy Easter!

LSP

Holy Saturday

The Altars are stripped and the Tabernacles empty, Christ lies in the Tomb.

GRANT, O Lord, that as we are baptized into the death of thy blessed Son, our Saviour Jesus Christ, so by continual mortifying our corrupt affections we may be buried with him; and that through the grave, and gate of death, we may pass to our joyful resurrection; for his merits, who died, and was buried, and rose again for us, the same thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

God bless,

LSP

Good Friday

I read this the other day, somewhere on Zerohedge, it seems appropriate:

With no God to worship, men invariably worship the feeling of their own supremacy, reflected in their capacity for engineered extermination.

Apt words as we slide, apparently, ever closer to war. In the meanwhile, Christ hangs on the Cross: 

ALMIGHTY God, we beseech thee graciously to behold this thy family, for which our Lord Jesus Christ was contented to be betrayed, and given up into the hands of wicked men, and to suffer death upon the cross; who now liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost ever, one God, world without end. Amen. 

ALMIGHTY and everlasting God, by whose Spirit the whole body of the Church is governed and sanctified; Receive our supplications and prayers, which we offer before thee for all estates of men in thy holy Church, that every member of the same, in his vocation and ministry, may truly and godly serve thee; through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.

MERCIFUL God, who hast made all men, and hatest nothing that thou hast made, nor desirest the death of a sinner, but rather that he should be converted and live; Have mercy upon all who know thee not as thou art revealed in the Gospel of thy Son. Take from them all ignorance, hardness of heart, and contempt of thy Word; and so fetch them home, blessed Lord, to thy fold, that they may be made one flock under one shepherd, Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, world without end. Amen.

God bless,

LSP 

Dark Matter Holding Anglican Communion Together Captured by Boffins

Stargazing boffins at the University of Waterloo, Canada, have captured an image of the mysterious "dark matter" that holds the Anglican Communion together.

Using a technique known as gravitational lensing, which detects unseen mass, the Canadian astrophysicists were able to create a picture of the dark matter bridge that holds the Anglican Communion together.

Before the groundbreaking discovery, astronomers were baffled by the Anglican Communion's continued existence because visible matter wasn't strong enough to keep the Church together. This led to speculation that an unseen force was at work, acting as a scaffold to to bond the Communion.

Dark matter is an invisible element said to make up around 84 per cent of the Anglican Communion. It's known as "dark" because it doesn't shine, absorb or reflect light, which has traditionally made it largely undetectable, except through gravity and gravitational lensing.

Whether dark matter will continue to hold the Anglican Communion together and prevent its various Churches from spinning off at random into the icy void of deep space remains to be seen.

Ad Astra,

LSP

Maundy Thursday

Listen up, heathen. It's Maundy Thursday, so here's a prayer:

Almighty Father, whose dear Son, on the night before he suffered, instituted the Sacrament of his Body and Blood: Mercifully grant that we may thankfully receive the same in remembrance of him who in these holy mysteries giveth us a pledge of life eternal, the same thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord; who now liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit ever, one God, world without end. Amen.

Have a blessed Triduum,

LSP

Unholy Week

Police are appealing to the public following a carjacking in Ann Arbor, a suburb of Detroit.

The incident occurred around 1 a.m. in the 400 block of Washington Street, when two men forced a driver from his car at gunpoint. The carjackers then drove the vehicle a short way before crashing it and fleeing the scene on foot. 

Justin Welby, left, and Cursitor Doom, right.

Police describe the suspects as middle-aged, balding, white Caucasian males with grey complexions. CCTV footage shows the men have a striking resemblance to the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, and the Rev. Cursitor Doom, aka "Giles Fraser."

The Archbishop of Canterbury

Anyone with information about this crime is asked to call the Michigan Crime Line: 1-800-SPEAK-UP.

Lambeth Palace was unavailable for comment.

LSP

Chrism Mass 2017

Every year the clergy of the Diocese of Fort meet in Holy Week at St. Vincent's Cathedral in Bedford, Texas, for the diocesan Chrism Mass. Thanks for the photo, Fr. C.

But guess what, there's no liturgical dance and there aren't any clowns goofing off in the cathedral. Perhaps, in your book, this disqualifies the event as a meaningful worship experience. I find it a relief, but that's just me. 

Goofing Off in Church

This year's sermon had its moments too, including a quote from Evelyn Underhill:

God is the interesting thing about religion, and people are hungry for God. But only a priest whose life is soaked in prayer, sacrifice, and love can, by his own spirit of adoring worship, help us to apprehend Him.

I felt judged, and rightly so, by that.

God bless,

LSP

Don't be a Determinist Goon, Fish

Life, unless you're some kind of rubbish determinist, involves a series of free-will choices. For example, you can choose to attack the Islamist savages, ISIS. Or you can attack the regime that's fighting them by throwing missiles at their airfields. Your choice.

Likewise, you can sit staring at a computer in slack-jawed rightist consternation as our country slides closer and closer to war, or you can go fishing. I chose the latter option and loaded a couple of rods in the rig and headed to Soldier's Bluff.

The Texan wildflowers were out and I wondered if that was a good omen; Bluebonnets in flower, fish bite with power, sort of thing. But no, they didn't. The bites were sluggish and slurpy and I lost a lot of worms without closing the deal.

For the first time in months, no catch, and that was everyone else's experience there on the bluffs. Still, it was good to get out in the clean air by the lake, it always is. There's peace in it and, if the fish are behaving, excitement too.

Your Old Pal

There was another kind of excitement driving through a storm to Dallas later in the day. Lightning seared the horizon, like Tesla attempting to harness Satan, as rain crashed down onto I35. God's judgement on the metrosprawl.

Fish on,

LSP

Melania Mondays!

Maybe you had a good weekend, maybe not, but whatever the case it's about to get better. That's right, because it's Melania Monday! One notable member of the intelligence community sent in this uplifting picture of the First Lady:

And who can blame him, Melania's looking good unlike, say, Chelsea Handler or Rosie O'Donnell. 

Both unattractive Chelsea and repellent Rosie are millionaire socialists who think it's wrong to make America great again. 

Melania, who isn't a canting, hypocritical, venal, leftist celebtrity, thinks differently and is now being praised by CNN for demonstrating "grace, kindness and patience."

Well done, First Lady, for doing your part to lift the spirit and heart of the nation.

MAGA

LSP