The Genius of Scripture

Inspired by a Sunday Sermonette, I feel compelled to share this passage of Scripture, it's from the Book of Kings:

And he went up from thence unto Bethel: and as he was going up by the way, there came forth little children out of the city, and mocked him, and said unto him, Go up, thou bald head; go up, thou bald head. And he turned back, and looked on them, and cursed them in the name of the LORD. And there came forth two she bears out of the wood, and tear forty and two children of them. (2 Kings 23-24)

Make of that what you will.

God bless,

LSP

The Road To Emmaus

If you haven't been too busy reading the excellent Malochio of Bodie, you may have noticed that today's Gospel was the Road to Emmaus. Here we find the risen Christ progressively revealing Himself to Cleopas and his companion as they walk away from the heavenly city, Jerusalem. 

He does so through Word and Sacrament. But note this, the turning point in the Gospel and the disciples' journey of recognition occurs when they near their destination and constrain Jesus to stay with them and eat. Then, in the confection of the Eucharist, the scales fall from the the disciples' eyes and they see Christ for who He is; the Word who has expounded the word becomes Flesh.

So with us. If we're to recognize the risen Lord we have to open our hearts to Him in faith and then the guest becomes the host, serving us the word of of truth and salvation and the bread of everlasting life.

To be fair, I didn't do this remarkably powerful Gospel justice but the people seemed to like the message.

"Good sermon, padre," said one cowboy as we sat in his ranch office after Mass. "Thanks, chief, I appreciate it," I replied, looking at an old saddle that was stood up next to a holstered 30-30. "That's a relay saddle," explained my friend, whose father had ridden the rails from Montana to Texas in the '30s to cowboy. Then, as we left the HQ, he pointed out another saddle with hooded stirrups, or Tapederos. 

I picked up handful of scarred leather, "The guy I ride with out of Aquilla uses these."

"Makes sense when you're moving through mesquite and brush."

"Right, like chaps," I observed, thoughtfully, "Not to be confused with the kind of chaps you might find in, say, Oak Lawn, Dallas."

My colleague, who's forgotten more horsemanship than I'll ever know, snorted, "Ain't that the truth," and we climbed into the Gator and got back on the road.

I file this edifying tale under God, Guns, Church and Country Life in Texas. And you know what, there's nothing wrong with that, at all.

Ride on,

LSP

Miserable Offenders

It sounds simple and it should be simple. As the heat climbs ever higher, turn on the AC and enjoy the cooling blast of chilled air. 

That's the myth. The reality is you turn on the air and all you get is a groan and a hiss as the temperature in the house approaches ovenlike intensity. 

Broken Rubbish

What do you do when that happens? Get out the fans, open the large screened windows and start to melt while you call the HVAC tech. But hey, whoever said the War on Weather'd be easy?

El Nino Will Build The Wall

Speaking of which, Senator Ted Cruz has sensibly suggested that we use El Nino's confiscated millions to build the much-needed border wall. Good call.

Your Old Pal,

LSP

Tooth Puller

A typical dentist street scene

Some people write books and edit and publish them, others ride, shoot and fish. Others again spend all their time at the dentist.

His teeth are fine

I fall into the latter category as the ongoing saga of new teeth continues. Like life itself it's a process, and hopefully an upwards movement towards perfection. But my advice to you is this.

Keep your teeth, if you can.

LSP

What a Clown

Bruce Jenner street art is appearing all over Hollywood, depicting the scary looking transsexual as the sinister clown Pennywise in Stephen King's horror story IT.

The frightening street art followed Jenner's interview with Diane Sawyer, on 20/20, in which the millionaire celebrity threatened the President.

“The deal breaker is," stated Jenner, "you mess with my community, you do the wrong thing with our community, you don’t give us equality and a fair shot, I’m coming after you."

Typically Awesome Sabo Art

Jenner is famous being awarded the coveted Woman of the Year award by Vanity Fair even though he's a man.

Sabo is famous for being awesome.

I'm off fishing.

God bless,

LSP

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