It Really Is Worth It All

Daughter Ashley sent this picture today of the girls on their way to the library for story time.  Seeing my grand-daughters so happy and safe gives real meaning to so many of the decisions Rebecca and I have made over the course of our life together.  The hard work of making a marriage work and sacrificing to provide for a family, the decision to serve in the military and pass on a heritage of service, the decisions to circumscribe our desires and keep our passions within due bounds by living the Christian life- all of these things and so many more seem more worthwhile than ever when I see a picture such as this.   If there is anyone out there struggling with life's realities who is considering giving up, or wondering if it is all worth it, I hope you can take my word that it is worth it all when we consider the impact we have on the people we love.  Stay the course my friends.  We may never know the good we do and the difference we make in the lives of others.

A Perfect Weekend

The weekend began Friday evening with a casual dinner at the Pub with my Cousins from Cladaugh Council #86, Knight Masons- Irish Constitution.  After a wonderful board with pipe and whistle music to mark St. Patrick's Day, we repaired to the Lodge and conferred the Babylonian Pass on one candidate.  The courage and steadfastness of Zerrubabel and the other Jewish Captives as they sought to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem has always inspired me, and this night was no exception.  We then returned to the pub for convivial fellowship and plenty of time to renew old friendships and make new ones.

Saturday Morning began early at Lancaster Chapter #11, Royal Arch Masons.  Two candidates received the Royal Arch Degree, one of the most sublime in Masonry, and for a change, I was priviledged to sit on the sidelines and see the degree in its entireity.  It was a grand opportunity to reconsider my own dedication to God, and to consider those things that are truly important in life.

The afternoon brought several hours in the garden with my beautiful wife Rebecca.  I divided siberian Irisis and lined the lower north walkway with these diminutive and beautiful plants while Rebecca planted primrose along the east walks as a transition to the conical boxwoods which define our grand-daughters' secret garden.

The evening found me clad in saffron kilt with bottle green socks and tie and day wear jacket at the home of good friends Steve and Camille for their annual Irish dinner.  Beef pie, taties, cabbage and corned beef, lamb, garden peas, and desserts to die for filled the board, and the evening was finished off with cigars and Irish malt, and discussions of faith and fraternity with our hosts and friends Danny and Julie.  Such an evening spent with fellow Anglicans and Freemasons was both uplifting and inspiring.  I returned home with peace in my heart towards all men.

On Sunday morning I preached twice, and on this fourth sunday of Lent considered the life and ministry of Archbishop Rowan Williams, who announced his resignation from the see of Canterbury this week.  While I disagreed with this good man on many things, I have always found in his life and ministry real inspiration and challenge.  In what many might consider this most difficult time for our Communion, he sought to keep us together while providing safe havens for minority faith communities within the communion.  He attempted to lead us into a rational and loving structure which would define our faith and make us more accountable to each other.  And he sought to defend the historic faith received against what at times seemed overwhelming cultural odds.  His gentle counsels were often rejected by those who might have profited the most from hearing them.  I wish him the best as he re-enters the academic life.

After Church, Rebecca and I joined Bill and Nancy, friends and parishoners for a lovely breakfast at Shaw's Restraunt across the street from the church.  The eggs Benedict were splendid, and the asparagus was perfectly steamed.  The conversation strayed from ++Cantaur to the Parish Gardens to the Iraqi Rowing Team, for which Bill is an advisor.  My soul was refreshed by the good work and beauty that surrounds me.

From lunch, we went to the Funeral Home to pay our respects to Jan, the sister of our friend Carole.  Her illness was long and terible and now she is at peace.  Even in times of loss, it is good to see a family where love is so evident in the lives of all.

The day concluded with Choral Evensong at St. John's.  Our choir was joined by choristers from Trinity Newark, St. Paul's Logan, and Holy Cross Carpathian Orthodox Church in Columbus.   The setting, including the Mag and Nunc, was composed by Kathy Heim,  our Choir mistress, and one of the featured hymns was written by Thurlow Weed, our Organist.  To hear the people of so many parishes gathered in worship employing their own original compositions truly gave me a deeper understanding of liturgy as the work of the people.  As we gathered for a light lenten repast in the undercroft, I gave thanks again for God's soverign decision to post me to this place at this time.

I came home to relax on the back porch with a gin and tonic and a bowl of MacBaren's Navy Flake.  The dogs and I watched the lightening show for the better part of an hour and a half, and now we have all retired to the chapel/study to share the weekend with you, my gentle readers.  It is good to dwell in such a place and with such people.  I pray that all who read this post might find such joy in the realities of your own lives.  Surely God is among us here, and we are a people blessed. 

Ah, Spring!

The Gateway to Paradise: A Garden Entrance at Briarwood Last Spring

After an unusually mild winter, spring seems to have come early to Fairfield County. It has been accompanied by what the ancients would have considered to be powerful omens. Jupiter and Venus have been profoundly beautiful as they danced together in the western sky over the past few weeks. Mars is ascending steadily in the east, and friends who are not as distracted by city lights as we are here at Briarwood tell me that Saturn is clearly visible on the eastern horizon. Last night, a mighty thunderstorm struck after mid-night and the counties to our east and southeast experienced flooding and reported tennis ball sized hail. I really don’t know what to make of it all, and I don’t put much stock in omens, but the passing of winter this year has been spectacular.

Daffodils and Narcissi bloom profusely in the cutting garden, and the greenhouse literally bulges with young spring plants awaiting their final transplanting into the garden. The propagators have been working overtime, and are currently populated by tomatoes, peppers, and second plantings of lettuces, cabbages, and greens. Hopefully, next week I will be able to till the garden plots, set the trellises, and plant garden peas. Potatoes are also in our future. About half of the plot will be grown in containers filled with straw, a little experiment I’ve contemplated for several years, but never gotten around to managing. Over the weekend, parsnips, turnips, kohlrabi, and beets should get their starts in the propagators. I’ll plant a few more than we can use, because the chickens seem to like them (but then the chickens seem to like about everything!)

Speaking of chickens, my beautiful flock of eight Speckled Sussex hens is now presenting me with six to seven eggs a day. They are overseen by Chanticleer, a monstrously mean, but dashingly handsome rooster of the same breed. Sussex hens tend to be pretty broody, so as the year advances, I’ll let one of the girls hatch out some chicks. We will keep two or three as replacements, and donate the rest to the Common Friars in Athens.

The pastures have greened considerably in the last two days, and as always, it is good to see our old horses, Princess and Squirt, enjoying their retirement. A bit more gaunt and swaybacked than when they were in their prime, they are ever present reminders of when this farm rang with the laughter of children on a daily basis. The place would not be the same without them.

The trees are beginning to show signs of life, and it won’t be long until I will be able to sit on the porch with a pipe and a wee dram and hear the buds pop open in the woods. Even as I write, the air is filled with the deafening chorus of a plethora of peeper frogs. Just a few years ago, we were afraid that we had lost them, but this year and last they are back in all of their spring glory.

Briarwood is a blessed place to be any time of the year, but especially as the winter turns to spring. It is in a very real way an icon of that Heavenly City, which will one day come down as a bride adorned for her husband. Here is balance and harmony, plenty and peace. I pray Rebecca and I might be good stewards of this place that all who come here might be drawn into relationship with the maker of it all.

As I pen my goodbyes tonight, the terriers are curled up at my feet. Faithful Pat is in the woods running game, which is what all old hounds are paid to do. Might we all so employ our instincts that the Great Architect and Creator of the Universe be ever glorified! Amen.

Memory Work is Good for the Soul

Rector’s Rambling April 2012

Holy Week will soon be upon us. Some of you may remember that on the first Sunday of Advent, I challenged the parish to read those Bible passages suggested by Scripture Union in their “Essential 100 Bible Reading Plan” http://www.e100challenge.org.uk . Our target date for completion is Good Friday. Many people at St. John’s have taken that challenge seriously, and I believe our level of Bible literacy has increased as a result. In addition, I hope the regular discipline of Bible reading now seems more accessible to many of us here at the parish. Many of you know Betty Pugh, a long time parishioner of St. John’s. Although Betty is legally blind, she uses a special super magnifier and reads the Bible through on a regular basis. She asked me to suggest a list of Bible verses which Christians might memorize to their profit. I thought it was a good idea, and so here they are.

Some Favorite Memory Verses:

John 3:16
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

John 14:6
Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

Matthew 28:19
Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:

Romans 3:23
For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;

Ephesians 2:8
For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:

Acts 1: 8
But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.

2 Timothy 3:16
All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:


Romans 10:9
That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.

John 1:12
But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:

Romans 8:28
And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

Romans 12:1
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.

These are just a few favorite Bible Verses. For a longer list, you might want to visit http://topverses.com , where you can access favorite Bible verses in many different translations.


If you have not already done so, I would also suggest you work on learning the Ten Commandments and Apostles’ Creed, reproduced here as they appear in “The Book of Common Prayer- 1979” http://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp .

The Decalogue: Traditional (BCP page 317-318)

God spake these words, and said:
I am the Lord thy God who brought thee out of the land of
Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have none
other gods but me.

Thou shalt not make to thyself any graven image, nor the
likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or in the earth
beneath, or in the water under the earth; thou shalt not bow
down to them, nor worship them.

Thou shalt not take the Name of the Lord thy God in vain.

Remember that thou keep holy the Sabbath day.

Honor thy father and thy mother.

Thou shalt do no murder.

Thou shalt not commit adultery.

Thou shalt not steal.

Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.

Thou shalt not covet.


The Apostles’ Creed (BCP page 66)

I believe in God, the Father almighty,
maker of heaven and earth;

And in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord;
who was conceived by the Holy Ghost,
born of the Virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, dead, and buried.
He descended into hell.
The third day he rose again from the dead.
He ascended into heaven,
and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father almighty.
From thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Ghost,
the holy catholic Church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and the life everlasting. Amen.

Faithfully,
Bill+