The Washington-Metro area is digging out from its fourth largest snowfall on record.  The Northern Virginia suburbs registered from 28 t0 30 inches of snow by nightfall yesterday.

I woke up early this morning to make the 3 mile walk to Holy Comforter.  A parishioner, Drew Colliaitie, picked me up half way there in his snow plow  – the best ride to church I can remember in a long time.

This was the view at Holy Comforter early this morning.  I’m happy to say that we celebrated two of our  three Sunday liturgies with 29 at 8:45 and 49 at 10:45.  Spike Behning, member of the Vestry, set up a live webcast of the service, and I understand that some 80 people watched at one point or another during the services.  Our associate rector, Libby Gibson, preached a moving sermon on the lessons of the day, based on her recent experience of leading a chapel service for a homeless center in Fairfax.

People have been  describing this storm in biblical terms such as “snowpocalypse” and “snowmageddon.”  Compared to normal amounts of snow in Washington, I can understand.  Nevertheless, a contemplative morning with friends eager to keep the feast leaves me grateful for the “snowfromheaven” that slowed us down in February of twenty-ten.

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I’m a Patti Griffin fan.  I first encountered her passionate and mournful voice when she opened for Shawn Colvin at the 9:30 Club in 1996 during Shawn’s “A Few Small Repairs” tour.  The more I listened, and the more live performances I attended, the more her music and commitment touched me and I’ve been an avid follower ever since.   She is one of America’s greatest musical treasures winning the the AMA’s highest honor as “Artist of the Year” in 2007.

Her newest album Downtown Church is a collection of Gospel style songs produced by her longtime friend and producer Buddy Miller at the Downtown Presbyterian Church in Nashville, TN.  Downtown Church brings to life Gospel songs that have influenced contemporary music in a way that only Patty Griffin can do.

Andy Whitman of Christianity Today recently talked with Patti Griffin about the album and asked her this question:

I love “Coming Home to Me,” one of two original gospel compositions on Downtown Church. You sing “When you’re lost and you’re found and you’re found and you’re lost / When you’re dancing with no one around.” What does it mean to be lost and found in the context of the same gospel song?

Well, that’s the mystery, isn’t it? Look, we can talk about beliefs and doctrines and what have you. But when you get older, my experience has been that it’s not that simple. People are complicated. That song—like a lot of my other songs, I suppose—is trying to get at what really goes on inside, deep down. It’s about feeling alone and abandoned, and simultaneously aware that there is something or someone bigger and outside of you, and feeling connected to that. Both those things are true. It’s not one or the other. I don’t want to put a label on it. (Laughs). I guess that’s sort of a recurring theme with me, isn’t it? But both those things are true. That’s what I wanted to communicate. You’re lost and you’re found. Both those things are true.

The songs mix traditional standards (“Wade In The Water,” ”Move Up”) with country and blues spirituals (Hank Williams’ “House Of Gold,” the blues classic “If I Had My Way” and St. Francis of Assisi’s poem set to Ralph Vaughan William’s arrangement, “All Creatures of our God and King” ) and originals written by Griffin, Julie Miller and others.  It would be a powerful to have Patti sing one of these songs at Holy Comforter some day. Episcopalians might leave their pews.  Watch out!

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Remarks from Rowan Williams Upon Receiving the Campion Award

January 30, 2010

From America Magazine:
On January 25 Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury, accepted the 2009 Campion Award from the editors of America.  In his remarks upon accepting award, he reflected on the idea of a “martyrial ecumenism,” mused on the surprising links between Shakespeare and St. Edmund Campion and emphasized the central place of forgiveness in all relationships.
Drew [...]

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Credo: Better is a world built on love, not Darwinian struggle

January 25, 2010

Rabbi Jonathan Sacks writes in the Times Online about a central conviction of his faith:
If the Universe was brought into being by One beyond the Universe, then it was created by a being who desires to bring things into being. The simplest way of expressing this is: God created the Universe in love. For it [...]

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Bishop Duracin – “What’s important is to keep the faith.”

January 22, 2010

The Wall Street Journal recently interviewed Bishop Duracin in Port au Prince, as he cares for his people at a tent city he set up behind the ruins of College Ste. Pierre.  Pray that people everywhere will keep faith with the people of Haiti.

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A Prayer for Haiti

January 17, 2010

Gracious God,
I lift my voice in prayer with all the people of the world.
Surround Haiti and her people
with your loving embrace
that they may be:
supported by the world in the work of rescue and recovery;
comforted as they grieve;
strengthened as they bury their dead;
healed as they tend their wounds;
restored in faith and the
hope of things unseen;
and transformed [...]

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Bring Hope Not Arrogance To Haiti

January 14, 2010

CNN — Pat Robertson, who once suggested God was punishing Americans with Hurricane Katrina, now says a “pact to the devil” brought on the devastating earthquake in Haiti. More than 100,000 people are feared dead in Haiti and Robertson continues to espouse an incomprehensible image of God sending natural disasters upon the innocent and [...]

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One Beggar Telling Another Where To Find Bread

January 8, 2010

I’ve been intrigued by the controversy over Brit Hume’s suggestion to Tiger Woods that he consider the person and teaching of Jesus as a way to experience forgiveness for his alleged infidelity.  Christianity Today’s Sarah Pulliam Bailey recently interviewed Hume to expand on what he meant.   A few choice quotes:
“Instead of urging that Tiger Woods [...]

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Archbishop Rowan Williams Welcomes 2010

January 1, 2010

A timely message about hope, human cooperation, and charity.

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The Hope of Christmas

December 24, 2009

In the Hymn “Once in David’s Royal City,” there comes this line:
For he is our lifelong pattern: day by day like us he grew; he was little, weak, and helpless; tears and smiles like us he knew: and he feels for all our sadness, and he shares in all our gladness.
“Our lifelong pattern” reminds [...]

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