A journal of byzantine digressionS
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Entertaining Angels in the Flesh
III John 5-8Luke 18:1-8 Beloved, you are faithful in all you do for the brothers and sisters, especially for strangers; they have testified to your love before the Church. Please help them in a way worthy of God to continue their journey. For they have set out for the sake of the Name and are…
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Flashback Friday Playlist
Flashback to a happier, simpler time, with a VJ and Public Television.
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Really, You’re Not Half This Good
II John 1:4-9Luke 17:26-37 Remember the wife of Lot. Whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it, but whoever loses it will save it.Luke 17:32-33 For some time there has been a growing fear that “some Christians supporting Trump” will get turned into “all Christians”. Most secularists can’t tell the difference between a Charismatic…
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The Preferential Gumption of the Poor
In 2004 (Bush/Kerry), the first year the NY Times took this data in the exit poll… the bottom two income brackets voted like this: Under $30,000 —– D 60% – R 40%$30k – $49.9K —– D 50% – R 49% By education, the only bracket with a real win was those with post-graduate education –…
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So, about this slave…
Philemon 1:7-20Luke 17:20-25 I, Paul, write this in my own hand: I will pay. May I not tell you that you owe me your very self. Yes, brother, may I profit from you in the Lord. Refresh my heart in Christ.Philemon 1:19-20 The Epistle to Philemon is one of those passages from St Paul that…
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To the Mother Church of All the World
Ezechiel 41:1-2,8-9-12 I Corinthians 3: 9c-11, 16-17 John 2:13-22 He made a whip out of cords and drove them all out of the temple area, with the sheep and oxen, and spilled the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables, John 2 (NABRE) Simony, in the church, is the buying and selling of church…
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It’s like Arkham Horror, really.
Titus 2:1-8, 11-14Luke 17:7-10We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty.Luke 17:10 My tendency is to crave recognition for things I have done. I confess that ad libitum, ad nauseum, along with my other sins. But I’m happy to note that we live in a world where I can get little…
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Teacher, teach me
Titus 1:1-9 Luke 17:1-6 [A Bishop] must hold firm to the sure word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to confute those who contradict it. Titus 1:9 his passage is about a Bishop or “Elder” or “Overseer” in a congregation, but it is true of…
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Remember, Remember
II Maccabees 7:1-2, 9-14 II Thessalonians 2:16-3:5 Luke 20:27-38 Pray for us, that the word of the Lord may speed on and triumph, as it did among you, and that we may be delivered from wicked and evil men; for not all have faith. But the Lord is faithful; he will strengthen you and guard…
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I got mine. There’s just enough.
Philippians 4:10-19Luke 16:9-15 I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound; in any and all circumstances I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and want. I can do all things in him who strengthens me.Philippians 4:12-13 One of the things that drives me bonkers about modern charity…
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AD 2016: The Election Year of Mercy
From the Facebook Feed of ElectionDayCommunion2016.com Philippians 3:17-4:1Luke 16:1-8 The master commended the dishonest steward for his shrewdness.Luke 16:8a Do you find this passage confusing? It’s one that usually stumps me when it comes up in the lectionary. Here’s my go for this year: If this is a parable of the Kingdom, then the Rich…
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Getting Gold for Dung
Philippians 3:3-8aLuke 15:1-10Rejoice with me, because I have found my…Luke 15:6 or 9 Jesus tells us two parables saying, Look, some things are very important to God and he shows us in two ways: the lost coin and the lost sheep. The coin we understand, I think: If I only have 100 pennies and one…
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Faintly Falling Upon the Dead
Certainly there’s no snow in Alabama ‘tall. But my brain on All Souls’ Day remembers the Dead for whom a Rosary will be said and all the offices today. My Grandparents, Bessie and Ken, who raised me for the first 6 years of my life, and at whose passing I do, sometimes, feel like an…
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Dies Irae
Wisdom 3:1-9Romans 5:5-11John 6:37-40 God hath tried them, and found them worthy of himself. As gold in the furnace he hath proved them, and as a victim of a holocaust he hath received them, and in time there shall be respect had to them.Wisdom 3:5b-6 All Souls Day: the day we set aside for these…
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Wisdom, Let us Attend
Orthoparadoxy 