For William and Kate

The Bishop of London's Sermon

29th April 2011

“Be who God meant you to be and you will set the world on fire.” So said St Catherine of Siena whose festival day it is today. Marriage is intended to be a way in which man and woman help each other to become what God meant each one to be, their deepest and truest selves.

Many are full of fear for the future of the prospects of our world but the message of the celebrations in this country and far beyond its shores is the right one – this is a joyful day! It is good that people in every continent are able to share in these celebrations because this is, as every wedding day should be, a day of hope.  

In a sense every wedding is a royal wedding with the bride and the groom as king and queen of creation, making a new life together so that life can flow through them into the future.

William and Catherine, you have chosen to be married in the sight of a generous God who so loved the world that he gave himself to us in the person of Jesus Christ.

And in the Spirit of this generous God, husband and wife are to give themselves to each another.

A spiritual life grows as love finds its centre beyond ourselves. Faithful and committed relationships offer a door into the mystery of spiritual life in which we discover this; the more we give of self, the richer we become in soul; the more we go beyond ourselves in love, the more we become our true selves and our spiritual beauty is more fully revealed. In marriage we are seeking to bring one another into fuller life.

It is of course very hard to wean ourselves away from self-centredness. And people can dream of doing such a thing but the hope should be fulfilled it is necessary a solemn decision that, whatever the difficulties, we are committed to the way of generous love.

You have both made your decision today – “I will” – and by making this new relationship, you have aligned yourselves with what we believe is the way in which life is spiritually evolving, and which will lead to a creative future for the human race.

We stand looking forward to a century which is full of promise and full of peril. Human beings are confronting the question of how to use wisely a power that has been given to us through the discoveries of the last century. We shall not be converted to the promise of the future by more knowledge, but rather by an increase of loving wisdom and reverence, for life, for the earth and for one another.

Marriage should transform, as husband and wife make one another their work of art. It is possible to transform as long as we do not harbour ambitions to reform our partner. There must be no coercion if the Spirit is to flow; each must give the other space and freedom. Chaucer, the London poet, sums it up in a pithy phrase:

“Whan maistrie [mastery] comth, the God of Love anon,

Beteth his wynges, and farewell, he is gon.”

As the reality of God has faded from so many lives in the West, there has been a corresponding inflation of expectations that personal relations alone will supply meaning and happiness in life. This is to load our partner with too great a burden. We are all incomplete: we all need the love which is secure, rather than oppressive, we need mutual forgiveness, to thrive.

As we move towards our partner in love, following the example of Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit is quickened within us and can increasingly fill our lives with light. This leads to a family life which offers the best conditions in which the next generation can practise and exchange those gifts which can overcome fear and division and incubate the coming world of the Spirit, whose fruits are love and joy and peace.

I pray that all of us present and the many millions watching this ceremony and sharing in your joy today, will do everything in our power to support and uphold you in your new life. And I pray that God will bless you in the way of life that you have chosen, that way which is expressed in the prayer that you have composed together in preparation for this day:

God our Father, we thank you for our families; for the love that we share and for the joy of our marriage.

In the busyness of each day keep our eyes fixed on what is real and important in life and help us to be generous with our time and love and energy.

Strengthened by our union help us to serve and comfort those who suffer. We ask this in the Spirit of Jesus Christ. Amen.      

Royal Wedding

Kiss on the Balcony

Today was the royal wedding day of Kate Middleton and Prince William with no last name.   Even though he does not have a known last name, he is second in line to the British throne, after his father Prince Charles.  There was a ton of hype and it was on tv for about 8 hours, beginning at 2am US central time.  I did not get up to watch, I recorded.  Thank goodness for DVR's!!   And if we missed it during the day, just about every channel is doing a highlights thing tonight.

Almost every guy I know does not understand the fascination with a wedding for a couple from a country we are not part of and that we don't know personally.  All I can say is that it is a girl thing and I am a girl.  Every little girl at one time dreams of marrying a prince and wearing a fairy tale dress and today we got to live through Kate.  She is the daughter of a "commoner", a much bigger deal in England than here, an the Prince chose her.   He could have made an offer of marriage to just about anyone he wanted and he chose her.  There is something magical about that.   They started as friends and dated for like 9 years, went through a couple of breakups and at the end of the day, found their way to today.   And the cool part was that they appear to be really in love, having learned from the disastrous marriage of his parents that it takes love and friendship and respect to make a marriage.  I have high hopes for this one.  They are already millions of miles ahead of Charles and Diana.

Wow

Her dress was gorgeous and perfect for what today was about.  No bare shoulders but not the Diana disaster either.  It fit her perfectly and she was regal.  Hair down, earrings from her parents, tiara from the gram in law, the queen.  Her maid of honor was her sister, Pippa.  Her prince was in uniform, his little brother by his side.
According to the professional lip readers (!!!) while Will and Harry were at the front of the alter, Harry turned when Kate was almost there and whispered to his brother "Wait til you see her".    And then when Will did see her he whispered "You look beautiful", words every bride wants to hear from her groom.  And then he joked to his future father in law something like "I thought we were going to have a small family affair".  There were plenty of smiles during the hour long service with lots of stuffy clergyman and one really cool named the Right Rev Richard Chartres who knew them and spoke from his heart.  And of course, a ton of really boring music.  But finally we got to see them leave in a horse drawn carriage, a surprise ride in Prince Charles' vintage Aston Martin with Prince William driving and Kate in the passenger seat of the 2 seater car.  There were balloons and a "just wed" sign on the back, probably the work of Prince Harry.    It was quite amusing on the dvr when they came driving out of Buckingham Palace grounds...no one appeared to know a thing about it!!   And most special, 2 kisses on the balcony.

I think the stuffy British monarchy got a big shot in the arm today, full of promise and hope.   A nice wedding overall.    And I was just watching on tv!!

It's Jackie Robinson Day

A life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives.
Jackie Robinson


Today is the 64th anniversary of the day Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier to play in Major League Baseball.  In 1997, MLB retired his number league wide. The number 42 It will never again be issued to another player.  Today, only Mariano Rivera wears the number and that is because he wore it before the retirement date.

Every player on all teams today wore the number 42 in his honor.   Its a pretty cool thing to do.

42

Budget Crisis

Everyone except Donald Trump appears to be in one.  I paid $3.62 a gallon for gasoline, a cool $50 out of my pocket.  Groceries are going up.  Insurance premiums are going up.  There is talk of big cuts at school.  I think I'm safe but I have no senority so....

Last week our esteemed congress got into a pissing contest between Republicans and Democrats and almost got to a point where they were going to let the government shut down.  To the point where our military would not be paid after about a week.  Are they friggin kidding me?  How about we pay the military and not pay them?   What planet do these morons live on?  They did pass a temporary stopgap deal and our government is still in business for now.

Today our Prez had some info for us on how big the deficit is and about us borrowing money from China.  He spoke of cuts in transportation, education and fostered fears of cuts in medicare, medicaid and social security.  I did not necessarily get his solution although, best I can tell, it has something to do with change.

I have a couple of budget suggestions.  No one will listen but what the heck.

1.  People have to work for welfare.   I know there are disabled people who need a hand and there are times when others need a hand too.  But most are taking handouts and they need to be given only a hand up.   It worked for FDR and can work now.  Cut the transportation?     Why?  Need a pothole fixed?  Bridge rebuilt?  We are already paying able bodied people.  We need to just give the able bodied person the location so they can go out and earn that check.

2.  Instead of even thinking ever again about not paying our military,  how about we bring our troops home?   I understand the 9/11 argument but we are going to have to figure out that we can no longer be every savior in every situation.    If the people in the middle east want to blow each other off the planet, why are we trying to stop them?    Our troops are spread too thin.  I want them home.  I want to feel safe in our country and I want the money we spend over there used over here for minor things like education and most of all I want our troops home, out of harm's way.

Given a little more thinking, I think I could come up with more.   Just waiting for the call asking my opinion.

My friends Linda & Michael

Linda & Michael Harvey

I used to work with Linda.  She fell in love with Michael in high school.  I have always joked that I never could see how he ever even got up the nerve to approach her over because he is so quiet and shy and she is so outgoing.  She always said she just saw what she wanted and went for it.  I really, really like this picture!!

Linda Lael Miller and my Nook

I have discovered a new author but I'm not sure I'll continue reading her books.  I was attracted to her books because a customer from Walgreens recommended her and I found a 3 book series in NookBooks called "The Creeds of Montana" and it told of 3 brothers separated by anger who trickled home to find peace in their lives.  The first was pretty good, the second was pretty good but the third was different.  I enjoyed the story on all 3 but there was a huge difference in book 3.   While books 1 and 2 were somewhat graphic in the "sex" scenes, book 3 was downright raunchy.  I don't necessarily consider myself a prude but book 3 was..well..practically porn!!  I managed to skip forward to get back to story and did finish the book but am now debating whether to keep reading the author or not.   I'm pretty certain if I do, I'll be visiting the library.

And while on the subject of Nook....I like it a lot but what is the point if the price of the Ebook is the same as the paperback?   Seriously, there is no savings from paper alone?