Lifeway Stores pulled this issue of Gospel Today from magazine racks because it features clergy women on the cover.

Lifeway is a bookstore of the Southern Baptist group. "Lifeway" sounds less denominational and more cool.

I've never read or heard of Gospel Today before the cover issue flap.

Two things: Clergy women must be doing something right if a picture of happy Christian women scares people, and, 2: I'm not buying from or stepping foot into a Lifeway Store.

Blessings to each of you today,

St.Casserole

LD wanted another lamp for her Art School dorm room. I'll take her this today.
Two action figures and one Ken type copper wired to a lamp base. Everything but the light bulb is from thrifting.

St.Casserole
Writing Sermons and Making Stuff

Dear St.Casserole,
Thank you for your phone call last night. It was good to hear your voice and get news of your little family. I'm homesick for you all and hope for a visit soon.

I'm glad you called last night. I spent this morning down at the Auxiliary Club playing Bridge. I don't care to go back. Beulah Lynch's usual Bridge partner, Bertie
Mae Smith Hedgins, has a new great-grand. Bertie went over to Waxhaw to be with her daughter. That daughter, you may remember, is the one who faints.

I agreed to be the fourth at the table and showed up about 9:30 a.m. to start playing. The girls play until lunch. One of them buys lunch for everyone else. It was Beulah's turn so I was glad to go. She owes me several lunches, but I'm not counting.

Everybody at the table began talking politics. I'd rather hear who is doing what with whom but I was a guest. Lillian Jenkins Caldwell announced that Sen. Obama is a Muslim and she would never vote for someone who isn't a Christian. I about dropped my teeth. They all jumped in talking this nonsense. I had a difficult hand at the time and was working on how to bid so I just kept quiet.

Beulah turned to me and said, "Bostick, you wouldn't vote for a Muslim, would you?"

I told her I might vote for a Muslim if one was running for President this term. The girls gasped. I said, "Senator Obama isn't a Muslim, he's a member of the United Church of Christ."

I about got shouted down. I blame those silly emails old people send around to each other with wrong facts and goofy ideas.

I asked the table if they remembered Anne Yates' daughter, Linda. Of course, they all remembered Linda because she was the guest organist every summer when she came to stay with her grandmother in town. I asked if they remembered that when Linda started first grade, they found out she had a learning problem with her letters. It wasn't terrible but it slowed the little girl down while she was learning to read. About that same time, Anne and John moved to their new house over by Clark Road. Anne decided to move Linda to the St.Clavicle Catholic School because she knew the reading teacher there and was near their new house.

Everyone at the table looked confused. I went on to tell them that Linda stayed at that school until 7th Grade. She's grown up now and married to that Baptist preacher.
I asked them, "Linda want to Catholic School. Should she be called a Catholic now that she's a grown woman?" Everybody said, "No!"

I told them that when Sen. Obama lived in Indonesia as a little boy, he went to a Muslim school. That's all they had there, I suppose. Now, he's a grown man who attended a United Church of Christ Church in Chicago for twenty years with regular attendance. His little girls were baptized there. Does it make any sense to call him a Muslim now? The table was silent.

One of them piped up and said what about his name? He has an odd name! I got to giggling then. Good Lord! Like we don't have the strangest names in the South! We have names so strange, we think the names are normal!

I should have held my tongue. I said, "That lady from Alaska you all think is so cute, she named her children 'Trac', 'Trig', and, after an airplane!" "Let's don't discuss unusual names this year."

By the time we finished the last Bridge hand, I was hungry but could hardly enjoy my chicken because it was cooked until it tasted like a dry piece of paper.

I've got several errands to run so I'll stop and put this out for the mail.

Love,
Aunt Bostick

Just the thing to add to your worries~! Brit's home is on the market! Again!

The real estate is here.

Hope this helps today,


St.Casserole

Hat Tip: The Luxist

Little Church restoration continues!

We have new stair railings, painted doors, columns and porch flooring, and new lighting!

Inside, the original wood floors are refinished and gleaming!

We found someone to restore the antique pews!

Thanks for your prayers! Extra pocket change appreciated.

Gratefully,

St. Casserole, Pastor

I don't eat reptile.

How wild is it to live where the local grocer offers Alligator for $5.99 a lb.?


Yours,

St.Casserole

Don't forget! September is National Alligator Month!

11 a.m. Saturday Morning

I have:

made coffee, finished a load of laundry, cleaned the kitchen
gone to 5 garage/estate sales
painted a butler's table purchased at garage sale
fluttered around my sermon manuscript looking for holes
pruned monk's head hibiscus
been bitten by a hornet for my trouble
talked with Mr. C.

What is on my mind:

Why do people believe what they believe about their political party?
I know the usual answers but I don't get why people support the other party.
How can I understand why reasonable people believe as they do in their chosen political party?

What I've decided to do:

Contact the husband of my Brokah*. They are both serious, committed other political party supporters. Ask him if he will discuss why he supports his party and how his party speaks to his life situation. Tell him that I want to talk with him because I respect him, have no desire to argue or make snarky comments. "Just tell me", I want to say to him, "Why?"

The hornet bite stings, it's too hot to prune the hibiscus, the butler's table is ready for a third coat of paint and I'm stuck on my sermon.


I intend to nap this afternoon.

Yours,

St. Casserole

*Hat Tip to LLS for "Brokah" and ICANHAZACHEEZEBURGER for the pic.

Happy Talk Like A Pirate Day!

Arrgghhh,

St.Casserole

Cooler weather! It's here!

Going outside before daylight, to drink coffee and pray, the air is cold! Wonderful!

I'll drive to a Presbytery committee meeting this morning with Pastor Giant. We'll take my car because his car has problems. I'll enjoy watching the folding of his tall frame into my wee car.

He's a beginning friendship although we are an odd match. He's feeling the pull of the Spirit to change how he sees the world. Fascinating to hear him tell where his heart is going in his new call down here. People and situations he ignored before are opening up to him.

The Spirit works this way if we pay attention.

Our hearts can change and grow into new understanding, full of compassion and discernment.

I'm grateful to find a pal in this Presbytery. In heaven, I'll be with all of you and won't even remember the isolation I've felt here. Until then, the Spirit opens doors for me.

St.Casserole

Ike is 300 miles or so from here,on his way to Houston.

The winds are blowing enough to make Sister, the best dog Nanny in the Entire World, jumpy.
Fish, the Backyard Meteorologist Cat, escaped out the back door a few minutes ago. After testing the air with his freckled nose, he returned indoors.

I am worrying about Texas.

Ike is a big, bad storm.


Lord, have mercy.


St.Casserole

Mr.C. passed me the head cold he got at his office. I feel tired and rotten. No fever, just general complaints. I'll recover. Life will go on.


I'm taking today off from chores, work, duties, to-do lists. If you need me, I'll be at home being a lump.

I will keep the Vicar of Hogsmeade in my prayers along with all of our Texas pals.
The Vicar is defending herself with Ph.D. people. Our Texas pals are waiting for that durn Hurricane Ike.

Love,

St.Casserole, Lump d'Jour

Hurricane Ike appears to be heading North Northwest as it leaves Southern Cuba.
Tracking projections send Ike west of us.

But, as we say around here, "it's too early to tell".


St.Casserole


NOTE: Mr.C., the coffee this morning is so awful it makes my legs hurt.

I am pondering (see earlier post)why no Southerner is in this Presidential race.

We often have a Southerner on the ticket, not this time.

Have we lost our zest in the public eye or did President Bush (by way of Up East) with his Texas cowboy drawl dry up interest in people from the South?

I don't know.

One November day, I stood on a Manhattan street reading the New York Times. A letter to the Editor complained that Southerners, particularly Mississippians, paid very little taxes to the Federal Government but received tons of Federal aid. Why should a New Yorker pay for people in Mississippi? Good question.

I'd be provoked if I lived in Manhattan and paid my taxes to help a state with few unions, hideous tort reform for personal liability, favored businesses over workers, refused to teach people to protect themselves from unwanted pregnancy and STDs, kept voting for non-progressive politicians, etc. etc.

Snake-holding in worship, literal understanding of the Bible, scared of women, beer-guzzling, racist, anti-intellectual, gun-totin', election buying....all these and more look like the South to people from around the country.

I am a Southerner. I'm jus' thinkin'.


St.Casserole, drinking coffee thinking deep thoughts

Where are the Southerners in this Presidential campaign?

Will Cindy McCain continue to campaign alongside her husband when he is with Sarah Palin? I've noticed Mrs. McCain standing on one side of John McCain with Sarah Palin on the other side in videos and photos. Will Sarah Palin's husband campaign alongside of her when she is campaigning with Sen. McCain?

I'm riveted to politics these days. We are seeing an amazing Presidential campaign unfold. Politics is tough business but distracting during the last few weeks of hurricane season.

The lectionary passages today and next Sunday center on forgiveness and community discipline.

What a world.


St.Casserole

Cat photo from Icanhazcheezeburger

Our eyes are on Hanna and Ike. Look here to see the storms in real time.

Blessings and courage to the East Coast residents.


St.Casserole

Tuesday, September 2 6:49 AM CDT

The local newspaper has pictures of our area here

The birds are singing this morning. I'll put the bird feeders out for them later.

We slept well and are ready for today.

Thanks for standing with us,

St.Casserole

UPDATE 7:48 PM CDT

Gusty winds and rain. I suppose we'll have this all night.
Took a quick nap and feel good. My stomach doesn't hurt anymore.

Thank you for your prayers and company during Gustav.

I'll go check on Hanna.

St.Casserole

4:14 PM CDT

Nothing going on. The winds slowed. Rain stopped. Very quiet here.
We are under a hurricane watch and tornado watch but radar shows activity west of us, not much here.

I am praying for Louisiana and Hancock County(Mississippi). I don't know what is going on in Louisiana. I am worried. Big hearty wind gusts blew here. Wished I had a hand-held wind gust meter to catch the speed of several spectacular blows.

We are under a curfew until 5 AM tomorrow. People will get itchy to get out of shelters and homes to see what is going on. I had good company today with Mr.C. and LD who watched Netflix with me while I sewed. I'm surprised we have power.

Thank you for your prayers. Let's see what we can do to help the storm affected in the next few days.

I'll check in again later today.

St. Casserole

September 1, 2008

6:08 AM CDT Very windy, some rain, cats are alarmed. Sister, the dog, is staying close by. I slept well until I heard the wind increase. I'm grateful for several hours of deep sleep.

Gustav is about 30 miles from landfall near Houma, Louisiana, west of here. New Orleans, on the east side of Houma, will get misery. Hurricanes spin counter-clockwise so the worst wind and force is to the east of the Hurricane eye.

Jim Cantore, of the Weather Channel, is in Houma. Not.Good. We have a Weather Channel guy I've never heard of. Good.

God keep all safe in the Storm. God be present in the darkness of night. God be present in the early light and through the day. Holy Spirit, calm and defend the hearts of those in the Storm. Jesus, hold all those whose fears seek to overcome them with despair. Protect those who come to help and protect. May all wee creatures find safe haven. In Christ's name I pray. Amen.