Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Gentlemen-Rankers out on the Spree

The Episcopal Church's Bishops may want to sing this song as they head to Mory's,




WHIFFENPOOF SONG
(words Meade Minnegerode; tune attributed to Tod Galloway)

From the tables down at Mory's, to the place where Louie dwells,
To the dear old Temple bar we love so well.
Sang the whiffenpoofs assembled with their glasses raised on high
And the magic of their singing cast its spell.

Yes, the magic of their singing of the songs we love so well,
``Shall I Wasting'' and ``Mavoureen'' and the rest.
We will serenade our Louie while life and voice shall last
Then we'll pass and be forgotten with the rest.

cho: We're poor little lambs who have lost our way
Bah, bah, bah.
We're little black sheep who have gone astray
Bah, bah, bah.
Gentlemen songsters off on a spree
Damned from here to eternity
Lord have mercy on such as we!
Bah, bah, bah.


The Bishops may prefer to sing Kipling's original poem,

Gentlemen-Rankers
By Rudyard Kipling
To the legion of the lost ones, to the cohort of the damned,
To my brethren in their sorrow overseas,
Sings a gentleman of England cleanly bred, machinely crammed,
And a trooper of the Empress, if you please.
Yea, a trooper of the forces who has run his own six horses,
And faith he went the pace and went it blind,
And the world was more than kin while he held the ready tin,
But to-day the Sergeant's something less than kind.
We're poor little lambs who've lost our way,
Baa! Baa! Baa!
We're little black sheep who've gone astray,
Baa--aa--aa!
Gentlemen-rankers out on the spree,
Damned from here to Eternity,
God ha' mercy on such as we,
Baa! Yah! Bah!

Oh, it's sweet to sweat through stables, sweet to empty kitchen slops,
And it's sweet to hear the tales the troopers tell,
To dance with blowzy housemaids at the regimental hops
And thrash the cad who says you waltz too well.
Yes, it makes you cock-a-hoop to be "Rider" to your troop,
And branded with a blasted worsted spur,
When you envy, O how keenly, one poor Tommy being cleanly
Who blacks your boots and sometimes calls you "Sir".

If the home we never write to, and the oaths we never keep,
And all we know most distant and most dear,
Across the snoring barrack-room return to break our sleep,
Can you blame us if we soak ourselves in beer?
When the drunken comrade mutters and the great guard-lantern gutters
And the horror of our fall is written plain,
Every secret, self-revealing on the aching white-washed ceiling,
Do you wonder that we drug ourselves from pain?

We have done with Hope and Honour, we are lost to Love and Truth,
We are dropping down the ladder rung by rung,
And the measure of our torment is the measure of our youth.
God help us, for we knew the worst too young!
Our shame is clean repentance for the crime that brought the sentence,
Our pride it is to know no spur of pride,
And the Curse of Reuben holds us till an alien turf enfolds us
And we die, and none can tell Them where we died.
We're poor little lambs who've lost our way,
Baa! Baa! Baa!
We're little black sheep who've gone astray,
Baa--aa--aa!
Gentlemen-rankers out on the spree,
Damned from here to Eternity,
God ha' mercy on such as we,
Baa! Yah! Bah!

Monday, September 15, 2008

This Church was Made for You and Me



What is going on with the Bishop in Pittsburg? He is charged with "abandonment of communion or discipline of this church." Does "this church" mean the Episcopal Church USA or does it mean the Anglican Communion?

Apologies to Woody Guthrie,

This church is your church, this church is my church
From California to the New York Island
From the Redwood Forest to the Gulf Stream waters
This church was made for you and me.

As I went walking that ribbon of highway
I saw above me that endless skyway
I saw below me that golden valley
This church was made for you and me.

I roamed and I rambled and I followed my footsteps
To the sparkling sands of her diamond deserts
While All around me a voice was sounding
Saying this church was made for you and me.

When the sun came shining, and I was strolling
And the wheat fields waving and the dust clouds rolling
A voice was chanting, As the fog was lifting,
This church was made for you and me.

There was a big high wall there that tried to stop me;
Sign was painted, it said private property;
But on the back side it didn't say nothing;
That side was made for you and me.

This church is your church, this church is my church
From California to the New York Island
From the Redwood Forest to the Gulf Stream waters
This church was made for you and me.

Wednesday, September 3, 2008

Will Divisions Ever Cease?


Whenever there is a dispute, someone will pull out Matthew 12:25 (King James Version)

25 And Jesus knew their thoughts, and said unto them, Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand:

Today I could not help but remember that verse when reading about the divisions in our Church. The divisions seem to encompass all of the structures listed in the quotation:

Kingdom: One holy catholic and apostolic Church
City: Anglican
House: The Episcopal Church USA

Okay, this is taking a verse out of context. Recall that Jesus was responding to the Pharisees who were not happy with healing done on the Sabbath, and Jesus was referring to the house of Satan.

24 But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, This fellow doth not cast out devils, but by Beelzebub the prince of the devils.

25 And Jesus knew their thoughts, and said unto them, Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand:

26 And if Satan cast out Satan, he is divided against himself; how shall then his kingdom stand?

27 And if I by Beelzebub cast out devils, by whom do your children cast them out? therefore they shall be your judges.

28 But if I cast out devils by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God is come unto you


Despite being taken out of context, the truths in the quotation are timeless. And the notion that not even Satan would be divided against himself puts our modern religious issues in a pretty bad light.
(From Washington.edu)

Will there ever be an end to divisions? Perhaps that is one of those "Kingdom of God" things that we pray for but don't understand.

Hymn # 607 Words by: William Watkins Reid Jr.

O God of every nation, of every race and land,
Redeem the whole creation with your almighty hand;
Where hate and fear divide us and bitter threats are hurled,
In love and mercy guide us and heal our strife-torn world.

From search for wealth and power and scorn of truth and right,
From trust in bombs that shower destruction through the night,
From pride of race and nation and blindness to your way,
Deliver every nation, eternal God, we pray!

Lord, strengthen all who labor that we may find release
From fear of rattling saber, from dread of war’s increase;
When hope and courage falter, your still small voice be heard;
With faith that none can alter, your servants undergird.

Keep bright in us the vision of days when war shall cease,
When hatred and division give way to love and peace,
Till dawns the morning glorious when truth and justice reign
And Christ shall rule victorious o’er all the world’s domain.

(From Washington.edu)