Check or checkmate

Kudos to Bishop Mariann Budde from St. John's Episcopal in Washington, for her courageous remarks at the interfaith prayer service on January 20 attended by Trump and many in his incoming admin. Episcopal bishops throughout the country followed up with letters of their own, supporting Budde's call for mercy on the people most impacted by announced administrative policies, namely towards  immigrants/refugees and LGBTQ people.

The Presiding Bishop of the US, Sean Rowe, also issued a letter on the same topic. We in Erie are understandably proud of him, as he was born in a small town about 70 miles south of Erie and was the Episcopal bishop of Northwestern PA for 17 years before the recent national appt. His letter referenced Christ's exhortation to "welcome the stranger." Rowe also officiated at the funeral for Jimmy Carter.

Long awaited is here

 

In case you didn't already know:

Season Four of "Astrid" is back on PBS Passport.

The Number 1 favorite show of all the many we have watched.

Enjoy!

January-Ordinary time

 

Yesterday the liturgical calendar for most Christian churches brought an end to the season of Christmas, with the Feast of the Baptism of Jesus. So, I guess that means it's a return to "normal" or average days or something other than huge celebrations!

This reality of "Ordinary Time" is never really calm, ordinary and Polyanna-like. One thing that's coming up this week is a return to Take Back the Site prayer vigils, as homicides for 2025 have already begun. In 2024 the City of Erie counted 5, though the number is larger if you expand to the boroughs and townships of the County. Now on January 1st we started a new year with one. Very sad reality for us and possibly for where you live, also.

We are in between lake effect storms (!) and as such we had a larger number of people attending our Sunday service this past weekend. There was a rousing version of "Go Tell It On the Mountain" to end the celebration--helped in no small part by our organist who is now 98% recovery from a broken knee cap a few months ago. Speaking of last year, we have begun celebrating the one-year anniversaries of four sisters who died last January. The concept of dying, passing on to the next life, however you see it, has one very difficult piece for me: we miss them--terrribly. Also the mystery of passing time, be it 1, 5 or 15 years always takes me by surprise, as in "How can it be 10 years?"  

I recently saw that Disney has produced a new version of the Lion King. So here I am humming "The Circle of Life" again. But it really fits, not just in the Disney world.

Snowbound movie watching

 

Over the last two weeks or so I've watched a couple great movies. Here's a quick synopsis as encouragement for you to consider them!

We just finished The Six Triple Eight  which is one of those based-on-a-true-story movies/books that most of us have never heard of. It reminded me of the movie Hidden Figures. Both are about black women who made outstanding, yet little known contributions in their areas. This one is set in the last year of WWII, Hidden Figures  was in the 1960s, I believe. We watched it in two one-hour segments and it worked fine. Truly outstanding---in the story line and in the acting. Be ready to experience another "new" look at American history that somehow doesn't get into the high school classes or maybe even college ones. Shout out to Ken Burns, also.

The second movie was Conclave. This one is very much like The DaVinci Code, historical fiction yet you think......well, maybe...some of it...maybe.  It is about a conclave at the Vatican to elect a new pope. The cinematography alone is worth the whole movie. After we viewed it I goggled how they made it and the answers included using various sites in Rome, but also a Sistine Chapel ceiling that they built themselves! Again, the acting is terrific. 

For at-home viewing, Conclave is on Peacock and Apple TV and Six Triple Eight is on Netflix, and probably other options.  Enjoy!