Pining for Byrd

There is not much I miss from the Episcopal (TEC / ECUSA) parish I left ... but there are some things, and the music of William Byrd is right up at the top of the list.

It cuts me to the quick to watch this ...

A Scathing Rebuke of Anglicanism!

Just 2 questions:

(1) Wouldn't the clergyman in question, seeing as he is wearing purple, be a bishop? Not a vicar?

(2) Is it really possible to attack Anglicanism on the basis of being organised religion? That is a new thought.

It begins to look like Cause and Effect.

I am well aware of the post hoc ergo propter hoc logical fallacy. Nevertheless, this incredible accumulation of positive developments ... begins to look like some sort of happy causality.

Here are some things that have happened in my life since leaving The Episcopal church in 2007:

(1) I have lost 30 pounds of fat and have gotten into the best shape of my life ... at age 49.

(2) My kids are doing better in school. Grade up. Behaviour problems down.

(3) I've made tremendous progress on my son's Mercury Meteor project.

(4) I have been transferred to a position of greater responsibility at work.

(5) My son won a car design contest.

(6) I have made huge strides in combatting what used to be habitual sins.

(7) My band has solidified and has begun to record an album.

(8) My art work will be included as part of a video due out in July.

I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that good things would happen to me after leaving such a toxic environment. It only makes sense, really.

Public Service Announcement for All Angels.

I don't know if any of God's angels read this blog. I don't know if they have time to read blogs at all.

But on the off chance that one or more angels tunes in here to Hot Rod Anglican ... I offer this Public Service Announcement that should serve as a grave warning to them.



It is in response to the video I saw here. I thought that they might like to know they are being targeted.

Back to the future ...

I am 55 days out from my bodybuilding contest, and here is what I look like from the back. It is slow, but I am getting there.

The Cobra IRS is installed and functional!

It was only Friday, March 23 that I finally believed this project was actually going to work. At this rate, we may make it to the Woodward Dream Cruise this August.

The main point of this video was to have a little fun, and to document the fact that the IRS is, indeed, suspending the Meteor. Now, if I can just scrub my hands clean enough to receive Holy Communion tomorrow!

Meanwhile, on the OTHER Meteor project ...

I set a goal to have a 1963 Mercury Meteor "Resto-Mod" car done for my son Eliot by the time he gets his driver's license. He just turned 14, and it looks like we might actually make it. This car will absolutely be badass!

Features: 2003 Mustang Cobra IRS (Independent Rear Suspension), 1999 6-way adjustable Cobra seats, Stage 3 IFS (Independent Front Suspension) from CMJ Performance, Ford Hydroboost power brakes (w/ Cobra disk brakes all around), rack-and-pinion power steering, DynoTech Driveshaft, 2005 Mustang wheels. So far, the motor is 5.0L Mustang GT, but will most likely be a 347 c.i.d. stroker motor before we're done.

Our latest work is finishing off the Cobra IRS installation. Below is one photo from yesterday, but you can read the whole saga here.

I am proud that this entire project has been done right in our driveway, with our own tools.

Voices Green and Purple

File this blog entry under the Hot Rod part of Hot Rod Anglican ...

I picked up Eliot from school today in my 1962 Meteor ... which made him very happy. The "car guy" Vice Principal from Eliot's school also came over to look at the car, and Eliot popped the hood for him. It was a nice moment.

When I got home, I put on this seafoam-green-with-purple-flames shifter ball, because the purple die (singular of dice, that is) shifter knob kept falling off. This is one I had custom made by a guy about 7 or 8 years ago, I think, and I just kept it in the box until now. It has a little light bulb that goes up inside it that, when I get it wired, will make the translucent purple "flames" light up at night.

Archbishop Henry Luke Orombi (Uganda) Spanks TEc PB.

Ugandan Archbishop Henry Luke Orombi did a beautiful job of teaching TEc Presiding Bishopess Katharine Jefferts Schori where and why she is completely wrong:

You could read it here ...

But it is way more fun to read with Christopher Johnson's running commentary!

Cindy Phillips to Make Pro Bodybuilding Debut at the Europa!

Under the "Beach Party" division of Anglican Beach Party, would be this breaking news in the world of Women's Bodybuilding:

Cindy Phillips to Make Her Pro Debut at the August Europa Show!!



Cindy is one of my all-time favourite bodybuilders. She is from Canada, and turned Pro in 2007. I wish you the best of success in Dallas, Cindy!

Read Cindy's blog entry about her Pro debut here!

In the studio ... Chrome Folk Bar-B-Q!

My band is called Chrome Folk Bar-B-Q. I think we chose that name because it was the only one we all disliked equally.

Anyhow, we have gone into the studio to begin work on a CD. Finally, we will have some music available for people to listen to at home.

Our style is a bit hard to define ... Eclectic Electric Folk might come pretty close ... you be the judge, once the CD comes out! In this blog entry from last year is an embedded YouTube video ... if you'd like a sample of our sound.

And here is how we looked in the studio:

Bodybuilding Contest ... 10 Weeks Left.

Well, the time is drawing near. I have 10 weeks left until the NPC Natural Michigan bodybuilding contest. I have posing music, but no routine as of yet. I am at 167 pounds, down from 192 pounds 4 months ago.

Here's a picture from today.

My Current Fave Song!

Mudcrutch - Scare Easy

Let me tell you, people, this one is an addictive little earworm (in a good way) !!

My love's an ocean
You better not cross it
Yeah
I've been the distance
And I need some rest
Yeah I had somebody once
And damn if I lost her
I've been running
Like a man possessed

I don't scare easy
Don't fall apart
When I'm under the gun
You can break my heart
And I ain't gonna run
I don't scare easy
For no one

Yeah, I am a loser
At the top of my game
I should have known
To keep an eye on you
Now I got a God
It ain't never the same
Yeah, I got a dream
That don't ever come true

I don't scare easy
Don't fall apart
When I'm under the gun
You can break my heart
But I ain't gonna run
I don't scare easy
For no one

Sun going down
On a canyon wall
I got a soul
That ain't never
Been blessed
Yeah and I'm a shadow
At the back of the hall
Yeah, I got a sin
I ain't never confessed

And I don't scare easy
Don't fall apart
When I'm under the gun
You can break my heart
And I ain't gonna run
I don't scare easy
For no one

And I don't scare easy
Don't fall apart
When I'm under the gun
You can break my heart
But I ain't gonna run
I don't scare easy
For no one

Cardinal Kasper: FAIL!

From here:

Speaking on the day that the Archbishop of Canterbury met Benedict XVI in Rome, Cardinal Walter Kasper, the president of the Pontifical Council of Christian Unity, said it was time for Anglicanism to "clarify its identity".

He told the Catholic Herald: "Ultimately, it is a question of the identity of the Anglican Church. Where does it belong?

"Does it belong more to the churches of the first millennium -Catholic and Orthodox - or does it belong more to the Protestant churches of the 16th century? At the moment it is somewhere in between, but it must clarify its identity now and that will not be possible without certain difficult decisions."

With all due respect, Cardinal Kasper, this seems a very clueless thing to say. You cannot have known many Anglicans! Does the phrase via media mean nothing to you? The moment Anglicanism comes down firmly on one side or the other (be catholic or reformed), in that very moment, Anglicanism ceases to exist. It is of the essence of Anglicanism not to clarify this issue.

A wise son maketh a glad father ...

A wise son maketh a glad father ... Proverbs 15:20

For most of 1991 and early 1992, I worked in Tyler, Texas for the famous Christian Reconstructionist writer, Gary North. Gary once remarked to me that if a person had identified his true vocation (calling) by age 30, he was ahead of most people in our country.

I sometimes wonder what Gary would have to say about my son Eliot, who identified his vocation by age 3 !!

Eliot is about to turn 14, and plans to enroll in the College for Creative Studies in the Fall of 2012. God willing, he will study Industrial Design, probably focusing most of his efforts in the automotive arena. Here are some recent drawings Eliot has done.




He won an award at the 2008 Avanti Awards for this one:



Just yesterday, Eliot and I had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Bill Jagenow, owner of Brothers Customs in Royal Oak. We spoke with Mr. Jagenow about the possibility of Eliot doing some apprentice work (Bill's shop builds Old Skool hot rods) for them this summer.

Seeing this young man of mine reach for and fulfil his dreams gives me a kind of joy and hope that very little else has been able to produce in me. My son has made me a glad father.

Roman Catholics Get Own "Clown Mass" ...

Clowning around at Mass ... not just for Episcopalians any more!!

Giant liturgical puppets ... what next?!?



From here: Mr. Potato Head Concelebrates the Holy Mass?

An audio "pill" for 1928 BCP Withdrawal Symptoms!

When in the midst of this ongoing Anglican diaspora I left my 1928 BCP parish of The Episcopal church, I worshipped for a time where my beloved 1928 BCP was not used.

Needless to say, after 15 years of worshipping (about the spelling of which, more later*) according to the 1928 Book of Common Prayer, I developed severe withdrawal symptoms from this experience. I found it difficult to pray, with all the words gone wrong and rearranged to mean as little as possible. I trembled often, and couldn't stay in my own lane when I drove. I had it bad.

But then, I discovered this beautiful Lighten Our Darkness choral evensong CD at the Prayer Book Society website.

Evensong for the Feast of St Michael and All Angels from the 1928 Book of Common Prayer
Clergy and Choirs of St John's Church, Savannah, Georgia

The Anthems are Non nobis Domine by Byrd & And I saw another angel by Stanford and there are three choirs used, the Church Choir, the Boys and the Girls Choirs. This recording presents a fine example of the most widely loved of all Anglican services, Sung Evensong. It comes from a church with a fine musical tradition as well as an informed commitment to traditional liturgy and music.



I must have played this CD five times a day the first week after I received it. It is fabulous, and revived my soul as nothing else at the time was able to do!

*I cannot help but mention that Anglican worship in America began to go downhill at just the same moment when folks started spelling worshipping and worshipped as worshiping and worshiped. Coincidence? I think not!

How I Got Pissed Off at the Episcopal church ...

Few people know the real story of why I left TEc ...

My parish undertook to swap the Gentlemen's Room with the Ladies' Room, because the former was a larger space, and the Ladies coveted it. Fair enough.

But in the process of the swap, the beautiful antique urinals were simply walled over ... not moved to the new (smaller) Men's Room! Instead, modern rinky-dink Home Depot™ urinals were used. It was a travesty.

"But many of the priests and Levites and chief of the fathers, who were ancient men, that had seen the first urinals, when the foundation of this new Men's Room was laid before their eyes, wept with a loud voice ..."

"Who of you is left who saw this Men's Room in its former glory? How does it look to you now? Does it not seem to you like nothing?"